A community for lazy dungeon masters
450 adventures found
Cover of Scourge of Scalabar
Scourge of Scalabar
AD&D
Levels 1–3
18 pages
0

Pirates and powderkegs. An undersea menace has the merchants of Scalabar up in arms. A strange sea monster is plaguing the trade ships near Scalabar, a coastal city. You have arrived in Scalabar at the behest of Sora Calhaigne. The lady of House Calhaigne needs brave heroes to investigate the loss of her galleon, the Morning Star. She has reason to believe that the sea monster is not what it seems. Includes a list of random city encounters, a keyed map of the port city, Scalabar, as well as a simple overland map of the Scalabar coast, a map of a typical two-story warehouse, a keyed map of the pirate caves, and a keyed map of the ship Thresher. Pgs. 10-27

Cover of Villains & Lairs
Villains & Lairs
5th Edition
Levels 1–20
200 pages
0

Expand your game with this collection of 56 NPCs of various Challenge Ratings, thirteen of which include maps and details of their lairs. Add these NPCs as a side-quest, a main villain, a one-shot, a bounty for easy money, or however else you wish. Written by some of the best-selling authors on the Dungeon Masters Guild and outstanding podcasters, each NPC includes an image, a backstory, motives, flaws, and a stat block. Some even include new magic items!

Cover of The Brazen Bull
The Brazen Bull
OSR
Levels 1–2
14 pages
0

In "The Brazen Bull," whilst traversing one of the seedier neighbourhoods of Khromarium, your party are solicited by a greasy-haired Pict. He offers to sell you a sheaf of magical lotus that allows one to see the future or to brew potions that empower the imbiber with sorcery. He beckons you to follow Jeffrhim into a dilapidated building ...

Cover of The Haunted Hamlet - and other hexes
The Haunted Hamlet - and other hexes
OSR
Low Level
40 pages
0

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

Cover of Valanche's Eye
Valanche's Eye
5th Edition
Level 4
16 pages
0

A gnomish settlement is plagued by inexplicable earthquakes, the wrath of an Earth Elemental. Can the heroes save the gnomes? Do the greedy gnomes deserve to be saved? "Valanche's Eye" was inspired by a desire to write an adventure which blurs the line of who the bad guy actually is, or indeed whether or not there's a really tangible villain. It takes the "patron hires adventurers to clear dungeon" trope and twists it – the patron turns out to be a pretty rotten bastard, and the monsters in the dungeon are just trying to live their lives. It starts when gnome gem-miners strike the mother lode of emeralds and sapphires, only to find themselves run off their claim. First they accidentally broke through to the Elemental Planes of Earth and Fire, and mephits burst out to annoy them. When they were just about done dealing with the mephits, they disturbed an earth elemental who just wants to be left alone, and emeralds are its favorite snack. The mine boss hires the adventurers to come kill all the elementals. But should they?

Cover of CCC-BMG-MOON13-1 Lure of the Reefs
CCC-BMG-MOON13-1 Lure of the Reefs
5th Edition
Levels 11–16
35 pages
0

Ships have disappeared amongst the Norheim Islands, almost all of them carrying refugees from Norland. An expedition, sent to find the cause, has similarly vanished without a trace. Most blame lack of experience with the treacherous local waters, but a few whisper of a more sinister cause, something that lures the desperate to their doom. Initiates of the Flame are looking for powerful adventurers to help since the authorities have more pressing trouble.

Cover of Con18 - 1 Moroni Mirror
Con18 - 1 Moroni Mirror
5th Edition
Levels 4–5
32 pages
0

After a successful mission for Earl Phenwick you return to receive your accolades. Upon your arrival it is discovered that the earl's child is missing. His daughter was last seen around a mirror of unknown power and an advisor believes that she may have made her way into a different world via the magical portal. Time to put on your hero hats!

Cover of Ratcatchers
Ratcatchers
5th Edition
Levels 1–2
25 pages
0

Something sinister is brewing in the Emerald forest! It starts off simple, as they do. A group of fresh-faced adventurers is tasked with clearing out rats in the tavern cellar. What they find down there is something more than they bargained for. Now, they have to make a perilous journey across an uncharted forest to face off against an unknown threat (it’s a swarm of BrainiumOGL Rats). The fate of the entire world might be at stake! (or that of a small hamlet, at any rate!) Ratcatchers is a 4-6 hour setting neutral one-shot adventure for four to five characters of level 1-2. It has been designed keeping in mind players new to the game. Features A 25 page full-color and fully illustrated PDF, a printer friendly B&W version, and a tested for screen readers accessible version. A beginner friendly adventure that hangs a lampshade on RPG tropes, then sets said lampshade on fire. A template to convert any beast into were-rat hybrids. Rat-bunny and rat-pigeon, a.k.a. Trash Gryphons included. Several colorful battle maps for VTT use. Terrible rat based puns. Content Warning: The intended tone of this adventure is a mix of horror and comedy. Where it exactly lies on the spectrum of horror to comedy is up to you, the DM, and your players. There is depiction of body transformation and body horror, parental neglect and tight spaces. Also, there are rats. Lots and lots of rats. Published by undeadR

Cover of Dungeon Crawl Classics #2: The Lost Vault of Tsathzar Rho
Dungeon Crawl Classics #2: The Lost Vault of Tsathzar Rho
3.5 Edition
Level 1
32 pages
0

This new version of the classic adventure is completely updated to 3.5 edition. In The Lost Vault of Tsathzar Rho, a defenseless village asks the characters to slay an out-of-control ogre. Sounds easy enough. But the ogre, who used to be nothing more than a nuisance, has become crazed and psychotic. When the characters arrive at its cave, they find a subterranean portal has connected the cave to a much larger underground complex. Something in that complex has transformed the ogre and many other local creatures into fiendish marauders. In fact, it’s the lost vault of Tsathzar Rho, an ancient wizard and prophet of the Outer Gods, who are gathering their foul minions for battle.

Cover of The Eyeless in the Dark
The Eyeless in the Dark
5th Edition
Levels 1–2
11 pages
0

A cave-in at the dwarven mine exposed a passage into the eerie, alien world that lies deep below the surface. Monsters poured out of the darkness and killed many before the surviving miners made it back into the light. Now they seek brave adventurers to face the dangers down in the dark depths. As a one shot or the first adventure of a new campaign, The Eyeless in the Dark carries new and experienced players away from the light of the ordinary surface world and down into the fantastical dark depths where here there be monsters. Chock full of adventure, as well as design notes for Dungeon Masters that will help novice and veteran DMs provide their players with an exciting and memorable game night, and leave them eager for the next session. Use this adventure in combination with the Integrated Hill Encounters and/or the Forest and Grasslands to create an open world sandbox of adventures that can fill many sessions of a campaign.

The Red Bastion
OSR
Levels 2–3
4 pages
0

The Red Bastion - the prison of a dwarf ghost princess... A 15-room dungeon for levels 2-3.

Cover of Lowdown in Highport
Lowdown in Highport
AD&D
Levels 3–5
26 pages
0

Important: The adventure is 1e but it has monster conversion notes for D&D 4th edition The town of Highport, once a human community overlooking Wooly Bay from its perch on the northern coast of the Pomarj, fell prey to hordes of humanoids swarming out of the jungle-covered hills surrounding the settlement. Though the orcs, goblins, kobolds, ogres, and gnolls razed much of the place in their ferocious rampages, the smoldering ruins they left behind soon became a new kind of community, a place of trade between the humanoid “locals” and the unsavory human traders who have no compunction about doing business with them. Slaves are a commodity in ready supply in Highport’s market, since many pirates raid up and down the coast of the bay, putting fishing villages to the torch and filling their holds with captured refugees. Slavery has become a thriving business in the town, and rumors abound of a cartel of Slave Lords who run things from behind the scenes, filling their coffers in secret from the buying and selling of human chattel. The trade has become so prolific that the good folk to the north have grown tired of these depredations and decided to fight back. Forces of righteousness and honor have recently descended upon Highport, some openly and others in secret, in various attempts to destroy the machinations of the Slave Lords and abolish the abominable enterprise that has taken far too many loved ones from home and hearth. One such doughty servant of goodness is Mikaro Valasteen, a cleric of Trithereon. Mikaro slipped unnoticed past the crumbling walls of Highport with a single mission: to rescue and transport as many slaves to their freedom as possible. Mikaro and a handful of faithful assistants located a number of escaped slaves—as well as rescued a few more not sufficiently restrained and guarded—and shepherded them through the gates and beyond the reach of their humanoid tormentors, returning them to their lands and homes. This covert freedom brigade enjoyed remarkable success early on, since the servants of the Slave Lords were often lax in their vigilance and sloppy in their efforts to prevent loss of the “merchandise.” After one too many shipments never made its destination, the humanoids stepped up their security and the normal channels of escape from Highport closed to Mikaro and his team. He cannot risk exposure by smuggling the freed slaves through the gates as merchandise any longer, since shipments of goods are now regularly stopped and checked. No longer able to free the slaves in that manner, Mikaro began hiding his charges in an abandoned villa in a particularly rundown part of the town. Although they are safe for the moment, their numbers have grown unmanageable, and the priest fears it is only a matter of time before someone slips up and brings slavers to their doorstep. Ever more desperate to find a new means of escape from Highport, Mikaro has started work on a plan that is both daring and dangerous. He intends to use a series of old sewers coupled with natural caverns running beneath the town as an escape route to the sea beyond the walls. But he needs someone to clear out the creatures and pitfalls he knows lie within. Pgs. 2-27

Cover of The Hag's Hexes
The Hag's Hexes
5th Edition
Levels 4–18
66 pages
0

The Hag's Hexes is a 66 page guide designed by Dungeon Masters Guild luminaries like JVC Parry and Janek Sielicki alongside rising stars and old stalwarts like Matt Butler, Matthew Gravelyn, and Tim Bannock. It was created with one thing in mind: to make hags more than the sum of their (often meager) Challenge ratings, giving them the mechanics, roleplay potential, and weird magic that can inspire campaigns, lay low kings and warlords, and potentially ensnare unwary Player Characters into campaign-changing curses or long-term bargains that force them into terrible moral quandaries! Split into five chapters, the authors have provided everything a DM needs to terrify their players for years to come. The Bestiary features over a dozen monsters; some are new hags, some are their minions or even their mobile lairs, and one of them -- the Shaitan AKA Desert Hag -- was featured in Monsters of the Guild! Bargains & Curses is a chapter filled with ideas that can kick-start campaigns, threaten valued NPCs, or put Player Characters' very existence and morality at stake. Chapter 3 includes two dozen items of wonderment, weirdness, and dread, ranging from fairy tale-inspired items of whimsy to terribly cursed items of horror. Chapter 4 is titled "Filthy, Vile & Downright Dirty" and provides dozens of roleplaying tips to make hags come alive, new mechanics inspired by and expanding on Volo's Guide to Monsters (coven spell lists, aunties, grandmothers, alternative coven members), and ends with useful combat tactics for each of the hags from the Monster Manual and Volo's Guide, as well as tactics for covens. Finally, Chapter 5 presents five encounter groups (with sub-encounters) to give you quick story seeds and monster lists that you can put together in minutes to create a single encounter or to inspire a full campaign, and ends with three full-length adventures -- each with 3-5 encounters -- that showcase many of the new monsters, rules, magic items, and so on that appeared in earlier chapters. Each of these adventures comes with an encounter map meant to act as inspiration for hag lairs, and they include useful mechanical ideas for terrain effects and descriptive keywords listed directly on the map for added inspiration and easy customization! Designed by Tim Bannock. Written by Matt Butler, JVC Parry, Janek Sielicki, and Tim Bannock. Edited by Matthew Gravelyn and Tim Bannock. Cover Art by Elena Naylor. Cartography by Tim Bannock using Inkwell Ideas' Dungeonographer (Dungeonographer is copyright Inkwell Ideas). Layout & Graphic Elements by Elena Naylor with Tim Bannock. Interior Art by Arcana Games, Bruno Balixa, David Lewis Johnson, Dean Spencer, Earl Geier, Filip Gutowski, Jacob E. Blackmon, Joyce Maureira, Petr Kratochvil, Jayaraj Paul, Brian Brinlee, and Wizards of the Coast.

Cover of Visions of the Vault: One Page Dungeons: Den of Wolves
Visions of the Vault: One Page Dungeons: Den of Wolves
5th Edition
Levels 1–9
1 pages
0

A druid dwells in the heart of the forest, running its shadowed paths as both man and wolf. As civilization encroached on his ancient forest, he retreated deeper into its depths, spending more time as a wolf and less as a man. He took refuge in a dark cave and the last traces of his humanity disappeared, leaving only the beast. Published by Arcana Games.

Cover of M2 Vengeance of Alphaks
M2 Vengeance of Alphaks
BECMI
Levels 28–32
32 pages
0

Centuries ago, the despotic Alphaks, ruler of Alphatia, was banished to another world. From his own sphere of entropy he learned to manipulate men, and now seeks revenge against the human race. The volatile region of Norworld, a perennial battleground between Thyatis and Alphaita, draws Alphaks's attention. The already existing frictions, small-time political players, and petty vengeances are the sparks Alphaks will use to ignite a huge war that will destroy man-kind. This is an adventure of politics and diplomacy, of treachery and treason. Only courageous and bold actions can save Norworld from the horrors of war and liberate its people from oppression. The Vengeance of Alphaks may be played as a sequel to module M1, Into the Maelstrom, or separately. The D&D Master Set Rules are necessary for running this game. TSR 9148

Cover of Dungeons on Demand: Volume One
Dungeons on Demand: Volume One
5th Edition
Levels 1–12
109 pages
0

THE FIRST SET OF DUNGEONS ON DEMAND ADVENTURES! The first volume of Dungeons on Demand includes the first four dungeons: Bandit's Nest - Level 1 Adventure Dungeon Insidious Experiments - Level 4 Adventure Dungeon Fierce Tempers - Level 8 Adventure Dungeon Lord of Gloomthrone - Level 12 Adventure Dungeon It also includes the following supplements: New Twists on Old Monsters - Gaming Supplement Imbued with Magic - Gaming Supplement The bundle includes hundreds of pages worth of materials and supplements sure to keep your gaming sessions busy!

Cover of Fosc Anansi - Shadow of the Spider Goddess
Fosc Anansi - Shadow of the Spider Goddess
5th Edition
Level 6
52 pages
0

Silent crawlers with a venomous bite. Web spinners, creating sticky, beautiful homes that double as deadly traps. Nature’s most artistic killers. What fools would grow these tiny killing machines into the size of ponies or even larger? Gnomes! Opportunistic dark gnomes, looking for profit, who stumbled upon an inter-dimensional substance—experimental, yet undoubtedly powerful. Then something came creeping down the strand that connected the spiders to the inter-dimensional world, a shadow—the Shadow of the Spider Goddess! This adventure is designed for 5e for 4-6 characters of 6th level. The adventure is designed to link to the Lands of Lunacy setting from Fail Squad Games, but has been adapted to be run in any setting with no additional GM or player effort. The hold of Nevnooblin contains steam technology and creatures.

Cover of FVU1 - Ga Mantse Tombs
FVU1 - Ga Mantse Tombs
5th Edition
Levels 1–3
22 pages
0

This introductory level scenario brings a new group of players into an area formerly controlled by the Tunnmaa Dynasty. This group of rulers was rich in gold and gems before collapsing. It is well known that their kings, known as Ga Mantse, were buried in underground barrows that are well hidden and protected by traps. A few days ago a group much like your own found one of these hidden tombs and attempted to investigate. Sadly for them they were not up to the task. Can your party succeed where they failed?

Cover of Pathfinder Adventure Path #86: Lords of Rust (Iron Gods 2 of 6)
Pathfinder Adventure Path #86: Lords of Rust (Iron Gods 2 of 6)
Pathfinder
Level 4
96 pages
0

The heroes of the town of Torch follow a trail of clues to the sprawling junkyard known as Scrapwall, where bands of desperate and violent brigands vie for control of the technological remnants found within. The Lords of Rust dominate Scrapwall, and their swiftly rising power threatens more than just the town of Torch, for this gang has the support of one of the terrifying Gods of Numeria. What slumbers fitfully beneath the wreckage of Scrapwall could catapult the Lords of Rust into a new level of power if they're not stopped!

Cover of The Goblin Bathwater Incident
The Goblin Bathwater Incident
5th Edition
Level 1
54 pages
0

Synopsis: Goblin Bathwater, a magical drug, has taken hold in a sleepy coastal town at the edge of the Empire. As the characters investigate the origin of the drug, they uncover an international criminal conspiracy, wild and ancient magic, and a threat to reality itself. Contents: This beautifully made, 54-page adventure offers: A fully fleshed out, setting-agnostic starter area, brimming with colourful NPCs and hooks for adventure. Balanced encounters to bring characters to level 2; then some more devious encounters on their way to level 3. Three mini-dungeons built on the design philosophy of the "5 room dungeon method" Multiple big, cinematic set-piece boss encounters what will make your players feel epic. A facetted intrigue, which does not immediately suggest a simple, ready-made solution but invites the players to come up with their own, personal approach. Why pick this adventure? Hey, my name is Marius. This is my first time publishing on the DMs Guild but I wouldn't call myself a newcomer. I started playing Pathfinder 1e back in 2014. When I took over as our group's DM in 2019, we swapped over to 5e. We have run many, many modules and adventures since. Currently I play three games a week. In short: You could say I'm hooked. I created The Goblin Bathwater Incident as the ideal adventure for in-between your big modules, but it isn't a simple little adventure. With a playtime of about 30 hours, it still manages to hit that sweet-spot, where it establishes context, makes you grow fond of NPCs, and makes those big bossfight wins so much sweeter, all without taking more than a few sessions. The Goblin Bathwater Incident is different from many of the 1st tier adventures in that it pits the characters against traps and monsters, but also asks difficult, open-ended ethical questions, where a simple strategy of "apply sword to head of bad guy" will not cut it.