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).

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dave2008

Legend
I'll admit, core is as much as I ever got into 4E. A map in a boardgame is pretty thin gruel, though.
There was a lot more info than the core 4e eventually. There is the Dawn War Pantheon / Cosmology and the Nentir Vale from 4e. They are almost separate things as one doesn't really need the other. Eventually there was a good deal of information about both, but you had to look over many sources for it (which I liked actually). However, the Nentir Vale setting was pretty small though and could fit in another setting fairly easily.
 

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dave2008

Legend
I get that totally laisezz-faire approach to settings, but that not what a living setting means to me and I'm interested in living settings.
Is that from a fan perspective or an actual play perspective? I've never understood the allure myself so I am trying to understand.

In a living setting, who decides what is living? If group A does one thing and group B does another, who determines which group actually provide the life of the setting? That is what I don't understand, it is only living from one perspective isn't it?
 

dave2008

Legend
Yeah, that's what I'm saying: literally everything in @Urriak Uruk smart except for the Empire of Nerath is true on Exandria, and the Nerathian sphere could be plopped down in the ocean elsewhere on the Exandria planet without changing much.
Not exactly. In Nerath / Nentir Vale setting the whole point is that there are not current empires or even countries. At beast you get a small City-State, but it is mostly small settlements. That is really the whole point or POL you might say. Exandria, to my understanding, has actual countries heck, they are even at war. That could never happen in the POL / Nerath / Nentir Vale setting, it is antithetical to the setting. Sure, you could drop the Nentir Vale in Exandria it would fit just fine, but Exandria's very structure goes against the premise of the setting from 4e. It would no longer be the POL / Nerath / Nentir Vale setting if it was simple dropped int Exandria.
 


dave2008

Legend

Morrus

Well, that was fun
Staff member

dave2008

Legend
If that is the actual cover art, I am very sad. The art for the Tal'Dorei book was, if not terrible, certainly second-rate. I was really hoping that when/if Mercer did another book it would get better art. With apologies to the artist, that cover looks pretty mediocre. What makes this extra weird and unfortunate is that there are a raft of Critters who are quite good visual artists and produce a regular stream of very nice stuff. It's confusing that they didn't tab one of them for this if they couldn't come up with something better.
I think they are intentionally using a different style for these primarily 3rd party books (like Acquisitions Inc) to set them apart. Personally I think the art is good, just a different style. It is not my preferred style, but that doesn't make the art bad.
 

I have mixed feelings here.

On the one hand, like CR and Matt Mercer and CR has helped the hobby tremendously and it is right that WotC does this,and it should sell well.

On the other hand, it's yet another generic fantasy setting of an unexciting bent, and not likely to add much to the game. Worse, because WotC insist on having a very cautious/slow release schedule, it means another year or more without a classic D&D setting being updated, and without a setting which isn't generic fantasy, which I think is an outright bad idea for the longer term health of D&D, because I feel like the really amazing settings are hugely helpful in making people really love and remember D&D and to stick with it.
 

It's ranked number 15 on Amazon and it hasn't even been officially announced yet. There's certainly a demand for it!

View attachment 117407

I think it's pretty clear that this was a good decision on Wizards part. Like it or not, for modern players Critical Role is a much bigger thing than say, Spelljammer.

It was also clever of them (most likely Mercer) to have the Green Ronin sourcebook explictly labelled "Taldorei Campaign Setting" rather than Exandria, and have this one specific to Wildermount. That way both can still be sold side to side, as a complement to each other.
 

Yeah, their game has spanned three editions.

You can tell by the gods - mostly 4E, but one explicitly from the Pathfinder setting (Sarenrae - who, like the others was given a alias for the Taldorei setting book, but, unlike the others, will have to remain under than alias even when Wizards publishes the Wildermont book)
 

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