D&D 5E February's Keys from the Golden Vault Appears on Amazon

Announced in August, along with the rest of 2023's D&D lineup, Keys from the Golden Vault -- an anthology of adventures with a 'heist' theme -- has appeared on Amazon with a release date of Frebruary 21, 2023. The entry indicates that the book is 208 pages long.

"Greetings, adventurer. You’ve snuck in and found a wondrous treasure! Keys From the Golden Vault is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure anthology with a heist at the center of every tale. Nothing else is yet known about the contents of this tome, but keep an eye on your favorite D&D news sources for your first sneak peek inside."

So far, it only has the now-familiar D&D preview image, so we should expect a cover reveal in the coming weeks.

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[Ghal Maraz]

"Heist mechanics" are great but hardly necessary.

Well, let's just completely exclude mechanics from RPGs, then.
There's actually a reason Blades in the Dark and the Leverage RPG has been well regarded and are influential. The same goes for the GUMSHOE system and the investigation mechanic.
D&D doesn't certainly support heist (or investigation) mechanics particularly well: you can do them, but they won't shine.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Touche.

And DL1 is kind of a heist stealing the mcgruffin from the black dragon.

Most D&D is heists, if you consider "kill the guards and take the treasure" a heist. Your classic heist story generally avoids directly confronting the guards though, which is why D&D doesn't do it so well.

 

[Alby87]

That doesn't make any sense to me. High level stuff will exacerbate small differences between 5E and 1D&D. It's like a change in angle: close to the origin it is hard to see the difference but the farther out you get the bigger to measured distance.

I think that high level stuff mechanics is not so connected to high level characters: dominion management, warfare, mass combat, strongholds and so on (that are NOT confirmed anywhere) takes from some character statistics, the one I think will be retrocompatible: they are subsystem, not some system like combat or skill system.
The Planescape book (and this exists and should really work on high levels) will present monsters and planes description. Not totally rules-indipendent, but not so entangled with the minutiae OneD&D will change. And, I hope, the really important minutiae like the ones that in the playtest are glossary (fatigue, critical rules, feat at the start) should be already locked in, starting balancing the math and not the rules, by the time the two books are finalized.

 

[Reynard]

Well, let's just completely exclude mechanics from RPGs, then.

Ah, yes, the excluded middle.

There's actually a reason Blades in the Dark and the Leverage RPG has been well regarded and are influential. The same goes for the GUMSHOE system and the investigation mechanic.

I mean, I didn't say they weren't great. I might have even said the opposite.

D&D doesn't certainly support heist (or investigation) mechanics particularly well: you can do them, but they won't shine.

They will if the GM embraces the genre and runs the game intentionally.

 

[R_J_K75]

For me I'll wait and see if Planescape is as bad as Spelljammer.

The Deck of Many Things book I need actual info on, like I know it's got some Player mechanics, but WTF is it otherwise?

Giants book might be good, but most likely a rehash of the 2E "FR Giant Craft?" ICR the name exactly. Deck of Many Things Book and Phandelver Campaign I may spring for. You are correct that we need more info.

I've bought many of WotC adventures for 5E. I've mined bits and pieces from most, but never ran one. The adventure path/compendium in hardcover format really "BLEEPS" me off. Throw us a 16-32 pg softcover module here and there.

 

[eyeheartawk]

Throw us a 16-32 pg softcover module here and there.

In a world where Eberron books from Keith Baker himself are dumped on DMs Guild, that's pretty unlikely.

Having consistent support for your lines is just so 90s

 

[Ghal Maraz]

Ah, yes, the excluded middle.

I mean, I didn't say they weren't great. I might have even said the opposite.

They will if the GM embraces the genre and runs the game intentionally.

And that could be said for almost any game. But D&D doesn't model heist in any way, mechanically speaking. It simply becomes a matter of playstyle.

In which case, I prefer a game that gives me the instruments to play on the strengths of the heist.

 

[R_J_K75]

Having consistent support for your lines is just so 90s

The 90s were awesome, I did alot of fun/bad things.

 

[eyeheartawk]

The 90s were awesome, I did alot of fun/bad things.

It was an interesting time.

One the on hand, RPGs had consistent support.

On the other coughs in Vampire LARP

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The 90s were awesome, I did alot of fun/bad things.

Videos of your ska band practicing, please.