Coins In the Dungeon



As an adventurer you're almost always going to have coins on you. Lots of coins. Whether you just got them from the dungeon you're exploring or brought them in yourself doesn't really matter, they're there.

Most of the time coins are treated as a burden. A valuable burden, but still just a weight to carry around that slows you down, takes up space, and alerts enemies by clinking at inopportune times. It's not entirely wrong. Coins are heavy, they do take effort to haul, and unless you find someone to trade with or bribe in the dungeon they're useless as currency until you bring them up to the surface and into town.

But they're not completely useless.

Treating them only as cargo ignores the fact that coins are physical objects with useful properties beyond their monetary value. (We forget that about real-world money too.) Coins are uniformly-sized and shaped pieces of metal that you can use for all kinds of jobs in the dungeon.

For example, you can take your coins and:

- Throw them down halls and into rooms as a distraction or to check if anything is lurking out of sight. It's the classic 'make a noise that the guards will investigate' ploy and it works. If you make a noise and something reacts, you know to be careful. Throwing coins in an opponent's face is also an effective distraction.

- Throw them ahead of you to check for traps. A single coin might set off a trap with a hair trigger and you can throw a sack full to test heavier weights. It'll also let you test for chemical hazards. If you throw a silver or copper piece in a room and it instantly starts tarnishing/patinating you can tell it's probably not smart to go in (without the right PPE). And if a gold coin starts reacting, then just run.

- Mark your path. Stick them in cracks in the walls, between floor stones, on ledges, anywhere they'll be visible and catch light. It'll give you a trail of reflective blazes that are easier to pick out in torch or lantern light than chalk marks for when you backtrack. Coin trails are good for navigation, temporary in case you want to be stealthy, and if they're gone when you come back at least you know someone's been there.

- Set them out as bait. Wait patiently and find out exactly who's following you.

- Use them as tools. Coins make great improvised screwdrivers, wrenches, and drifts. You can also use them to pry up the edges of stones, grills, grates, decorative facings, access panels, anything you want to break into.

- Use them as shims and jams. You can level or stabilize equipment and items on uneven surfaces by slipping coins under the unsupported parts until it's got a solid base. Tuck a short rolled stack of them into a door's strike box to keep it from latching if it closes. Shove coins into cracks like an old fashioned jammed cam/stop to hold ropes and climbing gear in place. (A bag of coins might actually be better than a traditional block cam because it's flexible but will seize up if you put force on it.)

- Use them as weights. A heavy pile or sack of coins makes an excellent anchor or counterweight, and of course they're good for holding down pressure plates, buttons, triggers, levers, and switches. You can accurately control the amount of weight you use too since coins are small units of mass and similar sizes.

- Test distances. You could drop a coin down a hole and listen for when it hits the bottom, but it's smarter to tie a pouch full to the end of a rope and use it as a plumb. That also works for measuring water depths. A weighted rope is really just a useful thing to have in general.

- Make a weighted rope. Coins on the end of a rope let you accurately throw it across gaps/chasms, up into trees or to ledges/areas above you, over water, wherever you need it to go without having to tie a heavy knot that takes up a portion of the rope's length. And if you tie the coins-on-a-rope to the end of your 10' pole you can swing them and (with some finesse) reach and interact with things outside the normal 10' range.

- Take advantage of their conductivity to close circuits and activate electric or magic-powered devices. Might short-circuit or explode, but it's probably fine.

- Shape them into whatever you need. Gold, silver, and copper are all relatively soft and ductile metals. You can treat coins as boullion/metal stock and cut, grind, hammer, or cast them into simple tools and shapes as needed. It might take a while and it might look rough, but you can do it. And yes, I did say cast. Gold, silver, and copper all have melting points within the range of what a stoked and tended wood fire can produce. (Au 1948F, Ag 1763F, Cu 1984F and a properly handled fire can make ~2000F.) It'd take work and planning to do, but it's possible.

- Roll them and throw them like bricks or use them as brass knuckles. You should be rolling your coins anyway. It makes them compact so they're easier to pack and carry, and keeps them from clinking.

- Use them as ammunition. Slings, slingshots, crossbows, and blunderbusses don't really care what goes in them. Coins are dense. They might tumble in the air, but you can practice and learn to compensate for it.

- Stick them in a sock and hit stuff with it. An improvised cosh is the best kind of cosh and terrible for enemy morale.

In the dungeon everything you have is a tool and everything can be repurposed, even your loot. Especially your loot. Your wealth is worth absolutely nothing if you die in a hole, so don't be too attached to it. Be creative and use everything at your disposal to survive.


Torches vs Lanterns



Light is your most important resource in the dungeon after breathable air. There are lots of light sources you can bring on a delve, but the most common and traditional choices are torches or lanterns. Which has spawned decades of discussion about which is better. This isn't more of that.

Most arguments about light sources focus on efficiency, doing the math about which gives the most light/longest burn time compared to how much space it takes up and weight it adds to your gear.* They focus on packing as light as possible so you have room for the loot you hope to bring back, but prioritizing the space-effectiveness of items over their actual usefulness and applications misses the point of choosing equipment. You pick the things that'll help keep you alive. Sacrificing an inventory slot or two in order to carry more useful gear is a smart choice.**

So instead of choosing between torches or a lantern bring both. Use both. Keep both on hand so you have the flexibility to use each in the situations they're best suited for. It's worth the extra weight to be able to adapt to whatever weird thing you run into.

And once you have them both, be smart about when to use each. Take the time to think about your equipment and how you can use each piece to your advantage. Not only the obvious intended uses, but also the different unintended ways it could help if you improvise. That goes for all equipment, not just light sources.

Here's what I think about when it comes to lanterns and torches. These aren't pros/cons lists, they're just the properties of each item to consider when deciding how to approach a situation.

Lanterns:
- Can be set down, hung, and left unattended without going out. Hands-free.
- Aren't extinguished by wind, random gusts, or rain.
- Have a shielded flame so they won't accidentally set things on fire, but makes it harder to intentionally set things on fire.
- Can be shuttered and concealed easily.
- Fragile(ish). They might work with broken glass, but rely on having an intact fuel tank.
- Can use the fuel for other purposes (as oil, accelerant, solvent, for tick removal, etc) but can accidentally spill it.
- More expensive. They're reusable but cost more to replace.
- Can be disassembled and cannibalized for glass, metal, and wire.

Torches:
- Can't be set down without going out. Need to be put in a sconce, stand, or specifically propped up.
- Put out by air currents and splashes.
- Can't be concealed easily and have to be put out completely to hide.
- Smoky. Makes for bad air quality but the smoke can be used as a tool.
- An unshielded flame. Easy to set things on fire, but it's just as easy to accidentally set your things and self alight too.
- Durable, because it's a stick. Can also be used for stick things and as a source of wood.
- Cheap as hell, utterly disposable. You can throw them ahead of you and drop them down holes without a second thought.
- Floats. Again, stick.

So if you want to sneak around and hide at a moment's notice? Go into rough weather? Use both hands freely? Light up your lantern.

Want to detect air currents? Hit something? Light an area or check for explosive gas without having to go in? Keep your options open for an impromptu arson? Pull out a torch.

Dungeon crawling is basically critical thinking and problem solving as a career, so lean into it. Don't worry about packing efficiently or how much you're carrying, bring the tools that will work best even if they're more expensive (in capacity or money) because they'll help you more than an empty space in your pack.

* If you're curious, here's the light per slot napkin math:
Torches last 1 hour and can be bundled. So at 6 torches/bundle it's 6 hours of light per slot.
Lanterns burn for 6 hours on 1 pint of fuel. A waterskin holds 4 pints of liquid and takes up 1 slot, so that's 24 hours of light. The lantern itself takes up a slot, so it actually works out to 12 hours of light/slot and gets slightly better if you carry more skins of fuel. A jug holds a gallon of liquid (8 pints), so if you use those to store your fuel you can double the waterskin numbers.

** As an adventurer your job is to explore, fight, and get everyone back home safely. If there's loot to carry you can help haul some, but most of the schlepping should be left to hired porters while you focus on keeping everyone safe. If there's enough treasure that your porters can't take it all at once, then don't. Leave some behind and come back later with more porters. It's okay to make two trips.

1d100 Potion Delivery Methods and Containers



I wrote a similar list a while back and while d20's good, d100's better. Here's an extended selection of ways to store and administer potions beyond the traditional tiny bottle.

1 Honeypot ants
2 Perfume
3 Lip balm
4 Eyedrops
5 Snuff
6 Blotting paper
7 Syringe
8 Vape
9 Inhaler
10 Breath spray
11 Humidifier
12 Gel capsules
13 Lozenges
14 Gummies
15 Gum
16 Juice box
17 Milk carton
18 Can (carbonated)
19 Tall boy
20 Wine bottle
21 Amphora
22 Solo cup
23 Travel mug
24 Canteen
25 Lidded styrofoam cup
26 Thermos
27 Plastic bag with a straw
28 Honeycomb
29 Rubber boot
30 Magnum (bottle)
31 Magnum (condom)
32 Garbage bag
33 Barrel
34 Rain barrel
35 Beaker
36 Boiling flask
37 Erlenmeyer flask
38 Bladder
39 Stomach
40 Gourd
41 Carafe
42 Decanter
43 Cruet
44 Flagon
45 Flask
46 Carboy
47 Gascan
48 Oilcan
49 Aerosol can
50 Bath bomb
51 Jug
52 Keg
53 Sauce packet
54 Sippy cup
55 Ziplock
56 Spray bottle
57 Gizzard
58 Packed in intestine like a sausage
59 Wizard's skull
60 Test tubes
61 Hose segment capped at ends
62 Squeeze bottle
63 Supersoaker
64 Wash bottle
65 Camelback
66 Wineskin
67 Crock pot
68 Foil pouch with straw
69 Pills
70 Jelly beans
71 Tupperware
72 Lotion
73 Cough syrup
74 Dermal patch
75 Sugarcube
76 Eyewash
77 Mouthwash
78 Hard candy
79 Meringue
80 Infused butter
81 Incense
82 Candle
83 Wax melts
84 Mascara
85 Nail polish
86 Rubber glove tied shut
87 Sealed pipe
88 Fishbowl
89 Inkwell
90 Plastic dinosaur (hollow and sealed)
91 Takeout container
92 Jet injector
93 Nasal spray
94 Virus
95 Microarray patch
96 Suppository
97 Cigarettes
98 Medicated contact lenses
99 Eyeball
100 Genemodded wasps

1d30 Distinctive Rocks



Notable monoliths, landmarks, and geological formations.

1 Good Old Eddie. A cluster of ridges and chunks of sandstone about 40' up the side of a cliff, eroded in a way that kind of looks like a human face in profile in viewed from the right angle.

2 A single massive menhir, 6' wide at the base and 42' tall. Stands alone in the middle of a pasture. Called the Cowstone by locals and the Fieldstone by folks in the next town over.

3 The Rolling Stone. A house-sized granite boulder balanced on a smaller partially buried boulder. Rocks at the slightest touch but never enough to fall. Covered in moss and lichen.

4 Proclamation Rock. An ancient black marble stele set at the crossroads. Inscribed with the same decree translated into several languages, damaged by the elements and "scholars."

5 The Steps. A small conical hill of hexagonal basalt columns weathered into easily climbable 'steps.' A favorite playground for the local kids.

6 The Lady. A partially-buried monumental statue of a matronly woman carved from dovetailed blocks of basalt. Only her face is uncovered, smiling serenely up at the sky. Locals call her Mama.

7 King's Cairns. A series of five fieldstone cairns stacked into precise pentagonal pyramids each 15' tall. Said to glow green-gold on Midsummer's Eve. Can't be knocked over.

8 An ancient stone wall built with cyclopean masonry. Has an open arch door at the north end. Can't be disassembled, locals don't talk about it.

9 A huge carved stone jar, big enough to hold a cow. It's traditional to put a rock on top when you pass to help weigh down the lid. No one knows what's inside.

10 The Dancers. A 60' wide circle of 18 slender white stones set on a hilltop overlooking three towns. Locals are physically unable to agree on how the stones got their name. Nothing will grow inside the circle except unusually lush clover.

11 Giant's Table. A huge slab of pale green dolomite 7' wide, 16' long, and 4' tall. Every side's carved with itchingly familiar spiral petraglyphs. Said to be an ancient altar.

12 Boundary stones. Chest-high pillars of mica-flecked gray stone set in a row stretching for miles, marking the border of a country that disappeared centuries ago.

13 An eroded outcrop that looks like a standing bear. Offerings are given for protection from actual bears, luck in hunting and fishing, and as thanks after killing a bear.

14 A boulder naturally eroded into a skull. A little spooky but mostly just neat.

15 Bell stones. A blockfield of smooth pink-striped boulders that ring in pure musical notes when struck. Some ring in ultra- and infrasonic ranges, marked with X's and avoided.

16 The Hermitage. A weathered granite dome hundreds of feet tall, standing alone over low forested hills. Said to be home to the spirit of an exiled priest.

17 A cluster of small granite domes with sheer sides and rounded tops, making a range of knobby hills. Locals say they're actually sealed tombs, alternately full of treasure or haunted by the forgotten dead.

18 The Platter. A shallowly dished surface of seamless black stone interrupting the meadow wildflowers. Reptiles flock to it to bask. Covered in medicinal lichen.

19 Witches' Tower. A narrow basalt butte hundreds of feet high, weathered into hexagonal columns. Has a tiny cabin on top, rumored to be inhabited but the climb is too difficult to check. Sometimes there are lights at the summit.

20 A wide canyon filled with wind-sculpted sandstone spires, arches, and pedestals. Home to several species of psychoactive arachnids.

21 A slender natural stone bridge a quarter mile long and wide enough for one person at a time, arching high over a river gorge. Walking across alone by the light of a waxing moon is a rite of passage among locals.

22 Devil's Mouth. A fin of rock high up the mountain with an oval hole bored through it to show the sky on the other side. Much, much larger than it looks from the ground.

23 A mile-long ridge of marble plates and spikes, arranged in a way that resembles an exposed spine. Thought to be bad luck to talk or make noise near them.

24 Petrified forest. Acres of fossilized wood preserved as brilliant agate and sparkling quartz. Some of the trees are still standing. What people think are trunks are just the branches and upper twigs of the massive still-buried trees.

25 The Fingers. Two linked rings of delicate sea stacks rising from the waves. Said to imprison the storm that will end the world. The water within the rings is always violently churning.

26 A massive rust-orange sandstone monolith that glows blood red at sunrise and sunset. According to legends it's sleeping. Offerings of liquor and grain are given to keep it that way.

27 God's Palette. A sheer cliff of pure salt banded and swirled with vivid rainbow hues. High concentrations of heavy metals. Wildlife and locals know better than to quarry or eat it.

28 The Fault. A sheer cliff revealed after an earthquake split the mountain in half. Rows of human silhouettes seared across the entire face.

29 Burning Mountain. A giant dome of clear quartz, frosted white by wind and weathering. The name refers back to generations ago when it was pristine and caught the sun like a lens.

30 The Drifter. A 12' tall oblong menhir of smoothed obsidian, translucent around the edges. Looks vaguely humanoid like it may have once been a rough statue. Moves under its own power within the 16-mile circle of its territory. Never seen moving. Considered a guardian and good luck by the locals. Feels like it's watching you.

Food in Games


When I run games I make a point to describe the food the party eats and what they have available, even if it's only rations. It's a little extra effort, but it's worth it. Taking the time to describe what the characters eat changes meals from simple resource management into something memorable and fun. It helps build a sense of place and make the game world feel richer.

Cuisine is a major cornerstone of every culture. Making a point to describe the particulars of the local cuisine and regional specialties gives each place the party travels a different character. Instead of a string of nearly identical villages you get differentiating details like "that town on the coast that made those dried sardines soaked in chili oil" or "the village with the orchards that made peach wine." Even if nothing particularly adventurous or exciting happened there the players remember it, the characters go back to stock up on favorite snacks, and it becomes a thing.

It also helps emphasize distances and scale while the party's traveling. Places that are close to each other share basic cooking styles and as you go farther afield you start encountering new and different foods. Running into these new types of food does more to make the players feel like their characters have moved through space and gone somewhere else than just knowing 'you've been on the road for a month' does.

The availability and variety of food on offer in a place also builds the local identity. How many places to eat does a village/town/city have? There may not be any restaurants in a small village and you end up eating a meal in someone's home. There might be an inn that's the town's only eatery and doubles as the town hall for gatherings every other week, or it could be one of several establishments. The larger a city is the more choices you have. The more chances there are for fancy restaurants, multiple types of cuisine on offer, niche little cafes and clubs, street food, and a whole gourmet scene. And all of it shares information about the people who live there.

A variety of options also makes the party's decision of where to stay and what to eat actually mean something instead of just being another tickmark on a downtime activities list.

Here's how I do it:

1 Decide what the area's main cooking style is.
I look at the environment and what ingredients would be available in the ecosystem, then pick a cuisine that would fit. Or if an area's already similar to a real-world place, I just pick that.

Ex: A coastal fishing village in the north gets New England-style cooking because it's close and I'm familiar enough with it to improvise.

2 Decide a few regional and local twists to the overall style.
I think about what notable features the local area has, then choose a few ingredients that could come from there.

Ex: The village is surrounded by pine forest so they have an abundant supply of bolete and chanterelle mushrooms, edible ferns, and juniper that gets worked into their dishes.

3 Think about seasonal ingredients.
Having all sorts of fresh food available at all times of the year is a modern thing. I think about how crops and wild plants grow; how animals reproduce, migrate, and hibernate, and what that means for what's available throughout the year. Fresh food, especially fruit and produce, have a narrow window and the rest of the year you'll have it canned, dried, salted, or otherwise preserved.

Ex: Corn is harvested in the late summer and early fall, salmon run in the fall, mushrooms sprout in the fall and spring.

4 Consider preservation methods.
Every style of preservation has the same goal: to prevent bacteria, fungi, and critters from getting to the food and spoiling it. The different methods reflect what resources are available to the people doing the preservation. If you're by the sea, salting is convenient. In the forest with plenty of wood? You probably prefer smoking. Somewhere with reliable strong, direct sunlight? That makes drying easy. There are more expensive and labor-intensive methods like canning, candying, pickling, and fermentation that rely on having equipment like airtight glass or expensive sugar. I pick a few that make sense for the area and think about how they could be incorporated into the dishes.

5 Bring it together into a menu.
Once I know the basics from 1 to 4 I can start improvising dishes. I usually ad lib them when the party stops to eat. It's not difficult to do it on the fly because I've already decided the edible framework. All I need to do is pick a combination that sounds tasty.

Ex: The party's in that coastal fishing village next to a pine forest. There's a large swamp and marsh nearby and the village has cleared a little land for fields. The main culinary style is New England. Local specialties come from the forest, swamp, and sea.

Spring - Fried fiddlehead ferns and mushrooms, a filet of whitefish with cranberry preserves, and beer.

Summer - Roast sweet corn, turtle soup, frybread with caramelized onions, and blueberry tea. Strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert.

Fall - Maple-walnut cornbread, crab chowder, fried clams, roast squash with molasses, and birch beer.

Winter - Smoked wild turkey, roasted root vegetables, barley porridge with apple chunks and chestnuts, and cider. Apple pie for dessert.


Everything comes from the surrounding environment, is in season or a preserved holdover from the previous year, and is in tune with the local cuisine. I just need a moment to think about the land, how things grow through the year, and where the food comes from.

6 Consider where the food's served.
My players usually don't find themselves in refined establishments. They're more likely to visit a tavern, get street food, or cook over a campfire. I still think about what types of restaurants might be around and decide the number and styles of cooking based on the size of the city. More people in an area means more options. It applies to places outside of cities too. If there's a busy road I'll put a few chuckwagons and food trucks along the way, and a little diner or two at natural waystops. If there's a fair or market I'll add a row of food stalls. And you bet there'll be roadside stands selling fresh produce in farm country. Good food is everywhere.

If my players went to a restaurant in a bigger city that had an entirely different culinary style from the rest of the area I'd improvise dishes in that style. If they went to a fancy joint that served the region's main cuisine I'd keep the basics I've already established but flex a little. Throw in ingredients that would be rare, expensive, or imported; use more labor-intensive and obscure preparation methods, and have a lot more courses. The aim is to make the meal feel different from what they're used to.

A nine-course meal in the area might be something like this:

A gin aperitif and candied chestnuts.
Lobster bisque.
Oysters.
Wild greens salad with candied walnuts, dried blueberries, blue cheese, and cranberry vinaigrette.
Lemon-pepper cod served with grilled asparagus.
Roast swan with pomegranate and mushroom stuffing.
Peppermint-cucumber sorbet.
Blueberry pie with plum and dark chocolate ice cream.
Maple-glazed eclairs, peach tart, baklava, a peach brandy digestif, and coffee.

All courses served with white wines except the main which is accompanied by a red.

The meal uses mostly local ingredients with a few unusual things and dishes incorporated, and is different enough from what the party regularly eats that it registers as something new.

Note: I'd never make my players sit through me describing an entire full-course meal like boxed text. If they asked I'd lay it out in one go, but otherwise it'd be mentioned as a backdrop to something else occurring at the fancy dinner/party with me describing a new dish as it's brought out, then going back to what they're doing.

7 If they're cooking for themselves.
My players cook about as often a they buy prepared meals, maybe a little more. For that I think about what's actually in a "ration" and use those ingredients to decide what meal gets made over the fire. Rations aren't bricks of nutrient paste, they're preserved foods packed for travel. If you buy them locally then they'll be made with the locally available foods and ingredients.

I also give the party chances to forage to supplement their rations. Whatever they find gets incorporated into the meal (or preserved) and they decide if they want to use it to stretch their rations and conserve resources or if they want to get some benefit from having had a more interesting meal with bigger portions.

Give it a try. You're already doing worldbuilding as a GM, take a few minutes to think about food when you do. It's fun!

1d100 Reasons the Party's Delayed


1 Wagon axle broke
2 Horse broke a leg
3 Ambushed
4 Kidnapped
5 Held for ransom
6 Bandits stole your horses
7 Bandits stole your loot and supplies
8 Bandits kidnapped the person you were escorting
9 You got lost
10 The map you were following is wrong
11 You took a "shortcut"
12 Road's washed out
13 Bridge is out
14 Roadblock
15 Roadblock with officers checking papers
16 Got arrested (mistaken identity)
17 Got arrested (completely unsurprising)
18 Taken into protective custody
19 Warned not to leave town by the authorities
20 Held awaiting trial
21 Got conscripted
22 Got caught up in court politics
23 Got challenged to a duel
24 Got involved in the town's problems
25 Looped into pulling a job for the local mob boss
26 An old friend called in a favor
27 Rival asked for a favor
28 Old faction called in a debt
29 Old enemy called in a debt
30 Had to flee from creditors
31 Had to attend an unexpected funeral
32 Got ridiculously drunk
33 Accidentally took vows to a forgotten god
34 Had to lay low
35 Joined the circus
36 Ran out of gas (gauge's broken)
37 Missed the train
38 Train derailed
39 Had to find someone to resurrect half the party
40 Petrified, survivors and hirelings seeking cure
41 Transformed into frogs
42 Trapped in magical sleep
43 Geased
44 Added to a dragon's hoard
45 Sucked out of space and time through a tear in reality
46 Shifted into another dimension
47 Stuck in the non-euclidean halls of a haunted house
48 Trapped on the other side of the mirror
49 Wandering the labyrinth
50 Frozen beneath the ice
51 Flung far into the future
52 Thrown back into the past
53 Led astray by will-o-wisps
54 Wandered into a fairy circle
55 Taken to an audience with the king of the cats
56 Looking for a suitable offering
57 Dragged to hell
58 Hot spring episode
59 Beach episode
60 Missed the tide
61 Your ship sunk
62 Trapped in the doldrums
63 Washed overboard
64 Set upon by pirates
65 Entered a fishing tournament
66 Entered a tournament, prize is a mid-sized county
67 Had to detour out of the path of a marching army
68 Caught between two armies
69 Couldn't get outside the city walls before the siege fell
70 Quarantined
71 Sick, had to rest and recuperate
72 Forced to shelter until the drake migration ends
73 Waiting out the storm, been raining all week with no sign of letting up
74 Snowed in
75 Forced to travel under the mountains by unseasonal blizzards
76 Fell through a sinkhole into a cave system
77 The dungeon entrance you used before is collapsed
78 Being tracked, had to throw pursuers off the trail
79 Being tracked by magical means, have to lift the enchantment
80 Had to go far afield to find new hirelings
81 Detoured to go visit parents
82 Detoured to go visit grandparents
83 Stopped to pay respects to Baba Yaga
84 Got turned around in the black forest
85 Got turned around in the fog
86 Found a kid wandering alone
87 Helping find a kid's missing cat
88 Helping find a missing kid
89 Fighting a wildfire
90 Helping build and reinforce levees
91 Helping dig out a collapsed mine
92 Searching for survivors
93 Evacuating survivors
94 Escorting refugees
95 Hunting the thing that killed the horses
96 Helping hunt whatever's been mutilating cattle
97 Abducted by aliens
98 Wizard training
99 Destabilizing governments
100 Wouldn't cross the picket line

d23's done!


I finally finished my d23 on the 20th, then took a break to let it rest and consider what I want to do with it (and also just to take a break). Like I said in my post from july, I'm not sure how seriously I want to publish this. I wrote it for me, but I do want to show it off. I worked hard on it for over a year and it's good.

Right now my plan is to release a plaintext ashcan with pictures of the hand drawn maps. Nothing fancy, just a serviceable document. Maybe with some notes to explain any quirks or missing info (artifacts of having written it for my use, there are things I didn't write down because they're so ingrained in my GMing that I didn't need to).

I'm also thinking about writing some posts on the process of making it. Why I started, how I got my ideas, how they developed over time, how I decided what to keep, actually doing the work, all that. I was planning on doing posts about how I write, game, and GM too (because self-reflection is important), so there'll be a lot of looking at how the sausage gets made next year.



1d100 Vehicles and Mounts



1 VW bug
2 Subcompact (1 AMC Gremlin, 2 Fiat 500, 3 Mini Cooper, 4 Ford Pinto, 5 Chevy Vega, 6 Oldsmobile Starfire)
3 Sedan
4 Wood-paneled station wagon
5 Pickup truck (1 rusted out, 2 vintage, 3 actual work vehicle, 4 shamefully spotless)
6 SUV
7 Panel van (1 contractor's - full of tools, 2 wizard mural, 3 converted to camper, 4 minivan - full of kids' sports equipment)
8 Sports car (1 convertible, 2 vintage muscle car, 3 F1 racecar, 4 supercar)
9 Limousine
10 RV
11 Bus (1 school, 2 city, 3 greyhound, 4 converted to RV)
12 Train 
13 U-Haul (1 8', 2 10', 3 15', 4 22')
14 Semi (1 cab only, 2 short trailer, 3 long trailer, 4 flatbed, 5 refrigerated, 6 converted to a mobile lab)
15 Road train
16 Tanker truck (1 water, 2 petrochemicals, 3 compressed gas, 4 liquid nitrogen, 5 milk, 6 raw sewage)
17 Dump truck
18 Cement truck
19 Bulldozer
20 Backhoe (1 compact, 2 amphibious, 3 long reach, 4 walking)
21 Steamroller
22 Skid loader
23 Forklift
24 Snowcat
25 Snowplow
26 Tow truck
27 Garbage truck
28 Mail truck
29 Food truck
30 Ice cream truck
31 Monster truck
32 Hovercraft
33 Ambulance
34 Fire engine
35 Police car
36 Armored car
37 Technical
38 Armored personnel carrier
39 Tank
40 Lawn mower
41 Tractor
42 Combine harvester
43 Golf cart
44 ATV
45 Snowmobile
46 Sleigh (1 horse, 2 dog, 3 troika, 4 reindeer)
47 Carriage
48 Stagecoach
49 Covered wagon
50 Hot air balloon
51 Glider (1 hang glider, 2 paraglider, 3 airframe, 4 motorglider)
52 Cessna
53 Helicopter
54 Private jet
55 747
56 Biplane
57 Bushplane
58 Seaplane
59 Blimp
60 Aerosub
61 Submarine
62 Aircraft carrier
63 Oil tanker
64 Container ship
65 Cruiseship
66 Superyacht
67 Paddle steamer
68 Tugboat
69 Sailboat (1 catamaran, 2 tall ship, 3 motorsailer, 4 skipjack)
70 Houseboat
71 Hydrofoil
72 Speedboat
73 Bass boat
74 Fanboat
75 Zodiac
76 Jetski
77 Sailboard
78 Kayak
79 Canoe
80 Bicycle (1 mountain, 2 moped, 3 vintage 10-speed, 4 recumbent)
81 Dirt bike
82 Motorcycle
83 Scooter
84 Skateboard
85 Unicycle
86 Tricycle
87 Pennyfarthing
88 Monocycle
89 Horse
90 Donkey
91 Mule
92 Hinny
93 Ox
94 Yak
95 Reindeer
96 Camel
97 Elephant
98 Ostrich
99 Zebra
100 UFO

1d60 Gas Station Purchases



1 Gas
2 Diesel
3 Windshield washer fluid
4 Motor oil
5 Air fresheners
6 Propane tank
7 Firewood
8 Charcoal briquettes
9 Lighter fluid
10 Marshmallows
11 Cigarettes
12 Cigars
13 Chewing tobacco
14 Ibuprofen
15 Dubious stimulants
16 Liquor
17 Wine
18 Beer
19 Coffee
20 Energy drinks
21 Pop
22 Lotto tickets
23 Newspaper (1 local, 2 regional, 3 national, 4 business)
24 Magazine (1 sports, 2 tabloid, 3 bizarrely niche, 4 porn)
25 Candy
26 Gum
27 Jerky
28 Cookies
29 Chips
30 Salsa
31 Ice cream
32 Hot dogs
33 Pretzels
34 Frozen breakfast burrito
35 Fried chicken
36 Sandwiches
37 Sushi
38 Cheese curds
39 Milk
40 Slushies
41 Ice
42 Bait
43 Bucket hat
44 Baseball hat
45 Souvenir t-shirt
46 Sunglasses
47 Headphones
48 Charger
49 Disposable camera
50 Lighters (1 opaque plastic, 2 metal with a picture of a wizard, 3 plastic with a picture of an eagle and flag, 4 USB-powered arc lighter, 5 extra large, 6 long gooseneck)
51 Glowsticks
52 Knife (1 rainbow anodized, 2 tacticool, 3 sensible folding pocketknife, 4 machete, 5 too spiky and curved to actually use, 6 antler-hilted hunting knife painted with a leaping trout)
53 Umbrella
54 Sunscreen
55 Chapstick
56 Shampoo
57 Soap
58 Toothbrush
59 Deodorant
60 Tampons

1d30 Things Lost by the Roadside


1 Couch
2 Mattress
3 A shoe (1 sneaker, 2 flip-flop, 3 croc, 4 cowboy boot, 5 rollerskate, 6 baby's)
4 5-gallon bucket (1 empty, 2 with a lid, 3 cracked, 4 half full of cement)
5 Ladder (1 aluminum, 2 wood, 3 step, 4 two-story extending)
6 Fridge (1 mini, 2 full, 3 vintage 50's, 4 chest freezer)
7 Towel
8 Stuffed animal (1 rag doll, 2 bear, 3 shark, 4 licensed character)
9 Travel mug
10 Chair (1 dining room, 2 office, 3 plastic deck, 4 steel folding, 5 adirondak, 6 bar stool, 7 car seat, 8 wheelchair)
11 Recliner
12 TV
13 Game console
14 VCR
15 Livestock (1 chickens, 2 ducks, 3 turkeys, 4 emu, 5 sheep, 6 goat, 7 pig, 8 llama, 9 alpaca, 10 bull)
16 Shovel (1 snow, 2 gardening, 3 entrenching tool, 4 plastic beach toy)
17 Trash can
18 Jewelry (1 ring, 2 gold chain, 3 watch, 4 tennis bracelet)
19 Houseplant (1 marigolds, 2 cactus, 3 ficus, 4 porthos, 5 monstera, 6 tillandsia, 7 lithops, 8 weed)
20 Chainsaw
21 Gascan
22 20lbs of potatoes
23 Bike
24 Quilt (1 handmade, 2 utility, 3 comforter, 4 polar fleece blanket, 5 baby blanket, 6 mylar emergency blanket)
25 Tarp
26 Paint cans
27 Rubber waders
28 Canoe
29 Bounce house
30 Gym bag full of cash

1d20 Travelers on the Road


1 Shepherd. Driving their flock back from pasture with the help of two dogs. The sheep fill the lane and move at a relaxed amble.

2 Peddler. A traveling merchant with a stock of general and small luxury goods. They also have tools to mend items for a fee.

3 Itinerant Teacher. A traveling scholar who offers classes and letter-writing services. They have a small library in their wagon and will deliver messages if the destination is on their route, but no guarantees.

4 Mercenaries. A small company of soldiers for hire looking for their next job. They'll offer their services as protection until you reach town, or propose to travel together for mutual protection if you don't have the money.

5 Hunters. Locals returning home hauling their kill on a travois. It takes three of them to pull the sled.

6 Lone Horseman. A solitary rider racing along the road at a desperate gallop as if pursued.

7 Postman. Following their route on horseback with a pack mule carrying correspondence and parcels. They're unable to open the mail bags outside of town, it's against regulations.

8 Tax Collector. Momentarily separated from their guards and vulnerable.

9 Bandits. Waiting to ambush a bigger target than you. Politely indicate you should get lost immediately.

10 Lumberjacks. A team of foresters hauling freshly-felled logs back to town on a big-wheel cart.

11 Old Woman. A lone granny walking back from the market with a basket and a big stick. Unafraid and formidable.

12 Mushroom Hunter. Returning from the woods with a basket full of truffles. Won't say where they harvested them but will happily sell some for a good price.

13 Lost Dog. Scruffy and thin with burrs in its matted fur, but happy to see you.

14 Traveling Doctor. A skilled physician making their rounds through the local villages. They might not have official credentials but they do have a stethoscope.

15 Lost Child. Dirty, hungry, cold, and wandering on the side of the road. Wary of adults but won't run unless startled.

16 Ghost. A figure standing in the woods on the edge of the road. Turns and walks through the gate of an overgrown cemetery before vanishing.

17 Folklorists. A group of researchers looking for the local legendary monster. If it's real they're probably scaring it off with all the noise they're making.

18 Family. Three sisters, their spouses, children, and a few stray cousins moving their households to a new town. They have wagons full of furniture and are driving livestock along with them.

19 Old Soldier. A long-retired veteran traveling the world in their old age. Has a plethora of tales of their many and varied exploits.

20 Midwife. Called out in a hurry to attend an early birth. She'll enlist you to help with the emergency if you're foolish enough to look useful.


1d12 Roadside Shrines


1 A round brick pillar with worn and faded inscriptions around the base

2 A hawthorn tree with multicolored rags and ribbons tied into its branches

3 A tiny wooden cabinet protecting a painting of a holy beast

4 A roughly-shaped stone statue, weathered and hung with strands of glass beads

5 A single-room chapel with an altar and a little blue stained glass window

6 A beech tree with a sprawling canopy and eyes carved into its trunk

7 A hexagonal cairn of white stones raised in memory of a folk hero

8 A niche cut in the bole of an oak holding a porcelain icon, framed by a wreath of wheat sheaves tied with red string

9 A simple stone table piled high with food offerings and candles

10 A holy well hewn out of solid rock, fed by a spring above the carved basin 

11 An intricately-carved wood idol of a young woman, offerings of flowers and bread placed at her feet

12 A stout ash pole erected at a crossroads with nails hammered into every inch of its surface


1d10 Detour-Causing Problems


1 Barricade of fallen trees across the road

2 Bridge is closed for construction

3 Overturned gravel cart's spilled debris everywhere

4 Road's been washed away by a flood

5 Road's blocked by a battalion of tractors

6 Wagon with a broken axle blocking traffic

7 Herd of livestock refusing to move

8 Massive multiple-cart pile-up and traffic jam

9 Giant sinkhole that wasn't there yesterday

10 A lone, intensely menacing, aggressive deer