New D&D Critical Role Collaboration Is Set In Exandria & Coming 2022

Wizards of the Coast has announced its next Critical Role and Dungeons & Dragons collaboration: the upcoming Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep adventure, which is set in the Exandria campaign setting. D&D has its own popular campaign settings for players to use, such as the Forgotten Realms, but there is also a setting that came from Critical Role. 

Exandria is the campaign setting used in the popular Critical Role streaming show. D&D groups can even set their games in Exandria, as it was fleshed out in an official sourcebook, called The Explorer’s Guide To Wildemount – which was made in collaboration with its creator, Matthew Mercer. Exandria will be the campaign setting used in the upcoming third season of Critical Role, which is following on from the events of Campaign 2.

According to a recent press release, D&D groups will soon have a chance to experience the first official campaign set in Exandria. Wizards of the Coast has revealed a new adventure, called Call of the Netherdeep, which is due to launch on March 15, 2022. Call of the Netherdeep was co-created by Critical Role‘s Matthew Mercer, and it will take players on an epic journey that involves an ancient being within the depths of the world. D&D principal story designer and co-lead on Call of Netherdeep Chris Perkins has talked about the experience crafting the book.

“My co-leads, Matthew Mercer and James Haeck, have crafted a story that feels true to Critical Role while also being something that all D&D fans can enjoy (…) The story has depth, and there’s a wealth of setting information in this book for all the Critters out there. I can’t wait to see how all fans play through the first hardcover adventure D&D has produced set in the world of Critical Role.“

The Call of Netherdeep story is told across seven chapters. The players will travel to the oasis-city of Ank’Harel, before venturing into the mysterious place known as the Netherdeep, which resembles a cross between the Far Realm and the depths of the ocean. A powerful entity has awoken from the depths of Exandria, a former champion of the gods, whose name has long been lost to time. This being calls out for heroes to save them. The storyline promises to tie into the themes of the Critical Role campaigns, and will feature new magic items, monsters, and a mechanic involving a rival adventuring party of D&D NPCs. The entire campaign will take players from levels 3-12, which means it will offer many sessions worth of playtime. The book will also include a poster map of Ank’Harel and will feature new artwork and lore for Exandria.

Wizards of the Coast has discussed how popular D&D adventure anthologies like Candlekeep Mysteries have been with fans, and that fans should expect to see more of them in the future. It’s good to see that the company will be producing more long-form campaigns in the future, which is what Call of Nethedeep appears to be.

Critical Role: Call of the Netherdeep will be released on March 15, 2022.

Source: Wizards of the Coast

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Scott Baird
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Scott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz.
A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early ‘90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.

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