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It’s no secret that at Raging Swan Press, we are big fans of dressed dungeons. A dressed dungeon feels more real than an undressed dungeon. A dressed dungeon engages your players’ imaginations, promotes creative play and helps them immerse themselves in the adventure.
It’s always the perfect time to game, and we hope you can find something below that will help you have more fun with your friends!
Small roadside shrines appear in many towns and cities. They venerate important saints, local deities, or gods without a formal church in the area and are often tended by a small group of dedicated lay worshippers.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
One or more stables can be found in any settlement of note—and many of those without note.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
At Raging Swan Press, we believe that games set in a richly detailed, immersive world are better than games that are not. It should come as no surprise that we are huge fans of dungeon dressing, but what exactly is dungeon dressing, and why do we keep going on about it?
With Citadel on the Wilderlands now out in the world, our attention turns to the Late 2024 edition of Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands and the Player's Guide to Citadel on the Wilderlands!
Citadel on the Wilderlands is a flavour-rich 5e mini-campaign setting designed for low-level characters intent on wilderness exploration and dungeon delving. Designed to be easy to prepare and easy to run, Citadel on the Wilderlands is perfect for GMs who don’t have unending time to prep for the next session.
Citadel on the Wilderlands is a flavour-rich 5e mini-campaign setting designed for low-level characters intent on wilderness exploration and dungeon delving. Designed to be easy to prepare and easy to run, Citadel on the Wilderlands is perfect for GMs who don’t have unending time to prep for the next session.
Sewers are noisome, dank places full of civilisation’s leavings. Such places are wholly different to a normal dungeon. Thus, it stands to reason, the dungeon dressing should also be markedly different. Use this list, to determine what minor piece of dungeon dressing the characters discover:
Read MoreThe once quiet and quaint halfling community of Underdell rests along the Old Road near the Salt Mire. Steeped in tradition and idleness, the Underdellians found themselves unprepared to deal with the horrors of the plague outbreak in nearby Ashford. Terror gripped Underdell, tearing apart the strong bonds of family and friendship. Fear and paranoia took root in the halflings’ hearts as they tried to escape sickness and death. As Underdell falls apart, a vile halfling bandit has used the chaos to take control of Underdell, enforcing a strict martial law. As neighbour turns on neighbour, a group of bandits terrorize merchant caravans traveling through Ashlar, raiding with impunity and aided by a rich noble. The Underdellians, their smiles and laughter turned to tears and hopelessness, live in fear of another plague outbreak and the harsh punishment of the bandits who insist they are protecting and enriching the village.
Read MoreHavage, bestial creatures of rage and violence—minotaurs are terrifying enemies. Often solitary beasts haunting labyrinthine dungeons, or similar locales, they delight in hunting and terrorising their prey. Minotaurs are innately cunning—surprising given their bloodthirsty, atavistic tendencies—but employ straightforward, simple tactics in battle. Legends tell of their origins—of how the gods created them; most minotaurs, however, believe their roots to be more demonic.
Read MoreThe characters are bound to discover all manner of trinkets and treasures while sacking an orc village. Use the list below to add depth and flavour to their looting.
Read MoreNestled between desolate, windswept hills the village of Macrimei is home to a hard people. Dung fires warm their homes built from the ruins of an ancient buried city whose remnants can be seen in the tumbled stones scattered about and the massive red-hued obelisk looming over the settlement. The Red Obelisk, said to be home to Macrimei’s god, has attracted the attentions of a band of raiders led by an evil wizard, who dwells in a mysterious black tower and seeks to uncover the ruin’s buried secrets. Now, Macrimei’s villagers live in sullen fear as the raiders capture people from the surrounding area to dig a deep pit to intersect with the ruins below.
Read MoreRuined cities are much more than a sea of rubble. Some places—major temples, towers and fortifications—will have survived in better conditions than others. In other places, the advanced decrepitude of the ruins create areas of heightened danger. Use this list, to add major features and the like into the characters’ exploration of a ruined city.
Read MoreStanding hard against the River Ost, Kingsfell is seemingly a tranquil and prosperous village on a well-travelled trade route. However, the village stands on the site of a long-forgotten battlefield and not all the dead rest easily in their graves. Strangely, while the paladin—and lady of the village—Mira Lankinen, the scion of an ancient line, keeps watch over her lands, a subtle unease shrouds the village. Strangers sometimes arrive in Kingsfell armed with spades and picks intending to dig beneath the Kingstones, for rumours and old stories vaguely place buried treasures beneath their feet. Local laws and traditions prohibit such treasure hunting, however, and few dare to face down Mira Lankinen and her skilled, vigilant men-at-arms. Thus, so far the stones and whatever lies beneath remains undisturbed.
Read MoreRuined cities are much more than a sea of rubble. Some places—major temples, towers and fortifications—will have survived in better conditions than others. In other places, the advanced decrepitude of the ruins create areas of heightened danger. Use this list, to add major features and the like into the characters’ exploration of a ruined city.
Read MoreHalf-woman, half-monster harpies are vicious, corrupt hunters driven by their insatiable desire to eat. They prefer intelligent prey and enjoy speaking and parleying with their meals. Dwelling in the world's wild and desolate places harpies are savage and utterly without remorse. They love shiny baubles and decorate their lairs with such. The stench of death and decay hang heavily over a harpy and her nest.
Read MoreFew predators can match the purple worm for strength, ferocity and might. Even powerful adventurers do not take on a purple worm lightly for they often consume their prey whole. (Indeed, stories of entire adventuring parties consumed by a purple worm are not uncommon…)
Read MoreHidden in the rotten corners of the world are grimoires potent enough to drive a reader mad. Great power seeps from the pages, and even the most stalwart monk, sagacious wizard or noble knight risks his very sanity with the turn of every page.
Read MoreHidden in plain sight amongst the houses and shops of local neighbourhoods, cultists worship ancient beings and profane gods. Hidden cellars and secret rooms provide locales for their foul dens of worship and sacrifice.
Read MoreWhen a flight of harpies, beset by a relentless demonic menace from beneath the dark seas, used their captivating song to lure a ship to its ruin, they sought allies instead of food. Thus, was born Fraywrack, originally a war camp created by the strange alliance of man and monster against a far greater threat. Now, hidden by the broken remains of their ship, the wreck's survivors and their recruits train endlessly for a fight they fear they have little hope of winning. Still, they persevere, welcoming adventurers who seek shelter in their cavern-home or who wish to learn some lessons of their own or, just maybe, lend their own might to the struggle.
Read MoreScions of the night, vampires live among the prey they feed on; the presence of a vampire often causes chaos and panic. A vampire’s lair is not for the weak-hearted.
Read MoreThe ghoul is a creature of nightmare for any adventuring group. From the packs of mindless, carrion-eating undead to the ancient civilisations deep underground, screaming adulation to their sheep-headed god Orcus, all ghouls have one thing in common. An eternal, gnawing hunger that no amount flesh can ever sate.
Read MoreOwlbears are a staple of low-level adventures. There is nothing more frightening for neophyte adventurers than facing down this mad mixture of bear and owl.
Read MoreFew fantasy foes are as iconic as goblins. Use the goblins below, to add flavour and personality to the foes in your campaign!
Read MoreSet sail for adventure on the Picaroon Peninsula! Stretching from the isolated pirate stronghold of Deksport in the west with its three violent, feuding rulers, to the mysterious Forest of Gray Spires in the east, the Picaroon Peninsula is home to ruthless buccaneers, cannibal cults, crumbling tree-choked ruins and pirate curses.
Read MoreOnce a prosperous village, Ashford now stands as a decayed shadow of its former self. A year ago, it was a busy place; its streets and gardens echoing with the sounds of life, love and commerce. Then the stranger came and death followed upon his heels. Plague had come to Ashford. In his wake, he left the hacking coughs and pain-filled moans of the dying and the wails of the survivors mourning their dead. Over half the population died, and many of the survivors packed and fled.
A few folk yet dwell in Ashford among the abandoned, deserted homes of their friends and neighbours, but it is now a quiet, mournful place. Weeds choke its abandoned gardens and untilled fields. Wolves, foxes and other less natural predators gnaw at the weathered bones filling the village’s open plague pit. The surviving villagers are distrustful of strangers, shunning them whenever possible, and few find welcome, cheer or solace in Ashford.
Read MoreCunning ambush predators, ropers lie in wait pretending to be stalagmites so their prey blunder too close to escape.
Use these lists to add depth and flavour to a roper’s lair.
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Far below the sunlit surface lie places and things undreamt of by decent commonfolk. Some such things have never seen the light of day, while others have escaped into the Underlands to escape the hated sun.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.