Old School Essentials | The Dark of Hot Spring Islands | A Tropical Hex Crawl Shipwreck Adventure

About the adventure

The Dark of Hot Springs Island is a hex-crawl adventure designed for old-school D&D like systems. I will be running this module using Old School Essentials (OSE) Advanced, which is based on the rules of 1st Edition AD&D from the 1970s. No familiarity with the system is needed or expected. It will also be my first time running this particular system. In this campaign, the initial PCs will all be survivors from a shipwreck that all wash up together on the black sand beaches of a volcanic tropical island, one home to primal forces of nature, ancient ruins from a lost civilization, and more gold than they can carry. The PCs will not be alone on this island however, many factions of non-human creatures call this island home, and yet more visit from time to time, and even some other brave adventurers make their way here to plunder the ruins in search of gold or greater treasures. Who the PCs choose to aid, avoid, or antagonize will shape the campaign greatly. The campaign will have a focus on survival and, depending on player choices, potentially base building. Managing of time and resources will be essential for the party. Retainers, hirelings, and the like will be available for the party as well, at a certain point, and careful management of them will also be an expected part of the campaign.

Additional Details

How to prepare

Players will need a microphone, and a free Discord account. After you join, I will send you a link to my Discord server where the game is hosted. Players will simply need a computer browser to access Foundry. Players are welcome and encouraged to read the Basic Rules provided for free on the publishers website. https://necroticgnome.com/products/old-school-essentials-basic-rules Players are not required to purchase or read the Advanced Players Tome. Additional rules and class options will be provided as needed, but they are welcome to do so.

What I provide

I have a Foundry account, and will set it up for this adventure, utilizing it to share maps, character sheets, and other resources. Maps from various professional map makers that I support on Patreon will be used as appropriate to create various scenes, and art from the module will be used in creating tokens to represent the many many characters of Hot Springs Island. Through Discord we will utilize ambient music.

Gameplay details

During Session 0 we will discuss the nature of the campaign and the system we are playing. I am always open to discussions either during or privately before or after Session 0 regarding certain topics/creatures that should not be touched upon. Certain things are baked into the adventure or how I run games, but if, for example, a player requests no spiders, then I can easily and will willingly replace spiders with something else on the encounter tables. The X card is a module on Foundry that I use, and will explain the functioning of during the first session. And debriefing will follow the first several sessions, and anytime it is needed/requested after that.

Content warnings

(none)

Safety tools used

Debriefing
Session 0
X, N, and O Cards

How will character creation work

Characters will be created in the standard method for OSE Advanced, which involves rolling stats, and picking a class. In OSE Class and Ancestry are linked, making Elf, Dwarf, etc available as Class options. Characters will be rolled up together during the first session.

Players can expect

• Find a game to join solo or search for a professional game master for you and your friends/coworkers/family.
• Book your session and wait for the Game Master to approve you.
• If you don't have a blast with your first game, your next game is on us.