We'll see how well I stick with this blog.
So the premise here is that because I like to write and because I'm hosting a home brew Dungeons and Dragons (Pathfinder) campaign, I'd write up some of the rooms in more details and with suggested encounter descriptions. Feel free to use them in your own campaigns or as random encounters when you need one. As far as I know, everything I've added to the blog is open source and will conform to the Pathfinder rule-set (keeping in mind that I'm just getting back into DM'ing so some of it might just be wrong!) To keep things easy, each room will have two tags: difficulty and encounter type. The difficulty tag will give a general idea of how complex the room is and the encounter type will describe whether the room contains (primarily) an encounter (monster or NPC), a trap, a puzzle or is just "fluff."
Difficulty:
Basic: The room is fairly simple. It may contain NPCs (usually monsters) or a simple trap. Basic type rooms will generally lack things like event triggers, complex timing, NPCs that require a lot of background, etc.
Moderate: These rooms may contain NPCs or monsters with more complex abilities or class levels, or more complex traps and puzzles.
Difficult: These rooms contain complex NPCs, traps or puzzles. They may include multiple NPCs or mixed monster types with special abilities intended to play off each other and/or complex traps and puzzles that may include timing or multiple-dependent triggers.
Room #1: The Butcher Block
Difficulty: Basic
Type: Encounter
Challenge Rating: 4
Preface - this is a pretty straight forward encounter room with a single CR 4 monster. It can take place in any medium sized room. In my campaign, it was a 30'x40' room with little in the way of obstructions and an open doorway.. It would be well suited to a horror themed campaign, but can fit in just about any dungeon or indoor terrain. This room is designed to be fairly static in nature - that is the monster is aware of the party and not surprised (although the party may or may not be surprised). At the time they entered this room, the party playing my campaign consisted of six, 2nd level characters who were somewhat under-equipped, and they were able to defeat the monster with a few light to moderate wounds.
The entry way into this room opens onto something out of a horrific butcher's shop. Piles of bones, some cracked, a few with a bit of decaying flesh still attached, cover the floor. Dried blood and viscera splatter the walls and even the ceiling, and perhaps worse, some of the gore appears to be fresh. In the center of the room, a stone slab, perhaps an alter of some kind, rises from the floor. Atop the alter are what appears to be the lower half of a baboon or other large simian creature, parts of it stripped of flesh, down to the bone. The other half of the baboon is suspended by hooks on rusty iron chains over the alter. Standing behind the alter, a gaunt, dessicated humanoid with tattered gray flesh and only a few scraps of clothing holds a pair of wicked looking hooked hammers. You watch, transfixed with horror as it slurps what appears to be a chunk of muscle and tendon off one of the hammers before turning an evil grin on you.
The creature in the room is a Bone Cobbler, which can be found in the pathfinder SRD here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/aberrations/bone-cobbler
The Bone Cobbler is a pretty straightforward aberration, but due to its ability to animate skeletons and it's tattered, gaunt appearance, it could be mistaken for undead. Its primary special abilities - animate bones and its breath weapon - are the Bone Cobbler's best offense, although its physical attacks can be nasty as well.
Bone Cobbler suggested actions (assumes that the party and the Bone Cobbler are not surprised and start within standard dungeon detection range from each other - 60ish feet).
Round 1: Use animate bones ability to create five skeletons between itself and the party.
Round 2: Use breath weapon to slow as many party members as possible.
Round 3: Enter melee or allow it's animated skeletons to wear down the party.
The only other component to the room is the alter. It is, for the most part, featureless but can provide cover by ducking down behind it (which the Bone Cobbler might take advantage of if the party has good ranged attackers). The alter sits in the center of the room and occupies a 5'x5' area (one square). On the floor, among the bones, is the suggested treasure.
Suggested Treasure: Wand of Cure Light Wounds with 30 charges. Hand axe +1, two vials of Alchemists' Fire.
Raise the Difficulty: The floor is so covered in bones from the Bone Cobbler's victims that it counts as difficult terrain, except to the Bone Cobbler, who knows just where to step. This can be particularly nasty to PCs slowed by the Bone Cobbler's breath weapon.
