The Plague at Oakburrow - A Mystery Hack
I really loved the murder mystery holiday specials the podcast Friends at the Table did in their Dungeon World campaign, and wanted to do something similar in my Dungeons & Dragons 5e game. So, I made my own hack of Austin Walker’s hack of the tabletop game Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, which he ran for the holiday specials. This puts my own spin on SHCD involving a plague & some thematic inspiration from the game Pathologic.
The doctors and wisepeople of Oakburrow give the town 2 days before the plague overtakes the town. It’s been here for many weeks, working its way slowly and dangerously through the folk of the city, but in the last fortnight it’s become dire. The villagers call it many things–the mud plague, the pox, the affliction–but no one really knows what it is or how it got there. All they know is that it’s killing the village, and fast.
The hack has rules for both D&D 5e and Dungeon World; the only changes between the two are the roll matrix and what bonuses to use (skills in 5e vs stat modifiers in DW). I’ve playtested it with my own group so far and it was a blast, but feel free to give feedback if you end up playing it.
The Plague at Oakburrow Rules
Additionally, while this may not be useful to everyone… Since this information is so specific to my custom setting & campaign, I also wanted to provide folks with the map, notes, and solution that I made to go along with this hack in my campaign.
The Plague at Oakburrow - GM’s Guide
Thanks again to folks at the FATT Discord for helping me remember the rules from the Hieron holiday specials, as well as to Austin Walker for explaining his thoughts and design behind mechanics like the Rosemerrow passthrough in his version.
