The City That Dripped Blood (5e) by Steve Winter is a role playing game supplement published by Frog God Games for use with Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. This is an adventure for 4th level characters and is also available in a version for Swords & Wizardry.
The supplement is available as a 21-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $4.79 but was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one the front matter, one an ad, one the Table of Contents and one the Open Game License.
The opening paragraphs explain that the adventure is open-ended; characters decide what to do when they arrive in the city and which groups, if any, they may help.
The Background gives some details on Tempela, once a major hub on the caravan route but after certain events many of the residents moved away. Today, the city has extraplanar rulers at the top, humans fulfilling most of the roles in the middle and gnome labourers who are effectively slaves.
There are hooks to get the characters to the city; the main one is that they were part of a caravan that was attacked by too many gnolls to defend against. Once the characters arrive at the city, they find themselves unable to leave due to a huge force of gnolls that encamps outside.
The three groups of inhabitants are covered next, followed by descriptions of a number of NPCs the characters may encounter. One of the major customs of the city is described, which will probably come as a nasty shock to the characters when they discover it. There are a number of events to encounter.
The city is mapped, but the map is diagram rather than being a real map; districts do not end with right angles. Each district is given a brief description then the two main locations are described.
Appendix 1: Random Encounter Tables has encounters for the different districts.
Appendix 2: New Monsters has the new creatures encountered.
The City That Dripped Blood (5e) in Review
The PDF is well bookmarked with major and minor sections linked. The Table of Contents only lists a couple of locations. Navigation is decent. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of error. There are a number of colour illustrations, which look like they may be custom, as well as the colour maps. Presentation is good.
Using this adventure in any setting should be easy enough; the only real requirement is a desert to drop a largely abandoned city into. The primary hook for getting the characters involved is a bit forced, as is the way of keeping them in the city. The adventure itself is free form and, with it being in a city, there is a lot of potential for expanding it. GMs could add additional locations, side quests and more NPCs, essentially developing this into a full adventure site rather than a place for just one adventure. The City That Dripped Blood (5e) is a decent adventure and it can be found by clicking here.
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