Adventure Background
Campaign Overview
A terrible curse is spreading across Faerûn. Those who were once raised from the dead are slowly wasting away, and resurrection magic no longer works as it should.
The source of the curse lies somewhere in Chult: a land of steaming jungles, ancient ruins, undead horrors, lost cities, merchant princes, dinosaurs, and secrets buried beneath the canopy.
This campaign is a dangerous expedition into the unknown. Survival, exploration, discovery, and hard choices will define the journey.
This campaign focuses on:
- Jungle survival and dangerous exploration
- Hexcrawl travel and expedition gameplay
- Ancient ruins and forgotten civilizations
- Undead horror and dark magic
- Dinosaurs, lost cities, and pulp adventure
- The mystery of the Death Curse and the Ring of Winter
Player Agency
Your Story
This is not just a treasure hunt. Your reason for traveling to Chult matters. You may be trying to save someone, reclaim your homeland, serve a faction, hunt a dangerous artifact, or uncover forgotten history.
Your choices will determine:
- Who survives the Death Curse
- Which factions gain influence in Chult
- Whether ancient powers remain buried or return
- What becomes of Artus Cimber and the Ring of Winter
- How your party survives the jungle
Every journey into Chult is different. Your backstory, alliances, and choices will shape the expedition.
Table Setup
How We Play
The experience is cinematic and immersive. The campaign includes:
- Foundry maps, tokens, journals, automation, lighting, and tactical tools
- Syrinscape audio for Tomb of Annihilation
- Dynamic lighting and environmental effects
- Exploration-focused travel through Chult
- Dangerous tactical combat and survival pressure
Roleplay is encouraged and supported. Exploration is structured so every player gets meaningful time in the spotlight. Combat can be deadly, and not every challenge is meant to be solved through violence. Planning, negotiation, resource management, and retreat matter.
Rules
Character Creation
Allowed Character Options
- Player’s Handbook 2024
- Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
- Heroes of Faerûn
- Options available in Foundry for this campaign
Each Player Should
- Create a character with a reason to travel to Chult
- Choose one primary character hook
- Write a short backstory grounded in the campaign
- Create or provide character and token art
- Discuss custom ideas with the DM before Session Zero
Backstory Options
Character Hooks
Choose one of the hooks below or use them as inspiration. These are designed to give your character a strong personal reason to join the expedition into Chult.
Child of Chult Homeland and Legacy
You were born in Chult or spent much of your life there before leaving for the wider world. The jungles are dangerous, ancient ruins remain lost beneath the canopy, and undead horrors continue to spread across the land.
Hook: Now you return stronger, wiser, and ready to help restore Chult to greatness.
The Death Curse A Loved One is Dying
Someone you love was once brought back from death by powerful magic. Now they are wasting away. Their strength fades, healers have no answers, and every day brings them closer to death.
Hook: You have only months left to discover the source of the curse and save them.
Harper Assignment: Syndra Silvane Faction Mission
You recently joined the Harpers and received your first major assignment. A retired adventurer and merchant named Syndra Silvane is slowly dying from a mysterious magical affliction.
Hook: Escort the expedition, investigate the curse, gather intelligence, and report what you discover.
The Ring of Winter Artus Cimber Must Be Warned
Months ago, frost giants attacked Bryn Shander searching for Artus Cimber and the legendary Ring of Winter. Your ally Sirac of Suzail revealed that Artus is his father and that he has gone to Chult searching for his lost wife.
Hook: Find Artus before the giants do. If they claim the Ring of Winter, entire nations could fall beneath endless ice.
Red Wizards in Chult Harpers Intelligence Operation
The Harpers have learned that Red Wizards of Thay have secretly entered Chult. Their leader is believed to be Valindra Shadowmantle, a dangerous undead wizard.
Hook: Track the Red Wizards, learn what artifact they seek, and report back using a sending stone.
Scholar of Lost Civilizations Ruins and Forgotten Cultures
Ancient ruins buried beneath the jungles of Chult have fascinated you for years. Syndra Silvane’s expedition may be your only chance to study lost cities, forgotten temples, and cultures hidden for centuries.
Hook: Join the expedition to uncover knowledge the world has forgotten.
Running From Your Past Fresh Start
You have made enemies: criminals, authorities, debt collectors, or worse. When you heard Syndra Silvane was paying adventurers to sail across the world to Chult, it sounded like exactly the opportunity you needed.
Hook: Chult offers distance, danger, and a chance to become someone new.
Military Expedition Orders from Above
Your superiors selected you for a dangerous mission into Chult. Officially, the expedition seeks answers regarding the Death Curse. Unofficially, few soldiers sent into the jungle return unchanged.
Hook: Success could earn you rank, glory, and recognition. Failure means vanishing into the jungle forever.
Returning Home Chult Calls You Back
You fled Chult years ago. The jungles still haunt your dreams: ruined cities swallowed by vines, forgotten gods, undead horrors, and ancient powers buried beneath the earth.
Hook: Whatever drove you away, something now compels you to return.
Called by Faith The Dead Cannot Return
Across Faerûn, temples are filled with fear. Resurrection magic is failing, the dead cannot return, and those once restored to life slowly wither toward death.
Hook: Your faith, temple, order, or divine calling sends you to Chult to seek the source of the curse.
Fortune and Glory Treasure Hunter
You have heard the stories: golden cities, forgotten tombs, lost treasures, and relics untouched for centuries. Most explorers die in Chult.
Hook: The survivors become legends. You intend to be one of them.
Debt, Pardon, or Obligation No Easy Way Out
You owe a favor, seek a pardon, or have been forced into service by someone powerful. Chult is dangerous, but the expedition offers something you cannot get anywhere else.
Hook: Survive the jungle, complete the mission, and earn your freedom.
Fame on the Frontier Performer, Folk Hero, or Mercenary
Chult is a land where stories are made. Dinosaur races, lost cities, cursed tombs, and impossible odds wait beyond Port Nyanzaru.
Hook: You came to make your name, win renown, or prove that the songs about you are true.
Affiliations
Campaign Factions
Characters may be connected to one of several factions with interests in Chult. These affiliations can help explain why your character joins the expedition.
Harpers
A secretive network dedicated to maintaining balance and opposing tyranny. In Chult, the Harpers are concerned with the Death Curse, Red Wizard activity, and dangerous artifacts that could threaten the wider world.
Flaming Fist
A powerful mercenary army operating far from Baldur’s Gate. In Chult, the Flaming Fist seeks authority, profit, and control over expedition activity. Characters tied to them may be soldiers, scouts, guards, or hired blades.
Merchant Princes
The rulers of Port Nyanzaru control trade, law, and wealth in the city. Their influence shapes nearly every expedition into the jungle, and their rivalries can create opportunities or complications for adventurers.
Red Wizards of Thay
Necromancers and agents of Thay have come to Chult in pursuit of powerful secrets. Their interest in the Death Curse may be scholarly, strategic, or deeply sinister.
Emerald Enclave
Guardians of the natural world who oppose unnatural corruption. In Chult, their agents struggle against undead, disease, exploitation, and forces that threaten the jungle’s ancient balance.
Order of the Gauntlet
Holy warriors dedicated to confronting evil directly. Their members may travel to Chult to stop the Death Curse, destroy undead, and oppose necromantic forces at their source.
Zhentarim
A network of spies, mercenaries, and power brokers. In Chult, the Zhentarim seek influence, information, and profit from expedition work, rare goods, and political instability.
Player Tools
Campaign Notes and Journals
Players will receive access to a private Notion campaign notes page. This page is shared only with the campaign group.
- Write a personal character journal
- Track NPCs, locations, factions, and rumors
- Add notes about clues, discoveries, and expedition goals
- Keep player-side campaign information organized
Table Expectations
Safety Tools
Tomb of Annihilation is a deadly jungle expedition. It may include undead horror, disease, survival pressure, dangerous wildlife, ancient traps, moral choices, body horror, lost civilizations, and character death.
We Will Use
- Private 1-on-1 discussion of boundaries during Session Zero
- Mutual respect at the table
- Open communication at any time
- A PG-13 to Age-17 tone
Not Part of This Game
- Sexual content or explicit encounters
- Sexual harassment or abuse
- Graphic torture or cruelty
- Real-world hate or discrimination
- Player-vs-player hostility
Checklist
Before Session Zero
- Schedule a 1-on-1 meeting with the DM
- Join the Discord server
- Log into Foundry through play.dragorussogames.com
- Review this campaign primer
- Choose your character concept
- Choose at least one Chult expedition hook
- Build your character using approved sources
- Prepare character and token art
- Discuss boundaries privately during Session Zero