TEXT:  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  ADVENTURE: 
  BASEMENT O RATS 
   
  ENCOUNTERS: FIVE 
  DIFFICULTY: EASY 
  DURATION: 30 MINUTES 
   
  DESIGNED AND MAPPED  
  BY  
  JUSTIN HALLIDAY 
   
  
   
  Hero Kids Adventure – Basement O Rats 
  Justin Halliday 
  Page 2 
  Hero Kids Adventure 
  This adventure requires a copy of the Hero Kids RPG 
  to play.  The core game and this adventure include: 
  • Hero Cards for each player  
  • Monster Cards for the unique monsters in this 
  adventure (king rat) and the standard Hero Kids 
  monsters (giant rats) 
  • Print-outs of the encounter maps 
  • Stand-up minis for the heroes and monsters 
  Additionally, these extra materials are required: 
  • Six-sided dice (d6s) 
  • Pencil and eraser 
  Background 
  You all live in the same village, Rivenshore, which is 
  nestled in a tight valley beneath a towering mountain.  
  A river runs past the village and flows into a small bay. 
  Rivenshore would be a beautiful place to live, if it 
  weren’t beset by an endless series of calamities. 
  Adventure Overview 
  This five-encounter adventure takes place in the 
  basement and caves beneath the town’s tavern. 
  The hero kids start the adventure having a dinner at 
  the tavern.  When the tavern’s muck-boy is carried off 
  by oversized rats, the hero kids spring into action to 
  get him back. 
  Adventure Intro 
  Today’s trouble starts in mundane circumstances – 
  dinner at the Block and Tackle, which is the village’s 
  tavern.  The meal is interrupted by a shriek of alarm 
  from the innkeeper’s wife. 
  You are enjoying your weekly family dinner at the 
  Block and Tackle tavern after a hard day of training. 
  “HELP, HELP!” 
  Everyone in the tavern stops eating and drinking as 
  Maeve, the innkeeper’s wife, bursts into the dining 
  room from the basement. 
  “Rats, RATS, ENORMOUS RATS” and then, “and 
  they’ve taken Roger!” 
  You know Roger, he’s Maeve’s son and he helps out in 
  the tavern. 
  “They’ve taken him down their hidey hole.  Please, get 
  down there are get him back for me!” 
  There’s a moment of silence as everyone looks to you.  
  Your parents encourage you. 
  “I hope you’re ready for your first adventure.” 
  
   
  Hero Kids Adventure – Basement O Rats 
  Justin Halliday 
  Page 3 
  Encounter 1: Basement Full-O’ Rats 
  The first encounter in the tavern’s basement.  The 
  heroes start on the stairs and fight their way to the 
  hole in the floor in the bottom-left corner of the map. 
  Map 
   
  Encounter Intro 
  Following the adventure intro, the heroes are poised 
  to head to the basement to rescue Roger: 
  You put down your cutlery and pick up your weapons 
  and equipment then follow Maeve to the entrance to 
  the tavern’s basement. 
  The stairs descend into the dimly lit basement.  You 
  immediately smell the putrid stink of rats, even before 
  you hear the patter of their unusually large paws. 
  As you step down into the basement you see flashes of 
  movement as the rats scurry between the stacks barrels 
  and sacks of grain that are stored in the basement. 
  Encounter Features 
  The main area of the basement has two stacks of 
  barrels that cannot be climbed over or shot through 
  (with ranged attacks).  The second room has a narrow 
  path that forces the players to think about the 
  positions of their heroes. 
  Ability Tests 
  The players can have their heroes perform a number 
  of ability tests: 
  • Intelligence test (Perception) at difficulty 4 to let 
  them hear Roger’s shouts in the distance. 
  • Intelligence tests (Knowledge/Lore) at difficulty 5 
  to let the heroes know that the basement is often 
  overrun by rats (but not usually this big). 
  
   
  Hero Kids Adventure – Basement O Rats 
  Justin Halliday 
  Page 4 
  Monsters 
  This encounter features giant rats, weak minions that 
  use melee attacks against the heroes. 
  1 Hero: 
  3 x Giant Rats  
   
   
   
  2 Heroes: 4 x Giant Rats 
   
   
   
   
  3 Heroes: 5 x Giant Rats 
   
   
   
   
   
  4 Heroes: 6 x Giant Rats 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Use these health boxes to mark off damage: 
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
  Tactics 
  The rats are gorging themselves on food scraps and 
  won’t attack the heroes until they are attacked first.  
  Once a rat is attacked, it and any other rats nearby 
  attack the heroes. 
  Conclusion 
  Once all of the monsters are KO’d, read (or 
  paraphrase) this: 
  With a screech, the final rat falls to the ground and 
  then there is silence in the basement. 
  The silence is short-lived as you hear a distant call for 
  help.  The cry seems to come from the broken 
  floorboards in the south-west corner of the basement. 
  You look through the broken boards and see a dirt 
  tunnel underneath the tavern’s basement.  Surely it 
  leads to the rats’ den. 
  Allow the players to rest and remove damage from 
  their heroes, then hint/nudge/encourage them to take 
  their heroes through the hole in the floor at the 
  bottom left of the map. 
  If you want to challenge the players a bit, you could 
  have the tunnel down be quite deep, so players need 
  to use a rope (or some other improvised equivalent) 
  to continue to the next encounter. 
   
  
   
  Hero Kids Adventure – Basement O Rats 
  Justin Halliday 
  Page 5 
  Encounter 2: Where Does This Cave Go! 
  The second encounter takes our heroes underground 
  into the caves and caverns beneath the town. 
  The heroes enter from the bottom-left, and the 
  monsters are not immediately visible. 
  Map 
   
  Encounter Intro 
  When the heroes enter this area, read this: 
  You carefully climb down into this tunnel beneath the 
  tavern.  The ground is hard-packed under your feet, 
  and the whole place smells like a giant rat’s toilet. 
  Large fungi grow from the walls and give off a soft 
  blue light that illuminates a narrow tunnel to your 
  east. 
  Encounter Features 
  A tight tunnel leads from the heroes’ starting location 
  into a larger cave.  As the first hero enters the large 
  room they will see the first three rats.  There is a 
  raised ledge at the far east of the large cave.  This 
  ledge is about 10’ high, so the heroes will need to 
  come up with a way of climbing up it to continue 
  deeper into the caves. 
  Additional rats can enter the fight from this ledge and 
  jump down onto the heroes. 
  Ability Tests 
  The players can have their heroes perform an 
  Intelligence test (Tracking) at difficulty 4 which lets 
  them see rat footprints that they can track to the east. 
   
  
   
  Hero Kids Adventure – Basement O Rats 
  Justin Halliday 
  Page 6 
  Monsters 
  This encounter features more giant rats.  Feel free to 
  add more rats for extra challenge. 
  1 Hero: 
  2 x Giant Rats  
   
   
  2 Heroes: 3 x Giant Rats 
   
   
   
  3 Heroes: 4 x Giant Rats 
   
   
   
   
  4 Heroes: 5 x Giant Rats 
   
   
   
   
   
  Use these health boxes to mark off damage: 
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Extra Giant Rat 
   
   Extra Giant Rat 
   
  Tactics 
  All of these rats engage the heroes with melee attacks.  
  This should be an easy fight, but if things get 
  crowded, you can hold a few of the rats off until a 
  couple of the first ones have been KO’d.  The rats 
  that start up on the ledge can jump down to the lower 
  level without penalty. 
  Conclusion 
  Once all of the rats are KO’d, read this: 
  The rats stop their shrieking as you finish off the last of 
  their number, but the place still stinks like a dirty sock. 
  You look up and see a high ledge on the east side of the 
  cave. 
  Again, allow the players to have their heroes take a 
  short rest to recover damage. 
  To escape this room the players will need to work out 
  a way of getting their heroes up to the ledge.  Here 
  are a few ideas for you: 
  • An agile character climbs up the wall 
  • The heroes form a pyramid and lift someone up 
  • A hero throws his or her rope and climbs up 
  • A strong hero lifts (or throws) another hero 
  If you use an ability test, use a difficulty of 4. 
   
   
  
   
  Hero Kids Adventure – Basement O Rats 
  Justin Halliday 
  Page 7 
  Encounter 3: Underground Choices! 
  The third encounter features a fight and then a choice 
  for our heroes. 
  Here the heroes encounter more rats, and then once 
  the rats have been defeated they can decide to 
  continue to the north or the south. 
  Map 
   
  Encounter Intro 
  When the heroes enter this area, read this: 
  The high ledge leads to short narrow tunnel which 
  shortly opens out into another large underground 
  chamber.  You see tunnel exits from the chamber to the 
  north and south, and a small dark hole in the north 
  wall of the cave. 
  As you watch, a rat emerges from the hole, takes one 
  look at you and then charges towards you with a 
  ferocious shriek! 
  Encounter Features 
  The main unusual feature of this area is the short rat-
  hole between the main cavern and the small cave in 
  the north. 
  You can use this cave to bring rats into the fight, or 
  even to have rats run and hide from the heroes. 
  Ability Tests 
  The players can have their heroes perform an 
  Intelligence tests (Tracking) at difficulty 4 that lets 
  them see rat footprints that they can track to the 
  north (this will give them a hint that the rats’ den is 
  to the north, not the south). 
  
   
  Hero Kids Adventure – Basement O Rats 
  Justin Halliday 
  Page 8 
  Monsters 
  This encounter features more giant rats. Bring the 
  extra rats on from the north cave during the fight. 
  1 Hero: 
  2 x Giant Rats  
   
   
  2 Heroes: 3 x Giant Rats 
   
   
   
  3 Heroes: 4 x Giant Rats 
   
   
   
   
  4 Heroes: 6 x Giant Rats 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Use these health boxes to mark off damage: 
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Extra Giant Rat 
   
   Extra Giant Rat 
   
  Tactics 
  All of these monsters engage the heroes with melee 
  attacks.  Even with the extra rats this should be an 
  easy fight, but if things get crowded, you can hold a 
  few of the rats off until a couple of the rats have been 
  KO’d.  For fun, you can run the rats in and out of the 
  connecting rat-hole. 
  Conclusion 
  Once all of the monsters are KO’d, read this. 
  You dispatch the final rat and spend a few moments 
  investigating the caves.  You find that the rat hole 
  connects the small northern cave section with the main 
  cavern. 
  Again, allow the players to have their heroes take a 
  short rest to recover damage. 
  If the players investigate further, read this: 
  The horrid smell of rats is strong from the north, and 
  from the south you can hear the faint trickle of water. 
  Once the players are ready, they can decide which 
  way they want to go: 
  • Heading south takes them to Encounter 4 
  • The north passage takes them to Encounter 5 
   
  
   
  Hero Kids Adventure – Basement O Rats 
  Justin Halliday 
  Page 9 
  Encounter 4: A Momentary Detour! 
  This fourth encounter area is actually empty.  Feel 
  free to keep it empty, or to try something like this: 
  • There’s a monster in the water 
  • Old man Jenkins has been stuck down here for 
  years 
  • The water is magical (refills potions, increases 
  strength, something else) 
  • The heroes see something sparkling at the bottom 
  of the pool of water 
  • The stalagmites contain the frozen figures of 
  monsters/commoners 
  Map 
   
  Encounter Intro 
  When the heroes enter this area, read this: 
  The rocky tunnel turns left and then right before 
  opening into a larger cavern. 
  The soft blue light from the fungi is reflected in the 
  surface of the pool of water, and the light dances and 
  sparkles on the roof of the cavern. 
  Encounter Features 
  This area has two main features, the pool of water and 
  the stalagmites in the middle of the cavern. 
  Ability Tests 
  Any ability tests that the players can perform are up 
  to you.  Maybe they need to be dexterous to pick up 
  the shiny thing from the bottom of the pool, or 
  maybe a giant tentacle grabs one of the heroes and 
  tries to drag him or her into the water. 
  If you do use an ability test, here are the standard 
  difficulty targets: 
  • Easy: 4 
  • Normal: 5 
  • Hard: 6 
  
   
  Hero Kids Adventure – Basement O Rats 
  Justin Halliday 
  Page 10 
  Monsters 
  There may or may not be monsters here, so here are 
  some random boxes for damage! 
  Use these health boxes to mark off damage: 
   Mystery Monster 
   
   Mystery Monster 
   
   Mystery Monster 
   
   Mystery Monster 
   
   Mystery Monster 
   
   Mystery Monster 
   
  Tactics 
  Up to you really. 
  Conclusion 
  If they heroes have had a fight, allow them to rest to 
  recover damage. 
  Once the players are ready, they should head back to 
  the north, through the cavern of Encounter 3, and 
  onwards to Encounter 5. 
   
  
   
  Hero Kids Adventure – Basement O Rats 
  Justin Halliday 
  Page 11 
  Encounter 5: Rat Den! 
  The final encounter is the rats’ den. 
  This climactic battle sees the heroes defeat the rats 
  and their king rat and rescue Roger. 
  Map 
   
  Encounter Intro 
  When the heroes enter this area, read this: 
  The stench of rats is almost overwhelming as you push 
  further down the tunnel. 
  Ahead of you there is a low ledge, perhaps four feet 
  high, and another ledge further along. 
  You see mangy rats scurrying back and forth on the 
  ledge and you realize that you have entered their filthy 
  den! 
  Encounter Features 
  The main features of this area are the two ledges, 
  which are easily scaled (but cost 1 extra square of 
  movement), and the rat holes in all of the walls.  The 
  rats can move into these holes and emerge out of any 
  other hole. 
  Ability Tests 
  The players can have their heroes perform an 
  Intelligence test (Tracking) at difficulty 4 to see that 
  the rat holes are interconnected. 
   
  
   
  Hero Kids Adventure – Basement O Rats 
  Justin Halliday 
  Page 12 
  Monsters 
  This encounter features the king rat, plus one extra 
  giant rat for each hero.  
  1 Hero: 
  1 x King Rat 
  1 x Giant Rat 
   
   
  2 Heroes: 1 x King Rat 
  2 x Giant Rats 
   
   
   
  3 Heroes: 1 x King Rat 
  3 x Giant Rats 
   
   
   
   
  4 Heroes: 1 x King Rat 
  4 x Giant Rats 
   
   
   
   
   
  Use these health boxes to mark off damage: 
   King Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Giant Rat 
   
   Extra Giant Rat 
   
  Tactics 
  All of these rats (including the king rat) use melee 
  attacks against the heroes.  If they’ve got room, the 
  rats can retreat into the rat holes and emerge from 
  any of the other holes. 
  Conclusion 
  Once all of the monsters are KO’d, read this: 
  After an epic battle you finally strike down the king rat 
  and his horde of stinky vermin. 
  In the silence you hear muffled cries from one of the 
  rat holes.  You quickly investigate and find Roger 
  hiding in the hole.  He’s dirty and scared, but relieved 
  to see you: 
  “Thanks!  I thought I was a goner for sure.  I’d got 
  away from those blighters and hid in the hole, but they 
  woulda got me out sooner or later if you hadn’t shown 
  up to get me out!” 
  He gives you a big hug, which you reluctantly accept 
  because he is pretty filthy. 
  “I reckon you deserve an extra serve of ice-cream for 
  at least a whole week!” 
   
   
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Kid Friendly/Hero Kids/Basement o' Rats.pdf