Lurkers and TheSt. Avon’s Day Massacre are the newest adventures in the popular Shotglass Adventures PDF One-Shot series! Both are fully play-tested One-Page One-Shots for 5e and OSR systems for 3rd-4th level characters, including full stat blocks with both old and new 5e and OSR/1e monsters, plus grid and grid-less maps. And allfor just$2AU (about $1.35 US).
This Quickstarter runs for 8 DAYS ONLY, so don’t miss out!
I previously posted some warts-and-all email summaries of the ‘Curse of Strahd’ campaign I ran in 2017-18, and the ‘Tomb of Annihilation’ campaign from 2018-19. CoS was the first campaign I sent summaries to players by email after each game (I was a bit lazy prior to that). Here’s another campaign – 2020’s ‘Out of the Abyss’. Each session was approximately 4-5 hours long. Some of the summaries may be amusing, but don’t forget these are unedited emails, so please forgive their somewhat chaotic nature and poor sentence structure/grammar. If you’re a D&D fan you may enjoy them. And maybe even if you aren’t.
Game on!
Steve 🙂
Session 29 – The Labyrinth, The Gallery of Angels and Maze Engine
The party saved a Modron called Barry from the Beholder Karazekar’s prison, who informed them it could lead them to ‘the Orderer’ (or Maze Engine). The party looted the Beholder’s treasure trove, took everything back to Vizeran at Araj and dropped off the components they had already collected.
Back out into the Underdark and a few weeks later they entered the Labyrinth, where they met a Gnoll called Gash (also known as Shannon), who said he could guide them through. He did – into a trap! The party killed six Minotaurs and moved further in, where they came across a shanty town called Filthriddens. The people were cultists worshipping Yeenoghu, who attempted to ambush the party with the aid of several Ghasts. The battle was suitably brief.
On to the Gallery of Angels, where the party recovered six feathers from petrified, tormented angels, frozen in stone.
Next up, off to the cavern where the Maze Engine, a 20-foot mechanical ball of brass containing a map of the multiverse, rested 40 feet down a 100-foot chasm over a river of magma. A huge Goristro attacked, maiming Kane’s Paladin!
Next Week: Demon Battle! And Menzoberranzannanznanwananman…
Session 30 – The Maze Engine and Menzoberranzan
The party finished off the Goristro and then fought several other demons. During that battle Belinda’s Bard activated the Maze Engine and it started to produce some bizarre effects. At one point her bard was knocked unconscious and Peter’s Rogue heroically leapt to the rescue, saving her from sliding off the Engine into the magma below. Unfortunately, a bit later he let go of her and she fell in anyway, but nobody’s perfect. She survived – burnt, scarred, shaken, but otherwise okay. It’s not every day you can say you survived falling into magma. One of the last Maze Engine effects (before it toppled into the magma) was a huge energy blast that sent all the demons in 100 miles back to the Abyss. (Hmmm, Baphomet and Yeenoghu were hunting in the labyrinth – they would have been in the 100-mile radius…)
Back to Araj to dump the Goristro’s heart and then off to the fabled Drow city of Menzoberranzan, site of the original summoning, to find Gromph Baenre’s grimoire. Grin Oustl, Vizeran’s apprentice, led the party through a 72-mile long secret passage which opened into a rift in the middle of the city. On the way he informed the party he wasn’t happy that the ritual would summon the demonlords back to his home town – seems he was still a bit attached to it. Awwwww…
The party met up with Jarlaxle Baenre, head of the Bregan D’Arthe mercenary company and brother of Gromph. He wanted the demonlords gone as well, so offered to hook the party up with the Council of Spiders, a group of secret mages attempting to undermine the city’s matriarchy. Off they went to the tower of Sorcere, equipped with a password and some greater invisibility spells.
Into the tower and Gromph’s sanctum, where they fought a Fire Elemental and four-armed Stone Golem, then into a secret room where a Drow imprisoned in a magic circle unsuccessfully attempted to persuade them to free her. Turns out she was a soon-to-be-dead demon.
Back to Araj and a lengthy discussion about why the Dead Heart (the focus of Vizeran’s ritual) needed to be left in Menzoberranzan. After agreeing to place it into one of the rifts to minimise damage to the city, the party headed back out on the secret road back to Menzoberranzan. Soon, they received a vision from Basidia, the Myconid Sovereign from Neverlight Grove, pleading with them to save Araumycos!
Next week: Araumycos! And the final battle!
Session 31 – Araumycos and the Final Battle with Demogorgon!
The party journeyed to Araumycos, a fungi the size of a country hidden deep in the Underdark. On the way they encountered masses of myconids marching to the wedding of Zuggtmoy and Araumycos. These myconids were attacked by oozes, heralding the arrival of Jubilex, demon lord of oozes.
When they arrived at Araumycos, Basidia informed them they would encounter some resistance from Araumycos itself, as it was dazed after Zuggtmoy’s spore assaults. The party defeated several fungi beasts, passed out and awakened inside Araumycos’s mind. They found a giant skull and destroyed the black tumour within. Waking up, they confronted Jubilex and defeated him.
Off to Menzoberranzan to deliver the Dark Heart into a rift in the center of the city and summon the demon lords from across the Underdark. As the demons appeared, each fought for dominance. Soon, only Demogorgon was left. The party took the battle to the immense demon prince, with everyone contributing to wearing it down so that Kane’s Aasimar Paladin could deliver over 200 HP of damage in one round to finish Demogorgon off and send it back to the Abyss.
The party celebrated, knowing they had saved the Underdark and the surface world from the rage of demons. The world was safe again, until…
Hope you enjoyed these session summaries. I’ll post some more from other campaigns soon.
I previously posted some warts-and-all email summaries of the ‘Curse of Strahd’ campaign I ran in 2017, and the ‘Tomb of Annihilation’ campaign from 2018. CoS was the first campaign I sent summaries to players by email after each game (I was a bit lazy prior to that). Here’s another campaign – 2020’s ‘Out of the Abyss’. Each session was approximately 4-5 hours long. Some of the summaries may be amusing, but don’t forget these are unedited emails, so please forgive their somewhat chaotic nature and poor sentence structure/grammar. If you’re a D&D fan you may enjoy them. And maybe even if you aren’t.
Game on!
Steve 🙂
Session 26 – Grayvenhollow
The party battled and defeated a Nalfashnee and two Balgura demons. They were joined by Jeremy’s Firbolg Druid during the battle, who was promptly accepted as if he had been a member of the party from the beginning 😉.
The PCs walked through the huge, basalt gates of Gravenhollow and met an intelligent Basilisk who gave them a tour. The magical stone library existed on multiple levels and interdimensional space, growing in size as needed and consisting of sections devoted to the past, present and future. It was run by three Stone Giant librarians who collated history on stone tablets and crystals. The party discovered the library was aware and brought them here because they needed to be here.
Given a stonespeaker crystal, the party received visions of the various demon lords and figures they had interacted with on their adventures: Zuggtmoy and Neverlight Grove; Juiblex and the Pudding King; Demogorgon and Sluupoodoop; Fraz-Urb’Luu and the dark gemstone of Mantol Derith. They also saw visions of demon lords they hadn’t encountered yet: Baphomet the horned king and a reality warping device stuck in a magma-filled chasm; Yeenoghu, Lord of Gnolls; Orcus, Lord of Undeath and a faraway mind flayer city; Lolth, Queen of Spiders. They witnessed Drow archmage Gromph Baenre’s folly – a magical ritual in Menzoberranzan that backfired because of the Underdark’s faezress – that brought the demon lords to the Underdark.
Afterwards they met Vizeran, the Drow Wizard that Hgraam of the Stone Giant enclave in Gracklstugh asked them to find. He was in the library researching ways to defeat the demon lords. Vizeran informed them that the demon queen Lolth took advantage of Gromph’s ritual and brought many demon lords out of the Abyss to the Underdark. He invited the party to join him.
Next week: Vizeran’s Tower and the quests for ritual components begin!
Session 27 – Araj and the Wormwrithings
The party was joined by Jeremy’s Elvish Arcane Archer, who assured all it would be his last class change(!). The party travelled to Vizeran’s Tower, where the archmage informed them he had devised a ritual to summon the demon lords to one place, have them all fight each other and then they could be finished off more easily. Vizeran advised he needed the party to collect some components for the ritual:
The intact and unhatched egg of a purple worm, for channelling great physical power.
The central eye of a beholder, to break down magical resistance and overcome magical forces.
Six feathers from six different angels – the authority of the celestial realms and a force to enrage fiendish creatures.
The heart of a goristro demon, to reach and influence the hearts of other demons.
Gromph Baenre’s grimoires and notes on his ritual, to assist in better understanding the power that summoned the demon lords.
Everyone in the party was given an Amulet of Protection from Fiends (single-use), a Drow Cloak of Elvenkind (which unfortunately crumbles to dust in sunlight, such as that produced by Pete’s Rogue’s Sunsword), and sanctuary in Vizeran’s tower between missions.
First up: The purple worm egg! On their way through the wormwrithings, the party encountered Hanne, an apprentice egg hunter separated from her mother and her team. As the party explored a huge egg ‘nursery’, Hanne and Arvus climbed up the resin strands suspending the eggs 40 feet over the floor, to cut one free. The party dispatched a number of giant spiders when a purple worm suddenly appeared! Kane’s Paladin fought valiantly but succumbed to the worm’s poisonous tail and bite. Then, when things couldn’t get worse, a huge Formorian ran into the cavern yelling “Kill egg thieves, save my precious ones!”
Next week:The battle continues! Will the party survive their first fetch quest?
Session 28 – The Wormwrithings and the Vast Oblivium
The party finished off the Purple Worm and the Fomorian egg sitter as Kane’s Paladin was revived with a healing word and polymorphed into a Giant Ape! As the PCs ran from the cave with their Purple Worm egg (the arrival of another Purple Worm echoing in the distance), they came upon a group of Drow Egg Hunters led by Hanne’s mother, Zhora Hallen of House Mizzrym. After a stirring and emotional reunion, Zhora and Hanne departed, with Zhora saying she was in the party’s debt and to look her up if they were ever in Menzoberranzen.
The party rested overnight and then headed off to the Vast Oblivium, a deep chasm carved by the beholder Karazikar, surrounded by ten vertical shafts with numerous caves where the beholder’s slaves lived. After a short interview with the beholder on a rope bridge over the chasm, Kane’s Paladin was turned to stone and Belinda’s Bard put to sleep. Shedrak, the beholder’s Mage assistant, blasted Rhyse’s Rogue and Matt’s Cleric with numerous fireballs and a cone of cold, while hidden with greater invisibility. Finally, Jeremy’s Fighter brought the Beholder down and the Mage ran away. Peter’s Rogue woke up Belinda’s Bard, who used feather fall to get down to where Matt’s Cleric lay and saved him from death. A real challenge for the party, but the Beholder’s eye was finally claimed. Two down, three to go…
One of the Beholder’s Dwarven prisoners explained Karazikar was obsessed with something called the ‘Maze Engine’, which it learned about from a machine it held captive in a cave below…
I previously posted some warts-and-all email summaries of the ‘Curse of Strahd’ campaign I ran in 2017, and the ‘Tomb of Annihilation’ campaign from 2018. CoS was the first campaign I sent summaries to players by email after each game (I was a bit lazy prior to that). Here’s another campaign – 2020’s ‘Out of the Abyss’. Each session was approximately 4 hours long. Some of the summaries may be amusing, but don’t forget these are unedited emails, so please forgive their somewhat chaotic nature and poor sentence structure/grammar. If you’re a D&D fan you may enjoy them. And maybe even if you aren’t.
Game on!
Steve 🙂
Session 23 – Keeping the Peace…
The party entered the Duergar Enclave seeking a meeting with Ghuldur Flagonfist, the Duergar’s chief negotiator. While they were waiting, Matt’s Cleric bought some plate armour, Rhyse’s Rogue bought a small knife to attach to his non-prehensile tail and the party ordered some barding for Littlefoot, their pack lizard. Stopped by a guard at the door to Flagonfist’s warehouse, Matt’s Cleric, Belinda’s Bard and William’s Barbarian put on a performance and persuaded most of the Duergar merchants to sing, dance and, eventually, drink and conduct drunken steeder races.
Rhyse’s Rogue and Peter’s Rogue sneaked into the warehouse and found Flagonfist and another Duergar interrogating Xantha Coaxrock, the Svirfneblin mage they were asked to rescue. Stabby stabby ensued, with a Xorn being killed along with the Duergar. The party then smuggled Xantha out of the enclave.
Back at the Svirfneblin base, the party were rewarded with a mysterious black gem (worth 5000 GP!) in a special box, which they remained sceptical about… Xantha advised them the whole trouble had started when she had appraised a different black gem for a Duergar merchant, refused to return it and then passed it to her apprentice Flint ThunderBonk who took it to the Drow enclave to trade. She sent a sending message to Flint and asked the party to retrieve him from there. Gabble Dripskillet informed the party that a Zhentarim called Ghazrim Duloc had a special ring that might help them find the stone library they were seeking.
Over to the Drow enclave, the party encountered a Drow mapmaker and (eventually) negotiated to buy a few Underdark maps to the Wormwrithings, Gracklstugh and Menzoberranzan. Flint made an appearance (living up to his name). Flint advised the team he had lost the black gem when a gargoyle swooped down and took it. He hadn’t been able to relocate the gargoyle. The party attempted to gain entry to the Drow enclave to buy stuff but were denied by the guards, who told them it was shut until the Drow’s chief negotiator returned from the Zhentarim Enclave, where they were having a meeting.
Off to the Zhentarim enclave, where the party ran into the Drow negotiation team. They ignored Drow warnings, fought and ultimately killed them (but not before Flint and Littlefoot were poisoned by Cloudkill. Out of the nearby enclave came Ghazrim DuLoc, his beholder and several guards. Duloc wasn’t happy with the party’s “we are peace envoys” explanation, asking them to fix the diplomatic incident they had caused and retiring to the enclave.
William’s Barbarian found a strange black gem on one of the Drow. An evil consciousness invaded his mind – the spirit of Demon Lord Fraz-Urb’luu! He also went a bit crazy. Peter and Rhyse’s rogues noticed the tortle secreting the gem away beneath his carapace…
Matt’s Cleric brought Littlefoot back to life with Revivify. Yay!
Session 24 – The Hand Job
The heroes returned to the Svirfneblin enclave to rest, questioned Xantha Coaxrock about the mysterious black gem that caused all the problems in Mantol Derith (the one currently possessing William’s Barbarian, who wasn’t available this session), then headed off to the Drow enclave to ‘fix’ the problem they created the previous day.
The Drow guards wouldn’t let them in and a bunch of Duergar turned up looking for the people who killed their chief negotiator. Some fancy lies and fancy hiding later and Belinda’s Bard accessed the enclave and bought some potions (unfortunately a new giant lizard was not on the cards: “You want to replace Littlefoot?!”).
Later, the party devised a plan to disguise Belinda’s Bard and Rhyse’s Rogue as Drow negotiators for an audience with Ghazrim Duloc, the Zhentarim negotiator with a magic ring that would lead them to the Stone Library. The meeting started well, an alliance negotiated between the Zhentarim and Drow to take out the Duergar and Svirfneblin. Then it stalled and the party decided to take the ring anyway. Rhyse’s Rogue threw a polymorphed rat of Peter’s Rogue at Ghazrim, the rogue changed and sliced off the Zhentarim’s hand, grabbing the hand and ring and running with it.
Unfortunately, Ghazrim’s partner, Lorthun the Beholder, decided to intervene. A massive battle between the Beholder, Zhentarim thugs and the party and their conjured Earth Elemental took place, with many of the party affected by the Beholder’s various rays as they attempted to escape. It was certainly a time when they wished that William’s barbarian wasn’t sleeping off screen. In the end, Belinda’s Bard liked Lorthun a lot, Matt’s Cleric really wanted that hand job, Pete’s Rogue was knocked unconscious and then recovered with a nat 20 death save, and Rhyses’s Rogue killed Lorthun with a poisoned crossbow bolt in his eye.
The party returned to the Svirfneblin enclave for a well-deserved rest, having gained the ruby ring, which had a compass-like star in the ruby which provided directions to the Stone Library of Grayvenhollow…
Session 25 – The Road to Grayvenhollow
Our intrepid peace keepers managed to acquire their scale mail barding for Littlefoot, then headed out of Mantol Derith, using Ghazrim Duloc’s ring to navigate their way to the Stone Library of Grayvenhollow. On the way out they met Kane’s Aasimar Paladin, who was keen to join the party (especially since Will’s Tortle Barbarian snuck away in the night with the black gem of Fraz-Urb’luu).
Normally, travel in the Underdark was no easy thing. The twisting passages and vast caverns could lead the unwary traveller astray. As the party made its way from Mantol Derith to Grayvenhollow, the ring of Ghazrim Duloc provided some surety: the star-like centre of the ruby moved like a compass, always directing them to the correct entrance and path.
As the party travelled, they crossed massive caverns filled with stalactites and stalagmites. A cracked and crumbling dwarven bridge caused some delays as they struggled to get Littlefoot across without toppling into the gorge below. An endless parade of fire beetles marched past one day, filling the tunnel intersection and forcing a delay of several hours. Lava pits and fire falls illuminated their caverns with rosy plumes of steam and smoke. Water as dark as pitch and just as thick filled lakes eventually crossed via upturned giant fungi rafts. The Faezress pierced the darkness, with stones hovering in the air just out of reach, silhouetted by the eerie purple haze – the party preferred not to linger in those caves.
For 34 days they worked their way through immense underground walkways and writhing tunnels, up and down huge natural stone staircases and around narrow ledges skirting chasms too deep to perceive the bottom. Along the way there were several encounters with creatures of the Underdark, all easily defeated. The party were heroes, masters of their weapons and crafts, and nothing would prevent them from reaching their goal.
On the morning (at least they thought it was morning, who could tell after so much time underground) of the 35th day the party entered a vast cavern. Up ahead was a natural stone bridge crossing a yawning chasm. Beyond, the road switch backed up the rising cliff face, each tier 50 feet or so above the next. Unnatural light dimly illuminated the cavern. In the distance, up above, the party saw two bright lights – the fires of continual flames burning in braziers. This was it.
Up ahead, the pungent smell of sulphur and a grim, whispering voice: “This is not the path you seek. Begone, lest you lose your way…and your lives.”
The party valiantly battled Shadow demons, Vrocks and Barlgura demons, as they made their way up the cliff road. Kane’s Paladin on his celestial warhorse showed how effective he was with massively damaging divine smites, Peter’s Rogue’s sunblade hit home with savage efficiency, Rhyse’s Rogue’s body-launching acrobatics allowed him to slice open flying enemies, Belinda’s Bard’s eldritch blasts added to the carnage and her healing words saved lives.
But the battle wasn’t over yet…
Next week: Into the Stone Library of Grayvenhollow…
Ever long for the days of simple one-shot adventures with everything included on one page? No hassle, limited prep? Something you could throw at your players and finish in one or two sessions?
My first One-Page scenarios for 5e were released in 2019 in Shotglass Adventures, Volume 1. Since then, my creations have grown in scope, but I‘ve always longed for a return to the simpler One-Page One-Shot format that won me the One-Page Dungeon Contest two years running (in 2019 and 2020).
The Lovely Bones and Tomb of the Defiled are sequels to the popular The Madness of St. Avon! Both are One-Page One-Shots for 5e and OSR systems, including full stat blocks for both 5e and OSR/1e monsters and grid and grid-less maps. And allfor $2 US each.
I previously posted some warts-and-all email summaries of the ‘Curse of Strahd’ campaign I ran in 2017, and the ‘Tomb of Annihilation’ campaign from 2018. CoS was the first campaign I sent summaries to players by email after each game (I was a bit lazy prior to that). Here’s another campaign – 2020’s ‘Out of the Abyss’. Each session was approximately 4 hours long. Some of the summaries may be amusing, but don’t forget these are unedited emails, so please forgive their somewhat chaotic nature and poor sentence structure/grammar. If you’re a D&D fan you may enjoy them. And maybe even if you aren’t.
Game on!
Steve 🙂
Session 20 – The Pudding King
The party headed back into Blingdenstone with the petrified body of whathisname, where they rested after their ordeal. They dropped in at the catacombs with the dead gnome’s bones they recovered in Rockblight, and were thanked by Burrow Warden Jadger. They advised him of the strange happenings in the Underdark (the madness and demon attacks) and the ghost concurred that several demon lords on the loose was not a good thing. They had gained an ally.
The party provided the Diggermattocks with an update, explaining they defeated Ogremoch’s Bane and were off to see the wererats. The svirfneblin were very grateful. Happy times all round.
Into the old city and the wererat warrens, avoiding traps and finally chatting with Chipgrin, who was keen to negotiate peacefully with the Diggermattocks and advise them about a strange deep gnome called the Pudding King, who was controlling the oozes. The party guided Chipgrin and several wererats to Diggermattock Hall, where the news prompted a war council to address the threat.
The party investigated the oozes, discovering there were far too many there for them to advance, and so headed back to the city with the rest of the wererats in tow.
Blingdenstone was united in an army of elementals, deep gnomes, wererats and ghosts to battle the oozing threat. The PCs fought Black Puddings, Ochre Jellies, Gray Oozes and Gelatinous Cubes to get to the Pudding King, all while the battle between the army and the ooze horde raged around them. Finally, the party confronted the Pudding King, who at first used cloudkill to sap their strength, but was eventually dispatched. As he died, he warned that Jubilex, demon lord of oozes, was planning to feast on the Demon Queen of Fungi’s banquet…
The party was rewarded with a Spell Stone, a Stone of Controlling Earth Elementals, a guide to Mantol Derith (secret trading post on the Darklake) and the name of a contact there – Gabble Dripskillet – who would provide them with information to find the Stone Library of Gravenhollow, and perhaps the Archmage Vizeran…
Session 21 – Revenge of the Drow
Jeremy’s Barbarian retired in Blingdenstone, helping the locals to rebuild their city. William’s Tortle Barbarian joined the party as they travelled to the Underdark trading post of Mantol Derith, on the shores of the Darklake.
Three days into the journey, the party realised they were still being pursued by the pesky Glabrezu demon that had plagued them many weeks before. They rushed into a vast cavern filled with rocky columns and ledges, only to be attacked from above by Drow! Yes, that annoying lot from Velkynvelve, led by Ilvara, the Drow Priestess, had set an ambush for the party while they were in Blingdenstone.
The battle wasn’t going well for the party as Drow Elites, Giant Spiders and regular Drow troops carved them up left, right and centre. Matt’s Cleric summoned an Earth Elemental which fell directly on the Drow leader, then he used Mass Healing Wounds a few times to get unconscious party members back on their feet. The party fought valiantly and eventually vanquished their would-be oppressors.
The Glabrezu appeared and the Earth Elemental held it off in a bottleneck tunnel. Rhyse’s Rogue claimed some cool Drow poison from the elites and then the party ran out of the cavern.
Everyone advanced to 8th Level!
Three days later, B’l the Svirfneblin guide took his leave after pointing to the trail to Mantol Derith and giving the party the password to a secret door to enter the trading post. As the group made their way up the narrow track, three Chasme Demons swooped down to attack!
Session 22 – Getting Down in Mantol Derith
The party fought and defeated 3 Chasme Demons on the rock path leading up to the trading post of Mantol Derith. The group trekked along a tunnel until they came to a secret door that led to a ledge, where they met serial killer elf Sladis Vadir, who invited them for a bite to eat from his munchie bag (no thanks). Not knowing he was nasty (but suspecting he might be a bit loopy) the party accepted his gracious invitation to find the correct door and went back up the tunnel until they found the way to the trench separating east and west Mantol Derith.
Taking some lifts up the side of the trench, the party realised something was up – the market places were deserted, 2 Duergar were hunting 2 svirfneblin and a bunch of enlarged Duergar were attempting to knock down the doors to the Svirvneblin enclave. Slaughtering all the Duergar (and Sladis, who decided to slice up Belinda’s Bard during the confusion) was a short aside, thanks to Belinda’s Bard’s fireball, Pete’s Rogue’s deadly sunblade, Rhyse’s Rogue’s double-shortsword attacks and William’s Barbarian’s far-too-numerous critical hits. Rhyse’s Rogue lost the nub of his tail, but at least he still had his hair.
The party entered the svirfneblin enclave to meet Gabble Dripskillet, who conveniently was just the person they were supposed to meet. They asked if she knew the way to the Stone Library of Gravenhollow – she didn’t, but she said she might know someone who did. But first, a favour: could the party rescue Xantha Coaxrock, a svirfneblin mage and friend of Gabble’s who was accused by the Duergar of stealing a special gem? Apparently, that’s why everything in Mantol Derith had gone to hell, although Gabble couldn’t understand why.
The party traded some stuff, long rested, then set off to the Duergar enclave across the cavern (partly to do shopping – Matt’s Cleric wanted plate mail and Rhyse’s Rogue wanted barding for Littlefoot the pack lizard. Like visiting a fantasy world mall, really). They killed some duergar guards in a fungi grove and Matt’s Cleric used his stone cunning wizardry to open the great stone gates to the duergar enclave, where large numbers of duergar turned to face the party…
Time for a free map! I love drawing maps by hand for Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy TTRPG adventures. I have far too many, so I like to give away my maps whenever I can.
This map comes with a grid and is perfectly sized (1750 x 1750 pixels, 25 squares x 25 squares) for Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, or Foundry, or face-to-face games!
On PC, just right click and save. On mobile, just hold your finger on the image and save.
This map is free to use for non-commercial purposes, as long as you acknowledge me and my website stevestillstanding.com. If you want to use it commercially, please send me an email and we can talk terms.
Time for a free map! I love drawing maps by hand for Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy TTRPG adventures. I have far too many, so I like to give away my maps whenever I can.
This Lava Caverns map is grid-less, measures 1750×1750 pixels (25 x 25 squares) and is perfect for Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, Foundry or face-to-face games!
On PC, just right click and save. On mobile, just hold your finger on the image and save.
This map is free to use for non-commercial purposes, as long as you acknowledge me and my website stevestillstanding.com. If you want to use it commercially, please send me an email and we can talk terms.
Everyone likes to try out a new TTRPG. New mechanics, new lore, new style of play – you name it, there’s a reason why you decided to buy that game and crack open the book or box. Here are a few suggestions to avoid issues when running your first new game session.
Know the rules: This seems like an obvious thing to say; after all, you’re more than likely the one teaching your players. Have a cheat sheet or Game Master’s screen available for yourself. Use sticky tabs to note any book sections you need to refer to so you can access them quickly. If you don’t mind writing in your books (sacrilege!), highlight relevant rules and sections so they’re easier to see on the page. If you’re working from a PDF, you can use either the document’s preset bookmarks, search engine, or create your own bookmarks to find relevant sections more easily.
Don’t worry if you flub the rules: Don’t fret too much if you forget a rule or get it wrong the first time you play. You can always explain or correct it later once you’re more familiar with the game.
Have cheat sheets or a player rule book available: If you have a copy of the rules in PDF format, send your players a copy. If you don’t, provide them with cheat sheets for the most important rules or a copy of the player rules section/handbook (assuming there is one). Don’t expect your players to have read the rules before the first session – people are busy and reading a book of rules for a new game is not always a priority (although some will).
Don’t homebrew in the first few sessions: Try to stick to rules as written (RAW) as much as possible in the first few gaming sessions. Why? Because you won’t get a feel for the game’s balancing and nuances until you’ve run at least a few sessions. And every game is usually written and tested out the wazoo, so trust the writer before you go making changes.
Run a trial combat BEFORE you run the adventure: Let’s face it, combat makes up a fair bit of modern TTRPGs (and if it doesn’t for your new TTRPG, then that’s okay). Most games have example PCs your players can use, just in case they haven’t already made their own. Because the new game will have new rules and ways of tackling battles you may not be familiar with, run a short example combat with your players, featuring one weak monster/NPC per character (this assumes the game’s bestiary/foes section tells you how challenging a creature is). This should give you an idea of how strategic or difficult combat will be, and it won’t matter if a player gets killed, because it’s just a trial run.
Run a social encounter BEFORE you run the adventure: Why? Because the social encounter rules may be somewhat different from what you’re used to. If that’s the case, it’s perfectly fine to test them out with your players to get a feel for them. It also helps them understand the importance of non-combat skills and whether they should make changes to a PC they’ve already created, prior to jumping into the main adventure.
Let your players modify their characters before the adventure: With the knowledge you’ve all gained from the trial combat and social encounters, your players should now have a good idea about what characteristics/skills are useful. Once their character is locked in, play it using RAW, so they can familiarize themselves with how a full game runs, including any role playing they want to do.
If you have less than the recommended number of players, reduce the threat considerably: Most new games come with an introductory scenario, in which they’ll recommend a number of players. If you’re short the recommended number of players, check any balancing recommendations and follow them. If there aren’t any, consider dropping the number of foes by at least 50%. Why? Because you won’t be totally familiar with how the game is balanced at this point, and the last thing you need is a TPK that either puts players off coming back again or gives them a wrong impression of the game.
Finally, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. I know you and your players will have fun with the new TTRPG, and who knows? It just might become an all-time favorite.
I previously posted some warts-and-all email summaries of the ‘Curse of Strahd’ campaign I ran in 2017, and the ‘Tomb of Annihilation’ campaign from 2018-2019. CoS was the first campaign I sent summaries to players by email after each game (I was a bit lazy prior to that). Here’s another campaign – 2020’s ‘Out of the Abyss’. Each session was approximately 4 hours long. Some of the summaries may be amusing, but don’t forget these are unedited emails, so please forgive their somewhat chaotic nature and poor sentence structure/grammar. If you’re a D&D fan you may enjoy them. And maybe even if you aren’t.
Game on!
Steve 🙂
Session 17 – Rolling Stones Gather No Moss
The party entered a cavern filled with stone statues of Drow and weird crystalline formations. Six of the statues animated and the PCs took them out. Then another six animated! As the party valiantly fought on, Peter’s Rogue explored the cavern further, finding a statue of a gnome cradling a crystal as if looking through it. Suspecting foul play, Peter’s Rogue collected some crystals, checked out a cavern further north and realized it held the Menhir that needed to be consecrated with the hallow spell.
A Medusa came upstairs from a cavern below – Peter’s rogue used a crystal to avoid its gaze, but Belinda’s Bard was petrified (and she STILL feels that pain)! Jeremy’s Monk and Rhyse’s Rogue were almost turned to stone, but were saved as Peter’s Rogue sliced the Medusa’s head off with his sunsword. The party decided discretion was the better part of valor, and after briefly looting Belinda’s statue of its non-petrified magic items, fled south and out of Rockblight to rest and recuperate. Oh, and mourn the loss of their fearless Half-Sireen Bard. “Ummm, what was his name again?” thought Mat’s Cleric…
Next Week: Return to Rockblight! And the debut of Belinda’s new character! And no, you can’t go up a level…
Session 18 – Rockin’ in Rockblight
Retiring to The Foaming Mug tavern, the party mourned the loss of their bard (“Ummm, what was his name again?” said everyone. Oh, too soon?). Conveniently, they met Belinda’s NEW Bard, a Tabaxi called Serafina Burning Sky with a penchant for handing out chocolate cookies and a silent mascot duck called Montgomery. At the same time, Jeremy’s Monk ‘Da Gronk’ decided to retire, and he introduced a new party member: Gitz’Razza, or Raz, the Bugbear Barbarian, a goblinoid of few words and many actions (as long as they involve hitting something).
Renewed (but forgetting to buy more Potions of Healing – DOH!), the party headed back to Rockblight to deliver the spell gem to the menhir Pete’s Rogue found earlier and consecrate the area. A huge Earth Elemental sprung from the wall and attacked! They defeated three elementals, and after the destruction of each a Galeb Duhr guardian appeared and took its place guarding the menhir. The area was finally consecrated and protected from Ogremoch’s Bane (the thing no one had seen that drove elementals crazy). Belinda’s Bard showed off her fancy spells she’d learned as a College of Lore graduate – eldritch blast and everyone’s fave: fireball! (or furball, because she’s a cat person. See what I did there?). And all I got when I graduated was a piece of paper and this lousy t-shirt…
Back into the main cavern to investigate the dead medusa’s lair, the party took on more animated Drow statues. Jeremy’s Barbarian won the prize for the most times knocked unconscious, and Matt’s Cleric again proved how useful spiritual guardians could be.
Time for a level up, asked the party? “Not likely,” said the mean DM.
Next Week: More Blingdenstone antics! Wererats! Oozes! Soft Shoe Shuffles! And maybe a bright and shiny new level, if you all behave and play well with each other…
Session 19 – Ogremoch’s Bane
After a long rest, the party did some shopping in the Trader’s Bazaar and bought a number of Potions of Healing (about time). They visited the Ruby in the Rough and went down into the dank and dark catacombs, where they met up with the ghost of Burrow Warden Jadger. Jadger was in the process of training new wardens to make Blingdenstone a better place. The party accepted his request to take out Vazuk, a spectre causing problems in the residential area, and recover the bones of a dead deep gnome – Udhask from Rockblight.
Off to the residential area and the hovels, where the 10-foot pole was the latest fad (gotta catch ‘em all!) and the party dispatched the spectre. Rhyse’s Rogue got some rotting socks and Belinda’s Bard got some rubies – shiny! Jeremy’s Barbarian got an empty box and brained a nearby deep gnome with it (accidentally? Nah).
Off to Rockblight, where Jeremy’s Barbarian followed a ghost into a hovel and Matt’s Cleric read the stone building, revealing the secret history of Blingdenstone via the very rock itself with his stone cunning ‘third eye’ (which DM Steve amped up a bit). Turns out the bones of the ghost were just what the doctor ordered, so Jeremy’s Barbarian collected them as Rhyse’s Rogue decided to recover the expensive drow dresses they missed last time.
Dashing through the room of statues as they animated, Rhyse’s Rogue got the dresses and the party fought the walking statues. Matt’s Cleric used his stone cunning to realise the statues must be there for a reason, so they systematically destroyed them all (and Belinda’s Bard realised she could fireball her own party – a revelatory moment). Jeremy’s Barbarian went to town and even decided to kill the old statue of Belinda’s previous bard – whatshisname – but stopped, just in time.
When the final animated statue fell, the dust coalesced into a vast, swirling, malevolent cloud – Ogremoch’s Bane! The party didn’t know what to do, until Rhyse’s Rogue pulled out the gemstone he uncovered a few sessions back and ran to the hallowed temple. Unfortunately, he was too short to place the stone in the hole in the menhir, but Matt’s Cleric grabbed it, placed it and Ogremoch’s Bane was no more, banished back to the elemental plane of earth!
And the party advanced to level 7!
Next Week: Yet more Blingdenstone – where the Wererats and Oozes do play!
My Year in Review! This is a post about all the stuff I released in 2022. I haven’t done one of these before, so here goes nothing lol. Each of the products is listed in release order.
Maps for Fantasy RPGs 3 was released in February 2022. What can I say, hand drawn, royalty-free maps are cool 😊
I love writing poetry, and this book – Dark Minds and Bright Souls – released in March 2022, had the additional benefit of being my first ever hardcover!
Shotglass Rounds Hardcover Vol.1 was a collection of 10 one-shot adventures, reprinted from the Shotglass Rounds PDF series. My second hardcover and a book I am so very proud of, taking pride of place on my shelf😊
The SR Vol.1 Digital Maps Package was released to accompany Shotglass Rounds Hardcover Vol.1, this collection of maps is for every adventure in the collection – for use in game or in your own projects royalty free 😊
FiveE magazine Issue 2 was a labor of love for me – a FREE magazine for D&D 5e featuring many talented and amazing creators! My gift back to the community that supports me 😊
June 2022 – the 4th book in my D&D 5e magnum opus – Kal-Zar’s Bane 4: Bane’s Requiem was the culmination of 2 years writing and playtesting and a book with so many twists and turns it could have been a novel 😊
I love drawing black and white maps with sharpies on grid paper. It’s old school all the way. Maps for Fantasy RPGs 4 – Old School is the culmination of lots of map drawing. Hand drawn black and white maps that can be used royalty free in your own commercial projects!
Duumhaven was meant to be a short one-shot. It morphed into a region setting with lore and a short introductory scenario. It’s the first of around 8 modules that link to form a mega-dungeon, or it can be played as a one shot!
I played so many games of #dnd #5e and #OldSchoolEssentials that I’ve lost count, including Shadows Over Saltmarsh, Black Heart Meridian and numerous playtests! (Check out my Facebook or Twitter for weekly posts) 😊
So that’s what I did last year (and that’s not including the 8 other projects I started but haven’t released yet). It was exhausting, but amazing fun! Here’s to another creative and productive year in 2023!
Time for a free map! I love drawing maps by hand for Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy TTRPG adventures. I have far too many, so I like to give away my maps whenever I can.
This map comes with a grid and can be used for face-to-face games or Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, or Foundry!
On PC, just right click and save. On mobile, just hold your finger on the image and save.
This map is free to use for non-commercial purposes, as long as you acknowledge me and my website stevestillstanding.com. If you want to use it commercially, please send me an email and we can talk terms.
Thank you to everyone for your amazing support in 2022. It’s had its ups and downs, but your support, whether it was via kickstarter, buying TTRPG & D&D content from my shop or just liking & commenting on my posts has been wonderful & keeps me going. Here’s to an awesome 2023 😊👍🙏
Time for a free map! I love drawing maps by hand for Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy TTRPG adventures. I have far too many, so I like to give away my maps whenever I can.
This map comes with a grid and can be used for face-to-face games or Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, or Foundry!
On PC, just right click and save. On mobile, just hold your finger on the image and save.
This map is free to use for non-commercial purposes, as long as you acknowledge me and my website stevestillstanding.com. If you want to use it commercially, please send me an email and we can talk terms.
Ever long for the days of simple one-shot adventures with everything included on one page? No hassle, limited prep? Something you could throw at your players and finish in one session?
My first One-Page scenarios for 5e were released in 2019 in Shotglass Adventures, Volume 1. Since then, my creations have grown in scope, but I‘ve always longed for a return to the simpler One-Page One-Shot format that won me the One-Page Dungeon Contest two years running (in 2019 and 2020).
And that’s what this is. The Madness of St. Avon is a simple, One-Page One-Shot for 5e and OSR systems, including full stat blocks for both 5e and OSR/1e monsters and grid and grid-less maps. And all for $2 US.
I previously posted some warts-and-all email summaries of the ‘Curse of Strahd’ campaign I ran in 2017, and the ‘Tomb of Annihilation’ campaign from 2018. CoS was the first campaign I sent summaries to players by email after each game (I was a bit lazy prior to that). Here’s another campaign – 2020’s ‘Out of the Abyss’. Each session was approximately 4 hours long. Some of the summaries may be amusing, but don’t forget these are unedited emails, so please forgive their somewhat chaotic nature and poor sentence structure/grammar. If you’re a D&D fan you may enjoy them. And maybe even if you aren’t.
Game on!
Steve 🙂
Session 14 – Neverlight Grooves on…
The party survived a slap down with Yestabrod and his minions, then fled to the central basin to recover. Matt’s Cleric and Peter’s Rogue were infected by madness-inducing spores, but Peter was healed by his Sunsword. Belinda’s Bard discovered a box left by Myconid SoverignBasidia as a reward with lots of goodies. Basidia and her faithful, non-crazy Myconids left the grove to escape the fungal madness overtaking the place.
Back up on the shelf, the party encountered a strange wedding party with fungal bridesmaids and chamberlains acting out the ceremony. Belinda’s Bard nuked the wedding with a fireball bead, and the rest were taken out by the party. A hoard of magic items was found and distributed.
Rhyse’s Rogue decided to investigate the huge cavern beyond the grove and found Yggmorgus, an enormous, towering mushroom. After being driven slightly mad by the horrific sights and sounds there, he retreated with the party. As they fled the grove, they experienced visions of Zuggtmoy, Demon Queen of Fungi in a bizarre mycelium wedding dress inside Yggmorgus. A demon queen loose in the Underdark! Along with Demogorgon, that’s two…
Next Week: Blingdenstone!
Session 15 – Blingdenstone!
Fleeing the madness of Neverlight Grove, the party bid farewell to Stool and Rumpadump as the junior mushrooms departed with Sovereign Basidia’s myconids for greener (and less crazy) pastures.
On the way to Blingdenstone with their newly-named Giant Lizard pack mule ‘Littlefoot’, the party encountered some hungry Cave Fishers. After a savage battle, Belinda’s Bard decided to sacrifice her hand to feed Littlefoot—okay, didn’t happen, but almost did… Luckily, there was more than enough food to go around after the battle.
Arriving in Blingdenstone a few days later, the party were let in through the gates and proceeded to the market square, where two Gelatinous Cubes slid under some inner gates and attacked a lone Svirfneblin! Matt’s Cleric was dubbed ‘worst ever’ after muffing his spells a lot(!) and Rhyse’s Rogue sacrificed all his body hair in a valiant effort to save the Deep Gnome, who then proceeded to call the Ratfolk the ugliest creature he had ever laid eyes on…
The party advanced to 6th level!
Next Week: When good Blingdenstone goes bad!
Session 16 – Blingdenstone & RockBlight
The heroes of the Trader’s Bazaar bought lots of magic items from Hobnob, a deep gnome with a magic item store. Off to visit the Diggermattocks, the party passed through several caverns, learning more about Blingdenstone as they went.
They spoke with Dori and Senni Diggermatock, the provisional rulers of the reclaimed city. The party was asked to complete several tasks before Dori would provide them with the name of a contact at Mantol-Derith. Firstly: Find out where the oozes were coming from and whether or not they were controlled by anyone or a particular magic. Secondly: Talk with the Goldwhisker wererats and see whether they should be wiped out or integrated into Blingdenstone. Rhyse’s Ratfolk Rogue’s bizarre hairless look was commented on by every NPC he came across: “My gods, I’ve never seen such an ugly beast! Is it for sale?”
Staying at local Inn The Foaming Mug, the party learned several rumors about the city, including: half the town wants the wererats wiped out, half wants them left alone; Ghosts are a problem in town, especially in the catacombs; Rockblight is an unclaimed area to the north where earth elementals go crazy, caused by something called Ogremoch’s Bane.
The next morning the party travelled back to the bazaar, but along the way encountered Gurnik Tapfinger, a priest who tasked them with consecrating a sacred menhir. He gave them a spell gem with a hallow spell in it and advised they would need to fight three of Ogremoch’s Bane’s servants before completing the task. He would grant them blessings when they returned.
Into Rockblight (with fancy dynamic lighting – previously unknown as I was on a free Roll20 account before) plunged the party, where they faced a scary ghost (which aged Peter’s Rogue 20 years – he’s now a silver fox), 2 Gargoyles and an Earth Elemental, which caused all kinds of trouble by diving into the ground after attacking. Belinda’s Bard and Peter’s Rogue were both knocked unconscious at several points. The party worked together to take it down, with Belinda’s Bard’s shatter spells particularly effective. Rhyse’s Rogue recovered a strange magic gem from the creature’s remains…
GATES OF SHUN-ZIN is the 13thadventure in the SHOTGLASS ROUNDS series! This 64-page PDF adventure is compatible with 5e, Old School Essentials (OSE), OSR retro-clones based on Basic/Expert, and includes 5e and full OSE monster stats!
GATES OF SHUN-ZIN is for 3rd-Level characters and can be played as a One-Shot or as the third adventure in the DUNGEON DUUMHAVEN series.
You’ve reached the Gates of Shun-Zin. A month ago they closed in response to a mysterious earthquake. Numerous denizens of the city are nowtrapped outside.
Perhaps they need YOUR help to return to Shun-Zin? Perhaps they’re just obstacles to be overcome? Only YOU can decide…
GATES OF SHUN-ZIN includes:
7new monsters, including the Sturmhorn, Gargler and D’eep Leech!
4 new magic items, including the Blind Helm, Mace of Poisoning and Everburning Pyre!
Bonus lore for Verona Province and the lost city of Shun-Zin!
Full color DM and Player maps!
Full OSE/OSR monster stats!
Full OSE/OSR and 5e rulings!
Guidelines for incorporating 5e rules into your favorite OSR system!
So many different ways for your players to mold the story: puzzle-solving; all-out assault; quiet and sneaky infiltration; pure exploration.
Time for a free map! I love drawing maps by hand for Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy TTRPG adventures. I have far too many, so I like to give away my maps whenever I can.
This Old School B&W map I drew a few years back comes with a grid and can be used for face-to-face games or Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, or Foundry!
This map is free to use for non-commercial purposes, as long as you acknowledge me and my website stevestillstanding.com. If you want to use it commercially, please send me an email and we can talk terms.
I previously posted some warts-and-all email summaries of the ‘Curse of Strahd’ campaign I ran in 2017, and the ‘Tomb of Annihilation’ campaign from 2018. CoS was the first campaign I sent summaries to players by email after each game (I was a bit lazy prior to that). Here’s another campaign – 2020’s ‘Out of the Abyss’. Each session was approximately 4 hours long. Some of the summaries may be amusing, but don’t forget these are unedited emails, so please forgive their somewhat chaotic nature and poor sentence structure/grammar. If you’re a D&D fan you may enjoy them. And maybe even if you aren’t.
Game on!
Steve 🙂
Session 12 – The Lost Tomb
The party delivered Droki to the Stone Guards, got to replace their Drow armour and weapons with regular ones and everyone headed off to see the Stone Giants. Hgraam met them and gave the party a summary of all the information he had given before (Stone Giants must be like elephants) and added that the party should speak to Dorbo and SenniDiggermattock, leaders of Blingdenstone, the Deep Gnome colony. “They will have contacts in Mantol Derith, a trading outpost in the deep dark. Perhaps from there you will be able to find your way to Archmage Vizeran and the Library of GrayvenHollow to find a way to defeat this demonic incursion.” Hgraam gave everyone a…rock…and said it would serve them in their time of need.
Leaving the city after a long rest, the party had a choice of going to Neverlight Grove or Blingdenstone. They chose Neverlight Grove to drop off Stool and Rumperdump, who wanted to return to their home. The party travelled for three days through the Underdark tunnels, encountering Duergar traders and some Derro and Deep Gnomes from Blingdenstone, who provided a map showing a route to Blingdenstone.
The Glabrezu demon with the warpstone in its chest pursued the party briefly, but they escaped through a tiny side passage using pygmywort mushrooms.
A female voice called to them from a ravine. The party abseiled down, Mission Impossible-style, and found the entrance to a lost tomb. In they went, defeating several Spectres and a Wraith. They found lots of treasure and magic items, including Dawnbringer, a sentient sunblade which was the voice that telepathically called to them (Peter’s Rogue got that).
AND everyone advanced to 5th level – yay!
Next Week: Neverlight Grove…
Session 13 – Neverlight Grove
The party bought a pack lizard from some Svirfneblin(Deep Gnome) Merchants, which Jeremy’s Monk christened ‘Fifi’. They travelled to Neverlight Grove to take Stool and Rumpadump home.
At Neverlight Grove they fought a Shambling Mound and were introduced to Phylo and Basidia, dual Myconid Sovereigns of the colony (unusual, as Myconids usually only have one Sovereign per colony). Phylo seemed a bit strange, raving on about the “wondrous and glorious surprise” brought by the “Great Seeder”.
Basidia took the party aside and told them they were unsure of the strange behaviours and spores in the grove. They recommended the party not linger as other ‘softers’ similar to them came a few weeks ago and had not been seen since visiting the Garden of Welcome on the hill. Basidia asked for assistance to find out what was going on and took the party members to meet the leaders of the various Myconid Circles. Basidia explained that the Myconids usually all rapported together at the end of the working day, however Phylo had decreed that circles do so amongst themselves, and that only the circle leaders now rapported together (and strangely, Yestabrod, from the Circle of Masters, sent a representative in his place to rapport). This was bizarre behaviour as the Myconids shared a group mind/familial bond when they all rapported together.
The party killed 3 Grick Alphas to help out the Circle of Hunters. After meeting each of the circle leaders (some of which were a bit crazy, others not), they made their way up to the Garden of Welcome where they found a garden of Underdark races, including Drow, swallowed up by the earth and covered in fungal mushroom growths. One of the Drow declared that Zuggtmoy, demon goddess of fungi, was here!
Sudddenly, the mutated fungal creature known as Yestabrod appeared with 2 Drow Spore Servants and 2 Myconid Adults, declaring that “the Great Seeder would embrace them as one of the chosen!”
Roll initiative…
Next Week: Showdown in Neverlight Grove and the Wedding Rehearsal…
DMs and fantasy TTRPG designers always need maps, but they’re not always easy for people to make, especially if you want a particular hand drawn aesthetic that you can’t get with digital map making applications. Maps can be expensive to commission, and when you’re a small indie TTRPG game or product designer, your profit margin can be tight on every product.
The solution: MAPS FOR FANTASY RPGs 6: a Digital Maps Package containing hand drawn, full color maps – royalty free and ready to use in your next private or commercial print/digital/streaming project!
Designed to inspire you creatively, these maps are ideal for any situation – design an entire adventure around one, use a map as a fill in or one-shot, or ad lib entirely as your players stumble across one. There are maps of all kinds: dark dungeons, spelljammed ships, ruined castles, temples, city boss lairs, cavernous caves, cutthroat-filled smuggler’s lairs and more!
Time for a free map! I love drawing maps by hand for Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy TTRPG adventures. I have far too many, so I like to give away my maps whenever I can.
This map comes with a grid and can be used for face-to-face games or Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, or Foundry!
This map is free to use for non-commercial purposes, as long as you acknowledge me and my website stevestillstanding.com. If you want to use it commercially, please send me an email and we can talk terms.
I previously posted some warts-and-all email summaries of the ‘Curse of Strahd’ campaign I ran in 2017, and the ‘Tomb of Annihilation’ campaign from 2018. CoS was the first campaign I sent summaries to players by email after each game (I was a bit lazy prior to that). Here’s another campaign – 2020’s ‘Out of the Abyss’. Each session was approximately 4 hours long. Some of the summaries may be amusing, but don’t forget these are unedited emails, so please forgive their somewhat chaotic nature and poor sentence structure/grammar. If you’re a D&D fan you may enjoy them. And maybe even if you aren’t.
Game on!
Steve 🙂
Session 10 – The Spectator & the Obelisk
The party awoke refreshed after a long rest in the dire den and decided to explore the areas left to them. Heading north, they found a vast and brightly lit cavern with a black metal obelisk and a dragon egg on a fire.
A Derro Savant, a bunch of Derros and a Spectator provided a good match for the party, with the Spectator’s eye powers paralyzing and frightening party members left, right and centre. Jeremy’s Goblin Monk bore the brunt of many attacks as he raced to the top of the mesa and was knocked unconscious twice. Josh’s Wizard had a long and determined fight with a wall and was so determined he (eventually) managed to climb it. It was down to Matt’s Cleric to finally kill the Spectator and the Derro Savant after the rest of the party softened them up (including a big crit hit by Peter’s Rogue on the Spectator).
Investigating the Obelisk, Josh’s Wizard decided to activate it with his magic and teleported Belinda’s Bard, Jeremy’s Monk and himself outside of Gracklstugh (luckily, they were in walking distance as they were pretty banged up from the battle). Meanwhile the others saw them disappear with only a wisp of smoke and assumed the worst. “So, let’s loot the dead,” said Matt’s Cleric in mourning. Rhyse’s Rogue, obviously grief-stricken over the loss of his party, desperately searched for the poisoned crossbow bolt he used (and missed with). “It’s the only Drow poison I’ve got!” he declared. At least he found it!
The teleported party members finally arrived at the gates of Garacklstugh and encountered a corrupt Gate Captain, who they immediately dobbed in to Stone Guard Leader Erde Blackskull (who was interested in incidents of corruption in the city). She asked them to find the Gate Captain’s contact on the Darklake Docks.
The three remaining party members rested, grabbed the dragon egg and made their way back to the city via the secret tunnel they discovered earlier, hired a cart and were all set to take the egg to the Keepers of the Flame when they ran into the missing party members. One quick reunion later and they all decided to long rest in their hotel under the Blades Bazaar.
Next Week: To find a Droki and the fate of the egg…
Session 11 – The Droki(n) Egg
After an interminably long discussion about what to do with the dragon egg, Belinda’s Bard and Peter’s Rogue went to see Themberchaud the Red Dragon and the Keepers of the Flame to find out who would offer the best deal. Themberchaud promised some potions (and not to burn them alive – he was quite persuasive in this regard) if they brought the egg to him. The Keepers were more interested in the location of the Obelisk in the Whorlestone Tunnels.
Meanwhile, Jeremy’s Monk and Rhyse’s Rogue were approached by some Drow in the bazaar, who questioned them about who they were (seems not all Drow run together, though; definitely a bit of rivalry going on there between Drow families) and then took off once the boys called for the Stone Guards.
The egg was delivered to Themberchaud, who promptly smoked it (not in a good way) and gave the party three potions and some garnets for their trouble.
While intercepting the corrupt gate captain’s contact at the Darklake Docks, two invisible assassins appeared and stabbed him to death while the party watched. So sad. The party followed the invisible dudes’ tracks down to the Whorlestone Tunnels, to an area they hadn’t been to before.
Discovering a cursed and demonic ritual taking place, the party did a lot of sneaking and, eventually, a lot of bloodletting (watch out for the green slime in that pit, Peter). Peter’s dog-loving Rogue tried killing a Death Dog, and eventually karma gave him a lightning bolt up the ass for being cruel to animals. Jeremy’s Monk knocked out Droki and Rhyse’s Rogue killed a big Ettin (split from crotch to neck – gross). Belinda’s Bard healed lots of people and discovered shatter was a really cool spell.
The party worked out the ritual was to curse the stone giants – to drive them crazy by growing second heads (because, why not) – and by taking the second stone head from a statue used in the ritual back to Hgraam, the Stone Giant Speaker, they could stop the curse. They also found lots of treasure and potentially magic books for Josh’s Wizard and Matt’s Cleric to read.
Next Week: Book reading! Delivering Droki! The open road! (Well, as open as it gets in the Underdark…)
Time for a free map! I love drawing maps by hand for Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy TTRPG adventures. I have far too many, so I like to give away my maps whenever I can.
This map is grid-less and can be used for face-to-face games or Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, or Foundry! It’s perfectly sized at 1750 x 1750 (25 x 25 squares) for Roll20!
On PC, just right click and save. On mobile, just hold your finger on the image and save.
This map is free to use for non-commercial purposes, as long as you acknowledge me and my website stevestillstanding.com. If you want to use it commercially, please send me an email and we can talk terms.
THE GOBLIN JARL is the 12thadventure in the SHOTGLASS ROUNDS series! This 66-page PDF adventure is compatible with both 5e, Old School Essentials (OSE) and OSR retro-clones based on Basic/Expert and includes 5e and full OSE monster stats!
THE GOBLIN JARL is for 2nd-Level characters and can be played as a One-Shot or as the second adventure in the DUNGEON DUUMHAVEN series.
THE GOBLIN JARL includes:
11 new monsters, including new Goblin and Hobgoblin types!
4 new magic items, including the ancient dwarvish machinera armor!
Bonus lore for Verona Province and the lost city of Shun-Zin!
Full color DM and Player maps!
Full OSE/OSR monster stats!
Full OSE/OSR and 5e rulings!
OSR rules for incorporating 5e rules into your favorite OSR system!
So many different ways for your players to mold the story: all-out assault; quiet and sneaky infiltration; playing off one side against the other; pure exploration; raising their own goblin horde to take on the Jarl. And more!
Time for a free map! I love drawing maps by hand for Dungeons & Dragons and other fantasy TTRPG adventures. I have far too many, so I like to give away my maps whenever I can.
This map comes with a grid, is perfectly sized for Roll20 (1750 x 1750 pixels, 25 x 25 squares) and can be used for face-to-face games or VTTs like Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, or Foundry!
On PC, just right click and save. On mobile, just hold your finger on the image and save.
This map is free to use for non-commercial purposes, as long as you acknowledge me and my website stevestillstanding.com. If you want to use it commercially, please send me an email and we can talk terms.
I previously posted some warts-and-all email summaries of the ‘Curse of Strahd’ campaign I ran in 2017, and the ‘Tomb of Annihilation’ campaign from 2018. CoS was the first campaign I sent summaries to players by email after each game (I was a bit lazy prior to that). Here’s another campaign – 2020’s ‘Out of the Abyss’. Each session was approximately 4 hours long. Some of the summaries may be amusing, but don’t forget these are unedited emails, so please forgive their somewhat chaotic nature and poor sentence structure/grammar. If you’re a D&D fan you may enjoy them. And maybe even if you aren’t.
Game on!
Steve 🙂
Side Note: These sessions were the first time we ever played online as a group – all previous sessions were face-to-face. But, you know, Covid had just hit. I used Discord for audio and screen-shared maps and tokens in Photoshop, which I moved around manually on screen (tedious lol). I moved to Roll20 not long after we finished the Whorlestone Tunnels section of the adventure…
Session 8 – Whirling and Wending Their Way through the Winding Tunnels of Whorlestone
After a long rest in which Belinda’s Bard successfully shook off Grackle Lung, the party continued into the caves, dispatching two Carrion Crawlers and claiming a magical shield for Matt’s Cleric.
In the next cavern they met up with a bunch of dancing Myconids who offered them “the Lady’s Gift”, which the party declined. The head Myconid also told the PCs about the special mushrooms that grew in these caves that helped the user grow (Bigwig) or shrink in size (Pygmywort). One of Stool’s friends, Rumpadump, joined the party, advising he could guide them to Neverlight Grove, Stool’s home.
The next cavern was full of fungi trees and hard to move through, so the party backtracked to the original intersection, found some footprints leading north to clumps of fungi next to a narrow crack in the wall. The footprints led beyond, so the party consumed pygmyworts and newly tiny Rhyse’s Ratfolk Rogue scouted ahead. Eventually the party made its way through the fungi forest, finding the pygmywort ran out after an hour.
They discovered a cave with a strange mesa, where whispers of conversations from the city above filtered down. Matt’s Cleric picked up Droki’s crazed murmuring and discovered he was in the caverns north of them.
Shrinking down to go through another crack in the wall, the party found a corridor with big double doors, which Peter’s Rogue and Rhyse’s Rogue opened. Inside, a fungi garden tended by three Duergar. Sneaking north, the party found an alchemist’s lab, confronted the Duergar alchemist and Belinda’s Bard put him to sleep. They dispatched the three Duergar who responded to the alchemist’s calls. Looting the room, they found several magical potions, acid vials and alchemist’s fire flasks, as well as various kits, including a poisoners’ kit for Rhyse’s Rogue.
Waking the alchemist, the party discovered the Duergar were Grey Ghosts (the ones the Keepers of the Flame wanted to know about), that Droki delivered strange bits of black metal to them and that the Grey Ghosts were repairing a strange black obelisk in another section of the caves using the material. Belinda’s Bard was set on fire and beaten up by the alchemist, so Peter’s Rogue finished him off.
The party leveled up – 4th level!
Session 9 – The endless trails of the Whorlestone Tunnels
In the alchemist’s cave and fungi garden, Rhyse’s Rogue recovered some Assassin’s Blood ingested poison from some plants, then Jeremy’s Monk sprayed him with fertilizer leaving him a retching mess. The party found a tunnel that led to the Darklake Docks, then went back into the Whorlestone Tunnels to continue the search for Droki.
Trekking through the darkness, they came upon a swirling pool next to two paths. Taking the lower trail, Rhyse’s Rogue threw in a rock and disturbed the Water Weird there. Peter’s Rogue daintily tested the water before entering it to attack, for the first time Belinda’s Bard was tongue-tied while viciously mocking the beast (or as DM Steve said: “mockering”), and Josh’s Warlock/Wizard (who slept through last week) got to use his Eldritch Blast again.
Onto a cavern with locked up cave bears, a spiraling path used for some sort of ritual, and several Derro. The party once again efficiently disposed of the crazy little guys, but the cave bears went crazy and one broke out. Jeremy’s monk (or perhaps we should say Jeremy) was very upset that the bear he was feeding its derro master to (who had warped its brain with magic) should be enraged and try to attack him – go figure. The bears were all killed off and the party spent a long rest eating the first fresh meat they’d had since the lizards from the Duergar Wagon Train about a week ago. Mushroom lunches and dinners each day only go so far.
Further along, a cavern reeking of death and filled with faezress mist, where the PCs subdued a lone Derro, interrogated him and then threw him into the misty cavern below, where murky things were moving about below the haze. “Hands! Handsy, handsy, oof!” cried Handsy the Derro.
Through the tunnels to a fungus-covered set of double doors, with a rusted lock that was apparently barred from the other side. No attempt to open it as everyone was in a rush to go somewhere else.
Onwards the intrepid adventurers travelled, determined to explore every nook and cranny. Into a dire den of Giant Spiders, where the king spider had two heads. Jeremy’s monk attempted to kill himself but survived, and Rhyse’s Rogue almost died attempting to harvest the spiders’ poison. His last roll was a 20, and he got one dose of giant spider venom! Yeehah!
A long rest and the party would be ready for the next gruelling session…
Next Week: More bumping and grinding in the Whorlestone Tunnels…
Laidback DM: SteveStillStanding.com 