When an adventure is too easy, just lead the characters into a crypt. Fill it with secrets, spirits, magic, and undead and your narrative has new life… from death. Cool, eh?
Crypt Environment
- city, town center, village fringe, monastery, retreat, sanctuary, shrine,
- cemetery, graveyard, barrow, ancient burial site,
- castle, manor, old family plantation, wing of a catacomb,
- on a hill, in a cliff side, on top of a mountain, in a valley, behind a waterfall,
- hidden in a hedge, briar, bush, wood,
- under a temple, beneath a shrine,
- remote, lonely, abandoned, derelict, estranged,
- celebrated, honoured, revered,
- broken, raided, robbed,
- possessed, eerie,
- floating in the sky, wooden crypt in forest canopy, extraplanar, tesseract,
Stuff in a Crypt
- sarcophagus shelf skulls bones
- a carved femur statue urns ashes
- holy symbol staff carvings idols, painted eggs, dyed feathers, dried leaves, dried flowers, salted fish, a big salami, glass ornaments, sealed wine, cheese, bread,
- putrid meat a zealot heraldry tapestries
- scrolls, documents coins, notes, gems, jewels, shrunken heads, tapestry,
- secret trapdoor, words of warning, animated statue,
- maggots, thick dust, seeping mud, ooze, goo, rot
- spider webs, dead bugs, skeleton of a rat,
- chess set, marbles, pair of dice, deck of cards
- necklace of teeth, locks of hair, small jar of tears, straw doll, pair of baby shoes, wax figurine, onyx statuette
- magic wand, legendary sword, gem of immeasurable value, cursed ring, strange pulsating orb,
- snakes, mice, vermin, spiders, beetles, rats, scorpions, a crazy wolverine,
Characters in a Crypt
- undead, mummy, zombie, skeleton, vampire, lych, undead lord, wight, ghoul, ghost, poltergeist,
- banshee, hag, witch, horror, nightmare, fright, boogeyman,
- raiding party, bandits, thieves, brigands, grave robbers,
- family of the dead, mourners, funeral party,
- masons, repairmen, artists, stone carvers, artisans, three dudes painting a cool fresco, scribe, schrimpschonger, goldsmith, metalworker,
- slaves, servants, underlings, minions, peons,
- detective, investigator, witch hunter, physician,
- cleaner, maintenance crew, caretaker,
- necromancer, dark sorcerer, evil wizard, exorcist, demon hunter, medium, communer or the dead,
- demon, devil, angel, death, reaper, guardian, diva, the fates,
- animated statue, golem, construct, doppelganger, cryptmaid,
- dire beast, giant vermin,
- lost miners who tunneled here accidentally,
Developments
- A strange ceremony of resurrection is taking place over a body. What will rise? (a horror story, of course)
- A very moving ceremony is interrupted by a heartless overlord who demands the jewelry from the body or the family crypt will be burned.
- A ruthless band of thugs has raided a number of crypts and must be hunted down and brought to justice.
- The crypt is only a facade, as a secret passage is discovered leading to a terrible malevolence deep beneath the city.
- There is legend of a crypt full of riches, but it lies at the end of a perilous journey cross desert and mountain. Is it worth it? Is it even true?
- One of your character’s friends has been buried alive in a secret crypt by a loan shark they owed money to. You have only a day to find them and save them from a terrible fate!