RPG Ahoy!

This blog if for posting things about my various tabletop rpg groups, and inspirational thing like landscapes, demons, etc.

[thewritershandbook]

Common Occupations in the Middle Ages

Almoners: ensured the poor received alms.

Atilliator: skilled castle worker who made crossbows.

Baliff: in charge of allotting jobs to the peasants, building repair, and repair of tools used by the peasants.

Barber: someone who cut hair. Also served as dentists, surgeons and blood-letters.

Blacksmith: forged and sharpened tools and weapons, beat out dents in armor, made hinges for doors, and window grills. Also referred to as Smiths.

Bottler: in charge of the buttery or bottlery.

Butler: cared for the cellar and was in charge of large butts and little butts (bottles) of wine and beer. Under him a staff of people might consist of brewers, tapsters, cellarers, dispensers, cupbearers and dapifer.

Carder: someone who brushed cloth during its manufacture.

Carpenter: built flooring, roofing, siege engines, furniture, panelling for rooms, and scaffoling for building.

Carters: workmen who brought wood and stone to the site of a castle under construction.

Castellan: resident owner or person in charge of a castle (custodian).

Chamberlain: responsible for the great chamber and for the personal finances of the castellan.

Chaplain: provided spirtual welfare for laborers and the castle garrison. The duties might also include supervising building operations, clerk, and keeping accounts. He also tended to the chapel.

Clerk: a person who checked material costs, wages, and kept accounts.

Constable: a person who took care (the governor or warden) of a castle in the absence of the owner. This was sometimes bestowed upon a great baron as an honor and some royal castles had hereditary constables.

Cook: roasted, broiled, and baked food in the fireplaces and ovens.

Cottars: the lowest of the peasantry. Worked as swine-herds, prison guards, and did odd jobs.

Ditcher: worker who dug moats, vaults, foundations and mines.

Dyer: someone who dyed cloth in huge heated vats during its manufacture.

Ewerer: worker who brought and heated water for the nobles.

Falconer: highly skilled expert responsible for the care and training of hawks for the sport of falconry.

Fuller: worker who shrinks & thickens cloth fibers through wetting & beating the material.

Glaziers: a person who cut and shaped glass.

Gong Farmer: a latrine pit emptier.

Hayward:  someone who tended the hedges.

Herald: knights assistant and an expert advisor on heraldry.

Keeper of the Wardrobe: in charge of the tailors and laundress.

Knight: a professional soldier. This was achieved only after long and arduous training which began in infancy.

Laird: minor baron or small landlord.

Marshal: officer in charge of a household’s horses, carts, wagons, and containers. His staff included farriers, grooms, carters, smiths and clerks. He also oversaw the transporting of goods.

Master Mason: responsible for the designing and overseeing the building of a structure.

Messengers: servants of the lord who carried receipts, letters, and commodities.

Miner: skilled professional who dug tunnels for the purpose of undermining a castle.

Minstrels: part of of the castle staff who provided entertainment in the form of singing and playing musical instruments.

Porter: took care of the doors (janitor), particularly the main entrance. Responsible for the guardrooms. The person also insured that no one entered or left the castle withour permission. Also known as the door-ward.

Reeve: supervised the work on lord’s property. He checked that everyone began and stopped work on time, and insured nothing was stolen. Senior officer of a borough.

Sapper: an unskilled person who dug a mine or approach tunnel.

Scullions: responsible for washing and cleaning in the kitchen.

Shearmen: a person who trimmed the cloth during its manufacture.

Shoemaker: a craftsman who made shoes. Known also as Cordwainers.

Spinster: a name given to a woman who earned her living spinning yarn. Later this was expanded and any unmarried woman was called a spinster.

Steward: took care of the estate and domestic administration. Supervised the household and events in the great hall. Also referred to as a Seneschal.

Squire: attained at the age of 14 while training as a knight. He would be assigned to a knight to carry and care for the weapons and horse.

Watchmen: an official at the castle responsible for security. Assited by lookouts (the garrison).

Weaver: someone who cleaned and compacted cloth, in association with the Walker and Fuller.

Woodworkers: tradesmen called Board-hewers who worked in the forest, producing joists and beams.

Other medieval jobs included:

tanners, soap makers, cask makers, cloth makers, candle makers (chandlers), gold and silver smiths, laundresses, bakers, grooms, pages, huntsmen, doctors, painters, plasterers, and painters, potters, brick and tile makers, glass makers, shipwrights, sailors, butchers, fishmongers, farmers, herdsmen, millers, the clergy, parish priests, members of the monastic orders, innkeepers, roadmenders, woodwards (for the forests). slingers. Other Domestic jobs inside the castle or manor:

Personal atendants- ladies-in-waiting, chamber maids, doctor.

The myriad of people involved in the preparation and serving of meals- brewers, poulterer, fruiterers, slaughterers, dispensers, cooks and the cupbearers.

By Lise Hull READ MORE

[livingsurvival]

Best Lock Picking Practice Locks for Each Experience Level - http://ift.tt/2wNvJc8

[euclid-class-dm]

D&D has the Great Old One Pact for making an eldritch horror themed Warlock character, now it just needs one for all the other classes.

Barbarian- Path of the Creeping Fear While raging, these barbarians evoke the terror of things that should not be. Their foes might not even recognize them in this state.

Bard- College of Horror These bards collect the most fearful songs and stories they can find, though they must avoid losing themselves to the power of these stories.

Cleric- Madness Domain The gods worshipped by these clerics not only cause but embody madness and the destruction of the mind.

Druid- Circle of the Void These druids have visions of the impossible ecology of a world which both is and is not the same as their own.

Fighter- Writhing Torment Archetype These long-lost techniques inflict terrible pain upon the opponent, both physically and mentally. Even allies must beware the fighter’s presence.

Monk- Way of the Endless Spiral These monks use self-hypnosis as a path to what they call enlightenment, but some of them seem to obey a will that is not their own.

Paladin- Oath of Hunger Under this oath, paladins relentlessly bring about the slow decay and degradation of all they consider unworthy.

Ranger- Rediscoverer Archetype These rangers focus on the past, searching for forgotten lore they can turn to their advantage, though they risk unleashing powers greater than themselves.

Rogue- Dimension Shifter Archetype. These rogues have become so unnaturally dexterous, they can slip through the grasp of reality itself. Some vanish and never reappear.

Sorcerer- Far Kind Origin Descended from or corrupted by beings of the unknowable Far Realms, these sorcerers command bizarre forces not even they can comprehend.

Wizard- School of Numerology Regarding their studies as the purest form of wizardry, these wizards inevitably discover mathematical truths about the cosmos that fill them with dread.

[creativerogues]

50 Rumors And Hooks...

A bandit gang preys on wounded and weary adventurers as they straggle down the road from the dungeon to the city. 

A black cloak was stolen from the Burnt Bridge tavern last night; sewn into the hem is a treasure map.

A gigantic egg appeared in the town square last night. No one knows what might hatch out of it, but it’s going to happen soon.

A deity walks the city streets disguised as a humble mortal. 

A hot-tempered knight has promised all his lands to his brother if he is bested at the upcoming jousting tournament.

A leading churchman has announced a heretical doctrine; his fellow priests have demanded that he recant, on pain of excommunication. 

A wrestler named Drón Goldentress will perform three great quests for anyone who can beat her in a match. 

Agitation grows in a neighboring land for a renewed war against the kingdom. 

An eerie dog with glowing eyes stalks the city at night. The magnificent sorcerer Furioso was bitten by it, and now he can barely remember his own name.

Ditchdiggers unearthed an ornate tin casket the other day. They can’t figure out how to open it, but won’t let anyone else try, either. 

Drinking a poison surely meant for someone else, the meek baker Oswald dropped dead in a tavern last night. 

During the day, the headsman’s daughter appears rather homely, but under the moonlight, she is the fairest young maiden in the realm.

Every hundred years or so, a black, venomous rain falls on the city, killing hundreds of people. A recurrence is months overdue. 

The Superordinate Six, a band of famed adventurers, have failed to return from an expedition to the Rat City ruins. 

Goblins tunneled a good distance under the city walls last year, but the authorities covered it up. 

Grave robbers have been digging up the bones of slain adventurers. They must be working for a lich or evil wizard. 

Luriez the horse trader is auctioning off Bravo, a clever and magnificent steed. His former owner, a luckless mercenary, lost him in a dice game. 

Magic items sold by Antesos Three-Beard have a peculiar way of finding their way back to his shop after the purchasers die. 

Many of a famous knight’s heroic feats were in fact performed by his squire, a young girl dressed as a boy.

Mercenaries have taken sanctuary in the temple; the high priests want them out but are forbidden by the tenets of their faith to expel them. 

Pound for pound, the most valuable treasure in town is not silver or gold, but the cache of saffron hidden in the spice merchant’s shop. 

Priestess Ciana has great healing powers, but those she raises from the dead sometimes take on her personality traits. 

Pulsing green lights are frequently observed near the abandoned mines south of the city. 

Recent rains flooded the catacombs beneath the city; strange things are floating to the surface.

Someone is stealing all of the town’s church bells. 

Somewhere in the city, the priceless Altar of Kych is hidden in plain sight.

The armorer Casabon just received a shipment of Zhenish steel, which will make fine blades for those who can afford them.

The astronomer Harun the Subtle reports sighting a circle of new red stars in the sky. The Royal Astrological Society has offered a reward to anyone who can conclusively explain the meaning of this omen.

The beloved singer Dulari has fallen prey to a terrible illness, one the healers can’t cure. 

The bullying city watchman Moyalva has been extorting money from the weak and helpless.

The courtier Vivando has fallen out of favor with the king, who suspects him of having eyes for the princess.

The exiled prince of Cadis unwisely dismissed a churlish servant who knows too much about his master’s business.

The feathers that rained down on Beggar’s Alley last night came from the wings of battling archons.

The floorboards beneath the Trembling Pig Inn are hollow and full of stolen gold.

Pirates have disrupted grain shipments meant for the kingdom; starvation looms if traders cannot resupply in time.

The high sheriff becomes violently enraged if anyone accuses him of having orc blood. 

The king is a usurper who has the real heir to the throne chained up in his basement.

The king plans to build new watchtowers around the city. Laborers, once desperate for work, will soon be hard to hire.

The king’s chief minister plans to step down, making way for his clever but abrasive protégé. 

The philosopher Frabreck has released another pamphlet arguing for the conquest of the orc lands, so that its peoples can be liberated from evil and placed under the king’s benevolent rule.

The rancher Septimus is raising a flock of strange reptilian beasts on his farm.

The retainers of an unpopular knight quelled an uprising on his lands by fi ring crossbows into an unarmed throng.

The rich merchant Zaguant has learned that pirates have sold his son into slavery.

The son and daughter of two rival merchant families eloped a few weeks ago. Both fathers offer a reward for the son: his father aims to protect him, but the girl’s wants him dead.

Whenever a member of the murderous Lampedusa clan is slain, the weapon used to deal the death blow is permanently imbued with powerful magic.

The young adventurer Brialda carries a shield bearing the crest of the Acatero family, even though, as an illegitimate daughter of that clan, she is not entitled to it. 

An ancient throne lies buried in a field nearby. Anyone who sits on the throne for an entire night will rise from it a wise man or a lunatic.

They say that if you listen long enough to the water lapping against the shore near the statue of King Brand, you will hear the name of an innocent person you are fated to kill. 

They’re slaughtering more than just cows and sheep at the old abattoir down by the piers.

Whenever ravens gather on the clock tower, a mighty hero dies. 

[deeperfantasy]

Twisted Wilds by Mohammad Qureshi Source: http://ift.tt/2t8xJPo

[nimblesnotebook-blog]

For the fantasy writers who want to include magic in their story.

Origins:

So you have magic. But where did it come from? Do you know where it really came from while your characters have some other explanation? Is there a scientific explanation? A religious explanation? Do your characters not want to know? Are they looking for the origin? How long has magic been around?

If you’ve created a mythology and your characters don’t know how long magic has been around, the creation of magic or the gift of magic (whatever you want to call it) may be included within a myth or a creation story.

Knowledge:

How much do your characters know about magic? How much a person knows about magic, how it works, its laws, its limitations, and its origins will depend on what they believe the explanation is, how they feel about magic, and how much the world knows about magic in general. Have your characters figured out exactly how magic works? Do they have theories and laws of magic? How long have these theories been in place?

If your characters have extensive knowledge on magic, there will probably be written records of this knowledge. If there are records, how available are they? Are there text books about it? Or is the magic incorporated within religious text? Or is it forbidden to know about magic?

Limitations:

There should be limits on the magic in your world. If there are no limits, everything will be too easy for your characters.

How often can they use magic? How much power do they have? Do they tire after using a lot of it? Does it deteriorate with age? Or does it become more powerful? Can someone gain more magic? Can they lose it? Are they able to kill? Can they only use a certain amount each day? Making a list of what magic can’t do can sometimes be more helpful than making a list of what it can do.

Laws:

There will probably be laws about magic. What are yours? Who can use magic? Who cannot use magic? Is there an age requirement? Do you have to pass a test? Are there certain types of magic that are not allowed? Are there certain situations in which magic is not allowed?

How are the laws integrated into the government? Is there a separate government for magic? Or just a separate department? Or is magic integrated with other laws? Who makes the laws? Who enforces them? What are the punishments for breaking them?

Population:

Think back to the origins of your magic. This will affect how much of the population has magic. Who has magic? If they’re born with it, how is it passed on? Is it genetic? How many people have that gene? Is it learned? How many people are able to learn how to use magic? How many people actually know that magic exists?

Ranks and Orders:

What are magic users in your world called? Wizards? Witches? Warlocks? Sorcerers? Do any of these titles have negative connotations in your world? Is there a rank of magic users? Are there any offensive words that refer to magic users? Are special titles used (Sir, Master, Madame, etc.)?

Is there a hierarchy of magic users? How are they treated? How are they thought of? Are there different types of magic users who are seen as equal? What are those types? Can magic users move throughout the hierarchies and ranks of magic? Are there different levels based on power or skill? Do these users wear anything that signifies what their rank is?

Types:

There are several types of magic, some which may be put into the category of science in some worlds. What do your characters call magic? Here are some types of magic:

Forms of Divination

Stone/gem/crystal Magic

Herb Magic

Alchemy

Color Magic

Conjuration

Evocation

Summoning

Banishing

Manipulation

Transmutation

Mimicry

Transformation

Power Primer: Elements

Power Primer: Mind

Linguistic

Transportation

Astral Projection

Candle Magic

Tree Magic

Moon Magic

Necromancy

Morality:

Is magic even allowed to be used? With most things, there will be differing opinions on the morality or ethics. There may be a majority opinion on the morality or the opinions could be evened out in terms of quantity.

What about certain types of magic or certain people using magic? Is it unethical to use certain types of magic? Is it taboo or looked down upon to use certain magic? Is it immoral for religious leaders or government officials to participate in types of magic? Is it shameful to die from magic? Or an honor? Or is there nothing attached to magic and death?

Teaching and Learning:

If magic is widely used, it will need to be taught and learned. There may be some who are self-taught, but more organized magic systems and worlds will require some sort of training.

Public Education: In this setting, the knowledge of how to use magic would be passed on from instructor to student in a public setting. This could be a school, just one class, a club, or any other gathering that would either be free or cheap so that it is available to the public. These settings are far less selective for who is allowed in and may allow everyone to participate. Where does this take place? In a school? A classroom? Another building? A special magic center? Outside?

Private Education: This setting would be similar to the public one, but it would be more selective in who was allowed in, more secretive, and probably more expensive. These settings would be more ideal in worlds where magic is not widespread.

Private Mentor: This would be someone who is hired specifically to teach one or a few students. This is often expensive. Does this setting take place in your world? Where does it take place? Someone’s house? A meeting place?

Generational Knowledge: Knowledge of magic and how to use it can also pass down through generations. Do the old teach the young? Do parents teach their offspring in private? Do certain people of a community teach the younger ones?

The Mentor: Who is the teacher? How do people become teachers and instructors? How are they chosen? Do the students choose their instructor? Are students assigned to one instructor? Is there more than one, each of which handle one type of magic?

The Student: How old are students of magic? How long does it take them to learn? Do they choose to learn or are they forced? How competitive is it?

Attitude:

With most things, there will be a general attitude toward magic. What is that attitude? Is it welcomed? Feared? Respected? Do your characters talk about it openly, or is it whispered about in secret? How do people feel about magic users? Is there discrimination? Think back to how much of the population can use magic.

Use:

Now you come to one of the more important aspects of putting magic in your world: its use. Why do people use magic and what do they use it for? How is it used? Are there certain objects that can channel magic and make it more powerful, such as a wand? Are there appropriate settings for magic and inappropriate settings?

Magical Objects: Can magic be applied to objects to give them magical connotations? How are these objects used? Are they popular? Can they be bought, or do magic users prefer to make their own? Are objects used to channel magic? Or can people use magic without them?

Everyday Life: How does magic affect a person’s life? Short people may have no problem with grabbing high objects if they have the power of telekinesis. Glue may not be needed if a magic user can stick objects together with magic or mend a broken object. If they can conjure light, they may not need any lamps (electrical, gas, oil, etc.). What about jobs? Is a person able to do more in one day at work because of magic? Are they allowed to use magic?

Transportation: Magical transportation is probably more effective than other forms of transportation, especially in a world with little technology. However, this can also be seen as lazy writing if your characters are able to teleport anywhere in the world at any time. Add some risks to this. Are they only able to travel like that once a day? Does it deplete their magic? Can only really powerful magic users do it? How is it learned? Are carts, wagons, and carriages pulled by magic or by animals? Or both? Are there portals? Are certain magical objects needed to transport through magic? Is there a possibility of ending up in the wrong place? What about flying?

Communication: Communicating between long distances with magic is much easier than snail mail. How do your characters go about this? In one of my stories, the extremely wealthy and government officials are able to use tablet-like devices in which what they write on that tablet (it’s sort of like parchment wrapped over thick cardboard) will show up on another’s tablet thus allowing communication. Think of limitations for the communication, like how the tablets in my story are quite expensive. Who is able to communicate through magic? Are there many forms? Are some faster than others? Can symbols be used to communicate?

War: Is magic used in war? Does the military have a special task force filled with magic users? Or does everyone use magic? How does the use of magic change battle tactics? Are there magical weapons?

More:

Describing Magic and Supernatural Powers

Witches and Magic Systems

Magic Prompt

Writing Magic

Types of Magic

When Magic Goes Wrong

Magic-Like Psychic Abilities

Science and Magic

Creative Uses of Magic

Thoughts on Creating Magic Systems

Defining the Sources, Effects, and Costs of Magic

Coming Up With a Magic System

Using Magic in Horror Fiction

World Building Basics: Magic

Let’s Talk About Magic

[dnd-5e-homebrew]

Mechromancer by Fredidly

[theverge]

DETROIT IS A NEW PS4 GAME ABOUT ANDROIDS THAT WANT TO BE HUMAN

[rpgahoy-blog]

IIIIIIII NNNEEEEEDDDDDD IIIIIITTTTTTT

[a-fucking-velociraptor]

original post [x]

[dajo42]

this is the happiest day of my life

[laloon]

[keranos-god-of-storm-crows]

Too soon

[saheeli-rais-wife]

65 million years…

[thegreenwolf]

No, no–don’t be sad! This is clearly happening in the Jurassic because that’s when the sauropods (dinos with looooong necks and tails) like Carl the Brachiosaurus lived. So Carl and Steve will be fine; maybe they’re witnessing a far away supernova!

[wombatactual-deactivated2018071]

@flyawaysoon

[rpgahoy-blog]

I got sad then I got happy again.

[oldschoolfrp]

“The legendary tarrasque is possibly the most dreaded monster of all.”  Essentially a kaiju for AD&D, it has 2-½ times Orcus’ hp (300 vs 120), plus the ability to regenerate from wounds far below zero.  (Jim Holloway from the AD&D Monster Manual II, TSR, 1983.)

[dr-archeville]

For some reason, the first time I saw this entry – in 1983′s Monster Manual II – I thought the Tarrasque (whose name comes from a bison/turtle/dragon from southern France) was a tiny thing, no bigger than one of the critters from Gremlins.  Despite the fact that its size it listed quite clearly in the stat block.

[ayellowbirds]

It’s probably the proportions. That art doesn’t exactly scream daikaiju.

[thefingerfuckingfemalefury]

Is it weird that I think it is very adorable, despite being the most dreaded monster of all…

[pixiebutterandjelly-deactivated]

Now im just imagining a pipsquak of a monster shoutIng “fear me” and you cant really kll it. But its so teensy anyways

[thefingerfuckingfemalefury]

And you just want to pick it up and cuddle it :D

[oldschoolfrp]

Campaign idea: Magic-user casts Find Familiar for the first time. So excited! What will you get? It’s … a tiny green lizard, helpless and frail. What are you supposed to do with this? You can see its guts through its pale belly.

Lizard crawls into a pocket to hide. It is kinda cute. You feed it crickets. Sometimes it runs up a shoulder and around the brim of your pointy hat.

It gets bigger.

The color fades to grey-brown and it grows little spines. It must be a baby iguana. It eats anything and everything. It perches on your backpack as the party travels.

It gets bigger.

It walks along the ground, too big and spiky to carry. It is ferocious in fights but getting harder to control. It eats the hobgoblin chief’s body before anyone can get the treasure room keys off his belt. No one is happy about that. Still, it has become a member of the party and it always survives. So do you, even after failing a save vs dragon breath, when everyone was sure you were dead for a while.

It gets bigger.

One day it doesn’t return from a hunt. You can sense vaguely that it is still alive out there, but the familiar connection is broken. You wonder if you will run into it again, and how big it will grow by then.

[rpgahoy-blog]

Reblogging for that campaign idea

[adungeonaday]

More Non-Monetary Rewards

People seemed to like the previous list, so I thought I’d make some more.

Honorary Titles (courtesy of Vlad)

Free passage aboard any vessel in the fleet

A scroll of any spell the court wizard can cast

A manual outlining the fundamentals of the local language

A portion of land with a fixer-upper of a keep

The finest hound from the kennels

A large, unidentified, jewel encrusted egg

The captain of the guard as a retainer

A map detailing the location of a mythic treasure

The book of vile darkness

A willow extract that cures headaches

A book of coupons (near expiry)

[tabletopresources]

A great list! I hope you don’t mind my adding ten of my own…

Access to a library where PCs can find a book that will give them a +2 bonus on any one knowledge check should they spend a few hours searching and reading among its tomes (cannot be retried until player has put at least one more rank in that skill)

A painting/statue of a subject of their choice

Access to a restricted area or person (thieves guild fence, head alchemist, the prisons, etc)

10-25% discount on any items in a store

Permission to court/marry a family member without the family taking action against it

Approval to teleport to this (or the NPCs) location at any time, should they need a quick check in or a place to hide. If its a place, the NPC will ensure that the area is stocked with bed rolls, water and basic food, as well as a couple healing items, once a week.

A broken artifact and a rumor of where it can be reforged

A new, trained, animal companion

The friendship, loyalty, and trust of an NPC

A +2 bonus (diplomacy or the like) on any negotiations of rewards to be given from this NPC, or anyone in the NPC’s social network  

I’ve got a few of these on my blog as well. I’ve started calling them Community Lists (and I will add that tag to the older lists someday, I promise).

If you’re interested, check out Tabletop Gaming Resources.

[extraterrestrialhitchhiker-deac]

[iaresolar-deactivated20151001]

meettyrannosaur

[theartofanimation]

Christopher Balaskas

[rpgahoy-blog]

Amazing inspiration for some world-building

[mtgartgallery]

Fungal Sprouting (2012) Brad Rigney Magic 2013

[fogbreaker-deactivated20181203]

I love it! Those logs have very important places to be.

[rpgahoy-blog]

Might use this a game

[rpgahoy-blog]

List of Player Characters and their Concepts

Graven Hammermark: a Warforged Fighter who has served as a warrior in the army of our DM’s oldest and most powerful Player Character turned NPC Lord Landon, for roughly 200,000 years as a mindless construct. Also has the soul of said Lord Landon’s Daughter Azreal’s dead baby as the soul that gave him sentience. We play a dark campaign. Bebadora: a Drow Thief who is telepathicly connected to and being compelled by our DM’s second oldest PC turned NPC, Jason, who happens to be at war with Lord Landon, causing her to occassionally attack other players or do things coumter productive to the group. Magnus: A human Cleric whom worships an undisclosed god. Hasn’t had a deep character development session done for him yet, but typically fights valiantly and with great reserve.

[rpgahoy-blog]

Dungeons and Dragons

So we started a fresh D&D group and so far pixxle( playing a Drow thief) is doing best. We also have a Warforged Fighter and a valley elf ranger and a human cleric. Its a fun group so far.

[rpgahoy-blog]

SALVATION!

So things are looking up, my Atomic Highway group AND my Dungeons and Dragons group are restarting. Woot for having rpg's again!!!