These are the NPCs you’re likely to meet on a quest. Some may be the evil genius defending a
lair, others may be asking you to help guard against raiders, and some help start your quest.

Each card has a portrait on one side and a personality and background on the other. Quirks make
them memorable. Leverage makes role-playing them interesting. Tactics describe how they fight.

Each has a picture and summary of his or her personality along with suggestions to persuade, deceive, or intimidate the NPC. Quirks & quotes help get into character quickly and make each memorable. You are sure to find ideas that inspire you among the variety of power levels, ethnicities, and fantasy races. Your players aren't the only ones questing through your world. Who will they meet?

Use the cards as is or use just the aspects that fit your campaign setting. Includes 51 NPC cards, plus two bonus helpful info cards (name generators for example), and a cover card.

For even more utility, see our Sidequest Decks: 5 Challenge Quests deck which uses these NPCs. (But neither deck is required to use the other.)

See the preview for samples!

Note: The download has two files.  One with each side of each card as a 2.75"x3.75" page (the extra .25" is a bleed area intended to be cut away). The other PDF is set up to be printed duplex (two-sided), 4 cards per page.  So the upper right card on the front side of each page matches up to the upper left card on the back side. White marks near the corners of each card serve as guides when cutting the cards.

“5 Challenge Quests” is an updated name for the “5 Room Dungeon” concept–which often are not
set in dungeons & don’t have exactly 5 rooms.

If you haven’t heard the term, each quest is designed to have about 5 encounters: a likely combat
scenario, a social encounter, a puzzle or riddle idea, a twist, and a treasure. Most quests focus a bit
more on one type and less on others–and your PCs may steer an encounter in a new direction, too!

This is part of our Sidequest Decks series with sidequests for many genres & settings.

Each card is a mini-adventure. One side is an outline which starts with some background game master information then a couple of ways to begin the quest. Next are several key encounter ideas (use some or all of them or modify them, based on your party’s actions), and finally a follow-up idea or two. The other side of the card is the main map for the adventure. Need more maps for other encounters? Fan through the cards and you’re sure to find something that fits the situation.

Like most of our Sidequest Decks, each card is designed to be its own quest. However, this deck includes two cards which list which monsters are on each card. Combine that with a list of which monsters have what traits on the Inkwell Ideas website (search Inkwell Ideas Monsters by Feature), and you can pick a few sidequests for your PCs to collect monster parts needed to craft a magic item or perform an arcane ritual!

Note: The PDF is set up to be printed duplex (two-sided), 4 cards per page.  So the upper right card on the front side of each page matches up to the upper left card on the back side. There is also an extra area (1/8") on the edge of each card called a "bleed". It is intended to be cut away. It allows a card to still look good even if the cut isn't perfect or if the front and back prints aren't perfectly aligned.  A PDF is also included with each side of each card as a 3.75"x2.75" page (3.5"x2.5" plus a 1/8" bleed) so you can lay it out as you wish.

They say God came to Earth in the form of his own Son to teach us compassion, non-judgment, and faith - to forgive us our sins and lead us to a promised land.

We showed him what we do to folks like that around here.

Now, God is dead and buried somewhere in the vast expanse of the Blood Prairie. The sun no longer shines on this cursed land; a perfect black disc blocks it, the spread wings of the Angel Leliel. Vampire Cattlemen drive human herds across the carnivorous grass. The Oil Baron, humanity’s last ruler, trades kerosene for fealty and angel feathers. Hungry winds drive men to madness, while witches hold strange black sabbaths on cold white snows.

Death is cheap.

Light is expensive.

Can you carve a fortune from the darkness?

Blood Prairie is a post-theistic tabletop role-playing game set in an alternate history 1800s Canadian prairie.  Currently in development for an ashcan release sometime mid-2026, it features:

• Familiar OSR-style design remixed to deliver gritty, intense realism.
• Single die type resolution SYSTEM-WIDE, d20 only.
• 7 flavourful player classes to choose from.
• A magic and summoning system that feels mysterious and arcane.
• A ton more to be announced soon...

This currently is a placeholder for the ashcan version, but the bookmark contained here is a reference document to two of the most useful tables for a player to have and features some of the incredible art from Kate Turner. Written by Austin Holm. Layout, Editing and Design by Gabriel Watcher. Character illustrations by Annie Negrin.

Map Details

• Size: 30x18

• Grid: Square (1 cell = 5 ft)

• Includes:

  • PNG Full HD (1920px): gridded/gridless

Key Features

• Roll20 Ready: Easy to drop into your session

• 30x18 Grid (precisely aligned): No scaling issues or token drift

• VTT Friendly: Works across most virtual tabletops

License

• This map is intended for personal use only. 

  Commercial use, redistribution, or resale in any form is not permitted
• Credit: Xundra Maps

Mix Magic and Science: The Best of Both Worlds!

Explore the combination of powerful magics and advanced technology in this Gestalt support book! Dive into things like chainswords, blast hammers, magitech cyborgs, monster grafts, magical medicine, forbidden arcane science, aliens, and more!

This book includes:

• 2 New Lineages: The Frankenstein-esque Fragmentarii and the alien Grays!
• 2 New Cultures: The Gray culture and the Technocracy!
• 3 New Classes: The body-modifying Cyborg, the supportive Doctor, and the return of the hell-on-wheels Rancer!
• New Magitech-Themed Equipment. Including weapons, armor, and the new battle puppet companion!
• Rules for magitech prosthetics, including crossbow arms, rocket fists, and hypnotic glass eyes!
• Rules for limb grafting!
• New Feats, Honors, and Spells!
• Class Support for existing Gestalt classes!

Technical

• Page Count: 52 (1 cover, 2 credit, 1 license, 48 content)
• Art: Full Color! No AI ever anywhere! (100% homegrown, hands on, weirdness!)
• File Type: PDF (single page and two-page spread version)

THE STORY

The Age of Bronze is ending. Across Karnaxos, ancient kingdoms tremble. Mighty rulers cling to fading power. Priests proclaim conflicting prophecies. Mercenary armies march beneath banners older than memory. Monsters stir in forgotten wildernesses, while strange lights appear in the night skies above ruined cities. At the center of these omens stands a relic known only as the Crown of Ash and Stars. Legend claims it belonged to the first king who united the tribes before history began. Some believe it grants dominion over kingdoms. Others claim it opens the path to godhood itself. Fragments of ancient maps have surfaced across Karnaxos, each pointing toward the lost realm of Azam-Korûn, a kingdom erased so completely that even its ruins have become myth. Warriors, sorcerers, priests, kings, thieves, and monsters now seek the Crown. You are among them. Yet the greatest danger is not who claims the relic. It is discovering why Azam-Korûn vanished.

The Lost Kingdom of Azam-Korûn

Hidden beyond the known frontiers lies a forgotten basin surrounded by black mountains and perpetual storms.

The Valley of Silent Spears

An immense battlefield where thousands of bronze weapons remain embedded in the earth.

The Glass Wastes

A desert of fused black sand and crystal, as though the land itself was burned by impossible fire.

The Fallen Causeways

Cyclopean roads stretching toward the lost capital, untouched by time.

The Star Vaults

Ancient underground chambers filled with celestial carvings and strange mechanisms.

The Throne of Ash

The ruined capital of Azam-Korûn, where the Crown awaits atop a shattered ziggurat.

The deeper one ventures into the kingdom, the more unsettling the ruins become.

Nothing appears weathered. It is as though the kingdom vanished yesterday.

_________________________________

HOW TO PLAY

In this Solo Adventure you assume the role of an adventurer in a Bronze Age Fantasy setting where kingdoms rise and crumble beneath obsidian skies, and where warlords, sorcerers, and wandering heroes carve their names into the annals of Karnaxos. You will require the Warborn of Karnaxos Core Rulebook (CRB) and any expansions you wish to incorporate. The story you experience is your own. The actions you choose depend on who and what you encounter, and how you elect to interact. Keep a record of your journey, tracking outcomes and branching consequences. Your decisions become the voice of the unseen Storyteller. The world of Karnaxos stirs to life through your interpretation, your vision, and your courage. This template provides structure, direction, narrative density, and motivational clarity, ensuring you always know what drives the hero, what threatens them, and what lies beyond the next torchlit corner.

For generations, the hill tribes of Ash-Kareth endured beneath the shadow of greater powers. Taxed by distant kings. Raided by ambitious warlords. Manipulated by priests who claimed divine authority over every aspect of life. The tribes survived, but they never truly ruled themselves. That changed when Queen Ishkareth Varamûn emerged. A warrior without noble blood, she united feuding clans through victory, diplomacy, and sheer force of will. Within a few short years, she forged dozens of tribes into a disciplined nation and began raising the largest army the region had seen in centuries. Her followers call her the Liberator. Her enemies call her the Storm Queen. Two great powers now seek her destruction. To the south, the wealthy kingdom of Bel-Azrûn fears losing its frontier territories and trade routes. To the north, the powerful priesthood of Ur-Khaleth declares her a heretic whose growing influence threatens their sacred authority. Caught between kingdom and temple, Queen Ishkareth prepares for war. Yet hidden beneath the conflict lies a truth neither enemy understands. The queen is building her army for a purpose far greater than conquest.

The Highlands of Ash-Kareth

A rugged realm of windswept hills, stone fortresses, ancient roads, and scattered tribal settlements.

The Storm Banner Camp

The queen's immense military encampment where thousands gather beneath her black-and-bronze standards.

The Iron Heights

Mountain strongholds guarding the approaches into Ash-Kareth.

The Sacred Road

An ancient highway connecting forgotten ruins throughout the highlands.

The Valley of Spears

A battlefield littered with relics from wars fought long before living memory.

The Broken Crown Citadel

A mysterious ruin hidden deep within the mountains where the queen secretly sends scouts and excavators.

_________________________________

HOW TO PLAY

In this Solo Adventure you assume the role of an adventurer in a Bronze Age Fantasy setting where kingdoms rise and crumble beneath obsidian skies, and where warlords, sorcerers, and wandering heroes carve their names into the annals of Karnaxos. You will require the Warborn of Karnaxos Core Rulebook (CRB) and any expansions you wish to incorporate. The story you experience is your own. The actions you choose depend on who and what you encounter, and how you elect to interact. Keep a record of your journey, tracking outcomes and branching consequences. Your decisions become the voice of the unseen Storyteller. The world of Karnaxos stirs to life through your interpretation, your vision, and your courage. This template provides structure, direction, narrative density, and motivational clarity, ensuring you always know what drives the hero, what threatens them, and what lies beyond the next torchlit corner.

Three maps for the part of the campaign where the clerics start praying louder.

When the dead refuse to stay down, you need the right ground for it. This set runs from desecrated stone to the lair at the bottom of the stairs: a defiled chapel, a crowded crypt, and the working sanctum of someone who has read far too many forbidden books.

What's inside:

• Chapel - holy ground gone wrong, ready for a vigil, a ritual, or a reckoning
• Crypt - tight corridors and full niches, built for a slow and nervous advance
• Necro Lair - the boss room, where the campaign's worst ideas finally come due

Each of these three locations ships in day and night versions and across the seasons, so the crypt feels as wrong under a summer noon as it does on a black winter night. Stage the undead arc here once, come back for the cult investigation a season later, and it all still looks right. Built for any night your players were hoping to feel safe.

Three maps for the long road between the last inn and whatever's waiting next.

Not every session happens behind a door. This set covers the wild ground a party crosses, camps in, or stumbles into at the worst possible moment: a lonely cabin, an old stone circle that predates the kingdom, and a frozen pass that does not care whether you make it through.

What's inside:

• Druidic Circle Lakeside - standing stones, still water, and the strong implication that something is owed
• Hillside Cabin - a waypoint, a hideout, or an ambush site, depending on who got there first
• Mountain Pass (60x40, Winter) - a snowbound bottleneck made for the climactic crossing

Each of these three locations ships in day and night versions and across the seasons. The lakeside circle hosts a midsummer rite or a frozen midnight vigil with no re-prep. Three locations, set up once, ready for travel and downtime in any weather your campaign throws at them.

Five maps, and one very bad day to be carrying coin through the borderlands.

Brigands do not pick fair ground. They pick the places that do half the work for them, and this pack delivers all five: blind river crossings, a fortified hillside hideout, and the played-out mines where outlaws hole up once the bounty gets too warm. Drop your party in and let the ambush write itself.

What's inside:

• Bandit Hillside Camp (60x40) - the main hideout, sized for a full raid or a very tense parley
• River Crossing (30x24) - a natural chokepoint, built for a toll-road shakedown or a sprung trap
• Cliffside Mine (40x60) - a vertical descent straight into someone else's territory
• Crater Mine Entrance (40x40) - a defensible mouth with cover for both the dug-in and the desperate
• Abandoned Chapel (40x40) - the kind of neutral ground that rarely stays neutral

Better still, each of these five locations ships in day and night versions and across the seasons. The camp you scout in high summer is the same ground your players burn down in deep winter, set up once and reused all campaign long. Running the road or hunting the people who work it, you have a year's worth of bandit trouble ready to drop in.