The adventure takes players from a town devastated by an unexpected flood, through a drowned land where nature is turned upside down and desperate families cling to the roofs of their ruined homes, hiding from the monstrous products of a disordered world, through the strange tomb of an ancient race, to a profundal zone, hidden for millennia and now exposed, and finally to the Observatory itself, an eerie abandoned treasure palace, where they will encounter a pale and unexpected terror which will seek to claim their lives. The adventure is suitable for a lucky mid-range party, a stupid high-level party or an exceedingly clever low level party. It is difficult, with a meaningful possibility of character death. Should you find them, and defeat their guardians, the treasures of an ancient culture will be yours. At the final point of the Observatory is a glimpse of another world. Published by False Machine Publishing
Village children are disappearing in the dead of night. Are the characters willing to risk their very souls to stop the Night Fiend? This adventure is a short side quest designed for the Dungeons & Dragons Ravenloft setting and easily merged into Curse of Strahd by Wizards of the Coast. It features a powerful ghostly villain who brings the heroes to the brink of death. The only way to defeat this ethereal foe is to battle him on equal terms, spirit against spirit.
The best of intentions. Pay your taxes or go to jail - and don't even thing about using magic. Pgs. 8-23
For the past 9 years the small town of Haren’s Watch has been plagued by a wicked fey spirit known only as Mr. Grin. Every year the creature and its fiendish little minions torment the town over the course of three nights, culminating in the kidnap and transmutation of one of the village children into a lifeless statue made entirely of coal. It is the tenth year of Haren’s Watch suffering this calamity and this year, amidst a raging blizzard, a weary party of adventurers seeks refuge in the small village... The adventure favours characters and players who enjoy roleplaying and exploration but contains additional optional encounters for players who enjoy more combat focused play.
The Forbidden Book - Caverns of Kehill is easy to implement in any setting and provides tools for real player motivation, interesting NPC interaction, exploration and meaningful combat by context and engaging situations. This adventure can be run in one session. The Forbidden Book is an old demonic artifact, that was destroyed and is manifesting after two hundred years. Cults are practicing rituals all over the world and the heroes will find one of them. It is the story of a group of adventurers, that stand valiantly against the darkness, rescue and old friend and if they succeed, become heroes of the small town of Kehill. Complete and ready to play with dungeon maps, a village map of Kehill and stat blocks directly on the pages. Featuring an additional print friendly version, all hand drawn maps (included additionally as separate files), beautiful artwork and two all new magic items. Published by StLion
'The Sunken Village of Little Corth' is a 2nd level Dungeons and Dragons adventure centred on a time-paradox puzzle. The PCs travel across a necrotic marsh (the Grey Creeping) to a sunken village where, upon being transported back 2000 years into the past, they must prevent a necromancer freeing Orcus (demon prince of Undeath) from the imprisoning veils of the spirit plane. If only it was as simple as that, for the PCs must also contend with deactivating a giant mechanical orrery, and be sharp enough to realise that the useful items that helped them survive the Grey Creeoing must be found and placed for their 'future-past' selves.
The village of Gyles has been taken over by Ajax's forces, but after weeks of occupation, the War Dogs are becoming impatient with its newly appointed ruler. They weren’t made for watching over a bunch of villagers, they were made for action! The heroes arrive, seeing the devastation these monsters have caused and lives they’ve ruined, and realize they can offer them just what they need. Will they turn their Ground Commander against his master, or will they stand and fight them all, against impossible odds?
This adventure is designed for the D&D Adventures League Season 5 - Storm King’s Thunder campaign, and is meant to enhance your party’s connection to important events and NPCs. It is intended for use during Chapter 3 and 4, where your party is roaming the Savage Frontier, and has material enough for 1-2 full sessions. It brings your party in contact with the mysterious Kraken Society, and introduce them to the Golden Goose coin, which will make your players more invested in the events of Chapter 11: Caught in the Tentacles.
The end of the road. A lonely fort stands on the banks of a mighty river. It is here the hardy bands of adventurers gather to plan their conquests of The Hill, the hulking mass that looms over this tiny settlement. The Hill is filled with monsters, they say, and an evil witch makes her home there. Still, no visitor to The Hill has ever returned to prove the rumors are true or false. The thrill of discovery is too great to pass up, and only the river stands in the way. The adventurer's boat is waiting! This module is designed for use with the D&D Basic Rules. A trip through the wilderness begins a unique challenge for the novice player and Dungeon Master. TSR 9078
After checking local pawn shops and the library you have discovered information on an old Adurite noblewoman who possessed a magical mask. The woman had suffered a facial injury and commissioned a magical face shield to hide her wound. Having never heard of the item you believe it is probably in the ruins near Ugus Horrus where she lived. With no other leads at the moment you gear up and decide to embark on the search for this item!
The journey continues on the high seas as the ship crosses the equatorial reach and heads into waters rarely visited by the children of the North. While plying the trades far off the coast of the mysterious T'ung Empire, the characters encounter a derelict ship caught in a thick seaweed sargasso. The ruins of the craft point to Molo and his deadly plot, and the chase continues to a new port of call, that of Distant Turtle City. Can the city be freed of Molo's dark influence? Do the brave adventurers have what it takes to challenge shade ninjas, ogre magi, bushido goblins, and even a rumored eye tyrant? Only time and dice will tell! This adventure is formatted to both 1E & 5E gaming rules. Also available in PDF.
This adventure is designed as a side quest that can be inserted into an ongoing adventure or campaign. It involves a series of three linking scenes (and an optional fourth research scene between the others) that can be placed in between the action of whatever other event the party is undertaking. Ideally the scenes of this side adventure should be spread out and inserted into the game over several sessions of play.
Welcome to the Port City of Antioch! This sprawling community is the seat of power for the Kingdom of Nirack and has more than a few sights to see! This setting was created for a desert (fore coming) series and was used as a base of operations for the adventurers. Many strange sights await those wishing to visit the area. Note in the player testing version there was a language barrier until a Dwarven slave was located to translate for the party! This is of course optional. Welcome to the exotic world on the southern shores of the Newmack Sea!
It's a horrible time to have a curse! Each wielding a powerful item to a family legacy, your players are a group of young adventurers who barely survive an attack on their order of vampire-hunters by agents of Dracula. After escaping, they discover Dracula has placed a curse upon the land which makes restful sleep difficult outside of hallowed areas. Dracula, "alive" on another plane but dead on this one, must be resurrected so they can kill him, end the curse, and avenge their dead. To accomplish this goal, the player characters must journey through forest, marsh, hill, and underground paths to retrieve relics of Dracula's last life from keeps and fortresses overrun by monsters and the undead. If they can resurrect him, he will be weak and easy to kill... but the adventurers aren't the only ones who want Dracula on the Material Plane, and Dracula is not the only vampire in the world. Gameplay overview This adventure takes the players from 2nd through 9th or 10th level on a milestone basis as they choose where to travel in what order to retrieve what they need. Starting at a happy gathering at the Belmonte Order, which the characters are hereditary members of, the campaign kicks off with a bang as the group retrieves their chosen legacy items, salvages what other gear they can in a race against time and a growing number of foes, and then escapes to begin their quest. In addition to the six main "dungeons," there are two optional regional lairs, traveling vampires, and many foes along the way. Most of the towns in the area have managed to survive, providing points of light at which the party may stop, long rest safely, acquire supplies, and socialize. Travel is hazardous! 5e classes are balanced for resource management across a 5-8 encounter adventuring day. The campaign is designed to have a semi-variable flow of encounters as the party traels around the area. Encounters grow progressively more difficult as time passes and the party spends more time within a region. These are not random encounters rolled on a table, but encounters designed to be unique to each area's geography, combat terrain, and mix of foes. As the party spends more time in a region or revisits it, the encounter difficulty increases. Dracula's curse requires a Constitution saving throw to successfully long rest outside of Hallowed areas (towns). The difficulty scales up over time, forcing the party to balance speed and safety as they try to accomplish their goals without pushing beyond the limits of what they can handle. The game concept, general map layout, and some enemy distributions are loosely inspired by Castlevania II for the NES, one of the forerunners of the "Metroidvania" genre. Dracula's Curse is indeed a game in which the forests are dark and full of monsters, and every night is a horrible one to have a curse. Includes 15 Legacy items, from weapons like whips and swords to a shield, a belt, or a decanter of holy water 60+ enemy statblocks 8 unique dungeons with unique layouts & challenges 5 inhabited towns with multiple named NPCs 100+ travel encounters (expect to use 30-50%) The module is printer-friendly with no artwork and straightforward grid maps for location-based encounters which require one.
About: This encounter was cooked up in the Write your First Encounter workshop by the Storytelling Collective. It CAN be slid in as a side quest in any urban or sub-urban context, or be adapted to add confusion to any rescue mission you are presently running. Synopsis: Through the doorway a young woman shackled to the wall matching the description of Helena can be seen. Though disheveled and looking to be in great discomfort, her beauty is remarkable. But on closer inspection, there are other people here — three identical Helenas! Noble woman Elize Cleron has hired the party to infiltrate the catacombs under the Schaefer Estate and free her twin sister Helena. Helena is being held captive by the Schaefer family, trade rivals rumored to have ties to the underworld. Elize has been unable to free her sister herself because of her identical appearance. Rather than pay an unrealistic ransom, Elize has provided the party with what they need to break her out. This encounter is intended for 3rd level characters.
The unease penetrates deep in the heart of the town of Wildereach. Amalgamous bodies have been found, frozen, roaming, howling. A cloaked figure looms, suspected of snatching townsfolk when the midnight sun hits its darkest points. A creature of the deep tries to stop all that enter it's domain. Many strange happenings, here in Wildereach, is something bigger at play?
Never try to catch a falling star. A bad seed has been planted in the dark soil of Ravenloft, and now it's time to harvest the crops. A comet has fallen from the sky outside of the town of Delmunster, and the people of this sleepy little village are changing in ways their families cannot explain. The players are on the clock to find the comet and stop its influence on the town. For every day the players take to solve the mystery, another townsperson falls under the sway of the comet. A story heavy influenced by a certain horror movie about pod people. Pgs. 48-68
"Terror by night! The village of Orlane is dying. Once a small and thriving community, Orlane has become a maze of locked doors and frightened faces. Strangers are shunned, trade has withered. Rumors flourish, growing wilder with each retelling. Terrified peasants flee their homes, abandoning their farms with no explanation. Others simply disappear. . . No one seems to know the cause of the decay -- why are there no clues? Who skulks through the twisted shadows of the night? Who or what is behind the doom that has overtaken the village? It will take a brave and skillful band of adventurers to solve the dark riddle of Orlane!" TSR 9063
An oasis exploration and lava-filled obsidian dungeon crawl for 4-5 players of 5th to 6th level. Battle elemental evils, save captured sandworms, claim unique elemental magic items. A malevolent and ancient elemental lies imprisoned within a lava-filled obsidian cavern. Explore the hidden passages before his shackles break and havoc is unleashed upon the nearby oasis! 10 pages of oasis exploration and lava-filled dungeon peril! Statblocks for the life-cycle of desert sandworms, plus three unique elemental magic items like "Summer's Bane" - an armlet of compacted ice that grants the wielder a magical bow, and the "Embershard" - a dagger made from the jawbone of a red dragon that imbues the wielder with elemental magics. Run the adventure your way - drop the PCs off at the dungeon entrance and explore the perlious cavern, or let them cavort in the oasis before uncovering the lingering threat. We hope you enjoy the desert oasis and obsidian-carved dungeon crawl from the Heart of Arcana.
Do you want your players to feel like they are in a zombie movie, struggling against a deadly horde that tries to surround them, overpower them, and bear them down to the ground to be devoured? This is an adventure that can threaten even the stoutest of characters, and is not recommended for parties of levels 12 or below unless they are larger than normal. This module is designed to take 4-8 hours of play and cover a single day, depending on the party’s speed of play and how thoroughly they decide to explore. It includes suggestions and some plot hooks that can be used to tie this easily into a variety of long-running campaigns, or it can be run as an indepdent adventure. The players will come upon a sacked town, figure out what happened, track an item whose theft has ominious implications for the region, and explore a partly-flooded old temple to end the threat. It's primarily combat-focused, but there are a few areas where exploration and route choice makes a difference, as well as traps if the party goes for the optional temple treasury. The antagonists in this module are mostly ghasts and ghouls, but the module title and cover page are deliberately selected to not spoil this. These are greater ghouls and ghasts that can challenge higher-level characters, backed up by mobs of lesser ghouls that can surround, paralyze, and devour the weak and unlucky, led by a Warlord whose aura can drive even the stout-hearted into forgetting their plans in a moment of madness.