For many Dungeons and Dragons fans, watching the game's explosive popularity over the past few years has been a dream come true. What was once confined to shadowy basements and spare bedrooms has grown into a relatively-accepted icon of nerd culture. Dungeons and Dragons has become an expansive landscape of creativity and exploration, a place where anyone can create whatever they want.

The only real limit in D&D is the mind of the player. An inability to improvise or play pretend is effectively a death sentence for the game, inevitably leading to drab dialogue and boring campaigns. On the flip side, there are those that play the game professionally, a dream for many young Dungeon Masters and PCs out there. These groups know how to roleplay like professionals and make a world pop. One such group, Critical Role, helped give rise to the game's newfound mainstream popularity in the first place.

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Helmed by Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer, Critical Role has been a multi-year endeavor with multiple campaigns, well-written characters, and deep story-telling. It's no small wonder then that Critical Role is getting an official campaign settingExplorer's Guide to Wildemount will expand on what fans have seen in the show, adding more lore, magic, and plenty of other tidbits for those that want to have their own adventures in the setting.

Cast of Critical Role together

For fans of Critical Role, it's incredible. Extra insight into the mind of Matthew Mercer, quite possibly the best Dungeon Master to have ever lived, is well worth checking out. But the effect that Wildemount will have on D&D as a whole is far more important. There is no shortage of official Dungeons and Dragons campaign settings out there, but there's something truly special about what Critical Role has created.

Explorer's Guide to Wildemount raises the possibility of other popular Dungeons and Dragons shows to get their own official settings. A simple search of "Dungeons and Dragons" on any podcast service will reveal countless different shows of friends sitting around playing D&D. Not many of them come close to the popularity of Critical Role, but they do have their merits. Any one of them could bring custom monsters, new subclasses, magic, and a lot more to the game.

If Wizards of the Coast wanted to, it could open the floodgates for talented creators to publish their own official campaign settings. With Critical Role getting that kind of treatment, not to mention the Critical Role animated show, it isn't inconceivable that more and more groups will begin campaigning to do so. Mercer is a great storyteller and improviser, and Critical Role has become something of a cultural phenomenon, so it's in a unique position right now. However, if Explorer's Guide to Wildemount proves to be successful, there's a good chance more settings like it will pop up down the line.

Critical Role Matthew Mercer as DM

By moving forward with Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, Wizards of the Coast is acknowledging just how much of an effect these shows have had on the game itself. Sure, other prominent creators have gone on to have content officially published in the past, but Explorer's Guide to Wildemount feels like a much greater degree than what fans have seen before. There are endless creators and shows that could get the same treatment, from Brennan Lee Mulligan and Dimension 20 to The Adventure Zone, Harmon Quest, and countless others.

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If anything, Explorer's Guide to Wildemount sets a bar for other shows to try and attain. A new level of prominence and quality that, if achieved, may mean an induction into the Dungeons and Dragons hall of fame. Having a show's setting immortalized as an official piece of Dungeons and Dragons content is the greatest honor a Dungeon Master could hope to achieve, and one that few ever will. Iterating so heavily on homebrewed content that it deserves to be recognized by Wizards of the West Coast is a massive undertaking, but for those willing to commit, the reward is certainly worth it.

There will, undoubtedly, be more shows trying to replicate Critical Role's success now. With that, it seems pretty likely that more shows will try to get settings immortalized on store shelves. It's an incredible achievement for Mercer and the rest of the show's cast, one that will remain significant for years to come.

If anything, it will be wonderful to see where Critical Role goes next. Fans have grown used to the show's presence and prominence. If any Dungeons and Dragons group is capable of leading the masses through the uncharted waters of the game's future, it's Critical Role.

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