designer's blurb: A classic module length adventure that relates to, but is in no way a direct sequel my previously written Prison of the Hated Pretender. Designed to be used in any fantasy setting, it is not intended to be especially strange or outside the norms for most traditional fantasy adventure games. from the introduction: Dread Machine is an adventure for a party of 3-8 characters of levels 3-6 that can function as a follow up to Prison of the Hated Pretender as it references (only vaguely) the same ancient despotism and its overthrow by an enigmatic sect whose regalia frequently features birds of prey. No understanding of the prior adventure is necessary, but some themes and ancient mysteries reappear. This adventure is not designed with any world or setting in mind, and should work well enough with any fantasy or science fantasy world, it is designed with the so called OSR or Old School style of play in mind, meaning it includes: instantly lethal traps, level draining undead, encounters that are best fled from and a general disregard for ‘balance’ or ‘fairness’. That is not to say that it’s impossible or even hard, just that poor player decisions will lead to character death, which I believe is best considered as much a part of the game as character victory.