The Chateau of the Bloody Baron (Levels 4-5)

 

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-5th 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 Story So Far...

The PCs will find a book or missive during one of their adventures that reads as follows:

“As the decades passed, people began to question the Baron’s inexplicable youthful appearance. He never seemed to age beyond his thirties despite the fact many of his peerage had since died of old age. Additionally, complaints from the peasantry, normally ignored, began to paint a grim picture. Youths, numbering in the hundreds, had gone missing over the past few decades. Youths are foolish, and the lives of peasants are cheap to the nobility, but the sheer number was alarming. When the king ordered an investigation of the Baron’s estate, the horrific truth was laid bare. The baron enticed youths to his estate with false promises, where he slew and devoured them to sustain his unlife. Fearful of the truth causing a panic or worse, a revolt, the matter was buried along with the baron. He was sealed in his manor, essentially buried alive, and the estate in which these fell deeds took place fell into ruin and was forgotten. The region quickly overgrew with dark and twisted trees and choking vines, such that the manor itself, a forgotten monument to barbarism, was concealed within them. The knights who sealed the baron in his home removed much of his fortune to distribute to the grieving families of the lost youths, partly in a hope to silence them, but rumors maintain that more of the baron’s wealth was buried with him along with the countless remains of those who bore witness to the baron’s monstrous appetites.” 

The document contains a map leading to the estate and manor.

 

The Library of Nyx (Level 3)

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!

The Story So Far...

A member of the local community is cursed. Over the course of a few days, this person has been transformed into a donkey. While they were partially human, they admitted to finding a magical door to the fabled Library of Nyx, from whence they stole a dazzling circlet made of platinum and set with glittering gemstones of unknown origins. They believed the sale of such a crown would bring them a fortune.

A local priest has communed with the divine to ascertain how to break the curse. The circlet is actually the crown of a long lost faerie queen and is considered sacred, being safely stored in the Library’s vaults. If the crown is restored to its resting place in the vault, the curse will be lifted. The priest says the church is not thrilled that it failed to protect one of its congregants from the malicious fey and is willing to reward heroes who break the curse with an elixir of longevity. The wife of the poor accursed donkey is also willing to add 100 gold pieces to the reward for the restoration of her husband. Finally, the priest adds, the adventurers may find many valuable items within the Library too.

The priest says the church has long been aware of a child’s rhyme that reveals the secret of entering the faerie Library but has kept it a secret to protect the populace. He reveals that riddle to you, hands you a piece of chalk, and directs you to an ancient standing stone just a few miles outside town, where you must enter the Library.

● Once upon yon Bedrel’s Stone do ye knock
● Then draw your door upon the rock
● Knock thrice again to open the way
● But return to the door ere end of day
● Or among the books you'll always stay

Get your copy today!

 

The Lost Archives of Thanaduum (Level 4)

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 Story So Far...

For weeks now, you’ve been searching for a piece of lost lore. You’ve had countless conversations in seedy taverns, chased down red herrings, and ran into endless dead ends. Now, at last, you have a promising lead. Sinking into some forgotten peat bog is the stone door to a magnificent archive - a remnant of a long lost civilization. You believed it to be another dead end, but here you now sit with both the key and a map to the door’s location. Maybe it is just another red herring - or maybe it holds the answers you seek.

Get a copy today!  

 

The Curse of the Ashen Sanctum (Level 4)

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. 

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 (Level 3)

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 (Level 7)

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.