Under the Temple Crypt is the first in a series of site-based, Swords & Wizardry** compatible, “micro modules” that can be dropped into just about any campaign (especially a sandbox-style campaign). No underlying story-hook or rationale for exploring the site is given here. This dungeon assumes that there is a temple somewhere with a mysterious walled-in doorframe in the basement crypt. The walled-in doorframe predates the temple itself and leads to ancient subterranean structures that hint of an older civilization as well as an expansive underworld.
(EQ1) The Cursed Ring is a generic fantasy short adventure for low-level players, themed around puzzle hunting, traps, and monster combat. It is designed to be solved in approximately 5-6 hours, depending on the size of the party and skill of the players. This adventure takes place in a cursed fortress, where they must find a powerful mythical ring capable of granting great power, in exchange for enormous sacrifices. Players must recover the ring and get out of this dangerous place alive.
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
Dungeon Full of Monsters is a modular megadungeon for use with Labyrinth Lord and other old school fantasy role-playing games. The megadungeon is composed of 50 individual sections, separated into 5 different levels. You can assemble these in any configuration you like, either randomly or not, either before the campaign or on-the-fly in play. You can also use these sectiosn on their own, without reference to the larger dungeon itself. The second half of the book contains dozens of monsters, illustrated in full colour, often with multiple variations and types. Combined with the unique monsters located in specific dungeon sections, this book contains over 150 different monster stat blocks. There are criminal organizations, insane cultists, meddling deities, evil wizards, undead kings, infernal demons and other invaders from beyond the stars, numerous unspeakable horrors and arcane beasts, and even a few rival adventurers. Use these monsters with this dungeon or any other. Specific conversion guidelines for The Nightmares Underneath are also provided.
Beware All Who Enter These Benighted Halls of Stone. Within Lies No Solace Nor Any Comforts of Home. Toiling For Our Crimes We Must Dig Where We Dwell, With No Freedom or Mercy In Our Vast Stony Hell. Stonehell Dungeon is a classic-style megadungeon, filled with enough monsters, traps, weirdness, and treasure to keep you gaming for a long, long time. Explore over 700 rooms, encounter more than 40 new monsters, and discover 18 mysterious magical items -- and that's just in the first book! Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls details the first six levels of a megadungeon intended for use with the Labyrinth Lord™ role-playing game, but is easily adaptable to most early versions of the original fantasy role-playing game and its retro-clones. Featuring art by J.A. D'Andrea, Lee Barber, Marcelo Paschoalin, and Ralph Pasucci, Stonehell Dungeon gives the game master all the necessary information to run his players through the dungeon, while offering enormous opportunities to customize and expand on the site. The monsters of Stonehell Dungeon are waiting to meet you. Won't you come in? Published by Three-Headed Monster Games.
In these lands of eldritch goo, it's a fine line between victory and a sticky situation Tzork, the sentient globe of glass, wasn’t exactly born from a grand spell—it was more of a cosmic "oops". After a backstabbing disciple named Theridus offed his master and snagged the relic, he promised his followers unimaginable power. But instead of turning them into terrifying demons, Tzork turned them into puddles of goo. Now, the once "glorious" cult's mansion is less a temple and more a swamp of melted, failed adventurers, attracting only the most reckless of treasure hunters. 'Morass of the Melting Men' is an adventure for Knave 2e, suitable for low-level PCs. The adventure revolves around an extremely powerful sentient magical item that has gone out of control, melting all the nearby people and turning what was once an evil temple into a swamp of slime, filled with bones and eyeballs. In Morass of the Melting Men, players enter a location flooded with a magical liquid exuding chaotic energy. The longer the PCs remain within the swamp, the more they suffer the unexpected effects of this alien magic. Step inside this morass if you dare — goo and treasure awaits... but mostly goo What you'll find here: A complete 40-page adventure A 20 room dungeon map Several new (and bizarre) magic items such as the magnificent Tray of Force and the powerful Theridus' Head. Several wild random tables of weird and gooey outcomes
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).
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.
A desperate ghost, a plea for help, and a forgotten crypt filled with peril and plunder. This is a tale of past conflicts, where blood magic has left a foul and dire aftermath, and time is of the essence. Maps and illustrations help guide you through rugged wilderness to re-discover a tomb lost to all but its denizens - creatures enslaved by an unholy item or awakened by its looming threat. Published by Roan Studio
In the flooded temple is hidden a great treasure, and the adventures are in race to get there first, but the ancient temple is the home of Death's Messenger and several cults each with their own agenda. Will the adventurers survive or be dragged off to the lands of the dead? The Flooded Temple is a low-level OSR adventure based on the greatest RPG ever written as system agnostic and easily adapted to your favorite version. 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 several new items to entertain your players, and several challenges for them to overcome as they encounter the residents of the abandoned temple. The Flooded Temple also have a prequel, Tomb of the Dragon's Heart, and a sequel, Grave of the Heartless. Published by Greis Games.
Visit Marlinko, a borderlands city where life takes a strange fever-dream cast, in this 72-page urban adventure fantasy supplement. Part city-setting, part full-blown adventure, Fever-Dreaming Marlinko is a stand-alone companion to the Slavic acid fantasy weirdness of the Slumbering Ursine Dunes. Contains background and hooks for the city's four city quarters, two complete dungeon adventure sites, two new players classes (Mountebank and Robodwarf), Chaos Index with escalating events/triggers scattered throughout the city, news generator with full news briefs and hooks, and tiger-wrestling mini-game.
Greed blinds the eyes of contentment Dwarf miners discovered a precious stone deposit. Unfortunately, their greed led them to dig tunnels too deep. Upon breaching the walls of an unholy temple, the miners unleashed a bizarre creature that decimated them all. 'They Dug Too Deep' is a system-agnostic one-page dungeon about exploring an abandoned and mysterious dwarven mine. As characters delve into the site, they'll uncover that not everything is as it seems – a sealed entrance from the inside, the corpses of dwarves scattered around, strange messages on the walls... Play to discover what really happened! 2023 Winners' Circle One-page Dungeon! 'They Dug Too Deep' was awarded as one of the top 10 one-page dungeons in the 2023 One Page Dungeon Contest! To celebrate, we offer you some extra stuff to enhance your play experience. There is more underground than just precious stones... What you'll find here: A complete 18-room one-page dungeon with easy preparation. A GM's Pamphlet containing tips on how to run the adventure and compiling the most relevant information. 4 character sheets using the Vagari RPG rules system. 5 custom tokens for use in your favorite VTT. Mini-hexcrawl map (NEW!)
Prison of the Hated Pretender is an introductory adventure for 4-6 characters levels 0-1. Originally published on the Dungeon of Signs blog, it is a short drop-in location-based adventure with a couple of interesting puzzles, a lack of "book" monsters, implacable foes with an obvious weakness, and a very weird roleplaying opportunity. The new 2020 edition republished by Hydra Collective adds suggested guidance for new Dungeonmasters who grew up with 5th edition and don't know how old-school works. Stats for both BECMI and 5th edition, and setting neutral (though there are some implied things about the history of the world).
"Something is weird about this party in 16th century Scotland! A famous thief stole a magical jewel and hid inside a castle where a party is taking place. Enter the party, find the jewel, escape with your life. In the first half of the adventure, the player characters will explore a weird party in search of the thief Jougal. They’ll likely piece together that this party is not “normal” and that this castle is not safe. In the second half, the baobhan sith will reveal themselves, red caps will set the castle on fire, and the PCs will find themselves locked in a burning hellhole. The adventure will likely change from a fun party-crawl into a stressful fight for survival. This is the NIGHTMARE PHASE." This adventure blends elements of horror, survival, and mystery, requiring players to use both their combat skills and their wits to navigate through the treacherous and evolving scenarios within Firnhirst Castle. Written for Cairn RPG
In an age obscured by mist and memory, Sir Galen the Brave and his knights struck down the Drake of Crestmoor with steel and flame. But as the years turned, and the heroes returned to dust, their deeds faded into myth. Doubt lurked where awe once dwelled, and in time, the bards sang of lesser deeds. In the hollows of the wilderness, the stones of their forgotten tomb crumbled beneath ivy and shadow. The Cursed Knights of Crestmoor is a short dungeon crawl for four characters of levels 1-2 using Shadowdark RPG ©. The adventure is designed to be easy to run for new game masters. Players should not be cavalier in their approach to this dungeon. There are threats in the tomb which could easily kill foolhardy player characters. Long ago a band of knights led by Sir Galen slew the black dragon known as the Drake of Crestmoor - a malevolent creature whose true name was Morghast the Black. With his dying breath, the dragon cursed Galen and his friends that they would never find rest in death. Today, the once well-kept tomb has fallen into ruin. Some time ago a band of kobolds moved into the subterranean mausoleum and began using it as a base of operations. More recently, a lizardfolk shaman named Kall’eth and his warband arrived and took over, pressing the kobolds into their service. Kall’eth came to Galen’s tomb to recover the knight’s Fireblade - a sword of dwarvish make used to slay Morghast long ago. The tomb is crawling with kobolds, lizardfolk, and the restless husks of Galen and his compatriots. A magic sword, a missing wedding ring, and plenty of adventure await you in…The Cursed Knights of Crestmoor!
Fresh-faced and more than a little hung-over our newly graduated mage of the great Dunromin College of Magic and his friends step into the tea-room next to the Porter’s Lodge and ask for something for a headache. Within minutes they find themselves accosted by the smiling figure of Malcolm Darkstar, Bursar of the College and owner of the tea-rooms, keen to ask them a favour… This is an introductory level set of scenarios designed to take a starting-level party on their first exciting adventures; The Lost Son; The Return of the Cauldron of Millent and the Murder at the Red Barn
The manor of Willowby Hall is under siege by a giant, enraged at the theft of his magical goose. The band of thieves has taken shelter within the manor's crumbling walls, cowering with their ill-gotten poultry as the building shakes itself apart. But something else is stirring. The giant's rampage is slowly awakening a Death Knight from its black slumber, and once it rises it will call on the bones of the manor's old residents to drive out the intruders. Will the party loot the manor of its ancient relics, or succumb to the blades of its skeletal guardians? Who will make off with the goose and its golden eggs? Will anyone survive the giant's onslaught? The only way to find out...is to play.
The Haunted Hamlet and other hexes details four unique modular locations for your game. Made for old school essentials, but can easily be used with other old-school systems or even 5E. The four locations detailed in the zine focus on gameable content and being easy to use at the table. The locations are not connected to one another and can be sprinkled onto your campaign map however you like, or run as one shots. The PDF is graphic and art heavy and utilizes random tables and other tools to make it easier for GMs to run in a pinch. Details: 40 pages Single column text 8.5 x 5.5 aspect Black & White Bookmarks Four hex locations Random tables A rival NPC party A sky merchant A one page town Two hirelings
Ancient port city on the edge of a desert. The city is stratified by social class and some of the slaves have formed a cannibal cult to Kthulhu. City + hexcrawl + dungeon. The Anthropophagi of Xambaala™ 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 inspired by Robert E. Howard’s “The Man-Eaters of Zamboula” and by various short tales of H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith. It is designed for use with 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. 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™. This work is both a setting and an adventure. The setting describes the town of Xambaala, noting key people, locations, and local lore. The adventure proper provides players with a variety of environments and the several factions fighting over them for their own goals. With a bit of skill and luck, stalwart adventurers may emerge richer and maybe wiser. The situation that will develop in Xambaala will be determined by the players’ choices.
INTRODUCTION Some say the world is dying. Others say the desert is growing. In either case, merchants and princes always desire new ways to cross the Great Sand Sea. Today, someone has found a way to fly over it. Who will tempt fate and join the maiden voyage of the Desert Angel? No one knows what dangers or treasure have lain hidden in the heart of the desert for all these eons. If you survive, you will be the first. ONE-SHOT This adventure is intended as a one-shot, but it can easily be inserted into a campaign. Any time your players wish to travel to a distant city, you can simply say there is a large desert in their way, but luckily there is a new flying ship they can travel on. Good luck with that! DESIGN NOTES This adventure is intended for low-level characters (1-3). It is primarily geared for social encounters and combat. It runs 2 to 5 hours. Players ride a flying ship across the desert. Monsters attack. Passengers plot treachery. Mysterious locations appear. You can keep the tone serious or play up this ridiculous sequence of disasters for laughs.