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!

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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dave2008

Legend
I kind of agree with this sentiment, though not wholeheartedly.

I have 0 interest in basically any of the tie-in products, though I don't mind the mainstreaming of D&D. I just wish they'd publish those as additional supplements and not as part of their primary release schedule.
Isn't that what this is, an additional supplement like the Acquisitions Inc book?
 

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Matchstick

Adventurer
Isn't that what this is, an additional supplement like the Acquisitions Inc book?
Mercer's tweet seems to address this:

"Know that my setting doesn’t eliminate, delay, or consume any such plans they may have for any future-such projects! I’m not stepping on such wonderful legacy properties, these same ones that inspired me growing up. This is just the new-kid stepping into that area and hoping one of the older kids will sit and have lunch with them. ;) If Wizards has any plans to release any of their much-demanded settings, they’ll come whether or not Wildemount showed up."

I think that's relevant to what you're asking, if not I apologize for misunderstanding.
 

Retreater

Legend
I guess you didn't like Dragon Heist, Dungeon of the Mad Mage, the Essentials Kit, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, or Descent into Avernus, which were all released in the same time frame of the products you mentioned?
Haven't looked at the Essentials Kit - but the answer to the rest of them are "no, not really." I wouldn't give any of them an above average rating. I don't think they've released anything to personally interest me since late 2017, honestly.
The bad thing is while I can ignore what I don't want to buy, the release schedule is so slow that if someone isn't interested in the Critical Role supplement, D&D will have no new products for you until the fall.
 

CleverNickName

Limit Break Dancing
With the release schedule that WotC has, it seems there will -always- be demand for a new product. Just count the number of people in this thread who have answered along the lines of "Not at all for me, but I'll get it anyway for whatever I can mine from it." Imagine spending full price for a product that you know, going in, you'll use 20 percent of.

...but if it's 20 percent or nothing, then people will buy, especially if they are collectors. So yeah, this was always going to sell well.
I don't think you're giving Critical Role enough credit here. This isn't just a "new product," it's a new Critical Role product. And love it or hate it, the Critical Role brand is really hot right now. It's the most-watched D&D live stream in the world. It has one of the largest and most active fan bases in the world. No D&D campaign--published or otherwise--has that much presence right now.

I predict this new book will sell out quickly. If you're thinking about getting a copy, I'd do it sooner rather than later.
 

Eric V

Hero
I don't think you're giving Critical Role enough credit here. This isn't just a "new product," it's a new Critical Role product. And love it or hate it, the Critical Role brand is really hot right now. It's the most-watched D&D live stream in the world. It has one of the largest and most active fan bases in the world. No D&D campaign--published or otherwise--has that much presence right now.

I predict this new book will sell out quickly. If you're thinking about getting a copy, I'd do it sooner rather than later.

I absolutely did not mean to trivialize CR; I understand it's hugely popular.

Having said that...most releases sell very well, no?
 

Salthorae

Imperial Mountain Dew Taster
I think that's relevant to what you're asking, if not I apologize for misunderstanding.

That is relevant to what I was asking. Thank you for sharing. I don't necessarily believe it based on what we've seen in the last 2 years, but at least that is his perspective.

We're almost 2 years from Mordenkanan's publication, which is the last "rulebook" published.

Since we've gotten:
  • Ghosts of Saltmarsh - re-hash of old adventures - May 2019
  • Stranger Things - Tie-in product - May 2019
  • Acquisitions Inc - Tie-in product - June 2019
  • Descent into Avernus - new adventure - Sept 2019
  • Tyranny of Dragons - reprint of first two adventures from 2014 - Oct 2019
  • Rick & Morty - Tie-in product - November 2019
  • Eberron Rising - Campaign Setting - November 2019
  • Now this CR product - Tie-in prdouct - March 2020
So: 1 new never before seen adventure, 1 new campaign setting, 2 reprint of previous adventures/sets, and 4 Tie-in products since the last collected set of monsters/races/rules were published.

These tie-in's HAVE to be diverting other publications because everything requires time to produce/review/set/edit/etc. So any time they spend on this kind of stuff is time not spent on new things that are not tie-in products.

Say what you want, but CR material feels like tie-in material to me and not "just a new kid at the campaign setting table."
 

I don't think we'll see 6e for a very long time (As in 10 years or more). I can maybe see a 5.5e with updated rules, but 5e is set up as an evergreen edition, and it's the most popular edition of D&D ever, as far as we can tell from sales and media coverage.

I wouldn't give up hope that we'll see some of the more popular settings return eventually. Greyhawk already received a book of adventures, after all. And even with this, Ravnica, and AI, we still got Eberron. So long as Wizards balances releasing old settings with these "new" settings, they can please both new and old players.

Things change. 6E seems far off and 5E seems evergreen right now but will it in three years? Or five? Technology and society change. Will 5E still have outstanding sales in five years? One hopes so, of course but maybe, maybe not. I am skeptical that we won't see a 6E, at least a defacto one, by then. I suspect it will be more like a 1E to 2E change than a 2E to 3E one, though. And however big it is some people will claim it's just 5.5.
 

Remathilis

Legend
Haven't looked at the Essentials Kit - but the answer to the rest of them are "no, not really." I wouldn't give any of them an above average rating. I don't think they've released anything to personally interest me since late 2017, honestly.
The bad thing is while I can ignore what I don't want to buy, the release schedule is so slow that if someone isn't interested in the Critical Role supplement, D&D will have no new products for you until the fall.
That sounds like a personal problem then.

WotC can't please everyone. The fans demanding Dark Sun or Spelljammer are the same ones who complained that every AP so far has been a rehash of an older adventure. The ones who wanted to see non-Faerun based adventures scoffed at a selection of short nautical adventures placed on Oerth. For every person who wants some non- "generic western fantasy setting" is another who wants a full Forgotten Realms campaign guide.
 

Parmandur

Book-Friend
I have mixed feelings here.

On the one hand, like CR and Matt Mercer and CR has helped the hobby tremendously and it is right that WotC does this,and it should sell well.

On the other hand, it's yet another generic fantasy setting of an unexciting bent, and not likely to add much to the game. Worse, because WotC insist on having a very cautious/slow release schedule, it means another year or more without a classic D&D setting being updated, and without a setting which isn't generic fantasy, which I think is an outright bad idea for the longer term health of D&D, because I feel like the really amazing settings are hugely helpful in making people really love and remember D&D and to stick with it.

In the past 18 months, Wizards put out books for Eberron and Ravnica, two decidedly non-Medieval, non-gwneric settings. What's more, with the way these three books have sold, signs are good we'll get more Settings.
 

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