The greatest minds in the multiverse meet at Strixhaven University. Professors convey fantastic secrets to eager students, and life on campus is frenetic. But danger lurks even here. Campus hijinks mix with mishaps and sinister plots, and it’s up to you to save the day. Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos introduces the fantastical setting of Strixhaven University, drawn from the multiverse of Magic: The Gathering, and provides rules for creating characters who are students in one of its five colleges. Characters can explore the setting over the course of four adventures, which can be played together or on their own. Each adventure describes an academic year filled with scholarly pursuits, campus shenanigans, exciting friendships, hidden dangers, and perhaps even romance.
Nestled on the coast of the Azure Sea is Saltmarsh, a sleepy fishing village that sits on the precipice of destruction. Smugglers guide their ships to hidden coves, willing to slit the throat of anyone foolhardy enough to cross their path. Cruel sahuagin gather beneath the waves, plotting to sweep away coastal cities. Drowned sailors stir to unnatural life, animated by dark magic and sent forth in search of revenge. The cult of a forbidden god extends its reach outward from a decaying port, hungry for fresh victims and willing recruits. While Saltmarsh slumbers, the evils that seek to plunder it grow stronger. Heroes must arise to keep the waves safe! Ghosts of Saltmarsh combines some of the most popular classic adventures from the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons including the classic ‘U’ series and some of the best nautical adventures from Dungeon magazine: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh Danger at Dunwater The Final Enemy Salvage Operation Isle of the Abbey Tammeraut’s Fate The Styes All adventures have been faithfully adapted to the fifth edition rules of Dungeons & Dragons. Furthermore, this book includes details on the port town of Saltmarsh, as well as plenty of hooks to kick-off each adventure. Play through each story in a seafaring campaign leading characters from level 1 through level 12, or pull out sections to place in ongoing campaigns in any setting. The appendices also cover mechanics for ship-to-ship combat, new magic items, monsters, and more! “The Saltmarsh series consistently ranks as one of the most popular classic D&D adventures,” said Mike Mearls, franchise creative director of D&D. “With its ties to ocean-based adventuring, it was an obvious step to augment it with additional sea-based adventures and a robust set of rules for managing a nautical campaign.” Hoist your sails, pull up anchor, and set a course for adventure!
The Red Plumes have increased patrols in the region surrounding Hillsfar, and a string of disappearances has followed in their wake. Naturally, this has roused the suspicion of the factions. Join your factions and find out the truth behind the missing farmers. A four-hour adventure for 1st-4th level characters.
Chapter 2: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh In this version of the adventure, the characters find navigational charts and logs aboard the Sea Ghost that implicate its crew as slavers. Ned Shakeshaft is a Scarlet Brotherhood agent. He makes an attempt to foil the characters, but his true intent is to surrender and implicate Gellan Primewater as a key villain. The distraction afforded by the lizardfolk and the looming sahuagin threat gives the Scarlet Brotherhood the opportunity to bring more agents into town. posing as mercenaries brought in by Anders to protect the town. If Gellan can be removed from the council, Solmor might ask one of the characters to take his place.
An expedition of dwarf warriors from Citadel Adbar finds itself isolated and besieged by Ice Spire ogres and their allies. They require immediate relief or they risk being destroyed to a dwarf. Seer has directed you to their location in the hopes that you can rescue the dwarves and save their precious cargo, a tablet bearing secrets of ancient rune magic.
Called by the Elder Elemental Eye to serve, four corrupt prophets have risen from the depths of anonymity to claim mighty weapons with direct links to the power of the elemental princes. Each of these prophets has assembled a cadre of cultists and creatures to serve them in the construction of four elemental temples of lethal design. It is up to adventurers from heroic factions such as the Emerald Enclave and the Order of the Gauntlet to discover where the true power of each prophet lay, and dismantle it before it comes boiling up to obliterate the Realms.
An agent of the King’s Dark Lanterns has stolen a cache of gold from the Brelish exchequer. Hunt him down, retrieve the gold, and thwart whatever else the rogue agent is plotting. Pgs. 28-65
To stop a devastating rampage of giants across the land, the party must venture into the lair of the stone giant thane Arnak to uncover the truth about why he has broken his peace with the neighboring dwarves. In the process, they will have the opportunity to retrieve important symbols of the fight against the giants and uncover a dangerous excavation. The adventure is part of the "Against the Giants" series originally by Gary Gygax, hence the writing credit.
In the city of Waterdeep rests a tavern called the Yawning Portal, named after the gaping pit in its common room. At the bottom of this crumbling shaft is a labyrinthine dungeon shunned by all but the most daring adventurers. Known as Undermountain, this dungeon is the domain of the mad wizard Halaster Blackcloak. Long has the Mad Mage dwelt in these forlorn depths, seeding his lair with monsters, traps, and mysteries—to what end is a constant source of speculation and concern. This adventure picks up where Waterdeep: Dragon Heist leaves off, taking characters of 5th level or higher all the way to 20th level should they explore the entirety of Halaster’s home. Twenty-three levels of Undermountain are detailed herein, along with the subterranean refuge of Skullport. Treasures and secrets abound, but tread with care!
A Giant Ransom is a short adventure for four 11th-level characters. There are opportunities for diplomacy, stealth, and combat, based on the choices the PCs make, so any mix of classes is appropriate. The adventure can be set in any campaign world, in a frontier region near glacier-covered mountains. In the story thus far, the PCs have been tasked by Duke Ambrinigan, a local lord, to recover a stolen statue of a golden lion. The lion was stolen in transit by frost giant raiders, and was to be ransomed back to the Duke for 10,000 gp. The PCs were sent to perform the exchange. The giants, however, were attacked by the white dragon Whildenstrank, who stole the statue and retreated to his lair in the middle of a nearby glacier. The PCs encountered the remaining giants, and then set off westward toward the dragon's lair. They traveled across the flat part of the glacier, encountering the frost giant ranger Velg the Dragon Tamer, as well as some burrowing bulettes. The PCs now have entered the Ice Canyons: a maze of twisting passageways surrounding the black spire of rock that the dragon calls home. They have just heard sounds of a battle ahead.
Inspired by the campaigns featured in the Critical Role podcast, this adventure takes place in the land of Exandria, with players tasked with uncovering the secret behind an ancient underwater realm known as the Netherdeep. The campaign itself is designed to take characters from Level 3-12 and also explores a large area of the continent of Wildemount.
Beyond the mortal world, somewhere outside the bounds of the Astral Sea, the Far Realm yawns immeasurable. Beyond the reality of gods and mortals, this plane is a realm of contradictions, a mad place of fevered creation checked only by pointless extinction. The Outside is a sea of diseased possibilities, where the stuff of madness seethes in a soup of the incomprehensible and the unnamable—shuddering, squirming, and sentient. The Stormcrows, responding to the psychic cry from the stone, dispatched a force to retrieve it. The attackers descend on Wellspring, slaughtering and destroying in the search for their treasure. PCs can come to the town’s defense and repel the horde. A priestess of Ioun then turns to the heroes to find the item the monsters were seeking. From the recovering town, the heroes cross the wilderness to the Kaorti Temple. The trail ends at a ruined tower overlooking a deep ravine. Inside the tower, the heroes must overcome the terrible creatures in their search. In the end, they find the relic has been stolen.
No Loose Ends is a mini-adventure that has a single encounter, based on a group of orcs (or ogres based on level) setting up an ambush for the players by setting up a fake bridge that they attempt to collapse under the players before attacking. The cloak of elvenkind is optional, it is included only in the higher level adjustments. Pgs. 17-18
Akeni was born a servant to a powerful drow family deep underground, but her personality was anything but servile. When she was caught in an affair with the house matron's mate, she killed the matron and her own paramour and fled, eventually stumbling into the lair of a powerful beholder mage named Ormathulak. Akeni knew immediately that the creature was just the ally she needed to wipe out her hated family.
While camping in the wilderness, the characters find a tracker surrounded by wolves. Once the heroes dispatch the beasts, the tracker reveals that she is seeking aid in the fight against the darkness enfolding her community, Silver Lake. Should the characters help, they find the village terrorized by lycanthropes that hail from a tiny island rising from the mist-shrouded lake.The island is a fey crossing, and heroes who set foot on it find themselves in the Feywild, where a war is brewing; the lycanthrope clans are at each other’s throats, and many are turning their feral eyes outward to the rich lands beyond their secluded valley. To avert an unimaginably savage war, the heroes must rescue a werewolf lord from his captors and expose the conspiracy that threatens to drench the Feywild in blood...
The lost Bloodtower has returned, arising from its earthen grave to stand as a mute sentinel over the fog-shrouded moorland. In the weeks since it's return, local travelers have spoken of new undead roaming the countryside. Pgs. 80-87
The Gommurg Clan rarely deal with outsiders. These hill dwarves have isolated themselves for centuries to work on their craft and guard an ancient and sinister structure. Unfortunately, the world around them does not rest easy. An exile of the clan has inadvertently brought terrible woes to his ancestral home, and now he frantically seeks help to save his people.
A group of snaketongue cultists has occupied an abandoned, partially sunken temple near a swamp. They grow impatient waiting for their yuan-ti master to join them, unaware that he has been slain by a rival faction of yuan-ti. Frustrated, the cult strikes against nearby villages in the hope of drawing the favor of Zehir. Investigating rumors of a serpent cult harassing a nearby town, the PCs have explored the swamp and discovered the overgrown temple. Its once-ornate stone door now hangs off its hinges, providing a narrow space for one character at a time to squeeze through. Pgs. 42-47
An ettin has begun terrorizing the hamlet of Newkeep, stealing cattle and smashing homes—and flattening anyone who tries to stop him. Meanwhile, a mysterious riddle has appeared on the walls of the local shrine—a riddle which may hold the key to vanquishing the ettin.
Kingdom of the Blind is a short adventure for four 8th-level characters. The adventure is set in a minor duchy that is fairly removed from the ruler of the land. As a result, trouble can brew in the land and the king would not know immediately. About three years ago, a medusa, Zhanna Serpentlock, began systematically turning every person in Duke Jellhyn Fedorel's (N male human Ari5) duchy to stone. After losing many peasants to the medusa, Jellhyn attempted to placate her. He offered her his second son, Dephyl, for a husband. Duke Jellhyn and his family had always been rather tense and uncomfortable around Dephyl anyway due to the fact that Dephyl had lost an eye in a freak magical explosion as a boy. Zhanna accepted the marriage, and though Dephyl didn't really care for his family due to how they treated him, he was also less than happy with the arrangement. A year ago, Zhanna appeared at Fedorel's citadel again. She claimed that Dephyl had been untrue and that she had turned him to stone for his adultery. Throwing Dephyl's stone head down in the courtyard of the citadel, she swore vengeance on all Fedorels for his betrayal. Duke Fedorel and his household fled the citadel. Rather than give chase, Zhanna took up residence there and began ruling the duchy as the sole remaining Fedorel family member. Jellhyn and his family have lived in exile for a year. This is what the PCs can learn, but more is going on. As it turns out, Dephyl is alive and quite happy with his marriage. Zhanna is not repulsed by his disfigurement as his family was, and Dephyl's missing eye is something of an asset in the relationship since it lessens his chance of being accidentally petrified by his wife. In the two years of his marriage, he has grown up and gained ambition -- he wants to rule. As a second son (pawned off on a monster), he would never have received the chance. Now, with Zhanna's help, he can rule. However, Dephyl doesn't have the stomach for killing his father and brother. Instead, he and Zhanna plotted to take over the duchy by frightening everyone away. Zhanna carved a stone bust of Dephyl and used it to frighten off the rest of his family. Now Dephyl and Zhanna live happily in the citadel and rule the duchy together, though Dephyl's existence among the living is a secret.