Seek treasure and glory in the age of Hyboria, rewritten for Shadowdark RPG. Five adventures hewing to the bones of Robert E. Howard’s public domain short stories.
"Then the cataclysm rocked the world. Atlantis and Lemuria sank, and the Pictish islands were heaved up to form the mountain peaks of a new continent…" The Hyborian Age - Conan's World, Robert E. Howard
Robert E. Howard was a prolific and seminal writer of weird tales in the early 1920s. Howard’s work was largely published in Weird Tales, a popular pulp magazine that published Howard’s short stories, as well as numerous other soon-to-be famous authors.
Howard’s Weird Tales stories capture a zeitgeist of the early 20th century. When read with a modern eye, his stories include lurid prose, vivid battles, and a mix of casual sexism and racism that was prevalent at the time. We’ve done our best to reduce these prejudices while still retaining the spirit of Hyboria.
This adventure collection is possible because of the vagaries of American copyright law. Because Weird Tales didn’t renew copyright of their stories, a collection of stories has been public domain for some time. We’ve focused on five of these public domain stories and eagerly await the time that Howard's work fully enters public domain.
Seek treasure and glory in Hyboria, rewritten for Shadowdark RPG. Five adventures hewing to the bones of Robert E. Howard’s short stories, including Queen of the Black Coast, People of the Black Circle, Jewels of Gwahlur, Shadows in Zamboula, and a Witch Shall be Born! Heed the call!!
Come adventure in the Shadowdark, and happy gaming!
People of the Black Circle features the mountain fortress of Yimsha, home to the black sorcerer and his mysterious cloaked servants. The adventurers must rescue the Devi from the clutches of The Master.
Queen of the Black Coast, a sword and sorcery classic, covers the black river of Zarkheba and the hidden treasure that lies upstream. These gilt relics are protected by ancient evils, the mutated and forgotten beasts of the jungle city.
Shadows in Zamboula is an interesting trifecta of story beats: first, the action starts in the House of Aram Baksh, a brothel and casino located in the desert city of Zamboula. Things escalate, with the heroes confronting cannibals, an evil warlock, and Zabibi the dancing girl. Zabibi desperately needs an elixir from the Temple of the Monkey-God to restore her lover’s wits, but she has a second, secret agenda.
The Jewels of Gwahlur details the Palace of Alkmeenon, a mysterious goddess, and the grey-furred guardians of the fiery Jewels of Gwahlur, grand treasures of the Kingdom of Keshan.
A Witch Shall Be Born is a daring throne room rescue. The heroes must confront Salome, embittered sorceress twin of Queen Tamaris. Aided by the palace guards, the adventurers battle Salome’s fiendish allies in a race against time.
PDF copy of Hyborian Adventures for Shadowdark RPG
Hyborian Adventures Hardback:
Hyborian Adventures hardback for Shadowdark RPG
Hyborian Adventures PDF + Hardback:
PDF and hardback copy of Hyborian Adventures for Shadowdark RPG
Shadowdark Bundle + Character Cards:
PDF and print copies of all our Shadowdark work, printed and fulfilled via DriveThruRPG. Also includes our card deck of premade characters.
Menagerie Press RPG PDF Bundle:
Hyborian Adventures PDF and the bundle of all our Menagerie Press PDFs, over 40 PDFs total.
(EARLY) Menagerie Press RPG Books + PDFs (Limited to 50):
PDF and hardback of Hyborian Adventures, character cards for Shadowdark RPG, the bundle of all our Menagerie Press PDFs, as well as print on demand (POD) copies of our Menagerie Press books.
Menagerie Press RPG Books + PDFs:
PDF and hardback of Hyborian Adventures, character cards for Shadowdark RPG, the bundle of all our Menagerie Press PDFs, as well as print on demand (POD) copies of our Menagerie Press books.
Menagerie Press is 100% committed to only human-made RPG adventures. Computers have a place in tech and video games, not creating the artistic things we love.
Our other Shadowdark work includes the Iron-Aged themed Celtic Shadows, the Shadowdark hardback megadungeon The Pits of Brund, the adventure collection Woeful Barrows and Other Places, Rats of Ul-Gol, the hexcrawl Ruins of Ardust, and several Shadowdark classes (arcanist, berserker, duelist, magus). We also contributed to Larillian by Antidote Games and are collaborating with Pickpocket Press on an upcoming project.
Our D&D 5E Organized Play adventures include Chaos in the City of Splendors, Spears of Glip Dak: Four Adventures, Swords of the Moonsea: Five Adventures, Streams of Crimson, The Dark Hunt, The White Well, Blue Scales, Citadel of Vlaakith, Scales of Justice, and numerous other modules. Our non-Organized Play D&D 5E work includes Adûl, City of Gold, The Black Lotus of Thalarion, The Dream Prison, Ghoul Cove, Careless Adventurer's Guide to Hazards, Descent Into Mirefen, Temple of Misfortune, The Waxwyrm Bounties, and other publications.
We also created Westlands, a 2D6 RPG based on Traveller and Sword of Cepheus, and have over a dozen adventures available for that system.
PDF and print copies are fulfilled by DriveThruRPG. Backers receive a one-time code for PDF and/or print-on-demand (POD) copies. POD backers are responsible for a small printing and shipping fee, and DriveThruRPG prints and ships their books. This is the most cost-efficient method to get print copies to our backers.
All physical products are printed and fulfilled via DriveThruRPG. The book costs are approx. $5-10 + shipping per book for books in the USA. This is collected by DriveThruRPG per book for printing (the actual price depends on the final page count). Books typically retail for $19.99 + shipping or more, so you save by backing us on BackerKit.
Additional costs may be incurred from customers in the EU or customers impacted by UK shipping tariffs. Please check with your local post offices, as these situations vary by region and package details.
We are collaborating with 74Games, led by Karla Adder. 74Games is creating Treasure Vaults of the Twilight Dragon, an OD&D-style RPG adventure/wargame scenario compatible with old-school games like OSRIC, Old School Essentials, and Basic D&D-style systems.
74Games is creating an adventure-meets-wargame, a dungeon crawl into the Twilight Dragon's lair. The PCs lead squads of hirelings into the sullen depths of the dragon's vault. Having playtested this, it hits different when your party is comprised of 20 level 1 mercenaries fighting wave after wave of vicious goblins. Highly recommend!
Backing both our Hyborian Adventures and 74Games's Treasure Vaults of the Twilight Dragon, you'll unlock bonus rewards:
From Menagerie Press, you'll get a full-color art piece depicting a true Conan-style adventure moment (but no spoilers!)
From 74Games, you'll receive two extra scenarios for the Treasure Vaults campaign. These are side-quests such as "take out the eye gazer on level 3" or "steal the orc captain's magic sword."
