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Tag Archives: Bring It

Table of untested, untrustworthy and somewhat incompetent henchmen

July 15, 2013 5:51 am / 6 Comments / Chris

John
on said: 


Actually I just got done rewriting CSIO to give it a slightly more low-magic, swords-and-sorcery feel… a table of possible henchmen for hire…

Here’s a table of untested, untrustworthy and somewhat incompetent henchmen.

Roll 1d20 for each column Former Occupation Incompetence Motivation Attribute
1 Barkeep Bad at fighting Sick relative Nervous
2 Gravedigger Equipment upkeep On the Lam Tells bad jokes
3 Town Guard/Jailor Falls asleep on watch Just greedy Overconfident
4 Headsman Coward Pride (wants to jump class/caste) Obsessed with bathing
5 Prostitute or madam Easily confused Owes money to a wizard Glutton
6 Knight Clumsy Under a spell Drunkard
7 Farmer Sociopath The thrill Angry
8 Shepherd/cattleman Easily discouraged Spoils of war Young
9 Bard Hero worship Tales of old Religious
10 Sailor Oblivious Misplaced sense of chivalry A witch
11 Craftsman Wooden leg Redemption Sings off key
12 Librarian/scholar Loud Prove self/earn money to marry Good medic
13 Clergy (non adventuring) Very stupid Daddy/mommy issues Insomniac
14 Sewer cleaner Physically weak Just crazy Afraid of or dislike of non-humans
15 Printer Wanders off No other options in old profession Hedonist
16 Cook or household servant Can’t count Wants to travel far away A boor
17 Actor No sense of direction Voices in head giving orders Lecherous
18 Town bureaucrat Absent minded Mean Think of self as equal or superior to employers
19 Street vendor Kleptomaniac Death wish A fan of gladiators/adventurers
20 Town crier Generally mildly incompetent -1 to all attempts to do anything Prove worthy to god Knows many local legends, all untrue or the details are wrong in some crucial way
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Posted in: legacy D&D, NPC / Tagged: bring it, henchmen, tables

Dangerous Mines

July 15, 2013 5:14 am / Leave a Comment / Chris

Picking back up where I left off months ago…

R. Silva
onsaid:  


I request some horror scenes for an exploration of a dwarven mine, please.

Entrance collapses.

A fire in the tunnels above. You must head downward…

Loose timbers. Oh and look, here’s a dead giant termite. I bet there are others.

A dead canary (you did bring one, right?).

A trap involving a long and disorienting mine car ride.

Random noises will get the party on their toes.

A skeleton is strewn along a passage. Every ten to twenty paces a few more bones are found. The first are foot and toe bones, the last a skull.

Several pellets strewn about (probably an owl bear)

One single mithril object. Worth maybe half a kingdom. Don’t think that’s scary? See what the players might do to one another…

Players think they see a dead girl every few hours. Or some other creepy imagery. This is caused by gasses in the air. What one player ‘sees’ from a hallucination will be the topic of player conversation and more will see the same thing through the power of suggestion.

 

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Posted in: Uncategorized / Tagged: bring it, mundane

Minor Noble’s Entouage

February 4, 2013 1:53 pm / 1 Comment / Chris

Claytonian
on said: 


Members of the noble’s entourage. Interesting and dangerous characters that attend to the noble and protect him while doing in vogue things too.

This request is from the Mundane Request Thread.

Minor nobles will allow almost anyone into their entourage for the sake of having an entourage, which is of course a sign of great importance.

 

Firstly, there is the body man or handmaid—the servant who knows the noble most intimately as They also know what wig powder to use, which eau de toilette to use as the most recent bath fades further into memory and gernally deal with the soiled handkerchiefs, spurned milkmaids/stable boys and stained smallclothes of the minor noble.

 

The Cook. They are generally quite bad, as the good cooks are already taken, but he entire entourage is obliged to publically praise the food so as not to shame the noble for not being able to hire a good one.

 

The Syncophant: Usually a cousin or even lesser noble, this person desperately hangs on to the nobles ever word, laughs at the worst jokes and secretly hopes to have a torrid affair with the noble.

 

The Guard: This is by far the most well-paid member of the entourage, for without the guard, any number of people might kill the noble out of sheer loathing. The Guard, in fact, would be first in line were he not paid well.

 

The Secretary: The minor noble may have been tutored (see tutor below) but when it comes to actually writing an eloquent letter, the secretary puts quill to paper. He also keeps the schedule and acts as a social director (begs for invitations).

 

Driver/Groomsman: takes care of the horses, carriage and does the driving.

 

Protégé: Every noble must have a protégé artist in order to be called a patron. Poet, musician or painters only. Actors are gauche. Jesters are for kings.

 

Prostitute: some nobles have a bed-warmer. If so, this person is near the top of the hierarchy.

 

Beast: A noble will typically have a deformed person or beast (read: orc) hanger-on who serves as the bottom of the pecking order.

Banker: Entourages are expensive and many minor nobles are deep in debt in order to support them. The banker is a minor representative of the bank that keeps the noble afloat. Why? Influence.

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Posted in: campaign window dressing, legacy D&D, NPC / Tagged: bring it, mundane, npcs

The Ratmen

February 3, 2013 5:34 pm / Leave a Comment / Chris

Arr Mateys. I be answering your requests in a mundane way. Don’t be askin for no potion mishaps or magical codpieces in the request thread.

Trent B
on September 27, 2012 at 1:29 am said:

Well if you like you could create a small selection of ‘things some nonchalant 3ft ratmen pirates might be doing when they have stolen basically all of the ships/supplies and are now sitting pretty on an island off the coast which might have just been landed upon by some unscrupulous adventurers and their mysterious meatshroom tavern’? 
If you’re bored or whatever =P

Here’s your mundane answer, ya lubber:

The “3 foot ratmen” are a gang of nine brothers known for their longish faces and short stature. They are horrible sailors but excellent gunners, usually tasked with mending sails and swabbing decks when not in combat. Last August they were hired as crew on board Galadriel’s Garter, a privateering vessel backed by the Dutch. The garter’s officers were greener than their crew and at first encounter with the English frigate HMS Astonishment, the captain, first mate and both lieutenants were taken by chain shot. The Ratmen were the highest ranking left on the ship and they never, ever stop firing. They managed to cripple the English vessel so badly the remaining officers surrendered in exchange for a tow.

Which they did, after slitting the English throats. Alas, as I have mentioned, they are horrible sailors and managed to steer both vessels into the Fog of the Unknown and have landed on DedSkull Island.

Unaware of the dinosaurs, oversized animals, witches, fishmen, truant officers and weresharks surrounding them, the Three Foot Ratmen and their crew have declared a shore leave and have hauled the English rum and tinned beef to the beach. What are they up to when the party arrives?

 

  1. Drinking
  2. Burying “treasure”, mostly gold buttons and swords taken from the dead.
  3. Buggery
  4. Arguing over who is captain, first mate, “leftenant” and cook.
  5. Trying to figure out maps
  6. Making time with the native women
  7. Trying to open a hatch in the ground
  8. Target practice on oversized tree-living sloths
  9. Industriously harvesting lumber and straightening out nails to repair the ships
  10. Torturing a native to get the location of the lost city of gold from him
  11. Cooking a giant sloth over a spit
  12. Singing filthy sea chanties while (roll again)
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Posted in: content, encounters, legacy D&D / Tagged: bring it, firearms, mundane, naval, pirates

Bring on the Ordinary: Post Your Mundane Requests Here

September 27, 2012 12:03 am / 14 Comments / Chris

It’s been quiet around here, thanks to some gainful employment that fries my brain on a daily business. On the good side, I’ve been playing 1e fairly regularly and am helping wrangle submissions to this year’s Secret Santicore. I gotta hand it to Jez, Secret Santicore is a real crown jewel in the DIY/OSR community.

I did write one encounter for someone’s personal use (and thus didn’t blog it) and it was an unusual one for me in that there was no magic. Just the woods, an archer and a road. I purposely avoided anything fantastic as a key element of the encounter and I was quite pleased with the results.

Being one of Santicore’s helper elves also showed me where people’s minds are in terms of what they want from their D&D and I have to say this year will be pretty gonzo. With DCC and Carcosa coming out, I’m not surprised people are in a gonzo state of mind. I’m not immune–I read and want to play in DCC and appreciated Carcosa and I damn sure expect some top-notch stuff from the 2012 Santicore.

But then I’ve been playing 1e AD&D as a fighter with the New York Red Box crew. A dumb one–a pregen in a rules-as-written campaign using a Judges Guild module. And our magic user is reluctant to cast his spells, so in a lot of ways, there’s hardly any magic in this game. And I kind of like being a simple fighter.

And then I saw 13 Assassins. There has GOT to be some sort of kick-ass adventure there. And if this doesn’t make you want to break out Oriental Adventures or Legend of the Five Rings or Ruins and Ronin, you are a fool.

And then today I get my package from Sir Raggi, which had The God That Crawls and The Magnificent Joop Van Ooms, both of which are set on EARTH (thank you) and one in my favorite foreign city, Amsterdam. The God that Crawls scratches that shambling doom sort of itch, as its name should tell you. I expect I’ll give it a try. Joop does me a real solid with a wharf encounter table with only the tiniest bit of magic or the weird and more than 40 encounters that could really have happened in 1615 Amsterdam.

To make this short story long, I’m in the mood for the non-magical.  I don’t mind that most of the OSR is running solidly toward the gonzo, but I think I’m going to spend some time working out a table of brigand encounters and a dictionary of con games to run on your players. Low, low magic stuff that can be used every day and which should make your gonzo stuff stand out.

Keeping what I said above in mind, I’m going to take requests again. If you want some sort of material that is low or non-magic for your campaign, post something in the comments below. As I did last year with “Bring It”, I’ll get to it when I can, which might mean you’ll get it this year.

How is everyone doing, by the way?

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Posted in: commentary, content, legacy D&D, product recommendations / Tagged: bring it, dcc, lotfp wf rpg, low-magic, santicore

Random God Generator

May 23, 2012 11:53 am / 13 Comments / Chris

This last post in the Bring It series of reader requests comes from Twitter (my handle = @creepingdoom). [update: I got a request in the comments yesterday, so this is penultimate. I will take a short break from reader requests to get some ideas out of my system then we’ll get back to reader requests.]

All right, Daniel (may I call you Daniel?). I hope this is useful to you.

Random God Generator for Fantasy Campaigns

(also makes saints, bodhisattvas & demigods)

Nature of Being

First, if you haven’t decided what this being is, roll for nature

Roll 1d8 Nature of Being
1 Saint
2 Avatar
3 Demigod
4 Reincarnated Emanation/Bodhisattva
5 Local Diety/Spirit
6 Titan/Being/Alien
7 Omnipotent/Omniscient
8 Personified Concept (no strictness or jealousy)

Domain

Then, you can either skip ahead to roll the Deity’s purview or you can roll here for a domain.

Roll 1d10 Deity’s Domain
1 Household
2 Household + roll again
3 Human Endeavors
4 Human Endeavers + roll again
5 Nature
6 Nature + roll again
7 Personal
8 Personal + roll again
9 Spirit
10 Spirit + roll again

Deities in the personal domain are or were living beings who either were gods/demigods/avatars or they became them after death, coronation, etc. They might not have a particular purview or they might develop one after generations of worship.

Purview

Roll d100 for a totally random purview in any domain or if you already have a domain chosen, roll 1d20 and consult columns 2 and 3. Note that some purviews are opposite sides of a coin. You can choose, flip a coin or make the same god responsible for both sides of the coin (one might pray to the goddess of slavery for freedom, for example).

Roll d100 Domain Roll 1d5 for Domain then 1d20 for Purview Purview
1 Household 1 Play
2 Household 2 Fertility/Harvest/Babies
3 Household 3 Health/Disease
4 Household 4 Hunt
5 Household 5 Hearth
6 Household 6 Doors/Household Safety
7 Household 7 Baking
8 Household 8 Wine/Beer
9 Household 9 Sewing/Weaving
10 Household 10 Wealth
11 Household 11 Household Item
12 Household 12 Food (particular)
13 Household 13 Important Commodity
14 Household 14 Male Virility
15 Household 15 Bridges/Gates/Crossing/Crossroads
16 Household 16 Fidelity/Adultery
17 Household 17 Animal Husbandry
18 Household 18 Gossip/Reputation
19 Household 19 Books/Scrolls
20 Household 20 Important Domestic Animal/Insect
21 Human Endeavors 1 Invention
22 Human Endeavors 2 War
23 Human Endeavors 3 Indulgence
24 Human Endeavors 4 Theft/Kidnapping
25 Human Endeavors 5 Travel/Hospitality to Strangers
26 Human Endeavors 6 Sailing
27 Human Endeavors 7 Building
28 Human Endeavors 8 Exploration/Adventure
29 Human Endeavors 9 Cannibalism
30 Human Endeavors 10 Honor/Justice/Vengeance
31 Human Endeavors 11 Trade/Commerce/Unexpected Windfalls
32 Human Endeavors 12 Slavery/Freedom
33 Human Endeavors 13 Learning/Ignorance
34 Human Endeavors 14 Hiding
35 Human Endeavors 15 Art/Poetry
36 Human Endeavors 16 Healing
37 Human Endeavors 17 Protector of Our People
38 Human Endeavors 18 Mining
39 Human Endeavors 19 Sport
40 Human Endeavors 20 Gambling
41 Nature 1 Animal
42 Nature 2 Mountains
43 Nature 3 Night
44 Nature 4 Oceans
45 Nature 5 Season (1d4: Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter)
46 Nature 6 Plants/Woods
47 Nature 7 Predominant Local Climate/Weather Type
48 Nature 8 Fresh Waters
49 Nature 9 Natural Disasters
50 Nature 10 Thunder / Storms /Monsoon Season
51 Nature 11 Death/Destruction
52 Nature 12 Sun
53 Nature 13 Moon
54 Nature 14 Planet/Stars
55 Nature 15 Air
56 Nature 16 Fire
57 Nature 17 Earth
58 Nature 18 Water (all)
59 Nature 19 Natural Beauty
60 Nature 20 Decay (and rebirth)
61 Personal 1 King/Pharoah/Emperor
62 Personal 2 Queen/Empress
63 Personal 3 Consort
64 Personal 4 Parent of (roll again)
65 Personal 5 Child
66 Personal 6 Aescetic/Hermit
67 Personal 7 Bastard
68 Personal 8 Hero
69 Personal 9 Villain
70 Personal 10 Monster
71 Personal 11 Traitorous Advisor
72 Personal 12 Criminal
73 Personal 13 Folk Hero
74 Personal 14 Wise man/Wizard
75 Personal 15 Brother/Sister
76 Personal 16 Twins
77 Personal 17 General
78 Personal 18 Physician
79 Personal 19 Martyr
80 Personal 20 Roll Twice
81 Spirit 1 Wisdom
82 Spirit 2 Compassion
83 Spirit 3 Tricks
84 Spirit 4 Protection from Spirits
85 Spirit 5 Miracles
86 Spirit 6 Afterlife
87 Spirit 7 Pre-life
88 Spirit 8 Karma
89 Spirit 9 Undead
90 Spirit 10 Laughter
91 Spirit 11 Song
92 Spirit 12 Love/Sex
93 Spirit 13 Destiny/Fate
94 Spirit 14 Dreams
95 Spirit 15 Fear/Bravery
96 Spirit 16 Greed/Generosity
97 Spirit 17 Jealousy/Equanimity
98 Spirit 18 Hate/Love (non-romantic)
99 Spirit 19 Abstinance/Indulgence
100 Spirit 20 Bardo (Trial grounds between lifetimes)

Form

Roll 1d8 for appearance (if applicable). If you roll twice, combine the two (animal headed human, panther made of swords, whatever).

Roll 1d8 Form
1 Human
2 Humanoid /Demihuman / Unusual Human
3 Animal
4 Object from Nature
5 Natural Process (wind, fire, etc.)
6 Man-made Object
7 Monster
8 Roll Twice

Symbol

Roll 1d8 for a symbol. If you roll twice, there are more than one (cross and fish, tree and wheel, fire and winged man, etc.). Or combine those as well.

Roll 1d8 Symbol
1 Weapon
2 Tool/Household Object
3 Animal
4 Manmade Symbol/Letter
5 Natural Object
6 Monster
7 Body Part
8 Roll Twice

Colors

Every team needs a color or two. Roll 1d10.

Roll 1d10 Color(s)
1 Red
2 Orange
3 Yellow
4 Green
5 Blue
6 Indigo
7 Violet
8 Black
9 White
10 Roll Twice: Mix or Pattern

Offerings

This is what you have to bring to appease/propitiate the deity. Obviously roll again if the result doesn’t fit your campaign.

Roll 1d10 Offerings
1 Animal Sacrifice
2 Plants
3 Humans
4 Money
5 Work
6 Art
7 Goods/Commodities
8 Food/Water/Drink
9 Fasting/Deprivation
10 Help Others

Other Aspects

Roll 1d10 to determine other aspects of that deity on a scale of 1 to 10.

Strictness 1 = Forgiving 10 = Unforgiving
Jealousy 1 = No Proselytizing 10 = Convert the World
Opacity 1 = No Revelations 10 = Many Scriptures
Posse 1 = Random Lone believers 10 = Ecclesiatical Hierarchy

There you have it. As always, these tables are meant to inspire and you should feel free to pick and choose, ignore rolls or entire tables if you already have some ideas where you care going with this.

Any ideas for additions? Post them below.

Still reading? You must love Tables or Clerics!

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Posted in: content, legacy D&D / Tagged: bring it, clerics, gods, tables

Random Hermit Generator

May 22, 2012 10:20 am / 14 Comments / Chris

 

Heikki Hallamaa said:

If it’s OK to ask for another, then I’d have a use for a table full of weird hermits.

Milarepa, Greta Garbo, John LeCarré and Nikola Tesla having dinner. I’ll be here all week.

Here you go, Heikki. Roll five times.

Random Hermit Generator

Roll 1d10 five times Obsession  Converses with People Tolerated Quirk Secret
1 Meditation No one No one Talks in rhyme Related to party member
2 Prayer Birds Children Crawls on all fours Noble birth
3 Math Plants Sick people Calls everyone same name Great Swordsman
4 Botany Animals Lovers Farts constantly (hilarious) Spying on local child, waiting to train when old enough
5 Magic Rocks Most Unlike Self Collects others’ hair Wanted for crimes
6 Animal Husbandry Invisible Friend* Minstrels Great cook Former entertainer
7 Monster Biology Ghosts Seekers Talks backwards Veteran
8 Translation Puppets Lowest Caste Picks same lock all day Is a polymorphed monster
9 Supernatural Events Dead Mother’s Corpse  Perverts Herds cats Nothing
10 Apocalypse Roll again, but this time the results are imaginary Anyone with food Writer It’s all an act

* In the interests of clarity: a roll of 6 means a real, invisible friend. If you roll a 10 then a 6, then the invisible friend is not real. If someone talks to an imaginary rock, then the rock is not real but he will swear he has to squeeze by this boulder (that he talks to) to get into his cave. OR, if you roll a 10 then an 8, he thinks he has puppets on his hands and basically converses with his hands. A 10 then a 9? Mom might be alive. Or he might have someone else’s skeleton (maybe someone obviously not his mother, like a dwarf). Have fun.

Still reading? You must like tables! Here’s some more!

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Posted in: campaign window dressing, humor, legacy D&D / Tagged: bring it, hermits, tables

Suburban Adventures

May 21, 2012 9:07 am / 2 Comments / Chris

Describing these six medieval fantasy suburban hexes has been one of the more difficult requests in the ‘Bring It’ challenge I made in December. It took forever for me to start tackling it and then I spent a lot of time drafting new things to place in the hexes. At some point, I decided that there was enough content in the blog going back two years that I could populate the suburbs with my own encounters and creatures. I included the URL’s after everything for those who want to print this out and made those links live for those who want to read it online. I’ve gotten a number of requests to compile the blog into a pdf or print collection. Daztur’s request turned out to be a great framework for compiling content and in the end it was a lot of fun to do this one. I hope its helpful. It’s still a bit empty in some hexes, but I’m sure you’ll have your own ideas to add to it.

Daztur on said:

How about five hexes that can be placed around a large strange city in a hexcrawl. Stuff in a city and stuff in a wilderness I can do but the suburbs have got me stumped.

I am going to assume that your city, which I shall call in your honor Dazturburg, is a medium-sized city ruled by a duke. I am going to treat it as a single hex, and describe the six surrounding hexes, although you should scale these areas as appropriate. My interpretation of ‘suburbs’ means not quite wilderness (there are villages, farms, etc.) although the fringes might have some wilderness areas.

The Suburbs of Dazturburg

Dazturburg is situated on the River Daz, which is approximately two hundred yards wide and up to 25 feet deep. The Jahur Road crosses the Daz on the Big Bridge, which is in Dazturburg (think the medieval London Bridge, but wider). There are several smaller bridges in the city but no bridges in the hex to the north. There is one small bridge in the hex to the south, licensed to the Church (or churches). If you decide to locate this city within 30 or so miles of the ocean, the river rises and falls about 20 feet with the tides.

North Hex

North of the city is upstream or “updaz”, where the water is clean compared to “downdaz.” There are a number of fishing villages on both banks and several small islands where small communities live. These communities predate the city and their inhabitants call themselves the Daz. They believe their bloodlines superior to even the nobles of the city. If you want to stage some sort of Innsmouth-type grotesqueries, this would be the place for it. There are no bridges, but there are ferries, which by law may carry no more than twenty persons or four horses.

The fishing village of Daz is on the eastern bank. Midsteam is a small island called Midaz, where many small pontoons and boats are stored. If a caravan or small militia wants to avoid detection or customs fees at the legal bridge in Dazturburg, they can bribe the fishermen at Daz to create a pontoon bridge to Midaz. Having crossed, they must wait on the island until the bridge is then extended to the western bank. There, a small cave in the west bank cliffs that leads about a mile west where a secret exit is maintained.

Updaz from this secret crossing is a fairly wide (100 yards wide, half a mile long) island that some foolishly try to use as a crossing point. Here there are a pride of displacer beasts (south end) and a pack of blink dogs (north end). Anyone landing here is likely to be eaten or caught in the middle of the rivalry. The locals only know that evil lives on this island and they will never land there.

Smalldaz

Smalldaz is a village of about 15 families. Smalldaz is one of the few villages licensed to manufacture and sell fortified wines (brandy, sherry, etc.). In this case, the liquor is called (wait for it) Daz. The best Daz comes from SmallDaz from a family known as the Wilts. This family’s tradition of Daz goes back to the days of the lost city of Pantari, the ruins of which are in the swamps of the NE hex.

The Wilts were recently killed and replaced by a family of doppelgangers. Anyone investigating thoroughly would find the bodies of the Wilts have washed up on Ghoul Island in the south hex. The DoppelWilts secretly carry on the family tradition, shipping barrels of Daz down the river to the city. In these barrels they conceal baby doppelgangers, which resemble clear gelatinous blobs. They wait until the barrel is drained then emerge. The plan is to take over wealthy families by sneaking in through the cellar.

North East Hex

The Jahur Road approaches Dazturburg from the northeast. Caravans travel hundreds of leagues from the cold lands of the north through the city, across the Daz and hundreds of leagues more to the south/southwest toward the Iberic city Jahur, the “City of Jewels.”

As pilgrims, crusaders and merchants approach the city, they pass through many small towns. Most of the land in this direction is swamp land.

There are many shrines along the road for pilgrims and crusaders travelling to Jahur. Each of these has its own stamp/tattoo/trinket it offers (for a price) to travelers who wish to see the holy relics/praying nun/weeping effigy along the way (adapt this to your campaign’s religious peculiarities). Here is one unusual shrine along the path:

The Shrine to No God

A small chapel along the main road, the Shrine to No Gods. It is kept by a cleric, Brother Germaine, head of the Order of No-God, a religious order that consists of one Brother Germaine. His order insists that there are no gods, that there never were in the first place, and that all this divine magic is locked inside each and every specimen of mankind. Brother Germaine insists that he himself worships no gods, but that his meditations on the nature of man deliver him “divine” magicks. And indeed, he is a cleric of name level with no apparent patron deity who can cast spells. He is also as old as the planet, but has forgotten that. They party might learn this truth if he was kidnapped and rescued.

The Fat Pony Inn

There are many Inns along this road, but none so renowned as this four-story inn, run by a small charter of halflings. Their particular charter is to discretely collect research into magical spells. They are reknowned for their hospitality, their cheap yet extraordinary house meade and their willingness to secure any sort of entertainment their guests might desire. Each adult is a mage of up to sixth level. A sixth level mage (or bard) plays his harp nightly in the common room. A few hours past midnight, he casts a sleep spell in one of his songs. The others then gather all magical scrolls and books found on guests and copy them into their own library, which is in a hidden part of the cellar. (Halfling Charters: http://www.rolang.com/archives/168)

Crawdad Bazaar

There is a famous market outside the city that offers local fish, crawdads, wine, vegetables and other foodstuffs. Many items of contraband (purple lotus powder, dream snuff, etc.) can be bought if one inquires DISCRETELY. Here is one stall that might cause trouble for unwary travelers:

Bathilda’s Buns

Bathilda the baker, a woman in her fifties, has wild dreams of making love to a demon at night. His pillow talk tells of a skull buried under a stump in the forest. She seduced a woodsman to fell the tree and dig up the skull. As he climbed out of the pit, the woodsman tripped on a root and fell back, landing on the skull and piercing his heart on its single horn.

She puts the skull beside the coals of her oven when she bakes her bread. Each roll has a small spirit in it, capable of possessing someone who eats it, provided they eat it hot and fresh (the spirit rides the steam).

Bathilda spent a considerable amount of her small savings to rent a small place near her market stall, so the bread is hot and fresh. She has even started to serve goat stew (at a loss) to go with the fresh bread, encouraging her customers to eat it right there.

There are a few brothels along the road. Here’s the worst/best one:

Prudhella’s House

This brothel is ludicrously expensive. Mage/prostitutes use telepathic spells and illusions to enact their customer’s deepest fantasies. For most locals, this experience is too disturbing for repeat business. Prudhella relies on tourists for business. Roll on the carousing mishaps table.

Ruins of Pantari

In the swamps are the ruins of Pantari, ruined home of the famous Pantari Sybil. She was unfailingly correct, but expensive and very popular. This was the Las Vegas of the ancient world. Although sacked many times, there are still untold riches in the ruins. It is guarded by an adult green dragon. You’ll have to make this one up yourself, pal.

SouthEast Hex

To the southeast are farmlands granted by the Duke to the officially recognized church (or churches). There are several monasteries, nunneries and other organized communities that farm the land and produce food and luxury goods (cotton, wheat, meade, kobe beef…), the latter of which are not taxed by the city (although the Duke does get secret kickbacks and will be sainted by one or all of the churches). If you have several recognized religions, each of them has parcels of land. If there is only one, consider creating rival sects so there is some tension down this way.

There is a road that least to the south hex (toward the church bridge) and one that leads to the Dazturburg. There are NO roads leading to the main road (to prevent illegal use of the church bridge). There is a secret road that leads to the NE hex and the Jahur Road. Be careful for there is also a man-eating road that lurks nearby (http://www.rolang.com/archives/198).

One temple that could lead to adventure is the Temple of Orsobuffu (Which is too long for this post, but is at http://www.rolang.com/archives/400). Or you could put any of ten other temples found at http://www.rolang.com/archives/412.

There is one very tall mountain toward the SE edge of this hex. There you will find a Roc and a hidden dungeon. If you like published adventures, I recommend Dwimmermount or Death Frost Doom for this location.

South Hex

To the south is the downstream portion of the Daz, or “downdaz.” On the western banks of the river are slaughterhouses and tanneries, which add considerable stink to waters carrying the city’s waste.  Here also is the Church Bridge, which is  licensed to the officially recognized church (or churches) which use it to bring cattle from the SE hex to the slaugherhouses on the west bank. According to local custom, it is bad juju/luck to locate a cemetery, charnel ground or place of death on the eastern side of a river, city or holy place (as death offends the rising sun).

Anyone who wants to cross the bridge must show proof of church business to the bridge guards located at either end. The guards are in employed by the church, and if there are rival sects or religions, make sure they opposite ends of the bridge are manned by opposing groups, who make life difficult for those belonging to the opposing group.

Downdaz is there the less desirable land is and there are small villages and encampments found here. Among them is the mage caravan headed by Tullully. (http://www.rolang.com/archives/200)

Further south near the west bank you can place the Tower of the Stargazer or the Institute of Deathology. (http://www.rolang.com/archives/396)

Ghoul Island

This mile long island is known to the locals as “the Curse.” Something evil in the soil of this place causes the dead to walk. In most cases, bodies become zombies or ghouls. Partial bodies become skeletons (http://www.rolang.com/archives/274). In a thatched hut hidden in the woods is a mummy, who does not at all resemble anything Egyptian. He has hidden his soul in his liver, which is picked in a clay jar and buried among many jars of pickled cabbage on the southern end of the island. He has established secret signals with the churches on the eastern bank and the bandits on the western bank and can call a meeting with either (held on his island, which he never leaves). The Wilt family from the north hex village of Smalldaz are among his subjects. He is aware of their circumstances and will make a deal with or destroy the DoppelWilts.

Southwest Hex

This hex is on the Jahur-side of Dazturburg. Pilgrims on this side of the city have either already passed through the NE hex and the city, and are therefore broke or had their fill of trinkets and wares, or are returning from pilgrimage (or more rarely, a crusade). On this side, there are a few inns and a few fortune tellers who offer to divine the future of your travels. Also on this side are several cemeteries and a small town that has sprung up around Daztur College and its library. These were relocated from the city after a fire two centuries back and are located on the western side to avoid interference and trouble from the church (which sees the western side of rivers and cities as bad omens-see entry for south hex). If arcane magic is legal in your campaign, this is where a mages college thrives. Otherwise, it is a college where the zygote of an intellectual and scientific renaissance has formed.

Consider using this as a location for the Caves of Chaos, StoneHell, the Grinding Gear or the Kaotic Caves (http://www.rolang.com/archives/391).

There’s a bridge over an old flooded quarry here. In a nearby cave, an Ettin (Hoss or The Gang, or if you want to go for laughs, The Ship) lives off the meat of travellers headed toward the city. It carefully covers its tracks. (Ettins: http://www.rolang.com/archives/122).

In a hut in the woods lives the famous oracle, Medusa. I suggest using the Junkie Medusa (http://www.rolang.com/archives/84)

Northwest Hex

Every city has its playground for the wealthy and the Hamptons of Dazturburg are here. Selmarne has east and west ends, separated by the Duke’s hunting grounds and the Sel, a small tributary to the Daz that has been irrigated almost to death to support the vineyards and elaborate water gardens of the wealthy. Old money makes its home in the more desirable EastSel. Merchants and politicians are in WestSel.

Selmarne is patrolled by a sheriff and his men, who are supported and bribed by the wealthy families. Strangers are arrested on sight, but can buy their freedom, provided they leave Selmarne immediately (and are not carrying anything stolen from the wealthy residents). If crossed, they will kill captives and dump them in a swamp behind the Sheriff’s Hall.

There is a gang of bandits, calling themselves the Branch Men (after a branch in the Sel that leads to a waterfall and cavern instead of the Daz). These men firmly believe, correctly so, that some of the wealthy families use their estates for sex and lotus-powder, fueled parties and rituals in honor of far-away gods. They believe the mayor of Dazturburg is concealing half-elf bastards in his mansion and that Chez Drobonne, the finest vineyard in Sel, secretly employs halflings. They are absolutely opposed to any form of magic, arcane or divine and hope to rid Selmarne of its influence. The Duke has told the sheriff to do a poor to mediocre job of bringing them to the Duke’s justice, as he believes the Branch Men give the rich something to fear.

Thieves who are clever at disabling traps and sneaking past guards will be rewarded with the riches of Sel estates. In addition to monetary wealth, one might find:

Decanter of the Addled Gods (http://www.rolang.com/archives/105)

The Queen of Assassins (http://www.rolang.com/archives/95)

A coin collection containing a cursed coin. (http://www.rolang.com/archives/388)

A stubborn treasure chest (http://www.rolang.com/archives/144) that will only open in the center of the Seelie Market (http://www.rolang.com/archives/324) or another very public and strange location in Dazturburg.  and  It contains a map, adventure hook or perhaps a scroll detailing the construction of a belt of fireball skulls (http://www.rolang.com/archives/223).

The private cemetery of one prominent family has been infected by corpsemites (http://www.rolang.com/archives/18).

The Duke’s hunting grounds are off limits, of course, but anyone poaching is likely to get bitten by a bogpiggie (http://www.rolang.com/archives/133 — I am going to include this in every setting or adventure I post until I get some play reports from someone).

At the entrance to the hunting grounds is the Duke’s Pitch, a tournament field, where jousting, bear-baiting and wargames are held. Here any man may put his name on the lists, but magic and the use of poison are capital offenses. Some believe the Duke offends the gods by putting this field on the east side of the Sel.

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Posted in: campaign window dressing, encounters, legacy D&D / Tagged: bring it, Daz, Dazturburg, hexes, setting, suburbs

Table for Criminal Organizations in a Fantasy Setting

May 5, 2012 4:32 pm / Leave a Comment / Chris

tom timsum said:

 

Hows about a table of random street gangs or criminal organizations suitable for a fantasy world. Thank You!

Choose or roll d8 four times.

Roll 1d8 Organization Type Alignment Basis Reputation
1 Mafia-esque LN Race (or Ethnic) No Reputation (Yet)
2 Cells LN Wealth or Status Despised
3 Small Gang LE Neighborhood Feared
4 Secret Society LE Religion Hooligans
5 Militia N Family or Clan Barely Tolerated
6 In Disguise NE Political Honorable
7 Infiltrators NG Profession Loved
8 Large Conspiracy CN Charismatic Person Legendary

Notes:

Organization Type

In disguise means the organization wears masks or other disguises when they meet–ideally no one knows who anyone else is. Realistically, a mask or a sheet is a terrible disguise.

Infiltrators are a loose organization of “moles.” This is similar to cells, except that almost all members could not identify more than one other member of the organization.

A large conspiracy includes more than one organization. These organizations might even be opposed to one another (at least publicly).

Alignment

Chaotic Neutral organizations might seem a contradiction, unless you realize that not all organizations are effective. This might be an organization that has fallen onto bad or desperate times.

 

 

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Posted in: legacy D&D / Tagged: bring it, npcs, organizations, tables

Twenty Consequences of Miscast Spells

April 26, 2012 10:32 am / 2 Comments / Chris

Crimson King said:

I’m playing a Mage game, and it has this system where if you fuck up a spell or if non-mages see you casting it there’s a strange paradoxical backlash and reality warps around you in awkward and unsettling ways, like there’s a brief and terrifying rain of bees or you develop temporary coprolalia.

(yes I’m playing World of Darkness oh god don’t judge me)

so Twenty Consequences to Doing Spells Wrong, perhaps, ranging from mildly inconvenient to permanently disfiguring.

I promise: I won’t judge you.

Roll 1d20 Side Effect
1 Hair turned to feathers
2 One week of bad social luck (lower CHA or penalties to reaction rolls)
3 Character passes out for one day.
4 Two random limbs paralyzed for 1d4 days.
5 Disabling itch effects everyone within 100 feet for one hour.
6 Involunatary charm others effect strikes at next inopportune moment.
7 Character is muted for 1 day.
8 Character’s touch destroys currency, cheques, credit cards, etc.
9 Character attracts attention of any law enforcement nearby for 1 month.
10 Whoever is pursuing party gets 50 percent closer. If no one is pursuing, someone is now.
11 Nose resembles Star-nose Mole’s nose
12 Character’s failure will become legendary. Songs written, jokes told.
13 Character convinced there is rot in fingers. Will not stop until they are all cut/bitten off.
14 One limb is severed, escapes, then grows into a monster/demon.
15 Full-body rash. Concentration impossible for 1 day. Disappears after 1 week.
16 PC becomes enamored of next person who attacks PC.
17 Character of out and in both backwards sentences all speak must player.
18 Character is cursed. Must sell off all assets and possessions within 24 hours or die. Cannot sell to anyone they know.
19 The universe reveals location of amazing treasure (red herring).
20 TV-style amnesia. Conk on the head will NOT fix.

 

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Posted in: content, curses, legacy D&D / Tagged: bring it, consequences, spells, tables

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