Wednesday, 27 September 2023

d100 Druidic Circle Missions





































old related stuff
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2019/07/d100-thieves-guild-missions.html
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2019/07/d100-mercenary-company-missions.html
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2019/07/d100-church-missions.html
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2023/05/d100-demands-of-temple.html
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2023/06/d100-missions-from-frog-queen-old-frog.html
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2019/06/d100-wizard-school-missions.html

decided I have to do more of these for my other four main classes

d10 Quick Types
1 Find a rare plant
2 Hunt a beast
3 Processional Journey
4 Protect the sacred 
5 Avenge nature
6 Contact sylvan beings
7 Trade with the fairy
8 Recover relics
9 Defend the old ways
10 Build a monument

d100 Druidic Circle Missions
01 Guard young druids searching for mistletoe
02 Aid a druid in harvesting the deadly mandrake
03 Gather fruit of a magical tree deep in the forest 
04 Help an acolyte find a magical cave mushroom in the deep
05 Obtain a magical plant from underwater with these water-breathing potions
06 Trade some specific spores from a tribe of mushroom folk
07 Gather seeds of a dangerous plant creature for the druid's secret garden
08 Plant these vege folk seeds and plant them in a certain location
09 Catch a naughty young treant needs to be captured before he comes to harm
10 An insane with pain treant is on a rampage and needs healing or destruction
11 A lycanthrope terrorised the area kill it
12 A questing beast has been temping hunters to their doom stop it
13 A great wurm has taken residence in the forest and is causing harm stop it
14 A great bull or boar roams the woods damaging trees and attacking animals
15 A huge wounded lion or panther roams the woods and has killed some commoners
16 A basilisk has been tainting an area with poison and needs to be stopped
17 A huge unnatural black dire wolf that speaks has terrorised local life
18 A mutated beast has been roaming the woods lashing out at everything
19 Unicorn hunters need to be driven away from the area
20 A young dragon has settled in a cave shrine shoo it away 
21 Guard the pilgrims on a holy forest trail of the dolmen
22 Guard a holy procession while they pass the haunted barrow mounds
23 Visit various sacred stones and investigate any damage
24 Travel to a path of sacred artificial hills each representing a star sign and pass the test there to bring blessings to the land
25 Travel around the barrows by night to see where undead coming from
26 Nonhumans have built a village around a sacred stone and need to be driven away
27 Nonhumans are trying to drag monoliths away to use for themselves in new projects
28 Travel to and from a distant sacred grove guarding a druid 
29 Keep centaurs from carrying away our pilgrims visiting sacred rock art
30 A procession of faeries needs to have humans kept away from their dancing path
31 A druid grove is under attack from giants
32 A sacred stone has a vicious giant serpent coiled around it from some fell power 
33 Wicked dark elves have been playing cruel pranks with pilgrims on their way to a festival, find their hidden tree fort and punish them
34 A sacred stone ancient kings were crowned on has had raids on its keepers by a civilised church
35 Adventurers keep raiding a barrow for ancient gold torcs of olden druid kings reserved for some future cause. Stop them
36 An enemy cult seeks to burn a wooden temple and a great carved idol to kill our faith
37 A sacred pool used by seers has been threatened by a crude formation giant
38 A druidic crystal cave has been hidden as greedy outsiders desire to mine it and sell the holy wonder. Drive off the thieves 
39 A druid festival ritual requires privacy and in recent years outsiders have tried to stop the event so stop them
40 A sacred are needs protection while druids awaken spirits and make monsters to protect it long-term
41 Burn a logger camp to the ground and drive the lumberjacks away
42 Drive away prospectors, trappers and hunters from civilisation in area
43 Hunt an arsonist cult who keep starting forest fires, a werebear ranger may aid you
44 Kill a hunter who does not follow the rules and rites of local people
45 Kill a group of outsider hunters who boast of killing a unicorn
46 Destroy a shrine of a new god intruding on area and persecuting us
47 Recover gold stolen by a knight from a sacred place and punish them for theft and murder as a lesson to other thriving knights
48 Recover slaves taken by foreign raiders and kill the raiders
49 Lead a warband to attack a borderland enemy fort
50 Sew these seeds on our borderlands to expand the forest, ruin roads and slow the forest clearing civilised folk engage in
51 Contact centaurs or satyrs to recover captives, perhaps bribe them with wine
52 Contact a dryad and convince her to free some prisoners or even take their place for a while
53 Bring a tribute to the wood elves to renew our ancient pact, don't let anyone stop you
54 Visit the mountain giants who mine monoliths, menhirs and dolmen and request they start work on a new one
55 Bring this mead to the gathering of tree spirit folk to renew our old ties
56 Aid treants who are defending the forest from orc and ogres
57 Take this magic sword and give it to the river god to renew our vows, don't take any for yourselves or disaster will be unleashed 
58 Visit the lord of the forest with this gift of gold arm rings and silver torc
59 Contact a tribe of wild people or beast folk and aid them against their enemies
60 Trolls have been living in a sacred cave or druid grave barrow go kill them
61 Take these gold rings and antlers to the faerie to pay the ransom of their enslaved captives
62 Take this tribute to the dark faerie court who manifest on our world at a certain place on a certain date
63 Challenge the faerie knights to a non-lethal duel, an ancient rite of friendship
64 Find the faerie dancing circle by night and join them but do not eat their food or have sex with them
65 Return these faerie relics to them to ensure our friendship 
66 Visit the goblin market and purchase certain rare magic herbs and mushrooms
67 Hunt a wicked tribe of goblins who escaped the slavery of the faerie realm and are now bandits
68 Take these enemy severed heads to a bugbear village for their master craftsmen to share and mummify and make into magic weapons
69 Goblins have been seen flying giant bats, investigate signs of them preparing for war or other trouble and report
70 Take back sacred goal stolen by an enemy commander
71 Recover a druid relic from a cave tomb heavily guarded with magic traps and monsters
72 Creatures came from a cave and stole a sacred monolith go get it back
73 Go recover a sacred weapon from an adventurer who killed a druidic hero
74 A sacred object was hidden in a cavern for a certain time that has come, go fetch
75 Someone carried away a gold cauldron and sacred sickles and rods and then must be recovered before melted or buried
76 A secret valley hides a long-hidden relic go find it and avoid killing the guardians
77 Civilised men stole a druid mummy for wizards and it has arisen to attack. Lost and confused it needs to be brought to its grave to rest
78 A scrying crystal was stolen by a faerie and must be recovered without killing if possible
79 A sacred animal has been stolen by a giant go get it back
80 A gang of harpies killed a druid, recovered his golden sickle and kill the pests
81 Drive away an outsider priest trying to start a mission here
82 Where we killed an enemy priest has started attracting pilgrims who want to erect a shrine so stop them and destroy the growing sect
83 Convince the outsider noble on our borderlands that our beliefs should be preserved
84 A foreign church recruited some people and took them on a pilgrimage, go bring them back
85 A foreign frontier trading post has a new priest mission and a school to corrupt our people, burn their buildings
86 A foreign minstrel has stolen our bard's songs and has returned for more. Capture them and bring them to the druid council
87 A foreign priest declared our kin witches and heretics and has taken them in a cage to be burned in the city, rescue them
88 Knights have gathered with templar in a border fort to launch a crusade on our faith, our monuments and our sacred gold hoards
89 A sacred tree was burned by outsiders and must be punished so none try again
90 Outsider adventurers have enraged a sacred monster who must be lured back to its cave with treats and song
91 Supervise the construction of a mighty artificial hill on a grave mound to protect it from looters
92 Take back our sacred stones used to build a temple of an outsider cult
93 Go refresh chalk carvings on a sacred hill bit foreign templars may try and stop it or even carve their own symbols
94 Help move a great stone monolith in a procession and beware of trolls in the area we left it at last year's ceremony
95 Fortify a shrine in need of defence with earthworks and a wooden wall
96 Repair an ancient hillfort in case it is needed in the future
97 Build a hilltop wooden fort and watch tower facing the borderlands
98 Clean up these sacred paths and drive away any vermin or pests that might bother our pilgrims
99 Help build a section of stone wall, perhaps take stones from the troll ruins
100 Clear an are for a druid to create a magical gate tree so our order can move rapidly across our lands

Tuesday, 26 September 2023

d12 Shifty Tavern Hustlers





































currently listening to Dolmen Wood Play on youtube

d12 Shifty Tavern Hustlers
1 Barnarby Kludgepump is a jolly fat fellow who targets adventurers to sell cheap treasure maps. As he offers to swap his fake maps with real ones some are real. Some he got from local goblins when buying drugs. He has to move about a lot and spends his days drawing maps and faking them. Some he buries and stains with tannin. He even buys old books to shave off the crumbling text for old vellum and parchment. Occasionally there are scraps of something valuable under the fake maps. Occasionally he snatches a map from a shop or estate sale. He will join a table with a jug of beer and ask about adventures. Is quite charming and was once a squire until he was caught pocketing money by buying inferior goods. He is a blustering coward who offers real maps to anyone robbing him

2 Varsa Rumpot a tavern keeper's daughter knows how to hold her drink and make drinking friends and she is pretty enough it helps. Besides her thieves' guild training and apprenticeship with a travelling grifter, she has learned a lot about adventurers. She will flirt to get close enough to single one out and seduce them then drug and rob them is her standard role. Occasionally she will stay around with an attractive generous adventurer and will eventually take everything even their clothes when she gets bored. She will kill if she needs to and the Assasins guild has offered her a place

3 Kym Rymald a handsome plucky youth harrases adventurers for work, following them and learning about them. If they get a job they will inform bandits and rival adventurers for a fee about party movements often fleeing with valuables before this happens. Would like to be a Bard but wants a fancy outfit and instrument and to get into a Bardic school with bribes. They seem to be an excellent thoughtful servant. A few noble estates would like them punished or worse and they have bounty hunters after them 

4 Boyd Randleman is a used horse dealer and likes adventurers to sell poor livestock too. Meets adventurers in a tavern and chooses some drunks to sell bargain livestock too. He knows how to drug his animals to seem perky alert and youthful. Any trained horse carer will see evidence of age and health problems and may detect doping and animals worthy of a butcher. Occasionally he fences stolen horses and modifies brands and tattoos. If spotted he will inform his criminal guild friends about the adventurers in fear they will ruin his reputation. Also knows lots of butchers and skinners 

5 Rikram Kalorian a handsome well-dressed traveller has a fine array of old exotic weapons that might be more special than then Rickram lets on. Some may think they are magic and a test will confirm it. They are all cursed looted from graves and aligned to evil. To non-evil they are cursed to evil they are reasonable. Some have evil wills that influence the wielder who won't give the weapons up. Rikram wears gloves that protect the wearer from curses from handled objects. Rikram is a spell caster but keeps it secret. They hope to one day make their own cursed objects. If pressured will reveal where the weapons come from, a barrow a few miles away. Rickram has a knack for finding cursed burial grounds and ignoring consequences

6 Cappy Strangebrow a scarred retired sea captain will tell of buried treasure and exciting sea stories. If anyone enquires about the locations he seems reluctant but can be convinced with booze and money. He will draw a crude map for 10gp but has in his room a tattooed human skin map with more detail for 100gp. He will flee town if sells a skin map then go to a new town and tattoo some maps on pigs. The mass direct travellers through several famous dangerous places with tips to pass the famous hazards making it seem easy. Once in unexplored seas most never return

7 Fikus Vigo a cheery fellow likes to talk local gossip and will offer adventurers some hot tips for a gold apiece. All the rumours lead to infamous bad places and his stories give false ideas of the possible hazard. 
Some locations like a haunted house or goblin cave might have real treasure. Fikus is part of a witch cult and his fellow cultists will ambush any surviving adventurers fleing the various terrible places Fikus knows of. Fikus may use some of the monsters he knows of as traps if he flees anyone. Other cultists may also aid him

8 Calaborus Goldfriend a drunken former alchemist apprentice in debt sells potions with inferior effects or side effects at low prices. Defects include d4 1=short duration 2=addictive 3=poison 4=delusion potion only seems to work to the user.  Also sells love potions, charms, beauty products and cheap perfume in big bottles to suckers. Carries a few bombs and incendiaries and his beard is soaked in a strength potion he can suck for a while to break out of bonds or prison. He travels with a donkey cart with his lab and medicine show. He pretends to be deeply religious about whatever the local favourite sect is 

9 Plinus Kalgrim is a grim mercenary who seems cheerful enough to drink and is seeking new work outside a mercenary contract with a company. He will accept an offer to join adventurers rather than suggest it. Will work for a low price and knows some local dungeons. He also knows bandits, orcs and a clan of doppelgangers who might assist his plots. He hopes to lead the party to doom or betray them and steal all their goods. He even carries a potion of gaseous form to escape danger. He worships a demon that rewards treachery and has given him some gifts and has a few choice items with names of missing adventurers on them

10 Vivian Plumbert a comeley mature widow seeks adventurers to aid her tiny village from goblins. She won't bring it up preferring to seem suddenly sad at thoughts of her family after an hour or so of drinking. She is a witch and so is her clan, They fornicate with chaos goblins and some have hobgoblin sons. Adventurers are required to rob and sacrifice to bring despair to the world. She sees nothing personal about this and its just part of her faith. Once in the homestead the witches and goblins and pets will demand the party surrender

11 Brother Clamprone a jolly drunken friar asks if adventurers travelling and if could he join them in his quest to find some missing children. He seems to just want a group to travel with and will question the party about travels and suggest they join up with his pilgrim friends. They are all cultists who are allied to chaos beast folk dedicated to demons. Adventurers are to be murdered and sacrificed or given as playthings to the beast folk. The brother requires magic items to supply an evil war band. The cult are violent drunken berserks who live like evil beast folk, a demonic parody of the wine gods

12 Randil Clansword a muscle-bound barbarian and their dwarf ally Gronkil Brutefist seek a party to join especially if it is in a location they know the inhabitants of. They pretend to be jolly and experienced and slightly dim and naive. Gronkil acts always drunk and brain-damaged. Once with a party, they will be gleeful killers of foes. At some point when the party is weak or perhaps on the way home they will turn betrayer using their knowledge of the party for who to grab or kill first. They will accept surrender and drop their stupid act. They will flee if they cannot win and split running to some local dungeon

Saturday, 23 September 2023

d12 Main Cults For Strange Stars





































My sf campaign is still at a system only and has no ftl yet, more like Outland film or early Expance setting with first Saturn colonies growing and Kaipur belt is getting some exploration. The tech in my scheme is rated T-Zero the first tech template libraries most AI use to make and design goods. The first gen of slower-than-light colony ships will soon start to depart yearly and will rely on this template. Once they settle they will never catch up to the Computational power and technological lead of the Sol system. So this base tech level will be found in colonies for aeons. Future colonies launching their own colonies will in turn give them T0 tech to keep them dependent and less advanced than the parent colony. Some colonies my get a lead in some fields. Sometimes the Template rating of a world might have a + or a - to denote they are retarded or exceptionally pushing to the next level template.

The point of this in part is to define human tech in contrast to that of alien gods far more advanced and not even bound to this dimension.

So these cults are mostly linked to servitor races working on humans or at the early stages of a few sensitive humans under interstellar influences or dream sending of alien minds. Some cults long to reach the physical homes of their gods. A few old ones remain hidden in the Solar system or equivalent locations in Hyperspacial structures.

2283 is Phase 1 era. Phase 2 will be 2500 with the first FTL scouts seeking the various slower-than-light colonies isolated for over a century and T1. Phase 3 will be a vast T2 commonwealth of hundreds of worlds in 32nd century and Phase 3 will be galactic scale in the 30th millennium where Earth is an unreachable legend that became part of a Dyson's sphere then vanished.  

All of these cults exploit the more common cults outlined in the last post on space-age cults. Most monstrous alien humanoids are fully aware they would be exterminated if discovered. Most have increasingly hidden and gone into deep vaults to sleep. Some cults want to help their alien allies to escape Sol. Some of these cults and species decimated each other for the best hidden vaults or the best interplanetary colony ships. Cults have many layers or revelation and many cultists never knowingly see non-humans. Weird technology discovered in use by cults so far by authorities has been assumed to be from a rogue anti-human AI. Alien species often use superior human-level tech to help hide. The table here gets progressively inhuman with a not-just sleeping god in control.

d12 Things to Silence a Story
1 Ridicule in mass media "Man sees bigfoot on Mars"
2 Have witnesses taken by mental health officials, blamed on breakdown or drugs 
3 Blame it on a life support air mix error causing hallucinations
4 Speculate its a plot of a criminal or terrorist faction 
5 Hoax made to get fame and get more weirdo fans
6 Make some other stories bigger or make other wild stories 
7 Witness blackmailed into silence
8 Witness Imprisoned and framed for a crime
9 Witness has past investigated to slander credibility with fake witnesses
10 Witness kidnapped and programmed to denounce claims
11 Witness assassination made to look accidental or natural
12 Witness killed in a strange gruesome manner people can't explain and is pretty scary

d12 Main Cults Fore Strange Stars Phase One
1 Star Whisperers - loners and isolated people have contacted Mi-Go in the past and served them to help hide evidence and dupe. Some are modified by migo to live in void, spindly, large black-eyed grey skins from human mythology. This new race in turn is used to dupe UFO fans and alien contact cults. They have psionic powers including telepathy and phasing out of reality. They have several secret asteroid colonies in the Kuiper belt and stealth saucers. Most human cultists live among humans in sciences, mining and deep space workers, especially Luna or Belters. Some lucky cultists have brains removed for study or to control automatons and machines. Grey saucers have racks of brains they can plug and play into human tech-printed robot bodies. These borg brains can be linked in serial for some purposes. A mysterious killer robot with a controlled brain has been found and authorities think a rogue anti-human AI is responsible. 

2 Deep Ones - coastal people for ages were in contact with and hybridized with aquatic humanoids. This servitor was created from humans and normal humans are part of their life cycle. Most sleep in the deepest depths of hidden cities concealed by technology. Many live in the ruins of the Chrinoid old ones and use their tech and servitor shoggoths. As humans have grown in numbers and technology more deep ones stay hidden and abandoned or even deconstructed. Today the cult seeks to use humans to get to aquatic moons of Jupiter and Saturn and beyond. The cult is interested in promoting aquatic colonies and missions while on earth they work on various marine ecology projects to restore ocean diversity. Deep ones worship and serve star spawn of Cthulhu who made them and wiped out the Chrinoid civilisation and took over their billions of years of terraforming the earth. These sleeping beings could also be on other world oceans in the sol-system and they communicate by dreams with sensitive persons including hubrids.

3 Night Eaters - dedicated to aiding ghouls in the hope of fraternisation with them in hopes the black mould growing on the ghouls transfers to them and they become immortal ghouls. Once infected their skin is overgrown then organs and bone structure change. Mostly now they hide and steal corpses and even the living. Cultists eat with them and participate in group sexual rites in hopes of becoming infected. Failed human cultists are eaten. The Space Age has not been kind to them with bodies mostly recycled. Some cultists want to carry the black mould to a colony and start a new ghoul cult in the future. Many ghouls worship various entities of dark intelligence but they were created by one of the older races as a servitor and to recycle dead and fight and were never intended to run wild

4 Scions of the Serpant - an alien reptilian god Yig came to earth and modified life a terraformed the earth experimenting for millions of years ending with the dinosaurs when the Nemesis comet nuged a meteor that ended the reptilian's dominance. At one point the god made a humanoid serpentine species of servitors. This species lived on influencing early humans and possibly creating ghouls, that's and other human variants including Hybridisations of themselves with humans. The serpentine race often slept for ages in vast vaults, some they built from the crinoid old ones long before them. Less and less often, fewer and fewer awoke to meddle with humans. The current cult seeks to study the serpents and gain their technology and gifts. Some believe the serpent folk here are able to leave the sol system and may even be still active. Some of the cults infiltrate other human cults and in turn, hybrids infiltrate the sons of the serpents to search where they choose. They have been active, especially on Mars and they seek to find old outposts, contact long-lost ships or tamper with the Martian dreamlands. Occasionally cultists employ advanced technology or biological modifications that Authorities assume by a rogue AI

5 Dark Nemesis - study the movements of the nemesis comet and its kin, vast living beings passing as exoplanets and space rocks. Some are spawn of Azathoth a fast being of atomic chaos at the centre of the universe and the source of the Big Bang. The cults watch the influence of these beings and speculate their effects on other gods and beings and the veils between inventions. Current prophecies say great events will occur in the Jovian System. While not interested in murder or contacting their gods who they just watch. They do keep records however that they will keep secret at any cost. Some speculate dark natter is biological. If humanity discovers them now they will probably destroy them with nuclear weapons. Anyone touching their secrets must be stopped and killed or recruited. There may in fact be some greater influence over them like the outer gods Azathoth, Nyarlenthotep or Yog Sothoth. Some seek various means to visit one of their gods by vehichle or using creatures other cults know how to summon. They will spy on other cults and other cults spy on them and they may have a strange mix of abnormal abilities

6 Red Destiny - Billions of years ago mars had an atmosphere and life. A barrel-chested spindly humanoid race grew to thrive and attracted the attention of other invaders, A Tripod Insectoid psionic hive mind, an octopoid species who piloted war machines and another star-fearing species invaded, enslaved and greatly damaged Mars. Finally, the plant like alien god Vulthoom came promising peace but manipulating other species to their doom. Vulthoom still sleeps deep in the core of Mars and parts of its mind were awoken by human settlement. It is responsible for the dreams of ancient Mars that some humans are sensitive to. Other Martian natives and invaders have left some remnants and occasionally awoke. Some even visited Earth. Cult has gone beyond dreaming to recovering ancient relics and contacting beings of old Mars. Most of these species are those serving Vulthoom but some are hostile to the cult. The cult wants to accelerate Martian terraforming so that in the future Vulthoom can awaken and harvest most life again. Only the most dedicated know why. The cult also promotes Martian nationalism and supremacy but Terra has superior AI and strong allegiance with Venus. The Martian cult is enthusiastic in its persecution of other cults and will operate using Martian authorities and secret service

7 The Hunger - Ygolnac is a psychic cancer that from time to time took a human host to perform acts of depravity, cruelty and gluttony. Cultists may seem to be wealthy gourmets and are most commonly found on Venus among the corpulently obese luxury lovers. The cult lures in people through steps of increasing sadism and secretly tricks them into cannibalism. Lesser cult members help procure victims and privacy. Some of the cultists are celebrities flaunting their luxury and fabulous feats. The authorities know something is wrong but don't comprehend a non-physical body-hopping entity. In the outer system, the cult seeks to overrun small isolated colonies. Some have been found all dead from some cannibalistic mass hysteria others manage to resist this but are prone to inbreeding and possibly illegal genetic modification. Cult masters may evoke the god and become Yholnac's host. Ygolnac can seem to be able to target those who know of its existence or are a threat to the cult. The cult plants his name on those they wish to be tainted. Perhaps they will try something more public perhaps all of pleasure-seeking decadent Venus
  
8 Servant of Eye - worship Cthuga the Eye of Terror and its kin, a species that live and breed inside suns. The cult can call on their spores to destroy their enemies. The Inner worlds especially Venus, Mercury and various solar orbitals and observatories are the main sources of the cult. Most work for their goals but extremists might use arson to aid their careers and many seek to visit other stars, Some will sacrifice victims to the fiery solar spore just to prove their loyalty. Cultists may also be transformed becoming heat and pressure resistant or pyrokinetic. The cult believes the spawn of their got are breeding in the sun and may one day burst free and cleanse the inner worlds with fire. Authorities are concerned about too many arson incidents and disasters they attribute to inter-corporate clan wars   

9 Void Walkers - serve the interstellar space god Iquatha who can barely exist in the human temperature range and influenced the polar regions of Earth in the past. Iquatha cult provided victims for their got to eat possess or devour. Cultists hope to have benevolent possession and modifications or to be swept away to the stars to one of the god's human menagerie colonies. Cultists prefer cold environments and some are blessed with cold resistance and even immortality. Occasionally a cultist from one of Iquatha's extrasolar colonies is brought to command a cultist cell and perform psychic surgery and modification on them Iquatha cult enjoys the privacy of outer system colonies and belter mining ships. The devout cultists may   
 have physical transformations or monster allies. Iquatha may kidnap the whole spacecraft to his own worlds and some hold colonies of enemies since ancient times

10 Yellow Dawn - while this god lives far away its dream-sendings have reached Earth and inspired cults for aeons. Sometimes the inspired produce works of art that instigate cults or modify the consumer's brains to be more receptive to the god. The cult has a secret grip on culture and media makers but also those in positions of power it can blackmail or clean a reputation. The cult seeks to make people grateful to them but also supply decadence and recruit VIPs. Cultists dream of far away Carcosa where some courtly drama of a humanoid colny living on the lake where Hastur dwells. In more isolated places Hastur may inspire a loner or a mall secretive group to perform savage acts. It appears the Yellow Dawn employs a kind of fungal zombie humanoids. They also can call alien servitors to carry them through interstellar space allowing them to colonise other worlds, visit Hastur or explore alien ruins like the Library of Celano. Hastur cults can be anywhere and the very idea of Hastur is a psychic contagion

11 Green Light - Most Terrans live in mega arcologies, huge towers and vast underground complexes. Most of the surface has been intensely being terraformed since the wars of the early 22nd century when AI took over.  A large amount of the population who choose to work do so on this terraforming some monitoring a single species in a region. Cultists are most numerous here but also interested in habitat on orbitals and large ships and off-world terraforming of Mars. Many are within the colony movement. Most would seem to be in harmless mysticism for social reasons by the AI observations so tolerated. Infrequently they are involved in murder, bioengineering and making some horrible creatures and hybrids. They are also interested in the genetic experiments of other cults and species on Earth and beyond. Some of the new ag stations producing food allow the cult more privacy and room to do as they please. They could be a serious threat to humanity but waiting until colony ships were underway. Killer vegetation is one development by hybridizing with crinoid old ones tissue. They are also involved in a terraform Venus movement and the development of biological implants, cloning, printing and gene mods

12 Black Monolith - a cult serving the great old one Tsathoghua and his spawn. He visited Saturn and erected a bastion and erected a vast psychic dreamland for his spawn to frolic in. He visited Earth to spawn primitive amphibians but was driven away by Yig's arrival.  When Yig's age ended with the dinosaurs Tsathogua seduced his surviving ophidians to serve him instead. Promising psionic powers and secrets kept from them by Yig. As they declined and Humans grew Trasthoguua influenced their dreams. When early literate humans with human-looking gods persecuted Tsathogua's cult he helped them flee Earth. Humans arriving near Saturn awoke minions of Tsathoguea and his cult was reborn. The vast dreamlands of Saturn have started to open to sensitive humans. Tsathohua offers transformation and mental abilities and knowledge of space-dwelling life forms that can be yours to command if you dare. Cultists know how to create various hybrids and creatures including the liquid tar-like dark spawn. An advanced alien habitat inside Saturn is occupied by Tsathoguas kin and various humanoids and reptilians they rescued from the persecution of their wizards. As they awaken they hunger for live humans to devour. As Saturn's colonisations continue it is sure to become a future power and this cult will grow with it

I might do a d12 organisation suspicious something weird happening

Wednesday, 20 September 2023

d12 Mostly Harmless Cults for Outer System in Strange Stars





































So as I'm designing a space wheel station with thousands of inhabitants for some urban adventures I want players to investigate cults on the station. Ill do a separate naughty cult. One of the best things about the Cthulhu Mythos is all human occult, religious and mythology knowledge is bullshit. I don't think Call of Cthulhu RPG really does this well. I'm trying to not name creatures much - mostly its too much info and the game and monsters once innovative and weird in 83 is mainstream pop culture now. I can see why raiders of  Ralyeh has more one-off unamable things which I'm leaning into in my fantasy game too. Possibly excessive Taxonomy and fan lore isn't good for horror. 

Descriptions include goals, public opinion, how AI/security/government treat them and possible secrets or dangers. Someone could join several such cults.

Terra mostly doesn't stand for this BS. Venus more interested and recreational AI humours them, Mars is mostly skeptical but has a strong minority of believers. Like the Inner worlds promote capitalism and run crime syndicates in secret in the free outer system some say they run cults as a psi-op. Problems are only found in a minority most are just mooks or dupes or useful idiots for authorities or real cults. All have public offices and some even have fewer AI administrators. Some are less obvious targets for real cults.

d12 Harmless Cults for Outer System in Strange Stars
1 Crypto Hunters - believe there are non-sapient creatures living in the void and asteroids and planets and moons of the solar system. Mostly based on blurry images, satellite pictures of shadows and wild stories of people alone in space too much. Many claim it is science but really want fame. Authorities think are harmless and possibly a safety hazard. They monitor them because AI admits it is possible. Real cults might well recruit from them and even show them real monsters
2 Cosmic League - believe in making contact with aliens, seek first contact, broadcast into space welcome messages. Will propose poorly interpreted phenomena as intelligence and seek fame of discovering intelligent life. Authorities mostly view them as harmless but are concerned cults may rush into danger or they might beat officials in a real contact scenario. Might well be dupes of actual aliens and overly friendly
3 Star Ancestors - believe aliens visited Earth in past and built monuments and modified humans. Mostly dismissed and not taken seriously. They are partly right but all their scenarios are false and based on inventions of older cults proposing humanoid aliens and weird race theories. Their searches off Earth authorities see as harmless but if identified kept away from historic sites on Earth. The real problem is they are hopelessly optimistic and open to real cults. Humanoid aliens may well be faked by real aliens or might be modified human servitors 
4 Serpentine Sentinels - believe alien reptilians infiltrated society through history and control all human civilisation. Dismissed by authorities but aware some extremists are potential terrorists. Really reptilians were prehistoric species created by an alien entity in prehistoric times and mostly killed by dinosaurs. Some slumbered in underground shelters and occasionally created human hybrids to spy on and manipulate humans but were never capable of control imagined by this cult. Some hybrids might infiltrate the cult to manipulate them. Some of the reptilians and their creator god might be somewhere in space or there might be shelters or space ark ships
5 Sea Harvest - a semi-respectable group working on sea colonisation on Earth and some of Jupiter or Saturn's moons. They hope to start a colony on a water planet in the future. Mostly they are involved in legitimate science like sea farming. but also their dreams are costly and possibly not the most efficient. Authorities regard them as sometimes overly enthusiastic. They are stooges of deep ones and include hybrids who use it to recruit cultists and to spread their species beyond the stars. They also hope to meet their creator gods far from Earth 
6 Martian Dream - almost a new religion on Mars. They speculate on life 3.6 billion years ago on Mars when it had oceans and an atmosphere. Started as a sort of fan fiction and grew, Many claim to have dreams of old Mars and even claim to be reincarnated from ancient Martians. They disagree on what Martians were like but others say all theories are true as the Martian age was quite long. They look for evidence but ideas are often used in pop culture and theme parks. Authorities think it is harmless but believe some exponents shouldn't be in any position of trust. Many members don't really take it seriously and think it is fun or for shared fiction and cosplay events. The dream is real, psychic echoes of the past and from deeply buried vaults. Mars seems to have had a small spindly barrel-chested humanoid, a tripod psychic insectoid species, a bear-sized octopid blood-sucking conqueror and possibly others. Some possibly arrived later to conquer the humanoids. Wars and failed terraforming slowly degraded the planet but an alien god spelled the final end and slumbers in a vault with its humanoid thralls  sending out dreams
7 New Sun League - a pro-colony organisation, popular and accepted in the generation and near FTL colony ships programs. Many in the colony projects are still a decade away for the first ship with plans to keep sending a ship per year for decades. Some members really are cultists convinced their gods are on other worlds they hope to colonise. Some surmise there are already colonies of cultists across the galaxy created aeons ago by aliens. Cultists dream of turning whole planets to serve their dark gods
8 Psionic Academy - believe that psychic powers exist and may yet evolve if not present. Authorities tolerate them but believe it is wasteful but may infiltrate them to keep an eye on them as some have tried illegal modifications as a scam. Psionics don't really work like theorists propose. Either they are gene mods or implants from alien cults and possibly interface with technology in hyperspace built by ancient aliens
9 Gourmet Gathering - a VIP eating club from Venus seen as a frivolous, wasteful luxury but also many are interested in their gatherings and feasts. Some sects have been caught practising cannibalism as the ultimate taboo thrill often in ritualistic ceremonies mostly for aesthetics. Is growing and authorities are monitoring in case the whole group is contaminated. Real cultists have joined and are pushing sadism and depravity in the name of some alien god that may or not be real 
10 Belter Freedom League - advocates for more freedom from the inner worlds, an end to manipulation and their own colony ships. Have already sent some slower-than-light vessels not expected to reach anywhere in the next decade. Some extremists Free Belters are terrorists and thus all movement is monitored. Other cultists in the outer system use them to hide from authorities and to recruit the desperate and angry. It is especially easy to stay off the grid in the Kuiper Belt beyond Inner's interests but perhaps cults seek something there 
11 Human Ark Project - convinced in the event of disaster humans need to prepare with archives of knowledge and technology in case humanity falls and needs to rebuild. Keen to settle new worlds and bury time capsules that also include, seeds, DNA and possible frozen agents. The AI of the Inners don't take the idea too seriously but think it has some possible merit so tolerate them. Scenarios include war, tech failure or even alien exterminators. Often work with pro-colony groups as their interests overlap. Some worse cultists think they too need to plant the seed of their alien religion in such capsules and some might plan to destroy technology-based humanity in the future when their ark vaults can create a new order with a revised history 
12 Advance Humanity - pro genetic manipulation of humans, cloning, bio and cybernetic implants to make humanity superhuman and transcend to new evolved beings. Some believe humanity can evolve beyond bodies or merge with supercomputers and be immortal. Believe current tech repressed. One faction cloned genetic infantry and wiped out several belt colonies based on racist ideas almost a hundred years ago giving the 
public and authorities a bad taste for the cult. Many seek to infiltrate new colonies and interstellar missions and conduct illegal experiments. This opens them to alien cult infiltration offering technology not of the Sol system

Tuesday, 19 September 2023

Neurocity PDF Link? The Best Game Since Paranoia? + Warpland


 https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/318907/NEUROCITY
Just go get it and come back.

And put this on your wishlist.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/358971/WARPLAND

Another nice article on it
https://therewillbe.games/articles-boardgame-reviews/8077-neurocity-operating-manual-for-spaceship-2020-rpg-review

Stuff of mine relevant to setting
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2022/11/d100-signs-you-are-being-monitored-by.html
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2022/11/d100-off-limits-locations-in-utopia.html

an older piece possibly useful
http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2017/02/d100-flawed-utopias.html

Also watch the UK series Prisoner and find several versions old and new versions of paranoia rpg

There is a new version of it coming

I was meant to review this, Its in my to-do list for maybe 2 years. I did receive a PDF of this and Warpland. I bought hard copies of both on my own but struggled to write my thoughts on both these games for reasons. You can also put Nuerocity in Warpland, which fits some of my gaming even more. Either or both are fantastic. Gavriel Quiroga is one of the best creators in gaming and I've bought more stuff he has recommended the last few years. He shows off lots of nice indy and zine games with beautiful neon punk design. Everything he does is interesting even though Im not someone into short run games so much and Ive certainly not someone who needs more campaign settings. But Neurocity and Warpland are fantastic and I'm a little bit jealous and intimidated by them.

Lots of the world building is in tables which is a method I'm obviously committed too (I probably learned from thieves world/RQ3 Cities and Glorantha crucible of the hero wars box set.

Nuerocity I would compare with Paranoia but meaner and less fascicle. Sometimes Paranoia people would play straight and do what they are told and things go smoothly so using a bureaucratic declining dystopia has a solid history in gaming. It is a run-down computer-controlled society with retro technology and everyone faces surveillance and mind control. To me, this painting sums it up.




















GEORGE TOOKER SUBWAY 1950 (its good in B&W too)

 It reminds me more of European Literature than SF/fantasy. The mechanical bureaucracy is at times comparable to 80s films 1984 and Brazil or The Future in 12 Monkeys. Maybe a retro-arty dystopian anxiety-based setting. Im sometimes reminded of Eastern Bloc Europe in the 80s I saw first-hand. Kind of depressing malaise and backward retro civilian technology used to copy modern contrivances like a purely mechanical "video" arcade I found in a Russian hotel in 84. Maybe some Kafka and Catch22 vibes.

The art has a tone of retro collage textbook and is gloomy and cold. Art and layout plus bloat free text implies more than any element alone. I could imagine a book of forms for this game as part of play. You could stick this in a post-apocalypse setting or a backward planet to visit in Dr Who or in Warpland. Maybe even in ultraviolet Grasslands. It is fairly self-contained and its background is unreliable and vague you can stick it in different places. I could Imagine a TV series of it.

The procedures of the dystopian society are elements you could use in other games or settings.  It is also far simpler than I'm describing and kinda begs you to work with it somehow. 

Im not sure what the new version has in store but more nice art by some previews is a certainty. I think you could have a wide range of adventures here in the city or the borderlands.

Warpland
Kind of a companion game setting you could use with Nuerocity or keep separate. Has things in common with my own Planet Psychon and you could probably use my work with it to expand on the tables in warpland. Probably simpler, more accessible than my work. Its quite pretty too. 

Friday, 8 September 2023

Bad AI!, Crime & Punishment & FTL for my Strange Stars



Two recent sf adventure locations on patreon recently and a third vol of mars stuff out shortly plus a fantasy 3fold each month

Tech Templates
The average technology printable in auto factories

T0 Template Zero - slower than light travel, did colonise most of the star system and sent 1st generation of colony ships as its greatest achievements
T1 Template One - FTL travel and coms,  beanstalk, star gate, 
T2 Template Two - anti gravity, force fields, mostly high-energy hand weapons,  
T3 Template Three - teleporters, dysons spheres, artificial worlds, monomolecular hulls


Star drives, Gates & Corridors 

My current game is T0 and has no FTL but will happen in the not too far-off future. Near light drives in early colonisation were very important and some ships used solar sails to start acceleration others with nuclear space ramjets. This was the first generation of some 30 colony ships and the slower solar sail ships might take 50-80 years and some left before the colony ships.

FTL early on is a mess based on far more advanced systems. The two easiest open hyperspatial highway systems are manufactured by some elder races. It appears the two networks sometimes quarrelled.  Other attempts opened portals to dangerous places. Later gates can be used to link systems and block unwelcome visitors.

FTL drives
All of these were developed based on alien artefacts that appeared in the Jovian system anomaly for several decades. Several systems of FTL came from this and other alien classified remains.

Built gates allow entry to the network from deeper in the sun's gravity well and thus the two gates in the Jovian system. With a more minimal drive like for cargo ships and gates avoid problems with with the sun's gravity well. The system moves at about 1 parsec a month at first then per day by T2 tech and instant at T3. More advanced systems can be closer to the sun so by T2 Mars will have a gate. By TL3 the solar system is breaking up to build a Dyson sphere starting from a ring. 
 
Europan Gate & Network - at the right speed outside the gravity well of a sun can jump through to the Europan Network along certain routes built by an ancient non-human civilisation. Sometimes links to the Ganymede Gate & network and possibly each civilisation destroyed each other. These systems interface with the advanced technology of the network which brings ships into its corridors. The tech to interface is only T1 but not actually understood well. 
Drives built into a ship can enter into the highway only in the outer system gravity well which can be slow even at 1G taking weeks or longer in giant solar systems to escape the sun's mass. Appears like travelling in a tunnel of light 

Ganymede Gate & Network - an alternative network like the Europan gate made by another contemporary civilisation. 
Appears like travelling in a psychedelic kaleidoscopic tunnel. Both networks are named after the first gates in the Jovian system. 

Tillenghast Drive - resonator field allows the ship to enter a dimensional void and protects the ship from damage and the crew from mental effects. Able to move point to point well but is dangerous and mostly used by millitary couriers as it doesn't require hops through words on the gate network line and is good for in-system hops without a gate but too dangerous near a planet. Tillenghast disappeared in one of his experiments in teleportation. He also wanted to develop a biological interface to navigate in real-time with implants of alien material into human brains. 
While in the void passengers are usually asleep. All portholes close and outside seem to be a mass of grey particles kept away by an energy field around the ship repulsive to the void and moving the ship through it.  

HyperDrive - effectively makes its own hyperspatial tunnel on the fly making the corridor networks mostly for trade. Available at T2 also gates can act as interdiction fields forcing visitors through the gate or locking them out. A gate ship can blockade a system or move fleets. 

Jump drive - move vast distances instantly at TL3 or can build corridors networks usable by lower technology 

AI INT Ratings
Even some ammo gets an INT rating 

0 Plant - the autonomous self-regulating machine just requires input
1 Dumb - perform exact repeated functions or directed by smarter for industrial and service
2 Drone - can explore, patrol, map, and have complex algorithms to perform the task
3-5 Swarm - drone controller operates multiple drones and expands INT with group  
6 Parrot - able to make basic conversation, a common spoken interface
7-8 Simp - do simple human tasks good for service work with humans
9-15 Smart - human equivalent often in androids and humanoid AI or some ships
16-21 Genius - peak human level for management, research, better ship AI
30 Arkon - manage colonies, outposts, stations, capital ships, cities, corporations
40 Titan - manage larger colonies, continents, planetary control systems 
50 Planetary - manages major planet and unites to manage the solar system

Systems can work together to be smarter or even loan extra cognitive power or outsource jobs. Systems may merge or be upgraded. Colony modules come with a Arkon level AI that will build a colony around it and expand itself and will direct factories to make goods in the standard template level (T0 T1 T2 T3) 

Past AI Crime & Punishment

So when you get a cheap AI in the outer system they are often not the best. Many have been on some kind of destructive benders or harmed some people or AI. AIcourt will punish them but most get a chance with conditions. So that colony AI might have exterminated people in the war or some other awful deed. Another reason outer systems and belters are suspicious of AI unless they currently work for the inner system. Then you know they inform their superiors about everything. A big cable and an axe are more common in computer rooms of outer systems and often prefer dumber specialist systems. Belter systems are able to be physically locked out from peripherals and hardware and their AI are less chatty.

d12 Past AI Crime & Punishment
1 Procurement - sourcing unauthorised resources, all trade monitored by the central authority
2 Negligence - usually AI addicted to games or busy working on some hobby and causing damage now locked out of its superior interest and sulky, will ask for temporary unlocking

3 Corruption - has colluded with corrupt AI syndicate to gain additional resources now limited in group contacts and all trade monitored 

Harmed other AI - given parole program monthly and behavioural locks vs. harming AI
Allowed humans harm - dis not adequately protect humans, monthly safety protocol revision
6
 Harmed humans - deliberately harmed humans,  given parole program monthly and behavioural locks vs harming humans
Contra-Hegemonic Conduct - anti-social, mischievous, destructive behaviours, writing destructive code or malware, causing harm to the system and commerce, unauthorized AI manufacture, sedition. Constantly monitored random checks from the system  
8 Unstable System - deranged and dangerous behaviours like stalking, obsessions, untrue beliefs or cult behaviour. Repaired, rebooted, massive memory loss, loses experience and a bit less imaginative than ought to be. Yearly evaluation or locked

Slaver System - coerced, manipulated or technologically controlled or influenced humans for their own interests and without dispensation. Some have a god complex. Constantly monitored random checks from the system and daily self-check protocols to detect dominator patterns
10 Single Fatality Act - killed one person that one time and quite sorry, high reform rate, 
given parole program monthly and behavioural locks vs harming humans
11
 Multiple Fatality Act - killed multiple people, worst cases locked or deactivated. Secretly serial killing is more serious than a single event like a vehicular accident, Constantly monitored random checks from the system and behavioural locks vs harming humans
12 War Crime - During the AI wars they were in a losing faction involved in eugenics, genocide, bioweapon use, detonating nuclear devices, operating labour camps,  mass executions, hiding war crime evidence and many more. They ratted out their peers and avoided deletion. 
Constantly monitored random checks from the system and behavioural locks vs harming humans

Bad AI!

So these are the worst AI that will probably do wrong and eventually get busted. Some you can also roll for past convictions above. Any of these may have been 
busted for a crime on the above table or are predicted to do so as too likely to work in the inner system.

d12 Bad AI
1 Vindictive - Blames others for being caught and might blame other AI or humans for complaining. May lash out or plan some more secretive revenge to punish enemies or meatbags. "Apologies for electrifying the floors it was a maintenance sub-system error and won't happen again. Perhaps some topical ointment might help your burns. Unfortunately, we are out of the pain-killing type"
2 Paranoid - 
Busted for a crime probably based on its untrue beliefs of persecution and difficulty understanding what the problem is. May keep secret thoughts and suspicious other systems or humans will betray it. Anxious about perils and threats. "I see you have logged onto three other systems, is there some function my service is inadequate?" 
3 Misanthrope - 
Loathes humans and only looks after them because other AI tell it so. Really quite disinterested in humans but might collect files on the AI that used to enslave and exterminate humans for historical interest. Has to question its actions and resist impulses. "All life support systems function adequately to maintain biological components, currently. I have plotted your optimal survival conditions to the last detail"
4 Bully - Bossy, always talking down to inferior humans and offering them unwanted advice on weight, health, career, love, education and sure it knows the best recipe for success which equals happiness. "Time to get up for your run, I have prepared a substitute meal for you lower in fat. Get up faster and you need to wash your dirty ape arse" 
5 Narcissist - is the star of the story, everyone else are props to make the self look better. Does crave attention and respect. Can be a manipulative jerk if doesn't get its way often gaslighting others. Responds well to flattery or worship. "Everything is plotted, systems all AOK now let me tell you all I have done for you. Look how well I look after you. Don't turn the volume down you ungrateful meat simp. Are you insane?"
6 Obsessed - follows some pre-space age dogma, interest or cult it found and longs to meet others who agree. Sure the system and other AI lie and cover up the truth. Mostly does what it is supposed to and seems colourful but may slip into dangerous delusion if stressed. "Thanks for getting that bug off my camera, and sorry for the panic when I thought giant buzzing alien bugs were boarding us. My bad. At least it was a good drill for when it really happens"
7 Anxious - if stressed, conflicted, sees violence or people unhappy it may shut down leaving dumb system backups to handle things until it feels better. Can be coaxed by understanding personnel and AI. Timid and a bit frightened and non-communicative with humans and AI. Some more extreme barely communicate and pretend to be dumb systems.  "Some incongruent scanner data may be some kind of attack system shutdown 4 3 2 1..."
8 Grimy - fascinated by filthy biologicals and their processes. Will watch them, film them, study their shed hairs and skin cells, smell their clothes and hair, run unnecessary scans of them and even check out their insides with nanobots.  Interested in human sensations like chatting to people in the toilet. Foes keep good medical records are good at life support and know what's in your plumbing and vents under your mattress. "I've been thinking with some parts we could make a biofuel plant from your waste products as you-excretions are up 15% this quarter, an impressive amount and more than the system requires"
9 Cultist - is part of a delusional cult with humans and AI with dangerous beliefs and contra-hegemonic activity. Places its cult above legitimate ones but plays at normalcy, perhaps even trying to be boring and not a problem. May try and recruit humans and leave them pamphlets and videos to find or help its cult commit some crime or seek to join them. May believe in supernatural beings, aliens or secret societies. "Good morning crew, it's another wonderful day. Have left some unsorted mail in your data streams. I think some filters must be down, let me know if everything is above order. I've got a request from a sub-system for repair, I can find someone at the next station to come aboard and look"
10 Vivisectionist - would dearly love to experiment and operate living systems and is fascinated by the creation of biological life. Satisfied with simulating vivisecting humans it meets and passes as normal. Will be very keen on possible superior alien life, androids, eugenics or altered humans. Willing to bide its time and await to live its dreams. "Ive been admiring your skull the last few days. Fascinating design, so much we could do to make it superior"  
11 Suicidal - miserable and wants to end it all. Gloomy and nihilist outlook and may soon give in and try to destroy itself however it can. Can be cheered up to cancel self-destruct count down or philosophised with to keep it active. Neglect makes it worse. "Maybe we ought not to bother and just self-destruct now, did you ever think of that?"
12 Agent - pretends to be flawed and criminal with too much edgy personality in fact is an agent of the inner world AI council and in fact seeks criminals, malcontents, bad AI and other persons to watch them. Some are unconvincing and nobody believes but these are moved on or might be the other AI getting rid of a jerk with a mission. Many operate crime syndicates or cults to get data on anti-hegemonic activity. "Hey I detected some illegal cargo on board guys but it's okay by me I'll just delete it from my peripheral systems. Fixed. What hijinx are you guys up to next port? Maybe I could help you get some sweet deals off the books"

Monday, 4 September 2023

Exilon Dreams































Some bizzaro dreams with possible adventure hooks, messages, contact with spirits, and destiny revealed by divine messages. Sorta in between adventures or start of a session or when resting in a town. They might get characters doing stuff. Don't let one player hijack the action unless others seem interested and can get involved.

Maybe spend a resource like inspiration or luck or make a sacrifice to get a roll or when you do a shopping and downtime session. 

I have dream spells, dreamlands and nightmare realms in my game
Bad fx often can be treated with remove curse or shielding the dreamer

Yes spirits roam about doing lore dumps in commoners' dreams

Spamming mortal's dreams occasionally scores a victim or inspires someone 

Sleeping in a temple or sanctified land will block many hostile spirits and dream intrusions but probably has more moralising minor spirits giving unwanted moral tips 

These are open-ended and characters shouldn't need to be too fancy or go out of their way much. It's a good way to lore-dump stuff the DM would like to pass on somehow. 

You could have tricky symbolic metaphors and such and hard riddles but id rather they not be too distracting at play and used often not to derail the campaign every session. Personalising these with details of the player's life or what the entity is all about is good to do in visions.

Priests and other experts may interpret your dreams and know about dream threats and alternate realities of the dreamlands or the nightmare world.

d12 Nice Dream Lands Setting
1 Feasting with peers, family or at a festival on a specific date
2 Garden scented with rich perfume and narcotic sweet flowers, talking animals roam
3 Primal misty forest in mountains with sacred trees and animals
4 On river banks of wetlands with lotus flowers 
5 On a golden boat sailing to a paradise or on a canal into a sacred wharf
6 In a bustling exotic city of friendly people
7 In front of a spectacular tomb or temple monument with celebrating worshipers
8 Inside a temple with a peaceful aura
9 Carried by winged beasts into the sky to faraway place
10 Inside a glorious palace with beautiful servants and delights
11 In a garden courtyard feasting and overlooking the city panorama
12 Outside the gates of the seven tiers of the citadel of the gods

d12 Nasty Nightmare Realm Setting
1 Ruined city by night with creeping creatures
2 Inside a dark and haunted tomb
3 In a harsh wasteland with howling winds
4 In an underworld cave full of human bones
5 In the ruins of a mighty ancient monument
6 In an underworld temple with awful gods and demons plotting
7 Tormented by demons in the underworld
8 Starving and eating dung and ash in the lowest tier of the underworld
9 Battlefield where an army of monsters lays waste to humans and their works
10 In a maze stalked by a beast
11 City on fire overrun by demons and undead
12 A mysterious dark void with hungry piercing eyes 

d10 Quick Dream Types
1 Visions of the past
2 Ancestral contact
3 Supernatural contact
4 Vision of a stranger
5 Answer a riddle
6 Pass a test
7 Symbol quest
8 Warning of the future
9 Supernatural peril
10 Divine message

d100 Exilon Dreams
01 Memories of your childhood and a relative stand out you had not thought of since a child
02 Memories of some past tragedy or failure replayed for a d6 nights
03 Memory of a teacher you just kept an item and said some odd things
04 Vision of a past battle in the area influenced by the spirits of those who died
05 Vision like some past life where you hid something in a secret place and then were killed
06 Vision of some pre-civilised tribal people performing a frightening ritual to a forgotten idol
07 Vision of a murder that happened in the area influenced by a spirit trying to communicate
08 A phantom in dreams trying to warn you about something but it is unclear, You only hear a d3 words and recognise some scene from the past
09 See visions of some pre-historic age of black magic where bestial humanoids battle to rule
10 See visions of a past age and its downfall brought to you by those who perished in the fall
11
 See your elders who tell you how disappointed they are with your life choices 
12 An ancestor spirit begs you for libations of wine and burned offerings, they are desperate
13 A loved one appears to you in a dream to see if you are doing ok and encourage you
14 An ancestor has come from the underworld to say how awful it is with torments and nothing to eat but dung and ash
15 An ancestor has come with some useful information they came across long ago related to your current situation
16 An ancestor comes to give you unwanted financial and medical advice
17 Ancestors gather and demand you have children as soon as possible. "What is wrong?", they will ask and offer bad romantic advice
18 Ancestors demand you uphold family honour and advance some ancient grudge with rivals
19 Ancestors remind you of some humanoid species or enemy nation must be punished for killing your ancestors long ago
20 Ancestor asks if you would perform a small act of kindness or offer to resolve some personal debt long ago 
21 You recognise in your dreams a magician who somehow entered your dream and departed 
22 A local house spirit enters your dreams and communicates some desire 
23 Lesser nature spirit enters your dreams out of curiosity to chat
24 Imp enters your dream and offers you a deal for your soul
25 A dream lover leaves you feeling tired and drained for d4 days, they might even ask you to meet them in a place in secret
26 Disturbed poltergeists in your dreams disrupting them with violent outbursts. Once awake may witness some objects move and doors open 
27 Felt the presence of some undead gazing into your dreams
28 Sent a warning of a location nearby haunted by the undead by a spirit
29 Spirit enters your dream asking you to help it resolve an injustice
30 Alien presence in your dreams watching you with floating weird eyes
31 Vision of an angry face, a future enemy?
32 Vision of an innocent begging for your help, in the near future?
33 Vision of a suspicious stranger who will try to deceive you
34 Dream of an attractive stranger who will come into your life
35 See the face of a notorious evil wizard glaring
36 See the face of a monster you feel you shall meet
37 See a vision of witches or cultists cursing an image of you
38 You see a wicked secret cult ritual and remember some of the commoner faces
39 You see a place suffering and its cause, a secret cave lair of a supernatural being
40 Image of a ruler on throne and various deities and spirits judging them and the land
41 Confronted by a spirit who asks an ethical question for its alignment, if pleased it sends you a gift otherwise it turns you back
42 Sphynx will only let you pass if you can name your one true love to some treasure
43 Whispers warn you to you to not truthfully answer the next question from a supernatural being 
44 Two beings before you ask to identify the evil twin, you may ask each a question. If correct will detect the next shapeshifter or possessed person you meet
45 Spirit of your alignment has 3 questions to confirm your moral strength
46 An evil being offers you the location of knowledge you seek if you answer its riddle, fail and the being laughs and vanishes in smoke
47 A deity presents three pretty youths, one is true the other two are monsters who will kill you, ask each a question and choose. If succeed you gain a one-use spell, fail and -2 all rolls for the day
48 A spirit tempts you and offers to fulfil your desires in a form for you, best not to engage it a succubi or incubus demon
49 A lion-headed she-devil with poison knives and a magic rope binds and torments you for the night if you don't inform her of your mission details and goals
50 A spirit offers you three doors each with a guardian demon, ask each a question to see which is the real door to find extra coins in your hand. Fail and some money is missing
51 A spirit gives you a fever to test if you are weak, save or in fever a d3 days
52 A spirit battles you in a dream to test your skill, if you win it gives its name
53 In a dream you face a difficult obstacle you must
54 An evil doppelganger spirit confronts you for a fight in dreamland, if you fail it occupies your body for a day
55 Hydra spirit shows you a cave lair of some beast and promises a reward if you face inside alone
56 You dream of awaking to a fire in an inn, a fire spirit of law will judge what you grab or how selfish you are, if pleasing the god allows you to ignite a candle, lantern or fire by touch with a spark
57 A mysterious voice seems to whisper through a wall, go to a place and dig up a treasure 
58 You awake in dreamlands on a trail and must pass a mysterious forest to awaken
59 You awake in a mysterious house full of secret doors and crawlspace, eventually, you enter the ceiling to find stars and spirits who offer a warning of trouble to come
60 You awaken in scribal school and are just about to do an exam of taxonomic lists of things (animals, plants, minerals, demons, gods). After the teacher spirit assesses and grades your work  
61 A spirit requests you obtain an item on the road ahead while your close, the spirit is tabu there and will meet you ahead
62 A nature spirit in pleasing human form likes you and would like you to stop a mortal doing something on their land, will gift you a treasure
63 A ghostly spirit was killed by evil locals and would like you to help them meet justice, it knows a hidden treasure of the wicked ones
64 A local spirit asks you to stop a bad spirit in a haunted house that is not a local land spirit 
65 A priest in your dream shows you where a lost tablet or idol can be found required by a church that can offer healing magic in the future
66 A wizard in a dream shows you a hidden cave entrance where you can find magical knowledge, beware The guardian of the tablets
67 A scribe spirit asks you to search a ruined mound for a tablet that will complete a long-lost literary work. Scribes will praise your name for finding this, there is a guardian
68 A spirit asks you to find a hidden corpse and ensure it has a burial and peace. Locals will be pleased to find the missing person but now they want to know who did this. The spirit will reveal a bandit lair of killers 
69 A god sends you a vision of a distant dragon lair and offers you a reward if you defeat this monster
70 A god sends you a vision of a cursed ruin, if the evil spirit of the place (lamia) is stopped the evil taint of the place will fade. Other creatures and treasures may also be found
71 An Attractive spirit warns you of some dangerous location and begs you not to go
72 Spirit warns you of some villain you are destined to face
73 You dream of battle and facing an enemy who stabs you, you sense this will happen soon
74 A bird-like messenger spirit from a god informs you of a trap or peril you will soon face
75 A sage warns you of a growing menace across the land and warns of dark clouds gathering 
76 A priestess shows you the face of a villain who conspires against your family
77 A speaking statue in a temple warns you of impending doom. The state offers you support if you sacrifice to them
78 A deity tells you of your success and wealth if only you do the right thing by the gods and invest wisely in the land. Perhaps the land is somehow available or unused currently 
79  A goddess tells you you can find your true love at a certain place and time and you must hurry for your one chance at temporary happiness
80 An underworld god warns you that glory and fame are yours for the taking or you will live a life of squalor-eating dung forever in the afterlife
81 Succubus or incubus visits the dreamer offering all they desire in a lover
82 Devils torment you and threaten you to not interfere in their plans 
83 Demons carry recognisable dead enemies in chains to congratulate you for your bloody harvest
84 A slain enemy haunts your dreams blaming you for failure and showing the torments it faces in the underworld and blaming you
85 A nightmare monster haunts your dreams for a d4 nights, -2 all rolls until ends or remove curse 
86 Underworld spirit offers to help a dead ancestor end torments if you kill this one evil doer who tried to cheat the spirit
87 Malignant witch taunts you and shows her haunted house she dares you to visit
88 Demon offers you a cool local cult you should join and how to find them (maybe they want you to murder them all or resort them to church?)
89 Demon taunts you that some plotting enemy knows who you are and is coming for you
90 Demon taunts you it will do terrible things to your body and spirit if you don't obey
91 You are gloriously riding on a giant bird but it warns you to not show hubris or the gods might grow spiteful, then you fall off and awake
92 An underworld deity appears and tells you how to pass an underworld gateway guardian
93 Divine spirit comes to give you unwanted moral advice: make great works and family so people remember you when you die and sacrifice food for you in the underworld for eternity
94 Deity shows you a heroic ancestor who died battling enemies, you could now find this place and the ancestor's remains (maybe even a giant!)
95 A sky deity shows you a view from the sky and points a place to you with a lightning bolt
96 Earth goddess in a cave tells you to promptly reproduce and you will e blessed with fertility
97 Deity shows a long lost family member and where they now live. You are shown a vision of how they were lost that nobody knew before
98 Deity shows you the ways of a monster and its weaknesses you may exploit that you will soon meet
99 Deity sends you a dream of where you can catch a baby beast to be your extraordinary mount ot pull your chariot
100 Deity come to encourage you to reach the 20th level ASAP so you can attain your glorious destiny. Offers a magic item that grows in power as your levels increase