Tales from the Yawning Portal

[Yorrin]

Since I don't see a thread yet...

New Product Announced. (http://dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop-games/rpg-products/tales-yawning-portal)

I, for one, am looking forward to returning to the Tomb of Horrors as well as giving the others a look.

[Millstone85]

Should this be considered a sourcebook or an adventure?

[Yorrin]

Should this be considered a sourcebook or an adventure?

More like an adventure. It's a compilation of dungeons.

[jaappleton]

Should this be considered a sourcebook or an adventure?

A sourcebook of nothing but adventures.

[Millstone85]

Since I do not plan to DM anytime soon, I am reluctant to buy adventures.
But a compilation of classics, updated for 5e? Hmm... Loving the cover too.

Edit: I guess we now have an FR-PHB (SCAG), an FR-MM (VGtM) and an FR-DMG (TftYP).

[eastmabl]

Since I do not plan to DM anytime soon, I am reluctant to buy adventures.
But a compilation of classics, updated for 5e? Hmm... Loving the cover too.

Edit: I guess we now have an FR-PHB (SCAG), an FR-MM (VGtM) and an FR-DMG (TftYP).

Do we know that Yawning Portal is FR-specific? Most of these adventures aren't originally set in Faerun.

Not that it's stopped them before, but a girl can dream.

[Millstone85]

Do we know that Yawning Portal is FR-specific? Most of these adventures aren't originally set in Faerun.

Not that it's stopped them before, but a girl can dream.The Yawning Portal is apparently the name of some tavern in Waterdeep. But they do mention that the tales told there come from "far-flung lands, or even other worlds across the Planes".

[Regitnui]

Eeeehhh...

Not that I don't mind getting new adventures, but ehh... I like new monsters, player options, and building pieces. These will no doubt have new set pieces, and I like the idea of comparing the Sunless Citadel from 3e and 5e. It just feels underwhelming when we've been clamouring for a new setting. Eberron, Dark Sun... Just something different from Generic Fantasy World#239: Fairly-Well-Known Realms.

But I'll probaby end up buying and enjoying it anyway.

[Yorrin]

Eeeehhh...

Not that I don't mind getting new adventures, but ehh... I like new monsters, player options, and building pieces. These will no doubt have new set pieces, and I like the idea of comparing the Sunless Citadel from 3e and 5e. It just feels underwhelming when we've been clamouring for a new setting. Eberron, Dark Sun... Just something different from Generic Fantasy World#239: Fairly-Well-Known Realms.

But I'll probaby end up buying and enjoying it anyway.

Pretty much my thoughts exactly. Like this isn't what I wanted at all. Not even close. But I'm still going to like it well enough to keep me happy for now.

[Spellbreaker26]

The cost's a bit steep, but it has both Against the Giants and Tomb of Horrors, then it might be worth it.

[jaappleton]

Pretty much my thoughts exactly. Like this isn't what I wanted at all. Not even close. But I'm still going to like it well enough to keep me happy for now.

Well, while it may not be what people like us wanted, think of it this way:

How much effort does it take their team to update existing stuff for 5E and put it into a book?

I mean, from a business perspective, it's incredibly smart for WotC to do this book.

[Shining Wrath]

I'll buy it and probably find it useful.

[King539]

Tomb of Horrors? AWWWWWWWW YEEAAAHHH!

[Regitnui]

Well, while it may not be what people like us wanted, think of it this way:

How much effort does it take their team to update existing stuff for 5E and put it into a book?

I mean, from a business perspective, it's incredibly smart for WotC to do this book.

If this is their easier project this year (I'm not going to claim it's easy to remake classic adventures without annoying half or more of your fanbase), I expect full psionics or a new setting by the end of the year.

[Joe the Rat]

I'm pretty sure some of these predate the published Forgotten Realms.

Having done a couple of conversions for my own use, it's not a hard thing to do, but a hard thing to do right.

Since I don't have print copies of... well, any of them, this is going on my list.

[Plaguescarred]

That's a juicy product packing a lot of adventuring for the price tag i mean 7 iconic adventures for 50$ Mirt the Moneylender must be behind it for sure that's too good of a deal to pass!!

[socratesthefool]

Eeeehhh...

Not that I don't mind getting new adventures, but ehh... I like new monsters, player options, and building pieces. These will no doubt have new set pieces, and I like the idea of comparing the Sunless Citadel from 3e and 5e. It just feels underwhelming when we've been clamouring for a new setting. Eberron, Dark Sun... Just something different from Generic Fantasy World#239: Fairly-Well-Known Realms.

But I'll probaby end up buying and enjoying it anyway.

According to Mike Mearls, it will have brand new monsters that you cannot find anywhere else:

I can't post urls because I haven't posted more than 10 posts. Ugh.

www forbes com/sites/toddkenreck/2017/01/05/dds-tales-from-the-yawning-portal-is-games-greatest-hits/

put in the .

[Millstone85]

I can't post urls because I haven't posted more than 10 posts. Ugh.Well then, here is a link to the interview. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddkenreck/2017/01/05/dds-tales-from-the-yawning-portal-is-games-greatest-hits/)


We thought we could just publish Adventure Compendium Number 1 or something like that and that would work, but we wanted to do something that was a little more interesting.Good call. Even if Durnan's notes are as short and sparse as those of Volo and Elminster in the last book, it is still a nice touch.

[DizzyWood]

This sounds great for me. I HATE building a dungeon but I love writing a campaign and making an original world. It sounds like I can just plop each of these into my game make a very few tweaks and run from there.

[INDYSTAR188]

This sounds pretty awesome! I had hoped the next announcement would be an Eberron Campaign Setting or a PHB2-type of book but I used the crap out of 4E's Dungeon Delve. Lots of awesome ideas to borrow or just straight up put in my game world.

[MinimanMidget]

Thoughts on the book aside, what's up with the title? If you're doing a dungeon book called Tales from the Yawning Portal, how does Undermountain not feature?

[Regitnui]

According to Mike Mearls, it will have brand new monsters that you cannot find anywhere else:

I've not played most of those, but Sunless Citadel can be run with the MM monsters, which is why I'm not holding out much hope for new content. Do any of these have monsters that aren't already in the game somewhere? A sheep-in-wolf's-clothing, for example, or any really old monster.

[JAL_1138]

Thoughts on the book aside, what's up with the title? If you're doing a dungeon book called Tales from the Yawning Portal, how does Undermountain not feature?

Because to include it, you could either have a short module that doesn't do the sheer size and scope of Undermountain much justice, or try to do it justice and end up with a book that mostly consists of Undermountain. In either case it'd probably be better to do it as a stand-alone product instead.

[MinimanMidget]

Because to include it, you could either have a short module that doesn't do the sheer size and scope of Undermountain much justice, or try to do it justice and end up with a book that mostly consists of Undermountain. In either case it'd probably be better to do it as a stand-alone product instead.

Oh, absolutely. I'm not saying this book should have included Undermountain, I'm saying the title is bizarre for a book that doesn't include Undermountain.

[JAL_1138]

Oh, absolutely. I'm not saying this book should have included Undermountain, I'm saying the title is bizarre for a book that doesn't include Undermountain.

It is a bit jarring, but if you're doing a nostalgia-fueled book, that's probably the most recognizable tavern, and the tavern that's had the most adventurers pass through it.

If it were me, I'd pepper the book with mentions of Undermountain (e.g., "before they left for Undermountain, the adventurers told me about a strange tomb beneath a hillside on a far-away world...") in the "author's comments," to plug the full-length module I'd release later.

[Finieous]

Thoughts on the book aside, what's up with the title? If you're doing a dungeon book called Tales from the Yawning Portal, how does Undermountain not feature?

Rampant Speculation: Your business model is two storyline events each year (story! story! story!). The D&D Open featured Undermountain. The work-in-progress was codenamed LABYRINTH. The published title (which would need to be provided for sell sheets and distributor catalogs months in advance) is Tales from the Yawning Portal, an inn with an entrance to Undermountain. The final product is a rather random collection of converted classics, non-classics, and one 5e playtest event dungeon, none of which have anything to do with the Yawning Portal. Conclusion: This was supposed to be an Undermountain storyline, the project went off the rails, and Wizards needed replacement content they could pull together relatively quickly.

I have no evidence for this, other than I've had to do this exact thing when a project went sideways and the release couldn't simply be pulled.

It could still be a good product, depending on execution. I might buy it, or I might just buy the digital maps from the cartographers. Converting the AD&D modules, especially, is not difficult, but new maps would be sweet.

[Kane0]

Tomb of Horrors you say?

Count me in!

[MinimanMidget]

Finieous, that makes a crazy amount of sense.

[Kurald Galain]

Sounds good.

But I find it really funny that WOTC would release a product with "yawning" on the cover :smallbiggrin:

[Regitnui]

Sounds good.

But I find it really funny that WOTC would release a product with "yawning" on the cover :smallbiggrin:

The tavern is actually where somebody hung a lampshade (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LampshadeHanging) on the fact that dungeons attract adventurers like flies to honey. It's an interesting location at the very least.

[INDYSTAR188]

Oh, absolutely. I'm not saying this book should have included Undermountain, I'm saying the title is bizarre for a book that doesn't include Undermountain.

I believe this includes an adventure called 'White Plume Mountain' (http://thecampaign20xx.blogspot.com/2014/07/white-plume-mountain-d-5th-edition.html)which takes place in Undermountain (I think). It's actually a cool product that includes a couple artifacts including Wave [trident], Whelm [war hammer] and Blackrazor [sword])

[Finieous]

I believe this includes an adventure called 'White Plume Mountain' (http://thecampaign20xx.blogspot.com/2014/07/white-plume-mountain-d-5th-edition.html)which takes place in Undermountain (I think). It's actually a cool product that includes a couple artifacts including Wave [trident], Whelm [war hammer] and Blackrazor [sword])

White Plume Mountain was published in 1979, well before the publication of the Forgotten Realms. It was set in Greyhawk, and the weapons you reference go missing from their owners in the City of Greyhawk.

[INDYSTAR188]

White Plume Mountain was published in 1979, well before the publication of the Forgotten Realms. It was set in Greyhawk, and the weapons you reference go missing from their owners in the City of Greyhawk.

Forgive me, I didn't mean to misrepresent the fine Greyhawk setting. I wonder if you think they will include some way to get the PC's to White Plume Mountain as traditionally presented (in Greyhawk) or if you think they'll just handwave it into the Forgotten Realms somewhere? The Yawning Portal is a famous tavern in Waterdeep, not Sigil so I'm not sure how they plan on accommodating the various adventure settings or maybe they'll just leave that to the DM?

[Finieous]

If you listen to Mearls' word salad on the connection to the Yawning Portal, I'm not expecting much of a substantive connection. "These are the kinds of stories of adventures you could hear from far travelers in the inn or whatever..." They are apparently going to offer guidance on setting the dungeons in different campaign settings.

[techsamurai5000]

The tavern is actually where somebody hung a lampshade (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LampshadeHanging) on the fact that dungeons attract adventurers like flies to honey. It's an interesting location at the very least.

Oh great.. Now you've done it. Posting a TV Tropes link? After everyone gets lost in a Wiki Walk (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WikiWalk), this forum is going to be a ghost town for a week! :smallbiggrin:

[Millstone85]

The description appears to have changed since the last time I read it.

For one thing, "far-flung lands, or even other worlds across the Planes" has become "far-flung lands from across the D&D multiverse".

Hmm, I wonder what brought this rewording. Maybe it has to do with the ambiguity regarding whether the various planets of D&D share an unique Material Plane or not.

I once had this idea where the Elemental Chaos would be part of the Material Plane, just filling the space between the crystal spheres. The occasional perfect fusion of the four elements would form phlogiston rivers, with the "flammable" property coming from fire being the most unstable part of the balance. I should really return to the thread I opened like a year ago.

[INDYSTAR188]

If you listen to Mearls' word salad on the connection to the Yawning Portal, I'm not expecting much of a substantive connection. "These are the kinds of stories of adventures you could hear from far travelers in the inn or whatever..." They are apparently going to offer guidance on setting the dungeons in different campaign settings.

While I think it's necessary to have some kind of guidance on how to use the adventures in other settings, I would hope there is also some thought as to how to tie them into the FR Yawning Portal location. Like maybe some patron knows how to get to Sigil and from there to this super awesome dungeon? I really hope its just not a collection of 'tales' describing the locations and you just use them as you see fit (which I will anyway of course), I hope they provide a little connection.

[Jamgretter]

This is exactly what I needed! I was actually just about to put in the work to convert ToH for my group. Yay for laziness!

[INDYSTAR188]

This is exactly what I needed! I was actually just about to put in the work to convert ToH for my group. Yay for laziness!

I'm curious what makes the ToH so awesome (in your opinion)? It has this uber-deadly reputation but I'm looking forward to Against the Giants and White Plume Mountain. Might do ToH instead tho...

[mephnick]

I'm curious what makes the ToH so awesome (in your opinion)? It has this uber-deadly reputation..

That's all it is really. It's a deathtrap that was basically a f*** you to some convention players who said Gygax's modules were too easy. It's famous because it's a meat grinder but it's pretty clunky to run as an actual campaign. Hopefully they make it better instead of just converting some numbers.

[Ninja-Radish]

A collection of adventures is an excellent idea, as it's a nice change of pace from the campaigns like Out of the Abyss and Curse of Strahd. But did Tomb of Horrors have to be in this book? Traps are by far the worst part of D&D, and that module was basically all traps if I remember correctly. Ugh.

Some of the other ones do seem interesting though.

[Regitnui]

Oh great.. Now you've done it. Posting a TV Tropes link? After everyone gets lost in a Wiki Walk (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WikiWalk), this forum is going to be a ghost town for a week! :smallbiggrin:

Planar binding spell. I am a bard, after all.

[mephnick]

But did Tomb of Horrors have to be in this book? Traps are by far the worst part of D&D, and that module was basically all traps if I remember correctly. Ugh

To be fair, ToH did traps properly, in that they would kill or seriously maim a character, but were avoidable if you tried to think things through. Traps that do nothing but whittle down PC resources in a hallway are the worst part of D&D. Who builds a trap that's just going to annoy someone? The entire point of traps is to kill or disable intruders, not to do 2d6 damage and make the fighter shrug his shoulders..

[DizzyWood]

So for those of you who are familiar with these how long are these dungeons? Could I realistically slot 5 of them in to a campaign and add my own social stuff and fluff to them. Or are they so big that each one is basically a campaign all on its own?

[jaappleton]

So for those of you who are familiar with these how long are these dungeons? Could I realistically slot 5 of them in to a campaign and add my own social stuff and fluff to them. Or are they so big that each one is basically a campaign all on its own?

Well, if you built a campaign around ToH, it could last about eight minutes, depending on what the PCs do :smallbiggrin:

[Crusher]

Well, if you built a campaign around ToH, it could last about eight minutes, depending on what the PCs do :smallbiggrin:

Hah!

ToH, as originally constructed, is up there with Frog God's Slumbering Tsar as being one of the very few dungeons set up to land a TPK before the party even finds the front door.

[DizzyWood]

Hah!

ToH, as originally constructed, is up there with Frog God's Slumbering Tsar as being one of the very few dungeons set up to land a TPK before the party even finds the front door.

Well I will not be using that one

[DriftedIsland]

Funny thing for me is, I just finished converting White Plume Mountain the day before it was announced. I wonder what will be different.

[Theodoxus]

I'll buy it and probably find it useful.

I converted Against the Giants... and a few other AD&D modules. I'll buy it to see how I did against the pros... and probably find it less useful...

[Envyus]

Well I will not be using that one

It's not a thing that should be played as part of a campaign really. Just sort of a one shot thing that you do for fun.

[Millstone85]

Cool tweet. (https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/817214071476916224)
A thing I dig in Tales from the Yawning Portal: tips for setting the adventures in various worlds—particularly FR, GH, DL & EB.

[Shining Wrath]

To be fair, ToH did traps properly, in that they would kill or seriously maim a character, but were avoidable if you tried to think things through. Traps that do nothing but whittle down PC resources in a hallway are the worst part of D&D. Who builds a trap that's just going to annoy someone? The entire point of traps is to kill or disable intruders, not to do 2d6 damage and make the fighter shrug his shoulders..

Traps for who, though? I once wrote up (but never used) a Thieves' Guildhouse that would have been utterly lethal to a bunch of town guards or low-level thieves from a different guild - but a mid-level party would waltz right through. A trap that does 3d6 to a guard with 9 HP (or guards, plural) is cold-blooded murder.

BTW, the guildmaster was one tough SOB and the party would have had their hands full when they got there. Real point was to introduce the guildmaster as a recurring enemy and provide an item as a plot hook. But the "easy-easy-easy-easy-easy-OH DEAR LORD" aspect amused me.

[Ninja-Radish]

Not to derail this thread, but the problem with trap-heavy adventures like ToH is that only character ends up mattering: the Rogue, Bard, or whomever is disarming the traps in the group.

Imagine playing a Fighter or Barbarian in that module; they'd get splinters in their asses from sitting on the bench all day waiting to get in the game and do something.

[Crusher]

Not to derail this thread, but the problem with trap-heavy adventures like ToH is that only character ends up mattering: the Rogue, Bard, or whomever is disarming the traps in the group.

Imagine playing a Fighter or Barbarian in that module; they'd get splinters in their asses from sitting on the bench all day waiting to get in the game and do something.

Eh, yes and no. Most of the traps arent of the "DC15 to detect" variety. They're more "if you don't figure out the subtle pattern you'll die with no saving throw" sort. Each room is almost a logic puzzle.

[Crusher]

Traps for who, though? I once wrote up (but never used) a Thieves' Guildhouse that would have been utterly lethal to a bunch of town guards or low-level thieves from a different guild - but a mid-level party would waltz right through. A trap that does 3d6 to a guard with 9 HP (or guards, plural) is cold-blooded murder.

BTW, the guildmaster was one tough SOB and the party would have had their hands full when they got there. Real point was to introduce the guildmaster as a recurring enemy and provide an item as a plot hook. But the "easy-easy-easy-easy-easy-OH DEAR LORD" aspect amused me.

Hah. That can be an eye opener. I DMed an adventure one time where the PCs (level 5-ish) were sent to investigate rumors of a white dragon. In the dungeon, the early rooms were super easy, giant centipedes, a couple zombies, etc. There were tougher monsters but the characters kept missing them.

As it went on, they got more and more over confident and careless. The attitude stuck even after finally running into some tougher monsters. The characters finally ran into a weirdly cold room and they kicked down the door anyway, revealing an adult white dragon. Which, still drunk on overconfidence, they charged even after I pointedly noted how big it was.

They did manage to escape and avoid a tpk but only because of some very lucky rolling. On the bright side, I'd intended to set the dragon up as a big bad for later and succeeded more throughly than planned.

[Millstone85]

Each room is almost a logic puzzle.I am imagining the disembodied voice of the tomb's main occupant saying stuff like "This artifact is now more valuable than the organs and combined incomes of everyone in [adventurer hometown here]".

[Ninja-Radish]

Eh, yes and no. Most of the traps arent of the "DC15 to detect" variety. They're more "if you don't figure out the subtle pattern you'll die with no saving throw" sort. Each room is almost a logic puzzle.

That's a good point. Btw, I like your sig, Guardians of the Galaxy right?

[JakOfAllTirades]

I might be more interested in this fine product if I knew what character levels all these adventures where written for....

[Crusher]

That's a good point. Btw, I like your sig, Guardians of the Galaxy right?

Ty. Yes, exactly!


I might be more interested in this fine product if I knew what character levels all these adventures where written for....

Well, we won't know for certain until it comes out. But we know what levels the original adventures were aimed at:

Sunless Citadel: 1-2
Forge of Fury: 3-4
Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan: 3-7
Dead in Thay: 6-8
White Plume Mountain: 5-10
Against the Giants (3 adventures): 8-12
Tomb of Horrors: 5-14

I wouldn't necessarily say those adventures would combine seamlessly into an entire campaign. I mean, I guess you could, as they're clearly ordered in ascending difficulty. But there are two problems.

First, depending on what you do with them, there probably isn't enough content to get all the way from 1 to 15 just on those adventures. Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury will probably get you from 1-4, but iirc there's no way Tamoachan will get you from 4-6 or White Plume Mountain from 6-8 to be ready for the next step. I've never read or played Dead in Thay so I don't know how big it is. If its huge, maybe it'll all work.

Against the Giants is 3 adventures with many, many xp worth of monsters to defeat. I've never done the math, but I bet it would get you from 8 to 10 or even 11. Finally, ToH is just silly. A level 5 character really would be fine for like 2/3 of the adventure, but the remaining 1/3 would annihilate them so utterly you'd be hard pressed to even resurrect them afterwards. Minimum level 12 is probably about right and ending level is irrelevant because everyone will probably be happy to end the campaign after its done (probably via TPK).

Second, these adventures have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Not storywise and really not even thematically. Which is fine, but it'd basically be a campaign of fun adventures the DM felt like running rather than an overarching story-arc.

Ok, if the DM felt like it, with a little planning and re-writing they could liberally sprinkle in hints and foreshadowing at each step to tie things together. You really could bring the pieces all together into a single story, plus toss in some extra stuff around level 5-6, 7-9, and possibly 12-14 (you'd want ToH to be your capstone, so if you're going to end at level 15, you want them to be 14 or 15 when they get there) to get the characters enough xp. But that would entirely be up to the DM as none of that is in the adventures themselves.

[DivisibleByZero]

The cost's a bit steep, but it has both Against the Giants and Tomb of Horrors, then it might be worth it.

$50 for 7 fantastic adventures, including some of the best ever made?
That's like $7 and a few pennies each.
I'd hardly call that steep. I'd call it a pretty great price.

[2D8HP]

Just got it!

Looks AWESOME!

Three of the Adventures I had the 1e versions before (Against the Giants, Tomb of Horrors, and White Plume Mountain), but the othet four adventures (Dead in That, The Forge of Fury, The Hidden Shrine of Tomoachan, and The Sunless Citadel) are new to me (yeah I know Hidden Shrine is a "classic", but I didn't get it back then, youth may be wasted on the young, but wealth is wasted on the old!).

A very quick glance tells me that I like the art in Storm Kings Thunder better, but the magic items and creatures in the Appendices look awesome!

It has a Disclaimer: Do we really need a disclaimer to to tell you it's not are fault that your character died because you decided to climb down into a monster- and trap-filled hole in the ground?