This is a scenario for Runequest characters with skills between 50% and 75% and little Rune magic, or AD&D characters of 4th- 5th Level. Statistics are given in full for the Circus troupe, who can be played as PCs by the party, or run as NPCs, though they should be essentially non-combative. Stats for the other major NPCs are also given at the back of the adventure. INTRODUCTION Ghararna is a prosperous little village in a fertile valley, surrounded by mountains on one side and steppes on the other. However, a Horde of Barbarian Nomads have recently arrived in the area: they took three hostages from the village to ensure obedience, and are planning to stay for the winter. Worse still, they plan to attack a nearby tribe of non-humans, the Karagol, in the mountains near the valley: they have captured a leader of the tribe, throwing the Karagoi into confusion. The villagers have had good relations with the tribe; they fear the coming war will destroy the friendship. Also, the likely battleground will be the villagers' fields, destroying the unharvested crops that are vital for surviving the harsh winter. To counter this threat, the village elders have pooled all their resources to hire the party: their objectives are to make the Horde leave without carrying out any reprisals against the village, to rescue the hostages, and to ensure the tribe do not attack the village. The villagers have also paid Sravindly, the boss of a travelling circus, to take the party into the camp as part of the circus: the circus will give what aid it safely can. Once in, the party can learn what the Horde is like and decide on their course of action, either acting immediately or after the circus leaves.
Did you know there’s a skeleton inside each of us? The players will find themselves in a community of scared anthropomorphic rabbits and exploring the lair of undead wizards looking for flesh to wear. There are opportunities for combat, roll play, puzzle-solving and exploration. This was written as a submission for the Summer Adventure Design Contest over at Bryce's Adventure Design Forum.
The village of Strangelight is on the border of the fey lands, and so its eccentric inhabitants are well-accustomed to magical danger. But now, a fiendish warlock and her devils are terrorizing the village, and only a hardy band of heroes can stop them... The focus is on exploration and social interaction, but it features an epic boss battle! This adventure has been thoroughly playtested, requires minimal preparation to run, and can be easily used with any Fifth Edition campaign!
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
There is no particular overarching story here, just a prospect dungeon you can drop into your own sandbox and run as you see fit. This adventure is formatted to both 1E & 5E gaming rules.
Kidnapped! The cursed Baron von Hendriks has kidnapped your betrothed. Now the madman wants as a ransom your Alandah's weight in unrefined gold! How are you going to pay? The baron himself has been kind enough to provide you with that answer: streams of raw gold gush from a burning mountain somewhere in the Sea of Dread. All you have to do is find this mysterious mountain. Unfurl the sails! The open sea awaits you and your crew as you sail from the city harbor. But beware! The Sea of Dread has more than earned its title over the centuries. Can you survive the perils of the sea? Will your crew mutiny before you reach the Burning Mountain? Or will you have to throw crew-members overboard just to make room for the gold? Solo adventure. "Lathan's Gold" is a real innovation in solo adventure design, considerably more complex than any of the gamebooks then being produced. Though the adventures uses the typical trope of numbered paragraphs, its paragraphs are divided into six types: "S"pecularum, "U"rban", Island "E"xploration", "C"oastal", "T"rade Routes, and "V"oyages. Players can jump between the sections, then return, in slightly freeform ways. Players are also required to keep track of hit points, money, and treasure (which were typical for the more advanced gamebooks), and rations, days remaining, and hull points (which were not). Another freeform element, quite unusual for gamebooks, is the "wandering monsters" table, which introduces semi-random encounters. TSR 9082
There is a witch in the wilds, a goddess unremembered, and a madman. There is a circle of stone - who knows what lies beneath? The villagers are distraught: their children! replaced by fae! The villagers are distraught: who heeded their plea? Ravenous inquisitors, that's who. Oh, and adventurers... This investigative folkcrawl adventure module contains: * an isolated village full of secrets, riddled with strange traditions, * adventure sites and dungeons populated by peculiar denizens, * a small Fae Realm to explore, weird and perilous, * a terrible fae threat and too many curses, * unlikely friends, and foes nobody expects! An OSR adventure module for character levels 3-4, designed for use with the Old-School Essentials ruleset, compatible with most old-school pen-and-paper RPGs. Includes a fully-linked interactive PDF, a fillable Referee's Toolkit, and player-friendly VTT maps.
You have travelled to the legendarily festive town of Hamlet Court for the world famous Midwinter festival. You’re not in town long before you discover that the previous night, the annual Villager vs. Kobold snowball fight turned violent, putting a dampener on the festive mood. Madam Mayor looks solemn as she asks you to investigate exactly what has turned the long peaceful Snowbolds violent. She suggests you head to their Snow Cavern and fix the issue before it ruins Midwinter
A Halloween themed adventure for characters levels 3rd to 4th, meant for a single 3-6 hours session. The pumpkin-farmers of Goldgrain are in for terror, as in a rather ironic turn of events, their crops rise to harvest them instead. What's causing the pumpkins to become alive and angry? Is it the curse of a long dead witch? Or is it something even more sinister? Why are they dragging the corpses of their victims away, and to where? Who commands them? Soon enough, they'll find out answers to those questions, or perish under the wrath of the haunted crops.
Note: This is a sequel to Out of Body, Out of Mind. The legend of the realm of Tirna'cel is well known. Once remembered for its power-mongering warlords, homunculi-wielding sorcerers, and archfiends from the deepest pits of the Abyss, Tirna'cel has become a powerful and welcoming land over the last 600 years, due in no small part to the efforts of the warlord Tirna'gael, a member of the land's founding nobility. But your party knows the truth. You ventured into the tomb of Tirna'gael some six months ago, and therein discovered that the fallen warlord was actually little more than his brethren: a petty, avaricious power-monger. Possessed by a rival force which also desired the kingdom - a rare incorporeal demon called a nescent, which inhabited his body and augmented his already incredible power to unforeseen levels - Tirna'gael sought to overthrow the ancient warlords only to replace them. Through Tirna'gael's augmented body, the nescent overwhelmed and eliminated the other warlords, eventually dominating the realm along. But before it could consolidate its rule and throw Tirna'cel into an even darker age, the secret of its power was discovered by the paladins of Garadon, a virtuous cell of justice and light. The paladins lured Tirna'gael into the center of his own fortress and trapped him there within a powerful anti magic field. His body withered and died but the nescent remained dormant, waiting for its chance for revenge. During your visit to Tirna'gael's fortress-tomb six months ago, you accidentally released the nescent from its prison. That enemy has since been vanquished - at least for the time being - but the memory of your pitched battle against it still lingers as you approach the original chapter house of the Order of Garadon. You have been summoned.
The town of Medeira was once a thriving and bountiful place. Over the last six months, what once appeared to be alive, is now slowly withering away into nothing. Crops are failing. Disease plagues the townsfolk. Nearby water sources are drying up. And everything traces back to the goddess that the town worships, a creature that most adventurers will recognize as… Medusa. Only she can return the town to its former glory. Or perhaps she’s destined to bring ruin. If only someone could get to her and find out.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to actually encounter an area where someone has used Guards & Wards, Symbol, and other spells to actually fortify a location against casual intrusion and thievery? If you want to find out just how deadly a wizard's "getaway cabin" in the mountains can be when the owner isn't there to let you in, this is the adventure for you and your players. Suitable for a single session of play (unless characters get killed, forcing a retreat and later return), there's only one combat encounter, but the traps are deadly. Not recommended for parties below level 12. All of the defenses are based on actual PHB spells, although a couple are assumed to have been bound into items or interactions within the dungeon. This dungeon is originally from the "Against the Idol of the Sun" high-level hexcrawl campaign.
Sail beyond the realm of the living. The wages of sin is sometimes worse than death. "The Vaka's Curse" is a short AD&D adventure for two PCs. The adventure is set entirely on board a ship, so it can occur whenever the PCs take a sea voyage. At least one PC should possess a silver or magical weapon. Pgs. 8-13 & 70
A doctor who helps with rare and socially debilitating diseases who welcomes all to her doorstep suddenly becomes reclusive...and her patients are no longer able to be found. Adventurer's are hired by a powerful merchant who had committed her son to this doctor, and they need to find him and bring him home.
When Treason Walks the Land... Trouble stirs in Dunador! The King lies dead of a wound received during a hunting expedition. His brother, Lord Edrin, challenges the rightful Crown Prince, a half-trained young man named Edmund, for possession of the throne while Edmund travels on a pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Nevron. Forces throughout the kingdom vie for control of the realm. Can the player characters find the Crown Prince and protect him from the treacherous forces at large in Dunador? N3: "Destiny of Kings" (1986), by Stephen Bourne, is the third adventure in the novice series for AD&D. It's up at the upper end of what could be considered "novice" play, though, with the pre-rolled characters being 3rd and 4th level. It was released in February 1986. Like N2: "The Forest Oracle" (1984), this adventure is offered as a generic adventure, not specifically based in any existing AD&D setting. Suggestions are given in the conversion guide to place the adventure in the Forgotten Realms. Out of the Dungeons. One of the most impressive elements of N3 is its complete lack of dungeons. Instead - as was increasingly the case by the mid 80s - the players are heavily embroiled in a plot. They must find the prince of Dunador and return him home safely. Elements of investigation and intrigue thus find their way into the game. There is also some opportunity for wilderness adventure - a quality that was also becoming more common in AD&D by the mid-80s. Future History. A decade after its original publication, Wizards of the Coast updated "Destiny of Kings" to 2nd edition AD&D and reprinted it (1998). It was one of the few classic adventures to receive this treatment. This conversion guide allows DMs to run the original module with 5th Edition rules and provides a reference sheet for encounters. To use this conversion guide you will need a copy of Destiny of Kings, originally available in hard-copy and now for sale in digital format at the DMs Guild.
This quest is for a party looking to resurrect a character whose corpse is missing body parts necessary for survival. Lower-level resurrection spells don’t work on a creature that is missing a head, heart, or other vital organ. To resurrect the body, the characters turn to Vaprak, patron deity of trolls, and attempt to earn the god’s assistance. However, a band of frost giant hunters intend to destroy Vaprak's temple along with everyone inside it. Includes a quest-related NPC that a player can control if they're waiting for their character to be resurrected.
The night mist hangs low around von Helter Manor. A man and woman share a tender moment on their balcony after the best night of their lives—a flash of red as they fall. Blood begins pooling around them, staining the earth crimson. A mysterious figure grins in the darkness. The Red Lady has taken her next victim. Pgs. 75-81
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
𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑-𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐋𝐘 𝐃𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐏! 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐙𝐄𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐔𝐒 is a fifth edition (5E) conversion of the ground-breaking introductory adventure for Dungeons & Dragons that served as a DM aid in the first 𝐃&𝐃 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐞𝐭, released by TSR in 1977. This set included a 48-page rulebook covering the first three levels of play, and was skillfully edited by 𝐃𝐫. 𝐉. 𝐄𝐫𝐢𝐜 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐬 from the original 1974 D&D rules written by 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐆𝐲𝐠𝐚𝐱 and 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧. Holmes advanced the "Sample Dungeon" concept by writing a new thematic dungeon with a strong backstory, creating an adventure that has remained a fan favorite over the decades. Officially, its only title is "Sample Dungeon" but colloquially it goes by various names based on Zenopus, the doomed wizard who built the dungeon under his tower. An adventure for 1st to 2nd level characters; four pregenerated characters are included. Also includes ideas for using it as an adventure site in 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐡. 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄: Using this conversion requires a copy of the original dungeon found in the (1977) Basic D&D rulebook. However, Wizards of the Coast has provided a free pdf of this dungeon since 2008 on their website, see the first page of the pdf for the link. 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒: Introduction, page 2 The Setting, page 3 About the Dungeon, page 4 Dungeon Master's Map, page 5 Areas of the Dungeon, pages 6-13 Appendix A: Further Reading, page 13 Appendix B: Dungeon Factions, page 14 Appendix C: Portown Rumors, pages 15-17 Appendix D: Use with Ghosts of Saltmarsh, pages 18-19 Appendix E: Pre-generated 1st level characters, page 20 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐍𝐏𝐂𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐈𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟓𝐄: Cleaning Cube, Veteran Smuggler, Thaumaturgist, Monstrous Sand Crab, Lemunda, Monstrous Rat, Brazen Head of Zenopus, Verminslayer Longsword, Lesser Wand of Petrification, Scroll of Stone to Flesh The Ruined Tower of Zenopus was featured as part of the "D&D Classics" column in Issue #32 of Dragon+ magazine! Go to 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐚𝐠.𝐜𝐨𝐦 or find the link on the Wikipeda page for Dragon magazine. 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐒: Original Dungeon: J. Eric Holmes Conversion, Added Content & Cartography: Zach Howard Content Review & Editing: Scott McKinley Interior Art: Chris Holmes (“Octopus Attack”, page 9) Cover Art: “Italian Coast Scene with Ruined Tower” by Thomas Cole, 1838. Open Access Image from the National Gallery of Art at images.nga.gov Format: Derived from the “Adventure Template for Open Office/LibreOffice” by Dale Robbins on DMs Guild Dungeon Maps drawn using the application Gridmapper by Alex Schroeder
In a small hamlet, things are strangely becoming tidy in the night. Far from being pleased, the citizens are alarmed by these events. A local painter has gone missing, as has a travelling scholar. What is going on here?