Chagrinspire: The Slaughter Express

The Bishop of Gateway, high priest of light, Lord of Flatspur
The King of the Gateway kingdom, a giant 
The Guildmaster of Gateway, The-Man-With-No-Name (MWNN)

Last session, they calculated 150 slavers and 40 slaves were in fact in the train tunnels under the slavers' keep. Not with the 150 who fled across country north to die at the hands of mutants and undead as per the agreement. News of defeating the slavers' army was continental news. the 

the B Team, including Chrysopasia the Rake, the King's Jester and some priests and wolves, had continued clearing train lines and killed off an outpost of the Worm Cult. 

Last game party led barbarians and frog folk to assault the Slavers territory, "liberating" Shankheim. Then routing the slaver's army again. The slavers agreed to withdraw and asked for time. As evacuating, the Guildmaster and Giant king saw the numbers didn't add up, so went into the train station to investigate. This was an older, more civilian deco station on a one-way line. While they crept downstairs and saw three vending machine golems.

One perk one was selling chock bars, the other kept offering religious idols of the pre-apocalypse gods and claimed it would be scrapped if it didnt make a sale. The third was a what-the-butler-saw machine, the party shunned despite its sleazy taunts.

The guildmaster didn't want to talk; he wanted to kill, so he went ahead. Saw guards in a ticket booth and got past them. Saw some cooks carrying gruel and heard an announcement that the train was leaving. The guards and cooks packed up and moved to the lower platform via stairs.  The BBisho and the giant came to help and paralysed the cooks, then killed the guards with hold person spells and melee. The occupants of a train station saw the giant liquify two men so they retreated int the train and shut the doors. Meanwhile, the man with no name and his abhuman Rat Sonya sneaked up on the engine and slaughtered the crew and stopped the golem train.

The priest summoned his glowing levitating throne and called holy bells, burning the wicked, he blinded one of the carriages, then swept through them again killing most of 30 slaver passengers. The giant king moved towards the front and saw The Guildmaster attacking the front of the carriage and barricading the back door, so he went ahead and followed the guild master. The Guildsman threw an incendiary bomb, igniting it mid-air and exploding, then fired his blunderbus. The Giant began to slaughter his way through the train, covering the walls in blood. The Guild master changed to his light SMG and emptied the magazine. The Bishop, The King, and the Man With No Name chewed through the last carriage and killed over 90 men in quite a short time and captured two cooks who were slaves. The slavers got off some good volleys of muskets but were simply too pissweak. 

There were at least 100 people missing. One lot of 40 troops went north on foot, a distraction heading for the last slaver base in the waste. The party went the other way, where 20 slavers had 40 skilled crafter, high-value slaves and families. The party called their frog folk allies to kill the soldiers and they personally freed the slavers and massacred the last slavers.

They left administrators at new conquests and met the B team, who were investigating a fort operated by a false sun god of darkness that seemed to be influencing the Empire and its' mad emperor. The Giant, the Bishop and the Guildmaster went to their now thriving river port. The giant had 6 dire wolves and 4 younger stone giant labourers working on walls, roads and other constructions. A surprise call from a great leader of the slavers who came to talk terms and peace. The party were not impressed. The guildmaster called servants to show three chests and poured out lead coins. They were very disappointed and surprised. The party killed them and their guards. As cleaning up a merchant gnome and scavenger followers arrived, he was the gnome who had been spying on them in a Black Sphere uniform in the past. 

He gave the party a few thousand GP in ingots of platinum from the Black Sphere mint. He complained they didn't kill 2 wizards he paid them to kill. They didn't get their gun research from ruins of the wasteland to the Warring lands of the East, where they planned to unite. They did get to the Empire via teleportation and were now working for the Mad Emperor. So the gnome gave the party, maps of the kingdom with a route, a castle map and a flying carpet. It was a bit odd taking money from the bad guys to stop other bad guys.

So while the priest was doing divinations, the Bishop and the Guildman flew off to test drive the rug and visit some allies like barbarians and druids, and met the elves, who were useful.Met Elementalists who 10000 1nd 6000 years ago tried gloval conquest but had not done much latley but survived with dozens of sects. they included any ancient gods they considered elemental. Met dwarves and while flying near Mount Grime, did a flyover of the Prison of the twin slime gods they heard was active. It was a huge shift with a pillar in the centre rotating but connected by a bridge. This is The Bottomless Pit of Zorth by G. Hawkins. They flew about and killed some slime minions and escaped with the orange helm.  After identifying it they rested and returned the next day.

Apparently, some adventurers had visited, leaving supplies on the top of the great pillar. They killed new slime minions and a brain creature about to turn prisoners into new slimes. They were inept low-level adventurers. They wanted to find friends teleported into the deep. The party thought they had some moxie. They met other adventurers and had to kill them and they got a nice haul of magic items. The complex had drawn people here to be converted to slime minions. Other adventurers were lost in the deep. The party wondered did they get drawn here too? They decided to rest and ran away with the rescued humans joined the Gateway Kingdom. The party swore to return. Lots of new trade and factions reached. The Guildmaster declared the Scavengers Guild was open to all sapient species and mutants.

Next game:
-The Dark Sun cult. Do they have links to the Mad Emperor or the Black Sphere?
-The slimy god prison seems to be growing more active
-The Giant King has been seeking cloud tongs and the ruins of flying giant clouds
-Fly to the Emperor's gun lab and kill the last two wizard gunsmiths

The Bishop certainly needed to be involved.

I skipped stuff in the module It is very good and led me to get everything by the writer.
Players grossed out and were very lucky to use a magic rug they never got off in the dungeon.

Som sloppy biological ambient sounds for a slime dungeon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7HS6hP21LA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZeNKZOXAOo
I mixed these with dark ambient horror tracks

d12 Bandit Encounter Set Ups

Everyone gets bandits.
Here are some variant bandit tactics.

Bandits who capture the party may need morale rolls to resist the temptation to torment prisoners or go further than permitted by the boss.

I've done a few bandit posts before.
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2018/03/d100-bandits.html

CE Bandits might just kill and will kidnap victims for torture or worse because they are too psychotic to have real jobs. Mostly, the ability to be cruel motivates their crime
LE Bandits are more transactional and want money like a toll; they might kidnap hostages for cash, or sell them into slavery
CG Bandits have a cause and avoid murder; they justify their actions against an unjust state
L Bandits are unlikely they get jobs collecting taxes or become militia. In some cases, they might be anti-chaos vigilantes, justifying some criminal fundraising or in a mob
N Bandits are local and dont bother locals, they are in it mostly for money, dont mind killing unwanted outsiders
NG Bandits might be folk heroes who keep evil bandits away and prey on the wicked
E Bandits are selfish and cruel and mistreat prisoners or sell them for slaves or to cults or cannibals or even monsters. If you convince them you are worth a ransom, they might spare you. Mostly, they kill witnesses not worth selling
G Bandits who are good make terrible bandits and are not great at being a credible threat. If surrounded by evil or indifferent neutrals, they might become bandits vs evil people to raise funds for the poor and stop evil tyranny and petty, mean deeds. Magic or traps are good options to minimise harm. They might team up with neutrals who do the killing

d12 Basic Tactic
1-6 Stand and deliver - announce who they are and make demands
7-8 Volley of missiles, then make demands
9-10 Rely on missile fire and skirmish tactics, avoid hand-to-hand, spread out
11-12 Charge from ambush while at least half fire missiles, will join melee when no east shots

d12 Basic Demands
1-4 Demand toll of cash or goods, if you cooperate, it will go easy
5-8 Demand cargo and goods, not personal effects, if you cooperate
9-10 Demand that weapons and arms be surrendered first
11-12 Demand surrender everything and prepare to be made captives

d12 Gang Prosperity
7+ might have some mounts, poorer gangs eat them 
1 Starving and desperate, brave but distracted by food, looks terrible and not healing

2 Hungry and desperate for a score, impatient and reckless, eating grass and bark

3 Miserable in poor health, clothes and armour worn, missing teeth, skinny

4 Lice ridden and scabby, fleabitten and itchy, might throw off stealth activities

5 Drug-addled on cheap, use nasty herbal concoctions and poison mushrooms, drugs modern addicts avoid

6 Crazed, possibly by drugs, disease, hunger or cannibalism. Look extra wild, hairy, brutal and blood lusting. Leaders, or possibly all, are berserkers. Might be barbarians or wild folk

7 Deserters in worn uniforms, desperate professional killers led by veterans, low on supplies 

8 Successful bandits led by failed murder hobo adventurers, brutally effective with new recruits up front 

9 Rebels often with a leader who is a disenfranchised noble seeking justice. Will have the support of commoners and will right some injustices. Prefer heists to be murder free 

10 Outcast religious zealots live as bandits, but also are part of a cult demanding cruelty and murder. Leaders will have spells and morale is high no matter how badly off they live

11 Well off bandits well supplied in arms and armour with military veterans, sponsored by rival nobles to the local area or a foreign power to make trouble. May flee across the border to safety on the master's lands, property or a hideout

12 Prosperous with some in superior arms & armour, the leader may be an outcast noble or have pretensions of aristocracy. Possibly referred to as a robber knight 

d12 Other Gang Interests
1 Drugs or booze
2 Gambling or games
3 Sexually frustrated creeps
4 Political or alignment debates 

5 Saucy prints and pamphlets

6 Fancy gaudy clothes

7 Craves power over the area, will ask for bribes or help 

8 Want fame and reputation, so people surrender and expect a high bounty price on name

9 Bored and want entertainment - prisoners can put on a show

10 Supported by a faction they are allied with (most likely political)

11 Cult infected groups in secret or in the open, once taken over

12 Serve some occult evil force, but might not know it

d12 Gang tactics
1 Barricade the road with at least a tree and use it as a fortified line. Some will demand tribute, while others come from behind
2 Obstacles on the road, like a branch, need to be moved, and while travellers stop to move it, the gang springs an ambush from hidden positions
3 Gang hang around openly around the road, possibly drinking and looking unsavoury. Hill size up party and possibly provoke travellers with vague threats, slurs and sleazy comments while blocking the road. They might retreat from a display of strength or spell
4 Pretend to be in need of help to lure travellers to a hold-up with hidden bandits. They over-rely on this one tactic and avoid risk
5 Friendly hanging by the road or camp and invite travellers to join them. Food and drink is poisoned or drugged. Will spring a hold up when guests are unprepared or weak
6 Pretend to be travellers like merchants and be friendly. May even fight other bandits with the party. Will betray travellers and may work with other bandits or use drugs or poison in betrayal. A bard would help them be more effective
7 Have an ambush position with height advantage. May make a threat with a few near the road or may just use missile fire to kill targets. Might avoid melee and flee 

8 Rely on a set concealed trap to initiate a demand or attack d6 1=Pit 2=Deadfall of rubble blocks road 3=Swinging deadfall log 4=Net 5=Snare 6=Concealed spikes (like caltrops). More likely to attack than make deal

9 Chokepoint setup for ambush or to make demands, usually a natural path with limited escape routes and a sheltered position for missiles. Rolling rocks and logs d6 1=water crossing 2=bridge 3=ravine with narrow or flimsy crossing 4=steep hills or cliffs 5=rubble mounds 6=natural arch of vegetation or rock or manmade arch or gate or tunnel through a hill

10 Beast or monster used by bandits to attack or distract, may have a cage or pit they can open with a line or trained or might just open a corral and drive out herd beasts to trample travellers. They might use any scheme with beasts or have a druid with them, or even throw wasp nests or bee hives. Some monsters panic if released and now hate humans
11 Leave the scene of a damaged wagon, dead bodies, and possibly wounded and merchant goods as if bandits attacked. Actually, it's the bait for an ambush and they may well shoot them.

12 A spell caster initiates a flashy attack or flash display of power with bandits offering demands from hiding. Might even make demands using a spell rather than being invisible, depending on the type of caster

Am I Oldschool Enough?

So I started playing solo games 83 and was doing d&d earth 84. 15 I was in a war gaming club full of grogs with oldest d&d books and adventures lying around the place, and ppl played some wildly old and odd games. I worked in game and comic shops from 86 and hung out at a library where hamers hackers and shoplifters combined their skills to get free games and hack them and produce manuals, decoder wheels and daily updated play guides. Christians harrased and spied on us playing Cthulhu. Librarians got their complaint letters and the service head came down to ask us if we were levitating or talking to demons. They kept religious nutters spying on boys in a pulic place away.

We had all the basic box sets around and as we couldnt find companion set in time we went to as&d. I think peak d&d was 1985. I did like 2nd ed briefly for the first brown and green history books but quit from what i saw as worse writing, bigger space wastage per page and blandness. The art changed too and id grown out of teen pinup girls with huge shiny gems and feathers fantasy. I love gammaworld and liked star frontiers and top secret/s1. From 86 I was increasingly into Call of Cthulhu, Runequest, Ringworld. I also ran a d100 game we wrote and over time it started getting like BRP more and more so when wwe spat dummy on d&d early 90s we went to BRP games from 91-2012. I also ran a superhero game that started Champions and Superworld then TSR Marvel system not setting. Weirdly lots of stuff in out 20 year + Supes game predicted lots of 90s comic tropes years early.

So 2012 I was not gaming much and a bookshop wanted me to run a game. While bedridden, I wrote the skeleton of my homebrew and started following G+ and what I thought were likewise interested gamers. I started my Blog in part to work on my homebrew as I had only one D&D book the dungeoneer's survival guide. There were some predictable schisms in that world. Like lots of weird scenes I was a part of, eventually the weird go pro and stop sharing and start selling instead.  

So people tell me what is oldschool often and over-philosophise it and draw lines in the sand. Mostly, I see pseudo-academic thought on gaming. I find it mostly elitist and to exclude ppl. As Im aware of the oldest eds and like my 1985 niche style, I thought I was oldscool but I increasingly have doubts about this. I can see why some creators I admire walked away from the scene and did their own thing. My other influences on my retroclone is Dragon and old White Dwarf and UK punk grit style. You also found this aesthetic in 2000ad comics and see how it led to warhammer/40k. Chaosium games were also a big part of this vibe with goat folk and tentacles and cultural depth and more folk horror.  

Cthulhu got me reading real history and I began photocopying stuff from uni libraries as dial up internet on a rotary phone was a special time. My preference for a history book to gamers' recreations of history I could do myself stopped me from buying stuff. Cthulhu was the only game I consistently bought but Im increasingly over that genre now. I liked reading classics, weird and sf short stories and new wave SF mostly brit writers like Moorcock who got me into anarchism and George Woodcock. I went on to study Archaeology, Art History & Philosophy and have 3 degrees. I worked in a comic studio and we were very into UK comic realism.

Warlock! game has captured this vibe also plus has spirit of fighting fantasy. Dragonwarriors a brit rpg in paperback form, were fantastic and had great art. The modern version lacks the spooky folk horror vibe art and possibly the art and adventures left a long legacy with me. Grailquest and Lone Wolf gamebooks were part of this vibe too but 84 I was mostly gaming with ppl but all these books left a mark on me.

So I still play much the same way I did then, probably just more sophisticated and hopefully less full of accidental shitty colonialism and retro sexism and racism. Hopefully, it's more a parody of that or critical of that. DMG literally had a prostitute table and how women had different stat limits. We preferred species as a term in 80s. 

While I was involved in Con scene in Sydney ppl said I was Mr Oldschool and we talked of having a secret minicon which never happened. A kid came to my game having heard of me and was somewhat outraged at my non oldschoolness about 2015. He was displeased the players never ran away, nobody died, i used skills, there were no loops in the dungeon. 

So I rarely kill in games but I do theatre of risk. If players feel afraid and dont use up half their HP being cautious and running back to town, that's fine. Raise dead is easy in d&d and being in debt to a church is awesome and affordable. In part, I like horror and resources in games. In Call of Cthulhu, it is fine when you dont kill everyone of maim them, and people can still feel afraid. When you get to a few hp and a fight really was close it's more thrilling of course but it doesn't need to go that way. Im all for concessions on the campaign world of neglecting problems or even creating new problems. That's a form of horror i can get behind.

Your players going back to town when spells down and HP half is cautious and fine. If you expect them to suicidally face more horrors they should have higher stakes or personal reasons than money or the fun of survival. I do like event timers and dungeons that react to invaders and change. Being risk taking murderhoboes with syphalytic brain damage and a need for beer money is fine too. Sometimes one character like that gets action happening more but yes killing commoners is questionable serial killer stuff that should lead to angry mobs, wanted posters, soldiers and other problems. Of course the risk of going back to town is the monsters change tactics or even call allies or have a coup from an evil cult faction.

Loops are a nice theory, especially for 6-room modern dungeons to make them seem bigger. My maps are more inspired by function and archaeological floorplans of archaeology. I find that distinct dungeon zones for factions work well if sections are isolated. I like a central hub or neutral area in between. Janell and I hated the same ppl and spoke weekly about them and i miss her but yes props to her for this contribution to gaming culture in d&d and RQ. 

Yes I like skills in games. I played BRP and many skill-based systems and prefer character classes. If you look in the left-hand drawer and there is a thing there yes, you can find it without a roll. Roleplaying can circumvent problems and tasks especially with time and planning. Skills can be a shortcut and a claim of special expertise with benefits. Skills are so you dont have to explain or roleplay how you fucking search a room or craft some armour. Skills can mitigate player metagaming of real-world knowledge. Skills can speed activity in a game - a skilled looter might be faster than a bunch of guys who have time to methodically search a room. Time as a valuable resource for the players and their characters can be eased by skills. They are a simple way of making your dude different. Skills can be part of your back story.

The Dungeoneers Survival Guide book I loved - except they had pointless mods on stat roll rather than just stat roll, which was fiddly BS. D&D non-weapon proficiencies were fine but long-winded. I liked skills in Marvel and D&D that provided a numerical buff rather than just being a % success/fail/fumble/critical. I'm seeing a trend to have more variable results from rolls and then an unimaginative GM struggles to improvise these differences, session after session. I've kept up a skill system and incorporated lots of other stolen mechanics into the system, modern players would see as feats. My thieves are all about lots of weird skills. Fewer types of powers and abilities and fewer resources to keep track of is nice. I prefer to roll abilities into a spell, skill or unique class ability and not too many other possibilities. I disliked feel of spells rolled into feats that 4th ed did. I like spells are fire and forget vs skills and different.

I am also happy to count some resources like Ammo and food. Counting is not hard. I dont want to gamble with how much I have, I want to know. Systems where you make it a gamble to have food or have ammo, I find weird extra steps and unnecessary rolls. Speaking of rolls all the roll an extra dice mechanic for a + bug me too. Players who roll and count slooooowly can drive me crazy. Good dice disciplene speeds the whole table. D&D5 and CoC7 roll more dice to do the same thing as older versions. I went back to D&D clones in 2012 because i found other ppl doing whay i liked on blogs vs what was in stores.Also BRP has huge stat blocks vs the older D&D clones so les record keeping for DM. This property has changed and huge modern stat blocks makes me reluctant to do origional work to make my own monsters up.

Cruch of games I find helps set tone and mood. thats why i only know 3 basic games Marvel for superheroic stuff, d&d various versions cover heroic to action fantasy but if i want realism i will play BRP. I find fragile characters and gritty systems make action far more setrious. In my BRP car game I have 1 second combat rounds and lots of burst fire and where all the bullets goes matters. So if your car stops and you run its pretty agonising to get to saftey. Your exact location and details matter more. All these friction points add to the thrill.

D&D5 wants lots of character resources and rolls and power but you basicly whack at each others HP till zero and apply lots of abilities like they are collectable cards in a deck or something. Its a lot of mechanics to slow game to achieve less. But it does make characters shine and fancy. I do like characters of same type have differences. I dont like dozens of fancy named abilities that could be the same like losta of subclass abilities. Barbarian subclasses in 5th ed have lots of self healing abilities slightly different im not sure this is good. Guesss in my system i mostly make my subclasses just example builds using existing skills and spell lists rather than clusters of unique gimic abilities. Id rather solve problems with skills and spells. In D&D5 I might make some feats rather than subclasses. Im not in love with D&D5 skills and find fidly vs roll under stat. I also give a stat point per level so those skills also improve and players go from average to demigod over a long campagn.

I do play shadowdark (though our DM too nice for a killer game). It has a few mechanics I dislike. I dont want to carouse by drinking and partying. Some characters might but my priest might not and even nag players they healed to come and prey in church instead. My carousing tables are just fun encounters not a mechanical neccesity and i have class and background and location based carousing tables. Their is no money or mechanical benefit but you might get some buff or item or contact or new problem. The priests have different problems if they downtime in church or they might go with adventurers to protect them. Lots of the ideas of shadowdark were in use on G+ days and id already not been using. I do like lots of it's aesthetics - its well designed and a good business model but it would price out so many gamers. I also dont need d100 tables but I think to me lots of oldschool stuff features d100. 

I am liking oldschool esentials. It still has saved lots of stuff i dont like. Lots of fidly race limits and and a few fluff bits but basicly so simple its fine. The main reasons I have got d&d5: Dyson maps, Theros, Saltmarsh. Most of what I got was on sale or simply was in a shop where I am. Id buy more obscure stuff but availability, post and distibution kill lots of games here. I guess I started playing d&d about 2020 in part to be sociable and because its the bulk of all games here. Im puzzled by games that have shifted far from having a human baseline. Ive seen one player be a human in 5 years the rest all damned furries. Im still meeting wildly different playstyles which is good. 

I do like lots of the older tropes like fatter monsters and the more historic looking characters. I like punk rock grime and gloomcore stuff, it leaves lots in the world to improve. Folk horror and ethical problems are good. I do really like domain play and Ive got lots from Pendragon to all my games. I like upper level game being a shift to global power or even planar power. Planes i like to be weird. Every day world saving and plane hopping scenarios like some recent D&D books are more about using as much IP as possible not actually interesting. Tomb of anihilation seems a bit much 1st level characters off to save every resurected person in the world when their must be thousands of more qualified people in the world and like every cleric even some evil ones. I like characters starting unknown and poor and becoming local then regional then national or world heroes. 20th level for me is the point of demigodhood and has risk that the gods want you to join them but probably nvolves your martyrdom and painful death before the gods nab you. 

I do like oldschool style but I dont think im a strict adherant or a slave to it. Im fine with ppl matching the profile like my work. I dont mind you could build a d&d5 campagn with almost all talking and sparkling charactrers with three official books. Im fine with that. They could probably do a simpler more rpg edition with simpler faster violence rules but third party creators probably have done it.

Ethyria & Beyond + d&d5.5 notes

Sadly, I'm down to 2 players again and headhunting again. Mostly from older ppl having older ppl dramas, one person vanished off the net. I do like running a weekly game as I tend to clean more and get ahead on house arranging, so that's appreciated. Some of the different players taught me lots about the modern game I hadn't picked up in 5 years of playing. Current gang want minis and exact square stuff. Which has a plus effect of sorting my minis again and getting my robot/spaceship/ruin building running again. 

Also learning some of the differences in 2014 vs 2024 d&d. I was shocked that Command spells work on undead now. Grappling under unarmed attacks has a size limit rule not in the grapple on its own section. So still learning stuff. Sometimes you can see that design has made some combo abilities do wild stuff, others are accidents, and players can do strange stuff with. The more splatbook stuff you mix, the more crap isn't compatible and breaks.

Getting the hang of monsters. My versions I run from my head are often different. A d4 hp poltergeist now has 22 in the current version, but the Cyclopaedia version I disliked and one with 4 hp i found). The old-school hierarchy of ghoul 2d8 < wight 3d8 < 4d8 wraith < spectre 6d8 < ghost is now ghoul 5d8 < spectre 5d8 < ghost 10d8 < wraith 9d8+27 < wight 11d8+33

I wonder if Yuan-Ti have 4 pages and lizard folk 1 is because Yuan-Ti are protected IP (with no basic stat block only only two boss types - you just use bandit or whatever, not amphibious, which changes Saltmarsh a bit too). Why does d&d amphibian mean stuff biology does not? I have been writing my own monster comp a long time but THE MONSTER OVERHAUL probably did most like what I would do but different. Id like to slate clean some stuff like single sheet pages with bugs, worms, lizards, amphibians, spiders, birds, flightless birds, herd animal etc, with a separate format for special monsters with lots of lore and powers. More monsters should be unique one-offs, even if they start as another species +mutations or +elemental taint. Some modern adaptations are weaker, much like lots of spells. 

Learning monster strengths again has had some moments like Oldschool erinyes vs 5th ed erinyes. Learning to deal with player defences and trying to grasp the power each level represents and not be over too fast. Despite the learning curve and my knowing 5 or 6 other versions, we got lots done and a go at Bastions.

I'm a player in Ravenloft currently and hope to finish that and start a new campaign and character. I think my priest learned some stuff and had an arc of learning humility and about the banality of evil.

I did get a player of Ethyria ask which of the campaign books of D&D5 I'd run - probably Rime of the Frostmaiden or Saltmarsh.. Since saying i wouldn't get any more so I got 4 more books, which I'll review. I do think figure work and clothes are superior in later books.

I would have liked a whole book on adventures in hell, and it could hook into every other setting. An Egyptian book like Theros would be nice. An adaptation of an old product done as well as Saltmarsh, like a desert-themed book, would be nice. A fey and or shadowfell book would be nice. I don't want to play IP plane hopping. 

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

Omiros Firehair, the satyr, priest of Heliod and adopted sibling Kiren an elemental Monk, monk of Heliod had visited one entrance of the labyrinthe and met minotaurs who told them to piss off but an olderone offered them free passage if they wanted to explore a a haunted area. So far, they faced a room of flayed human skins, an iron living statue and an erinyes devil, the worst enemy they faced yet. 

So with one party member, the Centaur bard had to leave, but they were keen to rest and go on. In the hall of flailed skin with two doorways they could see a dead minotaur and through the other door a blood fountain with a zombie drinking and being healed. Kiren quickly tried slipping past the zombie, but Omiros was in heavy armour and a bit clumsy. When the zombie turned, Kiren attacked from behind and killed it, and then they realised the dead minotaur was moving in. He was a bit tough but as usual, Kiren's elemental technique let him pin down a single foe well. Omiros purified the well and felt the good divine vibes of gods approval.

Found a hall with urns in niches, and Omiros went in as he was a priest and saw a jar float off a shelf for the burning hands killed a weak poltergeist, leaving a black sooty smudge with a clean human silhouette inside. Some kind of ghostly aura surrounded the broken urn. The poltergeist was going to throw the jars at enemies to have the jar spirits curse them. Omiros considered using them, but a bit of risk in moving and using and not really a good priest thing to do.

Found a staircase with relief carving of slaves in chains with nose rings being led by minotaurs. They stepped into it sure the stairs linked to a passage they passed earlier. A shadowy minotaur came from the wall asking: "who do you serve?"

Omiros babbled something flippantly and then realised this was a serious moment because 3 more minotaur shadows appeared from the art. There was a fight that wasnt too bad but Kiren lost some strength.

There were two more passages in the area, stairs aup and a long hall with red colums. They whent the long path and found a minotaur statue and a fancy javelin. Omiros went to the stairs and laid low while Kiren snatched the javelkin and ran. The lights flickered, the bull statue bellowed and released fog. Kiren got away and was impressed the javelin could scratch rock but he felt it made him bloodlusty. Omiros was happy to try and kept it.

The last room was a shrine of some unfamiliar bearded god fighting and eating babies with a glistening sickle in his hand. Omiros nabbed it and a black phantom from the underworld formed and Kiren attacked it. His usual fire fists didnt work well so he switched it to thunder power which was better. It was a fearful being he couldn't grapple with his elemental arts.

So they went to the exit after a rest and two minotaurs were guarding. They excitedly bellowed, and the adventurers approached them in a friendly manner with a wine bottle. Omiros threw the bottle to them as two more minotaurs came and their old priest came. Kiren bolted past all of them and down the stairs outside, and Omiros fireballed them. He was not a fan of their bloody war god and thought them untrustworthy despite Kirens' charming advances that seemed to be responded. He managed a second and killed the priest and injured the others. He was a bit surprised they were still alive and moved right into them. Meanwhile, Kiren lured two to him and the minotaurs charged with their axes and made bonus horn gores leave Kiren more battered than his whole career and knocked him back 10 feet. They managed to finish off the minotaurs and grabbed some gold and a silver medallion, and a rod. As they fled and looked back, they saw how huge the place was.

Omiros jumped on Kirens' back and they galloped all the way home to the polis of Kastros. They set to work selling stuff and got a crowd wherever they went. Priests renewed requests for written documents to complete translations of ancient books. They identified items and explained divinations revealed the gods are silent on what sin the ancients committed, but they have determined the curse that keeps the labyrinth haunted is based on 12 monsters, transformed from ancient courtiers involved in the fall.  

There was:
Spear +1 +2 vs humans
Sheild +1 +1 save vs draconic breath attacks
+2 Sickle
+2 Berserker Javelin (cursed and tries to atune to the wielder)
Rod a one-use rod of cancellation vs magic items or an effect

As the king awarded them permission to build bastions, they decided to adopt the ancient tower with an entry to the underworld ferry in the cellar. They set up a workshop with stonemasons and carpenters to work on repairing the structure. They wanted a tavern, and I said you can have a normal bar without staff or magic beer or special buffs, which they did. Built barracks, armourer, walls and well-appointed bedrooms. Had 10 staff and quickly met traders form local villages and the wild folk of the eastern woods.

I think they could probably expand bastions and more low-level types with lesser FX that can be upgraded later. A starting feat letting you have one might be good at 1st lv. 

When they popped back home after the first week they heard a giant clibed over the mountain and demanded the hounds of Geryon be released. A hellhound and son of Cerebus the underworlds guard dog (aka Spot) had been captured and locked in the city arena.

I intend to give them a checklist of cursed monsters and for language recovery.
Now the dungeon is only hours away since the Sphynx gone and any idiot can go try making money in a dungeon. The party have got idea there are secrets of the gods about the past civilisation and their gods hidden by senior priests.

Farmer Drama 2 Ethyria Farm Life +

Older possibly relevant post
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2015/07/year-on-domain.html
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2017/03/a-z-village-location-key.html
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2020/05/d100-strange-estates.html
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2016/09/d100-evil-frontier-farms.html do for wthy

possible to do for ethyria?
-Ethyrian Mutations with lots of snake tails, goat legs, etc

PART 1
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2025/07/farmer-drama-1-chagrinspire-farm-life.html

This is for my Ethyria book and game for my 5th-level players, getting bastions no,w and will interact with militias a bit more

Land owners and middle-class families can afford at least one hopoilite
Poor commoners were generally equipped as light infantry, archers or slingers

The really rich have chariots or at least a horse, but they are uncommon in the colony; war horses are the rarest. New roads have made imported horses more desirable. There are wild horses and ponies to the north of the island now open to adventurers.

Officer Ranks:
Taxiarch: Commander of a division (usually one from each tribe in Athens).
Strategos: General, elected from each division.
Polemarch: Commander of a mora (unit within the Spartan army).
Lochagos: Unit commander.
Enomotarchos: Commander of a sworn band.
Pentekonter: Commander of 50 men.

Farm life and rural strife
Most of the city and village people have farmland so even the rich see themselves as farmers. 
Sailors, ship owners and fishermen will work on maritime defence. Most Ethyrian colonists are familiar with the sea and farming and have been on a boat. Boats are important for trade.

Kallikantzaros goblins are common pesky faerie folk who steal and prank villagers, but can be placated with cake and sausages thrown on the roof. They are hairy and goat legged.

d10 Quick drama Types

1 Weather

2 Labour

3 Crops & Livestock

4 Crime

5 Defence

6 Discovery

7 Neighbors

8 Structure

9 Sylvan 
10 Supernatural

 
d100 Ethyria Farm Life 

01 Sudden storm endangers shipping and trade, with possible shipwrecks  

02 Unseasonal hot spell makes crops thirsty and water short

03 Eerie mist comes from the sea or mountain 

04 Unseasonal cold snap or frost 

05 Flood where creeks overflow banks and new streams in the hills

06 Still quiet weather with clear sky, no rain or sailing

07 Dust winds from beyond the northern mountain 

08 Earthquake causes some damage and scares livestock

09 Stunningly good sun and breeze, and extra fishing at sea

10 Musical wind makes animals excitable and hazardous
11 Seasonal workers are in short supply and need to get more 

12 Satyrs and dryads keep taking labourers away

13 Sickness spreads through workers

14 Workers demand d4 1=pay 2=a feast 3=better conditions 4=better food 

15 Trouble maker stirs up workers with stories, and some go adventuring in a dungeon

16 Cultist among the workers tries to recruit

17 Lycanthropes among workers

18 Cult sacrifices a worker, and others are afraid

19 Trouble maker encourages workers and slaves to revolt

20 Satyr keeps leading workers into wild late-night revelry

21 Plague of vermin d4 1=snakes 2=scorpions 3=moles 4=locusts 5=ra

22 Predatory beast attacks livestock d4 1=wolf 2=lion 3=giant snake 4=jackals

23 Fungus or disease of crops outbreak

24 Rustlers are stealing livestock (possibly satyrs or centaurs)

25 Mystery person casting curses on crops and beasts

26 Faerie leading livestock into peril

27 Sinister sylvan beings seen spying and pilfering items

28 Unusual beast in area d4 1=talking goat 2=amphisbaena 3=giant 4=dragon

29 Monsters stealing food 1=harpy 2=goat legged hairy goblins 3=cyclops orcs 4=ogre

30 Hydra eats one crop by night and runs away
31 Important animal stolen

32 Roving bandits in the area

33 Charletan, selling inferior goods, after selling out, flees the island by the next ship

34 Chaletan pretends to be an expert or hero and tells wild, dangerous stories

35 Travelling entertainers are also thieves

36 Youth gang of well-off bored children from better-off classes

37 Terrible murderer has fled, and people are alarmed and shocked by the deaths

38 Someone is murdered, and a mob demands that someone be punished quickly

39 Grannery is robbed, and there may be a trail

40 Someone is stealing offerings from a shrine

41 Gang of roaming monsters require militia patrols

42 Militia patrol members disappear; where are they?

43 Satyrs or centaurs or wild folk causing mischief and looking for wine

44 Militia busy on coast d4 1=gang of ship wreckers using a false beacon to guide ships into the rocks and loot the remains 2=smugglers 3=slavers 4=pirates

45 Barbaric warlord demands tribute or to meet on the battlefield

46 Pirates seen and not friendly ones, locals know, militia and scouts on the lookout

47 Seasonal goat legged hairy goblins from a cave prank locals if they dont give them sausages and honeycake. Each gang have their own surface raiding season once a year

48 Village militia declares competitive military games, but one team cheats

49 Miltia were drunk while raiders attacked d4 1=cave folk 2-cyclops orcs 3=forest wild folk 4=northern barbarians

50 A giant and a d4 pets and followers have eaten some farmers and are looking for a lost dog
51 Discover a sealed tomb mound in fields

52 Discover ancient armour and weapons in fields 
53 Discover possible bones of giants or megafauna

54 Discover a sinkhole into an underworld cavern

55 Discover buried ruins still intact

56 Discover a supernatural being or monster that lives close by in the wilderness

57 Discovery of buried treasure gets everyone local searching 

58 Discovery of a strange grotto or cave

59 Discovery of a magic spring

60 Discovery of a haunted ruin 
61 Neighbours caught trying to move borderstones 

62 Mean neighbours and a kinsman caught in a shocking affair that could start a fight 

63 Neighbour caught sabotaging rivals' farm

64 Neighbour keeping strange hours and hiding something in the barn

65 Neighbour keeps trying to lure stud animals into their herds

66 Neighbour enraged attacks the next farm workers or family over a foolish grudge

67 Neighbour plotting and bribing officials to gain an advantage over the next farm

68 Neighbour kids disappear exploring a cave they found

69 Neighbour proposes a contest or bet to solve a dispute

70 Neigbor offers family alliance via marriage and will be offended if rejected
71 Fire damages a building

72 Building struck by lightning

73 A Crack in the earth damages the building

74 Road washed out by mudslide

75 Rockslide deposits tons of rubble on farm

76 Old building needs repairs, discover a strange token hidden in the roof

77 Faerie folk infest roofs and make noises

78 Something large is burrowing under the fields or the floor of the house

79 Locals demand structure build d6 1=road 2=hall 3=tomb 4=grannery 5=shrine 6=church

80 Someone found an underground complex or abandoned building
81 Field spirits detected in crops, sacrifice might please them and secure their aid

82 Spirit seen in the forest, glaring at civilisation, perhaps a sacrifice or pact will subdue its rage

83 Magical hermit has been seen living in a cave with animal friends

84 Nature spirits and sylvan beings meet to slow the spread of civilisation

85 Dryad or Nymph seeks aid against some blight on her domain

86 Hunter is missing, and their dogs returned home

87 Giant boar menaces the area, and famous hunters try to take it 

88 Man returns after missing decades living with a dryad

89 Centaurs or satyrs d4 1=trade 2=demand booze 3=kidnapping 4=festivities

90 Unicorns seen blessing a local spring for forest animals
91 Elemental wild and roaming found in the wilderness near the farm

92 Ghost haunting an old building has been disturbing locals and demands justice

93 Pesky minor faerie pranksters need dealing with

94 Someone has a miracle - a gift of the gods

95 Talking animals heard near farms

96 Someone has been sending curses to farmers and their farms

97 An undead is roaming at night and requires help to rest in peace

98 Wild omens seen by farmers are interpreted by various oracles and seers

99 Supernatural being has fathered multiple children area possibly with deceit

100 Someone met a stranger who they now think was a god

d12 Spell Book Defences

Have a magic fruit and veg table coming

Also i considered my first idea for a 5th-ed thing I might do when i run another setting - alignment-based feats to sorta do some campaign stuff and make it clear whose side you're on. Id rather solve problems with spells or feats than subclasses. Will do more Ethyria mega dungeon work too.   

Fancy Spellbooks
Books should be scary and cool treasure. Some of the more common ones will have limited uses vs the more high powered ones. Books should be scary, maybe I need a d100 dank magic books?

Student Book (Lv 0-4) issued by the school with 1 common defence
Master's Book (Lv 5-8) teachers' book with d2-1 common and 1 magic defence
Mage (or Magus or Magi) Book (Lv 9-12) with d3-1 common and d2 magic defence
High mage (Lv 13-16) with d3 common and d3 magic defence and one legendary
Archmage Book (Lv 17-20) with d4 common and d4 magic defence, and d2 legendary

d12 Smell my spellbook

1 Vinigar

2 Urine

3 Sour wine and beer

4 Drug abuse (ashtray or hash pipe)

5 Inscence

6 Spicy food

7 Horny bachelor sheets

8 Old socks

9 Mouldy food

10 Desperate old men

11 Stinky cheese

12 Septic meat

d12 Look at my spellbook cover

1 Shiny brass plates

2 Wooden case holding folios or tablets

3 Leather of some hideous beast

4 Leather of a tattooed human

5 Leather of a humanoid's face

6 Wooden cover painted with something awesome (like a wizard's sk8oard)

7 Luminous wizard rune

8 Luminous school rune (1in6 with library stamp)

9 Silver plates with ornate occult diagrams

10 Gold plates with semiprecious stones

11 Iron plate with the  symbol of a house, cult, school or religion

12 Looks and feels alive alive 1in10 can open eyes and bite d3 or has tentacles

d12 Check This Out

1 Several small critters live in the book, usually bugs or mice

2 Worms eaten with maggots, eaten out some sections

3 Blood splattered 1in4 an occult symbol

4 Crazed footnotes and occult diagrams

5 Some kind of code secreted into the book
6 Secret map d4 1=dungeon 2=portal 3=hidden tomb 4=another plane

7 Has a corner chewed off

8 Name and contact details of owner or school

9 Terrible wizard poetry

10 Pages are missing as "man was not meant to know"

11 Several wizard scrolls used as bookmarks d4 levels worth of spells 

12 Horrific Art d4 1=dimensional porn 2=torture 3=vivisection 4=monsters

d12 Common Defences
1 Poison Ink - studying without due care causes cumulative poisoning. Each day of study, save or reduce max HP by one. Target does not notice this, but if they get under half, others will express concern for health and rapid ageing. Each week without touching the book restores one to maximum until you reach your normal amount

2 Venemous pet - holds a poison snake, scorpion, snail or spider is kept in a compartment inside the spine. 1in6 the pet has died and is flat 

3 Lock - book has a metal lock. 1in4 has a poison needle trap

4 Spores - cultivated spores blast from the book when opened first time each day, save if within 1m or choke for 3d4 rounds, losing 1HP per round and contracting a respiratory disease. A dust mask helps; sunlight makes spores safe while opened after the first blast. Otherwise, save at least daily while handling without a mask 

5 Lotus Dust - either a trap or relic of a drug-abusing wizard, each day of study without due care, save or exposed enough, you can't sleep or rest properly to recover spells for a d4 days. Nightmares might be prophetic or reveal lost memories or past lives

6 Trap - the book is stiff to open due to the metal-jawed trap that is set by opening. If touched, make a save or d8 damage and latches onto the thief's hands. Has a deactivation mechanism 1in4 dont work

7 Gas - a d4+1 rounds after opening gas is released in the face of the reader d4 1=2d4 acid save halves 2=poison various grades 3=vile miasma save or spend a d4 rounds helpless and vomiting and lose 1HP per round 4=hallucinatory 

8 Disease - maybe the wizard was sick or unhygienic, maybe it's a deliberate trap.

9 Vermin Ridden - swarm of bugs, worms or flies live in the book and protect it unless you sing a relaxing song well

10 Wrapped in chains with a lock

11 Waterproofed - some wax or varnish protects the book from water damage, damp and mould

12 Durable - book has +2 on saving throws

d12 Magic Defences

Many can be detected as a one-use spell-like effect recharged by the creator. Identify may tell password and Dispel Magic are the best solutions
1 Magic Mouth - activates if opened without password d4 1=screams 2=threatens wizards wrath 3=insulting threat 4=cries out thief theif!

2 Puzzle Lock - a complex mental combination logic puzzle requires solving 

3 Wizard Lock - requires a knock spell, password or higher-level wizard to open

4 Fire Trap - password or explosion d4+1 per level,

5 Ward - password or 2 damage per user level, or some other spell effect released

6 Flare Trap - flashes when opened, any in 3m looking save or blinded for a d4 days, if saved -2 to sight rolls until rested

7 Book is a weapon d4 damage and +1 to hit and damage

8 Curse vs non-owner usage

9 Maddening - crazed, demented scrawling and diagrams drive the reader mad, save each day of study or gain a new phobia (d4 1=worms 2=bugs 3=tentacles 4=slime)

10 Fireball - 5d6 fireball ignites from the book without a password (may destroy the book)

11 Salamander Skin - fire resistant and +2 save vs fire 

12 Magical - only harmed by magic weapons or spells

d12 Legendary defences

1 Spectral Guardian - mysterious figure or creature appears to defend if opened without password, AC+4 HD d8/Wiz level Att d8 weapon Morale 12 Mov 12 (must remain near the book) or may make one 1HD figure per level but they only do a d6

2 Familiar lives in extradimensional space inside the book and may outlive the creator

3 Shift Alignment saves each day studied or alignment changes, will change one part at a time to agree with the book's owner. Remove the Curse to restore to normal 

4 Shrink to pocket size or back on command

5 Curse once per day, cumulative on the same user on any unauthorised reader

6 A god keeps tabs on any wielders of the book to see if they use it correctly

7 Prison keeps a monster inside to guard if opened without a password, it steps out of the book's art and vanishes when killed d4 1=dragon 2=giant 3=golem 4=demon

8 Transpacial Realm - can open a portal or draw the user inside if they fail a save. d4 1=dungeon 2=palace 3=vault 4=house

9 Nightmare - if studied a day without a password will meet a frightening being in dreams, save -4 or die of fear

10 Binding Book - holds a powerful supernatural being that guards the book and serves the caster. If master dead and released, may be hostile or offer a task as a reward: d4 1=undead 2=elemental 3=planar being (angel, devil, demon, sucubus 4=faerie

11 Spirit Book - houses a ghost of a past owner who possesses any suitable users, the body owner soul is trapped in the book and can possess a new body once acclimatised after a d4 months 

12 Golem Book - turns to pages as commanded, has a dour face on the cover that can speak the book's contents. Most are quite dull but efficient 1in6 are brilliant and quixotic, weirdo golems possibly mad

More Murder Hobos & Non-Humans Join In

Did you know you can meet not just murder hobo parties in a dungeon, but there are common types to look out for. These parties or warbands attack the dungeon for treasure. They dont want to share, and humans are just another dungeon humanoid to them.

Each party has a name
Each is out for gold and glory or relics
Maybe adventurers might be holding relics they own
Or maybe humans just look at them funny

Also, this d12 for any rival parties

d20 What Made Adventurers Turn Bad?
1 Greed and murder turn them increasingly cruel and craving blood and gold
2 Debt from vices like drugs, gambling, and carousing. Gotta kill to make more money again
3 Tragic backstories have made them bitter edgelords and they dress the part, and they use them to justify cruelty and vindictiveness
4 Evil cultists influenced them with treasure and unrestrained killing, leading adventurers to embrace a strange cult for a purpose in life
5 Evil patron employed them on increasingly dank missions to wear down their empathy for others with gold and violence
6 Vain and proud, obsessed with some personal code and revenge against rivals trying to steal their glory and gold. Might request a duel, but will want a blood feud
7 Desperate bastards and lesser children of nobility desperate for money and power and to be accepted or revenged against families
8 Obsessed with vengeance and needing cash, anyone in the way is an enemy who does not matter
9 Tainted by evil through mean deeds and contamination from lurking in haunted places
10 Medical problems, brain damage, dementia, diseases, parasites, mutagens
11 Psychotic and ultra-violent, d4 1=berserkers 2=paranoid & deluded 3=crazed canibals 4=ethos of violence and evil from hellish influence
12 Tainted by curses, evil books, alien spores and forbidden occult knowledge, now nobody else matters, only the acquisition of more dark knowledge. Possibly, they had a well-intentioned reason once and may even have been on other planes
13 Been desperate for food and starved in the wilderness, made them bitter survivalists and, in some cases, cannibals
14 From desperate poverty or had been living homeless for a while. Now we are desperate to make good and live well, possibly flamboyantly and a bit vulgar. Crushed velvet hats with feathers might be a sign that they make money
15 Homeless veterans living on the road, doing odd jobs, murdering people for small change or boots. Maybe even eaten someone once in hard times. Pissed off and scarred
16 Former agents of a faction are doing increasingly odd, violent jobs. Even worse now, freelance. May adventure for cash, bounties or on a quest for an employer. Dirty, competitive and users
17 Served in the military and became jaded to slaughtering humanoids in dungeons with a millitary organisation. They only think of their group and survival and have all become worse
18 Prison escapees, lived as bandits on the run and now dungeon raiders for cash and a way to get back good in with civilisation. Paranoid and willing to use lethal ambushes and lots of sneaky thieves
19 Members of an order involving beatings and mindless suffering and lost empathy for those not so enlightened. Become more indifferent to others and maybe rationalise murder with philosophy and reincarnation
20 Young brat pack able to torment others without consequence and the approval of families. Cool to be cruel rakes and harlots who live for parties, vice and breaking taboos. Murdering dungeon monsters becomes pleasant like hunting or fishing, a relaxing hobby. Probably best they dont hang around urban areas so much now

d20 Past Dirty Deeds of Party
1 Robbed and murdered a caravan or shop when needed cash
2 Killed a town sheriff and some bailiffs, and militia
3 Massacred a humanoid village and sold their bones and teeth

4 Killed everyone in a tavern

5 Captured and sold slaves

6 Slaghtered a noble in their manor and defiled the household

7 Killed some priests and robbed the church while villagers watched

8 Slaughtered refugees fleeing a crisis

9 Massacred a village for kicks
10 Burned down a school or orphanage
11 Angered a dragon that rampaged over a region in revenge
12 Driven out of town by an angry mob
13 Took over a town and ran it into the ground with corruption and vice

14 Betrayed former employers, killing and robbing them

15 Corrupted a noble youth, they were meant to rescue 

16 Ran a famous dungeon as bosses until adventurers destroyed it
17 Started a war between humans and a humanoid species
18 Released a monster or demon
19 Sold soul to hell or joined a cult
20 killed the last survivors of a sentient species

Non-Human Hurder Hobos
These are for some variety from killing humans. They could range from evil characterisations you would never trust to more ambiguous or even deceptive ones in false garb and smiles.

d12 Non-Human Murder Hobos
1 Dwarves! Most parties are a bunch of basic dwarf warriors with at least 2 experts, including a thief and a spellcaster. Each group has a boss and a sub-boss, and they are mad for loot and glory in battle. d4 1=Gun crazed drunks and wary of humans stealing their tech, also like black powder grenades 2=Crazed cultist psionic dwarves or derro party 2=Dwarf mercenaries need cash for some dwarf cause at any cost 4=Dwarf berserks out for glorious death
2 Elves! Most elves have a mix of combat and magic skills, with a leader. They usually are on a magic quest for relics or lost artworks. d4 1=sadistic dark elves like mischief and stealth 2=high elf supremists snub dirty humans to spite them 3=wood elf scouts mostly archers with skirmish tactics and light armour 4=grey elf knights  

3 Orcs! Often a squad with warriors, scouts, a leader and a spell caster, seeking adventure and violence without restraint, d4 1=serve the dark lord, hunting foes and relics 2=hell orcs fight for a duke of hell 3=orc mercenaries, famous for cruelty 4=barbarian orc berserkers seek priests and wizards to kill
4 Goblinoids! A mixed band of 3d4 goblins, 2d4 hobgoblins and a d3 bugbears. One will be a boss and one a spellcaster. They are exploring for anything beneficial for their trips, from food to loot or good places to colonise. d4 1=serve faerie via messages 2=barbaric goblin bandits 3=bat riders with bows and giant bats for goblins 4=wolf riders with wolf riging goblin archers

5 Halflings! Usually a skirmisher group with a boss after wealth so they never have to work or go hungry again d4 1=plate armoured war vets, 2=theives guild of killers, 3=dungeon robbing mercenary, 4=halfling cult with robes and a spell caster 
6 Gnomes! Most can fight and use spells and have other minor powers. One is usually a leader and they are quite cautious and sneaky d4 1=Murderous redcaps bandits with sickle swords and growth spells 2=black caps are evil brigands, slavers and smugglers and greedy villains who like vice and poison and cruelty 3=gloomy underland greycap gnomes often with guns and an automaton, like to march invisibly,  4=nature gnomes with pet animals and animal forms to escape
7 Giantkin, often half ogres, ogres, trolls, monster pets, led by a giant that can fit in a dungeon like a hill giant. Food and violence is enough of a reason to be in a dungeon or to take over. d6 1=formarian chaos mutant giant with chaos gang 2=one ogre is a priest of the cannibalism god of hunger 3=mutants in group with extra heads and/or tentacles 4=infested by parasites or gremlins or insect swarms depending on demon patron 5=boss is handsome and civilised giant idealist 6=undead, hungry
8 Changeling shapeshifting spirit folk, all skilled at unarmed combat and magic, some specialise as monks or sorcerers - change between human and alternate form. Often have strange quests for alignment reasons. Evil ones want to cause suffering and to eat people. Others are indifferent or well intended d4 1=animal species 2=elemental spirit 3=demon cambion 4=angelic  5=plant or fungus spirits 6=monster like unicorn or dragon

9 Abhuman beast folk party of one type of beast hybrid humanoids often hunting or seeking glorious battle or on a quest d4 1=mammal 2=reptile 3=amphibian 4=bird 5=arthropod 6=fish
10  Abhuman humanoid seeking adventure and battle d6 1=barbarian (human or orc) 2=amazons (human or orc) 3=wild hairy forest folk 4=subtereanean cave folk
11 Abuhman unusual types often seek survival or on a quest, indifferent to rivals' existence d6 1=plant 2=fungus 3=slime 4=android 5=necroid 6=element or several exotic combined elements
12 Party of minor supernatural beings and a leader, often in disguise on an alignment-based mission, may have lesser minions and prisoners d4 1=demons 2=devils 3=rakasha 4=ogre magi 5=undead 6=archon and minions

Chagrinspire: Conquest of Shankheim

Ethyria book update - all surface ruins are described, 
some map symbols need work, and inset map art each spread
Then onto level two. It's a bit odd as im writing for BX style but running as 5th ed

Chagrinspire has had a player with some struggles for a while. We have an emerging old school scene here and had a meetup and having a minor con every 3 months. Im running my Intro to Planet Psychon. Hoping I can get one or two new players. The study has started too and need a job asap.

latest Game
The man with no name, the bishop of the Gateway kingdom, got their demon ichor-powered paddleboat fitted with a mortar and set off to the lake country. Rat warrior woman Sonya, Bishop's bodyguard and the water scavengers gang, plus a few frog folk marine commandos, came along. Disguised as slavers, they set off to the Pickleton Bulwark. At first sight, the man with no name put on his frog mask and, with the able frog warriors, went ahead attaching clay-bodied sea mines with a fuse on the bulwark pylons.

Then, as advised by the gods of light, the steamer pulled up at the bullwark and all their leaders and many visitors came to see the famous golem ship. The man with no name said he was here to get the wizards researching gun technology and played the part of a crotchety cynical captain who won't take no for an answer. He explained the guild has the paddle steamer again and trade will return.

The Bulwark was a cross-project of an Eastern continent merc guild here to get superior weapons to end the warring kingdoms with better guns, a merchant guild represented by the mayor and a criminal guild. He loaded the wizards and sailed away. They were complaining about the ship having dung on the deck and went upstairs. A frog lit the fuses and swam back to the boat. As the two wizards seated themselves, the Bishop could not lie so kept away in the bridge above. When the Bulwark and its gunpowder stores and lab violently exploded, killing almost everybody.

The man with no name quick-drew his magic blunderbus and shot both. They resisted the confusion effect. They resisted a hold person from upstairs and some other attacks; one was unconscious. The other stronger wizard teleported away with the unconscious follower. Mission failed. Further divination and their names indicated they were returning to the capital of the mad  Emperor down south. Ruled by a warmongering demigod, players had not killed for years now.

So a bit frustrated about that job, they chugged to the other side of the lake and got dropped off with a frog sailor and a water scavenger. They in disguise, got right into Shankheim, and it was a mess of starving men eating grass and bugs and chewing tree bark. The first men who saw them charged so they webbed them and marched into the square. They could also see across the river, north was the slave fort. frog marines had let loose food-eating bugs into the village and fort. There were signs or incomplete fortifications of the village and signs that they were forcing half the villagers out of their homes for slaver troops. The party got guild signs from the Shankheim scavengers, made to be servants. The officers poorly in control of usually 11 out of 12 morale men who asked for food, and the party said they would get some.

They marched towards home on the trade route they helped popularise. On the way met some worm cultists (apparently eating slavers) and merchant mutant farmers with carts of musk cabbage for the soldiers. The party bribed them to come with them to the party lands and would personally introduce them to the river crossing market traders. Reached home to meet the paddleboat, sent it to the lake with troops. The party gathered 300 barbarians, including wild forest folk and beast folk barbarian warriors. They bought 3 wagons of cabbage beer, which they drugged, and some turnips. The warriors hung back while the party, with some farmer militia to manage the donkey carts. The hungry soldiers drank heavily and stuffed themselves, many passing out with the party joining them. One of the sub commanders passed ou,t and the big boss stood up and pointed out that something was wrong and got stabbed by the Man with no name. local guild folk servants started stabbing the drunken soldiers while the party fought their leaders. The boss surrendered, but the bishop summoned his burning throne of light to sear chaotic evil enemies while levitating on his glowing throne.

Slavers in the fort could see this, but not react, as they had a problem. There was smoke above the clifftop fort over the river. 

After the battle, some local scavengers and rat farmers were convinced the Bishop's religion looked freaking awesome. All listened to The man with no name declare he was the guildmaster and mayor. The real gyuildmaster was locked up back in the party base. He came to them for help when slavers took over. They took his money to help ex-slaves. Shankheim had many useful skills. The locals ate and drank the leftover drugged food and drink, and passed out.

In the morning, slave pikemen in masks marched from the cliffs and reached the ferry that began taking men 12 at a time across. The party watched and was ready. After about fifty men had crossed, barbarian pony riders swept through, killing them all, and the allied ferrymen fled. Furious 2050 men began cutting trees and building. The Bishop made magical food on their side of the river for the starving enemy to see. Finally, their crowded rafts headed over, and the man with no name had hidden archers shoot alchemical incendiary arrows at the new rafts while frog folk helped tip the boats over and sink 2 rafts. Sixty more men were killed. The slavers retreated to their castle. With the captured rafts the party allied barbarians and frog marines crossed in pursuit. The fort sent an envoy promising to surrender the fort if given time to flee. The party agreed but saw the cheats sending 200 men overland and 150 going into the underground train station to the slavers' secret freight train. So the party sent the barbarians to wipe out the surface slavers for betrayal. They scattered, and some were picked off by mutants and undead of the swamp. A small few got back to the next slaver outpost and probably gained a level and some parasites or mutations. Chrysopasia is nominated as guildmaster by the man with no name and his representative.

The party plans to assault the train at the station. This station could be connected to their trailine. The B team of flunkies had finished the line to the barbarian fort station, through Turnipton, through to the adventurers' guild and the underplateau station. The train is their last link across the continent due to party meddling. That's why an army came to kill them and has now had a humiliating defeat.

Party considering visiting the hidden rat folk city, meeting mutants, taking two forts controlled by cults, and working out if elemental templars settlements are trouble or not. They have a blob added to the map with a hex and a half. They also have a border with undead and mutants in a swamp.  

One hex they passed through on foot was perfect for frog and toad folk as crawling with bugs. The Fort, Village and army camp they ruined with giant bugs were now feeding their troops. Friendly frog prince explains the frog kingdoms could produce 4-5 thousand soldiers in 4 years. The party noted they were mysteriously very effective at holding wetlands. They had also stopped all fish from going downriver to starve the fort. 

Thuvia of the stars, her undead brother and the dwarf prince priest had been adventuring inside the Chagrinspire just a bit. Stealing furnishings for their palace and inns. The party hope the visiting Archbishop will resurrect Thuviuas' brother. Divination reveals her celestial dynasty was killed off a thousand years ago.

Arsh the Dog folk druid had discovered two new hidden villages on ancient parts of the ancient aqueduct and has built his own. The druid village is very friendly, and the Elemental Templar is a mystery. Thousands of years ago, barbarians killed them all off several times when the elemental cults ruled supreme.

King Nebos at home building with some young giants and masons he has gathered.

Apparently, the land is short on nature spirits, and so bringing plant petty gods here is helpful. Also, Black Sphere killed and imprisoned gods for power. They know where two slime gods are imprisoned.