Wildemount is the setting created by Matthew Mercer for the second season of Critical Role.
OK people, here's what we're going to do. We'll go through this thing chapter-by-chapter and take a gander at all the stuff inside. I don't want to spoil the whole thing, so I'll just pull out some of the ideas that I think are the most interesting. I'll also subject you to my D&D thoughts as we go.
Chapter 1: Story of Wildemount
The main story here seems to be about a war between the Dwendalian Empire (full of rival factions) and the Kryn Dynasty (surface-dwelling drow!).
There is a bit of discussion about running a war campaign, which is something I've always wanted to do. They suggest avoiding mass battles, and point out that characters don't like to be told what to do and don't make good soldiers.
Black Powder: "Dwendalian scientists in Hupperdook" and others have created black powder, which allows for cannons, mobile war engines, pistols and muskets to be used in the game.
Seems pretty cool so far. I like that they kept things very brief in the beginning, as I don't do well with walls of text. I'd say the thing that I like the most is the Kryn Dynasty. I'm also very interested in reading about the gods, as I think they've grabbed deities from many different sources.
So, reading further, the origin of this place involves a variation on the 4e Dawn War story! When mortals began building cities, the Primordials attacked. Some of the gods joined with the Primordials (and became known as the Betrayer Gods). The other gods gave the mortals magic. With magic, the mortals banished the traitor gods to prison-planes, and actually destroyed the Primordials.
We get details on each god. They've got some of my favorites in here! A holy day for each is listed, too, which is a fantastic idea.
Bahamut: "When not wandering the Outer Planes, Bahamut resides within his magnificent, glittering palace of gold, platinum, and mithril hidden among the winds of the Seven Heavens of Celestia."
Corellon: Corellon is still an elven god of magic, "...considered the Mother and Father of all elves." I like the nickname: "The Arch Heart."
Ioun: Now we're getting into some of that sweet 4e stuff. In this setting, she was grievously wounded by the Chained Oblivion, and her followers are now hunted by agents of her ancient foes as she recovers. Awesome.
"Ioun sits among the infinite library that fills the hidden realm of the Endless Athenaeum, her celestial servants cataloguing all known things as she inspires those who pray for her insight and guidance."
I love the idea of a wounded god! Their followers are trying to find ways to heal them. Very, very cool concept.
The Raven Queen: What's the universal rule in D&D? Everyone loves the Raven Queen. The Raven Queen underwent some changes in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes. I'm interested to see what RQ is like in Wildemount.
OK, wow, this is the 4e Raven Queen. "Her rise instantly obliterated the previous now-forgotten god of death..." That's slightly different, I think. I'm pretty sure it was mentioned in 4th edition that she married and then killed Nerull, the god of death, supplanting him. Her holiday is called the Night of Ascension, a day to celebrate her apotheosis.
We get a list of the Betrayer Gods, which includes the D&D heavy hitters: Asmodeus, Gruumsh, Lolth, Tharizdun, Tiamat, Vecna... and Torog?!?! Torog is a 4e primordial, I think. Let's see...
Torog: Yeah, he's the guy who crawls around in the Underdark. Here, he is "...banished within an unknown sliver of the Far Realm that now borders on the deepest pits of the Underdark..."
Each Betrayer God has a champion who wields a unique magic item, which are really cool. Each of these items has the life force of a fiend (balor, pit fiend, etc.) bound to it.
Chapter 2: Factions and Societies
The faction that I am most interested in is the Kryn Dynasty. What we learn about them:
- The dark elves turned away from Lolth and worship an entity known as the Luxon.
- The drow can can endure periods of sunlight.
- "Their cities are shaded by by umbral magic during daylight hours."
- Their armor is made of chitin and emits cricket-type sounds.
- Luxon Beacon: Souls can be bonded to these devices. If a bound person dies within 100 miles of a beacon, their soul is reborn in a child within the vicinity.
- There are 4 known beacons. "It is believed that once all the beacons are brought together, the Luxon will be summoned from their slumber to ask their children the great question and impart the truth."
In this chapter, we start to see that some of the art in this book is in a more cartoon-y style. It is good, but a little jarring for me. The cover itself is a bit more comic book-y than normal D&D art as well.
Library of the Cobalt Soul: The library isn't a physical place. It's a term to describe Ioun's teachings.
- Archives: Temples of Ioun full of information and artifacts.
- Expositors: Covert agents. "These enlightened infiltrators extract information that others would keepsecret and use their newfound knowledge to better the world."
Chapter 3: Wildemount Gazetteer
This chapter is absolutely massive. It gives me flashbacks to a similar chapter in Storm King's Thunder, which I struggled with mightily. Each area on the map is given a paragraph or two, along with adventure hooks and ideas.
Skyships: We get stats and information on skyships, which are powered by enchanted crystals known as brumestones. Air travel is "for the wealthy elite."
A place called Kamordah is "constructed over the prismatic mud from the Bromkiln Hills." There are Rainbow Vineyards, where wines are made. I will add these to my Great List of Food and Drinks before I forget.
I think I found my favorite piece of art in the book. It's a depiction of a floating outpost called Vurmas. It's so weird to me that, in the last 6 years or so, the best D&D art is of landscapes and places, not people. I don't understand why that is.
I can't seem to find this art online, so check out page 131 if you can to see what I'm talking about.
Hugeness: Taking in the enormity of this chapter, it makes me wonder how many people are going to sit down and absorb all of this, and then put it to use in their game. There are a TON of cool ideas in here - healing fruit (a trope I've always loved), moorbounders (special beasts of burden), a swath of land warped by the Calamity that now contains "electric wind," gravity funnels, and etherial rifts...
Generally, I think DMs prefer to make their own worlds. They'll cherry-pick stuff from books like this to use in their homebrew game.
But then, I forget that Critical Role is extremely popular and that there are a lot of people who are well-acquainted with some of this stuff. They've probably been dying to get their hands on this information. They can now set their own game in this world with their friends who might also watch the show.
So, for me, this book might feel a bit daunting, but for the hordes of Critical Role enthusiasts, this might be something they are already familiar with and are ready to fully embrace.
Found another great piece of art on page 153 - the Cauldron Sea: "A perpetual storm chokes the stony shores of this dark and brackish expanse, where aspects of the Elemental Plane of Water and the Abyss collide in constant entropic turmoil."
Chapter 4: Character Options
I am guessing that this is the chapter that most people will be interested in. Heck, the Dragon+ previews got me interested in this, and I'm not usually into player stuff.
The opening pages discuss how the different races fit in to the world. I am seeing a ton of re-used art from previous products here. I guess it's not a big deal, but I generally don't like that.
Hollow One: Beings whose souls have left for the afterlife, yet whose bodies still retain a fragment of their former selves.
- They are indistinguishable from other creatures, "...save for the faint stench of necromancy that lingers about them."
- Cling to Life: "When you make a death saving throw and roll 16 or higher, you regain 1 hit point."
- Hollow Ones don't age.
- They have an aura that can cause creatures to have disadvantage on a save once per day.
Dunamis and Dunamancy: An "...arcane force that helps shape the multiverse and might very well be what holds it together, like an infinite web of unseen tethers."
Echo Knight: A fighter subclass that utilizes Dunamancy. They can create echoes of themselves that can do all sorts of things - teleport, attack, see and hear through it, take a hit for an ally, all sorts of stuff. I really love this.
Chronurgy Magic: An Arcane Tradition for wizards. They can force re-rolls, put enemies in stasis for a round, place spells into a grey bead for an hour (!), and even peer through possible futures.
Graviturgy Magic: Another Arcane Tradition for wizards. They can manipulate gravity, allowing them to alter the weight of things, move things around, increase the velocity of attacks, create gravitational fields that reduce speeds to 0... all sorts of stuff. I am really loving all of this stuff.
Dunamancy Spells: We get a bunch of new spells that do everything from give a bonus to initiative rolls to aging someone to the point that they only have 30 days to live!
Heroic Chronicle: Piles of charts to help you create a backstory for your character. I am somewhat astonished to see 4 separate lists of food!
Backgrounds: We get a few backgrounds:
- Grinner: A member of a secret organization that spreads freedom and inspires hope. They know a number of coded folk songs, which are detailed in the entry.
- Volstrucker Agent: A clandestine organization of arcane agents who silence dissidents who would undermine the will of King Dwendal. Wow.
We get a few short adventures. Each is meant to introduce a group to one of the 4 regions of Wildemount.
- Tides of Retribution (lvls 1-3): Deals with sahuagin, ship stuff.
- Dangerous Designs (lvls 1-3): The heroes are hired to capture a goliath who just broke out of prison, and stumble onto a plot involving a war machine. I really love the art on page 218. Female goliaths look really cool.
- Frozen Sick (lvls 1-3): People are turning into ice statues, the group needs to figure out what's going on. This involves an item with a tremendous name: The Vial of Frozen Woe.
- Unwelcome Spirits (lvls 1-3): A warlock has gone missing.. don't want to spoil much else.
Chapter 6: Wildemount Treasures
Well now, here we go. 14 pages of magic items! And we start off with an item linked to one of my favorite planes - the Acheron Blade! +1 to hit, gives temp HP once per day, and it can give an enemy disadvantage on a save once per day.
I want to give some highlights, but the very next item has captured my attention. An Amulet of the Drunkard!! It smells of old, ale-stained wood. While wearing it, you regain HP when you drink ale/mead/wine. Tremendous.
The one after that is an Arcane Cannon. Amazing! It can shoot acid, fire, frost, lightning, and even poison.This can be plopped right onto the spelljammer ships in my Dungeon Academy game.
What's this? A food-related item?! Dust of Deliciousness! Ohh it comes with a drawback.I guess I shouldn't spoil it. It makes food more delicious.
Ah, the Luxon beacon has an entry. I mean.. it's on the cover of this book! Let's check it out. "This dodecahedron if faintly glowing crystal is heavier than it appears." You can use it to summon a "Fragment of Possibility", a little thing that follows you around. You can expend it to get a re-roll.
"If a follower of the Luxon who has undergone a ritual of consecution dies within 100 miles of a Luxon beacon, their soul is ensnared by it. This soul will be reincarnated within the body of a random humanoid baby developing within 100 miles of the beacon."
Reincarnation Dust! Sprinkle it on a dead body and it returns to life with a new body.
We get stats for the special magic items linked to the gods. I love the art for the grimoire infinitus (on page 272). These items have different states that must be unlocked. The states: Dormant, Awakened, Exalted. Each state unlocks different powers.
Infiltrator's Key: A mithral skeleton key. It can turn into a magic daggers, and can cast invisibility, altar self, etc. Once in exalted state, it can be used to create openings in walls/ceilings/floors and cast dimension door
Chapter 7: Wildemount Bestiary
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| by Andrew Mar |
Frost Giant Zombie: I'm on a big zombie kick right now, so this has my interest. An unstable artifact turned a bunch of frost giants into zombies! "Within the giants' glacial hearts, glowing and unbeating..." They have an aura that slows and possess a "freezing stare" that paralyzes and does cold damage.
Gloomstalker: These are basically wyverns from the Shadowfell. "Gloomstalkers were employed by arcanists and the followers of the Betrayer Gods as mounts in the ancient battles of the Calamity." They can teleport, they can snatch people, and they can emit a paralyzing shriek.
Husk Zombie: Fast zombies! "A humanoid slain by a melee attack from the zombie revives as a husk zombie on its next turn."
Sea Fury: When sea hag covens implode and the hags kill each other, the survivor sometimes becomes a sea fury - a mad, lonely, mega-hag. It has a death glare that can drop frightened enemies to 0 hit points! They have legendary actions and everything.
Overall
This is one of those products that isn't really aimed at me. I don't watch Critical Role, and I have a backlog of D&D things I want to run (Al Qadim, Spelljammer, a pirate thing, maybe the Extinction Curse). All I'm really looking for out of this product is stuff that I can pull out and drop in to my current games.
There are a lot of things in here that I want to use in some fashion - the Echo Knight, the magic items, some of the monsters, and more. The magic items alone are tremendous, and many of them not in any way world-specific.
The whole idea of Dunamancy is well done. I think it could have gone horribly wrong. Gravity and time manipulation in D&D? That's really walking a sci-fi tightrope. But they totally pulled it off, in my opinion. It's fun and it's magic.
That's the thing I like the most about this book - it's something new. There has been an awful lot of retreading familiar ground in 5th edition. While I like the idea of keeping those old ideas alive, I feel a bit starved for new content. I want them to take those old ideas and walk forward with them.
Or, in this case, just put out something completely new. A new setting. New items, new monsters, new magic. It's fun, and I think it is done really well.