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Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition
Candlekeep Mysteries
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.
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.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published March 16, 2021
73 people are currently reading
511 people want to read
About the author
Wizards of the Coast
431 books432 followersWizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC /ˈwɒtˌsiː/ or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by purchasing the failing company TSR, and experienced tremendous success by publishing the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington in the United States.[1]
Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.
Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
September 11, 2022
This was my first time reading a Dungeons and Dragons book from cover to cover. Interesting experience. I was enticed by the setting and the buffet-style, non-committal nature of a series of seventeen one-shot adventures. I read to the end for ideas (of which there are plenty) and to assess its potential of having the adventures stitched together for whole campaign. It could go either way, but it was definitely a good place to begin as it thematically suited my taste and my experience level as a new DM.
April 1, 2021
Done for now. Will return when I have local DnD players for this again :)
Overall - fun setting, more of a quirky open-but-bounded environment that can hook into many worlds; feels less violent and more "escape room" esq with sufficient creepy vibes
1 - creative premise and setting, bonding environment for new players; encounters could be more unusual/surprising but the elements for making them more that way are present
2 - fun opener, backstory is oddly specific and complicated, could be simplified or adapted - would fit better in Eberron; like that it could be resolved peacefully, don't really like that the majority takes place outside of Candlekeep
3 - raven drop-off clutch, treasure map A+, planar travel is cool, mystery is kinda meh but it has the elements to be really interesting
4 - good old diary about an abandoned town, with villagers disappearing in the night; simple but this leaves room to ham it up with horror stereotypes
Overall - fun setting, more of a quirky open-but-bounded environment that can hook into many worlds; feels less violent and more "escape room" esq with sufficient creepy vibes
1 - creative premise and setting, bonding environment for new players; encounters could be more unusual/surprising but the elements for making them more that way are present
2 - fun opener, backstory is oddly specific and complicated, could be simplified or adapted - would fit better in Eberron; like that it could be resolved peacefully, don't really like that the majority takes place outside of Candlekeep
3 - raven drop-off clutch, treasure map A+, planar travel is cool, mystery is kinda meh but it has the elements to be really interesting
4 - good old diary about an abandoned town, with villagers disappearing in the night; simple but this leaves room to ham it up with horror stereotypes
June 6, 2021
A lot of fun adventures, with unique ideas that can be transposed into any game.
December 7, 2023
Some grear scenarios and ideas. I do love to include books in my campaigns. Wereravens could be fun to play with. More secrets of the Netheril.
April 4, 2021
Really cool collection of stories, though some have a far stronger narrative drive than others.
Will hopefully run some over the course of the year and maybe give it a final star depending on how good the players find it.
Will hopefully run some over the course of the year and maybe give it a final star depending on how good the players find it.
Read
November 11, 2022A lot of the current D&D books fall into a few categories:
(a) Core and expanded rules — player’s guide, dm’s guide, monster book, other books that focus solely on rules expansions for those. These are the books that you could get and then design your own world in.
(b) Settings books — these often come with some adventure, but not necessarily, so Ravenloft, Ravnica, Spelljammer
(c) Adventures — which further break down into campaigns (like Iceland Dale or the elemental princes of evil book) or anthologies (Yawning Portal, Candlekeep mysteries.)
What we have here is a (c): a collection of 17 mystery-themed adventures focused around books kept in the library / monastery of Candlekeep, where you have to give a unique book to get in. There’s about 11p on Candlekeep (1 of which is a full page map, even though there’s a pullout map in the back), so about 5% of the book is setting, put here so that you don’t have to include stats for librarians in every adventure.
Now, one thing about an anthology is: why are these adventures here? It’s an anthology, so theoretically you could swap out these adventures for others. This is kind of a high bar to pass, I think, but each adventure really should showcase something or else it starts to get a little repetitive.
The other question about an anthology is: why this focus? Why make all these adventures focus on Candlekeep and books? Why not adventures around a thieves guild in Cormyr or starting a trading company near Lantan? Here, I think there’s a relatively easy and unsatisfying answer: people who play D&D are nerds and like books, so send their characters to a library. (Also, and obviously, books can have info about all sorts of stuff, so you can have a wide variety, sure, fine.)
Now, while reading these adventures, I started to notice a few repeated tropes, and feeling a little bit like a structuralist folklorist (more Props than Aarne-Thompson, that’s just how I roll), I made a little list to keep track:
(a) book is doorway to other world/plane — 5
(b) undirected dungeon delve — 4
(c) animated by magic — 2
(d) book incidental — 6
(e) good place taken over by evil — 4
(f) curse! — 3
Looking at that list, where the worst offender is the really subjective “book incidental” — where the role of the book could be served by a rumor or a bard’s song or almost anything else — I have to say, 6 out of 17 doesn’t sound bad. But what I noticed was that there were some adventures that didn’t fall into any of these, and sometimes — but only sometimes — those were my favorites.
Here’s a quick run-through of the 17 adventures (marked + for good, - for bad, and nothing for just fine):
* Joy of Extra-dimensional Spaces
PCs have to find someone — who got sucked into a mansion realm that the book portals to (a). Now they have to explore the mansion (b), threatened by animated books, brooms, and library (c).
> pretty ordinary, fine intro for new players, really hate that the end is “you found the person, but then an imp killed them and you couldn’t stop it”
* Mazeroth’s Mighty Digressions (+)
PCs try to read a book which (c) animates and attacks them. Now they have to track down why this book wasn’t a book. (Some people are duplicating books with magic to fund the resurrection of a friend.)
> Good motivation for the schemers! Options for non-combat resolution a plus
* Book of the Raven (-)
PCs find a treasure map in a book (d), which leads them to a chalet where… I don’t really know, there’s not a lot going on here, but they can explore (b) and there’s a secret society of wereravens.
> Did I miss something? This doesn’t feel like an adventure.
* A deep and creeping darkness (+)
PCs read a book about what happened to an abandoned mine (d) and then go clear out monsters from the mine (b).
> Real solid (though the book doesn’t really matter — they could get this assignment from the mine company and the first stop is to talk to the survivors)
* Shemshime’s bedtime rhyme (+)
An evil spirit caught in a book starts making people sick, starting a quarantine that catches up the PCs, who have to solve the curse by finishing the riddle (f)
> Top notch, book and Candlekeep integral to the story,
* The Price of Beauty (-)
Book is a portal (a) to a good temple taken over by hags (e) who offer cursed bargains for beauty and must be stopped
> Eh
* Book of Cylinders
Grippli need help because their village was taken over by evil yuan-ti (e), as foretold by a book (d)
> The author of this had some sharp words for how the editors made changes without his approval, so that’s fun gossip. The story as told is maybe too straightforward — PCs go rescue some helpless frog folk — but there are some fun setpieces
* Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor
Ghost in a book (d) asks you to investigate her murder, which gets you on the trail of a dangerous cult, and eventually involves you clearing out their temple dungeon (b)
> Sure! Simple but with room for fun.
* Lore of Lurue (-)
Book is a portal (a) to a formerly sylvan paradise that is being corrupted by the evil god of the hunt (e)
> Eh
* Kandlekeep Dekonstruktion (+)
PCs learn that some custodians of Candlekeep are trying to engage the secret rocket tower and have to stop them.
> Too cutesy name sets tone for a slightly twee adventure, but it’s certainly original and fun. I’m a fan of mechanical animals, so that’s also here.
* Zikran’s Zephyrean Tome
An evil wizard trapped a genie in a book and you go explore the abandoned lab (and maybe get clues from the dragon that took it over) and then go to the storm giant lair (now populated by storm giant ghosts) to fight the wizard
> It’s fine, bonus points for all the things you don’t have to fight
* The Curious Tale of Wisteria Vale (-)
Book is the portal (a) to a prison dimension where a formerly good guy is imprisoned (e) and now the PCs go there to give him the cure, only a beholder has invaded
> Eh. There’s a whole thing about how all the people in this fake village are automatons and the person trapped here doesn’t know they’re trapped, and it’s all a little weird.
* The book of inner alchemy
An evil monkish order stole a book or a page (d) and now the PCs track them down and kill them all.
> Yeah, fine, it’s a wuxia adventure
* The Canopic Being
PCs named in prophecy (d) go off on a quest to stop a crazed seer who is transplanting organs to corrupt others
> Uh, sure, I don’t really get it.
* The Scrivener’s Tale
Evil archfey stuck in a book curses PCs (f) who have to investigate a ruined library (b) and kill him.
> Yeah, sure
* Alkazaar’s Appendix
Book transports (a) the PCs to a damaged golem that has a magic gem to open up a vault that a dragon lich wants
> Yeah, ok
* Xanthoria
A cursed plague is infecting everything (f), and the PCs need to destroy the fungus lich
> Uh huh.
So, what can we learn about adventure writing and anthology editing from this book’s successes and missteps?
Here’s one thing I think this book does OK: it balances some pretty straightforward adventures (evil person does bad thing, stop them) with some interesting and different adventures.
Here’s another thing this book does well, but is not to the RPG’s credit: it showcases how higher-level adventures can be a snooze because of how much power people have. The adventure with the dragon lich has a fight where dozens of mummies come out, and it just feels like nothing is special.
It is also curious to me how some of the adventures that hit the repeated tropes hard are still good adventures, which is a nice reminder that you can do things that other people have done, as long as you have a reason for that.
That said, the two tropes I found myself disliking the most were “book incidental” and “book is portal”, which have some overlap. On one hand, the “portal sucks you in” is a quick bit of motivation and jump to the adventure; but it started to feel like the authors were struggling against the constraint of focusing the adventure on the books and Candlekeep. Which is probably why one of my favorite adventures involves a cursed book in Candlekeep causing a quarantine. You know, the book could almost be incidental there — it’s actually not a book, it’s a music box, so there’s a big clue that we’re getting away from our book theme — but “cursed object turns peaceful inn into cabin in the woods scenario” is a fun premise.
(Likewise I can’t really get worked up about the trope of the “undirected dungeon delve” because that’s kind of baked into a lot of D&D, but at the same time, notice that none of those adventures really made it into my top tier.)
(a) Core and expanded rules — player’s guide, dm’s guide, monster book, other books that focus solely on rules expansions for those. These are the books that you could get and then design your own world in.
(b) Settings books — these often come with some adventure, but not necessarily, so Ravenloft, Ravnica, Spelljammer
(c) Adventures — which further break down into campaigns (like Iceland Dale or the elemental princes of evil book) or anthologies (Yawning Portal, Candlekeep mysteries.)
What we have here is a (c): a collection of 17 mystery-themed adventures focused around books kept in the library / monastery of Candlekeep, where you have to give a unique book to get in. There’s about 11p on Candlekeep (1 of which is a full page map, even though there’s a pullout map in the back), so about 5% of the book is setting, put here so that you don’t have to include stats for librarians in every adventure.
Now, one thing about an anthology is: why are these adventures here? It’s an anthology, so theoretically you could swap out these adventures for others. This is kind of a high bar to pass, I think, but each adventure really should showcase something or else it starts to get a little repetitive.
The other question about an anthology is: why this focus? Why make all these adventures focus on Candlekeep and books? Why not adventures around a thieves guild in Cormyr or starting a trading company near Lantan? Here, I think there’s a relatively easy and unsatisfying answer: people who play D&D are nerds and like books, so send their characters to a library. (Also, and obviously, books can have info about all sorts of stuff, so you can have a wide variety, sure, fine.)
Now, while reading these adventures, I started to notice a few repeated tropes, and feeling a little bit like a structuralist folklorist (more Props than Aarne-Thompson, that’s just how I roll), I made a little list to keep track:
(a) book is doorway to other world/plane — 5
(b) undirected dungeon delve — 4
(c) animated by magic — 2
(d) book incidental — 6
(e) good place taken over by evil — 4
(f) curse! — 3
Looking at that list, where the worst offender is the really subjective “book incidental” — where the role of the book could be served by a rumor or a bard’s song or almost anything else — I have to say, 6 out of 17 doesn’t sound bad. But what I noticed was that there were some adventures that didn’t fall into any of these, and sometimes — but only sometimes — those were my favorites.
Here’s a quick run-through of the 17 adventures (marked + for good, - for bad, and nothing for just fine):
* Joy of Extra-dimensional Spaces
PCs have to find someone — who got sucked into a mansion realm that the book portals to (a). Now they have to explore the mansion (b), threatened by animated books, brooms, and library (c).
> pretty ordinary, fine intro for new players, really hate that the end is “you found the person, but then an imp killed them and you couldn’t stop it”
* Mazeroth’s Mighty Digressions (+)
PCs try to read a book which (c) animates and attacks them. Now they have to track down why this book wasn’t a book. (Some people are duplicating books with magic to fund the resurrection of a friend.)
> Good motivation for the schemers! Options for non-combat resolution a plus
* Book of the Raven (-)
PCs find a treasure map in a book (d), which leads them to a chalet where… I don’t really know, there’s not a lot going on here, but they can explore (b) and there’s a secret society of wereravens.
> Did I miss something? This doesn’t feel like an adventure.
* A deep and creeping darkness (+)
PCs read a book about what happened to an abandoned mine (d) and then go clear out monsters from the mine (b).
> Real solid (though the book doesn’t really matter — they could get this assignment from the mine company and the first stop is to talk to the survivors)
* Shemshime’s bedtime rhyme (+)
An evil spirit caught in a book starts making people sick, starting a quarantine that catches up the PCs, who have to solve the curse by finishing the riddle (f)
> Top notch, book and Candlekeep integral to the story,
* The Price of Beauty (-)
Book is a portal (a) to a good temple taken over by hags (e) who offer cursed bargains for beauty and must be stopped
> Eh
* Book of Cylinders
Grippli need help because their village was taken over by evil yuan-ti (e), as foretold by a book (d)
> The author of this had some sharp words for how the editors made changes without his approval, so that’s fun gossip. The story as told is maybe too straightforward — PCs go rescue some helpless frog folk — but there are some fun setpieces
* Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor
Ghost in a book (d) asks you to investigate her murder, which gets you on the trail of a dangerous cult, and eventually involves you clearing out their temple dungeon (b)
> Sure! Simple but with room for fun.
* Lore of Lurue (-)
Book is a portal (a) to a formerly sylvan paradise that is being corrupted by the evil god of the hunt (e)
> Eh
* Kandlekeep Dekonstruktion (+)
PCs learn that some custodians of Candlekeep are trying to engage the secret rocket tower and have to stop them.
> Too cutesy name sets tone for a slightly twee adventure, but it’s certainly original and fun. I’m a fan of mechanical animals, so that’s also here.
* Zikran’s Zephyrean Tome
An evil wizard trapped a genie in a book and you go explore the abandoned lab (and maybe get clues from the dragon that took it over) and then go to the storm giant lair (now populated by storm giant ghosts) to fight the wizard
> It’s fine, bonus points for all the things you don’t have to fight
* The Curious Tale of Wisteria Vale (-)
Book is the portal (a) to a prison dimension where a formerly good guy is imprisoned (e) and now the PCs go there to give him the cure, only a beholder has invaded
> Eh. There’s a whole thing about how all the people in this fake village are automatons and the person trapped here doesn’t know they’re trapped, and it’s all a little weird.
* The book of inner alchemy
An evil monkish order stole a book or a page (d) and now the PCs track them down and kill them all.
> Yeah, fine, it’s a wuxia adventure
* The Canopic Being
PCs named in prophecy (d) go off on a quest to stop a crazed seer who is transplanting organs to corrupt others
> Uh, sure, I don’t really get it.
* The Scrivener’s Tale
Evil archfey stuck in a book curses PCs (f) who have to investigate a ruined library (b) and kill him.
> Yeah, sure
* Alkazaar’s Appendix
Book transports (a) the PCs to a damaged golem that has a magic gem to open up a vault that a dragon lich wants
> Yeah, ok
* Xanthoria
A cursed plague is infecting everything (f), and the PCs need to destroy the fungus lich
> Uh huh.
So, what can we learn about adventure writing and anthology editing from this book’s successes and missteps?
Here’s one thing I think this book does OK: it balances some pretty straightforward adventures (evil person does bad thing, stop them) with some interesting and different adventures.
Here’s another thing this book does well, but is not to the RPG’s credit: it showcases how higher-level adventures can be a snooze because of how much power people have. The adventure with the dragon lich has a fight where dozens of mummies come out, and it just feels like nothing is special.
It is also curious to me how some of the adventures that hit the repeated tropes hard are still good adventures, which is a nice reminder that you can do things that other people have done, as long as you have a reason for that.
That said, the two tropes I found myself disliking the most were “book incidental” and “book is portal”, which have some overlap. On one hand, the “portal sucks you in” is a quick bit of motivation and jump to the adventure; but it started to feel like the authors were struggling against the constraint of focusing the adventure on the books and Candlekeep. Which is probably why one of my favorite adventures involves a cursed book in Candlekeep causing a quarantine. You know, the book could almost be incidental there — it’s actually not a book, it’s a music box, so there’s a big clue that we’re getting away from our book theme — but “cursed object turns peaceful inn into cabin in the woods scenario” is a fun premise.
(Likewise I can’t really get worked up about the trope of the “undirected dungeon delve” because that’s kind of baked into a lot of D&D, but at the same time, notice that none of those adventures really made it into my top tier.)
April 22, 2021
More like tales of the spellbook collectors..
November 8, 2022
Just to preface - I do not read the adventures presented in the books because I do not want to ruin them should I ever be invited to take part in one. Therefore, when I read one of the source books I look at lore/history based information, new stat blocks/information for monsters, and descriptions of new magical items.
I REALLY want to play some of the Candlekeep adventures. I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the great library and its denizens. I would love a chance to play in that setting. Its so rich in lore and mystery that it sounds like it would be a lot of fun to muck about in.
The new monsters introduced were really interesting and inspired some new ideas for my own home game. The Swarm of Books made my bookish little heart happy and the Lichen Liche was very intriguing. Lots to think about!
I REALLY want to play some of the Candlekeep adventures. I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the great library and its denizens. I would love a chance to play in that setting. Its so rich in lore and mystery that it sounds like it would be a lot of fun to muck about in.
The new monsters introduced were really interesting and inspired some new ideas for my own home game. The Swarm of Books made my bookish little heart happy and the Lichen Liche was very intriguing. Lots to think about!
January 18, 2023
This was fine. Interesting lore on Candlekeep, the adventures are fine, but most of them have little to do with actual Candlekeep and I kind of wanted more...connection, between the adventures. However, it's certainly better connected than later omnibuses by WOTC and certainly didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth as some of those did
September 20, 2021
The adventures contained within are good and interesting. I liked the majority of them but many were light on obvious details a DM might want. Solid book, not as good as some others.
December 28, 2021
Some cool adventures but most are linear and don't allow much player agency.
October 12, 2024
We ended up ending the campaign early. We found it a bit boring. I'm going to finish reading at a later date, so I might change my rating then, but until then, this was meh.
Read
July 9, 2021Stalled on this a bit on account of prepping for Ghosts of Saltmarsh, but I kept notes as I was working through the short individual adventures that make up this anthology volume, intending to make more detailed references to each of them in my review, much as I've done on the earlier modules. But at the end now I'm faced with the certainty that most of these adventures are pretty unremarkable, not worth mentioning at all. Looking at my brief notes, I find myself struggling to recall details, and when I do, coming up with a reaction that's just, "Oh, that one. Sure, yeah, I read that."
Candlekeep itself is a pretty meaningless framing device too: the vast majority of the stories have very little to do with this vast magical library and quickly take the players elsewhere. As someone who used to stretch essay questions to the absolute limit, I can respect this, but as someone who thinks a vast magical library is extremely cool, I also found it irritating. Still there's a couple of adventures here that I'll note in particular.
'Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme' is tight, almost claustrophobicly contained. It requires your players to pay attention to their surroundings, put two and two together, but gives such a limited area to play in that that shouldn't actually be a problem. The storybook framing is lovely, though you might want to check ahead of time that people are okay playing something that's essentially set in quarantine.
'Book of Cylinders' has been disowned by its author, the surrounds of which you can google yourself. The bones of it are not a bad little thing, but Wizards of the Coast editing a story to be, essentially, more racist is something that depresses but does not surprise me, given how riddled their lore is with "evil" races. This attempt to divert from that being so clearly crushed just makes it more obvious.
'Kandlekeep Dekonstruktion' rules actually. A cult (of course) has decided the only place Candlekeep's priceless books will be safe is in space, and so plan to launch one of the keep's towers into orbit. A countdown is started shortly into the adventure, and your players might soon find themselves very far from the library indeed. Zany, madcap, and utterly delightful.
'Alkazaar's Appendix' features a golem half-buried in the sands, trying to finish its quest in taking its master to paradise. I started off pretty disinterested in this one, but it ends up being quite moving, I think. The history behind the story needs some simplification, but the emotional core here is very strong.
'Xanthoria' has a lichen lich! a fungal plague! and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth by essentially forcing you to sacrifice a very sweet NPC to achieve the good ending. Which is a shame, because it's otherwise very cool. Maybe I just really like mushroom imagery.
It ought to say something that I've only referenced five stories by name, and not all completely favourably, when there are 17 total in the book. I've seen random encounter tables that are more interesting, more filled with verve and life, than some of these published adventures. As ever, you're probably better off cherrypicking whatever cherries you can scavenge and making use of them in your homebrew wherever you please.
Candlekeep itself is a pretty meaningless framing device too: the vast majority of the stories have very little to do with this vast magical library and quickly take the players elsewhere. As someone who used to stretch essay questions to the absolute limit, I can respect this, but as someone who thinks a vast magical library is extremely cool, I also found it irritating. Still there's a couple of adventures here that I'll note in particular.
'Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme' is tight, almost claustrophobicly contained. It requires your players to pay attention to their surroundings, put two and two together, but gives such a limited area to play in that that shouldn't actually be a problem. The storybook framing is lovely, though you might want to check ahead of time that people are okay playing something that's essentially set in quarantine.
'Book of Cylinders' has been disowned by its author, the surrounds of which you can google yourself. The bones of it are not a bad little thing, but Wizards of the Coast editing a story to be, essentially, more racist is something that depresses but does not surprise me, given how riddled their lore is with "evil" races. This attempt to divert from that being so clearly crushed just makes it more obvious.
'Kandlekeep Dekonstruktion' rules actually. A cult (of course) has decided the only place Candlekeep's priceless books will be safe is in space, and so plan to launch one of the keep's towers into orbit. A countdown is started shortly into the adventure, and your players might soon find themselves very far from the library indeed. Zany, madcap, and utterly delightful.
'Alkazaar's Appendix' features a golem half-buried in the sands, trying to finish its quest in taking its master to paradise. I started off pretty disinterested in this one, but it ends up being quite moving, I think. The history behind the story needs some simplification, but the emotional core here is very strong.
'Xanthoria' has a lichen lich! a fungal plague! and it leaves a bad taste in your mouth by essentially forcing you to sacrifice a very sweet NPC to achieve the good ending. Which is a shame, because it's otherwise very cool. Maybe I just really like mushroom imagery.
It ought to say something that I've only referenced five stories by name, and not all completely favourably, when there are 17 total in the book. I've seen random encounter tables that are more interesting, more filled with verve and life, than some of these published adventures. As ever, you're probably better off cherrypicking whatever cherries you can scavenge and making use of them in your homebrew wherever you please.
November 17, 2024
I enjoyed this book, and have played through three of the stories with my D&D group. The adventures are generally well written, containing most of the relevant information a DM would need to run the game. Like most shorter stories, a wider context and setup are generally needed to introduce the adventures, but after that work is done, the stories could be played either as stand-alone adventures, or incorporated into longer campaigns. Like many D&D books, the pictures were also very good.
There were a few weaknesses, which I've also noticed with many D&D books. Firstly, there were often too many characters for the amount of plot. I cut out some of the characters when playing the stories, as some of them had very marginal relevance and would be hard for players to remember. Secondly, too many of the places to explore contained nothing of interest. This is an oddity that DMs would want to counteract, as it is bad for any story to have irrelevant elements.
I also thought that two of the stories for higher level characters had weaker plots, although that is no doubt an inherent problem for any collection.
Overall, this was a useful and fun collection of short campaign stories.
There were a few weaknesses, which I've also noticed with many D&D books. Firstly, there were often too many characters for the amount of plot. I cut out some of the characters when playing the stories, as some of them had very marginal relevance and would be hard for players to remember. Secondly, too many of the places to explore contained nothing of interest. This is an oddity that DMs would want to counteract, as it is bad for any story to have irrelevant elements.
I also thought that two of the stories for higher level characters had weaker plots, although that is no doubt an inherent problem for any collection.
Overall, this was a useful and fun collection of short campaign stories.
November 2, 2021
I'm really excited to run a lot of these. I think it would smash into a campaign well, or could make a episodic campaign that needs filled out... I really like the anthologies from WotC. I think Candlekeep MOST of all, should be something where eventually your players show signs of bookish interests, find a book in someones library or some such, and the campaign derails into Candlekeep. The narrative of 1-16 in Candlekeep is rather weak. But, can be managed. I think it would make more sense if the adventurers were hired as independent contractors, maybe if you have 5 players, they have 3 or so characters each. Or run some of them like Westmarches... I'm not sure how I will do it... the book isn't simply linear. I'm curious how other DM's have done it, if they just leave months and years between episodes... do they have the players going... yeah... but seriously, anthologies are awesome material to throw into other campaigns and I am glad there is a book/candlekeep focus
June 10, 2023
An uneven anthology of mystery-themed one-shot adventures, but the higher quality entries carry it through. The lower level adventures tended to be weaker than the higher, I found, though there are good ones scattered all the way through. Some favs were: "Alkazaar's Appendix", "Kandlekeep Dekonstruktion", "The Canopic Being", "Sarah of Yellowcrest Manor", "The Scrivener's Tale" and "Xanthoria". And although the adventure was a little rough in the writing -- and the bad-guy's Achilles Heel was disappointing -- I can't get the thought of the fun I'd have singing the rhyme from "Shemshine's Bedtime Rhyme" in an off-key high pitch to my players throughout the session.
Some of these quests will very likely end up in my 'one-day-I'll-run-it' mash-up campaign of several of the 5th ed published materials.
Some of these quests will very likely end up in my 'one-day-I'll-run-it' mash-up campaign of several of the 5th ed published materials.
December 26, 2022
Candlekeep Mysteries by Graeme Barber is a wonderful supplement for dungeons and dragons that gives DMs tons of new stat blocks, magical items, and lore through a collection of one-shot narratives that could easily be the premise for a larger overarching story or singular adventures. It leaves a lot of blanks for the DM to fill in, allowing for some creative leeway and morphing the specific adventures to fit within a premade, homebrew world.
TL;DR: A great collection of quests that are easily adaptable to individual stories or a larger homebrew world for those DMs feeling a bit of writer's block.
TL;DR: A great collection of quests that are easily adaptable to individual stories or a larger homebrew world for those DMs feeling a bit of writer's block.
January 21, 2024
Multiple short adventures starting from the common theme of a trip to the library. The adventures taken in order range from 1st to 16th level, and include hooks into several different planes and different locations across the PMP. Some of the best known D&D creators have come up with really engaging material here, and a DM could start any number of campaigns from this if they were so inclined. Monsters are heavy on the undead and fey, with dragon, giant, and beholder action at the more advanced levels. Overall, a fantastic collection of input from top notch creators great for campaigns with home in the Forgotten Realms but tendrils beyond.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 4, 2025
Overall, it's a great setting to host multiple side adventures with unique characters. highly suggest looking over the adventures and using a couple!
Why 3/5 stars?
While each adventure is unique and filled with different styles of gameplay. It's painfully obvious that the writers had no idea what the others were writing or planning.
Each chapter basically starts with, "and then this book does _____".
I get it we're in a magic library and book shenanigans happen....but this hook gets old FAST.
If you're planning on running these adventures as a whole, I HIGHLY suggest reworking the chapters so they connect/flow better.
Why 3/5 stars?
While each adventure is unique and filled with different styles of gameplay. It's painfully obvious that the writers had no idea what the others were writing or planning.
Each chapter basically starts with, "and then this book does _____".
I get it we're in a magic library and book shenanigans happen....but this hook gets old FAST.
If you're planning on running these adventures as a whole, I HIGHLY suggest reworking the chapters so they connect/flow better.
June 28, 2021
I bought this book to adapt to my pathfinder campaign. My favorite character is a lore master wizard who collects books, so I want to adapt candlekeep around him.
The quests are all interesting, and well written. Each is either focused around, or connected to, books in the collection of Candlekeep. They can easily be adapted to fit any player or parties stories, or used as a collection of adventures together.
I think this is a great collection of quest, and I’m excited to be able to use them with my table soon.
The quests are all interesting, and well written. Each is either focused around, or connected to, books in the collection of Candlekeep. They can easily be adapted to fit any player or parties stories, or used as a collection of adventures together.
I think this is a great collection of quest, and I’m excited to be able to use them with my table soon.
November 26, 2021
After 31 sessions, finished up with this campaign. The family loved it. It's uneven, and some of the adventures didn't work so well with my family, but overall just a wonderful series of short, fun adventures. There is some nice variety in here.
Candlekeep was a great base of operations. I didn't like the maps in the book for VTT, but there are a ton of community created maps that are available which I used instead. I can't ding the book, though, because in person it would not have mattered.
Candlekeep was a great base of operations. I didn't like the maps in the book for VTT, but there are a ton of community created maps that are available which I used instead. I can't ding the book, though, because in person it would not have mattered.
April 28, 2021
A generally very good collection of adventures; short, easy to drop-in, and simple enough to be modifiable. However, there was a slight "samishness" to some of the adventures - too many "these people are not what they seem to be" with some of the "villains", etc...
So pick and choose what you like but be aware you will not likely want to use every adventure in the same campaign...
So pick and choose what you like but be aware you will not likely want to use every adventure in the same campaign...
August 18, 2021
This is a nice collection of one-shots/side quests for games you are running.
I ran one for my kids and their cousins a few weeks ago, it made my life pretty easy and saved me some time. Certainly useful to use later, but I'll probably get it out of the library again because I'm not sure I need to own it myself.
Who am I kidding? MUST OWN ALL THE BOOKS!
I ran one for my kids and their cousins a few weeks ago, it made my life pretty easy and saved me some time. Certainly useful to use later, but I'll probably get it out of the library again because I'm not sure I need to own it myself.
Who am I kidding? MUST OWN ALL THE BOOKS!
November 23, 2021
I liked the format of mystery based adventures. This may not be for all parties, but for those who eschew violence as the main tool there's a lot to dig into here. Some were spooky, others felt a bit like. Scooby Doo, but all had a good blend of mystery, investigation, situational combat and solid denouement
April 23, 2022
There were some very good short adventures. Several were similar enough to border on repetition though. Not enough of them were set in Candlekeep iteself. Just like most DnD books set in a place, this book could have used A LOT more information on the location itself - the people, specific places, etc.
January 1, 2023
So this is very much a mixed bag, and probably 3.5 overall, but when there's that kind of split I figure the folks who made the 4+ star material deserve the benefit of the doubt. And nothing's here bad... at worst I immediately think of how I might patch/adapt what's here to fit what I'd want to do with it. Which is still a lot less work than starting from scratch.
December 29, 2023
I've already ran one adventure out of this book last year, but now that I have the physical book I'm able to sit down and read all 16 adventures!
Candlekeep Mysteries holds 16 adventures based on books found in the massive magical library of Candlekeep. Each adventure is fully contained and balanced for a party at any level between 1 and 16.
Perfect for any library based DnD adventures!
Candlekeep Mysteries holds 16 adventures based on books found in the massive magical library of Candlekeep. Each adventure is fully contained and balanced for a party at any level between 1 and 16.
Perfect for any library based DnD adventures!
July 7, 2024
A book of D&D adventures about books, depicting the mysterious and magnificent library of Candlekeep in the forgotten realms. The adventures are easy to play, with multiple challenge types, with very well crafted NPC's, amazing locations through the realms and spaces beyond, and giving more thn combats. One of the best adventure anthologies for 5e.
June 25, 2022
Much more content here than I expected. I wished there were more supporting art for some of the adventures, and some adventures seemed a bit awkwardly paced or open-ended but overall this is a great collection.
October 2, 2022
Great collection of one-shots. I'm planning on using at least one in an upcoming campaign at work. I'm interested to see how my players feel about a pre-written adventure as opposed to my homebrew ones.
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