Welcome to the Raging Swan Press blog. Herein you’ll find resource and advice articles to make your game better. From time to time, we’ll also post exciting Raging Swan Press news!
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We storm into February with a small flock of new resources for your gaming pleasure along with some new pages for our website.
y of Ashlar is small and constrained. Always, the forces of evil and shadow press inwards upon its borders. If it were not for a stout few, death and darkness would have long ago overwhelmed the land. Dunstone was once Ashlar's northern bulwark. Now…
Successful thieves need a fence—someone willing to buy and sell their ill-gotten gains. Like their customers, such folk must keep their true business secret, and thus, they often openly practise some other legitimate trade.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
Merchants, traders, artisans, and some ordinary folk, need somewhere to store their bulky goods. Some own their own warehouses, while others hire the requisite space on a temporary basis.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
Houses of worship and quiet contemplation stand in or near many settlements. Within, the occupants seek spiritual enlightenment in the service of their patron.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
Normally places for the poor or the penny-wise, boarding houses offer lodgings and food; most such places offer only the barest of essentials to their guests.
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.
Ari’s—cramped and dingy as it is—has a reputation as a place where anything can be had. Most assume this basement-shop is a thieves’ guild front, and they’d be right. The pale and skinny owner, Ari Osma (CN male human), drives a hard bargain, and never forgets a face.
Read MoreThe besiegers and the defenders must contend with the vagaries of nature, logistics, morale and their enemies. The minor events below will not turn the siege’s tide in anyone’s favour, but canny commanders can use them to their advantage.
Read MoreAhti Leino (N male human) broods over past failures and future disasters. Wracked by inadequacy, Ahti is a taproom regular, enthusiastic brawler and drunkard. He is bald and has shaggy eyebrows, bulging arms and a solid paunch.
Read MoreThis is an unprecedented time, and we find ourselves in uncharted territory. The world today is not normal, and I suspect your gaming has been impacted as we all battle Coronavirus. In the grand scheme of things gaming isn’t crucial or critical, and Raging Swan Press is not exactly an emergency service. We aren’t scientists and we can’t treat the ill or cure Coronavirus (that’s the Wife’s job).
Read MoreDandy’s Way is a notorious trouble spot. This gloomy, shoulder-width wide alley runs between two rough taverns. It is a handy cut-through, if no one is coming the other way. Visitors should be wary of what lies underfoot, in this fetid rubbish-strewn alley.
Read MoreEarlier this week, I posted up a first look at some ten-second material. I thought you might like to see some more examples:
Read MoreI’ve been thinking about how to make our dressing-style materials easier to use in game.
Read MoreFarming villages are often the site of neophyte adventurers first adventures, quests and tests (or at least the party's base from which they sally forth into the wildernes. Such locales often stand on or near danger-filled borderlands rife with opportunities for adventure. Use these lists, to breath life and detail into the farming villages in your campaign.
Read MoreWhile vast swaths of a fecund jungle may seem boring and unremarkable, travellers will—no doubt—encounter some things of minor interest.
Read MoreI’ve got a plan for November, and I can’t wait to get started.
Read MoreTorture chambers are replete with horrors beyond the imaginations of most sane folk. Not all such features, though, are as large and domineering as an iron maiden or rack. Use this list, to generate minor points of note in a torture chamber:
Read MoreCaptives are a staple feature of almost every dungeon. No doubt, the dungeon’s denizens have dealt with intruders before—or emerged from their lair in search of slaves, sacrifices or food; captives (of all sorts) are the result.
Read MoreShielded to the north by the Vurdfell Spine’s lofty peaks and protected from the Hordelands of the east by the Greatshadow Gorge, the town of Wolfsbane Hollow has persisted in relative isolation for hundreds of years. Seemingly a simple border town, a dark shadow hangs over this hard, rough settlement. For here, the rule of law is tenuous at best, and the mayor is but a figurehead. The true power of Wolfsbane Hollow is the shadowy thieves’ guild and their monstrous, bestial guildmaster who lurks in his lair carved from the fallen, mouldering bones of an ancient empire.
Read MoreFor centuries, the people of Aldwater have guarded and revered the wooden labyrinth holding the their ancestors' remains. Only the Spiritspeaker ever ventures inside, using an ancient relic to hold council with the dead. The wisdom of the council is vast, but not without fault, and for several years the advice of the ancestral spirits has done nothing to halt Aldwater's increasing plight. Each season, the fishermen and trappers bring back a little less, and the children grow up a little hungrier.
Read MoreMuch of a marsh’s landscape is unremarkable and mundane; however some features become local landmarks and are used as waymarkers or meeting places.
Read MoreIn the dreary village of Fulhurst Moors, most residents spend their days cutting peat from the nearby bogs or tending flocks of rugged sheep on the moor. When night falls, the villagers huddle in their homes or gather inside the solid stone walls of the Bell and Whistles. Here they trade stories of the latest gruesome misfortunes to befall those foolish enough to venture out onto the moor after sunset or unfortunate enough to be caught by sudden fog or rain while working in the bogs.
The local priest has been driven close to madness by his inability to provide solace to his congregation, and the mayor and constable become increasingly concerned as a growing number of villagers drown their fears in moonshine whiskey. The fearful atmosphere is well deserved, for ancient beings of malice and cruelty haunt the mists beyond the village. And they have struck a terrible bargain with someone inside Fulhurst Moors.
Read MoreMagic rings are a staple of fantasy gaming, and much sought after by adventurers. Such objects can call forth or project a range of powers and effects, at their owner’s command.
Read MoreMuch goes on in a smuggler-infested village, day and night. The character of these events, however, are often different depending on the time of day. In particular, in human villages nefarious, dark deeds tend to occur at night. Use these lists, to add depth and flavour to the smugglers’ villages in YOUR campaign.
Read MoreTaprooms are not dull, bland places devoid of interesting features. Sometimes, the inn keep decorates the room with rare, esoteric or just downright odd items while other times prior events leave their mark on the area.
Read MoreRed dragon hoards can be immense in scope and value. Among the treasures and trinkets, however, most dragons have also accumulated objects that might not fall under the traditional heading of treasure, but which are interesting and flavoursome none-the-less.
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Everyone—even the powerful—has enemies, and the Nameless Mage was no exception…
A free GM’s Resource for any fantasy roleplaying game.