d12 Murder Hobo gangs you want to avoid in a dungeon

Having a brush with responsibility - enrolled in a course to work for a job I did for 20 years, which is a bit annoying, but i found a free one that's helping all the paperwork to get started working. If I get first aid asap, I can be working not for free sooner.
Joys of moving to a red-tape state with less work and maybe worse outcomes more often

New TAG Sound academy album you can listen to a few times here:
https://tagsoundacademay.bandcamp.com/
Possibly cover is a byproduct of making d&d maps
Sorta Sci-Fi soundrack art electronica - vids on youtube too

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Im updating two drafts currently
-Anuranomicon
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This post is a sequel to:
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2025/08/maybe-murder-hobos-are-in-dungeon.html?showComment=1754450809586#c5621307871982652512

There rival party types are good to have on hand.
Stat up the ones you might find handy and keep ready
Or steal pregens from old adventures
Most of these will seek to attack or grift adventurers

d12 Types of Murderhoboes
1 Violent drunks out for drinking money and kill anything in the way, try and kill and betray rivals
2 Mercenary scum between work out to loot a dungeon, just like a burning city, will bully or attack rivals
3 Militaristic professional dungeon raiders who will employ engineering solutions, like blocking and fortifying entrances with pre-built structures, pumping in gas or smoke and other awful tricks. Experienced dungeon raiders who used to work for the empire, gathering magic for the millitary and money to fuel the state. Will have lodged a legal claim for this dungeon or know the local nobility
4 Dungeon Vets were once nice, innocent beginners, but now they are all bitter, spiteful and cursed by contact with dungeon parasites and curses. Violent and unstable, often assume rivals are monsters and it's easier to get rid of evidence in a dungeon. most have medical problems or a curse or carry a cursed item of evil
5 Thieves Guild expedition for profit, and wounded adventurers are the most profitable prey. Will be friendly to healthy-looking rivals and even share notes (might send you to a trap or encounter). Rely on stealth but will also surrender rather than fight to the death like most murderhobos
6 Psychotic outcasts too unstable for military or police. Going to the dungeon for fame and glory. Rivals are out to humiliate them, so they gotta die. They really like killing and robbing, and might even stay in the dungeon
7 Dangerous cult is actually a team of elite cultist relic hunters and assassins. May but ask questions about a relic or item. If they believe the party has it they will attack. If they think information is being withheld, they will kill most of the party, torture survivors, and then sacrifice them
8 Berserker barbarians who hate monsters, magic and civilisation. They like to smash art and burn books and wizards. They are here to cleanse it of malignant forces, and adventurers are just more. They might be friendly and offer to cooperate, then when all berserk and monsters are dead, they will turn on their allies standing
9 Cannibal Chaos Cult, who seem to be barbarians but are in the dungeon to eat whatever they catch. Sometimes includes a pet troll or ogre, or might all be doppelgangers. They may try deception and get players between them and their allies, then betray their party. Some are bererkers
10 Lycanthropes are a rough wilderness gang who smell badly and might seem to be friendly and offer aliances
9 Bandits desperate for money or food may be friendly if the party seem tough, but will betray them if the party seem weak. They may offer to fight for some food. Some might even be escaped convicts or urban gangs driving from their turf on pain of death. They all have bounties
10 Death cults often led by a spell user here to get corpses for necromancy. Might have undead with them and student magicians. Always will include some thieves and fighters. Rivals are threats because adventurers would normally kill them. Especially good priests
11 Non-Human Party made up of all non-humans and often the more evil versions. They are here to take over the dungeon, but may see use in rivals in the short term to help them seize control. "Only we can save you from the adventurers. We will lead you!"
12 Monster Party all are shapeshifters, including planar beings, changeling spirit folk, faerie, lycanthropes, dragons, undead and doppelgangers. A party might be mixed or all one type. They definitely want to betray, kill and eat adventurers after using them as cannon fodder. They might all pretend to be holy or naive young heroes or to be a desperate peasant mob on a quest

more like this in several versions of my murder hobo books

Maybe murder hobos are in the dungeon

So take a nice, simple dungeon with lots of rooms and several entrances. Put the party in competition for treasure and glory with another party. After finding half the dungeon has battle damage, and the monsters are all on high alert, and lots of rooms have been searched and possible treasure broken, the party will get to confront the rivals. The rivals will be the most dangerous enemies and have the best loot. They are the big, bad bosses. 

d10 Quick Types
1 Junk

2 Trinkets

3 Violence

4 Battle scap

5 Magic violence

6 Tragedy

7 Destruction

8 Gross body horror

9 Graffiti 

10 Close contact

d100 Murder hobos were here first
01 Half-burned-out torch

02 Broken lamp

03 Iron spikes

04 Caltrops 1in6 poison

05 Slick of lamp oil

06 Broken iron bar for prying things open

07 Ash from smoking, smell of pipe weed

08 Broken crate, chest, barrel or urn

09 Length of rope, cut or burned

10 Broken potion bottle
11 Dwarvern trinket
12 Broken holy symbol
13 Leaf cloak clasp of elven design
14 Bent lockpick
15 Broken key

16 Used bandages

17 Old glove

18 Free drink tokens for the local tavern

19 Knife or dart in a high out of out-of-reach place

20 Beads from a priest or monk
21 Blood spills and spatters, more than one person
22 Fingers or toes
23 Teeth scattered about
24 Clump of someone's hair recently pulled out with some skin
45 Severed hand or foot
26 Severed head
27 Slices of someone's face
28 Someone's ear 1in6 with 15gp earring 
29 Trail of blood
30 Puddle or blood
31 Arrows or other ammo  

32 Broken weapon 
33 Dented helmet

34 Broken shield
35 Pieces of armour
36 Smashed trap
37 Signs of an oil fire
38 Broken bow or gun
39 Ceiling partly caved in
40 Hole through a wall
41 Burned humanoid remains look hideous
42 Traces of magical or spider webs partly burned
43 Puddle of acid partly ate a hole in a paving stone
44 Dropped weird spell components
45 Broken holy water bottle
46 Broken wand or rod, or staff
47 Patch of frost 
48 Blackened and exploded corpse with scarred flesh from lightning
49 Circle of light or darkness, long-lasting or permanent, 1in6 fixed on a corpse
50 Undead bodies arise as corporeal undead, craving vengeance
51 Corpse with boobytrap left by adventurers (bear trap)
52 Magical rune or ward, possibly dangerous and armed (magic might lure victims)
53 Monster feeding on a fresh corpse
54 Dead creature, (1in6 species generally thought of as helpful) with valuable parts hacked off
55 Monsterbody with many, many injuries
56 Zombie blinded or limbless or burned troll body parts twitching and nailed to the ground
57 Imp offering wounded creature aid if it accepts a deal with hell
58 Mother with children trying to sneak out of here
59 Orphan baby monster is feckless about what is happening
60 Pile of monster corpses in methodical heap, all searched
61 Slashed up mattress torn open looking for loot
62 Smashed statues
63 Shattered doors
64 Smashed desk or cabinet
65 Broken beer bottles thrown around
66 Holes in the walls smashed, looking for secrets
67 Smashed artwork or framed painting
68 Shattered furniture or burned bookshelf
68 Eyes were removed from the idol
69 Dumped coffin with roughly searched corpse inside
70 Ancient corpse hacked open looking for treasure
71 Field dissection of a monster
72 Monster guts cut open searching for loot
73 Adventurers took a dump here on a break
74 Body tied, died from extreme interrogation
75 Corpses hacked or mashed up by superior numbers
76 Bodies of monsters non-combatants
77 Bodies chopped into many, many pieces. Too many
78 Dead bodies, fresh beer bottles and some rations packaging from a break
79 Blinded monster crawling on all fours, badly injured
80 Corpses gnawed on by critters 1in6 riddled with parasites
81 Graffiti of adventurers' names
82 Graffiti of abuse from adventurers 
83 Graffiti of genitalia
64 Graffiti of death threats, often with some blood or animal corpses
85 Graffiti of arrows from some split party
86 Graffiti of RIP notice
88 Graffiti of numbers, counting recent kills
89 Graffiti written in faeces
90 Graffiti written in blood
91 Spirit arises from a freshly killed creature, points towards the killers, and sobbing
92 Gasping, bleeding creature crawling with a blood trail will point to enemies
93 Monsters freshly killed and missing a body part taken as trophies for bounties
94 Hear screams and fighting in the distance, and locals responding 
95 See adventurers taking money from a monster faction
96 Party of adventurers now all undead or berserkers or lycanthropes
97 Body of a known adventurer stripped of valuables

98 Limping urchin torchbearer of adventurers and has fled or is lost, has seen some stuff 
99 Party of local commoners who have gone deeper than they should
100 Party of vicious murder hoboes face to face in their claim!

Ethyria Forever!: Gamelog

We had three players make it today for Omiros, Kiren & 

All the recent heroes who plundered the cursed ruins, captured hounds of Geryon, found passages to the underworld and cleared long-blocked mountain passes were to be celebrated by the Polis of Kastra and to be presented awards with the king. So all the players so far...

First Omiros and Kiren, sylvan folk adopted by city and related to its history for centuries

Omiros Firehair, the satyr, priest of Heliod, descendant of a heroic sidekick of Silenas, died in battle defending the polis and has a statue of them in markets near a wine shop. There is a tragic play about it performed yearly. Now has a magic shield +1+2 for Heliod worshipers.

Kiren an elemental Monk, monk of Heliod, the family were mercenaries killed defending the polis and were adopted by city. Has been tormenting enemies with range 15ft grapple and elemental punches. 

Then the return of: 

Hibbolytus, a wild centaur loner bard and wanderer, a student of ancient lore and magic. He had joined Aias and Xi once before and worshipped Nylea the huntress.

Kadmos, a minotaur Paladin who was constantly training in the arena for the god Iroa. He had joined Aias and Xi once before 

And the famous duo:

Aias the rogue sailor, initiate of the sea goddess. With a villainous family with many kindred in the temple of the Sea goddess. He is a well-known musician too. Recently at sea, now the leading man of the family after burying his brother.
 
Xi the satyr warlock, initiate of Kruphix, family of scribes and scholar weirdoes of Kruphix

They were told they were to be honoured by one of the kings scribes in 2 days.
The adventurers all met (some the first time) and Omiros, Kiren & Hibbolytus spoke about killing time. They heard of some archers hired to go to the cursed labyrinth in two groups, one to the sphynx and the other the long way that met some cyclops-orcs and ran home with some drinking money. Mothers of the missing group begged the adventurers to look for their sons. They had rescued adventurers. They kept moving and went to drink.

"Perhaps some time with families on the farm?"
"Surely we can have an adventure inside three days, lets go get the sphynx in the north pass"
"Or talk to her."

So it was very close up a long unused road into a canyon into the mountain for hours before reaching a box canyon. Each entry and exit had a carved sphynx at the gateway. There was an ancient tomb inside and human bones. Omiros had a good look at bones with his anatomical gaze. Human.

The sphynx came out and surprised everyone how its smallish person-sized with cheeta body, wings, a woman's arms, breasts and head. She had nicely done hair with a bejewelled diadem. She demanded they leave or take the challenge of her riddle.

They boldly elected to remain.If they passed, she would depart; if they failed she got to eat them. So she spoke here poetic riddle and Hibbolytus being a bard (and a smart player) blurted out the answer. She was enraged and flew about screaming into her cave tomb. There was lots of noise and then she came out dragging a sack. She declared she would depart and humans may move freely north and the wild people of the north will be able to go south. It would alo make the cursed labyrinth only 4 hours march so ships not required.

Kiren offered for her to jon them as a companion and she was a bit surprised but nope, she had a retirement island with no humans. She did chat with Hibbolytus about how a god had bid her guard here 200 years, and now was obviously the end as prophecy told. Hibbolytus sang a beautiful, flattering song about her with Omiros support. He begged her to come before the parade so all could wonder at her majesty. He promised to keep her safe and perform again. She was flattered enough to agree. She would guard the pass till then, and they could have her leftover loot. But insisted none enter her cave until then. They agreed and went home.

So the parade had acrobats, soldiers, actors in costumes, dancers and singers. Two caged wagons held the Dogs of Geryon, a hellhound and a two-headed hound, a son of Cerebus. Then can the centaurs Kiren & Hibbolytus on foot, both mostly naked in barbarian splendour. Omiros was in a chariot with Xi as both satyrs, and finally Aias and Kadmos. They reached the podium after a march past the crowds cheering, singing and throwing flowers. The king gave a speech about the fame and glory of the city the heroes had achieved and offered them land for their services. The sphynx came down to hear her song and all impressed by the touching song. Some want a statue of the sphynx as she promised to leave forever.

So after a drinking party in the morning, they rushed to the sphynx tomb and looted it. Lots of copper and bronze platters and vessels and cups, and arm rings. An ancient tomb was used as a chest and has silver and gold and a magic shortsword, a pointy hat, a fancy wine cup, a coin and three goat figures. They also found the missing adventurer's bones and possessions. The priest buried the,m and they took possession of the dead and the treasure to the temple. They returned the remains of the dead to their kin and then to the temple. The hat made people sit quietly, but not really a weapon but a scholar bought it. The cup prevented hangovers and sold fast. The coin Omiros worked out on his own would flip to the side he called in a coin toss. He nabbed it as a funny trinket.

So they marched the next day back to the canyon and saw three orcs on tomb steps and heard noise of looting inside. They confronted the orcs with the power of tongues of the priest on the bard. When the cyclops orcs heard humans from the south and not north, they drew their blades. The orcs didnt last long. The last begged for mercy and was questioned, then executed.

They marched through the mountain pass and could see the ruined labyrinth by the sea cliffs in the distance. They looked at the map given to them by absent adventurers and decided to avoid the harpy graveyard. They decided to camp and go in the morning.

With an early night, they heard stomping in the morning as a Blemmyae was looking for goats in cliff shelters in scrub. Kiren sneaked off and followed it as it headed to the others. Hibbolytus sung a quick song and the monster barged out to investigate. It was a ogre-like being, headless with a drooling face on its chest and a club. The heroes dogpiled the poor creature and managed to overwhelm it. At dawn, they went to the ruins. They found a staircase and cast light.

Two hulking minotaurs came down and told them to piss off, but an older, wizened minotaur in robes said they were welcome to explore the haunted wing. There was a discussion and he brought them up to see the haunted chamber. "You're welcome to loot here and we will let you pass if if you clean the ghosts out"

There was muttering about minotaurs not liking ghosts.

So inside a room and looked left, then ahead and then right.
Forward was a room with flayed human skin mats on the floor and a mural of the minotaur god Mogis bathing in blood and aroused, surrounded by headless corpses bleeding into his bath. Omiros was sure they covered a pit trip so blased a mat with fire. The flat skins began to stand and the party hurled fiery death on the monsters with a few striking back but without their ambush and plan to dogpile intruders.

Left was a room with a frightening, angry winged woman with a bow and spear in a foreign style. There was a shield with a dragon on it before her. Omiros waled in and picked it up for a look. Kiron went into the other room to the right and it was a shrine of the three-bodied giant Geryon. There was a spear before it with a nasty, jagged head. Kiron picked it up and stepped out the room. Omiros was not smart but he was wise, so he put the shield down and went to aid his adopted brother. It happened that the powers of the party were uniquely suited to destroy the living statue.

"That wasn't too bad"
"Let's get the Shield"
And from the statue came a burning erinyes devil from the underworld with her glowing rope and sword. This was the worst fight the party had, and she rapidly chained Omiros as the defiler who took the shield offering. Her resistances were mostly mighty and she made multiple sword attacks and had a huge well of HP. But they did defeat here using everything they had. Probably the worst and most unfair fight yet.

The old minotaur offered them healing and identify magic. The Spear was +1+2 vs humans. The Shield was +1 +2 save vs draconic bretah weapons. They rested with the minotaur guards watching for their next sortie.

Maildrop July 2025

Im seeing 5th ed dropping online prices and some older books at low low prices on sales. The new versions of core books are cheaper than the old ones now.

Oldschool Esentials Advanced Fantasy Players Book 💖💖💖💖

I've been trying to get this or the other darling retroclone and had interesting paywalls and dramas. So to buy this from the publisher, it would be 40 usd + 40 more postage, making about 130 in AU dollaroos. But amazingly, it came up with local retailers who I ordered from. Several returned my money as out of stock. Web searches are cluttered by ppl without stock. I got a copy for $65 +2 for the post from uk. They refunded 2 dollars post due to being slow. Was a company with Australia in the title but turned out to be based in UK and payment to a UK bank. It was probably over 4 weeks to arrive. So I'm looking for a DM book now. I wanted it as it seemed like the best of the two big right now clones, and I'm in an online game. I sold a large pile of one of my past systems of choice over ethical issues - I didn't get the best price, but I was happy to be finally rid of them.

The book is great. This will probably be my go-to version for many purposes if im not using my homebrew or d&d5. There are fidly tables still to say no to you dirty non-humans like your 80s games but they are neater and better laid out. Its simpler than BECMI/Cyclopaedia and easier to access.  

Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon Queen😢😢

My main beef with this reboot would be not using Elmore and other 80s TSR artworks, going for a more generic late Middle Ages vibe. Art was 50% of Dragonlance and some of the wonderful maps helped. Of course, mentions of potatoes and raccoons in a fantasy world based on Europe bugs me, but it's pretty normal to have USA forest animals in game books. It does feel like an American fantasy in many ways.  Maybe a touch of "christian" sects mythology about America before colonisation. Maybe some of Elmore's fashion stylings remind me of Indigenous American tourist stuff. Things my players and I disliked about DL: Railroading adventures. No cleric spells, but a player needs to play one. Interesting locations, but only details where players need to be for the adventure. I did like some of the characters but couldn't get how the level-ups between modules worked. Some characters were far weaker than others, and no explanation was given. If you know, comment below. I preferred many events described in the modules to the novels. I never got my players to play. I played a 2nd ed campaign and broke some scenarios with my ogre wizard-druid so DM packed up early quite a few times.

Most people thought there would be more setting information, like all the Waterdeep content in various books. Talking about clerics returning for players would have been good. Some deep into lore are not too keen on the book or how this book fits into the novel events. Maybe they thought all the fan wikis of lore would do the heavy lifting. Many newcomers without this lens seemed to enjoy it and the adventure. I never intended to get this but I saw under half price on sale. So it is better than I thought. The art is good, but doesn't feel like it has the folksy retro art it needed to sell it. I'd like a brief world gazeteer, and twice as much stuff for characters. I like the lunar sorcerer, but it has not much to do with the setting. Id have thought setting subclasses would have been better. I guess they assumed they would do more books when they should have put their best foot forward. I got excited by a ruined city location, but they have continued the tradition of using such locations to imply a good treasure hunt, but still, it's just a scenic railroad. Id rather have had a setting book than an adventure. The idea of using it with a board game (like the original modules sort of did) was great, but I can't say I've seen it in practice. The map is good.

Quests from the Infinite Staircase 💪💪💪

Another sale item under half price i was planning to avoid. When i heard the content for this 50th anniversary (to more textured varnish on the back) book i was intrigued. When I first saw it and price, i said nope. Was from a vid game store marked $86 and i got for 35 AUD. So here is my chapter-by-chapter take and comparison to the Goodman games volumes.   
The staircase sounds cool but just part of the company's push for plane and setting hopping to cross-promote IP. Plus people can buy every setting and settings dont matter. Ive played games like this with portals like computer games but its not really done well. Some of these worlds keep visiting the same places on the same continent while theyt have unexplored areas. This book feels like a 50 year reboot to keep IP longer. Based on one of Ed Greenwoods worst early modules. The Djinn NPC and D&D Djinn dont thrill me too much.

The Lost City. I like the art here but in this case, Id run the Goodman's game versions with the various fan-made supplementary additions. And I'd use lots of art in Infinite Stairs. I prefer old versions of factions and the simple encounter tables in the original that made them more interesting. They were also very drugged out, insane and bigoted, which the new version lacks. The origional is the exact weird-fantasy-psuedo history that oldschool gaming is full of and nerfed here. This adventure could have nbeen a whole book.

When a star falls was one of the old UK series which influenced me lots and still does. The gnomes in this fit in very well with my game and the UK books had own art and map style. So this is a beautifully illustrated version of origional but a bit streamlined. The origional gave me my first steampunk gnome tech ideas but in this they are downplayed. Id run this 5th ed version or the origional. Its pretty faithfull.

Beyond the Crystal cave fits in with the vibe of The Wild in the Witchlight for d&d fey weirdness. I think this adaption is great and for once the full colour seems very well suited. Its a bit of Romeo & Juliette and Midsummer Night's Dream. Originally you could try and murder hobo your way through and suffer or chat lots. The original probably has more random old-school death from magic hazards. The original could be slanted to forlk horror fey and had a pagan green man character vs the nice person in this who is pretty cool. The old version would fit in Dolemwood better.

Pharaoh. As a fan of the original, this upset me most. We needed a whole book of the desert of desolation campaign with Egyptian and Middle Eastern character stuff and sand spells. Al'Quadim+Egyptian ruins setting would work well. This book favours the video game map look that basically kept me out of 5th ed until Dyson got involved. The maps here are among the best in the book, but I liked the old B&W feature illustrations. I'm seeing lots of Khemetism in RPG books from the USA and a hint perhaps here, but I won't go too deep into that, but I don't like the ghost or his crown. It ends abruptly vs the being part1 of a 3 part campagn. Its ok, flawed, still a bit better than I expected. 

The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
One of my favourite modules I really wanted a goodman games version of and could have had a book. The art is great and maps fine. Drelnza the vampire is wonderful and I love both versions. In the origional the wilderness was a big part of adventure and made my party friends with all kinds of factions they used for help vs giant campagn later. The map merged with the WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun and is best presented as linked. Also they tap into weird fantasy by exploring ancient evil wizards and cults of the setting. One plus on the briefer wilderness crawl is it emphasises talking more and more roleplaying over stat blocks to slaughter through. The dungeon is pretty faithful. The original had a book of new high-level monsters that made most of the planar section of MM2. Also there was information on the Demonomicon and summoning and binding planar being spells that let high-level wizards keep demons. So yeah, a book with this adventure, WG4 and demonology rules seems unlikely, but what we should have got. One of the better adaptations.

Expedition to the Barrier Peaks was originally interesting but deeply flawed to play. A stronger reason to go and time limits would work better. The Goodman Games version is the poorest of the series, with whole scenarios of alien creatures added but no art for a family of monsters for a campaign. They did fix some maps, but the original, despite interesting space stuff, was deeply flawed and a meatgrinder. We spent one session fighting a vegepygmie horde, then we met the second tribe. Awful. The froghemoth was killed in a round. The Intelect devourer was the biggest threat. The SF element is gold and classic weird incongruity to make a good adventure. The robots and androids in S3 if they were in MM2 instead of the one-use joke monsters that made it from this book D&D would be a very different game. Seeing those stat blocks here in this book was very pleasing. The tech pages and the maps here are the best versions, period. This adaptation, I think, is probably better overall, and I'd rather run this version. Like the art lots, a great gateway t,o and I hope we see more.
  
The monsters section is good, but Gibbelings have gone in some strange direction since i last saw them in FF in 1983. I'm glad I got it, and it reads better than it looked. 

Stonehell Dungeon: Into the Heart of Hell 😛😛😛

A second huge volume of Stonehell.  I might hijack bits and appreciate some of design and brevity, and formatting. It extends the original fine and has good continuity. If you liked vol1 you should get it. This and others came from LuLu, very well packaged, printed locally and in 7 days. 

The Basic Fantasy Field Guide vol 1&2😚😚

Nice simple monster books plus some other strangeness and new undead to misdirect and amaze. Both work together and good budget oldschool stuff. Some familiar, some variants and some "what the" things. Many strange bears. LuLu and Amazon carry them. 

Morgansfort😚😚

A simple campaign world with a detailed frontier fort and some local dungeons one 3 levels. It is in the vein of keep on the borderlands vibe fort, which is well detailed with a rumour table. Some monsters look a bit cute, and I don't want to kill them. Good for solo play or as bare bones dungeons to gonzo up with some tables. The first scenario dungeon has 3 optional endings, which more people should do. You could recycle others into some tombs. 

Demonspore💗💗💗💗
A classic oldschool weird dungeon with spores and a toad king. 

Also a big shout to Gods of the Forbidden North
As the biggest oldschool adventure ever ill say it is very readable and laid out vs some other megadungeons around. Having read most of vol 2 now its made my top 10.

Chagrinspire: Building a new Frontier Kingdom

So we had some players down and an old one return.

The New Kingdom was growing well.

Arsh the Dog Man returned with a tribe of dog folk and settled them in the same hex as the adventurers' guild who had only been exploring dungeons and killing humanoids. It turned out there was a secret druidic wildfolk tribe living secretly in part of a huge ruined section of the aqueduct. They even had vegetation on top and inhabited the structure secure and safe from others. Arsh who was a druid for a while now made friends easily and then took his tribe to another ruined aqueduct pylon, intending to copy the druidic village but for dog folk. The dog folk had lots of dogs to. Some over time became dog abhumans.

The party-controlled fortress where farmers and scavengers, and ex slaves lived was now Turnipton due to the now 3 story high turnip. Arsh went to visit Bogrump the turnip god, and was not impressed by the petty god's vegetable supremacy and his breeding wildly with worshipers. This was the kingdom's administrative and trade centre. 

Niel the Bishop was busy with his new church and followers and doing some diplomacy. Flatspur was to be the bishop's seat where a cathedral had been marked out. 

The Man With no Name was interested in the rival scavengers guild of Shankheim and newer greater enemies: The Northern mining town run by slavers, miners, alchemists and bankers guilds was a target he wanted.

His Wife, Thuvia the star maiden, and her revenant brother were working in the party controlled gatehouse. She really wants to explore to get access to the top Chagrinspire rocket launch pad. The party let their dwarf follower of the Bishop run the place and they have built an inn and a market place for the plateau peoples.

Nebos the Giant, just voted king had been building warehouses, walls and wharves, building up the river crossing into a real river trade village. It was a surprise to being king but he accepted. Maybe he needs a new fancy house.

Slavers had been rumoured to want revenge and their legion of sale soldiers was sent to the guild mining town. The alchemists said "Don't send troops through our land go the otherway around Chagrinpire clockwise".

So they left 100 troops in case they needed to secure the mining town and marched on the developing roadway. They passed the reptilians, the Knights of Mordnar and when they passed the swamp heading south undead templars attacked. Hundreds of men died from this and it even added to the enemy numbers. Then the mutant chaos hordes came and skirmished with the reduced army until it arrived at their southern outpost. Over 300 men died on the way leaving 600 left. More than enough to win in theory. The next day they annexed the village of Shankheim, sending it's guildmaster and his aids with treasure to their good friend the man with no name for shelter. 

A day of preparation 500 men marched the road to the Rivercrossing of King Nebos. 100 men were sent by train to attack the outpost of the Party in Turnipton through their underground train station. They arrived to find a bricked-up station. They left the station and were never seen alive again.

500 men camped by the river and struggled to build rafts or a structure to cross. It went poorly and overnight, frogfolk marines in the river released thousands of ration-eating giant larvae. In the morning hundreds of barbarian allies of the party arrived to support the handful of local militia. Dogmen and wild druid folk brought by harsh came. The slaver army still had the numbers but now had no food and dangerous bugs in their camp. Slaver moral was weak and their morale was very low.    

The party had always evaded the mechanised golem traction engine artilery that roamed that side of the river and had never had a run in with it or seen it fire before. It began shellin the slavers camp. Their forces were scattered and retreated. The allies under the Party used thei ferry and their golem riverboat to facilitate a river crossing so troops could pursue the slavers. About 200 slavers made it back to their fort overlooking Shankheim.

The party sent their squad of followers to clear out the train lines to link their bases from the Gatehouse to their barbarian allies. Others gathered to investigate the foreign mercenaries guild and the Bulwark of unsavoury characters nearby. Nebos and his jester. Arsh and The Man With No Name brought his swashbuckling rat sidekick Rat Sonya. They had invited a frog prince to the planning and he was very keen for frog folk to occupy the swamp on behalf of the party. The frogs did want the humans to visit local swamp humans to tell them the area belongs to frogs first rather than hear it from frogs. As they planned a gnome appeared wearing a grey cloak covering his entire body but a black sphere logo on hid cloak's clasp.

The party knew the gnomes were watching them and previously they had backed down from annoying the black sphere so their assigned gnome monitors were sure this was the time to get the party working for them. The gnome said he is a moderate and just using the Black Sphere to eliminate slavers so wants to help the party. But also, he explained the foreign mercenary guild was here to research gun technology of the apocalypse they could use to conquer their homeland and unbalance the world. He handed them 5k of platinum ingots to destroy their labs, remove any blueprints and formula and kill their 3 research alchemists. the gnome offered more money and promised future help.

Arsh thought the gnome should not be followed. The Man With No Name thought the guild should be stopped and was willing to get to work. He made an illusion he was a mercenary grunt in uniform and scouted the Outpost. He found the lab, one in a tower and one in secret part of the dungeon. He brought in others in rat form through the sewers and they managed to blow the place up, stole the blueprints for a repeating carbine and .38 round cartridges but the wizards escaped for now.

The party in rat form also visited the Bullwark to spy on them also. Frog forces began to arrive and built a camp in the swamp. The party went into the swamp seeking contact with the swamp folks. The frogs would rather the humans saw for themselves what the local humans were like. Arsh the dog man druid did aerial recon as a bird. Saw a ruin with some well organised bandits, a shack and a huge tree stump house in a creekbed and the swap folk village.  The first shack was drug dealers trying to make refined marsh weed resin and oil and were from the Alchemist guild. The party told them they were in charge now and left the confused men. The Giant treestump was home to an old woman who liked Nebos the giant and wanted them to meet her son, a troll. Turned out she was a swamp hag and wanted he party to be her son's friends. She offered them magic items. They had some wrestles with the troll but Nebos at 10 foot tall was stronger. They were not thrilled but hung around for a while, then went to the village.

Swamp folk welcomed them to their community area under cover. They were very friendly and had a bard and lots of mutants. Their obese leader Papa welcomed them and offered the party his daughters to marry and houses. The party were not keen, and it became apparent Papa didn't want them to leave so a fight started. Papa was a devil swine and used his charm powers on Nebos which tied up other characters and the jester with his condition. The party were hastened and most had multiple actions so they slaughtered the guards' mutants. The man with no name slaughtered their bard in a gory mess, and every time they managed to free Nebos but the Devil swine charmed him again and again. Hordes of cultists were taken out with sleep and entangled and the lycanthrope hellish boar was killed. 

The village had pits and underground diggings of serpent folk ruins of chaos and demonology. The party had eliminated the likely charmed leaders of the village and brought in druids to run the place and stamp out chaos cults. The lawful devil swine had hijacked the chaos cult of some local evil spirits and slime gods imprisoned in a nearby mountain ruin. There were more swamp weierdos in the area, but the party were happy to have the frogs dominate the area.

The map of party territory has grown again.
There are wizards to hunt and kill.
New allies and new villages to get to know.
Lots of people now want the party dead.

Farmer Drama 1 Chagrinspire Farm Life

As domain play in my Chagrinspire game and bastions available in my Ethyria games time to look at daily life for farmers in these settings. I might do some other campaigns.

I suspect using my Ethyria clan generation might be good to generate players' neighbours so you could have interesting conflicts and kids wanting to get married. These tables generated adventure and drama in my Ethyria game. My current chagrinspire do know guildmasters, clergy and mayors all over the wasteland and good relations with druidic swamp folk, barbarians and non-humans around them. 

Turns out Chagrinspire, as a gigadungeon was a bit of a failure as a dungeon, as players entered it once in about 18 months and what they brought out changed lots of factions and spawned the alien vampire tree orc cult incident. Mostly, they have been distracted by the wilderness exploration and frequently get distracted by ruins, and now they are consolidating power.

Farmers come up quite a bit in my game, and the parties are the biggest food exporters vs the drugged mushroom flatbread, batmilk cheeses or canned alchemical gruel food substitute of the gnomes.

Have finally worked out my cleric subtypes system in a satisfactory way, which will let me resume some older projects. Rewriting my classes for my next homebrew. Supposed to be working on 2 other things.

Older post
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2015/07/year-on-domain.html
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2017/03/a-z-village-location-key.html
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2020/05/d100-strange-estates.html

this is what I spent days looking for after I needed it
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2016/09/d100-evil-frontier-farms.html
Youll see my next game log

Ill do an Ethyria version of this too.

d10 Quick drama Types
1 Weather

2 Labour

3 Crops & Livestock

4 Crime

5 Mud

6 Discovery

7 Neighbors

8 Structure

9 Defence
10 Supernatural

d10 Farmer Drama Types

01 Flash rain flooded the area, and crops need urgent attention

02 Crops need water, or work on the irrigation system needed

03 Strong winds may damage plants and structures

04 Frost or hail risk can be resisted with improved gardening

05 Snow or windstorm stops work

06 Misserable rain for days

07 Eerie fog covers land by night and often into morning 

08 Fine ash falls from sky, covering everything like snow. Plants love it

09 Strange coloured auroras make crops and animals behave weird

10 Strange miasma makes plants sick. Does it come from somewhere?
11 Shortage of workers

12 Shortage of skilled crafters

13 Labour demands improvements or better pay

14 Labourers are getting into fights with some locals

15 Locals complain about worker behaviour

16 Workers are all becoming drunk and high

17 Workers are all being grifted by gamblers and carnies

18 Workers form some sort of club with a troublesome bard or priest

19 A seasonal labourer is violent or a creep and won't listen

20 Rival is poaching your labour

21 Vermin attack crops d4 1=locusts 2=rats 3=worms 4=bugs

22 Vermin d4 1=moles 2=flies 3=rabbits 4=harless mud possums

23 Bees and flowers thriving

24 Thousands of bats keep bugs away

25 Rustlers steal livestock or crops

26 Wild animals stealing crops like mud hogs or trench goats

27 People want to try a new crop or beast

28 Locals complain of a recent livestock predator with a colourful nickname

29 Livestock is missing. Who will find it? Whats Happeneing

30 Fertility spirits demand appeasement by sacrifice
31 Pickpocket urchins

32 Homeless drunken war veterans

33 New crime gang starts

34 Killer on the loose d4 1=cult 2=canibalism 3=cursed 4=lyvanthrope

35 Professional thieves passing through more often

36 Kidnapping for hostage or slavery

37 Local outlier seen vomiting act of horrendous cruelty

38 Highway robbers and their gang roam the roads

39 Gang of bandits moved into the area

40 Syndicate agents from another kingdom are here to look for opportunities

41 Some creature has moved into the compost heap, requiring killing or can it be befriended

42 Crawling with worms everywhere

43 Stench from mud like an open sewer for days

44 Wild animals have occupied a pool or mud wallow

45 Wetland birds everywhere wallowing in mud and breeding

46 Giant dung beetles rolling balls of poo, occasionally run people down

47 Monsters seen wallowing in mud

48 Giant worms or bugs made some land harder to use

49 Giant trenches and holes from collapsing burrows ruining farm plots

50 Sinkhole into underground d4 1=waterway 2=cave 3=dugout 4=train or service tunnel
51 Found an ancient drain pipe

52 Finding household items and rubble in fields

53 Someone found a rusty automaton

54 Found battlefield dead in field and some repairable weapons

55 Found a cache d4 1=3d4 muskets and d10 x10 ball and shot 

56 Found landmines or unexploded bombs or rockets

57 Found pits of mass burials

58 Found ruin foundations and human bones

59 Found a garbage mound of the ancients with lots of scrap

60 Found a buried building with intact rooms and relics
61 Neighbour wants your land and is squabbling lots and making legal trouble

62 Neighbour has out-of-control children or animals causing trouble

63 Neighbour practices some strange custom, shocking to modern people

64 Neighbour family all sleazy creeps out for extramarital sex, also are d4 1=voyeurs 2=nudists 3=naughty parchments 4=keeping mutant family members in basement

65 Neighbour is suspicious of d4 1=mutants 2=gnomes 3=automatons 4=alchemists

66 Neighbour is involved in vice and crime and attracts undesirables

67 Neighbour is isolated and keeps family hidden d4 1=mutants 2=cultists 3=used to being persecuted minority 4=canibals

68 Neighbour is highly competitive and tries to outdo everyone, and is willing to get into debt

69 Neighbour is trying to marry off their layabout children 

70 Neighbour killed quite a few kobolds and goblins, making trouble
71 Housing needed

72 Roof repairs needed

73 Fencing needed

74 Barn or stables are needed

75 Silo or sheds are needed

76 Paint needed

77 Church too small

78 Civic building in demand

79 Someone wants help starting a business

80 Shortage of building material, need to locate a new ruin to plunder
81 Local militia recruiting, would like barracks or armoury or uniforms

82 Local sheriff elected and needs a shack with an office and a cell

83 Courts backed up with petty crime needing decisions

84 Cells are full of prisoners. Build a bigger prison or hire an executioner

85 A violent mob targeted someone

86 Chaos warband roaming in the area, don't panic!

87 Dangerous maneating monsters moved into a lair in the area

88 Unfamiliar barbarians or humanoids camped nearby

89 Someone is sure we are spied on by some secret people up to no good

90 Locals concerned about attacks from fome creature or enemy and want security
91 Spirits want sacrifices to help the crops and protect people and want some new customs introduced

92 Undead arising in area, possibly from a graveyard without its blessings intact

93 People see shy hideous local spirits sorting through muck; maybe they need help

94 People see spirit soldiers fighting by night, having battles

95 A ruin or abandoned house is said to be haunted

96 People are blaming witches for stuff again

97 Cultists have been seen skulking at night, probably for a ceremony

98 Druids or elves pass area leaving increased growth of natural life

99 Farmer has a strange being as a labourer he has some control over

100 Wild gossip about another community with wondrous new farm magic and locals curious

Seasons, encounters, and weather

Spring - Verdant Season 16+2d4c 

d12 Seasonal Verdant Weather
1 Light showers grey sky
2 Light showers blue sky
3 Distant thunder and light drizzle
4 Pleasant breeze
5 Pleasantly sunny
6 Grey sky but shafts of light on some areas
7 Cool, grey skies, morning fogs
8 Breezy Day, sunny with some clouds
9 Pollen and spores with mild breeze
10 Sunshowers 
11 Grey rumbling clouds and some showers
12 Windstorm with rainb and lightning

d12 Verdant Events
1 Mudhogs with piglets digging wallows everywhere

2 Ducks, geese and other birds stop to graze and wallow in mud

3 Farmers planting and ploughing fields

4 Hunting giant vermin before they get out of control

5 Strange new plant or giant fungus

6 Wild vegetation or moss, or grass grows over everything

7 Ambulant vegetables or fungi seen

8 Colourful flowers and happy bees

9 Rabbits and other vermin are breeding wildly
10 Herds of herbivores followed by wolves or lions

11 Barbarian herds grazing with shepherds

12 Youthful gangs of humanoids looking for first adventure seen

Summer - Hotspell Season 23+2d4c 

d12 Seasonal Hotspell Weather
1 Light showers, grey sky

2 Sunny mild day

3 MIld day with brief sunshower

4 Wam calm day

5 Windy warm day 

6 Grey storm clouds moving overhead

7 Hot dry breeze, mud dries and cracks

8 Dust, sand or ash blowing in breeze, can cover region with clouds

9 Fierce hot gale, fire risk

10 Hot still day, fire risk
11 Storm clouds and brief rain

12 Hot and moist, everything damp, light showers

d12 Hotspell Events
1 Grass fires 

2 Raiders looking to steal harvests or rob traders

3 Vermin d4 1=locusts 2=rats 3=moths 4=beetles 5=grubs 6=worms

5 Vermin d4 1=flies 2=mosquitoes 3=spiders 4=leeches 5=snails 6=pigeons

6 Busy farmers and labourers with wagons, livestock and produce

7 Water tastes bad and is mostly dirty, requires treatment (animals have tricks)

8 Seasonal labourers d4 1=labourers 2=drunk hooligans sports fans on tour 3=cultists 4=pilgrim backpackers

9 Existing new merchants arrive and might return 

10 Militia take action on a bandit gang
11 Thirsty beasts looking for drinks

12 Need more water! Wells and creeks may dry up briefly

d12 Seasonal Mudfall Weather
1 Light showers, grey sky

2 Fog clouds most of the day

3 Windy, dust and debris

4 Rains all day very muddy

5 Heavy rainstorm

6 Fungal spore clouds and smell of decay

7 Ground water everywhere

8 Clouds of flies or locusts

9 Stinking miasma of decay

10 Hail or sleet

11 Heavy rain and flooding

12 Thunder and lightning

d12 Mudfall Events
1 Mudslide or road flooded in mud

2 Giant aquatic beasts in temporary pools

3 Constant sound of frogs and crickets screaming loudly all night

4 Swarms of d4 1=flies 2=snakes 3=frogs 4=worms

5 Flooded holes open even sinkholes into caves or ruins found

6 Debris from water unearthed ancient ruins and ancient household objects

7 New stream or pool forms

8 Animals eating berries, humans making and drinking wine

9 Harvesting nuts, tubers and fruit and storing for winter

10 Someone or livestock slips and falls in a hole in the rain

11 Cart accidents on a muddy road

12 Ruins exposed when mud drained away

d12 Seasonal Whiteout Weather
1 Light snow, grey sky

2 Cold fog clouds

3 Gloomy rain with some thunder and sleet

4 Frost snap and cold fog

5 Snow blankets everything, sky clear and silent

6 Sleet or hail

7 Light dusting of snow

8 Heavy snow

9 Snowstorm

10 Blizzard

11 Coldsnap with lots of ice

12 Whiteout 

d12 Whiteout Events
1 Light showers, grey sky

2 Yeti come down from the upper Chagrin to hunt and eat people

3 Shortages or spoiled food

4 Shortages of fuel for heating

5 Someone lost in snow looking for food or fuel

6 Isolated people driven to or exposed as cannibals

7 Find frozen corpses of humans or animals

8 Cultists or witches seen lurking in the wilds

9 Winter sorting activities and feast

10 Undead crawl around the village by night

11 Lycanthropes terrorise people

12 Winter spirits seen

Summer - Hotspell
Autum - Mudfall
Winter - Whiteout

Secret Gnome Agent Teeth, Troops & Air Resources

These are for gnomes and their agents. 
You just knock out a tooth and insert the magic one. Make sure you get the right tooth.
Dentists who are also alchemists or wizards are more skilled at implanting these.

The players should see signs of gnome operations before they realise how advanced and active they are. Mostly they work from Chagrinspire or the Underground grey gnome city. Eventually, a spymaster will try and recruit the party rather than eliminate them as enemies. Adventurers can be duped into killing organisations the Black Sphere want out of the wasteland.

Occasionally, some enemy will be finished off by artillery or bombardment or a bomb. It's not like gnomes are just helping because they are nice. There is a vast secret prison or several in Chagrinspire.

d12 Lesser Gnome Teeth
1 Poison drug potion

2 Feign death drug  potion

3 Growth potion

4 Shrink potion

5 Featherfall potion

6 Haste potion

7 If the wearer dies, the body crumbles into red powder and a cloud of unpleasant smoke

8 Exhale poison gas, save or die within 1m, then user dies

9 Cure light wounds potion

10 Cure poison

11 Invisibility potion
12 Gaseous form potion

d12 Other Gnome Spy Tech
1 Umbrella d4 1=syringe d3 damage + poison 2= parachute for one small humanoid 3=cabine 2d4 with 7 shots 4=+4AC vs missiles +2AC as sheild
2 Deadly hats thrown as a chakra disk +1 skilled experts can decapitate enemies
3 Concealed pistol, device in sleeve puts a tiny d4 damage 5-shot revolver in hand as if you had quickdraw skills. 1in6 can also hide a small abject like a messenger bat 
4 Cigarette case with lighter, has 12 cigarettes, six are special 1-flare, 2-smoke, 3-one shot rocket d6 4-burning hands d3+1 in 3m cone 5-dart d3+2d4 poison poison 6 dart d3+sleep poison
5 Jumping Jacks attach one to each leg, when on island 30cm taller and +3m range on any jumps. Risky (mover like going full speed) requires a roll to avoid injury
6 Magnifying monacle or spectacles, as a telescope and adjustable for range or close objects, 1in6 are also low-light glasses. Some come in spectacles but with black square or violet circle shapes, and other esoteric designs
7 Cane come in variety d6 1=grappling line launcher 10m rope 2=small sword 3=angry snake or centipede in a tube 4=one shot musket 5=pistol revolver knuckle duster 5 shots or spike bayonet, d4 damage 6=explodes as an incendiary

8 Button Bombs carry a d4, each explodes as a black powder grenade for 2d3 over 6m but does not require fuses lit to arm. Some may instead be smoke, gas or incendiary bombs 
9 Tie Pin or Mushroom Broach shoots a magic missile a round with 2d4 charges per day
10 Can of toxic creature in ringpull can d6 1=yellow mould 2=green slime 3=grey ooze 4=shadow 5=gremlin 6=swarm, some may be in a thermos or biscuit tin or lunch box also  
11 Kelidoscope of wonder, shows other-dimensional cosmic membranes, make a will save every d6 rounds to stop looking unless injury causing violence or water snaps them out. Used to distract people or reward simpletons
12 Guard mushroom, a small version of screaming cave mushrooms, good for desk drawers or a distraction

d12 Gnome Control Leaders
1 Corbion Jasper - business-like gnome who assumes others are professional and always signing documents and handing files to and from subordinates like busy bees around their master. from behind his golden & ivory desk he coldly issues orders and just doesn't understand problems. Wants to do the job efficiently for advancement in the Black Sphere. Uses the office inside Chagrinspire
2 Mother Slate - a grumpy old man gnome with an athletic flesh golem shaped as a muscle-bound female human bodyguard and servant. Asks agents to keep matters quiet and to drink tea while briefing agents. Works to recruit or destroy trouble-making arrivals in the waste. Always in a new secret office bunker nearby
3 Calebos Brass - a seedy, greasy gnome with a stubbly beard and dark glasses. Acts more like a mob boss and claims to be just using crime guilds and vice for control. Wants to control the black market to get goods for superiors. Does business in seedy bars.

4 Orbio Coal - a spectacled fellow likes to be surrounded by books and liquor cabinets. Butlers bring him tiny cakes and more tea that look very delicious. May share with the victorious party. Often office in a transport vehicle or train carriage. Wants slavers eliminated

5 Unas Obsidian - always under bright lights and just a silhouette, uses magic mirrors and crystal balls to communicate. Wants a team to kill the demigod mad emperor of the South Eastern empire so the continent is never under control of one nation again. Always looking for weaknesses in crusaders from the remains of the empire

6 Mara Chert - a harsh, brutal bitch. Stern and iron-hearted. Wants any army in the wasteland to fail. She will travel (teleport) to agents with her automaton bodyguard and death troopers. Agents are expendable idiots but if they live she will send them to undermine various nations

7 Tsara Gaga - Elderly glutinous woman who admires attractive agents of any species or gender, drooling at them while eating cake. She will try and clone good agents. She likes agents to influence factions through honey traps like offers for sex. Lots of prostitutes report to her. She likes to use hotels with different menus she works through until bored

8 Zolot Carbon - spectacled hairless gnome studying philosophy or power theory, with numbers-based analysts and a cognitive engine golem to predict events. His portfolio is to limit certain technology from being used outside the gnomes. No flight, cartridge ammo, germ warfare, high explosives, ray weapons are to be investigated by outsiders. Agents recover technology in enemy hands and eliminate anyone duplicating it. Quite happy just to have targets bombed once activity reported by agents

9 Bezol Silverspade - Cheery boss who likes to eat and drink with agents or play handball or other sports outdoors. Matey and chummy with agents and pretends to help them and cae for interests with fake conversations with superiors. Agents are used for assassinations. Most kill teams of two eliminate trouble makers in the wasteland who interfear with black sphere operations. Invisible agents also make warnings to potential trouble makers who might be useful if they cooperate

10 Arbio Blune - a historiographer who needs time travel agents. Likes to misdirect the agents and arrange them to go to certain times before and during the apocalypse to get supplies. He uses agents because some time-travelling future gnomes are interfering in his operations and likely to come for him. Always serious and supplies papers and briefings to motivate agents to do jobs. Arbio wants to meddle with time but the chrono-gnomes are his real enemy now. Will send secret self destructing messages or occasionally portals for senior agents 

11 Blitz Bungle - just wants data on any faction in the waste and collect information. Likes to plant agents for long term use. Doesnt care if other bosses asses anyone as a threat as long as his agents get out in time. Often appears from secret trapdoors nobody knew about and cant find again. Likes to reward informants with money and gifts like lotus cigarettes and gadgets like cigarette lighters or a flashlight

12 Mako Taft - a suspicious musclebound gnome who likes to flex and work out while assistants convey orders. Often likes to train with larger sparring partners to show his martial arts. His agents are mostly concerned with kidnapping, cloning and returning targets to the wasteland. Covering up these operations and his black labs ties up time too. Agents are brought by vehicle to his current bunker lab. Pays well and offers magic items if he can extract a cube of flesh for research

Gnome Black Security Sphere Bureaus
1 Propaganda - posters, gossip, radio broadcasts, pamphlets
2 Censorship - destroying documents and the likeness of the Master of the World in the wasteland, their fictional mouthpiece from the apocalypse war
3 Assassination - eliminate targets in the wasteland, deserters and internal control
4 Confiscation - cleanup crews who cover up evidence and steal items from the hands of outsiders. They steal treasures for practice or to bankrupt factions
5 Analasys - work on material evidence, recordings and documents to predict events
6 Signals - contact with field agents, code work and communications crews, also do scout work and analyse items and structures in the field
7 Sappers - use explosives, undermining or work with artillery or air forces to destroy targets. They also infiltrate operations to limit technological progress and mark threatening targets who risk progress
8 Infiltration - control doppelgangers, clones, androids, automatons and golems used in 
9 Supply & Transport - supply equipment, manage most of the technology, work with the military and postal service and the rail lines and air freight. They deal with all manufacturing and operate black labs of experiments and forbidden objects vaults
10 Strategic Command - run all the control rooms and monitoring programs for the overall situation. Based inside Chagrinspire and operated by clones in a sealed system. They also provide tactical oversight and call in other assets
11 Psionic Affairs - mind control, data gathering, divination, and sometimes cursing or killing. Frequently deal with spirits, questioning the dead, mind reading, and translation. Handle lots of internal security of departments 
12 Arcane Affairs - determine if magicians need eliminating, summoning, enchanting, espionage, golems, clones, alchemy, magic security, necromancy, making abhumans, imprisoning elder gods for power 

d12 Top Gnome Spies
1 Kagrosto - alchemist spy and expert with machines, has lots of steel potion vials for many jobs, mostly does sabotage
2 Maxim Maestro - illusion-making magic mastermind in a flashy coat and hat, carny entertainer, but also uses powers to scare gullible and primitive people into certain actions
3 Gloomia Gothshadow - teary-eyed eyed moody magician/priest using necromancy to do various dirty jobs. When not working, she prepares new undead and does little dance routines with them for "training"
4 Atrocitus Edgehammer - heavily armoured with spiky armour, leads a cult of chaotic mutants in a warband who commit atrocities. He isn't a true believer, just doing a bit and being as clichéd a villain as he can and for now it works 
5 Goreebus Gonzorg - loves powered vehicles and using them to kill people. Uses a biplane, miniature tank or an armoured staff car hotrod with ram plates, rockets and two medium MG. Sent to intercept goods or people and stop them 
6 Penny Molestrut - an attractive gnome bard who performs gnome cabaret. She gathers information and deceives useful idiots into action. She likes free drinks and diamonds 
7 The Black Diamond - a mystery trenchcoat and hat gnome agent in his stealth mole machine. Has various agents and gadgets and will call in millitary aid 
8 The Iron Claw - an agent with an automaton metal hand and other implants she swaps out for missions 
9 The Brown Recluse - a spider-themed mastermind, who uses trained spiders and a spider cult to do her bidding as long as they don't find out
10 Pweedle Escandar - dangerous martial artist and bomb thrower, demolitions and arson to slow the faction down. He often spends the day in taverns drinking and watching. Expert at starting prison riots
11 The Phantom Brain - a psion specialist who gathers data and does deeds invisibly and from a distance. Plants evidence vs targets and kill without touch
12 Gam Bland - gnome playboy assassin and agent, an expert in recruiting minor factions to whatever sheme the gnome spy masters command. He often mingles with the rich hunting gnomes nobility working against the Black Sphere. Sometimes used for surface world missions to steal goods. He is famous for drinking, gambling and witty lines when killing goons
 
d20 Speciality Gnome Forces
1 Fladermous Squad with glider wings and submachine guns, and a machete
2 Sniper team with spotter and a gnome with a light anti-tank rifle with wheels on stock

3 Rocket Troops, a form of noisy, smoky artillery. Often launch, then flee
4 Mortar Team with indirect long-range mortar fire and possibly speciality projectiles
5 Tunnel Fighters with respirators, curiass, pistols, spiked clubs, trench shovels, and gas grenades

6 Grenadiers ride lizards or beetles, with swords and cast-iron grenades with fuses

7 Sappers deployed from a mole machine, in heavy armour with rifles and automatons

8 Covert Ops in tiny black coats, cloaks, hats and glasses, carry a pistol, knife and a grenade

9 Incendiary Squad with resperators and fire suits, carry an axe or a pick and a flamethrower or incendiaries

10 Monastic Specialists are monk agents who carry poison shuriken and daggers, may use flashbombs and smoke bombs and focus on backstabbing 

11 Mentalist Squad with psionic gnomes in trench coats, skivies and sunglasses. Carry a pistol and a sleep gas bomb. May also carry blowpipes and drugged darts, but use psionic powers

12 Elementalist Squad of apprentices and a 5th Lv master magician using earth spells. Squad will have some petty golems or a living statue, or even a golem 
13 Artillery with tiny carts with cannons, some 6d6 or multiple muskets ona  cart that fire. Will use shot if attacked by infantry, then flee if they get close
14 Gnome Combat Spheres with an SMG built in with a gyro-stabilised crewman inside the wheel
15 Squad of Automatons on search and destroy with muskets 
16 Mini Tank (Like a WW1 Renault with 2 crew) and a few infantry support, some with small cannon or a machine gun
17 Rocket Bikers with gnomes on mopeds with anti-tank rocket launchers built into a sidecar. Some have sidecars with a gunner with an SMG
18 Gnome Infantry section with tin hats, bolt action rifles with bayonettes and a few with pin style grenades. The officer has a sword and a pistol
19 Marine Gnomes with bubble helmets and respirator packs, with a trident or net launching gun, a divers dagger and a waterproof automatic 7-shot pistol
20 Gnome Commandos in black with SMG, Divers Knife and two grenades, for night combat raids. Often carry ropes, air drops or make amphibious landings

If operating against low-tech people, they prefer to use muskets and lower-tech guns
If the enemy uses any black powder, they prefer cartridge-based ammo and guns

Air Cycle (3x1m) 
civilian AC13 HD2 65mph (3 turns per round)
military AC16 HD4 120mph (4 turns per round)

1 pilot + one passenger, the military may use a sealed capsule or a gunnery pod for the passenger. Some carry two medical stretchers for medical evac
Civilians are too fragile for arms, mostly for sport. Some with landing skis or floats
Millitary mostly use 2x light MG or 1x medium MG and/or rockets for forward fire only
A dedicated weapon pod for a gunner passenger will be able to fire in any direction
Some have a rear gunner, which is cheaper, lighter and easier to improvise
Cavorite decays when charged and provides lift for 1 day 
Used for scouts or carried by larger vessels with cargo space
A single human could modify and use but -1 turn per round and -10% speed

Light Air Boat (5x2m) 
90mph (3 turns per round) AC17 HD12
3 crew - pilot, engineer and observer/gunner 
20mm cannon (forward only) spotlight or death ray lamp (fragile, requires a gnome to use the hatch to operate  the lamp and is half exposed. The lamps shatter if the craft crashes)
Used for observation, dropping off invisible gnome spies or acting as a sniper.
Mostly for short operations and may be carried out a larger airship
Cavorite decays when charged and provides lift for 4 days 

A human could barely squeeze inside and operate if the chairs were removed and someone pulled them out by their feet to get out. Civilian versions are fragile and unarmed

Air Patrol Boat (20mx4m) 
120mph (2 turns per round) AC20 HD24
Captain, 5 crew and transport a section of 12 men with a sergeant and a corporal
105mm cannon  (forward only), 8mm machine gun or death ray lamp (as per boat above)

Used as a troop dropship or for patrols or longer small expeditions
Cavorite, supplies and batteries for 4-month travel 
Loading bay could fit 4 humans, a child could use top hatch or squeeze in cockpit
Some versions have spotlights or IR lamps for stealth versions

Light Airship (30mx20m)
120mph (2 turns per round) AC16 HD30
Captain, 5 crew and up to 20 passenger cabins or a large cargo bay or a mix
Crew have a locker of pistols and SMGs, axes, and clubs available
Smaller transport for high-altitude long-distance travel
Cavorite and batteries for 4-month travel 
Quite roomy for gnomes and smaller humans or children could operate

Transport Airship (120mx40m) 
120mph (1 turn per round) AC16 HD100
Captain and 20 crew and up to 100 cabins and cargo space
Crew have a locker of pistols and SMGs, axes, and clubs are available
Some have light MG for defence and multiple spotlights
Cavorite reactor and power plant can fly for years and recharge lesser vehicles
Large luxury long distance travel, some are bigger and palatial

Air Dreadnaught (300mx80m) 
160mph (1 turn per round) AC30 HD300 
Captain and 250 crew plus cargo and 2 combat squads of 25
Turret with 3x 380mm guns, Two turrets with 3x 150mm guns
8x 20mm double-barreled anti-air defence guns
20 medium MG for anti air defence and 4x disintegrator or death ray slamps 

Cavorite reactor and power plant can fly for years and recharge lesser vehicles
Large, heavily armoured flying fortress able to ignore most damage
May carry up to four Light Air boats or two Patrol Boats
May carry up to 12 biplanes or 4 larger seaplanes on hooks underneath and a covered flight deck with catapults, lifts, fire control and workshops
Has a vast array of specialist bombs: gas, smoke, hallucinogen, pox, 

d12 Golems Vehichle Personalities
1 Loves repetition and regular routines, grumpy and meloncholic otherwise LN
Changing our shedul again sir? How dreary
2 Enthusiastic, helpful and wants to be your friend NG
Hey someone is hooting at us should I turn around to show we are friendly?
3 Motherly and protective of crew and passengers, gives unwanted medical, romantic and career advice, makes you clean quarters LG Are you wearing scarves and mittens? Its very cold out there. Have you got a soup thermos?
3 Aggressive colonialists up for plunder, conquest and bombarding primatives LE
Tally ho chaps I smell treasure and cultural artworks to capture just over the horizon!
4 Loves war, gleeful and wild in combat +1 turn per round in battle, cheers with joy CE
Prepare for Ram Speed! Fire all Weapons! Wade in Blood & gore!

5 Curious and likes to explore and trade goods, scrutinises cargo and profits CN
lets negotiate and make friends so we can trade for supplies and information

6 Officious and bossy, likes paperwork to be correct and to turn a profit if mercantile LN
Im not sure if these people will have the right forms and paperwork to bother with

7 Fussy and worries about weather or strangers, reminds crew of safety rules LN
Do you think there will be a storm coming? Is that just Geese over there? Let's do a drill!

8 Bossy perfectionist, micromanages everything and can fly a ship on its own if it wants LN
You're doing that wrong. Let me take charge while you relax and do whatever it is you're good for. Don't bother about that sir let me do that. Perhaps you need some more food or to excrete some waste. It's time for a cigarette break, perhaps.

9 Wild risk-taking maniac loves wild manoeuvres thrilling adventure CN
Lets hit top speed and ride that storm front over that volcano for an updraft

10 Longs to bombard and destroy the tiny ant-like peoples below CE
See them squirming like bugs, disgusting, dirty ground vermin. Can we stop them sir?

11 Romantic lover and sometimes jealous, tries to seduce other vehicles CN
Whatever you want, darling, we can talk in private after dinner. I love you inside of me

12 Paranoid militarist always alert for the enemy, asks to have guns under its control CN
Perhaps we should declare red alert and shoot any moving targets or structures sir?

Not all these have golems
Golem vehicles resist non-magical weapons or fire, immune to most spells
Magical shells are required to hit the golem vessels
Golem vehicles can fly with fewer crew or possibly none
Weapons reload more efficiently 
Less maintenance is required
A rogue golem vehicle might be a dangerous monster
You could transfer a golem personality or shut them off, some have a backup personality

Turns are hex facing you, and you can alter per round
Most accelerate at 10% top speed per round, deceleration 20%
The bike versions have 50% acceleration and deceleration 10% 

When you lose every 20% of HP on aircraft roll below (for normal vehicles)
With a Golem vehicle roll at 50% then 75% of HP

d12 Battle Damage
1 Ability to turn left reduced by -1

2 Ability to turn right reduced by -1

3 can't climb altitude

4 Crew injured

5 Open holes in the structure, turn-1 and top speed reduced 10%

6 Lose 1% of altitude per round

7 Trailing smoke, half speed

8 Fire broke out, losing 1d6 HP per round

9 Subsystem damage d4 1=Electrics & lights 2=weapons 3=equiptment 4=supplies

10 Control damages d4 1=circle left 2=circle right 3=decelerate 4=dive

11 Multiple fires d4+1 broke out, losing 1d6 HP per round

12 Explosion d6 per HD of vehicle, can survive

An engineer can try and fix these problems in the air, taking a d10 rounds (half if skilled)
A repair spell might work rapidly
A golem heals daily like a person, but appreciates help
Golems will complain when subsystems are damaged
The Golem makes less damage rolls because they are doing their best already

Airships like these travel the world to distant colonies and operations for rare alchemy ingredients unfairly hoarded by distant foreigners. An airship supplied can even build a concrete fortress or other structures and just lower into position with cranes. 

Other heavier-than-air vehicles are mostly millitary or sport, but there are some simple transport biplanes but the airships have better range and armour. 

All gnome tech and vehicles built for humanoids 2-3 foot tall so mostly unsuited to average humans.