Fair Exchange

This is an adventure for RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha.

It is set in Southern Sartar, starting in Wilmskirk and moving south.

The adventure takes place after the Dragonrise of 1625 and Starbrow’s Rebellion: The Lunar Empire has left Sartar, and the tribes and clans are restless as Argrath is on the move, revealing his great ambitions.

The year and season of the adventure is left for you to decide to best fit with your existing campaign.

The adventurers are tasked by the Wilmskirk City Ring with accompanying a hostage to an exchange – they are trading a Kitori tribe member for one of their own: a prestigious member of the Wilmskirk Potters Guild.

Meeting the Wilmskirk City Ring and its dignitaries, maybe even Enstalos and Vamastal, the adventurers will find there is intrigue to be involved in or avoided, and those who would discredit the Kitori’s attempts to reintroduce themselves into Sartar as a force for good, will be harassing the adventurers at every turn.

Eventually, hostages will be exchanged and the Wilmskirk citizen will reveal their need to plumb the depths of the lake – it would seem an adventure of some magnitude, long in the planning, is about to unfold.

Will the adventurers join the quest into the lake?

Will they have the courage and belief to face what lurks within the silent depths?

Can they free a great spirit from its eons old prison?

And if they succeed, what will this mean for the Kitori and for the Styx?

How is it all connected to the rebirth of the Only Old One and the reinvigoration of the Kitori?

Questions need to  be answered.

On their journey the adventurers will meet restless tribes and clans, mythic beasts, many spirits, a satyr, a magisaur and the reincarnated spirit of Kakstan himself, ready to begin great works that will reestablish Wilmskirk as the undisputed centre of wondrous art. They may become worshippers of darkness or have to fight off a Chaos taint as they face an horrific beast from ages past.

Great honour and reputation await…

The adventure includes plot hooks and some notes on scaling-up encounters for more experienced adventurers, as well as options for non-combat outcomes to encounters and challenges.

There are detailed backgrounds and history for the tribes and clans encountered, as well as full details for all locations travelled to.

‘Many things are foretold and many things remain unseen until they choose to reveal themselves. Sometimes, more than that, an honest sage cannot say. What will be, will be. I know… not very helpful, is it?’

Gavolt Three-corners, Grey Sage of Lhankor Mhy.

Please note: The adventure is ‘PG13’ for written and visual content – please be aware of this when reading and presenting the adventure.

InfiniBadger Press Presents IBP2039
THE NECROID HOST
348 pages (342 content, 2 covers, 2 blank, and 2 OGL)

WORLDS DIE SO WE MAY LIVE

We are The Necroid Host.
We are the Everliving.
We are the Undying.
We are The Chosen of the Thirteen Chained Lords of Chaos.
We are the Instruments of the Passing of the Universe.
We are without Mercy.
We are your Eternity.
Join us and pass into Oblivion.

Millennia ago, THE NECROID HOST left their home bioplane to conquer all others. Many bioplanes fell before the SENTINELS rose to halt their advance. 

Blessed by THE LAST SYSTEM LORD and powered by the souls of a dying species already decimated by The Necroid Host, Sentinels are the brightest lights that stand against the ever-encroaching dark entropy and destruction of The Necroid Host.

 In this OSR horror science fiction campaign setting, you will find: 

• A new and exciting multiclass template class – THE SENTINEL – that allows for a new meta-adventuring play style
• A comprehensive list of available powers, abilities, and equipment to create different types of Sentinels along three different roles: Bulwark, Mender, or Support
• Complete details on the Necroid Host and the Thirteen Chained Lords of Chaos
• Sentinel and Necroid Artifacts and Relics and rules for their creation
• Lair and Lairship generation rules offering a randomized dungeon-crawling experience through Necroid bases, hulks, and derelicts
• New Weapons, Armors, Gear, and Vehicles for any campaign
• THE ALAZI STAR SYSTEM SETTING – a 50-page starter system providing a base of play for a complete campaign, as well as new species, creatures, and factions for ongoing use
• THE SENTINELS OF SKEL – a 48-page starter adventure introducing the Necroid Host and Sentinels that acts as the launching pad for an entire new campaign

The Necroid Host Campaign Setting integrates into existing or new campaigns and is compatible with many old school science fiction and fantasy game systems.

Both high- and low-resolution PDF files are included. Updated files will be coming shortly with the ability to switch off particular layers for at-home-printing, as well as internal hyperlinking for content and some additional content.

This product is a Digital+ product. See our website for more details.
  

DM Essentials #162: Ten Fighter Siege Soldier Encounters

In most games, a siege is a backdrop. A big wall. A trebuchet. A single dramatic assault.

But a siege is not a battle. It is a month of rain in a muddy trench. It is cold food and colder deaths. It is watching your friends die of sickness, not swords. Siege soldiers do not charge – they endure. They dig. They wait. They die slowly.

DM Essentials #162 gives you ten ways to make fighter siege soldiers feel like real, exhausted, desperate people at your table – not as background extras, but as the ones who have been standing in the mud for six months. The wall is high. The food is gone. Will the party survive the wait?

What's Inside?

The Fighter Siege Soldier: The Wall, The Ram, The Long Wait (Short Essay)
Endurance, hunger, despair, and the strange intimacy of prolonged warfare.

10 Encounters with the One Who Waits
Each one gives you the surface interaction, the hidden truth, and a primary check.

1. The Tunnel – Soldiers dig beneath the wall. The tunnel is unstable. The commander knows and doesn't care.

2. The Rat – A soldier offers roasted rat. It is the last of the camp dog. They haven't eaten in three days.

3. The Truce – A flag of truce goes up. One side plans to attack during the burial.

4. The Tunneler's Knocker – Tapping from below. The enemy tunnelers are lost – they are begging for help.

5. The Messenger – A messenger brings news of relief. The order is a forgery. There is no relief.

6. The Trebuchet – An engineer throws diseased cattle over the wall. They ran out of cattle – they are throwing their own dead.

7. The Deserter's Bridge – A soldier offers to smuggle the party out. They are a spy. The way out is an ambush.

8. The Sickness – Soldiers collapse with fever. The water is poisoned – by a traitor among them.

9. The Ladder – A soldier climbs the wall again and again. Their brother is on the other side. They want to find him.

10. The Wait – An old soldier stares at the wall. Six months. The commanders are cousins who don't want to win.

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

Who This Is For:

• DMs who want warfare to feel like grinding horror, not heroic charges

• Players who think a siege is just a big fight – until the rat tastes like dog

• Anyone who understands that the hardest battles are the ones where nothing happens

Also Available

Fighter Series (DM Essentials #153–161)
Mercenary, Duelist, Veteran, Knight Errant, Gladiator, Town Guard, Archer, Commander, Weapon Master

ENTER THE ARCVERSE

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

The soldier sits in the trench. The bread is mouldy. The rat is watching. The wall has not fallen.

Six months of the same mud.

When will someone end the wait?

6 superhero themed character sheet for Villians & Vigilantes 2nd ed., 5 front and back, 1 front only. 

2 in printer friendly black and white, 4 in full color. 

Underdark Scenarios Map Pack pack was designed to support adventures set below the known world, offering a diverse selection of locations suited for dark fantasy campaigns, dungeon-crawling narratives, and subterranean exploration. Whether your players are navigating precarious crossings above a raging underground river, approaching a city that displays its warnings in flesh and iron, following bioluminescent trails through fungal wetlands, or confronting the servants of a forgotten deity, these maps aim to provide both atmosphere and functionality at the table.

Included Maps:

• Three Crossings [21x28] — Three narrow passages suspended above a roaring subterranean river at the bottom of a vast chasm, lit only by the phosphorescent glow of cave fungi clinging to the stone walls — a crossing where a single misstep means a long fall into darkness.
• Underground Pond [30x40] — A vast subterranean cavern surrounding a still, murky lake, its shores dotted with luminescent fungal growth and pale stone formations, offering a rare open space in an otherwise claustrophobic underworld.
• Dark City Entrance [40x10] — The approach to a tenebrous underground city, where bodies hang from iron cages fixed to cliffs and archways, silent gargoyles watch with blind eyes from above, and every detail of the passage communicates a single message: turn back.
• Mushroom Trail to Sussur [20x30] — A flooded highland deep beneath the surface, where enormous fungi rise under the cold light of chemosynthesis and a towering Sussur tree dominates the landscape, its presence bending the rules of magic in its shadow.
• Spider God Altar [40x40] — A sacred site carved from dark rock and slick with crimson light, where jagged obsidian spires surround a ritual space dedicated to an ancient arachnid deity — a place of sacrifice, reverence, and terrible power.

Key Features:

• Roll20 Versions: Optimized Roll20 versions are included for easy use on Roll20 and other virtual tabletops with lower space requirements.
• 4K Quality Versions: Sharp and detailed for an immersive experience.
• High Res Versions: Each map comes in 8K for maximum visual fidelity, perfect for high-resolution displays and top-tier immersion at your table.
• Flawless Grid Alignment: Avoid token misplacements (when used with suggested grid dimensions).
• Easy Integration: Works with most virtual tabletop platforms.
• Visually Stunning: Add a captivating touch to your campaign.

License

• Usage: Personal and Commercial use allowed.
• Modifications: License permits alterations, modifications, cropping, or combining, but the original resolution must be maintained.
• Credit: Credit William Donel - Trovador in commercial products.
• Restrictions: Do not resell maps individually or collectively.
• DriveThruRPG/DMsGuild: Add William Donel - Trovador as Artist.

Preview:

Find us There:

Welcome to the first official setting for BILT Among The Stars!

The year is 1949, as the world lurches from the greatest conflict it has ever known to the brink of a new war, an alien menace lurks in the shadows. Set against the backdrop of Cold War paranoia, attempts to communicate with these strange visitors have receive a final, chilling response: death from above.

Now based out of Area 51, President Truman has signed a secret executive order authorizing the end of Project: Sign and the beginning of Project: Grudge. In the face of enemies immune to radar, bearing energy weapons right out of science fiction, Project: Grudge has recruited The Vanguard: amputees who gave everything they had for their country during the war, now brought back into the fight through captured alien cybernetics.

The Alien Menace. Includes detailed descriptions of five alien races, suitable for Player Characters or important NPC opponents. But you won’t have to start that work today. For each alien race, there is a detailed description at levels 3, 8, and 13. That’s 15 opponents or allies to get your campaign off the drawing table and into the fight today.

The five races included are:

The Grays 

• To them, humans are bugs under a microscope, to be studied, abducted, and dissected for pure, cold knowledge. With starships immune to human radar, they strike without warning and abduct human and animal alike with impunity. While nominally part of the invasion, they are, as always, interested only in the data.

The Rana

• Enlightened, psionic swamp-dwellers, they prayed to the heavens for the continuation of The Quest, the next stage in the spiritual elevation of the cosmos. They were conquered and enslaved, and now serve as footsoldiers for the alien invaders. Some, however, have managed to break away and join humanity in their bid for freedom.

The Barmannu

• A primitive warrior race that has been visited by their gods. They fight for glory. They fight for money. They fight for elevated beings from the heavens.

The Kattar

• A highly competitive species, these humanoid cyborgs and their mysterious Warlord are the architects of the incursion. Perhaps most disturbing of all is just how like us they are. 

The Letheans

• A once-mighty empire of shapeshifting lizard folk, these beings bring deception and destruction in their wake. They believe themselves superior to all other life forms and will not rest until their dominion stretches across the stars.

New Starships and Vehicles. Two new Gray abduction saucers, along with the weapons of Project: Grudge, a refitted B-17 and the experimental Nighthawk. Both are fullly detailed for the campaign using the starship and vehicle creation rules in BILT Among The Stars. . Also included is a discussion on running a campaign set in the late 1940’s forced to compete against futuristic alien technology.

Sign up and join the fight against the invaders today!

THE DEMO!

Watchtower is a campaign based skirmish battles game. Designed for one or more players, with rules for adding or removing players esily as each campaign goes on.

Fight against the undead, gnolls, and eldritch aboninations as they invade the area. Your goal: rescue survivors, maintain your supplies, and take out key leadership among the enemy. 

Run missions to get your jobs done, carefully assigning your company characters to dangerous tasks. After missions have been completed a caravan will arrive to provide options for your Watchtower's continued survival.

Build new features on to your tower with materials you scrounge.

Recruit and train survivors so that they can join your cause.

Recover magical relics to empower your tower's defenses or trade with caravans for additional purchasing power.

Maintain a company of characters as they struggle against the darkness. Add new members, lose them as casualties, equip them with proper tools, and make them more powerful with experience points!

TEENAGE MUTANT CAPYBARA SAMURAIS

You are a team of mutated capybaras, trained in the way of the samurai by an ancient snapping turtle, protecting the down-at-the-heels port city of Rivergate from biker gangs, exiled interdimensional warlords, and the occasional crisis of teenage self-doubt. Your dojo is a storm drain. Your van is a 1970s Econoline with a Rising Sun paintjob. Your problems are mostly social. Your enemies are mostly not.

Teenage Mutant Capybara Samurais is a lightweight RPG hack of John Harper's Lasers & Feelings, designed for fast mutant-team adventures. It's ideal for a one-shot game where you create characters in minutes, roll up a random adventure, and start playing immediately. No prep. No page-flipping. No two-hour character generation.

Inspired by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Biker Mice from Mars, Street Sharks, and every other show where animals with weapons protected a neighborhood from people who deserved it.

Includes:

• The full rules in a one-page-RPG-sized package
• A complete worked example: 1986 Rivergate City, Master Mossback, and the storm drain dojo
• Four ready-to-play pre-gen capybara samurais: Ember-Tide, Reedwalker, Stillwater, and Floodmark
• The Ronin Wagon, the team's signature vehicle
• Two ready-to-run villains: Iron Tusk, warthog biker warlord; and Korrox the Undeposed, exiled techno-warlord from Dimension Q
• A GM adventure generator for instant one-shots

The system is designed for any mutant-team setting you can imagine. The capybaras are the worked example. You can play them as-is, or use the framework to build your own crew: mutant gators, cybernetic raccoons, radioactive otters, whatever.

Teenage Mutant Capybara Samurais is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Based on Lasers & Feelings by John Harper. See more of John's games at http://www.onesevendesign.com.

Inside a hidden cartographer’s lair, you discover an enchanted globe — and the moment it activates, the entire table transforms into a living miniature world of the Two Kingdoms, pulling the players inside

Miniature heroes must survive chaotic trials set by the evil wizard Tar-Tar

Their journey spans two absurd challenges — a deadly maze-river and an insult-filled hedge maze, followed by a bizarre bake-off where a living Mimic Pie is born from a cursed recipe. Every choice shapes the fate of the toy world, leading to multiple possible outcomes of chaos, collapse, or whimsical prosperity

• 🗺️ A magical tabletop adventure inside a cartographer’s hidden lair 
• 🧙‍♂️ Two bizarre mini-games with absurd fantasy humor 
• 🎭 Player choices shape the fate of the toy world 

Grimdark Villain Motivations contains 100 dark and compelling reasons for villains to commit terrible deeds, helping Game Masters create antagonists with depth beyond simple evil. Roll once for a core driving force, or roll multiple times to combine ambitions, obsessions, fears, and desires into complex villains whose actions feel believable, tragic, or terrifying.