• The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!

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).

9780786966912_p0_v2_s600x595.jpg
 

log in or register to remove this ad


log in or register to remove this ad

Coroc

Hero
I hate to disappoint, there was one: it's called the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide and it came out years ago.

I know people hate it because it focused on the SC and gave lip service to the rest of Faerun, but that is the model WotC has opted for in all their settings. Don't believe me? Rising from the Last War only covers Khorvaire and pays lip service to Xen'drik, Sarlona, and the smaller island kingdoms. Ravnica focuses on one of ten districts in the city. This book seems to be covering one section of this world also. Hell, their coverage of Ravenloft was a single domain!

The era of the encyclopedic campaign guide like the FRCS or ESC seem over. I might be wrong (guessing WotC's next move is a fool's errand) but it looks like WotC's method of covering a setting is general info, some setting-specific crunch, and one section of the world detailed with any detail. The rest gets a mention and the assumption the DM will either hunt for older material (available on the DMs Guild!) Or make up their own based on the tease and perhaps a fan wiki.

Big Kudos for that post, you nailed it!
 




EthanSental

Legend
Supporter
The human has the hair of a 20 year old youth, face of a lich and the eyebrows of my grand dad x2. Strong magic just in that picture!
 


Harzel

Adventurer
Is it just me or does Exandria sound like the name of a sleeping pill?

Sure, and Nentir Vale sounds like a gated community someplace, and Eberron sounds like a company that makes plumbing supplies or auto parts, and Ravnica* sounds like one of those pharmaceuticals that are advertised on TV, and Ravenloft sounds like a brand for bird feeders, and Athkatla sounds like someone choking, and Oerth ... OMG, now that's certainly original.

One can certainly retreat to either a) single syllables that aren't English words; or b) compounds of two English words. But even then (a) doesn't necessarily get you away from "sounds like" criticisms nor the possibility of landing on something with an unfortunate meaning in another language, and (b) sort of limits the flavor of your name space.

The older I get its harder to take a setting serious with "throw away" names as my suspension of disbelief is shattered.

I'm not clear on what "throw away" means in this context. Are there some that you could cite as not being "throw away"? Some of your own making would be particularly interesting.

Also, have you ever perused maps of unfamiliar geographies for place names or looked at lists of surnames and personal names? Do that for a half hour or so, and a lot of things that people make up look a lot less crazy. At least half the time when I create a name that I am hoping is novel, I google it, and what do you know, somebody already actually used it for something.

Im sure a good part of it is me being over critical.

I think you may be onto something there.

* Possible side effects include upset stomach, rash, fever, hallucinations, seizures, necrosis of tissues too numerous to mention here, insanity, and death. Do not take Ravnica if you are allergic to death.
 

Coroc

Hero
I think the coupling of WotCs output to stuff which already has a contemporary audience (e.g. Ravnica) or is supported by a computer game (DDO) and not that old (Eberron) or has other marketing levers like this one with youtube stuff attached to it is a decision out of economic reasons - and it makes sense if you look at it unemotional.

Imagine they would bring out darksun. So some people obviously played it in 4e some even in 3e but the high time of it was definitely 2e, so around when I started to play. And I am an old grognard.
Sure some of the young folks might know about it, but they did not experience the 2e stuff and what it added to 2e, a first approach of BA due to bad armor classes and high physical attributes.
Neither do they know the two PC games which are still fun to play for nostalgic reasons, but would not appeal to todays generation growing up with flashy stuff - which is enhanced a lot compared to the infinity engine series and its predecessors.

I am in an age where I sometimes ask myself: Why does young folk act and think like they do?
And then I realize : They simply do not (and can not) know anymore what rock'n'roll is, they do not know about those real awesome things that I experienced in when growing up in the eighties and the spirit which does not exist today anymore (Not everything back then was better many things were also worse, and there are things today, I do not want to miss for any price which did not exist back then).

And that goes for some of those old settings which some of us love: we got emotions attached to these settings which young folks today will never have, and that's the whole point, and the reason why the new releases, which some expect, do not happen.
 

R_J_K75

Legend
You're sure spending a lot of time examining a product that you've already decided you're not going to buy.

You should see my thoughts on some of the threads I dont post on. Since Ive already decided not to buy it, looks pretty clear Im making the right choice. Sorry Ive wasted your time by posting my opinion.
 

Remove ads

Remove ads

Top