I am not a normal fantasy GM. If a player is delving through a dark tomb searching for loot in my campaign, he is probably on a fruitless quest. I dislike the dungeon crawl. I have since the earliest years of DnD. I mean where in Tolkein did they really crawl through a dungeon or other tomb/ place of mystery?

Every city (or town or village) expresses its personality (or the cultural personality of its people) and its identity through its buildings, roads, and other pieces of engineering. They are permanent expressions of the local culture.

Let me just say I HATE DROW. The DnD anti-elves really annoy the heck out of me. They are annoying two hit die monsters. They have become hugely popular because of some well written DnD fiction books. Yet, they don't make sense. So lets try again.

A very short piece

The toxic lands of the Wastes should support no life. Here the land is slowly corrosive to the touch, causing illness with prolonged contact. The bubbling sulfur and ectomass pools are especially lovely, if you have the right aesthetic. The soil is soft and any heavy object slowly sinks. Other than a few migrant birds and some exotic small insects, The Wastes support only one native lifeform - The Verners - Exerpt from the often wrong but very popular Kalemandi's Beasts of Lore and World.

This is a list of laws, axioms, and strong recomendations from published and/or famous game designers/ writers I have recently collected. If you find them, add them. Please do not just add 'any old' gamer's axions, laws, etc.

To fight the Evil, you must learn of The Evil, master its skills, know its techniques, and be able to use its tools. Only then can you train others to fight The Evil.
—Ilvantus of the Black Robes to the general floor at the Creedos Convocation 1137 DO

More Viceral Tips for Horror Gaming!

This piece is dedicated to Captain Penguin

Simonous has a sardonic wit which often escapes out of his mouth at the wrong times. Given all the touchy nobles and honor bound knights in the Three Districts, this could be a lethal problem given that dueling is legal. This twitchy unassuming young noble would appear no physical threat. Yet in reality he is one of the most dangerous duelist in the Three Districts.

bastille, big cage, big house, big school, black hole, booby hatch, brig, bucket, bull pen, caboose, cage, calaboose, can, cell, clink, concentration camp, cooler, coop, county hotel, death house, detention camp, detention centre, doing time, dungeon, fish bowl, freezer, inside, Jail, Jailhouse, joint, jug, keep, limbo, lockup, mill, pen, penal institution, penitentiary, pokey, pound, prison, rack, reformatory, slammer, solitary, statesville, stir, stockade, tank, there are hundreds of names and hundreds of thousands of different ones. What are yours?

It seems to be a giant turtle with a long neck. One expects it to be slow. However, it is one of the most effective predators in the rivers, deltas, and swamps of Vireland.

The Order is about the past. It is a collection of people who love history, ancient times, and artifacts of the past. Only people who are really interested in past should be members. A passing interest is not enough. One must be dedicated to the past to be invited into this organization.

The point of the submission is quite simple: man vs nature is a common conflict in fiction, but not so much in gaming, this submission is a step to correct that.

The Nine Coyns are Items of Destiny. Created long ago as tools of resolution, echos of the primal set have been found in other realms... places that need resolution of great threats to the Way.

The lines are drawn.

The final coyn is tossed.

Let the great karmic conflict BEGIN!

The Road... traverses Time—Time past, Time to come, Time that could have been, and Time that might yet be. Some people have the ability to access the Road and travel it from Time to Time and world to world.

He was frantically pointing towards the glowing mountain. 'We need to cast The Spell!', Bothar screamed!

I held up the scroll we all had risked our lives to get. 'Nobody can cast this spell without a prepared mystic space and ritual equipment. It would be suicide,' I said. 'Not even him,' I jerked my thumb towards the Magi who smiled slyly.

Silently, he unstrapped that bolt of cloth he had been carrying since I had known him. He unfurled it, tamped it down, with small spikes, pulled a small apothecary chest out, placed and lit four candles on the cloth, drew some lines with some handy chalk, unpacked his remaining tools, then he held his hand out expectantly for the scroll. It took a fraction of a candle mark.

'Solomontic Rug,' he said quietly. 'The key to mastery is knowing and having the right tools, be they physical, mental, or magical, and having them ready when you need them.'

The Order is an odd order. It is a knightly order that does not require its members to be knights, or even noble. It is a small order to be sure, but no one knows as no list of its members has ever been published. However, the leader of the The Order can sit in on the Council and instantly get audiences with many important people. No one is sure what the Order is about and many who have an inkling DO NOT want to know more.

Your adventurers can name this one, if they survive. The last thing they will hear is: 'ppppooockt-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t' before their eyes and ears start bleeding and their body become black and blue... battered by something unseen and untouched.

These specially made candles are favorites of wives, lovers, and mothers who see their loved ones off to battle or to trade in far away lands.

The Wastes can be beautiful. Here the land is toxic: slowly corrosive to the touch, causing illness and death with prolonged contact. The bubbling sulfur and ectomass pools (HellPits too) are especially lovely, if you have the right aesthetic. The soil is soft and any heavy object slowly sinks. If it was not for the special resources here (dyes, alchemical elements, resins, Grimrock, Verner glands, etc), it would be a place that no one would come.