D&D 5E Quests From The Infinite Staircase

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Alright then. Barrier Peaks plus B4?

My wallet is getting lighter. ¯\(ツ)/¯

 

[Distracted DM]

After having been burned multiple times by WotC, I fear that I will make the mistake again- but I'm going to wait for reviews, first.

 

[MerricB]

After having been burned multiple times by WotC, I fear that I will make the mistake again- but I'm going to wait for reviews, first.

Very wise.

My feeling is the adventures that are straight up dungeon crawls that don't rely heavily on traps will probably come off relatively well.

I DMed all of Ghosts of Saltmarsh and quite a bit of Tales from the Yawning Portal, and the two adventures I thought the Wizards designers were most clueless about were Danger at Dunwater (U2) and Tomb of Horrors (S1).

The reasons both fared poorly were fascinating.

Danger at Dunwater relies on the party going in as if it were a regular dungeon. The revision undercuts that - and thus all the revelations and surprise that occur.

Tomb of Horrors relies on the party interacting with the traps (and the traps being deadly). When the interaction is sacrificed on the altar of "die rolls for everything", it becomes a lot less engaging.

Cheers,
Merric

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Danger at Dunwater relies on the party going in as if it were a regular dungeon. The revision undercuts that - and thus all the revelations and surprise that occur.

Yeah, if you're not playing with murder hobos, Danger at Dunwater can be zipped through in less than a single session.

 

[MerricB]

Yeah, if you're not playing with murder hobos, Danger at Dunwater can be zipped through in less than a single session.

Well, with my DMing, probably even with murder hobos!

I've run it both in 3E and 5E. Never with AD&D. The party in the 3E version (which I adapted from the original source) actually managed to bypass a lot of the adventure, but it was based on their good play rather than the adventure structure undermining it.

Only to then try a frontal assault on U3 The Final Enemy which ended in complete disaster after about an hour of play - they never did manage to defeat the sahuagin, and they then fled from the wrathful villagers of Saltmarsh who (rightfully) blamed them for leading many of their kinsfolk to their deaths!

Later on, that group failed to stop Radaga in Feast of Goblyns, condemning part of the Great Kingdom to the rule of an evil necromancer.

Huh... they had form!

Cheers,
Merric

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Danger at Dunwater relies on the party going in as if it were a regular dungeon. The revision undercuts that - and thus all the revelations and surprise that occur.

Change in culture undercuts that. There is no way a modern group of players would go in swords swinging. Frankly, even when it was published in the 1980s I can't really envision that happening.

Treat it as a Star Trek TNG episode. Have sahuagin spies and awkward NPCs on each faction working to disrupt tricky negotiations.

 

[Stormonu]

Yeah, if you're not playing with murder hobos, Danger at Dunwater can be zipped through in less than a single session.

That was true back in 1E/2E, which our party ended up doing (I was a player in that game). Nearly the same thing happened in 5E, though it took that group two more rooms to figure out something was up and it wasn't a standard "kill 'em all" adventure.

 

[darjr]

Beyond the Crystal Cave | Quests from the Infinite Staircase #wotc #ttrpg #preview #dnd

 

[Stormonu]

Just looked through the original and wonder why I never ran it. This book is looking more and more enticing.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

So early access should be out for this in stores and Beyond. Anyone got it?