D&D 5E Darrington Press v. Green Ronin: Differences between 2 Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting books?

[Neko Princex]

I know the Darrington Press campaign setting just released, so I don't expect an answer to this anytime soon but I can't be alone in wanting to know the differences between the two campaign setting releases for Tal'Dorei. So, whenever anyone has the chance I would appreciate a brief (or long) summary that distinguishes the two releases of this campaign world.

 

[Morrus]

I haven't seen either, but the new one is apparently twice the size of the old one.

 

[Seramus]

It also takes place later in the timeline. As in, it would be suitable to run a Tal'Dorei campaign around the same time as C2 - C3. It includes post Chroma Conclave reconstruction efforts, how the Clasp has gained some positive fame from helping with the evacuation, the eventual fates of Vox Machina and their many children, etc.

 

[BRayne]

Official announcement said this:

This book totals 138 pages above the original Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting, published in 2017 by our friends at Green Ronin. It applies updates and improvements throughout, in addition to advancing the setting two decades into the future, up to the time of Campaign 2 of Critical Role featuring the Mighty Nein.

Existing owners of the book can look forward to all manner of new content in Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn:

• Over a hundred new illustrations and maps
• Over a dozen new magic items
• 4 all new subclasses, and a slew of updated subclasses for play in Exandria and beyond
• Dozens of new creatures and adversaries, amounting to 18 new stat blocks
• All members of Vox Machina (and some companions!) have been given full stat blocks as well, perfect for bringing these adventurers directly into your games
• Oodles of updated lore and setting information, including information about who sits on the Tal’Dorei Council and what has happened in the two decades following the end of the Vox Machina campaign

 

[dave2008]

To follow up what Morrus said, the original was 144 pages and this book is 280 pages. So there is a lot more content than the original!

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I've already been posting some of the differences in another thread, but I'll summarize some of the things I've noticed here (that haven't already been mentioned).

• One of the most major changes is the introduction of a new faction called the League of Miracles, which was inspired by a short paragraph in the original Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting book stating that the Tal'Dorei Council owed various mages a good deal of money for their aid in magically hastening reconstruction efforts following the destruction caused by the Chroma Conclave. How this occurred is explained in greater depth before detailing the League itself, which has basically created a gig economy for the magically-gifted. However, the League of Miracles also doesn't believe in discriminating against talent for past misdeeds, so various evil mages have gained employment through them and enjoy a measure of protection under the organization. The true goal of the League's mysterious leader, the Wonder Worker, is to amass so much public goodwill and political clout that Tal'Dorei will become a magocracy under the League of Miracle's control. The magical resources of Whitestone are also of interest to the League, but they have yet to make a move due to Vox Machina's connection to that city.
• Many locations have had their entries expanded. Whitestone, for example, now has six pages dedicated to it rather than the four in the original book.
• The current discussion regarding race in D&D has most definitely had an impact. There are multiple references to a rapid generational shift in thinking in the past couple of decades towards more diversity. Kraghammer, which had its own section labelled "Prejudice" in the original book and noted that non-dwarves were only allowed to live in the "Otherwalk", now allows non-dwarves to live anywhere in the city (it's noted that some dwarves were so against this that they departed Kraghammer to found new "dwarf-only" communities in the mountains). Goliaths now accept non-goliaths into their nomadic communities (so long as the newcomers share the goliath philosophy of valuing strength and athleticism). Goblins have gone from being described as "little more than vermin" to being welcomed into towns and cities, the former description given in the original Tal'Dorei book being dismissed as the product of prejudice. Perhaps the biggest change is that the Ravagers, which were described as a horde of savage orcs and goblinoids in the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, is now a diverse faction of bloodthirsty warriors, with one leader (Grud the Great) having been retconned from a female hobgoblin to a female elf-dragonborn. Speaking of orcs, the original write-up for them in the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting book made Volo's Guide to Monsters' treatment of them look tame (with quotes like "nearly every orc alive is a ruthless killing machine"), whereas in the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn book the most negative thing I can find about them is that they fought during the Calamity while the elves and dwarves hid (though what side they fought on isn't mentioned) and that although they were mutated by the blood of the Ruiner the aggression imparted lasted only for one battle.