• In a few sentences, what is the premise of Secrets of Wildemount?

"SWM is a graveyard matters set based on the second campaign of the Dungeons and Dragons actual play show, Critical Role. It follows a group of adventurers called the Mighty Nein as they journey across Wildemount; a land chock full of conspiracies, monsters and treasure just beneath the surface."

• What inspired you to begin creating Secrets of Wildemount?

"As I was working on my last set, Tal’Dorei Legends, I knew that I wanted to do the same with the second season of CR. When it finished, I took a break and let some ideas simmer, until I had a solid basis for how I wanted the set to function. I don’t know of any fan sets in this community that have gotten a sequel so this was a fun opportunity to do so. "

• Where would you say Secrets of Wildemount is in the development process?

"I would describe SWM as being in the playtest phase, with a full set skeleton and functioning card designs, the thing this set needs most is eyes on its cards."

• Are there any lessons from your previous CR set Tal'Dorei Legends that you carried through to this set?

"Perhaps an uncountable amount in terms of fundamentals, but that’s to be expected when going from your first project to the next. There is a balance to be struck when making fan sets between how strict you want to be to your inspiration vs your gameplay expectations, and I think I hit that balance a lot better in this set. I also generally like sets with a higher presence of legends and got to carry over that aspect from TDL into SWM."

• In your design doc, you want Deeds to incentivize combat and put more decision-making into blocking. Have you found that to be true in your playtesting, or have your thoughts on them changed through development?

"Deeds themselves haven’t changed much along the process, but cards around them have done so dramatically. I initially envisioned them like a kind of Battle card, but without the drawbacks of losing out on attacking your opponent’s actual life with a whole archetype around them. Supporting cards for Deeds have been changed to more general purpose and most changes to them have been adjusting where they fit on a curve. They haven’t been playtested much, but most of their changes have come in the form of fitting them better on tempo. I think white room design has done a lot for them, but I’m eager to see them in an actual game."

• What is your favorite card in Secrets of Wildemount? 

"Cavern Kobold is a fantastic intersection of referencing the source material and supporting gameplay. Also just… like, look at him."

• Would you like to give any special thanks to anyone on this server for their help?

"Daneelius has been a frequent feedback partner as this set has evolved, Ensorcelor is also a lot of help for general Magic rules that I sometimes forget, and generally everyone on this discord seems happy to pop in with notes so that's all much appreciated!"