Candlekeep Mysteries Review Round-Up – What the Critics Say

Candlekeep Mysteries is out and so are a lot of reviews. Let's take a look at what other critics think of D&D's literary adventure anthology and how it compares to my E.N. World review.

The Positive​

Just like I did, Polygon praised Candlekeep Mysteries as being a resource for DMs with tools, tricks, and maps that can be repurposed as well as adventures that can be expanded or placed wherever you want. Polygon also points out that each book is its own character with a history and a look that is just waiting for someone to sell replicas on Etsy. The adventures themselves are called “tremendous” with its diverse team praised for producing some of the best writing in this edition of D&D.

Mush like the other reviews, Tribality praises CM's flexibility in addition to offering good mystery adventures. It also likes the advice for how DMs can set soft and hard limits to ensure everyone at the table is comfortable, which is necessary since some story aspects could be disturbing. The anthology aspect with Candlekeep as its hub is praised, along with requests for similar anthologies with five-room dungeons, short wilderness adventures, and more. Tribality breaks down each adventure and then calls CM a “must have.”

Geeks of Doom likes that each adventure could be worked into an existing campaign, with or without the link to Candlekeep. It also emphasizes how wide the net is that this book casts with its many locations and range of adventure styles and tones.

Nerdvana thinks that Candlekeep Mysteries has enough material to keep DMs “busy for ages.” As a brand, D&D is praised for trying new things. The review also reflects that the individual adventures in CM are about the same size as the slim modules of the old days but get a fresh perspective from the diverse creative team. Nerdvana also agrees that Candlekeep is a compelling location around which to set adventures.

The Not So Positive But Still Positive​

Strange Assembly also praised Candlekeep Mysteries, especially for being different than the typical dungeon crawl and focusing on mystery and investigation adventures instead of combat-heavy ones. It notes that the book doesn't offer new rules, and the adventures require less mechanical skill from the DM, but that DMs who can set a tone, especially for the creepy stories, will do well with CM. SA thought the level 2-3 adventures were the weakest while singling out Canopic Being as particularly good.

The Gamer considers Candlekeep Mysteries both a fun book and a big step toward making the game more inclusive. The Gamer's only real complaint is that it doesn't have a connecting plot between the stories.

Bell of Lost Souls also praises both The Book of Inner Alchemy and Canopic Being as well as the overall variety of adventures. In fact, it labeled CM as a “much-needed break from your typical D&D adventure” and not the standard adventure with the standard reward. BOLS would like to see what these writers can do with a full adventure, not just short, self-contained ones.

Overall Grade: A+​

None of these reviewers provide an official grade but with the extensive praise each one lavishes on the book it's reasonable to assign A grades to the reviews except for Polygon and Geeks of Doom, both of which praise the book without any hesitations or reservations, so they would be A+ grades. I would also give Candlekeep Mysteries an A+ grade because it's so solid and imaginative in all categories. That means D&D's newest book averages between A and A+.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yeah, Book of the Raven really needs some meat on its bones. They're really good bones, but it's really a just lot of atmosphere. It needs a bit more story to bind it all together. I'm working on creating an overarching plot for the book (right now it's basically the mages from the first book have been kidnapped/held prisoner by powerful extraplanar beings, with Zuggtmoy being a prime candidate for this due to the final adventure), and Book of the Raven is being a bit tough to integrate...

One suspects that the author, on being asked to create an adventure, took what they considered the best bit from a full length campaign they had run.

Suggestions with major spoilers:

Spoiler

I suggest that you give your party some need to travel to the Shadowfell, either looking for your missing mages, or to find one of the books for a later episode. e.g. LoL, ZZT or TCCoWV might be in the Shadowfell rather than Candlekeep. If you don't want to run a full blown Shadowfell adventure swap one for the rather rubbish magic saddle treasure.

The Scarlet Sash can also be introduced as allies, and alternative questgivers if you want a break from the Avowed at Candlekeep.

It might be even more interesting if your players mistakenly slaughter the wereravens and the organisation becomes an enemy.

 

[pukunui]

One suspects that the author, on being asked to create an adventure, took what they considered the best bit from a full length campaign they had run.

Chris Perkins was the author. He talked recently about how he'd just written it to use as an example for the other authors and then felt it was good enough (or was convinced that it was good enough -- I forget which) to include in the actual book.

That's probably why it feels so barebones -- because it really was originally just an outline ... and there probably wasn't enough space in the book's page count to flesh it out any further.

 

[The Glen]

Chris Perkins was the author. He talked recently about how he'd just written it to use as an example for the other authors and then felt it was good enough (or was convinced that it was good enough -- I forget which) to include in the actual book.

That's probably why it feels so barebones -- because it really was originally just an outline ... and there probably wasn't enough space in the book's page count to flesh it out any further.

Raven was a strange one, the first half talked heavily about the Vistani, rewriting their history, but then they don't appear in the actual adventure. That was a bit peculiar, especially for the amount of space devoted to the retcon. Could have used it to fill out the adventure instead of giving us Sir Not Appearing in This Adventure.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

For the record I've rather enjoyed reading through this book, several of the modules stand out to me (but haven't run any yet so hard to comment on their actual versatility.) The missing alignment thing is a mild disappointment; I consider it a useful metric to help the DM but also admit it's not that important in the long haul, though replacing it with a "Personality" tag with some key traits would go a long ways toward being helpful with each NPC or monster stat block.

As for any of the "controversy" surrounding the book, or any agenda, I honestly can't say I'd have realized this was a thing if not for it bring brought up on the forums....the book stands on its own two legs on its own merit, in other words.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Gah! Double post!