The Red Hand of Doom is an adventure module for Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition (using 3.5 rules) written by James Jacob and Richard Baker published in 2006. It is suitable for characters from fifth to eleventh level.
Set in a remote area known as Elsir Vale, a huge army of hobgoblins, dragons, demons and other special forces calling itself the Red Hand of Doom is massing for a full-scale invasion of the entire vale. Worshipping the evil dragon god Tiamat and commanded by the nefarious half-dragon Azzar Kul, the players will soon realize these are not mere Mooks guarding treasure in dungeons. While fighting soldiers or even entire units of the Red Hand, much of the campaign also involves important missions such as delaying the Red Hand's advance, evacuating towns, denying resources to the enemy and recruiting allies to help. All of this culminates in a final battle at the fortress city of Brindol followed by a confrontation with Azzar Kul himself at the Fane of Tiamat.
The campaign is quite popular with players due to customization by dungeon masters and its adaptability to various settings. The module's designer notes explain how Elsir Vale can be set in Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms and Eberron. Dungeon masters have also inserted the campaign into other settings such as homebrew worlds, Rokugan and even Equestria!
Tropes Found Within This Game:
- The Alliance: The player characters along with Brindol's forces plus evacuees from Elsir Vale's settlements. The Tiri Kitor tribe of forest elves and the Shining Axes can also join, the latter for a price.
- The Berserker: During the Battle of Brindol, players will have to fight Blood Ghost berserkers. These are bugbear barbarians with white warpaint and wailing threateningly, activating their rage ability as they close in on the players.
- Big Bad: High Wyrmlord Azzar Kul. He is a half-dragon/half-hobgoblin priest of Tiamat, founder of the Red Hand and their supreme commander.
- Boss Rush: If you let some of the enemy commanders get away, fail to accomplish certain missions or even forgo whole areas, the Battle of Brindol becomes much harder. You will face several Red Hand forces during that battle consisting of those enemies you failed to kill or stop from helping the Red Hand.
- Bring Help Back: This plays a role in the module. The heroes can ask the elderly forest giant Old Warklegnaw to gather his relatives to delay the Red Hand's advance. They can also recruit a tribe of elves with giant owls and protect a gold shipment to pay for dwarf mercenaries.
- Citadel City: Brindol. Having big walls and a standing army, the Battle of Brindol takes place here as the heroes, the Lion Guard of Brindol and any allies gathered along the way fight the Red Hand.
- Common Crossover: As with many campaigns featuring Tiamat, adapting the adventure to Dragonlance is pretty popular.
- The Dragon:
- Wyrmlord Hravek Kharn is the field commander of the Red Hand's fighting forces; the heroes confront him in part four of the adventure during the Battle of Brindol in a fight to the death.
- A number of actual dragons also serve the Red Hand as literal examples of this trope. Given that they engage the heroes directly, they behave more like The Brute.
- Hold the Line: During the Battle of Brindol, one of the scenarios, "Streets of Blood", involves this. The players will have to fight off multiple waves of goblins, hobgoblins, manticores, Blood Ghost berserkers and even summoned demons in order to stop them from reaching the town center. If you did not complete certain parts of the campaign, this scenario is longer as you face more waves including the Ghostlord's undead!
- The Legions of Hell: Azzar Kul calls in various demons from other planes to supplement his army. In the final battle of the module after winning the Battle of Brindol, you go to the Fane of Tiamat to face Kul and summoned demons he called.
- Meaningless Villain Victory: It doesn't actually matter whether Brindol falls to the Red Hand. When Azzar Kul is defeated at the Fane of Tiamat, the Red Hand still collapses, the people return to Brindol. and any surviving Wyrmlords retreat to set up their own fiefs.
- Men of Sherwood: The Lion Guard, Brindol's army. Even supported by the elite Lions of Brindol and the city militia, they alone can't win against the Red Hand attack, requiring the players to aid them during the battle as well as succeeding at missions throughout the module.
- Mook Lieutenant: The other Wyrmlords you face during the campaign such as Wyrmlord Koth, Wrymlord Saarvith and more.
- Offscreen Villain Dark Matter: Many of the hobgoblin soldiers fought throughout the module, including the rank-and-file Mooks, carry masterwork or even magical equipment, potions, scrolls and so on. How Azzar Kul managed to fund his army is never addressed.
- Our Giants Are Bigger:
- The Red Hand has hill giants in their ranks. During the Battle of Brindol, they bombard the outer walls with rocks to break them down and serve as a Praetorian Guard to Wyrmlord Kharn during your fight with him.
- Forest giants are present too, namely Old Warklegnaw. If you can convince him to do so, he fetches his relatives and attacks the Red Hand to slow down their advance.
- Our Liches Are Different: One of the allies of the Red Hand is a lich known as the Ghostlord; unlike other examples of this trope, he is NOT an arcane spellcaster but a corrupted druid! The Ghostlord is providing the Red Hand with undead soldiers but if you are able to find his phylactery and return it, the Ghostlord ceases aiding the Red Hand.
- Outside-Genre Foe: One of main appeals of running this module in Equestria of all things stems from the possibility of playing Hobgoblins up as this - utterly alien invaders, that Ponies are absolutely not prepared for - makes them much hore horrifying.
- Punch-Clock Hero: The Shining Axes, a dwarf mercenary company numbering 200 strong. They will help in the Battle of Brindol but only for a price. To get them, you have to make sure Red Hand monsters don't steal the gold being sent as payment.
- Race Against the Clock: The Red Hand operates on a timeline of roughly 65 days. At about 7 days into the adventure, the Red Hand begins its march into the vale from Cinder Hill. 12 days marks when they arrive at Drellin's Ferry and 42 days marks when they finally strike Brindol. This is meant to drive home to the players that they can't take their time searching for treasure, creating magic items or hanging out in taverns; dawdling for too long can lead to defeat. The heroes can also delay the Red Hand depending on actions taken such as destroying a bridge, recruiting allies and even enlisting the aid of a forest giant.
- The Siege: Part four leads to the Battle of Brindol where the Red Hand attacks the city. The players have to partake in missions as well as fighting enemies to save the city and win.
- Variable Player Goals: The module uses Victory Points depending on what the players do and it affects the final outcome. These can be earned various ways such as recruiting allies, evacuating towns, making successful diplomacy checks with NPCs and defeating Red Hand soldiers in battle. If many points are earned, the players soundly destroy the Red Hand of Doom. If some points are earned, they succeed in defeating the Red Hand and driving them from Brindol. If not enough points are earned, The Bad Guy Wins.
- Violence is the Only Option: Enforced. Since your enemy is a giant army of hobgoblins, dragons, giants and evil oustiders with the goal of conquering all of Elsir Vale, any attempt to parley or negotiate with the Red Hand will fail...and lead to the players getting captured or killed.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: Also doubles as a Starter Villain. The first encounter is with six hobgoblins followed by another six hobgoblins reinforcing plus a hobgoblin bladebearer, a Red Hand cleric and two hell hounds. This encounter is meant to be above the party's experience level and is meant to drive home how tough the whole campaign is; the villains are not just Mooks but a professionally trained army backed up by spellcasters and powerful monsters.
- Wild Card:
- Old Warklegnaw. While he won't join your cause, you can choose to fight him (a bad idea) or you can convince him to help against the Red Hand of Doom.
- The Ghostlord. Despite being evil-aligned, he's only helping the Red Hand as they hold his phylactery. If you return the phylactery, the Ghostlord breaks his forced alliance with the Red Hand but also warns you to leave before he decides to kill you. Fighting the Ghostlord is not a good idea.
