To be honest I think this was the approach they were going for when they chose the name. But that tends to apply to most pre-written campaigns unless you fit them into a larger campaign. Obviously it needs a group who are up for an advenure of that type, rather than a RP-heavy open word type of game where they get to do whatever they like. The hook is that yu start the players at the entrance so they are already invested. This also avoids having to worry about 'plot hooks'. He can explain how they heard tale of the dungeon in question and start the tale with them literally at the entrance. They go to the bar and get chatting to Durnan, who then begins to recount the tale of a group of adventurers who went on an adventure to e.g. The 'campaign' would start with an NPC going into the Yawning Portal.
The players incarnates tavern-goers who are telling stories about the same group of heroes, and then play the heroes within those stories to see how the narrative goes.This is how I was planning to do it, if I end up running them. You could make it so that each adventure is a literal tale being told in the Yawning Portal.Īs in, something like the Canterburry's Tales. They don't need to be linked in any form then, because it would always be, hey tell the one about the Sunless Citadel! Or what about that time they went to find the Tomb of Horrors? but the Yawning Portal was there with all of its hooks and not a single one (maybe White Plume) was tied to the dungeons!Two ways you could get around it is that each adventure is a different creature narrating the tale of a famous adventuring company. What do you think of this idea? I know it may sound as a blasphemy to some experienced players. but the Yawning Portal was there with all of its hooks and not a single one (maybe White Plume) was tied to the dungeons!
Then he would grow curious of the PCs as they start coming back from the Portal once, twice!! Eventually he would become envious of the glory of the PCs, and he could even try to harm them somehow during their dimensional trips! Furthermore the inn would now be full of true NPCs, people coming here to follow the PCs in their deeds, or even trying to challenge or rob them! Durnan would initially ignore the party, it is just a group of dead men walking. Such a plot would give me a way to use the Inn in a fun way. The inn would become the final destination of hundreds of adventurers form many planes, exploiting the portal to get to the richest and most challenging dungeons of the multiverse in order to become the greatest adventurers of all times. The characters would find themselves with a little knowledge about the place, they would storm the dungeon and find the way back to the portal, coming back full of treasure and glory, as Durnan the barkeeper did twice. The only thing I could think of is how wasted was the wonderful story of the Yawning Portal (I am quite new to DnD so this was my first approach to all these traditional elements) inside the inn, and of the barkeeper as well.ĭo you think is an option to change the Yawning Portal into a portal leading directly into the dungeons?
I don't like this solution mostly because of the evident geographical distance of these places, I know they give suggestions on how to move the dungeons to your world, but the dungeons themselves clearly speak "different languages", so different that I find it repulsing to even try modifying the adventures into a more coherent group. Go to the dungeon - go back to the inn - hear of the next dungeon - go to the next dungeon.
The suggestions present in the book don't convince me. Ssssssso, has anybody found out how one could join all of those dungeons in a sufficiently realistic campaign?