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Critical Role The New D&D Book Is 'The Explorer's Guide to [Critical Role's] Wildemount!' By Matt Mercer

It looks like Amazon has leaked the title and description of the new D&D book a day early (unless it's all a fake-out by WotC) -- and it's a new D&D setting book called The Explorer's Guide to Wildemount; it's the Critical Role campaign setting, penned by Matt Mercer!

It looks like Amazon has leaked the title and description of the new D&D book a day early (unless it's all a fake-out by WotC) -- and it's a new D&D setting book called The Explorer's Guide to Wildemount; it's the Critical Role campaign setting, penned by Matt Mercer!

Wildemount%2C_Version_20%2C1.png

image from Critical Role wiki

There's no cover image yet, so we're stuck with the "Coming Soon" image.

This book appeared without a title on Amazon last week, and a 'reveal' date of January 9th, which was then later delayed until January 13th. Amazon appears to have jumped the gun a day early.

Here's some information about Wildemount, which is a continent in the same world as Critical Role's other setting, Tal'Dorei. It is described by the official wiki has having "real-world Eastern European influence.... The Dwendalian Empire takes inspiration from 15th century Russia as well as Germanic nations in Central Europe (e.g., Prussia). Xhorhas has a more 13th-century Romanian flair. Outside of Wynandir, on the edges of the Dwendalian Empire, the cultures and peoples of those regions display a distinctly 14th-century Spanish flavor."

HOW DO YOU WANT TO DO THIS?

A war brews on a continent that has withstood more than its fair share of conflict. The Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty are carving up the lands around them, and only the greatest heroes would dare stand between them. Somewhere in the far corners of this war-torn landscape are secrets that could end this conflict and usher in a new age of peace—or burn the world to a cinder.

Create a band of heroes and embark on a journey across the continent of Wildemount, the setting for Campaign 2 of the hit Dungeons & Dragons series Critical Role. Within this book, you’ll find new character options, a heroic chronicle to help you craft your character’s backstory, four different starting adventures, and everything a Dungeon Master needs to breathe life into a Wildemount-based D&D campaign…
  • Delve through the first Dungeons & Dragons book to let players experience the game as played within the world of Critical Role, the world’s most popular livestreaming D&D show.
  • Uncover a trove of options usable in any D&D game, featuring subclasses, spells, magic items, monsters, and more, rooted in the adventures of Exandria—such as Vestiges of Divergence and the possibility manipulating magic of Dunamancy.
  • Start a Dungeons & Dragons campaign in any of Wildemount’s regions using a variety of introductory adventures, dozens of regional plot seeds, and the heroic chronicle system—a way to create character backstories rooted in Wildemount.
Explore every corner of Wildemount and discover mysteries revealed for the first time by Critical Role Dungeon Master, Matthew Mercer.

Critical Role's other setting, Tal'Dorei, was published a couple of years ago by Green Ronin. This brings the list of settings in official D&D books to five: Forgotten Realms, Ravnica, Ravenloft, Eberron, and Wildemount.

UPDATE! Barnes & Noble has the cover (but not the title or description).

9780786966912_p0_v2_s600x595.jpg
 

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teitan

Legend
I am absolutely certain of two things.
1. There is no plan for a nerath/POLand setting book.
2. The Exandria setting has literally absolutely no bearing on that whatsoever, at any level, from any perspective, in any context.

Agreed. It's its own thing, it was just originally created and played with a similar mind set and using the deities for expediency. They've developed their own identity in Exandria while still being strikingly similar to PoLand.
 

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vpuigdoller

Adventurer
I'd lay good odds that the Critical Role folks got someone from the Critter art community, but that fan art community already overlaps with WotC usual pool of artists.



Thanks again.
 

Parmandur

Book-Friend
Agreed. It's its own thing, it was just originally created and played with a similar mind set and using the deities for expediency. They've developed their own identity in Exandria while still being strikingly similar to PoLand.

But... that's true of any campaign anybody did in Nerath/Nentir Vale/PoLand: that's all the there that was there.
 






Parmandur

Book-Friend
No there was more, especially in the last year and a half. Maps, the board game, some of the adventures really developed parts of the world. It was probably slightly more developed than 1e Greyhawk honestly.

I'll admit, core is as much as I ever got into 4E. A map in a boardgame is pretty thin gruel, though.
 
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doctorbadwolf

Heretic of The Seventh Circle
But... that's true of any campaign anybody did in Nerath/Nentir Vale/PoLand: that's all the there that was there.
Nope. I ran a POL campaign, and there is a helluva lot more to it than the gods and the general vibe of the wilderness and roads being dangerous. There is plenty of history. Every race, class, theme, PP, writeup has history and current cultural notes. Hell, some feats establish setting lore.

Exandria doesn’t have the same “Dawn war”, the gods aren’t exactly the same, the planes aren’t exactly the same, and the history of the world is completely, completely, different, as is the current state of the world. There are whole continents that are mostly safe to travel in as long as you stay on the road. The Teiflings currently rule a kingdom, as did the Dragonborn until just recently or 20 years ago, depending on the timeline. There is a major city everyone knows about full of temples where all civilization comes from. Many races have wildly different origins.

It simply isn’t the same.
 

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