D&D 5E Free 'Descent into the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth' Adventure on D&D Beyond

Descent into the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth is an abridged version of the full adventure, which appears in Quests from the Infinite Staircase. You can access it for free on D&D Beyond.

Deep in the Yatil Mountains lie the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, formerly occupied by the legendary archmage Iggwilv the Witch Queen. Though Iggwilv is long gone, her lair is anything but empty. Demons, giants, and other formidable creatures haunt the perilous caverns, and the archmage’s magical defenses remain intact. The rewards for braving these threats defy imagination. Iggwilv is rumored to have amassed a magical hoard of unsurpassed value, a trove of such fame that scores of adventurers have perished in search of it.

This supplement is part of a yearlong celebration of Dungeons & Dragons and its 50th anniversary. The adventure presented herein is an abridged, quick-play version of “The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth,” which appears in Quests from the Infinite Staircase. See that book for the full adventure.

“Descent into the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth” is designed for four to six 9th-level characters.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

When you don't create your own encounters and run predominantly published adventures, it's a thing.
OR when you bought the MM in print a decade ago but maybe want to run an adventure on DND Beyond without alternating between books/tablets depending on which encounter you're running.
It's just a bizarre bit of penny pinching that WotC doesn't give you the monster stats you need to run the adventures in the adventures and charges DMs $2 a pop for them.
It's even more bizarre that I must be the only person on this forum who finds a problem with this and people are suggesting I'm some sort of mutant for thinking so.
Again, it's a Twilight Zone feeling for me.

It’s not penny pinching given that it’s the exact same decades old system.

Every 5e adventure states it expects you to have the Monster Manual.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Ok. Here's a comparison. When you buy an official WotC adventure on Roll20, it has stats and tokens for all relevant creatures - whether they're original to the adventure, in another supplement, or from one of the other core rulebooks.
I begrudgingly accept that they may not want to reprint stats from the MM in a print book, but they can certainly link it into an adventure you purchase digitally.

That is certainly all possible for them to do. But it does not bother me that it is not provided. I rarely expect people to give things away. It is nice if they do, but I don't expect it.

And we're not even getting into the ridiculous price of $1.99 for one monster stat block. How many "$1.99" microtransactions would I need to purchase to run this adventure for my group - after presumably having purchased the adventure itself?

The $1.99 single monster purchase is definitely not the most efficient, but it is cool that they even offer to break these books apart. I know my DM commonly buys all the monsters from a adventure or setting book (for $9.99 typically) and thus saves $20-$30 or so. That is something you can't do with a physical book.

I'm just ... I'm just bewildered that anyone is okay with this.
It's like I'm in a Twilight Zone episode about the RPG hobby.

Why wouldn't we be ok with this? If you are coming from a traditional physical book world this only provides more functionality/options than a physical books (and at lower cost). That fact that it doesn't match some other digital options (that I don't use btw) is not relevant to some. It gives me what I want at a better price with more options and flexibility - why would I not be OK with that?

 

[GPyromania]

I claimed it out of curiosity.
Yeah. It's "free" in that I have to buy additional content from DNDB to get the stats I need to run the darn thing.
"Want to run this encounter with the fomorians? That'll be $30."
Have I mentioned how much I hate this a la carte shopping?

This was an oversight on my part. This is now fixed (it will no longer prompt you to purchase the fomorian or marid.)

Thanks for reporting it!

 

[BigZebra]

That’s how it’s always been pretty much since 3e. Also how PF does it in their APs: Xxxx Monster (Pathfinder Bestiary 2 page 192) for example. I think Paizo used to have a rule that AP authors should only use monsters from two bestiaries so they aren’t spread over like six bestiaries.

Also as a GM I would be annoyed paying for pages reprinting monsters I have in the MM.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

....d people are suggesting I'm some sort of mutant for thinking so.
Again, it's a Twilight Zone feeling for me.

who is suggesting you are a mutant? As far as I have seen you are the only one using such language. Does really surprise you that different people have different opinions and perspectives. I mean just look at the political landscape in the world today. Be can't even agree on facts!

Why are you getting so worked up because people are not upset about something that is pretty trivial.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Absolutely love that the adventure is only viewable on the web page and not downloadable.

Absolutely love that the provided map is not scaled or optimized for VTTs. I always use 56.6 pixels per square.

I do wonder if it gets the "Maps" treatment.

 

[Parmandur]

I mean, obviously Monster Manual stuff requires the Monster Manual. And yes, the free product is partially there to make the paid material (the Monster Manual) more attractive. Same reason CostCo gives out free food samples.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

This was an oversight on my part. This is now fixed (it will no longer prompt you to purchase the fomorian or marid.)

Thanks for reporting it!

Oh huh. I didn’t know it was included.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Also as a GM I would be annoyed paying for pages reprinting monsters I have in the MM.

Yeah, it doesn't really make sense for 5E or Pathfinder, given how big the stat blocks are.

For Shadowdark or OSR games? It's very doable and I prefer when full stats are included, so I can just keep running an adventure instead of flipping through other books.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Well, that's a screw-up.

Hopefully it's not too late to fix it.