Dungeons and Dragons groups can look forward to fun, new adventures with Wizards of the Coast's latest anthology collection, Keys From The Golden Vault which is releasing later this month. A secretive organization known as the Golden Vault is looking to hire adventuring parties to partake in some dangerous missions for fabulous treasures. These heists will take a lot of well-thought-out plans from highly skilled parties, or perhaps a lot of lucky rolls of the dice and laughter, in order to complete.

The book, Keys From The Golden Vault, releases on February 21 and is just the first of several books announced for publication in 2023. Along with the adventures, it will also feature beautiful artwork and in-world maps that can be used in game, as well as advice for DMs on how to run this style of nontraditional adventure.

This collection of 13 short, standalone quests are designed for players level 1-11 and will lead parties through epic heists for valuable rewards, if they can survive. Dungeon Masters can run these linked together as a campaign, choose to insert one or two into other campaigns for a little variety, or simply pick one for a one-shot game.

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Screen Rant was able to discuss the new anthology with a Wizards of the Coast spokesperson to get a little more information from behind the scenes. They provided some insight in how the artwork for the book was chosen, and some hints as to what the book will hold for players. One adventure in particular sounds as though it could be as entertaining as running some of Candlekeep Mysteries campaign adventures can be.

D&D Keys From The Golden Vault Book Cover

Screen Rant: The cover art for the book is beautiful, especially the alternate art. What is the process like for choosing what the alternate art cover looks like for a book like this?

WotC: It’s a collaborative process steered by the art director, who solicits input from various individuals, including the product lead and the business manager. Our alternate covers tend to be more stylized or metaphorical. A golden vault door seemed perfect for this product, suggesting the book is full of treasure—which it is!

With other anthologies and heist books available, what sets Keys From The Golden Vault apart?

WotC: The Golden Vault is a fantastic new organization DMs can use as a quest-giving agency, around which Dungeon Masters can build and customize their campaigns. The manner in which the Golden Vault interacts with characters is perfect for the heist genre. Each mission comes to characters in the form of a magical key that, when inserted into a music box already in the characters’ possession, activates a mission briefing.

Can you give us any preview of some of the amazing locations players will get to travel to during the adventures - like planar heists or maybe incursions or Mercane vaults?

WotC: All the locations are fun and unique. Featured locations include a natural history museum, a Nine Hells-themed casino, a massive underground tomb, a castle crumbling into ash, an interplanar train, a mansion in the Feywild, and more!

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When choosing a level range for adventures, what determines how high you will go? For example, what made you go with Level 11 as the highest in Keys From The Golden Vault instead of 13?

WotC: For Keys from the Golden Vault, we took pitches from our writers for adventure concepts they were passionate about, and many of those concepts involved specific plots or mechanical details that suggested a specific level. We wanted to provide a range of levels and therefore options for Dungeon Masters and players. In the end, that range is on display while still ending up with two level 5 adventures and two-level adventures that we loved.

Keys From The Golden Vault official art showing the Nine Hells casino with three characters playing cards around a table

Candlekeep Mysteries has one of my favorite 5e adventures ever in it: Kandlekeep Dekonstruktion. Does Keys From The Golden Vault have anything that wacky for players to experience?

We’re glad you liked that adventure—it’s one of our favorites, too. In a similar vein, Keys from the Golden Vault includes a wacky adventure aboard the Concordant Express, a train built and operated by modrons. Every train car is a weird peek into the quirky logic of these extraplanar automatons.

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Wizards of the Coast's latest Dungeons and Dragons anthology collection, Keys From The Golden Vault releases on February 21, 2023.

Source: Dungeons & Dragons/YouTube

  • Dungeons and Dragons Poster
    Dungeons & Dragons (Tabletop)
    Released:
    1974-01-26
    Franchise:
    Dungeons and Dragons
    Genre(s):
    Adventure, RPG, Fantasy
    Platform(s):
    Tabletop Game
    Publisher(s):
    Wizards of the Coast, TSR Inc.