Begin at level one
Start with a local commission and a village in desperate need. The party’s first steps lead toward a wilderness that more established companies have refused to enter.
Projects
5E adventure guide
Tides of the Dark
A war-weary frontier village turns to adventurers for its last hope. Heroic fantasy for 4–6 players, beginning at level 1.
Explore the adventure- Format
- 5E adventure guide
- Party size
- 4–6 players
- Starting level
- Level 1
- Setting
- Haywater, Kingdom of Athea
At the table
Product details
- Product type
- Tabletop adventure guide
- Rules system
- 5E
- Players
- 4–6
- Starting level
- 1
- Campaign setting
- Athea, eight months after the war with Madrea
- Starting location
- Haywater, near the Kharom Mountains
- Adventure style
- Heroic fantasy with roleplaying, combat, politics, and investigation
- Origins
- Based on an original tabletop campaign
Heroic fantasy on a troubled frontier
The war is over. Its consequences are everywhere.
Spring is breaking across Athea, eight months after the end of a twelve-year war with Madrea. The kingdom has won the disputed Bailean wetlands, but the victory has emptied its treasury and exhausted its people. The new province lies devastated, while the burden of taxation remains with those least able to bear it.
Disbanded soldiers and unpaid mercenaries roam the countryside as free companies, taking their wages through pillage. Border forts stand abandoned, raiders slip through the gaps, and hungry villagers begin to question the order they have been asked to defend.
Tides of the Dark is a heroic-fantasy adventure guide for a group of 4–6 players beginning at level 1. Based on an original campaign set in Athea, it brings roleplaying, combat, politics, intrigue, and mystery together around decisions whose consequences are rarely simple.
Inside the adventure
What awaits your party
Begin at level 1 with a commission from Sir Francis Gregory, Haywater’s bailiff and a retired knight.
Venture into the Deep Forest on an expedition that established mercenary companies have refused to undertake.
Navigate a postwar frontier troubled by failed harvests, abandoned forts, raiders, and unpaid soldiers.
Shape the adventure through negotiation, investigation, and combat, with choices that affect both the story and the balance of play.
At the table
An adventure in AtheaFollow the people
A retired knight, a village council, frightened farmers, and armed opportunists each have their own needs. Roleplaying and relationships sit at the center of the adventure.
Weigh the consequences
Combat, negotiation, politics, and investigation offer different ways forward. The party’s priorities shape the balance, and an obviously correct answer is often hard to find.
The opening commission
Haywater needs a miracle.
Near the foothills of Kharom and the famous Great Dwarven Gates, the border village of Haywater faces another failed harvest. Flooding has ruined much of its farmland. Without a way to secure the next crop, the settlement faces famine when winter returns.
Sir Francis Gregory, a retired knight and the village’s bailiff, has devised a desperate plan with the village council. It requires an expedition far into the region known as the Deep Forest. The details have been kept secret, but its reputation has been enough to drive the mercenary companies away. Knights are beyond the village’s means.
Gregory’s remaining option is to hire adventurers. On the evening the adventure begins, he gathers the most capable people he can find for a briefing at his manor. Your party is among those who answered the call.
Beyond that first commission lies a kingdom struggling with the aftermath of victory: privilege and poverty, lawlessness and authority, and new ideas about who should hold land and power. The adventure gives the party reasons to choose a course, while leaving room to question what the outcome will cost.
One village’s last hope can be the beginning of a much larger story.
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