RPG dumping ground

Return to Moria: Mushrooms in the Depths

2009-11-11T15:35:00.000-05:00

The natural caves and caverns beneath Moria are home to a variety of fungi and mushrooms. Along with the naturally occurring species there are several varieties cultivated by the Dwarves. Some of these fungi are useful, some deadly. Here are a few I'll be using in the campaign: Blackspire - These slender, fifteen foot tall, smooth-capped mushrooms have a tough central stalk that the Dwarves used

Three Potions and a Story

2009-11-10T14:05:00.001-05:00

A few random potions for a gray and windy day. I like potions because they're easily managed packets of power that can be exceptionally powerful without being unbalancing. After all, once they're used, they're gone for good. Silverskin - A shiny, silvery liquid with a sharp smell and extremely bitter taste. When consumed it causes the imbiber's skin to take on the color and shine of a polished

Magic Missile!

2009-11-09T16:23:00.000-05:00

No, not that Magic Missile. Arrows and quarrels often get the short end of the stick when it comes to magical properties, usually stuck with a simple accuracy or damage enhancement. Here are a few unique missiles for your reading pleasure. All missiles share the following characteristics: Each missile radiates Good alteration or evocation magic. A Good test of divination magic will reveal the

Return to Moria: Millstone Doors

2009-11-07T11:26:00.000-05:00

These are one of the defensive constructs that will be appearing in Moria: Defensive doors consisting of a great circle of granite designed to roll in front of a narrow tunnel entrance. The entry is sunken so the stone is held vertically in a trough. It overlaps the frame of the door and can be wedged in place, making it nearly impossible to roll aside from the outside. From the interior it is

Return to Moria: Next Steps

2009-11-05T11:05:00.000-05:00

In the last article on my Return to Moria campaign, I closed with the intent of focusing this article on setting up the main inhabitants of Moria for the campaign. I quickly discovered that wasn't the only thing I was doing however, so rather than stick to plan, I'm going to write a bit about what I'm really working on (My players keep out!). Organization At the close of the previous article I

Desert Wight

2009-11-04T10:00:00.006-05:00

The Burning is a huge desert wasteland, created by the death curse of an ancient evil long ago. The remnants of this curse linger even now, affecting any creature that dies in this place. The remains of those that die by violence in the Burning rise as Desert Wights, undead creatures with a deadly touch and an aura of evil. Desert Wights appear to be desiccated corpses with pallid gray flesh and

Breaking out of a Rut

2009-11-03T13:31:00.002-05:00

Well, not that big a rut really. More a shallow groove. I've been spending far too much time thinking about my upcoming Moria game lately, and I've decided I've become... predicable. Now this isn't completely surprising. I've been gaming with some members of my group for more than 30 years (yes that puts me squarely in the old school camp) and after that long, your tricks of the trade are pretty

Living Weapons

2009-11-02T15:02:00.000-05:00

The aquatic races of the deep caverns and caves suffer grave handicaps when it comes to weaponry. The lack of wood and inability to work metal underwater has led to the use of bone as a primary construction material and toxic, venomous, or just plain nasty creatures as the damage dealing component. Because of water resistance thrusting weapons are preferred, so most Living Weapons are spear-like,

Return To Moria: Some Maps

2009-10-31T19:29:00.000-04:00

These are two quick maps I pulled together for my Moria campaign using Open Office Draw to lay them out. Note to my players: Don't be peeking! They show the main upper halls, the lower deeps, the two gates into the Mines, a number of upper and lower natural cavern complexes, and Durin's Tower, with a few miscellaneous markers up too. The first one is a top-down view of the main areas of Moria.

Wormskin

2009-10-30T11:42:00.000-04:00

The cloak is fashioned from thousands of earthworms, sewn into a calf-length cloak. The worms are preserved by the enchantment, forming a squishy, sticky garment of pinkish-brown flesh. A rough collar of wriggling worms circles the wearer's neck and magically fastens the garment, once the proper command phrases are know. The garment radiates Superb alteration and Good protection magic. A Great

Crooked Hand

2009-10-29T13:56:00.000-04:00

This magical relic appears to be a mummified human hand mounted on a short mahogany rod. The hand itself is dessicated and leathery, the fingers and joints twisted and gnarled as if stricken with some bone-distorting disease. Its nails are long corkscrews of blackened keratin, tough and sharp. A fine tracery of silver wire winds up and down the wooden rod and binds the hand to it. If examined for

Return To Moria: The Sandbox

2009-10-28T14:23:00.002-04:00

A while back I posted the pitch I made to my gaming group. The response from my players was overwhelmingly positive, so the game is afoot. Since mega-dungeons and sandbox play are recurring threads in the blog-sphere and that's the direction I'm taking with this game I thought I'd throw down some information about how I'm preparing for this game. Since the game is set in Tolkien's Middle-earth,

Flesh Carver

2009-10-27T11:46:00.002-04:00

Flesh Carver is a wicked-looking dagger with a short, curved blade chipped from gleaming obsidian. The hilt of the weapon is wrapped in the smooth, almost slick hide of some unknown beast, and a heavy chunk of roughly shaped and polished hematite is fastened to the pommel with gold wire. The dagger has a forward-curving guard of gilded iron. The blade is protected by a heavy scabbard of matching

Ocarina of the Transmuter

2009-10-26T14:19:00.002-04:00

This ceramic instrument is about ten inches long, shaped like a slightly curved yam. It's smooth, polished surface is glazed in delicate shades of green, yellow and red in an abstract pattern. It is pierced by eight finger holes arranged in two groups of four, and, of course, a mouthpiece. The Ocarina radiates Great alteration magic, and a Superb test of divination magic will reveal its basic

A New Gaming Group?

2009-10-25T09:04:00.000-04:00

With the recent upheavals in the RPG Bloggers network, Berin Kinsman has taken the bull by the horns and announced the creation of a new social network site focused on roleplaying game content creators. Here's the announcement he put out via the RPG Bloggers mailing list. Worth a look if you're involved in the RPG content community: *Welcome to RolePlayMedia.net RolePlayMedia.net* One thing I

Return to Moria: Player Races

2009-10-23T09:42:00.001-04:00

A couple days ago I posted up the pitch I offered my regular gaming group for one of our mega-weekend gaming sessions. It met with much enthusiasm, so it looks like we'll be playing Return to Moria soon. Time to start planning! Here's the race and class combinations we're probably going to be using. I wanted to give things a Tolkienesque feel without deviating too far from old school D&D. Races

Mind Shatterer

2009-10-22T10:03:00.000-04:00

Mind Shatterer is a three foot long rod of polished bone, carved with intricate sigils and runes of magical power. Each inscribed symbol is stained a different shade of red, orange or green, creating a garish mosaic. The head of the rod is pierced with several thin strips of bone, and from each hangs a thin strip of rubbery leather which ends in a tiny, curiously misshapen, humanoid skull. The

Return to Moria: The Pitch

2009-10-21T14:19:00.002-04:00

This is the pitch I sent out to my group of regulars for our next mega-weekend game. Let's see who's foolish enough to sign up... Return to Moria Sauron is dead. Aragorn is king. Gandalf and his pals have sailed away. Ten years have passed since the One Ring was destroyed. The world has become a brighter place and the time of Men is at hand. Time for the valiant fighters, professional

Mageworm

2009-10-20T13:59:00.000-04:00

The Mageworm is a magical pest, of extra-planar origins. When they show up in the material world they appear to be two-inch long, dark green caterpillar-like worms, with thousands of fibrous yellow legs. They have metallic silver eyes, stubby silver antenna and six pairs of pincer-like jaws on their head. Mageworms feed on magical energies and are drawn from their own plane of existence by

Shade Flock

2009-10-19T15:36:00.000-04:00

They lurk beneath overgrown trees and within derelict buildings where shadows gather, their black forms creating a deeper shadow within the shade. The Shade Flock is a manifestation of the plane of shadow, taking the form of black, vaguely bird-like creatures that perch and lurk within the shade. They are most often found near desolate places, abandoned structures, uninhabited woods, or dark

Oooh Spooky!

2009-10-16T12:40:00.000-04:00

Halloween is almost upon us, which means: People are buying lots of candy. People are thinking about horror-themed games. Since I can't do much about the first (other than recommend Milky Way bars, one of my personal favorites), I thought I'd do something about the second. Here's a culling of past articles and ideas that might be useful for a horror themed game. Curses are a good place to

The Ogre Gang

2009-10-15T11:46:00.001-04:00

This band of four ogres has been preying on travelers along a dilapidated road that passes through a stretch of wild land between two neighboring kingdoms. Unlike most ogres, this gang robs then leaves their victims alive instead of serving them up as the evening meal. The ogre's area of operation consists of hilly woodlands dotted with rock outcroppings and stream-cut ravines. The muddy dirt

Sea Star

2009-10-14T14:01:00.000-04:00

These large creatures inhabit calm bays and gulfs in tropical waters, their bulbous bodies floating just beneath the surface, supported by air-filled bladders. Each Sea Star has five long, flat, sucker-covered arms that spread across the water's surface, giving the creature its name. They can move, albeit slowly, using several rows of slim fins that line their bodies. Sea Stars are predatory and

Lamp of Piercing Vision

2009-10-13T15:49:00.000-04:00

This large lantern is made from polished brass and silver. The light source is contained within a vertical metal tube within a tube, with a bulbous lens of milky glass protruding from one side like a blind eye. The inner tube can be rotated with a thumb-wheel, exposing one of four internal lenses. The base of the lamp consists of an intricate clockwork mechanism which is wound with a silver key.

Drone Swarm

2009-10-12T15:07:00.000-04:00

The first hint of Drone Swarm's presence is a faint, directionless susurrus, a drone if you will. As it increases in volume, lethargy creeps into body and mind, growing as the faint noise becomes louder. By the time the Drone Swarm is in sight, it is a struggle to keep awake as the buzzing roar wraps you in a cocoon of lethargic slumber. Drone Swarm is a mobile colony of insects that roams vast