D66 Badlands Hex Features, and Randomness Thoughts

So, in respect of Prismatic's Blogwagon topic, I suppose I should actually write a bit more on process and methods, rather than just spamming them with random tables. Not that there isn't another random table residing directly below... 

I'm a middling GM and writer, at best. Most of my scenarios and creativity are pretty bog-standard as far as RPG content goes. I crib from better creators wherever possible, and chink up the cracks in material content with my ideas where necessary.

So, I'm not going to come up with any groundbreaking theory or mechanics, just what works for me, and maybe help a dear reader or two.

First of all, for any session or scenario, there is little need to build out bespoke random table contents. With fifty years of publications and web content, there's likely a random table that fits your needs. 

Even the infamous ones...

Plenty of TTRPG books include monsters encountered by terrain type. Sort by HD or whatever criteria, and accost your players' PCs at your leisure.

And, the tables don't have to be fancy. Even for a campaign-level setting, there will be the things encountered more regularly, and a few rarities that may only hit the die rolls a few times. Call them the residents vs the exotics, perhaps. The tribes of orcs vs the one dragon. Grade on a curve - 2d6, 3d6, etc. Again, smarter people than me have expounded on this.

"But what if I want to random some stuff up, Mr. Leicester?" I hear you say. Well then, go for it... with the only real caveat of, "make them make sense."

Looking at my last blog entry, there is The Randomness of the die rolls, with the list of qualities or attributes for each creature. Then, the "heavy lifting" of creating some logic for making that particular arrangement fit into your setting. Particularly for a sandbox-type scenario, where the exploration and encounters themselves inform the larger play (we'll also be delving into this based on our last campaign session...)

And it might not work. Sometimes the dice aren't always right. Regardless, making something out of a bunch of random rolls, be it filling a dungeon, or creating a critter, is still good practice, and an opportunity to keep the brain flexible. 

And I'm sure that I have at least one failed experiment that showed up elsewhere...

Create

Came across this presentation while on my dog walk the other day:

Strong thesis statement. But valid. Creative expression is a critical part of the human experience. Dancing around the fire, painting cathedral ceilings, writing symphonies or novels. Or gathering to roll dice and be in our imaginations.

Regarding one beat within the talk - my real-life job does have its saving-the-world elements. And I do believe that I can continue writing up my little scenarios or lists or whatevers that catch my fancy while still enacting some change and improvement. Besides, having worlds that we have a little control over diminishes the ennui of not being able to "save the world" enough. 

I've always believed that my own creative life was important in one form or another, whether trying my hand at fiction writing, an occasional return to the piano, or making up stuff for silly elf-games. It's part of my general plan to keep my mind and body flexible and functional as long as possible. 

On top of that, I finally confirmed that yes, after 50+ years dithering around, that I do have ADHD. I either very successfully passed or gloriously failed the QbCheck ADHD test, depending on one's perspective. 

So I'd better figure some stuff out here. 

I don't consider myself a particularly strong or creative writer, but at least I can keep a consistent format and catch most of my typos. And as the presenter says, don't let self confidence or the need to be "good" at something hamper us from creating. Anyone who's read my stuff certainly knows it doesn't stop me...

So - Onward. In a frail attempt to organize my home office, I've captured most of my scribbled works-in-progress:

with ADHD-proofing soundtrack

Some of these scenarios are products of the campaign, some are maps that caught my attention, a few are from prompts or particular writing exercises.

There's a good handful. Let's shoot for getting one drafted per week. Think I can do that? 

Anyway, get out there and make your own scribbles. You don't have to save the world. But you can bring a bit of fun and light into your own corner of it.

Happy Anniversary

Was poking through my blog last night while scuffling with Google regarding my most recent post flagging, and discovered that I had said "Hi" to the blog community eleven years ago.

Time flies.

Leicester (RIP) says hi from wherever he is...

Happy New Year - The 2024 Roundup

Good morning, all. Got my coffee and cozy duds this morning, so taking the time to do the requisite blogger year-end recap.

It's been a relatively productive blogging year at Leicester's Rambles HQ. A lot of it was driven by gaming summaries, but let's see how it all shook out. 

In 2024, I:

• Made 84 total blog posts;
• Hit post #600;
• Made two Secret Santicorn contributions, both with a cosmic horror flavor;
• Completed nineteen d66 tables (twenty counting the bonus one in the compilation). I'm no ktrey, but I can make lists of 36 things;
• Stocked up a total of ten villages, encounter areas, and dungeons. Several were posted after being run during game sessions, and I thought that they deserved to be shared;
• Completed two product reviews, for three card decks and funny dice;
• Revised one magic missile spell for Shadowdark;
• Came up with five new monsters (standalone and introduced in adventures);
• Compiled one collection of twelve gods from my campaign world and other writings;
• Completed 49 actual-play writeups (26 OSE campaign, 13 as a Shadowdark player, and 10 one-shots/con games)

So yeah, not too bad. I have a few drafts staring at me, all judgmental-like. Hopefully I'll get a couple out in the next day or two and start the year off well.

Gaming was pretty solid. In my campaign, the players have managed to get kicked out of the city held by a theocracy (and later sneak back in to swipe stuff), get harassed by a naked grenade-throwing guy, meet a bunch of seafaring dwarves, make a few allies, including undead knights and an anarchist naga, steal a ship, and gain notoriety arena-fighting. 

And I've run OSE, Shadowdark, and Deathbringer one-shots with some success. People seem to enjoy my games although I still count myself as a comparative novice gamerunner, so that's been a blessing.

I've been playing in two online games - the Shadowdark campaign that we've streamed, and a 2e campaign. Good to get on the other side of the screen and appreciate other gamerunners' skills. 

So Happy New Year, all - I hope that it is starting off well for you, too.

The dogs don't care about your arbitrary timekeeping...

Oh, and I started a new writing notebook:

RPG Blog Carnival: Feasts, Foods and Fancy Drinks, oh my!

Crap. It's been literal years since I've contributed to one of these. 

VDonnut Valley is hosting this month's soirée, themed Feasts, Foods and Fancy Drinks, oh my! Well, I can work with a prompt like that. Perhaps from a slightly different angle.

After all, part of being a good host is sometimes being flexible to your guests' dietary restrictions and perhaps preparing a special meal for an honored "foreign" guest...

source

***

The tremoring acolyte stirred the vile concoction. His eyes darted to the poor sod he'd just replaced, still spasming on the floor. Clearly, sampling the offertory meal had not agreed with him.

“Add the next ingredient, worm!” commanded the hooded priest. Taking a shaking hand, the acolyte opened the stained crockery. His eyes watered even more as the acrid, metallic fumes emerged from the crockery as he poured the toxic mixture into the boiling pot.

“Taste the offering. Perhaps you are more worthy to serve His Glory than your predecessor!” A spear butt in his ribs encouraged the acolyte further.

The acolyte glanced at his fellow initiate, now still. With shaking hand and tears in his eyes, he took a spoon to taste the bubbling amalgamation.

Somewhere, in the shadows beyond the priest, a shape began to unfold from space. Slavering jaws emerged as the entity from beyond took in the first, deep, delicious scent of the offering meal...

Welcome to the Temple of Dynss, plus some lamentations on creativity

My "Village of Longtooth" post got a little traffic in the last couple of weeks, mostly because Shane mentioned on his blog that he was cribbing it for his new campaign. Much appreciated...

Anyway, I got a comment lamenting that people didn't seem to post up '5-minute maps' and similar creative bits as much anymore, especially since the G+ diaspora. I thought on this, as well. At the time, my mind was much more attuned to creating, so I could see a map like Shane's, or a piece of art that someone posted, save it, and immediately draft up a few notes of description for that piece. Then I'd toss it out into the world, and maybe someone would find it and use it. Who knows. But it was more about creating and sharing for me than any other impetus. 

Now, I have a folder full of maps and ephemera covered in notes that never seem to get transcribed, or some inspiring piece gets lost in the feed and never found again. Gotta fix that.

Which brings us to the Temple of Dynss. Grab a small encounter space, set the timer for an hour, and fill it. Then make sure it gets written up.

Dyson themed it as a lost temple now occupied by a giant lizard, so I took the lizard theme, but gave it the lizardfolk treatment. Old lost temple? They must be returning to it to cause some mischief of their own agenda. Somewhere, I wrote down the random phrases 'smoking ruin' and 'spirit snake' as spells for our main character, a shaman. Wasn't sure, but they sounded like spells that he'd have. I roughed out a plot, pulled some images from Wikimedia, and created some hows and whys. 

Check out this dapper guy
source

(Although I didn't incorporate the image into the adventure, he's the inspiration for the shaman's guards)

So, an hour plus a few days later, we have our finished work. 

Welcome to the Temple of Dynss

An old temple/mausoleum, complete with a few modified monsters and undead, two new spells, and one new magic item.

Now to figure out how to grab the creative moments more often...

That said, as best as I can tell from my disorganized blog tags, I've written over a hundred adventures. Everything from a single-location encounter to large dungeons requiring multiple sessions (nothing in the mega-dungeon category, yet...). Several include four to five scenarios for a single map, so that adds a few more. Most are probably pretty bog-standard by most criteria, although I do let the mind out to play a bit more now and then... Anyway, they are all free, or at the most PWYW. I'm sure something will be suitable to drop into your table, or perhaps seed an idea of its own.

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.

The Necromuseum of Tutmus-Ra-Hotep-Pthah III

Among my piles of files of downloaded maps from various cartographers, I had a map by Dyson, drawn as a bit of an homage to the passages and rooms of Quasqueton.

It has been another project completed in small fits and starts. What came of it is a desert tomb occupied by a vain and somewhat bored mummy, Tutmus-Ra-Hotep-Pthah III (or just Tutmus to his friends...).

This became a tomb adventure complete with various tropes of tomb-raiding and mummy-cursing. Although I did have a bit of fun with it, and ended up providing some options for different approaches to play. The adventure can be played straight tomb-raiding, or players can encounter a bored mummy invisibly stalking them, offering a tour of his abode, charming a couple away to dust the fixtures, or even acting as a sage source of knowledge. And please don't miss the gift shop... 

Download Me Here

Spent a three day weekend at Norwescon science fiction and fantasy writing convention. I had volunteered to run some games, but had no takers, so hung out with writers attending panels and readings. It has been a long time since I've gone to a writing conference or similar event, so was a fresh experience. Not a bad long weekend. 

Ok, better prep a bit for this weekend's brewery game. 

A Curse of Demons - Some Toren Atkinson Inspiration

After F'Norp's misadventure, I explored a bit more of Toren Atkinson's portfolio, and borrowed these fine individuals for a bit of hellish creativity:

General:
Of the five lovely specimens below, all have demonic resistances to normal weapons, requiring silver or magic to cause damage (in addition to whatever other physical resistances they may have). All take half damage from non-magical fire. 

Soth'tath: The Hound-Headed: 

Appearing to wear the oversized skin of a flayed victim, this multi-limbed "Hound of Draglemol" acts as a servitor-porter and tracker that retrieves the damned, both on the Abyssal planes, and without. Its mole-like nose scents out fugitives from the dark places and unpaid pacts. Two or more are typically dispatched to hunt down their prey.

Running on bird-like feet, or scrabbling along walls and ceilings, the demon moves at the same pace on any surface. Upon catching prey, they are often seen portaging them away, grasped on their backs with their posterior claws.

HD: 4+1; Armor: as Chain; atk 4x claw (1d6 ea), if two or more attacks strike, the target is grappled, taking 1d6 automatic dmg/round until freed.

Merry Wightmas (a few thoughts and an adventure revision)

As I run material that I've written, it gives me the opportunity to playtest and consider my work. Admittedly, most of my writing is relatively bog-standard, with some hopefully interesting baddies or environments to explore.  

Grumpy that you awoke him (source)

After reviewing my thoughts on the session and play notes, I thought that reworking Nigkoev's Uneasy Rest would be a good exercise. I wrote the original back in 2020, and I've refined(?) my writing a bit since then, plus play gave me an opportunity to see the awkward bits, as well as some painful typos...

First of all, I edited the baddie's name to be easier to pronounce. I have a penchant for random regional European names, occasionally those with too many consonants in a row. Then a bit of reformatting and paragraph breaks to make things easier to read and highlight. Some fixes to the content based on the playtest to increase challenges and provide a bit more information for the game-runner to describe the space. And added lists of rumors and wandering monsters for color and randomness. 

So here is the new and hopefully improved "Nikoev's Uneasy Rest." Enjoy.

I hope all had an enjoyable and safe Christmas, or whatever you may celebrate. Our travel was postponed by a little ice. Best to hunker down and wait for the thaw. 

Nigkoev's Uneasy Rest - or - Ya Can't Keep a Good Zealot Down

Good evening, fair readers. Sunday night came, and with it, another foray into the lands around Neuforde.

I had expected a full table, so had prepared <REDACTED> with the <REDACTED> final boss battle and a <REDACTED> that I'm sure would have been able survive my players' crits. But we had a couple of last minute cancellations, and I had four at the table one arriving late. Such is life. So I put <REDACTED> on the reserve pile. It deserves a full table and an honest play review.

Tonight's cast:

• Bonk the stabby fighter
• Frederick the arachnophobe thief

and two new folks:

• Urik, Cleric of Garond 
• Spike - half-ork on a mission (who rolled a Nat 18 str)

Although OSE has a half-orc class, we just ran Spike as a fighter with a lot of flavor and an urge for righteous violence.

Game-night changes is why I keep a folder of maps/adventures. So I grabbed Nigkoev's Uneasy Rest off the bench and put it in the game.

The party sought out the tomb fueled by rumors of holy relics to further the cause of Garond's battle vs chaos.

[Spoilers for anyone who'd actually want to play in this space]

Finding the anachronistic fountain out in the wild, they spent some time poking and prodding at it. Enough rattling and jiggling finally released the hidden hatch, and Bonk entered the passageway, torch in hand. And was immediately covered in spiders:

Armed with torch and shield, he exterminated the pests. With shouts of encouragement from his brave companions above-ground. Frederick is not getting anywhere near venomous critters.

Monday Monster: The Smolder

Continuing with my attempt to rekindle a bit of spontaneous writing inspiration. Another piece of art found in the forums:

The smell of charred forest lingered as the party crossed the still-warm ground, ashy from the recent conflagration. Flickers of flame and threads of smoke rose from the dying burn. The stacked stones rose from the burned land, blackened and cracked, but whole. The storehouse of the artifacts of Chotarr, The Burning One.

"Looks clear, Custis! Nothing here but a dead charred cat. Thing probably got caught in the forest fire." 

"Odd. The fire's barely burned out. Wonder what started it."

"Probably goblins. Who cares, there's a hammer in there I've been seeking since the Battle Of Burning Plains." 

The two looters stepped on the platform of the crypt. They suddenly felt a wall of heat rising as an acrid burning filled their noses. A crack like a tree exploding in a forest fire sounded and they faced the "dead" panther, now animated and flaming.

by Andrea Radek

The Smolder: 

Feline elemental guardian/constructs, appearing in the form of a massive, charred panther. Created to guard temples and sacred places of the fire gods. Often called as guardian-companions to fire giants and similar primordial beings.

AC: 5/14

HD: 5+1

Atk: Bite/claw/claw 1d8/1d4/1d4 - on a successful hit, save or take an additional 1d8 heat damage

THAC0: 15 [+4]

Movement: 120' (40)

Saving Throws: D12 W13 P14 B15 S16 

Morale: 10

Special Abilities: Magical construct/elemental - Immune to mental magic. Magic required to hit/damage. 

If a smolder has been left to guard a location, there is a 5% chance per year (cumulative), that it will break free of its servitude and become a self-governing predator, prowling the area around its former station. Now treating the area as its territory, it will attack any encountered intruder. The prowling of a smolder will often set fires in its area, leaving its territory and surrounding terrain a charred, blighted locale.

F'Norp's First Flight

Haven't written off a prompt for entirely too long, but this image came across my feed, and I decided this hapless fellow needed a story...

Via Toren Atkinson

F’Norp looked at the rickety contraption bodged together by the goblins. F’Norp always tried to be a good tribe member, but this made his guts twist uncomfortably. The breeze made the unevenly cut and stitched hides and fabric flutter and ripple. His guts burbled and he let loose a nervous fart. The goblins tittered.

“Now, Fnoop, or whatever your name is – just like we talked. This fine contraption will waft you like a leaf on the breeze above the Baron’s camp, and you let fly with my little gifts. They’ll never know what hit ‘em!” The bald, twitchy softskin conjurer waved his bony fingers at the fragile flier. Jorgagu had called him an alkimest or something like that, deemed too crazy for the softskins, so he sold his crafts to Lord Az'gezan and the horde instead. All F’Norp knew was that the little guy was pushy and that his tent smelled of acrid brews. One goblin assistant had lost a hand in a blast, and a second was blinded by some fetid spray. If the conjuror hadn’t been useful and under the protection of Az'gezan, he would have found himself wearing his guts as a hat.

F’Norp looked over the edge of the cliff. The treetops sure looked a long way down. He poked at the flier. A goblin smacked his hand away. A raven cawed.

A cart squeaked as two of the conjuror's surviving goblin assistants gingerly trundled their load up to the launch site.

“All right, Fjord, ready for your day as a hero? Ohh, this is going to be glorious!” The alkimest started to juggle a number of corked vials and bottles filled with viscous fluids. The goblins cringed a bit. “Now hold still, very delicate, you know. Get plenty lashed on and some spares on the craft. Ooo, this will be a show!”

F’Norp was a bit concerned. After all, the vials didn’t appear to be easily untied. Perhaps they’d give him a blade. But there sure were a lot of bottles.

Lord Az'gezan approached. This was the first time that F’Norp had ever been this close to His Putrescence. It was a heady experience. His voice boomed, “Minion, you are The Chosen Bombardier! Great Glory to you! You will Rain Discord in the camp of our enemy, Sowing Much Destruction and a Victory for The Cause!”

Arrayed with the vials and bottles, F’Norp was assisted into the flier. “Now lean in the direction you want to go, and you will be like a great bird of prey, Fneed!” crowed the scrawny alkimest. 

With a push and a heave, F’Norp found himself tossed from the clifftop. The spindly flier spiraled for a moment, caught a thermal, and suddenly climbed.

F’Norp realized that in the intoxicating moment of being addressed by His Putrescence, that he had forgotten to ask about releasing the bottles of reagents. They sure seemed bound securely to the frame of the flier, and to his limbs. Oh, and how to land. That would have been good to ask, too.

As the flier began its unstable descent toward the softskins’ battle camp, F’Norp felt the wind through his unruly mane, and heard its rush past his ears. He was flying! Terror passed to momentary exuberation. That crazy conjurer was right about one thing. It sure was a glorious sight up here.

Dwarven Architectural Criticism, or Yozzat Makes Fun of Mega Bloks

(Wherein a friend shared pics of his 5-year-old's progress building a castle with Mega Bloks, and my dwarf PC gets all judgey- a quick freewriting exercise) 

***

Magnus Keep and the Surrounding Lands

Notes by Yozzat Leadjaw, Engineer

Uncle Thurnael,

I have traveled to the site of Magnus Keep, a fortification along the Oshawa Wildlands, to collect a bounty for an old blood feud. As I had a few days waiting for my contact, I made a survey of the fort to bide my time. I have attached sketches and illustrations of the fort’s architecture and probable construction sequence for future reference.

The Keep is a keep-and-bailey fortification, typical of small to medium sized hardpoints on the boundaries of territories in these parts. Situated on a defensible defile, the Keep overlooks a wide valley into the inhospitable cold lands to the north, and a large lake to the south.

The stonework is passable, if not a bit primitive (no dwarven craftsmanship, to be sure). The fort shows evidence of typical progressive construction, with stone transported from multiple quarries. As such, the quality and fitment of the stonework is variable.

The keep itself is narrow and rectangular. Based on the position and craftmanship, it is obvious that this was the original structure. A tower abutting the keep shows some signs of settlement and poor foundation engineering, another clear indication of non-dwarven construction techniques and haphazard building. The attached gatehouse and barbican are overbuilt, as if to compensate for this shoddy work (sketch below).

Exploring Dyson's "Old Fort Ruins & Dungeon"

Well, my brain is still mush with a lot of work demands and long hours. And I've found that I'm putting off a lot of exercise, both physical and creative. So this thing has been floating around in my carry-bag since Dyson first posted it in May. Which shows my productivity...

So here's Dysons "Old Fort Ruins & Dungeon," as interpreted by me... 

Not much to add here - no real deep creative process to unravel. I liked the interconnection of the surface space as an indication to the subsurface terrain (collapsed area) and its implications for exploration and geometry, and worked it into the narrative of the hows and whys of the adventure. Statted using B/X-OSE-adjacent methodologies. Or something like that...

Download me here

I hope to get back to a better flow upcoming - looks like I'm over the hump on the current work project (although there are rumblings that I'm taking on a new task). A few friends are discussing a modest collaborative project, and I have a fistful of other maps scattered about to fill with denizens.

Hope this finds you all healthy and finding your own ways to keep creative and connected.

New Black Hack classes...

Hi all - just uploaded to DrivethruRPG my take on eight classes for The Black Hack: Alchemist, Bard, Monk, Ninja, Plague Doctor, Ranger, Tiefling, and Warlock.

I tried to emulate David's original tone and style, as well as make each class simple and unique as befitting the game. 

PWYW on DriveThru -
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/290768/The-Black-Hack-Whack-Classes

So take a look and throw a coin in the tip jar if you are so inclined.  Thanks!

I also uploaded a significant revision to my homage to B1, "Vobleavira Haven Complex"
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/279317/Vobleavira-Haven-Complex

I added encounters, cleaned up some text and consistency, and hopefully made this an improved and more playable product.

Beware the Goblin Peehole!

Well, Bryce reviewed/savaged a few of my released adventures... Within his usual snark was some serviceable criticism - I do need to tighten up my writing on some aspects of descriptions and such, and make sure the important details are up front for the GM. (I do appreciate feedback, after all - pro or con).

One criticism was redundancy and superfluous room description, using a statted 'guardpost' room as an egregious example... yeah - I over-wrote it.  But then there's the detail of the peephole in the post's door, where intruders may be spotted - per Bryce:

"The guardroom has a peerhole and a couple of monsters poking around in the rubble, with a small chance of them using the peehole. " (italics mine)

My own snark here, but if you're reviewing and criticizing someone's work and quality, proofread your own blog. Typos set me off. I may not be the best writer, but I proofread/spellcheck my stuff.

But peehole...  And the associated goblin guards... 

"There is a 2-in-6 chance that one of the goblins will hear someone outside the door, leap onto the door, and urinate through the peephole.  Any PC attempting to spy through the peephole will be drenched..."

Save vs disease or contract a virulent goblin malady:

1. Screaming Buboes  - The buboes scream, not the patient. No chance of silent movement. No one gets any sleep.
2. Crawling Pox - Oh gawd where am I gonna itch today?
3. Spitting Sores - Any uncovered sore spatters ichor up to six feet. Anyone struck with the fluid must save vs disease or become infected in turn.
4. Glowing Rash - Infected glows as per candlelight - possibly useful, probably a liability.
5. Honking Cough - Infected sounds like a flock of arguing geese. Don't even think of trying to sneak up on anything.
6. Walking Lockjaw - Seizes up a different random joint each day.
7. Steaming Boils - Infected is surrounded by a vaporous mist. Some boils may intermittently whistle. The boils put off a putrid miasma (troglodyte equivalent).
8. Hopping Tremors - The infected is consumed by involuntary hopping and jittering. No sleep-based recovery allowed.

The effects typically last 1d6 days, although there is a 20% chance that the PC has acquired a particularly virulent strain, lasting 1d6 weeks, and a 10% chance that the affliction is chronic... Cure disease should do the trick. Maybe... Hopefully...

Beware of GTDs - Goblin Transmitted Diseases

www.deviantart.com/abelphee

Mad March Map: Spire

Back to a couple of quick scenes/bits of adventure for some purpose...

Mad March Map 28 - "Spire"

Lazlo Nabitovy lives on top of a truncated Methuselah-tree deep within the Liviy Woods. The tree, sheared off by some cataclysmic storm a generation gone, forms the foundation for his dwelling above the treetops. A sage, he has stylized himself as a tower hermit/stylite. Or at least that's what the rumors say.

Nabitovy does generally live a hermit's lifestyle.  From his aerie, he barters with the bird-folk for supplies and news.

But anyone who makes the arduous climb to the top of the tree will find not a hermit's shanty, but a well-appointed manor. Filled with empty rooms, Lazlo mostly knocks around on his own with but a simpering birdfolk servant named Kiawk.

He will gladly entertain visitors and supplicant's for his knowledge and interpretation of signs.  Better yet, if they have brought spices or other rare ingredients, he is quite the epicurean...

Inspiration: Snow

Tonight's scene, art provided by: Mad Map March 15 - Snow, inspired by "The Little Ice Age"

There has been another hard freeze, with the river gone solid. The residents look at the ice and quietly discuss the likelihood of having to replace one or both of the town's bridges after the spring thaw. Again.

It is far into the winter, the third rough winter in four years. It is to the point in the season where concerned eyes look at the near-empty larders, and the wives are counting out the remaining potatoes and roots.

There is nothing to spare for rough adventurers traveling through. They had better have their own meager rations, as few will take up an offer to share their stores. After all, one can not eat gold.  Unless they can perhaps take care of some nuisance or raider: the frozen walking dead, a werewolf stalking the woods, or equally desperate bandits raiding the stores.

People stay in but for necessary forage for thin livestock, breaking the ice for the well, occasionally carrying out an individual not hearty enough to last the winter...

The snow hasn't fallen for weeks, it is too cold, with a bone-breaking ache.

"Are you going somewhere warmer, guv'ner?" As the party leaves from their hard lodgings, they find themselves tailed by a sallow youth, with rag-wrapped feet, and a few precious potatoes and crusts of acorn-flour bread in a sack.

Inspiration: Castle

Mad March Map the 14th - Castle

The ruins of Quent Keep reside among the slowly encroaching forest. Abandoned a generation gone by its human inhabitants, they had cleared the forest attempting to expand their influence into the sylvan lands.  But the greenlands had their own methods for resisting this insolent incursion. It was a siege, but one not of armies. Weeds grew riotously in the kitchen gardens, lightning struck the walls with regularity, the well went dry, and domesticated animals fled or became unproductive.  There is no more need for such fortifications now the caretakers reached an agreement with the fey, retreating back to their own territory and allowing the wilds to regain the area...

The only occupants now are elven children with their centuries-old eyes, who play among the towers and scramble the ivy-covered walls...