Category: Blog

The Ruined Outpost: Part 2

Posted on October 7, 2019 by Simon Forster

Session 19 In the aftermath of the battle the party explore the upper ruins, looting the bodies of the dead bandits as they piled them into the ruined watchtower. They then descended into the cellars below, torches lit, cautiously, leaving Old Man Willow and the two daoine hunters on guard above. In the cellars they started exploring, finding signs that the bandits slept there, rooms that were once used to hold wines and kegs, and a damp room with mould

Books of Lairs: Part 1

Posted on October 7, 2019September 30, 2019 by Simon Forster

I was checking out my publisher’s account over at DriveThruRPG.com the other day, and realised that some of my products had reached the Best Silver and Best Copper Sellers lists. They may still only have sold a modest number, but I’m quietly proud that something that I wrote and mapped has been successful, albeit in small numbers. So, a bit of marketing: here are those books of mine that have achieved such acclaim, which I’ll post about every day this

The Ruined Outpost: Part 1

Posted on September 26, 2019 by Simon Forster

Session 18 The party arrived at Haven around late morning, and after a brief chat with the villagers who watched the gate, where allowed in. There they met Wise Maurice, the village elder, who questioned their motives for being there (exploring, discovering the history of the land) and told them about the monster plaguing them. In exchange for board and (fresh) rations they agreed to deal with this monster. Maurice introduced them to a couple of hunters, hare-tribe daoine (Blackberry

Six Spears

Posted on September 19, 2019 by Simon Forster

Monday’s session saw the heroes fetch a chest from the lake, avoid the fir darrig by hiking through a swamp, visiting a market and fighting an owlbear. Session 17 In the morning, after telling the fir darrig to stand guard in case of trouble, the party sent Ratkin, Callum and Magnus off on their raft, laden with ropes. They rowed out to the spot where they could see the chest below, and with a weighted rope they sent Ratkin swimming

The Flooded Ruins

Posted on September 13, 2019 by Simon Forster

Session 16 After deciding that exploring the rest of the caves would be futile, the party camped for the night and then headed Weest, towards where their map said the ‘flooded ruins’ lay. On the map, in small writing, was a note saying that the ‘mail of midnight hue‘ was to be found there. They headed off through the forest, aiming to avoid the Biting Swamp, and reached the lower stream of the river before nightfall. They spied ruins along

The Old Elf Caves

Posted on September 9, 2019 by Simon Forster

Session 15 After arriving safely at the elven caves, the party discoved a nomadic group of ‘elves’, who call themselves the doaine and are in fact animal-people, in this case, hares. Their leader, Eloin, came over to introduce himself and question the party, but everyone is friendly and they sit and talk as the humans and their fir darrig companion make camp. The elves, as the Empire calls them, are camping here for the night, but have discovered a monstrosity

Bees, Trees, & Bridges: Part 2

Posted on August 30, 2019 by Simon Forster

Session 14 After an uneventful night, the party spent some time discussing, in excruciating detail, how best to retrieve the statuette from the hive without disturbing the hornets: using hollow logs to create a chimney for smoke, burning branches, wading in weapons swinging, sending flaming arrows into the walls of the treehouse, all were discussed. In the end they decided to build some crude doors out of woven branches and leaves, to block the doorways of the adjacent hut to

Bees, Trees & Bridges: Part 1

Posted on August 22, 2019 by Simon Forster

Session 13 The party headed out of Gallows Hill and across the old bridge, past the Wall and the border between the Reach and the Great Forest. With Callum leading the way (having hunted along the borders for many years) they followed the old path that led through the ancient forest, North to the old Waystone that marked an overgrown and faded crossroads. There they rested for the night, surrounded by beautiful and peaceful woods. The stone itself, worn and

Book of Lairs # 6

Posted on August 15, 2019 by Simon Forster

My latest (and penultimate) book of lairs– Book of Lairs: Desolation– is now live on Drivethru. Took a while to get the proof correct, but the copy I opened today looked great. The colours really pop. I’ll be starting to post the first of the lairs for the last book before the end of the month. If you’re interested in seeing these before they are combined into the final book, check out my Patreon site: https://www.patreon.com/theskyfullofdust Cheers, Simon.

The Old Watchtower: Part 2

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Simon Forster

Session 12 In the ruins of the watchtower the wounded party settled down to rest and recover. They camped for most of the day, until Old Man Willow and Magnus had woken, and everyone else was feeling much better. Guards were set, with even Ratkin taking a shift, but nothing unexpected happened. With their wounds tended to and their bruises healing, they grabbed their gear and headed back down into the dank cellar and the tunnels leading off. Torches and

The Old Watchtower: Part 1

Posted on July 26, 2019 by Simon Forster

Session 11 Around mid-morning the party arrived at the ruins of the Old Watchtower: a tower that sat along the remains of the Wall, looking out towards the Great Forest, and over a lake where the flooded ruins of some old settlement could just about be seen. The ruins looked empty, the field of grass and trees quiet. To the North and West the slopes of the hills began their climb to the distant mountains, where the sun was peeking

The Haunted Wood

Posted on July 20, 2019August 21, 2019 by Simon Forster

I’ve just made my latest RPG adventure book live on DriveThruRPG.com . This is an adventure for The Black Hack 2E rules, for about 4-6 Level 4 characters. Here’s the cover of the printed copy I got the proof of this morning: And here are a couple of pics of the interior pages, and the maps at the back of the book (also inside, and the PDF download has a separate file with all the maps on it): Here’s the

Ravenscar: Part 3

Posted on July 19, 2019 by Simon Forster

The Monday before last was our tenth session, concluding the foray to Ravenscar and embarking on a short journey to the old watchtower to the north. Skipped last week as people were away, but back to it this Monday. Session Ten The party descended the stairs into what turned out to be an old summoning room, complete with a summoning/protection circle engraved in the stone floor, inlaid with tarnished silver. They avoided crossing the circle, and explored the small room:

Ravenscar: Part 2

Posted on July 4, 2019July 19, 2019 by Simon Forster

Our ninth session mostly consisted of deals with a rat-goblin and a fight in the cellar of the ruins, against giant and monstrous centipedes. Session Nine The party continued to search the piles of rubble. Suddenly, a terrfying presence rose from the debris that Old Man Willow was checking out: a giant rat, fangs dripping with venom, bone-chilling. The sight of it sent Horace, Jacob and Magnus fleeing from the sight; whilst the others just saw Ratkin, the red-coated, top

Ravenscar: Part 1

Posted on June 27, 2019 by Simon Forster

Our eighth session of the Children of the Raven BtW campaign was on Monday. The six-strong party (three PCs, three allies) ventured off to investigate the smoke seen by shepherds in the ruins to the West of their village. The Ruins of Ravenscar After a couple of days in Gallows Hill, resting and spending, the party (Alf, Callum and Magnus, with their allies Old Man Willow, Horace and Jacob) hefted their packs and headed off along an old path, overgrown

front cover of the RPG adventure The Curse of Ravenmere

Ravenmere: Parts 2 & 3

Posted on June 24, 2019June 27, 2019 by Simon Forster

Double report today, as I didn’t have time to throw up a report of the game. This covers parts 2 and 3 of the Curse of Ravenmere sessions, ending in the removal of the curse and a close-call that was but a throw away from a TPK. Part 2 In the morning, the tension between the party members was still strong. Alf, Callum and Magnus, together with Horace and Jacob headed back to the village, leaving Old Man Willow looking

Ravenmere: Part 1

Posted on May 30, 2019 by Simon Forster

Played this Monday just gone, and we’re back to playing Monday nights now, although no game next week because of holidays. This session kicked off the Curse of Ravenmere adventure, which I wrote a lifetime ago and recently revised. It’s a small adventure, but we should get two (maybe three?) sessions out of it. What’s Up with Jacob? Upon their return to their village, which helpfully coincided with market day, they bid farewell to Barton, but hung on to Jacob

Mischievous Monsters: The Standing Stones

Posted on May 26, 2019May 30, 2019 by Simon Forster

Our fourth session concluded the first adventure, my old Mischievous Monsters adventure (lasted four sessions, that’s about 6-8 hours, not bad for a small adventure), and the PCs are on their way home to their village, escorting Barton the trader and the two caravan guards, Horace and Jacob (who may well become allies if the PCs ask them nicely). Hunting Rats After resting another day and night, in order for everyone to be fully rested and healed, the three friends

Mischievous Monsters: Siege of the Dancing Donkey

Posted on May 21, 2019 by Simon Forster

The third session of our new Beyond the Wall campaign, Children of the Raven, was last week and the whole session was pretty much the PCs and their allies defending the inn of the Dancing Donkey. The Fir Darrig and the ogreish allies surrounded the inn, and the ratty creature with the top hat, who was obviously their leader, called out for them to surrender; Young Alf told him where to stick it, and when the red-coated goblin made some

Mischievous Monsters: The Eastern Cave

Posted on May 15, 2019 by Simon Forster

We played our second session last week, wherein the three PCs went off following the tracks of the rat-goblins. The tracks led the party of five (Callum, Young Alf, and Magnus, together with Horace and Jacob the mercenaries) across the fields and over some rolling hills, until the tracks split off in three different directions: one set, the lightest went North towards a forest in the distance. Another set lead to the curved arm of the same forest, to the

Children of the Raven

Posted on May 8, 2019 by Simon Forster

Last week we started a new campaign, the Children of the Raven (a name that may possibly change, but which will do for now). Played the first session (did characters the previous week), and have the second one planned for tomorrow. We’re using the Beyond the Wall & Other Adventures rules, and the players created their characters using the playbooks. Haven’t fleshed them out too much at the moment, but we have the following characters: Callum, a Young Woodsman Young

Bots

Posted on February 20, 2019February 20, 2019 by Simon Forster

A short RPG for playing robots

Spire: Appendices

Posted on February 1, 2019January 16, 2019 by Simon Forster

Appendix 3: Monsters The Spire has its fair share of monsters, from the walking dead, to giant goats, spiders and ant-like creatures carved from obsidian. These are listed below with statistics for HD (that generally governs many other stats, from attack to damage), AC (based on a type of armour), and any special abilities worth noting (other than the obvious, such as an Undead’s immunities). Some monsters are just re-skinned monsters common to most fantasy games. These are noted after

Spire: Appendices

Posted on January 25, 2019January 15, 2019 by Simon Forster

Appendix 2: Shadow-Under-Spire The settlement that has grown around the towering Spire is known as Shadow-Under-Spire, and is home to a variety of souls. The shadow of the mighty spike looms over all. It has farms, places to eat and drink, and a market that swells once a week as merchants come to trade. In game terms, if this used the ACKS rules, it would normally be a Class VI settlement, with a boost on market day bringing it to

Spire: Appendices

Posted on January 18, 2019January 15, 2019 by Simon Forster

When I published my system-agnostic setting, the Spire in 2018, I planned on adding supplementary information to this site. It’s taken a while to get around to that, but I needed some distance between it before I made a start; and since the book has now been downloaded by lots more people than previously, it seems a good time to start. For the most part, standard classes and monsters, spells and magic items work perfectly well with the setting. It

Category: Blog

The Ruined Outpost: Part 2

Books of Lairs: Part 1

The Ruined Outpost: Part 1

Six Spears

The Flooded Ruins

The Old Elf Caves

Bees, Trees, & Bridges: Part 2

Bees, Trees & Bridges: Part 1

Book of Lairs # 6

The Old Watchtower: Part 2

The Old Watchtower: Part 1

The Haunted Wood

Ravenscar: Part 3

Ravenscar: Part 2

Ravenscar: Part 1

Ravenmere: Parts 2 & 3

Ravenmere: Part 1

Mischievous Monsters: The Standing Stones

Mischievous Monsters: Siege of the Dancing Donkey

Mischievous Monsters: The Eastern Cave

Children of the Raven

Bots

Spire: Appendices

Spire: Appendices

Spire: Appendices

Sample Maps

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