D&D 5E Official Candlekeep Mysteries Announcement & Info About 'The Canopic Being' Adventure

The official announcement of the book that was revealed yesterday includes an image of the alternate cover. Clint Cearley did the standard cover and Simen Meyer did the alternate cover.

It looks like this isn't the book spearheaded by Kate Welch and featuring Marisha Ray and Deborah Ann Woll, as they don't feature on the list of designers.

The hardcover book will be available on March 16th for $49.95, and the alternate cover will be available from local game stores. Instead, the press releases describe it as a "New Book Full of Short Adventures from Up-and-Coming Designers".

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An anthology of seventeen mystery-themed adventures for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.

Candlekeep attracts scholars like a flame attracts moths. Historians, sages, and others who crave knowledge flock to this library fortress to peruse its vast collection of books, scribbled into which are the answers to the mysteries that bedevil them. Many of these books contain their own mysteries—each one a doorway to adventure. Dare you cross that threshold?

Candlekeep Mysteries is a collection of seventeen short, stand-alone D&D adventures designed for characters of levels 1-16. Each adventure begins with the discovery of a book, and each book is the key to a door behind which danger and glory await. These adventures can be run as one-shot games, plugged into an existing Forgotten Realms campaign, or adapted for other campaign settings.

This book also includes a poster map of the library fortress and detailed descriptions of Candlekeep and its inhabitants.

Adventure writers include: 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, and Toni Winslow-Brill.

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WotC's announcement on Facebook includes additional writers not mentioned on the product page -- Hannah Rose, and Chris Lindsay. I asked the company who does WotC's press stuff and they confirmed that they contributed but not as authors.


The Canopic Being
One of the adventures, by Jennifer Kretchmer, is called The Canopic Being. It's 10-12 pages, designed for a single session.

Like all the adventures it starts in Candlekeep, the greatest library in the Forgotten Realms, and features a dungeon located in Tashalar far to the south of the Sword Coast. As a wheelchair user, Kretchmer's adventure is a dungeon crawl beneath the earth, filled with fantasy elevators and ledges accessible by ramps.

The word "Canopic" refers to ancient Egyptian vases or jars often used during the mummification process. Canopic jars store and preserve the body's internal organs.
 

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darjr

I crit!
I approve of more shorter adventures. Also I think this may be the first time we've had an in-depth description of the library itself, so that's another bonus.
There is another, but I’m getting this one too.


Elminsters Guide to Candlekeep is awesome and I’m going to read it again in anticipation.


Confrontation at Candlekeep is also good, but kinda a one shot with a lot of combat. Also going to reread.

note those are my affiliate links.
 

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Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
The fact that these "mysteries" all start with a book suggests we're not likely getting that many murder mysteries and the like, but more traditional D&D adventures. So the mystery would be "why did this expedition disappear" or "what is the real nature of the Phantom of the Peak?"

Probably more useful in more campaigns than straight mysteries and, given how many people are convinced mysteries in D&D are "impossible," probably an easier sell. Still, disappointing.

Quick, someone create an anthology of detective mysteries for DMs Guild!
 


Parmandur

Book-Friend
The fact that these "mysteries" all start with a book suggests we're not likely getting that many murder mysteries and the like, but more traditional D&D adventures. So the mystery would be "why did this expedition disappear" or "what is the real nature of the Phantom of the Peak?"

Probably more useful in more campaigns than straight mysteries and, given how many people are convinced mysteries in D&D are "impossible," probably an easier sell. Still, disappointing.

Quick, someone create an anthology of detective mysteries for DMs Guild!

The theme seems a bit light, but probably more coherent than Yawning Portal. Probably more plausible for stringing together into a campaign, if desired.
 




pukunui

Legend
Like all the adventures it starts in Candlekeep, the greatest library in the Forgotten Realms, located in Tashalar far to the south of the Sword Coast.
A minor point of pedantry: Candlekeep isn’t located in Tashalar. I believe the adventure’s dungeon is.

Candlekeep is at the southern end of the Sword Coast, just south of Baldur’s Gate.

Tashalar is located on the isthmus between Chult and Halruaa.
 

Ringtail

World Traveller
I really like the idea of a collection of smaller adventures, I was a big fan of Saltmarsh. However I do find the Candlekeep angle a bit disappointing, ironic since I am a librarian. It just seems like a very niche theme, so I hope the adventure hooks can be easily tweaked for more general use.
 

Lidgar

Gongfarmer
I really like the idea of a collection of smaller adventures, I was a big fan of Saltmarsh. However I do find the Candlekeep angle a bit disappointing, ironic since I am a librarian. It just seems like a very niche theme, so I hope the adventure hooks can be easily tweaked for more general use.
I view it is a plot hook mechanism akin to the Yawning Portal Inn was to TofYP collection. My guess is that the books you find in the library are equivalent to the Inn's well on getting you transported/hooked to different dungeons/mysteries.
 

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