by Jeff Grubb

The warrior shouldered the door open, and it creaked on hinges unused for centuries. The air
smelled of damp earth and ancient, unspoken secrets. Ahead of them, a stone-lined hall disappeared
into the darkness beyond.
“Let’s go,” said the wizard, consulting his map.
“Hold on,” said the rogue. “Listen!”
From the hallway ahead came the soft scraping of bone against bone, and out of the darkness
stepped a skeleton, the torchlight reflecting off its polished bones. Another skeleton joined it, and then
a third. Their lower jaws opened in a voiceless battle cry, and the undead warriors raised their
rusted swords and charged the adventurers. . . .

Welcome to the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® Fast-Play What Are Characters Made Of?
Game. This booklet is an introduction to the
ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® game—the Take a minute to look at the character sheets on
world’s most popular roleplaying game. If you’re pages 5–6. Make photocopies of those pages if you
an experienced player who knows all this stuff, want, cut each of the pages in half, and make sure
share it with someone who hasn’t played before. If that every player in your group has the sheet for
you’re interested in how to play the D&D game, the character he or she wants to play. Here’s what
read on. all the information on the character sheets means.
Name: The character’s name, already written in.
What Is a Roleplaying Game? Player: That’s you, the player “running” this
character. Put your own name here.
In a roleplaying game, each individual involved Class: D&D characters fall into general classes.
pretends to be an imaginary character, much the Each class has advantages over the others. The
same as an actor plays a part in a film or a play. character classes in this adventure include fighters
The big difference is that in a film, the actors are (who are good at fighting with swords and other
following a script—but in a roleplaying game, you weapons), wizards (who can’t fight with swords
and the other players are writing your own lines but can cast spells), and rogues (who are okay
as you play out an adventure, and the ending of with swords and can also do sneaky stuff like
the story is not determined until you get there. picking locks).
One of the individuals in a D&D game is the Race: In the D&D game, characters can belong
Dungeon Master (DM for short), the person who to different races. In this adventure, most of the
knows what the adventure is all about and tells characters are human. Niles is a halfling, which is
the players what’s happening as the story moves a diminutive race of beings who are known for
along. It’s always necessary for someone to be the their bravery and cunning.
DM, but this doesn’t have to be the same person Level: Characters can be carried over from one
every time you play. The other individuals are adventure to the next (like a “saved game”). As
players, each one playing the role of his or her they have more adventures, they become more
own player character (PC for short). The adven- powerful. Level is a measure of how powerful the
ture included with these rules, titled “The Ruined characters are. In this adventure, all the characters
Tower,” is for one DM and up to four players. are level 2, which means they are still fairly inex-
In the D&D game, player characters are heroic perienced and can grow more powerful.
fighters, mighty wizards, and cunning rogues. Ability Scores: These numbers are the heart of a
They journey into lost ruins (the “Dungeons” of character’s description. They tell what the strong
the game’s title) and battle fierce monsters (some- points and weak points of the character are. (Just
times, though not always, “Dragons”). To play like real people, most characters are better at some
“The Ruined Tower,” each player picks one of the things than others.)
characters from the sheets on pages 5–6. If you Strength is how strong your character is.
want to play more adventures, you can use this Dexterity is how quick your character is.
character over and over—you don’t have to use a Constitution is how healthy your character is.
new character every time you play a new game. Intelligence is how smart your character is.
The DM should read over all of these rules and Wisdom is how much common sense your char-
the adventure before starting play. The players acter has.
should read pages 2–4 and look over the character Charisma is how appealing your character is.
sheets on pages 5–6—but don’t read any farther, Ability scores range from 3 to 18, with 3 being
or the surprises of the adventure will be ruined! the lowest (and weakest), and 18 being the best.

2 D&D Fast-Play Game

Fighters usually have high Strength, rogues have How the Game Works
high Dexterity, and wizards have high Intelli-
gence. Your character’s ability scores have an In the D&D game, the Dungeon Master and the
effect on how well he or she does at certain things. players team up to tell a story. The DM has a
We’ve done all the calculations you need to play script, also called an adventure, that tells what the
the adventure, so don’t sweat it. characters will face in the dungeon. The players
Armor: This line tells you what type of armor have character sheets, which tell them what their
your character is wearing. characters can do and what items they can use.
Armor Class: This number tells you the benefit The DM sets the stage, usually by reading a
of the armor your character is wearing. A low
number for Armor Class is a good thing—a 3 is
better than a 4.
Move: This number describes how fast your
Funky Dice
character moves. All the characters in this adven- Weapons (and a lot of other things in the
ture move at the same rate, except for Niles the game) come with a set of numbers, like 1d8,
halfling. He’s slower than the rest. That’s impor- 2d6, and 1d4+1. What do the numbers
mean?
tant if the party runs away from danger, since They describe different types of dice used
Niles will lag behind. in the D&D game. The number after the “d”
Hit Points: Hit points are a measure of how tells you how many sides the die has. A “d6”
much damage your character can withstand. is the normal kind of die you’re probably
Weapons, monsters, and falling into deep holes used to seeing—a cube with each side repre-
can all do damage to your character. senting a number from 1 to 6. Other dice
Wounds: This line is used to keep track of the come in different shapes and have different
wounds your character has taken. If this number numbers of sides: 4, 8, 10, 12, and 20.
gets to be more than your character’s hit points, A number in front of the “d” tells how
he or she is defeated and out of the game. Use a many dice should be rolled, so 1d8 means
pencil to tally your character’s wounds, in case roll one 8-sided die, and 2d4 means roll two
4-sided dice. A plus sign followed by a num-
some of them get healed. (Elanna has a healing ber means that the number should be added
potion that, if drunk, will restore lost hit points.) to the roll: “1d8+1” means roll an 8-sided die
Gold: Money in the D&D game is expressed in and add 1 to the result.
gold pieces. Everybody starts out with no money, Sometimes, you might see a number like
but characters can pick up gold as a treasure or a 1d3, which doesn’t have an actual die for it.
reward during an adventure. The amount of gold Obviously, there is no three-sided die, but
your character collects goes on this line. you can generate the right number range by
XP: Short for eXperience Points, XP is a measure rolling a six-sided die and dividing by 2,
of how successful you are as a fighter, wizard, or then rounding up. Thus, a 1 or 2 equals 1, a
rogue. Everyone has a certain amount of XP (the 3 or 4 equals 2, and a 5 or 6 equals 3.
number varies) so that they are 2nd level. A lot of games use these dice. If you don’t
have them, you can get them at a game store
Next Level: This is the amount of XP your char- or maybe a bookstore, or perhaps you can
acter needs to go to the next level. You get XP by borrow some from someone. If you can’t get
defeating monsters and completing quests. them right away, here’s how to use 6-sided
Weapons: This section tells the types of weap- dice to take the place of all the other sizes.
ons each character has and how much damage This isn’t a perfect solution, however, so
each weapon causes. To find out what things like you’ll want to get your own set pretty soon
“1d8” and “1d10” mean, see the box in the next if you plan to keep playing.
column that talks about “Funky Dice.” d4 – Roll a 6-sided die; roll over if the
Spells: Because Thaddeus is a wizard, he has result is a 5 or 6.
spells he can cast. His spells are listed here. He can d6 – Roll a 6-sided die normally.
cast one magic missile and one sleep spell during d8 – Roll one die and add 2 to the result.
d10 – Roll two dice and add them togeth-
the adventure. er. If an 11 or 12 comes up, ignore that result
Abilities: Most of the characters have different and reroll.
abilities, depending on their class, race, and abili- d12 – Don’t worry about a d12 right now;
ty scores. These are covered here. you won’t need one in this adventure.
Equipment: This is a listing of other important d20 – Roll three dice (or one die three
stuff your character may have. Ordinary items like times) and add them together. Then, add 2
cloaks or boots aren’t mentioned, but things that to the result.
may be useful, like rope and torches, are.

D&D Fast-Play Game 3

prepared bit of text, telling the players what their
characters see. This might be a brief description of What Is All This Stuff?
the area where the characters are, or an old legend The D&D game is set in a fantasy world, a lot
being told by the fire, or a passage from a book. like our world back in the Middle Ages. D&D
The players then can ask questions and tell the characters use swords instead of guns, ride hors-
DM what they want their characters to do. The es instead of cars, and fight monsters instead of
DM tells the players what their characters see and rush-hour traffic. In the game, we throw around
hear. Here’s an example of how that works: a lot of words describing stuff from that age. In
DM: You see a corked bottle sitting on a shelf. case you’re not sure what we mean . . .
Player: I pick up the bottle and look to see Swords are good weapons, but not all swords
what’s in it. are equal. Niles has a short sword, which is best
for him because he’s not very big. Darkblade has
DM: The bottle is corked, and you can’t see
a long sword, which is longer and has a better
through the glass. reach. Elanna uses a two-handed sword, which
Player: I pull the cork out of the bottle. causes the most damage of the three.
DM: A black mass of smoke swirls out of the Daggers are sharp knives, handy for cutting
bottle, and from the heart of the smoke a voice things and stabbing monsters. Daggers can also
thunders, “At last I am free! Now I can con- be thrown to do damage.
quer the world!” A quarterstaff is a pole about seven feet long,
Player: Uh, is it too late to put the cork back into useful for bashing opponents and testing the
the bottle? ground ahead.
You get the idea. Sometimes there is some doubt Armor comes in several different styles. Chain
about if a particular action is successful, if you hit mail is made of loose links of metal. Scale mail
is made of overlapping metal sheets. Leather
an opponent, or how much damage you cause.
armor is more flexible and quieter (and therefore
For that you need the funky dice (see the previous better for rogues to sneak around in), but it
page). Sometimes the players will roll the dice and doesn’t protect as well as chain mail or scale
sometimes the DM will roll the dice, depending mail. Wizards don’t wear armor–it messes up
on the situation. their ability to cast spells.
Thieves’ tools are handy to have because
Combat sometimes it’s easier (and smarter) to open a
door by picking a lock instead of bashing it
The players are running characters who are going down. A set of tools includes bits of wire, clip-
into a dungeon in order to defeat the monsters pers, metal picks, and other small items that a
and take their treasure. The monsters aren’t happy rogue uses to do all sorts of crafty things.
about this, and as a result . . . we have combat.
The players roll the dice when their characters
are doing things. The DM rolls the dice for the tain amount of damage. The long sword, for ex-
things he controls, like the monsters, or when he ample, causes 1d8 points of damage to an oppo-
wants to keep the results secret from the players. nent. The DM keeps track of damage to the mon-
If there’s any question about who rolls, the DM sters—when a monster’s wounds are greater than
decides (making decisions is part of the job). In its total hit points, the monster is defeated.
combat, players always roll for their characters. After the characters each get a chance to hit, the
When combat starts, each player needs to say DM makes attack rolls for the monsters. Again,
what weapon his character is using. Darkblade, we’ve done the calculations already in the adven-
for example, may use his long bow or his long ture, and we just give you the number required.
sword. Both have advantages and disadvantages. If a character is hit, the monster does an amount
Each of the players needs to make an “attack of damage determined by another die roll. The
roll,” trying to get a particular number or higher player marks this damage as wounds on his or her
on 1d20 (a 20-sided die). In general, fighters are character sheet.
best at combat and wizards worst, and characters
with high Strength do better than weaker ones. What’s Next?
Each player gets to roll to see if his or her charac- You’ve got the character sheets, you’ve got the
ter scores a hit. In the adventure, we summarize basic info about how the game is played and how
all this and tell you what number each of the char- combat works, and now it’s time to get into the
acters needs in order to hit. If you miss, there is no real action. The person who’s going to be the DM
penalty, except that the monster is still there and should read the rest of this booklet. The rest of you
takes a swing at your character in return. will be players, so don’t read any farther. When
On a hit, your character’s weapon causes a cer- the DM is ready, you can begin the adventure.

4 D&D Fast-Play Game

 Character Sheet Character Sheet
Name: Darkblade Player: _____________ Name: Elanna Player: _____________
Class: Fighter Race: Human Class: Fighter Race: Human
Level: 2 Level: 2

Ability Scores Ability Scores

Strength 17 Strength 15
Dexterity 15 Dexterity 17
Constitution 14 Constitution 15
Intelligence 11 Intelligence 13
Wisdom 13 Wisdom 11
Charisma 15 Charisma 16

Armor: Chain mail Armor: Scale mail

Armor Class: 4 Armor Class: 3
Move: 12 Move: 12
Hit Points: 12 Hit Points: 14
Wounds: __________________________ Wounds: __________________________
Gold: _____________ Gold: _____________
XP: 2000 Next Level: 4000 XP: 2000 Next Level: 4000

Weapons: Weapons:
Long bow Two-handed sword
Damage 1d8 Damage 1d10
Long sword Dagger
Damage 1d8 Damage 1d4

Spells: Spells:
Darkblade has no magical spells. Elanna has no magical spells.

Abilities: Abilities:
When attacking with his bow, Darkblade Elanna has three daggers. She may fight with
makes two attacks each round. He cannot use one of them, or throw up to two per round. She
his bow if he is in close combat. cannot throw her daggers if she is in close com-
When attacking with his sword, Darkblade bat.
does an additional point of damage. (Roll dam-
age, then add 1 point.) Equipment:
Torch
Equipment: Potion of Healing: This is a small bottle of
Torch liquid that, if drunk, heals 2d6 hit points of
50-foot coil of rope damage (or 1d6 points if half is drunk). It will
Backpack not raise the drinker’s hit points above their
original level. The potion smells of peppermint.
©1998 TSR, Inc. All rights reserved. ©1998 TSR, Inc. All rights reserved.
Permission granted to photocopy for personal use only. Permission granted to photocopy for personal use only.

D&D Fast-Play Game 5

 Character Sheet Character Sheet
Name: Niles Player: _____________ Name: Thaddeus Player: _____________
Class: Rogue Race: Halfling Class: Wizard Race: Human
Level: 2 Level: 2

Ability Scores Ability Scores

Strength 11 Strength 9
Dexterity 18 Dexterity 12
Constitution 13 Constitution 15
Intelligence 12 Intelligence 18
Wisdom 10 Wisdom 16
Charisma 12 Charisma 13

Armor: Leather armor Armor: None (robes)

Armor Class: 6 Armor Class: 10
Move: 6 Move: 12
Hit Points: 7 Hit Points: 6
Wounds: __________________________ Wounds: __________________________
Gold: _____________ Gold: _____________
XP: 1250 Next Level: 2500 XP: 2500 Next Level: 5000

Weapons: Weapons:
Short Sword Quarterstaff
Damage 1d6 Damage 1d6
Dagger Dagger
Damage 1d4 Damage 1d4

Spells: Spells:
Niles has no magical spells. Thaddeus may cast each of these spells once
per day:
Abilities: Magic missile: This spell automatically hits a
Niles has two daggers. He may fight with one creature and inflicts 1d4 +1 points of damage.
of them, or throw up to two per round. He can- Sleep: This spell causes living things to fall
not throw his daggers if he is in close combat. into an enchanted sleep. Sleeping creatures are
If Niles attacks a humanoid creature from helpless, but can be awakened normally.
behind, he hits more easily and doubles his
damage roll. Equipment:
Lantern
Equipment: Magical Scroll: Thaddeus has a scroll with a
Lantern knock spell on it. When he reads the scroll
Thieves’ tools: Niles may open a locked door aloud, the spell causes a stuck or locked door to
using his tools, and will succeed on a roll of 4 or automatically open. The scroll can be read
less on 1d10. aloud only once; then it disappears.
©1998 TSR, Inc. All rights reserved. ©1998 TSR, Inc. All rights reserved.
Permission granted to photocopy for personal use only. Permission granted to photocopy for personal use only.

6 D&D Fast-Play Game

 The Dungeon Master’s Section
This part of the booklet is for the DM, and contains information that the DM should know, but the
players should not (like what monsters are lurking behind which doors). If you just want to be a DM,
keep on reading. Otherwise, pass these rules back to your DM.

What the DM Does not (well, if you don’t get carried away, that is).
The DM is in charge of filling in the blanks. We
The Dungeon Master is part director, part story- can’t cover everything that might happen in the
teller, part central processing unit for the game. text of the adventure (though we’re shooting for
The DM is responsible for telling the players what the major ones), so the DM is encouraged to pro-
their characters see, telling them what the results vide his own input into the game.
of their characters’ actions are, and keeping the The DM plays the roles of particular characters
game moving. The DM runs all the characters and from time to time. In this adventure there’s an old
monsters that are not controlled by the players. man, the Patriarch, who sends the player charac-
(That’s not as hard as it might seem, because only ters off to the Ruined Tower, and a monstrous
a few of these characters and monsters are active ghoul that shows up later. At times like this, you
in the story at any single time.) are asked to act “in character,” as if you were the
This part of the D&D Fast-Play Game is an intro- Patriarch or the ghoul. When you’re “in charac-
duction to being a DM. We walk through a very ter,” you might not know certain facts. (For
simple “dungeon” adventure, which you can run instance, the Patriarch doesn’t know what’s inside
for your friends. We cover the basics of combat the Ruined Tower, although you, the DM, do.)
and movement. There are a lot of numbers and Playing the parts of these characters is your
tables in the AD&D game, but we’ve simplified chance to do a little roleplaying of your own.
everything for the adventure you’re about to
run–we did the calculations so you don’t have to. Time and Combat
How do you tell who wins? Well, a roleplaying
game is different from a lot of other games Time in the game is broken down into rounds—
because there is no clear “winner.” Instead, the like the rounds of a boxing match, only a lot short-
characters all grow and improve together, and the er. In a single round, your character can generally
players enjoy seeing their characters succeed in do one particular thing: pull a sword from a scab-
one adventure after another. The DM gets his bard, move around a bit, take a swing at a mon-
reward by helping that growth, challenging the ster, open a door, and so forth. During most of the
players as everyone gets together to tell a group adventure you don’t have to keep close track of
story. If you and the players have fun with the time. But there are certain situations, like combat,
game, you’re all winners. when time becomes important.
When the characters are fighting monsters, you
What to Tell the Players need to know what everybody is doing at any cer-
tain time. Here’s how you keep things straight:
Some sections of the text of the adventure are in- • Decide what the monsters you control are
side boxes. These sections are usually supposed to going to do: Who are they attacking? How are
be read aloud to the players, and are preceded by they attacking? Are they running away?
some line like “If the characters do such-and-such, • Ask each player what his or her character is
read the following aloud.” This is information that doing. Usually allow a character to do only
you, the DM, are giving the players–what their one thing at a time. (Some characters can do
characters see and hear. some things more than once a round–shoot
In addition, the players will have additional arrows and throw daggers, for example.)
questions about what their characters see and • After all the players have said what their char-
experience. You might say, “You see a door,” and acters are doing, let them execute their
the players will respond, “What does the door actions. (In this adventure, the players always
look like?” You check the text of the adventure to get to try to hit their opponents first.)
see if there’s anything special about the door. If • Then execute your monsters’ actions.
there is, you say something like “It’s a large oak
doors with iron bands.” If there isn’t, you make That’s about it. The rest of what you need to
something up. This is what the DM is allowed to know to run the adventure is in the adventure
do. The players won’t know if it was in the text or itself. Go for it.

D&D Fast-Play Game 7

 The Physics of a Gaming Session
You’re ready to play. You’ve read over the sce- answering questions, the players should listen
nario, you’re comfortable with the adventure, to you. Similarly, you as the DM should listen
and you even have a set of the funky dice. to their comments and actions fully. Get every-
So how do you really start? one’s input before going on with the next
Get your friends together, as few as one and round or action.
as many as four. If you have only one or two It may be to your advantage to know in the
players, you might want them to double up, course of an adventure where all the characters
each playing two characters instead of just are, exactly. If the characters in the front row
one. Give them a choice of which character to step on a hidden trap door, or a monster
play. One player may feel more comfortable attacks the last character in line, it’s very
with a fighter, another with a wizard. If more important to know who is where ahead of
than one wants a particular character, either let time, so there are no arguments. Set up a
them hash it out among themselves or else “marching order” to determine who is in front
make multiple photocopies and let them and who is in the rear. You can do this on a
change the names. (Just remember that in the sheet of paper, or you can arrange dice, coun-
adventure, “Bob the Fighter” uses the same ters, or miniature figures to show who is
combat numbers as “Darkblade.”) where. This is very useful when large combats
Get comfortable someplace with enough flat with multiple opponents break out.
space to roll dice. Usually this means a kitchen A group of players may have a natural party
or dining room table, but if you’re just as com- leader, or caller, who states what the characters
fortable on the floor, sitting on bean-bag are doing as a group. (For example: “We’re all
chairs, go for it. going down the hallway.”) That’s fine, but
The players’ dice should be rolled where don’t let the caller dominate the others or state
everyone can see them. The DM’s dice may their actions for them. (For example: “Bob’s
often need to be rolled in secret, where the character will valiantly lay down his life while
players cannot see them. This is because the the rest of us escape with the treasure!”) If this
DM may have to roll the dice, then give the happens, turn to the other players and get con-
players information based on that die roll, and firmation. (For example: “So, Bob, do you real-
the players might get an unfair hint on how ly want to lay down your life here?”)
their character succeeded (or failed) if they can Sometimes a character may discover some-
see the roll. In those cases, the DM should use thing that the other characters might not
a book or piece of paper to shield the result know—an example might be the character
from others. This isn’t cheating—the DM is who opens a treasure chest that might have an
supposed to be fair with his rolls, regardless. explosive trap on it while the other characters
It’s generally a good idea to make combat rolls stay safely out of explosion range. If that is the
out in the open and let the players keep track case, ask that player to step aside, to a corner
of their characters’ hit points. or another room, and quietly tell him what his
The DM should sit where the other players character sees. That player in turn might have
cannot look over her shoulder (so they can’t his own actions, which might require a die roll
read what’s coming up in the adventure). or two. Don’t take too long, but give him the
Usually this is at the head of the table, with the gist of what he sees or can do.
players on both sides. Leave enough space to Last, players may disagree about the wisest
roll dice in front of you. course of action for their group. That’s normal,
Once you get started reading the adventure, and its not your primary task to steer them to
you’ll ask the players what their characters are one decision or another. Let them find their
doing. At first, you should go around the table, own way of figuring out who’s in front, who
asking each in turn. For a lot of decisions the gets first dibs on the treasure, who has the best
choice is fairly clear, and after a while the DM idea of how to fight the bad guys, and who’s
doesn’t have to ask everyone, but at first it’s a going to sacrifice herself valiantly while the
good idea to keep everyone involved. In com- rest escape. Just remember that a player con-
bat, you always ask each person what his char- trols her character’s actions, and that she has
acter is doing, even if he is not immediately the final decision on those actions.
involved in the fighting. That’s about it for the basics. Get your
Try to keep everyone from talking at once. friends and jump in!
When you’re reading a section aloud or

8 D&D Fast-Play Game

Getting Started Beginning the Adventure
Let’s say you’re going to be the DM for this Once the players are comfortable with their char-
evening. It’s always a good idea to read through acters, read the following aloud.
the adventure before you run it, just so you know
what’s coming. You bring to the table this adven- All of you are natives of the Vale, a small
ture, either some 6-sided dice or a set of the funky farming community made up of a number of
dice (if you have some), some scratch paper, pen- small towns scattered along a broad, wooded
cils, and some graph paper (if you want–it’s not a valley. The Patriarch is the spiritual leader of
necessity). If you can, photocopy the character the Vale, and he has asked you to come to his
sheets so the players can use them without writ- shrine when the noon bell sounds.
ing on the originals. It should take about an hour The noon bell is just striking as a servant
to play this adventure, more if you take your time, ushers you into the Patriarch’s study. The old
less if you speed right along. gray-bearded man is bent with age and wis-
You should have between one and four players dom. He motions for you to have a seat.
for this adventure, three or four being the ideal. If
you have only one player, let him run two charac- Now you, the DM, are going to speak in the role of
ters–the monsters in this adventure aren’t too the Patriarch. You can give him an “old man”
tough, but they could be too much for just one voice if you want, or just talk normally. There’s a
character to handle. It’s good if the players have a little bit of acting involved here, but you don’t
chance to read pages 2–4 of this booklet ahead of have to do anything you feel uncomfortable with.
time, but that’s not a necessity. You can fill them in
on things as they go along. It will just be easier for “I am pleased to see that you have come,”
them if they already have a handle on the basics. says the Patriarch. “The Vale has need for
Once you get settled, here is what you, the your talents, and your bravery.
DM, say: “A week ago, some hunters found the ruins
of an old tower in the forest. They did not
What we’re going to do here is tell a story, a like the looks of it, and quickly moved else-
story that you’re going to help create. Each of where. Now there are stories that something
you has a character: a fighter, a wizard, or a nasty has been raiding farms, and it might
rogue. The story takes place in a world filled come from that tower. I’d like you and your
with monsters, treasure, and adventure. friends to go to the tower and investigate it.
I’m going to be the Dungeon Master, or Our very safety may depend on your bravery
DM. I’ll describe what your characters see, and heroism.”
and you’re going to tell me what your char-
acters do in response. Do well, and your Now comes the players’ chance to respond to the
characters will be rewarded with treasure old man’s request. They may have other questions
and increased power. Look at your character about the tower and the raids on the nearby farms.
sheets and we can run down what the vari- Here’s what you can tell them (and you can use
ous numbers and items mean. the “old man” voice to do it, to show that this is
the Patriarch speaking, and not the DM).
Give the players a chance to review their character • No one knew about the tower before. Some
sheets and ask any questions. You should know hunters found it while chasing a wounded
most of the answers about what the numbers deer. However, long ago there was a powerful
mean from reading the first section of these rules. magician who lived in this valley. It might
Ask each of the players to introduce their charac- have been one of his towers, or his home.
ters to the rest of the group. For example: • No one has seen what is raiding the farms.
“I’ve got Niles, a halfling rogue,” says one. Several sheep have been carried off, and pens
“I’m running Darkblade, and he’s a fighter, and have been broken down. This always hap-
he’s got a bow,” says another. pens at night. No farmers have been attacked,
“I’m playing Elanna. She’s real strong and has a but they are worried about their flocks.
sword that does lots of damage,” says a third. • Any treasure they find, in the form of money
This would be a good time to explain about the or magical items, may be kept by the player
funky dice to the players if they don’t already characters. All the Patriarch asks is that any
know. Don’t worry about when you need to roll books or other useful items be turned over to
them–we’ll tell you as the adventure progresses. him so he can learn more about the history of
the Vale (he’ll pay, of course).

D&D Fast-Play Game 9

 • He tells the characters that the location of the no more than a low wall a foot high, and can be
ruined tower is off the beaten track, but easily easily stepped over.
found. (No map is provided for the Vale in When the first member of the party enters the
this adventure, so this map is an imaginary area of the tower itself, read the following to that
one. It you want to have a map of the Vale to player. The other players can listen in.
show the players, take a moment to sketch
one out.) If no one brings it up, merely say, You step over the wall and see that the inside
“The Patriarch unfolds a map and shows you of the tower is filled with rubble and debris.
the location of the tower. There should be no Dead leaves, shattered stones, and rotted
problem reaching it.” timbers are scattered around the floor. You
• The Patriarch does not have any guards or see, partly buried by fallen timbers, a door on
assistants to spare for the expedition. If he the far wall, leading back under the hillside.
did, he would have sent them instead of the As you notice this, you also see a pile of
adventurers. leaves rustle slightly to your left. A large rat
• Heroes only have what supplies are on their pokes its head out from beneath the debris. It
sheets; there isn’t an opportunity for them to hisses a warning at you, showing long, razor-
get anything else before starting. sharp teeth. It lunges forward, and behind it,
three more leap from their hiding places.
The Ruined Tower
There are four giant rats among the debris within
Once the players get everything squared away
the tower, and they are defending their territory.
with the Patriarch, the group of heroes (known as
The rats are grayish-brown, about two feet long,
“the adventuring party” or simply “the party”)
and have wicked, sharp teeth and red, feral eyes.
heads out toward the ruined tower with orders to
They only attack characters in the tower area,
investigate it and report back. Read the following
and will not climb over the walls. If there is only
to the players:
one character in the tower area, all four attack
him. If there are two characters, two attack each
The trail to the ruined tower passes through
character. If there are three characters in the tower
the rolling farmland of the Vale and into the
area, two attack the first character who entered,
forest. The trees and undergrowth quickly
and one attacks each of the others. If there are four
grow dense, and you hear the sounds of
characters in the area, then one rat attacks each
small creatures moving through the under-
of them.
brush. The thick shade of the forest cuts off a
Each of the players needs to roll a particular
lot of the sunlight, and you move through a
number or higher on 1d20 to successfully attack a
twilight-colored world of shadows.
giant rat:
Suddenly you come upon a small glade in
• Darkblade needs an 11 or higher to hit. If he
the heart of the forest. A squat stone tower
hits with his sword, he does 1d8 damage, and then
has been built into the side of the hill at the
adds 1 point. If he uses his bow, he can attack
far side of the glade. The tower has been
twice in a single round, even against different rats,
shattered, and all that remains is a ragged
and do 1d8 damage on each hit, but he cannot use
stump of fitted stone. Large blocks of granite
his bow against rats that are attacking him.
litter the clearing, and some of these are cov-
• Elanna needs a 12 or higher to hit. If she uses
ered with thick moss.
her two-handed sword, she rolls 1d10 to deter-
mine how much damage she does. If she uses her
The tower is shown on the map on page 10. Use
dagger, she rolls 1d4 to determine damage. She
the information from this text and the map to
can throw her daggers at rats that are not attack-
describe the area. Don’t show the map to the play-
ing her directly.
ers–that would tell them too much about what
• Niles needs a 13 or higher to hit. He causes 1d6
they are going to discover later in the adventure.
damage if he uses his short sword, and 1d4 if
Ask each player what his or her character is
using his dagger. He causes 1d4 damage if he
doing. Most likely their responses will be along
throws a dagger, but can only throw daggers at
the lines of “I am looking at the tower.”
rats that are not attacking him.
The tower is a wreck—it looks like it has been
• Thaddeus needs a 13 or higher to hit. He caus-
blasted by a bolt of lightning. Originally it might
es 1d6 damage with his quarterstaff. Thaddeus’s
have been 40 feet tall, but now it is a blasted
specialty is not combat, but magic spells. If he
stump that does not extend more than 10 feet
casts his magic missile spell, he does 1d4+1 points
high. The tower wall nearest the characters is
of damage to a rat of his choice (no attack roll

10 D&D Fast-Play Game

 Map of tHE RUiNEd towEr

Secret
Tunnel

Ruined
Tower Scriptorium
S

Corridor

Map kEy
Library
door
hidden pit

S secret door
debris
One square = 10'

needed). If he casts his sleep spell, all the rats reduced to 0 hit points, or if they leave the tower
immediately fall into an enchanted slumber and area, the rats burrow under the debris and flee.
are easily defeated. It’s likely that the characters will defeat the rats
Each rat starts with 3 hit points. If a character with minimum damage to themselves. Any dam-
inflicts 3 or more points of damage, the rat is age that was taken by the characters remains until
defeated. If a rat takes less than 3 points of dam- the characters go back to the town or someone
age, note on a piece of scratch paper how much uses Elanna’s potion of healing to restore lost hit
damage the rat took. Subtract that number from 3, points.
and what remains is how many hit points the rat Defeating the rats gains experience points (XP)
now has. for the surviving characters. The rats are worth 15
Any rats not defeated get their chance to attack XP each, so four of them are worth 60 points. That
back. For each rat, you roll 1d20 to try to hit a cer- means if a single character stayed in the tower
tain character. The rats are all equally vicious, but area and defeated all the rats, he gets all 60 points.
they need different numbers to hit the characters If two characters defeated two rats apiece, each
because the characters are wearing different types surviving character gets 30 XP. If three characters
of armor and have different Dexterity scores. took part in the combat, each survivor gets 20 XP,
• To hit Darkblade, the rats need a 16 or higher. and if all four characters helped (even if some
• To hit Elanna, the rats need a 17 or higher. were defeated by the rats), each survivor gets 15
• To hit Niles, the rats need a 13 or higher. XP. Have the players mark the XP earned on their
• To hit Thaddeus, the rats need a 10 or higher. character sheets. Each sheet tells how many expe-
Needless to say, it’s better if Thaddeus stays rience points that character needs to advance to
away from the rats. Rats bite for 1d3 points of the next level. (Obviously, no one will get there
damage. very fast just by defeating rats.)
A rat attacks a chosen character until that char- There is no treasure among the debris, but if the
acter leaves the area of the tower or is reduced to players want their characters to look, let them do
0 hit points; then the rat chooses a new target from so. When they decide to move on, they should
the remaining characters. If all the characters are want to investigate the door partly hidden by the

D&D Fast-Play Game 11

fallen timbers, which can be easily moved aside. times important. Don’t get bogged down in the
The door is a heavy oak door, with a lock that’s details, but just keep an eye on what is going on
rusted out and useless. However, the door is and where.
swollen in its frame and badly weathered, and the When at least one character lights a torch or
characters will have to use brute strength to open lantern, add the following information:
it. Let the players choose which character will
open the door (it makes sense to give this job to You see that a 10-foot-wide corridor continues
the character with the highest Strength score), and into the hillside. The walls and floor have been
have that player roll 1d20 to determine if he suc- heavily damaged by water, and the flagstones
ceeds. In this case, a low result is better than a of the floor are pitched up in places from
high result, which means: uneven settling. About 40 feet away, you see a
• Darkblade needs a 10 or less to open the door. door. There seems to be something written on
• Elanna needs an 8 or less to open the door. the door, but you’re too far away to make out
• Niles needs a 6 or less to open the door. what it says. What are you going to do?
• Thaddeus needs a 5 or less to open the door.
Any character can try to open the door as many Ask the players in what order their characters are
times as he or she wants. There is no penalty for moving down the corridor. (There’s enough room
failing–it just takes a while longer to get the door in a 10-foot-wide area for two characters to walk
open. Also, Thaddeus may use the knock spell on or run side by side. This makes it easy for them to
his scroll to open the door. The door opens imme- fight without bashing on each other.) One way to
diately if he does this, but as Thaddeus reads the arrange the group is to put the well-armored,
spell, the words on the scroll fade from the paper strong types in front to protect the guys with the
and the spell cannot be cast again. (Make sure the lower hit points in the back. If the characters are
player who’s running Thaddeus understands this afraid of being hit from behind, they may put a
before the scroll is used.) fighter in the front and one in the back.
When the characters open the door, go to the The corridor is treacherous and uneven, and has
next section. been damaged by water seeping through the
ancient walls. About 20 feet from the door, the
The Corridor and the Pit
To start this section of the adventure, read the fol-
lowing paragraph to the players:
A Map for the Players
The players may choose to start making their
own map of the dungeon at some point. A map
You force the door open, and a puff of damp, is often helpful because it’s a reminder of how
musty air billows out of the doorway. The dust rooms fit together, where things are located, and
settles, and you are looking down a long corri- where the exits are in case of emergency. (Re-
dor leading back into the hillside. The walls member, the players don’t get to see the map
and floor are made of finished stone, and are we’ve provided for you.) If the players bring up
stained from water damage. The ceiling is sup- the idea of making their own map, and you
ported by heavy oak beams. The corridor dis- want to let them give it a try, here’s how to do it.
appears into darkness about 20 feet away. Give them a piece of regular graph paper (four
squares to the inch will do nicely), and have
each square represent 10 feet. You then describe
Now would be a good time for the party members the room or area based on the text and the map
to think about lighting their torches or lanterns. It we’ve provided. For example, there are different
only takes one torch or lantern to throw enough ways to describe a corridor, such as:
light to see by—but note that anyone who is carry- “The corridor runs ahead of you 40 feet and
ing a lit torch or lantern has to use one hand to do ends in a door. The corridor is 10 feet wide.”
so, so weapons like bows or the two-handed sword “The corridor runs east 40 feet to a door on the
cannot be used. A lantern can be set down easily if far end. You are at the west end of the corridor.”
someone suddenly needs to use both hands, but a Or, if you want to be sure the players under-
torch goes out if it’s laid on the floor. If the party stand where they are, you can simply make a
heads down the corridor in darkness, tell the play- sketch on the graph paper and let them look at
ers that it’s getting harder and harder to see . . . it. As their characters move into a different area,
add another piece of information to their map,
This is part of roleplaying. You and the players according to what the characters would see, so
consider the imaginary world as if it were a real that step by step it starts to resemble the map
one, so little things like what you’re carrying in you’re using.
your hands or who’s opening the door are some-

12 D&D Fast-Play Game

ground is so badly eroded that any pressure on SCRIPTORIUM
the floor will cause the floor to collapse. On your DO NOT DISTURB
map, that place is marked by the big symbol for a A scriptorium is a place where scrolls and books
pit. (This is one reason you don’t show the players are copied, usually by scribes or monks. (You can
the DM’s map—you want this place to be a secret tell the players that–it’s something that their char-
until the characters get there.) acters would likely know.)
If the characters merrily march down the corri- The door is almost completely rotted out, and will
dor, heading for the door, the characters in front disintegrate at the first touch. Go to the next section.
fall into the pit that suddenly appears before them
as the floor disintegrates. Read the following The Scriptorium
aloud if this happens: When any character first touches the door (tries
the knob, leans against it, knocks on it, whatever),
You walk down the corridor. About halfway read the following aloud:
down, the ground suddenly shifts beneath
your feet and falls away, revealing a black The rotted door falls apart at the first touch.
chasm beneath you. The stones you’re stand- The wood cascades into a pile of splinters,
ing on slip into the blackness, and you follow. and the hinges and knob clatter to the floor.
On the other side of the doorway is a large,
The pit is 10 feet deep and filled at the bottom square room, about 30 feet on a side. There is
with water and soft earth. Each character that falls another door directly opposite yours at the
into the pit takes 1d4 points of damage. They also far side of the room. The floor in here is more
get muddy from the experience. The edges of the level and dry than the corridor was.
pit are rough and sloped, so it is relatively easy to The room holds six copy desks and stools.
climb out. Four of the desks are occupied by what look
If the characters are a bit more cautious (and if like monks, dressed in robes that at one time
the players listened to you when you told them were fine but are now old and rotting, their
about all the water damage in the hallway) and bodies hunched over.
indicate that they are checking out the corridor as One of the monks looks up at you, his hood
they move into the hillside, read the following: falling back as he does so. He has no skin or
flesh, only a skull with small flickers of red
You move cautiously down the hallway, flame burning in the pits of his eye sockets.
making sure you have a firm footing on the He raises a bony hand and points at you.
uneven flagstones. One of the stones beneath As if by silent signal, the other three monks
your feet shifts as you touch it, and you pull get off their stools. Their robes fly open, re-
back quickly. With a deep rumble, a large vealing that they are nothing more than ani-
hole opens directly before you. Another step, mated skeletons. They all carry rusted, trian-
and you would have fallen into a large, gular daggers. They move toward you.
muddy pit.
There are four skeletons, though only two may
If the characters were cautious, give each of them attack a particular target. If the characters stand
10 XP. (As the DM, you’re allowed to reward play- their ground in the doorway, then only the front
ers for smart thinking.) rank may be attacked. The characters get to make
The pit is a ragged hole in the floor, and once it their attacks first, then the skeletons.
has opened it will remain there permanently. Because the skeletons are magically animated
There is enough of a ledge around it that the char- bones, they are less affected by weapons that cut.
acters can get past it easily. Swords, arrows, and daggers cause less damage
Note that this is a natural pit caused by erosion. when used against a skeleton.
Some evil creatures put pits in their lairs just to • Darkblade needs an 11 or higher to hit. If he
catch those foolish enough to trespass, and some- hits with his sword, he does 1d8 damage, then
times those pits are filled with sharp spikes or poi- adds 1 point for his high strength. Find the total
sonous snakes. (Just thought you’d want to know.) damage he causes, then divide by 2, rounding up
When the characters reach the door at the other (21/2 becomes 3). If he uses his bow, he can attack
end of the corridor, they see it is badly rotted, and twice, even against different skeletons, and do 1d8
its hinges and latch are extremely rusted. There damage. Again, divide the damage by 2 after it is
are words carved on the door, almost invisible rolled. Once the skeletons get close enough to
because of the damage. The sign reads: attack, the bow is useless.

D&D Fast-Play Game 13

 • Elanna needs a 12 or higher to hit. If she uses When the characters get around to checking the
the two-handed sword, she rolls 1d10 to deter- door out of the room, read the players the follow-
mine how much damage she does. If she uses her ing text:
dagger, she rolls 1d4 to determine damage. Again,
The door at the far side of the room is made
divide the result by 2.
of heavy wood and bound with bands of
• Niles needs a 13 or higher to hit. He will cause
iron. A large plate of metal is mounted to the
1d6 damage if he uses his short sword, and 1d4 if
door, and that plate is inscribed with a sym-
using his dagger. Divide the result by 2 to de-
bol of a bull’s head. The door has been locked
termine how much damage Niles does to the
and secured from the other side.
skeleton he attacks.
• Thaddeus needs a 13 or higher to hit. He caus-
This door is not just stuck, like the one at the start
es 1d6 damage with the quarterstaff—and this
of the adventure–it has been locked by the inhab-
result is not divided by 2. The quarterstaff is a
itants of the room beyond. The characters may
blunt weapon, not a cutting weapon, so it does
think of a number of ways to try opening the door.
full damage to the skeletons. If Thaddeus casts his
• Force it open: They can try to force the door
magic missile spell, he does 1d4+1 points of dam-
open with brute strength, but it is tougher than
age to the skeleton of his choice (no attack roll is
they are. It will not open, even if two or more char-
needed). If the player running Thaddeus wants to
acters try to force it open at the same time.
cast his sleep spell, you should mention that the
• Hack it down: The characters can try to hack
spell would have no effect because the skeletons
the lock and hinges off the door. Up to two char-
are not alive and the magic of the sleep spell only
acters can hack at the door, the door is hit auto-
works against living creatures.
matically (it can’t get out of the way), and takes 20
The remaining skeletons get their chance to
points of damage before it springs open. The
attack back after the characters get their chance to
downside of hacking at the door is that it warns
hit. For each skeleton, roll 1d20:
the inhabitants of the library (the room behind the
• To hit Darkblade, a skeleton needs a 15 or
door) immediately, and they can prepare. (See the
higher.
next page for more information on this.)
• To hit Elanna, a skeleton needs a 16 or higher.
• Pick the lock: Rogues are very good at open-
• To hit Niles, a skeleton needs a 12 or higher.
ing locks, and if Niles is present, you can tell the
• To hit Thaddeus, a skeleton needs a 9 or higher.
players this. The player running Niles needs to
A skeleton causes 1d6 damage when it success-
roll a 4 or less on 1d10 in order to pick the lock.
fully hits a character. The skeletons have 5 hit
Niles can try three times to open this door. If he
points each.
succeeds on one of those tries, he unlocks it with-
The skeletons fight until either they are defeated
out notifying the beings on the other side. If Niles
or the characters are. If the characters flee the
fails to pick the lock after three tries, the lock is too
room back the way they came, the skeletons will
tough for him to open by using his tools. The char-
chase them. The skeletons can’t catch the human
acters will have to try something else.
characters, but they are faster than the halfling
• Cast the knock spell: Thaddeus has a scroll
and will overtake Niles before he escapes the
with a magical spell on it. If he casts the knock
underground area. (The other characters should
spell, the lock clicks open immediately (and the
want to turn around and come back to help if that
spell disappears from the scroll).
happens. One way or another, they’re going to
have to deal with these skeletons.)
Skeletons are worth 65 XP each, so four of them
The Library
are worth 260 XP total. Just as you did with the As soon as the characters have managed to open
rats, divide up the experience points between all the door, read the following to the players:
the characters who took part in the combat.
When the skeletons are defeated, the players On the other side of the door is a large, well-
may have their characters search the room. They furnished room. The walls are lined with
find nothing in the desks–the scrolls the skeletons shelves that are filled with large, water-
appeared to be working on are nothing more than stained books. The floor is littered with
tattered scraps. The triangular daggers the skele- bones.
tons carried are of an archaic design, and, though Directly before you are two zombies, unliv-
stained with rust, are still useful. The Patriarch ing humans with their flesh dried and pulled
gives the characters 5 gold pieces per dagger if tight over their bones. Their bodies are miss-
they bring them back (20 gold pieces total if they ing chunks of flesh. It looks as if something
part with all of them). has taken bites out of their arms, legs, and

D&D Fast-Play Game 15

 torsos. They have blank, mindless expres- handle the adventurers, unless the characters
sions on their faces. manage to cause damage to it. If it is damaged (by
Behind these two monsters is another creature a hit from a weapon or by the magic missile spell),
that resembles a human, but this one is more sav- the ghoul gets mad and attacks the party along
age-looking. Its skin is the purple color of a with the zombies.
bruise, its eyes glow with a yellowish light, its The players need to roll different numbers on
hair is mangy and patchy, and its teeth are inhu- 1d20 for their characters to hit the zombies or the
manly sharp. It is a ghoul, an undead creature of ghoul. The ghoul’s a little tougher than the zom-
deadly power. The touch of its taloned hands or bies are.
bite can paralyze a living creature. • Darkblade needs a 10 or higher to hit the zom-
The ghoul points at you and hisses, “Kill bies, and a 12 or higher to hit the ghoul. If he hits
them! Kill the living intruders!” At his com- with his sword, he does 1d8 damage, and adds 1
mand the zombies shuffle toward you. point for his high strength. If he uses his bow, he
can attack twice in one round, even against differ-
The ghoul in the library is the one responsible for ent targets, and do 1d8 damage, but cannot use it
the missing livestock on the nearby farms, and the in direct combat.
bones scattered around the room are from the • Elanna needs a 11 or higher to hit the zombies,
goats and lambs that it has stolen. The zombies are and a 13 or higher to hit the ghoul. If she uses the
in its service, and it uses them as bodyguards. two-handed sword, she rolls 1d10 to determine
The ghoul does not want to fight, but instead how much damage she does. If she uses her dag-
tries to flee with its treasure. How successful the ger, she rolls 1d4 to determine damage.
ghoul is in getting away depends on how much • Niles needs a 12 or higher to hit the zombies
warning he had before the characters entered the and a 14 or higher to hit the ghoul. He causes 1d6
room. (If they tried to force the door or hack it damage if he uses his short sword, and 1d4 if
down, the ghoul is alerted to their presence.) using his dagger. As a rogue, Niles gets a special
Here’s what the ghoul would prefer to do. As benefit for attacking from behind. If he manages
soon as it realizes that it’s about to be visited by to sneak up behind a zombie, he needs only an 8
the characters, it goes to a shelf along the east wall or higher to hit, and if he gets behind the ghoul, he
and grabs a small chest that contains its “trea- needs a 10 or higher. In addition, he does double
sure.” That takes one round. Then it goes to the damage—multiply the result of his roll by 2.
northeast corner, where there is a secret door cov- • Thaddeus needs a 12 or higher to hit the zom-
ered by a bookcase. That takes another round. It bies and a 14 or higher to hit the ghoul. He causes
takes two more rounds to shove aside the book- 1d6 damage with the quarterstaff. If he casts his
case and open the door. After the ghoul passes magic missile spell, he does 1d4+1 points of dam-
through the secret door into a tunnel that leads to age to the zombie of his choice or to the ghoul (no
the surface, the monster is gone, leaving the zom- attack roll is needed) If he wants to casts his sleep
bies to fight the characters. spell, tell the player running Thaddeus that there
Summarizing, here are the ghoul’s actions, would be no effect—the zombies and ghoul are
round by round: not living things, and aren’t affected by the magic.
1 – is made aware of the heroes outside. The zombies have 9 hit points each, and cause
2 – goes and gets the small chest from the shelf. 1d8 damage when they hit.
3 – goes to secret door. • To hit Darkblade, a zombie needs a 15 or high-
4 – shoves aside the bookcase. er on 1d20.
5 – opens the secret door. • To hit Elanna, a zombie needs a 16 or higher.
6 (or later) – escapes through the tunnel. • To hit Niles, a zombie needs a 12 or higher.
This “schedule” means that if the characters take • To hit Thaddeus, a zombie needs a 9 or higher.
too long bashing in the door, the ghoul is well on The ghoul has 14 hit points and, unlike the zom-
its way to escaping. On the other hand, if the char- bies, can make multiple attacks against the same
acters pick the lock or use the knock spell, they can target. The ghoul tries to hurt the character that
catch the ghoul flatfooted. Where the ghoul is in wounded it, but if it has to fight its way through
the room depends on when the characters enter. If others it will do so. It can attack with both of its
they take a long time to get into the room, they claws, each causing 1d3 points of damage (roll 1d6
find the secret door open and the ghoul standing and divide the result by two), and its bite, which
in front of it. The ghoul tells the zombies to kill causes 1d6 points of damage. However, if it is car-
them, and dashes into the tunnel in the next rying its chest of treasure in one hand, it can only
round. make one claw attack. If the ghoul loses the chest
The ghoul tries to escape, letting its zombies or puts it down, it can use both of its claws.

16 D&D Fast-Play Game

 • To hit Darkblade, the ghoul needs a 15 or high- The chest that the ghoul was guarding contains
er on 1d20. its personal treasure of gems and magical items.
• To hit Elanna, the ghoul needs a 16 or higher. The chest is locked. Niles has a 4 in 10 chance of
• To hit Niles, the ghoul needs a 12 or higher. opening the lock (roll of 4 or less on 1d10), or the
• To hit Thaddeus, the ghoul needs a 9 or higher. knock spell can be used, or the lock can be bashed
The ghoul also has a special ability. Each time it in (one hit from a sword or dagger will do it).
claws or bites an opponent, it has a chance of para- Within the box are the following items:
lyzing that individual. A paralyzed character can’t • 12 black pearls.
fight, move, or talk, so zombies can hit him auto- • A scroll.
matically. This paralysis lasts for 1d6+2 rounds. A • A bottle similar in shape and size to Elanna’s
character can avoid the effects of this paralysis if potion of healing. If a character pulls the cork,
the player makes a successful die roll using 1d20. the liquid inside smells like peppermint.
This roll is called a saving throw. As with combat, • A dagger with symbols carved along the blade
each character has his or her own number to avoid in an unknown language.
the effect of the ghoul’s special ability: • A sack made of blue cloth.
• Darkblade, Elanna, and Thaddeus all need a The characters may play around with the items,
14 or higher to avoid being paralyzed. seeking to figure out what they are, or they can
• Niles needs a 13 or higher to avoid being par- take them back to the Patriarch. The items are
alyzed. explained in the “Wrapping Things Up” section.
If a character makes his saving throw, then the If the characters caught the ghoul by surprise
ghoul’s touch has no effect. A new saving throw and defeated it before it reached the secret door,
must be rolled every time a character is clawed or they might not find the door (unless someone
bitten by the ghoul—avoiding the paralysis once thinks to move the bookshelf aside). If they find
is no guarantee that it won’t happen next time. the secret door, it leads into a narrow, dark tunnel
The characters can choose to let the ghoul escape, that burrows for about 50 feet and finally surfaces
but they won’t get any experience points for defeat- on the far side of the hill from the tower. This tun-
ing it, and they won’t get its treasure. Defeating the nel is how the ghoul made its entry to and from
ghoul is worth 175 XP, which means 44 XP for four his lair. Otherwise the characters can get out of the
characters, 58 XP for three, and 88 for two. ruined tower by backtracking, and then return to
The zombies are worth 65 XP each, so two of the Patriarch with their information.
them are worth 130 XP total. That breaks down to
33 points per character for four characters, 43 Wrapping Things Up
points for three, and 65 XP for two characters.
If the characters are defeated in the dungeon
The room contains no monetary treasure, but
beneath the ruined tower, read the following:
the books are valuable beyond belief to the Patri-
arch. If the characters bring them back to the
Alas! For all your bravery, you failed to discov-
Patriarch (or simply bring news back to the Pa-
er and defeat the secret of the ruined tower. You
triarch of the library’s existence), he gives each of
awaken a day or two later, resting at the church
them 400 gold pieces.
in the Vale. Hunters found and rescued you.
Your wounds are healed, so perhaps it is time
The Ghoul Might Fight! to make another foray into the ruined tower.
The way we’ve set up this adventure, getting
If you want to, you can try the adventure again,
away is more important to the ghoul than seeing
that the characters are defeated—but you, as the either from the very beginning, or with whatever
DM, can have the ghoul act any way you want. changes occurred because of the characters’
With some lucky dice rolls for the ghoul and actions. For example, the corridor may already
some unlucky ones for the characters, the ghoul have the pit in the middle of it, and there may be
might be able to paralyze and defeat all the char- fewer (or more) rats.
acters if it decides to stay around and fight. This If the characters discover some of the secrets of
might be a cruel thing to do to the characters the ruined tower, but then turn back before reach-
(and their players), but it would be a good way ing the ghoul’s lair, read the following:
to show the players how dangerous a monster
like the ghoul can be. (And you can always back You return to the Patriarch and tell him what
up and start the adventure over, or just replay
you have discovered. The old man is very
the scene in the library, if you want to give the
characters another chance.) excited by your news, and believes that there
is greater treasure and knowledge beneath

D&D Fast-Play Game 17

 the ruined pile of stones. He asks if you will the gold and gems is to give every character an
return to finish the job, or if you would pre- equal share. Magical items can be divided up ac-
fer that someone else gets the honor of dis- cording to usefulness—the wizard should get the
covering the secret of the ruined tower. scroll, one of the fighters the potion, the other
fighter the dagger, and the rogue the bag, for
Again, you can run this adventure again, either example. Or, the players can roll dice and the high
from the very beginning, or with the changes that roll gets the first choice.
have happened because of what the characters did Each character has a new XP total now—the
the first time they visited this place. original number plus any XP earned during the
If the characters found the library (whether or adventure. When a character goes over the “Next
not they defeated the ghoul), read the following: Level” number, he or she gains more power, more
hit points, and more abilities.
The Patriarch is extremely pleased with your The number of gold pieces a character has is
discovery of the library beneath the ruined recorded in the “Gold” blank on the character
tower! He believes that it may have belonged sheet. As the game goes on and characters have
to an ancient and powerful wizard, whose more adventures, they can buy things with their
lair has not yet been discovered and whose gold—better weapons and armor, magical scrolls,
treasure still lies out there, waiting for brave and other handy items.
adventurers to find it! Congratulations! Once the treasure is divvied up and the XP and
gold recorded on the sheets, the characters retire
If the characters defeated the ghoul, add this: to the local inn for a fine meal to celebrate their
adventures and brag about their success. They
The Patriarch is happy that you have defeat- might even buy some more equipment in The
ed the ghoul that was plaguing the local Vale. The players can bring these characters back
farms and homesteads. With this menace put to play again, through another adventure, on
to rest, he can turn his attention to other mat- another day.
ters, such as finding the hidden tomb of the
wizard who once ruled the valley. Where Do We Go From Here?
Congratulations! You’ve run your first D&D ad-
As stated above, the Patriarch gives each character
venture. If you’ve had a good time, you might
400 gold pieces to reward them for their discovery
want to know what you can do next.
of the library. If they defeated the ghoul, he gives
Other D&D adventures are for sale at your local
them an additional 100 gold pieces each.
hobby shop or bookstore. For starters, look for
Give the undefeated characters a special story
Wrath of the Minotaur and Eye of the Wyvern.
award of 200 XP for completing the story, even if
If you think you’ve got a handle on playing the
they didn’t actually defeat the ghoul. Remember,
D&D game, you might check out Introduction to
the Patriarch wanted information, so they still
ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. This big box of
accomplished a lot.
game materials gives you more of the nitty-gritty
The Patriarch will gladly identify the magical
of the rules and gets into more detail, while still
items the characters found:
being easy for a new DM and players to follow.
• The pearls are worth 100 gold pieces each.
If you want to leap into the deep end (and admit
• The dagger is made of magically sharpened
it, you really want to), you might want to check
and reinforced metal. It is a dagger+1, which adds
out the ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® hard-
1 point to a character’s attack roll and 1 point to
back rulebooks, also available at many stores.
any damage the attack causes.
These books contain all the information you need
• The scroll contains spells, which a wizard may
to start and play an entire series of adventures.
cast. It has a knock spell, a magic missile spell, and a
To learn more about the D&D game by visiting
lightning bolt spell—which shoots a bolt of light-
the Internet, go to our website at www.tsr.com
ning that causes 6d6 points of damage.
and get a look at everything we’ve got to offer.
• The liquid in the bottle is a potion of extra-heal-
What happens to Darkblade, Elanna, Niles, and
ing, which heals 3d8+3 points of damage, or 1d8 if
Thaddeus? They’ll still be around for the next time
a third of the potion is drunk.
your players want to run them in another adven-
• The bag is bigger on the inside than on the out-
ture. Or your players may want to create their
side. It is a bag of holding, and can hold up to 250
own characters, have their own adventures, and
pounds of stuff while still being easily lifted.
make their own legends.
The players can work out their own ways of
Worlds of Adventure are waiting for you.
dividing up the treasure. The best way to split up

18 D&D Fast-Play Game

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Original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® Design: E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson • Fast-Play Design: Jeff Grubb
Editing: Kim Mohan and Thomas M. Reid • Project Coordination: Bill Slavicsek
Playtesting: Nate Brown, Angela Gaines, Miranda Horner, Sean Horner,
Jeff Quick, Ed Stark, Alexandra Tinsman, and Brian Tinsman
Cover Art: Keith Parkinson • Interior Art: Keith Parkinson and Clyde Caldwell • Cartography: Chris Perkins

ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, AD&D, and the TSR logo are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.
©1998 TSR, Inc. All rights reserved. Made in the U.S.A. TSR, Inc. is a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.