2015 Year in Review

2015 Year in Review

I started this blog in 2014 with the concept that I would highlight and talk about D&D creatures. In February of 2015 the blog slowly began to transform somewhat into a content blog. Instead of talking about published creatures I would turn my notes into content. The focus has always been on OSR D&D since that is what I enjoy the most. Looking back on the past 11 months has been gratifying. I feel my amateur writing skills have improved and I have received positive feedback on my work.

Looking forward to 2016 and producing more content. The goal is have enough material so I can compile it into pdfs and print on demand books. Listed below are links to the 3 indexes on my blog. Each index has a plethora of content.

Random Encounter Index

• 400 Hundred Random Mundane Items
• 42 Random Dungeon Rooms
• 12 Adventure Sites
• 20 plus Adventure Seeds/Ideas
• Random Wilderness, Sewer, and Urban Encounters
• 20 Random Curses
• 6 Dungeon Hazard
• Dungeon Graffiti Generator
• 20 Random Rumors
• 12 Strange Occurrences

New Monster Index

• 8 New Monsters (with original art)
• 80 Variant Undead
• Variant Killer Bees

New Magic Item Index

• 3 Magic Weapons (with original art)
• 5 Potions (with original art)
• 35 Magical Trinkets

2016 Goals

In 2016 my focus is on 4 to 8 blog post a month. At least one new monster with original art, more mundane items, get my random dungeon room series up to 100 individual rooms, finish the final four undead in the variant series, and whatever else suits my fancy at the moment. My end goal is hopefully a print on demand books for treasures, new monsters, and a random dungeon room book. May take a year or two but slowly chipping away. If you enjoy my blog consider subscribing or following me on google plus.

50 Random Mundane Items VIII

Random Mundane Items VIII

From useless junk to items of immense value. Mundane objects to replace your typical treasure find of simple coins and gems.

1. Oil Painting of Demons Fornicating 
2. Ebony Walking Stick
3. Sack of Mulch
4. Porcelain Spittoon 
5. Bag of Fertilizer 
6. Box of Basalt Tiles
7. Pouch of High-Quality Coffee Beans 
8. Bucket of Sponges 
9. Dartboard with 6 Darts (3 red/3 green)
10. Cherry Red Yak Hair Wig
11. Faience Figurine of a Mummy
12. Hollowed Out Book containing Diamond Dust
13. 25' Spool of Sinew
14. 6' Elastic Cord
15. 10' Wooden Pole with Chain Noose
16. Red Velvet Cushion
17. Bone Nose Ring
18. Red Stocking with name "Tim" sewn in
19. Empty Stone Barrel
20. Leather Tarp
21. Curtain made of Interlinking Steel Coins
22. Necklace made of Weeds
23. Box of Muslin Gauze
24. Marble Bracer in the shape of a Cobra
25. Miniature Wooden Anvil branded with Bull Horns
26. Necklace of Acorns
27. Thick Burlap Coat
28. Barrel of Fermenting Yeast
29. Balloon made out of Buffalo Bladder
30. Birch Bark Canoe 
31. Octopus Door Handle 
32. Sparrow Ear Cuff
33. Crinoline Hoop Cage Skirt
34. Wax Tablet
35. Alabaster Bathing Vessel
36. Brocade Altar Cloth with Gold Trim
37. Wooden Figurine of an Elven Warrior
38.Bag of Dried Human Ears
39. Leather Bound Book wrapped in Oil Cloth
40. Jar of Palm Oil
41. Copper Lace Chainmail Necklace
42. White Burial Shroud made of cotton with the symbol of an Ankh
43. Ivory Box with Peanut Husks
44. Vial of Gum Arabic
45. Mahogany Footstool
46. Brass Sundial with Nautical Designs
47. Clay Bird House
48. Rolled Up Hemp Hammock in a Large Sack
49. Pair of Satyr Hooves
50. Container of Sulfur Ointment 

Linked below are an additional 350 mundane items. 
Random Mundane Items
Random Mundane Items II
Random Mundane Items III
Random Mundane Items IV
Random Mundane Items V
Random Mundane Items VI
Random Mundane Items VII

10 Winter Festival Adventure Seeds

10 Winter Festival Adventure Seeds

These 10 adventure seeds are based on a Winter Festival or the mysterious Father Christmas. Whatever theme that festival takes on is very dependent on the campaign. These simple adventure seeds are meant for inspiration and a little fun.

1. Elves are missing from the forest. Rumors of a heavy set fat man with a white beard and red coat has been kidnapping the elves. He has forced them into slavery to build toys for all the boys and girls.

2. The Mayor has hired the group to find the largest and tallest pine tree for the Winter Festival. Far in the northern forest sits a nursery with the most elegamt pine trees in the region. The group must find the nursery and transport this massive tree back to the village.

3. A severe snowstorm is about to engulf the region. Father Christmas has hired the group to find a reindeer with a shiny red nose.

4. The Queen has hired the group to find a gift for her husband. The gift is one of a kind and found in the deepest darkest dungeon.

5. The group is awakened in the middle of the night. The Constable is in panic. Someone stole all the Winter Festival gifts. Morning is quickly approaching and he needs them to be retrieved before the festivities begin.

6.  The local toy maker has hired the group to find components. He is crafting a gift for the princess and it must be exact. Any departure from the original design could result in beheadings.

7. The village created a large and elaborate snowman. Recently it disappeared and dead bodies have been found in the forest. Witnesses claim this snowman has come to life and is on a murderous rampage.

8. A reclusive wizard has recently been visited by a ghost. The ghost claims that he shall be visited by 3 more representing his past/present/future. He believes these ghost are going to kill him and has hired the adventurers to protect his life.

9. Father Christmas Workshop is located far up north. Many adventurers have attempted to break into the workshop to steal its rumored treasures. Rumors of fierce guardians include dire reindeer, wooden soldiers, and tiny knife wielding elves dressed in tight fitting green outfits.

10.  During the festival people are dying. Someone poisoned the eggnog.

Red-Legged Scissor-Man

Red-Legged Scissor-Man

No. Enc: 1

Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Movement: 150' (50')
Armor Class: 3

Hit Dice: 4

Attack: 2

Damage: 1d12

Save: M4

Morale: 8

Hoard Class: XVII

XP: 300

The door flew open, in he ran,
The great long Red-Legged Scissor-Man...
Snip! Snap! the scissors go;
And Conrad cries out Oh! oh! oh!
Snip! Snap! Snip! They go so fast,
That both his thumbs are off at last.

The Red-Legged Scissor-Men also known as the Great Tall Tailors are mischievous fey who delight in fear and terror. They plot their deeds on the outskirts of civilization, waiting for an ample opportunity to sneak into a home under the cover of night and sever a thumb for their delight. The thumbs are collected as trinkets and finding their liar will reveal quite a ghastly sight of collected amputations.

     Words and tales spread quickly once a Red-Legged Scissor-Man has committed his atrocious act. Tales and warning permeate the village. Terror is sowed to this fey delight. The Scissor-Man will repeat his nightly attacks until all children are missing their thumbs. Once a village has been totally decimated by the Scissor-Man he will move on to greener pastures where he can continue his terror once again.

 Red-Legged Scissor-Men are tall and lean, standing 7' tall and weighing 120 lbs. They wear a dark green coat, with blood red pants, and a ragged top hat. Their arms end in bloody scissors that constantly drip with red ichor.

Combat

• Scissor-Men are extremely stealthy. They can hide in shadows and move silently at 90%. 
• Scissor-Men are able to cast invisibility at will. 
• Scissor-Men have 60' Infravision. 
• The scissors that are in place of their hands are extremely sharp. They deal 1d12 points of damage and wounds continue to bleed for 1 point of damage each round. A full round is needed to bandage the wounds or a cure spell must be cast to stop the bleeding. The bleed damage is cumulative. 
• When a Scissor-Man successfully attacks with an natural attack roll of 19 or 20 they automatically sever their opponents thumb. A second successful attack with another 19 or 20 will sever the other thumb. A person without a thumb cannot hold a weapon properly and will suffer from the disadvantages of being thumbless. A regeneration spell is needed to replace missing thumbs.

Lair Treasure

Mason jar with a dozen pickled thumbs, clay-pipe doll, 12 silver pieces, 3 gold pieces, scrolls of magic missiles, and a potion of extra-healing.

Hill Giant thumb in a sack, riding stick horse, 6 electrum pieces, 4 platinum pieces, and a yellow sapphire.

Thumb Necklace, bloody silver chalice, teddy bear with missing eyes, and a bag with broken toy soldiers.

Adventure Seeds

The Baron’s daughter was recently cursed by a nasty old witch. Her hair grows uncontrollably and can't be cut even by the sharpest blade. Rumors of a fey with scissor-hands has caught the Barons attention with the hopes the bloody blades are sharp enough to alleviate his daughters condition.

While travelling through the deep forest you stumble upon a village. You quickly notice every child you come across are missing both thumbs.

The Constable has hired the group to investigate the grisly screen at the Thompson household.

The Red-Legged Scissor-Man is inspired by Heinrich Hoffman nursery tale. For more monster and variant creature check out the link below. Also if you enjoy this blog consider subscribing, following me on google plus, etc.

New Monster Index

artwork by Joanna Ballendorf

owned by Steven Marella

6 Random Dungeon Rooms VII

6 Random Dungeon Rooms VII

1. This room is 20x15 with a stone basin with stagnant water in the center. On the left and right side of the room are enclosed rotted wooden benches secured to the walls. Each bench has six latrine openings. Directly underneath the room chutes from the latrines run into a refuse pit. The room sinks of urine and feces. The refuse pit is home to two otyughs who wait patiently for anyone using the latrines. They send their pseudopods up through the latrine chute to catch prey in their most compromising positions. The latrine holes are wide enough for a halfling or gnome to squeeze down into the cesspit below. The cesspit has collected an assortment of treasure over the decades for anyone willing to shift through the most foul dreck.

1d4 Refuse Pit Treasures 

1.	100 Copper Pieces, 50 Silver Pieces, Steel Tiara, Scroll Case with a Treasure Map, and a Potion of Healing.
2.	75 Gold Pieces, Marble Bust of a Gold Dragon, Serpentine Stein, and a Backpack filled with Chalk
3.	35 Electrum Pieces, 5 Platinum Pieces, Onyx Comb, and Solid Gold Idol.
4.	Black Pearl, Troll Skull Helm, Broken Chastity Belt, and a Brass Tea Kettle.

2. You find a set of stairs that go down 10' into a room filled with stagnant water that is waist high. The room is 40x40 and has fungus mounds that rise above the waterline. It is possible to make a Dexterity Check to jump onto a fungus mound without immersing yourself into the stagnant water. You can navigate the room by making Dexterity Checks to the nearest mound. If you choose to wade through the stagnant water there is a 50% chance each round a swarm of leeches or 2d4 giant leeches will flock to your position to attack. On the far side of the room beneath the water is a drainage grate that leads to another portion of the dungeon. Requires a perception or secret door check to discover. The grate is currently damaged and requires strength check with +2 bonus to break open.

3. This room is 10x10 with a pool that takes up the the majority of the room. The pool is 8x8 and the ledges around the pool are only 2'. The pool depth is 8' with a giant ruby that shines brightly in the center. The ruby is embedded into the pool floor and radiate magic if examined. Anyone tampering with the ruby sets off a trap. The ruby burns with fiery radiance as it disappears and a fire elemental appears directly in the pool. The water becomes scalding hot and anyone in the pool takes 2d6 points of damage each round as their skin burns. Each round the fire elemental stays in the pool it also suffers 2d6 points of damage.

4. This room is 35x35 with 4 10x10 translucent indigo cubes of light built on a metal platform. Inside these cubes are figures suspended in stasis. The cubes of light are protected by a force barrier that prevents any interaction with the current occupants. Directly across the cubes are mounted metal boxes with flashing lights. Upon inspection they appears to be control panels for the stasis cubes and if successfully disabled releases the beings in stasis. The boxes are foreign to this world and anyone attempting to disable the controls suffer a -30% to their roll. It is possible that a key or manual is located in the dungeon that might assist in this attempt.
The Stasis Cubes were created by the Hourglass Mage, a chronomancer who has collected specimens throughout his time-travelling endeavors. The cubes are meant to preserve his finds for further experimentation.

1d6 Random Stasis Cube Prisoners

1.	Nazi Soldier	2.	Neanderthal
3.	Android	4.	Raptor
5.	Sabretooth Tiger	6.	Giant Egg with Black Runes

5. This room is 20x20 with 10' diameter stone table in the center. The top of the stone table is encased in a glass dome. Inside the dome is a miniature village. You notice tiny humanoid creatures moving around the village and going about their everyday business. If you touch the glass you must save vs spell or be teleported inside the miniature village. This glass dome is actually scrying on a village located in a pocket dimension. This could be a nice resting spot for the adventurers or could lead to some dangerous circumstances.

6. This 20x20 room walls are made of brick. The brick walls house a cavity with six wights that have been buried behind the walls. The wights have learned to mimic a soothing voice and cry out for help once anyone enters the room. Breaking down a section of the brick wall requires proper tools and time, but each section that is damaged reduces the wall structural stability. Once enough of the wall stability have been eroded the wight attempt to break free, bursting from segments of the walls looking for fresh prey.

The Random Dungeon Room series is meant to be modular and help generate ideas for when you are creating your own dungeon. The rooms can be placed in a section of your dungeon with ease and hopefully provides some inspiration. I tend to write with OSR Dungeon & Dragons in mind, but most of the stuff is easily converted to other rule sets. If you enjoy this series consider subscribing to my blog for future articles.

Also, if you want to spice up the wight encounter, check out my variant wight article linked below.
10 Variant Wights

I have a pdf compilation of the Random Dungeon Room series on rpgnow. Link provided below
50 Random Dungeon Rooms

6 Dungeon Hazards

6 Dungeon Hazards

1. Dweomer Gnats: These albino gnats congregate near sources of magic. Hundreds of them will swarm a room to feed off residue from a magic item or a lingering spell. Dweomer Gnats feed off magical energy that permeates a person, magical items, or a place where magic resides. The gnats will gather around a source of magic and drains a portion of its energy. A wand or staff will have 1d4 charges removed, a scroll will be erased, a potion drained, or a random spell from a spell caster absorbed. Once one of these conditions have occurred their hunger will satiated. Once feed the swarm of gnats will give off a faint luminescent that glows in a 15' radius. Dweomer Gnats are non combatant and are easily driven away by fire.

2. Ghost Weeds: These weeds are incorporeal that grow about 2' high. A patch of Ghost Weeds will occupy a 5' area and over time grow when they drain vitality. Any living creature that passes through a Ghost Weed patch will have 1 hit point drained from them. The drained hit point will feed the Ghost Weed and a round later the patch will grow by 5' in a random direction. A dungeon might have entire room filled with Ghost Weeds from floor to ceiling if enough living vitality has been drained. A Ghost Weed is immune to non-magical items and can only be harmed by magic or holy water. A single point of damage from a spell, magic weapon, or holy water will destroy a 5' patch of Ghost Weed.

3. Enigma Clutter: An Enigma Clutter is a pile of papers, parchments, glues, ink, and various other writing material that has merged together into a mass. Typical clutter will occupy 5' or 10' area and move extremely slow. They can move 5' in one round and they seek out written words. Anytime a written word is within 5' it must make a save or have its words scrambled into an incomprehensible mess. Entire books will be ruined, scrolls scrambled into uselessness, etc. Entire libraries and workshops have had years of knowledge destroyed by these Enigma Clutters. A typical clutter will have 1d4 hit points per 5'.

4. Shadow Walls: The walls of this dungeon room has a shadow that is super imposed on its stonework. The shadow can move throughout connecting walls with ease. Anyone that is within 5' of the shadow on the wall risk having a incorporeal hand reach out and attempt to touch them. The touch will drain 1 strength point. The Shadow Wall attacks as a 2HD creature with 1d8 hit points and can move 30' in a round(only through connecting walls). Only curative magic, holy water, or a turn attempt by a cleric can destroy it.

5. Emotion Puddles: These puddles have absorbed psychic energy and the liquid takes on the color of the emotion that has been infused with it. Anyone touching or stepping into the puddle must make a save vs spell or be infused with raw emotion. The table below has example emotion colors and effects.

Emotion Spectrum

Bright Red	You become enraged and attack the nearest person. Last 1d4 rounds.
Green	You feel at peace with the world and yourself. You can’t engage in combat for 24 hours.
Pink	You are sexually aroused and try to fornicate with the nearest person. Last 1d4 rounds.
Indigo	You fall into a peaceful slumber and awaken refocused. You gain +1 to all rolls for 24 hours. The slumber last 2d4 rounds.
Grey	You feel depressed. You refuse to leave this room. Last 24 hours.
Black	You become severely ill. You lose 1d4 hit points each round for 2d4 rounds.

6. Dust Mold: This mold is typically found in large colonies that coat entire caverns or dungeon floors. The mold is predominately black with thousands of white specks littered throughout it pattern. The white specks are actually spores. Anyone stepping on a Dust Mold causes the spores to explode in a 10' radius into thousands of particles that obscure vision and causes coughing/sneezing. The entire radius appears as if you are in a snowstorm, vision is reduced to 5', can't concentrate to cast spells, and you take -2 to all rolls as your respiratory system is attacked. The cloud of spores disperse over the course of 2d6 rounds.

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Random Dungeon Graffiti

Random Dungeon Graffiti

     Dungeon graffiti can be used to mark a room, foreshadow a future threat, add some cryptic messages, or simply add a touch of flavor to an empty room. Graffiti can be found in any room throughout the dungeon. A corridor may have the signature of a great adventurer who has passed through. Another option is the dungeon lobby. The entrance hall might have the ritual where every explorer leaves a saying and/or marks their names.

Presented below are tables to help inspire signatures, phrases, languages, etc.

Table 1: Language
Table 2: Written In
Table 3: Phrases/Sayings/Messages
Table 4: Name Markings/Signatures

D12 Random Language

Common	2. Undercommon
3. Dwarven	4. Elven
5. Halfling	6. Gnome
7. Giant	8. Drow
9. Goblin	10. Abyssal
11. Infernal	12. Draconic

D8 Written In..

1. Graphite	2. Ink	3. Chalk	4. Paint
5. Blood	6. Feces	7. Charcoal	8. Unknown Substance

D20 Random Graffiti Phrases/Sayings/Messages

1.  Trust the lies, not the truth	2. I’ll protect you from all the things I have seen.
3. Sometimes whispers can make you mad.	4. Turn back! There is no treasure here!
5. Beware of things that are slimy and green.	6. I came in with many friends, I left with none.
7. Only the dead have seen the end.	8. Beware for your shadow may betray you.
9. I found a chest and it took my arm.	10. Who knew there is a darker version of elves.
11. Fame and fortune they said…..	12. This is a prison not a dungeon
13. Saying goodbye is always bittersweet.	14. Follow the blood trail….
15. A statue shouldn’t weep.	16. Beware of the wizard who lost his life.
17. I meet a man who was not what he claimed.	18. Don’t stare at the paintings too long.
19. Be very quiet. Words travel very far.	20. Burn the dead if not they shall rise again.

D20 Name Markings/Signatures

1. Zalabar the Wicked	2. Sir Truman
3. Xenoth the Undying	4. Peg Leg Suzy
5. The Great Karagarn	6. Hampton Wick
7. Corwynn the Blissful Elf	8. Crimson Knight
9. Zog the Dwarf Eater	10. Electrum Mage
11. One Eye Reny	12. Alabaster Shuh
13. Gomgar Blackbeard	14. Crescent Merchant Company
15. Barkin Sinclair	16. Frisky Lorraine
17. Czar of Pumpernick Village	18. Attila
19. Dinky the Donkey	20. Lady Godiva