An original campaign for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition
The Shattered Star of Vaelthorne
“When the Star Crown broke, the sky forgot its promises. Four shards fell to four lands — and something hollow has begun to gather them.”
2–6 Players + Game MasterLevels 1–1012–18 SessionsThe GM Can Play TooBeginner Friendly
Everything You Need, In One Place
This is a complete, ready-to-run campaign: the adventure book, a quick-rules primer, four fully detailed locations, a bestiary of creatures to fight or befriend, adoptable pets, printable item / spell / quest / creature cards, six ready-made heroes, a blank character sheet, and a GM's table with a dice roller, trackers and oracles — including rules that let the Game Master play a hero of their own.
📖 The Books
Book One — The Campaign Book (the tab above): the full story in a Prologue and five Acts, with read-aloud text, checks, encounters and treasure for every scene.
Book Two — The Player's Primer (below): the only rules a new player needs for their first night.
Book Three — The Bestiary & Friend-Book: every creature's stats and how to win it over without a fight.
Book Four — The Little Spellbook & Card Vault: original spells, magic items, quests and creature cards, ready to print and cut out.
🗺️ The Quest in Brief
A thousand years ago the Star Crown of Vaelthorne held the night sky together. When its dragon guardian, Vaelgorath, was betrayed and hollowed out by the Void Between Stars, the Crown shattered into four Starshards.
Now the shards are waking — and so is he. Race his Hollow Choir cult across four lands, recover each shard, make friends stranger than the monsters, and decide what the sky should be.
🎲 What You Need to Play
2–6 players and one Game Master (who can also play — see the GM's Table)
One set of polyhedral dice per person if you can: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, d100 — or use the dice roller on the GM's Table tab
A character sheet each (ready-made heroes or the blank sheet — Character Sheets tab)
Pencils, scrap paper, and something to use as tokens on a sketch map
About 2–3 hours per session, snacks strongly encouraged
Book Two — The Player's Primer (the whole game on one screen)
The One Roll That Matters
Almost everything in D&D is: roll a d20, add a number from your sheet, and try to meet or beat a target number (the DC) the GM sets. Easy is DC 10, medium DC 15, hard DC 20. A natural 20 is a critical success; a natural 1 is a critical fumble.
Your six abilities — Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma — give a modifier: score 10–11 = +0, and it rises or falls by 1 for every 2 points (14 = +2, 8 = −1).
Advantage / disadvantage: roll two d20s and take the higher (advantage) or lower (disadvantage).
On Your Turn in a Fight
You get one action (attack, cast a spell, dash, help a friend, hide…), movement up to your speed, and one bonus action if something gives you one. To hit: d20 + attack bonus vs. the creature's Armor Class. Damage is rolled on the weapon or spell's own dice.
Hit Points are your staying power — at 0 HP you fall unconscious and make death saving throws. A long rest (a night's sleep) restores everything.
The golden rule of this campaign: you can always try to talk, feed, help or befriend instead of fighting. The GM will tell you what roll it takes.
For the Game Master Who Also Wants to Play
Three supported ways — pick one at Session Zero (details and tools on the GM's Table tab):
1 · Play Seren, the Guide
Run Seren, the ready-made bard companion on the Character Sheets tab, as your own hero. Seren knows the roads but not the secrets — she never solves puzzles, never makes the party's decisions, and speaks last in any debate.
2 · Rotating GM
Each Act has a different GM. The Acts are sealed in the Campaign Book — read only the Act you're running. The outgoing GM's character is played by the group until they return.
3 · Oracle Play
No GM at all: everyone plays, and the Star Oracle on the GM's Table answers yes/no questions, deals complications, and the group's most honest player reads the next scene aloud. Works best with 2–3 players.
Session Zero — Ten Minutes Before You Begin
Choose party size and who GMs (or which GM-plays option you're using)
Everyone picks a ready-made hero from the Character Sheets tab, or builds one on the blank sheet
Agree the tone: this campaign is hopeful adventure — wonder first, horror lightly, comedy welcome
Agree the table lines: no player-vs-player fighting, fade-to-black on romance, anyone can call “pause” at any time
Each player answers one question: “What did your character wish for when they saw a falling star as a child?” Write it on the sheet — it matters in the finale
Book One — The Campaign Book
The complete adventure. GMs: read one Act ahead, not the whole book. Each Act ends with a Starshard, a level-up, and a friend made for life. Estimated levels: Prologue 1 · Emberwood 2–3 · Thaldris 4–5 · Zephyra 6–7 · Cindervault 8–9 · Finale 10.
Prologue — The Festival of Falling Stars (Level 1)
“Millbrook does one thing perfectly: once a year, when the stars fall, the whole village stays up all night to wish on them. Tonight the lanterns are lit, the cider is hot, Bramble the treant sapling is wearing a ribbon — and the first star has just fallen up.”
Scene 1 · The Festival. Let the party enjoy three mini-games (ring-toss DC 11 Dexterity, pie-judging DC 12 Wisdom, the Wishing Well dunk tank). Introduce Mayor Odessa Finn, Seren the Guide (if the GM is playing her), and the pet stall — this is where the party can first meet Cinder the ember fox kit (Pets tab).
Scene 2 · The Star That Fell Up. A “star” streaks upward into the clouds and the sky cracks with a sound like a dropped plate. Three Hollow Wisps (Bestiary) spill out. First fight — they're fragile and meant to teach combat.
Scene 3 · The Old Astronomer.Master Corin Vale, half-blind and entirely delighted, explains the Star Crown, the four shards, and Vaelgorath. He gives the party the Starchart Map (Cards tab) — it glows toward the nearest shard — and his brass telescope. Treasure: 40 gp festival purse, Potion of Healing ×2.
The Choice: the map points first to the Emberwood Vale. Level up to 2 at the end of the Prologue.
Act I — The Emberwood Vale: The Shard of Roots (Levels 2–3)
Full location detail on the Locations tab. Goal: the Shard of Roots grows in the heart of the Mother Tree — but the wood is burning from the inside, and its guardian treant, Old Mother Brambleheart, believes people lit the fire.
Key scenes: (1) The Ashen Path — track the real culprits, a Hollow Choir arson crew (Survival DC 13). (2) The Foxfire Trial — follow Cinder's kin through the dark; the ember foxes test strangers with riddles of light. (3) Bramble's Tears — meet the treant sapling Bramble, who can be befriended and becomes the party's guide (and can be adopted as a companion). (4) The Heart Grove — fight or out-talk the Choir's Pyre-Captain Soss; put out the heart-fire with the crystal stream, a rain prayer, or Old Mother's trust. Shard of Roots reward; the wood gives each hero an Emberwood Charm (Cards tab).
Act II — The Drowned Archive of Thaldris: The Shard of Tides (Levels 4–5)
Goal: the Shard of Tides sleeps in the flooded Index Vault of a sunken library-city, guarded by Nerissa, the Tide Serpent, who has not spoken to a surface-dweller in 300 years — because the last ones stole from her.
Key scenes: (1) The Bell Buoy — dive bell descent; reef of reading-lamps lit by jellyfish. (2) The Shelves That Bite — Book Mites and a flooded trapped corridor (Investigation DC 14). (3) The Serpent's Price — Nerissa doesn't want gold; she wants a story she has never heard. The party's Session-Zero childhood wishes, told well (Performance DC 15, group check), move her to tears — and to alliance. (4) The Index Vault — the Choir is already here in stolen dive-bells; underwater chase and the Choir Diver-Captain. Befriend Nerissa and she carries the party to the surface — and later, in the finale, out of it. Shard of Tides; treasure: Tideglass Lens, Cap of Water Breathing.
Act III — The Skybound Isles of Zephyra: The Shard of Winds (Levels 6–7)
Goal: the Shard of Winds is the prize of Zephyra's annual Grand Sky Regatta — and the Hollow Choir has entered a black-sailed airship and intends to win, or steal, it.
Key scenes: (1) Arrival by griffon post — meet Skye, a proud young griffon who can be befriended (animal handling, respect, and absolutely no sudden hugs). (2) Build / borrow / “borrow” a race skiff; crew roles for every player (pilot, sails, lookout, ballast-cheerleader). (3) The Regatta — three legs of skill challenges against rival crews and sabotage. (4) The Storm of Knives — mid-race, Vaelgorath's shadow crosses the sun; the final leg becomes a rescue, not a race. Win, place, or save the crowd — the Isles award the shard to heroes, not just winners. Shard of Winds; reward: Zephyr Cloak for the party's chosen flyer, griffon friendship for life.
Act IV — The Cindervault Forge: The Shard of Embers (Levels 8–9)
Goal: the last shard is set as the “coal” in the Great Hearth of the dwarven forge-city — and the Forge clans would rather melt the world than give it up, because without it their hearth, and city, go cold forever.
Key scenes: (1) The Trial of Three Bells — prove the party's worth to the clans: craft, endurance, and honesty (the third bell is rung by telling a shameful truth). (2) Pip, a lava salamander no bigger than a teapot, adopts the party (see Pets) and reveals the Hearth is overheating — the shard is waking and the city is in danger either way. (3) The Saboteur — a Choir agent inside the clans; a mystery of shift-ledgers and slag. (4) The Great Choice — help the clans build the Second Hearth (a full session of glorious crafting chaos) so the shard can leave and the city still lives. Shard of Embers; forged reward: each hero's weapon or focus is Starforged (+1 and it sheds starlight).
Act V — The Hollow Between: Vaelgorath (Level 10) — Finale
With all four shards, the Starchart Map opens a road of light to the Hollow Between — the throne of broken stars where Vaelgorath waits. Full boss detail, phases and the three endings are in the Final Boss panel below and in his stat block on the Bestiary tab.
The friends return: this is the payoff of every befriending. Brambleheart's roots hold the road open; Nerissa carries the party across the star-sea; Skye and the griffons fly the flanks; the Forge clans arrive with the Second Hearth as a siege-light. A party that fought everything can still win — but a party that made friends wins bigger, and unlocks the true ending.
Final BossAncient Star DragonCR 16 — adjust for party size
Vaelgorath, the Hollow Star Dragon
Once the guardian of the Star Crown and the kindest dragon of the old sky, Vaelgorath held a dying star in his chest to keep it from falling. The Void Between Stars whispered through the crack for a thousand years: why carry them? set it down. be empty. be free. He is not evil. He is hollow — and that is worse, and it is also the party's hope.
The Fight — Three Phases
Phase 1 · The Hollow King (100%–66% HP). Fights as a dragon: void-star breath (cone, radiant + necrotic), wing storms, constellation claws. He taunts with the party's own doubts.
Phase 2 · The Shattered Crown (66%–33%). The four Starshards in the party's hands resonate. Each round, one shard can be raised (action, no roll) to strip one of his powers and open a glowing crack in his chest. Legendary actions: Summon Hollow Wisps, Gravity Reversal (the arena's star-islands rotate — re-draw the map upside down, everyone laughs, nobody dies).
Phase 3 · The Star in the Dark (33%–0%). The crack reveals the truth: the dying star he once carried is still alive in there, tiny and guttering. Now the party chooses, every round, between striking him — or reaching him: any hero can spend their action on a Charisma (Persuasion), Wisdom (Insight) or personal-truth moment (their Session-Zero wish!) at DC 16 to fill his Hope Track (6 boxes).
The Three Endings
★ The Dawn Ending (Hope Track fills first): the shards return not as a crown but as a constellation of friends — Vaelgorath, weeping starlight, takes up his guardianship again with the party as the new Crown-Bearers. Best ending; every befriended ally appears in the sky as a named star.
The Crown Ending (he falls in battle): the party reforges the Star Crown themselves and must choose its bearer — the sky is safe, but heavier, and the epilogue is bittersweet.
The Hollow Ending (the party flees or falls): not a failure state — the campaign continues as a level 11+ “Relighting” arc; the GM's Table has the seed for it.
The Four Locations
Four lands, four shards, four peoples to win over. Each location lists its areas in the order the party will likely visit them, what lives there, and what friendship is worth there.
Location I · Levels 2–3Holds the Shard of Roots
The Emberwood Vale
A forest so old its trees remember being seeds in a different world. Its leaves smoulder gently gold all autumn — the “emberfall” — and its crystal stream puts out every fire except the one now burning in its heart.
Areas
1. The Ashen Path · 2. Foxfire Hollow (ember fox dens & riddle trial) · 3. The Weeping Grove (Bramble's home) · 4. The Crystal Stream · 5. The Heart Grove & Mother Tree
To Deal With
Pyre-Captain Soss and his Hollow Choir arson crew; thornback boars panicked by the smoke; a fire that is partly magical and feeds on blame.
To Befriend
Old Mother Brambleheart, ancient treant — prove people didn't start the fire and help her put it out. Bramble, her sapling — see Bestiary. The ember fox clan — pass the Foxfire Trial.
Pet Opportunity
Cinder, ember fox kit, at the Festival pet stall or in Foxfire Hollow.
Location II · Levels 4–5Holds the Shard of Tides
The Drowned Archive of Thaldris
A library-city that sank politely, all in one night, a thousand years ago — and simply kept lending. Its lamps are jellyfish, its librarians are ghosts who shush the fish, and every book is waterproof and faintly smug about it.
Areas
1. The Bell Buoy & Dive Bells · 2. The Reading Reef · 3. The Shelves That Bite · 4. Nerissa's Nave (her parlour among the domes) · 5. The Index Vault
To Deal With
Book Mites; the Choir's stolen dive-bell crew and their Diver-Captain; pressure, darkness, and one extremely territorial octopus librarian.
To Befriend
Nerissa, the Tide Serpent — win her with a story she has never heard. The ghost librarians — return an overdue book (from 842 years ago; the fine is waived for heroes).
Pet Opportunity
Bubbles, a palm-sized clear gelatinous cube who lives in the Reading Reef and eats dust and dropped crumbs.
Location III · Levels 6–7Holds the Shard of Winds
The Skybound Isles of Zephyra
Nine islands that declined to fall. Zephyrans measure wealth in kites, race everything that flies, and hold funerals by releasing the departed's favourite hat to the wind. Home of the Grand Sky Regatta — and the shard is its trophy.
Areas
1. Griffon Post & Rookery · 2. The Skyport Bazaar · 3. The Skiff-Yards · 4. The Regatta Course (Cloudgate, the Knife Storm, the Sunward Leg) · 5. The Trophy Spire
To Deal With
Rival racing crews (friendly, ruthless); Choir saboteurs and their black-sailed ship The Quiet; weather with opinions.
To Befriend
Skye, young griffon of the Post — earn her trust and she'll carry a rider. The Isles' Regatta-Marshal, Commodore Aveline Rho — she awards the shard to whoever the crowd calls heroes.
Pet Opportunity
Lumen, a star moth from the Trophy Spire, who navigates by the old stars and glows near Starshards.
Location IV · Levels 8–9Holds the Shard of Embers
The Cindervault Forge
A dwarven city built inside a volcano that the clans insist is “mostly asleep.” Its Great Hearth has burned for a thousand years on the Shard of Embers — which is precisely the problem, for everyone.
Areas
1. The Trial of Three Bells · 2. The Clan Halls (Ember, Slag & Bell clans) · 3. The Ledger Office (the sabotage mystery) · 4. The Great Hearth · 5. The Second Hearth Site (the party builds it!)
To Deal With
The Choir saboteur hidden among the clans; clan politics; a Hearth that is waking up whether anyone is ready or not.
To Befriend
The three clans — pass the Trial honestly, solve the mystery fairly, and build them a future instead of just taking the shard. Forge-Mother Yrsa Bell Clan is the voice to win.
Pet Opportunity
Pip, teapot-sized lava salamander, and Click, a clockwork beetle from the Ledger Office — both in Pets.
The Fifth Place — The Hollow Between (Finale Only)
Not a location you visit twice: a throne-room of broken star-islands drifting in purple dark, reached only by the Starchart road with all four shards in hand. Gravity is negotiable, the stars are within arm's reach, and every friend the party made can reach them here. Arena notes, phase changes and endings are in the Campaign Book, Act V.
Book Three — Bestiary & Friend-Book
Every creature has two entries in one: how it fights, and how to never have to. Tap “Mark as Befriended” when your party wins a friend — your allies return in the finale. Befriending is always a real option in this campaign, never a trick.
Befriendable · EmberwoodCR 1
Bramble, Treant Sapling
Four feet tall, all knees and leaf-hair, carrying a watering can bigger than he is. Bramble is Old Mother Brambleheart's youngest and the Vale's self-appointed “Official Guide (Real).” He cries sap when he's happy, which is often, and when he's sad, which is also often.
Treant SaplingAC 13 · HP 27 · Speed 25 ft
STR14 +2
DEX8 −1
CON14 +2
INT10 +0
WIS14 +2
CHA12 +1
Bough Slam. +4 to hit, 1d8+2 bludgeoning. Root Snare (1/day). One creature, DC 12 Strength save or restrained by roots for 1 minute. Photosynthesise. In sunlight, regains 3 HP at the start of his turn.
How to Befriend (no fight needed)
He's lonely, not hostile — he only “attacks” strangers with questions. Water his roots, answer three questions honestly, and let him guide you (Animal Handling or Persuasion DC 11). Befriended, he joins as a companion: guide, root-snare once a day, and living proof to his Mother that people can be kind.
Befriendable · EmberwoodGuardian
Old Mother Brambleheart
A treant older than the village, the road, and the idea of roads. Her heartwood holds the Shard of Roots. She is not a boss fight — she is a conversation fight, and she is winning it when the party arrives.
Ancient TreantAC 16 · HP 138 · Speed 30 ft
STR23 +6
DEX8 −1
CON21 +5
INT12 +1
WIS16 +3
CHA12 +1
Slam. +10 to hit, 3d6+6. Animate Trees (1/day).Heart of the Vale. While the heart-fire burns she is frightened and reckless; once it's out, she will not fight at all.
How to Befriend
Bring proof the Choir set the fire (the arson crew's star-iron brand), put out the heart-fire, and let Bramble speak for you if you befriended him (advantage on the final Persuasion DC 16). Reward: the Shard of Roots, freely given, and her roots hold the finale's road open.
Befriendable · ThaldrisGuardian
Nerissa, the Tide Serpent
Sixty feet of silver-blue grace, librarian emeritus of a drowned city, collector of stories and grudge-holder of three centuries' standing. She has read everything in Thaldris twice. She is bored, and boredom is the party's way in.
Tide SerpentAC 15 · HP 110 · Speed swim 50 ft
STR19 +4
DEX16 +3
CON16 +3
INT17 +3
WIS15 +2
CHA18 +4
Bite. +7 to hit, 2d8+4. Constrict. DC 15 Strength save or grappled + 2d6. Tidal Voice. Her speech underwater is a spell: she can grant water breathing to those she likes.
How to Befriend
Tell her a story she has never heard — the best source is the party's own Session-Zero childhood wishes. Group Performance check DC 15; each hero's personal, true detail grants +2. She weeps, she laughs, she carries you all to the Index Vault on her back, and she will come when the star-sea needs crossing in the finale.
Befriendable · ZephyraCR 3
Skye, Young Griffon of the Post
Eagle-headed, lion-bodied, entirely convinced she is the fastest thing in the sky (she is third fastest, and it drives her mad). Carries Zephyra's mail and its gossip with equal speed.
Three days of respect: feed her by hand (she takes skylark pasties), never approach from her blind side, and challenge her to a race you gracefully almost-win (Animal Handling DC 14, then a contested Dexterity for the race). Befriended, she'll carry one rider in the Regatta — and lead the griffon flight in the finale.
Hostile · Anywhere the sky cracksCR ½
Hollow Wisps
Shards of un-star: cold lights shaped almost like people, whispering in the voice of whoever is listening. They are Vaelgorath's loneliness, leaking. They cannot be befriended — but they can be put to rest: a hero who speaks a kind truth aloud (Persuasion DC 12) can dissolve one without a roll of damage.
Hollow WispAC 13 · HP 10 · Speed fly 40 ft
Void Touch. +4 to hit, 1d6+2 necrotic. Whisper. DC 11 Wisdom save or frightened until end of next turn.
Hostile · ThaldrisCR 2
Book Mites & the Octopus Librarian
Book Mites (AC 12, HP 13, bite +4 1d6+2, swarm the shelves in groups of 4–6) eat glue, ink and overdue notices. The Octopus Librarian, Dewey (AC 13, HP 45, eight grapples at once, DC 13 to escape) is not hostile — merely extremely committed to silence. Return the overdue book and Dewey becomes an ally who can find any book in Thaldris in 1d10 minutes.
Hostile · The Hollow ChoirCR 3–6
The Hollow Choir — Captains
The cult that serves the Hollow: not villains who love evil, but people who were promised that emptiness doesn't hurt. Their captains — Pyre-Captain Soss (Emberwood), the Diver-Captain (Thaldris), Captain Null of The Quiet (Zephyra), and the Saboteur (Cindervault) — share a stat line: AC 15, HP 65, Star-Iron Blade +6 (1d10+3 + 1d6 necrotic), Void Step (teleport 30 ft, 3/day), and one secret sorrow the party can discover and use to turn them (Insight DC 14 in conversation). A turned captain is worth more than a beaten one: they know the road to the Hollow Between.
Final BossCR 16
Vaelgorath, the Hollow Star Dragon — Stat Block
Gargantuan DragonAC 20 · HP 340 · Speed 40 ft, fly 80 ft
STR27 +8
DEX14 +2
CON25 +7
INT18 +4
WIS17 +3
CHA21 +5
Saves: Dex +8, Con +13, Wis +9, Cha +11 · Legendary Resistance (3/day) · Hope Track: 6 boxes (see Act V) — every box filled removes one Legendary Resistance permanently.
Constellation Claws. +14, 2d10+8 slashing + 1d10 radiant. Void-Star Breath (recharge 5–6). 60 ft cone, DC 19 Con save, 10d6 necrotic + 5d6 radiant or half. Frightful Emptiness. DC 18 Wis save or frightened 1 min.
Legendary Actions (3/round): Summon Hollow Wisps (2, costs 2) · Gravity Reversal (costs 2) · Wing Storm · Speak a Doubt (one hero, DC 17 Wis save or disadvantage on next roll — and the table hears exactly the insecurity the player wrote in Session Zero, if the player agrees).
Scaling: 2–3 players — HP 240, breath 7d6+4d6, Hope Track 4. 4 players — as written. 5–6 players — HP 420, add one extra legendary action per round.
Full phase-by-phase fight script and the three endings: Campaign Book, Act V.
Pets & Companions
Five adoptable companions, each found in the story — never bought. A pet is run by its player, never targets the GM's wrath first, and if one would fall to 0 HP it is instead knocked out and needs a kind word and a short rest. One pet per hero; Bramble, Skye and the befriended guardians are allies, not pets, and don't count against that limit.
Found: Prologue / Emberwood
🔥 Cinder — Ember Fox Kit
Tiny BeastAC 13 · HP 9 · Speed 35 ft
Foxfire. At will, Cinder sheds warm light (20 ft) in any colour she likes. Ember Nose. Advantage on tracking checks by scent; she sneezes sparks when Starshards or Hollow Wisps are within 60 ft — the party's living early-warning system. Bite. +4, 1d4+2 (only ever in defence of her person).
Care & character: eats toasted anything; sleeps in hoods; collects one (1) shiny thing per location and will trade it at the worst possible moment. Adoption: win her at the Festival pet stall or be chosen by her in Foxfire Hollow — foxes choose, people accept.
Found: Thaldris
🫧 Bubbles — Pocket Gelatinous Cube
Tiny OozeAC 10 · HP 12 · Speed 15 ft
Houseproud. Slowly digests dust, crumbs and small litter — a camp with Bubbles is always tidy, and Bubbles turns faintly rainbow when content. Cushion. Once per day, Bubbles can absorb a fall for one creature (no falling damage, very funny). Transparent. DC 14 Perception to notice when still.
Care & character: must never be given anything metal you want back. Communicates by wobbling: one wobble yes, two no, continuous wobbling means soup is near. Adoption: feed Bubbles a crumb in the Reading Reef and be followed, devotedly, at 15 feet per round.
Found: Zephyra
✨ Lumen — Star Moth
Tiny CelestialAC 12 · HP 5 · Speed fly 30 ft
True North. Lumen always knows the way to the nearest Starshard and tugs gently in that direction — a living compass for the Starchart Map. Stardust. Once per long rest, shake Lumen (gently!) over a creature: it gains the effect of bless for 1 minute. She enjoys this. No one knows why.
Care & character: sleeps in the Starchart Map's folds; must be told one true thing each night or she sulks and dims. Adoption: she lands on the hero with the kindest Session-Zero wish — the GM decides, the moth agrees.
Found: Cindervault
🌋 Pip — Lava Salamander
Small ElementalAC 12 · HP 14 · Speed 25 ft, swim (lava!)
Living Hearth. Pip is comfortably warm and immune to fire; her person is resistant to cold while Pip rides in their pack. Forge-Sense. Pip can smell worked metal, hidden seams and forgeries — advantage on checks to find secret doors in stone or metal. Tongue. Can light a campfire, a forge, or a birthday candle at 10 paces.
Care & character: eats coal like crisps; adores the sound of bells (see: the whole Cindervault plot). Purrs at exactly the pitch of the Great Hearth. Adoption: Pip adopts the party in Act IV and simply moves into someone's pack; arguing is pointless.
Found: Cindervault
⚙️ Click — Clockwork Beetle
Tiny ConstructAC 14 · HP 8 · Speed 25 ft, climb 25 ft
Perfect Ledger. Click remembers everything: the party can always ask Click to repeat any conversation, number or name they've encountered. Lockwhisper. Advantage on one Thieves' Tools check per day as Click leans in and ticks encouragingly. Wind-Up. Click must be wound each morning (10 seconds, one action's worth of love) or naps until wound.
Care & character: a former Ledger Office beetle who filed himself under “Adventure.” Keeps a tiny stamped certificate for each location visited. Adoption: solve the Ledger mystery fairly and Click requests a transfer, in triplicate.
Found: Emberwood (Act I)
🦉 Nugget — Owlbear Cub (Optional, Chaos)
Small MonstrosityAC 12 · HP 16 · Speed 30 ft
Featherduster. Nugget's hugs end most arguments and all stealth (disadvantage on Stealth while Nugget is awake — offset by advantage on Intimidation; nobody argues with a hug-owlbear). Keen Smell. Finds any food within 300 ft, including other people's.
Care & character: only for GMs who enjoy consequences. Nugget's mother is alive, well, and will arrive in Act III to check on him — she is CR 7 and the inspection is a roleplay scene, not a fight, if Nugget is visibly thriving.
Companion Rules (One Paragraph)
Pets act on their hero's turn, use the hero's proficiency bonus where a number is missing, and level quietly alongside the party (+2 HP per level, +1 to their main trick's DC every 3 levels). Befriended guardians (Brambleheart, Nerissa, Skye, the clans) are GM-run allies who appear at story moments and in the finale — they are the campaign's memory of how the party chose to travel.
Book Four — The Card Vault
Item, spell, quest and creature cards to keep at the table. On paper: open this tab in a browser and print it — the cards are laid out to cut. On screen: tap a card's button in play to mark it used / attuned / completed for this session.
Magic Item Cards
Item · Wondrous · Prologue
The Starchart Map
A map of a sky that no longer exists. Unrolled under starlight, it glows toward the nearest Starshard and shows one true road per day — never the safe one, always the right one.
Given by Master Corin Vale. Cannot be lost; if left behind, it is in your pack in the morning. It has opinions.
Item · Charm · Act I
Emberwood Charm
A leaf that never finishes falling. While worn: resistance to fire damage from natural flame, and plants lean out of your way (difficult terrain from foliage doesn't slow you).
Gift of Old Mother Brambleheart to each hero.
Item · Wondrous · Act II
Tideglass Lens
A lens of frozen seawater. Looking through it underwater reveals writing, footprints and lies — gain advantage on Investigation checks in Thaldris and on Insight checks against anyone who has lied to you today.
Found in the Index Vault. Attunement: yes.
Item · Armour · Act III
Zephyr Cloak
Woven from regatta pennants. You fall at 60 ft per round and take no falling damage; once per day, cast gust of wind. It flaps dramatically even indoors.
Awarded by Commodore Rho to one hero the crowd chooses.
Item · Weapon · Act IV
Starforged (Upgrade)
Your weapon or spell focus, reforged in the Great Hearth with a mote of the shard: +1 to attack and damage (or +1 spell DC), sheds starlight (15 ft), and hums near Hollow things.
Applied to one beloved item per hero by the Forge clans.
Item · Consumable
Potion of Starlight
Drink: regain 2d4+2 HP and glow for 1 hour (creatures of the Hollow have disadvantage to hide from you). Tastes of blackberries and distant thunder.
Brewed by Seren; found ×2 in the Prologue, ×1 per Act.
Item · Wondrous · Act II
Cap of Water Breathing
Breathe underwater, look faintly ridiculous. A Thaldris standard-issue for visiting scholars.
Borrowed from the Archive; Dewey expects it back (eventually).
Item · Finale
The Crown, Reimagined
Not worn — shared. In the Dawn Ending, each hero carries one star of the new constellation: once per campaign, call on Vaelgorath for one true miracle of protection.
Earned only in the Dawn Ending. Worth it.
Spell Cards — Original Spells of the Star Crown
Spell · 1st Level · Evocation
Starfall Bolt
Ranged spell attack, 120 ft: 2d8 radiant damage and the target glitters (next attack against it has advantage). At higher levels: +1d8 per slot above 1st.
Learned from the Starchart Map at level 3 · Classes: Wizard, Warlock, Bard (Seren knows it)
Spell · 2nd Level · Abjuration
Constellation Ward
Touch a creature: it gains 10 temporary HP traced in star-lines, and Hollow creatures have disadvantage on attacks against it while the ward lasts (concentration, 10 min).
Taught by Nerissa · Classes: Cleric, Paladin, Bard
Spell · 3rd Level · Transmutation
Road of Light
Create a bridge or stair of solid starlight up to 60 ft long across any gap — including between star-islands, or out of a volcano, or across a storm (1 min, concentration).
Taught by Skye's riders of the Post · Classes: Wizard, Sorcerer, Druid
Spell · 4th Level · Enchantment
Speak the Wish Aloud
Name one creature's true, spoken wish (you must have heard it from them). They gain advantage on all saves for 1 hour, and you learn whether the Void has been lying to them. In the finale, this spell fills 1 Hope box automatically.
Taught by Forge-Mother Yrsa · Classes: Bard, Cleric, Warlock
Quest Cards — Hand One to the Party at Each Act
Quest · Prologue
The Star That Fell Up
Survive the Festival. Speak with Master Corin Vale. Take the Starchart Map — and the responsibility that comes with it.
Reward: 40 gp · Potions ×2 · Level 2
Quest · Act I
Put Out the Heart-Fire
Find who truly lit the Emberwood's heart-fire, end it, and earn Old Mother Brambleheart's trust.
Reward: Shard of Roots · Emberwood Charms
Quest · Act II
A Story She Has Never Heard
Win Nerissa, keeper of the Drowned Archive, with the one treasure her library lacks — yours.
Reward: Shard of Tides · Tideglass Lens
Quest · Act III
Win the Sky, Save the Sky
Race the Grand Regatta against The Quiet — and when the storm comes, be heroes first and racers second.
Reward: Shard of Winds · Zephyr Cloak
Quest · Act IV
Build the Second Hearth
Give the Forge a future so its heart can leave with you. Solve the sabotage. Ring the third bell honestly.
Reward: Shard of Embers · Starforged gear
Quest · Act V
Fill the Hollow
Face Vaelgorath in the Hollow Between. Fight him, reach him, or both — but decide what the sky will be.
Reward: The Dawn, the Crown, or the Relighting
Side Quest · Any Act
One Shiny Thing
Cinder has collected something important and will trade it for something shinier. She always has. It is always plot-relevant. The GM is as surprised as you are.
Reward: Plot. So much plot.
Side Quest · Finale Prep
Call Your Friends
Before the road to the Hollow Between opens, send word: Brambleheart, Nerissa, Skye, the Clans, Dewey, any turned Captain. Everyone you call, comes.
Reward: The finale you earned
Creature Cards — Quick Reference for the Table
Creature Card
Hollow Wisp
AC 13 · HP 10 · Void Touch +4 (1d6+2 necrotic) · Whisper DC 11 Wis.
Kindness option: a true, kind sentence (Persuasion DC 12) puts one to rest.
Creature Card
Thornback Boar
AC 12 · HP 18 · Gore +5 (1d8+3) · Charges when frightened — which, near a fire, is always.
Kindness option: food + Animal Handling DC 12; it will then charge for you, once.
Creature Card
Book Mite
AC 12 · HP 13 · Bite +4 (1d6+2) · Comes in swarms of 4–6 among the shelves.
Kindness option: feed it a blank book (10 gp of paper) and it will guide you instead.
Creature Card
Choir Captain
AC 15 · HP 65 · Star-Iron Blade +6 (1d10+3 + 1d6 necrotic) · Void Step 3/day.
Kindness option: learn their sorrow (Insight DC 14) and offer the way back.
Prints cleanly too: open this tab in your browser and print — cards and sheets only.
Character Sheets
Six ready-made heroes for 2–6 players — just pick one and play (for a 2-player game, add Seren and a pet). Below them is a blank sheet you can fill in right here and download. Pregens are written at Level 1; the Campaign Book notes when the party levels up.
Paladin · Oath of the Stars (Devotion)
Kaelen Dawnshield
Human · He/Him · The festival guard captain's son, who once wished on a falling star “to be worth the armour.”
STR16 +3
DEX10 +0
CON14 +2
INT8 −1
WIS12 +1
CHA15 +2
HP 12 · AC 18 (chain mail + shield) · Longsword +5, 1d8+3 · Lay on Hands 5 HP/day · Divine Sense. Skills: Athletics, Persuasion, Insight. Gear: holy symbol (a star his grandmother cut from tin), explorer's pack.
Ranger · Beast Master (later!)
Willow Emberleaf
Wood Elf · She/Her · Emberwood-born; left to see the world, wished “to come home when it matters.” It matters.
STR12 +1
DEX17 +3
CON13 +1
INT11 +0
WIS15 +2
CHA9 −1
HP 11 · AC 14 (leather + Dex) · Longbow +5, 1d8+3 · Shortsword +5, 1d6+3 · Favoured Enemy: constructs of star-iron (the Choir's gear). Skills: Survival, Perception, Nature, Stealth. Natural first pick to adopt Cinder.
Cleric · Life Domain
Bram Stonehammer
Mountain Dwarf · He/Him · A Cindervault bell-ringer's apprentice who wished “for a story Yrsa can't top.” He's working on it.
STR14 +2
DEX8 −1
CON16 +3
INT10 +0
WIS16 +3
CHA11 +0
HP 11 · AC 16 (scale + shield) · Warhammer +4, 1d8+2 · Spells: Cure Wounds, Bless, Guiding Bolt, Sacred Flame · Spell save DC 13. Skills: Medicine, Religion, History.
Warlock · The Hollow Pact (handle with care)
Zara Nightveil
Tiefling · She/Her · Heard the Void whisper first — and answered it with questions until it got nervous. Wished “to never be fooled.”
STR8 −1
DEX14 +2
CON13 +1
INT12 +1
WIS11 +0
CHA17 +3
HP 9 · AC 13 · Eldritch Blast +5, 1d10 · Spells: Hex, Charm Person · Spell save DC 13. Skills: Deception, Insight, Arcana. Zara's pact makes her the party's early-warning for Vaelgorath — and his favourite person to taunt.
Rogue · (Future) Arcane Trickster
Finnick “Finn” Underbough
Halfling · He/Him · Festival pie-champion three years running. Wished “for second helpings of everything, forever.” Deeper than it sounds.
STR9 −1
DEX17 +3
CON12 +1
INT14 +2
WIS11 +0
CHA13 +1
HP 9 · AC 14 · Rapier +5, 1d8+3 (+1d6 Sneak Attack) · Shortbow +5 · Skills: Stealth, Sleight of Hand, Investigation, Acrobatics · Thieves' Tools. Natural first pick to adopt Click.
Bard · The GM's Hero / Party Companion
Seren, the Guide ★
Half-Elf · She/Her · Corin Vale's grand-niece and Millbrook's road-guide. If the GM plays a character, it's Seren: she knows every road and none of the secrets.
STR10 +0
DEX15 +2
CON12 +1
INT13 +1
WIS11 +0
CHA16 +3
HP 9 · AC 13 · Rapier +4, 1d8+2 · Bardic Inspiration (d6, 3/day) · Spells: Healing Word, Faerie Fire, Vicious Mockery, Starfall Bolt (from level 3) · Spell save DC 13. Skills: Performance, Persuasion, History. Wished, as a child, “that nobody travels alone.”
Blank Character Sheet — Fill In & Download
Type straight into the sheet. Ability modifiers work themselves out. Nothing is saved anywhere — use Download to keep your hero as a file you can print or share.
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The GM's Table
Your running-the-game toolkit: a dice roller, an initiative & hit-point tracker for tonight's fights, the Star Oracle for GM-less and GM-plays-too games, random tables, and the campaign downloads. Everything here lives only in this tab, for this session.
🎲 Dice Roller
—
Tap a die to roll it. Natural 20s and 1s are called out — celebrate or commiserate accordingly.
✨ The Star Oracle — For GM-Less & GM-Plays-Too Games
Ask a yes/no question aloud (“Is the bridge guarded?”), pick how likely it feels, and roll. The Oracle answers — and sometimes adds a twist, because the sky is like that.
GMPC golden rules (if the GM plays Seren): Seren never has the answer to a puzzle or secret, never out-votes the party, spends her Inspiration on others first, and her player-GM rolls all her checks in the open.
⚔️ Initiative & Hit-Point Tracker
Name
Initiative
HP
Damage / Heal
No combat yet — add the party and their trouble, then Sort.
Random Table — What Falls From the Sky? (d6)
1
A single warm snowflake, in midsummer. It does not melt for exactly one year.
2
A star-iron coin, stamped with a face nobody recognises — yet.
3
A feather from Skye, or something very like her. (It is hers. She denies it.)
4
A tiny Hollow Wisp, asleep. It can be carried, carefully, and woken with kindness.
5
A page from a Thaldris book, perfectly dry, about you. One sentence is wrong.
6
Nothing — but everyone hears, very faintly, a dragon humming an old lullaby.
Downloads & The Relighting Seed
Take the campaign away from the screen:
If the Hollow Ending Happens — “The Relighting” (Levels 11+)
Vaelgorath holds the broken sky, but the party escaped with the friends they made. Seed: the constellation of allies itself becomes the map — each befriended people holds one fallen star in trust, and the party must carry a new kind of light (a song, a hearth, a story, a road) to each, one per arc, while the Hollow Choir races to snuff them. The Dawn Ending is still possible. It is, in fact, the point.
Running for Different Party Sizes
2 players: add Seren + a pet; halve Hollow Wisp groups; Vaelgorath as scaled in his stat block. 3–4: as written. 5–6: add +2 minions per fight and +1 Regatta rival crew; give the finale's Hope Track 8 boxes so everyone gets a moment.
