DM Essentials #131: 10 Rogue Escape Artist Encounters

In most games, picking a lock is just a skill check. Roll the die, open the door, move on.

But an escape artist is not a skill check. They have broken out of every prison, every set of manacles, every locked room. They are not free – they are just not caught yet. They live on the run, always looking over their shoulder, always planning the next escape. To them, a lock is not a barrier – it is a challenge. A pair of manacles is a riddle. A prison is a maze to be solved. But they cannot escape the exhaustion of running, the paranoia of trust, the weight of a life spent looking for the exit.

DM Essentials #131 gives you ten ways to make escape artists feel skilled, paranoid, and deeply human. They are not just thieves – they are prisoners of their own freedom, always running, always tired.

What's Inside?

The Escape Artist's World (Short Essay): Who they are, how they learn, and why they can never stop moving.

10 Encounters with the Ghost Who Keeps Running: Each one gives you a situation, the truth behind it, and a way for the players to respond.

- The Request – Help break someone out of prison. The escape artist needs a distraction. The prisoner may be innocent – or not.
- The Bounty – A wanted escape artist hides in the party's camp. "You could turn me in. Or you could help me."
- The Manacles – A lock they cannot open. Magical, trapped, or masterwork. They need a new approach.
- The Trap – A vault break that is a setup. The Watch is waiting. Someone sold them out.
- The Confession – "I have not stopped running in ten years. I am tired. I want to stop. But I do not know how."
- The Rival – Two escape artists compete for the same vault. Sabotage could get someone caught.
- The Student – A young thief wants to learn the trade. The master refuses. "The life will kill you."
- The Heirloom – Lockpicks that belonged to their mother. "She taught me everything. She died in a cell."
- The Legacy – A dying escape artist offers a secret – a way to open any lock. The knowledge comes with enemies.
- The Freedom – A chance to disappear for good. New identity, new life. They need someone to vouch for them.

Quick Reference Table: Roll d10 and get a full encounter hook in seconds.

Who This Is For:

- DMs who want heists and prison breaks to feel tense, not just sequential
- Players who think a lock is just a DC until they meet someone who has spent a lifetime studying locks – and still cannot open this one
- Anyone who understands that the person who can escape anything has never learned how to stay

ENTER THE ARCVERSE

More DM Essentials, adventures, and settings at the link below.

The lock clicks. The door opens. The escape artist runs. Will you follow, or will you stay?

DM Essentials #130: 10 Rogue Beggar Encounters

In most games, beggars are just scenery. A line of flavour text, a sad face on the street, a prop to show the city is gritty.

But a beggar is not scenery. They are the eyes on every corner, the ears at every gate. No one looks at them. No one listens to them. They are dismissed as a nuisance, a pity, a problem to be stepped over. And because no one watches them, they see everything. Who meets whom, who carries what, who leaves town in a hurry. They are not charity cases – they are a guild of survivors, bound by mutual need and a code of silence. Harm one, and the network learns your face. Help one, and they will remember.

DM Essentials #130 gives you ten ways to make beggars feel like the unseen network of the city – invisible, organised, and quietly dangerous. They are not helpless. They are the ones who know where the bodies are buried because they saw them fall.

What's Inside?

The Beggar's World (Short Essay): Who they are, how the network works, and why ignoring the poor is a costly mistake.

10 Encounters with the Unseen Network: Each one gives you a situation, the truth behind it, and a way for the players to respond.

- The Witness – A beggar saw a murder. The killer knows it. They need protection or a way out of the city.
- The Toll – "This is my corner. If you want to pass, you pay." A gatekeeper to the underworld.
- The Information – "I know where the stolen goods are hidden. For a price." The beggar is risking their life.
- The Network – A beggar warns the party they are being followed. They are returning a favour.
- The Confession – "I used to be a merchant. Now I see clearer than I ever did." Perspective, not pity.
- The Rival – Two beggars argue over a doorway. Both need shelter. The party may need to mediate.
- The Child – A child beggar, tugging at sleeves. Their mother watches from a hidden doorway. The family is starving.
- The Healer – A beggar is sick, unable to work. Without help, they will die.
- The Legacy – An old beggar dying, offering their bowl. "The network will know you." A token of trust – and obligation.
- The Offering – A scrap of paper, fallen from a rich man's pocket. A clue, a map, a password. The beggar expects nothing in return.

Quick Reference Table: Roll d10 and get a full encounter hook in seconds.

Who This Is For:

- DMs who want cities to feel alive, not just a backdrop for combat
- Players who think a beggar is just a beggar until they realise the beggar knows their name
- Anyone who understands that the person no one looks at often sees the most

ENTER THE ARCVERSE

More DM Essentials, adventures, and settings at the link below.

The cup is empty. The eyes are watching. The whisper is free. Will you stop, or will you step over them like everyone else?

Play the Scar, Become the Oath (The Narrative Playbook) is a focused guide to running Fantasia Vixens with clarity, pressure, and intent. It shows how the game actually moves at the table. Every chapter is built around decisions, consequences, and the rhythm that makes scenes land.

This book approaches play as something immediate. Scenes begin in motion. Choices carry weight. Outcomes leave marks that stay present in later moments. The system supports this through wounds that reshape situations, Vice and Oath that define direction, and Surge that lets players reach further than is safe and accept what follows.

Inside, you will find practical guidance for both players and Game Masters. The text stays close to play, with clear examples that demonstrate how tension builds, when to push, and when to step back. The Ritual Engine introduces a natural flow for sessions, from opening pressure to breaking point and aftermath. Scene design, pacing, and table dynamics are all addressed with the same direct approach.

Character creation is fast and purposeful. A character begins with an image, gains direction through Vice and Oath, and becomes real through the first decision at the table. Archetypes and abilities provide structure without slowing down entry into play. Every element points toward action and consequence.

The book also includes a complete adventure module ("The First Fracture") designed to showcase the system in motion. It places the group into situations where no option feels comfortable and every choice matters. Full page character artworks support immersion and give a strong visual identity to the experience.

This is not a reference manual. It is a playbook in the literal sense. It shows how the game sounds, how it feels, and how it unfolds when everything is working.

残酷で嶮難なオールド・ワールドにおける5本の短い冒険

people are at their limit and they revolt against their leaders. Clearly the darkness has got to them and this is no longer a Haven but a Dungeon that must be contained. Trick of the Light Burgermeister Soraia seeks to Invest in the Torch and Mirror Inn, turning it into a fortified waystation where merchants can be safe traveling to the town. Players commit dice and decide five of the workers whose skills apply. Soraia draws five dice from those committed, but finds there are only four; a Sun die and three Moon dice. Sun a 6, and the Moon 1,2,4. Due to the Moon 1, Franz (Butcher) is done with the town and decides to accept his in-laws' invitation to move to the next town over. Soraia decides to improve the Haven, changing it to the Fortified Waystation Torch and Mirror and adds Heridos (Caravan Guard), Merida (Cook), and Erin (Stablemaster). Because the Sun die was at 6, reduce Debt of this Haven by 1. 4 1 2 6 Improve a Haven, renaming it and gaining three new townspeople. 44 Ruin Has Come Fortified Waystation Torch and Mirror Heridos (Caravan Guard) Merida (Cook) Erin (Stablemaster)

It is a fine night at the luxurious Orlesceu Manor where a lavish party is underway. The countryside surrounding is wracked in danger and dread, but inside these gilded walls there is only revelry and joy; for tonight is a Masquerade, a true and proper masked ball where socialites and servants mix and mingle under false faces. The party has gone long and enjoyable, visions of luxury and excess present in the Count’s sprawling and surreally eccentric home. As the clock strikes midnight however, a strange, ominous feeling sweeps over you. It is then you find the first body.

Something is in this mansion with you.

Something monstrous.

Welcome, to The Last Masquerade. 

You have been invited to the most exclusive masquerade ball. Dance across a shifting mansion, discovering its secrets as you advance your machinations – but beware. It is not only intrigue that threatens you; flowery monsters accompany flowery words, and if you drop your guard, they will kill you one by one. 

Last Masquerade is a social deduction and intrigue game, intended for 2-6 players. Everyone plays guests in a deadly masquerade in a baroque estate, clinging to the safety of a Mask and pursuing secret Agendas. But you are not alone with your sins: a monster hides among the guests. Beneath the mask of someone, anyone among you all, a creature hell-bent on carnage has begun playing with its prey as it turns you against each other, trying to get you all killed. Will you survive? Will you advance your own sinister goals? Or will you become just another trophy for the monster that prowls Orlesceu Manor? 

The Last Masquerade was originally released some years back as a much smaller game, intended as a short little party game for a Halloween stream. This version however, the Midnight Hour Edition, is massively expanded from the original, featuring more the three times the monsters, more than twice the rooms, and a massive overhaul of the mechanics and gameplay for better experience.

To players old and new, welcome back to Orlesceu Manor.

Arrr, gather ye scallywags and brace for adventure!

The Lightless Sea be no ordinary voyage-it be a treacherous ship crawl for Pirate Borg. Yer mission? To seek out the legendary Ancient Relic the Lightless Sea itself!

Through twists sharper than a cutlass and turns deadlier than the Kraken’s grasp, ye shall face foes both cunning and cruel. Can yer crew weather the storm, conquer the perils, and claim the Relic for yer own?

Only the bold, the ruthless, and the sea-hardened shall triumph! Hoist the sails, unsheathe yer blades, and let the hunt begin!

Include ye find:

• 1 Single Page PDF
• 1 Spread Page PDF
• 1 VTT Import for the Maze
• 1 Image of the Ship
• 1 Image of the Barrel Boy NPC included in the adventure

Compatible with Pirate Borg 

Legal Speak:

The Lightless Sea is an independent production by Sam Ridge. It is not affiliated with Limithron LLC. It is published under the PIRATE BORG Third Party License. PIRATE BORG is © Limithron LLC. 

The Lightless Sea is an independent production by Sam Ridge and is not affiliated with Ockult Örtmästare Games or Stockholm Kartell  It is published under the MÖRK BORG Third Party License.  

MÖRK BORG is copyright Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell.

Has your crew found themselves on an uncharted island, thick with fruit bearing trees?

Do you feel like walking through dense tropical splendour isn't deadly enough?

Have you just perhaps wondered what crazed island survivors would be like if they really liked fruit?  

Then the Tropical Terrors are right for you.  

Tropical Terrors adds an additional 4 NPCs for your island adventures. What they lack in modesty, armor and rational thought, they make up for in their ability to come out of nowhere.  

Compatible with Pirate Borg 

Legal Speak:

Tropical Terrors is an independent production by Sam Ridge. It is not affiliated with Limithron LLC. It is published under the PIRATE BORG Third Party License. PIRATE BORG is © Limithron LLC. 

Tropical Terrors is an independent production by Sam Ridge and is not affiliated with Ockult Örtmästare Games or Stockholm Kartell  It is published under the MÖRK BORG Third Party License.  

MÖRK BORG is copyright Ockult Örtmästare Games and Stockholm Kartell.

IN A BAD SPOT

Being held prisoner on a Company ship, hours away from a grim fate, is not a pleasant situation to be in. But when the unexpected happens, is there a chance for survival or are you just delaying the inevitable?

PRACTICAL FORMAT

Explore and try to find your way out of a research vessel with a handy A4 pamphlet. Additional materials are supplied in the form of terminal logs to help players with immersion.

This module can be played as a standalone oneshot, or as part of a campaign.

Bright light city gonna set your soul ON FIRE, so get those stakes up HIGHER! 

Test your skill in the place that kills.

Can you survive a casino shaped death-trap? Only the brave (and Crazy) should attempt it. 

There may be danger and glory ahead but, there will be Carnage in the Casino!

a level 0 funnel for Mutant Crawl Classics and all OSR post apocalayptic games. 

Battle of the Blackforge is a 5E-compatible level 6 fantasy adventure of ash, iron, and elemental fury.

Deep within an active volcano, the legendary Blackforge burns once more.

Once a marvel of dwarven craft, its halls of iron, stone, and flame have been claimed by the Ashen Dwarves — exiles who believe themselves to be the next evolution of dwarvenkind. No longer truly born, they are forged from ash and flame in ritual furnaces beneath the mountain.

Now, they are preparing their greatest weapon: an artificial phoenix chained within the heart of the volcano. If the ritual is completed, it will become the first strike in a war of conquest.

The adventurers must climb the lava-cut slopes of the volcano, descend into the Blackforge, survive brutal forge mechanisms, and stop the Ashen Fire Priests before the weapon is unleashed.

This adventure is designed for four 6th-level characters and can be run as a standalone volcanic dungeon crawl, dropped into an existing fantasy campaign, or used as the opening chapter of a larger Ashen Dwarf storyline.

Inside the Adventure:

• A complete 5E-compatible adventure for level 6 characters
• Adventure hooks to drop the Blackforge into your own campaign
• A dangerous volcanic ascent before the dungeon begins
• A 7-area forge dungeon filled with lava, iron, ancient mechanisms, and hidden routes
• A deadly hammer hall where the forge itself becomes a trap
• Suspended chain walkways over molten rock
• Tactical combats where Ashen Dwarves use lava hazards and forced movement
• An Ash Rebirth Chamber revealing how the Ashen Dwarves are created
• A phoenix-themed ritual lock puzzle
• A climactic battle in the Chained Phoenix chamber, where the artificial phoenix acts as a dangerous environmental hazard
• A Forge-Masters’ Hall filled with lore, treasure, and clues to a larger war
• A rare magic weapon: the Emberwake Torch
• Notes for continuing the story into Assault on Emberash Hold or The Ashen Phoenix
• A self-contained ending option if you do not want to continue the storyline

Recommended for: 4 characters of level 6
System: 5E-compatible fantasy roleplaying games
Format: PDF
Length: 20 pages

An Additive Supplement for the Asynchronicity: Travelers through Time Roleplaying Game

The official Character Sheet for players making Travelers through time !