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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[darjr]

WotC has talked about the setting book tread mill and how it didn't have what they want now. Which is a focused story that most folks play and talk about. In fact it may be one of the reasons sales are so good now, that focused story approach. I'll bet that the many settings approach had deminishing returns like in the 2e days.

 

[robus]

Even then, Out of the Abyss was unlike anything that had come before. And while it was inspired by the Giant series, Storm King's Thunder was very much its own beast. So they seem to be alternating between classical update and something new.

What's interesting about both of those examples is that the finales expect the players to take on the new characters for the boss battle. A most unsatisfying resolution I think.

 

[CapnZapp]

What's interesting about both of those examples is that the finales expect the players to take on the new characters for the boss battle.

?

2, 3 characters

 

[robus]

?

2, 3 characters

I'm referring to the players handling demon NPCs in OotA and giants in SKT

 

[Charles Rampant]

Er, but that isn't taking on new characters; one is letting the players control a cutscene in a Godzilla style smashup, and the other is letting the players control some allies, no different from them tooting a Horn of Valhalla or whatever.


Sent from my iPad using EN World mobile app

 

[ammulder]

Well, if nothing else this thread got me to go buy some old 1e adventures from DM's Guild. I gotta know about that B4 and X1 and...

 

[werecorpse]

Get B10 as well, you won't regret it.

 

[werecorpse]

Lots of interesting comments above, here's my 2cp on a few topics.

Just before 4e came out Dungeon magazine had reached a pinnacle, then it got a cancelled. The adventures were generally good and they were into their third adventure path. Paizo knew how to put together great adventure material. From my point of view I wasn't ready to switch editions. I hadn't even run the first adventure path and there was plenty of great material. 4e was a big change in style and I wasn't yet ready to change. Now 3e had been a big change as well but 1e&2e were essentially the same so I was ready for that change. Plus wotc hadn't written or put together adventures consistently for a long time when they tried to do so with 4e. Their main competitor had 5+ years of creating dungeon magazine(which was no small thing), oodles of freelancers to call on, a good rpg system for free (with later a promise to retool and fix all the bugs) a winning formula for adventures etc. Also (& I never did it) it looked hard to convert adventures from 3e to 4e.


5e doesn't really have to battle against an active 4e scene, it's easy to convert 3e/pathfinder adventures to 5e so it's major competitor is also a major asset.

As for the value of these conversions over a DM's guild conversion I almost always tinker with an adventure, especially once you get past about 4th level. So I will get this but almost certainly never use it directly as written. But I have all but one of the modules and am very interested in how wotc does the conversion. This will inform my conversions of older modules going forward. My experience with DM's guild conversions is that they can sometimes add little benefit to just converting on the fly (I apologise for this generalisation I only have a couple) which I can do on my own. Wotc might be the same in which case meh, or they might take a different approach. Either way I am interested.

 

[Corpsetaker]

“I don't think the title Tales of the Yawning Portal was chosen specifically because a Stardock lies somewhere in Undermountain, which may be more propice to world hopping. The Yawning Portal has no known prior connection to any of these adventures that I can remember. I think it's more that such high traffic inn would be more prone to hear tales of various legendary adventures sites.

In the linked podcast Chris Perkins says the Yawning Portal is more like a hub of lore or place where you could hear tales from very adventurous clientele and stories from these adventure sites and that if it's gonna heard somewhere in the Forgotten Realms, it's gonna be heard here. Chris also says a DM could use the Yawning Portal as a hub of the multiverse, but that sounds to me like a different use of the inn than what i know of it typically from Waterdeep materials.

I don't know what role plays the Yawning Portal in the next D&D movie but that could also explain this choice.”
This is a quote from another thread by Plaguescarred.

I own all products containing information on the Yawning Portal and nothing corresponds with what Chris Perkins is stating about the establishment. Basically they are using the well known name of the place, taking some recently made up story that doesn’t mesh with the history of the Inn, and try to shoe horn that into this recent upcoming product in order to try and make it fit in with the movie.

This is the kind of stuff I can’t stand because there are some things in the Realms that do have a long standing story that should be adhered to. So basically everything that’s there refers to the Yawning Portal and Undermountain with no information about people coming to the Inn to discuss all these other dungeons from other worlds. Chris Perkins should have chosen some other Inn that has a lot less history behind it so he could then create a history that would fit the movie and actually fit with the already established lore of the setting instead of more contradicting information.

Here is some really good information on the Yawning Portal Inn that actually lines up with all the other information in other products.

Expedition to Undermountain (3rd edition adventure)
Section on the Yawning Portal: Regulars – Most of the clients of the Portal are adventurers, ex-adventurers, or would-be adventurers eager to talk over the latest news of Undermountain. Most of the shady city power groups that have connections (Skullport (as well as the Watch) often send undercover agents to hear the discussions as well. Fans of adventuring, in particular young nobles seeking thrills, often drop by to soak up the charter and “smell the excitement” of actually being at the doorway of the fabled dungeon. Sellers of maps, weapons, armour, and adventuring gear also frequently drop by for meals, hoping to find clients at nearby tables. Other regulars include sailors, weary Dock Ward shopkeepers, and tired workers from the Keg or Mother Sahnka’s who know they can get a good hot meal in relative safety at the Yawning Portal.

 

[SkidAce]

Expedition to Undermountain (3rd edition adventure)
Section on the Yawning Portal: Regulars – Most of the clients of the Portal are adventurers, ex-adventurers, or would-be adventurers eager to talk over the latest news of Undermountain. Most of the shady city power groups that have connections (Skullport (as well as the Watch) often send undercover agents to hear the discussions as well. Fans of adventuring, in particular young nobles seeking thrills, often drop by to soak up the charter and “smell the excitement” of actually being at the doorway of the fabled dungeon. Sellers of maps, weapons, armour, and adventuring gear also frequently drop by for meals, hoping to find clients at nearby tables. Other regulars include sailors, weary Dock Ward shopkeepers, and tired workers from the Keg or Mother Sahnka’s who know they can get a good hot meal in relative safety at the Yawning Portal.

I like Perkin's story. It adds up.

It certainly can be assumed that those in bold above might be sharing stories from other places. It an adventuring inn, where else would you go to tell your tales?