Petty Hauntings and Faking Stories

So to rest my post Xor work I started to read Stonehell again which I heartily endorse. I find the maps adequate and the content of bandits, kobolds and goblins well trodden. The history is thankfully brief and adaptable unlike some other megadungeons and leaves plenty of mystery and room to move for the ref. One thing it does very well is petty hauntings, graffiti, weird clues and other interesting titbits. It creates new petty spirits to menace parties and adds to the spooky vibe of the creepy old prison. I especially like getting players to make surprise checks just to scare them without real threats. I actually prefered the short descriptions of rooms with monster stats. The information is good even if a bit spartan.

Dragonlance in the first module introduced a new type of spirit which was used to great effect and could have various strength or even just be a harmless echo of the past for story telling. By later eds it was a playable race and ruined.

I have done d100 petty hauntings for my WW1 game and commenters noted it could be used for non modern settings so this is a version for dungeons and ruins (but not really most caves). I will also make a table of creepy clues to add to dungeon detail.

As my players know I dont really design adventures or dungeons. I use a geomorph or steal a map from the web or use a dyson map or make them up as I go. I pick some themes like undead, or dwarven ruins or some trope filled dungeon type (like I did for my long stairs setting) or I mix several together. My players wander around my sandbox settings. They get some clue to a dungeon or a mission or find a map or hear a rumour. Sometimes they pass several other dungeons on the way which sometimes the temptation is too much and they forget their mission. That is fine. You don't really need a real story anymore. Plenty of comics and tv shows are making it up as they go.

I'm a big fan of stories with beginnings, middles and end. It works great for books but ongoing series that face axing at any moment is more like many campaigns. But it is pretty easy to fake this structure. The beginning is usually character generation and the party meeting up. Some players like to have convoluted back stories but tables can help with this. The best players design open ended stories that hint the DM to mess with them. Players in game actions and paranoid ideas spoken aloud also help the DM. The middle bit is the every day dungeon adventures, the shopping, buying estates, getting titles, married and other stuff.

As for the end of a adventure or a adventurer's life story you can fake it. For a movie type or end of season story you just need a big climax. Mini climaxes are good for episodes like defeating a sub boss. You might want to put in a hook for sequels. Sometimes you agree to end a game and can give players a narrative about how their lives and domains pan out over a few years. You could always pick up the thread again or play the next generation. I often let months or years pass between concluded adventures. Chaosium games this works well in like Pendragon (based around yearly adventures and multi generational games) and RQ or BRP which training requirements mean players might train for months or years till they run out of cash.

Implied complex stories and winging it are easy. I make tables to facilitate this instead of writing dungeons that huge sections get ignored or players do something clever like walk away and let followers mop up.

d10 Quick Phenomena
01 Odours
02 Sounds
03 Tactile
04 Apparitions
05 Genus loci
06 Poltergeists
07 Phantoms
08 Phantom beasts
09 Demonic events
10 Strange spirits

d100 Petty Dungeon Hauntings and Creepy Clues

01 Stench of rotting flesh comes and goes inexplicably

02 Smell of burning flesh
03 Odour of spice like cinnamon
04 Smell of spilled booze
05 Smell of fresh meat, blood and gore
06 Incense smoke from some long forgotten ritual
07 Smell of hellish sulphur  
08 Phantom smoke causes eyes to run and coughing
09 Musky animal spells of past creatures
10 Stench of vomit, feces or urine wafts by
11 Rattling chains
12 Distant moaning
13 Close by sudden scream
14 Distant sobbing
15 Moaning from torture victim
16 Shouting and sounds of past fight
17 Something like rats in the walls
18 Phantom footsteps following
19 Sounds of hammers, mallets or other tools 
20 Clanking of armour wearing soldiers
21 Feel hand brush against hair
22 Hair stands up on body with goosebumps
23 Chill flows over area 
24 Feel a spirit passes through your body
25 Flames blow out in strange sudden breeze
26 Feel phantom bug climb leg or inside armour
27 Feel sensation of walking through cobwebs
28 Feel icy hand grasp neck or stroke body
29 Something in hand becomes suddenly hot like fire
30 Sensations of dizziness and nausea
31 Strange shadows seen but no source
32 Bloody wet footprints that lead to a door or trap
33 Dripping wet figure turns revealing rotting face and fades
34 Bloody weapon on floor vanishes when examined
35 Phantom rat swarm pours from hole then vanishes before touching
36 A blurry figure breaks from cover and runs through a wall
37 A transparent spectral figure steps through wall, looks then vanishes  
38 A floating dripping ghostly head appears then vanishes
39 Bloody handprints appear on walls
40 Bloody pool forms on floor from past murder
41 Stone drops from roof just on or near person
42 Skull chatters jaws eerily 
43 Bones roll across path
44 Noose drops from the roof
45 Door slams loudly
46 Ground shakes as if something huge coming
47 Writing appears on wall in chalk or blood
48 Muddy depression form as if invisible person walking in mud
49 A musical instrument plays itself
50 A chair or table slides along the floor
51 Chain writhes across floor like constrictor snake 
52 Lantern or torch flares up for no reason and is destroyed
53 Ectoplasm drips on face 
54 Rocks, rubbish and bones fly around violently 
55 Spirit pulls hair and punches 
56 Spirit pushes people over
57 Hats or helmets fly off
58 Clothes or armour torn off
59 Objects float eerily about room
60 Nails or rivets pop out out of woodwork on own 
61 A headless figure dripping blood passes through line of sight 
62 A creepy child with a doll singing a nursery rhyme
63 A wounded man crawls leaving a bloody trail if touched turns tint dust
64 Adventurers approach silently, up closer can see lethal wounds then they fade
65 A figure chained to wall begs for release if touched is a lifeless skeleton
66 A wizard or witch steps into view smiles then vanishes
67 A hunchback with noisy keys approaches then fades up close
68 A creepy filthy jester jumps out laughing then vanishes
69 A monk approaches but up close collapses into empty old robes
70 A sleeping drunk snoring against wall if disturbed is just a dusty dried old corpse
71 A black dog bellows then runs into dead end and vanishes
72 A creepy eyed billy goat in the distance, stares then runs out of sight
73 A chirping monkey scutters across floor, later find a mummified skeleton
74 A shadowy growling beast keeps stalking party from a distance ot of light range
75 Skinless bleeding hound runs down corridor howling past party leaving no trace
76 Green glowing hound bellows attracting wandering monsters then fades 
77 A large black screeches from shadows where it's gleaming eyes stalk party
78 Some clawed beast scratching from within rat hole, tells you to leave or else
79 Black rabbit with gleaming reflective eyes seems to be leading party somewhere
80 Huge creepy possum scuttling in edge of light with human hand in mouth
81 Torches in wall sconces or candles alight furiously to demonic laughter
82 Demonic bloody sigils appear on floors and walls
83 A diabolic idol keeps being seen in peripheral vision then vanishes
84 A mutilated corpse with seven ritual daggers affixed to ceiling dripping blood 
85 Goatmasked cultist in robes with dagger appears in reflected surfaces
86 Flaming pentagram appears on wall suddenly
87 Naked old witches scuttle away into darkness ahead as if startled by light 
88 Pointy hooded cultist holds dripping severed head of party members loved one
89 Laughing huge demon is caught in light, it laughs then disappears in cloud of sulphur
90 Horrible imps follow invisibly playing horrible pranks
91 One legged man with missing teeth hopping with hatchet in hand follows party
92 Black eyed girl with long hair in bloody night dress crawls on ceiling
93 Woman in red dress appears in distance when spotted skulks off into distance
94 Bloody throated girl with huge intelligent eyed black wolf walk together in distance
95 Man with gouged out bloody eyes and funerary shroud glides about gracefully
96 A black robed knight lifts visor revealing empty armour then vanishes
97 Eerie shadow follows party on edges of available light
98 Robed figure with raven skull holding bunch of dead flowers vanishes promptly
99 Drowned woman spirit sobbing, moves eerily leaving damp trail
100 Shadowy huge man with large axe stalks party

Xor Terrain for Hexcrawls

So I was happy with my A-Z subdermal dungeon key for Xor which with a few geomorphs will replace my adventure section. So following my Hex crawl wilderness terrain types like for Psychon here is the basics of a Xor version.

Psychon Version
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/planet-psychon-book-of-beasts-terrain.html

Colours on Xor
I want Xor to not be a cracker particularly (i cant say honky any more because my asian friends use that for hong kong ppl).  Obviously when you skin people the all look the same. Anyway here are random colours for describing things to be in pallette with Xor. Transparent is common too. I might do a version for corrupted areas with pussy yellows, infected greens and more. Plants might grow in some places, usually with human aid but green mostly is sign of corruption.

D12 Xorian Pallette
1 Scarlet
2 Magenta
3 Pink
4 Salmon
5 Tan
6 Russet
7 Maroon
8 Mauve
9 Amber
10 Ochre
11 Ivory
12 Jet

So these are shortcuts to terrain areas you can roll or fill hexes with. 1in6 hexes overlap with patches or split or fusions of several types. I will make my final encounter tables for wilderness use these.

D12 Terrain Types
1 Skin lands - bare skin plains
2 Hair veldt - plains of hair
3 Bone lands - bony protrusions
4 Flesh mounts - peaks of flesh
5 Flesh forest - organ and limb forests
6 Scar lands - canyons and chasms
7 Wounded lands - open bloody pits
8 Mire lands - damp areas
9 Fluid - aquatic flows and coastal liquid
10 Developed - human settled
11 Foul lands - infected oozing regions
12 Tainted lands - apocalyptic chaos wastes

D12 Skinlands
These large open areas are mostly easy to cross and and life is sparse
1 Smooth flat featureless skin plane

2 Undulating gentle hills

3 Crinkly wrinkly folds of loose skin

4 Dusty plain of dried skin flakes 

5 Dried wrinkly skin plain with crevices

6 Skin plain with red welts, some with swollen pustules

7 Dried scabby plain with reefs of scar tissue

8 Plain with pore pits, some blocked with oily secretions 

9 Plains with strange tattooed patterns over huge areas

10 Rigid scaly plates of crocodile like skin

11 Bony skin covered plastron plain

12 Smooth skin plan, moist with sweat

D12 Hair Veldt
These areas are like savanna grasslands and populated by herds of grazers and carnivores that prey on them. Humanoid nomads and barbarians dwell here and even civilized people come to collect hair for weaving and building
1 Skin plain with spots of fuzzy moles merging into chocolate velvet

2 Patches of short hair stubble 

3 Knee high hair growing like tall grass

4 Sparse tall spindly hair stalks growing three yards tall

5 Thick hedges of spiny quills like porcupines that hook into flesh

6 Tall thick hair forest with trails made by wild life

7 Hard wiry hair stalks difficult to cut or graze

8 Soft fluffy fur a delight to touch and comfortable to sleep on

9 Thin silky hair that sways in the wind

10 Tall stalks of hair sticky with oil from pores at base

11 Forest of sensitive whiskers that twitch when touched

12 Thick beard like undergrowth of curly hairs

D12 Bone Lands
Areas with exposed bony growths and structures often good for building things or using as homes. Areas can be hard to find food in however
1 Porous bony hills filled with caves and tunnels

2 Ground covered in assemblages of skeletal mounds

3 Colossal skeletons of ancient gigafauna life form

4 Ridges of spiny bone growths running in ridges across landscape

5 Bony towers erupt from flesh scape like buildings

6 Interlocking bony plates cover surface like turtle plastron

7 Landscape of broken eggshell fragments and remains of huge eggs

8 Walls of rib like bones with dried skin membranes forming a maze

9 Landscape covered in skulls some titanic in scale

10 Undulating landscape of fused colossal bones

11 Ruins of once sculpted flesh city now scattered bony remains 

12 Landscape of gentle hills made from powdered and shattered bones

D12 Flesh Mounts
Hills, mountains and mounds of flesh mostly barren and silent
1 Landscape of pendulous breasts capped with nipples 

2 Huge shuddering mountains that erupt bodily fluids seasonally caked with dried matter

3 Mountains with idiotic giant faces, rolling eyes and twitching mouths uttering babble

4 Rolling hills of blubbery quivery soft flesh and fat with loose skin difficult to traverse

5 Flat topped mesas and butes some with mouth caverns, some with buildings on top

6 Rolling hills with giant eyes, occasionally blinking mostly staring solemnly 

7 Rolling buttock hills occasionally release gas or waste products

8 Reclining naked titans in deep sleep, fused into land mass forming mountain ranges 

9 Brainlike mass hills and mountains, soft and squishy that attract guardians if harmed

10 Hills and ridges formed from colossal internal organs and tubes

11 Hills of inflated skin sacks difficult to travel on except by bouncing like trampoline

12 Hills and ridges of rippling muscles with twitching veins under the skin

D12 Flesh Forests
These are forests of organs and body parts resembling forests. Often populated with creatures and visited by hunters
1 Veiny trunks with globular structures exchanging gasses like alveoli

2 Forest of arms or legs occasionally moving in various sizes

3 Forest of fleshy stalks with single huge eye or clusters of eye stalks

4 Tentacle forest of twitching and quivering flesh stalks

5 Penis forest change state of arousal from erect in daylight to deflated by night

6 Fleshy trees hanging with animal carcasses which eventual drop like fruit and run off

7 Huge fleshy trees populated by naked people attached by umbilical cords

8 Fleshy trees with thick damp hair undergrowth crawling with lice

9 Forest of gigantic hands gently swaying that only occasionally grab passers by

10 Fleshy trees growing human organs where shamen come to gather transplant flesh

11 Fleshy tree structures semi submerged in fluid, thick ropy mucous strands in branches

12 Rigid fleshy trunks with silky tufts of of colourful hair and strange flesh sack fruits

D12 Scarlands 
These are areas damaged and recovered but are messes of scar tissue with gouges and ridges. Such areas may still be recovering and provide opportunities for creatures and settlements. High plateaus or deep canyon bottoms might contain pockets of other terrain and micro ecologies
1 Plateau topped with thick forest surrounded by scarified cliffs often riddled with caves

2 Huge canyon with fluid in the bottom and caves in cliff walls 

3 Huge series of uplifted ridges of scar tissue with tough thick dried skin 

4 Rows of cliff faces with hard rough facings often with caves

5 Crater ring of scar tissue with lake in middle and fleshy foliage

6 Crater ring of scar tissue with flesh forest or hair veldt in the middle 

7 Crater ring of scar tissue with broken infected tissue inside

8 Scabby mounds regularly spaced with scaly flaked scab chunks scattered about 

9 Land covered in blister bubbles of varies sizes from coin to house, some ruptured

10 Purple blotchy bruised landscape with swollen black and green hills

11 Huge puckered wound from where mass gouged ot long ago

12 Ground criss crossed with scars and long healed over cuts and pits

D12 Wounded Lands
Areas damaged with open pits, canyons and holes still bloody and unhealed. Often attracting parasites, enemies and defenders of Xor. Also sites of attacks on Xor and possibly exposing buried things beneath Xors surface
1 Land covered in bloody pits 30 foot wide where colossal worms have been burrowing

2 A huge open cut mine where a hostile humanoid race have been toiling for meat

3 Huge trenches filling with blood and serum cut across the landscape

4 A huge bloody crater filling with syrupy blood where something huge fell from the stars 

5 Broken titanic bones burst from surface of huge wet torn flesh pits dripping with gore

6 Fresh bloody scabs where grazing monsters have been tearing up shreds of flesh 

7 Burst open titanic ribs spread open reveal long hidden subdermal flesh chasm pit

8 Huge bleeding canyons of flesh flooded with blood from huge waterfalls pouring from cliffs

9 Pits filled with giant maggots and the sky black with swarms of flies

10 Huge open pits of gore where army of hungry trolls battle gelatinous antibodies of Xor

11 Gaping bloody pit wounds where animals come to feed and prey on each other

12 A mountain peak of flesh erupting vile puss and blood with rivers of filth pouring down

D12 Mirelands
Lands usually thick with hair, meat trees and rich in life, rank with sweat and humidity. Areas mostly damp and difficult to cross with many hostile life forms
1 Thick wet forests and hair reeking of humid sweat, rich with insects and animals

2 Bogs of thick viscous sewerage with huge tufts of hair, swarming with bugs  

3 Thick wet jungle of hair and flesh forest with hidden bone ruins and pyramids

4 Foul stagnant waste fluids with reed like hairs and Islands breaking the surface

5 Filthy water and sweat pools many choked with corpses from a ancient battle

6 Dank sweaty flesh trees and hair tufts infested by dinosaurs wallowing in pools

7 Thick viscous liquid wax pools, bubbling and dripping from crinkly flesh pits

8 Sticky with sweat plains thick with smegma of greasy secretions and dead skin muck

9 Scabby hillocks with shallow pools of sweat with stubbly patches of hair

10 Knobby bone protrusions erupting from thick oily goop

11 Stinking frizzy tall hair patches growing from sweaty mounds

12 Landscape of wreckage and ruins eaten by Xor knee deep in mild acid

D12 Fluid
Fluid can be in form of ponds, lakes, rivers or sea like bodies of fluid. They can comprise on many bodily fluids or water. Shoreline may have some kind of deposits. Most have some kind of life forms adapted to living in them  
1 Body of salty tears tainted with mood altering hormones and salty deposits on shore

2 Fresh water body of untainted water accumulated from rain 

3 Yellow urine springs caked with crystalline urea and minerals on shore

4 Free flowing milk pouring from breasts with creamy froth on shoreline 

5 Thick yellow cerebral fluid swimming with brain creatures among cables of nerve tissue  

6 Body of blood flowing gently with sticky rafts forming and scabby masses on shore

7 Saliva free flowing with semi digested things floating helplessly in thick ropey liquid

8 Body of liquid bile staining shore green and stinking, foul to the touch

9 Lake of semi digested food in stomach acid with recognisable chewed thing chunks

10 Lake of acid bubbling away with several semi gested things washed up on shoreline

11 Body of viscous lymph crawling with defencive transparent antibody jellies

12 Lake of stinking sweat often attracts giant mosquitoes and other vermin 

D12 Developed
These are settled areas where humanoids have been living and developing the surface of Xor for food and defence.

1 A rambling village surrounded by herds and hair fields and a well of fresh water

2 A cluster of pueblo like houses clustered together to make unwelcome access difficult

3 Walled hilltop or mesa where local villagers have cultivated soil and plants

4 A village of bone stilt houses often over liquid often connected by walkways

5 Area riddled with caves where subterranean town work the surface and herd animals

6 A walled town with visiting merchants and several large officials halls and temples

7 Great bony extrusions which villagers have hollowed into housing and shelter

8 Ruined village of tattered skin and dried bone long abandoned now haunted

9 A citadel of meat or bone towering into sky with a great gate house surrounded by fields

10 A bone and flesh castle where well armed feudal community work countryside

11 A city of living flesh with various building styles and with various people mixing freely

12 A fortified town of a single race wary of strangers and following own traditions

D12 Foul Lands
Diseased and infected areas attracting parasites and other creatures with nauseating symptoms of illness 

1 Foul pustules easily burst if touched covering area in stinking yellow swollen mounds

2 Volcanic like vents and rifts with flowing infected fluids attracting flies and demons

3 Yellow and green sallow flesh with infected hair roots and serum leaking scabs 

4 Ground is variegated sticky with green and yellow stinking secretions 

5 Crust scab surface fragile in places weeping puss and blood when broken

6 Bloated white polyps quivering and spasming when touched some with flailing tentacles

7 Intelligent parasite seeks to control area and spread scaly skin and insectoid servants

8 Sulphurous deposits, ammonia pools, giant worm tubes and coloured toxic vapours

9 Horns and antlers growing like trees over hard horny thick skin, difficult to travel through 

10 Bloody bone spurs erupting from surface with intermittent infected pools of discharges 

11 Bloated mounds of flesh that erupt with stinking gas and rotten guts if burst

12 Rotting green and purple gore surrounded by clouds of flies and giant worms 

D12 Tainted Lands
Are contaminated by non Xorian humanoids and even invading demons who seek to exploit Xor for selfish or evil ends. Most are eventually wiped out by locals or acts of Xor

1 A camp of non Xorian humanoids stranded or exploring without a clue

2 Huge camp of foreigners strip mining, rendering oil in vats and well armed

3 Cultist camp here to perform vile rituals and serve demons

4 A foreign wizard has built a tower to perform vile experiments on Xor

5 Shambling mass of ruins devoured by Xor populated by foreign confused peoples

6 Demonic tattoos and stelae being placed by cultists to bring demon invaders

7 A settlement of succubi/incubi offering sex but devour souls instead

8 Demonic temple where cultists worship idols and demonic guardians

9 Demons have brought larvae from the abyss to breed fatten in flesh pits

10 Demons have built a fortified camp and have enslaved locals to toil in flesh pits

11 Demons have excavated a huge pit with cultists, slaves and demonic idols

12 Demonic town populated by cultists and slaves serving demon prince

Back to the Begining EMO DND

This is my house rules I wrote sick in bed mostly from memory 5 years ago - i probably ended up stripping it down in play but lots still in use and several hundred characters made for my exile/shadelport and psychon games. Mostly here for interest sake. Many sections were expanded and replaced by blog entries. Ive failed to re write about 4 times...

I liked simplicity of BX and I like late 1st ed NWP system as in Oriental Adventures and some bits of third ed i was exposed to via Temple of Elemental Evil pc game from gog.com. That game and players asking me to run DnD made me start playing again.

I get ppl asking to play DnD for first time occasionally. I recommend free versions like Blueholmes and Osric or the 81 BX eds online. Story gamers but in these online discussions recommending Munchausen or other games because they are easier (or gumshue if they want cthulhu). I would say kids today know all basics of DnD from computer games even if they have never played. If they ask for DnD they want DnD. I wont run my roadwar for kids though. Killing and robbing cops for clothes is less funny in modern settings. Lil murder hobos is funny to a point but fantasy it is easier to reign in naughtiness without overpowering swat teams killing them.  

Doc is in RTF format which google docs doesn't like to view but it loads fine
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3VvMT9IKhhHLTN4T1lJMlhyRHc/view?usp=sharing

 Also my flickr folder of stuff too https://www.flickr.com/photos/konsumterra/albums/72157631656547261

Lots of my setting projects in works using fragments of all this too...

d100 Diabolic Deaths of the Lotus Cult

Many players in my games in Shadelport have thought taking over the drug trade especially Black lotus much loved by seedy sorcerers in their pleasure domes (In my setting wizards have towers and sorcerers build pleasure domes for their sex and drug cult followers). When they looked into the drug came from a drug fueled empire overseas ruled by a subterranean cult that seemed like a few years of dangerous adventure. One sorcerer did manage to become a agent who brokered a deal between the cult and the Barron and became a successful middleman. That was about the best success and the drug remained illegal but the barron got more of a cut and could manipulate addicts into stooges for the secret police.

Generally anyone who meddles with the cult is targeted by assassins. Sometimes they are forewarned by a scroll with a poem or symbol. Sometimes not. Usually the cult use various increasingly bizarre assassination techniques which this table should help with.
Past blogs on this
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2017/01/sinister-underland-of-east.html
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.au/2016/06/black-lotus-dreams.html

Fumanchu is interesting read. Pulp and comics often reveal fears of the time which are interesting yard sticks for prejudice of the time. Im interested in the history and evolution of these things. I guess I'm partly inspired by pulp but I do different things with this content. Fumanchu is more interesting than any white characters in the novels. The books say more about the writers racist fear than reality. My subterranean city that secretly rules the lotus kingdoms has a female ruler no player has ever met and probably wont.

A bit inspired by this
http://talesofthegrotesqueanddungeonesque.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/fu-manchu-and-nude-in-mink.html
Which links to this...

A cool blog on Fumanchu and pulp fiction book discussions
http://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/5250238/tdest_id/417772

Dr Phibes and Marvel master of King Fu comics and even bond inspired this.
I like the TSR Agent13 sourcebook too, the novels were ok but brief.
I never liked Sherlock Holmes, sorry i hate the Author 

The table here handy for all kinds of nefarious skulduggery and exotic murder. Most have a possible escape and might serve as warning. You could have these used on a NPC also.

Poisons might be slow kind require antidotes that can start a quest or cult might offer you perform a task for antidote.

These don't happen in dungeons but close to home or even in your home. The more surprising the better. A pit trap in your bed is last thing an adventurer would expect but might require bribing servants or even magic. These are related to death traps but not quite. Assassin's may use proxies with bribes, blackmail, mind control or simply payments.

Cult assassins will often make a sign to warn others to fear the secret society. Possibly they may blame another party to start a war or harm several enemies at once.

Fumanchu uses deadly hashish to kill people who have amazing visions then die in agony just like you do from a few hits of a wizard bong today.
d100 Diabolic Deaths of the Lotus Cult

01 Venomous spider in bed

02 Scorpion in clean clothes or boot 
03 Cobra in a mystery gift box
04 Trapped in sealed space with wasp nest or bee hive
05 Poison blowpipe dart or shuriken
06 Poisoned food or drink
07 Assassin in ceiling drops poison in mouth in sleep
08 Contact poison put on weapon, spellbook or favorite tools, slowly builds up 
09 Multi stage poison in different food and drinks
10 Plague contagion in bedclothes, possibly mummy dust
11 Poison needle placed in own equipment or home
12 Noose dropped from above by killer in tree or rooftop
13 Masked strangler with garotte wire or cord or scarf
14 Room sealed and flooded
15 Poison gas flooded in room while asleep or in package
16 Building made to collapse with acid and oxen tied to beams
17 Building exploded with spell or gun powder
18 Dangerous animals locked in room like panther or wolves or python
19 Dangerous monster released into sealed room with victim
20 Mutagen used on victim with witch hunters tipped off about demon spawn
21 Lured into underground chamber then sealed
22 Dropped through trapdoor and sealed in pit
23 Dropped through trapdoor into poison spiked pit
24 Dropped through trapdoor and sealed in well or subterranean river
25 Dropped through trapdoor into sealed pit with creature
26 Dropped through trapdoor into sealed pit with poison gas 
27 Dropped through trapdoor into sealed pit with alchemist fire trap
28 Dropped through trapdoor into sealed pit that fills with sand
29 Swinging pendulum on stair case or doorway or even bed
30 A servant or loved one controlled by drugs or spell with poison knife
31 Assassin disguised as a guard or servant or follower 
32 Doppelganger assassin in disguise as servant or follower or loved one
33 Mimic disguised as bed or pillow
34 Sheet phantom disguised as bed clothes
35 Loved one or follower killed and made undead sent to get close and kill
36 Potion put in food makes victim explode after some time elapses
37 Drop a gargoyle or stonework from wall or roof onto passing victim
38 Cause stampede of cattle or horses to trample victim
39 Rabid plague rats thrown in room then locked
40 Deadly grub like kyuss or rot grub dropped in bed in sleep
41 Poison arrow or dart fired by sniper or trap possibly in bed or at desk
42 Green slime dropped from glass vial from rooftop
43 Lasso thrown around victim neck tied to fast running horse saddle
44 Out of control horse coach runs over
45 Building sealed and set fire to
46 Town gang hired to kill victim
47 Town militia bribed to kill victim
48 Fake evidence of treason planted and secret police informed
49 Stabbed in public by disguised assassin with poison dagger
50 Fired on by snipers with bows, possibly poisoned also 
51 Follower or servant "accidentally" attacking by ambush during a attack or hunting
52 Bridge sabotaged when travelling
53 Horses startled (insect sting) make gallop out of control
54 Stirges released in bedroom
55 Candles or lanterns have slow burning poison added to fuel poison over time
56 Back stabbing assassin infiltrates house and attacks in privy or bedroom
57 Ambush from hired bandits targeting victim first then flee
58 Assassin in privy pit with spear impales victim on toilet
59 Suicidal knife wielder who swallowed poison if caught
60 Suicide squad of assassins who take poison if risk of capture
61 Suicidal disguised assassin tries to push victim off building
62 Suicidal assassin with explosive alchemist potion or spell explodes near target
63 Assassin disguised as healer uses poison potions
64 Assassin courtesan or attractive honey pot lures victim into vulnerable intimacy
65 Assassin will use city or castle portcullis by dropping on victim
66 Assassin will use city or castle or murderholes to kill with rocks or boiling oil or lead
67 Will cause avalanche or rockslide while on road
68 Assassin uses hidden siege artillery piece to attack bed chamber or privy
69 Monster such as cave lobster, python, giant leech or neo otyugh thrown in privy
70 Crane with freight goods being loaded or for construction dropped on victim
71 Narcotic vapour from tampered candles and torches send victim into drug coma
72 Dosed with drugs and assailed by normally invisible spirits
73 Dosed with berserker drug cant stop fighting to death next battle
74 Evidence of crime sends victim to prison where goalers bribed to kill them before trial
75 Gang murders easier but important target leaving evidence that true victim is the killer 
76 Victim kidnapped and tortured by masked cultists slowly for days
77 Victim kidnapped and and restrained in slow killing cruel apparatus 
78 Illusion that victim is a monster causing friends and lawmen to kill victim
79 Illusion that friends trying to kill victim creates fights, conflicts and trauma
80 Illusionary nightmare beast haunts dreams causing death by fear
81 A wizard is hired to lightning bolt victim while vulnerable
82 A wizard is hired to fireball victim while vulnerable
83 Invisible assassin climbs up walls to attack target in own room
84 Targets room webbed then ignited
85 Target is charmed to lure into alley and be stabbed by hired thugs
86 Gang of fanatic masked apprentices fire magic missiles and burst into smoke if killed 
87 A elemental appears to kill target sent by hired wizard
88 A magician sends a evil spirit to kill the victim
89 A demon appears to kill target sent by hired wizard
90 Dragon egg yolk spattered on victim, mother will hunt to ends of the earth
91 Frozen cube of troll flesh snuck into bed or privy
92 Polymorph into rat potion in food possibly a cat sent in to finish 
93 A succubus/incubus sent to seduce and charm victim then kill
94 A demon disguised as member of household attacks
95 Summoned monsters appear summoned by invisible wizard
96 An invisible stalker attacks victim in sleep
97 Gargoyles attack by night tearing open walls and carrying victim into sky to drop
98 Spectral hounds are sent by hired cultists to drag victim to another plane
99 Wraiths sent by necromantic cult attack by night while victim asleep
100 A minor deity is called on to send a servitor or avatar to slay the target

I welcome suggestions in comments
will do death traps for ancient and modern settings one day

d100 What's in that waggon

So nice to have worked last week, drawing mermaids and batman, making scones, getting screamed at by kids, minding an apartment i could never afford. Mind hasn't been on gaming too much and not getting much luck getting game in Sydney. Done a bit of Xor editing but my Frogs piece one of my best efforts in ages and feels hard to top. A bit of a extension of my flawed campsite post. Weirder stuff 51+

These could be used for non foot traffic in city, road traffic in country, targets for bandits or other uses.

d100 What's in that waggon

01 Ox pulled hay waggon with kids and some animals in the back

02 Single horse covered cart with urns of milk for delivery
03 Traveller waggon with two horses and attractive folk art for three generations living inside
04 Barbarian nomad waggon with family hoping to settle on farmland away from frontier
05 Draft horse waggon with load of beer barrels
06 Caged prison waggon transporting convicts to labour or bigger prison
07 Armoured waggon for valuable goods with armed guards
08 Battered old horse and cart for the blood and rag man collecting scraps
09 Nightsoil waggon manned by gongfarmers collecting human waste
10 Merchants waggon with chests, barrels and boxes and sacks of goods with a guard
11 Corpse waggon collecting dead and taking to lime pits to be buried
12 Funeral waggon transporting coffins for burial attended by costumed funerary workers
13 Ox waggon transporting stone monuments, statues or stone blocks for building
14 Ox waggon transporting lumber and wooden beams for building
15 Church waggon with mobile shrine and templar guards and priest
16 Huge temple juggernaut pulled by ox team with staff of priests and guards
17 Waggon with chanting monks delivering documents 
18 Waggon transporting pigs or goats or sheep to slaughter 
19 Waggon load of sacks of grain being taken to market
20 Waggon load of crates full of vegetables and fruit to be taken to market
21 Coach service between settlements with passengers, driver and guard
22 Private coach of wealthy local traveller with guards 
23 Noble coach with servants and soldiers
24 Coach for hire looking for passengers to give rides
25 Butchers covered cat making meat deliveries
26 Tinkerers waggon often parked making repairs for a customer
27 Palanquin of wealthy transporting a lady in covered box with guards and servants
28 Chariot of arrogant rich youths on joyride with little concern for passengers
29 Palanquin with open box with bloated bejeweled hedonist with servants and guards
30 Dark covered palanquin silently carried with masked robed servants
31 Waggon with cage load of urchins captured off streets to sell to sweatshop
32 Slavers waggon with cage overcrowded with slaves escorted by guards
33 Villagers with families on way to festival 
34 Military supply waggon with armed humourless soldiers
35 Clothier waggon with bolts of cloth, boxes of clothes and young apprentices
36 Carpenters waggon with furniture, crates, barrels and apprentices
37 Potters waggon with crates of ceramic bowls, jars and plates
38 Wine merchant waggon with barrels and bottles and amphora
39 Oil merchant with jars of aromatic, cooking or lamp oil
40 Woodcutters cart with loads of firewood and tinder
41 Militia waggon with cage full of drunks and murder hobos caught sleeping on streets
42 Militia waggon with chained prisoner being pelted by passers by before execution
43 Carny waggon with freaks and clowns inviting public to local fairground for show 
44 Traveling show waggon with actors, bards and apprentices inviting passers by to show
45 Waggon from hospital parading disabled and mentally ill for public humiliation
46 Waggon of harlots waving to passers by with pimp and armed guards on way to frontier
47 Battered waggon loaded with supplies and miners returning to their claim
48 Waggon of cats, dogs and ferrets to be sold to frontier farmers 
49 Ratcatchers cart pulled by donkey with sacks or rats, traps, rat skins and rat jerky50 Waggon of halflings drawn by ponies on holiday full of fancy snacks and grog
51 Draft horse waggon with load of beer barrels, hidden bandits inside several barrels
52 Run down but decorated traveller waggon with old fortune teller
53 Necromantic apprentice transporting zombie workers for master in covered waggon
54 Waggon load of oil in large sealed clay jars for palace actually asphyxiated bandits
55 Funeral waggon actually transporting a vampire to new territory allocated by lord
56 Cart of scrap and old junk crawling with gremlins dropping off regularly driven by drunk 
57 Robed man with cart of rotten garbage actually a rat man with hundreds of plague rats
58 Palanquin with covered box transporting hookah smoking rakshasa to monster party
59 Waggon of bitter murder hobos travelling to brothel with dungeon loot and prisoners
60 Fishmen hybrids in waggon transporting cocoon of lungfishman wizard from elder age 61 Stunted evil foreign dwarves with waggon of trade goods and hidden black lotus resin
62 Waggon load of kobolds in cages for slave markets driven by retired adventurer
63 Witch hunter waggon with talking goat in cage to be taken to trial winks at adventurers
64 Siege weapon on waggon operated by experimental monster hunters 
65 Waggon of noble tents and supplies for rich camping holiday for decadent aristocrats
66 Waggon of stone statues actually gargoyles, golems or other monsters
67 Waggon load of chests actually mimic clan moving to new dungeon home
68 Waggon of hospitallers relocating lepers actually doppelgangers trying to avoid scrutiny 
69 Waggon of goat wizards with charmed human driver travelling to secret conference
70 Ghost catcher with waggon of poltergeists in bottles being careful not to have accident
71 Prisoners of war in prison waggon actually carrying the plague, guards just got sniffles 
72 Waggon crowded with religious idols commissioned by various faiths
73 Waggon load of possessed swine being taken to butcher but plotting to escape
74 Alchemist supply waggon with wobbly wheel driven by drunk apprentice
75 Childcatcher waggon loaded with complaining halflings pleading innocence
76 Caged waggon with owlbears bound for circus or menagerie
77 Wooden cage load of rust monsters being transported to enemy territory for gag
78 Waggon of diseased blankets to be given to wild frontier folk
79 Elf waggon moving a sick old treant to kinder climate with less root fungus
80 Waggon of bones being transported to necromancer cult to build skeletal monsters
81 Waggon of monks on pilgrimage actually foreign assassins on mission
82 Waggon with concealed glass jars of green slime being transported to dungeons
83 Waggon with blinded chained ogre being sent to work in a mill
84 Waggon of orphans being freighted to cathedral school to become clerics
85 Waggon of fruit and vegetables with stowaway vegepygmies seeking a new colony
86 Devil swine with charmed flunkies and stolen waggon looking for village to take over
87 Apprentice driving waggon of wizards foes polymorphed into pigs to butchers yard 
88 Dragon in human form driving hoard of loot to new cave as old one kobold infested
89 Elf waggon shipping annoying prankster goblins in kegs to new habitat
90 Dwarf waggon with mobile smithy makes armour and weapons, follow conflicts for cash
91 Secretive shapeshifters in waggon searching for kinfolk missing in human lands
92 Cultists transporting monster eggs to dump in settlement water supplies on travels
93 Cultists with secret mobile shrine pretending to be wholesome traveller family
94 Murder hobos with waggon of stolen tribal relics crawling with angry spirits
95 Cultist transporting demonologist supplies including idols, unholy water and amulets
96 Dungeon monsters in disguise trying to liquidate loot into cash for boss monster
97 Witch waggon decorated heavily with cauldron inside and herbalist supplies
98 Disguised lizard men with dinosaur asleep under tarp transporting to new swamp
99 Royal coach with important noble, entourage, guards, servants and train of baggage
100 Disguised demons pretending to be friendly family looking for victims to corrupt

d100 Campsites on the road

Possibly inspired by my current backpacking interstate to get work. Getting a decent place to live in Sydney as hard as getting a dishwashing job in Adelaide. Sigh if only there was a happy medium.

So when travelling the roads and forests of the wilderness abandoned campsites are a common feature. Military scouts are trained to sniff these out for information about enemy so a track roll might do the same.

A typical campsite includes a fire, areas for sleeping with dug out depressions and rubbish. Feel free to adlib how old a site is. You could just present as is and let players work out or lett tracker know exactly what. First 50 typical, second 50 get weirder and more semi permanent. Possibly my inner archaeologist shining here

d10 Fire
1 Pile of charred sticks with ashes
2 Dug depression with warm charcoal in bottom covered in ash
3 Dug firepit lined with stones
4 Fire has been covered with dirt
5 Fire has been buried and concealed
6 Fire has been used as ground oven and now a open pit strewn with ash
7 Remains of makeshift spit for cooking over fire
8 Charred logs in heap from bonfire
9 Burned old tree stump or several small trees
10 Makeshift stove from stones or position where a field stove was

d100 Abandoned Campsites

01 Poacher camp signs of skinned deer and other forbidden game

02 Remains of a roast hare in a spit over cooling coals
03 Nasty orc camp with torn up animals and feces everywhere
04 Goblin camp with wolf or bat dung and shroom spores
05 Bandit camp with slit throated dead prisoner chucked in ditch
06 Waggon nomads camp with signs of wheel and horse tracks
07 Wood elf camp barley noticeable and concealed with dead leaves
08 Dark elf camp with spattered blood and traces of spider silk
09 Highwayman's camp with scattered baggage thoroughly looted
10 Beastmen camp with raw meat and skin scraps and feces heaps
11 Ogre camp with mashed and chewed remains of human corpses
12 Lizardman camp with shed skin and remains of cooked fish
13 Halfling camp well cleaned with buried garbage of huge feast
14 Ratmen camp with chewed bones, shed hairs and feces
15 Druid camp with signs of blood rituals and sacrifices
16 Cultists camp with demonic graffiti and several defiled corpses
17 Necromancers camp with chunks of zombie and human flesh with stench of death 
18 Gnome camp with fresh dug sleeping burrows and a lost red cap
19 Dwarf camp with sawdust, metal filings and empty food tins
20 Pilgrims camp with broken sandle, carved holy symbol and fresh grave
21 Flagellants camp with blood, broken bottles and ends of whips and flails
22 Fishman camp with sea shells, burned seaweed, fish bones and a wax tablet
23 Posse camp with remains of a wanted poster, and remains of trail biscuit wrappings
24 Army camp with dug trenches and neat tent stake holes and scraps of cooked food
25 Homeless camp with broken bottles, old blankets, clothes and stolen house hold goods
26 Farmers camp with spilled grain, remains of rabbit on spit, scraps of breadcrumbs
27 Tinkers camp with scraps of repaired goods and some broken tools
28 Murder hobo camp with copper coins, worn old pornographic prints, smashed bottles
29 Serial killer camp with faceless human skins, bloody knife, hatchet, human limbs
30 Cannibal clan camp with charred human skulls and a blood covered impromptu idol
31 Witch camp with eyeballs, pieces of candy, childrens bones and a toad
32 Loggers camp with tree stumps, wood chips, bacon fat scraps and ox sledge tracks
33 Common hunters camp with buried guts, scraps, campfire and broken arrows
34 Highborn hunters camp with headless skinned carcasses and impressions of noble tents
35 Knights camp with hoof prints, tent impressions, posh food scraps and broken lances 
36 Monks camp with broken ceramic or wood bowl, prayer beads, scrap of cloth
37 Swineherds camp with acorns, pig bones, food scraps and pig shit
38 Shepherds camp with spilled milk, crumbs of sheep cheese, scraps of wool and shit
39 Prospectors camp with donkey hoof prints, fragments of samples and mineral tests
40 Gnoll camp with broken and chewed bone fragments and urine stench
41 Mutant camp with scraps of rotten food, shed skin, mutant corpse and trails of slime 
42 Minstrel camp with several broken strings, broken wine bottles, used underwear
43 Masons camp with fragments of stone, metal tool chips, scraps or rope and cord
44 Fishermans camp with broken hooks, fish bones, scraps of line, shed of net
45 Spy camp, well concealed and clean to a fault, buried smokeless fire pit
46 Idiot camp with burned half cooked food, a sock, tinderbox and duck head on stick
47 Feral children camp with food scraps, broken stolen things, battered old ragdoll
48 Goat herder camp with chewed scraps of clothing, grazed vegetation and ringbarked tree
49 Rangers camp with well covered fire and few clues but secret signs left for other rangers
50 Adventurers camp with scattered old coins, fragments of map and armour scraps
51 Slavers camp with dozens of bare footprints, chain links, food scraps and a corpse
52 Messengers camp with discarded partly burned messages, hoof prints and ration crumbs
53 Travelling village drunk camp with half empty bottles and a sleeping drunk
54 Bandit camp with a steaming stew pot, pit trap, snares and bandits hiding near
55 Witch camp with cauldron bubbling on fire, invisible witches hiding in plain sight
56 Slavers camp with bound prisoner in open while slavers hiding with nets 
57 Cultist camp with cursed idols and bound captive awaiting later sacrifice
58 Bounty hunters camp with caged prisoner and several grizzled veteran hunters 
59 Elf camp with mushroom fairy rings and invisible mischievous thieving faeries
60 Druid camp where druids recruit and offer healings in secret from civilization
61 Wizards camp where bitter outcaste wizards drink and trade forbidden spells
62 Assassin camp where hired killers rest between local jobs and drink 
63 Rangers camp where people come to hire guides and scouts 
64 Filthy camp of outcast prostitutes secretly chaos cult with succubi/incubi leader 
65 Monk camp where humble monks with basic shelter pray and meditate in silence
66 Mutant camp where outcaste freaks wallow in misery, suspicious of normals
67 Templar camp where they investigate reports of chaos infiltrations in the region
68 Out of work labourer camp with men drinking and talking about uncertain futures
69 Bandit camp where drinking bandits celebrating with loot and hostage
70 Travelling carnies celebrating, don't mistake them for chaos cult and kill them all 
71 Witches or chaos cultist camp where they meet for cult orgies
72 Orc camp where band stages raids from, wanted by kingdom for atrocities  
73 Dark elf camp where they torture prisoners, surrounded by screaming fungus sentries
74 Ogre camp where poor ogres trapped into listening to halfling captives recipes
75 Paranoid murder hobo camp with no sense of humour in hiding to divide treasure
76 Flagellants having drunken party have lured local teens to join them in secret from kin 
77 Woodcutters either working, eating huge meals or drinking, with makeshift shacks
78 Skinners camp with hunters skinning animals, stretching onto frames and salting
79 Noble hunters gorging selves in fancy tents while servants toil for them
80 Monster hunt, expert hunters with villager beaters, resting and building traps  
81 Poachers camp where villains eating royal deer and other game, a death sentence
82 Military camp on scouting maneuvers will question suspicious strangers
83 Herders camp with goats or sheep or swine here for food or taking beasts to market
84 Homeless urchin camp with stolen goods, suspicious of adults and weapons 
85 Sylvan beings camp to drink and dance, use charms and addictive food on visitors
86 Lesser demons cavorting around bonfire eating human and tormenting prisoners
87 Devils camp where they rest while taking bound sinners to hellmouth to be punished
88 Apprentice wizards stopping to get drunk on way to city to attend school or guild tests 
89 Wizard with apprentices and guards on quest and looking for adventurers for a job 
90 Lynch Mob camping having caught victim, now they plan what to do with them
91 Sheriff with beadles, bailiffs and deputies looking for dangerous murder hobos in area
92 Criminal syndicate agents on mission hiding from law, camping here till they find a lead
93 Barbarians in hiding planning to raid, pillage and murder some soft villagers
94 Priests camp where seasonal holy fok come to maintain a obscure shrine 
95 Drug cartel brewing up and padding out drugs with glass, weeds and feces
96 Necromancers hacking up stolen corpses and using to create horrible construct
97 Cannibal clans having a cookout and celebration of siblings getting married
98 Herbalists gathering and preserving valuable medicine and party drugs
99 Artist colony, many naked, painting, sculpting, reading poetry, planing new world order
100 A petty god and some followers having a few drinks and sharing pseudo wisdom

note: will possibly break this up - was hard to think of abandoned ones - easy to do occupied ones. Would like to have had merchants, mercenaries wtc in second half.