People keep asking for "beginner" dungeons. Everyone can name "classic" dungeons - Tomb of Horrors, Barrier Peaks, Ravenloft, etc. - but in order for those adventures to make sense, there needs to be some sort of introduction. It's like all the adventures we have are Bach concertos. People keep writing amazing works of staggering genius, but someone needs to write a book on how to play the piano. I had the same questions, and since I couldn't find anything satisfactory, I decided to write the kind of dungeon I would have loved to find. I wanted to write the best basic OSR dungeon for beginners that I could, and I also wanted to show the design process. If you like this dungeon, please share it, tell people about it, print copies and leave them lying around local game stores, or email this post to friends who have "always wanted to try D&D but don't know where to start". The entire thing is and always will be free.
The Dread tunnels of Ruxbar were created by a cult of a lesser evil deity of the giant pantheon, known as Jargain to serve as a planar gate in hope of bringing chaos and destruction to the natural order of the world and power to the one who would control the gate. Ruxabar was the high cultist who completed the ritual but to his surprise nothing of what he expected came through the gate. Plague creatures, toxic gases and vapors, diseases of all kinds and decay lay quick waste to him and his cult. For some time the gate remained open and the settlements nearby were afflicted with diseases never seen before. The nearby town of Stagwood was quickly abandoned due to the plague. Rumor has it that the gods have weakened the gate and the cult has been destroyed. The remaining villages that managed to somewhat resist the plague are now hiring brave adventurers to venture into the tunnels and close the planar gate for good! Are you capable enough of surviving the horrors that reside in the Dreaded Tunnels of Ruxabar? Published by Mistfactor Press
Only True Heroes Can Find Honor Among Thieves … They lurk in the Ralferst Forest, striking out at all who pass through, robbing traders, assaulting farmers, even killing with impunity. Working from a secret base deep in the forest, a band of thieves has struck fear into the heart of Brandon's Bridge, the little village at the crossing of the Azure River. But now a band of heroes has come, seeking glory and adventure - heroes that might just be up to the challenge of driving away the Thieves in the Forest. Thieves in the Forest is a beginner-friendly, introductory OGL adventure. It features: A wilderness adventure segment featuring the Ralferst Forest, a dense wood crisscrossed with paths and fraught with perils. The nature of the forest and paths makes it easy for less experienced players and GMs to deal with this non-dungeon environment. A double-sided, fold-out poster map (17" x 22") of the thieves' hideout - an ancient ruined temple - suitable for tabletop use with miniatures or counters, for easier handling of tactical combat. Maps created in Profantasy Software's Campaign Cartographer 2, and available for download on the Atlas Games website. GMs can customize and manipulate these maps themelves, if they own CC2, and integrate them into their own game worlds. Published by Atlas Games & Truant Spiele
The adventures in Dalentown continue in The Darkness Beneath Dalentown. Workers in the town’s sewers have stumbled upon the long abandoned halls of the dwarves that once settled beneath this region. What they’ve found is a haunted library. What they’ve woken is something far more sinister! The Darkness Beneath Dalentown features hordes of oozes, undead, and demons festering for years in an ancient dwarven mining stronghold. Now, they are slowly working their way to the surface, and the folk of Dalentown are in dire peril!
Andrew Engelbrite's gripping tale of intrigue and honor takes the adventurers from a chance encounter with a kindly elder matron in Hofuku Prefecture, across the sea to the polluted islands of Uragi Prefecture, and into a deathtrap of enslaved water folk under the control of madman! What you'll find in Honorable Wills: Kittiyona and Ikkitongaku: Details for 2 of Soburin's capital cities (including full page maps) 18 new monsters and NPCs ranging from the heirs Torimu to the mythical umibōzu sea monster Cosmetic Augments: A new type of invasive technological enhancement and the Bioartist Monastic Tradition Torimu Keep: A 20 page, 3 level, fully-mapped dungeon An epic module that will end with the PCs reaching 11th level! Published by Storm Bunny Studios
This adventure has a lighter tone but isn’t completely out of place in a serious campaign. The challenges include combat, puzzles, traps and a legendary monster; Jack, in a Box. Does the party need to find something that an evil (and possibly mad) mage may have secluded away in an extra-dimensional space, and ordered an evil Jack-in-the-box and his toy army to protect it at all costs? Well that’s convenient because that is exactly the kind of situation that "Trapped in the Toybox" can help you with. Alternatively maybe that Dragon fight went a little too well for your party, maybe this “cursed chest” could help teach them a little humility. This adventure is designed for 4 (1d6 + 1) adventurers of 8th level who are in possession of a sense of humour. The toybox was created by a chaotic yet playful wizard, in order to hide an enchanted amulet under the protection of Jack. The adventurers should find themselves trapped inside the toybox, and they're in Jack's world now. Jack is the master of this domain and protector of both the amulet he has been entrusted with and the only exit of the toybox. There are a number of ways the adventurers may have come to be inside this toybox, e.g., the toybox may be found as part of the adventurer's loot in a dungeon or dragon's hoard, upon investigation it drags the adventurers inside. Note: This module commemorates our first themed week of Reddit's /r/Monsteraday and ties together this week's monsters in a dungeon designed for four 8th level adventurers. https://www.reddit.com/r/1d6Adventurers/comments/61axk3/trapped_in_the_toybox_adventure_module/ Published by 1d6Adventures
When an injured child collapses in the street, will you venture into the cellar he fled from to discover what hides, creaking in the dark? Published by Nord Games
For centuries, Aelmor Monastery near the port town of Sestone was a safe haven for scholars, monks, and pilgrims seeking enlightenment, its renowned library home to an enormous collection of ancient manuscripts, tomes, and peculiar writings. After suffering a devastating attack at the hands of a possessed monastery elder, Aelmor fell into ruin, its troubled past forgotten. When villagers start disappearing and turn up horribly mutated days later, fear takes a grip of Sestone. What sinister forces are at work? And to what end? The Claws of Madness is a standalone adventure carefully designed for a group of 1st-level heroes, including new monsters, magic items, and a thrilling story arc. Edited by Michele Carter (co-editor of the 5th Edition Player’s Handbook), this dungeon crawl combines the best elements of classic adventures with fresh new exciting avenues. The story in this book also provides the perfect base for an epic, long-running campaign suitable for higher-level characters, in which the heroes unravel the dark mystery of the mythical Hand of Narkul . . . Published by LoreSmyth SmiteWorks.
Goblin attacks have always plagued the farmers and merchants who live and travel along the roads leading to Whitesparrow. But a recent rash of new attacks are something different. The goblins of one particular tribe have gotten particularly smart, attacking with careful tactics and cunning ambushes. The village guards haven’t been able to outwit the goblins, even when laying traps of their own and hiring mercenaries to stop them. Even as goblins go, Rosethorn isn’t much to look at. He’s small and runty, and yet a lucky break placed him in charge of the Brownleaf goblin tribe. When he claimed a powerful magic relic from a dead wizard three months ago, Rosethorn found his intellect multiplied many times over. The world began to make a more intricate kind of sense to him, and he saw patterns in the ways other folk traveled the roads. After hiring a spy in Whitesparrow to tell him which wagons to pursue, Rosethorn cunningly bribed the wagons’ guards to throw battles in the goblins’ favor. He then moved the lair of the Brownleaf tribe away from their dank caves and into the ruins of the Bearded Man—an enormous dead tree at the center of the Howling Wood. There, Rosethorn continues his campaign of ambush against the foolish villagers, increasing his wealth and power with each robbery.
"An army on the move, an ancient artifact, its purpose long forgotten, and the sinister plans of an unknown foe: When these elements combine, it's bad news for the good-aligned cities of the Blood Plateau. A massive band of orcs is marching on the Monastery of the Yellow Lotus, intent upon taking the "Flower That Does Not Bloom." The heroes must trek through goblin-infested tunnels and monster-filled woods ahead of the orcish horde, in a deadly Race to the Yellow Lotus." This adventure is the second in the "Tales from the Blood Plateau" series, but works well as a standalone or an intro to another campaign. Though the party does not actually engage the Death Knight/Blackguard antagonist, he is the primary driving force behind the events of the adventure. Published by MonkeyGod Enterprises and Highmoon Press
When a band of orcs attacks the town of West Fork, will you and your party bravely defend the townsfolk, and strike back? This adventure is intended to be used in any campaign setting and at any party level (see ‘Instructions’). This particular adventure takes place in a medium-sized village or small town. Most of the NPCs within this adventure are human, but they can easily be substituted for other common races to best suit your campaign. Published by Nord Games
Stonehell Dungeon: Into the Heart of Hell is the long-awaited sequel to Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls. This book contains the final levels of the megadungeon, revealing its most terrifying secrets. It contains almost 600 dungeon rooms for the players to explore, more than 70 unique monsters to challenge them, and 13 new magical items to mystify them. Stonehell Dungeon is a classic-style megadungeon intended for use with the Labyrinth Lord™ role-playing game, but adaptable to early versions of the original fantasy role-playing game and its retro-clones. It gives the game master the necessary information to run the dungeon, while offering enormous opportunities to customize the site. Published by Three-Headed Monster Games.
This horror mystery adventure scenario takes the players to a small village just behind the fog. In a last month, three people went missing from Dormay village and they still haven't been found. The concerned villagers want the players to find the missing folk or at least shed some light on their disappearance. Through investigative work the players will discover that the village has a 100 year old secret, a secret which punishes the wicked. While the villain died over a century ago, he left behind a dreadful design that torments the people to this day. Players' heart and soul will be put to the test as they are ultimately faced with the creature born of sin. Penance for Sin features a short horror mystery adventure scenario. It introduces a new fiendish monster. The adventure favors invastigation and roleplay over combat encounters. "The horror element" section in the adventure gives advice how to make your gaming sessions more frightening. Published by: Adventurer's Inn
A short adventure for the Midnight campaign setting from Fantasy Flight Games. An important resistance member has been captured by the Shadow, and the adventurers are called upon to ensure--through any means necessary--that the information he knows is not passed on to the enemy.
There have been disturbing signs over the last few months, signalling that something is wrong in Humblewood. The troubles appear to originate from activity in the Scorched Grove, an ashen plain that was ravaged many centuries ago by a destructive fire. Whatever caused the fire has scarred the land with elemental magic, making it inhospitable to all but strange fire-based creatures. Of late, the Grove has begun to expand. At first, it was hard to notice the slow expansion, but those in tune with nature (especially the Tenders) could see the imbalance in the elemental forces of Humblewood. For many common folk, this imbalance has been experienced as unseasonal dryness, which has led to crop failure and an increased frequency of forest fires. There have also been a number of unusually aggressive emberbat clouds reported far outside of their natural ranges. The true nature of the danger still remains hidden from the people of the Wood. A corvum necromancer named Odwald Ebonhart has stirred the elemental aspect of fire, which has lain dormant beneath the Scorched Grove since its first burning. The aspect’s energies have begun to empower fire-based creatures within the Wood. The increased range of emberbat swarms have brought fires that have expanded the Grove. Many forest-dwellers, who have been left without homes, have turned to banditry to survive. Soon the elemental incarnation will break free, and players must find a way to stop the aspect of fire before it reduces the Wood to ashes.
"For the past sixty-seven years Wheatwinter Farm, a small farm outside the village of Longbranch, has produced an essential survival tool for the town — a unique strain of wheat that can survive the harsh winters of the region. However, for the past few weeks something has been terrorizing the livestock at Wheatwinter and the surrounding farms. Markus Wheatwinter has defended his farm from goblins time and time again, but this time something is different and he has put out a call for aid." When ankhegs assault Wheatwinter farm, the party is called upon to exterminate them and rescue the farmer in this adventure loosely inspired by Starship Troopers. Published by Green Feather Games
What it says on the tin! You are after GLAXORZIS, THAT SORCEROUS CREEP, who wronged you somehow. Kidnapped your friend, stole your shiny artifact, played a stupid prank on you. Follow him underground into a complex of 21 rooms spread out over three levels. This is a barebones thingie, printable/foldable as a pocketmod. No stats. For fantasy adventure games where you die in a hole. Published by: Eldritch Fields
The Halls of Runehammer is a classic dwarven dungeon crawl for 5th edition dungeons and dragons. The core adventure module is desigend for characters who are second level and should take a party up to 4th level. 150 years ago a horrible plague called the Red Death swept the known world. When faced with the destruction of their entire clan some of the dwarves of Runehammer turned to a dark evil in an attempt to survive. Until recently that evil lay dormant, but now it threatens to engulf the entire region surrounding the Halls of Runehammer including the small town of Last Stop. Features over 8 episodes of encounters flled with action, excitement, and danger Blaze your own path or choose from two sets of pregenerated characters; one party of dwarves and one party of the canon characters for the Asnar: The Last Kingdom campaign (digital download) Contains 25 available digital maps for high quality printing or use with Online systems like Roll20 (digital download) Comes with Combat Encounter sheets for most combat encounters to help speed up your game play (digital download) Comes with a fully printable puzzle ring trap for Episode 7: The Pump Tower Contains 30 pieces of artwork created just for this adventure and 14 additional licensed pieces of artwork
Nobody complained when the raids by goblins stopped. Until word got around that the monsters had been slain by other monsters! Our heroes have been sent to investigate and remove any remaining threat. Published by Fortiter Games.
It’s finally happened! The Demoncall Ritual has begun, and creatures from the Abyss are streaming out through the Cellend family crypt. Heroes are needed, not only to slay the demons and stop the ritual, but to accept the risk of reversing the ritual to seal the Demoncall Pit forever.