Six Faces of Death D&D Adventure
I’ve been doing a lot of roleplaying lately, and I wanted to announce the release of something I’m very excited about… my latest full-length “official” D&D adventure with original illustrated maps, available in Dragon+ issue 21, Six Faces of Death!!
My first D&D adventure for Wizards was The Barber of Silverymoon in Dragon+ issue 12 back in 2017. Inbetween working on a variety of other projects (which I’ll post about soon!) I finished “Six Faces of Death” this Summer. “Six Faces of Death” is a horror-ish (or, as the Wizards blurb calls it, dark fantasy) D&D adventure for adventurers of 11th to 13th level, featuring monsters from “Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes,” just as “Barber of Silverymoon” featured critters from “Volo’s Guide to Monsters.” The creatures in “Mordenkainen,” however, are much nastier, which inspired a much more gruesome (and bigger) adventure.
If you play D&D or similar games and like my artwork, please check it out! My own taste for this adventure is to run it deadly with minimal help or effective communication from the various NPCs, but if you want a less harsh game you can play up the NPCs’ goofy personalities and have the talking monsters initiate conversation with the PCs rather than simply slaughtering them as soon as they go in the water/turn their backs on them/show weakness/etc. Players: be cautious when your ship approaches the mysterious waters of Changing Island! Dungeon Masters: if you like weird fiendish imagery, interparty paranoia and describing gross objects, this is the adventure for you.
Here’s my “Six Faces of Death” playlist, which hits most of the mood beats I picture for the game, with a slight bias towards clubby pop music:
SIX FACES OF DEATH: THE SOUNDTRACK
1. Toward the Island: XTC, “Runaways”
2. On the Island: Tom Waits, “What’s He Building in There?”
3. Into the Island: Goblin, “Fright”, Alien Contamination score
4. Bunch/Avnas Theme: Danny Elfman, Beetlejuice Theme
5. Malika Tahoun Theme: Genesis, “Here Comes the Supernatural Anesthetist,” The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
6. Vargo Theme: N.E.R.D., “Lapdance”
7. Rising Action: The Weeknd/Daft Punk, “I Feel it Coming”
8. The Archquadrones: Pink Floyd, “Run Like Hell”
9. The Archquadrones, Part II: Huey Lewis and the News, “It’s Hip to Be Square”
10. Climax (The Heart): Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future, “D’bo’s Theme”
11. Dénouement: Rocky Horror Picture Show, “Superheroes”
Many thanks to my editors, Bart Carroll and Scott Fitzgerald Gray, who polished and improved the final product, and to my <3 Jumana Al Hashal for color assist. If you play the adventure, comment or Tweet to me and let me know how it goes!
Prepping the adventure to run as soon as the new PHB releases for my normal DM and other players in group, and loving it so far. Trying to make sure i fully understand all of the surfaces before going too deep on the interior, i’ve drawing out the cube on iso-paper, and i just found a discrepancy. Area 3.2 says it leads to 5.2, but 5.2 only leads to 6.6 and then on to 6.42. Was this supposed to be a 4-way junction or am i missing something?
Hi Sean! I hope you get this message, I’m so sorry about the delay! The truth is I just messed up the map and didn’t realize it until you and others pointed it out. I need to take another look at the cube and figure out where the tubes should connect, but I have just been so busy with other stuff I haven’t found time. I’ll try to get to it sometime in the next few days.