Join the adventure in the free city of Taux! Written as a narrative piece to help incorporate game play into the shared world anthology series Tales of the Emerald Serpent, this adventure for semi-experienced characters will put you on the run from the most powerful and notorious family in Taux. Can the characters write their own story and join the legends of Black Gate with the help of iconic personas made famous in Tales of the Emerald Serpent and A Knight in the Silk Purse. This adventure is formatted to both 1E & 5E gaming rules. Also available in PDF.
Your party approaches a barrow at the base of the mountain. A raging storm brews overhead, and as you approach, a bolt of lightning strikes down on the peak of the mound, lighting up the world all around you. A thunderclap momentarily deafens you, and as your eyes adjust to the resuming grey of the dark day, you see a flicker of firelight emerging from the two gaping holes built into the side of the hill. You’ve found the pirates camping within the Barrow of the Raging Storm. As I delivered it to my players, the premise of this Midnight Sun adventure is that some pirates have been attacking ships returning from raids. They have been stealing the loot and the corpses of any slain Nords. Among their victims, a ship from Valthis returns to tell them that the pirates sailed upriver (to hex 506), where I placed the Barrow in my Shadowdark RPG campaign. The adventurers started from there and explored the dungeon thoroughly. The adventure was created using the tools described in the Shadowdark RPG core rules. I created it in about 6 hours between 2024-03-08 and 2024-03-09 and ran it for my group on the 9th. It took about 2.25 hours to play to completion. The party consisted of two level 1 characters and one level 2 character. I had so much fun making and running this that I will continue creating more Midnight Sun Adventures, so stay tuned!
Adventure awaits both AD&D & 5E D&D players looking to take on the challenges of a Steampunk style setting! Using Gary Gygax's notes from the original AD&D DMG under 'Sixguns & Sorcery' and incorperating them into the setting, this introductory gazetteer and adventure will give players the opportunity to use the Nameless Realms (Roslof Keep & Taux) as the backdrop in a later age, The Gun Kingdoms. Secure a ship, find a crew, and take on the xenophobic and apocalypic setting as you try to deliver a spy back to the government she stole from. Will your players become part of the 'greater good' of the new world government, or will they become its opposition, striving to help the dying race of the Enlightened? Only time will tell. This adventure is formatted to both 1E & 5E gaming rules.
Provost Faurious has procured an Aethervane, an astrolabe-like instrument tied to Kythri that's used to navigate manifest zones. Unfortunately for the Provost, the Riedran ship that was carrying the Aethervane across the Sea of Rage to deliver it to their agent in Regalport fell victim to piracy. The player characters are dispatched to Regalport to meet up with the Provost’s agent there and petition High Prince Rygar for more information about the stolen cargo. When the characters dock in Regalport, they meet the Provost’s contact and are ushered into a meeting with High Prince Rygar. Wishing to show his intolerance for piracy, Rygar charters one of his own ships for the party’s use as they investigate the stolen cargo. Upon arriving at the crash site of the stolen cargo, the party is set upon by a fleet of pirates known as the Wind Whisperers. When things turn sour, a new surprise reveals itself as an unnatural storm rolls in, a stolen airship at its heart. The Wind Whisperers have found a way to convert the Aethervane to serve their own purposes. Seeking aid from Rygar and House Lyrandar, the heroes chase after the pirates by sail and airship. As they do, they are bedeviled by the Chaos Fleet—strange ships sailed by an even stranger crew that are drawn to the Aethervane and the chaos it brings. In a final airborne confrontation, the party boards the rogue airship and retrieves the sought-after artifact, with a chance to salvage or sink the stolen vessel in the process…
Nestled on the coast of the Azure Sea is Saltmarsh, a sleepy fishing village that sits on the precipice of destruction. Smugglers guide their ships to hidden coves, willing to slit the throat of anyone foolhardy enough to cross their path. Cruel sahuagin gather beneath the waves, plotting to sweep away coastal cities. Drowned sailors stir to unnatural life, animated by dark magic and sent forth in search of revenge. The cult of a forbidden god extends its reach outward from a decaying port, hungry for fresh victims and willing recruits. While Saltmarsh slumbers, the evils that seek to plunder it grow stronger. Heroes must arise to keep the waves safe! Ghosts of Saltmarsh combines some of the most popular classic adventures from the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons including the classic ‘U’ series and some of the best nautical adventures from Dungeon magazine: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh Danger at Dunwater The Final Enemy Salvage Operation Isle of the Abbey Tammeraut’s Fate The Styes All adventures have been faithfully adapted to the fifth edition rules of Dungeons & Dragons. Furthermore, this book includes details on the port town of Saltmarsh, as well as plenty of hooks to kick-off each adventure. Play through each story in a seafaring campaign leading characters from level 1 through level 12, or pull out sections to place in ongoing campaigns in any setting. The appendices also cover mechanics for ship-to-ship combat, new magic items, monsters, and more! “The Saltmarsh series consistently ranks as one of the most popular classic D&D adventures,” said Mike Mearls, franchise creative director of D&D. “With its ties to ocean-based adventuring, it was an obvious step to augment it with additional sea-based adventures and a robust set of rules for managing a nautical campaign.” Hoist your sails, pull up anchor, and set a course for adventure!
Having won the Free Captains’ Regatta, the adventurers must now claim their prize—the uninhabited Island of Empty Eyes. Yet exploring strange ruins and fighting the isle’s monstrous denizens won’t be enough. Once they’ve got things well in hand, the adventurers must host a feast for the Shackles' infamous Pirate Council, only to have a dangerous situation turn even worse when a mysterious saboteur threatens to disrupt the party. Can the adventurers tame their island and protect their influential guests? Or will they lose the respect of the pirate lords and fade into obscurity? This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path includes: • “Island of Empty Eyes,” a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 9th level characters, by Neil Spicer. • Pirate legends and mysteries of the Shackles, by Jack Graham. • Details on the cyclopes who once ruled the Shackles, by Gareth Hanrahan. • Island harpies in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by Robin D. Laws. • Five new monsters, by Alex Greenshields, Michael Kenway, Mark Moreland, and Tork Shaw.
'Help wanted: Fearless crew to stop undead pirates. Pay bills before applying." The first thing you'll hear is dead silence. The party must hunt down a ghostship disrupting commerce in the trade port of Koll. At least, everyone thinks it's a ghostship, the party may discover otherwise.
The adventurers now have their own island and port, but they’ll need more than one ship to defend it. When a past rival sends a fleet to attack them, they’re forced to pull out all the stops to defend their island home, scouring the harbors and docks of the Shackles in order to recruit more ships and crews to their flag. Yet when they sail to the attacker’s own island to get their revenge, the adventurers discover a traitor—one whose betrayal threatens not only their own fleet, but the very islands of the Shackles themselves. This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path includes: • “The Price of Infamy,” a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 11th-level characters, by Tim Hitchcock. • Fleet battle rules that allow players to stand as admirals and commodores directing their own armadas against enemy fleets in large-scale naval warfare, by James Jacobs. • A glimpse behind the gray veil of Norgorber, Golarion’s most secretive deity, by Sean K Reynolds. • Lock-breakers and sea-devils in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by Robin D. Laws. • Four new monsters, by Savannah Broadway, Ryan Costello, Mark Moreland, and Sean K Reynolds.
The vile city of Scuttlecove is the home of murderers, thieves, demon whorshipers, peddlers of vice, and monsters. Here, anyone can find a place to hide, provided they can survive the terrors and dangers that infest the city streets. Scuttlecove is also the home of the Crimson Fleet, a notorious band of pirates who have long held the Vohoun Ocean as their private looting grounds. The time has come to take the fight to these legendary pirates, to confront them in their own depraved lair. "Serpents of Scuttlecove" is the eighth chapter in the Savage Tide 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 #344 of Dragon magazine features several additional locations the PCs might wish to visit during their stay in the city of Scuttlecove. The characters once again board the Sea Wyvern, this time to sail for Scuttlecove – a hideous city of pirates, slavers, cannibals, and worse – in search of clues to the final Savage Tide and the rescue of their patron. Pgs. 42-75 Also see Pgs. 76-85 for Backdrop: Scuttlecove City of Chaos.
The coastal village of Caer Garrion has mysteriously depopulated, and the only survivior, a lone prisoner in the local jail, has gone mad. What does this village's sinister fate portend for the Moonshae Isles?
A terrible thunderstorm batters a seaside port, yet thunder and lightning are nothing compared to what is about to be unleashed by the diabolic crew of the Rabid Dawn. Casters with access to control water, control weather, or control winds will prove especially valuable, as will characters with strong Swim skills. The adventure is best suited to a predominantly good or neutral aligned party of PC's. Strike on the Rabid Dawn takes place in the port city of Hardby (Dungeon #109). As most of the action takes place within a lighthouse and on a ship at sea, however, any suitable port from your campaign makes an appropriate substitution for Hardby. Pgs. 12-32
The time has come for the heroes to take their places as true pirate lords. But doing so will require more than a ship, a scallywag crew, and a hold full of plunder—they’ll need to win the esteem of the Hurricane King himself. If they succeed, they’ll earn the right to claim even greater glory by participating in the Free Captains’ Regatta, a grueling race along the fringes of the mighty hurricane called the Eye of Abendego. The winners receive a fat prize purse, their own private island, and a seat on the Pirate Council of the Shackles. Will the adventurers triumph against fierce competitors, old rivals, and the treacherous winds and currents of the Eye? Or will their ship be claimed by the storm, a doom that’s befallen so many before them? This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path includes: • “Tempest Rising,” a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 7th-level characters, by Matthew Goodall. • Details on the infamous pirate lords of the Shackles and new rules for storms at sea, by Tork Shaw. • A gazetteer of the infamous pirate city of Port Peril, by Liz Courts. • Ghosts and cylcopes in the Pathfinder’s Journal, by Robin D. Laws. • Five new monsters, by Jesse Benner, Ryan Costello, Philip Minchin, and Tork Shaw.
The colony of Farshore has survived on its own for years, a secluded and struggling hamlet perched on the western shore of the tiny island of Temute. An island dwarfed by the savage landscape across the narrow channel to the north, a landscape of rugged mountains, tangled jungles, and trackless swamps. This is the Isle of Dread, and its resources and hidden treasures are matched only by its peril. Yet for all these dangers, what may bring doom to Farshore is not an invasion of inhuman monsters from the mainland, but an invasion of all-too-human monsters from across the sea. "Tides of Dread" is the fifth 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 #352 of Dragon magazine features rumors of Farshore, a helpful list of improvements the PCs can make to the colony, and other features to help get PCs oriented in their new home on the Isle of Dread. The destruction of a pirate ship signals the beginning of a Crimson Fleet invasion. The PCs must race against time to prepare for the onslaught before an old enemy can release another savage tide. Pgs. 28-59 Also see Pgs. 60-71 Backdrop: Farshore City of Hope.
Once every decade, the tides of the Empyrean Ocean recede far enough to reveal the highest eaves of a mysterious undersea tower. Long ago this was an eldritch fastness of Sezrekan the Elder, the most wicked wizard ever to plague the Known World, but now the tower is known simply as the final resting place of the fabled Black Pearl – an artifact rumored to bring doom upon all who dare to posses it. Tonight the moon nearly fills the sky, and the tides have already begun to recede. Adventurers have eight short hours to explore the tower before the dark waters return. The fabled Black Pearl will be theirs for the taking…if they can survive the Pearl’s curse.
In this adventure, the coastal village of Fair Haven needs the characters’ help. For decades, Fair Haven has relied upon its lighthouse to guide merchant vessels into port. But on a recent stormy night, the lighthouse suddenly failed. The trading ship Nymph’s Kiss was dashed on the rocks, and smugglers have already raided the wreck. Somebody has to restore the lighthouse, but the locals are afraid to go near because it shows all the signs of being haunted. Yet there might be more to the story, since there’s something living in the sea caves below…
Chapter 1 - When a relative of someone close to the characters goes missing from a nearby village, the players are asked to investigate. The party has to recover stolen goods from a thief before setting out from the City of Ravens Bluff. They travel through the wilds of Vesperin in search of the missing person, finding trouble and helping locals along the way. Chapter 2 - As the journey continues, the party arrives in a small hamlet suffering from a strange blight. The players will need to investigate the situation and choose sides in a longstanding feud between the mayor and a local magic user. Chapter 3 - After clearing a tribe of violent orcs from a nearby mountain pass to protect the residents of a town, the party will have to enter the lair of a long-dead dragon to rescue their quarry from a band of goblinoid slavers, where they discover an entrance into a dwarven city, lost and forgotten centuries ago. Chapter 4 - The party will have to traverse the ruins of the dwarven city, avoiding hazards and battling the horrors that lurk there, to uncover the identity of the slaver's leader. A discovery that will lead them through a treacherous forest to the city of Tsurlagol in search of a pirate ship called the Star Carver, and its drow captain, The Viper's Kiss. Along the way, they meet an unlikely ally. Chapter 5 - Once they arrive in Tsurlagol, the players will have to choose between gaining the assistance of the city council to fight the pirates head on, or making a deal with the Viper's Kiss, herself. The path they choose will either lead to an epic battle on the Sea of Fallen Stars, or into the deadly sewers and tunnels beneath the city to face an enclave of wererats, undead, and a tribe of mad, kraken-worshipping kuo-toa, in search of a fabled relic. The Laughing Horde of Ruin, Part 1 is the first module of an original 5e adventure campaign. It is designed for character level 1-5, and uses material from the Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, and Volo's Guide.
Mystery in the Moonsea! Disappearing shipments, missing alchemists—and proven musical acts whose rehearsals sound terrible! Instead of showing off Thentia to potential trading partners and giving the locals something to celebrate, the pall over this year’s Magic and Gold Festival threatens to drive business to Melvaunt and give the locals a reason to riot. Combat optional but possible. Role-playing opportunities abound.
Traveling the space lanes is risky and mysterious, and danger comes in many forms. The rescue of a tiny ship from pirate attackers leads to the discovery of a monumental, supernatural evil. Nothing is ever routine in space. Crystal Spheres takes player characters through four unique crystal spheres to battle a powerful force of darkness. Player Characters will find themselves fighting not just for their lives, but the fate of an entire solar system and its millions of inhabitants. TSR 9299
Though small, Seawell is a prosperous trading town with a good location on the coast. Next to it is a long peninsula that features mostly swamplike terrain. The inhabitants of this peninsula include tribes of lizardfolk, plus several kinds of reptiles and amphibians. Most of these creatures don't bother the town, and Seawell's militia is experienced at repulsing raids by the more aggressive lizardfolk. A large reef extends the entire length of the peninsula on the side away from Seawell. This great wall of coral is a favorite site for fishermen, but it has always presented a serious hazard to ships approaching from that direction. Thus, about 45 years ago, the people of Seawell built a lighthouse on a small promontory near the reef, about 200 yards from the shoreline. Operated by a family that lived inside it, this lighthouse ensured that ships could easily steer clear of the reef. A few weeks ago, ships stopped arriving from that direction. Three ships are now overdue, and the people of Seawell have begun to suspect foul play. Thus far, however, they have not been able to investigate because of increased raiding by the lizardfolk. Something has stirred them up, and the town militia has been too busy repulsing raids to mount an expedition to the reef. Wreck Ashore is a short D&D adventure for four 1st level player characters (PCs). The scenario takes place on and around a swampy peninsula that juts out from a longer stretch of coastline. Along one side of this peninsula stretches a dangerous reef. Just offshore on the reef side stands a lighthouse built to warn ships of the danger. At the base of the peninsula on the side away from the reef is a small port town called Seawell.
This adventure works best after going through the original trilogy (Death, Terror, and Madness in Freeport). After exposing the madness and corruption of the previous Sea Lord, a succession crisis is upon Freeport. There are no heirs to the seat of power, leading the Captains' Council to overturn the Law of Succession. But opening up succession plunges the city into chaos as various factions vy for the title. The PCs will need to survive riots and secret plots to make sure the right man (or woman) ends up with the job.