The drawback to it was that some of his buddies had bought the latest D&D edition, and all of my material was 3.0/3.5. Either I was going to teach them the ropes of material they did not possess, or I was going to jump to the latest edition. I ended up ordering the 5e books.

Fortunately, I was already tied the weekend they hoped to play, which gave me a little respite to get prepared. In under three weeks I had to read the new rules, select a scenario and get things rolling!

My choice ended up on adapting the Savage Tide arch published through Dungeons magazine 139 to 150 for its swashbuckling and tropical mood, culminating with an encounter against Demogorgon himself.

The first scenario’s tempo is split in two parts:

1. Getting involved. Lavinia Vanderboren hires the PCs to retrieve an heirloom signet ring that will open the family’s coffers.
2. The PCs get head-first in trouble with a local thieves’ guild supported by Lavinia’s brother.

Since it was the last arch written for Dungeon magazine before Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast ended the publishing deal, it also means that the scenarios follow the 3.5 ruleset, thus a need to convert to 5e.