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).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Wow, so I'm not the only one who would do this? I asked the question because, although I love buying books for the purpose of mechanics, even setting books (heck, even I bought the SCAG), I did not think that it was a common sentiment.

I wish we could find out how common it is, but yeah you are far from alone!

 

[Parmandur]

They have very little to do with each other, outside of a very similar pantheon.

I mean, Exandria simply started using the vague default setting of 4E: the pantheon and mythos is most of what the Setting consists of, other than race and monster lore (which Exandria uses exactly).

 

[caudor]

Wow, so I'm not the only one who would do this? I asked the question because, although I love buying books for the purpose of mechanics, even setting books (heck, even I bought the SCAG), I did not think that it was a common sentiment.

There is nothing wrong with that. I'm from a less rational group that buys anything D&D I can get my hands on. I'm restrained only by budget.

 

[generic]

There is nothing wrong with that. I'm from a less rational group that buys anything D&D I can get my hands on. I'm restrained only by budget.

Well, I kind of do that as well. Collector's mindset, I think.

 

[dave2008]

Wow, so I'm not the only one who would do this? I asked the question because, although I love buying books for the purpose of mechanics, even setting books (heck, even I bought the SCAG), I did not think that it was a common sentiment.

I'm in the same boat as you. I don't use official campaign settings, but I have SCAG, Ravnica, & Eberron for the extra crunch. Heck that is why I purchased OotA and ToA too.

 

[teitan]

I am pretty excited about this, I have the Tal'dorei book and it is very cool. It has a lot of that 4e PoLand vibe to it and not just from the use of the Dawn War pantheon. The way he handles artifacts with the Vestiges of Divergence is an awesome idea. The resurrection rules I am using in my current campaign in the Realms (shhh my players don't know that).

Tal'dorei is about a third of the way between Nentir Vale and Forgotten Realms in that darkness factor. I wouldn't call it generic fantasy Europe, I'd call it D&D fantasy.

Some of the setting is built around the characters backgrounds which is pretty cool and part of what makes the setting on the show so cool because it makes the world a living thing as an organic development occurs in the setting making the characters feel part of the world. It's very much developed like Greyhawk and the Vale were developed in 1e and 4e, putting pieces together allowing Mercer to improv and adapt the world to his players in a more interesting way than tossing them in FR or Eberron would allow. One nation, Zemnia, for example, in campaign 2, is very Germanic in inspiration because Liam O'brien adopted a German accent for his character and Mercer decided it was the default accent for people from that region.

The first book is filled to the brim, in it's short page count (143 pages), with adventure hooks and does something other setting books kind of fumble. While the official campaign was still ongoing, the seeds of the later adventures were in the book for DM's to work with. It doesn't rely on the characters from the show to drive the narrative of the setting forward while also showing their impact on the continent. The seeds were hidden in other bits and wobbles seeds that weren't picked up by Vox Machina. It was a lot like the original Old Grey Box in that way. Sure Vox Machina defeated Vecna but it happened after the book and even the Chroma Conclave is a thing still. It's a really well done book of "generic" fantasy Europe.

Wildemount is even cooler. It is the location of the battles of the Dawn War. A war brewing between two nations on the continent and just some seriously cool stuff there. While there are parallels to Europe.... not really. Worth checking out for sure. I am attaching a better map.

One thing I really like as well is that you can use books like Tome of Foes with this, all it's lore and such without changing it. It fits, sometimes better than FR.

 

[Remathilis]

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".

That's because most of what the Second Sundering did was reset the setting back to the late 3.5 version, with a few tweaks from the Spellplague Era. Seriously, if you have been following the various APs and reading between the lines, the setting is as close to reset as possible without literally saying "that didn't happen."

• Elminster, Drizzt and the companions, Laeral and the sisters, Murt and Durran, Volo, Dragonbait and Arcus, Minsc and Boo, and nearly every other important NPC has survived due to magic, elfdom, or other form of immortality. I think the only victims are bit part players, and Blackstaff.
• Likewise, most of the villains made it out 100 years later no worse for wear. Artemis, Jaraxle, Manshoon, Halaster, Xanathar, and plenty other's made it out just fine, not even including the various liches, demon lords, dragons, and other ageless types. Again, Fzoul might be the only permadead foe.
• Nearly all geographic changes were reversed; from restoring the Sea of Fallen Stars to fixing Chult, to returning missing areas from the landswap. Futher, nearly every nation that suffered setbacks are "on the mend" and the few that changed (like Myth Drannor or Etruril) are returning back to classic.
• All the dead or misssing deities? Back. Even those who died before the Spellplague are back.

All of this was intentional to make 1400 as close to 1300 as possible so that older material would work again and come as close to making an "evergreen" version of the setting possible. With a few tweaks, there is little in Dragon Heist or Descent into Avernus that couldn't be done in the 1300's. "Today" is nearly interchangable with yesterday by design".

 

[caudor]

I am pretty excited about this, I have the Tal'dorei book and it is very cool. It has a lot of that 4e PoLand vibe to it and not just from the use of the Dawn War pantheon. The way he handles artifacts with the Vestiges of Divergence is an awesome idea. The resurrection rules I am using in my current campaign in the Realms (shhh my players don't know that).

Tal'dorei is about a third of the way between Nentir Vale and Forgotten Realms in that darkness factor. I wouldn't call it generic fantasy Europe, I'd call it D&D fantasy.

Some of the setting is built around the characters backgrounds which is pretty cool and part of what makes the setting on the show so cool because it makes the world a living thing as an organic development occurs in the setting making the characters feel part of the world. It's very much developed like Greyhawk and the Vale were developed in 1e and 4e, putting pieces together allowing Mercer to improv and adapt the world to his players in a more interesting way than tossing them in FR or Eberron would allow. One nation, Zemnia, for example, in campaign 2, is very Germanic in inspiration because Liam O'brien adopted a German accent for his character and Mercer decided it was the default accent for people from that region.

The first book is filled to the brim, in it's short page count (143 pages), with adventure hooks and does something other setting books kind of fumble. While the official campaign was still ongoing, the seeds of the later adventures were in the book for DM's to work with. It doesn't rely on the characters from the show to drive the narrative of the setting forward while also showing their impact on the continent. The seeds were hidden in other bits and wobbles seeds that weren't picked up by Vox Machina. It was a lot like the original Old Grey Box in that way. Sure Vox Machina defeated Vecna but it happened after the book and even the Chroma Conclave is a thing still. It's a really well done book of "generic" fantasy Europe.

Wildemount is even cooler. It is the location of the battles of the Dawn War. A war brewing between two nations on the continent and just some seriously cool stuff there. While there are parallels to Europe.... not really. Worth checking out for sure. I am attaching a better map.

One thing I really like as well is that you can use books like Tome of Foes with this, all it's lore and such without changing it. It fits, sometimes better than FR.

Wow, thanks for that info and the map

 

[Parmandur]

That's because most of what the Second Sundering did was reset the setting back to the late 3.5 version, with a few tweaks from the Spellplague Era. Seriously, if you have been following the various APs and reading between the lines, the setting is as close to reset as possible without literally saying "that didn't happen."

• Elminster, Drizzt and the companions, Laeral and the sisters, Murt and Durran, Volo, Dragonbait and Arcus, Minsc and Boo, and nearly every other important NPC has survived due to magic, elfdom, or other form of immortality. I think the only victims are bit part players, and Blackstaff.
• Likewise, most of the villains made it out 100 years later no worse for wear. Artemis, Jaraxle, Manshoon, Halaster, Xanathar, and plenty other's made it out just fine, not even including the various liches, demon lords, dragons, and other ageless types. Again, Fzoul might be the only permadead foe.
• Nearly all geographic changes were reversed; from restoring the Sea of Fallen Stars to fixing Chult, to returning missing areas from the landswap. Futher, nearly every nation that suffered setbacks are "on the mend" and the few that changed (like Myth Drannor or Etruril) are returning back to classic.
• All the dead or misssing deities? Back. Even those who died before the Spellplague are back.

All of this was intentional to make 1400 as close to 1300 as possible so that older material would work again and come as close to making an "evergreen" version of the setting possible. With a few tweaks, there is little in Dragon Heist or Descent into Avernus that couldn't be done in the 1300's. "Today" is nearly interchangable with yesterday by design".

Yeah, "living" Settings aren't really done that way anymore...

 

[God]

Blech.