Dungeons And Dragons' New Book Is Filled With Mysteries You Can Solve In One Session

Dungeons & Dragons has been a great way for people to connect with each other throughout the pandemic, even if it's just playing over Zoom calls. And on March 16, Wizards of the Coast has a new D&D adventure book called The Candlekeep Mysteries, but this time around, it's made up of a lot of smaller stories.

With many of D&D's adventure books taking numerous sessions to play, what Candlekeep Mysteries offers plays are short stories that take 1-2 sessions to play. The stories are set for levels 1-16 and all about 10-12 pages long. Candlekeep Mysteries will consist of 17 different adventures, many of which are from new authors. Check out the covers below.

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The central setting for Candlekeep Mysteries is the gigantic Forgotten Realms library. "Candlekeep is a huge fortress that perches on the edge of a sea," said Chris Perkins, principal story designer for Dungeons & Dragons, during a press conference. And it's this magically warded fortress, which holds the greatest trove of lore, that the Forgotten Realms (FR) has ever had. And it has existed since the earliest days of FR. It has appeared in every edition of the game in some way shape or form. And it's I think it's hard to run an FR campaign and not have the word candlekeep actually come up and the desire for the characters to go there at some point because if you have a question that needs to be answered, if you have a riddle that needs to be solved, a puzzle that needs to be cracked, the best place to go to find the answers you seek is this place."

But what makes Candlekeep such an interesting place is that the only way you can get into the massive library is by providing a book, tome, or scroll that is not currently already in the keep's inventory. So just entering Candlekeep could send your party on another adventure. And when you get inside Candlekeep, players will find books that have mysteries that need to be solved.

Check out the list of authors below, many of which may be familiar names to D&D fans.

• Graeme Barber
• Kelly Lynne D’Angelo
• Alison Huang
• Mark Hulmes
• Jennifer Kretchmer
• Daniel Kwan
• Adam Lee
• Ari Levitch
• Sarah Madsen
• Christopher Perkins
• Michael Polkinghorn
• Taymoor Rehman
• Derek Ruiz
• Kienna Shaw
• Brandes Stoddard
• Amy Vorpahl
• Toni Winslow-Brill

There is no order for these stories. A DM can choose whichever story they like the most first and go wherever from there. And this book will work for both seasoned and new DMs. "One-shots in general, or shorter adventures, are great for newer DMs as a way in," explained Candlekeep Mysteries author Jennifer Kretchmer. "[Kretchmer's story] is a higher level adventure. It's definitely designed for more experienced characters, but I think that these adventures are absolutely accessible for newer DMs. Because what you need is there. It's laid out for you, and because they are shorter, you can get through it, and you can dig into what you want to do with it. And it is a self-contained story where you don't have to plan a full campaign going on for a long time."

What's important is that this is a standalone book that seems easy to pick up for those newer to D&D or those who just want to run stories over the course of one session or so. Candlekeep Mysteries hits stores on March 16, and it will cost $50. You can currently preorder the book on Amazon for $45. For more D&D goodness, check out two new dragon "miniatures" coming to stores soon that your adventurers can battle in your next session.