Dreadstead Island Asylum - Frankenstein's Monster inspired 1Shot

Creating your character

For this adventure, you'll create a Level 11 character before the session. Characters should be built in D&D Beyond, and I'll provide the campaign link and any additional character creation guidelines before we play. You're welcome to build the character you want to play, but keep the premise of the adventure in mind! Your character should be willing to work with the rest of the party and have a reason to investigate the strange happenings at Dreadstead Island Asylum. There are a few character hooks that can be given once we start talking about character creation. Evil characters who would actively support Dr. Frankenstein's experiments, intentionally disruptive characters, and characters designed to work against the party aren't a good fit for this particular one-shot. I won't be restricting specific classes or builds, and powerful Level 11 abilities—including flight, teleportation, and utility magic—are welcome. The asylum is designed around exploration, investigation, locked and trapped areas, stealth, and dangerous combat, so there are opportunities for many different kinds of characters to shine. Most importantly, build someone you think will be fun to play for a night of gothic horror and monster hunting! If you're newer to D&D or aren't sure how to build a Level 11 character, I'm more than happy to help you put something together before the game. Use Standard Array for Stats Use 2014 5e versions of Species/Class/Subclass and spells If there is not a legacy version of the spell, you're okay to use the one available. Homebrew allowed with my approval.

Preparing for the session

You should have Discord with access to a voice chat and a DnDBeyond Account (the free tier is enough).

What Nikki brings to the table

My games focus on collaborative storytelling, character moments, and giving players the freedom to approach problems creatively. For Dreadstead Island Asylum, I'll be leaning heavily into the Victorian gothic horror atmosphere, using character voices, ambient music, and descriptive storytelling to make exploring the asylum feel appropriately creepy and unsettling. Because this is a Level 11 adventure, you can also expect combat to be a little more challenging and tactical than in my beginner-focused games. Dreadstead is filled with dangerous guards, experiments, environmental hazards, and eventually some very nasty creations lurking beneath the asylum. That said, combat isn't your only option—I love rewarding clever plans, stealth, investigation, creative spell use, and players who find solutions I never expected. I generally lean toward Rule of Cool while still using the rules as our foundation. If you come up with something creative that fits the situation, I'll do my best to give you a way to attempt it rather than shutting it down because the rules don't specifically account for it. Most importantly, expect a table where roleplay is encouraged, teamwork matters, and your choices can change how the adventure unfolds. Dreadstead may be dark and dangerous, but we're still here to have fun telling a wonderfully creepy story together.

Homebrew rules

- Drinking a potion: use an action, get the full benefit, no need to roll. use a bonus action, roll and take that. - Nat 1s in combat will hit nearest ally in range. - Nat 20's will do perfect damage + roll.

How Nikki creates a safe table

Because Dreadstead Island Asylum leans into gothic horror, body horror, imprisonment, death, and unethical experimentation, player comfort and safety are especially important for this game. Before we play, every player will be required to complete a Content Consent Checklist so I know what themes are okay to include, what should remain off-screen, and what should be avoided entirely. You never need to explain or justify a boundary. During the game, safety tools remain available at all times. You can message me privately or speak up if something is becoming uncomfortable, and we can pause, fade to black, change direction, or remove content entirely without making it a big deal. I'll also check in when appropriate, particularly around some of the adventure's heavier horror elements. The goal is to create a game that feels creepy, tense, and unsettling for the characters—not uncomfortable for the players. Horror is much more fun when everyone at the table feels safe enough to lean into it.