A community for lazy dungeon masters
450 adventures found
Cover of Doorway to Darkness
Doorway to Darkness
5th Edition
Levels 2–3
12 pages
0

"As you approach, the miners themselves appear from their hidey-holes around the ruined camp. They are haggard and hollow-eyed, barely able to lift the picks and shovels they've clearly been using as weapons. They are unwashed, muddy and stinking - they look little different to the undead that they have been fighting. Shrouded in damp blankets and shivering, they stare at you silently, even disbelievingly. There is only one left among them who appears to have a little iron left in his spine. He tightens his grip on his pick and steps forward. 'Are you here to help?'" Some doors should never be opened... A group of miners uncover a dark secret and find themselves fighting for their lives as the dead walk again. Can the party rescue the survivors and stop an ancient evil before it spreads across the land? Doorway to Darkness is a 3-5 hour adventure for characters of 2nd-3rd level. It features roleplaying, traps and horrifying combat encounters...

Cover of Escape from the Forge of Dumathoin
Escape from the Forge of Dumathoin
5th Edition
Levels 3–4
21 pages
0

This 4 hour adventure for 3rd level characters begins in a prison cell where the adventurers must figure out a way to escape, acquire weapons and armor to defend themselves more effectively, and most importantly, escape a repurposed dwarven forge that has been appropriated by a fire giant who uses slave labor and even a captured red dragon wyrmling to smelt ore and forge an arsenal under the volcano Mt. Hotenow.

Cover of The Witchfire Curse
The Witchfire Curse
5th Edition
Level 1
32 pages
0

Three months ago the township of Durgon’s Rest exiled Elia Fenfrost for practicing witchcraft. Now as the first harvest approaches there are signs that something is amiss. The crops are failing, local farm animals are becoming sick with disease, and all of the food stores have gone foul. The town’s folk suspect that the accursed blight is the work of Elia - exacting her revenge for casting her out into the wild. The PCs are the villager’s last hope, but can they find Elia and end the evil curse that has been laid upon the town before all comes to ruin?

Cover of No Loose Ends
No Loose Ends
3rd Edition
Levels 3–7
2 pages
0

No Loose Ends is a mini-adventure that has a single encounter, based on a group of orcs (or ogres based on level) setting up an ambush for the players by setting up a fake bridge that they attempt to collapse under the players before attacking. The cloak of elvenkind is optional, it is included only in the higher level adjustments. Pgs. 17-18

Cover of NQ18 - Mystery of Conifestatia
NQ18 - Mystery of Conifestatia
5th Edition
Levels 6–8
21 pages
0

Your fame has garnered you more attention than you can handle but a specific job opportunity is one that you cannot pass up on. Two nations have had a peaceful and lucrative trading agreement for years along with the city of Conifestatia. That has recently changed with the appearance of a Green Dragon taking up residence in the area. With your fame on the line, looks like you guys are going Dragon huntin'!

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.

Cover of FN2 - Eye of Gruumsh
FN2 - Eye of Gruumsh
AD&D
Levels 2–4
24 pages
0

With your first set of adventures firmly under your belt you are relaxing and basking in the glory of a job well done. While at the local tavern imbibing in some well-earned spirits, a commotion can be heard outside. As you step outside the villagers are pampering two children who apparently just rode into town on a very sweaty and tired pony. An arrow is sticking out of the mount’s flank. As the animal is removed the townspeople pepper the children with questions as both are obviously afraid. It would appear the drinks will have to wait.

Cover of Cradle of Night
Cradle of Night
Pathfinder
Levels 8–10
64 pages
0

A desperate refugee emerges from the earth's depths in shadow-cloaked Nidal with an urgent pleas. A new faction in the subterranean dark folk city of Lyrudrada -- a wicked cult called the Reborn -- seeks a fabled artifact called the Cradle of Night. Vanished demigods of the Shadow Plane once used this artifact to craft the elusive caligni race, and the Reborn want to use it to shroud the world in darkness once more. Cursed with the stain of shadow, the heroes must battle their way through the tomb of an ancient horselord chieftain before descending to Lyrudrada. Plots and schemes run rampant in this city riven with political upheavals and back-alley bloodshed, and the heroes must collect allies and information to confront the Reborn in their fortified fane. With the mysterious masters of the caligni race arrayed against them, can the heroes hope to shed their shadowy curse and claim the Cradle of Night?

Cover of Adamantine Chef: Supreme Challenge!
Adamantine Chef: Supreme Challenge!
5th Edition
Levels 3–5
14 pages
0

Each year the Emperor holds a competition to select a new Adamantine Chef. When a challenger emerges from outside Kara-Tur, the current Adamantine Chef aims to win before the first dish is served. The challenger turns to heroes in this desperate hour! This adventure pairs action with humor. The menu includes high-flying martial arts action, wild animal hunts, shopping, haiku, and, of course, a food fight! Dish this out as fast food for a fun game night, or use the included tie-ins as extra flavor for an ongoing campaign. Delicious! A Forgotten Realms culinary adventure, featuring: - Tie-ins to the Tyranny of Dragons, Elemental Evil, and Rage of Demons storyline adventures or your own home campaign - Two new monsters - Innovative encounters offering your players unique roleplay and combat experiences - Links to the adventure The Five Deadly Shadows, extending play - A food fight with special food-weapon rules!

Lochfell's Secret
3.5 Edition
Level 15
16 pages
0

Stories of misfortune are often exaggerated, especially when they have been retold many times. For that reason, most people aren't taking seriously the claim that a sea monster living along the coast is eating whole ships full of sailors and swallowing entire families. But there's no denying a few facts -- the town of Lochfell is losing its citizens to a sea monster (one that walks on water no less), someone is stealing that same town's dead, and ships are beginning to choose other ports for unloading their goods. Such a scenario could doom the residents of the small port town to either a monster's gullet or the poorhouse. No one seems to know whether the town's two ongoing problems are connected, but the sea monster never leaves behind a corpse to bury. Is it collecting bodies for some dark purpose? Or did some more powerful evil creature create the sea monster to do its dirty work? Someone in Lochfell knows the answer, and it's up to the PCs to find it out. Lochfell’s Secret is a short D&D adventure for four 15th level player characters (PCs). The story is set in and around the port town of Lochfell. You can place the action in any section of your campaign world where a coastal town on a bay might exist. If there is a small town that the PCs visited in a past adventure but haven’t returned to in quite a while, so much the better. As always, feel free to adapt the material presented here as you see fit to make it work with your campaign.

Cover of Cult of the Gol'Goroth
Cult of the Gol'Goroth
5th Edition
Levels 4–7
9 pages
0

Within the muck and darkness of a cave off in the forest lies an ancient creature. A manifestation of evil and psychosis that causes even devils and demons to turn a blind eye. This monstrosity is known as The Gol'Goroth. Rumors say it has just sockets where there should be eyes, yet it sees everything in this world and in others. It pierces the veil of the mind and inflicts madness on all who come near . . . of course these are surely just rumors. Surely just an excuse to justify the actions of a twisted cult that is ravaging local villages. Surely this is just the manifestation of their crazed minds as they carve their own bones into weapon and slice their own flesh to ribbons - all in the name of the Gol'Goroth

Grotto of The Queen
AD&D
Levels 6–9
15 pages
0

A party of adventures has gone missing and the inhabitants of a local town have been acting strangely it is up to the party to figure out what is going on and stop what ever force are at work on the towns people

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 Old Embers Never Die
Old Embers Never Die
3.5 Edition
Levels 12–13
21 pages
0

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.

Cover of Whitelake Mine
Whitelake Mine
AD&D
Levels 2–4
8 pages
0

"There's this huge fish in my mine," says the gnome, "and you've got one week to get rid of it." A gnomish mine at the bottom of Whitelake is being terrorized by a giant pike. The party has a week to find a way to capture or kill the beast. However, once they do, another monstrous fish attacks. The party eventually finds a tribe of merrow has claimed a cave on the north shore and are releasing the fish to keep the gnomes away.

Cover of Of Water, Tentacles, and Bones
Of Water, Tentacles, and Bones
5th Edition
Levels 5–10
18 pages
0

An ancient power has started to rise and threatens a small town. Venture into dark caves and put an end to the power creating the skeletons within. Intended for 6 characters level 5-10 Approximately 6 hours of play Featuring 7 new monsters A transforming boss encounter Easily set in your own world, Theros, or Ferun Can be run with the basic rules Full of unique art a map handout for your players and maps for your VTT You can lean into horror or you can keep it PG. Suitable for gamers young and old for one long session or three shorter sessions.

Cave of the Spiders
3.5 Edition
Level 9
8 pages
0

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?

Cover of Base of Operations
Base of Operations
3rd Edition
Level 5
7 pages
0

Base of Operations is a short adventure intended for four 5th-level characters. DMs can easily modify the adventure to suit higher- or lower-level adventurers, or larger or smaller parties of adventurers. Simply adding a few monsters to every encounter area makes the adventure more challenging for larger parties, and adding levels to any of the humanoids can make them more of a threat to high-level groups. For low-level adventurers, make the relationship between the two factions within Brightstone Keep more strained, and take away a few monsters from each group. You can remove levels from some of the humanoids in the adventure to make it a lower-level challenge, but it is important that the orc cleric (described in encounter area 8) still have the ability to animate the dead. Still, he can have fewer minions around him when encountered, and that makes him less of a challenge for a lowlevel party.

Cover of The Watcher in the Attic (DC-POA-PND-3)
The Watcher in the Attic (DC-POA-PND-3)
5th Edition
Levels 1–4
23 pages
0

DC-POA-PND-3 The Watcher in the Attic (Part 2 of the Strange Case of Erland Forsk) Strange lights have been appearing in the topmost windows of the Forsk estate, and local cats have been going missing. Will you find out what lurks in the attic? A Two-Hour Adventure for Tier 1 Characters. Optimized for APL 3. Using the DungeonCraft seed Awake and Afraid Don’t go into the Attic! The Strange Case of Erland Forsk is a four part series of DungeonCraft adventures, each 2-hours long. DC-POA-PND-2 What Skitters Beneath? (tier 1) DC-POA-PND-3 The Watcher in the Attic (tier 1) DC-POA-PND-4 Eateat Go Home? (tier 2) DC-POA-PND-5 What Stalks the Night? (tier 2) ``` Unworkable inventions? Lost or shattered Nothing is perfect Nothing is worthless Unloved, dusty, rusty, dirty Here at the top Where the things that are lost find a home in my attic —Professor Elemental, The Attic ```

Cover of A Conspiracy Of Doors
A Conspiracy Of Doors
4th Edition
Level 11
13 pages
0

A Conspiracy of Doors is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure for five player characters of 11th level. It can serve as an introduction to Sigil, the City of Doors, as well as a group of adventurers' first taste of action at the paragon tier.