With the release of Adventures of the Dead Lands, DMs now have 14 more adventures - beyond just The Emissary - and another 8 adventure hooks, to use in a Dead Lands-based game.

So with those 15 adventures and assorted adventure seeds, is it possible to construct an entire Dead Lands campaign?

I’ve sat down with the team and come up with a few such ideas which could help DMs looking for some inspiration and an excuse to use this book to its full extent.

Campaign 1 – The Astounding and Unabridged Tales of the Unbound

Themes

The party are a group of undead who have been newly raised within the Dead Lands, much removed from the world they knew. This new world matches nothing they’ve ever known, and the PCs must learn what they can of the Dead Lands and what happened to bring them here, all while serving their new masters in Deshentu’s Necrologium.

If your party are roleplayers, and like to sneak or talk their way through encounters, this campaign will give them ample opportunities to do so.

Adventures series (party starts at level 3)

1. Unbound and Unleashed to start (Level 3)
2. The Bait (Level 4) – if they play this one straight, they could leverage Vassahi and Chuul to help them later
3. Other Body Experiences (Level 5)
4. An Ancient Auction (Level 6)
5. The Secret of Osseous Stadium (from adventure seeds, aimed at Level 7) - Have the PCs discover the giant skeletal monster, maybe guarded by smaller skeletal undead or golems more commensurate with their level.
6. The PCs fall afoul of the Necrologium, likely after the collateral damage they’ve inflicted upon the city with Osseous Stadium.
7. Escape from the Dead Lands (Level 8)
8. Once they escape, the PCs contact Vassahi and Chuul, who guide them to a hideout from which they can adventure in the Tablelands.

Campaign 2 – Raiders of the Lost Dead Thrones

Themes

The PCs are a mercenary company in the employ of one of the southern-facing merchant houses. The campaign starts with them following a contract from a nobleman, but while in the Dead Lands, they keep stumbling upon one compelling artifact after another which forces the party ever deeper into the mysteries of these lands.

This is as close to a classic adventure structure as you’ll find in this campaign list, and it is well suited to treasure hunters.

Adventures series (party starts at level 9)

1. The Debt (Level 9)
2. The Gristler’s Wagon (raised to Level 10) – The PCs see something that looks a little TOO familiar on the road in the Tablelands…
3. Jewel in the Hive (Level 11) – Harkor has heard of the PCs from their previous actions and calls upon them.
4. Banner of the Ancestors (Reduced to Level 12) – The PCs get wind of something dangerous which must be dealt with in the Bone Lands.
5. The Tunnel Beneath (Level 13) – The PCs leave the Dead Lands, finally working their way north. They think they’ve escaped, only to discover trouble has followed them…
6. The Emissary (Level 14)
7. The Key to It All (Level 15) - While in the past, the party discovers an artifact which looks like a claw. It turns out it is, in fact, the Claw of the Dead Lands.
8. The Claw of the Forgotten (from Adventure Seeds, targeted at Level 16) - While they are traveling through Deshentu, the PCs are stopped by a troop of giant skeleton soldiers in Deshenten armor. But rather than fight, they stop to speak to the party…
9. The One Has Risen (reduced to Level 17) – Beryessaa finds the PCs shortly before they return to the Tablelands.

Campaign 3 – “Useful Idiots”

Themes

A murderhobo party stumbles into the Dead Lands more or less by accident, only to discover their “talents” are considered quite prized by at least one powerful patron.

If your players tend to solve problems with axes and fireballs, then this is the perfect campaign for them.

Adventures Series (Party starts at level 9)

1. The Gristler’s Wagon (Level 9), except the PCs fail to escape.
2. Unbound and Unleashed (Agents of Gretch option, Level 10) - The party wakes up as undead in the hands of the Necrologium, with new powers.
3. The Bait (Agents of Gretch option, Level 11) – if they play this one straight, they could leverage Vassahi and Chuul to help them later.
4. Other Body Experiences (Agents of Gretch option, Level 12)
5. Banner of the Ancestors (Level 13) – Gretch sends the party to retrieve the artifact before anyone else can get to it.
6. Gretch sends the PCs to disrupt negotiations between a visitor and Qwith to prevent an alliance he doesn’t want to see happen. Start from Part 3 of The Emissary (Level 14), and adjust the dialogue to indicate that Beryessaa knows the PCs wish to escape and can help them (she has the agenda of these “purified” beings helping the Disciples from the Tablelands).

Campaign 4 – Shaking the World

Themes

A party of seasoned PCs have many run-ins with powerful entities, getting involved in the intrigues between the various power players of the Tablelands, the Kreen Empire, and the Dead Lands.

This is a good campaign for experienced players who like the idea of shaking up the campaign setting.

Adventures Series (Party starts at Level 12)

1. A Fool’s Errand of the Tohr-Kreen (Level 12)
2. Jewel in the Hive (adjusted to Level 13) - while the party is on their way out of the Dead Lands, they receive a message from Harkor…
3. Run most of The Emissary (Level 14) up through the section entitled “Flight Over the Blackglass”, stopping just before they reach Tectuktitlay’s Stair.
4. The Key to It All (Level 15) - With Qwith’s forces hot on their heels, the PCs must find a way to escape her wrath. Searching for a way of leaving the Dead Lands, the PCs instead discover the Ring of Memory (possibly on the way out of Qwith’s Palace, possibly while on the run). And after talking to some of their Dead Lands contacts, the PCs decide to head straight for the Fouled Sea instead; they now have the ability to search in the past for leverage to use against Qwith.
5. Open Heart Surgery (from Adventure Seeds, aimed for Level 16) – while in the past, the PCs interacted with Negchar at some point or otherwise. They know how to find his hiding place when they return to the present, and are perhaps encouraged to come find him by something Negchar says in the past. But when they do so, they discover he’s doing something very rash…
6. A Mother’s Plea (Level 17)
7. The One Has Risen (Level 18)
8. Qwith and the Lens (from Adventure Seeds, Level 19) – The party faces down Qwith’s army and talks them out of marching on the Tablelands. If they played their cards right in The Key to it All, this should actually be possible…