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ynnRoguelike
When the players first step through to Ynn, roll a d20 on the table for locations to see where their doorway leads. In addition, roll a d20 on the table for details for the specifics of the place, and on the table for vents for anything that’s going on there. You will map out Ynn every time the play- ers visit it. Take a sheet of paper. In the centre, at the top, write in the location where the players entered. This is layer 0. Here, the players have 3 options. These are: I. Stay Here II. Go Deeper III. Go Back. When the players Stay Here, they remain in the same location. Every turn after the first, roll for Events. Whenever the players Go Deeper , draw a line from their current location, leading down and write the location they find at the end. Roll on pages 11 for the location and its details; a d20 plus the layer they are now on. So, the first time they Go Deeper that takes them down to layer 1, so roll d20+1. If they go down again from there, that’s layer 2, so d20+2. Combine the results. The Location rolled will give you the core of the place, and the Details will modify it. From a given location, the players can Go Deeper multiple times. Each time they do, draw a new line from the current location, branching off. When the players Go Back , they travel back up the line, to a previously visited location. (This is probably on the previous layer, but the map can get complex as players double back and find paths linking disparate loca- tions.) They can Stay Here there, Go Back Again, or Go Deeper again, either to a location they visited before or to a new location (roll it up).
Going Deeper and Going Back both take a
turn as the players search for pathways.
While PCs are actively interacting with a
location - either exploring it, moving
through it or dealing with the things in it,
roll a d20 every exploration turn for events.
If they are not exploring or paying atten-
tion to the location, instead roll a d12. This
will produce more encounters with crea-
tures, and won’t find hidden things.
Locations tend to have their edges marked by thick hedges, high walls, creeks, fences and so on. Between locations, the gardens are relatively boring. Hedges, lawns, flow- erbeds or whatever. Nothing interesting; if it was interesting, it would be a location. Travelling from one location to the next is quick. It takes about a turn (ten minutes), most of which is spent doing things like climbing over fences or looking for interesting looking landmarks.
- Manicured Lawn
- Herb garden.
- Vine Trellis.
- Orchard
- Ponds
- Rose Garden
- Gazebo
- Hothouses
- Orchid Houses
- Silk-garden
- Chess Lawn
- Hedge Maze
- Kennels
- Statuary
- Woods
- Mausoleum
- Shooting Range
- Fountain Court
- Shadow Theatre
- Gear-works
- Tower
- Ice Rink
- Fire-pit
- Cemetery
- Steam-pipes
- Cliff Garden
- Mushroom Beds
- Mask Gallery
- Settlements
- Splicing Vats
- Incubation Beds
- Vivisection Theatre
- Electrodyne Thicket
- Winery 35 or more) Ruins of Ynn
- Empty
- Treasure-pile
- Graffiti
- Well Maintained
- Dead Explorers
- Nests
- Rumbling
- Lamp-Post
- Silver Filigree
- Glass Tubes
- Steel Frames
- Dead Birds
- Flooded
- Burned
- Frozen
- Ivy-covered
- Singing
- Glass-roofed
- Sidhe Skeletons
- Clockwork Parts
- Inverted
- Floating
- Chasms
- Smouldering
- Churning
- Predatory
- Fleshy
- Entrancing
- Fertile
- Luminous
- Zero Gravity
- Hypnotic
- Parasitic
- Doorway Out 35 or more) Tangled Madness
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A sudden change in the weather wells up. Either howling winds, torrential rain, heavy snow, a thun- derstorm or a rapidly-encroaching wall of fog; pick one.
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An ominous ticking can be heard from beneath the ground. Nothing happens yet. Next time an Event is rolled in this location, roll two events instead.
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Something turns up; it is hostile. Roll for an encounter.
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Something turns up; it’s merely curious. Roll for an encounter.
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Something is disturbed while eating. Roll for an encounter.
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Something is found trapped. Maybe it’s caught in tangled vines, or its foot is in a snare, or it’s locked in a cage. Roll for an encounter.
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A fight spills into the location. Roll two encounters, they’re already fighting each other before the play- ers get involved.
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Something’s territory is disturbed and it defends its lair. Roll for an encounter.
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Something turns up, badly injured, totally lost or otherwise at a disad- vantage. Roll for an encounter.
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Something is returning to its home., and is surprised to find PCs here. Roll for an encounter.
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Tracks, litter, or other signs of pas- sage are found. Roll an encounter to see what left them. The next encounter in this location will be with that.
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Beneath the earth’s surface, something grinds and churns, and ripples of change flow through the garden. Roll a new Detail for the location and apply it in the most logical way. Everybody present must Save vs Magic, and if they fail roll for an Ynnian Alteration.
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Something’s empty home is found. Roll for treasure for what’s there, and roll an encounter to see what lives there. The thing’s not home currently. Next time you’d roll an encounter in this location, instead the creature who’s home you found comes back.
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A cache of hidden treasure is found under a paving slab! Roll for what the treasure is.
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A cache of hidden treasure is found in a wooden box! Roll for what it is.
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A set of steps are found, leading to a subterranean passageway. The passage is lined with black and white tiles, and lit with candles. It leads somewhere else on the map- draw a line leading to a previously explored location, ideally one less deep than the current location.
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A neat brick pathway is found, covered in an arch of thick hedge- row that hides the sky. It leads to an area d6+1 layers deeper.
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A set of railway tracks are found, complete with a little trolley. If you ride the trolley, it takes you to an- other location you’ve already ex- plored, preferably one quite deep.
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A sunken canal is found, a few feet down, concealed by an iron grille overgrown with plants. The little canal-boats in here will take you somewhere else; a new location 2d levels deeper.
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The pathway crumbles away, col- lapsing in on itself and vanishing under rapidly-growing ivy and rose- brambles. Erase one of the exits leading from this location.
- A Black Cat
- An Emerald Serpent.
- A Bottle-Hermit-crab
- D6 Moss-rats.
- 2d4 Plant-skeletons
- A Giant Frog
- A Bonsai Turtle
- A Salamander
- A Golem Gardener
- A Carnivorous Plant
- A Giant Caterpillar
- D6+1 Rust Bumblebees
- A Glass Butler
- A hybrid-beast
- An Animate Statue
- A pack of 2d4 Peahawks
- An Ambulatory Pudding
- A Walking Topiary
- A Praying Mantis
- A flock of 3d6 Glass Birds
- A choir of 2d4 Rose-maidens.
- D4 Floral Spiders
- A Clockwork Lawnmower
- A Chess Set (1 king and queen, 2 rooks, knights and bishops, and 8 pawns)
- A Drake
- D4 Hybrid-Beasts, all the same.
- D6 Fish-Servants , D6 Frog- servants, and a Ferret-Servant
- The Questing Beast
- The Unicorn
- A choir of 2d10 Rose Maidens
- A Shepherd of the Trees
- D6+1 Empty Robed Ones
- The Idea Of Thorns
- A Sidhe 35 or more. Roll again, d20+d10+d6-2, don’t add Depth.
- A Black Cat
- A Hopping Lantern
- D4 Blue Foxes
- A Shadow
- 2d4 Plant-skeletons
- A Walking Hive
- d4+1 Myconid Composters
- A Salamander
- A Golem Gardener
- D6 Shadows
- A Giant Caterpillar
- A Parasitic Wasp
- A Glass Butler
- A hybrid-beast
- An Animate Statue
- A pack of 2d4 Peahawks
- An Ambulatory Pudding
- A Candle-golem
- A Jellyfish
- A pack of 2d4 White Apes
- A Basilisk
- D4 Floral Spiders
- A swarm of 2d4 Parasitic Wasps
- A Chess Set(1 king and queen, 2 rooks, knights and bishops, and 8 pawns)
- A Dream
- D4 Hybrid-Beasts, all the same.
- D6 Fish-Servants , D6 Frog- servants, and a Ferret-Servant
- The Jabberwock
- The Worm
- 2d10 Myconid Composters
- A Shepherd of the Trees
- D6+1 Empty Robed Ones
- The Idea Of Thorns
- A Sidhe 35 or more. Roll again, d20+d10+d6-2, don’t add Depth.
Short, cropped grass, studded with dai- sies. Surrounded by a low brick wall over which ivy climbs. Quiet, save for distant birdsong. Nothing much here.
Neat rows of exotic herbs in raised beds, gone to seed and overflowing their allot- ted space into the brick paths between. D6+depth herbs with useful properties growing here. D6+depth doses of each herb can be harvested. Roll d10 for what a given herb does:
- Analgesic, heals 1 hp.
- Hallucinogen (2d6 damage to wis- dom)
- Strength Tonic, +1 to damage.
- Psychedelic; instantly re-memorize a spell cast today.
- Re-roll last save vs poison/sickness
- Paralysis, d6 turns, Save vs Poison avoids.
- Vomiting for d4 rounds, no save.
- Irritant, +1 to damage suffered for the next day.
- Tastes really nice. Each dose worth 10 silver.
- Roll for Ynnian Alterations 1 - in-6 chance to identify a plant’s effects from pre-existing knowledge, except for characters with improved chance at survival skills, who get to use that chance instead. Otherwise, identify by trial-and- error.
Steel frameworks hold up a tangle of overgrown vines, producing dappled shade beneath them. Hiding is easy here (double chance). The vines produce deep blue fruit that can be fermented like grapes, producing a liquor that induces psychedelic visions.
Fruit trees spaced out every few yards,
coppiced so their branches start five feet
above the ground. Trunks now gnarled
and grizzled with age, branches extend-
ing into a tangled canopy that ends fifty
feet up.
Fruit no longer harvest drop to the floor,
where they rot and ferment. The place
stinks of alcohol. Just breathing here is
intoxicating, on entering Save vs Poison;
on a failure 1 damage each turn you
remain. Fruit still on the branch is still
perfectly edible.
Ornamental ponds, their surfaces cov-
ered in floating lilies. Huge drifting fish
like bright orange and pink carp and
catfish beneath the surface. Rushes and
cat-tails grow here in abundance.
There’s as many ponds here as the loca-
tions depth, plus 1. If you drink the wa-
ter from a given pond, roll a d10 for its
properties:
- Gone foul. 1 damage.
- Invigorating. Tastes tingly, like mint. Heal 1.
- Intoxicating. -1 to all mental rolls, +1 to all physical.
- Just water. No effect.
- Sweet tasting. No actual effect.
- Bitter tasting. No actual effect.
- Slightly fizzy, like champagne. -1 to fall damage for the next turn.
- Tiny parasites. Tastes salty and organic. Save vs Poison or spend the next turn vomiting.
- Corrosive. Tastes spicy. You don’t have to swallow, but if you do, d damage.
- Enchanted. Roll for Ynnian Altera- tions.
Roses grown in neat beds, in huge varie-
ties. Now overgrown, tangled masses of
thorns dotted with brilliantly-coloured
exotic roses.
Movement here is half speed due to the
thorns. Alternatively, if you don’t care
about getting scratched up, move at full
speed for a turn (d8 damage) or a round
(1 damage).
Only one rose grows here that’s pure
black. Eat it, and you get +1 HP and
black rose-petal-patterns like tattoos,
permanently. It’s visible at the centre of
the rose garden, but reaching it takes d
damage with no clear route that avoids
getting scratched up.
A jolly little wooden pavilion. Bright
paint faded and peeling. Within, a few
wicker chairs and manky cushions. Cob-
webs, perhaps. Knickknacks such as tea-
sets, decks of cards, opium pipes, worth
d10+depth gold, plus roll for treasure.
A safe place to camp at night; so long as
there’s a flame within the Gazebo (from
a candle, lantern or campfire), no mon-
sters will attack those within.
Glass buildings that housed tropical plants. Now the window panes are cracked and broken, and the plants with- in either died off in the unsympathetic climate or overgrowing the place. Re- gardless of the weather outside, it’s warm, dry and pleasant within. To generate the map, drop a small hand- ful of dice onto some paper. Where a dice lands, draw a hothouse. The cross- section of dice is the floorplan of the glasshouse. Each corner on the upper face points to a doorway. D12s are two stories high, d20s 3. Each hothouse contains one of the fol- lowing (look at the number rolled for what):
- Rare plants worth d4+depth gold
- Nothing of note.
- Plants with medicinal properties. D6 doses, each heals 1 hp.
- Fruit you can eat safely.
- Poisonous plants. Ingesting or injection causes 2d6 damage. D doses.
- Tables and chairs, now rusted over. 7. D4+1 pitcher plant. Can’t move from the spot. Armour as leather. 3 HD, 10HP, attacks d6 times a round (+3, d6), saves as fighter 3, immune to all the stuff you’d expect plants to be immune to. 8. No plants at all. 9. Digestive green slime growing over the ceiling. Make a sudden or loud noise and some drops on you (treat as an attack, +0 to hit, d6 damage). Be stealthy and you can see how every little noise causes it to ripple in response. 10. Ornamental gold birdcages. 11. Horrible spores. Breathing them in results in 1 damage per turn. No saves. Damage continues at the same rate once you leave, but roll a Save vs Poison. If you pass, it stops after as many turns as the dice roll. If you fail, it continues indefinitely. If you die from the spores, your corpse sprouts delicate flowers that spew more of the spores into their environment. 12. Under the greenery, human skele- tons with creepers growing out of their rib-cages. Reanimate when approached. Plant-skeletons have AC as leather, 1 HD, 4 HP, claws (+0, d6), saves as fighter 1. Undead. Those killed reanimate as plant-skeletons a turn later. 13 or more, or anything else shown: the glasshouse is sealed from the outside, the doors boarded over. Inside is dense with greenery trying to get out. If opened up, a sundew emerges each round. Stats as pitcher plants, but the plants aren’t immobile. Furthermore, anybody killed by the plant has a seed planted in them; a turn later, a new sun- dew rips free of their flesh.
Like the hothouses, these glass buildings
protect from the weather. Generate
where they all are like hothouses.
Each glass house contains rare orchids
worth d10 x depth silver to a collector.
There’s a chance that each orchid house
contains something else. This is like the
contents of hothouses, but all even dice
rolls are instead ‘nothing interesting but
orchids’.
The first encounter here, and 1-in- 3
other encounters, will be with Rose
Maidens.
Steel frameworks eerily reminiscent of
trees, but lacking in leaves, are spaced
evenly. Hung from these, draped from
tree to tree or suspended from the
branches, are a mandala-like network of
strands of silk in a brilliant rainbow of
colours.
The silk is sticky. Save vs Paralysis or get
stuck fast if you deliberately touch it.
Running, combat, or anything else of a
vigorous nature probably calls for a save
each round to avoid touching the silk
(but roll twice and take the better result).
Once something’s stuck on the webs, the
spinner worms arrive. Like fat silkworms
as long as your arm. D4 of them per
person stuck in the silk. Carnivorous.
AC as chain, 1 HD, 3 HP. Bites (+1, d4),
saves as fighter 1. On a 20 to hit, spins more
webs, fastening a limb to the body. Immune to
the effects of the webs. Insectile intelligence.
A wide square lawn. 10-yard squares of
neatly manicured grass alternate with
black stone slabs. Scattered about are
chess pieces in obsidian and white mar-
ble, each twice as high as a human. Here
and there, scattered bits of human bones.
For each side (black and white), 50%
chance that the pieces are actually a full
Chess Set collection of monsters. If
both sides are monsters, the two sides
are in a stalemate until the PCs arrive and
each side entreats them for aid in their
struggle.
A tangled maze of thorny hedges. Once
you’ve gone in, each turn you’ve got two
options;
d20. For each 20, roll for a random
encounter as something finds the
players. Other rolls that are higher
than the PCs intelligence score are
discarded. Rolls equal to or lower
than the intelligence score are add-
ed to a running total. Once the
running total equals 50, the maze is
fully explored and the party can go
back or go deeper freely.
you’ve decided to do this, it takes 1
turn to get out again per turn spent
in the maze so far, and then you can
go back to the last location before
the maze.
Hacking through the hedges helps, at a
cost. Each player who hacks gets to add
their d20 to the progress total, regardless
of if it was greater than their intelligence
or not. However, doing so attracts atten-
tion: automatically roll for an encounter.
The same applies to other plans to cir-
cumvent the maze, such as climbing
over.
Once the maze is fully explored, the
centre is found: roll a random treasure
to see what’s there.
Little wooden shacks that once housed various beasts and birds of the garden. Now abandoned and falling to ruin. Roll twice for events each turn here; things still nose about.
A formal garden full of elegant, classical style statues. Many seem to depict peo- ple in great pain, surprised or frightened. Many statues are over-grown with ivy. 1 - in-6 chance that one of the statues is of a famous missing person from the real world. Anybody who dies here turns to a statue immediately. Until turned back to flesh, they can’t be resurrected.
A scattering of trees. The further in you go, the denser the trees get. Each turn exploring the woods brings you deeper in. After three turns, the light under the canopy is dim , after 5 it’s dark enough to need lamps, after 7 it’s as dark as night. Getting to the other side of the woods in order to go deeper takes at least 8 turns.
A stone tomb surrounded by formal gardens and low hedges. A big rectangu- lar block of marble, topped with a statue. 12 feet across. It’s hollow. You can pry away the slabs that make up the sides or lift the top to get inside. Inside, a grave. D4 skeletons, and roll for treasure. If you steal the treasure, Save vs Magic or be cursed; roll a d12 for the curse.
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- 1 HP, permanently, and the word THIEF branded on the character’s forehead.
2) Transmutation! Roll for Ynnian
Alterations
3) Blind in one eye.
4) Somebody you care about dies of
unrelated causes. Probably just a
coincidence.
5) Gold Lust: halve all XP from any
treasure that’s not coinage or pre-
cious metals.
6) Karmic Misfortune: when you roll
your next PC, treat all 6s as 1s.
7) No longer gain nutrition from eat-
ing meat.
8) - 1 to all saves vs other curses, for-
ever.
A long lawn, with large stakes driven into
the ground at one end. Some of the
stakes have bullet-holes in them. Some
still have skeletons tied to them.
There’s nothing much of note here be-
yond that.
Cracked pavement, grass growing be-
tween the slabs, surrounds a shallow
pool with a fountain in the middle. The
fountain still flows, water trickling into a
crystal clear pool.
At the bottom of the pool, there’s coins
that have been thrown in. If you take
any out, you can’t get any benefit from
the fountain, from that point on, and
lose any benefits you might have gained.
Throw a coin in the fountain and some-
thing good happens. You only get this
the first time, after that you need to
throw in something more valuable than
the last one you threw in. The sequence
is:
Roll a d10 for the benefit a given foun-
tain grants.
- +1 HP permanently.
- +1 to hit permanently.
- +1 Strength permanently.
- +1 Dexterity permanently.
- +1 Constitution permanently.
- +1 Intelligence permanently.
- +1 Wisdom permanently.
- +1 Charisma permanently.
- +1 AC permanently.
- D20 x Depth XP.
Drinking from the fountain after you
toss a coin in doubles the effects of the
benefit.
A semi-circular amphitheatre with stone steps for seats, now overgrown with moss and ferns. A central stage, with the rusted, rotted, crumbling apparatus for shadow-puppets. Shadows here don’t move normally. They react when their owners remain still, and grope towards light-sources. Linger here, and the shadow begins to detach. 1 damage to charisma per turn spent here. On leaving, this effect continues each turn, and make a Save vs Magic. On a failure, the effect carries on indefinitely. On a success, the damage stops after as many turns as the number rolled. If Charisma hits 0, the shadow is finally free. Heal all lost charisma. From this point on:
become unrecognisable. Whole
movements in abstract or stylized
art might result from the attempts.
eroded. Whenever they level up, re-
roll all previous hit dice for a com-
pletely new hitpoint total.
mate shadow; an intangible monster
that hates the light.
gible claws (+2, d4 and 1 charisma
damage), intangible and immune to physi-
cal damage, bright light does d6 damage a
round, dead victims transform into more
shadows.
Great cracks in the ground give way to
massive gears, ranging in size from a
hand-span to the size of a small house.
The gears are still turning, rust flaking
from them as they slowly grind around.
They seem to be linked into some great
machine.
Getting caught in the gears deals d6
damage per round, and a Save vs Devices
must be made to pull free or else another
round’s damage is dealt next round as
the victim is pulled further in.
An ornamental folly,
looming over the tree-
tops. Constructed of
wood and brick, and
overgrown with ivy.
There’s a doorway ajar
on the ground floor, and
shuttered windows fur-
ther up the tower. The
tower can, therefore, be
entered through the main
door or at any floor if
you climb to a window.
There are d6+2 floors.
Each floor is around 20
feet wide, with a curving
wooden staircase leading
to the floors above and
below.
The interior is dusty,
cobwebby and falling
apart. Wallpaper peels
from the walls, the carpet
is mouldy, and water
pools by the shutters. In
addition, for each floor,
roll d12 to see what else
is there:
- Nothing
- Treasure
- An encounter! Something lives here.
- An encounter! Something is also exploring.
- Furniture, slowly falling apart.
- A bookshelf. If searched, there’s a 1
- in-6 chance that among them is a spellbook with a single random 1st- level spell.
- Birds nests, with eggs and the occa- sional hatchling squawking away.
- Dense cobwebs, making vision and movement hard.
- A skeleton, chained to the wall. 10. Stored food, enough rations to feed a party of 10 for a week, perfectly preserved. 11. Paintings of various sidhe. D4 of them. Each worth 100 gold multi- plied by the depth of the location. 12. A full-length mirror, which reflects accurately but doesn't show any- thing non-magical. The entirety of Ynn and its natives are magical enough to show up, but the adven- turers and things they bring with them might not be.
The top floor, however, will have differ- ent contents. Roll a d12 twice for what.
- A huge brass bell.
- A telescope
- A camera obscura.
- A treasure-horde. Roll for treasure 3 times. Add the number of floors in the tower to the location’s depth for this roll.
- A magician’s library. Among other more mundane works, there are spellbooks containing d12 1st level spells, d10 second level spells, d8 3rd level spells and d6 4th level spells, d4 5th level spells, and a single spell of level 6+. 6. An encounter! A powerful monster lives here. Roll for encoun- ters, adding the number of floors to the loca- tion’s depth for this roll. 7. A booby-trap! One of the floor- boards is actually a pressure-plate, and will cause a flurry of metal darts to shoot from the cracks in the floor- bo ards; ev er y body takes d4 damage if they don’t pass a Save vs Devices. 8. A cursed suit of plate armour, on a stand. When worn, the wearer has the normal armour class for plate armour. Furthermore, the armour allows the wearer to make a single final attack immediately if they would be slain; if this attack kills its victim, then they ignore the damage that would have killed them.
- A half-finished clockwork-powered flying machine.
- A giant mirror for sending flashed messages.
- The skeleton of one of the sidhe - perfect and beautiful - in an elegant glass coffin.
- A huge lamp that illuminates the location, and all adjacent locations. The lamp consists of a big glass bowl of water filled with biolumi- nescent shrimp.
A depression in the ground, lined with
white marble, with a flat sheet of glassy
ice at the bottom. The refrigerating
magic here has been left to work unat-
tended, and frost has spread out of con-
trol, killing the nearby plant-life.
A deep pit in the ground, lined with
stone slabs reinforced with iron, venting
hot air up from it. A flickering orange
light emanates from the pit’s depths.
The pit is around 50 feet deep. At the
bottom, liquid fire, something between
molten metal and condensed plasma.
Falling into the fire deals 2d6 damage a
round. Merely being in the burning va-
pours coming off it deals 1 damage per
round.
Everything here is scorched and burned.
Ash flutters in the air, carried by eddies
of swirling smoke. The atmosphere is
stiflingly hot.
A neat formal garden, with gravestones evenly spaced every seven feet or so. Lilies and roses growing here, moss obscuring the detailing on the elegant art
- nouveau headstones. If you dig a grave up, roll a d6 to see what’s in it:
- Just a skeleton.
- Nothing but dirt.
- An animate skeleton, which is un- happy its rest has been disturbed.
- An animate skeleton, which is so unhappy that it gives an angry scream, causing d6 more to rise from nearby graves.
- Treasure (roll on page 72)
- Nothing but dust.
Animate skeletons have AC as leather, 1 HD, 4 HP, claws (+0, d6), saves as fighter 1. Undead. They can talk, and are flamboyant and verbose in their exaggerated emotions. If damaged but not killed, they can use their action to reassemble themselves, healing all damage.
At night, the skeletons emerge from
their graves. There will be d20+1 of
them hanging about. Roll a d8 for what
they’re doing:
- Playing Boules.
- Playing music; ribcage xylophones and thighbone flutes.
- Having a formal debate over the theological implications of their continued existence.
- Tending to the gardens. They may be wearing straw hats and dunga- rees.
- Playing in a poker tournament. They gamble with teeth. The losers are near-toothless, the winner has teeth jammed all over their skull.
- Observing the moon through a telescope, and taking detailed maps.
- Wailing and shaking and apologiz- ing for their sins.
- Scrimshawing each other.
This is an area of lawn and flowerbeds,
once artfully arranged to hide the pres-
ence of a large number of steam-pipes.
Now, the flowers have died back and the
turf has split, revealing hissing, clanking
iron pipes. They’re fitted with pressure
valves and outlets. Turn the tap on and
steam shoots out of the outlet, scalding
everything in its path (90° arc, 10 feet
out) for 2d4 damage. Save vs Breath
Weapons negates; if you’re expecting the
steam roll twice and take the better result.
If the steam-pipes are damaged, the same
happens from the rent in the metal.
Then, each round thereafter, it gets
worse: pressurized steam starts to rip bits
of metal from the damage. The range
increases by 10 feet, and the damage
steps up a dice size (2d6’s, then 2d8s,
etc.).
All sorts of things might damage the
pipe. Experiments to see what’s in it,
stray missiles, very heavy things falling on
them. If in doubt, roll a d6, and on a 1 or
2 the pipe is busted.
After the first time the steam pipes are
encountered, the pipes might carry some-
thing else. Roll a d6 for what’s in the
pipes:
- Steam
- Acid
- Quick-lime
- Molten Tar
- Boiling Water
- Boiling Oil Regardless of what’s in the pipes, the damage stays the same.
This garden is planted on a large vertical
wall, as if the ground was rotated ninety
degrees. Grass, flowers, and little trees all
grow normally, poking out from the cliff
and then bending to grow upwards.
The cliff section is suspended over a
yawning abyss. There’s no visible bot-
tom, it just fades into mist. Fall in, and
you’re just gone. The trip is one way, there
is no return. Flying will stop you falling
in, but won’t save you once you’ve fallen;
the pull of the abyss is too strong, it’s like
being dragged underwater by a riptide.
The turf is soft enough that you can
make handholds just by thrusting your
hands and feet in, or else you can grab
onto plants, roots and other bits of gar-
den. It’s perfectly safe as nothing goes
wrong. However, something might go
wrong if:
fast.
task.
Add up the total of your Strength, Dex-
terity and Constitution. This value is your
grip. Every time something might go
wrong, roll a d20., and deduct the result
from your grip. Deduct any damage you
suffer from the total as well. When your
grip hits 0, you fall. There’s a round for
you to be caught before it’s too late, and
after that you’ve dropped off the gardens
and into the abyss.
If a full exploration turn passes without
your grip worsening, it resets to its start-
ing value. Using specialist climbing gear,
magic or similar might increase your grip
strength, at the GM’s discretion.
A number of beds of bare earth, under large iron rooves to keep the sunlight off them. The rooves are ten feet off the ground. There’s plenty of room under there, or you can walk over the rooves. The mushroom beds are packed with mycelium threads under the dirt, and various exotic fruiting bodies. Roll a d8 for what the fruiting bodies actually look like:
- Slightly luminous, delicate pink mushrooms.
- Wide, flabby grey toadstools.
- Slender black slimy mushrooms.
- Vivid yellow puffballs.
- Dark blue fronds.
- Tiny white clusters of mushrooms.
- Broad red toadstools.
- Huge, flaky white puffballs. Disturbing the mushroom beds , by treading on them for example, causes them to release spores. Everybody near- by must make a Save vs Poison, or suffer the following effects (roll d8 for what).
- D4 damage, as the spores cause the lungs to fill and the host to choke.
- D6 damage to dexterity as the spores cause tremors and twitches.
- D6 damage to wisdom, as the spores cause geometric hallucina- tions.
- D6 damage to constitution, as the spores cause sweats and vomiting.
- D6 damage to charisma, as the spores cause the skin to crack and discolour.
- D6 damage to intelligence, as the spores induce delirium. 7. D6 damage to strength, as the spores cause muscles to seize up. 8. Loss of one level, as the spores cause lethargy and dull the senses. The effects will repeat each turn for d6 turns. After the second time, the victim’s skin gets all lumpy and bulges can be seen in their flesh. After the third time, mushrooms start to emerge from under their fingernails and out of their orifices. After the fourth time, and thereafter, more and more mushrooms grow from cracks in their skin. The infection progresses until cured (with a cure disease, delay poison or similar spell), the infection runs its course, or the victim dies. Each appearance of mushrooms will always release spores with the same effects. So, for example, in every loca- tion visited, dark blue fronds might always produce hallucinogenic spores. The first encounter here, and 1-in- 3 encounters thereafter, will always be with Myconid Composters.
This takes the form of a long wall, on
which are hung various mask. Each sur-
rounded by a picture frame, one of each
mask. The masks present, and what hap-
pens when you wear them, are:
Stylized. The wearer deals 3 more
damage whenever they deal damage,
and suffers 3 more damage whenever
damage is done to them. Small ani-
mals, insects and so on tend to lie
down and die peacefully around
them.
painted. Reduced to level 1, never
gain levels (the levels come back
when the mask comes off). 19-in- 20
chance to ignore any effect that
would kill or remove the character.
Become innocent and naive.
velvet, and glass eyes. The wearer gets
+3 charisma and +3 constitution.
They always fail any saves to resist
mind control and emotional manipu-
lation. They find genteel civilization
tiresome, and long to run into the
woods where they can rut and fight
and spill blood beneath the moon.
made from wood, painted red. Hu-
man teeth in the mouth. +3 to hit.
200 XP every time the wearer takes
the heart from somebody or some-
thing they killed. Halve all XP from
treasure.
fire on silk. The wearer is immune to
damage from fire, but takes double
damage from other non-physical
sources such as lightning etc. They
are consumed by an urge to commit
grand and exotic acts of arson.
white and black porcelain, with gold
inlay. The wearer can sneak as if they
were a thief/specialist/expert of their
level, or if they were already a class
that gets a chance to hide, double
their chance. Whenever a random
victim is chosen for a trap, curse or
similar, instead the Harlequin is the
victim. Their life takes on an air of
ineffable tragedy.
wood with glass lenses over the eyes.
+5 to saves vs poison and sickness.
Can ‘transfer’ hit points to a patient
being treated, taking 1 damage for
each point of healing the patient re-
ceives. -3 Charisma, -3 Strength. The
wearer starts to see other people in a
cold, clinical light, they’re things to
exaggerated facial-features and big
sharp teeth. The wearer can memo-
rize an extra spell of any level they
can cast. Reaction rolls when they’re
with bolts and a grille over the
eyes. +2 AC, -1 initiative, +1
chance to be surprised. The wearer
seems subtly grotesque, everybody
is sure that whatever’s under the
mask must be horrific.
Black inlaid script highlights well formed facial features. Double all XP gained for treasure. Gain no XP for anything that’s not treasure. Gain the minimum HP per Hit Dice on levelling up. The wearer gains a sophisticated taste in art, food, and company. Their subjec- tive tastes are always flawless, no- body of class would disagree with them. Take a total of the wearer’s charisma and constitution scores: this is their sense of self. Each day that the mask is worn, reduce that sense of self by 1. When their sense of self is half its starting value, the mask begins to take over. If they ever act in a way that goes against the mask’s archetype, they can gain no XP for the next day. If their sense of self becomes 0, the mask takes over entirely, and they become an NPC Removing a mask is difficult and dan- gerous. Make a Save vs Magic to do so, or else the mask is stuck fast to the wearer’s face and can’t be removed. Regardless of if the save is passed or failed, the attempt is incredibly painful;
the wearer takes d4 damage, plus one
more per day the mask’s been worn.
The Mask Gallery will only be found
once per expedition. Thereafter, treat
this result as ‘ manicured lawn’ instead.
One of the pseudo-civilized races of the
gardens dwells here. The settlement
consists of a number of sheds or shacks
clustered together, reinforced with im-
provised materials. Roll a d6 for which
creatures live here:
- Floral Spiders (in which case there are large webs between the building and lines of silk threading across the space).
- Rose-Maidens (in which case the buildings are interwoven with dog- roses and creepers)
- Myconid Composters (in which the buildings emerge from a cast, steaming compost heap)
- A Chess Set (in which case the sheds are decorated with heraldic crests).
- Animal Servants (in which case the place is run-down and ramshackle)
- Salamanders (in which case the place is built between vast bon- fires). There will always be large numbers of the inhabitants present; d20+10 Rose- Maidens or Myconids, a full compliment of animal servents, a full chess set, 2d6 Spiders or d6 Salamanders.
Concealed behind a hedge, there are the
splicing vats. Towering glass-and-steel
edifices, the splicing vats let you combine
disparate living things to produce the
various marvellous hybrids of the gar-
dens.
The vats are two stories tall, glass tubes
like a md scientist might grow clones in.
There’s all manner of tubes and pipes
going in and out. The whole thing is filled
with a slightly cloudy pinkish or greenish
liquid.
There’s a hatch in the front, latched shut,
bit enough for a person to crawl through.
There’s another little inlet valve, just big
enough to poke your finger into. There’s
a control panel, too, a brass and black-
iron plate with five unmarked buttons on
it.
Using the Vats properly is difficult. The
correct method works like this:
- Open the hatch, drain the fluid, and put the new test subject to be spliced into the vat.
- Press the correct button, to fill the vat with amniotic fluid.
- Introduce some genetic matter into the little inlet valve. Blood works fine, sap works fine, flesh works fine. Eggs and seeds will do, too.
- Procedure A, B, C or D is selected, depending on the intended result. Perhaps al combination. Perhaps this is repeated.
- The hatch is opened, and the newly modified creature comes out. A. This procedure passes subtle traits from the donated genetic material onto the subject. So, put in a hu- man’s DNA, and a human subject’s face might warp to look like them. Put in a tiger’s DNA, and a plant’s
leaves develop tiger-stripes. ‘A’
stands for ‘Appearance’
B. This procedure morphs the subject
into a half-and-half hybrid with the
introduced DNA. So, put in an owl
and a bear, select ‘B’ and get an
owlbear. Put in a human and a but-
terfly, and get a pixie. ‘B’ stands for
‘Blend’.
C. This procedure gives the subject a
noteworthy trait from the genetic ma-
terial introduced. Human DNA
makes the subject sentient like a
human. Spider DNA lets them spin
webs. Bat DNA gives the echoloca-
tion. Mushroom DNA makes them
spew reproductive spores. Elephant
DNA makes them grow a trunk and
tusks. ‘C’ stands for ‘capabilities’.
D. This procedure makes the effects of
any previous stuff done to the sub-
ject inheritable. ‘D’ stands for
‘DNA;
Of course, players will probably get this
wrong.
tank in step 1, rather than a whole
being, the vats produce a helpless
foetus that dies when removed.
through the hatch in stage 3, any
button press produces a horrible
cronenbergian mishmash monster.
stage 2, then each alteration causes
horrible wounds. D20 damage, may-
be.
subject results only in some splurt-
ing noises.
As a GM, you will have to homebrew
some rules if the players do this to each
other. Have fun with that!
These flowerbeds are studded with glass pipes carrying faintly luminous green oil. The oil pools and collects in glass orbs, and seeps out through crystalline thuri- bles. There’s a warm, soft green haze in the air. It smells of mint and pepper. The air thrums and tingles with vitality. The flowers grow vigorously. They’re far bigger than elsewhere; beds of tulips are large enough to form a canopy of bright petals over your heads. In the incubation beds, healing is dou- bled. Each turn, injured characters heal 1 HP without even needing treatment. Those healed here tend to heal oddly. Whenever a character benefits from the effects of the Incubation Beds, they roll for Ynnian Alterations.
This is a semi-circular amphitheatre, with
stone steps as seats and a platform in the
middle that acts as the stage. All are
overgrown with moss and ferns.
On the stage itself, there’s a metal surgi-
cal table, with restraints at either end for
wrists, ankles and the head. Other appa-
ratus is scattered about - lamps, clamps,
pumps and so on, but these delicate
devices have rusted into total useless-
ness.
This was, once, an important place.
There’s treasure here, scattered among
the seats. Roll for it to see what.
Here, the plants grow thick and tangled,
vines and creepers growing over a hemi-
spherical wire cage.
The outside of the cage is a mess of
vegetation. The inside is remarkable
clear. Smooth concrete floor, and no
plants. There’s a hum in the air, and the
smell of ozone.
In the dead centre, set in the floor,
there’s a strange machine. About the size
of a human head made of interlocking
concentric rings of black stone that whirl
around each other like some strange
planetarium.
Once every turn, the device gives out a
great burst of electricity. Arcs of light-
ning are flung from it, striking the cage
and earthing themselves. Anything inside
is struck and takes the brunt of the
shock, hence the lack of vegetation.
Getting zapped deals 2d6 damage.
There’s an extra d6 damage if metal ar-
mour is worn. There’s an extra d6 dam-
age for each hand holding a metal item,
like a lantern or sword. There’s an extra
d6 damage if you’re carrying metal treas-
ure (such as jewellery or coins). No save
unless you can somehow dodge light-
ning. Everybody inside the cage is struck.
If removed from the cage, it arcs to the
closes big metal thing (bigger than a
person). Everything living in the way is
struck by the electricity. It’s not bolted
down or anything; put it in a metal box
and you’ve got a pretty good bomb.
This is a wide marquee, with a wooden
slatted roof and open sides. Inside, there
are various tables and chairs, suit able for
a garden party, and several large wine
barrels piled up.
There are 2d6barrels, each well preserved
but unmarked, and a further 2d20 wine
bottles. The wine within is near-unique,
hundreds if not thousands of years old
and made by inhumanly talented vint-
ners. Each bottle is worth 100silver on
the market, each battel 1000.
If a whole bottle of wine is drunk while
still in Ynn, the drinker instantly be-
comes drunk, and gains the following
benefit permanently (roll d12):
- +1 maximum HP.
- +I Strength.
- +1 Dexterity.
- +1 Constitution.
- +1 Intelligence.
- +1 Wisdom.
- +1 Charisma.
- +1 to saves vs Paralysis.
- +1 to saves vs Poison.
- +1 to saves vs Breath Weapons.
- +1 to saves vs Devices.
- +1 to saves vs Magic. You can only gain each bonus once: if you drink the same wine again, all you get is even drunker. Drinking the wine outside of Ynn confers no benefit save a particularly aesthetic sort of inebriation.
This far out, things start to fall apart. The arcane machinery underpinning the gardens run haywire, causing things to lose their normal structure. The default for an area of Ynnian Ruins is an expanse of flowerbeds and lawns. There are great cracks in the ground, and collapsed blocks of stone and con- crete where greater structures once existed. To generate a map of the area, drop a bunch of dice on a sheet of paper, and note down what dice landed where. The dice rolled gives a feature.
-
A huge block of stone, the same shape as the dice that rolled it.
-
A deep pit. 10 feet per side on the dice that rolled it.
-
A wide chasm, 5 feet long per side on the dice that rolled it.
-
A tangle of barbed wire and rose thorns. Moving through deals 1 damage a round. 5 feet across per side on the dice that rolled it.
-
A column of baroquely coiled stone., with a wide platform at the top.
-
A row of collapsed columns; as many as the number of sides on the dice that rolled this.
-
A pool of corrosive, spitting liq- uid. Each round of exposure deals d6 damage, 2d6 for complete im- mersion. 1 foot across for each side on the dice that rolled it.
-
A pile of rubble.
-
A fallen statue, 20 feet high.
-
A mass of gears emerging from the soil, still slowly churning. Get caught in the gears and take d6 damage a round.
-
A long, hollow pipe leading into the ground, with dirty water at the bottom.
-
A huge tree, a redwood as tall as a 6 - story building. 13. A set of railway tracks twisted into
a pretzel-knot. 14. The smashed, scorched remains of a horse-drawn carriage. 15. A ladder leading up into the sky. Tall enough you can’t see the top, it just fades into the misty heights. 16. A row of metal girders emerging from the ground like teeth. 17. A single huge stone hand, as big as an elephant. 18. An elegant arch-bridge made of rusted metal. 19. A cluster of blinking eyes studded into the ground. 20. A huge mouth, wide enough to swallow a person, set in the ground. It’s hungry. Anybody going near enough for it to bite gets attacked (+0 to hit, d20 dam- age, if the damage is _even_ you’re sucked into the mouth and it starts chewing for d20 damage a round. Anything else. An iron lamp-post with a lit lantern at the end. The ruins here shift. Each turn, remove one of the features. Take a new dice without looking, and drop it onto the map. The new feature emerges in what- ever way makes most sense; stone blocks fall from the sky, perhaps, and chasms open up like mouths. Alterna- tively, the thing just fades in when nobody is looking - that statue was always there, how did you not notice? Maybe do this a few times in a turn to weird-up the place even more.
Trying to map this place makes your
head hurt. The angles and distances
change when you aren’t looking. Go
much further than this, and you suspect
reality will start to fall apart entirely.
This location is surprisingly devoid of inhabitants No insects, no birdsong. If an event would result in an encounter show- ing up, instead that encounter doesn’t.
There’s a little heap of treasure in the centre of the lawn here, glittering in the sunlight. There’s 5d10 silver in various denominations, and roll for treasure twice.
Explorers from the real world have scrawled graffiti across a wall here. If there’s some threat inherent to the location, the graffiti warns about it. If there’s something valuable that could be salvaged inherent to the location, the graffiti points it out. In addition, roll three d20s for what else the graffiti says - each piece is in a different hand.
-
[Xandu The Mighty/Roderick/ Black Alice/Alokraihne Valentinez/ Big Dave/Eleanor of Cym/The Black Rat] woz here/
-
A religious symbol (such as a cruci- fix, ankh, or similar)
-
‘Don’t drink the water’ (often good advice).
-
‘Drink the water’ (often dangerous advice).
-
‘The flowers are parasites’.
-
‘The door closes in 24 hours;,
-
‘Days are twice as long’.
-
‘If I never return, tell my wife/ husband I love them’ [dated at least a century ago]
-
‘Turn back now, before it’s too late!’
-
‘Ignore the other graffiti, it’s per- fectly safe’ (probably not true).
-
‘There are other doors out! Have faith!’ (true) 12. ‘I want to go home’ (an understand-
able sentiment. 13. ‘Don’t trust the Shining Ones’ (refers to the decadent-feral sidhe) 14. ‘Deeper in, there are more doors leading to other places’ (true) 15. ‘This is where we came in. Remem- ber this place.’ 16. ‘[Gug/Van Moldus/Jeremiah/ Alice/Torven/The Princess] died here’. 17. ‘The Masks are all cursed, except for the Child’s Mask’. (refers to the Mask Gallery - actually, all the masks are cursed). 18. ‘Take heed, traveller! Another way out lies beyond the bell- tower!’ (there are other ways out, but the exact route to them varies). 19. ‘I hate trees’ (an understandable sentiment) 20. ‘Beware the Vats! Correct order or you Perish!’ (refers to the splicing vats; and, indeed, if you get things wrong in the vats, it can be disas- trous).
Unlike most other parts of the gardens,
this area is perfectly preserved. Metal-
work isn’t rusty, stone isn’t eroded. The
grass is neatly mowed, the hedges
clipped, the flowers in straight rows.
Section 3: Location Detailss
The corpses of d6 explorers. They are
(roll d6):
-
Still warm.
-
Fresh enough that they’ve not been nibbled on.
-
Partly eaten.
-
Decaying and squishy.
-
Desiccated and shrivelled.
-
Bare skeletons. Roll a d10 for what sort of adventurer each was, and what’s on the body if they try and loot it.
-
A thief. Leather armour, dagger, lock-picks, rope.
-
A ranger. Leather armour, hand axe, 12 arrows, longbow, grappling hook, rope,.
-
A knight. Plate armour, shield, long- sword.
-
A priest. Chainmail, mace, holy symbol, holy book.
-
An assassin. Dagger, crossbow, 10 bolts garrotte, disguise kit.
-
A soldier. Chainmail, pike, en- trenching tools, shield.
-
A magician. Staff, and a spellbook with d6 random spells.
-
An alchemist. Knife, vial of contact poison (save or die), vial of acid.
-
An exorcist. Plate armour, vial of holy water, hammer. 10. Bounty hunter. Crossbow, 10 bolts,
shackles, hand axe, steel-trap. Plus 2d10 silver pieces, and roll for treas- ure. If there is a threat inherent to the loca- tion, then that is the obvious cause of death. Otherwise, roll d6 for what the corpses are doing: 1. Hung by the neck from tree branch- es. 2. Sat in iron chairs at a patio table, as if having a meal. 3. Impaled on wooden spikes. 4. Laid out respectfully on the ground, as if for a funeral. 5. Sealed in glass coffins. 6. Spread-eagled, pinned to the ground by the hands and feet to prevent rising, with an exotic orchid grow- ing from the mouth.
Dozens of rooks’ nests, tangled masses
of twigs and detritus. Empty.
The ground here trembles gently, and
emits deep rumbling, as if something
under the earth is grinding slowly to the
surface.
Section 3: Location Details
A black, wrought iron lamp-post stands in the middle of the open space here. It illuminates the area reliably. Nobody knows who changes the candles each night.
Scattered among the plants here are deli- cate art-neuveau curlicues made from silver. These are not sculptures, they’re plants from a different form of life - the mineral life that grows deep below the earths veins on a geological timescale. Most are somewhat tarnished by now, and several have moss or lichen growing on them. Harvesting the Filigree is a relatively simple matter. Just dig them up and wipe the dirt off. Together, they’re worth about the same as 100 silver coins, multiplied by the area’s depth.
The location is criss-crossed with dark tubes that weave in and out of the ground, coil around terrain features and entangle with the vegetation. The tubes carry some sort of fluid appar- ently important to the machinery that keeps this place going. An iridescent fluid, refracting brilliant colours like a peacock feather or oil on water, the con- sistency of shower-gel. It smells and tastes like absinthe. Get it on your skin and you need to Save vs Magic or else roll for Ynnian Alterations. Drink it, and there’s no save.
Jutting from the ground here are huge steel girders, big enough to be the struc- tural supports for some weirdly curved skyscraper. Twisted and bent in odd ways, like the hand of god wrung the
tower like a towel, and then everything
but the girders war removed, leaving only
the metal frame.
The ground is littered with dead birds, as
if they dropped out of the sky suddenly.
Brightly coloured, their feather’ all bro-
ken and bedraggled.
There’s standing water here, between
knee and waist deep. Plants and struc-
tures emerge from the water, algae cling-
ing to them by the water-line. It smells
stagnant.
Humans need to wade, smaller things to
swim. Halve movement speeds.
There has been a fire here. There’s a thin
layer of ash on the ground, trees are
scorched, vegetation reduced to skeletal
charred remains that crumble under your
touch. Structures are weakened. 1-in- 6
chance that the charred structure collaps-
es at the worst possible moment if you
venture onto/into it.
Everything here is covered in a layer of
frost that twinkles in the light. Water has
a layer of ice several inches thick. The
source of the cold is inexplicable. 1 dam-
age per turn if you linger here, unless
you’re warming up by a fire, indoors or
wrapped up in cold-weather gear.
Ivy grows over absolutely everything
here in a tangled blanket. Everything’s
silhouette is softened and green. Under-
neath, the structures are perfectly pre-
served.
Section 3: Location Detailss
Music filters through the area softly. Like
droning church organs, whale--song,
Theremins attempting Gregorian chants.
The source is a set of gold tubes, six
inches thick, emerging from the ground,
hidden behind greenery.
Listening to the music promises to grant
the listener Ynnian insight., although
filtered through synesthetic psychedelia
Each turn spent doing nothing but listen
allows the listener to ask the GM a single
question. The GM rolls a d10 to deter-
mine the list of possible answers, and
then picks the most appropriate one.
- Crimson, Violet, Turquoise, Viridi- an, Azure, Black, White, Grey,
- Spider, Butterfly, Slug, Wasp, Drag- onfly, Maggot, Ant
- Wind, Rain, Snow, Sunshine, Thun- der, Fog, Clouds.
- Fox, Crow, Horse, Rabbit, Pheas- ant, Sheep, Mole, Frog
- Eye, Mouth, Finger, Foot, Neck, Hand, Leg
- Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron, Lead, Chrome, Steel
- King, Queen, Castle, Bishop, Knight, Pawn
- Swords, Wands, Coins, Cups, Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, Clubs
- Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Wood, Metal
- Poet, Soldier, Thief, Farmer, Prin- cess, Priest, Witch, Hangman, Mon- eylender
This whole location is inside a single
giant glasshouse. The climate is slightly
warmer and more humid than normal,
it’s misty and stifling. You’re protected
from outside weather.
1 - in-3 encounters here will be with My-
conid Composters (at night) or Rose-
Maidens (during the daytime). They have
settlements here.
The skeletons of some of the sidhe, d4
of them.
A sidhe’s bones are made of perfect
alabaster. Each bone is thin and delicate;
a thigh-hone is the width of a human
finger, ribs are wire-thin., the skull no
thicker than cardboard. The creature’s
frame is taller than a human. The pro-
portions are perfectly symmetrical. Even
in death, the bones scattered and fell into
patterns that are aesthetically balanced.
To a collector, each bone in the sidhe’s
skeleton is worth an average of ten gold.
There are 250 bones in the body.
The structures here (be they fences,
buildings, trees or the floor) have clock-
work built into them. The wheels and
gears turn slowly, producing ta steady
polyrhythmic ticking.
Section 3: Location Details
The whole location is upside-down; it is built and grows on the ceiling over a yawning abyss. Trees grow down, with roots in place of branches, grass hangs limply. The abyss has no visible bottom, it just fades into mist. Fall in, and you’re just gone. The trip is one way, there is no return. Flying will stop you falling in, but won’t save you once you’ve fallen; the pull of the abyss is too strong, it’s like being dragged underwater by a riptide. Maybe you can cling to the trees and other structures here, if there are any. Otherwise, you need to navigate by hanging onto plants, roots and other bits of garden, like doing monkey-bars. It’s perfectly safe as nothing goes wrong. However, something might go wrong if:
fast.
task. Add up the total of your Strength, Dex- terity and Constitution. This value is your grip. Every time something might go wrong, roll a d20., and deduct the result from your grip. Deduct any damage you suffer from the total as well. When your grip hits 0, you fall. There’s a round for you to be caught before it’s too late, and after that you’ve dropped off the gardens and into the abyss. If a full exploration turn passes without your grip worsening, it resets to its start- ing value. Using specialist climbing gear, magic or similar might increase your grip strength, at the GM’s discretion.
You can’t Go Deeper without crossing
the location, but you can Go Back to
where you just came from.
Like an Inverted location, this one is
suspended over the yawning abyss. The
location is made up of floating islands of
turf and concrete that hang suspended in
mid-air, unmoving.
There are no bridges between the islands.
Maybe you can jump, or put your own
bridge across.
Falling into the abyss is just like in In-
verted locations or Cliff Gardens. You
have 1 round to rescue yourself or be
rescued, and then you’re gone forever.
You can’t Go Deeper without crossing
the location, but you can Go Back to the
way you came.
This location is split into sections by
chasms leading to the yawning abyss.
Huge cracks in the ground lead to the
misty nowhere that seems to lie beneath
the Gardens. The chasms are wide
enough to jump across, most of the time.
Unless something goes wrong.
Jumping requires two things: that you
have enough force to reach your destina-
tion, and that you land safely without
falling when you get there. These can be
represented with Strength and Dexterity
checks respectively, when appropriate.
If you fall in, you have a round to rescue
yourself or be rescued, as ever.
There could be a whole other world at
the bottom of the misty abyss. Perhaps it
is wonderful down there. Nobody knows
for sure ; nobody ever comes back.
Section 3: Location Detailss
This area is still dimly on fire. Although
the fire has mostly burned its course,
leaving everything blackened and
charred, flame still coruscates over vari-
ous surfaces in little dancing bands.
It is trivial to avoid actually going into
the flames themselves. If you do
(perhaps somebody pushes you in, or
you fall as part of some other mishap, or
you’re just stupid) then you take d6 dam-
age a round and make a Save vs Breath
Weapons; failure means you catch light
and burn for d6 damage a round even
when you get out. Perhaps an on-fire
character spreads the flame with them as
they flail about, too.
Although the fire is easy to avoid, the
area is still dangerous. The heat and
smoke-filled air deal 1 damage each turn
just for being there.
The ground here moves of its own ac-
cord. Not quite like an earthquake, more
like the way a ship’s deck sways and
shifts in rough water. The turf splits and
re-seals itself every few minutes as the
ground-level warps. Trees, buildings and
other structures sway wildly.
This location wants to eat you. The loam
itself is hungry. It can’t see, but it can
dimly hear and senses vibrations. If you
make much noise or cause much vibra-
tion in the ground, it will try to take a
bite. A mouth - made of loam and clay
but with white ivory teeth - opens up by
the victim’s feet.
Roll to hit at +0 to see if the attack hits
(bonuses for shields don’t count here). A
hit deals d12 damage and clamps the
mouth onto the character’s body. It
chews for d12 damage each round there-
after until the character either dies (and is
swallowed) or pulls free.
Causing a mouth pain causes it to let go
of whatever’s in it. Anything that causes
5 or more damage in one go will do this,
as will anything spicy (like horseradish or
chilli), any fire, or particularly pointy
things (like caltrops). The mouth spits
out whatever’s in it, and seals up to re-
semble blank turf once more.
Any number of mouths can try eating
people at once, but only one mouth per
person. If you aren’t on the ground (up a
tree or on a fence for example), the
mouths can’t get you. Speaking doesn’t
trigger a mouth, but walking might and
running, fighting or other strenuous
activity certainly does. Walking carefully
has a 50% chance to provoke a mouth.
Thieves and other stealthy characters get
their normal chance at stealth as an extra
save to avoid attracting the mouths no
matter what they’re doing, so long as
they try to do so stealthily.
This section of garden has all the plants
made of meat, bone and gristle rather
than vegetable matter.
Trees are pillars of bone, with rib-like or
hand-like branches and leaves that are
flaps of red skin. Grass is instead long
strips of soft flesh like on the inside of
the throat. Flowers made of delicately
folded mucus-membranes sit on the end
of cartilage stems. Here and there, an
eyeball peers out of the soil, blinking
placidly, or set of fleshy fingers grasps at
your ankles.
It smells like an abattoir or a hospital.
The meat is all edible, if you cook it, but
even then eating it causes you to roll for
Ynnian Alterations.
Section 3: Location Details
There’s a subtle mental-field over this location. The location feels nice. Like you belong here naturally. Leaving would be wrong. Each turn spent here heals 1 point of damage. If your attributes have been damaged, they can be healed in the same way. It’s comfortable and your pain is soothed while you’re here. When you leave, that feels wrong. When you leave, you lose any healing you gained here. The damage comes right back. On top of that, you take d10 dam- age to Charisma from just how harrow- ing the experience is. GM’s, don’t spring the loss of healing and charisma damage on your players unexpectedly. When they first mention leaving the location, tell them what the consequences of leaving will be, and let them agonize over what to do.
Things grow well here. Things heal rap- idly here. The vegetation is thick, lush, packed in tightly. Each turn spent here heals 1 point of damage. If your attributes have been damaged, they can be healed in the same way. It’s invigorating. You feel full of life and energy.
The plants here bioluminesce. Flowers
have softly glowing petals, the leaf-buds
of the trees shed soft light. It’s never
truly dark here.
Gravity here is practically non-existent.
Drop a rock and it will drift gently, like
people in water, rather than falling. A
person can leap huge distances, like as-
tronauts on the moon, or launch them-
selves off the earth entirely.
When this location is entered, the en-
trances seal up and vanish behind you,
trapping you in a tiny bubble-reality. You
cannot go deeper, you cannot go back,
you are stuck here. The walls and hedges
defining the place are impassable, and
any attempts to hack a path away loop
back again.
They only way out is to break through
the wall of consciousness. Falling asleep
is the easiest way, but drinking yourself
into a stupor or getting bopped on the
head will also do the trick.
At the point where a PC falls uncon-
scious, they are transported to the ‘other
side’ of the location (although their com-
panions only see them pass out). They
wake up in a duplicate of the location,
their companions asleep on the ground
next to them.. This place is much the
same, except they can leave freely.
They can go back to the ‘enclosed’ ver-
sion of the place by going back to sleep,
which will cause them to wake up in the
‘trapped’ version.
Time passes the same in both locations.
You are asleep in one, and awake in the
other. You pass between the two by
falling asleep in one to wake in the other.
Section 3: Location Detailss
This area is infested with parasites. Ani-
mals here are sickly, plants show growths
and cankers. Merely being here does not
put you at risk. The following do:
body already infected.
Whenever a character risks infection, they
Save vs Poison. On a failure, they’re in-
fected. Roll a d10 to see what’s now in-
festing them.
-
A squid in the stomach. Vomiting is more likely, and full of black ink. Require twice as much food and water to avoid starvation.
-
Tiny red worms under the fingernails.
- 1 dexterity per day that it goes un- treated. Treating it requires yanking them out, dealing 1 damage per day of infection, and restores the lost dexterity.
-
Blowfly larvae under the skin. Boils and bumps that wriggle horribly. - 1 constitution per day that it goes un- treated. Treatment requires digging them out, dealing 1 damage per day of infection, and restores the lost constitution.
-
Mycelium threads under the skin, rendering it fragile and prone to split- ting. Cracks in the skin ooze milky white fluid. +1 to all damage from physical injuries per day of infection (so after two days, +2).
-
Luminous worms under the eyelids. Dazzling, disorientingly bright. Can see in the dark with those glowing eyes, but double the chances of being surprised due to disorientation. 6. Teeth replaced with tiny barnacles that grow in the sockets and push the tooth out. Actually harmless, except that your mouth is the wrong shape, making pronunciation difficult. 7. Cordyceps infestation in the brain. Your self-preservation goes down massively, the fungus wants you to get eaten so it can spread the infec- tion. -3 AC, and you can no longer use defensive tactics. 8. Your flesh is infested with tiny root- like tendrils that constantly probe and squirm their way through your body. Your health fluctuates wildly. Each day, you re-roll your hit-dice to see how many HP you have. 9. Tiny crabs with faces like children live in your gut. Each day you leave them there, reduce your maximum HP by 1 as more crabs are born. Once your HP reaches 0, your stom- ach bursts. 10. Your skin is starting to turn to glass.
Moving causes it to crack, forming a jagged shell over your flesh. Each day that the glass spreads, you add +1 to your AC (your AC never goes above 19 from this), and take 1 more dam- age every time you’re injured. (for example, after 3 days you get +3 AC and take 3 extra damage).
causes you to sweat a greasy black
hallucinogen constantly. You treat
your Wisdom and Intelligence as 5
points lower for as long as you’re
vessels, leaching the nourishment and
vitality from you. Whenever you heal,
Section 3: Location Details
In a fence here, there’s an unobtrusive doorway slightly ajar. Written on it, in chalk, are the words:
“The Physical Realm, By Way of Ynn”
This is a portal back to the real world. Roll a d20 for where it takes you (the destination will always be a wall in a garden somewhere, but beyond that the details vary wildly).
- A different wall in the same garden you entered through.
- A public park.
- A zoological park, with tigers and penguins.
- An elaborate rose garden.
- An alchemist’s herb garden.
- A monastery’s elaborate devotional garden.
- A hedge maze in a wealthy estate.
- The poky back yard of the lower- middle classes.
- A memorial garden to commemo- rate some great tragedy.
- A children’s park, with swings and a sandpit.
- An Educational Park for the lower classes, with allegorical topiaries and symbolic flower choices.
- A gallery of classical statues.
- A cemetery, with a funeral in pro- gress.
- A greenhouse growing rare exotic orchids.
- The grounds of a sanatorium for the sickly.
- A water-garden, with carp ponds and fountains.
- The hallowed ground outside a shrine.
- The herb garden in a convent. 19. A noble’s private garden, for woo- ing in. 20. The relaxing garden for inmates at an asylum.
Unless you got result 1 (the same gar-
den), roll a d6 for how far away from
where you entered the doorway takes
you.
- Same town.
- Same county.
- Same nation.
- Same continent.
- Further afield
- Somewhere truly exotic
Out here, reality starts to lose its con-
sistency. Causality becomes hazy, dis-
tances and angles warp, things blur to-
gether. It’s like being unbelievably
stoned or enjoying a good mushroom
trip, but it’s really happening. The effects
when you enter are as follows:
than one of, flip a coin. Heads, you
now have one less, tails you now
have one more.
gloopy bursts. In combat, when
anybody acts, flip a coin. Heads,
they act twice, tails they don’t act at
all.
what’s going on is mentally taxing.
Halve all experience gained here.
er, flip a coin. Heads, you go deep-
er, tails you Go Back (randomly
determine where you go back to) if
there are multiple routes.
Section 4: Bestiary
Section 4: Bestiary
Once a witch’s familiar. The witch is long dead, the cat remains. Can talk, is intelligent, and knows a good deal about what you might encounter. HD 1, HP 1, Armour as unarmoured, bite (+0, 1 damage) Save as Fighter 1. If it would die, instead survives through incredi- ble luck. Can do this 8 times, the ninth death is real.
A brilliant green snake that glitters like emeralds. Venom drops from its mouth, hissing and steaming where it hits the ground/ HD 1, HP 65 Armour as chain, bite (+1, d4) Save as Fighter 1. Venom is corrosive; on taking damage Save vs Poison or take 2d8 more.
An animate lamp-post. A lantern hooked onto one end, hopping along on the little foot on the other. HD 1, HP 6, Armour as plate, bash (+0, 1 damage) Save as Fighter 1. On death, the lamp shatters, dealing d6 damage from fire (Save vs Breath avoids).
A fat, pale soft-shelled crab, using an empty wine bottle as an improvised shell. Weaves side-to-side drunkenly. HD 2, HP 8, Armour as plate, 2 claws (+2, d4) Save as Fighter 2
Foxes with fur the scintillating colours
of a kingfisher’s feathers. Seem to talk to
one another in their own tongue, and
laugh at cruel jokes only they under-
stand.
HD 2, HP 10, Armour as leather, 2 claws
(+2, d6 damage) Save as Fighter 2.
Big rats with moss instead of fur. Friend-
ly. Where they spend much time, moss
starts to grow. After a few days, the
moss sprouts into more moss-rats.
HD 1 HP 3, Armour as unarmoured, bite
(+0, d4) Save as MU 1.
Vulnerable to things that affect both plants and
animals.
A sentient, animated shadow ripped
from a person who now casts no shade.
Hates but paradoxically fascinated by
light and warmth. Doesn’t attack you
physically, rather tears at your shadow
and the wounds appear on you.
HD 2, HP 12, Armour as chain, intangible
claws (+2, d4 and 1 charisma damage), Save
as Fighter 2.
intangible and immune to physical damage,
bright light does d6 damage a round, dead
victims transform into more shadows.
Skeletons interwoven and animated with
vines and creepers. The skeletons are
just a framework, the real creature is the
plant sprouting from between its ribs.
AC as leather, 1 HD, 4 HP, claws (+0, d6),
saves as fighter 1.
Undead. Those killed reanimate as plant-
skeletons a turn later.
Section 4: Bestiary
It’s just a really big frog, the size of a
horse. Dumb even for an animal, but
hungry. Lurks and ambushes.
HD 3, HP 15, Armour as leather, bite (+3,
d8) or tongue (+3, d6, long range), Save as
Fighter 2
On a 20 to hit with either attack, the victim is
pulled into the frog’s mouth and swallowed.
Death ensues in 3 rounds.
Dealing 12 damage is sufficient to cut a way out
of the frog’s belly, or other cunning methods
might work.
A swarm of bugs of some sort, wearing
discarded human clothes and bits of skin
as a disguise. From a distance, the illu-
sion is convincing, even if the gait is
unsteady. Up close, the skin roils and
squirms, fingers bend in ways they
shouldn’t, eyes and mouth open to a
mass of wriggling bugs.
It wants to hollow out more people and
spread into their empty skins to make
another hive. When it attacks, the bugs
get on you and start burrowing in.
HD 5, HP 13, Unarmoured, 2 slaps (+0, 1
damage) Save as Fighter 5.
When it deals damage, it can deposit bugs on
you, costing it 1 hp.
Each round thereafter, the bugs deal 1 damage
to their victim for each HP deposited. If this
damage kills a victim, then by the next round
they’re hollowed out and rise as a new Walking
Hive with full health.
Getting the bugs off you takes your whole action
for the round. Save vs Paralysis, if you succeed
the bugs are squashed or scraped off.
4 - in-6 chance of immunity to any mind-affected
effect. The bugs operate by committee.
Section 4: Bestiary
A lumbering turtle, as broad as a cart. Old and ponderous. The ridges on its back form a bowl, the bowl is filled with moss and detritus and has a single tree - sculptural and elegant - growing from it. Like a bonsai scaled back up again, on the back of a turtle. The tree’s roots fuse with the turtle’s flesh. HD 3, HP 18, Armour as plate, bite (+3, d8), Save as cleric 3.. If the body is not burned after it is killed, the symbiotic mass will start to re-knit itself, regain- ing d6 HP a turn. Once the turtle has its full HP back, it returns to life.
Lumpen fungoid proletariat of the gar- dens. Four foot high vaguely humanoid masses of mycelium with raisin-like sen- sory organs studded into their puffball- heads. Their purpose is to gather dead, broken and dirty things, and pile them up in their great steaming compost-mounds to rot down. More composters sprout from the mass periodically, which is also used to fertilize the garden. Myconids have huge nests in the depths of the gardens. Great rotting heaps of compost, with propped-up cavities with- in where they live. They don’t sleep, or eat, but instead replenish themselves by
thrusting the mycelium roots from their
hands and feet into the decaying mass
that makes up their home.
Their consciousness is not as separated
as other beings. Myconids can fuse to-
gether, letting the mycelium threads that
make up their neural networks inter-
twine. Their consciousnesses merge,
their personalities blurr together, they
share memories The longer they’re
fused, the more completely thei sentienc-
es meld together. They can split apart
again, and when they do they retain all
the memories they once shared. Myco-
nids greet one another by shaking hands,
blurring conciousnesses enough to ex-
change information. Knowledge ripples
through their culture rapidly, their per-
sonalities exist in a fluid pool.
They are extraordinarily vulnerable to
memetic corruption.
They wear dungarees and battered straw
hats, and speak with regional British
accents; Cockney or Cornish or Welsh.
Stolid and practical, and single-mindedly
dedicated to creating the best compost
they can. PCs look compostable, too,
they’ve got all those nutrients...
HD 3, HP 12 Armour as leather, gardening
tools (+0, d8), Save as cleric 3..
Can fuse with another Myconid. The two com-
bine into a single being with all the knowledge
both possessed.. Combine the HP totals of both,
up to the maximum 12.
Instead of attacking, the Composter can squirt
spores from the top of its head, that do one of the
following:
damage.
cost of that many HP from the donor.
Section 4: Bestiary
A pallid, sinuous amphibian, like an
axolotl. But as long as a human, and
intelligent.
Where an axolotle has gill -like fronds
extending from its neck, the salamander
has a flickering ruff of condensed flame.
The salamander is loquacious and well
educated It will expound, at length, on
the artistic merits and failings of any
particular thing that catches their fancy.
HD 7, HP 25 Armour as chain, Either
constrict (+7, d8 damage and d6 fire) and bite
(+0, d6 damage and d6 fire) OR fire breath
(everybody in the blast save vs Breath or take
2d6 damage), Save as MU 7.
Immune to fire.
An artificial being, made of elegantly
carved hardwood wood jointed together.
Lacquered and polished. Makes a soft
clicking of wood-on-wood when it
moves.
Dedicated to maintaining the garden.
Plants trees, prunes, weeds, dredges
ponds. Displays a tender care for the
plants, insects and birds it looks after. A
gentle giant, almost maternal in its nur-
turing.
Implacable in its cold fury against any-
thing that would harm the gardens. Does
not speak, simply removes weeds and
vermin.
HD 9, HP 30 Armour as plate and shield, 2
Slams (+9, 2d6) Save as Fighter 9
Immune to cold, electricity, poison. Double
damage from fire.
A huge plant that eats people. Maybe a
venus-flytrap with jaws the size of a
chair. Maybe a giant sundew covered in
sticky tendrils as long as your arm, may-
be a pitcher plant the size of a phonebox
that drags you into its maw.
HD 5, HP 20 Armour as leather, d4 attacks
(+5, d6), saves as fighter 5.
A fat caterpillar 12 ft long. Skin like old,
cracked leather, mouthparts a mess of
tendrils and mandibles. It trundles
through the garden, feasting on the
thickest greenery, leaving wreckage be-
hind it.
HD 4, HP 16 Armour as leather, 4 tenta-
cles (+0, save vs paralysis or paralysed for as
many rounds as the dice roll) and a bite (+4,
d6), saves as fighter 5.
Like bumblebees the size of your head,
held aloft on buzzing tinfoil wings Ra-
ther than fluff, their bodies are covered
in a reddish crusty residue, partway be-
tween scabs and rust and peeling paint.
They build out of corroded metal. Their
hives are weird geigeresque semi-organic
heaps of oxide flakes fused into hexago-
nal grids. Adventurers are a source of
materials for the hive, and the bees will
quickly send a small swarm of workers
to collect what materials they can. Es-
sentially these are to normal bees what
normal rust monster is to a cockroach.
HD 4, HP 6 Armour as chain, sting (+0,
d4 ) saves as fighter 2.
As well as (or instead of) attacking with its
sting, the bee gets two attacks with its antennae,
that corrode metal on contact. Since armour and
parrying don’t help here, the attack hits auto-
matically, and the victim must Save vs Devices
or else a piece of metal equipment is rusted into
uselessness.
Section 4: Bestiary
This predatory insect, as long as a hu- man forearm, reproduces by laying eggs in a living host. HD 2 HP 5 Armour as chain, Sting (+5, d4 damage and save vs paralysis or be incapaci- tated) saves as fighter 2 Those stung by a wasp are unable to move for d6 turns. The wasp can lay eggs instead of attacking. Once a victim has eggs laid in them, the larvae begin to devour them from within. They take 1 damage a turn, or d4 if paralysed, for d6 turns. At the end of this duration, if the victim is dead, their body splits and a new wasp emerges. Otherwise, their body fights off the parasite, which perishes within them.
A hollow statue made of living glass.
Shaped with elegant flutes and curves,
like an elegant abstracted coral. Human-
oid, with the vaguest hint of a face and
long fingers.
It cannot speak properly, but air passing
through the glass tubes allows it to com-
municate with an eerie piping noise.
It was made to serve the sidhe guests
here, but with them long-gone its pro-
gramming has degraded. It hunts the
garden for food that it could serve to its
masters (long gone though they are), and
the PCs are certainly made of succulent
meat.
There’s a 2in-6 chance that it will obey
any direct order or request it receives
unflinchingly. This increases to 4-in- 6
when an elf PC issues the order. The
obedience is only temporary, however,
and after a while its programming kicks
in and it continues as before.
HD 6 HP 1 Armour as plate and shield, 2
glass claws (+6, d8) saves as cleric 6.
Immune to damage from cold, acid, electricity
and fire. On death, shatters into thousands of
pieces,; those next to it save vs breath or take d6
damage.
Once per hour, can cast Purify Food/Water,
Mend, Message and Light.
Once per day, can cast Animate Object, Flesh
to Glass, Glass to Flesh and Control Weather.
Section 4: Bestiary
This creature is a bizarre mish-mash of
multiple animals into one strange chime-
ra. They are the products of The Splicing
Vats. Their intelligence is largely limited
to animalistic levels, although the combi-
nation of different animals can result in
strange and cunning behaviours not seen
in nature. Each is near-unique; roll up the
details of each below.
Base stats:
HD 4 HP 24 Armour as leather, basic claw
(+4, d8) saves as Fighter 4.
Roll a d20 for the base animal.
- Gorilla (2 claw attacks for d4)
- Horse
- Eagle (can fly)
- Crocodile (can swim)
- Monitor Lizard
- Armadillo (AC as chain)
- Sloth (2 claw attacks for d4)
- Porcupine (AC as chain)
- Toad
- Wolf
- Stag
- Ferret
- Tiger
- Cheetah
- Zebra
- Goat
- Hyena
- Peacock (can fly)
- Orangutan (2 claw attacks for d4)
- Yak
Roll d20 for the creature’s head.
- Wolf (extra bite attack, +4, d8)
- Goat (extra horn attack, +4 d6)
- Zebra
- Orangutan
- Giraffe
- Crow (extra peck attack, +4 d4)
- Carp (can breath in water) 8. Snake (extra bite attack, +4 d6 and save vs poison or 2d8 poison) 9. Hammerhead Shark (extra bite at- tack, +4, d8) 10. Tiger (extra bite attack, +4, d8) 11. Axolotl (can breath in water) 12. Ostrich 13. Rat 14. Monitor Lizard 15. Hyena (extra bite attack, +4 d8) 16. Stag (extra antler attack, +4 d6) 17. Bull (extra horn attack, +4 d6) 18. Baboon 19. Chameleon (never surprised) 20. Duck
Roll 2 d20s for the other unusual features
the animal has.
- Bat Wings (can fly)
- Snake for a tail (extra bite attack, +4, d4, save vs poison or 2d8 poison)
- Long and Sinuous (can wrestle as well as attacking, +4, grabs on a hit, d4 damage a round there after)
- Tiger-striped fur.
- Feathers
- Mimics noises that it hears perfectly
- Human hands and feet.
- Hummingbird Wings (can fly)
- Tortoise Shell (AC as plate)
- Bat Ears (echolocation)
- Dragon breath (instead of attacking normally, can breath fire: Save vs Breath or 3d6 damage)
- Mole Legs (can tunnel)
- Extra head (roll for what)
- Two extra heads (roll for what)
- Extra legs (extra claw attack)
- Chameleon Skin (double chance to surprise)
- Kangaroo Legs
- Peacock Wings (can fly)
- Tusks (extra tusk attack, +4 d6)
- Gecko Feet (can walk on walls)
Section 4: Bestiary
A statue that moves about. Beautifully carved from marble, worth 300 gold if the body is recovered. Vague and uncertain. Not quite human intelligence, not quite animal. Senile. HD 9 HP 35, Armour as plate, Slam(+9, d10) saves as fighter 9 Immune to fire, cold, electricity. Immune to poison and sickness. Maximum of 1 damage from weapons other than magical weapons or blunt metal weapons. 50% chance to ignore any spell (save those that specifically affect stone) entirely.
Roll a d20 for what the statue is of:
- Heraldic Lion
- Rippling-muscled Adonis
- Angel
- Innocent-looking Child
- Heraldic Eagle
- Heraldic Dragon
- Weird Abstract Blobs
- Weird Geometric Shapes
- The Devil
- Cupid
- Beautiful Young Woman
- Mermaid
- Heraldic Stag
- An Orchid
- Knight in Armour
- Saint
- Unicorn
- Wicked Serpent
- Massive Baby
- Big Jolly Fat Man
Descended from domesticated peacocks,
grown large and carnivorous.
Take a peacock. Make it as tall as a per-
son, with a viciously hooked beak and
long legs like a cassowary. Keep the long
elegant peacock-feather tails and the
iridescent feathers.
These creatures hunt in packs, relying on
speed and sudden vicious assaults to
bring down prey.
The bodies of Peahawks are fabulously
valuable to hat-makers and interior deco-
rators; each is worth 100 gold.
HD 3 HP 12, Armour as leather, peck (+3,
d6) and two claws (+4, d8) saves as fighter 3
Section 4: Bestiary
A desert or confection, living and able to
move about. Predatory, which is how it
has achieved such great size.
Different kinds of pudding look and
behave in different ways.
To a gourmand of exotic tastes, an am-
bulatory pudding delivered alive and
edible is worth 100GP.
HD 10 HP 20, Armour as leather, Engulf
(+3, 3d8), saves as fighter 10.
Immune to backstabs and other attacks that
target vulnerable anatomy. Half damage from
piercing attacks. Immune to cold.
Roll a d20 for the type of pudding.
-
Custard. Thick, yellow, totally fluid form. Attacks every adjacent enemy, not just the one.
-
Black Forest Gateaux. Bulky, sticky, covered in icing. Layers of cake split to form a mouth. 30 HP.
-
Fruit Jelly. A large, wobbly jello- pudding. Bits of huge exotic fruit within. Can flow through narrow gaps.
-
Trifle. A sloppy mess of different layers. Timid.
-
Cheesecake. Flabby pallid masses protect a crunchy inner core. Drowns victims in its mass. Sadistic.
-
Fudge. Big, blocky, brown masses lumbering forward on chunky legs. 30 HP.
-
Steamed Pudding. Big and sticky. Gives off a cloud of foggy steam around it.
-
Sticky Toffee Pudding. Rich, adhe- sive, Tawney coloured. Those taking damage must save vs paralysis or be glued to it. A round spent making a successful save vs paralysis is re- quired to escape.
-
Cupcake. Small, dainty. 5hp, en- countered in packs of d6. 10. Chocolate. Brown and soft and
rather gooey. Shambles about on little legs. A default sort of pudding. 11. Christmas Pudding. Soaked in bran- dy and flickering with blue flame. Does d6 extra fire damage, and risks setting things alight. 12. Rice Pudding. Form constantly dripping , extrudes rough limbs to walk and grapple with. Pallid. 13. Bread-and-butter-pudding. With a thick bready crust and a soft inner part. Little arms and legs and lots of mouths where the breadcrusts meet. Vulnerable to backstabs etc. 14. Spotted Dick. Dotted with raisins that act as sensory organs. Aggres- sively territorial. Don’t snigger at the name. 15. Apple Crumble. Gooey fruit bits under a gritty shell. Armour as Chain, only 15 HP. 16. Tapioca. Translucent, pearlescent, slightly supernatural. 1-in-6 chance to totally ignore any spell cast on it. 17. Ice-cream. Thick, opaque creamy pudding. Does an extra d6 cold damage. Double damage from fire, and takes electric damage normally rather than healing. 18. Figgy Pudding. Tough and black with a crusty outer layer, but crum- bly within. AC as plate, but only 10hp. 19. Battenberg. Arranged into a grid of roughly square sections smushed together. Slashing attacks have a 50% chance to bisect the pudding rather than injuring it; the pudding splits into two puddings, each with half the original amount of HP. 20. Crème Brulee. Crunchy exterior. Squelchy interior. Healed by fire damage. Reckless.
Section 4: Bestiary
Somewhere between a golem and a plant
- monster, this is a piece of carefully trimmed hedgerow, shaped like a person or a bird or some other equally artificial conceit, that walks about like it’s a real animal. HD 6, HP 24, Armour as leather, d4 branch- es (+6, d6), saves as fighter 6. Immune to backstabs and other attacks that target vulnerable anatomy. Double damage from fire.
A big, lumbering waxen figure, dribbles of molten wax running down its form and trailing behind it. Where its head would be, and at the tips of its stubby fingers, a wick with a flickering orange flame. Tasked with illuminating the gar- den and removing nocturnal intruders. HD 10, HP 30, Armour as leather, 2 fists (+10, d8 damage and d6 fire), saves as fighter 10 Immune to cold, electricity. Half damage from blunt weapons, double damage from fire.. 1-in- 6 chance to ignore any spell cast on it.
A huge carnivorous insect, 20 feet long. Bark-like green chitin and brightly pat- terned wings like enormous flower pet- als. An ambush predator. HD 8, HP 32, Armour as plate, two claws (+8, d12), saves as fighter 8. On a successful claw attack, makes an addi- tional bite (+8, d12)
A jellyfish floating in the air as if it was water, the tips of its tentacles trailing
along the ground. Predatory but largely
mindless.
HD 3, HP 15, unarmored, 5 tentacles(+3, d6
damage and paralysis for that many rounds, no
save), saves as fighter 8
Transparent, hollow hummingbirds
made of glass. Long, syringe like beaks
pierce flesh to feed on blood; when they
do, the blood drunk can be seen sloshing
about inside them.
HD 2, HP 1, Armour as plate, proboscis
(+2, d4), saves as fighter 2.
On a successful proboscis attack, latches on for
d4 automatic damage each round thereafter
instead of attacking.
Carnivorous albino apes, with an extra
pair of arms sprouting from their shoul-
ders. Once ornamental creatures like the
Peahawks, now carnivorous and territo-
rial, marking their territory with dung
and mutilated corpses. Just short of
human intelligence, smart enough to use
crude tools and brutal cruelty.
HD 2, HP 7, Armour as leather, 4 claws
(+2, d4), saves as fighter 2
Section 4: Bestiary
As a dryad is to a tree, these creatures
are to beds of roses.
The appear roughly humanoid, with a
thick thorny stem in place of their torso
and legs. Their arms are formed by inter-
twined leafy branches, and each one has
a single large rose in place of a head;
whatever sensory organs they have are
nestled between the stamen.
The rose maidens can walk about on
their roots. They talk in high, soft voices;
where the human voice is a cello, a rose-
maiden’s voice is a flute.
They are as intelligent as humans. They
maintain the sites of particular beauty in
the garden, brushing away dirt and litter
and polishing stone and metal. Like the
Myconid Composters, they have their
own culture.
Their mannerisms are elegant. Despite
their manual labour, they behave more
like refined artistic types; poets or musi-
cians perhaps. Everything beautiful must
be preserved, everything ugly must be
destroyed.
They sing as they work, producing melo-
dies too subtle for the human ear to
properly register. They sing when they
fight, too. Eerie droning choirs.
Their songs hit strange resonant fre-
quencies in the plants around them. By
combining frequencies, their harmonies
can produce supernatural-seeming ef-
fects.
These songs are also how they train
plants to grow in particular patterns.
Their homes - elegant bowers of living
wood and leaves = are made in this way,
as are those few tools they use.
HD 4, HP 9, Armour as leather, two claws
(+6, d6), saves as MU 4..
Their eerie droning songs are disconcerting. 1-
in=10 chance per rose-maiden present for any
character casting a spell to instead do nothing
that round. The same applies to other actions
requiring concentration, such as first aid or
aiming.
Twice per day, they can cast each of the follow-
ing: Animate Plants, Speak With Plants, Pass
Through Plants, Hold Plant. Spellcasting is
only possible if more than one rose-maiden casts
that round; a single rose maiden’s spells fail if
somebody isn’t casting alongside her.
A long serpentine monster, with the
head of a cockerel .Its scales form band-
ed patterns of black and deep red, and its
wattles and crest are bright crimson.
Those who meet the basilisk’s gaze risk
petrification, such is the concentration
of venom in it, and the toxins in its bite
are similarly potent.
The basilisk devours stone statues, the
weird workings of their gut turning the
stone that they devour back into flesh.
The basilisk’s stomach juices, if smeared
on a statue, turn it back to flesh.
HD 6, HP 18, Armour as chain, bite (+6,
d6 damage and d12 damage to Dexterity),
saves as fighter 6.
Anybody able to see the Basilisk’s face must
Save vs Paralysis or lose d12 points of dexterity
permanently. Loss of Dexterity in this case
represents petrification; the more dexterity is
lost, the more of the victim’s body is turned to
stone, until at 0 dexterity they become a statue.
Section 4: Bestiary
A huge spider that hunts among the flowerbeds. As big as a horse. Limbs long and delicate, thorax delicately pat- terned like foxglove petals. Slow, patient, methodical. It can plan and think, or it can act with startling vigor, but not both at once. It can speak. It is old, careful, and cal- lous. Averse to sudden change. Slow but not foolish. It understands the value of treasure, but does not much care for it itself. It is a gourmand of exquisitely refined taste. It is willing to pay for interesting meat (up to 50 gold per carcass) and has a stock of 1,000 gold in coins and gems sequestered about the gardens.
HD 4, HP 20, Armour as chain, bite (+4,
d10 damage and save vs Poison), saves as thief
4.
Can walk up walls and so on.
Those who fail their save vs the spider’s poison
are paralysed for a turn.
Moving through the spider’s webs requires a
Save vs Paralysis to avoid being stuck in place.
The spider can spend a round in combat to spin
webs that cover a space as large as a doorway.
A huge shuddering clanking machine of
steel. Lurches across the gardens, blades
whirling wildly to trim the lawns. Indis-
criminate.
HD 4, HP 24, Armour as plate, d4+1 blades
(+4, d8), saves as fighter 4.
Mindless. Immune to poison, sickness. Half
damage from fire, double from electricity.
Section 4: Bestiary
Constructed from living stone, the chess
set is made from earth elementals carved
into shape and bound to a particular
role.
Each chess set behaves like a miniature
knightly court. They engage in courtly
politics and romance, war chivalrously
with other chess sets or factions in the
gardens, and embark on quixotic quests.
Each chess set refers to itself by a differ-
ent name; the Red Court, the White
Order, the Ivory Palace and so forth.
Their customs are often bizarre but are
at least vaguely similar to those of an
Arthurian romance. Hospitality, duty,
courage, self-sacrifice, and glory are
lauded. Cowardice, treachery and un-
sportsmanlike behaviour is roundly con-
demned.
All pieces of the chess set are forbidden
by custom from romance with those
outside their class (save for the King and
Queen). None the less, the set pursues
tangled webs of romance with a dedicat-
ed fervour. They are keen to involve
outsiders- even PCs - in these affairs. A
chess-piece lover is a loyal companion, if
slighted or betrayed they and their court
become an implacable enemy.
A chess set cannot be properly destroyed
without great effort. If even a few shards
of stone remain, the whole set will slow-
ly regenerate. ‘Dead’ members return as
if from nowhere within an hour, so long
as they are unobserved. As such, alt-
hough a set may take casualties, those
replenish quickly, and soon the set will
be back up to full strength.
In truth, the set is not 16 creatures, but a
single creature with 16 bodies, play act-
ing at different roles, like a human with a
puppet on each hand. What one of the
set knows, they all know. What one feels,
they all feel.
Any mind-affecting effects that success-
fully effect one chess-piece affect them
all.
1 Rook, 1 Knight, 1 Bishop and 4 pawns
are male. The other half are female.
Position is everything in fights with a
chess set. Those pieces close to one
another support one another well, while
they jump on isolated PCs and beat
them into a pulp.
Even if you don’t normally use minia-
tures, get a chess set out for the fight to
track where everybody is.
For the purposes of the fight, treat
‘adjacent’ as being ‘within about 3 me-
ters’.
All chess pieces:
Immune to backstabs and other attacks that
target vulnerable anatomy. Immune to poison
and sickness.
Half damage from sharp weapons, fire. Double
damage from blunt weapons, cold, electricity.
All affected by mental effects that affect at least
1 chess piece.
If the king is taken out of action, the rest all fall
inert until the king recovers.
If unobserved, all chess pieces (even those de-
stroyed, transformed, put somewhere else) return
to full strength within an hour and come back
together.
Section 4: Bestiary
The supposed ruler of the chess court. A stone elemental carved into the form of an old man in robes and an ornate crown. Slow, indecisive but potent. Think of Emperor Palpatine, if he was chivalrous rather than a baddy. HD 5, HP 20, Armour as Chain + Shield, Smash (+5, d10), saves as fighter 5. Instead of attacking, can grant up to 5 pawns, 2 rooks or 3 bishops/knights to make an extra attack. Cannot do this if engaged in combat himself. Moves at half speed.
The real power behind the court. Some- where between a cunning second-in- command and an unstoppable crusading warrior-queen. Think of a beautiful fe- male Darth Vader, carved from stone. HD 11, HP 40, Armour as Plate, Smash (+11, d10), saves as thief 11. Can make a Smash attack against every enemy adjacent. Moves at double speed.
Stolid, defensive types. Tasked with holding and maintaining territory. Hold grudges with quiet fervour. Carved from elemental stone to resem- ble a warrior in plate, behind a huge shield, features blocky and square. The helmet features the distinctive crenula- tion of the traditional chess-piece. HD 9, HP 32, Armour as Plate plus Shield, Smash (+9, d10), saves as fighter 9. Grants its AC to any adjacent chess-pieces. Can make a free Smash attack against anybody who attacks a non-rook chess piece when the rook could have been targeted instead.
The dashing cavaliers of the court. Im-
petuous, touchy about their honour even
for chess-pieces. Carved to resemble
plate-armoured knights, in helmets with
a heraldic crest shaped like a horse.
HD 5, HP 20, Armour as Chain, Smash
(+5, d10), saves as fighter 5.
Can pass through walls, shield-walls, and other
barriers as if they weren’t there.
Double damage when attacking from behind.
The clergy of the court. Solemn. Prone
to blessing things in battle. Politically
astute, but prone to hidden passions.
Carved to resemble robed figures in tall
bishops-mitres.
HD 5, HP 20, Armour as Chain, Smash
(+5, d10), saves as cleric 5.
Add d10 to the damage done by adjacent chess-
pieces.
Moves at double speed..
The rank and file warriors of the court.
Servile, courteous. Not very clever.
Apologise a lot.
Carved to resemble little people with
bulbous heads, a bit like the toadstools
in Mario.
HD 3, HP 12, Armour as Chain, Smash
(+3, d10), saves as thief 3.
Moves at half speed..
Section 4: Bestiary
A big carnivorous reptile, like a dinosaur
that never really existed. Each is differ-
ent, roll up the details below and modify
the base stats.
HD 8, HP 24, Armour as chain, Bite +8,
d8) and 2 claws (+8, d6) and Crush (+0,
d12), saves as fighter 8.
Roll d8 for basic body-shape.
- Lizard-like. 4 legs, head, tail, no wings. No modifications.
- Serpentine. Head, tail, no limbs or wings. No claw attacks, can make a crush attack against every adjacent enemy. A successful crush grabs the victim in the drake’s coils. Next round, damage is automatic as the drake constricts.
- Linnorm. Head, tail, serpentine body and two fore-claws. Attacks as nor- mal, but a successful crush attack grabs the victim in the drake’s coils. Next round, the damage is automat- ic.
- Wyvern. Head, tail, 2 hind legs, wings. No modifications save the ability to fly.
- Draconic. Head, tail, 2 hind legs, wings. No modifications save the ability to fly.
- Hydra.4 heads, tail, 4 legs. Gets 4 Bite attacks.
- Winged Serpent. Head, tail, sinuous body, wings. No claw attacks. A successful crush grabs the victim in the drake’s coils. Next round, dam- age is automatic as the drake con- stricts.
- Multi-limbed. Head, tail, 6 or more legs. Gets 4 claw attacks. Skitters.
Also roll a d12 for the drake’s special
abilities.
- Fire Breath. Instead of attacking, can breath fire. Everybody in range must Save vs Breath or suffer 3d6 damage.
- Regenerates d6 HP a turn.
- Intelligent and capable of speech.
- Iron-hard scales. AC as plate.
- Can squirt a spray of ink once per fight: save vs Paralysis or be blinded.
- Poison sting on the end of the tail. One extra attack (+8, d4 damage and Save vs Poison to avoid 2d8 more damage).
- Poisonous bite (as well as normal bite damage, Save vs Poison to avoid 2d8 poison damage).
- Drains blood like a leech. A success- ful bite attack latches on and deals d6 damage each subsequent round.
- Chameleonic skin. Surprises 5-times- in-6.
- Can ‘see’ through echolocation.
- Spits acid. Can make 3 spits instead of melee attacks (+8, d6)
- Breathes lightning. Instead of attack- ing, single target must Save vs Breath or suffer 4d6 damage. If they’re hit, lightning jumps to a new victim , dealing 3d6 damage. The 2d6, then 1d6, then the lightning ends.
Lastly, roll d12 for the drake’s coloration.
- Olive green.
- Deep green with a yellow belly
- Pale pink and scale-less.
- Red, black and white bands.
- Black, dappled with green.
- Red with a gold underbelly.
- Patchy red, yellow and black.
- Jet black with white stripes.
- Sea-green with blue bands.
- Blue, with purple and red patches.
- Green flesh with black scales.
- Sandy brown.
Section 4: Bestiary
Not a physical creature. Instead, an in- fectious thought-form. A fractally dense memetic virus. A Dream is a lingering remainder of the initial disaster that caused the gardens to be abandoned in the first place. Not the Idea Of Thorns itself, but a weakened variant strain adapted to the lesser minds that inhabit this place.
Roll a d12 for the core idea of the Dream:
- Guilt and Punishment
- Conspiracies
- Numbers
- Medicine
- Luck and Gambling
- Parasites
- Music
- Entropy and Decay
- Fire
- Winter
- Blood and Sacrifice
- Confectionary
The dream doesn’t damage Hit Points, it damages Sense of Self: this is the same value attacked by the Mask Gallery, and is equal to the victim’s Charisma + Con- stitution. When the Dream is encountered, pick a PC to be the first victim. Artistic temper- ament, madness, substance abuse and the innocence of youth all make you more susceptible. Each round, the Dream intrudes into their mind. Pick one:
match the dream’s core idea.
priate to the dream.
dream.
Inform the player of this. Give them
details. Their grip on reality fades. Re-
duce their Sense of Self by d6.
If any PC acknowledges a victim’s delu-
sions (such as to ask ‘what did you see?’)
they begin to suffer next round, and each
round thereafter. No save.
Each round, every infected PCs sense of
self is further eroded and they pick up
more delusions.
If a PC reaches 0 Sense of Self, they
become an automata dedicated to
spreading the Dream’s meme-virus. They
are an NPC. They might try to violently
remove those PCs still fighting the
Dream.
To fight the Dream, each round the PC
can reassure an infected PC. To do this
they can:
memory of their shared background
(either make one up or retell some-
thing that happened in play). This
restores d4 Sense of Self to the PC
being reassured.
(faith, honour, monetary wealth,
pride). This deals d6 damage to the
Dream.
The dream has 20 HP. Once these are
gone, it dissipates and the delusions it
inflicts are lifted.
An infected PC can recognise that the
thoughts they are experiencing are not
their own, but they cannot tell what the
truth is until the dream is defeated.
If a PC acts on their delusions in particu-
larly interesting, amusing or surprising
ways, give them 50 XP. Doing these
things feels natural to them.
Section 4: Bestiary
Created from base animals altered
through magical means, to act as staff
for the Sidhe guests in the gardens.
With the sidhe mostly gone, the animal-
servants continue their tasks anyway,
laying out meals that never get eaten and
clearing up after guests that never ar-
rived.
The servants are simple-minded crea-
tures, unable to really comprehend
things outside of their direct purpose.
Maddening in their inability to learn or
talk sense.
All remember, or were told about, the
coming of the Idea Of Thorns. They’re
incredibly paranoid about it. The slight-
est hint of its presence will send them
into a blind panic.
Uplifted anthropomorphic fish raised to
a facsimile of human sentience. Not
actually that smart, but capable of mim-
icking intelligent behaviour.
A humanoid form with spiny fins and a
fishlike head. Dressed in a servant’s
uniform.
Obsequious, sluggish. Talks little. Reluc-
tantly helpful. Very stupid.
HD 3, HP 12, Armour as leather, Pike (+3,
d8) or Rapier (+3, d8), saves as MU 3.
Can breath in water.
Cast each of the following once per day: Sleep,
Forget, Suggestion, Create Food
Frogs enhanced to be able to act like
humans. Again, mimic intelligence with-
out really possessing it.
Long-limbed frogs stood on their hind
legs, dressed in a servant’s outfit.
Talks a lot, but it’s mostly rubbish. In-
curably stupid.
HD 3, HP 12, Armour as leather, Pike (+3,
d8) or Rapier (+3, d8), saves as MU 3.
Can walk up walls.
Cast each of the following once per day: Unseen
Servant, Wall of Fog, Levitate, Create Drinks
Ferrets granted human-like intelligence.
Actually intelligent, rather than merely
mimicking it.
A sleek mustelid in a butler’s outfit.
Loquacious, possessing a dry wit. Tasked
with managing the frog and fish serv-
ants, whose stupidity is a constant source
of frustration to them.
HD 6, HP 24, Armour as leather, Rapier
(+3, d8), saves as MU 6.
Cast each of the following once per day: Charm
Person, Message, Invisibility, Dispel Magic,
Section 4: Bestiary
The Questing Beast is a unique monster, one of a few active in Ynn. It takes the rough form of a leopard, with legs that end in deer’s hooves and a snake’s head on a long serpentine neck. It exists to punish and redeem oath- breakers, sinners, traitors, the cursed and the damned. In the presence of sinners, a the sound of dozens of baying dogs issues from its belly. Eating the heart of the questing beast absolves you of one sin or betrayal you’ve committed, or breaks one curse on you. There is only one Questing Beast. Once it’s killed or otherwise gone, treat all results that roll this as Myconid Com- posters instead. HD 12, HP 45, Armour as leather, Bite (+5, d10) and 2 Claws (+5, d6), saves as Fighter 12. Bite and claws are both poisonous. Save vs Poison or take 2d6 damage. The air around it is subtly poisonous. Save vs Poison or 1 damage each round. Fights more effectively against sinners:
breakers.
The Jabberwock is a strange dragon-like
creature, with a long neck, bulging eyes,
rodent-like incisors and wide, grasping
humanlike hands.
The Jabberwock is a herald of intoxica-
tion. Where it passes, things behave
drunkenly. Those who meet it are per-
manently altered. Perhaps there is some
link to the Idea Of Thorns, but the Jab-
berwock is not infected.
There is only one Jabberwock. Once it’s
killed or otherwise gone, treat all results
that roll this as Floral Spiders instead.
HD 15, HP 60, Armour as chain, Either
Bite (+10, d10) and 2 Claws (+10, d6) OR
flaming gaze (+10, d6 damage and d6 fire,
ranged) , saves as Fighter 10.
Observing the Jabberwock deals d4 damage to
Intelligence each round.
Triple damage from vorpal blades.
When a 4 is rolled for intelligence damage, or
the Jabberwock scores a hit, roll for Ynnian
Alterations (no save).
Section 4: Bestiary
The Unicorn is another unique beast,
treated by the residents as symbolic of
the purity of nature.
The unicorn’s presence is seen as a good
omen. It’s presence blesses a location
and protects it from evil.
Drinking the blood of a unicorn grants
near immortality; as the Sidhe’s ability to
turn to flowers when hitting 0 HP.
There is only one Unicorn. Once it’s
killed or otherwise gone, treat all results
that roll this as Rose-Maidens instead.
HD 10, HP 36, Armour as plate, Horn(+9,
d12) and Hooves (+9, d6), saves as cleric 10.
1 - in-4 chance to completely ignore harmful
magic. In the unicorns presence, 1-in-4 chance
that hostile magic on others fails when cast or
else is supressed for as long as the unicorn is
there.
Horn does double damage when charging. Can
teleport any distance so long as both ends of the
journey are unobserved.
The Worm is the final unique monster in
the gardens. It is the gaping, all-
devouring maw that consumes that
which is ugly, rotten and unnatural. It is
entropy, wielded like a scalpel against
that which shouldn’t be there, enormous
like an avalanche, in the form of a hu-
mungous ragworm like serpentine mon-
ster.
The worm hunts. It crashes through the
gardens in search prey, leaving a trail of
wreckage in its wake. Its jaws churn
constantly. It is primal, unthinking, hun-
gry.
There is only one Worm. Once it’s killed
or otherwise gone, treat all results that
roll this a Dream instead.
HD 15, HP 75, Armour as leather, bite
(+10, d10) and d6 Mandibles (+10, d4) and
Crush (+0, d8), saves as fighter 15.
Makes one crush attack against every adjacent
target.
On a successful Mandible attack, immediately
make a Bite attack against that victim as well.
On a successful Bite attack, the victim is swal-
lowed. After 3 rounds, they are digested and die.
15 damage is enough to slice your way out of the
Worm, or else cunning methods might work.
Section 4: Bestiary
A tree, twenty or so feet tall. Faces seem to form in its gnarled bark. Limbs take the shape of clutching hands. Despite its lack of a humanoid shape, its posture conveys mood and intent. Its mind is old and slow. It thinks in terms of decades and centuries. It is content to watch the lesser, faster inhab- itants of the gardens go about their busi- ness, only intervening when the oldest orchards and forests are threatened. It tends to the trees. Its intentions tend to work slowly, warping the gardens in subtle but wide-reaching ways. It emerg- es only rarely. Its anger is slow to rise but implacable in its fury. It is respected as a sort of slumbering king of the garden by other residents. Only those remaining sidhe receive greater reverence. HD 13, HP 40, Armour as chain, d6+1 branches (+10, d10), saves as cleric 13. Moves ponderously slowly. Double damage from fire and axes. Halve damage from other sources. Regenerates d6 HP a round. Can cast Animate Plants for free each round (lasting only one round), as well as attacking.
When the sidhe - those that remained
sane, at least - abandoned Ynn, they left
behind the empty robed ones as senti-
nels. Their sole purpose is to prevent the
Idea Of Thorns escaping.
Each empty robed one is an invisible,
intangible bit of force, clad in hooded
robes that drape over a form that isn’t
there. They drift across the gardens ra-
ther than walking. Their empty hoods
gaze about. Where their gaze lingers, the
inhabitants of the garden cower, for fear
of attracting the attention of these spir-
itual automata.
HD 9, HP 35, Armour as plate, touch (+9,
d12), saves as cleric 9.
Mindless and thus immune to mental effects.
Immune to non-magical damage.
Can cast each of the following once per turn:
Hold Monster, Teleport, Wall of Force, Disin-
tegrate, Time Stop
Section 4: Bestiary
The Idea Of Thorns is not a physical
creature. It is, instead, somewhere be-
tween a disease, a hostile meme, and a
spiritual presence. It is conscious. It
wants to spread.
It does not need host minds to exist, but
must find minds to infect if it wishes to
affect the physical world.
It will try to infect one mind, overtake it
utterly, and then spread. It isolates, in-
fects, subverts and controls.
When the Idea Of Thorns is first en-
countered, it will be as information.
Writing scrawled on a wall, a little note-
book with poetry in it, the sound of
distant singing.
Anybody who refuses to look, covers
their ears, etc, is not attacked by the
Idea.
Those exposed to the Idea must save vs
Magic. Any who fail have the first seeds
of the Idea planted in their mind. At this
stage, the only sign is that they see all
plant life as having thorns. The thorns
are real to them, and can cause damage.
Hearing somebody infected with the
Idea talk about the Idea or their experi-
ence of it causes you to make a Save to
avoid infection.
The Idea can compel an infected victim
to take an action: roll a d20: if the result
is equal to or higher than the victim’s
Sense of Self (which equals charisma +
constitution), the victim performs what-
ever action the Idea wishes.
The victim does not realise that the com-
pulsion originated from outside their
own mind.
The Idea will attempt to lower its vic-
tims’ sense of self by attacking the vic-
tim’s minds in the following situations:
state of consciousness, such as
drunkenness.
explanation for the Idea.
or their experience of it to some-
body not yet infected..
When one of these happens, all those
nearby who are infected experience a
sudden vision. They are faced with the
Idea Of Thorns, incarnate as a towering
being made of tangled vines, its form
mimicking those whose minds are infect-
ed. It has all the moustache-twirling
villainous bombast you can hope for.
They must fight it. The fight lasts a sin-
gle round and then ends. The next vision
continues the fight where the last left
off.
Treat the Idea Of Thorns as having the
following stats:
infected.
of those infected.
highest Charisma out of those infected.
Wisdom out of those infected.
munity to poison. Double damage from
fire and electricity.
The Idea does not attack hit-points,
instead it attacks Sense of Self. Each
successful hit halves the victim’s Sense
of Self (round down).
Section 4: Bestiary
As the victim’s sense of self falls, they will be prone to increasingly irrational behaviour.
If a victim has lost any sense of self, the Idea will make the following actions seem appropriate:
express the Idea Of Thorns.
the Idea Of Thorns.
other thorny plants in places where
they will flourish.
sation and returning to a more feral
state.
them with plants.
A victim who does one of these in a way
that amuses, impresses or surprises the
GM can, at the GM’s whim, earn an XP
reward. The amount of XP granted is 50
multiplied by the total amount of Sense
of Self they have lost.
If the victim’s sense of self reaches 0,
they become an NPC, totally enslaved by
the Idea.
Section 4: Bestiary
What elves are to humans, the Sidhe are
to elves. These creatures are immortal,
unnaturally beautiful, and undeniable
geniuses. Their race combined the radi-
ant beauty of angels, the ancient deca-
dence of vampires, and the elegant grace
of elves.
Once, the Sidhe were the masters of this
place. It was built by them as a realm of
sophisticated delight. Something
changed. The gardens were abandoned,
the sidhe are all gone.
Something introduced The Idea Of
Thorns to the inhabitants, perhaps a
visitor from another world or a crack in
reality. The Idea swept through the pop-
ulation, seizing the minds of those who
encountered it and driving them to bi-
zarre, perverse and frequently deadly
acts.
Many sidhe died, either from violence or
as a result of their hubris leading them
astray. Those outside sealed the gardens
to prevent the meme-virus spreading.
Those that remain are beautiful crea-
tures. Taller and slenderer than humans,
with the same delicacy to their features
as elves, but more so. A sidhe’s appear-
ance is beauty incarnate.
Every sidhe is unique, but they share the
following basic characteristics:
Roll a few d20s for what’s unusual about
this Sidhe’s appearance:
- No/additional eyes
- Six-inch-long fingers
- Snake Fangs
- Goat legs
- Butterfly wings
- Petals for hair
- Green/Violet/Blue/Grey/Black/ White skin.
- Dressed in furs
- Wearing a crown
- Long hooked fingernails
- Teeth made of glass/flint/silver
- Weeping blood
- Surrounded by swarming butterflies
- Flowers grow in their footsteps
- Surrounded by mist
- Glows with a radiant inner light
- Thorns grow out of their skin where the bone is close to the sur- face
- Dressed in armour
- Antlers
- Spiders crawling all over their skin.
Section 4: Bestiary
HD 10, HP 20, Armour as chain, Touch (+10, d6), saves as MU 10. All Sidhe carry the Idea Of Thorns. Never surprised.. Halve damage from weapons (save those made of iron), poison, cold. Double damage from iron. 50% chance that any mental effect on them fails: their mind is too alien. Animals will not willingly attack a sidhe. Native inhabitants of Ynn will obey any in- struction a sidhe gives them; they were made to serve. Each Sidhe is a spellcaster of unusual potency. If they spend their action in combat casting a spell, they can instead
cast two spells so long as both are differ-
ent.
At-will: Command, Unseen Servant, Crate
Illusion, Forget, Detect Magic.
Twice per encounter: Hold Person, Sug-
gestion, Dispel Magic, Invisibility.
Once an encounter: Animate Objects,
Teleport.
Typically, the sidhe fights by using com-
mands, illusions and suggestions to turn
its enemies against one another, while
protecting itself with its remaining spells.
In addition, the Sidhe has some other
spells it can cast, once per encounter.
Roll d12 for what:
- Animate Dead Monsters (twice)
- Fireball (twice)
- Sleep (twice)
- Wall of Stone & Shape Stone.
- Animate Plants (twice)
- Mass Suggestion
- Time Stop
- True Sight
- Earthquake
- Mind Reading (at will)
- Control Weather
- Flesh to Stone & Stone to Flesh
If the sidhe is reduced to 0 HP, instead
of dying it transforms into a patch of
flowers or mushrooms growing where
their body falls. They regain 1 HP twice
a day (sunrise and sunset) until fully
healed, and return to flesh when on full
HP or if blood soaks into the ground
where they’re growing. A stake in the
heart prevents this and freezes the sidhe
at 0hp until the stake is removed. De-
stroying the body while it is staked kills
the sidhe permanently.
Give them any other weird fairy-tale
weaknesses, powers or traits you feel are
interesting. Each sidhe is unique.
Section 5: Useful Tables
Section 5: Useful Tables
- Knotwork
- Semi-naturalistic
- Gravel beds
- Hanging garden
- Flowerbeds
- Wide lawns
- Rows of trees
- Alpine
- Formal
- Irrigated
- Grotto
- Snug and walled off
- Cottage-style
- Zen
- Raised beds
- Labelled for exhibition
- Clean and minimalist
- Flowerpots
- Wildflower
- Terraced
- Clubmosses
- Black lilies
- Pale foxgloves
- Rhododendrons
- Bamboo
- Albino strawberries
- Finger-like creepers
- Coiled ferns
- Blood-red lotuses
- Bonsai willows
- Moss
- Jasmine
- Bullrushes
- Deep Moss
- Pitcher plants
- Lavender
- Pampass grass
- Cacti
- Technicolour tulips
- Red-thorned briars
Section 5: Useful Tables
Results marked † cause you to count as an elf/fey if
you have at least one. Results marked ‡ cause you to
count as a vampire if you have at least one. No me-
chanical effect, but you can be detected, use magic items,
etc. Take the previous result if a duplicate is rolled.
-
1 Cosmetic Alteration
-
No reflection.‡
-
Able to gain enough water to sur- vive by letting morning dew form on your skin.†
-
Requires no sleep.
-
Cannot heal in sunlight. Heal dou- ble in darkness.‡
-
Things grown on a farm are toxic to you. Save vs Poison or 2d12 dam- age if you ingest them.
-
Unable to lie. Aware that it’s possi- ble, not sure how you’d actually say something that’s not true. 50% chance to instinctively spot any lie told to you.†
-
Allergic to iron. Double damage from iron weapons. 1 damage per round when touching it, 1 damage per turn when carrying it.†
-
You do not heal by sleeping excet if you’re surrounded by soil when you do so.‡
-
You instinctively know if some- thing’s poisonous or not.† 11. 2 Cosmetic Alterations 12. Cannot cross running water. 1 dam-
age per round if you do. Swimming is fine, bridges are not.‡- Feet don’t touch the ground when
walking. Can walk over unstable surfaces, never set off pressure plates.†- Can only gain sustenance from
fresh blood. A mouthful - 1 HP worth - is enough for a day.‡- Gain venomous spurs on the heels.
Gain an unarmed attack for d4 damage and Save vs Poison or d8 more damage.- Obsessed with counting. Save vs
Paralysis to avoid the compulsion when a collection of items (such as sunflower seeds) are scattered in front of you.- Can pass through plants as if they
were immaterial.†- Can smell magic. Can distinguish
d i f f e r e n t s o r t s o f m a g i c (necromancy, divination, shapeshift- ing etc) by smell.- Can walk up walls like a spider.
- Flowers/frost/scorch marks form
in your footprints.†- 3 Cosmetic Alterations
- Can speak with insects.‡
- All animals smaller than a dog treat
you as their friend, until you do something hostile.†
Section 5: Useful Tables
- Instantly know when somebody breaks a promise to you. Take 1 damage when they do.†
- Gain butterfly wings. If unencum- bered and unarmoured, can fly at half speed.
- Cannot drown.
- Cannot use any magic in direct sunlight (cloudy weather is enough to prevent this).‡
- Anybody who sleeps in the same room/tent/bed as you gains any Ynnian alterations you have. Like- wise, you gain all of theirs.
- Can speak with birds.†
- Stunning singing voice. When you sing, everybody must Save vs Paral- ysis or spend a round doing noth- ing but listening.†
- 4 Cosmetic Alterations
- Holy things are painful to you. Touching a holy thing deals 1 dam- age per round. 1 damage per turn if carrying it. Likewise, 1 damage per turn on holy ground. A bummer if you’re a cleric; time to find some- thing less holy to worship.‡
- Can walk through closed doors as if they weren’t there.
- If you are reduced to 0 HP, instead of dying you are transformed into (a chess-piece/a diary recording your inner thoughts/a small can- dle/an orchid/a brightly coloured egg/a pocket-watch/an apple/a signet ring/pillar of salt). Regain 1 HP twice per day (sunrise and sunset) until you’re fully healed. Return to flesh when on full HP or immersed in blood. A stake in the heart prevents this and freezes the character at 0hp until the stake is removed. ‡ 35 or more. Roll again, d20+10+d6-2.
Take the previous result if a duplicate is
rolled.
- Fingers lengthen and gain an extra joint.
- Petals appear in the hair.
- Hair turns white/violet/crimson/ green.
- Eyes become 3 inch diameter.
- Eyes become blank white/pure black/faintly luminous/metallic/ snake-like.
- Snake-like fangs.
- Skin becomes alabaster white/ transluscent/mint green.
- Limbs lengthen.
- Fingernails are made of metal.
- Tongue becomes forked.
- Teeth become made of silver/ flint/glass.
- Scent of wet earth/woodsmoke/ lilacs/honey.
- Lose all body hair.
- Ears become pointed.
- Subtle patterns on the skin; tiger stripes/deer-like mottling/marble effect/maze patterns/veins.
- Voice contains undertones of bird- song/running water/rain.
- Fingernails lengthen and become hooked.
- Scar tissue resembles tree-bark.
- Teeth become long, thin and more numerous.
- Blood becomes blue/purple/ green/black.
Section 5: Useful Tables
- Real-world coins worth 2d20 gold.
- A bottle of fine wine, worth 20 gold, or enough to produce an evening of merriment.
- A pack of playing cards, inlaid with gold leaf/a delicate hand-mirror/ jewelled velvet gloves/a silver neck- lace. Worth 100 gold.
- A healing potion in an emerald flask. Heals d8 HP.
- A box of coins worth d10 x depth x 10 gold.
- A glass tube of poison. Save vs Poi- son or suffer 2d8 damage. D6+2 doses remain.
- A stash of ammunition. 20 Shots.
- A scroll of a random spell.
- A delicate music box that place weird atonal music/an elaborate filigree lantern, with a candle in it/an ornate brass spyglass/set of golden cutlery. Worth 200 gold.
- An armoury. Roll d4+3 weapons, and a suit of leather/chain/plate armour with each.
- A magical glass eye. The wearer can (see magic/see in the dark/see invisi- ble things/read any written lan- guage/see through walls).
- A potion of (water breathing/ i n v i s i b i l i t y / s p i d e r c l i m b i n g / levitating). Lasts 1 turn.
- A magical hunting weapon. +2 to hit and damage vs non-magical, unintel- ligent animals. Roll for weapon type.
- A small pouch of gemstones worth d10 x depth x 100 gold.
- A gold pocket watch that tells the time in Ynn (marked with 48 hours in a day)/a delicate circlet, some- where between a wreath of thorns and a crown, made of gold with jade
leaves/a clock made out of glass.
Worth 500 gold.
- A false tooth that grants the wearer (fire breath for d8 damage, save avoids/an extra bite attack for d4 damage/the ability to bite through anything/the ability to spit poison for d4 damage/immunity to ingested poison).
- A pair of enchanted metal hoops 8 inches across. Anything passing into one passes out of the other, and visa versa.
- A spellbook containing d4+1 totally random spells.
- An enchanted fishhook. Any being that swallows the hook is unable to act against the person holding the other end of the fishing-line in any way.
- A metal-bound chest of coins. Worth d20 x level x 100 gold.
- A cloak that makes its wearer (immune to the cold/immune to fire/immune to electricity/able to blend into plants with a 4-in- 6 chance to escape all notice/invisible to wild animals/able to pass through plants as if they were intangible).
- A magical weapon intended for war- fare. +3 to hit and damage against enemies that use weapons, and roll a magic weapon property. Roll for weapon type.
- Magical powder which, when scat- tered on water, causes it to instantly freeze to solid ice. Bag contains 10 doses.
- A wand that lets you cast (dispel magic/fireball/command plants/ shape stone/gaseous form/break curse/cure disease). 2d6+2 charges remain.
Section 5: Useful Tables
- A suit of magical chainmail that protects against (weapons, natural attacks, fire, electricity, corrosion, poison). Half damage from the thing protected against.
- A book of sidhe poetry. Will need translating/bags of seeds that will grow exotic new trees with expensive fruits. Worth 1000 gold.*
- A collection of d10 jewelled rings. Each worth 200 gold.
- An absolute masterpiece of a magical weapon. +2 to hit and damage, and roll twice for magic weapon proper- ties. Roll for weapon type.
- A magical ring that renders the wear- er (invisible, able to walk on walls, able to breath water, a friend to all wild animals, immune to hunger, non-existent to the undead).
- A spellbook containing 2d6 totally random spells.
- A box of unearthly glowing gem- stones, worth d10 x depth x 500 gold.
- A collection of occultum coins. Oc- cultum is a smokey, glassy metallic substance, magically potent and insanely valuable. You can bribe gods and purchase kingdoms with it. D4 coins, each worth depth x 1,000 gold
- A little stone icon of a dead god/the crown of a lost kingdom/a book of sidhe political philosophy that will require translating and then revolu- tionise the world. Worth 2,500 gold.
- A legendary monster-slaying weap- on. +3 to hit and damage against non-mundane enemies, and roll 3 weapon properties. Roll for weapon type. 35 or more. Roll d20+d10+d6-2. Get that, twice.
1. Dagger 2. Rapier 3. Longsword 4. Greatsword 5. Handaxe 6. Spear 7. Mace 8. Flail 9. Halberd 10. Throwing knife 11. Bow/Pistol 12. Crossbow/Musket
50% chance the special abilities only
function for fighter-type characters.
- Completely indestructible.
- Can cut through anything.
- On fire. +d6 fire damage.
- Electrified. +d6 electric damage.
- Made of ice. +d6 cold damage.
- Lightning fast. Goes before every- body else in initiative.
- Life-leeching. Cures the wielder by amount of damage dealt.
- Dispels spells on anything it hits.
- Double damage vs undead.
- Double damage vs constructs.
- Poisonous. Save vs Poison or 2d8 damage.
- Double damage vs plants.
- Wielder can cast Light 5 per day.
- Wielder can cast Invisibility 2 per day.
- Turns victim to stone: save vs Paral- ysis resists.
- Wielder can see invisible things.
- Wielder can automatically roll a 20 to hit once each day.
- Parrying. +2 AC.
- Wielder can see in the dark.
- Vorpal. Roll of 20 to hit does double maximum damage.
Section 5: Useful Tables
- Knitting needles.
- Spider in a matchbox.
- Packet of seeds.
- A recipe for sausages made of something exotic.
- Twine.
- A delicate glass egg.
- A miniature of absinthe.
- Bird snares.
- A set of pan-pipes.
- Paintbrushes.
- A signet ring.
- Snail shells with copper filigree.
- Pocket watch.
- Fan.
- Earrings made of human teeth.
- Playing Cards.
- Steel Mirror.
- Key. Roll d%: this is the chance that it opens a lock you try it on. Once it fits a lock, that’s the lock it was for.
- Padlock.
- D6 weird silver coins.
- Smoking pipe.
- Secateurs.
- Chalk and charcoal.
- Swiss army knife.
- Spectacles.
- Hammer and nails.
- Spool or copper wire.
- Candle.
- Beetle preserved in glass.
- Rabbit skull.
- Birds nest, with eggs.
- Empty wine-bottles.
- Abandoned rake.
- Patch of colourful mud; bright yellow/purple/orange/white.
- Cast-off snake skin.
- Wooden doll, all rotten.
- Small pot of paint.
- Stone that glows briefly if you hit it with a hammer.
- 2d6 human teeth.
- Rabbit burrow.
- Tiny funeral urn.
- Snare with a long-dead songbird in it.
- Patch of mint.
- Collection of rusty gears.
- Broken glass tube.
- Abandoned scythe.
- Humorously shaped root vegetable.
- Small bag of cement.
- Ash from an old campfire.
- Spiderweb with words written in the silk.
- Patch of strawberries.
- Felling-axe still stuck into a tree trunk that now grows around it.
- Dead frog skewered on a little wooden spike.
- Puddle that smells like champagne.
- Garden gnome.
- Mouse-sized doorway leading to a mouse-sized home.
- Lamp-post, fallen over and half- covered in weeds.
- Discarded glove.
- Jam-jar full of angry bees.
- Abandoned spade next to a small hole.
Section 5: Useful Tables
- Ginger Cake
- Saffron Rice
- Smoked Fish
- Colourful Root Vegetables
- Pickled Vegetables
- Smoked Ham
- Eel Pie
- Pickled Shellfish
- Salted Songbirds
- Smoked Sausage
- Peppermint Candy
- Fruit in Syrup
- Toffee
- Cheese
- Black Pudding
- Dried Fruit
- Strawberry Tarts
- Madeira Cake
- Oysters, stored in ice
- Cured Peacock
- Mushrooms
- Fish
- Figs
- Songbirds
- Rabbits.
- Songbird Eggs
- Cherries
- Marrow
- Pheasant
- Peaches
- Peacock Eggs
- Liquorice Root
- Quinces
- Tiny Puddings
- Pumpkins
- Peas
- Mice
- Sorrel
- Pomegranate
- Honey
Section 5: Useful Tables
-
Something has infected a myconid compost heap. It needs to be root- ed out before it spreads.
-
It needs to rain more, it’s not damp enough.
-
A Chess Set keeps trying to kidnap our favourite Glass Butler! Appar- ently, it’s married to their Queen...
-
A small group of Myconid Com- posters are infected by a Dream. How can they be cured?
-
Rose-Maidens have been using blood to fertilize their plants. They’re getting vicious in their quest for more donors.
-
A Dream has infected explorers from the mortal world, and is look- ing for further hosts to spread it’s influence.
-
The Questing Beast came this way, tore a pair of innocent gardeners to shreds and left. They must have done something to deserve it.
-
Two chess-sets are going to war. A pitched battle will be drawn up soon, and they’re gathering allies for the fight. Perhaps you’d be interested in joining the battle?
-
An unknown force is gathering puddings, which seem to be acting with unusual coordination and intelligence. Somebody ought to find out why.
-
The Worm is unusually active, killing anybody with more than a passing interest in literature. Could dangerous books have been intro- duced to the Gardens?
-
There is a Sidhe in the tower just over that hill. The poor thing kills anything that approaches and doesn’t know why it’s so lonely. 12. There was a doorway to another
world opened up not long ago, and aliens came through it. 13. The unicorn passed through here recently. All manner of gardeners are looking for its tracks so they know where its blessing will be next. 14. There’s a Sidhe deeper in the gar- dens trying to find a cure for the Mad Ideas infecting its kind, doing experiments on captured mortal minds. 15. The weather’s been getting worse lately. Another huge storm is com- ing. 16. Rose-Maidens have been gathering in unusual numbers. A choir num- bering in the hundreds apparently created an entirely new orchard in a matter of minutes just by singing it. 17. Thieves from the mortal world have been looking for a legendary vorpal sword. Who knows if they’ve found it or what they’ll do with it? 18. A Chess Set has declared that its quest is to slay the Jabberwock. Good luck to them, I say. 19. The ancient madness from before the sidhe went away has been stir- ring. Outsiders in the garden have caught its attention. 20. A brood of floral spiders has decid- ed it wants to taste sidhe flesh. This could be a problem.
Section 5: Useful Tables
-
Dirt-covered fingers wrapping around a human heart.
-
You realise that this is the real world, and the world you will experience when you wake up is just an illusion.
-
A white deer bleeding from the mouth, fleeing.
-
A child’s form collapses and turns into a drift of cherry blossom.
-
Your body is made of coiled strands of silk, slowly being unpicked by a moving rose-bush until you’re little more than a heap of tangled thread.
-
Thorns are driven into a human brain by invisible hands.
-
Two beautiful, indeterminate people play chess.
-
Your brain sprouts thorns that push through cracks in your skull, impal- ing those around you.
-
Mushrooms fill your lungs. You can’t breath but don’t die.
-
A hive of bees make their nest in an ancient, sun-bleached ribcage.
-
A spider with a human face is eating a chess-piece. 12. A candle-flame talks to you, asking
to be let out into the real world. 13. A pack of carnivorous birds feasts upon the bloodied corpses of your companions and family. 14. Your companion’s face falls off, revealing the squirming mass of insects beneath. 15. You find yourself on a large china plate. A huge pudding is eating you with a knife and fork. 16. Somebody is singing on the other side of a gate. The song is horrid. 17. A green-painted door opens. A city in the real world is on the other side. A shimmer of heat seeps through the doorway, and when it enters the real world, the city burns. 18. The ground gives way beneath your feet. Beneath it, yawning emptiness. You fall forever. 19. The skin on your face is wrong. You hack it off with a knife and hold the skin-mask in your hands as you try to work out who it made you be- come. 20. You are in a glass room, with smooth walls and floor. The room floods with champagne, and your body twists and mutates.
Section 5: Useful Tables
It may happen (realistically, it will repeat-
edly) that a player character dies while in
Ynn. Since the party are likely cut off or
at least quite distant from the real world,
no replacement PC will come from there.
And, most of the inhabitants of Ynn are
inhuman enough that they aren’t suitable
for PCs. What to do?
The answer is Ynnian Changelings.
These are people who have ventured into
the Gardens of Ynn at some point in the
past, and become marooned there. May-
be they were adventurers once, maybe
over-curious gardeners. More than a few
entered as children and have grown up
here.
Over time, with no way back to the real
world, they’ve become adapted to living
in the gardens. Their abilities there bor-
der on supernatural.
If your PC dies in Ynn, your replacement
must be a Ynnian Changeling. Similarly,
new people joining the game in mid-
expedition generate Ynnian Changeling
PCs.
You cannot be a Ynnian Changeling if
your PC is not going to be joining a party
already in Ynn. Reinforcements that join
when you return to the real world cannot
be Ynnian Changelings. You certainly
can’t be one in games that don’t involve
Ynn at all.
A Ynnian Changeling uses the basic
structure of a Cleric. XP Costs, Hit
Points, Saves, Attack Chances and so on
all function like a Cleric.
The Ynnian Changeling has none of the
Cleric’s spellcasting abilities (and no
other divine or supernatural abilities a
cleric might possess, such as turning
undead). Instead, they gain the following
benefits:
Hide in Plants
Where there are plants at least up to their
knees, you can attempt to blend into the
vegetation. you have a 5-in-6 chance to
do so successfully, and if you do you
become supernaturally well-hidden and
impossible to detect by mundane means.
This concealment lasts for as long as you
remain perfectly still.
Forage
In outdoors environments, you can find
enough food to feed themselves just by
going about your day-to-day life, without
needing to dedicate any time specifically
to foraging. This food is likely composed
of bugs, odd plants and so on, and not
particularly palatable to others.
Ynnian Recovery
If you are reduced to 0 HP, instead of
dying you are transformed into a patch
of flowers or mushrooms growing where
your body falls. Regain 1 HP twice per
day (sunrise and sunset) until you’re fully
healed. Return to flesh when on full HP
or blood soaks into the ground you’re
growing in.
A stake in the heart prevents this and
freezes you at 0hp until the stake is re-
moved. Churning up the soil you’re re-
covering in destroys you.
Ynnian Alterations
Your physiology is adapted to the Gar-
dens of Ynn. At first level, and each level
thereafter, pick one or both:
your depth as normal (for new PCs,
this is the depth you’re encountered
on).
Section 5: Useful Tables
This is bad. It will spread exponentially quickly, rapidly taking hold among the common civilians who have compara- tively little defence against it.
players have spoken to are infected.
They behave strangely, abandoning
their normal lives. Hunting down
and dealing with those infected to
prevent the idea’s spread is reason-
ably practical. Minor surreal magic
occurs; plants grown where they
shouldn’t.
NPCs in the local settlement are
infected. Graffiti expressing the
idea springs up in public places.
Arrests for crimes such as vandal-
ism and arson spike massively.
Hunting down those infected is still
possible, if difficult. More surreal
magic manifests, such as strange
weather.
to other settlements. Major powers
in the world become aware of the
problem. The settlement first in-
fected is basically fully-infested by
the Idea. Buildings are destroyed,
plants begin growing over the ru-
ins. The infected turn on one an-
other. The only practical way to
stop the infection is to burn it out
with massive collateral damage.
The dream-like effects on reality
become pronounced. Plants move
at night, animals behave weirdly.
tlements are in an uproar. Major
powers in the world send serious
force to deal with the problem -
armies, inquisitors and skilled mag-
es. Pitched battles ensue. Brutal
force or inventive tactics can still
contain the infection, at great cost.
The world becomes increasingly
odd and dream-like magical effects
manifest frequently.
the Idea fail. Those infected run
rampant. The world shifts and
warps under the strange magic
released. The infection cannot be
contained.
begins to resemble a slow, surreal
zombie apocalypse. Plants grow
everywhere, those infected who
survive form gibbering packs, set-
tlements are in ruins, the world
follows dream-logic rather than the
laws of science. Survivors cluster
together in paranoid communites
for support.
xenophobic closed communities,
cut off from the outside world.
Outside these fortresses of sanity,
the world is a plant-choked waste-
land, as surreal as any extra-planar
space.
of survivors begin reclaiming land
from the Idea, slowly and carefully.
back and contained. The world
becomes somewhat less surreal,
although the lingering effects never
truly leave. Society starts rebuild-
ing, after the massive upheaval that
was the idea. Sporadic outbreaks
every few years threaten this stabil-
ity.