Review by C.J. Bunce
For the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons it’s been a quiet year compared to years of the 5th Edition where we had a half dozen new adventures. As we inch toward late summer and a new Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide, it makes it that much more exciting to finally get our hands on the retro adventure Quests from the Infinite Staircase.
It’s available for pre-order here at Amazon, and an alternate cover option is online here and at game shops, arriving later this month. Wizards of the Coast has assembled a true opportunity for players of every skill level and fans old and new to revisit classic journeys from the 1980s. It’s classic D&D, but remastered.
The book contains popular adventures from the first edition, which can be played individually or as a single campaign. There’s The Lost City from 1982, an introductory adventure for 1st-level characters, When a Star Falls, a UK adventure from 1984 for 4th-level characters, Beyond the Crystal Cave, a Shakespearean adventure from 1983 for 6th-level characters, Pharaoh, a Desert of Desolation puzzle dungeon adventure from 1982 for 7th-level characters, The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, a Gary Gygax creation, an expanded 1982 adventure for 9th-level characters, and Expeditions to the Barrier Peaks, a rare early science fiction adventure also by Gygax for 11th-level characters that was part of Metamorphosis Alpha. It seems like a lot of disparate ideas with little commonality, but that’s the appeal of the ever-changing, interconnected, wormhole-esque, Labyrinth and M.C. Escher staircase design.
Six new sci-fi technology tools are introduced, an antigravity belt, two types of new grenades, two new pistols, powered armor like an Iron Man suit, and a controller to manage a nearby robot. Creatures featured include an android, a froghemoth (like RuneScape’s guardian of Guthix), the beautiful Gardener, the memory web, Nafas, a variety of robots, wolf-in-sheep’s clothing, and Zargon the Returner. New magic items include a new lantern, longsword, and staff.
You won’t find any pull-out maps this round, but the book is heavy on maps and map room journeys.
The final adventure, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, is the ultimate sci-fi/horror mash-up, with detailed ship schematics–the design is very much the view of the future from the 1970s, like the art in the Bionic Crisis board game. It has elements that will conjure the vibe of Forbidden Planet, Doctor Who, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Alien.
Anyone who has been hoping for an Indiana Jones RPG or RPG of The Fifth Element will like the Pharoah adventure. All the adventures are brief compared to many of the modern 5E options, but there’s plenty here for your DM to use as a starting point, with many opportunities for expansion.
Quests from the Infinite Staircase is available for pre-order here at Amazon as well as an alternate cover option online here and at game shops, arriving July 16. It’s a great option for players wanting to revisit 1980s D&D unable to track down the originals, and fun for players looking for a mix of game settings.
