The Bogeywoman's Cave

Quake, released in 1996 by Id software, was the spiritual successor to Doom and Doom 2. In it, the player controls the Ranger, a space marine who is sent through various slipgates (portals) into other realms to acquire runes, so that he can slay the mysterious entity known as Quake. In his travels, the Ranger fights his way through gothic castles, prehuman cities, futuristic research facilities, dungeons, and eventually finds himself in the lair of the being whose codename is Quake; Shub-Niggurath. It was a weird game, but very fun, light on plot but heavy on atmosphere, with an ambient soundtrack by Trent Reznor providing an eerie mood to the game. An interesting feature of the game was that one could tackle its realms in any order they like, all of the portals that the Ranger had to travel through in his quest are open at the beginning of the game. Not quite a sandbox, but more open than games at the time. In any event, it had a fun little collection of critters to blow into ch...

Right! Its time for the second dungeon. There are currently three other requests for dungeons, and in the spirit of the OSR, I'm going to roll for them on a d3 table. D3 1. Scott Anderson: "a Peasant Hero and some varlet who wants to frame him for a crime." 2. Matt: "I'm partial to Skaven" 3. matt (a different one): "An old witch's house, built on the edge of a cliff overlooking a cliffside beach. She's lived unnaturally love waiting for her man to return. ..and he just happens to look like one of the party members." I rolled a d3, and my result is a 1, so it looks like it is peasant hero time! But before that, here are two links to 30 minute dungeons made by other people! https://3toadstools.blogspot.com/2019/02/challenge-accepted-30-minute-dungeon.html http://www.crossplanes.com/2019/02/30-minute-dungeon-shadowborns-tomb.html Now then, its dungeon time! (I like this Pathfinder doppelganger miniature, I'd ...

(Image from Warhammer Fantasy) The first request for a dungeon comes from Alberaan, who writes "I would like night goblins and trolls!" I am more than happy to oblige, goblins are always a lovely starting point for a short delve, and I don't use trolls nearly as much as I should. Without further ado, here is what I came up with! C= Combat E= Empty N= NPC S= Special T= Trap Hook For as long as anyone can remember, there has a been a gang of disgusting, pale goblins that lurk in a cave a few miles away from the nearest settlement. They dislike light even more than those typical of their species, and come out only at night to do mischief. Rumor has it that they have a vast store of gold and jewels, stolen over decades, hidden within their wretched lair. General Background A group of goblins have been living in a cave, only coming out at night, for generations, causing them to develop extremely sensitive skin. This gang is strengthened by the presence o...

That's right, its the moment at most 2 people have been waiting for, I am gonna start back up my 30 minute dungeon writing challenge. Every day (or at least almost every day), I will sit down for 30 minutes and write 10 rooms/encounters for a short mini dungeon. Just to recap, here are my general guidelines for what I make when writing one of these dungeons: A Hook General Background 3 Combat Encounters 3 "Empty" Rooms 2 Traps 1 NPC 1 Weird Thing To Experiment With Some Treasure A Magic Item No maps are generally included with this, as it is a writing challenge and not a cartography challenge, but I might go back and make some. I encourage anyone who feels stuck in a rut and doesn't know what to post to take up this challenge as well! At the very least you'll get some semi-usable encounters out of it which you can steal and put in other dungeons. And, like last time, if you have any requests for dungeons you would like to see, PLEASE  comment t...

Why do people want to play elves? Think about that for a second, mull it over, because there are many different answers and there is no right one. I don't doubt that some people want to role play elves because the idea of being an immortal, beautiful forest twink is sexy, but it is unlikely to me that everyone who creates an elf character does so out of a sense of attraction. No, to me I think that the core appeal of the elf is the ability to be something alien, something inhuman, but not grotesquely so. To be something outside  of the human experience, to have the wisdom of an old scholar and the body of an youth. That is the appeal. Now consider how elves are portrayed in my setting. If you are an elf you have faerie blood running through your veins, and as a result you are better at magic and have pointed ears. You are forced to live among other demi-humans because the Empire is bigoted. Yawn That's pretty boring isn't it? To role-play a character whose backgroun...

Click here to read Ms. Morbid's statement on Zak S, and his abuse. The entirety of the text will also be reproduced below. Comments will be disabled for this post. Trigger Warning For Sexual And Emotional Abuse Please feel free to share this widely, on any platform you have. Dear Zak Smith, aka Zak Sabbath I know posting anything about you or this publicly will get me labeled “angry”, “crazy” or a “liar”. Despite that, I still need to speak. As a warning, there will be potentially triggering descriptions of abuse, violence and sexual assault to follow. What I want to convey is my grief. And my shame. There is so much of it. I think when women come forward to talk about their abusers people strip them of their grief. And I am not okay. And I should be angry but I can’t be because the shame is too great. Because the abuse had me taking responsibility for everything and it’s very difficult to stop that after all these years. Everything was always my fault, the problem wa...

You hear scuffling and a metallic-sounding wail from behind you. Your comrade grunts, moving as quickly as he can with a shattered left leg. Suddenly, he trips, falling to the floor with a thud. He calls out to you to help him up, to save him from them, and you glance behind you. Dozens of them emerge from the darkness, their glassy eyes and unnaturally smooth skin reflecting eerily in the light of your torch. Before you can let out a scream, they are upon your fallen friend, battering him with their closed, chubby fists until he is nothing more than a pile of bloody flesh. You try to run, but one of them shrieks so loud that you drop your torch involuntarily and fall to the ground, clutching your bleeding ears. In the cacophony, one thought enters your mind; you never want to see a baby ever again. Long ago, there was a wizard. This wizard desired a child, but unfortunately he was impotent due to years of meddling with strange chemicals. It was clear that no conventional method of...

Beneath the surface world is a land of nightmares and darkness, illuminated only by light of phosphorescent rocks and glowing fungi. The underworld is a vast network of tunnels and caverns, essentially forming an enormous, nigh-endless dungeon. The only creatures that live in this horrific place are horrifically mutated animals, troglodytes, goblins, and deep fae, and demons. Troglodytes are what happened to the humans that the faeries captured when they were forced to flee beneath the ground. They escaped their faerie captors, but were unable to find a way out. Over the generations their eyes became tiny and nearly vestigial, their skin turned pale, and their teeth grew into sharp fangs like daggers. Now, these creatures scuttle about in the dark, reduced to mere animals. (From The Descent) Troglodytes HD 2 AC unarmored (10) ATK 1 bite or club DMG 1d6-1 or 1d6 HDE 2 Troglodytes cannot tolerate bright lights, and take a -1 penalty to hit when exposed to it. Goblins adapt...

Its finally here! The most recent iteration of my house rules system! Here is what is new in this update: Level-less spells! I finally cast off the last of the shackles of the Vancian magic system. The layout is better now, but still nothing is alphabetized. I changed the fonts for some reason! There is some advice/rules for running wilderness crawls and megadungeons! Click here to gaze upon it in all its glory!

For cultural reasons, most people in the Holy Empire find insects, arachnids, and other "bugs" disgusting and filthy, and an irrational fear of such creatures is not uncommon. However, some have genuine reason to fear the clattering chitin and sharp mandibles of vermin; those who have had experience with the demon goddess Scolendra. In the Hell that Scolendra hails from, vermin dominate the world, and mammals, reptiles, and birds are crushed underfoot by monstrous bugs of unnatural size and ferocity. Her influence leads to the mutation of otherwise normal sized vermin, resulting in enormous mutants that hunger for the flesh of vertebrates. Those who worship Scolendra believe that vermin are the true inheritors of Urth, and that humanity is not fit to walk the world. They pray and make blood sacrifices to their cruel goddess, hoping to be blessed with mutations that bring them closer to the creatures they revere. In her home plane, Scolendra takes the form of an enormous...