Set in the Forgotten Realms of Dungeons & Dragons, The Fallbacks: Sure for Destroy is a brand new novel from bestselling creator Jaleigh Johnson. The novel facilities round an all-new adventuring celebration whose exploits “can be chronicled throughout multiple publishing initiatives,” based on the press launch.
Apparently, the primary characters—a five-class adventuring party—weren’t created totally by the creator, however have been in truth “designed by the Dungeons & Dragons workforce.” Which sounds bonkers to me, personally. The Fallbacks “honor the sport’s founding lessons whereas placing a recent spin on fantasy archetypes.”
Paul Morrissey, publishing lead at Wizards of the Coast, says the characters are “compelling and progressive,” which is fairly customary Press Launch-Speak but additionally mirrors numerous the ways in which individuals talk about Precise Play characters. And in addition, individuals don’t need compelling and progressive characters. They need characters which can be unhinged and attractive. Jot that one down.
The e-book appears a traditional fantasy intro; it’s about a gaggle of adventurers who must show themselves with a purpose to turn into the most effective adventuring celebration. Their first mission is a fetch quest. The workforce consists of the classics: a rogue, a fighter, a wizard, a cleric, a bard, and an Uggie, a pet otyugh “who loves giving hugs and consuming trash.” The fetch quest goes sideways quick when their consumer is discovered useless and so they’ve bought to cope with a sentient grimoire and the mounting strain of determining precisely what their workforce callsign needs to be. Like I mentioned, traditional.
However, to present the WotC advertising workforce its kudos, traditional fantasy has been doing nice for Dungeons & Dragons. The film was profitable, individuals proceed to purchase the rehashed settings the corporate pumps out at a blisteringly quick charge, and its FAST channel features a new season of Encounter Social gathering, a longtime and standard Precise Play podcast that sticks to D&D however slims down the desk discuss.
This isn’t a dig on Johnson, who has very seemingly written a superbly good (and presumably nice) fantasy novel tied up within the D&D mythos, however extra of an commentary of what Wizards is doing right here. For all intents and functions it appears prefer it’s attempting to copy the success of standard Precise Performs by growing this curated group of adventurers and placing them in simply possible conditions that audiences have been primed to crave, after over a decade of Dungeons & Dragons APs and video video games exploiting the identical fantasy tropes time and again.
The Mighty Nein, which was referenced within the title of this text and is an adventuring celebration created by Important Position for its second season, has been extensively influential in bringing individuals into the D&D way of life and, subsequently, the gaming pastime. Fanart, fanfic, video games, and cosplays abound. It is perhaps a distinct segment fandom, but it surely’s huge for what it’s, and Wizards clearly thinks that with its personal identify model and Penguin Random Home’s distribution, it’s completely primed to be part of that fandom area too.
There’s a clear need right here to personal the work that makes use of its mental property, and is perhaps a extra salient a part of the plan that was aborted when the OGL 1.1 was cancelled. Wizards of the Coast has realized that it must step as much as the plate slightly than depend on different individuals’s work to earn cash. In traditional fantasy style, and to borrow a line, we’ll see if it really works out for them.
Dungeons & Dragons: The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin is accessible for preorder. It is going to launch on March 5, 2024.
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