Explorer's Guide to Wildemount
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- Create Date：2021-07-03 08:54:33
- Update Date：2025-09-07
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- Author：Matthew Mercer
- ISBN：0786966912
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Summary
HOW DO YOU WANT TO DO THIS？
A war brews on a continent that has withstood more than its fair share of conflict。 The Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty are carving up the lands around them， and only the greatest heroes would dare stand between them。 Somewhere in the far corners of this war-torn landscape are secrets that could end this conflict and usher in a new age of peace--or burn the world to a cinder。
Create a band of heroes and embark on a journey across the continent of Wildemount， the setting for Campaign 2 of the hit Dungeons & Dragons series Critical Role。 Within this book， you'll find new character options， a heroic chronicle to help you craft your character's backstory， four different starting adventures， and everything a Dungeon Master needs to breathe life into a Wildemount-based D&D campaign。。。
- Delve through the first Dungeons & Dragons book to let players experience the game as played within the world of Critical Role， the world's most popular livestreaming D&D show。
- Uncover a trove of options usable in any D&D game， featuring subclasses， spells， magic items， monsters， and more， rooted in the adventures of Exandria--such as Vestiges of Divergence and the possibility manipulating magic of Dunamancy。
- Start a Dungeons & Dragons campaign in any of Wildemount's regions using a variety of introductory adventures， dozens of regional plot seeds， and the heroic chronicle system--a way to create character backstories rooted in Wildemount。
Explore every corner of Wildemount and discover mysteries revealed for the first time by Critical Role Dungeon Master， Matthew Mercer。
A war brews on a continent that has withstood more than its fair share of conflict。 The Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty are carving up the lands around them， and only the greatest heroes would dare stand between them。 Somewhere in the far corners of this war-torn landscape are secrets that could end this conflict and usher in a new age of peace--or burn the world to a cinder。
Create a band of heroes and embark on a journey across the continent of Wildemount， the setting for Campaign 2 of the hit Dungeons & Dragons series Critical Role。 Within this book， you'll find new character options， a heroic chronicle to help you craft your character's backstory， four different starting adventures， and everything a Dungeon Master needs to breathe life into a Wildemount-based D&D campaign。。。
- Delve through the first Dungeons & Dragons book to let players experience the game as played within the world of Critical Role， the world's most popular livestreaming D&D show。
- Uncover a trove of options usable in any D&D game， featuring subclasses， spells， magic items， monsters， and more， rooted in the adventures of Exandria--such as Vestiges of Divergence and the possibility manipulating magic of Dunamancy。
- Start a Dungeons & Dragons campaign in any of Wildemount's regions using a variety of introductory adventures， dozens of regional plot seeds， and the heroic chronicle system--a way to create character backstories rooted in Wildemount。
Explore every corner of Wildemount and discover mysteries revealed for the first time by Critical Role Dungeon Master， Matthew Mercer。
Reviews
BJ
，
If you've been wanting to do a homebrew D&D campaign， but find the world creation process daunting， Wildemount is a fantastic sandbox to play in for small or large scale adventures。The guide gives fantastic detail on the mythology and history surrounding the continent， as well as insight into the varying cultures and factions dwelling there。 It covers geography， city information， characters of interest， and includes many useful maps。 There are even several short adventures provided to make it in If you've been wanting to do a homebrew D&D campaign， but find the world creation process daunting， Wildemount is a fantastic sandbox to play in for small or large scale adventures。The guide gives fantastic detail on the mythology and history surrounding the continent， as well as insight into the varying cultures and factions dwelling there。 It covers geography， city information， characters of interest， and includes many useful maps。 There are even several short adventures provided to make it incredibly simple to get started in Wildemont。 。。。more
Derek Field
，
My DM is currently running a campaign within Wildemount， so this resource proved EXTREMELY useful。Very well fleshed out world， and some interesting subclasses to boot。
Connor
，
Great for new DMs to get into world building。
Jacob
，
Speaking as someone who isn't a fan of Critical Role， the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount is an amazing D&D book。 It contains a world filled with so much depth， and so many different adventure hooks， that your players could be living off just the ideas in this book for years。 There are many guilds， characters and worldbuilding ideas that you can pilfer yourself， a lot of new magical items， four introductory adventures （one of which I'll be running for the first time tomorrow）， a decently sized be Speaking as someone who isn't a fan of Critical Role， the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount is an amazing D&D book。 It contains a world filled with so much depth， and so many different adventure hooks， that your players could be living off just the ideas in this book for years。 There are many guilds， characters and worldbuilding ideas that you can pilfer yourself， a lot of new magical items， four introductory adventures （one of which I'll be running for the first time tomorrow）， a decently sized bestiary， new class options， new spells， new playable species and species variants， and just a general love and honesty to the world that makes it feel genuine， and leap off of the page。 I personally can't wait to start a campaign with some players on the Menagerie Coast。 It's not quite for everyone， but it comes highly recommended to newer DMs。 While I've been DMing for years， the advice the DM's guide gives you for worldbuilding right off the bat is perhaps a little ambitious。 It might be best to start with the framework already there， before you bounce off into your own world。 Wildemount seems like a fantastic place to start， especially since there's variety aplenty here， and the Drow get some time in the light， literally， which is really cool。 Oh， and it's LGBTQIA+ friendly too， which is awesome！ 。。。more
Sara Dee
，
Just fantastic。
Enrique Arroyo
，
Great read。 As one who enjoys source books of all kinds， this one was well done。
Rob Moore
，
The first setting book I've read， so I don't have much reference， but definitely heavy on the lore， which I think makes it better as a reference book。 Even as a regular watcher of Critical Role， I did not find this as engaging as I thought I would。 There are some cool locales and monsters in here， though， and I'm tempted to run one of the adventures in it。 The first setting book I've read， so I don't have much reference， but definitely heavy on the lore， which I think makes it better as a reference book。 Even as a regular watcher of Critical Role， I did not find this as engaging as I thought I would。 There are some cool locales and monsters in here， though， and I'm tempted to run one of the adventures in it。 。。。more
Dylan Zucati
，
I’ve never run an adventure somebody else wrote。 I read a couple when I was still deeply in fourth edition and I never felt like I could pull off an entertaining version of the game。 I haven’t given 5e a fair shot and maybe I could run/play something when my local game store opens back up。 Home-brewing never actually worked for me either， the farthest a party ever got was level three before fizzling out。 So when my friends wanted to play and I offered to DM， I knew I had to try something new or I’ve never run an adventure somebody else wrote。 I read a couple when I was still deeply in fourth edition and I never felt like I could pull off an entertaining version of the game。 I haven’t given 5e a fair shot and maybe I could run/play something when my local game store opens back up。 Home-brewing never actually worked for me either， the farthest a party ever got was level three before fizzling out。 So when my friends wanted to play and I offered to DM， I knew I had to try something new or settle for a one shot。 At the time， I was caught up on the Mighty Nein campaign of Critical Role and had purchased the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount as fan service。 Cracking into the supplement Matthew Mercer originally built for a group of nerdy ass voice actors gave me exactly what I was looking for。I’m going to get this out of the way first: reading it cover to cover is a boring as hell slog。 The order of chapters was not enjoyable in a vacuum and I started jumping around after chapter two。 The Gazetteer was way too dense for me to read in a straight line， I actually hadn’t finished it by the time I started running a campaign in Exandria。 I later found that to be a mistake， wanting to start over with a better understanding of Wildemount， but hindsight and all that。 At the time I was in no mood for a textbook; maybe other supplements flow better， but in my experience a textbook is a good way to look at these books。 If you were a masochist who wanted to read a tome for fun， I would have a different Book Report for you， but I’m talking to those among us who wish to use this text for their campaigns。I’ve always been bothered by the frankly racist concept that certain races are good and certain races are evil。 I don’t want a half-orc blacksmith， I want a full orc baker; the drow have such cool imagery that it sucks they can only ever worship a BDSM spider god or be lone wolfs bucking tradition; who doesn’t want to play as a goblinoid！？ Mercer provides a world in which all humanoids are created equally with an actual explanation for how that fits within the constraints of Dungeons & Dragons。 As a cis man who was heterosexual for the entirety of his youth， pronouns aren’t something that bother me instinctively。 If a book uses she/her by default I am delightedly surprised by the subversion of norm， but it’s not often I see gender neutral pronouns used commonly。 Not only that， but there are non-binary and trans characters that use they/them as preference and not just politeness。 Normally I assume inserting queer relationships is my job， but Mercer wrote those for you too！ It’s so satisfying to have someone say they care about their demographic and then prove it with more than just lip service。 In both the campaigns he runs and this supplement he’s created， Matthew Mercer shows what roleplaying can look like for the underrepresented。The world of Exandria and continent of Wildemount itself feels rich with possibility。 There are a few adventures to start your campaign， but they all end at level three and exist open enough for a DM like me， who wants to do a bulk of their own storytelling their own way。 While the Gazetteer is longer than I want for a casual read， it has enough information for each map marker that I can fill out settings with ease as my adventuring party travels through。 I’m not restricted to keeping them in specific locations based on level cap and the different factions of countries feel rich with conflict even if I ignore the war setting that drives this continent。 The only 5e books I owned before this were PHB， DMG， and MM， so the character options here gave me stat blocks for races I’ve wanted to offer my players since I first heard someone play a tabaxi or kenku on podcasts。 The added spells are neat， though I do wish there was enough dunamancy to build an entire school of magic。 That would probably require more game balancing than Wizards of the Coast wants to provide， but it sure would be cool。 The items and monsters nothing special in terms of stat blocks。， but the concept behind Vestiges of Divergence and Arms of the Betrayers was something I wanted to steal from Critical Role anyways。 Imagine my delight when there’s a detailed explanation of how to do just that。 If you aren’t a fan of Critical Role and you are more interested in reading about Dungeons and Dragons than actually playing it， there are probably other books better suited for your enjoyment。 If you are a critter you probably have this book anyways， but if you were looking for your next campaign setting and wanted to create stories within a diversely populated world， Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount might be the roadmap you were looking for。 Even if you don’t pick this book up， I think the best aspects of Matt’s writing will ripple through other D&D texts down the line。 I’m done talking about this， now it’s your turn （your turn[YOUR TURN]） to roll！ 。。。more
Martin Maenza
，
This is a very well-written gaming supplement for Dungeons and Dragons。 It fleshes out aspects of Mercer’s world that had been made popular from the online show Critical Role。 I hope that he continues his affiliation with WotC so that we can see more from his world， including perhaps another look at the continent of Tal’Dorei and the rest of Exandria。
Mark
，
Put on pause 30 December 2020 as my access disappeared a couple months ago but is back now gain。 Need to figure out where I was 。。。。
Feral Academic
，
Stoked to explore this world more。
Rita
，
Disclaimer: I never watched full episodes of Critical Role nor do I enjoy it， even though I know the basics of Mercer's creation。I gave this book a try because I wanted to understand how someone goes from enjoying the game to creating official content for it， and because I was curious to know if it was a nice place to get inspiration for ideas of my own。 I don't regret it， but I wouldn't recommend reading it from front to cover as I did， or to purchase it （contrary to， for example， "Strongholds Disclaimer: I never watched full episodes of Critical Role nor do I enjoy it， even though I know the basics of Mercer's creation。I gave this book a try because I wanted to understand how someone goes from enjoying the game to creating official content for it， and because I was curious to know if it was a nice place to get inspiration for ideas of my own。 I don't regret it， but I wouldn't recommend reading it from front to cover as I did， or to purchase it （contrary to， for example， "Strongholds and followers"， from the superior Matt as I like to call him eheh）The best of this book: the Dunamancy and Luxon Beacons concepts。 Both are interesting， unique and well-thought， in my opinion， and so they are the perfect type of ideas to be borrowed by DMs for their own campaigns。Apart from this， I liked some small tips and suggestions for small adventure-types scattered across the book， together with one or two specific locations， monsters and items。 I found the region of Eiselcross a particularly fertile ground and an original concept， and the Menagerie Cost has plenty to be used in sea-fearing adventures。The worst: What I most liked about this book could be covered in 10 pages max， and that is never a good thing if we're talking about a 300-and-over page tome。 There's a lot of unnecessary and repetitive content， and Mercer isn't a good writer （or that original）。 The whole really feels fan-made and， narratively speaking， isn't high quality。 I also disliked the setting maps， and the artwork in general - not to mention how it manages to always appear in the wrong place， sometimes pages ahead or in front of the respective content - maybe I'm nitpicking， but really it's a campaign setting book so what else is to be expected？Additionally， the PC nods did nothing for me。 On the contrary， they were irritatingly confusing， as the profusion of they pronouns made me reread most character descriptions wondering if we were talking about one individual or an entire organization， and I really don't care for the NPC examples to have one gender， several or none at all。 These NPC were riddled with clichés anyway， and I don't mind my orcs and other races to follow the traditional LOTR basic （and outdated， if you will） duality of good vs evil。 Curiously， I found the "fan-service" references fun actually， making the world feel more alive and real in a way， which I'd say is the main purpose of anything D&D related - so I didn't mind those， even as someone that is not a fan of the show itself。So overall: not the best D&D book I've read to date， nor one I advise to anyone that is not specifically a fan of the show。 But it's probably a good fit for anyone who enjoys CR， and if it serves as an introduction to the hobby to even more new people， that's worthy out of itself！ 。。。more
Graham G
，
Far and away better than the Tal' Dorei Campaign Guide。 While this is still more a lore book than a proper campaign setting， it's far more useful and has loads of interesting content and ideas for potential campaigns。 Far and away better than the Tal' Dorei Campaign Guide。 While this is still more a lore book than a proper campaign setting， it's far more useful and has loads of interesting content and ideas for potential campaigns。 。。。more
Adam Gutschenritter
，
Love Critical Role， so when the opportunity came to delve into Mercer's world I couldn't wait to see what I found。 The Lore and Races chapters were my favorite， followed up by the Vestiges of Divergence and the new Arms of the Betrayers as I have always been curious on building scaling magic items。 Love Critical Role， so when the opportunity came to delve into Mercer's world I couldn't wait to see what I found。 The Lore and Races chapters were my favorite， followed up by the Vestiges of Divergence and the new Arms of the Betrayers as I have always been curious on building scaling magic items。 。。。more
Kevin
，
I've only ever seen a couple episodes of Critical Role and have never really been able to get into it， and thus wasn't immediately interested when this book was announced。 Then covid hit and roleplaying in person became a lot harder， my regular D&D group transitioned to Roll20， and one of my players offered to run Frozen Sick， one of the starter adventures in this book which was being offered on Roll20 as a free sample。 The sample did its job as I found the setting really interesting and then we I've only ever seen a couple episodes of Critical Role and have never really been able to get into it， and thus wasn't immediately interested when this book was announced。 Then covid hit and roleplaying in person became a lot harder， my regular D&D group transitioned to Roll20， and one of my players offered to run Frozen Sick， one of the starter adventures in this book which was being offered on Roll20 as a free sample。 The sample did its job as I found the setting really interesting and then went and bought the full book。 I like the Wildemount setting enough that if I get the chance to run Ghosts of Saltmarsh again I plan to use some suggestions I found online to reskin it from Greyhawk to the Menagerie Coast。 My only complaint would be that I wish the sample adventures either included higher level content or were more able to be run together with the same group of characters。 。。。more
Essi
，
5 fucking stars simply for gender-neutral language and inclusion of canon non-cis characters， people of colour， and traditionally "evil" races being depicted as multifaceted as humans and other core races。 Also， a good guidebook in its own right and a wonderful look into the world of Wildemount。 5 fucking stars simply for gender-neutral language and inclusion of canon non-cis characters， people of colour， and traditionally "evil" races being depicted as multifaceted as humans and other core races。 Also， a good guidebook in its own right and a wonderful look into the world of Wildemount。 。。。more
Lambert Cook
，
A great view into the world of Wildemount and the peoples / races which live there。 A great addition to any DM's collection of books for Dungeons and Dragons。 Great work on this book and I look forward to future books to compliment this tome。 A great view into the world of Wildemount and the peoples / races which live there。 A great addition to any DM's collection of books for Dungeons and Dragons。 Great work on this book and I look forward to future books to compliment this tome。 。。。more
Ellen
，
nice matt
Leon
，
Absolutely inspiring and delightful。
Cori
，
Beautifully fleshed out setting， adding depth to some of what fans of Critical Role ， like myself， have seen in both campaign 1 and campaign 2 of the show， including the mechanics of some spells/items and more details on various political factions and their leadership。 As a queer kid， I especially love the inclusion of canon queer relationships and trans and nonbinary figures。 This isn't something I've seen in literally any other D&D source material， which if anything leans a little too hard in Beautifully fleshed out setting， adding depth to some of what fans of Critical Role ， like myself， have seen in both campaign 1 and campaign 2 of the show， including the mechanics of some spells/items and more details on various political factions and their leadership。 As a queer kid， I especially love the inclusion of canon queer relationships and trans and nonbinary figures。 This isn't something I've seen in literally any other D&D source material， which if anything leans a little too hard into gender-based stereotypes for my taste。 The included starting adventures are （from the one I'm running at least） fun to run and great prompts for beginning other stories--I really like the adventure/story prompts in general， they're great ways to prompt creativity。 Few things have inspired me to write， in recent years， the way D&D has and this gave me the most significant push in that direction。 I've written not only for a Wildemount campaign after reading this--which， as a newcomer to D&D far more familiar with Critical Role and Mercer's worldbuilding/lore than the Forgotten Realms setting I'm also DMing （a published module， not by Wizards） in， I'm a lot more confident doing so it's lovely that this gives me the tools/framework to do that well--but for other possible campaign ideas as well， including， I'll be totally honest， a CATS （2019） one-shot。 Seriously though， this has pretty much convinced me to stick with either homebrew campaigns based of published settings like this book or Eberron/Ravenica/etc （which I haven't read yet） or Wizards of the Coast adventures， because the quality of the storytelling and even just the mechanics of writing in this are so much better than the other module I'm running。 In the other one， I'm constantly running into typos and inconsistencies （ie， you tell me 30 dwarves live in the living quarters above this mine， but the map you've made has no space for that many dwarves nor indications of offshoots where 'off screen' that many dwarves could functionally live）， some of the read-aloud text is just so poorly written as to be perplexing and difficult to fix on-the-fly， and I'm having to rewrite sections as well because， to be frank， they're sexist。 Like， my group is all queer folks and/or women。 Having a naked， imprisoned 'harem' of kobolds routinely brutalized by their clan leader is not going to be fun for us。 Nor is having like 80% of the NPCs be men going to be fun for us。 All this takes a good bit of work to rewrite/correct as I'm going through that adventure and is， to be honest， not super fun for me to read in the first place。 In fairness， the adventures in Explorer's Guide are a lot shorter and more open-ended than that module so there are in some ways less opportunities for me to find major faults， but I'm not running in to these kinds of issues here。 The adventures and adventure hooks are better thought-out， more diverse， and leave room for a lot of moral ambiguity on a thematic level。 The 'villains' are a） possibly not villains， depending on which direction you take your PCs in and b） possessing of actual motivations beyond 'evil creatures do evil， muahahahaha'。 Not that a little black and white moralism can't be fun in D&D: It's nice to fight （and kill） enemies sometimes without having to think about any morally grey or realistic implications， but if you have players that are more into role-playing than battle or are wanting to play something with more depth and fewer 'right answers'， this is a better source for building that kind of game than anything else I've seen。 。。。more
Denny Connolly
，
Really fantastic sourcebook whether you watch Critical Role or not。 Very compelling setting with a massive war as the backdrop。 Fun new character options and a great change of pace if your group wants a fantasy setting with a bit of a different flavor than the Forgotten Realms。
Daryl
，
This is a sourcebook/reference。 I didn't read it straight through from cover-to-cover， though I did read a great deal of it straight through。 It's not one I feel like I really ought to give a starred rating， as it's kind of an anomalous book。 It's a neat book， full of imaginative stuff you can use to build a D&D campaign。 This is a sourcebook/reference。 I didn't read it straight through from cover-to-cover， though I did read a great deal of it straight through。 It's not one I feel like I really ought to give a starred rating， as it's kind of an anomalous book。 It's a neat book， full of imaginative stuff you can use to build a D&D campaign。 。。。more
Lyddie Hall
，
As a fan of Critical Role， this has been a wonderful insight into Matt's head。 Seeing the expansive worldscape on the page and being able to find the places that the Mighty Nein has been awesome。 Perhaps a little lore heavy in places but that's no bad thing if you're planning to use the book as a DM。 As a fan of Critical Role， this has been a wonderful insight into Matt's head。 Seeing the expansive worldscape on the page and being able to find the places that the Mighty Nein has been awesome。 Perhaps a little lore heavy in places but that's no bad thing if you're planning to use the book as a DM。 。。。more
Sam
，
Matthew Mercer please marry me
Chris
，
I will use parts of this for sure。 Like the subsystem for magic items that evolve with the characters。 Also liked the northern islands that are pretty much adventure locales for weird science fantasy。 Finally the 3 big nations， multiple factions， and a central conflict - a war between the two great powers make this an excellent template for world building。
Matthew
，