D&D 5E Tales from the Yawning Portal: A better title would be "Nezram's tales of adventure".

Corpsetaker · Jan 16, 2017

Durnan and the Yawning Portal having nothing to do with visitors from other planes and worlds, it is an inn that houses people who wish to gain the fame and fortune by delving into Undermountain.

If they wanted to go this route then they should have used a character that would actually make sense in this regard. Here is one such character

Nezram the world-walker.

Nezram, a Mulhorandi wizard known as the “World-Walker”, has returned to Faerun after an absence of nearly seven hundred years. Though he is a master of transportation magic, portals, and planewalking, the World-Walker is perhaps best known for his love of gem-based magic.

They could have used Nezram as someone who has discovered these other places and could have actually encountered some of the villains such as Acererak for example.

I think this would have made more sense.

AaronOfBarbaria · Jan 16, 2017

You think it is makes more sense for the book to be about things that one particular wizard has personally encountered, rather than be about things which the collective and countless visitors to a famous inn and tavern have told to other visitors over drinks, and those that heard a tale told it to someone else, or the staff over-hearing conversations remembered interesting bits and told those to visitors asking for rumors/stories?

I'm not so sure.

In your imagination of this product as being all about Nezram, how is it that the player characters are finding out these tales? In the actual version, with it being all about a famous inn and tavern, that question is already answered without me even cracking the cover - they heard a story over drinks one night.

Parmandur · Jan 16, 2017

Corpsetaker said:
Durnan and the Yawning Portal having nothing to do with visitors from other planes and worlds, it is an inn that houses people who wish to gain the fame and fortune by delving into Undermountain.

If they wanted to go this route then they should have used a character that would actually make sense in this regard. Here is one such character

Nezram the world-walker.

Nezram, a Mulhorandi wizard known as the “World-Walker”, has returned to Faerun after an absence of nearly seven hundred years. Though he is a master of transportation magic, portals, and planewalking, the World-Walker is perhaps best known for his love of gem-based magic.

They could have used Nezram as someone who has discovered these other places and could have actually encountered some of the villains such as Acererak for example.

I think this would have made more sense.

Yawning Portal, which will be in the movie, makes more sense for branding, and makes perfect sense as is to be a multiworld crossroads. Nobody has heard of this wizard, and it doesn't really seem that eye catching for a frame story.

darjr · Jan 16, 2017

Why would the wizard talk? I know why the bar owner would, money! He charges for the drinks the tales are told over. He charges folks to enter undermountain, and charges to get them out, and sells supplies for the trip. What better way to get adventurers raring to go than a tall tail about other dungeons?

Parmandur · Jan 17, 2017

darjr said:
Why would the wizard talk? I know why the bar owner would, money! He charges for the drinks the tales are told over. He charges folks to enter undermountain, and charges to get them out, and sells supplies for the trip. What better way to get adventurers raring to go than a tall tail about other dungeons?

Beyond that, pretty sure that this will be like Volos: name on the cover, some bit in the prologue, but irrelevant beyond that.

mflayermonk · Jan 17, 2017

They probably would be better off without the word "Yawn" in the title.

Jester David · Jan 17, 2017

Tying the adventure to a single wizard or character is awkward. The PC are meant to be the heroes. I like the concept of the inn where travellers swap stories.
I'd prefer Tales from th World Serpent Inn, but the Yawning Portal is fine.

After all, it will likely come into play as much as Volo did in Volo's Guide to Monsters: the introductory page and a few small paragraphs elsewhere.

darjr · Jan 17, 2017

Also I suspect, but do not know, that the bar will be used as a jumping off point for AL adventures. For that it's excellent.

ProgBard · Jan 17, 2017

Corpsetaker said:
Durnan and the Yawning Portal having nothing to do with visitors from other planes and worlds, it is an inn that houses people who wish to gain the fame and fortune by delving into Undermountain.

If they wanted to go this route then they should have used a character that would actually make sense in this regard. Here is one such character

Nezram the world-walker.

Nezram, a Mulhorandi wizard known as the “World-Walker”, has returned to Faerun after an absence of nearly seven hundred years. Though he is a master of transportation magic, portals, and planewalking, the World-Walker is perhaps best known for his love of gem-based magic.

They could have used Nezram as someone who has discovered these other places and could have actually encountered some of the villains such as Acererak for example.

I think this would have made more sense.