A Gritty OSR Fantasy Setting by Travis Legge The mortal lands are divided. A dozen kingdoms lie scattered across the world, separated by dangerous wilds filled with bandits and monsters. The bravest mortals act as adventurers, guiding travelers between the kingdoms, killing monsters to thin their numbers, and plundering ruins in search of the lost treasures of the golden age. This is the world of Odysseys & Overlords! The party are traveling west through the Untamed Gauntlet, on their way to somewhere else and using a stream to guide their steps. They step out from under the eaves of the forest to spy looming before them a cliff, a tall wall of stone which stretches away to either side as far as they can see. A waterfall cascades onto sharp rocks into a pool from which pours the stream they were following. The sheer cliff is easily 100 feet high, and too wet and slick to climb safely, though it can be tried. Atop the cliff is a bare stone hill which looks like it was at one time worked by intelligent hands; a look-out post of sorts has been carved into its southernmost peak. The map says it’s called “Wyvernseeker Rock,” but it doesn’t say why. The hill appears deserted. A long age ago, beyond mortal memory, a forgotten people built a watching post and refuge atop and within Wyvernseeker Rock. A hundred years ago, an adventurer named Olaf Wyvernseeker claimed the Rock for his own and set out with companions to clear the lands thereabouts. They were never heard from again. The upper chambers of the Rock are a convenient lair for a Giant Rhadogessa and its spider servants. Still, it’s got to be safer than climbing the cliff. Right? Published by Aegis Studios
The water pounds the base of the cliff with the relentless power of time. Jagged rocks appearing and disappearing in the foam of the sea like gnashing teeth. Above it all on the top of the black cliff sits a small house and the dark light tower. The magistrate has sent your party to investigate why the light has gone dark.
The city of Westcrown is dying. Since being stripped of its station as the capital of Cheliax, the wealth and prestige of the city has gradually slipped away, leaving the desperate people to fend for themselves in a city beset by criminals, a corrupt nobility, and a shadowy curse. Can the PCs fight back against champions of both the law and the criminal world? This volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path launches the Council of Thieves Adventure Path, and includes: - "The Bastards of Erebus," a Pathfinder RPG adventure for 1st-level characters, by Sean K Reynolds - A gazetteer of Westcrown, the shadow-haunted City of Twilight, by Steven Schend - An investigation into the lives of tieflings, along with hundreds of fiendish variations, by Amber Scott - A deadly mystery of nobility and intrigue for Pathfinder Varian Jeggare and his tiefling bodyguard Radovan in a new series of the Pathfinder's Jounal, by Dave Gross - Six terrifying new monsters by Mike Ferguson, Sean K Reynolds, and F. Wesley Schneider
Sometimes only a hint of an adventure is given to players and more information is required. In FV12 - Monteleone Chariot this is just such a case. As the party reaches town they begin to hear of a mysterious relic from the past civilization and both information and backers must be investigated. Will your party be able to determine facts from fables? Whose interest will they serve in their investigation or will they just try and locate the item for themselves?
Something stirs in the dark heart of the Warwood, and in response something stirs in the stars. A simple encounter with bandits on the road leads the PCs to a frightening place where even dreams are deadly. Cultists seek to free the soul of a terrible entity from beyond the stars. The PCs must retrieve the soul vessel of a long-dead evil paladin to stop cultists’ plan from coming to fruition. Pgs. 60-92
Under the gods' vigilant gaze, shadows stir in the depths. A hermit hunter found an alien jewel in the woods. Since then, he began to have dreams about strange "gods" and became obsessed with them. Little did he know, these “old gods” of his are an ancient evil buried deep in the underground that now reign in the forest! 'Hidden Gods of the Woods' is a system-agnostic one-page dungeon about the exploration of a secret cave dominated by bizarre aliens. Hidden beneath an abandoned cottage, players will unveil the story of a human hunter insanely in love with creatures from another world. Play to discover what the hell is going on there!
Gifts for Him is a short, challenging, open-ended, gothic-horror, 5E-compatible Christmas adventure for tier 1 characters to be run in about three sessions, but it can be easily adapted as a one-shot. It contains over 25 pages with original artwork, three original battle maps, three unique monsters, stat blocks for five NPCs, three magic items, and a partridge in a pear tree. ----- The village of Bargrave has a secret. Every year, on Christmas Eve, the villagers cower in their homes while a savage beast prowls the streets, wreaking bloody doom on whomever has not left it a suitable gift on their doorstep. But Elias Buhl has had enough. This year, the old farmer won’t be buying the beast a gift, hoping instead to bait it into attacking him at his homestead, where he will trap and kill it once and for all. But he can’t do it alone. Buhl has hired a band of adventures to help him fortify his home, set traps, and slay the creature. They have three days to prepare, gather allies and equipment, and plan their defense. Or… They can dig a little deeper and uncover what Bargrave has been hiding all these years. Will they slay the beast, as agreed? Might they capture it to use it for their own ends? Can it be redeemed? Or will they die — their blood melting the snow — just the latest victims of the creature’s reign of terror? --- Gifts for Him is a complete, playtested, illustrated adventure that is currently pay what you want.
X11 Saga of the Shadow Lord consists of two linked adventures as a mini-campaign: In the first adventure called Elvenstar, PCs try to steal a magic item from the Shadow Lord to thwart his planned invasion of a peaceful neighboring kingdom. Encounters in this adventure include a village populated by adventurers, and a cloud giant living in a small castle, before the party reaches the Shadow Lord's lair for the final encounter. In the second adventure, also enclosed in module X11, The Halls of Drax Tallen, the Shadow Lord returns more powerful than ever. His undead minions are searching for another magical item to give him immense power and the PCs must find this item before he does. Player characters must get past the undead army of the Shadow Lord and infiltrate his haunted fortress to retrieve the magical Elvenstar. TSR 9165
Long ago, before the arrival of civilized humanoids, a large colony of ogres thrived in the local area. When a great invasion from another dimension threatened this colony, their king, Koptila, prayed for his people to be spared. The gods heard these pleas, but commanded Koptila to sacrifice himself. The leader did so, and the clan disappeared—whisked away by the gods and lost to time. Over the years, a city grew up above the former subterranean home of the ogres, and no aspect of Koptila’s ancient bargain was preserved or remembered. Even so, the stars are aligned for the return of Koptila and his people. These powerful repatriates are unlikely to appreciate the changes in their old home. A sage has found dusty documents prophesying this return, and he asks the PCs to investigate the catacombs to defeat the potential threat to the city. The PCs travel down through city sewers and subterranean passages before finding the catacombs that the ogre colony once called home. Pgs. 48-53
Blackstone Cave was once a smugglers’ lair, but it was cleared out decades ago. Now there are strange noises coming from the cave, and local authorities are afraid smugglers and bandits have taken up operations again. What will the adventurers find? More importantly, will they be able to survive the machinations of the Mad Dragon Priestess? A straightforward dungeon crawl with combat and opportunities for role-playing. The party is tasked with investigating strange noises coming from Blackstone Cave, an abandoned smuggler's lair. They find kobold cultists have moved in, but they're not the average dragon cultists.
Auction fever can empty anyone's pouch of coins. An Arch-Mage is retiring and selling his possessions - and you're at the auction! Pgs. 19-23
An ancient cave, defended by ancient death traps and weird arcane seals conceals the antediluvian vault of an archlich whose reign predates recorded history. Undisturbed for untold eons, the vault now stirs thanks to the machinations of cultists who have meddled with secrets best left undisturbed... This module sends the heroes to an ancient cave occupied by cultists dedicated to the Mists of Madness. Defended by ancient death traps and weird arcane seals, the caves conceal an antediluvian vault, the resting place of an archlich whose reign predates recorded history in the Known Realms. Undisturbed for untold eons, now the machinations of the cultists and their eladrin master threaten to awaken the archlich, to dire ends that none can predict.
"I AM THE ANCIENT ... I AM THE LAND ..." Your screams still echo in your room. Cold sweat soaks the bedsheets and trickles down your back. It seemed so real! The great towers of a darksome place called Ravenloft ... it's misty vales and the terrible tragedy of a man who had sold his soul to unlife. Now the sunlight streams through the window with the promise of a new day. The dread nightmare at last is over. In the cold sunlight of a dying autumn, you step from your room at the inn and stroll along the friendly streets of Mordentshire. But, from the back of your mind the dream creeps forward to haunt you. Why do the faces of those who have befriended you now seem those of strangers? Why do those who called you here in terror, now seem to dismiss your task as a folly? More .. why are you advised so strongly, to forget about the House on Gryphon Hill ... the domain of the fair haired Count Von Zarovich, a name that cries out from your dark nightmare? You halt, as the swirl of events grow more confusing with every passing minute. Which is the dream ... and which the reality? TSR 9181
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.
Between the settled human lands and the orc-filled mountains rests the barony of Honshar. The residents have grown used to occasional orc raids, but now they find themselves facing a full-scale war. As if that wasn't bad enough, the orcs have kidnapped an important political figure from Honshar, along with a crucial magical item - the Silver Key. Unless the key is recovered, it could be Honshar's undoing. Both the key and the hostage are being held in the orc city of Krimba-hai, so getting them back will be tricky. However, there is a plan.... TSR 9508
A good deed never goes unpunished in Ravenloft. Evil feeds upon itself - but it also feeds upon the good. Pgs. 54-74
The nightbound realm of Sithicus is dying! The grey forested crags scarred by jagged rifts echo with the laments of the dying elven nation. But the lord of the land sits uncaring on his blackened throne in the charred castle of Negragaard, lost in ancient memories. Through his passion and hatred the nightmare haunted death knight, Lord Soth, permitted catastrophe to befall his native world of Krynn. Now trapped in the Realm of Terror, Soth has once more brough calamity to his home. Abandoning rule of his twisted realm of Sithicus, Lord Soth has retreated to a still more distorted domain: the mad fantasies of his own history. To save the land and themselves, the heroes must venture into banshee-haunted Nedragaard Keep, and there into the warped mindscapes of a tormented darklord. TSR 9476
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 trees part before you, revealing the crumbling walls of the ruined keep. Only hours ago, you set off after the marauding orc band responsible for the destruction of the temple of Freya and the theft of its sacred crucible. But something else waits for you within the ruined walls. Something darker and far more sinister. Something that has hidden from the light for ages.
Ehor Stravensky sells the most marvellous potions, and the secret ingredient is purewater - water from the elemental plane itself! A small hole between the planes sits in the heart of a nearby forest, but recently the path has grown dark and corrupted. Ehor wants you to clear a path and secure more purewater for his business, and he'll pay handsomely. This first-level adventure is perfect for first-time DMs and players alike. Delve into the forest of Airedale and fight a skittering spider host, meet a dryad, and face off against a classic D&D monster! Included in this adventure: A quest to delve into a corrupted forest Bloodhawk hatching rules 7 encounters and 5 battlemaps Approx. 4 hours of fun An awesome adventure for 1st-level parties