This is my second post listing a bunch of random inn rumors. These will be added to the Random Inn Generator shortly.  (Once I build up enough so the same few don’t pop up over and over.)  When they are added to the generator they will probably also be made more random by randomizing any names, locations, etc. within each rumor.  These differ from the prior set because many more of these include little grains of story that could be weaved into an existing adventure or lead to a new unplanned encounter.

• Byrron’s sister went missing last night.  They found her and she’s ok, but she’s not talking about it.
• Ale! Ale!  I’ll tell you anything you want for another ale, and some of it may even be true.
• The blacksmith’s boy went missing last week.  They found his body a day later, but with those gashes on him I wish they hadn’t.
• If you want any special attention from any of the girls upstairs, ask for Jessika.  She’s better than any of the others.
• The food over at the Blade and Barrel is much better than the slop they serve here.
• If you want to get into a card game ask for Samson there two tables over.
• The King’s been through three food tasters this month, from what I here.  Not a very secure job.  Three cooks too, I s’pose.
• If you’re interested in the gladiator fights, bet against Krondor… I hear the fix is in.
• The gem appraiser Arak never gives a fair value.  Take your valuables elsewhere.
• The Duke’s coffers are running empty.  He’s having trouble paying the militia.
• The priests at the temple of [god name] know everyone’s secrets in this town.  They could run this place for all I know.
• There aren’t enough militia or city guards around here to keep the peace.  This town is a powder keg.
• The coffee here is really good, especially if you’ve had a tough night.
• I know Reeglix over there knows a cure for that thing on your cheek if you have the coin.
• The ladies upstairs are cheap… the cure for whatever they give you is the expensive part.
• The beds in this place have bugs.  Better to try the Battered Blade Inn down the way.
• The bard’s story last night was very interesting… I can see why he picked it given the politics of the day.
• Rodents of unusual size? I don’t believe they exist.
• Yeah, I found some unusual tracks out by my barn.  Had a horse missing too.
• I’m looking for travel to Timbukthree.  Are you headed there by chance?
• There are some fireworks planned for tomorrow night in the harbor (or the next town over).  That will be fun.
• The weaponsmith Guilden is especially well-skilled.
• Majek’s potions are especially potent.  Well worth the price premium.
• The dry weather is going to lead to a small crop this harvest.
• Gozer the Traveler. He will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldrini, the traveler came as a large and moving Torg! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the McKetrick supplicants, they chose a new form for him: that of a giant Slor! Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!

Great Comet of 1577 (Woodcut by Jiri Daschitzsky)

Last night when I came home there was a dead snake on the sidewalk with no visible reason why it was dead.  As I walked it back to the woods to throw it away I came across a baby bird in the middle of the backyard.  It opened its beak when I got near it, but otherwise it wouldn’t move.

This all got me to thinking about omens, so I thought I should put up a chart of random omens.  Maybe you’re foretelling some event and some of these omens will fit or maybe you have some other reason describe them in an adventure.  Or maybe you just want to add one randomly to throw the players off track or to describe something that happened on an otherwise uneventful day.

Notes:

• As always, these random charts present ideas in a quick way that allows for random determination.  But if you want to pick one that best fits the situation or if the random result isn’t appropriate, go ahead and pick an option or adjust the random result.
• I’d love to get to 20 event types, so if you have suggestions for more, please post.
• If you like random charts, there are a lot of them here at Inkwell Ideas: random potion descriptions; charts of effects of expired potions; random location names based on various languages (UK English, Chinese, Indian, Native American) are just a few examples.

One of the (many) remaining tasks for my Random Inn Generator project is to add a randomly chosen set of (normal) rumors. I’ve seen a couple of similar lists lately, but I need to create some that aren’t copyrighted by someone else. Below is a list of a bunch of rumors that I will add to the Random Inn Generator once I put together another similar sized list.  You’re free to use them even without the Random Inn Generator.

Do you have any coin you can lend me? I seem to have outspent the copper in my pockets.

I might know something about that. How about a hand of cards.

Here honey, give me your hand.  I, Madame Mathila, am an excellent palm reader.

Who cares about that when we’re talking about Jon the Lumberjack’s son running off with Wilka.

There’s gonna be war to the east, mark my words.  Those people are trouble.

If you want some “special” attention, head over to The Wandering Dwarf.  The women working this place aren’t worth the coin.

I’m going to keep drinking until you start looking good.

Try the Mutton, Lettuce and Tomato.  The mutton is nice and lean today.

I need some horse-radish to get the smell of the sewers out of my nose.  On warm days like today it is particularly fragrant.

*Fart-noise* Excuse me. I like to think of it as my personal potpourri.

That medicine Robere the Magnificent was selling last week didn’t do a bit of good.  He said he was going to Thistleton this week.  I’ve got a good mind to go there and confront him.

The cook is new here.  It has really gone downhill.  The mutton on the MLT isn’t very lean.

They say room 2c upstairs is haunted.  The old innkeep’s wife was found dead there.

You seem like a fine fellow.  If you need anything from the Hortik’s general store, tell them Gorman sent you.  They’ll give you my discount.

Did you hear about the festival coming next month?  We’re going to have jousting knights.  Right here just outside our humble town.

Do you remember the gladiator Kormat?  I saw him, unarmed, best 5 men.  Too bad about his last bout with the lions.

If you’re ever at The Happy Halfling ask for the Elven Wine.  Its not on their menu.

Thristan over there in the corner–No! Don’t Look–is said to be unhappy with the Duke…

The bard tonight was excellent.  I loved his story about The Ranjon War.

I can’t wait for the dance on the winter solstice. I’m going to ask Arleen to go with me.

My horse threw a shoe on the way here.  The blacksmith a few buildings over is putting all new shoes on her.

The blacksmith Pewger does some excellent work.  He fixed my farm tools last month.

Did you see “The Majestic Eagle” sail into harbor yesterday?  I feel much safer with that ship nearby.

I hear the Dread Pirate Roberts takes no prisoners.

Aargh.  We was having a private discussion here.  Mind your own business.

A few days ago I saw a great article on the Kobold Quarterly website that listed 50 rumors that have nothing to do with whatever adventure the PCs are pursuing. Roleplaying Tips had a similar article a while back.

When you’re running an RPG game it is important to mix some of these into the party’s conversations.  They help give the players a feel for the town or inn and these rumors keep the players from zeroing in too easily on the adventure’s plot.

Likewise, not every detail you mention while the PCs are traveling or exploring should lead to a random encounter.  That’s why I put together a small list of normal encounters.  Not every bridge that you mention should have trolls ready to ambush.  A passersby may be just a local farmer.

Several people who like Hexographer have asked for something similar that helps make dungeon/building maps. So I’ve been starting on a new project called “Dungeonographer.”

A few overview points:

• I expect it to be ready for at least alpha testing later this summer.
• It reuses some of the same code as Hexographer, so many of the features that I add to one can be added to the other.  (So it won’t really take much time away from Hexographer.)
• It will likely have the same license model as Hexographer: there will be a free version that runs on the inkwell ideas website and has 95% of the features, and there will be a pro version that can be downloaded and has a few bonus features.
• If someone has a full pro license to Hexographer, that person will get a significant discount to the pro version of Hexographer and vice versa in case later someone buys Dungeonographer then has a need for Hexographer.  (Likewise there will be a package discount for buying both at the same time.)

Right now I’m finishing the core functionality.  But I’d like to see what people might want in a dungeon mapping program (to see if there is something I should add/plan for while it is easier to do so), so I’ve put together a survey. I’ll randomly select one person who submits a survey response a free Dungeonographer Pro license when it is ready.  The survey will run through the end of April and I’ll announce a winner in early May.

Here’s the link to the survey: http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-survey.php?surveyID=KHLKNG_97917b98

Möbius Resistor in the form of a Möbius Loop (Source: Wikimedia; License: Public Domain)

Troll and Flame has had a couple of posts discussing Geomorph Cube Dungeons, which reminded me of my favorite weird dungeon geometry: a Möbius Loop.

I believe this came from Dungeon magazine issue #26 (or thereabouts).  At some point in the adventure, the party entered a corridor that was a Möbius loop.  (I’m guessing the party was on another plane or somehow gravity was changed so the party would always have their feet on the loop.)

You could probably do a whole dungeon in the same way, but only  in one dimension. (Joining the top and bottom edges of the map or the left and right.)  Draw a map on two sides of the paper. Make a loop and twist it as you attach it together.  Make sure the corridors, walls, and doors match up on both sides of the paper where the edges meet when you join it together.

What other weird dungeon designs have you come across?

(By the way, I’m revising the stylesheet of the website, so bear with me.)

Hopefully it isn’t too late to look back at 2009.  At Inkwell Ideas, the specialty is to give others tools and ideas useful for RPGs.

Although December was a little slow (working on the largest Inkwell Ideas project, Hexographer, as well as real life issues) there were a few November posts centered on random charts to create location names that sound similar to locations in various cultures. (The link goes to a main page that links to pages with charts for Chinese, English/UK, and Native American Indian sounding names.)

2009 also brought on some other random charts: random potion descriptions and charts of effects of expired potions, for fun.  Further, one set of random charts was converted to Javascript code to create the Magic Item Shop Random Inventory Generator.

Although the major projects at Inkwell Ideas are Hexographer and the Coat of Arms Design Studio, another large task was the 2009 RPG Blog Readership Survey. Hopefully something similar will happen later in 2010, but with more collaboration with other blog writers. Using the RPG Bloggers list it can have questions tailored to more blog writers and receive a higher number of responses.

Because of Inkwell Ideas’ Hexographer product, there are often several articles on Worldbuilding topics.  Three of these were: Timelines (tips for creating a constructed world’s timeline),  10 Ways to Vary Your Game World’s Cultures and 10 More Ways to Vary Your Game World’s Cultures.

By far, three of the most popular entries were for map collections: 101 Fantasy City, Town and Village Maps; Two Sites with Hundreds of Real Historical City Maps (which included direct links to many of the best); and 25 Inn and Tavern Maps.

The Random Dungeon Generators Reviewed article was also very popular.

My favorite advice columns described how our groups often use experience point bonuses and listed the Top 5 Overlooked Rule Subsets of RPGs.

When I was putting together my potion description charts I had a fun (for game masters anyway) idea. Many of these potions could be locked away for years or even hundreds of years… so could these potions expire over time?

Sure, through magic one could say they stay potent forever. But it is more fun to say that while they last a very long time, they can expire causing the potion to:

• Have no effect.
• Have a diminished effect.
• Have a heightened effect.
• Have a strange side effect.
• Be poisonous.  (Note that this “little bit of fun” for the GM doesn’t and shouldn’t cause a “save or die” situation, so the poisonous effects listed here are limited.)

A poor alchemist can also explain why a potion (even one just brewed) might not have the expected results.

Before getting into the random charts, depending on your game system, consider giving characters a chance to notice that a particular potion has expired and may have no effect or have a side effect or especially that it may be poisonous.  This can be accomplished through an Alchemy or Spellcraft skill check or an equivalent in your game system.

Determine if the potion has an altered effect.

(You may wish to alter the percentages based on age of the potion or the location where the potion was found.)

Poison Effects

See the “Effect Duration” chart below to determine how long the effect will last.

Strange/Side Effects

See the “Effect Duration” chart below to determine how long the effect will last.

Effect Duration

Adding some extra descriptions to your game can help make things interesting for your players.  For example, when PCs discover a potion, initially it isn’t a Potion of Healing or Potion of Invisibility.  It is a potion that is a certain color, has a given consistency, has a particular smell and taste (if a PC tries it) and comes in one of many types of flasks.

If you keep some consistency, interested players can guess at a potion’s purpose just as their characters would. (Assuming a character doesn’t have a lot of arcane knowledge.)  Of course, potions with the same purpose can be made in different ways and the resulting properties can vary. Or sometimes potions with different purposes can have overlapping properties. For example, alchemists who study at one school may make Potions of Strength that are blue gray, fizzy, and taste like almonds.  But alchemists at another school may make Potions of Water Breathing that are blue gray, fizzy, and taste like almonds.

Whether you keep a one-to-one relationship between each type of potion and its properties or not, this idea can add a little bit of depth and fun to your game sessions.

Below are a number of ways to vary potions and different options for each property.

Color

Consistency

Taste

Roll 1d4+1 times, or choose a few that have some strange connection to the potion’s perceived ingredients. Some alchemists may add flavor to mask the taste. Each flavor may occur at the same time as others or may be the initial flavor, main flavor or aftertaste.  In addition, you may want to add a general taste description such as spicy, sweet, sour, bitter, floral, etc.

Smell

You may use the same flavors from the taste chart for the potion’s smell. The smell may match one or more of the flavors or be completely different.

Flask

This chart determines the material and shape of the potion’s flask.

Examples

1. Thick chestnut colored potion that tastes and smells like fish and tomato in a clay, tubular top, 3″ long, 1″ in diameter, Spherical bottom 6″ in diameter flask.
2. Thin and bubbly, translucent red violet colored potion that smells like ginger and mustard and tastes like snake with a ginger and mustard aftertaste in a steel, tubular top, 3″ long, 1″ in diameter, triangular bottom 6″ on a side flask.
3. Clumpy white potion with teal blue drops that smells like chives but tastes like pickled venison and mushrooms in a steel, tubular top, 3″ long, 1″ in diameter, triangular bottom 6″ on a side flask.

Improvements

If you’ve got ideas for more options, please post a comment and I’ll periodically make updates!

Part one of the succinct overview of Pathfinder listed the differences to races and classes based on the Pathfinder conversion guide in about 500 words.  Part two attempts to highlight everything else also in about 500 words.

• Skills are simplified. There are fewer skills because some were combined.  But the skill system is also simpler because class skills cost the same as non-class skills except class skills get a one-time +3 bonus. Furthermore, assigning skills at first level is easier because a character doesn’t get the x4 multiplier to skill points at first level.
• Characters get more feats–one at every other level instead of every third level.  Some have been altered, many have been added, and a few have been removed: Agile, Diligent, Investigator, Negotiator, Nimble Fingers and Track.
• Bard, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, and Wizard bump up from a d4 to d6; d6 to d8; or d8 to d10 for hit points.
• When created, characters choose a favored class which may not change.  (Half-elves choose two favored classes.) Levels in a favored class grant a +1 to hit points and skill points.
• Magic items are largely unchanged, but other changes to the game (such as the elimination/merging of some skills) may change the item.  Items that affect mental ability scores (such as cloak of charisma, headband of intellect, and periapt of wisdom) are changed to all take up the headband magic item slot.  Likewise, items that affect physical ability scores (such as amulet of health, gauntlets of ogre power and gloves of dexterity) are now belts.
• Bull rush, disarm, grapple, overrun, sunder, and trip all use a new combat maneuvers system.  It features pre-calculated combat maneuver bonus and defense scores to resolve these actions more easily.
• Spells are largely unchanged, but review the spells  you plan to use for minor changes.  These are some common spells worth re-reading: detect magic, dispel magic, greater dispel magic, magic circle against evil, make whole, mending, neutralize poison, polymorph, protection from evil, raise dead, remove curse, remove disease, summon monster, summon nature’s ally. In particular, polymorph has been radically altered and a polymorph subschool has been added.
• If spells require the caster to use XP, this requirement changes to a material component worth 5x the XP cost.
• GMs can choose a between fast, medium and slow XP progression tables.
• Monsters are now worth a set number of experience points.
• The Pathfinder system has a streamlined system for generating NPCs.
• As with spells, magic items do not require the creater to expend XP.  A skill check is used and if the check is unsuccessful the components are wasted.  If the check is missed by more than five points, a cursed item may be created.
• In the conversion guide, we’re asked to re-read the sections on special abilities and conditions.  Because the conversion guide doesn’t mention specifics, the changes are probably slight, but important under certain circumstances.
• Due to the vast amount of supplemental 3.5 material by many other publishers, the document includes conversion guidelines for including classes, spells, monsters, magic items, etc., from other sources.  Many of the more striking changes mentioned in this section were added to the appropriate bullet above.
• One change relatively specific to converting outside material: Spells that remove a combatant are discouraged.  Saves should be given or even better would be other, more unique escapes for resourceful enemies.