Old timey climbing and mountaineering

Telecanter posted up some public-domain vintage illustrations of rock-climbing and mountaineering, illustrating a number of stalwart climbers in precarious positions...

So in my real-world adventures, I climb - on nice dry rock- I tend to stay away from slogging in snow or alpine climbing.  The equipment and techniques have improved a bit,

...but those old illustrations show the rudimentary technique and equipment of the time, much of which evolved into modern climbing techniques, and a few which are still in use. And they can be very informative for players whose characters' "climbing equipment" is equivalent. That is, hemp rope and a few metal spikes.

The Temple of Voeq

Wiped from a day of kung-fu clinic, but had a bit of energy left , so cobbled together this little cavern/dungeon complex.

Why the heck did I decide to hatch the corridor exteriors though? Cramp...

The Temple of Voeq, heretical Dagonites, has lain untended since the Dagon priest and his mercenaries put them to the sword two years ago. The locals won't approach the complex, for fear of the Old God, and rumors of curses, so perhaps it is relatively un-looted. Or the rumors are true.

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The Voeqites carved temples and cells from the existing caverns, putting it to their own use. A series of cells and the prelate's chambers line one corridor, with a columned temple hewn from the central cavern. Statues and idols pepper the complex, placed in corridors, alcoves, and caverns. The Voeqites took advantage of an underwater connection between two cavern ponds, using it to awe their gullible initiates by swimming costumed priests between the ponds to make their deity 'arise' on cue.

Here it is without grid - I'm a total Gimp gumby, so this is as fancy as I'm getting for now...

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"Magical Traps Around Madness"

Way off schedule on following my OSRBA writing exercises.  I have maintained better than I expected, but have fallen out of the habit.  Onward.

"Magical traps around madness"

The Maelstom appeared three generations ago, a by-product of a mad priest's attempt to speak directly to his deity.  He contacted something immortal, to be sure. But not the intended, and not something amused to be disturbed by the incursions of some random mortal.

source

The immortal did communicate with the priest, in its fashion.  Its alien intelligence pulled apart the priest's mind, stripping it as a flayed criminal at the stocks. Or more likely, as a bored youth pulling legs from a fly.

The Village of Creekside

This is a campaign/local setting for my little sandbox.  Feel free to co-opt it for your setting.

The village of Creekside is a stockaded frontier town, located along Peregrin Creek. Creekside was hewn from the forest and sits along a bend in the creek.  The cleared area is outside the town walls is home to several farms and residences.

The village is notable for a side-channel of the creek diverted through the stockade walls, allowing water and mill power during times of crisis.  If the town is pressed, dams can be dropped at the stockades, and the creek diversion floods low-lying areas along the north wall.  The stockades are wood, with some stone facing along the gates, blockhouse, and at the stream inlet/outlets.

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Visiting Gary's house

Jon Peterson, author of Playing at the World, visits Lake Geneva and the Gygax home, including the proto-nerd-basement with Gary and Dave's wargaming sand-table.

Via BoingBoing