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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So its easily placed in Mulhorand
Mulhorand, like Kara-Tur, is a place that isn't talked about any more. And Pharaoh would work perfectly fine in the Anauroch, which is conveniently close to The Sword Coast.

It could be located near Akharin Sangar, in The Radiant Citadel. You could do worse than replace Mulhorand with Akharin Sangar, it would drop in easily enough. "Mulhorand? Oh, that was the name ignorant westerners used to give our land".
 
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Gorck

Prince of Dorkness
Edited a bit for clarity, but to go on, in each of the anthology books since Yawning Portal, each component Adventure has had a sidebar listing locations the Adventure would fit in various D&D Settings. I am sure thar I3 will include a Forgotten Realms suggestion, along with Greyhawk, Eberron, Racenloft, or the Radiant Citadel worlds perhaps.
I guess it’s too much for me to hope for suggested locations in Exandria 😢

It looks like I’ll have to do it myself like I did for Yawning Portal.
 


Gorck

Prince of Dorkness
I don't recall thst they did for the prior Anthologies. Shouldn't be too hard, though.
Saltmarsh and Yawning Portal came out before Explorers Guide to Wildemount, but I’ll have to wait until I get home from work to check if Golden Vault has any Exandria suggestions. If my memory serves me correctly, which it rarely does, I don’t think it had any for that setting.
 


Saltmarsh and Yawning Portal came out before Explorers Guide to Wildemount, but I’ll have to wait until I get home from work to check if Golden Vault has any Exandria suggestions. If my memory serves me correctly, which it rarely does, I don’t think it had any for that setting.
It doesn't, and since Explorers Guide to Wildemount is now flagged as "Partnered Content" I very much doubt it will be mentioned.
 


Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
It occurred to me that for another compilation book, WotC could make "The Book of Sandboxes". Take seven roughly county sized regions and describe them in a high level of detail, but without any story attached. It could include new versions of The Oasis of the White Palm (which really has no narrative connection to Pharaoh) The Keep on the Borderlands, and [insert your suggestions here].
Goodman Games did two books like that in the 4E era, both titled -- unsurprisingly -- Points of Light. Both are systemless and focused on creating settings to serve as the basis for other adventures.
 

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
It could be located near Akharin Sangar, in The Radiant Citadel. You could do worse than replace Mulhorand with Akharin Sangar, it would drop in easily enough. "Mulhorand? Oh, that was the name ignorant westerners used to give our land".
As I prep my Radiant Citadel campaign, it's pretty clear that while San Citlan might be the most fun to play in, including in unrelated one-shot adventures, Akharin Sangar is where the really interesting political/religious stuff is happening.

Taking on a celestial who's ruling in the name of his god? A whole lot to wrestle with there, including a lot of potentially weird enemy-of-my-enemy situations as well.
 

Zarithar

Adventurer
I wonder what the chances are of seeing Oasis of the White Palm and The Lost Tomb of Martek show up as 5e versions on DMS Guild or something. Pharaoh is one of my favorite modules of all time but it is just the start of an epic trilogy. Seems odd to leave the other two out.
 

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