DM’s Tool: Out of the Abyss Player’s Guide
This is a guide for 5e Dungeons & Dragons DMs to hand out to their players before session zero. Feel free to copy the text below, place it in your word processor, and make changes that match the adventure you want to run. You can also send the link to this article to your players if that is more convenient for you.
Session Zero
There will be no session zero for this campaign. Each player will create a character on their own. The only caveat is that every character will start as a prisoner of the drow. You can create a character that is of one of the Underdark races (drow, myconid, derro, etc.), but you will have to come up with a reason for why your character would want to leave the Underdark since the adventure is about escaping to the surface world.
The Underdark
The Underdark is an endless labyrinth of tunnels and great caverns ruled by cruel masters and filled with monsters that terrorize the darkness. There are cities and entire societies in the Underdark that have never felt the warmth of the sun and the cold hearts of its denizens are a testament to that truth.
Prisoner of the Drow
You have been a prisoner of the drow for the last 1 to 10 days (either choose the number of days or roll for it randomly) in an outpost called Velknyvelve awaiting transfer to Menzoberranzan. If you are not behind a heavy iron door in the slave pen, then you have been performing menial chores for your new drow masters. Ilvara Mizzrym rules Velknyvelve with her scourge in hand ready to lash out at any unruly prisoners.
There are other prisoners besides the other players’ characters. You will have a chance to meet these other prisoners and possibly create an alliance with them.
You will only have the clothes on your back and no other belongings. At the beginning of the first session, you will roll for a scavenged possession, not everyone will have one.
Who are you?
Your options are limitless. Create a character that has skills and resources that are beyond what you can buy at the market. This will be important for escaping from the drow. Do not get caught up in only the initial starting point and create a character that can live and grow beyond their imprisonment. It is a long road out of the Underdark and back to the warmth of the sun, so create a character that you want to take that journey with.
There are new alternate features that you can substitute the standard feature on any of the backgrounds. These features are Deep Delver (you know have to find food and water in the Underdark) or Underdark Experience (you have been here before and you know a guy that can help you with the lore of the land).
You could be a Guild Artisan who has traded their goods in the Underdark and has made several contacts in the subterranean realm.
You could be a Hermit that has lived in the Underdark and learned to find food and water.
Before Session 1
Keep the details of your character a secret from your fellow players. Provide the DM with a copy of your character sheet, a quick synopsis of your backstory, and details of how you were captured.
