1d6 Pit Trap Backstories

 1. Former nest of an antlion [stat as dragon]. Discarded carapace left behind from when the beast outgrew it and the hole. Antlion chitin makes good armour, but can only be cut into shape by the creature's own mandibles, which are not shed. There will be a larger pit nearby with a freshly grown monster. Antlions eat anything, but favour live sheep and goats. They are always hungry, and may negotiate for food.

2. Once a well for the dungeon's former inhabitants, bucket and pulley discarded nearby but still workable. The water at the bottom is littered with curse tablets, carved stone invocations between petty feuding families. One has cursed the water itself, dooming all who drink to a cannibal's unlife. The dungeon's ghouls embrace any new curselings into their faction regardless of prior actions.

3. Upside-down chimney for the hearth built into the ceiling above. Fires lit there burn backwards, smoke falling down the long shaft into a massive underground reservoir where it dissipates, magical radiation briefly turning the water into a gravity potion. A nearby secret room has a wizard's laboratory on the ceiling, including notes explaining the process, clutched by an old robed skeleton slumped skyward.

4. Wound in the earth left in the trail of a hyper-dense magic comet. The dungeon was built later. The rock still burns at the base of the pit, only stopped from burrowing further into the earth by the blessed shield of an ancient paladin whose tomb its path has disinterred. The shield can bear any weight and shines with a light that compels the undead to speak only in absolute truth. Removing it sets the rock back on its incredibly rapid descent to the world's core, continuing to burrow the pit ever deeper as it goes.

5. Drainage system for the water constantly trickling into this chamber from a hundred little gargoyle throats. Clear and cool, a symphony of tiny splashes, their spittle sloshing at ankle height before rolling silently over the lip of the pit to cascade towards unknown depths below. There is a levered mechanism used to plug it, which causes the room to fill rapidly, the lever now locked in place. Rising with the water allows access to side tunnels high in the sheer, slick walls, but these are currently choked up with rubble. If not cleared before the water reaches them, any trapped in the room will drown.

6. It's a big hole in the ground. The goblins that live here thought it would be nice to have one. They really like their big hole. If you can make a big hole in the ground like this one, they'd be very impressed. Otherwise, what good are you? Down the hole you go.

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Been busy lately with some cool stuff which should be coming out relatively soon. In this new era of writing rpg stuff for pay and putting my own personal projects on hold, the kind of art I do in my "just for fun" time is shifting, so that's what you'll see more of on the blog - wargame stuff for Straturdays, and some fiction, which is new

(I hope people have been enjoying the Nettle & Thorn stories so far. They get a lot of views so I guess people like them? They're my attempt to write some very classic, straight down the line, old timey pulp fantasy. I might do different kinds of stories in future too. Let me know what you want to see I guess.)

This work-for-hire stuff is going ok, but still precarious. I'm currently looking for gigs for the rest of this year, this month in particular, so get in touch - graverobbersguide at gmail dot com - and let's make something fun.