D&D 5E Quests from the Infinite Staircase: How Is It?

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Haven't gone through it in full yet, but I'm very much enjoying what I've read so far.

 

[the Jester]

Thanks, everyone- I am more stoked to pick this up than I was before reading your posts, and I was pretty stoked. It has a combination of adventures I love (Pharoah) and ones I have never read (When a Star Falls). I'm really looking forward to it now.

 

[Parmandur]

It might be fun to drop it into the Vecna campaign, instead of just using portals to all the various settings and planar locations. It would mean that the characters would have to do some research or talk with Nafas to find the correct doorway, and said doorway probably won't dump them immediately next to their destination, like many of the portals in the book do. I might actually do this when I run the game.

I was actually thinking that the opening hook of the Wizards in Becna getting the party when they blast Wish, combined with Nafas...would make a whole lot of sense.

 

[Parmandur]

That's a good enough answer, thanks!

Hey, no problem!

I think it varies a bit in the book, too: the two UK modules are actually fairly family friendly, I would say, being less dingeon-crawl and conflict oriented. Pharaoh also seems like relatively younger people might get into it: the set up of a gjoat saying "loot my Tomb so I can get closure and move on" might appeal.

Lost City is deeply weird and unsettles me a bit as someone in my 30's, lots of "weird fiction" influences there. Probably a wild ride for anyone who picked that up in middle school on the 80s...

The two S modules by Gygax are pretty intense, but probably not too bad for kids who are OK with combat: some spooky stuff.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I was actually thinking that the opening hook of the Wizards in Becna getting the party when they blast Wish, combined with Nafas...would make a whole lot of sense.

Thinking on it a bit more, I might just mix it up a bit - the Infinite Staircase could be used to get to or from places that are not easy to reach or leave through normal means, like Eberron or Ravenloft. That will make it a bit more interesting by breaking up the monotony of using the same method each time.

(I'm still moving the portals well way from the destinations, though. There's no reason to have an "Underdark" adventure where the party really doesn't really experience the Underdark. That adventure, as written, could just be in any old cave.)

 

[pukunui]

(I'm still moving the portals well way from the destinations, though. There's no reason to have an "Underdark" adventure where the party really doesn't really experience the Underdark. That adventure, as written, could just be in any old cave.)

Indeed. If you’ve got Out of the Abyss, you could make it so the mages send the PCs to the gates of Gravenhollow library to research the location of Lolth’s shrine. They would then have to travel through the Underdark to reach it.

For the Eberron segment, they could start off in Sharn and take the lightning rail (or an airship) to the edge of the Mournland.

And so on.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Indeed. If you’ve got Out of the Abyss, you could make it so the mages send the PCs to the gates of Gravenhollow library to research the location of Lolth’s shrine. They would then have to travel through the Underdark to reach it.

For the Eberron segment, they could start off in Sharn and take the lightning rail (or an airship) to the edge of the Mournland.

And so on.

LOL

Did you read my mind all the way from NZ? Those are exactly what I had plannned out to do!

I'm also appending the finale in the floating citadel in the Dragonlance book to that part of the adventure; the ruined temple is the only way into the floating citadel above (where the piece of the Rod of Seven Parts is actually located) due to a no-fly/no-teleport zone being enforced due to the moon mirrors in the adventure. Doing so will add some much-needed DL flavor to that section of the adventure. I'm also planning on adding some locations from Descent into Avernus for the Nine Hells part, and starting in the Rock of Bral for the Spelljammer section (so we get some actual Spelljammer ship action, like attempted pirate boardings and the like!).

The Greyhawk part will likely be a bit more free-form - the location given for the Vecna adventure is an island off the east coast of the Flanaess, with the nearest big city being Rel Astra - so I guess a journey through the Great Kingdom and all the associated horrors to show the players how awful it is (outright slavery, oppression, and devils actually walking the land) would be in the offing.

I was trying to figure out what to do with the Ravenloft adventure, and literally as I'm writing this, I realized that the portal malfunctioning due to a certain plot twist in the adventure could send them to a completely different Domain of Dread, which would give some foreshadowing to that plot twist without giving the game away (and would make that plot twist a bit less out of nowhere)

Spoiler: Vecna Spolier

Since Kas is impersonating Mordenkainen, and has been let loose, for the moment at least, from his Domain of Dread by the Dark Powers, the portal there could malfunction due to Kas being in the Sanctum (and/or the Dark Powers messing with everyone, as they are wont to do) and send the party to Tovag. There they would find that the Domain is in chaos due to Kas being mysteriously absent. Given Kas' relationship to Vecna, this would add an extra level of intrigue for the players, but won't link him to Mordenkainen. They would then travel through the Domain and through the Mists (with the Dark Powers' permission) to Barovia, which would give ample opportunity to showcase the setting and its flavor.

Heh, a quick look at the DMs Guild shows that someone has already thought of this! Traversing Tovag | D&D Vecna: Eve of Ruin Chapter 5 Expanded - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

This adventure does it the other way I see upon reading it (having it as part of the escape from Barovia instead of the journey to there) but it should work either way.

With Greyhawk not yet allowed on the Guild, I couldn't find, unsurprisingly, something similar for that chapter.

 

[pukunui]

@Demetrios1453 that’s fantastic stuff! Be sure to share it in the Enhancing Eve of Ruin thread.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Yeah, these come from an era when the modules were meant to be the bones to build a whole campaign around.

Big matter of YMMV here, for sure, bit at least these look nothing like any other map theybhave published, which is nice in thst the original was a pretty classic blue plain map:

View attachment 373419View attachment 373420View attachment 373422View attachment 373423

Yeah, it was quickly apparent how you could take any Adventure, from any book, and work it into thus framework, or even mix him into a long campaign.

Fairly familiar with Lost City and Barrier Peaks (thanks, Goodman Games!), have read through Pharaoh and own a second hand copy.

They did a very good job respecting the originals, but feeling free to change things around in a positive way (only Barrier Peaks is Essa rewrite, the original was 6 Levels, and rhe Levels were bigger with tins of empty rooms, and no antagonist at all).

What kind of hook did they give for FR for Pharaoh and what was the single Theros plot hook please, I think it's for Beyond the Crystal Cavern.

 

[Parmandur]

What kind of hook did they give for FR for Pharaoh and what was the single Theros plot hook please, I think it's for Beyond the Crystal Cavern.

I already shared all the FR info in the other thread, but here are the background set-up, the hooks, and the Setting info from Pharaoh:

Amd the Setting stuff for Beyond thw Crystal Cave: