Impress Your Players with These 10 Horrific Encounters
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BY NEVERNOTDM Sample file IMPRESS YOUR PLAYERS WITH THESE 10 HORRIFIC ENCOUNTERS DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors. SuchSample material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreementfile for Dungeon Masters Guild. All other original material in this work is copyright 2021 by Christian Zeuch, NeverNotDM, 2 and Jemery Forbing, and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. Contents Credits Introduction…………………………………4 Author:NeverNotDM ,ChristianZeuch , Overview....................................................................4 Jeremy Forbing Editor: Jack Weighill Using Maps.................................................................4 Art Direction: Christian Zeuch Running Encounters.............................................4 Layout: Christian Zeuch (based on the Affinity Encounter Challenge...........................................4 Publisher template by Nathanaël Roux) Encounters…..…………………………………5 Project Lead: Christian Zeuch A Witch’s Curse........................................................5 Cover Art: mikesilent & somchaikhun (Adobe A Queer Warning ....................................................8 Stock) Behind the Waterfall..........................................12 Interior Art: Some artwork © Grim Press, used with Freezing Feet, So Good to Eat...........................16 permission. All rights reserved, Bob Greyvenstein, Poor Unfortunate Souls ....................................18 Corey Johnston. James RPG Art, chainat, Daniel, The Raven’s Hall ..................................................22 roman3d, iversepixel, mickblakey, liuzishan, The Road Less Traveled.....................................23 Ralf Kraft, Artem Popov, Vagelio Kaliva The Syndicate..........................................................25 Playtesters: Fenn, Jared Scott , Thomas The Tomb..................................................................28 Donavin, Logan, "NinjaPhilosopher" Under the Roots....................................................31 Special Thanks 34 Appendix A: Creatures & NPCs..… Sam Kurdi helped with the main outline for “A Appendix B: Magic Items………………39 Witch’s Curse” encounter, which I further elaborated based on his outline. Thank you for Appendix C: Oath of Ravenkind…42 collaborating with us on this! Appendix D: Additional Maps ……44 Thanks to Jeremy Forbing for allowing us to use some of his content, like the Oath of Ravenkind, featured in Ravenloft Players Compendium. Foreword Working with NeverNotDM (Ben) and Jeremy has been fantastic. Ben wrote some amazing encounters which will for sure provide an awesome experience to your players. Jeremy’s know-how on Ravenloft certainly added great value to the overall content built upon by Ben. I’m really proud of what we achieved here. Hopefully you and your group will have fun—and DARK—times running those encounters! Sample file 3 Introduction eware: by opening this document, you These encounters’ level requirement are have created a door into the Domains of mentioned at the beginning of each encounter. If Dread, unleashing the horrors that lurk you wish to use these encounters at different within. Within these pages you will find levels, make use of online tools to double-check ten encounters for characters of various the encounter balance. One way to make levels, all set in the shadowy realm of encounters easier is to reduce the number of Ravenloft, each waiting to be loosed upon creatures engaged in a combat encounter, or by unsuspecting characters in your campaign. reducing the strength of those creatures’ abilities. Most of these encounters can be tied to one or more of the Darklords, those wicked souls who are both masters and victims of the various Using Maps Domains of Dread. This gives you the flexibility Most encounters presented in this module to set these encounters in a variety of domains, includes an associated map. The product also according to the needs of your own campaign. provides a ZIP file with VTT files containing Although the Dark Powers of Ravenloft have different versions of each map, all with grid and crafted the domains to revolve around these gridless options. titans of terror, Darklords need not always take center-stage. In fact, sometimes the DM makes Running Encounters best use of a Darklord by having them remain To runEncounters in Ravenloft, you will need the mysterious, or letting them linger in the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS fifth edition Player’s background like malevolent threats, intruding Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide,andMonster into the foreground only when adventurers Manual. Creatures new to this supplement are foolishly provoke their attention. Many of these listed in appendix A. encounters excel at foreshadowing future encounters with Darklords, hinting at the greater dangers yet to be revealed... Encounter Challenge If the adventurers stumble upon an encounter Overview that’s too challenging, remind them not every foe can (or should) be fought. Other tactics, like Encounters in Ravenloft contains ten encounters fleeing, hiding, or negotiating, can lead to more designed for DUNGEONS & DRAGONS’s popular exciting outcomes. setting of Ravenloft. Each encounter listed in this When the “Rewards” section of an encounter product comes with a detailed explanation of includes an experience points (XP) reward, refer how to run it in your Ravenloft campaign, most to the XP Thresholds by Character Level table of them accompanied by detailed maps to (chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide)to enhance your experience. award the correct amount of XP based on the Encounters characters’ levels and the provided difficulty. EncountersSample serve as supplements or replacements Content Warning file for any random encounters tables listed in either This product contains content that could be triggering Curse of Strahd or any other Ravenloft module or disturbing to some players. Make sure to discuss boundaries with your play group and if necessary, alter you might be running. the adventurers to suit your players’ needs. 4 Encounters in Ravenloft contains graphic descriptions of violence, murder, and torture. Encounters A Witch’s Curse pressure on the characters while the woman pleads with them. The townsfolk watch the scene Encounter Level: 4th–5th with mixed apprehension and disgust. With a Encounter Type: Social, Combat successful DC 12 Wisdom (Insight) check, Encounter Overview: While in a settlement, characters can spot villagers demonstrating the party is approached by a woman begging for disgust, while others exhibit pity. The lottery is help in freeing her husband, who according to actually rigged, where the rich pay to never be her is being held prisoner. Everyone around is selected. deeply fearful of the situation and the party will If the characters accept, she thanks them soon find out that the townsfolk have been profusely, offering a silver locket with images of cursed by a witch, having to keep a captive man her and her husband inside as a reward. The to avoid a far worse punishment. locket is a family heirloom and is worth 50 gp. If they refuse, she gets even more desperate, yelling Encounter Locations: Any domain with small that the party MUST help her, she has no-one rural settlements (such as Barovia, Kartakass, or else to ask, following the characters until she is Tepest) scared off, or convinced the party will not help her. In either case, she points them towards Background wherever prisoners are kept in town, be it a Many years ago, the townsfolk burned a witch at stockade or guardhouse. the stake for crimes of kidnapping the town's While the woman is pleading and begging for children. With her dying breath, the witch help, two men approach the party and try to cursed the town to never prosper, unless the dissuade them from listening to the woman by townsfolk forced one of their own into abject lying to them, telling them that the woman is suffering for months at a time each year. The simply mad with grief over a tragic event in her townsfolk, being superstitious types, feared the past. A successful DC 12 Wisdom (Insight) check curse and started a lottery in which families reveals the lie. If you want added drama, the would "volunteer" one of their members to be town guards may try to remove her while the imprisoned in horrific conditions until death, so characters are talking to her. This may spark that the rest of the townsfolk can survive the your players to really try to find out what is harsh winters and cruel summers. Everyone in going on. town believes that should the man be released, If the characters decide to investigate the the town would devolve into chaos and all they situation, they can easily find out where have worked to build up to would be in vain. prisoners are usually held, which could be in a city watch headquarters, or any other secured The Encounter facility. In case the party inquires the nearby While in any small, rural settlement of your crowd about said location, they will not deny the choosing, the party is approached by a wild-eyed information but will reinforce that they should womanSample named Sophia, begging the characters to ignore Sophia. file free her husband, Toth. She claims that the Upon arrival at the prison, the guards will be townsfolk are holding Toth hostage in a state of