Dead of Night | A 5e Zombie Survival One-Shot for Small Groups

Hold the keep. Guard the boy. Survive till dawn.

A cursed child is a beacon for the dead, and a wandering priest needs four nights of unbroken ritual to save him. He cannot fight. He cannot run. He cannot stop chanting for even a moment. That part — the holding, the bleeding, the standing in the dark while everything outside claws to get in — is yours.

Dead of Night is a complete, ready-to-run zombie-survival one-shot for fifth edition: a tense siege adventure in which two or three heroes (levels 2-3) fortify a lonely stone keep, range out across a ruined countryside by day to gather what they need, and hold the line against rising waves of the undead by night — until a patient, century-old Death Knight comes in person to claim what the darkness is owed. Build it once, run it tonight.

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How It Plays:

Each day, the party can reach only one of five locations and return before dark, so every choice closes another door — recover a blessed relic to weaken the final night, or haul back timber and stone to fortify the keep for the wave that's already coming. The priest's chant is your only lifeline: it grants a hard-won rest each dawn, and the day it breaks is the day everything is lost. Each night the dead grow bolder, smarter, and more numerous, building toward a four-phase final assault and a boss you don't have to defeat — only outlast, body between him and the door, until the sun crests the horizon.

What's Inside:

• A complete four-act siege adventure (80 pages), playable start to finish in a single session
• A day-by-day scavenge system with five fully detailed locations, each a scene with skill challenges, atmosphere, and real consequences
• Escalating night battles, from shambling hordes to a coordinated undead herald to a climactic Death Knight, with full tactics, contingencies, and terrain notes for every encounter
• Full stat blocks for every creature, balance-checked against 2-3 players at levels 2-3, with scaling guidance for smaller or larger groups
• Two memorable NPCs and four ready-to-play pre-generated characters, so you can sit down and play immediately
• A printable keep battle map plus a regional terrain map showing every scavenge site
• Read-aloud boxed text throughout, opening and closing hooks, a full epilogue with multiple endings, and "what if" guidance for when players go off-script
• A lingering cursed-blade hook to carry the story into your next adventure

Perfect For:

• Busy Game Masters who want a full night of play without the prep grind
• Small groups of two or three players, and tables that thrive on high tension and hard choices
• A spooky-season game night, a between-campaigns palate cleanser, or a horror-flavored detour from your main campaign
• Anyone who loves a desperate last stand, a ticking clock, and a sunrise that has to be earned

Dead of Night is part of the Ready Adventure Series — self-contained, 5e-compatible one-shots built for small groups and zero prep. Whether your table runs it as a one-night thrill or drops it into an ongoing campaign, everything you need is between these covers.

No prep. No padding. Just a thin door, a dying lamp, and the dead at the windows. Light the lamps, bar the door, and hold until dawn.