Alec Gould (Order #36238890)

Adventure Template

Credits Foreword
Author, Designer, Editor, Layout, and Cover Design: Many game masters (GMs) enjoy creating their own
Luke Hart worlds and adventures that take place in those worlds.
Artwork: Adobe Stock This basic template was designed as a starting point
for GMs to create their own adventures.
This is a streamlined template with the basic
Contacting the Author components of an adventure that all game masters
Please reach out to me anytime! should consider. Is there more to building an exciting
Email: [email protected] adventure than just filling out a basic template? Of
course there is. But this will get you started.
Twitter & Instagram: @TheDMLair
And that’s really all this humble template is intended
My Discord Server: https://discord.gg/Msat4NB to do.
The journey of becoming an awesome game master
Free Game Master Resources is often a long one, full of both successes and
The DM Lair YouTube Channel - Check out my failures, and much learning. I do not presume to be
weekly YouTube videos for practical information and able to encapsulate in this template every possible
resources that game masters can use at their tables. consideration a GM might wish to make during
adventure creation.
The DM Lair Website - Looking for free 5e adventures
and other game masters resources, such as NPCs, Again, this is just a starting point.
magic items, puzzles, and traps, to use in your games? It’s also the template I’ve used for years to create my
Look no further! own homebrew adventures. And so I present it to you
My Discord Server - Join a growing community of for use as a springboard to create amazing adventures
game masters committed to helping each other run that your players will recount for years to come.
awesome games. (Was that a little over the top? I feel like it may have
been. Whatever. Just go makes some adventures
already.)
Legal Stuff
RPG Adventure Template, Copyright © 2020,
Luke Hart, The DM Lair, LLC How to Use This Template
Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Each section contains italicized instructions for game
Wizards of the Coast, LLC. masters to consider as they create their adventure.

System Reference Document 5.1 Copyright 2016, In addition to this PDF file, I’ve included an editable
Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Mike Mearls, MS Word document in the file pack for you. If you
Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, Rodney Thompson, don’t have MS Word, you can just copy and paste
Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R. the content from this PDF into the word processing
Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve Townshend, based on program you use.
original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. In the template itself under each heading, I’ve
included examples from my own games to illustrate
the type of information and level of detail to consider
including.
Finally, if you’d like some examples of adventures
created using this template, I have lots of free
adventures available over on my site, thedmlair.com.
I hope you find this template useful!

1
Alec Gould (Order #36238890)
 Adventure Template

Creatures
List out the creatures, including monsters, that will be featured in this adventure. For handy reference, I like
to include the page number of the core rulebook from which it comes and the creature’s challenge rating (CR)
and experience point (XP) value. An example is given below.

» Commoner (CR 0, 10 XP, MM 345)

» Thug (CR 1/2, 100 XP, MM 350)
» Spy (CR 1, 200 XP, MM 349)
» Efreeti (MM 145, CR 11, 7200 XP)

Game Master Notes

Here I make some basic notes for myself about the adventure. Below are three things I always like to keep
track of.

» Note for how many characters and of what level the adventure was designed for.
» Note how many short/long rests are expected, if your game system contains mechanics like this.
» Note how many treasure rolls from which treasure horde tables are contained in the adventure.

Storyline
Give a brief overview of the situation the PCs will encounter in this adventure. Describe the major premise,
who the villain is, what they are up to, what the stakes are – those sorts of things.
The aquatic elves living in Mangorian harbor found a malenti (a Sahuagin that looks exactly like an aquatic
elf) in their midst. They have located the Sahuagin cave complex and need the evil creatures eliminated. They
approached Dzarrakon “The Younger” to hire adventurers to take care of the Sahuagin.
The heroes are at least to eliminate any malenti they find and kill the leaders of the Sahuagin. The elves
would like them to kill every last Sahuagin, naturally.
In the Sunken Temple, Drazovin cultists are working with Sahuagin to recover remnants that will allow them
to bring their evil deity, an Elder Evil, back into the world.

Locations
List the main locations the characters are likely to find themselves during this adventure and give brief
descriptions of them.

Sunken Temple. An ancient temple built by dwarves centuries ago under the Blade Mountains north of
Mangorian. The main entrance is a tunnel in the side of the Blue Cliffs. There is another unknown entrance
in the Blade Mountains. That entrance leads into the abandoned tunnels in the dungeon.

NPCs
List the main NPCs the characters are likely to encounter in this adventure, including villains, and give brief
descriptions of them.

Drazovin Water Priests. Wear turquoise-colored robes. A stole depicts the symbol of Drazovin.

2
Alec Gould (Order #36238890)
 Adventure Template
Zac Stormcrow. A half-elf with barnacles crusting his skin, he wields a marvelously crafted trident. He is the
high priest of the Drazovinites in the Sunken Temple. His goal is to supervise the mining of remnants by the
sahuagin, gather as many as possible, and send them to his superiors in the Cult of Drazovin.

Aquatic Elves. A large colony of aquatic elves lives in Mangorian harbor. Their leader is Parlanacel.

Random Encounters
Build out a handful of random encounters you can use. You might have a random encounter take place if the
characters try to use more long rests than are expected, are in the middle of raiding a compound and take a
long rest, or even on short rests.
» 4 duergar (trivial) that try to sound an alarm to bring in reinforcements
» 4 duergar, 2 duergar warlords, 2 gorgons (medium)
» 2 fire giants, 2 hell hounds (hard)
» 2 fire giants, 1 fire giant sorcerer (hard)
» 3 fire giants, 1 fire giant war priest (deadly)

Inciting Action
Describe the inciting action, or adventure hook, that introduces the adventure to the characters and motivates
them to go on it.

Looking for Work in Mangorian

As the characters enter Mangorian, the guards at the city gates tell them to seek out Dzarrakon “The
Younger” at Castle Mangorian if they are looking for work.

As they travel through the city or frequent taverns, the heroes will hear about a recent assassination attempt
on the leader of New Malome Bard College and how the Watch as been unable to track down the person
responsible.

People in the city are able to point the heroes to Dzarrakon “The Younger” who can usually be found in
Castle Mangorian.

Meeting with Dzarrakon

When the characters meet with Dzarrakon he tells them the following:
» A criminal named Ashton Sanguine attempted to supplant the leadership of New Malome Bard College
by discrediting Grand Harper Pharlonae Song-joy.
» When that didn’t work, he hired assassins to kill her, but they failed.
» Dzarrakon wants the heroes to track down Ashton and bring him to justice (alive if possible, dead if
necessary).
» Ashton fled to the north and is believed to be in or near Rassadinatar. The heroes should start their
search there.
» Dzarrakon is prepared to reward them with 500 gold if they bring back Ashton alive, or 300 gold if dead.
The city wants him alive for questioning, and they want to do the questioning themselves, without having
to resort to speak with dead spells or the like.

3
Alec Gould (Order #36238890)
 Adventure Template

Adventure Details
Build out the details of your adventure. Include things like descriptions of dungeons or enemy fortifications;
descriptions of rooms; encounters the characters will come across; treasure they may find; traps and secret
doors – all the cool stuff that makes up the meat of an adventure.

Ground Floor – House of Discretion

Lighting. Oil sconces are set into the walls of all rooms, but they only lit in rooms that are currently occupied.

Ceilings. 10 feet high

Windows. Most of the rooms have windows. Heavy shutters are pulled closed during the evening.

Doors, External. External doors are made of wood reinforced with bands of steel.

Doors, Internal. Most internal doors are made of wood.

Secret Doors. Concealed doors are located all about the House of Discretion. Most are constructed to look
like an ordinary wall. A DC 20 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals the presence of a secret door. A DC 15
Intelligence (Investigation) check reveals how the door is operated, by turning a sconce set on the wall.

1 - Feast Hall
This tavern and feast hall is used by members of the guild at a reduced price. Petrick’s crew dine for free.
Tables and chairs dominate this massive chamber, and a bar runs along one wall. Smoke fills the room, as
does the smell of tobacco, alcohol, and body odor.

Occupants. At all hours, day and night, about a dozen of Petrick’s crew are feasting here. Members of the
guild (commoners) fill the feast hall in the evening hours; they would flee any battle.

Battle Notes.

If a fight breaks out here, the thieves in the game room (7) are not alerted since noise and rowdiness are
common here.

Loot. 210 cp, 190 sp, 50 gp; plus each has a key to a footlocker in Barracks A

2 - Offices
The offices are where clerks carry on the administrative tasks of the Loyal Order of Couriers and Servants.
This L-shaped room contains nearly a dozen large desks covered with ledgers and papers.

Occupants. During the morning and afternoon, nearly a dozen clerks work in this room. During the evening
and night, the room is empty.

Ledgers. These contain entries on jobs the guild was hired to perform, assignments of servants to noble
houses, courier routes, and so forth. They do not contain incriminating information about the Velvet Fists.

3 - Archive Room
This room stores written records of the Loyal Order of Couriers and Servants.

4
Alec Gould (Order #36238890)
 Adventure Template
Tall cabinets line all four walls of this room. Bunches of pungent herbs and flowers hang from the ceiling.

Cabinets. These contain records of the guild, similar to the ledgers in the offices. Again, no incriminating
evidence about the Velvet Fists is contained within.

Herbs and Flowers. The guild members hang these here believing them to repel insects that might damage
their records.

Resolution
Describe what happens once the characters have completed the adventure successfully (or unsuccessfully).
Do they receive a reward from an NPC? Does their favor with a faction increase? Stuff like that.

Reward from Dzarrakon. Dzarrakon rewards them as promised, 500 gold if Ashton Sanguine is returned
alive and 300 gold if returned dead.

Faction Favor Change. Upon successfully completing the mission, the characters’ faction favor changes as
follows:
» Lords of Mangorian +1
» New Malome Bard College +1

5
Alec Gould (Order #36238890)