Heroes of the Borderlands One Shot
I created this adventure structure to make an easy to run 2-4 hour one shot using the materials in the box.
The new Dungeons & Dragons box set Heroes of the Boarderlands has a few shortcomings for my use. It might be good for new players, but at my table, with me teaching new players, it came across pretty lackluster.
It's useless for me as a one-shot, with no real adventure hooks within the first few hours of play, if played as written.
I created this adventure structure to make an easy to run 2-4 hour one shot using the materials in the box.
After 4 playtests, I found this works well. Hope these thoughts help you run yours.
To Rescue Vinx
Heroes of the Borderlands One Shot for Level 1 Characters
Requires the Heroes of the Borderlands starter set. All NPCs, Locations and Monsters come from that set.
Borderlands implications: are we the baddies?
The implication of this being a “borderlands” has me thinking of colonialism, the destruction of natural habitat and other problematic subjects where the “civilizers” wouldn’t be the good guys. (The Lizardfolk live here — fight them in their homes and take their treasures!) The difficulty of these subjects are not addressed at all in the full adventure, and certainly would be too much to give sensitive attention in a one-shot.
So I changed it to an open border between two peaceful city-states.
For Generations
This valley’s trail was a peaceful trade route between two kingdoms.
150 Years Ago
One of the kingdoms built an imposing Keep, to project power and patrol the trail. They quarried the stone from deep in the hillsides. In building the Keep, they created the caves. And evil loves dark places.
100 Years Ago
The Cult of Chaos was defeated by a small band of heroes. Deep in the caves, the cult was plotting to bring about the End of all things. With the cultists removed, monsters returned to their now elaborately appointed caves.
50 Years Ago
The red dragon Malice claimed the valley for his own. He drove all folk from the borderlands, destroyed the Keep and made his nest in the ruins and built his treasure hoard.
2 Years Ago
The Merchants Guilds of the two kingdoms banded together and, borrowing against the value of the dragon’s hoard, hired adventurers from across the realms. The dragon was slain, and from his riches, the Keep was rebuilt with great fanfare. After 50 years, the borderlands were once again open for travel and trade.
The Merchant’s Guild has since advertised “Adventurers Needed —- Paid in Treasure” calling heroes to the Borderlands to deal with the monsters and bandits that have returned to the area since the dragon was slain.
(All this need not be communicated to the players. It’s there should they have questions.)
The Adventure
The Player characters are all members of The Keep’s Watch, adventurers hired by the Castellan of the Keep to help patrol the borderlands. Members of the Watch are sworn to protect the innocent from danger.
But this mission is personal.
Vinx, the headstrong younger sister of one of the player characters, is missing. She’s an adventurer too, though not a member of The Watch. Vinx had stumbled upon signs that the Cult of Chaos was reforming under a new leader, but she could get nobody to take the threat seriously. So she struck into the wilderness to find conclusive proof. That was three days ago, and she hasn’t been heard from since. Found in her belongings was a map with an X where the Caves of Chaos lie.
A strong start
The adventure starts with the characters having ventured to the caves, though a dark, dense and tangled part of the wilderness. They emerge from the overgrowth to see before them a rickety footbridge crossing a 50’ deep chasm, with the Caves visible on the other side. They start 30’ or more from the bridge.
Here I introduce Narthus, the cultist from the starter kit.
As the players approach the bridge, Narthus notices them from the other side. Immediately hostile, he yells at the players to leave and initiates combat.
On either Narthus’ first or second turn, as he is crossing the rickety bridge towards the players, he is surprised by a Grey Ooze Slime slithering up around him through the slats of the bridge. In narrative, Narthus is ONE SHOTTED by the Ooze consuming him and spitting out his bones. The players now face, not Narthus, but this Grey Ooze, which is staying at the center of the bridge, blocking travel. They can decide how to cross this chasm however they want, either by fighting the ooze, or another way with appropriate checks decided by the DM.
Narthus’ body contains some treasure. A Potion of Healing, and a random draw from the magical treasure deck. Also, a personal item of small value that the players recognize belongs to Vinx.
The Caves
After they cross the bridge, they face the Caves of Chaos. But in this one shot adventure, there are only 4 caves. Caves A, B, C and D. I describe the exterior details of each, visuals, sounds, smells, with appropriate Perception, Investigation, Arcana, History or other checks, and let the players choose which they will search first.
I use the adventure’s entries as is for the caves for the most part, with the following changes:
- Vinx can be held captive in any of the 4 caves. When the players choose the first cave, there’s a 1 in 4 chance of her being there. The second cave, it’s 2 in 4. Third, three in four, etc.
- She is being held by whatever the intelligent monster is in that cave. Kobolds, Kuo-Toa, Nothic or Goblins. They captured her and are awaiting arrival of cultists who intend to sacrifice her. The monsters just want payment for her, and don’t particularly like the cult.
- Once freed, Vinx will fight alongside the party, hand her card to the character playing her sibling. It’s important that Vinx fights too —she’s not a damsel being rescued.
- Whichever of the four caves the group enters last, I replace the monsters with a group of Cultists performing a ritual preparing to sacrifice a captive, usually 6 Cultists for a 4 player party. This is the end fight of the adventure.
*** If I’m running out of time for the one-shot, I either make the next cave visited the one with Vinx held captive while the Cult is chanting, or I make the current cave the one with Vinx, and the Cult members arrive to collect her and pay her captors. ***
After the battle, I describe them making their way back to the Keep, where news of their victory against the cult has already reached ahead of their arrival. There are cheers and a promise to take the threat of the Cult more seriously.
I then hand the Castellan’s letter handout and have a player read it aloud to the rest of the players, while I play victorious music.
Secrets and Clues
- 100 Years ago, the Cult of Chaos was destroyed and its surviving members disbanded.
- Today a new leader is rebuilding the cult.
- The Caves used to be the temples of the old Cult but monsters live here now.
- The Cult wants to take over the caves, but their numbers are too few to defeat the monsters.
- Some monsters are working with the cultists, but some of them hate the cultists.
- The Cult requires a new member make a living sacrifice of “their own kind” to join.
- Goblins and others are kidnapping people to sell them to the Cult as sacrifice victims.
- The cultists are looking for the Chaos Bell, an artifact of dangerous power.
- The Cult seeks to bring the end of the world…What they see as the true nature of reality: pure chaos, all things trend towards entropy.
- The Cult keeps losing members due to fights with the monsters in the caves.
Some tips I’ve stumbled upon when running this
- I remove the first encounter from whichever cave they enter first. Feels more like a dungeon if there isn’t someone right at that entrance.
- I remove the baby dragon and that story from the Kobold lair. Too easy to sidetrack the story into a new angle that takes more time than a one-shot.
- I left the giant spider in Cave D when there was a cult ritual, and BOY did the players have a great time tossing a cultist in the webs to get devoured. I said to replace the monsters in the last cave with cultists, but for fun, I’d keep the monster bugs.
- I have two plastic “magic circle” graphics I put on the floor when the cult is casting their ritual— one red, one white. One time, a player decided to stand in the red circle, so I improvised this: Standing on the Red circle, the player takes 1d4 Lightning damage per round they stay there (red lightning). They can leave at any time, unless some other effect is keeping them there. The White circle heals or grants Temporary HP to a creature standing inside it, equal to the amount of damage taken in the Red circle. If nobody has stood in the red circle, standing within the white circle has no effect. This is a fun, low-level puzzle challenge and should provide interesting interaction possibilities.
- After every battle I have the players “find” treasure, and pull from the magic item deck.
Notes
I recognize that this box set is meant to teach beginners to the game, including players whose first play might be as Dungeon Master. My difficulty with the set is from my point of view as an experienced DM, I found it to be frustratingly hook-less. Sandboxy, sure, but a sandbox without a starter quest.
That said, I love the materials, which make DMing so easy. It’s a great set as a toolkit. Some great caves and monsters you could throw into any adventure, and just use these pieces.
If I were to run this as a Levels 1-3 campaign, I think I’d run it as a 3 of 5 Quest for Chaos Bells. Make 5 Chaos Bells and make it a race to find 3. After 2 bells are found by the players, I’d level them up to level 4.
The climax of the campaign would be at level 4. I’d change the world in a radical way, like have the Cult and the monsters take over the Keep. Have the last bell be somewhere in the Keep, and the Cult and the monsters have taken over and are looking for it… and maybe living their best life in that castle.
Hopefully these ideas will be useful to you. Take what appeals to you, and follow your own instincts.
Have fun!
-Bruce.
This adventure brief is downloadable in PDF form for free on itch.io.
