The Golden Rest: Comedic D&D 5e One-Shot with Elderly Adventurers
Four retired adventurers. One misheard rumor. A whole lot of expired potions. The Golden Rest is a comedic D&D 5e one-shot that delivers genuine laughs before pivoting into unexpected heroics. Elderly adventurers hear about “The Golden Chest”—a legendary treasure vault in the mountains. They gear up for one last run. Problem: it’s actually “The Golden Rest,” a retirement community for former adventurers. Helga misheard. Then they drink century-old potions that cause vivid hallucinations. What follows is unforgettable chaos, genuine horror, and earned redemption. Complete 2-3 hour adventure for 2-3 players at level 3.
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🧓 The Premise: One Last Adventure Gone Wrong
Bernard, Helga, Greg, and Doris were legends once. Dragon slayers. Dungeon delvers. The kind of adventurers bards wrote songs about. Now they’re old, creaky, and desperately bored. When Helga overhears rumors about “The Golden Chest”—a treasure vault nobody’s cracked in centuries—they see their chance for one final score.
They pack their bags. Sharpen their swords (as much as arthritic hands allow). And before entering the mountain stronghold, they drink Greg’s old potions of strength for the edge they’ll need.
Those potions are over a century expired. They work—sort of. The strength boost is real. So are the vivid hallucinations that transform everything into dungeon threats.
This comedic D&D 5e one-shot begins with players experiencing the retirement community through hallucination-filtered perception. Confused receptionists become hostile guards. Walkers and canes become weapon caches. Wednesday night bingo becomes a dark ritual requiring immediate intervention. The comedy writes itself as players “fight” through scenarios that are simultaneously threatening and tragically mundane.
🎭 Comedy Through Misperception
The Hallucination Mechanic
The Golden Rest’s central gimmick transforms ordinary retirement home activities into perceived dungeon encounters. Players receive descriptions of what their characters see—not what’s actually happening. The DM tracks reality separately, revealing the truth only when the potions wear off.
This structure creates layered comedy in this comedic D&D 5e one-shot. Players make tactical decisions based on false information. They’ll spend resources fighting “threats” that are actually residents playing shuffleboard. They’ll search for “traps” in the cafeteria line. The disconnect between perceived danger and actual reality generates laughs without requiring players to act stupid—their characters genuinely believe the threat.
Encounters That Work Both Ways
Every hallucination encounter functions as legitimate gameplay. The “guards” have stat blocks. The “weapon cache” provides mechanical benefits. The “dark ritual” in the bingo hall presents tactical challenges. Players engage with real game mechanics while experiencing absurd narrative framing.
The bingo hall “boss fight” against Marge—the reigning arm-wrestling champion—plays as genuine combat. She’s tough. She fights dirty. She’s also an 87-year-old woman defending her championship title against what she perceives as very confused intruders. The encounter delivers tactical satisfaction and comedic horror simultaneously.
😱 The Tonal Shift: When Comedy Becomes Consequence
The Potions Wear Off
Midway through the adventure, Greg’s expired potions metabolize out. The hallucinations clear. And players see what they’ve actually done to The Golden Rest.
Overturned tables. Frightened residents. A receptionist hiding behind her desk. Bingo balls scattered across the floor. The strength from the potions remains, but the filter that made destruction feel heroic vanishes completely.
This comedic D&D 5e one-shot earns its emotional punch through the sudden clarity. Players laughed at the absurdity. Now they face the consequences. The adventure doesn’t wallow in guilt—it moves quickly to redemption—but that moment of seeing the destruction lands hard precisely because the comedy worked.
Ancient Trolls Emerge
The party’s rampage cracked open tunnels sealed for centuries beneath The Golden Rest. Ancient trolls—dormant since before the retirement community was built—are climbing up. Suddenly the retired adventurers face a genuine threat. Real monsters. Real danger. And a building full of elderly residents who can’t evacuate fast enough.
The trolls transform the adventure’s second half into legitimate dungeon defense. Players fight back through the damage they caused, protecting the very people they just terrorized. The tonal shift from comedy to horror to heroism creates an emotional arc most one-shots never attempt.
👹 Gorthak the Ancient: The Mirror Boss
A Villain Who Reflects the Heroes
Gorthak the Ancient leads the troll emergence—and he mirrors the player characters perfectly. Old. Cranky. Just wanted to be left alone in his comfortable underground home. The adventurers’ destruction woke him from centuries of peaceful retirement. Now he’s grumpy, his joints hurt, and these youngsters (everyone’s a youngster to a troll his age) won’t get off his lawn.
The final battle in this comedic D&D 5e one-shot works because Gorthak isn’t evil—he’s irritated. His motivation mirrors the party’s: he wanted one thing (peace and quiet) and got another (adventurers causing problems). The thematic resonance adds depth without undermining the combat’s stakes. Gorthak will absolutely kill everyone if not stopped. He’ll just complain about his back the entire time.
Combat with Environmental Hazards
The final confrontation incorporates environmental hazards from the building’s damage. Steam jets from broken pipes. Collapsing pillars from structural compromise. Spreading fire from knocked-over decorations. Players must manage positioning, protect vulnerable NPCs, and defeat trolls simultaneously.
The adventure provides complete rules for each hazard type. Steam jets deal predictable damage in specific areas. Collapsing pillars telegraph before falling. Fire spreads according to clear mechanics. DMs can run complex multi-element encounters without improvising hazard rules mid-session.
📦 86 Pages of Complete Content
Four Pre-Generated Characters: Bernard, Helga, Greg, and Doris come fully statted with personality guides, backstory connections, and roleplay suggestions. Each elderly adventurer has distinct combat roles and character quirks. Ready to play immediately—no character creation required.
Six Detailed Battle Maps: Lobby, common room, medical wing, bingo hall, basement tunnels, and Gorthak’s lair. Each map includes tactical notes, furniture placement, and environmental hazard locations.
Complete Stat Blocks: Young trolls, troll elders, Gorthak the Ancient, various NPCs, and—yes—a wheelchair mimic. Every enemy includes full statistics within the adventure. No Monster Manual required.
Player Handouts: The infamous treasure map that started everything (with Helga’s creative “translation”). Bingo cards from the interrupted game. Evacuation route maps. Printable props enhance immersion.
DM Guidance: Extensive notes on balancing comedy, horror, and redemption. When to lean into laughs versus when to let consequences breathe. How to handle the tonal shift without whiplash. “What If” sections for common player choices.
🎯 Perfect For These Tables
Groups Who Appreciate Tonal Range
Most adventures pick a tone and stick with it. The Golden Rest moves deliberately through comedy, horror, and heroism—and earns each transition. Tables that enjoy emotional range beyond “fight monster, get treasure” will find genuine satisfaction in this comedic D&D 5e one-shot’s arc from laughter to consequences to redemption.
Convention Games and One-Shot Nights
The 2-3 hour runtime fits convention slots perfectly. Pre-generated characters eliminate setup time. The memorable premise makes for easy pitches: “You’re retired adventurers who hallucinate a retirement home into a dungeon.” Players immediately understand what they’re signing up for, and the adventure delivers on its promise.
DMs Tired of Straightforward Dungeons
Standard dungeon crawls blend together. The Golden Rest stands out through premise, structure, and emotional payoff. Years from now, players will remember “that time we fought bingo night” while forgetting countless generic goblin caves.
Small Groups of 2-3 Players
Built specifically for small groups with no rebalancing required. Each pre-generated character can be run solo or split between players. The adventure maintains appropriate challenge whether two or three players participate.
📖 Part of The Ready Adventure Series
The Golden Rest is Book 12 in The Ready Adventure Series from Tim Mack at Anvil & Ink Publishing. Each adventure delivers complete single-session experiences designed for small groups with minimal prep required.
Other series entries include Love’s Labyrinth (Valentine’s Day cherub combat), Little Lambs (survival horror betrayal), The Spider’s Seminary (body horror cleanup), and The Other Side of the Door (goblin defense role-reversal). Find the complete catalog at anvilnink.com.
🏆 One Last Adventure
The residents of The Golden Rest are retired adventurers themselves. They’ve been bored for decades. When the dust settles and the trolls fall, they don’t hold grudges—they applaud. They GET IT. These old-timers just saved everyone from ancient evil. That’s worth some broken furniture.
This comedic D&D 5e one-shot delivers what most comedy adventures promise but rarely achieve: laughs that earn their emotional payoff. The hallucination mechanic creates genuine comedy. The consequence reveal creates genuine weight. The troll defense creates genuine heroism. And Gorthak the Ancient creates a boss fight players will remember.
Four elderly adventurers. One misheard rumor. One hell of a story to tell.
The Golden Rest is the essential comedic D&D 5e one-shot for tables seeking genuine laughs, unexpected consequences, and elderly adventurers proving they’ve still got what it takes.