The Point Lake Diamond Rush: Spy vs. Spy
When diamonds were discovered in the tundra of the Barren Grounds in far northern Canada, it set off a chain of secrets, deceptions, covert actions, and industrial espionage that make an amazing template for an RPG adventure. Even if you’re not running an actual espionage campaign, PCs could be easily hired on as deniable assets […]
The Axeman’s Letter
The Axeman of New Orleans was an attention-grabbing serial killer who operated in and around New Orleans in 1918-1919 and possibly in 1910-1911. He was never caught. In an incident reminiscent of the later Zodiac killer, someone claiming to be the Axeman wrote a letter to the newspaper, which dutifully published it. This letter is […]
Taboos as Plot: Navajo Taboos
Back in July, I did a piece about how giving your PCs personal taboos can generate adventures. I’d like to return to the idea of taboos driving plot, this time with a regional focus. Virtually all human cultures have taboos. Americans, for example, have a weak (but real) taboo against discussing imminent death, disease, or […]
Liberating the Edward A. Horton and Blog News!
As games like Shadowrun and Leverage have taught us, heists are great. But while heisting corporate secrets, priceless antiquities, or bearer bonds might come as no surprise, what about heisting a fishing boat? One impounded by the Canadian government? And working alongside the American fishermen she was seized from in the first place? I present […]
The Contemptible NPC You Can’t Say ‘No’ To
At first glance, the U.S. government’s war against the Modoc nation was a fairly typical Indian war. White settlers in California and Oregon wanted the Modocs’ land, so the federal government forcibly relocated the Natives. When the Modocs tried to move back, they were killed. But from that war emerged a figure – a treacherous, shameful […]
Spells of Ecological Succession
Nature is never static. Land that was one ecosystem this century may be another next century – or even next year. Every acre is, ecologically speaking, always coming from somewhere and going to somewhere. So let’s use this principle of ecological succession to devise some cool spells! Flesh to Stone and Earth to Mud are […]
The Bryce Blood Bowl
Bryce Canyon is one of the gems of the U.S. national parks system. Its strange geologic formations, breathtaking vistas, and twisting mazes make it an experience visitors don’t soon forget. Those same features, though, make one spot in the park an amazing template for a gladiatorial arena. The bowl between Liberty Castle and Wall Street […]
Teddy Roosevelt’s Crime-Fighting Guinea Pigs
The family of America’s 26th president, Theodore ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt, had a lot of pets: four dogs, two birds, a snake, a lizard, a badger, a rat, a pig, and more besides. The most delightful were those named for real people: the guinea pigs Dr. Johnson, Bishop Doane, Admiral Dewey, Father O’Grady, and Fighting Bob Evans […]
The Agate House
In the remote desert of Arizona, in Petrified Forest National Park, there sits an odd structure. It looks like a Native American pueblo. But instead of being made of adobe or stone, its walls are made from chunks of quartz the size of your head. This is the Agate House. It’s an archaeological marvel, and […]
Caddo Lake
Once a month here on the Molten Sulfur Blog, I run content taken from our book Archive: Historical People, Places, and Events for RPGs. This post is one of eighty entries in Archive, each more gameable than the last! This post is brought to you by beloved Patreon backer Arthur Brown. Thanks for helping keep […]
Bob Bartlett
Once a month here on the Molten Sulfur Blog, I run content taken from our book Archive: Historical People, Places, and Events for RPGs. This post is one of eighty entries in Archive, each more gameable than the last! This post is brought to you by beloved Patreon backer Justin Moor. Thanks for helping keep […]
Legal Dramas and the Black Hills
Legal dramas are an enormously popular genre, but they effectively don’t exist in the RPG space. Who has five friends with enough knowledge of the law to improvise a good episode of The Practice? Who can ad lib a twenty-minute opening argument that doesn’t make the other players claw their eyes out? The key is […]
Shipwrecked Sailors: Armed and Desperate
The 1808 shipwreck of the Russian schooner Nikolai on the shores of the Quileute nation (in what is today Washington state) is remarkable primarily for its aftermath: the collective efforts of the Quileute, Hoh, and Makah nations to deal with 22 armed and desperate shipwrecked Russian sailors. In 1808, the Russian-American Trading Company was looking […]
Justice for Lula Viers
Back in September we talked a bit about murder ballads: those peculiar songs from the American South that recount the events of killings. This time, we’re going to look at the ballad Lulie Vars, based on the 1916 murder of Lula Viers by her lover. In many ways, it’s a tragically ordinary story. Over half […]
The Secret Basque Fishing Grounds
In the high Middle Ages, the Basques – an insular people of western Europe – quietly experienced an economic miracle. Basque fishermen brought huge quantities of preserved cod and whale meat from secret fishing grounds somewhere in the Atlantic. As Basque communities prospered, the rest of Europe scratched its head. Figuring out where the Basques were getting […]