The Lair of the Pale Toads

Last week, we were introduced to the Pale Toads. To expand on our new friends, they needed a lair, and a bit of a story as to why they have suddenly appeared along the edge of civilization, curious and adventuresome. 

AI Trigger Warning.

The Toads tire of lingering in their dim places, and, curious about those who explore their lands, seek to reach out and make contact. But in that vein, they need a leader to inspire them, and teachers to prepare them to interact with the outlanders.

Fortunately, our little community within the lair has both, and the Toads are ready to seek new lands and new allies. The old Queen seeks a greater calling and legacy for her folk. The priests commune with and teach of the great toad who brought them up. And instructors teach worthy toads the arts they will need to survive in the greater world and the rough language of the foreigners so that they may communicate.

This "adventure" is written more as a settlement or village, with its personalities and resources, than a "lair" to be murderhoboed. YMMV. 

The map was provided by Jean-Claude ''Raznag'' Tremblay. I've used one of his maps before, and have several more in the files awaiting the correct inspiration.

Anyway, welcome to the Lair of the Pale Toads. Try the swamp-beer.

Update: Got called out for the AI art, so I'll address it here, rather than getting into multiple discussions elsewhere. Yes, the Toad images are AI. I happened to find them whimsical and inspiring enough as prompts to write up a couple of posts worth of content. Because I write for fun, after all. This isn't a commercial or professional endeavor. I don't have delusions of adequacy when it comes to my writing. I just put it out there to keep my brain active, and perhaps someone will use a piece of mine at their table one day. And much of what I write here (eleven years of posts, 100+ adventures or scenarios, plus myriad other content) is found inspiration: A good map-space, a piece of history, a photo of an artefact, a scene in a book. But the writing is mine. 

Ironically, I didn't even "create" the Toads' art, but lifted it from Pale Toad's YouTube posts.  

Will I use AI art in the future? Likely not. It doesn't fit the esthetic of my writing and imagined game-space. And AI is considered anathema in plenty of creative spaces. Anyway, I'd rather hunt down an appropriate bit of Hannes Bok or piece of medieval marginalia to illustrate my little adventures or scenarios. The images I use on my posts are attributed to their sources, and anything that I do put up on DTRPG or similar is typically illustrated by either public domain art or purchased art from human creators. 

So, if for some reason this is the first time you've stumbled on my blog, I apologize if AI is your first impression. Feel free to peruse the nearly 650 posts that aren't AI content.

The Sanctuary of Oies, or, Dwarves Behaving Badly...

Greetings, heroes!

Tim graciously posted up a spare map some time back, and like so many maps, it languishes in my notebook with many of its kin. But occasionally, the muse strikes, in some way, shape, or form. In the case of Tim's maps, it seems that, at least for the last few maps I've stocked, there are either dwarves in trouble, or causing trouble. So dwarves it is.

The project lived unto the working title of "dwarves behaving badly" until I could give it a proper title. Here, we have a temple to a dwarven earth god, abandoned after a ritual gone awry. But... Someone wants to unseal the doom that came to the temple. That happens. The PCs must stop said ritual, or potentially be in a World of Hurt (tm). The adventure is set up with a timer, so successfully stopping the unsealing of the second level will halt the escape. But, if the thing escapes and is defeated, there may well be reward in the deeper level of the temple.

I had a bit of fun with the boss monster. It was a name that came to me as I was brainstorming, and I made a critter to fit the name. I hope it's disturbing enough. 

The second level map was provided by Jackson, and fits the theme of the scenario well enough, as well as helps illustrate the introduction and worship of a new deity. 

The cover art images were discovered among the works of Jacques Collet, and illustrate our namesake dwarves behaving badly...

PWYW Here

Gods and Such: a collection of deities

When I've written up a village or adventure space, I'll often add a local deity for color and to add to the  depth of the setting. The deity that the community worships lends an indication to their values and the atmosphere of the place (and how friendly they may be to a bunch of unwashed adventurers). The gods include Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic representatives, to round out the alignments and followers.

For inspiration, I cribbed illustrations from a number of classic pulp and art deco illustrators, including Harry Clarke, Sidney Sime, and Hannes Bok. I've accumulated a long list of artists and art resources for writing inspiration and illustration over the last few years, and it's always fun to find a piece that fits my need from some unexpected source. 

A few of the gods, including Khador, Medeg, Garond, and Combris have shown up in my campaign, with their followers making their own stories and impact. Others have been mentioned or wait in the wings.

Behold, Twelve! gods of various stripes to use in your campaign, or for your own inspiration. Enjoy.

Edit: Added one more, because every pantheon needs a God of Death.

Returning to the Watchtower, or, More Fun With OP Old-School Spells

Whew, that was a session....

So the gang got together for a bit more restrained mischief. We had:

• Frederick - Thief
• Slick - Another Thief
• Waegstan, née Bonk - Fighter
• Jax - Barbarian
• Rondel - Elf
• Mareth - Another Elf

First of all, we made sure that the charmed ogres are fed and busy digging a ditch around town. They like a job to do, after all... Although there is some grumbling regarding the local mutton supply.

Next, trailing a caravan came a gnome driving a somewhat odorous wagon. Hugo was his name, and he claimed to be a seller of potions of a restorative nature. After some haggling, the party were the proud owners of four "healing" potions of dubious quality. (Hugo is an NPC stolen/borrowed from other friends' campaigns, so has been putting some serious mileage on that wagon.)

After a brief discussion, it was confirmed that the party intended to revisit the tower explored in the last session. With the excitement of charming ogres and all, they hadn't given the space a good once-over.

Which was good, since I'd actually prepped for this... 

Tower and inevitable underground bits

The party returned to the locale with no wandering ogres or other critters encountered. Waegstan, always optimistic, strode toward the tower, taking arrow fire. Determining that the tower was now guarded by hobgoblins, the party made plans. Waegstan continued to dodge arrows as the two thieves successfully reached the door unnoticed. The remainder of the party wisely provided cover fire from the trees. 

Frederick and Slick breached the door SWAT-style, taking a third hob by surprise and quickly dispatching him. The two headed upstairs, as most of the remainder of the party now rushed the tower. The remaining roof hobgoblins were done in with minor injury.

This gave the party time to inspect a plinth with a cracked red glass hemisphere previously noted in the tower main level. After some poking about, they decided to chip off a bit of the glass for later analysis.

"No Man is an Island" - or "Hop In, I'm Sure the Water's Fine..."

Time to post up another small creation for folks to explore.  

Jackson threw this up about a year and a half ago, and it's been languishing in the notes for a while. It's a good space, with a few looping paths, always good for having a few options or routes to access the depths. He added a number of features to inspire the space and its story, as well.

Source

Things to inspire:

• Water: Jackson does like his murky subterranean ponds
• Odd pools (Those of us of a certain age do like our spaces to have a room of mysterious pools) 
• What appear to be two styles of statues or alters in the various rooms
• Some green stuff

With the features, it took me a while to wrest the story of the space from the map. Certainly, the objective is on the island in the pool, as would be expected. But the elements that gave me a challenge in explaining their existence/purpose were the two styles of statues or alters. I vacillated between stele and more active guardian-constructs, and finally came to an idea of a single sacred space honoring two gods, an old and a new. It took a bit to justify this scenario, and I'm not sure how well it works, but I'll leave that to the readers to decide. 

As is common for our favorite underground exploration spaces, is is abandoned, and has fallen to neglect. It happens. Because of this, the entryways have been re-colonized by new tenants that guard the hallowed spaces beyond. And that green thing? One of the tenants, and a somewhat virulent one (a pared-down version of a somewhat classic hazard).

So feel free to take a look around "Urnage's Island Rest" and have a dip.

Vobleavira Haven Revision

Well, after the events recounted in last week's post, it was time to lift the hood on the adventure and do some tuning. 

Spoilers aplenty below...

The Long Hall, redux

So a bit ago I entered the Prince of Nothing's No Artpunk Contest with a cobbled-together adventure using Jackson's "The Long Hall" map.

And, well, it sucked. No two ways about it. That said, I got some valuable constructive criticism in the judging. 

So nothing to do but take it home and rework.

(insert stock footage of typing away in the garret) 

Added some more story to the place, a few more NPCs, tweaked the baddies. Shifted a few things around to help the flow of the adventure. And dumped in more treasure (although the Bag of Holding hit the cutting room floor). So perhaps it sucks less now...

And now it's live, again, on itch.io. So have a look, see if it's improved, and enjoy your visit to the shrine... Where is that weird droning noise coming from? 

Some bad related news: Matt Jackson took a serious fall last week, ending him up in a trauma unit with numerous d6 in falling damage. Been receiving updates from his family, and now, thankfully, Matt himself. He has a healthy shopping list of injuries, but nothing that won't mend. That said, he's at the beginning of a long road of recovery and rehab, but I suspect it's hard to keep an old soldier down. So if you know him, feel free to drop a line of support, prayers to an appropriate deity, and/or good thoughts. 

Oh, and I received an Honorable Mention in the One Page Dungeon Contest, (again, with a "Matt Map") so there's that. 

A Pilgrimage to Aldo's Call

Not much to report - writing is off, been reworking a prior project to re-introduction into the outside world. Been getting outside and moving around...

So, this is Aldo's Call, named for a martyred priest whose death is memorialized beneath the dome of the local temple/shrine. Folks come from all around to visit the site, and the surrounding village is purposed to serve the temple and its many pilgrims. 

Visit the town! (download)

Crafted from another fine Jackson illustrated product. 

Contest Entry 2 - No ArtPunk Contest

Entry #2 for this month. Fortunately a deadline extended (August 31) so that I could wait for the muse-imps to finish their coffee or running errands and come give me a hand.

So plenty of folks aren't so hot with the pink and purple layouts or out-there artistry, or art for the sake of art game or adventure writing... I appreciate people stretching creatively, and especially the innovation in game and adventure design of the last few years, but much of it doesn't appeal to my esthetics. 

Or maybe I'm just a luddite who can't do layout to save his life.

Well, the Prince of Nothing rolled up a contest just for us unfortunates: the No-Artpunk contest. 

With tongue planted firmly in cheek, he announced the contest in the theme of just making some interesting adventure content.  

Well, I had a map floating around to start from, at least...

I don't know if it fits the criteria, of "exciting, fantastic, and fun," but I occasionally need a deadline to create. The idea of a 'hidden thing' stands out on multiple levels with this map, as the main edifice of the complex is hidden behind secret doors. So the 'hidden thing' theme came up a couple of times in my scribbling and drafting for this adventure. Let's see if it works. Oh, and the big bad may be a bit squidgy for some folks. I have no issue with it being reskinned by users.

Come take a walk down The Long Hall

Update: PoN's feedback here

Revised adventure here

Stopping in at the Sweet Town of Treacle

I don't know why Treacle was given its name. It's just what's on the label... But the town has a dock, and smattering of buildings, and a few other structures of note. 

What I envisioned is a small "port" recently expanded and now under the eye of a magistrate or similar assigned by the regional authorities. Much to the disdain of locals, who enjoyed their quiet, unregulated dock...

Like Dawold, Treacle may be a good disembarkation point for adventures and explorations to points beyond. It has a few basic tradesmen and amenities, as well as a couple of potential sources of rumors and news (in the forms of inn notice board and occasional courier). And a bunch of potentially sketchy halfling refugees, who may make for somewhat effective henches...

Source

So step off the dock, take a look around, and maybe have a bath to freshen up. And perhaps stop by the local deity's temple and their rather stern curate.

Welcome to Treacle

Well, guess I'd better get to work building some backlog....  Dual review of a pair of similarly-named books upcoming...

A Brief Detour...

 A break from the regularly-scheduled program of recent small adventure postings to throw out a new village, this time by a new-to-me mapper and creator, Daniel's Maps.

The Village of Komico came across my Reddit feed, and I had to take a closer look. Daniel's architecture in this map is evocative of a Mediterranean or Middle Eastern setting of flat roofs, stucco and plaster exteriors and compact, multi-story builds. And it's built into the sides of a gorge or similar. 

Daniel added eight named locations on the map, and a bit of background in his own post. I took it as inspiration, but reinterpreted the town with respect to what I saw, as well as who the various NPCs became as I wrote. 

Source

I'm apparently sticking with a somewhat consistent town format, and I guess that includes the Deity of the Week. This one comes with the idea of an old god seeing a revival in popularity. The art inspiration comes from Hannes Bok, a mid 20th century illustrator of pulp and science fiction covers.

I'm having a good time with these, so we'll see how long this creativity lasts. One can never have too many towns for the PCs to hang out in, listen for rumors, or become nuisances. Also, low to mid-level characters need a base to work from, perhaps somewhere that they can rent or buy a residence to recover in and stash gear between forays into the world. No reason they can't have a cozy place to hole up in while they are leveling up for those future aspirations of stronghold construction and domain building.

The Village of Komico Welcomes You

Neuförde Needs a Bridge

Let's travel down the West Road a bit farther from Stoneash, and well inland of Dawold. 

Neuförde was on the cusp of growth when the spring floods undid those plans by uprooting the town's bridge, forcing trade and travel to other crossings. Understandably, most folks are eager to get the bridge rebuilt, but the summons for an engineer to supervise new abutments has gone unanswered. 

Neuförde is a bit larger than the prior two settlements, ranking as a hamlet. Basic provisioning and lodging is available with an established inn and trading post, as well as craftspeople suited for supporting a (hopefully) burgeoning river crossing and future market. The settlement's mayor, Johannes Stroemen, will take interest in any adventurers who visit the town, and may point them towards locales needing investigation or clearing. A pair of odd elves occupy a tower, but may be willing to offer some services in identification or other arcane practices. No temple yet, but a couple of missionaries have set up shop with hopes of constructing a place of worship once the building site is consecrated.

Map by Matt Jackson

And several halfings have recently set up shop in town. Creepy little buggers...

Today's deity was inspired by another early 20th century artist, Harry Clarke. Clarke's illustrations grace a number of fairy tale collections, Edgar Allen Poe stories, and a translation of Goethe's Faust. "Garond, the Judge" is inspired by a piece from an illustrated poetry collection titled "The Year's at the Spring." Clark's works have been used as illustration/inspiration pieces in other RPG products, and I first saw his work used in The Necropolis of Nuromen. 

Beware: Bridge Out Ahead

Stoneash, the next town down the road...

Next in my little collection of places and people comes Stoneash.

The thorp of Stoneash is mentioned in the Dawold Tower town descriptor as a next stop or a possible resource for PCs interested in reconstructing the tower (in the form of the local stonemason).

Map by Matt Jackson

In my imagined hex, Stoneash is approximately six miles up the road, and sits on a belt/trade road known locally as the West Road. The West Road connects the settlements in the area, and forms a rough boundary between local control and the "wilderness."

Like many small burgs, the residents of the town have aspirations, and although no particular threat or limiter has kept the town from growing, it seems that settlement and development has stalled. Perhaps there is some rumor or force keeping the town from recruiting more settlers, or a yet-to-be-determined threat has halted its growth. A recent tragedy has also robbed the thorp of one of its necessary crafts-people.

The town is a bit more established than Dawold, and has a few more resources and personalities to interact with. A guard-post implies some contact or oversight from the area hierarchy. The inn provides a place to lay over, and perhaps pick up some news or a spare hand. And there is the local clergy, with their own deity, again inspired by a Henry Justice Ford piece (For a fistful of other inspiration sourced from Ford's works, check out the Ford's Faeries project).

A note on "classed" NPCs in this and the other settlements: Where there are two classes denoted, the first refers to a suggested BX-type race-class category, with the second being the distinct class per other versions of Ye Olde Game, depending on how one chooses to interpret the various actors.

Stoneash Chamber of Commerce Welcome Brochure

"You have acquired the deed to a ruined tower" redux

So I haven't posted for a bit. But I haven't been idle. I was trying to work up a hex of a few small frontier towns and areas of interest. But it just wasn't gelling. So I have several locations to post. I'll trickle them out over the next bit - I've been having a difficult time sharing, not sure why. Let's just chalk it up to some winter malaise....

Anyway.

One of my favorite outcomes in Donjon's "Pickpocket Loot" random generator is the "Deed to a ruined tower." So much so, that it was the inspiration for my 2017 One-Page Dungeon entry. 

And lo and behold, Jackson had one floating about in his back catalogue. A tiny coastal settlement with the remains of a tower on the edge of town. 

So add a bit of a setup, and a collection of personalities inhabiting the thorp of Dawold. In the spirit of some of the original village modules, everyone has a brief description, a touch of personality or agenda, and a stash of coin, just in case the PCs decide to just rob the town. You never know.

I wrote this, and two other small settlements, with the intent of linking them along a frontier road. Interestingly, all three ended up with a theme of a frontier town whose development was stalled or inhibited due to some factor. In Dawold's case, the tower was to be the anchor for a small port and watch on a wild coast. A bad omen had put an end (maybe) to that aspiration, and with it, the settlement's growth. Not that at least a few of the residents don't mind the low profile.

I also made some notes and suggestions in case the PCs decide they really would like a tower with an ocean front view. After all, where's the fun in waiting until name level to have a killer pad? (The next town down the road is also referenced with respect to the tower build, stay tuned)

And, after I wrote up the three towns, I realized I'd made up a different randomly-named deity for each local preacher to honor. In the spirit of the Expanded Petty Gods project, it was a moment to write up someone new to worship. (Crap - just discovered that the original EPG project has been pulled from Lulu and DriveThruRPG over a potential copyright infringement. A shame - it was a great example of the group mind of G+ and a few people's dedication to move the project forward). That said, a piece of art from Henry Justice Ford served as inspiration for "Butia of the Field." Similar art and associated deities will follow with the other two towns.

Download your own ruined tower!

More to come...

Possum Junction, or Tim drew too much.

Sometimes you get an unexpected gift around Christmastime. Tim prefers to create smaller spaces (five-room dungeons and the like) for his mini-adventures. But apparently he got carried away with this piece, working on technique and experimenting with textures and the like. So sure, I ganked it. 

This is a most excellent space, with looping corridors and multiple pathways, as well as a fine smattering of interesting features to tell a story. Hazards are built in, and there are enough room details to fix a number of points of interest and potential encounters.

A few elements stood out: a pool, a few statues, an apparent chapel space, a lot of collapsed corridors, and started filling in the blanks from my end. Helped by a few die rolls, of course. 

Like many subterranean spaces (and historical ones), I figured there had been multiple tenants. And each had left their mark. For reasons unknown or partly explained, selected features from prior occupants were left in place. Some out of respect, some due to their inherent hazard. And of course, there are the new squatters here, making a mess of things, perhaps.

And since Tim recently mentioned some content and a contribution to Expanded Petty Gods, I had to pull the tome off my shelf and add a couple of names out of that mighty group project of the G+ days... just for fun.

Statted with OSE, a bit of 1e, and some homebrew...

So let's see who's up to mischief in The Caluromys Chambers.

I did abandon Idea #1: Dwarven Frat House. But there is always time to return to that...

Edit: Updated scenario with specific stats for the water spirit (figured that since I'd written a build-your-own-monster formula, I might as well use it), and made minor language and format edits.

The Gaol of Kilmanhard has some new tenants...

Shuffling around on my desk for a map that I swore I just printed out and this one surfaces instead. Like everything lately (gestures broadly), I don't remember where I found it or what inspired me at the moment.

Map in its original orientation

But statues, and a pool, and apparently a conference table. Important things are going down here. 

What exactly is going on in this secret place? Well, as my notes clearly show:  

...it is a hidden temple to a primordial god, one known for their two aspects, one of blessing and one of destruction.... 

Somewhere in the middle of this I figured out that it was a Jackson map from 2016, and that I had it oriented upside-down from the original presentation. So be it.

Ok, enough rambling and dawdling. Go see who has occupied the Gaol of Kilmanhard. And don't worry about pissing off old oceanic gods. After all, what could go wrong?

Original by Aurther Rackham

Ok, now I'm going to go print off that other map a 2nd time. Which probably means I'll find the original copy...

Cerantai, a seafarer's goddess

A petty goddess to add to the pantheon - inspired by this animation:

(slightly nsfw for nekkid cartoon butt and boobs...)

Name: Cerantai: Goddess of the Hanged Sailor
Symbol: An octopus riding a broom
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Movement: 60' (fly)
Armor Class: 6
HP/HD: 38/8 (Cerantai): 20/4 (head-octopus)
Attack: Octopus tentacle slap (up to 6/round)
Damage: 1d3, successful called hit to foe's weapon hand will disarm
Save: M10
Morale: 10
Treasure: nil
XP: 2,400

RPG Blog Carnival - Gates and Portals - 2

A second brief meditation on this month's Blog Carnival - Gates and Portals - hosted by Phil over at Tales of a GM...

While many folks have been envisioning a myriad of gates and guards and devices for opening and closing of portals, both magical and mundane, let's take a quick look at wards...

And, for a bit of inspiration, how about a story perhaps familiar to many of us. The Passover.

(Disclaimer: I'm not Jewish or any sort of Biblical scholar. I know the Passover via the book of Exodus (and that movie with the former head of the NRA), so if I get anything incorrect, please feel free to correct me. Additionally, I don't think that the stories and mythologies of the Bible get a lot of Appendix N love...)

Most familiarly, the Passover is associated with the 10th Plague brought upon the Egyptians during Moses' petitions to free the Israelites.  To recall, any home not properly warded would be visited by the Angel of Death, who would take the life of firstborn children.  Any warded home would be 'passed over' and left unmolested.

Here is the evocative scene from 'The Prince of Egypt'...

The ritual and 'material components' of the warding are very specific:  "3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers' households, a lamb for each household. 4 Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. 7 Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. 10 And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. 11 Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste-- it is the LORD'S Passover.…"

According to my half-vast research of wikipedia and other such hallowed sources, the Passover actually predates the Exodus as a springtime warding or protection rite, and   the prescription includes using a hyssop bough for painting the blood onto the lintel.

Not having read this since teen Bible study, something interesting that I hadn't noted before is that the blood is both spread on the lintel, and consumed (along with the meat of the sacrificial lamb), thus extending or fortifying the protection from the portal to the inhabitant as well, as sort of redundancy (or perhaps an early form of 2-step authentication).

Now, this isn't a unique traditional warding by any stretch of the imagination - many cultures have wards of one sort or another.

A quick summary - a sacrificial animal meeting particular criteria, its blood both spread on the door lintel and consumed, and its meat cooked in a specific way and consumed with accompanying foodstuffs, all while wearing your travelling clothes.  Oh yeah, and don't go outside...

So to create some veracity in a game/story environment, perhaps add the necessity of collecting rare components or knowledge as prerequisites for the ward itself... Building tension and time-pressure before the approach of a physical, magical, or spiritual threat could create some excellent game moments or opportunities. Likewise, it can add to the living nature of the cultures or systems in place in the game world.

"Ok, Dingwall, here's what you need to do to protect your castle from the Wight-bear.  Take the bark from the foo-tree collected under the gibbous moon, mash it into a poultice with some tapioca using a rubber-tipped arrow. Wipe it on the portcullis with a Backscratcher +1, and dab the rest under your armpits, as well as those of everyone in your household.  Eat of the Sacred Chicken Pot Pie of Swänsön.  Oh yeah, all while wearing a thneed."

The Settlement of Pilor-Salath

Another day, another odd little town out among the fringes:

Source

Thanks to David Lewis Johnson for putting this one out there.

Out on the periphery of the Blightlands stands the hamlet of Pilor-Salath, an odd assortment of stacked homes. The hamlet, situated on a barren alkali flat, is partially stilted, as to withstand flooding. But everyone knows that the land has not been inundated since the Blight rained down on the land generations ago...

Some say the flats amplify the mental acuity of those who seek certain truths, whether due to strange geometries of the land, or from magical residue within the biting dust blown across the playa.

Samsul Quin, a desitiute cleric/seer lives in a suspended ball-hovel referred to as the Hive with his three wives.  Each morning he ejects the "three harridans" and meditates, awaiting the Word of Truth from a Rosartia, a goddess of things long forgotten.

His son, Ager Quin lives in two stacked balls on the ground level, below.  He, in turn, meditates in search of revelations from Attrecoppea, a goddess of very small spiders, who reveals small truths through the little black eyes seen gleaming in the shadows, or from beneath the cabinet.

Vyswar Veloje lives in an observatory perched atop the central apartment tower.  He watches for the return of a foretold comet, at which time he will lead his followers in a group ritual of self-immolation to ride the comet to the fabled Greensward Lands.

The Kroger Family lives in the Balanced House, suspended atop the stacked longhouses. They spend most of their time carefully rearranging furniture and knick-knacks to keep the house in place as they sing lilting hymns to Diit’Wentii, a god of minutiae. Dinner parties are a nightmare.

Near the center of the village is the 'tower hut,' the first structure of the community. It shows the architecture of a wet land, thatched and built on stilts. Its thatching is periodically refreshed by pilgrims visiting from humid, tropical lands.  An old woman named Semina crouches here, silently communing with Tlacotani, a god of sudden inundation. She hasn't spoken in years, but is ready to reveal one of the Ultimate Truths. Either that or request a long-desired delicacy.

Apartments fill the tottering tower at the right end of the settlement. They are filled with travelers seeking the wisdom of the resident ascetics, and individuals seeking revelation or insights from their own gods and prayers.

Anchoring the left end of the village is  Ume Polck in his cramped store. Each morning he opens his awning to let in the morning breeze as he sends his nephew Abelo with the oxcart hauling old brewery tuns to bring the village's water from a spring at the edge of the playa.

Rou Banwright, a blacksmith, stumbled upon the settlement during a blinding dust storm.  She remained to craft intricate fittings to suspend the walkways between the dwellings. They are light but sturdy in the desert winds. Rou is an avowed atheist, but her dreams are disturbed by songs in a thousand voices.

The community's halfling barber, Azid Tull, holds forth in a cubby within the balanced houses.  He believes that hair may be a conduit to evil spirits, and attempts to shave everyone's head, or at least leave them well-tonsured. Oddly, he has waist-long dreadlocks.

All deities supplied by Expanded Petty Gods

Download here

Expanded Petty Gods released!

Richard LeBlanc has finally released Expanded Petty Gods out into the wild. He took over the project some time ago, vowing to just pull the pieces together.  As these things happen, the pieces got out of hand, and the final work clocks in at nearly 400 pages!

The project has been a great group effort of written and artistic content. I was happy to contribute a small god and a few minions to the mix.

I initially wrote up a couple of minions that Richard had posted art prompts for, then added a last-minute god, Lubella.  I was psyched to see Joel Priddy's interpretation of her:

So go take a look at EPG on RPGNow.  The PDF is at the ridiculous price of FREEEEE!!!!!

And, if you are like me and hate reading on a screen, dead tree versions are available at-cost on Lulu - Hardback and Softcover.

Grab a copy of whichever version(s) you like, and drop a line to Richard thanking him for completing this Herculean task.

And now Richard can get back to his d30 Tables.