Earlier this week, Chris Perkins, D&D’s Principal Story Designer, digitally sat down with three authors of their upcoming adventure anthology, Candlekeep Mysteries. First he talked with Jen Kretchmer about her adventure, “The Canopic Being.” Then, we learned about Taymoor Rehman’s wish-fulfilling mystery, “Zikran’s Zephyrean Tome.” Finally, we got to learn about an adventure that takes the cake for Candlekeep’s weirdest romp—and it’s one that may lead the players on a SPELLJAMMING adventure.

For more information on Candlekeep Mysteries, see Candlekeep Mysteries Unveiled! Everything We Know About the New D&D Book.

It’s a Zany Twist Right in the Middle of the Book

Chris Perkins described this adventure as an incredibly silly, huge tonal shift smack-dab in the middle of Candlekeep Mysteries. This means we can take a guess that Kandlekeep Dekonstruktion (about whose title Vorpahl exuberantly claimed everything is funnier when you replace its Cs with Ks) is a mid-level adventure. If you play several of the adventures in this book in sequence, you’ll suddenly be jolted from a world of dead-serious mysteries into a zany caper involving creatures called Skitterwidgets and Kiddywidgets, and a mysterious figure called Dog Nuts.

This adventure’s reception will vary by taste. Thousands of people play D&D for exactly the sort of zany fantasy hijinx that Kandlekeep Dekonstruktion promises, rather in the vein of early The Adventure Zone stories like “Murder on the Rockport Limited,” in which a deadly serious murder on a train winds up involving: a giant enemy crab, boy wizards, a “pleasure car,” a wizard with the word “JUICY” printed on the butt of his robes, and a town populated exclusively by clones of radio personality Tom Bodett.

On the other hand, there will inevitably be people who find Vorpahl’s wacky tales not to their taste. Fortunately, this book contains sixteen other adventures that may appeal instead.  

Spelljammer…Confirmed?

Vorpahl mysteriously asserted that there would be some involvement of the renowned and oft-memetically requested Spelljammer campaign setting in her adventure. She didn’t have any further details to give, but since this adventure is a 10 to 12 page one-shot affair, it seems unlikely that it’s anything more than a cameo appearance. Still, not unlike the Spelljamming Helm that appeared in Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage, it could give enterprising Dungeon Masters ammunition to create their own spacefaring, Spelljamming adventures with official fifth edition rules!

 You can preorder Candlekeep Mysteries on the D&D Beyond Marketplace today! You’ll get special goodies for preording, and instantly get access to the book when it releases on March 16th, 2021.

     Create A Brand-New Adventurer            Acquire New Powers and Adventures           Browse All Your D&D Content 

James Haeck is the lead writer for D&D Beyond, the co-author of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, and the Critical Role Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, a member of the Guild Adepts, and a freelance writer for Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Adventurers League, and other RPG companies. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his fiancée Hannah and their animal companions Mei and Marzipan. You can find him wasting time on Twitter at @jamesjhaeck.