DA1 An Ad1 for Character Levels 10-14 9172

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MAP 1: LOWER LEVEL

COMEBACK INN STABLE & CELLARS OFFICIAL GAME ADVENTURE

ADVENTURES IN BLACKMOOR by David L. Arneson & David J. Ritchie

Table of Contents

DM BACKGROUND 2 Beginning the Adventure 8 Running the Adventure 10

THE INN BETWEEN THE WORLDS 12 General Background 12 Description 13

THE BLACKMOOR COMEBACK INN 29 General Background 29 Credits Description 32 Editor: Deborah C. Ritchie Cover Artist: Jeff Easley THE PRISON OUT OF TIME 38 Interior Artist: Jim Holloway Cartographer: Tom Darden General Background 38 Typographer: Betty Elmore and Kim Lindau DescriptioSamplen file 38 Ending the Adventure 40 DAVID L. ARNESON is the co-author of the Further Adventures 41 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® Fantasy Role Play- ing Game. ROGUES, REGENTS & RASCALS 46

°1986 TSR Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in U.S.A. PREROLLED CHARACTERS Cover DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and D&D are registered trademarks owned by TSR Inc. The TSR logo is a trademark owned by TSR Inc. Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Random House, Inc., and in Canada by Random House of Canada, Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributers. Dis- tributed in the United Kingdom by TSR UK Ltd.

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TSR, Inc. PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION'- ISBN 0-88038-314-3 9172 DM BACKGROUND

Stop! If you plan to participate in this module The following abbreviations are used bled, its pride humbled, its culture a poor tat- as a player, read no further. Knowing the ad- throughout the text of this module: tered thing lacking the will even to continue. venture's details will make it less fun for ev- A few survivors sailed to a new land, which AC = Armour Class; eryone. they called Thonia in memory of all that they MV = Movement Rate; This module is the first in a series of adven- had lost. But it does not bear and never bore HD = Hit Dice or Level; tures set in the mythical kingdom of Black- the least resemblance to the waking dream of hp = current hit points; moor. Blackmoor was the first campaign elder Thonia—the Golden Empire. #AT = Number of attacks; setting ever devised for use in a fantasy role- In the far north of what was elder Thonia, D = Damage; playing game. The Blackmoor presented in where for half a millenium a vigorous border ML = Morale; this module is a substantially revised and ex- province called Blackmoor had dominated AL = Alignment; panded setting based on material developed the affairs of the empire, the gray seas lapped for that venerable campaign. In view of this XP ™ Experience Points; unbroken save for a few islands that were fact, it is perhaps fitting to note that the F = Fighter; once uninhabited peaks. Of the towns and events, places, and characters resident in T - Thief; castles of the Northlands, there was— Blackmoor exist some 3,000 years M befor = Magie c User; nothing. All were swallowed by the sea. And those described in any other D&D® C fantas = Clericy; when the land again rose up from that vasty role-playing game material. cp = copper pieces; deep, it had been scraped clean. What was ep = electrum pieces; The adventure in this module is designed not destroyed by the waters—the mountains for a party of five to eight playegpr = character gold pieces;s and river beds, the cliffs and lakes—were (PCs) of the 10th to 14th levels ofp pexperience = platinum pieces. ; soon buried under a half a mile of ice, as cli- A balance of character classes willsp b =e silveneeder piecesd ; matic changes wrought by the catastrophe since the PCs will face many problemsOL =, Ope eacnh Locks; made the Northlands into a howling glacial of which may be most easily and effectivelFT - Find Trapsy ; wilderness. When the climate again shifted solved by a character of a differenRTt = class Remov.e Traps A ; back to more or less its original pattern, the number of prerolled characters areP P include = PickPocketsd ; very face of the land had changed. It was as if, for use in the event that there aren't enough MS = Move Silently; said men, a curse from an angry and vengeful PCs of the correct level and class available. In CW - Climb Walls (Sheer Surfaces); god had utterly and purposefully obliterated addition, the campaign material includes a HS = Hide in Shadows; Blackmoor and all her works. And the name long list of famous persons indigenous to HN - Hear Noise. of Blackmoor, itself, became a curse. Blackmoor who can, if desired, be used as Nonplayer characters (NPCs) are introduced It was in Blackmoor, you see, that the cata- high-level NPCs to flesh out the party. throughout the text where they are most clysm originated. Not a cataclysm of nature, In addition to the adventure that intro- likely to be encountered. When introduced, but a cataclysm wrought solely by the hand of duces the PCs to the Empire of Thonia and their statistics are shown in an abbreviated man. For a thousand years, first as half- the kingdom of Blackmoor, this module in- form with all combat and movement adjust- forgotten province, then as independent cludes extensive background material on ments already computed. kingdom, then as keystone of a faltering em- both of those areas. This material is designed pire, Blackmoor had followed its curious des- And now—welcomSamplee to Blackmoor file. to provide you, the Dungeon Master (DM), tiny. There, far from the ken of the great with a campaign setting within which to run wizards of the Thonian capital, men discov- further adventures. Future modules in this THE LAND OF LEGEND ered wild magic, stronger than any at the em- series will be set within the confines of Thonia Before there was Thyatis—before there was pire's center. By blending this magic with the and Blackmoor, and will use the places and Hyboria—before there was the land of arts of science, they forged tools of awesome characters introduced in this module. Norwold—before the cruel Nentsun built power, devices to tame seas and raise moun- Read this entire module before playing. their longships or the the Four Kingdoms tains. It was these that gave them place of There are some plot elements that won't be fought their deadly wars—before the dread pride in the empire. It was these that were fully developed until late in the module, but Alphatians fell from the sky—before all this, their undoing. for which the groundwork must be laid much there was Thonia. None in our time knows which of the de- earlier. If you are not already aware of these Not the Thonia of our time. No. That bar- vices of the Blackmoor philosophers set off elements before play begins, you won't be ren, frozen Thonia is but a pale shadow of the the chain of disasters that destroyed that able to plant clues or build drama as effec- Thonia that was, and the mind can but weep land. Even the names of such machines have tively, and the module will be less fun to play. at the sightless vision of its past glory. Full been lost. All that is known is that some acci- Study the maps while reading the area keys 3,000 years agone and 2,000 years before the dent occurred, and Blackmoor sank beneath in the module booklet. Most of these keys crowning of the first Emperor of Thyatis, the seas, its shattered shores becoming the contain boxed information that should be whose coronation day marks the beginning of Broken Lands we know today. read aloud to the players when they enter the our own age, that elder Thonia was torn But of the sinking of the fabled land— area. Unboxed information is provided only apart and half drowned in the vastest cata- another time! Today, we speak of other as a guide for you, the DM; it is not read to clysm this world has known. things. Of a time a thousand years before the the players. While every effort has been made Fearful was that time—a waking horror cataclysm. Of a time when Thonia was still to provide all information needed for play, when the earth shook and the skies burned. master of the world, and Blackmoor but its you may want to add extra details to the And when it was done, Thonia was no more. least and newest province. Of a time when boxed descriptions for atmosphere. The land existed, yes. But its cities were tum- men were just learning to use the wild magic,