Showing posts with label Wilderness Adventures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wilderness Adventures. Show all posts

Friday, November 29, 2024

You Come Upon A Ruined Vehicle



 To paraphrase Gandolf, I return to you now at the changing of the tide. I had to step away from the blog last year due to life events. I'm back now, though my output will have to reduce for my sanity's sake. I hope to continue creating fun stuff for you all in the months ahead!

Today I bring you a little encounter generator for adding some weirdness and mystery to you campaign. this is just one part of a bigger project I've been working on for generating interesting wilderness encounters. in the months to come i intend to share it and more with you. 


You Come Upon A Ruined Vehicle By The Side of the Road

 

There are more than just wandering monsters to encounter when travelling through the wilderness. Below you will find a handful of tables you can use to whip up a quick encounter for your players as they traverse the wilds of your campaign in search of adventure. This encounter showcases odd vehicles or vessels alongside themes of mystery and exploration and is best placed in mountain, desert, or barren hill terrain types.  Enjoy!

To create this encounter you will need to take three actions.

1) Roll on the Vessel table to determine what sort of vehicle or vessel the PCs encounter.

2) Roll to see if the party is alone when they come upon this sight.

3) Consult the table below that details the vehicle stats of those vessels that can be made working again.

D12

The Vessel

1

A longboat made of an entire block of carved granite. This vehicle was once enchanted to fly. It still bears a few rotting feathered oars and a series of mostly intact silk sails in its hold (worth a total of 400 gp). The rudder of the ship is broken in two but the magical runes used to keep the vessel aloft are still carved into it, and it may be able to be re-enchanted.   

2

This was once a massive wagon with four axels. The wagon box is huge at nearly 15 feet square. It is made of moss covered timbers reinforced with rusting iron bands. There are a number of arrow slit-like windows around the entire wagon box. A strong looking door lays open as the whole thing has fallen on its side. It has become half covered in earth and moss. A team of oxen must have had to pull this large war wagon. Inside can be found a profoundly rusted tapered metal tube a few feet in length (a small hand canon), and a bunch of wet and molding black powder.

3

This horrific contraption looks like a metal platform built on top of 13 long and gangly metal legs. The whole rusted hulk is covered in brambles, lending it an air of some monstrous metal spider. The control levers and a small bench seat are the only things built on to the platform. The platform itself is big enough for six human-sized individuals to comfortably stand on it at one time.

4

A moss covered, segmented marble snake-like sculpture without a head. In place of a head, a marble seat has been carved, and a large green crystal (200 gp) is embedded in front of that. The marble stone segments of the snake body are fixed together with gold and copper chains an inch thick. (500 gp worth of metal can be salvaged). This vehicle is entirely intact. It can be driven by sitting in the driver’s seat, placing one’s hand on the crystal and imagining the direction you want the vehicle to move in.

5

This wooden vessel that resembles a long sailing boat is approximately 120 feet long and 20 feet wide at its widest. The entire top deck of the vessel has been covered over in a broken lattice of glass similar to that of a greenhouse, though most of the glass is now shattered. Besides the two main masts, there are two smaller masts curiously protruding from the underside of the vessel pointing downward at 45 degree angles.

Below deck underneath the steering wheel there is a metal throne with arcane symbols etched on it. From here, a trained mage could levitate the entire vessel and even (legend says) take it to the stars and into other planes. Any character with arcane training who sits on the throne must save versus spells or be flooded with memories of interdimensional battles with other worldly creatures. This will exhaust their mind, preventing them from casting spells for the next 1d8 hours.

6

This vehicle seems to be the cap of a humongous acorn 12 feet in diameter. Inside the acorn cap are two holly branches woven into oars. This is some sort of faery boat. It is impervious to fire, nigh unbreakable, and can be floated across lava, acid, or almost any other mundane but dangerous liquid. A large river stone with a natural hole worn in the middle has been set inside, tied to the acorn cap with a rope of woven grasses for use as an anchor. The entire vessel weighs 500 pounds.

7

This large stone statue is carved out of gray-green basalt and is roughly 15 feet tall and 8 feet wide. It has been fashioned in the likeness of an armored dwarf with a long plaited beard, although the whole thing is now covered in moss and vines. There is a compartment in its back big enough to fit two dwarf-sized individuals. Besides some small benches, this little recess contains rusted control levers for making the great stone statue walk. The dwarven runes that imbued this artifact with power have been partially weathered off, rendering the great machine an inert statue.

8

This odd looking craft is 120 feet long and 20 feet wide at its widest. It is cigar shaped and made out of rusted metal. Affixed to one end are three bent metal fins. Halfway along the metal cylinder is an oval metal door with a wheel that must been turned to open it (Stuck Door Check). There are three compartments in this vessel, though they are laid out one on top of the other. The entire vessel is lying on its side. The compartment towards the fin end of the vessel is filled with odd metal contraptions with circular dials painted in an unrecognizable script. The middle chamber is empty save for a stool bolted to the floor. The chamber on the end opposite the fins has two seats of rotting upholstery bolted to the floor and a large array of dials, buttons, and switches. There is some fuel left in the tanks. If syphoned out, it can be put in a bottle and made into an incendiary much like lamp oil, though it deals 1d10 damage to the target, and half damage to anyone adjacent to the target.

9

This vehicle is a 10 foot diameter sphere of translucent reddish crystal. There is a small, circular hatch that allows entrĂ©e though there is no visible means of opening the hatch (it pushes inward). Those inside will find it’s actually quite easy to roll the sphere along by walking. The sphere and those inside it are impervious to normal damage, and float when falling from a great height (like the spell Featherfall), and float on water. The sphere can only hold up to two people before it becomes too cramped to control properly.  

10

This strange vehicle resembles a rusted metal millipede, with 25 small metal legs on each side. It is roughly 15 feet long, and its body is 7 feet wide. The front end though is a large corkscrew of metal. Two small windows on the front allow those inside to see, and a 3’ square hatch on the back allows entry to the interior of the largely brass contraption. Inside are three rows of benches and an elaborate collection of knobs, levers, dials, and switches. Though the dials are written with gnomish script, they are not in any known gnomish dialect. 1d6 of the knobs have gems on their ends, each worth 75 gp each.

11

This vessel is long, approximately 150 feet long, consisting of three 28 foot long carriage-like contraptions and a larger 65 foot long control engine, all made of various metals hooked together. This long metal snake is lying on its side with vines and small trees growing out of some windows. The interiors of the three smaller cars have been ripped up and torn out a long time ago. The larger car still has a large, rusted furnace, levers, dials, and a broken stool. Hidden inside the fire box of the furnace is a piece of obsidian polished into a smooth, egglike shape. A glyph of the elven word for fire has been etched into it. If this word is spoken out loud within 10 feet of the stone, it will heat up sufficiently to burn wood and cause a fire to form for one minute before it cools again. This can only be used three times a day.

12

This gliding vessel resembles a large Roc constructed out of delicate carved wood and stretched silk. The wingspan is about 25 feet long, although the body of it from beak to tail is only 10 feet long. Many of the silk panels stretched over the wooden frame are ripped or missing. Within the body of the bird vessel are three seats, one in front of the other. With the foremost seat in front of a corroded copper steering lever. Dwarvish runes are still visible on the interior wood struts.

 

 

 

2D6

Is the party alone?

2-5

There are 1d10 corpses strewn about this location. [Roll on an appropriate Human or Humanoid encounter chart to determine type.] They seem to be 1d6 days old. [The die explodes on 6s.]  

6-8

There doesn’t seem to be any signs of any recent activity here.

9-12

Oh no, the party is not alone! [roll on the appropriate combat encounter for your terrain type.] The encountered party is usually covetous of the vehicle that has been encountered.

 

 

Table #

Vehicle type

Miles per Day

Movement Rate

Max Load (Coins)

Notes

1

Re-enchanted Granite Longboat

18/9

90’ (60’)/45’ (15’)

7,000/14,000

This vessel can fly. It requires an arcane magic user of level 3 or more or a group of magic users whose combined levels equal 3 total to be concentrating to keep the vessel flying.

4

The Snake-Like Sculpture

24/12

120’ (40’)/60’ (20’)

4,000/8,000

Those who sleep within 15 feet of the vehicle dream of fondly of snakes.

6

Enchanted Acorn Cap Boat

12

60’ (30’)

3,000

See table description above.

10

The Metal Centipede

12/6 or 6/3 Burrowing

60’ (30’)/30’ (15’) or 30’ (15’)/ 15’ (7’)

4,500/9,000

The vessel and anyone inside are immune to mundane sources of heat.

 


Friday, October 13, 2023

Chaotic Landscapes

 Well met wonderful wanderers! Join me today on a journey through a roiling landscape of chaotic disharmony. This week you will discover a D66 list full of weird effects that can befall a land beset by chaos magic. Wherever demons mass and chaotic magic is cast with wild abandon you will find chaos's corruption writ large upon the country side. Enjoy these weird and wonderful effects, implement them as travel encounters, or use them to spice up a battle with a demon or other chaotic forces. If you're looking for more chaos and pain to inflict on your players check out my article on evil cults, it's full of danger and fun in equal measure. If that's not to your liking, have a look at another take on landscape effecting magic with my article on ten magical weather phenomena to use in your next session! 

*Winter Landscape in Moonlight (1919) painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.

Chaotic Landscapes 

The corrupting powers of chaos have ever sought to remake the material plane in their image. The corrosive effects of this chaos magic has long plagued the world, laying once-prosperous kingdoms low and causing untold tragedies brought on by starvation, disease, and war. When an area becomes the site of repeated chaotic influences, the land itself will start to warp and change. What was once a seemingly normal forest road can rapidly transform into an alien landscape, and once-familiar items and friends can become warped and menacing.

While traveling through chaos-corrupted landscapes, roll a d6 for every two hours of travel. A roll of a 1 or 2 indicates that the landscape here has been effected by chaotic influences. Roll on the table below to determine what the PCs are experiencing. Alternatively, ignore rolling every two hours and instead use your preferred random encounter method and then roll on the table below to add an additional element of chaos and weirdness to the encounter.

Chaotic Influences on the Countryside

11. The surrounding area that the characters are traveling through starts to take on hues of purple, pink, and blue, and the ground starts to become wet mud that painfully chills all flesh it touches.

12. The vegetation in the area has large golden fruits hanging from it. If eaten, the fruits immediately restore 1d4 HP. (The next day upon waking, characters lose 1d4 HP.)

13. The wind in this area is very strong and steady. If they listen for a time to the wind, player characters can hear the voices of loved ones begging to be rescued from the afterlife.

14. All food in the characters’ possession is spoiled and turned into wet sand replicas of the actual food.

15. Characters cannot shake the feeling that they are being watched.

16. The ground periodically shakes and at the same time the sound of distant wailing can be heard upon the breeze.

21. If characters stop to talk or rest while traveling through this area, they quickly find themselves wrapped up and held to the ground by grass and other low-lying plants. (STR save to pull free.)

22. Florescent black lightning from out of a cloudless sky strikes the ground around the characters without actually striking any of them. This will spook any animals that are traveling with the party, forcing characters to succeed at CHA tests to regain control of their animals before the poor creatures run off. This bizarre phenomena lasts for at least half an hour.

23. Blood rains down from the sky, pooling on the ground and staining everything it touches.

24. The landscape around the characters shifts in the blink of an eye. What once was flat is now hilly, and what once was hilly is now flat. Mountains are raised or lowered randomly. This altered landscape will last for 1d4 hours before everything switches back to the way it was. (The player characters have a 3-in-6 chance of becoming lost due to this.)

25. A sticky mucus coats everything in the area including the flora and fauna.

26. PCs' voices seem to be coming not from their mouths, but from a meter to the right of their persons.

*Avebury (1937) by Paul Nash

31. Shadows seem to move in the opposite direction from where they are being cast.

32. The player characters experience a temporal anomaly as though they are re-experiencing every event over again a few seconds after it has occurred. This makes it very difficult to perform most actions, especially those that require mental focus like spell casting.

33. The roles of predators and prey seem to be reversed in this area. Animals seen while traveling act in opposition to their normal behaviors. Lambs eating wolves, foxes nibbling on grasses, etc.

34. All the fauna in the area have a bloodshot third eye growing from the middle of their forehead.

35. All the trees and other vegetation in the area seem to be made of stone.

36. The sun casts a swirling green and red light during daytime. Gazing at the shifting light for too long will make one nauseous.

41. All animal life in the area seems to have burst apart from the inside out. The trees and other fauna are covered in the exploded remains of wild and domestic animals alike.

42. All living creatures in the surrounding area are found to be transformed into trees and bushes with small maroon leaves. People- and horse-shaped trees dot the roadside.

43. It begins to rain, but the drops are falling in slow motion.

44. A massive fissure splits the ground ahead in half. The crack in the ground is in the shape of a player character’s name.

45. Ancient flagstone buildings flicker in and out of existence on the horizon.

46. The atonal hum of insects seems to shift into the song a player character’s parents used to sing to them.

51. A choking cloud of hot soot and sulfur picks up suddenly and blankets the area, making it hard to see and even harder to breath.

52. Shadows in the area move with a ten second delay.

53. The sky turns a sickly green color, and the smell of burnt hair perfumes the air.

54. The PCs begin to see their companions’ faces warp and twist out of the corner of their eyes.

55. The ground surrounding the player characters transforms into a sucking mud that starts to swallow characters who try and struggle to leave the area. After a few seconds the ground becomes hard again and the characters will have to dig themselves out.

56. A faded image of a 35 foot tall demon rises from the ground 100 feet away and starts to silently yell at the player characters as it charges at them. Once it makes it to the PCs the demon pounces, but before it can strike it fades away to nothingness.

*Elijah in the Desert, 1818 by Washington Allston

61. The clouds, hills, and vegetation all resemble the faces of demons.

62. A small spring is discovered flowing out of a cleft in a rock. Instead of water though, bile pours out of the spring.

63. The clothes of 10 to 12 people can be found strewn about, but no one can be seen in the area except the PCs.

64. Flames in the surrounding area change color as they burn, from red all the way to purple and back again.

65. A thick blue mist rises from the ground and appears to form the shape of a demonic fortress.

66. Piles of bones 20 feet high start to erupt from the earth all around the player characters. 





Thursday, October 5, 2023

What Is With This Giant Floating Crystal?

 Salutations sagacious sleepwalkers! Welcome to this weeks article, a big ol' encounter table for a weird encounter with a giant floating crystal! The oddity of a floating mass of translucent crystal with vague and otherworldly secret is a great encounter to throw at your OSR party of gonzo adventurers! Use it on the fly to create a short random encounter or expand on the table to create an entire session of weird fun. Once you've read this article try the hovering island generator for some more gonzo encounter ideas, or even the article on technomagical prosthetics if you're looking to add some mystically powered technology to your campaign world!



What Is With This Giant Floating Crystal?

 

Fantasy roleplaying games, and by extension the OSR, are filled to the brim with oddness and weird happenstance. It can be hard session in, session out to come up with enough mystical mumbo jumbo to keep your players happy. The table below can be used to create an interesting encounter with a truly weird object, a giant floating crystal. A random encounter with this odd object is sure to intrigue your players, and the out-of-place nature of such an encounter makes it easy to fit into an existing campaign or adventure. Take note, these crystals float but not very high. They usually hover between three inches to five feet above the surrounding ground level. 

 

D10

The Crystal’s Appearance

1

The crystal is about the size of a wagon and tabular in shape. It is a swirling metallic cerulean color and it emits a slight warmth within 10 feet.

2

The crystal is roughly the size of a horse and shaped like a lumpy mass. It is a translucent pinkish red and emits an odor of ozone within five feet of it. 

3

The crystal is approximately the size of a large chest and dipyramidal in shape. It is made of a shiny black obsidian. Small bursts of static electricity randomly discharge from the crystal’s surface. 

4

The crystal is roughly the size of a small hill and shaped like a cube. It is an opaque, milky teal color. The crystal gives off a smell of smoldering incense within 30 feet of it.

5

The crystal is about the size of a hand cart and rhombohedral in shape. It is a semi-translucent amber color and the air within 30 feet of the object feels denser than the surrounding air.

6

The crystal is approximately the size of wagon wheel and shaped like a tetrahedron. It is a glowing translucent green/blue color. Fires won’t burn within 10 feet of the floating crystal.

7

The crystal is about the size of a grown human and dendritic in shape with many fan-like growths. The semi opaque purple crystal glows brightly. Within 10 feet of the crystal a quiet high pitched hum can be heard.

8

The crystal is approximately the size of a large chest and pyritohedral in shape. It is a translucent saffron color with veins of opaque corral orange threaded throughout. Looking directly at the crystal for too long will make most folk nauseous.

9

The crystal is roughly the size of a large cauldron and pyramidal in shape. It is an opaque blue color and glows faintly. Those who gaze too long upon the crystal will be filled with a sense of déjà vu.

10

The crystal is about the size of a house and prismatic in shape. It is an opaque pearlescent color. The sickly scent of clove clings to the crystal, perfuming the air within 30 feet of it.  

 

 

D66

What is with this giant floating crystal?

11

This is the prison of an ancient mage who tried to take over the world in a long- forgotten age. They want nothing more now than to be free to die. Their physical form long ago withered away and now they are but an insubstantial spirit trapped within the crystal.  

12

This is actually a noncorporeal explorer from another universe named Zzxx*yc’llqq who is piloting the crystal around in order to sustain his existence in the material world. Zzxx*yc’llqq is researching how physical beings procreate and is unfamiliar with the concepts of love, children, family, and pets. They are friendly enough, but do not understand the natural and cultural rules of this world and may do horrible or funny things without understanding the consequences of their actions.

13

This is actually the god of mathematics and music Duranhas. Duranhas is searching for a melody that have escaped his musically perfect realm and may be wreaking havoc on the local populace. The escaped melody acts like a malicious earworm on those who hear it, transforming the weak-minded into slaves for the rogue song spirits.

14

The crystal is a device from the future that a curious wizard is using to research the party’s current era. The crystal acts as conduit for the wizard to see into the past with, and it allows them to communicate through the crystal. The wizard will politely try to enlist the PCs in aiding them by answering some odd questions about the current state of the world. The future wizard may find it hard to not let some clues slip out about the goings on in the future, although they claim they “don’t want to contaminate the past.”

15

This is actually a crystalized chunk of ancient dragon’s blood. Some kind of unknown magic transformed the blood into its current form. The crystal is exceptionally hard, but PCs who spend at least an hour chipping away at it can collect about a pound of the dried dragon’s blood. This can be used as a reagent in spells and rituals. The dragon’s blood may also be smoked as an inebriant, leaving imbibers feeling light-headed and relaxed, although those who do smoke it will have fitful dreams of conquest and riches beyond measure. The blood is highly addictive, and there is a 1-in-6 chance each time of the imbiber getting hooked on the stuff, suffering -2 to all dice rolls if they go a day without smoking. (A pound of dragon’s blood yields ten pipefuls.)

16

This is the crystal funerary receptacle of the ancient emperor of a legendary nation that once ruled these lands. The emperor’s spirit is still present in the crystal and he is happy to have someone to converse with. The emperor was well-known for their wisdom and understanding and is still always willing to listen and give counsel to those who show him respect and kindness.  

21

The crystal is a mischievous incorporeal spirit that has taken this form to enter the material world. The spirit can mimic any person or animal they hear, and they like to use this power to cause confusion by picking fights, getting people lost, and generally fooling folks into conflict. The crystal spirit has an irrational fear of flowers, however, and will avoid areas where they grow in abundance.  

22

This crystal is an advanced artificial intelligence created in the future and sent back to the present to search for lost secrets that will prevent the sun from eventually burning out. The crystal is named Gort and is emotionless but friendly. Gort will attempt to enlist the  PCs to aid it in preventing this future calamity by searching for lost knowledge on its behalf in a nearby dungeon or two.    

23

The crystal is actually an alien creature that has travelled to this world through the darkness between the stars to gather samples from this world and bring them back to the creature’s home world. The alien is looking for large and/or intelligent creatures as well as magic items. The crystal  can issue a beam of bright red energy with a range of  40 feet that is meant to incapacitate any creature the beam strikes. (40’ range, Save vs. Wands or become stunned for an hour.) The crystalline alien will then teleport the incapacitated creatures into its internal stasis chamber.

24

The crystal thinks that it’s a local drunk named Wendel Wallagen. In actuality it is an ancient broken magical device Wendel came upon while drinking in the woods that activated when Wendal relieved himself upon it. It then scanned him, malfunctioned, and now thinks that it is the real Wendel stuck in a crystal. The actual Wendel is sitting at his usual spot in his usual tavern passed out drunk and is completely unaware of the situation, as he had blacked out around the time he stumbled upon the crystal.

25

This crystal is actually Ambassador Runnhus of the Elemental Plane of Earth who has come to the material plane to negotiate an end to intrusions into his people’s lands by a nearby evil human kingdom. The evil humans have been taking portals to the Plane of Earth in order to mine precious gems and minerals. They also delight in hunting the creatures the live there for sport, whether they are beasts or intelligent creatures. Ambassador Runnhus has gotten himself lost on his way to the kingdom’s capital.

26

This crystal is the freakish result of a magical ritual gone wrong. This crystal contains the combined bodies and souls of seven mages and one poor assistant that were amalgamated together by the failed spell. This new entity is full of pain and confusion and hasn’t truly grasped what it has now become. Though the thing may lash out, what it truly needs is empathy and someone to help it so that it may calm down. Talking to the crystal is like talking to eight different people at once.

31

This is an artifact created long ago by a deranged necromancer. All dead bodies within 100 feet of the crystal will arise as skeletons and start seeking out life to extinguish. Additionally, the magic field around the crystal prevents turn undead checks from being cast within it. The crystal is slowly moving at a pace of 10 feet a minute towards a populated area a few miles away with that lies adjacent to a large cemetery.

32

The crystal bears the runes of the god of plenty and drips fresh water from atop it. Small berry bushes and edible flowers spring up in the crystal’s path as it travels at a slow pace of 10 feet a minute towards the west.

33

Those who approach within 200 feet of the crystal hear the most beautiful music they have ever heard. No two individuals hear the same song, however. PCs who make camp near enough to hear the music will heal an additional HP after resting for eight hours. The song that emanates from the crystal also negates fear effects within 200 feet due to its soothing tone.

34

This crystal emits a different color of light depending on what note is sung or played within 100 feet of it - red for A notes, orange for B notes, yellow for C notes, green for D notes, blue for E notes, indigo for F notes, and violet for G notes. The light shines as bright as a torch.   

35

Arcs of red lightning peel off the crystal and strike the ground around it. Anyone who approaches within 20 feet of the thing has a 1-in-6 chance of being hit by fingers of lightning. Those who are struck by the lightning take no damage but instead gain a limited sort of telepathy with others who were also hit. When  within 40 feet of each other, individuals struck by the red lightning can speak to one another by thought alone. No matter the language they speak, individuals with this power can understand each other perfectly. This lasts effect lasts an 1d4 hours.   

36

Small woodland creatures play and frolic all around the crystal. Predators and prey peacefully coexist alongside each other here. If the PCs stop to peacefully play with the animals, they will be rewarded by gaining the ability to speak with animals for the rest of the day. The creatures here will let the PCs know the crystal is their forest god that has blessed them with peace. They wish to spread the message of peace amongst species and hope for a more harmonious relationship between man and beast.

41

The crystal is visibly shifting in and out of reality, back and forth between the material plane and the ethereal plane. Every five minutes the crystal shifts from one plane to the other. Any person or object occupying the crystal’s space when it shifts back to the material plane will be violently pushed in a random direction 100 feet. Objects hurled this way deal 2d4 damage to those they might strike (Wands save to avoid harm if the object is flung in the general direct of a character). Characters who are flung in this manner take the 2d4 damage they deal to others whether they hit someone or not.

42

This crystal eats the light around it, casting an area  of darkness within 100 feet of it. No nonmagical light sources can pierce the magical darkness that surrounds the crystal. Those who get close enough to touch it will find the crystal covered in swarms of writhing insects.   

43

The crystal is a shattered machine from an ancient lost kingdom. Every 30 seconds to a minute an intense blast of psychic energy emanates from the crystal, forcing characters within 50 feet to succeed at a Spell save or become overwhelmed with a flood of psychic memories from the entire kingdom’s lost inhabitants. Those effected by the strobing psionic field can take no actions during their round but can move if they need to. This effect ends after exiting the crystal’s 50 foot radius of effect.  

44

High in the sky above the crystal an angry raincloud continuously dumps rain down around it. The crystal and the area surrounding it are perpetually stuck in a torrential downpour. The clouds never seem to dissipate nor the rain abate no matter how long one waits. The most curious thing about this precipitation though is that it is not water at all, but wine!  

45

This isn’t a crystal, but a broken shard of a divine machine from the heavens that gives off a warm light in a 40 feet radius. The light emanating from the crystal shard is divine in nature, and any creatures with evil intent (or objects enchanted with evil magic) will glow purple within the halo of the warm light cast by the crystal.

46

Sounds within 100 feet of this crystal are muted and dull, and smoke seems to always curl to the east within it. If characters stop to inspect the crystal, they will get the distinct feeling they are being watched although no obvious creature watches them. This feeling will only abate once the characters leave the 100 foot radius around the crystal. That night they will dream of being hunted by wolves made of shadow.  

51

The elven runes for “plentiful,” “friend”, and “give” are carved onto one facet of the crystal. If characters touches the runes, they will be transported inside the crystal to an extradimensional space roughly 20 feet in diameter. The space is lit by a dull glow emanating from the walls. There are three large bins here, each full of ripe fruits and vegetables. No matter how much food one takes, they will find the bins refilled with delicious food the next time they return. The crystal will remain in the area for a day before it disappears to a different location.    

52

Within 100 feet of this crystal, colors seem to become more and more muted. A character who stands within five feet of the crystal will appear in shades of black, white, and gray. Anyone who touches the crystal will be transported to a shadowy reflection of the material plane, the Plane of Shadow. Characters who find themselves here can touch the crystal again to return to the material plane. Those in the shadow plane can’t see or interact with those in the material plane, and vice versa. This is a dangerous place. There is a 3-in-6 chance every half hour of a pack (1d8) of sentient shadows attacking the party. These feral shadow creatures are drawn to the PC’s lifeforce and wish to devour it.  

53

Otherworldly plants and fungi never before seen in the area can be found growing around this large floating crystal. Blue-leaved red- and yellow-flowered vines wind themselves around stalks of woody purplish shrubs with little white flower buds shaped like seven-pointed stars. Lacy fuchsia mushrooms and greenish-blue puff balls can be found nestled at ground level. The crystal itself is carved with a repeating set of seven unknown symbols. If a character touches the crystal, they must make a Spell save. Nothing happens if they succeed, but if they fail, they are transported to a small metal room (15’ x 15’) with a large wide window in it. Beyond the window is a vast and unending sea of stars, like on a moonless night. At the center of the tableau is a gleaming blue and green sphere, a planet upon which mountains, rivers, and seas can easily be discerned. PCs may leave this doorless room by touching a small glowing red stone on the wall opposite the  wall containing the window.     

54

A loud discordant noise can clearly be heard emanating from the floating crystal. Those that approach the large crystal can hear the sound change depending on the way they approach and stand near it. The taller someone is or make themselves dictates the pitch of the sound. Their closeness to the thing seems to effect its volume, and a person’s apparent width seems to effect the timbre of the sound. The wider a person appears, the less high frequencies can be heard in the timbre of the sound being produced. With enough time and musical know-how, a person or persons could play very beautiful music with what would look like a frenetic but coordinated dance.

55

This floating crystal seems to bob and pulse with a strobing blue light as it slowly meanders across the countryside. The crystal gives off a strong antimagic field within 50 opposite of it, negating any magic or magical effects cast into the field. No spells can be cast from within the field either.  

56

This unusual floating crystal is a forgotten relic of a bygone era. Within the crystal is an extradimensional farmhouse. All one must do to gain access to the house is touch the crystal and speak the ancient draconic word for “waystation.” They will then instantly find themselves and their gear inhabiting a three-story farmhouse looking out onto an idyllic scene of green fields and blue skies. There is no food within the house, but there is always fresh stocked wood for the fire and plenty of utensils to use to cook with. To leave, all one has to do is open the farmhouse door and they will find themselves transported back to the field with the crystal.   

61

This crystal seems to drive off bad weather. There are never clouds to be seen within 200 feet of the floating crystal. The air around it is always cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and snow never seems to fall around it. Those who sleep within the crystal’s 200 foot aura will dream of being generals leading troops to die in a war alongside the gods to save the world.

62

The surface of the crystal is hot to the touch and the ground around it has been scorched and burned. The air around the crystal for about 100 feet is always a warm 80 degrees (F). Any fire damage delt within 100 feet of the crystal is doubled, and all fires burn twice as bright and hot. Any fire elementals summoned within the aura will be summoned with two hit dice more than normal.  

63

Odd patterns swirl around the crystal’s surface like reflections on the moving water of a pond. If one gazes for at least 30 minutes, one will see glimpses of their future - not enough to truly see their fate, but enough to grant them a +2 to all saving throws until they take a long rest (8 hours).

64

The ground around the crystal appears warped and pitted. A stench like half-rotten meat wafts through the air. Anyone who touches the crystal or who sleeps within 200 feet of it will awaken to find they have gained an additional 1) thumb on one hand 2) eye in their forehead 3) tongue in their mouth 4) set of ears behind the other. These mutations are permanent.

65

Anyone who comes within 30 feet of this floating crystal will start to feel nauseous after a few minutes. The crystal is oily to the touch and the ground around it periodically shudders. After 10 minutes of examining the crystal everyone within 30 feet of it must make a Spell save or have their appearance change to that of a(n) 1) orc 2) hobgoblin 3) Elf 4) Dwarf. This effect is actually illusory, and those effected will have their appearance revert back to normal after 24 hours.  

66

Fingers of blue and purple electricity arc off of the crystal’s surface, striking the ground within 20 feet of it. The electric discharge doesn’t appear to damage the grass, however. There is a 2-in-6 chance every ten minutes of a flash of lightning from the crystal curling out and striking a character within 50 feet of the crystal. If hit, a character must make a Paralysis save or be shrunken in size to 12 feet tall (AC becomes 19 and can only deal 1 damage with melee or ranged weapons due to their size).




D100 items Found in a Noble's Chambers

  Back once again with another tremendous table of tantalizing trinkets! I know it's been a while since I graced you with a new article,...