Wizards of the Coast recently launched its own official actual play, the questionably named Dungeon Masters. The premiere episodes of the show went live on April 22nd, featuring the start of a new campaign centered on content from the upcoming Ravenloft: The Horrors Within. This latest Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook isn’t out until June, but following along with Dungeon Masters isn’t the only way for fans to get an early preview of its content. A new, free adventure from The Horrors Within has arrived on D&D Beyond in celebration of the new actual play.
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Alongside its new actual play series, Dungeons & Dragons is releasing a set of “play-along packs.” These drops will release along with each new episode and let fans experience official, unreleased D&D content from Ravenloft: The Horrors Within early. Most of the play-along content is paywalled and available only to those who pre-order the upcoming sourcebook. But the first encounter? That one’s free, and it’s available right now.
New Ravenloft Play-Along Pack Gives D&D Fans a First Look At The Horrors Within
If you want to try out some of the new horror content headed to D&D before you invest in a pre-order for The Horrors Within, you’ve got a few options. After all, the new subclasses in the book first appeared in an Unearthed Arcana that’s still available on D&D Beyond. But now, you can experience an encounter using monsters and locations from the upcoming sourcebook for free. This is the only play-along pack that will be available to anyone with a free D&D Beyond account, as the rest will release weekly for folks who pre-order the new book. But if you love horror and quick D&D adventures that can be run in an evening, it’s one you might want to add to your repitoiore.
The free encounter is called “Zombie Clot” and it’s available for free on D&D Beyond. You can claim it by heading to the website and navigating to the Sources/Library section. You’ll find it under the name Dungeon Masters: Ravenloft Play-Along Free Pack. The adventure uses material from the unreleased Ravenloft sourcebook and is inspired by DM Jasmine Bhullar’s prep for the Dungeon Masters premiere. For those who use Maps VTT to run their sessions, the adventure is available in the VTT, as well.
Zombie Clot is designed for 5th level characters and takes place in the village of Hroth. As its name suggests, the encounter focuses heavily on doing battle against the undead. It comes complete with a brief story hook, a map of the village of Hroth, and details for several Zombie creatures that will no doubt make an appearance in The Horrors Within. DMs eager to test out running new horror monsters will be happy to find these new Zombie variants ready for action.
Admittedly, this free adventure is pretty short, really just a single encounter. However, with the story hook and conclusion included, you could easily spin it out to a pretty satisfying scary One-Shot for your table. If nothing else, reading over it is a nice preview of some of the monsters headed our way when Ravenloft: The Horrors Within arrives on June 16th.
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