Alchemist's Shop (Night) [20Ă—20] by Darkest Maps
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Alchemist's Shop (Night) [20Ă—20] by Darkest Maps
433. Gary Gygax - Oriental Adventures (1985)
A book which is really heavy on the text and light on the pictures (a characteristic of Gygax penned volumes, him being a man who never saw a word he didn't like), Oriental Adventures marks an important moment in the history of AD&D for a number of reasons.
In the first place, this is the first setting and set of rules not based on the Western European fantasy imaginary, drawing its inspiration from East Asia, particularly Japan but with elements of China and Korea thrown in, this also brings new mechanics to the game some of which (non-weapon proficiencies) would become staples of the game, while others (the honor system) would be pretty specific to this setting.
In second place, this volume gives birth to Kara-Tur, a campaign setting originally imagined as being part of Greyhawk, but which was published here as an independent setting, making it the fourth official original AD&D setting after Greyhawk, Ravenloft and Dragonlance (there were some non-original settings already such as Conan and Lankhmar and a semi-official one in Imagine magazine's Pelinore). Kara-Tur wouldn't last through the end of the decade as a stand-alone setting, eventually becoming part of the Forgotten Realms, later in the decade. A really interesting volume!Â
Finding the Trail | How to find creatures that don't want to be found without pulling numbers from nowhere
PDFs of this and more can be found over on at my Patreon here! I release everything for free, so your support makes this possible. I've also started making a new system based off of 5e, 6th Dawn! Become a patron and join the playtest.
The second and final 'Tracks' themed post for the month. Today: tracking! This has been a very opaque concept to me in 5e. And I say this as someone who has had to hide their trail to throw off pursuers before. But it's always been "Group Stealth check" But I'm going to be honest, walking quietly and carefully doesn't stop you from leaving footprints. So, like many things skill check related recently, I made some guidelines that should be simple enough to understand and implement. Beautiful clarity
And now to plug my stuff. I release homebrews weekly over on my Patreon. Anyone who pledges $1 or more per post don't have to wait a month to see them, and also help fund my being alive habit.
At the moment, they have exclusive access to the following:
Skill Challenges
College of Epics
XP without Killing
Lawyer Background
I also have four classes, and two splatbooks over on DriveThruRPG to check out:
The Rift Binder. A class specialising in summoning monsters and controlling the battlefield.
The Witch Knight. A class that combines swords and sorcery in the most literal way.
The Werebeast. A class that turns you into a half beast to destroy your foes.
The Beguiler. A spellcaster dedicated to illusions, enchantments, and general fuckery.
d'Artagnan's Adventurer Almanac. A compendium of races, subclasses, feats, spells, monsters and more!
d'Artagnan's Lycanthrope Survival Guide. A book of lore, stats, and werebeast subclasses for lycanthropes.
Dungeon: Zenith Palace
Like many grand estates, a series of spoken and unspoken rules govern all aspects of life across the grounds of this fantastical structure.Â
The First rule?Â
Don’t look down.Â
This dungeon is part of a larger adventure path “A Kingdom Washed Away”, which you can find the rest of @dailyadventureprompts​
Setup: At once a splendorous home and a piece of art centuries in the making, Zentih Palace is the dwelling of a cloud giant by the name of Orlios, an aesthete with an elevated sense of importance befitting his lofty and out of touch perch. Inheritor to a family of egos that somehow outstrip their own titanic size, the cloud giant’s castle also serves as a prison to an “Elder Tempest” an almost deific elemental who’s power Orlios uses to levitate his fortress, give solidity to the clouds, and to shape weather across the kingdom to his liking.Â
Considering himself an enlightened appreciator of the arts, Orlios was content to leave the world below to its own devices, only descending in his flying chariot to visit other cloud giant enclaves for decades at a time, socializing with friends or distant kin before returning to the glorious solitude of his ever beautiful manor.Â
To that end, the Zenith palace is filled with collections of wonderous things, ranging from gardens, to archives of illustrated manuscripts, to museum class galleries of art and cultural artifacts to ostentatious displays of wealth like a frescoed fountain where each and every tile was cut from a precious gem. Even the structures themselves are artistic in their archetecture, from walk-in reproductions of palaces long destroyed from the ancient world, to sculptures that use structure and scale that only a giant could conceive of: such as utilizing a balcony, a far off mountain range and the placement of nearby towers to create the profile of a smiling face rising out of the horizon.Â
Adventure Hooks
While he talks often of his love of removed appreciation, Orlios does on occasion take on a disguise to travel among the groundwalkers, often to patronize some up and coming artist or architect, lavishing them with commissions and riches for months or years before disappearing as suddenly as he once appeared. One of these artists was the orcish goldworker Falgir, who realized something was up when a towering eccentric burst into his workshop and paid him a king’s ransom to make masks the size of small shields. When Falgir ends up kidnapped by a group of criminals looking to forge some high-value coinage, the party may end up getting a visit from a seven foot tall man dripping with furs, rings, and ivory, who falls to hysterics pleading with them to rescue his artist friend from these dastardly fiends.Â
Unbeknownst to him, Orlios has a half-human daughter by the name of Lamalha, conceived some decades ago after a business arrangement became a flirtatious dalliance. Lamalhda never knew either of her parents, and was raised in a small religious community in the kingdom’s backwaters. When strange atmospheric phenomena lead the party to investigate the nearby village, it won’t take them long to notice the woman a full head taller than anyone else who’s emotions may or may not affect the weather. Lamalhda is just as curious about her origins as anyone, and will aid the party as best they can in putting the sky right.Â
When attempting to teleport to an ancient site ( such as a palace, monument, or other storied landmark) an accident in the transference ends up plonking the party right next to a reproduction in the Zenith Palace, unwelcome intruders now stranded miles above the ground. Finding a way out of the dungeon without being confused for thieves may be matter of convincing the guards of their innocence, or in indulging Orlios’s appetite for wagers. If they win he’ll let them go, but if they lose they’ll have to catch something for him. This symmetry pleases the giant’s sense of aesthetics, and he’s got his eye set on a particular rare flying monster for his menagerie. Fail to uphold their end of the wager may result in Orlios coming after them personaly… or not… his claims at magnanimity are only exceeded by the ease with which he’s distracted.Â
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An actual painting of me searching through binders and deck boxes for the cards I need for a tournament the day that I am leaving for the tournament
(gosh I love how this card references another)Â
Art is Artificer’s Assistant by Chris Seaman
Out for a day on the town, the party is sought out by a tittering bird, who harasses them until they enter a seemingly closed bookshop. Within is a journeyman wizard who has become buried under all of his research. After introducing himself and thanking the party for their aid, he opens his shop and offers the party a discount on any scrolls, item identification , or minor spellcasting services they might be looking for. Â
While infiltrating a wizard’s tower, the party is confounded at every step by a mischievous magpie, who seems to know how to activate every ward, trap, and arcane guardian. The bird is a familiar, summoned by a now long dead wizard to defend her sanctum. The bird and the defenses it commands are resummoned each day if slain, so the party will find just as much resistance on successive runs of the tower, if not more. If the party is able to present evidence of the wizard’s death however, the Magpie can be convinced to fork over the key to the otherwise impenetrable inner sanctum.Â
The crystalline core an important artifact has been stolen by a wild magpie, which flits over slick rooftops and castle battlements. The artificer responsible for building the artifact begs the party for their aid, before their noble patron grows too irritated or the device is unwittingly activated.Â
The Prism Burrow by Dyson Logos
Hello, everyone!
An orc tribe has been having problems lately. Problems of the undead kind. Their sacred grounds have been defiled and a necromancer has risen the honored dead to do their bidding.
Desperate for help, the tribe enlists the help of a group of adventurers. First step is to defend the camp from the zombie horde that comes at night. Then, they’ll track the necromancer to their lair.
The creature tokens for this map are an Orc Battlemage, an Orc Warlord and an Orc Zombie. Emerald tier gets the Orc Warlord while Diamond tier gets all three. In addition, Sapphire tier gets extra creature token variants.
You can see a preview of all of this week’s Patreon content here.
Thank you very much for taking a look and be sure to check out my Patreon where you can pledge for gridless version, alternate map versions as well as the tokens pertaining to this map.
Wizard’s Tower
This map was something I did for Inktober and definitely plan on including in a future adventure. My favorite thing about it is the front-view, I think it adds a lot to it to be able to visualize it in that way. Floating landmasses are also always cool, right?
Patrick McGill Lexington, Kentucky October, 2018
This and 23 other homemade Dungeons & Dragons maps can be found in this article, from Atlas Obscura.
Hello, everyone!
After weeks of dungeon delving, the party goes to a nice retreat by the sea. Located on a secluded cave, the retreat has many amenities the adventurers are sure to find enjoyable.
Everything seems to be going well for them, and they finally have a chance to rest those sore muscles.
But some of the staff begin to whisper among them, surely a conspiracy of some sort.
The creature tokens for this map are a Blue Dragon Hatchling, a Kobold Keeper and a Patient Monk. Emerald tier gets the Kobold Keeper while Diamond tier gets all three. In addition, Sapphire tier gets extra creature token variants.
You can see a preview of all of this week’s Patreon content here.
Thank you very much for taking a look and be sure to check out my Patreon where you can pledge for gridless version, alternate map versions as well as the tokens pertaining to this map.
Greetings!
The adventurers have had some very stressful weeks. Encounter after encounter has left them with broken bones, deep cuts, concussions, and unfortunately, one death.
After carrying their dead comrade’s body all through the realm, they now knock at the front door of one of the most sacred places around.
This house of worship has some of the best healers in all the continent, and bringing back their fellow adventurer should be no problem at all.
Not only that, but a holy presence can be felt coming from within, bringing peace to the restless heroes’ hearts.
Surely nothing can go wrong here. Can it?
You can see a preview of this map’s Patreon content by clicking here.
If you liked the map I’d be extremely thankful if you considered supporting me on my Patreon, rewards include higher resolution files, gridless versions, alternate versions, line versions, PSDs and more. Thank you!
Lost Palace by artist Rob Vital.
The antique palace overlooking the highlands has always been a bit of a mystery. Built with no outer doors and boasting no apparent inhabitants despite its immaculate upkeep, it is regarded with passing curiosity by the shepherds and migratory hillfolk who traverse the rocky valley it overlooks.Â
The party is entreated by locals to exterminate a species of hostile creatures that seem to have taken up roost in the strange palace, such as harpies or bloodhawks. Doing so proves harder than imagined, as the only way into the palace seems to be scaling its tower walls while being harassed by aerial opponents. perhaps a cave or some other means of egress could be found
A down on their luck tinkerer has a mad scheme. Build a ramshackle flying contraption, use it to assail the high walls of the palace, and grow rich off the treasures that doubtlessly rest within…..If only they could escape pursuit by their many debtors. If the party is willing to fend off angry merchants and a few begrudging criminal types, the tinkerer would be oblidged to bring them along on the journey.Â
Once they find their way into the palace however, things take a very different turn:
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The BUMBLEBEE FARM Battle Map
Our new 22x16 map is of a beekeeper's yard. Perhaps the home of a PC's family or a lovable NPC? Tell me GM – what sort of encounter might you run here?
→ See the full map!
1d8 Places to Rest in the City
The upstairs of the Coronet, a seedy and rundown public house in the industrial district. The pub is under new management, and has been undergoing extensive renovations in the hope of cleaning up its image. Despite the owner’s best efforts, pickpockets and thugs loiter outside. And most nights, a smuggler by the name of Smiley Sam can be found in the barroom, ready to trade in secrets, coin, or illicit goods.
The roof of the Third Regional Bank, an imposing edifice with an atrial dome and a cluster of gold statues above its grand doors. From this height, you can see the sprawl of the whole city, its flickering lights and flares of magic. The night watchman might need paying off, and it’s none too comfortable in rain or snow. But the gargoyles have formed a sketch comedy group, so there’s built-in entertainment.
The Magnolia Pink, a fabulous hotel with genuine silver floors. The suites are worth the expense, from the liveried servants who attend the guests’ every need to the plush, indulgent beds and decadent room service options. But rumor has it that for every night you pass in the Magnolia Pink’s embrace, the less likely you are to come out again — at least until you can no longer scrounge up the cash to afford just one more night.
Under the Bodhi Bridge. This brickwork overpass provides excellent shelter from the elements, particularly because some enterprising vagabond has knocked in part of the supporting wall and created an accessible niche roughly 15x15 ft. in size. In time, other vagrants have left their marks: symbols in thieves’ cant, broken bottles, worn-out boots, and a pile of logs inoculated with a variety of mushrooms.
Inchibald Quingle’s Lodging House, a crooked three-story structure with drafty rooms, narrow hallways, and two hearty meals a day. The elderly Mr. Quingle has handed the reins to his son, Inchie Jr., whose passion for cookery has earned the Quingle Lodging House its place on the map. Inchie’s other passion—taxidermy—does put some guests off their supper, however.
The Asylum of the Ragged Saints, a humble almshouse dedicated to housing the poor, the pensioners, and the downtrodden. Available only to those in need, the Asylum’s rooms are clean and orderly, but offer little privacy and even less comfort. Its patron, Lady Parsimony Cross, is a crotchety and bookish young woman who inherited responsibility for the Asylum from a more kindly and warm relative. She is greatly concerned with the idea that the Asylum is being used by those who do not truly need its services, and has begun imposing increasingly high standards of poverty and desperation to its residents.
An abandoned underground transport station, dating from a time immemorial. A rusting metal wagon rests on a sunken track, its doors jammed into the open position. Moth-eaten seats line an aisle within. The track extends into the darkness of an enclosed tunnel, which emits an eerie buzzing noise. If the wagon doesn’t hold any appeal, you can always remain on the buckling stone platform and examine its illegible signage and explore the chambers lined in cracked, mossy tile which branch from the main cavernous space.
The basement of the Ershae family home. The Ershaes are friendly people, part of a social network which offers safe housing to travelers. As members of this group, they host strangers willingly and are welcomed by other strangers in the network when they travel themselves. The sole condition of your stay is this: you must join the network and list your address among the available places to stay. If you agree, you may sleep in this place as long as you need without charge, though you are responsible for your own meals. The Ershaes’ basement is wood-paneled, with a shaggy orange carpet and a vividly green sofa bed.
Welcome to Yolmar!
A town nestled under Rosha mountains, a pilgrimage destination for the devouts of Bahamut who wish to regain his favor. Located at the edge of the Zantharian desert, its favored by caravans and adventurers alike as a place of rest.
The town is mainly inhabited by humans, but there are families of brass dragonborn, descendants of the first settlers of Yolmar who thwarted an outworldy invasion by destroying an ancient portal.
As a caravan stop, a bustling bazaar formed beneath the godly shrine. Here traders barter with pilgrims and travelers. Spices, shawls, exotic animals or weapons of dubious origins are a couple of all the things one can purchase here.
NOTE: I messed the numbering of this image up, you can find the fixed version at my Patreon.
Megadungeon: The City of Rats
here in the town where nothing grows /Â Â
the rats get fat and gnaw our bones /Â Â
here in the town of endless thirst / Â
we make a feast of blood and dirt /Â
here in the town the sun forgot /Â
I scorn the scar and praise new rot /Â
here in the town where nothing grows / Â
the rats get fat and gnaw our bones / Â
- Annonomyous poem, found nailed to central square notice board.Â
Setup: As the dark reflection of the material plane, it’s not uncommon to find the remnants of lost cities in the shadowfell, the mummified mirror image enduring for centuries or even millennia after the original was forgotten by time. The city of rats however is not an afterimage, but is instead the original settlement transposed into the upside-down by an act of foolish desperation and arcane hubris.
Stranded in a dark and lightness place fit only for the dead, the city ate itself, devolving into petty tyranny in an attempt to survive the horrors of the upside-down before the people became hollowed out horrors themselves.Â
Now the settlement lives on as a monster-infested tomb, accessible only by the lost, or those who go delving deep into dark portals.Â
Adventure Hooks:Â
While researching their ongoing quest, the party learns that something they need lays within the ruins of a forgotten settlement. Traveling to the location and finding only skeletal foundations and few actual -ruins- , their search eventually brings them to an unstable gateway in a forgotten cellar.Â
Artifacts of the lost city begin circulating in black markets, raging from long-out of date coinage, lost pieces of artwork to irreplaceable family heirlooms. Tracking these curios back to their source, the party encounters a cabal of darkfolk using fences to offload the material they’ve salvaged. Chasing them back to their lair, the cabal flees through a planear teleportation circle they’ve made that connects to the city of rats.
Odd, veiled priests have begun to appear in the countryside, escorted by silent, lurching soldiers in corroded armor. They claim to serve “ The Pharos”, and speak of a coming disaster, and a place where innocents may be safe. Knowing to stay well clear of cults (you can’t live in a fantasy kingdom and not learn that lesson after a while) the villages they visit have largely turned them away….. but perhaps these shadowy strangers are worth investigating, atleast to discover the truth of this “disaster” they extol.Â
(Felt like doing a dungeon that modeled itself off a darksouls level, and I figured a dead city trapped in a claustrophobic cavern filled with hollowed out townsfolk ended up fitting the bill VERY well)Â
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The Trollbone Caverns (map #7)
Rumored to be a haven for smugglers, these caverns were once the home to a group of vicious trolls. It is said that deep within the caverns is a large chamber where a natural bridge crosses a deep chasm. Inhuman sounds sometimes echo upward from the chasm, but no one knows what creature or creatures might dwell there.