d100 Rumours About Orks

"Have you heard what the village is saying about orcs nowadays? Heresy I say. Orcs have souls? Preposterous. Next, you will tell me about orc paladins and don't they dont all deserve to be strangled at birth"

In my game there are a bunch of wizard spells to make orcs. Oldest turns tortured elf into lots of orcs, then they did one with dead elves to orcs then all those wizards died and they made murdered humans into orcs. Nowadays wizards use pits of alchemical mud to make orcs in batches. Orc slave-coaches teach fresh born fully adult male orcs how to be cruel sadists for a month in their spawn pit before sending them to military school.

Nowadays most orcs are sick of wizards and evil overlords and breed like everybody else and have diverse cultures and individualism

Then there is spell where wizard surgically fuses a human and animal into a beast abhuman in 12 hours without anesthetic. Abhumans not so keen on wizards either. Wizards are jerks.

Thanks to those who came and chatted on my FB page

d100 Rumours About Orks
01 Orcs are all male, they don't breed naturally and are made by evil wizards
02 The first orcs were made from elves and orcs say a few elder orcs still live
03 In earliest times wizards made orcs from the recent dead as taught by an evil god
04 Nowadays evil wizards just use alchemical mud pits to make adult male orcs 
05 The wizards who make orcs are careful to instruct them in brutality and cruelty
06 In distant past orc heroes quested for their own women from the goddess
07 Most of orc barbarians hate wizards and any dark lords on idiot crusades
08 Some say orc women are far away making babies and food but what about orc amazons?
09 Some cleric set up a hospice to help orcs widows and now they operate a textile workshop and make best gambesons
10 People say there are half-orcs but usually just a name people who fight with orcs on the same evil crusades and adopt orcish fahions. Barbarians really hate being called half orcs
11 Humans and orcs are the two most recent mortal races and who would win has been uncertain. Both were slaves of evil wizards until the age of darkness ended
12 They say elves hunted and killed those who knew spell to make tortured elves into orcs but some say elves invented the spell to use their own dead against their enemies when it was clear elves would never recover their losses
13 Once you kill off the wizards and evil priests directing the orcs (most always human) they tend to go feral and set up wilderness tribal kingdoms like barbarians
14 Orc and human barbarians fight all the time but have some begrudging mutual respect. Occasionally they unite to destroy some wizard warlord who tries to build a wilderness stronghold
15 Many of those who once used orcs as slaves and magical cannon fodder have abandoned the practice as orcs tend to rebel and fight each other and turn on their masters
16 Many orcs serve hell claiming they get better deals with devils than serving humans or gods
17 Most orcs people see in human lands are mercenaries but some cities have a humanoid district where orcs live and produce cheap efficient tools and weapons. Many humans are wary of cheap competition but the guilds allow it as it meets a part of the market and used to upsell other goods
18 A magistrate hired some orc bailiffs due to local corruption and the well paid orc pair worked to the letter of the law and helped clean up the village but then they returned home
19 Lots of humans don't want to think of orcs as people because they just want to kill and enslave them without guilt
20 Orcs live short and brutish lives they say but not all orcs live lives or war and will live much longer if fed well and dont work the worst jobs
21 Orc gods were beings of darkness and wrath who became more orc-like over time 
22 Orcs and goblinoids have some common physical features but are not direct kin. Orcs will often dominate goblins and consider hobgoblins dangerous rivals and fear bugbears. They have united against humans and elves before but might squabble
23 One thing you can say about orcs is most tend to kill off mutants among them early which more humans should adopt
24 Orcs of different tribes squabble sometimes near battlefields but with their own tribe they demonstrate great teamwork and ingenuity and loyalty
25 Say what you want about orcs but they sure don't shun doing things in new ways and keep up with tools of war like siege weapons and gunpowder. Humans underestimate orc imaginations tend to die
26 When you make a newborn orc the wizards starve them and torment them in pits for a month, educated by turncoat orc slave drivers before they are equipped and trained for battle. You should see what orcs do when they figure out this cruelty
27 Orcs actually feel pain but they stoically put up with it and embrace scars and suffering. Occasionally work themselves to death or ignore injuries to a fault
28 Orc medicine is effective but stings, burns and promotes scarring so plenty of humans are reluctant to use it. Orc first aid is quite good and not just burnt logs or leeches for everything like people say
29 Orcs are not the best at caring for animals but their own breeds of dogs, horses, goats and cattle look hideous to humans but are tough and hardy and more nocturnal. It is nearly always untrue their beast have diabolic features, mostly just leaders pets
30 To orcs admitting weakness or injury is an invitation to be killed or left out 
31 Wolves and orcs get along well even equally and some ride dire wolves with evil intelligence bigger than horses. Many orcs have ordinary wolves as companions
32 Orc shamans change tribe members from male to female or vice versa depending on war or peacetime and that's why you don't see orc women much in wartime. The orcs don't seem to care or think it matters or its our business
33 Orcs nowadays seem to be not just the baby eating brutes of grandpas day. I saw orc clerics in the city. Was a popular orc bard in town a while (who went home as humans too soft). Turns out they are pretty law-abiding and don't want trouble  
34 Having some orc workers is ok, they are stronger and cheaper but don't let them own land and keep them poor for the worst jobs or there will be trouble
35 Dwarves are always crying about humans and orcs stealing their technology and changing it. Dwarves fought a war of extermination on orcs over iron and during it as Dwarves deployed better weapons the orcs copied and even improved designs but cheaper and faster. The dwarves saw they were numerically losing and the orcs numbers just bounced back again and again. Orcs are pretty unimpressed by this and have not forgotten, taking relish in destroying dwarf strongholds intended to last forever
36 Orcs often fraternise with goblinoids, abhumans and beast folk rather than humans or demihumans. They get tired of humans and demihumans looking at them in fear and disgust 
37 Orcs like piercings, tattoos, branding and scarification. Many paint themselves. Prettiness is considered vain, weak, wasteful and useless. Their markings carry complex meanings humans mostly miss unless fluent in the language
38 While bright elves sneer at orcs, dark elves treat them better than most humans do. Orcs often work for them as servants and mercenaries so you see some dark elf trinkets and runes on them sometimes. Dark elves apparently aided orcs and helped them revolt in the past
39 Yea orcs don't like paladins. Too many massacres of orc civilians. Paladins say there are no orc civilians and were even caught burning bodies and encouraging the lie about there are no or orc women or children
40 The orcs that grow up from babies raised in families seem more complete and more complex. I heard of orcs with own druids working to heal their race
41 Some barbarian orcs liberate their own kind enslaved by wizards to recruit ready-made warriors who don't ask questions and quick to prefer orc to human masters
42 Ground orc tusk is an aphrodisiac but orcs go crazy if you mention it and won't just let you grate any off even for a few coins
43 Lots of orcs work in abattoirs as increasingly humans won't do it. Orcs really have a knack for butchery and tanning and have a good nose for spoiled food 
44 I thought orcs only ate rotten meat and bones and leather but I went to a wedding feast, and they had olives, nuts, dried berries, cheese, dried meat, worms, snakes, frogs, eels, larvae, pickled cabbage, eggs, mushrooms, acorn bread and fish 
45 Poorest orcs will eat anything without complaint but those with money seem to like variety and even get fussy complaining about who even touched food in the kitchen. I guess they smell food more than a human does
46 I thought from the war, orcs never bathed but actually, some have enlightened views on baths and sewerage and waste using it as fodder for certain monsters. SOme prefer dust baths to remove fleas
47 You heard stories orcs only steal food and don't have farms but a wizard told me orcs often farm monsters in their underground labyrinths which they trade with each other. Their monsters are well cared for and named so orcs get upset when humans kill their beloved beasts. On the frontier, they release their extra beasts to keep slow human civilisation
48 I knew a scared war veteran who lived with the orcs a few years and he never felt judged for his appearance and war wounds, in fact they were impressed and considered him one of them 
49 Orcs at home like to stage heroic operas about their heroes escaping servitude and betraying their dark lord. They even have contests but not many humans brave enough to try the events that last for days
50 Its perfectly legal to use orc corpses for animal food, leather or golems. But the orcs do get upset. For some reason, people find orc flesh golems less horrible than human ones
51 Orc jerky is delicious just check who they made it out of first 
52 A famous orc Longarm used to protect the forest from chaos mutants and cultist
53 An orc gladiator started a revolt and all the orc gladiators involved had to be put down. Was a shame as I had lots of bets placed
54 I noticed lots of those barbarian orcs really hate whips and slave manacles. They give really dirty looks at them. Though I did see an orc strangle a slaver with a chain and she seemed happy
55 There was a famous archer who married several orcmaids and even became one and everything in a magical orc kingdom in the deep. Eventually, he went into the deep to claim his own kingdom
56 In the wild places of the world where humans can barley survive, you can find tribal orcs
57 Cyclops orcs are pretty strange. Famed as smiths they act like they are smarter than everyone and claim to have made tools for the gods long ago. They seem pretty civilised and even make stuff which looks prettier for non-orc customers
58 One famous orc tribe road huge wild boar, some from the deep ride lizards, others ride huge dire wolves and orc heroes rode wyvern
59 In the war I saw orcs elect a new leader with a dance contest. They said wasting good orcs with violence was helping the enemy
60 Orc tooth tipped arrows can kill and elf if made by shaman of the elf-eater cult. Elves have a bounty on this cult
61 Most of the chaotic orcs you see worship demon cults, adopting their sigils. Over time they come to develop traits of their patrons and specific cult mutations. Mostly orcs tend to law and evil 
62 Orcs treat prisoners wounds and carry them for days. Only when hard-pressed did they eat a few to stop a goblin thrall riot. Orc slaves often earn freedom after years of service and get treated better than goblins. They will also random off well off prisoners keeping them for years
63 Orcs often seem confused buy luxury and they often have been seen destroying statues and masterworks. They dread the softness civilisation brings like it has to humans and elves. Metal items can be traded or recycled but works of symbolic waste disgust them. The art in their palaces and temples are mostly to generate fear and suggest leaders or tribal power
64 Orcs are very canny with money and materials using the least material for the most effective. Items being more uncomfortable to use or with sharp edges doesn't bother them.  
65 When you give an orc crafter materials for a job they will always come out with spare scraps for some other project
66 Orcs frown on waste and comfort. They had nothing for so long and they still don't feel they can afford to squander wealth in a world set on destroying them all. Lots of orcs collect string, pebbles and other scraps "just in case"
67 Orcs have been known to serve giants. Some are slaves but many choose giants over humans and their gods who keep the orc and giant down
68 Some orcs came and sacked a monument of a paladin standing on a pyramid of orc heads. Just rubble now 
69 I had to look after work prisoner labour gangs after the war, and they seemed utterly unaware humans were not made by wizards or the differences between men and women. They thought children were a slave race or sprites 
70 I met an orc shaman who explained many orc ancestral spirits are cursed and mutilated in magical and spiritual warfare in the past. The shaman led his followers to try and free these cursed souls and remove the corruptions of chaos and dark lords so the dead can rest
71 A tavern of war veterans was comparing their orc-ear-necklaces and all of them were found dead poisoned or stabbed
72 Lots of orcs kept being bastards after the war because of all those cursed evil relics the dark lord handed out like honey cakes. If you're not allied to evil many of those relics will turn bad or turn you bad. Also, why give up that magic if it kills better 
73 Orcs can survive in the worst places humans cannot and living in hellish places means humans will not encroach. This makes them harsh and unforgiving and often exposes them to evil influences in such forbidden lands. The humans in the same places are similar
74 Orcs perform secret rituals in wild places with whicker structures covered in flours and vegetation which they destroy after so outsiders never see them
75 The idea there is only one kind of orc and they are bad is a popular view. Many orcs think humans are all mass murderers
76 People say orcs and elves hate each other but they know each other quite well and sometimes share enemies. They have made no direct action on each other for centuries
77 Orc sympathisers are in league with chaos, demons, witches, devils, mutants and cthulhu
78 The real trouble will be when nobility realise orcs are cheaper to feed than humans and put up with more suffering, the common humans will be finished
79 I heard a few tales of orc wizards recently which sounds bad. Probably turn us into frogs then eat us. Some are overcoming their suspicion of wizardry  
80 Orc gods are vindictive and vengeful entities orcs worshipped just to spite humans
81 Ogres sometimes live among chaotic orcs sometimes as bullies or elites or as slaves 
82 Deep under the earth, there are orc kingdoms thousands of years old, civilised with great armies unseen on the surface this age and in eternal unseen war
83 If you know the right gestures and signs you can challenge some orc leaders to battle 
84 Orcs can be dealt with by gift of food and weapons to start a parley
85 To an orc taking a cursed thing and making it work for you is seen as great cunning
86 One of the old elf to orc dark rituals of old could make a single elf into many orcs
87 The towns that ban orc labour have more orc bandits
88 Orcs don't discuss their families or children so no enemies will learn of them and harm them. What seems callous or proof of their lack of family is an actually deliberate reaction to humans massacring orc families
89 Lots of humans are raised by orcs and live as orcs. Especially when orcs can't replace children fast enough they will adopt war orphan humans (but not demihumans)
90 Orcs don't really find humans or elves attractive but some take delight in tormenting pretty things for their evil masters and just spite from evil upbringing
91 Some wizards crossed ogres and orcs to breed sterile bodyguards, not as dumb or big as ogres but big orcs
92 Orcs forearms are slightly longer than humans and have a peculiar gait. 
93 A typical orc is a match for a common guard or regular soldier but the professional arc warriors and especially orc barbarians who were bred by evil wizards as let's troops long ago making them stronger and better in light with powerful leaps
94 Chaos orcs appearance varies more depending on their cult but also carry deformities from diseases and parasites common to chaos warbands and being intimate with demons
95 Long ago there was a tribe of dire-wolf-orc centaurs or perhaps people then had not seen anyone ride animals
96 The orcs of the deep have a pantheon of orc gods who claim other accounts of orc origins are enemy lies. These orcs claim blood from ogres and giants making them frightening but also have heavy infantry and pike formations and crossbows
97 Some orcs worship siege weapons as mobile shrines dedicated to an orc ancestor, devil or demon
98 Druidic orcs seem like many other hidden woodland races and wild forest people and they all intermingle in secret and avoid humans
99 Orcs have been seen in legions of hell and in service to demon nobility on their floating realms in the maelstrom
100 Orcs have offered some humans to come and live among them for a year or even come to a feast to help peace. So far nobody is willing to go as everyone knows orcs are just useless cannibalistic sadistic fiends with no culture or individuality

Eat your bone too or Drizzzt will come and murder everyone you know

Next: how all dwarfs are really bearded women

and how only 1% of elves reach puberty ever

Funding Your Space Archaeology Teams

Will do a few more d100s for this space archaeologyAlternative for Traveller, star frontiers or other exploration SF

So this is some simple notes for a space archaeology campaign
Characters are mission specialists or ship crew (ex scouts)
Funding bodies often nominate chosen experts for key jobs
Juggling funds and sponsors is mostly administered before an expedition
Factions continue to get involved in onboard conflicts
Expedition leader can usually veto votes from rest of the expedition
Ship crew in matters of safety and flight of ship are senior
Crew or team might have the past experience you wouldn't expect

A respectable funding body will publish and support credible work and will help expeditions credibility. A disreputable university will support more outlandish theories. Worse than disrespectable university is lunatic fringe space archaeologists. They are the most dangerous cults that contaminate data. Yet many are rich and charismatic and might get permission to explore despite the boring university verisimilitude. While scientists get excited at finding an alien poop in a space wreck, the lunatics want crystals, strange forces, magical technology, faux history and stuff that sorta look like those on other planets.

Sometimes non-archeology departments get involved to investigate the same sites for other interests. Also, some black patrons might send an agent of some kind to spy on the expedition.

One site planetary expedition for a month requires one funding body 6-12 crew
Multi site system survey for three months  requires 3 funding bodies 15-30 crew
Multi system survey for one year requires 5 funding bodies 40-60 crew
Multi exploratory voyage 3 years require 7 funding bodies

Expedition manager will arrange these things before an expedition. A few skill rolls from the expedition leader can help secure legit funding but if any fail you might seek other funding which will require rolls. You might have rival expeditions to compete and could meet later on the field.

d12 Legitimate funding bodies
1 Xeno archaeology department of a university
2 Colonial archaeology department of a university
3 Astro Anthropology department of a university
4 Other arts faculty d4 1=museum studies 2=linguistics 3=fine art 4=history
5 Other science faculty 1=computers 2=astronomy 3=paeontology 4=genetics
6 Interplanetary Heritage Council support various research and exploration
7 Mining company interested in heritage and loot sponsor geologists mostly
8 Biotech company seeking patents from alien life and intelligence 
9 Famous museum renown for funding science and seeking objects
10 Xenotechnology Research Group government org classifies alien objects
11 Government cultural department sponsoring various research fields
12 Colonial office supports projects that might aid colonisation and exploration


d12 Alternative funding
1 Crowdsourced from fans and subscribers, risk being popular in public
2 Credit against profits of the expedition, licencing and media rights from a company
3 Eccentric rich noble has own secret interests and access to data
4 The previous project was profitable enough to gain advance from a lender
5 Bored eccentric nobility interested, often one will come to observe
6 Politician offers aid but more red tape and wants work made public 
7 Celebrity endorsement who might even come along
8 Product sponsorship who want naming, brand rights and product placement 
9 Accepting rich donor money if an inept family member gets a job and some glory
10 Media network offers constant coverage and a documentary team
11 Famous university for irrelevant field funding this for some reason
12 Mediocre or new university out to prove itself in this field it has just adopted

d12 Dubious funding bodies
1 Tourism company sells replicants of art and holiday packages to sites
2 Research organisation, secretive and funded bu rich cult3 A disreputable university often funds mavericks and populists normally shunned
4 New age organisation with metaphysical beliefs seeks to prove some theory
5 Unheard of new institute cover for crime clan investigating things to steal
6 Galactic Brotherhood seek contact and peace with secret aliens who hide among us
7 Cyclopedia Galactica once credible now owned by popular mass media
8 Fan funded xenologist with strange unbelievable theories of ancients and aliens 
9 Racist out to prove humanity predestined master race plus other diet & sexual claims
10 A Corporation seeking xenotechnology, when they find will seek to control it
11 Sordid tourist museum nabs artifacts and lies about them to get in public
12 Antiquities dealer seeking loot for rich collectors

d12 Black funding bodies
1 Criminal mastermind seeks great treasure stockpile of fabled lot hoard
2 A pirate clan will observe operations for loot and information about the transport
3 Cult willing to steal and kill for secret religion seeking to serve the ancient ones
4 The criminal dealer uses antiquities as the front, deals in vice, drugs and arms 
5 A terrorist organisation uses antiquities to raise funds for conflict
6 Dangerous billionaire seeks xenotech innovations to gain personal power
7 A covert agent working for foreign or alien power monitoring xenotech sites
8 An independent alien slyly hiding among humans seeks relics to take advantage of
9 Secret society seeking knowledge of ancients have killed to gain it before
10 Religious organisation want to plant false data to prove cult tenets
11 Secret cult of alien hybrids who believe they are inheritors of universe
12 Black security agency dealing with alien infiltration and analysis

d12 Some past expedition member scandals
1 A claim was improved by later evidence and exploration by others
2 A claim was laughed at by establishment and peers, taken years to move on
3 Accident on expedition killed several members of team and flight crew
4 The sole survivor from past exploration
5 Cleared of charges to do with crime or politics
6 Accused of improper conduct with crew or expedition in past
7 Stuck to out of date theories and laughed at by younger scholars
8 Entertains wild speculation and ideas harmed credibility
9 Fell for a fraud that harmed 
10 Famous and sold some books, too popular for scholars to take seriously 
11 Stole or sabotaged others work in the race to achieve funding
12 Was robbed of artifacts by criminals

d12 Expedition Disasters
1 Targeted by crime syndicate or pirates
2 Infiltrated by d4 1=cultist 2=spy 3=rival team 4=press
3 Accident d4 1=in hyperspace 2=navigation 3=system on fire 4=collision
4 Saboteur d4 1=from rival team 2=cultist 3=crew brainwashed 4=cybernetic
5 Finance stream at risk needs the effort to save
6 Information leak d4 1=media 2=rivals 3=crooks 4=cult
7 Stalked d4 1=cultists into ancient aliens 2=locals 3=media 4=criminal cartel
8 A mining company wants expedition out of the way of their operations or just gone
9 Some populist movement claims expedition just graverobbers and plunderers
10 A political crisis emerges near the area of expedition
11 Discovery d4 1=valuable sensation 2=stolen 3=xenotech 4=alien biology
12 Hazzard d4 1=native life 2=weather 3=plague 4=geological

Pre Expedition
Expedition committee plan and nominate leader, secretary and treasurer
Board made up of principal sponsors as advisors
Students might be included in the preparation

Expedition
Flight Crew
Expedition Leader
Mission specialists (voting rights)
Technical staff, assistants, students

Other guests include
Representatives of funding bodies
-specialists
-observers
-media
-wealthy or celebrity patrons

The Secret Of Bone Hill

This has its ups and downs as a module which I will highlight
It is not a A list classic and has some peculiarities of writing different to other books
Len was a prolific writer with a column in Dragon and spells named after his characters

Plusses+
There is a local hexcrawl area with half mile hexes to explore mostly hills and woods
There is a town Restenford for you to hang out out too very detailed with names for every guard
At least you can run back to a pub or the gambling cult temple in a hurry
Ruins with bugbears and undead and good multi level ruin
Has spell casting zombies and skeletons which should have been a basic monster type in all dnd
Local campsite full of miserable poor adventurers living in tents
Local monster lairs that could wipe your party out
Church on hill of a gambling cult
Lots of local spell casters and patrons possible
Lots of cool stuff buried in rubble
Crazy magic potion lab
Compact pregens that don't waste pages - packed with content
A good intro start adventure
The burned out Guard station is a mini dungeon you could easily miss
Lots of elf loot and signs they lived here once
Mention of a Dark Keep of Kroten with a spy in the village might lead to adventure
Easy to add to area a few cults would be good
Lots of pubs and temples

Minuses-
Village more detailed than the dungeon and wilderness together.
If i don't kill town on a murder hobo spree unlikely to need all of this
If law abiding party you might never see most of this
Has odd encounter tables and % odds of characters being in rooms
Has lots of dm tips as if for a basic dungeon but a bit odd at times
A few more hills and future adventure ideas would have been good
Not much history and not much reason to stay in area unless you marry a local
Lots of rumours but no backstory for locations
- humans and elves battled bugbears together once in a war
-lots of elves boots and other objects in area especially buried
Map Typo different to text
Second module doesn't really help you use the content here as promised

It is a complete mini setting wich adventurers can make area safe, lazy and fat
I would generate a few cults
-possibly one burned the guard station which needs more rumours about it
-householder cultists seek a coup connected to a cult

I would add some more hills with lairs and mini dungeons
-book of lairs probably good to pad out in a hurry or some mini dungeons
-a witch cult cave with some monsters and fanatics and a goat man for commoners
-evil chaos cleric cult attack local order with assassination and corruption
-cult of some more respectable people in contact with the star people who appear certain nights and sometimes want help and reward you with lore and gold and youth
- a bear lair with a save with some skeletons from a old tomb
-gang of bandits or smugglers
-perhaps to use the town detail party need to become respected and part of defences of the town to learn it's secrets. Possibly they could be given jobs. Then they will get to spend more time with elites as their level goes up then maybe you might need to know whats in someones draw in the caste or the super secret magic vault defences. So use area as a base and have them part of comunity

A proper big dungeon nearby like stonehell would fit

Possibly relocate saltmarsh stuff to here easily

Adding a big dungeon nearby and developing romance, friendship and interest in locals would be goood way to expand this. If your not meant to kill everybody I guess you will end up talking to them. All the town watch have names that's kind of rare. Bugbears don't get names.

The Dark Keep of Kroten might be a evil cult including robber knights with ambition to control island. A humanoid dominated part of the island seems plausible.

Sadly I might use with planet psychon by adding lots of muskets and strange things into ruins. Dark Albion or Crawling Chaos could add some more weird and cult stuff here.

So more detail than say giants series and more roleplaying. Less railroad than adventures into the 80s went.

You don't need to add to it but part of the fun of that era of products was extending and filling in missing detail. Yet not so detailed you have to go along with it. This is 81. I like old modules because they offer lots of canvas to create which by Dragonlance became rare.

Romance would help this setting especially with all the npc detail and would give players a reason to use as a home base. Becoming local experts and being consulted and getting jobs will all help too.

Starting out with this I wasn't a huge fan but Im thinking of giving it a planet psychon make over with ancient stuff in elf ruins and basements and in wizards lairs. Religion easily changed and gambling cult get one arm bandits idols. So hope to use next week possibly as the secret of cyborg hill. Those forests and hills were blasted in the war with bioweapons making undead and creepy forests. Elven ruin now a eldren fort. Bugbears a hideous mutant race. Might need a small mutant ghetto.

d100 Mystery Dungeon Levers

When that dungeon gets boring put in a few of these. Some players will pull every lever some will never touch one. Some trick you into pulling them. Some are for monster defence. Some are made by mad wizards to be jerks.

I'm going through my list of backlog easy ideas for a bit while dealing with bullshit in my life.

Have a few bigger projects to work on too like A-Z cities and a new type of encounter area type - the warzone. Tables for when your region is invaded. Separate hazards and scenes and encounters for different war zones - human, humanoid, dragon, chaos etc. Sewer hell 2 and Xor spells too.

Some only work one or a few times. Some might be hidden, or the lever might be separate to mechanism..Of course you could have these effects in buttons, switches or something instead. Finding lots of mechanisms with different handles might be fun.

d10 Lever Appearance
1 Rusty iron lever

2 Valuable metal with gem knob on end

3 Skeletal leg or arm

4 Crude wooden and splintered 

5 Brass with ornamental engravings

6 Black wood with silver runes

7 Ivory with carvings

8 Greasy metal lever

9 Spiked mace head

10 Skull topped bone rod

d100  Mystery Dungeon Levers

01 Passageway roof collapses

02 Pit in floor opens to dark depths
03 Staircase revealed
04 Pit with ladder opens to another level
05 Opens panel and releases angry and hungry monster
06 Rings alarm bell attracting monsters 
07 Starts water flooding in area
08 Shuts and locks doors in area
09 Opens oubliette cell with skeleton on floor
10 Opens a hidden panel with treasure chest
11 Murderholes in ceiling open and snakes drop through
12 Rearranges dungeon floorplan
13 Seals main dungeon entrance
14 Opens panel and activates a fountain 
15 Awakens something in depths that heads for this room
16 Seals room with portcullis gates
17 Opens a crypt with multiple sarcophigi
18 Opens a small vent with visible light from surface
19 Illuminates area of dungeon with magical light
20 Rains d2000cp from hole in roof
21 Opens secret panel with rack of magic armour
22 Opens secret panel with weapon rack and at least one magic weapon
23 Opens several doors to secret level across dungeon
24 Opens secret door to wizard lab with several potions on bench
25 Opens secret panel revealing a magic mirror
26 Plunges area into magic darkness for one hour
27 Fires a balistia bolt at operator 2d8 if fail save
28 Opens secret room with treasure chest and human bones
29 Opens pit of acid that divides room
30 Releases sleep gas into area, lasts one hour if fail save
31 Opens secret room with healing shrine
32 A stone table rises from floor with heroic feast laid out
33 Opens panel in wall with magic dungeon pie (d6 uses)
34 Opens chamber with magical fungus and d6 goblin corpses 
35 Magic circle on floor alights summons elemental servant appears to obey for a hour
36 Magic circle on floor alights summons a imp appears to obey for a hour
37 Opens shaft in ceiling to upper level but with huge spiders and webs inside
38 Opens monster supply room with food, costumes, healing potion and fake blood
39 Opens room with talking skull answer d4 dungeon questions a day
40 Fires croosbow bolts down main entry coridoor
41 Opens door to magical gateway or teleporter pad
42 Reveals map on wall with glowing line art
43 Opens secret flooded pit and begins to pump out water
44 Opens panel with wand inside but is trapped with magic
45 Opens vent releasing stirge nest with remains of dead adventurers
46 Magic circle on floor alights and summons a succubi who offers sex
47 Summons a monstrous giant devil face who's mouth is a gate to hell
48 Opens a spy hole letting you observe another area unseen
49 Opens a speaking tube lets you speak with other room in dungeon
50 Opens a panel with gargoyle or animated statue inside 
51 Opens vent releasing panicked bats but can be used to escape dungeon by crawling
52 Water pours in through roof and room doors shut and are locked
53 Rotates dungeon room confuses mapping possibly accessing new areas
54 Floor opens into slide that deposits on lower level
55 Opens secret door with elevator possibly with a attendant to other levels
56 Opens secret door with elevator possibly with a attendant but only goes to hell  
57 Operator struck by ray save or die, if lives now immortal (d4 charges left)
58 Sends the whole room backwards or forwards in time (d3 uses)
59 Fills dungeon level with fog for d6 hours
60 Opens a pit with volcanic steam vent warming the area, some treasure visible below
61 Releases brownie bound in hidden panel who offers to help new friends
62 Releases automatons from secret door that repair dungeon and reset traps
63 Opens secret chamber to magical machine from lost age
64 Opens to secret chamber with ancient machinery from aeons lost
65 Opens hidden tomb with greater undead imprisoned in tomb for aeons
66 Opens hidden chamber with angel nailed to walls will be grateful if helped to escape
67 Opens sealed room with dead adventurers with packs of rope, spikes and other supplies
68 Opens sealed pit with shoggoth gibbering insanely trapped in depths
69 Opens panel with hidden crumbling books and scrolls possibly including maps
70 Opens hidden room with dead kobolds, bricks, mortar and building supplies
71 Opens hidden room with long dead architect and partial dungeon map on workbench
72 Opens hidden door out comes grinning goblin with birthday cake on pushcart
73 Opens hidden dungeon garbage shute can be used to possible escape dungeon
74 Opens hidden well accesses underground river, possible escape from dungeon
75 Opens hidden panel releases bound hellcat who offers to guide most lawful person
76 Makes whole room become elevator, often mechanism only works once 
77 Opens panel with kegs of beer and wine with taps and mugs
78 Open secret door into chill room with frozen carcasses possibly a ice toad in cage
79 Opens secret door, inside is a bound salamander if freed goes on rampage
80 Opens secret room with dormant monster eggs and a hatching apparatus
81 Opens secret torture chamber used by some boss long ago
82 Opens secret bedroom with sobbing prisoner
83 Opens secret lavatory, sewer enterance possibly usable for escape 
84 Opens secret store room with stolen crates of merchant goods and artworks
85 Opens secret room of statues (petrified victims from long ago)
86 Opens secret armoury with crates of forgotten and corroded weapons and armour
87 Opens room with d6 spirits sealed in bottles by shaman long ago
88 Opens secret room of lamp oil, torches, flints, lamps and candles
89 Activates noisy machinery in depths dungeon self repairs to new condition over d4 hours
90 Activates shimmering pool of light allows communication with distant sister dungeon 
91 Opens magic mirror that communes with ancient evil forgotten by mortals
92 Hear machinery, then screaming, then blood leaks from cracks in walls
93 Doors seal and walls close in, 1in6 spikes pop out walls too
94 Bathes room in strange light ages all by 4d10 years if fail save
95 Bathes room in strange reduces all to d6+3 years old if fail save
96 Everything in room is magically cleaned and food and drink purified
97 Pollutes food making diseased and turns drinks into poison
98 Turns all coins in room into equivalent value of copper
99 Turns all non magic iron, steel, copper or bronze into useless dust
100 Healing ray cures d6 HP once per day, causes cancer on second use if fail save

d100 Mental Mutations

Mental powers are some of the most exotic mutations and have a increased chance of mental defects or powers that will cause problems. Most powers have visible effects when in use. Mental powers might be known as psionics or psychic powers or spell like abilities are used for such powers.  Names used for practitioners include mesmerist, medium, mystic or even witches.

Powers not divided into types like most mutations based on organs or body parts. Possibly more powerful than other tables but some more detrimental. Some of the major mutations are problems too. Some of these risk your characters personality and behaviour while previous ones are mostly cosmetic. Psionic mutants probably blend in better but might go crazy or look scary using powers. Many petty powers are in fact brain defects or mental illnesses. Some of the later major powers might seem liabilities - serenity, pacifism, berserker.

I do also have a Psionics spell system that has proven popular in my games replacing standard psionics and illusionists. I let ppl take this list for clerics or elves or bards or wizards if they want to be from a alternate tradition.
Psionics Spell list and Classes
Psionics and Sorcery Mentalist Spell List 1-3
Psionics and Sorcery Mentalist Spell List 4-5 with Shaman Class
Psionics and Sorcery Mentalist Spell List 6-7 with Psionicist Class

Trained psionics tend to look down on mental mutants.

This is probably my final word in mental powers and psionics for my games. I've always hated creating whole crazy new systems for powers and felt most oficial systems broken.

Mutation tables so far
Xor Bio Mutations
Necro Mutations
Reptilian Mutations
Diabolic Mutations
Plant Mutations
Faerie Mutations
Possible: Fish, Amphibian, Arthropod (crabs, arachnid, insect), Ape, suggestions????

d12 Sources of mental mutation

01 Among first born of the coming race

02 Family bloodline of strange abilities
03 Experimentation on your bloodline
04 Exposed to psychic phenomena
05 Non human taint in bloodline from hidden race
06 Exposed to cosmic or reality warping forces
07 Exposed to weird crystals
08 Ate brains of a planar entity or some plane shifting organ 
09 Haunted by spirits growing up
10 Attacked by parasites from overspace
11 Exposure to powers of a psychic awoke your powers
12 Modified by superior beings

d100 Minor mental mutations

01 Smell or feel uneasy if mental or spirit phenomena used within 3"

02 Ectoplasm forming can produce a pound of slime within 1"
03 Sense evil intent towards you within 1"
04 Trance for one hour replaces sleep
05 Temperature drops when unhappy by ten degrees within 1"
06 Temperature raises when andry by ten degrees within 1"
07 Eyes glow when mad or using powers
08 Hair raises when exited or using powers as if in wind or from static
09 Mental resilience +1 wisdom bonus score
10 Hibernate three months once a year
11 Horrible nightmares and flashbacks make you mutter and sob in sleep, 
12 Fried nerve endings diminished sense of touch and pain
13 Split personality offers flawed advice nobody else can hear 
14 Memory lapses and repeats telling people things annoyingly
15 Mutters and and tells rambling stories even when alone
16 Prone to irrational weeping in all kinds of situations
17 Prone to irrational laughter in all kinds of situations
18 Unnatural charm +1 Charisma bonus
19 Insects, vermin and parasites repulsed and try to keep a foot away
20 Directional sense always feel magnetic north
21 Perfect sense of time to the second with clock precision
22 Numerate as if had a calculator or advanced abacus skills
23 Highly sensitive to pain and paranoid about threats of injury 
24 Empathic sense can feel strong emotions within 3"
25 Phobia as strong fear of a specific thing like strangers, spiders, darkness, etc
26 Hostility field disturbs people you meet -1 Charisma modifier
27 Suicidal tendencies and gloomily fixated with death and risk taking
28 Mental block has 1% chance of any stressful situation being forgotten after
29 Narcolepsy has a 1% chance of any stressful situation inducing d10 minutes deep sleep
30 Aura sight can see aura of living things within 3" can use to target in dark
31 Enormous ego is sure is the greatest and best at everything ever
32 Amnesia when HP below 10% of maximum 
33 Mania is obsessed with something like fire, darkness, stealing, sex, etc
34 Planar sense can feel dimensional gates or multiplanar beings within 3"
35 Defective alter ego will seize control for a d4 hours if reduced to 1 HP and fail save
36 Seizures has a 1% chance of any stressful situation inducing d4 minutes attack
37 Unconscious calling attracts hostile creatures increasing chance of wandering monsters
38 Heal one HP once per person per day 
39 Spectral breeze everyone in 3" cone feels a chilly breeze one round per level per day
40 Glow aura makes mutant glow at will 1" radius light
41 Can ignite small fires by concentration within 1" as if using a flint on flammable material
42 Animal bond can form strong empathic attachment to animal over range of 3"
43 Glimpse invisible spirits or astral bodies for one round per level per day within 3"
44 Can over hear spirits or astral bodies talking on spirit plane or telepaths within 3"
45 Plant empathy can sense well being of a plant by touch
46 Sense location of dramatic past events like murders or torment within 1"
47 Automatic writing allows a spirit to use your hands to write or draw while in a trance
48 Can repulse dirt and water from body and clothing once per day per level
49 Thoughtography can burn a image from mind onto a surface once per day per level
50 Call ethereal fog over 1" radius once per level per day
51 Control a small hand sized rodent or bird one round per level per day
52 Call a swarm of flies or harmless insects to do bidding one round per level per day
53 Aport a small hand size object to and from ethereal plane once per level per day
54 Astral knife can be formed at will only harms non corporeal or other planar beings
55 Can see inside sleeping persons dreams by touch one round per level per day
56 Can scare a animal under 4HD if fails a save once level per day within 3"
57 Can calm a animal under 4HD if fails a save once level per day within 3"
58 Make a hand size object levitate one foot if concentrated on within 1"
59 Objects in room rattle and make noise when mutant is angry, upset or scared
60 Hostile spirits are attracted to mutants inner anguish, most are petty and troublesome
61 Always knows is a certain loved one in trouble or within a mile often a sibling
62 Can control several cubic feet of smoke, fog or fine particles one round per level per day
63 Can form ice crystals on water or fluids or chill food by concentrating within 1"
64 Long lived mutant expands life expectancy by 2d4 times
65 Cause a object to vibrate within 1" by concentrating often noisy
66 Able to tell if attacked with disease or poison at moment of contact
67 Can sense medical condition of others by touch ans amount of HP
68 Can sense hidden water within 1" through ground 3" with some kind of divining rod
69 Can speed read if literate reading and studying ten times faster
70 Photographic recall memory can specifically remember something specified when seen 
71 Can measure distances and lengths from sight 
72 Can accurately predict weight of persons or objects
73 Alignment extremist is driven to judge everything be extreme moral code
74 Ambidextrous can use hands equally well
75 Improved split personality offers useful advice and second opinions 
76 Can survive comfortably without food or water a day per level
77 Hear whispers and moans of the dead even more depressing in certain locations
78 Have dreams about ancestors lives often triggered by recent events in own life
79 Orgone energy accumulator gains a d3 HP per day from sexual act
80 Has perfect sense of harmony, rhythm and can play any instrument instantly
81 Can douse a small flame (torch or smaller) within 3" once per level per day
82 Immune to eating off food or drinking diseased water but not poisoned
83 Eyes or nose bleeds when using powers or very stressed
84 Can animate a small cubic foot dust devil one round per level per day within 3"
85 Can enter death like trance for one hour per level using 1/10th the air supply
86 Can labour twice as hard performing work of two in any manual labour
87 Spot weakness adds +1 to hit one attack per level per day
88 Aura Barrier HP +d4
89 Aura Shield +1AC
90 Sense pain or death within 3"
91 Have extra two contradictory personalities who disagree on everything
92 Rage can add +1 damage bonus one round per level per day 
93 Ectoplasmic hand size item creation one round per level per day d3 knife possible
94 Evil eye victim within 3" saves or -1 on next saving throw
95 Resistance +1 on a saving throw once per level per day
96 Attribute Amplifier pick one stat gain +1 for one round per level per day
97 Open or close a door or chest or bottle within 3" once per level per day
98 Lesser regeneration regrow fingers, ears, nose and heal double normal HP from rest
99 Third eye can see spirits or non corporeal on astral plane one round per level per day
100 Probability control gain a +1 on any dice roll once per level per day

d100 Major Mental Mutations
01 Sense any living being or spirit within 6" unless blocked by four inches of wood or stone
02 Read surface thoughts in 6" who fails saving throw one round per level per day
03 Heal 2hp per level per day by touch can spread points out as needed
04 Power Shout add 1d3 damage to any attack once per level per day
05 Mental Bolt d4 damage once per level per day within 9" victim gets a save
06 Telepathy can communicate within 9" one round per level per day with known person07 Bio Control can add +3 to a save vs disease or poison once per level per day

08 Push a person with telekinesis, save or fall once per level per day

09 Defencive Aura +2 armour once per level per day
10 Aura Barrier provides effective +2HP per level once per day

11 Spectral Mist formed from ectoplasm 3" wide once per level per day
12 Evil Eye reduce foes save roll -2 once per level per day

13 Rally causes a demoralized person to make a new morale check once per level per day

14 Sense Weakness +d6 dam +2 hit once per three levels per day with one round prep

15 Animate Weapon once per level per day can use a weapon telekinetically within 6" 

16 Confusion Cloud once per day all within 3" save or confused for 1 round/lv

17 Fear 3" cone effect once per day all in area save or flee for 1 round/lv

18 Empathic Sense can feel emotions of others within 6" can enhance communications

19 Dual Mind can perform two mental acts at a time or one can sleep while other on guard

20 Inflict Madness 6" range, saves or paranoia and delusions for turn, once a day 

21 Pyrokinesis can generate a d4 fire with one round intense concentration

22 Cryokinesis can generate a d4 cold with one round intense concentration

23 Image Projection once/day can project self image to communicate to a friend for round/lv

24 Accelerate Healing with a turn concentration can heal d3 per person per day

25 Mental Screen can resist attempts to read mind +3 save

26 Telekinetic Arm can be used to manipulate or hold items one round per lv per day

27 Hypnosis as charm person 6" range once per four levels per day

28 Allurement aura makes living things attracted to mutant within 3" not always for best

29 Psychometry can read history of location, corpse or thing once day per level 

30 Sense Home always knows distance and direction home, takes month to change home 

31 Fearless is immune to any psychological effect causing fear or anxiety

32 Illusion can make a victim who fails save see a illusion one round per level per day

33 Inhibitor field prevents mental mutations working within 3" if fail save per round

34 Levitation can float with concentration 1" across or 3" up a round per level per day

35 Mind Meld can communicate and share thoughts by touch one round per level per day

36 Mental Block any attempt to interrogate or probe mind causes mutant to block memories

37 Danger Sense mutant only surprised on a 1in6 chance

38 Life Drain once per day can drain by touch 1HP/level from victim by touch and heal self

39 Exorcism can repel spirit occupying a victim giving them a extra save once per day

40 Possession can by touch dominate a person's body by touch once per day for one turn

41 Enhance Strength +1d4 for one round per lv per day

42 Paralysis can hold a being in 6" still for a turn once per day if they fail to save

43 Phobia can make victim have fear of one thing for a turn once per day if they fail to save

44 Force Barrier one round per level per day that blocks missile weapons from one direction

45 Seizure induces a being helpless in 6" for a d10 rounds once per day if they fail to save

46 Stunning Force stops a person for a round who fails save in 3" rage once/lv/day 

47 Planar Voices give possible advice once per day per level give d3 contrary suggestions

48 Prophetic dreams warn of danger or death or disaster, greater threat more days warning

49 Sense planar beings or gates or other disturbances within 9" or further for very powerful

50 Suggestion by talking for a turn to victim if fail save changes alignment for hour

51 Fanaticism can add +1 once per level per day day on any roll, can use any or all at once

52 Life Drain Touch, heal self by sapping life from others or by withering plants 1hp/lv/day

53 Animal Attraction can draw small animals, fish or birds near, possibly kill and eat them

54 Draw Beast once day call wild beast near to serve as a mount or pack animal or eat

55 Healing Trance one HP recovered per hour in deep trance

56 Berserker can enter homicidal rage +2 hit/dam can fight until -9 hp, fight till no victims left

57 Group Mind can place self and one friend per level into a mind link if within 12"

58 Psychokinetic Bolt 2d6 damage 9" range once per 3 levels per day

59 Psi Bolt 3d6 damage 6" range once per 4 levels per day, save to resist only affects living

60 Heat Touch can inflict 2d4 damage by touch one round per level per day

61 Suspended Animation can enter trance for predetermined time using 1% food and air

62 Pyrokinetic Bolt 2d6 fire damage 9" range once per 3 levels per day

63 Psychoelectric Discharge d8 electric touch one round per level per day

64 Aura Barrier one round per level per day, can absorb level in HP

65 Poison resistance can get extra save vs any poison  once per level per day

66 Disease resistance can get extra save vs any poison  once per level per day

67 Illuminated can get extra save vs illusions once per level per day

68 Iron Will can get extra save vs mind control once per level per day

69 Advanced Mind +1 Intelligence 

70 Advanced Forethought +1 Wisdom 

71 Advanced Magnetism +1 Charsima

72 Call Swarm can call flies, moths other bugs to fill a 1" square round/Lv/day

73 Ectoplasmic Discharge once per level per day can slime someone or 1" square

74 Visibility can make spirit or invisible thing visible to all if fails save one round/Lv/day

75 Animal Empathy can crudely communicate with animals and possibly calm them

76 Dream Travel once/night can appear in dream by touch or very distant for loved one

77 Genius Loci can speak to spirits of a place and ask a question per three levels per day

78 Planar Eye can see beings hidden in other planes, strike any out of phase or displaced

79 Compel Truth with frightening gaze, victim saves or tells secret once per 3 levels/day 

80 Ectoplasmic construct form hand size object round/Lv/day, at 5th can be weapon size 

81 Soul Gaze can detect unusual souls of secret undead, supernatural or planar beings 

82 Biological Sustenance does not require food but still enjoys eating

83 Astral Travel can once a day enter trance and soul can enter spirit world, risky

84 Ghost Light can glow illuminating 1" radius or project a 3" cone of eerie coloured light

85 Psychic Wind can raise a breeze disturbing sand, snow, paper or leaves in 3" radius

86 Call Darkness reduce light 3" radius to night, dimming light sources not direct sunlight

87 Disturbing Force can make everyone in 9" feel on edge, disturbs animals and sleep

88 Telekinesis can move 10lb per up to 1" per level one round per level per day

89 Poltergeist when angry small objects thrown about and people slapped in 3" radius

90 Telekinetic Manipulation fine motor work like lock picking within 1" by concentration

91 Psychokinetic Choke once/level/day within 3" victim living saves or helpless for round 

92 Iron Fist once per day per 5 levels unarmed attack can inflict 3d6 damage

93 Arouse erotic feelings in other living beings who fail save but mutant no longer feels any

94 Summon Spirit can call on petty invisible spirit for aid round/level/day most 1HD 

95 Serenity the mutant experiences no highs or lows and is is immune to strong emotions

96 Pacifism the mutant is incapable of deliberately killing any living being

97 Jaunt can teleport up to 9" once per four levels per day by sight or to familiar location

98 Teleport once per week to any well known place random and risky otherwise

99 Plane Shift once per week to any well known plane random and risky otherwise

100 No longer naturally ages by act of will force, possibly other forces might age them 

This was handy and interesting
http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Superpower_Wiki