Talon Comics & Games - Penumbra d20

Maiden Voyage

There's a tale you might hear in a tavern by the docks...
if you catch an old sea dog on a dark night laden with rum. He'll tell you of an all but forgotten sea god with a hatred for the living and their ships that so brazenly cross his waters without offering the blood sacrifice he demanded in the days of yore. The god's powers have been waning, as brave sailors of all the races bravely cast off in search of far horizons and treasures to fill their holds, but on the darkest of days his might returns.
The grizzled sailor may have known someone who set sail on the Sea Maiden, just before such a day three decades ago, and never returned. Others may tell you that the crew of the Sea Maiden was restless, and mutiny was in the air; the crew no doubt ended up hanged as pirates in a distant port. But your storyteller assures you he knows better: the dark god of the sea had his vengeance -- and he will have it again one day soon.

Written by Chad Brouillard

En Route

You've scoured the dungeon,looted the dragon's horde, and lived to tell the tale of your brave deeds.Now it's time to push on to the next village, where still more fortune and glory await ... but you have to get there first!
On your path lie restless spirits, strange hallucinogenic plagues, homicidal innkeepers, bloodthirsty magical weapons, demonic livestock, uncontrollable constructs, not-quite-abandoned temples, obnoxious missionaries, bands of thieving children, alien creatures, conniving bandits and brigands, profiteering bards, mischievous fey, and a host of other obstacles to complicate your journey.
En Route is a collection of short encounters that GMs can easily insert into longer adventures of their own design, or use as transitions between published modules. En Route goes beyond glorified battles with random monsters; each encounter is a story unto itself, playable in about an hour's time or less. Designed for a wide range of locations and character levels, this book will be a valued resource for every fantasy D20 System campaign.

Written by Atlas Game Staff

The Tide of Years

A Fantasy Adventure for Levels 4-6
A nation falls into ruin when its most treasured artifact - a temporal crystal capable of controlling time itself - is stolen from its sacred altar. Only the guilt-ridden spirit of a dead priest remains to recover the priceless crystal and restore his people to their glory. A group of travelling heroes is his only hope, but they must brave perilous waters to reach the sunken temple where the crystal now lies, radiating a strange energy that has transformed the surrounding forest into a prehistoric landscape. Can they return the crystal to its rightful time, or will they find themselves overwhelmed by The Tide of Years?

Written by Michelle Nephew

In The Belly Of The Beast

A Fantasy Adventure for Levels 2-4
There is a cancer thriving in the midst of a bustling city...a shadowy conspiracy bent on driving House Mezzia, a once proud and noble merchant family, to its knees. Forced to turn to outsiders for aid, an ambitious young scion of the Mezzia clan needs heroes to stand with him against the encroaching peril, heroes who are willing to follow him through the dark heart of the underworld. The Mezzias are desperate and will reward well those who aid them in their hour of need, but what good are material rewards for those who find themselves trapped In the Belly of the Beast?

Written by Mike Mearls

Three Days to Kill

A Fantasy Adventure for Levels 1-3
"Now could I drink hot blood, and do such bitter business as the day would quake to look upon" – Hamlet
Deeptown lies in the shadow of mountains, a town where anything is for sale if you can only meet the price. But in the wild surrounding valleys of the Deeps, it's the bandits who make the darkest deals – and their ambition comes at a cost far greater than the contents of any wayward caravan.
You and your team have just been handed a new job: disrupt a meeting between a bandit lord and his mysterious new allies. At a remote mountain villa, you will strike hard and fast and leave terror in your wake. They give you the tools. You provide the talent. Survive, and you'll be well rewarded. Fail, and you'll pay the price.
You've got three days to raise some hell.

Written by John Tynes

Touched by the Gods

Touched by the Gods is a D20 roleplaying supplement that can enhance any fantasy campaign. It is filled with information on religious and secular orders, and the deities lurking behind them.
This hardcover book contains the following:
* In-depth background on more than a dozen religious cults, secret societies, and strange cabals. Included are initiation rites and adventure seeds designed to let Game Moderators introduce whichever mysteries of the occult they like into their own campaign world.
* A litany of new gods and the NPCs who would grasp their power, holy weapons, clerical domains, spells, feats and prestige classes, special attacks and abilities, fearsome monsters, creature templates, magical and cursed items, and the clandestine rituals that grant mere mortals a small taste of godhood.
* Words straight from the mouths of the prophets, lending an atmosphere of intrigue and wonder to this latest tome in the ground-breaking Penumbra line of D20 System adventures and sourcebooks!

Written by Atlas Games Staff

Instrument of Destiny

A Fantasy Adventure for Levels 6-8
Every three years, the desert village of Hariq commemorates Tahlessa bint Mizrah, its most famous daughter, with a contest that draws great musicians from far and wide, vying for the honor of playing Tahlessa's harp. But not everyone attending this year is planning to play fair. A mission to preserve the honor and treasure of Hariq leads the adventurers into the treacherous desert, right to the mummified heart of the Caliphate's dark past, when infidels ruled the land and served dark gods whose thirst for blood matched the parched desert's thirst for water.
This adventure features:
* The Caliphate of Makhtaba, an Arabian/Egyptian-flavored adventure setting, which the GM can easily replace with similar lands in his own campaign world (or those in various published campaign worlds).
* A mixture of role-playing in the Festival of Tahlessa, wilderness explorations, and a deadly dungeon.
* New additions to the D20 System, including the ancient secrets of hieroglyphic magic.

Written by John Nephew

Seven Cities

Seven Cities provides communities chock full of politics and intrigue, love and hate, life and death. This Penumbra line of D20 System source material features seven discrete chapters each detailing a specific size of city, with additional information on rules and insights for generating fantasy cities of your own, delving into the politics, commerce, geography, history, power centers, and population that make a city come to life.
More info to come.

Written by Matt Forebeck

The Ebon Mirror

A party of adventurers is caught in the wake of an unwise wizard's mystical experiments. Without realizing it, they are drawn into a pocket of space -- a mirror world, where the laws of reason and magic have been twisted by the mind of a madwoman. Feral gnomes and savage halflings prowl the forests alongside warlike humans and elves, while peaceful goblins, orcs, and ogres farm the land, always fearful of another brutal attack. Only the divine protection of the sacred undead keeps this bloodthirsty horde at bay. The PCs must find their way out of this strange world before it destroys them ... but on the way, they have to deal with their suddenly new and unfamiliar abilities, and defeat their own alter personalities.
The Ebon Mirror is a D20 System adventure designed for characters of 8th through 10th level.

Written by Keith Baker

Beyond the Veil

A millenium ago, the kingdom of Dayvos fell in a single night to an act of magical treachery. Tonight, the echoes of that powerful spell have drawn you into its last hours. If you are quick-witted and light-footed, you can free the souls of the imprisoned dancers or even change history. If you fail, you will dance among the dead forever!
Beyond the Veil is a D20 System adventure designed for characters 9th level and up.

Written by Monte Cook

Backdrops

Backdrops presents a collection of ready-to-use locations for your D20 System fantasy campaign. Each set, fourteen total, is detailed in a two-page spread featuring a scale map and descriptive text to enrich your adventures wherever they take place. Link the sets to scope a single city, or scatter them across your campaign world.

Written by Atlas Game Staff

Last Dance

Written by

Seven Strongholds

Have your players wandered off the beaten path yet again? Didn't have time to map out that castle? Just open Seven Strongholds to find forts, castles, and other well-fortified locations, fully detailed and ready for insertion into your game world.
* The Barrows: A concrete bunker allows a determined troop of gnomes to hold at bay the misshapen monsters of the subterranean world, intent on breaking through to the surface.
* Castle Briar: An elven warlord protects his living castle from jealous rivals.
* Gloom Keep: Under a sunless sky, grim-faced humans protect their senile, maddened deity from the world.
* Old Mound Fort: An iron-age ditch-and-rampart fort, refurbished by halfling adventurers, offers a way station for treasure-hungry dungeon explorers.
* Steelface Point: An imposing dwarven fortress protects the mouth of a mountain pass from the orcish horde and its war machines.
... And more!

Written by Robin D. Laws

Occult Lore

Wizards study their academic magics in great halls of learning; sorcerers discover their spells through innate talent; clerics call upon the gods for a share of divine favor. But what of those magic-users who delve into the less well-charted realms of the mystic traditions? What of those who tap into the power of the heavenly spheres, or use the secret essences of the plant or mineral kingdoms to distill potent magical concoctions? Those whose gift lies in drawing spirits or elemental forces to do their bidding, or who can explore the twisting paths of a dreamer's mind? What of those whose very presence tampers with the familiar magic of arcane and divine spellcasters?
All these find their place in Occult Lore.
Occult Lore is the definitive tome of alternate D20 magic systems. This 240-page hardcover tome contains new spells, magic items, creatures, PC and NPC classes, prestige classes, domains, and in-depth rules for ten new magic traditions.

Written by Keith Baker, Adam Bank, Chris Jones, Scott Reeves, and Elton Robb