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Dungeon Crawl Classics #24
Legend of the Ripper
By Andrew Hind
AN ADVENTURE FOR CHARACTER LEVELS 1-3
Credits
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Game Master’s Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Background Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Map Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Level 1: Millers Court . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Level 2: Mari’s Hovel and Main Floor . . . . . . . .10
Level 3: Second Floor of the Ten Bells . . . . . . .14
Level 4: Cellar and Sewers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Level 5: The Watery Tomb of Iasmini . . . . . . . .23
Appendix 1: New Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Appendix 2: Pregenerated Characters . . . . . . . . . . .37
Appendix 3: Player Handouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Writer:
Andrew Hind
Front Cover Artist:
Jeff Dee
Back Cover Artist:
Jason Edwards
Interior Artists:
Brad McDevitt, Stefan Poag
Graphic Designer:
Greg Porter
Editor:
Joseph Goodman
Proofreader:
Liz Rich
Playtesters:
James Hind, Chris Hind, Stephen Elliott,
Chris McGowan, and Nicoletta Urciuoli.
Special thanks to Chris Hind.
If you like this adventure, be sure to look for the rest of
the Dungeon Crawl Classics series at your local game
store.
Log on to www.goodman-games.com for freebies,
news, special offers, and more.
1
Introduction
But as the PCs act to put an end to one evil, they may
unwillingly unleash another, one even more powerful.
For below Mari’s tenement is the ancient prison of an
evil entity that threatens to sink the city of Porthmeor
into the sea should she ever find her freedom.
Awakening after a long hibernation, she grows more
powerful with each passing day, and more anxious for
release.
Remember the golden days of role playing, when
adventures were underground, NPCs were there to be
killed, and the finale of every dungeon was the dragon
on the 20th level? Well, those days are back. Dungeon
Crawl Classics feature bloody combat, intriguing dun-
geons, and no NPCs who aren’t meant to be killed.
Each adventure is 100% good, solid dungeon crawl,
with the monsters you know, the traps you fear, and the
secret doors you know must be there somewhere.
With bodies stacking up around the city – and a resur-
gent enemy eager to drown Porthmeor in her
vengeance – the stakes have become life and death for
the PCs.
Legend of the Ripper
is designed for four to six player
characters of 1st through 3rd level. While the composi-
tion of the player character group is not dictated by the
adventure, a bard’s knowledge, the services of a cun-
ning rogue, and the prayers of a good-aligned cleric
may prove useful. But ultimately, as always, a healthy
blend of classes is ideal. Refer to the Scaling
Information section for suggestions on ways to tailor the
adventure to your party’s particular strengths, interests,
and styles of play. The setting is appropriate to any
large city and can effortlessly be dropped into an exist-
ing campaign.
Adapting the Plot
This adventure does not concern itself with the nature of
the Ripper investigation. This aspect has been inten-
tionally left vague, both to make it easier to adapt this
adventure to any city in your campaign world, and to
create flexibility in how a GM might employ it. Suffice it
to say, one way or another the PCs have tracked the
killer down to Mari Kell’s former home. It’s up to you to
decide how the PCs got to this point.
It might be as simple as this: the watch uncovered the
lair of the killer and refusing to enter out of fear of the
curse hanging over the building, passing the informa-
tion along to the heroes. Perhaps you might want to
make it a bit more complex, without resorting to a full-
length adventure. This can be accomplished with a few
scenes as the characters snoop around the slums of
Millers Court before happening upon a frightened eye
witness who saw “the Ripper” enter the accursed build-
ing. Or maybe the PCs stumble upon the redcap as he
performs his bloody deed and, after a thrilling chase
down darkened alleys and over rooftops, trail him to his
lair. The possibilities are limited only by the amount of
effort you’re willing to put into it.
Adventure Summary
The city is gripped in fear. The Ripper has apparently
returned after 125 years and is once again carving a
trail of blood through the slums of Millers Court. At the
same time, the ghost of Mari Kell, the last and most sav-
aged victim in the Ripper’s earlier spree, has returned
as well and is seen walking through the streets and into
the hovel where she was originally found slain. As it
were a century prior, the watch is at a loss to apprehend
the killer and is compelled to accept the assistance of
freelance investigators: the PCs.
All is not as it seems, however. While Mari Kell has indeed
returned and is not at all happy with the eternal torment of
her ghostly existence, the Ripper, in fact, has not. Instead,
a redcap, a murderous vampire-like fiend attracted to sites
of ancient murder and violence, has established a lair
below the bricked-up tenement that was once Mari’s
home, and has taken to stalking the streets. His passing
is marked by a trail of brutalized corpses.
On a related note, Porthmeor, while intended to be a
shadowy and fantasized reflection of Victorian London,
is really just a stand-in for the city of choice in your own
campaign world. References to the city at large are pur-
posefully kept vague for this very reason. About the only
requirement is that the city be a prominent port town.
2
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