Ten years ago, zombies arose from the foamy sea to take vengeance against the inhabitants of Firewatch Island. Now, they have risen again, just in time to welcome the visiting player characters! Will your heroes manage to escape the island with their lives (to say nothing of their delicious brains)? The PCs have to clear the island and learn its secrets, then defend it against an undead attack and then travel to the bottom of the ocean to seal Dagon's Maw! Pgs. 19-50 Updated to 5th Edition in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Bandits have been preying on the caravan trade of late, and the number of burglaries and kidnappings is on the rise. Such events might not seem all that unusual, except for the bandits' calling card -- webbing! Can the PCs penetrate the bandit lair and slay the leader before any more locals vanish?
Remember the golden days of role-playing, when adventures were underground, NPCs were there to be killed, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragon on the 20th level? Well, those days are back. Dungeon Crawl Classics feature bloody combat, intriguing dungeons, and no NPCs who aren’t meant to be killed. Each adventure is 100% good, solid dungeon crawl, with the monsters you know, the traps you fear, and the secret doors you know must be there somewhere. In Idylls of the Rat King, goblin bandits are once again attacking the silver caravans, killing innocent miners and stealing cargo. The goblins have taken up residence in an abandoned mine northwest of Silverton. Someone must get rid of them. But this is no ordinary abandoned mine. It was deliberately barricaded generations ago when the Gannu family, founders of Silverton, discovered an unspeakable evil on its lowest levels. And these are no ordinary goblins, for the curse of the Gannu family courses through their veins…
A Deadly Curse is Spreading! Morrick Mansion and the surrounding vineyards were deserted years ago when a terrible curse twisted every living thing on the property into a mockery of its prior form. Once whispered about and avoided, fear now grips the land. The curse spreads and someone needs to stop it. Can you find its source and cure it forever, or will the very curse you are investigating touch you with madness? Hatred, Death, and Danger! Morrick Mansion challenges adventurers to battle strange, mutant creatures in an effort to solve a mystery and stop an insidious curse. Do your players dare enter the mysterious mansion and can they survive long enough to discover the source of the curse?
Long ago, a local priest created a warded graveyard on a remote hillside. As the years passed, it gained a reputation as a spot whose defenses were powerful enough to keep undead in and tomb robbers out. Adventurers began to bring the remains of any creatures they suspected might become restless in death to the Tomb Steppe for interment, and in time they also sought aid against such creatures from the friendly priest. After his death, a brief spate of undead activity commenced, then died away once again. As the years passed, the tales of undead activity in the Tomb Steppe faded into legend, and colonists began to move into the lands nearby. The town of Night Falls was founded a short distance from the graveyard, and it grew quickly into a thriving trade center and farming community. Realizing that the Tomb Steppe was safe enough during the day, the citizens began burying their dead there rather than building new crypts on pristine farmland. Because this method of interment was cheap and easy, people from many surrounding communities brought their dead to the town as well. The business of burial brought new prosperity to Night Falls, and a guild called the Funerary House sprang up to control the trade. But it seems that the threat from the Tomb Steppe has not entirely been laid to rest. The Great Mausoleum -- the largest and finest tomb in the steppe, has been unsealed, and an apparition has been seen within. Who will go to the Tomb Steppe by night and reseal the tomb? Lest Darkness Rise is a short adventure for four 7th-level characters. In keeping with the season, it has a stronger horror theme than most D&D adventures. This scenario can be used as the climax of a series of adventures featuring its secondary characters, or it can simply be a site-based adventure that the PCs stumble across at the right moment. The scenario is set in a semi-civilized area in the far north, far from cities and churches, where winters are harsh and summers never get very hot. These inhospitable conditions have resulted in a low humanoid population. The scenario need not be set in such a wilderness; a rural farming community far from cities works just as well. The only real requirement is that the area have few settlements. The action takes place in the small town of Night Falls and a nearby necropolis of tombs, mausoleums, and graves known as the Tomb Steppe. As always, feel free to adapt the material presented here as you see fit to make it work with your campaign.
Prince Zeech, the ruler of the town of Alhaster and lord of the domain of Redhand, is throwing a party. Bandits, slavers, pirates, and worse have been invited, along with a mysterious woman who holds the key to the coming apocalypse. "The Prince of Redhand" is the eighth installment of the Age of Worms Adventure Path, a complete campaign consisting of 12 adventures, several "Backdrop" articles to help Dungeon masters run the series, and a handful of poster maps of key locations. For additional aid in running this campaign, check out Dragon's monthly "Worm Food" articles, a series that provides additional materials to help players survive this campaign. Issue #340 of Dragon presents guidelines for what the PCs can do to dress to impress, and perhaps eke out a few precious bonuses on their Diplomacy checks. Pgs. 48-79
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 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 killer is stalking the warforged of Sharn. Some say the murderer is a vengeful spirit, while others blame human bigotry and fear. Can the adventurers expose the truth that lies hidden in the depths of Sharn? Steel Shadows is a D&D adventure suitable for four characters of 7th level. This adventure is set in the city of Sharn in the Eberron campaign setting. Since this is a mystery themed adventure, at least one of the characters should have the Investigate feat. The adventure includes a sidebar for scaling the adventure for lower and higher level characters.
An adventure for the Midnight campaign setting from Fantasy Flight Games. The adventurers make contact with the Baden's Bluff underground to investigate a pair of recent murders. This adventure emphasizes information gathering and deduction, rather than combat.
The isolated tower of the wizard Deros Frist is an example of a typical tsochari incursion into the human world. This short adventure site describes the lair of a tsochar noble that has successfully replaced Frist, a local wizard of some renown. The tsochar Yikk Tasst now pores through the wizard's libraries and spell books, eagerly absorbing all the arcane lore it can. Pgs. 130-134
Something's not right in the hamlet of Verdinica. Why do the locals wear such thick clothing, even in the midst of a heart and muggy summer? And what sort of "prisoners" could make the strange, sloshing noises that are heard some nights coming from the gaol? Pgs. 38-57
The PCs follow the trail of some particularly competent kobold thieves to the lair of a dragon cult deep in the swamp. There they discover efforts underway to grant sentience to the skeleton of a powerful red dragon once named Flame. Eventually the PCs determine that trouble has returned to the Western Mountains in the form of a band of fire giants ruled by a clone of the original red dragon named Flame.
To Kill A King Death to King Ovar the tyrant! Life to law and order! Four characters are charged with a mission so insane, so daring, that terming it an assassination does not do it justice. Are the four volunteers who would lay low King Ovar killers or heroes? If murderers, how are they better than the madman theyre assigned to kill? And even if they are mere assassins, are they determined enough to overcome the Maze of Zayene? Snared in the Wizards Web
What's happened to the Pearl Tower -- an ancient lighthouse built to warn ships away from a treacherous reef? Ships are disappearing, and the busy part of the trading season is just about to start. Could someone have taken over the lighthouse and wrecked the ships?
An adventure for the Midnight campaign setting from Fantasy Flight Games. The adventurers rise as Fell, intent on finishing their final mission.
Alhaster is in flames, choking on the poison mists of the Wormgod's first tentative breaths on the Material Plane. The Age of Worms has begun, and unless the PCs can kill a god, this new age will be dark indeed. "Dawn of a New Age" is the final installment of the Age of Worms Adventure Path, a complete campaign consisting of 12 adventures, several "Backdrop" articles to help Dungeon masters run the series, and a handful of poster maps of key locations. For additional aid in running this campaign, check out Dragon's monthly "Worm Food" articles, a series that provides additional materials to help players survive this campaign. Issue #334 of Dragon presents some advice on rules specific to the Age of Worms to aid players (and DMs) in making the transition beyond 20th level. Pgs. 52-86
Every seven years, the elven village of Mellorell hosts the Festival of Life, an opportunity to trade, shop, and celebrate with the folk of nearby lands. But a dark secret that could cost the life of fairgoers draws the heroes into a plot that leads all the way to Hades. The core of the adventure is a short thirteen room lair with grimlock guards, a basilisk pet and Malifustal the Night Hag, who guards a portal to Hades. Pgs. 12-33
In the town of Bellhold, it's not difficult to realize that something is wrong. Everyone is irritable and suffering from nightmares, children are missing, and the local adventuring company has been gone for a week. Yet the townsfolk's headaches are sure to pass, so the mayor is not especially worried. He should be. Of Sound Mind flings you into a maelstrom of trouble, for the situation is much, much worse than it first appears. Before your investigation is over, you will be dangling from cliffs, descending deep into a mountain's bowels, uncovering lost hoards of treasure, fleeing from people you thought were friends, and desperately trying to outwit an enemy that is far more than you could ever imagine. The fate of thousands hinges on your success or failure. Think your up for it? Published by Fiery Dragon
For centuries, the Great Swamp has hidden hints of an ancient culture of barbarian kings. While passing through this miserable bog, the PCs encounter Stygoth the Damned, a half-dead black dragon driven mad by a mysterious disease. Delving further, the heroes discover that the disease is tied to the very swamp itself. A great corruption once infested this place, destroying the savage barbarian kings and leaving only mighty statues as their legacy. Now this corruption has returned, and a terrible Witch Queen is mining the corrupted swamp-earth to produce evil, blighted artifacts. In order to stop the spread of these evil weapons, the heroes must enter the ancient caves of the savage kings, put to rest the corrupt legacy of their downfall, end the disease that scars the land, and then face off against the Witch Queen herself.