Tales From The Yawning Portal - 7 Classic Dungeons Updated To 5E!

Coming in April is WotC's next official D&D product, Tales from the Yawning Portal. This hardcover book contains seven classic dungeons updated to 5th Edition, from adventures such as Against the Giants, Dead in Thay, Forge of Fury, Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, Sunless Citadel, Tomb of Horrors, and White Plume Mountain. This is, presumably, the product previously codenamed Labyrinth. It's set for an April 4th release, for $49.95.

When the shadows grow long in Waterdeep and the fireplace in the taproom of the Yawning Portal dims to a deep crimson glow, adventurers from across the Sword Coast spin tales and spread rumors of lost treasures.

Within this tome are seven of the deadliest dungeons from the history of Dungeons & Dragons. Some are classics that have hosted an untold number of adventurers, while others are newer creations, boldly staking a claim to their place in the pantheon of notable adventures.

The seeds of these stories now rest in your hands. D&D’s deadliest dungeons are now part of your arsenal of adventures. Enjoy, and remember to keep a few spare character sheets handy.

For use with the fifth edition Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master’s Guide, this book provides fans with a treasure trove of adventures, all of which have been updated to the fifth edition rules. Explore seven deadly dungeons in this adventure supplement for the world’s greatest roleplaying game:

• Against the Giants
• Dead in Thay
• Forge of Fury
• Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
• Sunless Citadel
• Tomb of Horrors
• White Plume Mountain

Find it on WotC's site here. Forbes has an interview about it here. Mearls says "We're announcing a new D&D product, a book coming out this spring. It is called Tales from the Yawning Portal(out March 24th in local game stores and April 4th everywhere else) It's a collection of seven of the most famous dungeons from Dungeons & Dragons history. They're all collected in one hardcover book. The idea behind it is not only do you want to capture some of the most famous dungeons from the game's history, but we also wanted to give a selection of adventures that you could in theory start at Level 1 with the first dungeon and play all the way up to Level 15 by playing the adventures one after another."

Cover Image

Gibbering Mouther

Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan



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[TRDG]

Really wish they would get something original out the door instead of retreads, maybe next release I guess??

 

[TRDG]

Really wish they would get some modules that are totally original out the door like these old classic retreads, but I'll still take a look and hope for fresh new shorter products in the future to be released

 

[ddaley]

I am excited about these "retreads." I started playing D&D around 1980 with the basic edition and ran a few old modules back in the 80s. But, now I am playing with my kids and would like to take them through some of these. I like having the option of shorter modules, in addition to the longer campaigns. To me, Lost Mine was about the perfect length for my group. I know I could convert some of these myself, and have thought about it. But, I like having something that has been officially converted for some reason.

Really wish they would get some modules that are totally original out the door like these old classic retreads, but I'll still take a look and hope for fresh new shorter products in the future to be released

 

[ddaley]

I have not read Dead in Thay, but did read some reviews about it. Wasn't that module written with the assumption that multiple parties would be playing through at the same time working toward a common goal? I wonder how that would impact the module for home use. Could a single party still run through the module with no problem?

I bought a number of the play test modules, partially for the adventure, but equally for the extra content that they included about the setting. When I saw that dead in thay was intended for multiple parties, I decided to not pick it up at the time. Also, I prefer print versions. I was able to get 2 of the other play test modules in print: Murder in Baldur's Gate and Crystal Shard.

Just musing about my thoughts on the various adventures included.

Dead in Thay
In defence of this inclusion, it was never physically printed before. Being originally available on the defunct D&D Classics site, and now on the DMsGuild and DriveThruRPG. And a Copper/Electrum seller, it's only really moved 300 or so copies on those two sites. So there are a lot of gamers who have never seen this adventure.

 

[Parmandur]

I have not read Dead in Thay, but did read some reviews about it. Wasn't that module written with the assumption that multiple parties would be playing through at the same time working toward a common goal? I wonder how that would impact the module for home use. Could a single party still run through the module with no problem?



I bought a number of the play test modules, partially for the adventure, but equally for the extra content that they included about the setting. When I saw that dead in thay was intended for multiple parties, I decided to not pick it up at the time. Also, I prefer print versions. I was able to get 2 of the other play test modules in print: Murder in Baldur's Gate and Crystal Shard.

Dunno about the full original context, but it is only a portion of Dead in Thay actually being used, and possibly rewritten if necessary I'm sure.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

This is the Doomvault. It is huge.

View attachment 79767


In the original store run version each group of players would each be told to explore a section of this place. As Tales from the Yawning Portal is going to present this as a normal dungeon. The focus will likely be shifted to instead of finding mcguffins with the other groups on a time table, to exploring this massive dungeon.

 

[darjr]

Ha! It's a compact dungeon which so happens to fit on a single piece of paper.

 

[guachi]

I was DMing Against the Cult of the Reptile God and the players rather easily figured out that the BBEG was at the back of the 8 1/2" x 11" because it's also a compact dungeon which so happens to fit on a single piece of paper.

 

[Echohawk]

Ha! It's a compact dungeon which so happens to fit on a single piece of paper.

Well, technically, every dungeon fits on a single piece of paper if you zoom out enough. But the Doomvault does seem to be suspiciously rectangular.

 

[Jester David]

While I agree that Dead in Thay is the least well known adventure of the set, in addition to the copies sold via D&D Classics, the PDF was also made available for free to stores running it as part of WotC's organised play, which probably boosts the numbers quite a bit.

Yeah. Plus the sales on D&D Classics when it released, which could also number in the thousands.
The 600+ Wizards Play Network stores would bump sales numbers up. Assuming each store has 2.5 tables of people, that'd be a possible 7,500 people who played the adventure. Given WotC likes to sell books that move 50,000 copies, that's still a strong audience of 40k people who might never have run through the Doomvault.

I have not read Dead in Thay, but did read some reviews about it. Wasn't that module written with the assumption that multiple parties would be playing through at the same time working toward a common goal? I wonder how that would impact the module for home use. Could a single party still run through the module with no problem?

I bought a number of the play test modules, partially for the adventure, but equally for the extra content that they included about the setting. When I saw that dead in thay was intended for multiple parties, I decided to not pick it up at the time. Also, I prefer print versions. I was able to get 2 of the other play test modules in print: Murder in Baldur's Gate and Crystal Shard.

I believe so. It was a neat idea for Organised Play. Or at least the 2/3rds of stores that could reliably have multiple tables going every single week.
Hopefully that text gets removed from the final document and they revise the dungeon to work for a single group. I imagine it has to be playable with just one table, otherwise those small stores (or stores with one table due to competition) wouldn't have been able to play.
It'd be a neat sidebar though, encouraging multiple playthroughs or running side groups.