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''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' is a sourcebook that details the continent of Wildemount from the ''
Critical Role ''Critical Role'' is an American web series in which a group of professional voice actors play ''Dungeons & Dragons''. The show started streaming partway through the cast's first campaign in March 2015. Campaign one ended in October 2017 afte ...
''
campaign setting A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A ''campaign'' is a series of individual adventures, and a ''campaign setting'' is the world in which such adventures and c ...
for the 5th edition of the ''
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (T ...
''
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.
Matthew Mercer Matthew Christopher Miller (born June 29, 1982), better known as Matthew Mercer, is an American voice actor. He is best known for his work with Studiopolis, Funimation, Bang Zoom! Entertainment, Viz Media, and NYAV Post in anime, cartoons, an ...
, creator of the setting, said the book is "meant to be both ..for fans of Critical Role" and "for people who have never watched an episode. It's an entirely new setting to set an entire campaign or more in". It was published by
Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidi ...
and released on March 17, 2020.


Summary

''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' is the first official
Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. It is currently a subsidi ...
''Critical Role'' campaign setting book.


Contents

"The 304-page campaign guide takes players to a continent rife with conflict and magic" and details the four distinct regions of Wildemount in the world of
Exandria The flexibility of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') game rules means that Dungeon Masters (DM) are free to create their own fantasy campaign settings. For those who wanted a pre-packaged setting in which to play, TSR, Wizards of the Coast ...
. It also includes a starter adventure for each of the four regions (each designed to take characters from levels 1–3). This book adds a variety of options for both players and Dungeon Masters, such as: * Exandria lore and deities along with thirteen new factions within Wildemount *Adds four new player races (Pallid
Elves An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "lig ...
, Lotusden Halflings, Draconblood and Ravenite Dragonborns), and reprints twelve player races (Aarakocra, Aasimar, Bugbears, Firbolgs, Genasi, Goblins, Goliaths, Hobgoblins, Orcs, Sea Elves, Tabaxi, and Tortles). *Adds a new fighter subclass, Echo Knight, and two new wizard subclasses, Chronurgy and Graviturgy *Adds Dunamancy, a new source of magic, with 15 new spells *New character background ideas and tables *Over 20 new monsters *New
magic items Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
called the Vestiges of Divergence


Setting

The book is set at a time when tensions between the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty—two of Wildemount's major powers, which are divided by the Ashkeeper Peaks
mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
—are very high and war is imminent. Western Wildemount is governed by the Dwendalian Empire and is ruled by King Bertrand Dwendal. A council of powerful archmages called the Cerberus Assembly act as advisors to the House of Dwendal. The region of Xhorhas, which occupies the eastern side of the continent, is regarded as an inhospitable wasteland by the Empire. Xhorhas is governed by the Kryn Dynasty, ruled by the Bright Queen Leylas Kryn, and is primarily home to the
drow The drow ( or ) or dark elves are a dark-skinned and white-haired subrace of elves connected to the subterranean Underdark in the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy roleplaying game. The drow have traditionally been portrayed as generally evil and ...
and other races considered to be
monstrous ''Monstrous'' is a 2022 American supernatural thriller film directed by Chris Sivertson, written by Carol Chrest, and starring Christina Ricci. The film premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival on March 12, 2022. It was released in the United Sta ...
. The Menagerie Coast sits on the south-western coastline next to the Lucidian Ocean and is governed by the Clovis Concord, a coalition of eight
city-states A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...
which includes Nicodranas and Port Damali. The
tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mo ...
in the northernmost region of Wildemount is known as the Greying Wildlands; the harsh environment leaves it sparsely populated compared to other regions. Eiselcross is the frozen continent north of Wildemount.


Publication history

The new sourcebook was announced on January 13, 2020 after being leaked through an
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
product listing on January 12, 2020. It was published by Wizards of the Coast on March 17, 2020. Mercer said "about half the art in the book comes directly from the Critical Role community. All artists that, for the most part, had never worked for Wizards before". Wildemount was designed with an Eastern European influence; specifically, the Dwendalian Empire was inspired by 15th century Russia and Prussia, Xhorhas by 13th-century Romania, and the edges by 14th-century Spain. The book is also available as a digital product through the following Wizards of the Coast licensees:
D&D Beyond D&D Beyond (DDB) is the official digital toolset and game companion for ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fifth edition. DDB hosts online versions of the official ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fifth edition books, including rulebooks, adventures, and other supple ...
,
Fantasy Grounds Fantasy Grounds is a virtual tabletop application, which contains a set of tools to assist players of tabletop role-playing games playing either in person or remotely. History Fantasy Grounds was first released in 2004 by SmiteWorks, originall ...
, and Roll20. On March 17, 2020, as part of
Roll20 Roll20 is a website consisting of a set of tools for playing tabletop role-playing games, also referred to as a virtual tabletop, which can be used as an aid to playing in person or remotely online. The site was launched in 2012 after a successf ...
's "Stay at Home, Play at Home" initiative during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
, the ''Frozen Sick'' adventure and the Palebank Village section from the ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' were released for free on the Roll20 platform. In April 2020, D&D Beyond reported "of the 28 million characters using ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' n their platform 49% of them picked the Echo Knight. Coming in second is the Chronurgy Magic Wizard at 30%, with the Graviturgy Magic Wizard at 21%". The top five spells prepared were: Magnify Gravity, Fortune's Favor, Pulse Wave, Gift of Alacrity, and Gravity Sinkhole.


Development

In response to questions on whether the book was canon and whether it had gone through rigorous playtesting,
Jeremy Crawford Jeremy Crawford is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. He is most widely known for being the Lead Rules Designer for Wizards of the Coast. Career Jeremy Crawford co-designed and edited the ''Blue Rose'' role-playing ...
, the lead rules designer of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', confirmed that the ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' is an official Wizards of the Coast product. He wrote that "like every D&D book, its rules have been tested by players, developed by the D&D team, and vetted by me". Chris Perkins, Wizards of the Coast internal lead on the ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'', said:
Exandria, which is the world in which Wildemount is a continent, fits into the D&D multiverse insofar as it is another world in the material plane. So just like Eberron or Toril, or Krynn, or Athas, it exists in that same sphere. ..This is a universe born out of one man's imagination, for the most part. And, it is also born out a livestream game. This is kind of a first for official D&D campaign settings. ..In terms of the world itself and what differentiates it, I think that it's a unique blend of classic D&D adventuring with kind of a political background. A tense moment in the history of Exandria where great political powers are vying for control over one continent's resources. A continent that has seen its fair share of calamities in the past. The characters have a chance to prevent another one, effectively. And that's kind of interesting.
''Inverse'' reported that the ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' follows the trend of Wizards of the Coast publishing material that originated in ''Dungeons & Dragons'' live play series. ''Acquisitions Incorporated'' (2019) was based on the live play series it was named after and '' Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus'' (2019) included
Joe Manganiello Joseph Michael Manganiello ( ; , ; born December 28, 1976) is an American actor. His professional film career began when he played Flash Thompson in Sam Raimi's '' Spider-Man''. His breakout role was as werewolf Alcide Herveaux in five seasons o ...
's character Arkhan. ''ComicBook'' highlighted that Wizards of the Coast has a deliberately slow development process "with the D&D team formally releasing about three books a year. One of these three annual books is a full length campaign, which leaves two publishing slots to publish new rulebooks, updated adventures, and other supplementary publications like campaign setting books". Over the past three years, collaborations such as ''Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, Acquisitions Incorporated,'' and ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' were added "to the schedule in addition to D&D's three annual publications".


Related products


''Critical Role''

''Critical Role'' is an American
web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...
in which a group of professional
voice actors Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...
play ''Dungeons & Dragons'' with Mercer as the Dungeon Master and creator of the world Exandria. A number of licensed works based on the show have been created, including the ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount''. The continent of Wildemount, created by Mercer, was first mentioned in ''Critical Role'''s Campaign One as the place the villainous Delilah and Sylas Briarwood originated from and later as the home continent of
Sam Riegel Samuel Brent Oscar Riegel, sometimes credited as Jack Lingo, is an American voice actor, director, and writer. He is a regular cast member of the web series ''Critical Role'', in which he and other fellow voice actors play ''Dungeons & Dragons' ...
's player character Taryon Darrington. Wildemount is the main setting of ''Critical Role'' 's second campaign. ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' includes series canon up to Campaign Two Episode 50. Haeck said "right at the beginning of the book, we make it very clear that this book is set in a very specific point of time and that your canon will diverge wildly from that of Critical Role."


''Mighty Nein''

In January 2023, it was announced that the second campaign will receive an animated television adaptation for
Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service p ...
titled ''Mighty Nein.'' The series will be executive produced by Tasha Huo, Sam Riegel, Travis Willingham,
Chris Prynoski Chris Prynoski (born November 1, 1971) is an American film and television producer, animator, and director, known for his work on TV programs such as ''Downtown'', ''Metalocalypse'', '' Freaknik: The Musical'', ''Motorcity'' and ''Megas XLR'' and ...
, Shannon Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio and Ben Kalina; Metapigeon,
Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed t ...
, and
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will serve as the production companies.


''Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting''

In 2017, the ''
Critical Role ''Critical Role'' is an American web series in which a group of professional voice actors play ''Dungeons & Dragons''. The show started streaming partway through the cast's first campaign in March 2015. Campaign one ended in October 2017 afte ...
'' team and
Green Ronin Publishing Green Ronin Publishing is an American company based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 2000 by Chris Pramas and Nicole Lindroos, they have published several role-playing game–related products. They won several awards for their games including ...
released a sourcebook about the continent of Tal'Dorei, one of the continents in the fictional world of Exandria and the primary setting of the first campaign of the web series. ''Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting'' was released using the Wizards of the Coast
Open Game License The Open Game License (OGL) is a public copyright license by Wizards of the Coast that may be used by tabletop role-playing game developers to grant permission to modify, copy, and redistribute some of the content designed for their games, n ...
and is not considered "official" ''Dungeons & Dragons'' material (unlike the ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'', which was published by Wizards of the Coast and is considered "official" material). The book does include a brief description of Wildemount in a section on the distant regions of Exandria.


Reception


Pre-release

On January 13, 2020, ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' "rocketed to #3 on Amazon's best sellers list, then, according to Wizards of the Coast's Greg Tito, reached the #1 spot by Monday afternoon. Through pre-orders alone, ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' has become the best-selling book on Amazon, outpacing New York Times best sellers and all other books". Corey Plante, for ''
Inverse Inverse or invert may refer to: Science and mathematics * Inverse (logic), a type of conditional sentence which is an immediate inference made from another conditional sentence * Additive inverse (negation), the inverse of a number that, when ad ...
'', reported that "in terms of new mechanics, ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' could be even more significant to ''D&D'' than Wizards' November release, '' Eberron: Rising From the Last War,'' which introduced Artificer as a new class thanks to the unique school of magic Matthew Mercer created for ''Critical Role'' Season 2: Dunamancy. ..At a more fundamental level, dunamancy acknowledges the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics, which asserts that an infinite number of branching timelines exist. ..How this will be presented in ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' remains to be seen, but it already sounds exciting". Sead Fadilpasic, for ''TheGamer'', reported on the negative criticism the ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' announcement received and on Matthew Mercer's response on
Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news news aggregator, aggregation, Review site#Rating site, content rating, and Internet forum, discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") subm ...
. Fadilpasic wrote that Mercer "addressed the frustrations of many fans in terms of the campaign setting, ..- he agrees with them, and stresses that the choice of Wildemount changes nothing in any existing plans the Wizards may have for those legacy settings. ..His post garnered a lot of attention - mostly positive - with people praising his work and encouraging him, going to show that while those with disparaging opinions and voices may be loud, they still do not make up the entire community". Christian Hoffer, for ''ComicBook'', highlighted the differences in the publication history of 4th and 5th Edition: "by this point in 4th Edition, we had campaign setting books for the
Forgotten Realms ''Forgotten Realms'' is a campaign setting for the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 a ...
,
Dark Sun ''Dark Sun'' is an original ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (D&D) campaign setting set in the fictional, post-apocalyptic desert world of Athas. ''Dark Sun'' featured an innovative metaplot, influential art work, dark themes, and a genre-bending take ...
, the Shadowfell,
Eberron Eberron is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') role-playing game. The game is set primarily on the continent of Khorvaire following a vast destructive war. Eberron is designed to accommodate traditional ''D&D'' elements an ...
, and the
Underdark The Underdark is a fictional setting which has appeared in ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing campaigns and ''Dungeons & Dragons''-based fiction books, including the Legend of Drizzt series by R. A. Salvatore. It is described as a vast subterra ...
. By comparison, we've gotten campaign setting books for the Sword Coast and Eberron, along with Ravnica and now Wildemount". Hoffer also reported on the divide between fans of older ''Dungeons & Dragons'' settings and fans of the newer third-party inspired settings. He wrote "I think that some of these issues could be solved by peeking into the pipeline and getting some confirmation that more campaign settings are being worked on. ..The success of Fifth Edition means that there's not a rush to publish material before it becomes obsolete, and that means that the timeline that D&D books will come out is a lot slower".


Critical reception

In ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
's'' "Best-selling Books Week Ending March 21, 2020", ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' was #1 in "Hardcover Nonfiction" and #4 overall. ''Publishers Weekly'' highlighted that the book sold 26,589 units and "captured the East North Central region's attention". In the following week, "Best-selling Books Week Ending March 28, 2020", the book dropped to #9 in "Hardcover Nonfiction". Charlie Hall, for ''
Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two t ...
'', wrote that the book is "written with a warmth and care uncommon in these sorts of things" and "may be the best example of its type yet created for the role-playing game's 5th edition. ..The world of Wildemount itself feels more fresh and current than anything that has come before". Hall highlighted that book breaks from traditional fantasy tropes and that it "gives guidance on how the different races perceive one another based on their cultural attitudes and prejudices". Hoffer, for ''ComicBook'', highlighted that ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' reuses the Orc race stats from ''Eberron: Rising From the Last War'' rather than the stats originally published in ''
Volo's Guide to Monsters ''Volo's Guide to Monsters'' is a sourcebook for the ''5th edition'' of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, published in 2016. It is, in part, a supplement to the 5th edition ''Monster Manual'' and the ''Players Handbook''. Con ...
''. Some of the differences include not having an intelligence stat penalty and the "Menancing" trait. Hoffer wrote that the book "takes an important step in specifying that no race of intelligent creatures inherently evil, nor are they inherently less smart than other races. While many still see the idea of 'race' in ''Dungeons & Dragons'' as problematic, ''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' at least removes one of the most problematic aspects of that part of D&D". James Grebey, for ''
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'', also highlighted that the book "adds some nuance to one of the most harmful tropes in ''D&D''" and "crucially, while there are bad actors among the Kryn, they're not evil solely because of their race. Traditionally, that hasn't been the case for ''D&D''. ..With the Kryn Dynasty, at least, Mercer is offering a way for players to add some crucial context and subtlety to their tabletops".


References


External links


Wizards of the Coast Product Overview

''Critical Role'' official website

''Explorer's Guide to Wildemount'' on ''Critical Role'' website
{{Critical Role Critical Role Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings Dungeons & Dragons modules Role-playing game supplements introduced in 2020