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Apologies for the long break; I had to take some time off to recharge my brain and hopefully come up with new ideas for 101 Forms of a Dungeon. Right, now for number 71 to 80.

1. A forest of executioner’s crosses, where the local law authority leaves criminals to die and to serve a somber warning to others.
2. A prison high atop a mountain cliff, only accessible by a crude ‘elevator’.
3. Wreck of a ship used as a prison. Where have all the prisoners gone to?
4. The ruins of arena designed for trial by combat
5. A half-built pyramid
6. A quarry where half-built statues form of rocks protruding from the hillside are everywhere. Those statues are colossal, from 4 metres tall and 2 metres in width
7. A goblin’s (or insert evil demi-human race of choice here) version of a slaughterhouse…intended for humans.
8. Ruins of a bath-house with technology comparable to what the Romans has…for use by giants.
9. Sites used for judgments by rituals
10. A gigantic “well” (really a deep shaft) which goes deep downward, with wooden platforms and side excavations (think the Money Pit)

Enchanted items can easily make characters too powerful; one way to give players cool toys to play with, but still challenge them is to have one-use magical items, such as potions, wands with charges, and for Dragon Age cases, bombs and special arrows. Those arrows cannot be found in stores (unlike the CRPG!) and the bombs must be specially made. Since there is scant rules on crafting, I will just list the effects of those items and leave the methods of making those special items till later.

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Last time we have the swords, this time round we have the bows! As my characters for my first game The Dalish Curse do not use crossbows, I will convert the shortbows and longbows first, and then move on to their mechanical counter-part.

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Eventually I have to get down to it. I feel it is unfair to make judgments and comparisons to a game which I have already read about, heard about and have opinions about, but not read the rules itself. So that I know better about the game, I forked out over SGD 150 (that’s about 90 USD I guess) to get the Player’s Handbook, Player’s Handbook II and the DMG. There’s still the DMG II and the Monster Manual, but my wallet is already screaming at the hole. So after reading the rules, the books, what do I think? Man, a 1st level Wizard can totally kick Gandalf’s ass.

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Those monasteries are located all over at the most inhospitable places of the realm. Nested against hills with no villages in mile, upon a storm-wrecked island or sometimes in a wing of a collapsed and abandoned castle. One visiting the place should take some heed and be braced for the sight that would greet them if they step into one. Only the caretaker of the monastery is alive. Inside, hundreds of skeletal monks, still in their robes, tirelessly makes copies of important treatises, tomes and religious texts. What magic keeps them going? Isn’t anyone particularly concerned about this? Why would adventurers need to go to such a place, anyway?

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In the midst of a vast, sprawling city, its architecture dating back to years long ago and showing distictinve heritage of different empires, are ruins where squatters dwelled. And within the ruins, is a long untended gardens, it’s hedge wall overgrown, the smell of rotten fruits spreading from within, and the pavements leading to it cracked and broken apart by weeds and grasses.

No man, it is said, set foot within the garden and goes  into the depth and had emerged alive.

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A kingdom is falling apart because of a prophecy. Ancient ruling houses have began to war with each other. The sons of the king began to plot to overthrow their father, but first have to deal with each other. Meanwhile, merchant houses secretly began a covert war through the use of spies, assassins and adventurers. All are determined that they are destined to stop an ancient evil, become a glorious ruler and other grandiose dreams. What madness have stricken those people?

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The night before, there was a thick mist, a rolling fog that covered the entire dockside. The next day when the sun is out, a large ship, its kind never seen before, is out in the bay, it’s masts broken, its sail tattered, its hull encrusted with ice. A dead ship appearing at the bay, out of nowhere. Where did it come from, what is on it, and what does this portends? No one is willing to go near to the ship, and the adventurers are dispatched to find out what is it and to ensure that it is safe to approach it and towed it away.

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It is well known that the forests and hills of Sandhornvale are haunted; the small folk called them ’spirit lights’ and they appear as small orbs of pale white lights. They danced at various spots and landmarks when midnight comes, and lingers for an hour before disappearing. A few believe they were ghosts or spirits that did not passed over to the after-world, while sages and sorcerers believed that there’s nothing supernatural about those lights at all – they are the creations of sorcery. What are those lights, exactly?

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It is the most disorganized, unruly and unprofessional convoy the adventurers have ever seemed. There are no forward scouts, the guards look ill at ease with their weapons and the route includes narrow valleys, thick forests and hilly paths. The leader of the caravan doesn’t seem to mind all these and jokingly dismiss any concerns the adventurers may bring up. And when the brigands attack, the order given is immediate. “Flee for your life!”

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