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).

 

[Weiley31]

And all the Kickstarters we backed…

I felt this. I have backed a number of 5E kickstarters.

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

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

I'm sure Mercer could arrange a special deal or variant license that allows him to reprint without removing the class from the Guild

 

[darjr]

 

[teitan]

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:

In fact they seem to use the 4e cosmology for the Planes!

 

[teitan]

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

Why wouldn’t they?

 

[CleverNickName]

In fact they seem to use the 4e cosmology for the Planes!

I don't really blame them, either. I think the lore of 4th Edition was some of the best ever written. (The rules and system itself weren't really my cup of tea, but the lore? I thought the lore was excellent.)

 

[teitan]

I don't really blame them, either. I think the lore of 4th Edition was some of the best ever written. (The rules and system itself weren't really my cup of tea, but the lore? I thought the lore was excellent.)

I agree. It was more dynamic and interesting. Cohesive. The Wheel is cool but kinda stale. I’m hoping the inevitable Planescape book is more a toolkit like Ravenloft than a codified setting.

 

[BRayne]

Why wouldn’t they?

I assume they mean the names for the gods, that is Pelor, Melora, and Kord instead of Dawnfather, Wildmother, and Stormlord.

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

Why wouldn’t they?

The names for all the gods are owned by WizCo
Except the one owned by Paizo that was renamed

 

[OakenHart]

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.

Interesting, I admit I haven't fully read through myself recently so my recollection may be off. Hopefully you are correct, would love to see it in hardback.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

In fact they seem to use the 4e cosmology for the Planes!

From what I've seen so far, it seems to be a kind of hybrid of the Great Wheel and the World Axis. The Elemental Chaos is referred as something that used to exist but was separated into both Exandria itself and the separate Elemental Planes, which is more like the Great Wheel. The Outer Planes themselves are described as being scattered, which is more in line with the World Axis.

This description was given by Matt of representation of the cosmology within the Folding Halls of Halas:

"Okay. This arrangement, you begin to make out, is a layout of the planes, the transitive planes of the Ethereal and the Astral between the realms. You see these clouds of gray and light blue that mingle and create a Venn diagram where everything overlaps on top of. They act as the threads that hold these things together and connect them in between. The inner planes showing the elemental chaos where the primordial elements were ordered into following the Founding of Exandria. You can see where the flaming sphere is placed here, and there is the water, and the wind, and the earth. That is the scattering of these inner planes.

The outer planes, where the realms where the divine exist, are scattered and connected, all surrounding the Material Plane on the outer side."

The original Tal'Dorei setting book doesn't give information for the Outer Planes as far as I recall. The Wildemount book that WotC published has certain gods that exist in other campaign settings (like Pelor and Kord) dwelling in Outer Planes mentioned in the 5E PHB, while the 4E original gods plus not-Sarenrae are either wanderers of the Outer Planes or dwell in reaches of the Astral Plane that are not themselves Outer Planes. Pelor lives in Elysium, but Raei lives on the Island of Renewal "near" Elysium. Melora is sometimes in Arvandor but doesn't live there. Erathis' Hestavar drifts in the Astral Sea, as does Zehir's realm.

An episode from March of this year has the Mighty Nein find this notes from the planar researcher Ryn:

I continue to find an aberration in my data pertaining to Exandria, a cyclical, months-long, slow surge in low-level magical interference that then recedes just as slowly. Something that tangles my readings and upsets my analysis. It is too faint to identify the arcane nature at source, but I worry if this pertains to to the shifting between the veils. It could be something very interesting. Something very frightening. Very wonderful. More tests are required.

This leads me to believe that a new cosmology might be revealed in the upcoming setting book.

I also suspect that gods will either be referred to exclusively by their titles or by brand new names, as in Campaign 2 the cast consistently called the gods by their titles (especially the Wild Mother, but also others such as the Moon Weaver and the Chained Oblivion).

 

[Marc Radle]

I look forward to Darington Press being the #2 or #3 RPG in ICv2's charts for Q4 or Q1

#2 or #3 RPG or RPG publisher? It’s still going to be a 5E book …

 

[hunter1828]

Is WotC publishing this as the revisited setting, does it count as an official setting book? This is getting confusing. I now hope it is, because I no longer trust WotC with another FR book.

 

[jgsugden]

There is likely a lot of licensing issues being worked through here between Green Ronin, Critical Role/Darrington Press and WotC. However, I think an opportunity was missed. We'd have been better off for the long term, as fans of the game and setting, if the materials were released under the WOtC banner as it would have facilitated it on D&DBeyond, it would have given it more official clout, etc...

I'm eager to receive it - especially if it gives us some hints at the setting of the third campaign.

 

[OblivionDrive]

There is likely a lot of licensing issues being worked through here between Green Ronin, Critical Role/Darrington Press and WotC. However, I think an opportunity was missed. We'd have been better off for the long term, as fans of the game and setting, if the materials were released under the WOtC banner as it would have facilitated it on D&DBeyond, it would have given it more official clout, etc...

I'm eager to receive it - especially if it gives us some hints at the setting of the third campaign.

The gunslinger and the blood hunter were both added to Beyond, despite being DMs Guild releases, way before EGtW was a thing. I don’t doubt that Wizards are willing to cut special deals with CR for bending the rules of platform exclusivity in return for how much product CR helps push just by being the 800lb gorilla it is. Just saying I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we see this book maybe get a Beyond release but it’s also nowhere near a sure thing either.

 

[darjr]

it's possible that the entry on DNDBeyond is for this book. I mean the ONLY thing keeping dndbeyond WOTC only books is their license with WOTC which could be changed and if DNDBeyond and WotC were to adjust it for anything, this book may be it.

 

[darjr]

Ah! Beat by just a second or two!

 

[Disgruntled Hobbit]

#2 or #3 RPG or RPG publisher? It’s still going to be a 5E book …

Then it would boost the entire "5e Compatible" category

 

[Dire Bare]

it's possible that the entry on DNDBeyond is for this book. I mean the ONLY think keeping dndbeyond WOTC only books is their license with WOTC which could be changed and if DNDBeyond and WotC were to adjust it for anything, this book may be it.

Fandom's license with WotC for D&D Beyond does not prevent them from adding non-WotC content to the service. If they want to, they can add just about anything they want. They've been on record saying that they're basically too busy just keeping up with WotC's releases and increasing the capabilities of the service, and don't really have the time or manpower to add other titles. They've obviously made some exceptions for Critical Role elements, but that was likely because, 1) it's only a couple of classes, 2) folks at DDB are Critical Role fans, and 3) they frequently partner with Critical Role for marketing purposes.

We'll have to wait and see, but it would not shock me at all if the new Tal'Dorei Reborn book actually does show up in full on D&D Beyond.

 

[darjr]

Fandom's license with WotC for D&D Beyond does not prevent them from adding non-WotC content to the service. If they want to, they can add just about anything they want. They've been on record saying that they're basically too busy just keeping up with WotC's releases and increasing the capabilities of the service, and don't really have the time or manpower to add other titles. They've obviously made some exceptions for Critical Role elements, but that was likely because, 1) it's only a couple of classes, 2) folks at DDB are Critical Role fans, and 3) they frequently partner with Critical Role for marketing purposes.

We'll have to wait and see, but it would not shock me at all if the new Tal'Dorei Reborn book actually does show up in full on D&D Beyond.

How do you know that? I've asked them point blank about third party books and their answer was "We have a license with WotC" implying that their hands are tied. Also Matt (MCDM) has said they'd love to have their books on DNDBeyond but said their license prevents it, though he didn't go so far as to say he'd actually talked to them about it. It sounded like he just knew, he used to know several principals of the company when they were over there.

In fact their partnership with Nerdarchy was VERY limited, basically it was Nerdarchy sharing home brew things, it wasn't any of their books. I got the distinct impression that DNDBeyond wanted to do just that, have books from Nerdarchy.

I’d be ecstatic if I were wrong, FYI