New Dungeons & Dragons Book Announced

Dungeons & Dragons’ next novel could feature the future faces of the gaming franchise. This week, Penguin Random House announced The Fallbacks: Bound for Ruin, a new Dungeons & Dragons licensed novel written by Jaleigh Johnson. The new book is set in the Forgotten Realms, the most well-known of D&D’s many campaign settings, but what was interesting is that the Fallbacks, the adventuring team that appears in the book, will also appear in “multiple publishing initiatives” in the future. In fact, the Fallbacks weren’t created by Johnson, but rather the Dungeons & Dragons team. 

Based on the description of the group and Wizards’ plans for the characters, it appears that Wizards of the Coast is trying to create a new group of iconic characters, who represent specific classes and archetypes and appear in multiple books. Wizards notably used iconics in 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks, but largely abandoned the use of the characters since. Pathfinder publisher Paizo notably uses its iconic characters as the faces for its fantasy roleplaying fantasy, with its iconic characters appearing in comics, novels, and even video games. 

Johnson is no stranger to the Dungeons & Dragons franchise, having written The Road to Neverwinter tie-in novel that provided the heroes of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves with an origin story. She’s also a veteran writer that has worked with plenty of licensed franchises and original work and was a New York Times best-seller. 

The full description of the novel can be found below. The book comes out next March and can be pre-ordered on Amazon now. 

Tessalynde is an ambitious young rogue who dreams of leading Faerûn’s foremost adventuring party. While the crew she’s gathered isn’t the stuff of legend yet, she’s confident her guidance can get them there.

The team: Anson, a fighter too stubborn to stay down, even when the odds are stacked against him. Cazrin, a self-taught wizard determined to test her theoretical mettle against the real world. Baldric, a cleric who refuses to tie himself to a single deity when he can trade favors with them all. Lark, a bard with as many secrets as songs. And, of course, Uggie, a monstrous pet otyugh who loves giving hugs and eating trash.

Their first job: recovering a mysterious spellbook from a lost temple for a hefty payout. Tess hopes this assignment can turn her group of fledgling freelancers into a true team. But when their client is killed, their coin and his murderer both vanish, leaving the party to take the fall.

Stuck with a sentient, bloodthirsty grimoire and pursued by mercenaries and the undead, this is hardly the mission Tess envisioned. Her crew must save the day, get the gold, and clear the party’s name—which they haven’t even agreed upon yet! With the threats against them mounting, a single mistake will see this party over before it even begins.

Can this band of mismatched misfits stay together in the face of danger? Or are they bound for ruin?