Undead oriented one-offs

[grimbold]

So I'm DMing a new group of D&D players, most of whom are new to the game or have very little experience. The party just hit 2nd level after a little adventure I made to make them all meet each other. My idea was to run a few one offs before starting the main campaign because I want the players to get a a good sense of the game first and wanted to know the players a bit before we really get into it. (Also I don't have the campaign written)

However I do know that the campaign will probably be undead oriented as many of the players have backstories where they dislike undead, or have it as their favored enemy or whatnot. Suffice to say, these guys wanna slaughter some zombies.

To get us into the mood for this undead campaign I was looking for some good one off adventures that would get the party used to fighting this kind of enemy.

So, does anyone have any nice premade undead based one off adventures for a group of 5-6 low level characters? (Not everyone can make every session)
Classes are Druid, Cleric, Sorceror, Barbarian, Rogue, Ranger

Thanks in advance

[grimbold]

a bump for the loneliest thread :smallwink:

[Captnq]

HERE (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=311168). Torture them with this.

[Darrin]

From the WotC archives:

The Burning Plague. (http://hawkclan.com/DND/modules/1%20The%20Burning%20Plague/) (1st level, has a couple handfuls of zombies.)

A Dark and Stormy Knight. (http://hawkclan.com/DND/modules/1%20dark%20and%20stormy%20knight/) (1st level, only one zombie as a "boss fight".)

Frozen Whispers. (http://hawkclan.com/DND/modules/3%20Frozen%20Whispers/Frozen_Whispers.pdf) (3rd level, one wendigo.)

I've never played any of these, so I have no idea if they are any good or utter dreck.

[Gadora]

From the WotC archives:

The Burning Plague. (http://hawkclan.com/DND/modules/1%20The%20Burning%20Plague/) (1st level, has a couple handfuls of zombies.)

A Dark and Stormy Knight. (http://hawkclan.com/DND/modules/1%20dark%20and%20stormy%20knight/) (1st level, only one zombie as a "boss fight".)

Frozen Whispers. (http://hawkclan.com/DND/modules/3%20Frozen%20Whispers/Frozen_Whispers.pdf) (3rd level, one wendigo.)

I've never played any of these, so I have no idea if they are any good or utter dreck.
Burning Plague seems to expect a lot from first level characters, as I recall.

A Dark and Stormy Knight is a pretty decent dungeon crawl.

If I remember correctly, the wendigo is actually a fey. I seem to remember that was a pretty fun one to play in, too.

[Egopunk]

If you end up throwing stuff together, table 6-1 in Libris Mortis is your best friend. Undead listed by CR including 13 at CR3 or below. A Slaymate would be excellent for causing the characters emotional anguish:

"Yes, it's undead so I must kill it... it's also a pathetic child who died from neglect..."

Mix the above selection with the (less flavourful) skeletons and zombies from MM1 in a haunted mansion kind of set up for some good fun. Raiment and Skin Kite make good things for jump scares, and a Bone Rat Swarm would be good for teaching the new players how a powerful and scary opponent can be dispatched easily with the correct methods (counts as only 2HD for turning, takes full damage from slashing weapons, -10 on saving throws or double damage vs AOE, etc). Perhaps have the example ghost brute hound be the source of the disturbances from it's kennel behind the house and have them collect the remains of the family members (a Skin Kite for the grandmother, a Slaymate for the daughter, an Elf Skeleton for the mother and Human Zombie for the father) and bury them near by to lay the spirit to rest and lift the curse from the mansion.

[grimbold]

thank you so much guys! How do I acces the WOTC archives though? I thought they were removed from the site?

If anyone else has a good undead one off then they are much welcome!

[Gadora]

thank you so much guys! How do I acces the WOTC archives though? I thought they were removed from the site?

If anyone else has a good undead one off then they are much welcome!

archive.org (http://archive.org) is a fantastic site for getting access to old websites.

[Maginomicon]

If you want to (or end up having to) throw something together on your own, remember that zombies and a few other undead are described as formerly being some kind of living creature. While the existing undead options may be somewhat lackluster for that purpose, I've located a number of template options (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=312970) that would serve the purpose of replacing the original monster with the template (for example, a wight stops being just one creature and instead becomes a "_____ wight" for extra nastiness).

[grimbold]

If you want to (or end up having to) throw something together on your own, remember that zombies and a few other undead are described as formerly being some kind of living creature. While the existing undead options may be somewhat lackluster for that purpose, I've located a number of template options (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=312970) that would serve the purpose of replacing the original monster with the template (for example, a wight stops being just one creature and instead becomes a "_____ wight" for extra nastiness).

ooh that is very helpful
i have actually been replacing a lot of creatures with zombies of the relevant type, these templates help to keep things interesting!

Also, what if I made a rule where if players got bit they become infected?

[DonEsteban]

I liked An Icy Grave (http://www.rpgarchive.com/index.php?page=adv1&advid=479)

The Wizard's Amulet by Necromancer Games was decent enough. The company is out of business, but you should still be able to hunt it down.

The WotC adventures where okay, but generally nothing special. I wonder if it would be legal to share them (being free in the first place).

See also: Uniquely Undead (http://rpgcharacters.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/labyrinth-lord-uniquely-undead/)

As a general note: Make sure that the party rogue has something to do. Give him some special gear, feat and/or make sure there are (almost) always a few non-undead enemies or he may get frustrated soon when his (second?) most important class-feature is always useless.