What D&D5 Books Would I like

My only win 10 laptop that runs all my productivity, has been broken and needs replacement. Mostly about 200 bux, so not too bad. Also, i start a work placement so i have no idea how this will affect this blog. Last time I was bedridden a day for each day working so it was actually very productive. Chagrinspire Vol 4 in works. Starting a page here just for links. Need to update my link pages, but it was all messed up a bit by Google a few times.

Having had a dive through 2nd-4th lv splatbooks recently, I thought what books would I like for D&D5. 

To be open my favourite 5th ed books were Theros, Bigby's Giants, and Saltmarsh. They are probably only reason I got into collecting them, other than them being available and on sale. Also, Dyson maps started me buying them. The video game looking walkthroughs colour/embossed looking ones are sometimes ok.

Stop world-hopping so much unless it's explicitly a plane-hopping campaign like Planescape. lazy teleporting plane-hopping devices for the adventure comps are like playing a computer game. Stop stripping episodes of larger campaigns into just a dungeon. 

More retro Adventure reprints. Theme linked like Saltmarsh or a real campaign like Frostmaiden.

I like the giant and dragon books. I'd like to see a revision of the reptile book, maybe with a lost world location or dwellers of the forbidden city. I like the modern dandy faerie frog folk but dumb bullywug thugs are ok too. A ruined ity with actual detail instead of just a cinematic scene location that doesnt really ant to explore it. The first Dragonlance module had an amazing city but they dont really encourage you to explore outside the railroad.

A desert-themed book with lots of fantasy Near Eastern-themed stuff, with some ruin desert hexcrawl exploration. Desert of Desolation might have been a good core adventure, lone and level sands from dragon and others with some class perks and monsters and spells.

An undead splatbook with necromancers stuff, hauntings, graveyards and tomb adventures. Im enjoying the old ravenloft book on mummies now with 5 tiers of mummy power which is nice.

Proper hell sourcebook and adventures for high-level or an Abyss one with no Waterdeep content.

A faerie book with whimsical stuff like Beyond the Crystal Gave and Beyond the Witchlight book, but also a scary world tree and Shadowfell.

Adventures to revise into a modern comp? Mostly, I prefer the Goodman Game books but I do prefer the recent D&D5 version of S3 Barrier Peaks. The lost caverns remake without the wilderness and WG4 overlap is a bit sad. I still appreciate some of these reboots. Ghost Tower of Inverness, Bone Hill, Forbidden city with the implied time travel leads followed up. Most of the UK branded stuff is very good. Reptile God, Desert Nomad series (maybe a bit more sensitivity would help it), Horror on the hill, D series, etc. Some stuff from dragon or dungeon mags could be in a comp to blend themes in.

The new dragon adventure book seems to be testing lots of different styles of art. Maybe it's a test run or for marketing future books.

Chagrinspire: Finally the Emperor is Dead

So in my campaign time, the Mad Emperor who ended the third empire with civil war 70 years ago has finally been killed. He went from a royal line squire in the royal guard to a crusader hero killing mutants on the frontier of Chagrinspire. Killing him has been on to do lists of adventurers for about 12 years.

The Party gave up exploring the very distracting pit imprisoning slime gods (Bottomless pit of Zorth on drivethrough). They had avoided it, but recently a gnome gave them a flying carpet to kill two wizards spreading cartridge ammo to the modern world, who use mostly muskets. They did fly around their new domains of their kingdom a bit and that's where they saw the pit they had been avoiding for a year or so. So they quit and went to get the Bishop to join them to finish the mission.

With a 10-foot-tall giant King Nebos, the Bishop with his chrome sphere helmet, the Man With No Name and his best rat gal pal Sonya departed with a tight fit on the magic carpet. Nobody noticed it has some flourishes of behaviour.

The team mostlt outfitted for stealth and detection. After 24 24-hour flight, they reached the tiny castle on a peak on the Emperor's estate. The wizards were working on new arms and armour. The party with the silence spell flew around the windows and saw the emperor's guard with plates and halberds on the ground floor. Middfloors had the torary planers.  On the top floor, they found two maids in servant rooms adjacent to the Emperor's bedroom in this private retreat. They saw the wizards in a lab working on guns, and they were not really making cartridges, but instead had revolvers and multi-barreled volley guns and bullet-resistant armour. There was a restful garden next to the emperor, two stairs down, stairs to the roof anda  final room with Astrological images and magic circles on the floor. The Bishop was concerned that they were to summon monsters or aid.

The giant king bent the window bars and the bishop and the nameless one sneaked inside. He climbed up the walls with magic and went to spy on the wizards carrying a rock with a silence spell on it. The Bishop studied the occult sigils while King Nebos unbolted the roof access door.

The nameless man dropped from the ceiling, stabbing the wizar,d and nobody saw anything or heard much. The lesser wizard stepped away and used a lightning bolt; the greater bleeding wizard cast a spell to send a message of help. The giant heard the lightning and peeked at the battle and signalled the Bishop. One of the circles, a teleporter disk, crackled and the feaking Emperor arrived. Near seven feet tall in his ornate imperial armour and glowing. He branded them as heretics and commanded them to join him. The bishop called fire from heaven, and the giant attacked. The Emperor backed off, drank a potion and threw three lightning bolts. The Bishop dispelled the teleporter magic, stopping the Emperor's retreat and high-level followers' arrival. The nameless man manages to finish the greater wizard and Rat Sonya on the flying carpet, throwing her javelins, killing the last wizard. He grabbed spell books and started a fire.

The giant king had to hold off guards in the stairwell and returned to the Emperor, who was fighting the priest. Most of the party were one-hit to death. Rat Sonya saved the day, drawing the emperor's fire and people discovered she actually had over 90hp all along for a 7-foot-tall rat javelin skirmisher. She flew outside and hit the emperor again. He stepped back into cover to have the invisible man with no name run him through. The Bishop healed Nebos, who held back fresh 5th-level guards, which he was very good at. The nameless man sawed off the emperor's head, and they began to debate what to grab and do in a burning, explosive building. So the nameless man rescued the maids from their rooms, and they piled the body on the carpet so he couldn't be brought back to life. The Bishop had a solution. Rolled the body up in a carpet and cart word of recall and returned to the high cathedral in his homeland's city.

The others, now on a 50% overburdened carpet, were slow and wasted speed on keeping altitude. They reached a good height and fled home. But they could see the capital city of Lamnutainia, the Emperor's city. They also saw a dark shape arise in the river that flowed from Chagrinspire. It fired volleys of incendiary rockets, creating a firestorm, destroying their fleet and harbour.

On the way home upriver and resting, they saw armies of frog and fish folk marching down the river like a highway. By the time they got home, they heard that mutant chaos warbands and undead crusaders from Chagrinspire were pouring over the border to wreck the empire. Rumours said dark clouds dropped flaming devices on other towns, crippling the last remaining state of the once continental empire.

The Bishop met the Archbishop, and the Nation of Light Templars decided now was the time to liberate the Emperor's domain from heresy. The Bishop presented evidence that a false sun cult had corrupted the emperor. The Emperor's items were mostly evil, but they gave his +3 plate to the Bishop.

Meanwhile, the B-team of the party's best followers had taken over the False Sun cult Outpost in the Chagrinspire wastes, allowing the Eastern domains of the adventurers to now all be linked by underground rail.

Almost 2 weeks later, the chaos in the former Empire was over, and the Light Templars were in control. There was talk of appointing a new archbishop and then a king. Nobody wanted a new Emperor.

The Archbishop returned with the Bishop to crown him in the foundations of the new cathedral. He also crowned King Nebos. Publicly, the story was that Nebos killed the Emperor in single combat. He left 100 Templars to help on the Cathedral and the defence of the new gateway kingdom.

The Gnome agent of the Black sphere (wink wink)  came to reward them with magic items. A staff of healing and a wisdom boosting book for the bishop, a titan maul for digging in rock for the Giant King and a couple of wands (magic missile and polymorph) for the man with no name. They now controlled 9 hexes. I let them level up to 11. We had plenty of time, but players were happy to work more on planning and domain stuff after this. Now they have continental-wide fame. He explained that the dark sun cult wants eternal bondage of darkness. Which the Gnomes of the Black Sphere oppose, instead offering the sweet release of eternal nonexistence. Obviously, players are troubled about their success in helping the Black Sphere plans that coincided with their own plans so far. They are unsure if freeing slime gods is a good or bad thing. Killing the slavers' global network, they were fine with. The gnome contact left. He always implies he serves other gnome factions within the Black sphere.

Arsh, the dog man druid (absent) generally less tolerant than the rest of the party when it comes to allies. He has been exploring elemental templar lands and checking out the dragon templars he has discovered.  All remnants of prehistoric factions who have not done much since the apocalypse war a thousand years ago, when the world attacked Chagrinspire for a millennium. The non-faction merchant gnomes of the Alchemist town have moved to the player's territory. 

The Emperor's high-level warrior followers (one is 18th lv) all swore vengeance.

Hex 7-9 Chagrinspire: Update and continuity check

This is a recap on some important hexes.
I might try some more big single hex maps for the setting.

These hexes were occupied by the party, and after drawing a line on a map, they found secret villages. Dog folk and barbarians were moved in by Arsh to secure territory.  The druidic one was first and friendly.

The party as a whole visited the Elemental Templars, whom players had heard of in my Bronze and Stone Age games but never dealt with. They seemed remnants of the prehistoric elementalist religion that had twice tried to take the world, but others did it better and longer and left more memories. They were a weird bunch, all in archaic armour styles with different arcane symbols. Many factions and cults of the most ancient gods were among their members. Religions that had declined after the apocalypse, leaving our bright and dark gods, civilised humans like now, a thousand years later. Early in the apocalypse gods came to destroy the chagrinspire, and it was a disaster. Gods of all kinds were killed and enslaved by their great doomsday machine, the Black Sphere. Hundreds of gods who made material avatars were destroyed, banishing them from the world for an aeon. Other gods fled and have not returned since, which didn't help their popularity. Starved of sacrifices, many gods slept or withered to just great spirits. They long to restore their power, but the black sphere still drains the world's life force. 

Anyway, these old elemental heracy templars were in fact highly diverse in their elementalism. Pilgrims came from many places here to meet others and return. Thy trade spells and lore and copy books. They are part of the great comeback.   

7 and 9 players have been in quite a bit and annexed into their Gateway Kingdom
8 players passed once 

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Hex 7
Southern Lakes
• Mercenary Outpost (damaged) with defensive force remaining after labs destroyed. Was secretly gathering secrets of improved guns to take to the warring kingdoms of the eastern lands
• Burned remains of Pickleton Bulwark (Merchant Guild + Mercenary Guild) operated by A merchant and a mercenary company seeking guns

• Blackbog village ruins, a criminal den of gambling and vice, burned by crusaders 30 years ago

• Ruins of the chapel of light and the graveyard from the failed village of Caladas, made of religious farmers
• Sagassum in the lake with giant marine plants and visible shipwrecks and violent inhabitants living in it like a wetland forest
• Canal goes under the road between the swamp and no man's land hex 10 into Allied Hill Fort

• Underland pier, a concrete pier and buried underland canal entry (+secret sub pen)

• Pact Rock, a cliff of green stone with ancient frog and fish folk carvings of a treaty

• An army of devils fighting undead fighting in the apocalypse was smothered by the great flood of holy elemental water unleashed from hex6

• Swamp Locations
-Clampville cult village occupied by barbarians and frog folk 
-Drug Lab Shack of the alchemy guild annexed by frogs, alchemists were trying to steal the frogs' continent-wide drug trade "It's an existential threat to all frog peoples everywhere!"
-Robberknight bandit base left by the party for now in a ruined mansion
-Swamp hag and troll son are friendly for now, as long as people are kind to her son

Clampville Pop 115
-Led by Druid, their wild folk guards and some frog folk allies
-Was led by Pappy, a devilswine controlling a slime chaos cult clan
-Serpent folk ruins and tunnels underneath (recently buried)
-Execution lock and severed heads in the plaza
-Tapestry tradition depicts the imprisonment of slime gods in the Apocalypse
-grow drugs, skunk cabbage, sulfur melons, skunk cabbage, flesh tubers of xor
-mix of mutants, cultists and scavengers + frogs and druids

d12 Local Clampville Encounters

1 Slime cultists gathering from algae pools
2 Frog folk occupation marines, local law
3 Wild boar
4 Giant marsh lizards
5 Giant dragonfly
6 Snake cultists (led by a snake magician hybrid)
7 Mutant fisherfolk
8 Mutant bandits
9 Giant slug
10 Giant rats ot a swarm of rats
11 Giant bugs or a swarm of insects
12 Druid and bodyguard blessing the land
10 Basilisk
11 Giant frogs or salamanders
12 Giant turtle

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8 Grassland/Wetlands/Mudlands

Crossing Grounds

• Elemental Templar Outpost for elemental cults watching the marsh and no-man's land

• Elos village of desperate survivors under the thrall of elemental cults

• Ruins from age of ancient Exilon are being explored by Templars for relics

• South road and river trade through chokepoints attracts bandits

• A canal goes from river to inside the ruined hillfort full of undead soldiers

• Includes part of hill fort line, trenches and no man’s land in between

• Several ancient elemental gods were captured by the Black Sphere in the Apocalypse, and most have forgotten their names and cults since

Elos Pop125

-Serve the Elemental templars with food
-They elementally infuse plants and livestock to produce more food in poor conditions
-Have Druids, wizard tower, earth priests and Elemental templar garison 
-Some of the population are "blessed" elemental abhumans, changelings or mutants
-An assembly of elders are in charge of diplomacy, farm planning, and other esoteric elements
-Lots of ritual activity and ceremonies in ancient times, all wear robes with elemental symbols 
-Elementalist temple has documents 5000 years of elementalist records guarded by djinn 
-Village square has an elementalist summoning circle inlaid with gems and gold
-Lots of locals have petty ancient magic items from ancient Exilon

d12 Local Elos Encounters
d4 1=fire 2=earth 3=air 4=water
1 Elemental Templar Patrol

2 Elemental Templar Wyvern riders

3 Petty 2HD elemental exploring

4 Trench Hogs from no-mans land, mutated boars who ignore mud terrain penalties

5 Elemental abhuman tribe living as barbarian nomads

6 Terror birds on the prowl and protecting territory from dogs and wolves

7 Elemental dinosaur d4 1=allosaurus 2=triceratops 3=anklosaurus 4=triceratops 

8 Giant elemental toad, often ambushes from hiding or an area with several socialising 

9 Automaton soldier d4 1=infantry 2=marine 3=sniper 4=sapper

10 Elemental keeps strangers out of the area and hunts undead
11 Deathguard flesh golem wandering on a murder rampage

12 Undead soldiers from Noman's land

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9 Hills/Ruins

Plateau Gatehouse

• Adventurers Guild Outpost held by murder hobos outside the starfort walls watching south, now allied to the Gateway Kingdom and turned on Mercenaries Guild's research operation

• Dragonhole is a scavengers colony of secretly dragon templars who would like a proper outpost and are preparing numbers and drake riders. Unknown to most, as hidden in no-man's land, surrounded by landmines. Reachable by air or tunnels 

• The Star Fort Wall, The Plateau of Peril and the Gatehouse of Chagrinspire

• The final forces of the Apocalypse war killed each other here, forgotten heroes and demigods

• Starfort wall and plateau edge
• Ruined fragments of a gigantic aqueduct destroyed by the elemental flood in hex6, some are used as lairs or forts. Ancient aqueduct line ruins. The ruined aqueduct line includes settlements

-Skyriver village, secure in a larger section of the aqueduct protected by frightening druids
-Eyebane Village of Elemental templars with wyvern riders
-Doghome Village of barbarians and dog folk

Skyriver Pop 105

-Led by 9th Lv druid chieftain Carnifax of tribal wild folk barbarians from Auldwood
-Built on and inside intact pylons of a ruined aqueduct
-Grow tubers, nuts and berries on top and mushrooms inside
-They work on the purification of pollution in soil, planting trees, and helping mutants
-Ride giant hawks to and from their allies in the Western woods

d12 Local Skyriver Encounters

1 Barbarian hunters hunting food or monsters
2 Barbarian herders with flocks
3 Druids and bodyguards purifying the land in a ritual
4 Barbarians uncovering and cleaning an ancient dolmen or standing stone
5 Hawk riders fly overhead
6 Wild elk or deer

7 Wild mutant dogs or a wolfpack
8 Auroch cattle herd, hostile and the whole herd unite to kill threats
9 Lion or panther or leopard, some may be mutants or unusual colours
10 Gorgonite bull
11 Undead ancient soldiers in rotting uniforms marching on patrol
12 Barrow wight or wraith or banshee wandering the moors

Eyebane Pop 85 + 4 adult wyverns
-Elemental templars of various factions worshipping old gods
-Built on and inside intact pylons of a ruined aqueduct
-Led by Master Ziron Nidas, breeder of wyverns
-Many temples and a magic school, a grand temple to the elementalist unitarian faith
-Hidden remnants of the pre-apocalypse gods and elemental worship
-A few dragon templars who overlap in interest are also here as advisors
-Allied with a standard outpost, secretive and wary of strangers
-Mostly, they bring in food from the nearby alchemist by wyvern or wagon

d12 Local Eyebane Encounters

1 Wyvern and templar fly high overhead
2 Mounted elemental templar patrol question strangers, dress in ornate ancient armour
3 Foot elemental templars led by a spell caster

4 Boar or goats
5 Deer or elk
6 Wolf pack
7 Lion or a bear
8 Giant toads

9 Elemental mutated animal d4 1=bats 2=rats 3=frogs or toads 4=snakes 

10 Elemental mutated monster

11 Petty 2HD elementals playing

12 Elemental wandering

Doghome Pop 95 + 85 dogs
-Founded by a dog abhuman beastman hero who came to cleanse the taint of chagrinspire
-Built on and inside intact pylons of a ruined aqueduct
-Led by Gnarg Gnorebone, a dogman 4th-level barbarian with a 4th-level druid priestess wife
-Tribe, a mix of Barbarians and Dog Folk, some of their dogs become upright humans 
-Built on and inside intact pylons of a ruined aqueduct
-Mostly barbarian huts with earth roofs and some tunnels
-Hunting in the hills and herding goats
 

d12 Local Doghome Encounters

1 Pack of dogs on patrol

2 Local tribal hunters with dogs and dog folk

3 Goat herders at work grazing

4 Wild deer herd or elk

5 Wild sheep or boars

6 Mutant chaos cultist hunting

7 Mutant scavengers

8 Druids performing purification rites and planting trees

9 Werewolves come to menace dog folk

10 Land shark
11 Chaos mutant cultists
12 Undead soldiers on the march

Who feeds all these monsters? Monster Keepers & Menageries

So I loved that Zoati in the original 40k were enslaved by tyranids who fed them zoatibix. It also kept them passive, and those who were free of it went feral and became psions or druids. Modern games killed them.

My current game has vending machine golems everywhere, which sorely tempted players to spend 30 extra minutes going downstairs. Chagrinspire has vast cloning labs for monsters. Kobolds have set up a shadow of this monster farm. Frogfolk breed bugs and will even release swarms on enemy stores, then when they take over, big fat bugs are everywhere. Monsters do need dinner, and somebody must deliver it. You would probably find some in dungeons and might ask questions.

Monster feed for your dungeons!
Monster breeders or just pet keepers!

Every room needs monster larders and possibly stewards to feed monsters, care for live food and deal with traders. 

Every big dungeon has a monster nursery or menagerie for the boss monsters to restock dungeon losses and even breed and trade monsters.

Monsters will know how to detoxify dungeon food like slimes and mould
Real animals eat antidotes with poison food

d12 Long Life Monster Food
1 Kobold Chow - sold by bag 1cp or sack 4sp, dried biscuits with root vegetables, calcium and organ meat 
2 Owlbear Pellets - large dried organ meat pellets with calcium for sharp claws and beak, and mandrake root for sparkling eyes 5gp sack. Dont confuse with pellets, owlbears caugh up everywhere. Lots of creatures like it 
3 Dried Larvae - dried giant bugs by bag 1sp or sack 1gp
4 Dried Organ Meat - livers and other viscera dried and chopped into chunks
5 Monster Sausage - old meat and ground bugs, and whatever the butcher can shove in, 1cp each sausage, sold in strings for easy carrying, can be dried. Giant sausage 1sp
6 Dried & Salted fish - good for lots of creatures, some need rehydrated, some dont like salt
7 Pickled Centipedes - turn a pest into a meal for lots of creatures (orcs like them)

8 Trog Chow - dried cave mushrooms, dried frogs, eel and fish 2cp day

9 Goblin Lunch - mushrooms, dried bugs, bug egg, lizard or a frog. Fresh best 2cp but dry standard 1cp

10 Hard Tack - dried biscuit can be soaked in water to soften, keeps for years 1cp day ration

11 Gnome Gruel - alchemical, nutricious slop, some monsters need blood mixed with it to make it edible. Can meal1gp Huge Can 12gp Dried by the box for a week 4gp mix with water

12 Orc Lunch - olives, dried figs and dates or other fruit, chillis, beans, black bread, dried meat and sausage or dried fish 4cp day

d12 Live Monster Food
1 Giat Rats - common pest animal, but farms grow them to be clean and safe for your monsters without the disease and parasite risk. Breeders like unnatural colours to stand out from cheap wild ones living in privies or medical waste AC+3 HD d4 Att d3 bite Mov 12 Swim 6 Climb 9. Come in wire cages 1cp
2 Cave Crickets - giant hopping ave bugs AC+4 HD d4 Att d3 bite Mov 12 Fly 12 Climb 12 Hop 6 can chirp loudly, which people love or hate. Can double as an alarm (they go quiet if anyone moves near). Come in a crate 1sp

3 Giant Larvae - beetle of fly, dont let them loose or pupate and fly away, size of a forearm good for all kinds of giant insectivores, frogfolk are the main bug dealers. Bite and clamp onto a caras and start chewing AC+2 HD d4 Att d3 bite auto hit and hang on Mov 6 Jump 1 Burrow  3 Swim 3. Come in a wooden crate or barrel. Some use the adults also 1cp
4 Giant Earthworms - can fit a dozen in a barrel of earth but fiesty and can attack with constriction and bite AC+1 HD d4 Att d3 bite & grapple Mov 6 Burrow 6 4cp
5 Giant Cockroach - need wire cages as they eat wood and squeeze through gaps, not dangerous unless really hungry, but acute senses AC+4 HD d4 Att 1pt bite Mov 12 Fly 12 Climb 12 2cp
6 Bullfrogs - size of two hands packed in crates with moss or tubs with water. Escape easily and need lots of bugs to keep. Lots of monsters love them. May be noisy, but may go quiet if disturbed by strangers 1cp
7 Fish - in a tub or barrel with water, or fresh with ice or salted for some creatures, but monsters like them alive or fresh. Lizards like stinky fish people wouldn't eat, so you can sometimes get them cheaply 1cp
8 Kobold Eggs - all kinds of reptiles and carnivores like them, but kobolds are outraged 1sp
9 Dogs - not common street dogs, farmed dogs, sold in wooden crates, plus they have hides 2cp street dog 3cp farm dog 4cp
10 Pigs - adapt well to dungeon life and will eat food scraps and even sewerage come in various sizes for all monster sizes 1sp for piglet 12gp for young pig, 100gp for giant pig 
11 Dungeon Eggs - enjoyed by lots of creatures, but look out, they can escape and grow huge. Include bug or insect, or spider 1cp. Some call dungeon grapes
12 Goats - easy to handle if fed 4-12gp depending on size and breed. Captured feral goats are the cheapest and most unruly

d12 Supplements
1 Norbert's calcium and vitamin-rich bug feed, so bug eaters are healthy 1cp per bag
2 Lotus stems, byproduct of the drug trade, monsters like to eat it and nap, so a useful monster handling tip 5gp a bushel. Humans use it as a dream-inducing tea, but addictive. Good for transporting, hoof trimming, checking chains intact or giving medical aid
3 Skankberry makes animals buzzed and aggressive for a d3 hours. +1 initiative and grumpy, addictive, so don't use it too much, 1 gp dose or 5gp for large creatures
4 Clurtan's Monster Revivication Powder increases monsters' daily healing by 10gp a box, 1gp a day for medium animals. More doses in a row than your Con bonus and save vs addiction each use after
5 Kloras' Monster Chum, a sealed bag of living guts, gore and blood that keeps for a week. At two weeks, the bag burst from rotten gas 5gp a bundle for a large creature
6  Rainbow Monster Chow, sold by 25gp small keg, calms monsters once they are addicted, until they go without for a week
7 Mephistophiles Monster Mix - bulks up creatures and makes them irritable but infertile, 25gp a small keg
8 Bottled Blood for various monsters 1sp for animal blood,10 gp for human, preserved for long life. Some versions come with rubber nipples for baby monsters
9 Monster Baby Formula, an alchemical milk to help baby monsters grow 10% faster 10sp a tin and 1sp for a bottle with a nipple
10 Mana Powder helps magic creatures' magic abilities develop 100gp tin, silver and metallic
11 Shellgrit for helping digestion and calcium
12 Sand or monster dust baths

d12 Wild dungeon Foods 
1 Fungus and mushrooms
2 Giant bugs, roaches, crickets

3 Flies huge or by swarm

4 Giant bugs or spiders, or scorpions

5 Giant rats

6 Giant Lizard

7 Duneon Bugs (lizard or bug)

8 Slugs and snails

9 Cave lobsters or shellfish
10 Cave fish
11 Giant worms
12 Dungeon roots

d12 Food Delivery Service to Dungeon, Tower or Tomb
1 Gnome caravan traders, all kinds of good, but gnome slop and pellets are common
2 Herdfsmen with porters with loads, move livestock and farm goods
3 Orc traders who supply other tribes' raids, trade between dungeons 
4 Bandits with wagons disguised as traders, sell goods they steal or make guild deliveries
5 Zombies with a wagon by night, with an evil apprentice or acolyte, unwanted meat and bones
6 Gnome or dwarf tunnels with a railway freight station nearby, processed food 
7 Goblin traders often are middlemen for goblin farmers, who prefer mushrooms and bugs
8 Mutant clan already hated and hunter 
9 Inbred smugglers, also d6 1=wreckers 2=cannibals 3=hybrids 4=cultists 5=beast folk 6=mutant chaos band
10 Goat automaton ridden by a gnome courier, may have baggage handler slaves to carry packs. Gat is defence and mount 
11 Automaton postman with golem cart of goods, light machinegun turret on top
12 Autonomous flying drones drop a pod with a parachute

d12 Menagerie Staff
1 Keeper who feeds and cleans the monsters
2 Guards who protect animals from thieves or adventurers

3 Stewards who help manage animals in the zoo and protect them, carry whips and clubs

4 A scholar who studies monsters and breeding, and keeping methods

5 Butcher who prepares food for monsters and scrounges for meat, carries axes and blades

6 Pest Controller catches rats and parasites. Rats and bugs are useful to feed monsters

7 Groundskeeper who manages plants, fungi, gardens, paths and might feed animals

8 Cook who prepares speciality meals for creatures' diets, carries big knives and clever

9 Crafters, especially with wood or blacksmith for building, a potter is also useful
10 Chief Keeper who manages the facility, budgets and staff  

11 Wizard for magic animal control and transmogrification, or an alchemist for making mutations and enhancing monsters

12 Druids who can heal and talk to animals, or a healer for staff and animals

d12 Menagerie Type
1 Monster circus

2 Pet pound where monsters leave pets while away or at work

3 Research Laboratory for making new monster hybrids and mutants

4 Greenhouses with iron frames and crystal panes, each a separate environment

5 Cavern ecology with fungus, then giant bugs, then frogs and lizards

6 Farm for gourmet monster foods

7 Stalls for keeping confined monsters to milk them of bile and other alchemical ingredients

8 Breeding stalls with nursery and pens of superior breeding stock

9 Prison cells tuned into breeding pens, lots of chains

10 Menagerie with iron-barred large cells (round or square) with a few items to enrich monsters

11 Monster Garden is a curated area with mixed species and a controlled environment. Multi-levels may have different conditions with service levels in between 

12 Zoo for monsters to visit with public entry 1sp, sprawling with cages for public views and service lanes 

d12 Speciality Menageries
1 Slimes in pools or pits sealed for safety
2 Garden with plants or fungus, many magic or ambulant
3 Insectarium with giant bugs and swarms
4 Reptile House with reptilians and possibly dinosaurs, and synapsids
5 Amphibian Complex with lots of giant frogs, toads and newts
6 Mammal house
7 Humanoids d4 1=demihumans 2=beast folk 3=humans 4=giants
8 Lycanthropes

9 Aquarium with crystal tanks and pools of aquatic creatures
10 Undead
11 Elementals
12 Demons or devils or daemons

d12 Menagerie Sideshows
1 Pet stall
2 Baby monster petting zoo 

3 Freak show with lurid signs and some fakes 1cp a peek
4 Carnival contests with prizes
5 Food stalls for guests, possibly a restaurant
6 Drink stand or bar 
7 Novelty rides on animals or machines

8 Merchandise store with clothes, trinkets and treasures

9 Monster Education Centre to recruit new workers or tomorrow from the young

10 Art gallery with works for sale

11 Monster meat and smallgoods stall

12 Monster nursery experience 10gp

d12 Other Items (price range for size)
1 Grooming brush for monsters
2 Collars 1-10gp, Muzzles 5-20gp
3 Whips 3gp
4 Plush toys 1-40gp
5 Various bowls and basins for food and water 1-4gp
6 Bale of hay 2cp
7 Wire cage 5-20gp
8 Dried Hog Heads 4cp and Pigs ears 1cp
9 Scratching post 1sp
10 Bathtub 12gp
11 Lpush bed 4-12gp
12 Exercise wheel 10-100gp could be used to turn a spit or mill grain

Return to the Cursed Labyrinth

AI Toy catalogues make wildly inappropriate choices for the user. Automated incencerity.

We had two drop in players joining our Satyr Priest of Heliod and Elemental Centaur Monk.

We've been noticing new rule changes and had some bumps. Now I actually get some of the rules I'm using them better. Played D&D5 for five years but DMing is recent. I think I was right to be wary of elaborate ability stacking combos, but I survived. Also getting a better grip on 2024 version.

So two human adventurers from an island, a barbarian and a wizard who had heard of glorious looting and adventurers opening up unexplored lands. So they had left their tiny island kingdom, as it had gotten boring with less than a hex to explore. Their Island was known to the citizens, and people were happy to help them meet the established local heroes.

Then the satyr and centaur came back to the city after working on their tower bastion. Locals introduced them to the two new heroes. They agreed the next day to visit the labyrinth. Scholars had assembled a list of cursed monsters to kill to remove the curse-attaching monsters.

It was a nice day to kill monsters, and they reached the canyon once blocked by a sphynx. Its tomb lair was a guard station now, and the guard had gone from 4 to 12, and they had built a wooden stockade gate across the pass. Stonemasons were planning a better gate. A few local idiots had passed here looking for easy treasure and died. The party had the word of King Dorian to allow them to pass as they pleased.

The guards warned them of a giant. It had visited the city by eating the four former guards with his dire wolf and threatened the city to release the dogs of Geryon the city held captive. One a hellhound; the other a son of Cerebus. They saw the giant gathering rocks and quickly attacked. The Satyr and wizard fireballed the giant; the barbarian fired arrows. The wolf was vapourised, and the giant was assailed by the centaur monk. The dumb brute didn't last long. he had some basic crap and a brass plaque of Geryon, some kind of passport or seal.

They marched on and avoided the graveyard and harpy lair.

They debated which way to go. The centaur wanted to kill the medusa that other heroes had fled earlier. The others were a bit more wary and chose a slightly indirect door. 

There was a roofless processional corridor and some owls. The Satyr spoke to them and offered them meat, and he found them very intelligent. Others looted in rubble to find trinkets, but they thought the effort and time weren't worth it with only 60gp or so per hour. The owls were all ladies and warned the party not to cross a warded doorway with treasure beyond. The owls said it was theirs but offered to trade some potion. They understood currency. This was a bit odd. Also, the owls understood human speech. The smallest owl accompanied the Satyr.  

They fought some undead hoplites and met a spirit lady from some wall art offering they join her for an eternity of indolent feasting. The party were not very interesting. The monk started to smash the walls with his fists and she became a spectre and they killed her. 

There was a sacred procession hall of a mystery cult, and the owl didn't want to go near. So they passed some questioning masks and found a weird bearded god idol, a snake from the waist down. He held another magic iron sickle (though it also turned ppl slain into zombies). They took the sickle and passed a corridor of fire-breathing satyr faces with murals of satyrs burning people with torches.

The owl awaited them, and they wandered around a bit more to the Mwedusas temple. The owl left. They chased after some undead hoplites that escaped them onto the temple, and the wizard saw a robed figure in a temple door. It was the Medusa in her more attractive form, and she bathed them in her eerie green gaze. Most resisted, but the monk became immobilised. He managed to do quite a bit of damage. The barbarian with his huge sword smashed her and resisted her poison and claws. But they won.

This was one of the cursed monsters, and they found her large treasure, including a viper staff, a magic bow and piles of coins. So, feeling they were lucky, they fled home and went about going up to 6th Lv. The satyr found at home, the owl visited him and turned into a lady who kept visiting him by night in her feathered cloak. 

We had some side chats about published adventures, mechanics and monster power levels. It's nice to help see what people like and dont.

Try A Tourist Campagn Pointcrawl

Tourism is a thing of the past, and this is about how to incorporate it into a game. The last post on aqueducts is a must. All my past tables of food, taverns, theatre, bards, shopping, fishing, books and ruins could be used. My pilgrimage posts can be used too.

My typical use for this is tourists are an encounter type on the road
They also hire adventurers or need help
Maybe adventurers might take a holiday 

Make a tourist trail pointcrawl
Make a simple road pointcraw 3-12 locations + a day and night encounter table
With a bigger one you can give players more choice but they might miss some stuff
Describe each stop. Each stop have one sidequest or quick minidungeon or encounter
They dont all have to be violent but dramatic or a mystery

Every trail needs at least one cult, maybe rivals maybe every village has one
Have a bandit gang preying on the trail and have several encounters with them
A famous named local monster could be at a point or on an encounter chart
Locals know about tourists and every town has its own reaction

Fitting in dungeons while guarding the rich might give your dungeon raids a more hurried experience. "Only 4 hours before the Snedly family want to see an elf bath house ruin". No slow searches, just smash and grab. When guarding is done party might go back the same way. to finish them. Maybe other tour guides in a dungeon.

Maybe zero-level starting characters on a tour could be a good character funnel.
Maybe a carousing adventure tour for bored adventurers?
Plan a tourist railroad mini campaign for a point per session

d12 Tourist Parties Needing Escorts
1 Poor holy pilgrims led by a devout priest seek shrines, ruins, gifts and salvation. They appear weak and attract bandits and cultists compelled to murder them 
2 Weedy students who want to see famous ruins and battlefields, and perhaps dig some relics. Hard-to-reach ruins or private property might be promising so some angry dogs and bulls, and farmer gunshots could happen. Local cultists will think these fellows good to recruit and try to tempt them to secret parties or local mystery cults to see more hidden ruins. Perhaps a cultist among them seeks specific items
3 Artists who seek inspiration for poems, paintings or books, ruins are very romantic. They drink and party hard and need to be watched for loudmouths or accidents while high. Many eccentric snobs or sexual creeps or drunks. They think ruins are romantic and get interested in exciting subterranean monster fighting and plunder. Keen to produce authentic art depicting noble savage monsters, tragic deaths at the hands of heroes. Possibly they are all bards
4 Gourmet travellers seek exotic dishes and drinks in obscure places. Awful drunks and snobs, writing reviews for travel guides. Some get interested in the fad of dungeon food or perhaps locals invent exciting dishes of monsters, so the gourmets will go to a dungeon to die. They will be keen to go hunt, butcher and eat monsters and direct the party to loot a dungeon of delicious monsters
5 Married young nobles and followers seek to see the land before settling new home. Family enemies might try and kill them. Maybe they eloped with cash and hunted. They are awfully nice and might seek a nice place to call home
6 Rich wannabe adventurers want to rob & murder humanoids on the frontier. But they want to be safe and have a pro team on standby. They want all the glory and pick of the flashiest items first, but are safe. As time goes on they increasingly believe their own hubris
7 Noble and companions are writing a travel book, which is all the rage right now
8 Church party visiting sacred places to assess funding and church needs. Church enemies and cults, plus internal intrigue, might play a part. Might ask adventurers to recover relics
9 Puritanical pilgrims dress dourly and record all the vice and amorality of the palaces they visit. Insult locals and against all fun. Some might write letters to inquisitors or witch finders. Lots of complaining, wild accusations, and outrage. They might patronise or help the needy in a patronising manner 
10 Flagelants on village tour, show their piety with self-abuse by day. Drink, party and corrupt local youths by night to get new members. On the bright side, all good with whips and flails and clubs and happy to scourge the wicked. All the money they raise with performances goes to booze. It's a wild scene, and places that have been encountered before might be hostile
11 Scholars seek to observe interesting creatures and monsters to write about and speculate the moral lessons they can teach. Will poke and prod sleepy owlbears and have other fun. A dragon absolutely needs an examination

12 Nobles, including a wizard and a priest, on a tour of sites of magical prehistoric wonder, such as petrified forests and animals and monster bones on display in some villages. Various dolmen and rocks are said to be petrified monsters; perhaps the travellers can unpetrify some to converse with prehistoric folk of the age of stone and bone

12 Tourist Party Problems
1 Con artist trying to sell fake or crap souvenirs
2 Criminal agents spy on travellers in a village setting to inform bandits to be ready for them
3 Kidnappers! See tourists as useful prey. d4 1=cannibal cult 2=demon cult 3=gang demanding a ransome 4=slavers
4 Attractive bard hooks up with a traveller and joins travels d4 1=sleazy 2=spy for faction 3=hunted by enemies 4=writes slanderous songs about tourists that become famous

5 Cultists will spy on and befriend the party to infiltrate or lure them to doom

6 The rival party makes everything on the trip a competition

7 Someone offends locals, who start an angry mob
8 Someone in the group is hunted d4 1=crime 2=cult 3=pervert or maniac 4=assassin
9 Someone has a dark secret d4 1=dungeon map connected to backstory 2=was once a cultist and they might be recognised by former cults or ee signs of others most miss 3=highborn noble in disguise family will punish any related to their death 4=agent of a government faction like secret police or taxation

10 A mischievous spirit, sprite, brownie or gremlin follows the party for fun hijinks

11 Shapeshifter in the group d4 1=lycanthrope 2=animal or plant spirit folk 3=oppelganger 4=incubus/sucubus

12 Divine beings quarrel over human nature by testing travellers with temptations and peril, and they will reward the victor in their favour

d12 Tourist Reputation
1 Would like to kill tourists if they had a good plan or a big enough mob
2 Violent towards tourists and tries to drive them away
3 Abusive to stupid, ignorant outsiders nobody likes
4 Like to rip off tourists and sell them fake souvenirs
5 Carry terrible diseases, dont let them taint you with their secret mutations
6 People hate tourists, why steal relics and ruin what they come to oggle
7 People tolerate tourism, but no time to waste on stupid questions
9 Tourists begrudgingly accepted as good for local business
10 Tourists are bombarded with shoddy services and tourist merchandise 
11 Tourists corrupt the youth, so keep them all away from strangers
12 Tourists must all be rich so every local a hustler and ready to offer all kinds of strange services that other tourists like

d20 Tourist Trails
1 Abbey Way - a series of quaint village churches with a few scenic ruins and woodlands
2 Coastal Path - a series of beutiful seaside villages, but a few others off the trail are less visited and possibly sea cults
3 Aquaduct Way - follow a more intact section of the ancient wonder for several days 
4 Gournet Guantlet - trail of well-reviewed dining places in a scenic rural route, wineries, breweries and famous food producers
5 Victory Tour - famous forts, ruins and battlefields
6 Natures Wonder Tour - visit various fields of petrified forests and animal remains, monster bones, some in village halls and private collections

7 Ancient Mystery Trail - visit stone monuments of the first peoples, dolmen, stone circles, cave art and cliff carvings

8 Dark Path - see ruins and remains of evil cults, heretics and the last few dark lords failures. Some want this tour banned but wizards and cultists love it  

9 Crime Tour - see where famous bandits and criminals lived, committed crime and were executed. If you're lucky, you will see real bandits 

10 Miracle Path - to see where saints and heroes performed miracles. Some left remains like stone footprints or springs. Other items in town halls and public tombs. Popular with pilgrims

11 Vice Tour - see drug dens, brothels, obscene ancient artworks and ruins. Some come for fun and others to disapprove. Make sure which one you get is right for you. Maybe some hypocrites complain, then use the services in private later. Tends to dawdle each location 

12 Artiss Tour - see inspiring places for poets and artists and several on the tour. Visits local rustic culture and tours historic homes, pretty ruins and wineries
13 Drinking tour - taste drinks at famous taverns, wineries, breweries and even monastic grog
14 Cult Tour - see where famous cultists were tortured and killed. Many include witch museums and even some mumified witches on display

15 Charity Tour - see poor and miserable communities of plague carriers, mutants, asylum inmates and refugees. The tour ends with a lavish charity dinner in a mansion. Operators sometimes get miffy if clerics heal and help all the people and end the suffering

16 Famous Dungeons Tour - see various dungeons picked clean and now operated for tourists and holiday camp for rich youths. Some visitors dress as famous heroes. Villagers dress as monsters and tell stories in various rooms. Sometimes an idiot finds a secret door to a lost level, and people die. They keep murder hobos away from the public, but lots of bitter local drunks are the original adventurers now broke

17 Hermit Tour - see holy folk who seek spirituality and isolation from the world, see the holiest, strangest and most determined to avoid civilisation and people. Visit monasteries, forest mendicant groves and holy hermitages for some wine and food. Please do not touch or talk to them, they hate it

18 Village Idiot Tours - see the famous idiotrs of a region and meet them, touching them for good luck costs extra for the upkeep of these por creatures

19 Hunters Tour - pleasant drink, food and hunting wild ani,als. Meet other hunters and see the local hunters rites 

20 Real Dungeon Tour - led by experienced murder hobos. raid a few soft targets for an authentic experience and take some monster head trophies

d12 Tourist Traps
1 Local nutters present wild conspiracies and fake history, selling pamphlets of wild theories
2 Run by criminals, fleece tourists but protect from harm, they always get a few robberies but nobody gets hurt
3 Fake tourist merchandise, claims to be relics or monster remains
4 Inauthentic eateries for tourists, poor quality gimmick meals locals won't touch
5 Locals offer strange sex and vice services for depraved city dwellers, which seems pretty wild for a village. People sell anything sexual "if you dont like my sister, i have a grandma or some goats"
7 Crime guild with bandits prey on tourists regularly
8 Tourists alone are inviting murder, robbery or worse
6 Terrible food slopped up by locals 
7 Local perverts prey on tourists and keep bodies hidden in the forest or a shack
8 Spirit of previous tourists
9 Cultists prey on tourists and might have something to blame for missing people, like a monster or criminals 
10 A monster knows about  tourists and might prey on them or their dreams
11 Local faction or humanoids hate tourists as a threat to their ways, or to send a message to civilisation
12 Artisans, shops and other locals all have a go at presenting wares or short local tours, many are scams, but some give kickbacks to tour guides. Some are a bit petty and tedious industry or farms 

d12 Tour Group Benefits
1 Expert Bard guide keeps fun and educational
2 Bitter war veteran who hates tourists but likes to scare them with dramatic tours
3 Illusionist adds important visuals but tend to dress in contemporary clothes and armour as they are not really interested in authentic recreations
4 Group painting at the end
5 Lots of young party people and hook-ups
6 No riffraff, nobles or very only, high price to keep out scum
7 Budget tour with the cheapest food and travel, people get sick more and possibly bedbugs
8 Extra locations most people never see, deals with private land owners
9 Real ghosts and spirits at haunted locations, contact included and guaranteed
10 Procures the best prostitutes and drugs, maybe even sees a real sucubus or incubus!
11 Famous for the best food, procure famous chefs and wine at some locations
12 Expert scholars present dry, authentic facts, and roll their eyes at the moronic questions of tourists. Has expert local guides at various points

d20 Quick Sidequests
1 Bandits or thieves 
2 Local knows a pretty ruin
3 Local knows a good dungeon
4 Local kidnapping case or missing tourist
5 Murder most foul. Whodunnit?
6 Tourist needs to be absolved of a crime (or locals pad off)
7 Local knows a real haunted house 
8 Expose a fake or scam
9 Local knows a scenic location tourists dont see
10 Hear of a local lost wonder
11 Map for sale seems authentic
12 Local can take you to spy on a depraved cult ritual
13 Local courthouse or execution draws a crowd
14 Warned away from the witch house
15 Keep out of the ancient graveyard by night!
16 The old mine is closed, keep away!
17 Keep off the moors by night!
18 Missing animal
19 Local monster rampage
20 Wanted criminal seen

d12 Complex Sidequests
1 Village hall has bones of a "Magdeburg Unicorn" on display, which some want removed as a fake. Perhaps a local has seen one for real. Someone must investigate
2 Arrive in town, fraught with witch mania. Some problem is blamed on magic, and the hyperalert mob is looking for witches. They sent money to a witch hunter, and he never came. Might think adventurers are witch hunters. Paid per witch caught 
3 Village cult has a scheme, but can't get past a guardian monster. Will ply adventurers with maps and legends to encourage them with tales of treasure
4 Farmers' kids found a sinkhole or cave into a sinister cave complex. The village all comes to see it and expects adventurers to have a look to see if it's safe or a deathtrap menace 
5  Bandits or goblins plan to kidnap tourists and lock them in a cave or a dungeon for ransom. The leader has been paid to inconvenience someone on the tour and will be persistent, even hiring other goons
6 Wagon of showgirls comes to town with a gang of escorts for a tavern show tour. Area swarms with murderhoboes, fur trappers and prospectors. Turns out these mentally unstable, bitter loners get into lots of drunken fights. The worst case is that they outnumber the villagers and riot 
7 Village of cultists size up guests and isolate some for their needs d6 1=food for cult beast, 2=sacrifice for the gods' unholy lust, 3=torture and eat in a ritual, 4=expose them to an evil spirit in need of a body, 5=breeding stock or marriage, 6=as reward for summoned being. Have a secret cult lair or temple, might have witch tunnels everywhere

9 Local famous monster sighting has all locals wary. Something has changed or arrived the monster resonates with. A few people are eaten, footprints are found, could it hide among people or be invisible?  Is it a spirit that manifests a body when it craves blood or is angered?
10 Monster has taken someone, mob unsure if it's undead or a werebeast or a witch d4 1=charming maniac steps in to guide mob to kill and rob the wicked 2=blame a stranger like a tourist 3=beg adventurers to direct them who to burn 4=consult some hopeless oracle or the village idiot to find the wicked
11 A wicked spellcaster has moved into the area and locals are shit-scared d8 1=dungeon 2=ruin 3=old tower 4=old mill 5=cave 6=old mine 7=tomb 8=ancient barrow
12 Mysterious knight causing problems d4 1=A wicked robber knight moved in with a band of robbers living in a gruberhole or ruin 2=fight any armed and mounted person who seeks to pass a road or bridge 3=kidnapped a lady 4=killed a holy person and defiled church

12 Petty Problems
1 Miserable weather
2 Road damaged or blocked
3 Local criminal manhunt in the area
4 Inquisitor hunting a cult, and he must catch a cultist to get paid
5 Tourist gets a disease and needs help
6 Tourists wandered off on their own
7 Tourists feud
8 Tourists ripped off or robbed
9 Tourist finds a cult charm or sign
10 Tourists carve names everywhere they go
11 Tourist offends a local custom
12 Local lunatic or idiot likes to pester tourists 

d20 Tourist Trinkets
1 Memorial scroll with some nice calligraphy and art 1gp
2 Maps are usually decorated and illustrated, 10gp
3 Jewellery trinkets d4x10 cp or sp or gp
4 Clothing or hat with local insignia or tavern name 1gp
5 Idols guaranteed ancient and authentic, 15gp hand siz,e 30gp foot high one
6 Saint body parts from d10 x100gp. Fingers, hair, bones or scraps of cloth
7 Painting or quick portrait 1sp for sketch 1gp tiny colour canvas 30gp per foot for a painting
8 Bones of the ancients, monsters or petrified small creatures d4 x10gp or x100gp
9 Model of a local attraction 10sp for clay or wood, 10gp for a nice stone one
10 Commemorative coins 5gp
11 Local wine or gourmet snack 1gp
12 Book 100gp or pamphlet 5gp
13 Doll of a monster or hero or folk fairy 10sp
14 Ancient lamp has a spirit, if you can release it with a word, you get a wish 1gp a guess
15 Ancient scroll d4 1=spellbook page incomplete but researchable spell 10gp 2=1st Lv spell or d4 zero for 100gp Lv 3=ancient holy scriptures 10gp 4=treasure map
16 Recipe book of local recipes and local stories of quaint village life 15gp
17 Map of local cave or ruin self-guided tour 1gp
18 Love Potion helps you find true love, 1sp. If it worked would be illegal
19 Pewter teaspoon with village coat of arms on handle 4sp
20 Art print 1gp or saucy postcard 5sp

d20 Services For Sick Urbane Edgelords & Rakes
1 Stab a goblin experience 15gp. Formerly was "stab a murder hobo experience"
2 See depraved cult ritual 30gp + sign a waiver

3 See a real ghost! 10gp

4 Secret strip show by a sulty bard 10sp with disguise and petty illusions 5gp

5 Bag of marshweed, 1sp, of clay or wood pipes 1sp (1in6 bags fake)

6 Hit of a hookah of lotus resin in an alley 10gp

7 See the mating rituals of kobolds 4sp

8 See a monster eat someone experience 10gp, pretty people cost lots more

9 See a necromancer raise a corpse performance 30gp

10 See a necromancer contact the dead and speak to ancients 10gp 

11 Watch ghouls feeding in a real catacomb or tomb, 30gp

12 Adult-only puppet show 2cp
13 Barnyard gloryhole 3cp
14 Orphan for sale 10gp
15 Sex with a real d6 1=witch 30gp 2=goblin 1gp 3=dwarf 4gp 4=gnome 10gp 5=shaved bugbear 4sp 6=halfling 10gp includes all you can eat and drink
16 Real dungeon with helpful torturers and prisoners who deserve punishment 30gp
17 Invite to the local crime guild's forbidden gambling house with live shows and drink 1sp entry but some might be for rich only 1gp
18 Cures for d4 1=baldness 1gp 2=mutations 100gp minor 300 major 3=infertility 100gp 4=aging 1000gp
19 Saucy illusions as good as the real thing, but legal! 100gp+
20 Meet a real incubus or succubus, experience 400gp; other entities are possible

d12 Shit Tourist Attractions to Get on the Map
1 Build a large crude idol d4 1=local monster 2=local faerie or spirit 3=local wild or farm animal 4=fruit or vegetable
2 Town hall museum & library has some interesting folk objects, fossils, old armour, cult objects, broken weapons, old books ("it's the village book m'lord") 1cp ticket
3 Museum of locals burned as witches and heretics with live enactments and fake torture 1sp
4 Local Ghost Museum with displays of local spirits, maps, histories and mysteries 1sp
5 Sport event attracts people from far and wide d8 1=track and field athletics 2=wrestling 3=archery 4=bull provoking 5=animal fights 6=bard contest 7=idiot contest 8=weird stuff like cheese rolling, log tossing or wife carrying. Festive atmosphere with food and drink, and cheer
7 Meet a real demihuman! 1sp traditional food 1gp spiritual ceremony experience 15gp advice 1gp personal interaction experiene (invite only) 50gp
8 Farm museum with old brolken farm machines, wagons, bones, collection of witch charms, folk art, petting zoo 1cp plus a meal for 4cp
9 Barn Museum of strange things dug up in fields of the ancients 1cp adult only area 1sp for educational purposes and scorn only
10 popular shrines sell blessings 1sp, do weddings 100gp, look charming and have some local artists who do portraits 30gp small or 120 large. At least one bard here and an acolyte of religion, helped by local shrine youths. 1sp to enter and see a ceremony and devout artworks and gardens
11 Local ExplRuined temple or castle of the ancients or only centuries ago and now has groundkeepers and a tour guide and a museum
12 Cave Exploration experience. Build a door with pay booth at entrance 1cp. Dinner and music show 10gp Has paths and some handrails and guides and fenced off areas, some for storage. 1gp for guide booklet 30gp for small history book 1sp to rent a lamp 1cp candle, 1sp alchemist's match 1sp Urn of spring water 1sp mushroom meal 1gp cave lobster meal 

d12 Pathetic Tourist Attractions
1 Petrified giant, carved from a soft rock with modern steel tools 1cp a look in a house or local hall
2 largest vegetables in the kingdom museum 1cp entry, sells produce

3 Carny freak show in town, mostly faked 1p or 1sp adult show

4 Local artist studios, see the artist at work, each has a speciality

5 Shop of inferior knock-off tourist merchandise copied from elsewhere

6 Tearoom run by old ladies who love gossip

7 Award-winning village idiot 1cp a show, 1 sp to touch them for luck

8 Local novelty craft beer, new variety on tap 1cp or all you can drink 1gp

9 Lovliest baby contest today, with a crate of vegetables!

10 Goblin whacking day with a cage of fiesty goblins ready 1cp to join in

11 See inside a local d4 1=cave 2=ruined temple 3=catacombs 4=church 1cp

12 The Grave of a famous person with a statue and merchandise
 

Some NPC Prep Experiment for my Homebrew

I have been rewriting my pc gen and have made some good progress a while ago

Final version of Lv one for my EThyrian cursed labyrinth in a few days, I hope, with inset maps on page and a map upgrade. Checklists for cursed monsters to destroy and a track for fragments of language recovered. I'd like to check that all the inter-level entrances are marked on map and a symbol for any room text entries mentioning it. So on my Patreon shortly.

I have about 5 posts half done, I'm waiting to get steam to finish. I have homework currently, too, which sadly comes first. I'm now playing 4 D&D games. We have one session all hands of curse of straad 2014 d&d, and a bit of shadowdark on the side with a group I've been a player with 4 years?  My Chagrinspire game will last a while yet, but might drop in some Marvel 1960 over xmas. I'm a player in an oldschool essential BX as an elf. I'm running a Theros-based Greek-themed D&D2024 game, which is 5th level

I was planning on presenting lots of subclass options, but not every class has the same vibe for variants. Some might just be training and built with the same skill options. Some, like clerics, might have specific powers.. Some are just flavour reskins. So anyway, this is me playing with character gen, which is to go up to 20th level demigod level. At this point, the gods will try and get you on their team and help you with a painful and tragic apotheosis. I considered statting up stats for each class to show characters from 1st, 5th, 10th, 16th and 20th I need some other rules cleared up before I start this project, though.

So today Im just making some versions of an NPC terrorising quite a few campaigns from afar and might be relevant shortly. So here is a few versions with some bio amd homebrew info.

------------------------------
Zero Start
Yes, i renamed stats for reasons like wisdom has changed definition wildly over editions
So i rolled terrible 3d6 in order, so I'm taking the point option for unplayable characters instead, as im not feeling it for this NPC

Kiron is a cruel brat and a minor royal house noble. He is a squire to his uncle the previous Emperor, so basically a house servant with some duelling experience. Theoretically a prince but their are about 300 of them when the empire covered the continent

------------------------------

Prince Kiron, 0Lv Noble Background
Agility 15
Might 8
Vigour 12
Charm 7
Talent 8
Will10 

Prince Kiron, 0Lv Noble Background
Agility 12
Might 14 +1
Vigour 13 +1
Charm 11
Talent 10
Will15 +1

HP (d4+1) 4
AC +3
Luck 2
Arms Skills:
-Swords d6+1 
Arts Skills:
-Etiquette for fancy manners displays
-Riding because real nobles dont walk
Alignment: has some wicked and deceitful tendencies 

Wears leather and a small sword and knife for when armed as a servant
has a coat of arms of the imperial house
------------------------------
1st Lv
So as starts as zero every level up gives you a stat point
hp and skills of zero lv stack with 1st if you start play as zero Lv
This was done as i almost every table have one person who does not want to be zero level and now they can they just miss sweet buffs

Kiron becomes a squire on the road to knighthood as part of the Imperial entourage. Some note he is vain and has a talent for sadistic cruelty and fashionable dress. Not getting ahead as he would like gets involved in the cult of Taganikus the shadow of the sun and servant of the outer void, a false sun god who excels at hiding among the sun god minions. So takes his first oath to the dark power of the cult.  .

Prince Kiron, 1st Lv Warrior
Agility 12
Might 15 +1
Vigour 13 +1
Charm 11
Talent 10
Will15 +1

HP (4+d10+1) 12
AC +7 Chain+Medeum Shield
Luck 2
Arms Skills:
-Swords d8+1 +1 Lv hit bonus   

-Blades d4+1 
-Spear d8+1
-Mounted Combat, +1 hit & damage mounted vs on foot 
-Critical Hit, on a natural 20 
Arts Skills:
-Etiquette for fancy manners displays
-Riding because real nobles dont walk
-Judgement for detecting falsehood and just decisions
-Diplomacy
-Poison Lore
Alignment:
1 evil oath for a +1 sword Bright-Burn
-Bully the weak
Viscous hunting dog follower 

------------------------------
5th Lv
More stat points, skills and oaths mostly
probably have a few potions, but the Amulet of Non-Detection is a must with the sword gift, possibly a feature of his cult that uses corruption for selfishness not chaos
On the emperor's bodyguard team, and silenced some of his enemies
At this point, a trusted crusade leader fighting mutants in the Empire's name
As a squire and dog has mutated (pets have options instead of level-ups as you get better)

Sir Kiron, 5th Lv Warrior
Agility 13 +1
Might 17 +2
Vigour 13 +1
Charm 11
Talent 10
Will14 +1

HP (4+5d10+5) 37
AC +12 +1plate +1 Medeum Shield
luck 3
Attacks 2
Arms Skills:
-Swords d8+2, +1hit Agility bonus, +2 Expert Skill, +5 Lv bonus
-Blades d4+1 
-Spear d8+1
-Mounted Combat, +1 hit & damage mounted vs on foot 
-Critical Hit, on a natural 19 or 20 
-Cleave
-Quickdraw Sword
+2 Expert longsword
Arts Skills:
-Etiquette for fancy manners displays
-Riding because real nobles dont walk
-Judgement for detecting falsehood and just decisions
-Diplomacy
-Poison Lore
-Bluff
Alignment:
2 evil oaths & gifts
-Bright-Burn +2 Sword (Conceal Alignment)
-Bully the weak
-Summon 1HD spirit, round/Lv once a week,
-Punish the shunned (fought in the mutant crusades)
3 nuetral oaths +1 plate +1 sheild +1 luck
-Avoid others' struggles, Give foes swift punishment, Shun Strangers, protect clan, 
1st Lv Squire
Viscous hunting dog follower, now mutated, 2-headed, huge, diseased bite 

------------------------------
10th Lv
Statesman of the empire, always on the frontier to avoid detection
Set to return with army and support of corruption cults to get crowned emperor but it takes a while for the problems to begin. Lots of monuments and newly minted coins. He has access to imperial regalia artefacts but really they are buried in his tomb complex construction site. The fakes will be powerful faux evil relics made to deceive and protect the false emperor from detection with an amulet, mass suggestion sceptre, and every round crown. The items are evil and sentient, so attack unworthy and advise the emperor. A cacodemon in disguise watches over him from another plane to help his evil purpose. It also covers up a prophecy with some assasination

Sir Kiron, General, 10th Lv Warrior
Agility 13 +1
Might 18 +3
Vigour 13 +1
Charm 13 +1
Talent 10
Will16 +2

HP (4+10d10+10) 84
AC +14 +2 plate +2 Medeum Shield
luck 4
Attacks 3 +1 damage dice bump
Arms Skills:
-Swords d8+3, +1hit Agility bonus, +3 Expert Skill, +10 Lv bonus
-Blades d4+3 
-Spear d8+3
-Archery d8+3 
-Mounted Combat, +1 hit & damage mounted vs on foot 
-Power Strike -4 hit +d4 damage once per round
-Critical Hit 3, on a natural 18, 19 or 20 
-Cleave
-Opportunity attack
-Quickdraw Sword
-Expert longsword +3
Arts Skills:
-Etiquette for fancy manners displays
-Riding because real nobles dont walk
-Judgement for detecting falsehood and just decisions
-Diplomacy
-Poison Lore
-Bluff
-Taunt
-Command
Alignment:
5 evil oaths & gifts
-Bully the weak, start fights, treat slaves with cruelty, give enemies slow deaths, slander enemies with lies
-Bright-Burn +3 Sword (Conceal Alignment, Intelligent, +d3 fire)
-Summon 1HD spirit, round/Lv once a week,
-detect alignment spell as priest
-cure light wounds spell as a priest
-summon mount 4HD 12 hours a day
-Punish the shunned (fought in the mutant crusades)
5 neutral oaths & gifts +2 plate (absorb 2 magic damage) +2 shield (courage) +1 luck
-Avoid others' struggles, Give foes swift punishment, Shun Strangers, Hoard wealth, build monuments
6th Lv Guard captain
5th Lv Guard luitenant
4th Lv Executioner
3rd Lv Guard sergeant
2nd Lv Stablemaster
1st Lv Servant squire
The dog is now a hellhound
4th Lv Jester
 
------------------------------
15th Lv
His evil acts cause a civil war splitting all the regions into seperate states
Widely reviled but many sungod faithful support him still because he scans as lawful good
Worked on goals of immortality and building a state cult using the false sun cult
Senior followers are cultists and run government and millitary. Four cacodaemons guard in secret and direct cultists

Sir Kiron, Emperor, 15th Lv Warrior
Agility 13 +1
Might 18 +3
Vigour 13 +1
Charm 14 +1
Talent 13 +1
Will16 +2

HP (4+10d10+10+20) 104
AC +16 +3 plate +3 Medeum Shield
luck 4
Attacks 4 +1 damage dice bump
Arms Skills:
-Swords d8+3, +1hit Agility bonus, +3 Expert Skill, +15 Lv bonus
-Blades d4+3 
-Spear d8+3
-Archery d8+3 
-Mounted Combat, can move, attack, then move while mounted
-Mounted Charge, x2 damage charging on mount
-Mounted Defence, +1AC vs targets on foot while mounted 
-Mounted Attack, +1 hit & damage mounted vs on foot 
-Dismount Rider
-Disarm
-Knockback
-Set Spear x2 damage
-Power Strike -4 hit +d4 damage once per round
-Critical Hit 3, on a natural 18, 19 or 20 
-Cleave
-Opportunity attack
-Quickdraw Sword
-Expert longsword +3
Arts Skills:
-Etiquette for fancy manners displays
-Riding because real nobles dont walk
-Judgement for detecting falsehood and just decisions
-Diplomacy
-Poison Lore
-Bluff
-Taunt
-Command
-Forbidden Lore
-Steward
Alignment:
9 Evil oaths: Bully the weak, Start fights, treat slaves cruelly, give enemies slow deaths, slander enemies with lies, torture when possible, enslave weak & helpless, wage constant war, hunt and kill weak for sport 
6 neutral oaths & gifts: avoid others' struggles, give foes swift punishment, shun Strangers, hoard wealth, build monuments, build monuments to glorify self, hunt hidden enemies among the people
-Bright-Burn +4 Sword (Conceal Alignment, Intelligent, +d3 fire, Change into a lance)
+2 plate (absorb 2 magic damage) +2 shield (courage) +1 luck
-Summon 1HD spirit, round/Lv once a week,
-detect alignment spell as priest
-cure light wounds spell as a priest
-summon mount 4HD 12 hours a day
-Punish the shunned (fought in the mutant crusades)
-Summon 1HD spirit, round/Lv once a week,
-detect alignment spell as priest
-cure light wounds spell as a priest
-Aid spell as a priest
-Strike spell as a priest
-summon mount 4HD 12 hours a day
+3 plate (absorbs 2 magic damage, protection adds to saves)
+3 shield (courage, bracelet form)
+1 luck
11th Lv Warmaster 
10th Lv General
9th Lv Executioner
8th Lv Chariot driver
7th Lv Guard captain
6th Lv Guard luitenant 

5th Lv Spymaster 
4th Lv Guard sergeant 

3rd Lv Cup bearer servant
2nd Lv Privy servant
1st Lv Torturer
The dog is now a hellhound
9th Lv Jester (bard)

---------------------------------
 

20th Lv
False religion emperor cult dominates but 30 years of civil war
Seeks godhood and to restore the black sun from the age of darkness
Hopes to at least join evil gods and the kingdom turn into a cespit of evil monsters
Probably has javelins of lightning, magic arrows, a magic chariot pulled by hippogriffs, a ring of teleportation d4 per day, bag of holding
mortal stats, AC and total to hit can reach +20 max normally
except stats gained by oaths Lv 17+
His 4 cacodaeomons are disguised as angels with an illusion and non-detection of alignment torcs and other daemons and evil beings serve as spies, like daemons or doppelgangers

Emperor Kiron, 20th Lv Warrior
Agility 13 +1
Might 23 +5
Vigour 16 +2
Charm 14 +1
Talent 13 +1
Will16 +2

HP (4+10d10+20+20) 114
AC +16 +3 plate +3 Medeum Shield
luck 4
Attacks 5 +2 damage dice bump
Arms Skills:
-Swords d12+5, +1hit Agility bonus, +3 Expert Skill, +20 Lv bonus
-Blades d8+5 
-Spear d12+5 / Javelin d10 +5
-Archery d12+5 
-Quickload javelin
Martial Attack
Martial Strike
-Mounted Combat, can move, attack, then move while mounted
-Mounted Charge, x2 damage charging on mount
-Mounted Defence, +1AC vs targets on foot while mounted 
-Mounted Attack, +1 hit & damage mounted vs on foot 
-Dismount Rider
-Disarm
-Knockback
-Set Spear x2 damage
-Power Strike -4 hit +d4 damage once per round
-Critical Hit 3, on a natural 18, 19 or 20 
-Cleave
-Opportunity attack
-Quickdraw Sword
-Expert longsword +3
Arts Skills:
-Etiquette for fancy manners displays
-Riding because real nobles dont walk
-Judgement for detecting falsehood and just decisions
-Diplomacy
-Poison Lore
-Bluff
-Taunt
-Command
-Forbidden Lore
-Steward
-Resolve (Will saves)
Alignment:
14 evil oaths & gifts: Bully the weak, Start fights, treat slaves cruelly, give enemies slow deaths, slander enemies with lies, torture when possible, enslave weak & helpless, wage constant war, hunt and kill weak for sport, perform public spectacles of cruelty, murder solves every problem, punish the shunned (fought in the mutant crusades), spare no prisoners, always eek to seize power
6 neutral oaths & gifts: avoid others' struggles, give foes swift punishment, shun strangers, hoard wealth, build monuments, build monuments to glorify self, hunt hidden enemies among the people
-Bright-Burn +5 Sword (Conceal Alignment, Intelligent, +d3 fire, Change into a lance)
-Summon 1HD spirit, round/Lv once a week,
-detect alignment spell as priest
-cure light wounds spell as a priest
-Aid spell as a priest
-Curse spell as a priest
-Cloak of fear spell as a priest
-summon mount 4HD 12 hours a day
+3 plate (absorb 2 magic damage, protection adds to saves)
+3 shield (courage, bracelet form)
16th Lv Warmaster 
15th Lv General
14th Lv Executioner
13th Lv Chariot driver
12th Lv Guard captain
11th Lv Guard luitenant 

10th Lv Spymaster 
9th Lv Guard sergeant 

8th Lv Cup bearer servant
7th Lv Privy servant
6th Lv Torturer
2x4th Lv priests
4x3rd Lv priests
1x2nd Lv priest
zero-level acolyte
The dog is now a three-headed giant hellhound and can be a mount
-has a shadow dragon-like form and can fly to the nightmare realm
-keeps this hidden in a basement somewhere
14th Lv Jester (bard)

--------------------------------------------------

The party are visiting the region soon and might decide they need to do something
they have a mission to kill 2 gunpowder-skilled wizards in a secret research castle

A third of the empire is evil and corrupt
A third are going along because they believe all the lies and illusions and believe they are good
A third are oppressed and persecuted, but have a resistance. Some of these are good, many are neutrals. A few hell cults in secret aid subterfuge vs the empire

Mutants are enslaved for dangerous labour or killed and cry out for mercy
The swamps of Chagrinspire have a horde of chaos templar mutants ready for war
The undead of the swamps might join in, as many were empire soldiers angered by the current empire

A quest for the true heir and regalia of the empire might help
Or the party could try and start a theocracy

Players will help define continental politics
possibly all a gnome plot

Thinking of designing some airports for Chagrinspire based on 1920s concepts

Thinking the golem engine blocks of light cloth and wood fighters are the most recycled part, and human operators ensure loyalty. Some golems might not like what they do and cry tears while dropping bombs. Airships with golem operations exist, too. Upper Chagrinspire is operational and running global manipulations and plunder operations.

Oaths are the most common way to make magic items 
Better items are more likely to be sentient and uncooperative to plunderers