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



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[dagger]

Has anyone confirmed if AtG includes all three?

 

[DEFCON 1]

I wonder what the Venn diagram is between people who think publishing Yawning Portal is lazy, and those people who desperately want a 5E Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book?

Cause seeing as how a FRCS book would be pretty much a cut and paste from the information they've already written in SKT, SCAG, the 4E setting book, and part of the 3E book for those far-flung sections of Faerun that barely anyone knows about let alone actually run campaigns in so it doesn't matter WHAT information you included there... you could consider doing both books just as lazy. So I wonder how many people are talking out of both sides of their mouth when they say they need one but are pissed about the other?

This also goes to show how inane everyone is when it comes to searching for information. Someone goes looking for upcoming D&D info... they find this obscure bit of a title with absolutely no context tucked away in the part of the internet that probably was not meant for general release... people start speculating up the wazoo about what this title could possibly mean and fan-cast their beloved publishing scenarios... and then when it is revealed to be something else they get all pissed at WotC over it that they didn't get what they were fantasizing about. Whereas if people just waited for information when WotC chose to announce it, a lot of those same people probably wouldn't be nearly as annoyed.

It's the "WotC cancelled a product they never actually announced!" bullcrap all over again. And goes to show that some people will whine about ANYTHING.

 

[alienux]

I don't get why people keep bringing up "Labyrinth" it never existed, it was never a product.. yet people think this is it... WOTC said it themselves, it was never a thing.. never was/never will be..

Online retailers have had it listed for awhile. The Yawning Portal is clearly what those retailers have had listed under the name "Labyrinth":

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786966092/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1GQME3PONUYRM&coliid=IE14WUG7GI0NC

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2016/09/dd-mysterious-labyrinth-book-appears-online.html

 

[Vymair]

Against the Giants is the quintessential D&D adventure of my youth, so I'm happy to see another generation of gamers get the experience of this great adventure. Forge of Fury was my favorite of the 3e dungeons so happy to see that back as well.

 

[Luchador]

Against the Giants is the quintessential D&D adventure of my youth, so I'm happy to see another generation of gamers get the experience of this great adventure. Forge of Fury was my favorite of the 3e dungeons so happy to see that back as well.

If I recall-- didn't against the giants lead to Queen of the Demon Web pits? The Lost Tomb was really cool. I wasn't expecting that one. Glad it made the cut!

 

[TwoSix]

Al Bundy. You're thinking of Al Bundy. Ted Bundy would be a completely different weird 40-year old D&D!

I know my players... Ted Bundy edition is more appropriate.

 

[Sacrosanct]

If I recall-- didn't against the giants lead to Queen of the Demon Web pits? The Lost Tomb was really cool. I wasn't expecting that one. Glad it made the cut!

Yep. The G-D-Q series was all tied together.

 

[Vymair]

If I recall-- didn't against the giants lead to Queen of the Demon Web pits? The Lost Tomb was really cool. I wasn't expecting that one. Glad it made the cut!

Yes, it led to the Descent in the Depths of the Earth, to Vault of the Drow and then to Queen of the Demonweb Pits

 

[Celebrim]

Hidden Shrine is not so bad, but I would never actually run a high level party that had earned those levels through Tomb of Horrors. Tomb of Horrors is supposed to be nearly unwinnable without cheating or some damn good luck. It was created as a con one-shot and that's the only way I've ever run it. I've toyed with running it as a "dream" but the opportunity has never come up.

That said - if they're going to publish it in a collection like this it should be the original, deadly, nearly unbeatable Tomb of Horrors. With sufficient warning to DMs who have never run anything but 5e AP material exactly how different the expectations for the adventure are compared to what they're used to running.

Hidden Shrine is vastly more deadly than Tomb of Horrors, and vastly more unfair.

Tomb of Horrors is the most infamous dungeon in D&D history, but its reputation is outsized compared to how deadly it actually is. There are a lot of extremely deadly 1e AD&D dungeons, and some of them are a lot worse than Tomb of Horrors. Many of them were also created to be run as one shots at conventions, and were designed to be unwinnable or nearly unwinnable. Hidden Shrine is from the 'C1' series, as in 'Competition', and if you run it 'bottom up' in its tournament format it makes 'Tomb of Horrors' look like a casual picnic written by some very generous and forgiving DM.

 

[BookBarbarian]

I know my players... Ted Bundy edition is more appropriate.

Yikes. My players have been known to engage in murderhoboism, but there won't be any RP of the stuff Ted Bundy did. Though I have heard horror stories of in game descriptions of assault on this very forum. I believe it was in the Worst DMs Ever thread.