I’ve been lucky enough to have a sneak preview at a writer’s copy of Glynn Seal’s excellent Greater Lunden book (and let me tell you, you’re in for a treat when you get your hands on it). One of my favourite parts of the book are the write-ups of the various wards, in particular Bileward, […]
We’ve all been in the situation where our character has been caught bang-to-rights for some sort of indiscretion or perhaps has been falsely accused and has found themselves in prison. Perhaps you were taken captive whilst raiding a dungeon and now languish in a cell yourself? One thing that can add flesh to these encounters […]
The home-base of my Rose of Westhaven campaign is a small(ish) port-town called Porthcrawl, recently we had a game where most of the people in the town had turned up to a funeral, in thinking about what the various inhabitants would look like I was scrolling through various pictures on Google Image search and noticed […]
I was reading a blog post the other day (unfortunately I can’t remember the blog that I saw it on) where the author was discussing how he writes down ideas for roadside/travelling encounters on index cards so that he can pull one out at random when his PCs are travelling. As a sucker for index […]
Ancient–and often abandoned–Dwarven strongholds have been a staple of the fantasy genre ever since the mines of Moria captured the imagination of readers, and perhaps for even longer. There’s something about the great stone halls of the Dwarves, delving deep below the surface of the earth, bedecked in the faded grandeur of a one mighty […]
We’ve all been in this situation at one point or another, you’re fighting your way through hordes of goblins or you’re defending an ally, when the dice desert you and the dreaded fumble is rolled. These can be challenging for GMs to come up with on the fly, especially if they occur unexpectedly. Below is […]
Port towns are a hotbed of activity, most of which is centred around the sea since that’s where most people make their livelihood. Below is a D20 table of random encounters that can be used to inject some life into the coastal towns and villages in your campaign. Please note: Each of these would benefit […]
10 Embarrassing Adventurer Antics It’s a familiar scene, your adventurers have just rolled into town after mostly surviving a terrible dungeon. Songs will be sung, ale quaffed and fallen comrades lamented. Often these scenes are handled off-screen, but potentially this is missing out a source of fun/adventure–after all–think about how much trouble rowdy celebrants get […]
Tavern Rumours What could be a more archetypal RPG scene than a group of adventurers re-grouping in an isolated village tavern, to plan their next move and soak up some local flavour? Below is a D10 table of random rumours that a PC might hear at a tavern, these rumours may lead to further adventures […]
Local Festivals These random things articles are designed as quick idea generators for time-pressed GMs who want to inject some additional details into their game. Isolated villages and towns inevitably develop their own traditions and customs, these can add a lot of flavour to an RPG but are often sadly ignored.