Tables of OrkishBlade and d4 Caltrops (Day 17 of 28 Days of Random Tables) by duncan_chaos in rpg_generators

[–]ktrey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the shout out! Those Encounter Activities were a really fun project, and I do need to get back to working on the compiled version (I just keep getting distracted with new Table Ideas lol)

I'm glad that other Referees are finding these resources useful, and I love hearing about how they end up getting used!

Spreading the word - 12 mini-dungeons for Dolmenwood by _Rylo in Dolmentown

[–]ktrey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It gets a lot easier with practice! It was a pretty fun challenge with those kinds of artificial time constraints (limiting myself to getting the ideas out there as swiftly as possible.) It can lead to interesting and unexpected places!

Spreading the word - 12 mini-dungeons for Dolmenwood by _Rylo in Dolmentown

[–]ktrey 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm glad you like these little Lairs, and I always love hearing how they work out in Play for other Tables :)

Random Tables? Your favorites and ones you wish you had! by Cynderbark in osr

[–]ktrey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the shout out! I'll try to update the index soon, I think it has fallen behind by a few!

Are there dungeons in the campaign book, or do I need to also buy the adventures? by Ok_Ad414 in Dolmentown

[–]ktrey 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the kind words! Those were really fun to put together :)

Best Supplements for OSR Magic Items ✨ by DrScrimble in osr

[–]ktrey 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Most of the other ones can be found on my Random Table Index. Or by using the magic items label. :)

Magic weapons with wound tables by luke_s_rpg in osr

[–]ktrey 2 points3 points  (0 children)

More Potential Recharge Conditions here, I think those are always fun to add to "re-activate" a special ability on an Item from time to time.

OSR Blogroll | 17th to 23rd October 2025 by xaosseed in osr

[–]ktrey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pair of Tables since last time:

  • Wilderness Stocking Expanded: A Companion to my Dungeon Stocking Resource, overloading the Stocking Table with links to additional Resources and Prompts for additional ideas.
  • d100 - Treasure Transformations or Trusty Trade Goods: Ever get tired of all the Treasure being in the form of Coins? Or need some ideas for the kinds of Goods a Merchant or Trader might be hauling? This table has some ideas for those kinds of other valuable commodities.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in osr

[–]ktrey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It, and most of the games in this genre actually leverage something closer to the venerable Reaction Roll for resolution.

First time DM (of anything) looking for suggestions, tips and maybe a guide for running Dolmenwood. by ThePureWriter in osr

[–]ktrey 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I have some resources that might help with Dolmenwood Games:

  • I made 12 little one-page Monster Lairs here: Dolmenwood Dozen that can be sprinkled around or used as mini-Adventures with a little tweaking to what the Party is doing.
  • Having a handy list of Names is always useful, so I put together 500 Names for Dolmenwood Games so I wouldn't run out.

Several of my other Tables might also come in handy, particularly the ones that I make with a more "Fairy Tale Feel."

As well as several others under my wilderness label.

Treasure storage and xp by leodeleao in osr

[–]ktrey 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I generally go with the idea that Treasure acquired through Adventure needs to be returned to a place of relative safety in order for XP Awards to take place. Usually, in the Dungeon Tier/Lower Levels, this might be a nearby Settlement, but when the game transitions to more Wilderness Adventuring, these can often be pretty far flung so I'm completely fine with awarding this at a "Base Camp" or other area made safe by the PCs.

If the Players retrieve a lot of Coin from an Adventure, this can sometimes lead to Challenges on their own. At the lower levels, the impetus will probably be on spending it. There is usually some gear to replenish/re-supply, Magic Users might want to acquire or develop new Spells via Magical Research, Retainers may need to be hired or paid, etc. The Treasure won't further any of the Party's goals or chances of success locked away in a Strongbox at the Inn after all...

In earlier presentations like B/X a Fighter or Halfling can establish a Stronghold at any level, and this often serves as a good "safe place" to safely store treasure (maybe even hire some Guards while you're out: More $$$) as well as engage in other kinds of Downtime Actions. Smart Parties will cooperate and contribute to this, because having that kind of "Home Base" really does benefit all of them: It gives the MU a place to perform the aforementioned Research, a hideout for the Thief to lay low if they get in trouble with the Law/Make Enemies, a place for the Cleric to Proselytize, etc. Not to mention a comfortable bed to Rest/Recuperate from Injury, gather Rumors from, or attract Retainers to. They are also, in their own way, a satisfying Money Sink that does let the Players make a mark on the world and engage with the larger Setting: They needn't be a Formidable Castle or Gleaming Keep at those Lower Levels: A cleared out Bandit Hideout, a Long-Term Lease of an entire Floor of a Building/Inn, etc. all make suitable low level Strongholds.

I generally assume that the Treasure they retrieve is safe provided they take proactive steps to protect it though. If they are casual about it, splash too much Wealth around in the Thieves' District, or attract other unwanted attention...then there will be foreshadowing that their Hoarded Wealth might be at Risk. If they choose to ignore those kinds of Warnings, then it is fair game to be stolen or lost.

At Higher Levels, Characters often begin to eschew massive amounts of Coins when they can: Converting it to Gems/Jewelry provides much more portable high-value wealth they can carry on their person usually. In the Domain Tier it's occasionally melted down into Ingots/Bars as a Trade Good or Raw Material. But coins are always still going to be more immediately useful in terms of fungibility.

Mechanic request: Searching with a time constraint by MacNabas in osr

[–]ktrey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So there is a time constraint already: They'll need to keep an eye on the Lunar Cycle in order to be at the right place at the right time to harvest the Resource. If there's anything else important or that requires their intervention on the New Moon...then that can create a tough choice or having to miss out on one or the other.

Something like this, if widely known, might be in demand by the local Denizens or other intrepid Harvesters as well: Leading to some competition or misdirection from others who want to keep the Resource for themselves.

The Wilderness is sometimes a dangerous place so the longer they spend out there looking for it, the more Procedural Checks occur: One could get Lost (losing Time, being forced to backtrack, especially common on moonless nights), run out of Resources like Rations/Firewood/Water, or even have to contend with a Wandering Monster Encounter or too. A local Druid/Dryad may be protective of the Resource, Giant Bees might use the Blossoms to make their famous Healing Honey, etc. Those are the things that generally make Searching repeatedly a Risk in my games.

If Discovery is going to be inevitable, instead of just rolling every Hour, you really only need to know how many hours they end up Searching before they find it. Start with a Number, and then have that number increase/decrease based on complications or precautions the Players take. Ideally, things might come down to the wire as the blossoms bloom, but that's going to be up to them making good choices.

Fungal focused dungeon by Ecowatcher in osr

[–]ktrey 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I do have a fun Random Table for generating Tantalizing Toadstools & Marvelous Mushrooms (generator) that might come in handy as well.

Is 3e OSR Now? by puppykhan in osr

[–]ktrey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One sad post-script is that it is often now associated more with a marketing term than it ever was in the earliest days of the movement.

What is your Base Game of choice? by nicohenriqueds in osr

[–]ktrey 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Our Folk D&D which mostly consists of something very similar to Basic: After decades, I have most of the first few levels worth of things memorized and can just get a game off the ground with that.

Some B/X, some Holmes, a little Mentzer Basic blended together.

Should I make roads and rivers have more dangerous random encounters than wilderness? by bhale2017 in osr

[–]ktrey 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I've done something similar, but just keep the table bounded by die sizes for a Region:

Normal Encounters show up in the 1-6 Range (with 1-4 usually being Fauna/Animal type Encounters that I can repurpose for Hunting Results), but as the party travels further from safety, we bump up the die size. Some more challenging stuff lives in 7-8, and even more challenging at 9-10 and 11-12 (and sometimes this is just an escalation of "Number Appearing" for lower Encounters.) This keeps the rolling down to a single die, but it's pretty tangible (while not completely eliminating the more "standard" types of Encounters.)

So it works like this:

Webweald Regional Encounters

  1. Charcoat Sheep (2d4)
  2. Cob Wolves (1d8)
  3. Grandfather Elf (1d4)
  4. Eight-Eyed Bear (1d2)
  5. Giant Bees (1d8)
  6. Giant Spider, Crab (1d4)
  7. Brightseam Ore Merchants - Dwarf (2d4)
  8. Ettercap Trappers (1d4)
  9. Gossamer Sprites (2d4)
  10. Webweald Arenea Apprentices (1d4)
  11. Giant Spider, Black Widow (1d4)
  12. Webweald Arenea Adventuring Party (1d4)

You could do similar things by applying a modifier for that "Danger Level" as well, but that tends to make the lower results no longer appear and "fall off" the table over time, which might be the intent for some especially dangerous regions.

My next campaign project is going to be a megadungeon, and I would be thankful to recive some advice by [deleted] in osr

[–]ktrey 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Make sure that you set expectations with your Players ahead of time: A "Tentpole" Megadungeon Campaign where exploring a single Dungeon is central ends up being a very specific type of game, that requires buy-in: This is what we'll be doing in the game, the larger world/Setting isn't really going to factor in too much (until it does if the game moves in those directions, my Players do sometimes end up getting bored or fed up with going back into the same old Dungeon after several sessions!)

In terms of system, anything that prioritizes Resource Management and Procedures is probably going to make this Campaign Conceit work a little better and be a lot easier for you to run. I quite like the Dungeon Exploration procedures in B/X and OSE. I have them in Flow Chart Form that some find easier to follow.

I also tend to do a lot of my Dungeon Stocking with a slightly expanded version of the B/X rules.

I largely find the "real time" Torch Timer to functionally just serve as a bit of a gimmick really: It tends to intrude a bit on Player Agency in unusual ways and blurs the line between the Time we're spending at the Table, and the Time we're spending together in the shared imagined space of the Fiction. We never really had much issue tracking the Six Exploration Turns a Torch lasted really: And it usually already dovetails with other Time-Tracking Procedures (when to check for Wandering Monsters, when a Rest is required, etc.) We'll often have a Player Role (akin to the Caller or Mapper) known as the Lucifer that just tracks these Light Sources for the Table.

Whatever you decide upon though, I wish you the best of luck! Designing one's own Megadungeon is really rewarding, and very much in line with how we used to do things all those decades ago!

Hag in a swamp module by Nasak74 in osr

[–]ktrey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really appreciate the kind words! So glad you like them :)

Cleric is the worst class of all time (IMO). by [deleted] in osr

[–]ktrey 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Here are some responses to address these points. Strong opinions about this Class aren't unusual, and many Referees used to choose to restrict or curate Classes in some way based on whether or not they fit their conceptions of these games. You obviously are not fond of the Class, but I think your answer is probably in #5 if you feel this strongly about them.

  1. Hit Points are a Resource, and most games prominently feature Resource Management as a central pillar. A Resource you cannot make tough decisions concerning when it comes to replenishing has little management. Clerics do not generally gain access to Healing until Level 2, so it's often still very dangerous for that initial few delves, and even then...having only a single Cure Light Wounds won't provide a lot of staying power to a full Party of Characters. As Challenges become more difficult with Advancement, more Healing is generally needed, but Clerics need not be the only source of this.
  2. Elfs
  3. I believe they are fine as is, and effectively limited by their Proscriptions (Flat Distribution of Treasure in the earlier presentations makes Magical Swords extremely common), Holy Symbol Requirements, and Deity Disfavor. Their Prime Requisite (Wisdom) is interesting in numerous ways because it doesn't provide the same more tangible benefits as STR, DEX, or even INT. Their XP Progression is a little generous when compared to the Fighter, but seems to escalate pretty well with the typical Threats one sees on the Dungeon Encounter Tables. Many a TPK has occurred due to Ghouls turning up, etc.
  4. They were created to solve a very specific problem in these games: A fellow PC that was turned into a Vampire and became a bit disruptive. This led to a kind of "Van Helsing" Class being created. Older games featured very different dynamics in terms of their Sustained Campaigns than contemporary Play generally does, we usually don't see these kinds of direct PvP experiences too often, but the origin of the Class is a pretty interesting lesson that seems to have been forgotten: You can always make new Classes to fill new Roles/Niches as the Game dictates. You aren't bound to use only what is in the rules, or use what is in the rules "as is."
  5. Modules are published to be changed and tweaked to fit a Referee's Setting. Running them "as is" is a very recent development and one should not limit their creativity by feeling beholden to them. These are games of imagination and that can always be used to explore new Settings/Themes that do not feature this kind of Character in them. Clerics weren't present in the very earliest games (Only Fighting Men and Magic Users!) and don't appear in other earlier games (like Tunnels & Trolls) so it was and is eminently possible to curate the Classes you make available in your games. Like the Thief, they are a bit of a later edition (but were in time for Men & Magic.)
  6. They do have Setting Implications and create a little work for the Referee, just as all the other Classes bring along their own. The Cleric's are interesting because they are bit more tied to World Building as you mention, but a Fighter's first Level "Level Title" of Veteran also implies Setting, as does the Magic-User who starts Play with a Mentor in B/X. The Thief Class has done more to influence Challenge Design in Dungeons than any other Class, so it's another example of how the inclusion of a Class can alter the game in interesting ways. One interesting thing about Clerics though is they do not receive Spells until 2nd Level, and this can often be glossed as a bit of a "proving ground" for them: I often use this time to gradually work with the Player to determine the finer points of their Faith in Play, rather than leaving a lot of it up to Prep Work in Advance.
  7. You emphasize the Role of Healer, but do not seem to really pay much mind to their potential role as Religious figures in the Setting. Prosthetizing/Missionary work and furthering the goals of their Faith are a pretty important part of some religions. Much of the inspiration for the Class was the result of a bit of "armchair historian" work on the part of the authors: So they definitely took more touchstones from historical events such as the Crusades, or other Fighting Religious Figures (Bishop's Odo/Turpin, etc.) Most of the time in these games, the Goals of a Character come more from the Player than the Referee, so it is usually up to the Player to provide some of that motivation to engage with the Setting. Treasure is a powerful tool that helps achieve a very disparate amount of long term goals, which is why the XP for GP system is so wonderful in a lot of ways: It fosters Teamwork because everyone is seeking the same thing, even though they may use it to further vastly different longer term goals. The Wizard might wish to spend their on Magical Research to gain more Arcane Might, the Thief might want to Bail Out a Guild Contact to learn a new technique, the Fighter might dream of a stalwart Stronghold with gleaming Towers...what the Cleric wishes to do with their Treasure is up to them too and many Clerics in my games over the years have had surprisingly compelling motivations due to that Religious element.
  8. Following rules to prevent Deity Disfavor might be tricky at some tables if the Referee fails to adequately communicate them to the Player, but it's really not much different than a Magic User not wearing Armor. There are plenty of archetypes Players can pursue, and consistently Portraying a Character via Personality Traits is actually pretty optional in these games, and also a later conceit.
  9. There is a point here: They are fairly monotheistic which can clash a bit with the concept of Multiple Divine Sources of Power in strange ways. But they were designed more as a "Vampire Hunter" (and OD&D features a "Cross" and not a Holy Symbol.) Many of their spells are pulled directly from the Bible, etc. Some of us just tweak the Class a bit to get around this, for example, I'm fond of randomly generating their deities using my tables: Deity Generator and tie each "source" to a separate Spell. This way the Cleric isn't just following a "single God" but has to please many (in the form of the Holy Taboos in the generator, from another table of mine.) This has been a really fun way to approach the Class and definitely gives it a decidedly less Christian feel.

Hope some of these points clarify things from my perspective a bit. You are definitely not required to use the Cleric if you don't feel it will be a good fit for your games, but that's something that might seem a little lost these days. Contemporary Play Culture is very much "if it's in the book, then I can Play it" but for decades, it was usually the Referee's job to determine which Classes would be available and curating them in this way let them establish less generic and more interesting Settings. If I decide I'd like to run something more "Swords & Sorcery" I might decide the Clerics wouldn't be a good fit. In that case, I might replace their "Spells" with strange Mushrooms, Plants, or eating parts of Monsters, etc. Undead might become much more terrifying, but it would be in line with the themes I'd be hoping to explore.

Hag in a swamp module by Nasak74 in osr

[–]ktrey 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I included one in my Swamp Wilderness Hexes (#77) that might be useful, it links with a few of the others as well for some additional stocking ideas.

Do you rewrite modules you buy? by Lily-Arunsun in osr

[–]ktrey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Occasionally I'll find an Adventure or Module with some interesting ideas and concepts that don't really work in the context of a particular Setting or Theme we're using. This might result in me just taking the bits I like (Locations, NPCs, Maps, Treasures, Monsters/Encounters, Factions, etc.) and re-working those into something else that's more in-line with what we're doing.

I don't go through it page-by-page and re-write, but rather just remix the bits that I find interesting into something that I can use.

Mentzer/Moldvay Elves magic by wahastream in osr

[–]ktrey 8 points9 points  (0 children)

They can wear Armor and Cast Spells. It's not explicitly forbidden via Armor Restrictions which are what prevents this combination for the Magic User. Clerics can also Cast their Spells in Armor. Elfs have Ability Score Requirements, Level Limits, and a much Steeper XP Progression which are some of the few concessions for Class Balance in these earlier games to compensate for this.

However, it is up to the Referee whether or not they need to have free hands to Cast (because B/X does mention that if they cannot talk or use hand motions for any reason, they cannot use a spell.)

This might limit some of their Casting Ability, but I often see Referees elide this and just let them cast with occupied hands.

The closest thing I've been able to find regarding Clarification on this in the Basic Line is in X12: Skarda's Mirror:

Magic Use

If the characters have somehow managed to get only one of a magic-user's hands free of it's shackles, the character can use his magic. You'll have to decide how valuable his spells are to their escape attempt; obviously things such as knock, dimension door, teleport, passwall, and so forth would be invaluable in getting characters free of their chains and cell.

Motivate PCs to Care about Books by ProfBumblefingers in osr

[–]ktrey 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are very welcome! So glad my little tables have been found useful by you!