Here’s all playlists I collected, from different users across Spotify and Apple Music. All genres covered, from horror to fantasy. Enjoy!

PLAYLISTERBR - Follow on Spotify

Sci-Fi Atmospheric: Spotify | Apple Music

Dreamy: Spotify | Apple Music

Disturbing: Spotify | Apple Music

Mesmerizing: Spotify | Apple Music

Eerie: Spotify | Apple Music

Hypnotic: Spotify | Apple Music

Haunting: Spotify | Apple Music

Suspenseful: Spotify | Apple Music

Unsettling: Spotify | Apple Music

Unnerving: Spotify | Apple Music

Magical: Spotify | Apple Music

Exotic: Spotify | Apple Music

Futurebleak: Spotify | Apple Music

Gloomy: Spotify | Apple Music

Demonic: Spotify | Apple Music

Despairing/Relieving: Spotify | Apple Music

Daunting: Spotify | Apple Music

Horrifying: Spotify | Apple Music

Synthwave: Spotify | Apple Music

Cyberpunk: Spotify | Apple Music

Retrowave: Spotify | Apple Music;

PLAYLISTERBR2 - Follow on Spotify

Dark Isolation: Spotify

Dark Future: Spotify

Nightmarish: Spotify

Future Nexus: Spotify

Tormentor: Spotify

Abysmal: Spotify

Outgamers: Spotify

Synthpunk: Spotify

Post Apocalypse: Spotify

Apocalypse: Spotify

Syntheticity: Spotify

Tenebrosity: Spotify

Thanatology: Spotify

Anxiety: Spotify

Teratology: Spotify

Pyromania: Spotify

Bushido: Spotify

Conspiracy: Spotify

Phobia: Spotify

Cosmogony: Spotify

Mythology: Spotify

Futurology: Spotify

Taumaturgy: Spotify

Criminology: Spotify

Demonology: Spotify

Chiromancy: Spotify

Technocracy: Spotify

Necromancy: Spotify

Neuromancy: Spotify;

DIMITRI DE ALENCAR Follow on Spotify

Follow his page for the playlists, which are at the bottom of the page. Each one is in the 3-4 hour range and they are:

Dungeon Crawling: dark ambiences for setting the mood for exploring labyrinths/caves/catacombs or dark forests etc.;

Crossing The Ocean: for pirate-themed adventures, or any campaign heavy on nautical/river combat; In The Village: when the group reaches a town, tavern or trading outpost, for generally pacific encounters with villagers and townspeople;

Ruins and Temples: to set the appropriate mood when in sacred places, sacerdotal houses, monuments or exploring sacred ruins, magical buildings or dealing with entities from other planes;

Heroic Fight: for epic battles against powerful dragons, mages, demons or armies, or situations that require heroism from the PCs;

Distant Places: for travels far away from the group’s places of origin, be it distant kingdoms or towns or even other planes.

NEW The Magical Forest: be it when looking for a legendary unicorn or a reclusive mage, the woods can be full of wonders… and dangers.

If you want to go really dark, try the playlist called DARK AMBIENT

Ambient Retrowave: you just landed at Gliese IV, an apparently abandoned planetoid which was a penal colony. As you explore the place, you feel that you’re being watched by someone… or something.;

Instrumental Retrowave: enemy fighters breached the outer rim, and all fighters from your brigade are launched to battle. Like a menacing swarm approaching, you see bogeys right and left that you have to engage;

Synthwave Selection: you are in the biggest space station in the quadrant, looking for your undercover contact. You have to find them first, searching in luxurious halls, rusty and half lit corridors, crowded gateways and suspect entertainment places. Bring your own oxygen though.

Eerie Sci Fi: your space freighter was boarded by a ship from unknown origin. You hear the hiss from hatches being opened. Will the newcomers see you as allies or foes… or food;

If you want to go for a space opera mood, try the one called SPACESURF

spoiler

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Upcoming Print-on-Demand Book Price Changes – Effective April 1, 2025

We always want to keep print costs as low as possible, and it has been years since we passed any price increases through to our publishing partners.

However, our print supplier, Lightning Source/Ingram, has announced a price adjustment starting April 1, 2025, that will be reflected on DriveThru sites.

Key Changes

• Due to increasing supply costs in the US, Black & White print costs in the US will increase significantly, from around 20% for low-pagecount hardcover titles up to about 50% or slightly more for large hardcover books, and with softcover titles seeing an even greater increase.

• UK print costs for Black & White books will also increase, but generally only by 3-4%.

• Standard Color print costs will increase, by roughly 12-13% for US printing but only around 3% for UK printing.

• On the whole, Premium Color print costs will decrease slightly for US printing but increase slightly for UK printing.

Example 1: A 180-page large premium hardcover currently costs $32.10 to print in the US; after April 1, that same title will drop to $27.80.

Example 2: In the UK, the same 180-page book currently costs £20.23, which will increase to £20.93 starting in April.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/25228138

> > The Monty Python-themed tabletop role-playing game, following a successful crowdfunding campaign in 2022, is available widely today. Formally titled Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme, it is the rare game that does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s just that the tin says “SPAM” on it, and the gubbins smell faintly of coitus and dead birds. If that’s not exactly your cup of tea, then look elsewhere for your merriments. But if you’ve got a pair of coconuts to clap together and are otherwise eager to commit to the bit, it looks like a fine time for the troupe’s most dedicated fans. > > > >The book as a whole feels like part of the Monty Python universe, with all the annotations, ephemera, and defacements that implies. It’s actually quite lavish in its art treatment, with whole pages filled with integrated works from multiple artists. While it holds itself together for the duration, that energy can feel a bit overeager at times — especially when you’re just trying to grapple with the mechanical systems as presented. > > > > The best bits, though, come in a series of 10 linked quests spread over nearly 60 pages at the back of the book. If you did nothing else but grabbed those and ran with them, the core book would be well worth the $50 price tag given the Sensible Middle Class Edition. Each one is designed to place the players directly inside a Monty Python sketch, some directly inspired by televised episodes or movie scenes and others fashioned from spare parts left lying around at the edges of commercials.

I’m watching Common Side Effects, personally I don’t find that good but anyway it makes me think

I’m in Eclipse Phase phase and I was wondering how I could use the premise of the show into the setting of EP

For those that don’t know EP is a d100 roll under, hard sci-fi techno horror rpg. There’s a intelligent nano-virus (exurgent virus) that create psycher like character in one of it’s less malignant form.

I was thinking that a scum (communal partying drug loving faction, live life at her fullest, living in cycler spaceship) DrugDJ found old strain of magic mushroom and try to grow it like a pet project. Ultimately the shroom got infected with a brand of the exurgent nanoviri, maybe the DrugDj got infected and choose to use the mushroom to infect other and it’s back fire.

After that the blank page appears and it’s here that I ask for your help

We are almost at the end of our campaign. Thank you to everyone who helped us along the way and supported our game, we couldn’t be happier. It’s crazy that we’re at 200% of our goal. Check out the game, you might like it. It’s crazy, wacky, and worth a look!

Was wondering about this and how it might not be the same as ones first system played. (let's not count general dice or battle maps etc. this time)

For me it might be either Mouse Guard 2e boxed set or DnD 5e Tomb of Annihilation book.

I made a web page where you can simulate a complex dice roll sequence with conditionals (e.g. re-roll when roll is a 1) using a Python-like syntax. (Click the "Toggle Syntax" button to view examples)

It needs a second to load because it has to load a Python interpreter in the background (I'm not good at web development) but once that's done, it works really well.

It's still very barebones and I still have to work out some problems.

Maybe some of you could use it, though.

There's also just the Python version available to run locally here

Everything is GPLv3, enjoy!

Do you have a favorite system to run each genre? And if so, what do you like about them?

For example:

> - Sci-Fi: Stars Without Number > - Horror: Call of Cthulhu

Many of us, have read GM-sections in RPG, RPG blogs, forum discussions, and sometimes books about the storytelling art.

All of these contains tons of interesting tips/techniques (and some will contradict each other, you don't GM a gritty mega-dungeon and high-school drama game the same way), so I am curious which ones are your favourite and how do you use them in your game

As the title says. I eventually want to run an impostor scenario/murder mystery in my World of Darkness game at some point, and would like some pointers.

x-post from AskLemmy

Perhaps obvious to everyone else, but I've hit upon a little trick for better coordinating game time. Instead of announcing "Game will be at 1 o'clock" I've been doing something like "Doors open at Noon, Game starts at 1." This way, the people that want to hang out, level their characters, decide what they like on their pizza, etc all show up at noon, and the people that are running late or decide to come at 1 arrive with the expectation that they're going to walk in the door and immediately start playing. It also provides a natural transition point from the arriving/hanging out mode to game time, which otherwise makes me feel kind of uncomfortably teacher-y, calling the whole class together and whatnot. Try it out, maybe it will help you too.

As much for myself as for anyone else, I'm keeping a game design blog for my project Crime Drama. While I've done this before, this is the first time I'm also posting it publicly. In the past, it was really nice for me to be able to review ideas and concepts weeks later. But also, if I'm really lucky, this scribbling might help someone else in the future. So, without further ado, What is Crime Drama?

Crime Drama is a tabletop role-playing game designed to capture the tension, emotion, and complexity of your favorite crime stories. It draws inspiration from TV shows and films like Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, The Godfather, Training Day or even Dexter and Fargo. Crime Drama is about dramatic, character-driven narratives where every decision carries weight, consequences are impossible to predict, and the stakes are always high.

The game will use a mixed-dice pool system, meaning players roll everything from d6s to d20s depending on their character’s abilities, resources, and the cinematic tone of the scene. Once dice get rolled, all of them over a certain number count as successes, while all those under that number are failures.

Characters are built with layers: their outward Facade (how the world and their loved ones see them), their real (criminal) self, their skills and traits, and their relationships. A few of these include a Social Circle (family, friends, coworkers, and others) and Contacts (criminal acquaintances and other shady connections).

To establish the same cinematic feel these shows and movies have, Crime Drama incorporates mechanics inspired by filmmaking, such as Lighting and Camera Angles. These will immerse the players in the drama by shaping the mood and focus of each scene, making the game at least as much about storytelling as it is about strategy. This blog will come out weekly or bi-weekly during development, as new mechanics get developed, tested, and refined.

------- Blogs posted to here are several weeks behind the most current. If you're interested in keeping up with it in real time, leave a comment or DM and I'll send you a link to the Grumpy Corn Games discord server where we post it fresh.

More reading material for my favourite RPG.

> Dungeons are fun, but they are (sic) great at everything. Knowing why they were used and how they are useful can help you game elevate dungeons to what they should be.

I thought this was a fun, and interesting video discussing the role dungeons have played in TTRPGs, and what they've been inspired by.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKRXxCtVFgw

I've not been playing with my online gaming group for a few months, but when I was, I was playing a sentient gelatinous cube, who's just the happiest and friendliest thing ever. Last night I was able to rejoin, and we managed to pull off a great surprise. The PCs were led into a trap, and suddenly all sorts of oozes and jellies started appearing. The DM did a great description of an ominous, looming gelatinous cube approaching, and one side started to form into a face... Which oozed into a mouth and said.... Which is when I popped into the call and laid on the familiar happy, friendly voice and said a hearty hello and nice to see everyone again! Perfect timing, great build-up, everyone loved it. Such a great theatrical moment.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.8th.world/post/197338

> A presentation of Blades' 68 if needed.

So I’m starting the second campaign for Eclipse Phase 2nd ed. (The Eight Sea) from RPPR. I’ve already listen to the first (know evil) which was great and scratch many hitch, hoping the second will good too.

I was wondering if you know of other podcast/actual play for Shadowrun or other that you find fun.

Even with all its flaws, I love running people through Tomb of Horrors.

Bundle of Holdings is doing a bundle, many of you have probably seen it

Did you bought it ? Why ? Why not ?

What’s your great story with one of the game ?

So, I spend what is objectively too much time on Kickstarter. Every couple of days, I buzz the site, primarily looking for my next fix of bestiaries for my Pathfinder 2e table (I don't know what it is about physically bound monster stat blocks on glossy paper, but I apparently need that shit hooked directly up to my veins).

This January's been a bit of a lull period for that, though. It has seen a bit of a resurgence on the D&D 5e front, though, with a bunch of interesting projects having released recently. I thought I'd pass some of them along (as well as everything else I've seen in the last couple of weeks).

--

Launched w/in The Last 2 Weeks

Pip and Pawn - For D&D, Pathfinder, and Savage Worlds

• A short ebook about in-fiction games in table top RPGs. Includes history, magic, monsters, and more!

  Product Type: GM Resource, Lore & Worldbuilding, Rules Extension

  Systems: D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, Savage Worlds

  Start Date: Tuesday, 28 January, 2025

  End Date: Wednesday, 19 February, 2025

  Funded: true

Glumdark

• A beautiful, grim resource for dark fantasy tabletop roleplaying games.

  Product Type: GM Resource, Lore & Worldbuilding

  Systems: System Agnostic

  Start Date: Wednesday, 22 January, 2025

  End Date: Saturday, 22 February, 2025

  Funded: true

Mjölnir, a Norse Gods Adventure

• Unleash the power of the Norse gods and forge your destiny—dive into a legendary quest to claim Mjölnir and shape the fate of realms!

  Product Type: Adventure, Adventure Path, Items & Equipment

  Systems: D&D 5e

  Start Date: Monday, 20 January, 2025

  End Date: Tuesday, 18 February, 2025

  Funded: true

Shards of Corruption

• A tome of heroic adventures for 5E D&D – twisted tales of betrayal, vengeance, and redemption from indie publisher Eventyr Games!

  Product Type: Adventure, Anthology, Bestiary

  Systems: D&D 5e

  Start Date: Thursday, 16 January, 2025

  End Date: Thursday, 13 February, 2025

  Funded: true

---

Ending w/in the Next 2 Weeks

50+ Random Tables

• What does that goblin have it its pockets? What's the name of that NPC? What's the MacGuffin for the next quest? Look no further!

  Product Type: GM Reference

  Systems: System Neutral

  Start Date: Monday, 2 December, 2024

  End Date: Friday, 31 January, 2025

  Funded: true

Blights, Catastrophes & Scourges on the Realm

• A collection of global catastrophic events impacting society that can be incorporated into fantasy RPGs. Claims D&D 5e compatibility, but appears to be system neutral in practice.

  Product Type: GM Reference

  Systems: D&D 5e, System Neutral

  Start Date: Wednesday, 1 January, 2025

  End Date: Friday, 31 January, 2025

  Funded: true

100 Amazing Events for D&D 5e

• A line-up of 100 Amazing Events, a DnD 5E supplement packed w/ 100+ unique moments, twists, and challenges to bring your World to Life!

  Product Type: GM Resource

  Systems: D&D 5e

  Start Date: Thursday, 2 January, 2025

  End Date: Saturday, 1 February, 2025

  Funded: true

Gods & Avatars, Norse Gods in D&D

• 22 Norse Gods for DnD 5e. 44 Cleric Domains & Paladin Oaths. Priests, Temples & their Followers.

  Product Type: GM Resource, Character Options

  Systems: D&D 5e

  Start Date: Tuesday, 31 December, 2024

  End Date: Thursday, 30 January, 2025

  Funded: true

Crazy Companions - 32+ complex creatures

• 70+ PDF pages with complex and unique pets, familiars, mounts and companions for your next Dungeons and Dragons 5e or other RPG session.

  Product Type: Character Options

  Systems: D&D 5e

  Start Date: Tuesday, 7 January, 2025

  End Date: Thursday, 6 February, 2025

  Funded: true

Carnival of Shadows

• A thrilling D&D 5e adventure set in a mysterious, story-rich carnival filled with secrets and danger!.

  Product Type: Adventure

  Systems: D&D 5e

  Start Date: Tuesday, 7 January, 2025

  End Date: Thursday, 6 February, 2025

  Funded: true

Aphrodite/Hera Class-ified

• Two DnD 5e Classes Inspired by the Gods of Greek Mythology: Aphrodite and Hera.

  Product Type: Character Options

  Systems: D&D 5e

  Start Date: Monday, 6 January, 2025

  End Date: Thursday, 30 January, 2025

  Funded: true

100 Amazing Events

• A supplement packed w/ 100+ unique moments, twists, and challenges to bring your World to Life! Claims to be for 5e, but appears to actually be system neutral

  Product Type: GM Reference

  Systems: D&D 5e, System Neutral

  Start Date: Thursday, 2 January, 2025

  End Date: Saturday, 1 February, 2025

  Funded: true

100 Side Quests for D&D 5e

• Over 100 pages of D&D 5E Side Quest content with Quests, NPCs, Challenges, and Hooks for your campaign!

  Product Type: GM Reference, Items & Equipment

  Systems: D&D 5e

  Start Date: Thursday, 26 December, 2024

  End Date: Sunday, 9 February, 2025

  Funded: true

Xerathor’s Grimoire of Dread

• A D&D supplement filled with new dark species, shadow classes, forbidden spells, cursed items, dread monsters and a corruption system.

  Product Type: Bestiary, Rules Extension, Player Options, Items & Equipment, Adventure

  Systems: D&D 5e

  Start Date: Tuesday, 14 January, 2025

  End Date: Tuesday, 11 February, 2025

  Funded: true

The Plane Walker

• Embark on a journey through time and planes in this 5e adventure for 3-5 characters level 5.

  Product Type: Adventure

  Systems: D&D 5e

  Start Date: Tuesday, 14 January, 2025

  End Date: Thursday, 30 January, 2025

  Funded: true

Unwrapped, A Victorian–Egyptian Horror Adventure

• Unwrapped is a Victorian-era adventure for D&D 5th Edition, blending gothic horror with ancient Egyptian mysticism.

  Product Type: Adventure

  Systems: D&D 5e

  Start Date: Tuesday, 14 January, 2025

  End Date: Friday, 7 February, 2025

  Funded: true

Monster Vault 2: Deadly Creatures for 5E D&D and TOV

• More than 300 all-new monsters, including dangerous demons and horrifying new undead. The monster book your players fear!

  Product Type: Bestiary

  Systems: Tales of the Valiant, D&D 5e

  Start Date: Tuesday, 7 January, 2025

  End Date: Thursday, 6 February, 2025

  Funded: true

Monsters at their Core: Monster Design Made Legendary!

• 300+ pages of pure 5E monster mayhem! New and old monsters to terrorize your players and the all new monster core system!

  Product Type: Bestiary, Rules Extension

  Systems: D&D 5e

  Start Date: Wednesday, 15 January, 2025

  End Date: Wednesday, 5 February, 2025

  Funded: true

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Recently Completed

The Ace of Spades: A D&D drop in casino

• Gamble! Drink! Catch a band! Then heist 'em for all they've got. A drop in casino setting for your fantasy setting!

  Product Type: Adventure, Casino, Mini-Games

  Systems: D&D 5e

  Start Date: Tuesday, 10 December, 2024

  End Date: Saturday, 18 January, 2025

  Funded: false

A Fetch of Ferrets

• An in depth guide to an amazing magical item and spell; an arcane bag full of magical ferrets. For 5e, and frankly all fantasy RPGs!

  Product Type: Items & Equipment

  Systems: D&D 5e, System Neutral

  Start Date: Wednesday, 25 December, 2024

  End Date: Friday, 17 January, 2025

  Funded: true

Renegade Realms: Raven's Reach

• An endlessly expandable hex map for 5e, Pathfinder, Shadowdark, Forbidden Lands, Mörk Borg & other fantasy tabletop role-playing games!

  Product Type: GM Reference, Hexploration, Maps

  Systems: System Neutral

  Start Date: Thursday, 2 January, 2025

  End Date: Wednesday, 22 January, 2025

  Funded: true

Legends of the Ashen Shield - The Gathering Storm

• A legendary campaign of knights, witches, dragons and valour!

  Product Type: Setting, Adventure, Character Options

  Systems: D&D 5e

  Start Date: Monday, 30 December, 2024

  End Date: Saturday, 18 January, 2025

  Funded: true

100 Unique Factions

• A supplement packed with: Guilds, Clans, Cults, Orders, Houses, Leaders, 100 pages for your Campaign or Adventure! Claims to be for 5e, but doesn't appear to have any system-specific entries.

  Product Type: GM Resource, Lore & Worldbuilding

  Systems: D&D 5e, System Neutral

  Start Date: Saturday, 4 January, 2025

  End Date: Saturday, 25 January, 2025

  Funded: true

At some point in the past, I noticed that I had a strong tendency to make NPCs male, even though there wasn't any good story or setting-specific reason to do so. From gods to villains to random shopkeepers - most of these were assigned male without me even realizing that I have been doing it.

Thus, I started to assign genders by the roll of a dice - and I am fairly pleased with the results as this made the world significantly more diverse.

How about you? Have you noticed any similar biases in your own NPCs - and if so, what did you do about this?

I think modern role-playing gamers aren't appreciate enough just how much folkloric precedent there is for "a random bunch of weirdos delve into subterranean vaults for treasures". So I thought I should share one of my favorite tales from German folklore on this topic - though there are hundreds if not thousands of further tales about this theme:

The Treasures of the Isholz

A long time ago, the Schlangenhecke estate belonged to the Morsbroich chapter house of the Teutonic order. It was as lively back then as it is empty and decayed now. As there are few inns in the remote countryside which provide food and shelter to wanderers, the farmer provided all the more hospitality. And in this manner, wanderers arrived at the Schlangenhecke who were admitted there for the night.

Once, three such guests requested the hospitality of the farmer. Because of their garb as well as their manner of speaking, they were recognizable as the inhabitants of a faraway region. The farmer offered the living room to them, and, after dinner, gave them fresh straw as bedding as was custom in the region. At midnight, the three wanderers rose up from their straw, quietly snuck out into the yard, and from there through a side gate into the outside.

But the shepherd of the estate had heard the noise and became suspicious: The strangers might plan to steal some animals, which he needed to prevent. However, he soon realized that he had misjudged them. But since he saw these people sneak out to the heath and towards the Isholz woods, he could not stifle his curiosity and snuck after them at some distance through this mild summer night. In this manner, he was able to avoid being noticed by them. The longer he followed them, the more his desire grew to understand what they were doing.

At the borders of the heath, close to the ill-omened forest, the men halted, whispered for a time, carefully looked around to all sides, and then ignited a candle. The shepherd was greatly astonished when he saw the three adventurers descend into the earth with their light. Initially, he circled around the spot from a distance. Then, becoming brazen, he went straight to the location where he had last seen them, but he could not find anything other than a rabbit warren from which not even the slightest noise emerged. He was overcome by considerable dread by this revelation, and quickly fled from the ill-omened heath into the safe refuge of the Schlangenhecke.

The next morning, he told the master of the house about this strange incident. The latter then questioned his guests, who had returned unnoticed at dawn. After much evasiveness, he finally received the confession that they had undertaken this long journey because of the treasures which were buried beneath the heath. They had dared the incantation, and, under its influence, penetrated the earth which had retreated before them. They then described how they had passed through a narrow opening into long corridors, which had opened into a succession of caves. In these caves, they had beheld glittering weapons, shining crowns, chains, and gemstones, and an abundance of precious metals in both minted and unminted forms. But they had been unable to touch anything at this time. They confessed that the retrieval of these treasures would have to wait for another, still distant hour.

As can be imagined, such news of enormous wealth caused receptive people in the surrounding hamlets and villages to seek their fortune there. And thus, treasure hunting is not a wholly unknown art in the region, although it has rewarded the practitioners little.

Years ago, a group of determined young men conspired together to quietly acquire everything needed for the lifting of subterranean treasures. Then they went out to the Isholz on a night which was favorable to treasure hunting. Their arts of invocation were indeed so successful that they could penetrate the earth after some digging. The men - allegedly seven in number - soon found themselves deep beneath the ground in long, dark corridors, which they were barely able to illuminate with their blessed light.

Finally, they trotted into a spacious cave, whose walls and curves reflected the rays of the blessed candle in a strange manner. In the center they saw a naked maiden reclining on a large stone slab as if it was a bed. Her arms and chest were richly adorned with golden chains and bracelets, and golden brooches and shimmering gemstones sparkled from beneath her dark curls. At the feet of this female apparition, there was gold and silver in all sorts of coin types in huge chests, and large containers, bowls and shields made out of noble metals, and crowns adorned with marvelous jewelry were piled up. The maiden waved to the treasure hunters in the loveliest manner, and elaborated that each of them was free to grab into the gold-filled chest with both hands. However, then one of the seven would be required to stay with her in the cave. Then the beautiful woman looked at each of the men in turn, as if she wanted to pick the one who would have to remain behind with her in the mountain.

No matter how bright the money shone into the eyes of the young men, no matter how marvelous the glitter of the gemstones reflected all colors and penetrated their greedy hearts, everyone was nevertheless overcome by the thought that he might be bound to this gloomy cave forever. The luring maiden might be secretly a monster, who in this moment might smile in a heavenly manner, but in the next could torture him in the form of a dragon. In this manner, they might race into the arms of the Evil Enemy, and be lost for all time!

Everyone thus carefully looked to the entrance of the cave, and used this opportunity to hurry away. As no one wanted to be the last, all seven rushed upstairs through the narrow entrance at the same time. They collided with each other, tumbled because the light went out, rolled over in their haste, climbed over each other, and finally all arrived up in the open air, though they were very scratched and disheveled. But no one dared to rest there. Everyone ran towards his abode on their own, and was in terrible fear, and they felt as if a thousand giant hands were grasping for them out of the darkness. Everyone reached their home with the firmest conviction that at least one of his comrades, if not all of them, were now buried within the mountain forever.

This misapprehension was only cleared up the next day. Every one of the companions became disgruntled and regretted that he had not brazenly grabbed something from the chest, and then the choice of the magical woman would not have fallen on him but on one of his comrades. Everyone reproached himself because of his fear and timidity, although the fellowship was unable to agree to a second expedition and treasure hunt.

Thus, the treasures of the Isholz still remain under the custody of the beautiful maiden or some other member of the spirit people. Therefore, a bold treasure hunter can still get lucky here in a twofold manner.

Source: Waldbrühl, W. v. Die Wesen der Niederrheinischen Sagen. 1857, p. 17ff.

If you know of any other good treasure-hunting tales, feel free to share them!

Large dungeon complexes and even "megadungeons" have become a stable of fantasy RPGs. But they are difficult to map out, since they tend to be complex, three-dimensional structures. While mapping them in 5 ft. squares may be possible, that doesn't give a good view of how all the different locations connect with each other.

So I am curious: What are your favorite visualizations for megadungeons? How did they help you as a game master (or player) to understand how their whole environment is structured?

I'll soon start my next #DnD campaign, and I've decided to start with a classic - the PCs all meet in a tavern. Now, the PCs intended to meet in a tavern and have plans to go elsewhere (the city of Ptolus, if it matters), but I want to start the campaign to start in a lively manner.

Which means populating the tavern with all sorts of weirdos for some good role-playing opportunities. Any suggestions?

If you create your own maps digitally, what do you use as map-making software?

Personally, I am fond of Inkscape, as it gives me maximum flexibility and the vector-based approach is great for scaling and rotating things.

Remember the ORC license - the "open license that was developed when Wizards of the Coast tried to revoke the OGL?

Well, I have always wondered which products were available under that license, and since I did not find a list of such products, I decided to make my own. Feel free to add any if you know of further products!