D&D 5E Quest From The Infinite Staircase Adventures Revealed

Crystal caves, barrier peaks, pharaohs, lost caverns, lost cities, and fallen stars feature in the adventure anthology.

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Roll20 has today revealed some information about July's Dungeons & Dragons release, Quests from the Infinite Staircase.

The Infinite Staircase spirals in a dreamlike expanse, with doors leading to fantastic realms. It's home to the noble genie Nafas, who hears wishes made throughout the multiverse and recruits heroes to fulfill them. These pleas summon adventurers to lost caverns suffused with planar energy, fairytale gardens in the Feywild, futuristic spaceships, and other wondrous locales.

This anthology weaves together six classic DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® adventures while updating them for the game's fifth edition. You can run these quests individually or as a campaign that takes characters from level 1 to level 13.

This book includes the following adventures:
  • Beyond the Crystal Cave
  • Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
  • Pharaoh
  • The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
  • The Lost City
  • When a Star Falls

These are all adventures from previous editions of D&D (in much the same way as Ghosts of Saltmarsh was). All of them are AD&D (1E) adventures except for The Lost City, which was a Basic D&D adventure.

EN World member @pukunui provided a quick summary of each:

For those like myself who are unfamiliar with (some of) these adventures, here are summaries based on info from wikipedia:

Beyond the Crystal Cave: An AD&D 1e adventure set in Greyhawk which sees the PCs hired to save a couple who eloped and fled into the Cave of Echoes. The PCs must resolve the secret of the cave to reach a magical garden where it is always summer. The adventure is noteworthy for rewarding players for resolving encounters non-violently.

Expedition to the Barrier Peaks: An AD&D 1e adventure written by Gary Gygax himself. In this adventure, the PCs explore a mysterious spaceship that crashed in Greyhawk's Barrier Peaks mountain range. The ship is filled with robots, laser guns, power armor, and all manner of strange creatures (including vegepygmies and a froghemoth). The adventure also involves collecting colored access cards to open restricted areas and the like.

Pharaoh: An AD&D 1e adventure written by the Hickmans of Ravenloft and Dragonlance fame. This one sees the PCs exiled into a desert after being falsely accused of a crime. They end up encountering the spirit of a dead Egyptian-style pharaoh who implores them to break into his supposedly thief-proof pyramid tomb and steal some things that will enable him to find eternal rest or something.

The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth: Another of Gary Gygax's AD&D 1e Greyhawk modules. This one sees the PCs as treasure hunters seeking the wealth of the archmage Iggwilv. During their search, they encounter a vampire.

The Lost City: This is a Basic D&D adventure written by Tom Moldvay. The PCs get lost in a sandstorm and discover the lost city of Cynidicea, where the inhabitants are degenerate drug addicts. The PCs explore a pyramid and fight an evil monster.

When a Star Falls: An AD&D 1e module in which the PCs search for a fallen star in the moors. They encounter svirfneblin and derro as they seek to give the star to its rightful owner.
 

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My opinion is the Barrier Peaks could be remade to update the sci-fi elements according the technologic changes from the last decades. And it could work like a test to watch if D&D is ready to add elements from sci-fi, for example planar expeditions toward the world of Gamma World (maybe not the original setting but one with a recycle version of creatures and techology)

I happy because we see adventures set in Greyhawk and Mystara, allowing hopes for their return.
 

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Parmandur

Book-Friend
A fair chunk of Lost Caverns was taken up with statblocks and spells from the Demonicon, and didn't relate to the adventure at all. Barrier Peaks would require the most monster stat blocks, especially if they are going to try and make vegipigmies relevant at level 13, but a fair chunk of the original page count was the art book.
True, but thwm this book will likely have a fair bit of big splashy art pieces for all 6 components. Main point is, it is probsvly at least as much raw Adventure material as the two nearest comparisons, Yawning Portal and Saltmarsh.
 

el-remmen

Moderator Emeritus
UK 7 Dark Clouds Gather would seem like a good fit for a book like this. It's a railroad, but fun with lots of unique and memrable bits. And the airborne combat finale is a blast.

A railroad? Really? This one is my fave of the UK modules, but I have not read it in a decade or more - so now I have to dig in and see if I decide to run it in the future, if I can unrailroad it.

Then again, I am a firm believer that there are no railroad adventures, only railroad DMs. ;)
 


Zaukrie

New Publisher
"Power up your players with 3 magic items and 6 artifacts that harness futuristic technology." Was hoping for more tech than that, but maybe I'm not remembering things right.....
 



Parmandur

Book-Friend
"Power up your players with 3 magic items and 6 artifacts that harness futuristic technology." Was hoping for more tech than that, but maybe I'm not remembering things right.....
Two angles to consider there: some of the high tech weapons are in the 5E DMG (probsvly some of the originally distinct magic items from the other Advebtures, too), and a lot of the high tech items in S3 are useless red herrings (I do hope we get the trial and error flow chart for PC experimentation with unfamiliar tech, lol).
 


Two angles to consider there: some of the high tech weapons are in the 5E DMG (probsvly some of the originally distinct magic items from the other Advebtures, too), and a lot of the high tech items in S3 are useless red herrings (I do hope we get the trial and error flow chart for PC experimentation with unfamiliar tech, lol).
isn’t there a simplified version of the trial and error diagram in the DMG? I think that first appeared in Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World.

The needler and needle rifle are not in the DMG, nor the disrupter pistol. The power armour is in Lost Laboratory of Kwalish.

I do suspect this adventure will be a lot more reworked than we have seen previously.
 

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