Dungeons & Dragons 5th Adventure - 30 Days to Destruction

There’s a lot of major chapters planned out atm, as well as 12-14 dragons (albeit some dead). I think I might have to bump that level range up to the 8-10 mark. I don’t think I’m going to achieve the Loot task this week - I’ll probably bump it to week 3, and the maps to week 4.

I sorted the locations into book chapters, which will help me group encounters and maps together. Here’s the current structure:

Introduction

1: The Valley of the Drakes

2: Hilltop Ruin

3: First Light

4: Lakeview Farm

5: Desreach

6: Drake’s Folly

7: Westil

8: Drake’s Basin

9: Dragon’s Hills (I still need a name for this…)

10: Tower in the Swamps

11: Arboreal Forest

12: Dead Forest

13: Undead Forts

14: Frozen Valley

15: Magma Chasm

16: Finale

Epilogue

x: Appendices

That’s a lot of chapters! I had a look at the table of contents for Curse of Strahd for comparison and that has 15 numbered chapters. It also wasn’t written in 30 days by 1 person in their free time. Welp. I may have to take some of this to the cutting block later? That’s a future kraedy problem though.

These have been ordered linearly in terms of their expected difficulty/challenge rating, organised into the following buckets:

Introduction:

Hilltop Ruin, First Light.

Low difficulty/early game:

Lakeview Farm, Desreach, Drake’s Folly, Westil

Medium difficulty/mid game:

Drake’s Basin, Dragon’s Hills (no really, this needs a name. I sigh every time I write it. I’m gonna fix this tonight/tomorrow), Tower in the Swamps, Arboreal Forest

High difficulty/late game

Dead Forest, Undead Forts, Frozen Valley

NOPE difficulty

Magma Chasm

And now begins the real encounter design! I’ve decided to best way to handle this is to go to my old plan - work through these as if they are chapters, but design them as if it’s an open world. This begins with Hilltop Ruin, the introduction to the campaign. The beginning of the campaign starts in media res, so I figure it’ll be best to start writing at this point too. I get to explore the scenario with the future players! Hooray!

Notably this project update is the first point I finally have text which the DM (and players) will actually see - pending editing of course. I’m only doing a full text pass on the first room (the rest will be placeholder on the first draft).

Sure it’s just one room written, but it’s the first room. Double hooray!

Chapter 2: Hilltop Ruins

The adventure begins with the party inside the Hilltop Ruins, though they have no memory of how they got here or why. It will be possible for the party to find this information out at a later date, but for now this will be a mystery to them. This adventure is intended for new 1st level characters, but existing characters can transition to the Hilltop Ruins whenever they are camping for the night, no matter where they are.

Read the following out loud:

Your party slowly rouses to consciousness, it’s not immediately obvious how you got here, or why you’re surrounded by bodies and broken weapons. The stench of decay dominates the senses. The only source of light is a solitary torch, struggling to keep the creeping darkness at bay. The cold stone floor is biting to the touch, at least where it’s not covered in ash or dried blood. A huge skeletal dragon dwarfs all of the other bodies. No creatures beyond the party show signs of life - although the exact date of this battle is unknown, it definitely wasn’t recent. An exit is visible at the edge of the torchlight, but you may wish to gather your belongings first. Your possessions are scattered on the floor around you, though they appear to be undamaged.

If the characters ask to examine the room or the bodies, read the following:

Dozens of bodies fill the room, in various states of decomposition. The majority of them are human or half-elf, though there’s a few other races scattered about. An aarakocra and a minotaur lie in the shadow of an enormous skeletal dragon, their bodies desecrated by indeterminate weapons and spells. The aarakocra has one hand extended towards the dragon, the other clutching a small gemstone to its chest.

The party can choose to search for anything useful in the room. Ask them to roll a group investigation (intelligence) check, DC 10. If more than half of them succeed, they find one healing potion for each member of the party. Otherwise they find half as many (round up). Regardless of the roll, they are also able to find 3 short swords, a shield, and all of their personal possessions. If they haven’t been informed about the gemstone, describe this to them as well. Any other equipment has been destroyed in the battle and is not salvageable.

If someone chooses to take the relic, read the following to them. This only occurs for the first player to touch the relic. Choose whether to read this out loud to the whole party, or privately in another room:

The intoxicating smell of blood and iron suddenly fills the air. Several dozen figures surround you, fighting a desperate battle against a raging terror. Your entire vision briefly flashes white, then your whole body is enveloped with blistering heat. Screams fill your ears, as little but ash and bone remains where most of the combatants once stood. A streak of lightning forks through the room, arcing violently through the survivors. You hear an ear-piercing feral roar of agony, then everything disappears and your senses return to normal. You find yourself instinctively clutching the gemstone close to your chest, which is cracked in several places but warm to the touch.

ROOM DONE.

Daily map update!

I’m finding that the only way to get myself to start doing stuff is to open the map, and change at least one hex. The moment I do this I’ll get inspired to write encounters.

So the big pivot that I alluded to last update is DRAGONS. The game is called dungeons and dragons, but the official modules raaaarely involve dragons. The more I wrote for the setting, the more dragons became involved. They’re now a major feature and plot element for this module.

I’ve themed the valley around a conclave of dragons, each of whom were giving a powerful relic. These relics were designed to keep an ancient evil at bay, and the seal can be broken by combining the relics together. Each relic was given to a different breed of dragon, ensuring that no-cooperation would happen to reunite the pieces. A small piece of each dragon’s soul was imbued into their respective relics to double down on this. This was intended to reinforce a fierce protective instinct for the more ambitious dragons, as they aren’t wholly trustworthy.

However the seal has weakened over time, and the BBEG is able to exert a small level of influence outside their ethereal prison. They are raising a horde of undead to try and reclaim all the relics.

This gives me a lot of freedom to have all 3 of the core pillars of D&D involved - combat, roleplaying, and exploration. The different dragons will have different methods to gain their relics, and each relic gained will offer some kind of unique boon to the party.

DRAGON LIST

Silver: Secretly disguised in human form. Is rallying survivors to First Light outpost to keep them safe. Will offer the relic for the final encounter if First Light is kept safe. Knows the location of all metallic dragons, as well as most chromatics (white and black are the only unknown). Offers advice for where to go next if the party needs it, but won’t advocate killing dragons for relics. Killing Silver will doom First Light.

Gold: Trapped in the undead heartlands, fighting for survival. Will get turned into a zombie for the finale if the party don’t help it escape. Its dragonborn guards have been duped by Blue into thinking Gold is dead. They’ll assist the party if Gold is saved and Blue’s deception is revealed.

Green: Major NPC. Wasn’t considered trustworthy enough to get a relic, and is deeply resentful of all other dragons becuse of it. Wants to eliminate the other dragons and steal their relics, especially Copper (whom is watching over Green’s lair). Green is younger than most other dragons, but a lot more cunning. Green will offer small boons, trinkets, and magic items for relics. If they gain a relic, they’ll inform the party about all secret dragon identities and locations (notably Silver, Bronze, and Blue) and try and convince them to kill more. Will ambush the party whilst traveling if it learns the party owns a relic and they refuse to give it up, or the party breaks an agreement with it.

Black: Naughty boy. Sunk all the ships trying to flee the valley. Lives in the swamp tower which is sealed by 3 altars, but there’s an underwater passage. Will not give up its relic, but it can be stolen if the party manage to break into Swamp Tower without alerting it. Will straight up side with team evil if not dealt with before the finale (collapse and seal its lair, or kill it).

Blue: Has a tribe of kobolds worshiping a hallucination of it. Tricked Gold’s dragonborn guards into thinking their master was dead, so the dragonborn serve Blue instead. The dragonborn will attack the party if they fight against Blue. They’ll not intervene if they learn of Blue’s duplicity, and will join First Light (and the final conflict) if Gold has been saved.

Red: Is hiding in a magma chasm. Has no interest whatsoever in the conflict, but guards a hoard of shiny loot. Has no relic as it refused to give up even the slightest whiff of power. Essentially an optional end-game/post-finale challenge if the party want to do it. Red is the oldest dragon (a Young dragon with Adult’s legendary actions)

White: Feral dragon. Moved into the frozen temple and killed Brass. Doesn’t understand the relics (despite having one) so doesn’t realise it needs to take the relic from Brass in order to gain power. Is busy instead turning the frozen temple into its new lair. White is the second oldest dragon (after only Red) but it’s injured from fighting. It has excellent wisdom, but significantly impaired intelligence and charisma. It’s about as smart as a woodland creature.

Copper: Is perched on a rocky plateau a few miles south of the Green’s lair. Has been tasked with making sure Green doesn’t do anything suspect, and alerts the other dragons if shifty business is afoot. Like Green it’s smaller than the other dragons. Has some minor dealings with Silver and Bronze, and knows their identities. Will give up its relic and give information on Silver and Bronze if Green is killed.

Brass: Dead. It’s in the frozen temple and still has its relic. Killed by White, the feral dragon.

Bronze: Disguised in half-elf form on a small island in the lake. Has allowed some survivors of the shipwrecks to make camp with it. One of only a few dragons that knows the identity of Silver and will join the party in the final fight if they appeal to its sense of justice (hard diplo check), find out the cause of the shipwrecks (kill Black), or inform it they’re working with Silver (which requires learning Silver’s hidden identity)

Skellie: Dead dragon in a ceremonial crypt. Necromancers raised it, and it slaughtered them. Unknown type that has lost most dragon abilities, but retains immense physical prowess. Actually has a relic, which may or may not have been taken by team evil already (I haven’t decided yet, but I’m leaning towards them already owning it).

Dead: The party wakes up at the start of the campaign next to this. They aren’t sure how it died (or if they killed it), but they have its relic. This is the weakened relic which triggered the curse.

Been working on the map + encounters today. The labels on here don’t look great, so they’re just temporary for now. I’ll put cleaner labelling in with GIMP later, once the map’s finished.

No rivers drawn yet. There’s three:

Dead forest > Dead Forest village > Dead Forest church > Drake’s Basin

Arboreal Outpost > Westil Crossing > Westil > Drake’s Basin

Drake’s Folly Mine > First Light > Drake’s Basin Mountain east of Mine > Desreach Farms > Desreach > Mini-lake east of Swamp tower > Swamp tower > Drake’s Basin

Location info:

MAJOR LOCATIONS

(these are places that are big enough to get their own ‘chapter’ in the book)

FIRST LIGHT:

This colony is the intended home base of the party and survivors they gather. The beacon fire atop the tower is the only source of light that is visible from all locations in the valley. This unfortunately attracts both top lads and nasties.

LAKEVIEW FARM:

The residents of this farm fled in panic, trying to escape via water from the nearby harbour. This did not go too well for them. The remaining farmland has been occupied by monsters, but there’s still supplies to be found. Securing the stable will give access to horses/wagons for the players (and First Light, assuming they don’t burn it to the ground) to use.

WESTIL:

The village name shifted over time from ‘West hill’ to ‘Westil’, when a travelling bard misheard the name. Located in a valley within the valley, the inhabitants turned the region into a veritable fortress. The lumberyard to the north supplies them with raw materials, whilst the farm to the south keeps them fed. They control passage to the western valley, and are trying to stop people going west (west is full of undead!)

DEAD FOREST:

This place has been overrun with undead, spreading from the BBEG’s forces in the west. This is a dangerous place to travel, especially at night. The local village has been overrun and destroyed. Undead attack from both the west, and from the crypt to the south west. The locals stood no chance. There’s a dragon in the crypt, but it’s preeeeetty dead.

MAGMA CHASM:

The locals refer to it as the 10th circle of hell, but in reality it’s just a bit hot. A dragon roosts in this location, embellishing the stories of infernal creatures to ward prying eyes.

UNDEAD FORTS:

The primary exit from the valley, at least until the undead overran it. This is an extremely dangerous location and the primary base of the antagonists. A dragon is supposed to be located in a secluded passage between the forts, but its fate is currently unknown.

ARBOREAL FOREST:

A misunderstanding over the meaning of arboreal lead to the name of this place. Despite making little sense, the name stuck. An outpost is supposed to lie on the lake within the forest, however nobody has heard from them since the curse started.

There’s a dragon located on a rocky plateau within the forest, as well as a ruined outpost and a cave full of nasties.

DRAKE’S BASIN:

This enormous freshwater lake is the primary source of water in the valley, as all rivers lead into it before flowing south. Most of the ships were destroyed in the panic to escape, and now only a few fishing ships remain. Smugglers have a lair on the south side of the lake, deep within a marsh. There’s a underwater passage in the east leading to an ancient ruin, and a dragon nests on the central island.

TOWER IN THE SWAMPS:

An ancient ruin, abandoned and flooded over time. This location is full of nasties, and is linked to an unholy altar in the forest. The altar is causing all living matter around it to die, so

DRAKE’S FOLLY MINE:

A secluded iron mine to the north of First Light. So named because a wizard tricked a noble into thinking it contained gold, then sold it at great expense. The owner doubled down on the investment in frustration, funding an entire colony at the mine. Eventually the miners tunneled through to a dragon’s lair. They managed to flee without waking it up, and as far as they know it’s still asleep…

DESREACH:

Much like Westil, the name is a bastardisation of The Eastern Reaches. Laziness and slang eventually become more common than the actual name, so the slang stuck. Esreach is a fairly small village but they have the largest farm in the region (they’re also supplying Drake’s Folly with food, in return for iron).

DRAGON’S HILLS:

This name is pants and just temporary until I think of a better one.

The kobold tribes in the area worship the local dragon. The dragon doesn’t care for them or the worship, but tolerates them as they keep the other locals away. The camp contains an illusion of the dragon, and the real lair is a few miles away in the mountain.

FROZEN VALLEY:

Formally the eastern exit of the valley, the curse caused this area to collapse under an avalanche of snow and ice. The sudden drop in temperature killed the local flora, and turned much of a nearby temple to ice. A dragon is located at the rear of the temple, but it’s frozen (and probably quite dead).

MINOR LOCATIONS

WESTIL RIVER CROSSING:

A fairly dangerous river crossing to the northeast of Westil. This gives a way to cirmcumvent the fortified town, but it’s treacherous. The bridge is ill-maintained and near-collapse, and the rapids can break bones. It used to be guarded, but the guards retreated to Westil.

HILLTOP TREE:

I haven’t put anything here yet. Probably some survivors to find for First Light?

WATER MILL:

Not sure about this one either. It’s there for now, but maybe I’ll cut it.

WEEK 1 GOALS RETROSPECTIVE:

• Major locations decided

YES. Pretty happy with this. The map will evolve as I progress, but the core framework is there. I suspect more locations will sneak in as more things happen. I suggested to the bananabilibuddies that I might use photos from their RL walks for encounter design, and that has already lead to a bunch of week 2 content to add. Yessss.

• Primary plot/antagonist finalised

YES. Sure is. I’ve got the antagonists written up in a doc on my PC :D

• Start/end of campaign mapped out

YES. Start is very much mapped out. I’m thinking of moving the start from the colony to the watch tower, as I had a cool new idea that involves a bit of a pivot. That’d be part of the week 2 goals though.

• Character level and power/magic level of setting decided

YES. Low magic, level 1-5. I think there may be enough content to stretch this out to 1-10 so I’ll add more levels if required. I’ll aim for a minimum of 5, and see what’s left.

• Major plot points/challenges for each chapter mapped out

NO. I was expecting this adventure to be more chapter focused, but every design has lead to an open sandbox environment. This doesn’t really make sense anymore as a goal, and I haven’t done this by any metric. I’d consider this an obsolete goal now.

WEEK 2 GOAL PLANNING

• MILESTONE GOAL: Basic campaign flow planned out

I don’t think I need to change this. The NPCs may spread across weeks 2 and 3 though. I’ll consider week 2’s plan to do major NPCs/encounters, and week 3 to be minor NPCs/encounters. I suspect I’m gonna get distracted and do a lot of minor NPC work in week 2 though, as a) I don’t know who will end up being major yet and b) It’s fun!

I made the rest of the owl.

It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough for something I threw together in an hour and a half. Each hex takes 2 hours to travel, or 1 hour on horseback. Difficult terrain = twice as long.

Made a rough map plan with post-its on my coffee and lunch breaks today. It’s not efficient or pretty, but it was fun! The idea here is that each grid location has some kinda major feature within that block, or terrain type if it doesn’t. For example, the Lumber Mill is marked as next to the Mining Colony, but there might be 6-10 hexes between the actual two locations on the map.

Tonight I’m gonna hop onto my PC and draw the rest of the bleeping owl.

THE START The players wake up to find themselves inside some kind of crypt, at the scene of a fierce battle. They’re surrounding by various bodies, freshly deceased, with no idea where they are, how they got here, or what happened.

The primary antagonists are also all dead here: a rival adventuring party, who also have succumbed to the curse. All non-standard races to stand out. They’re going to return as undead baddies, however. Other bodies are unremarkable, so dead humans and half-elfs most likely. Later on in the campaign they’ll encounter those now undead adventurers, seeking to capture the relics to oppose the party!

Fighting their way out of this crypt will lead the party to the surface, the eternal night sky, and the failing colony.

Project updated for day 0, ready for the start of this!

I’ve written this description out to mirror the style of D&D product store pages. I find that working backwards and creating the store page -first- helps me know where my end goal is, and if I’m moving in the right direction.