"More than five hundred years ago, clans of dwarves and gnomes made an agreement known as the Phandelver’s Pact, by which they would share a rich mine in a wondrous cavern known as Wave Echo Cave. In addition to its mineral wealth, the mine contained great magical power. Human spellcasters allied themselves with the dwarves and gnomes to channel and bind that energy into a great forge (called the Forge of Spells), where magic items could be crafted. Times were good, and the nearby human town of Phandalin (pronounced fan-duh-lin) prospered as well. But then disaster struck when orcs swept through the North and laid waste to all in their path. A powerful force of orcs reinforced by evil mercenary wizards attacked wave echo cave to seize its riches and magic treasures. Human wizards fought alongside their dwarf and gnome allies to defend the Forge of Spells, and the ensuing spell battle destroyed much of the cavern. Few survived the cave-ins and tremors, and the location of Wave Echo Cave was lost. For centuries, rumours of buried riches have attracted treasure seekers and opportunists to the area around Phandalin, but no one has ever succeeded in locating the lost mine. In recent years, people have resettled the area. Phandalin is now a rough-and-tumble frontier town. More important, the Rockseeker brothers - a trio of dwarves - have discovered the entrance to Wave Echo Cave, and they intend to reopen the mines. Unfortunately for the Rockseekers, they are not the only ones interested in Wave Echo Cave. A mysterious villain known as the Black Spider controls a network of bandit gangs and goblin tribes in the area, and his agents have followed the Rockseekers to their prize. Now the Black Spider wants Wave Echo Cave for himself, and he is taking steps to make sure no one else knows where it is." Extra Info from AL.com users: by @marcellarius. "There are a variety of locations in this adventure: the town of Phandalin, a gang hideout, a ruined keep in the forest, a destroyed village, and Wave Echo Cave (a dungeon crawl). The adventure is written in a sandbox style and relies on the players to choose their path. Phandalin offers several side-quests which could serve as hooks for continuing adventures. The premade characters have ties in their backgrounds to NPCs and locations. If you're not using these you'll need to consider other ways to introduce key NPCs."
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.
The Kroth Magg hobgoblins run the trade city of Glip Dak in the Troll Hills of Thar. From there they have taken control of the trade routes along the northern Moonsea. A young noble has been captured for refusing to pay their tariffs and his house looks to hire adventurers to rescue him.
Long ago, a small but mighty humanoid kingdom existed in what is now the local wilderness. Bugbear and ogre warriors fought brutal wars of expansion, earning great fame and amassing considerable fortunes from their predations. Those who died in battle were buried in large tomb complexes dug into hillsides and honored as patrons of the living. Among these tombs was the large tor known as Hightower. Though it was neither the largest nor the most famous of the kingdom's tombs, Hightower did represent a typical example of this kind of structure. As happens to all such nations, the cruel humanoid kingdom eventually fell to a more powerful foe that razed all its cities and outlying fortifications. Of the tombs, only Hightower escaped destruction -- largely because it was an unimportant monument in a remote location. A few tribes of humanoids that survived the devastation tried to use it as a fortress, but the humans with whom they clashed defeated them soundly and sealed the entrance with a huge, round stone to ensure that the tor could no longer be used as a base. Since then, Hightower has served as a landmark for travellers in the know, but it has otherwise been largely forgotten. But the electrical storms that have plagued the area in recent days have been quite severe, and a few weeks ago, a stray lightning bolt broke open the stone seal. Tonight, yet another terrible storm is sweeping through the wilderness, driving all creatures to take shelter where they can find it. Hightower looms on the horizon, and its door is no longer blocked. Will the PCs dare to enter its silent halls?
A slaver gang known as the Bloodreavers are terrorizing the countryside from their base deep in the labyrinth under Thunderspire Mountain. But these slavers are only the symptom of a larger threat in the bowels of Thunderspire.
A silent threat grows in Freeports streets. One of the pirate city's own leaders brings Freeport ever closet to war, lining his pockets eve as he plans for eventual invasion by the foreign power Mazin.
You've just inherited a castle! And now for the bad news... All it needs is a good cleaning out. Pgs. 6-14 & 36
The heroes arrive at the eponymous Keep on the Borderlands, a fortress on the edge of civilization built to stave off the chaos and evil of the wilderness. Using it as a home base, a party can make forays into the surrounding wilderness, encountering monster and marauder alike. The centerpiece of the adventure is certainly the CAVES OF CHAOS, a network of tunnels and caverns found in the walls of a nearby but isolated ravine. It is here that hordes of evil humanoids have made their home. Through combat and negotiation, the players can try to explore and map out these caves, perhaps with the aim of accumulating valuable treasure or even cleansing the land of evil creatures. However, even the Caves are not all they seem. Beyond the goblins and kobolds lurk dark horrors: cults dedicated to fiendish chaos and a Minotaur's enchanted labyrinth await the unprepared adventurer. But for the hero who is brave, clever, and fortunate in equal and sufficient measure, great treasures and glory await in the Caves of Chaos that lie beyond the Keep on the Borderlands! TSR 9034
Indomitable it stood for centuries, a symbol of order in a world of chaos. Bastion of the pass through the Kamph Mountains, the very stones of the Keep of Adlerweg were the stuff of legends. What evil power had strength enough to take it? How were its defenses swept aside? Fell creatures now attend the battlements that overlook the only pass between Berghof and the sea. This is not a pretty problem to be solved by the militia of the local villages. These and more may be needed to withstand the mayhem stirred up by the fall of the keep. Indeed, if the Keep is not retaken, and retaken soon, the Hold of the Sea Princes itself may not be secure. Now is the time for heroic action. Aided by the Sentinel, former protector of the legendary Guardians of Adlerweg, have you the courage and the determination to rid the keep of its sinister occupants? UK3: "The Gauntlet" (1984), by Graeme Morris, is the third UK-series adventure and the second half of the two-part Adlerweg series. It was run as the final round of the GamesFair 1983 AD&D Open (and won by a RuneQuest fan!). It was then published in 1984. TSR 9111
Dragonspear Castle. All who live within several hundred miles have heard the name and know its import. Once home to the proud and the brave, it stands now a ruin, cloaked behind a history of murder and diabolic plots. Few go there, for the only reward to be found is death. Rumors abound that Dragonspear holds a portal to the sinister planes, but until now those have been unfounded. Following a great battle against orcs and trolls from the High Moor who had taken possession of the castle, a temple to ward against further evil was established. However, by the Time of Troubles, that temple and its clergy had disappeared. Now, a horde of fiends and monsters has amassed at Dragonspear Castle, and it terrorizing the surrounding countryside. The portal is active, that is for certain. The army of Daggerford needs reinforcements! Is you party made of the stuff of heroes? Hordes of Dragonspear can be played using either the Battlesystem miniatures rules, or the quick combat resolution system found in DMGR2, The Castle Guide. Alternatively, a few simple changes render the entire module playable without any special rules. TSR 9369
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.
Somewhere ogre the rainbow.... You and your fellow humanoids are going to be diplomats! Can you say "disaster?" I knew you could. This module is made for humanoid monster PCs created with GAZ10 (The Orcs of Thar Gazetteer). That module is required to play through this adventure. The players start in the village of Flooshpragh, which acts as the horde center for the Rude Mongrel tribe of goblinoid races. Unknown to the players, the tribe has grown unmanagebly large, and the chief has marked the players as expendable individuals! Many subtle clues exist throughout the module to clue the players into this betrayal. The adventure proceeds through a town with roleplaying opportunities, a tower dungeon, and finishes by the players unknowingly pranking a human wizard. Pgs. 50-64
A vast, sprawling mega-dungeon beneath the ruins of a nearby castle. Reports have surfaced of stockpiles of wealth within the passages. Regions previously devoid of monsters are reported to teem with renewed activity. Magical and mundane traps have brought foolhardy explorers to their doom. Changes within the passages and chambers have rendered old maps and knowledge dangerously unreliable if not outright useless. To the bold and daring, only one message needs to be heard: the castle and its dungeons are once more ripe for exploration, and new legends are ready to be made. Note: This adventure requires three books for it to be complete (sold as a package): Adventure Book, Map Book, and Illustration Book. Published by BRW Games
A curse is upon the land. In the old barrow long forgotten a forgotten general awaits trying to confront death, and until heroes can guide his way, the land suffers. Grave of the Heartless takes the adventurers to an unusual dungeon bordering the realm of the dead, and here a heart beats. Dare our heroes step into the darkness, where one step too far can lead them to face Death. Grave of the Heartless is a low-level OSR adventure suited for Labyrinth Lord and other oldschool retro clones. The adventure was originally written for the Danish Living Campaign The Hinterlands, and it is for the first time presented in English. The adventure introduces the players to a different tradition of adventures, and it one with a focus on exploration and encountering the unknown. The adventure includes new magical items and new monsters to challenge your players. Grave of the Heartless can be played as a sequel to Tomb of the Dragon's Heart and The Flooded Temple.
An ancient gate to the abyss lies undisturbed in the Valley of Obelisks. Sinister forces seek to reactivate the gate for their own ends, can the heroes stop them in time?
The Lost City is a low-level adventure, in which the only hope of the PCs' survival can be found in a ruined city slowly rising out of the sands. The adventure is set inside a huge step pyramid, with the lower pyramid only sketched out and the city itself described with a list of the major areas and a map. The adventure’s main villain is Zargon, a giant one-eyed monster and his minions. The entire double pyramid, not including the city, contains over 100 rooms. The module is designed to give novice Dungeon Masters experience fleshing out adventures and is only partially complete. Later TSR material hints that this adventure possibly takes place in Mystara, but the material is largely setting-neutral. TSR #9049
Greger’s Grotto is a community of pirates and other criminals, hidden away on a desolate coastline. The players are slaves sold to the Grotto’s owning family and used for manual labour and bloodsport in the arena. In this adventure, the players will need to: * survive harsh prison conditions, including the rivalry between prisoner factions: human, orc, goblin and hobgoblin * fight in arena battles against prisoners and beasts, often with strange twists to entertain the crowd * explore small mini-dungeons attached to the prisoners’ caverns * ultimately escape; whether by force, alliance with fellow prisoners, stealth, cunning or any combination of these Features of this adventure: * Pay-what-you-want (even nothing). * Illustrated with art by Setvasai. * Designed to fit into most campaign worlds. * Simulationist or story-driven: includes information for both. Use random rolls to determine what happens when, or take inspiration from various story hooks. (Or do both.) * 11 unique NPCs, including members of the Grotto’s owning family and leader of the prisoner factions. * Full maps of the Grotto, its arena and prisoner caverns, totalling over 40 rooms.
A hobgoblin force is expanding and threatening the land. Confronted with the relentless advance of Azarr Kul’s horde, the characters must undertake vital missions to influence the outcome of the war. Can they shatter the armies of the enemy, or will Azarr Kul’s dreams rain destruction upon the human lands? The adventure is fast-paced and time-sensitive, and requires almost constant movement by the party. WoTC 95385
The town of Byr is in need of heroes. Residents of the town of Byr have been kidnapped. Some think it was marauding Hobgoblins, but a grizzled and crippled veteran who helped to drive the Chagmat (monstrous spider-people) back many years ago believes that the Chagmat are back. Their forgotten temple is believed to be up on Little Boy Mountain. He argues that the mountain is where answers, and the missing townsfolk, can be found. Pgs. 33-48
When huge stones fall out of the night sky, A deadly curse settles over Gravencross. Help the village exorcise the Demon Stones. “The sun had set an hour ago, and the rain lashed down and the wind howled on the dark moor. A storm this late in the season was unusual, but this one seemed different. The clouds were more menacing, tinged with anger, the rain colder and more biting than usual. Skerrill had to find the lost calf and get him back to the farm before his father came back from the city on business. He’d been looking for two hours now, and he was right in the middle of the moor when the storm hit. He knew he should have turned back as soon as darkness fell, but then he was never the brightest boy in the valley. If only he had remembered to lock the farm gate. The calf was now likely dead anyway having stumbled among the boulders and rocks, panicking in the dark, and then fallen in a floodwater stream and drowned. Either way, he was in more trouble than he could imagine. Suddenly, a bright flash of white light and a roaring peal of thunder were preceded by an explosion as a huge object fell from the sky and impacted the ground of the moor no more than a stone’s throw from him. Dirt, mud, water, and debris erupted from the impact site, flying high into the air and then covering the moor for hundreds of feet all around. Skerrill was knocked to the ground instantly and covered in the fallout from the blast. His ears rang and his head spun, but he staggered to his feet in a daze. He stumbled to where the blast had happened only moments before, and in a depression in the ground lay a huge stone glowing orange as if hot. Skerrill passed out. Two more thunderous explosions crashed in the distance.”