D&D 5E Quest From The Infinite Staircase Adventures Revealed

Roll20 has today revealed some information about July's Dungeons & Dragons release, Quests from the Infinite Staircase.

The Infinite Staircase spirals in a dreamlike expanse, with doors leading to fantastic realms. It's home to the noble genie Nafas, who hears wishes made throughout the multiverse and recruits heroes to fulfill them. These pleas summon adventurers to lost caverns suffused with planar energy, fairytale gardens in the Feywild, futuristic spaceships, and other wondrous locales.

This anthology weaves together six classic DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® adventures while updating them for the game's fifth edition. You can run these quests individually or as a campaign that takes characters from level 1 to level 13.

This book includes the following adventures:

• Beyond the Crystal Cave™
• Expedition to the Barrier Peaks™
• Pharaoh™
• The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth™
• The Lost City™
• When a Star Falls™

These are all adventures from previous editions of D&D (in much the same way as Ghosts of Saltmarsh was). All of them are AD&D (1E) adventures except for The Lost City, which was a Basic D&D adventure.

EN World member @pukunui provided a quick summary of each:

For those like myself who are unfamiliar with (some of) these adventures, here are summaries based on info from wikipedia:

Beyond the Crystal Cave: An AD&D 1e adventure set in Greyhawk which sees the PCs hired to save a couple who eloped and fled into the Cave of Echoes. The PCs must resolve the secret of the cave to reach a magical garden where it is always summer. The adventure is noteworthy for rewarding players for resolving encounters non-violently.

Expedition to the Barrier Peaks: An AD&D 1e adventure written by Gary Gygax himself. In this adventure, the PCs explore a mysterious spaceship that crashed in Greyhawk's Barrier Peaks mountain range. The ship is filled with robots, laser guns, power armor, and all manner of strange creatures (including vegepygmies and a froghemoth). The adventure also involves collecting colored access cards to open restricted areas and the like.

Pharaoh: An AD&D 1e adventure written by the Hickmans of Ravenloft and Dragonlance fame. This one sees the PCs exiled into a desert after being falsely accused of a crime. They end up encountering the spirit of a dead Egyptian-style pharaoh who implores them to break into his supposedly thief-proof pyramid tomb and steal some things that will enable him to find eternal rest or something.

The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth: Another of Gary Gygax's AD&D 1e Greyhawk modules. This one sees the PCs as treasure hunters seeking the wealth of the archmage Iggwilv. During their search, they encounter a vampire.

The Lost City: This is a Basic D&D adventure written by Tom Moldvay. The PCs get lost in a sandstorm and discover the lost city of Cynidicea, where the inhabitants are degenerate drug addicts. The PCs explore a pyramid and fight an evil monster.

When a Star Falls: An AD&D 1e module in which the PCs search for a fallen star in the moors. They encounter svirfneblin and derro as they seek to give the star to its rightful owner.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

DDB has a couple of articles on these if you haven't seen them yet:

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1735-explore-a-futuristic-spaceship-in-expedition-to

Is it just me, or is anyone else feeling a hint of Paranoia about this new version? Nah, I'm sure Alphie is my friend.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1738-face-off-against-the-cult-of-an-elder-evil-in-the

This answers one of the biggest questions - there are still six levels, five are now detailed, come back at higher level to fight Zargon.

 

[Parmandur]

Is it just me, or is anyone else feeling a hint of Paranoia about this new version? Nah, I'm sure Alphie is my friend.

I mean, what could be wrong with Alfie? I'm sure it is a nice new addition, quite unlike the central antagonist Justice Armin said they have added...

Of note: " the ship and spread out into the countryside, any settlement near the crash site would be at risk from the spaceship’s inhabitants. The book suggests a specific nobleman from Greyhawk that calls upon adventurers for aid after outposts and towns are destroyed by unknown creatures, but you can just as easily apply this concept to any setting."

This answers one of the biggest questions - there are still six levels, five are now detailed, come back at higher level to fight Zargon.

Interesting, B4 only detailed 3 Levels.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I mean, what could be wrong with Alfie? I'm sure it is a nice new addition, quite unlike the central antagonist Justice Armin said they have added...

Observation: I think the ph spelling is a Metamorphosis Alpha easter egg.

Of note: " the ship and spread out into the countryside, any settlement near the crash site would be at risk from the spaceship’s inhabitants. The book suggests a specific nobleman from Greyhawk that calls upon adventurers for aid after outposts and towns are destroyed by unknown creatures, but you can just as easily apply this concept to any setting."

Interesting, B4 only detailed 3 Levels.

Yup, they have filled in 2, but the final level is still blank. The article also mentions that it goes up to level 4 if you use milestone levelling.

 

[Parmandur]

Yup, they have filled in 2, but the final level is still blank. The article also mentions that it goes up to level 4 if you use milestone levelling.

So, the original module detailed the first 3 levels, Gabe a rough sketch of what would be in 4 & 5, and gave juat a map for 6-10 (Level 10 is just a room with Zargon at the bottom, because it isn't actually a step pyramid at all, it's a step octohedron, and you are delving from the entrance on the top point to the Lair on the underground hidden point). They also provided a regional map of the underground realm, including rhe eponymous Loat City which gets juat a paragraph of vague detail, for rhe DM to build out entirely on their own.

Based on the article, it sounds like they may have fully detailed the top 5 layers, going further than the OG module.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

So, the original module detailed the first 3 levels, Gabe a rough sketch of what would be in 4 & 5, and gave juat a map for 6-10 (Level 10 is just a room with Zargon at the bottom, because it isn't actually a step pyramid at all, it's a step octohedron, and you are delving from the entrance on the top point to the Lair on the underground hidden point). They also provided a regional map of the underground realm, including rhe eponymous Loat City which gets juat a paragraph of vague detail, for rhe DM to build out entirely on their own.

Based on the article, it sounds like they may have fully detailed the top 5 layers, going further than the OG module.

The article states that Zargon is on the 6th level in this version, not the 10th. So no longer an octahedron? Or are they just labelling everything else as "level 6"? It also states that level 6 has "better treasure". How does that work if it's unmapped?

I only ever glanced at the original version, but it sounds like they have expanded the faction-related stuff? Maybe going back to REH's Red Nails, which I think was the primary inspiration.

 

[Parmandur]

The article states that Zargon is on the 6th level in this version, not the 10th. So no longer an octahedron? Or are they just labelling everything else as "level 6"? It also states that level 6 has "better treasure". How does that work if it's unmapped?

I only ever glanced at the original version, but it sounds like they have expanded the faction-related stuff? Maybe going back to REH's Red Nails, which I think was the primary inspiration.

It certainly raises questions, doesn't it?

They might be inexact indicating "Level 6...and beyond". They certainly seem to be implying Zargon will have a stat block in the book, but it is a little fuzzy how they plan to indicate further activity for the DM...which to be fair, B4 had a unique approach to that among older modules, so updating that to a chapter in a modern anthology ia bound to be somewhat different.