D&D 5E Dead In Thay Gates, How Do They Actually Work?!

[O-Castitatis-Lilium]

Hello!

So, maybe it's just me being sick, maybe it's just the time it is right now, maybe I really am just that dense; but I can't for the absolute life of me figure out how these damned gates work! I have read and reread the section that explain it. I have watch videos that seem to make it more complicated, I have read "helpful guides" That seem to make things more complicated; and I'm at a loss here. I have read reddit posts, DnD beyond posts, other random board posts on it and...it just doesn't seem to want to make sense. Please, someone help me.

What I do understand:

• There are two types of gates: black gates and white gates.
• There are creatures that have these things called glyph keys that activate these gates.
• There are "Sections" and "Zones"

So I have MANY questions on this and I'm just trying to wrap my head around this.

1. What is the difference between the white gates within a section and white gates going into other sections?
2. Are there glyph keys for each portal?
3. How do I know which one holds a key for which portal? How do I know which one is a black key and a white key?
4. How do I know which gate connects to which other gate? Do they even connect?
5. What is the difference between a "Section" and a "Zone"? It seems like the entire book just uses zones and nothing else, like the writers completely forgot they had made a distinction.

I have tried so many times to try and wrap my head about this and I understand why the need for the security; but the explanation is just NOT good at all. I have the Tales From The Yawning Portal version (as it says this was printed before on it's own apparently) and I don't know if it's different from the original and maybe that's why it's not really well explained. I want to have this figured out before my party get here (as this is part of something bigger) and I'm just so lost. None of it makes any sense and it seems so redundant to have that many keys that seem to do everything, yet nothing at the same time. If someone could just...I don't know, help give me a better explanation to any of this. It just seems so convoluted like it was added just for complexity and nothing more; not even really related to the story or places it's connected to.

 

[MerricB]

The original version was released for Organised Play, and had up to four groups of players in the SAME dungeon at the same time. (And a co-ordinating DM allowing the players to talk to each other and interact in limited ways). Occasionally, monsters fleeing one group ran into another...

It was run over several weeks (10-12, IIRC), and for each week's session, each party would explore ONE of the zones.

So...
SECTORS are shown by the red lines on the DM map. Similar themes appear in all rooms in the sector.
ZONES are subsectors, and there are three per sector, as I remember.

What are the boundaries between zones? Those are the white gates - they appear as white rune circles in the corridors connecting rooms.

Looking at the top left of the map, the Abyssal Prisons, areas 1-3 are one zone, with white gates blocking access to neighbouring zones. Area 3 has the glyph key that allows passage through the white gates adjacent to areas 1-3. So you slowly gain access to more of the map.

Each glyph key allows you to move out of the zone you found it in.

Every Zone has one black gate. These are the goals of the players.

A black gate is in area #1.

Areas 4-7 is the second zone, and there is a black gate in the corner of area #7.

To get to the final encounter, you need to find and disrupt six of the black gates. Once you do, you can use a black gate to travel to the final encounter - the Phylactery Vault.

(In the original campaign, you needed to disrupt six times the number of groups - so if there were 3 groups playing the adventure, they had to disrupt collectively 18 gates, at which point all got together for the finale).

To disrupt a black gate, you just use a glyph key.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Cheers,
Merric

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Thanks, @merric - I'd wanted to help, but my memory is spotty. I ran that back when it came out, in what was it, 2012? Turns out, that's a LONG time ago!

@O-Castitatis-Lilium, just an FYI - you might want to remove the implied swear in the thread title before the mods have to ask you. This site is pretty clean, and they don't tend to like that sort of thing, even censored. I don't think anyone thinks it's a big deal, but it's better off just scrubbed out.

 

[O-Castitatis-Lilium]

The original version was released for Organised Play, and had up to four groups of players in the SAME dungeon at the same time. (And a co-ordinating DM allowing the players to talk to each other and interact in limited ways). Occasionally, monsters fleeing one group ran into another...

It was run over several weeks (10-12, IIRC), and for each week's session, each party would explore ONE of the zones.

So...
SECTORS are shown by the red lines on the DM map. Similar themes appear in all rooms in the sector.
ZONES are subsectors, and there are three per sector, as I remember.

What are the boundaries between zones? Those are the white gates - they appear as white rune circles in the corridors connecting rooms.

Looking at the top left of the map, the Abyssal Prisons, areas 1-3 are one zone, with white gates blocking access to neighbouring zones. Area 3 has the glyph key that allows passage through the white gates adjacent to areas 1-3. So you slowly gain access to more of the map.

Each glyph key allows you to move out of the zone you found it in.

Every Zone has one black gate. These are the goals of the players.

A black gate is in area #1.

Areas 4-7 is the second zone, and there is a black gate in the corner of area #7.

To get to the final encounter, you need to find and disrupt six of the black gates. Once you do, you can use a black gate to travel to the final encounter - the Phylactery Vault.

(In the original campaign, you needed to disrupt six times the number of groups - so if there were 3 groups playing the adventure, they had to disrupt collectively 18 gates, at which point all got together for the finale).

To disrupt a black gate, you just use a glyph key.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Cheers,
Merric

So...Let me run this by you, because...I THINK I get it. Going to use your example just so we are on the same page if I actually don't have it.

- The Abyssal Prisons is the SECTOR

- The Fiendish Arena, Temple of Chaos, Abyssal Gate, and Halls of Conditioning are ZONES

- The Vampire in The Fiendish Arena has a glyph key, which allows me to leave this zone either to room 4 or room 74. With this key I can also come back to this zone correct? If I want to leave...say room 4, or the Temple of Chaos, I need to get the key from the Succubus to go into either room 12, or into that weird hallway that goes to room 8 or off into room 16

- This glyph key can also be used to operate the black gates. If this is the case, how do I know which black gate goes to which other black gate, seeing as that black gates don't really connect to anything.

- Can I have just one glyph key do everything, or do I need to actually carry around all these keys? It says I can transfer over access to other keys, but this makes it more confusing to actually to it. How would you know which key you grabbed vs what key they didn't get yet if transfer over access to other keys. Now it says that there are vault keys, are those different somehow?

I already don't like that there are so many black gates in one area, I want them to be able to explore this place. So I might alter how many gates there actually are, but I want to make sure I have this down first before I go altering anything lol.

Thanks, @merric - I'd wanted to help, but my memory is spotty. I ran that back when it came out, in what was it, 2012? Turns out, that's a LONG time ago!

@O-Castitatis-Lilium, just an FYI - you might want to remove the implied swear in the thread title before the mods have to ask you. This site is pretty clean, and they don't tend to like that sort of thing, even censored. I don't think anyone thinks it's a big deal, but it's better off just scrubbed out.

Also I will, I was just super confuses and aggravated. I normally try not to swear because it's not very...becoming to say the least lol. I will change it. Thank you though.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I will, I was just super confuses and aggravated.

I getcha. I have been known to feel that way about Adventures missing what seems to be very... important information.

I normally try not to swear because it's not very...becoming to say the least lol. I will change it. Thank you though.

No worries. It doesn't personally bother me in the least, but I wanted to help you avoid any negative notice from the powers-that-be. I'm sure that they'd have been nice about it.

 

[O-Castitatis-Lilium]

I getcha. I have been known to feel that way about Adventures missing what seems to be very... important information.


No worries. It doesn't personally bother me in the least, but I wanted to help you avoid any negative notice from the powers-that-be. I'm sure that they'd have been nice about it.

Yeah, I think it would have made things just a little easier to explain it a little better. Like I said, it seems overtly complex for no particular reason. I think I'm going to turn in though, my medicine has kicked in thoroughly and I really don't want to confuse myself anymore, the drowsiness is hitting hard lol. Depending on how I feel tomorrow it might be chicken soup and light note-taking, or just chicken soup and sleep, whichever feels necessary lol.

 

[MerricB]

So...Let me run this by you, because...I THINK I get it. Going to use your example just so we are on the same page if I actually don't have it.

- This glyph key can also be used to operate the black gates. If this is the case, how do I know which black gate goes to which other black gate, seeing as that black gates don't really connect to anything.

You can use any black gate to teleport to the Gatehouse or any other black gate to which you have the matching glyph key. (So, you need the glyphkey to 1-3 to teleport to the black gate in area 1).

- Can I have just one glyph key do everything, or do I need to actually carry around all these keys? It says I can transfer over access to other keys, but this makes it more confusing to actually to it. How would you know which key you grabbed vs what key they didn't get yet if transfer over access to other keys. Now it says that there are vault keys, are those different somehow?

Each glyph key is initially keyed to the zone you find it in. You can give it additional attunements when you find other keys. So, say a key is areas 1-3, then you find the key to 4-7, you can then make each key attune to 1-7.

(There are special keys to get to the Temples of Extraction, but I haven't researched them yet.)

I already don't like that there are so many black gates in one area, I want them to be able to explore this place. So I might alter how many gates there actually are, but I want to make sure I have this down first before I go altering anything lol.

Yes, it's entirely because it's designed for four groups going through it. And because it was run in 1-2 hour weekly sessions, that's why it has the restrictive set-up. As an adventure for a single group... it struggles.

Cheers,
Merric

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I can tell you that as an Event, it was a decent time, but it wasn't as good as Vault of the Dracolich (which came first and shared the conceit of having four parties enter the same dungeon at the same time). Vault of the Dracolich is one of my all-time favorite Adventures, from the first time I ran it (as a Game Day Event, managing four DMs and four full parties of PCs) to the many times I've run it for single parties (or single groups of players playing multiple parties).

I'm running it right now, on Saturdays, at my FLGS, for what is my... seventh time.

I haven't run Dead in Thay a second time. Though it had a lead-up adventure, called Scourge of the Sword Coast, which I have also run four or five times (and is probably my 2nd favorite adventure).

 

[pukunui]

I haven't run Dead in Thay a second time. Though it had a lead-up adventure, called Scourge of the Sword Coast, which I have also run four or five times (and is probably my 2nd favorite adventure).

Scourge of the Sword Coast is one of my faves. The only real downside is that the climax to that adventure is the opening part of the original Dead in Thay adventure the bit that got left out of the redone version in the Yawning Portal book).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Not sure why Dead in Thay is in Yawning Portal, since it’s neither a classic nor particularly good.