6-Room Dungeon 12: Hell Gate

Coincidentally, some hellish stuff in my games.

My Theros party in a Clark Ashton Smith-inspired adventure in the floating ice skull island of a prehistoric wom wizard were considering fleeing and looked through one last door to see a puppy in a torture chamber with cells. A  dwarf lady with a beard, elf without arms and a cell of treasure.  So they went in and puppy laughed and it said mean stuff. Was an Ice devil. Bad news in 5th ed. Good warmup before the worm wizard.

My weekly D&D5 game party on an island of folk horror villages. Village one, they drove off fish folk and crashed the fishing economy. Party helping restore trade and so helping the brewing and farming industries. 

Next village, they tolerated the angler fish cult who hated the other fish folk so party tolerated them marrying men to their moronic fish goddess Lampgulp and fuse with her flesh until eternity. There was a village with weird memory loss patients in an asylum and lots of wizards. Then last session they found anti-mutant swamp folk. Party disgusted and went to look at freakshow to learn about mutants. Saw locals tormenting small muties in a drain and a party halfling offered to get them out but put them in his bag of holding. At the freakshow, they beat up the owner, killed him, set the mutants free. Then burned the tents. They escaped in a cave and saw a vast lake of filth, the God Abhoth spawning small mutants. They found a way out and the Mayor was waiting.  The mayor who hated the freakshow told them to leave before the mob found them. 

Next village the saw a rich green hilltop of nice houses around it all surrounded by a white fence. Everywhere else was filth with mine pits and dirty mounds and rude wooden shacks. So they went to see a witch and sold orc corpses to sea trolls and on way home late saw the posh villages are alight in green flame from a well. Naked and robed locals were pushing someone in a well. So party killed them all to save the stranger while the villagers watched in horror and fled. Three large angry mobs formed. One was smashing shops on the way, others beating drums and burning an effigy and another led by an insane opportunist. 

So party fled all night through a swamp. Had a rest before going to village in sight and 3 werewolves attacked. One got roasted by the rescued strangers' fireball and she saved the other two from death and they reverted to women. Had rest and tied resentful and silent women's arms. They arived in village that seemed into hunting and had lots of wolves. Sheriff and posse demanded women be freed, party hand over weapons and come to the courthouse for questioning. So party killed the cops and the women broke free and fled. 

The party spent another day and night crawling through swamps exhausted, they arrived in the friendly but decadent Pig Town where they were welcome. Even local pig orcs helped tell other orcs no homicidal strangers were in area. The corpulent hedonist nobles welcomed the party and invited them to feast tomorrow. Was very satisfying to exhaust and chase players for days. I thought they got along with some jerk villages pretty well before this. While resting Glub Glub the the singing barbarian was getting suspicious about this village. Priest detected the rich were evil supernatural beings. Party tried to get along with poor but because the halfling had a piglet in a fancy costume the commoners shunned them. Local priest of the Sun-Boar seemed to be pro light but was evil fat rich bastard too. While glub glub and priest and the rescued stranger a real priest of light discussed what to do the bored halfling instead played with magic beans. 

First grew a fabulous tree of magic fruit. The second a 60 foot high pyramid releasing a mummy lord. Others saw this and The barbarian jumped out the window berserk. Dwarf ran down stairs and buffed most of team. Priest upstairs was fireballing and zapping the mummy with spells. He kept uncursing and healing party. It was a way too hard battle where the halfling was knocked out. The huge broad-jowled sheriff joined in with a magic halberd. Lots of great teamwork and the barbarian went in the pyramid and smashed the mummy heart jar. I rewarded them with lots of loot and they all knew it was a near TPK. The light priest who was casting from the inn said the halfling deserved squat for playing with beans. The locals cheered the heroes who saved the village from the mysterious pyramid and all the local pigs squealed with delight. 

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This is the final in this set of tables, but I'm doing a second set to expand this series. I might combine and edit final set. Id consider making it for charitry on drive-through but id rather it go to charity as i have to do lots of paperwork on earnings and I can't be bothered. It seems a feasible product.

1 Redbrick
2 Goblin Mine
3 Gothic Tomb
4 Magic Mansion
5 Glacial Chasm
6 Jungle Shrine
7 Underland Cavern
8 Auldwood Grove
9 Sunken City
10 Desert Ruin
11 Eldritch Monolith
12 Hell Gate

This is for medieval-style portals to hell.
Its not fair or nice.

Im considering a game where dnd5 party get to plane travel by swaping with their local incarnations or past lives so each game they can respec their class/sill/feats/spells whatever on a new character sheet. We wou;d learn more about the game anmd people could try weird stuff. People can return to old worlds and update their character. Even if they died on the new plane they would have the skills of their local cosm or perhaps a player misfires and has a old buiold on the wrong world.

https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2021/04/planar-emanations-influences.html
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2021/01/myriad-petty-planes-of-multiverse-pt1.html
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2021/02/myriad-petty-planes-of-multiverse-pt2.html

Do look at Bruegel's or Bosh landscapes of hell and other medieval images for ideas. 

The Netherworlds of the Seven Hells
Their are seven hells
-1 Underworld a gloomy miserable place for unclaimed souls, a gateway region with various old gods and titans and tiamat have been imprisoned in crumbling palaces and kingdoms. There are links to the void, nightmare realm and remnants of the ancient underworld of the Dawn age underworld before aeons of cosmic war. The rich who were buried well and keep getting sacrifices live better. Benevolent cthonic gods bring the fructifying powers of the underworld to the vegetation and fertility of the mortal world. The roots of the world tree are here gnawed by Nidhog the dragon of entropy. The first gate of hell is guarded the judges of the dead whe send the wicked beyond to the apocalypse. Their are many beings here not allied with hell like dragons, underworld spirits or imprisoned "dead" gods, dragons and giants of the ancients who all seek release but channel power to their cults. The great dragonspawning pits of the mortal realm connect to the great lair of Tiamat in her palace readying her army for the last battle  

-2 Apocalypse, an eternal plague wracked and war ravaged wasteland of walking dead. The dead here deal with sadistic inversions of the mortal realm lives. All have rotting flesh, disease, hunger, vermin and bodily torments. The dead here are slowly flensed of flesh but many carry their own hides and tie them like robes or belts or capes. The richer you were the worse your humiliation and attachment to mortality. The horizon has endless silhouettes of ruins with the burning walls of the inferno beyond. 
-3 Inferno a burning realm of torture with legions of devils with pitchforks. The last remnants of the body are purified by devils. Damned souls are kept in pits or cages or torture machines and tormentd by devils with pitchforks. Devils are rewarded for cruelty, domination and extracting new contracts from the damned. Some damned become larvae or mindless lemures, others become imps. Volcanoes, boiling lakes of blood anf burning jets og gas make travel dangerous off road. Hell tainted fire elementals visit here also 

-4 Virkan the hell bogs, a vast swampy jungle wetland with swarms, mutant dinosaurs, ruins of drowned civilisations. The damned here are infested with vermin like crabs, flies, worms or wasps gnawing on them constantly. They are feverish and often barely lucid. Prehuman snake, lizard and amphibian peoples serving hell live here and inhabit many of the ruins. This place is a paradise for them, and they use the damned as slaves or for food on their bug farms. Many rivers of the underworld flow here, including rivers of filth, hacked up corpses, zombies or edged weapons. Parts of the world tree grow here and green and black dragons dwell here. Devils here tend to be more scaly. Giant bugs thrive here. Corrupted naga, lamia, medusa, basilisks and other reptilian horrors live here too. The waters and mud are choked with rotting corpses and bones. You may uncover helpless, immobile, moaning bodies of the damed buried in muck or under waters. Undead may arise from the swamp anywhere and many protest their innocence as their bodies attack
-5 Kanos the ice hell a great glacier filled snowy wasteland. Damned here are frozen in stasis for future torments. Some can perceive the whole time and go mad. Devils and the inhabitants put on awful performances for them. They will saw open blocks to eat the flesh within delight. Yetis and elemental cold creatures dwell here. Damned frost giants, ogres, trolls and white dragons love it here, it is paradise. Various glaciers are rulled by local factions and the greatest is that of the ruler. Rivers of hell flow deep below  
-6 Mallus a dark bleak wastland of scarred rocks, ruins, thorn forests, burning trees and vast piles of bones. Fortified walls and roads cross the realm. Devils rule from ruined castles and towers where they torment damned and undead. They remove souls from bodies creating various non coporeal spiritual undead and the bodies are made coporeal undead. Their are rebel devils living alone ion caves and ruins who hope they will get their jobs back and may see outsiders as means to remove their replacements. Armies of hell march here exterminating vermin which might signify invasions of hell as this hell is one of the last defences. Great sentient seige engines wander about while not defending. Sometimes a demonic, elemental or angelic host enters here to battle and an awful war begins. Ruined factories and machines lie from an ade where hell was more automated and there are connections to the boiler room of hell. Lazy devils grew soft so the machine age was abandoned 

-7 Abadoth the city of the damned in a wasteland of fire and darkness with lakes of boiling blood. Most of hell is a single vast continent spanning city. Regions are ruined, many are horrendous ghettos with damed and devils cramped in squalor in crumbling apartments. Walls and gates divide the regions. Vast districts of record warehouses, treasuries and bureaucratic offices. Many inhabitants struggle to keep awful jobs, poor housing and face centuries of government red tape to improve their lot. There are links to hells sewers, boiler room and libraries. Many students of the black library live here outside school. Drink, vice, corruption, crime and worse are normal here. Devils are firmly in charge and imp spies are everywhere. The central palace of the ruler of hell towers over the city and they say it is possible to reach the mortal world.  

Other Netherworld Interplanar realms
There are sub planes linking hells you might try and travel through to avoid scrutiny of hell

-1 Hells Sewers are famous and they say link to many of the worlds cities if you go too deep. Damned, undead and rebel devils lurk here and other horrors
-2 Hells Boiler Room a series of industrial factory for soul processing, abandoned ages ago. People try to use it as a shortcut and regret it. Full of rusted machines, blood splatters and meat. Insane devils left here have gone mad and devolved into demons. Many are ogrish brutes with chains, surgical scars and cruel prosthetics. Many wear strange masks or clown faces. Nightmare entities and all kinds of corrupted planar beings might dwell here as their own kind would destroy them  
-3 The Black Library a tuition-fee-free magic school where anyone could learn wizardry! Students are recruited by imps and sign a contract. They are shown a portal through a mirror or artwork or secret door that was never there before so students can study unlawful spellcraft of witch cults. Most are wizards or sorcerers, some others learn just some petty magic and are guided in the ways of eternal law, wealth, power and domination for pleasure. Many of the wickedest people in history are said to have had secret lessons here. Students here are more likely to be guild or common class than the mortal world. You get taught by planar evil beings and have access to forbidden spells. Good for an evil magoic school campaign 
-4 The Dungeon Domain a sentient dimension with an infinite number of dungeon levels linking to many worlds. It is malicious and spreads hells power. By attracting adventurers and letting them anoint treasure in blood they bring home, the dungeon intrudes into a world more. Some dungeons have survivors of long gone worlds and all kinds of weird humanoids and monsters. Some levels even hav false suns and seem to be vast open spaces. Some levels are prisons for dead unwanted elder gods, titans, dragons and alien gods of the void. 
-5 Roots of The World Tree dwell goblioids, dark faerie, evil gnomes, dwarves and trolls. Many roots of the cosmic tree enter hell and can be used to escape or travel to other hells. Is it safe? Not really. Dark faerie beings desire mortal slaves. Good manners and gifts get you further than war. Whole kingdoms of veings were are ready to awarm against you and will take this grudge wherever you go  
-6 Nightmare Realm intersects the outer void and the dreamlands, but is more chaotic. Darkness and nightmare demons and hags dwell here also. Creatures from your own nightmares will visit you when you come here. The lords of this realm have created isolated fog shrouded realms of misery that dont even know they are not on the mortal world 
-7 Sargassum the seas of hell, which connect to the seven rivers of hell. It boders on other hells as as the sea. There are islands, reefs and ruins on the surface. Cursed huge ships, evil whales and sea monsters are common sights. Giant kelp forests choke regions andlift shipwrecks into the sky like forest trees above the waves. Once a larger landmass was here with civilisation but it was sunk by the lords of hell for arrogance. Most of the action happens underwater, where storms and icebergs are less of a problem. Undersea peoples and monsters are abundant, including dragons and fish folk. Some live in reef-shrouded ruins on the surface to deal with the surface. Many of the damned here toil as slaves or are gnawed by sea creatures. Shipwrecks are common on the sea floor and often occupied by monsters.  

d12 Rivers of Hell
1 Acheron the river of sorrow the main river used by ferry daemons to travel through hell. Dangerous live and aquatic daemons in it make crossing perilous

2 Cocytus the river of lamentations caries helpless, damned spirits and wails of the suffering
3 Lethe the river of forgetfulness, makes you forget your life story and loved ones, which helps you adjust to the afterlife or overcome troubling pasts. Some damned drink here as a final step before they advance to Elysian Fields or Arcadia

4 Phlegethon, the river of fire, a burning river of molten rock, used to punish the damned

5 Styx the river of hatred, used to make oaths to even gods abide by. Grants oath powers and assigns fates with deadly fates full of violence

6 Vaitarna the river of filth full or blood, sewerage and gore. Swarms of flies and diseased miasmas surround it

7 Gyull the freezing river full of dangerous, grinding ice and stabbing icicles. Frozen corpses are common 

8 Atos the river of swords, a flowing, grinding mass of bladed weapons, many rusted and bloodied. Any caught in it is sliced and ground into liquid and swept away

9 Yrgrr, the river of venom, crawling with snakes and a sticky green poison deadly to the touch. Bodies here are devoured by serpents

10 Zorbas, the devouring river, its acid dissolves away flesh and then slowly eats skeletons. Bones, horns and teeth cover the shores and are carried by the current. Slimy gelatinous horrors swim in it 

11 Magakos, the stone river can mineralise life in contact with it for too long and is poisoned with mineral salts anathema to life. Preserved bodies lay around the banks and under the surface. They could be unpetrified, then raised, but they may be ancient  

12 Orandor the river of dreams, delicious and addictive, its scent sraws people nearer. Those who touch it are charmed and drawn in to drown themselves in delight taking a d4 rounds. Content and peaceful bodies flow down the river, their spirits trapped in their own dreams. Devils often fish them out to torture or eat. Exotic lotus flowers, butterflies and sugary crystals  can be found on the banks  

d12 What can Hell do for me?
1 Find love perhaps by with potions or a charm, or hook up with cultists, witches, sylvan beings and supernatural humanoids. Hell's matchmakers will help you find a suitable mate, perhaps a magic one

2 Money is usually obtained by telling you where buried treasure is hidden, or might bring you coins minted in hell, which are addictive and illegal

3 Power through favours of rich patrons in league with hell, which can turn nasty

4 Magic items are often in proportion to your levels, or a sentient item that grows in power with you

5 Magical pets like a nightmare horse, a hellhound, a hellcat, an imp or maybe a baby dragon if you're lucky. They will serve you and destroy your enemies 

6 Diabolical counsellors who offer you schemes and information you need to overcome your enemies. Over time, they seem invaluable. If you can't cast a spell to contact or commune with them, they will visit you in your dreams, but often ask for some seemingly petty favour in return

7 Assign you minions of some non-human species or some human cultists; the higher your station, the more you rule

8 Buff your attributes, possibly if low level, a temporary potion or scroll. High-level souls are more valuable, and 10+ is worth a whole point at high level 10+

9 Improve your social status through support from hell cults, upscale your home and goods

10 Minor ability, lower levels might be able to cast a bonus low-level spell at higher level might be more permanant. 

11 Mutations that prove your dedication and may give you amazing powers if worthy, only fate can decide what powers you will get. You might have to go in hiding or cover your mutations

12 In time of need can summon protective devils. Low level might be a scroll or one use item but higher level may summon an imp or proper devils to your aid or othe creatures like hell hounds

d12 What might Hell do with me in a deal
1 Get you into performing small but escalating tasks like carrying notes or packages on your journey. At first, you won't see subtle effects of your actions, but escalate so it becomes obvious. Your messages might be for others obligated to hell and have horrible results. Will bother you less often we promise if you kill someone for us
2 Make you participate in some kind of secret hell cult or possibly lead or start one

3 Convince others to sell their souls, you can earn freedom or get more wishes as bonus commission

4 Encourage you to get public influence and power using the system, to do it with extra corruption and force. Other agents of hell will boost your message

5 Take this free imp familiar, just feed it a bit of your blood from this extra special nipple

6 Take some mutations to show you are strong and loyal

7 Prove loyalty to the cult by often performing ritual taboo acts like murder

8 Prove loyalty to the cult by often performing ritual taboo acts like murder

9 Adopt an imp, hellcat, fire toad or hellhound and care for it like your life depended on it

10 Aid in Hell's intrusions into this world by helping with summonings and portals 

11 Separate your spirit into various fragments; they can work in different forms, including shadows, lemures, larva, and other non-corporeal beings to increase your torment over potentially millennia. This is like banking for hell's currency backed by tormented souls
12 Get your corpse to work in mindless toil or war for eternity

d12 Hellgate Decor

1 Sulphurous imp turds

2 Unholy sigil or devil signature

3 Chains and manacles (1in6 with bodies)

4 Foul vapours often come from a vent or ornate carved face

5 Evil faces, murals, tiles, relief sculptures (d4 1=grins 2=open mouth 3=snarl 4=laughing)

6 Burning brazier, torches or iron lantern hanging from a chain

7 Torture apparatus (d4 1=iron maiden 2=wrack 3=small cage 4=stocks)

8 Blashphemous old book

9 Idol of a devil or small altar dedicated to a devil

10 Skulls and bones, possibly covering surfaces like an ossuary

11 Smoke, soot and ashes. On the ground, smeared around, drifting in air

12 Murals of frightening scenes (d4 1=torment of the damned 2=hell landscape 3=hells armies at war 4=prophecy with some familiar looking places and persons, possibly an illusion)

 d12 Hellgate Hazzards
1 Evil miasmas (d4 1=disease 2=stinking cloud 3=poison 4=hallucination)
2 Swarm of Vermin (d4 1=rats 2=snakes 3=flies 4=worms)
3 Pit trap with sealing lid, often with rotten corpses (d4 1=spikes 2=snakes 3=water 4=worms)

4 Barred and locked pit (d6 1=well 2=oubliette 3=crawlspace 4=undead 5=corpses 6=mutant) 

5 Lava pool or river, possibly with some kind of crossing or an island in the middle with a chest or altar 

6 Piles of red gold coins with a trident on one side and portraits of hell's nobles on the reverse, curses holders with greed, jealousy, and paranoia

7 Invisible imps or frolicking petty elementals

8 Bubbling pools or river, possibly with a crossing (d4 1=boiling 2=diseased 3=fire toads lair 4=full of snakes 5=undead 6=flammable oil)

9 Trapped chests will be locked with a basic trap and a magic trap like a curse. Some treasure within

10 Hellcat or whispering imp offer to serve you for a year and make your dreams come true if you join hell

11 Jets of flame 

12 Pool of acid

d12 Hell Gate Encounters
1 Hell cultists who meet here or on pilgrimage

2 Hell mercenary soldiers or evil orc warriors

3 Mischievous imps playing some grisly sport

4 Mindless lemures gibbering in a pool of bubbling muck

5 Hellhounds on patrol 1in6 with a cult or undead huntmaster with a horn

6 Shadows arise from the floor and walls or art

7 Ghouls led by a ghast or other 

8 Evil darkness templar priests

9 Diabolical wizard and kobold bodyguards

10 Undead led by (d4 1=priest 2=necromancer 3=undead knight 4=)

11 Hellish Gargoyles

12 Lesser Devil on several patrols

d12 Hell Gate Static Encounters
1 Camp of cultists with mercenaries led by wizards and/or a priests here to worship

2 Coven of witches with imp familiars and other diabolical pets like hell goats, cats or hounds
3 Hag is cooking up someone to feed her brood of larvae. She hangs here to trade these damned souls. She can be helpful if you're polite or give her a kiss or she can be dangerous 

4 Undead hell cultists and damned mercenaries. Led by a more powerful undead 

5 Hell-tainted gargoyles, ready to awake if disturbed, seem to be part of the architecture

6 Lesser devils torturing victims

7 Hell knights are camping with prisoners to sacrifice and treasure. Resting after robbing and murdering (sometimes they are undead or mutated)

8 Bronze bull gorgon ridden by a lesser devil

9 Devil swine in human form, having a magnificent feast served by slaves, happy to talk to strangers, but if angered, change to swine forms

10 Devil with imps playing infernal music with instruments formed or tormented damned souls that scream in pain as played

11 Devil with lesser devil guards or hellhounds, busy at a desk writing contracts. Will calmly offer wishes and diabolical pacts for power

12 Devil is here with job of portaling in other beings to and from hell or call a specific type of devil. May be willing to make a deal

d12 Hell Gate Entrance
1 Porculis gate made to resemble a huge devil face, may slam ot trap intruders. May be an actual living gate that might talk or require a password. The non-living one will have guards like imps or lesser devils or hellhounds who might operate the gate mechanism. A grim stone entry chamber has various passages. It might even talk and require convincing to let you in. It might ask for your willing consent to enter or require you to hail hell with chants and fist pumps

2 A sulphurous pit with a red glow. Climb down into a rough cave with a river of boiling sulfur with a rickety bone bridge. A cult wizard guards the bridge and will destroy it if needed. He will ask questions of intruders to see if they are evil enough to be allowed in. Past the bridge are passages beyond

3 A great bronze door with devil faces with knockers. It knocked a hatch open, and a lesser devil guard demands to know who is there. There may be two guards. Inside is a stone chamber and a wheel mechanism to open the gate, and a bar that the guards can seal the door 

4 An ancient crypt with stairs down to a chamber below. An undead guardian with lesser undead guards the chamber. Sealed stone doors lead beyond. There may be crypts of ancient cultists with treasure here

5 A perfect, carved 25 foot wide 18 foot tunnel mysteriously runs under a distant mountain, long ago. Metal rods on wooden sleepers on gravel are on the floors. After a short distance is a platform area with a ticket booth, guard station and service store room with stairs going beyond past turnstyles. Often held by cultists, lesser devils, shades or undead. Some have other booths selling diabolical scrolls and pamphlets or evil food items operated by imps 

6 A mirror with an ornate frame. With a secret word concealed in the frame, you may pass the surface into a chamber with barred gates leading to various passages. Often guarded by some kind of mirror monster, dopelgangers or evil clones of themselves who enter

7 A painting with an ornate frame. With a secret word concealed in the frame, you may pass the surface into a cavern with various passages. Devils, including imps and lemures, will be here tormenting intruders 

8 A spectacular cave grotto with bubbling pools, eerie vapours and beautiful sparkling mineral formations. Some of these look valuable but crumble if you break them off. The sensitive can see that the formations seem to have malicious smiling features. Many nooks and cavities make excellent hiding spaces for kobolds or even medium-sized creatures. Some of these are cramped passages to the rest of a cave system and may even be hidden among formations in the ceiling or down. Often guarded by hellish, mutated creatures or evil humanoid guards 

9 Volcanic vent with steam and smoke, into a chamber with boiling mud pools, venting steam and burning gas jets. Floor may be steeply angled and various tunnels lead out. Corrupted fire elemental creatures like fire salamanders might dwell here or lesser devils or just imps. Living creatures can't thrive here 

10 Cave chamber with a dark at least 25 foot wide river flowing through it. There are crumbling remains of buildings on both sides. The water is supernatural (d8 1=memory loss 2=drain levels 3=mutagenic 4=poison 5=acid 6=sewerage 7=gore 8=rusty bladed weapons). There may be some kind of crossing or you could get swept away downstream and arrive somewhere in hell. (d4 1=bridge possibly fallen column or giant sword 2=ferry dock 3=rowboats, canoes, raft or barge 4=broken walkway or natural stone arch but you can jump it). Some kind of guardian like a devil, hell knight, evil wizard or hooded cultists, will be here or a supernatural ferryman. Visitors may be challenged about why they are here

11 A great cave into a vast subterranean lake. A beach of unusual coloured sand has some bones and broken boats, and a rickety wooden or bone pier for a boat and a bell. When the bell is rung, a supernatural ferryman comes on a raft or gondola and will carry you down various underground canal paths. It always demands a gold coin but might object to returning you to the entrance if you carry away Hell's treasures. It might even take you to hell instead of out

12 A carved cliff temple with ornate carved rock relief art of cavorting devils. Inside is a chamber with a high ceiling, where the walls and ceiling have more obscene carvings. A diabolical statue of a lord of hell dominates the room with magic, ever-burning torches. At least a devil or several hell gargoyles will be guarding, but may be hidden among carvings or concealed with magic. Visitors may be challenged about why they are here

d12 Hell Gate Sub Rooms
1 Oubliette or cell with a prisoner or corpse
2 Piles of books and documents relating to soul contracts, corrupt nobility and hell's legions
3 Shrine and idol dedicated to a noble of hell
4 Hot cell with a prisoner or a desiccated corpse
5 Cold cell with a prisoner or a frozen corpse
6 Cauldron of boiling oil or stewed human bodies

7 Alchemists lab distiling ichor

8 Imprisoned shadows who attack

9 Imprisoned ghouls who attack

10 Chest with basic and a magic trap with treasure inside

11 Rack with a hellish weapon

12 Lesser devil imprisoned in (d4 1=ice 2=amber 3=coffin 4=bottle)

d12 Hell Gate Main Rooms
1 Room is a huge stomach chamber with a lake of mild acid. Their is a mass of shipwrecks inside and one has become a crude tavern for the damned with a walkway to the various exits. Various devils, imps, undead and cultists are here, possibly trapped somehow or off duty. A succubi, lamia, naga or hag might be here too. The mood is melancholy, and the barkeep offers Hell's Brew in exotic cups. Melancholia here can ensnare occupants in this timeless trap. Some creatures come and go and trade exotic goods like larvae from hell or drugs 
2 A great pit of lava here with hell-tainted fire beings frolicking with imps. Cultists, devils, efreeti or witches might be here relaxing in the glow while cooking and brewing

3 Great square used for drills. May be empty and quiet for a d6 turns. However, forces will arrive for a drill like hell's orcs, kobolds or mercenaries. A hell knight or templar will lead them with a whip

4 Mousoleum for past cultists with burial niches and stone sarcophagi. Undead are very likely, but also cultists might come here for perverse rituals or a necromancer

5 Boiler room, an iron-clad riveted room with rust and blood splatters. Strange machines, venting steam and clanking sounds make it a confusing place. There are large, dangerous-looking machines working without sensible safety rails. There may be chained prisoners working here or damned undead whose souls are in hell, so both pay their debts to Hell. Lesser devils or imps might be here as task masters. This taps into the boiler room of Hell, and all kinds of awful creatures lurk here (d4 1=ogres 2=lesser demons 3=trolls 4=flesh golems) with local flair  (d4 1=frightening clown makeup 2=hook hands 3=chains 4=stitches and mixed body parts) 

6 Forge Room, where slaves and imps craft tools of war, they supply some local factions doing Hell's work. The huge furnace and crucible make the room hot. Smoke and steam fill the room. Constant sounds of clanging metal. An overseer dominates a cadre of workers. Could be kobolds, orcs, humans, gnomes, dwarves or some exotic species. Could also be undead smiths working their eternal damnation. Creatures here are busy and dont sell, but they will trade exotic metals and other materials for basic magi arms and armour

7 Lemure pits either a natural cave pool of mud or a built sewer; there may be a crossing or a point you can jump. Devils and imps come here to torment them or take them away to become imps

8 Ice house, either a natural cave or a stone-cut chamber. Covered in ice and with dangerous icicles everywhere. An ice devil directs undead, hell yeti, and white winter wolves. Ice structures or even walls, walkways, and stairs might divide the room partially or may be used as barriers. Some even have snow or freezing water under the floor ice. This water might be home to more monsters or be dangerous to touch. The ice will have ancient humans and unfamiliar beasts. Yeti saw some blocks open to eat

9 Fire pit with larvae being tormented by several devils with pitchforks. Have a d4+1 barrels of foul things to throw in the pit. Orcs, cultists or kobolds may aid them and learn the lore of hell on the job. It can speed up your next few incarnations.

12 A lake of fire with a bridge to an island with an illusion of piles of coins and several chests. Hell-tainted salamanders guard the chest, led by a devil. The chests are locked, trapped and protected by a spell or curse

d12 Hellgate Feature

1 Inside the huge beating heart of a Devil guarded by golems or devils. If they die the devil appears here in person to kill those who risk its eternal destruction. If heart is damaged enough it stops pumping ichor and the complex shakes and possibly floods with gore. The devil also keeps treasures here but they will be magically trapped 
2 A great flaming chamber with a causeway through lava to an island with a hell monolith. By manipulating magic symbols on the altar you can open a portal to hell. A great flaming elemental or hell cultist fire giant guards the island
3 Throne chamber with elaborate relief rock carvings of devils that emphasise a raised floor area with a mighty noble chair. Cultists may be here to claim it or just pilgrims. They might use it in ceremonies anointing leaders. Sitting in the throne has various functions (d4 1=comune with Hell 2=Change alignment to LE 3=makes voice boom 4=cast command once per round with no visible evidence just a glance while seated). If there is no cult here they will leave a monster or devil to guard it  

4 Palace of death a vast hall in the ancient style but black stone. Statues dedicated to the old underworld or traitor gods surround a stone feast table. A great underwold feast here if eaten will trap you in the underworld. You can enter to underwold propper through an ornate altarpiece artwork but this room is partly on the border of that plane. Living statues or golems may be here to defend it or undead may be here. A petty underworld deity or gatekeeper may be here to guard or welcome 

5 Infernal Machine a great rotating metal spiked pit stories deep, occasionally starts up, grinding creatures trapped in the gore pool below into liquid that drains away. Occasionally, hacked-up bodies and living beings and undead fall through hatches in the roof. A narrow walkway over the pit has an iron control altar at the central axis. A devil usually supervises, and imps make repairs or a cult or might control it (d4 1=mutant clowns 2=flagellant berserkers 3=flesh golems with meathook hands 4=undead templars)  

6 Control room, an ironclad, rivited room with console banks around the room and various screens. Banks of cables and sockets alongside machines like player pianos running computational scrolls. This may be automated with guard automatons but it may me a semi-sentient machine. Undead, imps or undead may operate it with a supervisor of higher rank. It monitors dimensional portals to hell and sends devils to the required locations. Machines have keys with diabolical sigils on them that can dial up devils and locations. If anything goes wrong, other stations report it, and a greater devil is sent by management in hell through an elevator from below.

7 Black Library Chamber, connected to the planar library of hell. Librarian devils or undead wizards may be working here. Students wizards here for free tuition may be studying or passing through. Doors here lead to other dimensions via mirrors and paintings. Books of ancient lore used for spell research are often specialised here

8 Crumbling cavern with glowing fungus and an ancient ziggurat. Mutant creatures live in the bog around it, and the top has an altar and a devil. Offerings or sacrifices here call a greater devil, and quite often, a cult comes here with sacrifices and incense to deal with a devil. A single guardian monster or cult might be here

9 Huge salt cavern with giant crystal and desiccated corpses. Holy symbols radiate light in the vaulted ceiling. In the bottom of a vast pit is a bound greater devil. Magical wards keep evil out so devils and cultists come here to try and pass. A guardian may be here, possibly fighting the diabolical forces. The bindings of the devil in the pit require four cursed locks to be opened

10 A great bronze gate bound by giant chains held by a magic-sealed lock. Guardian gorgons, minotaurs and gargoyles defend the gate to hell this side; the other side has devils. Fountains of blood and unholy water shaped like devils decorate the room lit by burning braziers

11 A huge ornate hall with great summoning circles depicted on the floor and various devil sigils on the walls. Four great braziers on plinth light the room. You are quite likley to find cultists or a wizard with mercenaries here preparing to summon a devil for wishes. In a worse case they will summon a greater devil. They might have magical monster pets already. They often have cursed chests of treasure here also 

12 A huge hall with an arch at the end with a huge mural of Hell. By sacrificing a victim at a shrine touched in a corner the mural becomes a gate for ten minutes and wandering monsters of hell will enter and try to seize victims to open the gate longer. Damaging the altar shuts the portal. More powerful beings come if the gate is open fot 30 minutes 

There will be a second series adding details to this one

d100 More Awful Faerietale Backgrounds

Still playing with these as prep for a game

d10 Awful Faerietale Background Types

1 Orphans underclass

2 Magic Medows
3 Witches
4 Goblins!

5 Sylvan

6 Underland

7 Aquatic

8 Faerie

9 Giants

10 Monstrosities

d100 More Awful Faerietale Backgrounds
Roll again, results are cumulative on your fabulous story
A proper job is your class training or apprenticeship and it ends your results here
Or roll d100 3x times or roll a d4 times 
01 Raised by homeless beggars guild and street gangs when the family died in the plague but you got out of the roll again

02 Caught as a street urchin and kept in a sweatshop, working but you escaped roll again

03 Adopted as a household servant and treated meanly by adopted siblings and family but you escaped roll again

04 Raised by travelling tinkerers who knew many unusual skills and secrets

05 Sold to a cruel master as an apprentice but you escaped roll again

06 Paid foster parent tried to kill you but you escaped roll again

07 Wicked relative stole you as a child to get revenge but you escaped roll again

08 Wicked relative threw you down a well but you escaped roll again

09 Village raided and destroyed by a faction but you escaped roll again

10 Raised by rat folk in the sewers until old enough to join a youth gang before getting a proper job

11 Lived under a tree stump with a badger, a dwarf and a brownie until you got a proper job

12 Lived with kindly halflings in a pleasant rustic village until you got a proper job

13 Shrunk by a witch and lived with intelligent talking mice in a bramble bush. The witch reversed the spell, and you lost your friend's roll again

14 Lived by a pond in the dingly dell with sprites, pixies, gnomes and talking animals until you got a proper job 

15 Lived with gnomes in their mushroom cottage village, but you got too big and had to go roll again

16 Shrunk by a witch and lived in a tree with furry animal friends and birds. The witch reversed the spell, and you lost your friend's roll again

17 Raised by intelligent shapeshifting faerie cats in a magical palace until cats thought you should meet your own kind, and you got a proper job

18 A witch shrunk you, and you lived with hedgehogs, toads and other hedge critters. The witch reversed the spell, and you lost your friend's roll again

19 Raised by shepherds who dealt with various spirits and wee folk, but with your natural talent, they sent you away to get a proper job

20 Raised by a rustic, isolated farmstead where your family dealt with druids and witches for survival, but with your natural talent, they sent you away to get a proper job
21`Raised by a hag and helped her glean trinkets in the city river at low tide until she got you a proper job with her uncanny influence
22 Raised by a coven of witches for some reason they would not say. When you got old enough, they sent you away to get a proper job

23 A witch saved you as an infant, and you lived in her cottage for a time. Roll again

24 Your parents died as adventurers, and a kindly witch saved you from a life of slavery. She even helped you get a proper job and checks up on you in your dreams sometimes

25 Three witch godmothers blessed you as a baby, and when your family was murdered, they carried you away before you could be found. They found supernatural folk to educate you in the way of a proper job

26 A relative you were left in the care of was a witch who showed you some weird stuff and when older, she used her contacts to get you a proper job 

27 A stranger saved you from a fire and gave you to a witch to care for. She kept you in good condition, and you saw weird stuff, some stuff, but eventually you fled, roll again

28 You were living in an orphan poorhouse when the custodians met a witch who offered gold for you. If you willingly went roll again or if you stayed the custodians sold so you could get a proper job

29 You had a witch godmother, and she saved you from the grisly murder of your family and raised you in her lair in a shipwreck inside a monster. Eventually, she took you to get a proper job so you could find those who killed your family

30 You were lost in the woods and raised by witches. They often kept you in a familiar form like a toad at witch gatherings so nobody ate you. Eventually, they took you to meet your destiny. Roll again

31 Goblins got you addicted to faerie fruits and lured you into willingly slavery to faerie folk. But when you became immune to the glamour, you escaped. Roll again 
32 As a child, you had a secret goblin pal who sometimes helped you but eventually you were sent away to get a proper job

33 Goblins carried you away as a child, and dwarves rescued you, raising you in a stern underground citadel until you were able to return to the surface and get a proper job

34 Goblins saved you as a lost child in the woods and took you to the hollow tree house they lived in but eventually they sent you on your way to find yourself. Roll again

35 A goblin came from under your childhood bed and would take you on adventures in dreamland buy you probably just imagined it all. Since then you grew up and got a proper job  

36 A bugbear used to torment you as a child and nobody believed you. Now you've grown with a proper job but have heard bugbears are real. How could you know what they look so well if you made it up?

37 Goblins were tormenting you as a child to accept their forbidden fruit and a priest came and smashed their brains out with a mace. The kindly cleric made sure local church helped you in life and get a proper job

38 Goblins took you to see their secret market and showed you fabulous goods but you went home empty-handed. Nobody believed you. Roll again

39 Lived in a stilt village of swamp goblins, frog folk and bug folk but eventually you left to see the wider world outside the swamp. Roll again

40 Raised with a family of goblins living in a dwarf ruin until you grew too big to fit in the family bolthole and had to leave. Roll again

41 Raised by satyrs, centaurs, nymphs and dryads. Frolicking in a delightful wilderness until you grew too old roll again

42 Raised by tree folk and tree spirits until they felt you should live with your own kind and sent you with amber beads to pay to learn a trade and get a proper job. 
43 So, they say your absent parent was a nature spirit or supernatural being, roll again
44 Some of your ancestors were petrified, and you heard where their statues are now. Roll again

45 Some of your ancestors were turned into trees, and you heard where they are now. Roll again

46 Your family had their own shrine and claimed descent from a divine or spirit being. Some of your standout features are attributed to this being. Roll again

47 You met talking snakes guarding a sacred tree, but could not find them again. Roll gain

48 You were lost in the wasteland, and wild people found you and cared for you for a while. Eventually, they brought you to civilisation, where you got a proper job

49 You were educated by a centaur, which helped you get a proper job

50 Faerie brought you the tools of your trade so you could get a proper job

51 As a child, a gnome lured you in a hole with a toy and shrinking candy. Once you were trapped in a hole had to serve him for years and rarely even got candy or magic toys to play with. Eventually, a faerie helped you escape and roll again
52 Trolls carried you into the deep and sold you to dark elves. Took years to escape and reach the surface, but the skills learned helped you get a proper job

53 Taken by dark elves as a slave and saw their city in the underland among the roots of the world tree, but you escaped. Roll again

54 Taken by gnomes into the great deep to toil in an underground sweatshop, and saw their automatons and machines. Abandoned when sick, you escaped through a garbage cavern to  the surface with the skills to get a proper job

55 Taken by dark pixies into a giant mushroom cavern and used as a beast of burden until you escaped. Roll again

56 Lured by enchanted spores into a cave, you served mushroom folk for years until a benevolent gnome cured the fungal infection, altering your mind to free you. You got to the surface and were welcomed. Locals helped you until you got a proper job

57 Adventurers hired you as a torchbearer and lost you in a pit. Dark humanoids carried you to the deep and made you toil in an underground sweatshop. You grew stronger and killed several to get to the surface. You spent some time adjusting to the surface, and commoners helped you get a better job

58 Taken by dungeon monsters and lived with humanoids until they considered you local, and you just walked out. The original monsters that kidnapped you died in dungeon incidents over the years, so recent arrivals treated you better. With your dungeon skills, you got a proper job

59 Snatched by a tribe of cannibalistic cave folk and taken with them as rations on their migrations deep in the earth. Eventually, after many ordeals, they let you loose and you reached the surface in a different kingdom and got a proper job

60 Reptilians from the deep carried you through flooded caverns to the remnants of an underground citadel of reptilians. After years, you saved some eggs and were set free and returned to the surface to get a proper job

61 Standed on a rocky island, cared for like a pet by mermaids. When you saw them eat sailors, you ran away, roll again

62 Pressganged onto a ship's cruel service, but mermaids lured you into their undersea faerieland, where you worked serving fancy fish, nymphs, sea elves, and dolphins until you escaped, roll again

63 Taken by undead pirates at sea and served them for several years before you swam for land and got a proper job

64 Adopted by selkies and found wandering a beach. The faerie were seal folk who carried you to many hidden underwater wonders, but returned you to land when you were old enough. Roll again

65 Thrown into the sea but saved by underwater faeries who let you live in their sea palace before returning you to the surface, roll again

66 Found by seawolf pirates who were awful sea raider lycanthropes. You managed to escape and settle down with a proper job

67 Washed up on a beach and lived several years in a giant sandcastle with a nymph and her pet giant crabs, but you got washed away in a storm and arrived in civilisation roll again

68 Kept by a sea hag in her island lair to fatten up, but you were freed by a nixie, roll again

69 Travelled at see and saw strange foreign lands and sea monsters before returning home and getting a proper job

70 Lived with peaceful islander natives, but a ship came and rescued you by force against your will back to civilisation, roll again

71 Trapped in hazy dreamlike faerieland for what seemed like years, but when you escaped, decades had passed, so you got a proper job

72 Faerie kept you as a pet for a time until they grew bored with you. They released you, roll again

73 Found isolated nobles in a castle who were really faerie folk. You lived among them for a while, but you escaped when their intrigues became perilous, roll again

74 You were kidnapped by a faerie and escaped. When you returned, a changeling had replaced you, and you drove it away. After this, you settled down and got a proper job

75 Faerie creatures constantly played tricks on you for some reason so you moved far away to escape them. Roll again

76 You dreamed of an attractive youth for months and wasted away until a priest saved you from the influence of a faerie being. You still think about them. Roll again 

77 As a child you spoke to faeries but as you got older you could no longer see them. You gave up these youthful dreams and got a proper job

78 As a child, a beautiful woman would sing you to sleep but as you got older, you realised nobody else saw her. Sometimes you see her in your dreams. Roll again

79 Faerie appeared when you were born for some reason, roll again

80 As a child, a faerie branded you for some reason with a strange mark, roll again

81 On a foggy night, you saw giant figures walking in the mist
82 Giantchildren found you and kept you as a pet in a dollhouse or cage. Eventually escaped and roll again

83 Lived with a cyclops shepherd who found you lost for years. Eventually, they helped you contact travellers and find your way back to the kingdom and you got a proper job
84 Ogres caught you and put you in their larder for months, but you burrowed and squeezed out, once home you looked for a proper job

85 You were lost in the mist and taken by giants who took you to their wondrous cloud castle. You saw many wonders, but eventually they returned you and you got a propper job

86 Orcs sold you to fire giants as a slave. It was a hellish life of toil and sweat. You escaped when adventurers attacked roll again

87 You were lost in the mountains and met peaceful grey stone giants who helped you get back on the road

88 You saw hill giants tear a frontier stockade aprt and eat the inhabitants. You were determined to get a proper job after that

89 You saw a titanic humanoid waist deep in the sea. It swatted your ship aside and you survived. You were determined to get a proper job after that 

90 Once while travelling you felt the earth quake and saw the mountain was a collosal giant
91 You saw a dragon burn a village and eat everyone. After that you dedicated yourself to getting a propper job

92 You were out late and heard horrible noises. You saw witches and evil goats worship a devil. You kept quiet and got a proper job

93 You were content in a new home when a chaos war band of berserker beastmen and mutants attacked your community. Their was a siege and a loss of life and you killed a creature to save your life. Since then, you have worked hard to get a proper job

94 Your home was assailed by undead night after nioght until a priest saved you by driving the wicked away. Feeling lucky to live unlike others you knuckled down to get a proper job

95 As a teen, you met a seductive youth and it turned out they were a succubus or incubus (you pick or maybe both). At some point, you became suspicious and called it off. Yo stayed in a holy place for a time to shake off its link to you. The priest said you were lucky so you got a propper job

96 A huge talking black cat offered you wishes or free tuition at the black college of magic through a hellgate. Instead, you got a proper job

97 You helped a phantom find peace in a haunted place and it rewarded you with enough money it had hidden so you could travel and get a proper job

98 You dreamed of a tentacled frog god in a well, calling to you for aid and offering you power. You got a bunch of talismans and holy symbols and it went away. After this you wanted a proper job

99 You encountered a wounded magical beast (d4 1=griffon 2=owlbear 3=pegasi 4=unicorn) and for a time were friends. It's been a long time but you think of them still and have lock of their hair. Roll again.  

100 A mysterious, wealthy stranger took an interest in you for a while. Later, you found out they were monsters! (d4 1=vampire 2=lamia 3=dragon 4=rakasha). You escaped and got to roll again

Obviouusly be creative mashing these up and changing order is fine
GM might inset a common step for all iin the party

I welcome your results below in the comments

Too many superhero games?

Art by Michal Dutkiewicz who i worked for since 80s
Ive been playing super hero rpgs since 1983

Prompted by a flood of AI superhero games whos creators seem to be unaware of genre history. This was a FB post on a group flooded with new ai hero game slop. 

One campaign lasted 20 years - started as Champions and Superworld then mostly TSR marvel (non-Marvel universe) some of my players ive had since 91. One of them is running the descendant of that campaign now.

Im finding many creators are unaware of the history of this genre. Id say the most successful ones had professional art and design. Its a genre based on art. Your art sets the tone. If it is not like comic realism and you use cute or humorous art its a risk of not having tone for many styles of games. If you dream of writing a comic its cheaper to make an RPG, possibly. The flood of new supe games since AI is amazing and verges on slop. You are limiting yourself from comic cons and the indy game world if you go the AI path and risk art fans hating you. Some games lasted decades, maybe consider what they did right and wrong. Put your artist credits up front.

a brief list of some of the games ive seen/played/owned/admired

I can't even remember all the games I've played in this genre.

Problems in games
-power balance, my street level guy seems pissweek vs the battlesuit guy shooting energy bolts
-point games often mean I can't take a villain's gadget or adopt a sidekick or base found in game without paying. Some games let you owe ponts but its pretty unrealistic to say no
-tone of your setting should be upfront. If you dont want killer heroes, you need to put it up front. One game had all kinds of questions for a campaign about the legality of powers and social attitude to supes then broke when half party wanted to act like Punisher, and others wanted to be benevolent. Gold silver iron age of comics can be a tone guide but the modern era explores the whole history of the genre and plays with it. Some systems penalise killers. Is your game comic code approved or a more nasty weird adult line like Invisibles
-money can break some systems. Money can be a power. Angel in defenders was the weakest in comic but he owned the base and a jet. Does money break your point system? If i can fill a van with fertiliser and throw hand grenades or use legal weapons, it can break some games. Powers need to be better than weapons and conventional tech or account for it. Money breaks quite a few games. If I cant keep stuff I find or in USA just buy a machinegun or rotary cannon on a jeep why not? Prefer games where superman and batman can work together.
-some games at least, are trying innovative mechanics to roleplay or session zero creates the setting with player input

Some of the games I remember:
Villains and vigilantes - writer/artist Jeff is a leading anti ai advocate in game scene. Great villain sourcebooks and adventures with tokens.

Champions - i got for 5 bux first ed and was the most popular super hero game a few years in my clubs - great campagn sources and villains and adventures. Random heroes. point based and some nice art. Pulp version too. Did a car wars crossover also.

Super Squadron - an Australian V&V clone, people played a bit. Random heroes

Superworld - BRP chaosium game mixing BRP and points - you can use cthulhu content easily and point system was jacked into Stormbringer demons (i cant think of a less "chaos" approach to demon making). Was part of the Worlds of Wonder RPG earlier. George R Martin played this then did Wildcards series. Good for Zenith

Superhero 2044 - sf heros, pretty basic

GURPS - has lots of superhero books and you can use other gurps content - Point based and a bit like Champions. Had a wildcards book and green ronin later did a full wildcards game (was a hollywood development. I liked first 4 wildcards books but as usual martin goes into rape and depravity for increasingly no point

TSR Marvel Superheroes - basic and advanced versions. Very successful and its death seems like bad management - Still my fave system. PPl claimed had no character gen but even basic version had multiple systems to generate characters and I make new ones every campagn. One table and people get system in minutes and very dynamic. They tried table aproach on other games. You could make a colour based table for BRP really. Hulk and daredevil could be on same team fine.

Heroes Unlimited - Palladium system so you can use any paladium stuff. I loved the cover by Steranko. Intro adventure pretty dark. Also they did ninja turtles rpg that was huge

TSR Top Secret/SI Freelancers a proto cyberpunk gritty super agents setting with two books with lots of great ideas by Jeff Grubb who did Marvel. Also Agent13 sourcebook for pulp heroes that is amazing

DC heroes - had an interesting system to handle power ranges of that universe and lots of sourcebooks. I think was retooled as a batman rpg later?

Aberrant - white wolf, gritty setting but i dont vibe with white wolf stuff but lots of sourcebooks and ideas

Mutants & Masterminds - d20 based with a great setting fusing marvel and dc. lots of great sub genre books like teen heroes, super agents and more

Silver Age Sentinels - a good campagn and interesting characters to steal

ICONS - i dont see why TSR Marvel the simplest game so far on list needed simplification. One other clone boasted it didnt use the universal table which was the whole point of the game.

Masks - powered by the apocalypse which I dont really dig

Golden Heroes - GW game has had a revision since. Origional had profesional art

Into the 90s more super games appeared and now rare and forgotten. Quite a few forgotten anime hero games too. I liked Sailor Moon game

Underground - was probably a mix genre game but a bit like Martial Law and a gritty setting

Godlike - WW2 and interesting universe, not a 4 colur style game and gritty

The Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game - had some interesting ideas but I found a bit flawed - only a few supplements. Diceless and pointbuy

Algernon Files - was a M&M based then own system. Has lots of interesting characters to steal

Neccecary Evil - heroes all killed and villains unite to fight aliens - great setting but i find savage worlds had good ideas and a system i never felt had risk or consequence

Capes A GM-less system

Adventures into Darkness - takes public domain heroes and adds to the cthulhu mythos - lots of fun ideas

Marvel Heroic Roleplaying - died due to license costs and why im suspicious of all licensed IP games - ive seen to many die not from fan interest but legal costs

also see ageofravensgames blog history of superhero games 15 part exploration

also rpgpub bigass-list-of-superhero-rpgs

have a look on drivethrough too

Cthulhu RPGs have a similar problem too - three KS recently. A game from a few years ago boasted they were only non racist HPL derived game, now dead, despite denouncing the writer's racism as a core sales point. Not wrong to claim HPL a broke powerless loser was racist but they flooded game media with PR based on this and milked the predictable outrage. Actually, I think many HPL fans are far worse than him. 

Heroes of Faerun Review - Would I run It?

So I avoided this book and setting most of the last 34 years. I like the first box set with vast undocumented regions. I like the Forgotten Realms accessories detailing the world bit by bit, late 1st and early 2nd edtition. I think Dragon 54 Ed discussed how he cobbled gods from Deities and Demigods including Elric and Fritz Lieber Mythos and were retconned for IP reasons. A few of these gods are recognisable from mythology still. There was a 2nd ed hardback wich I disliked but had some spells and magic and lots of city maps that were mediocre. I liked the Old Empires bit best. Their was a dragon magazine detailing part of the sword coast I quite liked as a campagn area. Id ignored setting mostly since calling it the Forgetable Realms. I liked the vibe of Eds articles and the world bit over time it became over detailed. I ran Theros as my first D&D5 game because I didnt want FR fan players bringing up decades of lore which I dunna wanna know. Actually a player tried but thankfully I can say nope Theros is not connected to the mainstream D&D universe. I guess it is why we never got any crossovers in official plane-hopping adventures. The idea the multiverse is the default setting and we can hop about milking nostalgia with pop in planes. Im not a fan of this but at high level it seems more reasonable. 

Heroes of Faerun was half price on Amazon, so I nabbed it. And I will say I was surprised and liked it. I guess the player features were part of my interest. It has a few things I did not expect and liked.

So the inside cover has simple maps showing regions. There is a big fold-out map with amazing detail and a calendar on the back. My only comment on these is I'd like to see the deserts and icy wastes coloured appropriately.  

It has lots of nice art complementing the core books. I ama bit over the over rendered stuff possibly from AI over use but this was nice and lots of characters we have seen in other illustrations in other books. 

So it starts with character options and notes on species in the setting which positions how common they are and where they come from. There are 8 subclasses. I liked the knowledge domain and still think they need a whole book of cleric subclasses and deities because it would also be world building in a way other classes are not.

Banneret fighter is interesting and nice but maybe leaning towards paladin. Lots of teamwork benefits.

Noble Genies Paladin even though I'm not a fan of playable genies everywhere. I'd rather they were just elemental kin or something. As an Elemental Paladin, I like this subclass.

The Winter Walker Ranger is nice and I might play one. You could probably do other elemental rangers. 

Scion of the Three is a dream rogue for eliminating weakened foes on the battlefield. It will stack with some of the feats in this book. 

Spellfire sorcery is nice and has some spells sorcerers dont normally have so could be another 2nd tier healer which is nice. 

Bladesinger wizard is nice and likewise will work with some of the new feats. I normally would do a spell using fighter or theif but this is tempting.

Backgrounds are using new feats and old ones and let you make characters based on various factions and regions of the setting. They are built in settings and probably more usable for other settings than the recent Eberon book options.

Feats are interesting and numerous. Some are a bit silly or you need to have an origin feat then a general feat and the benefits not always great. I do find feats that should be thematic for a build are not, because you dont need more than one way of speaking to animals and some other overlaps. Because stacking some species-class-feat combos cant be done or dont work, making them rare even if flavoursome in a setting. Lots of feats built for teamwork or have several benefits and one is for teamwork. I did like the co-op features of Draw Steel.

Lots of these feats serve specific factions but you could steal for other campaigns. There are lots of options here to expand your choices. Mythal Touched seems like it would be taken by players who like chaos and could make a whole party die. I could see a wacky NPC have this and you have to nursemaid them while they are a hazard. Also, a clockwork amulet with this and some kind of flight you might make the reverse gravity effect happen deliberately. There are some good rogue feats. SOme ok epic boons but ive never had these come up in a game. Sometimes I think they could do a single book with levels only up to 10th and it would be fine for most players. In older eds high level choices were more for the DM to make enemies than players. But now NPCs just dont work like players and sometimes their levels are unclear if any.

The guide section has calender, timeline, curerency and other notes. Id set my game in 13 57 like the older books so i would not have to deal with all the mega events of novels and other sources id rather not deal with. Languages list is nice too. The main regions are detailed niceley. The gods section is Ok but I was hoping for the Old Empires gods to be included. It has lots of choices. 

Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue has some equipment, some which is cheap and dangerous. I do want an axebeak pulled wagon now. Well-illustrated section. 

Magic section has circle magic I dont want to use or I feel needs more requirements to use and more for NPCs. Some nice spells. One necromatic spell which they relly ought to create more. 

The factions section I did not expect. There are some 3rd party faction books out currently so its a bit of a fad. This has lots of major factions, with a chart to see who hates whom. Each is well-detailed. I like the renown rewards, giving you benefits depending on your standing in the org, trinkets you get with membership, and some have unique faction extra tables of stuff. They also have bastion features I really like. I'd like a book to have expanded bastions with more of these and normal constructions and business players could operate. A few of these wont defend your bastion, which many cultures consider part of hospitality. My 5 players gained all the DMG bastion options available between them, so more are needed and more to suit classes. It touches on some other orgs also with less detail.

Overall, it was better than I expected. I would be more prepared to play it.

Would I use the setting?
Id be more willing to DM the setting with this book, especially for short games in clubs, but I'm unlikely to run a personal long term campaign there. Pretty much the same for Greyhawk but I think Temple of Elemental evil belongs there better than FR. To be fair the only official settings i have used was the Known World which I quit when flying boats came in and it was rebranded as Mystara. Theros is the only setting since. I guess we kinda used Greyhawk by default early 80s, but nothing about the setting really came up it could have been any generic europe. It was pretty bare bones then.

Id consider using the Old Empires and the blank lands under them. Id set between 1100-1357. I dislike the soft rebook mega events, which the book does not explain. Is it really a player's book? I can see why they market it as such as players buy more stuff and outnumber DMs. Id say the detail of the regions is overly done for players, and maybe the faction rules. Id worry players may know more about the setting than the DM, especially if they read a hundred or so novels. Thus, my preferred era predates a bunch of stuff i dont want to touch and regions of Choice away from areas in novels. In early 90s TSR did lots of History inpired books so did RQ, Rolemaster and as I got more into history it led me away from most fantasy RPGs just reskinning history. FR10 Old Empires was great and had lots of nice spells they tried to restrict from normal campaigns.

Mulhorand an Egyptian-inspired region, but I'd say its population is low for its achievements, and Egypt not really into slaves like biblical movies suggest. Shame Set, Horus and Isis not in core FR setting more. Making them tech leaders and pioneers of steam and steel a bit odd too. Possibly Mystara version of fantasy Egypt is better done but leans into Psuedo History with pyramid power plants. Gilgeam of Unther I guess is Gilgamesh. It seems comicly opressive and burned out but I like the rebels like Tiamat. Names just taken from random Iraq over 3000 years. Possibly Ive read too much history to enjoy this. Chessenta a psuedo Rome but no roman gods. 

Even with promising blank lands underneath I think Id rather do something else for an ancient near-east or Mediterranean world. Most of the Egyptian RPG gear I've seen recently still draws on untrue pop history, wildly untrue biblical history, pseudoscience or New Age Khemetism. The Iron Crown Rolemaster Egypt book is wildly inspirational and fantastic yet more rooted in the sources. And it has lots of maps.  

Faerie Tale Edgelord Background Table Fables

My players in my weekly club game 
Burned a freakshow down and freed mutants in Greywater
Then killed village leaders performing a cult ritual, leaving Burning Hill leaderless

Quick Edgelord Background Tables 

Wilderness
Agricultural
Underclass

Guild folk
Noble
Weird Stuff

d12 Wilderness
For barbarians, wild folk, beastfolk & tribal folk
1 Raised by wild folk tribals in the forest, rarely even wearing clothes

2 Raised by a hidden druidic cult, who were burned as witches by a newer faith

3 Used as a hostage exchange, and like your new family better

4 Family killed by a bloodthirsty tribe

5 Evil siblings left you for dead and think you are no more 

6 Family killed by a famous monster

7 Found as a child by a household of small sylvan forest folk

8 Found as a child and raised by animals, lycanthropes, beast spirit folk or beat folk

9 Elves kidnapped you as a child centuries ago, and you escaped

10 Raised by a witch in the woods and escaped

11 Raised in the woods by dryads or nymphs underwater until you were a teen

12 Clan was corrupted by a dark ruler and turned your family to monsters

d12 Rural
For farmers and settlers on the frontier
1 Family murdered by bandits
2 Family carried away by slavers

3 Noble or knight murdered your family to grab their land

5 Humanoids from the frontier burned your village down and enslaved survivors

6 Family imprisoned and land stolen by corrupt judge and bailiff thugs

7 Family eaten by a clan of cannibals living in a cave

8 Village had a secret cult, and you had to flee to escape, as the family included

9 Village had your family rounded up and burned as witches or heretics

10 Plague killed your whole village while you were away tending goats

11 Elves aided your parents and demanded you as a servant now grown, so you ran

12 A witch claimed you at birth, you're on the run as they came looking for you recently 

d12 Underclass
For orphans, the poor, the criminal or client classes
1 Raised by a gang of sewer orphans until old enough to join a gang

2 Orphaned by plague and caught by a child catcher, sold to an orphanage

3 Parents died in a poorhouse and escaped a life of servitude

4 Lost your family of immigrants in a city slum, had to survive on your own

5 Raised by a sibling but they ended up in a gang and told you to flee

6 Mother died in prison and you were born inside, released when an adult

7 Adventurer parents left you with a paid foster parent and disappeared 

8 Left in a basket at a religious order with strict monks, nuns, priests or templars

9 Gang adopted you to run their errands and serve gangsters' drinks

10 Found by beggar guild, who taught you to profit from your wretched orphan poverty

11 Local homeless and street folk looked out for you and protected you from trouble

12 Raised by were rats, gnomes or other wee folk the in sewers

d12 Guild Folk
Traders, merchants, craftsmen and skilled classes of urban centres
1 Family servant tormented you and framed you for a crime so you fled
2 Taken as an apprentice by a cruel master who starved and beat you

3 Adopted as an apprentice by a kindly crafter who was murdered by a serial killer
4 Ran away to the city and was adopted by kindly shopkeepers who later died in a fire

5 Family all died of plague and the property was grabbed, leaving you in a workhouse

6 Family sold you into service in a posh household, but had to flee cruelty

7 Family business destroyed by rivals and the family killed, you had to flee

8 Daddy was a violent drunk who sold family to pay debts and fines

9 Family died, and evil relatives dumped you in another city

10 Father died, and the guild claimed he owed all his property, leaving you paupers

11 Talented student of a kind teacher, but your family killed them

12 Your real parent was murdered by your current legal one to grab property

d12 Noble
Knights, nobles, officials of the crown and church
1 Sent to school by the church, who knows who your parents are
2 Family killed over property, and only you survived to run

3 Family declared traitors and most hunted and executed by the crown

4 Your real father died, and some sibling you never met wants you dead 
5 You had an arranged marriage with some ugly old noble to get your family rich

6 Find your true bloodline! d4 1=robber knight 2=deposed ruler 3=enemy kingdom 4=fairy 
7 Family fortune has declined since a relic magic item was lost, if only it could be found 

8 Parent has sent siblings on a year-long quest to see who should be the rightful heir, with some fetchquest d6 1=best marriage, 2=best treasure, 3=best battle trophy, 4=greatest act of charity, 5=greatest act of glory for family, 6=best horse

9 Faerie came to claim you when you became an adult, and they left displeased. Your family say to run

10 Raised as a companion for a noble heir and found out the family kidnapped you and killed your family

11 Raised in a tower or dungeon, hidden from the world because their parents were unwed

12 A witch made a prophecy about you and your family sent you away as bad luck

d12 Exotic Past
For people who want to be outsiders
1 Raised by a secret, forbidden cult, but escaped

2 Kidnapped by pirates as a child and travelled with them to the islands, they were caught and executed, and you were sent home

3 Raised by wandering itinerant crafters and labourers

4 Worked as a mine hand since childhood, carrying goods and leading blind pit ponies

5 Raised by jolly halflings in a comfortable burrow and well fed, nobody has sympathy for you. Carers complained you were not chubby, too tall and didn't eat enough

6 Stranded on an island as a youth and the other survivors were eaten by mermaids and cannibal pirates

7 Raised by wild forest folk using stone skin and wearing woven vegetation and hides 

8 Raised by a wandering martial artist who might have been a spirit folk in disguise

9 Grew up a prisoner or a hostage with restrictions

11 Raised a slave in wasteland by d4 1=barbarians 2=orcs 3=beast folk 4=gnomes 

12 Raised by witches as part of some epic fate warping spell requiring orphans

d12 Unnatural Past
For people committed to being weirdos
1 Kidnapped by fish folk and toiled in their undersea palaces

2 Grown in a vat by a wizard as an experiment, once the study was completed, you were dumped

3 Witch turned you into a beast several years and you lived as her pet

4 Raised by stern dwarfs in a deep underground citadel, but hard to fit in

5 Raised as a slave by gnomes or goblins, toiling under the earth till your escape

6 Kidnapped as a child and raised as a slave for faerie folk until they thought you looked too old and too hairy and dumped you. Goblins treated you better than the masters

7 Kidnapped by gnomes and goblins and lived inside the roots and branches of the world tree. Got to see the secret paths inside the trunk, the best ways to climb and houses to visit in the bark and even how they waited for magical clouds to touch the branches to other mythical worlds

8 Lived on a fabulous island utopia of spirit folk, and the island has vanished as you fled

9 Raised as a pet by giants, but escaped when some were cruel and threatened to eat you. Storms remind you of their fury

10 Family trapped on the estate by a faerie curse for generations, but you escaped

11 Cared for by a sylvan being d6 1=dryads 2=nymphs 3=satyrs 4=centaurs 5=beast spirit 6=flora spirit  

12 Family serves a dragon for generations, and you escaped