Looking for a "Low Combat" Adventure

[Madcrafter]

I'm looking for a good adventure module that either doesn't have much in the way of combat, or preferably, has the majority of combat be avoidable through general smart thinking and judicious use of skill. Oh and hopefully they'll be a small town for the PCs to rest up in during the adventure. Otherwise anything goes, no specific level, length or anything like that.

Any playgrounders have some ideas? If not, you can just name some published module you enjoyed.

[ArcturusV]

I can't really think of one off the top of my head. I would hazard a guess that you might want to look towards Ravenloft. Since it's themes are horror, you don't really want to go charging off into the darkness to fight whatever is lurking there.

Least if your DM is "Doing it right".

Most of my experience with Low Combat adventures is that they are just... really bad. Like one of the Star Trek RPGs (I think it was FASA... been a few decades since I played it) had a few "Low Combat" adventures that were basically just a long story. There was no real interaction with it, the entire adventure was basically just the DM telling you what happened in circumstances outside your ability to control.

The other bet you have is to go really, really old school with the adventures. Look towards something like Keep on the Borderlands or the like. While designed so you can go and kick in the doors... er... cave entrances, and kill stuff. It's sandboxy enough that it isn't really the only way to handle the problem if the DM allows players to be creative.

But finding old school adventures which were more about the Adventure and Exploration than necessarily killing and looting might be the way to go.

[t'zran]

theres a good adventure in the wotC 3.5 archives called something like "a dark and stormy night". It's basically a murder mystery, shouldn't have too much combat.

[Madcrafter]

But finding old school adventures which were more about the Adventure and Exploration than necessarily killing and looting might be the way to go.

Yeah, that is what I was thinking. I have been looking through the stuff I have, but most of it is fairly linear dungeon crawl, where the combat is unavoidable.

Ravenloft isn't a bad idea, though I'm a little wary about it's deadliness.

And t'zran, A Dark and Stormy Knight is a tomb crawl, not a murder mystery.

[Toy Killer]

Look up the Nancy Drew Games on Steam. Refluff it to fit a D&D world.

Why make the mystery up yourself when there are in the upwards of 30 mysteries already set up in an underplayed game series?

If you find the names of one, just look up a friendly how-to guide and viola! instant adventure, without the bloodstains.

[Madcrafter]

Look up the Nancy Drew Games on Steam. Refluff it to fit a D&D world.

Why make the mystery up yourself when there are in the upwards of 30 mysteries already set up in an underplayed game series?

If you find the names of one, just look up a friendly how-to guide and viola! instant adventure, without the bloodstains.

Hah, my sister once played those games long ago, not a bad idea. I would have to throw in some potential combat knowing the players' tendencies, but the idea is to make basically all of it the result of bad decisions, since the danger of fighting will be upped a fair bit (and recovery times etc). I'll look into it and see if some are easy enough to modify.