The Curse of the Ashen Sanctum

Atop a craggy rock overlooking the merciless sea sits a small manor, built from those same stones, lost to time. No one is certain of exactly what caused the fall of this mighty house and its liege-lord generations ago, but many believe it was his greed that caused his downfall. Today, that same greed often attracts sellswords and adventurers to attempt to plunder its riches, but the craggy mountain makes it impossible for all but the most determined. Today, tales told in the taverns within the shadow of the mountain say the old manor is haunted by shades and restless undead, led by the cursed count. Locals call it the Ashen Sanctum.

While drinking and listening to their tall tales, you hear the humans of the village mention the Ashen Sanctum, the terrible crags, and even a fairy glade that once was said to occupy the top of the mountain with the old manse. Tales of capricious fey stealing children in the night are as common as those about the sinister count whom they say can never rest until he completes his macabre “collection” of terrible trophies, so vile no man can speak of them.

This adventure is compatible with OSR products such as AD&D, B/X D&D, Shadowdark, Knave, White Box, Swords and Wizardry, and more. It is designed for a group of 4th level characters with suggestions on how to increase or decrease difficulty depending on the number of players you have. The adventure is a pure dungeoncrawl and is only one level. My personal preference are short dungeons you can complete in a single session, and that's what this one is.

Comes with map as separate download!

 

 

The Lost Treasure of Khalad-Modrir, An OSR Adventure for 3rd level Characters

The Lost Treasure of Khalad-Modrir

This adventure is compatible with OSR products such as AD&D, B/X D&D, Shadowdark, Knave, White Box, Swords and Wizardry, and more. It is designed for a group of 3rd level characters with suggestions on how to increase or decrease difficulty depending on the number of players you have. The adventure is a pure dungeoncrawl and is only one level. My personal preference are short dungeons you can complete in a single session, and that's what this one is.

Comes with map as separate download! Get it here!

The Story So Far...

Hundreds of years ago, the local clan of dwarves and the human settlement above them worked out a lasting alliance and partnership. To celebrate their friendship, they built this structure, called "Khalad-Modrir." It was a complex of art and architecture meant to celebrate the unity of the groups and provide a public space for people to meet, trade, and hold festivals. 

Like so many good things, it was not to last, and the fickleness of humankind - due to their short lifespans - meant that eventually a generation arose that did not appreciate the friendship of their ancestors. The relationship grew cold, and Khalad-Modrir began to suffer from neglect. Nevertheless, the humans still used it as a trading center for many decades afterwards, even as the columns overran with ivy and the unmaintained works of art began to crumble.

About 75 years ago, however, dark elves from a nearby underworld entrance raided this site, slaying scores of innocent humans in their fury. They tried to plunder the site, but the dwarves had built securities into that struck back unexpectedly, and in their haste the drow left much behind. The drow managed to deface it and fled into their caves once again. After that, the complex fell rapidly into total ruin, and its outer courts became haunts for bandits and brigands - though they were not brave or foolish enough to venture inside the complex.

Recently though, even those riff-raff have disappeared due to the rapid appearance of orcs in the region. The orcs have no interest in this place, and give it a wide berth due to superstitions they hold, but their presence keeps curiosity seekers away.

Taverns are din with the tales of treasures still hidden at the site, though, and some have dared to investigate, only to meet their end at the edge of an orc's axe. 

 

 

The Secret of Ulfgar Castle: An OSR Adventure for 7th level Characters

This adventure is compatible with OSR products such as B/X, Shadowdark, Knave, White Box, Swords and Wizardry, and more. It is designed for a small group of 7th level characters with suggestions on how to increase or decrease difficulty depending on the number of players you have. The adventure is a pure dungeon-crawl and is THREE levels.

Comes with maps as separate downloads!

The Story So Far...

Under mysterious circumstances, you and your comrades meet the infamous bandit Arcus Ulfgar. Arcus explains that he is more than some mercenary - he is the last surviving heir of house Ulfgar of Rathwood. He explains that his house was once a great barony in this region but fell into ruin around 200 years ago. No one is sure what really happened, but rumors abound of a curse. At any rate, Arcus admits the family castle is now a haunted ruin full of monsters and death. While he is a bold mercenary, he keeps to killing men, and is “no monster hunter.” Arcus says that somewhere within the castle is a register that proves he is heir to the barony. Arcus makes the following proposal - if you can rid the castle of whatever curse defiles it and retrieve the register proving Arcus is the heir - he will handsomely reward them from his bountiful loot he’s earned as a mercenary and brigand. Additionally, the PCs are free to loot the castle and take any valuables they can carry off with them. Finally, once Arcus is installed as baron, they will have his favor - which could be of great use. Arcus marks your map to show the location of his family's estate, and wishes you luck. 

Get it here! 

Alternative Thief Skills for OSE and Dolmenwood

Many attempts have been made over the decades to "fix" the BX Thief, widely criticized for being the only class that's actually terrible at what it does. I won't go into details here, plenty of people have done so, and there are many options out there for the thief if you desire them. I present only one option here that I came up with.

First, I want to say that I have long believed the "saving throw matrix" of BX, OSE, and Dolmenwood (and other clones) go far underutilized. This set of target numbers could be used for all sorts of things, and yet it seems no one has thought beyond using them for their original purposes.

This "thief fix" aims to use the saving throws as the target numbers for thief skills. This allows all classes to attempt thief skills, something that also is criticized widely (why can't a fighter try to hide?). The major difference is that the thief gains advantage on their skill checks. 

For the uninitiated, advantage is a popular mechanic where you throw the die or dice twice and take the better of the results. Thus, a thief making a Stealth check would throw 2d20 and take the better of those rolls. 

This gives the thief a large advantage over the other classes in "thief skills" but still allows the other classes to attempt them at some chance of success. Thanks to the variation in the saving throws, it also adds a neat twist that some classes are better than others at certain skills. For example, in this method, a Fighter is slightly better than others at climbing and a Cleric is slightly better at delicate tasks like picking locks. The magic-user, by contrast, is not very good at any of them.

Below is the chart. I had to make it an image thanks to this platform's formatting limitations.