The Tenebrous Stone is a new, free adventure set in Faerun. The undead, cultists: this story has it all. Claim your copy today!
This week you have a chance to claim a new adventure meant to accompany the upcoming Forgotten Realms books. Titled The Tenebrous Stone, the new adventure for level 3 characters will set players against a cult of Orcus in a very classic D&D situation. I mean, it has it all. Cults. Undead. An evil artifact that threatens the nearby town on a small scale but that hints at larger cosmological threats.
Best of all it’s free. Not only is it free on D&D Beyond, but it also offers players even without a subscription the ability to run the game in D&D Beyond’s Maps VTT. Which, you know, sure, that’s sort of a gateway drug. But it’s also a chance for you to try out digital D&D if you haven’t. It’s all pre-loaded so you can get a feel for if that’s something that you think might even work for you.
I will say that running your own stuff on any VTT takes more work than you always think it will. Especially with a learning curve. But to get a feel for the possibilities? Stuff like this is a great chance. And you don’t even need a subscription to try it out.
The Tenebrous Stones – A Forgotten Realms ‘Deity Adventure’
The other thing about The Tenebrous Stone is that it teases what the adventure building tools will be like in the upcoming Adventures in Faerun. That’s the DM’s guide to the Forgotten Realms for those playing along at home. Which just so happens to be the book that we know the least about. For contrast we know that the Heroes of Faerun will feature eight new subclasses, we know what the subclasses are, and we know that there’s going to be new spells, new systems of magic, and more.
But for GMs? All we really know is that there are some tables. Until now. The Tenebrous Stone uses language we haven’t previously seen in the 5.5E ouvre, starting with its classification: “A Deity (Ilmater) Adventure For Level 3 Characters.”
Right away this suggests that this is going to be aimed at characters who follow Ilmater’s tenets. Or at least might earn them the attention of Ilmater. Here’s the thing though, having read through the adventure, I’m not sure what makes it a Deity (Ilmater) adventure, but I do wonder what WotC thinks it means. It could be a helpful tool for DMs, but tags and tools are only useful with context. Speaking of, here’s the setup:
“A cult devoted to Orcus has hidden a demonic stone in a basalt quarry in the village of Helmsdale in Damara. The stone gives off waves of magical fear and despair, overwhelming workers and transforming some into Undead. A monk of the Yellow Rose monastery, Brother Trasig, investigated the quarry but has never returned.”
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Classic D&D stuff. Now, my thinking is maybe we don’t get to see the context for what makes an adventure a Deity adventure because this is really just a short, three-encounter adventure that makes for a fun session (or two, depending on how long your sessions are) that mostly exists as a funnel to get people to try out D&D Beyond’s Maps.
But I like the promise of new hooks and new thinking about ways to create adventure. Especially since it might be one way of making a DM’s life a little easier.
DMs Need Tools – They Carry the Game
Because here’s the thing. In D&D, DMs have the lion’s share of the workload. No shade to tables who are extremely collaborative, but the fact remains the DM is the one playing the world, creating the encounters, and shaping the adventure that unfolds for the players. It’s a ton of fun—and it fuels me like few other things do. The people that DM tend to do so becaue they love it. But there’s no denying that it takes more work than someone who runs a character.
Which is why I’m always interested to see what tools WotC (or whoever) puts out for the people that run their game. I would hope that there’s more to the concept of “a deity adventure” than just something like a sentence or two that says “a deity adventure often involves the servants of deities, whether as loyal allies in need of aid, or as the servants of evil deities, or agents opposed to the players’ patrons.”
Regardless, the new adventure does show off some creative ways to pull in higher level monsters. The whole affair culminates in an encounter against a CR 4 creature – something that should be a difficult encounter for a party of level 3 characters, but still eminently winnable. At any rate, you can check out the adventure for free on D&D Beyond at the link below!
Get your copy of ‘The Tenebrous Stone’ today!
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