d8: Wilderness Setpiece & Dungeon Setpiece! - Lucky Pond & Smokeless Fireplace

Luck Pond

At the bottom of this clear, calm pond lie hundreds of coins of any kind, as well as a large bowl filled with bones of various humanoid creatures.

Throwing any coin into the pond will grant the thrower a +1 bonus to any one roll made in the next 24 hours, and throwing additional coins will give an additional +1 to the same roll, up to a total bonus of +5. Each person can get this bonus only once a year.
Trying to steal the coins will attract the rage of the two dozen nixies and a water elemental living in the pond. Should the nixies kill the greedy thief, they will feed on his flesh and put the cleaned bones in the bowl. Should all the nixies be killed, the pond will lose it's power.


Smokeless Fireplace

This heavy stone stove is constantly burning, yet it does not produce any smoke, nor need any fuel.

The stove gives off a pleasant warmth and light, but the fire does not burn at the touch. Accidental fires or rogue sparks are impossible.
Additionally, the stove only does that what the user intends to use it for: should someone put a pot full of water on the stove to boil it, the water will soon boil, but a forgotten knife left on it will not heat; should someone want to heat metal to forge it, the metal will quickly be glowing red; should someone wish to roast a deer, the meet will soon be cooked; lighting a torch in it works, and the torch will give off smoke as any normal torch.
However, the fire may not be used to directly hurt a living being: trying to burn someone alive on it will simply not work, but branding irons can still be heated in it.
The fire burns constantly and does not extinguish on its own. One could cover the fire basin with a board of wood, leave for months or years, come back and lift the unburnt wood to find the fire gleefully burning under it. The only way to truly extinguish the fire is by utterly destroying and smashing the stove to pieces.

d8: Magic Item! - Snake Flute

Snake Flute

ZachSmithson

This exotic musical instrument allows its player to mesmerize snakes, lizards, reptiles and even dragons.
X HD worth of creatures will be affected, X being the flutist's own number of HD.
The target(s) must save vs Spell or be unable to act besides hypnotically follow the movement of the flute. Should the target or the flutist be hit by an attack, the target lose sight of the flute, or the music stop, breaks the enchantment.
Besides this, the flute can be played normally.

Dungeon Shrooms

An unlucky orc - Source

Because of the mysterious energies and vapors that permeate underground complexes, it has been found that inert or dead matter can spontaneously generate life. The most ubiquitous of this is various kinds of mushrooms, that tend to sprout in great number from the remains of living creatures within days or even hours of their death.

When a living creature is slain and abandoned in a dungeon, it will sprout Xd6 (X being the creature's HD) shrooms after 1d6 days if it was an animal, or 1d6 hours if it was a plant. Undead creatures are unaffected.

These shrooms can be harvested and can have different proprieties, decided by a d6:
1 Savory: The mushroom is edible and a delicacy, too! Adding it to a meal will restore 1 HP to those that eat it
2-3 Bland: The mushroom is edible, but bland in favor.
4-5 Unsavory: The mushroom is barely edible, but disgusting, and will spoil the meal it was added to. No HP may be gained from this meal.
6 Poisonous: The mushroom is highly poisonous. After 1d3 rounds of nausea and cramps, who eats it must save vs Poison or die. A successful save means taking 2d6 HP of damage. Sticking two fingers down the throat and vomiting the guts out at the first sign of nausea may count as a successful save. Dried and smoked, the mushroom can be used as a potent hallucinogen.

d8: Dungeon! - Forgotten Tomb

I made this map for the daily challenge in a forum. I'll key it at some point later this week. Now with key.

Bryn Celli Ddu, Wales

A - Vestibule:
Stone stairs lead into this moist and unadorned room. There are four small heaps of what smells like rotting compost, on each heap are growing 1d3 Dungeon Shrooms. There are traces of some animal nibbling at the shrooms. The south door unlocked and slightly open.

B - Bear Lair:
A Bear has occupied this warm and moist room. The bear is sound asleep after a filling meal of deer and hallucinogenic mushrooms. A deer carcass lies nearby. The door to the south is stuck.

C - Antechamber:
This room is dry and unadorned. The doors to the east and west are unlocked.

D - Spider Lair:
Old, dusty cobwebs cover this room's walls. In the middle of the rook lies a Dagger and half a dozen electrum coins. A Giant Crab Spider lurks just above, ready to strike.

E - Offerings Room:
This small treasure room was partially looted at some point in the past: smashed amphorae and 4d10 electrum coins are shattered on the ground. One beautifully decorated vase (worth 30 gp) is still intact and is used as a nest by 4 Fire Beetles.

F - Eye Room:
Open eyes are painted on the walls of this dry, cool room. At the end of the corridor to the west is a relief decorated with many fake, worthless glass "gems". Right at the beginning of the corridor is a Pit Trap (save vs Death Ray or fall in for 1d6 damage). On the bottom of the pit are brittle human bones and a handful of electrum coins. The door to the south is stuck, while to the east carved stairs lead 40ft downwards.

Syrian Tribute Bearers, Persepolis, Iran

G - Procession Chamber:
This large, dry room is beautifully decorated with a painted relief depicting a procession bringing gifts to a king. The procession "starts" from the door and goes along the walls, with the king sitting on the throne on the wall opposite to the door, flanked by two honor guards.
4 Skeletons, one in each corner, will attack anyone who enters the room, but will not pursue intruders out of the room, returning instead to their corners. Should anyone linger for too long in front of the picture of the king, knock on the walls, damage or otherwise disrespect the effigy, 2 zombies will burst out off the corners of the south wall and attack. The skeletons wear copper circlets (worth 5 cp each) on their skulls, the zombies wear silver ones (20 sp each). The lifeless body of the king is buried right behind his depiction. He wears a golden crown on his head (200 gp), a golden signet ring decorated with an eye (50 gp), a silver necklace (50 gp) and holds a scroll case containing a spell book (Charm Person, Magic Mouth and ESP).

H - Excavated Passage:
This moist, cold tunnel has a low cieling, with moisture dropping down from it into shallow puddles on the ground. The door to I is stuck, The door to J is unlocked, the door to K is locked.

I - Minor Tomb:
Long dead bodies are crumbling to dust in simple alcoves cut into the walls. A small, empty offering altar lies opposite to the door.

J - Looted Tomb:
Open, looted sarcophagi line the walls. The offering vases on the altar lie broken on the floor. There is a hidden (2 in 6 chance to find it if searching) compartment under the altar which requires a successful Open Lock roll. Failure, or forcing the compartment open, triggers two Blade Traps (AB +1, 1d8 damage each). A pair of Gauntlets of Ogre Power is inside.

K - Orc Camp:
A group of orc pilgrims is resting here for a few days while traveling towards a sacred orc temple. 9 Orcs, led by an Orc Warrior, and four orc cubs are found here. They are aware of the Bandits in M and that something is at the bottom of the lake in L, but nothing more. They are waiting for a good moment to sneak out thru the tunnel to the east and continue their pilgrimage. Their offerings consist of 17 gp, a carved wood orc idol worth 25 cp, and a skillfully decorated bronze +1 Handaxe.

L - Cave:
This large cave is moist and cool. A dozen patches of Dungeon Shrooms grow here. Water constantly drips from above, and collects in a pool at the center of the cave. At the bottom of the pool lies a +2 Shield, and under it lurks a Sea Snake. South of the pool sits a Shrieker amid a group of Shrooms. Northeast is a tunnel leading outside into the forest.

M - Bandits Hideout:
A group of 8 Bandits have been using this dry room to store their stolen goods. Their loot consists of 30 gp of pelts, a dozen wineskins, a fire bowl worth 40 gp, 11 cp and 8 sp in coins, as well as 140 gp in various gems, jewels and trinkets.
A bandit is always on the lookout at the intersection between the cave, the hideout and the tunnel leading out, but the guard is bored and tipsy, being surprised 4 in 6 times.

Random encounter table:
1. 1d6 Orcs
2. 1d4+1 Fire Beetles
3. 1d4 Giant Centipedes
4. 1 Giant Crab Spider
5. 1d4 Bandits

6. 2d6 Goblins

Well earned Rest

Peasants Resting by Jean-François Millet

I'm quite dissatisfied with the generic  "You recover 1d3 HP when resting for a day" mechanic.

Here's what I've been using:

• You recover 1HP for a full 8 hours night of sleep, with no interruptions like taking guard turns.
• You recover 1HP for a day spent resting without doing tiring activity. Watering a garden, carving a toy out of a piece of wood or fishing is light activity, while working in the fields, repairing a roof or hunting is clearly not.
• You recover 1HP if you have at least one healthy, warm meal that day. Field rations eaten on the way do not apply, but a soup made from wild roots and fresh fish eaten with some wine counts.

Birthsigns and Zodiac for Old School Games

Zodiac Signs: each human character gets a Constellation assigned randomly at character creation. The Sign gives a +1 to a single saving throw type. (Other races do not get any sign, as they either do not care about the stars or have their own beliefs.)

The ten Star Signs:
1. The Key: +1 vs Poison/Death
2. The Worm: +1 vs Breath Attacks
3. The Tree: +1 vs Petrify/Paralyze
4. The Skull: +1 vs Spells
5. The Chalice: +1 vs Wands
6. The Lock: +1 vs Poison/Death
7. The Bird: +1 vs Breath Attacks
8. The Hatchet: +1 vs Petrify/Paralyze
9. The Heart: +1 vs Spells

10. The Torch: +1 vs Wands

Dungeons, tombs, ruins, runestones and so on may be aligned to a given Sign (usually the one of the original creator/builder/owner of the the place).

While in or near such a location, bearers of the matching sign get an additional +1 to the corresponding saving throw, bearers of the opposite sign get a -1 penalty to that saving throw, while other Signs are unaffected.

Stone circles are dedicated to the stars as a whole, and therefor give all sign bearers an additional +1 to their sign's saving throw. Those with no sign are unaffected by any of the above.

Plot ideas and hooks:
-The gate to the court of the Raven King can only be opened by those born under the same sign as him.
-A scholar needs one of each birthsign to perform a powerful scrying ritual. He has hired some slightly worried local civilians, but still needs a few more.
-A star cult has been kidnapping people of all walks of life who all were born around the same month.
-The local nobility has started organizing all celebrations, court activities and even civic duties around the horoscope.