Tales From the Yawning Portal (Dungeons & Dragons)

Absolutely gorgeous book, with very high production values; many of the illustrations and maps are new and re-interpretations of some of the classic adventure modules from the history of D&D from 1st edition, (Against the Giants) to 5th, (Dead in Thay). This book is undoubtedly a love letter from Wizards of the Coast to the original Greatest Hits of D&D, and deserves to be on the shelf of any gaming enthusiast.

This is a compilation of original AD&D modules from long ago. These were originally designed to be the most challenging, the most difficult, and the most rewarding modules of their day. Created to make even the most boastful adventurer humble, these were some of the most challenging crawls ever made. It is most excellent to see them all here in one collection again. They bring back many memories of fun times when tabletop paper and pencil gaming was the only game in town. For those of you unfamiliar with the original challenge modules that make up this collection, you are in for a treat. For those of you interested in DMing this set of adventures, just be kind to your players. the modules are hard enough; don't go making them ridiculously impossible. I'm looking at you, Kevin!

Just arrived today and I read through it. Like the modules, descriptions and artwork. Just two issues. 1. Really need bigger maps or the ability to download PDFs of the maps. 2. I knew it was not included but after reading through the first few and skimming the others it really feels like one of the included adventures should be the actual dungeon under the yawning portal.

Awesome book, poor condition. Even though I purchased a "new" book, I received one that has this nasty stained discoloration in the bottom right corner, and it's textured as if whatever was spilled on it dried. It runs from cover to cover through the whole book.

The good:
1. I love these adventures. It's great to have 7 reprinted in a nice shiny book.
The bad:
1. The maps are tiny and unusable
2. The stats for the monsters are not written with encounters (and most are not even in the book! only new monsters are in the appendix). You have to look up and either copy or mark the page in the monster manual. This makes these adventure a lot of work to prepare. At least some of the other new adventure modules had downloadable online stats supplement. I could have translated my own modules to 5E, and then I'd be able to read the maps.

I only recommend this if you can't get access to the original modules (which you can by online pdf) and then you can just buy the ones you want. If WOC produced a supplement with readable maps and monster stats I'd give this 4-5 stars (but really these things should be in the printed book). How much more would it really cost to make the book with all the stuff we need in it?

First off, it should not have been called "The Yawning Portal," since -- aside from a bit of fluff at the beginning -- it has nothing to do with that tavern or the awesome dungeon known as Undermountain. IMO, that is almost insulting.

Secondly, I really feel that these old modules were not properly updated for 5E. The Giant chapter, for instance, is for characters 11-16, but honestly I think that even 11th level characters would annihilate the giants quite easily if the players are remotely competent, & there is very little the DM can do about it. Tomb of Horrors also felt weak -- both as a player & as a DM -- & I was greatly disappointed to find out that the DM can basically choose nice, powerful items with which to gift the surviving players. I think, overall, that the entire book is disappointingly easy.

Thirdly, there are 2 T1 (1st-4th level) dungeons, 3 T2 (5th-10th level) dungeons, & 2 T3 (11th-16th level) dungeons. I really think they should have dropped one of the T2 dungeons in favor of a T4 (17th-20th level) dungeon, & I think that dungeon should have been "Queen of the Demonweb Pits." There just isn't enough content for that level range, whereas there is a boat-load of content for the lower levels. I also strongly feel that they simply dropped the ball by putting all three of the classic giant modules in one chapter. This isn't as much of an issue for "homebrew" campaigns that are probably the core of the 5E player base, but it's kind of irritating for those of us playing Adventurer's League -- not insurmountable, but a minor irritant, & one I feel was unnecessary.

The book itself is good, solid quality, with nice maps & some lovely artwork. There are a good number of monster stat blocks at the back of the book, & they included an interesting assortment of new magik items, although sadly most of them are cursed. Overall, it's not a bad book by any stretch, but IMO it's nowhere near as good as "Storm King's Thunder." Your mileage may vary, but in my local group this book has largely dropped way down our "popular" list, & I've had several players say they've no interest in it at all. If I'd done my homework on it a little better, I likely would not have bought it, because I'm not going to get anywhere near as much use out of it as I'd hoped.

Content and presentation is good, maps are too small to be effective and difficult to read - especially when in in the binding.

I do recommend this for anyone looking for adventures (or even a good read...)

And I recommend WotC come out with a companion map pack with larger reference and playable maps for Yawning Portal.

First off, it should not have been called "The Yawning Portal," since -- aside from a bit of fluff at the beginning -- it has nothing to do with that tavern or the awesome dungeon known as Undermountain. IMO, that is almost insulting.

Secondly, I really feel that these old modules were not properly updated for 5E. The Giant chapter, for instance, is for characters 11-16, but honestly I think that even 11th level characters would annihilate the giants quite easily if the players are remotely competent, & there is very little the DM can do about it. Tomb of Horrors also felt weak -- both as a player & as a DM -- & I was greatly disappointed to find out that the DM can basically choose nice, powerful items with which to gift the surviving players. I think, overall, that the entire book is disappointingly easy.

Thirdly, there are 2 T1 (1st-4th level) dungeons, 3 T2 (5th-10th level) dungeons, & 2 T3 (11th-16th level) dungeons. I really think they should have dropped one of the T2 dungeons in favor of a T4 (17th-20th level) dungeon, & I think that dungeon should have been "Queen of the Demonweb Pits." There just isn't enough content for that level range, whereas there is a boat-load of content for the lower levels. I also strongly feel that they simply dropped the ball by putting all three of the classic giant modules in one chapter. This isn't as much of an issue for "homebrew" campaigns that are probably the core of the 5E player base, but it's kind of irritating for those of us playing Adventurer's League -- not insurmountable, but a minor irritant, & one I feel was unnecessary.

The book itself is good, solid quality, with nice maps & some lovely artwork. There are a good number of monster stat blocks at the back of the book, & they included an interesting assortment of new magik items, although sadly most of them are cursed. Overall, it's not a bad book by any stretch, but IMO it's nowhere near as good as "Storm King's Thunder." Your mileage may vary, but in my local group this book has largely dropped way down our "popular" list, & I've had several players say they've no interest in it at all. If I'd done my homework on it a little better, I likely would not have bought it, because I'm not going to get anywhere near as much use out of it as I'd hoped.

Content and presentation is good, maps are too small to be effective and difficult to read - especially when in in the binding.

I do recommend this for anyone looking for adventures (or even a good read...)

And I recommend WotC come out with a companion map pack with larger reference and playable maps for Yawning Portal.

My group and I have found the standard campaigns to be a bit long. This book is going to be exactly what the doctor ordered. I just got it today and skimmed most and can clearly see most campaigns can be finished in one or two sessions.

It's not that longer campaigns are bad, but I have experienced in my group that once the new players get a handle on dynamics they want to jump into the DM seat and run their own campaign. This becomes difficult with the longer campaigns because you obviously can't change DM halfway through a campaign.

Def one of the best 5th edition books I have purchased. Hope they release more books with abridged campaigns because I can assume there is the same demand across the board that my group has.

Great job Wizards of the Coast. You really delivered the goods.

This pre-published campaign material is a must have for any 5th Edition Dungeon Master looking for great content, but be warned that this campaign is not a complete narrative but rather a supplement of different dungeons thrown into a single book. I bought TFTYP to run in tandem with another campaign, "Tyranny of Dragons", so I could replace encounters with dungeons and further flesh out my storyline. My players have enjoyed the break in pace and I've benefitted greatly from the material within.

I've given this material only 4 stars, however, because it's only as good as the party level at your table. If you're getting your hands on it and your players have already gotten past some of the recommended character levels, then you'll be left with running only a percentage of the entire book. I would have preferred that they release this compendium as separate encounter-style supplements that are appropriately priced. For what you're paying, you may end up spending more per session versus having a single campaign.

That being said, it is worth buying, if only for the ideas within. You can steal from this book and patch together various dungeon components into an ongoing campaign. It's rife with great maps and is formatted beautifully. I'd recommend any DM buy this if they're looking to entice their table with some well-tested content that's sure to create excitement in your story.

I've been playing through these chapters at the friendly local game store as part of the Adventure League series. That is not quite what this book was intended to do but it works fairly well for that. Each Chapter provides a remake of classic D&D dungeons--now available in 5e D&D. The stories really don't relate one to the next. So, it works well with the shops fluid take on Adventure League.

A better use of this book, is to probably work these chapters into longer, on-going campaigns, as sidequests but that would take more finagling of timing and narrative relation.

As old school, "you're a group in a tavern that needs to head off onto an adventure" this works well. Overall 5e is a nice streamlined game system that works well for new players. This jump in and go nature works well to provide some stories for new players to play while bringing back memories for more seasoned RPG veterans.

These dungeons are a fantastic addition to my home-brew campaign. I have made a few modifications to the story of the actual tavern, but the dungeons remain unchanged. My only complaint is that the map for the Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan encompasses two pages, and a small portion of the map is lost where the pages meet. Other than that, this is a spectacular tool for any DM who either wants to run his or her players through some classic dungeons updated for 5th edition, or who wants to be able to take a breather with the home-brew content and run his or her players through a pre-made dungeon.

I was very excited because the packaging looked great, no water damage or dents. I flipped though this book and the pages that didn't stick together looked great! Please check out the quality of this book via the pictures I uploaded.

Amazing book for the value. If you think about how much you and your friends would spend on 6 hours of entertainment every weekend for the next several months it would be quite expensive. This book has beautiful art, and a plethora of different types of dungeons. From a good old fashioned dungeon craw, to a TPK put the fear of god into your party, and even puzzle riddle use your mind more than your sword dungeon. This book has something for everyone. The only reason i give it 4 instead of 5 is i feel like they could have put in a little bit of extra effort to give at least one or two options of a overall narrative to link them all together into a cohesive story. So if you wanted to run this from lvl1-lvl15 you could do so with easy and have a end goal in mind. Other than that there is plenty of fun to be had, and a opportunity to break up a long/monotonous campaign, or as a side quest to buy you time to write farther ahead in your homebrew adventure. One of the best supplements to buy in my opinion.

Probably the last book I buy from WOTC, Their products have gotten steadily worse. The fact that you cannot get digital copies of the maps, especially Against the Giants just sucks. I would be great if WOTC would make an attempt to embrace the digital age.

The quantity of artwork is severely lacking, and what is in the book is uninspired and bland. These are not even new dungeons, so they could have reprinted the original art or updated it. I guess the cover should have given it away- the guy looks like he belongs in a Charles Dickens novel. Why is his coin smoking? Maybe the publisher wanted to have the look of a pipe or cigar but did not feel morally OK with that.