[OSR] Real places in RPG [8]: Majlis al-Jinn cave

 Majlis al-Jinn

Staying in the "desert mood", I want to present you the second largest cave on earth, the Majlis al-Jinn.

It means the "gathering place of the Djinns". How could we leave out this place 😊?

This gigantic cave under the plateaus of the Oman desert is a single chamber measuring about 310 metres by 225 metres (over 6 soccer fields of base surface!)

From above

It actually looks like 3 black holes in the ground, nowhere anybody sane would like to get it (unless a loved one was falling down)

The smallest hole is about 2 meters wide, while the biggest (on the middle of the image) could easily swallow 3 cars at the same time...

From the top, it's difficult to make anything out in the cave, 120 m further down

Inside

Once inside, it's another matter completely: The sun comes through the 3 holes, in fierce rays of light...

Photo by Yousef Tuqan: DSC_17

There the ambient light is in the yellow tones, because of the reflection on the walls and floor.

All sort of animal bones litter the ground under the holes, these having not survived the 120 m drop.

You can see on the photo how small humans are in comparison, one is under the left ray of light.

Lake?

After a heavy storm, some water can be found in the cave... If the climate outside was more temperate (or at least rainy), this cave could be an extremely big water reservoir or underground lake. No hole leads out, but one might exist, caved in under tons of rubble, allowing excess water to seep through.

Djinns?

In most Arabic legends, free Djinns live in this kind of gigantic caverns.
It is easy to imagine that a magic force has created these caves, because of their majesty, eerie size, and awe-inspiring proportions.

Typically, Djinns grant wishes, but for a price, and often interpret the wish in the worst way possible. Only the craziest and most desperate persons would seek their help.

1D12 reasons to seek a Djinn

Desperate times call for desperate measures. If you want your player characters to meet a Djinn, you need to prepare them for the encounter:

• have an NPC tell them where to find a Djinn and how dangerous they are
• Put the characters in a very bad situation (see table)
• Apply pressure until they have no other choice left ("there are times where all choices are bad choices"). Have their allies arrested, or obligated to lay low. Attack their finances (you don't have  to take their finances away, just make them temporarily worthless, like coins from an enemy kingdom). Have the authorities and the sultan's men track them. Don't let them sleep or heal their wounds. Let them go to daddy-Djinn...

D12	Reasons to seek a Djinn
1	A character in the group died, and no clergy will or can perform a resurrection
2	The love of your life has been kidnapped and no one else can find out their location
3	A curse has been bestowed on a party member and its state is worsening by the hour
4	A ransom for someone important to the party has been issued, but how should they find that much money?
5	An important object was lost in Aether by the destruction of a bag of holding. Who else could locate it?
6	A character caught the Sandplague. Their heart will soon start to turn into sand, if not cured...
7	A dangerous cult think you are the perfect sacrifice to their dark deity. You need a new identity
8	A party member killed the beloved Sultan's son by mistake. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide
9	A caught spy gave your names as its accomplices'. And you thought he was just a resourceful guide
10	The captain of the ship that brought to the city is accused of piracy. You arrrrr now hunted as pirates
11	Someone paid a big bounty to have the best assassin in the known world chasing your party
12	You need passage to the City of Brass, where many Djinns & Efreets live

What could the Djinn want from you

A Djinn will not give you three wishes, only in Disney does that kind of thing happen...

Not only will the Djinn try to corrupt your wish with a technicality, he will want from you something in return. Something you'd prefer never to lose.

D12	Compensation for a Djinn's service
1	The fiery part of your soul. You can't be resurrected without it
2	Your ability to love
3	Your reputation. You will always get defamed ever after
4	Your firstborn. Beware of the Djinn's wrath if you made a vow of chastity
5	All your good memories of your parents. You keep the bad ones, though
6	Kill someone very near to you in the future, when asked for it
7	A quest to set free an innocent spirit. But, can an Efreet really be innocent ?
8	Kill a minor god of a small pantheon and bring back their divine essence
9	Bring them back the heart of the Emir's young daughter, literally
10	Give away some of your life experience (yeah, you'll loose levels)
11	Give away 33 years of your life expectancy (or considerably more for longer living races)
12	Your ability to read and to ever be able to learn it again (not proposed to barbarians)

What else could the cave be?

If you're not into Djinns & Efreets, the cave could also be:

1. The mating ground of sandworms / sand dragons
2. The pit in which all the dead are thrown - a necromancer's wet dream
3. The entrance to the tomb of Pharao-King Psamtik 66th
4. The Hall of grievances of the Wraith-King of the desert (only appears when the full moon shines vertically over the main hole)
5. A refuge for the sand giants, before they disappeared
6. The antechamber to a circle of teleportation, hidden under the rubble
7. the brooding ground of a serpentkin race
8. A ruined stonelift to the underworld
9. The place of worship nearest to the body of a slumbering non-euclidean chtonian entity
10. An abandoned Mythril mine. Maybe there's ore left?
11. The nearly depleted quarry for the bood-stone pyramid
12. The temple where all the known true names of demons where engraved in the walls

Community

Don't refrain from sharing your thoughts in the comments, I normally validate the comments quickly.

For a longer conversation, you can join the discord of my publishing outlet (from outer space games):

From outer space games Discord

or the Facebook group focused on my creations:
From outer space games on Facebook

Real places in RPG post series

1. Living tree root bridges
   
2. Cats' alley - Medieval cities & fire
   
3. Harihar Fort - endless staircases, fortifications & magic
4. Eternal Flame Falls
   
5. Fingal's Cave
   
6. Die Rakotzbrücke or the Rakotz / Devil's bridge
   
7. Izadkhast Caravanserai
   
8. You are here

[OSR] Real places in RPG [7]: Izadkhast Caravanserai

Izadkhast Caravanserai

Location

70 kilometers north of Abadeh next to Izadkhast city, in the Iranian Desert.

This place is on a road that has always  fascinated me: The silk road. This was a network of mainly land trade routes going from China to western Europe. It's by no mean only one road, lots of branches have been created during its centuries of existence, with the rise and fall of powers along its tracks and the ever changing taxation on the goods going along that road which have dictated its course...

Recommended music to read this post: Prince Of Persia OST - A Fight Of Light And Darkness

"File:Izadkhast Old Caravanserai Iran.jpg" by Alireza Javaheri is licensed under CC BY 3.0

Why Iran?

I know most of you probably have some prejudices against that country, but its situation on the silk road and relative war-free recent history lead to a country full of historical and cultural treasures, but few tourists at the same time (which is important if you're searching for images).

Caravanserai?

Etymologically meaning a "palace for caravans", a caravanserai was a roadside inn where travelers and merchants could rest and recover from the day's journey. They supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering Asia, North Africa and Southeast Europe, at which point most caravans and merchants continued on with their travel using the sea ways of the Mediterranean sea.

You can compare them to the fortified Inns of medieval Europe, because they served the same purposes:

• protecting travelers, merchants, and caravans from adverse weather (sand storms, flash-floods, storms)
• offering a nightly refuge in security from marauding bandits and wild animals
• serving as a place of exchange for wares, rumors, and information
• Trading place between local farmers and artisans with the passing merchants

The network of these palaces was tight enough that you would normally not have to sleep in the dangerous wilderness.

Inside

"Neyestanak Caravanserai Inner Courtyard 2007-01-01" by Kaveh Hosseini (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Typically, after stepping through a fortified entrance portal, you would enter into a spacious court, around which niches and roofed accommodations can be rented. These were somewhat spartan, and meant as well as stables for the beasts of burden.

Some richer caravanserai would also offer access to a public bath, and access to a mosque (with a place for ritual ablutions)

Some of these palaces were also situated in towns, but their court would be much smaller, but the buildings much higher, offering lodging for the town population in the higher floors (an independent stream of income in case of bad times for commerce). These are then named Khan, Funduq, or Wikala.

Fantasy Economics

Unless you have a very developed network of cheap teleportation circles, or a very advanced technological level allowing advanced sea travel or railways, you'll need this kind of inn networks along the most commonly used trade routes of your fantasy world.

These inns are an excellent starting point for a new campaign, even though they might not be different enough from a tavern for the most experienced readers.

I recommend reading what you can find on Oleg's trading post, a renown fortified inn with a central role in the start of the "Kingmaker" campaign. But if you're playing in an Arabian Nights setting or Dark Sun, you're gonna want to read more on caravanserais.

It's worth mentioning that import goods, particularly those that come from far away, have to cost a lot in a medieval setting, because transporting them takes a lot of time, is dangerous, and wares often get taxed along their transport. This is why silk was so expensive back in the days where nobody knew how to make it in Europe.
You have to wait for Louis the 14th's economical policies to start royal workshops (the beginning of the industrialization in Europe) and his economical espionage forays, to see silk production in Europe.

Adventure seeds around the caravansarai

I hope these adventure seeds will help you give life to this place and you'll want to include it in your campaign (as a fortified Inn or Caravanserai, both would work)

D12	Adventure seed
1	A group of bandits is ambushing the caravans & needs to be dealt with
2	A group of bandits attacks only the wealthiest of merchants. Who is informing them?
3	A feud between the local lord & the next on the road makes travel unsure. Can you help find an arrangement?
4	When you enter the courtyard, everyone & all animals were slain, & the wares destroyed. Was it the whim of a Djinn?
5	The Caravanserai is quarantined, but the merchants met the day before were not sick. Poison or malediction?
6	A thief posing as a merchant robbed another one blind and disappeared on a secondary road. Can the wares be recovered?
7	A dangerous cult infiltrated a few caravans and prepare a mass sacrifice of merchants to invoke a bloodthirsty Abomination
8	A sandstorm has been raging on the sarai for abnormally long. Can the PCs find the mischievous air-magic-user?
9	A troop of the Sultan is bringing a dangerous Felon to the capital. Their accomplices will try to free them tonight
10	The Sarai fell under the control of mercenaries that racket the caravaners and use the inn keepers as slaves
11	The Sarai refuses to pay its dues to a local guild. The guild has build a siege around the building.
12	Last night, the religious shrine was desecrated and a minor relic was stolen. It must be retrieved

Community

Don't refrain from sharing your thoughts in the comments, I normally validate the comments quickly.

For a longer conversation, you can join the discord of my publishing outlet (from outer space games):

From outer space games Discord

or the Facebook group focused on my creations:

From outer space games on Facebook

Real places in RPG post series

1. Living tree root bridges
   
2. Cats' alley - Medieval cities & fire
   
3. Harihar Fort - endless staircases, fortifications & magic
4. Eternal Flame Falls
   
5. Fingal's Cave
   
6. Die Rakotzbrücke or the Rakotz / Devil's bridge
   
7. You are here
8. Majlis al-Jinn Cave
   

[Europol-X] Advancement Report

 Advancement report

Writing a game is more akin to a marathon than a sprint. Once the enthusiasm of the first days fades, it's not easy to sit down and write what's already developed.

How to keep the flow going?

It is always helpful to run your game parallel to developing it, to keep it on you mind and seeing problems before you wrote them down.
In the case of Europol-X, I've run about 5 sessions with a group of 2 friends, and the introduction of a 3rd player was the kick I needed to end writing the character creation tables.
Since they have received experience, I also was obliged to create the XP system, based on feats. Those are now being developed and written down (this is my next step in the book dev).

So what has been done?

Well I'm happy that, apart from corrections, the careers of the system are fully written down and illustrated. This is maybe not a cornerstone of the system, but the D10 "PAST PROBLEM THAT COULD COME TO HAUNT YOU"-tables are a big help in introducing side-problems and flavor to the game

And layout?

Well I actually try to do layout and writing simultaneously, because both steps don't seem to be a chore if I can do the other one, once I'm bored with the first... It also helps showing nice results before the product is final.
Sure, one could argue that someone might steal the stuff, but what I share is only pictures, and normally, not all the stuff is available. Certainly, one could steal my stuff, but I can't imagine someone giving that much fucks about the game to redo the work from my originally posted stuff as images. You could surely produce something as nice and personal in the same time. I expect the game to be pirated after it is available on Drivethru, not before 😄

Anyway, what I wanted is to show you how the careers look like, as of now (I've already spotted things to correct)

Community

Don't be a stranger, leave a comment on the blog 💗, I normally validate the comments quickly.

For a longer conversation, you can join the discord of my publishing outlet (from outer space games):

From outer space games Discord

There is also a facebook group focussed on my creations:
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[W.I.P.] You believe in what now?

Hey, What's up?

 It's been quiet over here, because I was working on a new project:

Layouting, illustrating and editing a book, full to the gills with random tables to create a religion, with all its aspects (size, age, prophets, relics, cosmogony, etc.)

What's that project?

It's called (up to now at least) "You believe in what now?" and it's gonna be 25-30 pages of historical weirdness (most of the tables are rooted in historical religions from all over history and the world)

Wanna see?

Sometimes it's just better to watch you a preview than praying around the bush:

It's not completely finished (I still have to create the appendix listing all the images and their sources), but I hope to be able to publish it on drivethru before the end of the month...

Who wrote that?

I actually am not the author of the book, i did "only" the layout, all visual aspects and some proof-reading / editing.

It was written by the talented Felix Dester Hultgren, who has delivered here something truly fascinating and learned.

Can I buy it?

Not yet, you'll have to wait a bit more, but soon it will be available as pdf on drivethruRPG, for a reasonable price (we haven't agreed on a price yet, but it will definitively be under 5 Bucks)

You might wanna follow this blog to be sure to not miss the release 😉

I hope you like what you see !

Community

Don't be a stranger, leave a comment on the blog 💗, I normally validate the comments quickly.

For a longer conversation, you can join the discord of my publishing outlet (from outer space games):

From outer space games Discord

[OSR] Real places in RPG [6]: Rakotzbrücke

Die Rakotzbrücke

or the Rakotz / Devil's bridge 

Location

This old bridge is situated in the easternmost part of Germany and has fascinated me for a while: its own reflection on the water always make it seem to be a portal into a new world. Those that read this blog often might know: I love parallel universes...

Legends of the bridge

The architect of the bridge started to work with a spirit on the bridge's construction, promising the spirit the soul of the first being to cross the bridge. However, when the bridge was finished, the architect hushed a dog to cross the bridge as the "first crosser", and the spirit holds a grudge.

Another legends says that passing under the bridge in a boat on a day of half moon lets you travel to another world...

1983, tourists tried to do this and disappeared, never to be seen again...

It is forbidden to cross the bridge, nowadays (under the pretense of "dangerous construction")

Trolls

I wrote about bridges before in this series of posts, but since the one depicted was make out of roots, and I imagine (D&D) trolls to be on the heavy side of creatures, I did not mention trolls at that bridge.

It is a typical fantasy trope to have trolls guarding bridges (I think Tolkien started it). It's always an interesting kind of encounter, with a clear objective: coming to the other side more or less unharmed or not broke. Trolls guarding should be able and willing to communicate, which makes this kind of encounter more interesting.

They most of the time just collect tolls and eat those that won't pay.

Tax collectors

The legend of the bridge trolls is also a metaphor for the toll collection that happened on bridges in the European middle ages. Constructing a bridge was a costly business, and the lords that had invested in the creation of the bridge would appoint a tax collector to the bridge, the collected money would pay this person and a part would go back to the lord. 

The collector were also responsible for the upkeep of the bridge they were guarding.

A doorway, but where to?

This bridge and it's reflection on the water look so perfect it is natural that the human mind would see here a door to another world:

• Where we see a door to a fairy realm, our forefathers certainly saw something much more gloomy. Calling this one the Devil's bridge is almost certainly an indication that the people from the past thought it to be a doorway to the underworld, the world of the dead.
• In a Planescape-esque realm, that could also be a doorway to the plane of Order, or maybe Water.
• The duality of the bridge over the water and it's reflection "under the water" could also mean an access to a place of duality, like the house of a 2-faced god (like the Roman Janus).
• This could also be part of a series of portals used to bring ships from one place to another remote one...
• In Birthright, this would certainly be a door to the shadow world, opening when the half moons aligns with the bridge, releasing hordes of undeads & skeletons, but also letting halfling back into their lost territories, on the search of a lost love or treasure (actually anyone could cross, but halfling know their way on the other side)
  
  

Guardians

A portal is an extremely valuable asset and anyone controlling it can name a steep price for its usage.

D 12	Guardian
1	A saltwater merfolk tribe. They control both sides and have a side business selling salt. Only their outcasts are left to stay on the lake-side of the portal.
2	An old troll widower and his young and brash son. Their liege is on the other side. He also controls passage *over* the bridge
3	4 Gargoyles, that only come to life when the portal is active. The locals fear them while they are in stone form nonetheless, fore their
4	The Tax collector pretends to be a cleric protecting the village from a flood of undeads and racketeering money to "keep the door closed", on top of crossing the bridge
5	A Giant frog (over 2 m high) rules over a big tribe of toadfolks, a humanoid frog mix, about as big as goblins, but extreme good and strong swimmers
6	A young Water-dragon that fell in love with a dragon turtle. They will only accept payment in the form of things that might help her grow as big as him.
7	A giant squid guards the other side. The only way to get through the portal is to get pulled by a gigantic tentacle from the other side
8	Water elementals thrive in the lake but do not allow any boat on the lake, unless a payment in salt-water pearls in paid beforehand, naturally...
9	Nobody guards the bridge. For a good reason: on the other side is the hideout of a ruthless pirate crew. They sometimes sell booty and fish at the nearest village
10	Supposedly, each time you cross the portal, an evil twin is created that crosses it in the other direction, bringing havoc in your life
11	The portal can only be crossed swimming. Men are transformed in dolphins and women in sirens
12	The portal only lets through wearer of tridents without metal armor. On the other side, a gladiator fight is organised, and the owner gets an audience with the goddess of the sea

Unspeakable destinations

Beyond the portal, you could find dangerous places, like:

D12	Place
1	Carcosa
2	Pandemonium, capital of the demons
3	Mino's Labyrith
4	Hellish Swamp
5	Sewers of Sharn
6	Plateau of Leng
7	Morgana's lake on Avalon
8	A dragon-turtle roost
9	Oubliette - the dimensional city no one escapes
10	The Sea of Blood - stained by the blood of a dying titan
11	One arm of the Styx river
12	Near the mouth of Jörmungandr, the World Serpent

Inspiration

This place really makes me dream, so I created an artwork featuring it. Here it is, just for your pleasure:

I really like this piece of art, hope you guys & gals, too !

Community

Don't refrain from sharing your thoughts in the comments, I normally validate the comments quickly.

For a longer conversation, you can join the discord of my publishing outlet (from outer space games):

From outer space games Discord

Real places in RPG post series

1. Living tree root bridges
   
2. Cats' alley - Medieval cities & fire
   
3. Harihar Fort - endless staircases, fortifications & magic
4. Eternal Flame Falls
   
5. Fingal's Cave
   
6. You are here
7. Izadkhast Caravanserai
8. Majlis al-Jinn Cave

[Europol-X] Career preview - Soldier

Soldier

Project advancement

I've started the first play test round with friends, even though the system is not totally finished (but I know where I wanna go), because it's motivating for me to have a kind of urgency...

As sure as 1+1=2 , they chose careers that I had not developed, so I had no "Past problems table" for them, therefore I let them roll on the existing tables (I present here the 5th - I do not post all of them on the blog), and luckily they rolled some entries that were not too specific to the career and generic enough to be adapted easily on the fly...

The Soldier Career

Europol-X recruits for their cell on two criteria:

• You had contact with an unexplained phenomenon and survived
• You have interesting skills

In the case of a soldier, it can be both, since their skills are always in high demand (in RPG at least), and in Europe (where guns are much less  available than on the other side of the Atlantic), it is rarer to find shooters without a military background (shooting ranges exist, and so does hunting, but you don't get to practice outside a controlled environment).

The Table

As always, remember that the "past problems" are optional... You can also just use them as inspiration for your character's past, but having troubles to add to the game will help your DM (or GM, or Storyteller, or Control, whatever you want to call them) personalize your troubles and make them feel more real. Up-close and personal, if you will...

My players

The characters that have been created are:

• A marketing Expert that was Head of Marketing at the Royal Dutch Shell (the oil company), where he has a lot of enemies - (expert in Manipulate skill) - He has a 12 y.o. daughter in a closed private School in Switzerland. A lawyer wants to put him in Jail because he influenced his star witness in a case against Shell.
• An intrusion specialist - like a white-hat-hacker, but for security systems (expert in Sneak skill), from Frankfurt. Her ex boss still long for their past relationship, and his secretary hates her for her special status in his eyes. She was abducted as a child and the only surviving abductor just got out of jail.

Plot Preview

Next week, they'll be confronted with the corpse of a Duplicate (a dupe) - Half robot / half human creatures that can copy the apparence (and therefore steal the identity) of any corpse...

Quick question

If I were to create a tipee/patreon page for this project, would you be interested?

Discord

If you wanna join my Discord ("from outer space games" is the name my publishing entity), click here:

From outer space games Discord

[Europol-X] Career preview - Olympic Fencer

 Europol-X's system is starting to really take form.

I will not post all the "past careers" (you should still want to buy the book someday 😁) but from time to time, so you see the work advances.

Remember that the "past problems" are optional... You don't have to have one, and it doesn't have to be one from the list, but they are a good help to help create some drama for your storyteller (or DM, or GM, whatever you call him).

This is the 3rd career from the twelve I want to develop (one per skill).

This time with the illustration included

By the way, I've opened a discord around my creations (all of them, not only what's posted here), so if you like my work and use this platform, come over and chat !

https://discord.gg/usYXJG7zBu

[Europol-X] Career preview - Brute

Brute

 I've decided to create a system extra for Europol-X.

It is heavily inspired by 5E and the Year Zero engine.

4 Attributes, 12 skills (3 for each attributes).

And a previous Career, for before you joined your EU-X-cell. These can be compared to the backgrounds of the 5th edition, but without a feature.

I present you the first Career, the "Thug" which can be any kind of very bulky and physically imposing character, specialized in demonstrations of shear strength.

I will probably make an illustration for the rest of the page...

Anyway, tell we what you think of this ! 

And happy start in the new year !

And I've opened a discord around my creations (all of them, not only what's posted here)
https://discord.gg/usYXJG7zBu

Edit: I renamed the Career Brute bc of the negative connotation that Thug has gained in the last few years

[OSR] Real places in RPG [5]: Fingal's Cave

 Fingal's Cave

Fingal's Cave is a sea cave on the island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, which is uninhabitated and known for its natural acoustics. 

It is formed entirely from hexagonally jointed basalt columns, which are similar to the Giant's Causeway's (in northern Ireland).

The cave is named after the hero of an epic Poem by James Macpherson, and is supposed to have started building the giant's causeway between Ireland and Scotland.

"Fingal's Cave on Staffa - photo by dun_deagh (Flickr)

Caves

Our human relationship to caves has always been very dualistic: It was probably the first habitat where our ancestors took refuge, but it is also a place where one of our oldest enemy reigns quite undefeated: Darkness.

It is no wonder that our first instinct as a human when encountering a cave is to want to secure it, from wild animals, enemies, or even bad weather. 

Does our survival instinct want us to purge that dark place? Is that the reason why dungeon delving is so popular?

Deserted?

The Island of Staffa, belonging to Scotland, is unsettled.

Is it because of the Cave?

Is it unsettled or unsettled by humans?

What could live here?

Trolls

My first association with this place was that it must be a troll's lair.

Probably a troll eating lots of fish, since there seem to be no source of mamals-meat in the vicinity...

But I imagine hardy settlers trying to conquer this island only to be gobbled by this ancient troll. Who amasses the belongings of the settlers in his cave... Which in turn brings more adventurers to his door.

A kind of antic "delivered food service", on a very unregular basis.

Pirates' Lair

Those villains might even be of the lazy type:
Shipwreckers!

Everybody knows it's not safe to sail in sight of the desolated island of Staffa, but it is a much shorter route to reach Ireland, so audacious captains may try their luck to gain half a day of sea time (this is completly invented - just so you know).

Since the island is supposedly deserted, if a fake lighthouse at night seem to shine on the island, captains tend to think they have arrived in sight Little Colonsay and its quiet coves...

What happens next is a boat stranding on shoal, and a horde of pirate coming to finish of the crew.

The pirates then move their loot into the labyrith town made of cave complexes carved of the basalt.

Sea singers

A very old and interesting part of marine folklore, sea singers can be great enemies for a seafaring party. They don't have to be bad per se, though. But they also can be flesh-eating manipulative merfolks that look pleasant to the eye.

What happens if a PC falls in love with one of those "monsters"?

And what do you do with the offspring?

In any case, if there is treasure at Fingal's, king of the Sea-Elves, to be found, you'd better have a lot of potions of water breathing at the ready.

Door to another place

A cave can also be an entrance. It could lead to different kind of places:

• A volcanic underwater realm bathed in warm slightly sulfuric waters, where alguae produces light and filter the water. What civilization could live down there?
• The lair and resting place of a gigantig sea serpent. It attacks a ship from time to time, but it also feeds the Jörmungandr, the world serpent that prevents the oceans to fall of the edge of the earth.
• The entrance to the watery part of the underworld, where you need to go if you want to petition a drowned person. And you really need to ask Captain Ahab how he tamed that megalodon that is drowning the fleet of good King Agassiz...

OSR

Since I post these musings under the tag of OSR, i might give you a table.

Some of the ideas are taken from the article, other are new stubs to kickstart your imagination (if the picture was not enough)

D20	What is this place?
1	Entrance to a secret pirate society
2	Lair of Jörmungandotir, offspring of the World-Serpent
3	Antechamber of the court of Fingal, king of the Sea-Elves
4	Marketplace for humans and an underwater civilisation
5	Lair of an immortal fishing troll, last known companion to Sherkhan the Mad Archmage
6	Slumbering place of Fingal the Accursed, formerly builder of bridges between continents
7	Door to the murky and dark underwater underworld
8	Lair of a vicious and tidiness-obsessive Water-Dragon
9	Church of cultists praying to the deep ones
10	Place where sea singers come to the surface to seduce land-dwellers
11	Door to an underwater volcanic realm of wonders
12	Birth place of the Cyclop, son of Poseidon
13	Laboratory of a crazy geomancer - with a love for basalt (and golems)
14	Basalt portal leading to the alien quarter of a dwarf city
15	Reunion place of the Assembly of the Masterless Basalt Golems
16	Abandonned empty mining site of black pearls and basalt soul-stones
17	Entrance to the Basalt-Labyrinth where lay the wellspring of stone-to-flesh-water
18	Entrance to the palace of the Medusa, owner of the last teleportation circle
19	Former abode of the demigod Basaltus and lobby to his Forge
20	Sea-faeries bank of the lost memories. Each one is stored in a basalt column

If you need crazier results, roll a few D20 in order and make it the history of the place. Good luck tying up those lore tidbits together.

I hope this place has jogged up your imagination and that you will use it in one of your games.

If you do, i'd be glad if you could leave a comment to tell the adventure.

Real places in RPG post series

1. Living tree root bridges
   
2. Cats' alley - Medieval cities & fire
   
3. Harihar Fort - endless staircases, fortifications & magic
4. Eternal Flame Falls
   
5. You are here
6. Die Rakotzbrücke or the Rakotz / Devil's bridge
7. Izadkhast Caravanserai
8. Majlis al-Jinn Cave

[Stellar Fiefdoms] More backgrounds - Church !

Slowly going forward building the backgrounds. And trying out a new template (which i like a lot).
Don't hesitate to tell me what you like (and don't like)
Here they are !

Still done with GM Binder, which is really nice to work with (and sometimes around :-D )

If you know an artist that would be willing to work on a space-feudal game, have them contact me, i'd be glad !

[Stellar Fiefdoms] 5th edition Space Feudalism - Aristocratic backgrounds

It's been a bit quieter in here lately, and there is a good reason for that:
I'm working on a new project...

Space Feudalism

Stellar Fiefdoms is my attempt to emulate “Space Feudalism”, which is, for me, a sub-genre of science fiction as much as fantasy, at one of their intersections called space fantasy or science fantasy.
It’s a universe where technological advancement has brought humanity to the stars, but society has decided to take a turn back in time and revive some sort of medieval societal organisation.
Aristocracy and Church are the main powers, and their whims can be made into law.
Many technological wonders were banned, first and most importantly one: the microprocessor and any kind of artificial computing machine.
Space travel is faster than light, but only possible thanks to drugged-up fortune-teller than can choose exactly where and when to drill a hole in the space-time continuum with their motor and come back unscathed on the other side of the transfer-black-hole.
Faster than light communication is only done by way of courier, bringing wax-sealed messages using the jump-ships.
The central authority of the emperor is uncontested thanks to his unrivaled military power and the backing of the Church, but the nobles ruling their planetary fiefs enjoy a lot of freedom, far away from Messadoon, the imperial planet and seat of the Adelscabinet (The House of Lords, the law-making body of the Messaran Empire). At least, as long as they respect imperial laws and pay taxes.

Neo-Clone

The game system motorising Stellar Fiefdoms is a mix of old and new, ranging from mechanics dating to the first role playing game to its newest installment, with rules borrowed from other clones and editions situated in between.

The f5eats system

Stellar Fiefdoms is motorised by the f5eats system, a system with roots in the fifth edition of the oldest published role-playing game. It also borrows concepts from the third edition of the same game, particularly the feats that are central in the f5eats system. This system is an attempt at deconstruction of the third and fifth editions, trying to mix the best of them to obtain a fun and simple system, with a progression not based on levels, but on feats. A bit of Macchiato Monsters is also sprinkled on top

GM Binder

I'm trying to get a handle on the GM binder's tools (check them out, their page is really great)
The out put is a pdf (or at least the extract i'll show you)
Instead, I'll upload image files of each page in here, to ease readability.

Backgrounds

First i want to present you the 3 aristocratic backgounds.

As always Comments and Questions are welcome !

[DIY/OSR] D10 Table: Who profits from the troubles? 2020 RPG blog carnival - random encounter tables

Who profits from the troubles?

Thomas Bewick - Wood engraving from a Robin Hood book - 1795

Buisiness as usual

We all know the drill. You arrive at a village at the edge of the civilised world. The atmosphere is gloomy, the good folk is suspicious of strangers and the town elder comes to you as soon as you get your beer at the obligatory tavern.
This village has a problem. And you are here to solve it, because your are the heroic protagonist of this story.
Still, researching in the village you happen to find out that a group or a person is profiteering from the troubles in the village.
It can be related to the story or a red herring, that’s up to the DM, but it brings depth to the story.
It's the kind of encounter that allows you to flesh out a settlement, presenting new NPCs and clues to follow, while improvising...

So who profits from the troubles?

D10	Profiteer
1	A cleric of an infamous god has declared the troubles to be announcing the end of the world! He is quickly recruiting desperate villagers into his apocalyptic cult. Will the PCs resolve the troubles swiftly enough to prevent a mass suicide?
2	A travelling peddler offers goods at prohibitive prices that are ideal to resolve the troubles. He doesn’t seem to have anything else for sale. Fortunately for him, demand is high and he’s the only one stocking these items/services
3	A local druggist sells very cheaply small hemp dolls to protect from bad luck. At first it works well and their owners are safeguarded from the troubles. But soon they turn pale and look exhausted. The druggist appears to be younger by the day…
4	The lord of the barony downstream delivers free food and help, while bad-mouthing the local holder of the authority, who is away on a diplomatic mission
5	A caravan of merchants from the neighbouring duchy has installed their camp near the village. They offer "relocation-serfdom-contracts" to those who lost everything to the troubles. That particular duchy has not abolished slavery, but the villagers do not know that...
6	An archmage from BigTown upon GreatRiver arrived and proposed to eradicate the problem. As a reward, he only asks for a small favor: to be allowed to raise the dead and use them as workforce for the next 10 avernian years
7	A hero pretends to be able to resolve the troubles by himself “for free”  IF but only IF the whole village swears to praise his name at every occasion, declare their unlimited admiration for him to every out-of-towner & rename the village after him. Maybe write a song about his heroic deeds, too?
8	A band of adventurers claiming to have cleared an unholy temple near Troll-Forsaken-Hamlet offers their protection for a hefty sum to the isolated farmhouses. Sure they bleed the farmers dry, but nothing happens to them anymore. Only Old MacDonald who wanted to terminate his business relationship with them was brutally hit by the troubles only a week after booting them from his farm…
9	The main political adversary of the lord mayor always arrives first on any site hit by the troubles and sow clues implicating his rival. Who informs him of the incidents, though? Is he an accomplice of the Baddies™?
10	Doctor John Georges Darkfist asserts to protect anyone from the troubles, all you have to do is sign (in blood) a contract surrendering your shade to the doctor, but only if you were to die within the next 50 years (small print nullifies that clause and specifies that the shade is the resting place of the soul)

Acknowledgement:

This table partly stems from a discussion on a french discord channel, on the discord from CasusNO, which has now taken it's own life. Half of the entries are mine, but a big thanks for their entries to :

• Loris 
• Boulash
• AsgardOdin 🦉

RPG Blog Carnival: What is that?

Blogger carnivals are a way for a group of bloggers to all simultaneously write about the same topic. They are a great way to build community and dialogue across many different blogs at once.
This benefits fans and readers of those blogs because they have the opportunity to explore lots of different viewpoints in a short period of time.
It also benefits the bloggers because they get new readers to stop by. It also helps with SEO. Everyone wins.

Our host this month is www.geeknative.com

RPG Blog Carnival: My point of view

I read about this online and loved the idea. I had already posted something on this topic at the beginning of the month, but I decided to created this post from our little brainstorm on discord, to bring more stuff to read to the table. And I really liked the entries on this D6-democracy (that bloated a bit over 6 entries).
And since i'm a dumbass, I had not seen it is about ENCOUNTER tables...
So i'm a bit off-topic - but not completly, since all these are also possible encounters, in the broad acception of the word...
I guess i'll have to work on  proper encounter table until the end of the month

[OSR]D66 Manifestations that evil is lurking

D66 Manifestations that evil is lurking 

 Konrad Lykosthenes - 1557 - Woodcut from Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon

Introduction

I read a lot of modules, lately (some are even reviewed on this blog) and what a lot of them lack is backstory. Our good hearted murder hobos are always looking for evil to fight it. But how does that evil manifest?

Manifestation?

Well, your basic villager won't call it a manifestation. They might name it the mark of the devil, a bad omen, a curse, or anything superstitious-sounding.
And unless your characters witness the phenomenon (another word the peon won't use), it's all hearsay... Who knows what right, how inflated the rumor was and whose interest it serves if it's a plain lie...
Anyhow, roll 3D66 and start building your dungeon/encounter around those 3 manifestations!

D66	Sign that evil is around
11	River turns red
12	Wells smell of rotten eggs
13	Moon is orange and bigger
14	Cows die and explode
15	Sheeps attack humans and try to eat them, showing blood injected eyes
16	Cats gather around. They seem to discuss or plot something
21	Graveyard's earth is turned over. Every. Morning.
22	Fishes fly out of the water
23	Skeleton of mammoths & dinosaurs roam aimlessly the countryside at night
24	Crystal balls stay milky & unreadable
25	Tarot readings always uncover 1) XII: Death 2) XV: The devil 3) XXI: The tower (longer readings show 4) XII: The hanged man 5) 0: The fool [you are the fool!])
26	Wine turns to vinegar after one hour of opening a bottle
31	Crows fly loudly around the village?
32	All cats’ fur slowly turn black, a shade of gray every day (we all know there are 50)
33	Kids start to grow white hair
34	An enigmatic wind covers the village with a snow of ashes, falling from midnight to sunrise
35	The wells and rivers dry out, although it rains every day
36	Everyone’s shade seem smaller and greyish instead of black
41	The moon stays full, every night
42	Rats swarm the city during the night. Cats don’t go out or get savagely rend
43	Rain of frogs. Most of them even survived!
44	Domestic animals give birth to mutated offspring (missing limbs, double heads and so on)
45	Anybody drinking alcohol gets a crippling headache the next day
46	Swarms of flies bother anyone and their livestock
51	Everyone's pee is reddish (maybe beetroot fest was last week?)
52	Everyone wakes up at night from nightmares
53	Every day, at 11:11 am, it hails for 11 minutes
54	The sky shows "northern lights".
55	The whole sky is clouded, all the time, except for a hole around the sun and a halo around it
56	The village is surrounded by 5 cloud masses, with lightning going from on to the next (forming a pentagram in the sky)
61	The water of the nearby lake is green and bubbling, stinking of rot. All fish in the lake died
62	Flocks of fireflies mask the glow of stars because of their numbers
63	Gigantic mushrooms grow overnight. They are inedible
64	Every night, freezing rain makes the ground icy and dangerously slippery until noon
65	It rained blood. The blood is rotting now
66	Every night, a commoner is turned to stone. His or her face shows a state of ecstasy

Do you miss any kind of ill omen in this list?
Then, add it in the comments!

Edit: Well, apparently, Phil Viverito was missing the 2 following strange occurings. He posted that in the comments on mewe and I decided (with his accord) to post them here, because they are great ideas !

1. 1 out of 100 doors does not lead to the space visible or reasonable congruent area beyond the doorway. Sometimes, entering one door will allow access to a different home in the village. If these entrances go someplace outside of the village, no one has come back to complain.
2. When it rains, some puddles are 6 feet deep. Others appear to be deeper, but no one knows how deep because that person never surfaces after falling in.

Check his blog at https://www.theseoldgames.com, there is a lot of cool stuff there, too !

Somewhere else

If you want to knwo "what's the deal with this town", I recommend this blog post by archons march on

Small challenge !

If you create an adventure or dungeon based on this table, I would try to layout it nicely with GM Binder and publish it here on the blog ! (and do a bit of editing, if you want that too)
C'mon ! Let's use this table !

[OSR]D66 Mad wizard's research into immortality

D66 Mad wizard's research into immortality 

The Circle of the Lustful: Paolo and Francesca, from Dante's Inferno, Canto V

Introduction

I was reading the introduction of "return to white plume mountain" yesterday and Keraptis, the wizard bad guy was said to be researching in the field of immortality, following 8 leads (one of them detailed in the book and relevant to the plot). I started wondering what were the other leads he was following and this is the result of my bedtime musings.

Immortality as a trigger for madness

Wizards and magic user in general make very good enemies.
Often, their pragmatism, thirst for knowledge, hunger for power are their tipping point. Each of these traits is all right, even combined, as long as they don't bring you to the point where you start twisting the accepted moral principles.
Research is a point which might tip the scales and bring a magic user to "the dark side" when they start considering that their "crucial research" is worth more than human lives, for example. The research into immortality, for the magic user's own use or for one of his patron's, is a characteristically commonplace goal for extremely powerful magic users. And test subjects are needed, else the magic users won't be able to rework their experiments if they don't work from scratch...
Magic users reaching for immortality are not even bad, per se, just overly enthusiastic (and generally insane).
Here is a table to determine which area of research your batshit crazy big boss was looking into. For really crazy results, roll 3D66 and COMBINE !

D66	Research Topic
11	Clone: this spell is a way to immortality. But, what if the spell doesn't exist, though? Or if you didn't have the time to grow your clone to a suitable age before you were to die of natural causes?
12	Golemization: create an indestructible or very durable golem and transfer your consciousness into it. Who cares if you now are now a construct? They don't have to drink, eat, breathe or sleep! That can't be a bad thing, even if it means losing your humanity, right?
13	Reversing the "fall of man": this highly theological theory is based on the common creation myth than humans were immortal until they angered God (or a god) and were stripped of their immortality as punishment. Maybe if you ask God nicely?
14	Conscience imprinting into a spell: Keraptis' main research effort was to imprint his consciousness on a spell that would replace any reader's consciousness with a copy of the caster's consciousness. Since this process doesn't kill the caster, his consciousness could be around more than once at the same time. What could go wrong if the separate consciousnesses of a megalomaniac were to antagonize each other?
15	Controlled rebirth: this one is morally darkisk-gray. Trying to not forget anything before being reborn is not too bad. It starts getting dodgy when you also choose to which unborn child you want your consciousness to be sent to, after your death. And what happens to the soul of the unborn child?
16	Near Death Experience: If there is a way to go to hell/hades/the underworld, why not try mapping it and its surroundings, looking for a way back to the living. What can go wrong during a near death experience anyway?
21	Parasitizing: Your body is old and used. Why not using someone else's? If their will is weak enough, you could impose yourself into consciousness around 90% of the time. What could your host do against you in his 10% time anyway?
22	Alchemy: This has been a standard since the beginning of this discipline. Finding the right ingredients can be an infinite source of quests. What blight do failed potions cause on the test subjects?
23	Dragon blood: Drinking it? Bathing in it like Siegfried? How do you get the blood anyway? And how fresh must it still be?
24	Find the source of immortality: Is it a wellspring of Longevity? Do you have to eat Idunn's apples, or the Hesperides’ golden Apples. Do you have to go to the source of the river separating the lands of the living and those of the dead?
25	Life draining: mythic evil swords often drain health from the enemies of the swordbearer. Draining youth, life expectancy is rarer, but worth much more to an aging dodgy character. Draining the life force can be ritually done, too. Is the life given willingly or unwillingly? Is the ritual cabalistic, demonic, bloody, amorous, spiritual? And how much youth is drained? What does an 8 years old page look like after having got 30 years of his life-span drained?
26	Vampirism: Why drain life if you can be immortal drinking blood? Who needs a reflection in the mirror? Can you tame the thirsty beast within? Can you be a "light"-vampire drinking only animal blood? What about sun tan? Can you become an immortal vampire without losing your humanity, without becoming a Monster?
31	Stealing Cat Lives: It is well known the feline bastards have multiple lives. Some say 7, other say 9. Fact is: are they gonna miss one? Will Bastet suddenly pay you an unfriendly visit? Or will the reduced lifetime of the cats cause a plague outbreak?
32	Lichdom: Eternal life is too difficult to reach? Try eternal undeath! Raise your family, or raise yourself a new family, or servants, or an army! The graveyard's the limit! Just be caful with your Phylactery...
33	Body function control: eat healthy, harden your mind, be ascetic. Live like a Monk. Supposedly, their timeless bodies can age very slowly. And if the dieting, asceticism, and constant meditating get on your nerves, maybe dissecting a few monks will help understand how to emulate that slow aging without the exhaustingly boring lifestyle...
34	Pact with a higher patron: There are very powerful beings roaming the material plane, which are no gods, but not far from it. Some will exchange some of their Magic for your eternal servitude. But if what you seek is not borrowed magic power, they will certainly exchange some life energy for your enslavement. Is the Queen of the unseelie court not immortal, herself?
35	Stasis: there are certain drawbacks to being immortal in stasis. You can’t do anything physical and imposing your will and the world is a tiresome “mind over matter” activity. It’s a bit cold and boring, but you’re not ageing, so there’s that. Who’s the poor person that acts on your behalf? Willingly?
36	Dorian Greyism: Find an object that ages in your place. What happens if the object is destroyed? What happens if your connection to the object is broken? What if you are on another plane? Maybe that bag of holding is not the safest place to store it...
41	Grafting: What about exchanging your old body parts against new ones? If a family sells you their kid, you can do whatever you want with that kid, couldn’t you? Anyway, you need those organs more than he or she does… A certain Doktor Frankenstein seem to be able to graft anything… Marvels of this age… A Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless grafts mechanical improvements, maybe that’s better? And if you don’t like metal, have his Excellency Momir Vig graft you the cytoplasted hand of an owlbear, claws inclusive...
42	Decorporation: in this case you would not cheat death, just the “go to another plane of existence”-part of it. After your death, your point is to stay around as an unchanged spirit, forgoing the “getting mad” process. Sure you lose some part of your ability to interact with the world, but now you can go through walls, that counts for something, doesn’t it? Your laboratory might be haunted by a lot of angry spirits though...
43	Cryomancy: everything decays slower when you keep it cold. Maybe that’s the secret? Keep your body cold but functioning? Maybe you should move to a polar location… Do not forget to get rid of the ice statues of your test subjects before leaving, though...
44	Gem-Embedding: Dwarves are capable of doing incredible stuff with gems. You might want to embed your consciousness into an incredibly valuable gem. Whoever wears the pendant holding the gem would then be your puppet. Better not lose control or that gem might land in a very lonely safe...
45	Godhood: Gods are more or less immortal. You just have to ascend to godhood. Easy peasy. Maybe you should kill an unpopular god and take over his place in the pantheon? Be ambitious!
46	Alcohol: You can preserve a lot of stuff in Alcool. But there is one alcohol that will keep you alive for years: Ambrosia, the wine of the gods. Who cares that they use souls to fertilise the divine grapes? Who’s your dealer anyway? And what does he want in exchange?
51	Blight: How about harnessing the power of the land and transform its energy into life force? Tapping into the leylines sounds a bit dangerous for beginners, but you are able of mind! And the withering of the land around you is a small price to pay to live a few centuries longer, isn’t it?
52	Corruption: Everyone has a price, any powerful ruler knows that! Even the ferryman can be bribed. That might be a quite heavy tribute, yearly, but what the heck, if you have the money it’s worth it. Even if the price includes a soul every year. As long as it’s not yours...
53	Dark dealings: There is a life force exchanger, just around the gates of hell. Sure he does look like a devil, and his price in souls is steep, but it’s worth a yearly pilgrimage… And those kids would soon have died of famine anyway...
54	Timenapping: Steal your younger body from the past and implant your consciousness into it. Who cares about time paradoxes? It’s always easier to implant your consciousness into your own body. It’s a bit traumatic, but nothing you couldn’t handle, right? Or is that the reason you keep experimenting on others?
55	Chronolooping: This is another time trick to cheat death, sending your consciousness into your younger body, decades before. You relive the same years again and again, but you can relive your life and try to avoid the mistakes you made… Maybe you’ll find another way to live longer along the next try...
56	Law: you can try foolproofing a wish spell. Read all laws of hell, heaven and the planes. Try to find a dumb Genie. Try your hypotheses on your poor apprentices. The genies were always wiser, up to now...
61	Augment durability: Statues can overcome millenaries. Stone is just durable. If you could become stone without losing your mobility, that’d be perfect… With “flesh to stone” and “animate statue”, you can try to cast everyday until the effect is permanent… Might work one day. Sadly, you missed one “animate statue” on Igor and it seems it does not work on his statued self anymore...
62	Reverse aging: There is a legend that if you are able to reverse your blood flow, you will get younger again, reversing the aging process. Just have to find a way to do that. And do it again once you’re much younger… It would be sad if you’d forget the ritual and die of getting too young...
63	Devilish pact: you’d have to have a really yummy soul for a devil to grant a longer life. Unless he thinks you’d die of unnatural causes before your time anyway. The strings attached might be really daunting. Are you sure you read all the fine print?
64	Self-mummification: Mummification is a long process. Find the right bandages, not too itchy, but still long lasting… And once you’re ready to never rot, there’s the mess with having your bowels removed. And all this gold for your mask! A pity everyone that worked on you gotta die...
65	Angel’s grace: Angel are immortal, thank to their grace. It is not easy for a mortal to extract it, and even more trickier to ensnare it. You have to consume it with parsimony, but one grace won’t last for long… How many Angels are you read to kill over your immortality? Do you think you’ll go anywhere else than directly to inferno?
66	Gambling: Death is a gamer, but the odds are always in his favor. He will always accept a game before taking you. The more you gamble, the more death is interested! Cheating death, now, is quite another matter… Maybe you should challenge him to survive the original “Tomb of Horrors”, with unloaded dice...

Other Topics?

Immortality is not the only crazy topic an unstable yet overpowerful magic user can channel his efforts towards...
If you want other crazily impossible topics, i recommend having a look at Tristan Tanner's d66 table of experiments that go terribly wrong (on his bogeymanscave blog)

Do you miss any kind of fantasy research in this list?
Then, add it in the comments!