Rune Foundry
Tallwood: A Murder Mystery
Tallwood: A Murder Mystery
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“Can we go see the show?” a teenage boy begs his mother as she sweeps the tavern. A curious group of individuals have just entered and claim they are part of the Merry Entertainment Roaming Company. As they glance over to the mother, she nervously grabs her boy’s wrist and pulls him into a vacant room. A pale elf steps in front of the entertainer and says enthusiastically to the other guests in the tavern, “Now of course! We could all use a chance to relax from these recent grisly murders.” He turns to the entertainers, “I hope you won’t disappoint.” The M.E.R.C. feels shivers run down their spines either in anticipation of their first event, or fear of what those murders might mean.
OBJECTIVE
All in need of money, players have each been invited to work for the Merry Entertainment Roaming Co. (M.E.R.C.) through a mysterious unexpected letter sent without a return address. They are to meet one another in the humble logging town of Tallwood at the Fallen Oak Tavern. The town seems excitedly surprised by their arrival, but the news of multiple recent murders weighs heavily on them. The letter to each of them ends with “Entertaining won’t of course be your only objective. Help the town and you’ll be rewarded kindly. A Stranger.”
INFORMATION
A mix of creative fun and intriguing mystery, this DnD one shot adventure is intended for a level-1 party of four players and perfect for new players, but can be adjusted to fit groups of a higher level. This murder mystery is meant to be paired with the M.E.R.C. pre-generated character pack, but can be enjoyed separately.
Both the pre-generated characters and this adventure are great to introduce new players to the fun of Dungeons & Dragons!
This premium one shot adventure includes 10 pages of the following features:
- engaging murder mystery
- separate endings based on success or failure
- custom stat block for murderer
- skill checks with variable outcomes
Enjoy this DnD murder mystery, compatible with 5e! Add to cart and when you check out, the one shot PDF will be sent to the email address that you provide.
See all our DnD one shot adventures →
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We appreciate your support of our small business so that we can keep creating content! This DnD murder mystery one shot starts off at just $5, but we greatly appreciate any extra gold coins you can provide. It’s well worth the fun you will have with your adventuring party!
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Written by Rune Foundry as unofficial content with no affiliation with Wizards of the Coast. We pride ourselves on creating exciting content worthy of adventurers!
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ASK RUNE FOUNDRY
What is a one-shot adventure?
A one-shot adventure for a tabletop roleplaying game such as Dungeons & Dragons is content intended to be completed by the group within a single session.
This contrasts with a regular campaign which typically lasts at least several sessions to complete the story.
Multiple one-shots can be linked together to create a campaign.
Can a new Dungeon Master use this content?
All Rune Foundry content is intended to be simple enough for new DMs, yet interesting and useful for experienced DMs as well.
Feel free to reach out to hello@runefoundry.com with any questions!
Are these really free?
Yes! We hope you'll enjoy this free downloadable content written by Rune Foundry.
We would appreciate you taking a look around the rest of Rune Foundry to see if one of our high-quality dice sets or other products might be worthy of your dollars.
How will I receive the content?
Add the content of your choice to your shopping cart. After checking out, you may download immediately from the order confirmation page.
You will also be sent an email to the address you provide with a download link.
Is this official D&D content?
No. While this content is compatible with D&D 5e, Rune Foundry has no affiliation with Dungeons & Dragons or Wizards of the Coast. Everything is published under the rights of the Open Game License.
I played this with a group of three who had never played before and I had also never played or DM'd before. We had an amazing time. There was enough information for me to feel really prepared and build a fun adventure for them, and the premade characters were a hit and made it easy for the new players to jump right in. It's not the craziest story or the most intense dnd session ever, but it was enough for all of us to fall in love with the game and decide we want to run a longer campaign.
My players loved it, they got pretty engaged with the characters and had a lot of fun delving into the mystery at hand — It was an amazing idea to do this for a Halloween themed oneshot, and the writers at Rune Foundey killed it with this one.
I was looking for a murder mystery and really enjoyed the way this was adapted for the open nature of D&D, didn’t feel too railroad-y. Played with two different groups and both had surprisingly similar outcomes where they suspected one person at the end but felt stressed about making the accusation! It was hilarious and fun for all.
Also, the entertainment portions with M.E.R.C. really kept this light-hearted and enjoyable throughout! Well done. I’ll write a review for the character pack too and look forward to more!
I've run this adventure several times jow and it's never ended the same it's prlerfect for a brand new DM and I think can be adapted in many ways, because it comes with a character pack this is also perfect for people who have never played DnD before and I have used this to teach quite a few people how to play DnD well done to the makers and creators
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