With Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk arriving on bookshelves as we enter the twilight months of 5^th Edition in anticipation of the release of D&D 2024 / OneD&D / whatever we end up calling it, I thought it would be interesting to go all the way back to the beginning and take a peek at the D&D Starter Set first published in 2014.

But let’s start by going even further back and discussing the history of D&D introductory sets. (This is something I discuss in even more detail in Every Edition of D&D if you want to go on a real deep dive.)

D&D was originally published as a boxed set in 1974. In 1977, however, the product line bifurcated: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons would be published as a set of three hardcover books, while Dungeons & Dragons would be published in the boxed Basic Set. (This is why that version of the game is often called Basic D&D.)

In 1981, the Basic Set was revamped and an Expert Set was added as a supplement. In 1983, the Basic and Expert sets were revamped again, and the Companion, Master, and Immortals boxed sets were also added.

Now, here’s the key thing: Dungeons & Dragons was NOT the same game as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. The Basic Set (and its supplements) were a complete, stand-alone game that even had its own campaign worlds and adventures.

Starting in 1991, this changed. The Basic D&D game remained distinct from AD&D for a while longer, but its rules were compiled into the Rules Cyclopedia. Later, after Wizards of the Coast bought D&D, they would end Basic D&D and drop the “Advanced” moniker from the 3^rd Edition of AD&D (now referred to simply as D&D). A multitude of Basic Sets, Introductions, First Quests, Starter Sets, Adventure Games, and Basic Games would continue to be published as boxed sets, but there was an important difference:

They weren’t complete games.

They were pay-to-preview ads for the Player’s Handbook, and they were usually designed accordingly: You bought them. You played them once. Then you threw them in the trash, bought the core rulebooks, and never touched them again.

I’ve talked in the past about the fact that I think this killed D&D’s gateway product and did an incredible amount of harm to the entire RPG industry. Personally, in my ideal world, D&D would be a game sold in a box, and when new players asked, “What do I need to play D&D?” you’d say, “You need the big box with DUNGEONS & DRAGONS on the cover.” Simple.

Obviously, we don’t live in that world. But this should give you a barometer for what my ideal Starter Set would look like: It would be a meaty, full-featured version of D&D. It would introduce complete neophytes to roleplaying games and teach them not only how to play, but also how to be a Dungeon Master. It would give a complete gaming experience, even if you never picked up the Player’s Handbook or Dungeon Master’s Guide.

And if you bought it, you would absolutely not feel like you paid money to have someone tell you that you should buy something else.

OPENING THE BOX

So let’s crack this thing open.

What’s actually in the D&D Starter Set box is pretty barebones:

• The 32-page Starter Set Rulebook, which gives you all the rules for the game.
• The 64-page Lost Mine of Phandelver, which serves as an adventure book, monster manual, magic item vault, and index.
• Five pregen characters sheets.
• A set of dice.

Honestly, I think this barebones approach is okay. You don’t need a fancy gizmos and gadgets to play a roleplaying game. Would a poster map of the Phandalin region (where Lost Mines of Phandelver is set) have been a nice bit of highly practical bling that might have been wonderfully intriguing to a new player? Almost certainly.

But barebones here gives you an MSRP of $20, which is an absolutely fabulous price point. That puts the Starter Set in the territory of an impulse buy, and that was often even more true in actual practice. (I got my copy for $10.)

Nevertheless, there are a couple of things I will ding here: First, the included dice set only includes one d20 and one d6, which I think is inadequate for a game that includes advantage/disadvantage and the fireball spell.

Second, the two booklets would really benefit from cardstock covers. Instead, they’re just stapled paper and very flimsy.

THE RULEBOOK

The Starter Set Rulebook is very good.

The introduction it provides to RPGs — what they are, how they’re played, etc. — is workmanlike, but solid in its execution. More importantly this is a complete and fully functional rulebook. It’s not painfully incomplete. It doesn’t constantly tease with how the real rules are in another book. It’s a rock solid volume, and you could run a complete Tier 1 campaign with this rulebook with zero difficulty.

In fact, except for one thing that we’ll get to in just a moment, you could run multiple Tier 1 campaigns.

Combined with the magic items and monsters found in the companion volume, a DM has enough material that they could comfortably create their own campaign. I could even imagine someone skipping the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide, grabbing a Monster Manual to give them more options for foes, and continuing to game happily for months or years or forever.

This is, in case I’m not being clear, a really fantastic achievement.

Unfortunately, as I hinted above, there are a couple gaping holes here that, in my opinion, stop this from being a total triumph.

First, there are no rules for character creation. Instead, players will need to pick one of the five pregen characters included in the boxed set. This is the truly crippling blow, and the only thing that truly limits the Starter Set.

Second, the books do a pretty good job of orienting first-time Dungeon Masters. There’s a lot of practical advice for how they can referee the session, make rulings, set up adventure hooks, narrate the action, play the monsters, and so forth. But the major oversight is that they never actually tell the DM how to run the dungeons included in the adventure book.

D&D actually has a long history of failing to do this (the 5^th Edition core rulebooks are actually worse!), but it’s ultimately kind of amusing when you realize that the Starter Set includes multiple, detailed explanations of exactly how boxed text is supposed to be used, but nothing on how dungeons are supposed to be used.

For example, at the beginning of the adventure they tell you:

• This is boxed text. You should read it.
• Here is a list of specific things you should do; including getting a marching order so that you know where the PCs are positioned when the goblins ambush them.
• When the goblins ambush them, this is the step-by-step guide for how combat should start and what you should be doing while running the combat.
• Here are several specific ways that the PCs can track the goblins back to their lair, and here’s a walk-thru of how you can resolve each one.

This is all great. Concrete, specific advice presented in a clear and highly usable format.

But then the PCs get to the goblins’ lair and… nothing.

To be clear, they do a fantastic job of presenting the dungeon:

• General Features
• What the Goblins Know (always love this)
• Keyed map
• And, of course, the keyed entries describing each room.

Again, these are all great.

But the step-by-step instructions for how you’re actually supposed to use this material? It just… stops. The designers obviously just assume that reading text out loud requires a detailed explanation, but how you run a dungeon is just a skill that everyone is born with.

Which is, of course, really silly.

But I digress. As I mentioned, this problem is a much larger and more systemic than the D&D Starter Set. It’s just particularly sad to see the ball getting dropped in an introductory product.

QUIBBLES & NITPICKS

Two more quick nitpicks before we do a proper dive into the adventure book.

First, Wizards of the Coast is allergic to referencing page numbers and I don’t get it. The “logic,” which they’ve explained from time to time, is that they don’t want to include, for example, a specific page number in the Monster Manual because it’s possible that they’ll revise the Monster Manual and the page numbers will change.

But in the 20+ years they’ve been eschewing page numbers, and I cannot emphasize this enough, they have never done this. The first time it might happen is next year.

It’s, frankly, dumb in general because it makes their books much, much harder to use than they need to be. And in the specific case of the D&D Starter Set it’s even dumber because this is a self-contained product. If you were to some day revise the Starter Set, you could just update the page references.

But because Wizards of the Coast is allergic to page numbers, brand new DMs will be cursed with needlessly flipping back and forth through the books, trying to figure out where specific sections are after the authors wave vaguely in their direction.

(I will give them partial credit for an Index that isn’t complete garbage.)

Second, the random encounter procedures for dungeons given in the Starter Set are kinda garbage. They give random encounter tables, but then instruct brand new DMs, “Make an encounter check whenever you feel like it. Or don’t. But you definitely should. But don’t make too many of them, because you’ll ruin your game. How many is too many? Eh. I dunno. You’ll figure it out. Maybe.”

I suspect this text may have originally been more closely tied to detailed dungeon procedures which were present in pre-5^th Edition D&D Next playtest material but removed from the game entirely at the eleventh hour. But this is, nonetheless, bad praxis, and even moreso in material you’re presenting to first-time DMs.

LOST MINE OF PHANDELVER

Which finally brings us to Lost Mine of Phandelver, the adventure book.

I’m not going to beat around the bush here: This is good.

It’s really, really good.

I’m pretty comfortable describing Lost Mine as the single best introductory adventure D&D has ever had, and I don’t think the competition is even close.

First, it’s not just an adventure. It’s an entire campaign. In just 50 pages, Lost Mine of Phandelver presents seven — seven! — different scenarios plus the lushly detailed village of Phandalin. (The other 14 pages in the booklet are devoted to the monster manual, magic item vault, and rules index.) I am completely blown away by this.

And it’s not just the amount of material presented here. This is a really good campaign, and it’s particularly excellent as an exemplar for new DMs figuring out how to make their own campaigns.

We can start by looking at the structure of the campaign:

• Lost Mine of Phandelver starts with the PCs on their way to the village of Phandalin.
• A simple ambush-based scenario hook pulls the PCs into a goblin lair called the Cragmaw Hideout. The initial encounter is a perfect kickoff for first-time players and DMs, starting with an intriguing enigma (dead horses lying in the road) before smoothly transitioning to a combat encounter featuring a simple, but meaningful tactical dilemma for the players.
• The Cragmaw dungeon itself is absolutely fantastic: It’s non-linear. It takes advantage of the third-dimension. The key is clear, clever, and features several really cool ideas (like the dams that the goblins can use to create a defensive flood). It repeatedly emphasizes the opportunity not only for combat, but also roleplaying and clever problem-solving. Everything here implicitly tells the players that their choices matter and teaches the DM how to actively respond to what the PCs are doing.
• The Cragmaw hideout also features multiple scenario hooks, giving the players several options to pursue.
• Whenever the PCs arrive in Phandalin (whether they head there immediately or after pursuing the scenario hooks from the Cragmaw hideout), the entire village is set up to deliver another half dozen or more scenario hooks to them. The result is that the players end up with an entire menu of scenario hooks to choose between, once against emphasizing that their choices matter.
• The individual scenarios are also interconnected, in a really beautiful node-based design that ultimately funnels the PCs into the campaign finale at Wave Echo Cave, which (a) has been foreshadowed since the very beginning of the campaign and (b) is another fantastic dungeon scenario with excellent non-linear design and multiple factions.

I really can’t emphasize just how great this is.

On top of this rock solid campaign frame, the individual adventures are, as I’ve already suggested, equally excellent. I’ve mentioned the strategically interesting non-linear design of the dungeons and the Three Clue Rule, but they also feature retreating foes, personalized magic items redolent with history and flavor, and a wonderfully varied cast of characters.

On top of all that, although I quibbled about the presentation of the random dungeon encounters, the random wilderness encounters are given a very effective procedure AND they’re linked to the scenarios, providing another level of interconnectivity in the campaign.

THE VERDICT

The Starter Set Rulebook is very good, but unfortunately flawed in a couple key ways.

That almost doesn’t matter, though, because I’d pay $20 for just Lost Mine of Phandelver in a heartbeat. And I’d do it even faster than that if I could.

Best introductory adventure for D&D ever published? Definitely.

Best adventure book of any kind published by Wizards of the Coast? Quite possibly.

Overall, the 1983 Basic Set probably remains the best introduction to D&D ever published. But if I’d been given Lost Mine of Phandelver when I was a first-time DM, it would have made me a much better DM than I was, and that’s something special. Even if you’re an experienced DM with years of play under your belt, it’s still a really enjoyable campaign that’s immaculate in its construction.

I really can’t recommend it highly enough.

Grade: A

• Lost Mine of Phandelver: A+

Lead Designers: Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford
Design Team: Christopher Perkins, James Wyatt, Rodney Thompson, Robert J. Schwalb, Peter Lee, Steve Townshend, Bruce R. Cordell
Adventure Designers: Richard Baker, Christopher Perkins

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Cost: $19.95
Page Count: 96

D&D Beyond: Lost Mine of Phandelver (Free!)

FURTHER READING
Review: D&D Essentials Kit
Review: Dragons of Stormwreck Isle (D&D Starter Set 2022)

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The Red Company of Goldsmiths is maintained as a small subsidiary of the Goldsmiths’ Guild (which, in turn, is largely controlled by the Ironworkers’ Guild). The Vladaams maintain it primarily to launder stolen funds and goods from their other enterprises.

Gold Strips: Suitable for crafting. Each strip is marked with the “V” sigil of the Vladaams (making them easily traceable).

Goldsmiths: Use artisan stats, Ptolus, p. 606.

• Proficiency (+2): Jeweler’s Tools
• Equipment: 1d10 x 1d10 gp, jeweler’s tools, Vladaam deot ring

Guildsman District
Gold Street – E9

AREA 1 – GOLDSMITHY

Gilted worktables with comfortable seats fill the room.

DAY: There’s roughly 8,000 gp worth of gold strips and 5,000 gp of jewelry in this room. 12 sets of jeweler’s tools.

NIGHT: The tools have been tidied away and the gold strips/jewelry moved to Area 2: Gold Safe.

SAFE DOOR (10-in. iron, to Area 2): AC 19, 300 hp, DC 24 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools). An alarm spell is keyed to Guildmaster Telidor.

SECRET DOOR: DC 30 Intelligence (Investigation) check. The wall is hollow and this section is designed to be unscrewed.

AREA 2 – GOLD SAFE

The safe contains 25 pp, 350 gp, and 1,300 sp. It also contains large, heavy stacks of gold strips totaling 32,000 gp in value.

NIGHT: An additional 8,000 gp in gold strips and 5,000 gp of jewelry (secured from Area 1).

DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation): There is a hidden compartment in the tiled steel floor of the safe. It holds a number of small, mimatched bags containing 3,116 gp, 43,457 sp, and 103,900 cp.

DM Background: This money flows in from all the illegal operations of the Vladaams. After being held here, it’s transferred from the Goldsmiths’ Guild to legitimate banks.

AREA 3 – GUILD GATHERING HALL

A long, heavy table of polished oak runs the length of this room. A chandelier of wrought gold and rubies, lit with continual flame, hangs from the ceiling (5,000 gp value).

AREA 4 – GUILDMASTER’S OFFICE

A tidy, well-sorted desk. A gold inkwell (worth 100 gp) stands on top of the desk.

DESK: Ordinary guild correspondence is neatly stacked in one drawer; blank parchment and quills in another. A third drawer holds a black velvet pouch containing 770 gp.

• DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation): One of the drawers has a false bottom. DC 20 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools) to open. It contains paperwork relating to the money laundering operations of the guild. There’s usually enough compromising material here to reveal 1d4+2 pieces of uncommon and 1d3 pieces of rare information from the Vladaam gather information tables.

AREA 5 – SMUGGLING HOLE

This appears to be a small, dusty, and forgotten room with a dirt floor.

DC 24 Intelligence (Investigation): Scraping away about a half inch of dirt reveals a trap door leading down to a tunnel which leads under the city wall and emerges about 500 feet away in a small copse of trees.

DM Background: This smuggling hole has not seen much use in recent years. (The Vladaams don’t want to attract unnecessary attention to a guild that’s very successfully laundering their money. But the Guildmaster and a few others in the guild are aware of its existence.)

GUILDMASTER TELIDOR

A striking woman with long black hair plaited with golden wire. She wears a beautiful golden necklace depicting a phoenix being consumed by flames formed from three large and several small red-gold tourmalines (3,000 gp). She also has a pair of matching bracelets, which are actually bracelets of friends (keyed to Navanna twice, Gattara once, Godfred once, Aliastar once, Marcus Corellius twice, and her two bodyguards).

Through her black market work and money laundering with the Vladaams, Telidor has become a very rich woman. As a result, over the past decade her social circle has rapidly escalated. And she likes it. Her ambition has led her to consider buying a familial share in House Abanar in order to raise her star even higher; the only thing holding her back is a fear of retaliation from the Vladaams.

Guildmaster Telidor: Use knight stats, MM p. 347, except she uses a cudgel (1d8+3 bludgeoning) and hand crossbow (1d6 piercing) for her attacks and she has Wisdom 15 (+2).

• Proficiency (+2): Jeweler’s Tools
• Equipment: bracelet of friends (x2), phoenix necklace (3,000 gp), diamond ring (250 gp), Vladaam deot ring
• Bracelet of Friends: This silver charm bracelet has four charms upon it when created. As a bonus action, the owner may designate one person known to them to be keyed to one charm. When a charm is grasped and the name of the keyed individual is spoken as an action, that person is called to the spot, along with their gear, as long as the owner and the called person are on the same plane. The keyed individual knows who is calling, and the bracelet functions only on willing travelers. Once a charm is activated, it disappears. Charms separated from the bracelet are worthless.

Telidor’s Bodyguards (Harla & Jarla): Female lizardfolk. Use gladiator stats, MM p. 348.

• Proficiency (+3): Perception, Stealth, Survival
• Equipment: flaming claw tips (Harla) / frost claw tips (Jarla), javelin of lightning (x2), potion of superior healing, Vladaam deot ring
• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) piercing damage.
• Hold Breath. Lizardfolk can hold their breath for 15 minutes.
• Flaming Claw Tips: +1 to attacks and +2d6 fire damage.
• Frost Claw Tips: +1 to attacks and +2d6 cold damage.

Go to Part 13: Red Company of Magi

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A guild of brass and bronze workers which actually serves as a focal point for Vladaam chaositech research.

Guildsman District
Brass Street – H8

AREA 1 – STOREFRONT

A variety of workbenches cluttered with tools. Guildsmen on duty here will do minor repair work.

TOOLS: Two sets of jeweler’s tools and a set of tinker’s tools.

MERCHANDISE: Various works of brass and bronze, mostly knick-knacks, cheap candelabras, or specialized components of little value. Total worth of 150 gp if it’s all hauled out of here. There are two sextants worth 250 gp each and a set of brass marbles worth 1 gp.

AREA 2 – STAIRWELL

The stairwell is guarded with three alarm spells which are triggered by anyone traversing the stairs who isn’t wearing a guild badge.

• An audible alarm (heard throughout the workshop and out on the street).
• A mental alarm that notifies Aliaster Vladaam.
• A mental alarm that notifies the guioldmaster.

AREA 3 – UPPER WORKSHOP

This workshop contains ten sets of smith’s tools, two sets of tinker’s tool, and two sets of jeweler’s tools., along with a large supply of brass, bronze, and copper (2,000 pounds, worth a total of 1,000 gp). Two small forges are positioned near windows (for ventilation).

PAPERS: A few miscellaneous papers are strewn about, including a Bill for Repairs Done to a Spiked Pit Trap.

SECRET DOOR – DC 16Intelligence (Investigate): The chaositech workshop in Area 4 is actually the second floor storey of the building next door (which has no access to its second floor, just a long stair that goes up to its third floor), so it’s not immediately apparent that there should be any access to it.

BILL FOR REPAIRS TO A SPIKED PIT TRAP

To the attention of Arquad—

A request of remuneration for the services of the Founders’ Guild in the repair and servicing of the safeguards in the back hall of Marquette’s Textiles, Pitch Street, Guildsman District.

To whit—

Repair of hinge mechanisms in door.

Replacement and treatment of spikes.

Additional items—

Blue whinnis commissioned from the Poisoners’ Guild on Black Str. Paid in full. Inc. in billed amount.

Billed amount—

1,875 gold thrones.

DM Background: The trap mentioned here is located in the hallway of Part 17: Undead Shipping Warehouse. The poison (blue whinnis) is being sourced from Part 7B: Alchemy Lab 2 – Poisoner’s Guild.

AREA 4 – CHAOSITECH WORKSHOP

A faint, pink-purple haze clings to the ceiling. There’s sickly-sweet scent raw with some form of potent pheromone. (Ask the players what the emotional reaction of their PCs is to the powerful pheromones.) Strange machinery – some combination of bronze and an unidentifiable black metal – crawls up the walls, although it’s difficult to tell where one device ends and another begins. Several work tables in both halves of the room are covered with softly bubbling chemicals, strangely glowing items, and an eclectic effluvium of technomantic components.

CHAOSITECH: Among a variety of half-completed devices and experiments, there is a sickening rod and blight bomb. There is also a copy of the Book of Greater Chaos. (See Addendum: 5E Chaositech.)

RIFLE CRATE: An open crate that originally contained 12 hellsbreath rifles from the Shuul Foundry. 6 remain in the crate, 2 others have been partially disassembled (and are in various states of study), and 4 have been repacked into a smaller container with a note attached: “Have these sent to the security cache in the temple on Malav Street.”

• DM Note: The temple referenced in the note is Part 6: Abandoned Temple of the Great Mother.

IRON COFFER (10% chance): There’s a 10% chance of an iron coffer containing 500 gp, 40,000 sp, and 50,000 cp with instructions to have the Ithildin couriers ship it to the Red Company of Goldsmiths on Gold Street (see Part 12).

STAT SHEET

Guild Apprentices: Use artisan stats, Ptolus, p. 606.

• Proficiency (+2): Arcana, Smith’s Tools
• Equipment: dagger, hourglass, magnifying glass, oil of mending (x2), Vladaam deot ring

Master Craftsman: Use artisan stats, Ptolus, p. 606.

• Proficiency (+2): Smith’s Tools
• Equipment: hourglass, magnifying glass, oil of mending, Vladaam deot ring.

Chaositech Master: Use mage stats, MM p. 347.

• Proficiency (+3): Medicine, Chaositech Tools, Smith’s Tools
• Equipment: oil of mending, chaositech tools, chaos storage cube (Ptolus, p. 535), any 1 chaositech weapon (Ptolus, 535), Vladaam deot ring
• Chaositech Stabilizaiton: 50% chance of negating chaotic failure of chaositech device.
• Resist Insanity: Advantage on saving throws made when working with chaositech.
• Tinker: Work 1d4+6 days to double a chaositech item’s range, area, duration, or add +2 to its damage or save DC.

Spellcasting: 9^th-level spellcaster. Spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks.

• Cantrips (at will): acid splash, dancing lights, mage hand, sense spell (Ptolus, p. 632)
• 1^st level (4 slots): detect chaositech (Ptolus, p. 628), mage armor, magic missile, shield
• 2^nd level (3 slots): meld into stone, siphon (Ptolus, p. 633)
• 3^rd level (3 slots): counterspell, gaseous form, lightning bolt
• 4^th level (3 slots): private sanctum, stoneskin
• 5^th level (1 slot): mislead

Vladaam Guards: Use guard stats, MM p. 347, with AC 17. (Equipment: breastplate, shield, longsword, longbow, arrows x20, potion of healing, Vladaam deot ring.)

Go to Part 12: Guild – Goldsmiths

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Fletcher: Use commoner stats, MM p. 345. Proficient in fletcher’s tools. Wear Vladaam deot rings.

Vladaam Mage: Use mage stats, MM p. 347. See Part 13: Red Company of Magi.

Vladaam Researcher: Use acolyte stats, MM p. 342. See Part 13: Red Company of Magi.

Guildsman District
Vanguard Street – K8

AREA 1 – WORKSHOP

This workshop belongs to the Red Company of Fletchers and does not generally sell goods directly to the public.

PASSWORD: “Bloodfury” will get the fletchers to sell +1 dreadwood arrows.

SECRET DOOR — DC 16 Intelligence (Investigation): Wooden panel that slides aside. A staircase leads down to Ghul’s Labyrinth (which has a distinctive, cream-colored stone clearly older than the rest of the building).

There is a 10% chance of an iron coffer containing 500 gp, 40,000 sp, and 50,000 cp with instructions to have the Ithildin couriers ship it to the Red Company of Goldsmiths on Gold Street.

AREA 2 – WALKWAY

This is a grated walkway that passes over the grove in Area 3. A wrought-iron, spiral staircase at one end of the walkway leads down to the floor of Area 3, which is twenty or thirty feet below.

AREA 3 – DREADWOOD GROVE

Three long grooves in the domed ceiling glow with a fast-cycling yellow-blue light. The grove is filled with a dozen stunted, twisted trees with barkless, lusterless black trunks with red veins that seem to pulse with thick, turgid blood.

LIGHT: The light is magical, creating a bio-sustaining atmosphere in which plants can be grown. It has been modified to speed the growth of the dreadwood trees (which normally don’t require sunlight); the effect is disquieting if observed for any length of time.

DREADWOOD TREES: A dozen dreadwood trees grow here. Make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 12 on the walkway, DC 25 in the grove) or turn aside with loathing and fear.

AREA 4 – DREADWOOD SEEDLINGS

Long, high tables of stone (designed for Ghul’s orcs) now keep two dozen dreadwood seedlings, ready for transplant to the main grove (or a new grove) when needed.

AREA 5 – DREADWOOD FLETCHING

DOOR: DC 14 Dexterity (Thieves’ Tools)

A work area for creating dreadwood arrows. It contains supplies for both traditional fletching, processing dreadwood, and dreadwood horticulture.

AREA 6 – BLUESTEEL DOOR

A bluesteel door leading deeper into Ghul’s Labyrinth. (See Ptolus, p. 391).

The guild does not know the password for this door.

DREADWOOD

The dreadwood tree is a stunted, twisted thing. Its barkless trunk is a lusterless black run through with red veins which seem to pulse with thick, turgid blood. About such a tree there is an aura of the unnatural profoundly disturbing to the mortal mind. Any who would approach a dreadwood tree must succeed at a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw or turn aside with loathing and fear. This DC is increased by +1 for every additional dreadwood tree in the area, up to a maximum DC of 25.

If the wood of the dreadwood can be harvested and treated with the proper alchemical substances, its red veins can be made to pulse even in death. Those near an object crafted from dreadwood suffer a -1 penalty on Wisdom saving throws. Those handling an object of dreadwood or entering a room built of it suffer disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws and must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened as long as they are near the dreadwood and for 1d6 rounds thereafter.

A dreadwood tree does not require sunlight in order to grow and many are found deep beneath the surface of the earth. In fact, the dreadwood’s manner of sustenance remains a mystery much studied by arcanists and druids alike.

(Fantasy Materials)

DREADWOOD ARROWS: Those near a dreadwood arrow suffer a -1 penalty on Wisdom saving throws. Those handling or shot by a dreadwood arrow have disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws and must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for as long as they are near the dreadwood and for 1d6 rounds thereafter.

A +1 dreadwood arrow costs 1,500 gp per 50.

DREADWOOD QUIVER: Not a quiver designed from dreadwood, but rather designed to hold dreadwood arrows so that the owner is not perpetually affected by the dreadwood kept within it. Cost: 150 gp.

Go to Part 11: Guild – Founders’ Workshop

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The Vladaams maintain a fleet of trade ships which are active throughout the Whitewind Sea. They are notable for their dull grey sails. The current Fleet of the Iron Sails consists of eighteen ships.

Note that all ship captains of the Fleet of Iron Sails are members of the Brotherhood of Yrkyth. (See Part 14: Guild – Surveyor’s Headquarters.)

FLEET OF IRON SAILS

1. Dragon’s Wake – Admiral Vorray
2. Shark’s Tail – Captain Radgha
3. Island’s Barnacle – Captain Sycol
4. Pride of Morrain – Captain Boastia*
5. Gods’ Pearl – Captain Hinmos
6. League of the East – Captain Rilundi
7. Joyful Mermaid – Captain Chever
8. Prince’s Servant – Captain Therech
9. Eye of the East – Captain Morsul*
10. Honest Sailor – Captain Perot
11. Navigator’s Hope – Captain Kuish
12. Rhapsody – Captain Kelhin
13. Sarathyn’s Sail – Captain Croitka*
14. Southern Majesty – Captain Nisshin
15. Southern Jewel – Captain Woryss
16. Teeth’s Trust – Captain Erdrae
17. Thunder’s Wave – Captain Louzab
18. Storm’s Blessing – Captain Ennia

CREW

These ships have a captain, 2d8 x 3 sailors, 1d6-2 Vladaam Guards, and a 25% chance of 1d2 Vladaam Advanced Guards (possibly serving as first mate).

Particularly valuable cargos may have a special platoon consisting of Advanced Guards and a Vladaam Mage.

Sailors: Use commoner stats, MM p. 345. Proficiency in Athletics, Perception, Navigator’s tools, vehicles (water).

Vladaam Guards: Use guard stats, MM p. 347, with AC 17. (Equipment: breastplate, shield, longsword, longbow, arrows x20, potion of healing, Vladaam deot ring.)

Advanced Vladaam Guards: Use knight stats, MM p. 347.

SCHEDULE

At any given time, 1d6-3 of these ships will be docked at Ptolus. (Determine which ships randomly.)

Most of the Fleet engages primarily in honest trade, while only occasionally carrying a cargo of smuggled goods or drugs.

CARGO: Each ship generally carries 2d4 loads of goods. There is a 10% chance that 1d3 loads are Illicit Goods. For all other loads, roll on the Trade Goods table below.

*SLAVE SHIPS: The Pride of Morrain, Eye of the East, and Sarathyn’s Sail are regularly used to transport slaves for the Ennin, collecting them from islands in the Whitewind Sea and delivering them to the Ennin Headquarters (Ptolus, p. 168). These ships have a 50% chance of carrying a cargo of slaves. Otherwise, they’re currently carrying normal goods. (See Part 16: Slave Trade.)

TRADE GOODS

ILLICIT GOODS

Go to Part 10: Guild – Dreadwood Grove