Today, Dang Dude, What the Heck? offers to my dear readers another Dungeons & Dragons adventure! You can see the previous ones here and here. If you’ve never played D&D before the following campaign is a pretty good starting point! If you’ve already played D&D it will also work for you will also work for you.
So, what is this pre-made adventure? What does it include? A few things. One, it describes a world for you and your group to play in. Two, it details some of the rules of that world. Three, it gives the outlines of a basic story and sets up some NPCs (Non-player characters). Fourth, and finally, it sets up an environment for future adventures to take place in, adventures concocted, and hopefully, influenced, by playthroughs of the original story.
So, what doesn’t it do? It doesn’t lay out every step of the original story. It sets up some goals and initial conditions. The fun of D&D is in how people go from the initial conditions and work their ways to reach those goals. Having to do stuff is never fun. Getting to do stuff is. No need to hold your hand. This doesn’t come up with a bunch of pre-made dungeons, mostly due to the fact that doing that would have been a lot of work and no one is paying me to do it. If you want to pay me to do it for you, you can reach out via e-mail, and we’ll work on something. This also doesn’t provide a bunch of stat blocks for pre-made characters/enemies/whatever, because you – read, an online generator – can do that yourself. There’s also no map, but you can generate one yourself. Or use graph paper, like a true nerd.
So go ahead to use this for free! Or Venmo me for it if you want. Or pay to subscribe to this. If you have any questions about the game, just let me know. I’ll answer them for you. Have fun!
This Adventure is called One Day At A Time
Introduction:
One Day At A Time is a pre-made D&D campaign. It takes place in the Hardpan Wastes, one of the many realms of Multiverse. Feel free to share with your friends!
General Information
Guidelines for One Day At A Time campaign:
Campaign uses mechanics of whichever edition you want to use.
Dungeon master and players need only this document and D&D Basic Rules. D&D Basic Rules document is available for free online.
Copyright stuff:
One Day At A Time is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. Wizards of the Coast LLC.
Preparations
This campaign is made for beginner-advanced DMs and beginner-advanced players. Players can either create new characters of their own, or bring in their long-standbys.
Step 1 - Create characters
If not using a pre-existing character, create a new character. If you’re unsure how to do that, here is a random character generator that can help you figure it out.
After you’ve completed filling out a character sheet before to give your character at least one reason for why they’re here.
Reason to solve the mystery of the drought (Roll 1d8 to decide what your motivation is, or come up with your own.)
I’m just in it for the money
I’ve already been trying to solve this mystery, so this is just a natural step forward
My respect for the wise men pushes me to do this
I sense the opportunity for power in this adventure
I was born with a birthmark of a water drop on my knee foretelling my involvement
Water raiders destroyed my home and I want to get back at them
I am worried about the future of the Hardpan Wastes and do not wish to see it or the people living here destroyed
I’ll probably be able to wantonly kill whomever I want with no consequences while on this mission
Step 2 – Learn about the world
Main quest
Players will choose how they complete the main quest, but the main objective is the same for everyone. That objective?
Solve the mystery of the drought
A group of adventurers – That’s you! – have been recruited by a group of wise men to solve a mystery. The Hardpan Wastes have known nothing but drought for the last twenty years and even the most hardy and ancient oases are drying up. As a result, the formally peaceful Wastes have come under attack from water raiders in the last few years, who seek to gain control over the remaining oases. No one knows why the drought has lasted this long but time is running short. Having exhausted all options a group of elders have turned to a rag-tag group of adventurers to go on one last-ditch search for a way to end the drought, and to find out why it’s happening. The only clue they have is a piece of ancient technology that was recently found at the bottom of a now dry oasis. Characters will be richly rewarded in both gold, and knowledge if they are successful.
Background Information
Region related details
Location: The Hardpan Wastes is a vast desert land, spotted with oases, though many of them are drying up.
Environment: The Hardpan Wastes is a large desert. Similar to most deserts it is very hot during the day, and much colder at night. Fresh water is available, but only in the various oases that dot the wastes. For much of the time of the Hardpan Wastes, rainstorms would occasionally visit the desert, refilling oases and providing some water to the dry land. However, oases with viable water supplies are now running low, as a drought of mysterious origins has plagued the land for the last twenty years. Most of the population lives around and in the city/oasis known as Mirza. Food can be grown in some quantity near the oases, and plenty of animals find a way to survive outside of oases, but it is a hard life. The Hardpan Wastes stretch far beyond even the most remote of the oasis. No one alive has ever seen their end.
Population: Around 1,000,000 inhabitants live in the Hardpan Wastes, spread over the large desert. Mirza, the largest city/oasis holds around 30,000. The rest of the population is mostly migratory or live in small numbers communities based around the water-filled oasis. Any number of races live in the Hardpan Wastes, all in relatively equal numbers and in relative harmony. The terrible nature of the desert overrides all other animosity.
History: The Hardpan Wastes have been around for a long time. No one knows for how long, but rumors abound that at one point an ancient, advanced civilization made its home in the Wastes. The myths also say that it was once a land of grass and abundant water. The more recent history of the Hardpan Wastes is one of trial and tribulations. More people simply want to survive. There is rarely war among the people of the Wastes, with most individuals content to just be and let be. Here and there people have tried to unite the Wastes under their rule, but the resources required and the potential gain from such an alliance have always been too high, and too few respectively.
Commerce: There is one main city, Mirza, which is the center of what trade there is in the Hardpan Wastes. There is trading throughout the wastes as many people live nomadic lives and spend their time traveling from one oasis to another. The paths across the desert are well-known and well-traveled, but anyone traveling outside of those paths must be well-prepared, and well-trained. There is some amount of specialty goods available in Mirza, though not in abundance, and certainly not for cheap. Most people are farmers, selling only a little food at local markets, and largely keeping any livestock for themselves. Gold is the coin of the realm, though barter is quite common, especially outside of Mirza.
Government: The Hardpan Wastes on its surface has no government. If you look closely however, you will find a vast network of “wise men” who provide governance with a soft touch. These wise men, all local elders, and many of them not men, consult each other on trade imbalances, and how to deal with upstart tyrants. Most villages levy a small tax on traded goods in order to provide support for those who cannot work, no matter their circumstance. However, in recent years, especially as the drought kept going there have been more and more fights over water as people get desperate. Bandit raids at oases have become more and more common, and there is talk, even among the wise men, that some sort of police force, or military, needs to be started.
Religion: Most everyone in the Hardpan Wastes acknowledges the existence of desert spirits, though few worship them as Gods. Many worship the desert itself as a god. This desert worship is largely non-hierarchical, with priests being merely everyday people who are sensed as having an extra-normal connection with the desert. It is a religion focused more on survival than the afterlife.
Magic: Magic is common and abundant in the Hardpad Wastes. Oddly enough the desert itself has shown resistance to magical change, as weather spells by and large do not work. It is rumored that it is possible to bring rain to the Wastes through magic, but the secret has been long lost.
Region related factions
Water bandits are an unorganized group of marauders who have been raiding weaker oases in the past few years to gain access to their dwindling water supplies. No one knows if they are being organized from the top down as thus far they have seemingly acted without any long-term goals in mind.
The Wise Men of the Hardpan Wastes. These desert elders have hired you and your crew of adventurers. While many of them are from Mirza, they come from all over the wastes. It is clear that they have a lot of knowledge about the area, but it often seems as if they know more than they are willing to tell.
Important Individuals
Once again DM’s can feel free to change the names/races of any of these characters, invent new ones as needed for whatever purposes they wish.
Anchin Molder is a the wise man who gives you this task and the person who put together the group of adventurers. They are a half-elf who lives in Mirza. A rough man who enjoys a good drink, he is nonetheless well respected.
Jorbel Kanth an orc wiseman from one of the smaller oases. A trader and mage who retired some time ago.
For DM Only, do not read further if you wish to avoid spoilers.
Around twenty years ago Jorbel led a group of mages in attempting to create everlasting rain to the Wastes. His plan failed and he believes that failure is the cause of the drought. He has never told anyone this.
Spoilers done
Fargain Wallach is a water bandit who has been harassing the Hardpan Wastes. He is a human. Prior to his banditry he was a farmer.
For DM Only, do not read further if you wish to avoid spoilers.
Fargain is secretly organizing and in charge of all the newly popped up bandit groups and is positing himself to rule the Hardpan Wastes.
Spoilers done
Trader Dant Iblo is a dwarf who found the piece of ancient technology in a newly dried up oasis. He brought it to the Wise men as a clue.
For DM Only, do not read further if you wish to avoid spoilers.
Iblo is one of the last living members of the ancient civilization that lived in the Hardpan Wastes before it was the Hardpan Wastes. The drought is ultimately his doing.
Spoilers done
Cities, Services and NPCs
The Hardpan Wastes has one major city and thousands of small villages/oases. Most of the campaign will take place in and around Mirza, which is described below. If the DM wishes to play in the other, and villages, they should feel free to take from the alternate names provided, and develop their own. A set-up for one basic village is provided and DM can change names to create others depending on campaign needs.
Mirza
Mirza has about 30,000 inhabitants. This is the only real city in the Hardpan Wastes. Populated by all races. The only place to buy most luxury items in the Hardpan Wastes. Home to many of the wise men. Much of the farmed food in the Wastes comes from Mirza and its surrounding environs. Typically represented as one oasis, in reality it is multiple underground reservoirs that are remarkably close to one another. Mirza has a market square, several merchants, some inns and even a small library that doubles as a university. Even though this is a city, most people are still farmers and only a few people have taken on more specialized roles.
Mirza has a Marketsquare containing multiple Shops, several Taverns, and multiple Inns.
Marketplaces
Marketplaces hold shops which can include magic shops, general stores, armorers, blacksmiths, fletchers, clothiers, etc etc. As the largest city on Mirza, just about everything can be found in the city if you know where to look.
Taverns/Inns
Taverns and Inns are places for weary travelers to rest, drink and eat. Inns have beds, while taverns do not. A good place to collect gossip.
Sample Village
There are many villages such as this one, each with their own unique customs and dress. There are regional similarities, though they are not as stark as you would imagine. Here is what a typical village might look like.
Hadrian’s Rest
Hadrian’s has about 100 inhabitants. The local wise man is a farmer named Cloom Jur (Human, Female). The village is surrounded by desert. Goat herders live on the outskirts.
The Shifting Sand is only tavern in Hadrian’s Rest. Run by Eomi. (Halfling, Female)
The Tyrant Manu is an inn with a small amount of basic rooms available. Run by Pink (Dwarf Male). This is where traders stay when they are in town.
Donoud’s is general store. Run by Donoud (Elf, Female).
The Next Section Contains Spoilers. DMs only. Players Do Not Read
Below are various topics that only the DM should read, unless the players want to spoil it for themselves.
Possible activities for groups attempting to solve the mystery of the drought:
The DM is of course encouraged to flesh out these ideas as they wish. Or even plan your own?
Investigate the ancient technology – There have long been rumors of an ancient civilization that lived in the Hardpan Wastes long before its current residents.
Visit an Oasis – The deserts of the Hardpan Wastes are littered with oases. Some of them are dry, some are still viable, for now. Many of them are far more than they appear, a few of them are even said to have magical powers.
Interrogate those who hired you – The wise men of the Hardpan Wastes are a vast repository of knowledge, knowledge that they are not always fond of sharing.
Perform the Call to Rain – There exists a, possibly fake, spell that would bring down rain upon the Hardpan. It is long and complicated for even the most experienced mages. Will it work, or will it just be an exercise in futility?
Exploring the Ancient City of Mirza – The city of Mirza, the largest city in the Hardpan Wastes. Surely it holds a few fascinating secrets, or people who can potentially lead you to those secrets.
Summon a desert spirit – The desert is home to many spirits, some powerful, some not. Some more willing to help adventurers, others not so much.
Dungeons/Bad Guy
There are various sites that will pre-make dungeons for you. I’d highly suggest using those if you don’t want to draw your own. Below are just a few special things to keep in mind.
Dant Iblo is the main bad guy that needs to be defeated. He wants everyone in the Hardpan Wastes to die of thirst so that he can use their deaths to bring back his old civilization. He has a fortress deep in some remote desert mountains. He brought forth the ancient tech as a red herring clue to distract everyone from what his real plans were.
There are several dungeons through the Hardpan wastes, including the caverns underneath Mirza, the ancient city underneath many of the dried Oases, and the caves the water bandits use as their hideouts. Visiting any of these should give the players the requisite knowledge to defeat Iblo’s plan to bring back his people to prominence by destroying the current civilization.
The Call to Rain
The players can go through with the Call to Rain. If performed successfully, which should take some amount of work, rain will come back to the Wastes. However, if Iblo is not defeated than this will only delay the drought, not end it, though this should not be clear right away. The rain does weaken him however, as Iblo draws strength from those who have died of thirst.
Jorbel Kanth/Faragain Wallach
Both of these players are unwitting pawns of Iblo. Defeating one or both of them will not end the drought, but it will weaken Iblo in his quest.
OKAY PLAYERS CAN START READING AGAIN!
Step 3:
Start playing!
Now Adventurers/DM, the rest of the story is up to you. Will you uncover the mystery of the drought, or will you fall prey to its unquenchable thirst? The choice is yours.