"Ribbons of blood dance through the air, tracing wide crimson arcs before fraying into thousands upon thousands of bright red droplets. The cheerful tavern atmosphere evaporates in a moment, rent apart by screams and cries. A woman with grey hair stands near the bar, grasping at the dagger in her throat with fingers made slippery by blood. She sways and collapses. More screams. A man stands before her. He is holding the hilt of the dagger, but lets it slip from a gory hand as the woman falls. He freezes for a moment, then spins and sprints away, knocking aside people as he goes. A young, flaxen-haired woman at the back of the tavern cries out, “Stop him! Stop him!” as he approaches the entrance – the entrance where you and your comrades are standing. What do you do?" A lonely outsider murders a popular village local before a room full of witnesses. But could he be innocent? The Lurker Beneath Red Larch is a 4-6 hour adventure for characters of 3rd-4th level. It is full of roleplaying, problem solving and challenging combat encounters.
“The Temple Between” is an adventure for 9th level characters, and it is challenging enough to take them to 11th level by the time all is said and done. Although intended as the final chapter of the heroic tier portion of the Scales of War Adventure Path, it can be run as a standalone adventure, or as an adventure in a campaign of your own making, with a small degree of modification. It contains elements of urban investigation, dungeon delving, and even wartime conflict, making it a suitable adventure to players of many tastes and preferences. The western end of Elsir Vale has been greatly troubled in recent days. The threat of the orc hordes from beyond the Stonehome Mountains, though turned back at Bordrin’s Watch, still lingers in the people’s minds. Peculiar and hostile creatures of shadow lurk in the caverns and caves below. Political squabbling grows among the city’s powerful dwarf clans. All this makes the city particularly vulnerable to an enemy nobody saw coming - that nobody even imagined. This enemy has goals and objectives far beyond the ultimately unimportant Elsir Vale, but the first step is the utter subjugation of Overlook. An enemy who, at least in part, is already here. In this adventure the player characters start by investigating the strange behavior of the city's clergy. They swiftly discover hints of a conspiracy worming its way through the city hierarchy - some members are possessed while others have been replaced by dopplegangers. After trailing this conspiracy to its source they discover a portal that leads to an ancient temple in the mountains. Using the portal, the PCs go to the abandoned ancient temple where they must confront both a cadre of fey and a band of mercenaries, from whom they learn there is a plot for a full-scale invasion of the region! The PCs must them rush back to Overlook and cement their place as heroes as they face off against the invading forces. Pgs. 4-71
It stalks the jungles of Chult. On the path to the lost city lies an ancient danger, a creature that posseses the very jungle and destroys man, beast, and undead alike. Your party has seen the signs of its violence and destruction. Soon they, too, will be hunted by the entity known as Uluu Thalongh. It Walks the Jungle at Night is an adventure supplement for Tomb of Annihilation, designed for a party of 4 players of 5th-7th level. It is a sandbox-friendly adventure designed to fit within a broad adventuring area. The adventure includes strong DM guidelines to hasten or slow the adventure's buildup, allowing the Dungeon Master to control the adventure's pace and incoprorate its early phases into normal day-to-day travel. The adventure includes: -A wide series of random encounter options for the party to discover. They'll find victims of Uluu Thalongh who are relevant to the factions they've interacted with. -A magical item reward: Lash of the Jungle-Walker. -The full-page Myth of Uluu Thalongh, written to embrace Tomb of Annihilation's focus on legend and folklore. -The stat blocks for the Uluu Thalongh (with legendary actions!) and its possessed jungle. -An appendix for chase complications if or when the party flees from the dreadful entity.
As you begin your path to adventuring fame, fate brings you a gift. The military is attacking a humanoid army not too far away but their powerful force has splintered the insurgents. Different groups of aggressive humanoids are now off on their own and the military is overwhelmed trying to track them down. Word has it that one such group is headed to the revered Oracle at Nyo! Your time has come and fame is within reach!
The dungeon is essentially a large puzzle built around the premise of time travel. Many PC interactions are a direct result of the party dealing with the actions of their past or future selves. This adventure is designed for a fifth level party, to be played in a single session. It features a large full color map, artwork, NPC roleplaying tips, and two new magic items. Julinda the gnome mage has always been a bit off. She is a chronomancer who has become obsessed with achieving the reliable and reproducible technology of time travel, in the interest of returning to select parts of history and influencing their outcome to her pleasing; perhaps to avert a war, or to head off the enslavement of her people, or prevent the death of a loved one. Those who know her were aware of her ambitions, and now worry that they are coming to fruition, as she hasn't been seen in several months. And so, they have implored the PCs to seek her out...
Trouble stirs in the Borderlands. Khazra, Red Prophet of the Bull God, has united the fractious People of the Bull and proclaimed the promised time is nigh. The Bull God demands blood! Fanatics raid the outlying villages, farmsteads and towns for sacrifices. None are safe! Unbeknownst to Khazra, a power older than man stirs under the earth, fed by the blood of sacrifice. Can a band of unlikely heroes prevail where all before them have failed? Are they brave enough to face not just the minions of the Red Prophet, but the eldritch terror of the Obelisk that Thirsts? The land will suffer terrors lost to time--unless heroes step up and answer the call! A module for 3-6 characters of levels 3-5. This adventure includes a situation for a 4th level paladin to find their mount. The adventure includes new spells, monsters, and magic items. Published by The Merciless Merchants
After a few scrapes with adventure even novice heroes will need a break and such is the case with this challenge. The young group of PCs will find themselves entering a backwater burg in the hopes of a little R&R (rest and relaxation) but as they come close to town a dead body in the road and the smell of burning foreshadows troubling times ahead. The R&R will have to wait as the young adventurers will be challenged yet again.
A 1st-level dungeon crawl heavy on exploration, factions, and sorcerous wonder for Shadowdark RPG! Go below the dripping ruins of Bittermold Keep to hunt for legendary treasures and face off against three competing factions that want to claim the Hideous Halls: the degenerate Bittermold family, the wild halfling Howlers, and the disgruntled mutant catfish. The characters might even encounter the abominable god-ooze, Mugdulblub! Winner of "The Best" rating from tenfootpole.org! View the adventure walkthrough video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVJ-t7qMjPo This adventure is part of Cursed Scroll Zine 1: Diablerie! Inside the zine, you'll find cursed knights channeling demonic power, mist-addled forests where witches and warlocks stalk the trees, and crumbling castles housing ancient, eldritch creatures. Shadowdark RPG is what classic, old-school fantasy gaming would look like after being redesigned with 50 years of innovation. It's the world's greatest roleplaying game in a whole new light! Learn more and download the free rules here: https://www.thearcanelibrary.com/pages/shadowdark
A druid dwells in the heart of the forest, running its shadowed paths as both man and wolf. As civilization encroached on his ancient forest, he retreated deeper into its depths, spending more time as a wolf and less as a man. He took refuge in a dark cave and the last traces of his humanity disappeared, leaving only the beast. Published by Arcana Games.
Cookie swarms? Bubble traps? A three-story tree house? The Grandmother Tree is a whimsical adventure about friendship aimed at elementary kids (and kids at heart) who love the problem-solving and adventuring part of playing Dungeons & Dragons and enjoy resolving encounters with less combat. Share your joy of Dungeons & Dragons with the whole family! This two-hour one-shot is suited for characters level 2-3, and includes the following features: -New ‘monster’ and trap that appeal to kids -Full-color maps -Detailed flowchart of the whole adventure to streamline your prep -Can be dropped into any existing campaign or run on its own -Fully playtested by kids -Printer-friendly version of the adventure and maps -Kid-friendly artwork -Interactive mini games your whole table will enjoy -Tips on playing TTRPGs with kids, graciously donated by Anne Gregersen from her best-selling guide, Little Heroes -A portion of the proceeds benefits Extra Life, helping fund children’s hospitals
The ancient world of Harth withers beneath its dying sun…but it’s not dead yet. Welcome to the strange and dangerous city of Carcassay, huddled below the skeleton of a titan rat, sprawling above the ruins of countless dead civilizations. This is where folk come to find wealth, power, revenge, secrets, oblivion… and everything in between. Carcassay is a sandbox city adventure. There are many locations to explore in, around, and under the city. Players can explore any place at any time, and may radically reshape the city’s politics, economy, religions, and physical existence. There are standard dungeons stacked under the city, and GMs are encouraged to keep adding more dungeons… all the way down. Tone. It leans more toward low fantasy or sword-and-sorcery. Most shops look like real shops. Most people look like real people. But strange and horrible things lurk everywhere as soon as you start to scratch the surface. This is my Lankhmar. Carcassay is a vast, bizarre city. It has over 100 locations where you can meet Chaos cultists, Lawful knights, retired adventurers, shopkeepers, brewers, musicians, artists, scientists, hermits, royalty, beggars, doctors, space vampires, eldritch horrors, machine priests, crab colonists, mushroom farmers, mummies, assassins, and diplomats from distant lands… and the moon. And every one of them has goods or services to sell, and a quest (or three) to offer. What sort of quests? Fetch a relic, assassinate a rival, find a relative, steal a soul, implant an agent, cure a disease, stop a riot, solve a murder that hasn’t happened yet, hunt a thief, locate a shrine… the list goes on. And for every Quest, there is a specific Reward: money, weapons, relics, Chaos mutations, exclusive memberships, information, Angelic miracles… the list goes on. This is a place where you can make a lot of money, but also where you can spend that money on interesting goods and services. Factions? We have a few. Seven Chaos cults, five knightly orders, two mercenary companies, four wealthy families, six (seven!) Corpse Lords, foreign diplomats, rival innkeepers, rival tavern owners, plus all the dungeon-delving gangs currently mucking about underground. When you grow weary of all the adventures at ground level, there are three classic dungeons buried under the city to explore. This book contains months (if not years) of campaigning. Enjoy the Chaos.
Let’s face after multiple dungeon delves and wilderness encounters you just want to spend some of that hard won loot. If your party has been out in the wilderness a little too long the high walls of a frontier city is a welcome sight. Such is the case with the large community of Cedarwood in the Plains of Dorack. At 46 pages of locales if the PCs can’t find something interesting, they need a cure blindness spell!
The Sword of the Dales, an icon of the Dalelands symbolizing the unity and strength of the people, has reappeared! Created by Shraevyn the weapons-mage hundreds of years ago, the lost Sword had become nothing more than a fantastic children's tale - until now. A group of warriors led by Randal Morn, rightful ruler of Daggerdale, rushed to the Sword's resting place to recover it, but dark forces awaited them, and Randal and his men fell to an ambush. Only one man escaped, yet he brought with him the hope that Randal Morn yet lives. Resolved to rescue his leader, that lone survivor turned to the great Elminster of Shadowdale for aid. But Elminster is gone, off plane-hopping while the fate of Daggerbale hangs in the balance. Hence, it is up to Lhaeo, scribe to the old mage, to find a group of heroes who have mettle enough to face down the menace which claimed Randal Morn and his hearty followers... This is the first of three adventures that grant player characters the opportunity to determine the fate of Daggerdale. The saga continues with "The Secret of Spiderhaunt" and concludes with "The Return of Randal Morn." TSR 9484
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 Precept of a Paladin order has called upon your group to do a favor. Recent initiates have gone to their island pilgrimage where the greatest member of their order is buried. Their vessel is long overdue and the commander feels they may have experience vehicular issues and no cause for 'major' alarm. A vessel has been obtained for you to head that way. Currently the other Paladins are all busy on assignment.
The PCs answer a call for heroes by the Church of Traladara, asking for help in finding an ancient relic- the Shield of Halav. This is located in a lost temple, and the PCs must locate this temple, and brave its dangers to recover the shield before two competing teams from other churches find it first. Part one involves setting up the adventure, doing research, following clues, and discovering the site of the lost temple. Part two; once the site is known (ruins under a modern town) the heroes must travel there and find the entrance. Part three is braving the lost temple, filled with traps, puzzles, and other dangers, to find the missing shield, and then culminating in a climatic showdown with the completing teams.
Despite the bitter cold that reigns here nine months of the year, the Timberway Forest has long been a source of prosperity for civilized folk who live nearby. Many trappers and hunters spend the better part of the year within its borders, stockpiling furs and meat to trade in the frontier towns to the south, where they spend their winters. Most feel that the value of these commodities makes braving the Timberway Forest worth the risk. Recently, though, a small group of trappers and hunters has awakened a terrible new menace in the forest. Based in a remote hunter's abode called the Bluerock Lodge, they hunted the animals of the woods more out of a deep-seated desire to be cruel than a need to feed themselves. In particular, they focused their hateful attention on the local Timberway lion population. Timberway lions are rather small (more like leopards), but they are known for being lithe and wary. Still, the trappers had the advantage of intelligence and tools, and before long they had slaughtered the entire pride save for its leader. As the winter worsened and game grew ever more scarce, this last surviving lion began to starve. At that point, the darker forces of nature took notice, and the Timberway Forest gained a predator like no other. Frozen Whispers is a short D&D adventure for four 3rd-level player characters (PCs). The scenario is set mostly in and near a remote hunter’s lodge in a snowy forest. The scenario can be placed in any cold area of your campaign world that features a remote tract of woodland—a copse of trees near the arctic circle, a swath of taiga near the treeline on a high mountainside, or even a normally temperate forest caught in the grip of an unnaturally snowy winter. As always, feel free to adapt the material presented here as you see fit to make it work with your campaign.
Beneath our feet is the mythological hollow world – a realm of dense jungles, putrid swamps and rugged mountains. Here a brave party will struggle for survival as they seek to fathom the unseen expanse and to prevent a once defeated god to rise again. ‘Journey to the Inside Out’ can be played as a stand-alone scenario or be used as the first installment in a trilogy of connected adventure modules each taking place in a different era. The scenario can be used with Swords & Wizardry or any other early variant of game rules. Inside you will find: • A 40+ page old-school module with a layout optimized for fast and easy interfacing. • A challenging lost world setting with the possibility to toggle the complexity. • Alternative suggestions for entry to the hollow inside. • Downloadable maps for both players and the Referee. • Story-points for a guided scenario and tables for sandbox and hexcrawl-style play. • Advice for an ongoing campaign. • Locations allowing the PCs to travel to another era within the setting. • Unique new creatures. Published by CTM Publishing.
The characters have escaped the maze only to find themselves in strange dimensions of fire, stone and ice, and a strange idyllic hunting ground where all is not as it appears.
From Exalted Funeral: "Fair hero, the end, the end alone awaits all travelers and at the end...was the journey all in vain? All journeys end in vanity. In vanity." - Mused the Grand Observer at the end of time. Welcome to The Ultraviolet Grasslands, the roleplaying game of heroes on a strange trip through mythic steppes in search of lost time, broken space, and deep riffs. The Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City is a tabletop role-playing game book, half setting, half adventure, and half epic trip; inspired by psychedelic heavy metal, the Dying Earth genre, and classic Oregon Trail games. It leads a group of ‘heroes’ into the depths of a vast and mythic steppe filled with the detritus of time and space and fuzzy riffs. The UVG is the work of the designer, artist, and writer Luka Rejec and was made possible through the generous support of hundreds of discerning fans at the Stratometaship patreon. Luka's other work with Exalted Funeral Press includes writing, art, and design on: Witchburner, Longwinter: The Referee's Book, Longwinter: The Visitor's Guide, and the adventure for OSE, Holy Mountain Shaker.