D&D 5E WotC Announces New Critical Role Hardcover Adventure

Call of the Netherdeep will be out in March 2022. This adventure is set in Exandria and is for character levels 3-12. Interestingly, it also bears Critical Role branding at the top and bottom of the cover.

This is the third Critical Role D&D hardcover. The Tal'Dorei Campaign Guide came out in 2017, and the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount came out in 2020.

Darrington Press, CR's publishing arm, also announced the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn in July of this year with a release date of late 2021/early 2022.

An epic Critical Role campaign for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.

The greed of mortals has awakened a powerful entity long thought destroyed. For eons, this mighty champion of the gods has been imprisoned in the darkest depths of Exandria. His name has been forgotten, as have his heroic deeds. Languishing in despair, he calls out for new heroes to save him.

Inspired by the campaigns of the hit series Critical Role, this adventure begins in the Wastes of Xhorhas and leads to the glimmering oasis-city of Ank’Harel on the continent of Marquet, and from there into a sunken realm of gloom, corruption, and sorrow known as the Netherdeep. Above it all, the red moon of Ruidus watches, twisting the fates of those who have the power to shape the course of history.

Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep contains seven chapters of thrilling adventure, new creatures and magic items, and a poster map of Ank’Harel.

• First major adventure module within Critical Role’s world of Exandria, taking players from levels 3-12.
• Multi-continental story that spans the scarred Wastes of Xhorhas, introduces the continent of Marquet, and eventually plunges players into the Netherdeep—a terrifying cross between the Far Realm and the deep ocean.
• Bursting with lore and all new art depicting Exandria.
• Includes new magic items and creatures and introduces new rival NPCs.

 

[thundershot]

Eh, not for me. I would wager there isn't anything about Exandria that is engaging that also isn't done just as well by like, 300 other extant first and third party settings out there. But whatever, as long as it's not taking a setting spot I could care less.

I'm just wondering, when will we reach peak D&D brand synergy here? Is Wizards just going to start pointing around a room at things that are popular and make D&D books? The NFL is always popular, gimme dat Cleveland Browns supplement.

I will absolutely take a Cleveland Browns supplement! Lol.. (lifelong Browns fan)

 

[eyeheartawk]

I will absolutely take a Cleveland Browns supplement! Lol.. (lifelong Browns fan)

I'm sorry.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

The Wildemount book has four level 1-3 intro Adventures, any of which would slot in well here.

Mercer himself seems to have confirmed this is the design intent

 

[darjr]

So many great folks worked on this!

 

[This Effin’ GM]

So many great folks worked on this!

Yeah!!!!! I love that Haeck is on this, dude has been paying his Exandria design dues for years

 

[Demetrios1453]

I will absolutely take a Cleveland Browns supplement! Lol.. (lifelong Browns fan)

Meh, the creative team keeps having people breaking off and creating their own rival settings. Do we want the classic setting? Or the purple bird setting? Or the stripey tiger setting?

 

[pukunui]

For everyone saying this isn’t for them: remember that this will be an official 5e adventure, so it’s bound to be presented in a fairly modular way so you can cut/paste and reskin bits into your own campaign.

I’m not a CR fan but I bought the Wildemount book anyway, and I’ll probably buy this adventure too. I might not want to run a game in Exandria, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing useful in either book.

 

[vpuigdoller]

I'm really excited about this new adventure path.

My first foray into Critical Role was actually the Wildemount book, which I loved, it led me to try and watch the show which I didn't like. After not being able to watch more than one episode of the first 2 seasons of Critical Role (Vox Machina / Mighty Nein), I finally managed to watch the Exandria Unlimited short arc over the summer I think is 9 episodes total. It was pretty good, I loved the dm she was great.

Anyways by the sound of the description, it will be a Marquet Gazeteer (since the adventure takes place there) and an LVL 3 to 12 adventure, so it seems to follow a similar structure to other books like Baldurs Gate Descent into Avernus. If it does not include a Marquet Gazeteer at least it will include info about the cities the adventure takes place in like the Oasis of Ank'Harel. Hopefully, they'll show more info about it soon.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I would argue that although Wildemount's book is very well produced, it's actually fairly unimaginative as 5E setting books go (probably better than SCAG or Ravnica, worse than Theros, Eberron, Ravenloft). But we are all entitled to our own opinion...

I agree that it's a pretty standard fantasy world, but it does have quite a few more special things going for it, being:

1. How it treats the different races. It doesn't have the problematic treatment of Drow, Orcs, Gnolls, and similar races that Greyhawk, FR, or Mystara have. It's a kitchen sink, and it's fair to the different races in it. And unlike Eberron, which just says "Hey, you can include this race if you want, but you have to figure it out", it has a clear spot in the world for nearly every D&D 5e race from both the PHB and Volo's Guide to Monsters.
2. The Gods are locked away. This lets the Lesser Idols/Demigods take the spotlight, and although the gods objectively exist (unlike Eberron and Ravnica), they're not as present as they are in the Forgotten Realms. This lets players have fun in the world without godly meddling.
3. It's new, so it doesn't have a ton of lore bogging it down. Sure, it has the hundreds-of-episodes show if you really want to watch that, but they're not essential to playing in the world. It just has way less lore that you have to wrap your head around, which is a huge boon that it has over the Forgotten Realms and even Eberron.

So, yes, it's pretty standard, but it does have quite a few things about it that none of the other official 5e settings have going for them.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Anyways by the sound of the description, it will be a Marquet Gazeteer (since the adventure takes place there) and an LVL 3 to 12 adventure, so it seems to follow a similar structure to other books like Baldurs Gate Descent into Avernus. If it does not include a Marquet Gazeteer at least it will include info about the cities the adventure takes place in like the Oasis of Ank'Harel. Hopefully, they'll show more info about it soon.

Yeah, I don't think there will be a "Gazetteer" for Marquet, that will be saved for a hypothetical Marquet campaign setting book, but there will definitely be one for Ank'Harel, as the book is going to contain a poster map of that city.