Review by C.J. Bunce
Back in 2019 Ten Speed Press partnered with Wizards of the Coast to publish a series of adventurer books to get young readers involved with storytelling, fantasy worlds, and roleplaying games. The Dungeons & Dragons Young Adventurer’s Guide books have everything you need to begin to create your own characters and stories, perfect for kids who aren’t advanced enough in their reading yet or readers not familiar with what D&D fantasy games have to offer. Each illustrated guide is a primer on the key segments of gameplay and they can be used for storytelling for any kind of fictional story with friends. About half the dimensions of the traditional D&D books and nearly as thick, these gilded editions will fit right along with the 5th Edition books.
Nine books in the series are available individually in hardcover and in two boxed sets including four softcover volumes each. The first four volumes are available in a boxed set here at Amazon, with the next four in a second boxed set available here. Another volume, The Monsters & Creatures Compendium, is the younger set’s version of the D&D Monster Manual. It’s available here. Tomorrow Ten Speed Press and Wizards of the Coast launch the next book in the library, The Warriors and Wizards Compendium, available for pre-order here at Amazon.
The Warriors and Wizards Compendium is in part the D&D Player’s Handbook condensed. It’s about building characters. It’s about learning about key characters in D&D lore. It’s about choosing your own hero, outfitting his/her clothing, and choosing weapons. It’s also about your characters using magic, understanding settings and worlds, and taking off on your own adventurers for the first time.
The best feature of the Young Adventurer’s library is the artwork. These look like D&D books past and present, and the only thing different is the text for younger readers. Authors Jim Zub, Stacy King, and Andrew Wheeler describe what you’re doing, how to do it, and why it fits into the story, all spelled out so nearly any level of reader can understand. And you’ll meet classic D&D characters and learn what makes them interesting.
Fans of the D&D Endless Quest books reviewed here at borg will find these new books a few steps more advanced. With each volume of the Dungeons & Dragons Young Adventurer’s Guide you’ll be asked to consider for your story key worldbuilding elements: Who? What? Where? How? When? and Why?
Click on these links to learn more about each volume: Monsters & Creatures, Warriors & Weapons, Dungeons & Tombs, Wizards & Spells, Beasts & Behemoths, Artificers & Alchemy, Dragons & Treasures, Places & Portals, and The Monsters & Creatures Compendium. What dangers will your party of heroes face? One-eyed beholder, vampire, owlbear, or sprite? Frost giant, banshee, or dragon? If you’re introducing someone to gaming with these books, think of these volumes as miniature editions of 5th Edition tomes like the Monster Manual or Volo’s Guide to Monsters.
Marketed to middle grade readers, they should appeal to young readers who want to learn more about role play, storytelling, and fantasy worlds, and serve as a springboard for older kids to move on to the full adventures of the 5th Edition volumes.
For any young person wanting to learn more about “the world’s greatest roleplaying game,” the first four volumes are available in a boxed set here, with the next four in a second boxed set available here. Get a start on that third set of books with The Monsters & Creatures Compendium here. And now you can set off on the next step of D&D roleplaying. The Warriors and Wizards Compendium is available for pre-order here at Amazon, coming your way tomorrow, November 4, 2025.
