So I already DM for some of my friends at my high school, but there are also many I don't DM for. So it turns out I'm going to run a campaign after school next year and i figured I'd start writing it this summer. I'm thinking the PCs will start around 4th or 5th level and will meet under strange conditions. I really like the free adventure on the old wizard's site, A Dark and Stormy Night and will probably run a buffed up version of it. For those who haven't read it, The PCs start, not knowing each other, and take refuge from a severe lightning storm in a tor. Lighting smashes open the doors and a dungeon crawl ensues.
However, I don't really know where to take it from there. I definitely want these things in it:
1) Negotiating with barbarian tribes and humanoids like gnolls.
2) Either elemental or undead themes showing up every once in a while.
3) An overall mystery (possibly a missing or dead god)
Start storming those brains please!
Hm...here's a thought so that the pcs don't immediately think 'aha, adventure hook dead ahead! How about you have a red herring type building? Like for example that horror film set in WWII, the Bunker...where shelter or refuge is sought in what seems like a normal building or something but where there is a tunnel or something under it...
All Lists exclude individual AP-based adventures (mainly AoW and STAP)
Warlock4Hire wrote:
1) Negotiating with barbarian tribes and humanoids like gnolls.
Spoiler:
Dungeon Magazine Issues:
035 - Whale, The - Two rival steadings make claim to a beached and dying whale. Negotiate a settlement before violence (and a bloodfeud) erupts. Whether one clan or the other get the whale, if they share it, or if perhaps it is saved and returned to the sea, depends upon your diplomatic skills.
043 - King Oleg's Dilemma - King Oleg’s land has had volcanic activity, poor crops, and now a rash of gnoll attacks. With no army to speak of he needs a treaty with the dwarven kingdom nearby, but his emissaries keeping disappearing. Now he needs adventurers to get the message through the gnolls and their supporters from his own kingdom.
046 - Iron Orb of the Duergar, The - The Northmen have been conducting savage raids in the southern kingdoms. Head northward and discover the reason for their increased attacks and learn of the secret force that has turned the barbarians against their dwarven allies.
048 - To Bite The Moon - Gnolls have been raiding the local traderoutes. Sneak into their cavern lair, but become the victims of an accidental “wish” that transforms the entire party into a band of gnolls themselves.
056 - Grave Circumstances - Journey into the uncharted regions north of the Tablelands, make alliances with traders and bandit kings, and discover the new cultures living beyond the Barrier wastes.
072 - Under a Pale Moon - Investigate the ruins of the “Moon Steps” looking for magical items and powers. Encounter a band of gnolls, but take care as they are scouts for a human warband pursued by three manticores. Will they become enemies or allies, and what happens when the manticores arrive?
083 - Depths of Rage - A small town has lost its best warriors to a band of bezerking goblin barbarians. Track the goblins to their cavern lair and destroy them, but beware their howling rage and survive an earthquake that may seal the caves forever.
083 - Iriandel - Recover an ancient elven spear buried in the tomb of a barbarian chieftain and reunite it with a sickly horse to fulfill a prophesy and return a princely unicorn to being.
084 - Armistice - Peace has been reached between two rival clans, but their long embattled forces remain in a hidden valley. As neutral ambassadors of both chieftains, locate their forces lost in the valley and bring them news of the armistice. But though the depleted armies no longer fight each other, a new threat stalks them.
089 - Rivers of Blood - A powerful chieftain has been assassinated, and now a rival clan threatens to destroy his people. Help the chieftain’s strong wife bring her people through a haunted swamp to safety and allies in a larger town, but be wary of traitors in addition to marauders and monsters.
089 - Rage - A troll priestess has stolen the Rage of the barbarian peacekeeper who killed her son. Raid her lair and destroy the artifact which holds his Rage.
092 - Swarm, The - A party of dwarves has returned to the site of an old battle to stake a claim to a rich iron mine. But the mountain is still the abode of an old enemy their father thought dead, and this old goblin has new allies.
095 - Witch of Serpent’s Bridge, The - Years ago a barbarian warlord destroyed the city of Pedwick and forbidding worship of Kord in favor of Ernythul. Several refugee families settled in the Stagnant Wood and formed the village of New Pedwick. Now they find themselves plagued by gnoll and goblin raiders who once left them alone, while they attempt to rebuild a church to Kord after the vision of a young priest. A gnoll chieftain, a barbarian priest and the local “witch of Serpent’s Bridge” all intertwine in this intrigue.
099 - Fish Story - Locathah have invaded the docks and mill of a small lakeside town, but have attacked no further. Good diplomacy might learn why they have abandoned their home in a long-flooded human village, leading onto the trail of an obsessed ghost, a dead wizard and a bound lonely elemental.
133 - Ill Made Graves - One of the northern barbarian tribes has defeated a great dragon, but suffered terrible losses in the process. With their king slain many neighbors have begun eyeing their lands covetously, but a greater threat arises when, at the king’s funeral, the pyre awaken the dragon’s spirit still residing in a tooth lodged in his corpse. Return the tooth to the dragon’s lair and destroy it in the flames of elemental fire found there.
144 - Diplomacy - The janni Amir is bartering off the deed to the Valley of Light, an immense diamond-strewn vale of incalculable wealth. The party is contracted to present the offer of Elysium and negotiate for the deed against five other finalists from across the planes. Debate, diplomacy, intrigue and betrayal ensues.
144 - Muster of Morach Tor - A human community has allies with local lizardfolk against attacks by trolls and giants, not realizing the lizardfolk mean to betray them to the trolls. A human agent who observed their meeting was captured, so the party is sent out to look for him and stumble into evidence of the betrayal themselves.
145 - Distraction, The - Badlands gnolls who once protected the borderlands overrun the remote provinces since the Lord demanded fealty and tribute. Refugees stream to Fort Chance but the gnoll army masses across the river and the spring floods will recede before the cavalry arrives to save the fort from certain destruction. Sneak across the river and behind gnoll lines to cause a distraction that slows them long enough for help to arrive.
Warlock4Hire wrote:
2) Either elemental or undead themes showing up every once in a while.
Spoiler:
Dungeon Magazine Issues:
062 - Grimjaws - Save a civilized lizardman scholar from attacks by a giant, undead crocodile.
067 - Uzaglu of the Underdark - Overcome the Undead Myconid King guardian of a crossroads in the Underdark.
072 - Deep Trouble in Telthin - The city of Telthin is inexplicably flooding, and watery monsters are ravaging the lakeside while the local water-elementalist/Archmage has gone missing. Journey to the archmage’s retreat on the Elemental Plane of Water and free him from captivity and the grasp of a Marid Caliph who invaded his home.
072 - No Stone Unturned - Investigation the sudden appearance of zombies on city streets. A blackmailed undertaker, and underground excavation by zombie miners, a tribe of frightened mongrelmen terrorized by a family of trolls, and agents of an evil society questing for magic all figure in to a plot with interesting twists.
077 - Wind Chill - The Air Elementals known as Windigo are mean-tempered and territorial hunters who like nothing better than tormenting bands of adventurers who wander into their domains. Escape the snowy mountain pass before becoming dinner for an Elemental who enjoys playing with its food.
080 - Trouble with Trillochs, The - Enter a haunted battlefield, tangle with spiritual guardians, and overcome vicious Pech bandits and their Galeb Duhr ally. Eventually enter the lair of the Pech, former residence of a necromancer, and discover the Negative Energy creatures therein causing much of the trouble.
082 - Playing with Fire - A crystal key unlocks the door sealing the dungeon temple-lair of a Bandit Lord and minions who worshipped a Flame God. Investigate the ruins, but beware of the minions of the Flame Lord who still remain. Some just want to go home, while others want a fresh supper.
082 - Evil Unearthed - An evil priest masquerades in a small village as the replacement for the old cleric who recently died. Using slaves and undead, he secretly tunnels into catacombs beneath an ancient battlefield, hoping to awaken a slumbering evil.
086 - Storm Dancers - A strange, magical storm is wreaking havoc upon a treant’s forest. Investigate the cause of the storm and close the elemental portal which is causing it.
089 – Headless - Stop an evil priestess from constructing a Deathgate, which will suck all the souls of the recently deceased into the Abyss and feed the hunger of Orcus.
090 – Totentanz - Skeletons dance in the streets as the few living citizens of Luzern flee. Discover what dark force is behind this dance macabre and put an end to its foul scheme of revenge. Set in a remote, mountain village.
091 - Sloth - Debris and horrid sounds emanate from the cottage of a slovenly mage. Investigate the scene to find out what fate has befallen the conjurer, and what strange and angry elemental has been left behind in the wake of her miscast summoning.
094 - Bloodlines - The Royal Seal is found in a hidden dungeon of a ruined keep belonging to the family of a minor nobleman. He hopes it will prove a connection between his family and the Royal Clan, but everyone he sends to investigates disappears. Eliminate the undead stalking the dungeons and uncover the tale of the hidden prince, dark sorcery and savage murders which took place there centuries before.
106 - Tammeraut’s Fate - The guardian priest of an island watch post called up a storm to destroy an oncoming ship full of attackers. Turned undead, the drowned sailors overwhelmed the small garrison and returned to the sea. Years later, the abandoned post was turned into a hermitage, but now that a priest of the same god has joined the hermits the undead rise once more. Survive a night on the island, then journey to the ocean floor to put their ghostly master to rest and seal a vault of slumbering evil.
110 - Last Stand at Outpost Three - The well-house at Outpost Three is under attack by bands of elves and waves of undead. Hold your part of the walls and maintain the defense until reinforcements arrive, or perhaps pursue the enemy into the desert.
114 - Torrents of Dread - Fortunate to find safe harbor in a storm that won’t end, the adventurers must put ashore to make repairs, but find the local villagers afraid of the cursed storm and the ill-fortune it brings. Their matriarch has been slain by her son, the Zombie Master is missing and one of the clans has been destroyed by mudslides. Locate secret tunnels beneath the village while searching for the Zombie Master and put an end to his alliance with evil kopru who use the storm as a monstrous portal.
117 - Winding Way, The - Investigate the lack of word from the Temple of the Winding Way, now infested by undead after an ancient cache of undead hidden by a long defeated necromancer has been unsealed. Defeat the released undead to cleanse the temple, and survive the trials of the trap-filled Winding Way to end the torment of the now-cursed Abbot himself.
122 – Fiendish Footprints - A cursed amulet tied to a cult of Orcus transforms owners into vampires. Penetrate a ruined necromancer’s tower and find the “fiendish foot” without succumbing to its curse.
125 - Pit of the Fire Lord - A power-hungry aristocrat attempts to open a portal to the elemental plane of fire which will destroy Sharn.
131 - Hateful Legacy, The - Centuries ago a band of humanoids fled their losing war with their treasure to seek safety in a hidden vale. But the undead druid who insanely guards the vale saw to their demise by releasing clouds of poison gas from the vale’s lakes. Nearly a century ago a human lord attempted to find the lost treasure, but his first foray ended in disaster and the second never returned at all. Enter the vale once more, defeat its guardians and claim the ancient treasure.
136 - Coming Storm, The - Strange marauders appear only during terrible storms to attack local villages. Cursed by the monks they slew, they are trapped in the monastery which only appears to briefly free them during storms as sever as that in which they first attacked. Locate the temple and put an end to the raiders’ threat while also putting the spirits of the monks to rest.
Warlock4Hire wrote:
3) An overall mystery (possibly a missing or dead god)
Spoiler:
The Istivin / Shadows of the Abyss story arc, Dungeon Issues #117-119.
The entire Age of Worms Adventure Path, Dungeon issues #124-135.
Dungeon Magazine Issues:
040 - Khamsa's Folly - A golden flail and strange dreams compel you to travel to the ancient land of Raurin and across the desert to the temple of a forgotten king. A pretender to godhood, he was punished by the true deities of his realm, but now evil forces seek the source of his old power to use as their own.
087 - Cradle of Madness, The - A merchant’s daughter has been kidnapped by a dark cult ... or so her father believes. Rescue the girl and learn the secret of the coming Dark Emissary of the god of Madness.
092 - Razing of Redshore, The - Savage storms and elemental attacks are destroying Redshore. Find the cause of the destruction, learn how it is tied to a cult of assassins that supposedly doesn’t exist, a secret cult of druids, and an artifact for creating demi-gods hidden away by the gods millennia ago.
099 - Quadripartite - An ancient Chaos Beast ravages the countryside, and heroes must reassemble an artifact “primal anchor” created by the gods to sever its connection to the Far Realms, thereby weakening it enough to be slain by mortals.
100 - Beast of Burden - A colossal extra-planar beast has been summoned and is carving a swath of destruction through the borderlands while a tribe of gnolls travel upon its back in a village of war hoodahs.
119 - Tomb of Aknar Ratalla - Survive the traps of a modest tomb to find an angel and devil together guarding an outsider-bane major artifact sword once possessed by a tribal chieftain intent on wiping out religions. Now a half-fiend drives a band of gnolls and yugoloths to the tomb to recover the sword, so the party must defend the tomb they just entered lest the fell weapon fall into evil hands once more.
123 - Quicksilver Hourglass - An ancient goddess of a dead pantheon sought to destroy the Prime Material Plane by constructing the Quicksilver Hourglass. Fueled by the divine essence of an allied demi-god of aging and death it would age all living things by millenia in only minutes. Lost in a time-void for eons, now the hourglass has been found by a vampire who seeks to activate it to slay the living so that he may rule an empire of the undead.
The PCs ... take refuge from a severe lightning storm
The following include "storms" and should not duplicate the lists above. Also does not include any adventures from APs (AoW or STAP).
Spoiler:
Dungeon Issue:
035 - Year of Priest's Defiance, The - Lost in the desert, where a storm has uncovered a corridor of an ancient temple, now in ruins. Find water, a potential ally, and raiders returning to their base.
043 - Jacob's Well - A storm has you stuck in the remote, fortified trading post of Jacob’s Well. But something is trapped with you, and it’s hunting.
049 - Dark Place, The - As your ship takes shelter from a storm and makes repairs you stumble across a deserted city. Investigate the ghost-town, and recover one of your shipmates from the demon that has taken residence there and driven off the townsfolk.
061 - Storm Season - Strange storms are plaguing Arabel, and wizards across the city are being murdered. Investigate the matter and uncover the sinister plot of other-worldly beings and prevent a full scale invasion of Cormyr.
067 - Eye of the Storm - Wandering mage summons storm on small village, then sells lightning rods to protect it.
076 - House on the Edge of Midnight, The - A crazed doctor is trapped in a mini-domain of Ravenloft where time never progresses past the approaching storm before midnight. Haunted in his manor by the ghosts of his family for their murder as he seeks a new set of eyes for the dead daughter he is rebuilding.
078 - Lear the Giant-King - Giants run amuck as their King Lear goes insane and his scheming daughters divide his kingdom. Find the king and return him to his senses before the tempest summoned by the Storm Giant King destroys the lands of humans and giants alike.
086 - Storm Dancers - A strange, magical storm is wreaking havoc upon a treant’s forest. Investigate the cause of the storm and close the elemental portal which is causing it.
091 - Bogged Down - A pounding storm floods Bearden’s Hollow with corpses from the old cemetery in the nearby swamp, but also brings an alleged attack by lizardmen who once lived there and the swamp witch who lairs there now. Journey into the ruins of the old town to recover records to identify the bodies and settle the matter of the mysterious attacks, while putting to rest an old injustice.
092 - Interlopers of Ruun-Khazai - A hundred year-old psychic storm has wound down, revealing a Githyanki outpost thought lost. Both Githyanki and Githzerai raiders seek to claim it, but Ruun-Khazai’s former master hasn’t left and is preparing a special reception for them. Avoid becoming caught in the cross-fire and becoming fuel for the next psychic storm the master is brewing to protect his domain.
093 - Storm Lord’s Keep, The - Many towns and villages have been completely destroyed by a terrible storm that is next set to descend upon the village of Ruvian. Defend the townsfolk from a Storm of Vengeance and flights of half-dragon/half-roc mounted Storm Giants who engage them. A famous local bard can tell you of the Storm Lord who dwells in the great castle atop the thunderhead. Put an end to the giant’s wrathful raids, and perhaps learn of the terrible loss which has enraged him, or the dark secret he protects.
096 - Beyond the Light of Reason - A small village has been protected from evil for years by “the Light of Reason”, a magical lamp which has gone out in a terrible storm. Enter an abandoned mine and re-light the lamp from a mystical flame created in the battle between good and evil clerics. But beware, for while the lamp words out evil from its range, the flame traps evil, and many monsters have sought shelter in the mines over the past fifty years.
122 - Ring of Storms, The - A massive Dragonshard has fallen from the skies, and now rests at the center of the supernatural Ring of Storms on the remote continent of Xen’drik, once home to the empire of the giants. Now lizardfolk live here and keep the secrets of the land hidden from outsiders.
137 - Tealpeck’s Flood - A powerful wizard makes a bargain for power with a pit fiend, but learns that the fiend has outwitted him. Though he plots to double-cross the fiend himself, his own fiendish familiar turns informer and the wizard drowns in the chaos of his own trapped castle when all plots go awry. Now a long-lost heir has returned and storm clouds plague the region as the pit fiend demands his due.
Thanks Rezdave! Quite some archive work there. I was thinking of a few of those missions myself. I think it would be fun to end the campaign on The Coming Storm as I really like that mission.
