Horrors in the Dark The origin of the ShadowGate is lost in antiquity. Some claim it as the work of devils, others cannibal cultists or even demon lords. Not long after its discovery it was boarded up by the priests of the local church, and then fortified by paladins. Of late something has emerged from the portal. It remains trapped within the divine defences, but for how long?
Reign of the Ice King is a 10th level Adventure for 4-6 players Icewind Dale; The mad mage Akar Kessell has long been defeated, along with his evil army. Most of the dwarves of clan Battlehammer have migrated east to their ancient home of Mithral Hall after the death of Shimmergloom and her dark-dwarf minions. The Ten Towns valley has prospered over the years but has also seen the leaving of many of its heroes. Now, a new menace has moved in beneath the shadow of Kelvin’s Cairn and threatens devastation to the townsfolk of Termalaine. The adventurers are visiting the frozen region of Ten Towns when they see smoke rising from the town of Termalaine. Upon entering the town they find unimaginable destruction and many casualties. A Frost Giant, named Hrimnar has moved into the old Verbeeg Lair at the foot of Kelvin’s Cairn. He has demanded tribute from the poor peoples of Termalaine and let them know what happens if they do not pay him adequately. The quest to save a town from a tyrannical, giant overlord may spell the doom of the adventures as they face off against Hrimnar’s minions and even worse, his pet dragon, Ormrfrost.
The Hag's Hexes is a 66 page guide designed by Dungeon Masters Guild luminaries like JVC Parry and Janek Sielicki alongside rising stars and old stalwarts like Matt Butler, Matthew Gravelyn, and Tim Bannock. It was created with one thing in mind: to make hags more than the sum of their (often meager) Challenge ratings, giving them the mechanics, roleplay potential, and weird magic that can inspire campaigns, lay low kings and warlords, and potentially ensnare unwary Player Characters into campaign-changing curses or long-term bargains that force them into terrible moral quandaries! Split into five chapters, the authors have provided everything a DM needs to terrify their players for years to come. The Bestiary features over a dozen monsters; some are new hags, some are their minions or even their mobile lairs, and one of them -- the Shaitan AKA Desert Hag -- was featured in Monsters of the Guild! Bargains & Curses is a chapter filled with ideas that can kick-start campaigns, threaten valued NPCs, or put Player Characters' very existence and morality at stake. Chapter 3 includes two dozen items of wonderment, weirdness, and dread, ranging from fairy tale-inspired items of whimsy to terribly cursed items of horror. Chapter 4 is titled "Filthy, Vile & Downright Dirty" and provides dozens of roleplaying tips to make hags come alive, new mechanics inspired by and expanding on Volo's Guide to Monsters (coven spell lists, aunties, grandmothers, alternative coven members), and ends with useful combat tactics for each of the hags from the Monster Manual and Volo's Guide, as well as tactics for covens. Finally, Chapter 5 presents five encounter groups (with sub-encounters) to give you quick story seeds and monster lists that you can put together in minutes to create a single encounter or to inspire a full campaign, and ends with three full-length adventures -- each with 3-5 encounters -- that showcase many of the new monsters, rules, magic items, and so on that appeared in earlier chapters. Each of these adventures comes with an encounter map meant to act as inspiration for hag lairs, and they include useful mechanical ideas for terrain effects and descriptive keywords listed directly on the map for added inspiration and easy customization! Designed by Tim Bannock. Written by Matt Butler, JVC Parry, Janek Sielicki, and Tim Bannock. Edited by Matthew Gravelyn and Tim Bannock. Cover Art by Elena Naylor. Cartography by Tim Bannock using Inkwell Ideas' Dungeonographer (Dungeonographer is copyright Inkwell Ideas). Layout & Graphic Elements by Elena Naylor with Tim Bannock. Interior Art by Arcana Games, Bruno Balixa, David Lewis Johnson, Dean Spencer, Earl Geier, Filip Gutowski, Jacob E. Blackmon, Joyce Maureira, Petr Kratochvil, Jayaraj Paul, Brian Brinlee, and Wizards of the Coast.
*** WARNING: this adventure contains strong scenes and descriptions which may not suit all kinds of public. It's heavy on horror, suspense, gore and sadism. The entire adventure available in the Full Preview, so that you can self-assess the content and buy in confidence. *** The main theme of the adventure is horror, using suspense elements as well as gore and sick scenes to shock your players. The adventure is divided in 2 parts: the first part involves a mad vampire spawn who tortures as a hobby, full of scary stuff like you see in horror movies. The second part involves a lesser demon lord stuck in a kind of inverted world (Stranger Things/Silent Hill style) which has a dread passion for a very disturbing and wicked art. There are tips on how to set the mood and make your players actually tense or even scary.
Blackwater Redux is an Eberron adventure designed for a group of five characters starting on 1st level. It brings the group to the backwater of Khorvaire, aptly named the Shadow Marches. By the end of the adventure, the characters should reach 5th level or higher. To run this adventure, you need the fifth edition Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual, and Eberron: Rising from the Last War (RFTLW). Blackwater Redux is a dark, hopeless adventure with strong horror notes. It is inspired by Apocalypse Now by John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola, The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, and The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft. Consuming these before running the adventure is highly recommended. The adventure’s themes loosely touch on current and past real-world conflicts. If one or more of the players are former or active soldiers, make sure to discuss the campaign’s content beforehand.
On the world’s first offshore rig Captain Seaslick and his crew are drilling for dragon essence - a rare and valuable substance often called Red Gold. They’re about to be filthy rich, but not everyone’s happy for them. Dragon cultists have infiltrated the rig and are trying to steal a stash of the precious essence for their rites. In their eagerness they’ve magically sped the drill up to a perilous rate. With the rig rattling and falling apart around them, will Seaslick and his enterprising ex-pirates team up with nature worshipping tribes folk to defeat their shared enemy? And will they escape with their liquid hoard, or will the sea have her revenge for their greed?
The walled city of Wheloon holds the criminal population of Cormyr. The residents of that place are bound to it forever and cut off from the outside world. Inside, plans are made and malcontents pool their resources – and outside, forces influence the innocent to ensure that a dire plot can be realized without interference from the knights and mages that guard the realm. Now you’re here with no memory of what brought you to Wheloon, and all you can think of is finding out why!
The Party that Split is a standalone adventure set in the peculiar village of Basht. This quiet town keeps having problems that only adventurers can solve. The village's children have gone missing from a birthday party, the only thing that was left behind was a note saying "Your move, Adventurers -- MS." Has the mysterious stranger struck again? Where did the children go, and will you be able to return them? A Four-Hour Adventure for Tier 1 characters, Optimized for APL 3. Seed used: Party Time! Content Warnings: Children in Peril, kidnapping The Party that Split originally debuted at U-Con on November 2021 (http://www.ucon-gaming.org/) The story continues where The Goat Mayor and Straw Bears leave off, a year later. Many of the things that adventurers in past adventurers have done in previous adventures have an affect on this adventure, and the events in this will affect adventures in the future. The village of Basht is a little Grimm's Fairy Tale village that was used for several CCCs and DungeonCrafts U-Con. I hope that your players enjoy the whimsy and dark undercurrents as much as mine have, and I would love it if you share your experiences in Basht with me! I've included VTT-friendly maps and handouts in separate files to help with running your games virtually because we can't let a simple thing like physical distance prevent us from sharing our stories. I also have a printer friendly version included for those that prefer their works to be printed on the flesh of dead trees. Please see other adventures written for U-Con: The Goat Mayor (by me, Daniel Chapman) is the first introduction to Basht and it's peculiar traditions The Straw Bears (by me, Daniel Chapman) takes place just a few tendays later, describing the strange annual tradition of the procession of Straw Bears Blood and Fog (by Alan Patrick) was the first CCC written for U-Con and the first mention of the Blood Lord. Rescue Down Under (by Alex Lown) continues the story of Basht and revisits the friendly tinkerer Yul Khahan. The story will continue in Have You No Heart? If you see any errors or have any suggestions, or just wish to retell the tale of how your group went through the story, feel free to contact the author at: http://hoshisabi.com
A short adventure for low level play, suitable for beginner players and DM. The farmlands are being raided by monstrous creatures and and the town of Windhill needs help! will the heroes find the source of these creatures and defeat whoever is creating them? This adventure covers a lot of the basic elements of DnD play and is designed to offer a taster of the system that is easy to run and quick to prepare. It includes stat blocks so that you don't need any other book (except the basic rules) to run it. Do you have a few friends you want to introduce to DnD? is it your first time on the other side of the screen? this adventure may be for you.
Delve into the depths of the tomb of the long forgotten elven king to bring the eternal peace onto its disturbed dwellers. A 4-hour adventure for two 4th level characters. Small Party Adventure: Though the party size of 3–5 characters is considered optimal in D&D, there are times when you can only gather one or two players at most. This adventure is designed exactly for such occasions.
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.
Characters are asked by a local cleric to deliver gifts to a family whose homestead is in the harsh frontier. During the trek they encounter several “spirit forces” that they can overcome through combat, or they can decipher clues to use tropes that suggest some fun, holiday-themed alternatives to combat. Once they reach the homestead, they must plan to secretly deliver the gifts. All of this must be completed in one day’s time before the Winter Solstice ends. This adventure is an homage to the Christmas holiday time, but it is not a traditional “Santa Claus” story. The cast of monsters and NPCs are inspired by European folklore that have contributed to today’s Christmas celebrations. The legends have been mashed into a single, tier 1 D&D adventure, designed for four level 4 characters. Suggestions are given for scaling. Total play should not exceed 4 hours.
The sleepy little town of Scharokhova has gone from dreary to depressing and dangerous. Shortly after a strange man in a hooded cloak came to town one evening, visiting the posh manor home of the local noble family, the Petrovas, a fog descended upon the valley where the town lies. What’s more, all manners of beasts, from rats to bats to wolves, are attacking the townsfolk, or destroying their supplies. And that fog! Anyone that tries to leave escape the town through the fog finds their mind too addled to make it through. And those that made it the furthest were set upon by beasts, beasts that seemed to try to keep the villagers from leaving town. Now, the townsfolk’s only hope rests with a group of outsiders who made it to the village through the mist, and now find themselves stuck in town, just like the residents have been. Eliminate the beasts threatening the townsfolk! Explore Petrova Manor and discover the secret that has caused this curse to descend upon Scharokhova! Finally, free the town from the grip of evil, and perhaps even bring Gorak, the last of the Petrova line, back from darkness into the light!
An injured young fisherman stumbles into Elventree with a brightly colored egg in his arms. He claims it fell from the sky and broke his rowboat. When he swam to the shore an elf with skin of ash attacked him and tried to take the egg. Will you help him keep it safe, Adventurers? The Module This module is 35 pages of adventurer's league fun centered around a mysterious egg that has fallen from the sky, a journey into the Feywild, and a meeting with an Archfey. It rewards exploration, social bravery, and the combats are well tuned for the tier with interesting enemies. Also Included! There are 15 map files included with this document that cover Dungeon Master, Player, gridded, gridless (for use with your Virtual Tabletop of choice!), and greyscale! In addition, there's a high resolution artwork of the Archfey present in the module.
Can you save Timsgiving (not Christmas) when Tim (not Santa) goes missing just days before the holiday? With only a few days until the annual winter gift-giving festival of Timsgiving, Tim the toy maker has gone missing without a word. Something mischievious is afoot. Can the party save the town of Spining from missing a holiday? Dragon in a Toy Shop is a 3-6 hour adventure for a 4th to 5th level party. It is set near the town of Spining, which can be dropped into any campaign setting, but can also be run alongside another settlement or even in the middle of the wilderness!
About a year ago, an adventuring party found themselves encumbered with more treasure than they knew what to do with. After brief deliberation, the group buried their hoard in a remote grotto inhabited by water birds. It was only a matter of time until one of the resident scavengers exhumed a most unfortunate item. Armed with a headband of intellect and a stash of other equipment for the taking, Belladonna the Bin Chicken began to study the abandoned spellbooks. The ambitious fowl quickly advanced as a mage, and set her sights on conquest of the surrounding areas.
A galvanice weird has torn apart an Izzet laboratory in the Blistercoils. The weird’s path of destruction leads to Tin Street where the weird was spotted being subdued and taken aboard the notorious Palace of Pain’s Pleasures, a mobile Cult of Rakdos performance stage. To return the weird to its proper owner and discover the mystery behind its bizarre behavior the party must brave The Palace of Pain’s Pleasures! The Palace of Pain’s Pleasures is a 2-hour Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica adventure for 2nd - 3rd level characters. Picking up where Off to a Weird Start left off, this adventure is designed to be part of an ongoing campaign. For Dungeon Masters who wish to incorporate The Palace of Pain’s Pleasures independently from the ongoing story, 20 Adventure Hooks (two for each guild) are included, giving The Palace of Pain’s Pleasures flexibility for one-shot play or for inclusion in your own campaign! The Palace of Pain’s Pleasures contains: A new location that is also a magical construct. New trinket tables for the Cult of Rakdos. A new NPC antagonist (or contact), Ophyira, the star performer of the Palace! Two new magic items. One new spell. Discover the secrets of The Palace of Pain’s Pleasures TODAY!
The Great Trial is a 5e adventure for characters starting at 7th-level and ending at 10th-level. It's a dungeon consisting in the 3 levels, where the first level is the lowermost one and the last is the uppermost one: First level is composed by mean traps, puzzles and combat; Second level is a labyrinth with a construct Minotaur - the Minotal - and an iron wyvern, brand new creatures; The last and uppermost level is actually a jungle-like demi-place filled with dinosaurs in an open world format. Aenor Gleenwith, a powerful elf wizard, wants to make history alongisde Acererak for his Tomb of Horror and Halaster for his Undermountain. So he created his own dungeon. To test its efficiency, he captures adventurers and puts them in the lowermost level, where they need to work together to survive and leave the dangerous place. At the end, Aenor himself greets the group offering them apologies for the harm caused, to fix all damage caused and also rewarding them for the forced help. This module can be run in any setting, campaign, or as a one-shot. It should take around 10 to 14 hours to complete it since it contains 3 Chapters.
In the Lodge, things are simple. They can look like you. They want to BE you. And in their home, the only thing standing between you and death is six millimeters of glass. Can you escape the Polished? Find out in Six Millimeters, a thrilling horror adventure for the world's greatest roleplaying game! Take 4-6 of your friends through the Lodge, an extradimensional space overrun by nightmarish beings that can strike from any reflective surface. Shardlings revel in the paranoia caused by their reflective horrors, sowing doubt and mayhem until the opportune moment presents itself. Panes, meanwhile use their impressive stature to quickly overwhelm their foes. Spellcasters especially are in for a nasty surprise! This adventure is intended for 1st-level characters and uses milestone advancement to ensure they reach 3rd-level throughout the course of the game. For players who take their time investigating the Lodge and discovering its dreadful past, this adventure may take 7-9 hours to complete. Given the adventure’s horror elements and milestone advancement, Six Millimeters is easy to use as a starting scenario to the Curse of Strahd adventure. Content Warning: Suicide, Self Mutilation
Buried in the desert sands of Mulhorand, near the city of Mishtan, lies an ancient stone statue of a sphinx queen. After a fierce sandstorm reveals a huge tablet etched with hieroglyphs between the statue’s paws, the PCs must translate the strange writing to find the secret entrance into the Temple of the Sphinx Queen. The conclusion offers three optional endings for DMs to choose from to suit their players, including a wicked trap, a twist that leads to further adventures, or a tough climactic combat suitable for a one-shot. Included are: Five new Egyptian-themed monsters: The Sphinx Queen, Black Lion Guardian, Zombie Scarabs, Snake of Set and Desert Spirit. A new weapon, the khopesh Four new magic items: Statue of Set, Guardian Khopesh of Set, Warded Puzzle Box and Minor Concoction of Healing Two hieroglyphic puzzle player handouts and a DMs translator sheet