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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Parmandur

Book-Friend, he/him
So, if the the new version of the adventure included the whole ziggurat in the style originally intended, we would expect it to take characters from level 1 to 6. However, it is listed as 1-3 in this book.
Yeah, not sure exactly hoe it will go down. B3 had a map for the whole Ziggurat, just every Level was more sketchy in detail.
 



dead

Explorer
I wonder if there’ll be more details on where the starship from Expedition to the Barrier Peaks came from.

It could possibly be a Spelljammer in 5E cosmology as each world’s “space” is encased in a crystal sphere separated by the Astral Sea.
 

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
I wonder if there’ll be more details on where the starship from Expedition to the Barrier Peaks came from.

It could possibly be a Spelljammer in 5E cosmology as each world’s “space” is encased in a crystal sphere separated by the Astral Sea.
It's so different than spelljammers, I think it's safe to assume it's from an entirely different prime material plane.
 

dead

Explorer
It's so different than spelljammers, I think it's safe to assume it's from an entirely different prime material plane.
Oh yep, fair enough. A different prime material plane would be a different cosmology, too - one that's outside of the D&D Cosmology. I might keep the starship in the D&D Cosmology somehow.
 


Retreater

Legend
I'm puzzled how the levels will work out with these. Or what the connection will be between them.
They picked some good adventures - I just don't see how they'll work together.
Oh, and IMO Barrier Peaks is best as a one-shot. Those treasures will destroy an ongoing campaign.
 

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