The villagers had been terrorised by the lord of the manor until they could suffer no more. Late one moonless night a fearful, angry crowd gathered and marched upon his hilltop mansion. Shouts and hurled stones called the master to his upper window, where he sneered defiance at the besiegers: “Ignorant dogs!” he called. “Do you think I fear you? I am beyond fear, beyond even the power of death itself!”
His speech was answered by a hail of missiles from the screaming crowd: stones, cobbles, flasks of oil, and finally torches. First one tongue of flame sprang up from the rooftop, then another, until the fire took hold. With a final gesture of disgust, the master turned from the window and walked stiffly into the growing inferno.
The crowd waited a while, cheering as the slates began to crack and slide to the ground. Then the roof beams ablaze, the walls failing, a terrible piercing cry seemed to rise up from the very foundations of the manor house into the bleak, starry sky. The most fear filled panicked at the other-worldly horror that this must surely represent and turned to run. A final stampede of friends and neighbours from the village slipped and slid back down the hillside, few brave enough to look back at the crumbling ruin. The terror was surely ended that night, but even today, ten years on, no-one from the village will pass near to the blackened remains of the manor even in daylight. And nobody would be foolhardy enough to brave the road nearby at night.
Contains:
28 pages adventure: “The Terror of Tumbledown” is a Pathfinder Roleplaying Game-compatible scenario for 5th-level player characters, written by Willie Walsh and illustrated by Bradley McDevitt and Gerry Swanson. The adventure makes a stiff challenge especially in its final encounters, and it introduces three new dangerous monsters. It is set in a partially ruined and seemingly abandoned manor house in a bleak semi-wilderness location that has an evil reputation.
19 counters and paper bag (exclusive of this game pack): counters detailing the major NPCs and foes of the adventure plus an exclusive paper bag to store them.
Product Availability
Fulfilled immediately.
Are there errors or omissions in this product information? Got corrections? Let us know at
store@paizo.com.
This game pack contains all you need (apart from players and dice) to run the adventure The Terror of Tunbledown, comprising the adventure itself, detailed floorplans and a collection of counters to use with the miniatures-sized floorplans.
The adventure itself is set in a partially ruined and seemingly abandoned manor house in a bleak semi-wilderness location that has an evil reputation. It starts off with a detailed background that begins ten years ago when new owners moved into Tumbledown Manor... and ends with the place in flames due to the unspeakable practices of its now late (or so it is believed) owner. Now his widow is distraught at the disappearance of her daughter and the local villagers hire the party to investigate...
Interestingly, an alternate background is provided for those who prefer even more convoluted plots - if you want something more complex than the basic "clean out the manor and rescue the girl" of the core plot, this adds a neat twist (which I must say did actually occur to me when I read the background, maybe I'm naturally devious!). There are also plenty of rumours flying around, some of which might even be true!
The adventure consists of the exploration of the manor house, and dealing with whatsoever can be found there. Needless to say, plenty of opportunistic wildlife and monsters have moved in to the ruins. Delightfully, the notes for many encounters with the newcomers cover not just their tactics when the party arrives, but potential developments - often things that could lead to completely new adventures in the future. The exploration is freeform - the party can take whatever route they please through the ruins - but time and tide wait for no man, and some locations differ depending on how quickly they reach them, making for a setting that has a life of its own over and above interactions with the party.
The climax of the adventure is suitably dramatic and the party gets the opportunity not just to rescue the girl but to do so in suitably cinematic style. A fitting conclusion... and there are plenty of notes to help you with the aftermath, whether they succeed or fail, including suggestions for further adventures. There are also notes on new monsters introduced in this adventure.
OK, that's the adventure. The floorplans are presented in standard 0one Games style, with the 'Rule the Dungeon' customisation options, although when running this adventure you'll want to leave Furniture enabled, so as to have all the debris described in the room descriptions present.
The counters provided depict the main NPCs including a couple of the monsters and some zombies and skeletons as well, although not every critter the party is likely to meet is there. Fortunately there are plenty of blanks on which you can draw (or write the name of) anything else you want a counter for. They can be used on the map tiles with your party's miniatures (or then can use blank counters if they don't have miniatures) if you enjoy a graphic display of combat.
The adventure makes for a fun and cinematic delve (especially if you use the alternate plot!), and it is well-resourced so that you can pretty well play it straight out of the box (well, ZIPfile).
