Hello, and welcome to this week’s issue of LoreMasters - Your regular source of inspirations, ideas, and homebrew for your TTRPG games. In each issue, I'm going to be bringing you a veritable Heroes Feast of items, spells, podcasts, streams, Kickstarters, and STUFF, so if you like this, please subscribe and pass it on to your close friends and distant relatives.
As always, the main chunk of this newsletter is a homebrew for your game and if you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, come find me on the Twitters.
(Also, please check out my work on DMsGuild)
The Isle Of Death
It had been an hour since Dacsyth had died and Empy was hunkered down, tucked in between the jaws of a long dead monster.
The dammed rogue was still here somewhere, lurking in those trees, waiting with those knives of his. Empy was stuck.
She rummaged in her bag, some old scrolls, a potion of some kind, a bead. Ooh, the bead, maybe that could work… Just need to time it right…
With a sudden burst, Empy breaks free of the cover, sprinting across the clearing to the river, as Szulkis grins in his hiding place, hefting a knife to strike, but too late, he sees the trap.
As he stands to attack, Empy spins, the small black bead in her hand, launched back at him. As the knife strikes true into Empy, the bead smashes at Szulkis’ feet, erupting into a large clear ball, trapping Szulkis inside, helplessly banging on the inside, as the last of Empy’s life washes away….
The Isle Of Death
The Isle Of Death is an arena, a battleground, for contests, training, and for battles.
It is a PvP arena, designed for 4-6 players. On the surface level, there are various terrains, ranging from a rocky mountain in the northwest, a ruined building in the center, and dense trees to the southeast.
Whilst much of the island offers cover and places from where to strike, there are also two small camps and a shipwreck where players can explore and search for items to aid their battles. Each tent and wreck can be searched, with an investigation roll denoting what is found.
00 - 05 - A standard healing potion
06 - 10 - A standard healing potion and a random level 1 scroll
11 - 15 - A greater healing potion and two random level 1 scrolls
16 - 20 - A greater healing potion and a Bead Of Force
20+ - A superior healing potion and a Bead Of Force
Underground, there are a series of tunnels, a lava-filled cavern, and an arcane contraption.
The arcane contraption is a random magic generator. Any player that steps into the circle must roll a d20 and consult the table below
01 - 03 - The player may roll a hit dice and regain that many hit points
04 - 06 - The player regains a spell slot at random
07 - 09 - The player instantly switches places with another player chosen at random
10 - 12 - Haste is cast on the Player
13 - 15 - Heroism is cast on the Player
16 - 18 - The players the benefits of a short rest, aside from healing
19 - 20 - The player regains all their hit points
The island itself takes a turn in the initiative, at place 1. Each turn, roll a d20+2. If you roll below or equal to the round number, the lava in the canyon begins to rise, growing each turn to engulf the whole island.
I know 5E isn’t really built for PvP games, but they remain a mainstay of the game and so here we are!
This was built for a recent game I ran online, and the design intention was to offer something more than just the usual fighting pit or arena. I wanted something that helped tell a story as well as run a fight, something that offered places for all classes to shine.
And, I wanted to do things to reward those players who thought outside the box, who went exploring, so the tents and wreck were put there for that reason. And the island taking a turn is aiming to stop players merely hiding and waiting out the battle, the rising lava forces both an end condition for the game, and the remaining players closers and closer together.
I ran this entirely as a stand-alone one-shot, but there is nothing to stop this being dropped into an on-going game - a wild fey kidnaps the party, forcing them to fight for their amusement, an erstwhile god of combat seeks to find the greatest of all time, or even a spectated battle royale to earn coin for the party!