The Shattered Circle is an AD&D® adventure for four to six player characters of 1st to 3rd level. For many ages, the standing stones known as the Circle of Cahervaniel have stood on a grassy hilltop, unremarkable and unmenacing, but something has changed. A powerful artifact deep within the earth has been uncovered, and its evil power has corrupted the recent inhabitants of a dungeon complex. The chitine live within, a cross between humans and spiders created by the drow, but trying to live a quiet existence. The evil Foundingstone has corrupted some of the chitine, and split their society in two, bringing them to conflict. Adventurers who navigate the chitine factions and dangerous dungeon will need to end the threat of the Foundingstone and the solve the mystery of the strange dark unicorn Mizar that has appeared recently around the stones. Interestingly, one of the unique magic items in this adventure, Icerazor - is said to have grown from a shard of Frostrazor, a sword that appears in a famous later adventure - Return to White Plume Mountain. There is a brief mention of Suloise, so it can be considered a Greyhawk adventure, but clearly states it can be placed anywhere.
A Beholder Love Story A dwarven mineshaft has become the new home of the heartbroken beholder Sindryl. Discover who could be wicked enough to separate Sindryl from his love Prix'am, put a stop to their plot, and restore Prix'am's missing heart. A 3-6 hour Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition adventure for Tier 2 characters. This adventure includes: 2 New Monsters (including 1 New Beholder!), 3 New Magic Items, New NPCs, a Minecart Skill Challenge, Romantic Random Encounters for the Underdark!
Far below the Fields of Petrichor is a vast cavern containing the skeletal remains of a long-dead Sonorous Titan, a whale-like beast that once floated through the skies of a lost age. Amongst the bones are ravines and grottos home to bizarre creatures and lost treasures that are as beautiful and valuable as they are deadly. Ghostly shapes swim through the air. Glowing mushroom groves hide frightened creatures. And the Titan’s bones sing sadly as an ambitious wizard and his weary hirelings dig for its precious marrow... ADVENTURE TYPE: Small Sandbox Dungeon DESIGN NOTES: This adventure is intended for characters levels 5 to 8. It includes several wilderness areas, a ruined village and a mining camp to explore. Each area contains various encounters and unique magical 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, creature stat blocks, original creatures and treasures, and dungeon overview map. KEYWORDS: Grave, skeleton, ghost, undead, wizard, miner, puzzle, mushroom, myconid, hag, witch, social, curse, mutation, mutant, soul, insect, termite, scorpion, bat, monk, beetle, chicken
The kuo-toa are a piscine race with a psychic affliction that makes them behave erratically and invent gods when feeling threatened. That same affliction gives them the power to bring those gods to life. Blibdoolpoolp is the most widely worshipped, and thus most powerful, of their gods. Blibdoolpoolp views the kuo-toa as her children despite having been born after them. Like all good mothers, she nurtures and protects. One of her chief concerns is understanding the kuo-toa’s psychic affliction, which causes them to undermine themselves whenever they strive for greatness. She discovers that a corrupted elder brain deep in the Underdark has a connection to the race; though the connection gives them psychic powers, it also turns them into powerless thralls, explaining their self destructive behaviors. Constrained by the same leash on her children, Blibdoolpoolp seeks adventurers to destroy the elder brain. Its death would free the kuo-toa, but potentially at great cost: if the kuo-toa lose their powers, will Blibdoolpoolp die?
The land of Felora is a stable pedocracy off the Feso Seaway. Generally considered a safe place to live because of a low humanoid population and a large defensive wall that rings the country. The same cannot be said for the area to the west known as the Wildlands. Once a thriving human land the area was taken over in humanoid raids a century and a half ago. With the aggressions against the wall lessening the Council of Wisdom is organizing groups to go in and explore the land for possible "taming". Potential explorers will be paired off with non-combatant survey teams. Are you new adventurers ready for a job? Played at Epic Nerd Camp '17!
Of all the inhospitable domains in the RAVENLOFT@ campaign world, Bluetspur is the cruelest and most gruesome. Nothing grows in the endless night, and lightning periodically falls like rain. The only place to escape those storms is inside the mind flayers' complex under Mt. Makab, but that is the last place where any sane person would want to go. The High Master Illithid has been hatching black plots by hatching vampiric mind flayers in his laboratories! His prodigies are horribly insane, but if he can complete his plans, he will achieve a new level of dark immortality. A pair of heroes has stolen the key to his success, but they have paid a heavy price for their bravery and are in desperate need of aid unlooked for. Meanwhile, the Lord of the Realm watches over the proceedings and plays havoc with the wits of both sides, sapping strength and will with all-powerful thoughts of darkness. A party of adventurers will need all of their skills to escape this black domain without the loss of life, power, or sanity! Enter now the perpetual twilight realm of Bluetspur, home to mind flayers, a land of relentless nightmares. There's no rest for the wicked or the good in this domain. Once caught within the borders of this desolate land, the characters must complete their mission without delay or lose their minds and become slaves of the Lord of Bluetspur. TSR 9264, from 1992
Part megadungeon, part underground expedition, Operation Unfathomable serves as both a one-shot adventure and a campaign framework. PCs are (optionally) drafted at swordpoint to recover the Nul Rod, a priceless artifact that was recently lost in a local prince's foolhardy attempt to destroy the Chaos Gods of the Underworld. The PCs have been drafted as an expendable set of pawns to venture into the vast and bewildering Underworld and retrieve the Nul Rod. With the Underworld's innumerable beasties being on high alert after the prince's expedition, the PCs must sneak through the incredibly dangerous Underworld. Fighting is not as important as stealth, fast-talking, and running away rapidly. This is the expansion from Sholtis's original Operation Unfathomable, released in Knockspell #5 (2011).
What elder evils lurk in the depths of the freezing mountain ruins? Find out in The Stoneheart Ruin! The adventure features: An adventure set in a desolate, wintry mountain landscape. 16 pages full of intrigue and mystery, containing full color maps, plus 2 unique monster stat blocks. Provides a great introduction to Mind Flayer lore and mythos for Tier 1 players. Can easily be set in the Spine of the World for use in Rime of the Frostmaiden. Let your characters test their mettle as they climb and face the ancient dangers lurking in the cracks of The Stoneheart Ruin! “I have no explanation for any of these finds. We heard disturbing noises coming from further within the mountain; thunderous and growling.” Excerpt from a pamphlet, signed: “Koralia Meadring, Anthropologist Extraordinaire” Koralia needs you to investigate her most recent discovery: a ruined cavern deep in the mountains. Her small team of academics did a cursory walk-through and think they've found a big breakthrough! However, they left in a hurry after being frightened by the horrors they heard coming from deeper in the mountain. They escaped and found one of their team was missing - a goliath named Marek. You must climb the mountains and locate the ruin, make certain that it is safe for study by Koralia’s team, and if possible, find and rescue Marek, whose fate is uncertain. Made during the November 2020 RPG Writer's Workshop.
Encounters in the Savage Underdark is a 150-page supplement containing mini-adventures, NPCs, locations, and magic items,from eighteen of the DMsGuild's best authors.This incredible 150 page supplement features 24 amazing new Underdark adventures. Visit Annarei's Garden Encounter an insane aboleth Interact with traveling merchants Attend the Fire Fest Perform an Underdark heist and so much more....
The Borderlands. An untamed wild region far flung from the comforts and protection of civilization. A lone fortified Keep is the only bastion of Good desperately striving to maintain the forces of Chaos at bay. But Evil is everywhere, lurking in dark caves, fetid swamps, forlorn forests. Bands of cutthroat brigands and ruthless tribes of humanoids eager to clash with the forces of Food rove the region. The Borderlands hold many secret wondrous locations, and opportunities for fame, prestige, and fortune are plentiful. But equally abundant are the perils, risks, and challenges to those brave enough to explore the wilds. Sharpen your swords and axes. Purchase your iron rations and tinderboxes. And Don't forget at least one 10-foot pole. Adventure awaits those with the mettle to confront Chaos in the Borderlands!
Sekarvu is a typical beholder. It spent much of its youth exploring underground realms and killing everything it found. One day, it came upon a large cavern filled with violet fungi. At the edge of the cavern, it found a small band of adventurers who had all but succumbed to the toxins of the fungi's tendrils. They offered little resistance to Sekarvu as it approached and began to feed on their still-writhing bodies. With its first bite, the beholder's life changed forever. Pgs. 52-55
Elven Tower presents a compilation document of all the content for DMs running Out of the Abyss module. This guide has been very well received by the DMs community. I have gotten great response during the creation of this content. The guide is over 60 pages long and contains hoards of information, guides, suggestions, and general information for DMs running this module. It now has clickable table of contents and bookmarks for all the different chapters for easy navigation. There are maps for Gauntlgrym, Sorcere Tower, Vizeran's Tower, Karazikar's Maw as well as some very needed flowcharts and infographics to better understand the adventure. The guide also features some maps drawn by me (Elven Tower) to supplement the missing illustrations for important locations.
The Adventurers arrive at a drow outpost in the Underdark. They must either dispose of the drow or ally with them against the invading legions of Orcus!
Undermountain: The Caverns of the Many-Legged is an adventure detailing a hidden mini-level for Dungeon of the Mad Mage for characters of levels 12-13. It uses some of the story and lore of that book, but it can be incorporated or dropped into any setting or homebrew campaign. In a hidden part of Undermountain, former slaves feed their fat, monstrous queen who is fixated on revenge. A broken drow house has finally found a place to call home – only to become abominations. And a massive beast slithers, hunting for anything to satiate its hunger and quell its madness. Welcome to the Caverns of the Many-Legged. Which side, if any, will adventurers choose as they explore this hidden mini-level for Dungeon of the Mad Mage? In this adventure, you will find: a mini-level that can be easily incorporated into Dungeon of the Mad Mage a vivid cast of unique monsters and NPCs, including chitine warriors, a choldrith queen, a spellcasting draegloth, a mad yuan-ti anathema, and others (stat blocks provided for all creatures not in the Monster Manual) locations that could be used or adapted elsewhere, such as a chitine colony and a drider-controlled drow fortress a combination of roleplay, exploration, and combat encounters
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!
Eons ago, the demon lord Shomarrah defamed Lolth the Spider Queen, condemning herself into the cursed life of a massive purple worm. Now Shomarrah's desecrated body serves as a drow fortress, guarded by a mad sorcerer and his team of driders. What deeper evils lie within? "The Fasting Worm at the Spider Feast" is a Dungeons and Dragons 5th Editionmodule for a party of 3-5 players at level 8. This one-shot module is perfect for introducing your party to the Underdark and drow society, featuring a dungeon dive through a demon lord's snake-like carcass. Clerics in the party, upon completing the adventure, will be able to obtain access to the Feast domain. Details are provided at the end of the module
Detailed encounter, easily convertible into an adventure. Starts from investigating ambushes on the mountain pass and quickly escalated into a more twisted story about duergars, alhoons, and treasure vaults. Setting-agnostic (classic fantasy - best)
TENTACLES. VERY DANGEROUS. YOU GO FIRST. Adventure in the Underdark, Part Two The colony of svirfneblin, while grateful for the adventurers’ deeds, is still in need of a reliable source of drinking water. The kuo-toa hold the lake, and there is the matter of the tentacled menace the party faced previously… This adventure is a continuation of Tentacles. Why Did It Have to Be Tentacles?, but can be run by itself as well. It is designed to easily fit into any standard fantasy setting. A 4-hour adventure for 6th-8th level characters
This material was originally published as two separate adventures, D1: "Descent into the Depths of the Earth" and D2: "Shrine of the Kuo-Toa." Contained herein are referee notes, background information, maps, and exploration keys intended for use with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules. The adventure can be used alone or as part of an extended adventure that begins with G1-3: "Against the Giants" and continues with D3: "The Vault of the Drow" and Q1: "Queen of the Demonweb Pits." TSR 9059
The Haunted Hamlet and other hexes details four unique modular locations for your game. Made for old school essentials, but can easily be used with other old-school systems or even 5E. The four locations detailed in the zine focus on gameable content and being easy to use at the table. The locations are not connected to one another and can be sprinkled onto your campaign map however you like, or run as one shots. The PDF is graphic and art heavy and utilizes random tables and other tools to make it easier for GMs to run in a pinch. Details: 40 pages Single column text 8.5 x 5.5 aspect Black & White Bookmarks Four hex locations Random tables A rival NPC party A sky merchant A one page town Two hirelings