Haunting of Capelin Bay

Haunting of Capelin Bay is my flagship project for Dungeons and Drafts. I have run this module November 2025 - February 2026, with occasional replays for new groups. Mysterious and whimsical, the module served as an introduction to my original setting and my work as a professional dungeon master.

For the last three months, a ghost ship started appearing every full moon, seemingly out of nowhere, haunting a quaint town of Capelin Bay. In its gloomy presence, the dock workers keep vanishing, and some of the townsfolk witness bizarre occurrences all around the town.

As it was my first fully commercial project, I decided to focus on these pillars:
• Immediate adventure hook
• Exciting story for both veteran and new players
• Fit in four-hour one shot
• Replayable
• Memorable finale
As a personal goal, I planed to establish a base for future one shots within the setting, making it into a perk for returning players.

To achieve this, I structured the module around mystery-driven story with intentional pacing. I chose it to be a level 5 adventure to balance mechanical depth with accessibility, giving players meaningful abilities without overwhelming complexity.

The story was split in two parts:
• Town Exploration: Players investigate Capelin Bay, interacting with NPCs and uncovering clues through roleplay and environmental storytelling.
• Gallant Unbreakable: The ship serves as a dungeon with a few encounters.
In both parts, I designed encounters with consideration of the ways they can be avoided based on players' choices.

I layered the mystery with optional mechanical clues to reward players familiar with game without excluding newcomers. For example, some celestial bodies were cued to be common spell components, subtly foreshadowing the story’s climax.
To enhance replayability and player agency, I designed outcomes centered on a morally complex conflict: a grieving wizard’s pact to resurrect lost companions, which risks bringing back a dangerous aberration. The finale changes based on players choices, weighing in emotional, ethical, and practical consequences of them.

Haunting of Capelin Bay successfully established me as a commercial dungeon master, attracting repeat players and creating a solid base for my future modules in the same setting.