Looking for gold, are ye? Well, I have a deck that needs a mighty good cleanin'. Gold can come easy, if ye look hard enough. Or is it glory ye’re really seekin'? Now that’s another drive entirely. That, I believe, I can help ye with.
—Captain Jessie Wensthorp, pirate captain of the Revelry
Every epic journey begins somewhere. A long night at sea brings fated friends together. The mystery of a bloodstained cloak causes talented minds to join forces to seek justice. A simple tavern gathering leads a number of eager dungeoneers to come together as one. Whatever the scenario, that first step that unites a would-be band of heroes can be a challenging one. This chapter presents four short adventures designed to provide those initial events that get a campaign started.
This chapter of the book is for DMs only. If you’re planning to run through any of these adventures as a player, stop reading now!
Text that appears in a shaded box like this one is meant to be read aloud or paraphrased for the players. You’ll usually see boxed text when the characters first arrive at a specific location, or when something happens in the adventure that the characters might want to react to.
The Monster Manual contains statistics for many of the creatures found in these adventures. When a creature’s name appears in bold type, that’s a visual cue pointing you to the creature’s stat block in the Monster Manual. If the stat block instead appears in this book, the adventure’s text tells you so.
The names of spells and magic items referenced in the adventure are in italics. If a spell or magic item appears in this book, the text will say so. If it doesn’t, information on spells can be found in the Player’s Handbook and information on magic items can be found in the Dungeon Master’s Guide.
Using These Adventures
Each of these adventures is designed as an introduction to one of the four main regions of Wildemount, as well as some of the themes that commonly guide events within those regions. The adventures are as follows:
“Tide of Retribution” presents a threat to the village of Palma Flora on the beautiful Menagerie Coast.
“Dangerous Designs” is a tale of political intrigue set in the gnomish city of Hupperdook in Western Wynandir.
“Frozen Sick” takes characters on a perilous journey to the far reaches of the Biting North.
“Unwelcome Spirits” offers a glimpse of the wonders and terrors that dominate Eastern Wynandir.
You are invited to change any aspects of an adventure to suit the type of game you and your players would enjoy the most.
Going Off the Rails
These adventures are designed for new players and new Dungeon Masters. Most make use of helpful NPCs and a straightforward plot to help new players easily navigate the setup of a Dungeons & Dragons game. However, if the players want their characters to “jump the rails” of these adventures and do something completely beyond what the text has prepared you for, they should be allowed to do so.
Improvisation is your friend! If a character asks a question that you don’t have the answer to, think of the most exciting thing that could happen without taking the spotlight away from the characters and their fun. That’s often the right answer. And if you don’t feel comfortable improvising an entirely new plot, you can call an end to the session (or take a short break) and ask the players what they want their characters to do. This gives you a chance to learn what your players are really looking for in the campaign, and gives you some time to plan a new adventure (or to ask the Internet for help).
If your improvisation takes you away from the stories presented in any of these adventures, you can always plunder elements from the other adventures, replacing the NPCs with new ones and putting your own spin on them. In other words, it’s okay to repurpose parts of these adventures to make entirely new adventures. Your players won’t know the difference!