Sacrifice for the Bearded God

In Limnus Vale, a mountain deity is more and less than he seems! A short adventure full of produce theft, art supplies, hallucinogens, horny wizards, traps, puzzles, questionable child care, and riddles all inside a giant stone head.

The adventure is written for Old School Essentials, but is more or less compatible with any edition of D&D, old or new.  Take a look at my previous entries in this series for more information on the setting: The Village of Poddle, Ruined Limnus Encounters & The Ruined City of Limnus.

A BURGLED BARN

• Lola, the town matron of the halfling village of Poddle, owns a substantial vegetable farm. A large storage barn sits on her property.  
• Like all Poddle farmers, she has been preparing cartfuls of produce for Lord Grunewold’s thuggish tax collectors. The brutes are bound to be by any day to collect “The Lord’s Due”, the monthly tithe paid in a cartload of produce.
• This morning Lola awoke to a terrible discovery. The previous night, her barn had been inexplicably raided of provisions, and her elderly sheepdog Princess Saucy was found dead lying in front of the closed and locked barn door. There is no sign of forced entry anywhere. All of the doors and windows are securely locked.
• Lola is in a panic that she won’t be able to pay her due, and fears the punishment awaiting her.
  

KOBOLD RAIDERS

• Her barn has been the first target of a kobold raid upon the town-- not from above, but from below. Utilizing the natural tunnels beneath Poddle, a small band of Kobolds have dug an access chute directly beneath Lola’s barn in order to rob her.
• Under the cover of night they snuck in, and emptied the store of vegetables, and shuttled them down the tunnels to a hiding hole in the nearby woods.
• The intention of this theft, is to provide an acceptable offering to the terrible mountain deity, known as The Bearded God.

INVESTIGATING THE SCENE

• In the bushes directly below a high barn window (locked from the inside) is a small leather phial containing a few grains of powder (ground graveroot).
• It was accidentally dropped by one of the Kobolds as they were feeding Princess Saucy poisoned meat from the window to keep her from barking.
• The dog’s tongue is blackened from the graveroot.
• Several bright blue mushrooms scattered inside the barn.
• The odor of bitter animal musk hangs in the air. The kobolds slather themselves in giant insect secretions in order to travel the tunnels unmolested. The odor lingers.
  
• Below loose floor boards, a woven mat of leaves covnceals a 3’ hole in the ground. The hole drops 6’ and joins a network of natural tunnels running beneath town.
• Random vegetable scraps and three toed footprints following a northward tunnel.
• 150’ north of the drop is an east-west intersection. 10’ down the eastern hole, a spike can be seen hammered into the tunnel wall with bits of organ meat still clinging to it. Here the kobolds hammered a dead raccoon to distract the bugs (just in case) that lair further down the intersecting sub-tunnels.
• Any loud activity in the main shaft may rouse their attention, and the party will have to contend with 2 hungry Fire beetles in narrow quarters.

OUTSIDE PODDLE

• The northern tunnel eventually exits out into the forest outside of town. Kobold tracks (and vegetable droppings) follow a narrow footpath leading to a deadfall.
• Searching the deadfall reveals a concealed pit. Inside is the cache of halfling food stuffed into sacks. The Kobolds stashed this stuff the night before, and plan on returning shortly to deliver their offering to their god.
• If the PC’s wait long enough they will hear shrill whispers & approaching footsteps. Three spindly Kobolds in ragged hooded cloaks approach. If attacked they will promptly surrender.

THE KOBOLDS

Nukk- Blue scales, has a necklace of mouse skulls and shiny rocks, is eating a bag of blue fungus, blue teeth and gums.

Fung- Green scales, wearing a hat that is literally a decomposing possum tied to his head.

Jibjib- Rusty brown scales, a tattered halfling sweater and a long walking stick with a large dead bull frog nailed to it-which he licks nervously.
 

KOBOLD WARREN

• A few miles away a series of concealed caves along a rock face, opens into the Kobolds primary warren.
• A harem of 5 females remain there guarding several eggs and 6 younglings. The females will not fight unless their eggs or younglings are threatened. If the males are aware that their den is being threatened, they are likely to respond with inept violence.

SACRIFICE FOR THE BEARDED GOD

• These kobolds are cowards, and are easily pressed into telling their story. Jibjib explains that they are stealing this food not for themselves, but for the “Bearded God”, who threatens them and their eggs if they do not provide a sacrifice. Jibjib found the God shortly after they were evicted by Chief Lork from their old warren to the east, and forced into these nearby hills.
• One evening, Jibjib came upon a stone stairway that ran up a cliffside and led to a boulder strewn landing. He squeezed through the wreck of a fallen arch into a hidden cove, set back within a cleft of rock. Against the far wall of the cove stood a colossal stone statue of a great bearded head. Jibjib was so frightened he ran off, and came back with his brothers.
• It was then the bearded god spoke with a voice like thunder and demanded its first sacrifice. A mother goat, by nightfall the next evening, or DOOM should befall all of them and their kin! When the goat was delivered the God spoke again--they must return in exactly one week with wool blankets and a bushel of apples or else... DOOM!
• Every week they returned with the god’s sacrifice, but the God demanded more. Apples, potatoes, squash, chickens, pickles...anything they could steal from the halfling’s fields and sheds at night.
• Realizing that there was growing danger in pursuing these requests, the kobolds soon began the project of tunneling beneath Poddle in order to make their theft more covert and efficient. Lola is simply the latest victim of their ongoing larceny.

 

THE GOD'S HEAD

• The kobolds will lead the PC’s to the bearded god if asked, but will not willingly follow them up into the god’s clearing. The winding stone steps lead to a narrow foot path that squeezes through the wreck of a broken arch and into the hidden cove.
• A 30’ statue of a crowned dwarf’s head sits upon a massive 6’ tall platform in the farthest end of the clearing.
• Sheer cliff walls run up 150 feet on either side. Scrub grass and broken stone litter the ground.
• Arched portal is cut into in the left walls of the cove, leading to shadowed alcove.  
• Alcove is a low room, with natural columns of rock veined with sparkling black garnets.  Surrounds a 4' wide hole that drops down 25' to the Mud Pit area (see below). Smells of ammonia.
• Edge of hole is covered with bat guano. Activity here attracts a swarm of bats.

PSAMATHOS, RESIDENT WIZARD

• The stone-head is in fact a hollow tower, and abode of the lazy wizard Psamathos.
• Psamathos is short and fat, large red lips and a broad curly beard. He is happy to trick and swindle his way to a life of luxury, idle painting, and arcane dabbling.
• He is endlessly amused at the kobolds stupidity, but has a somewhat practical reason for the kobold’s sacrifice. He is feeding a baby giant.
• Psamathos discovered a baby Ettin in a cave some months ago, and decided to raise it in the basement of his lair as his loyal minion. Its growth rate has accelerated in recent months, requiring an increasing supply of food to satisfy its prodigious hunger.
• The giant baby is quickly outgrowing its cage, but Psamathos hasn’t acted on this yet. He has been distracted by an ongoing love-affair with a beautiful woodland fae that he calls Calliope.
• Calliopee is mute (or doesn’t talk) but they enjoy making love, drinking wine and eating the halflings food. Psamathos is also an energetic amateur artist, and spends hours sketching and painting his curvaceous muse. Dozens of lusty sketches are piled haphazardly about his lair.
• Psamathos is phobic of outsiders and would rather flee than negotiate, but he’s no fool. He values his life and knows when he’s been bested. Depending on how the PC’s play their interaction with him, he could be a potential ally. If Psamathos is threatened, he will try to flee first, relying on his various traps to neutralize his opponent. If cornered he will use his magic ruthlessly, but will surrender if things seem to be going badly.

VOICE OF THE GOD

• When the party first approaches he head, the Bearded God speaks with a voice like cracking thunder. “HOLD MORTAL!!! Leave your sacrifice and come no closer, lest ye feel the wrath of the Bearded God!!!” 
• Psamathos uses Auditory Illusion to throw his voice out into the clearing and amplify it to a terrible volume. If the party approached any closer, he will cast Chromatic Orb (using one of the many dangling gems from the observation deck) through the empty eye sockets of the statue. If this defence fails he will race upstairs to arm his traps and flee to the tunnels below.

PSAMATHOS' TACTICS

• His tactics include retreating to the Mud Pits and using his magic ring to levitate up the shaft to escape. If Psamathos is pressed, he use his magic and Wand of Illusions to thwart the PCs in any way he can. 

Psamathos

Illusionist, level 4, hp 11, AC 13

Spells: Auditory Illusion, Chromatic Orb, Blindness/ Deafness, Fascinate

Ring of Levitation

Ring of Protection +2

Wand of Illusions (10 charges)

Silver dagger

STONE HEAD TOWER

1st Level  

Studio Lounge

• At the top of the head is a stone plug with a handle. The trapdoor is locked from within, but can be forced open with a Strength check.
• The smell of incense is heavy in the small furnished room within. Woven rugs, tapestries, a small easel is set up with watercolor paintings. Paint, charcoal, jar of water. Paintings on the wall of rocky landscapes, figure drawings of a nude elf on the couch in a leather folder. 
• Couch pushed against wall. Large golden birdcage on a pedestal. Potted ivy and orchids. Pipe in pipe stand with jar of leaf, jug of sweet wine (half drunk), two goblets, on a small table. Glass bulbs dangling from thin chain glow faintly.
• Ladder leads down through porthole.

Frog Trap

• A metal cage is bolted to a low stone pedestal. Inside the cage is a large iridescent stone frog (AC 16, hp 8). Out of its mouth streams a gout of sweet smelling smoke. Make a poison save or start hallucinating.
• Characters who fail the save enter a fugue state where they believe they are turning into a frog-person. Characters suffer a -2 on attacks and saves, until effects resolve. The drug wears off in 1d6 turns.
  
• The cage is locked, but can be broken open. On the underside of the frog is the word “Somnus”. If spoken, it croaks once and the smoke ceases. If the frog is broken, it explodes in a cloud of green smoke that looks like hundreds of hopping frogs.

2nd Level

Observation Deck

• Heavy ladder leads down frm level 1 into this level, connecting to two wooden scaffold-like platforms before reaching the floor. The platforms are at the eyes and mouth of the dwarf head. Peepholes look out from here into the outside clearing.
• At the “eye level”, a wooden stools sits next to a small mounted telescope. Variojs crystals and gems dangle from string catching the light (Psamathos uses these to cast Chromatic Orb). 
• At the mouth level, another simple stool, with a jug of half drunk wine, and a half eaten wheel of cheese.
  
• At the floor level, a sliding door is set into the wall opposite the platforms leading to the elevator trap.
•  A swinging door in the floor leads down to level 3.

Elevator Trap

• The sliding door from the observation deck leads to a small chamber the shape of a half cylinder bisected along its height. Inset into the wall near the door is a lever with a pulsing red glass ball on the end. A framed watercolor of two deer with the faces of women rubbing noses- is mounted next to the lever at about eye height.
• If the lever is pulled, it locks into the “down” position. The sliding door locks and the far wall begins to slowly pivot. In two rounds, the pc’s will be swept into a 40’ chute dropping down to the Mud Pit below (4d6 falling damage, save for half).
• The painting hides a panel. Within are three glass balls (with threaded sockets). Blue, green, purple, and an empty spot for the yellow ball (presently in the cabinet trap). If the red ball is replaced with the green, the lever can be moved back into the “up position”, the trap stops and resets. Purple, and Green do nothing.

3rd Level

Wizards Lab

• Small bedchamber and study. Tapestries on walls. Rugs on floor.
• A shelf with books (field guides to giants and giant kin, several hand-made field guides to plants, animals & fungus, Remedies: Magic & Mundane, Abjuration Theory & Practice) desk, with quill, ink bottles, parchment, reading lenses.
• Painting of a sexy elf with bare breasts, wearing a mask of leaves holding a baby unicorn in her lap.
• A pile of parchments with scrawled text common letters next to archaic dwarven letters. Book of ancient dwarf language (A Dozen Dead Dwarf Dialects) is open on desk.
• Sliding door leads to adjacent workshop.

Workshop

• A work bench with vials of crystal powder. Wooden cubby attached to the wall. Clay pots filled with herbs and dried mushrooms, insects, bones, fingernail clippings, feathers, dehydrated snakes, birds, frogs (eat a frog and cure the frog-voice). Mortar & pestle, several clay jugs of different types of liquid (alcohol, olive oil, sea water, etc.). Pile of firewood. Inventory of regents, etc.
• Small (hot) wood burning stove (black cylinder with swinging door- exhaust feeds into wall).
• Ebony salamander cabinet (see below)
  
• Trapdoor leads to a flight of to stairs leading down to the sublevel.
  

Cabinet Trap

• Small ebony cabinet pushed against a wall. Black salamander statue with orange eyes (worn paint) and wide open mouth is mounted on top, hot to the touch. [Deactivate trap by pushing both eyes down] Two doors swing open. It is locked. Testing the doors without disarming the trap will cause the salamander to blast a tongue of flame (2d6 damage; save for ½) .
• The chest contains a potion of healing, several pouches of gems and fragrant oil, a pouch of gold and silver, a yellow threaded ball that fits the lever (activates elevator), a translation of the monolith riddle in a scroll case & a backup spellbook.

Sublevel: Landing & Well

• Stairs wind down 30’ to a landing. A circular well is cut here & fit with winch and rope. Barrels of water, and buckets are pushed up against the wall.
• Roots dangle out of the earthen ceiling. A barrel filled with bent metal, broken weapons and scraps of armor.
• Two passages split off. Smells of unwashed animal and urine- stronger to the left, tangy metallic smell to right.

Rust Chamber (to the right)

• Wooden door, latched with a wooden peg. Small irregular stone chamber with piles of red dust scattered about. A small hole in the wall is the den of Psamathos’ pet Rust Monster. A small fissure in the ground on the far end of the Rust Monsters lair leads to the Mud Pit room.
• A wider hole opens in the ceiling & leads up to ground level after about 30 feet A swarm of bats live in there and will attack anything that tries to descend or ascend that takes more than 1 round.

Food Storage/ Nursery (to the left)

• Storage room, filled with stolen provisions.
• As the PC’s approach they notice a total absence of sound. Hanging from the ceiling is a severed human ear, stuffed with wool, dipped in wax- the word “hush” is tattooed in tiny script hundreds of times upon it. It creates a 15’ zone of silence. Removing it from the string ends the effect. Reading all of the words while it dangles will recreate the effect.
• Against the far wall is a 4’ x 4’ cage, covered with a tarp. Crouching inside of it is a juvenile Ettin- it has almost outgrown its cage. Its skin is gray and pebbly. It’s two faces porcine, shovel jawed, with small tusks.
• If the silence is broken it starts to grunt and bellow and shake the cage as the PC’s approach. It will wail and point its fingers at it’s two mouths. If it is left unfed it will rage until it breaks out of its cage.
• In the far corner of the room is a fissure in the floor, that tumbles 15 feet down to the Mud Pit area.
  

MUD PITS

• Mud filled chamber that wraps around the complex. 1' of sludge throughout.
  
• A Carrion Crawler has been attracted to this chamber due to all of the shit and scraps being washed down the hole. 
• This is where the PC’s will fall is they fail the elevator trap, if they climb down the guano hole in the alcove, or through the crevasse in the nursery.
• There is a stone landing here where the elevator touches down if activated with the yellow knob.

Island and Monolith

• A boulder rises out of the center of the muck. Upon it is a black obsidian monolith with a dwarf  riddle inscribed upon it.
• If the riddle is solved, a hidden door slides backs revealing a tunnel and stairs leading down into the abyss below.

The Riddle:

Born in the grave, I am one yet two

I am small, yet golden towers rise at my passing.

Men cast me into the sea, but my filth feeds empires

(Answer: a worm)

Limnus Vale: The Village of Poddle

This is entry sketches another adventure site in my Limnus Vale setting. It follows, and expands upon the previous Ruined Limnus Encounters and The Ruined City of Limnus posts. Written for old school D&D, but suitable for any edition, and easy to drop into any existing existing fantasy setting.

Geography

The halfling village of Poddle is built upon the rolling fields between the plateau of ruined Limnus to the north and the shadow of the Fangs to the south. To the east a tangle of woods and rocky foothills tumble to meet the the base of the treacherous Ashen Peaks. To the west, a small dirt pass meets the Traders Way which winds to the north and south.

Lifestyle

The halflings of Poddle possess a rare genius of wool-craft, and their dyed yarn have become a high value item in Pul to the south. Cartloads of colorful bundles are shipped down the the trade roads and turn a healthy profit. Life in Poddle is busy, tidy and prosperous for the halflings. Up until recently, monster incursions have been few and far between, manageable by the sheriff and his deputies.

Poddle is exclusively populated by halflings. The village is a mixture of small family homes, farmhouses, quaint shops and merchant stalls. Most of the halflings live in spacious circular cottages of wood, stucco & thatch painted bright cheerful colors. Every halfling keeps personal gardens of flowers and vegetables. Families, labor in the fields and orchards. Corn, and wheat are staples, but also potatoes, cabbage, pumpkins and squash. Apples, pears and peaches are abundantly harvested from numerous groves of fruit trees. This bounty is sold at the the Poddle town market, but also traded south with Pul in the form of grain, cider, jams, pickles and other preserved goods.

Dress & Culture

Poddle halflings dress in colorful oversized embroidered wool sweaters tied with belts at the waist, and large and absurdly designed felt hats. The halflings are incredibly fecund. It is not uncommon for the average family to have anywhere between 6-12 children, all spaced closely together. All halflings are implicitly trusting, and painfully polite and gracious. Complaint or rudeness is considered a sign of ingratitude, and is avoided as a matter of deep cultural habituation.

Giant Long Hair Sheep

Poddle's prosperity is chiefly through their trade of soft wool, and dyed yarn shorn from their exotic giant long-haired sheep. At the edge of town, several long curvilinear barns are built to house the animals. Keeping and breeding these animals is a notoriously difficult task. The Giant Long-Hairs are of a singularly difficult disposition- prone to escape, and foul tempers. The secret of the halfling’s success at shepherding is their consummate skill at dog-training.

Shire Collies

Shire Collies are long used and trained by the halflings for generations out of memory. They have alert pointed ears, a soft mottled coats of rich chocolate brown, and a white belly and neck. They are extraordinarily intelligent, trained from pups to obey complex voice commands and whistle patterns. The dogs excel at herding and watching over the sheep, as well as being loyal companions to the various families. Rumor holds that some halflings can even speak the sharp barking language of the collies.

Problems in Poddle

Lord Grunewold arrived two years ago and began flexing his influence from the reclaimed watchtower known as Cloudspear Keep high in the Fangs to the south. His herald rode into Poddle one morning announcing “The Heir of Limnus has returned! He ushers a new an age of prosperity into these lands!” The halflings were prospering just fine before, but being polite, and trusting of authority, they agreed to this new Lord’s dominion.  Grunewold soon demanded a tax of wool profits, in exchange for his “protection”- protection that has amounts to little more than harassment at any sign of halfling curiosity toward the ruins of Limnus or Grunwold’s broader interests in the valley.

Produce Tax

At the beginning of spring, things got worse. Grunewold's soldiers began demanding cartloads of produce as a new monthly tax. Vegetables, apples, cider, beer, eggs, smoked meats, pickles--a full cart from every farm is now the Lord’s claim. His riders swoop in unexpectedly to make sure the carts are being filled regularly. As a result, the halflings have begun to live more frugally- donating food from their personal gardens and pantries, to offset this terrible price. Privately, they don’t understand why Grunewold is being so cruel- they hope he has a plan, and will someday soon make good on his promise of prosperity and protection.

Bugs

Lord Grunewold’s co-conspiritor, the wizard Xasthur has begun an operation of clearing out the mines in the hills south of Limnus. This has disturbed the habitat of several monstrous vermin. Giant centipedes, spiders and beetles have been sent scuttling to the north in search of less hostile tunnels. Several of these creatures have begun lairing in the natural tunnels beneath Poddle. These vermin have begun digging to the surface to attack sheep. Worse still, two collies have died in defence of their charges.

Emergency Bells

Sheriff Finn and his deputies were on the scene at the last attack and managed to gravely injure a giant centipede before it scuttled away. But people are beginning to fear that the fields are becoming hostile, and that their sheep and dogs are no longer safe. Townsfolks have begun to hang ”emergency bells” near their homes and farms in the event of future attack. As a result most silverware and any spare metal objects have been melted down by the town blacksmith. The bells can be seen hanging from the eaves of homes and heard tinkling in the breeze.

Tunnels

The bugs will get more bold if left unchecked. Large burrows in the grazing fields can be followed back to the main tunnel complex. On any given day, there is a 1 in 6 chance of a random bug encounter. As the weeks pass, the chances increase by 1. Before long, the halflings will be forced to reckon with the issue. At first they will try to stop up the holes and set overnight watches. They may even succeed in killing a few, but soon the halflings themselves will start getting injured or killed. The most decisive thing to do is to go into the tunnels and destroy the insects at the source. There are active brood-nests within the tunnels and earthen chambers housing egg caches and larvae. If these nests can be destroyed, the insects will vacate the surrounding tunnels.

Lloyd’s Wall

In response to the recent threat, the village carpenter Lloyd and his three eldest sons have begun constructing a palisade of sharpened logs 8 feet tall around the village. It is an impossibly difficult task for the four of them, but they are determined that if they begin, others will join in. The other halflings think Lloyd is being eccentric and over-reacting. At the present time, the wall is barely 50 feet wide, but Lloyd spends his every waking hour working on it at the expense of other jobs. He is determined to keep his people safe.

Poddle Rumors and Plot Hooks

1. Lord Grunevold’s has a daughter who wears a porcelain doll’s mask. She can be heard screaming high in the tower, sometimes all night long.
2. A merchant stayed in Poddle a month ago, who said he was attacked in the night by a gang of skull faced demons. He lost his cart and all of his goods, and barely escaped with his life.
   
3. There is a chasm filled with the bones of giants and treasure east of the Fangs. The giant’s skulls are filled with golden teeth.
4. The Doom of Limnus came beause the miners dug too deep and angered a terrible power deep beneath the mountain.
   
5. A red robed man and the Lord's knights has been seen riding up into Limnus every morning for the past week, sometimes they bring carts with them, and stay until dusk.
6. Sometimes at night behind the orchards you can hear the sound of hammers echoing off the hills, like someone is digging in the distance.
7. Before Limnus was destroyed by an earthquake, the miners found the bodies of ancient dwarves e deep in the mountains. The miners were trying to dig deeper to find out where they had come from when the whole mountain collapsed during the earthquake. The dwarves were buried in the Limnus graveyard.
8. There is a lake on the rock shelf above the valley that feeds the stream that flows past Limnus. It is said that in the center of the lake is a stone island, and in the light of the moon a white spire can be seen reflected in the lake.
9. During the Doom, some boulders broke free from the mountain side and floated right up into the air! There is a big one high in the hills north of the Fangs.
10. The town herbalist will pay good money for the bloodberries that grow in Limnus. It's said they only grow in the places where people have died, and their blood has soaked into the ground.

Poddle NPC’s

• Mayor-Bobbert
• Sheriff -Finn
• Deputy-Shiloh
• Deputy- Sage
• Town Carpenter- Lloyd
• Matron- Lola
• Herbalist- Marta
• Blackmith- Janos

Poddle Random Tables

WHO?

1. Town drunk
2. Dirty raucous children
3. A blind old old man
4. A group of giddy halfling girls in bright wool dresses
5. A mother leading her troop of 3d6 children
6. Farmer with his cart of produce
7. Town deputy with a shiny badge
8. Group of slow moving elderly halflings
9. Flirty halfling ladies
10. Strapping young halfling youth
11. Village handyman
12. An elderly matron
    

DOING WHAT?

1. Eating (1. pies, 2. pickles, 3. muffins, 4. roast chicken, 5. apples, 6.eggs, 7. mashed potatoes, 8. bowl of berries)
2. passed out and snoring loudly
3. Breaking into a wooden crate of full of produce
4. Dancing wildly
5. playing with puppies
6. Arguing/ agitated (roll another “who”)
7. Singing / playing an instrument
8. Relieving themself publicly
9. Kissing/ hugging (roll another “who”)
10. Sobbing loudly
11. Gossiping intensely (roll with “who” and about “who”)
12. Wrestling a sheep

WHERE?

1. In a pub
2. In a house where they don’t belong
3. In the middle of the street
4. In a barn/ hayloft/ animal stall
5. In a vegetable patch (1. Potato, 2. Cabbage, 3. Cucumbers, 4. Squash, 5. Corn, 6. tomatoes)
6. In an orchard (1. Apple, 2. Peach, 3. Pear, 4. cherry )
7. On a large tree branch
8. On a rooftop
9. In a hammock
10. In a hallowed out pumpkin
11. In a sinkhole
12. In a sheep shearing stall

Ruined Limnus Encounters

This entry follows up on my previous Ruined City of Limnus post. Here I've included a table of random encounters for the ruined city, and two additional adventure sites in the nearby valley. There is much more content for this setting that I'm in the process of polishing up so stay tuned!

Ruined Limnus Encounters

1. Corpse of a long-dead adventurer. Iridescent purple flowers grow rampantly out out its eye sockets and mouth. If a creature get too close, they are seized by its intoxicating fragrance. An adventurer must save v poison or be compelled to obsessively smell the flowers. The victim's nose is stained purple, they lose their sense of scent, and exude a lingering floral aroma for 1d4 days. Insects, especially the pollinating one's take a strong interest.
2. Area conceals a narrow and winding burrow that opens into a bone-littered nest, containing 3 displacer beast cubs. The cubs will yowl loudly, possibly attracting the attention of an adult Displacer Beast if disturbed. There is a 1 in 6 chance an adult parent will be nearby.
3. A sinkhole opens up beneath a party member. Save or tumble 2d10 feet down into a crystal filled pit. The fall causes 2d4 damage from the impact and scrapes. The crystals can be chiseled out and sold at a value of 50 gp per sackful, however, each attempt to harvest them runs the risk of slicing one’s self on their sharp edges.
4. A character disturbs an underground nest of giant stinging hornets. The swarm stings for 1d4 damage, but the venom contains a powerful intoxicant. If stung, the victim must save v poison, or strip naked and fall into a euphoric trance. The venom can be harvested (2d6 doses total) and sold for 20 gp per dose.
5. A grove of animated trees begins to circle the party and close in when they turn their backs. If they can get within 10’, they will lash out with their whipping roots and branches and attempt to stuff an adventurer into their long sideways maw. The tree's maw is filled with sticky sweet smelling sap that covers and coats anything it touches. The sap is highly flammable and burns hot and for a long time if ignited. Fire inflicts double damage to the trees, but also to anything else that is coated in the sap. Bird nests within the trees glisten with small coins, baubles, and pieces of valuable crystal gathered from the ruined city.
   
6. A large stag is seen staring down at a crevasse in the ground. It bounds away from any approaching characters, but keeps careful watch from a distance. A beautiful doe has fallen into the crack and is trapped at a depth of about 10 feet. If the PC’s manage to help the deer out, the two animals bound away. Any character who has helped the animal receives the effect of a “bless” spell for the rest of the day.
7. A distant melody upon the wind and a large bird-like shadow falls across the ground. The harpy swoops past like a winged shadow and drops a chunk of heavy masonry upon the party.
8. Something shuffles out of a nearby shadow. 1d4 mushroom zombies lurch toward the PCs, their bodies thick with rubbery orange fronds. Every time the zombies succeed on an an attack the pc must save v poison, or take an additional 1d4 damage from sudden fungal infection (and an additional 1d4 damage every day thereafter). If the pc dies from the infection, they rise as a fungi zombie in 1d4 rounds. Holy water & sunflower seeds from the Sun God's temple as well as fresh bloodberries can cure the infection.
9. A small party of 1d3 kobold are found overfilling several large sacks with bloodberries. They are cowards and will more likely flee than fight, but would give up information if threatened. These kobolds reappear in the forthcoming "Sacrifice for the Bearded God" adventure. (1.Nukk- blue scales, has a necklace of mouse skulls and shiny rocks, is eating a bag of blue mushrooms, 2. Fung- green scales, wears a decomposing possum tied to his head, Jibjib- rusty brown scales, carries a stick with a large dead bull frog nailed to it, which he licks from time to time).
10. The party passes through a sudden cold patch, and hears distant screams. They see a a group of people cowering, as a huge piece of masonry tumbles upon them. Upon inspection there are no people, only a cache of old crushed skeletons beneath the stones. One carries a key, that unlocks a chest of treasure somewhere in the ruined Noble District.

 Limnus Valley Sites

Smelting Complex

• A wide and fast moving stream stream cuts through this area. The remains of a sturdy stone bridge lies collapsed into the rushing waterway. 
• On the steep western bank- the stream flows past the ruins of a smelting complex. The shells of numerous large, roofless and crumbling stone structures are built against a rising hillside.
•  A great stone furnace some 25 feet wide and 40 feet tall dominates. Remnants of coal and slag deposits are scattered throughout. A 20 foot tall waterwheel lies broken and hanging in the stream within a shattered wooden housing. 
• Four hungry Rust Monsters make a nest within the furnace (1d4 eggs). They will dash aggressively toward any loud sounds in relentless search of metal to consume.
• One of the smaller buildings close to the chimney has a collapsed wall, and a large quantity of coal is spilling out onto the ground. The building itself is still filled with a massive quantity of high quality coal. 
•  Buried within the coal pile are 1d4 zombies. They attack anything disturbing the coal bin, dragging it it down beneath the coal. Each zombie carries a small treasure parcel the rust monsters haven’t been able to consume.
  

Miner’s Canyon

• The edge of this canyon drops 60 feet to the floor below where a scattering of boulders and thornbrush trees punctuate a flat, dried mud floor. On the western side an overgrown wagonway winds it’s way down to the ground. 
• Dozens of rotting gray wooden shacks are crowded near a dried creek bed near the southern wall. The roofs have mostly collapsed and many of the structures are barely standing.
• Giant insects nest here, in pits and tunnels beneath the shacks. Any curious adventurer has a chance of disturbing a horrible crawling, biting thing. [1. Giant Centipede, 2. Fire Beetle, 3. Cave Locust, 4. Rot Grubs] Within the nests, some of the miner's most cherished treasure can be found among the bones of the dead. [1. Tunnel stuffed with bones and 6d6 silver pieces, 2. A trapdoor with a chest containing an ancient dwarven helmet of exquisite craftsmanship, 3. A skeleton clutching a small jewelry box (gold ring set with an emerald, an inscription "to my beloved"), 4. A leather pouch containing 1d6 golden giant's teeth]
  
• On the north wall a rock scramble leads up to a series of cave openings at an elevation of about 40 feet. Any character approaching the northern canyon wall will hear the sound of a child's cry coming from the largest cave mouth. If the PC’s get closer the crying turns to pleading, "Can you hear me? Help me! I’m trapped in here!”
• The voice is fact an old Leucrotta who is hungry for humanoid flesh. He will lure characters up the cliffside and attempt to shove boulders down on them while they are climbing or kick them off the cliff once they’ve arrived at the top. In between attacks, he will retreat to the cave and mimic the voice again, begging to be set free from “the monster”. There is a cache of valuable treasure in the Leucrotta’s lair.
  

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

20 Character Hooks for Weird Cyberpunk Games

Here's 20 character hooks written for Chromatic Shadows, but good to grease the gears of any weird cyberpunk game! Photo by G. Bourdages

1. You were once badly electrocuted, now your mere presence affects technology in random and unexpected ways. Electronic devices glitch out. Mechanical devices jam up without warning. Sometimes too, the tech works better than it's supposed to.
2. Throughout your interaction in the Sprawl, in and out of AR, recurring patterns, numbers & symbols seem to follow you far too often to be coincidence. Is there some hidden meaning or intelligence behind it?
3. When you go out in public, often you’ll see strange dark figures watching from the periphery. You’ve never been able to catch them. Others don’t remember seeing them.
4. A mysterious implant beneath your skin evades removal. Surgeons can’t take it out. Sometimes it moves from place to place.
5. You hear cybernetic whispers in AR, flickers, and overlays of things and places that shouldn’t be there. Sometimes these whispers speak your name.
6. You see strange objects in the sky. Fast moving orbs, and unexplained lights. But only when you are alone.
7. You have had repeated close encounters with an unknown entity in the Matrix. It tells you secret things for a price.
8. Your digital identity is unstable. Your social media profile and personal cloud records seem to delete and scramble randomly. Often your digital identity is confused for someone else.
9. You have begun receiving random parcels belonging to someone else. That person seemingly doesn’t exist. The packages contain components to a strange machine that you have begun assembling piece by piece.
10. You survived a trauma and had a Near Death Experience. Ever since, you've been having waking nightmares about terrible monsters.
11. The DNI on a new piece of new cyberware randomly receives “signals” from an unknown source. Highly unusual transmissions are being picked up randomly.
12. You randomly lose time and wake up in different places in the Sprawl. You have no memory of getting there, and your AR feeds are static.
13. When you’re not looking, objects inexplicably move around you. Cabinets are rearranged. Doors that should be locked are found open. The holovid turns on by itself. Personal belongings go missing.
14. Random drones seem to follow you throughout the Sprawl. Wherever you go, you always see one hovering not too far off. You’ve been having vivid dreams of flying.
15. Your body temperature is running much hotter than what is medically normal. You haven’t eaten or slept for days. You feel healthier than you’ve ever felt in your life.
16. You know of a secret doorway in the Matrix that leads to a private virtual world. The door only appears when you perform increasingly bizarre rituals and sacrifices in meatspace.
17. You have discovered the existence of someone who looks exactly like you in every discernible way. You are certain that you’ve never had a twin.
18. You’ve got a black-market cyberarm. Sometimes you wake up and you’ve found you’ve used it to make complex drawings in your sleep. You’ve never sketched before in your life.
19. You found a random stash of drugs and now you're hooked. This stuff makes you stronger, smarter, and sexier than you ever imagined. But your supply is running low and now you’ll do anything to get more.
20. You woke up with strange tattoos you don’t remember getting--occult symbols etched in weird metallic ink. Sometimes when you pass through certain parts of the Sprawl, they tingle and prick like pins and needles beneath your flesh.

10 Character Backgrounds for Weird Cyberpunk Games

A glimpse of things to come! 10 character backgrounds for CHROMATIC SHADOWS, my in-progress weird cyberpunk RPG. (Photo by Drew Graham)

Urban Farmer

You’ve got a talent for growing things in the green places between the concrete and chrome. You’ve grown food on tenement rooftops, rigged auto-hydroponics in forgotten warehouses, and carved gardens out of abandoned lots. You’ve still got your little green patches tucked away here and there in the Sprawl. Any number of things could be ready for harvest at a moment’s notice.

• Skills- Survival, Mechanics

 

Scrapper

You’ve made a living by your skill at finding the most useful pieces of junk and crafting them together into something magnificent. Maybe you make fighting robots out of torn up forklifts and servo motors, or armored street-bikes from parts scavenged from nighttime junkyard raids. Your work is one of a kind, and you’ve built a loyal clientele that seeks you out to buy your latest creation.

• Skills- Mechanics, Perception

 

Street Chemist

You’re job was selling illegal chemicals to black market clients. Street drugs, toxic gas, hormonal cocktails--you’ve cooked it all in your back street lab. You have a good understanding of chemistry, lab protocols, and where to score questionable raw materials. You’ve still got enough equipment to stashed away to brew up a quick batch of amphetamines, HGH, or e coli.

• Skills- Science, Streetwise

Corporate Dirt Boy

You were an errand boy for the corporate masters, the scum at the bottom of the shark tank. When you weren’t fetching coffee, you were out scoring designer drugs,and high-end hookers for the next corporate party you weren’t invited to. The job was abusive and soul crushing, but they under estimated you. You’ve got a mental archive of inside dirt and plan on putting it to good use.

• Skills- Intimidate, Etiquette

 

Courier

In the age of instant data transmission there are still some messages that requires personal delivery. You were a courier, a highly trained information delivery agent skilled in navigating the urban maze. You’re trained in light modes of transportation that bypass busy streets, and urban obstacles. Boosted skateboards, hover-scooters, and light-blades are among the most popular. Whether your message was a letter, a data drive, or an intracranial memory chip, you guaranteed a fast and secure delivery.

• Skills- Athletics, Streetwise

 

Chop Shop Doc

Years of medical training and field work landed you in a back alley chop shop. You made a living peddling used cyberware and plucking the bullets out of hit men. Your practices may have been unethical but you were an essential service to the underground. When a runner or a gangster needed life saving surgery or just a quick limb replacement you were where they turned to first.

• Skills- Biotech, Knowledge

 

Media Influencer

Video pundit, simstim performer, social media celebrity– you’ve clawed out a career in the AR media hellsccape. You’re comfortable broadcasting your image, voice, and opinion across the matrix straight into the cortex of your fans. You’ve got a cult following on  the most cutthroat social media platforms, and have the inside track on the industry.

Skills- Perform, Etiquette

 

Rent A Cop

You were a roided up rent-a-cop who worked for a private firm. You might have busted up riots, patrolled a corporate facility or worked as a  bodyguard for a high-profile politician or exec. You have a solid understanding of brute force tactics, electronic surveillance systems, and security protocols.

Skills- Melee, Security

 

 

Failed Academic

You’re an ivory tower reject, who never get past the  elitist gatekeepers. You paid your dues teaching, researching, and writing but the university boards and publishers shut out your ideas and  shut down your career.  You still get your theories out through media back channels, and have made valuable contacts in underground intellectual circles.

Skills- Knowledge, Manipulation

 

Street Hustler

When it came to the cred-hustle, to the street game, you knew the score.  You got deep running cons,  and commiting fraud.  Maybe you landed with a hypergang, or a criminal cartel. Drug dealing, stim smuggling, theft, extortion—just a few of your many talents. It was a dangerous game. But you got out in one piece and left that life behind. Didn’t you?

Skills– Streetwise, Deception

20 Plot Seeds for Weird Cyberpunk Games

Things are getting weird in the Sprawl. Here are 20 "weird cyberpunk" plot seeds written for Chromatic Shadows, my in-progress cyberpunk game.

(Photo by  Josh Sortino)

1. A remote warehouse is being fitted with massive saline tanks. Under the cover of night, mysterious sea creatures are being transported via truck, along with loads of bizarre electronics.
2. A series of massive prisms appear randomly in the matrix and broadcast a cycle of musical tones before vanishing. Hackers that have heard these notes become obsessed with them suffering psychotic breaks.
3. A South American ziggurat has been excavated and reconstructed atop a corporate spire. Strange lights have been seen at night hovering close above.
4. A crime syndicate is dealing a drug that causes spontaneous psychic phenomenon. A whole neighborhood is dealing with intensifying paranormal activity.
5. Enormous matte black skyscrapers are rising up from vacant lots in deep parts of the Barrens & Slags. Doors open up, and mysterious figures have been seen entering and exiting before the buildings sink back down into the ground and are gone.
6. People have gone missing, along with their whole digital history, social media, official documentation. Friends and family have forgotten who they are, except for a few. Those that remember are afraid that something is hunting them.
7. SimSense company has delved into dream recording. Widespread dream profiles have been captured and run through an algorithm--recurring patterns have been detected, images of specific locations, people and events. The patterns are accelerating at an alarming rate.
8. An alien artifact has fallen into the hands of a growing neotribal cult. Hundreds of worshipers are flocking to it, believing it to be of divine origin.
9. An arcology has sealed itself off from the outside world. They've declared themselves the church of a new "prophet in their midst" who claims to be in direct communion with an angel.
10. Rogue teams of suicide hackers have entered into drift symbiosis, projecting themselves as a “super avatar” in the matrix. They have been able to hack the most secure hosts, but are individually going insane as a result.
11. A telecom company is secretly loading stolen Egyptian and Sumerian artifacts into satellites and launching them into orbit.
12. An automated computer production facility has begun to spontaneously mass produce Goetic warding glyphs drawn onto circuit boards with silicon, solder and RAM.
13. A number of cryostasis pods from the Lunar mission disaster is discovered in an abandoned orbital habitat- several surviving team members are believed to be asleep inside, and contaminated with an alien virus. They need to be recovered.
14. An experimental energy company has trapped an unknown spiritual entity with lasers and runes. They are forcing it to open a portal to another dimension.
15. A black monolith has appeared in the matrix where the infamous Longfang CortX research host used to be. It is growing in size. Every hacker who has gotten too close is violently dumped from the matrix, and suffers debilitating neuroshock.
16. A cloning lab has gone silent. The scientists are missing and the surviving animals exhibit unusual intelligence.
17. A neurotech company is testing a new experimental “memory backup” system on a control group. Several participants are receiving memories of other lives and flashes of things that have not yet happened.
18. Drones have gone missing. In the middle of the night hundreds of drones spontaneously activate and fly off to an abandoned site deep within the Slags.
19. “Matrix suicide cults” are popping up. Groups of people networked with black market drift-tech are found jacked in and brain dead. Strange symbols are painted and scratched into their gear.
20. A“black box” energy cell is revealed to be running on nothing but a quivering mass of hair, animal teeth, and slime.