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.
The village of Silverwell lies at the foot of a mountain range in the icy north. Through most of its history it has enjoyed relative peace, save for its battles with the harsh elements. Recently however, a group of villagers were attacked by bandits while hunting in nearby Rothir’s Pass. The bandits left behind a grim message warning for none to follow. Frightened by the possibility of a larger attack on the village, the headman will happily reward any brave adventurers that can help. Unknown to the inhabitants of the remote village of Silverwell, this new terror pales in comparison to the troubles that have already begun to flood down from the distant Mount Neboria – troubles stemming from the dark wish of a dying dragon. This is an introductory adventure for a group of four or five 1st level characters, which should run for roughly 4 hours of gameplay (excluding preparation time), ending with a quest hook for groups that wish to continue into a full campaign. It includes extra tips and tricks both for new DMs and for interaction with new players.
The black clouds of war are gathering, and evil flocks to their thundering call! While seeking the legendary expertise of a cloud giant skymage, the PCs interrupt an attack on his lair by well-armed and magically augmented hill giants. To obtain the cloud giant's arcane knowledge, the PCs must seek out and eliminate the source of the hill giant threat, yet the brutes have little information other than the name of their employer—a mysterious giant calling herself the Storm Queen, whose anger and hatred have transformed over the course of years into a murderous plan that could cost hundreds of innocent lives.
The story takes place in a village in Ravenloft. The party has been invited to accompany the young couple Burgomaster Alexandru and Mihaela Nichitovich [ni-KEE-toh-vich] of the hamlet of Nichitovia [ni-kee-TOH-vee-uh] to Rosenwald, a deeply religious community. Alexandru has asked the priests of Rosenwald to conduct a traditional ritual to gain him the favor of the Morninglord for his tenure as burgomaster. This is a ritual all burgomasters traditionally receive, including his late grandfather, who is entombed at Rosenwald. Father Petre and Sister Elena of the church of the Morninglord loosely run Rosenwald. They offered to throw Alexandru a banquet at the House of the Morninglord before the ritual, set to take place during the next full moon. However, all of the clergy have secretly become afflicted with the aswang curse. Father Petre is a halimaw and Sister Elena a kubot, both of whom gained their powers through dark pacts with demon lords of the Abyss. The other priests and acolytes are busos, survivors of encounters with roaming tigbanuas, who found sanctuary with Petre and Elena. The pair refer to these busos as their flock, and plan to feast on the guests after the banquet.
This is a reclamation of the classic Mexican horror story designed to keep young adventurers wary of their curfews, La Llorona. In this tale, adventurers will face perilous encounters with beings that lurk in the shadows, and uncover what might have happened to drive a woman long ago to transform into a nightmarish legend.
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. Pgs. 56-60
Scholars Square is a relatively quiet corner of Phlan, but a series of odd thefts have the headmasters of verious schools in the area concerned. The headmasters' pleas for help have gone unanswered by the Black Fist, and the Lord Sage of Phlan decided to reach out to you and your kind to bring those responsible to justice.
The quest continues…kind of! After enjoying the accolades of your previous successes in the Barony of the Knolls, your group begins to get that adventuring itch and finds a job opportunity and will allow you to see more of the Duchy of Bast at the same time. The local caravan service is in need of a few hearty individuals that can handle themselves in a fight. A quick trip to Phillipsburg should give you an idea of where you would like to go next right?
Everyone who went to opening night of the Monveau Theater's newest show has gone completely insane. Can the characters uncover the shocking secrets inside the theater and find a way to end the plague of madness without losing their own minds? The Horror Within is a cosmic horror adventure for 8th-level characters. It's a one-shot that takes about 3-5 hours to complete and includes: -A maddening mystery where the characters' sanity is at risk -A thrilling battle against an Old One in the lost depths of the city -Combat cards for each monster, PC, and special treasure -High-quality digital maps for use with virtual table tops
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.
The rough ground on the outskirts of the village of Col Fen once served as a graveyard for an evil temple destroyed long ago. A recent disturbance released some of the ancient evil buried here, and now the dead in this graveyard are beginning to walk. Several villagers have already vanished and more will die if the undead are not put to rest. Pgs. 56-63
A medium sized city is situated between Challenge of the Minotaur and Hall of the Dwarf Lords and is centered on the edge of frontier near the Border Hills. The town is walled and populated my mostly Mountain Dwarves although most races are present and welcome. This area provides an excellent respite for those fresh off the trail of adventure!
The Heart of the Haunted Sea e adventurers are on a storm-wracked ship, seeking the island of a long-forgotten, abandoned temple to the Sea Demon. In the temple, an extinct people sacrificed their wealth, their criminals, and their kings to quell the demon’s wrath. Untold treasure is said to just be lying there. Are your heroes bold or ruthless enough to claim it? Written by Shane Ivey and illustrated by Kurt Komoda, “The Sea Demon’s Gold” is an adventure for the Fi h Edition of the world’s most popular fantasy role-playing game. It can be played in any fantasy world you choose. It also makes the perfect introduction to the Broken Empire, a world of ancient mysteries, perils, power, and corruption featured in the Swords & Sorceries adventure line by Arc Dream Publishing.
The grain has rotted in the town of Elmwood, which means people might starve, businesses and banks might fail, and endanger the town’s already- precarious existence. Brave adventurers are needed to travel through the wild forest to seek the advice of the Sage of Cormanthor. Four hour adventure. Also contains information about the town of Elmwood. Part One of the Misaligned Trilogy
A Runelord Rises! The Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path concludes! The Runelord of Greed, Karzoug the Claimer, stirs in the legendary city of Xin-Shalast. There are more forces than an ancient evil wizard at work in this remote corner of Golarion, a place where the boundaries between reality and nightmare are unnaturally thin. Karzoug's minions have awakened as well, among them giants and dragons and devils and worse. Could there be an even deeper evil poised to emerge from the darkness at the dawn of time? Can the Rise of the Runelords be stopped?
"The Dark Forest" is an elder shadow drake lair suitable for four 8th-level characters. This adventure can be completed in one session. A hidden grove within a dark forest has been home to a tribe of alseids for generations. The tribe's most recent leader and spiritual heart was an alseid shaman called Riatha the Raven. Within the grove lies an ancient ring of standing stones atop a burial mount. Here, Riatha conducted sacred nature rites to honor and bless the forest and the tribe. During one of these ceremonies, the ground rumbled and a column of dense black energy shot straight up from the burial mound and into the night sky. Thick darkness enveloped the area, and the suddenly blinded alseids heard terrible roars. An instant later, the darkness dissipated to reveal a mysterious pool ringed with skulls among the standing stones. Two large, dragon-like creatures with black scales and burning red eyes glared at the confused alseids. One the ground lay the body of Riatha, deathly still. Terror and chaos followed as the creatures brought swift and sudden death, killing most of the alseid tribe members with razor-sharp teeth and deadly, black breath. The alseids that survived the inital, bloody attack fled into the forest. They counterattacked a few hours later, desperate to reclaim their grove and recover the body of their beloved leader, but the attempt was a fiasco and they were quickly driven off. Now, the few remaining alseids hide in the forest, frightened and unsure of what to do next.
A new, expanded, OSR-ised, prettified edition of Joseph R. Lewis’ Ragged Hollow Nightmare which was rated among The Best by Tenfootpole. Joseph Lewis hit a perfect balance between the classics of dungeonverse fantasy and the whimsy of the folk tales we love so much (as testified by our Folklore Bestiary. we released last year), adding a dash of dreamworld strangeness and a pinch of body horror to spice up his brew. We did our best to respect his recipe when adding our extra material (about 30 pages of it). We worked with Joe and Li-An (the perfect artist to give life to spooky Ragged Hollow and its strange surroundings) to make the best module we could: a solid introduction to old-school gaming for both players and gamemasters. And for the veterans among us, it also makes an excellent, full-fledged campaign starter. Nightmare over Ragged Hollow is a sandbox adventure centred around a quaint town at the edge of the kingdom. But however quiet life in Ragged Hollow is, the town lies between places where you shouldn’t be traveling alone. Places like Gloam Wood (“A witch or two lurk there!”), the Bleak Mountains (“I’m told there are bugbears…”) and their infamous Mount Mourn (“Home, they say, to cursed Dwarven ruins”), not to forget the Wailing Hills (“Bandits on every road!”). There’s even a haunted house by the river (“That mad inventor riddled it with traps!”). But only when an impenetrable dome of golden light materialises around the Temple of Halcyon (“Hey, my kids go to school there!”) do things really get out of hand. Some selfless heroes (or, failing that, a bunch of greedy ne’er-do-wells) should really get involved. One town with three adventure mini-sites Three small dungeons One 50-room dungeon Three hexes with 16 detailed locations Two groups of potential allies or rivals Sixteen pre-generated characters One deadly countdown! Written for the Old-School Essentials (OSE) rule system
Escape from Elturel is a 6-8 hour Dungeons & Dragons adventure for characters of levels 1-2, for use as an introduction to Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. Pilgrims and travelers flock to the holy city of Elturel to bask in the light of its second sun. But when the Companion starts to malfunction, the characters must escape the doomed city before it is pulled down to the Nine Hells. In the aftermath, a caravan of refugees needs their help to find a safe haven in that notorious hive of scum and villainy, Baldur's Gate! The adventure has everything you need to start a new campaign in Elturel, including: - a new adventure hook for Descent into Avernus - short introductory encounters set during and after the fall of Elturel - a skill challenge for escaping Elturel as it is pulled down to Avernus - resources, encounters, travel activities, and NPCs for a caravan to Baldur's Gate - notes for transitioning into Descent into Avernus - two creature and NPC stat blocks - a map pack with two maps by Dyson Logos Escape from Elturel also includes suggestions for combining this adventure with Burial in Baldur's Gate if you want to run a mixed party of characters from Elturel and Baldur's Gate.
"The longest, and perhaps strongest, AD&D adventure we've ever done." The fabled Mace of St. Cuthbert has been lost from the sight of both human and demi-human for many centuries. Some claim it lies at the heart of an active volcano, guarded by salamanders and flowing lava; others swear it lies buried deep inside the earth, warded by powerful magics raised by those who would see its power denied to the forces of Law and Good. A few assert that it has never left the possession of the Saint, and even now he holds it in his strong right hand. But a few claim that none of these are so that long before the Sainted Cuthbert rose to his exalted station, his mace was hidden away from those who would steal it before he returned for it, hidden away outside the bounds of normal time and space, in a place so outlandish that the Mace's power and destiny would be unknown and unknowable, and thus safe. Pgs. 45-54 & 56-57 & 59-68
... for hundreds of years, the monks of Sheargardt Manor at Luci Vale have provided spiritual guidance (in the name of their deity—Caelis) and world-class ales to the folk who live in nearby Luci Village. At the head of the high-mountain valley Luci Keep is tasked with keeping the pass over the high mountains safe fortravelers throughout the year. However, in recent months, word has come down from the mountains to the port city of Galan that the Abbot Christoph has allowed evil to enter the Manor. And now, a representative of the Caelian order is sent to learn the truth of the matter, and remove Christoph if necessary... Published by Usherwood Publishing