Miria, Rayya, Nala, and Edryk search for their lost companion and the mysterious all knowing in a dungeon full of strange traps, mechanical constructs and deadly illusions. In space, a conflict mounts between the Trassi syndicate and a treacherous business partner.

In this episode the party faces a deadly magical foe called the Arcane Guardian.

The crowning achievement of the Order of Stars, this entity of ceramic and crystal is awakened by those who tinker with the machines in the Fane of the All-Knowing without knowing the correct passkey. It uses its powers to create a disorienting Mirage Arcana which hides the numerous traps that it can activate about its lair. It then may cast Push or Pull each round to force its foes into unseen traps.

Miria, Rayya, Nala, Garland, and Edryk enter the Fane of the All-Knowing: a labyrinth of traps, illusions, and deadly guardians. Nothing in their path is what they seem. Especially when the traps force the group apart.

I created this dungeon using the AD&D Random Dungeon Generator from Donjon.bin.sh; which creates a complete dungeon based on your specifications and to a theme.

Another powerful tool for solo map generation is the game Four Against Darkness; a lightweight solo dungeon crawler that makes exceptional maps. Read my review of it here.

A faster, and extremely light solo adventure tool that I have also used for solo adventuring is Tale of the Manticore’s very own One Shot in the Dark, that combines solo card game and old-school dungeon crawl. Read my review of it here. Great game, and my favourite podcast!

I also occasionally use a random d20 or d66 encounter table of monsters, traps, and encounters based on a Dungeon theme, connected to a clock system similar to that used in Fabula Ultima or Blades in the Dark. you can see one of my earliest versions of that method in my three-part review of Salamandur Household for Pacts & Blades: part one, part two, part three.

Miria meets one new ally and sets out to fulfill the Prophecy and wake the All-Knowing, taking to flight in her newly acquired spaceship with a team of new allies.

This episode features a classic low-level D&D monster, and shows off an equally classic magic item!

Miria gathers new allies, and tries to buy time as the radiation begins to consume her. Rayya and Miria draw up plans for war. Two new allies join the party, each separately seeking ways to do penance.

Undeadwood Weird West RPG: Dead Man’s Dice Preview Version is my complete and fully playable Western fantasy TTRPG. This version does not have the GM Toolkit, the advanced magic rules, or the complete Wonkatonkwa County Gazetteer, but it is everything you need for pulpy and gothic cowboy adventures.

Heroes and Homelands is an OSR retro-game that features simplified magic, an advantage/disadvantage system, and expanded wilderness adventuring rules that make it a smooth-fast playing experience.

More importantly it is designed as a rules-hacking toolkit! Every section is optimized for easy cut & paste and editing. Making it a perfect base for writing your own customized game.

A summary of the first 10 episodes of Swords Against Madness.

Miria, a space-faring smuggler crash-lands on the world of Orbus, near the Island of Nar. Nar is a poor former colony of a failed Oligarchy full of conflict between its two religions, and is plagued by seeming indestructible monsters.

Miria steps right into the conflict by giving them the holy words she guessed had been engineered into the Island’s older faith by star-faring criminals, and thanks to horrible radiation poisoning, finds herself racing against time to fulfill a prophecy, hunt down an old space pirate associate, end the clash between faiths, and slay monsters, with the help of a pair of teen-aged misfits.

Miria, Olan, & Rayya make a desperate ploy not just to escape Yanghu’s showroom, but to escape in style… but the Gorum are still hunting, and the lizard-man starfighter pilot Sshosk is still between them and freedom.

This episode features transcripts thanks to the openVINO tool kit for Audacity!

I have created a set of simple science fiction weapons that the Trassi Syndicate use based on the material in the various Sci-Fi games I have used to inspire the game’s Sci-Fi rules. The prices represent the fact that the materials used to create this equipment cannot be bought on Obros.

Electro-Lasers: draw ambient electricity from the environment. They can be fired once per round only. On a damage roll of 1 they require a round to recharge before the next attack.

Heavy Pulse Lasers: are heavy, bulky weapons that emits rapid-fire streams of laser fire, and can either grant the wielder a +2 to hit or make an attack against all enemies in a 30ft. cone. The ammunition is a backpack battery.

Laser Assault Rifle: An assault rifle can use up 12 rounds to deal 4d8 damage in a fully automatic burst and gain a +2 to hit this uses up all attacks in the round.

Shotguns: are at +2 to attack a single target. It can be used to attack up to 3 targets at once as long as they are within 5ft of each other.

Nanoweave: does not require a proficiency in armor to wear, and does not interfere with magic.

Composite Armors: All count as light armor, any class proficient in leather armor can wear Light or medium composite armor, andy calss capable of wearing chainmail may wear heavy composite armor.

For the purposes of creating science fiction adventures in Swords & Wizardry, I will be borrowing some material from White Star: Swords & Wizardry in Space, Galaxy Edition, which you can get here (affiliate link). Read my review of it here. Or see records of my latest White Star campaign here.

I am going to steal some of my other systems, especially the systems for starships and space battles using RPGPundit Presents #100: Star Adventurer, which you can get here (affiliate link). You can see my review of it here. And you can read the records of my old solo campaign Starfarer here.

Combat Automaton: HD: 3; AC: 4 [15]; Att: weapon or 2 electric fist (d6 plus stun); SV: 15; Special: shock; MV: 9; AL: Neutrality; CL/XP: 3/60

These robots are proficient with all manner of weapons. They are built to show off the Gorums’ combat prowess, but in an emergency, can ramp up to a suppression mode to contain them instead. While in suppression mode, the robots strike with electrified fists that deal 1d6 damage, and the target must save or lose their next action.

Rayya and Kalmek clash as the Gorum awake and swarm the party from within the facility, while Trassi soldiers hunt them from without, and Mormont makes a desperate escape attempt.

This adventure takes place in Yanghu’s Gorum Showroom, described here:

I have adapted rules for computer hacking from White Star: Swords and Wizardry in Space, Galaxy Edition. Miria as a magic user with a background as a spacer has 2 points in Technology, and +1 from her intelligence, means that she can hack a computer on a 1-3 on a d6.

Rayya struggles under Mormont’s mind control as he debates to which faction he wants to sell out Miria. An unfortunate communication and a careless intruder cause danger to awaken on every side. Making escape seem increasingly more perilous by the second.

These robots are proficient with all manner of weapons. They are built to show off the Gorums’ combat prowess, but in an emergency, can ramp up to a suppression mode to contain them instead.

Combat Automaton: HD: 3; AC: 4 [15]; Att: weapon or 2 electric fist (d6 plus stun); SV: 15; Special: shock; MV: 9; AL: Neutrality; CL/XP: 3/60

All doors in this dungeon are nanolaced titanium with crystal windows, they are hard to smash but their pistons are weak and can be broken. A character familiar with starship and space habitat systems can attempt to hack the door with a 2-in-6 chance of success.

Rayya, Olan, & Miria fight for their life against giant centipedes, we learn about Rayya’s history with the church, the PCs are stalked by a man with a grudge, and find their way barred by an enemy who declares Miria and all she stands for Heresy.

Mormont is an apostate from the Order of Stars: he has learned and seen too much of the Truth of the Trassi Syndicate, observed too much greed an Hypocrisy in the Aldean Church, seen too much selfishness in the Cult of the Master to believe in much of anything other than himself. He will happily sow Chaos and Discord for any faction against any faction if the price is right… and if he can serve his own agenda, all the better.

Mormont: HD: 4d4 (11hp); AC: 9 [10]; Att: dagger (d4); SV: 12; Special: Magic use (See below); MV: 12; AL: Chaos; CL/XP: 6/300; Abilities: Str 8 Int 14 Wis 14 Dex 12 Con 12 Cha 13