The goddess Erathis has never seemed the sort to demand the sacrifice of mortals in exchange for safe trade routes, but that’s exactly what her high priest has demanded. When a local ruler asks the characters to investigate the high priest, a chain of events is set in motion that could shake the city of Wyllea, and the church of Erathis, to its core. This adventure makes extensive use of roleplaying encounters and skill challenges, with fewer tactical combat encounters. There is a substantial focus on politics and intrigue. The Tariff of Relkingham is written for 3rd level PCs, but contains advice for lowering or raising the starting level from 2-4. It also contains a system for calculating an advantage or disadvantage in the final fight based on the players' actions during the adventure. Pgs. 83-103
The leader of all the Shadow Guilds, the Ceta Consortium is gone, wiped out in a single night, without warning or witnesses. Their empire of control, secrecy, and soft-handed rule has vanished, leaving behind only rumors and blood. Now, the city of Lumina stands on the edge of something new... and something dangerous. Shadow Guilds is a system-agnostic tabletop campaign setting built for fantasy games that blur the line between ambition and morality. Set in a bustling metropolis of vice, corruption, and uneasy power, it invites players to step into the roles of underworld mafiosos, trying to make their mark—or just survive the fallout. Inside, you’ll find everything you need to run a campaign focused on gang politics, black-market enterprise, and the slow scramble toward power in a world that rewards the bold and punishes the careless. You’ll build a crew, carve out territory, and navigate a world where magic is outlawed, alliances are temporary, and opportunity lurks behind every closed door. This is not a story of chosen heroes or grand prophecies. It’s a story of clever rogues, ruthless enforcers, and ambitious criminals rising into the vacuum left by the old guard. The game leans into roleplay, style, and smart decision-making—but it doesn’t shy away from trouble when it finds you. Start small. Lie often. Watch your back. Shadow Guilds is a system-neutral campaign setting designed to drop into any fantasy world where criminal syndicates thrive in the shadows of power. Whether you're running a long-form campaign, a gritty one-shot, or threading a criminal conspiracy into your existing world, this guide provides the building blocks for a dangerous, decadent underworld full of secrets, turf wars, and moral gray areas. This setting assumes a single sprawling metropolis, where various criminal guilds operate openly or in secret. It leans into noir fantasy, urban intrigue, prohibition, and the uncomfortable alliances forged when justice fails.
A short adventure that can be used as part of a larger campaign or run as a one shot for 3-4 Tier I or II characters. An all elven guild has taken on a large job for an unknown character. They are doing everything they can to fulfil the contract regardless of who gets hurt in the process. On this short adventure the characters will run into and a foul of the Elven Guild. Can they stop them from finalizing their plan. This adventure includes hooks for additional adventures that can be run after this adventure is completed.
The Thrice-Damned House of Thrune wants to seal the Inferno Gate, an uncontrolled portal to Hell, and the villainous adventurers are called to accomplish the task. To acquire the components and perform the ritual, they must first face down a hellspawn thieves' guild, the Hellknight Order of the Pike, and the knights of the Glorious Reclamation and their celestial allies. But before they can complete the ritual, the characters may be forced to examine their options—is closing the gate the best plan for the future? Will the villains obey their orders to close the gate to Hell—or might they make a deal with a devil for control of the portal? Or will they only become the latest in a long line of sacrifices to the Inferno Gate?
The Adurite Empire once ruled a major portion of Filbar but when the culture lost the favor of the gods it spelled doom for the entire civilization. In the wake of the carnage that followed the major cities fell to fires, plagues, and other disasters both natural and magical. In the centuries that have passed the cities are now in ruins but rumored to still hold magic and wealth. The most famous of these cities was the port city of Leptis Magna. The city was once the crossroads of the empire and was known for trading, agriculture, and magic. What treasures remain in the ruins so fierce that even pirates avoid the area? This was also the adventure played at Gen Con 2014! "I step over his body and go inside..."
Amunrahx the Intrepid is your typical red dragon, with one important difference. He draws power both from the size of his hoard and the amount of trade and commerce flowing through his domain. Amunrahx is a Tyrant—proud, egotistic, and self-centered. “The Intrepid” is a self-given title. He is powerful and dangerous, but he is no match for a party of heroes and can’t stand up to an army on his own. Amunrahx depends on minions and lieutenants to deal with obstacles and constantly seeks to acquire more forces. As his domain grows, he gains ever-greater influence over the surrounding economy, creating a vacuum of wealth and skilled talent that chokes the life out of nearby cities while Amunrahx lounges and savors his victory. Tyrants and Hellions is a Dungeon Master's aide, containing fifteen villains complete with schemes, lairs, backstories, and everything else you need to drop them into your own 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Within its 400 pages you'll also find the methods, both mechanical and thematic, used to create villains that spark the imaginations of your players. Amunrahx is one of these villains, and his adventure takes up 33 pages (pg 74-93). Published by 2CGaming
For thousands of years a great and terrible secret has lain hidden in the depths of the Sea of Silt. In the heart of this vast dust basin, an endless storm of ash and shrieking wind guards the deadliest concentration of evil and power found on the dying world of Athas - The Valley of Dust and Fire Valley of Dust and Fire more than doubles the known portions of the world of Athas. Intrepid explorers will discover new wonders and perils within the deadly Sea of Silt, from the beautiful island of Shault to the savage Mountains of the Sun. New rules for traveling the dust basin and surviving its many dangers are included. With luck and determination, a skillful and well-prepared party just might pass through the Great Ash Storm and enter the Valley of Silt and Fire. But this realm of shattered badlands and awful monsters is so deadly that only one man has ever reached the valley and returned to tell the tale. TSR 2413
SQ2 – Cesspool of Redrook takes a group of initial adventurers on their first challenge. Your new group wants to be big-time adventurers but don’t really have the money to wander out from the safety of the city of Redrook. As you question your options a wanted poster gives you just the opportunity you have been seeking. Can your party capture the notorious “Briny Pete”?
The tournament of the bloody stones has come to Taux, and the streets are said to run red with the blood of the combatants. Now, amid the crackdowns of the Sturgeons and the secret duels of the three great fencing schools, the heroes must once and for all solve the mystery of the House Vash blood feud. Taking on the guise of foreign swashbucklers, all must brave bloody single combat, pirates, ravenous cursed lowl, and evne magical reverberations from distant Roslof Keep! Complete the Adventures of the Emperald Serpent trilogy with this module. This adventure is formatted to both 1E & 5E gaming rules. Also available in PDF.
The city has been plagued by mysterious nighttime assassinations that leave behind no clues about who might have perpetrated them. Divinations from temple of Ioun adherents suggest the guilty parties can be found under a nearby curio shop. The PCs set off. Beneath the shop waits the Poisoned Shadows Assassins Guild, as well as a greater danger than the party expected. Pgs. 54-59
The city of Suncliff has so much trash they've devoted an entire quarter to it. naming the reeking ruins "the Stink" and piling garbage as high as the eye can see. But sanitation workers have been vanishing from the Stink at night, and only your heroes hold the key to solving the smelly mystery. Folks have been vanishing from the Stink, a disease-filled rubbish quarter of Sunhill. City officials recruit the heroes to investigate the disappearances, putting the PCs on the trail of fiendish Locathahs, followers of Incabulos, with ill plans for the surface world. Pgs. 47-69
Someone in the misty, wooded Moonshae isles needs hundreds of brand new swords taken under guard from Sword Coast smiths to a certain place on the Isles. The swords are needed so badly, and their safe arrival is considered so unlikely, that someone is willing to pay adventurers a lot of gold - someone fairly important. Adventures foolish enough to take assignments too good to be true (or merely desperate for coins) will soon find themselves embroiled in a dark and mysterious struggle against evil that will take them into sacred groves, crumbling castles, and through ancient magical gates to the halls of the High King - and beyond -- An adventure that takes place on the Moonshae Isles, in which a mid-to-high level party fights against the encroaching darkness of The Cult of Bane. Although helped by the Harpers, players will have to uncover the plans of the cult, and thwart them where possible. Preventing the summoning of the "Godson", a manifestation of Bane's evil. Part of the "Forgotten Realms Adventure" series, this is FA1 - Halls of the High King. FA2 is "Nightmare Keep" TSR 9301
Wolpertinger, Wererat - Well! is a two-hour adventure for 1st-4th level characters, designed for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, with an urban theme, exploration, humor, and a small mystery to solve! Waterdeep, the City of Splendors, is brimming with exciting opportunities for adventurers - seemingly at every corner, backstabbing between rival guilds, intrigues among the noble houses, and treasures in forgotten places beckon. But today, a little girl is in trouble and needs the help of our heros in rescuing her pet "bunny"! This adventure is an unapologetically linear dungeon crawl – short, straight-forward, and to the point. It follows the three-pillar principle: combat, exploration, social interaction. The idea is to spice up the classic formula with varied challenges that result in a short, entertaining session. This makes this an excellent adventure for beginner players and DMs! Detailed support is provided for the DM in the form of roleplay advice for six completely fleshed out original NPCs, advice on the three pillars in each scene, and scenic sensory descriptions for every scene to make the adventure come to life. Included with this adventure are: + an original custom monster, the wolpertinger + six original fleshed out NPCs, including personality traits and roleplaying tips + 20 original (but mostly useless) magic items + six original diseases + one original trap + a complete original hand-drawn dungeon map covering the entire adventure
Delbert's friend Thordyn has been wrongfully arrested and placed in quarantine inside the Lazar's Walls, where all those who have contracted King's Evil are banished to. It is your missing to infiltrate the settlement, and free Thordyn. The task will not be simple, as a crime syndicate rules the Lazar's Walls with an iron fist.
Book 5 in the Iron Gods campaign: Somewhere deep within Silver Mount, the greatest of the Iron Gods is rising to power. But before the heroes of Numeria can oppose it, they must f irst defeat the Technic League and the Black Sovereign, for the corrupt cabal controls access to the legendary site. Will the clues harvested from an ancient android oracle and the technological wonders gathered from strange ruins across Numeria be enough for the heroes to prevail? Or will they simply become the latest upstarts to be crushed under the Technic League’s metal boot?
A reclusive widow is in over her head with supernatural forces. Discover the twisted secrets of the Margaster family and put an end to an evil threat before it overruns the city! The party's plans to steal some magic items from a rich noblewoman go awry when they find out she's made a horrible deal with a fiend to smuggle an army of Cambions into the city, bypassing Silverymoon's protective wards. Can the party stop her and defeat the fiends, or will they end up as a few more human sacrifices? This is as an expansion for Storm King's Thunder, but can easily be dropped into any campaign. Made for a party of 3-4 characters around levels 6 or 7. Content Warning! This adventure is pretty dark, and may not be suitable for all tables. The adventure's backstory involves a woman being driven mad by bearing fiendish children.
Arcane Moon is an introductory adventure inspired by 90s Magical Girl anime: drawing on Magic Knight Rayearth, Cardcaptor Sakura and Sailor Moon it's a story of love, friendship, treason and big villains. Arcane Moon is Magical Girl on Fantasy Land. It has been three months since the Arcane Scouts came together as a team. In that time they have managed to stay one step ahead of The Major Arcana, the personal guard of The Empress. However, unknown to them, one of her generals, The Hermit has infiltrated the city of Shealin and, posing as a merchant, has located two of the five shards needed to forge the Ioun Crystal. Jealous of his success The Priestess and The Hierophant are plotting against him, expecting to prove themselves to the dark mistress. The adventure takes place across two or three in-game days going from the latest fashion show on town to a mysterious tower hidden south of the city. Expect to fight several bad guys just to find out there was a bigger badder guy behind them.
What’s Included Gathering Darkness: Whisperwind is a self-contained 6-7 hour adventure for the 5e system and is meant for four or five 3rd-level characters. This premium module contains: A complete story, battle maps, and custom NPC stat blocks Random encounters for entering houses in a haunted village A new mechanic called Blight which affects creatures based on their exposure to the horrors of Whisperwind A table of Lingering Effects that reflect the influence of the Dark on Whisperwind’s inhabitants The is the first adventure in the Gathering Darkness Anthology. The Setting This adventure takes place in the cursed coastal village of Whisperwind, a place stuck in a perpetual state of twilight. Once a thriving hub for fishing and trading, Whisperwind now exists in a place beyond time and space. Those unfortunate enough to end up there can come from any plane and any period of time – past, present, or future. Not much is known about the cursed village. In fact, most people are not even aware of its existence, and those that have heard of it often believe it to be a fairytale created to scare children. What they do know is this: once you enter Whisperwind, you may never leave. What they may not know is that inhabitants of Whisperwind do not die of natural causes and may live forever if they are not killed by other means. Instead, prolonged exposure to Whisperwind can have radical effects on the body and mind. The strongest willed may be unaffected, while the weak may lose their minds or be consumed by the terrible sickness known only as blight… Your Mission Uncover the mysteries of Whisperwind, survive the horrors that attempt to drag you into the Dark, and escape alive with your sanity intact.
The fabled sword of Selfaril is told to bestow wisdom and power upon whomever wields it, so naturally its discovery has caused quite a stir in Mulmaster. All of this is complicated when a masked benefactor claims to not only know the truth about the blade, but also how it can be used to benefit the oppressed people of Mulmaster. Can it truly change Mulmaster for the better?
About: This encounter was cooked up in the Write your First Encounter workshop by the Storytelling Collective. It CAN be slid in as a side quest in any urban or sub-urban context, or be adapted to add confusion to any rescue mission you are presently running. Synopsis: Through the doorway a young woman shackled to the wall matching the description of Helena can be seen. Though disheveled and looking to be in great discomfort, her beauty is remarkable. But on closer inspection, there are other people here — three identical Helenas! Noble woman Elize Cleron has hired the party to infiltrate the catacombs under the Schaefer Estate and free her twin sister Helena. Helena is being held captive by the Schaefer family, trade rivals rumored to have ties to the underworld. Elize has been unable to free her sister herself because of her identical appearance. Rather than pay an unrealistic ransom, Elize has provided the party with what they need to break her out. This encounter is intended for 3rd level characters.