Ragged Hollow Nightmare for Cairn

Yesterday, young Tobias went to investigate an old tomb by himself. Everyone told him it was a bad idea. Everyone was right.

Today, you and your companions awaken to a town in chaos. Why is the temple sealed behind a divine shield? Why are children and worshipers trapped within? How do you get inside? What did Tobias do?!

Ragged Hollow is a full-service starting town, full of classic creatures and challenges all updated and brought together for newbies and nostalgia-lovers alike. There are goblins and witches in the woods, a house full of traps, a basement of vermin, kobolds in a cave, bandits on the road, riddling ravens, a 50-room temple dungeon, nursery-rhyme monsters, living nightmares, Lovecraftian horrors, and tons of unique items to find.

This is a mystery with lots of relevant side-quests around the town. The heroes can investigate the situation, get into the temple, save the innocents, and stop the monsters. And get some loot!

ADVENTURE TYPE: Medium Dungeon / Town / Wilderness Adventure

PUBLICATION NOTE: This is the 2026 Cairn edition of the "Ragged Hollow Nightmare" adventure. There is also another edition called "Nightmare over Ragged Hollow" published by the Merry Mushmen for OSE, which includes additional adventure content as well as new illustrations. Visit TheMerryMushmen.com to learn more.

FILES / VERSIONS

This product is 57+ pages in length and includes two PDF files:

• Standard Layout (text plus front cover)
• Booklet Layout (text plus front cover, back cover, and blank pages optimized for booklet printing)  

SESSION REPORT

Read the narrative of one early play test of this adventure:

• https://www.josephrlewis.com/2020/03/ragged-hollow-nightmare-session-1/
• https://www.josephrlewis.com/2020/03/ragged-hollow-nightmare-session-2/
• https://www.josephrlewis.com/2020/03/ragged-hollow-nightmare-session-3/
• https://www.josephrlewis.com/2020/04/ragged-hollow-nightmare-session-4/

REVIEWS

"This forty page adventure is PACKED FUCKING FULL ...the entire adventure is well formatted and organized. It’s easy to find information and the writing is tight and evocative. ...Top notch ...overall, a GREAT adventure. Great new creatures, good new magic items." --Bryce Lynch

DESIGN NOTES

This adventure includes several wilderness areas (forest, hills, mountain), a bustling town, several local mini-dungeons, and one 50-room temple dungeon. Each area contains various encounters and unique items.

There are many opportunities for combat, but it is possible for players to explore most areas and complete many interactions without any combat at all, depending on their choices.

INCLUDES: Story hooks, dialogue prompts, random encounters, stat blocks, original creatures and treasures, and maps.

KEYWORDS: town, village, forest, goblins, goblin market, witches, hags, hills, bandits, ogres, mountain, kobolds, caves, dwarves, temple, clerics, nightmares, demons, riddles, traps, ghosts, fairy tales, Lovecraft, mutant