D&D General WotC Reveals New Information and Covers for 'Keys from the Golden Vault'

Due in just a few weeks, Keys from the Golden Vault has receoved little fanfare so far. However, a cover and descrioption has appeared on the Wizards Play Network site. Wizards Play Network (WPN) is a network of WotC-approved stores.

An anthology of 13 heist-themed adventures for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.
 
Some jobs require more than simply wielding a sword or slinging a spell. Whether it’s procuring a well-guarded item or obtaining crucial information from an imprisoned contact, these tasks require careful planning and flawless execution. The secretive organization called the Golden Vault specializes in hiring crews for such jobs, and for the most daunting assignments—pursuing fabulous treasures and stopping dire threats—that crew is your characters.
Keys from the Golden Vault™ is a collection of 13 short, standalone Dungeons & Dragons adventures designed for characters levels 1–11. These adventures can be placed in any setting and you can run them as one-shot games or link them together into a campaign. This book also includes in-world maps to help players plan their heists, plus advice for running nontraditional games with high risks and huge rewards.

Contents:

• Book of 13 stand-alone adventures spanning levels 1–11, each focused on a single heist
• Adventures can be set in any D&D or homebrew world and can be played individually or as part of a full campaign
• Introduces the Golden Vault—a mysterious organization for which the player characters can work as heist operatives
• Each adventure includes a map to guide Dungeon Masters and a map to help players plan their heists
• Adventures emphasize player choice with each heist having multiple paths toward success
• Includes advice and detailed information for Dungeon Masters running nontraditional adventures with high risks and huge rewards

There's also an alternate cover.

 

[EpicureanDM]

There is no way to build a D&D world if you insist that it must make logical sense.

I don't maintain that a particular encounter needs to make logical sense. I want it to demonstrate good game design.

EDIT: I'll clarify that. An encounter should make sense on its own terms, but that's not "logical" sense. It's more of a practical sense, an idea of "Does this situation or encounter make sense internally, on the terms it's been presented to me and with the rules you're asking me to use?" That's the bare minimum. Good game design creates a situation or encounter whose fun is enhanced by the designer's use of the rules. That should be the goal. If the encounter's design requires me to ignore the rules you're telling me to use, that's a problem.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

But if they exist, then other spellcasters must exist in the world, even if they only make up a tiny fraction of the population. So they rule the world.

soemtimes they do... I have totally made Mageocracies and dictatorships with mages at it's head... heck I have made kingdoms where the elven mage who has been 'advisor' to the last 6 kings and queens really makes all the decisions, but never gets any of the blow back.

It depends on what serves the game best.

I have also (although not in years) had dragons that were arcmages just sit on books and treasure and not effect the world outside there lair...

Either way, the setting doesn't work. Either spellcasters are relatively normal, and you have all the issues I outlined earlier, or they are extremely rare. In which case, they are also extremely powerful.

why doesn't either of those work? I have run BOTH and they work very well.

Unless the PCs are literally the only spellcasters on the planet, there will be someone who abuses that power.

that is an idea... I never did "ONLY" I have done "you are the 0.5% though...

You are in a "what if Superman was evil?" scenario.

I see the issue already... there ARE evil supeman level threats... in fact there are more badguys in DC comics with superman or higher level power then there are heroes... so by your logic evil always wins in the comics.

"what if superman was evil?" is normally answered with "Batman stops him"

so what happens if an evil wizard is abusing there power, the answer is a group of adventurers (PCs) get together and stop them or die trying. In my experience THAT is the game.

There is no way to build a D&D world if you insist that it must make logical sense.

my sense is 'what makes sense for the story and game'
our world doesn't make logical sense...

 

[eyeheartawk]

my sense is 'what makes sense for the story and game'
our world doesn't make logical sense...

Sure it does.
It really is dirt simple to understand why things are the way that they are if you apply the principle of cui bono.
Simple but eminently depressing.

 

[Remathilis]

Sure it does.
It really is dirt simple to understand why things are the way that they are if you apply the principle of cui bono.
Simple but eminently depressing.

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Hamlet, Act 1, scene 5.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Sure it does.
It really is dirt simple to understand why things are the way that they are if you apply the principle of cui bono.
Simple but eminently depressing.

nope. Cause for this world to make sense the smartest best must rise to the top (spoiler alert, they don't)
if this world made sense the people that cared about getting ahead would all be going to the gym every few says and focused on a full college because advanced education and charisma and health matter most in getting ahead... BUT

what we see is people are FULL of contradictions... Doctors that smoke, Mechanics that can't keep a job cause they mouth off, really smart (brilliant even) people who end up with some bad luck and can't get anywhere.

Google "the real world has plot holes"
here are some

 

[eyeheartawk]

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Hamlet, Act 1, scene 5.

To qapla’ or not to qapla’, that is the question.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

my sense is 'what makes sense for the story and game'
our world doesn't make logical sense...

Of course. It doesn't matter that some guys who could cast Misty Step chose to save their spell slots and break in through a window.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Of course. It doesn't matter that some guys who could cast Misty Step chose to save their spell slots and break in through a window.

break in... nope. In fact I can argue if I were playing the 9th level wizard I would most likely try the simple way to avoid useing the spell slot...

My issue is not using it to evade capture. Someone else said "improved Invisability plus misty step"

I that is a 2nd and 4th level slot... I guarantee you no one would bat an eyelash if they used them to double blast (cone of cold and what ever 2nd level spell they have for damage) but that fact that they HAVE those get out of jail free cards is an issue.

 

[MNblockhead]

I agree, but feel what you said just reinforces my point.

Writing adventures is hard, harder than designing a game, IMO. It requires a different set of skills than game design. But there's no other game in TRPG history that has produced more published adventures than D&D, either first- or third-party. There are so many examples of what works and what doesn't to study and refine. It shouldn't be controversial to expect that the people hired to be official D&D designers have studied those examples and come to an understanding of what makes a good adventure, both at the micro-level of an individual encounter and the macro-level of the scenario's entire structure.

A "good adventure" or a "good encounter" shouldn't only mean that it has some sort of clever, thematic resonance or that it presents an interesting NPC. That's the sort of feedback you'd give to a novelist or a screenwriter. Published TRPG scenarios are examples of game design. You should be able to look at them and praise them for how they use the rules of the game to produce fun at the table. TRPGs are a peculiar type of game, of course, and they should have themes and interesting NPCs. But if no one can provide examples of how your game design made your adventure fun - your use of the rules that you're supposedly an expert in - that's weird. If the audience isn't going to demand that D&D designers create fun play by using the rules, rather than in spite of them, then why are we even calling them "game designers"?

Yes, but don't underestimate the importance of clever, thematic resonance and interesting NPCs.

I put up with a lot of poor design for an adventure or setting that "grabs" me. For example, I have bought a LOT of adventures from Frog God Game's "Lost Lands" setting.

In many ways these are the antithesis of good adventure design. Large amounts of text walls on background. Overly wordy room descriptions that bury the important details and don't even bother to make them stand out with even simple formatting like bold fonts. Occasionally confusing and over-complicated maps that at times don't match up well with the text descriptions. But I still love them. They are huge tomes mixing settings with adventures and they can support a years long campaign. And they are set in a world with so much content that it is both overwhelming and inspiring.

I really wish the World Anvil version of their setting book was more successful because getting all of their regional and city setting books and adventures into World Anvil would be amazing and would force more DM-friendly formatting, along with hyperlinking for easy cross referencing.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Neither he, nor any of our group, has the desire to rule the world. They are currently the most powerful people (not monsters), in terms of personal power, in our world. But even the whole group could not take on a nation, or the most powerful dragons for that mater. They are much more interested in solving problems than ruling the world!

This is always the big thing for me. Conquering the world or even a nation or a city is one thing, but what happens on day two? It becomes a lot less fun after that, as certain billionaires are learning.