Suggestions wanted: Adventure set in Medieval Italy

[robus]

I'm going to be in Italy for a month this summer with some college students and I thought it would be fun to run a short adventure for them in some of the free time we'll have.

I'm pondering cooking up something of my own creation, but I was wondering if there might be something in the vast array of D&D adventures that might fit the bill? (In the level 1-5 range).

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Sadras]

I'm going to be in Italy for a month this summer with some college students and I thought it would be fun to run a short adventure for them in some of the free time we'll have.

I'm pondering cooking up something of my own creation, but I was wondering if there might be something in the vast array of D&D adventures that might fit the bill? (In the level 1-5 range).

Apologies I don't have any adventure recommendations, but I do have an inspirational name and picture of a villain...

Innocenti di Malapietra

Viscount of Sirrechia, Governor of Caurenze, Viceroy of Ylourgne
One of Mystara's Glantrian Princes.​

 

[Derren]

What exactly do you consider "medieval"? That word gets thrown around a lot, but mostly people don't mean its actual time period when using it.
The early renaissance city state era of Italy might work well for an adventure. You might even be able to retool some technically greece inspired adventures by renaming the cities to Florence, Milan, etc
And of course every adventure featuring prominent trading cities will also work as all of them are basically copies from Genoa or Venice.

 

[Satyrn]

You could rip off Assassin's Creed 2 or its sequels.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Italy is lovely, definitely. I enjoyed it quite a bit (and the wine and grappa!)

I can't think of any D&D adventures that exactly match. I've heard that Sembia is the Italy-equivalent in the Realms. And there's always the old 2e Glory of Rome sourcebook. Going outside of D&D, Warhammer Fantasy's Italy is Tilea.

 

[Numidius]

Hi. Italian forumer here. I have an idea for a D&D italian based adventure set in real history.
The year is 450 CE, technically just before the proper middle ages, the western roman empire is still going but crumbling under the assaults of barbarian tribes from the eastern europe.
The story revolves around Attila scourge of God and Pope Leone the Great.
Attila, king of the Huns, after destroying towns in northern Italy, is proceeding towards Rome, the eternal city of the emperors and the early popes. As a matter of historic fact, the actual emperor Valentiniano the Third has already fled, leaving Pope Leone the First as sole authority in Rome. The history goes that the Hun barbarians army is tired of conquers, sick from maladies, and Pope Leone I manages to persuade Attila to not raid Rome and return in his land (Hun-gary).
Here's the twist:
In Italy we had a pre roman civilisation, the Etruscan, which left many Necropolis (city of the dead, dungeon-like huge cemeteries all over northern and central Italy). The principal God of Hell and Afterlife, was Mantus, hence the name of the city of Mantua (Mantova) after him.
So, Pope Leone the (not yet) Great, sends the Pcs to the big Necropolis of Cerveteri (30 miles north of Rome, on the coast) to find the McGuffin of Mantus, hidden in the depth of the city of the dead, long gone, and now full of undead creatures, monsters, whatever, then bring it to Rome and defeat the army of Attila, which, IRL was very superstitious, but had an entourage of sages from Greece and Europe to advise and teach him. Now that I think about it, maybe Attila himself wants the Etruscan God artifact, and only the Pope knows where it lies buried. I suggest to use the Real map of Cerveteri Necropolis, in the adventure.

Sinopsis:
The Pc leave the city opening their way thru barbarians soldiers and shamans.
Pc arrive in the coastal town of Cerveteri (or Tarquinia): prepare for the dungeon exploration. Maybe followed by Attila's scouts and hunters.
Pc enter The Necropolis Dungeon. IRL there is an open part of it with huge steeple like tombs.. then the so called street of the dead leading to the underground section. See the actual map.
Maybe cultists or drow-like people in the underground part.
Pc retrieve what they are looking for and use it to try to scatter the sieging barbarian army.

Google: Attila king of Huns + Rome; Necropoli Cerveteri; Pope Leone the Great; Mantus etruscan god; etruscan italy.

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1158

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Leo_I

Enjoy Italy

 

[robus]

What exactly do you consider "medieval"? That word gets thrown around a lot, but mostly people don't mean its actual time period when using it.
The early renaissance city state era of Italy might work well for an adventure. You might even be able to retool some technically greece inspired adventures by renaming the cities to Florence, Milan, etc
And of course every adventure featuring prominent trading cities will also work as all of them are basically copies from Genoa or Venice.

Pre-Renaissance, Black Death era - which will actually be turning people into zombies (as in Zombicide: Black Plague).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Ah, well I was going to suggest you convert the classic Doctor Who story Masque of Mandragora, but that is renaissance. But with artificers and firearms floating around, why not?

Or if you want something even more classical, try The Tempest by Bill Shakespeare. Technically, it's not actually in Italy, but the characters are Italian.

 

[briggart]

A low hanging fruit would probably be taking one of the upcoming adventures from Ghost of Saltmarsh and replace Saltmarsh with Venice or one of the neighboring islands in the lagoon, like Poveglia or il Lazzaretto Vecchio, both of which were used as quarantine stations for plague victims in various times from 1400's to 1800's.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poveglia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazzaretto_Vecchio