A Few Magic Swords

Plutonium Sword - One-handed, heavy, d8 damage. Forged of literal death metal. Drawing the sword from its heavy, protective scabbard, exposes the wielder to destructive radiance but an enemy struck by this dread blade will quickly sicken and die.

• Takes up two inventory slots (or double a normal sword). 
• When drawn, and for every Turn that the sword is out of it's scabbard, the person wielding the Plutonium sword permanently reduces their maximum hit points by 1.
• Anyone struck by the sword takes an additional d12 damage at the end of each of their turns until they die as their body twists and mutates. They'll grow razor sharp spines of coral from their bones, or vomit out their organs, or their flesh will peel off in strips like a string-cheese. Only the strongest magic can reverse this.
• This is a legendary artifact, and once a wielder is identified, they'll be hunted by those wishing to take it.

Rictus - Smallsword, finesse, d6 damage. If maximum damage is rolled, the target is paralyzed until the sword is removed. Might not work on non-humanoids or those with strong magical protection.

A fun encounter: Adventurers discover a vampire pinned to the wall by a smallsword (detects as magic). While impaled, the monster is inert, removing the sword frees it.

 

Ink Knife - Gladius, d6 damage. A tattoo of a sword on the inside of a person's forearm. When rubbed, it manifests as a physical sword in their hand. Rubbing the pommel returns it to tattoo form. 

Themis, Sword of Law - Executioner's sword, two-handed, d10 damage, Deals +3 damage vs. bandits, rebels and criminals. If used by a lawbreaker, it acts as a -3 cursed sword that will wound it's wielder on an attack role of 3 or lower. 

Illuminare -  Longsword, versatile,  d8/d10 damage. When drawn from the scabbard, it casts the Light spell on itself. To re-charge, it must be left in the sun for one full day.  

A few more from the legends:

Harpe: Bronze sickle sword, d6, +1 damage. Never dulls. Rumored to be older than human history.

Tyrfing: Ancient iron sword. d8, +1 damage. Shines like a torch when drawn. Cursed: If drawn from the scabbard, it can't be released from the hand until it has killed. 

Nail: Heirloom sword, broken at the end.+1 to hit, d8 damage. Roll damage with advantage vs. reptiles.

Durendal: Holy longsword. +2 to hit, +2 to damage. Can cut through stone. Relic of the paladin Roland.  

Dyrnwyn: White-hilted, arming sword, d8 damage, +1 to hit for it's owner. If loaned to anyone else, it also deals +2 damage. Anyone borrowing it, will feel compelled to return it once used and will refuse to ever borrow it again.

The Smokehouse Dungeon

As my Wild North Campaign continues, the party has ventured away from Gulworth Keep and the Caves of Chaos to visit Hommlet and consult Jaroo the Druid and seek further information on the local insurrection that has disturbed the Keep.

I've re-imagined Hommlet's classic "Moathouse" as a Rebel stronghold which I'm calling the "Smokehouse"

• The Rebels in Cave C are brokering the purchase of iron weapons for the Hillmen in exchange for voidstone mined in Cave D. 
• The voidstone is brought to the Smokehouse where it is cooked in a furnace, ground and processed into gunpowder. 
• Lareth the Beautiful has been re-imagined as a crazed alchemist, overseeing the voidstone transformation. 

I have tried to maintain the most memorable Moathouse encounters, while simplifying the upper ruins. Most of the animal encounters (other than the frogs) have been elided, replaced with gun-toting Rebels and an Arnold K inspired ghost. 

I've re-structured the dungeons below, to be more vertical, with a central smoke-filled chamber ascending through all the levels. Again, trying to keep the most iconic bits, while replacing the vanilla with more exciting challenges. 

The Smokehouse (above ground)

Robbing Rogues & Ruffians: d47 Search the Body Table

One of my favorite conventions of the OSR is the "I search the body" table. 

My players really enjoy treating low-level bad guys like pinatas -- beating little treats out of them.

I try to make custom search-the-body tables for every major class of enemy (I've done beastmen a couple times, bandits, oozes, philosopher apes, cultists, aliens,  monks, smugglers twice) and often one or two for every dungeon. 

Typically, these live on post-its, or index cards loose in my notebook.

David Sutherland from AD&D DMG

Maze of the Minotaur

PDM's mini, from 0:05 in the video 

Continuing on my PDM inspired, update of B2 Keep on the Borderlands, I'm doing a nearly direct rip-off of the Professor's method for Cave I: Caves of the Minotaur. 

Rather than, meticulously time-tracking and mapping through a maze (a process that many, including me, find tedious), he abstracted the maze with random movement between points of interest. Despite the simple mechanics, I had to pause and re-watch several times so I wrote it up for myself (and anyone else who wants to run it).

Mummy Hands

Little scuttling horrors. Disembodied hands skittering and leaping -- grasping, driving fingers into flesh with ab-human strength. 

They look like Thing but fill a niche with the face-hugger, the headcrab and the rot grub. An ambush, nuisance monster. Individually weak but very deadly if they slip past your defenses. 

Addams Family (1964)

d133 Roadside Meetings

With my ongoing campaign heavily influenced by Professor Dungeon Master, I figured it was time to share one of my first PDM inspired creations, something I made years ago and have used frequently since.

One of his first campaign videos, described a session that was essentially a series of road encounters based on a big list that he'd prepared in advance. Rather than share his list, he urged viewers to create their own. I did. 

I wrote a bunch of encounters on post-its while killing time between other activities and pasted them into my notebook. It was fun typing them up and reminding myself how they really imply a setting (something very WFRP-ish). 

1. Hanging cage

2. Vagrant looking for work

3. Blackmailer head to town to confront her victim

4. Artisan with a cartload of wares

5. Political dissident - not too shy to criticize the establishment

6. Political commissar - ready to enforce proper belief

7. Man chained to a tree

8. Wagon full of stolen art, abandoned

9. Frankenstein's monster, escaped

10. Hunchback struggling to fend off two beautiful bullies

11. Zhentarim mercenaries - Fantasy Blackwater

12. Evil alchemist - Eager to source exotic ingredients and promising high pay

13. Friendly alchemist - Free samples!

14. Gunpowder Wagon - Driver and guards are dead

15. Assassin - If the players have a hit out against them, this is the guy. If not, he's super nice

16. A friend of the party, fleeing from an angry gang. Maybe they deserve it?

17. Acting troupe

18. Friendly woman with a pet monkey (a pickpocket)

19. Sudden ice storm

20. Blizzard - whiteout conditions

Owlbears Must Die!

My re-mixed, PDM inspired, version of B2: Keep on the Borderlands continues. It's acquired the name the "Wild North" campaign (like Wild West but turned 90 degrees)and this week my players surprised me by delving into a cave I was not expecting. 

This was our 4th delve into the caves. So far they've cleared out Kurtzman's Creepers, dipped their toes into the Mines of the Mutants (Caves D&E) and skirmished with the Hill Men in Cave F. Consequently, I was anticipating a stronger push into the left flank of the canyon to be the most likely plan or much less likely a probe into the Brugor or Rebel Caves to the right. 

I had not planned for them to plunge straight to the back of the canyon and assault Cave G, home of the infamous Owlbear. Nevertheless, I had an excellent little module to run for them. 

Players' diagram of the cave entrances