Captured! While trekking across a trackless wasteland, your stalwart band has fallen into the clutches of a nefarious gang of desert raiders. Imprisoned in a subterranean chamber, you are bereft of all of your equipment and magic items, save for a few tattered loincloths. But as chance would have it, an opportunity to escape the cell presents itself. To escape, you must head deeper into an ancient sealed tomb, armed with nothing but your wits and anything you can find along the way. Getting to the surface is just one of many challenges, as you still need to recover your precious equipment, and flee the Lost Oasis, which is surrounded by an inhospitable sea of solid glass!
Murder! Ripples of shock pour through the wee hours of the sleepy fishing shanty of Port Scuttle. An innocent young fishmonger, beloved by the locals, has been brutally murdered in her own shop. Stunned by the grisly act, the typically hardened townsfolk turn to powerful heroes to investigate the gruesome deed. Could the fishmonger’s recent discovery of a massive black pearl be a possible motive? The heroes’ goal is to not only bring the perpetrator to justice, but determine the twisted purpose behind the ghastly act. Concerned townsfolk decry that the evildoer must hang for his or her despicable crime. Yet when the heroes finally track down the murderer, he is already dead by the noose, and the investigation has truly only begun. Clues hint at even darker designs, as an ancient evil stirs to reclaim a once lost malevolent relic. Tackle the challenge of solving the despicable murder of an innocent, and thwarting the diabolical schemes of a powerful brine vampire. Th e adventure is set in and around a small fishing port located on the windswept craggy cliffs of an ocean. The author draws on two inspirations for this adventure: The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, and an unnamed adventure plot by the author’s astonishing wife, Lisa.
The adventurers have been summoned to a mysterious black tower made of glass. They are given a simple mission: protect the mage’s estate while he is distracted weaving a mighty spell. Surviving the five days of his spellcasting requires quick wits and sharp blades, for the estate has mischievous guests and strange visitors. In the end, the mage demands one final task: stand by his side as he binds a great horror from beyond!
It has been years since the last virgin was sacrificed: and now the pit beast awakens once more! Every generation it stumbles forth on undulating tentacles from its resting place deep below the great ravine, its towering blubbery mass ravaging the land before returning to slumber for decades. But this time is different. The Great Beast strikes with intelligence: bands of faceless gray-robed men emerge from the tenebrous depths, herding the beast’s roaming tentacles before them. The enigmatic people of the pit live despite the passage of ages! The earth shakes each night as they herd the primordial tentacles ever further, while the villagers ask: is any man brave enough to put the sword to this menace?
Devilish sorcery and ancient steel merge in the form of a reborn menace rising in the wild hills on civilization's verge. As the badlands burn with wildfire, an arcane warlord gathers his monstrous troops under his tattered banner. He is rumored to be immortal, and it will take tremendous bravery, immense cunning, and more than a little luck for stalwart adventurers to end his campaign of malice. Can your mighty heroes locate the War-lock's one weakness before his forces drown the realm in blood and fire?
Thirteen generations ago, the ambitious first Duke of Magnussen made a fell pact with an unknown power, who asked for but one thing in return: the thirteenth daughter born to a Magnussen duke. Now, generations hence, the daughter of Duke Magnussen XIII is stolen away by a hooded executioner riding a leathery beast. As it wings back across the city walls to drop behind the Duke’s mountain-top keep, all who watch know it alights in the Magnussen family crypts, where the devilish secrets of thirteen generations have been buried and forgotten – until now… This adventure module also includes The Balance Blade, a short level 2 adventure in which a wizard’s patron makes a simple request: travel to another plane to retrieve a legendary blade of neutrality. But once the journey is in motion, the wizard finds that not all is as it seems!
At the end of a forgotten back alley, in the weird and otherworldly marketplace of faiths known as the Bazaar of the Gods, stands the ruins of a forgotten chapel. Once the cult of the Carnifex was celebrated throughout the City of a Thousand Gates. But a band of holy warriors rose against the cult of executioners and torturers, casting down her signs and scattering her devotees to the winds. The fate of the cthonic goddess, and – more importantly – her fabled jewels remains a mystery…until this night. Set amid the sprawling decadence of Punjar, Jewels of the Carnifex offers low-level adventurers a chance to plumb the mysteries beneath the city’s soiled streets, explore forgotten crypts lavished with weird artifacts, and – for the quick and daring – claim the lost Jewels of the Carnifex!
Beneath the crumbling walls of a keep lies an unexplored warren of caverns stretching into unknown darkness. Within the depths, an ancient evil stirs and grows hungry. Forgotten horrors, once relegated to legend, are on the move – with only your band of heroes between them and their goal. What begins as simple exploration rapidly becomes a struggle against denizens of the underworld, and the very environs of underworld itself. Through crumbling caverns and against long-trapped foes, the party is confronted with a threat that places the future of the surface world in jeopardy. Your heroes must act quickly to secure the world, or face the consequences of their failure to halt the advance of the denizens of The Forgotten Hive.
The Characters come across an ancient wizard's tower. The nearby keep has been reduced to rubble over the ages, but the tower is in perfect condition. It is surrounded by an impenetrable force field that cannot be breached - not even by the ghost of the long-dead wizard, who has been trapped within for centuries. Surely there must be great treasure within this magical abode. But how to get to it?
Once every decade, the tides of the Empyrean Ocean recede far enough to reveal the highest eaves of a mysterious undersea tower. Long ago this was an eldritch fastness of Sezrekan the Elder, the most wicked wizard ever to plague the Known World, but now the tower is known simply as the final resting place of the fabled Black Pearl – an artifact rumored to bring doom upon all who dare to posses it. Tonight the moon nearly fills the sky, and the tides have already begun to recede. Adventurers have eight short hours to explore the tower before the dark waters return. The fabled Black Pearl will be theirs for the taking…if they can survive the Pearl’s curse.
Heroes and blackguards of every stripe will find peril on the Purple Planet, but none more than 0-level PCs. Cast across the cosmos, surrounded by hordes of baying man-beasts, and marched into mass gladiatorial combat, the PCs' death waits with bated breath. Their sole hope for escape lies – not in pitched combat against endless hordes – but by braving the unknown and pressing into the darkness beneath the Purple Planet.
The Borderlands. An untamed wild region far flung from the comforts and protection of civilization. A lone fortified Keep is the only bastion of Good desperately striving to maintain the forces of Chaos at bay. But Evil is everywhere, lurking in dark caves, fetid swamps, forlorn forests. Bands of cutthroat brigands and ruthless tribes of humanoids eager to clash with the forces of Food rove the region. The Borderlands hold many secret wondrous locations, and opportunities for fame, prestige, and fortune are plentiful. But equally abundant are the perils, risks, and challenges to those brave enough to explore the wilds. Sharpen your swords and axes. Purchase your iron rations and tinderboxes. And Don't forget at least one 10-foot pole. Adventure awaits those with the mettle to confront Chaos in the Borderlands!
In this adventure, the coastal village of Fair Haven needs the characters’ help. For decades, Fair Haven has relied upon its lighthouse to guide merchant vessels into port. But on a recent stormy night, the lighthouse suddenly failed. The trading ship Nymph’s Kiss was dashed on the rocks, and smugglers have already raided the wreck. Somebody has to restore the lighthouse, but the locals are afraid to go near because it shows all the signs of being haunted. Yet there might be more to the story, since there’s something living in the sea caves below…
The mad wizard Emirikol is terrifying the city! Striking without reason and sending his winged apes to slaughter the populace, the famous archmage has gone too far. Now a coffer of jewels is offered to those who would dare defeat him. The ever-changing walls of his Shifting Tower are guarded by a host of diabolical traps, fiendish guardians, and unimaginable terror. Will your adventurers come out victorious…or lose their very souls in the attempt?
Lady Elisabeth Pendour beseeches the heroes for their help. They must recover a key that was on her husband’s body when he perished trying to clear an ancient tower. The tower was once a coastal fortress, but now it lies in ruins, occupied by black-feathered rook harpies who worship a foul carrion crow demon. Lord Pendour sought to free his subjects from fear by clearing the rampaging rooks from their nests. But he failed, and unless the heroes can recover his body, the crow god will come for his wife, too…
Ten thousand flawless killers surround the city. Utterly silent in battle and in death, they seem unconquerable. They mean to choke the life out of the age-old city and leave it an empty ruin. The city calls upon its heroes to defeat this unnatural menace. The heroes gather to ponder the question: how do you defeat an impregnable foe? And then a wizard from a far-off world whisks the heroes away to fight battle of a very different sort, leaving them with a strange neon pink glow around their eyes… Note: This adventure can be used setting neutral or as a means to enter the "Purple Planet" DCC setting.
Discovering a once-hidden passage in the Purple Planet’s Ancestor Peaks, the PCs enter the tomb of the Immortal Kahl. The party must survive deadly chambers fraught with alien life and technologies while unraveling the tomb’s mysteries. Ultimately, the party faces a choice unlike any encountered before, and a reward which will change them forever.
Since time immemorial, you and your people have toiled in the shadow of the cyclopean ruins. Of mysterious origins and the source of many a superstition, they have always been considered a secret best left unknown by folk of your hamlet. But now something stirs beneath the crumbling blocks. Beastmen howl in the night and your fellow villagers are snatched from their beds. With no heroes to defend you, who will rise to stand against the encircling darkness? The secret of Chaos are yours to unearth but at what cost to sanity or soul? An introductory adventure for the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game, Sailors on the Starless Sea pits a mob of 0-level adventurers against legacy of the Chaos Lords and their corrupted hordes. Delving beneath the crumbling ruins, the characters discover ancient crypts, a starless sea, and an ancient ziggurat, where death and treasure await in equal measure!
An Adventure for 0-Level Characters Remember the good old days, when adventures were underground, NPCs were there to be killed, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragon on the 20th level? Those days are back. Dungeon Crawl Classics don’t waste your time with long-winded speeches, weird campaign settings, or NPCs who aren’t meant to be killed. Each adventure is 100% good, solid dungeon crawl, with the monsters you know, the traps you fear, and the secret doors you know are there somewhere. For the past few years, an ogre that lairs in a cave near the wilderness town of Dundraville has demanded tributes of ale and supplies. The villagers were happy to comply, lest the brute attack them or destroy their property. But recently, the ogre changed his demands. Now he wants gold, building supplies — and captives! When the ogre walked into town only to have his request denied, he flew into a rage. The brute dragged two townsfolk off to his cave, to be eaten for sure! The villagers have no heroes to protect them — so someone must rise to the challenge! Six determined townsfolk have taken justice into their own hands. Can these village commoners defeat the ogre in his own lair before their fellows are eaten?
Many centuries ago, a band of paladins fell from grace. These blackguards were defeated after a great battle and their grim fortress, the Iron Tower, was razed. A small abbey was established near the ruins, where generations of monks mixed ancient eldritch wards, mighty clockwork traps, and multiple fail safes to build the Iron Crypt of the Heretics. Three mighty vaults ensured that its evils would be sealed for all eternity. But unbeknownst to the brotherhood, their impregnable crypt had a single weakness: the very monks that had built it, for they knew its secrets. When a devourer stole into their abbey, the profane beast forced the monks to help it inside the Iron Crypt. It successfully broke into the first of three vaults, releasing an army of wights. The story of the devourer and his wight army is told in Dungeon Crawl Classics #12: The Blackguard’s Revenge. Now, in the Iron Crypt of the Heretics, the heroes must venture into a crypt designed by the world’s greatest thieves, magicians, and seers, solve its puzzles and deadly traps, and seal it once more from the outside world.