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.

 

[Joshua Randall]

All 4e adventures and very many 3e adventures contained the monsters statblocks you needed to run the adventure.
Shame on 5e for not doing that.
An adventure isn't just something we market to people. This is a game aid meant to save the poor DM time. Not require the DM to go look things up in another book, or copy/paste from X to Y, just to have it all in one place.

 

[Zaukrie]

I'd be ok with a simplified block, with just the AC, hit points and attacks..... But I get other tables want it all.

 

[Dan Dillon]

All 4e adventures and very many 3e adventures contained the monsters statblocks you needed to run the adventure.
Shame on 5e for not doing that.
An adventure isn't just something we market to people. This is a game aid meant to save the poor DM time. Not require the DM to go look things up in another book, or copy/paste from X to Y, just to have it all in one place.

One of these days after Quests is out I might go through and total up how many pages of just stat block reprints it would be to include every MM creature in the book. Then we can talk about which pages from the book you'd want to sacrifice to make room for them.

I'm sympathetic to wanting the convenience of having everything you need in one place, but something's got to give. There's just no room for everything even the people writing the books, to say nothing of everyone using them, would want included. Can't happen.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

All 4e adventures and very many 3e adventures contained the monsters statblocks you needed to run the adventure.
Shame on 5e for not doing that.
An adventure isn't just something we market to people. This is a game aid meant to save the poor DM time. Not require the DM to go look things up in another book, or copy/paste from X to Y, just to have it all in one place.

Personally, I would rather not be charged over and over for something already have.

 

[Zaukrie]

One of these days after Quests is out I might go through and total up how many pages of just stat block reprints it would be to include every MM creature in the book. Then we can talk about which pages from the book you'd want to sacrifice to make room for them.

I'm sympathetic to wanting the convenience of having everything you need in one place, but something's got to give. There's just no room for everything even the people writing the books, to say nothing of everyone using them, would want included. Can't happen.

If the choice is new stuff or opening dndbeyond and printing something, I know I want the new stuff.

 

[Parmandur]

All 4e adventures and very many 3e adventures contained the monsters statblocks you needed to run the adventure.
Shame on 5e for not doing that.
An adventure isn't just something we market to people. This is a game aid meant to save the poor DM time. Not require the DM to go look things up in another book, or copy/paste from X to Y, just to have it all in one place.

Why would an Adventure reprint something from the Monster Manual...?

 

[Jer]

All 4e adventures and very many 3e adventures contained the monsters statblocks you needed to run the adventure.
Shame on 5e for not doing that.
An adventure isn't just something we market to people. This is a game aid meant to save the poor DM time. Not require the DM to go look things up in another book, or copy/paste from X to Y, just to have it all in one place.

For 5e it doesn't matter so much. For 4e having all the monster stats in place is important because the combats are generally with a group of different creatures. Flipping around multiple places in the MM is a pain. In 5e encounter design in published works tends to favor homogenous groups more so you only need to open up to a single page. Maybe flip between two. Also in 4e the stat blocks tended to be smaller overall.

For 3e the stat blocks could get so huge that having them in the adventures often felt like wasted space.

 

[Joshua Randall]

I’ll sacrifice the random background story blather that the PCs will never find out and overly wordy room descriptions that no good DM ever reads verbatim.

 

[Parmandur]

I’ll sacrifice the random background story blather that the PCs will never find out and overly wordy room descriptions that no good DM ever reads verbatim.

Why bother, when the Mobster Manual is right there...?

 

[Vincent55]

have the original so no need for this for me, but good luck.