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).

 

[Fenris-77]

Aporopos of no particular post, I want to say that I love Acquisitions Inc. It's not at all that my normal game has something in common with it, but rather that the idea is genius - it's funny, it does fit the material, and it hits a funny spot that a lot of people currently find funny. For me, it was that the whole notion seemed like a great way to mine an idea like the Trygalle Trade Guild from the Malazan books. Anyway, I get why its popular and don't have an issue with WotC deciding to support the idea.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

And why is this a problem? Clerics can't use wizard spells and vice versa - so you're not using all the core rules if you don't have one PC of each class. Running adventurers in a forest with no underwater stuff isn't using all the core rules.

A core rule (more accurately a design paradigm) in 5e is "a player can choose any race and class in the core rules". A DM is free to overrule that with a houserule, but WotC will never contradict it in official rules. Thus it would be against WotC's own rules to release a setting book that said "you cannot choose to play as a tiefling life domain cleric in this setting".

 

[3catcircus]

A core rule (more accurately a design paradigm) in 5e is "a player can choose any race and class in the core rules". A DM is free to overrule that with a houserule, but WotC will never contradict it in official rules. Thus it would be against WotC's own rules to release a setting book that said "you cannot choose to play as a tiefling life domain cleric in this setting".

It's the "DM is free to override" that drives campaign setting specifics, regardless of if it is homebrew or published. Which gods are PCs free to worship? If that paradigm was intended to be hard and fast, those gods would be forced to be the same regardless of campaign setting. Likewise feats. Likewise skills instead of attributes.

The 5e paradigm is actually intended or consistency in how the rules are rather than which ones are used. So - limiting a spell list is fine. Having Dark Sun defilers use living plants as their arcane focus is fine. Giving them a different spell progression would be a problem.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Which gods are PCs free to worship?

None, if it's Dark Sun, because they are all dead.

 

[generic]

It's the "DM is free to override" that drives campaign setting specifics, regardless of if it is homebrew or published. Which gods are PCs free to worship? If that paradigm was intended to be hard and fast, those gods would be forced to be the same regardless of campaign setting. Likewise feats. Likewise skills instead of attributes.

The 5e paradigm is actually intended or consistency in how the rules are rather than which ones are used. So - limiting a spell list is fine. Having Dark Sun defilers use living plants as their arcane focus is fine. Giving them a different spell progression would be a problem.

That's not what @Paul Farquhar is saying, I believe, feel free to correct me Paul.

He's saying that no official WotC campaign setting release will restrict player choice or violate core design principles. So, if Dark Sun was released, get ready for Tabaxi, rampant spellcasting, and true Dwarves galore. This is another reason why Eberron was chosen, likely, I suspect, because that setting does not violate any element of player choice.

 

[Parmandur]

I do think it would be easier to do something that incorporates those key elements of Dark Sun - environmental collapse - basic survival is tough - any sort of equipment is hard to come by - using magic is harmful - the gods won't come and bail you out - without actually trying to recreate 2nd edition Athas. Because that has so many problems for 5e: missing core races and classes, weird early psionics etc. It would be easier to throw the world out and build the themes within the 5e rules.

You might still use the name Dark Sun, but fluff it as another world that has suffered a similar environmental collapse.

A core rule (more accurately a design paradigm) in 5e is "a player can choose any race and class in the core rules". A DM is free to overrule that with a houserule, but WotC will never contradict it in official rules. Thus it would be against WotC's own rules to release a setting book that said "you cannot choose to play as a tiefling life domain cleric in this setting".

That's not what @Paul Farquhar is saying, I believe, feel free to correct me Paul.

He's saying that no official WotC campaign setting release will restrict player choice or violate core design principles. So, if Dark Sun was released, get ready for Tabaxi, rampant spellcasting, and true Dwarves galore. This is another reason why Eberron was chosen, likely, I suspect, because that setting does not violate any element of player choice.

That is not how WotC views the situation. Mearls has talked about how they'd approach Dark Sun, and it involves introducing early Psionics (perhaps via Subraces similar to the Dragonmarks), a few new Archetypes, and explicitly limiting the options available (with a sidebar saying "maybe you are the world's only Gnome Paladin, if you must").

Ravnica introduced limitations of the Core, in terms of Race and Class choice. There is precedent for limitations, and "everything is always available" is not a core assumption of the game, which is based on exceptions.

 

[generic]

That is not how WotC views the situation. Mearls has talked about how they'd approach Dark Sun, and it involves introducing early Psionics (perhaps via Subraces similar to the Dragonmarks), a few new Archetypes, and explicitly limiting the options available (with a sidebar saying "maybe you are the world's only Gnome Paladin, if you must").

Ravnica introduced limitations of the Core, in terms of Race and Class choice. There is precedent for limitations, and "everything is always available" is not a core assumption of the game, which is based on exceptions.

I hope I'm proven wrong.

 

[Parmandur]

I hope I'm proven wrong.

It was during one of the Happy Fun Hour episodes, but Mearls was quite clear on how they are approaching Dark Sun player options (and he is still the guy in charge of planning that out).

 

[generic]

It was during one of the Happy Fun Hour episodes, but Mearls was quite clear on how they are approaching Dark Sun player options (and he is still the guy in charge of planning that out).

I'm glad that they've chosen that direction, especially because settings like Dark Sun, which can, of course, be introduced to new players, thrive on the limitations that old players know so well.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm glad that they've chosen that direction, especially because settings like Dark Sun, which can, of course, be introduced to new players, thrive on the limitations that old players know so well.

For sure.

For instance, he talked about introducing Preserver and Defiler Subclasses for Wizard, and banning all other Subclasses flat out.