Saturday 9 May 2020

d100 Mystery Island Settlements



I often like to tease adventurers with island treasure maps for a long time. Eventually, they will plan a trek to several islands which allow all kinds of hijinks. My fave is deathwatch beetles living in a rotting log cabin that proved to be one of deadliest fights i ever ran..

d100 Mystery Island Settlements
01 Tiny stone huts of viking fisherfolk hidden by fog and isolation

02 Tribe of savage headhunters who sacrifice strangers to strange gods
03 Tribe shaman makes ancestors into zombie guardians to surround the thatched palm leaf village 
04 Stone huts and equipment of whalers, also whale skeletons and a huge cauldron
05 Stone shacks of islanders who have been increasing island mass for generations with seaweed used for fertiliser
06 Island of shepherds but strange cathedral-like ruins and forbidding passages are shunned by herds. Herders live in tiny stone shacks
07 Tiny black keep where prisoners of a distant land keep outcasts on the edge of their known world
08 A small tower of ancient prehuman wizard now haunted by something, stone shacks abandoned on the coast
09 Stone shacks, hill burial mounds and stone monoliths. Modern fisher folk village shun structures of the old folk 
10 Shark cult of islanders come here for cannibalistic feasts and sacrifices 
11 Shipwrecked peoples started a village and became members of the fish cult to appease the underwater colony. Many shipwreck scraps used to build a village
12 Tribe of islanders worship a undersea squid demon and there are ancient half sunken ruins on the reef
13 Simple farming folk here were long ago conquered by Vikings who have remained hidden here to avoid clan wars
14 Starving shipwreck survivors have had a criminal bully take over and use thugs to enslave other survivors and sometimes eat them. Island barley supports them enough now and they will try and take over any boats visiting
15 Pirate settled with natives and dwell here but still a touch of pirate dress and islander cult spirits 
16 Ship abandoned convict passengers here and they have become savage cannibal killers
17 Stranded pirate here left alone for years has become mad, feral and vicious
18 Stranded pirate here desperate for new crew knows where treasure buried
19 A stranded mad pirate captain here wants help. Will try and lead a ship to mutiny to get pirates
20 Stranded pirate wants revenge on old crew will tell tales of the treasures and evil deeds of former friends
21 Fishing villages who fled better known lands do they could worship their sea demon in peace and found island riddled with fish folk ruins
22 Tribe in grass huts who have been raided by slavers and now believe all strange ships are hostile. Will take some convincing
22 Strange foreign wizard built village and tower in strange style of homeland. Operates a plantation and refinery of zombie workers planting a black lotus crop. The black lotus brotherhood use island as part of secret international drug trade route and will get revenge on anyone harming them with ninja assassins
23 Colony of plague carriers warn strangers away and live in wretched poverty but some have found ancient buried tombs and possible treasure
24 Colony of long stranded Vikings live on volcanic island and have fused their fire and mischief god with islander volcano cult. They conjure a fire giant to rule over them and call a new one when the old dies every few hundred years
25 Several dozen apprentice wizards have been stranded here in a teleport mishap and some have become deranged and now worship a boar demon or the demon fly lord and a few remain civilised hide in terror and will signal help if they see a ship
26 Ruins of ancients visible on island and some submerged and below water. Some are fused into coral reef and below tide tunnels in reef can be explored. Natives believe disturbing ruins awakes monsters and will attack strangers here to loot
27 Island colony of mutants dumped by a city long ago to deal with mishaped citizens. Several comunities have bred true and have own strange looking tribe preaching other tribes are corrupt and inpure. Headless face chest tribe, two head tribe, conjoined twin tribe, one legged tribe and the tiny people all appeal to help against the other tribes and offer coral and pearls
28 Abandoned wooden huts of sealers and whalers here anf humans long ago driven off when sea elves bred a race of puffin beast folk who have kept humans away
29 Manour house and wooden shacks visible from sea, a dynasty of nobles fled here and swell with servants and local slaves. Slaves are readty to revolt and not keen of plantation work. Some hope to escape to home island to get help
30 Stranded crew of demon worshiping pirates have developed various mutations and now they are mongrel men with various marine animal body parts. Dream of getting a new ship and plundering the seas again and spreading chaos
31 Wizard lives here with abhuman beast folk of differnt breeds they created to serve. Animal men are increasingly unhappy and seeing master treat strangers better than them is final straw
32 Pretty cottages of fisher folk on rocky island with only a few boats. People are selkies and mostly fish in form of sea lions. They allow traders to visit but strangers are not invited to stay long. Onften they mate with strangers for new blood and are very attractive with dewy eyes
33 Mostly empty shacks where a few pirates live after ransacking and killing local tribes. They were stranded here by crew after it was discovered they were lycanthrope wolf-sharks. They wish to rejoin humans but also want to murder and eat human flesh
34 Village of grass shacks where friendly natives welcome visitors. They worship a dryad on the island their queen who likes to adopt new husbands from handsome guests
35 Grass shack tribe who have all degenerated into hairy ape folk due to exposure to a strange star stone that fell from the sky. Ape folk hope kidnapping new blood will retard the magic and keep them human
36 Tribe of sea elves with goblinoid slaves and troops for defence. Mostly shun humans but might trade if given gifts or need something. Know many shunned islands adventurers would think worth a look
37 Sea hag with her two troll sons, giant pet vulture she rides and a cyclops son. Wrecks on shore and large stone cottage built into cliff are visible. Undead sailors lurk under the sea here and walk all over the island. She has lots of treasure from aeons here
38 A minor sea godess lives in her palace with sea elf and golem servants. Many fierce beasts live here like panthers and wild boar once visiting sailors who thought island dwellers helpless. Locals will inform godess of strangers who will watch them in her pearl from afar and decide if they need polymorphing or not. She has a vast library detailing events from oldest times when gods made the world
39 Tribe of islander marine goblins in grass shacks with long outrigger canoes, huge totem poles and a idol to underwater emperor of the local sea
40 Tribe of tako octopus fairy folk living in grass shacks willing to trade marine treasures and spells from their huge stone tablet spell books aranged around island. At a yearly festival they erect a new spell carved monolith for octopus wizardry
41 Empty grass village with wild boar and goats. Signs that raiders kidnapped the people here and eventually new island nomads will resetle place. A well in the village and some stone idols dot the forersts demonstrate stone building
42 Island of geysers, boiling mud pools and a village of lava abhuman islander tribe live here usin inhospitible geography to ward away strangers. Ancient tidaly submerged ruins of some elder marine race here show glyphs depicting the ancients enslaving humans in a long lost sea empire
43 Islanders in grass shack worshipa ancient catfish folk wizard they revived who has since driven away enemies and seeks to slowly breed the humans into fish folk over time. A few locals think protection of fish god not worth becominv fish
44 Old stone monastary built here for isolation still has hermits working on library and farming. Friendly but many are ex crusaders and do do have an armoury
44 Old ruined monastary on hill with a few shacks where some fisherfolk have settled. They report the ruins are haunted and hear bells and chanting at night
45 Stone hermit shacks dod island and are clustered in some places where a famous saint tried to live in isolation but had hermit fans followw them. A few dozen hermits still live here and some refuse to speak
46 Volcano island where pteradactyl folk dwell in volcanic caves for heat. Human slaves live in shacks near shore and try to warn strangers away. The reptilian rulers are master mentalists and eat most atractive human sacrifices
47 Ancient walls  are visible from sea around most of island with wrecks on reef guarded by a kraken. Inside the walls are the haught survivors of a once great empire from when the sea was lower thousands of years ago. The ancients are might wizards and have a zigguratt dedicated to gods forgotten to most. The ancients like making visitors and wreck survivors slaves and sacrifices to their pet monsters. Non walled areas on island are crawling with monsters and a few escaped slaves
48 Sea nymph lives here served by a tribe of tako octopi folk who bring her treasures and strangers they find. She is keen for mortal lover or perhaps several but whenever she is interested her dad turns up in form of a collosal sea serpand and threatens all her love interests. In her love starved state she will fall in love with strangers and encourage them to fight her dad and live with her a few years or centuries
49 Island vanishes at times and is mist rounded. On some days the mist clears and the island sparkles attracting visitors. In the mist is a magical glass castle inhabited by sea elves dwelling in ancient splendour. They occasionally attract visitors here out of boredom but might be satisfied with sending you on magical quests to slay ancient sea horrors
50 Island with hundreds od seaweed and monster bone shacks. Sea elves here welcome traders and are just the surface merchant clan. Around the island merfolk, sea elves and dolphins play. This is a great portal to the undersea fairy kingdoms where the undersea emperor trades with the surface. Guests can easily be supplied potions and means to visit the undersea folk city but most humans are unaware thinking sea elves degenerates of a lost civilisation
51 Island owned by under sea death god, ruins visible from sea of a great sprawling cyclopean palace. The island is crawling with zombie sailors, shipwrecks, ruins and ancient sea monsters. Every few years the god visits and dark sea elf servants, fish folk necromancers and squid folk warlocks visit the dark sea lord for boons. The rest of the year treasure and monsters are visible from ships. The dark sea elf servants remaining here all year dwell in carved stone homes dont resist invaders, warning nobody would dare harm property of a god
52 A fortress built into a tall rocky outcrop pillar from the sea looks impossible to enter. An outpost from a underground civilisation of dwarfs who jokingly call themselves sea dwarfs who build floating porphyry rafts for boats. Secret doors enter the hollowed out rock tower riddled with tunnels from the rock top fortress to deep beneath the sea and rock. Possibly could be traded with and respond well to underland speech
53 Island of cave folk living in stone semi underground huts. Simple farming, hunting birds, fishing and moving monoliths they carve around island are main activities. Generations of ancient barrows rich in ancient magic stone weapons of the distant past. Locals think newcomers are possible new food or domestic animal slaves and dislike graverobbers
54 Island surrounded by sargassum of giant weed, inside the island is a hidden pirate port with whole buildings moved here from civilisation. Shops, pirate ships, temples of the pirate and islander gods and sea demons. The anarchist state takes a portion of visitors wealth and provide food, housing, healing and other benefits. The navy have searched for this place for decades
55 Grass huts near cove has a sacrificial post where sacrifices to a hideous sea titan comes for each full moon. Natives welcome strangers and try to keep them on hand for next sacrifice so their own will be spared
56 Savage chaos tribes gather on this island seasonally to eat one hundred slaves for a great festival. Most of year quite nice with fruit, pigs, goats, cassawarry and tree kangaroos to eat. The ceremonial grounds are heaped with pits, bloody skeletons, skull pyramids and sea demon idols. Many fools find the island and rest here to find a thousand canibal cultists arive for a feast
57 Clerics occupied island converting the natives and enslaving them to build temples and palces for the priests. The priests exterminate local witches and other island peoples shun this place. The priests were part of a treasure fleet plundering new lands and have taken the gold for their god as the earthly representatives. Many were inquisitors sent to purge slaves of their demon cults. Non believers are sacrificed or tortured or enslaved
58 Seaside village of peaceful fisher huts. Folk are wary of strangers but willing to trade. Inland they tell of strange steam caves where degenerate albino snake people live
59 Island village of cheery stone cottages and a wharf. Locals are saddened by strangers who they have promised to the kraken in return for protection from enemies. A secret flooded cave temple is where the kraken comes for it's feast 
60 Ancient temple and houses here occupied by idyllic peoples remnants of ancient sea empire. They have employed various beast folk like crab and shark folk to maintain order here and leaving without local permission is difficult. Locals want to study outsiders for a d3 months as guests to add to their library lore
61 Islander folk here mostly lay about eating lotus fruits that are addictive and nutritious. Natives refuse to change diet or leave and are wary of outsiders attempts to destroy plants. islanders welcome any to join them and stay. The plant was made by elves to enthrall and feed slaves long ago
62 Empty stone cottages now roofless near the beach but giant antlions ate everyone. A lone child has learned to survive and avoid the horrors but is finding it harder to find food. The antlions are intelligent and plan to hunt and trap child who lives on rocky island areas
63 Row of fisherfolk cottages who seem prosperous, owe it all to a mermaid they hold hostage
64 Island of fisherwomen, complain of men having all been taken by a siren and only a few still live as her lovers before she gets bored and eats them
65 Empty cottages near shore abandoned when harpies moved to island and shat everywhere spreading disease and ruining food. A witch is the mother of harpies and wants island made quiet for her experiments with fish men
66 Cottages and a naval stockade of a penal colony where slaves work building new stone fort and governors house. Governor desperate to trade certain supplies and offers letters of credit to claim from empire navy. Prisoners will think visitors might aid their escape or try and stow away on visiting boats
67 A ship has been beached and crew have been repairing it and living off the land. Aprreciate any help and certain supplies
68 Islanders here know a magic they can walk about in the undersea faeirieland offshore. They have exotic shell and carapace armour with sea metal tridents and their court in it's savage way mirrors the splendour of the sea kings court. Those who know manners of the undersea folk are treated well and get preferential trade
69 Natives here worship a kaiju and make a berry potion to sate the beast when they wish to travel. The affluent sprawling bamboo village attracts foriegners but their gargantuan god sinks ang boat without berriy juice and correct chants. Most natives want to eat strangers but a few will aid them explaining where berries are stored and the chant
70 An illuminated dome is visible from afar by night and a island cult of sorcerers live here indulging in sex and drugs and illusionary luxury. WIth elaborate magic and spectral defences strangers are told by magic moth they are not welcome unless they can pay entry fee and pass evaluation for cult membership
71 Island of fisher women owned shacks where all men of age are killed by jealous satyrs
72 Island with a pyramid of basault slabs half smothered by coral reef remains of a prehistoric temple. Natives shun island and the cursed pyramid contains ancient monsters who come out to slay visitors to the island at night
73 Village of mud and grass huts where tribe of shark cult islanders live. Very hostile to outsiders and civilisation with it's slavery and disease 
74 Tribal wizards served by ancient golems have cliffs carved with prehuman wizard lore
75 Tribal wood and grass lodges and a stone ancient temple where a naga lives that is the islanders god. Wary of foreign gods threatening the naga. Once were many islands like them
76 Islanders welcome ships with bbq pork and yams, then warriors in hiding cut off those that land while their fish folk brothers attack the boat. Strangers are eaten or married into the fish cult if survive cruel ordeal
77 Tribe welcome adventurers to visit the temple ruins and stay with them. Villagers operate hotels for traders and visitors and also print treasure maps welcoming more strangers. Inside the temple is a pocket dimension built by a prehuman wizard to test worthy adventurers. In times of trouble natives enter the temple but experience a safe shelter with lots of food where they await intruders to die in the temple
78 If natives in their grass huts see ships they start drums and fires and prepare to attack intruders. Visitors are usually killed on the beach by this mysterious island death cult
79 Prosperous grass and bamboo village with palm groves and vast burial grounds. Natives if troubled awaken vast undead army to eart all not decended from local islanders
80 Shepherds here trade occasionally for sheep milk, cheese, wool and mutton. They live in fear of a tribe of pygmy squid folk who have been stealing sheep for unholy rituals shepherds hear from afar each full moon
81 Adventurers have built a stockade here for trading islander and other exotic goods. The compound has brothel, casino and temples to trade gods and islander spirits. Petty gods often visit here in familiar or local islander guises but nobody knows why. Lots of stranded adventurersat bar live here for years
82 Turf covered Viking halls built the old way are home to a cult of vanir with a temple of the sea god. Local blood has included elf, troll, dwarf and giant due to isolation and trading with faerie folk. A dead volcalo on mountain is said to be where a relic of the old gods is kept
83 Amazons in clay brick walled village ride terror birds and allow only males property to a woman brings them. Welcome all women into their bath house and male slaves are kept in stables. Willing to sell young trained terror birds to women. A tribal ancestor spirit impregnates women who serve at the temple for a year producing children who are clones of mothers
84 Stone ziggurratt and complex where lizard folk cults gather to served the winged serpant god, the bearded snake in the tree of life and one of many dinosaur demon cults that provide domesticated monsters for lizard tribe to use to labour or war. Snakes and lizards everywhere
85 Stone temples and monastery where frog folk worship their angry weather god who craves blood to appease is sacred island touched by mammals. Frogs, axalotls, newts and salamanders everywhere including prehistoric breeds that once ate baby dinosaurs whole
86 A brick built complex and a struggling fishing village are here. The vast sprawling maze was built by a mad king to hide his tomb. Maze is populated by minotaurs who abuse local village for food and mates. A vast treasure of the ancients is said to be withing guarded by magic traps and monsters devised by greatest ancient wizards
87 Islanders live with giant intelligent insects and bug folk of all kinds which outsides find repulsive and creepy. They all worship the bug gods and shun the evil worm god
88 Necromancer school here built into hillside appearing as a funeral themed palace from sea. Strangers bringing raw materials for corpse loving wizards are welcome. Will poison guests and will fight them but master will parley if they suffer great losses. Have ancient lore here including necromancers detailing islander cults
89 Shacks of wood and bark onshore, are occupied by local inbred clan of castaways. A great stone crypt depicting a colossal octopus headed sea demon overshadows the village who are not really sure of what it is but dont like anyone messing with it. Local experts think it tomb to some outsider demon god who died in the first dawn. It scares away tribal raiders
90 Wizard tower visible on island naturally cold with snow and ice around shore. An elder walking elder worm 
cryomancer who every so often moves island to attract intruders it can salvage as undead slaves. It has strange elder artifacts including some that might kill it. Alass the white worm wizard has several clones to avenge it
91 A strange stone tomb in cyclopean style with wary local natives scared of strangers and of anyone awakening the bad ancestors and their gods in the ruins. Prefer to hide and flee island a while rather than face civilised slavers
92 A palace on hill of beautiful island with crystal springs and sweet scents. A dragon rules local area appointed by heaven and is kin to the under the sea emperor. Sea half and islanders here worship the dragon who studies incoming ships to decide it they are welcome or deserve to be sunk or enslaved. The dragon likes to test people with philosophical questions and moral dilemas to assess if they are worthy to speak to it in person. It may appear in many forms before revealing itself
93 A dangerous sea leviathan sinks ships approaching that do not run a certain tune. This mother of monsters protects the island palace of a amazon colony from ancient times. Any women who wash ashore are welcome to join them males are killed or made into eunachs or gladiator pits where they fight for right to breed with amazons
94 Loveley mist shrouded island with ancient shrines and mythical beasts like unicorns and dragons dwell there. Human priests will warn humans away but will offer them shelter an a chance to escape or join them. Several sea nymphs and other divine faerie folk live here and angering faeries puts everyone at risk
95 Pleasant prehistoric forest with strange slow moving simple animals and birds that no no fear. Elf ruins here are very old and a few elves remain to protect the islands life from intruders. Wary of even rats getting to shore. Explain this preserves ancient plants that migh be needed again one day. Will suggest some reptilian cults that need exterminating on other islands
96 Ancient zigguratt here populated by undead ancient wizards in a forgotten process before lichdom was perfected. These skeletal wizards continue magic research and are not very up to date at events since the great flood an age ago
97 A hairy cave folk clan live simply here in a tree house and a curious but like to steal metal goods and have some odd customs and dont even use fire anymore but once did. They will show you temple guarded by allasaurus and lizard folk with ancient crystal sorcery apparatus that controls islands climate
98 Sprawling mudbrick temple and housing interconnected rooftops and no streets. Locals fled mainland thousands of years ago and worship mythical vulture folk who aided them before the exodus here. Actually they dream of resurrection mummies in their temple of vulture folk to rule them again but priests never quite get good enough with small island population
99 Zigguratt of black stone and ruined towers in jungle visible from ship and statues and rock carvings as one gets closer. A village of lizard folk live here and are peaceful but fear the vampire lizard king in the ruins could awaken and seek to restore its empire of black magic and undead dinosaurs
100 Island has houses built of sticks in branches of trees and signs of animal pens, cultivation and strage civilisation. The people here are actually vegepygmies growing ambulant killer ferns, venus flytraps and a vegetal dog like war beast. The pens are for animals like pigs or castaway humans caught by plants to be fattened up before feeding vegepygmies 

5 comments:

  1. These look great! I haven't done an island adventure in a long time, so I'll tuck this away for now.

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    1. I like to give players island treasure maps sometimes a few a session till they get a boat or sell them all or send followers

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  2. hmmm - awesome ideas, as always. noticed two #80, though. The way my brain works, that's easier to catch than skipping a number.

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    Replies
    1. fixed thanks
      normally a skip a digit or ten

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    2. I didn't mind getting 101 items on a list, it's like a bonus . . .

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