Check Out The First 3 Pages Of TALES FROM THE YAWNING PORTAL

Tales From the Yawning Portal is about a month away, which means the previews are starting to appear across the internet. First up is the first three pages of the book - the introduction, which summarises the included adventures (The Sunless Citadel, The Forge of Fury, The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, White Plume Mountain, Dead in That, Against the Giants, and Tomb of Horrors) with basic details about The Yawning Portal itself. Enjoy!

You can download those three pages as a PDF from WotC here.

 

[Lidgar]

Does anyone else find it a little strange that there is a fairly lengthy description regarding the entrance to Undermountain? I know it gives background context to the Yawning Portal, but that could have been handled by a sentence or two. Are adventures expected to "enter" the dungeon locations through the well? Will it lead to a room full of portals in Undermountain? I thought it the Yawning Portal is where adventurers hear about the adventure locations...not actually get there through the well?

If that's not the case, it's almost as if they were originally writing this for Undermountain, then switched it up an pasted it onto the module conversions instead. Maybe it will make more sense when read in context of the rest of the book.

 

[flametitan]

Does anyone else find it a little strange that there is a fairly lengthy description regarding the entrance to Undermountain? I know it gives background context to the Yawning Portal, but that could have been handled by a sentence or two. Are adventures expected to "enter" the dungeon locations through the well? Will it lead to a room full of portals in Undermountain? I thought it the Yawning Portal is where adventurers hear about the adventure locations...not actually get there through the well?

If that's not the case, it's almost as if they were originally writing this for Undermountain, then switched it up an pasted it onto the module conversions instead. Maybe it will make more sense when read in context of the rest of the book.

I remember on the Dragon Talk episode that came out on the announcement, Chris Perkins said something to this effect in the Lore You Should Know segment. Not so much that players are expected to descend the well, but that Undermountain having planar doors made the Yawning Portal an iconic and natural framing device.

 

[machineelf]

Is the Tomb filled with undead?

Oh, crap. I thought you asked about the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan. I answered your question based on that premise. So editing this to remove it.

Someone also already answered your question, so cheers.

 

[machineelf]

All good information thanks.
Looks like I won't be using this for that specific purpose, but that still doesn't diminish my interest in this

Use the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan if you want. It might work perfectly for what you are needing.

 

[jaycrockett]

All the buzz that had me excited about this product possibly moving us out of the Forgotten Realms dies hard when I read this three-page preview. There is a paragraph on using some inn in Greyhawk instead of the Forgotten Realms, and I have a bad feeling that it's all the bone we're going to be thrown.

I'll take whatever Greyhawk bone they throw me, it's more than I got in 4th edition.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

Does anyone else find it a little strange that there is a fairly lengthy description regarding the entrance to Undermountain?...

Only that my theory is that Undermountain is next. There's been a lot of what I consider foundation building for that possibility.

 

[dave2008]

Wow. Reading though the excerpt here and the Tomb of Horrors preview, all I can say is: these better not be final proofs. There are typos and editing mishaps galore.

I guess a better way to frame that is: I will definitely be waiting until I see a finished copy before plunking down money for this one. I can wait a printing or three if I have to.

Is it the thought of paying for something with typos that bothers you. Such that, I am paying for editing I didn't get? Personally I pay for the content which is the same regardless of typos and grammar issues, they don't bother me. But my wife on the other hand loves to correct my anglish

To me the content is far more important than the level of editing (as long as it doesn't get in the way of the content). I simply read right past most typos and grammar issues (unless I am specifically asked to do otherwise) as if they are not there.

 

[alienux]

Great read, and this 3 page excerpt has me even more exited for this.

 

[Ath-kethin]

Is it the thought of paying for something with typos that bothers you. Such that, I am paying for editing I didn't get? Personally I pay for the content which is the same regardless of typos and grammar issues, they don't bother me. But my wife on the other hand loves to correct my anglish

To me the content is far more important than the level of editing (as long as it doesn't get in the way of the content). I simply read right past most typos and grammar issues (unless I am specifically asked to do otherwise) as if they are not there.

Fair enough.

But I run into more of a problem when the text includes fragments of sentences that aren't completed - what information is missing? Minor typos don't bother me. Nonsensical fragments make me wonder who if anybody did the proofing on the text.

I have better things to do with my $50 than spending it on BYOE ("Bring Your Own Editor) products.

We have at present a total of five pages (of which I am aware; the count may have gone up), with issues on nearly every one of them. That doesn't speak to well of the product as a whole.

So I can wait until they fix it.

 

[robus]

We have at present a total of five pages (of which I am aware; the count may have gone up), with issues on nearly every one of them. That doesn't speak to well of the product as a whole.

So I can wait until they fix it.

That's certainly it. It speaks to professionalism. It seems strange to me that they would release a PDF that they knew wasn't perfect (or didn't care enough to proofread before sharing).

The words "Draft" would have been enough to give it a pass. But this has the appearance of being the copy that's going to be sent to the printers. After all the map/key trouble they've had you'd think it would be a little more of a concern!