Wizards of the Coast recently released their newest campaign module for D&D 5e, Quests from the Infinite Staircase. Long-time fans may recognize the names of the six adventures contained in the book.
Breaking It Down
Quests from the Infinite Staircase presents players with six classic adventures from the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Players can experience these D&D classics fully remastered to the current 5th edition, ready for modern players. The names of the remastered adventures are: The Lost City; When a Star Falls; Beyond the Crystal Cave; Pharaoh; The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth; and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. Each adventure from Quests from the Infinite Staircase exciting and interesting for a completely different reason.
- The Lost City: This adventure begins, somewhat unintuitively, with the party discovering the titular lost city. In many other adventures, this would be expected to be the climax rather than the setup, which is what makes it interesting.
- When A Star Falls:This one has players in pursuit of a fallen star, and is heavily tied up in the power of prophecy. Divination and similar powers are always difficult to handle, so even seasoned DMs may have something to learn from this adventure.
- Beyond the Crystal Cave: The first adventure published by TSR UK, this adventure broke the mold of the time by giving players non-combat means of resolving encounters. Later adventures such as The Wild Beyond the Witchlight owe much to this one.
- Pharaoh: Written by Tracy and Laura Hickman, this adventure sends the party to raid a pyramid, but with a twist: the ghost of the entombed pharaoh is the one beseeching the group.
- The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth: This adventure is the origin of Iggwilv, perhaps better known today as Tashsa, and takes players to the location where she wrote the Demonomicon, making this a landmark in D&D history.
- Expedition to the Barrier Peaks: If science fiction interests you, then you can’t miss this adventure. It features alien lifeforms and suitably high-tech items. Some people might be turned off by the introduction of futuristic technology to their games, but suspend your judgment and give it a look.
These six adventures that form the Quests from the Infinite Staircase campaign are designed to take players from 1st to 13th level. Most of these will cover two or three levels, but one of them (Beyond the Crystal Cave) covers only one. Quests from the Infinite Staircase has also been designed so that the adventures contained within it can be used separately, integrated into another campaign, as standalone adventures, or within the context of the grand campaign presented by the book. This means that it can be integrated into any home game, or played as a self-contained experience.
But I Only Play Homebrew
If you don’t play published adventures, that’s great! It definitely takes a tremendous amount of work to run a D&D game without someone doing the heavy lifting for you. However, there’s still material in Quests from the Infinite Staircase that could benefit you. More than thirty classic monsters are revamped and ready to be slotted into a game, along with a host of magical (and high-tech) items. Being a DM is often a thankless job, and you deserve to make your life a little easier.
Don’t forget one of the biggest advantages of published adventures like Quests from the Infinite Staircase: you can absolutely rip them off. Using story hooks, borrowing traps, or even lifting encounters wholesale for use in your homebrew D&D game are all part of the deal. Picking up the book doesn’t mean you have to run the adventures as written; the D&D police aren’t going to knock on your door. The beauty of products like Quests from the Infinite Staircase is that you can use as much or as little of them as works for you.
Final Thoughts
Quests from the Infinite Staircase was created in honor of the 50th anniversary of D&D. With such a plethora of adventures to choose from, narrowing the book down to six must have felt like an impossible task. Yet, looking over the list, it’s hard to imagine a better set to have updated. The framing device of the Infinite Staircase serves to connect otherwise disparate stories in a way that isn’t jarring or unnatural. Every fan of D&D owes it to themselves to pick up this modernized piece of history. Quests from the Infinite Staircase is available now in stores and on D&D Beyond.
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