Location: Astos (Country-As-Dungeon)

 This is another experiment in overland travel procedure. Wise voices have remarked that in many ways we want the same sorts of things from an overland journey as we want from a dungeon-crawl. To get my head around this idea, I've designed a map for a country, as though it were a dungeon with twenty areas. The connections are more approximate than for a dungeon, and I'm sure there are many tweaks you'd have to make to the normal crawling procedure to make it work well. This is all untested, a quick mock-up to get my head around the idea, but it's already throwing up all sorts of questions for me. Adapting "empty" rooms, special areas, monsters, traps, and treasure really got my creative juices flowing.

I guess you'd want to say that characters don't heal any HP while they travel, as that rather deflates the danger when travel takes so long. On the other hand, if someone has a healing spell they can cast every day, I suppose that would really change up the math of HP attrition. It makes sense that the DM should set the scene of any encounters such that they can often spin off into further scenes at the normal, personal, minute-to-minute scale. That way, players won't get used to the idea that it's safe to use all their daily spells and abilites right away in every overland encounter. You'd also want to figure out how rationing, foraging, and other concerns are reckoned, which I have helpfully not done to leave it as an exercise for you.

Astos

The kingdom of Astos is a synthesis of post-LoTR fantasy doorstopper influences like Wheel of Time, the Inheritance Cycle, and the Kingkiller Chronicle. It's one of those nominally calm and cheerful lands that doesn't understand the peril it is slouching into, helped along by agents of a Shadow or Dark One or what have you. Like many dungeons, it has a few factions— the secretive conspirators against King Alerholt, the idealistic servants of the crown, and the elf-friends, ideologically aligned with the crown but disillusioned with the king and the nobility.

1 Turn represents about a week of travel, and covers a region or about five squares, assuming the party is moving carefully. Travel will be slower when they check out points of interest, get especially encumbered, brave the winter, or face inclement weather.  Travel will be faster when they ride fast mounts, rush heedlessly, or are aided by the terrain.

Little ford symbols and door markers represent natural connections between regions. If they are connected, a party can enter at any reasonable point; they don't need to first journey to the spot on the border that has a door symbol. Some regions don't have a natural connection. At the DM's discretion, entry can still occur, though it will take 1d4 Turns. If the party has guides to the area, they can roll the die first and then decide if they want to attempt it.

2d6 Random Encounters (1-in-6 every Turn)

2. 1d10 undead shadow-warriors. Their cursed swords prevent healing and drain 1 hp per day. Those slain rise a week later as shadows.

3. 2d10 2 HD monstrous humanoids who serve an even freakier 8 HD monster

4. 1d100 con artists, brigands, or pirates

5. Heavy rains slow travel. Roll another encounter check.

6. wildlife-- roll a d4: 1. 2d6 wild dogs, 2. herd of deer, 3. spying pigeons, 4. boar

7. Faction encounter: spies, knights, or weary elves

8. Corrupt or inept official

9. Peasant who offers help (on negative reaction, duplicitously)

10. Doomsaying prophet (high-level cleric, reaction roll determines alignment), 25% of a mob

11. 3d10 skeletons

12. Rotnem, a surly yet wise immortal dwarf wizard whose personality was mangled by a curse.

Areas

1. Morcanor (Elf-Friends): redoubt of elven scholars in a grand gully hidden in the heart of a forest, called by outsiders Morcanor's Woods. Their rugged custodians, called "Elf-Friends", tend to cordon them off from interlopers, as they are credulous and fragile. PCs will be intercepted by an Elf-Friend patrol (stats as brigands). On a negative reaction roll they will drive the PCs off with bows and pen-knives. On a more positive roll, they'll tell them to beat it more nicely. If you can actually get into Morcanor, the elves can tutor magic-users, identify magic items, or confer +1 arrows and polearms on those they charge with a solemn quest. These elves are distinguished by their pastel robes, wispy hair with sap-scented oils, maypoles, and love of dance. The captain of the Elf-Friends here is the aging surveyor Vortins.
2. Tewse Marsh (Elf-Friends): peat harvesting villages, dilapidated gallery roads, and spooky trees. Slows travel. A horrific meat-grinder of a battle from last generation's war hangs like a spectre over the people here, and wishful indigents sometimes dive for treasure that they know isn't really there. Cockscomb hats and falcata are in fashion here.
3. River Guimri (conspirator): a meandering, steep-banked river that slows travel unless you buy passage on a fast boat (30 gp/Turn). The fish here are inept, and "Guimri fish" is an insult across all of Astos.
4. Limondy (Crown): a woodcutting region, known for its vineyards and fine hounds. Of late, a strain of shaggy black hounds have escaped captivity and mingled with wolves to birth a race of murderous freak-shucks. PCs visiting Limondy can purchase un-freaked hounds, as well as expensive wines that function as potions of certain spells.
5. Orcarad (Crown): the lands overseen by the lady knight Orcarad, chapter master of the knights of St. Nilte. She shelters "true" allies of the crown who are increasingly out of place in the capital at Silat, as well as renovating the order's main chapterhouse. Fighters who swear an oath of loyalty, pass a few trials, and keep an overnight vigil can be inducted into the order here, receiving a horse and a unique coat of arms as well as the following blessings ot Saint Nilte: to heal another with a touch for [level]x2 HP once per day, at 3rd level to constantly be affected as by protection from evil, and at 5th level or higher cast cure disease once per day. If they seriously break their oaths they will lose these blessings, and upon their fellows learning this they will be barred from the order. The common people of Orcarad are mostly engaged in ranching, and known for colorful quilted cloaks as well as their tolerance of witches.
6. Liorlin Fields (none): wide, rustic spaces with small trade towns along the rivers. Renowned for their wool clothing and tobacco, which they sell at a suitable price. However, if you go even further into the remote hamlets where the tobacco is grown and sheep are shepherded, you will find the salt of the earth, an insular but straightforward folk descended from the demigod Addartas. Not only are their goods sold for a great deal, but any hirelings picked up here get +1 HD, proficiency with bows and clubs, and a [level]-in-6 chance of comprehending ancient languages, a fact that will surprise and concern even them when they discover it.
7. Fog Lake (Conspirators): crossed by ferries and barges (5 gp a head), but infested by freshwater sharks, servants of the Dark One.
8. Lake Vale (Elf-Friends): an ancient forest with overgrown paths, old stone pillars, and root-banked ponds. Slows travel. Legends claim that the first king of Astos, Lenregne,  lingers in these woods, promising to return in the realm's greatest need.
9. Caivret (Crown): a province ringing a town of banking and law, and the royal family's summer holdfast. There lingers Princess Margane, forced into a sort of semi-exile for attempting to reverse the evil law of her father's ministers. While loyalist forces attend her, she privately confides in her bodyguard, the half-elf Llad, that she has begun to wonder if the monarchy is worth keeping around at all. Unbeknownst to her, there are agents of the Shadow in her coterie, and at the first sign of her striking out against their master, such as if the PCs convince her to help them in some great quest, assassins will poison her and her guests at the next meal. The province is known for its many-colored fields of flowers and the propensity of its people to gamble on anything.
10. Barrow Hills (Elf-Friends): grassy, stony hills often studded with ancient barrows. One hill, called simply Elf Hill, is sometimes seen to have clouds of mist emerging from its elf-glyph-covered barrow mouths. This comes from a gateway at the center of the barrows in that hill that serves as a portal to Morcanor. The warm air of those woods combine with the barrow chill, and thus produce mist and fog. Those who walk through the gateway find themselves in a still grove near the heart of Morcanor. The elves will probably be pissed with them if they find out.
11. Laigal (Crown): semi-lawless series of towns, taverns, jealously guarded orchards, and military camps in the outlying lands around Silat. Locals are hostile to anyone who doesn't match their idea of a proper Astosian. -3 reaction unless you're a Laigali, cleric, brewer, horseman, or mother, and encounters are met on a 3-in-6. Despite everything, they are emphatic patriots. The closest thing to an authority in the region is the Cohort, an organization of professional firefighters/burglars. Their hideout conceals a vast treasury, including some cool spell scrolls and Matagot, a blackened +1 intelligent dagger with a tiger's eye in the hilt that can see through invisibility. It has a feline personality, which has led to some questions around the captain of the Cohort's sanity.
12. Silat (Conspirators): capital of Astos and the seat of King Alerholt. Unfortunately, a den of vipers managed by sycophants and liars only meaningfully opposed by street gangs that sometimes riot against the more draconian policies enacted in the king's name. Anything the PCs might do here that sets them out will be met with interrogations, extorted bribes, and/or surreptitious deportation into Laigal. Alerholt's chief advisor, Malise, is a rube, controlled by the palace's butler and spy for the Dark One, Teird.
13. River Black (Conspirators): wide, deep river that speeds travel if you can secure a barge (20 gp/Turn, rustic) or passage on a river boat (50 gp/Turn, ritzy, secure). Near the headwaters of the river are the ruins of the Black City, a walled series of cyclopean streets and leaning towers. Within is an ash-covered woman in a black robe who calls herself the Patroness (Stats as ghost). If she can get a rube to take something she gives them out of the Black City, it will cause their soul to fester. They'll get grouchy, refuse to part with their gift, and lose 1 wisdom per Turn. At 0, she will hatch from the victim reborn, with stats as a death knight and an eye to conquest.
14. Sorrow (Elf-Friends): abandoned gnome towns in scenic birch woods. It is said that they left when a compact forged with them was broken by the king of Astos. Hidden in each town's well is a secret tunnel that leads to their hideout, for their departure was feigned. They are suspicious of outsiders, but are lifelong friends. Once they played drums and sang, but now none dare. Remarkable for their pointed navy caps, coracles, and brandy.
15. Kevalrigme's Gap (Conspirators): rough climbing through the barest and narrowest mountain pass. Impassable for horses, but mules can just about manage it. In the winter months, the thick icicles that form hanging from ancient stone arches along the "path" render travel practically impossible. The wizard Kevalrigme's country starts on the eastern side of the mountain, and he knows how to conjure winter storms out of season.
16. Pello (Elf-Friends): windy, windy, windy plains. Did you think you could cross the flatlands without much hassle? Wrong! Much hassle! Travel is slow and loud, and unless you have a ranger or something in your party you might emerge from the plains 1d90 degrees off-course.
17. Danbrangoire (Conspirator): soybean farmers and gardeners, the descendants of the Cognomen survivors of Tadyffire. Hidden in attics and cellars are valuable mechanisms, strange weapons, and clockwork creatures. Unwholesome and poisonous gasses sometimes float down from the Cognomen ruins in the mountains (1-in-6 chance per Turn), and those who breath them in must save vs death, getting a mutation on a successful save. The ancient Cognowoman Langwain seeks to gather an expedition to retake Tadyffire.
18. Tadyffire Gate (Conspirators): the ruins of a city that ran under the mountains, a wonder of brass and fire. The Cognomen once facilitated trade between Astos and its neighbor across the mountains, Hest, but some great doom befell them and none have managed to solve the child-grade riddle on the gate to pick through the ashes. Someone who manages it will find a dungeon-type environment populated by salamanders who have repurposed the great machines to their own uses, but may find the route through to Hest, a region of free towns, renowned falconers, and gregarious river magicians.
19. Amber Coast (Crown): the last prosperous province of Astos, a breadbasket so fertile that its stiff-necked city-slicker ruler, Count Brover, can't mismanage it so badly that the gold doesn't come rolling in. As long as we get a spot of rain soon. The pub is the center of public life here.
20. Grand Port (Conspirators): once a great trade port, now much diminished by the slow worsening of the world. Very few ships come into the bay from foreign lands these days, and even fewer head out. Many of the remainder are unsuccessful second-generation buccaneers, and PCs are liable to encounter 1d20 of them soon enough. Grand Port sits between the coast and the southern extent of the mountains, and serves as a gateway to the Hestian hinterlands.

Player Advice: Traps

I've tried to write a definitive guide to traps for players in OSR-style games a couple of times, but struggled to compose something complete and engaging. Therefore, what follows will be unstructured and incomplete. 

Proviso: there are many ways to play tabletop dungeon games. The way your DM runs things is not the way I run things or the way you run things or the way anyone else runs things. Accept their unique style with grace and adapt to it.

In general, we can say that every trap has a trigger, the cause or catalyst of the action; a mechanism, the means of the action; and the trap itself, the negative consequence of the action.

Triggers are almost always the result of a character's behavior when they interact with something. You can keep this in mind. The trigger of a trap is almost always something that a DM (or the NPC who set the trap) thinks the PC might do. A trapped chest is more likely to have a trigger designed to go off when you open the lid, pick the lock, or remove the entire object than one designed to go off when you get it wet, sit on it, or rotate it. Think about the environment's affordances.

Often, the triggering behavior is a surprise but the triggering object is apparent. Consider what the DM describes about an area. Is the floor mentioned, even just to say it is composed of tiles? Is there any sort of artificial mechanism, even one as simple as a hinge? What would I guess you might do? 

You will sometimes have to trigger traps intentionally. They might guard treasure, block access to other sections of the dungeon, or have potential use against enemies. The best way to trigger a trap safely is to be as far away as possible. Maybe you can pull a level with a loop of rope, standing 100 feet back. The second-best way to trigger a trap is to be standing in an unintuitive spot. When you stand behind a treasure chest and open it that way, any spring-firing darts loaded within will totally miss you because you opened it in a way the designer did not intend and stood in an area they did not target.

There is a corollary to this: beware of gas weapons. Gasses fill the volume of their container, which is to say the dungeon chamber and your lungs. If you expect to deal with poisonous gas, you might be able to hold your breath or inflate a pig bladder for air or something. But even this is not a sure thing! Some gasses are corrosive or acidic, and damage on contact with the skin or eyes.

Mechanisms are tricky to deal with because they are usually the part of the trap that is least-described. DMs don't usually have a diagram showing exactly how applying pressure to a tripwire causes spears to shoot out of the wall. But if you can interrupt the working of a mechanism, you will usually have neutralized the trap.

If you have a good guess of how the trigger works, you can try to render it inoperable or disconnect it from the rest of the mechanism. Some tripwires, when snipped, are ruined. Some trapped locks can be sawed out of their housing.

You don't need to disable the trigger to disable the mechanism. Every component of the trap has the potential to be disabled. If there are suspicious holes in the wall, you can plug them up even without knowing what causes bolts to shoot out of them. If you have the time, disable as many stages of a trap's mechanism as you can.

Unfortunately, many of a trap's inner workings will be hidden behind walls and under the floor. Be more suspicious of rigid, flat surfaces like cabinet sides, sarcophagi, and trapdoors, than you would be of soft and flexible material like sackcloth and flesh.

Worse yet, magical traps typically have no mundane means of being mangled. Magic traps can summon objects from thin air or detect actions far more subtle than mechanical means normally allow. If you have the means to dispel magic, great. Otherwise, be aware that some traps have otherworldly mechanisms that you cannot interact with, and will require other approaches to deal with safely.

Traps proper are the payoff of the whole production. Until you have seen a trap go off, never assume that you know exactly what the trap will do. If you get out of the trajectory of a series of holes expecting bolts to fire out of them, only to be met with corrosive gas, you'll feel like a fool.

The easiest traps to deal with are projectiles and blades, because you can try to disable the trap with danger zones in mind. Other traps, like fire traps, acid, gas, spell blasts, are tricker to deal with because they can affect a general area, and you may need to be within that area in order to manipulate the trap mechanism. 

Still other traps don't attack their target at all. They might activate a falling gate that blocks the way out of a dungeon or do other disadvantageous things that bring on incidental danger. You're usually safe from this kind of trick if the mechanism can be picked up and moved somewhere else, but if it is built into the architecture you must assume it can affect that architecture until you understand how it works.

Smashing up a potentially-trapped container to bypass the mechanism is often possible, but often undesirable. Unless you can take it out of the dungeon before attempting the maneuver, you risk spending time and making noise which can attract dungeon monsters. The contents can be damaged if you breach a chest with an axe or a sledgehammer, shredding scrolls and shattering potions. If you can take your time, you might be more likely to succeed with an awl, a saw, or other means of breaching the container without smashing it apart. This is where those rigid, flat surfaces can work for you.

Over the course of a campaign, try to keep in mind the sorts of triggers, mechanisms, and traps you encounter. There will always be novel problems, but the same DM in the same milieu will usually repeat certain common elements. When you learn how to spot potential triggers, mangle mechanisms, and avoid dangerous trap effects, you'll impress your fellows and enrich your coffers. Best of luck.

You are ready for A D V E N T U R E !

100 Fairy Peon Quests

"Quest" is generally a pretty dramatic word for a goal, but fairies, elves, goblins, dwarves, belsnickels and the like are pretty dramatic creatures.

d100 Fairy Peon Quests
1. stumble drunkenly across all Christendom
2. moving from a summer to winter dwelling, or vice-versa
3. peddling wares and exploiting arbitrage between Fairyland and the lands we know
4. seeking a new home after being driven out of their old one
5. delivering a lich’s soul into a designated successor/stronghold
6. seeing the world as part of a coming-of-age ritual
7. scouting out potential homes for their vampiric darke master
8. on their way to terrorize humanity
9. get some well-deserved R&R after terrorizing humanity
10. The Hangover-style attempt to reconstruct the events of a wild bender
11. prosecute titanic royal custody dispute
12. securing an ancestral claim to part of the dungeon against others of their kind
13. opening a new front of the elf war
14. feuding amongst themselves for leadership
15. scrounging together a deep ransom
16. rioting, for the time to overthrow their grasping, grandiose, greedy grandee has come!
17. living out an exile before they can return home
18. witnessing their captain's solemn vow of revenge against their usurping uncle
19. forcing cassandras who have spoken against their boss to dig their own graves
20. argue forcefully for the best way to teach young ones their cultural myths and mores
21. consume dungeon denizens to gain their strength
22. rerouting dungeon throughfares to discourage unwanted visitors and entice the right crowd
23. seeking tribute for a dragon
24. seeking prey for a wild hunt
25. concocting some truly rank goo
26. collecting firewood, very rare in the depths
27.  harvesting worked stone or tile from the walls of the dungeon
28. crafting or reforging a powerful weapon or other item
29. putting together an incredible feast
30. bottle canal water to sell to human rubes
31. pre-emptive strike against disliked monster type
32. spying on the mortal realm
33. establishing a checkpoint to restrict other fairies' passage
34. looking to kidnap an outsider to serve to their liege
35. preventing a troll or other regenerating creature from returning to life
36. destroying a dragon's egg before rival creatures can get to it
37. fulfilling an unwise oath to attack and dethrone another dungeon denizen
38. seeking some rube to go against the master of their enemies
39. crackdown on differing customs to enforce racial hierarchy
40. opportunistic, recreational raid for honor and glory
41. ditching unlucky dice and similar effects
42. seeking the perfect wedding gift
43. guarding a seemingly innocuous piece of trash
44. assembling the several pieces of a once-important gewgaw
45. collecting statues and busts so their wizard master can transmute them into living people
46. collecting the clothing of humans, especially uniforms
47. collecting stories
48. seeking jokes that will make the elf king laugh
49. trying to figure out what, to humans, is a common instinct, such as fear or joy
50. fleeing their reflection
61. seeking prophecies regarding the one destined to slay their master
62. studying the dungeon's architecture, furnishings, or inhabitants
63. interrogating a kidnapped human
64. figuring out what this weird key goes to
65. trying one of their members for a nonsensical crime
66. advising a human on their personal dilemma
67. teaching unwise and dangerous magic
68. redacting mentions of their master in histories and folklore
69. learning how to remove a wasting curse that afflicts their master
70. charting the area for later kastromantic rituals
71. collecting pelts, a task given by their master to waste their time
72. domesticating unintelligent dungeon creatures
73. teaching birds to carry messages
74. throwing the best party ever seen to impress their various objects of affection
75. learning to ride and battle-training monsters
76. harvesting venom
77. hunting the unicorn
78. forming perverse animal hybrids
79. maintaining a herd of livestock for profane rituals
80. dreaming up a night-mare for their death-knight commander to ride
81. proselytizing for a fairy sage who styles himself an immortal saint
82. observing a pilgrimage, with stations and rituals that seem made up in the moment
83. purifying themselves for the next step of the Great Work
84. punishing a transgressing outsider severely
85. chasing down or cutting off a fugitive that possesses an important relic
86. destroying the icon of an unfavored faith
87. serving a dragon for a century and a day, to enlarge their own honor
88. tracking down coins stolen from a mummy's tomb
89. fearfully allowing themselves to be "reborn" as undead
90. getting a human to sort out once and for all what's right and wrong about this "religion" thing
91. establishing a network of mushroom circles that will allow their immaterial lord to manifest
92. following hints found in old scrolls leading to a major cursed item
93. trying to find a djinni's lamp.
94. attempting to please a godparent
95. carefully observing the steps prescribed by a treasure map
96. seeking the cure to a deadly affliction
97. stealing a dragon's young
98. tracking down a spellbook
99. consulting, then silencing, sages regarding the means a being thrown outside of time may return
100. telling chaotic beings to be patient and keep the faith, for the queen shall soon be among us

OSR Podcasts: Notes and Recommendations

 I never intended to become a podcast guy, but fate has intervened. In this blogpost I will run down many of the OSR-related podcasts I've listened to and enjoyed, with an eye towards giving the reader enough informaiton to determine if they might be interested in checking each out. These will not be deeply critical reviews. I feel at least a little positively about each of these, and a couple have interacted with me or my work in some small way that would suffice as a bribe to someone as venal as I.

I don't link to the podcasts because of the weird way podcasts are distributed. You have a podcatcher of choice and I'm sure you can find any of these easily. To speak to my own preferences, I will say that I am perfectly happy to listen to something very long, that I value sincerity and positivity in these sorts of podcasts, and that I think the best inspiration for your game is to be found in non-RPG writing-- legends, fiction, and history.

3d6 Down the Line
Format: Actual Play, post-game "detox"
Episode Length: two hours actual play, 20 minute detox
Notes: really solid OSE actual play series, with as few concessions as possible towards being a show over being a game. Features a dozen episodes of a Dolmenwood campaign before switching to the megadungon Arden Vul. Partway through the series, they've begun posting a "dungeon detox" after each session where the players and DM discuss the game and how they think about it, and those have been a real treat. If the name makes you wary that this is a crew of over-the-top purists, let me reassure you that they're normal non-fanatics.

Appendix N Book Club
Format: two dudes talking
Episode Length: one hour
Notes: two hosts, often joined by a guest, read a book from AD&D's Appendix N (or sometimes some other book) and discuss it, usually trying to guess why it might appear on that list. I appreciate that they're willing to speak to what they don't like about a book or setting which is much revered in OSR spaces, and through this podcast I've learned a lot about the genre fiction of the twentieth century. Sometimes, they do seem vaguely embarrassed by the quest they've taken up, as they attempt to explain to an unimpressed guest why they had them read, say, a super-racist but nevertheless worthy Conan tale.

Between Two Cairns
Format: two dudes talking, starting with an open discussion or mail bag question, then going over a module
Episode Length: one hour
Notes: great chemistry between the hosts. As an OSR/NSR/indie duo, their approach to their module reviews is alloyed with many mettles. You can tell they both think a lot about how adventures should work, or why they like the things they do, but they do not make a vice of theorizing.

Blogs on Tape
Format: spoken essay
Episode Length: varies, but short
Notes: takes OSR blogposts on differing topics and relates them directly as written. Really a grab bag of content, and a great way to find previously unknown writers. I wouldn't think that I would want to hear someone read me a d12 table but it turns out that's exactly what I would like.

Fear of a Black Dragon
Format: two dudes talking, going over a module then using it as a jumping-off point for a GMing topic
Episode Length: one hour
Notes: good companionship between the hosts. As a Gauntletine/new school duo, their engaging and insightful module reviews sometimes frustrate me as they pivot to discussing how to rewrite an adventure into a format of play that doesn't personally engage me as much. Sometimes, one of the hosts can make a vice of theorizing, or of Naming A Technique To Claim It, but on the whole they've got interesting things to say. The media recommendations they make at the end of every episode never fail to intrigue me.

The Grognard Files
Format: variable
Episode Length: hour and a half
Notes: I mostly listened to earlier episodes of this podcast, which have the charming hallmarks of a group still figuring out the basics of recording audio. Many episodes go into the history of a particular game, and listening to this series has helped me to understand the history RPG hobby. Great example of an older generation podcast, with humor I sometimes appreciate more because it's familiar than because it's my kind of joke. By the same token, they actually have first-hand experience of many classic games in the milieu where they were new and exciting, and their anecdotes regarding that time really can't be replicated by someone of my generation doing a readthrough and theorizing about what playing these games must have been like.

Into the Megadungeon
Format: two dudes talking
Episode Length: 40 minutes
Notes: exciting newer podcast. Consists of a host with a new guest every episode, discussing their methods of making a megadungeon and running a megadungeon campaign. The genius of this simple idea is that because every DM develops their own ingenius methods, every episode manages to be quite different, and with distinctions that are endlessly interesting to people who run games. This is to say nothing of the luminaries who have so far graced the show. It seems like if there's anyone in the OSR scene whose brain I'd like to pick on how they run games, they will eventually appear on Into the Megadungeon.

Monster Man
Format: short analysis of 1-3 monsters (main series) or in-depth analysis of 1 (special episode)
Episode Length: 10 to 20 minutes
Notes: perhaps the most efficient inspiration on this list. A knowlegeable and friendly host, going through D&D monsters (often passing through monster manuals in order), talking about what he likes about them and what sorts of ideas they inspire in him. Because the episodes are so short, really there's no fat on the bones here. The successful effect of the podcast is summarized in its slogan, "Talking about monsters because monsters are cool."

Save or Die
Format: variable, often roundtable discussion
Episode Length: give or take an hour
Notes: fair warning, this is one of the most irregular podcasts I've listened to, in terms of audio quality, releases, cast composition, format, everything. It's a very DIY sort of podcast, with a less strong raison d'etre. But isn't that kind of great? It's great that some people can make a podcast and have fun with it, and take you along for the ride. I can't even tell you much about what this podcast is "about" beyond old school and OSR topics. But I can say that I've listened to dozens of episodes without regretting it. If you try this show and don't enjoy it, I would recommend skipping back or forward thirty episodes and seeing if you like that version of it.

Tale of the Manticore
Format: translated solo play interspersed with scenes
Episode Length: 30 minutes
Notes: a unique project by a fellow quite interested in sound-mixing, to the enterprise's credit. He plays through a solo campaign, rolling for almost everything to avoid being a partial referee to himself, then records the story of events, often with voice-acted vignettes or flashbacks. It's an interesting blend of extreme dedication to letting the dice fall where they may with extreme dedication to storytelling. And in the end, it works for me. I feel the sting when a character dies and I care more for them because I listened to their father (voiced by a volunteer on the other side of the world) rebuke them as a child or something. One warning I will give to a prospective listener is that the creator really lays it on thick about how dark and edgy his story is going to be, and while there are some content warnings I would give and while it's true that characters could die at any time, I really don't think it's that dark. You can expect some gross stuff that you might not include at your table, but don't think the story is going spend its runtime reveling in vulgarity.

Magic Items: Bits and Pieces

 The other day I was visiting with the in-laws, when I noticed a catalogue of puzzles, garden decorations, and novelty holiday gifts. What follows are some magic items and special objects that paging through that catalogue inspired.

Bits and Pieces

1. Illuminated constellation globe. 14" tall globe with semi-accurate depictions of the political boundaries of the world in the previous age, complete with small illustrations of creatures local to various lands. In darkness, the globe becomes transparent and faintly glows with constellations. Those who ponder the lines of the stars can scry on a target as though looking down from the heavens, able to zoom closer and closer the more accurately they know the time of the target's birth.
2. Surprised garden elf statue. 12" tall carved statuette of an elf relieving himself, britches hitched around the knee. Seems kitchy and fake, but after a trespasser walks by the statuette will run to its owner to let them know.
3. Night vision binoculars. Headband with 4x magnification goggles. In the center, over the nose, burns an infrared light which enhances night vision out to 30 feet.
4. Currency vault. Monkeypod wood puzzle box, fitted with an acrylic lid so that the treasure within, typically a scroll or deed, can be seen. Takes (16-INT) hours to open, but you can fiddle with it absent-mindedly while doing other work. Forcing the box open causes a score of small blades to flit out, shredding the contents.
5. Crystal hearts snowmen. 3"-6" tall. Each joyful glass figurine is decorated with two hearts, which can be chipped off and laid on the tongue to heal 1 HP each. Such healing staunches bleeding, halts dying, and is otherwise sovereign against deteriorationg due to wounds.
6. Historic (sic) reproduction storm glass. A crystal tube on a wooden base, filled with "mysterious liquid." Can predict weather up to two days in advance, clearing for fair weather, muddling for rainy weather, crystalizing for thunderstorms, flaking for cloudy and snowy weather, and forming crystal threads for windsome days. More bizarre effects precipitate strange weather events.
7. Hands free binoculars. Heavy spectacles fitted with dials to magnify vision up to 4x, with sunshade to negate glare. -1-in-6 chance of being surprised in open terrain.
8. Electric drumsticks. Pair 14" long, silvery. When struck against any surface, it makes a sound like a snare drum. When held against a surface, it produces a 3" radius red glow.
9. Four racing mice. 4" long mechanical mice. Wind up their tails and they will scurry straight ahead up to 50 feet.
10. Wrist wallet. Red fleece wristband with a buttoned pocket, for storing cash and keys. Not magical, but looks a little odd. Maybe 1% are wristbands of holding?
11. Quick sketch pro. 8" wide blue slate that can be stood up on a narrow stand. Reflects imagines from one side of it to the other side, allowing one to trace imagines onto a fresh parchment. Alleged to be a clever gadget.
12. Gift card maze. Miniature maze with a transparent acrylic lid. By manipulating a small metal ball into the center of the maze, one can release the lid, allowing access to a gift card magic ring, spell scroll, or important note. Attempting to force the lid strikes a spark that burns up the contents.
13. The Mikado rules. Board game set with a spring apply pressure to one border of a small case filled with many-colored game pieces of varying sizes. If one can remove enough pieces without causing the spring to send other pieces flying, a treasure map is revealed.
14. Bewildering wine bottle puzzle. Case of cedar wood and red string that prevents a wine bottle from being opened. Can only be untangled by clever and unintuitive means. The wine bottle contains a useful potion with five uses, but attempting to slice the strings will drop a catalyst-soaked tag of string into the bottle, rendering the potion a gritty, syruppy sludge.
15. Four band puzzle ring. Platinum-plated copper ring that with cleverness can be separated into four thin rings. If the wearer of each ring speaks a command word, a binding circle springs up between them, forming an impassable cord running in a quadrilateral between them. This cord can be used to restrain creatures within it, but there cannot be any objects or terrain in between the users of the rings.