A Four to Six Hour Adventure for 11th-16th Level Characters in Dungeons and Dragons 5E The Adult Green Dragon Valturnax has attacked the nearby village of Hartsvale, threatening to destroy them completely if they do not submit to his rule by nightfall. To save the town, adventurers must ascend the mountain by climbing through the caves housing the dragon’s minions and face him in his lair – and they need to do so before the sun sets. This adventure is meant to be quite challenging. Enemies know the adventurers are coming and have had time to prepare, and they do so intelligently. This adventure draws some inspiration from Tucker's kobolds. As an added bonus, this adventure is available completely for free.
Dive into a mystery in Lake of Secrets, a darker magic fantasy compatible with any setting. When the sovereign of a war-stricken kingdom goes missing, characters must brave the castle dungeons to find them. Death stalks the dungeon walls and dark deeds come to light as the characters uncover the story of a terrible sacrifice. Designed as a 3-4 hour adventure for 1-6 players of 3rd-5th level, Lake of Secrets is a fresh narrative that explores themes of false promise and isolation, offering characters a choice that will decide the fate of an entire realm.
Yesterday, young Tobias went to investigate an old tomb by himself. Everyone told him it was a bad idea. Everyone was right. Today, you and your companions awaken to a town in chaos. Why is the temple sealed behind a divine shield? Why are children and worshippers trapped within? How do we get inside? What did Tobias do?! Ragged Hollow is a full-service starting town, full of classic creatures and challenges all updated and brought together for newbies and nostalgia-lovers alike. There are goblins and witches in the woods, a house full of traps, a basement of vermin, kobolds in a cave, bandits on the road, riddling ravens, a 50-room temple dungeon, nursery-rhyme monsters, living nightmares, Lovecraftian horrors, and tons of unique items to find. This is a mystery with lots of relevant side-quests around the town. The heroes can investigate the situation, get into the temple, save the innocents, and stop the monsters. And get some loot! ADVENTURE TYPE: Medium Dungeon / Town / Wilderness Adventure DESIGN NOTES This adventure is intended for characters levels 1 to 4. It includes several wilderness areas (forest, hills, mountain), a bustling town, several local mini-dungeons, and one 50-room temple dungeon. Each area contains various encounters and unique items. There are many opportunities for combat, but it is possible for players to explore most areas and complete many interactions without any combat at all, depending on their choices. INCLUDES: Story hooks, dialogue prompts, random encounters, stat blocks, original creatures and treasures, and maps. KEYWORDS: town, village, forest, goblins, goblin market, witches, hags, hills, bandits, ogres, mountain, kobolds, caves, dwarves, temple, clerics, nightmares, demons, riddles, traps, ghosts, fairy tales, Lovecraft, mutant
From time out of mind, the standing stones known as the Circle of Cahervaniel have stood lonely vigil on a grassy hilltop. Sheepherders once moved their flocks over the hill and through the circle, sometimes resting in the cool shadows cast by the ancient stones. Everything changed when a stone finger fell, revealing a fissure in the earth. Now, dark shadows caress the circle after the sun sets. Creatures out of nightmare dance upon the hillside at night. Many swear that a unicorn of deepest ebony now hunts all upon two legs who draw near, while stunted creatures scurry in the shadows, abducting sheep from their sheds and drawing them down below ground for food. After the disappearance of a sheperd, fear grows stronger in neighboring villages. Who will brave the black hollow of the ancient Circle of Cahervaniel? Heroes of stern mettle must descend into the cavity and explore the ancient spaces existing there. Product History "The Shattered Circle" (1999), by Bruce R. Cordell, is a generic adventure for AD&D 2e. It was published in January 1999. Origins: Another Generic. After Wizards of the Coast began publishing D&D, their first year and a half of generic adventures were all classic revivals: returns to RPGA tournaments, to classic adventures, and to Dungeon scenarios. Even "A Paladin in Hell" (1998) was a return in its own way, to the demons and devils that TSR had become afraid of. Wizards was staking out new ground by reclaiming the past. "The Shattered Circle" (1999) was the first generic Wizards adventure that was simply a generic adventure, with no deeper origins and no hidden motives. Artifacts of Note. the foundingstone and the harp Euphonious are both one-off named magic items. However, it's sword Icerazor that's the most interesting. It's said to have grown from a shard of Frostrazor — a sword that would only appear ten months later in Return to White Plume Mountain (1999). There, it's listed as one of Keraptis' four implements of power, alongside Wave, Blackrazor, and Whelm — meaning that Icerazor (and this adventure) are just one step removed from White Plume Mountain itself. Monsters of Note: Chitine. It's somewhat curious, given the Greyhawk and Neverness connections, to note that the chitine debuted in MC11: "Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix" (1991). The spider-humanoids have generally been a Realms creature, featuring in bestiaries and histories for that setting. However, they also received a more generic "Ecology of the Chitine" in Dragon #223 (November 1995), which introduced the choldrith, or chitine priestess. This is their major adventure appearance. When asked about pronouncing their name Cordell says that he "can't be 100% sure of the original designer's pronunciation", but he prefers "KI-TEEN". About the Creators. By 1999, Cordell was one of D&D's most prolific writers. He'd previously authored many slightly related adventures, such as The Gates of Firestorm Peak(1996) and the sahuagin (1997) and illithid (1998) Monstrous Arcana adventure trilogies. This conversion guide allows DMs to run the original module with 5th Edition rules. To use this conversion guide you will need a copy of The Shattered Circle, originally available in hard-copy and now for sale in Digital format at the DMs Guild. This adventure is a generic adventure, not specifically based in any existing setting. Suggestions are given in the conversion guide to place the adventure in the Forgotten Realms.
With a bit of experience under your belts, you roll into the small town of Windomere with the hopes of catching a ferry to the larger community of Sepopolis. Your initial greeting lacked a warm glow and you quickly discover why. Apparently a river pirate with the moniker of ‘Slippery Peat’ and his cronies have been causing quite a stir in the area. You have a bit of a layover…ready to do the region a favor?
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...
Dreams of the sleeping wizard seep into reality. Manifest familiars war over the fate of a remote islet. An infinite garden houses an escaped experiment. The god of purity is fooled for his blessings. Into the nightmare we go. 16 pages contain 3000+ words describing 10+ keyed areas to explore (complete the wandering monsters table), 10+ friends and foes to talk to, 10 magic items to use, and thousands of gold worth of treasure to plunder. The adventure is designed for B/X, or like-systems. It is suitable for 4 to 6 characters of levels 1 to 3. It is heavily inspired by the dungeon synth album The Sleeping Wizard by Umbría, which may serve as a soundtrack.
A free short adventure for four 4th-level characters by Mike Mearls Looking Glass Deep is a flexible, site-based scenario that presents you with the details of the ruined abode of the wizard Urlen Sparlek -- and the gang of outlaws that now occupies the place. This 10-page adventure by Mike Mearls is designed for 4th-level characters. Unlike some site-based scenarios, Looking Glass Deep features a dungeon full of monsters that take proactive steps to defeat the player characters (PCs). Tzarrik the hobgoblin sorcerer is an intelligent tactician with the ability to spy on the party almost at will when the group is within the Deep. His ragged gang of followers work together as a team under his command to repel attackers. Throughout the course of the adventure, the characters have the opportunity to locate an artifact called book the key of the way , discover the mysteries of the throne of the Deep -- and perhaps, in the end, even gain themselves a new headquarters. Published by Malhavoc Press
Centuries ago, a green dragon terrorized the civilized lands near its lair. As the beast grew in power, countless cult followers gathered. With the help of its worshipers, the dragon transformed into a runescribed dracolich. The dragon and its cult grew larger and more powerful over the centuries. This, of course, led to war with the surrounding nations. After terrible battles and much loss, the cultists were slaughtered and the dragon destroyed, but its phylactery could not be found. The beast reformed, gathered cultists anew, and again was defeated. The phylactery still could not be found. This time, the powers of civilization decided not to destroy the beast, but to trap it, locking it away and setting various guards. Recently, a divination ritual performed by someone the PCs respect revealed that great peril will arise if a creature lairing in Mount Sorrowspire (the dracolich) is not destroyed. Pgs. 180-185
An investigative city crawl adventure for Shadowdark RPG (or any OSR-style system), designed for experienced players levels 1-2 Set in the decaying city of Brannam, players unravel a web of fear, blood, and buried secrets. A local alchemist has begun killing in secret, rekindling old fears of an old terror. The city's decline threatens to spiral into collapse, and far below, something older and hungrier waits to wake. This adventure includes: 3 separate dungeons (The flooded Sewers, the forgotten Catacombs, and the cursed Ruins of Edric von Braech's keep) Open ended design and layered mysteries with multiple outcomes and failure states A fully explorable city with random encounters, evolving factions and escalating panic. Custom rules for spell mishaps, nightly murder checks and decay events as Brannam unravels Modular content designed to drop into your campaign
"Several small wagon trains have recently been overrun by a force of goblins and wolves while the former were camped out at night. Among the attackers was a titanic black beast on which some of the goblins rode, a monster so huge that it crushed whole wagons beneath its feet and flung horses and riders aside with its arms." --from the adventure. Includes an extensive narrative opening to the adventure and a map of the cave system.
"The Hive" is a spawn of Arbeyach lair, also featuring giant termites and termite swarms, for five 6th-level characters. This adventure can be finished in one session. Several mounds in the Forsaken Hills are the dens of voracious termites that have added flesh to their diet to supplement dwindling wood supplies. At night, swarms of termites hunt and devour prey. They swarm over victims in wooden carts and wagons, and bring the dismantled wood back to their mounds. Three spawn of Arbeyach, searching for a location to summon Ia'Affrat, Arbeyach's herald, discovered a mound filled with particularity nasty termites and used their vermin empathy to gain acceptance. They dug out a cavern beneath the mound, and now use the termites to protect themselves and gather food while they complete a difficult ritual involving dozens of sacrifices. The final sacrifice is prepared and the spawn are finishing their ritual when the party arrives.
As the party faces an ancient foe who has never been defeated, their hunt threatens to unleash the buried ghosts of a forgotten feud between two of Waterdeep's powerful merchant houses. The third adventure in the Vampires of Waterdeep Campaign Arc. Pgs 70-93
Guilds Town is in the middle of Dravens, a province of the realm of Shrave. 50 years ago, the neighboring dwarven province of Kiernard rebelled and tried to overthrow the green dragon Shrave who rules the realm. They failed and their province was dissolved. Dwarves who left the province mostly fled to Dravens, and are called Nards as both a racial slur and a stigma of their people’s dishonor. Guilds Town are the ones really in control of the province and are the current opposition of the Dravens nobility. In recent times, corruption and crime in the city have risen to new heights as 4 cults compete for control of the city and their citizens. Published by NaturalCrit
The legendary spellcaster Emirikol the Chaotic has turned the region into a wild magic zone, a place where all magic goes awry. The only way to put things back to normal is to retrieve the source of the problem deep inside the Ooze Chambers of Emirikol! This adventure is for 4th level characters and can be run on its own or as part 3 of the Litany of Arrows adventure path. This adventure contains, 2 pages of new magic items, 8 new monsters and NPCs, a full write-up of Bwimb II, the Paraelemental Princess of Ooze, an entity referred to in many D&D products but never fully fleshed out and stats for the 3rd edition iconic heroes Regdar and Mialee, who play a major role in this adventure. It's got over 10 pieces of original art, full color maps, tagged and untagged, and a special handout for the player who obtains the Ooze Fist of Emirikol. This adventure builds on the story begun in the platinum-selling Castle of Corellon and the follow-up, Warpath of Gruumsh.
Rising from the surface of a massive lake, an ancient ziggurat travels through time for purposes unknown. It’s up to the characters to enter this strange relic and discover what dark threat the structure poses. The Ziggurat Beyond Time contains advice for customizing the adventure for your own campaign. It also contains an artifact, the Deluvian Hourglass, that has time-related properties and wishes to witness the end of the world. Pgs. 23-55
The slave markets of Katapesh may be an unsavory sort of business, but the trade metropolis’s enigmatic law enforcers have few qualms with the legal act of selling and buying flesh. Other factions, including the abolitionist Eagle Knights of Andoran, have their own opinions on the matter, however, and frequently send undercover agents into dangerous territory to break up slave rings. When one such Eagle Knight goes missing while investigating an underground slave operation beneath the dilapidated Twilight Gate district, it’s up to the PCs to delve an abandoned (but hardly uninhabited) qanat beneath Katapesh and discover her dire fate. Yet not everything is as it seems in the dank slave caverns under Twilight Gate, and clues hint that the slavers may have even more loathsome connections than initially suspected.
This is an adventure for one or two sessions with a group of 3-5 players from the level 3rd-5th. In this adventure you will be getting into a story full of humor and horror that will lead up to a big and marvelous theatre performance. The beloved local bard was kidnapped by a mad theatre nerd of a necromancer, which uses the bard in his grotesque production. It is on your party to save him! To run this adventure you need a Monster Manual 5e from Wizards of the Coast. Included: 3 adventure hooks to choose from Quick-start to get you right into the game A full script for the final play for you to perform 3 battlemaps with and without grid (included as JPG) Map of the town also usable as a starting town for your campaign (included as JPG) Custom monsters “Actor Skeleton”, “Broom Skeleton”, “Reginald van Fare” (Necromancer) _________________________________________ Dies ist ein Abenteuer für ein bis zwei Spielabende für eine Abenteuergruppe der 3. - 5. Stufe. Dieses Abenteuer ist eine lachhaft schaurige und furchterregend lustige Erzählung von einem Barden, welcher in einer feuchtfröhlichen Nacht von einem wahnsinnigen Dramaturg-Nekromanten in sein Theater entführt wird. Das ganze endet schließlich in einer pompösen Aufführung. Um das Abenteuer zu leiten, benötigt man ein Monsterhandbuch, vorzugsweise in englischer Fassung, da die Referenzen sich auf die englische Version beziehen. Inkludiert: 3 Abenteuereinstiege von denen man auswählen kann. Einen „Schnellstart“ um dich schnell zu Recht zu finden. Ein komplettes Drehbuch für die Aufführung. 3 Battlemaps mit und ohne Gitternetzlinien. Eine Karte für SpielleiterInnen und eine für SpielerInnen vom Dorf Höttingheim, welches auch gut als Startdorf für eine Kampagne verwendet werden kann. In Höttingheim gibt es einiges zu entdecken und NSCs kennen zu lernen. 4 eigene Monster die im Stück vorkommen. Deutsche Version hier: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/278151/Das-Mysteriose-Makaberitaten-Theater-2024-5e?view_as_pub=1
Decades ago, witnesses reported a fearsome cryptid outside of the quiet River Kingdoms town of Shimmerford. Dubbed the Mosquito Witch, it was rarely seen since and quickly became a beloved local legend that the town celebrates and promotes to attract visitors. But when recent attacks began savaging livestock and townsfolk alike, many have started believing the Mosquito Witch was real all along. The PCs travel to Shimmerford to unravel the cryptid mystery, but might they just become the witch's next victim?
A nearly forgotten dwarven kingdom once ruled these mountains. Its rulers were wealthy beyond compare. Time and greed wore the kingdom to dust and now all that remains are ruins and wonders. Recently coins of that ancient kingdom have appeared in the streams of the foothills to the south of the mountains. Rumors have passed with tankards of ale that a vault laden with gold is waiting to be found. You and your friends, on a fortnight's furlough from guard duty, have set off in search of this lost horde.