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!
Your stalwart band treks through the trackless jungle seeking the Dragon's Maw Waterfall. At the base of the falls, behind a massive curtain of water, is rumored to be the cavern lair of a great wyrm. The local Xulmec tribesmen say the great dragon has not been seen in nearly 100 years, so perhaps its hoard lies unguarded and ready for plunder. But what role do the heroes play in a blind shaman's prophecy foretold a century ago?
In ages long past and best forgotten, the world was ruled by worms. Deep within dreaming jungles, and high atop monolithic temples, fell priests sacrificed the blood of man and his kith to the mammoth war-worms. One wizard would return the world to the rule of the worm. From deep within the blood-soaked earth, calling upon the spirits of the slain and blood of the dying, rising from the moldering bones of fallen warriors, the war-worms have returned. Their foul Mother – last of her kin – births more crawling horrors with every passing hour. The age of the worm is once more upon us. The call is sounded: Who will rise to purge the darkness?
At the mercy of Chaos! Abducted by the Court of Chaos, the adventurers face hard choices if they want to return home. The Host of Chaos desires a legendary artifact held by the Scions of Law and need patsies to retrieve it. Faced with an eternity of servitude, the party must sneak into the Plane of Law and steal the Yokeless Egg from under its guardians’ watch. But not all is what it appears when the Court of Chaos is concerned and serving the Host may destroy the party from within. Can they survive the Intrigue At the Court of Chaos?
Discovering a once-hidden passage in the Purple Planet’s Ancestor Peaks, the PCs enter the tomb of the Immortal Kahl. The party must survive deadly chambers fraught with alien life and technologies while unraveling the tomb’s mysteries. Ultimately, the party faces a choice unlike any encountered before, and a reward which will change them forever.
Murder! Ripples of shock pour through the wee hours of the sleepy fishing shanty of Port Scuttle. An innocent young fishmonger, beloved by the locals, has been brutally murdered in her own shop. Stunned by the grisly act, the typically hardened townsfolk turn to powerful heroes to investigate the gruesome deed. Could the fishmonger’s recent discovery of a massive black pearl be a possible motive? The heroes’ goal is to not only bring the perpetrator to justice, but determine the twisted purpose behind the ghastly act. Concerned townsfolk decry that the evildoer must hang for his or her despicable crime. Yet when the heroes finally track down the murderer, he is already dead by the noose, and the investigation has truly only begun. Clues hint at even darker designs, as an ancient evil stirs to reclaim a once lost malevolent relic. Tackle the challenge of solving the despicable murder of an innocent, and thwarting the diabolical schemes of a powerful brine vampire. Th e adventure is set in and around a small fishing port located on the windswept craggy cliffs of an ocean. The author draws on two inspirations for this adventure: The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, and an unnamed adventure plot by the author’s astonishing wife, Lisa.
Far to the west, beyond civilized lands, lie the Tolomak Islands— volcanic peaks covered in pestilential jungle and bestriding sunken ruins. The legends say the Tolomaks are home to treacherous witches, ferocious cannibals, moon demons, and worse! Wise are those who steer well away from these accursed jungle isles, but not everyone is wise… For the legends also speak of power unimaginable and treasures beyond the limits of mortal avarice. Now, under the light of the triple moons, a band of intrepid adventurers sails ever nearer the islands. With luck, they will escape with a fortune; without it, they may not keep their souls.
Punjar: wide-eyed madmen stalk the streets pronouncing the end of days, mail-clad priests crush the skulls of heathens underfoot, and timorous virgins are offered up in sacrifice within sooty temples. But even the greatest of shining temples and the strangest of mystery cults don’t dare to challenge the terrifying finality of Death. Until now. In Blades Against Death, the adventurers cross between the realms of the living and the dead, and wager their souls in a desperate bid to steal a soul from Death’s hoary grasp. To win over the God of Dooms, you must be the most daring, stalwart and cunning and – when all else fails – willing to test your blades against Death! A mid-level adventure for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, Blades against Death offers characters a once in a lifetime escapade. Those that return from the Realms of the Dead will have earned the true title of adventurer, while those that fail will spend eternity in Death’s service.
Once every decade, the tides of the Empyrean Ocean recede far enough to reveal the highest eaves of a mysterious undersea tower. Long ago this was an eldritch fastness of Sezrekan the Elder, the most wicked wizard ever to plague the Known World, but now the tower is known simply as the final resting place of the fabled Black Pearl – an artifact rumored to bring doom upon all who dare to posses it. Tonight the moon nearly fills the sky, and the tides have already begun to recede. Adventurers have eight short hours to explore the tower before the dark waters return. The fabled Black Pearl will be theirs for the taking…if they can survive the Pearl’s curse.
During the Last War, the ancients deployed their war-skiff assault units from elevator platforms that now dot a sector of the wasteland like a ravaged forest of rusted steel stumps. Most of the platforms are buried by the shifting sands or stand as shattered reminders of a war that was once meaningful, but one of these decaying steel stumps still remains partially energized, layered with tunnels below ground, and powered by a unique extra-dimensional reactor core beneath the surface of the planet.
Evil lurks beneath the ocean! For years it has slumbered, but now it rises once again, threatening to wash over the surface world like a monstrous wave. Only a handful of stalwarts stand between the nefarious schemes of the deep and a world drowned in sorrows, but first they must navigate a wizard’s sanctum, a magical prison, and the most unusual dungeon they’ve ever faced! Can they stem the tide in time or will they lose themselves forever to the Sea Change curse?
Centuries ago, the glitterdoom came to the dwarves of Steelhand Clan! This divine curse transformed the dwarves into hellish forms with an insatiable greed for gold. Now, a chance encounter breaks open long-sealed gates to unleash the glitterdoom again. Can your adventurers delve into the forgotten halls to confront the subterranean menace? Work together to clear the abandoned mine of it's undead hosts and retrieve what gold and treasures you can.
A corrupt Duke of Lankhmar’s foibles paraded before the masses for their entertainment puts an acting troupe in trouble. Threatened by the insulted Duke and his private guard, the performers need assistance to make it through their final performance of “The Fiascos of Duke Hogfat.” With nobody else to turn to, the troupe hires the PCs as their evening’s protectors. Will the play end in a standing ovation or will the Duke and his thugs bring down the house on the troupe and their defenders? Officially licensed from the estate of Fritz Leiber.
Captured! While trekking across a trackless wasteland, your stalwart band has fallen into the clutches of a nefarious gang of desert raiders. Imprisoned in a subterranean chamber, you are bereft of all of your equipment and magic items, save for a few tattered loincloths. But as chance would have it, an opportunity to escape the cell presents itself. To escape, you must head deeper into an ancient sealed tomb, armed with nothing but your wits and anything you can find along the way. Getting to the surface is just one of many challenges, as you still need to recover your precious equipment, and flee the Lost Oasis, which is surrounded by an inhospitable sea of solid glass!
Legend tells of a long-dead empire of sphinxes, ruled over for millennia by a great queen named Ankharet. She fell into darkness and her empire was shattered, as her subjects rebelled and cast her down. Unable to kill her, it is said that they bound her with great magic and buried her in a tomb, to wait for the foretold heroes who would be able to slay her and end her evil forever. Their empire in ashes, the sphinxes scattered to roam the world in bitter freedom, save a single great androsphinx. On the edge of the mysterious Barren Hills, between the mountains and the Great Desert, there is a gigantic statue of a crowned gynosphinx, ancient beyond reckoning. At its feet, a great androsphinx known as Khubsheth the Prophet has dispensed counsel and prophecy to all who come to him for longer than mortal records can tell. The heroes have come to visit Khubsheth, whether for counsel, prophecy or out of curiosity, but as soon as he lays eyes on them, he attacks! Upon his defeat, he tells them that they are the heroes foretold by the legend of Ankharet. Ankharet ruled over a long-dead empire of sphinxes, but she fell into darkness. Her subjects rebelled and cast her down, but were unable to kill her. It is said that they bound her with great magic and buried her in a tomb, to wait for the foretold heroes who would be able to slay her and end her evil forever. Kubsheth the Prophet tells the heroes that they must enter the tomb of the long-dead sphinx queen, kill her, and destroy her cursed crown, an artifact of tremendously evil power. As his blood seeps into the sands, a doorway opens at the base of the statue, leading down into darkness…
The mad wizard Emirikol is terrifying the city! Striking without reason and sending his winged apes to slaughter the populace, the famous archmage has gone too far. Now a coffer of jewels is offered to those who would dare defeat him. The ever-changing walls of his Shifting Tower are guarded by a host of diabolical traps, fiendish guardians, and unimaginable terror. Will your adventurers come out victorious…or lose their very souls in the attempt?
The legendary city of Freeport is a seedy port town where former pirates settle down to become "businessmen" while street gangs fight over the slave trade. In the deepest warrens of this already dangerous place, mad cultists worship unspeakable gods - and sometimes these sinister deeds bubble to the surface. There's a dark shadow over Freeport today, as yet another innocent child has gone missing. The trail leads to the old Cresh Manor, boarded up but not forgotten. The city needs heroes to find these missing children. But are the heroes brave enough to conquer the dark shadows of Freeport?
In this all-new adventure, the characters acquire a treasure map tattooed on tanned human skin. It shows the location of famed pirate Bloody Jack’s last haul, where hundreds of thousands of gold coins lie waiting to be taken. But exploring his long-abandoned island hideaway isn’t as easy as it first seems. Bloody Jack didn’t leave his treasure unguarded — and the best way to keep the undead legions well-stocked is to lure treasure-hunters to their death…
Along the windswept sea coast are several natural stone columns, sacred to the Sea Goddess Pelagia. One of these pillars is the tower of a reclusive wizard, a devout follower of Pelagia. But the wizard has gone missing, and the locals suspect foul play. Surely a powerful wizard must have many enemies! A band of fledgling heroes is tasked with entering one of the Pillars of Pelagia to contend with all manner of magical defenses, while uncovering cryptic clues to the wizard’s disappearance planted by an unknown benefactor. The insidious evil plot they uncover could spell eventual doom for the surface world. But the Pillars are sacred to Pelagia, and the Sea Goddess herself might just play a minor role, aiding the heroes as they attempt to thwart a nefarious plot.
Giants stalk the shifting sands as the lost city of Stylos awakens from its deathless slumber. The Fourth Age of Man is at hand! All that stands between the gigantic hordes of Stylos and their conquest of the world is your band of adventurers. Sinister traps, implacable foes, and the crushing tread of the dread Colossus all lurk within these pages, eager to test the courage and cunning of even the most accomplished adventurers.