The Red Opera is a 10-chapter campaign for

Dungeons & Dragons that was inspired by

DiAmorte’s musical acts of the same name. Written

in collaboration with them, our goal was to create

an epic campaign that combined the gothic horror

of settings, like Ravenloft, with the high magic of

other settings, like Faerun or Ebberon.

Warlocks are a fascinating class. Patrons from beyond

whisper secrets of the universe to a diverse crowd.

Great academies of Warlocks don’t exist, and civilizations

typically don’t let them form the ranks of their

armies. With good reason of course: no one can trust

where their true loyalties lie.

There are places of great magic in the world though.

Places where the veil between worlds runs thin. The

Feywild seeps into the Material Plane a little more in

the wild, or shadows run longer than in other parts

where murder is common. In these narrow slivers

between worlds, Warlocks find contact with their

Patrons are easier, and their powers amplified.

Luckily for the world, such places are rare.

Centuries of war, death, artistic creation, fertility, famine,

and magic have taken their toll on the old eldritch

ways, forcing the barriers in some places to become

rifts between worlds. The last bastions of connection

to a fading world. None have grown as prominent as

the Shadelands.

In the Shadelands, Warlocks have founded cities to

call their own. For decades under the rule of the

Accursed King, Warlocks have found a home to practice

their craft.

The setting of the Shadelands is living, unconsciously

aware of the events transpiring within. Outsiders and

chosen characters find themselves unwittingly roped

in as characters within the Red Opera. Their choices

and connections are vital to the outcome of the Opera,

and there is a multitude of possible endings for the story,

but death marches them closer to three immediate

outcomes. Because of this, you can run this campaign

multiple times, and each time yields a different result.