Three Random NPCs

Here are three NPCs I rolled using my "Random NPC Generator" I wrote. The ability scores are mostly 3d6 down the line, with Strength and Charisma being more variable. It outputs Alignment, Sex, Age, Hair Color, Complexion, Appearance, Personality, and Wealth. From that, I choose a name, class (if any), and write a description. Purely a pastime I usually do during times like now when I should be writing something, but I'm procrastinating.

However, these three rolls were so uninspiring when taken together. There's a 4-in-6 chance of a male, but all three were women. All three had a high CON score—the very least helpful to build a whole character around. Fighters have Strength. Thieves have Dexterity. Magic-Users have Intelligence. Clerics have Wisdom. At least with Charisma, you have something fun to use by making them particularly good or bad looking. Constitution? One character, okay, but all three? It didn't help that they all had dark or black hair and an ordinary appearance!

As I attempted to write them together, a fun story emerged between Marra, widowed alewife, Hesta, dwarven tavern keeper, and Lysa, a wizard's courier . . . 

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Hesta "Black Hest"

Neutral Dwarf 1

Hesta, the sharp-tongued wife of a small tavern keeper, runs the place with an iron grip. She's relentless, mean, and takes no guff. Her wooden spoon—or failing that, a quick snap of her leather belt—keeps her unruly boys in line and reminds drunken customers they’re not above the same treatment. Her temper sparks like flint on steel, shifting from honeyed politeness to red-hot fury in an instant. 

STR  5   -2

INT  7   -1

WIS  10  +0

DEX  8   -1

CON  14  +1

CHA  9   +0

Sex: Female

Age: 38

Hair: Black

Complexion: Tan

Appearance: Pleasant

Personality: Foul-Tempered, Bully

Wealth: Free person. 120 gp.

Lysa

Neutral Magic-User 1

Lysa, an overfriendly wizard’s apprentice, trots to and from his mountain-top tower delivering messages on foot, as she is trusted more for endurance than discretion. She greets strangers like old friends and chatters endlessly, eager for company after long stretches of lonely travel. Bright but lacking common sense, she remembers everything she’s told—but rarely knows when to keep it to herself—especially if someone is willing to listen.

STR  9   +0

INT  13  +1

WIS  7   -1

DEX  10  +0

CON  16  +2

CHA  8   -1

Sex: Female

Age: 22

Hair: Black

Complexion: Ivory

Appearance: Plain

Personality: Cheerful, Gregarious

Wealth: Peasant. 8 gp.

Marra
Neutral

Marra, a widowed alewife, owns an inn and tavern and keeps a watchful eye over all who pass beneath her roof. Tall and imposing, she speaks little, yet carries a quiet authority that stifles disobedience and misbehavior before it can rise. Having outlived her adventurous husband, she runs the alehouse and its brewing with firm, capable hands, leaving the day-to-day clamor to her staff—though little escapes her notice.

STR  12  +0

INT  11  +0

WIS  10  +0

DEX  9   +0

CON  13  +1

CHA  13  +1

Sex: Female

Age: 46

Hair: Dark Brunette

Complexion: Tan

Appearance: Plain

Personality: Brooding, Mysterious

Wealth: Free person. 140 gp.

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Bonus! Because I'm still procrastinating, here's a fourth randomly-generated NPC! With Charisma 17, this rather turned into a romance novel!

Cassian Rook

Neutral Fighter 1

Tall and slender, Cassian carries himself with quiet authority. His black hair is neatly kempt, framing an ivory complexion and composed features. He favors tailored riding coats and polished boots—the mark of one accustomed to rank, yet careful not to flaunt it. His gaze is steady and appraising, and he speaks with measured confidence, certain he is destined to rise through discipline, reputation, and the careful cultivation of allies.

STR  12  +0

INT  10  +0

WIS  15  +1

DEX  10  +0

CON  11  +0

CHA  17  +2

Sex: Male

Age: 18

Hair: Black

Complexion: Ivory 

Appearance: Slender

Personality: Driven, Ambitious

Wealth: 500 gp

Session 76

Treasure Map I
"We hid it under a flagstone . . ."

Session 76

Session #7 of the Return to the Sorcerer's Labyrinth

Feb. 24, 2026

Players

Marc: T'Val, Fighter 1; Gormir, Dwarf 1
Adam: Mimir, Elf 1; Atticus, Magic-User 1
Alex: Sir Percival, Cleric 2; Lucky Pete, Thief 2

At the south door to the Minotaur's Maze, our delvers parted ways with the NPC Party. Bearing the headless body of their fallen comrade, Caedis (M1), they began their withdrawal. Before long, a patrol of pig-faced orcs gave chase. The party yanked free the spike that had been holding the secret door ajar. The ponderous stone slab ground slowly shut, sealing the passage just as the orcs reached it. With no way to force it open, the orcs could only curse them from the far side of the stone-block wall.

Back in town, Atticus (M1) joined the party. 

The delvers descended into the Sorcerer's Labyrinth once again, this time determined to find the Arcane Library by going through the south gate of the Pentagram Dome. They took the hallway west, but found only a looping passage with a door that was clearly non-Euclidean. It opened to the antechamber of The Pyramid. 

Glowing violet runes pulsated in the angular frame of the colossal stone door. A shimmering field of energy thrummed ominously, and crackled with purple arcs like lightning bolts. There were five other doors leading out of the antechamber and they chose to keep heading east, more than a little confused about their location after unknowingly being magically warped across the dungeon. The characters knew nothing of the Pyramid, and their players had only foggy recollection. 😉 

Perched at the end of a long corridor, they reached the statue of the trickster, the patron of bad luck. Formed like a satyr, both its hands were behind its back. They checked it out with a mirror on a 10' pole, but saw only cupped hands and shadow. While approaching it, the illusionary floor beneath Lucky Pete (T2)'s feet disappeared, and Alex rolled a '1' on his save! The patron of bad luck indeed! 😱

Not-So-Lucky Pete fell 10' and took 3 damage, but had 7 hp remaining. Good thing for maximum hit dice rolls and CON 16! He may not be lucky, but he's tough! Unfortunately, from beyond the shadows of a massive crack in the wall, staring at him through the slit pupils of its emerald eyes: a dreaded HD 5 rock python! 🐍

Sir Percival (C2) jumped down into the pit to face the cold-blooded PC-killer (see also sessions 8 and 14, 2024). TA viscous fight followed. The Cleric got squeezed down to 4 hit points. The python would do an automatic 2d4 damage on its round, so Percival's life hung in the balance. They won initiative, and Percival struck first with his Mace +1, crushing the serpent's skull! 💪

The party searched the crack, which led 20' to the snake's lair. There, they found the corpse of a long-dead elf. The Cleric said a prayer, and the skeletal remains turned to ash and blew away. They took what was left, including  his Chainmail +2 and  other equipment. In his satchel, they found Treasure Map 1, which they followed once out of the pit. 

The session ended in the dungeon south of the gates of the Altar of Shadows with the delvers excavating an iron lockbox from beneath a flagstone . . .

The Sorcerer's Labyrinth Second Anniversary

 

On February 10, 2024, I rolled up a good ol' B/X dungeon on the fly for an impromptu pick-up game on the OSR Pick-Up Games Discord server. After a year-long campaign and 46 sessions, the players cleared the dungeon, slew the white dragon, defeated the red manticore, and dethroned the evil sorcerer, Mallacar. We had a blast! 

The first level of a multi-level dungeon of epic proportions was complete. Several months later and players are ready to return.  

Tonight is the fifth session of our second play-through, and the second anniversary of The Sorcerer's Labyrinth. The session starts in an hour, and I'm as excited to run it as players are to play it!

Melan's Favorite Judge's Guild Products

 

Quote from the Classic Adventure Game Podcast
Discord Server

Some Rando's Compilation of Natural Healing Rules in D&D

Mummy, Expert Set, p. 36

Mummies are great enemies for beginning player characters. Against five or six first-level or second-level PCs, a mummy can make an awesome solo "boss" encounter. Later, their dreaded "mummy rot" keeps them threatening. 

Recently—Session #68, Oct. 22, 2025—the PCs in my current Gorefest Dungeon campaign were attacked from behind by three mummies. They were already drained of spells and down some hit points. 

They felled two of them, but their Cleric 4, Lokian, was down to only one hit point—and he was engaged in a furious melee with the last mummy. 

Their Fighter 4, Essarian, was down 12 hit points (to 16), and everyone at the table knew mummy rot meant these grievous wounds weren't going to be healed any time soon. 

The two Magic-User 4's were both out of spells. Hobart was atop his Broom of Flying and Sarath was Invisible. Both had Wands of Magic Missile drained empty of all charges! 

Thankfully, they were able to retreat and escape. They had one Scroll of Remove Curse . . . but two victims. Down to his last hit point, they chose to cure Lokian, leaving brave Essarian to remain afflicted and grievously wounded. Magical healing won't work and natural healing was slowed by 90%. 

But at what rate does natural healing occur? 

The rules are easy to find in the 1981 Basic Set, p. 25: 

However, as luck would have it, as I watched a random video about Mystara, I scrolled down a little through the comments. 

A certain Verpalorian310—I guess that's how we identify people in the dystopic, cyber-punk future of 2025—made a wonderful compilation of natural healing rules in Basic D&D. I was shocked to learn BECMI and Rules Cyclopedia omitted any rules for such, but I also felt so vindicated. I thought for sure it was 1d4. Now, I see that it was 1d4 in the rules I first learned and played—the 1991 Black Box! 

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Natural Healing in Basic D&D

'77 Holmes Basic p. 7

Each day of rest and recuperation back "home" will regenerate 1 to 3 of his hit points for the next adventure.

'77 B1: In Search of the Unknown p. 5

The passage of a day - or 24 hours - will mean the healing of 1 hit point of damage for each character.

'81 Set 1 Moldvay Basic p. 25

To cure wounds by resting, the wounded creature must relax in a safe place, and may do nothing but rest. Each full day of complete rest will restore 1-3 hit points ... If a day's rest is interrupted for any reason, no healing will take place.

'83 Mentzer BECMI p. 4 mentions natural healing in several places, but omits the rules for it. "The damage your fighter has taken can be healed by a few days' rest."

'84 BSOLO: Ghost of Lion Castle p. 4 resting 1 day heals 1 HP.

'86 B10: Night's Dark Terror, pull-out sheet I

As well as healing wounds by means of spells it is also possible to regain 1 hit point per day by resting. In order to regain a hit point, your rest must be undisturbed both during the day and the night. Any strenuous activity such as fighting or traveling more than a very short distance will stop you from healing.

'89 B11: King's Festival p. 23

The bugbear is 50% likely to leave for good, and 50% likely to ambush the PCs later-together with 1d4 orcs it bullies into serving it-when the PCs finally make their way back to Stallanford from this dungeon. By this time it will have regained 1d8 hit points from natural healing.

'91 Denning Basic p. 28

For each full day a character spends resting, which means doing nothing but lying in bed, he recovers 1d4 hit points.

'91 Rules Cyclopedia mentions natural healing, but omits rules for it.

'94 Stewart Classic D&D p. 46

For each full day a character spends resting, which means doing nothing but lying in bed, he recovers 1d4 hit points.

'98 Grubb Fast Play doesn't mention natural healing at all.

Factors affecting natural healing: 

Cause Disease

Cureall

Cursed scrolls

Healing skill

Mummy rot

Raise Dead

Starvation

Veterinary Healing skill

Frostfire's Demise

Tonight, it was my birthday. Had a great day!

It was also game night, Session 43, and players took on Frost Fire, the white dragon. 

We lost two player characters, a C5 and an M4, but the delvers were victorious!

Nine Months in The Sorcerer's Labyrinth

"Gorefest Dungeon" is just what I call whatever I'm running online at the time, but this year, I began designing a multi-level dungeon called The Sorcerer's Labyrinth. The dungeon shares its name with the first level. 

We just finished Session 36. Virtually all of Level 1 and almost half of Level 2, The Undercrypt, has been explored.

The first-level map has changed a lot over the months. Here are some key versions:

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Version 1.0. Session 1, Feb. 10, 2024 

Session 1 was ran impromptu for an open table on the OSR Pick-Up Games Discord server. After calling for players, I generated a map on donjon, but generated the dungeon's content live by rolling on the Dungeon Stocking Table on page 52 of the 1981 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set.

Room 1 was rolled as "Special, Treasure," so I pulled out my trusty ol' "water weird in a fountain with coins" encounter. I blacked out the door in the top left and bottom left of the Enchanted Fountain room, so that strange downward dead-end passage right after the entrance stairs has always had a secret door there.

The area below it, the Statuary was "Special, No Treasure," and I put a bugbear "assassin" in it that hid on the ceiling and waited for players to pass by before pouncing on the back rank. Players were quick to examine all the statues, but never mentioned looking up. It's the second room of a beginner dungeon, so it's a good time to get this kind of procedural conduct out of the way. It's just a normal bugbear surprise roll if players don't say "I look up." It's good to establish how the table handles these common situations like crab spiders crawling on the ceiling.

The area with the sarcophagus on the dais and the burial niches in the walls would later become the Pyramid. I rolled "Monster, Treasure" on the stocking table and then rolled 12 skeletons. Players rolled their own treasure (Type D) live for the last area of the night—and they rolled a stunning, spectacular 11,800 gp total, a Sword +1, a Scroll of Light and Hold Portal, and a Potion of Healing!!!

Before the game, I made one of the skeletons a wight able to cast Darkness. Not knowing how awesome the player's live treasure roll was going to be, I gave it a Staff of Snakes and a healing potion. I called it a Spellwight.

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Version 2.0. Session 2, Feb. 20

Sessions 2-7 used what's now the odd duck of the map versions. That area with the 70'-wide round pit at the top with the floating platforms was going to be a vertical battle map. Still an idea I want to use. The octagonal room in the center was what it is today—a lever/door puzzle—but for some reason I didn't use gate/portcullis doors. Session 3 used map version 2.1, and it had gates.

Players during these early open-table sessions were much more investigative and experimental. They would always try diplomacy first, or to look for a way to circumvent dangerous encounters. Players of the group that formed from the open-table sessions are much more aggressive.

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Version 3.0. Session 8, April 2

Version 3.1

Version 3.9. Session 26, Sept. 24

Version 3 was a real workhorse for the first half of the campaign. I was never happy with that awkward space on the bottom-right (Area 20/23)—never did figure out exactly how I wanted to use it. It was where I debuted my Pitslither monsters: Sarlacc-like maw-pits with lamprey teeth and a tentacle for a tongue. Players never went back after that, so it never did really matter.

Through 26 sessions of play-testing, it was clear what areas were the most popular, and some of those areas needed more room—a lot more room in the case of the Arcane Library (Area 4) and the so-called "Orc Prison" (Area 29).  

I knew I needed more room, so I increased the size of the map from 390' × 390' to 500' × 500' for Version 4.0 . . . 

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Version 4.0. Session 27, Oct. 1

 Version 4.3. Session 36, Dec. 8