Tales From The Yawning Portal - 7 Classic Dungeons Updated To 5E!

Coming in April is WotC's next official D&D product, Tales from the Yawning Portal. This hardcover book contains seven classic dungeons updated to 5th Edition, from adventures such as Against the Giants, Dead in Thay, Forge of Fury, Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, Sunless Citadel, Tomb of Horrors, and White Plume Mountain. This is, presumably, the product previously codenamed Labyrinth. It's set for an April 4th release, for $49.95.

When the shadows grow long in Waterdeep and the fireplace in the taproom of the Yawning Portal dims to a deep crimson glow, adventurers from across the Sword Coast spin tales and spread rumors of lost treasures.

Within this tome are seven of the deadliest dungeons from the history of Dungeons & Dragons. Some are classics that have hosted an untold number of adventurers, while others are newer creations, boldly staking a claim to their place in the pantheon of notable adventures.

The seeds of these stories now rest in your hands. D&D’s deadliest dungeons are now part of your arsenal of adventures. Enjoy, and remember to keep a few spare character sheets handy.

For use with the fifth edition Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master’s Guide, this book provides fans with a treasure trove of adventures, all of which have been updated to the fifth edition rules. Explore seven deadly dungeons in this adventure supplement for the world’s greatest roleplaying game:

• Against the Giants
• Dead in Thay
• Forge of Fury
• Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
• Sunless Citadel
• Tomb of Horrors
• White Plume Mountain

Find it on WotC's site here. Forbes has an interview about it here. Mearls says "We're announcing a new D&D product, a book coming out this spring. It is called Tales from the Yawning Portal(out March 24th in local game stores and April 4th everywhere else) It's a collection of seven of the most famous dungeons from Dungeons & Dragons history. They're all collected in one hardcover book. The idea behind it is not only do you want to capture some of the most famous dungeons from the game's history, but we also wanted to give a selection of adventures that you could in theory start at Level 1 with the first dungeon and play all the way up to Level 15 by playing the adventures one after another."

Cover Image

Gibbering Mouther

Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan



SaveSave



SaveSave
SaveSave​

 

[Prakriti]

Here's a riddle for you:

In Storm King's Thunder, we were told that Artus Cimber and the Ring of Winter would feature in an upcoming adventure.

So what do people think: Has the Ring been tied into one of these adventures? Do we have to wait another 6 months for the Ring of Winter to show up in a future AP? Or did Wizards just give up on the idea?

I do know that the Doomvault in Dead in Thay includes a Temple of Winter, which has a Chosen of Auril in it. Last we heard, Artus had become a Chosen of Auril. So maybe they swapped out Hedrun (the original NPC) for Artus Cimber. But this is just 1 room in a 100-room dungeon, and not particularly important to the story.

Given that fact, here's how the encounter might play out:

PCs: "Hey, you're Artus Cimber. A lot of giants are looking for you, you know."
Artus: "Oh yeah? Well, I've been here the whole time."
PCs: "Neat. They want your ring or something."
Artus: "That's nice. Well, it was nice meeting you."

 

[Barantor]

I'm in now that I saw the Forbes interview with Mike Mearls explaining that the Yawning Portal is only where the travelers are telling their tales and that some of them even travel to planes like Greyhawk. This means that Greyhawk is still the location for the ones which appear there, which I am greatful for.

Also since it is "Against the Giants" it is really 9 adventures total if you break AtG into it's G1,G2 and G3 components of...
"Steading of the Hill Giant Chief"
"Frozen Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl"
"Hall of the Fire Giant Lord"

As far as Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury not being Greyhawk, it's mostly the deities that are used rather than the locations, though most that I knew put them there.

If the Adventures League has side adventures or ones built around these then I will probably snag those as well when they hit the DMsGuild.

One would hope that this means they might allow the DMsGuild authors to use Greyhawk, which I would be extremely excited about and might even throw in a few of my old gems.

 

[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!!

 

[Shasarak]

Bugger, this was not the David Bowie inspired Labyrinth that I was hoping for.

 

[Jester David]

As an aside, this thread and news has been out for a couple hours now. And I've been on the forums most of that time.
I actually skipped clicking this thread because the name made me think someone was updating the adventures for the DMs Guild. Literally, my first thought was that this was a fan effort.

Even when I saw the cover, my initial reaction was that this was an ad for a PDF, likely on the Guild, and not the Spring storyline volume.
At that point I was surprised but loved the idea, because people did want small adventures, and updating is a quick way of getting people that content. Get people adventures without a lot of man hours.

When I saw the price and realized this was a hardcover there was a moment of disbelief. Then shock when I saw the date and realized this was the spring "storyline" volume.
Even now there are people I'm talking with on Twitter who think there's still a storyline book coming...

 

[machineelf]

If I were an ex-publisher of a skeptical bent I'd suspect that "Undermountain-Themed D&D Open + This Title + This Content = Big Project Went Sideways and Now We Have to Fill the Release Slot." Even if I were that guy, I'd still be looking forward to this.

I sort of doubt it, since this is going to make so many D&D fans very happy. If this is a failure, they are definitely failing forward.

 

[machineelf]

I don't understand... is this just a collection of old adventures, updated to the 5e rules? That's... it?

I'm a huge fanboy, really, DnD can do no wrong for me... but this is just... lazy?

Maybe I got it wrong?

Converting classic adventures to 5e rules and monsters is no light task. I'd gladly pay $50 to have 7 classics converted to my rule-set of choice. I don't think it's lazy at all. I've been hoping for something like this.

 

[machineelf]

I’ve been itching to actually run ToH for years, albeit not with my group’s existing PCs. I’m not that mean of a DM, I think.

Great heroes need a great way to die.

 

[Parmandur]

Per the Forbes article, the seven were chosen to be strung together into a single campaign, if the DM wishes, or to be used as sidequests.

I don't have the adventures in question, so this would have some use to me, possibly.

 

[Greg Benage]

I sort of doubt it, since this is going to make so many D&D fans very happy. If this is a failure, they are definitely failing forward.

Even if I were that skeptical ex-publisher I referenced, I'd point out that I didn't call the product a "failure." Even if that guy thought it was a damage-control release necessitated by a major product delay and/or fiasco, that wouldn't automatically make it a "failure" or a product that wouldn't make some fans happy.

I'm a big fan of Wizards' strategy of three big products a year. I don't think a conversion book of various classic, not-so-classic, and playtest modules is a good fit for that strategy.