Critical Role Wildemount: Most Pre-orders Since D&D Core Rulebooks

It seems that the most popular D&D setting in the 5E era is... Wildemount! Talking about the upcoming Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, WotC's Greg Tito said on a Twitch stream recently that "we're pretty sure that this book has seen the most pre-orders and pre-release excitement since any of the core rulebooks for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition were released".

Here's the quote in full:

"...It was number 1, ranked number 1, for all books on Amazon. How many of you out there remember when Amazon was just selling books? Raise your hands. Yeah, that's me. So it's really cool, even though obviously I do a lot more other fun stuff right now, there is a ton out there that are excited for this book, and it isn't even out yet.

"We have little bit of an internal metrics, but we're pretty sure that this book has seen the most pre-orders and pre-release excitement since any of the core rulebooks for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition were released, and if you've been following along at home, Dungeons & Dragons has been selling like hotcakes since 5th Edition released in 2014."

It sounds like the Critical Role setting is proving more popular (at least right now) than traditional D&D settings like Ravenloft or Eberron, newer ones like Ravnica, or adventures set in the Forgotten Realms.

Explorer's Guide to Wildemount will hit game stores on March 17th.

 

[Oofta]

WotC has been caught lying before, like saying Swordcoast Legends was inspired by 5e when it absolutely wasn't. I'm not saying their liars as in they lie all the time, but sometimes they get caught lying about things. It's not a lack of class when you catch them lying to merely point it out.

What does that even mean? It was D&D game. Much like movies that are inspired by real events, video games never adhere exactly to the TTRPG rules.

 

[timbannock]

Let's face it, old settings like Greyhawk might be my personal favorite because that's what I grew up playing, but much like Eberron became more popular for the generation that started there, Wildemount is the current new setting a whole new wave of players are familiar with. From a business perspective, it makes total sense to focus on that setting before Grayhawk or Spelljammer or Dark Sun.

As a massive Greyhawk and Planescape fan, I gotta agree with this. There's literally nothing that WOTC could put out for the vast majority of their older settings that would be any more interesting than, "Here's how to mechanically build this obscure thing in 5E rules." I think people constantly (and maybe even purposefully?) discount the amount of material on DMsGuild, thinking that "it's only FR and Ravenloft (and a few others)" means it's not easily portable to their setting of choice and already built to enter play. I think a great article series would be covering some DMsGuild releases and noting "this is perfect for Dark Sun" or whatever.

The people crying for the old stuff and saying they don't have time to do the conversion work themselves IME simply don't want to put in a couple hours of research to find that the stuff is already there waiting for them. Case in point: I spent an hour going over fan conversions of Sigil's Factions, picked up two DMsGuild releases about faction and organization rules, read them over the course of an hour, and had a document complete and formatted nicely an hour after that. So, three hours later, my Planescape campaign is ready to roll for the next infinity years.

IMHO YMMV sorrynotsorry that this might come off a little harsh

 

[Professor Murder]

My real question is: Will there be an alternate FLGS cover?

 

[gyor]

What does that even mean? It was D&D game. Much like movies that are inspired by real events, video games never adhere exactly to the TTRPG rules.

It wasn't that is wasn't close enough to 5e, it was that it wasn't remotely related to 5e.

 

[gyor]

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** This is a pre-order. Orders containing this product will begin shipping March 17th. **

Set off on your own adventures in a familiar setting with the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount. Created with our friends at Dungeons & Dragons, this campaign guide centers around the brewing conflict between the Dwendalian Empire and Kryn Dynasty and includes a guide to help you scale how much of an impact these disputing parties may have on your own campaign. The question is, how do you want to do this?

"Contents:

304 pages of material that will help you create your own dynamic campaign set within Exandria’s mystery-laden continent of WildemountFour starting adventures, set in four different regions of Wildemount, which are full of terrifying discoveries and dangerous secrets. These adventures have been designed to take your adventuring party from level one to threeThree brand new subclasses: Echo Knight, Chronurgist, and GraviturgistA guide to dunamancy magic, including new dunimantic spells!23 brand new creatures for your heroes to encounter (if they’re lucky…or not, depending)Descriptions for brand new magic items and Wildemount’s legendary Vestiges of DivergenceA guide to the calamitous history of WildemountAn extensive breakdown of the Wildemount pantheon, featuring idols and demigods that exist outside of the pantheonA breakdown of the major and minor factions found in Wildemount and important figures within each factionA gazetteer replete with locations familiar to Critical Role fans (alongside curious locales only hinted at in bygone lore)"

23 monsters, that is interesting.

 

[Oofta]

It wasn't that is wasn't close enough to 5e, it was that it wasn't remotely related to 5e.

You seem to be confused by the phrase "inspired by" or how video games frequently have little to do with the source material and yet are still "inspired by". Or, for that matter, who wrote or released the press release you have such heartburn with.

Anyway, have a day.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

In a article from comicbook.com the suggestion was to opening up more worlds in the DM Guild. I agree. Sometimes I have suggested the idea of recovering the concept of time spheres from Chronomancer (2nd Ed sourcebook) as the D&D version of Marvel comics What If or DC Elsewords. If memory doesn't fail the parallalel worlds are almost canon in Dragonlance.

 

[gyor]

You seem to be confused by the phrase "inspired by" or how video games frequently have little to do with the source material and yet are still "inspired by". Or, for that matter, who wrote or released the press release you have such heartburn with.

Anyway, have a day.

There is a minimum standard for inspired x edition.

 

[Oofta]

There is a minimum standard for inspired x edition.

I never played the game, but it's market speak, nothing more. Was it vaguely D&D? Then it was "inspired by". It's also likely that you're quoting this egregious atrocity of falsehood was actually written by the game publisher not WOTC.

But seriously. This is the best you can do to justify accusing the dev team of lying?

Have a good one.

 

[gyor]

I never played the game, but it's market speak, nothing more. Was it vaguely D&D? Then it was "inspired by". It's also likely that you're quoting this egregious atrocity of falsehood was actually written by the game publisher not WOTC.

But seriously. This is the best you can do to justify accusing the dev team of lying?

Have a good one.

No sorry, when you say something is inspired by something, it better be inspired by it, otherwise your lying, I don't except marketing speech as an excuse to mislead people.