Green Devil Face

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IntroductionBy James Edward Raggi IV

This is a PDF product. For a table of contents, use the bookmarks provided. They’re handy!

Cover art “Coat of Arms with a Skull” by Albrecht Dürer

All material is copyright 2010 James Edward Raggi IV, except for the following:Shaggy Dog, Shrieker Stew, and Pool of Testing copyright 2010 Jonathan BeckerThe Tomb to Die For/In copyright 2010 R. Lawrence BlakeThe Child and The Chamber and the Glass Box copyright 2010 Zak SabbathThe Sneaky Book Room copyright 2010 James Brian MurphyThe Room of Four Pits copyright 2010 Ramsey Dow

LotFP and Lamentations of the Flame Princess are trademarks owned by James Edward RaggiIV.

Lamentations of the Flame Princess

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Knights of ScienceBy James Edward Raggi IV

The Knights of Science are a fanatical, sepa-ratist religious order dedicated to the eradica-tion of chaos and evil in the world.

Knights are immune to sleep, charm, hold, orcold spells, and to all fear effects. Knights areable to hit creatures which are only able to beaffected by magic or other special weapons.Knights gain a minimum of six hit points perlevel. Knights gain experience only fromslaying their foes and burning the foes' equip-ment and treasure, and for this the Knightreceives XP according to the value of theburned items. Knights do not use magic items.

In all ways not described here, Knights shouldbe considered the same as Fighters.

Knights invariably travel with an entourage. Afull Knight is one of level 5 or greater, and hewill be accompanied by a Squire. A Squire isa Knight of level 4 or lower, and is completelysubservient to his master. This group is joined

by a Cleric of no less than level 5 (althoughalways of lower level than the Knight if theKnight is above level 5) and ten Men-At-Arms,level 0 Fighters.

The Knights wear plate mail, shields, andswords. The Cleric wears nothing but a simplerobe and carries nothing but a plain staff. TheMen-At-Arms wear chain mail and carrypole-arms. The Knights and Cleric are mount-ed, the Knight on the greatest sort of warhorseavailable, the Squire on a lesser warhorse, theCleric on a riding horse meant for speed. TheMen-At-Arms go on foot, carrying the suppliesof the whole troupe.

All of a Knight's special powers are dependenton his unwavering belief in himself. Should heever change his mind, on any matter no matterhow trivial or important, or if he engages insexual activity, or if he flees from combat, heloses all Knightly abilities, and new hit pointsmust immediately be rolled. Any current

Level XP HD* Title1 0 1d8 Squire2 2,000 2d8 Squire3 4,000 3d8 Squire4 8,000 4d8 Squire5 16,000 5d8 Knight of Science6 32,000 6d8 Knight of Science7 64,000 7d8 Knight of Science8 128,000 8d8 Knight of Science9 256,000 9d8 Knight of Science

10 + + 128,000/lvl +3/lvl** Knight of Science* d10 hit dice for advanced edition games** Constitution modifiers no longer apply

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damage is subtracted from the new hit pointamount.

They do not ignore new information that isobviously correct (they are allowed to changetheir opinion if that opinion is based on a lietold to them); they simply contort their world-view so that both their old assumption and thenew truth are correct. If they can not make thisreconciliation, they must assume that newinformation that invalidates their old viewpointis evil and must be destroyed. That innocentsare harmed by this behavior is of no conse-quence to them. Due to "always being right,"Knights also quickly learn to be quick tojudgment. Knights are quite insane.

It is for this reason that Knights very rarelymeet, and if they do they do not converse, forKnights often have widely varying experiencesthat lead them to different conclusions, andmore than one meeting of Knights has led tomortal combat over a minor issue. Knights arealso quite ignorant about worldly affairs, asthey do not read and do not engage in normalconversation with anyone. Knights do not seekmore contradictions they must reconcile.

The Clerics that travel with the Knights are thepublic faces of the troupe. They speak withlocals and make all arrangements so theKnights are not subjected to an opposingviewpoint by pure chance. Many believe thisis why each Knight has an attached Cleric, butthis is simply a secondary function. The Clericis there to monitor the Knight, and if he faltersand loses his power it is the Cleric's duty toarrange for the Knight's execution at the firstavailable opportunity.

One does not choose to be a Knight. Youngboys, no older than seven, are taken from theirfamilies and brought to the Knights' monastery,located somewhere in the East. What happensto the boys is not exactly known, but from thestatements of some Knights it would appearthat the boys are subjected to religious brain-washing and severe martial training.

At the age of sixteen, the boys are assigned tomilitary duty at the monastery, and at firstopportunity are assigned to a Knight's entou-rage as a Man-At-Arms. If he survives fiveyears of this duty (many do not, not leastbecause the Cleric in the troupe also monitorsthem for wavering beliefs), he becomes eligibleto be a Squire. The potential Squire is sent outto the mountains around the monastery to livethe life of a hermit, with no provisions, and notools. If he is still alive when it is his turn aftera Squire position becomes free, he is outfittedand assigned to a Knight.

When a Squire rises to fifth level, he becomesa fully ranked Knight of Science, and isassigned a Squire, Cleric, and Men-At-Armsof his own, free to incidentally terrorize theworld as he quests to save it. It is a systemwhich has survived beyond memory, from thetime that the Order of the Knights of Sciencewas first established to combat the Duvan'Ku.

Few stand up to the Knights, preferring tocower and watch by as they burn and slaughterin hopes that they quickly move on, for fear ofa Crusade being called. The only ones quickerto shudder at the name of the Knights thancommoners and petty nobles are those forcesdemonic and otherworldly, who know that theKnights represent a foe they can never corrupt.

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The TowerBy James Edward Raggi IV

Some easy money, or perhaps a deathtrapmasquerading as an adventure, for those whosuffer the delusion that all adventure locationsare meant to be solved. For first or second levelcharacters.

The Environs

The tower is located in the middle of thewoods, about a day’s journey from any sort ofcivilization. Around the tower is a clearing; thewoods suddenly break into an idyllic, tranquilfield. Somehow it always seems to be breath-taking here, either with strong sunlit raysbreaking through dark clouds, scanning theground like celestial spotlights, or there is asoft rain through gentle sunlight, formingrainbows. Butterflies flutter everywhere, andon the opposite side of the clearing from wherethe characters approach, deer and fluffybunnies leap away as the intruders near.

Around the base of the tower are dense, thorn-less rose bushes,with thousands of bright redroses in full bloom at all times.

The tower itself is a massive structure, fullyfifty feet wide, with impressively thick walls.They’d better be impressively thick – they lookto be in utter shambles, with large chunkshaving fallen to the ground over the centuriesand vines growing all over the structure. Thetower is made of some sort of rock that no onewill be able to identify – it is vaguely bluish-grey with speckles of reflective crystals thatmake the entire structure shimmer in the sun-light. In fact, until it is approached, the thingmight not look like a solid physical constructat all. The tower has a conical, closed roof and

the only real breaks in the wall are the door atground level, and a solitary window near thetop.

Guarding the door of the tower is a greatmisshapen thing. It is roughly human-shaped,approximately ten feet tall, with gigantic talonsand a giant sharp-toothed maw. However, it isan ancient creature which is quite weary of itsduty, broken in body and spirit, and completelyineffectual in a fight. It will engage any intrud-er, but will not pursue beyond the clearing.

Guardian: Unarmored, Move 1.25 times thespeed of an unencumbered man, HD 10, HP54, #AT 1 claw, D 1d4, immune to normalmissiles, if killed will rise again at sunset thenext day, the sarcophagus on level four mustbe blessed to prevent this.

The tower has five levels, with the windowbeing on the fifth level.

The Door

The tower’s door appears to be made of veryheavy, sturdy warped wood. With rusty ironbanding. There is a very ornate lock on thedoor. It is actually a strange shape-shiftingcreature which mimics the appearance of adoor. It will attack, with pseudopods, anyonewho touches the door, unless the Key of Loveis placed in the lock, in which case it willremain as a door. The creature has beencharmed to behave this way, and if this charmis dispelled for some reason, it will attack evenif the key is used.

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Door: Armor as leather, HD 7, HP 31, #AT 1attack, D 3d4, whatever touches it sticks to itlike glue.

First Level

The first thing that anyone entering the towerwill notice is that rats are crawling everywherealong the walls. The cracks in the walls arelarge enough to allow rats free access, and thiswill be constant throughout the tower.

The first floor room is bare except for fourstatues, each in the shape of a vaguely fairy-like princess figure in various dance poses. Thestatues have a greater amount of crystal flakesin their composition than the walls so they willparticularly shine when exposed to light. Thestatues form something of a perimeter arounda central point, and they all face that point. Inthe center of the statues is a carved circle. Ifsomeone stands in the circle, then the statueswill speak, through magic mouths, in succes-sion:

Statue One: “Those who would have akingdom must be pure in heart, trusting andpeaceful.”

Statue Two: “One must throw away theweapons of war and don the garments of love!”

Statue Three: “Only the pure and the worthymay break the seal and awaken the princess.”

Statue Four: “To the princess’ groom will passthe right to rule over the Kingdom ofDuvan’Ku and possess its treasures.”

There is a ladder leading to a trap door to leveltwo. The trap door is slightly stuck and willtake one round to push open, and it willautomatically swing shut (and become stuckagain) once it is closed.

Second Level

This room is filled with many racks, which areabout half-filled with rotted, torn white robesof unknown composition that have wovenpatterns all over them.

Carved into the walls is a bas-relief of acourting ceremony, with a succession of carv-ings showing a great general surrounded bysoldiers discarding his armor and weapons andputting on ceremonial robes with distinctmarkings (which matches the pattern of therobes on the racks). He then walks by twoguardians, alone, kneels at the foot of a greatstone box where he drops several flowers,opens the box, embracing a beautiful woman,and finally is crowned while surrounded bygold and jewels.

There is a bin here that has all sorts of armorand weapons dumped in, all useless in variousstages of decay, some to the point wheretouching them will cause them to crumble.

There is a ladder that leads to a trap door tolevel three. The trap door is slightly stuck andwill take one round to push open, and it willautomatically swing shut (and become stuckagain) once it is closed.

Third Level

This room is empty except for the trapdoordown, the stairs up, the guardians of the stairs,and some ancient remains of those whoattempted to pass without following the rules.

Two skeletons in ratty, torn chain mail, swords(of a strange and heretofore unknown style),shields, and slung bows and (bone!!) arrowsstand guard by the stairs. They stand motion-less, and if a character is alone and dressed inthe correct manner, they will allow him to pass.

If more than one character approaches, or if anapproaching character has visible arms or

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armor (the robes are tattered enough that armorand all but the smallest of weapons will bevisible), they will stand and fight anyone whoapproaches. They will not pursue anyone whoflees, and they will not abandon their post.

The guardians are not undead, but ratherconstructs, similar to what could be considereda bone golem. If destroyed, they will reform atthe next sunset unless the sarcophagus on levelfour is blessed.

Guardians: Armor as plate, Move half as fastas an unarmored man, HD 5, HP 23, #AT 1sword or 1 bow, D 1d8 or 1d6, immune tospells as if undead, unable to be turned, non-magic weapons do half damage.

If the guardians kill anyone, they will wait untilthe next sunset, and then take the body and anyequipment upstairs and dump it all behind thecurtain.

Oh yeah, one more thing… they will attackanyone coming down the stairs.

Fourth Level

This room is the resting place of the princess.On the opposite side of the room from the entrystairs is a stone sarcophagus on a raised plat-form (the platform and sarcophagus are actu-ally one large carved piece, and part of the flooras well), with carvings depicting wizardsputting a woman to sleep and placing her in…the sarcophagus. The detail of the carving is sogreat that one can see the carvings on thesarcophagus in the carving, and elves can seethat repeat four or five times. If looking at itwith magical sight, a character can see that thisactually goes on forever (anyone who sees thismust make a save versus spells or becomementally disoriented, suffering a two pointpenalty to attack rolls, armor class, and savesfor 2d6 rounds, and spellcasting will be impos-sible – but characters will not know they arethus affected until they enter combat or attempt

to cast a spell). Behind the sarcophagus is acurtain made up of a heavy cloth of unknownorigin. Behind this curtain is a very large pileof bones, and if one digs through the bones onewill find badly decayed, and finally powderedbones at the bottom of the pile.

Surrounding this platform is (what appears tobe) a thaumaturgic circle, with many glyphsand sigils along its border, carved into thefloor. The indentation of the carvings is com-pletely lined with the reflective crystals so itwill seem to glow to anyone entering the roomwith a light source. This is actually decorationand has no magical power at all.

Hanging from the ceiling is the remains of acrystal chandelier, broken some ages ago.Crushed glass covers the floor (a lot more thanthe chandelier would account for, if anyonewere to know how big the chandelier actuallywas). When the door to this level is opened,the glass on the other side of the door willcrinkle loudly, and characters must intention-ally be stealthy or else the glass beneath theirfeet will snap and pop.

The amount of reflective crystals in the stone-work in this room is massive, so anyonecoming up here with a light source will causethe entire room to become a shimmering spec-tacle.

In the sarcophagus is the princess, but unfortu-nately for any suitors, it is an undead thing(Armor as chain, HD 4+3, HP 27, 1 attack, 1d4damage + level drain, immune to non-magicalor non-silver weapons). And it never sleeps.And if there was any noise made in approach-ing the sarcophagus, it will know they arethere, and will achieve automatic surprise if thecharacter lifting the lid of the sarcophagus doesnot declare any caution. it will attack anyoneopening the sarcophagus. It really doesn’t careabout the ritual, as the entire legend is acomplete fabrication, and the woman was inlife a streetwalker who was kidnapped, mur-

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dered, and corrupted into this form specificallyas bait to lure greedy people to their deaths.The souls (or spirits) of those killed by her,because they were doomed by greed (the wantof an underserved kingdom) or lust (the handof a woman they have never met) are deliveredto some foul god to be tortured for eternity. If“killed,” the undead creature will reanimate atthe next sunset unless the sarcophagus isblessed.

The round after killing someone, the princessplaces the body behind the curtain (it will notrise) and replaces the sarcophagus lid andreturns to rest. Rats, which have climbedthrough the cracks in the structure of the tower,will eat away at the body until it is just bones,and they will carry small items and valuables(especially the Key of Love if present), into adeep subterranean lair where their mythic ratlord masters, worshippers of the death gods ofDuvan’Ku, will collect them. These masterswill then see to it that the (entirely invented)legend is spread in the new area, and thenintroduce the Key again so new victims willtravel to the tower, thus repeating a cycle thathas gone on for millennia.

Fifth Level

This room does not connect to the rest of thetower. Inside the room is magical darkness,which engulfs the entire room and ends just atthe window.

The room is empty except for the floor whichis absolutely covered with all sorts of spikes,broken blades, caltrops, splintered bones, andother sharp items. It is impossible to stepanywhere without stepping on something; thefloor is covered several layers deep.

Anyone stepping inside the window with theirfull weight takes d3 damage and must make aparalyzation save or fall down, taking a furtherd6+1 points of damage. Once a character hasfallen, he must make a petrify save (with

wisdom bonus applied!) to remember whichway the window is, and failing this save meanshe takes d3 damage as he shuffles through thesharp stuff. This save may be attempted everyround until successful or the character is dead.

Anyone who dies here will have rats crawl intothe room and gnaw their body and possessionsinto manageable bits, which too will be carriedaway…

How It Happens

Here is one possible way of getting a party tothe tower:

Sir Fondleroy Addleton and his three retainersshow up somewhere one stormy night whenthe characters are present. Maybe it’s at aroadside camp, maybe it’s at an inn.

Addleton will inform the characters that he islooking for some hired help for an expeditioninto the forest. Addleton will request a meetingaway from where the retainers can interrupt.He will offer each of the PCs 250gp to simplyact as bodyguards and escort him to a locationin the forest. That’s all. There is no mission toaccomplish, no expected danger. Just get himto his destination. “Will you do it?”

Of course PCs aren’t going to say yes withoutmore information… will they? If so, then alterthe chain of events offered below. If they sayno, then that’s the end of this adventure. If theysay no and then follow the guy, have Addletonrecruit some other riffraff and improvise basedon the information below.

If the PCs want to know about his relationshipwith his retainers, he will confide that hedoesn’t know them so well, having hired themin the last city he passed through because heconsiders it unwise to travel through the coun-tryside alone. He has overheard them talkingamongst themselves and he is worried that theyare brutal thugs. He doesn’t want to anger them

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or cause trouble by firing them, as being toughguys is what he hired them for, but he doesn’ttrust being alone with them on such a, ahem,sensitive mission.

If they want to know the full story, he will tellthem. He was traveling in the southlands whenhe began hearing about the legend of a lostancient city called Duvan’Ku. It was ruled bya goodly King Porgotna. He had a beautifuldaughter, a kind and gentle soul named Prin-cess Turuvna. When she came of age she beganaccepting suitors. But every time she chosesomeone to marry, they ended up committinga horrible crime. It was a scandal throughoutthe kingdom. Finally the Princess’ last suitorwas a great general in the army, who aftergaining the heart of the Princess led a savagemassacre against helpless peasants. The Kingbecame incensed, and seeing his daughter fallto pieces yet again, decided that enough wasenough. He had his daughter put into a magicalsleep so that her misery would no longertrouble her, and declared that only a man ofgreat intellect and conviction, with a honorableand peaceful spirit, could break the spell andclaim his daughter. He sent his daughter awayto his most remote and secret outpost and hadher laid to rest at the top of its tower, andcharged his two most trustworthy guardsmento make sure no harm came to her. He then hadhis court wizards fashion a key to that towerthat would only work for a man worthy of hisdaughter’s love and then had it hidden. Hedeclared that the man to break his daughter’sspell would be able to rightfully claim her inmarriage and inherit the kingdom and all itstreasures. The evil general sought to find thePrincess himself, but in his lust and greed wastransformed into a wicked caricature of his oldhumanity. Apparently he found where thePrincess was, but being unable to enter thetower, his hate sustains him and he acts as anobstacle to any that would enter the tower. TheKing, so overcome by guilt over what hisdaughter had suffered and what he had done toend that suffering, died soon after and

Duvan’Ku began a swift descent into theobscurity of ancient history.

Addleton can provide a series of parchmentfragments that confirm various parts of thestory, including one that gives compellingevidence that the spell the Princess was underwould sustain her for all time, until it is broken.Away from anyone else’s sight, he produces aheart-shaped key made of unknown metal (theKey of Love). He says he was a henchman ofan adventuring expedition that went to reclaiman old church that had been overrun by undead.He found the key in the church’s vaults, andspent tens of thousands of gold pieces consult-ing sages and finally learning the location ofthe tower where the Princess is kept. Hedecided that was too dangerous to keep writtendown, so he’s memorized it. He says he justneeds the PCs to get him into the tower. That’sthe goal.

During the trip to the tower, Addleton will tellof all he has heard about Duvan’Ku, saying thelegends tell of riches beyond compare andcrafted magic that is as commonplace aswoodwork is in the current lands. He says thateven if the legends have been exaggerated tentimes over the truth, they should all be verywealthy men. If the PCs are predominantlymale, he will talk about all the beautiful womenhe’s bedded, and hypothesizes how the prin-cess will compare. He jokes about giving allthe PCs appointments in his royal court if thelegends turn out to be accurate.

When reaching the clearing, Addleton willdirect the party to engage the guardian creatureand draw it away from the door so he may enterthe tower, with his retainers supplying support-ing missile fire and guarding the horses in casegoblins are attracted by the sounds of combat.Because he doesn’t want to screw up theprophecy, he directs the adventurers to notenter, and that he will call for them after he hasachieved his goal, or when he needs them. He

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assumes that the princess’ chamber is in thetop of the tower, where the window is.

If the PCs do what he says, the creature willmove to engage intruders and move away fromthe door. A round after the battle is joined,Addleton will go to the door, use the key toopen it, take the key while leaving the dooropen, and go inside. If there is battle, the PCswill not hear the statues’ speech. Assume it willtake Addleton one round to listen to the statues,one round to enter each new floor of the tower,and two rounds to change clothes on the secondlevel. He shouldn’t last long once he reachesthe fourth level, as he will be so eager to gainhis prize that he will throw all caution to thewind and he will be surprised.

The round after Addleton enters the tower, thePCs will hear a commotion by the horses – theretainers know of the gems that Addleton wascarrying and two of the retainers have decidedthat now would be a wonderful time to grabthem and run. One of the men is honest andtries to stop them. If nobody interferes, the twothieves will kill the honest one and then rideoff with the treasure.

If any PC enters the tower, it is imperative thatthe referee communicate with this player insecret. It is to be made clear that the player(s)in question can not give other players anyinformation about the inside of the tower untiltheir characters reunite! They will of coursefind Addleton’s armor and weapons in the binon the second level, but likely there will be notrace of him once they reach the fourth level –unless they look behind the curtain. The keywill already be gone if his body is there.

Sir Fondleroy Addleton(Chain mail and shield, Fighter 3, HP 23, 1attack, 1d8 (longsword) or 1d6 (bow) damage).Important equipment of note includes hismedium warhorse, chain mail, shield, long-sword, longbow, and twenty arrows. He keeps3d20 gold and 2d20 silver on him at all times.

In his saddlebags are his rations and supplies,as well as a pouch with 10 pearls worth 250gpeach. These pearls are what Addleton wasgoing to pay the PCs with, and what theretainers attempt to steal. He of course has theparchments with the legend fragments and theKey of Love on him at all times.

The Retainers(Leather armor, Lvl 0, HP 5 each, 1 attack, 1d8(longsword) or 1d6 (bow) damage). Importantequipment of note includes their light ridinghorses, leather armor, longsword, short bow,and twenty arrows each. Each has 3d6gp onhis person.

Other Possibilities

The above adventure assumes that a refereereally doesn’t want to goad the PCs intoentering the tower themselves. Of course theywill do so on their own anyway, but that’s thepoint – this is intended to be a horror adven-ture, a Weird Tale if you will, and not anexample of high adventure and derring-do.

The referee must set this up correctly. The Keyof Love, and the legend, must pass into theplayers’ hands somehow, whether as an entice-ment to go to the tower, or in the hands ofanother that let it be known where they aregoing and why.

The key points:

There is no legend of treasure or magic to behad. The prize is the princess, and specificsteps to free her must be taken. It must bestressed that if more than one person enters thattower, they are not going to be able to awakenand rescue the princess. The idea is thatwhoever goes up that tower dies. It is notintended to be solved or defeated, and there isno reward for doing so.

And really, anyone who puts on rotting cloth-ing to satisfy some skeletal guardians in order

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to marry a woman they’ve never heard of untilthe day before… come on. They deserve whatthey get.

The example scenario gives a nominal rewardso it’s not a complete waste of time for the PCs(and the reward is gained by those who don’tget greedy!), but there is nothing stopping areferee from being especially cruel (as opposedto the regular level of cruelty needed to run the

adventure in the first place) and foregoing eventhat kindness, but most players would like tobe rewarded for smart play. And not going inthe place is definitely smart play.

It is recommended that the PCs have very little,if any, magic items when they undertake thisadventure. Horror doesn’t work if the protag-onists can muscle their way through.

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The Dread Sorceries ofDuvan’Ku

By James Edward Raggi IV

Duvan’Ku was a magical place, and its inhab-itants created many a bizarre and transgressivespell. This knowledge of Duvan’Ku is spreadthroughout the world, in ancient spellbooksheld captive in dragon hoards, lich’s libraries,and the like. However, some also survive onscrolls, and the mischief that the Dead Kingseeks to perform from beyond time allowssome of these to reach the world in much easiermanners…

All of these spells are Magic-User spells, asthe gods would never directly grant powers toanything borne of Duvan’Ku.

Animate Dead IILevel 6Range: 10’Duration: PermanentArea of Effect: See BelowCasting this spell on a corpse causes it to riseas a ghoul under the control of the caster. Oneghoul per two levels of the caster may beraised, provided there are enough intact corpsesat the site of the casting of course.

Animate Dead IIILevel: 7Range: 10’Duration: PermanentCasting this spell on a corpse causes it to riseas a wight (if it is an intact corpse) or a wraith(if it is not) under the control of the caster. Oneundead per two levels of the caster may beraised, provided there are enough corpses atthe site of the casting of course.

Animate Dead IVLevel: 8Range: 10’Duration: PermanentCasting this spell on a corpse (or the site of adeath if the body was destroyed) causes itsspirit to rise as a spectre under the control ofthe caster. One undead per four levels of thecaster may be raised, provided there are enoughbodies (or spirits) at the site of the casting ofcourse. Note that a spectre is completely awareof it status as an undead creature, and althoughit will be compelled to obey the caster, it willnot be happy about it… at all.

Animate Dead VLevel: 9Range: 10’Duration: PermanentCasting this spell on a corpse (or the site of adeath if the body was destroyed) causes itsspirit to rise as a ghost under the control of thecaster. Only one undead per ten levels of thecaster may be raised, provided there are enoughbodies (or spirits) at the site of the casting ofcourse. Note that a ghost is completely awareof it status as an undead creature, and althoughit will be compelled to obey the caster, it willnot be happy about it… at all.

Army of OneLevel: 3Range: 10’/levelDuration: 1 round/levelThe recipient of this spell is able to make onemelee attack for every opponent directlyengaging him for the duration of the spell. Eachattack must be against a different opponent,

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Aura of GoodLevel: 1Range: TouchDuration: 1 hour/levelThe target of this spell will radiate a good (orlawful, or both, as appropriate) aura when thesubject of detection devices or spells. At best,a scrying party will detect that there is amagical aura present but nothing short of adispel magic will cause a detection spell todetect anything other than good.

Black BloodLevel: 3Range: 30’ + 10’/levelDuration: See BelowThis spell causes the target’s blood to becomea thick and expanding gel, causing intensepressure and pain. This will cause 1d4 pointsof damage every round until the pressure isrelieved. While in great pain, the character canact normally and suffers no penalty aside fromthe hit point loss. Relieving the pressure isdone by either the target being hit by a piercingor slashing weapon by an enemy for damage,or someone intentionally slicing the characteropen to bleed him (can be done for no initialdamage).

Once this happens, the character becomesunable to take any action and merely convulsesfor three full rounds as a disgusting, viscousblack ichor spews from his wounds, coveringthe entire area. At the end of the third round,the character takes 1d6 damage and then mayact normally.

Blood OathLevel: 3Range: SpecialDuration: SpecialBlood oath solidifies an agreement betweentwo parties, ensuring by magical means thatboth parties keep to the agreement. For the oathspell to take effect, all parties must be in fullcontrol of their mental capacities (no oathingunder charm, for example) and be aware that

the spell will be binding them. The terms mustbe explicitly laid out, and the important thingis the letter, not intent, of the agreement. Thespell will remain in effect as long as it takes tosee that the agreement is honored, and caninclude as many people as are willing to takethe oath. If any party breaks the oath, the willimmediate lose one level/hit die.

BloodlessLevel: 3Range: 10’/levelDuration: 1 round/levelThe target of this spell takes half damage fromall attacks for the duration.

Dangerous ToysLevel: 1Range: TouchDuration: PermanentThis spell causes a minor demon to inhabit avery small inanimate object. The demon wakesup, animating the object, when it is touched bya child. At that point the object will attempt toslay any living thing it comes across. Theobject then has AC as leather, MV 120’, HD1, #AT 1, D d6.

Death BreathLevel: 3Range: 0Duration: InstantaneousThe character spews forth a toxic cloud ofgreen-black gas from his mouth, doing 1d4points of damage for every level of the caster,with a saving throw for half damage applicable.Note that there are no components needed, andbecause it is a gas most forms of gags will notstop the spell from working.

God OathLevel: 5Range: SpecialDuration: SpecialBlood oath solidifies an agreement betweentwo parties, ensuring by magical means thatboth parties keep to the agreement. For the oath

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spell to take effect, all parties must be in fullcontrol of their mental capacities (no oathingunder charm, for example) and be aware thatthe spell will be binding them. The terms mustbe explicitly laid out, and the important thingis the letter, not intent, of the agreement. Thespell will remain in effect as long as it takes tosee that the agreement is honored, and caninclude as many people as are willing to takethe oath. If any party breaks the oath, the willimmediately die, with no possibility of raising,resurrection, or reincarnation.

InfanticideLevel: 1Range: 10’/levelDuration: PermanentThis spell slays any creature with one hit point(maximum, not current) without any mark ora scratch on it – it just stops breathing.

LongevityLevel: 2Range: 0Duration: 1 YearCasting this spell erases the previous year interms of aging effects. The caster must bathein the blood of a number of virgins equal to theactual age of the caster at the time of casting.This blood must be fresh and the act of collect-ing it must kill the virgins, and the one hourcasting time is the amount of time the castermust spend soaking in the blood.

New MindLevel: 9Range: TouchDuration: PermanentThis spell completely erases the mind of onecreature and replaces it with whatever thecaster wishes. When the spell is complete, thecreature should re-roll intelligence, wisdom,and charisma from scratch, and a new align-ment should be randomly determined. All ofthe creature’s memories will be wiped out aswell, and the caster will be able to create anentirely new set of memories as he pleases. The

character will begin again at level one in arandom class, although retaining its originalhit points and saving throw numbers until itgains a level greater than its original.

OathLevel: 1Range: SpecialDuration: SpecialOath solidifies an agreement between twoparties, ensuring by magical means that bothparties keep to the agreement. For the oathspell to take effect, all parties must be in fullcontrol of their mental capacities (no oathingunder charm, for example) and be aware thatthe spell will be binding them. The terms mustbe explicitly laid out, and the important thingis the letter, not intent, of the agreement. Thespell will remain in effect as long as it takes tosee that the agreement is honored, and caninclude as many people as are willing to takethe oath. If any party breaks the oath, the willsuffer a one point permanent loss from arandom ability score.

Protection from Living CreaturesLevel: 2Range: TouchDuration: 3 rounds/levelThis spell creates a living barrier around thetarget which repels living creatures. Any livingcreature attacking the target suffers a -2 penaltyto hit, and the target receives a +2 saving throwon any effect caused by a living creature.Living creatures which physically strike witha body part (claw, fist, bite, etc) may not attackat all. Note that extra-planar creatures, undead,constructs, magically-imbued beings, etc, arenot considered “living” creatures for the pur-poses of this spell. This protection moves withthe target.

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Protection from Living Creatures 10’ RadiusLevel: 4Range: NoneDuration: 1 turn/levelThis spell creates a living barrier around thetarget area (centered around the caster) whichrepels living creatures. Any living creatureattacking into the target area suffers a -2penalty to hit, and the target receives a +2saving throw on any effect caused by a livingcreature. Living creatures which physicallystrike with a body part (claw, fist, bite, etc) maynot attack at all. Note that extra-planar crea-tures, undead, constructs, magically-imbuedbeings, etc, are not considered “living” crea-tures for the purposes of this spell. The materialcomponent is dirt from a grave, which must besprinkled around the spell area as it is cast. Thiscircle of protection does not move.

Steal Spell ILevel: 4Range: 10’/levelDuration: PermanentOne random spell (of level 1 – 3) is erased fromthe memory of the target and the caster of thisspell gains the ability to cast it as if he hadmemorized it. The gained spell must be cast,and can not be transcribed or stored in any way.

Steal Spell IILevel: 5Range: 10’/levelDuration: PermanentOne random spell (of level 1 – 4) is erased fromthe memory of the target and the caster of thisspell gains the ability to cast it as if he hadmemorized it. The gained spell must be cast,and can not be transcribed or stored in any way.

Steal Spell IIILevel: 6Range: 10’/levelDuration: PermanentOne random spell (of level 2 – 5) is erased fromthe memory of the target and the caster of thisspell gains the ability to cast it as if he had

memorized it. The gained spell must be cast,and can not be transcribed or stored in any way.

Steal Spell IVLevel: 7Range: 10’/levelDuration: PermanentOne random spell (of level 3 – 6) is erased fromthe memory of the target and the caster of thisspell gains the ability to cast it as if he hadmemorized it. The gained spell must be cast,and can not be transcribed or stored in any way.

Steal Spell VLevel: 8Range: 10’/levelDuration: PermanentOne random spell (of level 4 – 7) is erased fromthe memory of the target and the caster of thisspell gains the ability to cast it as if he hadmemorized it. The gained spell must be cast,and can not be transcribed or stored in any way.

Steal Spell VILevel: 9Range: 10’/levelDuration: PermanentOne random spell (of level 5 – 8) is erased fromthe memory of the target and the caster of thisspell gains the ability to cast it as if he hadmemorized it. The gained spell must be cast,and can not be transcribed or stored in any way.

Storm of FertilityLevel: 9Range: 1 mile/levelDuration: PermanentThis spell impregnates every female of thesame race as the caster in a large area. Beforecasting the spell, the caster must trap an extra-planar being in a containment circle. Castingthis spell kills this creature, and this being isthe father of the children it spawns. The spellaffects an area one mile in diameter for everyhit die of the trapped creature, with each femalegetting a saving throw to avoid its effects. Thechildren will look like the mother’s race,

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mature at the rate of the mother’s race, but havethe temperament, alignment, and abilities ofthe father.

To Challenge the GodsLevel: 9Range: Line of SightDuration: 6 turnsThis spell strips any one extra-planar being ofall supernatural powers and abilities. No itemsor affiliations are affected.

TortureLevel: 3Range: 30’Duration: 1 hourThis spell, which only works on bound orotherwise helpless targets, allows the caster toask one question per level, and the target mustanswer truthfully or take 1d6 points of damageper lie told. If the target lies, the effect isobvious to any onlooker.

VomitLevel: 1Range: 10’/levelDuration: See BelowThe target of this spell begins to vomit a thick,disgusting black chunky liquid and is unableto take any other action. The effect continues,every round, until the target makes a savingthrow.

Vomit GutsLevel: 4Range: 10’/levelDuration: See BelowThe target of this spell begins to vomit up theirinsides, with the target being unable to moveand taking 1d10 damage every round until theymake a saving throw.

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Fell Magick Items ofDuvan’Ku

By James Edward Raggi IV

Bag of Spirit HoldingThis functions as a bag of holding of the largestsize. There is a 1% chance whenever it isopened (to take something out or put some-thing in) that a spectre that has been trappedwithin the bag will escape to attack the ownerof the bag.

Basket of Bountiful HarvestThis basket is always full of fresh fruit, vege-tables, bread, and sweet meats when opened.Any who eat from the basket must save versusdeath magic (referee should make a secretsaving throw) or begin to lose 1hp per day,permanently (the character’s maximum hitpoints decrease!), beginning 6d6 days aftereating. An exorcism or remove curse is neces-sary to stop this effect but does not restore losthit points.

Book of FaustBy reading this book, a character may make apact with a devil and increase one ability scoreto 18 in exchange for one service to be ren-dered one year from the time of the abilityscore gain. At the one year mark, an Arch-Devil will appear in person to take that personto hell, and the character can not be raised orresurrected, and a wish to bring the characterback will result in a crippled stump of a body,no limbs, blind, and dumb, being spewed forthfrom the Arch-Devil that had required service.

Book of SacrificeBy reading this unholy text of exorcism, anycurse (or possession, or any undesirable state),any whatsoever, is lifted from the target of theexorcism. The curse passes to the reader, andat that point can not be removed by any means

short of a wish. Any reader attempting toremove his own curse instead makes the curseirrevocably permanent, and no means whatso-ever can ever remove the curse.

Book of Unspeakable ShameThis text lists the crimes of Duvan’Ku againstnature, the cosmos, the gods, and all of greatercreation. The entire text takes two months toread, and after it is complete the reader mustsave versus spells or be feebleminded. If thishappens, the reader gains no benefits from thebook and if healed must read the book again toattempt to gain the benefits. If the saving throwsucceeds, the reader becomes immune from allmental attacks such as fear, charm, etc, forev-ermore. The reader also gains a 25 Wisdom.The book does detail literally unspeakableshame – the reader will never be able toarticulate exactly what it is he has seen in thebook to any other, and any reading his mindmust make a saving throw versus spells orbecome feebleminded. 2d4 weeks after com-pleting the book (and if the benefits aregained), 2d6 demons will appear to destroy thereader, as no mortal may have this knowledge.They will all be Type I demons, led by a demonof a type indicated by the greatest numbershown on the dice. For example, if the 2d6 rollwas a 4 and a 3, then it would be seven demonstotal, one of which would be a Type IV.

Candle of Ill LuminationThis small candle illuminates as dim or asbright as the possessor wishes, even to thepoint of being as bright as daylight. Undead inthis light are invisible, even while attacking,and immune to any effects of this light.

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Casket of Duvan’KuUndead creatures in the casket are alwaysawake and aware of everything outside thecasket. Vampires suffer no restrictions the dayafter resting in the casket. Living things thatlie in the casket lose one level – shutting thecasket means instant death, with a save versusdeath needed to prevent rising as a wight atmidnight.

Chalice of Great HealthIf a good creature is ritually sacrificed and itsblood immediately collected in this cup, thedrinker will be cured of any curses and diseas-es, magical or mundane.

Chimes of EntranceThis acts as a normal chime of opening, butany dead bodies within range of the chime’ssound rise as skeletons or zombies, as appro-priate.

Cloak of Many FashionsThis cloak transforms into whatever clothingthe wearer desires, whether it be a fine ballgown, sleep wear, thick fur clothing for arcticexploring, or even any sort of (non-magical)armor (but not including a shield). Whensomeone wearing this cloak comes within 50’of an undead creature than can see him, it turnsinto an entangling death shroud, completelyimmobilizing the character and leaving himunable to act or defend himself.

Cloak of Soul DisplacementThis acts as a normal displacement cloak, butit has a +3 bonus. Every attack that missesbecause of this cloak (any first strike, orsubsequent strike that misses by three or less)gives a 1% cumulative chance that the charac-ter will turn into a wraith or spectre (whicheveris closest in hit dice to the character’s level)who will seek nothing else but to drain allliving things.

Crown of Duvan’KuEach former ruler of Duvan’Ku wore his owncrown, and each crown has become corruptedand evil due to the utter depravity that theyhave been present for. This is but one suchcrown.

Wearers of the crown may use the followingminor powers: Speak with Dead (all spelleffects are as if the wearer is a thirtieth levelcaster), once per week. They are immune toany sleep or hold spells (or any spells thatcommonly affect undead), and may AnimateDead once a week. The wearer also enjoys atwo point bonus to his armor class.

There are also these major powers: Twice aday, the wearer may Dispel Magic, and onceper day may cast Heal. The wearer continu-ously causes Fear with his gaze whether heintends to or not.

The crown’s primary power is Trap the Soul,which the wearer may cast once per month.

There is a price for this power. All holy watercloser than 10’ from the crown will instantlyspoil and become normal water. The wearer’stouch kills green plants instantly (or inflictsd10 damage if combating a sentient example),and every month the wearer loses 5d6 poundsuntil he collapses into nothingness.

Using any major or using the prime power agesthe user 3d10 years.

If the wearer dies from either aging or weightloss, his soul departs for Duvan’Ku to servethe dead King who once wore this crown, neverto be recalled again.

Dead SignThe Dead Sign is an evil sigil that may beinscribed on (or sewn into!) any object. Thosewearing the Sign are immune to curses, unnat-ural diseases, hold, charm, or any other mind-influencing spells. However, the wearer is also

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able to be turned as undead of their level, andany holy water with 10’ of the sign becomesspoiled. The sign must also be openly dis-played – any hidden Sign causes one point ofdamage, per round, to anyone carrying it, ifthey are aware they are carrying it. If someonewho has knowingly carried the Sign (ifsomeone discards the Sign immediately upondiscovering they possess it, they may with noill effects) then discards it, then they take onepoint of damage, per turn, until they are dead.

Dead Sign, GreaterThis Sign has all of the powers and drawbacksof the normal Dead Sign, but anyone who seesthe sign will die of spontaneous fright the nexttime they are alone for longer than 2d20minutes. However, if a second person sees theSign before the first one is dead, neitheronlooker dies, but the bearer of the Sign diesand the Sign itself disintegrates.

Elixir of Fleeting LoveThis potion causes the drinker to fall in lovewith a specific person. Hair, fingernails, orsome other personal issue must be mixed in thepotion and the drinker will then fall in lovewith that person. The drinker will be unques-tionably devoted and completely in love, witha saving throw only allowed if there is blatantabuse. The drinker will also age at twelve timesthe normal rate – one year for every month thatpasses.

Flute of Undead PacificationThe sound of this flute makes all undead docileand they will take no offensive action whilethe flute is being played and all else is quiet(and no other combat is happening!). Theplayer must be still to play properly, and theundead will gather around the player… butwhen the playing stops (or something breaksthe undead’s concentration, or Silence is castover the player), the undead will becomevicious as usual. Bards playing the flute willbe so skillful as to heal 1d6 points of damageto any undead hearing it, every round.

Gauntlets of Undead PowerThese gauntlets drain 1d4 levels per hit whenused in unarmed combat against a livingcreature. These levels are not transferred to thewearer of the gauntlets. If the gauntlets com-pletely drain a creature, the wearer loses a levelimmediately. If the gauntlets are ever usedagainst an undead creature, the undead isunaffected and instead the wearer loses 1d4levels.

Gem of Lifeforce SightThis gem acts as a gem of seeing, but whenlooking through the gem all living beings willbe seen as slowly rotting and dying, and theviewer will be able to tell the how long thecreature will naturally live. This insults the soulof the viewed, and any creature that willnaturally die (of age or disease) within a monthwill rise as a wight or wraith to hunt the viewer.Anyone else viewed with the gem that dieswithin 24 hours will also rise as a wight orwraith and hunt the viewer, feeling the viola-tion contributed to its death.

Gemstones of Duvan’KuThese priceless gems are under an irrevocablecurse – any who spy upon them becomesovercome by extreme violent greed. A saveagainst spells is applicable, but a successfulsave means that the character wants to separatehimself completely from the gems – he will nothandle them. Characters who have taken anextreme and uncompromising vow of povertymay handle the gems without succumbing tothe curse, but of course would not do anythingwith them. Those affected by the gem will firstattempt to buy it, offering all the money andproperty they have in the world if possible(which usually won’t amount to much, and thegems affect beggars the same way as theyaffect kings). Of course the possessor of thegems would never part with them, and if thegems can’t be bought, there will be an attemptto steal them, and failing that, an attempt toviolently take them.

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Girdle of FertilityIf worn during intercourse (by either party),pregnancy will occur – even cross-species orif one party or the other is infertile. The childgestates as normal, but is a wight, and givingbirth will kill the mother. In ancient times, thepriest of Duvan’Ku would then carefullysecure the baby in a floating cradle and placeit in a stream, with the idea that some passerbywould seek to aid the baby, which would thenkill them.

Grimoire of Walking FleshThis text allows the creation of a flesh golem.It requires the parts of 10d4 fresh bodies, takestwo weeks time as the parts are assembled, andthen requires a strong electrical charge (alightning bolt will do) to activate the body.There is no monetary cost to making the golemwith this book, and an unlimited amount maybe made. When the golem activates, the muti-lated remains of the bodies used for parts willrise and seek to destroy the creator of thegolem. The golem will not fight these undead.The risen dead will be zombies 50% of thetime, ghouls 40% of the time, and wights 10%of the time (check each creature individually).If the bodies have been utterly destroyed, thenthe creatures will be wraiths (75%) or spectres(25%).

Holy Symbol of the Church of Duvan’KuA cleric using this holy symbol automaticallycommands (not turns or destroys) any undeadit is used against. When commanded undeadkill as many creatures as the commandingcleric has levels, or drains a like number oflevels, the cleric’s soul immediately becomescorrupted and he begins transforming into anundead type the same hit dice as the cleric’slevel. Alignment change happens immediatelyand the cleric gains the special abilities of theundead immediately, and the character willslowly die and rot and fully become thatundead form within 2d6 days.

Holy Symbol of the Church of Duvan’KuA cleric using this holy symbol automaticallycommands (not turns or destroys) any undeadit is used against. However, after this power isused, the cleric’s healing spells will cause harminstead of heal. The cleric must be exorcisedfor the spells to be righted once more.

Holy Symbol of the Church of Duvan’KuThis holy symbol doubles the cleric’s effectivelevel in terms of the number and level of spellsthat can be prepared, as well as spell effectsdetermined by level. After using this power, ifa cleric is ever in front of any altar and doesanything (prays, blesses, defiles, etc), or castsa commune spell or makes any contact with anextraplanar source, or is in the presence of agate, or says the name of any demon, then anentity (the demon named, a chief servant of thegod the altar is dedicated to or contacted withthe commune, or a random powerful creaturefrom where the gate leads) will appear todestroy the wearer of the dread symbol ofDuvan’Ku.

Holy Symbol of the Church of Duvan’KuWhen using this holy symbol, a cleric isconsidered to be five levels higher than hisregular level for purposes of turning undead(although undead will never be destroyed by acleric wearing this symbol). However, thewearer is also able to be turned as if undead offive fewer hit dice than his current level.

Horn of BattleBlowing this horn summons undead (see chartbelow for what type) out of the ground andwalls to fight for the possessor of the horn.Once that battle is over, the undead will turnon the blower of the horn and attempt to killhim. These undead may not be turned until theblower of the horn is dead.

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Roll Undead Summoned01 – 75 4d10 Skeletons76 – 80 2d10 Zombies81 – 85 1d10 Ghouls86 – 90 1d6 Wights91 – 95 1 Spectre96 – 100 1 Vampire

Necklace of Undead ImmunityThe wearer of this necklace is immune to anytouch-based special abilities possessed byundead (a ghoul’s paralysis, a wight’s energydrain, etc). However, the next person that thewearer touches after such an attack (even if thenecklace is removed!) suffers the most power-ful effect that the necklace has protectedagainst, and every further touch passes onanother effect until all avoided effects havebeen passed on.

Periapt of Poison ImmunityThis gives its possessor one hundred percentimmunity from poison – saves are never nec-essary to survive. However, the referee shouldmake a secret saving throw, and a failuremeans the next person the periapt’s possessortouches must make his poison saving throw orsuffer the effects the possessor originallyavoided.

Ring of CannibalismThis ring functions as a +2 ring of protection,but after it is first put on, the character wearingit will only seek sustenance from the flesh ofhis own race. Similar (for example, demi-humans for a human) races may be used fornourishment if none of the wearer’s own raceis available.

Ring of Dark ProtectionThis functions as a ring of protection +d6(some are very powerful indeed!). The wearertakes 1d6 damage per round in sunlight andcan only heal through natural means – magicwill not help. Against undead, the ring makesarmor class worse instead of better.

Ring of Death DealingThis ring allows the wearer to cast a deathspell, once a round, with no charges or limita-tions of any kind. Anyone or anything killedby this ring rises as a wraith or a spectre (50%chance of each) and will then hunt the wearerof the ring. They can not be turned while insight of the wearer.

Ring of DesiresFunctions as a ring of wishes. The wearer getshis wish, uncorrupted and exactly as he wants,but there will be unintended disastrous conse-quences unconnected with the wish. A fellowparty member will suddenly die with no expla-nation, the most powerful magic item thecharacter possesses will lose its enchantment,the character’s home city will be overrun byits enemies in a surprise attack, whateverwould devastate the character most.

Ring of Murderous IntentThis ring functions as a +1 protection ring, butit also always causes the wearer to be seen inthe most negative light possible when scryingor detection spells are used on him. For exam-ple, anyone using ESP on the wearer willbelieve the wearer intends to kill him, anyoneattempting to detect alignment will alwaysdetect the most opposed alignment to his own,etc. If there is a result that will cause a violentor other extremely negative response, that’s theresult the ring will cause people to get.

Ring of Scavenging SustenanceThe wearer of this ring may heal d8 damageby drinking the blood of a dead enemy, perenemy. The enemy must have been a livingcreature with blood (no golems, slimes, etc)that has very recently (say, in a combat thewearer was involved in) died. After the firsttime this is done, the wearer is forevermoreunable to regain hit points any other way (rest,healing magic, etc, no longer works).

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Ring of Essence ControlWith this ring, a character may Charm anyhuman or humanoid being as per the spell, withno saving throw allowed. When the charm ends(by any means), the victim also loses one levelas if energy drained. The victim will know theyhave been bewitched, will remember every-thing that happened during that time, and willbe aware of why they have lost a level.

A character completely drained by the ring, orwho died while charmed, will rise as anundead, as per the chart below. Roll d%,adding 10% for every level the characteroriginally was in life, and add 25% if the victimdied (by any means) while charmed.

Roll Undead Type01 – 50 Zombies51 – 90 Ghoul91 – 125 Wight126+ Vampire

Ring of VanishingThis ring works as a normal ring of invisibility,with the following exceptions: It doesn’t workagainst undead, and if the wearer is adventur-ing in an area where undead are found on thewandering monsters chart, then all checks forwandering monsters result in an encounter withundead in addition to the normal chances forencountering another random creature.

Sacrificial DaggerThis dagger’s hilt is carved out of pure ruby,with a skeleton design. It functions in all waysas a +5 dagger, but whenever it hits, the wieldertakes the same damage as the victim.

Scroll of Personal Protection from UndeadThis scroll is indistinguishable from a normalProtection from Undead scroll. It works iden-tically, except there is no area of effect; onlythe reader of the scroll is protected!

Soul JarA character may place his life essence into thismagic receptacle. While the jar holds the lifeessence, the character can not be brought belowone hit point or die by any means whatsoever.However, the character may be turned as anundead creature of an equivalent level, and thecharacter can not participate in “living” behav-ior such as eating, drinking, or having sex.When the character retrieves his soul, he willfind that the receptacle leaks, and he will loseone level as if energy drained.

Staff of Life TransferenceThe wielder of the staff may heal anothercharacter 1hp for every 2hp the wielder allowsto be drained from himself. There is a percentchance equal to the amount drained from thewielder that the amount drained is subtractedfrom both characters!

Sword of GloryThis sword is +1 to hit and damage, +3 toundead. When the attacker’s to-hit roll is anatural 20 (or any hit whatsoever upon undead,the damage done is added to the attacker’s hitpoints (up to his normal maximum, of course)as well as subtracted from the victim’s hitpoints. Once the wielder of the sword hasgained a total number of hit points in thismanner (over time, not in one go) to equal hisregular maximum hit point total, he immedi-ately loses one level as if energy drained. If hecontinues to use the sword and he again overtime draws enough hit points from the swordto match his maximum hit points (whichshould be easier since he’s got less hit pointsnow, right?), he loses two levels, and the nexttime three levels, etc. If the wielder is com-pletely drained of levels, he becomes undead(of a type that is the same hit dice as thewielder’s original level) and may no longertouch the sword.

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Random Inn GeneratorBy James Edward Raggi IV

The concept of “home base” is a common onein classic fantasy role-playing games. All toooften, it’s merely reduced to a place to heal upand sell off treasure; a mere speed bump on theway to going back into the dungeon. But itdoesn’t have to be that way. Take the commoninn out in the middle of nowhere, for starters.It services people who travel on the edge ofcivilization (or else it wouldn’t be the conve-nient home base for a dungeon expedition!).By its very nature it will have a revolving castof interesting, and perhaps seedy, characters,and some of those might prove beneficial ortroublesome for our party… and the rest willjust actively be in the way.

This article is designed to help the refereedevelop just that aspect, giving details of aninn, including a day-to-day schedule of newarrivals and departures. Because PCs may beat the inn for quite some time, perhaps monthsof game time, it is recommended that thereferee generate visitors ahead of time; perhapsa month’s worth if the inn is “home base” foran expedition to a dungeon of impressive size.Not only will this provide a living environmentwithin the game without needing to roll diceand check tables with players waiting, butadditional plots and adventure hooks will startscreaming out from the page as visitors arefilled in. These “guest stars” will be a perfectoverlap to the existing adventure material,giving PCs additional factors to consider intheir plans, and giving players a real sense thatthe world their characters inhabit goes onwithout them. Instances when the inn is over-booked or other resources are stretched cancause minor inconveniences. Adventuring isn’tjust risking death out in the field, it’s dealing

with the normal people just trying to live theirlives in the regular world!

The Inn’s Name

Roll percentile dice for each category and putthem together to come up with the inn’s name.Assume the name begins with “The…” andends with “…Inn.” Feel free to ignore anyresult that seems too cheesy, vulgar, orunwieldy.

d% Verb Adjective NounRoll1 Arising Amorous Bandit2 Begging Bawdy Basilisk3 Betting Beautiful Bear4 Biting Black Berserker5 Bleeding Blue Boar6 Breaking Brazen Brigand7 Breeding Carrion Buccaneer8 Burning Cheap Bugbear9 Bursting Cloudy Caveman10 Casting Crazy Centaur11 Creeping Dirty Chimera12 Crying Dizzy Cockatrice13 Cutting Drunken Courtesan14 Digging Easy Crawler15 Dreaming Fat Cube16 Drinking Fierce Cyclops17 Dwelling Fiery Dervish18 Dying Fighting Djinn19 Eating Final Doppleganger20 Ending First Doxy21 Falling Foul Dragon22 Fighting Frost Druid23 First Furious Dryad24 Fleeing Gelatinous Dwarf25 Flying Giant Efreet26 Forbidding Golden Elemental27 Freezing Great Elf28 Gambling Green Fighter29 Grinding Grey Gargoyle30 Grinning Handsome Ghost

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31 Growing Haughty Ghoul32 Hanging Heavy Giant33 Hiding Hellish Gnoll34 Hitting Hill Gnome35 Kissing Horrible Goblin36 Kneeling Invisible Golem37 Last Jolly Gorgon38 Leading Large Griffon39 Living Lewd Harlot40 Loving Living Harpy41 Melting Lizard Hippogriff42 Prancing Lusty Hobgoblin43 Riding Magnificent Horse44 Ringing Mighty Hound45 Rising Mischievous Hydra46 Running Nasty Insect47 Seeking Naughty Jelly48 Shaving Ochre Juggernaut49 Shining Orange Kobold50 Shooting Precious Lich51 Shrinking Purple Madame52 Shutting Quaint Man53 Singing Quiet Manticora54 Sleeping Rabid Medusa55 Slinging Random Merman56 Smiling Randy Minotaur57 Spinning Red Mold58 Spitting Ribald Monster59 Splitting Rich Mule60 Spreading Robust Mummy61 Stabbing Rust Nomad62 Standing Saucy Ogre63 Stealing Sea Ooze64 Stinging Silver Orc65 Stinking Slovenly Paladin66 Striking Sly Pegasus67 Swallowing Small Pirate68 Swearing Spotted Pixie69 Sweating Stone Pony70 Swimming Storm Priest71 Swinging Striped Pudding72 Talking Tricky Roc73 Throwing Ugly Salamander74 Thrusting Vast Skeleton75 Waiting Vicious Slime76 Waking Wanton Spectre77 Weeping Wayward Stalker78 Winding Wealthy Statue79 Winning Welcome Stirge80 (none) Were- Strumpet81 (none) White Tart82 (none) Wicked Thief83 (none) Wonderful Tiger84 (none) Yellow Titan85 (none) (none) Treant86 (none) (none) Triton

87 (none) (none) Troll88 (none) (none) Trollop89 (none) (none) Trull90 (none) (none) Unicorn91 (none) (none) Vampire92 (none) (none) Wench93 (none) (none) Wight94 (none) (none) Wizard95 (none) (none) Wolf96 (none) (none) Woman97 (none) (none) Worm98 (none) (none) Wraith99 (none) (none) Wyvern100 (none) (none) Zombie

The Inn

The Inn itself will have a tavern/commonroom. It will also have a common sleepingroom with 8d4 beds, 2d10 “single” rooms(which may have two beds in them), and 1d4“master” rooms that can sleep four peoplecomfortably. There will also be a stable fortravelers’ horses, and inns of the larger sizes(and especially inns far from villages) willhave craftsmen (blacksmiths, etc) living therewith their own workshops. If the area is dan-gerous, it may well have a wall around all thebuildings. There will be a master bedroom forthe owner (and possibly wife), anotherbedroom for children, and one more room forevery 2 staff members.

Prices for lodging and food will be at 2d20 +80% of the campaign norm.

The Inn Staff

The inn will have a number of permanent staff.When the PCs first come into contact with anyof the staff members, be sure to make reactionrolls for each of the staff members. The pointof this entire exercise is to increase the amountof role-playing in a campaign, and to take thefocus off of the dungeon or quest and put it tomore mundane matters, without losing inter-esting qualities.

In my games of the past, “I hit on the servingwench,” or more explicit versions thereof, have

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been a common action. Usually I just hand-waive it, “Oh yeah, fine, she goes up to yourroom that night.” I mean, who cares, right? Butif the “home base” is going to be used as arole-playing focus, that hand-waiving can’thappen. Every NPC at the inn, including bothstaff and visitors, need wisdom and charismascores generated. In general, members of theopposite sex that have lower wisdom scoresthan the charisma of another character will bevery attracted to that character (influenced byreaction rolls of course!), and will react accord-ingly. Remember, the PCs are going to be seenas extremely interesting people who live on theedge. People working at an inn, or having othermundane lives, will want to be close to that andperhaps will want to “run away” from theircurreny life into a new and exciting one.Creating tension this way (especially when oneNPC takes a liking to a PC, and then startsreally taking a liking to random visitors to theinn afterwards) can result in some interestingsituations that cause suspenseful play withoutthe threat of bodily harm (unless someone getschallenged to a duel!), and an anchor to makeall these characters seem more real.

The OwnerThe owner will be a d20 – 10 level fighter(minimum 0). He will be an older fellow, andhas a 50% chance of being married, and 25%chance of being widowed. If the owner has anegative reaction to the party, prices at the innwill be increased d10 + 5%. If the owner’s wifehas a negative reaction to the party, prices willincrease d4 + 1%, but if she reacts well to them,there will be a d10 + 10% discount. Note it ispossible to have both the owner’s penalty andthe wife’s discount together!

If the owner is married or widowed, he willhave d6-1 children, each age d20 years.

The Servers/CleanersFor every ten rooms, there will be one woman(age d20 + 15 years) who serves as a servinggirl during busy times in the tavern area and

helps clean the empty rooms and keeps the areatidy.

Other StaffThe owners’ children, if any, can serve in othercapacities if they are at least 10 years of age,otherwise there will need to be a stable boy,perhaps a regular handyman if there are noother craftsmen about, and so on. Keep in mindthat anyone that lives at the inn (and most will– room and board will be an important part ofthe wages, as in a remote location, where elseis there to live, and in the city, housing isexpensive!) will need living space within theallotted rooms.

Regular VisitorsThere are a certain amount of folks that reliablyvisit the inn on a regular, predictable basis.These are mainly the folk that keep the Innstocked with standard supplies as well as somethat are involved with the Inn’s personnel.Farmers will arrive every 2d4 days with newfoodstuffs, other craftsmen will arrive every2d10 days to take care of any needs that innemployees can not.

Temple RepresentativeOnce a week, the temple representatives cometo provide for the employees of the inn. Theyexchange news and views, and that week’sdonations from the shrine. There will be tworepresentatives on horseback, and they willboth stay in one private room for one night.

Random VisitorsTo determine each day’s visitors, make apercentile roll on the Random Visitor’s Table.Keep rolling as long as the dice come up aneven number. The exact stats for these visitorsmust be determined by the referee.

Your specific game system should have guide-lines or charts for determining the alignmentand general personalities of NPCs. The gameworld is filled with all sorts of people, andmany of them will not see eye to eye with the

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PCs! Do keep in mind that evil does not meanviolent and good does not mean they will teamup with or aid the heroes in matters completelyunimportant in their own lives. Using theserandom rolls to determine NPC personality letsthe world breathe and, once again, lets theplayers know that even though the PCs are thecenter of the game, the game world does notrevolve around them! However, if a specificroll inspires a particular idea, the referee shoulddevelop his idea instead of relying on the dice.They are only there for when the referee needsa little boost.

In many cases “he” is specifically used whentalking about the random travelers. While theindividual referee can give his game world anysocial qualities he likes, this adventure assumesthat the game world is not so progressive.“Important” figures are most likely men,women are almost never in charge, and cer-tainly never walk the wilderness alone. Notethat absolutely none of this applies to “special”visitors such as adventuring parties, elves,magic-users, or such. Still, these types will stillskew predominantly male, with maybe only 1in 4 or even 1 in 5 being female.

Also, the region is assumed to be fairly homog-enous. The inn should seem as “real” and“logical” as possible as a contrast to the morefantastic elements that the PCs will encounterlater. Almost everybody visiting the Inn shouldbe a normal human, with a non-humans beingpresent in visiting groups maybe one time intwenty.

Random Visitors TableRoll Result01 – 02 Bandits03 – 12 Craftsman13 – 22 Duelist23 Dwarves24 Elves25 – 26 Entertainer27 Gambler28 – 29 Gentleman30 Gnome s31 Collaborators32 Gypsy Train33 Halflings34 – 35 Hearse36 – 45 Laborers46 Magic-User47 – 48 Mercenaries49 – 58 Merchant Caravan59 – 68 Messengers69 Minstrel Show70 – 81 No Visitor82 Officials83 – 84 Religious Troupe85 – 90 Random Travelers91 – 92 Spies of the Nobles93 – 94 Thief95 - 98 Wedding Party99 – 100 Roll on Special Visitors Table

Special Visitors TableRoll Result1 – 20 Adventuring Party21 – 23 Doppelganger24 – 40 Knight of Righteousness41 – 75 Military Patrol76 – 90 Noble91 – 99 Vampire100 Monster Raid

Details

Adventuring PartyYour game manuals should have rules forrandomly generating adventuring parties.There will be d4+2 adventurers with anaverage level of 1d4, with the appropriate

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henchmen, pack animals, and equipment. Theinn will treat these folk the same as the PCs(unless the PCs have performed some greatservice, of course), so these people may endup being competitors for the challenges of thearea. Depending on the alignment of the partiesinvolved and appropriate reaction checks, theseadventurers may be direct allies or perhapseven enemies of the PCs. They will wantprivate rooms for each of them, perhaps a suite,and will stay as long as there is adventure andpossibility of profit to be had.

BanditsAfter raiding caravans and farmhouses andpoor old women, bandits like to blow theirmoney and live it up hard. These guys will notcause any real (violent) trouble if their excesses(unsocial and rude as they are) are tolerated.However, with so many different peoplearound and all of the alcohol flowing, anythingmay happen. Note that they will be terriblyobnoxious towards any females in the place,but of course the young and pretty ones mostof all. For an interesting twist (especially if aPC has taken a shine on one of the inn’s staff),make appropriate reaction rolls for the womento see if any of them end up in a bandit’s bedthat night. There will be 3d4 bandits plus theirleader, they will stay in the common room, andthey will stay here at the inn until they are allout of money (2d4 days). Certain bandits maybe willing to become hirelings or henchmen.

CollaboratorsThe monsters aren’t threats to road traffic ontheir own. While some keep quiet for variousreasons, there are humans who actively aidthem in their highway robbery. Collaboratorsspend time in cities finding out about merchantcaravans that are preparing to head out andinform monsters about them ahead of time.When they move to inform their masters, theirpattern is the same. Go to the inn, stay a nightin a suite (or two private rooms), ride out thenext day, return, stay one more night, andleave. Only PCs who specifically follow these

men, or who just happen to be along their pathto witness their traveling to and contacting themonsters, would know something is up withthem. The most disturbing part is that in orderto contact the monsters and prove their“peaceful” intentions there, they must sacrificeone member of their own race at the meeting.So they will have a “new member of the gang”with them whenever they appear, and he willbe killed upon contact with the monsters. Thereare d4+2 men in this gang and it will alwaysbe the same men that appear when this optioncomes up at any particular inn. If they are dealtwith, then any further “Collaborators” resultsshould be read as “no visitor.” The men willgenerally never socialize as a group to keep asfew people as possible from noticing that, as agroup, they always show up with a new guybut never leave with him. Whenever the col-laborators show up, then a merchant caravanof the largest size will automatically be set toarrive fully laden with goods at the Inn in1d6+4 days. Whether the monsters will hit itbefore it arrives at the Inn or after it departs isfor the referee to decide.

CraftsmanBefore one can settle down in one’s very ownworkshop, there is a period of wandering togain experience in the field working for avariety of employers. Journeyman in the mostliteral sense! The referee will have to determineexactly what kind of work he does, and itshould ideally be randomly determined. Thecraftsman will stay in the common room andstay 1d4 days, unless he finds work locally, inwhich case he’ll stay as long as he has work.

DoppelgangerCreatures that depend on humanity for theirsustenance will always find their way to out ofthe way inns sooner or later. The introductionof a doppelganger to the environment may ormay not cause a great deal of havoc, dependingon who the creature chooses to duplicate. Theday the doppelganger arrives, every singleperson at the Inn has an equal chance to be

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selected as the first victim. If the victim is justpassing through, no one at the inn need everknow what happened. Until a body is discov-ered, anyway. A PC chosen as a victim willcause immediate conflict, of course, but an innemployee being killed and replaced by adoppelganger gives rise to a much more insid-ious, ongoing threat…

DuelistDuelists travel the countryside earning theirliving through provoking fights, or better yetgetting paid from just threatening to fight. Theydo this with the aid of an accomplice who willarrive at the inn the same day as the duelist butnot appear to be associated with him. In fact,they will take great pains to act unfamiliar witheach other. They will find a mark, usually anon-warrior looking type (no armor, battlescars, or large muscles) who looks at leastfairly wealthy, and move in. The duelist willbehave as a gentleman, being very proper, asbait for the trap. He will interact with his markand then feign offense at some perceived slightand offer to resolve the matter with a duel tobe scheduled the next day or two. In themeantime, the accomplice will approach thechallenged and offer to broker a cash deal(where the duelist would be the one to getpaid!) to prevent any embarrassment or untow-ard violence. Duels will be fought unarmored,with the weapon choice up to the challenged.Referees should detail which weapons a duelistis proficient in before executing the challengeto keep things fair. Duels will typically be tofirst blood only, although if a real offensecauses the duel, and the duelist is of a crankydisposition (and someone has made a very badreaction roll) and evil alignment, it can getnasty. After winning a duel, a duelist will pilfera valuable from the defeated as compensationfor his bother. Duelists will be a 1d6+2 levelfighter, stay in a private room (as will theiraccomplice), and stay for 1d4 days.

Dwarves“Dour and taciturn” is the cliché, and boy doesit fit these fellows. Dwarves seldom havereason to wander in the realms of men, andwhen they do they just want to conclude theirbusiness and go home. The world of men hastoo much sky… 3d4 dwarves will stay onenight at the Inn, in a private room if there isjust a few of them, and in the common room ifthere is a whole bunch. Each dwarf has a 25%chance to be a classed individual, and they willengage in heavy drinking at the tavern on theday they are there.

ElvesLiterature paints a different picture of elvesthan the usual adventuring party. While elvesout in the world of men often seem like fineand normal fellows, most elves prefer to staywith their own kind and they really do form analien society. Occasionally they must leavetheir sanctuaries to conduct various businessin the world, and when they do they leaveperplexed and whispering people in their wake.Elven visitors to the Inn will be 2d6 in number,with any specific elf a classed individual 25%of the time. There will be roughly equalamounts of male and female elves, they willnot mingle much with other visitors of the inn,and they will stay one night in a suite.

EntertainerIndividual (or partner) bards make their livingby playing taverns and festivals, so they willbe passing through lonely road with someregularity. There will only be one or two ofthem, and they will play in the main tavernhoping for tips. They will sleep in whateveraccommodations they can afford (usually thestables!). As usual with the “wandering life-style” types, they will be very rambunctiouswhen let loose with the alcohol. They will stayat the Inn for 1d10 days.

GamblerA professional gamesman travels the tavernsof the realm and makes his living by winning

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games of chance. He will set up on a table atthe Inn and try to coax people into playingcards (or dice, or whatever) with him. Thegambler is going to be either very good or verygood at cheating, and any character that doesn’thave gambling as a secondary skill should beat a severe disadvantage when facing this guy.He’ll stay as long as he can keep makingmoney (although likely it will be simplyagainst visitors and not the staff after a coupledays), using a private room. If cheating waysare uncovered, he just might be run out of theplace!

GentlemanGentlemen are people of decidedly refinedtastes, who comport themselves with utmostrespectability and expect everyone aroundthem to do the same in the name of a civilizedsociety. Despite their delusions of beingnatural men of the world, they are so veryunsuited to life around the frontier and so willspend most of their time here being quiteoffended. The barmaids are all tramps associ-ating too much with men, so unlike properladies, the men do not dress properly forsocializing and don’t even use the correctspoon for their soup. They of course will beabsolutely horrified at the prospect of violence(nevermind violence against them). For addedfun, sometimes (25% chance) they will bringtheir wife along, who is twice as refined andthree times as sensitive. Then they might (25%chance) bring along 1d4 children who will thenhave to be shielded from all sorts of badinfluence. A gentleman may (25% chance)have a couple of retainers to do his “dirtywork.” Gentlemen will want a private room iftraveling alone or just with his wife, or a suiteif with more people. They’ll plan to stay 2d6days for exposure to the robust country air, butwill often leave in a huff after 2d4 days.

GnomesGnomes are perhaps the rarest (or least-seen,anyway) of the demi-human races, and there-fore any encounter with them should seem

special. They are simple folk, as pragmatic asdwarves yet with the love of leisure as Hal-flings. PCs should be surprised by such ademeanor! There is a 10% chance that a gnomeis a classed individual. There will be 2d4 ofthem, they will stay in private rooms, and theywill stay for 1d4 days.

Gypsy TrainAn extended gypsy family traveling throughthe area is always sure to stop at the Inn. Therewill be 4d4 gypsies, half of them women andone quarter of them children, with one wagonfor every three gypsies. They will typically allbe one big extended family. They will campwithin a short distance of the inn and not stayin the rooms, but they will use all of thefacilities available at the inn and generally bevery visible. They will provide all sorts ofentertainment, anything from dancing to jug-gling to fire-breathing and sword swallowing.Generally they would only bring in money onaudience donations and will not be seen as abig deal by the locals. Depending on howstereotypical (some would say racist) you wantto get with the gypsies, more possibilities openup. There could be some sort of theft subplothappening at the inn complex, or one of the oldwomen of the gypsies could be a genuine seerand able to tell the PCs’ future. The gypsieswill stay for 1d8 days.

HalflingsHalflings traveling in packs away from theirhomelands are rare, but the affable folk arealways welcome in civilized lands. Halflingswill tend to want to keep out of trouble, andwhile they will be social, they will typically betight-lipped about what exactly their businessmight be. There will be 2d4 of the folk, alwayswanting private rooms (they’ll sleep four to aroom though) and staying for 1d4 days. Thereis only a 10% chance that they are classedindividuals.

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HearsePeople of means usually want to be buriedwhere their families are, or at least close towhere they were born. There is a fair trade intransporting bodies between larger communi-ties. This will usually just be one or twolaborers with a horse, cart or wagon, and theircargo in a coffin. The body will often have aminor amount of jewelry on it which will makeit of interest to petty thieves, but 1% of thesewill have an impressive piece of jewelryworthy of any sick enough to disturb the dead.The laborers will prefer to sleep in the commonroom, and the coffin will stay in the stables(making it quite unpleasant for anyone therethat night!) They will only stay for one night.

Knight of RighteousnessA Knight (roll 1d6+4 to determine level) andhis entourage (cleric, scribe, and 1d6 men-at-arms) arrive at the Inn. The Knight willdemand a use of a suite for himself, and privaterooms for everyone in his group. He willdemand all of these for free, and he willdemand that the rooms all be adjacent andanyone in rooms that he needs be tossed outimmediately. The Knight will demand that noalcohol be served while he is in the area, thatthe barmaids cover up any exposed flesh,shutting down any entertainment, and gener-ally be a complete nuisance. He won’t even doanything about the dungeon or current adven-ture plot if informed about them because he ison his way to a “much more important quest.”The inn staff will suffer the Knight’s shenani-gans because they don’t want the trouble ofresisting him, and they’ll encourage anyoneelse to keep their mouths shut too. In fact, theonly way the Knight will show himself to beanything other than a completely self-righteoussnob is if blatant criminal activity or a monsterattack happens while he is here. The Knightwill stay at the inn for 1d3 days.

LaborersWork is hard to come by for many, and whenfreemen can not find gainful employmentwhere they are, they will travel looking forwork. There will be 2d6 laborers in the group,and they will be staying in the stables. Theywill stay 1d4 days, generally harassing travel-ers to hire them for just about any sort of work.Including the PCs…

Magic-UserWho knows what motivates the men whomanipulate magic? They travel from place toplace, sometimes on mundane business, andsometimes in search of things far more esoter-ic. Use 1d4+2 to determine what level themagic-user is. He will likely have a familiar, a0 level companion or hireling, and a 5th or 6th

level magic-user might have a 1st level appren-tice. The magic-user will stay in a privateroom, although the others might stay in thecommon room. They will stay 1d4 days. Themagic-user is not very likely to go adventuringwith the PCs, but might agree for a suitableportion of treasure if he has an enthusiasticallyfriendly reaction to them. Note that if he is ofa greater level than any of the PCs, a “suitableportion” might be 50% or more just for him-self, and he may think of himself as the partyleader and the PCs his mere henchmen!

MercenariesStanding armies in the middle ages wereuncommon, and it could be assumed that RPGkingdoms loosely based on that time periodmight have the same situation. This results ina professional soldier class that has no loyaltyto a specific kingdom travels the land searchingfor nobles in need of warriors. Because theirlivelihood is based on killing and dying, theytake their off-time very seriously and will bethe most enthusiastic revelers to be found atthe tavern when they show up. They aren’t themost popular customers the inn has, as theytend to be pretty rude, grabby, and they arepoor tippers! The exact type of mercenary issubject to referee decision (and some games

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give options for such expert hirelings). Therewill be 3d8 of them, and they will likely as notdecide on making camp nearby. If they do stayat the inn, they would stay in the commonroom, with maybe their commander having aprivate room. They will stay 1d4 days. Merce-naries, of course, make wonderful henchmenand general combat support hirelings as longas alignments and reaction rolls allow.

Merchant CaravanBusiness is business, and business throughrisky areas offers a high return for the invest-ment. There is no shortage of people makingshrewd, or completely foolish, decisions andbringing caravans out this way. A typicalmerchant caravan will consist of a head mer-chant, 1d4 assistants, 2d4 guards, and 2d6support laborers. There will be one wagon forevery four individuals. Sometimes a merchantwill have his family with him, which adds aspouse and d6 – 1 children. The referee shoulddetermine exactly what goods the merchantdeals in. Any merchant has a flat 20% chanceto be interested in any valuable or odd goodsthe PCs want to sell, although the amount themerchant gives them for the goods will dependon reaction rolls, anywhere from 25% for ahostile reaction to 75% for an extremely favor-able reaction. The merchant will want a suitefor himself and his family, the common roomfor his guards and assistants, and the stablesfor his laborers. They will just stay one night.

Military PatrolThis is a large group from a neighboring area,on patrol along the road. They will not leavethe road to engage under any circumstances(their orders are to be seen, defend anyonetraveling on the road, but do not go out of theway to engage). The Inn is a good stop off forthem, and the soldiers will party hard. Therewill be 10d4 0 level men-at-arms, and for everyten men there will be a first level fighter squadleader, and if there are thirty or more men therewill be a second level fighter sergeant. Theywill make their own camp a short distance

away from the inn so they will take up norooms, but they will be all over the tavern andmany of the other buildings of the inn com-pound continuously. They’ll pretty much actlike the bandits when all is said and done. Theywill only stay one night unless they arrive fora weekend, in which case they will leave onMonday.

Minstrel ShowIf the inn is remotely located, the owner knowsthat the employees often get bored or longingfor a larger community, so he brings in enter-tainment shows every so often. There will be3d4 musicians, actors, and miscellaneous enter-tainers (acting as their own crew!) who willtake over an area close to the inn and set up amakeshift stage. They generally have a fewwagons which also serve as their sleepingareas, although they will also have a privateroom in the inn just in case someone needs abit more privacy. When the minstrel troupe isin the area, service tends to suffer as the staffis focused on the entertainment. Of course ifthe minstrels are only performing for theemployees, they will not stay so long. Figureabout 1d4+1 days average, or as long as theyhave a paying audience. Lock up the womenand children when these guys are around!Make an extra roll on the Random Visitorstable for every day the minstrels are here, aspeople time their trips to be able to see this sortof thing.

Monster Raid!This result means there will be a monster raidhappening on this day, in addition to whateverelse is happening around the Inn. Usually itwill be a rather unintelligent monster, as mostintelligent creatures know to stay away fromthe inn and all its various denizens. This couldbe a good opportunity for PCs to see exactlywho their hosts are as they will defend theirloved ones and the property (in that order!) tothe best of their ability. Depending on themenace, it might also be a good test to see ifthe PCs know when to put their heads down

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and stay out of the way. Roll on the followingtable to determine what attacks (a bandit raidwill not be with a same crew of bandits thatwould stay here):

Roll Result1 Anhkheg2 Bulette3 Ettin (1d6)4 Hill Giant (1d4)5 – 11 Human Bandit Raid!12 – 16 Humanoid Raid!17 Hydra18 Manticore19 Troll (2d4)20 Wyvern

NobleA noble and his entourage is an impressivething. The noble himself will always have 2d4bodyguards, 3d4 assistants of various types,plus enough carriages (and drivers and horses)to transport them all and their luggage. Refer-ees may decide the noble is bringing his familyalong, in which case add a spouse and 1d6children, plus another 2d4 bodyguards and 2d4assistants. Nobles will demand the run of theplace, earning a bit of enmity from the locals(even though the generous amount of money anoble’s entourage brings in will soften thatblow a bit), and probably even more from thePCs. They should never be allowed to forgetthat they are in the presence of power in therealm, and their behavior while the noble ishere can have far-reaching implications for thecampaign. Nobles will stay in a suite, and ifthere is not a suite available then somebody isgoing to have to get kicked out so the noblecan stay. The entourage will all stay in privaterooms (the “important” ones) or the commonroom (the “unimportant” ones). They will stayfor 1d6 days and be the center of attention theentire time.

OfficialsBureaucrats are a constant menace in anysociety. They also tend to be very non-threat-

ening, unless they see something they don’tlike, in which case they will do nothing aboutit themselves and just report the problem to thenext link in the chain. These officials(government, religious, mercantile) have noactual function that PCs can determine, butthey conduct themselves as very importantpeople and demand respect as a matter ofcourse. There will be 2d6 of these leechestraveling, likely by carriage (you think they’dwalk all this way or learn to ride a horsethemselves?), with one assistant for every fourof them present. The officials will themselvesstay in suites or private rooms, while theassistants will get the common room or thestable.

Religious TroupeA traveling religious troupe is either a groupof pilgrims traveling to a holy site, or a low-ranking group of monks or priests doing thesame. Very rarely should this mean a cleric-classed character. The referee should deter-mine exactly what god the troupe worships,and what the relationship of that god is withthe prevalent god at the inn compound. In all,the troupe will be 3d4 individuals staying inthe stables or the common room for 1d2 days.Clerics (of the same god!) should be able tofind hirelings or henchmen in such a group.

Random TravelersSometimes, people don’t have any sort ofreason for being anywhere in particular. Inde-pendently wealthy (or simply landless wander-ers) out to see the world, fugitives from far-offauthority, or people merely on the way fromone place to another, these are all “randomtraveler” types. It will be one person with equalchances of staying in the stables, commonroom, private room, or suite, and staying for1d6 days. Random travelers staying in thecommon room or stables are ripe for thepicking as hirelings or henchmen.

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Spies of the NoblesThese people are on the lookout for evidencethat the innkeeper is openly defying the law ofthe land (the referee can determine details asappropriate for his campaign) as well as tax-evading treasure collectors! These spies willalways be here under other auspices (roll againon the table to see who they are pretending tobe), and they will be quite nosy and obtrusiveinto people’s business. Mistreating these menis a bad idea as that will bring noble troops toteach the offenders how to properly treat their“betters”; and if the men go missing it willcertainly bring troops to investigate and intim-idate… PCs getting involved in the politicalintrigue around the inn may be in for more thanthey bargained. Keep in mind that Lawfulcharacters would tend to favor the side of thenobles…

ThiefThe temporary nature of inn residences makesthem a frequent target of thieves who can takeadvantage of the situation. 1d4 thieves of 1d6level each will stay at the inn for 1d6 days ineither the common room or a private room.They will spend their time around the commonareas of the compound casing out guests (neveranyone that lives there unless they can find aneasily accessible and excessive treasure!) todetermine who has something worth stealing.Then they will strike, grabbing all they canwhile attracting no attention to themselves andimmediately leaving.

VampireVampires like lodging too! This will compriseof a couple or three strongmen on a carriage(with one or two horses) carrying a rather largecrate. They will want either a private room or

a suite and will carry their tremendously heavy(700+ pound) cargo to the room. They willaccept no assistance, and will be very obviousin their wish to be left alone. Of course theircargo is a vampire resting in its coffin, and atnight the vampire may awaken and disguiseitself as one of its followers and enjoy a nightin the tavern. Of course someone examiningall of this closely will find many suspiciousthings about the group. It is recommended thatthe vampire and his follower(s) not deliberatelycause trouble for their hosts, but anyone gettingtoo curious about this mysterious band oftravelers is in for a nasty surprise. They willstay just the one night.

Wedding PartyFor some reason, the inn the PCs are stayingat has become a popular wedding site. So acouple of times a year, a wedding party willdescend on the inn, spreading merriment andwarm feelings to everyone! Weddings makeeveryone feel more romantic so any passesmade at the barmaids will all have a +10%bonus to reaction rolls, +20% if the effort reallydoes seem romantic and there have been noprevious crude attempts made by the characteron one of the staff. There will be the bride andgroom and 10d6 family and friends. The brideand groom will each have a private room untilthe wedding, after which they will have a suitetogether. The family and friends will have asmany private rooms as are available, the restwill stay in the common room. They will arriveby private coaches (one coach per six people),and those coach drivers will stay in thecommon room. The entire party will be therefor 1d6 days before the wedding, everyone willleave the day after except the married couplewho will remain for d10+6 days afterwards.

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1. User and subject’s minds switch bodies.Class, level, and magical abilities remainwith the original bodies.

2. User and subject swap genitalia.3. Subject dies and becomes a random type of

undead creature with the original hit diceof the subject.

4. One random ability score of the subjectincreases/decreases (50% chance of each)by d10.

5. Subject gains the ability to cast one randomMagic-User spell of a random level…once.

6. d8 points of a random ability score transfersfrom subject to user or user to subject (50%chance of each).

7. Subject gains the ability to cast one randomCleric spell of a random level… once.

8. Subject becomes sexually obsessed with theuser.

9. User becomes sexually obsessed with thesubject.

10. Subject turns to dry powder. When water isadded to the powder, the subject will recon-stitute in the same condition as before.

11. Subject grows wings out of eye sockets;may fly but is now blind.

12. Subject’s teeth fall out and are replacedwith hollow crystal teeth, each of which

contains one dose of a different randommagical potion.

13. Subject’s fingers turn to gold. They stillfunction, but are worth 1,000gp each if theyare severed.

14. Subject’s weight (but not size)increases/decreases (50% of each) byd1000%.

15. Subject is filled with magical energy. Everytime they are damaged in combat, there isa 1% cumulative chance that they willexplode (fatal), doing d10 damage for everyhit die they possess to everyone within30’.

16. Subject becomes able to detect magic bysight continually.

17. Subject becomes magic dead. No spelleffect will ever work on him, good or bad,and no magical effect of any item or areawill work for him.

18. Subject functions as a bag of holding. Anobject placed in an orifice (hopefully themouth…) still harm the subject as normalgoing in and out, but an unlimited amountof items may be discretely stored in anyorifice without additional harm.

19. The subject’s anus completely closes up.Every 24 hours the subject must save versuspoison or take d6 damage. Carving a new

Wand of the WeirdBy James Edward Raggi IV

This item resembles a rather thick gnarled stick. It will be identifiable as a magic wand byanyone who touches it. Any creature able to hold it and speak may use the wand. It has 5d20charges when found, and may not be recharged.

To be used, the wand must be pointed by its user at a living creature (the “subject”). The usermay point the wand at himself. Using the wand on a non-living creature or empty space simplywastes a charge. The wand’s range is 60’. The wand has a random effect as determined by thefollowing table (all results are permanent):

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anus will cause d8 damage, but this stopsthe daily damage.

20. The subject grows d6 large boils on randomparts of his body. These boils make wearingarmor (and other actions) impossible.Cutting a boil off do d4 damage, but theboil’s contents may then be used as a flaskof oil.

21. The subject’s eyes turn into gems worth5,000gp each. The eyes function as normalas long as they remain in the subject’shead.

22. Subject becomes pregnant with user’schild.

23. Subject’s internal organs transform toclockwork machinery. The subject mustdrink one flask of oil per day in addition toother food requirements.

24. Subject becomes physically unable to sleep.The subject does not lose the need to sleep,however, and will suffer all due penaltiesfor lack of sleep.

25. Any woman who makes eye contact withthe subject must save versus magic orbecome pregnant.

26. Every time the subject visits a new popu-lated area for the first time, someone therewill have proof that the subject owes themd% gold pieces.

27. Subject will automatically kill the nextenemy he hits in combat.

28. Subject will automatically be killed by thenext enemy that hits him in combat.

29. Subject loses the ability to recognizetraps.

30. The subject loses all ability to measuretime.

31. The user and subject must engage in mortalcombat – the winner permanently gains1/10th of the other’s maximum hit points.

32. The ceiling caves in on the subject. If thereis no ceiling, a 100’ sinkhole opens upbelow him.

33. 10d6 fireball hits the subject. Watch out forthat area effect!

34. Subject’s current hit points are increasedtenfold. Excess hit points above the

subject’s normal maximum can not behealed or restored once lost.

35. Subject becomes hypersensitive to poisonand will never make a successful poisonsave.

36. Subject becomes tasty to animals – anyhostile beast will attack that subject beforeall others.

37. Every lover the subject ever has in thefuture will be caring, respectful, doting, andchronically and outrageously unfaithful.

38. Character’s apparent age doubles (no effecton health or stats).

39. Life Force! Forevermore, when the subjectrolls a natural 20 in combat, they gain onepermanent hit point. When they roll a 1,they lose a permanent hit point.

40. All subject’s magic items become disen-chanted.

41. Subject’s nipples are replaced with mouthswhich mumble incoherently at all times.

42. Subject is deemed a hostile troublemakerby all authority figures and law enforce-ment he encounters.

43. Subject grows (non-damaging) horns.44. Subject becomes incontinent and will soil

himself every time he sleeps.45. Subject gains the ability to speak with

insects.46. Subject gains the ability to breathe water.47. Subject gains the ability to withstand the

heat of molten lava, but is not otherwiseimmune to heat.

48. Subject takes 50% more or less (50%chance of each) damage from missile/melee(50% of each) attacks.

49. Subject grows painful corns on his feet,reducing movement by 25%. If the charac-ter rides in a vehicle or on an animal, hedevelops awful hemorrhoids and must restenough to reduce overall travel time by25%. If the subject is willing to suffer d4damage that day, he may move as normal.

50. Subject becomes regenerative; all healing,magical or natural, restores 2 more pointsthan usual.

51. Subject’s rear end glows like a firefly’s.

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52. Subject’s nose and mouth move to theankles.

53. Subject’s head moves from atop the shoul-ders to the groin.

54. Subject’s hair becomes prehensile.55. 1 in 1000 chance that any NPC the subject

meets will think him the Dark Messiah andattempt to sacrifice children to him.

56. Subject grows a tail that is 10d12 incheslong. The tail is dead weight.

57. Subject’s face becomes ordinary; only a50% chance that an NPC will ever recog-nize him after meeting him.

58. Subject’s earlobes swell to grapefruit sizeand fill with blood. Subject loses d6 hitpoints, but drinking the blood from eachearlobe heals the drinker of that amount.

59. Subject’s stomach acid becomes superdi-gestive – anything may be used for food,but any magic potion used causes a misci-bility table check.

60. Subject becomes repellent to fish and willnever be attacked by one, and will nevercatch one.

61. Subject grows an impressive amount ofthick back hair.

62. The wand transfers to the subject’s hand.63. The subject goes cock-eyed, and will never

hit with a ranged attack again.64. Subject gains the ability to polymorph into

a covered wagon at will.65. Subject becomes lucky – can declare once

per session that any one failed roll actuallysucceeded.

66. Subject becomes unlucky – Referee candeclare once per session that any one suc-cessful roll actually failed.

67. Subject becomes a lucky charm – candeclare once per session that any one failedroll made by someone else actually suc-ceeded.

68. Subject gains the ability to communicatewith yaks.

69. Subject suffers from communicable tone-deafness; no musical performance will eversound good to anyone when the subject ispresent.

70. Subject chews own lips off.71. Subject must save versus magic to avoid the

temptation of cutting any rope encoun-tered.

72. Soles of subject’s feet constantly bleedslightly, leaving an obvious trail.

73. Subject gains the ability to create movingimpressionistic works of art, but is unableto draw a straight line – the character canno longer map.

74. A very large ferocious bear arrives and willprotect the subject from all threats –“threats” being defined as any living crea-ture within 100’.

75. A nasty large dragon happens by andaccuses the subject of stealing a gem worth25,000gp. Pay up, or else!

76. The cavalry arrives! 3d10 armed men comeupon the scene and demand to know whatis happening. There are even chances thatthe group will be friendly or hostile to thesubject.

77. The user’s arms fall off.78. Subject turns into a pinecone.79. Flash flood! Huge amount of water rushes

through the area clearing everybody andeverything out.

80. Subject’s face becomes tattooed. If the faceis skinned, the tattoos may be used as ascroll of a random 9th level spell.

81. Subject is teleported d100 miles away in arandom direction.

82. The subject splits into d6 duplicates, allwith the same stats and equipment as theoriginal.

83. Subject momentarily transforms into Death.One random character or creature within100’ (not the subject) dies instantly and isdragged to hell (with all their equipment).

84. Subject’s skin becomes as steel, perma-nently improving their AC by 5 points.

85. Subject offends the God of the Dead! Anyenemy killed by the subject immediatelyraises as a zombie and attempts to kill thesubject again!

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86. Subject becomes abhorrent to horses andcan never ride one.

87. Subject gains +5 to hit and +2 to damagewith any attack – against the user only.

88. Subject gains spastic reflexes. The charactercan decide on a bonus and a penalty toinitiative and to-hit rolls on any particularround, and the total must add up to 0, butthe individual bonus and penalty may notbe 0.

89. A Greater Demon is summoned andattempts to slay everyone in sight.

90. A giant centipede appears inside thesubject’s armor and clothing and attacks!

91. The user’s life force is trapped in a glassbauble which appear’s in the subject’s hand.The subject can force the user into threeconditions to spare his life, and the usermust abide by the conditions or instantlydie.

92. Subject grows an eye in the center of hisback.

93. Subject’s hair turns prehensile and is hostileto the subject – will attempt to gouge eyes,plug and tear ears, strangle, etc.

94. Steroid fiend: Subject gains +3 to hit anddamage due to great strength, but connect-ing muscle tissue weakens and subject takes1hp damage when using this strength.

95. Subject grows 35 extra toes on each foot.Is unable to wear footwear unless custom-made, which will cost 100gp. Per foot.

96. Nothing happens and the wand loses allremaining charges.

97. Roll three times on this table. Subject mustchoose two results.

98. Roll three times on this table. Subject mustchoose one of the results.

99. Roll two times on this table; all resultshappen!

100. Roll three times on this table; all resultshappen!

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House of SnailsBy James Edward Raggi IV

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Random Encounter Table, 1 in 6 chance everyother turn.

1. D6 Baby Snails: Armor as leather + shield,Move at ¼ speed of unencumbered human,HD 1, 6hp, #AT 1, D d4

2. Adult Snail: Armor as plate, Move at ¼speed of unencumbered human, HD 3,14hp, #AT 1, D d6

3. Cultists: 0 level human, 4hp, armed withshort swords.

4. Slime: Armor as chain, Move at speed ofunencumbered human, HD 2, 10hp, #AT 1,D d6, random immunity:

1. Fire Attacks2. Cold Attacks3. Physical Attacks4. Electrical Attacks

1. The pool of water here (5’ deep) has six babysnails in it, waiting to attack anyone whoattempts to cross the water.

Baby Snails: Armor as leather + shield, Moveat ¼ speed of unencumbered human, HD 1,6hp, #AT 1, D d4

2. The lever in this room closes the rightmostportcullis in location #12.

3. The lever here raises the leftmost portcullisin location #12.

4. An adult snail lairs in the water here (5’deep), waiting to attack anyone who attemptsto cross the water.

Adult Snails: Armor as plate, Move at ¼ speedof unencumbered human, HD 3, 14hp, #AT 1,D d6

5. Buried in the collapsed tunnel is a skeletonwearing a gold ring (250gp value). It takes 2turns of digging to find the skeleton.

6. The lever in this room closes the uppermostportcullis in location #12.

7. There will be an automatic random encoun-ter here.

The lever in this room lowers the leftmostportcullis in location #12.

8. There will be an automatic random encoun-ter here.

9. The lever here raises the uppermost portcul-lis in location #12.

10. In this room is a trapped chest (poisonneedle) containing a pile of pearls worth1,000gp.

11. The lever in this room raises the rightmostportcullis in location #12.

12. This intersection has portcullises in thepassageways leading left, right, and forward(if looking at the map head-on). When theadventure starts, all of these portcullises aredown.

13. There is an automatic random encounter inthis room.

14. The 5’ deep pool of water houses an adultsnail which will attack any who enter the pool.

There is a gem fastened into the end of thepassage worth 500gp. If it is removed, a chunkof the ceiling will fall, doing 2d6 damage toanyone here who fails a save versus breathweapon.

Adult Snail: Armor as plate, Move at ¼ speedof unencumbered human, HD 3, 14hp, #AT 1,D d6

15. This door is trapped; any who attempt toopen it without the proper key is zapped for d6damage and must make a save versus paralyz-ation to actually open the door.

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16. Against the wall here is a carving of a giantconch shell. Inside the shell is a gem worth500gp, but it is enclosed in a glass case whichis connected to the shell. To see this, one mustcrawl inside and go around the coiling interiorof the shell.

The glass case twists off of the shell. If twistedcounterclockwise, it is easily removed. Iftwisted clockwise, pores in the stone of thegiant carving emit a glue which fastens every-thing to the stone for 48 hours. The only wayto free a trapped character is to destroy thestone carving which will destroy the glass, thegem, and do d8 damage to the character.

17. This room contains a pedestal with anobvious pressure plate on it. There is nothingcurrently placed on it.

If anything 5 pounds or heavier is placed on it,the ceiling opens and thirty baby snails rolldown into the room ready to feed.

Baby Snails: Armor as leather + shield, Moveat ¼ speed of unencumbered human, HD 1,6hp, #AT 1, D d4

18. Two adult snails lair in this 5’ pool, readyto feed on any who intrude.

Adult Snail: Armor as plate, Move at ¼ speedof unencumbered human, HD 3, 14hp, #AT 1,D d6

19. Here is a large mound, atop rests a largesnail with a shell made of mother-of-pearl. Theshell, if undamaged, is worth 10,000gp. Eachattack made against it that misses still chips ita bit, lowering its value by 100gp. A successfulattack lowers its value by 1,000gp. The snailwill not move from the mound but will attackany who approach.

Four cultists are also here and they will behostile.

In front of the mound are four levers. Thesework the three portcullises at location #12 aswell as a locking mechanism for the entrancedoor of the dungeon.

Cultists: 0 level human, 4hp, armed with shortswords.

Large Snail: Armor as plate + shield + 2, Moveat ¼ speed of unencumbered human, HD 5,27hp, #AT 1, D d8

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The Frog CultBy James Edward Raggi IV

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This was a quick adventure I whipped up oneafternoon. The idea is that a village has hadsome young people disappear lately, and arelooking for someone to investigate. A fewmiles from the village is an old ruined churchon the south shore of a lake.

1. This old church lies in ruins, its walls barelyholding up. The altar has been broken.

2. This is an old barn. Fresh hay is scatteredabout. Two ghouls are in the hay and willattack when anyone walks within reach unlessthey wear the robes of the frog cult. A trapdoorleading into the dungeon (by way of a tunnelleading under the lake) is hidden under the hay..

Ghouls: Armor as chain, Move as unencum-bered man, HD 2, 10hp, #AT 3, D d3/d3/d6 +paralysis, has usual undead immunities.

Random Dungeon Encounters1 in 6 chance every 3 turns1. d8 cultists – unarmored men, 0 level, 3hp,

armed with daggers2. d4 giant frogs - Giant Frogs: Armor as

shield only, Move as unencumbered man,HD 2, 9hp, #AT 1, D d6. Can hop up to 40’to attack.

3. Green Slime4. Giant Rats - Unarmored, move half again

as fast as unarmored man, HD ½, 2hp, #AT1, D d4

5. The Stalking Man – Armor as leather +shield, Move as unarmored man, HD 5,30hp, #AT 1, D d8. Made of shadows,surprises 4 in 6, magic weapons needed tohit

6. Vipers – Unarmored, move half as fast asunarmored man, HD ½, 2hp, #AT 1, DPoison

3. This room’s ceiling sags, dripping. Drip.Drip. Drip.

Every door in the dungeon has a little “froggy”pet door. Halflings may crawl through them ifthey first shed their equipment, but no otherscan. All wandering monsters except the cultistsuse the froggy doors when moving about.

4. The room contains a 6’ granite frog statue.It has topaz eyes (25gp each).

5. The room contains a 6’ granite frog statue.It has glass eyes, which explode for d6 damageto all within 10’ (save versus breath weaponfor half damage) if there is an attempt toremove them.

6. The room contains a 6’ granite frog statue.There are no eyes in the statue’s sockets, andif eyes are put in, the character putting the eyesthere gains a permanent +1 to a random abilityscore.

7. The room contains a 6’ granite frog statue.The frog’s head is able to be twisted off. Insidethe statue is a sack with 4000gp in it.

8. The room contains a 6’ granite frog statue.The mouth is closed but has obvious hinges. Ifthe mouth is opened, a Clerical scroll with twofirst level spells and one second level spell canbe found.

There are also three giant frogs that inhabit theroom.

Giant Frogs: Armor as shield only, Move asunencumbered man, HD 2, 9hp, #AT 1, D d6.Can hop up to 40’ to attack.

9. The room contains a 6’ granite frog statue.The frog’s head is able to be twisted off. Insidethe statue is a colony of BEES! If the head istaken off, the bees will flood the room, stingingall within it. Anyone in the area must saveversus breath weapon or suffer a -1 Dexteritymodifier (AC, missile attacks, initiative).Those that fail this saving throw must also

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make a save against poison or take d6 damage(if the roll is a natural 1, d8).

10. The room contains a 6’ granite frog statue.There are no eyes in the statue’s sockets, andif eyes are put in, lasers shoot out of the neweyes. Anyone looking in that direction mustsave versus paralyzation or become blind ford6 days.

11. The room contains a 6’ granite frog statue.The mouth is closed but has obvious hinges. Ifthe mouth is opened, a poison needle will shootout (save versus poison or die).

12. A small pile of bones (which look partiallymelted about the edges) and clumps of randommetal can be found here. Valuable metals addup to 28gp, 49sp, 32gp, and a gem worth 50gp.

13. A gelatinous cube is here in the intersec-tion. Because the entire dungeon is damp andslimy, there is a 4 in 6 chance that characterswill not notice the cube until literally walkinginto it.

Gelatinous Cube: Armor as chain, Move at halfthe speed on an unencumbered man, HD 4,20hp, #AT 1, D 2d4 + paralysis.

14. At the end of the room is a relief sculptureof an open-mouthed frog’s head which takesup the entire wall. If the eyes are pressed, greenslime will shoot out the mouth onto anyone infront of the carving.

15. At the end of the room is a relief sculptureof an open-mouthed frog’s head which takesup the entire wall. In the mouth is a gemstone.If the gem is pulled out of its socket, the mouthwill snap shut doing d6 damage if any bodypart is inside. The “gem” is actually made ofglass and is worth 1gp.

16. At the end of the room is a relief sculptureof an open-mouthed frog’s head which takes

up the entire wall. If the eyes are pressed, thesecret door will open.

17. This is a frog den. Hundreds of normalfrogs infest the area, and ten giant frogs lairhere and will be hostile to intruders.

Giant Frogs: Armor as shield only, Move asunencumbered man, HD 2, 9hp, #AT 1, D d6.Can hop up to 40’ to attack.

18. A creature made up of a mass of tentacles,with eyes on them where the suckers shouldbe, dwells under the water and will attack allentering this area.

Tentacle Eye Creature: Armor as leather +shield, Move as unencumbered man(swimming only), HD 4, 26hp. #AT 3, Dd4/d4/d4.

19. Odd flowers poke out from the water here.If the flowers are sniffed, the sniffer needs toroll on the following table. If the flowers areviolently handled, then the pollen puffsthrough the room and everyone in the areaneeds to save versus poison or suffer a randomfate from the table.

1. Poison – death!2. +1 to random attribute3. -1 to random attribute4. Joints swell; -50% movement rate for next

24 hours5. Great stink, eyes water. Character will be

able to surprise no-one, and no human ordemi-human will be willing to be near themfor 24 hours.

6. Bleeds from eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

20. Mudslide! Characters attempting thisincline must save versus paralysis or slide backdown to the west. Failing to save causes d6damage as sharp rocks under the water inflictharm.

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21. This room is a giant dung pile, with a giantdung beetle lairing here. Buried in the dung isa small gold ingot worth 250gp.

Giant Dung Beetle: Armor as chain, Move halfas fast as unencumbered man, HD 2, 12hp,#AT 1, D d6. When the beetle is killed it willexplode with a methane blast – d6 damage toall within 20’, save versus breath weapon forhalf damage.

22. Two giant oysters are found here. Eachoyster has a pearl worth 250gp within it.

Giant Oysters: Armor as plate, no movement,HD 3, 20hp, #AT 1, d6 damage

23. At the end of the room is a relief sculptureof an open-mouthed frog’s head which takesup the entire wall. If meat of any sort is put inthe mouth, the secret door will open.

24. The gated door is locked. In this room areeighteen prisoners. (0 level, 1hp each)

25. The entire room is basically a 10’ deep pit.At floor level of the corridors leading to theroom is a rope mesh which is fastened to hooksaround the edges of the room. Hundreds ofpoisonous snakes slither down on the floor.

The “rope” is actually strangleweed which willattempt to kill anyone who travels upon it morethan 10’ away from the entry corridors. If thestrangleweed is killed, it collapses and anyoneon it drops into the snakes.

Strangleweed: As unarmored man, HD 6,36hp, #AT 1, D d6/round

26. In the ceiling is a shaft going up about 30’to a dead end. Anyone spending a minute tolook up this shaft will get hit by falling greenslime.

27. This room is where the toad cult worships.The chanting can be heard from beyond thedoor.

A giant toad statue dominates the south part ofthe room. Torches mounted on the wall oneither side of the toad provides light. In thisroom are Talor Chaney, the cult leader, BruteGrimm, his enforcer, and four cultists. Theywill take any intrusion ungraciously, but willprefer to capture and enslave (prisoners will betaken to location #24) rather than kill.

The pit has a great metal plug upon it, with achain running from the top of it to the ceilingand further to a giant crank against the eastwall. It takes 3 rounds to open (or close) theplug. If the plug is opened, 4 rounds later theThing from the Pit will crawl out and attemptto kill everyone it encounters. If things arelooking bad, Grimm will drop everything elseand attempt to open the pit.

Cultists: 0 level men, hp 3 each, unarmoredand armed with daggers.They wear simple hooded robes.

Brute Grimm: Fighter level 3, 20hp, Chainmail, sword, short bow.Grimm is a giant, imposing figure (Str 17) andwears a full-face mask to cover the horriblewounds he once suffered (a morning starcompletely destroyed his face). He is not ableto speak and is fanatically devoted to Chaneyas Chaney is the only person (that acts as if)not disgusted by his face..

Talor Chaney: Cleric level 3, unarmored,armed with a mace.He wears simple hooded robes. He wears tworings: One is Ring of Plant Hardening, whichparalyzes plants. He uses this to allow passageacross location #25. The other ring has a smallruby in it and is worth 500gp.

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The Thing in the Pit: Armor as chain andshield, Movement half as fast as unencumberedman, HD 8, 49hp, #AT 3, D d8/d8/d10This looks like a giant man-frog.

28. This tunnel leads to the opposite side of thelake and is a way out.

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The Room of Four PitsBy Ramsey Dow

Four ten-foot wide passages converge on thisthirty-foot square chamber. Each passageenters through an archway decorated withcarvings and reliefs of monsters, both strangeand sinister. The ceilings of the passages areten feet high, while the arches are seven feethigh. Other than the carvings, the arches arenondescript. A single step down serves as thethreshold of the chamber from any of thepassages.

The chamber is plain, having the same roughlyhewn stone walls and ceiling as the passagesthat preclude it. Notably, there are four open-faced pits, one to each corner. Ten feet to aside, the pits appear to be identical. Lookingover the edge into any one the pits will revealthat it is thirty-feet deep and inhabited byhorrible creatures of some sort. Precisely howmuch can be gleaned will depend upon thequality and position of the party's light sources.

At the center of the chamber is a twenty-footsquare pressure plate. Indistinguishable fromthe floor, the plate will be activated as soon asone hundred pounds of weight is placed uponit. Once activated, iron portcullises will drop,simultaneously barring escape through any ofthe chamber's four archways. The sound ofstone grating upon stone will be heard as thefloor of the chamber begins to sink, slowly andinexorably, to the floor-level of the pits. It willreach bottom in three rounds. A Magic Mouth,its breath spewing phantasmal fog, will appearat the center of the ceiling and intone:

My step is slow / the snow's my breathI give the ground / a grinding deathMy marching / makes an end of me

Slain by sun / or drowned in sea.

What am I?

The correct answer is "a glacier." If the riddleis not answered correctly before three roundshave elapsed, the elevator floor will reachbottom and the creatures from the pits will spillforth and attack. If the riddle is answered, theelevator floor will cease its descent and beginto slowly rise. The portcullises will raise oncethe floor has returned to its original position,allowing the player characters to continueonward. It should be noted that this trap willnot reset itself if the monsters are released fromthe pits. In such a case, the sprung trap willserve as a new obstacle in the dungeon.

Player characters may seek to hang on to oneof the lowered portcullises as the floor sinks.This is inadvisable for any number of reasons.The ledges between the bars and the sinkingfloor are narrow and provide little in the wayof footing. Moreover, clinging to the bars willprove uncomfortable. It will be difficult forplayer character to do much of anything in thisposition. All the while, ravenous monsters willbe eyeballing perched characters, seeking waysto reach and kill them. Falling to the floor,thirty feet below, will cause 3d6 points ofdamage, and if the fall does not kill them, thenthe monsters surely will.

It is possible to circumnavigate the pressureplate by leaping across the corner of one of thefour pits. The crumbling and otherwise danger-ous nature of this place dictates that a success-ful dexterity check be made to avoid fallinginto the pit. Such an accident will cause 3d6

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points of falling damage to be inflicted. Fur-thermore, exposure to the creatures within willalmost certainly be fatal.

The nature of the creatures within the pits isleft to the imagination of the Game Master.Giant tarantulas were used in this chamber'soriginal incarnation. The players successfullyanswered the riddle and avoided an unseemlydeath. Will your players be so lucky?

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The Sneaky Book RoomBy James Brian Murphy

This room is a simple 50’ x 50’ room with thecorners cut at 40-degree angles to make itoctagonal. There’s a door in each of the non-cardinal walls. Each cardinal wall has anornate, voluptuous holder of orichalcum pro-jecting from the wall that cradles a sphere ofliquid that emits a cool, silvery glow. Each isbrighter than the full moon, emits enough lightto see 30’ by and does not disrupt infravision.The combined light of any two is enough toread by. The liquid will continue to glow for12 hours after being removed from the room.

In the center of the room is an orichalcumreading podium, shaped like skulls trapped ina blooming rose bush. Chained to the stand andopen atop it is a thin folio volume. The outercover is of battered serpent’s hide, the pagesfaded and dog-eared with time.

Anyone perusing the book idly or skimmingits contents must save vs. spells (Wisdomadjusts) at each page or find themselves irre-sistibly compelled to read that page.(Obviously, no roll is required for someonewho is reading it.) The effects of reading a pageshould be randomly determined as follows,with no results duplicated:

1. Reader affected as if by a curse spell.2. All of a character’s coins that are not silver

pieces turn into silver pieces.3. Reading character goes through a painful

transformation that has a pair of spiral ram’shorns sprout from the skull. Lose 2 hitpoints but is treated as if wearing alwayswearing a helm. A remove curse will undothis transformation.

4. 1d4 red slaadi are summoned into the room.They immediately attack the party, but eachvanishes if it manages to imbed its egg-pellets into a victim.

5. Character goes through a painful processthat transforms their head into that of a bat.They acquire the power to “see” throughecholocation (range up to 60’), lose 1d4 hitpoints and permanently lose a point ofCharisma. This can be undone by a DispelMagic against level 16 or a Bless spell froma Lawful cleric of 12th level or higher.

6. An exact copy of the reader leaps from thebook and attacks the reader. Any attacksunleashed by allies at either version of thecharacter deal damage to the original if thedamage die roll is odd and to the copy ofthe damage die rolls even, no matter whothey were attacking or how careful they areto not hurt the original. If the original dies,the copy explodes, dealing 3d6 damage toall in the room. If the copy dies, it beginsto rot immediately, causing a horriblestench that results in a -1 to all die rollswhile the PCs remain in the room. In eithercase, the bodies of the slain will have all thereader’s mundane equipment, but all magicitems will have vanished.

7. Through a painful process, the reader per-manently loses one hit point. However, onedagger or knife in their possession gains apermanent +1 enchantment. (If it wasalready magical, it’s bonus to hit anddamage increases by one.)

8. The reader’s hair turns to bright, greenleaves. Every hour the character spendswith their leafy hair exposed to the sunheals them one hit point, up to their usualmaximum. In autumn, the leaves will turn

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a brilliant, blood red, then brown. In winter,they will all fall out and the PC will lose theextra healing ability. In spring, their hairwill grow back as before, but with a forest-green streak in it.

Add more as needed. If the book is closed, thepages randomly reshuffle and reset; closing thebook and then reading it again is the only wayhave a result happen more than once. The bookonly works so long as it is attached by the chainto the pedestal.

There should be one page per level of thedungeon. As each page is turned, the room rises

or sinks imperceptibly by teleportation to thenext lower level (or higher if the pages areturned left-to-right). If the book is closed, theroom’s doors will open out onto your setting’sversion of the land of the dead (or perhaps thebanks of the river Styx if you’re using theclassic Wheel). If the book is removed from itschain, the room will be teleported to whateverpunishment awaits thieves after death (or arandom level of the Abyss). Replacing thebook and casting Bless on it or sprinkling holywater across the cover is the only way to returnthe room to its original plane.

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The ChildBy Zak Sabbath

The child is just a lone child, 6 – 9 years old,ordinary in nearly every way. S/he will beencountered alone deep within a dungeon, orin some other place far from civilization. Thechild will act as though it's essentially amnesi-ac, though otherwise it will appear healthy. Heor she will not remember how s/he got there.S/he may have a few obscure phobias triggeredby local wildlife or monsters and may or maynot remember one or two cryptic images.

The trouble comes from the fact that the PCsknow they are playing a fantasy RPG, and sothe child is automatically suspicious. If thechild is ignored, it will follow the PCs (perhapsat a distance). No matter how far the PCstravel, it will pop up again. It will do nothingoffensive.

If the PCs adopt the child, it will at all timesappear entirely, and eerily, innocent, polite,and ordinary. The PCs will probably want tokeep an eye on it while they're resting, but itsleeps just like any other child. It will do itsbest to defend itself or hide during combat.

If the PCs reach civilization and try to pawn itoff on a relative or friendly NPC, they will

soon find the child following them again a fewdays later. There is nothing supernatural aboutthis (it seems), the child is just terribly stub-born, and likes the PCs.

If the child is slain, however, a terrible trans-formation will occur. The precise nature of thischange is entirely at the Referee's discretion.The child will return as a vengeful, grey-eyedrevenant bent on throttling the PCs in theirsleep, an incubating abomination will emergefrom the child's body, a demon trapped in thechild will be set loose, etc.

Defeating whatever the child transforms intowill cause the thing to die, and then, a fewweeks later, turn into a new child (different inappearance, but likewise amnesiac) and theprocess begins all over again.

If the PCs can keep the child alive for a verylong time (Referee's discretion--for a game-year, for a real-time year, for 5 levels, whatev-er) the child reveals itself to be a disguised godof some sort, bent on testing them, and willreward them.

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The precise purpose of this item is unknown.

(Actually, the purpose of this item is to quicklyintroduce new people to the game--in the senseof both "quickly introduce new players to theway the game works" and "quickly introducethose players' new characters in the middle ofa dungeon at the beginning of a session wherethe original PCs are about to get into a fightwith something they ran into at the cliffhangerending of the last session".)

The cube-shaped (or oblong, or whatever) boxis made of glass--2 inches tall on each side--

and has gems set into five of the sides. Thegems, set one to a side, are black, red, green,white, and blue. Inside the box is a scale modelof an existing chamber somewhere inMaleketh's dungeon.

(Whatever chamber the original PCs and theirfoe/foes were about to fight in when the lastsession ended.)

The real chamber will have an alcove attachedto it.

(The alcove is where the new PCs wake up.)

The Chamber and the GlassBox

By Zak Sabbath

51

Inside the box are tiny and fully-functioningscale replicas of everyone and everything inthe chamber.

(Namely, the original PCs and the monster ormonsters they were about to fight)

The actions and movements inside the boxcorrespond precisely to whatever is happeninginside the chamber.

(Which will be obvious to the newly-arrivedPCs because they will wake up with the boxlying within reach and they will be able to seeout of their alcove and into the replicatedchamber through the gaps in a steel grate thatseparates the chamber from the alcove.)

Touching the gems will cause various eventsto occur:

Touching the green gem will open or close thegrate separating the chamber and the alcove.

(The new PCs will eventually figure out theyhave a choice about whether to get into thefight immediately.)

Touching the blue gem will move each indi-vidual in the chamber (i.e., in the fight) to theposition occupied by the next individual in thechamber clockwise from him or her.

(In the right hands, this can be devastating, butmore importantly, it'll teach the new PCssomething about how combat works.)

Touching the red gem will heal everyone in thechamber for one hit point of damage. Thiseffect only works once every 24 hours.

(This might keep your new PCs from dyingimmediately. It might also bring the monstersback from the dead if they get knocked uncon-scious and then somebody starts thinking "Nowwhat does this box do....")

Touching the white gem will turn every livingthing in the chamber invisible--and close thesteel grate if it's not already closed.

(Which might be good for a laugh.)

Touching the black gem will cause a trap doorin the ceiling of the alcove to open and causean unconscious civilian to fall through.

(So that's how we ended up here.)

The box and associated chamber may haveother secrets as well.

(But that's probably enough to keep them busyfor the first session.)

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1.The outside to this small construct is approxi-mately 25’ x 25’ with a small set of stepsleading to an unlocked door. The inside is adusty bare 20’ x 20’ room with hairline crackslining the walls. There is a door to the north.This is not a back door! Well, it IS a back door,so to speak, but it doesn’t lead to the back ofthe tomb.

Once opened, it triggers a poorly designedteleportation portal, sending everything withinArea 1 to a crypt buried roughly 100ft belowthe surface, right under the tomb. The telepor-tation might be a deadly one. Roll the percen-tile dice for EACH character as if the teleporterwas not thoroughly familiar with the area.

01-80: On Target81-90: 1d10 x 10’ too high90-00: Teleported into the ground. K i l l e dinstantly.

The ceiling in Area 2 is 15’ high, so if acharacter is teleported higher than 10’, he willbe dead.

2.The characters find themselves within a 10’wide x 15’ high smooth stone hallway. It ismagically lit with a dim green glow. Goingnorth about 20’, the area leads to a hall that iscovered completely – walls, ceiling, floor –with hundreds of detailed faces carved into thestone. The faces range from every creatureimaginable, such as orcs, frogs, troglodytes,gnolls, dragons, mules, goblins, sharks, trolls,wolves, etc, etc, etc.

Once the characters approach within 5’ of thehall o’ faces, the carved faces noticeably turntheir eyes toward them. Characters who attemptto walk through the hall will sustain 6d4 bitesfor 1d4 damage with each bite.

For every 4 bites a character receives, roll thepercentile dice.

Character steps on a…

The Tomb to Die For/InBy R. Lawrence Blake

01 -20

Normal/Non Harmful face

21 -25

Vampire face. Drains 2 energy levels.

26 -30

Ghoul face. Save vs. Paralyze or becomeparalyzed for 2d4 turns. Paralyzed characterswill receive 2d4 automatic bite damage perround unless they can be moved.

31 -35

Shadow face: Lose one point of Strengthfor 8 turns.

36 -40

Giant Rat face: Disease. Save vs. Poison ordie in 1d6 days. Success means character ishorribly ill for 30 days, afterward has a25% chance of death.

41 -45

Medusa face: Additional 1d6 damage fromsnake hair. Save vs. Poison or die on 1 turn.Additional damage gives a 50% chance thatthe character will look down at the medusaface (Save vs. Petrify or turn to stone).

46 -50

Werewolf face: Save vs. Poison/Death orbecome a werewolf in 2d6 days. Nonhumans will simply die from the disease.

51 -60

Purple Worm face: 30% chance ofswallowing leg whole causing an additional1d6 damage per round unless can pull freewith successful Strength check.

61 -65

Kitten face: Face makes a loud, painfullysad “meow” sound, causing the character tofeel bad for 2d4 turns.

66 -70

Gorgon face: Will use breath weapon. Savevs. Petrify of turn to stone.

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71 - 75 Rust Monster face: Any type of metal armor covering the shin and under will turn to rust (or lose a magical bonus).76 - 80 Giant Rattlesnake face: Save vs. Poison or die in 1d6 turns.81 - 85 Troll face: Extra hard bite for 1d10 damage.86 - 90 Fire Salamander face: Additional 1d8 heat damage.91 - 95 Mummy face: Character contracts mummy rot.96 - 100 Cursed human face: Explodes like a mine for 5d6 damage.

Characters can step on the same type of facemore than once.

Characters attempting to fly through the hallwill be hit with a breath weapon from a BlueDragon face (located on the west wall) for 45damage (save for half). Even if none of thecharacters try to fly through, there is still a 50%chance that the dragon will blast a randomcharacter.

Refereees are encouraged to come up withother faces with which to torture the characters.Other types of breath weapons or even psionicscould be used.

The hall o’ faces is roughly 60ft long and endsat a 10’ x 20’ smooth area with a door on thenorth wall.

3.This 30’ x 30’ room has a sparkling greenfist-sized gem resting on a 4’ pedestal locateddead center within this area. Two human sizedbeings wearing plate armor are standing sideby side in front of the pedestal, weapons drawn.

These two were once adventurers who wereunfortunate in finding this green gem. Thegreen gem’s magic turned their plate armorinto Armor Golems to stand guard over thearea. Unable to break free from their own

armor, the adventurers eventually died. Nowthe Armor Golems still stand here as guards,ready to attack anyone who approaches.

Armor Golem stats: AC: as Plate + Shield, HD:10, HP: 80 each, #AT: 1 (weapon), D one has+3 longsword, other has +2 war hammer.

Any character that gets within 5’ of the gemcould be affected by the gem’s magic if theyare wearing the following armor: banded,chain, plate or splint. The character’s armorwill become an Armor Golem (AC will go byarmor type plus any possible magical bonuses,HD: 10, HP: 80). The character will be trappedwithin as the golem will use its most powerfulweapon to attack the party. Note that the partywill have no idea why their own party memberis attacking them (but may assume a magicalcurse or such).

The Armor Golem cannot be dispelled, onlydestroyed. Damage dealt to the Armor Golemwill be divided between it and the characterinside the armor. Also, like other golems,Armor Golems aren’t affected by hold, sleep,or charm spells, nor are they affected by poisonor gas.

If a golem is defeated, the armor will be toodamaged to be of any use.

The gem’s power is sustained by the pedestal.If removed, it becomes a normal gem worthabout 500gp. If the pedestal is broken off fromits location it loses its power, becoming useless.

4.A desk rests in the southeast corner of theroom. A robed skeletal figure sits slumped overthe desk. Dusty scrolls and books are piled ontop of the desk and around the figure. Most ofthe scrolls are useless, but a couple containsome mid-level spells and one is cursed. Abook can be found under one of the skeletalfigure’s hand. It is closed and appears topossibly be a spell book.

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If opened, the character must save vs. magicwith a -3 penalty or be struck with short-termmemory loss. Spells will instantly be forgottenand cannot be relearned. Experience alsocannot be gained for killing creatures whileunder this effect. The only thing that can curethe short-term memory is by using the DispelMagic spell found within the cursed book!

First, a Dispel Magic or Remove Curse mustbe used on the book so that it may be openedsafely. Once it is opened, the spell caster mustread the Dispel Magic spell directly from thebook to negate effects of the short-termmemory.

The only other spells in the book are Light andInfravision. The robed skeletal figure is harm-less.

5.Midway into this 45’-long hall, the characterssee hundreds of fine steel strings attached tothe ceiling, covering a 5ft area. Each stringhangs down to the floor, affixed and stretchedtightly. The number of strings that stretch fromceiling to floor is 500. It appears that thecharacters would not be able to pass throughthe mass of steel strings.

The floor to where the strings are supposedlyattached is actually an illusion, masking a 30’deep pit. The steel strings hang 20’ into the pit,each with a sharp hook attached.

The illusion cannot be detected. In fact, the traphas a type of False Seeing magic cast on it sothat if a character is to use a True Seeing spellor device, the floor will appear sturdy and thestrings will vanish! Characters who mightthrow a stone (or whatever) to where the stringsseem attached, will see the item disappear (itactually fell through the illusion).

If a character falls through the illusionary floor,he will get snagged by 10 – 200 (2d20 x 5)

hooks, causing ½ damage per hook (round up).If a character is snagged by 25 hooks or more,the character will be suspended and will lose2d6 damage per round until he can be hoistedback up and have the hooks removed. Thehooks are barbed, causing an additional ½damage per hook when removed (round up).

If less than 25 hooks snag the character, he’llhit the pit bottom for 3d6 additional damage.

At the end of this hall is a 4ft opening on thewest wall that drops characters 10’ into Area6.

6.The characters drop down into a 30’ x 15’ area.At first glance this area seems to be an emptychamber, but easily discoverable grooves alongthe angles of the north wall show that the entirewall is a concealed sliding door. Charactersmay push the north wall inward rather easily.15’ in, there is a opening to the east and a secretdoor to the west.

The giant sliding wall is actually a trap and twothings will set it off. One is if a character (onlyone needed) enters the opening to the east. Theother is if the characters continue to push thewall inward 25’. When one of these two thingshappen, the wall will suddenly push back withferocious force all the way back to the southernwall, smashing the characters for 2d6 x 10damage. Any held items must save or shatter.The wall will then reposition itself to the 15’mark. It may be moved again in 24 hours.

Any character that jumped into the openingwill now be trapped within a 10’ x 5’ area.There is a door to the east. Opening the doorreleases a gas in which a character must Savevs. Poison or go blind. After the gas is released,a Spectre will emerge from the room andattack. If the spectre kills the character, therewill be just enough time for the character toturn into a new spectre before the charactersare able to push the wall in for the rescue.

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The secret door leads to Area 8.

7.To the north of this T-shaped chamber, the wallis inlaid with exactly 100 green gems. Theycover an area of 20’ x 5’ (5 rows, 20 columnsof gems) in the center of the north wall.

In front of the gem-filled wall is a skeletonwearing a long coat and a weathered top hat.As if he were a ring leader in a circus, theskeleton explains to the characters that oneparticular gem on this wall is worth enough tosend a character straight into retirement. Theymay gamble on winning this prize by choosingup to three gems. However, be warned that theothers have magical effects to counter thereward of such a valuable gem – possible harmor even death!

The skeleton will simply act as a belligerenthost. While it only has 8 hit points, it can casta 20 HD fireball twice a day. If the charactersbegin choosing gems off the wall, the skeletonwill mock and laugh at any harmful effectswhich befall them. The skeleton does not knowwhere or how to get the prized gem.

The magical effects are random, constantlyswitching throughout the gems. One gem isindeed worth a ridiculous amount:1,500,000gp, but like the others, it is never inthe same place. The other gems, once theirmagic has been spent, are worth 100 gps.

Roll on the following tables for the gems’magical effects. Note that other than the“prize” gem, the same magical effect canhappen more then once.

Table 1 (d100)01 - 10 Continual Light is cast on the character.11 - 20 Quest-like spell overcomes the character

for the need to acquire a wild saber toothtiger as a pet.

21 - 30 Roll on reincarnation table. Characterturns to whatever is rolled.

31 - 40 Character sweat is forever equal to thatof a Troglodyte causing the party(including the character) to save vs.poison once per day they are around himor suffer a -2 on attack rolls.

41 - 50 If fighting a group of 3 or moreadversaries, the character must save vs.spells or become confused (like spell).

51 - 60 Character gains ability to breath underwater, but has a 70% chance of attractinggiant leeches, giant piranhas, or greatwhite sharks.

61 -70 Character is able to speak mosthumanoid languages (orc, goblin, knoll,kobold, etc), but everything said in theselanguages always seem to come out as aninsult.

71 - 80 Character is colorblind.81 - 90 Character gains permanent ability to

resist fire (as spell), but will take doubledamage on all cold based attacks.

91 - 100 Roll on TABLE 2

TABLE 2 (d100)01 - 20 Armor begins to shrink to doll size. First

round, character takes 1d6 damage.Second round, character takes 3d6damage. Character is crushed to death byround 3.

21 - 40 Crippling arthritis causes character tosuffer -4 to hit and damage.

41 - 60 Character develops insatiable hunger forlive rot grubs.

61 - 80 Any armor or weapon the character pos-sesses with a magical bonus now becomescursed with opposite negative numbers (ie:a +2 flail becomes a cursed -2 flail).

81 - 100 Roll on TABLE 3

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NOTE: If a character attempts to take morethan 3 gems, see TABLE 3: 1 – 3.

If one or more characters have chosen at leastone gem, and when they are finished picking(they don’t have to take 3 gems, and after theytake even one, they can choose to stop), theskeleton will offer to open up the northern wallfor the characters to pass. The area where thegems are inlaid will open up to Area 9.

Only the skeleton knows how to open thesliding wall.

If the characters refuse to pick a gem, theskeleton will belittle them and not evenmention that secret door. If the characters donot leave after a few rounds and intrude on thearea by checking for secret doors or traps, itwill earn them a 20 HD fireball.

8.The secret door from Area 6 leads to a stonestairway that descends 60’ to a 5’ x 5’ areacovered in large poisonous iron spikes.Heading west is another (identical) stairwaythat leads up 60’ to a door.

If the characters open the door, a PhantasmalKiller (illusionary horror) will appear. Charac-ters must save vs. spells or die from fright.Those who make the save will be stricken withfear and will attempt to run at full speed downthe stairs. All characters who do this mustmake a Dexterity check with a -4 penalty orfall down the stairs for 6d6 damage plus anadditional 1d6 damage for the spikes at thebottom. Characters must save vs. poison or die.

Even if characters make the Dexterity check,they have a 75% chance of hitting a spike asthey run through.

The Phantasmal Killer will disappear unlessthe door is shut and reopened. The door is aone-way door (not detectable from the otherside) that leads to area 10, right into thecontinual darkness part of the area.

9.Halfway down this enormous hall, charactersnotice that the area becomes unnaturally pitchblack. This is a continual darkness spell. Themagic that holds the darkness spell is tied to amagical bond that holds the structure of the halltogether. If the darkness is dispelled, characterswill hear a slight rumbling. After 10 seconds,large portions of the hallway will collapse.Characters must save vs. petrify or suffer 5d10damage. Damage is halved by a successful save.

The fallen debris is covered in yellow mold,and such a fall will send spores throughout theentire area.

There are double doors to the north.

10.This 30ft tall round chamber has a large 8’ tallstone chest toward the north. Standing in frontof the chest is a 16ft tall humanoid beast witha sword. The beast has a terrible smell and starkwhite eyes. This beast is an undead giant ofsome sort (AC:as Plate + Shield + 6, HD: 14,HP: 87) that has two attacks per round. One isits sword in which the creature has a +2 to hitand does 3d10 damage per strike. The other isa belching, gaseous breath weapon that coversa 60’ radius. Characters caught in this attackmust save vs. breath weapon or become vio-lently sick for 3d4 turns. Characters under thiseffect cannot attack or cast spells.

The characters will have no idea that thiscreature is actually undead, but if they do, the

TABLE 3 (d4)

1 - 3Character explodes. All party memberswithin 60’ must save vs. petrify or take 3 –30 debris damage (save takes half damage).

4 Prize gem worth 1,500,000gp. Kiss this partygoodbye and have fun at the beach.

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creature’s weakness might be found: it turnsas a 1 HD monster.

Within the giant chest (8’ high, 10’ long, 8’deep) is a pile of gold and silver (15,500 gp,22,000 sp) as well as a large sword sticking up,straight out of the top of the coins. The swordis a two-handed sword +3. To pull it out acharacter must stand on the coins and pull hard.This releases a false bottom of the chest,dropping the character and all the treasure 60’into a giant lake (4d6 fall damage). This lakeis in the middle of a large cavern. The GM mayuse this to continue on into a maze of cata-combs, or there could simply be an opening tothe outside from here. Or the lake could bemade of green slime.

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Shrieker StewBy Jonathan Becker

In the darkness of the chamber, a warm glowcan be detected from the coals of the fire pit.Upon said pit is a roiling cauldron of some-thing that smells strangely wholesome, if a bitmusky. A ladle hanging near the cauldronallows the contents to be stirred…it appears tobe some sort of hearty stew, with no trace ofeyeballs, hands, or other humanoid body parts.

Holding a light source close to the stew (for acloser examination, perhaps) causes the stewto emit the faintest of whining, barely detect-able to characters listening attentively. This isshrieker stew, made from the fungal monsterfrequently found in underground caverns.

The pleasantly stewed shriekers fail to give offany but the mildest of sounds while in the pot,thanks to the special spices present in thebroth. 1D4 turns after eating said stew howev-er, all counteracting spices will be digested bya character’s stomach and the partially digest-ed stew will react fully to any light source inclose proximity to the character (within 20’ orso). Until the shrieker stew is fully digested (in1D4 hours), the stomach of any character thatpartook of the cauldron’s contents will wail asa shrieker whenever a light source greater thana candle comes within range. Only completeshrouding of a character in thick wraps ofcloth will prevent the noise (this keeps lightfrom illuminating the bloodstream and inter-nal organs of the character, which is what setsoff the shriekers’ screams).

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Pool of TestingBy Jonathan Becker

What appears to be a natural grotto has hadbrick and mortar added to provide a lip of walltwo and one-half feet high. Inscribed in thewall is the following message: NO MORETHAN ONE MAY BATHE. The water in thepool gives off a faint, blue luminescence,clearly visible in the dark should all lights beextinguished.

Drinking from the grotto does nothing. Anyonedisrobing and fully submerging himself in thepool will find himself greatly increased! Roll1D6 once to determine which ability is affected1-Strength, 2-Intelligence, 3-Wisdom, 4-Dexterity, 5-Constitution, 6-Charisma. Theaffected ability immediately and permanentlyincreases to 18 (if the ability score rolled isalready 18, roll again). After being sobaptized, the grotto will have no more affecton the character.

If a second person attempts to bathe in thegrotto in the same fashion, roll 1D6 as above.This time the affected ability is greatlydiminished, being lowered immediately and

permanently to 3! If the reduction of the abilityscore would preclude the character frompursuing their chosen class, the PC may nolonger advance in that class, being permanentlyfrozen at his or her current level.

If yet another person attempts to bathe in thepool, roll 1D6 twice…two different scores willbe reduced to 3! Every subsequent person toattempt the pool will have even more of his orher abilities reduced (the seventh person tobathe will have all six ability scores reducedto 3, for example). The pool will only functionfor each person one time, and only the firstperson to bathe will ever be affected in thepositive. The pool’s magic takes affectregardless of whether or not the person beingsubmerged chooses to do so (i.e. a personforced naked under the water will be affectedas fully as a willing participant). After sevenpeople have been baptized in the grotto, thepool loses its magic properties.

A wish spell is required to restore a singleattribute to its former score.

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Shaggy DogBy Jonathan Becker

A large, shaggy (and truth be told, a bitmangy) dog lies at the intersection of thiscorridor. At your approach it raises its head,perhaps a bit sleepily, and thumps its tail inwhat appears to be a happy gesture.

The dog will be friendly to the adventuringparty until maltreated (attacked, kicked, etc.)whereupon it will flee a few yards away, turn,and look askance at the party. If attacked asecond time (say by arrow shot), the dog willflee and not return.

If treated well (offered food, petted, etc.) thedog will dutifully follow the PCs (the DMshould determine which character the dogconsiders to be its master, changing loyalty toa different PC if that master dies). The dogwill not fight (hit points: 5) and will avoidmelee with monsters (who will generallyavoid it as well in favor of the more dangerousPCs). The dog DOES have a keen sense ofsmell, and can sense both hostility and fear,allowing it to sense wandering monsters, andeven creatures behind doors, long before theyhave a chance to surprise the party.

The dog will convey this information to itsmaster by pawing at him and generally actinganxious. Should the dog’s master actually ask,“what is it, boy/girl?” (or similar) the dogreveals yet another talent…it speaks the Com-mon tongue and is perfectly willing to say, “Ismell something bad, boss!” The dog still hasonly animal intelligence and is not able tocarry on deep conversations with the PC, butonce asked to speak, will have no qualmscommunicating its base desires: good smells,hunger, scary smells, etc.

Note: the dog’s gender is always the oppositeof the PCs’ initial assessment.

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Random Treasure GeneratorBy James Edward Raggi IV

The effective level is either the average hit diceof the creatures laired in the area, or theaverage of the average creature hit dice and thelevel of the dungeon, whichever is less. Trollslairing on the second level of a dungeon aregoing to have less treasure than trolls on thefifth level, but goblins aren’t going to acquiremore treasure just because they lair deeper ina dungeon.

The God Value is the total monetary value ofthe treasure in various coins. d% of this trea-sure will actually be gold and the rest silverand copper.

The percentage listed under Gems is used todetermine if there are gems present. If a gemis present, roll again (against the same percent-age) to determine if a second gem is present.If a second gem is present, roll again to deter-mine if a third is present, etc.

The same procedure is used for determiningwhether Jewels or Magic Items are present.

Effective Level

GoldValue Gems Jewelry Magic

1 d% 25% 10% 5%2 d% x d8 25% 10% 10%3 d% x d10 33% 10% 15%4 d% x d12 33% 20% 20%5 d% x d20 50% 20% 30%6 d1000 x d4 50% 20% 40%7 d1000 x d6 50% 25% 50%8 d1000 x d8 50% 25% 60%9 d1000 x d10 50% 33% 70%

10 d1000 x d12 50% 33% 75%

Gem Value3d6 Value

3 50,0004 - 5 5,0006 - 7 500

8 - 10 5011 - 13 1014 - 15 10016 - 17 1,000

18 10,000

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Magic Items2d6 Type2 Ring3 Wand, Staff, Rod4 Miscellaneous Item5 Missile or Device6 – 7 Potion8 – 9 Scroll10 Armor or Shield11 – 12 Weapon

Scrolls2d6 Spell Type2 Map3 Druid/Cleric4 – 6 Cleric7 – 9 Magic-User10 Illusionist/Magic-User11 Protection Scroll12 Cursed

Armor

Armor Size2d6 Size2 Gnome or Halfling3 – 5 Dwarf6 – 10 Human11 – 12 Elf

2d6 Armor Type2 Plate and Shield3 – 4 Plate5 – 6 Shield7 – 8 Leather9 – 10 Chain11 – 12 Chain and Shield

Armor Special Ability

Jewelry3d10 Value

3 50,0004 30,0005 20,0006 10,000

7 - 8 5,0009 - 10 3,000

11 - 12 2,00013 - 14 1,00015 - 17 50018 - 20 10021 - 22 1,50023 - 24 2,50025 - 26 4,000

27 7,50028 15,00029 25,00030 40,000

Spell LevelMagic-User Other Spell Level

3 94 3 7

5 - 6 4 - 6 47 - 8 7 - 9 3

9 - 12 10 - 11 113 - 14 12 - 14 215 - 16 15 - 17 5

17 18 618 8

Armor Strength

3d6 Strength Chance ofSpecial Ability

3 + 5 33%4 + 3 –

5 - 6 + 2 –7 - 10 + 1 –

11 - 13 + 1 25%14 Cursed –

15 - 16 + 2 25%17 + 3 25%18 + 4 25%

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2d6 Special Armor Power2 Spell Absorption (d% levels)3 Energy Drain 1/day4 Fly 1/day5 Remove Curse 1/day6 Gaseous Form 1/day7 Cure Light Wounds d3/day8 Invisibility 1/day9 Charm Person 1/day10 Haste d3/day11 Electricity 1/day12 Ethereality 3 turns/day

Melee Weapons

2d20 Weapon2 Trident3 Lucern Hammer4 Spetum5 Bill-Guisarme6 Glaive-Guisarme7 Glaive8 Bardiche9 Pike10 Quarterstaff11 Lance12 Flail13 Sword, Short14 Battle Axe15 Hand Axe16 – 21 Dagger22 – 27 Sword, Long28 Mace29 Spear30 Morning Star31 Sword, Two-Handed32 Hammer, War33 Halberd34 Voulge35 Guisarme36 Fauchard37 Guisarme-Voulge38 Partisan39 Ranseur40 Military Pick

Missile Weapons

2d6 Weapon2 Crossbow, Heavy3 Crossbow, Light4 Javelin5 Sling6 Bolt (2 - 20)7 - 8 Arrow (2 - 20)9 Bullet (2 - 20)10 Dart (1 - 6)11 Bow, Short12 Bow, Long

2d6 Special2 Special Power3 – 4 +4 extra vs Opponent5 – 6 +2 extra vs Opponent7 – 9 +1 extra vs Opponent10 – 11 +3 extra vs Opponent12 +5 extra vs Opponent

Weapon Strength

3d6 Strength Chance ofSpecial Ability

3 + 5 33%4 + 3 –

5 - 6 + 2 –7 - 10 + 1 –

11 - 13 + 1 25%14 Cursed –

15 - 16 + 2 25%17 + 3 25%18 + 4 25%

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d12 Opponent1 Constructs2 Dragons3 Enchanted Monsters4 Giants5 Lycanthropes6 Extra-Planar Creatures7 Regenerating Creatures8 Reptiles9 Spell-Immune Creatures10 Spell Users11 Undead12 Water-Breathing Creatures

2d10 Special Power2 Wish 1 only3 Missile Deflector4 Fly 1/day5 Hold Person 1/day6 Haste 1/day7 Charm Person 1/day8 Find Secret Doors 3/day9 Comprehend Languages 3/day10 Light11 Detect Magic 3/day12 Cure Light Wounds 1/day13 Flaming14 Slow 1/day15 Silence 15’ Radius 1/day16 Fire Extinguishing17 Water Breathing 3/day18 Defender

19 Sharpness20 Energy Drain (on natural 20)

d8 Alignment1 Lawful (Good)2 Lawful (Evil)3 Lawful (Neutral)4 Chaotic (Good)5 Chaotic (Evil)6 Chaotic (Neutral)7 Neutral (Good)8 Neutral (Evil)

2d6 Minor Power2 Roll Twice More on This Table3 See Invisible4 Find Secret Doors5 Detect Shifting Walls and Rooms6 Detect Magic7 Detect Evil8 Detect Gems9 Detect Metal10 Detect Sloping Passages11 Find Traps12 Roll for 1 Major Power

2d8 Major Power2 Roll Thrice More on This Table3 X-Ray Vision4 Telepathy5 Levitation6 – 7 Healing8 Damage Multiple9 Clairvoyance10 Clairaudience11 ESP12 Fly13 Phantasmal Force14 Telekinesis15 Teleportation16 Roll Twice More on This Table

Weapon Powers2d10 INT Powers

2 123 Minor

+ One Major+ Read Magic

3 10 3 Minor4 8 2 Minor

5 - 17 – –18 7 1 Minor19 9 3 Minor

20 11 3 Minor+ Read Magic

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Rings2d12 Ring2 Regeneration3 Protection +54 Wishes5 Protection +36 Spell Storing7 Weakness8 Spell Turning9 Delusion10 Invisibility11 – 12 Command Plant13 – 14 Command Animal15 Fire Resistance16 Water Walking17 Command Human18 Protection +119 Telekinesis20 Protection +221 Djinni Calling22 Shooting Stars23 Protection +424 X-ray Vision

Potion2d20 Potion2 Undead Control3 Giant Control4 Treasure Finding5 Human Control6 Flying7 Super-heroism8 Oil of Slipperiness9 Poison10 Gaseous form11 Delusion12 Plant Control13 Levitation14 Growth15 Clairaudience16 – 17 Sweet Water18 – 19 Polymorph20 – 21 Healing22 – 23 Philter of Love24 – 25 Speed26 Animal Control27 Fire Resistance28 Invisibility

29 Clairvoyance30 Climbing31 Diminution32 Heroism33 Invulnerability34 Extra-healing35 Water Breathing36 ESP37 Longevity38 Oil of Etherealness39 Giant Strength40 Dragon Control

Rod, Staff, Wand2d20 Rods, Staves, Wands2 Staff of the Magi3 Rod of Resurrection4 Staff of Withering5 Rod of Absorption6 Wand of Cold7 Staff of Healing8 Wand of Detecting Traps9 Staff of Commanding10 Wand of Fire11 Wand of Magic Missiles12 Rod of Striking13 – 14 Wand of Paralyzation15 – 16 Wand of Negation17 – 18 Wand of Illusion19 – 20 Wand of Detecting Metals21 – 22 Wand of Detecting Enemies23 – 24 Wand of Light25 – 26 Wand of Detecting Magic27 Wand of Fear28 Wand of Lightning29 Wand of Polymorphing30 Wand of Lightning Bolts31 Wand of Summoning32 Rod of Captivation33 Wand of Detecting Secret Doors34 Rod of Lordly Might35 Staff of Striking36 Wand of Wonder37 Staff of the Serpent38 Rod of Rulership39 Rod of Cancellation40 Staff of Power

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Misc. Item2d100 Miscellaneous Magic Item2 Efreeti Bottle3 Tome of Understanding4 Tome of Martial Knowledge5 Tome of Knowledge6 Mattock of the Titans7 Book of Chaotic Wisdom8 Flying Carpet9 Well of Many Worlds10 Amulet of the Planes11 Mirror of Mental Prowess12 Manual of Gainful Exercise13 Lyre of Building14 Cubic Gate15 Bag of Holding16 Robe of Eyes17 Censer of Controlling Air Elementals18 Bowl of Commanding Water Elementals19 Sphere of Annihilation20 Robe of Blending21 Eyes of the Eagle22 Stone of Good Luck23 Medallion of thoughts (90')24 Golem Manual25 Cube of Force26 Robe of Scintillating Colors27 Mirror of Life Trapping28 Helm of Brilliance29 Boots of Speed30 Arrow of Location31 Scarab of Death32 Robe of Powerlessness33 Necklace of Strangula tion34 Jewel of Monster Attraction35 Helm of Opposite Alignment36 Flask of Curses37 Dust of Sneezing and Choking38 Deck of Many Things39 Cloak of Poisonousness40 Censer of Cursed Summoning41 – 42 Broom of Cursed Flight43 – 44 Brazier of Cursed Sleep45 – 46 Boots of Dancing47 – 48 Bag of Devouring

49 – 50 Horseshoes of Speed51 – 52 Girdle of Giant Strength53 – 54 Gem of Brightness55 – 56 Dust of Disappearance57 – 58 Crystal Ball with ESP59 – 60 Cloak of Arachnida61 – 62 Boots of Levitation63 – 64 Stone of Controlling Earth Elementals65 – 66 Periapt of Proof against Poison67 – 68 Rope of Entanglement69 – 70 Phylactery of Faithfulness71 – 72 Periapt of Health73 – 74 Net of Entanglement75 – 76 Medallion of thoughts77 – 78 Helm of Comprehend Languages and Read Magic79 – 80 Gauntlets of Ogre Power81 – 82 Dust of Appearance83 – 84 Crystal Ball85 – 86 Brooch of Shielding87 – 88 Ointment of Healing89 – 90 Pearl of Wisdom91 – 92 Incense of Meditation93 – 94 Feather Token95 – 96 Phylactery of Undead Turning97 – 98 Javelin of Lightning99 – 100 Talisman of the Sphere101 – 102 Pearl of Power103 – 104 Ioun Stones105 – 106 Eversmoking Bottle107 – 108 Figurines of Wondrous Power109 – 110 Marvelous Pigments111 – 112 Wings of Flying113 – 114 Slippers of Spider Climbing115 – 116 Cloak of Protection117 – 118 Decanter of Endless Water119 – 120 Elven Cloak121 – 122 Elven Boots123 – 124 Gloves of Dexterity125 – 126 Gloves of Swimming and Climbing127 – 128 Helm of Underwater Action129 – 130 Necklace of Adaptation131 – 132 Net of Snaring133 – 134 Periapt of Wound Closure135 – 136 Rope of Climbing

68

137 – 138 Horseshoes of a Zephyr139 – 140 Robe of Useful Items141 – 142 Pipes of the Sewers143 – 144 Broom of Flying145 – 146 Crystal Ball with Clairaudience147 – 148 Cube of Frost Resistance149 – 150 Eyes of Magnification151 – 152 Gem of Seeing153 – 154 Horn of Valhalla155 Amulet of Inescapable Location156 Bag of Transformation157 Bowl of Drowning158 Broom of Animated Attack159 Broom of Cursed Flight160 Chime of Cannibalism161 Crystal Hypnosis Ball162 Drums of Stunning163 Eyes of Petrification164 Gauntlets of Fumbling165 Incense of Obsession166 Mirror of Opposition167 Periapt of Foul Rotting168 Rope of Strangulation169 Stone of Weight (Loadstone)170 Bag of Tricks171 Boots of Traveling and Springing172 Helm of Teleportation173 Scarab of Protection174 Potion Jug175 Displacer Cloak176 Helm of Telepathy177 Phylactery of Youth178 Chime of Opening179 Maul of the Titans180 Talisman of Pure Good181 Talisman of Ultimate Evil182 Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location183 Brazier of Commanding Fire Elementals184 Eyes of Charming185 Amulet against Possession186 Bracers of Armor187 Horn of Blasting188 Manual of Bodily Health189 Manual of Quickness of Action

190 Portable Hole191 Robe of the Archmagi192 Drums of Panic193 Instant Fortress194 Apparatus of the Crab195 Book of Lawful Wisdom196 Tome of Clear Thought197 Tome of Leadership and Influence198 Tome of Stealth199 Book of Infinite Spells200 Boat, Folding

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A Spell Point TheoryBy James Edward Raggi IV

The traditional fantasy RPG spell system isloosely based on the system found in the DyingEarth stories by Jack Vance. If you haven’tread those books, you should. If you’ve everthought the “fire and forget” magic systemmade no sense, you need to read those books.All will be revealed.

However, that doesn’t satisfy some people.They want wizards that can do what they want,when they want. Usually when this mood takessomeone, they completely dismantle the magicsystem and port in a wholly unique system, orthey get lazy and say “First level spells costone spell point, second level spells cost twospell points, etc.”

This theory of spell points retains the classicspells and level systems that we all know, sothat it will remain familiar and easy to adapt.

First, spell-casters begin with one spell pointat first level, and every level gain a number ofspell points equal to their new level. A clericincreasing from first to second level gains twonew spell points, for a total of three, forinstance.

Under this system, there would be norelationship between the character level andthe level of spell they are able to cast. Magic-Users may have a spell of any level in theirspellbook (and therefore at their disposal). ACleric can theoretically cast any spell from theentire Cleric spell list.

Second, casting a spell costs a number of spellpoints as its level, but only as a base.

Many spells have an effect based on their level,

be it a Fireball’s damage, the number ofmissiles fired by a Magic Missile spell, ranges,durations, etc. Under this system, these spellsdo not operate according to the caster’s level,but by the number of extra spell points put intothe spell (on a one spell point = one level basis).

For example, a seventh level Magic-User (with28 maximum spell points) casts Fireball. Hewants it to do 7d6 damage (seventh levelstrength). It is a base 3 spell point cost for thespell, and an additional 7 points for the 7 levelsof spell strength, for a total of 10 points –almost a third of the total spell point totals tocast such a powerful spell that day.

Spells with no level-based variables merelycost the same number of spell points as theirlevel.

Under this system, therefore, any spell with alevel-based variable costs at the minimum onemore spell point than its level would indicate.A Magic Missile spell, because the level of thecaster affects how many missiles are fired,would require a minimum of two points to cast– one for the spell’s level and one for activatingit at the power of a first level Magic-User.

A spell point based system will not operate thesame as the default magic system, so littlethings like a first level Magic-User then notbeing able to cast Magic Missile is offset bythe fact that third level spells become availableto cast when spell-using characters are secondlevel.

But any adjustment made changes the game.That’s why you make these changes in the firstplace, right?

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15 COPYRIGHT NOTICEOpen Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast,Inc.System Reference Document Copyright 2000, Wizards of theCoast, Inc.;Authors Jonathon Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams,based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.System Reference Document Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards ofthe Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, SkipWilliams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, RichRedman, Bruce R. Cordell, John D. Rateliff, Thomas Reid, JamesWyatt, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and DaveArneson.Modern System Reference Document Copyright 2002-2004,Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb,Rich Redman, Charles Ryan, Eric Cagle, David Noonan, Stan!,Christopher Perkins, Rodney Thompson, and JD Wiker, based onmaterial by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, RichardBaker, Peter Adkison, Bruce R. Cordell, John Tynes, AndyCollins, and JD Wiker.Castles & Crusades: Players Handbook, Copyright 2004, TrollLord Games; Authors Davis Chenault and Mac Golden.Cave Cricket from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; Authors Scott Greene and ClarkPeterson, based on original material by Gary Gygax.Crab, Monstrous from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; Author Scott Greene, based on originalmaterial by Gary Gygax.Fly, Giant from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; Author Scott Greene, based on originalmaterial by Gary Gygax.Golem, Wood from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; Authors Scott Greene and PatrickLawinger. Kamadan from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; Author Scott Greene, based on originalmaterial by Nick Louth.Rot Grub from the Tome of Horrors, Copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; Authors Scott Greene and ClarkPeterson, based on original material by Gary GygaxLabyrinth LordTM Copyright 2007-2009, Daniel Proctor. AuthorDaniel Proctor.Darwin’s World Copyright 2002, RPGObjects; Authors DominicCovey and Chris Davis.Mutant FutureTM Copyright 2008, Daniel Proctor and RyanDenison. Authors Daniel Proctor and Ryan Denison.Aerial Servant from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; authors Scott Greene and ClarkPeterson, based on original material by Gary Gygax.Axe Beak from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based on originalmaterial by Gary Gygax.Beetle, Giant Boring from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based on originalmaterial by Gary Gygax.

Beetle, Giant Rhinoceros from the Tome of Horrors, copyright2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based onoriginal material by Gary Gygax.Brownie from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002, NecromancerGames, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based on original material byGary Gygax.Crayfish, Monstrous from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based on originalmaterial by Gary Gygax.Demon: Juiblex „he Faceless Lord‰(Demon Lord) from theTome of Horrors, copyright 2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.;author Scott Greene, based on original material by Gary Gygax.Demon: Orcus (Demon Prince of Undead) from the Tome ofHorrors, copyright 2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.; authors ScottGreene and Clark Peterson, based on original material by GaryGygax.Devil: Amon (Duke of Hell) from the Tome of Horrors, copyright2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based onoriginal material by Gary Gygax.Devil: Bael (Duke of Hell) from the Tome of Horrors, copyright2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based onoriginal material by Gary Gygax.Devil: Geryon (Arch-Devil) from the Tome of Horrors, copyright2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based onoriginal material by Gary Gygax.Ear Seeker from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; authors Scott Greene and EricaBalsley, based on original material by Gary Gygax.Eel, Electric from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene.Eye of the Deep from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based on originalmaterial by Gary Gygax.Floating Eye from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based on originalmaterial by Gary Gygax.Frog, Monstrous from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; authors Scott Greene and ClarkPeterson, based on original material by Gary Gygax.Frog, Monstrous Killer from the Tome of Horrors, copyright2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.; authors Scott Greene and ClarkPeterson, based on original material by Gary Gygax.Frog, Monstrous Poisonous from the Tome of Horrors, copyright2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.; authors Scott Greene and ClarkPeterson, based on original material by Gary Gygax.Gas Spore from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; authors Scott Greene and ClarkPeterson, based on original material by Gary Gygax.Gorbel from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002, NecromancerGames, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based on original material byAndrew Key.Groaning Spirit from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; authors Scott Greene and ClarkPeterson, based on original material by Gary Gygax.Hippocampus from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; authors Scott Greene and Erica Balsey,based on original material by Gary Gygax.Jackalwere from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene based, on originalmaterial by Gary Gygax.Leprechaun from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene based on originalmaterial by Gary Gygax.Lurker Above from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based on originalmaterial by Gary Gygax.

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Piercer from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002, NecromancerGames, Inc.; authors Scott Greene and Clark Peterson, based onoriginal material by Gary Gygax.Slithering Tracker from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based on originalmaterial by Gary Gygax,Slug, Giant from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based on originalmaterial by Gary Gygax.Strangle Weed from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based on originalmaterial by Gary Gygax.Tick, Giant from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based on originalmaterial by Gary Gygax.Trapper from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002, NecromancerGames, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based on original material byGary Gygax,Turtle, Giant Snapping from the Tome of Horrors, copyright2002, Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Green, based onoriginal material by Gary Gygax.Wind Walker from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002,Necromancer Games, Inc.; author Scott Greene, based on originalmaterial by Gary Gygax,Yeti from the Tome of Horrors, copyright 2002, NecromancerGames, Inc.; author Scott Green, based on original material byGary Gygax.Advanced Edition Companion, Copyright 2009-2010, DanielProctor. Author Daniel Proctor.Copyright 2009-2010 Daniel Proctor. Labyrinth LordTM,Advanced Labyrinth LordTM, Mutant FutureTM, Scribe of OrcusTM

and Goblinoid GamesTM are trademarks of Daniel Proctor.Swords & Wizardry Core Rules, Copyright 2008, Matthew J.FinchBasic Fantasy Role-Playing Game Copyright © 2006-2008 ChrisGonnerman.Green Devil Face #4, Copyright 2010 James Edward Raggi IV.

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