6-Room Dungeon magic mansion revision 4

Original Series
1 Redbrick + Update 1
2 Goblin Mine + Update 2
3 Gothic Tomb + Update 3
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

mapping your 6 room dungeon 

Environment 
Dungeon Defence Conditions

d12 Sounds & Smells

d12 Rumours

d12 Missions

d12 Factions
d12 Allies 
d12 Enemies
d12 Special Treasure

d12 Special Feature 

Environment
Built environment of great wealth, a palace for a rich dynasty. May be immaculate with fine decor, or run-down from a degenerate dynasty of the rich. Might even lean into a gothic tomb. Some are cursed or highly magical. Many have unusual follies, secret doors and puzzle locked secrets. 

Dungeon Defence Conditions
5 DEFCON Blue - Peace 1in12 encounters
-quiet, possibly with distant music, servants or unseen spirits working
4 DEFCON Green - Increased intelligence 2in12 encounters
-guards at main doors, alarms ready
3 DEFCON Yellow - War Ready 3in12 encounters
-gates and doors barred and locked, guarded chokepoints and patrols

2 DEFCON Red - Ready to deploy 4in12 encounters
-bell or claxon chiming, VIP guarded and locked away, guards patrol grounds 

1 DEFCON White - Total war imminent 6in12 encounters

-supernatural and magic defences, guards and magic traps

d12 Sounds & Smells

1 Servant's bell rings
2 Floral or tree scents

3 Distant music (horn, harp, violin, harpsichord)

4 Smell of delicious food

5 Opera singing

6 Echoes of gossip or muttering

7 Creaking noise in wall

8 Marching footsteps of guards or servants

9 Scent of perfumed candles or soap

10 Distant sobbing or moan

11 Cold chill passes

12 Musty stale air or dust

d12 Rumours

1 There is something unnatural about that house; many never leave 
2 The mansion dwellers are an odd sort with the taint of faerie folk on them 

3 Wizards made those walls, it's an unnatural place best shunned

4 Sometimes you just can't find it as if it were swallowed by the mists

5 They used to have strange balls up there with all kinds of strangers

6 One of the masters up there was involved in a dreadful business, lots of murders

7 Such a romantic place, I wish I could see inside just once

8 There is a fortune in that place just lying about with only soft, weaklings to defend it

9 Strange carriages are seen going there regularly

10 Sometimes a butler comes from the manor to buy some children to be maids and footmen

11 They say some areas are long abandoned and haunted 

12 We see strange lights from up thar house, tis a fearsome place 

d12 Missions

1 A glistening manicure has been seen glimmering in the distance. Who owns it?
2 Deliver these documents or artworks to this mansion on this map 

3 There was a ruin of a manor house in this area, they say

4 You have dreamed several nights of a strange mansion, and now you sense it is near

5 You receive an invitation to a mansion for a reward of some kind for your great deeds

6 Someone you know last reported investigating the strange house

7 A mysterious family or wizard built a house, and people have not seen them in years

8 The shunned house is said to have a relic inside, greatly needed in these times

9 You discover your inheritance! A lawyer gives you a map to locate your kin and share

10 A love interest was invited to the house and has not been seen since

11 A patron offers a title to a mansion and estate instead of gold, a bargain

12 The crown hires you to investigate this undocumented so called nobles

d12 Factions

1 Rich, decadent old family with many accomplished spell wielders and magic servants
2 Sylvan beings imprisoned in a magic art or greenhouse or guests

3 Monsters and magic livestock from a menagerie, surviving ones cooperating

4 Magical artificial life servants and guards, like living statues or spectral constructs

5 Spectral minions, spirits of once living or illusory phantasms made permanant

6 Guests summoned here, possibly trapped and allied, but one is a secret murderer

7 Religious order visit to cleanse the house of spirits and curses

8 Cruel cursed nobles, their servants, guards and pets

9 Shapeshifters appearing as nobility might be doppelgangers, spirit folk or planar

10 Undead elders of the clan seeking life to convert, eat or steal living bodies

11 Planar beings and cultists trapped

12 Vampire lord and thrall minions seek to take control

d12 Allies

1 A familiar spirit can spy ahead
2 An imp or hellcat offers diabolic tips

3 Adventurer party trapped

4 Benevolent spirit in form of an animal or tiny folk

5 Servants, living or magic

6 Faerie or sylvan folk who want out

7 Benevolent shape shifter

8 Sentient statue or construct

9 Sentient household objects or artworks

10 Ghost hides in an artwork and might offer entry

11 Cherabim or Fascinus spirit

12 Lost child has seen some stuff

d12 Enemies
1 Living statues, golems or other magic constructs defend the house
2 Gargoyles living or golems defend the house
3 Spectral minions of guards and servants, some more free-willed and stronger
4 Human guards with halberds and crossbows in good armour

5 Mimics and doppelgangers 

6 Cults seeking lost magic lore 

7 Magic household items or toys exploring house

8 Faerie folk noble party with non elf guards and pets

9 Undead but possibly non-corporeal kinds or disguised or long-dead residents forgotten

10 Wizard noble with servant or pets

11 Knights on a quest

12 Planar shapeshifters in human form seeking escape

d12 Special Treasure

1 Duelling pistol or sword with gems in the handle

2 Fabulous gold and silver carriage clocks

3 Fine porcelain vases from a far-off land

5 Bird in a gilded cage

6 Tea set of fine porcelain

7 Boxes of exotic narcotics and pipes

8 Wine bottles that refill each dawn, find a d6 at a time

9 Gold locket with portrait, one of a pair, allows long-distance messages to be sent

10 Items of magic clothing +1 CHA or other effects

11 Unicorn horn cup neutralises poison inside

12 Love potion vial with d4 doses, victims fail save or woozy and gullible for an hour

d12 Special Feature 

1 Crypt under the house spawns spirits, poltergeists, shadows, and other non-material undead

2 Time in the house follows faerie logic and may trap inhabitants

3 The house has a spirit which controls magical effects, traps and alarms

4 The house is maintained by the will of a wizard, and killing them causes the house to shake

5 unnatural corridor loops from warped time and space, floorplan folds on itself weirdly 

6 Automatons so old they have become self-aware and questioning existence

7 Full of sentient objects around the house, including food service and artwork items

8 Dressing as a rich dandy makes automated house threats and guards think you belong

9 Insanity effect relic, inflicts the inhabitants with madness, new intruders have hours to resist

10 Benevolant shrine, a solace from violance and threats but dont dare rob it

11 Artworks such as paintings or tapestries, or murals, can be entered, and spirits within can be interacted with. They are time-looping scenes of the past. Might be a food source

12 When you enter a room after clearing it before, it has been restored minus any treasure you took. Beings inside wont remember you

Ravenloft Hawksmire

Had a good game of my Ravenloft setting where my Domain Hawksmire has been the real campagn setting all along. Now all party have dark gifts. Our youngest player has been getting bolder and on one hand wants to revive enemies often up to 3 times a fight but also fireball at close range and burning hands in wooden slum full of garbage. Glubglub the Barbarian bard got the party in trouble for waving severed head bundles about in public. Ratrump the Halfling is a dirty bastard rogue with lots of magic and poison blades. The new cleric of light a a reformed dark elf. Threekay the Dwarf cleric who has been fairly indifferent to suffering, is now starting to think he has some duty to local dwarves and other people. GlubGlub had flu and was quite to preserve his lovley singing voice for songs about orc decapitation.  

Party arived at Hawksmire, the capital town of the island, with a population of 4000ish. Got inside and performed a hunt to get into the hunters' guild to immigrate into the population rather than be treated like outsiders or peasants. While in the in planning what to do, everyone except Ratrump voted no to anything with magic beans after the pyramid incident. Ratrump was playing with his magic bag and noticed his pampered piglet was afraid of the bag. So they took it to the privy to empty out whatever evil was inside and creepy, long-limbed Bagman horror stepped out. Was a dangerous battle, and the bathroom was singed. They tipped the attendant and cast repair on the wall a few times, accidentally filling in a glory hole.

Locals in the tavern who were joking about Bagman moments before saw some flashes and heard an unearthly scream. The bag seemed ok now but PIg still wont go near it. Barman told them of a ward elector of the slumbs reports disappearances and offers the undying love of the people if they help. So they drank more and headed off to meet the man and get a briefing. Went walking around the block seeking homless being preyed abon. Gave some of them money to stay in an inn. The Ratrump dressed as an urchin to be bait realised he could also could climb walls and the rooftops to look about. The light cleric summoned a radient orchid spider familiar and screamed because she hated spiders and it was her first time using the spell. The spider made a good spy. Threekay hung back prefering to buff enemies.

They found a strange scrawny hairless cat creature on the roof that seemed intelegent and Ratrump gave it food and it followed him. He pulled rats out of his magic hat for it.

They found in one alley a strange man in a coat rocking about with some dead dogs. Drow light priest spoke to him and the guy was a were-stirge horror and that coat was his leathery wings. Under his arm flaps were normal stirges feeding of him. A pesky fight and some fire in tightly packed wooden alley with trash everywhere. Killed monsters then worked on puttoing out fire. Some homeless grabbed roast stirges. Ratrump peed on the fire to "help". Everyone had stirges sucking their blood. Ratrumps funny cat killed one with glowing claws. The light priest used her crappiest cloak. This looked good when law and firemen arrived, and the party were exonerated of blame. Some repair spells helped. The creature had a burned journal about how it tried to resist. The light priest stabilised the creature and cast remove curse, healing it. Threekay tied it up, and the law complained the monster would be better to hunt for sport than some old man who might be sort of innocent. Off to the courthouse to await trial with comments from characters taken as testimony.

Later found a man hiding who warned them of a creaking wagon making people vanish. So they all hid, and sure enough, the creaking wagon came. The light priestess in her ratty burned cape was lured with food into the wagon by a strange, scarred man. The spider familiar jumped on the creep's back. The wagon set off and Ratrump and his cat climbed under the wagon. It went into a stable in an alley next to the wall keeping the poor from the rich. They went inside and confronted the strange man who was some kind of fiend, a man-stabbing machine who slashed the party and mad some fear for their lives. Killed it and moved through a secret door into a townhouse of a noble. Some kind of armoured wizard was levitating in iron magic armour, so the light priestess fireballed him. Rest of the party piled and killed the warped weird wizard who battled them with some kind of arcane blade. A fireball damaged books and an alchemy lab. Luckily, this building was brick. 

So they found the property deeds, the lord's dead-end family tree, his documents of nobility so Ratrump in his best outfit, claimed to be the long lost son of the weird magician so he is now a Lord. Party is happy to settle in and continue adventuring. Interested in killing Chrysopasia the Domain Lord. GlubGlub wants to plunder serpent folk ruins for cash.

There is a hunter's ball on where Chrysopasia will attend soon...

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

Hawksmire
Domain of thirst for the hunt
Darklord: Lady Chrysopasia Drakon
Genres: Folk Horror, Cosmic Horror, Dark Fantasy

Hallmarks: Bloodthirsty hunts, isolated communities, lingering darkness
Mist Talisman: Hunter's horn, cloak, hat or hunting trophy

Hawksmire is a hidden, mist-shrouded island where stranges wash ashore from many worlds, saved from drowning but damned by the lords of dread. There are many coastal villages on the coast influenced by strange cults. The core of the island is a forested hilly region with Hawkmire town in the centre. Between the woods and coasts, orcs roam, limiting trade and commerce. There are those who know how to navigate the coasts by worshipping a great Anglerfish goddess. They also use underground tunnels all over the island to travel past orc scrutiny. Everyone on the island is obsessed with hunting, and great hunters get more respect than anyone other than the Domain lord.

Noteworthy Features

Hawksmire is an island in a sea of mist where outsiders arive mostly by sea. The domain draws in the wicked and the damned near death on the sea. Fog and dangerous grey soupy seas surround the island populated by seamonsters, fueding fish folk and a great lamprey fish god who eats ships whole.

The coasts are rough and swampy but their are villages operating wharfs atound the coast. The inner region is a wasteland of hills and plains with highways linking the villages to the City in the centre. The inner region has dangerous wolves, killer hogs and orc tribes. Their are five tribes all serving christopasia. A sixth of necromancer death cultists was killed by the other tribes a generation ago who were very fearsome. The orcs limit trade to certain monopolies who use of roads and tax the villagers.

Their are also undergroud ancient highway tunnels linking villages and the city but mostly they are dangerous and goblin infested. Smugglers know their own secret safe routes and can sail the coasts without being eaten by the great Angler fish godess. The smugglers are based in Anglers Harbour as is the Anglerfish godess cult. 

The central region is forested full of wild and strange beasts and hunters persuing them. In the middle is the City of Hawksmire.

Settlements & Sites

Hawksmire City is the city of Hunters ruled by Crysopasia from her palace. Their are X districts around the palace and walls and gates divide them. Strangers will only let in islandborn or guild members. You can apply to a guild with a test and a payment. The hunters guild, bards guild, wizards guild, mercenaries guild, merchants guild are the most common and have various tests and quests to join. The hunters guild hall is outside the city near the hunters district so you can get a test without entering the city or hiring a middleman. Districts include: Merchant (markets & shops), Guild (guilds, crafts, workshops), Hunters (butchers, stables, hunters lodges), Orctown (orcs and goblin district) Slumtown (poorest workers) and the Nobles district that surrounds the Palace district.

Chumwater is a decrepid village once thralls to the cult of the fish god Dagon. Their are many abandoned houses and catacombs. A goblin village acts as a buffer between humans and orcs just outside the village. Locals are wary and bitter and hungry. Many are cultists and are granted fish and gold from the fish folk.

Anglers Harbour is a thriving village serving the Anglerfish Goddess. Male visitors risk being chosed as a husband of the goddess and carried out to sea to merge with her as just a face with thousands of other. Otherwise the village is quite friendly. The smuglers here can move your goods around the island on a weekly anticlockwise trip or know secret underground dwarf roads that are mostly safe.

Ealdwell is town of wizards and artisans where quaint bookish cottage folk dwell. Some report a loss of memory and some so badly they are sent to the local asylum for such victims. Locals are proud of the local shine of a wizard who bound a tentacled toad beast in the village well long ago. Many locals speak of the faeries quite often.

Greywater is a primordial swampy village where strange prehistoric marine scorpions and trilobytes dwell. Mutants dwell in the swamp and locals hunt and and kill them. Some were former humans but many small ones under a yard seem to spawn from the earth itself. The locals love mutnat whacking and the mayor a hulking stern old fashoned fellow keeps local law and order by himself unarmed.

Burning Hill is a mining town with a sizable dwarf minority. A pleasnt terraced hill has a fence around it and the cottages of the ruling mine owners. These wealthy comfortable folk perform rites in their fenced comunity and learn arcane secrets.

Wolfmire is a town of rough woodland hunters. Many locals have tamed wolves and outsiders are unwelcome. Many strangers are attacked by werewolves. Many locals serve Chrysopasia as her personal guard.

Swinewater is a town of wretched debter workers and flamboyant huge rich folk who feast all day and are even carried by their servants. The locals love their pigs and lavish them with bejewled outfits and even wheel piglets about in prams. The poor seem wretched and wait on the pigs and rich. The rich enjoy novelities, strangers and new stories of hillarious escapades. Pig lovers are always welcome so take care not to hurt or spurn a friendly pig.

Fever Bay is a swampy village famous for snake cults. They are famous for wearing few clothes, gold jewelery and snake tatoos. They are very festive and welcom guests.  Their are ancient serpant folk ruins in the swamps full of undead and snake bog mummies.

Lady Chrysopasia Drakon

The domain lord Chrysopasia is famed as the iron grip ruler of the island, a great beauty and famous huntress. She hunts daily and many see her on their travels daily. Her fine palace is also home to her servants and her wolf guard of elite hunter riders. Sometimes she is seen at night with a wolf pulled chariot heading to the forest to hunt. They say she seldome sleeps and has vast treasures and stuffed creatures in her palace.

Chrysopasia's Powers & Dominion

The domains existance is predicated on the hunt. The more you hunt the higher your status and aura. Hunters are heroes and celebrated in arts and culture of the city. Many die on dangerous hunts and rapidly replaced. Many locals feel a hunger to kill and see blood. The compulsion to eat prey and make trophies is visible on clothing, jewellery and home decor. People bet on hunters and animal fights. A cat chasing a rat will draw a crowd and bets and the hero beast will be rewarded with cream.

Locals may also hunt humans and criminals are often set loose for a mob to hunt. If a famous criminal the best hunters will be called to hunt the criminals. On festivals the jobless will be rounded up and dressed as blackbirds to be hunted for a charity event. Men may invoke bloodhunts on their enemies or just duel. Hunting contests may be used to prevent duels and nobles deaths if their peers step in. Nobles are given titles for hunting deeds so they hunt constantly and teach their children to do the same to inherit their goods. 

Chrysopasia is a 20th Lv ranger and 14th Lv wizard. She has a blood drinking sentient sword named Woundmaker. Her Wolfguard are werewolves and they will sometimes pull her night chariot. Her horse is really a nighmare named Umbra, bound to this demiplane. If killed she sheds her humanity and is reborn as an ancient shadow dragon. Her moods alter weather for the island turning skies grey or dark with clouds when moody or storms if enraged. Those she marks as prey she can spy on with a crystal ball in her treasury. SHe has magic items that are disguises. She may gift a valuable trinket or magic item of clothing to someone which helps her scryings. 

Chrysopasia's Torment
Chrysopasia was a cruel rich noble who hunted villagers and her suitors for sport and skinned them alive. Her lust for treasure was notorious and it is said she liked to sleep on her vast hoard. Drawn into this domain as its ruler, she led the orcs to take over rapidly several hundred years ago but it seems like forever. 

She must hunt and kill to maintain her beauty daily or her skin sloughs off revealing black scales. She is terrified of this effect and being revealed so she spends all her spare hours hunting and killing. Hunting adventurers is her gretaest delight and she may let them live to grow more challenging several times. If she is reduced to zero hitpoints she burns with silver flames and black smoke revealing her Shadow Dragon form. By hunting and devouring a victim then sleeping on her treasure pile she restores her human form.

Adventure in Hawksmire

Each village is potential a place of mystery and conflict and local weird cults are common. 

Crossing the wastes and exploring the island offers months of adventure as they visit each village. Exploring your own underground highway routes provides adventure and a shortcut from orcs in the waste.

Chrysopasia's Hunts
Daily she hunts and you might become her target. She may spy on them with some magic treasure in her palace at first and may disguise herself to get a look at them. It is likley officials and orcs will have been killed by adventurers. Adventurers may also earn respect for killing famous monsters. It is possible adventurers with wanted posters may be offered enoblement at a ball in the city. She will use this to meet adventurers and show she has been admiring them from afar. She will offer adventurers the chance to pay off any murders of civic officails with gold or service. She likes powerful minions she can keep near for future hunts. She may spare adventurers so they can grow to be a challenge. Risk is more delicious and makes her rejuvination last longer.

Exposing her true nature makes her turn up all opressions and cruelty. The island days grow shorter and weather is darker. She may just roam as a dragon eating people and use orc thugs to opress all. She may even revive the 6th orc tribe as undead.

I will detail the city and districts with tables next.

All my game stories out of sync sorry.
 

Hosting Your Fancy Balls

I did this for my weekly Ravenloft Hawksmire game.
Also, possibly running Pendragon and some Romantasy in future.
I realise now it fits into my magic-mansion genre work.
-Imagine this in Castle Amber

Have fun. I was 8 posts ahead and now im not. So it might be slow for a while as meatspace has improved for me.

1  Basic Balls

So roll on these tables and fabricate a wondrous ball.
You dont need to roll them all.

5 point method
-focus on 5 rooms
-have 5 interesting npcss (perhaps per room)

-have 5 big events spaced out over the event
-have 5 activities or problems 

d12 Celebrating?

1 Wedding
2 Holiday
3 Victory
4 Tournament or sport event
5 Investitude or ennoblement

6 Charity for some cause

7 Masquerade

8 Debutante

9 Hunt or contest 

10 Aniversary event 

11 Harvest

12 Birthday

d12 Hosts?
1 Merchant

2 Society

3 Charity

4 Guild
5 School
6 Order

7 Mayor

8 Rich foreigner

9 State official

10 Dame or knight

11 Barron or duke 

12 Royalty

d20 Other Features?

1 Tournament or contest

2 Feast or banquet

3 New construction or artwork

4 Latest dance fad

5 Ice or butter sculptures

6 Award for best dancer

7 New fashion craze

8 Eligibles looking for love

9 Themed decor theme

10 Celebrity guests

11 Diplomatic guests

12 Formal Announcement
13 Exotic foods
14 Foreign fantasy exotica theme 
15 Dance recital

16 Live concert

17 Bard or poet contest

18 Public duel or martial display

19 Performing magician

20 Old creeps here to meet youths

2 Guests

d12 Common Groups of Guests
1 Debutant youths at first ball as adults

2 Youths starting careers and notoriety
3 Young engaged couples
4 Newlywed couples
5 Extended clan members
6 Respectable citizens

7 Wild youths 

8 Pleasure seekers

9 Drama mongers

10 Intellectuals

11 Elder community leaders

12 Rickety elders 

d20 Guests Traits (+flip a coin)
1 Shy or flirty
2 Chaste or saucy
3 Kind or callous
4 Officious or mischievous
5 Kind or cruel
6 Forgiving or spiteful
7 Well-mannered or oafish boor
8 Controlled or impulsive
9 Generous or greedy
10 Learned or cretin

11 Cultured or cliched

12 Modern or dated
13 Immaculate or scruff
14 Fashionable or dreadful bore
15 Pious or apatheist
16 Indulgent or strict

17 Snob or social chameleon

18 Classy or crude

19 Talkative or quiet

20 Secretive or seeks a confidant

d12 Scandals & Secrets
1 Sordid affair

2 Financial ruin

3 Secret child

4 Corrupt money

5 Indulges in vice

6 Possibly a murder

7 Cheats and lies

8 Gullible

9 Scheming

10 Social faux pas

11 Cultist

12 Spy or agent

d12 Guest Interests
1 Gossip

2 Romantic

3 Hedonist

4 Politics

5 The fine arts

6 Poetry & Literature

7 Academia

8 Sports

9 Money

10 Status

11 Power

12 Influence

d12 Important Guests
1 War hero
2 Artist
3 Scholar
4 Poet
5 Athlete
6 Adventurer
7 Explorer
8 Banker
9 Merchant 
10 Philanthropist
11 Noble
12 Royal

d12 Strange Guests
1 Medium, seer or mystic

2 Heretic of a forbidden or unpopular sect

3 Cultist of evil otherworldly power 

4 A sneaky familiar spy

5 Haunting spirit 

6 Doppelgangers

7 Animal or nature spirit in human form

8 Faerie glamoured to appear human

9 Ghost or phantom

10 Lycanthropes

11 Vampires

12 Planar evil being in mortal form or appears to curse or threaten

d12 New Social Invitations

1 Boating trip

2 Games

3 Sports

4 Riding

5 Tea

6 Dinner

7 Holiday house

8 Hunt

9 Performance

10 Meet a famous person

11 Feast

12 Ball

d12 Trinket Things

1 Fan 

2 Opera glasses

3 Hip flask

4 Hankerchief

5 Hat pin

6 Pipe

7 Pillbox

8 Purse

9 Comb or brush

10 Hat

11 Poppet

12 Jewellery d4 1=ring 2=earing 3=bracelet 4=locket possibly with portrait or hair inside

d12 Secret Things
1 Love letter
2 Spicy chapbook

3 Forbidden potion
4 Political pamphlet

5 Book by a traitor
6 Cultist symbol
7 Treasure map

8 Combat plans

9 Conspiracy message

10 Coded or letter-locked note
11 Crooked dice or cards

12 Mysterious ornate key

d12 Magic Things 
1 Magic scroll ot tablet or runestone

2 Love potion

3 Poison potion

4 Invisibility potion

5 Silver +1 stilleto or hairpin

6 Spirit in a bottle

7 Duelling smallsword or flintlock or walking stick+1

8 Ring of spell storage 1x 1st Lv

9 Ring, fan or cape of protection +1

10 Ring of a dark lord

11 Cursed Scarab, figurine or gem

12 Diabolical wizard apprentice spellbook

3 Time

1 Reception 6-7pm
-Arrival on red carpet pat footmen and guards
-Guest check in with door staff, leave coats and grab a drink
- Pre-dinner drinks, canapés, music and costumed performers
-Guests announced and presented to the hosts
2 Formal Dinner 7-9pm
-Guests seated with a chime 
-MC, host and others make speeches and toasts

-Main course

3 Entertainment 9-12pm
-Desert and live entertainment
-Raffles, prizes, announcements
-Dance and band
-Late supper last dance and drinks
-Go home or some house guests may continue in smaller rooms 

4 Areas for Drama

d12 Main Rooms
1 Banquet hall

2 Parlour

3 Games room

4 Staircase

5 Restroom

6 Library or study 

7 Balcony

8 Conservatory

9 Trophy room

10 Stage or theatre

11 Chapel

12 Ballroom

d12 Downstairs Rooms
1 Servants room

2 Kitchen

3 Service Room

4 Backstage

5 Servants entry

6 Privy

7 Dumbwaiter

8 Stairs

9 Cellars

10 Pantry

11 Laundry

12 Coach house

d12 Grounds
1 Gatehouse & wall 
2 Stables
3 Greenhouse

4 Folly
5 Water feature or fountain

6 Temple

7 Gardeners shack
8 Garden beds

9 Hedges
10 Grassy field

11 Necropolis

12 Menagerie

d12 Hidden Secrets
1 Oubliette
2 Dungeon
3 Torture chamber

4 Shrine
5 Secret passage

6 Spyhole nook

7 Crypt

8 Love nest

9 Attic storage

10 Escape tunnel

11 Hidden vault

12 Long sealed room

5 Event Types

d10 Quick Event Types
1 Flirting
2 Dancing
3 Manners
4 Rivalry
5 Humiliation
6 Vice

7 Plots

8 Romance

9 Scandal

10 Supernatural

d100 Quick Event Types
01 Mysterious, attractive guest winks at you
02 Ladies with coded fluttering fans cast an alluring gaze
03 Attractive guests recite lines of verse for you
04 Requests to fill your dance card

05 Shy youth blushes at you and withdraws

06 Someone dropped a handkerchief near you

07 Creepy old noble drools at you and invites you to a quiet room

08 A wealthy noble with children who lost their spouse wants to meet you
09 Older person sends you a gift (d4 1=bouquet 2=jewellery 3=confection 4=trinket)

10 Youths follow you about giggling

11 Wardrobe malfunction on the dance floor

12 Exciting new dance
13 Guest band get fiesty

14 Clods tread on your feet several times on the dance floor

15 Someone tries to skip a place on your dance card

16 Opportunity for some solo dance feat on the dance floor
17 Fierce competition on the dance floor

18 Whispered taunts on the dance floor

19 VIP asks to dance

20 Cad tries to steal your dance partner

21 Test of correct dining etiquette

22 Disrespected someone of higher status

23 Made an embarrassing bodily sound

24 Lost a button or tore loose a thread

25 Slipped over or tripped?

26 Caughed up a morsel or canapé

27 Made a false identification of wine or morsel

28 Perspired for a moment

29 Vulgar laugh

30 Tell an inappropriate story or joke

31 Snob wants to humiliate you
32 Bully wants to make trouble for you for fun

33 Challenged to contest (d4 1=game 2=sport 3=dance 4=poetry)

34 Rambling old person tells you off for some reason

35 Old grump hates your type and wants to enjoy your suffering

36 Peer thinks your a romantic rival

37 Peer thinks your up to no good

38 Gossip spreads stories about you

39 Shunned love interest tells lies about you

40 Suspicious peer wants to learn about you
41 Someone loses a trinket
42 Someone feints and needs attention

43 Someone embarrassingly drunk and indiscreet

44 Foolish duel challenge

45 Fueding guest expose shocking secret in public

46 Embarrassing letter stolen

47 Secret lovers exposed in public

48 Legal threats made

49 Rich bullies plot some game with guest victim

50 Drunks have a fight

51 See a pickpocket
52 Theiving servant or performer

53 Gamblers prey on idiot

54 Charletan offers colourful magic potions
55 Implausible investment scheme on offer

56 Offers of jewels for sex

57 Overhear criminal deal

58 Factions fued in public
59 Drug sales used for coercion

60 Sharing naughty parchments banned by church

61 Blackmail plot

62 Assassin in disguise targets a guest

63 Overhear whispering plotters

84 Eavesdroppers spying on guests

65 See a stranger making magical gestures when they think they are unseen

66 Someone recruiting for a political faction

67 Someone sharing political pamphlets

68 Someone shows a print of the slanderous illustration of a VIP

69 Someone discusses giving the poor rights and political power

70 Someone advocating to free a political prisoner

71 See a perfectly desirable peer with much in common

72 A stranger sends you a letter via a servant to meet in quiet place
73 Dance with someone who was so dreamy you teared up

74 Dance with a mysterious stranger who whispered something about your past before flitting away

75 An abusive cad bullies a beautiful, teary youth who looks at you with deep moist eyes

76 Someone briefly rubbed against you and winked at you in a dance

77 Multiple admirers compete for your attention and for the chance to please you, some might even duel to win

78 Meet with a stranger who makes you feel squiffy but they are in unhappy marraige

79 Several admirers of different factions admire you, if you pick one other factions know

80 Meet a wonderful stranger trapped in a terrible relationship, they are pressured to keep up

81 Someone is revealed to be related do someone of shocking nobility

82 Leader falls ill, making many speculate wildly

83 Noble exposed engaged in vice and has public loss of honour 

84 Love affair exposed, resulting in shouting and a duel

85 Guest seized and arrested and taken to prison to await trial

86 Guest exposes secret lineage of a VIP

87 Guest drunk and embarrassing and shunned by other guests

88 Guest tries to shame others to join a fight in a foreign land for a cause

89 Guest killed in a disgraceful manner, who dunnit?

90 Letters expose a guest as a dastard and possible traitor

91 Medeum, seer or prophet issues a forecast for the next year

92 An evil cult infiltrated guests is up to something or recruiting with vice

93 A guest is a member of a forbidden sect and is trying to recruit ppl
94 A shapeshifter has a disguise failure after meeting many people and dazzling guests with wit and charm (d4 1=doppelganger 2=lycanthrope 3=sprirt animal 4=faerie 5=dragon 6=planar being)

95 Witch familiar seen spying and pranking guests (might be invisible)

96 Someone screams as they saw a spirit haunting the estate

97 Some guests perform a seance or some magic ritual

98 Someone finds a mauled corpse with missing chunks of flesh and lots of blood

99 Hag appears to warn guests of a curse on the land or some VIP

100 Villainous spellcaster not invited comes anyway to cause trouble

d100 Auldwood Adventure Seeds for Settlers

I've had some readers comment on errors with my tables and numbering or missing entries, which is great. Some of these posts I've revised content on and changed other details. My cleric/ranger power post has had major revisions, and I should have kept what I deleted.

This post had revision, but for my cleric-priest-druid-ranger powers
https://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com/2026/01/holy-and-nature-miracles-religious.html

This is sort of odd jobs one finds on the borderlands with the enchanted forest.
Many people since the Civil War and the end of the Third Empire, have been seeking to repopulate the abandoned frontier lands. Many settlers are former soldiers, so dont assume they are all easy prey.

d12 Why was this Auldwood Settlement Abandoned?
Also use this to generate a threat to a community
1 Plague

2 Banditry and crime
3 Water tainted or shortage

4 Crop failure or vermin-related shortages

5 Dangerous Animals

6 Angry mobs or inbreeding

7 Canibalism, lycanthropy or weird murderers

8 Cultists eroded the community spirit

9 Witchcraft or old ways magic

10 Monsters or supernatural creatures

11 Cursed by some act of infamy

12 Farie folk pranks, sabotage and kidnappings

d12 Common Settler Groups

1 Farmers keen for new lands, suspicious and vigorous

2 Religious community, idealistic with strong leaders
3 Freed prisoners with almost nothing, poor morale, but hard work
4 Retired millitary seeking a new life in time of peace, willing to fight

5 Urban poor returning to lands of their ancestors, clueless but hard working

6 Urban commoners looking for new life. Idealistic opportunists 

7 Sent by a guild or merchant company to help regional trades grow

8 Monks, templars or priests intent of building a religious settlement for an order

9 Urban cultists seek their own isolated community

10 Poor landless farmers dream of ancestral lands with skills and tools

11 Followed the old ways in secret and now returning to the clan blood lands at last

12 Noble with families from clan estate seeks to reoccupy the old abandoned estate

d12 Quick Past for Individual Settlers
1 Downtrodden serf from the former empire free to return to their old country

2 Urban poor working on war production are now able to return to their family land

3 Retired soldiers looking for a new life on the frontier

4 Released prisoner at end of the war looking for new life

5 Generations of interclan violence made old home unlivable

6 Previous home ruined by disaster (see abandoned village table)

7 Homes destroyed in war and keen for new life

8 Escaping debt or crime guild or law

9 Heard Auldwood a land of promise and opportunity so escaped boring life

10 Spreading a cult on the new frontier, possibly persecuted or just want isolation 

11 Discovered your family came from an abandoned region of Auldwood

12 Suffered terribly surviving the war and left homeless and need a new life

d12 Old Ways Community Features

1 Ancient buildings in use
2 Old sprawling graveyard with ancient hill tomb barrows

3 Stone circle or maypole still in use

4 Strange folk art and symbols in arts and crafts

5 Own local drinks and dishes

6 Leave offerings for faeries and wee folk

7 Lots of seasonal festival days with odd customs

8 Druidic shrine or witch house

9 Unusual local breeds of animals

10 Strange old-fashioned crops and herbs

11 Know local spirits, wee folk and monsters by name

12 Hostile to newcomers related to nobody local

d12 New Settlers Community Features

1 Shortage of basic goods or a skilled crafter

2 New buildings and constructions

3 Tents of new arrivals or labourers 

4 New modern churches in the style of the Capitol 

5 New Barracks with ready militia

6 Mud and sewerage in streets

7 Local gang or bandits

8 Modern mill

9 Trading post or market

10 Community or guild hall

11 Camp for merchant caravans

12 Border patrol soldiers of the crown camp site 

d10 Quick Adventure Tables
1 Bounty Hunting

2 Recover Lost Goods

3 Escort an Expedition

4 Explore Ruins

5 Explore Underland

6 Make Maps

7 Search & Destroy 

8 Defend Outpost

9 Border Patrol

10 Daring Mysteries

d100 Adventure Table
01 Wanted: Mad Old Bob, the fur trapper turned cannibal 80gp alive 40gp dead
02 Wanted: The famous bandit Dame Hartog and her gang of women have been terrorising a neighbourhood. If you bring her in in its a cool 300gp reward
03 Wanted: The Dunbrow clan are wanted bandits who live among the highland clans, Its 500gp to stop the gang and 300gp to capture Big Wullie Bukket Dunbrow the boss. They have kidnapped many prisoners they keep in old dungeons and their families may reward rescues

04 Wanted: The Wizard Grawyn Vodnoch who is wanted for graverobbing, witchcraft, letchery and perverted acts. 500gp alive 300gp dead. An extra 50gp for any accomplishments you can bring back to testify   
05 Wanted: The warlock priest Gramthorn Bloodweasel. FInding this mysterious person and their infamous stag horn helmet is worth 400gp and 20gp for heads of any of his cultists
06 Wanted: The traitor Lady Jemran Bloodbourne is living as a robber knight, causing border disputes. 300gp for her capture 10gp per robber gang member's head, and 400gp if you can prove any nobles have been supporting her in secret

07 Wanted: The Witch Giniffer Gnorfyrker who has been souring milk, talking to goats, stealing cats, shitting in people's chimneys, scaring children looking in her windows and selling fake potions to foolish old men. Its 40gp if you can bring her to court for her mischief
08 Wanted: Information leading to destruction of the Yellow Sigil Cult 300gp, 100gp if you can capture a cultist and we exctract a conffesion 200gp if they turn out to be a leader.  Will pay for any evidence or witnesses to come forth
09 Wanted: Brother Allas, notorious bandit friar, womaniser and violent drunk. 50gp to capture him alive to church authorities

10 Wanted: The notorious werewolf family the Valdeen have been eating travellers 400gp per confirmed werewolf corpse 500gp if alive. If you turn up with dead bodies that are not werewolves you might get executed

11 A wagon of spices was taken by hideous hyena folk please go recover it for 400gp

12 Bolts of silk were stolen and for a noble wedding dress. 250gp for cloth and extra 80gp if you beat criminals soundly and shame them

13 Barrels of ale needed for a feast has been stolen by a gang of halfling louts. They will probably throw rocks at you but they wont fight you 80gp if you get it back

14 Recover magic beans stolen by a local idot before he plants them all 120gp if your quick

15 Gang stole silver ornament and owner wants someone to negotiate it back or take it if needed she will pay up to 80gp for the item to be purchased but if they dont sell she will pay 200gp to take it back and cause lots of damage

16 Wicked knight dishonourably murdered a young knight and dragged his body away to his ruined tower lair. The family will pay 250gp to recover the body, arms and amour of the knight but will pay 500 if you best the evil robber knight

17 A gang has taken a prize horse from a family who want their beast back unharmed. The gang are notorious brawlers and now include a famous professional duellist. Go and get the horse back for 200gp or 300gp if you defeat the duelist and humiliate them. Will pay more for more amusing revenge plots

18 A prize poodle of a noble was snatched by sewer kobolds a 200gp reward if you find it or an identical dog that can pass a noble daughter's inspection. We can probably claim dog has amnesia or trauma to get by. Bring a few dead kobolds to to make sure to gey some shit and blood on you

19 Bandits have taken a nobles bed being moved between manours. Go get the bed. Will pay 400gp if unharmed. Dont search any of the cabinets, draws or secret panels

20 A taxman was robbed and beaten and wants to recover the books 250gp and 10% of any money recovered by the bandits. 10gp per bandit head and 100 for the leader of the bandits Tom Winkins 

21 Gourmet tourists want to see poetic ruins and see some real dungeon monsters in the wild. They expect to help shoot a monster and have it prepared by their personal chef. 200gp for a week work but only expert dungeon bastards need to apply, the more authentic the better

22 A wizard wants to take rubbings of various standing stones and dolmen and will pay 100gp a week for escorts and there will be time to visit local ruins 

23 Members of a mens brotherhood from a town want escorts while they hunt and kill frontier monsters 200gp a week. They are possibly more like a violent gang of rich sadists

24 Hunters need escorts for hunting some exotic mythic beast that most people say does not exist. 120gp a week and yes it does exist and is supernatural

25 Werewolf hunter club want revenge and need escorts to round up some of the beasts for the common good

26 Elves want some brutish humans to escort them while they evaluate human lands, counting trees and livestock and examining human defences. 120gp a week or may offer elf magic items. Some might plant some rapid-growing acorns or fruit or nut trees 

27 A noble wants an entourage to look fearsome in front of other nobles and thinks murder hoboes will get him respect. He seeks noble deeds but is out of shape, so appreciates help fighting monsters, minions of evil knights and evil cults

28 A taxman needs to survey a district and needs to hire an escort 100gp a week and tax breaks. Will get plenty of time to loot local dungeons from non tax paying monsters and criminals

29 A witch hunter needs some bold soldiers of salvation to help him run his sleazy blackmail racket. An expert on turning locals against each other, taking what he wants and setting mobs on those who dont give him what he wants. 80gp + bonuses in the event of a witch's assets seized

30 A writer needs an escort to write a traveller's guide and hopes to include standing stones, ruins and interesting locations. 100gp a week + bonus danger pay if violence required

31 A monk seeks lost scrolls in a haunted monastery and needs guards
32 A scholar seeks to dig up a tomb and needs adventurers to deal with angry undead pests
33 A castle ruin is said to have an intact dungeon complex under it. Go see if there is anything valuable or dangerous there
34 Pilgrims wish to visit a ruin, but bandits have been preying on them and may lie near the ruins

35 A priest requires help to find a lost shrine said to be in an abandoned area in the woodlands

36 Gnomes seek to recover machines from a ruin, but need goons to fight the guard automatons
37 A monster has been eating people, and locals believe it lives in a ruined tower in the woods

38 A scribe studying a family tree wants to see the graveyard in a village abandoned during a plague and needs some guards, as the area has lots of wolves

39 A wizard needs guards to explore a ruined tower in the dark woods

40 A druid wants the ghouls cleared out of a holy ruin, who are eating the dead of ancient heroes

41 Search a cave lair of a creature to see how deep it goes

42 A haunted cave is said to be used by a devil cult and has a hellgate to corrupt the world

43 A notorious witch cave where different kinds of witches meet has been busy lately

44 A famous beast lives in a certain cave, they say, and slaying it would bring glory!

45 farmers' children found a scary-looking sinkhole 

46 Some say a certain cave was a place where you could trade with the Underland peoples

47 A faerie mushroom cave is full of wonder and peril

48 A wolf den has a stone doorway inside. People wonder about

49 Some tiny people are living in holes in the area. Please make them go away

50 They say people lived under the hill in the old days and even had their own king

51 Map a village a cartographer has heard of by rumour

52 People report some trails not on maps could you follow them for the traders guild

53 A tax collector wants to see if rumoured villages still exist go visit and count their livestock

54 Find out why nobody wants to use a certain bridge

55 Visit prospectors in hills to trade and mark any mines you see on this map
56 A shanty town of murder hobos have set up a camp, go see if our guild should invest in its future as a frontier town

57 Contact the wild folk and non-humans of the woods and show on maps where they consider borders to be

58 Many ancient ruins are in the forest, if you could mark them we could sell maps to new adventurers

59 If you can mark ancient border stones on this map we can locate a great treasure

60 Follow a stream off a road and see where it goes, map makers want details

61 Goblins and their pet slimes and oozes have a secret shrine, burn all with fire
62 Local contracts to search and destroy cults can be obtained from a judge granting you certain powers, like a warrant to search with reasonable suspicion. You might become a rich witch hunter!

63 A giant has eaten several farmers and a lord offers a reward for slaying the monster

64 Manticores have a hidden lair and love to hunt humans, the church has offered credit for healing to any who slay them

65 A forest wyvern has snatched several riders on a road and the crown will reward who kills the beast and brings its corpse to court

66 Some kind of marine creature has snatched several dogs and sheep and now a child, find and destroy it

67 A treasonous jester, possibly a cultist, has stolen crown secrets and is wanted by the secret police dead - dont let them think he told you anything

68 A witch has been cursing the newborns of aristocrats of the forest regions. There is a 1000gp reward for her destruction

69 A village reports a false witch hunter, go quickly and kill them for a quick reward, before he fools others into committing crimes

70 A fake gentleman has scammed free luxury rooms and rich food by running away from bills. Angry creditors want them beaten and money taken. Bonus reward if they end up in prison 

71 A village is being raided and requires some adventurers to live in a free house with meals to protect them

72 A mining camp dug up some ruins and now face mysterious phantoms by night, 

73 A village has humanoids living in tunnels under their village and need help

74 A village reports a haunting on the road has mad travellers lose their way in the forest

75 A village has a famous haunted house and locals will give it to who ends the curse

76 A trading post has had troubles and merchants have pitched in for mercenaries

77 A frontier village has troubles with some fearsome monster; the ancients somehow placated

78 Several villagers complain of weird carnies and clowns travelling the land. Please collect evidence if any of evil from the regions travelling entertainers

79 Strange rogue knights stalk the roads and troubling villagers at crossings

80 The church offers rewards for identifying cults and collecting evidence 

81 Border patrol requires contract mercenaries for some road routes
82 Patrol wants adventurers to look for goblinoid camps in region

83 Patrol have a contract available to wipe out a river pirate gang

84 Patrol wants the location of a Robber knight lair. Are they secretly supported by a noble?

85 A famous gang vanish into a local cave system, go eliminate them

86 A tribe of orc horse bandits from the frontier have been raiding roads and the royal highway patrol have offered a reward for them

87 A patrol need someone to face elven nobles and their hunting werewolves in a diplomatic way without starting a war

88 Goblins from faerieland have a kidnapping racket we need freelancers to hunt them

89 Patrol maps have noted more full-grown trees are appearing daily find who is doing it and observe them

90 The border patrol hires extra fighting folk to cover them in the toughest areas on their routes

91 A mysterious someone is shitting in settlers' chimneys

92 Householders report some foul-mouthed creature living in their roof

93 A household of farming folk vanished, left food on the table and even money

94 A child has been playing in an abandoned plague village. Please locate them

95 A mysterious hill tomb has never been opened, as there is a puzzle lock that can only be opened monthly for 1 hour

96 What is the haunter of the moorlands by night? Why does it moan so?

97 Who is robbing bakeries on the borderlands? 

98 Salt merchants have had bandits create shortages, but why salt?

99 A ghost haunts a roadway, and locals want someone to help it pass on

100 Exploring abandoned villages that could be resettled might be a chance for a future respectability as a civic founder. Just check why they were abandoned first