Game Log: Some more slaver sidequests

Vol3 of chagrinspire has had some major updates to 206 pages now - one major sweep to go to finish it. I still want to do vol4 with content converted from my weird war book tables and metropolis books. Also, my mutant and automaton character classes are months away from happening. 

So light snow and cold coming in, and the party were keen to stop those vampire orcs, but first the Slavers were mostly stranded on their island base and couldn't move their stock. They questioned some dead slaver bones they kept near a shrine. They had the rapidly learning new marine scavengers based at the expanded ferry pier. They also spoke to the Frog King and made a deal to let frogs take the slaver base as a colony with the scavengers. The king sent a dozen marines and a prince to start the base and support adventurers.

12 Scavengers
12 Frog folk marines

Priest PC in his famous domed chrome orb helmet
-Dwarf priest follower on the follower exchange program
-Knight bodyguard 
-Priest sidekick

Man With No Name
-Rat sonya a 7 feet tall beastfolk
-Chrysopasia a lady gang member, rake and driver

The Sky Giant
-Best wolf

By night they came close to the cliff cave where the slavers were based and the paddlesteamer now belonging to the party used to dock. The man with no name who was now studying wizardry wore his magic frog mask and used his superior swimming skills to scout. Found a boatbuilding area and a cave, some walkways, a tunnel flooded by tide went deep into a cave and a quiet landing area. Large marine animals were around here. Since slaver-rogues had escaped him with swimming skills several times, he was keen to be able to do the same or pursue escapees. 

From a large raft nearby with canoes, scavengers and frog folk crept up. They reported carnivorous fish and a crocodile under one of the walkways. 

The Giant, now going on 9 feet tall was towed by canoes holding an inflated ox skin. He brought one wolf as logistics made him leave lots behind.

DM Note I used a pirate cave from Advanced Adventures Compendium One and took an adventuring party for enemies from another adventure. I just got Adventure Anthology vol1 for Basic fantasy and it has a nice slaver base for the future.

Once ashore, they found tools, and boat-building supplies, and the scavengers worked to slip in and examine while the frog marines watched the walkways and for guards they expected. The party sneaked in and found a room with lots of rope and other goods and a body. The priest tried to turn undead, thinking the skeleton would vapourise, but no. A rope monster guardian attacked and they managed to kill it in 2 rounds.

I found a boat craftsman's personal quarters, some boatbuilding books, and some money. They did hear a giant frog attack but the humanoid frog folk told it to piss off. Hopefully local guards just heard frogs. When the party returned and went to cross the walkway, so the giant cast his spell derived from an oath to half his size, as the bridge looked unsafe. The crocodile seemed keen and waited below the bridge.

Wandered into the cave and saw footprints of slavers shoes, tiny pointy shoes and some more recent prints. There was a side passage and the Priest walked over and cast know history and saw the most heinous visions he had ever seen. Carniverous fish here were used to dispose of bodies and a gleaming ring was on the bottom. Troublesome or sick slaves were thrown in here but recently (2 weeks) gnomes in uniforms with guns led in bound slavers one by one and executed them. Later slaves were chopped into pieces by gnomes with tiny mechanised bone saws. he gagged a bit and realised gnomes had been here to kill the slavers already.

Found some cells which were traps. One the door had a wounded women but if entered it sealed with a wall of ice and could be deactivated with a word so they smashed out and decided the door and frame was going to their home base. Another released giant starving flees. Some more slaver barracks and a kitchen with some documents including a pirate treasure map from past occupants. Found a door blocked by rubble so eventually went into a great pillared cave warily as so much light was blocked. Slaver junk lay about.

Saw a tunnel up ahead blocked by web and as they planned what to do and threw some incendiaries into the web, a cow-sized spider dropped amongst the party.  The man with no names and blunderbuss of confusion made the spider a gigling wreck, and the party splatted it everywhere. The noise awoke people on the other side of the webbing who tried to burn through. The figures came out and the party attacked. 

They were slaver elite adventurers wary of spider poison and resting after some losses. They wore the pointy shoes and head wrappings but with other fancy equipment.

There was a wizard, a hooded orc, a bearded knight in plate, a priest, a rogue and a strange foreign elf.

So the first volley of spells and missiles injured some of them and paralysed the wizard. The elf fireballed the party. From here on the Priest with a dwarf and priest spent the battle healing all the near dead followers. The knight and priest sidekicks spent lots of the battle healing. Most were involved in a grand melee but the Man With No Name slashed the wizards throat open then used spiderclimb to get up a column to the ceiling away. The enemy rogue used a magic rope to shoot up to the ceiling to face him. The elf fired magic missiles at the priest healing wounded party members so the giant shoved through and cut off her head. He was paralysed and the priest undi the effect. The best fighter in plate and the orc was paralysed and was quickly dispatched by the man with no name. The last standing rogue had hidden but the man with no name saw him and backstabbed him. He tried to surrender to the other party members and was stabbed again and finally dead. The priest held out the longest and kept up with hold person, fear, spectral hammers and other attacks and tried to flee but failed. 

They found the slavers orders. They assumed their party had attacked base and investigating the loss of slavers and slaves. They were examining a collapsed gnome borehole from a mole machine when trapped by the spider.

The party stayed a while and more frogs came. They finally opened a sealed room and fought the mummified witch bride of the pirate who made the treasure map. He buried it where the dragons breed in the lake below the tide line. One of his notes, they found a herb to pacify the dragons. The enemy party had lots of magic weapons, bracers, and rings and potions, which was quite effective.  

The giant jumped on the crocogator and missed and sunk to the bottom but managed to grab the crock and not get hurt by it so he dragged it ashore where the frog folk bound it up. Put it in a cell for later. The ice door trap was taken to be used in the party base, possibly to make a cold store. They were all knighted by the frog prince.

The party wondered if the Gnomes were turning on the slavers. 
Now the major route for slaves to the eastern and southern kingdoms was broken without their lake outposts and paddlesteamer. There were perhaps 3 major forts in the waste.

After setting up the base they went home to see more snow and ice forming.

Meanwhile, the orcs of the bloody tree cult have been waging war vs kobolds who declared a crusade and brought all the clans to battle. The orcs keep eating kobolds and worshiping their alien vampire tree god. The clan vampire lord who has a boar form has somehow made some of his greatest berserkers into wereboars. Monsters of winter from the mountains are freely roaming for food now, cold enough for them.

Shameless Promotion of my Band Post

New Album @ Bandcamp
New Video Clip

Patreon has another update on Chagrinspire vol3 - very close to finishing

5 Products I Wish Would Exist for RPGS - What are Yours?

Chagrinspire vol 3 on patreon now 206 pages - final few sweeps in progress now
Any company wanna publish my setting? I'm to burned out to do anything properly.

Feel free to share this and drop your dreams in the comments.
Someone may notice if we share it around.

These are the items I would most like to see printed.

1 Japanese D&D printed in English with all the amazing anime art - would do very well with my younger friends too. Drawings of equipment and more are amazing. My under 25 year old friends are all manga/anime mad its how they draw and imagine fantasy - an anime edition might do better 

2 Goodman Games continue to print old TSR modules reincarnated - Saltmarsh trilogy, slavers, desert of desolation, palace of the silver princes (both versions), The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, D series, Dungeonland, Giants series, dwellers of the forbidden city, tomb of the lizard king, bone hill, king, against the cult of the reptile cult, The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth

3 Actual decent maps and geomorphs for Metamorphosis Alpha - that huge hardback was disorganised, art from fantastic to woeful and repeated data again and again and maps not really usable - I'm tempted to sell mine and the oversize hardback. I do like he epsilon city box

4 Drivethrough would print poster size maps - all the old tsr box sets (marvel ones with marvel branding removed would be great) or let you print your own maps - on paper, plastic coated, rubber sheet or cloth - plus please add more old d&d titles it cant be that hard

5 Big reprint compilations (maybe like the marvel 800 page omnibuses) or even the way they reprinted the slaves series for anniversary editions with whole module series combined

As far as Indy stuff goes, probably a better version of the arden vul map book

Sadly, I still want the Cthulhu London Box set which was amazing and the Cubicle 7 licence was dropped from the whole company line - they were the best CoC/brp publisher for several years while chaosium at time was its worse for editing/art/writing. My interest after getting almost every CoC products and HPL ever has waned in the genre quite a bit. Modern RQ and its pick and mix historical stuff, fandoms attitudes of this colonialism and the power up play style has made my interest decline. I like adventurers starting weak. In RQ2 you just had skill bases and no extra points. RQ3 a bit more generous but the current version you start almost a runelord. My current ed start character could slaughter a party of old starting characters easily.

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

Big apologies to the Basic Fantasy RPG
I claimed the Chaotic Caves module was an inferior copy of B2 and I finally read it more closely and got a better vibe from it - besides the cave has some different wilderness stuff and the manour house is quite a bit more so ill improve my rating for it and will get some more from this line.

Current Projects 2025

This is a recap of the state of my gaming enterprises and projects now in year 13.
I welcome feedback, suggestions, ideas for tables and more. I was doing adventures a few years ago, and more zines. Any old stuff I dropped you'd like to see? 

New TAG sound academy video here

I have accidentally made the same table 2 or 3 times quite a few times now.
It's harder to find specific posts I wrote on google, which used to be better than bloggers' internal search of my own posts, but not true now. So much here now its unwieldy even for me to use. 5 Years ago blogger destroyed all my pages with links sorted and I considered shutting doors for good on this platform (Reddit still has a post on this I can't remove).

I did lease out some tables or write some new ones for hire, which I would still do.
I had a few older things published which I'm open to. They have been translated into German, Portuguese, Swedish and a few others, which is nice. I've considered publishing zines on some platforms, but it's all stuff that distracts from writing, which is the main part I like. It takes 10x longer to edit something to be satisfactory than to write in the first place. I'd be more willing to work with a gaming company of some kind. Itchio might happen.

Patreon
-Vol 3 of Chagrinspire draft 206 pages currently - needs some spot art and contents page but significant expansion - probably 2 good sessions and some small spot tables added and I'd like a few more maps. A version up now will be updated a bit next few days. I missed my own deadline by 90min. 

-Vol4 might happen due to v3 being too big when art is in place, and I still need to do promised character classes and my alchemy system, which of course has blown up in my face for complexity, plus the edited stuff from my weird world war and metropolis books retooled for Chagrinspire. I'm considering time travel to the height of the black sphere when the wasteland was a single mega city and Chagrinspire plundered the world.

-I'm struggling to navigate changes on the platform and changing controls - I'll try speaking to them in the week after other things I need to do. I've been very low key on this because I'm limited in earnings for reasons - it's a go hard or don't at all kind of option for me financially and healthwise. This doing a not for profit charity project as a test might be a way to test stuff.

-Will be working on an overdesigned book for charity and my 55th birthday project comp of frog game stuff, so possibly will be to help a frog charity in QL who provide lots of medical advice across the country by phone

-Another old project I have all art assets for and most of the writing, but was poisoned by bad collaborators and silent partners I didn't know about, but I'm feeling better about

-I would be stupid not to go back to my post-apoc stuff as I have a few thousand dollars of art sitting around doing nothing for it

-My lead artist retired, my editor is sick and barely can leave the house, sometimes takes 5 days in bed after one game session. Life has been pretty busy of late, being summer here and I'm also doing band stuff and doing lots of work around the house.

The Blog (where you are now)
I've been writing less but more detailed stuff mostly.

My Chagrinspire campaign is using the content I've made here, and they have plenty to go through and now 6th-7th level. A few more things to do, but I hope to be winding it all up. 
-River boat, ichor platform pumphouse and canal boat maps needed
-Random trainlines and travel events
-Describe huge chasms and the gnome city a bit more
-Time travel, visit the peak of the Black Sphere before the apocalypse
-mountains, woodlands, 
-interior geomorphs for workshops, offices, boiler rooms, foyers, factories

automaton class revision - slow on revising abilities for the higher level
-making it usable for SF or fantasy has been part of this revision, but it's hard
mutant class revision (should be easy really)
-subclass for each subclass

I used to keep drafts on blogs down to under 12
Currently I have 27

alchemy formula 3 (needs a few more parts)

A few incomplete fluff tables I could finish or delete

A few things I overwrote like essays and possibly should forget. 

spell components system
-with some tables so you can just pay in advance and forget mostly
-possibly a system/skills for using extra components rather than not requiring them

I used to like writing god stuff and I seem to not enjoy it or find satisfying vs actual mythology, but I ought to do something.

My Hell project might come back, was more than half done, and my collaborator on it long gone. It might be a good solo book also. Lots of solo gamers using my stuff.

Long ago, but 60% done
d100 second hand sex androids - tricky to describe non sexually - maybe I need a sexbot factory or sales centre scenario to collect for rich perverts or cults
d100 international villains - kinda bond stuff, but I should be able to finish given all the real world new billionaire villains we have 
d100 mythos museum and auction items - I should just put online for sale
d100 T2 smartsuits (my sf game ended)

My Homebrew
I am as ever working on my homebrew EMO stuff on and off.
I still feel finishing it would help all my setting books.

It's working and running/evolving for 13 years now, but when I get close to ending it I start revising again and playing finds errors. When players take options, we tend to work on those choices and neglect others. Mostly character classes and spell revisions at the moment. Need to revise my equipment lists too.

Back to Basics
When I started in 2012 while bedridden for months, I envisaged a dirty dozen dungeon books with a specific type and made a fair amount of progress on those works - some have even been whole bookss

About Half a huge map of Shadelport is done and I could revise that work one day.

Future
I am thinking of finding a publisher or company to help me finish some stuff. Even though I was a manager of newspapers and art director, I can't do everything anymore and am increasingly less likely to resolve anything by myself. I am well and happy enough and own a home so better than say 5 years ago or 12.

Modern Kobolds and Gatehouse Updates

Ive had to upgrade my dungeon defences as players spend most of their time doing sandbox stuff and wanting full gang of players to face growing problems. Given we are 50+ this could be hopeful. Ive boosted my orcs but what about kobolds who live next door. Especially now orcs have broken truce and started eating Kobolds. Kobolds and Orcs still battle over the gatehouse which now has more battle damage.

PATREON Update on my publications vol3 Chagrinspire draft 180+ pg soon

d12 Dungeon Battle Damage
1 Dead dog to goat
2 Blood splatters
3 Bones
4 Battered remains of barricade of trash

5 Signs of fire or explosion

6 Broken arrows or bullet holes

7 Broken chariot car and dead animals

8 Pile of bloody skulls in a pyramid heap

9 Kobold skins nailed to wall or Impaled orcs on a post

10 Fireplace with remains of interspecies cannibalism

11 Abusive graffiti in orc and kobold text, some in blood

12 battlefield dead 2d6 corpses 1in6 will arise as undead

In my Gigadungeon complex campaign players have taken months to get back to the dungeon while they trade, explore and disrupt the continental slavers. So their level has increased so the monsters need some help.

d12 Since you left the Dungeon 
1 Monsters invite a new faction to the dungeon d4 1=cult 2=bandits 3=mutant cannibals 4=humanoid tribe
2 A dungeon boss unites some factions

3 Barricades block areas

4 Increased guards

5 Increased traps and alarms

6 Increased guards

7 Increased and larger patrols

8 Civilians withdraw

9 Allied forces arrive

10 Dug new tunnel

11 Fortify entrance
12 Lure in a new monster and trap in a corridor or room

New Kobold Troops

Mobile Billy Goat Gunners
AC +6 HP 16 Mov -  Att d6 butt Volley d4xbarrels Morale 7
A goat-pulled wagon with an array of black powder gun barrels (d4+2 shots) that can fire simultaneously and then retreat rapidly. The goat and crew of 2 then flee rapidly. Often with 4-12 skirmishers to distract or set up targets using superior darkvision if possible.

Reloading takes ten minutes but half with an extra two loaders often at a pit stop so goat gunners can be rotated from front and back to reload.

Can be easily sabotaged or booby-trapped if left on the field. Teams of several might support or one will pretend to be slow to escape luring into a second hidden gun.

Goat AC+4 HP 5 Att butt d6 Mov 15 Morale 7
Skirmisher AC+4 Leather + sml shield HP 2 Att Shortbow or javelin or club Mov 12 Morale 7
Gunners AC+3 HP 2 Att club or dagger

Kobold Grenadier 
AC+3 HD 3d4 HP 10 Att Sword d6 or Thrown Weapon Mov 12 Morale 8
Elite troops carry d3 frag grenades and d4 incendiaries, carry a lit fuse in teeth or on hat to light quickly, and might also have smoke bombs and other alchemical weapons. May ride a goat

Kobold Musketeer 
AC+3 HD d4 HP 3 Att light musket with bayonet d6 Mov 12 Morale 8
Trained for team firing and rapid loading often fire from cover and withdraw to reload

Kobold Dog Master
AC+5 HD 2d4 HP 7 Att Whip d3 or javelin d6 Mov 12 Morale 8
Controls 4 dogs usually of the same type 

Ratter Dog AC+3 HD d4 Att Nip d3 Mov 15 Morale 7
Hunting Dog AC+3 HD d6 Att Nip d4 Mov 15 Morale 8
War Mastiff AV+4 HD d8 Att Nip d6 Mov 12 Morale 10

Enough hats in your game settings?

Inspired by puppet history
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LISM3lkbdyI&list=TLPQMTUwMjIwMjUTl6WuDwnonA&index=4
a

Cool Hat Art
https://www.villagehatshop.com/blogs/history-of-hats/chapter-7-medieval-europe

Milliners makes and sells hats last called hatters
Helmets are armoured hats 
This is about fantasy hats so don't quote my personal hat taxonomy and check any "facts" I sprout on the way - this is fantasy hats not earth hats so lots of specific culture hats could fit under these types. If I missed your special hat I'm sorry.

Habishery sell buttons, ribbons, thread, needles and knickknacks and might dabble in decorating hats. They might have a shop or peddle from a cart or on a blanket on the street

Having many hats makes you rich - most have a work and formal hat, while others have fashion hats, religious hats, night hats, and hats for various activities or events or titles.

Hatless people or even strange hats risked you being assaulted for many periods. Hatless referred to poor wretched persons. Hats could tell people your social class, nationality, region of origin, and more. Certain fashion hats and colours might only be for rich. The right hat for the right occasion is a must and the wrong hat a sin provoking anger. Removing your hat is a sign of respect in church, for superiors, or for your host. You might still need to cover your hair at least to avoid tempting the lusty eyes of horny angels. Headscarves, veils and other headgear can come under hat customs. 

Non-humans will have hat traditions and language skills to help you understand the secret lore of their milnery. Humans might see gnomes and kobolds share pointy caps but they see subtexts like class and home land or job.

If lots of players have magic hats it could cause problems if foreign or too strange or ancient. Players will notice npc hats more and maybe envy strangers hats.

Future articles might talk about shirtless people or trouserless people. Every man in the Old Testament wore a dress I guess or are all shirts dresses I'm unsure. 

d20 Public Hat Troubles
1 Hatless hopeless person mocked in the street 
2 Noble youths knocking off people's hats on some fun frolic
3 Thugs show disrespect to betters by knocking off hats
4 Militia demand to search someone with a foreign had nobody has ever seen
5 Stranger in a new hat beaten by a mob and hat stomped
6 Children spanked for touching hats
7 People chasing a hat theif
8 People accusing men of wearing guild hats without paying dues
9 Rivals from two other villages meet here and are  outraged by each other's hats
10 Important noble or religious hat has been stolen
11 See an unfamiliar people or faction with unfamiliar hats
12 An imposter with a stolen hat has been pretending to be rich
13 People wearing the wrong hat on the wrong day makes people angry
14 Hatless man covering the head, begs for help as hat stolen
15 Bandits from a neighbouring region have been raiding us, you can tell by their hats
16 A dandy strolls about in the open with a new fashion hat making old people grumble
17 Pundit on a crate preaches warnings about certain foreign hat-wearing people
18 A witch in a strange hat gave someone the evil eye! Just for following her around
19 Drunks bump into each other and start knocking off hats then stomping on them iot
20 A strange caravan bearing gifts for a noble with strange people in mysterious hats nobody knows about. Gossips say they are d6 1=changelings 2=demonspawn 3=cultists pulling a scam 4=making our crops wither and livestock sick 5=mutants 6=traitors to the crown

d12 Hat Crime
1 Horsing around with people hats is allowed on one festival day a year it's harmless
2 A hat is personal property and you may defend it 
3 Hats must be removed in a temple if not clergy, formal hats are to be worn to church
4 Hats must be removed when being introduced to superiors
5 Hats are removed indoors to show your respect as a guest
6 Hatless persons should be shunned, driven away or imprisoned
7 A hat in a store or a short visit is acceptable to show you intend to be brief
8 You must wear the right hat seasonally a straw hat for summer or a felt hat in winter
9 During a festival you must wear the festival hat or be accused of heresy, godlessness or wrecking people's fun
10 Wearing the hat of a guild trader or social class you have no right to, is malicious fraud
11 When paying tax, swearing oaths and during a census, you must present yourself in the formal hat of your clan
12 The dead should be buried in a hat or they will be restless looking for a hat

d12 Hat Origins
Hats over time might change or only symbolically relate to their origin using new materials
1 Woven vegetation like straw or a wreath by the wildest of peoples

2 Made by poor from recycling other scrap goods or byproducts of industry or nature

3 Made for a specific worker type possibly for safety

4 Came from land to the d4 1=mysterious west 2=sultry south 3=enigmatic east 4=numbing north

5 Demihumans like elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, changelings, and goblinoids all like pointy caps and so do wizards because other species recognise them

6 Wild people like barbarians, orcs, amazons, cave folk, beast folk 

7 Elemental peoples and planar beings of the ancients 

8 Famously from ancients d6 1=One of 3 famous Empire eras 2=Age of Exilon 3=Age of stone and sorcery 4=Elementalist Heracy era 5=Necromancer age 6=monster kings in the age of darkness

9 Military possibly archaic used by civilians or might be an official military helmet

10 Religion started or even preserved hats of the ancients might have started as cults or prescribed other clothing based on the god's choice or what they say they wore in art. might be alignment hats. Some difficult hats or ones hard to remove might be part of a religious code 

11 Fashion designs for beauty sweeping the courts and banned from riff-raff, but older designs might eventually get an inspired hat when the rich don't care for them. Commoner fads come and go and may get resented or banned by nobles. A basic hat can be decorated in popular accessories 

12 Status made to show if poor or trader or noble, might be archaic designs from ancients but modernised. It could be a sign of being a widow or for age or student or other type

d12 Hat Materials
From poorest to richest (bone, wood, seashell might be possible)
1 Woven plant fibres, usually straw
2 Burlap or sackcloth, coarse fabric 

3 Cloth usually linen or cotton or flax

4 Hide animal skin, possibly with animal face

5 Leather 
6 Canvas 

7 Felt

8 Wool

9 Fur

10 Velvet

11 Silk

12 Metal, might be covered in other materials and hidden as covert protection. Some instead stylish decorated armoured helmets and polished or decorated

d12 Commoner Hat Decor
1 Button
2 Pin
3 Feather
4 Bone
5 Fishing lure
6 Flower
7 Tassle
8 Bird foot or skull
9 Veil
10 Crease
11 Cloth Band
12 Brass buckle of clan insignia or other design

d12 Guild Hat Decor
1 Heraldic enamel on the metal house or guild badge
2 Semiprescious stone broach

3 Pearl-capped silver pin

4 Grouse foot with tiny gem broach

5 Animal head or figure broach

6 Feathers of rare game birds with silver clasp

7 Fur trim of rare fur

8 Pretty Ribbon

9 Medal or award

10 Silver chain

11 Silk band

12 Silver buckle the bigger the better

d12 Noble Hat Decor
1 Heraldic gold broach or painted plaque
2 Gem-tipped gold pin

3 Cameo broach carved from gem

4 Brilliant pure colour only permitted to rank

5 Embroidered designs or scripts all over

6 Veil or mask

7 Holy symbol  

8 Fur or feathers of rare or mythical creature

9 Mother of pearl and semiprecious stone beading in designs

10 Gold chain 

11 Ornate gold filigree

12 Gold buckle

d12 Feral Hat Decor
1 Twig
2 Bone
3 Mushroom
4 Lichen or moss
5 Tiny animal home
6 Colourful rock
7 Birdwing
8 Bark
9 Leaves
9 Horns or antlers
10 Animal-skinned face

11 Woven grass band

12 Barley stalk 

d12 Evil Hat Decor
1 Horns
2 Skull
3 Demon face
4 Unholy symbol
5 Spiderweb (perhaps a spider)
6 Bat
7 Teeth
8 Eyes
9 Cured human hide
10 Blood
11 Flies and maggots
12 Knife

d12 Basic Hats of the Central Continent
Common basic hats you see in large markets or a port town
The higher the number the more rich
1 Straw working hats with wide brims for weather used by farmers and shepherds
2 Cloth head-coverings include wrappings, turbans, headscarves and other styles of coverings
3 Bonnet usually cloth covers ears and hair with some chin ties 
3 Dome caps from a simple skullcap but often with a partial or whole brim from a variety of materials, might be protective
4 Pointy Cap in a variety of cone shapes and materials. In some styles the tip is rounder or droopy or even floppy. Often used  by demihumans and goblinoids for thousands of years

5 Floppy Cap for rich dandies and show-offs usually cloth or velvet  
5 Flat Cap usually cloth or leather worn by workers, urchins and workers in big cities
6 Cylindrical caps of various heights 
7 Hood or cowl may cover the head and be pulled back if required, and may be attached to clothing to cloak like a shirt or dress but many cover the head and shoulders
8 Bicorn is a popular hat with pirates, the brims of the hat brought to the middle and pinned up into a wedge shape
9 Tricorn, a wide-brimmed hat with sides folded in the middle into a triangle shape
10 Wimple of cloth that covers the chin and cheeks
11 Coif covers hair and ears and is often tied under the chin, also armoured versions exist from leather or chain, fur inner lining ones in cold places are desirable
12 Headpieces often decorated for heraldry of fashion with vegetal or animals or shapes like cones, eggs or others often with a veil for ladies and on fancy helmets for knights

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

Magic Hats
1in6 are of a superior type and are rarer and more expensive
1in6 superior hats are smart hats and sentient, able to communicate by telepathy with the wearer. Many are made from the spirits of former living persons.
Optionally the 1in6 superior can be accessed at 6th Lv with smart hat properties at 9th 

d12 Bonus Smart Hat Powers
1 Hat teleports to owners head if removed

2 Hat has a d3 Lore skills

3 Hat can talk

4 Hat has Mov3

5 Hat can bite strangers by putting it on for d4 magic damage

6 Hat detects intelligent magic items and tries talking with them

7 Hat telepathy 3 range

8 Hat can levitate Mov1

9 Hat makes a meal once a day 

10 Hat holds 10ENC of fluid with no weight or spoilage, wine, water, milk, beer, vinegar 

11 Hat can protect small pets or familiars in a pocket dimension

12 Hat has 360 degree vision and warn of threats it sees

d12 Holy Hats of Law & Good
1 Hat of light casts a light spell once per day, 1in6 can glow as a lantern at will
2 Hat of healing cast Cure Light Wounds on wearer if they are knocked to zero or less HP, 1in6 can heal a d4 anytime you fall to zero or less HP up to once per round
3 Hat of rest grows into a 3m wide dome tent and back once per per day, cosy and rainproof, 1in6 also can cast Create Food & Water once per day

4 Hat of the Sentinel provides night vision and 1in6 can cast Detect Enemy three times a day

5 Hat of judgement casts ESP once per day 1in6 cast detect lies once per day

6 Hat of the Prophet casts Augry once per day 1in6 cast Comune once per week

7 Hat of Comprehension casts comprehend languages once per week, 1in6 cast Tongues once per day

8 Hat of Levitation cast Levitation three times a day 1in6 cast Air Walk one per day

9 Hat of Holiness +2 AC & save vs undead 1in6 also includes planar evil beings

10 Hat of Hammers can create a throwing hammer per level per day from the hat, which vanish after a ten minute turn, 1in6 can also cast Spectral Weapon once per day

11 Hat of the Sacred Font can make a litre of water per day per level, 1in6 can make a bottle of holy water once per day

12 Hat of the Hierophant +1 Turn use per day 1in6 turn as if one level higher

d12 Holy Hat Personality
1 Peace-loving hermit want to be sure if violence only way LG

2 Warrior nun prefers to be wielded by a woman or a nun LG

3 Healer who cares about the sick and poor NG

4 Strict zealot paladin wants to exterminate evil LG

5 Church diplomat likes to help negotiate LG

6 Bring fire and judgment to the wicked CG

7 Friar preaches living poor is the best life CG

8 Ecclesiastical bureaucrat likes to record wielder's feats LN

9 Witch hunter wants to kill evil spellcasters LN

10 Monk likes humility, poverty and chastity LN

11 Martyr who died for the church and suffered torments of enemy faith

12 Excorcist hates undead and knows about spirits

d12 Unholy Hats of Chaos & Evil
1 Hat of the mutant gives the wearer mutations rerolled daily, each hat has one mutation table type only, +1 minor mutation and 1in6 a major mutation
2 Hat of the Wastes has goggles and filter mask vs dust or smoke or stinks, 1in6 resist poison gas
3 Hat of the Beast has horns and can do double unarmed damage with a 3 range runup, 1in6 head can turn into a beast at will for a d6 unarmed damage and a bonus melle unarmed attack
4 Hat of Death can summon d12 skeletons once per day, 1in6 can summon d6 zombies once per day. The undead fight one battle and wander away after
5 Hat of Disguise can cast Alter Self once per day, 1in6 Polymorph Self once per week
6 Hat of Darkness casts a Darkness spell once per day, 1in6 can summon a shadow once per day who guards the wielder an hour a day, it is the wearer's own shadow
7 Hat of the Bat can turn into a bat fly Mov24 and scout for 10 minutes as directed and when it returns to the head the wearer sees what the bat saw with its sonar vision, 1in6 cast Swarm spell calling bats once per day. If the bat dies the hat is ruined
8 Hat of Hell is a portal that can summon an imp to serve and advise you while you wear the hat for ten minutes per day, 1in6 the imp can come when called and is replaced if killed, and can carry messages to hell. Smells of sulfur
9 Hat of Terror cast scare x3 a day or 1in6 cloak of fear once per day
10 Stinking Hat can cast a stinking cloud once per day, 1in6 in wearers immune to stench attacks
11 Hat of Wickedness cast protection from good 3x a day, 1in6 can call a lesser demon or devil or daemon once per week of a random type with an hour ritual to serve one day then wanders off 
12 Hat of the Evil Eye, enemies resist wearers spells -1 on saves, 1in6 

d12 Unholy Hat Personality
1 Mischievous trickster likes mischievous sadistic pranks CE
2 Vindictive and hateful to enemies NE
3 Cruel tyrant demands respect with force LE
4 Sadistic bully encourages domination by terror CE
5 Enjoys tormenting prisoners NE
6 Recommends making oaths & pacts with hell LE
7 Demon cultists prefer to be used by a mighty cult leader
8 Delights in murder, cannibalistic acts and mutilation of corpses NE
9 Seeks to be in the company of criminals in vice dens CE
10 Violent vandal, enjoys fights, arson, book burning and smashing art CE
11 Loves spilling of blood and pointless murder of innocents NE
12 Slavemaster will advise on running slaver rings LE

d12 Magic Hats of Druidry
1 Rangers Hat, cast pass without trace x2 a day 1in6 can turn into a tree a day per level
2 Shifters Hat, get +2 changes per day, 1in6 +1 AC Damage Hit in beast form
3 Druids Hat +1hp for plants and animals created by spells, 1in6 +1hp per HD
4 Hunters Hat, halves penalties for range attacks, 1in6 target halves benefits of cover
5 Miners Hat, has a magical ever-burning candle if dark, casts detect metal x3 per day, 1in6 summon 2d4 kobolds with picks once per day for 4 hours who will dig or fight, then they will most likely leave unless paid
6 Beast Master Hat, cast Speak to Animals once per day 1in6 Charm Animals once per day
7 Gardeners Hat, Cast Plant Growth once per day 1in6 Charm Plant once per day (Fungi ok too)

8 Redsmiths Hat cast Heat Metal once per day, 1in6 resist fire -1 damage per dice +2 Save vs fire
9 Woodcutters Hat cast barkskin once per day, 1in6 +d6 axe damage vs wood or plants

10 Frog Hat can swim full movement speed, hold breath ten minutes, 1in6 +3m jump range

11 Wolf Hat can summon a wolf AC+4 2HD d8 Morale9 Mov 15 for hour once per day and it understands verbal orders. 1in6 can become a wolf for one hour a day

12 Equestrian Hat can speak to horses, 1in6 can cast Charm Horse once per day

d12 Nature Hat Personality
1 Loves to travel in the wilderness and dislikes towns
2 Likes to help and protect animals
3 Likes to help and protect plants
4 Offers unwanted romantic advice to have many children
5 Mood swings with seasons like the fey
6 Has the personality of an animal

7 A gruff old druid

8 A sly mysterious ranger who dislikes chit-chat unless in a tavern

9 A joyful young tree spirit

10 Wasted old druid often confused and amazed

11 Lusty lover offers years of experience in love

12 Gourmet offers cooking tips and wants you to taste things for it

d12 Arcane Hats of Wizardry
1 Artillery Hat fires 3 magic missiles per day, 1in6 can absorb incoming magic missiles and store them but must be used same day
2 Relic Hunters Hat cast detect magic 3x per day, 1in6 cast Identify once per day
3 Storm Hat cast Shocking Grasp per day, 1in6 cast Lightning Bolt  once per day
4 Salamander Hat cast Burning Hands per day, 1in6 cast Fireball once per day
5 Hat of the Magi can store a 1st Lv spell the wearer can cast, 1in6 store one 2nd and one 3rd Lv 
6 Hat of the Sylph cast Featherfall once per day, 1in6 cast Levitation and Invisibility once per day
7 Hat of the Gnome can once per day summon a gnome servant for one hour who is a personal servant who can wait, clean or groom the owner or fight AC+3 HDd6 Att d4 Dagger, 1in6 can cast Stoneskin once per day

8 Hat of Power can absorb and store one 1st Lv spell cast on the wearer for 24 hours, 1in6 can absorb and store up to three spell levels of spells

9 Yellow Hat +3 Mov rate 1in6 casts haste once per day

10 Blue Hat +6 Swim speed 1in6 cast breath water once per day

11 Green Hat is immune to minor mutations resist poison +2 saves -1 damage per dice, 1in6 immune to major mutations and immune to poison

12 Grey Hat can cast spider climb x3 per day, 1in6 cast invisibility once per day

d12 Arcane Hat Personality
1 Scholar is always curious about lore and ancient writing
2 Old confused duffer and former academic
3 Loves to plot and scheme, a bit paranoid
4 Cowardly and dreads violence and monsters
5 Complains about aches and pains in its imaginary phantom body 
6 Gives unwanted medical advice and comments on the severity of wearer injuries and health

7 Anatomists would love to see monster dissections and offer taxidermy tips

8 Gives unethical tips for spell research and stealing spells 

9 Talks about days as a mischievous wizard at school and all the drinking they did

10 Interested in history and finding material evidence of the past

11 Recommends unethical or childish uses for spells, bit of a perve 

12 Boasts about all the wonderous deeds it seen better than the wearer life

d12 Heroic Hats of War & Plunder
1 Hat of Plunder holds up to 10x 1ENC objects inside, 1in6 Teleport once per week
2 Hat of the Ogre +1 Str, 1in6 grants 2d4+4hp as the wearer body
3 Hat of Pugilism +1 hit and damage with unarmed attacks 1in6 +1 unarmed attack
4 Burglars Hat makes wearer silent, 1in6 can cast invisibility twice a day
5 Hat of Heraldry a knight helmet +1 protection with a heraldic headpiece that changes to the wearer's bloodline and can be used to determine relations. 1in6 +2 protection
6 Hat of the Dragon +2 save vs dragon fear, breath or spells, 1in6 wearer can speak and read dragon

7 Hat of Assasin can cast Mask once a day, 1in6 present a false alignment od wearers choice

8 Crusader Hat a helmet with no penalties for spotting or hearing, 1in6 +2AC and save vs evil

9 Hat of the Lion +2 save vs fear, 1in6 effect has a 3 area effect on allies & +2 morale

10 Berserk Hat wearer goes berserk at zero hp +2 hit and damage immune to fear, will keep attacking any possible target until dead 1in6 can go berserk at will and make a save to turn off

11 Hat of Defence +2AC vs missiles, 1in6 immune to non-magical missiles

12 Hat of Slaughter +d4 damage if attack foe in back, 1in6 increases damage to +d6

d12 Adventurous Hat Personality
1 Loves to wallow in blood and gore
2 Loves looting corpses and exited by treasure
3 Has an enemy it hates and longs to see die
4 Tells tales of past glory and plunder
5 Hates time wasters
6 Encourages risky behaviour for the glory

7 Has a weird code of honour

8 Longs for power over mortals and conquest

9 Loves money and loves to count
10 Loves shiny flashy baubles and luxury

10 Longs to drink, gamble and indulge in vice

11 Solve any problem with violence

12 Paranoid and convinced of malicious intent behind anything

Game Log: More sidequests, want to stop orcs but party split

 

In an odd turn two players AWOL so we had the priest of light and the giant (8"6) meet with local priests to ready the operation to destroy the Demon Ichor rig on the lake. With a gang of a dozen acolytes and a dozen of the best no one maritime scavengers gang of a dozen. the Giant brought some of his wolves and his jester too. The priest had his usual band of priests recruited from freed aged slaves.

The trip was safe and they began to prepare the rig. They debated if they should take ichor out of the underlake behemoth demon thing before pumping holy water back in. Local priests had over a hundred holy water potions ready. Then they saw the slavers demon ichor-powered golem paddle steamer coming. They were quiet and troops ready with crossbows and a few muskets. The giant had spent the last month salvaging barbed wire and wrapping the pylons of the rig in it. He had made a gate for friendly boats at the bottom. Men with loaded weapons waited on the middle stairwell ready to loose havok. The giant waited at the gate while the party on the top deck hiding. 

A jollyboat left the paddle steamer with a dozen men who came up to the gate and tried to break it open. Crossbow bolts rained on them killing half and an incendiary hit the boat badly burning several, only 3 wounded men and a leader survived. The Slavemaster made threats on a megaphone offering to let them flee now or they would be enslaved and tortured. The boat cam alongside the rig gate and dropped a gangplank and men charged up the plank like a ramp to the top of the gate letting them get down. More crossbows and incendiaries killed many and the defenders retreated to the top of the rig with a dozen enemies battering the hatch.

The giant had climbed to the rig top, got some spell buffs and jumped onto the top of the slaver ship as the priest blasted him with holy light. Other clerics targeted officers and the men trying to get through the hatch. The giant landed and twisted his leg a bit and saw the slave master flee. he quickly killed the second in command.

When the slavers broke through they were outnumbered and overcome. The last few men on the bottom were withdrawing and a leader the Priest had met in the camp in the cavern under the plateau. He was glad to help finish him and the surviving crew with the gang of clerics and scavengers.

The giant killed his way into the second deck and finished the wounded master as he drank a healing potion. The slavers were massacred and some trying to flee were eaten by mutant crocodiles attracted by all the blood and violence. Two trying to flee were paralysed and captive. Lots of dead bosses to use speak with dead on.

Was a dwarf slave engineer and a dozen others in chains below deck. There was the main deck with a casino, the first deck with a brothel and the top deck of the slavers admin centre. Took ledgers some treasure and the boat and sailed away as they reversed the pumphouse to flood the vast creature in the deep with holy water. The lake spasmed and gas bubbles came up and the flailing outer god's mortal form was destroyed. The part collected some demon god flesh and helped sink the upside-down rig floating on air-filled pylons. 

Took the paddle steamer home and beached it. There was a huge party and new freed slaves who joined the ferry village. There was a wild feast with locals from all the settlements and late the Priest and Giant investigated some murders to find a vampiric orc thrall and seemed related to the Orcs of the Bloody Tree and was a spy. The local priest showed best way to kill the thrall and warned the orcs needed to be stopped soon. The freed slaves were conscripted soldiers for the crusade which has apparently failed and is scattered by mutant hordes and undead former crusaders resentful of the living.

As they had stopped the slaver's trade on the lake and destroyed the demon ichor rig I let them unlock a level-up achievement (I find xp time-wasting and petty). They went to the waterfall-covered plateau cavern, met gnomes and goblinods, and got a job offer to hunt the undead to earn semiprecious stones, the local currency. The Priest had the dwarf priest he got in a follower exchange program who spoke gnome, goblin and under-common.

They met a local scruffy priest also who thought his replacement had arrived after 40 years of waiting. The party priest explained this was not the case but he might help as he had followers all around the wasteland now.  They took the deal and were told to walk straight from the gate then left and follow their wall and fences until they get back and hopefully kill lots of ghouls. They went around the fence taunting undead so the cleric could blast them with holy light in an optimal manner through the fence impressing locals who shunned the light. A goblin was sent with the party to tally the undead killed.

The first lone undead they fried with cantrips and then another group came and were vapourised. Almost at the campsite, they heard big voices so stopped and an ogre peeked around the corner. The giant tried to talk with them but they thought he was too pretty and uppity so attacked. The ogres were defeated and didn't do much damage. The party took their bags of semiprecious stones and found their campsite and a cooked goblin.

Heading "left" they stalked through fungus-shrouded ruins and wiped out more ghouls. The priest cast free action on the giant so ghouls couldn't paralyse him. He held chokepoints and splatted ghouls not vapourised. They found a ruin and detected dead inside and saw carrion and grave remains scattered inside. The giant ordered his jester to taunt the undead out. Four ghouls in courtly rotting regalia came out with a crowned female ghoul a head taller, and more ancient than anyone had seen. Her coffin was in a museum in Chagrinspire for centuries plundered from the south. She had with her followers found a place to make a ghoul army. She also reduced turning vs ghouls in her area. So instead of vapourising the vassals fled and she summoned skeletons from the carrion on the floor. Dwarf cleric wiped out skeletons and the old local priest blessed people too.  The giant missed her and the priest's new bodyguard who had come on this trip managed to hurt her and was wounded and paralysed. The giant was still paralysis resistant but kept missing the barely surviving queen ghoul. She summoned more skeletons and they were mostly blasted to dust. The Lead priest was struck by a skeleton from behind. The queen was missed and was regenerating but the jester knocked her down. The party destroyed her and then waited for the vassal ghouls and wiped them out. 

The goblin accountant offered to tally skeletons for half the profit from this deal and the party agreed. Back in town they met a local grey gnome traders and heard local gossip. Mostly locals like visitors who don't attack them but wiping out undead always menacing the town was alright by locals.  

Players killed over 100 slavers and undead all up and did 600hp damage to the avatar of some slimy sleeping demon god killing it in this world for possibly centuries (unless helped).

Vampire Orc Prep

Other night a lady asked me what are you dreaming of?
This was a bit awkward but here it is:

In my campaign in Chagrinspire players annoyingly made friends and truces all the time. They even freed kobold slaves and took them to some kobolds they fought once to make peace stronger. So when you design a 200 room dungeon and players just make friends it's a bit of a sigh moment. So I was keen for beef to erupt at an inconvenient moment. I hoped players would cheat the orcs somehow but they didnt.

So party have a deal with orcs who get half the treasure and pick of magic items for access to Chagrinspire. The party found an experimental lab possibly used still for strange artefacts and party took a bunch and the orcs took 3 items.

A crystal fallen from the sky (GusL stylecrystral adventures) the orc magicians broke and huffed crystals and infected - a wizard and priest. 

A prehistoric vampire head, one of the first generation predating humans.

An alien evil tree seed has also fallen from the sky grows into an intelligent evil life-staying tree.

So now divination, gossip and rumours talk of a change in the orcs.

They now wear the sign of a tree with a screaming evil face on their chests, sheilds and banners. Now they worship the Bloody Tree an alien evil plant now also a vampire, they sacrifice victims by tying to the tree which drains their blood with thorns.

Cheif Kudokan the new leader
LE Vampire
AC +9 HD 9 (68hp) Att Sword d8+4 or Bite d6+2 + 2 levels drained 
Morale 11 Mov 12 (spiderclimb) or as Boar 18 or Bat 24 or Vapour 9 
-Requires holy, silver, fire or magic weapons to harm, regenerate 2hp per round 
-Repulsed by holy symbols, running water and strings of pork sausages
-Sunlight, fire or a steak through the heart and decapitation stops regeneration
-Can assume gaseous form and can escape or avoid physical weapons to heal
-Boar form faster and charge att: tusks 4d4+4 (double with 9m runup) + 2 levels drained 
-Bat form a single giant bat or a swarm of bats, can use wings in humanoid or boar form
-Rat form a single giant rat or a swarm of rats 
-Hypnotic gaze instead of attack while humanoid, save each round or stand dazed and miss an action for a round, if it lasts a second round the victim drops anything in hands
-Can control 9HD or rats, pigs bats or any combination even swarms, some might save to resist if unusual or a pet of someone else
-Can create a thrall by drinking and feeding blood for three nights often using hypnotism

Thralls of the Bloody Tree
LE servants of the vampire lord and the Bloody Tree
AC +6 HD 6 (40hp) Att Sword d8+1 or Bite d4+1  Morale 11 Mov 12 (spider climb)  
-These thralls are on the path to vampirism and obey their chief and
-heal 1hp per hour if they drink the blood of a person or animals of equal mass daily 
-Sunlight hurts eyes -2 actions using sight and initiative

Boars of the Bloody Tree
NE transformed beasts
AC +4 HD 3 (14) Att tusks 2d4+2 (double with 9m runup)  Morale 10 Mov 15
-males are berserkers if they reach zero HP, can fight conscious to -10, +2 hit & damage
-two can pull a chariot AC+4 HD 4 (18) Mov 15, driver a hero and an archer for crew
-can carry an armoured orc into battle, sows carry lighter armed female or young archers
-eating their flesh can infect the eater with the berserk condition at 0hp if fail a save

Orcs of the Bloody Tree
LE transformed orcs
-Skirmisher AC +3 HD 1 Att shortbow d6 Morale 9 Move 12
wear leathers and carry a light weapon like javelins or shortsword or club
-Warrior AC +6 HD per Lv most 1 Att by weapon Morale 10 Move 9
wear scale with shield and carry a spear and sword or morningstar mace
warriors fed on special boar meat to make them all berserk at 0hp
-Hero AC+7 HD 4d12 Att by weapon +1 Morale 10 Move 9

This also will buff the basic orcs

I guess dnd5 has vampire trees as a thing but this was an organic fluke event it could have been vampire turnips or a crystaline tree

Getting to know your local unwanted owners

Fair warning: this is about using slavers as bad guys you can slaughter in fantasy roleplaying games because they are evil. Slavery is bad and slavers will try and justify it with poorly considered claims. I may amend this later if I have ideas.

Orcs might be nice but slavers are all awful.

All historical slavery is bad but some kinds were worse, this isn't meant to say the lesser forms were tolerable or OK.

Some had zero mobility or ways out other than a grave.

I recommend reading the code of Hammurabi and looking at Roman slavery a bit, but I don't mean bronze age values are prescriptive for the modern world.

Some people don't want this element in their fantasy novels or games that's ok. I'm more into cathartic fantasy violence but I get some people are the opposite to this and they are welcome to stop reading and visit one of my other tasteless posts. Maybe think twice about presenting odorous subjects in public. Though as kids in 70s we watched Roots and played games about fleeing captivity and id rather be on side of the slaves than masters.

If you do use this maybe feel out on your players if anyone does not. Don't railroad ppl into autonomy loss in game even if ppl say it's okay maybe don't. 

I think a sandbox setting where players choose to fight slavery on their own is superior. Make some maps and place slavery routes and outposts and markets and anti-slavery areas. It's better than forcing them into being slaves for more than 5minutes if they don't want to do this. Ive warned players about autonomy loss in a series of published cthulhu scenarios and they were quite a bit darker than most and it kinda made a depressing gloom vibe worse than any id read since 1st edition box set (a friend wrote it but I won't say who). Being controlled and railroaded through a haunted cave exhibits torture which is a waste for games about making choices and the characters to solve problems.

Even evil edge lord players or weasely neutral centrists might be convinced killing slavers is good for business. Like pirate hunting people call you heroes. If beef is business you might as well plunder awful bullies. Maybe some other anti-slavers are overdoing it a bit weirdly or have other populist or cult motives.

My own game is full of real vice and crime a grotesque parody of history and early 80s UK FRPG vibes. In part, my campaign is about grubby colonialism and toxic nationalism/religion. Any slavers that players interact with should eventually get the chance to die at the character's hands. 

What kind of slaver fighting should I be doing now?
Players at any level should be able to mess with slavers and slavery. 
0 Helping runaways, being uncooperative, mocking slavers, avoiding dealing with slave owners, sabotage and graffiti, increase in slave keeping costs and taxes
1-4 Helping break slaves free, raid slave caravans, murder or rob a slave trader, drive them away from local area
5-8 Systematically destroy slave trade in a region, destroy their prisons and trading posts and ships, establish or aid anti-slavery organisations and people in governance 
9-12 Work on international slavery targeting their palaces and help people resist slave raiders, rob temples of pro-slavery religions
13-16 Should be able to wipe out most organised slave trade on this dimension, maybe look at the underland or undersea slavery or other plan planes or hidden civilisations. Perhaps some nearby planes can benefit from your help. Stamp out slavery cults and religions
17-20 Go to other dimensions like hell and mess up their operations, enslaved souls on other planes need your help! Kill a god of slavery

Why aren't you not killing slavers right now you ask?

I bet you can't wait to round up all the slavers for the common good.

In basic D&D many modules feature the Iron Ring a despicable syndicate in cities and the wilderness. The use non-humans as goons in wild areas and in several adventures. They are into chains, and brands and are nasty enough to be destroyed. TSR didn't really give us a definitive adventure to crush global slavery which is always a campaign achievement in my games. It appears in several modules and is easy to hate.

AD&D has A1-4 Against the  Slavelords a contention module in 4 books the in one book. Lots of these books have tournament fluff and pregens so a bit of wasted space I thought at age 14. Some later versions added more. The Slavelords could totally be the Iron Ring organisation. It is one of the 1st great railroad campaigns but for a convention, you should expand it
A1 has a ruined city I'd like to see a bit more of. 
A2 raid a castle
A3 attack the slavers and all die
A4 resurrected and tortured and escaped from prison naked as the island had volcanic eruption - I'd have a deity warn them of this countdown

Has some brave stuff here by modern standards - killing the party in a railroad a bit wow.
It is as if capturing ppl impossible in dnd. I don't know how slavers manage to make it seem easy.

TSR marvel series X modules from the 80s you are mutants in an alternate near future resisting the techbro/fascist takeover of America persecuting mutants. Wild fantasy stuff I know but it pulls off the grim for marvel vibe well. There were tough times but it was heroic and you got to stomp on badguys and it was clear it was not suddenly a genre swap to a horror show. Players choosing on their own to plan infiltration as a choice is fine but forcing it can be meh. If you have the range choice on offer at uncle Don's 1981 Hong Kong holiday slideshow night maybe just make it a paragraph montage cut scene so players can get back to being effective. A bit of suffering is good for heroes but you have plenty of ways to make players sweat. Feel out if a prison breakout is something players would like to play from inside and how grimy it can get.

d12 Sneaky Slaver Scummy Tricks
1 Offer spiked booze then carry off "drunk friends"

2 Kidnap drunks off the street and taverns 

3 Join our holy pilgrimage to meet a wonderous saint (no sickies need apply)  

4 Advertise a job to lure victims into slaver temporary lair

5 Run a racket with prostitutes to lure victims into slaver's temporary lair

6 Offer miracle cure treatment (for something based on vanity not actual sickness) to lure victims into slaver's temporary lair

7 Join a holy crusade and come with us to absolve our sins by slaughtering foriegners but really to lure victims into slaver temporary lair

8 A terrible criminal in the area, joins the posse and get a cut of the reward! but lead to slaver's temporary lair

9 Hire labourers pay them a coin, then lead them to slaver temporary lair

10 Find desperate needy people and offer to buy their family members

11 Work with crime guild to get idiots into gambling debts to sell sellves as slaves

12 Influencing the state to help the privileged and persecute the weak. Use financial support or flooding system with pro slavers, give fancy slaves to posh people to get them into slaver circles 

Temporary lairs are buildings occupied for short term or until bribery stops working and people complain. Often in a closed business or leased building but tents or a cave might do or a ship.

Permanent prisons might be in old castle dungeons, isolated forts, even in a city slum. Some short-term holding or local only, others are for receiving from smaller ones to mass export.

Slavers Guild
In my game the Slavers Guild is a continent-wide criminal syndicate with branches in every kingdom that use the wasteland to move slaves where kingdoms cannot. They kidnap people then carry them across the continent to put them from escaping. They buy and sell people sometimes from families, some kidnapped, some prisoners of war kingdoms don't want to keep. The guild branch that transports them has been doing this since ancient Exilon 5000 years ago and are linked to the smugglers' guild, the western lotus cults and the mining guild.

Slavers may worship cruel gods and demons but value healing magic to keep their slaves alive and prevent self-harm. 

Slavers often run scams like miracle healing shrine that makes sick healthy then sell them. They might pretend to be a ship press gang in a port town. guiding pilgrims into trap disguised as monks is another old trick. They might kidnap a whole village which is why nobles are often against them.

My players constantly mutter about taking them down over past conflicts.
They think stopping the Slavers cross-continent routes will be possible.

d12 Good reasons to start beef with slavers
1 They are despicable traders in misery against liberty
2 They undermine society with their influence to increase slavery and take over industry and manufacturing guilds, devaluing honest labour
3 Saw friends taken by the slavers and you seek to free them
4 Slavers kill someone meddling in their affairs and must be avenged
5 Know ex-slaves or were slaves, mistreated and freed or escaped

6 Secret faction of nobles want slavers destroyed and will pay but don't mention their names
7 Kingdoms had a hard time with slavers and recruiting heroes to scourge the slavers
8 Rich merchants hate slavers who take relatives and whole wagon trains from the merchant clan. Hire adventurers to cost the slavers and bankrupt them with violence
9 A Church hates slavers and offers healing and raise dead to heroes who fight the slavers
10 Saw slaves being moved secretly in cruel circumstances and saw them kill those near death to silence them
11 Discover that many missing people in fact have fallen into silver hands but they make it look like bandits, cults or humanoids
12 Find coded slaver message about one of the secret master's real plans and showing slavery as just a means to an end and real goals are worse

d12 Local Slaver Troubles
1 Mystery kidnappers have taken quite a few people
2 People are taken with fake signs of humanoids found as red herring clues
3 Noble youth visiting the poor taken by masked kidnappers
4 Child reports friend taken by slavers and knows where their camp is with other prisoners (child might be a gang stooge)
5 Slavers moving chained humanoids were overthrown and now these slaves are living as bandits - locals debate the best course of action
6 Press gang kidnapping crew for a ship people say
7 Graverobbers have been stealing corpses of skilled and famous crafters or scholars (resurrection if can be profitable with high-value slaves or arcane research)

8 Someone attacked the children's prison and took all the orphans and child criminals 

9 Raiders have been depopulating small hamlets leaving only helpless elderly, sick or lame

10 A gang has been kidnapping village idiots to sell as jesters in faraway courts
11 A noble has been working with the slavers but nobody knows who (they have a secret under the castle d6 1=human zoo 2=lab to make monsters with slaver guild wizards 3=noble is a slavers guild secret master 4=lab to drugs with slaver guild alchemists 5=hell cult shrine 6=all of the above) 

12 A church helping slaves is under attack by infamous guild slave soldiers! If only someone would help the temple

d20 Slaver Alignments & Crap Excuses in Slaver Cultures
Alignment here is more like what they present as you might dismiss some of these alignment claims and you should be able to coax good people to help against slavery or at least its excesses. Many societies forbid slavery but have forms of serf or thralldom or indentured contract of service. In a family of any of these, they might vary and quarrel about what is best. Slaver cults will likely have worse alignments.
1 Lawful Good - in a pro-slaver society they might claim to be kinder than average or protecting their slaves slaves from a worse owner. Better people will emancipate and help them as patrons or adopt them to give them legal status and freedom. Might lobby to restrict the trade in new ways or argue to end it. Allow slaves money or property or free marriage, frown on torture
2 Good - will be trying to make slave's lives easier, helping the sick and try and convince people to teat slaves better or free them. They may have to act in secret and be known as a trouble maker soft on slavery. They might offer charity and aid to slaves and may openly abuse slavers demonstrating their bad taste in public 
3-5 Lawful - if it's legal I can do it, obviously it is heavily regulated. Ok to adopt, marry or free your own slaves but not ok to wastefully kill or damage them. Slaves can buy freedom and have their own money 
6-8 Lawful Evil - it's traditional and even the gods do it, buying a free person for money is just a form of economic servitude and completely legitimate, it is better than killing people, letting them be coerced into compliant behaviour with a promise of freedom or marginal benefits. Use deceit, blackmail or desperation to keep slaves and promote the most obedient but avoid freeing anybody 
6-10 Evil - everybody is a slave and you must make the weak your slaves, it's only natural. Slaves should be kept in pain and terror or drugged. If you don't torture subordinates nobody will respect you. Unusual indoctrination, narcotics, curses and surgical modifications of slaves are all legitimate (eunachs). Wicked slaves are best turned on by the others. Healthy slaves live longer and can suffer longer but you can always make them undead if they break
10-13 Neutral - as long as not my family or friends or people it's ok, that's what they get for not being local, it's a difficult issue nobody can solve. 
14 Balanced - slavery has its place but too many or not enough slaves create problems and should be resisted. Too many slaves are trouble and might revolt or replace us but too few slaves who will do the worse jobs? Prefer slaves to be criminals or prisoners of war for the worst jobs and temporary indentured servitude contracts for other work. Paying people poorly and justifying why it can't change with various arcane analyses is normal
15-16 Chaotic - I can do what I want and buy and sell who I please for my pleasure, it is the slaves' own fault for not being free. Fraternise with servants but may use force or reward randomly, uncertainty and moodiness are the norm. May free slaves on a whim or outstanding performance and offer them jobs or abandon weak ones
17-19 Chaotic Evil - take delight in cruelty, sadism and murdering your captives, life is cheap and slaves mean you always have someone to torment and bully in any manner you like. You can free a slave so you can kill them for fun later as a surprise. Showing off your brutality makes other sadists respect you
20 Chaotic Good - Can't stand slavery or prisons, will break the corrupt law to help slaves find freedom, will lie and cheat and kill to help slaves. May have to operate in secret with allied ex slaves and will try to help slaves escape

d12 Slaver Guild Branch
1 Caravan Traders will appear to be legitimate merchants but also keep covered cage wagons. Where legal they more openly flaunt their livestock. They use camels, oxen, terror birds or lizards often with a rider and an archer if possible to cross the wastes but may have some horse rider escorts also. Many carry light hunting muskets, whips, lassos and wavy or curved-bladed weapons. They are the most ancient branch but now they let Cofflemen do most of the transport between markets
2 Slave Raiders live in waste and act like bandits but take prisoners, but otherwise might be hard to distinguish. Many get into more sophisticated guild operations if they show talent. Carry spears, lassos and bows. Might even have some fighting slaves forced to fight for them and even join them if they show willingness. May use horses or camels
3 Gladiator Masters operate grubby frontier fighting pits and are involved in the great Colosseum of the Empire, private events of the rich and other venues for blood sport slaves. Increasingly grubby and despised they are losing their fortunes. Wear more often ornate armour, carry small swords, blades or a cestus. Guards use crossbows
4 Pleasure Gardeners procure and trade sex workers for venues or rich orgies in some lands. They also use narcotics as a control rather than damage goods with violence. They operate secret mind control prisons for memory wiping with drugs and mentalism. Mystics use such people as weapons and spies promising them a supernatural paradise. The programmed killers are given poison to kill them after the mission expires  
5 Kidnapper Clan takes mostly children but also takes adults for ransom but then sells any they can't get a ransom for. Operate lots of private prisons in isolated places for the guild. Carry clubs, ropes, bola, lasso or drugged darts. Best are experts at sneaking, disguise and surveillance. Most in their region don't know about their international links 
6 Sinister Order is a fake masked cult terrorising communities with masked-robed kidnappers, but instead of killing or sacrificing captives, they ship them away for the slave trade and families think they have been sacrificed. They also perform assassinations to cover tracks or throw off investigations. Use drugs and disguises on operations out of the cult garb and often armed with strangling cords, daggers, poison and crossbows. They also spy and kill for money or to advance slavery. They will enslave other cults who contact them
7 Cofflemen transport large numbers of slaves by land caravan. They make take strange routes to avoid civilisation so employ barbarians, beast folk, orcs and goblinoids as guards. Some know secret underground shortcuts to avoid borders or mountains. They carry whips, chains, clubs, daggers and scimitars and swords. In lands where slavery is legal these are more open and use humans workers. They march prisoners in chains across the wastes to markets or water transit hubs. They try best to get slaves to market alive but bad things happen often
8 Sorrow Fleet transport cargos of slaves across seas around the great continents and raid island peoples for slaves. These natives are notoriously hostile now to any ships now. Slaves can also be sold to fish folk and undersea people with shorter trips for more gold and this is more profitable than really taking people to other continents. They will also act as pirates to procure slaves. They increasingly worship cruel undersea gods 
9 Chained Legion a mercenary slave army that can be shipped over continents but mostly south or west as the north is more hostile and the east is too chaotic and more advanced. The basic soldiers fight in chains with pikes, slings and darts. Loyal soldiers that live might become chained flagellants or archers or riders or other exotic specialists. Elites are famous for loyal displays of self-decapitation to prove their loyalty (they keep priests on hand for those they are impressed by). The officers are the masters who unlock the trusted slaves into trusted zealots. When the legion are called they usually slaughter everyone without remorse but other factions might assist in prisoner taking. It takes a while to assemble a large force to take a city but it can be done 
10 Iron Chain a criminal guild that operates as a thieves guild but the bottom members are owned by the guild masters and must obey. They recruit from trouble makers among slaves held by other faction. If they cooperate they get to be a guild free member otherwise they are made into drug addicts and kept slave rank. Rejects are also sent to the Secret order. They are used for spies and to control crime and their role in international slavery is secret. They fight criminal guilds interfering in slavers activities and setting up well funded rival guilds
11 Torchbearers a secret message carriers of the slavers who work among other message services and couriers but also serve to deliver secret slaver messages about markets and new hunting grounds or depleted regions. They do not read the messages but know secret signs to prevent being enslaved if caught while doing their job. Many low-ranking members are slaves and illiterate. The high-ranking free ones have trained memories and are often bards who do know some of the secret codes. The highest-ranking bards negotiate with Underland and underwater species who greatly enjoy surface humans
12 The secret masters rule all from their secret Island and mountain fortresses and direct large regions of guild activities.They often coordinate efforts against regions surviving disasters and wars. Many are nobles in courts around the world. Besides profiting from misery they also conduct medical and magical experiments such as creating orcs or beasts or elemental abhumans and various monsters in secret dungeon complexes around the world. Lower ranks are bureaucrats or spies. They use the wasteland of Chagrinspire to cross the continent with their trade and study the Black Sphere for their advanced slavery and monster creation lore.

d12 Secret Order Evil Plans
1 Create a hoard of d4 1=orcs 2=beast folk 3=elemntal folk 4=automatons

2 Help necromancers by giving them our dead and selling slave zombies in secret in secret sweatshops to devalue labour

3 Use human souls to power an ancient artefact with vast dungeon complex

4 Torture factories to coerce people to make pacts with hell for red devil gold

5 Obtain required ancient lore to d4 1=summon a dead god 2=open a sealed portal 3=operate an artefact in a dungeon 

6 Open a portal to sell humans to another horrific dimension in return for bound demons and elementals the slavers can use to eliminate obstacles and punish enemies

7 Develop means to control branded slaves or sense through them with a magic item

8 Develop magical manacles to pacify people and ship around the world 

9 Reserect the dark lord and make them do godlike things for the slave masters

10 Awaken kaiju at select point to create disaster and a perfect chance to capture desperate people 

11 Overthrow kingdoms with vat-grown doppelgangers

12 Unsellable slaves turned into farm animals and sold

d12 What the Slavers do to Medlers
1 Warning from thugs
2 Attacked by a gang
3 Blackmail, possibly kidnapping
4 Branded as a slave and kidnapped
5 Assassins guild contract
6 Public bounty
7 Use corruption and influence to make legal trouble

8 Pay a cult to persecute enemies in return for sacrifices

9 Summn invisible killers from beyond

10 Send army of humanoids or orcs to ravage area seeking enemy

11  Send slave soldiers kill any in the way of enemy 

12 Trap into another dimension or sell to planar beings, may send demon bounty hunters

d12 How did you get owned?
1 Family sold to strangers for money
2 Snatched as a child off streets
3 Bought from an orphanage or child prison
4 Sold to pay off parent's shameful vice debts
5 Sold self to raise money for some worthy cause to save the family
6 Born a slave to slave parents
7 Gambled away by parent
8 Raider captured and killed you and your kin
9 Kidnapped by a gang who couldn't get blackmail money so sold you
10 Evil relatives wanted you out of the way and sold you and a d4 others
11 Snathched from your bed by professional kidnappers serving slavers
12 Murder hobos rescued you from a dungeon then sold you to slavers

d12 Slaver Disguises
For when slavers are well known as jerks 

1 Labourers travelling
2 Friendly drunken sailors out to party
3 Nomadic wagon folk
4 Circus or carnival
5 Travelling performers
6 Gang of thugs (smugglers or less awful criminal types)
7 Bounty hunters

8 Witch hunters
9 Merchant caravan

10 Pilgrims and holy travellers

11 Priest entourage with guards
12 Noble entourage with guards 

d12 Slavers Best Customers

Slavers tend to ship cargo far away so the slave is too bewildered to hope of getting home and the slave will stand out as a foreign where they live making it harder to flee. Some of the last few types, people rarely return from even if relatives got letters saying how great it was 
1 Muckraking for agriculture (life expectancy 4 years)
2 Toxic Industrial labourers mostly dyers and tanners (life expectancy 4 years)

3 Mining or quarrying (life expectancy 4 years)

4 Gladiators, pit fighters and soldiers

5 Agricultural labour mostly picking, planting, shepherds 

6 Household service possibility of becoming family

7 Manufacturing labour working heavy and dangerous mostly unskilled sweatshop work

8 Mercantile labourers like baggage handlers, animal tenders, labourers, scribes

9 Strange dungeon cults - who knows why they use so many

10 The Undersea - who knows why they use so many?

11 The Underland - who knows why they use so many?

12 Dimensional - who knows why they use so many ?

In my campaign, the alchemist guild use slave miners and leverages the miners guild to get workers to mine cobolt (koboldium), sodium, bismuth, quicksilver, lead, arsenic, phosphorous, asbestos (salamander wool) etc. So they are big customers.