Hogwarts, the Megadungeon

Hogwarts is ancient. The oldest histories known to man cannot say when or how the castle was first built, only that it was founded by four mighty adventurers. Since then it has sometimes lain uninhabited save by the howling of ghosts and the creeping of monsters; at other times it has bustled with life, and successive generations have built additions to it until the original structure is mostly lost amidst the sprawling maze of turrets, courtyards and halls.

Today, only a small fraction of Hogwarts is safe for human habitation. The rest lies in ruins, given over to the lairs of foul creatures and mysterious spirits. And that is to say nothing of the many layers of dungeons and caves beneath the castle, some of which are said to be even older than the building itself. The students, both those of Magic and of Martial Combat, live and work only in the South Wing. They do not have to look far to see the many corridors bricked up, the doors sealed shut with signs that read: Go No Further.

Yet there are some students who are brave or foolhardy enough to disobey the warnings, to slip past the barricades and into the Forbidden Rooms beyond. Indeed, there are those who sit the strenuous entrance exams with no intention of graduating from Hogwarts School of Warcraft and Wizardry - their only goal is to gain access to the castle and make their fortunes by plundering the ruins of their treasure. The school staff deal harshly with anyone found beyond the barriers, but not nearly so harshly as they would be dealt with by many of the horrors that lurk within the castle walls.

The surrounding environs of Hogwarts are not much more secure. The front courtyard and the lawns are generally safe, but the Forbidden Forest is mostly uncharted and there are strange things lurking at the bottom of the lake. The local village of Hogsmeade is where adventurous students go to sell their treasure, which has made it a haven for criminal enterprise. And up on the hill is the Shrieking Shack from which no adventurer has ever returned. All these and more are the dangers - the mysteries - the opportunities waiting for audacious hands to snatch them, deep in the midnight halls of Hogwarts.

Wörld of Metal

This wouldn't be the first RPG setting which tries to capture the tone and style of heavy metal lyrics and artwork. But my Wörld of Metal (the umlaut doesn't affect pronunciation, of course) is a bit different to your standard 'heavy metal setting'. The idea here is that each region of the world corresponds to a different subgenre of metal. If you have any friends who are metalheads, you probably know that the easiest way to send them into a rage is to imply that all metal sounds the same, or that it all consists of shouting or growling into a microphone. The truth is that metal is one of the most diverse and varied genres of music! Or so they tell me. Sadly, I don't actually enjoy metal music very much, I just like the pictures.

Fyrotherre

Land of Power Metal

This volcanic region is constantly troubled by earthquakes and eruptions. Over a dozen warring city-states are built in the mountain crags, each fighting all the others for control of the harsh land's natural resources. The victors claim the prizes: vast fissures of molten gold, veins of iron and reefs of arcane weirdstone. The central location of Fyrotherre means that it is host to a variety of strange beings, ranging from bloody-bearded dwarves and cruel dragonborn to robotic warriors, minotaurs and berserkers. 

The mightiest of Fyrotherre's kingdoms is Destromon, a mountain fastness ruled by the warlord Zaugardan from his throne of fire-bleached skulls. He seeks to conquer Blood Mountain, a wild place in Fyrotherre's harsh interior, inhabited by terrible monsters and rumoured to contain relics of an ancient empire.

Some few mines in Fyrotherre have tapped into deposits of Power Metal, a bronze-coloured metal with the power to absorb and release energy. A weapon or shield crafted from Power Metal can absorb flames, electricity, magic and other such energies, glowing brighter the more power is absorbed. Then, when the weapon is swung, it releases the stored energy in a burst capable of tearing through solid rock.

Sounds like: DragonForce, Demons and Wizards, Manilla Road.

Campaign Idea: Batmania

The Australian mountain forests are funereal, secret, stern. Their solitude is desolation. They seem to stifle in their black gorges a story of sullen despair… The very animal life of these frowning hills is either grotesque or ghostly. Great gray kangaroos hop noiselessly over the coarse grass. Flights of white cockatoos stream out shrieking like evil souls. The sun suddenly sinks, and the mopokes burst out into horrible peals of semi-human laughter. The natives aver that when night comes, from out the bottomless depths of some lagoon the Bunyip rises, and in form like a monstrous sea-calf, drags his loathsome length from out the ooze. From a corner of the silent forest rises a dismal chant, and around a fire, dance natives painted like skeletons. All is fear-inspiring and gloomy.

- Marcus Clarke

Deep in the southern hemisphere there lies an uncharted continent known only as Terra Australis Incognita. It is a land more ancient than any other; the elves have no memory of it, the dwarves have no records of it inscribed upon their stones. Its people, the dark-skinned natives of the many tongues, have never before seen the strange white men who are now settling on their shores.

In Sydney Cove and Van Diemen's Land, small penal colonies have been established, where the overflowing inmates of Albion's soot-stained prisons are shipped to toil the rest of their days under the hot southern sun. Yet there are also men who come to this land willingly, seeking its rich natural resources, and the foremost amongst these men is John Batman. Having made his fortune in Van Diemen's Land, he has now established a third fledgling colony: a ramshackle camp on the banks of the Yarra River, which he has given the name, Batmania.

The forests of this land are thick, the mountains tall and ancient. Even the Kulin people, who have dwelled here for uncounted generations, know only a small fraction of the secrets that the uncharted bushland holds. Rumours abound of weird monsters that roam the dry interior, of enormous hairy giants who lurk in the mountains, and of cyclopean ruins of ochre stone, built by some empire lost to time. Though there are no elves or dwarves native to Terra Australis, they have rough equivalents in the brolga people and the wombat folk - strange beings who are half-man and half-creature, with whom the Kulin natives share a quiet but enduring peace.

As it was in Albion long ago, a great age of adventuring is about to begin. Swordsmen, pistoliers, sorcerers and priests from all over the world are arriving in Batmania, eager to make their fortune exploring the undiscovered country. At the same time, the young men and women of the Kulin take up their own weapons and their own magics, leaving their tribes to go 'walkabout' alone or in the company of white men. For these bold souls, either riches or death await. From the seal rocks of Phillip Island to the rugged peaks of the Dandenong Ranges, from the dusty plains of the northwest to the creeping horrors of Van Diemen's Land, they will pursue their prize, and either return as heroes or be forgotten as a few more of those who vanished into the last uncharted continent.

Note to international readers: Don't snigger. John Batman was a real person and the city where I live (Melbourne) really was called Batmania when it was first founded. It has nothing to do with a certain gravelly-voiced superhero.

What's Been Happening Lately Table

For if your sandbox world starts to feel too static, a table of random events to amaze and confound your players. I'm not sure if this is really a problem that anyone needs solving, but it could be fun. You could roll on the table at regular intervals, or even do it whenever the PCs return to civilisation. Most of these are designed not to be adventure hooks so much as interesting details in the background.

What’s Been Happening Lately? (d30)

The word certain indicates a random method of selection.

1 – War breaks out between a certain two neighbouring states. Roll again to determine the cause of the war:

1 – Holy crusade after an ecumenical council was ruined by an event involving a drunken abbot, a reliquary, and a stream of piss.

2 – Border zone that nobody wanted suddenly becomes valuable after the discovery of numerous jewelled beetles breeding there.

3 – Auguries said it would be a good idea.

4 – Escalating series of diplomatic incidents which began with a case of cross-border pig-snatching.

5 – The two states hold an ancient grudge ever since their war in ancient times. Roll again to find out what the war was about last time. And yes, you can get this result again.

6 – The army just needs to plunder something or they’re going to get antsy.

2 – One settlement suffers an outbreak of Creeping Pustules. The entire area is quarantined for 1-4 months while the disease runs its course. Those foolish enough to enter the town during this time are at least 25% likely to die a truly awful death.

3 – 1-4 adjacent hexes are discovered to be concealing a rich vein of gold. Prospectors arrive immediately and begin digging. The actual mining operation is far too boring for adventurers to involve themselves with, but the defence and/or robbery of the mines is an acceptable pastime.

4 – The leader of a certain state dies, retires, is deposed, or otherwise passes on his or her power, as per the political customs of the state in question. The people agree that the new leader is 1) worse than the old one 2) better than the old one or 3) much the same.

5 – Fire-breathing horse gets into the grain silo at one settlement, resulting in a food shortage. All food prices are doubled for 2-5 months. Meanwhile the horse is put on trial for its heinous crime.

6 – Sudden craze of hats in a certain settlement. All hats triple in value overnight. News of this spreads outwards, so that within a month or so the prices will have increased in other settlements as well due to merchants buying up hat stocks. The craze ends after 2-12 months.

7 – Violent coup takes place in a certain settlement. The old leader is overthrown by force of arms. The new ruler is 1) a gibbering madman 2) a starry-eyed revolutionary 3) a greedy opportunist 4) plotting something atrocious.

8 – A delicious new confection, the Jellied Cream Worm, becomes popular in one settlement. Over the course of a year it will spread to other settlements due to its mouth-watering flavour.

9 – One settlement becomes overpopulated by dogs. Various breeds of dog, nobody knows how they got there.

10 – A dragon arrives from distant lands and makes its lair in a certain hex. From there, it terrorizes anyone it can find within 30 miles, demanding a tribute of gold-plated skulls.

11 – An ancient relic is discovered in a vault or an attic of a certain settlement. Roll on the Artifacts table in the Dungeon Master’s Guide 1^st Edition for what it is. The owner of the artifact puts it on display in the settlement, though it will be heavily guarded and sealed away again after 2-4 months.

12 – A brave warrior sets out into a certain wilderness hex and builds his stronghold there. Wandering monsters are no longer a problem in this area, but the knight demands tribute to those who pass through his lands.

13 – A new road is established from a certain settlement to the nearest other settlement. This road is tended by lamplighters and is relatively free of monstrous incursion. Well, it’s more pleasant that the wilderness, at any rate.

14 – A villager blasphemes against the river god or the storm god. As punishment, the river or the ocean floods. 3-12 adjacent hexes are affected by the flood. The waters rise around five feet above the ground. After 1-4 months, the waters subside.

15 – A shooting star at a festival makes for a romantic evening in a certain settlement. Nine months later, the settlement is overrun with babies. With more mouths to feed, all families in the area become more willing to send off likely lads to become hirelings to disreputable adventurers.

16 – Citizens of one settlement have the ill fortune to have offended a powerful witch. Their curse is as follows:

                1 – Finger of right hand stuck fast in left nostril

                2 – Lumpy thighs and ankles

                3 – Cannot open any doors in the settlement from dusk till dawn

4 – Cannot recognise faces; they begin to identify themselves by arrangements of colourful flowers pinned to their breasts

5 – Obsession with ever more exaggerated forms of politeness

6 – When they are cut, coins spill out instead of blood

17 – Head of a certain state proclaims that a new currency shall be minted, bearing his regal face on its coinage. All savings in the old currency must be cashed in within 6 months or deemed worthless.

18 – Boiling storm clouds move in over 2-8 hexes and sit there. All day long for a month it rains. Inhabitants are gloomy and irritable at the end of it.

19 – Immigrants from somewhere off the map arrive cold and hungry at a certain settlement. They bring with them woven baskets, strange dances, unknown crafts of glazed pottery. They increase the settlement’s population by 20%, but are forced to live in slums on the edge of town.

20 – Crude printing press set up in a certain settlement. Immediately put to use printing holy books, radical pamphlets, erotic literature and penny dreadfuls. Fad dies down within 6 months after populace realizes that the concept clearly has no future. All printed materials are thrown away or used as cheap wallpaper.

21 – A certain mountain turns out to be a dormant volcano. It erupts. A third of the residents of the hex are killed, the rest manage to flee. Thereafter, the landscape is somewhat changed and there are more fire-type monsters roaming there.

22 – A certain monster tribe (orcs, kobolds, etc.) attacks the nearest settlement and carries off a fair amount of treasure. If the PCs have banked their loot at this settlement, there is a 50% chance for each player that their savings have been stolen.

23 – A certain monster tribe is blessed to have a young savant amongst them. He invents irrigation and they become peaceful agriculturalists from now on.

24 – A sleepy baker accidentally causes a great fire that rages out of control through a certain settlement. Most of the residents survive, but 40% of all wooden structures in the settlement are destroyed.

25 – A band of upstart adventurers raid a dungeon and acquire some treasure from it. They then go to the nearest settlement to spend their gold and boast of their exploits.

26 – A fierce (but perfectly natural) tornado sweeps through 2-8 hexes in a roughly straight line. Anything in its path is torn up or flattened. Loose objects are picked up by the tornado and deposited at the end of its path.

27 – Grand funeral of a dearly beloved public figure. Seven days of mourning, followed by the entire settlement turning out for the funeral procession, during which time their houses are unguarded.

28 – Enormous heist pulled off by daring criminals; valuables stolen from the wealthiest building in the settlement. The thieves go to ground for 2-5 months. A substantial bounty is offered for their capture.

29 – Witch trials commence after a local woman is caught dyeing a pig blue. Numerous women dunked in ponds, hung upside-down from trees, thrown over bales of hay, etc. Magic-users, especially females, may arouse suspicion or animosity in the settlement, but the mania dies down after 1-6 months.

30 – Interesting times. Roll three times more on this table.