Beadle & Grimm’s Go Full Secret Agent In ‘Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall’ Platinum Edition – The Fandomentals
This summer two new magical books dropped from Dungeons & Dragons: Arcana Unleashed, a sourcebook exploring the magical side of The Forgotten Realms, and Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall, the first high level adventure for 5e/5.5e that pits adventurers against the Red Wizards of Thay and their legendry lich overlord Szass Tam. With an epic and magical adventure, it’s not surprise that the diabolical designers at Beadle & Grimm’s would cook up something special for Deadfall. We caught up with Jon, Bill, Charlie, and Paul to learn a bit more about just what they’ve packed into their latest Platinum Edition.
When you first got a hold of Deadfall and got a chance to read through it, what was the first thing that stood out to you in the campaign?
Charlie Rehor: That the nature of the game play was going to be a little different than most adventures. Less hack and slash and more infiltration, negotiation, and subterfuge. Which means that things you find like handouts, maps, notes, and other clues are more important to gameplay than ever, and that suits us! Making the clues and pieces of evidence that drive the adventure is what we do.
What’s it like creating around a higher level adventure like this one?
Paul Shapiro: Working with high-level adventures is always fun because the stakes are higher and challenges the players face are epic. So while our approach to building the box set doesn’t change, the elements that we’re including are often more exciting. The monsters and villains that the players face in a high-level adventure like Deadfall are especially fun to work with. Players may have heard of Szass Tam in story or legend, but getting to actually face him and try to defeat him head-on is what adventuring at this level is all about.
How did you work the spycraft elements into the handouts and other pieces?
Jon Ciccolini: There are usually two categories of in-world handouts in our boxes:
- The handouts that the talented folks at Wizards of the Coast integrate right into the story copy. For example, “The party receives a note that says…”
- The handouts that we create to take advantage of some story element where no handout currently exists.
This Platinum Edition has plenty of both. As an espionage story, you can imagine that there are plenty of private missives shared and ‘evidence’ to be found. Because the characters are given assignments, we took the opportunity to create Dossiers and Assignment Instructions – documents the players can hold onto to remind themselves what they need to do and who they need to neutralize. You can imagine the types of “This parchment will disintegrate in 10 seconds…” spy messages that are incorporated.
What would you say to someone who says they can’t afford a Platinum Edition?
Bill Rehor: Look, we understand a Platinum Edition is not for everyone, and one of the great things about D&D is that you can play it with a very minimal investment. That said, this product was always designed for the DM that doesn’t have a lot of time for game prep, but might have the income. Additionally, we encourage players to chip in for that DM! We look at it this way: Deadfall is going to take at LEAST 20 sessions of game play. With 4 players and 1 DM chipping in each session that equals $5 per person, per night of gaming to have all the immersive elements in the massive Platinum Edition. Where are you going to get more entertainment for your dollar than that?
How did you come up with your two bonus adventures “Spy Games” and “Extraction”
Jon: We had the opportunity to sit down with Amanda Hamon, Game Designer for Deadfall, and discuss ideas. She encouraged us to come up with an adventure that precedes the beginning of Deadfall – something to introduce the party to the Thayan spy scene and deepen the stakes for the adventure to come. We took that advice and wrote a real “infiltrate and obtain evidence” scenario that really sets the scene for spy work. In the process we introduce a chance for the party to obtain an espionage Bastion, which we provide a map for, as well as introduce the dread influence of Szass Tam in a personal way. Hopefully, the party walks away from this adventure really wanting to take down the lich. The second adventure was inspired by the mention of an organization called the Open Eyes – covert residents of Eltabbar determined to sabotage and undermine the Zulkirs of Thay. We leaned into that idea and wrote a rescue mission to save a member of the Open Eyes from the facilities of a dangerous Zulkir.
The Spirit Binding Censer is a key part of the adventure, but how did you decide to make that a big “real” item to include and what was the process to getting it realized?
Paul: Whenever we start working on a box set for a Dungeons & Dragons adventure, our first step is always to read the adventure and ask ourselves “what would WE want at the table to make this adventure as immersive an experience as possible?” before the limitations of budget or production timelines are considered. Then we usually start to pare back the craziest ideas to find what we can actually include in the box. But when we’re building a Platinum Edition, we try to push ourselves to not just rule out those initial ideas because they’re “crazy” or “way too expensive to produce.” In the case of the Spirit Censer, we knew from our first reading that this would be amazing to be able to hand to the players when they find it. So even though it seemed like something we couldn’t possibly include in the box, we didn’t rule it out and instead went to our factory partners and asked how we could make this. After a bit of back and forth and trying out different things, we were able to find a production process and design that allowed us to include this epic element in the box!
Were there any aspects of Deadfall that were a challenge to translate?
Bill: Two of the artifacts were tricky. The art for both the Censer and the Masquerader’s Brooch had plenty of intricate details for our 3D artist to render and our production partner to mold. But sometimes the biggest challenges have the biggest payoffs, and I think both of those items are going to be ‘wow!’ moments when they’re revealed at the table.
Is there anything in the edition that you were really excited about getting to make?
Jon: I had the chance to collaborate directly with the cartographer for the book, Gerralt Landman, and have him create our battle maps – sized and sharpened for battle map quality – and that was really satisfying. Also, I’m really proud of the in-world gazetteer we created for the city of Eltabbar, as penned by Volo. I love those opportunities to be creative, work with talented artists, and offer something that DMs can’t get anywhere else. That’s the promise, and hopefully the payoff, of a Platinum Edition.
You can pre-order Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall Platinum Edition at the Beadle & Grimm’s shop, at an MSRP of $509.00
Images via Beadle & Grimm’s
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