Almost every Dungeons & Dragons adventure begins with the players stepping through a doorway. Sometimes it leads to a dragon’s lair to full of treasure and danger. Sometimes it leads to a king’s court full of intrigue and deception.
In Quests From The Infinite Staircase, the latest book for Fifth Edition from Wizards of the Coast, the book focuses on a space in between worlds where there are hundreds of doorways. Each one is connected by the titular staircase allowing those brave enough to go far beyond the places they know.
The staircase is guarded by a noble genie named Nafas. Sometimes he seeks heroes to take on quests while other times wanderers discover his domain by accident. By completing these quests, they can earn rewards they could never imagine.
Quests From The Infinite Staircase remasters six classic Dungeons & Dragons adventures for the current edition. They can be dropped into any campaign as curious one shots or form the backbone of a campaign hopping from world to world. They also give players a chance to see some of the more unusual modules from the early history of the game.
Each adventure kicks off with advice for the Dungeon Master on how to connect it to their campaign. This could be through a mission from Nafas, through some readily supplied plot hooks or as part of an established D&D world. The opening section also mentions when to level up players during the dungeon with each adventure generally being long enough to get players through two or three levels.
Other compilations of this style, like Tales From The Yawning Portal or Ghosts of Saltmarsh, focused on adventures that provided a classic experience full of exploraition and combat. The ones collected in this book have some unusual features. Many of them have multiple factions living in the dungeon, giving players a chance to find allies to help and rivals to challenge while working on the plot.
Highlights Of The Infinite Staircase
Each of the included adventures includes a small blurb about its historical significance and why the D&D team decided to update it. They are all worthy of the honor but I found three standouts in the collection that I really enjoyed. I look forward to adding them to my next campaign.
Pharoah switched up the usual dank dungeon for a dusty tomb full of mommies and other elements from the ancient world. It also features the Maze of Mists, one of the trickiest dungeon segments in the history of D&D. While this book doesn’t contain the other two adventures that make up the Desert of Desolaton trilogy, Dungeon Masters who enjoy this story should seek out the other two parts Oasis of the White Palm and Lost Tomb of Martek for a trilogy inspired by ancient Egypt.
Most dungeon adventures take their experience from adventure stories written by the likes of Tolkien and Howard. Beyond The Crystal Cave cites Willaim Shakespeare as an inspiration with star-crossed lovers that have escaped to the Feywild. It’s also an adventure that’s focused on investigation and diplomacy which is always great to see in an official Fifth Edition product.
The collection’s big finale is Expedition To The Barrier Peaks. This story injects some science fiction into the Dungeon Master’s fantasy world as players explore a crashed spacecraft and try to outwit the damaged computer in charge of it. It’s a great way to cap off a campaign, launch it into space or even just get some sufficiently advanaced technology indistinguishable from magic into the hands of players.
Quests From The Infinite Staircase releases on digital and in print on July 16th, 2024.
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