The Legend of Tam Lin
Tam Lin is a faerie knight from an old Scottish border ballad. You can see the full text of several variants collected by Francis James...
About
Everyone needs content for their RPG campaigns: adventure hooks, puzzles, NPCs, political machinations, combat encounters, and adventure sites. That’s what this site provides! I draw RPG content from real-life fact and folklore, then give advice on how to adapt it to your fictional campaign. I believe content that is grounded in reality (however fantastical) is richer and more vibrant, and your players will appreciate the difference.
Updates Tuesdays.
Get Email Notifications of Updates
Tristan Zimmerman
- Feb 27, 2018
Punishing PCs – the Pillory!
What do you do when your PCs break the law? In-world actions must have in-world consequences if player choice is to be meaningful, but...
Tristan Zimmerman
- Feb 26, 2018
Bonus Post - Ground for Inspiration
I met geologist Scott Rice-Snow at Gencon a few years back, where he was giving a series of lectures on geological features and how to...
Tristan Zimmerman
- Feb 20, 2018
Origin Stories and the Lake of Milk
The inhabitants of the remote Nepalese village of Tarang tell an interesting story about how their village came to be. Tarang is a hamlet...
Tristan Zimmerman
- Feb 13, 2018
What Aeneas Saw in Hell
Virgil’s Aeneid was Rome’s sequel to the Iliad and the Odyssey. Written almost a thousand years after the first two works, it continues...
Tristan Zimmerman
- Feb 6, 2018
Crime & Corruption: The 1927 Price Murders
In 1927, the murders of highway cop Lory ‘Slim’ Price and his pregnant schoolteacher wife Ethel shocked the people of southern Illinois. The
Tristan Zimmerman
- Jan 30, 2018
Ambushed in a Barn!
This encounter is meant to turn a relatively straightforward fantasy combat (a fight with a wizard and her goons) into something a little...
Tristan Zimmerman
- Jan 23, 2018
Chelm, the City of Fools
In Jewish folklore, the city of Chelm, Poland, is a city of fools. The ‘wise men of Chelm’ overlook laws of nature, fail to perform basic...
Tristan Zimmerman
- Jan 16, 2018
Abandoning Saint-Octave-de-l’Avenir
The abandoned village of Saint-Octave-de-l’Avenir in Quebec, Canada, makes great inspiration for the site of a haunting in your campaign. A
Tristan Zimmerman
- Jan 12, 2018
'Archive: Historical People, Places, and Events for RPGs' Now Available For Sale!
Been thinking about picking up Molten Sulfur's book Archive: Historical People, Places, and Events for RPGs? It's now available for sale...
Tristan Zimmerman
- Jan 9, 2018
The Maps of the Pilot Rodríguez
In 1512, a ship’s pilot in service to the King of Portugal penned a real-life treasure map. The story of the map’s production is a...
Tristan Zimmerman
- Jan 2, 2018
Gravity Puzzle: A Ring-Shaped Dungeon
I mentioned before that I love dungeons whose layout is a puzzle for the players to solve. This is one of them. This dungeon is built...
Tristan Zimmerman
- Dec 26, 2017
A House-To-House Combat Encounter from 1756 Calcutta
Lieutenant Thomas Blagg’s defense of a British mansion in the 1756 siege of Calcutta was a footnote in the overall battle. Though...
Tristan Zimmerman
- Dec 19, 2017
Encounters With Ghost Ships!
A ‘ghost ship’ is a ship at sea with no living crew aboard. Some are found adrift. Others are still under sail or steaming along under...
Tristan Zimmerman
- Dec 12, 2017
An Inscrutable Ruin
This inscrutable ruin is a backdrop for a puzzle and a combat, making both more colorful. Its backstory is left intentionally mysterious....
{"items":["5e4b02df4509280017950f71","5e4b02df78d76a001727e180","5e4b02dff275db0017994940","5e4b02de48c87600176bf725","5e4b02deced5750017228c7f","5e4b02de5952d90017eba4d5","5e4b02df78d76a001727e17e","5e4b02df0059060017dfb0d2","5e4b02dff275db001799493f","5e4b02de1d24a40017ea83eb","5e4b02de1d24a40017ea83ea","5e4b02df4509280017950f70","5e4b02df16164900185ed44b","5e4b02de540a4b00176a1475","5e4b02dfffdf9b00176710e0"],"styles":{"galleryType":"Columns","groupSize":1,"showArrows":true,"cubeImages":true,"cubeType":"fill","cubeRatio":1.3333333333333333,"isVertical":true,"gallerySize":30,"collageAmount":0,"collageDensity":0,"groupTypes":"1","oneRow":false,"imageMargin":32,"galleryMargin":0,"scatter":0,"rotatingScatter":"","chooseBestGroup":true,"smartCrop":false,"hasThumbnails":false,"enableScroll":true,"isGrid":true,"isSlider":false,"isColumns":false,"isSlideshow":false,"cropOnlyFill":false,"fixedColumns":1,"enableInfiniteScroll":true,"isRTL":false,"minItemSize":50,"rotatingGroupTypes":"","rotatingCropRatios":"","columnWidths":"","gallerySliderImageRatio":1.7777777777777777,"numberOfImagesPerRow":1,"numberOfImagesPerCol":1,"groupsPerStrip":0,"borderRadius":0,"boxShadow":0,"gridStyle":1,"mobilePanorama":false,"placeGroupsLtr":true,"viewMode":"preview","thumbnailSpacings":4,"galleryThumbnailsAlignment":"bottom","isMasonry":false,"isAutoSlideshow":false,"slideshowLoop":false,"autoSlideshowInterval":4,"bottomInfoHeight":0,"titlePlacement":"SHOW_ON_THE_RIGHT","galleryTextAlign":"center","scrollSnap":false,"itemClick":"nothing","fullscreen":true,"videoPlay":"hover","scrollAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","slideAnimation":"SCROLL","scrollDirection":0,"scrollDuration":400,"overlayAnimation":"FADE_IN","arrowsPosition":0,"arrowsSize":23,"watermarkOpacity":40,"watermarkSize":40,"useWatermark":true,"watermarkDock":{"top":"auto","left":"auto","right":0,"bottom":0,"transform":"translate3d(0,0,0)"},"loadMoreAmount":"all","defaultShowInfoExpand":1,"allowLinkExpand":true,"expandInfoPosition":0,"allowFullscreenExpand":true,"fullscreenLoop":false,"galleryAlignExpand":"left","addToCartBorderWidth":1,"addToCartButtonText":"","slideshowInfoSize":200,"playButtonForAutoSlideShow":false,"allowSlideshowCounter":false,"hoveringBehaviour":"NEVER_SHOW","thumbnailSize":120,"magicLayoutSeed":1,"imageHoverAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imagePlacementAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","calculateTextBoxWidthMode":"PERCENT","textBoxHeight":0,"textBoxWidth":200,"textBoxWidthPercent":50,"textImageSpace":10,"textBoxBorderRadius":0,"textBoxBorderWidth":0,"loadMoreButtonText":"","loadMoreButtonBorderWidth":1,"loadMoreButtonBorderRadius":0,"imageInfoType":"ATTACHED_BACKGROUND","itemBorderWidth":0,"itemBorderRadius":0,"itemEnableShadow":false,"itemShadowBlur":20,"itemShadowDirection":135,"itemShadowSize":10,"imageLoadingMode":"BLUR","expandAnimation":"NO_EFFECT","imageQuality":90,"usmToggle":false,"usm_a":0,"usm_r":0,"usm_t":0,"videoSound":false,"videoSpeed":"1","videoLoop":true,"jsonStyleParams":"","gallerySizeType":"px","gallerySizePx":940,"allowTitle":true,"allowContextMenu":true,"textsHorizontalPadding":-30,"itemBorderColor":{"themeName":"color_12","value":"rgba(204,204,204,1)"},"showVideoPlayButton":true,"galleryLayout":2,"targetItemSize":940,"selectedLayout":"2|bottom|1|fill|true|0|true","layoutsVersion":2,"selectedLayoutV2":2,"isSlideshowFont":false,"externalInfoHeight":0,"externalInfoWidth":0.5},"container":{"width":940,"galleryWidth":972,"galleryHeight":0,"scrollBase":0,"height":null}}