Stats as hammer, stats as nails

There's nothing revolutionary in this post, but I think it contains generally good advice and feels worthwhile articulating.

When an RPG gives you something generic, a player skill that enlivens your roleplaying is describing it in a non-generic way. Items are a great place to have fun with this idea.

Instead of a dagger, it's a "wavy dagger with a hilt shaped like a mushroom." 

You can "show, not tell" your character's backstory this way. Instead of a dagger, it's a dissection scalpel used in haruspicy, which is practiced by your people. Instead of a dagger, it's a dueling dirk you won the right to wear when you dueled your half-brother to death.

Here is a list of every item from the gear list in His Majesty the Worm with a few flavorful descriptions for each. 

Alchemy kit

• Cottage Witch Alchemy Kit: Wicker basket with scavenged ingredients stored in frog stomach pouches, cat skulls, and bat-wing purses. Your alchemy isn't "natural science," but a form of folk magic.

Animal feed

• Dog biscuits: Your mom baked these dog biscuits from leftover oats for your animal companion, Rufus.

Armor, light

• Retiarius Armor: The armor of the retiarius-type gladiator: heavy-linen arm guards and a leather shoulder piece. 
• Orc Woad Tattoos: Seablooded orcs favor writing protective runes in woad paint instead of bulky armor that will weigh them down if they fall overboard. 
• Beekeeper Suit: Thick robes and a wicker mask complete the beekeeper's signature apparel.

Armor, iron

• Immortal's Chainmail: A hauberk of chainmail stripped from the body of the eunuch "Immortal" warrior caste of Far-Away, brought as a curiosity by an antiquities trader and stolen early in your career.
• Alien Diving Suit: An extradimensional scientist tried to visit the plane of Flesh and constructed this suit of iron and rubber to survive our inhospitable conditions. He was killed by the inhospitable natives. It smells of ammonia.

Armor, steel

• House Mereswine's Platemail: A set of lobstered steel plate worn by cavalrymen in the guard of House Mereswine. It has a dolphin motif in keeping with their house sigil.

Bedroll

• Mummy Sleeping Bag: When you get in to your sleeping bag, you look like a real mummy--all wrappings and faux-Egyptology designs. 
• Owlbear Hide: You killed the owlbear in your first foray into the Underworld and kept the hide. You made a scratchy blanket out of it that you sleep in.

Bezoar

• Frog Throat Bezoar: The weird guy in the Omphalos Market that sold this to you claims it was from a giant frog. You're not sure you believe him.

Blank book

• Dwarf-Skin Book: An ogre bound this book in dwarf skin. Gross!
• Quipu Yarn: Elves sometimes use a woven language to help keep records. This collection of yarn is like a blank book--you'll weave your story together.

Booze

• Pirate's Hooch: Fermented in a pirate's peg leg, it's strong but nobody would call it good.
• Metheglin: This lavender-infused metheglin was made by your wife. It reminds you of home.

Caltrops

• Toy Soldiers: Your son played with these metal toy soldiers with bayonets that were so sharp they were practically real. You borrowed them for your expedition and throw them out as caltrops.

Candle

• Beeswax Candles: You harvested this beeswax yourself from your home hive. 
• Human-fat Candles: The rendered fat of a murderer went into this candle. It produces a foul, black smoke.

Chain

• Anchor Chain: A length of chain salvaged from a shipwreck that you survived. 
• Ball & Chain (-Ball): You wore this chain in the dungeon that you escaped from. You hammered off the heavy lead ball, but have found the chain useful to keep.

Chalk

• Student's Chalk: The chalk is cheap and quality is poor but it gets the job done. It's intended for students at the Madrasa in the City.

Clothes, rags

• Troll's Tunic: After a slime burned off all your clothes, you were forced to borrow a tunic from a troll friend. It's basically a dress on you. 

Clothes, common

• Ninja: A cool ninja outfit. 

Clothes, finery

Every character should have a signature hat. Seriously.

Click for more hats

Cooking gear

• Senshi's Shield: Once, this was your family's adamantine heirloom shield. But since you're a cook not a fighter, you reforged it into this wok! 

Crowbar

• Thief's Hand: This crowbar is flourished with an open hand.
• Crow Bar: This crowbar is flourished with a crow's head and beak motif.

Falconry gear

• Elven Hawker's Chemicals: Instead of leather tools such as lures, hoods, jessies, etc. to control the bird, elves use chemical compounds in small glass jars extracted from insects. One temporary blinds the hawk, one paralyzes its wings, one awakens its prey drive, etc.

Fishing gear

• Mermaid Hair Net: A mermaid wove this net from her own hair. It is festooned with little sea glass baubles.

Firewood

• Bonfire of the Vanities: This was once a statue of a blasphemous idol, smashed to bits by the axes of the Athleta Mythrii. It is right that such as blasphemy is now used for kindling.

Flint & tinder

• Sacred Firestarter: The shavings of the tinder were taken from fallen wood given by the hearttree of your village and soaked in sacred oil. The flint was harvested and blessed by a law-speaker.
• Tinder Fungus: Instead of carrying spark-makers, you carry live coals nested inside of tinder fungi. You have six of these.

Garlic

• Weird Bulb: The bulb looks like a weird old man's face! Isn't it uncanny?

Grappling hook

• Anchor: Your grappling hook is a repurposed anchor from a ship.

Hammer

• Coffin Maker's Hammer: This hammer's first owner was a coffin maker. It has driven many coffin nails. 

Hatchet

• Orcish Stone Hatchet: The earthblooded orcs still practice the patient art of stone working, including making stone hand tools like this hatchet. 

Helm

• Knight's Helm: Ahhh! The noble knight's helm! A close helmet festooned with a snail crest.
• Prisoner's Cage: Not a helmet at all, but a scold's bridle in fashion of a cage. Still, it might turn a blow.
• Thiollier's Mask: "A mask upon which is carved a tranquil sleeping face."

Really, helms are such an opportunity to play Fashion Souls.

Hermetic bottle

• Old Wine Bottles: You've sealed these old wine bottles pretty tight! They still have the labels on them.

Hourglass

• Novelty Hourglass: This hourglass is shaped like a woman with a real hourglass figure! It elicits groans and eyerolls from your guild mates.

Iron spike

• Crucifixion Nails: These spikes were nails pulled from the hands and feet of crucified criminals.

Lantern

• Medusa Lantern: Each side of the lantern is shaped like a medusa's face, mouth open in a monstrous scream.

Lard

• Scam Soap: This soap was sold by a merchant claiming that 1-in-20 bars had a gold coin inside! You hope this bar is one of the lucky ones!

Leeches

• Tiny Slimes: It's illegal to carry slimes into the City, but you find baby slimes to be much more useful than leeches at extracting small portions of blood from a sick patient.

Lockpicks

• Cat's Whiskers: This set of lockpicks are carried in a case with a winking, cartoonish cat. 
• Skeleton Keys: This brand of thieves tools is called "Skeleton Keys." Each pick is festooned with a smiling skull.

Manacles

• Mage's Cuffs: These iron cuffs clamp onto a sorcerer's wrists to stop them from casting spells. They are not linked together, so the sorcerer still has the use of their hands and arms. 

Mirror

• Saintly Relic: This broken mirror fragment is said to be a shard of St. Jason's famous mirrored shield.

Musical instrument

• Dwarven Carnyx: This tall horn is shaped like a boar and makes a clear, piercing note that can be heard for a mile or more.
• Halfling Panpipes: These panpipes have a false reed that can be used to carry a long-shanked tobacco pipe. 
• Underfolk Common Hymn Book: A collection of traditional Underfolk songs sung at traditional times: births, deaths, weddings. 

Oil

• River Whale Oil: The river whales that live in the River Grey near the City are hunted for their oil and other byproducts. In the City, river whales are associated with death and dreams. Parents tell children that burning a lamp of whale oil will banish their nightmares. 
• Mushroom Oil: Piggy of the Cave is a favored mushroom of Underfolk: its meaty texture provides welcome variety in their diet. It can also be rendered into a smoky-burning oil.

Pick

• Dwarven Mattock: A heavy mattock written with Ancient Underfolk runes reading: WHO'S YOUR DADDY?

Pipe & Pipeweed

• Carven Pipe: A long ornate pipe carved to look like an old sea-captain smoking (recursively) a corncob pipe.

Or, imagining that the pipe is a *feature* of His Majesty the Worm that simply allows you to remove Stress for the cost of a pack slot, you can recast this to be a variety of consumable items.

• Bubble Bath: The dungeon is a smelly place. Taking a bubble bath lets you regain a measure of composure and center yourself.
• Brain Licorice: A candy made of dried brain jellies and anise. Eating it smooooothes away the wrinkles.

Pole, 10'

• Shepherd's Crook: A shepherd's crook made of olive wood, especially long, with a nice crook at the end.
• Lamplighter's Snuffer: A basic 10' long bronze and pewter candle snuffer from the Lamplighter's Guild.
• Finglonger: What would it be like if I invented the finglonger?

Poultice

• Prayer Flags: The bandages are linen strips made from prayer flags, each with a calligraphed prayer. 
• Elven Mummy: Extracted from an elven sarcophagus by their direct descendants in a process called Reclaiming, the mummy's wrappings and ground-up flesh are used as medicines. 

Quill & Ink

• Clerical Illumination Tools: A teak wood writing case with tools for illuminating coded books of the Mythraic Mysteries: horsehair bush, knife to scrape the paper, sand to dry the ink, and jars of black, gold, and red inks. 
• Gnomish Librarian's Invisible Inks: A quill from a hoopoe bird and invisible inks (only legible under the moon or stars). 

Rations

• Human Rations: Wicker basket of rations containing: flat bread, olives, pickled cucumbers, dried figs, hard cheese, honey comb, and sausage. 
• Underfolk Rations: Wax paper bundle containing: travel biscuits, carrots, mushrooms, mushroom chutney, dried apple, mole jerky, and piece of toffee. A jug of wine (for dwarves) or tea (for halflings and trolls) included.
• Fay Rations: Clay jar, fire-ready, with a stew of horse meat, succotash, and beans. Corn cakes wrapped separately. 
• Orc Rations: Banana leaf wrapped around: clay jar of barley and oat porridge, clay jar of goat's milk yogurt, pickled herring, and smoked whale jerky.

Religious paraphernalia

• Portable Shrine: A tiny desk with an embedded icon of the Hierophant, a candle holder, and an attached rosary. 
• Stone Idol of Rng: A crudely carved stone face painted half white and half black. 

Rope

• Handkerchiefs: A rope made out of brightly-colored handkerchiefs tied tightly together. 

Salt

• Mined Salt: A wooden box shaped like a dwarven grandmother filled with quarried salt.

Shield

• Church Door: Wielded by a troll, this shield was once the door into the Fane of the Heresiarch. 
• Pickle-Barrel Lid: Wielded by a halfling, this shield is just the round top of a pickle barrel with a handy little handle. It is painted with a bright sun as a heraldic device. 

Shovel

• Gnomish Archaeologist Shovel: The Archaeologist Society within the Court of Redcaps issues this small shovel to its members to help excavate artifacts from stones and soil.

Spyglass

• Opera Glasses: Extreme opera glasses, for watching the play from the tippy top of the nosebleeds.

Tent

• Knight's Pavilion: This brightly-colored tent is emblazoned with the your heraldry--a knight jousting atop a noble snail. 

Tinker's kit

• Grandpa's Tackle Box: A metal boxed inherited from your grandfather. It once held fishing lures, but now holds all sorts of tools and odds and ends: cut pieces of wood, putty, nails, pliers, lengths of wire, etc. 

Torch

• Wedding Torch: Your bride left you standing at the altar, but her family already paid for all these torches. Might as well use 'em. 
• Juggling Torch: These were made by Flavius the Clown, the premier torch juggler of the City. 

Wand of archwood

• Thunderbolt: The archtree was split by lightning. This wand has a thunderbolt design to commemorate the event. Blasts of magic from it have a lightning-like aspect.

Weaponry

• Bearded Axe: The axe is literally bearded: it's shaped like an orcish face with a long, beautiful beard as the blade.
• Sword of the Torturer's Guild: This heavy blade is intended to take heads. As such, it has no point. It has two sharp edged sides: one for slaying men, one for slaying women. A vein of quicksilver in the blade gives overhanded swings extra weight.
• Elven Bow: A bow of yew strung with a single golden elf hair.
• Magnetic Morningstar: This morning star is not connected by a chain. Instead, the spiked ball seems to "orbit" the handle.

Wolfsbane

• Aspergillum of Wolfsbane: An aspergillum of mountain water infused with wolfsbane. In the event of a lycanthrope, you can anoint the beast with the water. 

Bloggies Debrief and Thanks

Another year and the Bloggies have come and gone! I'm very pleased to have taken home some medals in the Best Series category!

Gold: The Designing Dungeons Course, or, How to Kill a Party in 30 Rooms or Less

Silver: The Middle-earth Hexcrawl Project

My colleague and co-author of Designing Dungeons, Warren of ICastLight, has a nice post on the Bloggies that says more than I will. 

> Blogs are like cheese- the one that smells like feet is better than the unoffensive Kraft single. Be the feet cheese.

Let me add a "ditto" to his sentiments.

Let me also thank a few folks! 

First, thank you to this year's host Clayton of Explorer's Design who did a great job. Every one who has inherited the burden of victory in years past has done a great job, and Clayton continued this excellent tradition of stewardship. 

BIG thanks to the community of volunteers who recorded the Bloggie nominees in audio format through We Read the Bloggies! Thank you to everyone who my blog posts--what a big lift! Thanks especially to Jon from 3d6DowntheLine for recording the audio versions of the entire Designing Dungeons Course. (Did you hear that? There's audio versions now -- linked on the course itself!) Thanks also to Nick L.S. Whelan who has been pioneering the blogcast podcast for years with Blogs On Tape.

I want to thank and congratulate Nova of Idle Cartulary, who also won a Bloggie for Best Series. She is an absolute pillar of the community. Her criticism is so important, so valuable, and so appreciated.

And, obviously, thanks everyone who voted for me! Some of these votes were razor thin, so every vote counted! 

Congrats to Elmcat who brought home the Big Bloggie Gold (as its called)! I look forward to them hosting next year!

Random Hobbit Advancement

When you level up, you gain a random benefit based on your race or class. Here's what hobbits get.

You can either roll a d10 for your culture to get a result from a tightly-bound part of the table or roll a d50 to get anything from the entire table.

This is ostensibly for the Middle-earth Hexcrawl project but I think it can be broadly applicable to any fantasy adventure game with halflings in it. 

- The random dwarf advancement table is here.
- The random human advancement table is here.
- The random elf advancement table is here.
- The random elf-friend advancement table is here.

Note: When you roll an advancement option twice, you can either select the option above or below the rolled benefit. However, a few advancements can be upgraded several times or unlock a new art entirely. These are noted in the text.

Art by Goran Gligovic

Harfoots

The Harfoots were browner of skin, smaller, and shorter, and they were beardless and
bootless; their hands and feet were neat and nimble; and they preferred highlands and hillsides.

1. All's Well that Ends Better: When you Carouse, you may roll twice and take either event.
2. Elusive: In combat, as a fast action, you can make a specific enemy unable to hit you if they are also engaged with another foe.
3. Gaffer's Wisdom: Ask the GM if you're forgetting something and receive an honest reply.
4. Neat and Nimble: Once per week, you can declare that a sprung trap doesn't affect you because of your small size: blades whizz over your head, you're too light to set off pressure plates, etc.
5. Out with the Frying Pan: You can wield tools and trinkets as improvised weapons (stats a dagger): frying pans, cooking ladles, long sausages, etc.
6. Patient Packer: You may use your Skill instead of Strength to determine the number of your carried items.
7. Slumberous: Ignore up to 1 bane each camp. Additionally, if ever put to sleep magically, you may choose to wake up.
8. Where There's Life There's Hope: When you heal from Hope, you always reroll the Hope dice if you roll a 1 or 2.
9. …And Need Of Vittles: At camp, if you participate in the cooking and merriment, you may spend a point of Hope and have everyone in the company benefit from the healing.
10. Wrapped Tight: Fresh rations will keep for a week in your pack.

Stoors

The Stoors were broader, heavier in build; their feet and hands were larger; and they preferred flat lands and riversides.

11. Climb with Hands and Feet: You may climb sheer surfaces as if you had a rope. If you ever do fall, treat your fall as if it were 15' shorter.
12. Extra Padding: Wearing armour never imposes a penalty on your Subtlety rolls.
13. Finder: If looking for something that you or someone you're with has lost, you always have a sense of which cardinal direction it's in. Things never directly owned by a person ("My ancestor's magic ring, to which I have a claim") don't count.
14. Fox Trick: If you are ever in a position where you are trying to hide from observers, you may take 1d6 damage to find cover in an implausible (but not impossible) manner and hide in plain sight.
15. Riddle Master: You get a number of "free" guesses for riddles equal to your Understanding. These are asked to the GM and represent your thought process. If your guess is wrong, you don't really guess that.
16. Stone Skipper: The range of your thrown weapons and slings doubles. Also, you can skip a stone 2d100 times.
17. Storyteller's Memory: You can recall specific images very well. You can ask the GM questions about the details of anything you've seen or heard.
18. Tricksy: Once per day, if a foe misses you with an attack, you may say that they've driven their weapon into the earth and gotten it stuck. It takes 1 turn to free.
19. Underfoot: If you are engaged with two foes and one misses in their attack against you and the dice rolled is even, you may force the GM to use that result against the other enemy.
20. Voice of Birds: You can whistle any bird song you've heard before so faithfully even birds are fooled. Audible at great distances. If you try to call a bird in, roll a d6: 1) None are in the area; 2-4) 2-4 normal birds endemic to the area come to you; 5-6) A magical or intelligent bird comes to your call.

Fallohides

The Fallohides, the least numerous, were a northerly branch. They were more friendly with Elves than the other Hobbits were, and had more skill in language and song than in handicrafts; and of old they preferred hunting to tilling.

21. Brave in a Pinch: You are resistant to fear damage.
22. Button-Busting Feat: Once per week, if you would fail an attribute test, you may choose to succeed instead.
23. Hobbits Stick Together: You inspire a +2 bonus to Morale to all NPC hobbits in your service.
24. Lucky Number: When the entire company must make a test to avoid some doom, everyone gains +2 if you pass the test first.
25. Lustrous Toehair: +3 Beauty tests to determine reactions with other halflings.
26. Merry: You heal +2 damage from Hope.
27. Smoke like a Dragon: If you have an active pipe going, you can take 1d6 damage and finish the pipe to generate enough smoke to create a fog cloud that obscures your entire general area.
28. Rustic Courtesy: Although nobody knows of hobbits, you make a positive first impression. Once a day, you can cause an NPC to default to a positive reaction instead of a neutral one.
29. Weather Songs: The first time you travel in a type of weather, note it down. At the end of the day, you may make a traveling song specifically for that type of weather. Write at least four lines of poetry. The next time you travel in the same weather, you may sing your song. Every member of the company gets +1 to all tests related to their jobs that day. Keep track of all your weather songs.
30. Wrassling: You gain a +2 bonus to Maneuvers.

All Hobbits

31. +1 Skill
32. +1 Subtlety
    • You may gain this advancement up to 3 times.
33. +5 Endurance
    • You may gain this advancement up to 3 times.
34. Art of Smoking: When you smoke for an hour, you can ponder riddles. Tell the GM about something that you believe to be true. They will say: "You don't doubt your guess," "Close to the mark, but not quite" or "You're not sure that's right."
35. By the Hair of your Toes: Once per day, when taking a Critical Wound, you can roll twice and choose which effect to receive.
36. Comforts of Home: You may take on the jobs of both cook and quartermaster at the same time.
37. For the Shire!: Once per combat, you may make a Melee attack as a fast action instead of a fell action.
38. Good Cook: When you take the job of cook, the company gains 1 boon while camping.
39. Gourmand: You have exceptional taste. With just a tiny taste of food, you can tell what the ingredients are (e.g., if there's a little extra poison in there). You can also follow your nose to kitchens, root cellars, inns, larders, etc.
40. Hole Dwellers: You gain +1 to tests while underground.
41. Laughing People: Once per session, if you tell a joke in character that makes the table laugh, the company gains 1 Bonus Hope.
42. Light of Step: You may use your Skill attribute instead of Strength when it comes to matters of climbing, acrobatics, and moving swiftly.
43. Plain Hobbit Sense: When there's a choice between two (and only two) equally weighted options, you may ask the GM for their opinion.
44. Shields for Serving Bowls: If wearing no armour, set your Defense to +2 from your small size and agility.
45. Shortcut to Mushrooms: When you take the job of herbalist, on a successful test, the GM will give you a mushroom from the region's herb table (if available) in addition to a randomly rolled herb.
46. Shy of the Big Folk: You may always act in a surprise round if you are surprised by creatures larger than you.
47. Six Meals a Day: Eat a ration to heal 2 damage. You can do this up to six times per day.
48. Sure at the Mark: You may use your Skill rating instead of your Valour rating when using thrown weapons or slings.
49. Tough as Old Tree Roots: When you've taken damage equal to ½ of your Endurance total, gain a +1 bonus on all attack and attribute tests.
50. Tough in the Fibre: Whenever you camp, you always heal at least 3 damage taken.

Unblocking Yourself: Dungeonize your Home

Sometimes when you're writing a dungeon room, it can feel like pulling teeth. The empty space and the stocking result of "Trap with Treasure" mocks you.

Here's a technique to unblock yourself. Look around you. Put cogent details that you can see into your dungeon. 

Things I can see from my computer desk chair:

• The Mordant Arcana tarot deck
• A pipe
• The Fantasy Prompt Generator zine from Norn
• A helmet with antlers on it
• A hedgehog figurine
• My diploma
• My college honor pledge saying that I would not steal (that I stole)
• A bow

And that's without turning my head. Just looking around in my field of vision, I already have some prompts for a room with that stocking result. Let me see if I can put them together...

The Wizard's Study

A small study. Inside, there is a cozy leather armchair and a small end table with a hedgehog statue (worth 10g) holding a pipe. On the walls is a tapestry of a dweorling with magnificent antlers carrying a bow that slightly ripples in an unfelt breeze and a framed diploma from the Unseen University. 

• Pipe: The pipe can create a fog cloud 1x/day.
• Tapestry of a dweorling: The tapestry is enchanted; a gift from the wizard's father-in-law. It will make one missile attack (+4) per round against anyone who enters the room that isn't the wizard.

See? Pretty easy! 

Now, go see if you can put together an entire dungeon just using your favorite things from around your house! 

While I have you...

Did you have a chance to check out my Dungeon Design Course from last year? I wanted to share an update! Jon from 3d6 Down the Line was kind enough to record audio versions of each chapter! You can now listen along to the exercises! 

If you took something away from the Dungeon Design Course, I hope you'll consider voting for it as Best Series in the Bloggies. Voting is happening now until 2/27/2026!

Vote now!

Random Elf-friend Advancement

When you level up, you gain a random benefit based on your race or class. Here's what elf-friends get.

What are elf-friends? Well:

The master of the house was an elf-friend—one of those people whose fathers came into the strange stories before the beginning of History, the wars of the evil goblins and the elves and the first men in the North. In those days of our tale there were still some people who had both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors, and Elrond the master of the house was their chief. He was as noble and as fair in face as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer.

- The Hobbit

So, you know, folk like Elrond and Aragorn. You might call them half-elves.

You can either roll a d12 for your culture to get a result from a tightly-bound part of the table or roll a d50 to get anything from the entire table.

This is ostensibly for the Middle-earth Hexcrawl project but I think it can be broadly applicable to any fantasy adventure game with half-elves in it. 

- The random dwarf advancement table is here.
- The random human advancement table is here.
- The random elf advancement table is here.

Note: When you roll an advancement option twice, you can either select the option above or below the rolled benefit. However, a few advancements can be upgraded several times or unlock a new art entirely. These are noted in the text.

Elf-Friend

Art by Goran Gligovic

North

1. Bane of Un-dead: You deal +1 damage to the un-dead. Keep a tally of how many un-dead you have killed. At 50 un-dead, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 un-dead, this bonus increases to +3.
2. Barrow Blessing: If you kiss the brow of a fallen companion, no evil will despoil their body. They will never raise as un-dead.
3. Bolster Hearts: As a fast action, say a line of poetry or boldly shout your war cry. All companions who can hear you gain +2 to their rolls until your next turn. (If you never get another turn because you fall, the bonus lasts for the rest of the combat.)
4. Far Strider: If you are unarmoured when you serve as a Scout, a successful Skill test allows you to choose two effects (instead of one).
5. Heir of the North: Can always sense the direction of true north, even if underground. If you ever fail a test as a Guide to orient, you gain a +1 bonus the following day. This bonus is cumulative with itself for each day you fail orienteering.
6. Master Herbalist: Gain Herb Lore if you don't already have it. (If you already have it, you gain another random Lore.) On a journey, when you act as an herbalist and successfully find an herb, the GM rolls twice to determine what you find; you gather both herbs.
7. Pursue Foes: On a journey, if you serve as the company's Guide, you may spend 2 movement points to deliberately seek foes to challenge. When making a wandering encounter roll for the day, the GM will roll 3d6 and drop the lowest dice (instead of rolling 1d12).
8. Resourceful Herbalism: When using an herb, a single use can be stretched to benefit two targets simultaneously.
9. Rumours of the Earth: If you act as the company's Scout, instead of following the normal procedure, you may spend 2 movement points and gather rumours by listening to the earth instead of roving afar. Make a Skill Δ10 test. On a success, the GM reveals a sound clearly detailing one entry on the local events table (if any). The GM will tell you if there is another local event in this hex. If there is, you may immediately spend 1 movement point and gain another clue about this encounter. This Art cannot be used at the same time as Far Strider.
10. Skillful Archer: You may make Maneuvers from afar using a missile weapon. To perform a ranged maneuver, test Valour against a Δ8 + your target's Valour. If successful, you deal a significant setback to your foe.
11. Student of Ruin: When you study a Numenorean artifact or visit a site important to the Men of the West, you can sing a song that tells of its history. Roleplay a few lines. If you do so, gain 1 Hope.
12. Wise of Ways: You gain a +2 bonus to Skill tests related to Scouting.

South

13. Bane of Orcs: You deal +1 damage to orcs. Keep a tally of how many orcs you have killed. At 50 orcs, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 orcs, this bonus increases to +3.
14. Brave: You are resistant to fear damage.
15. Captain of Men: During combat, you may use a fast action on your turn to shout a command to an ally who can hear you. They may make an extra action that turn.
16. Hands of Healing: In combat, you may use your action to forestall a Critical Wound that results in death—as long as you minister to them, they will not die (if the death was not instantaneous). During a journey, your job can be "Healer." Each day spent ministering to a companion reduces one of their Critical Wound in severity and speeds their recovery—the GM will determine exactly how this works.
17. Keen Eared: Gain +2 bonus to any tests related to listening. If you spend a turn listening, the GM will tell you if there is any breathing creature hiding in your immediate area. (This ability bypasses the normal roll made in exchange for time.)
18. Keen Eyed: You see as well under the stars as you do under the full moon.
19. Pursue Secrecy: On a journey, if you serve as the company's Guide, you may spend 3 movement points to attempt to avoid pursuit. When making a wandering encounter roll for the day, the GM will roll 2d12 and use the lower result.
20. Skirmisher: If wearing no armour heavier than leather armour, gain +1 to damage.
21. Student of the Enemy: If you study a character for a turn, the GM will tell you how many Endurance points they have. Once you've made your assessment, you can ask for the updated number with a glance.
22. Tall: Add +4 to your Strength score for the purposes of your carrying capacity.
23. Victory from the Jaws of Defeat: When you miss an attack roll, gain +2 to your next attack roll against the same creature. This bonus cannot be cumulative with itself.
24. Walker on the Dead Marshes: You gain a +2 bonus to Skill tests for orienteering as a Guide.

All Elf-Friends

25. Artifice: You can forge items of enchantment.
26. Bane of Wolves: You deal +1 damage to wolves and werewolves. Keep a tally of how many wolves you have killed. At 50 wolves, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 wolves, this bonus increases to +3.
27. Estë's Gift: Your healer's arts may stall or delay a death. In combat, you may use a fast action to forestall a Critical Wound that results in death. As long as you continue to minister to them, they will not die (if the death was not instantaneous). After combat, an Understanding test (with a difficulty set by the GM) might be needed to permanently stabilize the victim.
28. Evermind: This virtue is only expressed when you fall in battle. No evil creature will despoil your body. You will not rise as un-dead. Your corpse will be preserved for many weeks. Flowers will grace your grave.
29. Far Ranging: Choose a type of region that you are familiar with: forest, hills, mountains, swamps, or wastes. When you serve as the company's Guide, treat these hexes as normal terrain, not difficult terrain. The difficulty for you to orient the company in this region is Δ6.
    • You may gain this advancement up to 5 times, selecting a new type of region each time.
30. Friend to Horses: When you serve as the hostler, you may care for three steeds instead of two. All steeds in your care gain +2 bonus to Morale tests.
31. Grief of Ruined Lands: You can sense the level of Shadow in your current hex. You may ask the GM if there are servants of the Enemy on the wandering encounter table for the greater region; they will answer truthfully. If a hex has a hidden feature related to the Shadow, you can find it without needing to Explore the hex.
32. In the Lands of My Fathers: On a journey, you gain a +2 bonus to any job you do if you are within the ancestral lands of your people. For Northern Elf-friends, this is within the bounds of Arnor. For Southern Elf-friends, this is within Gondor's historical bounds.
33. Inspiring March: Reduce damage from forced marches for allies by -5 for the first day, -4 for the second day, -3 for the third day, and so on, until you can no longer reduce the strain.
34. Seer: Once per month, you may undo the consequences of a particular action that you or an ally have just taken, declaring it to be just a vision.
35. Tracker: If you spend a turn studying footprints, the GM will tell you what creatures made them, about how many there were, and about how long ago they were there. (This ability bypasses the normal roll made in exchange for time.)
36. Pathfinder: When the company Explores a region, the GM will roll 2d6 for the local event and let you see the two dice. You choose which dice roll to use. 1s tend to be ill fortune. 3s tend to be interactions with the wild. 6s tend to be encounters with the Free Peoples.
37. Royalty Revealed: While wearing the heraldry of your house, NPCs that you lead into battle gain a +2 Morale bonus. Additionally, you may use your Skill attribute instead of Beauty to determine the Morale bonus for NPCs in your service.
38. Staunching Song: Directly after combat, remove 1d4-1 damage from one companion.
39. Vanish: Gain +2 bonus to tests to hide and move silently while out of doors. Additionally, if you stay completely still, a woodland environment always provides you enough cover to conceal yourself.
40. Vigilance: While traveling, you can spend 2 movement points to serve as a Lookout in addition to a secondary job.
41. Wanderer: You take only 5 damage (not 10) if you make a forced march without resting.
42. Wingfoot: Gain +2 Movement.
    • You may gain this advancement up to 3 times.
43. Yavanna's Bounty: When applying healing from an herb, you remove +2 more damage.
44. +1 Valour
45. +1 Strength
46. +1 Beauty
47. +1 Skill
48. +1 Subtlety
49. +1 Understanding
50. +5 Endurance.
    • You may gain this advancement up to 3 times.

Random Elf Advancement

When you level up, you gain a random benefit based on your race or class. Here's what elves get.

This is ostensibly for the Middle-earth Hexcrawl project but I think it can be broadly applicable to any fantasy adventure game with elves in it. 

Elves

When you advance, you may either:

• Roll a d10 to an advancement based on your culture.
• Roll a d30. On a result of 1-10, read the corresponding entry in your culture. On a result of 11-30, read the corresponding entry in "All Elves."

Art by Goran Gligovic

Wood Elf

1. +1 Subtlety
2. Bane of Spiders: You deal +1 damage to spiders. Keep a tally of how many spiders you have killed. At 50 spiders, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 spiders, this bonus increases to +3.
3. Hit a Bird's Eye in the Dark: Your Critical Wounds with a bow are treated as one letter higher (A->B, B->C, and so on).
4. Master Hunter: The job of Hunter only costs you 2 movement points.
5. Point-Blank Archery: You may use the Melee action to fire a bow in close combat against opponents engaged with you.
6. Swift: If you Moved the last round of combat, gain +2 Defense for one round.
7. Tracker: If you spend a turn studying footprints, the GM will tell you what creatures made them, about how many there were, and about how long ago they were there. (This ability bypasses the normal roll made in exchange for time.)
8. Vanish: Gain +2 bonus to tests to hide and move silently while out of doors. Additionally, if you stay completely still, a woodland environment always provides you enough cover to conceal yourself.
9. Wood Wary: While in the forest, you are never surprised.
10. Woodcrafty: When you serve as the company's Guide, treat forest hexes as normal terrain, not difficult terrain. The difficulty for you to orient the company in forest hexes is Δ6.

Grey Elf

1. +1 Beauty
2. +1 Subtlety
3. Enchanted Voice: What you sing of appears as illusions before the eyes of mortals. Elves and sorcerers are never baffled by these seemings, but other folk may react as if these illusions are true.
4. Lore of the Land: You may ask if there is a hidden feature in this hex—the GM will answer truthfully. The company will still need to Explore to find it.
5. Love of Languages: Gain +2 to your Understanding checks to see if you know a language that you encounter.
6. Precise Shot: Outside of combat and hunting, your long practice allows you to fire trick shots with the bow. If you have a chance to carefully aim your bow, you may knock apples from heads, blow out candles, and cut thin ropes. The GM must adjudicate what is reasonably achieved even by a master archer.
   Advanced Guidelines: If using the advanced guideline about shooting into melee, this art also allows you to treat the base chance to hit the wrong target as 2-in-6 before aiming.
7. Shipwright: You gain +2 to swimming or piloting boats. Moreover, you will (almost) never drown (though you will shrug off burdens such as armour in the process of swimming).
8. Staunching Song: Directly after combat, you may heal 1d4-1 damage to one companion.
9. The Stones Tell: When you travel to a new hex, the GM must tell you the main name of that hex entry. You hear the land telling you its own name.
   • Wood-weird: If you roll this advancement a second time, it upgrades. Each great forest, tall mountain, and deep lake has a spell hidden in it. If you spend the night sleeping in a new, significant, natural location, make an Understanding Δ12 test. On a success, you may learn a new Song of Power from the land itself, as if you had a mentor. You may make this test only once per hex, ever.
10. Subtle Attacks: If you are wielding a one-handed weapon and nothing in your off hand, Critical Wounds you deal are treated as one letter higher (A->B, B->C, and so on).

High Elf

1. +1 Beauty
2. +1 Understanding
3. Bane of Trolls: You deal +1 damage to trolls. Keep a tally of how many trolls you have killed. At 50 trolls, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 trolls, this bonus increases to +3.
4. Bane of Un-dead: You deal +1 damage to the un-dead. Keep a tally of how many un-dead you have killed. At 50 un-dead, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 un-dead, this bonus increases to +3.
5. Beauty of the Stars: When you succeed in a roll to influence the reaction of mortals, you may invoke a sense of awe, beguilement, or forgetfulness (your choice).
   • Awe: The mortal dares not stand against your wishes.
   • Beguilement: The mortal is inclined to agree to your proposals, if within their power.
   • Forgetfulness: The mortal only dimly recalls your meeting, and almost no specifics, as if it happened in a dream.
6. Grief of Ruined Lands: You can sense the level of Shadow in your current hex. You may ask the GM if there are servants of the Enemy on the wandering encounter table for the greater region; they will answer truthfully. If a hex has a hidden feature related to the Shadow, you can find it without needing to Explore the hex.
7. Inner Light: At night, you are surrounded by a shimmering starlight. Your great vision can pierce through mists and fogs. Additionally, once per day, you may negate a shadow of darkness created by a servant of the Enemy.
8. Light of Aman: The light of Aman shines through you, withering wraiths, the un-dead, and others who dwell in the Unseen World. Your attacks equally affect those material and immaterial, tangible and intangible.
9. Ósanwe-kenta: You may speak through telepathy with anyone else who has this ability. Also, you can intuit the meaning of others' speech and can make yourself understood, even if you do not share a language.
   • Read the Heart: If you roll this advancement again, it upgrades. If you study a character for a turn, you may present the character a mental choice between two options and understand which of the two they would choose. They are intuitively aware of your mental challenge.
10. See the Unseen: You see into the Unseen World. You recognize items of enchantment, see through phantoms of sorcery, can perceive non-incarnated spirits, hear songs of power at a distance, and recognize wizards for what they are.

All Elves

1. +1 Beauty
2. +1 Understanding
3. +1 Subtlety
   • You may gain this advancement twice.
4. +5 Endurance
   • You may gain this advancement up to 3 times.
5. Art of Aulë: You can forge items of enchantment.
   • Elven Arts: If you roll this advancement again, it upgrades. You can make the waybread of your people, lembas, and the rejuvenating cordial, miruvor.
6. Bane of Orcs: You deal +1 damage to orcs. Keep a tally of how many orcs you have killed. At 50 orcs, this bonus increases to +2. At 200 orcs, this bonus increases to +3.
7. Ear for the Music of Ulmo: If you camp near a river, lake, or the sea, you may hear an echo of the Music of the Ainur in the waters: visions of things that are, or were, or might be. Once per camp, you may ask the GM: "If I do X, will Y happen?" The GM will answer honestly.
8. Eat Song and Drink Story: You only need to eat a ration every other day
9. Estë's Gift: Your healer's arts may stall or delay a death. In combat, you may use a fast action to forestall a Critical Wound that results in death. As long as you continue to minister to them, they will not die (if the death was not instantaneous). After combat, an Understanding test (with a difficulty set by the GM) might be needed to permanently stabilize the victim.
10. Judgement of Námo: You are immune to the fear damage from un-dead, wraiths, and ghosts.
11. Nessa's Step: If you are not wearing armour, you have near perfect balance and are able to run along tree limbs, ropes, or narrow cliffs. Moreover, you barely bend blades of grass as you travel and can run on top of snow or mud without leaving a trace. Those relying on sight (as opposed to smell) have difficulty tracking you.
12. Nienna's Grace: If you have not dealt damage in the last day, all healing effects you deliver to remove damage heal +1 damage.
    • You may gain this advancement up to 5 times. The bonus to healing effects is cumulative.
13. Oromë's Rebuke: You may rebuke a wild animal, even one in the Shadow's service, by succeeding on a Beauty test. The difficulty is equal to 2 + (the animal's Endurance / 10). In combat, using this Art is a fell action. Rebuked animals will try to avoid you in combat and, if possible, flee the battle. This test can only be made once per animal.
14. Robed by Vána: You feel no discomfort from hot or cold weather and suffer neither penalties nor effects from it.
15. Saddleless Riding: You ride without tack or saddle. Horses you ride can understand your Elvish speech and obey your commands as well as a page.
16. Sleep of Irmo: Instead of sleep, you rest in waking dreams of memory. If a nighttime encounter occurs, you can be armed and armoured. (You still use the normal rules for surprise.)
17. Tulkas's Prowess: You gain +3 Movement while unarmoured.
18. Wanderer: You take only 5 damage (not 10) if you make a forced march without resting.
19. Weaving of Vairë: You may sing two Songs of Power at once, blending their melodies together.
20. Yavanna's Bounty: When applying healing from an herb, you remove +2 more damage.

Middle-earth Hexcrawl Project: Two Dungeons of the Trollshaws

It's February. I posted my finished Shire Hexcrawl back in December and stopped making regular updates about the Middle-earth project. 

But I haven't been idle, dear reader. I have been continuing to write a hex a day for Idraluna Archive's big Middle-earth map as a daily writing project. I want to share a glimpse into this work with you.

Here are two dungeons in the Trollshaws.

Art by Goran Gligovic

Dungeon backgrounds

The hobbits were glad to leave the cheerless lands and the perilous Road behind them; but this new country seemed threatening and unfriendly. As they went forward the hills about them steadily rose. Here and there upon heights and ridges they caught glimpses of ancient walls of stone, and the ruins of towers: they had an ominous look.

- The Fellowship of the Ring

The Trollshaws are a forested region between Weathertop and Rivendell. The East Road, one of the few remaining thoroughfares in Middle-earth, runs through the Trollshaws to the High Pass over the Misty Mountains. It is named, unsurprisingly, for its excess troll population. 

A thousand years before Bilbo left his cozy home at Bag End, a kingdom named Rhudaur ruled this region. Rhudaur was a splinter kingdom of Arnor, Isildur's kingdom that Aragorn reconstituted. 

The two dungeons below are part of a network of five beacon towers built by the ancient Rhudaurians. Today, they are in various states of disrepair and occupied by various unseemly occupants. The layout of all five towers is the same. They differ only in contents.

Here are the maps. Each sequence is stacked on top of each other.

Hidden in a secret panel behind a mural that appears in each of the five towers is a key. One of the quest hooks in this region has the PCs seeking all five keys. 

The inspiration for five beacon towers and the names of those towers are derived from the MERP module Dark Mage of Rhudaur. The content is by me.

Commentary

I don't think either of these are, like, especially groundbreaking. I am a lot stricter about the contents of dungeons that I write for His Majesty the Worm: in that game, each room, trap, and special door needs to have enough substance to facilitate long-term, Metroidvania-esque play. 

But that's not what this hexcrawl is about. Here, I think you can kick down doors, kill some orcs, find some treasure, and have a pretty fun time. It's not about any one dungeon existing by itself: it's about the journey to find all five of them, with wilderness in between. Still, I want each dungeon to participate in telling a part of the story of Middle-earth. 

To that end, I do think there's something fun in the fact that all five dungeons will share the same basic layout with variations. This will let players see patterns across play. "Hey, wait. Where is the southeastern room? The door is probably hidden. Let's look around."

It has been a challenge trying to constrain my loquacious, maximalist style dungeon keying to brief keys. Even this feels indulgently long for dungeons in the middle of a hexmap--but this is just a personal passion project. I can do what I want, I suppose!

And now, without further ado, two towers (of five) in the Trollshaws.

47.96 - TIRTHON TOWER

TIRTHON. One of the five beacon towers of Rhudaur. It is named "The Watch Pine" in Sindarin for it stands in vigilance near the East Road.

Note: The windows of the tower are arrowslits covered with metal shutters which are controlled by a mechanism in room 12. The shutters are closed until opened by the company. When opened, all rooms contiguous with the outside are lit with natural light. Goblins fight with a -1 penalty in sunlight.

(First Floor)
1 - Gate: There are no doors barring entrance into the tower: only an arch of stone into darkness. If the company has approached relatively quietly, they can hear an argument from within.

• Argument: Two goblins (in room 5) aren't letting the troll (in room 3) join in their game, forcing her to guard the door.

2 - Portcullis: The tunnel into the tower is built for defense. Two portcullis are raised in the tunnel.

• Portcullis: Unless the company successfully sneaks in, a goblin in room 5 will drop one of the portcullis to trap the company in a fight with Hurdy Gerty (room 3). Bending the rusty old portcullis requires a Strength Δ6 test.

3 - Front Hall: A high-ceilinged stone hall. The north and south walls have archery slits canted inwards to allow for defense from those adjoining rooms. The floor has a mosaic of a pine tree. Hurdy Gerty, a hill troll, guards the entrance.

• Hurdy Gerty: She talks to the goblins in room 5. She is bored, sleepy during the day, and resentful of being excluded from their dicing game.
• Archery slits: During combat, one goblin in room 5 will fire their bows at intruders in room 3. Attacks from the front hall into room 5 are made with a -3 penalty.

4 - Guard Room: An old wooden pew bench with a deep seat stands against the north wall. On the west wall, a crank used to raise one of the portcullis in 2. A mosaic on the west wall displays the soldiers looking towards a setting sun, singing a song.

• Pew bench: The bench's seat is a lid: the bench doubles as a chest. Inside, wrapped in a velvet cloth, is an old Dunnish instrument: a crwth and bow (a bowed lyre). It is a treasure: despite its antiquity, it can still be played after tuning. It is not loud, but its haunting melody can be heard over a mile away.

5 - Guard Room: Two goblins, Ruggib and Slittith, use dwarven knucklebones as dice in a gambling game. On the west wall, a crank used to raise one of the portcullis in 2.

• Goblins: Armed with goblin-made daggers and bows. They gamble over a pot of 58 coppers / marks.
• In combat, one goblin will lend support to the troll in room 3 with their bow. The second goblin will 1) drop the portcullis, 2) raise the alarm, summoning the goblins from room 13, 3) then join the battle.

6 - Central Hall: A central hall connecting the bulwark of the tower to the administrative section. In the center of the western wall is a large, moth-eaten tapestry of a sad king playing a harp. On the eastern wall a blueish lichen grows (harmless).

• Tapestry: A burglar that inspects the tapestry can see scrollwork representing music emanating from the harp and can read the tune the king is playing. Those with Ranger Lore know the song ("Lamentations of Red and Gold") and can identify the figure depicted to be King Forodagnir.

7 - Foul Chamber: Door to this chamber is swollen shut: it requires a Strength Δ4 test to shove it open. The room is full of detritus and rubble, as well as six giant lice. A fireplace is set in the southern wall; although warmth comes from the fire lit in room 8, the smoke is poorly ventilated and fills the room with an acrid smell.

• Giant lice: MOVE 7, END 1, VALOUR -2 (-1 damage dealt), DEF 2, MORALE +0
  Special: Every round, each louse has a 2-in-6 chance to spawn a new giant louse.
• Fireplace: Stuffed inside the chimney is an oilslick satchel. Inside, a bronze arm torc of a serpent biting its tail with sapphire eyes (worth 4 silver / 2 pennies) and 100 old Rhudarian copper coins.

8 - Kitchens: A stone chamber used as kitchens by the goblins. A fire is kept burning here. The leftovers of their last meal (eel stew) remain in a large iron cookpot. Through the soot on the wall, the company can barely make out a mosaic of a soldier blowing a horn in celebration of the rising sun.

9 - Closet: A closet sealed with neither handle nor lock: on the doors is the image of a book and a harp.

• Doors: If the song Lamentations of Red and Gold is played, the pantry will open. Inside are six well-preserved Rhudarian scrolls. The scrolls speak of the War of Arnorian Succession. Each is worth 20 silver (10 pennies) to an antiquarian or ranger.

(Second Floor)
10 - Conference Room: A once-ornate table dominates the center of the room; now rotten. A moldering tapestry of the flag of Arnor: seven three-pointed stars. On a plinth, a copper bust of a patrician, partially melted. Sand is scattered across the floor, marred by stalking goblin feet.

• Table: The table was a sand table: captains could change the terrain and move miniatures to represent armies. The table is now rotten and useless.
• Tapestry: It partially hides a door into room 11 - Library.
• Copper bust: The plinth has a symbol: a circle quartered by two keys (the sigil of the rank of quartermaster in Arnorean custom) and a word in Elvish script: Tarondor. If the name is said, the bust animates and talks. The animate bust has partial memories of Tarondor, the quartermaster of this tower.
  • He will answer questions related to the towers and ancient Rhudaur. He has no knowledge of events after T.A. 1650.
  • He is precise and exacting, but also snooty and condescending.
  • He knows the password to the locked pantry of each tower: "The copper serves the steel" (in Sindarin). He knows the password of the locked pantry in this tower is the song "The Lamentation of Red and Gold."
  • The enchantment on the bust is fading. He can only be asked 6 + 1d6 questions. Each question is answered slower, like a wind-up clock running down.

11 - Library: This room is guarded by a locked vault door. Inside, ancient scrolls sit moldering on shelves. Many have been eaten by giant lice (6 present). A door in a swinging bookshelf allows passage into the conference room (room 10).

• Giant lice: MOVE 7, END 1, VALOUR -2 (-1 damage dealt), DEF 2, MORALE +0
  Special: Every round, each louse has a 2-in-6 chance to spawn a new giant louse.
• Vault door: On the surface of the door, a scholar holding a scroll with closed eyes is engraved. Blowing a horn in front of the door or in room 12 will open this door. A Subtlety Δ8 test is needed to disable the mechanism and open the door without this pass code.
• Ancient scrolls: If special care is taken, the company can salvage 1d6 + Understanding ancient Rhudaurian scrolls. Each is worth 20 silver (10 pennies) to an antiquarian or ranger. Bits of lore found in the scrolls include:
  • The growing dependency of Rhudaur on the stonework of giants, having lost masons with skill in Numenorean masonry.
  • Amlaith, first king of Arthedain, claimed the palantir at Amon Sûl, and holds all three palantiri of the North Kingdoms.
  • Many books and scrolls were removed and hidden "Behind the Veil of the Rime Maiden" (37.104).

12 - Shutter Mechanism: A small chamber holds the remains of a low palette bed and candle stubs. A plinth on the back wall holds a stone bust of a patrician.

• Stone bust: The patrician's face looks like an old, wise man at rest—his eyes closed. The plinth has a Sindarin script running around its edge: "When the sun rises, blow the trumpets of war! When she's in the west, sing the song of Numenor that was."
• If a horn is blown, the stone bust opens its eyes and, with a screech of steel, all the metal shutters on the arrowslits open. The door to room 11 - library also opens.
• If a lament to Numenor is sung or played, the stone bust closes its eyes: all the metal shutters on the arrowslits close.

13 - Goblin Quarters / Empty Treasury: Five goblins (Laugzog, Gorzod, Rirborg, Uthra, Agbra) dwell in the plundered treasury, complaining about how little loot they've been given by Chohak (room 16). They will investigate nearby noises. On the southern wall is a mosaic of a semicircle arrangement of stars.

• Mosaic: Pushing the top right star on the mosaic opens a secret panel in the wall containing the Tirthon watchtower key. (This corresponds to this watchtower's position in relation to the others.) Pushing any other star activates a trap: each of the wrong buttons sprays jets of acid: pass a Strength Δ12 test or suffer 2d6 damage and lower the Defense of worn armour by 1d6.

14 - Ruined Quarters: A stone chamber littered with the remains of rotten furniture and an intact wooden chest.

• Chest: The chest is made of pine wood and banded with iron. It is locked. Failed attempts to pick the lock trigger a dart trap in the lid, which deals a Piercing Critical (B).
• Inside the chest is 50 Andorian copper coins, a horn bow (needs restringing), and a rusted Dunlending helmet with a mustached visor mask (useless unless restored).

15 - Ruined Quarters: A stone chamber filled with dust and detritus; obviously recently traversed. A few large orange and brown moths flutter here (harmless). A skylight, its glass broken, shows a patch of sky above.

16 - Chohak's Quarters: A chamber currently used as the sleeping quarters for Chohak the Choker, the goblin captain of the contingent that holds this tower. It is full of his camping gear—hides, trophies of war, a brazier of warm coals, and a war chest.

• Chohak the Choker: He has been tasked by Mormog (38.94) to recruit trolls to the Necromancer's army but resents working with the creatures and is plotting to splinter off with his current gang to raid the East Road using Tirthon Tower as a base. Carries the key to his war chest.
• Chest: Locked. It is filled with the looted treasure discovered by the goblins in the tower:
  • A dagger that is practically invisible at night.
  • Scale mail the color of breeding salmon. It is light in water and does not hamper swimming.
  • A signet stamp with a three-pointed star. If the seal is broken by someone other than the recipient listed on the missive, the document catches on fire.

17 - Ruined Quarters: The remains of officer's quarters: ruined desk, four-post bed, end table, iron candelabra, Rhudarian banner (seven three-pointed stars).

• Desk: Inside the desk is a crumbling map that shows the locations of all of the Rhudaurian watchtowers.

18 - Trap Door: In the ceiling is a trap door, 15' off of the ground.

(Third Floor)
The fourth floor of the tower has collapsed. There is no beacon (room 21) on this tower.
19 - Goblin Guard: A goblin, Grisht, guards the trap door (room 18) and lets down a knotted rope to allow passage. The ceiling of this room has partially collapsed: there is no upper level.

• Grisht: Grisht has a bottle of orcish liquor on his belt. It heals 1d6 damage and burns the throat. There are 3 uses left.

20 - Battlements: The battlements are scrawled with orcish graffiti.

51.88 - HARNALDA TOWER

HARNALDA. One of the five beacon towers of Rhudaur. It is named "The South Tree" in Sindarin for it was the southernmost of the towers.

A group of Hill Men from Dunland have recently begun to occupy the tower as a temporary camp during their exploration of the Trollshaws. They haven't thoroughly explored the upper floor, which is home to a sly old stone troll—Grim Ben—who isn't fond of guests.

What transpires inside will be different based on the time of day the company approaches. During the day, the Hill Men will be wary of newcomers but can be negotiated with. During the night, the Hill Men will be in a fight for their lives.

There are ten Hill Men in total. Use bandit stats. As they are defeated, mark through their names in the list. Each has the occupation of "bondsman"—homesteaders and farmers who raid seasonally. They have no formal leader, but Mogdoc often gets his way.

Gerland (man - bowlcut and mustached, flighty)
Mogdoc (man - dad bod, stubborn)
Calt (man - mohawk, quiet)
Halene (woman - wild red hair, hard drinking)
Connadoc (man - greying, cautious)
Grold (man - cold eyed, unpredictable)
Vogdont (man - wolfish, ambitious)
Zornod (man - acne scarred, dim witted)
Colmidoc (man - thickly mustached, peace maker)
Drogdilda (woman - fierce and scarred, bold)

Grim Ben is a stone troll. He carries a key to the lockbox in room 14 and an enchanted spear (+1 to hit, can take many lengths—javelin, spear, long-spear).

(First Floor)
1 - Gate: Signs of the Hill Men's habitation: cookfires, stabled horses, etc The entrance to the tower is framed with serpents and knotwork pattern—the gate is opened.
Day: Gerland stands guard.
Night: Gerland just heard a scream from inside the tower, and struggles to gather his Morale to go inside.

2 - Waterfall: Two portcullis of the entrance are raised and rusted into place. A waterfall pours through an open crack from the floor above. The water is anti-magic: walking through the water suppresses magical abilities of artifacts until they're thoroughly dry and removes temporary magical effects. (The Hill Men do not realize this.)

3 - Front Hall: A reception hall. The north and south walls are canted inwards to allow for defense from those adjoining rooms. There are standing puddles of water (from 2). Double doors at the east of the hall twisted off their hinges by something large, allowing free access to 6.
Day: Detritus conceals a trap set by the Hill Men—a tripwire that drops rubble from the ceiling: test Skill Δ8 or suffer 2d6 damage.
Night: Calt has forgotten the trap and triggered it in his haste to escape; he lies unconscious under the rubble.

4 - Guard Room: Room (strangely) free of puddles (because water seeps through cracks in the floor). Each time the company moves through the room, 1-in-6 chance of the floor collapsing 20' into a ruined cellar room. On the west wall, a crank (now broken) used to raise one of the portcullis in 2.

• If the cellar rubble is searched, 250 silver coins are found in the wreckage.

5 - Flooded Room: Water from 2 pools in this room, 3' deep. Enchantments and curses that have been washed away swirl like oil on the surface of the water. Bathing an item in the water grants it a temporary enchantment: 25% chance the enchantment is permanent and cursed. Drinking the water is disgusting (Strength Δ8 or get cholera) but confers a random potion effect. On the west wall, a crank (now broken) used to raise one of the portcullis in 2. (The Hill Men are correctly suspicious of the water and have avoided it.)

6 - Central Hall: A long central hall with empty torch sconces. Directly across from the door to 3 there is a toppled statue of a king. Sindarin writing on the statue's base identifies the king as "Galadhion" (the first king of Rhudaur).
Day: Three Hill Men—Calt, Halene, and Grold—work on removing the pearls in the statue's pupils. They're doing a bad job.
Night: Halene and Grold stand with their spears at the southern door, ready to engage the troll in room 8.

7 - Sleeping Area: A large, mostly-intact chamber, well-lit via arrow slits. The Hill Men camp here: it contains their bedrolls, packs, and gear. The southern wall has partially collapsed, allowing smaller characters to move between 7 and 8.
Day: 1-3 Hill Men are always here resting, performing maintenance on their gear, or scheming.
Night: Grold, Vogdont, and Zornod lie dead, killed in their sleep by the troll.

8 - Living Quarters: A ruined stone room used as a staging area for the Hill Men. The northern wall and chimney has partially collapsed, allowing smaller characters to move between 7 and 8.
Day: Mogdoc, Connadoc, and Drogdilda discuss the three green, monstrous helms they looted after a battle with the Ogres (46.89). Could they be used as a disguise?
Night: Mogdoc and Drogdila fight Grim Ben the troll. Connadoc lies dead.

9 - Pantry: A stone closet. The doors are painted with a circle quartered by two keys (the sigil of the rank of quartermaster in Arnorean custom). They are magically locked.

• The password to open them (Sindarin: "The copper serves the steel") is not recorded in this tower, but splashing the anti-magic water from 2 will unlock them.
• The contents of the pantry are magically preserved. Inside the pantry is 12 loaves of waybread, 6 healing herbs, and 8 soldier's pharmacon (small pills) which double a character's Strength bonus for an hour, followed by eight hours of -2 Strength.

(Second Floor)
*Note: The large hallway at the top of the stairs leading to 18 has a stream of water running through it. It flows out of room 16, into 15, down the hall into room 12, and also pours through a large crack in the floor into room 2.*

10 - Troll's Necessary: A once-ornate table dominates the center of the room; now rotten. Sand is scattered across the floor. A troll has been using the room as an outhouse: the smell is revolting. The ammonia-like smell prickles the eyes.

11 - Troll Den: The stone troll Grim Ben uses this room as his sleeping chamber. Ancient books have been torn to shreds to make a papery nest. The windows are blotted out with stretched dwarf-leather.
Day: Grim Ben waits in the room, sucking on empty turtle shells and cautiously listening for his guests. He cannot be ambushed.

12 - Troll's Soup: A small stone chamber with a rivulet of water running in from the hallway and out of a crack in the wall. There's a huge copper brazier that's been repurposed as a trollish cookpot: it holds the remains of turtle soup. It smells strangely delicious. Turtle shells litter the floor.

• Turtle soup: Due to latent enchantment in the water or some trollish magic, drinking the soup adds +4 to Understanding tests to know the speech of turtles for the rest of the day.

13 - Looted Treasury: Door forced open. There are empty shelves and pedestals here: any goods that once were in this room have been taken. On the southern wall is a mosaic of a semicircle arrangement of three-pointed stars. There is a crack in the east wall that would allow a small burglar to squeeze through.

• Mosaic: Pushing the bottom star on the mosaic opens a secret panel in the wall containing the Harnalda watchtower key. (This corresponds to this watchtower's position in relation to the others.) Pushing any other star activates a trap: each of the wrong buttons sprays jets of fire: pass a Strength Δ12 test or suffer 4d6 damage. The trap will only trigger once.
• Crack: Provides access to room 14.

14 - Troll's Treasure: Door to 14 walled off with a large flagstone. Inside, a huge copper brazier filled with coals. Nestled in the middle of the coals is an iron lockbox.

• Flagstone: If tipped backwards, blocks hallway. If tipped into the room, it falls on the brazier and spills hot coals on the floor.
• Lockbox: During the day, the coals are fresh. Approaching the heat is difficult. The lockbox is blistering hot. During the night, the coals have cooled. Grim Ben holds the key to the lockbox.
  • If lockbox is picked or opened, inside there's: 2 steel ingots, coat of dwarven mail, longsword, scrimshawed turtle shells, a ruby, and 50 silver / 5 pennies.

15 - Solar: A sitting room: the remains of a round table and chairs are visible, but rotted. Water pours out of room 16, flows through this room and into the hallway. A stained glass skylight of a sun with a beneficent face looks down on the room. The enchanted water and light have caused an abundance of trollish roses to bloom: they completely cover the north and east walls, including the east door. The scent is sickeningly sweet.

• Roses: Disturbing the blooms by attempting to open emits a fine pink mist. The scent is choking, dealing 1d6 damage per round. Ice damage kills them permanently.

16 - Font: A large, hexagonal stone bath dominates this room. It is overflowing, pouring water over its edges, which runs into room 15. The walls of the bathing font are decorated in vines, flowers, and leaves.

• Bath: The button to turn on/off the water is hidden in the face of the flower on the walls of the font.
• Bathing in the font removes curses, magical afflictions, temporary magical abilities, and suppresses the powers of submerged artifacts.

17 - Captain's Quarters: The remains of the captain's quarters: ruined desk, four-post bed, end table, iron candelabra, Rhudarian banner (seven three-pointed stars). A large turtle meanders around the room, looking for an exit.

• Turtle: If you can speak the language of turtles, it will tell you the waters from 16 removes enchantments and curses. It will also speak of a giant turtle that once dwelt in caverns under Cameth Brin (38.94).

18 - Ladder: The ladder up to the third floor.

(Third Floor)
19 - Mews: A mews, filled with 2d6+3 crebain. They complain loudly about intruders for a round before attacking. Hanging on the wall is a falconry glove of soft green leather with silver buckles. A ladder leads up to the top of the tower (room 21).

• Falconry glove: If identified, revealed to be a hawk's eye glove. A bird of prey released from the glove shares its sight with its owner.

20 - Battlements: Two copper braziers (once used for heating oil and pitch to repel besiegers) still stand in the northwest and northeast corner. (The other two braziers have been removed and used by Grim Ben.) Facing north, there is a statue of a knight.

• Statue: He shields his eyes with his left hand. His right hand seems conspicuously empty. A quiver of stone arrows at his side signifies he was once an archer.
  • Pressing both eyes on the statue reveals a hidden compartment in the wall behind holding a Numenorean steel bow. The long bow can only be wielded by Man or Elf with a Strength +2 or better. It grants +3 to hit and +1 defense (being usable as a shield in close quarters). It can hit targets up to 600 yards. Within 100 yards, it grants +3 to Critical Wound rolls.

(Fourth Floor)
21 - Beacons: Point of interest. The top of the tower. A large stone basin that held the beacon fire. Another beacon tower, Rilineldor, can be seen to the north (48.89). Ruins can be seen to the southwest (50.87).