The ancient world of Harth withers beneath its dying sun…but it’s not dead yet. Welcome to the strange and dangerous city of Carcassay, huddled below the skeleton of a titan rat, sprawling above the ruins of countless dead civilizations. This is where folk come to find wealth, power, revenge, secrets, oblivion… and everything in between. Carcassay is a sandbox city adventure. There are many locations to explore in, around, and under the city. Players can explore any place at any time, and may radically reshape the city’s politics, economy, religions, and physical existence. There are standard dungeons stacked under the city, and GMs are encouraged to keep adding more dungeons… all the way down. Tone. It leans more toward low fantasy or sword-and-sorcery. Most shops look like real shops. Most people look like real people. But strange and horrible things lurk everywhere as soon as you start to scratch the surface. This is my Lankhmar. Carcassay is a vast, bizarre city. It has over 100 locations where you can meet Chaos cultists, Lawful knights, retired adventurers, shopkeepers, brewers, musicians, artists, scientists, hermits, royalty, beggars, doctors, space vampires, eldritch horrors, machine priests, crab colonists, mushroom farmers, mummies, assassins, and diplomats from distant lands… and the moon. And every one of them has goods or services to sell, and a quest (or three) to offer. What sort of quests? Fetch a relic, assassinate a rival, find a relative, steal a soul, implant an agent, cure a disease, stop a riot, solve a murder that hasn’t happened yet, hunt a thief, locate a shrine… the list goes on. And for every Quest, there is a specific Reward: money, weapons, relics, Chaos mutations, exclusive memberships, information, Angelic miracles… the list goes on. This is a place where you can make a lot of money, but also where you can spend that money on interesting goods and services. Factions? We have a few. Seven Chaos cults, five knightly orders, two mercenary companies, four wealthy families, six (seven!) Corpse Lords, foreign diplomats, rival innkeepers, rival tavern owners, plus all the dungeon-delving gangs currently mucking about underground. When you grow weary of all the adventures at ground level, there are three classic dungeons buried under the city to explore. This book contains months (if not years) of campaigning. Enjoy the Chaos.
The ruined Thorp of Rhu once produced honey, apples, hard cider, and mead. Villagers now stay away as they believe Rhu is cursed. Years ago a witch, Katla, was cheated from a reward promised for chasing away an attacking giant. Furious, she waited for her chance at revenge. Over a year, Katla created many small sack dolls and gifted them to Rhu’s children. One night, each doll animated, killed the sleeping adults, and set the village on fire. Now Sorcha, the village elder, asks the PCs to go to Rhu to locate a lost dwarven friend, help a restless soul, and find out what really happened to Rhu long ago. These outsider sack doll spirits take great pleasure in tormenting and slaying weaker creatures. At Rhu, the PCs encounter murderous sack dolls, learn the villagers’ & dwarf’s fate, parlay with spirits, and clash with Bloody Tears, the witch’s minion & spirit familiar. Published by Wicked Cool Games
When the mysterious Gauntlight, an eerie lighthouse located inland from Otari, glows with baleful light, the people of Otari suspect trouble. The town’s newest heroes must venture into the ruins around the lighthouse—and delve into the dungeon levels far beneath it—to discover the evil that Gauntlight holds. Hideous monsters, deadly traps, and mysterious ghosts await the heroes who dare to enter the sprawling megadungeon called the Abomination Vaults! Content Warning: Does contain themes of suicide.
The village of Sacrabad is a wretched place. Dark rumors abound concerning its steward, “His Lordship” Nim Sheog, who rules the place through terror and cruelty. Merchants who have passed through Sacrabad tell tale of how chaos thrives while the good folk wallow in misery. Nim’s guard are no more than a well-paid gang of thugs, hired to enforce his relentless and often bizarre laws and what’s worse, they seem to be in league with a nearby band of goblins, The Yellow Fang, who are often left to terrorize the villagers without reprisal. It is rumored that Nim keeps the rightful and lawful lord of Sacrabad locked away in the dungeons of the keep, the ominous Black Tower. An imposing structure that once afforded the village protection, the Black Tower has become a symbol of tyranny. But there is hope on the horizon. Hope in the form of a secret society who conspire to rescue the rightful lord and overthrow Nim and his guard. Can our heroes champion the cause? Tyranny of the Black Tower is a short (single session) adventure module. It is a classic “rescue operation” complete with a strong villain and espionage intrigue. It is an ideal one-shot adventure with room for expansion into an ongoing campaign. Bonus side-trek hooks and a bonus dungeon are included as a means to build up low-level parties. This module is setting-generic and can be dropped just about anywhere in the multiverse. Published by Verisimilitude Society Press
What Makes Heroes into Villains? Damien Anthilas has fallen from ally to adversary, but something desperate in him has struck a chord with you. Why would he risk everything to steal the memories of the citizens of Anduria? Left with only a cryptic clue, the characters seek answers from the burned out remnants of his former home. Anthilas Manor is a place of dark magic and even darker history, where the ghosts of the past hold sway and the influence of the mad god is still felt to this day
Deep beneath the Isle of Dread, in a place forgotten by the world of light, an ancient, unfathomable evil festers. Within the desiccated ruin known as Golsimorga, the debased kopru servants of Demogorgon work foul rites, steeping immature shadow pearls in pits of liquid insanity. None from the world above have yet fathomed what terrors lurk beneath the Isle of Dread, nor what mad scheme roils to profane life deep within the city's gangrenous corpse. "The Lightless Depths" is the sixth chapter of the Savage Tides Adventure Path, a complete campaign consisting of 12 adventures appearing in Dungeon magazine. For additional aid in running this campaign, check out Dragon magazine's monthly "Savage Tidings" articles, a series that helps players and DMs prepare for and expand upon the campaign. Issue #353 of Dragon features ways to improve the PCs' vessel, the Sea Wyvern, as they take their adventures back to the seas. When the PCs journey deep under the Isle of Dread to find the source of the shadow pearls, they discover horrors beyond imagining in a haunted underground city perched on sanity's razored edge. Pgs. 28-66
This exploration adventure is planned to be played by 4-5 level 4 characters. They will venture into the temple of Amaunator to cleanse it of corruption, give rest to its inhabitants and recover a precious lost artifact English and Spanish
Legends tell of a wizard so arrogant that he felt the entire sky was naught but a lens for him to view the stars. So great was the hubris and defiance of this man that the gods smote him with the power of storm and fire. Oh did the wizard laugh at such a pathetic gesture. He did not fear the gods, for he drew his knowledge from something greater. Something darker. The legend of this wizard grew, first whispered by men in fear, and later in awe. The wizard, they said, attacked the gods just as they had attacked him. And his joy only grew as the land around him died. But then there was no more news. No more talk. Something had finally brought the wizard low, for though the sky still blazed down on him and his abode, he no longer blazed back. And now you’re going to walk right through this wizard’s front door.
Far below the Fields of Petrichor is a vast cavern containing the skeletal remains of a long-dead Sonorous Titan, a whale-like beast that once floated through the skies of a lost age. Amongst the bones are ravines and grottos home to bizarre creatures and lost treasures that are as beautiful and valuable as they are deadly. Ghostly shapes swim through the air. Glowing mushroom groves hide frightened creatures. And the Titan’s bones sing sadly as an ambitious wizard and his weary hirelings dig for its precious marrow... ADVENTURE TYPE: Small Sandbox Dungeon DESIGN NOTES: This adventure is intended for characters levels 5 to 8. It includes several wilderness areas, a ruined village and a mining camp to explore. Each area contains various encounters and unique magical items.There are many opportunities for combat, but it is possible for players to explore most areas and complete many interactions without any combat at all, depending on their choices. INCLUDES: Story hooks, dialogue prompts, creature stat blocks, original creatures and treasures, and dungeon overview map. KEYWORDS: Grave, skeleton, ghost, undead, wizard, miner, puzzle, mushroom, myconid, hag, witch, social, curse, mutation, mutant, soul, insect, termite, scorpion, bat, monk, beetle, chicken
Far in the future, bards sing tales of kings and conquerors from ages past - but from your present. The Hero-Kings of legend are your player characters from your campaign, who even now shape the course of Cerilian history. More than simply an adventure collection, this 160-page book enables you, the Dungeon Master, to turn ordinary domain actions into oppurtunites for heroic exploits. Each of the eleven "legends" set forth here is based on a different random event from the BIRTHRIGHT Rulebook. Don't allow a mere die roll to decide the outcome of a blood challenge, rebellion, intrigue, or magical event - make the PCs forge their own destinies by confronting a madman who is "Blood Hungry," wresting the "Fang of Kriesha" from its evil wielder's grasp, thwarting a rival regent's "Double Dealing," and saving all of Cerilia from "The Gift of Azrai." These adventures are suitable for PCs of all levels and classes - wheter regents, scions, or commoners - and can take place wherever you campaign is set. This book also includes an appendix that offers advice for running different types of BIRTHRIGHT campaigns and creating your own adventures fit for a king. TSR 3125
The adventure takes players from a town devastated by an unexpected flood, through a drowned land where nature is turned upside down and desperate families cling to the roofs of their ruined homes, hiding from the monstrous products of a disordered world, through the strange tomb of an ancient race, to a profundal zone, hidden for millennia and now exposed, and finally to the Observatory itself, an eerie abandoned treasure palace, where they will encounter a pale and unexpected terror which will seek to claim their lives. The adventure is suitable for a lucky mid-range party, a stupid high-level party or an exceedingly clever low level party. It is difficult, with a meaningful possibility of character death. Should you find them, and defeat their guardians, the treasures of an ancient culture will be yours. At the final point of the Observatory is a glimpse of another world. Published by False Machine Publishing
The Haunted Hamlet and other hexes details four unique modular locations for your game. Made for old school essentials, but can easily be used with other old-school systems or even 5E. The four locations detailed in the zine focus on gameable content and being easy to use at the table. The locations are not connected to one another and can be sprinkled onto your campaign map however you like, or run as one shots. The PDF is graphic and art heavy and utilizes random tables and other tools to make it easier for GMs to run in a pinch. Details: 40 pages Single column text 8.5 x 5.5 aspect Black & White Bookmarks Four hex locations Random tables A rival NPC party A sky merchant A one page town Two hirelings
The Lantanese have lost their magical ship, but they aren't willing to fight for it. That's where your heroes come in. She's expecting you. A party of adventures has gone missing, and the inhabitants of a local town have been acting strangely it is up to the party to figure out what is going on and stop whatever force are at work on the towns people Pgs. 8-23 & 47
Under raging stormclouds, a lone figure stands silhouetted against the ancient walls of castle Ravenloft. Count Strahd von Zarovich stares down a sheer cliff at the village below. A cold, bitter wind spins dead leaves around him, billowing his cape in the darkness. Lightning splits the clouds overhead, casting stark white light across him. Strahd turns to the sky, revealing the angular muscles of his face and hands. He has a look of power - and of madness. His once-handsome face is contorted by a tragedy darker than the night itself. Rumbling thunder pounds the castle spires. The wind's howling increases as Strahd turns his gaze back to the village. Fas below, yet not beyond his keen eyesight, a party of adventurers has just entered his domain. Strahd's face forms a twisted smile as his dark plan unfolds. He knew they were coming, and he knows why they came, all according to his plan. He, the master of Ravenloft, will attend to them. Another lightning flash rips through the darkness, its thunder echoing through the castle's towers. But Strahd is gone. Only the howling of the wind - or perhaps a lone wolf - fills the midnight air. The master of Ravenloft is having guests for dinner. And you are invited. TSR 9075
Introduction No frills, here. No fancy charts and tables. No art to dazzle your eyes. Just a crawl; that happens to have a bit of a background, and a (group)death-dealing Bad Ass! waiting for the characters. How you run it is your business. What you delete, exchange out/in or modify is up to you. You can be as kind and patient with the players as you like, or let the chips fall (dice roll) where they may. You can allow pre-rolled characters, provide pre-gens yourself, or let the players bring their own, favorite character they have worked hard to get to the levels indicated; remind them, if the latter, that character-death is part of the game! I issue only the following comment: if run as it is laid out , it is nearly certain that at least one character, and as many as all of them, might die during the adventure.
A ruined monument to folly and ego, the Shadowed Keep stands atop an isolated bluff deep in a mist-wreathed forest. Sacked by marauding goblins decades ago the place was thought abandoned, but shadows now creep among the forest's great boles and footprints have appeared on the single, overgrown track leading to the keep. Travellers have begun to disappear with alarming regularity from the nearby road and the local folk fear some slumbering evil has claimed the ruin as its own. Dare you brave the terrors of the Shadowed Keep to crush that which lurks within or will darkness shroud the surrounding lands? Designed to be easily inserted into a GM's home campaign, Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands is an excellent starting locale to test the mettle of neophyte adventurers. Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands is designed for the medium advancement track. 1st-level PCs completing all the challenges of the place can expect to reach 3rd-level by the time they have exhausted all the keep has to offer.
"For untold eons, Eshebala ruled over Vulgarea, the 193rd Layer of the Abyss...content to revel in hedonism, corrupt the hearts of her dwindling followers and inflict petty cruelty. Yet, if there are days in the Abyss, there came one when she realized she despised her own province. She hated demonkind. She hated the Abyss. It had become unbearably tedious, spent...done. The burgeoning goddess decided she would dip her toe back into the lives of mortals, and quest to remember...to understand her own existence...But that was a lofty goal for a mind that had long ago begun to unravel. Instead...She is learning that all she has left is cruelty...and it was always cruelty that gave her power, so she now believes, to the woe of any who cross her path." Partly inspired by a scant notation by Carl Sargeant in 1992's TSR book Monster Mythology: "Eshebala is the foxwoman deity of vanity, charm, greed, and cunning. Her symbol is a female fox. Eshebala appears as a foxwoman, a shapely fur-covered female with a fox’s head, or as a beautiful young elf maiden. She is bedecked in rich clothing and jewels, and carries a silver mirror. Eshebala’s realm of Vulgarea can be found on the 193rd layer of the Abyss. She is wily and vain. She favors beautiful things and collects jewelry and art, the tackier and flashier the better. She prefers to overcome her opponents using subtlety rather than force, seducing and devouring out of boredom. She loves gossip, and always insists on being the center of attention. Eshebala is a patron of evil shapeshifters who use their wits and wiles before resorting to violence." Eshebala is a true chaotic evil demon goddess, behaving 100% true to form, and an extremely challenging opponent to take down for your players. An unforgettable 262 page jaunt for Levels: 15-17, with multiple possible modes of play, including Party Mode for up to 12 players. Profusely and paintstakingly illustrated over the course of several years by an award-winning professional illustrator. No stock illustration in this beast! A loving, dark & insanely detailed exploration of the 193rd Abyssal Plane An exuberant nod to the most grueling, deadly dungeons ever created Rich encounters that play out in a unique way each time 100 + NEW CREATURES 200 + NEW TREASURES (& possibly the most illustrated treasury ever provided) 82 BOOKS for PCs to discover 70 + NEW SPELLS & RITUALS, INCLUDING DETAILED OPTIONS FOR DEMON SUMMONING 50 + NEW TRAPS, HAZARDS & EFFECTS (guaranteed to run amuck) 4 RANDOM TREASURE TABLES, including a TABLE OF GEMSTONES that would be useful in any campaign 2 NEW CLASS SHIFTS: the Demonologist & the Exorcist!
Tall tales of hidden riches are common in the pirate-infested taverns of the Shackles, but when Captain Varossa Lanteri claims to know the location of the secret treasure hoard of legendary Captain Jemma Redclaw, it seems she may be telling the truth. Captain Lanteri hires the PCs on as crew to help her assemble the magic key that will open the door to Redclaw’s treasure... and the ancient cyclops stronghold in which it’s hidden! Can the PCs survive long enough to claim their share of the lost loot, or will their enemies—or their allies—send them to a watery grave?
For hundreds of years, Aknar Ratalla's tomb remained undisturbed, the Black Blade safely hidden within its vaults. Can a band of adventurers use the tomb's guardians and traps to keep it that way? Long ago, Aknar Ratella brought pain and desolation down upon the land. His reign of ruin was finally ended by an unlikely alliance of the forces of law: a band of devils and devas slew the warlord but were unable to destroy his dangerous weapons and relics. They chose instead to hide these potent artifacts of evil in a remote tomb, selecting a devil and a deva to stand guard over the tomb for the rest of time. For many centuries, the tomb stood unspoiled... but now, a new player has entered the scene. After infiltrating the tomb themselves, a band of adventurers must become its guardians and use its denizens and traps to prevent a monstrous gnoll chieftain from claiming the deadly artifacts hidden within for his own nefarious glory. Pgs. 58-80
"A well-written adventure through a mansion filled with dark secrets." The party is recruited by an innkeeper to recover a flower from a nearby mansion. He is an alchemist and he is running short on his supply of the Midnight Violet. Town rumors warn the party to stay away. But, that's unlikely given that your heros are mighty and brave. While exploring the mansion, the adventurers will learn the story of the family that once lived there and what caused their demise. That is...if they live that long. Two new creatures and one new magic item are introduced in this adventure.