Hell Awaits by Robert J. Schwalb is a role playing game supplement published by Schwalb Entertainment for use with Shadow of the Demon Lord. This is an adventure for Novice characters.
The supplement is available from DriveThruRPG as a 2 page PDF for $0.69 but was purchased at a reduced price during a sale. It is also available as a printed card for $1.19 or as both PDF and card for $1.19. Around a sixth of a page is the Credits.
The opening paragraphs explain that a warlock was sealed away in a village, but their soul hasn’t moved on and has been tormenting the villagers.
Setup has several suggestions for getting characters to the village.
The Warlock explains how the titular warlock bound his soul to the moral realm and magic prevented devils from entering the village. The warlock’s spirit got revenge on those who killed him.
The Hound of Hell is the devil sent to retrieve the warlock which cannot gain access to him.
The Village has a random method for generating the village by marking the location of the box holding the warlock, rolling dice for buildings then tying these to random tables to determine what’s in those buildings, together with random encounters.
Shrine of the Old Gods is where the warlock was imprisoned.
The Black Stone is the item the warlock used to bind his soul to the mortal realm.
Hell Awaits in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and with only two pages of content doesn’t need them. Navigation is fine. The text maintains a three column landscape format and appeared to be free of error. Though the PDF has a full colour layout, there are no illustrations. Presentation is okay.
One thing should be noted about this adventure; it’s possible for characters to bite off more than they can chew if they attack the devil. It’s out of the power range of a novice party and isn’t interested in them, only the soul of the warlock. As long as the characters don’t do anything foolish, they will be fine. The village itself, given that most of the inhabitants went insane, is intended to be an unpleasant experience for characters. The random generation of the village is interesting. Hell Awaits is a decent side adventure, though it is really no more than that, and it can be found by clicking here.
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