Page 14 - Critical Role: Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting

tal’dorei campaign guide

become an omnipotent deity on the other side of the Divine
Gate? Would the gods of good be forced to break the Gate Story HookS
and unleash another Calamity upon the world?
This book is peppered with story hooks. Some are
dawn of a republic simple, just enough to inspire your next game ses-
sion. Some are more complex, and the hook can
It was the dying decree of Sovereign Uriel Tal’Dorei II
cascade into an entire campaign’s worth of gaming.
that the continent-spanning Tal’Dorei Empire be reborn
You will also notice that these story hooks present a
as the Republic of Tal’Dorei. No more would a Sover-
beginning, but no conclusion. Just as the goal of this
eign rule the myriad peoples of this land, but instead
entire book is meant to provide building blocks for
the wise Council of Tal’Dorei would enact the will of
you to create your own Tal’Dorei, these open-ended
the people and protect them from the dangers of the
plot seeds are meant to give all fans of Critical Role
world. But things don’t always go according to plan. The
a few familiar starting places to start creating their
nascent Republic of Tal’Dorei is suffering growing pains,
own narratives.
and unless some politically-minded player characters can
These plot hooks are tied to specific locations, and
help, the realm may fall into anarchy and chaos.
all have a level range. These level recommendations
While fantasy politics aren’t every gamer’s cup of tea,
can be fudged, but have generally been chosen either
the ills of the fledgling republic can serve several pur-
because of the monsters involved, the lore-relevance
poses. Players looking for fantasy intrigue can meddle
of the location, or to determine how epic the adven-
in the internal politics of the city of Emon and root out
ture should be.
corruption within the Council, from the influence of the
nefarious Clasp and Myriad syndicates, to the blackmail For low-level characters: levels 1 to 4
of a few shadowy mages within the Alabaster Lyceum. For mid-level characters: levels 5 to 10
Game Masters can also use this political element to For high-level characters: levels 11 to 16
flavor their otherwise action-focused games. On a small For epic-level characters: levels 17 to 20
scale, corrupt margraves may hire bandits to pillage their
own villages, requiring the PCs to step in. On a large
scale, the imminent collapse of the Republic of Tal’Dorei his firearms. Unfortunately, because of his now-deceased
may force the PCs to stop a power-hungry Lyceum mage archenemy Anna Ripley, the secret of gunpowder has
from taking control of the land. begun to spread across Tal’Dorei. Now, isolated groups
of tinkerers both noble and unscrupulous are working to
a land thrice-destroyed create new technologies. Some of these modern marvels
will no doubt help the people of the world—but others, in
First there was the Calamity, and the palaces of the gods
were devoured by the earth. Then came the wars of Drassig, the wrong hands, are sure to cause the deaths of thousands.
Renaissance technology, especially firearms, are not
and his defeat at the hands of Zan Tal’Dorei. And then
came Thordak. The Cinder King and the Chroma Conclave common in Tal’Dorei. If you want to keep your fan-
tasy purely medieval, it is a simple matter to ignore the
shook the very foundations of Tal’Dorei. Thordak “merely”
turned Emon to slag, but out of fear, panic, and malice, tinkerers and gunsmiths and budding industrialists
scattered across Tal’Dorei. Otherwise, you are wel-
the flames of destruction were spread across the continent
by mortal hands. Today, at the dawning of the Republic of come to incorporate the rules for firearms that already
exist in the DMG. If you or your players want to fully
Tal’Dorei, the ruins of three civilizations lie buried beneath
your feet, and some secrets long to be unearthed. embrace the power of black powder like Percy and
Viktor of Critical Role, the Gunslinger fighter archetype
Every fantasy RPG has ruins for adventurers to explore.
When your campaign inevitably sends the PCs in search of available on the DMs Guild (dmsguild.com) will help
you achieve those ends.
a lost artifact, consider your dungeon’s role in the larger his-
tory of the world. How does the origin of this ruin affect its uncharted territory
layout, its description, and its hazards? When Vox Machina
delved into an ancient ruin in the Frostweald dedicated to The corners of Tal’Dorei’s maps are not all filled in. North
the God of Knowledge, they faced off against deadly traps of the Cliffkeep Mountains are the trackless Neverfields
and had to guess the name of a devious sphinx to find their and the northern edge of the map. South of the Verdant
reward. Adventurers seeking a relic from a part of Emon Expanse is the Rifenmist Peninsula, where vast jungles
destroyed during Thordak’s occupation may have to fend off and the brutal Iron Authority prevent any explorer from
restless spirits of their own countrymen while dealing with filling in the southern tips of the map.
lingering traces of the Conclave’s power. Never forget that you are the creator of your own ver-
sion of Tal’Dorei. No one playing at your table, even if it’s
mother of invention Matthew Mercer himself, can tell you that your vision of
Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo the world is inaccurate. Consider that everything in this
book is written in pencil, especially these most distant
III—Percy, to his friends—wanted to take the secrets of
his inventions to his grave, especially the deadly power of reaches of Tal’Dorei.

chapter 1: campaigns in tal'dorei 13