Ironwic Adapts the Best of the Sherlock Holmes Canon into 5e Steampunk Mysteries
Ironwic Mysteries are a new series of one-shot adventures by Dungeon Matters that adapts the original stories from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle into a 5e campaign set in the steam-shrouded city of Ironwic. The first release will include 20 standalone 5e mystery adventures that interconnect to form a cohesive campaign. This campaign takes players from levels 1 through 20 as they become Ironwic’s greatest detectives.
Each Ironwic mystery is adapted from one of the original Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, pulled from the pages of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet, and The Hound Of The Baskervilles.
These adventures breathe new life into the classic tales for 5e murder mystery fans and roleplaying enthusiasts. If you love DnD murder mysteries, one-shots, and games like Clue, then these mystery adventures are for you.
Mystery Is Back In Style
With the recent success of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot adaptations for film and streaming platforms, mysteries are set to be the next hot genre. Dungeon Matters is excited about the opportunity to produce a genuinely fun project for RPG and mystery enthusiasts.
The Ironwic series begins with the 5e adventure "The Adventure of the Empty House." The original story from The Return of Sherlock Holmes holds a special place in the Holmes lexicon, marking the grand return of Sherlock from the dead. In the Ironwic Mysteries, it symbolizes a passing of the torch as your players’ characters replace Sherlock Holmes as the protagonists in the adventures.
You Can’t Solve a 5e Murder Mystery if You’re Dead. Or Can You?
The first 20 Ironwic adventures weave a tapestry of interconnected narratives. Each adventure is a complete story in itself. Each 5e mystery one shot is playable in a single 2- to 4-hour game session that will also plant seeds, set up villains, and offer clues for future escapades.
This “episodic structure” is designed for the way most gaming groups play. In most groups, not all players can make all the gaming sessions. When every gaming session is a stand-alone episode in an interconnected campaign, there’s no need to delay a session when one or more players can’t make it. With this structure, players can miss one or more adventures while still participating in the whole campaign. This adventure style can also increase the stakes. If a character dies, a new one can be easily introduced in the next episode. A dreaded TPK (total party kill) may cause a single adventure to end in failure, but new characters can be rolled up for the next episode, allowing the story to carry on. This means that game masters are free to increase or decrease the difficulty and deadliness of their adventures to suit their group’s tastes without the risk of spoiling a whole campaign.
Discover a Steampunk World of Sherlock Holmes Mystery
Instead of Victorian London, these Holmes-inspired adventures are set in a steampunk fantasy setting. The steampunk genre felt like a natural fit for the adventures to add layers of magic, monsters, and other fantasy themes.
The mysteries unfold in the city of Ironwic. This metropolis is a marvel of industry and magic, where steam and sorcery power fantastic machines. Ironwic is not just a setting; it's a character in its own right, full of interesting places like the clandestine Undercity, the looming Ironspire tower, and the Steamcaster’s Guild.
The powerful guild of Steamcasters rules Ironwic. They are an elite class of sorcerers and engineers who blend machinery and magic. Steamcaster is also one of two new subclasses created for the campaign setting, along with Detective.
An Industrial Revolution Powered by Dragon Eggs
In Ironwic, dragon eggs have become the most valuable commodity. Red dragon eggs, whose seething heat can propel the vast steam engines of industry, are the most prized. The varied powers of other dragon eggs—acidic, frigid, and vaporous—have also been harnessed to further the mechanical age's progress. Even the lightning generated by blue dragon eggs is believed by some to have industrial uses. City-states with armies of relentless automatons were able to capture or kill all but the most ancient dragons to harvest their eggs. Driven to desperation, dragons no longer guard ancestral hoards. Using magic, they have disguised themselves as other races and dwell in isolation as hermits. However, it is rumored that a few dragons, using the powers of their own eggs, have embedded themselves as industrial magnates within the civilizations that hunt them.
Start Your Ironwic Adventure Today
The Mystery begins with The Adventure of the Empty House. A stand-alone adventure that will introduce your players to the city of Ironwic, Sherlock Holmes, and a deadly assassin intent on their demise.
The campaign continues in The Red-Headed League a level-two module that allows your players to unravel perhaps the most peculiar mystery ever written. Available now for 99 cents.
A new adventure will be released every two weeks which will include:
A fully illustrated adventure module PDF
A high-resolution map pack for live and virtual tabletops
A printer-friendly version of the adventure and full-color player handouts
Each adventure will be available for only 99 cents US
Give Your Players The Unforgettable Experience of Solving a Holmesian Mystery in the Fantastical World of Ironwic
We invite you to step into the shoes of a consulting detective. Solve mysteries, confront formidable foes, and become part of a legacy that blends the timeless appeal of Sherlock Holmes with the boundless imagination of 5e role-playing.
Ironwic mysteries are developed with the help of AI, including Chat GPT, Dall-E, MidJourney, Firefly, and QuestForge GPT.
Legal Notices:
Dungeons Matters and the Ironwic Mysteries are not affiliated with Arthur Conan Doyle or his estate in any way. Any trademarks are the property of their respective owners. These campaign modules are adaptations of works in the public domain in the United States. The Ironwic Mysteries contain Open Gaming Content as outlined in SRG 5.1 and are published using Open Gaming License (OGL) 1.0a.
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