Friday 1 May 2020

Ghost Towns of the Ghost Wood

Ghost Towns

d6 Size

1 Tiny Hamlet d6 buildings
2-4 Small Village d6+3 buildings
5 Large Village 2d6+6 buildings
6 Small Town 4d6+12 buildings


d6 Condition
1 Hidden crumbling ruins are overgrown with trees and creepers
2 Collapsing ruins most roofing gone, the place has been stripped by looters
3 Fragile and falling apart structures and mounds of rubble and scrap
4 Burned partly intact roof, falling apart 
5 Battered and leaky, falling apart, piles of
 rubbish and scrap inside
6 Worn and in need of some repairs

d12 Lesser Feature (1per6 buildings)

1 Graveyard
2 Smithy
3 Small church
4 Communal barn
5 Small inn
6 Stable
7 Pond, gloomy and dank and choked by weeds (water weird?)
8 A gloomy hanging tree or execution block
9 Gibbett with a tortured corpse in a cage on pole by road
10 General store
11 Midden heap of garbage as big as a house
12 Stone crypt


d12 Major Feature (1per12 buildings)
1 Marketplace 
2 Work sheds
3 Mill & granary
4 Old mine or quarry
5 Caravan inn for traders
Monument d4 1=fountain 2=obelisk 3=statue 4=gate
7 Docks and fishing boats on a gloomy body of water

8 Cellblock 1=sherriff office 2=prison 3=slave market 4=slave pens
9 Statue to some old hero d4 1=has spirit in it 2=vanalised with paint and feces 3=smashed 4=has a water feature of drinking water
10 Temple with several outbuildings d4 1=haunted 2=monster lair 3=defiled by cult 4=taken over by a lesser demon
11 Strange house of a wizard or witch seeking isolation
12 An ancient stone megalithic monolith from ancient times

d12 Spooky Effects

1 Piles of old bones and skulls
2 Creeking buildings groan and shudder in the wind
3 Whistling wind 1in6 chance of a gale
4 Dark clouds gather 1in6 chance of lightning and rain
5 Owl hoots, wolf howls and other animal noises
6 Cobwebs thick block doorways and hang in trees
7 Rats scurrying everywhere in vegetation and rubble
8 Frightened by reflection or shadows
9 A human corpse with belongings in a state of decay
10 Cawing ravens hop about curiously
11 Structure collapses or ground gives way to some buried pit or cellar
12 Fog rolls in eerily and chill hits

d12 Lesser Hauntings
1in6 chance per building

1 Elderly hermit or witch hiding from the world but knows the area well
2 Gang of d6+6 bandits lair
3 Pack of feral dogs d4+3
4 Loner 1=madman 2=cannibal 3=murderer 4=village idiot
5 Giant spider
6 Poltergeist rattles building angrily
7 Ghouls sniffing and digging for human remains d4+1 led by a ghast
8 Coffer corpses feigning death d4
Huecuva feign roles of friendly human vagrants d4
10 Spectral minion of a commoner, a luminous but harmless spirit 
11 Spectral minion, armed seeks violent retribution 1in6 for 2d4 of them 
12 Wight of an ancient warrior screams hate for life by night

d12 Major Hauntings 1in6 chance per 12 buildings
1 Hell Hound or Dire wolf or another evil canine with an evil reputation among locals

2 Cult of a dozen led by a spell caster having a secret meeting
3 Shadows creep from dark cracks d4
4 Tribe of goblins 4d6 adults, d6 old d6 young led by chief + d1 1=goblin shaman 2=thoul bodyguard 3=d6 hobgoblin elite 4=bugbear headhunter
5 Dark elf scouts d4+1 with d6 human skeletons d6 goblin thralls 
6 Evil wizard working in a secret criminal potion lab +d4 apprentices and d4+4 orcs 
7 Gothic willow dryad, needy for love with a d4-1 current charmed lovers
8 Horrible beast lair d4 1=Leucrotta 2=baslisk 3=wyvern 4=manticore
9 Spirit being dwells here to avoid humans 1=spririt animal folk 2=minor land spirit wants area cleansed of evil 3=evil spirit aids and helps monsters and evil beings in ruins 4=lesser devil or demon (imp or better)
10 Undead tomb or lair, part of a curse to return here or following order of greater evil 1=Vampire (most often thrall serving a greater vampire) 2=mummy 3=wraith 4=spectre
11 Screaming banshee lets lose an evil cry
12 Nighthag or lesser demon with a d4 prisoners

d12 Curse of the Village
1 A horrible betrayal and murder left an angry spirit that has ruined the village from revenge
2 Cultists overtook village and brought it to ruin d4 imps scuttle about
3 An ancient tomb was damaged and a terrible undead being awoken, driving folk away
4 The plague wiped out all and contamination around village carries some risk
5 A corrupt official spread evil cult here and in a night of horror all had died or fled 
6 Someone found a cursed item that attracted evil and still is hidden and forgotten here
7 Criminals came and murdered the locals leaving several grisly spectral minions that scare away intruders 
8 A witch lived among village plotting and turning people against each other until only she remained. She still lives in a shack on the edge in a spooky cottage
9 A wicked cultist or witch was burned but came back as a monster for revenge killing everyone
10 Locals had a long-running feud with the wild folk and non-humans in the area but finally poisoned and murdered them all. A few survivors prayed to their gods for revenge
11 Someone here, possibly a traveller brought the attention of an evil wizard who sent disaster to this place and possibly has a spy minion here
12 A gate to the netherworld was opened once in a ritual and never really closed and attracts evil ever since unless it can be destroyed

d12 Lesser Secrets (one per 10 buildings)

1 Tunnels under the village used by smugglers in olden times open in many buildings
2 One of the buildings is an evil shrine that can heal undead a d4 HP 
3 An evil cult meet here often with creepy signs of rituals remain  
4 A criminal gang of killers has a building they hide loot in and occasionally hide in, they always carry holy symbols and come by day and hide by night. The gang leave victims for monsters so they get ignored by evil beings here who welcome their wickedness
5 A feral child lives here is fed scraps by ghosts and monsters and is scared of humans
6 Remains of bodies that seemingly murdered each other
7 A strange animal spies on explorers but flees and vanishes if scrutinised, animal spirit folk d4 1=seeks victims to trick 2=wants to eat human flesh 3=hunting evil 4=wants town cleansed
8 A wood golem a carved horrible tree idol hidden in bushes craves blood by night
9 Lots of jack o lantern scarecrows around the village to stop people leaving
10 A demihuman of faerie folk lives in a house will invite for tea once it is sure explorers not hostile. They know story of the place and how to cleanse the local curse 
11 Caves and a sinkhole are in the area with underground stream and haunted grotto 
12 An old well is a lair where a creature hides d4 1=giant frog 2=wererat 3=albino fishman stranded long ago now mad 4=serpent folk wizard has hidden lair and lab in well

d12 Greater Secrets (one if over 30 buildings)
1 An artwork is an illusionary gateway to the past where you can see the disaster that ruined the community began. Spectral minions inside the artwork are in a time loop

2 A necromancer has set up a base in a crypt with a d4 apprentices who have made all the available corpses into undead which they can call on. Plan harm to some community
3 A succubus lives here often in disguise d4 1=attractive spooky priestess 2=escaped slave seeking help 3=lost child needs help finding mommy
4 An underground complex connects to a pagan temple of a forgotten prehuman empire with ancient guardian beings
5 A hill near the village is a barrow and by night a wight or other undead comes forth
6 A devil swine has charmed servants feeding them and will try to capture strangers to meet the master and he's hellish influence
7 A huge serpent hides in water or a cave and is attracted to noise 
8 A hellcat lurks hoping to find a better master than the useless coward it has now
9 A mad magician breeds giant or mutant animals in a hidden location hoping to scare off meddling troublemakers 
10 A demon prince has interests here and if curse cleansed will send cult to kill defilers 
11 A good relic here is guarded by evil
12 Inquisitor or exorcist set off a false witch craze and now they are a damned undead. A headstone monument marks the dozen burned victims proved innocent

2 comments:

  1. This was really useful for an upcoming game of mine. I dropped dice to make the map. Wrote up a little post with the process and a few results here - https://vorpalpudding.blogspot.com/2020/05/generating-some-ghost-towns.html . Thanks for this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. cheers for this
      die drop approach was good touch

      Delete

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