Ptolus: Doctrine of Ghul Review

Spoilers follow for the Doctrine of Ghul...

An adventure for Monte Cook's Ptolus city setting, Doctrine of Ghul, provides some awesome dungeon design for adventurers to explore, but makes a few major missteps with its overall plot and adventure hooks.

The Doctrine of Ghul, like many Ptolus adventures, involves investigating another of the many (oh so many) chaos cults the city is afflicted with. However, it doesn't provide a very strong investigative structure to lead into finding the first dungeon, nor does it provide any clues for a GM to use. You have to come up with those yourself. I would also argue that it lacks strong motivation and direction on what to accomplish with the adventure hooks. 

Instead the party needs to be guided to the point when they can read the eponymous doctrine, which then railroads them into the plot of seeking additional pieces of the text to avoid being pulled into "Ghul's Utterdark." The adventure, and frankly the Ptolus sourcebook are also pretty unclear on what that means too, meaning that should the party fail to complete the adventure on the generous timeline provided, the GM may also need to generate their own consequence. There is also a bit of a snub section providing a rival adventuring party, but it lacks much assistance in how to utilize the rival party in the adventure, and doesn't provide any specific encounters or vignettes to guide those interactions, especially in the dungeons.

The three dungeons are the best part of the adventure. They are amazing in terms of cool ambient effects and generally just being different from normal dungeon fare. They aren't perfect thought. One problem with the Frozen Crypt is that if the players don’t touch anything and aren’t aggressive in their investigations then nothing happens. They can largely walk through the dungeon except for the ambient cold effects. 

While I love the concept of the Breeding Pits of Formless Hunger, and really enjoyed the fact that the characters could generate oozes due to the environment, the dungeon didn't work completely for my playthrough. I think this is because it is based on a couple of assumptions—one that characters will climb down into gross pits, and two that the GM will use fiat to have the Formless Hunger shove characters into random pits throughout the dungeon. My issue too with the tentacle of the Formless Hunger is that it plays a bit of a deus-ex-machina role. Shuffling the characters around or herding them seems to be the intention. There also isn't really any fleshed out discussion of whether you are able to make opportunity attacks against it as it slams through the doors of the dungeon and even down the long passage to the secret shrine almost instantaneously.

Galchutt Cyst is a really cool and well crafted dungeon, just hurt by some unclear layout of information placing essential bits in different portions of the text, making referencing it difficult to do quickly. The musical puzzle is evocative and cool, and my players really seemed to enjoy it, although one disliked the GM fiat in calling for saving throws against the ambient noise generated in the Cyst.

As an overall comment on the plot, it seemed completely out of left field for a wizard from the Inverted Pyramid to be behind everything. Nor did it make much sense for that individual to 1) be interested in promulgating the Doctrine of Ghul, or 2) to appear at the end to fight the party themselves. The adventure also leaves an escape for this appearance though, as it implies the wizard does not appear if they leave his magical dark blot which is a lens for scrying into the Galchutt Cyst's shrine. My characters did nothing to damage this magic effect, although they found it unnerving, so I never had the mage appear. Perhaps he'll make his appearance known later, if I can make the plot make sense. 

Lacking a player who speaks Abyssal or with comprehend languages makes finishing the questline of reading the doctrine difficult. As mentioned above, the consequences of being pulled into “Ghul’s Utterdark” are also not well defined. What does that mean? Is it GM fiat where I make a player character disappear like the Void card from the Deck of Many Things?

A final critique, perhaps localized to my particular game and group of players. My players never engaged with the Chaositech devices causing the effects in each of the shrines, which was a disappointment. I described them in such a way that I think any other group would have investigated further. However, they may need to return to the shrines, as their own actions have not stopped the effects of the doctrine by breaking the chain.

To recap, the dungeons of Doctrine of Ghul are generally amazing, and well worth playing through. The overall plot is a bit take it or leave it. If you can work in either a current or fallen BBEG who experiments with weird magic, then these dungeons would make great drop in pieces for any campaign.

Arcadia 7 Reactions

Image is copyright MCDM Productions 

The question is whether it’s a human skull surrounded by tiny fey, or a giant skull surrounded by large fey? It does remind me of the location of Giant’s Rest, which Matt Colville used in his Dusk campaign, and featured a giant skull. Regardless, the cover by Ian Ameling is very cool. Reminds me of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 

The editor’s note by James Introcaso focuses on the common theme of nature in this issue’s articles. 

The first is The Pickling Guild, by Sharang Biswas. In my previous glances at this issue I’ve skipped over this article due to the title, but this time I took a closer look—and I’m glad I did! I was missing out! While the guild masquerades as a group of food aficionados focused on pickling and fermentation, it really is a front for an inner circle that seeks to heal the sick and prevent terrible diseases and poisons from being unleashed on the world. The article offers plenty of adventure seeds to introduce the guild and a number of interesting NPCs with their own quest hooks to add to a campaign. Additionally, membership in the guild provides some fun benefits including privileged access to information, weapons, and facilities. I may introduce them in my Ptolus campaign. Finally, I was in error in my last observation on the Grim Accord—this article also provides an NPC domain for the Pickling Guild—meaning there is a little more support for domain play from Kingdoms & Warfare.

The next article is Wonders From the Wild, by Hannah Rose, which focuses on new nature themed magic items and spells. It’s noted that these are primarily intended for druids and rangers. This is a very mechanically dense article, with lots of interesting things to potentially add to your game. This includes no less than fifteen magic items, all of which are unique and very well suited to nature themed characters. One of my personal favorites is the Cloak of the Grove Guardian, a legendary item allowing a druid to animate two trees, giving them non-intelligent treant stats. This feels exactly like the type of thing a druid should be capable of at high levels. The various magic staffs are also great and very thematic, even including story hooks providing options of ways to inject them into your story, like the Staff of Granite Peaks being in its bridge form across a chasm (super cool, right?) and the command word appearing in the player who will gain its mind when they touch the handrail (the illustration of this is also a beautiful piece by Kent Davis Jr.). Other, less interesting items essentially remove the spell slot and preparation tax of taking speak with animals and other similar spells. These aren’t game breaking, and give druids and rangers more story opportunities to highlight their connections to nature and living creatures. 

The spells also seem well designed, and perhaps modeled on other spells with more appropriate flavoring for nature-based descriptions. They are primarily battlefield control spells from my read through, but I’m sure creative players could find interesting applications.

Aethelfaer, by Sara Thompson, is the final article of this issue. This is a unique article, detailing one specific NPC rather than a group, and providing an encounter (really a mini-adventure scenario) to introduce him. The titular character is Aethelfaer, which when broken into the component parts, aethel and faer, seems to mean "noble" or "princely" "traveler" according to the often incorrect internet. This meaning does seem to hit the character's traits on the nose though. Aethelfaer is characterized as a wood elf, who is a defender and respecter of nature. The intro paragraph of character fiction depicts him hunting a deer, which he kills quickly and cleanly with an arrow, then does a ritual to thank the creature for it's sacrifice to nourish him and confirm that he will not waste any part of it. Aethelfaer was also born with meromelia, a condition that causes the absence of limbs. He makes use of some very cool prosthetics (said to be made of "red elm and owlbear teeth" in place of a right arm and foot. I appreciate both a discussion of how Aethelfaer uses and views his prosthetics, which I think helps both accurately and sensitively portray these in gameplay. I also like the discussion of how players might also use prosthetics, from the standpoint of inclusion and providing an awesome opportunity to roleplay a different life experience.

The artwork of Aethelfaer is by Grace Cheung, MCDM's on-staff artist, and is an outstanding piece. In the article is also include a d12 table of plot hooks to include Aethelfaer, some of which are very fleshed out and detailed. The stat block isn't anything crazy, with Aethelfaer having ranger traits and abilities. The interesting details are tied to a vial of poison he hides in his prosthetic arm, along with a once per day Deflect feature, allowing him to reduce a ranged weapon's attack damage with his arm, or to catch the object and hurl it back if the damage is reduced to zero. The other cool inclusion is "Common Signs" as a language, which is presented in a sidebar as a universal language amongst disabled communities. A cool bit of inclusive worldbuilding that could be pulled into other scenarios and games (for instance, a cleric in my Empire of the Ghouls game spent a downtime attempting to learn sign language to be able to communicate silently with his teammates).

On to Arcadia 8!

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Review- Conan: Black Colossus

Image is by RodrigoKatrakas, and used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license

Spoilers for the story…

Reading Black Colossus makes you really realize how much more Howard influenced our modern games and adventures even more than Tolkien (and this is coming from a LOTR lover). The tale of the dark sorcerer, Thugra Khotan, entombed in a mysterious dome rising above the desert and the dried out river that had flowed with strength in his age. That’s a mystery that needs solving. That’s a dungeon that needs to be explored, and there’s treasure to be had—at great peril! 

It’s interesting to the elements of investigation touched on in the story, noting that the thief Shevatas put significant effort into his preparations. “Not for naught had he gained access into darksome cults, had harkened to the grisly whispers of the votaries of Skelos under midnight trees, and read the forbidden iron-bound books of Vathelos the Blind.” We can see not only in Conan, but in Shevatas the clear archetype of a cunning thief, who undertakes their business with great care, reflected in the description of his opening the door with a hidden combination on secret catches. This is continued with the fight with the guardian serpent, with poison of a snake exactly like it. “…the obtaining of that venom from the fiend-haunted swamps of Zingara would have made a saga in itself.”

There are of course elements that trouble a modern reader—the choices of language dismissing some of Howard’s fantastic cultures as uncivilized. The other standout is the perceived need to diminish Princess Yasmela through diminutive language to paint her as the damsel in distress, helpless without the aid of a masculine hero though she is the (abet caretaker) head of a kingdom. This of course culminates in her being snatched by the villain at the climax of the major battle and being taken as some sort of sacrifice, naked on an altar, and the descriptions of Conan’s passions for her overwhelming his reason—probably the ultimate source of many objectifying depictions of women in pulp sword & sorcery.

I enjoyed this passage and the image it invoked:

“Conan listened unperturbed. War was his trade. Life was a continual battle, or series of battles, since his birth. Death had been a constant companion. It stalked horrifically at his side; stood at his shoulder beside the gaming-tables; its bony fingers rattled the wine-cups. It loomed above him, a hooded and monstrous shadow, when he lay down to sleep. He minded its presence no more than a king minds the presence of his cupbearer. Some day its bony grasp would close; that was all. It was enough that he lived through the present.”

The battle of the pass and the Shemla Valley is also evocative, with some great descriptions of the actions of each side, and an interesting tactical depiction. I enjoyed this portion perhaps the most, and saw parallels to the battle of the first volume of the Black Company.

This story also speaks to the heroic journey from thief or adventurer to general and later ruler that characters were envisioned as following in early editions of RPGs. 

So in sum, there’s some bits that we are better off without in our fiction. But there’s also some really interesting plot elements that you can see have informed our current stories and games. So as with many past authors, there is much to emulate, some to avoid, and some to steal from Howard’s stories.

Robert E Howard Conan Reviews

This page serves to consolidate the reviews of Conan short stories by Robert E. Howard that I am slowly working through.

Gods of the North & Tower of the Elephant 

Rogues in the House

Black Colossus

Queen of the Black Coast

Arcadia 6 Reactions

 

Image is copyright MCDM Productions

Arcadia 6–very psionic themed cover from Nephelomancer. The intro letter from James Introcaso focuses on how this issues provides lots of interesting villains. Developing villains so that the party has a named and real adversary to oppose over several sessions or more is one particular aspect of Gaming that I want to develop further in myself. Hopefully this will be a helpful issue on that front.

The first article is from perhaps my personal favorite RPG creator and author, Mike Shea, or Sly Flourish. In this article, Mike outlines the Grim Accord, a party of rival, villainous adventurers to oppose a player party. These NPCs are all CR 4, making them optimal for use against a level seven or eight party. The article even includes a brief description of a lair and various mini plots for the Grim Accord. Finally it includes a sheet showing the group as an NPC domain for use with Kingdoms & Warfare. To my knowledge, except for the unit cards in the Talent product, this is the only additional MCDM product support for the domains portion of that book. Which frankly is a darn shame.

The next article is the Armor of Zevellon, by Gabe Hicks. It outlines a unique set of magic items with an interesting plot hooks—essentially an elf warlord sought to become a god, achieving demigod status. Before death they transferred their life force into the titular armor. I really dig the story, and actually think it would be really easy to convert into a relic of Valeresh, the head of the Midgard elven gods, in my Empire of the Ghouls game.

The armor is extremely powerful individually and a bit bonkers together. The catch is you can’t remove it once worn. It also compels you to “seek out the remaining pieces at all cost.” There’s also a nice adventure included to introduce the item—this is a great touch, as the largest difficulty of adding an interesting item into your narrative is taken care of.

The final article is Spelunking! by H.H. Carlan. The maps included in this longer adventure are beautifully done if simple in structure and provide some interesting encounters. Overall, the adventure isn’t totally to my taste. The main plot is rescuing a group of kids from the haunted caves near a small town. Reminds me of Scooby-Doo rather than the usual heavier vibe I go for in my RPG products. However, it is a well written and developed scenario worth taking a look at, particularly as a scenario for kids or teenagers playing 5e.

That’s it for Arcadia 6!

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South-Western Marches of the Blood Kingdom Random Encounter/Tool Tables

These encounters are designed to be used in conjunction with the keyed hex map for the South-Western Marches of the Blood Kingdom used in my Empire of the Ghouls campaign. These encounters are optimized for Tier 2-3 play.

Cartography by Faxfire

These are random tables I created to support the hex map and key detailed in last week's post. This was a really interesting and helpful exercise, and also got me deep in my monster and setting books. Some of the tables basically don't end on nice, easy, regular dice numbers—so instead use this die roller from Sly Flourish to input a custom end number. For monster stats, all from the Monstrous Menagerie are released by EN Publishing under a Creative Commons License. The monsters from the various Kobold Press books are for the most part release under the OGL and can be found at Open 5e. For monsters from WOTC, you’ll need to pick up the referenced source or omit them. 

Factions List

1 Band of the Twice Damned

2 Krakovar Rebels - Loyal to Queen in Kariessen

3 Spearmaidens of Sif (Order of the Spear)

4 Dwarves of Grisal/Black Fortress

5 Grand Duchy of Dornig

6 Ghoul Imperium

7 Night Cauldron of Chernobog

8 Followers of Lady Illmalad

9 Red Sisters

10 Roll twice more and combine the results

Deities

1 Marena

2 The Hunter

3 Chernobog

4 Valeresh

5 Khors

6 Thor/Perun (Donar in Dornig)

7 Mavros

8 Vardesain

9 Volund (Veyland to Elves, also the Armorer of Valeresh)

10 Holda

11 Heid or Gullveig in North (Sarastra)

12 Hod (Charun)

13 Anu-Akma 

14 Loki

15 Sif (Grajava to Dwarves)

16 Jormungandr (Ouroboros in the Crossroads)

17 Boreas

18 St Whiteskull of Bratislor (Midgard Worldbook, pg 388)

19 Goat of the Woods

20 Mammon 

21 Chemosh, Demon Lord of Conquest (Creature Codex, pg 75)

22 Chttr’k’k, Demon Lord of Rats (Creature Codex, pg 76)

23 Rangda, Demon Queen of Witches (Creature Codex, pg 78)

Haunted Lands Encounters (1d140)

1 Soldier Squad

2  2 or 3 griffons (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 255)

3 Owlbear

4 Zombie Knight

5 Zombie Horde

6 Ghast

7 Ghoul

8 Skeleton Horde

9 Specter

10 Band of the Twice Damned Member

11  2 Ettins; or ettin with 1 or 2 Ogres; or ettin with 1d4 death dogs (Monsterous Menagerie, pg 197)

12 Banshee (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 29)

13 Flesh Guardian 

14 1d10 + 10 Grimlocks (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 257) 

15 Ogre Mage

16 Red Sister

17 Spirit Naga (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 342)

18 Werewolf 

19 Bandit Captain with 1d10 + 5 bandits (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 470)

20 Revenant

21 Night Hag

22 Rot Grubs

23 Blackguard riding griffon, nightmare, warhorse, or winter wolf; or blackguard with 1d5 + 5 soldiers, skeletons, or zombies (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 475)

24 Troll

25 Dread Troll

26 Zombie Dragon

27 Warrior Band (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 499)

28 Ogrekin

29 Knight (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 476)

30 Shadow

31 3-5 Ettercaps (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 195)

32 Cutthroat (Monstrous Menagerie, pg. 468)

33 Hill Giant

34 Basilisk and 1d4 + 1 cockatrices (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 31, 54)

35 Wereboar

36 Wyvern

37 Dead Man's Fingers (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 211)

38 Fomorian

39 Malcubus

40 Guard Squad (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 493)

41 Scarecrow

42 Holy Knight - Roll on deities table (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 476)

43  1-2 Wraiths (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 427)

44 Rakshasa

45 Cyclops

46 Chimera

47 Bulette

48 Ogre Flesh Heap (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 436)

49 Bodytaker Plant (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 227)

50 Boneless (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 228)

51  1-2 Carrion Stalkers (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 230)

52  Death’s Heads Tree - an awakened tree with 2d6 death’s heads dangling from it (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 232)

53  1-2 Hellwardens (Book of Fiends, pg 163)

54  1-2 Soulsniffers (Book of Fiends, pg 177)

55 Dullahan riding a nightmare; maybe be accompanied by 1d4 + 3 skeletons (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 233)

56 Gallows Speaker (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 234)

57 Gremishka (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 235)

58 Jiangshi (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 236)

59 Loup Garou (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 237)

60 Relentless Killer and 1d4 guards (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 242)

61  1-2 Strigoi with 1d4 stirges (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 246)

62 1d8 corpses containing 1d4 swarms of maggots (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 247)

63 Inquisitor of the Red Goddess with 1d4 acolytes - reskin Ulmist Inquisitors as followers of Marena - 1d3 to determine type (Inquistor of the Mind Fire, Inquisitor of the Sword, Inquisitor of the Tome) (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 248-249)

64 Wereraven (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 253)

65 Unspeakable Horror (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 250)

66  1d8 Swarms of Zombie Limbs (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 254)

67 Zombie Clot (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 255)

68 1-2 Zombie plague spreaders (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 255)

69 Arborcyte (Creature Codex, pg 40)

70  2-3 Bloody Bones (Creature Codex, pg 54)

71 Boot Grabber (Creature Codex, pg 56)

72 Chuhaister (Creature Codex, pg 62)

73  1d8 + 3 Chupacabra (Creature Codex, pg 63)

74 Corpse Thief (Creature Codex, pg 66)

75 Crimson Mist (Creature Codex, pg 67)

76 Dark Father (Creature Codex, pg 71)

77 Dark Folk - Roll 1d3 to determine type (1-2 Dark Eye, 1d4 + 2 Dark Servants, or Dark Voice) (Creature Codex, pg 72-73)

78 Neophron demon (Creature Codex, pg 86)

79 Alnaar demon (Creature Codex, pg 82)

80  1d4 + 2 Bilwis (Creature Codex, pg 53)

81  1d4 Giant Vampire Bats (Creature Codex, pg 50)

82  1-2 Pishacha demon (Creature Codex, pg 88)

83  1-3 Plaresh demon 1-2 Pishacha demon (Creature Codex, pg 89)

84 Spree demon (Creature Codex, pg 91)

85 Vellso demon (Creature Codex, pg 92)

86  1-3 Yek demon; or 1 Alpha Yek (Creature Codex, pg 95)

87 1d4 dhampir (Creature Codex, pg 106)

88 Dhampir commander with 1d4 + 2 guards (Creature Codex, pg 90)

89 Skull drake (Creature Codex, pg 132)

90 Dream Wraith (Creature Codex, pg 135)

91  1-2 Blood Elemental (Creature Codex, pg 138)

92  1-2 Elophar (Creature Codex, pg 149)

93  1d4 Fear Liath - only in mountainous regions (Creature Codex, pg 152)

94 Fey Lady Berchta (Creature Codex, pg 153)

95 Flame-Scourged Scion (Creature Codex, pg 159)

96  1d8 + 4 Flesh Reaver (Creature Codex, pg 160)

97  1-3 Ghost Boar; or 1 Elder Ghost Boar (Creature Codex, pg 169)

98 Ghost Dragon (Creature Codex, pg 170)

99 Ghost Dwarf and 1d4 zombies (Creature Codex, pg 171)

100 Darakhul Shadowmancer; maybe on a Ghoulsteed (Creature Codex, pg 173, 177)

101 Darakhul High Priestess; maybe on a Ghoulsteed (Creature Codex, pg 172, 177)

102 Necrophage Ghast Ghoul; maybe on a Ghoulsteed (Creature Codex, pg 175, 177)

103  1-2 Tar Ghoul (Creature Codex, pg 176)

104 Haunted Giant (Creature Codex, pg 183)

105 1-2 Bone Golem (Creature Codex, pg 195)

106 Goliath Longlegs (Creature Codex, pg 206)

107 1d10 + 6 Goreling - 50% chance they are rotten gorleings (Creature Codex, pg 207)

108 Grave Behemoth (Creature Codex, pg 208)

109 Gumienniki 1d10 + 6 Goreling (Creature Codex, pg 213)

110 Gaki Hungry Ghost (Creature Codex, pg 222)

111 Ijiraq (Creature Codex, pg 225)

112 Karakura (Creature Codex, pg 235)

113 Lady in White (Creature Codex, pg 246)

114 Living Shade - one per character (Creature Codex, pg 255)

115 Mandriano and 1d6 + 2 zombies; or ancient Mandriano (Creature Codex, pg 261)

116 Moon Nymph (Creature Codex, pg 269)

117 Nachzehrer (Creature Codex, pg 272)

118 Nalusa Falaya (Creature Codex, pg 274)

119  1d4 zombies with necrotic ticks (Creature Codex, pg 275)

120 Blood Ooze (Creature Codex, pg 282)

121  2-3 Shadow Oozes (Creature Codex, pg 287)

122  1d4 suppurating oozes (Creature Codex, pg 288)

123 Phantom (Creature Codex, pg 296)

124 Devil Bough (Creature Codex, pg 302)

125 Shadow Blight (Creature Codex, pg 326)

126 Skull Lantern (Creature Codex, pg 343)

127 Sleipnir (Creature Codex, pg 344)

128 Spawn of Chernobog (Creature Codex, pg 346)

129  1d6 + 1 Crypt Spider (Creature Codex, pg 348)

130 Spirit Lamp (Creature Codex, pg 349)

131  2d4 + 2 Terror Bird (Creature Codex, pg 352)

132 Tulpa (Creature Codex, pg 358)

133 Tveirherjar (Creature Codex, pg 359)

134 Undead Phoenix (Creature Codex, pg 361)

135 Vampire Patrician (Creature Codex, pg 365)

136 Vampire Priestess (Creature Codex, pg 367)

137 Vampire Knight (Creature Codex, pg 369)

138 Vines of Nemthyr (Creature Codex, pg 371)

139 Albino Death Weasel (Creature Codex, pg 374)

140 Wendigo (Creature Codex, pg 377)

Swamps (1d29)

1 Black Pudding

2 Guardian Naga (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 341)

3 Otyugh

4 Dead Man's Fingers (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 211)

5 Night Hag

6  3-5 Ettercaps (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 195)

7 Constrictor Snake

8 Swarm of Insects

9 Swarm of Poisonous Snakes

10 Dryad

11 Shambling Mound

12 Revenant

13 Ghost

14 Ghoul

15 Ogre

16 Boggard sovereign with 1d10 + 4 boggards (Monstrous Menagerie, pg. 35)

17 Giant Toad (Monstrous Menagerie, pg 450)

18 Cipactli demon (Creature Codex, pg 83)

19 Wind demon (Creature Codex, pg 93)

20 Kryt (Creature Codex, pg 243)

21 Kulmking (Creature Codex, pg 244)

22 Lou Carcolh (Creature Codex, pg 257)

23 Mandriano and 1d6 + 2 zombies; or ancient Mandriano  (Creature Codex, pg 261)

24 Foxfire Ooze (Creature Codex, pg 283)

25  2-3 Shadow Oozes (Creature Codex, pg 287)

26 Devil Bough (Creature Codex, pg 302)

27 1d8 + 4 Execrable Shrub (Creature Codex, pg 304)

28 Shadow River Lord (Creature Codex, pg 327)

29 Venom Maw Hydra (Creature Codex, pg 370)

South-Western Marches of the Blood Kingdom Hex Key

Cartography by Faxfire

I created the map above for my Empire of the Ghouls campaign portion which has turned into a Homebrew deep dive into fighting the Blood Kingdom and Ghoul Imperium. While there are labeled locations, I also want to have interesting locations keyed to each hex in case they attempt to explore and I need to break out hex crawl procedures. This is represents my best attempt at following Justin Alexander's advice on keying every single hex in a map for a hexcrawl. While I came no where close to that, the exercise left we with a significant amount of interesting material, most of which I can reuse, even with a different map or setting.

Also check out this article with a random encounter table for this hex map.

Key:

A1: Perhaps a great statue once stood here. All that remains is a crumbling stone hand, covered in moss which provides some shelter from the incessant wind.

A2: Haunted Battlefield: The moldering remnants of a battle between Blood Kingdom and Krakovan forces lie here. The battlefield is haunted by ghasts, unsettled spirits, and other monsters that are attracted to sites of mass violence.

A3: A mysterious circle of crumbling standing stones suggests some long forgotten significance to this place.

B5: Rebel Camp: A secret camp of Krakovar rebels is located in this portion of the swamp. They are led by two Spearmaiden of Sif named Yavkanka Ravengrove and Elya Gajou. There are perhaps thirty rebels total. They seek to defeat the Band of the Twice Damned, aid the people of Jatow, and also frustrate Lady Illmalad’s designs.

B7: Castle Bloodvale: Stronghold of the Lady Illmalad.

B10: Gybick, the former City of Scribes, is now a hallowed out shell of its former glory. Its fabled great library is plundered, and its great printing houses destroyed. 

C1: The burned remains of a farm are the only sign of humanoid life in this area.

C2: Griffon’s Tower: A ruin of ancient origins. It was built in the time of the Eagle Emperor, Valeresh, but this knowledge is long forgotten. It has now been used variously by brigands, warriors of Dornig and Krakovar, along with the occasional group of paladins of Grisal on a raid. Now it is the current headquarters and stronghold of the Band of the Twice Damned.

Cartography by Dyson Logos

C4: A crypt complex in the marshlands lies here, holding secrets of the Elector Kingdom of Krakovar. 

C5: The town of Jatow, which with its bridge is the best crossing of the Yoshtula for miles around. Jatow has suffered greatly under the predations of the Band of the Twice Damned and their company of mercenaries. The main camp of the Twice Damned's company is near Jatow.

C8: Town of Dimwick.

D4: Lesser traveled ford across the Yoshtula River. At times menaced by an angry water elemental.

D5: Werewolf’s Lair: The cave of a werewolf lies in these hills. The werewolf walks among the people of Jatow when not transformed into their true form.

D8: Hermit Priest’s hut: See adventure Keevial’s Rage in MCDM’s Arcadia Magazine, Issue 6, pg. 19. 

E3: Ruins of the town of Skalanta: Skalanta was made an example several years ago by the Blood Kingdom. The town was massacred and the survivors marched off as food for the ghoul soldiers of the Darakhul Empire. Monsters include various undead, carrionettes (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 231). Also contains a tavern called the Burning Skull. Skeletons of the former denizens mimic life, but are harmless unless provocated. The barkeep is a crippled dhampir named Stump who took up residence after the fall of the town. Secretly, Stump is the unwanted and abandoned son of Lady Illmalad. He knows that the town was betrayed and destroyed by Lord Tytus Boczar in exchange for undeath and membership in the Ghost Knights. Boczar is currently Lady Illmalad's consort. Stump knows all this and that Boczar's final death is the only thing that will bring peace to the cursed town. Stump is standoffish and gruff, but opens up to adventurers who are nonhostile and treat him with kindness, which has been a rare experience in his life.

E4: An ancient Barrow Mound lies amongst the hills of this area (see the Orden Barrow Mound in Dungeon Delvers Guide, pg 203). It is an ancient burial site for the Deathsworn, the terrible warriors of Valeresh.

E8: A mine worked by the inhabitants of Brevic for generations has been the site of recent upheaval. Strange new gems and stones have appeared. The ghouls have also begun harassing the miners (see the Old Number Ten Mine in the Dungeon Delver’s Guide, pg 200).

E10: Devil’s Cave: See adventure Keevial’s Rage in MCDM’s Arcadia Magazine, Issue 6, pg. 19.

F5: Shadow Gate: At the site of a cross roads, and the convergence of a ley line, there is a ruined portal. It was once two standing stones with a cross piece of stone bridging them. Now the left standing stone is fallen, and the bridge stone leans against the right stone, creating a triangle large enough for one creature to pass through. At dawn and dusk, while the light still shines but before the sun peeks over the horizon, the gate opens. It is guarded by a Shadow Fey Knight of the Road (Creature Codex, pg 146) named Lady Sagra.

F8: Town of Brevic.

G9: A hidden cave here holds a secret entrance into the Ghoul Imperium. 

H3: Secret cave lair of the Night Cauldron of Chernobog. Lady Illmalad’s dhampir son, Fane, is a leader of the cult in this region and often is here with the other cultists. Spawn of Chernobog, Dark Folk, and other monsters.

H6: An ancient stela stands here. Script in a dead language is weathered and written upon it. It is a monument dedicated to Mavros. Offerings of broken and decaying weapons lie in front of it. 

H8: Contains a dungeon of worked stone that is the lair of a Nihileth trapped in deep slumber since the primordial age (right wing of dungeon). The mysterious sigils are inlaid with gems, and when attempts are made to remove the treasures the creatures awakened. In the crypts (on the left side), funerary boxes mysteriously covered in ice are visible through a glass window in each door. Carved on the sarcophagi are strange aberrant humanoids with tentacles on their faces. They appear to be in deep freeze for an unknown purpose. Opening any of the doors causes the chambers to begin to thaw and a strange whirring noise begins to eminate from the boxes until they eventually open.

Cartography by Dysonlogos

I6: Contains a forgotten crypt housing a Necrichor (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 238).

J4: Location of Papa Toadleg’s abandoned camp. Remnants of fire pit and rough lean-to are in grove of trees near the road.

J9: The lair of a Loup Garou (Von Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, pg 237) is hidden in the forest. This powerful werewolf is the sire of the infected werewolf in D5.

J10: Papa Toadlegs’ new lair. It is a remote cave with magical wards to hide the old red hag from the Mavka hunting him. It contains the Cauldron of Blood.

K1: Contains a small outpost of dwarven soldiers from the Black Fortress commanding a ruined watchtower. They are led by a grizzled paladin of Khors, Holdna Brightshield. There are about twenty to thirty dwarves manning the outpost at a time, usually working in squads of four led by a graveslayer sergeant.