D&D 5E More Golden Vault Info!

From a recent press release sent out by WotC.

• “A secret organization called the Golden Vault sends mission briefings to its operatives—the adventurers!—in the form of magical, golden keys that are inserted into what looks like a mundane music box. Instead of a pretty tune, though, the music box then provides a recording with all the information needed for the adventurers to hunt a particular item of interest,” said Amanda Hamon, senior game designer on the D&D Team and co-lead designer of Keys from the Golden Vault. “It’s up to the adventurers to do the reconnaissance necessary to circumvent any defenses and pull off a legendary heist. Teamwork is paramount, because as so often happens in these capers, something will go wrong, and creative thinking could save the day!”
• The Golden Vaiult is linked to metallic dragons, and is good-aligned. It has a motto: "“Do good, no matter the cost.”
• The 13 adventures each have two full-page maps (one player map and one for the DM). The player map is often unreliable or incomplete.

Channel Your Inner Rogue with 13 Heist Adventures in Keys from the Golden Vault

Get the Mission, Plan the Caper, and Make Sure Everyone Gets Out Alive with the Prize

Renton, Wash., D&D players are not strangers to impossible missions. A perilous heist requires careful strategizing followed by daredevil antics when something unexpected happens and the players’ plan goes sideways. Dungeons & Dragons invites players to experience the thrill, drama, strategy, and intrigue of the heist genre in Keys from the Golden Vault, the latest Dungeons & Dragons book of adventures. Keys from the Golden Vault will be released in North America on February 21, 2023 and on March 24, 2023 in the UK/EMEA.

“A secret organization called the Golden Vault sends mission briefings to its operatives—the adventurers!—in the form of magical, golden keys that are inserted into what looks like a mundane music box. Instead of a pretty tune, though, the music box then provides a recording with all the information needed for the adventurers to hunt a particular item of interest,” said Amanda Hamon, senior game designer on the D&D Team and co-lead designer of Keys from the Golden Vault. “It’s up to the adventurers to do the reconnaissance necessary to circumvent any defenses and pull off a legendary heist. Teamwork is paramount, because as so often happens in these capers, something will go wrong, and creative thinking could save the day!”

The Golden Vault is rumored to be associated with metallic dragons and based on one of the good-aligned Outer Planes. Its operatives help the downtrodden and innocent when the law can’t. The organization’s motto is: “Do good, no matter the cost.”

D&D players can live out their fantasies of running a caper like one they might have seen on the silver screen in movies such as Mission: Impossible; Ocean’s 11; or even The Great Muppet Caper. The thirteen adventures in Keys from the Golden Vault range from levels 1 to 11. They can be played as one-offs dropped into ongoing campaigns, or run as a campaign of heists perpetrated by the same crew.
“Each adventure includes two full-page maps: one that players can use to plan their heist, and another the Dungeon Master uses to run the adventure,” said Chris Perkins, Story Architect of the D&D Team and co-lead of Keys from the Golden Vault. “The players’ map, however, is often unreliable or incomplete.”

Keys from the Golden Vault has an alternate cover by Simen Meyer, available only through game stores, and an evergreen cover by Anna Podedworna, available in North America on February 21, 2023. Fans who pre-order the digital/physical bundle at dndstore.wizards.com will be able to access the digital release on February 7, 2023.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

What about a short adventure aimed at Level 20s, but include sample characters that the players can either use, or calibrate the power levels against?

Yes, but not "average" L20 characters but hardcore broken rule bending earth shattering characters. Whatever that may be...

Although, as someone said here earlier - there's nothing stopping anyone here from creating a product and putting it on DMs Guild to support that high level play.

Maybe it's levels 13-20 support that finally convinced WotC to cave on the OGL "But Mr. Cocks and Ms Williams - there will be literally millions of fans of high level characters breaking our D&D Beyond servers - we must give them all what they want in the OGL!!!!!"

 

[MonsterEnvy]

It didn't have to. Of course the music box self-destructs!

No the music box is explicitly reusable, The Keys explode after they are used on it however.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

If it's not in the core three, they would be treating us as second class citizens. I and my group would leave the game over it, and I'm betting a lot of other people would as well. A LOT of us play high levels.

That begs the question, why those 3pp producers don't jump in and write high level stuff. Noone needs WotC for adventures.
Most probable answer: it is not profitable to do so, which in turn would lower the quality of all the other stuff.

Also, people already claim, 5e is not deadly enough at high level. The actual problem however is the power/versatility difference between two high level characters. So writing a high level adventure for a certain level is nigh impossible, if you don't know, which characters are involved.

If OneD&D can consolidate the high level play by reducing the power/versatiluty discrepancy, we will probably once again see more official high level adventures.

 

[Maxperson]

That begs the question, why those 3pp producers don't jump in and write high level stuff. Noone needs WotC for adventures.
Most probable answer: it is not profitable to do so, which in turn would lower the quality of all the other stuff.

I just went to DMsGuild and searched for level 17+ 5e adventures. I stopped pressing the right arrow at 200 adventures(I'm sure some are repeated for reasons and some are bundles), so I have no idea what the final number is. I'm sure there's a mix of good, bad and ugly as far as quality goes. There are a few issues, though.

1. There's a lot of content that 3PP can't use. Setting specific information for starters. WotC doesn't have that issue.
2. There's a lot to be said for official high level support(monsters, artifacts, monsters, spells, monsters, feats, monsters).
3. It can be really tough to know what's good and what's not when it comes to 3PP. You usually can't look at the whole thing before you buy it like you can with WotC store books.

If OneD&D can consolidate the high level play by reducing the power/versatiluty discrepancy, we will probably once again see more official high level adventures.

That's a really big if. I don't know how 4e was, but 1e, 2e, 3e and 5e all had that power disparity. Balancing high level is not easy and the DM is the one who usually has to do it.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I just went to DMsGuild and searched for level 17+ 5e adventures. I stopped pressing the right arrow at 200 adventures(I'm sure some are repeated for reasons and some are bundles), so I have no idea what the final number is. I'm sure there's a mix of good, bad and ugly as far as quality goes. There are a few issues, though.

1. There's a lot of content that 3PP can't use. Setting specific information for starters. WotC doesn't have that issue.
2. There's a lot to be said for official high level support(monsters, artifacts, monsters, spells, monsters, feats, monsters).
3. It can be really tough to know what's good and what's not when it comes to 3PP. You usually can't look at the whole thing before you buy it like you can with WotC store books.

That's a really big if. I don't know how 4e was, but 1e, 2e, 3e and 5e all had that power disparity. Balancing high level is not easy and the DM is the one who usually has to do it.

Thanks for the research.

What would you want from a good high level adventure?

In my opinion high level adventures are more about giving a plot, high level antagonists and some ideas to fill in the blank space than doing a string of encounters.

 

[Maxperson]

Thanks for the research.

What would you want from a good high level adventure?

Something fairly short. For WotC stuff other than their Undermountain campaign, I only buy adventure anthologies. I want something I can insert into the game I'm running, not be the game.

Primarily, though, I make up my own adventures. What I want. What I really, really want. Is a decent selection of high level monsters. If you look at the MM for the current high level content, the monster lists for the higher CRs are not only shorter than the low level ones, but also tend to have 2-3 versions of dragon, 2-3 fiends, and 2-3 versions of giant on them, so the lists are even shorter than they appear.

After monsters, high level magic items and spells would be nice.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Something fairly short. For WotC stuff other than their Undermountain campaign, I only buy adventure anthologies. I want something I can insert into the game I'm running, not be the game.

Primarily, though, I make up my own adventures. What I want. What I really, really want. Is a decent selection of high level monsters. If you look at the MM for the current high level content, the monster lists for the higher CRs are not only shorter than the low level ones, but also tend to have 2-3 versions of dragon, 2-3 fiends, and 2-3 versions of giant on them, so the lists are even shorter than they appear.

After monsters, high level magic items and spells would be nice.

It has been a while, but what I often did was adding class levels to humanoid or celestial type monsters. DMG rules work, but are lacking a bit. But add 3 levels of fighter or barbarbarian go a long way to make fighting enemies way more resilient or powerful. A single level of spellcaster to add shield also helps.

So what I hope for a 5e DMG or MM chapter is a good guideline for customizing monsters. So any monster can be scaled up with useful abilities.

I don't need 20 different kinds of drow. I want 3 kinds and customizability. That would serve me way better.

 

[Maxperson]

It has been a while, but what I often did was adding class levels to humanoid or celestial type monsters. DMG rules work, but are lacking a bit. But add 3 levels of fighter or barbarbarian go a long way to make fighting enemies way more resilient or powerful. A single level of spellcaster to add shield also helps.

So what I hope for a 5e DMG or MM chapter is a good guideline for customizing monsters. So any monster can be scaled up with useful abilities.

I don't need 20 different kinds of drow. I want 3 kinds and customizability. That would serve me way better.

See, that's just more of the issue I have now. I don't want 5 more kinds of giant and 10 more fiends, or the same ones with some class levels. I want the Kizmak and 50 other more unique creatures. And hell, there are a bunch from prior editions to yank from if WotC doesn't want to burn too many brain cells on originality.

One of my pet peeves for the edition is that they reduced a lot of high level monsters to low level. The banshee went from a double digit CR in 3e to something a 3rd level group can fight in 5e.

 

[Parmandur]

Primarily, though, I make up my own adventures.

Well, that's the thing: that's normal for high Level tables, apparently. So the market is slim.

 

[Maxperson]

Well, that's the thing: that's normal for high Level tables, apparently. So the market is slim.

For adventures. Not for monsters, artifacts, spells, etc.