Campaign Seeds v1.0

(1)

(2)

Campaign Seeds

From Zero to Killer Campaign Concept

Seeds written by Roleplaying Tips readers Collated and edited by

Robert “Gem Cutter” Ferency-Viars

Errors? Omissions? Please let me know

Get more game master tips at RoleplayingTips.com

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit attributions to Johnn Four, RoleplayingTips.com.

Be sure to sign up to recieve updated versions! It takes just

5 seconds, and you'll receive a new download whenever this

(3)

roleplayingtips.com 2

Foreword

I’m starting a new campaign and was thinking about why my last campaign, Riddleport, did so well. Not only did it end (climactic campaign endings are a rare beast) but it had fantastic drama, encounters and gameplay throughout. I realized the biggest reason for its success was the group acted as a team and collaborated to make each session a blast. And a huge reason for that collaborative effort was we were all on the same page for what the campaign was about. We all basically knew what was expected of us - players and GM – and we were all “pulling the rope” in the same direction.

And the reason for this unity was how the campaign started.

It was a high GM agency game, meaning I did most of the setting and adventure creation. I even used a few published modules sprinkled throughout the plot. But before the first initiative was rolled, I provided a clear, short, and simple brief on what the campaign was about.

I communicated my vision for the campaign and the spirit of the campaign. Its premise, tone, and mood. From there,

players made PCs appropriate to the game, and they made

decisions all along the plot arc congruent with the initial seed I had shared.

(5)

roleplayingtips.com 4 When sharing my vision for the game – an epic mystery unfolds in a dangerous pirate city where the PCs try to survive crime lords, gangs, and supernatural events while running an inn – I asked for player feedback and approval. We tweaked a couple of things, but once we all voted “aye” to play in this campaign, the rest was smooth sailing (sorry for the pun).

So I put huge weight for the campaign’s success on this pre-campaign agreement and having a clear, compelling pre-campaign seed to share and work from.

Campaign Seeds From Around the World

Realizing a strong seed was a key ingredient for a campaign’s success, I turned to Roleplaying Tips readers for ideas.

I wanted a book to help GMs kick campaigns off with a killer campaign concept. Sort of a Step 0 for campaign creation. So I ran a two-week contest. Readers entered campaign seeds using my 4 Step Recipe Campaign Seed technique (described in the next section). Prizes were given out and then Gem Cutter Roberts collated entries, shucked a few too tricky to format or edit within our tight four-week timeline, and then edited the remaining seeds.

About a dozen seeds were non-fantasy. The contest was open to all genres, but I made an editorial decision to make this just a book of fantasy seeds. Non-fantasy GMs would be upset if I promised them seeds and they only found a small number for

(6)

roleplayingtips.com 5 them. And fantasy GMs might get upset I put sci-fi or modern chocolate in their fantasy peanut butter.

So after Gem Cutter Roberts handed off the edited seeds, I put them into book format, added a cover and a long, rambling Foreword. And here we are – 128 cool campaign seeds plus my formula for creating killer seeds of your own.

I encourage you to use this book to help you run a successful campaign. Pick a seed, combo a couple, or use several as

inspiration to create one of your own. Then share the seed with your players and ask them to work with its premise throughout the campaign.

I think you’ll have a lot of success with this approach. And I hope you find the seeds in this book inspiring.

Thanks very much to Gem Cutter Roberts for working so hard on a short timeline, to the Roleplaying Tips readers who

participated in the contest, and to all the game masters who read the newsletter.

Have more fun at every game! Johnn Four

(7)

My 4 Step Recipe for Creating

Great Campaign Seeds

A friend once told me his philosophy on work and projects: "Begin as you would end."

By this he meant a crappy start would put you on a course for a crappy end. And a great start puts you on a path for a

fantastic end.

I believe it works this way for campaigns. Nowadays, I work harder on the campaign concept and a few important

ingredients before a campaign launches than on any other aspect of the campaign, even after it's started.

I want an interesting concept with big story potential that seizes the imaginations of my players so they'll want to play to find out what happens.

Start this way, and you have much better chances for an epic ending.

So, those important ingredients I mentioned => let's talk about those right now.

(8)

Ingredient 1: A Rat Bastard Villain

If your players don't hate the villain, they'll hate you. Just kidding. But a dastardly villain with nasty minions does make great gameplay. So inject a bastard villain into your campaign seed.

For example, riffing off current news, maybe a local group of religious fanatics lead by an evil high priest is kidnapping children to become soldiers in their army.

Or, borrowing from my Chaos Keep campaign, perhaps a

faction of demons lead by a ruthless Demon Lord plots to take over the region, enslave its people, and pillage and ruin the land.

Four quick villain tips:

Make It Personal

Connect the villain to what the characters and players care about. Avoid targeting friends, relatives, and contacts for termination – that just discourages the players from giving background details and making friends.

Instead, craft complications. Instead of killing the PC's family, drop a blight on them caused by the villain. Instead of killing a character's friend, blackmail him into becoming a snitch on the PCs.

(9)

Respond, Don't React

This might be mere semantics, but to me a reaction means you're on your heels, parrying and doing what you can to recover from an event or attack.

Responding, however, means you recover and then you try to take the ball away.

Reacting is reflex and getting back to the status quo. Responding is pausing for a sec, gathering yourself, and making the best possible next move.

Reacting is using your will to get through. Responding is imposing your will to get back on top.

Have your villains respond instead of react. Rather than

creating time-wasting, brittle plans that won't survive contact with the PCs, let the PCs throw the punches and then have the villain respond to each jab.

In this way, villain and PCs leapfrog through the plot, creating natural story advancement and tension escalation.

For example, the PCs whack thugs who are on a mission for the villain. The villain finds the bodies, raises them, buffs them up, and sends them back after the party.

(10)

Evolve Your Villain

Between sessions, decide what your villain has learned. Change his approach and tactics accordingly.

Use an encounter with the PCs through direct confrontation, spying, or minion contact as a learning experience for the villain. What will he do different next time?

In this way, your villains get smarter. And doing this makes you a smarter GM over time as you ponder what there is to learn, trying to see things through the villain's eyes and considering how a villain might change things up.

Instead of game crunch escalation or minion inflation, you learn how to play the game smarter.

Any GM can rev up the monster generator and crank out tougher foes. But if you learn how to make villains cunning bastards with great roleplaying, better strategies, superior tactics, and nastier tricks, you will be a great game master.

Give Your Villain A Specific Goal

SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, on a Timeline.

But who says villains need to be SMART? They're often insane. They don't have to have realistic plans, just evil ones.

The only part you should nail is Specific. This will guide you throughout the campaign and keep you and the villain on

(11)

roleplayingtips.com 10 track. It'll help your bad guy respond better, stay on-plot, and keep your game focused.

Who Is Your Villain, What’s His Objective?

For your campaign seed, include a blurb about who your villain is and their specific goal.

This way, if you ever get confused about a villain's motive or next move, re-read your campaign seed to remind yourself what the end-game is for the bad guy.

Ingredient 2: An Interesting Milieu

The dictionary defines milieu as:

The physical or social setting in which something occurs or develops.

You need interesting people and places in your campaign to make it exciting, mysterious, dangerous, and entertaining. Here is a quick recipe to do this.

Step 1. Start With An Index Card

Constraint creates creativity. Limit space for your initial notes to force concision. This makes you pithy and saves time, too. Brainstorm cool people and place concepts.

Put each NPC and location idea on an index card or Post-It Note.

(12)

roleplayingtips.com 11 Build up a stack of cards so you have a pool of super ideas to flesh out and draw from anytime.

Meanwhile, you've now got all these potential people and places for your campaign seed.

Choose one place for the overall milieu. It might be a kingdom, continent, plane, mega dungeon, or simple village.

Step 2. Create A Cool Name

The jerk who terrorized our PCs in a Cyberpunk 2020 game was called Umgumby Po. Say that name out loud, slowly. It's like chewing taffy. It's fantastic.

One of the best NPC names I created was Lugubrious

Shadows. Again, just 'cause I liked saying it out loud in the game. Also, the words themed the NPC well.

Give your campaign, locations, NPCs, and especially your villain, cool names.

For you campaign seed, give your campaign a great working title. You can change it later, but try for something cool right off the bat.

For example, I got the name Chaos Keep by combining Keep on the Borderlands and the Caves of Chaos from D&D Module B2. It's also thematic. It was just a working title – a shorthand way to reference the campaign in my notes – but I liked it and made it official soon after.

(13)

Step 3. Connect Your Ideas

Use mind-mapping software, put your Post-Its on a white board, or just draw diagrams on paper.

Connect NPCs to each other in interesting ways. Create conflicts, secrets, and personality-driven relationships.

Draw lines between NPCs and label the lines with a word or short blurb about the relationship.

Create a timeline or history document. No need to go back far unless it's important. Note recent events and put your NPCs and locations in them.

Now you've connected people and places - your ideas.

For your campaign seed, write a few words about the major places where the PCs will adventure and a couple of notable NPCs to be encountered early in the campaign or who are pivotal to the plot.

This is now your milieu. The setting where bad stuff's gonna happen.

Ingredient 3: The Stakes

What are the PCs supposed to do in the campaign? And what happens if they fail?

(14)

roleplayingtips.com 13 In many games today the PCs must save the world. This is fine fantasy tradition, but it's hard to get good characterization happening when the focus is so big. It's also hard to get the players to care about their world "just because it's in

danger...again."

So, in addition to the big picture and long-term play goal, narrow your campaign seed down to something personal and intimate in the milieu. Use relationships and factions as core conflicts. Then trap innocents in the crossfire.

For example, I recently watched the TV series Hatfields &

McCoys. Two families who really hated each other and caused all kinds of grief in their war. The conflict started during the civil war between best friends. They brought that conflict home and it poisoned their families and friends.

The TV show did a great job in bringing the feud down to the level of each character and making it personal.

Your stakes might be to save the realm from a terrible dragon, vile necromancer, or evil cult leader. But so what if the bad guy wins? The players just roll up new PCs and you create a new realm to save.

Instead, think about who will get affected and how. Then pin your adventures on those folks and the PCs' struggle to save them. This brings the game down to a personal level.

You can't just roll up new relationships and a milieu the PCs instantly care about – it takes time, attention to detail, and

(15)

roleplayingtips.com 14 bringing things down to the level of specific NPCs and

locations.

For example, I just re-read Dragons of Autumn Twilight, the first book in the Dragonlance Chronicles series. In the starting town, Solace, the PCs gather at the Inn of the Last Home. We meet Tika the barmaid there. We grow to care about the

character and the place, both having special qualities and both getting roughed up by the villainous draconians.

While the heroes are supposed to save the world, you really want them to save Tika, the inn, and Solace. Then you want them to save each other, and additional people they meet. In Chaos Keep, the early stakes are PCs saving the last people of the keep from demons and devils who have backed them into a corner and are in their last days unless help arrives. The bigger picture is to save the land from The Blight, a mysterious encroaching plague of chaos, destruction, and rot.

If you GM Chaos Keep once I've finished it and the adventure's been published, your PCs won't care so much about The

Blight. They'll care about the people in the keep, and in the nearby village of Mysty Cryk (old world for Misty Creek). When The Blight hits, the PCs will want to save their friends and the people they rescued from the keep. I've structured the plot this way on purpose so your group will bond with NPCs and locations first, before the big danger and villains arrive.

(16)

Ingredient 4: The Left Hook

When you've got the PCs looking right, what will your left hook be?

I feel great GMing is all about evoking the emotions of excitement, fear, and surprise in your players.

The left hook is a twist or plot complication embedded in your campaign seed sure to catch your players off-guard. Hit them with your left hook when the time is right and your players will be jumping up and down yelling at you to find out what

happens. Great gaming!

Your left hook is not a gimmick or one-time surprise. It's gotta turn the campaign on its head and affect play thereafter. It's BIG NEWS.

For example, one of my favourite left hooks is in the movie The Matrix. Neo learns about the simulation and I'm riveted,

watching to see how things turn out, while being constantly entertained with the implications of being in a virtual reality. Another awesome one comes from the movie Unbreakable. Once we learn the protagonist's secret power, and the motive of the villain, we see their world in a whole new way and

eagerly watch to see what happens next.

I have a left hook for Chaos Keep, but I'm keeping it under wraps. No spoilers in case your players also read this. :)

(17)

roleplayingtips.com 16 milieu and my left hook. They're two sides of the same coin. And I want your players to go WOW! when you finally reveal the twist and then have them bugging you daily to GM again to find out what happens next.

Build your left hook in your campaign seed with the same goal in mind.

Putting It All Together

Before digging into world building, adventure design, NPC crafting, and location creation => before doing all that => take a few moments to write the campaign seed.

Write several campaign seeds or re-write one campaign seed until it all comes together into something you are excited about GMing. Because if you're excited, you'll be enthusiastic and infect your players with a desire to play.

A great campaign seed doesn't have to be long. 100-200 words is a great length. The brevity will force you to be creative and get to the heart of what will make your campaign an awesome experience.

You could write a longer campaign seed if you like, but I wouldn't do much more than a page. If you exceed a one-pager, likely your concepts aren't tight enough or you are not writing a seed but the campaign itself. :)

(18)

roleplayingtips.com 17 A campaign seed ideally has the following ingredients:

1. Rat Bastard Villain with a goal.

2. Interesting milieu with cool name, a great setting concept for adventure, and 2-3 notable NPCs who will stir the

plot.

3. Stakes: what are the PCs supposed to do and what happens if they fail? Make it personal.

4. Left Hook. Knock'em off their chairs. * * *

Thanks to Brad D, Jesse Cohoon, Dave Sherohman, Alan Kellogg, and Mike Elston for thoughts and ideas about campaign seeds.

(19)

(20)

Dead Men Walking

Astinus Cane, apprentice to the arch-necromancer Golganth, has stolen one of his master's grimoires, The Book of Dreams. He intends to raise his own undead army and set up a power-base on the northern coast.

The PCs, serving in the military, have just engaged in a battle between two kingdoms. Having been incapacitated during the fray, they wake to see the field littered with thousands of dead. A black-robed figure moves among the dead, chanting, as

corpses rise to serve their new master.

The PCs are infected with a deadly plague, a side effect of Cane's dark magic playing over the battlefield. Those who

succumb to it will rise as undead. The only cure lies within The Book of Dreams.

The Church activates a renowned witch-hunter, The

Accountant, to deal with the mess. Golganth sends the Unholy Five to kill Cane and retrieve his book.

Of Orcs and Knights

Yekreb Bloodclaw is an orc warlord leading a

dragon-worshiping clan from the southern desert. He threatens to summon the long-dead dragons and wage war on the nearby kingdoms.

The desert is a blasted wasteland where a great magical war ended a mythical age of technology, magic, and culture. It is

(21)

roleplayingtips.com 20 said to contain an artifact that could protect the kingdoms from the orcs. The desert has been dormant and uninhabitable for countless years, but now something stirs there.

Baleor Redbeard leads a zealous group of knights and priests who blindly persecute magic, evil, and anything that opposes them. Alaric Ironheart is a corrupt magister whose loyalty is up for sale.

The PCs are in a race to find the artifact. While it might save the kingdom, it could also awaken a great evil. The artifact must either be destroyed or kept from the hands of competing enemy groups who seek it.

The Grim Citadel

Severon is surrounded by mountains and still remembers the Decayed War when orc necromancers broke through the Grim Pass from their Steaming Jungles.

First, the party is entrusted by Baron Fitzkrugar to scout to the ruined Grim Citadel ahead of his builders. Then the scholarly mage Lord Laidlin parcels out missions of

exploration and diplomacy to visit the likes of the insular dwarves and wild forest elves.

The black elf agent, Canaris, will use any means to destabilize the fort to get to the Shadow Nexus below. As more farmers settle the wilderness and valleys, the party is drawn into caring for the area by titles and rewards for their exploits.

(22)

roleplayingtips.com 21 Dwarflord Cragrim may eventually trade metal and crafted items, but very few, even among his clans, know the secret of the Anvil (imprisoned dragons fuel the forge heat).

The Vigil

A monstrous werewolf known as Greyback has been terrorizing the towering, claustrophobic city of Arondel. The PCs, recently accepted into the monster hunter guild known as the Vigil, have been recruited into helping hunt the menace. Through brawn and brains, they must trap the wolf and hold him until he returns to his human form, revealing his identity. But this is only the beginning.

What happens when they find out that Greyback is, in fact the confused Lord Jaxxon One-Eye, the slovenly, chauvinistic

mayor, who has been tearing his city apart to find the wolf by day, and unknowingly tearing the city apart for food by night. Will his work as mayor save his life, or will his curse doom him?

And what happens when they find out the leader of the Vigil, the woman who dedicated her life to stamping out the

monsters, is not only Lord Jaxxon's sister, but also a werewolf. Will her past actions save her future, or will her monstrous nature doom her?

(23)

Highwater's Hope

A ruthless pirate king named Captain Rotwood throws trade and travel into turmoil with a fleet of powerful warships. Seemingly invincible upon the open sea, the pirate has laid outrageous demands on the coastal towns, including building yet more pirate vessels to add to his forces.

Admiral Brenton Highwater may be the last hope of the

collected towns. He is backed by the sea elf priestess Sorularra and opposed by the sea hag witch called The Kelp Queen.

The truth is the pirate is mere figurehead, while the pirate vessel is the true pirate king. The ship is possessed by the ghost of a legendary pirate king of old. It controls the pirate fleet through pieces of its magical wood crafted into their figureheads.

Plague of Rats

A plague of rats, including dire rats, has hit Delver's Folly. The town is built not far from a huge sinkhole, the remnants of a mining accident decades past.

The rats are led by Suffik and Glendal, a pair of bards armed with a Pipe of the Sewers. They lair within the crumbling mines of the sink hole. The town priest, Father Mirras, is the real mastermind behind the rat attacks, charging the bitten

townsfolk for each Remove Disease he casts, and sharing the profits with the bards.

(24)

roleplayingtips.com 23 Father Mirras is unaware that Suffik and Glendal are wererats who seek to convert specific townsfolk into wererats to grow their pack.

The Beating Heart of Briarwood

In a remote valley, the druids of the Rowan Brotherhood defeated the rot cultists and sealed their evil in a twisted

forest in the center of the valley, the Briarwood. Now, evil stirs again in the form of a powerful rotting treant, the Thorn King. Archdruid Mendell Greenwood seeks help from the PCs and can serve as a mentor. His agent, Sabaall, a satyr, will be their guide in the Briarwood. The survival of the entire valley is at stake as the PCs try to slay the Thorn King and bring his heart to the druids so they can finish things forever. Meanwhile, the Thorn King's agents strike out at the druids and their allies to prevent them from penetrating into the Briarwood.

The archdruid and his closest followers are actually cultists of rot and seek the Thorn King's heart so they may release plague and putrescence into the land.

The Mace of Justice

Two clerics are murdered and a valuable relic, the Mace of Justice, has been stolen from a temple in the coastal town of Portington. With only the venerable and shrewd Brother Lloyd having any investigative experience, the remaining clerics are

(25)

roleplayingtips.com 24 looking to hire an adventuring group to help track down this important piece of the town's legacy.

The culprit, a greedy hobgoblin named Hobby Nobbs, and his gang of goblin thieves, are hiding the mace in a growing goblin settlement located underground in the Ruined Forest.

In the same forest dwells the eccentric sage, Elbert Diggles, who will not only be a helpful ally in dealing with the goblins, but who also knows that this small theft of a local holy object is only one of a large, continent-wide string of thefts!

The Sail of Shadows

In the large port city of Sailwind, a cunning rogue named Rulnig Hurlen makes his move to rule the city from its

underbelly. At his command is a network of thieves and spies. Governor Sandivar Harriss, the PCs' patron, is Hurlen's prime target for assassination. If he succeeds in taking over, Sailwind would fall into chaos and become a center for evil.

A local beggar named Flea is actually an assassin for hire and agent of Hurlen. An alluring bard named Melodi is an

informant with her ear to the street. But where do her allegiances truly lie?

Rulnig Hurlen has a few secrets of his own. He is a wererat whose true name is Sulvin Harriss, the governor's son, long thought dead.

(26)

The Return of Math

200 years after a great wizard war, the population is just beginning to trust wizards again. With this growing trust,

Math, a minor god of magic, has reappeared and attracted new followers. The last of the old wizards, Moralyn, exiled himself from the world after the war. Now, Math has tasked him with mentoring these new followers.

Aaron Grand is a medium-to-high-level wizard who has kept his powers secret for years. He plans to disrupt the

reacceptance of wizards so he will become powerful and take control. The PCs all have magical talent and thus they are at risk of suffering due to Grand's schemes. Perhaps Notic, a local sage and priest of the god of knowledge, can help.

Unknown to all, the Dark Forces of the Netherworld are manipulating Grand for their own unknown schemes.

Fall of the Black Rogue

For a long time the Black Rogue has kept an iron grip on the city of Ashburgh. Recently however, his grip seems to be

slipping. His followers go missing, only to be found dead later. Rumors say a “Red Rogue” has infiltrated the city to overthrow the Black Rogue and claim control for himself.

Tahldul, the leader of the City Watch, hopes to use this power struggle as a way to end the rampant underworld corruption once and for all.

(27)

roleplayingtips.com 26 While the PCs are visiting the town, their innkeeper Jason disappears. This mild-mannered innkeeper is in fact the Red Rogue, and it turns out he and Tahldul are working together: divide the Black Rogue's court and conquer it. Tahldul hires the PCs to track down Jason, because if he goes missing permanently, Tahldul's plan is in ruins.

Shadows of the Dragonborn

Hansel, the King's governor, is out to steal the kingdom. The problem is the King trusts Hansel, which is why he made the dragonborn his governor. The King's chamberlain, Leonin, is in charge of the royal secret service and needs evidence of

Hansel's treachery. He employs the PCs to ferret out Hansel's spies and obtain that proof. Meanwhile, Hansel has an agent, Lasil, doing all of the dirty work.

With the empire at stake, the PCs need to stop Lasil and find proof of Hansel's treachery. But how does the mysterious and sexy Matrin fit in? And which side does she truly support?

If thwarted, Hansel has a backup plan. He will unleash an army of constructs on the city, which will force the King to evacuate people in his fleet of airships. The city will be razed.

Years of Night

An astronomical occurrence blots out the sun. Lord Lucan, general and leader of the vampires, rises up to take advantage of the coming years of night. Vampires will rule the living

(28)

roleplayingtips.com 27 under a dark cloud of eternal night. If they aren't stopped, the vampire lords will rule forever.

Nameless, an outcast cleric, has visions of what is to come and of the role the PCs will play in averting it. Valerie, a reckless warrior princess is related to a PC and begs his help in

stopping the vampire army. A vampire turncoat named Damian sees a problem with vampire rule, especially under the

bloodthirsty Lucan, and seeks to join the PCs' team.

Just when things look bad, Nameless relates that the gates of the underworld are sealed. All the dead rise as zombies in 24 hours after death. And the vampires can control the zombies and the gates!

Games of Redemption

The city of Redemption was once a hereditary penal colony built upon the ruins of great coliseums. After the revolution failed long ago, the first thing they took away was the heroes. Without heroes, the games stopped and the arenas sat empty. The Grand Chevaleresque Ervilis De'Monanse rules over

Redemption. His only care is power: keeping it and lording it over those who live beneath him using his brutal and stupid pet giants or with the terrifying arm of his shadow police. With winter coming, so comes the "lottery" to pick two young girls for Ervilis to have, one of which will be the sister or betrothed of a PC.

(29)

roleplayingtips.com 28 In reality, the revolution did not fail, but when the new guard took power they realized another revolution could overthrow them, so they changed history and locked away all their lesser allies in the dungeons of Redemption.

Save the Princess, Save the World

King Winn Evermore wants to expand his kingdom. He plans to hold the princess of the neighboring kingdom as ransom, to force the King to sign over fealty.

While staying at a roadside inn, the PCs are mistaken as a

contact by Princess Ifery Qualis, who is in disguise. She thinks she is buying information about Evermore's plans, and tells her story to the PCs. Afterward, she is kidnapped by Evermore's spies. The inn is a spy outpost. Soon after, the party is arrested by the King's Guard.

The castle seneschal, a dwarf named Mace Martine, enlists the PCs to save the princess, and thereby, save the kingdom. Her younger brother, Prince Draffal Qualis insists on joining them. He wants to adventure but can't seem to do anything right. Unfortunately, Draffal wants to be king but his sister is next in line. He thinks Evermore will reward him for foiling the PCs' plans.

(30)

Happiness is a Warm Sun

Bard Merry Fane wants to live forever. He thinks developing a cold land will make him a Lich.

Druids recruit the PCs to discover the source of the cold

weather. The High Druid is a female elf named Mytral Starlane. The prince of the local keep, Joffery Housemor, is concerned about a shortened growing season caused by the cold. The innkeeper of Soni's Inn, a retired dwarven adventurer named Soni Martine, offers to help.

The druids are actually a cult that wants to open a portal to an arid land of demons.

Port of Darkness

Count Mortis Dowright is a vampire who wants to take over the coastal region by creating an army of vampires. The

campaign opens with the PCs on a ship headed for a new land to seek adventure. The ship encounters another ship crewed by dwarves. Vampire dwarves.

The port city where the PCs were headed and eventually wind up has had many children go missing lately. City mayor,

Gerold Bristol, is more concerned with losing his job than getting rid of the problem.

The local harbor master, Jorad Seablight, often has good leads on treasure and will pay well for magic items. He also sells

(31)

roleplayingtips.com 30 Gold Hoard Inn. He can provide additional leads to nearby islands and inland to dwarven caves, in search of treasure. Seablight is an agent of the count. The PCs will encounter any of the magic items they sold.

The Rise and Fall of Master D

A halfling sorcerer named Dinkle Littletoes (Master D to

anyone that wants to live) plans to enslave the other races for making fun of halflings. He practices forbidden black magic and has a power base that just could lead to his success.

But his success is not guaranteed. Master D's son, Titan, hates his father and would rather see him suffer than succeed.

Master D's adviser, Castidious, has his own agenda. Cercinian is a nobleman who has ears everywhere and can give provide insight and leads to the PCs.

Cercinian is taking information back to Master D to ensure he and his family remain free and in possession of their home and wealth.

Plight of Shadow's Edge

The Great Wall is a towering cliff of water 1,000-feet high, stretching from south to north, effectively creating two

oceans, one upper, one lower. The PCs hometown of Shadow's Edge is a floating city of wooden rafts, barges, and ships lashed together at the edge of the shadow of the Great Sea Wall in the low ocean.

(32)

roleplayingtips.com 31 Shadow's Edge suffers repeated attacks by a fleet of pirate ships. The pirate king is a vile, dwarven warrior named Red Havoc. He wants to carve out a real kingdom for himself, and has the town in his sights.

The PCs can get help from a few fellow townsmen: Absalom Shade, a half-orc holy man; Vex Russman, a halfling sea-guide; and Rorik Truefrost, a human guard and secret ally of the

pirate king.

Out of nowhere, a fleet from the upper Ocean attacks the town. Can the PCs recruit Red Havoc and his pirate fleet to defend the town?

Freeing the Genie

Huckle Eberhearst is an unseen servant being punished for his petty crimes by serving out eternity in Mordenkainen's

Magnificent Mansion. The PCs are tasked with taking Huckle to a location where his soul can be released.

Matthias is an old friend of Huckle's. He overhears the group talking about him and has a hopeful hunch it may be the same person. He joins them in hopes to be invited into the house to see for himself, and to guide the group to the place where Huckle can peacefully go to the beyond.

Unfortunately, Huckle is an old alias used by a vampiric

warlord named Dillinger Von Char, who was forced to serve as an unseen servant for his crimes against humanity. His

(33)

roleplayingtips.com 32 followers are waiting for his return so they can pick up where they left off.

The Antankeran Prophecy

The heroes uncover a prophecy of a dark figure named

Antankeran attempting to break the flow of time itself, giving him unstoppable power over everything past, present, and future.

A local mystic named Miishi and a legless old swordmaster named Kale are the only ones who realize the gravity of this prophecy. They can teach the heroes to ride the flow of time to stop Antankeran from achieving his complete domination. Miishi and Kale are false names, and they are both older

versions of the PCs, who had defeated Antankeran previously and at great cost to the rest of the party. They are unable to fully influence or give the characters too much information, due to the fragile nature of time. Antankeran himself is also a future version of one of the PCs.

A Curse Upon the Land

An evil character has taken control of the Planar Gem and has bonded with it to form Darkhold and spread evil. The Darkhold is a large black castle that emits a growing globe of darkness all day. This allows all kinds of creatures of the night to run wild all day long.

(34)

roleplayingtips.com 33 If the PCs do not stop this villain, the globe of darkness and evil creatures will envelope the world forever. The villain is a vampire and the guardian of his castle is an evil dragon.

The PC who deals the killing blow becomes the new Gem Master. The gem changes the color of the castle and globe to match the PC's alignment. The globe is light if Good, a mix of both day and night if Neutral. This will then attract creatures of similar alignment to join their cause and creatures of other alignments to stop them. Until the gem is destroyed, this is a never-ending storyline.

What Prowls in Darkness

Cedrick Swallowbottom is a second-rate cleric, turned evil necromancer. He uses an old tome of knowledge he found to raise an army of undead. He creates undead from anything he can, everything from local livestock skeletons, robbed graves and hunting trophies, to a band of thieves that snuck into his lair. His lair is an abandoned mausoleum that used to house a sun cult. Old relics of their lost religion are hidden and waiting for discovery.

The local town sheriff thinks the disturbing activity is caused by a band of thieves from the north and offers a reward for their capture. The town mayor swears it is caused by a large beast roaming the countryside and will pay 100 gp for its head. The town priest knows it is Cedrick but is hesitant to implicate

(35)

roleplayingtips.com 34 a fellow priest. He wants Cedrick saved and supplies the group with a few blessed tools to help.

If the PCs do not solve this in time, Cedrick will have amassed a large enough army to take over the town and surrounding area.

In actuality, the book Cedrick found is possessed by an evil demon. It is controlling Cedrick through his first animated creature, a feline named Khat.

War Torn

In a ghost-riddled castle surrounded by storms of shifting shards of war-torn landscapes, the PCs awaken bloodied, battered, and without memory. They are a bloody siege's only surviving castle guards. One of them was busy killing the

castle lord, the evil Soul-Lord Tempus, before he woke.

The castle drifts in and out of parallel dimensions. Tempus's local incarnations are of various classes and power-bases, but always powerful. They attack the PCs with maximum

prejudice. All the work of Tempus's weakened but vengeful ghost attempting to rid his castle of the PCs.

In reality, the PCs were spies who had infiltrated Tempus's astral castle. As a last-ditch effort, he spirit-blasted their minds and memories, accidentally linking their life forces to the castle.

(36)

The Hundred Kingdoms

Centuries ago, the demon Nazacrusider transformed a circle of rebellious druids into NecroDruids: monster-makers who set the world aflame to pave the way for a massive demon invasion.

Beaten back into a hardscrabble northern wasteland by the empire's armies and universally loathed, today they scrape together undead abominations to destabilize and harass the neighboring chaotic Hundred Kingdoms, the remnants of the tyrannical Bronze Empire.

Dream-driven, the PCs (unknowingly: progeny of the ruthless immortal former Emperor, Karna Rex) seek the Portal Keys needed to kill Karna and let the demons finish their invasion. Kidnapped, they steal one of his flying galleons to escape. Left Hook: Karna's sneakiest ArchNecroDruid/Assassin is secretly helping them, because....

Uppercut: Karna Rex wants to close the portal and free his people from Nazacrusider's grasp. The assassin wants the PCs to prevent this closing.

Severed Lies

Farncombe Vale has a major class divide. Recently, there has been an epidemic of burglaries. Punishment for theft is the loss of a hand. Despite investigations and convictions, crime has only increased along with the loss of limbs. Now, 1 in 3

(37)

roleplayingtips.com 36 citizens are missing hands. The populace is seething and

whispers of uprising are rampant.

Audric 'the Cleaver' is the official taskmaster of amputations. Zaisme is an evil priestess. Audric has been collecting hands Zaisme uses to create crawling claws that act as thieves

throughout the town. She is positioning herself, when tensions peak, to emerge as a savior Pied Piper in exchange for rule in the council.

A barkeep named Lersal, whose son was wrongly convicted, fronts the developing rebellion. Councilman Delane wants resolution but will not jeopardize his position by openly associating should the rebellion fail. Delane's assistant,

Gwatkin, will guide and aid the PCs. Failure brings riots and Zaisme is instated as despot.

Secretly, Gwatkin is loyal to Zaisme.

Koruptum Apocalypso

In ancient times a war between humans ended in a magical apocalypse. The result was a near extinction of the human race, and a lowering of their status among other races. Even orcs, kobolds, and goblins are viewed as nobler than humans. Koruptum the wizard wants to bring about a second

apocalypse and return humanity to its former glory. Xethama is a Drow priestess working with Koruptum with plans to double-cross him.

(38)

roleplayingtips.com 37 Kirk Shieldstorm is the leader of a knightly order dedicated to finding and destroying the ancient source of power that

brought about the original apocalypse. He will task the PCs with missions of exploration. Myrin Heansteed is the jerk of a mayor of the last real human city.

Breaching the Wall

A great wall divides the known world into two pieces. No one knows for sure what is on the other side. Attempts to climb it, go around it, or go under it usually meet with doom and are never heard from again.

There are rumors of broken sections that allow entry into the wall but most explorers never return. Those who do bring

back amazing items and tales of bizarre creatures. Drake, Sam, and Raleigh Galagher are famous explorers who have spent the better part of their lives exploring the Great Wall.

Zad the Insane claims to have been to the other side, but speaks only in mad rambles. Arlock is a mind flayer Cleric of the Great Release who wants to breach the great wall. He intends to learn enough about it to find a way to put a hole in it.

The great wall is actually a massive spacecraft that crashed thousands of years ago, cutting into the continent like a knife. The other side is inhabited by monstrous gods and their

(39)

The Depths of the Demon Pit

The Demon Pit is a canyon-sized gouge in the earth legendary for its massive size. It attracts so many tourists that several small towns have grown up around its edge. The bottom of the pit cannot be seen due to the fog and darkness within the

accursed hole. Those who have explored the pit have reported no bottom to the thing, but instead have explored countless caves and dungeons dotted along its trails and cliffs. Farough, a wizard, owns a museum filled with objects from the pit, and will pay good prices for such things.

The pit is growing. It widens occasionally accompanied by large earthquakes. The remains of two towns can be seen strewn into it.

Keeb Slarthin, evil cleric and a former derro slave, is the only one who knows the horrible secret...the world is turning inside out...and he intends to make sure it happens.

The Sylvestrian Heresy

Baradulio wants to be the god of everything. He has corrupted Arch-Patriarch Caspian IV, the head of the Cruthian Church. So far, no one knows. Caspian's servant, Cardinal Fesrun

Oswhip, is charged with rooting out heresy in the name of the church. He is aided by the militant order of Saint Dennis,

which is led by the fanatical Governor-General Valorous Balsimon.

(40)

roleplayingtips.com 39 The PCs are devoted members of the Order of Saint Sylvester: exorcists, magical investigators, and demon hunters. Their activities will uncover a plot that threatens their beliefs and decides the fate of the church. This plot will lead them to uncover Caspian's corruption and secret allegiance to Baradulio.

In the west, hordes of infidels mass to invade the Kingdoms of the Faithful. Is the Patriarch's call to crusade another part of Baradulio's plan?

Dream a Little Dream

Those who dream are exiled by a superstitious populace.

Dreaming is a rapidly degenerative physical and mental illness, leaving the Dreamer feeble and insane.

Zara and Ezekial are long-forgotten sibling deities of good and evil. Centuries ago, Zara sealed Ezekial away at great cost: herself. They now reside in the Dream Realm, where Ezekial feeds on the world's subconscious until he can escape. Zara is a playful little girl who remembers nothing about her angry big brother. He is nightmare. She is childhood innocence.

Dreamers travel to the dangerous realm in their slumber, where conscious effort manipulates reality: small tokens at first, growing more powerful with practice. Some are even able to manipulate the real world. But that power comes with a price. They draw from Ezekial's growing power, and it is a

(41)

roleplayingtips.com 40 two-way link. Ezekial feeds on the Dreamers until they

become his mindless servants.

Bitter Angel

Trimethius is an angel disgusted with the sentient races of the material world. He decides to manipulate his declining god into decimating them. He plans to have his agents slay Omael, a sacred boy-priest, at the island temple of the god.

Karex is a lower angel who has learned of Trimethius' plans and flees the realm of the gods to seek mortal aid. He finds the PCs and has them journey to the great island temple of the god. It is said the path to the realm of the gods can be walked by drinking a hallucinogenic cocktail and climbing the

towering ziggurat at the temple's center. Many challenges must be overcome on this journey.

Omael is in league with Trimethius and would willingly

sacrifice himself to become a martyr. PCs have to uncover this secret and calm tensions before climbing to the realm of the gods to confront Trimethius.

Dreams of Kastra

Kastra is a new continent shaped by magic and full of mythical beasts.

Devrius Morstan, the CEO of Stolen Cauldron Enterprises, is motivated by money and wants to own this new land so he can

(42)

roleplayingtips.com 41 pillage its resources, use its people as slaves, and steal Kastran magic.

The PCs are explorers of this new world, perhaps working for a rival company. Early on, they discover this wild land is

actually inhabited by nonhumans called Kastran. They

encounter scouts from a Kastran village: Aras, the smart one; Beren, the tough one; and Cera, the charismatic one.

They also encounter Morstan's Alpha Team, led by Jeren Ace. The team quickly becomes their rivals, racing to uncover the next wonder of the Kastra.

What neither team expect to learn is a magical disaster eons ago was the cause of almost all mysteries in the world, and that the Kastrans were once human.

The Everwinter Saga

Winter in the country of Maldan isn't ending by itself. People are worried. The fat lords of the Azuri, once invading

conquerors, sit in their castles and do nothing. Sneering Count Osgood wallows drunkenly amid his whores while livestock and animals are dying amid the snow and cold.

People will die soon. The poor and struggling Udatti will die first. The Udatti people have suffered greatly for their strange ways – accused of witchcraft, black magic, and worse. The Udatti elders are bitter, but powerless to fight back as the Old Faith fades. As Udatti heroes, the PCs must fight for the

(43)

roleplayingtips.com 42 Could the Everwinter be the product of the Udatti

Grandmothers' ritual magic aimed at resurrecting the heroes of old?

Empires of Rubble and Dust

Two ages have come and gone. The first was an age of

technology, and it was destroyed by technology. The second was an age of magic, and it was destroyed by magic. In the ruins of both, the third age rises. The only rule is: no magic. The PCs are members of a community wiped out by a creature calling itself the Lord of Ruin. The Lord of Ruin is the remnant of a cybernetic defender from the first age. Having witnessed and survived the second age, it delved into magic. Now, as a composite creature, it sees a composite approach as a way out of the cycle of ruin and desolation. However, to accomplish this it must bring the people under its sway. Its influence and power grows, but its programming is erratic.

The PCs must find ancient magics or technologies and learn how to use them to defeat the Lord of Ruin before the

creature destroys what little life still clings in the rubble and dust.

Bone Spitter

This vicious dungeon opens only one day each year. Most have learned to stay away, but this year is different. Someone has found the magical map to the deadly dungeon. The problem is

(44)

roleplayingtips.com 43 everyone knows someone has the map: an unwitting PC. Now heroes, villains, orcs, goblins, and the like have gathered at the gate waiting for the party.

The center of the dungeon has a stone of one wish. And the Dragon wants it.

Above the gate is a mouth that spits out the mashed, broken bodies of those who fail, intimidating all who wish to enter next.

To Slay a Dragon

The PCs meet the paladin Tordek Holyshield who is on a quest to stop Sarvek, a dragonborn champion of Bane. Sarvek

intends to enslave the region. He started by taking over a temple of Bahamut and turning it into a temple for Bane. When the PCs agree to help Tordek in his quest, they follow him to a temple where Tordek immediately kills the guards at the temple entrance. The guards bear the symbol of Bahamut, but Tordek tells the PCs it's a disguise. They venture into the temple and encounter more guards dressed like those in front of the temple. The guards attack and are likely slain. Tordek will accept no survivors.

Suddenly Sarvek appears, asking why they are raiding the temple of Bahamut.

Tordek is revealed as the champion of Bane. His mission is to kill the temple guardian, Psock, a gold dragon.

(45)

The Children of Lynne

Years ago, Burgomeister Thorward, priest Eliphas, and their followers founded the small township of Lynne next to Lynne Hill, and built a church on top of the hill. The town attracted many people seeking to live their lives in honor of the deity the group pretends to worship, but unknown to these people the founders are a cult. Below the church they built an

underground temple to their dark deity.

Long biding their time, they have recently begun abducting and sacrificing the young children of the town in their

underground temple.

Right before the PCs arrive, the daughter of a befriended NPC goes missing, held in the underground temple awaiting

sacrifice when the moon waxes full in several days. If not found, she will be sacrificed with terrible consequences.

Even worse, the NPC's spouse is secretly a cultist, and knows all that has happened.

The Color of the Magi

The Rose Empire is similar to historic Japan, but with magi instead of samurai. The incarnation of black magic, the black magus, is born into every generation and always dies by age 20. Fallen Leaf, the current black magus, plans to break this cycle by harnessing his future reincarnations to gain

(46)

roleplayingtips.com 45 immortality. He seeks the Rote of Ages and the Sign of Ages to enact his spell.

White Sand, a monk learned in magic but not a magus herself, recruits other magi to find the Rote and Sign before Fallen Leaf. The roads are made dangerous by bandits such as Petal of the Blooming Orchid, a crimson magus.

When the Rote and Sign are united, White Sand reveals the truth; she is the black magus and she used magic to

manipulate Fallen Leaf, the white magus.

Ice Fortress of the Frostmere Barrens

Hoarfrost is an ice elemental who wants to take over the Prime Material Plane by making everything icy cold, thus either destroying life or making it suit him much better.

Frostmere Barrens is his base, a vast tundra that never thaws and is filled with all sorts of cold-adapted creatures.

His subordinates are a pair of frost wraiths, the bruiser Ice Pick, and brainiac Brainfreeze. They have set their sights on a town where the PCs are staying and have killed several well-liked NPCs.

When frost wraiths kill someone, that person is raised as a new frost wraith. The more frost wraiths in an area, the more the temperature drops. Once an area gets to be freezing or below, the temperature will remain frozen until Hoarfrost

himself is defeated. If anyone in the town is to survive the cold snap, it's up to the PCs to defeat the menace.

(47)

Reap the Whirlwind

The medieval land of Greynland has been seized by the ancient witch Hortensia, who rules it with an iron fist. To keep herself young she annually culls the best and brightest from

throughout her provinces and fiendishly sacrifices them to her dark god.

Not willing to let such a heinous travesty befall the land he loves again, the wise sage Ehthelbert hatches a plan. He covertly selects a group of those who would be taken by the witch and secrets them out of the kingdom. Their goal is to go into the world and gather what they need to destroy

Hortensia, free their land, and prevent anyone else from being sacrificed by the evil witch.

Little do they know, however, their intentions have been

betrayed to the witch almost from the start by The Viceroy of Greynland (the former king) and assassins and saboteurs

follow them wherever they go.

Vampire's Dawn

Count Dy'kon Malar, an ancient vampire in a Transylvania-like province, is crafting a magic device that creates a fog that allows undead to move around as if it were night. One of the PCs stumbled upon the notes of a deceased mage whose spells could make such a device a reality.

(48)

roleplayingtips.com 47 The Count sends two assassins to plague the PCs. The one nicknamed Near is a close-quarters fighter/thief specializing in hand-to-hand combat and poison. The one named Far is a ranged fighter/mage who knows how to take advantage of distance. They harry the PCs until one the following happens: the PCs willingly give up the notes, they are corrupted, they destroy the notes, or they die and the notes can be taken from them.

What the PCs don't know is the notes are cursed and the

longer the notes are in their possession, the more tainted the PCs become.

Dweller in the Dark

A half-fiend rust monster, Nox Marrode, the Dweller in the Dark, is the terror of the iron mines under the mountains

around Happy Valley. Olaf Unstraaser, dwarven mine foreman, needs the PCs’ help. Sheryn Darrow, elven village elder,

resents this outside interference.

Happy Valley is a pastoral valley high in the mountains. Several small holdings sit alongside the trade road running from one end of the valley to the other. The miners all live in the village named Arumrood. But this valley is anything but happy.

Marrode has stripped the iron from the mines and the will

from the people. Only the PCs can stop this mad creature from eating the very life from the valley. And if they don't stop it

(49)

roleplayingtips.com 48 soon it may chew its way to uncovering an ancient evil even more deadly that it is.

Bad Blood

Family feuds are bad enough, but in the case of the Jacobs, a family of werewolves fighting with the Hardcastles, a clan of werebears, it is enough to tear the township of Bransgore

Creek apart. Henry is the stern patriarch of the Jacobs and has nothing but hatred for Josie, the dour mother of the

Hardcastles, who loathes him in return. With the PCs stuck firmly in the middle can they bring peace to these warring families?

Will the local sheriff, Kale Tyran, be any help at all? Or can they discover the hidden threat that started the feud in the first place - the manipulative vampire lord Aelvar Rosca? Keeping the two families fighting each other lets him hunt with impunity.

Kill Ten Rats

The City of Canton is a cosmopolitan center for trade,

production of ceramics, and academia. It is also plagued by rats, wererats, and halfling wererats. This cult of wererats, the Shi Da Shu, is led by Zhang Shuzhen, a demon worshiper of the vilest kind. He has brought his nine disciples to the city to find a book, the Tyburn Codex, that contains a demon summoning ritual.

(50)

roleplayingtips.com 49 Jan Shen is the owner of an impressive library and hires the PCs to protect her property and investigate the cult. Local half-orc, Sabik "Rat-catcher" Kerenzikov, may be able to help. Or is he more sympathetic to these talking rats?

If Zhang finds the codex, all hell really is about to break loose.

Ring of Fire

Firelord Sunscorch wants to inhabit and reactivate a long-dead volcano called the Ring of Fire. The problem is his plan will decimate a large portion of the countryside where

thousands of acres of land and tens of thousands of people reside.

Sunscorch has accomplices in this task. Blaze is a hot-headed, half-fire elemental fighter/mage and his magma-terraforming, elemental familiar, Cinder, and Blistered-Ash, Blaze's demon-summoning partner. They have already set fire to a large portion of the forest where the PCs' families are staying. The ironic thing is Blaze's and Blistered-Ash's powers are made even stronger by the presences of a magic item owned by one of the PCs. Will the PCs realize what's happening in time?

Dark Were His Eyes

Ksala, a northern fishing and logging town, is your home. It is also a town in crisis. Many young men and women of the town, children of your friends and neighbors, have gone missing.

(51)

roleplayingtips.com 50 Only one has returned, with his eyes completely black. He is able to say only one word: "Xormaluuk."

Mayor Smallton, a hairy bear of a man, asks you to find the missing teens. Your guide is the local trapper, Taren, a young widow who knows the mountains better than anyone. She suspects Xormaluuk is a god of the arctic dwarves. Under the leadership of the fiery-bearded Morill, they may have captured the youths.

In reality, Xormaluuk is a great eye-beast, who has the teens in his thrall. He hopes to use them to seek out the Great Stones, buried in the permafrost since the Old Ages. With these, he will darken the eyes of the world.

Plague of the Alligator Swamp

Lich-lord Lyzra Lazuli was scorned by her friends, betrayed by her family, and rejected by her love. In retaliation, she intends to subjugate the land. She lives in the Lykan, a swamp replete with disease-causing mosquitoes, flesh-eating plants, murky waters, and were-alligators.

Two of her were-alligator "friends" are a barbarian/shaman known as Teeth, and a mad scientist/sorcerer known as Scales. They are capturing the well-liked townspeople and subjecting them to magical-scientific experiments to warp them into something monstrous. The PCs are hot on their trail and have been delayed by their creations, some of whom were actually the PCs' friends.

(52)

roleplayingtips.com 51 Time is not on their side. The longer it takes the PCs to catch up to the were-alligators, the more likelihood of the changes becoming permanent.

Green Politics

Verdant is a shape-shifting shambling mound ranger who doesn't like the world becoming overpopulated by humanoid races. He intends to do something about it by starting an all-out race war. He plans to have his agents infiltrate and replace key figures in governments and to assassinate political leaders. The PCs are hired by a pair of travelers to escort them through a particularly dangerous area. From these travelers, they hear about the local civil unrest.

What the PCs don't know is the changeling travelers R'ydur and Pythos are master assassins, masters of disguise, and have more than a few tricks up their sleeves. Through their

insidious tales and selective information, they are manipulating the PCs to be their agents to kill the last important figure and plunge the entire area into war.

March of the Boneyard

Bones, a necromantic ivory dragon perched atop of the Tomb of the Thousand Immortals, floods the countryside with an ever-growing army of tough skeletons.

Among his allies are a strategist, Dracolich Darkfyer, and a skeleton sorcerer-priest, Blake Masters. Through their eyes he

(53)

roleplayingtips.com 52 expertly coordinates their actions, changing their tactics

according to the enemies they face. Through their fights, he becomes more powerful. The skeletons have already wiped out several small towns in the area. Among those people killed are some known by the PCs. The skeletons have become a threat to the entire area due to their growing numbers.

The PCs are en route to collect an ancient, powerful artifact to defeat another evil force, but it is what allows the growing skeleton army to exist in the first place. Do they destroy the artifact, thus dashing their hopes of defeating the other evil, or let the skeleton army grow?

Race for the Gems

Gruumsh seeks to re-open the Orc Gate and unleash a horde of orcs upon Toril. The God-Ward gems holding the gate closed have been scattered throughout the Realms.

Ishtar, having learned of this plot, seeks to warn others but is killed by Bahgtru. In her last act she imparts some of her

divine essence into the unsuspecting heroes, who now face the task of making sure the gates are never opened. They must seek the gems and take them back to the gate so the portal remains closed.

But the PCs are not the only group seeking the gems. A second troupe seeks the gems for their own reasons. Young Kelvin Arunsun and his band seek the God-Ward gems with the help of Rashemen berserker, Auzrik Foehammer. Kelvin's childhood

(54)

roleplayingtips.com 53 friend, Avaereene gives him a good luck charm, a necklace from her grandfather. She said it will bring him good luck in his quest, but will it?

Fight for the Daystar

The shadow dragon Umbral, living in the Mistymire

Mountains, seeks to banish light on the surface of the Prime Material Plane by merging it with the Plane of Shadow to rule over it. Doing so would have numerous negative effects,

including loss of crops, widespread starvation, disease, and more.

The only thing that can stop his plans is the existence of the Daystar, a perfectly flawless gem the size of an ogre's fist that has daylight trapped inside it. He plans to destroy it, and has enlisted two agents to help do so: Nightwing, a shadow-walker rogue/sorcerer and his shadow friend, Shade.

The PCs are searching for the Daystar for their own purposes and have been thwarted at every turn by these two.

The Code of Magic

In Valas, anyone can use magic. All they need is an ancient wand. Each wand controls a unique aspect of magic. Damian Dax is a master of magical combat and a petty bully. He seeks the map to the Fountain of Creation to recreate the world in his image.

(55)

roleplayingtips.com 54 Dax's minions are Clayfacers, doppelgängers who can take on the appearance of anyone. The Clockmaster, a genius living in a giant clocktower, knows the location of the map. The Yellow Hood, a mysterious magician, is trying to stop anyone from reaching the Fountain.

The Fountain of Creation, hidden in a steel dungeon, isn't actually magical. It's a high-tech computer terminal that controls the properties of the world through code. Wands

rewrite code to perform "magic". Interacting with the Fountain reveals Valas is actually built atop the remains of Earth after a high-tech apocalypse.

Isle of Dr. Manchester

Dr. Montgomery Manchester, a renowned, albeit eccentric scientist, has invited the PCs to his mist-shrouded tropical island under the guise of giving them a cure for a deathly sick NPC. Unfortunately, while they are visiting with their host, something goes wrong with their boat and they are forced to stay. In the confusion, the cure is never given to them.

The PCs soon realize their lives are in danger after

encountering his twin Oriental-looking servants, Sing, a master of vivisection and dark magic, and Ming, master of torture and science. The PCs discover the servants are performing experiments to create various mundane-and-magical animal combinations.

(56)

roleplayingtips.com 55 With time ticking town, the PCs must gather the parts to fix their boat, retrieve the cure for their friend, and escape with their lives.

Children of the God

A boy—the child of a friend or relative—has been taken. Was it the wandering tribe of Pokatok with their grotesque rituals and strange powers? Was it the bestial warlord, Torkay Mawla, whose favorite wife miscarried again?

As more boys go missing, the clues point to the simple

villagers of Efersec who are plagued by a child-demanding god in their local well. The god is actually Gorgapuk, the

cannibalistic high priest of a cult lurking in the caverns

beneath Efersec. The cult needs fresh recruits, and to avoid their wrath, the villagers kidnap children from neighboring towns and lower them into the village well to become

Gorgapuk's devotees.

The pretender-god—immobilized by his obesity—is fed a steady diet of his devotees' own severed limbs, the highest priests having sacrificed the most body-parts. The kidnapped boys will become brainwashed acolytes within a week if not

(57)

Ice Rescue

Illian Bull's pregnant concubine was sunning herself when the miles-long ice sheet she was on broke from the mainland and drifted out to sea. Chief Illian hires the PCs to help get her back. The canoes seem sturdy enough, but Cerkus Tamp, the navigator, repeatedly attempts to murder Illian—who turns out to be a powerful, violent lunatic—and frame the party.

With a storm approaching, the canoes reach the ice floe and the search begins. That's when the aquatic seal people spring their trap. They hope to divide and destroy using sea creatures to break up the floe and drown the hated landsmen. Can your party can rescue the concubine and make it back to the

canoes? Will they be able to outrun the storm, fend off the seal people, and get back to land? Are they in Illian's canoe when Tamp's final sabotage is revealed?

Righteous Judgement

Lucian Aarons, a former paladin whose god has abandoned him, is trying to destroy everything that is neither lawful nor good. To help him, he has his magnificent black stallion

Champion, the pariah zealot sorcerer Anders, and the disgraced priest, Orion Masters. Everywhere he goes,

destruction follows in his wake, along with death for those who don't pass his test of righteousness.

(58)

roleplayingtips.com 57 Because of Lucian's formidable powers, few have been able to stand up to him. When he's not out spreading mayhem, he resides in a pocket dimension called Resplendent Ravine. The next town he's heading for is where the PCs have their base. A showdown is about to happen, but neither the PCs nor Lucian know there is a radiant dragon watching all that is

happening from the outer planes, ready to help whichever side he deems to be the party in the right.

Shadows of Royal Blood

Amidst pirate attacks and ever-worsening storms, the death of King Vanden has thrown the wealthy coastal kingdom of Kirad into chaos. Belar Duvane, the Shadow Prince, has emerged from the shadows and claims to be the rightful heir. He is the spitting image of King Vanden, which has garnered him the strong support of many, despite his bastard status.

Duvane's three half-siblings and two uncles are challenging him. Foremost are Crown Prince Rayne, a brave but witless, warrior, and young Princess Saffron, a cunning apprentice magician. Azen Blue, the royal magister, is secretly Duvane's ally and uses his influence and magic.

Unknown even to Blue, in the last years of his life King Vanden was cursed with vampirism, and Duvane is none other than Vanden himself, hiding his true nature to reclaim his own throne.

(59)

The Freak Show

The circus has come to town, and its Ringmaster is a circus barker, illusionist, and entertainer extraordinaire. He and the rest of his freak show entertain the crowds. His chief helpers are the Strongman, a monk and the Human Pretzel, a

contortionist and thief.

What's not obvious about the show is it's a cover for a variety of illegal and immoral activities including theft, slave-trading, assassination, and others. An organization that doesn't like the PCs' activities has hired the circus to eliminate them.

What no one else in the circus realizes is the Ringmaster is actually an ancient vampire, controlled unbeknownst by even himself, by an extra-planar entity.

A Country in Panic

Gillarish is an ancient dragon, awake after 5000 years and imprisoned in the ancient Tractic Gate Temple. He seeks to destroy his prison and learn about the world around him. Un'ardo is a specter working for Gillarish. He is tired of his master's constant bad mood and wishes only to please him. So he sends their minions to bring back people to talk to the

dragon.

Strange creatures have been attacking the villages and

(60)

roleplayingtips.com 59 scared, and now the farms aren't producing enough food for the winter. Someone must find the leaders.

Ivan Redsteel, captain of the castle of Nelloren, is searching for his lord and will do what it takes to save him.

The only thing that can keep Gillarish from leaving the Temple is the players telling him about their adventures and making him a visit every couple months.

The Ballad of the Mad Dwarf

The mad, dwarven bard, Baalan Bloodlock, sits enthroned in the Halls of Chevron, an ancient dwarven stronghold. Using forbidden magic, he's enslaved the red dragon Raziel the Insane and drawn upon the power of an ancient evil entity, Kalinth. With their help, he has oppressed the entire

countryside.

As time goes on, the dwarf and dragon become more powerful. If they aren't defeated soon, their combined powers will make them unstoppable.

The PCs have the means to stop the tyrants, but there's a mole in their midst. Will the spy be found out before confronting the mad dwarf or will he dash their chances at victory?