The Hangman’s Due is a horror one-shot module by Ben Forde for a 4th level party.

Story

The premise is pretty simple. The players are hired by an innkeeper to escort him on a trip, and while he says initially that he doesn’t expect anything out of the ordinary except perhaps bandits or some aggressive wildlife, it turns out he’s hiding something. He is being pursued by a revenant named Agatha Keeling, who seeks revenge for his part in her execution; she has 3 days to enact her vengeance before passing on, and she’s really keen on getting back at him.

During the first night, she stalks and unnerves the party with various eerie sights and sounds, keeping them on edge but not directly engaging. The next day is even more unsettling, as the players find their way interrupted by a tree with eleven nooses hanging from it; ten for the other executioners with their names crossed out, and a final one for Mauvrel himself. That night, Agatha finally attacks.

In the aftermath, Mauvrel finally talks. He claims that Agatha was a witch who cast a blight on his village’s crops, and she was executed for it; but on the third night, and her final chance, she presents her own account: that the blight was just natural, and she was casting a ritual to save the crops instead. Thus, the players have a dilemma: should they trust Maurvel, or Agatha? And even if Agatha’s story is true, should they let her kill him?

As I mentioned, there are only two combat encounters, so there’s more emphasis on roleplaying; though both fights are quite memorable, with Agatha having several tricks, she’s also not really interested in the players, going straight for Mauvrel, though of course she won’t hesitate to attack them too if they get in her way. However, there are possibilities for the characters to resolve the situation (semi-)peacefully.

Layout & Art

The adventure is presented in a clean, easy-to-read double-column format across 11 pages. Everything is given chronologically, and separated into day/night segments for each day; there’s no need to backtrack or jump ahead in order to check for statblocks et cetera. There is one map included for the night encounters, though it’s easy to run them without it as well. Except for the map and the front page, everything is in black-and-white, so it’s also quite printer-friendly.

Final Thoughts

The Hangman’s Due is an excellent option for a roleplay-focused quick one-shot. You can run it as a completely independent one-off session, or slot it into any world for a short interlude while the party is travelling.

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Disclaimer: We were provided with a free digital copy of this product.