The Wildlands are spreading. In this introductory teaser for the DL6 Basic System adventure, “Stop the Spread,” get a terrifying look at the setup, lethal locations, and primary challenges your players will face in the nation of Caelia. Will the heroes ingratiate themselves with the cannibalistic locals, or will they become just another layer of rot feeding the corrupted forest? Join Adam as he explores his DireLands fantasy campaign setting. You can learn more about DireLands here: https://eviliv3.com/direlands/
About DireLands Fantasy Campaign Setting
DireLands is a system agnostic, dark fantasy tabletop roleplaying campaign setting. It was created by Adam P. Campbell in 2024. DireLands is set in a land that is in the final century of an ice age that saw the rise of the Witch-Queen who subjugated the three realms’ populations and cast out the demi-human races. The Triumvirate rose in the last century and liberated two of the three nations, but after their victory, they have become corrupt themselves.
Transcript
Cold Open
In the DireLands, survival isn’t just about outlasting the blade—it’s about outlasting the permanent cost of winning.
Intro
Welcome to this quick introductory teaser for the DL6 Basic DireLands adventure, Stop the Spread! DireLands is a dark fantasy, system-agnostic campaign setting, and today we are looking at a standalone module built entirely for DL6 Basic—the stripped-down, high-stakes game system designed specifically for this world. It features a stable roll-high 3d6 bell curve, bringing narrative horror right to the mechanics with an innovative trauma system where the wounds you receive physically drain your ability scores in real-time, forcing you to think carefully about every single tactical choice. However, as DireLands is a system agnostic dark fantasy campaign setting, you can adapt this adventure into your favorite tabletop roleplaying system with little effort.
Details
The adventure is set in 10 F.A. or ‘Frozen Age’, in the nation of Caelia (KAY-lee-uh), a fractured and desperate nation of tribes which reluctantly formed into a confederacy known as the Biel Gos. It’s made up of representatives of the seven major tribes to hold back the encroaching shadows of both nations Locaston and Bressus. The players should already have some history and are answering a summons from the Chief of the Kahutehe tribe located in western Caelia. Their wildlands are spreading rapidly, and this threatens the safety and sanctity of their tribal lands. When the adventure begins, the players must first survive the Carst Mountain Range, a steep, jagged southern mountain border cutting through hostile Locaston territory where a single wrong step means execution as a spy or a lifetime in chains. Common encounters would be scavenger wildlife, ogres and orcs. Whether the initial encounter is randomly generated or carefully planned out, it should reinforce the wild dangers of the mountain range, the looming threat of Locaston forces, or environmental survival in mountain heights.
Act I: The Tribes and the Trials
As the party is seeking out the Kahutehe tribe, a fierce, protective nomad tribe whose primary export is slaves and are rumored to be ruthless cannibals, the second encounter descending the mountains into the plains should focus on grim odds. The wildlife or monsters who engage the heroes should outnumber them so that the roaming scout band of the Kahutehe can discover them from afar and ride in to save or enslave the party. A pack of dire Wolves would serve perfectly here. The party must communicate that they are answering the call of Chief Fire-Fist, the tribe’s commanding warlord who demands bloody evidence of the characters’ worth before freeing them and sending them into his people’s sacred hunting grounds, the Fuaverum (few-uh-ver-um) Wildlands. To earn his respect, the heroes must endure three grueling trials designed to break them:
A Physical Trial: A brutal, bone-crunching display of brawling and wrestling meant to prove the party can physically withstand the violence of the wildlands. A Mental Trial: A lethal tracking exercise through treacherous terrain under the dead of night to test their focus and survival instincts. Or a Spiritual Trial: A hallucinogenic vision quest administered by Drown-in-Tears, the tribe’s somber, spiritually connected shaman who uses the ritual to rip open the characters’ minds and force them to face the deepest traumas of their own pasts.
If they successfully pass the trial, the chief will share that they have already sent many of their own people into the Wildlands to discover why they are spreading and figure out how to stop it, but none have returned. The Kahutehe are very private and having them reach out to others for help indicates some truly dangerous situations to come.
Act II: Into the Poisoned Fuaverum
Now that the tribe has deemed them worthy, the party steps into the Fuaverum Wildlands, an ancient, dark-veined primordial forest currently writhing in agony as an unnatural toxin causes its borders to expand erratically. Players will face environmental hazards like exploding fungal spores, corrupted Spirit Couatls driven mad by the infection, and hidden carnivorous plants. Everything in this Wildlands has been twisted and corrupted by the toxin. Deep within the rot, they encounter a distrusting Dryad; sick and frantic, this guardian of the wood watches from the shadows, ready to destroy the party with her apex beasts if they approach her home with aggression.
The heroes will have to survive the dangers of the flora and fauna in the Wildlands, but also use their judgement on when to destroy or help the very life that is trying to exterminate them! Their choices will affect the outcome of the Dryad and whether she aids or attacks them. She can lead them to the Midnight Pool, but only if they prove their worth to her by showing mercy to the twisted life herein.
Act III: The Midnight Pool and the Ultimate Sacrifice
The climax leads the party to the Linne Meadhan-Oidhche (lin-me-eh-oyk-yeh)—the Midnight Pool—a pitch-black, spiritually charged basin where the veil between reality and the cosmos thins to a razor edge. Here, the characters discover that the infection is being driven by the lingering, malicious spirit of Mearanach (MEN-a-nach), the Witch-Queen, the ancient cosmic tyrant who once subjugated the three realms and now seeks to rise from the dead to destroy humanity. She is able to return through a spirit gate foreshadowed in the Spiritual Trial in act one. To close the spirit gate, combat her weakened essence, and save Caelia, an ultimate sacrifice is demanded—the heroes must either convince other native spirits to give themselves up, or choose to sacrifice their own lives to destroy the poison from the inside out.
Regardless of the sacrifice, it is the only way to stop her regrowth, which ends the toxin poisoning the Wildlands and stops the spreading of them. They will eventually regress to their original shifting borders. This also reveals the final twist. For as the Wildlands were spreading, they were affecting all life outside them in an equal and opposite manner. The once violent Kahutehe tribe was corrupted to near pacifism. With the toxin removed, they return to their true nature and see the returning party as interlopers on their territory. They will attack them with the intention of enslaving or consuming them.
What do you think the ultimate outcome of the party should be? With the Witch-Queen stopped in the Fuaverum Wildlands, will she choose another in which to return from? And finally, what else have these Wildlands affected and will they require assistance as well? Only your home campaign can answer these questions as the future of these DireLands are in your hands.
Outro
Thank you for watching today’s DireLands Fantasy Campaign Setting episode. Subscribe and ring the bell if you are new to the channel. Don’t forget to click the like button and comment to let others learn about this system agnostic, dark fantasy tabletop roleplaying game campaign setting. I would like to invite you to become a patron on Patreon, remind you that you can join my actual plays and get $10 by signing up to StartPlaying.Games, and even pick up other tabletop roleplaying games using my affiliate link in the description below.
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