D&D 5E What would you put in Volume 2 of Tales of the Yawning Portal

Greg K · Jan 15, 2017

Corpsetaker said:
How about just use the massive dungeon that sits just below the Yawning Portal and stop using the name for anything else other than?

I mean you have Undermountain which contains many levels that can be broken down unto several dungeons all on their own.

I would have no problem with that at all and it is what they should have done (despite my dislike for Undermountain and, on a more general level, megadungeons). However, that is not what they are doing with the Yawning Portal book.

Personally, I don't like how many Mearls and Co. are handling a lot of the IP, but I also don't have to buy their supplements (and I have not so far).

Remathilis · Jan 15, 2017

Parmandur said:
How plot heavy are those adventures, or how detachable are the dungeons? It seems that there are broadly two types of adventures: those fit for AP expansion ala Strahd (Isle of Despair, War of the Lance, Desert of Desolation?), and those which are rather isolated standalones (Ghost Tower, Keep on the Borderlands, Labyrinth of Madness?): the first may be candidates for storylines, the latter for a product like this.

Both are fairly linear dungeon crawls, IIRC.

Demetrios1453 · Jan 15, 2017

gweinel said:
How i would love a collection of Planescape adventures (with an update of all the plane/faction content into 5e).
I wouldn't mind this collection would be "The Tales of Infinite Staircase."

Given all the references in the core rule books, I imagine we'll see a Great Modron March AP when we start plane-hopping in this edition rather than a planar anthology.

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Lanefan · Jan 15, 2017

Hmmm...interesting question.

First off, the last thing it needs to be is another pre-defined adventure path: there's already more than enough of those floating around. But, a string of stand-alones that an enterprising DM could put into some sort of chain or path...now we're talking. And, throw in some variety from straight dungeon-crawling while keeping that element present. For consistency, stick with the 7-adventure set. So:

B2 Keep on the Borderlands (introductory, low-level, dungeon crawl and town)
L1 Bone Hill (low-level, dungeon crawl plus a bit of wilderness, shows what a well-designed dungeon looks and plays like)
X1 Isle of Dread (mid-level, involves travel, exploration, wilderness; expands the game-world)
I7 Baltron's Beacon (mid-level, dungeon crawl plus wilderness)
UK7 Dark Clouds Gather (mid-high-level, a different kind of adventuring [but do they have the rights to the UK series?])
*** (I forget the name, if it ever had one: take the mini-adventure vs. the Dracolich at the end of the 3e FR setting book and greatly expand it into a bigger thing where part (or much) of the adventure involves just getting to the Dracolich's lair) (high-level, wilderness, iconic boss)
Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits (high level, iconic adventure, but as Llolth is a goddess these days and thus [in theory] undefeatable by mere mortals perhaps put a different boss at the end)

If they could get the rights to them (unlikely), any of the Judges' Guild modules Maltese Clue, Dark Tower or Caverns of Thracia (all mid-ish-level) could replace Baltron's Beacon in this list.

Lan-"Dark Tower would be excellent to include as it has a whimsical gonzo element largely (and sadly) lacking from the others on this list"-efan

Parmandur · Jan 15, 2017

Demetrios1453 said:
Given all the references in the core rule books, I imagine we'll see a Great Modron March AP when we start plane-hopping in this edition rather than a planar anthology.

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But how far would those two concepts be from each other, aside from a strong interlinking narrative between components?

Parmandur · Jan 16, 2017

Remathilis said:
Both are fairly linear dungeon crawls, IIRC.

Looking at them, yup; given they put the intro chapters to the 3E AP in there, certainly possible: on the other hand, I saw the Wrath of Ashanadalon (sp?) board game Barnes & Noble just before Christmas. Wouldn't surprise me if part of the original AP got translated to 5E and turned into on of their storylines, given the IP value.

Remathilis · Jan 16, 2017

Parmandur said:
Looking at them, yup; given they put the intro chapters to the 3E AP in there, certainly possible: on the other hand, I saw the Wrath of Ashanadalon (sp?) board game Barnes & Noble just before Christmas. Wouldn't surprise me if part of the original AP got translated to 5E and turned into on of their storylines, given the IP value.

The problem is the AP is kinda poorly done, IMHO.

Spoilers:
[sblock]The Sunless Citadel is great, and it does so the seeds for the Asharadon/Guthias/Dydd storyline well.
The Forge of Fury mostly ignores it
The Speaker in Dreams also ignores it.
The Standing Stones ties back to Dydd and the Cuckoo, but the adventure itself is meh.
Heart of the Nightfang Spire is a proper sequel to Sunless Citadel, as Guthias, the vampire priest of Asharadon that was staked where the Guthias tree was (and when you kill the tree, you release the vampire) is the main villain.
Deep Horizon had little tie in
Lord of the Iron Fortress is likewise mostly disconnected.
However, Bastion of Broken Souls DOES tie in the whole thing by making you face Asharadon once and for all. [/sblock]

So really, the only adventures that deal with the main plot is Sunless, Standing, Nightfang, and Bastion. Everything else is level filler.

(Cavaet: Its been years since I read/played any of them; I might be misremembering additional tie ins.

Scrivener of Doom · Jan 16, 2017

0E's Caverns of Thracia - sure, WotC would have to buy the rights off Judges Guild/Paul Jaquays but this showed the D&D fan base just how much Gygax had to learn about designing dungeons
2E's The Shattered Circle - a surprising masterpiece of dungeon design
2E's The Gates of Firestorm Peak - another masterpiece of dungeon design which, like The Shattered Circle, shows how good Bruce Cordell used to be at designing adventures
3E's Raiders of Galath's Roost - while it might be from the pages of Dungeon magazine and written by one of the worst adventure designers that TSR ever hired, this little FR-based adventure includes two dungeons linked by a portal with a very FR-flavoured mix of Zhentarim and drow (and, let's face it, if there is a Volume 2 it should have at least one FR-based adventure in it)

gweinel · Jan 16, 2017

Demetrios1453 said:
Given all the references in the core rule books, I imagine we'll see a Great Modron March AP when we start plane-hopping in this edition rather than a planar anthology.

Sent from my VS987 using EN World mobile app

Why? There aren't so many references (one in DMG and one in MM? Did I miss something?). Also although Great Modron March is a good adventure (not the best Planescape imho - i prefer Dead Gods) i think it is too niche for the 1/3rd of wizard's book production in a year.

Demetrios1453 · Jan 17, 2017

gweinel said:
Why? There aren't so many references (one in DMG and one in MM? Did I miss something?). Also although Great Modron March is a good adventure (not the best Planescape imho - i prefer Dead Gods) i think it is too niche for the 1/3rd of wizard's book production in a year.

Why would it be niche? It would be the ultimate Outer Planes sandbox, after all...