Dungeon of Graves
The History
Many hundreds of years ago, the forces of good allied to destroy the main Temple of Orcus in the ancient city of Tsar. With their temple in ruins, the surviving high priests of this accursed demon-god fled the city with an army of enemies on their trail - an army of heroic fighters, clerics and paladins - led by Zelkor, a powerful wizard. The exact fate of these evil priests was then unknown, for not only did the remnants of the followers of Orcus disappear from all human reckoning, but so did the army of light that followed after them disappear as well. Some said that in the eternal scales the loss of so many good men was a fair price to pay to rid the world of so much evil.
The evil cult, however, had not been destroyed. The surviving priests and their followers instead settled on a hill near the Forest of Hope, a sylvan woodland near the Coast Road. There found a vast underground complex of caverns and mazes, carving out a volcanic intrusion beneath the hill. There, the priests of Orcus found the perfect lair to continue their vile rituals. For many years, they carried on in secret, hidden from the light and from the knowledge of men.
Many years later, their underground delving completed, the evil priests erected a hideous mausoleum and a sunken graveyard atop the hill. It is believed that these graves are in fact the final resting place of the pursuing army of heroes that had been destroyed to a man. Soon after the mausoleum was erected the peaceful creatures of the wood began to disappear. Though many rangers and druids investigated these happenings, the cause of the creatures' disappearance was not immediately determined. Some years later, a powerful group of adventurers, led by Bofred, a high priest of Cuthbert, investigated the evil happenings and found the sunken graveyard leading to a labyrinthine complex. Bofred and his companions found great hordes of evil creatures in the complex. Though some of his companions returned from their expedition, telling tales of fantastic treasure and ferocious monsters, Bofred was never seen again, lost in the catacombs beneath the cursed mausoleum.
For the last one hundred years, ranks of adventurers swarmed to the newfound dungeon. Many fell prey to bandits and monsters in the surrounding wilderness. Of those who survived to reach the mausoleum and the sunken graveyard, rumors suggest that most were slain by guardians of green stone before they even entered the dungeon or perished on the very first level. Those rare few who return from deeper treks speak of horrible undead and creatures that cannot be slain. All who have explored Rappan Athuk offer this one universal piece of advice: "Don't go down the Well."
Roll Playing vs Role Playing
Once upon a time, there was an idea - an idea formulated by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974 and published in a little paperback book called Underworld Adventures. The idea was simple: it is a lot of fun to go into a dungeon and kill evil monsters. Why is the dungeon there? No one knows. Why do the monsters usually fight rather than talk? We aren't really sure. Why are there 16 trolls in a cave with a jug of alchemy? No one cares. What do all the monsters eat? We don't know that either (although "adventurer" probably tops the list). And we don't have to know these things. This isn't an ecology experiment, it's a dungeon - the quintessential setting for pure swords and sorcery adventuring.
This adventure pays homage to that original idea. True, there are opportunities for role playing, but most of this module is dedicated to "roll playing". Hopefully, while exploring the halls of Rappan Athuk, you will recall the thrill of discovery, the terror in your heart when you fought your first skeleton, the joy of rolling your first natural 20 and the despair you felt when that 1 came up for your poison save.
This module, Rappan Athuk - The Dungeon of Graves, is nothing more and nothing less than a good, old-fashioned, First Edition dungeon crawl updated for Revised Third Edition play. Very difficult, it should strike fear into the hearts of the most stalwart adventurers. It offers an abundance of traps, tricks and monsters. While it affords numerous opportunities for roleplaying, this module is dedicated to "roll playing," though those who ignore the former style of play will be sorry (and likely dead) indeed.
That is not to be said that I don't want "role" playing in the game.
What am I looking for in a Character
You're not heroes. I say this again. YOU ARE NOT A HERO, THEY'RE THE OTHER GUYS! You're a treasure hungry plunderer. A pirate beached on shore without a ship. A rogue who is sick of all the guilds trying to upstage him. A Mercenary testing his mettle against friend and foe alike. A barbarian just going wherever the wind blows him. A cleric loyal to his scripture, on a spiritual journey for answers. The brave stalwart Paladin who hunts down evil at every corner. The protector monk always watching the other adventurer's back. The dragon blooded sorcerer looking for his next meal. Or the studious wizard, searching for a lost spellbook of Boccob. These are the kind of people you are, your reason for existing. Call it what you will, but you got the wanderlust baby and you got it bad!
I'm here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of gum. So lets go loot that dungeon for more.
Disclaimer
Keep It core. While some other books will be allowed for feats and variant class abilities. The only class you can pick is out of the 3.5 Core handbook. This game is designed for the core based fans at heart. Power Gamers, Over Optimizing Punpuns and Minmaxs need not apply. L-E stab you in the back and rape your corpse Rogues go elsewhere. I sit along in a dark corner with my leather trenchcoat and Katana wielding duskblades, we don't want your kind around here. For those of you who want a traditional feel of 2nd edition D&D, with more modernized balanced rules of 3.5, please feel free to apply. This game is just for you!
