‘Artificers Alchemy’ — Another Delightful Addition To The D&D Young Adventurer’s Guides

Welcome to the table,

It’s always been an honor to be thought of as a resource for people who are seeking out ways to navigate the TTRPG space. As someone who’s been playing in and running games all my life, I know how welcoming the community can be, but also how anxiety-inducing gaming can become when you are looking at vast libraries of books and don’t know the best place to jump in without feeling like you are going to be totally lost.

This problem is not a unique one and between emails, fans at panels, and parents and educators reaching out across various platforms, it seems to be something that hits kids and young readers the most. That’s why I’m so grateful for Ten Speed Press’ Dungeons & Dragons Young Adventurer’s Guides.

These books do such a great job of breaking down larger concepts, lore, and rules from the D&D space into easily digestible, and more importantly, approachable concepts. This makes them perfect for newcomers to the hobby who are seeking a welcoming avenue to onboard to this wonderful hobby.

The newest offering by Jim Zub and Stacy King along with Andrew Wheeler is titled Artificers & Alchemy and is out on April 16th. This new volume dives into how magic items, constructs, and other ensorcelled phenomena are created in the world of D&D answering questions about arcane secrets and giving readers an easy point of access to understand legendary weapons, potions, and the the Artificer class that can bring items and objects to life with advanced arcane energies.

A very special standout from this book is the inclusion of magical prosthetics. While there are only a handful of them, I audibly gasped when I turned the page. I was instantly transported back to my childhood, where as a young disabled teen I was homebrewing rules to use with the belt of levitation from the Expedition to the Barrier Peaks adventure as a mobility device. To see this amount of care and consideration given to something that can provide a feeling of representation at the table shows how far the gaming community has come, and how important it is to get these books into the hands of young gamers. I can’t get over how happy and reaffirming these two pages made me feel.

There is also the above image of what I can only guess is an illusionist causing my favorite D&D character, the Warduke, to appear as if he is dancing joyfully through a temple. What would be even more amusing to me is if this is not an illusion, and these two spellcasters have just stumbled upon Warduke, who my long-time readers know I have a tattoo of along with a multitude of collectibles baring his resemblance, just frocking through some trap filled corridor because he was feeling himself that day. Just because you are the best evil fighter there is, it does not mean you can’t take time to frolic.

Frolicking warriors aside, this book is a great tool in the toolbox of game masters and storytellers as it has some really nice breakdowns of enchanted spaces, notes on designing your own magic items, and a ton of other material that sparks all sorts of ideas for the table.

There is also this really cool double-page entry on Shield Guardians, a personal favorite of mine, that has a rad size comparison to a medium-sized humanoid giving me a perspective of just how large these things are.

I’m a firm believer that the table should be a welcoming space for everyone. Ten Speed Press’ Dungeons & Dragons Young Adventurer’s Guides have managed to, once again, provide an inviting addition to the gaming space by tackling something as daunting as magical items and objects in  a way that it’s not just easy to digest, but fun to read time and time again.

Until next time, the Dread Helm is in this book and that brought me so much joy.