The Mystery of Becker's Pond

People are vanishing in the woods near Becker's Pond. Why? How? You and the player characters in your roleplaying game campaign can find out in a scenario inspired by an illustration by Bryan Baugh that you can create based on a randomly generated outline.

How do the Player Characters Become Involved (Roll 1d6)
  1-2. They hear rumors of strange happenings near Becker's Pond.
  3-4. A friend asks them to find a loved one who has disappeared near Becker's Pond.
  5-6. They hear a friend has vanished near Becker's Pond.

How Many Disappearances Once the PC's are Involved? (Roll 1d6)
  1-2. 1d2+1 results off "Who Vanishes First", the proceed to "Who Vanishes Next?".
  3-4. 1d3+2, with "Who Vanishes First" checked once, then "Who Vanishes Next?" once, then the rest on "Who Vanishes First".
  5. Alternate between "Who Vanishes First?" and "Who Vanishes Next?" until a result is duplicated on the "Who Vanishes Next?" table, or the player characters are attacked.
  6. Check "Who Vanishes First?" twice, then roll on "Who Vanishes Next?" until a result is duplicated or the PCs are attacked.

Who Vanishes First? (Roll 1d6)
  1. 1d3+1 skinny dipping teenagers.
  2. 1d2+1 fishermen.
  3. 1d3 hunters.
  4. 1d3+1 bird watchers.
  5. 1d2 couples at Makeout Rock.
  6. 1d2 hikers.

When Do People Disappear? (Roll 1d6)
    1-2. Middle of the night.
    3. Shortly before sunrise.
    4. Shortly after sunset.
    5. During the daytime.
    6. No predictable time. Roll on this table each time a disappearance is to occur in order to determine when the next one happens. Ignore and reroll additional results of "6".
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How Long Between Disappearances? (Roll 1d6)
  1-2. 1d6+4 days.
  3-4. 1d6+1 days.
  5. 1d+6 hours.
  6. Roll after each disappearance to determine when the next will happen.

Who Vanishes Next? (Roll 1d6)
  1. The local conspiracy theorist.
  2. The minister's daughter.
  3. The Instragram model.
  4. 1d2 hunters.
  5. 1d4+1 frat boys.
  6. The player characters are attacked, either a single individual or as a group. If they lose the fight, they are among the vanished. (Player characters investigating the pond are the ones attacked. If none are investigating the pond, the smallest group of them that are together are attacked. Roll on "What is Responsible for the Disappearances?" to see what attacks the player characters.)

What Is Responsible for the Disappearances? (Roll 1d6)
  1. A creature that's escaped from the secret lab of a man scientist (use earth elemental stats).
  2. The vengeful spirits of two bullied teens who drowned themselves in Becker's Pond in a suicide pact have returned to exact revenge (use wraith stats)
  3. A cult of devil worshipers (1d6+1 together at any given time--unless their numbers are reduced through combat with the PCs and/or having been arrested; total of 13 cult members).
  4. Space aliens have a secret base underneath the pond. The vanished people are being subjected to hideous experiments.  (Vanished victims are still alive and may be rescued if the PC's enter Hell if a 1 is rolled on a six-sided die. Roll for each victim.)
  5. Pollution in the pond has coalesced into a monster that is oozing from it in search of prey (use water elemental stats).
  6. A gate to Hell has opened in the pond. Victims are being seized by demons and dragged into the underworld. (Vanished victims are still alive and may be rescued if the PC's enter Hell if a 1 is rolled on a six-sided die. Roll for each victim.)

How Can the Disappearances Be Stopped? (Roll 1d6)
  1-2. The evil must be destroyed.
  3-4. The powerful international conspiracy that is truly behind the disappearances must be exposed.
  5. The pond and forest must be cleansed with the magic generated by two Native American artifacts when they are brought together.
  6. Atlantean druids must bless the pond and forest around it. And then the evil must be destroyed.

Bessie Love and the Magical Mystery Chairs

We recently revealed how Bessie Love secretly battled occult forces between starring in movies during the 1920s and 1930s. This time around, we're going to cover something she learned during her cultist-busting career: Hidden, often in plain sight, throughout the world are a surprising number of magical chairs. Some were purposefully constructed and enchanted, others became magically charged by absorbing intense spiritual energies for many years.

Love brought two magic chairs into her own home, one was a gift from a sorceress who was an ally in her fight against evil, the other was seized from a cult leader. The first chair, which stood in the corner of her sitting room, grants the person sitting in it the ability to instantly know what is on up to 100 written pages by just touching them; and the other chair, which she kept in her library, makes the person in it more able to see through lies while being more adept at telling them.

The rest of the text in this post is released under the Open Game License and may be reproduced according to its terms. Copyright Steve Miller 2019.

MAGICAL MYSTERY CHAIRS (for d20 System Games)
The GM can use the following tables to randomly generate magical chairs. Players can discover the enchantments of the chairs through whatever means are available in the campaign, except for those listed under WHAT CURSE DOES THE CHAIR BESTOW? Any curses should be discovered when they are inflicted.


IS THE CHAIR MAGICAL? (Roll 1d10)*
1-7.  No
8.     Yes. Roll once on WHAT BENEFIT DOES THE CHAIR GRANT?
9.     Yes. Roll twice on WHAT BENEFIT DOES THE CHAIR GRANT?
10.   Yes. Roll once on WHAT BENEFIT DOES THE CHAR GRANT? and
         once on WHAT CURSE DOES THE CHAIR BESTOW?
*The GM can check this table whenever the characters search a room furnished with one or more chairs using methods that can detect magical auras.


WHAT BENEFIT DOES THE CHAIR GRANT? (Roll 1d10)
1. As a full round action, absorb the information in up to 100 pages
    touched while seated in the chair. The character must be able to
    read the language, even if he or she isn't actually reading the
    text. The book or pages not need to be leafed through. The GM
    may require Knowledge skill checks or Intelligence checks for
    the character to comprehend the information if the text covers
    obscure or advanced subjects. Texts longer than 100 pages may
    be divided up and absorbed at different times, but loose pages
    must be placed in different stacks, and books must be opened
    to the point from which absorption is to take place.
    The chair's power can be used once every 12 hours.
2. +4 to all Knowledge skill checks while seated.
3. +4 to all Craft skill checks while seated.
4. +6 to Bluff skill checks while seated.
5. +6 to Sense Motive skill checks while seated.
6. Detect Poison and Neutralize Poison at 12th-level effectiveness
    while seated in the chair.
7. True Seeing as spell-like ability for 12 minutes once per hour while
    seated. (12th level effectiveness.)
8. The character does not age, require rest or sustenance while seated in the chair.
9. Brings a being back to life that has been dead less than 24 hours.
    The corpse must be relatively intact with no vital parts missing.
    The being is restored to life with fully healed.
10. Roll again on this table, ignoring and re-rolling additional
      rolls of 10. Additionally, roll once on WHAT CURSE DOES
      THE CHAIR BESTOW?

WHAT CURSE DOES THE CHAIR BESTOW? (Roll 1d10)*
1. -1 to all saving throws.
2. -1 to all attack rolls.
3. -1 to all saving throws and attack rolls.
4. -2 to all skill checks.
5. The sitter's butt goes numb and can only walk with a
    weird waddle. 1/2 movement rate, -4 to all Acrobatics,
    Balance, Climb, Run, and Tumble skill checks.
6. Suffer 1 point of extra damage per hit or damage dice.
7. While seated the character believes he or she telepathically
    "hears" the thoughts of another character in the room.
     The thoughts indicate the character is planning to betray the
     seated character, or is otherwise allied with an enemy of
     the party. The seated character can focus his or
    attention on someone else in the rool and "hear" that
    individual's thoughts as well. They will likewise be
    hostile or threatening. This is just an delusion caused by
    the chair. It ends once the character leaves the chair.
8. While seated, he character believes that he or she can see
     the true demonic form of another random character in
     the room. This is just a delusion created by the chair, and
     the character who appears to be a shapeshifted demon
     is determined randomly each time someone sits in
     the chair
9.  Roll on WHAT BENEFITS DOES THE CHAIR GRANT?
     The character who sat in the chair believes he or she has gained
     that advantage.
10. Roll two more times on this table, ignoring additional
      rolls of 10.
*Unless otherwise noted, all curses are permanent until the character who sat in the chair is subjected to a Remove Curse, cast at a 12-level or better effectiveness.

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Feats for the Awakened (Blessings in Disguise: Part Two)

This post continues the rules for playing characters whose souls contain the remains of dead angels. You can read Part One here. (All text in this post is presented under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance with its terms. Copyright 2019 Steve Miller.)


FEATS FOR THE AWAKENED
Awakened characters may choose from the following feats whenever they gain feats from level advancement, as a way of modeling their increasing ability to tap into the angelic energies that reside within them. They may also choose to substitute any bonus feats earned with ones from this section. They must still meet all pre-requisites before choosing a feat.


EXISTING FEATS
Alertness, Animal Affinity, Attentive, Blind Fight, Builder, Calm Animals, Confident, Faithful, Focused, Foresight, Fortune Telling, Great Fortitude, Guide, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Naughty or Nice, Nimble, Stealthy, Toughness, True Love,


NEW FEATS
These feats are available only to Awakened characters who meet the prerequisites. It may be chosen under any circumstance that the character selects a feat.

Divine Magic [Awakened]
You channel the divine spark in your soul into spells.
   Prerequisite: Awakened, Wisdom 12
   Benefit: The character may, at will, cast a number of 0-level Acolyte spells equal to his or her Wisdom bonus per day. The caster level is equal to the character's total level. No material components are needed.
   The character also gains a +1 bonus to all saving throws made to resist divine magic and divine spell-like effects.


Enhanced Divine Magic [Awakened]
You can draw more effectively on the divine energy to create more powerful effects.
   Prerequsite: Divine Magic feat
   Benefit: The character may, at will, cast a number of 1st- and 2nd-level Acolyte spells equal to his or her Wisdom bonus per day. The caster level is equal to the character's total level. No material components are needed.

Improved Divine Magic [Awakened]
You are able to create minor miracles.
   Prerequisite: Enhanced Divine Magic feat, Wisdom 14
   Benefit: The character may, at will, cast a number of 3rd- 4th-, and 5th-level Acolyte spells equal to his or her Wisdom bonus per day. The caster level is equal to the character's total level. No material components are needed.

Sense Awakened [Awakened]
You can sense when you are near another Awakened.
    Prerequisite: Awakened trait
   Benefit: When you are within 60 feet of another Awakened, the GM tells you you feel as though something is "off" or as if "someone just walked over your grave" or some other statement to show you are sensing something unusual. Upon making a successful Spot skill check (DC15), you can identify the source of your unease--another Awakened. If the Awakened is out of your line of sight, you know exactly where he or she is. (The sense of unease ends as soon as you recognise the other Awakened.)
    The sense of unease also ends if the Spot check reveals some other threat or mystery that draws your attention.
    Note: GMs may or may not be calling your attention to another Awakened. Sometimes, it's something entirely different that's going on. Whichever is the case, the sense that something is wrong is dispelled once your attention is caught by something in the area.

Illo by Bonksn

Sense Outsider [Awakened]
 Beings from planes beyond those inhabited by mortals venture into it with some regularity, usually disguised in mortal form. You can sense when you are near such creatures.
    Prerequisite: Awakened trait
   Benefit: When you are within 15 feet and line-of-sight of an extra-planar being that is shapeshifted into a less conspicuous form, you can see an aura of shifting colors around its body. By taking a full round action to study the creature and the GM rolling a successful Spot skill check (DC12), you are able to tell if the being is from one of the Upper, Lower, or Elemental Planes of existence. You are also able to spot shapeshifted beings native to the Realm of Fairies, including the Witchkind, although with such beings, you will not be able to discern what plane they are from.

Wings of an Angels [Awakened]
Mystic wings will slow your fall, preventing you from harm to some extent.
   Prerequisite: Awakened, Divine Magic feat
   Benefit: After the first 20 feet of free-fall, incorporeal, translucent wings appear on the character's back, and his or her fall is slowed. Falling damage is reduced by half when the character hits the ground (minimum damage 1 point).


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More to come--such as Talents--in Part Three. (Meanwhile, if you found this content interesting and useful, consider getting one or more of our actual products at DriveThruRPG. It will encourage to make more.)