The hamlet of Thistle has a problem. The river they depend on for trade and food was recently poisoned with a tide of filth, and a goblin named Belig has claimed responsibility. If the people of Thistle don’t pay a ransom, Belig has promised them much worse will come with the next poison tide. A Forgotten Realms adventure for 1st-level characters.
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.
Kavalar Coppernight, a dwarf prospector, led a couple of dozen volunteers in a quest for rich veins of ore. Several months ago, they began underground mining operations, as well as a surface excavation for a small keep. Hearing of this development, the mayor of the nearest town sent two veteran militia members to investigate. They should have returned two days ago, and the mayor is growing anxious. The PCs are asked by the mayor to find out what happened to the two militia members. Pgs. 12-17
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.
Somewhere under a lost and lonely hill of grim and foreboding aspect lies a labyrinthine crypt. It is filled with terrible traps and not a few strange and ferocious monsters to slay the unwary. It is filled with rich treasures both precious and magical, but in addition to the aforementioned guardians, there is said to be a demilich who still wards his final haunt (Be warned that tales told have it that this being possesses powers which make him nearly undefeatable). Accounts relate that it is quite unlikely that any adventurers will ever find the chamber where the demilich Acererak lingers, for the passages and rooms of the Tomb are fraught with terrible traps, poison gases, and magical protections. Furthermore, the demi-lich has so well hidden his lair, that even those who avoid the pitfalls will not be likely to locale their true goal. In the far reaches of the world, under a lost and lonely hill, lies the sinister TOMB OF HORRORS. This Labyrinthine crypt is filled with terrible traps, strange and ferocious monsters, rich and magical treasures, and somewhere within rests the evil Demi-Lich. TSR 9022
Beneath Castle Bergfried lies the vault of the grief-struck Baron – heavily infested with a crystalline virus from the past. Here an adventure party must choose between rival forces that seek to explore the vault and decide the future of the Inside World. ‘Vault of the Mad Baron’ is the second installment in a series of three modules in the Inner World. It can be played as a stand-alone adventure or be added as a small barony to an ongoing campaign. The scenario can be used with Swords & Wizardry or any other early variant of game rules and is suitable for PCs level 2-5. Inside you will find: A 60+ page old-school module with a layout optimized for fast and easy interfacing. An adaptable barony complete with town, castle and dungeon. Unique districts with encounters and sights. 6 major factions fully detailed with headquarter, plans, and missions for the PCs. Detailed description of a castle and associated dungeon levels. Downloadable maps for both players and the Referee. Locations allowing the PCs to travel to another era within the setting. Unique new creatures and magic items.
Devastated in a war with a nearby wizards' school, the Fighters' Academy has since been surrounded by a foul and dank swamp - the Gloomfens. Since the climatctic battle between the wizards and fighters, the tower has decayed. The spirit of the head of the academy haunts the building, eternally plotting his revenge on the wizards who killed him. his loyal sutdents remain faithful to him even in death. Other foul undead have made their home in the rotting, spacious academy. From their lair, they make forays into farmsteads near the swamp in search of victims to feed their unspeakable appetites. The Problem of these terrible attacks by the savage undead will not stop until the evil that has found a home at the tower is burned from the face of the land forever. Will your party heed the call and help the town of Melinir? Will they be able to clear the former Academy of its undead? Lair of the Vampire Lord is the third in a three part adventure, The Haunted Tower. Or, it can be ran as a stand alone adventure. The choice is up to you. Part of TSR 1081 The Haunted Tower
While lightning may strike anywhere, there is but a single Temple of Pure Lightning. This temple could be located just about anywhere – out in the middle of an expansive dungeon or even hidden beneath the streets of a bustling city. Regardless, this temple is not for the faint of heart. Within these walls are floors charged with lightning, ancient powerful weaponry, a vast series of winding powered minecarts, and rooms that are filled with eternal storm clouds. Just as dangerous are the aetherspawn that have been drawn to this place of great power and now see it as a home that will not be taken from them by the likes of a few mere adventurers.
Finish up this Dwarven Forge world of Mythras trilogy in the epic conclusion of The Hidden Valoria Campaign. Master your occupation of the neighborhood of the Patina Court. In this climactic end your players will fight paralyzing hate crawlers, kobold trap masters, spiders, and even a dragon and a mummy lord before a final betrayal awaits This adventure is formatted to both 1E & 5E gaming rules. Also available in PDF.
Will your party survive the frostbite Frostbite Gauntlet? A sequel to The Great Trial, this module is an arctic, highly challenging gauntlet focused on exploration and combat, planned for fours 10th-level characters. The adventure can be also run as a one-shot or as part of any campaign for that level. For more information on The Great Trial, see at the end of this page. The module is divided in two parts: Chapter 1 The gauntlet itself, the party will be taken to a demi-plane against their will and from there, they have a simple goal: leave. However, a powerful undead guardian will make things difficult. The party needs to find some of the sources of power of Deathwings, the guardian, to weaken it and have a chance against it. Chapter 2 After leaving, the group will arrive at a cave complex made of stone and ice. A ancient dracolich names Icingdeath will chase the party, squeezing through the tight tunnels, always on the party' heels. Once out, the party is greeted by Aenor and offered their rewards.
It all begins with a simple request (doesn’t it always?) from an old farmer. The request – protect his cattle herd from vicious wolves. Simple enough for the brave adventurers, right? But it doesn’t stay that way. Not at all. Soon, the adventuring party will find themselves in the thick of it as they solve puzzles, avoid traps, fight for their lives, and endure witty taunting. And in the end, they discover an artifact that may, or may not, be useful to them. This adventure includes a cursed shield, a new undead creature, and a new artifact. Total party experience earned is approximately 14,500.
A self-contained weird and wonderful adventure! Mutant rats, beautiful maps, and strange loot! Madness of the Rat King is an 5th edition adventure for a party of low-level characters. You can start a new adventure with Madness of the Rat King, insert it into an ongoing campaign, or run it alongside the Fiery Grog Tavern supplement! This romp through a mad alchemist’s lair can be run from start to finish in about one or two gaming sessions. The module requires little planning beforehand aside from reading it over. Everything you need to run the game, from maps to monster stats, is contained within these pages. The adventure has enough encounters and challenges to advance the party by one level by the end of it. This adventure package includes: A self-contained adventure that will entertain a group for one or two sessions Plenty of hooks to lead the party into the adventure and even more plot lines to continue the story after this adventure is complete Gorgeous high resolution maps of the entire dungeon for print or online play made by Ross McConnell from 2minutetabletop.com 11 brand new monsters 8 brand new magic items
A great evil force descended on the town of Phlan years ago. The townspeople were all either killed or driven away, and Phlan became (literally) a ghost town. Fifty years later, the survivors are ready to reclaim their town. But they need a band of strong and brave adventurers to lead the fight-they need you. Ruins of Adventure is a set of connected short adventures written by James Ward, David "Zeb" Cook, Steve Winter and Mike Breault-four names familiar to all AD&D game fans. It uses the same setting, locations and characters as the classic computer game Pool of Radiance by Strategic Simulations, Inc. In fact, many of the scenarios here in Ruins of Adventure will provide important clues to the successful completion of Pool of Radiance. TSR 9238
Kingdom of the Blind is a short adventure for four 8th-level characters. The adventure is set in a minor duchy that is fairly removed from the ruler of the land. As a result, trouble can brew in the land and the king would not know immediately. The PCs faced all manner of fungus last time. Perhaps with a little more investigation, they'll discover what's really going on with Zhanna and Dephyl.
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.
The Domes of Ishaq-Zahur adventure is a tabletop roleplaying game module for 5th Edition D&D and Pathfinder featuring challenging combat and traps, a gamut of mind-bending puzzles, a completely custom cast of NPCs and monsters, detailed backstory and plot, and guidelines detailing the best ways to run the sessions standalone or incorporate it into your ongoing campaign. Domes of Ishaq-Zahur introduces the players and characters to a dangerous desert world and the elusive history of the precursor races. Part 1 of the Fate of the Forebears Adventure Path Produced by 2CGaming
The Sword and Crown is an event unrivaled in Anuirean politics. Every five years, rulers come from across the land to renew friendships, cement alliances, and provoke their enemies with poisoned words and sharpened swords. Wheels turn within wheels, and plots abound. It's politics as usual in Anuire. Except this conclave is different. Not only is it taking place in your kingdom, but before the festivities can even commence, someone wages an attack on Prince Avan and kidnaps his daughter. And to whom do the regents turn to rescue the princess? The hosts, of course! The PCs must win their way past dangerous bandits and treacherous elves to discover a path through darkest caverns, where the slightest misstep mean death. And only then does the real threat become apparent! This adventure contains a 64-page book crammed with details about the setting, the situation, and the major characters, plus a full-color mapsheet. It is designed for use with the BIRTHRIGHT boxed set. TSR 3102
Where's Robin Hood When You Need Him? The Sheriff of Nottingham and the outlaws of Sherwood Forest share a common enemy. Will an unlikely alliance end this newest threat to the land? Pgs. 42-67
Half a century ago the legendary mage Delekin reached his zenith but began a fall of monumental disaster. After being betrayed by his party the mage changed alignment and began a cruel tirade against the residents. He was finally taken down by the Lords of Evil and imprisoned in a tomb created to lure good adventurers to their death. Many have entered the unholy locale and none have returned. Whatever evil is present in the tomb is powerful, and most likely very wealthy. This adventure is one of the Original series i.e. an early work!
Kingdom of the Blind is a short adventure for four 8th-level characters. The adventure is set in a minor duchy that is fairly removed from the ruler of the land. As a result, trouble can brew in the land and the king would not know immediately. About three years ago, a medusa, Zhanna Serpentlock, began systematically turning every person in Duke Jellhyn Fedorel's (N male human Ari5) duchy to stone. After losing many peasants to the medusa, Jellhyn attempted to placate her. He offered her his second son, Dephyl, for a husband. Duke Jellhyn and his family had always been rather tense and uncomfortable around Dephyl anyway due to the fact that Dephyl had lost an eye in a freak magical explosion as a boy. Zhanna accepted the marriage, and though Dephyl didn't really care for his family due to how they treated him, he was also less than happy with the arrangement. A year ago, Zhanna appeared at Fedorel's citadel again. She claimed that Dephyl had been untrue and that she had turned him to stone for his adultery. Throwing Dephyl's stone head down in the courtyard of the citadel, she swore vengeance on all Fedorels for his betrayal. Duke Fedorel and his household fled the citadel. Rather than give chase, Zhanna took up residence there and began ruling the duchy as the sole remaining Fedorel family member. Jellhyn and his family have lived in exile for a year. This is what the PCs can learn, but more is going on. As it turns out, Dephyl is alive and quite happy with his marriage. Zhanna is not repulsed by his disfigurement as his family was, and Dephyl's missing eye is something of an asset in the relationship since it lessens his chance of being accidentally petrified by his wife. In the two years of his marriage, he has grown up and gained ambition -- he wants to rule. As a second son (pawned off on a monster), he would never have received the chance. Now, with Zhanna's help, he can rule. However, Dephyl doesn't have the stomach for killing his father and brother. Instead, he and Zhanna plotted to take over the duchy by frightening everyone away. Zhanna carved a stone bust of Dephyl and used it to frighten off the rest of his family. Now Dephyl and Zhanna live happily in the citadel and rule the duchy together, though Dephyl's existence among the living is a secret.