[Discussion] 5e adventure ties to 1e modules

[DanyBallon]

So far most, if not all, the adventure hardcovers released for 5e are a call back to notorious 1e modules, breathing an air of nostalgia in completely new adventures. The best example are Princes of Apocalypse revisiting the Temple of Elemental Evil, and more recently Curse of Sthrad that is basicaly I6 Ravenloft rewritten and expanded for 5e.

The soon to be released Storm King's Thunder have a strong feel of being a new take on G1-2-3 Against the Giant.

Following this hypothesis, what adventure would Out of the Abyss and Hordes of the Dragon Queen/Rise of Tiamat related too?
I guess that the Rise of Dragon storyline could be tied to the DragonLance (DL) series. And could Out of the Abyss be related to the Slavers (A1-4) modules?

Since I haven't played/read all the released adventure, most of my guess are based on impression that I have.

Do you have any evidence that confirm or contradict my guesses? Otherwise, if this effectivelly a trend, what other adventure (1e, 2e, or 3e) should be revisted next?

[mgshamster]

OotA is a retake on the D-Series of 1e.

The entire D-Series focused on the underdark, as part of a continuation after the G-Series (which focused on Giants).

In the end of the G-Series, you discover that the drow made an alliance with Giants to fight the surface dwellers. In OotA, you discover that...

The drow made an alliance with demons to regain power after their devistating loss of the last war with the surface and their alliance with dragons.

So starts 1e's D1 - Descent into the Depths. There, you go into the underdark and encounter a myriad of creatures including mind Flayers, wererats (sound familiar?), drow prisoners (also sound familiar?) and other creatures. You even meet some Giants in OotA, which helps relate to the G-Series.

D2 - Shrine of the Kuo-Tao has you meet up with the fish men's culture as well as meet a group of Svirfneblin. Both these themes are present in OotA, especially the first half of the book.

D3 - Vault of the Drow takes you to a vast underground city of the drow. Back then, it was Erelhei-Cinlu, this time it's Menzoberenzen. That city was its own box set in 2e.

After that, the 1e series moved onto Q1 - Queen of the Demonwebs, which takes you to the Abyss. The abyss! "Out of the Abyss" is heavily laden with Abyssal themes.

Since its underdark, you also meet with Duergar, Myconids, and other underdark denizens.

Myconids were introduced in the A-Series, in A4 - In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords. Interestingly, the A-series can come after Temple of Elemental Evil or before the G-Series (the direct tie in to the Underdark series). Here, we have a direct link from the introduction of myconids to Out of the Abyss.

A4 also starts with the PCs as captives of the slavers, bereft of all their equipment. How's that for familiarity with OotA? :)

So there you have it. OotA is linked to A4, and then GDQ1-7.

[DanyBallon]

OotA is a retake on the D-Series of 1e.

The entire D-Series focused on the underdark, as part of a continuation after the G-Series (which focused on Giants).

In the end of the G-Series, you discover that the drow made an alliance with Giants to fight the surface dwellers. In OotA, you discover that...

The drow made an alliance with demons to regain power after their devistating loss of the last war with the surface and their alliance with dragons.

So starts 1e's D1 - Descent into the Depths. There, you go into the underdark and encounter a myriad of creatures including mind Flayers, wererats (sound familiar?), drow prisoners (also sound familiar?) and other creatures. You even meet some Giants in OotA, which helps relate to the G-Series.

D2 - Shrine of the Kuo-Tao has you meet up with the fish men's culture as well as meet a group of Svirfneblin. Both these themes are present in OotA, especially the first half of the book.

D3 - Vault of the Drow takes you to a vast underground city of the drow. Back then, it was Erelhei-Cinlu, this time it's Menzoberenzen. That city was its own box set in 2e.

After that, the 1e series moved onto Q1 - Queen of the Demonwebs, which takes you to the Abyss. The abyss! "Out of the Abyss" is heavily laden with Abyssal themes.

Since its underdark, you also meet with Duergar, Myconids, and other underdark denizens.

Myconids were introduced in the A-Series, in A4 - In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords. Interestingly, the A-series can come after Temple of Elemental Evil or before the G-Series (the direct tie in to the Underdark series). Here, we have a direct link from the introduction of myconids to Out of the Abyss.

A4 also starts with the PCs as captives of the slavers, bereft of all their equipment. How's that for familiarity with OotA? :)

So there you have it. OotA is linked to A4, and then GDQ1-7.

Thanks! I'm glad I've been proven wrong, the bold part was what gave me the impression that OotA was tied to Slavers :smallbiggrin:
I completely failed to see the link we D1-3/Q which I haven't played :smallsmile:

What about my guess for HotDQ/RoT with DL? :smallwink:

[mgshamster]

Thanks! the bold part was what gave me the impression that OotA was tied to Slavers :smallbiggrin:
I completely failed to see the link we D1-3/Q which I haven't played :smallsmile:

What about my guess for HotDQ/RoT with DL? :smallwink:

I don't know about that one. HotDQ ws written before the 5e rules were finalized, and a lot of people complain that it doesn't quite match up with the general philosophy of 5e design. But I haven't read it.

Also, as for what to do next? I'd like to see some Basic modules redone. Particularly Keep on the Borderlands. :)

[Herobizkit]

Princes of The Apocalypse has ties with the 1e's (and 'remastered' for 3e's) The Temple of Elemental Evil (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Temple_of_Elemental_Evil), which I believe was the first instance of the linked adventures chain like Slavers and GDQ.

[Joe the Rat]

The question is do they go for classics, or do they go for series. I mean, you've got sequences like Desert of Desolation which make an adventure, but 1) how known and beloved is this, and 2) you have to relocate from the Sword Coast / Inner Sea. Underwater (Saltmarsh/Dunwater/Final Enemy) could plop about anywhere with a little degreyhawikfication, but it's going to need a little punching up for the epic go-go-go.

As for what I'd like to see:
Isle of Dread - it's already alluded to as a dimension-hopping location (sometimes residing "on" the elemental plane of water). Lost at sea is not a hard start.
Serious Travel - Something to take you well outside the current locales. Exotic travel was a theme of OOtA, let's try a better lit variant.
A true dungeon crawler or megadungeon - like Undermountain, or a series of clues taking you from the Caves of Chaos to White Plume Mountain.
Some proper WTFery. Dungeonland and Castle Greyhawk and Barrier Peaks. Let's take a wrecking ball to the 4th wall for some ridiculous referential nonsense, courtesy of Faeries, mad Wizards, or Dimension-crashing aliens. And the dangers of rabbits on stumps. Have it end with the party landing in Ed Greenwood's kitchen.

[Freelance GM]

So far most, if not all, the adventure hardcovers released for 5e are a call back to notorious 1e modules, breathing an air of nostalgia in completely new adventures. The best example are Princes of Apocalypse revisiting the Temple of Elemental Evil, and more recently Curse of Sthrad that is basicaly I6 Ravenloft rewritten and expanded for 5e.

Do you have any evidence that confirm or contradict my guesses? Otherwise, if this effectivelly a trend, what other adventure (1e, 2e, or 3e) should be revisted next?

I think you're right about the Nostalgia thing, but there is a trend here and it's worse than you think.

I'm pretty sure 5E's doing a bit of a Marvel Cinematic Universe / metaplot kind of thing...


Disregard Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat, because they're in a noticeably different style than the later 5E adventures, which seem to have found their footing. See TV Tropes, "Early Installment Weirdness" for more information.

Princes of the Apocalypse: Vizeran DeVir, a Drow servant of the Elder Elemental Eye, crafts the weapons used by the four Elemental Prophets. The epilogue alludes to the Fane of the Drow, a location I believe is originally from D3/Q1, but expanded on in a 3.5 book. Either way, it makes you start to wonder what's going on in the Underdark. But before the Elder Elemental Eye's backup plan comes to fruition...

Out of the Abyss: Gromph Baenre, mad Drow Archmage, summons Demon Lords to the Underdark! While Demogorgon, Orcus, Yeenoghu, and Baphomet are pretty setting-agnostic, three classic Greyhawk characters, Graz'zt, Fraz-urb'luu and Zuggtmoy, find their way to the Forgotten Realms. Vizeran DeVir is very displeased with this development, probably because it interrupts the grand scheme of the Elder Elemental Eye. Who is, you know, Tharizdun. Who's also from Greyhawk.

Curse of Strahd: Oh, cool, a Ravenloft reboot... With a gratuitous cameo. The Mad Mage of Mount Baratok is none other than Mordenkainen, the magnificent wizard... From Greyhawk. Also, the Amber Temple, a supernaturally cold, abandoned temple, is pretty reminiscent of WG4: Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun. It's a prison for Vestiges (old, forgotten gods who are no longer worshipped, like Tharizdun, also playthings for the 3.5 Binder class), and one of them has broken out of its prison. The lore changes each edition, but Tharizdun is consistently stated to be imprisoned in a "prison plane," and what is Barovia, if not just that? Perhaps, Vizeran DeVir's machinations, and the events of PotA gave the vestige of Tharizdun the strength to escape?

I guess we'll see how Storm King's Thunder fits in. Odds are yes, it will probably reference the classical G series. I'm curious to see if it continues the metaplot, though, or if the teases are put in there for DM's like me to make a metaplot out of, in case our players want to keep playing after the hardcovers end.


My theory is that they'll keep doing Forgotten Realms adventures based on older ones, with another setting snuck in every year or two. Part of 5E's marketing strategy is the nostalgia value, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a Tomb of Horrors located somewhere in Thay, a White Plume Mountain/Icewind Dale crossover, or Dwellers of the Forbidden City recycled in Chult somewhere in our future. My wild guess is 5E will eventually "end" with a high-level Planescape adventure that reshapes the multiverse in anticipation for D&D 6E, the way the Sundering rebooted the Forgotten Realms for 5E.


...And Tharizdun will be the big bad of that Planescape adventure.

[Klorox]

Now we really need a Castle Amber in 5e.

[djreynolds]

classic modules today

http://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?filters=45469_0_0_0_0_0&keywords=Classic%20Modules%20Today

good stuff

[Mongobear]

Personally, I would really like to see a 5e rewrite/update of Red Hand of Doom. This was my first full campaign module I ever played in and then later, ran for a separate group, and really enjoyed it. Never actually being disappointed by any outcome.

The only potential issue, is that the whole Tiamat plotline has been beaten to death already in 5e, HotDQ and RoT both had a lot of Dragon stuff going on, but really, RHoD is very Hobgoblin/Massive Combat in scope for the first third or so, then dives very deep into Draconic themes.