Small Details: 10 Strange Bottles

This is the first time I've posted using my phone. Hoping it works. Here are 10 strange bottles that might be found while adventuring.

1. A simple a clay bottle that has unseen cracks around the outside. When liquid is poured into it within a day all the contents will have leaked out.

2. Thick glass tinted blue makes up this fat bottomed bottle. The cork is attached by a wire. There is a trace of liquid at the bottom. A left over potion of flying. It'll cause the imbiber to shoot up in the air 10' then fall. GM should determine if damage should be rewarded.

3. A broken bottle lays on the ground. If a magic-user puts his hand near it the bottle will reform. It looks to have been carved from a single piece of crystal. If the mage becomes separated from the bottle, it'll shatter at nightfall.

4. A bottle hovers in mid air. It looks to be made of crude glass with something inside. The bottle isn't magic but it is a trap. The bottle sits on a wood pole with dozens of spikes and rusted blades waiting to render flesh. This pole was turned invisible. Anyone who tries to grab the bottle will be impaled. At that time, the pole appears. The bottle has rain water inside.

5. A wine bottle looks intact. It sits in a small basket. The seal is broken but the cork is in place. The seal is of a local winery. It is half full. Oh, and it's laced with centipede poison.

6. A two tiered bottle. It is tinted green glass. There is a light colored liquid in the top and a dark liquid in the bottom. In the middle is a button. If the button is pushed, the liquids mix and a bright light shines in all directions. It remains cool to the touch. This lasts for one hour then goes dark. The bottle is valuable on it's own.

7. The bottle appears to sweat blood. Red droplets form on the surface, trickle down the sides and pool around the bottom.

8. A crude clay bottle with a moon seal on the front is nestled into a crevice. This bottle comes from the fey. If the gift is excepted, the PC gets a visit from the fey while he sleeps demanding a favor.

9. A bone bottle, yellowed with age. It has an inscription running in a single line at the base.

10. Rare red glass bottle. It's stopper is a cut ruby. An alchemy tool used to create enhanced potions.

Hope you find use for these bottles.

Small Details: 10 Door Details to Distract the Party

Sometimes the small details are what attracts the party's attention. Often distracting them from the adventure you had planned for the evening. The first details are what one might find on dungeon doors, inn doors, maybe even trap doors. These ten details could mean something, or not a damn thing. Only the first one has any details, but they could just be hinges with fancy designs. 

1.  The brass hinges of the door are tarnished so they take on the same coloring as the wood door. On closer inspection they have intricate designs. A magic-user has a chance of identifying the patterns. These hinges work as spell storage. So as a magic-user can enchant the door. In most instances it is a trap, so when the next person opens the door the spell is discharged. These hinges hold one spell at a time. They can be removed, but for them to work all three of them have to placed on the same door. 

2.  There is a small door in the door, that mimics the bigger door perfectly. 

3.  There are small holes at the base of the door, they are stained darker than the rest of the door. There is an oily substance in and around the holes.

4.  Hanging on a small iron ring is a goat's foot. It looks to be fashioned as a door knocker.

5.  The door is painted a bright blue in color except for a small hand print in the center.

6.  Two, rusted iron spikes are stuck between the door and the wall. An obvious attempt to keep the door closes. The door has large cracks in it, exposing the interior of the door, but it did not give as something powerful smashed into it.

7.  Words are carved into the door. It is difficult to decipher. The carving looks fairly new. And at the bottom of the words is the number 4.

8.  The door contains  inset, black iron detailing. It curves around onto itself and then spirals out and around. The detailing is quite good.

9.  There is a spiderweb detailing around the door frame. 

10.  The handle of the door is fashioned out of a keg tap.  

Dungeon Room & Hex Crawl Encounter Card

For a while now I've been using a pair of simple d12 tables to help me randomly create content.  I always had them in a notebook I could only find half the time.  Or had them in a file on my home computer, but when I went to the bookstore never had access to them.

My solution, as it is for many things these days, create a card and laminate the bastard.  Now I can keep one of these in my computer bag and whip it out when needed.  And if I spill my coffee drink all over it will be the one safe thing on the table. 

I did a batch of these cards today.  I have no plans for them yet.  Maybe someone can come up with a good idea. 

The picture shows the front and back of the card.  Very simple format.  I fiddled with textured background and sepia and other crap I didn't like.  I kept it simple and straight forward.   +William McAusland's art is the only ornamentation the card needed.

Random Dungeon Room Creation at Lunchtime

The door is made of ancient wood that is falling from rusty bands of iron.  There are holes in the wood, but no light or sound comes from beyond the door.  If someone looks through the holes in the door they will see nothing but darkness.  Normal light will not work.  Magical light will allow the character to see 15' within.  At this distance he will see a statue of a horned creature with powerful wings and arms.  It crouches as if its about spring towards the door.

The door can be easily removed.  Inside the room the players will find eight such statues in various positions.  The one statue has a rod in its hand, he is a bit larger and has four arms instead of two.  The other furnishings in the room are stone tables and half pillars.  They are very basic in design.

The statues are gargoyles.  They are in hibernation.  If 8 points or more of damage is done to a statue the gargoyle will awaken, even though the gargoyles can only be harmed by magical weapons.  Once awaken it will release a gravelly shriek to awaken the others.  It takes a gargoyle 3 rounds to awaken from the hibernation.

Ten feet above the floor is a small ledge.  There is a secret door in the wall.  It opens to a small chamber with 30 gargoyle eggs.  Each weights 20lbs and made of stone.  The gargoyles, if kept in optimal conditions, will hatch in twelve years.   If they are brought into the sun they will permanently remain stone eggs.  A health gargoyle egg can fetch the price of 1000sp to nearly 5000sp depending on the market.  Spoiled or Stone eggs are a high end novelty that can get 100sp at a market. 

Dungeon Room 6

The narrow hallway is lined with bones woven into the stonework. The bones move and twist. As the players move through the hallway bones will stab at them. A successfully attack does 1d6 damage. If a 6 is rolled, the bone will graph to the bone in the area struck (roll random location). The character will be unable to move or use the limb that is struck. Trying to remove the bone will damage the character 1d4 per attempt. The wound cannot be heal (hit point lost for the initial attack and further wounds suffered from trying to remove the bone). A remove curse spell will allow the bone to be removed and the wound can be healed at this time. Each player will be attack 2-12 times as they travel through the hallway. If a player is struck for a second time where the bone is graphed, the bones will drag the character to the wall and moving him down the hallway at the rate of 10'/round. At this time, the player will be in such excruciating pain any actions are nearly impossible. A saving throw must be made to allow the player to do the simplest things.

As the players reach the end of the hall they will be greeted by the horrific sight of humans, elves, dwarves, goblins, and several others, some so distorted they are unidentifiable writhing on the ceiling as the bones slip into and out of their bodies. The victims' screams are barely audible. All the bones are dragging the bodies slowly towards a shield sized, black hole in the east wall.

Hidden among the bones is the Bone Demon, Kossuth. It will watch the players waiting until all the players enter the room. It will then release a sickly yellowish fog that will fill the room. All characters must make a save or become paralyzed for 2-8 rounds. During this time 2d4 bones will each round. As in the hallway if two bones do maximum damage they will begin to drag the player towards the hole. Kossuth will not confront the players directly seeking sneak attacks, moving around to the back of the party or isolating one member as the bones continue their assault. It will take successful search roll to spot Kossuth moving among the bones. If the players reduce Kossuth to half hit points it will go through the hole and appear in room 35 later in the adventure.

The bones will continue their assault after Kossuth is gone. After twenty-five of the attacking bones have been destroyed, the bones will stop slithering and the bodies will drop from the walls and ceiling. Those that are still alive cannot be healed. Nothing short of a wish spell coupled with a remove curse and blessing will the person have any chance of survival. They will wail in agony after being release. They will not respond to anything the players say and if they suffer more damage they will die.

If a player decides to go through the portal they will need to make a save or go into shock, they will have just entered the Realm of Death. He will be unable to speak or take any actions. If the player is not removed from the realm of death 1d4 rounds the player will fall into a catatonic state. And should the player still not be removed in another 1d4 rounds the player will die. Should a player die in the Realm of Death any attempt to communicate or bring back the character will fail.

Should the player succeed his save, he can observe another portal nearby, but will be unable to move. A player that remains within the Realm of Death gains the attention of other bone demons.

The players can only destroy the portal once Kossuth is killed.

5. Dungeon Room

5. The Bone Room

As the players near the room the stonework in the hall becomes paved with bones. The open room's floor, ceiling and walls are made of bone. Jagged, broken off bones jut out in every direction making travel through here dangerous. The ceiling dips and the floor swells making some areas in the room narrow enough in height that only a halfling could pass without stooping.

Hidden among the bones are two bone demons (or Babaus, pg.213 OSRIC). It is virtually impossible to distinguish the demons among the bones. The demons have rigged a trap for the players, as they walk towards the corridor in the east wall a section of the bone ceiling will collapse on one or more of them (4d6 damage and for every 6 rolled a limb is pinned). The demons will attack after the trap is sprung.

The demons do not want to kill the players, but to subdue them. Baiyatus (see room 6.) needs more souls to carve a permanent gate for his demons to enter into this world. The secret door in the eastern wall is concealled behind a movable bone door that blends in with the surroundings.

Any treasure has been given to Baiyatus, but among bones and only a Detect Magic spell would be able to find it is a wand made of bone. It is a Wand of Reincarnate with 2 charges.

3-4 Dungeon Rooms

3. Doors of Darkness
A rusted iron spike is propping open the left door of the double doors. These doors are covered in the same white limestone, but most of the limestone has broken off and lies in piles on the floor. Most of the hellstone beneath is exposed. Beyond the door is darkness. Natural light does not penetrate it. If a magical light source is used they players will see an empty room (see room 4.)

4. The Pool in the Pit
There is a Hallucinatory Terrain spell cast in this room. The illusion of the floor hides the pool beneath. There is a 10’ drop before the 50’ deep pool begins. The water is ice cold. A character must make a save vs. paralyze or he will take 1d6-1 points of damage/round.

At the bottom of the pool are several dozen skeletons. Only the magical items have survived the years within the frigid water. The list of intact items includes a suit of +2 chainmail, a belt of +1 strength, a cloak of +1 protection, two +1 swords and the Sword of Berringer (see new Magic Item section) rings of Haste and Magic Missile (see new Magic Item section), and a total of 1400sp and 210gp.

To the west a section of the room is platform with large tapestries covering the walls. The tapestries are tattered and faded. They are faded images depict horrific images of tortured spirits. If a player stands before these tapestries for an extended period of time a save vs. fear must be made. If the player fails the images in the tapestries begin to move. For each player that fails his save a wraith will be created from the tapestries.

If a player tries to burn or cut the tapestries the images will shriek alerting everyone from room 5 to room 12. The tapestries can only be destroyed by holy water (which acts like fire).

Dungeon Map

I've been focusing on developing adventures during the past few weeks. This corner of the blogosphere has become one long episode of "The Housewives of the OSR". So I'm sticking to rolling dice, making stuff up and adventuring with friends on Monday nights.

The map above was developed by none other than
Mr. Rob S. Conley. He said I came up with the idea of this map and I thought he had either way I think its a very cool map. The dungeon room entries 1 and 2 are for this map. I plan to have it linked on the side of my blog and post the a room or a couple of rooms at a time until its done.

Please feel free to swipe this map and make your own adventure with it. It would be interesting to see what others would come up with. Have a great Monday.

2. Dungeon Room

The second entry in my dungeon room entries. I'll be adding the overall map that I am working off of tomorrow.

2. Hellstone Doors: The cavern walls and floor is worn smooth by the small stream running through the center. Double doors are set in the eastern wall where the wall turns from a natural cavern to worked stone. A demonic visage is engraved across both doors. A skeletal hand grips a thin metal rod stuck in the demon's eye.

The doors are made of hellstone coated in a white limestone that is chipped and cracked. The red veined black rock radiates heat so the doors will feel warm to the touch. The small rod is the key to release the complex locking system built inside the door. The rod will funnel life energy from the key bearer at the rate of 5hp/round. When a total of 50hp is taken within a day the doors will open.

Trying to bash the door in will result in the limestone to fall away revealing the hellstone. In this case anyone who touches the hellstone will take 2-20 points of damage. If a player is reduced to 0 hit points or below he will need to make a system survival shock roll. If the player fails his roll his spirit is consumed by the hellstone. This player cannot be raised from the dead, resurrected, reincarnated or any spell that affects the spirit.

1. Dungeon Room

Groggy as hell Tuesday morning blog. If the font is blurry its because that's the way I typed it. Here is a small offering, a dungeon room in one of the adventures I am writing. Have a good day everyone. Or as the old Amish guy I used to know would say "Every day is good. Try missing one."

1. Fungi Cavern: The cavern is filled with various types of fungi. One mass of fungi reaches from floor to ceiling. A badly dented helmet lies by the large fungi growth.

The fungi growth gives off spores that if the player stays in the cavern for more than one turn he will need to make a saving throw or fall asleep. If the player falls asleep they will need to be physical jarred (doing at least one point of damage) to be awoken. While the player sleeps the fungi will grow on him. Within a month the player will be completely covered. The fungi will slowly consume the player at a rate of 1hp/day.

Slicing through the fungi is very easy, but this increases the spores that cause sleep. Within several of the small growths are rat corpses and one dog. In the large fungi is Owen, a 3rd level fighter. He has been sleep for two weeks. He is down to his last hit points and will die in a couple of days. The fungus has not affected his equipment.

If a player hacks through the fungi they will also find a tinderbox, a single set of tin dinnerware, a money belt with 12sp inside and one steel gauntlet.