Under raging storm clouds, the vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich stands silhouetted against the ancient walls of Castle Ravenloft. Rumbling thunder pounds the castle spires. The wind’s howling increases as he turns his gaze down toward the village of Barovia. A lightning flash rips through the darkness, but Strahd is gone. Only the howling of the wind fills the midnight air. The master of Castle Ravenloft is having guests for dinner—and you are invited. Spans levels 1-10.
The PCs are singled out by happenstance as prophesied heroes who will find and return a great wizard to his family. Once brought back to the the family chateau, they are brought on as paid companions and free to explore the location as they wish. This is a large sandbox style adventure with several plots going on, including assassination, a wedding, false accusations of murder, and many machinations of the nobles to solidify or gain power. Whole this is going on the PCs are dropped into dream sequences where they learn more about the missing wizard and learn how and where to find and free him
Hezzrack the imp escaped a prison of stone only by entering a prison of words. His only chance now is for a helpful group of adventurers to rescue him from certain servitude as a goblin adept's familiar. When his wizardly master's tower collapsed ages ago, the imp Hezzrack found himself trapped in the basement for a long, long time. After spending many years playing chess with himself and arranging macabre passion plays with the animated skeletons that survived the collapse, he finally found a way to escape. Unfortunately, that escape required signing a contract with a particularly unpleasant goblin adept; Hezzrack had managed to escape his prison of stone by leaping into a prison of servitude. If only a group of adventurers were to come along and take care of the goblin and release him completely! Pgs. 18-28
For the past 5 years this elven village has been plagued by undead creatures of the nearby swampland. The undead are consisted of unlucky elf villagers or travelers who were foolish enough to walk through the swampland. It is unknown how the undead appeared in the swampland in the first place, but it is rumored that a demonic entity has found shelter in a cave inside the dark forest next to the swampland and it is being worshipped by necromancer cultists. This adventure is for parties no larger than 5 characters and no higher than level 5.
Zhentish soldiers, Maerimydran drow, and Sharran cultists have forged a dark alliance to subjugate the peaceful land of Shadowdale. Elminster's tower lies in ruins, Lord Amcathra governs at the sufferance of the dale's conquerors, and the very Weave of magic in this embattled land seems to fray with each passing day. The Zhentish yoke lies heavy over Shadowdale—but the Dalesfolk are ready to fight for their freedom, if only they can find true heroes to lead the way!
A new megadungeon from Three Castles Award Winner (2018) and Barrowmaze author Dr. Greg Gillespie! HighFell: The Drifting Dungeon is a 246-page classic megadungeon for use with any old school fantasy role-playing games/clone. The pages of HighFell are crammed full with new material, maps, and art, including a colour cover by Ex-TSR artist Erol Otus (that matches Barrowmaze Complete and The Forbidden Caverns of Archaia as sister-books). HighFell: The Drifting Dungeon will keep your players on their toes and your campaign going strong for years. HighFell is brought to you by the Old School Renaissance (so don’t forget your 10’ pole).
Base of Operations is a short adventure intended for four 5th-level characters. DMs can easily modify the adventure to suit higher- or lower-level adventurers, or larger or smaller parties of adventurers. Simply adding a few monsters to every encounter area makes the adventure more challenging for larger parties, and adding levels to any of the humanoids can make them more of a threat to high-level groups. For low-level adventurers, make the relationship between the two factions within Brightstone Keep more strained, and take away a few monsters from each group. You can remove levels from some of the humanoids in the adventure to make it a lower-level challenge, but it is important that the orc cleric (described in encounter area 8) still have the ability to animate the dead. Still, he can have fewer minions around him when encountered, and that makes him less of a challenge for a lowlevel party.
The Dungeon of Graves, is nothing more and nothing less than a good, old–fashioned, First Edition dungeon crawl updated for the 5th Edition Roleplaying Game. Very difficult, it should strike fear into the hearts of the most stalwart adventurers. It offers an abundance of traps, tricks, and monsters. We hope that you find this module as fun and exciting as those thousands of players who have ventured into (and not as often out of) the endless caverns and mazes of Rappan Athuk—The Dungeon of Graves. Rappan Athuk is a difficult dungeon. Even the upper dungeon levels should not be attempted by a party of less than six mid-level characters.
It all begins with a simple request (doesn’t it always?) from an old farmer. The request – protect his cattle herd from vicious wolves. Simple enough for the brave adventurers, right? But it doesn’t stay that way. Not at all. Soon, the adventuring party will find themselves in the thick of it as they solve puzzles, avoid traps, fight for their lives, and endure witty taunting. And in the end, they discover an artifact that may, or may not, be useful to them. This adventure includes a cursed shield, a new undead creature, and a new artifact. Total party experience earned is approximately 14,500.
The deserts of Osirion—land of pharaohs and ancient tombs—hide not just untold wonders, but also unspeakable dangers. When the vast sand dunes part to reveal the ancient pyramid of the legendary Pharaoh of Sphinxes, glory seekers from across many nations race toward it, each fighting to be the first to claim its wonders. But the storied pharaoh doesn't rest quietly within this monument, and his tomb was designed to slaughter any who would dare trespass.
A 12-page adventure for OSE CONTAIN THE UNDEAD! Between jagged peaks hides a small dagger shaped temple. Inside live the followers of Polsin, half-elf god of vengeance. They spend their days plotting and obsessing over those that wronged them, but at night they tend their great cemetery. A few weeks ago a new adept stole the cemetery key and opened Polsin's tomb to steal his dagger. He died in the attempt, but now the graveyard's denizens have risen from the dead and treathen the outside world. Take the dagger! Face the tomb's defences and retrieve the lost dagger of Polsin, a legendary weapon capable of defeating any kind of undead and bring peace to the cemetery. Polsin's Dagger is a low level Old School Essentials adventure for a party of 1-4 players. Perfect for a one shot or a random encounter in an hex crawl.
Pursued by wolves and worse, the party must fight a running battle to take refuge at the relative safety of the Bittermoon Inn, a decrepit old inn high in the mountains. But night is falling, can they uncover the secrets of the inn and use them to survive the night? This adventure can be played as a stand alone one-shot, or can be used as a drop-in side quest to almost any campaign. It is suitable for a party of about 5 characters at the First Tier (Levels 1-4). The players must fight a running battle with wolves to reach Bittermoon, then they must discover the secrets of the inn before escaping through a smuggler's tunnel. Finally they must face off against their unseen opponent at Skull Cavern. There are four encounter maps included with this title.
"At midnight everyone will die..." Azalin the lich lord is launching another diabolical plan. He has allied himself with the entity known as Death, and together they plan to raze the domain of Darkon. From the ashes of the once-mighty land will rise a new domain - Necropolis, the land of the dead! For the citizens of Darkon, death has been an everyday companion, and sometimes a yearned-for end to suffering. However, now the cold comfort of the grave is forever denied these good men and women as they find themselves walking the land after their breath has left them. Heroes have always considered the undead to be mere monsters, legions of mindless evil to be slain with no second thought. Now the heroes will learn the agony of actually being one of the living dead. They become monsters, and the entire world becomes their enemy. Death Triumphant: A 64-page adventure that puts the heroes in the middle of Lord Azalin's ultimate scheme to escape from Ravenloft. Death Triumphant can be played as a stand-alone adventure or as the final chapter in the Grim Harvest series. Part of TSR 1146 Requiem - The Grim Harvest
An Early-Level Adventure Game Module Suitable For The Osric Rpg System Or Any Other 1e Compatible System. A Shaft Has Been Discovered Below The Old Watchtower Outside Of Town. Worse Yet, A Boy Has Fallen Into It! Your Party Must Race Against Time To Save The Boy And Sift Through The Remains Of The Watchtower On The Hill!
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.
In the eastern desert stands the ancient tomb of Solomon III. Like all tombs, it is full of magical treasure and crawling with deadly creatures. But unlike other tombs, this one is screaming. Years ago, soldiers and wizards went in to silence the screams, and they succeeded, but they never returned. Now Solomon’s tomb is once again screaming out across the dunes, and no one knows why. Solomon’s treasure is still down there, but then, so is whatever is screaming. ADVENTURE TYPE: Small Linear Dungeon DESIGN NOTES: This adventure is intended for characters levels 5 to 7. It includes a desert wilderness area, an oasis, the tomb exterior, the tomb interior, and a cave system below the tomb to explore. Each area contains various NPCs, new monsters, old traps, shiny treasures, and strange magical items. There are many opportunities for (deadly) combat, and a few of them may be inescapable, but it is possible for players to have complex interactions and to experience very different consequences, depending on their choices. INCLUDES: Story hooks, dialogue prompts, creature stat blocks, dungeon overview map, and full-sized battle maps of each dungeon room that can be printed and used right on the table. KEYWORDS: Tomb, ghuul, ghoul, skeleton, ooze, demon, devil, thief, wizard, desert, sabercat, oasis, spider, viper
Ragvala, also known as the "Coinmaker," is an ancient gold dragon who wishes to mend his broken friendship with his old adventuring buddy. Recently, there are rumors that his friend’s old magical instrument has resurfaced in the Quivering Forest. Unable to change shape anymore, the dragon needs the help of skilled adventurers who can join him on his quest.
People keep asking for "beginner" dungeons. Everyone can name "classic" dungeons - Tomb of Horrors, Barrier Peaks, Ravenloft, etc. - but in order for those adventures to make sense, there needs to be some sort of introduction. It's like all the adventures we have are Bach concertos. People keep writing amazing works of staggering genius, but someone needs to write a book on how to play the piano. I had the same questions, and since I couldn't find anything satisfactory, I decided to write the kind of dungeon I would have loved to find. I wanted to write the best basic OSR dungeon for beginners that I could, and I also wanted to show the design process. If you like this dungeon, please share it, tell people about it, print copies and leave them lying around local game stores, or email this post to friends who have "always wanted to try D&D but don't know where to start". The entire thing is and always will be free.
Who Disturbs the Slumber of the Forgotten King? Wolves prowl the graveyard of sleepy Kingsholm, and death lurks behind shadowed tombstones. Something has disturbed the sleepers in the mausoleum, and brave adventurers are needed to explore the catacombs beneath the graves and discover what evil stirs in the darkling depths. Part 1 of the Barrow of the Forgotten King series. Followed by the Sinister Spire.
A centuries old evil has been cultivating an environmental disaster deep under the earth, waiting for the time when it will be unleashed on the world. A new mine has been created above and has broken the seal. The owner of the mine has lost contact with their foreman and shipments have stopped, and it’s up to an inexperienced but eager group of adventurers to investigate. This adventure is designed to present a challenge for a group of four veteran players using first level characters. While there are opportunities for roleplay scattered throughout, this adventure is heavy on the exploration and combat pillars of fifth edition. Death is a real and ever-present threat as they investigate the mine and the dangers below. Success and survival should bring them to the third level, and they may have found some treasure well worth the effort. So much so that they may become targets themselves from unscrupulous and more experienced NPCs. Written to be a seed for a larger campaign in any high fantasy setting, the outcome of this adventure could have world-changing consequences. It introduces a new and growing threat that, given enough encouragement, greed, time and apathy, could consume the world and beyond.