The Ruined Tower of Zenopus (5e)
Now with an illustration by CHRIS HOLMES and a PRINTER-FRIENDLY DUNGEON MAP! THE RUINED TOWER OF ZENOPUS is a fifth edition (5E) conversion of the ground-breaking introductory adventure for Dungeons & Dragons that served as a DM aid in the first D&D Basic Set ¸ released by TSR in 1977. This set included a 48-page rulebook covering the first three levels of play¸ and was skillfully edited by Dr. J. Eric Holmes from the original 1974 D&D rules written by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Holmes advanced the "Sample Dungeon" concept by writing a new thematic dungeon with a strong backstory¸ creating an adventure that has remained a fan favorite over the decades. Officially¸ its only title is "Sample Dungeon" but colloquially it goes by various names based on Zenopus¸ the doomed wizard who built the dungeon under his tower. An adventure for 1st to 2nd level characters; four pregenerated characters are included. Also includes ideas for using it as an adventure site in Gho sts of Saltmarsh. NOTE: Using this conversion requires a copy of the original dungeon found in the (1977) Basic D&D rulebook. However¸ Wizards of the Coast has provided a free pdf of this dungeon since 2008 on their website¸ see the first page of the pdf for the link. CONTENTS: Introduction¸ page 2 The Setting¸ page 3 About the Dungeon¸ page 4 Dungeon Master's Map¸ page 5 Areas of the Dungeon¸ pages 6-13 Appendix A: Further Reading¸ page 13 Appendix B: Dungeon Factions¸ page 14 Appendix C: Portown Rumors¸ pages 15-17 Appendix D: Use with Ghosts of Saltmarsh¸ pages 18-19 Appendix E: Pre-generated 1st level characters¸ page 20 Includes the following new monsters¸ NPCs¸ and Magic Items for 5E: Cleaning Cube¸ Veteran Smuggler¸ Thaumaturgist¸ Monstrous Sand Crab¸ Lemunda¸ Monstrous Rat¸ Brazen Head of Zenopus¸ Verminslayer Longsword¸ Lesser Wand of Petrification¸ Scroll of Stone to Flesh NOVEMBER 2020 UPDATE: The PDF file has been updated to Version 2.0. There two main changes¸ each an addition: (1) A new full-page illustration by Chris Holmes (son of J. Eric Holmes)¸ and (2) a Printer-Friendly DM's map¸ rendered with the application Gridmapper. This map is similar to the one shown below¸ but without the black background¸ and with the lettering redone to improve legibility. JUNE 2020 UPDATE: The Ruined Tower of Zenopus was featured as part of the "D&D Classics" column in Issue #32 of Dragon+ magazine! Go to dragonmag.com or find the link on the Wikipeda page for Dragon magazine. MAY 2020 UPDATE: This now includes two separate map files (png images) drawn with Gridmapper. One is a DM's Map with the room letters shown. The other is a Player's Map with the room letters removed. Each is very large (8400 pixels by 8190) in order to optimize them for use in a VTT (particularly Roll20). They are also printable but may use a lot of ink or toner for the black background. I hope to add a print-friendly verison in the future CREDITS: Original Dungeon: J. Eric Holmes Conversion¸ Added Content & Cartography: Zach Howard Content Review & Editing: Scott McKinley Interior Art: Chris Holmes ("Octopus Attack"¸ page 9) Cover Art: "Italian Coast Scene with Ruined Tower" by Thomas Cole¸ 1838. Open Access Image from the National Gallery of Art at images.nga.gov Format: Derived from the "Adventure Template for Open Office/LibreOffice" by Dale Robbins on DMs Guild Dungeon Maps drawn using the application Gridmapper by Alex Schroeder