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!

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).

 

[Parmandur]

If you are saying 5e is close to the higher end of complexity in the current Table Top RPG market then you are saying 5e is close to games like PF1E, PF2E. One of the complaints raised against 5e is that it doesn't have enough rules crunch and granularity to satisfy some people. So I'm sorry but this argument is not only nonsensical, it's also paradoxical. You cannot have a game that is both very complex and not complex enough unless you regard this as subjective opinion. Which it is.

I'm going by my 30+ years of experience, I have both run and played in dozens and dozens (and dozens) of different RPGs and in no way would I consider 5e at the high end of complexity. You want a real complex game? Try Shadowrun 4e where it took 2 hours plus to even get close to creating a character let alone begin running the thing.

What I have learnt over the years is that even with truly simple games, for example some OSR games like Basic Fantasy, it is a mistake to try to explain even the majority of rules to new players. It's cognitive overload. You just start with the essential stuff to get the character started. My experience of explaining 3.5 and 5e to new players is like day and night, 5e was designed to be easier to play and run and it appears to have worked. 5e is not complex but how you present the game to new players may be the problem. Use the drip feed, not the fire hose.

I have zero real world experience of people thinking 5E is too simple, bit tons of people being intimidated by how complex 5E is.

 

[Acolyte of Zothique]

I have zero real world experience of people thinking 5E is too simple, bit tons of people being intimidated by how complex 5E is.

Conversely, I have loads of real world experience from 4.5 years of running 5e of people telling me 1) They like how easy it is to get into 5e; 2) They like how easy the game is to play compared to 3.x or Pathfinder; or 3) They think 5e is too simple and they would like more rules mechanics/character customisation options etc.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I can explain D&D 5e in 1 minute. Like this;

"Tell the DM what you want to do. Then roll a 1d20. If it's high, you succeeded. If it's low, you didn't."

No, no, no... if you explain it like that, it's going to take more than 1 minute. You have to explain it like this...

"Tell the DM what you want to do. Then roll a 1d20."

"A 1d20. A twenty-sided die."

"Yes, it's a die with twenty sides with the numbers 1 to 20 on them."

"I don't know, someone invented them."

"It's the round one there..."

"No, not that one, that's the d12."

"Yes, I know it looks round, but the d20 is rounder and has triangles. It's that one."

"Yes, roll that die."

"Okay, you don't need to roll it that hard. You can pick it up."

"Uh, no, if it falls on the floor, just re-roll it."

"It's a table rule-- if the dice fall on the floor just re-roll them on the table so we can see them."

"A table rule? Well, a table rule is-- you know what? Nevermind! Just roll the d20 again. If it's high, you succeeded. If it's low, you didn't."

 

[JeffB]

No, no, no... if you explain it like that, it's going to take more than 1 minute. You have to explain it like this...

"Tell the DM what you want to do. Then roll a 1d20."

"A 1d20. A twenty-sided die."

"Yes, it's a die with twenty sides with the numbers 1 to 20 on them."

"I don't know, someone invented them."

"It's the round one there..."

"No, not that one, that's the d12."

"Yes, I know it looks round, but the d20 is rounder and has triangles. It's that one."

"Yes, roll that die."

"Okay, you don't need to roll it that hard. You can pick it up."

"Uh, no, if it falls on the floor, just re-roll it."

"It's a table rule-- if the dice fall on the floor just re-roll them on the table so we can see them."

"A table rule? Well, a table rule is-- you know what? Nevermind! Just roll the d20 again. If it's high, you succeeded. If it's low, you didn't."

So freaking true, Spot on.

 

[Parmandur]

Conversely, I have loads of real world experience from 4.5 years of running 5e of people telling me 1) They like how easy it is to get into 5e; 2) They like how easy the game is to play compared to 3.x or Pathfinder; or 3) They think 5e is too simple and they would like more rules mechanics/character customisation options etc.

Yeah, anecdotes are just anecdotes: but I'd suggest it's mainly hardcore gamer circles who consider 5E "simple," and that most people who play consider it to be a complex game.

 

[jmucchiello]

.=
Why the hell does Mercer have to apologise for that?

As I said on one of the earlier pages, he doesn't have to socially. But as a person, Matt Mercer will apologize for things that are out of his control. It is his nature. If he invited you to an outdoor bbq and it rained, he'd apologize. That's just how he is.

 

[jmucchiello]

Could have just sold out. If so, I wouldn't be surprised if Green Ronin did another print run though, which means it could reappear in the store soon.

Assuming their license allows it, they'd be better off waiting until the cartoon is about to drop before doing any reprints.

 

[gyor]

Well, fortunately this book is going to make WotC a huge pile of money, so they'll be able to afford a lot more of those folks now.

That is thinking big picture, not just on this small piece.

 

[jmucchiello]

"It's a table rule-- if the dice fall on the floor just re-roll them on the table so we can see them."

"A table rule?

Anyone who's played Poker knows what a table/house rule is.

So which is more complicated: The rpg D&D 5E or the board game Advanced Squad Leader?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Conversely, I have loads of real world experience from 4.5 years of running 5e of people telling me 1) They like how easy it is to get into 5e; 2) They like how easy the game is to play compared to 3.x or Pathfinder; or 3) They think 5e is too simple and they would like more rules mechanics/character customisation options etc.

Those aren't the same people. He's talking about newbies. You're talking about veterans.