Saturday, 7 September 2024

Under Chagrinspire





































Sequel to d100 Underground entrances

This deals with underground passage types you can discover

Tunnels and passages are everywhere under Chagrinspire, sometimes overlapping or connecting. Each has its own character.

There are three great caverns under Chagrinspire almost a kilometre tall. 
One has a great grey gnome city of Gloomheim the greatest underland trade city of the underland. The 
Black Sphere gnomes came from here but are a minority faction.  

The second is a vast mushroom forest crawling with fell faerie and goblinoid folk and creepy crawling giant vermin. 

The third is a vast garbage dump with a kingdom of dumped automatons, beast folk tribes and worm cultists. There is also a ruined city of the old ones here back to the dawn age and used by the monster kings in the age of darkness and then necromances. The 
Black Sphere sealed the old ones city off and only allowed approved researchers inside not cultists. 

Black Sphere flesh golems
Weild a steel short spear and all others within 120 range are mindlinked in unison
 and pool and share HP. They are brutal destroyers and many become increasingly deranged so are sent to the front lines to be a river of mayhem and murder. When out of control they swarm in a group mind vs any other moving thing not in the group. When "killed" body parts will still twitch and move and can be recycled for new golems or seed new clones. Some compare these horrors with the stupidity of troll ancients breeding a regenerating war troll that replaced the old troll civilisation with chaos. New ones will obey Black Sphere commanders they trained with. The longer they live the more they revolt. They don't talk but understand orders. It's unclear if they feel, care, or think when created   

d12 Tunnel Types
1 Natural cavern tunnels lead to the great caverns under Chagrinspire decorated with prophetic cave art waning of the coming of the Black Sphere
2 Ancient burrows of living creatures giant worms, land sharks, mega bugs, kaiju and colossal beasts. Can be risky and random but often link to long-buried ruins or the deep caverns. They say trolls gnawed these passages in the earth like worms early in creation
3 Ancient dwarven underground highways, very straight, dug in the middle dawn age before modern humans existed, geometric designs with vast statues of forgotten dwarven gods and heroes. Side passages link to the greater caves under the wasteland. Underland traders use these to cross the continent and trade hidden from humans
4 Monster Kingdom underground highways, tunnelled to enemies to occupy them even underseas to link them to their slaver city buried by Shadelport today to other continents or under hazards like mountains. Many of these crawl with monsters, traps and curses. Link to the greater caves under the wasteland. After the fall of the monster age of darkness, they were used by the necromancer era peoples leaving undead everywhere
5 Kobold Highway is a dungeon complex built of redbrick built by kobolds who bound evil s[irits here to worship and bring the dungeons to life. Kobolds often live at gateways and bunkers on the highway stops and goblins or abhumans might claim these tunnels. Many surface links to places kobolds use including kobold-operated train stations and bases for train gangs 
6 Flooded caves and ancient tunnels are common and include underground rivers and the vast underwater lakes in the deep. Aquatic beings especially fish and frog folk will occupy these with passages to Lake Vinigar on the surface or deep cave lakes. There may be air filed chambers and ruins only accessible by water breathers or amphibians  
7 Goblin-infested mines often link to industrial sites on the surface and the underground fungus caverns especially. They trade with kobolds and operate ancient mines abandoned by the Black Sphere. Many sections are abandoned but noises will carry vast distances  
8 Sewers and drains of the ancients often connect to rivers and wetlands and even some deep caverns. Sewerage-dwelling telepathic tentacled horrors charge a toll of corpses and excrement to pass. Rat and frog folk battle here and fish folk sometimes scout them. Effluent from alchemical factories on the Plateau and across the waste are toxic mutagens
9 Pneumatic Tube Line a metal circular tunnel system mostly not functional as rats ate all the seals. Metal tube trains were sucked and pushed to stations and the system was a late edition which failed. Rust-eating monsters love it here but they do like other metals. Automatons don't come here. Some lines are functional often connecting to a black sphere outpost, automaton centre or laboratory. Some now operate with a air elemental behind and a void elemental in the front as the tubes were too difficult to seal and make airtight
10 Service tunnels often near the surface with various pipes (water, steam, oil, message pods) and cables (for magical energy-feeding Chagrinspire). Small golem carts were used some 2-4 passengers with 1in6 pull d6 trailers each seating. Skating and kill cart kobolds love these areas but automatons and grey gnome sapper troops may use them also  
11 Automated freight train line tunnels - intruders are treated like a disease by machines
12 Chagrinspire passenger train rail line tunnels radiate across the wasteland

d10 Under Chagrinspire Encounters
1 Demihumans
2 Humanoids
3 Abhumans
4 Humans
5 Beast
6 Slime & Fungi 
7 Undead
8 Created
9 Supernatural
10 Black Sphere

d100 Travellers To Meet
01 Dwarven adventurers strayed from their highway and know the closest path back 
02 Chaos dwarf berserkers demand battle
03 Derro slavers use magic to ambush travellers
04 Morlocks roam looking for food humanoids or dinner
05 Underworld gloomy elven nomad scouts seek a passage to a good camp
06 Nasty malicious elves from the roots of the world tree here to cause mischief
07 Elven adventurers scouting for signs of the Black Sphere revival
08 Grey gnome traders dislike their kin serving the black sphere faction
09 Grey gnome sappers with humanoid automatons and a mini tank golem or mole machine
10 Halfling adventurers might demand cash or offer experience as guides
11 Orc subterranean tribal hunters, the smaller light-shunning kind 
12 Orc barbarians seeking adventure and wizards to kill
13 Hobgoblin squad or reaction of soldiers on a long range patrol
14 Bugbear headhunters in an ambush or bugbear mercenaries charging a toll
15 Goblins riding bats or wolves or ants from underground tribe raiding
16 Goblin miners on way to a mine or market
17 Goblin shaman followers including fungoid abhumans and shroomling 
18 Goblin rat herders with giant rats to or from the market
19 Kobold traders or workers with pack geckos
20 Kobolds scouts or soldiers on the rampage
21 Young giants or ogres rambling on a youthful adventure
22 Frog or fish folk know best local flooded tunnels 
23 Cave or wild folk live as tribes in the deep and often seek to colonise a new cave
24 Rat or mole folk are often keen to eat surface people 
25 Lizard or dinosaur or snake or dragon folk adventurers led by a magician
26 Lamprey or bat folk seek blood to drink and for offerings to their demon gods
27 Ant or Isopod folk are common insect abhumans but other arthropods are possible
28 Reptlian troglodytes with a shaman trying to drive out rival species with stench and violence
29 Firenewts with a wizard and various fire lizards and fire toad pets
30 Elemental abhumans from colonies stranded in apocalypse war and now hide in the deeps or near elemental nodes or portals
31 Human barbarians here to smash magic stuff and kill wizards
32 Crusaders very lost (possibly generations and colourless)
33 Cult pilgrims seeking ancient secrets to get power and sacrifice or enslave with drugs or spells anyone they meet
34 Subterranean mutant tribe speaking ancient with tattered relics of ancients, they come from a ruined city in a great cavern ruled by a demon cult (thus many leave)
35 Androids soldiers made in Black Sphere lab often equipped with spears or veterans will have captured and learned other weapons and equipment
36 Clone soldiers made in Black Sphere lab often equipped with muskets and uniforms, all conditioned to be fighting for their families vs the outsider allies
37 Human adventurers from surface possibly lost and desperate and hungry
38 Lycanthropes looking for a lair and exploring
39 Scavengers from surface lost
40 Wizard with students and mercenaries exploring and looting
41 Owlbear or hook hand horror sniffing for meat
42 Ochre Hulk or tentacled sewer monster (will trade corpses for passage)
43 Purple worm or group of giant leeches or prehistoric colossal centipede
44 Giant crabs or lobsters or cave fisher
45 Giant beetles or arachnids or scorpions
46 Giant lizards or dinosaur or draconic monster
47 Chimeric hybrid magical monstrosity demands a toll
48 Giant mutated mostly blind cave creature
49 Swarm of vermin d41=rats 2=stirge 3=flies 4=crabs
50 Minotaur or giant or gang of ogres
51 Fungus abhumans often led by a magician
52 Slime abhumans are hideous gelatinous humanoid protoplasm 
53 Shroomlings a small fungus folk mostly friendly (reskin halflings)
54 Ambulant fungus beast that has teeth and a spore blast
55 Amber jelly often lurk in sewerage or come from drains
56 Screaming mushrooms
57 Explosive mushrooms
58 Spore-infected zombies controlled with fungal growths
59 Choking mould colony
60 Green slime
61 Zombie soldiers with skeleton archers
62 Ghouls led by a ghast
63 Wight warrior with a d4 half-strength new thralls
64 Spectral warriors 
65 Spectral spirits from ancient times may have information or want help to rest
66 Shadows ooze from dark cracks
67 Mummy with skeleton minions seeking stolen treasure
68 Undead giant reptiles or dinosaurs
69 Skeleton warrior with skeleton thralls
70 Poltergiest rattle and hurls rocks
71 Automaton soldier with musket or several
72 Automaton miniature steam tank 
73 Fleshgolem with broken mindlink to its kindred mindlessly rampaging
74 Shoggoth
75 Living statues
76 Gargoyles
77 Rock golem
78 Mole machine automaton gone berserk when crew killed
79 Automated repeating crossbow guard passage
80 Juggernaut as wide as passage here to clean up
81 Elemental
82 Minor devil or demon with cultists (might be demihumans)
83 Fire or frost salamander
84 Underground nature spirit is bored
85 Spirit folk changeling wanderer currently in human or humanoid form d12 1=spider 2=slug 3=rat 4=bat 5=mole 6=toad 7=badger 8=mushroom 9=fish 10=snake 11=newt 12=lizard
86 Plane-shifting spiders
87 Soul-eating black mist
88 Tentacle brain dimensional horror 
89 Spectral hounds from beyond
90 Invisible stalker guarding passage
91 Doppelganger spies made by the Black Sphere labs
92 Invisible grey gnome spies reporting to the Black Sphere
93 Alchemist leading clone or orc soldiers seeking rare ingredients
94 Cultists serving the Black Sphere seek lost records on beings they can summon to be summoned into the web of power of Chagrinspire to be consumed and help power the Black Sphere. They fight outsider and demon cults especially often with guns and clone or orc soldiers
95 Mole machine with squad of d4 1=grey gnome sappers 2=automaton infantry 3=clone soldiers 4=mindlinked fleshgolems, the machine is a oneway weapon to release a rampaging river of mindless violent flesh
96 Mutant scavengers commanded by a wizard more interested in looting than violence
97 Black Sphere alchemist controlling jacked zombies with control implants to dominate the animating spirits of the dead - these implants can be reused and they need more zombies to fight other Black Sphere factions 
98 Wraith commanding shadows search the underland for stolen keys required by the Black Sphere
99 Void elementals from beyond the cosmos seem to be attracted by Chagrinspire and come to eat souls or find worshipers so they can assume a physical demon form
100  The great leader (a clone) seeks to conquer the black sphere with an army of d4 1=orcs 2=clones 3=andoids 4=mutants. The leader seeks to capture ancient bunkers of secret weapons or factories to make soldiers and really believes they are the real despot from a thousand years ago. They will attack other leader clones and claim their followers

Friday, 6 September 2024

d12 Cataclysmic Encounters & Weird Wasteland Locations
















Are players bored of mud and bad food?
Just pop in one of these into any hex 

Sites might be buried and uncovered, hidden in nearby dimensions and returned or might just reappear from some temporal effect. These places will be contested by rival people

d12 Cataclysmic Encounters
1 Great two or three or four-legged war automaton with a d3 seperate10d6 cannon stomps on the way to destroy some target d4 1=scavengers looting train lines 2=barbarian camp 3=fight a monster 4=seal an exposed ruin with artillery fire
2 Guargantuan shaggy beast a draconic being whos quills fire like longbow shots and it creates fire. It is looking for livestock to eat and looking for settlers it can scare into feeding it - intelligent but can't speak human only dragon. Loves young purple worms best 
3 Guargantuan black pudding oozes to the surface and guards a  strange ruin
4 Vast expanding carpets of giant worms slowly ooze over several acres scouring it of organic matter for several days until ravens in the thousands decent and finish them off
5 Witness a distant airship or biplane bomber squadron drop bombs and destroy a wizard's camp killing everyone or see  a dragon destroy several fighter biplanes
6 Witness a skeleton army battle a squad of automatons with machine guns on a tracked golem car troop carrier. The automatons depart after the battle unless anyone seems a threat
7 Witness group mind flesh golems grown in black sphere labs swarm from ruin and slaughter and loot crusader soldiers then march into a nearby sub-train station. They swarm and kill anyone in their way with new looted weapons
8 See a star fall in the distance and various beings all get ready to set off to loot what they can from the star people or perhaps some star metal or celestial crystals (things falling from sky tables). Sometimes many objects fall and bring strange new things even black sphere moon rockets
9 A great cloud of strange vapour drowns the lowlands of the wastes (miasma tables)
10 See a huge hole in the earth happen and a huge sinkhole falls into some underground complex d4 1=mines 2=bunker 3=caverns 4=kaiju prison (see kaiju tables)
11 Aurauras from the Chagrinspre expand and are visible for a d4 days affecting the whole waste and making many just hide till it over (see aurora tables)
12 A great herd of beasts from the southern planes arrive to pick at some mineral deposits across the wasteland. 1in4 are followed by a barbarian tribe who hate and fear most magic d4 1=mammoths or other megafauna 2=dinosaurs 3=bison or auroch 4=deer or elk

d12 Weird Wasteland Locations
1
 Unknown settlement most likely they prefer it that way d4 1=chaos cult hillbilly farmers 2=scavengers with a secret 3=cultists pretending to be innocent survivors scratching mud for a living 4=non humans usually wary of humans

2 
Industrial complex with ruined roofless factories and train tracks. Various open-top cars or minerals or scrap or fluid tank cars. Other ruined vehicles are scattered. Often a faction or colony of creatures inhabiting it. Silos of raw materials and refinery tanks line the tracks. In rare cases automatons move in, erect a fence and restore production.

3 Sealed factory complex once every 2 weeks releases manufactured soldiers with often crude weapons but some in uniforms with muskets. Humanoids made in one factory are the same type and include d4 1=mindlinked flesh golems that kill every moving creature 2=automaton soldiers 3=abhuman soldiers 4=clone infantry all convinced they have sweethearts and a home they are defending programed by the conditioning machines

4 A cave is really the digestive tract of a kaiju with many people and creatures living inside it like parasites with even built shelters. The people are sure its safe for a bit longer

5 
Airfields with huge ruined hangers with several aircraft and airship frames burned on the tarmac. Scavenging peoples often fight over rubbish mounds

6 Train graveyard in a field with nearly a hundred carriages and a dozen dead golem train wrecks brought here to use for spare parts. All kinds of critters and people live inside them or camp here

7 Monoliths of d8+1m high often of stone not from the area. Many have carved occur signs and these might glow if activated by touch. Some show signs of sacrifice or usage. d4 1=bound and imprisoned demon or elemental may be possible to communicate with it and it will ask for help to escape 2=portal to another continent where ancient invaders came from 3=druidic and gives +1 spell level to nature magic 4=comunication device to a noble entity of another plane once used by allied forces against chagrinspire

8 Carnivorous plants, vegetation and plant abhumans of various types fighting over the colour of their flowers. A dark druid or a cult often lives here encouraging carnivorous plant monsters that enjoy alchemy-polluted soils. Many are attracted by the green which might hide a ruin but usually, explorers die fast 

9 Fungal bloom of giant mushrooms and toadstools, with mould and lichen and slimes. Various giant beetles and lizards move in then goblinoids and dark sprites and fungus folk

10 Alien crystals growing over an area or possibly from a geode underground sending up a splinter. Sometimes fast-growing crystals are short-lived and melt in the rain or certain auroras of miasmas kill it. Slower ones last longer and may have a crystal life ecology

11 Zone overgrown with alien flesh from Xor which overgrows a few acres for a d4 days before black sphere airships bomb it and seal the dimensional rift to the living world of flesh with koboldium bombs. After two  days mouths and eyes form on three days it spawns random fleshy monstrosities and weird abhumans on the fourth (d41=eye-folk 2=headless chest faced folk 3=one legged hopping folk 4=two headed folk)

12 
Power Pylons are great 30m metal disks with four 12m high iron frames postds leaning inwards with crystal globes at the tops. When active these cracks and arc magic power. Some say sorcerers could recharge from them but those who try just explode. These devices have various properties d12 1=anti air defence shoots 10d6 lightning bolt at large flying metal objects 2=mineral accumulator forming a large mass of metal in the middle to be collected by automatons monthly 3=aurora generator field covers a few hundred meters circle 4=trap holding an outer god since the apocalypse war 5=portal to an elemental or demonic plane 6=keeps kaiju away 7=pulls objects from the sky to fall to earth near here 8=weather controller 9=controls local spatial-temporal anomaly 10=trapping spirits and ghosts to send power to Chagrinspire 11=covers a ruin with a force field dome 12=keeps away gods manifesting in hex, demons and god avatars slain in area fee their souls to Chagrinspire and do not reform on their own plane. Some gods compartment souls and survive but they will not risk returning and why the waste are the godless lands 

Thursday, 5 September 2024

d100 Stuff in a Scavengers Pockets



Just because players are killing lots of mooks in the wasteland 

Once you are off the trails to civilisation or between trading settlements these are the main people you meet in the waste. Most are rogues

d12 Common Scavenger Groups
1=homeless
2=refugees
3=escaped slaves 
 
4=crime guild
5=assassin guild
6=scouts guild 
7=explorers guild
8=smugglers guild 
9=slavers guild
10=cannibals
11=bandit gang
12=
demihumans in disguise or roll below

d12 Weird Scavenger Groups
1=
secret ancient martial order against the black sphere 
2=mutant
3=cyborgs
4=
doppelgangers  
5=spirit folk 
changeling 
6=automatons
7=demon cult 
8=diabolic hell cult
9=undead or lycanthropes (bat and rat most common)
10=necromancer cult or undead
11=planar shapeshifter
12=servitors of the old ones or 
elder god cult

d10 Stuff in a Scavenger's Pockets

1 Trinkets
2 Paper
3 Vice
4 Treats
5 Books
6 Food
7 Gadgets
8 Tools
9 War
10 Magic

d100 Stuff in a Scavenger's Pockets
01 Copper coins 5d6
02 Sliver coins 3d6
03 Gold coins d6
04 Mother of pearl button 1gp
05 Pearl tiepin 30gp
06 Silver ring worth 30gp
07 Gold ring worth 100gp
08 Gold tooth with 10gp
09 Holy symbol 30gp
10 Wrist or pocket watch
11 Propaganda pamphlet for the black spere
12 Tin of ancient contraceptives d4, packet says longlife
13 Tiny crude comic depicting gods in a blasphemous manner
14 Ancient paper money folded into a wad
15 Wanted poster of a famous bandit
16 Map to something noting hazards and landmarks
17 Map of part of the wasteland with an unknown location marked
18 Train timetable
19 Saucy pinup poster for the cause of workplace safety 
20 Wallet with trench map and orders of the apocalypse war, could locate buried trench dugouts or sappers tunnels  
21 Red pills d6 gives +d3 HP for an hour, addictive
22 Small purple mushroom causes mutation if eaten
23 Tin with small ivory pipe and lotus resin
24 Silver hip flask of rum
25 Small healing potion bottle d4 of the cheap addictive kind
26 Pouch of swamp weed and clay pipe
27 Packet of 3d6 ancient cigarettes or box with a d6 cigars
28 Silver snuff tin with mutagen fluid
29 Large silver syringe
30 Glass pipe and bag of alien spores 
31 Tin of boiled fruit-flavoured lollies
32 Tin of salted lickerish mints
33 Tin of turkish delight
34 Block of chocolate ration
35 Block of "energy" chocolate +1 Vigour an hour and addictive
36 Block of chocolate laxatives
37 Bag of jelly babies
38 Tin of cinnamon chewing gum
39 Lollypop in a wrapper
40 Hard toffee in a tin
41 Magazine of ladies wearing trousers!
42 Pocketbook of Black Sphere maxims and inspiration
43 Tiny pocket booklet of tables for engineers
44 Catalogue for various ancient iron goods
45 Magazine about showgirls or underwear catalogue
46 Magazine about army life in the black sphere
47 Notebook of an Explorer detailing a ruin with loot but a peril
48 Diary of sad war poems and sketches of rats and bones and worms
49 Recipe book to make rations and canned gruel taste better 
50 Book detailing genetics of farmed giant rats for eating
51 Sandwich wrapped in wax paper d4 1=cheese & ham 2=cheese & chutney 3=rat 4=cheese & negamite the official nutrient extract spread of the black sphere
52 String of smoked spicy sausages xd6
53 Tin of raion meat stew
54 Tin of alchemical gruel food substitute
55 Tin of peaches in syrup
56 Tin of army biscuit with only a few weevils
57 Mystery meat jerky
58 Turnip or beet
59 Bunch of d4+2 carrots
60 A wormy potato
61 Pocket knife
62 Mess kit with cup, bowl, cutlery
63 Can opener
64 Trench tool folding spade and pick or weapon d6
65 Silver cigarette lighter, requires fuel or flints
66 Box of 4d6 waterproof matches
67 First aid kid a d6 filthy bandages
68 Sewing kit
69 Ivory comb 30gp
70 Folding small telescope
71 Hand saw
72 Hammer and d6 spikes
73 Spool of string
74 Folding shaving razor
75 Luminescant dried deep sea fish or mushroom
76 Chain, padlock and key
77 Small grappling hook and 9m line
78 Lock-picking tools
79 Rabbit trap
80 Screwdriver
81 Knuckle duster
82 Gasmask
83 Millitary insignia badges or patches 3d4
84 Protective goggles
85 Stick of dynamite or cast iron grenade with fuse
86 Folding knife
87 Trench periscope
88 Thermos of hot d4 1=mushroom soup 2=milk 3=tea 4=baked beans
89 Ancient grenade with pin and a 2+d8 second fuse d4 1=smoke 2=fragmentation 3=poison gas 4=plague miasma
90 Blackjack or lead sap for knockout attacks
91 Bayonete +1 with insignia and inscription of ancient faction
92 Magical scroll in a bone case
93 Magical potion in ancient sealed botlle
94 Bottle of magical wine of courage, makes drinker immune to fear for one hour
95 Fetish Medalion +d3 save vs d4 1=poison 2=disease 3=paralasys 4=
96 No-Mans Gators allow you to walk through mud without sinking or leaving tracks
97 Trench Club d6+2 and makes no noise
98 Medics Bag - has infinite dressings and bandages for first aid use (if not used on wounds vanish back to the bag, if you keep trying the bag won't work for the user). Has a large popular healing god insignia 
99 Helmet or protection vs non-magic missiles in the form of ancient millitary helmet d4 1=skull insignia and a spike 2=shiny brass cavalry helmet with brush crest 3=grim steel riveted sappers helmet with eye and breathing slits
100 Gasmask with an exotic arrangement of pipes and pack, ignores poison gas or airborne disease and can see through smoke or gas or fog clouds. It is comfortable for hours and comes in different colours

Wednesday, 4 September 2024

d12 Chagrinspire Enigmas of the Waste & Auroras





































Some stuff to drop hints of...
i came back and added weather to Auroras

d12 Chagrinspire Enigmas of the waste
1 Weird mechanical bugs curry about are they watching? Do they talk to each other? Some are giants but none are dangerous unless you have a habit of attacking them. Then swarms of bugs or automaton troops might arrive
2 Pools of coloured slime are seen twitching and crawling and seem to react to violence. Some say there are slime abhumans or the stuff is part of some collective creature
3 The auroras close to the outside of the mountain have magical effects
4 Invisible gnome agents hide spy devices of the black sphere everywhere
5 Aircraft of the ancients are sometimes seen flying from chagrin spires at lower and middle levels
6 Sometimes bright sparks are seen on the distant top of Chagrinspire firing at the moon and the firmament of the heavens
7 Many intelligent magic items and golem machines are found in the region and others have copied this by binding spirits of the dead or elementals to power machines instead. Some items require you to adopt them as a follower or might think you should serve them to deserve their benefits
8 Things left in the alchemical mud and the strange aura of the Chagrinspire have preserved items in near-perfect conditions for centuries. Sometimes the waste has experienced periods of activity and mysterious reconstruction followed by crusaders from civilisation and barbarian hordes to stop the area from returning to the old days and ways
9 If you can pump out water there are even more dungeon complexes available as many bunkers have flooded or drowned in mud
10 Scavenger tribes know more than they say and are more than they appear. They all cover their bodies with cloth, bandages and scrap to protect themselves from the wastes and hide secrets. Common: d12 1=homeless 2=refugees 3=escaped slaves 
 4=crime guild 5=assassin guild 6=scouts guild 7=explorers guild 8=smugglers guild 9=slavers guild 10=cannibals 11=bandit gang 12=secret ancient martial order against the black sphere
Weird: 1=demihumans in disguise 2=mutant 3=cyborgs 4=doppelgangers  5=spirit folk changeling 6=automatons 7=demon cult 8=diabolic hell cult 9=elder god cult 10=necromancer cult 11=planar shapeshifter 12=undead
11 Automatons maintain the rail network and will search and destroy vandals. They may install a surveillance automaton if a location is damaged regularly. Are they directed or just following a routine?
12 The Chagrinspire draws objects from the sky to crash in the waste, which are often valuable objects. Sometimes the crystal palaces or tombs of the star people crash leaving fabulous treasure and drugs

d12 Auroras around the mountain 
You are safe on lower levels and inside and the plateau. The surface of Chagrinspire after 300m above the plateau, from 8km-16km the auroras expand to a d6km across. On rare occasions, these briefly expand to the whole wasteland for a d4 hours but only once every 3 months. These ray effects might also be found emitted from crystals or machines in dungeon complexes
- these last a d6 hours most nights and d6+6 on full moon 
1 Crimson - makes living quicker to anger, keener to fight and achieve violence, tends to be hot clear dry weather, sometimes with dust storms and clouds
2 Magenta - makes a living
 quicker feel pleasant and interesting in love, pleasant weather and animals and plants are frisky and in bloom
3 Cyan - makes the pious feel like prayer and holy thoughts of gods which the Chagrinspire drains some of this energy, safts of sunlight pierce dark clouds making majestic shafts of light
4 Turquoise - makes living feel hydrophilic and have the urge to drink or bathe or wallow in fluid, often cloudy, humid and rains
5 Gold - makes civilised peoples greedier and desperate for precious metal and gems, pleasant and sunny
6 Tangerine - makes spells unreliable, 
warm and humid weather with storms and showers d4 1=duration spells only last a d6 rounds 2=range spells only have range d6 3=spells do minimum damage and all dice results are one 4=chaotic random magical effects the more powerful levels the weirder and bigger area effect 
7 Emerald - lichens and moss and slime life feels invigorated and brighter coloured, heals d4HP, sometimes grass sprouts and dead trees briefly sprout. Normally the spire contains the forces of growth and fertility. Gloomy cool with thick eerie pea soup fog 
8 Citreon - causes vermin and small creatures to spawn and swarm, flying insects in the skies and all kinds of worms, lizards, slugs, bugs and critters crawl out of the mud. Pleasant with light showers, insects chirping can be deafening
9 Violet -  fungus and mould and life feel invigorated and brighter coloured, heals d4HP. Grey gloomy clouds and twilight conditions at best with spore clouds that cause sneezing
10 Lapis - waters stir, tides in the waste rise, and aquatic creatures are riled up and aggressive. Heavy rains lash the wastes making mud and filling trenches 
11 ivory - skeletal creatures are attracted from a distance and crawl from the ground to gaze at the light. Chilling winds lash the waste and may even snow 
12 Jet - u
ndead arise if anyone dies, undead feel invigorated and attracted to the spire. Cold and heavy black storm clouds burst making it dark and difficult to travel

any coincidences of this and psychon are just serendipity honest
actually, this is my 3rd post deco pulp apoc project and it possibly started from random tables in Psychon and the incongruent tech and apocalypse fun

Tuesday, 3 September 2024

d100 Junk to find in a field or riverbed





































I suspect the machine overlord is not the selling point they think it is
- this cult still exists and apparently prefers grey cars


Handy for farmers or mudlarkers or anyone digging in the wastes
Some require effort to collect

d10 Junk Types
1 Scraps
2 Junk
3 Waste
4 Graves
5 Machines
6 Art
7 Arms & Armour
8 Battlefield
9 Biological
10 Complexes

d100 Junk to find in a field or riverbed
01 Sheets of tin or corrugated iron
02 Lots of barbed wire
03 Large fragments of shrapnel, d6 buckets worth
04 Hundreds of intact but muddy glass and ceramic bottles
05 Wooden beam or section or wooden wall
06 Hundreds of sandbags
07 Mound of building sand under a tarpaulin
08 Piles of good condition bricks d4 ton
09 Huge rusty metal cogs
10 Remains of ancient brick or wooden walls were knocked over long ago
11
 Broken carts, waggon or carriage and horse bones 
12 Old lantern or streetlamp
13 Old wheels from wagons or other vehicles used as part of barricade
14 Railway scrap including rails, pins and wooden sleepers 
15 Remains of rusted exploded boiler or vat
16 Metalic beams or girders 
17 Metal vat for some long-gone liquid
18 Pump engine golem weighs 6-12 tons. immobile but willing to work pumping
19 Broken mole machine or submarine parts
20 Wreckage of ship or land leviathan
21 Drums of medical waste
22 Drums of toxic koboldium waste burns on touch d4 damage 
23 Dented steel oil drums
24 Steel beer keg
25 Steel drum of coal
26 Huge wooden spools for cables and wire
27 Remains of scaffolding could be reassembled
28 Mess of broken bottles and tin cans
29 Drain and sewer pipes
30 Midden heap of centuries of scraps and garbage with broken ceramics, glass, metal fragments, oyster shells, stone tools, bent cutlery, old toys, crumbling books
31 Body bags in a mass burial
32 Coffins of dead buried mid-transit 
33 Vast mound of bones
34 Pyramids made of piled skulls 
35 Bag of human teeth
36 Remains of the collapsed trench with dead soldiers and a d6 muskets
37 Remains of cult sacrifices
38 Burial ground of non-human species
39 Twitching zombie limbs
40 Buried zombies or other petty undead
41 Shells of various vehicles stripped of small parts
42 Rusted remains of an automaton soldier with a musket
43 Remains of rusted old steam tractor or harvester
44 Parts of an early car or whole car
45 Remains of a small wooden boat or barge
46 Railway cars and carriages on track or abandoned or repurposed as buildings
47 Remains of traction engine for digging or millitary tank
48 Metalic skeleton of an airship or aircraft
49 Experimental passenger rocket with skeletons od passengers
50 Pump engine golem weighs 6-12 tons. immobile but keen to work pumping
51 Broken head and other parts of a statue 
52 Ornamental bronze cauldron of some ancient tribe
53 Gold leaf from ancient artworks make of rotten wood or leather
54 Small ancient idol or shrine
55 Ancient stone dolmen or barrow
56 Ornate ceramic figurine with some chips but still valuable
57 Crushed silver handle and spout of jug with broken glass body
58 Ornate interlocking pieces of bronze with face motifs d4 1=chariot ornaments 2=rutual equipment tripod stand
59 Bronze broach with a solemn face with em eyes (it might be a surveillance device for the black sphere)
60 Crushed ancient crude crown of gold and bronze with some ugly semiprecious stones 
61 Ornate ancient helmet
62 Ancient musket possibly able to be cleaned with a bayonet spike in the front
63 Cavalry sabre of a low-rank officer with an inscription
64 Chest plate with huge holes punched through it
65 Masses of rusted chainmail
66 Crushed mass of bent and broken swords and muskets rendered useless but good scrap
67 Crushed or split helmet with skull inside and a weapon stuck in it 
68 Ornate dagger d4 1=bayonet 2=hunting blade 3=silver 4=+1 magic with insignia
69 Ancient shield d4 1=full of arrowheads 2=bronze buckler 3=iron 2-H siege shield 4=+1heater shield with heraldic design of ancient clan or crusader
70 Exotic foreign or non human weapon unfamiliar to locals (1in6 chance is +1)
71 Unexploded bomb d4 1=explosive 10d6 2=incendiary 3=gas 4=propeganda pamphlets
72 Landmines often still work
73 Hundreds of arrows with salvageable heads 
74 Thousands of lead slugs, balls and shot, easily collect  a d4 buckets a day of lead 
75 Explosives d4 1=crude cast iron grenades with dud fuses xd4 2=foil lined crate of sweaty dynamite sticks 3=handgrenaide with pin xd3 4=damaged mortar and d4 rounds
76 Remains of parachutes and webbing abandoned here with intact metal rings and some silk
77 Concrete tank traps often pyramid or tetrapods
78 Wooden steaks and earthworks with remains of wooden walkways in trenches 
79 Area cratered badly littered with shrapnel, d6 unexploded devices and shredded vehichle parts
80 Layer of pollutants d4 1=poisonous burning chemicals 2=mutagenic spores 3=glowing ash causes sickness and mutations 4=disease spores from ancient plague bomb
81 Bones of some ancient war beast and parts of harness
82 Hundreds of horse bones and saddles and bits of metal from remains
83 Giant colony of rats that form swarms
84 Giant beetles, grubs or worms in soil and mud
85 Expose gigantic burrows of some huge creatures
86 Slime pit bubbles glistening filth from the deep d4 1=flamable 2=acidic 3=diseased 4=mutagenic 5=spawn slime or jelly monsters 6=ichor of a buried wounded kaiju
87 Home of non-human creatures with well-furnished hideouts will be very angry
88 Weird organic coffin-size pods that start to revive in sunlight rapidly
89 Huge worms and bug larvae are a valuable food source you could gather a d6 buckets a day and may attract bigger creatures 
90 Parasites (1in6 giant d4 1=fleas 2=flies 3=worms 4=) 
91 Hatch of a ruined bunker or shelter
92 Subway entrance
93 Ancient sewer system
94 Mine possibly occupied and operational or now home of hostile creatures
95 Foundations and rubble with sealed basement or dungeon
96 Abandoned secret laboratory for making soldiers d4 1=abhumans 2=clones 3=automatons 4=undead
97 Forgotten dungeon complex d4 1=undead crypt 2=humanoid home base 3=cult temple 4=vermin and animal infested
98 Remains of ancient farms with terraces, walls, and foundations of shacks. Most have basements intact possibly connected and sometimes basements are occupied d4 1=fairyfolk like brownies 2=gnomes 3=morlocks 4=derro 
99 Roof of a buried complex d4 1=train station 2=palace 3=temple 4=factory
100 Burried multi-level apartment complex 

Sunday, 1 September 2024

Chagrinspire - New Settlements





































I needed some new settlements for my game and the players have taken over an outpost.

The first is how the party seized a new base
The second is generated from tables in the book

Tables I need
d100 stuff found in farmers' fields
d100 wasteland scrappers possessions
d100 train tunnel encounters
d12 visitors for each famous route to civilisation 

Current Party & Friends 2nd lv
Young Lawful Giant mason with a maul from the greater wastes hired a porter 
Rogue from coast here to escape dramas of civilisation hired a crook and 2 deserter spearmen
Dog abhuman with his new friend a huge war mastiff saved from a cult

A quick look at outpost:
Fort is undermanned but secure
Twice a day a dozen children are employed cleaning bricks and looting rubble
Surrounded by earth rampart with wooden steaks and a moat of yellow musk zombies and flowers.

They went to scout a possible tunnel into the fort through a train tunnel so they moved few tons of rock. Got into the tunnel and into the outpost station. Turned out the hireling army deserter auxiliary soldiers they hired were the same as recent bandit recruits. They backstabbed the bandits and got the soldiers to calm down until rest of the party arrived and recruited them. Next, they got to guards at te cage gate and got them to open the doors in bandit and soldier clothes and once inside busted out some prisoners. 

One was a weirdo in a trenchcoat who scuttled away talking to himself. They found merchant debtor sold into slavery and a clockwork spider they managed to talk to but it couldn't reply. Let the spider go remarking it understood common and ancient. Killed lots of guards and got some to surrender and locked them up. Freed 3 pit fighters one with knife hands, an oiled shaved moustache man and a grim woodsman. Found a couple of tough women and a knife-wielding maniac who knew where the boss's secret lab was. Killed the 5th level wizard with the magic surgical tools to merge beast and human into new deeply resentful monstrosities. Freed these and saved some with exposed organs on slabs. Now had an angry hoard of freed slaves and spilled int both surface level. Quickly they overwhelmed the several dozen bandits. The beast folk leapt to the upper walkways and slaughtered the archers. Found a druid with yellow musk zombies and they had to kill them too. Nobody was badly hurt and the scout mission turned into a lightning surprise attack.

Now the party are in charge of a bunch of freaks. They have the support of the local villagers and guild and the remaining people they released from captivity. There were children the bandits were using to search the ruins as exercise and so the youngest went into care of village farmers under the watch of the priest. 

Found out a trade caravan from the northwest had brought in canned alchemist grey slop synthetic alchemical food. Also links to slavers across the continent and the master here the Wizard was from the corrupt empire of the south east. The Druid was from Auldwood. 

Cleaning place up and repairing defences expecting a trade caravan and a train of slavers soon. They tampered with the tracks too and took a section to make into weapons for the abhumans (i rolled to attract the attention of the mysterious evil presence). Destroyed the evil surgical tools of the wizard and identified a +1 ring and found a chaotic aligned intelligent +1 rod with three cantrips built in. Is a siege mortar on one tower weighs almost a tone and can bombard enemies 1200 meters away. The rogue knows how to operate it but does not know how to artillery but can load it fast.

Outpost Population
Robert Gulp the porter with chainmail, club, backpack
Brother Mildrom visits often and sends word for 2 acolytes too help

30 children a dozen youngest now in the village, the giant encouraging the rest to help loot ruins with kinder more protective supervision. The priest has offered to send some to the theocracy of the templar south for schooling.

9 auxiliary spearmen (deserters from the empire) led by karl
3 bandit archers who surrendered early

12 liberated slaves 
-baker and three assistants
-weapon smith and three assistants
-leather crafter making armour

Borris Vanderpump - merchant (rogue 1) wants to open trade with north west
Fanby Klungus - merchant adventurer (rogue 1 warrior 1) wants to run store
Costa - village idiot (bard 1) claps and giggles and dance is his artform 
Chryspasia Underhill (rogue 1) dodgy tough dame but not evil
Jasper Hoop (rogue 1) was going to betray party but decided to hang around

3 gladiators (warrior 1)
Sticky Stabhands - has knife hands, now kids help him and smith made non lethal hands
Clancy the woodsman - grim silent stoic outdoorsman
Kaligra the strangler (former circus wrestler and strongman and tattoo artist, loves body oil and his moustache)

5 Abhumans (cultural humans currently)
Barry the ram man (shepherd with staff skill)
Sonja the rat lady (former street urchin with blades)
Peggy the goat girl (farm girl with clubs)
Tonya the rabbit lady (herbalist with sickle has hatred of dogs)
Egbert the ape man (very angry with axe is learning to frenzy)

2 months worth of gruel and army biscuits and a week of flour and bread making supplies
several good wells 
23 suits of leather armour
12 shortbows
200 arrows
8x shots of the mortar

lots of pots, pans, tools, building materials, chains

converting cells into private rooms

they also found slavers payroll chest of 3000 silver and 200 gold
ledgers of the bandits dealing with slavers including warehousing prisoners
wizard's surgical notes on making abhumans and observations of the druid use of yellow musk creepers

d12 Outpost Drama

1 Orc tribe painted as skeletons from the north arrive at trading meat, sulphur and saltpetre in return for metal weapons
2 Caravan of traders from Mercury Heights bringing alchemical synthetic canned foods for fresh food and relics and occasionally slaves
3 Scavengers came to trade ancient scrap and found food for gunpowder and alcohol 
4 Subtrain tunnel trouble d4 1=slavers train 2=morlock raid 3=giant rats 4=swarm of tunnel flies
5 Giant vultures circling in distance (d4km) d4 1=dead huge megafauna or dinosaur 2=caravan slaughtered 3=scavengers massacred 4=cultists massacred
6 Someone hears a noise from the cistern or sewers
7 Strangers want to trade they need d6 1=water 2=food 3=grog 4=slaves and have d4 1=scrap 2=rusty old weapons 3=meat 4=broken automaton 5=live monster 6=old books
8 Refugees arrive d4 x d4 hungry stragglers d4 1=commoners flee civilised war 2=escaped slaves 3=escaping persecution from a ruler  4=cult infiltrators
9 Tunnel repair automatons fix tunnels, replace lamps and fix rails possibly send automatons to collect stolen rails or set traps like shocking grasp or leave concealed mechanical observation eye
10
 The mimic eats someone
11 Invisible grey gnome spy 
12 
Curious minor spirit visits or tries contact

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New Settlement: Mercury Heights

Alchemist guilds of several lands operate this base in a ruined black sphere outpost fort to gather metal and rare elements as found in salt flats and toxic springs. The guild has brought the Bronze Legion spear company a famous millitary force that served several sides in the Civil War and an arqubus sniper team. 

The outpost is built on a ruin and the basement has various machine rooms, cisterns, sewers and train tube access. Some of the machines still operate and are hidden by the guild. It is well fortified by the old walls and the upper floors provide good fire arcs. Barbed wire surrounds the outpost and nothing grows here. All food is imported but a blacksmith and apprentices make weapons and repairs and parts for the secret machines below. Its a guild outpost and the shop, inn, stables are all guild operations.

The guildmaster Oulos Borignar 5th Lv wizard rules and keeps the secrets with his subordinate guld officers and his daughters. The blacksmith is his brother-in-law but they fued. The outpost has kennels for huge wardogs and it may field teams of a soldier and two wardogs to track enemies and to act as alarms.

The commoners here are all convict labourers brought here with a contract promising freedom and land here. Most of the commoners are quite skilled and work on the ruin and secret analasys of machines.

Black Sphere Outpost ruin used as barracks, storehouse and prison
Guildhall (former mansion) fortified close to outpost
-members tavern and trader, alchemy supplies, labs, apothecary, surgeon
Caravan Market and Inn inside a huge ruined factory with no roof  but good gate
-travellers arms tavern, supply store and smithy inside
Workers shacks are appearing and more ruins

Cults are trying to influence and infiltrate the village 
They say they seek ancient materials but some think they are secretly working for or are pawns of the black sphere
A tribe of wizard hating orc have attacked but they seem to be recruiting and uniting orcs against Mercury Heights
They want farmers or people who know how to make real food
The machines here may be capable of more than the guild say

Local Market Prices
Best spell component market in the waste
Food is notoriously bad and expensive for buyers and good for importers
Most regular adventurer gear is double price with 1in6 chance of a shortage

Healing brew - d4 HP and save vs addiction 25gp 
Healing potion 2d4 - definitely not addictive 100gp 
Strength +1 for one hour and save vs addiction 25gp
Imported beer by bottle 1gp
Cabbage Beer from keg local brew by wasteland scavengers 1sp
Frog Grog 1sp - (traded with frogs)
Swamp Weed 1sp  - (traded with frogs)
Turnip wine 4sp - local product traded
Alchemist Grog - 1sp a shot (diluted wood alcohol)
Alchemist gruel (fresh) - synthetic food grey sludge 1cp
Gruel in a can - 1gp
Unlabeled ancient tin - 4gp
Raw Turnip or beet - 1cp
Cabbage or a bunch of radishes 1sp
Rat Jerky - 1sp 
Can opener - 1gp
Dried Fish - 1sp each used for soup 
Alchemist Lamp* - crank handle a round per hour 80gp
Gnome Bread** - 1sp (from underland traders)
Gnome Pickled Mushrooms in a pot 1sp (from underland traders)
Gnome Beer - 1sp mushroom beer makes your copse grow mushrooms rapidly
Worms pickled in aspic jelly 1sp (from underland traders)
Jar of ancient buttons 10gp
Shot and ball - 1gp
Incendiary with fuse - 65gp
Grenade with fuse - 80gp
Ancient light musket - d6 with a spike bayonet in front 100gp (cheapest in the world!)
 
 *Koboldium power like a carbide spelunker lamp, if dropped in water, it produces a flammable gas bubble and needs chemicals replaced 5gp, salt also corrodes mechanisms). For 500gp you can get a magically resistant model but a permanent light spell on a rock is cheaper
**Mushroom flt grey bread causes melancholia if eaten daily more than 3 days. It keeps for months and if you plant in a dark damp place will sprout edible fungus. Goblins think this stuff is amazing the first few days 

d12 Quicksilver Heights Rumours
1 The cult of the black sphere might still be active so look out
2 The modern alchemist guild has nothing to do with the black sphere cult
3 The canned slop the alchemists make and call food tastes awful but it keeps well
4 They say you can spy on the outpost from chagrinspire
5 There are secret machines under the guild the masters keep hidden
6 Lots of weird cults in the area now causing trouble
7 There are huge alchemical apparatus on the plateau
8 Secret mutants pretend to be scavengers, the guards should search them!
9 The western roads are plagued by wicked elves, dwarves and giants
10 The smithy makes cogs and strange parts the guild scholars take into the secret machine rooms under the outpost
11 Some strange people are trading from the wasteland, I think some are cannibals
12 If you want a good time I hear there is a ruined bathhouse nearby where people go for a good time

d12 Quicksilver Heights Complaints
1
 They say we won't get mutations if we only eat canned food 
2 I hear strange underground rumblings sometimes
3 How do the local people make food here? Its a mystery
4 Our contract had good pay but the costs and risks are barely worth it for long
5 Barbarians and orcs are always attacking us for no reason
6 The food is terrible and the awful grog is overpriced
7 Have you got any fresh food? Have you seen any?
8 The guild have too many weird secrets
9 The cheap potions are more addictive don't let them switch them on you
10 When are we getting some farmers or trade routes for more? 
11 Have you heard when a fresh food caravan comes next?
12 Guards here are all dice addicts 

d12 Quicksilver Heights Encounters
1 Merchant with caravan guards crowding area
2 Alchemist guild official in robes with guards pushing through
3 Spearmen guards on patrol d4 1=harasing urchin food thieves 2=watching for mutant spies 3=beating a shoplifter while shop keepers applaud 4=chatting up someone or playing dice
4 Alchemists have a duel with pistols one shot each, mostly they miss or panic
5 Caravan traders start a brawl and spearmen guards take them into lockup in outpost
6 Urchins begging for food or work
7 Caravan arrives and people crowd around to see what food is brought in
8 Merchant offers old d6 light hunting musket for 100gp
9 Cultists or mutant caught and beaten and dragged to a cell in the outpost
10 Guild criers shouts out new rules, news and market prices
11 Strange miasma from Alchemist guild clears the streets
12 Explosion! d4 1=guns fired at orcs 2=alchemist guild rental laboratory 3=scavengers blowing up wreckage to get loot easier 4=mysteriously distant artillery

d12 Quicksilver Heights Jobs
1 Guard mineral gatherers in local wastes for sulphur, saltpetre, salt and other minerals
2 Stop this out-of-control automaton from smashing up a house
3 Smuggle these hams to a man waiting outside gates by ruins, don't let anyone know of this delicious secret
4 Guild needs some tunnels explored under the town, people who can keep a secret
5 Merchat wants an abhuman gang killed for killing and eating his lover's caravan
6 Go to the ruin on this map and fetch an ingredient or machine part
7 Explore the ruined machine spotted by local scavengers
8 Go bring us someone who can grow food in these local conditions
9 An alchemy guild master lost his fancy hat and requires someone to find it
10 A wizard died in a shack and his wretched familiar needs finishing
11 Undead from the Mudfields of No-man's land need culling
12 Someone robbed a guild millitary payroll find it 

d12 Quicksilver Heights Locals
1 Captain Rick Lancer leader of the Bronze Legion spearmen, is very serious
2 Doctor Rubbello Morkus - apothecary healer hoping to get a good job after contract over
3 Zamalla Valla - clerk of the guild who deals with troublemakers and secretary of the guild council, one of the grandmasters daughters in secret
4 Nobby Piles - blacksmith works for guild and makes machine parts and weapons
5 Itakon Metarch freelance sorceress will ID items is a spy for a distant kingdom
6 Phamlala Crumple manages the caravan in and market for the guild,  one of the grandmasters daughters in secret
7 Dick Cheesly merchant sells supplies in supply store in the market
8 Master Itelon Bargnor job is to root out spies, mutants and cults in the community
9 Master Cohen directs the guild apprentices making positions, gunpowder and drugs 
10 Mistress Klarion Minati, archeologist in charge of looting expeditions and buying scrap and minerals
11 Grandmaster Oulos Borignar 5th Lv wizard sent by home guild to seize alchemical secrets, minerals and lost relics
12 Shem-Bala the Alchemical hermaphrodite guild wizard made from fused male and female (alchemists wedding),. Offers magical transformations at low prices to needy skin pigment 100gp sexual characteristics 200gp species polymorph 400gp Alchemists wedding 2000gp but both must be consenting to fusion

 
d12 Quicksilver Heights Happenings
1 Flies swarm through the streets, in eyes, ears and mouth for d6 minutes
2 Mutant scavengers outside are angry they won't be let in to trade
3 Raiders attack and gates locked d4 1=orcs 2=barbarians 3=kobolds 4=bandits
4 Rats swarm everywhere stealing food and nipping people
5 Sickness outbreak d 4 1=contaminated water 2=disease 3=poisoning saboteur 4=mutation outbreak
6 An object falls from the sky close to the settlement and the guild wants it
7 Many heard chanting cultists in the fogs at night 
8 Dangerous Killdozer golem from the waste chases some locals then return to no man's land 
9 Tunnel collapse all rally to save the workers buried
10 Workers uncovered a monster and scattered, soldiers searched for some horror
11 Doppelganger agent of the black sphere replaces someone in the settlement
12 Cultist in disguise moves in

Friday, 30 August 2024

Chagrinspire Session Prep - 3 cults!





































Paid Tier Now on Patreon PDF  3 pdfs
Vol 1 Chagrinspire with extra pages and map, fixed fonts and art
Vol 2 Chagrinspire with some fixes and a map and content fixed
Updated EMO homebrew rewrite project

Have fleshed out the lake area and in between the villages a bit.

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I will detail 3 cults and a settlement using tables from this series today.

I rolled 3 at once and started with a worm slime then (x) cult to be named later. By making 3 dice rolls at once I could allocate any results to the best fit. This is fine for 3 mini dungeons i have located near my current settlements. I had some undead results so i made x a necromancy school of pasty death nerd goths.

The Cult of the Worm

Temple
Collosal Worm burrows in dead woodlands
Temple guarded by giant fleshbore worms 
Crude shrine where cult sleep in worm dung to get parasitic worms required by the cult

Clues 
Children sing the rhyme of the worm from the stars
Worm insignia hidden in folk art and signs, most locals don't notice
Evidence of secret tunnels used possibly by cult
Locals hostile to claims of a secret cult
Locals discuss fears of a cult in secret whispers and paranoid

Cult 
Brian Dabblepot 5th lv wizard, dreamy curious child controlled by a worm parasite
Local huge brute the masked executioner of the cult 3rd lv warrior
3d6 cultists lv 1 wizards and parasite hosts
Swarm of maggots guard the shrime
Carrion worm is a pet and mount of the master
Giant bore worms d4 know cultists by scent as they carry parasitic larvae of the worms.
-They are intelligent and keen to get into space to grow bigger
A spawn of the colossal worm god only comes in person at social rituals to feed or implant sacred parasites

Drama
The worm god desires its spawn infiltration into a city crime guild
Hire desperate bandits to attack the village so they can all turn on visitors and assess them for as hosts or food 
Make spiral worm sigils to scare enemies they stalk
A colossal worm may come if the cult calls on it or to avenge them

I got a robot to co-write this
but i had to edit lots
anyone to do as they please with
or
look away from thus i will use times italics for the word of Colossus as an already hated font:


 In the night sky, shining bright,
Worm from the stars take your flight,
With a wiggle and a squirm,
It seeks souls to its cause turn!
 
Skip, skip, one, two, three,
Worm from the stars, can't catch me
Wiggling, jiggling, just beware,
If it catches you in your underwear

Through the meadow, off we go,
Past the flowers, in a row,
But when the moon begins to glow,
The worm its seed it starts to sew!

Skip, skip, four, five, six,
Worm from the stars has magic tricks!
Wiggling, jiggling, just beware,
If it catches you, your skin will tear!
 
Skip, skip, seven, eight, nine,
Worm from the stars, it walks through time!
Wiggling, jiggling, just beware,
when it takes you to its secret lair!

 In blackest night, of burning bleak
The worm will take your soul to keep 
Worm from the stars will take its toll,
So chant this rhyme to guard your soul!

Skip, skip, ten, eleven, twelve,
Worm from the stars, go back to your delve!
Wiggling, jiggling, through black night air,
Will free all souls from worldly care

Boreworm
Medeum Giant intelligent NE animal 
AC +3 HD 4 Bite 2d4 Morale 7 Mov 6 Burrow 3 Climb 3 Swim 3
Poor Vision - uses vibration, motion, heat and smell, dislike sunlight  
Spit once a day bonus attack Range3 2d4 acid save or lose 1hp/2d4 rounds
Track by smell especially blood, +2 morale if taste blood
Burrowing Ambush from the ground, prefer softer soil, mud, sand, and pebbles not rock
Minion species who are parasites of the gargantuan god worms
Often pets of worm cults or worm folk
-
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Cult of the Slime God

Temple
Abandoned bath house with garden
Temple in bath chamber connects to sewers with poison crossbow traps
Complex with:
Shrine of allied slime demon prince, cells for prisoners, antechamber with slime pools, priest room, common room, slime breeding lab, well room 

Clues 
Town drunk escaped once but never saw their faces now he is wary
A witch hunter vanished in the area
Semi-dissolved body part found of missing person
Villagers say they can't afford a witch hunter
Locals fear being murdered by cult
Control local bandits somehow

Cult 
Billy Vikous a local brewer who taints drinks, 5th lv priest 
Scally Mourndew a 3rd lv bard with demonling familiar who acts as a spy
Pilgrims 5d6
Bandits 3d6
Ochre Jelly d4
Grey Ooze d3
Gelatinous polygon 1

Drama
The cult has secret tunnels where their slimy allies can come to aid them in a crisis
Offer visitors dinner in homes 
Cult will hire an assassin subcult if they need help
-a new 5th-level slime priest arrives leading them and this may cause a conflict
Will use charmed victims or bandits as obstacles and spies for adventurers

Scarlet Jelly
Medeum giant animal unintelligent N animal 
AC +3 HD 6 Grapple 2d4 Morale 10 Mov 6 Climb 3 Swim 3
Any creature it grapples takes 2d4 acid damage
-requires a might save to escape take a d4 acid damage the first round free
-once grappled take 2d4 damage automatically, only one target may be engulfed
-inorganic items like arms & armour are damaged but organic parts will be eaten 

Poor Vision - uses vibration, motion, heat and smell, track food by scent 
Half damage from blunt or piercing weapons and falling (chopping or hacking are ok)
Slowed by cold spells or at least a bucket of salt for d3 rounds if hit
Immune to damage from organic (not mineral) poison or disease
Spiderclimb any surface but can be heavy
Breathe water, often live in water or pools
Amorphous can ooze through bars it 10cm gaps  

Hungry adaptable and 

Slime Abhumans
Humanoid intelligent N animal 
AC +3 HD d12/Lv Punch d4 or by weapon +1 Morale 7 Mov 12 Jump 1
Night vision and superior leaping ability
Lv3 eat anything organic, power throw skill
Lv6 breath water at will, cleaving and critical hits
Lv9 amorphous form at will, semi-transparent gelatinous flesh, half blunt weapon damage
Lv12 immune to acid, poison & disease 

These slimy humanoids wear symbiotic living-coloured slime armour and prefer flails and axes. Will hurl or sling incendiaries and dangerous fluids in bottles. They are larger than most humans and stronger with +1 damage bonus. They serve the slime gods, chaos or demons because other nice cults wont take them. Tribes are reviled outsiders and they are suspicious of flesh people. Some adopt character classes to help the tribe to get magic. Some slime people want a cure others hate the world instead. Leaders may summon a horde if vindictive enough. Live as barbarians and wary of outsider priests and wizards using them as meat shields or canon fodder. Evil ones enjoy how hideous they look and enjoy frightening people

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Scions of Necros

Temple
House Basement by a field
Grain silo is a secret temple entrance guarded by Alarm and holds portal spells
Shrine with a priest room with antechamber pilgrims camp in

Clues 
The bartender heard some wild stories
Graves tampered with bodies stolen
Fake orc attacks really cult and zombies 
Deny local cult exists and then gossip about nosy adventurers
Locals don't know much but burned a witch once

Cult
Patty Cromwurst necromancer and sausage merchant, 5th wizard
Ogorn Moonwrench, Gnome necromancer who makes potions and drugs, 3rd Wizard with 2 flintlock pistols (or crossbow bolts pistols with glass tipped acid filled bolts)
Cultists 3d6 
Zombies 3d4
Skeletons 2d4
Ghoul 1 - part of a deal from the agreement with local ghouls

Drama
Can call on ghoul allies but they demand all the cult zombies as payment
Lie to visitors about
-orc slavers
-hook-handed horrors tearing people apart and digging up  graves by night 
Cult seek a lost necromancer relic coffin to make zombies
A quasi-demonling is called to hamper and distract adventurers