The 20 Things Archive
A ship is an excellent place to build verisimilitude into a campaign world. Essentially, the characters are a captive audience, and the ship can become a detailed backdrop to roleplaying encounters and more.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
Amid scenes of wild jubilation, Creighton Broadhurst, Publisher of Useful Items at Raging Swan Press, emerged blinking and dazed into the daylight to announce to the expectant gathered throng that the print manuscript of the Dread Thingonomicon was finally complete.
Cursed with lycanthropy, wererats lurk in the dirty, foul places no one else wants or can tolerate.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
A pirate town is a dangerous and unique place to visit. The wise hero watches their step in such a place.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
Adventurers often seem to be found in seedy dives and other disreputable drinking establishments.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
Deserts are far from bland locales comprising nothing but sand dunes, the occasional cactus and unending sun. Gnoll tribes, ferocious blue dragons and ancient ruins all lurk in the interior ready for brave adventurers to discover them.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
Ruined castles dot the landscape of every campaign.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
One of the quintessential locales for adventurers to rest between adventures, a fort on the borderlands is a safe haven offering many of civilisation’s beguiling comforts. Here adventurers can rest and recuperate between expeditions into the wilderness.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
All good things must come to an end, and the 20 Things line is a good thing.
Suitable for any fantasy roleplaying game, such as Fifth Edition (5e), OSR and Pathfinder, this collection gives you an awesome set of resources for a 50% discount.
Scions of the night, vampires live among the prey they feed on; the presence of a vampire often causes chaos and panic. A vampire’s lair is not for the weak-hearted.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
Sometimes the thief finds the trap, picks the lock or fits the hidden treasure. Sometimes they fail, and when they do it is fun to describe the failure; “You find nothing” is a pretty boring result.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
GM's Miscellany: 20 Things VII is now available for pre-order.
Crypts, catacombs and sepulchres are common adventuring locales. Therein lurk the undead and glimmering treasures long lost to the world.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
Every village, town or city has its own laws, traditions and customs. Others have notable buildings and features. Some are normal. Some are decidedly odd.
A System Neutral GM's Resource for busy GMs running virtually any fantasy roleplaying game
Civilisations rise and fall. Peoples come and go. Whether it be crumbling walls, moss-wreathed burial cairns or sunken lanes these earlier people leave their mark upon the landscape.
In my campaign, Sir Ozloc is a living legend. Unlike his companions.
An adventurer has a wondrous magical item for sale. The item may be surplus to requirements, or the adventurer may be retiring…
Urban adventures are often set in slums. In slums, the long arm of the law is often absent, thieves and cultists are rife; opportunities for adventure abound.
Within wizard’s towers, terrible, eldritch deeds are wrought and strange, otherworldly research is carried out to its logical, but sometimes unwise, conclusion. Such arcane works leave their mark on the fabric of the place.
Some urban landmarks are only notable in the immediate locality. The landmarks below could appear in virtually any village, town or city.
Every town and city has landmarks great and small.
Shunned by most, the witch is the taker of children, bringer of bad harvests and seducer of good men. Living apart from good honest folk, the witch plays on superstitions to create her terrifying reputation. Beware the dark woods…
Adventurers often need henchfolk and hirelings to round out their party. Often, however, such folk end up being nothing more than one-dimensional fighters, clerics or whatever.
Ruined castles are a classic adventure locale, particularly in borderland or contested regions. A castle’s lofty, crumbled walls and towers can hold many foul things (along with the treasure those foul things have accumulated). Use these tables, to add depth and verisimilitude to the ruined castles in your campaign.
Adventurers often need henchfolk and hirelings to round out their party. Often, however, such folk end up being nothing more than one-dimensional fighters, clerics or whatever.
Adventurers always seem to be breaking into ancient tombs and crypts in search of undead horrors (and their loot). Of course, not all sarcophagi are filled with treasures or undead monstrosities. Some simply contain the bones of the long-dead (and their grave goods).
Often hidden far away from the prying eyes of civilised folk, a druid’s grove is nature’s sanctuary. Here deep in the wilderness, a druid can commune with nature and live in peace among that which they love.
However, druid’s groves are rarely well detailed as they serve as nothing more than a way station on the way to adventure or as a place of healing and succour for desperate travellers. Use this table, to generate features of minor interest the characters may notice in such a locale.
Slaver compounds are horrible places; to those imprisoned within, they are literally hell on earth. Here sentient beings are bought and sold like any other good.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.