D&D 5E Quests From The Infinite Staircase

[Parmandur]

I

Man, The Sunken Shadow sounds like it would have been great for Ghosts of Saltmarsh!

t sure has that vibe.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Expedition to the Barrier Peaks [put higher because it really is absurdly packed with danger]

It really aint though, since pretty much every monster in Barrier Peaks was nerfed. For example, when I played the original, the most difficult fight was with the mind flayer, which, in 1st edition, was very difficult to damage at all if you didn't have psionics. These days it's a measly CR 7. Then there are a load of CR 1/4 vegepigmies, that are about as threatening as tribbles. The highest CR in there is the froghemoth at 10. You could hoik up the CR on all the unique robot enemies, but then it wouldn't feel much like the original module at all. Better to call it CR 7 or thereabouts. And weirdly, Tsojcanth managed to go the other way. Aside from the CR 15 boss, there is a fight with 4 dao (CR 11 each in 5e), who would easily pulverise a level 6 party. You pretty much have to swap the order of those two. I don't think either comes close to a level 13 adventure.

I haven't read or played Firestorm Peak (although it sounds pretty good from the description), so I don't know what the toughest fights are in that.

Red Hand of Doom, City of the Spider Queen or House of Cards might be better candidates for the highest level adventure.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I imagine the 4 Dao encounter will be rebalanced. Either with weaker creatures or fewer Dao.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I imagine the 4 Dao encounter will be rebalanced. Either with weaker creatures or fewer Dao.

You could do that, but given the CR 15 boss, I think balancing it for level 10 (which is at the top end of the original level range) makes more sense. There is no particular reason Tsojcanth has to go before Barrier Peaks.

Although even at level 10, you would want to reduce the number of dao to 2 or 3.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

You could do that, but given the CR 15 boss, I think balancing it for level 10 (which is at the top end of the original level range) makes more sense. There is no particular reason Tsojcanth has to go before Barrier Peaks.

Although even at level 10, you would want to reduce the number of dao to 3.

I would do 2 at most.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I would do 2 at most.

Yup, edited my post, more than 2 would be a real stinker even at 10.

How come Dao (and genies generally) got such a buff in 5e?! Box and Cox are broken in the Yawning Portal version of White Plume Mountain, even without Nix and Nox.

 

[Parmandur]

I don't think either comes close to a level 13 adventure.

Fair points. Level 13 is a bit of an odd number (prime, too), I reckon that a 10-14 Adventure of yore could fit there, and there are not many of those: Castle Maure (which would be great for an Anniversary collection), Queen of the Demonweb Pits (would fit the Planar theme), Tomb of Horrors (already in print)...

 

[Zaukrie]

I would be cool with an actual updated Caves of Chaos and Keep on the Borderlands. Throw in some of the stuff from the Dungeon Scar series with the keep and such. Expand things with some original ideas as well.

@tonycannoli welcome to the boards, stay and argue about who is right on the internet.

If I thought I could make any money, I'd update all the dungeon scar stuff. There are some interesting ideas, it's a sandbox, and they're is a home base. Some of the adventures were much stronger than others.... Plus my unpunished novel starts with rocks falling from the sky....

 

[Parmandur]

I would be cool with an actual updated Caves of Chaos and Keep on the Borderlands.

Since the DMG is apparegoijg to be chock full of example Adventures, I somewhat suspect that B2 might be in the DMG.

 

[KoolMoDaddy-O]

Man, The Sunken Shadow sounds like it would have been great for Ghosts of Saltmarsh!

"The Sunken Shadow" is a weird callout when listing great adventures over the past 50 years. It's not particularly memorable or even a good adventure; it's symptomatic of its time in that it makes many narrative assumptions about how the PCs will act and it can quickly go off the rails if they don't. I read it and discarded it as a possibility for that reason, although I did use the sunken wreck as a separate location.

So why was "Sunken Shadow" in the developers' heads at all? Which leads me to a second question: is Eve of Ruin going to revisit Greyhawk or is it going to revisit Saltmarsh? Because "Sunken Shadow" isn't worth reprinting in a greatest-hits anthology but it could be inspiration for a chapter situated around Saltmarsh about a submerged haunted ship with a piece of the Rod of Seven Parts in its cargo hold.

Castle Maure (which would be great for an Anniversary collection)

Man, I totes forgot that existed and yes it would be perfect for Infinite Staircase. As I recall it took up an entire issue of Dungeon so it may be too long but then again Dead in Thay was also crazy long and yet it's in Yawning Portal.