Wherein the Heroes learn that the Coils of Love wrap 'round Fiends and Friends alike, and may undertake to aid in a secret Correspondence. Chapter III of the "Well of Worlds" adventure anthology. Pgs. 34-45 TSR 2604
Frog-Emperor Tadpool has led his people to the wonderful warmth of the jungle peninsula, and seeks to be part of the grung village of Dungrunglung. However, he'll need some impressive gifts if the grungs are going to let their poison-less cousins move in. The adventurers will assist the king's aide, Pond-Dredger, in completing these tasks. This adventure should take approximately two hours and is designed for a party of four players, ranging from levels 3-5. Jungle Politics is a short, lighthearted module that can help facilitate the player's introduction to Dungrunglung. If aided, the bullywugs can translate the grung language to common, an invaluable asset when dealing with a race that speaks only one language and who are known for poor tempers.
As iron is eaten away by rust, so the envious are consumed by their own passion. — Antisthenes The destruction of Cyre and creation of the Mournland marked the end of The Last War. Since then, a towering wall of mystic fog has covered what used to be the nation of Cyre. Those who have ventured inside and made it out have spoken of unusual beasts, wild warforged, and other strange occurences. Most stay away. Others dedicate their lives to plundering the mysteries beyond the veil. House Cannith is the House of Making and, despite being split over the destruction of their homeland, they are still very adamant about keeping their monopoly over arcane creations and are very suspicious of anything coming out of the Mournland. Recently, rumours reached the heads of the Cannith South enclave that some scavengers working for the Daask organisation actually captured living spells from inside the Mournland and brought them back to Sharn for study, taming, and who knows what else. Now Cannith employs independent contractors to enter the secret lab, and destroy the research and its future. Another group will hunt down the actual scavengers and eliminate the spells themselves. This adventure takes place in Sharn, the City of Towers, some time before the formation of the independent adventurers organisation by 'The Twelve'. It is an infiltration mission in hostile territory which includes some investigation, maybe a bit of socialising, and some quick dungeon-crawl elements. It is designed for multiple possible endings. In my mind, this adventure is E for Everyone and doesn't contain anything dark, NSFW, or triggering beyond any other standard D&D adventure.
It's a horrible time to have a curse! Each wielding a powerful item to a family legacy, your players are a group of young adventurers who barely survive an attack on their order of vampire-hunters by agents of Dracula. After escaping, they discover Dracula has placed a curse upon the land which makes restful sleep difficult outside of hallowed areas. Dracula, "alive" on another plane but dead on this one, must be resurrected so they can kill him, end the curse, and avenge their dead. To accomplish this goal, the player characters must journey through forest, marsh, hill, and underground paths to retrieve relics of Dracula's last life from keeps and fortresses overrun by monsters and the undead. If they can resurrect him, he will be weak and easy to kill... but the adventurers aren't the only ones who want Dracula on the Material Plane, and Dracula is not the only vampire in the world. Gameplay overview This adventure takes the players from 2nd through 9th or 10th level on a milestone basis as they choose where to travel in what order to retrieve what they need. Starting at a happy gathering at the Belmonte Order, which the characters are hereditary members of, the campaign kicks off with a bang as the group retrieves their chosen legacy items, salvages what other gear they can in a race against time and a growing number of foes, and then escapes to begin their quest. In addition to the six main "dungeons," there are two optional regional lairs, traveling vampires, and many foes along the way. Most of the towns in the area have managed to survive, providing points of light at which the party may stop, long rest safely, acquire supplies, and socialize. Travel is hazardous! 5e classes are balanced for resource management across a 5-8 encounter adventuring day. The campaign is designed to have a semi-variable flow of encounters as the party traels around the area. Encounters grow progressively more difficult as time passes and the party spends more time within a region. These are not random encounters rolled on a table, but encounters designed to be unique to each area's geography, combat terrain, and mix of foes. As the party spends more time in a region or revisits it, the encounter difficulty increases. Dracula's curse requires a Constitution saving throw to successfully long rest outside of Hallowed areas (towns). The difficulty scales up over time, forcing the party to balance speed and safety as they try to accomplish their goals without pushing beyond the limits of what they can handle. The game concept, general map layout, and some enemy distributions are loosely inspired by Castlevania II for the NES, one of the forerunners of the "Metroidvania" genre. Dracula's Curse is indeed a game in which the forests are dark and full of monsters, and every night is a horrible one to have a curse. Includes 15 Legacy items, from weapons like whips and swords to a shield, a belt, or a decanter of holy water 60+ enemy statblocks 8 unique dungeons with unique layouts & challenges 5 inhabited towns with multiple named NPCs 100+ travel encounters (expect to use 30-50%) The module is printer-friendly with no artwork and straightforward grid maps for location-based encounters which require one.
Mykon Drift, genius inventor and entrepreneur, has disappeared on the eve of his greatest ever product launch, and nobody seems to know why or where he’s gone. Certain jaded onlookers might think this is for the best, for Drift is a disrupter in the truest sense, and the technomantic marvels he creates often wreak havoc on the guilds and economies of the Sword Coast. But titans of industry like Mykon Drift don’t just disappear for no reason, and his most loyal apprentice is willing to pay to find him. Unfortunately, that apprentice isn’t willing to pay very well, so what they get is the Grib-bits Detective Agency. "The Gribbits Detective Agency Part II" is a Dungeons & Dragons adventure for four 2nd-level characters. It is designed to follow on from "The Gribbits Detective Agency", and should be played in a single sitting.
"Auranorex, the greatest gold dragon in the world, is dead and his kin are looking for answers. To uncover the mystery of his demise, the heroes must travel to the one place forbidden to all mortals: the dragon graveyard. Guardians of Dragonfall is a mid-level adventure written by Anson Caralya that has the players investigating the untimely death of a dragon. Violating the dragon graveyard is a death sentence and the heroes must risk their very life if they are to uncover the secret behind Auranorex’s fate."
Not every journey follows a simple road, and some groups find themselves needing to take the path entirely untraveled to reach their next destination. There are rumors of a treasure deep within the forest, but no one has made it out alive to recount their tales. Compelled by the prospect of a quick journey and the chance of treasure, the party decides to risk a journey through the forest. Little do they know that their chosen route is ruled by a trio of lilitu, who are eager to play with the new toys walking willingly into their grasp. Wits, wiles, and wind hide in the forest, and the lilitu are eager for amusement. This adventure is intended for 5th level characters but can be scaled up or down. It is setting-neutral, and can fit into any published or homebrew location. This is intended as a puzzle-based adventure but could be used as a combat encounter. Pgs. 129-135
Baron Ketterall’s lands are beset by a plague of marauding goblins! Goblins you say? Pah! Who's afraid of few poxy goblins? But two experienced parties have already gone looking for the goblin lair – never to be heard of again. Poxy goblins you say? Be afraid, be very afraid… The scenario is designed to be an extremely challenging adventure that might undermine a player’s bravado in dealing with low-level monsters such as goblins. Unusual traps, tricks and special weapons are used by the inhabitants of the dungeon to cause the party as much trouble as possible. Published by Dunromin University Press.
A hundred miles off the Chelish coast lies the remote island of Deepmar, where the House of Thrune sends prisoners to work in crystal mines, wresting valuable spell components from the depths of the earth. A month ago, all contact with the penal colony ceased, and now someone must discover what mysterious fate has befallen the prisoners and guards of this isolated mining operation.
Beneath the roots of a silver elm, there lies a sidereal prison… Vaz’kin’rai is a one-session adventure for the 5th Edition of the world’s most popular roleplaying game, which sees 1st level heroes venture beneath the village of Dur to uncover the secrets of a mysterious cosmic vault. What will the heroes find within? And what price might they pay for uncovering it? Featuring: Two bespoke creature statblocks, including a Paragon Creature! Four new magic items! Five premade characters suitable for playing through Vaz’kin’rai! A host of original artwork by Izzy Collins, Emma Durno, and Robin Baxter! A fully supported hook, as well as suggestions for others and how to develop the storylines and themes the adventure introduces into a larger game! A selection of free companion Sonoria – audio ambiences and sound effects you can use to bring the adventure to life sonically! Vaz’kin’rai comes embedded in an original campaign setting, but is self-contained enough that it can be sited easily in most other campaign settings with minimal effort. A selection of deities and lineage origins are also provided in the appendices to help fit characters within Vaz’kin’rai’s setting as presented. Go forth, and see what lurks within the vault of Vaz’kin’rai… Published by Animancer
For decades, the city of Chala, nestled on the banks of the Leal River, boasted a prosperous fishing business. The community's life revolved around the wide, slowly rolling river that meandered miles northward into the Blackweed Swamp Now the city faces misfortune, pestilence, and decay, because the sacred Tefnut statue has been stolen. All clues suggest that the sacred object was carried into the heart of nearby Blackweed Swamp. But who, or what, would commit such a crime? Whoever is responsible, the statue must be recovered, at any cost. TSR 9424
What began as a subtle sickness has now spread into a full-blown contagion of magical origins around Roslof Keep! Although protected from the outbreak by their Mithel Standard, the Company of the Ivory Scimitar is now challenged with not only continuing their quest to defeat the Dungeon but also saving the town that they have grown to love. With unlikely allies forming from the other Mithel Companies, as well as unforeseen help within the labyrinth itself, the Ivory Scimitar must now take on the perilous task of curing the Violet Corruption while trying to discern the nature of its cause from somewhere deep within Mithelvanr's mad dungeon of self-propagating monstrosities! This adventure is formatted to both 1E & 5E gaming rules. Also available in PDF.
A flock of kenku bandits have discovered the ruined remains of a temple site, and have used it as their hideout while they raid unsuspecting travelers on nearby roads. It's up to the PCs to clear their nest, recover stolen goods, and rescue their hostages. Will the players be bested by these dirty birds? Or will they have the bandits eating crow?
This is the laboratory of High Alchemist Sureves Epans. He led a group of alchemists in research for many years, but recently there was a bit of a mishap. He discovered his wife was cheating on him with one of his employees and while in a drunken stupor trying to create a discreet potion to deal with the two of them, he let loose an infectious plague on the lab which turned all but a lucky few in the facility into shambling husks of their former selves., fused with their own creations as their minds turned to know but one thought - rage. This dungeon has rules to modify all encounters for a group of players levels 4 through 6 and is intended for a party of four. If you have more players, feel free to adjust the difficulty up one level for each additional player or simply tune the monsters to your needs. This dungeon contains many original enemies, a unique puzzle, and an environment that is meant to bring a sense of terror and anxiety on your players. I consider this to be the Horror-themed adventure of the module so feel free to add some creepy music and extra details along the way to bring the area to life (or death).
The king summons the heroes to investigate the death of a knight, and the final fate of the king's long-missing son. The knight and his entire order was killed by a Dragon! Yay we get to fight a dragon in the first issue of Dungeon Magazine! Much travel over many different terrain types featuring avalanches, volcanoes spewing lava, and many random encounters (not detailed here) before the heroes reach their real goal: A lake with a ruined wizard's tower and dragon's cave. Opens with a particularly byzantine Background section for the DM involving a prince you never meet, pirates you never meet, knights you never meet, and deep gnomes you never meet. See Out of the Ashes in Dungeon #17 for sequel to this adventure. Pgs. 42-60
The Walled City of Vandosia sits on the bay and is surrounded on three sides by water. One of the more interesting features of this city is its massive sewer system that keeps water and waste flowing out of the city. Rumors have it that these tunnels are home to special problems of its own. Are your players ready to brave the gritty underside of Vandosia?
The adventurers travel across Serpent Lake with a group of Rybalkan soldiers. The group camps for the night adjacent to the ruins of Ka’Teek. As they sleep a goblin steals a precious keepsake from one of the PCs and disappears into the ruins. The party pursues and finds themselves confronting undead guardians of the Sun Lord while avoiding dangerous traps. Will the PCs find the goblin and retrieve their precious keepsake or stumble upon something much more sinister?
A "Fast Play" introductory adventure to Dungeons & Dragons. Rather than requiring a d20, it is written for 3d6, and is meants specifically to teach new players how to play the game. The story is a simple dungeon crawl: players enter a small cave system to investigate an orc attack. After defeating a few orcs, they find an ogre's den, and must fight the ogre.
Something is killing people in Palebank Village, and if the party does not stop it they could be next.
Far from the nearest town, hidden deep in the forest, lies a marshy, boggy valley. Woodsmen and hunters shun the place—kept away by rumours of a terrible beast lairing within and of a ghost haunting the valley’s boggy mere. But, as well as great danger, treasures magical and mundane may yet lie unclaimed in the valley for three unexplored tombs built by ancient hands, stand amid the mud and reeds. Dare you explore the Shunned Valley of the Three Tombs?