Ruins
The leavings of many civilisations dot the land. Such places are often a magnet for minions of evil. Bandits, marauding humanoids or other—more terrible and ferocious—monsters can be found lairing in such locales.
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Small Ruins
A neglected, roofless shrine sits by the road. Weeds choke the interior. A three-foot-tall statue, its features too weathered to identify, rests in an alcove in the far end.
A series of short, crumbling stone walls stretch east to west. They are evenly spaced as if denoting property or field lines. Rocks and bits of rotted wood fill a hole between the walls in what was once the entrance to a small farmhouse’s cellar.
A mud hut, its mouldy thatch roof caved in, sags forlornly near a collapsed cow barn. Dense cobwebs stretch between the hut and barn.
The charred beam and pillar framework of an inn stands like a blackened skeleton. Soot and ash cover the ground and not even weeds grow in the barren soil.
Cracked stone steps ascend to a small circular platform beneath a series of worn, broken pillars. Broken mosaic tiles on the platform depict a demonic face.
An octagonal wooden fence, missing most of its planks, encloses ground empty but for a small stone plinth. A deep furrow runs from the plinth to a broken down section of fence a.
Debris surrounds a tumbled brick chimney set in the jagged remains of a stone wall. Burnt table legs and a decayed blanket fill the hearth.
The shattered upside-down remains of a farmhouse lie in a small hole.
Large Ruins
Massive stone archways lean haphazardly over weed-choked stone boulevards and plazas. Only a few crumbling walls denote former houses.
A crumbling moat tower, overgrown with ivy, protects a castle, half sunk into the ground, its interior exposed to the elements. Broken towers lean against the keep.
Three massive stone pyramids sit in a line, steep steps leading to large fire pits carved into their flat tops. A single door at the base of each structure leads into a labyrinthine interior.
The burned-out husks of wood and thatch longhouses cluster around a stone well filled with debris. The smell of death lingers in the air.
Four great towers, their tops shattered, rise 50 ft. into the air. Thin, cracked stone bridges criss-cross between the towers. Broken staircases spiral the inside of the hollow towers; jutting bits of stone are evidence of former rooms and floors.
Broken statues line a stone pathway up to a large marble-pillared building. Water floods the interior from an exposed underground spring that has broken through the floor at the building’s centre.
Ivy and moss cover nearly every surface of a stout stone keep. Mould and mildew coat the keep which is home to rats, bats and huge spiders.
Rotting ships, some as large as galleys, lie upturned next to large slabs of stone set in the ground. This now almost totally buried ruin seems to be the remains of a wharf.
Ruins Dressing
The walls glow with a strange luminescence, shedding light in a five-foot radius.
Thick, sticky cobwebs and piles of rubble clog the ruins, creating areas of difficult terrain.
In a sheltered part of the ruins, the embers still burn from a recent campfire.
An unnatural keening moan fills the ruins.
The walls of the ruins ooze moisture.
Arcane energy fills the air; spells cast in the ruins function at +2 caster levels.
Sickly, yellow ivy covers the ruins.
Many small animal bones litter the ruins.
Some of the ruin’s features (walls, floor and so on) are warped and bent at unnatural angles.
Evil humanoids from a local tribe have daubed crude drawings on the walls.
A message, written in days-old blood, warns people to stay away or befall a dire fate.
A rotted wooden spear impales a skeleton.
Loose bits of debris occasionally come loose and tumble to the ground with a clatter.
From the ruins, when the stars are visible, the constellations seem subtly out of place.
Twilight seems to last longer, in the ruins.
Bits of broken armour and weapons lie scattered about.
The large cracks in the ruin’s walls form words of magical power. Arcane spells cast within the ruins function at +1 caster level.
An unusual number of fireflies flit about the ruins, providing areas of dim light.
A crumpled piece of parchment wedged under a rock has a rough sketch of the ruins.
The ruins have a curious, half-melted look.
Credit
This is a short system-neutral extract from Wilderness Dressing: Ruins (available from Raging Swan Press in 5e, Pathfinder First Edition and OSR editions) by John Bennett.
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