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 forlorn Falkrest Abbey in the icy Lune Mountains is where the Queens and Kings of Yore used to be crowned and buried, along with their treasures. According to legends, the Fountain of St. Brynedd still pours its miraculous water somewhere inside. But what caused the fall of the blessed Abbey? Falkrest Abbey is a level 1–3 dungeon adventure for Old-School Essentials. Written by Andrea Tupac Mollica and Giuseppe Rotondo, with original art by Zaira Diana. Content: A 19 room dungeon with exploration, combat, mystery, puzzles and NPCs Encounters and events along the way on the icy Lune Mountains Several hooks and alternate outcomes with possible repercussions on your campaign 3 new monsters 2 new magic items, plus one almighty magic vial of miraculous water Original art by Zaira Diana Map drawn with dungeonscrawl Utility: Treasure & monsters overview sorted by room Interactive hyperlinked map and index Interactive hyperlinked map snippets accompanying room descriptions Printable hand-outs (optional) Extra files: VTT friendly maps without room numbers, monsters, secrets doors etc
Strange doings are underfoot in the wild hills bordering the realm of decent and civilized folks. Villagers and cattle have gone missing; woodcutters have disappeared; misshapen beings have been seen shuffling through the forests. Some brave villagers have tracked a group of stolen oxen as far as the rocky banks of a small river in the hills. The trail disappeared down into a fissure in the limestone rock, where a fast-running stream plunges down to the dark caverns below. Gird your loins, stand behind the dwarf, and get ready to face The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom!
Farms in the hamlet of Winterton are being raided at night. Who, or what, is doing the raiding is a mystery. Animals have disappeared and now a visiting merchant has gone missing. The only clue is a blood drenched hat sitting in the snow along a stretch of road. Blood in the Snow is intended as a small side-adventure set in Winter, in a tiny village in the Bay of Spirits. A desperate clan of goblins are raiding the settlement and the player characters have been asked, or hired, to help. Published by Roan Studio
“The Lamia’s Heart”: Your party are contracted by the nascent master of an unsanctioned thieves’ guild. To earn his favour, you must steal a singular gem from the mansion of a prominent merchant. Purloining this gem, however, may raise the ire of the city’s official thieves’ guild; notwithstanding, the reward is significant.
A level 2–3 sewer adventure by Glynn Seal. PCs plumb fetid sewers and recently-revealed secret halls, in search of a lost worker. In these forsaken chambers, they may find answers and treasures, but may also come face-to-face with a bloated monstrosity and its depraved followers. For Old-School Essentials (OSE) Included as one of four adventures in "Old-School Essentials Adventure Anthology 1"
The Blacktooth Ridge, fabled for its string of long abandoned fortreses, treasure houses, temples, and underground mansions lies far to the north and east of the civilized lands. Dangerous journeys and the promise of treasure invite many an adventurer to the wilds along the Ridge. There they sek fame and fortune. But it is an altogether dangerous place, tainted with the evil of the Horned God, there in hidden caves and darkened temples some linger stioll who call him their master. Of late these creatures have issued forth to plague the few people who call the ridge home, the toen of Botkinburg most of all. Now, raids and plundering confound the settlements near the Blacktooth Ridge. Rumors of Rottenkip the Goblin King and his fearless warriors taking up residence in the Blacktooth Ridge are circulating. Ogres and Trolls are raiding villages and looting caravans. Few are coming to the aid of those beset by the depredations and the evil denizens of the Blacktooth Ridge continue to spill out ever further across the lands. The call has gone out, the mustering of militias is at hand, and the Blacktooth Ridge beckons to any and all willing to come to their aid and discover what is calling forth these foul creatures. Also available for 5E
The Toxic Wood is a deadly wilderness adventure for Old School Essentials This hexcrawl adventure focuses on game-able content and being easy to use at the table. It is graphic and art heavy and utilizes a lot of random tables to make it easier for GMs to run with minimal prep. "You have been hired by a secretive council of wizards, who refuse to meet in person with you, to rescue the survivors of Mugwort - a town which was thought to have been destroyed and lies deep within The Toxic Wood. The Wood is corrosive and the air is not safe to breath there, so the wizards have given you a magical orb which will create a safe dome of air around you. The orb must be fed with fuel containing life force to continue operating properly. They have also gifted each of you a less effective necklace which will create a temporary small bubble of clean air around your head as an emergency measure. The Wood became noxious a couple of years ago after a dragon known as Ion moved in. You will have to navigate to Mugwort without Ion noticing if you are to conduct a successful evacuation." The toxic wood is home to many strange entities; spiteful mutated horrors, ancient insectoid witch sisters, bloodthirsty redcaps, a mushroom witch and a corrosive dragon cult. Noxious gases produced by alien plants slowly coil through the air creating an endless red haze. Anything that is not part of the woods lethal eco-system is rapidly corroded, with all evidence of its existence erased within days. Details: 32 pages Single column text 8.5 x 5.5 aspect Black & White Bookmarks Hyperlinks Random tables Hooks and rumors for your players Rules for surviving in the toxic wood using the orb and other means 16 keyed hex locations Backgrounds for characters to aid roleplay New monsters Key NPCs A timeline of events for the DM to structure their sessions around Flora of the wood Random treasure tables Prompts and resolutions for what happens if players take different actions Cursed Items and Powerful Artifacts: Scattered throughout the wood, offering potent abilities but often with dangerous drawbacks.
By a well-trodden road lies the estate of the Eryx family. At some point the estate was converted into a roadside inn. The merchant Robert E. Wardlove has received an urgent letter from his daughter Derleth. She begs of her father to arrive in haste to the faraway inn and take her back home safely for the Evening of Still Streets draws near... Enigma of the Eryx Estate is a break from the usual dungeon crawls of the Shadowdark RPG system recommended for characters of lvls 1-3. During this adventure players get to solve a murder and the mysteries that surround it. Exploration and intrigue are emphasized as player characters gain XP for uncovering secrets. Combat is in a more minor role during this adventure, but if the players don't figure out the mystery by midnight, they might be in a fight for their lives. The adventure is designed for ease of running with punctual room and character descriptions.
Short free/pwyw adventure for Shadowdark RPG or similar roleplaying games. Months ago the snow elf princess Ysren was pressured by her mother to begin accepting suitors. To thwart them, she vowed her suitors that anyone who brought her a piece of the moon would have her hand in marriage. The sorcerer-prince Sandor of Excelsis took up the challenge & began building an ambitious spiraling tower atop the highest nearby peak. Once it was high enough, he would begin a ritual that would open a portal from the top of the tower to the moon. One cold day all communication with the tower seized & the “Spiral Prince” has not been heard from ever since. King Galian has sent men in search of his lost prince, but none have succeeded in besting the frigid mountains. He offers a hefty bounty for the return of his son. Will you brave the rime-covered cliffs of Mt. Excelsis to save the prince... or perhaps scour his tower for arcane knowledge & regal wealth?
When huge stones fall out of the night sky, A deadly curse settles over Gravencross. Help the village exorcise the Demon Stones. “The sun had set an hour ago, and the rain lashed down and the wind howled on the dark moor. A storm this late in the season was unusual, but this one seemed different. The clouds were more menacing, tinged with anger, the rain colder and more biting than usual. Skerrill had to find the lost calf and get him back to the farm before his father came back from the city on business. He’d been looking for two hours now, and he was right in the middle of the moor when the storm hit. He knew he should have turned back as soon as darkness fell, but then he was never the brightest boy in the valley. If only he had remembered to lock the farm gate. The calf was now likely dead anyway having stumbled among the boulders and rocks, panicking in the dark, and then fallen in a floodwater stream and drowned. Either way, he was in more trouble than he could imagine. Suddenly, a bright flash of white light and a roaring peal of thunder were preceded by an explosion as a huge object fell from the sky and impacted the ground of the moor no more than a stone’s throw from him. Dirt, mud, water, and debris erupted from the impact site, flying high into the air and then covering the moor for hundreds of feet all around. Skerrill was knocked to the ground instantly and covered in the fallout from the blast. His ears rang and his head spun, but he staggered to his feet in a daze. He stumbled to where the blast had happened only moments before, and in a depression in the ground lay a huge stone glowing orange as if hot. Skerrill passed out. Two more thunderous explosions crashed in the distance.”
The Hyqueous Vaults is a site-based dungeon with water and necromancy themes, some tricky/puzzling situations, and plenty of opportunity for combat. A challenging and lucrative module for 6-8 characters, averaging 3rd level. A centuries-old map leads to a mysterious cliffside complex, rumored to be flooded, and supposedly holding a dead necromancer’s fortune. Sages believe the arm-length metal implement accompanying the map must be some sort of key. The complex stands ripe for exploration by a party sufficiently strong and sneaky to wrest any treasures from the depths within. Written in celebration of OSRIC’s 10th Birthday.
An adventure in Hyperborea designed for from four to six characters of 7th through 9th level Your party finds itself in the employ of Ragnarr the Sea-Wolf, a jarl of New Vinland and a reaver of old. His daughter, a shield-maiden named Gunnhildr, has been abducted by a brute called Björn Blackbeard. During a desperate search, the Sea-Wolf crossed sails with a former rival, and from the blood-flecked lips of a dying foe, he learnt the location of Blackbeard’s stronghold. Now, deep in the misty fjords of Brigand’s Bay, where cutthroats, pirates, and freebooters thrive, you have been charged with liberating the Sea-Wolf’s daughter. The Sea-Wolf's Daughter takes players into an action-packed realm of adventure: the mythical world of Hyperborea, a sword-and-sorcery campaign setting inspired by the fantastic fiction of Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and others. This adventure is designed for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea™ (AS&SH™), a role-playing game descended from the original 1974 fantasy wargame and miniatures campaign rules as conceived by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Therefore, AS&SH is compatible with most traditional fantasy role-playing games (c. 1974 to 1999) and their modern simulacra, such as OSRIC™ and Swords & Wizardry™.
An adventure for starting characters When vicious bandits waylay a caravan bound for an outpost on the edge of civilization, the player characters are the only survivors, trapped and lost in a hostile wilderness. If they would live to see another day, they must learn to work together and discover the people they might one day become. This adventure is designed for a group of starting characters and is especially suited to new players. Published by Schwalb Entertainment.
One page side quest, one page maps. For decades old Alma Scarlet-thorn and her cat, Ferox, entwined as witch and familiar, reveled in tormenting travelers passing near her lair. But, recently, Alma has favored her newly created mist golem more. Although Ferox has enjoyed the power of their bond, she now believes the magical connection is no longer worth this jealousy. The cat, Ferox, has been searching for a way to punish her mistress or remove the golem. Adventure hooks provided. Published by Wicked Cool Games
In the deep, it has awoken. Hidden in the ruins of an old dwarven kingdom awaits a powerful relic, and an army kobolds are on the march to retrieve it. Dare the heroes enter this ancient place, and will they find the relic before the army arrives. In a race against time the adventures may unleash the greatest evil, while trying to save the world from a grim fate. Tomb of the Dragon's Heart is a low-level OSR adventure suited for Labyrinth Lord and other oldschool retro clones. The adventure was originally written for the Danish Living Campaign The Hinterlands, and it is for the first time presented in English. The adventure introduces the players to a different tradition of adventures, and it one with a focus on exploration and encountering the unknown. The adventure contains new magical items and relics and new monsters to challenge your players. Tomb of the Dragon's Heart also functions as a prequel to The Flooded Temple and to Grave of the Heartless. Published by Greis Games.
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
Goblins have returned to the area of Westgate, seeking an ancient magical item constructed for their foul kind. In their search, the goblins attack an imperial convoy secretly disguised as a merchant’s wagon. The knowledge that goblins are near must be kept quiet from the public, thus a small band of adventurers is required to seek out the creatures and the stolen magic item, deep inside the warrens of the great goblin chief! But the adventure does not end there...
STRANGENESS AND TERROR FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE! Borgenwold is cursed, they say. Cursed by pride and greed to cower in fear of the past. A fell monstrosity from beyond the grave has risen to devour this town and all who dwell here. Open this book and to find... a town in the grip of horror, drunken monster hunters in way over their heads, debts, desperate bargains, miraculous goblins feasting upon godflesh, the treasures of the dead, and the price to be paid by those who seek to claim them. The Beast of Borgenwold is a 59-page Old School Roleplaying Adventure designed for characters of between 1st and 3rd level, and designed to be compatible with Old School Essentials by Necrotic Gnome, and other B/X and OSR affiliated games. mini hexcrawl (12 hexs) plus a small dungeon
The dwarves of these mountains are a good and trustworthy folk, friends to both men and elves dwelling in the region. But their ancient homeland hides many secrets that they might otherwise wish forgotten. Recent rumors have surfaced that a long lost dwarven hall has been discovered. There are whispers that the place was once the center of an evil dwarven cult, though the dwarven authorities will say nothing of it. A recently acquired treasure map points to an ancient dwarven tunnel complex. Could this be the place? Are these the dangerous halls that were once the home for a dwarven cult worshipping an entity they called the Earth Dragon? Advanced Adventures #43 The Warrens of Zagash is an OSRIC(tm) module designed for adventurers of 6th to 8th level.