Critical Role Tal’Dorei Reborn from Critical Role's Darrington Press

Critical Role's publishing arm, Darrington Press, has announced that it is relaunching the Tal'Dorei campaign setting (which was originally published inn 2017 by Green Ronin). The new setting is called Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn and will launch in late 2021/early 2022.

Since we launched Darrington Press, one product has been asked for again and again: the popular and out-of-print Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting.

Today, we are delighted to announce that the sourcebook is coming back, in a shiny new form: Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn—lovingly hashtagged #TalDoreiReborn for short. This definitive sourcebook brings the locations, people, creatures, and character options of Critical Role’s Tal’Dorei to your gaming table, complete with 5th edition stats for new magic items, subclasses, and even the members of Vox Machina. Whether you’re a fan of the original sourcebook or are totally new to Tal’Dorei, this book is for you.

The book is double the size of the original, at 280 pages, and advances the setting by two decades.

Inside, you'll find info on each major region of the setting, 9 new subclasses and 5 new backgrounds, new magic items, creatures, and updated stat blocks for the members of Vox Machina.

There will also be a deluxe boxed set from Beadle & Grimm's.

The FAQ indicates that it will not be possible to buy the PDF-only version at launch, but if you buy from the Critical Role shop you get the PDF bundled in (not if you buy it elsewhere though).

 

[G R (grizzyGR)]

So many questions asked in the comments that could be answered by simply reading the article that they are commenting on...

 

[Reynard]

I wonder if they'll be able to use the names from Wildemount

It should be easy to find out. Look at the copyright page of Wildemount and see who it says owns which trademarks.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

So many questions asked in the comments that could be answered by simply reading the article that they are commenting on...

That's no fun

 

[overgeeked]

It should be easy to find out. Look at the copyright page of Wildemount and see who it says owns which trademarks.

“The world of Exandria, its groups of individuals, its elements, its distinctive characters, and its locations are the sole property of Critical Role. All rights reserved. All other characters and their distinctive likenesses are property of Wizards of the Coast.”

 

[Dire Bare]

I meant more that they don't have to use WotC's official D&D multiverse lore if they don't want to (unless that's included in the SRD for some reason, which I doubt). Mercer and co. don't have to use the Great Wheel for their setting's cosmology and they don't have to say that the Platinum Dragon is the same deity as Paladine from Dragonlance, which is the direction that WotC has been going with their own settings in 5E.

A late Campaign 2 episode also had the party find notes left behind by a planar researcher in the setting that read:

Critical Role always had that freedom. They were never beholden to use D&D lore that Mercer didn't want to use, even when partnering with WotC on the Wildemount book.

You act like WotC is some sort of bully forcing the small players to play by their rules. Outside of the OGL, Mercer and crew can do whatever they want. Mercer happily designed a setting for his favorite game, D&D, and happily used lore elements that suited his tastes, and ignored lore that didn't. He was happy to partner with Green Ronin on the original OGL Tal'Dorei sourcebook, and was happy to partner with WotC on the Wildemount sourcebook. I'm sure he's even happier to publish the "reborn" Tal'Dorei book through his own small-press publishing company.

I'm confident that Mercer and the Critical Role crew will continue their own publishing journey, and also continue to partner with all sort of folks in the TRPG community, including WotC.

 

[Dire Bare]

It's unlikely to happen due to Non-WOTC material published on DMs Guild not being allowed to be printed elsewhere.

It's my understanding that products on the DMsGuild can't be offered elsewhere . . . but that taking elements of those products and updating them in new products isn't a problem.

So, the actual Blood Hunter ebook available on the DMsGuild can't be offered elsewhere. But it should be okay for Mercer to update the blood hunter class and include it in the Tal'Dorei Reborn book. Or at least, I hope that's how it works.

I'm hoping that Darrington Press/Critical Role has a licensing agreement with WotC so they can use non-OGL lore elements in the new book, specifically the names of the gods.

 

[Faolyn]

How do dozens of new creatures and adversaries only end up with 18 statblocks? Did they mean 108 or 118?

 

[Reynard]

How do dozens of new creatures and adversaries only end up with 18 statblocks? Did they mean 108 or 118?

If variants are only different by a special ability or two, it makes sense.

 

[overgeeked]

If variants are only different by a special ability or two, it makes sense.

Or if some monsters just don’t have stat blocks. Not everything is killable.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Or if some monsters just don’t have stat blocks. Not everything is killable.