The Godless Depths For the first time in eons, ancient aberrations are emerging from the deep ocean. Driven by some otherworldly fervour, they encroach upon the local villages, searching with beady eyes for anyone linked to the Gods. Even now you hear rumours of kidnap, men and women dragged kicking and screaming into the depths.
You wake up in a pitch-dark cavern... The stench of bodies fills your nostrils. The crack of bone and the sound of teeth rending flesh are the only sound you hear. Something is feeding nearby...something you can't see. We Eat in the Dark is a deadly adventure for 3rd or 4th level characters. Navigate the caves of the Darkshard Abattoir, where light sources are muted and creatures hid invisibly in the dark. Fight for your life against troglodytes empowered by a mysterious artifact and other cavern hazards. Includes an appendix for limited starting gear for a more lethal challenge. A perfect murder-happy one-shot for your players to question your friendship.
Synopsis: Goblin Bathwater, a magical drug, has taken hold in a sleepy coastal town at the edge of the Empire. As the characters investigate the origin of the drug, they uncover an international criminal conspiracy, wild and ancient magic, and a threat to reality itself. Contents: This beautifully made, 54-page adventure offers: A fully fleshed out, setting-agnostic starter area, brimming with colourful NPCs and hooks for adventure. Balanced encounters to bring characters to level 2; then some more devious encounters on their way to level 3. Three mini-dungeons built on the design philosophy of the "5 room dungeon method" Multiple big, cinematic set-piece boss encounters what will make your players feel epic. A facetted intrigue, which does not immediately suggest a simple, ready-made solution but invites the players to come up with their own, personal approach. Why pick this adventure? Hey, my name is Marius. This is my first time publishing on the DMs Guild but I wouldn't call myself a newcomer. I started playing Pathfinder 1e back in 2014. When I took over as our group's DM in 2019, we swapped over to 5e. We have run many, many modules and adventures since. Currently I play three games a week. In short: You could say I'm hooked. I created The Goblin Bathwater Incident as the ideal adventure for in-between your big modules, but it isn't a simple little adventure. With a playtime of about 30 hours, it still manages to hit that sweet-spot, where it establishes context, makes you grow fond of NPCs, and makes those big bossfight wins so much sweeter, all without taking more than a few sessions. The Goblin Bathwater Incident is different from many of the 1st tier adventures in that it pits the characters against traps and monsters, but also asks difficult, open-ended ethical questions, where a simple strategy of "apply sword to head of bad guy" will not cut it.
'Fierce' was written for the annual release of Fierce, a tasty Berliner Weisse, at Off Color Brewery in Chicago, Illinois. It's a one-shot intended for both beginner players and DM's, with the space for personal flair to be added or to be run as-is.
With your first set of adventures firmly under your belt you are relaxing and basking in the glory of a job well done. While at the local tavern imbibing in some well-earned spirits, a commotion can be heard outside. As you step outside the villagers are pampering two children who apparently just rode into town on a very sweaty and tired pony. An arrow is sticking out of the mount’s flank. As the animal is removed the townspeople pepper the children with questions as both are obviously afraid. It would appear the drinks will have to wait.
Expand your game with this collection of 56 NPCs of various Challenge Ratings, thirteen of which include maps and details of their lairs. Add these NPCs as a side-quest, a main villain, a one-shot, a bounty for easy money, or however else you wish. Written by some of the best-selling authors on the Dungeon Masters Guild and outstanding podcasters, each NPC includes an image, a backstory, motives, flaws, and a stat block. Some even include new magic items!
For more than a hundred years, the demon-infested Worldwound has warred against humanity, its Abyssal armies clashing with crusaders, barbarians, mercenaries, and heroes along the border of lost Sarkoris. But when one of the magical wardstones that helps hedge the demons into their savage realm is sabotaged, the crusader city of Kenabres is attacked and devastated by the demonic hordes. Can a small band of heroes destined for mythic greatness survive long enough to hold back the forces of chaos and evil until help arrives, or will they become the latest in a long line of victims slaughtered by Deskari, the demon lord of the Locust Host?
THE FIRST SET OF DUNGEONS ON DEMAND ADVENTURES! The first volume of Dungeons on Demand includes the first four dungeons: Bandit's Nest - Level 1 Adventure Dungeon Insidious Experiments - Level 4 Adventure Dungeon Fierce Tempers - Level 8 Adventure Dungeon Lord of Gloomthrone - Level 12 Adventure Dungeon It also includes the following supplements: New Twists on Old Monsters - Gaming Supplement Imbued with Magic - Gaming Supplement The bundle includes hundreds of pages worth of materials and supplements sure to keep your gaming sessions busy!
When her father goes missing, a young adventurer has no other choice than to gather her friends and head for the city of Loudwater. Soon after she gets swept away in an obscure design threatening to drag the entire region into chaos and war. At the heart of this mystery, lies not only her father, but the long-forgotten history of her once-despised family and a primordial beast influencing events from the shadows, moving her family like pieces on a chess board. Visit www.perfumersdaughter.com for more information. You can also address me directly on The Perfumer's Daughter Q&A on Facebook. All battlemaps and dungeons are free to download for use in digital platforms (such as roll20) on the aforementioned site.
The ancient world of Harth withers beneath its dying sun…but it’s not dead yet. The land is still riddled with villages in danger, cultists in caves, angels gone mad, eldritch horrors making strange deals, raging dragons, bandits in the woods, and cruel monsters lurking in every shadow. These 13 adventures span a wide variety of locations, environments, creatures, and genres. They are meant for use as quick-play sessions or one-shots, or to be dropped into campaigns as side-quests. These are linear dungeons and mini-quests full of interactivity and strangeness, encouraging exploration, risk-taking, and creative combat. ADVENTURE TYPE: One-Shot / Low Level / Combat / Exploration / Village / Wilderness / City / Subterranean / Dungeon Delve DESIGN NOTES These 13 adventures are intended for low-level characters around Level 3 Overall, these adventures tend to be linear dungeon delves in caves or single buildings 93 unique encounter locations 69 original magic items 71 original monsters (with 28 illustrations) 13 maps/diagrams Each adventure runs 2-4 hours in length
Chapter 2: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh In this version of the adventure, the characters find navigational charts and logs aboard the Sea Ghost that implicate its crew as slavers. Ned Shakeshaft is a Scarlet Brotherhood agent. He makes an attempt to foil the characters, but his true intent is to surrender and implicate Gellan Primewater as a key villain. The distraction afforded by the lizardfolk and the looming sahuagin threat gives the Scarlet Brotherhood the opportunity to bring more agents into town. posing as mercenaries brought in by Anders to protect the town. If Gellan can be removed from the council, Solmor might ask one of the characters to take his place.
The Cave on Foggy Hook is the first of three connected adventures in the village of Hookholm and is aimed at busy or first time Dungeon Masters. This adventure is designed for 3-5 1st level characters and can be played in a single 3-5 hour session excluding character creation. In this adventure the party will find themselves in Hookholm, a small coastal village rebuilding after a devastating storm almost wiped it off the map. The village is located on the inner curve of the Foggy Hook, a spit of marshy land jutting into the Grey Sea. Beset by the sort of calamities that new adventurers will be able to sink their teeth into and will offer opportunities for roleplaying, puzzle solving, exploration and combat. Includes 5 maps in a number of variations, a brand new monster in the vicious Kuo-toa Feral, and a new chase complications table for chases through swamps or marshes.
Far north of the Denali homeland is the Archipelago of Tyr and home to dangerous seafarers. Tyr is well-known as the land of the Minotaur that does allow some foreigners to visit albeit with less than perfect hospitality. Originally used as a one-shot with the Denali campaign characters, King Pellet sent the party north to investigate a trade deal and look into reports of some type of incendiary weapon…
After escaping the oppressive rule of the hobgoblin empire, a tribe of goblins stumbles across a long-abandoned iron mine that would make the perfect home for them, if only it wasn’t already full of dangers. What lurks in the mine is however a secondary problem for the goblins, as they know that hobgoblin scouts will be hot on their heels. Looking to gain a valuable ally, they turn to the local town of Cathric for help. Under orders from the Marquess of Cathric, your band of adventurers is tasked with ensuring that the mine can provide a steady source of iron. Of course, this will mean helping the goblin tribe to get the mine working and defending them from their old masters. Your players will have to face off against the monsters in the mine, a hobgoblin scouting party and some over enthusiastic mining equipment, all while trying to put on a brave face in front of three trainee goblin fighters. Content warnings: spiders, enclosed spaces, displaced populations, authoritarian regimes. It is also implied that a monstrous creature is wounded by another monstrous creature.
A druid dwells in the heart of the forest, running its shadowed paths as both man and wolf. As civilization encroached on his ancient forest, he retreated deeper into its depths, spending more time as a wolf and less as a man. He took refuge in a dark cave and the last traces of his humanity disappeared, leaving only the beast. Published by Arcana Games.
The characters have been summoned to Pollin, a dwarven industrial city which prides itself on innovation and invention. When the Honey River which is source of all the power in the city runs dry they call for the aid of adventurers. The characters are brought before the Industrial Minister as he needs their help to solve the issue and fix the problem.
A hideous hag threatens to corrupt everything it can, including a young bronze dragon who protects this stretch of coastline. The heroes must stop Dread Shelan at all costs, lest the entire area come to ruin. Can the brave adventurers defeat Dread Shelan and her pet sahuagin? This package (adventure, maps, etc. within) forms a complete module for use with Dungeons & Dragons ® 5th Edition rules. It is especially designed for Dungeon Masters to initiate play with a minimum of preparation, and to invoke that OSR look and feel you remember from the original Saltmarsh back in the 80s. In addition to descriptive and situational material, this module also includes special informational sections giving background history and legends, listings of possible monsters and treasures and how to place them, a list of adventuring characters, tips on various aspects of play for the Dungeon Master, and helpful advice for starting players. Old School Look and Feel! Instructions given for scaling the encounters for levels 5 to 10.
Part megadungeon, part underground expedition, Operation Unfathomable serves as both a one-shot adventure and a campaign framework. PCs are (optionally) drafted at swordpoint to recover the Nul Rod, a priceless artifact that was recently lost in a local prince's foolhardy attempt to destroy the Chaos Gods of the Underworld. The PCs have been drafted as an expendable set of pawns to venture into the vast and bewildering Underworld and retrieve the Nul Rod. With the Underworld's innumerable beasties being on high alert after the prince's expedition, the PCs must sneak through the incredibly dangerous Underworld. Fighting is not as important as stealth, fast-talking, and running away rapidly. This is the expansion from Sholtis's original Operation Unfathomable, released in Knockspell #5 (2011).
"The Keepers of the Celestian Order, valiant defenders dedicated to destroying horrors from the Far Realm, have trapped a beholder in its lair. However, the evil aberration has proven far more dangerous than expected, and the Keepers need the help of adventurers to end the threat of Omaranthax once and for all. This Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game adventure, created for Free RPG Day 2012, pits player characters against a mutated beholder and its vile underlings. Although set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, the adventure can be easily adapted to any* D&D world." *: The adventure mentions that it is suitable for any setting touched by the Spellplague.
Hi! I am pleased to present the official English-language release of the Italian best-selling adventure: La Seconda Alba Nera – The Second Black Dawn! If anyone is looking for a good starter adventure for 5th edition but wants something a bit grittier and darker may I recommend it. The Second Black Dawn is coming ... The king is missing. Hordes of undead spread across the kingdom like a plague. Outlaws attack and pillage defenseless villages. A party of adventurers is called upon to explore the region and investigate the mysterious disappearance of the king. Main Features: - A compelling, dark adventure estimated to last over 30 hours of gameplay and bring the characters from 1st to 5th level. - Five new monsters and one new weapon - Random encounters designed specifically to integrate with the tone of the adventure. - A list of music suitable for use as a soundtrack to accompany the adventure, to engage the players and emphasize the adventure's atmosphere. - Four pre-generated characters usable for the adventure. - Hypertext links in both the index and the text and bookmarks included. - An optimized PDF also available in a printer-friendly version. Find out what is bringing the kingdom to its knees... before it’s too late! Thanks to Marco Fossati for the translation and Simon Collins for the English-language editing. Any questions, please ask!