A nest of vampires has claimed a dark forest and the surrounding human towns as its domain. Some of the local residents revere the vampires and serve as daylight guardians and spies. However, most of the townsfolk live in a state of dread. Those townsfolk have finally scavenged enough valuables to hire a band of adventurers to destroy the nest. Pgs. 66-71
Decades ago a small but influential cult controlled a small area around the Dwarven holdings of Agar. For unknown reasons this cult died out and the shrine was lost to the sands of time. Recently the local thane has received reports that there has been renewed activity in the area and a gathering of humanoids in the area. While the thane’s men have fought bravely they were no match for this group and the call has gone out for brave adventurers to assist with the problem. While your party is young you do have an adventure or two under your belts and this may be the challenge to make you famous….if you can handle it.
Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and behold the greatest circus in the land! Behold the skilled mummers performing at The Stage; you’ll literally feel like you’re part of the play! Thrill to the death-defying acts (and audience) in the two rings under the Big Top! Laugh at the antics of the baleful buffoons, harmful harlequins, and malevolent merrymakers of Clown Alley! Gaze in wonder at the wild beasts of the Menagerie, (just make sure you know which side of the bars you’re on)! All this and more, for the small price of a single admission, to Bitterbark’s Magnificent Circus! The circus is in town! But there’s something not quite right about it. There are rumors of missing children, evil plots, and more. Can you discover the secrets hidden inside Bitterbark’s Magnificent Circus? Intended as a stand-alone adventure, but there are notes on how to include it as part of the Castle of the Mad Archmage mega-dungeon adventure. Published by BRW Games
When Harrowstone Prison burned to the ground, prisoners, guards, and a host of vicious madmen met a terrifying end. In the years since, the nearby town of Ravengro has shunned the fire-scarred ruins, telling tales of unquiet spirits that wander abandoned cellblocks. But when a mysterious evil disturbs Harrowstone’s tenuous spiritual balance, a ghostly prison riot commences that threatens to consume the nearby village in madness and flames. Can the adventurers discover the secrets of Harrowstone and quell a rebellion of the dead? Or will they be the spirit-prison’s next inmates?
Encounters in Icewind Dale is a 5e supplement that consists of 24 encounters ranging from short to long one, some even could be considered micro-adventures! The supplement is meant to enrich your game, whether it passes in Icewind Dale or in any other arctic setting! The encounters are based on exploration, social interaction and combat!
TSR 9375, from 1992
The lord of a local realm is having his council members systematically killed or cast out for treason with little to no evidence to support the claims. This has been occurring for some time and a local shaman by the name of Borjah thinks he knows the cause. In his visions, he has seen a strange spirit shifting the shadows, a puppet master using the lord as its personal servant by warping his mind. This entity is slowly gaining power in the city and increasing its dominance over Lord Kestyl. Borjah attempted to warn the council of this corruption, but all those he informed ended up dead a few days later, so now he is taking matters into his own hands . . . with a bit of help from some willing adventurers of course. Borjah has a few strands of Lord Kestyl's hair, enough to create a strange potion for the party to consume. A potion that will link their minds to that of the lord and be able to fight back against the corruption that has taken hold. All they need to do is wait until his mind is at its most vulnerable . . . when he is asleep. Then, and only then, they can plunge into the mind of this once nobleman and drive back the forces of darkness that threaten to destabilize the entire political landscape of the area. The potion is powerful. Dying while in this dream state cause such severe mental trauma that it usually results in the death of that individual in the real world, so the party will need to be careful. The rules of the normal world don't necessarily apply in the realm of dreams, and as they close in on the entity things are sure to grow more and more chaotic and illogical. Find out if your players have what it takes to fight back against an invisible evil using nothing but their strength of will!
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.
The witch queens of Irrisen must abdicate their thrones every 100 years when their mother, Baba Yaga, places a new daughter on the throne. But one queen was unwilling to relinquish her rule, and led a doomed rebellion against the Mother of Witches. Afterward, Baba Yaga entombed her wayward daughter in an icy necropolis known as the Veil of Frozen Tears, along with a powerful artifact called the Torc of Kostchtchie, hiding them both far from mortal eyes. Now, almost 500 years later, the tomb has been found, and the race is on to plunder its treasures.
The ancient world of Harth withers beneath its dying sun…but it’s not dead yet. The land is still riddled with villages in danger, cultists in caves, angels gone mad, eldritch horrors making strange deals, raging dragons, bandits in the woods, and cruel monsters lurking in every shadow. These 13 adventures span a wide variety of locations, environments, creatures, and genres. They are meant for use as quick-play sessions or one-shots, or to be dropped into campaigns as side-quests. These are linear dungeons and mini-quests full of interactivity and strangeness, encouraging exploration, risk-taking, and creative combat. ADVENTURE TYPE: One-Shot / Low Level / Combat / Exploration / Village / Wilderness / City / Subterranean / Dungeon Delve DESIGN NOTES These 13 adventures are intended for low-level characters around Level 3 Overall, these adventures tend to be linear dungeon delves in caves or single buildings 93 unique encounter locations 69 original magic items 71 original monsters (with 28 illustrations) 13 maps/diagrams Each adventure runs 2-4 hours in length
How’d you get here? Let me explain... No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Rescued a retired hero's hapless nephew from goblins at some ruins on a hill Found out that there aren’t any goblins, but spider creatures called chitine instead Uncovered a chitine plot to start a war between the surface world and the drow Got convinced to try to stop that war Got trapped in the caves under the ruins Chased the chitine’s leader, a choldrith, further down into the cave system Nearly got crushed in a cave-in Fought your way through an undead infested mine Nearly got eaten by a colony of chitinous reptiles Picked up the choldrith’s trail and followed it deeper into the earth And now you stand at the entrance to a massive cavern filled with all manner of aggresive creatures. Yep, that about sums it up! And now, here you are, in this giant cavern thousands of feet beneath the surface. All you have to do is pick up that choldrith’s trail again, and manage to navigate the many factions vying for control of this little section of the Underdark. Good luck! And have fun storming the Hollows! This Gazetteer contains: Descriptions of the factions that live in The Shadowed Hollows, a massive cave complex far below the surface The underground city of Naakrasad and the important NPCs that live there Three quests leading to brief adventures within the Hollows for characters of level 4 to 6 7 custom maps of the Shadowed Hollows, Naakrasad, and the quest destinations All necessary monster stat blocks Everything needed to set the scene for the upcoming second chapter of the Into the Underdark Adventure Series
An alien being, dark omens, and vanishing ships send the adventurers to a mysterious island newly appeared in the Sea of Swords. But can the characters uncover the mysteries of the Changing Island in time to save Faerûn from a terror from another plane? A dark fantasy adventure for characters of 11th to 13th level.
The Characters come across an ancient wizard's tower. The nearby keep has been reduced to rubble over the ages, but the tower is in perfect condition. It is surrounded by an impenetrable force field that cannot be breached - not even by the ghost of the long-dead wizard, who has been trapped within for centuries. Surely there must be great treasure within this magical abode. But how to get to it?
That’s it, you are done! Your stint in the guard service has come to a close and you are eager to begin your life as an adventurer. With a few coins in your pocket, you head towards the town gates to find fame and fortune. As you approach the city well, a crying child stops you and asks for your help. Do you have that friend, coworker, or family member interested in playing D&D but you don’t want to ‘throw them to the wolves’? This month’s free offering has you covered. Your PC is just getting out of his military stint and wants to carve out their future of fame and fortune. This scenario helps you, the DM, present the basic principles of gaming to a neophyte! This adventure setting was designed for 5th Edition AD&D AND an AD&D offering, for a single 1st level character, which is included for each! This adventure was designed to be a teaching scenario. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @FilbarRPG for news and offers.
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.
Beneath the fetid roots of a noisome swamp linger the pathetic remnants of a once proud and noble tribe. Laid low by a powerful narcotic administered by their ambitious (but wildly paranoid) mistress, the lizardfolk of the Dark Oak are but a shadow of their former greatness. Now, in the fetid caverns below the slumbering body of a diseased treant she plots to bring bloody slaughter to the folk of the nearby villages before her followers forget their proud heritage and sink into a lethargy from which there is no escape.
5e Solo Gamebooks presents Tyrant of Zhentil Keep by Paul Bimler, a 160+ page solo adventure for Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition. This adventure is designed for one 3rd-level PC of any race or class, without a DM. Tyrant of Zhentil Keep continues the narrative of The Death Knight’s Squire (the first solo adventure in this series) but can be played as a standalone also. It follows the story of your PC as they continue their journey across Faerun, a lone adventurer wandering wherever the wind takes them. Eventually, it takes them to Zhentil Keep in the Moonsea Region, a strange city, full of secrets. There they begin a quest which takes place over two books, this being the first one, part 2 being Citadel of the Raven. Tyrant of Zhentil Keep is a mini-sandbox in gamebook form, with multiple sidequests and locations to explore. Everything leads towards a central story arc that becomes clearer as the book progresses. Where Death Knight’s Squire had a clear-cut mission at its core, this adventure is pure exploration at first, similar to how a game with a Dungeon Master might commence. The nature of your quest becomes clearer as you advance, collecting snippets of information and encountering various NPCs and locations. The adventure builds upon The Death Knight's Squire in several ways, introducing new combat sheets, sidequests and even audio sound FX embedded in the PDF! You have two ways to approach playing this adventure. You could print out the maps booklet and use actual tokens or miniatures (you’ll need access to a printer for this), or you can load individual .png files of the maps (included) into Roll20 or similar applications and place and move tokens on your device.
A hunt for a missing key leads the heroes from the streets of the city of Greyhawk to the Tomb of Blood Everflowing in the treacherous Cairn Hills. Pgs. 18-20, 22 & 24-39
The people of the Linsholm fear orcs are about to raid their small farming village. For the past several days, they have been seeing orcs in the hills and forests around the village. They don’t realize that something much worse than this small band of orcs is out there. For now, it’s hunting the orcs. But if the townsfolk aren’t careful, they could be next. Protect the village of Linsholm, but perhaps not from what they fear. Discover that not all orcs are evil. Reunite the fractured orc clan, and broker peace between them and the villagers. Uncover what is hunting the orcs, and the secret to their power. A 6-8 hour adventure optimized for a party of 4th level characters.
The fate of a city lies within a dungeon whose doors are sealed with - cards It's up to you to bring it tumbling down. “House of Cards” combined dungeon exploration with the Deck of Many Things to create an adventure experience unlike anything seen before. The deck is both a treasure and a trap, guarding a tomb complex that’s being used by the Night Masks thieves’ guild as a lair. If the PCs want the deck for themselves, they must first gather all the cards, which is easier said than done. - Christopher Perkins Pgs. 38-64