Critical Role’s next campaign book will explore the continent of Tal’Dorei

Critical Role’s next big project is a revised sourcebook that explores a setting from its Vox Machina actual-play series. Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn will be available in late 2021 or early 2022, and will be published by the company’s Darrington Press imprint. Beadle & Grimm will also produce a deluxe version of the campaign.

The project includes lead designers Matthew Mercer (Critical Role’s original Dungeon Master), Hannah Rose (Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, The Wild Beyond the Witchlight), and James J. Haeck (Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, Waterdeep: Dragon Heist), Critical Role announced Thursday in a news release.

Critical Role began in 2012, and has grown to become one of the most popular franchises in the role-playing space. Its actual-play sessions, broadcast live and prerecorded on Twitch and YouTube, regularly draw in thousands of viewers. The company has previously worked with D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast to create content for fans of the original RPG. Its first officially licensed sourcebook, Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, was published in 2020.

In Thursday’s news release, Critical Role said that the new book will occupy a space between its two major actual-play series:

Taking place two decades following Vox Machina’s conclusion, this sourcebook outlines how Tal’Dorei has changed and progressed leading up to the start of Critical Role’s second campaign, The Mighty Nein. Soar on a skyship from the metropolis of Emon, home to the Tal’Dorei Council, to the distant haven of Whitestone; explore the lush wilderness in between, meeting monsters and wayward mages; and uncover magic items ranging from simple trinkets to the legendary Vestiges of Divergence. How will you shape the future of Tal’Dorei? The land’s fate is in your hands.

According to the news release, this book will include a guide for each major region of Tal’Dorei, along with story hooks to start your own campaigns there. There will be additional options for character creation, including nine subclasses and five backgrounds. Fans can also expect plenty of new magic items, creatures, and NPC stat blocks for each member of Vox Machina.

Critical Role recently launched a new eight-episode campaign arc called Exandria Unlimited. It’s led by a new DM, Aabria Iyengar, and includes Mercer as a player for the first time. You can catch up with its prerecorded episodes on YouTube, and get our take in a midseason review.