Review: D&D yawn portal comes to life as a 3D tavern setting

Every great Dungeons & Dragons campaign begins in a tavern (except when it doesn’t). There is no more famous tavern in the entire fifth edition than The Yawning Portal Inn. In November 2020, Polygon announced that WizKids was bringing that tavern to life as a modular plastic kit, and last week they shipped the first unit off the assembly line to us. I’ve been playing with it for a few days and I’m a bit impressed.

This nearly $ 400 item is slightly different than what was originally shown to us on digital mockups, but it’s easily one of the most impressive and detailed terrain sets I’ve seen. It’s basically the GI Joe aircraft carrier for Dungeon Masters, something that could easily become the centerpiece of your ongoing home campaign.

The Yawning Portal has appeared in three recent books published by Wizards of the Coast. Tales from the yawning portal stars its owner, a mysterious retired adventurer named Durnan, and includes a revised edition of the famous Tomb of Horrors among his many disjointed adventures. Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, which we reviewed in 2018, actually starts inside the tavern and returns multiple times throughout the adventure. In the meantime, Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage use the famous watering hole as a singular center throughout the adventure. In it, players will time and again enter the Yawning Portal, a gateway to a multi-level deadly dungeon that lurks beneath the ancient city.

WizKid’s interpretation of that portal itself is pretty clever. It includes an illuminated infinity mirror which, once you switch off its highly reflective surface, remains extremely evocative on the table. But the real treasure here is the bar itself, which includes open and close cabinets, an abundance of translucent colored plastic bottles, and plenty of beer mugs.

I noticed that it’s not exactly what I was expecting, and that’s because the first mockups that were shown last year featured two additional stories made of cardboard towering above the ground floor. The final product only includes one story, but it is made of sturdy plastic, just like the rest of the set. I don’t really see this as a big problem, because the higher up the tabletop you stack things, the more risk you have of tipping something over. I will mainly use this set without the second story attached.

Everything that is included with the set is pre-painted, which means a multi-color base coat and simple shading. Out of the box, the workmanship is decent. Durnan looks stylish and all the colors match throughout. All components are well formed, no flashing or mold lines, neatly glued where needed, and decently painted. Seasoned painters can really elevate the look here with a few quick highlights or dry brush strokes.

An especially nice touch is the entire Yawning Portal brand, which is emblazoned on small plastic barrels, the bedding on the top floor, and woven into the leaded faux glass windows at the front. WizKids even included a small statue of Tymora for players to drop a coin for good luck on their way to Undermountain.

If you are looking to run Dragon Heist, which is a great little introductory campaign, you should know that this set can be easily reconfigured to replace Trollskull Manor. That’s another Waterdavian inn that player characters can acquire during the adventure. You may choose to pick up one or two additional sets of Witcher tiles to build the full three-story layout, or you can simply rearrange the floor tiles included with the Yawn Portal kit as needed and omit some walls and doors.

WizKids also offers expansion set with more tables, chairs and bartop sections to make the tavern of your dreams. It also has a set of thumbnails called the Friendly Faces Pack, seven characters that occupy a prominent place in Dragon Heist. That set even includes Volothamp “Volo” Geddarm, the main quest giver in that campaign and the fictional author of Volo Monster Guide.

There is no firm delivery window available at this time, but pre-orders are already open. The sets are expected to begin rolling out in the coming weeks and months as they arrive from overseas manufacturing.

Realms D&D Icons: The Yawning Portal Inn was revised with the final retail product provided by WizKids. Vox Media has affiliate associations. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased through affiliate links. You can find Additional information on Polygon’s ethics policy here.

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