RPG sandbox

A fortified campsite sits atop a rocky elevation, overlooking the river and a seldom used road, hidden by trees and the cliffs surrounding it. A watchtower keeps a look out for anyone approaching, but the trees and cliffs may provide concealment for those are careful. +++

This map is sized for a 30x30 grid. This could make a good base of operations for bandits, mercenaries, a small army unit, etc. I figure the largest tent is full of supplies and weaponry (stolen or otherwise) and the three cages are for war beasts or prisoners.

1st-level divination (ranger)

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Components: V, S, M (a bird feather)

Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes

You touch a quiver containing arrows or bolts. When you make a ranged weapon attack using a piece of ammunition drawn from the quiver, you can choose to see through the piece of ammunition as if you were in its space, seeing from the fletching of the ammunition. As an action, or when you go to make an attack, you can switch back to your own sight.

While seeing through the ammunition, you are blinded to your own surroundings.

Dungeon: The Fortress of Fear

Background: There are places in the world where great pain has left deep and unhealing fissures, and through these fissures the shadowfell seeps like an infection, warping the landscape into labyrinths of mouldering sorrow and hunger. 

Such was the case of Fort Cassian, once a fortification holding a vital mountain pass for a now forgotten kingdom, the area became stepped in shadow after repeated massacres forever tainted the land with death. Now existing as a shifting series of nightmarish halls and dark caverns, the fortress of fear worms its way through the stone of the surrounding mountainsides like a parasitic infection, from time to time disgorging new horrors to sow terror upon the greater landscape. 

Challenges

The fortress has become a haunt of numerous villains and otherwise malicious forces over its long existence, playing host to demons, slaughter mad spectral soldiers, and atrophic entities from the shadowfell. All of these have been usurped by a powerful lich who now makes their home within the innermost halls of the fortress, using it’s ever changing nightmare layout to protect their phylactery as they work to bend the other denizens to their will. 

To prove their worth to a mentor who sees great things in the heroes’s future, the party must venture into the fortress of fear whereupon they will fight a manifestation of their own personal doubts. Win or lose, their character will be scoured to their very core, secrets laid bare 

(art by Petter Amland on Artstation)

Conclusions

While the idea of a “spirit world” is nothing new in cosmology, the term Ethereal plane, or more specifically “Etheric Plane” is much younger, coming from Theosophy to describe an existence “beneath” the material where aether can be found.

However, the idea of the Ethereal Plane has grown well beyond those vaguely cult-y origins, and takes more from mythological and fictional spirit worlds besides.

In any case, the Ethereal plane as it exists in Pathfinder and many other RPGs serves as a place where ghosts and other strange being hail, not to mention a thing for certain spells like blink, ethereal jaunt, etherealness, and the like to interact with. As well as a “Near” afterlife where the spirits of the dead linger before leaving for distant realms.

For many characters, it is the first step that they will take into the wider multiverse, should their adventures, and depending on the campaign, it might be the last, or just one step of many.

It can be a place of great mystery or horror, particularly if the campaign focuses on the dead or the sahkils, where the alien nature of the infinite mists accentuates how utterly out of depth the players are.

There can also be strange wonders as well, particularly in the Dimension of Dreams, though other forms of magic are needed to reach that.

Without the ethereal plane, a setting will have to have ghosts and other incorporeal undead be a part of the material world or some other spiritual plane, and explaining where living denizens of the ether will require work, assuming you include them at all.

On the other hand, you might add to the ethereal plane. Perhaps haunt-like manifestations of events on the material plane might manifest there, giving greater insight to the past, for example.

Resin Capsule

Wondrous Item • Uncommon

When danger comes hurtling toward you, this small capsule answers with remarkable confidence. One moment there is a projectile. The next, there is a ball of resin.

💬 Which attack would you most want to trap inside a resin capsule?

Additional content on Patreon

Deep in the bowels of the Underdark, armies of duergar toil under the baleful gazes of their drow masters, constructing fearsome war machines the like of which few surface-dwellers could even imagine.

We made a Halfling Wizard miniature and some VTT tokens!

→ Grab the FREE Printable PDF and the VTT tokens here!

Mapvember 21 - Hospital

Lorenan Church cum Hospice. While members of the clergy that have gained access to more powerful divine powers can deal with most serious injuries and diseases, the vast majority of illnesses and injuries are treated by novices and non-clergy members of the church. Monasteries and cloisters of the Order of the Hospice have gardens full of medicinal herbs and plants, laboratories, kitchens, and other facilities dedicated to the care of patients.

THEME: Fantasy Solo Non-Combat.

Hello friend, thank you very much for your ask! I'm going to direct you to two Solo-themed game recommendations first, before I dive into today's recs.

Character-Focused Solo Games: Games that focus on character-building. Lighthearted Solo Games: Fun, non-serious solo games.

A Year in the Spirit World, by ToriBee.

The wind rustles through the emerald canopy above as you open your eyes to an unfamiliar world. You're lying on a bed of lush moss, the gentle warmth of the Spirit World sun caressing your face. Around you, a forest of towering ancient trees, each pulsating with an otherworldly glow. It's ethereal, enchanting, and unlike anything you've ever seen.

Drawing from a deck of fate, you'll encounter spirits, creatures, and natural phenomena as enchanting as they are daunting. Each encounter might test your spirit, challenge your harmony with this world, or tempt you to act against your values.

There is some combat in this game, but it certainly doesn’t seem to be the focus. The game is about survival, but you’re as likely to be navigating social situations as you are to be fighting enemies. What I like about this game is the spirit companion who will travel the world with you: there are four different options, each of them cute and enchanting. If you love Studio Ghibli films, you should definitely check out A Year in the Spirit World!

The Goblin Thought, by Kai Medina.

The goblin hoard - a pile of goods and trinkets - is a place of greed, yes. But it's the same greed that thrives throughout this land of men and beetles. It's the allowed selfishness that helps us learn and grow, walk and run, screech and scramble. The hoard is the goblin's memory.

The Goblin Thought is a unique and engaging journaling game that combines chance and narrative to create a compelling story. Players take on the role of a goblin, collecting memories and items in their hoard as they navigate through a world of wonder and danger, allowing for growth and change. With a deck of cards and a six-sided die, each turn presents new challenges and opportunities for creative storytelling, drawing, and reflection. 

This game is placed in a fantasy setting, but with a larger purpose. It’s both a journaling game and a thought experiment, a chance to place yourself in the shoes of someone whose history exists within the hoard they have accumulated. Each card you draw from a deck has three prompts attached to it, so you have the potential to play this game (and build a history) for a very long time.

Little Shepherd, Little Spy, by @psychhound.

You try to keep out of the whole war business.

It’s just not really your thing. There are more important things to worry about, like Gethin, your biggest ram, getting stuck in the fence again, or Ffion rubbing against the raspberry bushes and getting her wool all sticky.

Life is pretty simple for a humble shepherd such as yourself.

Little Shepherd, Little Spy is a solo journaling game about being a spy in the fairy war. Choose which side you're on, then draw tarot cards to interpret the messages coming through the information ring. Your tarot card tells you what book to look at and what page. Then you copy down all the relevant information on that page and consult your spy codebook.

I absolutely love fairy games and the premise for this one is super interesting to me. Your character will be interpreting messages that take the form of books that you have on your shelf, and you’ll determine which book to look at (and which page to read) by drawing tarot cards from a deck. If you look into this one I definitely recommend setting aside some time, and perhaps selecting a few books for each category to have on hand, to ease the cycle of play.

The Wandering Library, by AP.

You are the proud owner of a Wandering Library. Whether you bought, built or inherited it, it is your home. Travelling as far and as wide as you desire, your days are spent encountering an assortment of customers, exploring new locations, and tending to your beloved home of books.

This is a a game designed to generate prompts for you to answer in as much or as little detail as you would like. All you need is two six-sided dice and your preferred method of journaling. Using the tables provided, you will explore locations and meet different people, recording your adventures and encounters as you travel in your Wandering Library.

This is a simple one-page game that presents you with a few starting questions, and the supplies a grid of prompts that you’ll roll 2d6 for. Each prompt is a new event, complete with a question, asking how your character reacts. There’s plenty of room for your own imagination. The house is a travelling library, which feels pretty fantastical to me! This game will likely last a few hours or so; it’s not really built for extended play.

Fetch My Blade, by Ethan Yen.

For years you have served your Master faithfully. A loyal companion, you accompanied your Master through the difficult times, and the good times. Now, you are called in a moment of dire need: a Stranger has challenged your Master to a duel, alluding to time before you. Your Master rises to the challenge, calling you forth. This is your moment. You have trained for this. It is time to do your Master proud. 

FETCH MY BLADE is a solo journaling roleplaying game where you play as the dog of a retired legendary master of the sword, tasked with a quest of your own: retrieve your master’s fabled weapon in time for their final duel. On your quest, you will uncover and explore your Master’s guarded past-- transforming your character, deepening your relationship with your Master, and ultimately influencing your Master’s fate.

Feat: Abyssal Fletcher

Turning the remains of the fallen into ammunition is dark but effective. This feat lets any archer harvest bone and sinew from fallen creatures, crafting cursed projectiles that carry the blighted decay of the abyss right into your target's flesh.

Built for both D&D 5e and the 2024 rules, it pairs perfectly with the Tarnished Stalker or any hunter who has learned to make the best of anything they harvest, giving each creature's part a new purpose. —

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Greetings!

The adventuring party has been tasked with rescuing a captive sandworm. Yes, one of the last of its species has been captured by an unscrupulous merchant.

Using forbidden magic offered by an evil wizard, along with plain old physical restraints, the sandworm was bound and is ready to be auctioned to the highest bidder.

Yet the People of the Sands know better than to commit such heinous crimes against nature, and with the help of our trusty heroes, they set out to defeat those responsible.

They quietly get into position with the help of the rocky terrain and are able to make the first strike.

Will they be able to free the sandworm? And will the sandworm once freed, get its revenge against those who harmed it?

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