As confirmed on Critical Role's website, Call of the Netherdeep was made in coordination with Mercer and the CR team with their full blessing and sign-off, but is otherwise the first Wizards-original adventure written for Exandria instead of Faerun. No direct connection to any existing CR campaign, but still an official Wizards product set in the world of Exandria.
I legit don't know what to think, I'm still processing. This is the very first official 5e adventure, to my knowledge, that isn't set in Faerun (with the sorta half-exception of Ghosts of Saltmarsh, which is set in Vaguely Greyhawk Maybe But Mostly Still Faerun Question-Mark). Exandria got an Official Adventure before Eberron did. I know it's fashionable to hate on Critical Role on these boards, but this is a major milestone for them. This is living proof that the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount wasn't a one-off cash-in and Exandria is here to stay. I don't normally care about adventure books in the slightest, but I gotta admit - this is enticing.
Anyone else feeling some kinda way about this book? I'm definitely gonna have to keep a close eye on it. As well as figure out who in my group gets to buy it and who gets to never read it, because there's enough dedicated Critters here to make that a very real decision @_@
I’m honestly in love with the cover art, and that’s kinda won me over. Additionally, I liked Explorers’ Guide because of its amazing gazetteer, and additionally, the world is much newer and easier to understand for someone like me that the Forgotten Realms is. Overall, I think I’ll wait and watch the information coming out about the book and general reaction once it’s released. If it seems good, I might get it.
What's interesting to me is the discount I get on it here for content owned. I wonder what content that is?
Some of the content that exists in it, might also exist in their Explorer's Guide to Wildemount but that's just a guess.
If I keep on with DnD I think I'd skip this module, it's interesting in the fact that it exists and that part is really intriguing. But I really would have wanted a re release of their earlier source book as a collaboration with Wizard so we could get access to the other subclasses if we wanted to use them, without needing to homebrew them.
So the adventure is an official WotC book, but the upcoming Tal'Dorei revisited book is through CR's own Darrington Press?
Kinda stinks from a D&D Beyond perspective only because one of the books will be available here, but the other won't be. Not holding my breath for that to change -- despite CR's popularity.
What's interesting to me is the discount I get on it here for content owned. I wonder what content that is?
If you have a bundle, you get a discount for 'content owned' - Its showing as $25.49 for me which indicates that its the standard 15% discount for being a legendary bundle owner. So I'm assuming that its all new content.
So the adventure is an official WotC book, but the upcoming Tal'Dorei revisited book is through CR's own Darrington Press?
My guess is it might be in part to do with the fact that Tal'Dorei revisited has subclasses (and possibly feats, if it contains everything in the original book, though the blurb doesn't mention feats). If the subclasses couldn't get approved for use in all D&D settings (and a few of them would have to get Purple Dragon Knight treatment to be used outside of Exandria) it would make sense that that book might not get official WotC approval.
So the adventure is an official WotC book, but the upcoming Tal'Dorei revisited book is through CR's own Darrington Press?
Kinda stinks from a D&D Beyond perspective only because one of the books will be available here, but the other won't be. Not holding my breath for that to change -- despite CR's popularity.
I imagine the licensing is weird for Tal'Dorei CG and the TDCG: Reborn book, given their history with Green Ronin. Could also be that they floated the idea of doing Tal'Dorei by Wizards as well, and Wizards turned them down because their setting-book slots are full. Critical Role can publish their own books in-house through Darrington Press without needing a mother-may-I from Wizards, and they can also benefit from working with Wizards directly to do the Exandrian content WotC wants to do. Basically allows CR to offer a higher cadence of CR-specific gaming material for folks who prefer Exandria to Faerun without putting undue pressure on the Faerun content Wizards is directly responsible for.
Besides. It's outside possible that DDB will get special dispensation to offer Tal'Dorei Reborn here on their service. Unlike the original campaign guide, which I believe actually predated DDB by a few months and was created primarily by a company with no working relationship with Wizards, TDCG:R is made in-house by CR. They control this book fully (unless Green Ronin still has something to say about it), and if that's the case they very clearly have a good working relationship with Wizards as well as DDB. I don't expect it, in the slightest, but this would be the one edge case where it's a least plausible that DDB could implement a third-party book due to their relationship with Critical Role.
Tangentially related side note: apparently Shaggy's power has crossed dimensional boundaries yet again. Because once you see it, you can't unsee it - the man is clearly on the cover of the new book.
I think it's interesting in the light of wotc planning to release a new campaign setting so that 5e can have "its" setting, much like how 3.5 had Ebberon, when, now that I think of it, Exandria and other CR content is already filling that niche for 5e.
And it almost seems fitting that Tal'dorae is rapidly becoming *the* 5e setting, considering the role CR (love it or hate it) played in 5e's popularity boom. Many new players were introduced to the game in droves through the show, they're familiar with the lore and invested in the world from the show, and now they're getting more content support than any other non-FR setting available for 5e (and FR is pretty generic fantasy with little actual 5e world support like an actual setting book) .
As not a crazy huge fan of CR myself (or most streaming shows, I learned a while ago that on the most part I don't find watching people play that interesting), I actually don't hate it as the near-ubiquitous 5e setting. CR has its place in gaming history now, and I don't think it's a good or bad thing, it's just one of those things people will talk about when reminiscing about the edition in the future. I think people think of Critical Role when they think of 5e, and vice versa.
I don't normally buy adventure books, but I will check this one out. The premise is far more interesting to me than any of the previously published adventures thus far.
I think it's interesting in the light of wotc planning to release a new campaign setting so that 5e can have "its" setting, much like how 3.5 had Ebberon, when, now that I think of it, Exandria and other CR content is already filling that niche for 5e.
And it almost seems fitting that Tal'dorae is rapidly becoming *the* 5e setting, considering the role CR (love it or hate it) played in 5e's popularity boom. Many new players were introduced to the game in droves through the show, they're familiar with the lore and invested in the world from the show, and now they're getting more content support than any other non-FR setting available for 5e (and FR is pretty generic fantasy with little actual 5e world support like an actual setting book) .
As not a crazy huge fan of CR myself (or most streaming shows, I learned a while ago that on the most part I don't find watching people play that interesting), I actually don't hate it as the near-ubiquitous 5e setting. CR has its place in gaming history now, and I don't think it's a good or bad thing, it's just one of those things people will talk about when reminiscing about the edition in the future. I think people think of Critical Role when they think of 5e, and vice versa.
I would be willing to bet that if CR switched systems, you would see a drop in sales for 5e and a marked rise in sales for what ever system they went to. 5e wouldn't die, but you would notice a difference.
I think it's interesting in the light of wotc planning to release a new campaign setting so that 5e can have "its" setting, much like how 3.5 had Ebberon, when, now that I think of it, Exandria and other CR content is already filling that niche for 5e.
And it almost seems fitting that Tal'dorae is rapidly becoming *the* 5e setting, considering the role CR (love it or hate it) played in 5e's popularity boom. Many new players were introduced to the game in droves through the show, they're familiar with the lore and invested in the world from the show, and now they're getting more content support than any other non-FR setting available for 5e (and FR is pretty generic fantasy with little actual 5e world support like an actual setting book) .
As not a crazy huge fan of CR myself (or most streaming shows, I learned a while ago that on the most part I don't find watching people play that interesting), I actually don't hate it as the near-ubiquitous 5e setting. CR has its place in gaming history now, and I don't think it's a good or bad thing, it's just one of those things people will talk about when reminiscing about the edition in the future. I think people think of Critical Role when they think of 5e, and vice versa.
I would be willing to bet that if CR switched systems, you would see a drop in sales for 5e and a marked rise in sales for what every system they went to. 5e wouldn't die, but you would notice a difference.
Yeah, and there's a reason they switched from using Pathfinder in their home game to 5e when they started the stream. Both the edition and the stream were starting up around the same time, and they both fed into each other to build this massive fan base that's essentially joined the two at the hip from the start. I think the history of 5e would've been very different if critical role hadn't hitched its wagon to it. In that light, it seems appropriate that 5e's presumptive setting is in the CR world.
Either way it's something I can observe from the sidelines, since I mostly run homebrew worlds and don't buy a lot of adventures.
Any other TT game dev would sacrifice an intern or six under a blood moon to become Critical Role's new primary gaming system.
It's also never going to happen.
Wizards of the Coast has given CR two Official D&D Books, now. It's plainly obvious that the company is invested in CR in a way few other gaming companies could match, and CR is just as heavily invested in 5e. All of their gaming products are based in 5e. Their first independent book release is in 5e. Their entire broadcast history, short one-off one-shots and a single four-episode miniseries, is in 5e. The two are married at the hip at this point.
I'll admit that I'd enjoy seeing what the team could do with a long-form campaign under another system, but that's mostly an intellectual curiosity thing and a higher willingness than many Critters to let them experiment and see what they can do. It's not anything with a remote possibility of actually happening.
I don't know, I really think that WotC is more reliant upon CR than the other way around. Anything those guys endorse their fans throw money at. That doesn't mean that I think they are likely to switch systems or anything of that nature. I am just saying that the "Critters" are crazy like that.
I don't know, I really think that WotC is more reliant upon CR than the other way around. Anything those guys endorse their fans throw money at. That doesn't mean that I think they are likely to switch systems or anything of that nature. I am just saying that the "Critters" are crazy like that.
Hello Golaryn,
This is true. I didn’t even look at what the description said. I just saw CR in the title and threw my credit card at it like a shuriken with the word “pop” etched into it. :)
I don't particularly care for the implication there Golaryn, though it is true that the CR team generally - generally - has the enthusiastic support of its fanbase. Usually because they work very hard to maintain and strengthen that goodwill. It is not universal, however. Look up the Feast of Legend for what happens when they do something even just a noticeable minotiry of the fanbase decides is Bad Juju.
I don't know, I really think that WotC is more reliant upon CR than the other way around. Anything those guys endorse their fans throw money at. That doesn't mean that I think they are likely to switch systems or anything of that nature. I am just saying that the "Critters" are crazy like that.
Idk didn't the Ukatoa board game under-perform pretty significantly? I think CR gets a lot of mileage from DnD's status in the public eye as the ubiquitous TTRPG. That's why they switched from PF originally. I think they get nearly as much as they give.
I don't particularly care for the implication there Golaryn, though it is true that the CR team generally - generally - has the enthusiastic support of its fanbase. Usually because they work very hard to maintain and strengthen that goodwill. It is not universal, however. Look up the Feast of Legend for what happens when they do something even just a noticeable minotiry of the fanbase decides is Bad Juju.
Working hard to maintain a reputation is exactly why their fans will go that extra mile (11 million miles if needed) for them. I really doubt that WotC could achieve the same thing on the merits of their own reputation.
It's a mutually beneficial relationship, neither is exactly dependent on the other but both set something out of the partnership they likely couldn't get from anyone else. Matt deliberately chose to switch to 5E from Pathfinder, that choice certainly helped, and in terms of financial backing nobody's pockets are as deep as those on the D&D side. WotC/5E on the other hand have obviously gotten a massive swell in popularity and customer growth.
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So can we talk about this?
As confirmed on Critical Role's website, Call of the Netherdeep was made in coordination with Mercer and the CR team with their full blessing and sign-off, but is otherwise the first Wizards-original adventure written for Exandria instead of Faerun. No direct connection to any existing CR campaign, but still an official Wizards product set in the world of Exandria.
I legit don't know what to think, I'm still processing. This is the very first official 5e adventure, to my knowledge, that isn't set in Faerun (with the sorta half-exception of Ghosts of Saltmarsh, which is set in Vaguely Greyhawk Maybe But Mostly Still Faerun Question-Mark). Exandria got an Official Adventure before Eberron did. I know it's fashionable to hate on Critical Role on these boards, but this is a major milestone for them. This is living proof that the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount wasn't a one-off cash-in and Exandria is here to stay. I don't normally care about adventure books in the slightest, but I gotta admit - this is enticing.
Anyone else feeling some kinda way about this book? I'm definitely gonna have to keep a close eye on it. As well as figure out who in my group gets to buy it and who gets to never read it, because there's enough dedicated Critters here to make that a very real decision @_@
Please do not contact or message me.
What's interesting to me is the discount I get on it here for content owned. I wonder what content that is?
I’m honestly in love with the cover art, and that’s kinda won me over. Additionally, I liked Explorers’ Guide because of its amazing gazetteer, and additionally, the world is much newer and easier to understand for someone like me that the Forgotten Realms is. Overall, I think I’ll wait and watch the information coming out about the book and general reaction once it’s released. If it seems good, I might get it.
Some of the content that exists in it, might also exist in their Explorer's Guide to Wildemount but that's just a guess.
If I keep on with DnD I think I'd skip this module, it's interesting in the fact that it exists and that part is really intriguing. But I really would have wanted a re release of their earlier source book as a collaboration with Wizard so we could get access to the other subclasses if we wanted to use them, without needing to homebrew them.
So the adventure is an official WotC book, but the upcoming Tal'Dorei revisited book is through CR's own Darrington Press?
Kinda stinks from a D&D Beyond perspective only because one of the books will be available here, but the other won't be. Not holding my breath for that to change -- despite CR's popularity.
If you have a bundle, you get a discount for 'content owned' - Its showing as $25.49 for me which indicates that its the standard 15% discount for being a legendary bundle owner. So I'm assuming that its all new content.
My guess is it might be in part to do with the fact that Tal'Dorei revisited has subclasses (and possibly feats, if it contains everything in the original book, though the blurb doesn't mention feats). If the subclasses couldn't get approved for use in all D&D settings (and a few of them would have to get Purple Dragon Knight treatment to be used outside of Exandria) it would make sense that that book might not get official WotC approval.
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep
I imagine the licensing is weird for Tal'Dorei CG and the TDCG: Reborn book, given their history with Green Ronin. Could also be that they floated the idea of doing Tal'Dorei by Wizards as well, and Wizards turned them down because their setting-book slots are full. Critical Role can publish their own books in-house through Darrington Press without needing a mother-may-I from Wizards, and they can also benefit from working with Wizards directly to do the Exandrian content WotC wants to do. Basically allows CR to offer a higher cadence of CR-specific gaming material for folks who prefer Exandria to Faerun without putting undue pressure on the Faerun content Wizards is directly responsible for.
Besides. It's outside possible that DDB will get special dispensation to offer Tal'Dorei Reborn here on their service. Unlike the original campaign guide, which I believe actually predated DDB by a few months and was created primarily by a company with no working relationship with Wizards, TDCG:R is made in-house by CR. They control this book fully (unless Green Ronin still has something to say about it), and if that's the case they very clearly have a good working relationship with Wizards as well as DDB. I don't expect it, in the slightest, but this would be the one edge case where it's a least plausible that DDB could implement a third-party book due to their relationship with Critical Role.
Please do not contact or message me.
Tangentially related side note: apparently Shaggy's power has crossed dimensional boundaries yet again. Because once you see it, you can't unsee it - the man is clearly on the cover of the new book.
Like, zoinks maaan!
Please do not contact or message me.
I think it's interesting in the light of wotc planning to release a new campaign setting so that 5e can have "its" setting, much like how 3.5 had Ebberon, when, now that I think of it, Exandria and other CR content is already filling that niche for 5e.
And it almost seems fitting that Tal'dorae is rapidly becoming *the* 5e setting, considering the role CR (love it or hate it) played in 5e's popularity boom. Many new players were introduced to the game in droves through the show, they're familiar with the lore and invested in the world from the show, and now they're getting more content support than any other non-FR setting available for 5e (and FR is pretty generic fantasy with little actual 5e world support like an actual setting book) .
As not a crazy huge fan of CR myself (or most streaming shows, I learned a while ago that on the most part I don't find watching people play that interesting), I actually don't hate it as the near-ubiquitous 5e setting. CR has its place in gaming history now, and I don't think it's a good or bad thing, it's just one of those things people will talk about when reminiscing about the edition in the future. I think people think of Critical Role when they think of 5e, and vice versa.
I don't normally buy adventure books, but I will check this one out. The premise is far more interesting to me than any of the previously published adventures thus far.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I would be willing to bet that if CR switched systems, you would see a drop in sales for 5e and a marked rise in sales for what ever system they went to. 5e wouldn't die, but you would notice a difference.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Yeah, and there's a reason they switched from using Pathfinder in their home game to 5e when they started the stream. Both the edition and the stream were starting up around the same time, and they both fed into each other to build this massive fan base that's essentially joined the two at the hip from the start. I think the history of 5e would've been very different if critical role hadn't hitched its wagon to it. In that light, it seems appropriate that 5e's presumptive setting is in the CR world.
Either way it's something I can observe from the sidelines, since I mostly run homebrew worlds and don't buy a lot of adventures.
Any other TT game dev would sacrifice an intern or six under a blood moon to become Critical Role's new primary gaming system.
It's also never going to happen.
Wizards of the Coast has given CR two Official D&D Books, now. It's plainly obvious that the company is invested in CR in a way few other gaming companies could match, and CR is just as heavily invested in 5e. All of their gaming products are based in 5e. Their first independent book release is in 5e. Their entire broadcast history, short one-off one-shots and a single four-episode miniseries, is in 5e. The two are married at the hip at this point.
I'll admit that I'd enjoy seeing what the team could do with a long-form campaign under another system, but that's mostly an intellectual curiosity thing and a higher willingness than many Critters to let them experiment and see what they can do. It's not anything with a remote possibility of actually happening.
Please do not contact or message me.
I don't know, I really think that WotC is more reliant upon CR than the other way around. Anything those guys endorse their fans throw money at. That doesn't mean that I think they are likely to switch systems or anything of that nature. I am just saying that the "Critters" are crazy like that.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Hello Golaryn,
This is true. I didn’t even look at what the description said. I just saw CR in the title and threw my credit card at it like a shuriken with the word “pop” etched into it. :)
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I don't particularly care for the implication there Golaryn, though it is true that the CR team generally - generally - has the enthusiastic support of its fanbase. Usually because they work very hard to maintain and strengthen that goodwill. It is not universal, however. Look up the Feast of Legend for what happens when they do something even just a noticeable minotiry of the fanbase decides is Bad Juju.
Please do not contact or message me.
Idk didn't the Ukatoa board game under-perform pretty significantly? I think CR gets a lot of mileage from DnD's status in the public eye as the ubiquitous TTRPG. That's why they switched from PF originally. I think they get nearly as much as they give.
Working hard to maintain a reputation is exactly why their fans will go that extra mile (11 million miles if needed) for them. I really doubt that WotC could achieve the same thing on the merits of their own reputation.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
It's a mutually beneficial relationship, neither is exactly dependent on the other but both set something out of the partnership they likely couldn't get from anyone else. Matt deliberately chose to switch to 5E from Pathfinder, that choice certainly helped, and in terms of financial backing nobody's pockets are as deep as those on the D&D side. WotC/5E on the other hand have obviously gotten a massive swell in popularity and customer growth.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].