Looks can lie as well as words. Magical minotaurs? Mutant giants? Vampires? One or more of these is preying upon the caravans, and you're going to stop them. A band of ogre magi took over an abandoned dwarven stronghold and have started ambushing merchant caravans. Their leader, Krugii, wants to gain enough power to eventually control a kingdom. In his quest for power, he has bonded a young bronze dragon and has accelerated its growth. The ogre mages all have different personalities and different forms that they prefer to polymorph into. The PCs are hired to take a caravan through Deception Pass and protect it against the random monsters that have been marauding lately (actually ogre mages in disguise). After protecting the caravan, the players track the attacks back to the stronghold of the ogre magi and clear it out. Pgs. 40-62
The Sleeper Awakes! At last, after languishing in its crypt for an age, the secrets of the slumbering city of Tsar burst forth in all their macabre glory. Poured forth from the eldritch furnaces and crucibles of the Necromancer and Orcus himself comes Frog God Games bringing you at long last The Slumbering Tsar Saga™. Something Stirs in the City of Evil Over the distant northern hills, beyond The Camp, and past the Desolation stand the pitted walls of Tsar. A hundred armies have crushed themselves against this bulwark in futile attempts to breach the city. Even the combined might of the Heavens and Earth were unable to break through in the final battle of Tsar. So why was the city suddenly abandoned on the verge of victory, and what waits for those foolish enough to enter the Temple-City of Orcus? The Black Gates Await Only the bravest and most powerful of heroes dare the depths of the Desolation and live to tell of it. But what happens when they penetrate that blasted landscape and look upon the gates of the very center of evil on the earth. Can even heroes of such renown breach the Walls of Death and live?
Bring the haunting themes of Edgar Allan Poe to your table! Baronness Elenore Rennet has yet to return home from a masque at Moldavia Manor two nights ago. Can the players find her and uncover the hideous secrets brooding inside the grim estate of Count Moldavia? Masque of the Worms is a 1st-level one-shot originally written for a live playthrough by the Castle Mac crew in the courtyard of the Edgar Allen Poe Museum in Richmond, VA. Check out their fantastic performance on the Castle Mac YouTube channel. This adventure is optimized for the live-streaming, one-shot format, but makes for a spooky and thrilling session at any table. It is sure to make even the bravest hearts shudder!
The Riverlands Kingdom is a peaceful place. Generations ago it was a thriving and rich trading empire. Now it is a sleepy region of farms and a few craftsmen. Dotted with villages and a few towns along the numerous rivers, protected by a wall of rugged mountains, a wild forest and a vast steppe, little of note occurs here from generation to generation. All that is about to be shattered, an ancient evil has arisen and undertakes to bring wrath and destruction to the Riverlands in a pledge to conquer the rivers and kill those who reside between them. The peace is about to be shattered, the harmony destroyed, the balance disturbed.
Veil Down Conquered is a free preview of the full-length adventure KOBOLDS VS. OGRES, coming in 2018! Veil Down is an affluent halfling village known for its vintners and farmers. Recent kobold incursions into the region around Veil Down have forced gangs of monsters closer and closer to civilized land...and this has brought a gang of ogres to the idyllic village! After driving the halflings out, the ogres have attempted to make the best of their situation and turn the village into their new home, but in a village built for halflings, these ogres are going to have a hard time fitting in... This adventure site contains a chapter from the forthcoming adventure Kobolds vs. Ogres, coming in 2018. Fully presented as a standalone site, expanded gameplay content includes a much more in-depth look at the gnome town of Hardbuckler, briefly touched in Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast and Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. Additionally, extensive random encounter tables round out the book, steeped in historical lore from the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, presenting stunning mysteries, interesting sites to explore, and evocative NPCs and monsters. This chapter only begins the trials and tribulations players will face in Kobolds vs. Ogres!
Adventure in a wizard's highly magical tomb. While still in college, Jennell Jaquays, writing as Paul, started The Dungeoneer fanzine. For the first issue, Jaquays wrote F’Chelrak’s Tomb. The pioneering adventure and its successors proved memorable. Looking back at The Dungeoneer, Jaquays said, “It’s the adventures that stand out, and not simply because no one else was doing mini-adventures in 1976. When I read comments about the magazine or talk to fans (old and new), no one talks about the monsters, or the art, or the magic items and rules variants. It’s always the adventures.”
In the fortified city of Port Nyanzaru the situation grows volatile. Reports of mysterious strangers from unknown lands, that are trespassing forbidden holy grounds far within the jungle, have caused great turmoil in the city’s foreign relations with the local tribes. The players must travel through the deadly jungles of Chult towards the ruins of ancient Mezro, and confront an ancient religious sect of gruesome practices, charged with keeping imprisoned the right-hand servant of a Primordial evil- Dendar the Night Serpent. Will the ancient evil be unleashed once more in the world, or will the heroes be victorious? The fate of the world lies on their hands.
Meet the Trollkin… And Drive Them Into the Sea! The trollkin and their shaman have come to a village by the sea, stormed its walls, and taken all the villagers as slaves and property. They have eaten their way through the saltfish, devoured the herd of sheep, and might be planning to eat the PCs next. Then, one escaped villager begs strangers on the road for help… And gives them the chance to shine as true heroes striking down raiders of pure evil. The Raven’s Call is an adventure for 3rd level characters that brings mythic power and a true rescue story for 5th Edition, and introduces locales and NPCs that players will never forget. It offers new monsters and new magic in the unique style of Wolfgang Baur, one of the leading RPG adventure designers.
Sekarvu is a typical beholder. It spent much of its youth exploring underground realms and killing everything it found. One day, it came upon a large cavern filled with violet fungi. At the edge of the cavern, it found a small band of adventurers who had all but succumbed to the toxins of the fungi's tendrils. They offered little resistance to Sekarvu as it approached and began to feed on their still-writhing bodies. With its first bite, the beholder's life changed forever. Pgs. 52-55
The player characters have been invited to compete in the infamous Laureate Trials. The Laureates are a well-known adventuring guild. Once a year, they allow a select group of known adventurers to take part in the Laureate Trials. The prize is becoming an official member of the Laureates, with all the perks and responsibilities that awards. Rumour has it that new initiates will be awarded a coveted Laureate Pin, with special powers of communication. This adventure is a starting module, designed for new players and Game Masters. It should take 1 - 2 hours with a standard group of 4 players. Everything you need to know is contained inside or in the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules. It is ideal for helping a beginning group of heroes get started and giving them a motivation for further adventures. Inside, there are Trials to test Agility, Wits and Combat, plus a special encounter at the end which will determine the fate of a forgotten individual.
A great evil force descended on the town of Phlan years ago. The townspeople were all either killed or driven away, and Phlan became (literally) a ghost town. Fifty years later, the survivors are ready to reclaim their town. But they need a band of strong and brave adventurers to lead the fight-they need you. Ruins of Adventure is a set of connected short adventures written by James Ward, David "Zeb" Cook, Steve Winter and Mike Breault-four names familiar to all AD&D game fans. It uses the same setting, locations and characters as the classic computer game Pool of Radiance by Strategic Simulations, Inc. In fact, many of the scenarios here in Ruins of Adventure will provide important clues to the successful completion of Pool of Radiance. TSR 9238
The night air is chilly, but the crackling fire you've started warms your bones comfortably. Crickets chirp, and you smile up at the stars, glad for the quiet evening. There is a loud roar, and you are blinded momentarily as the campfire suddenly surges up into the air. The flames split down the middle, revealing an abyss that leeches the warmth from your soul. Out of this hellish place stumbles a black-cloaked figure clutching a scythe. Quickly, you reach for your weapons. The strange apparition staggers for a moment. Then, gathering its strength, it pulls back the hood on its cloak. Beneath is a bleached skull with stars for eyes. "I am Azrael, Lord of the Undead," it hisses. "Or rather, I will be Azrael, after time itself has died." Even as Azrael speaks, decay begins to eat away at its body, and the god shudders. Holding one arm up to watch as tiny fissures form in its bones, the deity sighs, "Ah, sweet Entropy, come to claim me at last." It's gaze sweeps back to you. "But no, not just yet. First, I must set events in motion." Weakness begins to overcome Azrael, and it sinks to one knee. "Long ago, I became the most powerful of all the gods, in spite of my enemies' efforts to stop me. Delirious with power, I destroyed the other gods and eventually fell to feasting upon the souls of their worshipers. After devouring every living creature, I consume the planets and, eventually, the stars themselves, until I was left alone, in darkness." The god struggles to finish its message as its bones turn to dust and blow away, "Unexpectedly, I felt remorse for what I had done. I grieved for the universe I had destroyed, but I lack the power to recreate it. So, I have come to you, to beg you to do what I cannot." Azrael reaches into its cloak and produces a leather sack. "Take these items and use them." As Azrael dissolves, it gasps out, "Kill me tonight, or tomorrow will never dawn." All that remains is a pile of dust and a leather bag.
"I was taken by the evil dogs while camping near Agav's bog. They dragged me into their lair, and it wasn't until I escaped that I knew the truth of the place: a great and bony wing buried in the side of a hill. They chained me in the dark with a candle made from foul wax and forced me to dig at the marrow. Their bonds were poorly made, and I fled several days later while they slept. What purpose did they have in mining that marrow? I cannot say..." The Marrow Mines are dug in and around the fossilized wing of an unnamed leviathan. A small pack of kobolds lives and works in the mines, which are heavily trapped. The kobolds defend the area fiercely and patrol the region around the mine. At night, a handful of urds make aerial surveys of the territory. The urds live in the deep reaches of the wing's tips.
Your party approaches a barrow at the base of the mountain. A raging storm brews overhead, and as you approach, a bolt of lightning strikes down on the peak of the mound, lighting up the world all around you. A thunderclap momentarily deafens you, and as your eyes adjust to the resuming grey of the dark day, you see a flicker of firelight emerging from the two gaping holes built into the side of the hill. You’ve found the pirates camping within the Barrow of the Raging Storm. As I delivered it to my players, the premise of this Midnight Sun adventure is that some pirates have been attacking ships returning from raids. They have been stealing the loot and the corpses of any slain Nords. Among their victims, a ship from Valthis returns to tell them that the pirates sailed upriver (to hex 506), where I placed the Barrow in my Shadowdark RPG campaign. The adventurers started from there and explored the dungeon thoroughly. The adventure was created using the tools described in the Shadowdark RPG core rules. I created it in about 6 hours between 2024-03-08 and 2024-03-09 and ran it for my group on the 9th. It took about 2.25 hours to play to completion. The party consisted of two level 1 characters and one level 2 character. I had so much fun making and running this that I will continue creating more Midnight Sun Adventures, so stay tuned!
All Eyes on Chult is a 2–3 session adventure for player characters of 1st level. These characters will rise to 3rd level by the end of the adventure. It takes place in Port Nyanzaru, Chult just after two ships flying black flags enter the port under cover of dark. Though this takes place in locales familiar to players of the Tomb of Annihilation storyline and can be played as a side quest in Port Nyanzaru, it has no relation to the Death Curse nor any other major plot elements of Tomb of Annihilation. Instead, it focuses on two nefarious Faerûnian factions—the Zhentarim and the Xanathar Guild—working together to plunder Chult for their own gain.
Dreams of the sleeping wizard seep into reality. Manifest familiars war over the fate of a remote islet. An infinite garden houses an escaped experiment. The god of purity is fooled for his blessings. Into the nightmare we go. 16 pages contain 3000+ words describing 10+ keyed areas to explore (complete the wandering monsters table), 10+ friends and foes to talk to, 10 magic items to use, and thousands of gold worth of treasure to plunder. The adventure is designed for B/X, or like-systems. It is suitable for 4 to 6 characters of levels 1 to 3. It is heavily inspired by the dungeon synth album The Sleeping Wizard by Umbría, which may serve as a soundtrack.
Sky Stairs of Beldestan is a vampire warlock lair suitable for four characters of 14th level. It can be a lead-in to Citadel of the Void Dragon, or it can be played independently. For as long as any dragon can remember, the stairs of Beldestan have been a site of pilgrimage, a direct route from dusty earth up to the heavens, where enormous creatures soar and carry sacrifices up to the gods. Its base is well known for the efficacy of the invocations offered there, but very few other than the most faithful dare venture up the stairs themselves: enormous eagles, howling winds, and various inimical undead make the stairs a place that few find congenial for long.
All's fair in love and rivalry. Some matches are made in heaven, but not this one. Pgs. 26-36
In this level 3 adventure, the heroes face off against a band of orcs who live on islands in a pool of their orc god's blood. Warpath of Gruumsh is part 2 of the Litany of Arrows adventure path, following up on the platinum-selling Castle of Corellon adventure. This can very easily be run as a standalone adventure. Warpath of Gruumsh contains three versions of each full-color map (untagged, player's map and DM's Map), original artwork, one page of new magic items, and full entries on 6 new monsters, including mithral dragons and blood moon harpies.
The second installment of the Skull and Shackles Pathfinder adventure path. Bound for adventure upon the pirate vessel they've taken as their own, the heroes face a sea of dangers as they chart a course to become true Free Captains of the Shackles. But life as a pirate doesn't prove any easier now that they're in command, as deadly sea monsters, the corpses of drowned scalawags, and raiders from the deep rise to oppose them. When a most unusual map falls into the adventurers' hands, they have the chance to change their fate in a shingle daring raid. Is it the heroes' destiny to be the next victims of the merciless waves, or will fortune smile upon them and spur their rise as the newest and most infamous pirates of the Shackles