D&D Campaign Idea: Neolithic / Stone Age World

Looking for a new campaign idea for your D&D? Tired of Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Eberron, Ravenloft and other campaign worlds?

How about a Neolithic / Stone Age World...

I ran something similar to what you see below for 5 years. It was a very successful campaign too.

All the weapons / armor are made of wood, flint, obsidian, leather, stone age materials. The elves know how to make leaf/wood armor. The dwarves make stone armor.

Society is mostly tribal and nomadic. Agriculture exists, but is subsistence. Architecture is Mud Huts or Neolithic structures and wooden forts. Dungeons are usually caves.

One's Tribe is an important part of character design. Similar to Background in 5th Edition. Each tribe is unique and has specific skills. The Tribe indicates starting equipment for individual classes.

Tribal leaders play an important role in each tribe and indicate level and power. PCs who reach specific levels and rewarded with leadership roles (opportunity for roleplaying) and followers.

Each tribe has their own branch of magic. Conjuration, Illusion, Evocation, etc and users of such magic are called Mystics and specialize in one branch of magic. They have no spellbooks and instead store their knowledge of magic inside a mystical object (staff, wand, gem, bone, etc) which they commune with to recharge their mystical energies. Learning new spells mean they find a mystical object and transfer the knowledge from one object to another, which is time consuming. Some tribes (eg. Dwarves and halflings) also avoid magic entirely, and instead have magical resistance.

Magical items are imbued with mystical energies but have a set duration. Even swords and armor have their energies depleted over time. Nothing magical is permanent.

Currency does not exist. Players must trade items via barter (roleplaying). Prices for items are not listed so value is subjective.

There are signs of ancient architecture and strange artifacts from a past era - suggesting this world is post apocalyptic. But it is so far removed that so little of the past still exists and even the oldest of dragons say anything from the past is just fanciful nonsense. The ancient artifacts are important because unlike magical items which lose their power over time, artifacts never lose their power.

A secret cabal collects and studies the ancient artifacts, and uses their strange powers to gain control over others to do their bidding - in an effort to mine for more artifacts. Even dragons fear the cabal, as they hoard and hide such items and the cabal sends dragonslayers to seek out their hoards and hidden artifacts. Often the artifacts found are mostly useless. A music box. An object made of strange hard material. But othertimes they are a weapon or a device with potent magical powers. (The cabal has discovered that artifacts recharge their powers in moonlight.)

Badlands dot the landscape. Places which make people sick or even mutate. Some believe the sickness can make people strong. Others believe those lands are just cursed. Staying in the Badlands too long has many strange effects.

Food and water are important resources. Each PC has Food Points (FD) and Water Points (WD). In addition to rest to prevent exhaustion, they need to eat and drink or else they suffer effects of starvation and dehydration. If food and drink are plentiful these are not tracked, but if traveling through Badlands then they are tracked. Rival tribes, humanoids and monsters may steal food and water when passing through the badlands. This should be a common occurence. Different tribes have their own methods for protecting their food and water. Raiders from the Badlands will also invade more fertile territory, sometimes just to steal food and water - but othertimes to encroach on that territory and claim it for their own.

The gods of this world are things people can see. The moons, sun, the 4 elements, and totem animals are the gods people choose to worship. In my world the silver moon and the red moon were the most important of the two gods. Fire and sun was combined into a singular elemental god.

...

I ran a very successful 5 year campaign that started in the stone age of my world and later became the bronze age cusp. My current Friday campaign is later in the timeline so it is now the iron age / dark ages.

My campaign world is called Korovia and centers on one kingdom within that world. I have been running it since September 1999, with each campaign being part of a different period in the timeline. See fiction.charlesmoffat.com/korovia/ to learn more about the world.

If WotC wanted to buy the license for my world however I would have a caveat however. They must make it free-license so that authors can write and self-publish stories set in the world. That would be my condition.

Adventurers League Dungeons and Dragons - Logbook

Yesterday I joined Adventurers League, an offshoot of Dungeons and Dragons which hosts organized events of D&D.

#1. January 3rd 2017.

The quest the first DM ran was: Secrets of Sokol Keep. The game ended up being a bit rushed because the store was closing at 10 PM and we needed to pack up in a hurry and rush the ending of the game. Got some nice gold from the quest, 450 XP and leveled up, but that was it. The quest was essentially a "find the missing people" goal on an island with an ancient lighthouse.

The game was hosted at Dueling Grounds (1193 Bloor Street West, Toronto).

#2. January 4th 2017.

Since I wanted to dive into this whole experience I immediately went back for more the next day, this time going to a different location: Face to Face Games (2077a Danforth Ave, Toronto).

This time a different DM ran a series of 3 adventures from Treasure of the Broken Hoard, which is a longer quest that is split into 5 parts. We completed parts 1, 2, and 5. Not that much gold this time around, but I did gain a Healing Potion, 300 XP (100 XP for each of the three parts we completed), a few small non-magical items, and "Blooddrinker the Bear".

As you can see Blooddrinker is essentially useless in combat because she is the little bigger than a kitten, but might be useful for other things - like fetching items. I am thinking of training her to become a dancing bear. I am undecided. Dancing seems more like an embarrassing punishment for a bear that used to eat people, but is now cursed and shrunk into a tiny version of her former self. It is a shame I am not playing a wizard, I could have taken Blooddrinker to be my familiar. Oh well.

Clearly this bear is being punished.

The next game I am planning to go to is on January 10th, back at Dueling Grounds again. Followed by another game on Jan. 11th at Face to Face. I shall try to remember to update this page in the future on January 12th after attending those two games.


UPDATE


So the game on January 10th was cancelled because the DM apparently felt he didn't have time to be running it. So they didn't have enough DMs for the extra players, and so no game for us.

#3. January 11th 2017.


Back at Face to Face again. This time with a different DM. Our group arrives at an abandoned village. We kill some worgs and some goblins. The combat took a lot longer than expected.
We looted part of the place. Found a strange woman hiding upstairs in the inn. Found a chest with dwarven armour and gems in it.


#4. January 18th 2017.


Still at Face to Face and still at the village. Destroyed a ghost-type undead. Killed more goblins. A group of riders arrived in the village. We don't know who they are but they seem powerful and suspicious. We are in no condition to fight them so we rest for the night. We awake in the morning and discover that they have executed the town guards who were hiding in the keep... clearly we should be doing something to stop these people. Just then a giant pack of orcs attack the town. My character Wrathgar raises the drawbridge partially but some of them still get in to the town. Combat ensues. We were grossly outnumbered by the orcs but manage to hold our own thanks to the drawbridge. The strange riders shoot arrows and help us, but it is becoming pretty obvious that they are actually Zhentarim. And we should probably arrest them for murder or kill them if they resist.

 #5. January 24th 2017.

One of the players in a group at Dueling Grounds dropped out and I got a seat there.

Thus I joined a slightly higher level group of adventurers as they were journeying from one town to another. On the way we encountered two hill giants and five ogres. We also found a giant mythral spear tip that weighs 75 lbs. Oh and I gained a riding saddle. But no horse. But I did use Animal Friendship on a buzzard, so I now have a 2nd pet for the time being. The spell wears off in 24 hours, but perhaps I can keep casting it regularly and feed it so it sticks around.

To be continued...

The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (in Toronto)

The posting below is partially for my own personal use - mostly for the purposes of record keeping.

This morning I googled the following words:

haunted halls of eveningstar toronto

Small surprise my campaign postings on Meetup.com came up. (Now that doesn't mean that my campaign is the most popular version of The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar in Toronto - far from it. That honour will always be held by Ed Greenwood (who also lives in Toronto), who created the Forgotten Realms and wrote the original THHoE module. But my campaign is hopefully in the top ten*.)

* I am operating sort of a "drop in" style game which is open to everyone, allowing people to drop in to the game, pick up a character sheet or make their own, and just play. I have the regulars who are there every session (or nearly every session) and others who are less frequent. Each player gets added to a mailing list and invited to future sessions. Thus, by sheer numbers, you could argue my game has the most players Toronto has ever seen playing The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar - with the exception of Ed Greenwood's game itself.

I find the drop in method of running a game is well suited to THHoE because the PCs can return to Eveningstar at the end of each session (unless it ended on cliffhanger), rest, and then return to the dungeon the next session.

While the module I am using is from 2nd edition, I have converted everything to 5th edition for my "Monday Night Modules" game which I run roughly every 3 weeks.

SESSION POSTINGS ON MEETUP.COM

June 27th Session - The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (Session I)

July 18th Session - The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (Session II)

August 8th Session - The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (Session III)

August 29th Session - The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (Session IV)

September 19th Session - The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (Session V)

October 3rd Session - The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (Session VI)

October 24th Session - The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (Session VII)

November 14th Session - The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (Session VIII)

November 28th Session - The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (Session IX)

December 12th Session - The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (Session X)

And then there is next week's session... Which is now 1 week away. I am excited to return to the game after an almost 1 month hiatus for xmas holidays. (The game is full, but to those people interested in joining future games you can message me via Meetup and ask to be put on my Mailing List.)

January 9th 2017 Session - The Haunted Halls of Eveningstar (Session XI)


SYNOPSIS OF THE FIRST TEN SESSIONS

Synopsis of Session I

• Individual PCs encounter Purple Dragon Knights on the outskirts of Eveningstar looking for a wanted man with mustaches and a hooked nose. They don't say the nature of his crimes, but do say he is very dangerous. They offer a reward for information leading to his location and capture.
• The PCs gather in the tavern where they meet Wrathgar, a human ranger, who has previously gone to THHoE and lost his entire party to a room filled with green slime. He says he is looking for people to join him so that they can finish exploring THHoE. Plus he has an Adventuring Charter (which is expensive), so if they want a job in this line of work, they really need his charter.
• Party kills a dire bear in a cave south of the entrance to THHoE.
• Party enters the foyer, explores.
• Party finds a privy, encounter a strange creature inside a hole behind the privy, and find 3 potions. End of session.

Synopsis of Session II

• Party explored the dungeon towards the NE and ended up yanking on Ed Greenwood's chain. (People who know the joke will understand this.)
• They encounter wolves kept in kennels and zombies kept in the last kennel. End of session.

Synopsis of Session III

• Party continues exploring the NE of the dungeon.
• They meet an old blind man making chili (a seer working for necromancers evidently).
• They also find a key hidden in a secret cubby hole inside a privy.
• Party was attacked by undead coming out of columns in a room with a pool. Found a footman's mace in the pool. End of session.

Synopsis of Session IV

• Party explored towards the west end of the dungeon, towards the throne room.
• Party managed to get past the lightning statues, eventually figuring out that BEW ~ means BEWARE of lightning.
• Killed an undead bear.
• Chipped a painting out of a wall.
• Returned to Eveningstar. One party member nearly drowned during a random encounter en route. End of session.

Synopsis of Session V

• Party sold the painting for 20 gold bars (worth 500 gp per bar), divided up the bars and then made some purchases.
• On the way back towards the Haunted Halls, they stopped to investigate some old ruins hidden behind trees and ended up being waylaid by a huge spider in the woods. Injured, they went back to Eveningstar to recover.
• Days later, the party returned to the Haunted Halls and explored in the NW corner of the halls, encountering a stirge, and later an undead spectre obsessed with keeping the party away from her mirror. They defeated but did not destroy the spectre, found a valuable necklace, and decided to leave that chamber. End of session.

Synopsis of Session VI

• More exploring. (I think this is the session where the party decided to explore the Kobold Keep and ran away... I am not sure. My synopsis notes are incomplete.)
• Party returned to THHoE, explored a section to the N of the throne room, killed a stirge.
•  When exploring the hallway with statues they got attacked by an unknown source.
• The session ended with the party at the north end of the hallway with the statues.

Synopsis of Session VII

• Party discovered that what had attacked them last session was a strange shapeshifter disguised as a statue. They promptly killed it.
• Later they found a musty and moldy library, with 6 chests in a corner. Having become wary of strange chests they decided to shoot it. When it bled grey slimy blood and turned to face them with teeth bared, so did the other 5 chests. The party later ended up fleeing from the swarm of Jumping Mimics as they proved too difficult to handle.
• The party returned to Eveningstar, rested, caroused, and returned to the Haunted Halls once more.
• In the foyer they found signs that another party had recently been in the halls, some of their weapons and equipment in the foyer. Two of the weapons were magical. End of session.

Synopsis of Session VIII

• Party explored a southern portion of the Haunted Halls, finding a strange chest that appeared to be air-tight. They decided to open that later...
• Door #1 would not open and a magic mouth informed the party the way was blocked.
• Door #2 blinked a pit in front of the door and the party had to problem solve a way to rescue their teammate from the pit without falling into the blinking pit.
• Door #3 dropped a large stone block on the person who touched the door. All of Elowyn's metal items were teleported to room 3.
• Door #4 caused a spectre of a human woman to appear who informed the party of loot further to the west.
• Party found a secret door and a corridor.
• Door #5 revealed a short corridor, but also had a secret door at the end.
• Party headed west, where they heard strange moaning in a room to the SW. They continued west to a dusty room and encountered a wraith. The wraith killed Varrick, who became a wraith 1 minute later.
• The rest of the party promptly ran away. End of session.

Synopsis of Session IX

• After setting up their tent in the Eveningstar marketplace, the party recruited 3 new adventurers (including Varrick's replacement, a dwarf) to help them delve into the Haunted Halls.
• On the way there they found strange wagon tracks and a barrel of 50 black candles with wicks made of human hair. (They later learned these are used by priests of Myrkul, the god of death.)
• Entering the halls they noticed a draft and found a secret door that had gone previously unnoticed. Opening it they found a room with draperies and a beautiful dead red-haired woman with a fancy dagger in her woman, the victim of an apparent human sacrifice.
• The party returned to the Haunted Halls, with Estrel now carrying a lantern, fully healed and having acquired a mostly empty spellbook. She now owes Elowyn 80 gp.
• Continuing onwards, the party went to the throne and then NE, into the antechamber with all the corpses. The warlock Zulm decided to eldritch blast one of the corpses and woke up a sleeping carrion crawler. Battle ensued. The sounds of battle also woke up a nearby sleeping kobold behind the crossbow slits, it fired a shot and missed, then ran off to warn other kobolds that there are intruders in the halls...
• The party continued onwards, later encountering a priest of Myrkul and an acolyte. They dispatched both of them, during which the dwarf got caught in a Hold spell. The party looted the priest's chamber and the acolyte's room, finding more black candles with human hair wicks. They also found 4 recently decapitated heads, a Speak with Dead scroll, some chunks of obsidian, and some Zhentarim gold coins. End of Session.

Synopsis of Session X

• Four new recruits, drudged into service due to the fact that they didn't have an adventuring charter (without which they would be arrested for violating one of Cormyr's laws prohibiting the bearing of weapons), arrive at the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar.
• Bolstered by new numbers the party returns to the dreaded library where they first encountered six mimics and bravely ran away. This time, girded by numbers they felt certain of their success...
• And then the Mimics ambushed them from above. The battle was a mess and one of their number nearly died and was only saved by his lucky family heirloom (a demonic carved statuette). Towards the end the party managed to fight as a more cohesive unit, defeating 5 mimics...
• But where is the 6th? Out wandering the Haunted Halls?
• Later the party returned to the throne room where they explored to the south west and found a blackened and charred room, within they found the bones of a skeleton tangled around a stone warhammer, piles of dust in the corners, and two secret doors. They also found a third secret door behind the throne itself after Kiki the halfling druid noticed a draft behind the throne.
• Beyond the throne the party found an ancient armoury, and in a pile of dust and rotting clothing in the NE corner they found a cheap bronze ring and a pouch containing a Magestar - which Estrel recognized as a very expensive and sought after magical item which allows wizards to heal themselves.
• According to Estrel a Magestar can absorb any spell cast directly at it. The level of the spell is then converted into healing energy equal to 1 hp per level of the spell. Eg. Fireball = 3 hit points. However Magestars have an unknown capacity. They can only absorb so much and then they explode. So casting too many spells into the Magestar is clearly reckless.
• Traditionally wizards would use a Magestar at the end of the day to get rid of any unused spells and then heal themselves accordingly. Magestars can only be *bound* and mentally commanded by an arcane spellcaster (or someone possessing arcane spell-like abilities). Once bound they fly around the owner like an Ioun stone, and then when mentally commanded (or if the owner falls unconscious) the Magestar will heal the owner the full amount.
• Estrel estimates it is worth 20,000 gp as they are highly sought after by wizards and should fetch a good price. Also the methods of making Magestars have been lost, so no one has made any new Magestars in centuries. These days they are usually kept as family heirlooms. Some Magestars slowly die and lose their powers, but the one the party has found looks to be fully functional.
• The party peered down the hallway to the SW. It is a long and dark hallway...
• Note - They also didn't finish searching the blackened and charred room. End of Session.

UPDATES, 2017

Synopsis of Session XI

• Three new recruits, drudged into service due to the fact that they didn't have an adventuring charter (without which they would be arrested for violating one of Cormyr's laws prohibiting the bearing of weapons), arrive at the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar.
• There was much falling down slippery and slimy stairs, during which the gnome rogue Spork was attacked by a Stirge and nearly died. Fortunately his teammates managed to kill the Stirge become he could succomb to death and save his life.
• The party encountered a regenerating skeleton whose bones began rattling back together and knitting themselves. During this the gnome Spork decided to push open a stone coffin, which burst open - throwing the coffin lid across the room. The dreaded mummy stood up within the coffin and the fight continued. It took awhile but the party eventually took down the mummy. The elf Elowyn got Mummy Rot and later paid to have a Remove Curse cast at the Temple of Lathander back in Eveningstar.
• The human wizard Mar found a strange hole in NE corner of the room and opened a tiny tunnel going east. Later the elf Elowyn explored it and saw a floating skull in the room. The dwarf paladin Fargrim (aka Grim) explored the tunnel too and determined that the skull was actually dangling from a wire and there was no undead present.
• After searching both the floating skull room and the mummy room, the party found a necklace with 14 rubies on it, a Manual of Stealthy Pilfering, a magical longbow, a magical shortsword, a chest full of gold, silver and 3 pearls (and pearl dust), and a gem encrusted scabbard fit for a shortsword.
• The party returned back to town and did 3 days of resting / downtime. Various things were purchased, Elowyn had a Remove Disease/Poison, a Lesser Restoration, and a Remove Curse cast on her before finally removing the Mummy Rot. Various other things have yet to be sold. The Manual, Longbow and Shortsword were identified by Lady Thorne.
• Lady Thorne offered to purchase the shortsword and was apparently deceptive about why she wanted to buy it. This made some party members suspicious about its value. The wizard Mar went through the process of also Identifying it and also decided he wanted the shortsword... "because it would be useful for, ah, casting magic..." Anyone familiar with this module will know there is a longsword in the module of exceptional value... no spoilers here. But suffice to say I changed it to a shortsword instead. Mar revealed to the two druids Nomuck and Kiki what the sword is, but the three decided to keep it a secret as a "get out of jail free card" for later.
• While carousing Spork had a whirlwind romance with a gnome weapons merchant from Suzail. He hopes to see her again someday.
• By the end of the session the party began the trek back towards the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar.

PERSONAL NOTES REGARDING THE HAUNTED HALLS OF EVENINGSTAR

One of the things I love about this module is that it allows the DM a lot of freedom to add their own things to the dungeon. Roughly half of the dungeon's first level is left blank, so that the DM has to come up with their own things. So I filled in the blanks with undead, traps, necromancers, priests of Myrkul and a plot involving Zhentarim smugglers. (Oh and 6 mimics...)

Beyond that it is also a classic dungeon crawl, a great way for first level characters to meet while seeking riches, and there is a lot of room for the DM to add extra plots. The whole Estrel vs the Zhentarim plot for example.

There is also the Kobold Keep above THHoE, and the lower levels - which has several ways it can be reached, and are left up to the DM as to how many lower levels there are, what they contain, and the shape of the dungeons within - although it is implied that the lower levels are significantly harder and PCs should return to this later. Ed Greenwood also lists a number of nearby places in Cormyr where PCs can also explore.

Estrel is now effectively a henchman - as is Wrathgar, who carries the Adventuring Charter. I am a big fan of using henchmen, hirelings and a variety of other NPCs to fulfill roles in the game. Everything from messengers, couriers, adventure hook providers, allies, possible neutral 3rd parties, and even people who might be allies now but later become villains or rivals.

The following books have been useful:

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (Both the 1st Edition and the Revised 2nd Edition)
Forgotten Realms Adventures
Forgotten Realms Hall of Heroes
Cormyr (the accessory, not the novel)
Volo's Guide to Cormyr
Forgotten Realms Book of Lairs
Ruins of Zhentil Keep
Four From Cormyr
Ruins of Adventure
Curse of the Azure Bonds
Into the Dragon's Lair

There is also a number of Dungeon magazines I have found useful. Too many to list them all here properly.

THE FUTURE OF MY FORGOTTEN REALMS CAMPAIGN

I have read up on a number of other modules and adventures also set in Cormyr, not far from Eveningstar. I am trying for now at least to limit the campaign to that one region, and to a lesser extent the Dales, Sembia and the area around Zhentil Keep.

My goal is to run several of the modules listed above and various modules from Dungeon Magazine, as my goal for "Monday Night Modules" is to run a campaign that is fueled mostly by modules and requires very little work from the DM - excluding all the reading I have been doing to become an expert about all things Cormyr or the GCR, the Greater Cormyrean Region.

Part of my goal is to make Cormyr the central base for the characters so that the adventuring hooks keeps them in Cormyr, the Dalelands, Sembia and regions close to Cormyr. As long as I avoid adventuring hooks from other locations, and only rarely visit farflung locations for the sake of spicing things up, the PCs should become invested in the local flavour and politics of Cormyr. They will buy homes, build keeps, invest in businesses, clean out every dungeon in the region, take part in all the major events from the modules Ruins of Adventure, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Into the Dragon's Lair, Four From Cormyr and others. The result will be a very detailed experience, a world players can truly sink their teeth into, and by the end they will feel a sense of accomplishment and be bonafide experts in all things Cormyr.

Then maybe, and only then, will I expand the game (or possibly restart it) to a different region of the world.

I should also note my game is set historically before the Time of Troubles. Four years before it, as the game started in Summer 1354, and the ToT isn't until 1358. This means the PCs may end up living through the events of that rather interesting time period.

It is also only 2 years after the events in which Gondegal the Usurper King proclaimed himself King of Arabel and briefly conquered part of Cormyr before running away when his mercenary army fled. So there might be plots connected to Gondegal and stolen treasure looted by the mercenaries, as that happened only 2 years prior.

Ruins of Adventure should be approx. 1356 or earlier. It is basically a prequel to Curse of the Azure Bonds.

Curse of the Azure Bonds happens in 1357. Module is for 4 to 8 PCs of 6th to 9th level.

Time of Troubles, as mentioned above, in 1358.

There is also the Tuigan Horde invasion in 1359-60. Didn't actually reach Cormyr, but Cormyr did send troops and presumably adventurers. The Tuigans were defeated at Phsant, Thesk in 1360.

The Goblin War in 1370-71, invasion of Cormyr. (While referred to as the Goblin War, most of the baddies were orcs being led by a dragon named Nalavarauthatoryl.) The events of this is from the module "Into the Dragon's Lair", so evidently time would need to pass for the PCs to reach that module. They also should be approx. level 10 by then.

Civil War in Sembia in 1374.

The Spellplague in 1385. I would rather avoid the Spellplague entirely - I feel that whole thing was mistake made by Wizards of the Coast. Changing the maps / everything would be rather annoying. I prefer to use the original maps that are circa 1990. If the game manages to go through 31 years of game time I think I might have a plot involving the clergies of Cyric/Shar trying to rip a hole in the weave of magic, but the PCs will successfully stop them. Do that and I never to deal with that whole annoyance.

CAROUSING

The good news is the players in my game spend an odd amount of time carousing. They will regularly "rest and carouse for 3 days" before returning to THHoE for more adventuring. In theory carousing could be used to have the PCs carouse their way through months or even years of the timeline...

You carouse for 8 months. You wake up in an abandoned building with strange azure tattoos on your body... Tada! It is 1357 already. You don't remember how you got here.

I presume they will also use downtime between adventures in other ways too, as the game continues, but we shall see.

eg. They might decide to carouse their way through the Time of Troubles, thus avoiding it entirely. We shall see about that too.

The Side Shot Adventure

Not the One Shot, but the Side Shot...

For several years now as part of my ongoing campaign I sometimes run what I call a Side Shot Adventure.

During a Side Shot, the players make up new characters and then I run an adventure that is happening simultaneously that their regular characters are doing other stuff (like resting). The adventure happens far enough away that the two parties never bump into each other.

Below are a few examples of how I have done this:

The Orc Marauders - One of the PCs got separated from the main party and captured by orcs. As a cleric his abilities were valuable, so the orcs kept him alive and protected him. Each player except the cleric made an orc character and then played them accordingly, following a mission given to them by an orc high priest. The cleric PC later saw his old friends on a ship on a large river and escaped by swimming out to the ship.

The Obliteration Stone - The PCs were all thieves or assassins with various different skills (trapper, boxman, pickpocket, conman, etc) and tasked with stealing an Obliteration Stone from a Xarsian Temple in the city of Iztark, taking it to the Ivory Tower in the same city - where the multiclass priest/thief would then sacrifice a virgin to the Obliteration Stone to activate it... what resulted was the equivalent of a nuclear bomb going off and destroying most of the city. The regular PCs then witnessed the explosion and destruction of the city from a distance out in the desert - and later helped out a group of refugees fleeing from the destroyed city.

The Council of High Mages - For this one I ran the opening quest from one of the Vecna modules. During the opening of the module, the PCs play famous wizards (Mordenkainen, Evard, Otiluke, etc) who awake from a nightmare about an old tomb, call a council meeting, and then decide to investigate the old tomb. After getting past a few monsters and traps, they all get party wiped by Vecna who has some insane chronomancy skills and uses Haste and Time Stop to kill the entire party. The purpose of the opening is to scare the players into realizing that Vecna is super powerful and needs to be treated with respect, because if a party of powerful wizards couldn't fight him, then what chance does a lower level party have? For my purposes I changed the names of all the wizards and Vecna to other names, and I really only needed the opening as the rest of the module I am planning to use millenia later when the archlich has become more established. (My campaign spans multiple time periods. That way when I reintroduce the archlich, the players will go: "Oh, that guy... the one who party wiped us and escaped!")

The Dragonslayers - At one point the regular characters ran into a dragon that was too powerful for them and ran away. Fortunately a group of powerful dragonslayers heard about the dragon attacking the fishing village and came to slay it. Each player made a higher level character with specific skills useful for killing a dragon.

Note - While I did not think of it at the time, future DMs could in theory use the Larry Elmore painting (shown on the right) for the basis of a side shot game. Make 5 characters that match those in the painting.

Conclusions

Side Shot Adventures are useful in my opinion because they fill out a narrative and make for an useful storytelling device. Major events can be accomplished by other characters, but the players are still involved in the action. Background stories of PCs being captured and what happens to them can also be fleshed out, and sometimes a Side Shot Adventure can even be used to hint at a future adventure that is much further away.

For those people who love Star Wars, the film Rogue One is effectively a Side Shot Adventure.

Thoughts on this? Have you ever used a Side Shot Adventure or something similar in your campaign? Leave your comments below.

The Cliffside Campaign World

20 years ago I ran a one shot game I refer to as "Cliffside".

Everything in the world (that the PCs knew of) lived on the Great Cliff, which spanned from the ocean below and disappeared into the sky. If they travelled too high up they ran into lots of monsters and air that was difficult to breath.

Every character got Mountaineering and Rope Use as bonus skills. This was to help them to climb and stay alive.

People and monsters lived in caves and ledges on the side of the Great Cliff. Whole villages of humanoids would live either inside the caves or on large ledges.

Trees and plants grew out of the side of the cliff, and birds were the most common animals. Monkeys, mountain goats, squirrels and similar fauna who were adept at climbing were also common.

During the first game session of what I was hoping to be a longer game, the party wiped. Not because of the monsters I threw at them - which were easy. It was because players didn't take the whole falling damage thing seriously. They started jumping from place to place, taking falling damage so that they wouldn't have to climb down via a rope.

So while I had envisaged swashbuckling style combat of people fighting while in swinging ropes, what happened was...

"I have 6 hp left. I am going to jump down 30 feet so I can fight that kobold."

And splat.

And it happened multiple times. Seriously. They just didn't take falling damage seriously.

They also had missile weapons and rocks they could have dropped on the kobolds. But nope, jumping down and taking 3d6 damage seemed like a good idea to them.

I still think Cliffside is a great idea for a campaign. But you need to give the players a serious talking to about the real risks of falling damage.

At higher levels they would get access to Levitate, Fly and eventually flying mounts, but at low levels they need to be using ropes and taking falling damage seriously.

I was going to add gliders at some point when the party encountered a Gnome village. There were also mechanics for sliding down ropes faster using either a device or bare hands (if using bare hands they would take 1 hp damage from rope burn).

So they had many options but chose not to use them.

:(

PS. There is also a number of arguments for scaling falling damage. I haven't really had that problem however as even higher level games, my games are balanced very well and they still take a lot of damage under the normal rules if they don't take falling damage seriously.

Maybe in some games (the kind where the average PC has a really high Con and lots of hit points) this might be a problem, but in my games PCs get killed by falling sometimes... And it is their own fault for not using a rope, backup safety rope, taking the stairs, etc.

Haven't had any party wipes since that incident 20 years ago, but I have come close. (Ask my Friday Night players about their trip to the Ice Nymph's Mountain and they will tell you how several PCs died, and the last man standing had to drag their bodies back from the mountain... Slippery + Falling Damage + Monsters on Higher Ground = Near Party Wipe.)

Dungeon Mastery for D&D, Facebook Group

In my quest to help Dungeon Masters to develop their DMing skills, I have started a Facebook group titled Dungeon Mastery for D&D.

The group's purpose is to share ideas, DMing tips, etc. If you would like to join it is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1825105327729019/

Feel free to invite your friends who are also DMs.

Rogue Cleric Cat

Rogue Clerics are very versatile.

Star Wars Gingerbread

The following Millennium Falcon was created by my friends Adam and Amanda, inspired by Star Wars of course.

So it got me thinking... What other Gingerbread Star Wars things have people made?

And what I found is that this is really quite a popular thing for people to do...

Oh and Merry Xmas and May the Force be with you!

The Best Dungeon Magazine Adventure Modules

According to various sources the following are the best adventure modules published in Dungeon Magazine. What I have done here is amalgamated multiple lists made by other people and organizations (issue 116 list, issue 150 list, Joshua Goudreau's list, W.E.Ray's list) and then created a master list organized by Issue #.

If you have your own favourites, add your own list to the comments section further below.

✮ appeared in one list.
✮✮ appeared in two lists.
✮✮✮ appeared in three lists.


1: Into the Fire (AD&D) ✮✮

37: The Mud Sorcerer’s Tomb (AD&D 2E) ✮✮

10: Threshold of Evil (AD&D) ✮
18: Chadranther’s Bane (AD&D 2E) ✮
19: House of Cards (AD&D 2E) ✮✮

24: Thunder Under Needlespire (AD&D 2E) ✮✮
25: A Rose for Talakara (AD&D 2E) ✮
29: Ex Libris (AD&D 2E) ✮
33: Siege of Kratys Freehold (AD&D 2E) ✮
35: Twilight's Last Gleaming (AD&D 2E) ✮
37/138: The Mud Sorcerer’s Tomb (AD&D 2E) ✮✮
41: Old Man Katan and the (Incredible Marching) Mushroom Band (AD&D 2E) ✮
42: The Lady of the Mists (AD&D 2E) ✮✮
55: Umbra (AD&D 2E) ✮
59: Seeking Bloodsilver (AD&D 2E) ✮
61: Nightswarm (AD&D 2E) ✮
62: Dragon's Delve (AD&D 2E) ✮
63: Hunt for a Hierophant (AD&D 2E) ✮
64: Last Dance (AD&D 2E) ✮
65: The Ice Tyrant (AD&D 2E) ✮
69: Slave Vats of the Yuan Ti (AD&D 2E) ✮

70: Kingdom of Ghouls (AD&D 2E) ✮✮✮

70: Kingdom of Ghouls (AD&D 2E) ✮✮✮
73: Eye of Myrkul, Mere of Dead Men part 5 (AD&D 2E) ✮
74: Preemptive Strike (AD&D 2E) ✮
75: The Forgotten Man (AD&D 2E) ✮✮
78: Lear, Giant King (AD&D 2E) ✮
84: The Harrowing (D&D 3E) ✮✮
92: Interlopers of Ruun Khazai (D&D 3E) ✮
95: Porphyry House Horror (D&D 3E) ✮✮
97: Life’s Bazaar, Shackled City part 1 (D&D 3E) ✮
100: The Lich-Queen’s Beloved (D&D 3.5) ✮
100: Beast of Burden (D&D 3.5) ✮✮
102: Zenith Trajectory (D&D 3.5) ✮
106: Tammeraut's Fate (D&D 3.5) ✮
111: Lords of Oblivion, Shackled City part 7 (D&D 3.5) ✮

112: Maure Castle (D&D 3.5) ✮✮✮
117: Touch of the Abyss, Istivin part 1 (D&D 3.5) ✮✮
121: The Styes (D&D 3.5) ✮✮✮
121: Fiend's Embrace (D&D 3.5) ✮

112: Maure Castle (D&D 3.5) ✮✮✮

122: Root of Evil (D&D 3.5) ✮
124: The Whispering Cairn, Age of Worms part 1 (D&D 3.5) ✮
131: The Prince of Redhand, Age of Worms part 8 (D&D 3.5) ✮
132: Library of Last Resort, Age of Worms part 9 (D&D 3.5) ✮
134: Into the Wormcrawl Fissure, Age of Worms part 11 (D&D 3.5) ✮
134: And Madness Follows (D&D 3.5) ✮
135: Dawn of a New Age, Age of Worms part 12 (D&D 3.5) ✮
139: There is No Honor, Savage Tide part 1 (D&D 3.5) ✮
140: Heart of Hellfire Mountain (D&D 3.5) ✮
156: Last Breaths of Ashenport (D&D 4E) ✮

Notes

Issue 150 was the last issue produced by WotC and Dungeon Magazine was sold to Paizo Publishing (Polyhedron Magazine, etc). The quality of the writing in Dungeon Magazine went down dramatically after that and it is small surprise only one of the adventures made it into anyone's list of "best adventures". Many people also boycotted 4th edition - and to some extent some people also now boycott 5th edition, despite it being a vast improvement over 4th - not because 5th edition is bad or sub par, simply because some gamers have moved on to Pathfinder and other games, or they have gone retro and are now playing 1st, 2nd and 3rd edition (or OSRIC) because those are the classics.

Paizo also shortened the magazine to approx. 70 pages instead of 80 to 90 pages that was typical of Dungeon Magazines under WotC. (If you go back further in history, under TSR, the magazine was close to 60 to 70 pages - but the quality of the writing was so much better back then and graphics was kept to a minimum, whereas now the magazine relies more on advertising, graphics and artwork to fill pages.)

All of the older Dungeon Magazines can be downloaded in PDF format for free from https://dnd.rem.uz/Dungeon%20Magazine/

121: The Styes (D&D 3.5) ✮✮✮

Modules Vs Homebrew Campaigns

DM Notes

I am currently running two campaigns.

#1. Monday Night Modules, with a splash of homebrew. 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, set in the Forgotten Realms

#2. Friday Night Homebrew, with a splash of modules. 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, set in the world of Korovia / Aoerth.

As a DM it is difficult to say which one I enjoy running more. The Friday game definitely has required a lot more work, and there is pride going into that work and it is nice to see the game is so successful after 17 years of running the same campaign world (see Korovia.com for more details).

But on the other hand the Monday game is so easy and requires comparatively little work. I read the module(s), I add things to the story to spice it up a bit, and then I more or less sit back and watch what happens - occasionally rolling dice for monsters attacking or traps going off... And reading the description of rooms when people enter a room.

I have been DMing for over 20 years now, but it wasn't until last year that I started using modules once in awhile. I had been wanting to try using modules for years, but I usually avoided them because I enjoyed the personal touch of making / expanding my own homebrew campaign - the aforementioned Korovia which I have been running for 17 years.

One of the interesting things I have been doing is taking 1st and 2nd edition modules, and then adapting them to 5th edition. This is actually surprisingly easy to do. I basically just went through the module and marked down the page numbers of any monsters from the Monster Manual, this way I knew which page to turn to.

* In the event that I did not have a suitable miniature for a particular monster I also replaced that monster with a monster that I did have a miniature for.

Take for example the Owlbear from the cave just outside the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar. I did not have an Owlbear miniature so I simply replaced it with a Dire Bear instead, which I did have the miniature for. Minor adjustments for hit points, and voila, done. A balanced encounter.

Some modules also leave a lot of room for DMs to add their own things. For example in the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar half of the rooms in the first level of the dungeon are left empty and up to the DM to decide what to put in there. Therefore using the map I marked numbers on the various rooms and made a list of numbered room entries.

For those DMs who want those rooms filled in and don't want to do the work, here are my DM notes for the rooms in question. Assign them as you see fit.

THE HAUNTED HALLS, NON-MODULE ROOMS ON LEVEL ONE

A - The Guest Bedroom - Cobwebs clutter this once well decorated guest bedroom comes with its own small privy with a door on the west wall. Sadly many of the decorations have fallen to pieces and are worthless, but perhaps there is something of value within the wreckage of this room. The bed has partially collapsed and dark skittering things move underneath it. (There is a hole under the bed leading to a den of grey widowmaker spiders. If disturbed, they will swarm out and begin biting the nearest people with their deadly poison. If the room is searched thoroughly, they find hidden under a pile of rubbish a tarnished silver goblet that has a ruby embedded in the stem. If cleaned and polished, the goblet is worth 1200 gp.)

B - The Locked Door - This door is locked and barred from the outside, suggesting that something dangerous dwells within. The lock looks new and recently installed. A tiny flap on the bottom of the door can be swung open, suggesting it is for food or something else. Behind the door you hear a shuffling noise which suddenly stops. If unlocked the party finds a man dressed in rough spun robes, filthy and dirty - but with a handsome face and powerfully built. The room is sparse, and although decorative is in disrepair and appears to have been used more recently as a room for prisoners. (Within the room is Ulzmark, F2, CN, S18, D12, C15, I10, W11, C14, hp 19. Prefers to use bastardsword. Pretends to be honourable, but is secretly a thief. He will steal something of value at the first opportunity.)

C - Cultist Room I - Two cots lie against the south wall. A small shrine to the death god Myrkul, on the west wall, made up of skulls of various creatures and humanoids. A gold bowl of blood lies before the shrine. (The bowl is worth 10 gp.) Depending on the time of day, the two cultists who sleep here are either asleep, or wide awake and praying to Myrkul. If alerted due to loud noises they will have taken up ambush positions. (Level 1 thieves wearing robes, 6 hp.)

D - Cultist Room II - Two cots lie against the north wall. Shrine to Myrkul on the west is made of ivory and old skulls, smeared with dried blood. There are strange scratch marks on the wall near the shrine, looks like it is from axes. (Secret door, emanates magic. Requires a password to open. Within is a dusty cobwebbed corridor with a chest at the far end. Any person entering the corridor triggers invisible skull runes on the floor, which causes the person to suffer 2d8 necrotic damage, save for half. / The two cultists in this room follow the same rules as C.)

E - The Cannibal's Kitchen - A long room filled with tables and at one end sits a stew pot. The smell of something tasty comes from within. The room is cluttered with dirty wooden bowls and spoons. A heavy butcher knife lies on the table nearest the stew pot, next to it is a platter of rotting meat. (If PCs inspect more closely, they realize the meat is human flesh. As is the meat in the stew pot.)

F - Temple of Myrkul - A bone altar in the centre of this chamber covered with bloody skulls is clearly a shrine to Myrkul, the god of murder and the Lord of Bones. The walls of the room are stained with old dried blood and bits of gore. The room stinks of murder and death. (If the party smashes the altar they find a secret compartment within the altar that hides a skull-shaped coffer containing 73 gold pieces.)

G - High Priest's Chambers - This chamber is well decorated and orderly, as if recently cleaned. Books line a bookshelf on the north wall and cover a variety of topics including: Advanced Blood Sacrifices - Volume II, Confessions of a Murderer (clearly a fictional work despite the name), Unicorn Horns and their Usages, a journal containing murder fetish poetry, and a sketchbook filled with elegantly done charcoal sketches of cadavers. In a basket in the NE corner is a collection of various skulls. Near the west wall is a well made oak bed with a combination of grey cotton and black silk sheets. A chest in the SW corner contains a collection of black robes, belts and footwear. A small table sits against the south wall, with an inkwell and stylus, but nothing else of note.

H - Sacrificial Chamber - A large stone slab dominates this room, carved in the shape of a skull. Old dried blood is pooled on top of the stone, the crevices of the stone creating the shape of a skull dedicated to Myrkul, the Lord of Bones. (Smashing the stone slab takes a great deal of time and noise. Check to see if any nearby baddies are alerted.)

I - The Howling Corridors - Strange sounds emanate from the walls in this area of the Haunted Halls. You are not certain whether they come from a magical source, an undead source hiding within the walls, or both. You have the distinct impression you are being watched.

J - The Angry Wraith - This chamber is filled with grey dust. The room smells ancient and musty. A 'Howling Wraith' gathers from dust and attacks the party. (Characters killed by the wraith also become Howling Wraiths - same stats as normal wraiths, but descriptive wise they should be depicted as making horrible howling sounds which may or may not cause PCs to run away in terror depending on roleplaying decisions.)

K - The Dead Elves - A group of dead elves lies in this chamber, cut to pieces by an unknown predator. The marks on their bodies suggest a large predator. A bear perhaps. They died recently and their bodies have been looted already of anything of value.

L - The Undead Bear Pen - This undead beast can be commanded by the priests of Myrkul. They only let it out when they have an use for it. See MM.

M - Secret Chamber of Nieilor - (This well decorated chamber can only be accessed via a secret door, which in turn can only be opened by saying a magical phrase. A Knock spell can open it, if the caster can figure out what part of the wall to cast it on. Within the chamber is a small collection of books, an iron bound chest, a skull statuette with a smaller skull inside it, another smaller skull side inside that one, and a tiny vial of black liquid inside the smallest of the skulls: Black Wyvern Poison, Con save vs death. 2d8 damage on a successful save.)

N - The Chamber of Corpses - The corpses of multiple adventurers line the walls of this room, their bodies appear to have been picked clean of any valuables. The stench is overwhelming as many of the corpses are rotting. (Amidst the piles of corpses is a Carrion Crawler, currently sleeping. See MM.)

O - Sitting Room / Lounge - Ancient sofas, rotted and falling apart line the walls of this room. A small table holds a dented copper oil lamp covered with green tarnish. (A secret cache is under one of the sofas, but has long since been emptied.)

P - The Laboratory - This 30 x 20 foot room is sparsely decorated with ancient banners, elaborately carved desks and chairs, and the tables holds a selection of equipment for potion making. If the pieces are gathered together there is approx. 50 gp worth of alchemist supplies, although much of it is damaged and in need of 10 gp worth of repairs. (One of the desks has a secret drawer containing two green potions that if smelled have the scent of frogs: Two Potions of Jumping.) The room also contains numerous burnt out candles, a silver candelabra worth 10 gp, and a parchment showing a recipe for a Potion of Hill Giant Strength: 1 hill giant heart, 2 ogre fangs, 3 cyclops eyes. Grind the fangs into dust, roll the the cyclops eyes together like dough, sprinkle the fang dust on the eyes while continuing to roll them together, wrap the doughy concoction around the hill giant heart and then boil for 144 hours. The end potion should be a dark brownish red and thick like syrup. There is a note in the corner of the recipe, stating that "Potion is poisonous to trolls if drank. Do not feed to trolls."

Q - The Shaft - A crude tunnel is cut through the rock here, ending in a rough cut 10 x 10 foot chamber with what looks like a well in the middle. A deep shaft goes down into darkness, with a tiny glimmer of light part way down. It appears to be a candle. The shaft detects of magic. (Anyone climbing down towards the candle must surpass multiple magical traps: They must make a Str save or lose their grip on a slippery patch, a Dexterity save or lose their footing, and a Con save or become exhausted. These are magical effects. Should they reach the candle, it is revealed to be made of a strange wax that burns extremely slowly, but provides light equal to a normal candle. Arcane runes on the rocks nearby suggest that this location has some sort of magical importance, but it is unclear why.)

R - Chamber of Lost Love - This room once belonged to a woman judging by the ornate quality of the bed and furnishings, a large silver mirror, various clothes scattered about the room in a range of decay and rot. She evidently enjoyed the fancier things in life. (If anyone touches the mirror, a lavender Spectre of a woman emerges from a cabinet wearing fine jewelry and a purple silk dress. She screams "Stay away from my mirror!" and attacks anyone near her. Spectre, MM page 279. In her cabinet, inside the ruins of a purple silk dress is a pocket holding a silver necklace with a 100 gp amethyst on it.)

S - Storage Room - Most of the barrels in this room have been smashed into pieces. One barrel remains, sitting pristine in the corner and looking unusually clean. (It detects of magic if checked. Inside is pickled relish. On the underside of the barrel lid is an explosive rune of a smiling face.)

T - Storage Room - A storage room containing many empty barrels. One of the barrels contains a colony of sleeping rats. If the barrels are disturbed, they swarm out of the barrel and attack the nearest intruder. Use 3 rats per PC. MM page 335. These rats also carry a disease, those infected develop "Rage Fever". When threatened, people with rage fever gain a +1 to hit, but suffer -2 to their AC. Otherwise the symptoms include headaches, back pain, and lethargy.

U - Storage Room - Empty shelves line this room. In one corner is a large old painting covered with dust, with a solid gold frame (50 gp). The painting is a portrait of a man carrying a magical sword. (It does not detect of magic thanks to an Undetection spell, but does carry a curse so that anyone touching the painting has Disavantage on attack rolls for 1 hour.)

V - Storage Room - This room has 8 barrels with lids on them. You smell the scent of pickled relish in the air. (Six barrels contain water, two contain pickled relish. There are no traps however. This room contains nothing of interest.)

W - Smithy - Most of the tools, weapons and armour in this ancient smithy are covered with a lair of rust and mold. Water drips in the NE corner. The corpse of a dead dwarf lays in the NW corner, chained to the wall. He appears to have died from starvation, and only recently. When the party inspects the corpse, a flesh coloured slime moves off his skeleton, latching on to the person touching the corpse. (Don't use a MM slime. This slime behaves like a Green Slime, but can disguise itself as creatures it has consumed.)

X - Ore Refinery - The room is filled with barrels of old rusty implements and a large stone kiln crucible, meant for smelting. There isn't enough wood or coal however to make it work. (If the PCs search the room thoroughly they will find an old rusty sword with an emerald in the hilt worth 1000 gp. The sword itself is junk, but the emerald can be pried out easily.)

Y - The Library, this chamber holds an ancient library with musty tomes that have mostly rotted away. Damp mold covers some of the books, which includes a variety of topics from recipes, history tomes, travel journals, diaries, maps, scrolls, letters and more. In the south east corner is a 20 x 20 foot alcove containing 6 large wooden chests bound with iron. (Six mimics, waiting to ambush intruders. MM page 220. Lesser mimics have 1 HD, 10hp each. Careful searching of the mimics yields 23 gp, 8 sp and 1 amethyst worth 100 gp.)

Z - These chambers are barred and contain old rotting straw and a feed trough, as if it was once used as a kennel. Now a handful of zombies roam inside the chamber. (Outside the chambers are wall sconces for torches also serve as levers for opening the secret doors.)

Ne1 - This is the abode of a necromancer, judging by the scattered parchments, diagrams, skulls, bones, and the stink of old dried blood and worse. On a table in the center of the room lies 4 decapitated human heads, in various stages of rot. Next to the heads is a cleric scroll of Speak with Dead, held in place by two chunks of black obsidian (worth 10 gp each). Other features of the room include a box full of 9 candles, a broken skull being used as a candle holder, a wooden bed with a dirty old bedroll, a wooden bucket with a lid - inside is blood, shit and piss. The necromancer, a priest of Myrkul the god of death, who lives in this room is alert and has a passive perception of 17. If alerted he moves quietly towards the zombies and releases them, using command undead to steer them towards the PCs, then he casts two glyphs of warding in two locations, before moving to support the zombies. If injured, he runs away to alert the other necromancers. C5, 29hp, AC14 or 18, wears black robes and carries a triangle shield with the white skull of Myrkul on it. He also wears a bleached white skull as his holy symbol. Spells: Glyph of Warding x2, Silence, Hold Person x2, Protection from Good, Shield of Faith, Bane, Bless. (In the corner of the room is a loose stone, underneath is hidden a small sack containing 8 obsidians, worth 10 gp each, and 6 gp.)

Ne2 - This is the abode of a young necromancer acolyte of Myrkul, judging by the disarray and the crude drawings of scantily clad women in lewd positions with skeletons. If the PCs are quiet, they can enter his room while he is sleeping. If they are loud (passive perception 13) then he might be wakened - because he is sleeping he has Disadvantage on the roll. He can also be awakened by his master from Ne1. C1, 9 hp, AC10. Spells: Bane, Bless. Other features of the room: Broken bed, dirty and stained bedroll, a crude painting of a woman being beheaded, a small selection of paintbrushes and black and white oil paints.

Ne3 - This is the chamber of a female necromancer (wizard), a spellbook lies open on the table next to a small cage. Inside the cage is an animated zombie badger. It snarls at you and attempts to break open its cage. See MM page 318. The wizard appears to not be home right now. Other features of the room include: Wooden bed and clean bed roll, the room itself is surprisingly clean, a tin chamber pot sits on a small table next to the bed. A bowl of dried fruit sits on a book shelf next to the following tomes: "A Beginners Guide to Taxodermy", "Waterfalls of Cormyr", "The Legend of Rivior the Bandit Prince". (She is searching for a waterfalls where she believes an important treasure was buried by Rivior. The one book has several notes in the margins pertaining to the treasure. The waterfalls book has Xs marked to each of the waterfalls she has already searched.

Ne4 - This is the home of an venerable blind necromancer (wizard). His eyes were cut out decades ago so he could acquire the ability to be able to permanently speak with dead. He poses no threat, but might be useful for information. Beneath his bed is a large flat chest covered with strange runes and three well-fashioned locks on it. (Inside the chest are 3 clay pots containing potions. Smashing the chest open also breaks the clay pots and ruins the potions.) You don't spot a key. Various cooking implements and foodstuffs are in the room, in addition to his divining abilities he serves as the cook for the necromancers. He has a spellbook, but it is very old and the ink has faded.

Ne4b - A Stinking Privy. This place is filthy. (Above the door is a loose stone where a silver key is hidden.)

Now you may have noticed two things:

1. This is only Level One of the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar. Ed Greenwood designed the module to be expandable by people using it, with many more levels below - and several different ways of reaching the lower levels of the dungeon. However, as indicated by a magic mouth on the entrance of one such route, the party is not ready to journey further below and that door will not open until they achieve a required level (as determined by the DM).

2. There are a number of items I have added to the rooms which are possible adventure hooks beyond Eveningstar. For example Ne3 contains two books which should lead the party to explore various waterfalls and the regions near those waterfalls, in search of a grand treasure that was hidden by Rivior the Bandit Prince.

Near the village of Gray Oaks there is also a legend of an unicorn that lives near a waterfall that flows into the Tearflow River - the "Waterfalls of Cormyr" book might be useful in more ways than one.

When possible I am setting up the various adventure hooks of the Monday Night Modules so that they go to specific modules or Dungeon magazine adventures set in the Forgotten Realms, this way I don't have to do as much work for that campaign and can focus my creative talents on the Friday Night Homebrew game.

I should note one last thing...

• The Monday Night Modules game only happens once every two or three weeks, organized so it never falls on a holiday.
• The Friday Night Homebrew game is every Friday, except holidays.

This means that I can relax on Monday nights in-between sessions and do other things, but I still get the Friday game to look forward to every week. Thus even though I am running two campaigns I never feel like I am overburdened and stressed - and won't burn out due to the added pressure of running two campaigns.

Since one of them is mostly modules it makes it so much more relaxing. I made the mistake years ago of trying to run additional games on Mondays and I would end up burning out.