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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[BookBarbarian]

I really miss the old paperback adventure module format. I wish WoTC would have some staffers doing nothing but releasing old modules converted to 5e. Keeping the original art, too.

But, but, but why would you buy something like that when you can convert it yourself???

I kid, I kid. I can see why some would rather save their money and convert to 5e themselves, and why some would rather pay someone else to covert for them.

 

[pauldanieljohnson]

But, but, but why would you buy something like that when you can convert it yourself???

I kid, I kid. I can see why some would rather save their money and convert to 5e themselves, and why some would rather pay someone else to covert for them.

True. I've done conversions on several, including Against the Cult of the Reptile God and the Desert of Desolation series, but I find that my prep time is already long enough without needing the extra work.

 

[jagerfury]

I would like to see them update the following to 5e (and yes I know about DMs Guild):

Temple of Elemental Evil
Slavers Series
The rest of the adventures AFTER Against the Giants

The Slaver Series has a 5e conversion guide. A link to them and the rest of the 5e conversion guides for 1e modules found on the DM's Guild is here at Classic Modules Today.

 

[jagerfury]

I really miss the old paperback adventure module format. I wish WoTC would have some staffers doing nothing but releasing old modules converted to 5e. Keeping the original art, too.

Classic Modules Today is a website with a list of 5e conversion guides for 1e modules available at DM's Guild. They require the original module, but WotC is releasing these old school modules as POD products slowly but surely.
So you don't get the whole module redone in 5e, but the conversion guide does do the heavy lifting for you when you have the original module in hand.

 

[ddaley]

It's tough to please everyone with every release. However, I think I have purchased everything that WotC has released for 5e. I haven't used or even read it all yet... but I have it all.

The APs are great, but they seem to be too long for my group at the moment. We can't seem to play often enough for them to really follow the story (or for me to remember it well enough if we are only playing once a month).

Talk about a can't win for them.

WoTC: puts out new material
"This is crap! These APs suck. They sure don't make them like they used to. Those older adventures were great."
WoTC: releases updated, AL compatible versions of iconic adventures in one book
"This is crap! How lazy. What, they can't come out with new ideas?"

 

[ddaley]

I would like to see Isle of Dread (X1) and Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (S4). I am hoping that this is the beginning of more conversions to 5e.

Edit: As I mentioned previously, I would support kickstarters to fund these conversions too. That may help them gauge interest in various conversions too. Of course, I would probably back any conversion that they decided to do.

Extremely pleased to see this. While I could quibble about which "classics" I would have preferred to be included (like, how can you not include X1 and I1 if you include C1? They all taste great together!), it's a fine list of modules all in all.

Also, while some may find this a "lazy" release, I am waaaay lazier than WotC. Happy they did the work for me.

Plus, updated maps and monsters. I wonder how much re-writing/cleaning up of text will happen?

I wonder if there will be any effort to link the seven adventures? Will there be a common plot line/thread, such as the RoSP, as others have suggested? Fun.

 

[ddaley]

Now, if only Paizo would decide to convert some of their material to 5e! I don't foresee that happening, but that would definitely bring in some revenue for them. We never really got into Pathfinder (though we may try it again), and I would like to see Paizo continue to do well... but I would love to see some of their stuff available for 5e!

 

[Ilbranteloth]

Interesting thread.

Does Dead in Thay's inclusion do anything weird to the order of the Sundering fiction (if it does anything at all)?

Furthermore, might this model of repackaging older adventures be a clever way to "rehabilitate" a lot of 4E content back into the current "canon"? Maybe do the Herkenwold stuff for 5E and put it in the Realms?

Nothing at all. Although it follows Scourge of the Sword Coast and lists NPCs and a little of the lore, it is written as "a tribute to Tomb of Horrors, the Ruins of Undermountain and other killer dungeons."

Other than the opening scene, which includes those NPCs, and is only there to tie it into the story, the entire adventure is self-contained and really doesn't have to relate to anything in regards to time or location.

 

[Remathilis]

I would buy products like that. A mix of old and new riffing off the same themes. Or like with the Slave Lords compilation where they added a new low level adventure to kick things off. If they took I3-5 and gave us some new locations/adventures preceding and afterward (not necc entrenched in the main adventures but lead ins/complementary to, maybe a sandboxy gazetteer for the region). Also would work great with X4/5.

Or somethinng like new intro adventures leading to X1 then some other new adventures in the region/islands (could resurrect "the treasure of the hideous one" too) and then maybe ending with Isle of the Ape.

They tried a product like that already: they took a classic D&D module that was for levels 5-7 and added sandbox elements and expanded it to cover levels 1-10. It's called Curse of Strahd and I highly recommend it!

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[Ilbranteloth]

True. I've done conversions on several, including Against the Cult of the Reptile God and the Desert of Desolation series, but I find that my prep time is already long enough without needing the extra work.

Desert of Desolation is one of my favorite series. Just used parts of it again. Is your conversion on DMsGuild?