Module X1: Isle of Dread (adapted for D&D 5e)

Hello everyone,

Soon I will be running a reimagined version of the module X1, Isle of Dread, adapted for D&D 5e. The post frequency for this game will be 2 posts per day on weekdays and more relaxed on weekends*.

Isle of Dread

Originally written in 1981, the Isle of Dread is a classic open-ended adventure that created many innovations in RPGs. Unlike many adventures, the Isle of Dread is almost completely off the rails, giving DMs a focused and open setting PCs can fully explore. At it's heart, this is a wilderness exploration adventure that has players exploring an exotic island cut off from the rest of the world for millennia. Creatures of dreams and nightmare walk the earth. My version of Isle of Dread will not be exactly like the 1981 adventure, so if you are looking for a pure recreation this is not for you. However, it is my intent to stay as close as possible to the original flavour of the adventure, where player agency is supreme and the island is savage and strange.

Set Within the World of Primeval Thule

The Isle of Dread has appeared in many settings throughout D&D's history: Mystara, Greyhawk, the Feywild. In 5e, the Island's true home is revealed to be the Elemental Plane of Water and periodically shifts into the multiverse of material planes. Therefore, it can appear in any setting.

For this game, I want to run it in the world of Primeval Thule. You don't need to know many details about Thule since this game will largely take place on the Isle, but you should know the flavour of Thule. From their Kickstarter page:
As a gritty wilderness survival game we will be tracking rations and water (phb 185), arrows and ammunition, and other expendable resources. There is very little access to magical healing in the game.

How To Join Our Game

Merric Blackman said this about Isle of Dread:
As such, we will be looking for a particular set of players that are interested in putting in the work to make this game truly special. So far we have Jabes.plays.RPG and Ezeriah, who helped shape this game from the inception. For the remaining 3 players, instead of a first-come-first-serve model we invite interested people to put forward a 5th level character in this thread that conforms to the character creation guidelines. Share their mechanics, their personality, a loose backstory, what makes them tick. I'd love to hear a bit about yourself, your play style, and your reasons for being interest in this game as well. I will be selecting the players based on the characters they put forward and the recommendations of my other players. Yes, you can submit multiple characters.

Prospective players should familiarize themselves with the Seven Qualities of Thule posted right after this post, so that they understand what kind of game they are getting into and what sort of characters will work well within the setting.

Character creation will be limited to martial humans. Specifically, adhere to the following options:

Races: Human only (variant or standard)
Classes: Martial classes only: Barbarian (Berserker, Totem (including SCAG options)), Fighter (Champion, Battle Master, Banneret), Rogue (Assassin, Mastermind, Swashbuckler, Thief, Inquisitive)
Backgrounds: Any from PHB and SCAG. The extra features offered by the backgrounds are either useless in this adventure (the Criminal's criminal contact feature) or too powerful (the Wanderer feature of Outlander), so we will not be using them.
Attributes: 27 point buy or standard array.
Multiclassing: Yes
Feats: Yes, except Elemental Adept, Magic Initiate, Spell Sniper. Ritual Caster is OK and is the only way to get spells.
Starting Level: Five
Starting Equipment: Ignore starting equipment of your class and background. Instead, you have 250gp to spend on non-magical equipment appropriate to a low-magic, primitive setting. Keep in mind your encumbrance - we will not be a slave to tallying it constantly, but keep it reasonable for a group of wilderness explorers.
Deadline to Apply: Last day to put forward a character is Friday, February 24th.

PRIMEVAL THULE

Before the great glaciers covered the northern world for the last time, there was an age of legends now forgotten in the modern world. Cities of barbaric splendor and brooding ruins from prehuman times were scattered across the great isles of the north. This was the land of Thule, savage and spectacular, a world of wonders and terrors. And it lives now only in the darkest depths of prehistory and half-remembered glimmers of myth. Thule is an alternate Earth, a world in which legendary places and creatures once existed and magic, dark and mysterious, held power over young and superstitious humankind. Its civilizations arose in a warm and lush northern world, but were erased from history by the ten-thousand year reign of the vast ice sheets. This is the age of Atlantis and Lemuria, of serpentmen and savage beasts, of star-demons and sorcery. From this mythical time we draw our oldest stories of deadly monsters and bold heroes.

SEVEN QUALITIES OF THULE

The world of Thule is home to a distinctive set of cities, dungeons, monsters, and tribes. Its landmarks and history tell a vivid story of a world full of riveting adventure and deadly danger. But, more importantly, Tule also possesses its own unique characteristics or personality that sets it apart from the typical fantasy world.

THULE IS BARBARIC

Humans and demihumans are young races, and civilization is not well established. Many people live in tribal societies close to nature — and its dangers. Even within the walls of the city-states, life is often violent and unforgiving. The so-called civilized peoples entertain themselves with bloody arena fights, and practices such as robbery, dueling, and assassinations are commonplace. Life is all too often nasty, brutish, and short, whether one lives in a jungle village or an opulent palace. Engineering, knowledge, and technology are likewise not very advanced. Writing is known only to sages, scribes, and those few people wealthy enough to afford an education. Arms and armor are usually made of copper or bronze. The great temples and monuments of the cities are raised by hordes of laborers using the simplest of tools and techniques.

THE WILDERNESS IS SAVAGE

Leave the city and you’re taking your life in your hands. There are few roads, and the jungles are teeming with bloodthirsty predators. The flora and fauna of Thule belong to a crueler and more primitive age. This is the time of the giant predators, beasts such as cave bears, giant vipers, and saber-tooth cats. Even the herbivores are huge and short-tempered — mammoths and giant sloths can be every bit as dangerous to humans as the big predators. The tribal peoples of the wilderness are just as savage as the beasts whose home they share. The best are simply warlike and territorial. The worst tribes are unspeakably vicious and bloodthirsty — headhunters, cannibals, or degenerate primitives who worship inhuman monsters and eagerly torture or sacrifice any who fall into their hands.

CITIES ARE WICKED PLACES

The wilderness is dangerous, but civilization is little better. The city-states are dens of greed, crime, and callousness. Powerful thieves’ guilds dominate many of Thule’s cities and struggle endlessly with rival guilds for territory and influence. Slavery is wide-spread, and secretive cults dedicated to forbidden gods lurk in the shadows. The rich and powerful constantly pursue intrigues to move closer to the throne, while the underclass simmers in unrest and resentment. Heavy-handed oppression is the typical response from the civic authorities.

THE WORLD IS MYSTERIOUS

Thule and its neighboring islands are largely unexplored. Vast jungles and forbidding mountains and glaciers deter all but the hardiest and most determined travelers. Consequently, people don’t know what is more than a few days’ travel from their homes. The stark mountains and brooding jungles hide many secrets: abandoned cities, the strongholds of inhuman powers, foul temples, degenerate tribes, and hidden lands ruled by obscene monstrosities. Any of these dangers might be waiting in the next valley over. Many of these places are unique and unrecord-ed—cities belonging to peoples that no one else knows about, ruins whose builders are lost to history, terrors that exist nowhere else in the world. One should be ready for anything in the wilderness of Thule.

MAGIC IS A SECRET MAN WAS NOT MEANT TO KNOW

Humans dabble in supernatural powers at their peril. Occult learning is fantastically ancient, predating the rise of humankind; arcane lore comes from prehuman civilizations. This ancient lore is dangerous in the extreme, and the most likely outcome of taking up arcane studies is a horrible and grisly doom. Few wizards die of old age. Priestly magic is not quite as dangerous, but it is still rare. Most priests and acolytes have no magical training at all and master only the doctrines and everyday prayers of their faiths. Priests initiated into the secrets of their god’s magic are rare individuals who belong to a secretive and mysterious cabal. The gods are inscrutable, and priests jealously guard access to their power. Because magic is such a dark and esoteric field of study, users of magic are rare. Even the largest cities are home to no more than a handful of adepts, and those individuals are feared and whispered about far and wide. Enchanted swords and magical treasures are similarly rare—the great majority of Tuleans have never seen a magic item and would likely fear and shun anyone they knew to possess one.

ANCIENT EVILS THREATEN MANKIND

The reign of humanity is new and fragile; older races such as serpentmen, rakshasas, or troglodytes lurk in many places. Their realms and kingdoms have fallen into ruin, but these ancient creatures dream of reclaiming what was once theirs. They hate and resent humankind. Worse yet, the old races were not the first to inhabit Thule. The further back one travels, the more horrible and aberrant the ruling powers of the world become. Before the serpentmen and the demonic rakshasas, the world was dominated by horrible monstrosities such as moon-beasts, star-things, and mi-go. A hand-ful of Great Old Ones — entities as old as the Earth itself, or even older — lie dormant or imprisoned in the desolate places of the world. Some of these pre-human beings are utterly indifferent to the existence of humans, but others crave human minions and worship. Human tribes and cities that stumble into contact with these ancient powers are often destroyed in horrific ways.

FREEBOOTERS, MERCENARIES, OPPORTUNISTS

This is an age of bold, brawling, larger-than-life heroes. Adventurers are defined by their ambitions; they hunger for gold, glory, and power. Great causes or noble crusades are all very well, but most of Thule’s itinerant adventurers are in it to get paid. If there are no rumors of treasure waiting to be found and opportunities seem thin on the ground, a Thulean hero is likely to move on in search of brighter prospects — or concoct a scheme to win wealth from someone who isn’t worthy of it. Of course, adventurers sometimes find themselves in dangerous situations that offer no particular reward other than survival. Even the most jaded mercenary recognizes that fighting her way out of a beastman stewpot or fending off a slaver raid is necessary, even if there’s no gold to be had.

Frick
Level 5 Champion Fighter - Variant Human
Age: 32 - Height: 6'1" - Weight: 210
Hair: Brown - Skin: Tan and scarred - Eyes: Grey
Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Story: Frick craved adrenaline from his earliest recollections. Starting at a young age with climbing the highest places that he could, his parents always feared that he would get himself killed one day. As he reached his teens, he began sneaking outside of his village to see what could be found outside the relative safety of its confines. On one such excursion, he ran into a beast that he couldn't avoid and, in the process of killing it, he took a bad wound to his leg, which became infected rather quickly.

He wandered the jungle, delirious, until he came across a city. He was found in a ditch by a man who took him in and had him tended. Frick was grateful at first, until he found that the man intended to use him in arena combat. Before his first fight in the arena, Frick hated the man, whose name he has since forgotten. After he fought though, he discovered that this was the best way to feed his thrill for danger; the fear as a blade barely misses, the rush as his spear dug into the chest of his enemies... there was no greater thrill for him, so he kept on going with it.

Frick still harbored his resentment for the man, but kept with him so that he could use the man's knowledge of the arena system. Once he had made a name for himself, he quietly disposed of the man, leaving his body in the same ditch he was found in. He kept at his arena combat for many years, occassionally taking a leave to fulfill a mercenary contract here and there.

Personality: Frick is always up for a challenge, seeming somewhat reckless at times. He feels no guilt in killing, but won't kill someone who has given him no cause. He enjoys strong ale and beautiful women in his spare time. He smiles and laughs often, finding that after so many close calls, he just can't take life too seriously.

Attributes: STR 18; DEX 14; CON 14; INT 10; WIS 12; CHA 8 (assuming standard array)

Skills: Intimidation, Perform, Athletics, Acrobatics, Perception

Feat: Polearm Master

Combat: He will primarily use a glaive, with javelins and a dagger as a backup. He is generally a front-line fighter, but can operate at mid-range if necessary.

Still fleshing out a character, but going multi-class: Barbarian-1/Rogue-1/Battlemaster-3.

Elspa
Level 5, Barbarian, Wolf Totem
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 195 lbs
Hair: Sapphire
Skin: Brown
Eyes: Amber

History:
Elspa was an "untouchable," a displaced tribal orphan from barbarian raids that sought shelter within the walls of nearby civilization. Not actually being allowed into the city meant that Elspa had to fend for herself in the shanty of other untouchables that found work where they could. She discovered that one guarantee of survival lay in the hunting of food for the city, even if she herself could not partake.

Trading in meat and fur for food and other necessities, Elspa banded with other hunters to form a pack under the reasoning that working together helped bring in larger game and a larger payments. She enjoyed some status within the group, but as the years went on, newer members began to show their strength and Elspa eventually found herself the omega.

Now receiving little reward for her efforts, Elspa felt that she had a better chance of surviving by joining another group. Older, a bit wiser, she set out to make a place for herself.

Personality:
Gregarious and sociable, Elspa enjoys the company of others, particularly those she considers to be members of her pack. She watches over her friends, even if her method of settling disputes is with a fur-lined fist to the face. However, she constantly feels the need to prove herself and strengthen her standing within the group, cognizant that survival depends on having others at her back. Among her vices, Elspa finds special pleasure in coin and the comforts it can buy, particularly when it comes to exotics that she never had the opportunity for.

Attributes: STR 18; DEX 14; CON 14; INT 8; WIS 12; CHA 10 (assuming standard array)
Skills: Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Perception, Survival.
Feat: Shield Master
Elspa favors the sword and shield. She also uses javelins to soften up the opponent from a distance as she closes. She will attack the flank to distract and harry the enemy, mimicking wolf packs in taking down larger prey.

I'll post, as soon as I get home from work, a rogue physician/herbalist (healer feat)that could try to keep the group alive...

"Moss"
Level 5 Assassin Rogue - Variant Human
Height: 5'9" - Weight: 180
Hair: Black - Skin: Pale - Eyes: Blue
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Story: "Moss" earned his surname early in his life because it is what he often ate when he could find nothing else. An old hermit took him in after pitying him and teached him what he knew about herbs. After a fatal "accident", Moss kept the small hut used by the hermit as his own and started using what he knew to make some money. When some of his customers died of illness because he could not help them and the body wasn't asked for, he started to cut them open to learn more. Eventually he learned enough to be better at healing and make more money. He then started to get targeted by some local ruffians who had realized he had more money than it seemed, but after a while he managed to use his knowledge of the human body to defend himself by striking weak points. Realizing how easy it was for him to kill someone, he started to covertly take some contracts to terminate easy targets and even sometimes a competitor or two. He even used his knowledge of nature and herbs to start crafting poison sometimes, he could sell them for a good price or use them himself...

Personality: Moss has a curious nature and loves to learn things about the nature of life...and how to end it. For him information can be as valuable as money. Having a fondness for business, he will always keep his word, else nobody would make any with him.

Attributes: STR 10; DEX 18; CON 12; INT 14; WIS 14; CHA 8 (assuming standard array)

Skills: Acrobatics, Investigation, Perception (expertise), Stealth (expertise), Medecine, Nature, Survival

Tools: Herbalism kit, Poisoner's kit, Thieves tools, Disguise kit

Background: Herbalist (custom); skills nature, survival ; Tools herbalism kit; Language +1
The herbalist as perfected his knowledge of nature to find the rarest herbs, sometime having to go deep in the wildness to find them.

Feat: Healer

Combat: Being stealthy is the best way not to get hit, it also let's him place his attacks with better results. If he can he will always hit from afar but will not shy from close quarter combat. If an ally is down, he will try to get him up as soon as possible... if there is not too much immediate danger of course...

Thanks for your character submissions so far Naatkinson, CancerMan, and deadpool_qc! Although I didn't necessarily require attributes to be planned out at this stage, a few people have asked me what attribute generation system to use. You can use 27 point buy or the standard array.

Also, here are a couple of interesting links.

1. Check out Sasquatch Games' Primeval Thule art gallery to get your imaginations running for character ideas.

2. There is a free Traveller's Guide for Primeval Thule pdf available on DriveThruRPG if you wanted to get more info on the world.

3. Here's an image of the original hex map that was given to players at the start of the adventure for them to map out the island. No spoilers.

I have a couple of characters to submit but will have to wait til I get to my laptop. :-) Everyone's ideas so far are awesome! I'm really excited about this!

Would the scout archetype for the rogue from unearthed arcana be ok ? If so I'll add an alternate version of "Moss" that is more guide than assassin ...

UA Ranger and Rogue Archetypes here...

I'm okay with a character tie-in to mine, but with the caveat that I may not be accepted. Just something to keep in mind!

I chose not to include the Scout for this adventure because I feel like it outshines the other archetypes by too large a margin in this scenario. I'm not saying it is overpowered by any means, but it is very tailored to this adventure and I want to encourage diversity of character builds.

Hey! This is a fantastic idea, and so much work already put into it. Kudos! I've got a few character concepts in mind to submit (if more than one is alright), but I'm still writing them out.

Multiple characters are welcome! The deadline in Friday Feb 24.

Got it! I will either be submitting tonight or tomorrow. Thanks!

Okay, here are my character ideas. I'll start by saying that I was drawn to this game due to its sword & sorcery feel, low magic emphasis, and the focus on exploration, which is a big hit for me. As far as my playstyle, I tend to play talkative characters, since my favorite part of PbP and RPing in general is the in-character interaction with my fellow PCs and the NPCs put before us. I tend to communicate in-character a lot in combat to continue interacting during a fight, because that makes it a lot more interesting to me than a toe-to-toe brawlfest. I'll be honest and say that I usually develop a lot of the character's personality once I get into their skin and get a feel for them after a little bit of game time.These ideas are in no order of preference!

Jarveena the maimed archer (Rogue 1, Battlemaster 4)

The Zingari have ever been reviled as thieves, swindlers, and whores. It may be that her people have on occasion been these things and worse but at sixteen Jarveena’s only crime was to love a nobleman. Her fate was sealed from the moment he loved her back. It was the music - it was in them both. Jarveena was no great beauty, though she was pretty enough in her own way. But she was gifted with the singing voice of a goddess, and her delicate fingers were as those of a demon upon the strings of her citole. And oh, could she dance! The lordling Jean Reinhardt loved Jarveena’s effortless grace and fiery passion for life. That did not sit well among her people, "Does she think she’s better than us?!" nor outside it, "That Zingari slut! How dare she dream of marrying above her station?!"

They came for her on the eve of her seventeenth name day. A blood moon. Torches. Hooded figures. Men, some women. Rough hands, rougher voices. Some of the voices were Zingari. First, they cut her tongue to muffle her screams. They failed to cut it at the root, thank the gods, in time she would be able to manage speech, but would never sing again. They beat her savagely, then they cut all but thumb and forefinger from her left hand so she would never know the strings of the citole again. Next, they shattered her left leg so she would never dance again. Last, they tore off her bodice and burned her face and her chest with a torch, so no man would desire her again. Then they took her to the seashore and left her there, bleeding on the sand, for the crabs and the seagulls.

That was how Leatha found her. Leatha "Fishwife" Gabranth, captain of the all-female crew of the Sea Witch, was the most fearsome corsair of those seas. She took Jarveena in and taught her the trade. Jarveena learned quickly for though her body had been ravaged, they had not taken her wits. In time she walked again, miraculously, and even learned to fight. She struggled with the cutlass but became skilled with the whip and was deadly with the longbow. Leatha told her stories of the Amazoi, fearsome warrior women who cut off their own breasts to become more efficient archers. Jarveena’s crippled leg gave her a limp on dry land but she was quicker than others on the rolling deck of a ship, or up in the rigging. She was their best lookout, for her left eye (the right had gone blind from the burning) was sharper than everyone else’s put together.

In Jarveena’s third year on the Sea Witch disaster struck. They were caught in a storm and ran aground on the shoals of an uncharted isle. Only Jarveena survived the wreck - will she survive the island?

Trait: Thinking is for other people. I prefer action.
Trait: I don’t pay attention to the risks in a situation. Never tell me the odds.
Ideal: I’m loyal to my friends, not to any ideals, and everyone else can take a long stroll down a short plank for all I care.
Bond: Those who maimed me will pay for what they did.
Bond: I owe a debt I can never repay to the one who took pity on me.
Flaw: Violence is my answer to almost any challenge.

I've been discussing this character at length with lenpelletier, and I've gotten permission to do something a little nuts. I wanted to be up-front and give you guys fair warning:

Submissions are now done. Thanks for your great character ideas. We will let you know tomorrow. It is going to be a tough decision!

After much deliberation, I am chosing:

CancerMan's Elspa (Barbarian)
HypoCo's Ryte Colkter (Fighter)
MoMo's Ygne (Thief)

Honestly, any combination of characters from this list would have made a great party, but I chose these three because of diversity and for backstories that resonated with me. Thanks again everyone!

For those of you who were selected, come on over to the Isle of Dread form and finalize your characters. I've posted a list of the 5e wilderness exploration rules we're following which might influence your builds, and a post about deciding the party's motivation for being on the island.