One thing I’ve noticed from using rumors: players never want to treat them as just rumors. Instead, it feels like every scrap of information, no matter how small or large, demands immediate follow-up questions. Players often want to question whoever … Continue reading
Tag Archives: encounters
Mining is the process of extracting ore and gems from within the earth. Sources for gold, silver, copper, iron, etc. within the bounds of civilization have mostly been exhausted long since, so mines tend to be far from other settlements, … Continue reading
Almost in time for Halloween, here’s another snippet from Calteir. There are many forms of undead which humans have not named. Either no one has ever encountered them, or those who have seen them didn’t survive. A mass of dark … Continue reading
The Rutter of the Pirate Sea is a series of maps and notes by an unknown Morensian pilot from approximately 650 SR. The maps and notes are quite accurate, describing many places to the west of Morensia, and appear to … Continue reading
In November of 2012, I made a post about the Traveller supplements 76 Patrons. It inspired me to do a number of posts with twelve variations. I chose twelve rather than, say, six or ten, because a) it pushes me … Continue reading
Monsters and eerie creatures in a setting should be mysterious, I think. Not cookie-cutter, copied-from-the-manual things that players already know: Green hair, orange wings, floating on a glistening bed of slime? Yeah, that’s a Wumpuscule. It has flaming fingernails, is … Continue reading
I love the idea of sages in a fantasy RPG. That scholar in their study with vast piles of paper, strange artifacts lying around, books half-forgotten, manuscripts half-written, quill pens and half-dried inkwells, perhaps the scholar themselves hard to find … Continue reading
My friend John is doing a cross-blog community project called From the Zones. Folks are describing weird places, things and notions set in the universe(s) of the novel Roadside Picnic and the movie Stalker. Here’s a contribution from me: a … Continue reading
This is an amphora, like many used for shipping food, oil or other commodities. There are only two things that distinguish it from a thousand other amphorae: An ancient, extravagant script and glyph are inscribed on it; and A mud … Continue reading
The adventurers come across an uncanny mound in the forest. It sits next to the barely-worn deer path. Its shape suggests an artificial origin, but it has no stones or other markers nearby. It sits on higher ground, overlooking a … Continue reading