When wizards go to war, it is the common folk who suffer most. But when an aging assassin-turned-innkeeper is also caught in the crossfire, heroes are needed to prevent an all-out massacre. Can the characters negotiate a truce among the opposing factions, or will the stand-off at the Maiden’s Inn end in tragedy?A mini-dungeon adventure for 5 characters of 8th level.
AAW Games just released Hulk of Horrors, my sci-fi, mini-dungeon homage to Tomb of Horrors. You can pick it up now on adventureaweek.com or DriveThru RPG.
Four-armed gargoyles…in SPAAACE!
On their way to another adventure, the adventurers chance upon a serpentfolk war hulk adrift on the Astral Sea. Such hulks are powered by phylactery drives: engines that harness the essence of a disembodied lich to propel the hulk across the multiverse. Discovering a hulk that has been abandoned—as this one appears to be—is either a stroke of incredible luck or a sign of ill fortune.
Unbeknownst to the party, this war hulk’s phylactery drive contains not just any lich, but a legendary sorcerer king of old. Recently, the lich discovered a way to wrest control of the hulk from his captors. The lich now awaits a band of unwitting adventurers to release him from his prison.
Today, EN Publishing launched their Kickstarter for One-Page Adventures, a collection of 25 standalone adventures for D&D 5th Edition. The adventures are adapted from longer scenarios previously published by EN Publishing, but each one has been distilled into a no-nonsense, one-page format.
Three of the adventures are based on mini-adventures I wrote for EN Publishing’s EN5ider:
Thump Thump Thump! A bunch of insane duergar seek to awaken an ancient monster, and to do it they’ve built a big machine which THUMPS the ground to rouse it from its slumber. Can the PCs defeat the duergar, destroy the machine, and save the village?
Ghosts in the Graveyard. What happens when a graverobber dies? He’s buried alongside his many victims! In this one-page adventure for 5th level characters, the PCs must recover the graverobber’s ill-gotten gains and return them to their rightful tombs. But the graverobber won’t let his treasures go easily, even if he’s dead!
The Devil’s Maze. The powerful mage NERZIKON THE TRAVELLER constructed his sanctum (the Devil’s Maze) long ago, and as his legend faded into history so too did knowledge of his personal nexus of planar byways. When next the adventurers need to travel to another world, you’ll be prepared with an engaging dungeon to lead them there!
I don’t have any connection to this campaign (other than writing these three adventures), so I can’t make any promises as to fulfillment. But EN Publishing’s history with Kickstarter so far has been impeccable. They usually release digital rewards within minutes of the campaign’s end and order print runs as soon as the Kickstarter funds clear. As I write this, the campaign is over 800% funded, with 21 days still to go. Be sure to check it out!
My mini-adventure Devils in the Details is issue number #376 of EN World’s EN5ider. I have to say I’m really proud of this one. Designing an adventure focused on exploration and/or roleplaying can be tricky, but I’m delighted with how Devils turned out. And the art couldn’t be better!
Devils in the Details
Ifeeri Coffin spent her youth in the shadow of her mother, the infamous diabolist Mephidra. So when Ifeeri inherits her deceased mother’s curio shop, she hires the party to inspect the shop before its grand reopening. Among the curios, the characters discover a contract stating that unless Mephidra’s soul is delivered to her infernal patron, Ifeeri’s soul will be taken in its place. To save their employer from eternal damnation, the heroes must find Mephidra’s hell-bound soul before the archdevil’s minions arrive to collect their debt!
You had me at the upside-down man-bat! Check out Blood Exile, my latest Mini-Dungeon from AAW Games. Available now at adventureaweek.com or DriveThruRPG.
Deep in the Underworld lies Gor’Hashad, a city ruled by a race of bat-like, living vampires known as the ahool. Though savage hunters by nature, the ahool of Gor’Hashad have adopted a more settled way of life, trading mosscraft with their neighbors, rearing herds of Underworld boars, and relying on indentured blood servants to slake their unending thirst.
After killing another ahool’s blood servant, Tor’olog and his underlings were forced to flee Gor’Hashad for the surface world. The exiles took refuge in a cave system near a little-used trade road, and for years ambushed the occasional humanoid traveler for their sustenance.
More recently, a caravan of dwarven merchants unwittingly made camp near the entrance to Tor’olog’s caves. When the ahools discovered the caravan, they ambushed the merchants before the dwarves could mount a defense.
A local tavern owner hires the heroes to track down the missing caravan, which was scheduled to deliver a shipment of ale nearly two weeks ago. The adventure begins as the party discovers the dwarves’ campsite, located just outside Tor’olog’s caves.
NIZNOC SPEAKS!