Beyond the western mountains, the orcs generally kept to themselves. Over the years they built their civilization. They enriched themselves through magic and music, and followed a doctrine of peace and acceptance that was empowered by the dangerous mountain range on one side and the swirling seas on the other. Their quiet society was shattered when a djinni named Hasteth was summoned by their elder mages. Hasteth was a creature of pure evil and perverted the wishes that it granted. In time, the orcs were able to trap the djinni within an enchanted ceramic jar called the Annihilation Hold, but not before their entire way of life was torn asunder. Many centuries have gone by and the orcs are scattered to the wind, with few recalling their proud nation. The hidden complex containing the Annihilation Hold has been discovered. Tales of wealth and magic fill the rumors the adventurers overhear. Will your adventurers brave the hazards inside to claim the riches?
Rumors have been spreading in small towns and hamlets, regions isolated in the far reaches of the wilderness and cut off from major cities and trade routes. Rumors of strangeness in the forest, where the animals suddenly watch with intelligent eyes while the sound of a crone’s laughter pierces the veil of night. Rumors of young men and women disappearing without a trace in the wilderness. Rumors of a cottage that walks on enormous chicken legs. Rumors of Baba Yaga. Those rumors turn out to be true and the Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga has come once again to haunt, confuse, befuddle, and terrorize the far corners of the land. The Grandmother of Witches cackles in her flying mortar as she sails over the trees, a shadow in the darkness, but what does she want? Why has she come? And what strangeness awaits in her fantastic hut on dancing chicken legs? Brave heroes are needed to head out and find the answers to these questions and more! Welcome to the Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga, an adventure unlike any other. Baba Yaga, the Grandmother of Witches, has come to town, and her dangerous and mysterious Dancing Hut beckons adventurers to brave its wondrous depths. Open the doors, unlock the puzzles, and meet the famed witch, her adopted daughters, and a host of other strange characters. This module presents the Dancing Hut and its most famous owner, Baba Yaga, as an adventure site worthy of high-level exploration. You can use the module in many different ways, and the Adventures in the Hut section provides ways to entice characters to seek out Baba Yaga. In general, the adventure environments presented are designed to challenge a party of characters levels 11-16, but with some adjusting and focus on non-combat solutions, a party of lower-level characters could also explore the Dancing Hut.
Today's offering was our convention scenario for SkyCon 2018. The scenario was written for younger gamers with some combat challenges along with a lot of roleplaying opportunities. It is easy enough to drop into your own campaign for an entertaining little adventure.
Deicide is a campaign designed to begin with a party of four to six 1st-level characters, who should advance to 20th level by its conclusion. The Gods have abandoned Faerûn. Bringing loved ones back from the dead hasn’t been done in centuries, and communion with the deities is a spiritual exercise only. Holy warriors and messengers have lost their powers and have all but completely disappeared. In this bleak world, wars are frequent, crime runs rampant, and hope has faded. Rumours are abound of a mysterious crime lord taking control of the underworld. Monsters roam the lands and every road is increasingly more dangerous. Without guidance, the many civilizations of this world are plagued by greed and corruption. The only way forward is to bring the Gods back, or to take their place in the heavens. Deicide takes place across two islands, Aurora and Limdorkal. These landmasses are the westernmost islands of the Moonshae Isles, an archipelago located roughly 400 miles west of the region of Amn and to the southwest of the Sword Coast. Surrounding the Sea of Moonshae, these islands feature a wide array of cities, civilizations, climates, terrains, and monsters. Limdorkal is famously a harsher environment, home to exotic races, whereas Aurora is almost entirely dominated by the human kingdom. Elminster Aumar, the famous Old Mage of Faerûn, once visited these islands and claimed it surprising how such diverse environmental systems erupted here, and how varied were the people inhabiting them. While the Sword Coast is part of Faerûn, a continent of Toril in the Forgotten Realms, feel free to adapt these islands to any setting of your choice, such as Ravenloft, Eberron, Ravnica, or even on your homebrew world. The story told here happens some hundreds of years after the beginning of 5th Edition, and the Overgod Ao is trapped inside an artifact, which limits the workings of gods around Toril. The characters will be able to learn more about the missing Gods, about a mythical folklore artifact known as the Wand of Wonders, which carries the powers of the Gods, and about the crime lord Kaiser Soze. Through their adventures, they will be able to visit other realms, planes, and dimensions, as well as come into contact with different races and civilizations. In the end, it is up to them whether to ally with the Crime Lord, and whether to release the Gods or keep their power for themselves. This campaign can work as a loose set of modular adventures, which can be easily picked separately and played as one-shots of different levels. Even their locations on the map might be moved, and events happening in particular towns can happen on others. The adventures include dungeon crawls, murder mysteries, sandbox urban quests, exploration on land and in the seas, inter-planar travelling, among others.
A local druid has looked into the face of madness, and now instead of protecting the forest he is corrupting it. Can you find him and save the forest and the cute furry creatures that live there? A short adventure designed to be run in a single night for 3-5 characters between level 1 and 3. The adventure includes graded encounters to cater for different group sizes and levels as well as summary creature blocks to aid the dungeon master.
In the town of Easthaven, a group of adventurers is tasked on a routine mission to resupply an expedition to the Reghed Glacier. But everything is not quite as it seems, and it's not long before the chronographer's misfortunes become apparent.
An unknown force is inciting the people and creatures of the idyllic Greenwood to commit horrific acts of murder and carnage. Can the adventurers quell the towering rage of the rampaging Horseman? Part Thirteen of Misty Fortunes and Empty Hearts.
AL19 – Junket to the Southlands has the PCs enjoying a little R&R in southern Allatrama when a caravan comes into town. Scuttlebutt has it that some famous Bard came in with them and is giving a performance later. With nothing else to do you opt to take a listen. After hearing the tales recited by the incredible poet you opt to visit the location of her stories. Saddle up folks, you’re heading into the frozen land to the south!
After your ship crashed onto a small island you and a few other survivors quickly discover you're not entirely alone. There are creatures slithering in a nearby cave, taking everything they can from the wreckage as they hunt for something. With no other way out, you'll have to trek through the Sahuagin camp, rescue any other survivors and find other means of escaping the island before all is lost.
Have You No Heart? is a standalone adventure set in the peculiar village of Basht. Olivia Alfera calls the party back to Basht to help Robin Goodman reunite a girl with her father. A Four-Hour Adventure for Tier 2 characters, Optimized for APL 8. Featuring a new domain: Nepenthe, a domain of forgetting. Content Warnings: Grief, Loss of a Relative, Memory Loss Have You No Heart will debut at U-Con in October 2022 (http://www.ucon-gaming.org/) The story continues shortly after The Party that Split. It continues the tale that started with The Goat Mayor, but each episode can be played on their own. The village of Basht is a little Grimm's Fairy Tale village that was used for several CCCs and DungeonCrafts U-Con. I hope that your players enjoy the whimsy and dark undercurrents as much as mine have, and I would love it if you share your experiences in Basht with me! I've included VTT-friendly maps and handouts in separate files to help with running your games virtually because we can't let a simple thing like physical distance prevent us from sharing our stories. I also have a printer friendly version included for those that prefer their works to be printed on the flesh of dead trees. Please see other adventures written for U-Con: The Goat Mayor (by me, Daniel Chapman) is the first introduction to Basht and it's peculiar traditions The Straw Bears (by me, Daniel Chapman) takes place just a few tendays later, describing the strange annual tradition of the procession of Straw Bears The Party that Split (by Daniel Chapman) takes place before Have You No Heart, and sets up the events that lead to Robin Goodman's current situation. Blood and Fog (by Alan Patrick) was the first CCC written for U-Con and the first mention of the Blood Lord. Rescue Down Under (by Alex Lown) continues the story of Basht and revisits the friendly tinkerer Yul Khahan. If you see any errors or have any suggestions, or just wish to retell the tale of how your group went through the story, feel free to contact the author at: http://hoshisabi.com
Infiltration of a ruined archive; the players--beseeched by a mysterious psionic calling--work to uncover the machinations of the Nalar and hopefully free their captive held far below...
The land lies under a curse. Fruit drops to the ground, its pulp black and rotten. Leaves curl and wither on the branches. Animals flee the parched vale, or starve. Long ago, the Downs prospered under the care of Druids, but the priests of nature have retreated deep into the woods and rarely show themselves. One old man claims that the Druids have the power to save the valley, if only someone could find their Oracle to seek help. Will you reach the Forest Oracle of the Druids in time? And if you do, can they really lift the curse? Or does the answer lie elsewhere? Only the most daring and cunning adventurers will save the Downs. N2: "The Forest Oracle" (1984), by Carl Smith, is the second AD&D adventure in the novice (N-) series. Unlike its predecessor, it is not intended for 1st-level adventurers, but instead for 2nd level and up. This conversion guide allows DMs to run the original module with 5th Edition rules and provides a reference sheet for encounters. Also contains suggestions for placement in the Forgotten Realms. To use this conversion guide you will need a copy of The Forest Oracle, originally available in hard-copy and now for sale in Digital format on the DMs Guild. Visit Classicmodulestoday.com to find out how you can create your own classic module conversions and sell them on the DMs Guild.
A ghostly bird stalks a fishing village, killing its inhabitants. Solve its mystery and end the threat before it kills again! The Blight of Brineborough is a quest optimized for 2nd-level characters. It features a terrifying monster, two new magic items, and a sea shanty.
Something is plaguing the farmland around the village of Oxdale, out in the middle of nowhere. The beast visits regularly and carries off an animal, disappearing into the hill country north of the village. Word is that it is also buzzing around the new goblin camp to the northwest. It wasn't too big of a deal until it tried to carry off a village youngling; now the mayor and the citizens want it dealt with immediately. (Spoiler - the beast was sent by a gentleman vampire who doesn't like hunting for himself. Find him in his cave or encounter him once he ventures to the village to find out what happened to his machine, should it go missing.) The Draining Caverns of the Winged Beast is a one-shot 5e adventure for a party of four 5th or 6th level characters. This adventure can be slotted into most 5e adventures (maybe with some reflavoring if it's a frozen setting), or stand alone as its own adventure. This adventure includes: The adventure PDF, with several combat encounters, and opportunities for exploration and roleplaying encounters Four maps - one region, one village, and two battlemaps, both in the adventure and as separate JPEGs Random encounter table for trekking through the hill country One magic dagger held by the vampire.
A group of adventurers find themselves drawn to Axeholme, a small, desolate village with a rash of disappearances. An ancient burial mound nearby has been opened, its stone door found shattered, and, if the villagers are to be believed, the disappearances are the work of a wizard’s curse. But things are not always what they seem.
The Noble Rot is a location-based adventure for characters of 5th to 8th level. This adventure can be played in one or two sessions of reasonable length. It is a straightforward, haunted house-style adventure. The story revolves around Le Chateau Gluant, a vineyard and winery of repute. Vintages of its famous white (chardonnay) and red blend (cabernet sauvignon) are sought throughout the land. Some vintages can bring up to 200 gp per bottle from the right buyer. A case (twelve bottles) of the wine in pristine condition can fetch up to 1,500 gp. Unfortunately, the winery fell upon dark days and the prized wine has not flowed from its cellars for a few years. Approximately five years ago, the head winemaker, Malcolm Roth, hired Tobias Suey as an apprentice. Unfortunately for Roth, Suey was a member of the Cultus Limus (Cult of the Ooze). The Cultus Limus makes sacrifices to its demonic master Lumaszu in her faceless form. Lumaszu or “she who erases” is an ancient demoness who preys upon travelers by drinking their blood. She is the cause of nightmares, pestilence, infestation of pure water, and a bringer of disease, sickness, and death. Her worshipped form in Cultus Limus is that of a gigantic ooze. Suey turned the field hands who tended the vines against the winemaker. Then the new cult turned its attention to the Gluant family. Eventually the cult members started preying on each other. With each sacrifice to the ooze, Suey’s power grew—until there was no one left but Suey. The whim of demons is fickle. Suey was blighted and corrupted for his work. Now he deep in the cellars under the chateau as a minor ooze demon. His handiwork, however, remains. The chateau is now the abode of its former residents and workers, in undead form. Also slimes, molds, fungi, and other foulness fester in the fields, buildings, and cellars. The riches of the Gluant family remain undisturbed; would-be thieves and robbers quickly fall prey to the current residents. Besides normal valuables, cases of wine remain undisturbed and waiting to be plundered. The title The Noble Rot refers to a few factors in this adventure. The first is the rot that befell the Gluant family in the form of the Cultus Limus. Another is actual noble rot disease that may aid the PCs in overcoming the challenges posed. The phrase also refers to a real-world gray fungus, Botrytis cinerea, which in the right conditions creates world-class dessert wines such as French sauternes. In the wrong conditions, it destroys grapes and is known as gray rot.
When you are successful , your reputation will spread farther and more widely than you might imagine. And when that reputation reaches those who believe that “the enemy of my enemy is my firend,” you might just find yourself working with and for some interesting people. So when the village go-between for the mayor of Rybalka and local Vikmordere tribespeople asks the party to recover an item, you can’t be sure exactly who you are going to earn your coin from. The PCs find themselves having to tread a very thin line to be successful with this job; the Monachy’s agent in Rybalka is very interested in what they are doing, as are other, less friendly tribes; but the PCs don’t know this. In fact, there is much they don’t know and they will only become aware of some of the implications of their actions when potential problems become reality. Of course, if they’d know they were meant to find a ship buried in a cliff face, defeat its entire crew before finding great beauty in physical and material form, take what belongs to a king and then return unnoticed through territory claimed by old enemies and new allies, they would have prepared quite differently, wouldn’t they? Ah, hindsight is a wonderful thing… Also included in ""Search for the Tri-Stone"": Maps by 3x ENnie Award winning Cartographer Todd Gamble New Runic Language introduced through a Runestick which PCs may use on their journey to decode puzzles and find clues in their search for the Tri-Stone High resolution map of the Thingallor Burial Shrine New Monster: Zombie Handmaidens Numerous New Maps and Illustrations! New Magical Items: Sword and Shield of King Rytan New Artifact!
With Pardor in the middle of a heated civil war, your PCs have their own futures to ponder. Pulling into the fortified town of Parmatu, the group quickly discovers that they are not the only strangers in town. The plot thickens quickly as the adventurers discover that the other strangers are none other than a member of the royal family. Can the PCs help defend the rightful heir against a group of marauders hell bent on catching the young lord?
Nearly two thousand years ago, in the land which now holds the Klavek Kingdom, a different power ruled the land. The Saatman Empire was a land unlike any seen before or since: it was a place where dragons ruled as gods, each in their own kingdom keeping lesser races as cattle. And above all of these god kings stood and watched the Saatman, an emperor among god-kings. Eventually, the humans rose up, and great heroes struck down Saatman, bringing the empire to the ruins it was today, and scattering their servants. But not destroying them. Now, a cult still dedicated to the dragon-god-emperor has returned the ancient dragon to life. In revenge of his own empire, he has declared war on the Klavek Kingdom – and commanded the death of all humankind. Can the party stop the genocide, and turn his own allies against him? Also included in “Saatman’s Throne”: A detailed system for reputation and infamy amid a city warring houses – all of which lay claim to dozens of mad wizards! The city of Gustavin, where dragons are gods and feuding houses control every coin. The Scrollblade, a powerful weapon that can store any magic it chooses Radiant Elixir, and endless source of magical power, at a steep price A great and terrible spell, Genocide A stitched-together monstrosity, the Serpens Appendix: Gods and Kings detailing hidden secrets in the Klavek Kingdom Maps by ENnie award winning cartographer, Todd Gamble
Someone is killing the crops of the local villages. You must find who it is and stop them, but an early wizard experiment may make this harder than it first looks. A short adventure designed to be run in a single night for 3-5 characters between level 1 and level 3. The adventure includes graded encounters to cater for different group sizes and levels as well as summary creature blocks to aid the dungeon master.