Medieval Urbanism and Geography The medieval city in all its multitude of forms and guises has been a staple in contemporary myths, storytelling, and fairy tales, and has profoundly influenced fantasy RPGs. The instantly recognizable civic styles of Tolkien, the Forgotten Realms, and even the Witcher do after all draw their inspirations from places like […]
Medieval Urbanism: A Fantasist’s Introduction Read More »
The Wilderness The cardtography method can be used to lay out a wilderness area just as easily as a dungeon. All that’s needed is an encounter grid tailored to your particular wilderness. Creating the grid isn’t much more difficult than building a table of random encounters since that’s essentially what it is. A wilderness area
Howling Tower: Cardtography and the Wilderness Read More »
Multi-Level Dungeons We’ve covered the basics of how to lay out the cards, how to connect the cards, and how to decide what each card represents in a simple dungeon. In this installment, we look at ways to create a more involved, multi-level complex. If we’re talking about a dungeon (and for the time being,
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Fugitive of Hammerfell Encounters have consequences. Every slain bandit has friends who will want revenge, and every devil banished back to the Eleven Hells reports its failure to its Dark Lord. What happens when the PCs’ daring deeds come back to bite them? The following encounter chains are more than just random encounters. Each conflict
Out of the Frying Pan: Fugitive of Hammerfell Read More »
A Simple Dungeon The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate why playing cards are such a potent choice for generating our environment. We didn’t choose cards as our randomizers because they’re somewhat room-shaped. That’s a happy coincidence. The real reason is because they have information embedded on them, and we can use that information
Howling Tower: Cardtography, a Simple Dungeon Read More »
The Diplomatic Mission Most parties are no strangers to diplomacy. Whether they’re trying to get a better bargain for the swag they’ve hauled from their latest dungeon crawl or attempting to convince the guards that no, their friend was really just joking about splitting open their skulls, adventurers are all familiar with using words over
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The Escape Black Gate is not just any prison: it’s where the kingdom holds its most powerful lawbreakers. The Shadow Man, a noted assassin who was little more than smoke and rumor until he faced off with a contingent of the king’s own. The Devil’s Daughter, a woman who had truck with fell powers and
Alternative Adventures: The Escape Read More »
There’s no denying that the Iron Guard, often referred to as the Brute Squad once they’re safely out of earshot, is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. It was their prowess working as a team on the front that caught the eye of the lord mayor, but they have a new task
Alternative Adventures: The Mystery Read More »
Most players are no strangers to stealth. Whether it’s the silent dungeon crawl where everyone tiptoes around corners to sneak up on sentries or using a ranger’s carefully prepared ambush to gain an advantage in an upcoming fight, there’s something to be said for going the subtle route. There is a difference between sneaking through
Alternative Adventures: The Infiltration Read More »
The city is a labyrinth, and for every smiling face or honest stall keep, there are a dozen alleys choked with shadows. When night falls, you can see the darkness that hides by day. The cutpurses and skull-crackers, the doomsayers and pushers. It’s when the killers, cults, and worse put on their black robes and
Alternative Adventures: The Hunt Read More »
Do your adventures always seem to hit the same notes? From goblin caves and kobold warrens to haunted castles and dragon lairs, we always seem to go back to the same fights and the same dungeon crawls. While the map might be drawn a little differently this time and you’re adventuring with a different party, it can
Alternative Adventures: The Heist Read More »
Grab the popcorn. Your party is about to descend into the bowels of White Rose Manor for the thrilling conclusion to The Lady of White Rose Manor. Does your party stand a chance? Can the characters survive? Or will Lady Ilinca bleed them dry? Let’s find out. Roll initiative…!
Midgard Maps: The Lady of White Rose Manor (page 7) Read More »
So, your players went off on a tangent? Hey, we’ve all been there: you wrote pages and pages of brilliant adventure plots, monsters, NPCs, and treasure, and the party just walked… right… by. Now what do you do? The answer: Get Prepared! Prepared! offers quick solutions to keep the game moving and your players entertained
PREPARED! Now Available Read More »
The Kobold King, in his scaly wisdom, became a patron of the famed cartographer, Dyson Logos (Fantasy RPG Cartography by Dyson Logos)! Magnificent maps were attained, thereby, which our Squamous Sovereign decreed would become part of the landscape of Midgard. With great celerity and a stolen thesaurus, one of his minions did set about transforming
Midgard Maps: The Lady of White Rose Manor (page 6) Read More »
“The village of Olsha is in need. And we’re the only ones that can do something about it. Apparently, the entire village is being kept awake by the noises coming from inside these halls. Are you all ready? Let’s get this—” BBBRRRRRRRRRRPPP!!! “Dear gods, what is that smell…!” Won’t you join us in the Sanctuary of Belches, our
Sanctuary of Belches is Now Available Read More »
The Kobold King, in his scaly wisdom, became a patron of the famed cartographer, Dyson Logos (Fantasy RPG Cartography by Dyson Logos)! Magnificent maps were attained, thereby, which our Squamous Sovereign decreed would become part of the landscape of Midgard. With great celerity and a stolen thesaurus, one of his minions did set about transforming
Midgard Maps: The Lady of White Rose Manor (page 5) Read More »
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