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Having a detailed, believable setting laden with verisimilitude is the foundation of a successful campaign. That said, designing an entire world for your game is exhausting, impractical and unnecessary.
When you watch a film, do you prefer watching it in Standard Definition or High Definition?
I remember the Good Old Days when I had acres of free time to game. It was a carefree time. School holidays were epic—we’d game for days at a time. We had nothing else to do.
Designing a dungeon can be a daunting prospect. Fear not. If you follow these tips, you’ll be well on the way to designing a fun, engaging dungeon for your friends!
To be a successful GM, your adventures and settings must connect deeply with your players.
Raging Swan Press is a big fan of dressed dungeons. A dressed dungeon feels more real than an undressed dungeon. A dressed dungeon engages your players’ imaginations, promotes creative play and helps them immerse themselves in the adventure.
Games set in a richly detailed, immersive world are better than games that are not. It should come as no surprise that we are huge fans of dungeon dressing, but what exactly is dungeon dressing, and why do we keep going on about it?
Check out our recent posts, many of which include free downloads, or visit the Archive to browse all our blog posts.
Statues come in many shapes and sizes and are a staple of most dungeons. Statues are a great way of adding depth and verisimilitude to a dungeon. (But remember, paranoid players may assume a lavishly described statue is important or that it may animate and attack them!)
Use these lists, to add statues into your dungeon.
Read MoreStatues come in many shapes and sizes and are a staple of most dungeons. Statues are a great way of adding depth and verisimilitude to a dungeon. (But remember, paranoid players may assume a lavishly described statue is important or that it may animate and attack them!)
Use this list, to generate interesting features for your statues.
Read MoreBeacon Promontory arose from the watery grave of Beacon Cove after a ferocious storm submerged the village. The handful of doughty survivors rebuilt their homes around Beacon Lighthouse, which lights the way for passing ships, many of which used to make the former village a port of call. Many consider the holdouts insane for staying, considering over half their neighbours left or were killed in the storm, but they feel they have a duty to seafarers who become stranded along the remote stretch of coast. However, the truly insane person may be the lighthouse keeper who believes the deluge that destroyed Beacon Cove was a precursor to an invasion from beneath the waves.
Read MoreMike is a long-time freelancer designer who has slaved away over many Raging Swan Press books. His most recent book for Raging Swan Press—Village Backdrop: Beacon Promontory—is now available in 5e, OSR, Pathfinder 1 and Pathfinder 2 editions.
Read MoreSmugglers are naughty chaps; intent on dodging the lawful taxes of the realm they work at night to bring in valuable or illegal items destined for the black market. Thus, smugglers’ lairs are (or should be) flavoursome and different to a “normal” dungeon.
Use these lists, the add depth and flavour to the smugglers’ dens in your campaign:
Read MoreDressing, detail and flavour can elevate your game. Role-playing is a game of the imagination and anything you can do to help your players dive into your campaign world and suspend their disbelief is a good thing. Let Raging Swan Press help! In 2019, patrons supporting Raging Swan Press at the $2 and up level got a free copy of that month’s 20 Things instalment and both monthly instalments in the Monstrous Lairs line.
Read MoreThe thriving village of Edgewood stands in the very shadow of the Shadetimer Forest. For a century, it has prospered. Wars, droughts and pestilence striking other nearby settlements never seem to affect the village, and yet tragedy mars life in Edgewood. For every year, terror stalks the village and its inhabitants die seemingly random, but horrible and gruesome, deaths. Thus, despite its prosperity, Edgewood remains a small place, and few travellers remain there for long.
Read MoreDunstone’s granite walls sprawl lazily across a hilltop south of the massive Mottled Spire. In bygone times, monsters sallied from the Mottled Spire’s twisted canyons, their onslaughts only stopped by the brave Dunstonian forces. Now after generations of quiet, the town’s once formidable moat is used by grazing sheep and playing children. The insular community has become peaceful but peace has led the town to become stuck in its old ways. A new ruler seeks to slough of Dunstone’s years of quiet and idleness to usher the town into a new era. Guilds practice their crafts, preparing to send their goods throughout the Duchy of Ashlar. Yet, the Mottled Spire and the environs beyond are never quiet. A vile creature has emerged from Gloamhold’s depths to prey on the unsuspecting townsfolk.
Read MoreFebruary is a busy month here at Raging Swan Press! Not only do we have a full month’s worth of releases but we are also now taking pre-orders for our upcoming releases. We are also busy putting the finishing touches to a Patreon-exclusive mini-eventure ready for release at the end of the month.
Read MoreFound throughout the wild and abandoned places of the world, giant spiders dwell both above and below ground. They attack any creature disturbing their nests and are aggressive predators. Although essentially unintelligent, they are adept at using their webs and poison to immobilise and kill prey. Some giant spiders can grow to truly monstrous proportions and even the smallest giant spider can spell a neophyte adventurer’s doom.
Read MoreFeral cave dwellers, troglodytes are the fallen scions of a once mighty empire. Now they are little more than savage scavengers. Use these four lists, to breathe depth and flavour into the troglodyte warrens in your campaign.
Read MoreAdventures often spend days or even weeks in the wilderness. Whether they are searching for a lost burial crypt from an elder civilisation or exploring the land at the behest of their noble employer it is inevitable they'll camp out in the wilds at some point.
Read MoreZombies are classic monsters. They appear in practically every role-playing game in every genre. However, zombies often end up as nothing more than generic, bland enemies. That’s a shame as their appearance and accoutrements could provide clues as to their fate and inject more flavour and detail into an otherwise standard combat encounter.
Read MoreAre you a busy GM? Does session prep take too long? Do you never have time to work on the cool little details that can bring your session to life? Well fear not! This article presents four lists to help you add depth and verisimilitude to the goblin lairs in your campaign.
Read MoreLast known hold of the dwarves in Ashlar, shadow-cloaked Don Galir lies hard against Lake Thraren dark, cold waters in a massive cavern buried directly beneath the human village of Wellswood. Dozens of wells, illuminating the lake’s dark, unknowable deep waters with faint shafts of light and link the lake below with the village above. Strange fungi and mushrooms grow around the lake’s shore and stranger fish dwell in its lightless watery depths. Humans and dwarves fish the lake and harvest these unique plants in an increasingly uneasy peace. Now the jealous attentions of the greedy lord of the village above fall on Don Galir and taxes slowly increase. The reclusive, secretive dwarves of the Erdikr clan work hard to fortify their hold and to attract more of their brethren to Don Galir while some secretly plot to regain their fallen dragon-infested holds lying far to the south.
Read MoreJacob is a long-time freelancer designer who has slaved away over many Raging Swan Press books. His most recent book for Raging Swan Press—the eventure Where There’s a Will—is now available in 5e, OSR, Pathfinder 1 and Pathfinder 2 editions.
Read MoreIn my long gaming “career” I’ve played under some truly great GMs and some truly terrible ones. Being a great GM is a time consuming labour of love (unless you are one of the special ones) as you labour over creating an adventure to enjoy with your players. Being a terrible GM is easy.
Read MoreStruggling figures swarm over the doomed ship’s deck as huge waves break over its side. Caught on barely submerged rocks, which have ripped its bottom out, the ship begins to break up as the PCs battle a group of monstrous, depraved cultists struggling to open an extra-planar gate through which their be-tentacled master will enter the world!
Read MoreHidden deep in the forest stands the Crumbled Tower. Pressed close by hoary, gnarled trees and wreathed in moss and lichens the tower is a forlorn remnant of an earlier time. Once a wizard lived here, but now the tower is nothing more than a brooding ruin standing amid the forest’s gloom. Sometimes bandits lair within or adventurers wandering the surrounds use the ruin as a base. However, unknown to all, a hidden crypt yet lurks under the tower undisturbed these long ages past.
Read MoreMuch feared for their ability to drain a foe’s vital life force, wights are dangerous opponents. However, wights rarely received much design space in an adventure’s text. They are just wights. Use these tables , to add some depth, flavour and—dare I say—life to the wights encountered by the characters.
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