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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gyor

Legend
Sure. So, like, a book about Dark Sun... isn't targeted at people who like the Dark Sun setting. Right. Got it.

As I said, I do not feel this is going to be a fruitful conversation. Have a nice end to your weekend.

Of course it's targeted at Darksun fans, but they design these Setting books to have use for others as well so it appeals not just to a settings fans, but to those who will repurpose parts of it to home brew settings or other WotC or 3rd party setting, like Ravnica fans using Eberrons Artificer for the Izzet Guild (which E: RftLW encourages).
 

Markh3rd

Explorer
In my circles we do alot of AL play, and besides Eberron most of these settings books are not AL legal. Which means it isn't as useful. People still buy them but they don't really get used.
 



Weiley31

Legend
No offence, but it sounds like another (semi-)generic high fantasy setting.

Last time WoTC did something new with settings was Eberron.

Isn't it about time we get something other then generic fantasy?

The current mold of 5E DnD is that it's setting light to a point where the DMs are required to fill in the generic nature via their own creations or with the current supplements/books/dmguilds content available.

Plus Crit Roll, from my understanding, helped out A TON with bringing DnD back to mainstream and obliterating the whole Satanic Panic/stigma that sadly/stupidly plagued the game in the past. (People with common sense just ignored the stupid propaganda to begin with, but props to reversing the stigma of it all.)

It was only a matter of time before WoTC gifted Crit Roll official Canon status.
 
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PMárk

Explorer
See, the idea of cross-promoting other relveant WOTC franchises like MtG at least makes sense, though. I mean do I want to see a transformers setting for 5e?

...Well, only a tiny bit. But not enough to beg for it. That said it definitely wouldn't be my first or even last choice for a D&D setting. MtG makes sense because it hits a lot of the same beats and even supports the idea of multiversal travel, though on a much smaller scale than D&D is used to when you think of planeswalking. It's like being the guy to discover that sandwiches taste better when you put condiments and vegetables on them - Both are food, they all serve different purposes, but they work together and there's no reason for them not to.

I get the reasons from a business standpoint. It just leaves me cold. I'm not a CR fan. I'd be interested in a proper setting book for FR, or Ravenloft, or Planescape, or Spelljammer. I'm not interested in this.
 



PMárk

Explorer
Honest question:

Why do you want a 5E version of a setting you already own from an older edition?

I thought the setting stuff was basically independent of the game system.

(The vast majority of my games are homebrew, so I borrow setting stuff all the time. I just rewrite what doesn’t fit my own game.)

Because it's good to have a changing, evolving, living setting. New story, new plots, new characters, changing status quo, updated timeline etc.

Considering FR, the Second Sudnering was supposedly a major, world-changing event, yet we still hadn't got a comprehensive work about how it changed/affected 90% of the setting, or what happened since then?

Yeah, I can use 2e and 3e material, but that reflects the realms as it was during the 1370's, not "today".
 

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