Happy Jackalope 2020! A Writing Prompt...

James Young has helped run the Secret Santicore community writing 'gift' project over the last secret years. With the demise of G+, the project was ported over at the OSR Discord Server. And with the current state of the world, James added the Easter equivalent for a bit of creativity and levity - Behold, the Secret Jackalope!

I've played in these projects on and off, so threw my prompt into the list. In return, I received my Secret Jackalope prompt:

Hello Vance!

The Jackalope is here, and requires a SACRIFICE.

SherlockHole requests the following gift:

Weird monsters to stalk through some post-apocalyptic ruins in a world with lovecraftian horrors & GLOG sorcerers, or some plot hooks/ a dungeon for investigations within a walled-off city at the edge of the world

And a prompt needs inspiration. Serendipitously, a piece of 'appropriate' art popped across my DeviantArt recommendations:

https://www.deviantart.com/ondes7

All things considered equal, this fit. And so did the rest of Ondes7's work, a collection of surreal and adequately creepy pen and ink and graphite pieces that fit the imagery of Lovecraftian horrors...

So off to the races with several atmosphere-pieces of creatures that have invaded the world from the Void.

So these monstrosities aren't statted out - more notes, impressions, and perhaps a few strategies that have been found effective to counter them. But hopefully something useful as think-pieces and inspiration for a twisted world.

And I did have to shoehorn some background for the city of Redoubt, and some rumor seeds, as well. Because apparently prompts for last cities is a thing for me...

So, thanks to SherlockHole for the prompt, and thanks to Ondes7 for a batch of inspiration.

Welcome to a City on at the edge of a ruined world, and the things that prowl beyond the walls.