Melestruas RPG settings: Ragnars Keep
Ragnar's Keep has stood on this rock outcrop on the outskirts of the town for hundreds of years. Who Ragnar was is now lost in the mists of time¸ but it is a defensible location near a river and good farmland¸ and so it has been continuously occupied ever since and a town has grown up around it. The lands around about may be rich farmland¸ but beyond the farmland¸ particularly to the north¸ it gets progressively wilder¸ with the river running down from high moorland and rugged mountains¸ and dark forests to the east only ventured into by the hardiest of loggers." Do you want to provide exciting¸ vivid descriptions to your players¸ but lack the time to do the research? Are you looking for inspiration for backdrops to your adventures to make them feel more real? Are you looking for well-rounded¸ interesting NPCs for your campaign? Ragnar's Keep is a carefully researched¸ fully fleshed-out borderlands castle with detailed descriptions throughout and a cast of interesting NPCs. It is aimed at GamesMasters and DungeonMasters running RPG adventures in the classic type of fantasy world based on mediaeval Europe with added magic - ideal for the many versions of the world's most famous role-playing game¸ or for other role-playing games with a similar theme. NPCs come with system-neutral descriptions making them suitable for any game¸ plus detailed 5e stat blocks. You can use Ragnar's Keep wholesale as a location for your adventures¸ or pick and choose elements to add realism and character to your descriptions. Being a borderlands keep¸ it would make a good base to adventure from and a safe haven to return to for rest¸ recuperation and training. Alternatively it could become the centre of one or more encounters - for example of a village under siege from raiders and dragons as in the start of one the published adventures for the 5th edition of the world's most famous role-playing game. Little details in the description might spark ideas with your players for interactions - for example the flour in a kitchen could be thrown into the fire to create an explosion¸ or the onions hanging on a string could be used as impromptu missiles. The well-developed NPCs have friendships¸ rivalries¸ back stories¸ ambitions and tensions which the characters can play on in their interactions with them¸ either as challenges to work round when gaining cooperation¸ or opportunities to pit them against each other for the characters' gain. This module has been developed in conjunction with Heroic Maps¸ and they have their accompanying detailed artwork available to buy on DriveThruRPG at full inch:5 feet battlemap scale. You can see thumbnails through the description section. It was originally inspired by the Heroic Maps Patron Map of the Month for March 2018 "The Dungeon of Mydstep Keep" and I have to thank Joe for encouraging me to flesh it out in more detail. It owes inspiration to Linlithgow Palace in Scotland and Harlech Castle in Wales. Colours of Melestrua For the busy Games Master¸ there are loads of adventures and mini-modules out there - as you can see published on DriveThruRPG for example. There are also tables of random detail you can throw into your descriptions to provide a bit of interest or random hooks - from 100 pieces of junk for … to 100 encounters for… to assorted Dressing tables. These are very useful and definitely have their place in the Games Master's toolkit. Ragnar's Keep is the first in the Colours of Melestrua series of modules. These take a slightly different approach. Rather than a whole collection of snippets¸ they are detailed settings which you can use as backdrops or for more interesting encounters. The modules in this series are carefully researched to give realistic¸ detailed colour which you can use in your gaming descriptions to bring your world to life. They can be used complete a