A madman stalks the fog-shrouded streets of Paridon, killing with gruesome precision - and always at midnight. A party of brave adventurers witnesses the most recent of these brutal murders. Now that they've seen the killer's face, they're sure to be his next targets. Who can be trusted in this city where the residents are not what they appear to be? Those who dare to track the killer will find strange allies - and even stranger enemies. The adventurers must investigate the ancient mystery behind the murders that take place when the clock strikes the "Hour of the Knife." This 64-page adventure includes a full-color poster-sized map of Paridon. The adventure is based on the popular RPGA Network tournament by Bruce Nesmith. TSR 9456
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!
This horror-based adventure takes the characters to a manor shrouded in mists to discover that it is inhabited by deceased victims, arcane experiments, and a ruthless woman looking for new victims. The characters become trapped in the mists and must unravel the history surrounding the dubious deeds that have taken place in the manor. To leave, they must either defeat evil or bargain with it.
Who could know what is hidden within the secluded mansion of the crazed mage? Well, now, when nobody has seen him here for more than a year, it’s the best time to find out! A 4-hour adventure for two 1st–2nd level characters. Small Party Adventure: Though the party size of 3–5 characters is considered optimal in D&D, there are times when you can only gather one or two players at most. This adventure is designed exactly for such occasions.
A derelict raft drifts into Mulmaster’s harbor carrying a young woman. Delirious with hunger, the only words she seems able to speak so far have been “ash and fire.” The only other clue to her identity is an ornate tattoo. Is the woman insane, or is something nefarious at play?
The players are invited to a Winter Gala in Waterdeep. After a guest is killed, investigations ensue to the fiendish nature of the home that the gala took place in. There are shopping opportunities on the way in.
Sehvain Malual is renowned for his work in necromancy, using the dark art to destroy the undead pestilence polluting the world. However every warrior must hang his proverbial sword and retiring from adventuring life, the wizened elf settled down in a nearby town purchasing a small townhouse. Here, he would finally find the peace he so craved, or such he hoped before he found The Black Lexicon. What dark intent consumes Sehvain’s time is anyone’s guess, but only the PC can uncover the Legacy of Darkness.
In the Lodge, things are simple. They can look like you. They want to BE you. And in their home, the only thing standing between you and death is six millimeters of glass. Can you escape the Polished? Find out in Six Millimeters, a thrilling horror adventure for the world's greatest roleplaying game! Take 4-6 of your friends through the Lodge, an extradimensional space overrun by nightmarish beings that can strike from any reflective surface. Shardlings revel in the paranoia caused by their reflective horrors, sowing doubt and mayhem until the opportune moment presents itself. Panes, meanwhile use their impressive stature to quickly overwhelm their foes. Spellcasters especially are in for a nasty surprise! This adventure is intended for 1st-level characters and uses milestone advancement to ensure they reach 3rd-level throughout the course of the game. For players who take their time investigating the Lodge and discovering its dreadful past, this adventure may take 7-9 hours to complete. Given the adventure’s horror elements and milestone advancement, Six Millimeters is easy to use as a starting scenario to the Curse of Strahd adventure. Content Warning: Suicide, Self Mutilation
Haunted House Fun House Dungeon. Tegel Manor, a great manor-fortress on the seacoast, is rumored to be left over from ancient days when a charm was placed over it protecting it from most of the ravages of time and human occupation. The hereditary owners, whos family name is Rump, have been amiss in their traditional duty of providing protection for the market village to the west. Some have said tha this failing and their bizarre eccentricities have led to their corruption. Many have found the manor and area to be a dangerous place to visit! A huge haunted house with a 17"x22" Judges map and a 11"x17 Players map, printed on both sides, brown on high-quality tan stock. Each map has the manor printed on one side and the surrounding wildernes on the other. Enclosed in the product is a 32-page booklet with room and monster descriptions. Over 240 rooms and chambers include a hall of magic portraits and four secret dungeon levels beneatht the manor. The booklet also has tables to create magic statues, ghostly encounters, resurrection results, and more. Tegal Manor has always been one of our more popular playing aids, and has been a lot of fun for Judges and players all over the country. This is an officially approved playing aid for use with D&D. This edition was published by Gamescience.
The Final Stand of the Fallen Leaf is a companion adventure made to go along with the events unfolding in Folio #17 (WS4 Samurai's Fall). It contains the information needed to run a side adventure that will finish off the Distant Turtle City story line with the final defeat of the Fallen Leaf Ninja Clan. Distant Turtle City is now free, at least in the aspect of the curse, but a dark power still lives near the old city graveyard, and that power will surely continue to rebuild and spread if not expunged once and for all. This adventure is formatted to both 1E & 5E gaming rules.
This is an adventure for four 6th to 7th level PC's that may be completed in a single session. The Untamed are a street gang in a busy city. A recent change in leadership has transformed the members from pickpockets and second-story thieves into kidnappers for an inter-dimensional aberration named Xlrieh'oc. Their hideout is now a strange and wicked factory, capable of extracting the firm essence from a person; the process leaves the victim partly ethereal and their form no longer casts a shadow. Although most victims die during the procedure, those who survive are conscripted into the gang. The extracted essence is crated and shipped to the aberration's home plane through a breach between worlds in the hideout's backroom.
A simple hunt for a werewolf, or so we thought. Find its lair and slay the beast. No use for wolfsbane or other superstitions. Silver and magic would win the day. A worthy challenge, but nothing horrific, surely. Yet we never expected what we found in the Graenseskov, and our hubris cost us dearly... 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐤𝐨𝐯 is an 80-page bookmarked Ravenloft® adventure for characters of 1st-4th levels focused on mystery and exploration. It can be used in conjunction with 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐡𝐝, either as an introduction to Barovia or adapted as a side quest, as part of the original expanded Ravenloft setting, or it can be used as a stand-alone horror adventure-setting. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟔 𝐭𝐨 𝟐𝟒 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬, and potentially much more for groups embracing an investigative style of play. In the mists at the edge of Count Strahd von Zarovich’s realm lies the Graenseskov, a land of deep woods and bleak hills overrun with wolves. A Beast haunts these misty lands, leaving bloody corpses and terror in its wake, the product of a hag’s curse placed upon the boyar’s manor. But the Beast is no arbitrary killer. The PCs find themselves drawn into the mystery of uncovering the Beast’s identity and breaking the hag’s curse before the Beast’s final victim gurgles their last breath and the Beast is beyond any hope of redemption. Requires the 𝐃𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 and the 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥. This is a 63 Mb ZIP file containing a watermarked PDF of the updated adventure, a PDF with handouts, a PDF DM's cheat sheet, and PNG files of the Graenseskov region map for the DM and players. 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬: • The DM (or the Tarokka) determines the guilty suspect and their motives, offering a different experience for each group’s play-through. • A vivid cast of characters with a NPC index. • Escalating random encounters, special events, and techniques for DMing a mystery. • New monsters: black annis hag & loup du noir. • All units given in SI & metric. • Handouts and maps for DMs and players. • DM's cheat sheet with quick prep notes, clue checklist, handy Tarokka tables, tips on running the Beast, and a decision point flowchart. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰 May 16, 2016 DM's Guild Pick of the Episode! Thanks James! http://www.thetomeshow.com/e/round-table-119-giants-and-the-talented-bestiary/ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐆 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝟐, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: The big update! Fixed several editing and grammar errors, including an error in Appendix D, and the repeated paragraph on page 12 (page 13 in new document). Added a new special event - Hanging the Vistani - to Chapter 1 which ties together several dangling plot threads. Clarified "Adjusting the Adventure" & added Werewolves in the Mist to the "Adventure Hooks" in the Introduction. Added two pieces of thematic filler art. 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟏𝟖, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞: Added a DM's cheat sheet PDF to the zip file.
The player characters have been invited to compete in the infamous Laureate Trials. The Laureates are a well-known adventuring guild. Once a year, they allow a select group of known adventurers to take part in the Laureate Trials. The prize is becoming an official member of the Laureates, with all the perks and responsibilities that awards. Rumour has it that new initiates will be awarded a coveted Laureate Pin, with special powers of communication. This adventure is a starting module, designed for new players and Game Masters. It should take 1 - 2 hours with a standard group of 4 players. Everything you need to know is contained inside or in the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules. It is ideal for helping a beginning group of heroes get started and giving them a motivation for further adventures. Inside, there are Trials to test Agility, Wits and Combat, plus a special encounter at the end which will determine the fate of a forgotten individual.
Long ago, a local priest created a warded graveyard on a remote hillside. As the years passed, it gained a reputation as a spot whose defenses were powerful enough to keep undead in and tomb robbers out. Adventurers began to bring the remains of any creatures they suspected might become restless in death to the Tomb Steppe for interment, and in time they also sought aid against such creatures from the friendly priest. After his death, a brief spate of undead activity commenced, then died away once again. As the years passed, the tales of undead activity in the Tomb Steppe faded into legend, and colonists began to move into the lands nearby. The town of Night Falls was founded a short distance from the graveyard, and it grew quickly into a thriving trade center and farming community. Realizing that the Tomb Steppe was safe enough during the day, the citizens began burying their dead there rather than building new crypts on pristine farmland. Because this method of interment was cheap and easy, people from many surrounding communities brought their dead to the town as well. The business of burial brought new prosperity to Night Falls, and a guild called the Funerary House sprang up to control the trade. But it seems that the threat from the Tomb Steppe has not entirely been laid to rest. The Great Mausoleum -- the largest and finest tomb in the steppe, has been unsealed, and an apparition has been seen within. Who will go to the Tomb Steppe by night and reseal the tomb? Lest Darkness Rise is a short adventure for four 7th-level characters. In keeping with the season, it has a stronger horror theme than most D&D adventures. This scenario can be used as the climax of a series of adventures featuring its secondary characters, or it can simply be a site-based adventure that the PCs stumble across at the right moment. The scenario is set in a semi-civilized area in the far north, far from cities and churches, where winters are harsh and summers never get very hot. These inhospitable conditions have resulted in a low humanoid population. The scenario need not be set in such a wilderness; a rural farming community far from cities works just as well. The only real requirement is that the area have few settlements. The action takes place in the small town of Night Falls and a nearby necropolis of tombs, mausoleums, and graves known as the Tomb Steppe. As always, feel free to adapt the material presented here as you see fit to make it work with your campaign.
Ages ago, a religious order known as the Druun practiced rituals from inside sacred oak groves, ceremonial pools, and stone henges. In time, the Church of Law and Order suppressed the Druunic teachings, and the ancient holy sites were lost, forgotten, or converted to other uses. One such former site is located in the capital city of Dolmvay in the center of a small neighborhood known as Whiteoak Square. This neighborhood has recently been experiencing a strange phenomenon: At night, small dancing lights have been seen floating throughout the neighborhood. The residents were afraid of this sorcery at first, however, the lights seem to exude a feeling of peace and contentment, and the locals have grown used to them. How it Started: A few weeks ago, a butcher named Walton Brand was clearing out his cellar when he stumbled upon a secret underground passage that led to an ancient Druun hall. This hall was filled with lost relics, arcane lore, and forgotten treasures of the Druun. Walton told his friends, Loomis the Baker and the chandler Stefan of Walsbury, and the three men began sneaking away from their wives at night to dress in Druun finery and pretend to be men of wealth. A harlot named Red Kirsten was hired to attend them as they drank, feasted, and cavorted in the sacred hall. Unbeknownst to the revelers, the Druun hall still retained some of its magical powers and their merriment awakened the ancient guardian spirits of the grove. These creatures, known as faerlings, are the lights that have been seen dancing throughout the neighborhood. The faerlings were given life by the revelers' glee, and they project that joy and happiness onto the other residents of the neighborhood. This glee, however, is about to turn to horror. . . Oak Grove Whispers is a Labyrinth Lord™ adventure designed for 3-6 characters of 1st-3rd levels (about 10 levels total). The adventure is broken up into three chapters that take place in a small neighborhood located in the capital city of Dolmvay (the Labyrinth Lord is free to substitute any medium- to large-sized city from his own campaign world). Oak Grove Whispers involves a mixture of roleplaying, investigation, and dungeon crawling, so a diverse range of classes is recommended. As the adventure is set in a civilized city, the characters must also be careful their interaction with NPCs does not land them on the wrong side of the law. Published by Small Niche Games
An omnious encounter with a fortuneteller sends a party of adventurers on a 200-mile journey across the Lands of Intrigue. While traveling throught the towns and terrain (detailed here for the first time) that lie in their path, they hear rumors and obtain clues about their mission. Their ultimate destination is Castle Spulzeer, a once proud stronghold that has become a den of terror. When the heroes enter the haunted keep, they meet a terrifying trio of residents: a madman armed with stolen magical power, a liche whose secret laboratory houses untold horrors and treasure, and a furious ghost bent on revenge. These three ensnare the party in their fight over an ancient weapon. Each will stop at nothing to keep it from the other two. The heroes must choose with whom they will ally - and the wrong choice could lead to their doom. Castle Spulzeer is an adventure complete in itself. However, as a crossover story, it offers every Dungeon Master a choice between two endings. The first leaves the party in the Realms. The second transports the characters to the Demiplane of Dread, where the plot continues in the Ravenloft adventure The Forgotten Terror. For 4 to 6 Characters of Levels 8-12 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 Castle Spulzeer, originally available in hard-copy and now for sale in digital format on the DMs Guild. Visit Classicmodulestoday.com for instructions on creating your own classic module conversions and selling them on the DMs Guild. Castle Spulzeer was originally scheduled for publication by TSR in June 1997. Then, near-bankruptcy caused a total failure of TSR's schedule, resulting in no books being published from February through the very end of July. Some books would be delayed for over a year, and others would disappear altogether, but Castle Spulzeer was relatively lucky: it was just delayed four months, until October 1997. The reason may well have been its theming, and its crossover with the Ravenloft line, which made Castle Spulzeer a great Halloween release. Castle Spulzeer has an even more far-reaching connection: its ending can lead players to the demiplane of Ravenloft and The Forgotten Terror adventure. This was probably intended as a bit of advertising for Domains of Dread (1997), the third edition of Ravenloft which was released in August 1997. In other words: in their last days, TSR was working very hard to cross-market their products, but they didn't live long enough to see the success of the Spulzeer-Intrigue-Dread connection.
A new, expanded, OSR-ised, prettified edition of Joseph R. Lewis’ Ragged Hollow Nightmare which was rated among The Best by Tenfootpole. Joseph Lewis hit a perfect balance between the classics of dungeonverse fantasy and the whimsy of the folk tales we love so much (as testified by our Folklore Bestiary. we released last year), adding a dash of dreamworld strangeness and a pinch of body horror to spice up his brew. We did our best to respect his recipe when adding our extra material (about 30 pages of it). We worked with Joe and Li-An (the perfect artist to give life to spooky Ragged Hollow and its strange surroundings) to make the best module we could: a solid introduction to old-school gaming for both players and gamemasters. And for the veterans among us, it also makes an excellent, full-fledged campaign starter. Nightmare over Ragged Hollow is a sandbox adventure centred around a quaint town at the edge of the kingdom. But however quiet life in Ragged Hollow is, the town lies between places where you shouldn’t be traveling alone. Places like Gloam Wood (“A witch or two lurk there!”), the Bleak Mountains (“I’m told there are bugbears…”) and their infamous Mount Mourn (“Home, they say, to cursed Dwarven ruins”), not to forget the Wailing Hills (“Bandits on every road!”). There’s even a haunted house by the river (“That mad inventor riddled it with traps!”). But only when an impenetrable dome of golden light materialises around the Temple of Halcyon (“Hey, my kids go to school there!”) do things really get out of hand. Some selfless heroes (or, failing that, a bunch of greedy ne’er-do-wells) should really get involved. One town with three adventure mini-sites Three small dungeons One 50-room dungeon Three hexes with 16 detailed locations Two groups of potential allies or rivals Sixteen pre-generated characters One deadly countdown! Written for the Old-School Essentials (OSE) rule system
Desolate and abandoned, the evil alchemist's mansion stands alone on the cliff, looking out towards the sea. Mysterious lights and ghostly hauntings have kept away the people of Saltmarsh, despite rumors of a fabulous, forgotten treasure. What is its sinister secret. Made for 5-10 character of levels 1-3, contains maps, handouts and encounter descriptions. The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is the first installment in a series of three modules designed and developed in the United Kingdom for beginning adventures with the AD&D rules. TSR 9062
The PCs are singled out by happenstance as prophesied heroes who will find and return a great wizard to his family. Once brought back to the the family chateau, they are brought on as paid companions and free to explore the location as they wish. This is a large sandbox style adventure with several plots going on, including assassination, a wedding, false accusations of murder, and many machinations of the nobles to solidify or gain power. Whole this is going on the PCs are dropped into dream sequences where they learn more about the missing wizard and learn how and where to find and free him
A Ghastly Mess is a one-shot adventure for a group of 3rd-level characters that takes place in a haunted mansion Unlike your regular haunted house, the inhabitants of this building are far from scary. The ghosts of the former staff still live in it—or, well, unlive—not realizing they’re deceased and unable to move on because of it. The Lord of the mansion still awaits the return of his beloved, Lenore, for which he has commanded the staff to have the house in pristine condition. Help the only alive member of the staff, a sleepwalking old-man, clean the house, defeat any and all monsters that might be lurking in the somewhat abandoned building and help the ghosts pass on to the great beyond in this short but exciting adventure! The story includes a host of interesting characters for your players to meet, each with their own unique personalities and accompanying art; an array of unique monsters specially designed to challenge your party in more ways than one; and an intriguing mystery surrounding Lenore’s fate and what happened to the members of the staff. Now, you might be thinking “hey, this ain’t spooky at all, what gives?” and to that I say: how dare you?! Nothing is scarier than doing your chores! That’s why we built an adventure around it! That being said, A Ghastly Mess is not meant to be a scary story, but rather an interesting mystery-type of social adventure. Most combats can be resolved by running away, the stakes are low, and the NPCs don’t think of the situation as anything more than a normal day in their lives. The tragic aspects of the story have already happened by the times the characters show up, and the intent is for everything to go well from there.