Close
Close
Advanced Search

DDAL00-03 Those That Came BeforeClick to magnify
Full‑size Preview
https://watermark.dmsguild.com/pdf_previews/230030-sample.pdf

DDAL00-03 Those That Came Before

ADD TO WISHLIST >

All of the scribes in Candlekeep are reporting eerie dreams, dreams in which the flying citadels of Ancient Netheril remain aloft among the clouds, with the modern skylines of Neverwinter and Waterdeep far below. These hazy visions all end the same way: with tremendous calamity as those fortresses smash down upon the defenseless metropolises. What aid can be enlisted when such doom is on the horizon?

A 4-Hour Adventure for 11th – 16th, or 17th – 20th Level Characters

I have other DM's Guild offerings, as well:

Feedback is always welcome - please leave your thoughts here, on enworld, or contact me directly at warfteiner@hotmail.com or on Twitter (@warfteiner).

This adventure's code was originally DDAO-11 - part of the "Author Only" program. Due to it's presence, I was able to attend dozens of gamedays, retail locations, and conventions across the United States. I ran nearly 100 tables of just this one adventure (never mind the dozens of other adventures for my regular local group and other adventures upon organizer request), and in the course of doing so met an unbelievable number of AWESOME players, DMs, and organizers.

As with the the previous adventure (Window to the Past), I ran this nearly 100 times at dozens of public play events, conventions, and stores all over the US. A lot of great gamers helped build the product that you now see! Unlike Window, though, the map and several encounters had to change prior to general release due to many behind-the-scenes reasons (not the least of which is that some of them just didn't work when translated from my brainmeat to paper).

Please note that the full, hi-res map for a big chunk of this adventure is not included - but it can be acquired from the cartographer here.

Happy gaming, folks, and let those dice roll!

When this adventure reaches copper metal status, I will begin the process of having a Fantasy Grounds conversion created. At silver medal, I will add two new handouts (which are currently relegated to boxed text). At medals beyond... we'll see!

UPDATES:

2017.12.30 - we're copper! I'll be sending this file out for Fantasy Grounds mod file creation soon. Added some small adjustments to the adventure mechanics, changed the cover glyph to Kyuss' gloriously wormy face, and added the second map as a dedicated download

2018.01.01 - we're silver! I'll be working with an artist for a scenic handout (for use early in the adventure) and will be converting some boxed from the end of the adventure to a handout as well

2018.01.06 - added Fantasy Grounds mod file

- Alan

pixel_trans.gif
 
 More from this Title's Contributors
pixel_trans.gif
 
 Customers Who Bought this Title also Purchased
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif
Reviews (15)
Discussions (13)
Customer avatar
George H April 02, 2020 1:29 am UTC
PURCHASER
Has the 3rd adventure in this series been released? Oh, wait! There it is! DDAL00-10 Trust and Understanding! YAY and Thank you!
Reply
Customer avatar
Ryan F April 02, 2020 1:33 am UTC
PURCHASER
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/285124/DDAL0010-Trust-and-Understanding?term=Trust
Reply
Customer avatar
Alan P April 08, 2020 7:27 pm UTC
CREATOR
Yeah - Ryan's got the link! :)
Customer avatar
Timothy C February 07, 2020 5:21 am UTC
While I enjoyed the premise and the lore behind the adventure immensely, the actual playthrough was a slog. Why do you hate casters so much? My wizard watched his spells fizzle right and left until the anti-magic field took effect, leaving him hiding in a corner for the entire final battle. Given how much a trip to Candlekeep and ancient Netherese cities should be catnip for arcanists, it's odd to then have their primary class feature crippled for the entire session.
Customer avatar
George H May 28, 2019 10:23 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Still not finding the final installment on this adventure. This is almost June so what's the word, please?
Customer avatar
George H March 04, 2019 3:25 am UTC
PURCHASER
I'm preparing to run the 2nd of the series (already ran Window to the Past) but still don't see the 3rd adventure. It was said to be out in January but this is March 2019. I know it depends on family stuff and such, but even if it's a preliminary copy, it would be good to help us prepare for it.
Thanks!
Customer avatar
Nathan H February 22, 2019 6:39 am UTC
Any word on the third piece of this set? Most recent comments mentioned January 5th 2019, but I still can't find it on here. Thanks!
Customer avatar
Michael S June 16, 2018 3:11 am UTC
PURCHASER
Just was prepping this for this weekend and as I only needed one wand I cut the bottom one off the cert page and as I was reading it for obvious fun flavour and thought a warm grey plush robe was weird for a wand. Then read the ones above it and ohhh its just the third cert that has the robe text.
Customer avatar
Colby S May 15, 2018 7:31 pm UTC
PURCHASER
What a great adventure! This and "Window to the Past" are two of my favorites I've seen. Do you have any plans to release the third in the series to the public?
Reply
Customer avatar
Alan P May 16, 2018 1:03 am UTC
CREATOR
Thanks! I do have plans, yes; in fact I just paid my cover artist for their work on it.

It's tentatively slotted for some time between Christmas 2018 and January 5, 2019. Just depends on family schedules and other releases.
Customer avatar
Brian T May 12, 2018 5:39 am UTC
There is a lot to love about this adventure. Great lore that is overlooked in most other adventures. Candlekeep is heavily featured, which is great, because everyone in Faerun should have at least heard of a building called Candlekeep. I ran it at D8 Summit this month. Unfortunately, I ran it with two paladins which buried the suspense a bit.
Reply
Customer avatar
Alan P May 16, 2018 1:03 am UTC
CREATOR
yeah, multiple paladins can put the hurt on it for sure. SAVING THROWS FOR DAAAAAAAYS!

Glad you liked it, though :)
Customer avatar
Aaron M March 25, 2018 2:57 am UTC
Is this already in FG format? That's cool if it is!
Reply
Customer avatar
Ryan F March 29, 2018 4:59 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Yes.
Customer avatar
Rob T February 03, 2018 6:26 pm UTC
Alan, you should set the file type to "Multiple" now that you've added the FG mod. :)
Customer avatar
Wrich P January 16, 2018 3:24 am UTC
PURCHASER
This is an important mod for several reasons.

1) It further expands Candlekeep as a point of learning and lore.
2) It gives the players a connection to an Ally who has been an enemy to the Realm's major villain for thousands of years.
3) It sets up a conflict which you will see reflected in the tier 3 and tier 4 mods for season 7 (or that is t least my guess) and one which is far more ranging than any we have seen in prior events.

The mod is well laid out, and it gives the DM hints on how to make things seem incredibly dangerous for a tier 4 mod party- I can not say enough on how important that is. Players at this level are typically going to toast most monsters, so the DM adding a sense of tension and fear is something they actually MISS.

The mod is fun, has substantial rewards, and will keep your players both paranoid and engaged.
Customer avatar
Donald M December 30, 2017 8:58 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Page 12 with the Statue - First Chest and Fifth Chest are the same effect?
Reply
Customer avatar
Alan P January 10, 2018 3:12 pm UTC
CREATOR
This is resolved in the most recent copy (both the adventure and the FG mod file)
Customer avatar
Alexis G December 30, 2017 3:39 pm UTC
PURCHASER
It'll probably be a while until I get to DM this, but just reading now so here's a few thoughts. Really looking forward to this, "Window..." is one of my fave modules to have played.

I noticed a typo? P9 in the text box "as much" is repeated twice. Maybe the first is supposed to be "about?"

A Question for the Paladin's Smite: is that 4d10 if living, or just 1d10? Not clear if it's just the one die being bumped up, or replacing the whole thing.

p24,26, 27, 29 Scaling tier level range is wrong for T4 (I shake my fist at you, placeholders!)
p28 Adjusting... is this adjustment needed, or for a strong party, or for T4? The context for adjustment isn't clear.
Reply
Customer avatar
Alan P December 30, 2017 7:50 pm UTC
CREATOR
Thanks for the input, and I'm glad you liked Window!

Good catch on p9. I've been looking at some boneheaded things and this was on the list.

For the smite, the base damage is 3d10 and it gains bonus damage of +1d8 (increasing to +1d10 instead if the target is a living creature) per hit die that it spends, as it does not have spell slots to spend. So, if the creature hits a living target and smites, it deals 3d10 radiant damage to start with and can inflict +1d10 additional per hit die that it spends. I've adjusted the text to clarify this a bit.

Yeah, I was trying some automatic template shenaniganery and it seems to have a hate for those scaling boxes. Resolved!

p28 - These are required adjustments and are not based on tier. This beast is scary.

---
Thanks for the insight - happy gaming!
Browse Categories
$ to $
 Follow Your Favorites!
NotificationsSign in to get custom notifications of new products!















Product Information
Platinum seller
Community Content
Author(s)
Artist(s)
Rules Edition(s)
Pages
37
Format
Original electronic Click for more information
Scanned image
These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.

For PDF download editions, each page has been run through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to attempt to decipher the printed text. The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.

For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high. It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. The text is fine for reading, but illustration work starts to run dark, pixellating and/or losing shades of grey. Moiré patterns may develop in photos. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive.
pixel_trans.gif
Original electronic format
These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format. Both download and print editions of such books should be high quality.
File Last Updated:
January 06, 2018
This title was added to our catalog on December 29, 2017.