10 Random Town Encounters

1. The group is assaulted by Librarians who mistake one of the PCs for being extremely delinquent on some books. The Librarians attack with non-lethal damage and once the group is subdued, confiscate any scrolls or book in their possession.

2. You hear haunting melodies coming from beneath the sewer grate. A pair of Sirens have taken up residence down below and luring stray travelers to their death.

3. As you are moving around town you hear cries for help. A building is burning down and a young girl screams from the second story window for help. Within a matter of minutes the entire building will be engulfed in flames.

4. A man with meat strapped to his body runs frantically into the alleyway. A pack of stray dogs chasing behind.

5. A strung out opium addict stops you in the street. He offers adventuring gear at rock bottom prices. At a nearby inn a lone adventurer lies dead in his bed.

6. The stable erupts into chaos. Horses are trampling the stable boys and rampaging in the streets. A bad case of mad horse disease has broken out.

7. A group of children bully a young lad. They circle him and assault him with threats. If interrupted they pull out knives and threaten to do the same to you.

8. A tax collector stops the group and ask if they have paid their excess taxes. He then proceeds to ask them financial questions and ask for proof of current wealth. Once collected he imposes a 10% tax on current coinage.

9. Slavers travel down the main street with their most prized possession, a Hill Giant. His shackles come undone and he savagely attacks all nearby. The Slavers warn the group not to harm their prized possession or they will be replacements for damaged property.

10. The group notice citizens gather around for the afternoon hanging. Moments after the sound of broken necks the dead rise to seek vengeance against their audience.

6 Town Adventure Seeds

1. The headmaster of the local wizard academy has been replaced by a Succubus. She has seduced and charmed the facility. Rumors of missing students echo throughout the town. Your band of adventurers have been hired to go undercover to find out what is really going on.

2. The Red Scale Bank has opened for business. This house of usury is funded by an Ancient Red Dragon and those failing to pay exorbitant fees/interest for loans are burnt to a crisp. The bankers are draconian thugs who prey on the weak and less fortunate.

3. A peddler has been selling fake magic items, customers are outraged for being swindled. They would retaliate except the peddler has hired two Minotaur bodyguards who are with him at all times.

4. The local tavern main course is in jeopardy. The red fin trout from the local lake have begun to disappear. A monstrous sea creature has move into the lake and has been disrupting the fragile ecosystem.

5. The town is in panic, the local guards have surrounded a prominent home and negotiating with a band of thugs to not execute the family inside. The thugs are asking for a far fetch ransom the town can't provide. The group is ask to obtain the ransom or end the hostage situation by stealth and force.

6.  People are being abducted into the alleyways and disappearing. Nothing remains except their images now graffitied on the walls. The town folk say if you stare long enough at the images they move and the alleyway walls are actually a prison.

Magical Hodgepodge VI

Fire Chalk: This red chalk can be used to draw a line on an appropriate surface, which then erupts into flames one round later. The chalk can be used to draw up to 60' in an uninterrupted pattern and 1 round later a vertical sheet of flame 5' high will erupt from the line. The flame will burn for 1 turn and deal 2d6 damage for anyone crossing the plane. The Fire Chalk can be used up to 3 times before losing its red color and reverting to white chalk.

Feather Parasol: This parasol is made out of harpy feathers. If the parasol is opened and held above the head it allows the user to levitate as per the spell for six turns. The levitate ability can be used 3 times per day. The parasol can also be opened and twirled in a hypnotic pattern, all targets who can see the parasol within 30' must make a save vs spell. Upon failure the target is fascinated by the pattern until the user stops twirling. Fascinated targets can defend themselves, but can't move or attack. The fascinated effect is broken if the target takes damage or is outside the 30' range. A save is permitted each round to break free.

Magical Hodgepodge V

Pain Razor: A blood stained flint shaving razor that is use to increase pain tolerance. The user can scar himself with the razor, which increases his pain threshold for 1 turn. All physical damage is reduced by 1/2 for 1 turn. At the end of the turn the user permanently loses 1 hit point.

Embryonic Needle: This needle has the embryos of rot grubs sustain in amniotic fluids. The needle can be injected into a victim and the embryos immediately mature into an adult rot grub. A to hit roll for the injection is required and the following round 1d6+2 rot grubs begin to burrow within the victim. A cure disease or flame to the injection site can be used to remove them. If not removed within 1 to 3 turns the grubs burrow to the heart and the victim is slain. The needle can only be used once.

Dagger of Sacrifice: This +1 dagger has an obsidian pommel and a jagged blade. If the user scores the killing blow against creature he gains temporary hit points equaling the creatures level or HD. A 5 HD creature would gain 5 hit points. These temporary hit points last 6 turn before disappearing. Temporary hit point cannot be more then twice the user hit points.

For more magic items, check out the index

6 Random Dungeon Rooms IX

6 Random Dungeon Rooms series is a collection of modular rooms and concepts that can be used for inspiration during dungeon design.

1. This apparently empty room has a secret compartment. A loose flagstone has a cache of 24 onyx gems. The gems are cursed and slowly begin to damage the bearer. Once the gems are taken out of the room they begin to deal 1 point of damage per gem. The damage begin 24 hours after the bearer has left the room and the victim cannot discern where the damage is coming from. The damage is dealt again after another 24 hours and any additional gems the victim is carrying becomes corrupted. Those corrupted gems add to the damage total the following 24 hours. If the victim attempts to rid himself of the gems they appear in his possession 10 minutes later. Only by returning the gems to the original location will break the curse, corrupted gems included.

2. This 20x20 chamber host a raised platform in the shape of a star. The star shaped platform is located in the center of the room and takes up a 10x10 area. The platform is littered with dozens of runic symbols and is used as teleportation device to reach another level of the dungeon. There are sliding panels at the base of the platform and when opened reveals compartments that houses a type of fuel to activate the device. The fuel used is star crystals that can be harvested throughout the current level. When enough star crystals is harvested, it can be used to activate the teleportation platform.

3. This 20x20x20 room has excrement littering the room. Hanging from the ceiling are a dozen large bird cages. Each cage has an emaciated stirge. The presence of the party will cause the stirges to go into a frenzy, frantically slamming against the cages to break free. For each stirge roll a 1d6 and on a roll of a 6 that stirge is able to break free.

4. A frigid room with eight stone slabs. Each slab has a corpse on it which are well preserved. The eyes of the corpse have platinum coins resting on them. If a coin is disturbed in any manner the corpse animates and quickly decays before your eyes. A ghoul is born and his first order of business to awake the other seven corpses in the room.

5. 20x20 room with four pillars with flame designs. Each pillar has angelic patterned torch sconce and an unlit torch. If the torch is lit the corresponding pillar erupt into radiant flames and begins to heal 1 hit point per round. For each torch lit the healing cumulative. The radiant flame continues to heal beyond your maximum hit points. Any hit point above the maximum are temporary and last for 1 hour. If your hit points are increased by twice your normal amount you explode and deal your current hit points in damage to everyone in the room.

6. The entrance chamber to the dungeon has metal pipes and nozzle that sprays a purple mist that fills this chamber. A save is required or your skin tints to a shade of purple. Those affected by the mist are marked individual and clearly intruders to the complex. The residents of the complex have an antidote to combat the tinting effect.

For 48 more random dungeon rooms, check out the rest of the articles.

The first 48+2 are collected in 50 Random Dungeon Rooms.

6 Giant Killer Bees Adventure Seeds

Last year I wrote an article about Giant Killer Bees and had some adventure seeds in my notebook. I forgot about them and just rediscovered that notebook a few days ago. I figured I'll post them. Not that Giant Killer Bees are typical adversaries, but what the hell.

1. A local alchemist is paying 10 gold pieces for each stinger collected from a Giant Killer Bee. The poison in the stinger can only last 24 hours before being preserved.

2. Collect jars of honey in the bee hive. The honey is rumored to have curative properties.

3. The local village has been attacked by Giant Killer Bees. Local bandits are disturbing the hive and directing the bee attacks on the village with the intention of clearing the residents and claiming it for themselves.

4. Thousands of Giant Killer Bees are being cultivated on the desolate hills. A dark druid has taken control of the hive consciousness and using them to wipe the scourge of humanity from his domain.

5. The local hive has grown to immense proportions and only a vast army could destroy it. Now alchemist have tasked you with a mission to find components with the intent to create a virus to wipe out their population.

6. When the Giant Killer Bees extract nectar from plants they destroy them in the process. The farmland is devastated as the swarm continue to encroach on fertile territory.