I love sharing this stuff, but it costs me money to pay for hosting and domain registration and it would be great to cover some of those costs.
Patreon seems to be very popular for this sort of thing, and all the map makers and content generators I admire and follow all seem to have active Patreon sites, but I know that I’m not good at sticking to a regular publishing routine. Time and I just don’t see eye to eye and a month can easily go by and I haven’t published anything, so the Patreon model doesn’t work for me. I just can’t guarantee that I’ll have monthly content to share with backers.
I’ve looked around and found this Ko-fi site that is more like a donation system with no obligation to sign up for ongoing payments. If you like what I’ve been doing, just go and make a one time donation. If you continue to like my work, make another donation. The amount is fixed by the Ko-fi site, not by me, and is about the cost of 1 cup of coffee ($3AUD when I checked), hence the name. I do like coffee, so this will make me very happy. My 11yo son Hugo helps me come up with some of the ideas and has been doing quite a few of the illustrations, so I might buy him some hot chocolates as well if there’s enough to go around 😉
This is the second of three versions of this room.
The room is 35ft. square with the walls and floor made of masonry. There is a 5ft. square stone platform in the middle of the room raised about 6 inches from the floor. A large wooden chest sits in the middle of the raised platform. The room has a high ceiling of about 23ft. There is only one door in this room.
The chest is, in fact, a mimic and will hungrily attempt to devour any adventurer that gets close enough.
Mimic (Mature)
Medium monstrosity (shape changer), neutral
Armor Class 12 (natural Armour)
Hit Points 58 (9d8 + 18)
Speed 15ft.
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
17 (+3)
12 (+1)
15 (+2)
5 (-3)
13 (+1)
8 (-1)
Skills Stealth +5
Damage Immunities acid
Condition Immunities prone
Senses darkvision 60ft., passive perception 11
Languages –
Challenge 2 (450xp)
Shapechanger. The mimic can use its action to polymorph into an object or back into its true, amorphous form. Its statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.
Adhesive (Object Form Only). The mimic adheres to anything that touches it. A Huge or smaller creature adhered to the mimic is also grappled by it (escape DC 13). Ability checks made to escape this grapple have disadvantage.
False Appearance (Object Form Only). While the mimic remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an ordinary object.
Grappler. The mimic has advantage on attack rolls against any creature grappled by it.
Actions
Pseudopod. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit : 7 (1d8 + 3) bludgeoning damage. If the mimic is in object form, the target is subjected to its Adhesive trait.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) acid damage.
This is also my 4th post this weekend. I don’t normally like to post so frequently and usually schedule posts to space them out a bit but I needed to get the images online so I could use them on GM Binder. I also recruited my son to help with the images. This one is one of his.
This clockwork beetle starts curled up in a little ball the size of a walnut. It can be thrown as a ranged attack and when it hits a target, will spring to life, flying into the face of its target while making a loud buzzing noise, distracting the target.
It was no ordinary wolf. It was the size of a small horse. Kai kept their steely gaze on the creature while they slowly reached into their jacket, pulling out 5 cards: 5 diamonds! The cards streaked from Kais’ hands, leaving a trail of blue energy as they slammed into the wolf. The wolf shuddered and was no more.
I’ve been playing around with an idea for a kind of mini-card game within D&D. I want to use normal playing cards with poker hands to generate magical effects; the better the hand, the better the effect.
I played around with various ways of generating a score from a poker hand that could be applied to the game. This turned out to be harder than I imagined, but in the end, I think I settled on something simple enough to use in play that generates suitable values for hands. The effect is different depending on the suit being played. Spades (Swords if using a Tarot deck) deal slashing damage. Clubs (Wands or Staves if using a tarot deck) deal bludgeoning damage. Hearts (Cups if using a tarot deck) heals people. Diamonds (Coins in a tarot deck) create a defensive barrier.
The poker hand system can do anything from 1 point of damage, all the way up to 199 damage (or healing, or defence) for a King high straight flush. The straight flush is a pretty rare hand though so I don’t expect to see it get played much, if ever.
I also wanted some way to do this using a tarot deck mainly because the artwork on tarot decks is so much cooler than normal playing cards. Now the basic poker hand thing still works with normal tarot cards, although they have one extra card per suit (common card decks have 13 cards per suit while tarot decks have 14 cards per suit). But Tarot also have the Major Arcana which are in addition to the other cards.
For the Major Arcana, I adapted D&D’s existing Deck of Many Things by modifying some existing effects. Others I rewrote entirely, and some I kept as is. Some inspiration came from this Reddit thread.
Rovers’ End is a small village on the three-way border of Dwarven controlled mountains to the west, human domain to the east, and largely uncontested wilderness to the north. This was a once prosperous village but has fallen on hard times.
I originally used the watabou city generator to make this map, but it’s undergone a few revisions and additions since then. This is the most recent redrawn version.
Rovers’ End
TheTown Square has a well in the middle and hosts a monthly market where farmers from the outlying areas come to sell produce. Dwarven merchants often come into town at market time to sell pots and pans and the like.
TheCouncil Building is where the council meets and is also where town records are kept (although births, deaths, and marriages are recorded at the church). There is almost always at least one council member present here.
The Baker uses locally grown grain ground at the nearby mill and produces good quality bread here. Nothing fancy, but tasty. Villagers buy directly from the baker, but the inn is the bakers’ main customer.
TheLocal Inn is the social heart of the town. Food, drink, lodgings, as well as basic adventuring gear can be purchased here. In more prosperous times, the inn would have often been full, but now many of its rooms sit idle. (I’m using Dyson Logos Wooden Duck Inn map for this.)
The Manor House is where the local lord used to live. The town prospered under his patronage for a while, but strange events cast a shadow over the house, and people started avoiding the town which led to the current decline in the towns fortunes. After the lords’ death, the house has been locked and uninhabited.
The Mill uses a water wheel drive by the river to grind locally grown grain.
The Blacksmith is a gnarly old dwarf with a sour disposition but makes excellent quality metal goods. He typically mends pots and forges plough sheers, but has a small inventory of common weapons for sale to the occasional passing adventurers.
The Docks used to see a lot more use than they do today, with shipments of grain and other goods being sent downriver to the larger towns. Today the docks sit idle a lot of the time except for harvest time, or when the occasional traveller arrives by boat.
The Church is the spiritual heart of the village. Olaf, the head priest, has presided here for many years and is a strict but kind patriarch of the village.
Orchard. Fresh fruits grown here.
The map above is the 72dpi version. The map below is a 300dpi version.
I love a good random table, but my problem with some tables is the distribution. A simple d10 is a linear distribution, where every number has an equal chance of being rolled. But if you roll multiple dice, like the 3d6, you get more of a bell curve with most rolls falling in the middle, around 10 or 11.
Self KO. Make a DC10 Dex save or knock yourself out. 1d6 rounds unconscious unless roused by somebody, or take damage from any source. Start your next turn Prone.
4
Pulled up lame. Make a DC10 Dex save or move at half speed for the rest of this encounter (or until healed)
5
You turn yourself around. Somehow you spun around and turned your back on the opponent who now gains one attack of opportunity against you.
6
I meant to do that. You miss in such a comical way that your opponent must make DC10 WIS save or be incapacitated laughing until the start of your next turn.
7
Two left feet. Drop to the bottom of the initiative order.
8
Really poor footwork. Drop 2 initiative level
9
Poor footwork. Drop 1 initiative level
10
Epic Fail. Your friends will tease you about this for weeks to come.
11
Epic Fail. Your friends will tease you about this for weeks to come.
12
Poor footwork. Drop 1 initiative level
13
Your next attack is with disadvantage
14
All attacks against you are with advantage until the start of your next turn.
15
Your weapon slips from your hand and lands in a random square 5 feet away. Roll 1d8 to determine direction with 1 being directly in front where the PC is facing, then count clockwise.
16
You miss your opponent, but your weapon strikes and gets lodged in wall/floor/furnature within 5′ of you and requires a DC12 STR check to pull it free.
17
Self Harm. You hit yourself. Roll damage as normal.
18
Self Harm. You hit yourself and do full damage to yourself.
This old watchtower is leftover from the Golden Empire. It was once a watchtower on the border, but in the many years since the collapse of the empire, it was abandoned to the wilderness. In spite of its age, this structure is in remarkably good shape and still habitable and is currently the abode of a wizard engaged in private study.
Level 1
Room 1
A large, relatively empty area. Small (5′ by 5′) cells line the east wall.
Room 2
Store Room.
General supplies in here. Extra empty bottles, spares clothes, bedding etc. Some weapons taken from past prisoners kept in here as well.
2 battle axes
2 daggers
1 Longsword
1 set chain mail armour
1 set leather armour
Kree’s Spear will be in this room.
Room 3
Another Store Room.
Food and wine stored here.
5 dozen bottle of average quality wine
2 dozen bottles of above average quality wine
1 dozen bottles of some very nice wine
1 dozen portions of perishable rations
1 dozen portions of iron rations
An assortment of dried mushrooms
2 cured hams hanging from the ceiling.
Level 2
Living Quarters.
Room 4
Hallway
Nothing much to say about this one. It’s a hallway. 1 door and 2 stairs, one going up, one going down.
Room 5
Study
At the end of the room is a desk. Stacks of paper and some quill pens lie about and 2 bottles of ink. Notes written in draconic outline experiments in the use of magical items to power constructs.
Room 6
Closet
Spare wizard robes and casual clothes. Nothing special.
Room 7
Bedroom.
A reasonably sparse bedroom with a large bed.
Room 8
Closet.
Spare robes.
This is where the wizard stores his formal wizards wear. These robes are cut from better cloth, literally. Nice silk and satin robes.
Level 3
Room 9
The whole 3rd floor is taken up by the wizards’ lab. Three large work tables contain various magical and alchemical apparatus. There is a ladder that leads up to a trapdoor in the ceiling. A magic circle is engraved in the floor near the middle of the room.
Level 4
Room 10
The roof is accessible via a trap door. It leads into a covered section of the roof (probably used in ages past as shelter for any guards on duty). There is a great view from up here, but nothing else of any interest.
In the forest lies the ruins of an Orc temple once sacred to Gruumsh. The three teachings of Gruumsh are:
Gather and breed, and your numbers shall flourish.
Rise up in hordes and seize that which is rightfully yours.
Raid. Kill. Conquer.
The sect of Gruumsh followers at the temple called themselves the “Kree” and devoted themselves to just one aspect of Gruumsh’s teaching:
“Raid. Kill. Conquer.”
Why this temple was abandoned is now forgotten. Perhaps the Kree fell victim to somebody else’s attempt to conquer. Perhaps in overlooking the “Gather and breed” teaching, they simply dwindled in numbers and were lost to time.
The Kree had a sacred spear, forged by the war shamans of Gruumsh. The spears current whereabouts are unknown.
I’ve really been enjoying using GM Binder to write up and keep track of a lot of my game content. Much of it is rough notes for my own benefit to keep track of in game events and things and not worth sharing with anyone, but I’ve also made a few homebrew items I’m happy to share.
They are currently doing a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for more improvements to the system and given how much I’m enjoying using it, it seemed a no brainer for me to back the project.
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