Image credit, https://dungeonsanddragonsfan.com/new-dnd-black-dragon/
3/17/2025
This is part two in the series where I take the main idea of the 5e campaign Tyranny of Dragons (an international cult attempts to summon Tiamat and control her by using dragon masks and what not) and turn it into a large OSR campaign.
At this point I’d like to point out that we’re no longer doing dragon masks (too derivative), but instead dragon talismans, more on that later.
Here’s the first part if you haven’t read it so far:
The Queen of Dragons: Part I – The Overview
Why are we starting with the Black Dragon?
As we all know, Black Dragons dwell in swamps so you might ask “why are we starting there?” Well, here’s my logic:
- Red Dragons are canonically the most powerful and live in the mountains, if we let the talisman that the Cult starts with be the Red Dragon Talisman, then they can have an epic mountain fortress that can later be assailed by our heroes and their dragon allies
- Green Dragons, living in forests, are the natural next step, but Green Dragons in 4th Ed and some other places don’t just have chlorine gas as their breath weapon, but hallucinatory gas. That’s awesome! There’s so many dramatic story beats we can do with those! Let’s save that for a later dragon
- Black Dragons live in swamps, and I’d say swamps are the third most common biome in D&D (forests at #1, mountains at #2) so they naturally become the focus of the adventure
So, now that we know why, how are we starting with a Black Dragon?
A Little Backstory on the Dragon Talismans
In ancient pre-history, sorcerer-kings slew and bound the souls of the first-born dragon’s of each color to Talisman’s depicting the progenerator dragon’s head. Wearing the talisman allows you to perfectly command dragon’s of that color.
An ancient cult of dragons, with assistance from dragons of the age, overthrew these sorcerer-kings and (unable to destroy the talismans) buried them deep in temples to the Tiakkad, the Queen-Mother and Goddess of Dragons. Each temple was cared for by the cult and protected by an ancient dragon. But even ancient dragons die, and as the movements of politics and faith waxed and waned, so to did the cult, and some dragon guardian’s heirs did not recognize the importance of their service.
That’s right, the Cult of the Dragon is now a two-part entity: the Order of Tiakkad (who want to use the talismans to summon and control Tiakkad and control the world), and the Order of Broken Chains (who seek to make sure she is never summoned and that all the dragon’s remain free from her dominion). In my opinions, two cults at war with each other is a super fun idea for a plot.
Now, nearly 10,000 years later, things are in disarray. These temples, already built to be defensible, are buried by churning earth and erosion. Their whereabouts, except for the Red Dragon Temple which has already been sacked, have been lost to the ages. Some lack dragon guardians, but the few that still have them have lost their way and devolved into the modern versions of dragons.
The Black Dragon Temple and the Barony of Muckatee
Half-a-century ago, the black dragon temple’s protector was slain by St. Tristan the Dragon Slayer, a noble knight-paladin trying to rid the land of evil (he was mortally wounded in the conflict). The temple was built in what is now a swamp, and so has greatly sunk beneath the surrounding myre, called the Acid Swamp of Moore, along with the treasures hoarded by its dragon.
The nearby fortress-town of Tristan, renamed after the hero, and the seat of the Barony of Muckatee, has been besieged by threats from the swamp. The death of the dragon has allowed the swamp’s monsterous inhabitants (lizardfolk, and other swamp dwelling monsters) to grow out of the control, and now they are fighting each other and the Baron’s forces.
No one knows that the dragon St. Tristan slew was the guardian dragon of the black dragon temple, however, both the Order of Tiakkad and the Order of Broken Chains have sent agents to investigate. They both have members of Baron Muckatee’s court in their pockets, and as the players reveal their prowess in dealing with the swamp’s threats, they’ll begin to influence their actions.
Rough Map of the Barony
Each of the colored hexes we’re going to into more detail for in different posts, but this is the gist of it. The uncolored hexes will have like, one or two landmarks but that’s about it.
The main fortress-town of Tristan is going to have a lot of internal politics to deal with, and agents on varying sides of the conflict (including those who just want what’s best for the Barony). The Baron sent some of his knights to assist in the defense of Slogwallow and build up its defenses, but they haven’t reported back and if the Baron sends anymore men then Tristan will be indefensible. Likewise, he has not heard from Dwegmyre in a while, and his fishermen complain of a multi-headed monster roaming Lake Lorilei.
Dwegmyre is dealing with Frogmen to the north and a hydra, recently awakened by the Lizardfolk, that is assailing them from Lake Lorelei. What they lack in gold they make up for in knowledge, because Dwegmyre is built atop an outpost of the dragon-temple. They have a wizard there who knows stuff about the Dragon Temple, but needs the hydra dealt with first. It keeps chasing him because he (and a group of now dead adventurers) one of its eggs, so he can’t leave the town or else he’ll be hunted and killed.
Slogwallow has some injured knights, and a handful that are missing entirely. They followed will-o-wisps into the swamp and were taken away to another realm. Getting them back could give them the manpower they need to deal with the Lizardfolk threat which is probing the town every few days. The Hag Coven is also suspected in the disappearances currently effecting the town, however the coven has historically been seen as an asset to the town, providing magics and potions in return for devilish deals and soul pacts (basic hag stuff).
The Lizardfolk want to siege and conquer Tristan. They are lead by a shaman who awoke an ancient hydra that slept in ruins beneath Lake Lorilei. The goal is that the hydra will assault from the south while the Lizardfolk take the north, but the hydra is caught up dealing with Dwegmyre. The Lizardfolk Warleader is growing impatient and thinks that with their vast numbers and strategy they can take Tristan, if only they can crush the garrison at Slogwallow first.
The Frogmen are harrying the roads and Dwegmyre because they want to feel important. They’ve been bullied by the humans and the Lizardfolk forever and want to be in charge for once. They are currently trying to breed a froghemoth using forbidden magic which they will soon send to destroy Dwegmyre, and then the Lizardfolk to the north. They used to have a truce with Dwegmyre, but this was recently broken by an adventuring party (the only remaining is their wizard whose stuck in Dwegmyre). They are open to resolving this conflict so that they may instead pursue the Lizardfolk.
The three hags of the Hag Coven have recently had a falling out, and so they’ve been stealing away people from Slogwallow and the other towns using will-o’-wisps and turning them into gremlins to use as weapons against one another. The missing knights from Slogwallow cannot be helped in this regard (they’re already converted), but the magic items gained from raiding the hag’s very well may tip the balance in Slogwallow’s favor. Whoever comes out on top will then return to their life of serving as the Barony’s devilish dealmaker, or side with one of the other factions against the Baron (should the Baron seem like he’s losing).
Format Going Forward
This seems like a zine-sized adventure. Each faction/town (their hex included) will get its own two-page spread of info. Tristan will have an additional spread of politics and agents in the town.
The following will be dungeons/adventure sites:
- The Hydra’s Nest beneath Lake Lorilei
- The Lizardfolk’s Encampment (flooded castle ruins)
- The Frogmen’s Encampment (flooded temple ruins)
- The Hag Grottos (weird stuff there)
- The Black Dragon Temple (which will be partially flooded but still three levels deep, full of undead cultist defenders, cool traps, and fun times)
The goal is that by the time you’ve completed the quests here you should go from level 0 to low-mid level. A lot of these adventure sites will be resolved/will get worse once you solve one of them, so realistically the Heroes will not have to deal with all of them and get all the loot from all of them (AKA, won’t get all the possible XP of the region).
I’ll release this as book one in my Q-series of adventures (Q for Queen of Dragons, obviously). Let’s see how it goes from here!
If you have any ideas, comment them down below!
Thank you for reading!
Until we meet again,
GOOD LUCK ON YOUR ADVENTURES
Ward Against Evil 
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