The Ruined City of Limnus: An Adventure Site

Here’s something I wrote a few years back--my take on a ‘ruined city’ adventure site. It was originally part of a larger Limnus Vale sandbox setting I was developing for D&D, but it can be easily stocked, modified, and dropped into almost any existing fantasy setting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lo! Death has reared himself a throne
In a strange city lying alone
Far down within the dim West,
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best
Have gone to their eternal rest.
There shrines and palaces and towers
(Time-eaten towers that tremble not!)
Resemble nothing that is ours.

-Edgar Allan Poe, The City in the Sea (1813)

Ruined Limnus

•  A century ago doom struck Limnus. On a silent, clear day and without warning, an earthquake shattered the vale. Mountain tops shook loose into rumbling cascades. Buildings collapsed into rubble, city blocks plunged into sinkholes and ground opened up like a fresh wound. The surviving townsfolk fled for their lives. Within days Limnus was abandoned, cold and broken upon its hilltop, nearly forgotten and left to the slow rot of time. 
• Limnus remains a haunted ruin. Rumors of flesh eating monsters and prowling beasts keep most folks away, but the lure of lost treasure draws the rare, bold adventurer.

City Gates

• The ruined town lies behind a crumbling stone wall. The wall is collapsed and scalable in several places but is easily accessed through two prominent gates--one to the north leads into the Noble District, and one to the south leading through Miners Village.
• Arched stone gateways are now rubble choked and tangled with weeds and thornbrush. Chipped and worn bas-relief adorn the arches. To the south the motifs are of men with hammers and picks loading carts with ore, to the north, motifs of urns, and dancing women in flowing dresses among flowers and ivy. The iron gates lie twisted and half-buried in the nearby weeds.
• Several pits and fissures throughout Limnus drop down 100 feet into an open chasm below. Rock shelves burst with glittering clusters of clear and rose crystals and massive rock columns spiral up its height. From the chasm floor, tunnels wind below town- and deep into the nearby foothills.
  

Miner’s Village

• Crumbling wooden husks of small single room cabins, empty and overgrown. The shell of a temple devoted to an unknown deity of craft. Within it, an old heroic stone statue standing upon a worn stone dais--in one hand a hammer, the other a chisel.
• The statue's hollow head is infested with a buzzing swarm of bees. Honey drips upon the stones from its broken jaw.
• The head is set upon a rotating base, and following the party's movement if nearby. At the center of the beehive is its operating mechanism--an amber colored gem that floats up into the air and hovers at about 5 feet (it obeys the command of anyone who holds it for more than 1 minute).

Structures

1. grouping of wooden shacks
2. Medium sized stone buildings
3. Series of gated stone walls enclosing an overgrown area
4. Collapsed sublevels
5. Statue set upon stone dias (1. Heroic Miner, 2. Obelisk, 3. Saint)
6. Large wooden buildings with several adjoining rooms

Arrangement

1. In a tidy row
2. In a crowded jumble
3. Single isolated structure
4. Built with grid-like regularity
5. Built at random angles to each other
6. Built in tiers upon itself

Architectural Details

1. Detailed with ornamental borders, of an open hand, a miners hammer chased within complex knotwork. Colored crystals of various sizes are inset into the pattern.
2. Structure is perfectly symmetrical, made of smooth, uniform components- and shows little aging or weather damage.
3. Structure is collapsed perfectly sideways, and is standing at a precarious slant. Any disturbance will send it tumbling down.
4. Made of slapdash materials. Whole structure is improbably hobbled together with disparate parts, and salvaged components.
5. Structure is disintegrating with age & weather. Disturbing it will cause the whole thing to collapse in a plume of dust and rubble.
6. Structure is torn in half across an open rent in the ground. The middle portion of the structure has fallen into the crack, to a depth of 15 feet.

Flora Textures

1. Overgrown with knee high grass
2. Rampant wildflower blossoms
3. Trees growing around and through
4. Thick layer of fungal growth
5. Choking thornbrush (thorns deal 1 damage)
6. Dense tangle of bloodberry bushes. Berries sagging and dripping red juice from the branches. Chattering red birds gorge themselves upon the fruit.
7. Silver-blue Ivy covering and crawling upon every surface, creating a tunnel like appearance.m
8. Thick spongy luminous green moss covers the ground. If it is walked upon, a PC will sink to a depth of a foot.
9. A blighted area. The bones of small animals are half buried in rusty brown soil and no plants grow here.
10. Voluminous ferns, the size of a grown man grow here. They seem to sway and billow slowly, although there is no breeze.

Noble District

• Collapsed walls and gutted ruins of noble manor houses, crumbling temples & overgrown gardens. Mixed in among the debris and unstable foundations are any number of ruined objects associated with a life of upper class luxury, as well as the bones of the old dead. 
• Mutilated deer corpses are found at the gates into this district. A mated pair of Displacer Beasts hunt here throughout the ruins of burned and collapsed town houses. They slowly and carefully hunt any PC’s who venture into this area.

Structures

1. Manor House
2. Villa with central courtyard
3. Shrine to a god of wealth and luxury
4. Public Fountain with a water filled basin
5. Gated Garden, with rampant overgrown foliage
6. Large multi-story apartment building
7. A walled park with a gazebo, benches & statuary
8. Bath House
9. Lavishly ornamented greenhouse
10. Public building

Arrangement

1. Singularly placed, takes up its own city block or area
2. Shares a block with another type of structure (reroll)
3. Built in a grouping (1d6) of almost identical structures (Layout: 1. Grid, 2. Row, 3. Circle, 4. Jumbled Cluster)
4. Part of a grouping of several varied structures. Roll 1d6 for number and roll or choose from Structures table. (Layout: 1. Grid, 2. Row, 3. Circle, 4. Jumbled Cluster)
5. Architectural Materials (roll once or more)
6. Veined Marble block
7. Polished stone with infused colored crystals
8. Deep red oak
9. Wrought iron
10. Stained glass
11. Copper as ornament or structural material
12. Gold or silver ornamental motifs

Architectural Details

1. Free standing sculpture (1. Seductive nude woman riding a unicorn that is trampling a serpent, 2. The three muses (nude) dancing upon the bones of the dead, 3. Saint of a solar pantheon holding a phallic looking gold tipped spear, 4. Wyvern devouring a human body, 5. Nude men wrestling, 6. A laughing child with a golden halo, arms outstretched)
2. Porch with fluted columns
3. Tall steeples & spires jutting from roof
4. Numerous peaked cupolas
5. Single large dome
6. Large rose window
7. Massive skylights
8. Covered in gargoyles
9. Attached wing made of glass.
10. Pointed arches and heavy buttresses
11. Numerous unusually large chimneys
12. Bas relief ornamentation- (1.Filigree/ Knotwork, 2. Beasts attacking and devouring each other 3. Botanical motifs, 4. Salacious nude women embracing)

Merchant District 

• Tall hollowed buildings, wide streets, large open square at center. 
• 20 foot tall thornbrush hedges sagging under the weight of bloodberry clusters.
• Flocks of hundreds of bright red birds are loudly chattering and feasting upon the berries in swarms. Red juice dripping and pooling onto the ground.
•  Cracks in ground here. Several buildings have collapsed into sinkholes.

Residential District

• Closely spaced insulas and tenements. 
• Narrow fissures in the ground here drop 75 feet to a massive cavern below. 
• Dimly glowing fungus illuminate a natural chamber of valuable crystals and natural columns. A roper dwells there.
  

Basilica of the Sun God

• A large white stone temple bearing a crumbling gold flecked dome. Broken marble steps leads to its arched doorway. 
• Within, a crop of 7' sunflowers grow out of the broken stone tile. Morning-glory vines festooned with white trumpet blossoms wind around fluted columns. Iridescent hummingbirds and bees buzz about loudly. 
• At the far end of the temple, a large arched alcove emblazoned with solar symbols. Standing upon a dais is a 12' golden statue of a man with sparkling blue gems for eyes. He holds a laughing golden baby above him, its small arms outstretched in delight. The vines wind up his base, and wrap around his head like a crown.
• The seed of a sunflower  acts as a Potion of Healing if eaten; this property is lost if it is taken outside the temple grounds. A basin of clear water is also in an alcove, drinking from it grants the Sun God’s blessing once per day (reroll an attack, save or skill check within 24 hours).
  

 

Graveyard

• A perpetual mist and clinging gloom covers Limnus’ cemetery, even by day. Crows nest here by the hundreds, as well as vultures. Animals who dwell here are gaunt and sickly. The grass is yellow and brittle, the trees ominous and macabre. By night it becomes deadly. 
• The graveyard itself is a sprawling hill, choked with gaunt twisting trees, high weeds and thistles. Broken stones and statues lie everywhere, as well as rents and upheaves of the very ground. Ghouls emerge from their mausoleum nests after the sun sets, stalking the district in hungry packs.
  

Adytum of the Skull

• Mausoleum within the graveyard, high arched walls choked with weeds inside and out. Buried beneath the broken stone floor is a wide flat stone plug that opens to a deep, damp hole. Stone steps wind down to a small square room 12 feet below. 
• In the stone chamber below, a 6' tall  skull is carved in deep relief upon the eastern wall. Its jaws are set tight together--inspection reveals a seam running between its rows of teeth. 
• An inscription is carved in the stone above: “Shortly you will come to me, irrespective of rank or station. I take pity on none, and my embrace is for all and everlasting.” 
• If blood is smeared anywhere upon the skull, its jaws will grind open revealing a passage to the secret chapel of death within.

Lord’s Hill

• A high plateau rises above town to the east. Earthen ramps lead up to a curtain wall and a high gateway leading to the courtyard beyond. 
•  The gateway is unbarred, the gate is raised above and frozen with rust. Strange fetishes and ritual objects dangle from twine and thin braids woven from human hair tied to the bars. Pouches full of finger bones, animal skulls, bundles of feathers, clacking leg bones, etc dangle and twist in the breeze.

Fungus Bailey

• Beyond the gate lies the inner bailey. The ground is covered by a carpet of luminous scallop shaped rubbery orange fungus, punctuated by small patches of yellow and iridescent blue spotted mushrooms. 
• Mounds of indistinct human and animal shapes overcome with orange fungus are visible. Several trees and outbuildings are also overcome with orange growth. 
• The yellow and blue mushrooms are benign, and represent a much smaller proportion of the fungal infestation. 
• The bailey can be navigated by carefully hopping between blue and yellow patches, although this will require a dexterity based skill test. 
•  The orange mushrooms dominate, and represent a very poisonous threat. The spores rub off on contact, and bloom within an hour. If they contact flesh, a Saving Throw vs Poison must be made. If failed the character takes 1d6 poison damage per day as the fungus begins to spread. This damage cannot be healed naturally, the fungus must be burned out first or cured with magic.

Harpy's Tower

• Beyond an inner gateway lies Limuns’ ruined keep and mostly intact tower. A 10 foot deep wide moat filled with putrid mud (15 feet deep) surrounds the stone hull. An old wooden drawbridge is tenuously held in place on the far side by old rusty chains. Rising above the squat keep, soars a 100 foot tall round tower. 
• A harpy makes her nest in the tower. If she spies any characters within range, she will use her song to lure them into the muddy moat. Once dead, the harpy will fish them out later and raid them of valuables and eat their flesh. To avoid sinking in the mud, a character must make a Save vs. Paralysis. Failure means sinking 5 feet (to a maximum of 15 feet) and suffocation (1d4 damage/ round).
• The Harpy’s nest is at the top of the tower. It resembles an oversized bird’s nest woven with vines, branches, bones and compacted mud. 
• A large gold framed mirror is prominent. Polished skulls are set in a semi-circle along the edge of the nest for decoration. Fetishes dangle from strings, and small twig and feather sculptures are displayed in hollowed niches. All manner of treasure, and baubles looted from the town are stashed there in hollows, boxes and sacks. 
  
  
  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boons: Modular Options for OSR Games

 

 

 Art by David S. LaForce

I’ve been circling around the question of ‘character options’ for OSR style games for a little while now. My players seem to appreciate small custom perks, beyond what the B/X bare bones class progression provides. Up to now, we’ve been using a very loose system of ‘character knacks’-- every few levels, the players come up with a niche skill that grants a small bonus to an ability check within its purview. It’s gone fairly well. Knacks make leveling up a little more dynamic, but I’ve found their use within the scope of play is somewhat limited (it's maybe once every three or four sessions that a knack seems to be useful). Now that I'm planning a new game, I wanted to design a system of modular character options that were a little more structured, a little more powerful. Something closer to what we might normally think of as ‘feats’ from later editions, but working within the scope of B/X mechanics. After a few days of tinkering, I’ve come up with the beginning of a feat-like system for B/X and OSR retroclones. I call them Boons. It’s a skeleton of a system and will definitely see some expansion and tailoring, but here’s the start of something.

BOON SYSTEM

Progression: Characters begin with 1 Boon at 1st level. This Boon can be selected from the appropriate class category, or the 'Adventurer Boons' list, which is available to all characters. Every 3rd level (3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, etc.) a character can take a new Boon.

Mastering Boons: Many Boons can be taken twice and therefore ‘mastered’. Mastered boons often grant a further increase of benefit through additional advantage dice, or an increased numeric bonus. 

Advantage Die: A Boon will often call for an ‘advantage die’ to be rolled, within the scope of its effect. In this case, add an additional die of whatever die type is being called for by the general rule. Roll the total dice, discard the lowest showing die in the group, and keep the remaining highest dice. If two ‘advantage dice’ are being called for, discard the two lowest facing dice and keep the remaining highest dice. [Note: in the case of tests where “lower is better”, this logic is reversed.]

Types of Boons

• Adventurer Boons (available to any class)
• Arcane Boons (Magic Users & Elves)
• Divine Boons (Clerics)
• Fighting Boons (Fighters, Dwarves, Elves & Halflings)
• Roguish Boons (Thief)

Adventuring Boons

• Reactive- Add an advantage die to Initiative & Surprise tests.
• Observant- Add an advantage die to all Detect, Search & Listen checks.
• Ability Score Increase- Add 1 point to an ability score of your choice.
• Fleet Footed- Add +10’ to encounter movement rate. Move up to your full distance with a Fighting Withdrawl.
• Tumbling Fall- Ignore the first 20’ of falling damage. Reduce subsequent falling damage by 50%.
• Rapid Healing- Double amount of natural healing through rest.
• Inspiring Leader- Gain an advantage die to Retainer Reaction rolls & Loyalty checks.

Arcane Boons

• Arcane Memory- Memorize 1 extra spell of highest known spell level or lower.
• Arcane Spell Recall- A spell you just cast isn’t lost from memory; 1/ day. [Mastery-use ability  2/ day]
• Enlarge Spell- Extend area of spell’s effect by 50%
• Prolong Spell- Extend duration of a spell by 50%
• Extend Spell- Extend range of spell by 50%
• Empower Spell- Damaging spells gain an advantage die. [Mastery-gain 2 advantage dice]
• Cantrip- You can cast one 1st level non-combat spell once per encounter. This spell must be in your spellbook, but it doesn’t need to be memorized and is cast automatically without components.
• Reverse Caster- When you memorize a reversible spell, you automatically memorize its reverse as an additional spell. This spell doesn't count against your spell memorization limit.
  

Divine Boons

• Divine Favor- Memorize 1 extra spell of highest known spell level or lower.
• Powerful Turning- 1 advantage die to turning attempts [Mastery- 2 advantage dice]
• Extra Turning- Turn twice per encounter
• Versatile Healer- Convert any memorized spells to healing spell of same level or lower.
• Powerful Healer- Roll one advantage die for any healing spell. [Mastery- 2 advantage dice]
• Divine Spell Recall- A spell you just cast isn’t lost from memory; 1/ day. [Mastery- 2/ day]
• Enlarge Spell- Extend area of spell’s effect by 50%
• Prolong Spell- Extend duration of a spell by 50%
• Extend Spell- Extend range of spell by 50%
• Empower Spell- Damaging spells gain an advantage die. [Mastery-2 advantage dice]

Fighting Boons

• Weapon Proficiency- Choose a single weapon type. Gain +1 attack/ +1 damage when wielding it. [Mastery- Gain +2 attack/ +2 damage with same weapon]
• Rapid Attack- Increase attack rate of a single weapon you have mastered. Must have achieved mastery in the ‘Weapon Proficiency’ boon to take this. Rate of attack increases to 3:2 rounds. [Mastery- Rate of attack increases to 2:1 round]
• Great Weapon Warrior- No initiative penalty applies when wielding two handed weapons.
• Long Shot- Range of missile weapons increase by 50%
• Charger- Gain a +2 attack bonus and a +2 damage bonus when charging 20’ or more into melee.
• Two Weapon Fighter- Fight with a small weapon in off hand & make a single extra attack. No damage modifier applies to secondary attack. [Mastery- Fight with a medium sized weapon in each hand]
• Brawler- Fists and feet deal d4 damage. [Mastery- Deal d6 damage]
• Minion Slayer- If you kill a creature of 1 HD or less, make another immediate attack against another 1 HD creature within melee range. [Mastery- 2nd level creatures or less]
• Guardian- Forgo a combat action and take a defensive stance. You or an adjacent ally gains a +3 to AC until your next combat turn.

Roguish Boons

• Improved Backstab- Gain a x 3 damage multiplier to backstab. [Mastery- x 4 damage multiplier]
• Stealthy Move- Move at half movement rate as part of a ‘Hide in Shadows’ action. [Mastery- Move stealthily at full movement rate]
• Spider Climber- Use ‘Climb Surfaces’ ability as part of a movement action. Climb at normal movement rate.
• Thief Skill Expertise- Choose one of the standard Thief Skills (climb surfaces, find/ remove traps, hear noise, hide in shadows, move silently, open locks, pick pockets). When a percentile test is rolled, the result can be ‘flipped’ for a better result. (83 becomes 38 and so on). Must be taken for each individual skill.

20 Megacorp Occult Black Projects for Weird Cyberpunk Games

                             Photo by Drew Graham

Strange and secret things are slithering forth from the shadows of the sprawl! Here's 20 megacorp occult black projects to inspire esoteric stories and cyber-runs. For use with CHROMATIC SHADOWS (my in progress rpg) and other weird cyberpunk games.

1. Teleportation tech connects to a hidden excavation site (arctic/ jungle/ the moon). Architecture & relics are being removed & transported to a facility deep beneath the Sprawl.
2. Sigil magic and hypertech has opened a portal to a metadimension. A corporate team has established an outpost within.
3. A volunteer group of  'gifted individuals' are subject to experimental neuro-drift. Their collective mind-network is being utilized to manipulate alien artifacts.
4. Biotech chimera experiments. Human, animal and “non-terran” DNA are being combined in secret grow labs to produce terrifying hybrids.
5. Subjects are being dosed with powerful psychedelics while hooked into sense capture technology. The resultant data is concentrated and fed through algorithms to create Matrix based VR constructs. An alien agency is using them to tunnel into our reality.
6. Dangerous extra dimensional spirits are being captured by glyph tech and used as an energy source to power alien machines.
7. Corps are creating “soul tech”--deeply invasive neurotech, where a subject’s consciousness is copied and uploaded into an artificial body or a computer. The meat bodies are left on life support. Various experiments to reinsert a consciousness into a different body are well underway.
8. Neurochips are being developed that allow for a person to be “hijacked” by a distant operator and subject to total involuntary remote control.
9. Biohybrid nano swarms are being reverse engineered from alien tech. Only certain empaths have the ability to control them. But these controllers are slowly being corrupted by the psychic connection.
10. A mysterious and addictive AR video game has become the rage among a small subculture. The few that have beaten it are struck with delusions that aspects of the game are coming true. These people are being studied and treated in a special ward that is secretly funded by the makers of the game.
11. Off world embryos are being grown in a hidden facility. Under the cover of an illicit fertility clinic they are being placed into hosts for symbiotic gestation.
12. A ritually prepared research facility possesses powerful space distortion properties. A tiny storage block opens into a vast sprawling complex hundreds of times bigger than the outside area containing it.
13. Advanced mnemotech hooked up to specially conditioned subjects can project and replay every lived memory into an AR feed. Those memories can be edited and erased by an operator, causing permanent harm to the subject. However, erasing those memories actually changes the timeline. History is being cut out of existence.
14. A singularity has been created in a lab. It is growing bigger by the day, and will soon break through it’s containment field. If left unchecked it will expand indefinitely, sucking all nearby reality into itself.
15. A strange device receives transmissions from the future. A team is enacting targeted acts of terrorism in order to leverage their company’s future ascendency.
16. Experimental ‘rigger gear’ allows consciousness to be projected fractally into a swarm of “micro-drones”. In totality, the users consciousness is a unity, but separate it is diffused, reduced, yet ultimately connected.
17. Secret gentech experiments have resulted in a large population of animal subjects gaining human consciousness. Many are held in captivity, others are being employed as agents. Still others have escaped into the Sprawl seeking refuge and revenge.
18. Occult experiments & hypertech used in resurrection rituals. The dead are crawling out of graves in prime health, with no memory of time having passed. They seem to be drawn together for some uncanny ritual purpose.
19. Corps have discovered a genetic “fountain of youth” treatment. Aging execs in cryostasis are being awakened and reverse aged into their younger selves. A steady supply of “volunteers” are needed to sustain the program. These subjects are being systematically drained of their life force. Others less fortunate lie withered in vats awaiting further extraction.
20. A vast interconnected electric glyph is being created beneath a Sprawl neighborhood under the cover of a public infrastructure project. Once activated it will affect the whole neighborhood, causing a radical shift of consciousness.

MONSTER REACTION SUBTABLE FOR OLD SCHOOL D&D

I'm crazy about Random Encounters in D&D, but fitting them into the fiction, and making logical sense of them can often be a challenge. Not surprisingly, one of favorite mechanics is handily the Monster Reaction Table. Even with it's broad strokes, I'm usually able to suss out interesting motivations, and find a little more context for a randomly generated wandering monster. It occurred to me that, taken one step further, the Reaction Table could do a little more heavy lifting. The Reaction Subtable below gives d6 prompts for each of the five results of the standard B/X Reaction table. Roll or choose a result that makes sense. The subtable zooms in on the situation more closely, and provides more detailed context and motivation for the broader reaction outcome.

Reaction Subtable

Hostile/ attacks

1. Violent rampage (rabid, sick, poisoned, etc.)

2. Desperately hungry, needs to feed

3. Reaving/ robbing

4. Seeking revenge/ hates PCs on sight

5. PCs inadvertently harm creature, provoking defense

6. Calculated sadism

Unfriendly/ May Attack

1. Defending territory/ possessions/ young

2. Taken by surprise/ spooked/ startled by PCs

3. Surprised while eating prey

4. Defending a wounded ally

5. Confused/ agitated/ intoxicated

6. Creature is attacking another being, PCs get in the way somehow

Neutral/ Uncertain

1. Wants to rob/ con/ defraud PC, looking for a good angle

2. Injured/ aftermath of an attack/ trapped or compromised somehow

3. Obstructed from source of food/ shelter/ treasure

4. Desperate circumstance: monster hungry/ destitute/ deprived by some other agency

5. Creature is caught committing violence or crime

6. Carrying something valuable, worried the PCs might take it

Indifferent/ Uninterested

1. Frolicking/ playing

2. Intimate/ mating/ romantic interlude

3. Getting intoxicated

4. Working, performing some necessary task

5. Absorbed in food preparation/ eating

6. Performing some creative activity: prayer/ meditation/ art/ music/ dance/ writing

Friendly/ Helpful

1. Invites PCs to eat with them

2. Romantically attracted to PC

3. Invites PC to participate in creative activity (see above)

4. Wishes to give PCs a gift

5. Wishes to perform a favor or boon (return an owed favor, as a kindness, in return for something)

6. Seeks the PCs protection/ wishes to join the group, will compensate/ return favor somehow