The Abyss Approaches! Something wicked—and monstrous—stirs around the rugged Isgeri town of Saringallow, where the hated legacy of noble Chelish diabolists runs deep. With the recent disappearance of several apprentices, the nearby menace of particularly grotesque goblins, and the unsettling rumors about the old Sarini Estate, Mayor Sandra Trinelli knows that she needs help, and she needs it fast! The heroes must confront one of these crises, or all three, if they hope to stem the tide of darkness that looms. Before too long, the heroes discover that villains with ties to the Abyss have set their sights on Saringallow, and won't rest until the settlement and all its innocent inhabitants fall victim to their madness-inducing predations! Gallows of Madness is a 64-page, highly versatile collection of three adventures for 1st-level characters. Each adventure also includes scaling information for parties of 2nd-level characters. Written with beginning Game Masters and players in mind while also providing challenging content for veterans, these adventures can be prepared quickly and run separately or in any order. For GMs who wish to run a deeper, more narrative game, this volume also offers an overarching timeline of events and detailed tips for running these adventures as a cohesive whole. Bonus content includes new monstrous foes and a gallery of NPCs to help easily connect the adventures, plus a gorgeous double-sided poster featuring an overview of Saringallow and a miniatures-scale battlemap!
The Toxic Wood is a deadly wilderness adventure for Old School Essentials This hexcrawl adventure focuses on game-able content and being easy to use at the table. It is graphic and art heavy and utilizes a lot of random tables to make it easier for GMs to run with minimal prep. "You have been hired by a secretive council of wizards, who refuse to meet in person with you, to rescue the survivors of Mugwort - a town which was thought to have been destroyed and lies deep within The Toxic Wood. The Wood is corrosive and the air is not safe to breath there, so the wizards have given you a magical orb which will create a safe dome of air around you. The orb must be fed with fuel containing life force to continue operating properly. They have also gifted each of you a less effective necklace which will create a temporary small bubble of clean air around your head as an emergency measure. The Wood became noxious a couple of years ago after a dragon known as Ion moved in. You will have to navigate to Mugwort without Ion noticing if you are to conduct a successful evacuation." The toxic wood is home to many strange entities; spiteful mutated horrors, ancient insectoid witch sisters, bloodthirsty redcaps, a mushroom witch and a corrosive dragon cult. Noxious gases produced by alien plants slowly coil through the air creating an endless red haze. Anything that is not part of the woods lethal eco-system is rapidly corroded, with all evidence of its existence erased within days. Details: 32 pages Single column text 8.5 x 5.5 aspect Black & White Bookmarks Hyperlinks Random tables Hooks and rumors for your players Rules for surviving in the toxic wood using the orb and other means 16 keyed hex locations Backgrounds for characters to aid roleplay New monsters Key NPCs A timeline of events for the DM to structure their sessions around Flora of the wood Random treasure tables Prompts and resolutions for what happens if players take different actions Cursed Items and Powerful Artifacts: Scattered throughout the wood, offering potent abilities but often with dangerous drawbacks.
Chapter 1 - When a relative of someone close to the characters goes missing from a nearby village, the players are asked to investigate. The party has to recover stolen goods from a thief before setting out from the City of Ravens Bluff. They travel through the wilds of Vesperin in search of the missing person, finding trouble and helping locals along the way. Chapter 2 - As the journey continues, the party arrives in a small hamlet suffering from a strange blight. The players will need to investigate the situation and choose sides in a longstanding feud between the mayor and a local magic user. Chapter 3 - After clearing a tribe of violent orcs from a nearby mountain pass to protect the residents of a town, the party will have to enter the lair of a long-dead dragon to rescue their quarry from a band of goblinoid slavers, where they discover an entrance into a dwarven city, lost and forgotten centuries ago. Chapter 4 - The party will have to traverse the ruins of the dwarven city, avoiding hazards and battling the horrors that lurk there, to uncover the identity of the slaver's leader. A discovery that will lead them through a treacherous forest to the city of Tsurlagol in search of a pirate ship called the Star Carver, and its drow captain, The Viper's Kiss. Along the way, they meet an unlikely ally. Chapter 5 - Once they arrive in Tsurlagol, the players will have to choose between gaining the assistance of the city council to fight the pirates head on, or making a deal with the Viper's Kiss, herself. The path they choose will either lead to an epic battle on the Sea of Fallen Stars, or into the deadly sewers and tunnels beneath the city to face an enclave of wererats, undead, and a tribe of mad, kraken-worshipping kuo-toa, in search of a fabled relic. The Laughing Horde of Ruin, Part 1 is the first module of an original 5e adventure campaign. It is designed for character level 1-5, and uses material from the Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, and Volo's Guide.
If absolute power corrupts absolutely, Matron Maelora best beware; her plans for total domination of the Underworld are already close to satisfactory completion, while attacks on the Upperworld have become increasingly successful. The other power-hungry drow families of Holoth may despise her but they know a true leader when they see one, and House Gullion has been revealed as the family to lead them all on the path to glory. With the entire Underworld in chaos and the Spider Goddess regularly communing with her chosen Matron, far greater dreams than mere regional conquest are within the grasp of the drow, as Maelora prepares her grand dark elf army for victory! With other mystical allies standing firm with the Matron, other Underworld races beneath her heel or cowering behind fortified walls, and every drow ready to play their part when she gives the word, what could possibly stop her from achieving her final triumph and fulfilling her destiny? But even the greatest of plans has a flaw if you look hard enough, and a party of stout heart and strong resolve can make a difference. At first, such a party may well believe it is on a smaller adventure, perhaps to win a few baubles or some small acclaim by rescuing a few kidnapped villagers. Soon, however, those adventurers will realise that much more is at stake, and that they are the ones who will need to make moves against the evil Matron Maelora and her increasing dominance if both the entire Underworld and Upperworld are to be saved. But how will they go about it? Can they ensure their own success when an entire city is standing against them? Only they have the chance to halt the Rise of the Drow! Published by AAW Games.
A Welcome Scourge is a murder investigation for a party of 8th level characters. It takes place in an outpost town called Newfort, but you can easily adapt the adventure to your own setting. "There have been several high-profile vampire murders in Newfort, but the locals seem to be fine with them - probably because all of the victims have been infamous and despicable. It is up to your heroes to glean clues from around town, track down the vile creature, reveal a foul conspiracy, and beat out competitors hunting for the same bounty."
The Dread tunnels of Ruxbar were created by a cult of a lesser evil deity of the giant pantheon, known as Jargain to serve as a planar gate in hope of bringing chaos and destruction to the natural order of the world and power to the one who would control the gate. Ruxabar was the high cultist who completed the ritual but to his surprise nothing of what he expected came through the gate. Plague creatures, toxic gases and vapors, diseases of all kinds and decay lay quick waste to him and his cult. For some time the gate remained open and the settlements nearby were afflicted with diseases never seen before. The nearby town of Stagwood was quickly abandoned due to the plague. Rumor has it that the gods have weakened the gate and the cult has been destroyed. The remaining villages that managed to somewhat resist the plague are now hiring brave adventurers to venture into the tunnels and close the planar gate for good! Are you capable enough of surviving the horrors that reside in the Dreaded Tunnels of Ruxabar? Published by Mistfactor Press
Vengeance of the Winter Queen A small town has been attacked by an unknown entity in the midst of celebrating their Midwinter Festival and many of the citizens have been frozen solid. Discover who or what is responsible for the condition of the villagers by entering the frozen catacombs beneath the temple grounds! A 3-5 hour Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition adventure for 5th - 10th level characters.
While enjoying a nice honey wine in the backwater community of Bench you discover citizens have been kidnapped from the surrounding area. After further investigation the mystery leads to a compound being built by the Exterminatus! With the danger mounting can the party slow the march of the evil cult and maybe pick up a few more pages of the arcane tome? Are they stealthy enough to infiltrate the stronghold? At almost 50 pages this adventure has the Precinct of Bench and the large compound of the Exterminatus each of which can be used in separate campaigns!
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 is a beautifully bleak hex crawl around an island smothered in oppressive darkness and fermenting wickedness. The Sluagh and their foul fog and maddening miasma are inscrutable and unknowable, but you must investigate the Island; discover the secrets buried within and without. Collect the scraps of information and open your heart and help these people tearing each other apart and worse, or become dark and hard as flint; indulge the mercurial machinations of men lost to madness of the mists and consent to cruelty. Worse still, lose yourself completely in the blanketing fog of yore; stumble blankly into the eternal night of truly annihilating nihilism... There is still faint hope that your investigation can illuminate the mist’s mysteries, lifting Man to the light, but it’s not for the fainthearted." - Curse of Sebs The Isle of Endless Fog is a 5e adventure for characters starting at 1st-level and ending at 4th-level. It's a sandbox adventure with a small setting for The Isle of Man, a location from Fallen Camelot setting. It features all three pillars of a 5e game: exploration, social interaction and combat. CONTENT WARNING: Mental Health Issues, Depression, Disassociation, Self-Harm, Suicidal Ideation, Human Experimentation, Drugging and Abduction, Cannibalism, Murder of Civilians and Children, Clerical Abuse of Power through Tyranny. Background The Isle of Man was by no means a safe place, with sporadic assaults from the troll, Buggane, trickster fey, and conflicts of resources with the local giants, but it is still a place where local folk can live their lives in relative peace. All that changed when the sluagh came. They flew free from an ancient tower, a storm of wailing ghosts that swept across the land, carrying a blanketing fog across their backs that choked the land, the sea and the sky. The Death Mist warps all that it touches, inviting death into the homes of all things, whereupon the sluagh swoop out of the skies, snatching up souls on the verge of death, carrying them away from their bodies and into a new horrid existence as a fellow sluagh. In packs they fly, swooping through villages on the westerly winds, carrying away the souls of half its denizens, leaving the rest to starve, whereupon another wave will come to claim the rest. Over time, the mists drained the life from the earth. Fields turned barren, forests petrified, infants were born malnourished and shriveled. Yet, its hunger only grew. The sluagh called beyond, drawing travelers to Man. Sailors will see the fog first, rolling in from the horizon, before the wailing of the sluagh deafens their ears, and the mist blind their eyes. After what feels like hours, the sailors open their eyes and see Man on the horizon. The explorers will quickly find that they cannot leave this place. They must either banish the mist from this place…or destroy it. Published by Realmwarp Media
Old Olga and Young Yvonne is a four- to six-hour adventure for 1st-4th level characters, designed for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, with a village theme, hags and witches, an abducted child to save, some horror, and mysteries to solve! Willow Creek, a remote farming village, is in trouble: livestock is going missing and reappears gutted in the woods, crops fail and fields blight - and now the bastard child of young Yvonne has gone missing as well. What no one in the village knows: Yvonne is a budding witch secretly feuding with Old Olga, an evil hag in the woods - who now demands a human sacrifice from Yvonne in return for her child. Who can sort out this mess, bring back the innocent child, prevent a murder, and return peace and quiet to Willow Creek? This adventure can also be used as a mini-campaign sandbox. With the branching and inter-connecting scenes, locations, and NPCs it provides, combined with the guidance on how to run a "village adventure", the material provided here on more than 60 pages can easily cover up to eight hours of playtime. Included with this adventure are: + an original custom creature, the young witch + 12 original fleshed out NPCs, including personality traits and roleplaying tips + a toolset for creating villager NPCs quickly + 7 hand-drawn maps of important locations + 4 alternative story rewards (depending on how the adventure resolves)
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
In the ancient town of Cragwatch, the first harpy reveals that the legend of her origin is a malicious lie. The story goes that she pined for unrequited love, but in truth she was punished for refusing to submit to a god’s will. The harpy cannot reveal this truth alone. The party has been summoned to stop her tale from spreading. Will they discover the true story, or will they help to silence it?
The Shrine of the Axes has been restored and Raggnar Redtooth, who previously conspired with dragon cultists, is trying to restore his reputation in Parnast by sponsoring a feast. There is just one thing he needs, meat for his feast. Game is supposed to be plentiful in the Weathercote Wood, but the townsfolk are all busy with their own work, and the minions of Bad Fruul are still out there causing trouble. What can go wrong on a simple hunt?
An adventure site for 3-5 characters of levels 3-4. Featuring two new monsters from the forthcoming guide, The Hag's Hexes! Seven fully developed encounter areas! It's National Gumdrop Day on February 15th, and the forthcoming release entitled THE HAG'S HEXES has a candy hag and its candy-coated minions, so we're releasing this exclusive, seven-encounter adventure site featuring two new monsters -- the enticing Gumdrop Ooze and the cursed Crul -- to celebrate!
Something is amiss in the remote mountain town of Zuria. The head priest has not filed a report in months, and traders following the winding road into the high-altitude valley do not find their way back home. The Church of Palnor, benefactor and watchers of the Tomb of Kings, are greatly concerned. Can the PC discover what has happened in this isolated mountain town before events turn disastrous?
The town of Somber Hill is a quiet settlement in the foothills of a mountain range. A few days travel from the nearest city, the people of Somber Hill are a humble and self-reliant bunch. Unbeknownst to its people, the small town hides a sinister secret, some of the residents of Somber Hill belong to a cult that worships a long dead entity. Known only as The Dark One by their followers, this ancient being once called Old Somber Hill home. Their dark master is entombed in the catacombs beneath the town, and the cult hopes to resurrect their master with a blood sacrifice. The Crypt of Somber Hill is a Setting Neutral adventure and thus can be easily included in any existing story-line with minor alterations and adjustments or outright slotted into any existing campaign setting.
"House of Reeds and Whispers" is the lair of a pair of red hags, suitable for four characters of 8th level. This adventure can be completed in one session. Two red hag sisters recently exsanguinated an eccentric collector named Nahl Fry and took up residence in his swamp-side home. Liori and Ijith were seeking an artifact from the ancient city of Talitheos, the sunken stronghold of the red hags. They found the artifact, a pair of knitting needles made from blood-infused coral. in Nahl Fry's collection. The sisters yearn to understand how the artifact works, and so they are testing its dark powers against a nearby hamlet. They have knitted rapidly growing crimson reeds that funnel the blood of fauna and farm animals back to the house. The hamlet's leader, Galnas, hires the PC's to investigate. The party must press through the reeds, defeat the sisters' guardians, face the hags, and end the reedy infestation.
𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 is a 𝐃&𝐃 𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 adventure designed for a DM’s use in any 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐬™ campaign. It was designed and written by writer, editor, and developer Monica Valentinelli (𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐲 𝐑𝐏𝐆, 𝐕𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐥 𝟐𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬), with rules and editing by developer, writer, and editor Scott Holden (Scarred Lands RPG, Ravenloft RPG, EverQuest RPG, and EVE Online). 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 takes place underground in a section of a major city. The party will navigate sewers, worked tunnels, forgotten crypts, and freshly dug passageways to fend off adversaries in order to rescue hostages and return them safely to the surface unharmed. Can your party emerge victorious and save the day? 𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝: * Adventure background and hooks * Map to the Undercity * Detailed location guide * Suggestions to increase and decrease the Challenge Rating * Advice to customize the adventure to your party * New! Crimson Coins thieves' faction and characters * New! Ten Legs tribe, Goblin Beast-Master, and Beast-Rider monster variants * New! Corrupted Shield-Guardian monster variant * New! Ancient Revenant monster variant This adventure includes three, separate three-to-four hour long missions that can be run in any order, depending upon the needs and composition of your party members. While this was designed as an adventure module for 7th- to 9th-level characters to be run in the recommended timeframe, you will find notes to adjust the missions to increase or decrease their difficulty and length. 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: Monica Valentinelli writes stories, games, essays, and comics about magic, mystery, and mayhem. Find more titles by Monica on 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐮𝐑𝐏𝐆.𝐜𝐨𝐦 and 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐮𝐅𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.𝐜𝐨𝐦.
This adventure is light and comedic and is indeed a heist adventure! It is designed as a one-off side quest for an established party but can be tweaked to work as an introductory adventure for characters meeting one another for the first time. This is ideal for a well-rounded party in which each player can show off and play a vital role in the mission’s success as they rob an evil potion master blind! Players can obtain potions of Heroism, Invisibility, Flying and Mind Reading. This adventure is perfect for DMs looking to fill a shorter session or injecting some light humor after an intense end-of-the-world campaign.