The wizard Abracadamus hid the Forever Stone in the darkest depths of a failing mine, coerced monsters into serving as guardians, and rigged the dungeon with traps galore. Then he died, as all good wizards do. Many heroes have fallen prey to the Forever Stone’s lure of immortality. To date, only one stalwart band has plunged into the Mines of Madness and lived to tell the tale. You think you’re better than them? You think you got what it takes to grab life by the stones and conquer the dungeon that won the 2012 Gygaxian Award* for Bonecrushing Awesomeness? We seriously doubt it, but go ahead . . . prove us wrong! Mines of Madness is a Very Special D&D® Next Adventure written for PAX East 2013 and designed for four 3rd-level characters.
This solo adventure is designed as an adventure to teach the PC that sometimes you need help in solving tough problems. The adventurer learns that Ortella the Druid is seeking assistance in obtaining spell components to help the local village. It seems that the community has a magical phantasm causing problems in its lake and they need help in the form of Ortella and Ortella needs your help!
Some time ago, the wind began to sing of death in the Sision River Valley, and if purgatory was a song, Glovakians are now listening to it. The source of this soul-crushing music was tracked to about 90 miles northwest of Ambir. What was found? A massive, oddly built stone tower that wasn't there before. Word quickly spread and the curious set out in droves. Many turned back however, as every passing day the music got worse, but a brave, or foolish few, managed to make camp and eventually go inside. If anyone's made it out, no one really knows, but there's no shortage of rumors as to what's really going on in the place that's come to be known as, Sision Tower. Sision Tower is an OSR styled, vertical dungeon-crawl where the PCs explore an odd domain of Holy origins. Here, they will test their survival skills as well as their Faith. Here, they will meet Saints and Seraphs. Here, in the struggle between Law and Chaos they have to decide.....Plunder??......Sacrifice??......or Both!!! Sision Tower includes: All original black and white art. Over a dozen, fully illustrated, new magic items. Unique monsters and a sample setting. A vertical dungeon-crawl of 35 rooms. A spiritual setting in the same vein as Praise the Fallen. Sision Tower is designed to challenge character levels 3-5 and is easily used with most tradtional fantasy role-play systems.
En garde! "Go away, or I shall taunt you a second time!" A duchess recruits the party to deal with a monstrosity. Pgs, 60-67
Locals on the edge of a mountain range are being harassed by brutal monks and their giant tiger pet. Travelling into the hills, the players find the hidden monastery of the Burning Tiger: an evil order of monks that only respect strength. To end the threat, the players must undergo 4 life-or-death trials to test their mettle. But not all is as it seems in the monastery. Can the players unravel the mystery, and survive the Trials of the Burning Tiger? Based on an encounter for 3.5th edition D&D written by Eric Cagle for Wizards of the Coast.
In the parched desert sands, a mirage glistens invitingly on the horizon, but the nearest water is a hard day’s march in the opposite direction. You swear you smell the faint wet smell like coming rain when the wind shifts just right and see the stars reflected off some far lake at night. There’s no water here, just a lone sandblasted pillar, its features smeared by centuries of sand. Smell that? The brine of ocean mist? Here? Is the pillar made of coral polyps and mollusk shells? What is this place? An aquatic temple magically transported to an arid environment. Based on the author’s one-page map that was published in Knock #2 by Merry Mushmen. Published by Duvelman Dice.
"Ambush at Boxcar Rocks" is a two hour adventure for character level 1-3 (3-6 players) but is easily adapted to challenge higher level PCs by adjusting the spawn rate and the spawn limit. It features one hand-drawn, color map. It can be run as a brutal oneshot gauntlet or a quick side quest to pad the players purses. Deep within the labyrinth of massive, glacier deposited rocks there is a natural cave once used for interring the dead. Now the bones of the pit within stir because of a foolish neophyte. A listless, blood thirsty horde tramples toward daylight and nothing will remain in their wake...
The party has been contracted by House Tor to provide 'extra security' during a ball. Unbeknownst to the players or House Tor, a spy from another house of an attending noble is going to try to sabotage the night in an attempt to ruin the evening. Can the party stop the spy? Will the nobles finally snap?
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.
Centuries ago, a green dragon terrorized the civilized lands near its lair. As the beast grew in power, countless cult followers gathered. With the help of its worshipers, the dragon transformed into a runescribed dracolich. The dragon and its cult grew larger and more powerful over the centuries. This, of course, led to war with the surrounding nations. After terrible battles and much loss, the cultists were slaughtered and the dragon destroyed, but its phylactery could not be found. The beast reformed, gathered cultists anew, and again was defeated. The phylactery still could not be found. This time, the powers of civilization decided not to destroy the beast, but to trap it, locking it away and setting various guards. Recently, a divination ritual performed by someone the PCs respect revealed that great peril will arise if a creature lairing in Mount Sorrowspire (the dracolich) is not destroyed. Pgs. 180-185
Avast me hearties! FT33 – Port Plunder is our first offering of March and, as always, free! This pirate haven is one of two home bases for the Pirate Lords. The community is everything you would expect from corsairs complete with an active tavern district! If your campaign is in need of an island retreat, look no further…grab it, rename it, use it, and enjoy it!
The best of intentions. Pay your taxes or go to jail - and don't even thing about using magic. Pgs. 8-23
While at times cliché there are few adventures better than an old fashioned trek into the ruins of a deserted castle. This adventure pits a new adventurer against the decades old remains of a hilltop castle that is “haunted”. The old keep was the site of a mighty battle years before that swayed the power in the area but now it is the crumbling remains of the once powerful Baron Sancrist. While the old fortress is supposed to be deserted the area farmers and villagers swear they have seen the dead walk the parapets in the moonlight. Well you wanted adventure….here it comes!
Adventure Synopsys: The players are hired to investigate the death of the drowned sailor. Following the clues, the PCs discover more deaths, all linked to an event happening that very night, The Night Auction. The prized item of the night, the Demon Egg, has the power of birthing a powerful fiend into the mortal realm. As the PCs follow the trail of blood, they finally encounter the mysterious Houndmaster. As men die and bids raise the price of mortal life, who will remain to snatch the egg and claim the demon’s might? GM’s word: This adventure features social, investigative, puzzle and combat challenges, all wrapped in an exciting noir story. The villain designed for this adventure posses new unique abilities to test your players’ combat prowess. There are drawings, NPC portraits and puzzle handouts! Last but not least, The Night Auction features 5 brand new original and wicked items!
The PCs pass through a fey crossing, arriving in a heap in front of the throne of Princess Daneliean Dandelion. Wherever the PCs were trying to go, and whoever they were trying to chase down, isn’t here. Instead, they are the captive audience of a petulant, semidivine Archfey who demands to know how they came to be in her throne room. She will be lenient with them, provided they can complete a grand collection of quests on her behalf. What follows is all very storybook logic and strange whimsy. This adventure is focused more on roleplay than combat.
'Help wanted: Fearless crew to stop undead pirates. Pay bills before applying." The first thing you'll hear is dead silence. The party must hunt down a ghostship disrupting commerce in the trade port of Koll. At least, everyone thinks it's a ghostship, the party may discover otherwise.
The Harvest Festival has come to Concord, but with it comes danger - a bulette and its calves are here, too, and the storm is coming! Published by Loot The Room
An ettercap and its flock of spiders invade an unspoiled forest protected by sprites. The sprites, desperate for help, recruit a party of adventures to aid them.
Your adventurers are in luck! They are stumbling into the town of Larksville just a day before the Annual Cockatrice Race! This event and the revelries surrounding make up a week of pure entertainment for anyone passing through the area. The town is of medium size with a population close to one thousand, but during their Fall Festival that number is nearly tripled as people from all around flood in. The air is constantly filled with music and the smell of delicious foods. There is a bard in every tavern and a drunk passed out in every street. Most buildings are hanging red, gold, and orange decorations (the official colors of the festival) and anyone wearing those colors receive discounts on goods!
In lieu of a monetary reward for their latest adventure, the PCs have been 'gifted' land ownership in the form of a former religious holding on the coast. While the party cannot collect taxes, they can rennovate the building and use it as a base of operations as they adventure around the Katorian Sphere. Best of all, it sits on a vineyard!