Super fast demon slime

This is from the Goblin campaign. I think this is the best intro dungeon I've ever made. It all started with disappearance of Skorbutnik the gem cutter. Character backgrounds were generated quickly using ToAD. Sometimes a right tool really speeds things up!

I like to have things laid down as this. It gives me the most important info that I need at hand. Of course this involved much improvisation, but - hey, I like to improvise in my life. It's not cheating, it's giving your players more space to add in their detail, of course. And, of course, it depends on your current laziness .
I am certain that having one good table and/or a mind map that works for you is better than 1d4p detailed maps with extensive descriptions and fat crunch to eat away your focus while chewing through to important bits of information that Dungeon Master (and It's synonyms) really needs.

Maps are the skin of a game.

Tables and mind maps make muscles and bones and organs.

Focus on content!

After the portal closed

I said to my players: "... ko izstopite iz portala pa pred vami ne leži več ista krajina. Stojite na vrhu hriba, pod vami se razteza bleščeče jezero, morda morje," and a friend of mine said maketa.

Fact is, that in my solitaire madness, I made a 3d campaign map. This mighty person made me do it, because on his page under RuneQuest, he wrote: My fave edition still

I didn't see RQ before, I read some of it, I read the fave edition still and I've loved it since then and when I ran at Vikings, my quest was set: Make me magnificent maquette to glorify my splendor!

A friend who does awesome things from river wood said it would be awesome if I took some fine sand from Soča and make it stick to the cardboard. So I bought materials needed and sat down to do it and after a week things started to take shape.

I could go in length about whole operation and I shared pictures of the process on google+.

For now, I want to populate this map and set the scale for it, start the development of a sandbox world to put my stuff in. I would like to play this as a settlement stage game and exploration with little or no resources.

Characters enter the area through an ancient gateway. The environment is harsh, with temperatures way below zero here at the peaks of ebony mountains. Below them, at the other side of the fjord, a thin line of smoke can be seen (set DC if you will)  as if from settlement in autumn.
Above them and back, cruel peaks of Norgulir (DC 15 to name it right) shout to the sky in frozen anger and far out in the distance all around them a peak or mound, some forest, and then the red darkness will dawn. And after red come others of many other colors.

 I'm sorry for crappy video quality. I know we live in HD age. It's good enough to get the impression of the project. I'm thinking of a way to present settlements and/or encounters movable on a map, like "fog of war" in a sense. Hope you enjoy it!

Eleven effects of "elven" weed

1. roll 2d6
2. Invoke fear: d6 1-3 of being hungry 4-5 of many strangers 6 roll again 1-3 of the dark 4-5 of hungry ancestors 6 roll again 1-3 of gravity 4-5 of death 6 it's the end of us all!!
3. Worrisome freedom tendencies: roll d4 //1-3 +2 to rolls when alone, -2 when not, 4 roll again, //1-3 quick to anger if kept occupied in activity against his will - will get in fight / argument once in four cases, 4 roll again, // 1-3 fights for freedom, sows dangerous seeds of "free societies" and "how the overlord should be replaced by someone smart" and such, which in many cases doesn't go unpunished, 4 roll again, // 1-3 attract some sympathizers and d3: 1 yell how cruel the "system" is and be extra smart about changing it, 2 march the fields and farms, petitioning the "free land" idea, leading in 15% to local rebellion, 3 vandalize handy law institution, like toll station or garrison outhouse 4 rebel against the throne and try to dismiss the"state"
4. Sudden inspiration: roll d4 //1-3 re-roll next task roll 4 roll again //1-3 gain significant clue on one problem at hand, 4 roll again //1-3 identify an object, recall lost lore and similar 4 roll again //1-3 write a song or make a painting, sculpture, etc. and present it by the end of session. If you don't, suffer -3 to all rolls next session, due to depression and self disappointment, 4 make a significant piece of art of great value. This takes 1d4 weeks to achieve, after this, enjoy +5 to all rolls due to prestige or get random illness/curse at DM's discretion because you defiled the god in you.
5. Sense distortion: roll d6, for next five turns, take d6-d6 to all rolls.*
6. Happy feet: Your natural fur thickens and curls, you feel warm and cozy. Ignore normal cold effects.
7. Non-rational hunger: Eat now, starve later! Can eat to sustain many days without sustenance
8. Pleasant atmospheric: Just breathe. Gain full HP and allow one save re-roll vs. bad condition.
9. Mental elemental: My mind is my fortress. d3 to will saves.
10. Time is nigh: roll d4: 1-3 gain +2 reflex for duration, 4 roll again, // 1-3 once in combat act twice instead of once, 4 roll again, // 1-3 ahead of time - broadly know what will happen in next round, 4 roll again // 1-3 +5 reflex saves for duration, 4 +10 reflex saves
11. Invoke bravery: roll d4: 1-3 re-roll any failed fear save, 4 roll again 1-3 things that would otherwise scare you, don't (heights, frogs, angry dogs, ...), 4 roll again, 1-3 immune to fear 4 roll again 1-3 banish the feared 4 i shall not fear you Mathilda - defy one death
12. Levitation: d6 1-3 an inch 4-5 five inch 6 roll again 1-3 a foot 4-5 five hands 6 roll again 1-3 full feast table high 4-5 for a size 6 twelve foot high

 * some better blends reduce next die to d4 or even less

• is very difficult to come by, often forbidden to posses, cultivate and sell, except in hobbit lands, it is commonly available there
• is forbidden in many civilized lands due to number 3
• takes two turns to invoke
• lasts for as many as 2d4 hours
• at start augments the character, giving bonus to personality or cha
• rolled effects settle in after one turn
• after effects depend on severity of the effect, but they all drain character for one day
• there are for sure other effects not listed here, but this is for most of the more common blends

Elvir the Black

My first character. Ever.

Elvir was a pale grim figure clad in black with mighty raven axe at his side. He and some other bastards traveled the Catacombs of Filth back in mid 90'. In that campaign, Pepi the Healer first appeared. This was our fourth AD&D 2nd ed. campaign or so. With DM Lukc's persistence and our willingness to play more, we continued tradition of role-playing in a remote town of Tolmin, Slovenia and endured 4th ed. madness.

Current campaign:

Skannersfjord

Ruleset: DCC RPG

Characters:

2 elves, a bandit and 9 more corpses

I wonder where Elvir was.

Winter is here

  Late winter snow finally covered mound Kozlov Rob in white and the sun entered the sign of the Trout that walks. The mists crept the land as howls of hungry wolves who tarried not to approach the staggered farms of Tolminska outskirts.
  Black-robed man once again checked the compass Martha gave him. He was on the right place. He unveiled weathered ox-leather bundle and placed the sticks on green mossy rocks around him. A drop of Silver Tear or two, to make things easier, he knew, and his tired eyes watered, his vision blurred. Now trees like spiders crept away, the meadow shifted in color and was now in shade of velvet. The wind became humid and air was warm to breathe with a hint of dark purple.
  He stood up on his feet and turned his head. "I bring thee Grapes of Sorrow," said he. The creature said nothing, but gazed at him in daunting silence. Then they did a strangest thing, but what it was it matters not, for in a cave three moons away from here one ember altar stands. He who burns three braziers there plays on strings of space and time and life.

Peter Leban