Sunday 22 November 2020

A Spell to Free a Soul

Hello nerds. I am busy and this is good. I have one hundred spells that I've written, and I'm currently editing them so they're mechanically comprehensible by People-Who-Aren't-Me. Then I need to write the delicious version. Then I need to write poetry or lyrics in the appropriate style, as the words of the actual spell, for some or all of them.

So if anyone knows a good poet who wants a job writing a hundred short poems about witch nonsense in styles emulating Actual Witchcraft, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Book of Solomon, Thomas Malory, Monks-Who-Can't-Draw-Elephants (or what I suspect their poetry would sound like), etc., let me know in the comments below where I can find examples of their work. This would be good because learning to do Poetry is probably hard.

ANYWAY. Here is one of the spells. One can use it to remove a soul from a body. It doubles as a really good source of ghosts, mindless beasts, intelligent elk, political assassinations/mad kings, and adventure.


Voyage of the Vastness

a.      Ritual:

                                   i.    The caster prepares an Anchor. This is a small container the size of a stone-fruit, in which the following reagents are placed: Three drops of the target’s blood; a pinch of powdered silver; a pinch of grave dust; and any one of a) three drops of elf blood, b) a soul, or c) the tears of a hero. The anchor is sealed with the whispered song of the spell

                                  ii.    The Anchor is given-to or placed-on the target (if attached to an amulet or the like). Once the target is in possession of the Anchor, the spell will take effect within three heartbeats. The Anchor will not spill or open under mundane, nonmagical circumstances.

b.      Effects:

                                   i.    Project the target’s soul from its body, into the ley-filled ether between worlds. The target now acts from the perspective of its soul-form. This form is invisible and silent in the normal world, and floats at the speed of a butterfly. It may pass through solid objects. The soul can hear, though there is a persistent sound of whipping winds. It can see in grayscale, in both light and darkness, though slightly obscured by a grey-white fog. Magical creatures, some rare innocents, and anyone who can see souls/fae/elvish-realms may be able to detect the soul.

                                  ii.    The state of the uninhabited body depends on the moon:

1.      If Waxing, it is seemingly lifeless, unresponsive, cold, and still. It can survive on greatly reduced oxygen, and will starve/dehydrated in weeks rather than days;

2.      If Waning, it acts as a soulless beast, behaving per its animal cunning in pursuit of its fundamental needs. It will do anything it can to keep the Anchor in its possession. It will try to escape restraints unless this will bring obvious harm to the body.

                                 iii.    The target’s soul-form may inhabit another living and soulless body, though there is a risk of madness from this possession. Leaving a possessed body can be done freely if the body is asleep or in the light of the full moon. Leaving otherwise may be challenging, and may still take an inexperienced witch several minutes to achieve.

                                 iv.    Lasts until either: a) the target’s soul is destroyed; b) it re-enters it’s original body; or c) the Anchor is opened or removed from the possession of the original body – this will maroon the soul in its current location, unable to freely move into or out of bodies unless this or a similar spell is cast again on them. When the spell ends, the anchor will open (if not already) with a cold sigh, revealed emptiness.

Monday 20 April 2020

Quick Fix for Boring Combat

I'm running my game in a few minutes, so I'll be brief.

Sometimes fights in D&Dish games can get stuck in boring land: Rolling to hit is consistently (viewed as) the best option, so everyone just rolls to hit. Was just discussing this on a reddit thread, came up with the thing below. Figured it should be here too.

So. Here is a simple set of mechanics you can add to your D&Dish game. Put it on your character or summary sheets to make it obvious to your players they can do other things than bash.

The key here, I think, is that the non damaging actions are easier than hitting the thing.

<Edit: From the game mentioned above: Oliver Wickersticks, the grim and drug addicted hunter, wandered into the forest at night after a dangling golden necklace. Turns out it was a very large spider with glinty gold eyes. Classic. He was webbed up and almost dragged into the trees before his companion cut him free with the Blade from Between Worlds. Other companions drove off the spider with burning brands. Alas! They discovered that Oliver was bitten in the forearm, through his Cephalosaur cloak. One of the party had seen these bites before - swift amputation seemed a better bet than rapid and fatal decomposition. Several days later: Oliver now has a steel, articulated prosthetic arm, and has to learn to use it. The party learned that the Blade from Between Worlds cuts through arms like butter, but draws no blood. Good times.>

Some Combat Options!

Strike: Roll to hit target's AC. Deal Weapon Damage.

Impede: Roll to hit unarmoured AC +/- target's dex mod. Til your next action, target suffers penalty to Attack or AC for a round of -2 (or your basic attack bonus, whichever is higher). One impede per target.

Set Up: Spend this round's action climbing, luring and baiting, manoeuvring, or otherwise exploiting your target. Next round you get +4 to attack and damage that target. Or Advantage. Or both. Whatever - you can balance your system.

Assist: Make an ability check relevant to how you describe helping. Target ally gets a bonus of 2+ relevant-ability-bonus to hit or AC. One assistant per ally.

Evade: Roll to hit unarmoured AC +/- target's dex mod. If you succeed, you can move away without consequence. If you fail, target has -2 to attack you for the next round.

Sunday 12 April 2020

Tattoos of New Feierland

One of my players asked me if they could get a tattoo. Obviously this is a silly question, and I take full responsibility for not making it exceedingly obvious that tattoos are highly supported in life and in the New Feierland system.

I have rectified this failure and am currently recovering from 13 nights of flagellation. I consider this punishment inadequate, but we have already established that I am a coward and a failure so this weakness should hardly astonish. I know it's a big risk in these times of medical inadequacy, but I can see no other way of arousing discipline.

Anyway. The following are available from Merrygoers and The Aestheticist.

Behold:

Item Cost (g)
Tattoos/Branding (small) 200 - 500g
For medium (cover half a limb) x 5
For large (whole limb etc.) x 10
Coloured x 5
Tattoo Design D3/D10 Tattoo Design D3/D10
Despair Horse 10 Will & Testament 25
Owl Spearing A Woman 11 Mark Of Fellowship 26
Child Strangling A Rat 12 Lineage & Dynasty 27
Longship Or Caravel 13 Passage From Mysterious Tome 28
Bloodworm Tangle 14 Constellation 29
Spell Or Invocation 15 Uncanny Duck Pond 30
Slaughtered Octopus 16 Symbol Of Allegiance 31
A Mighty Heptagon 17 A Liche Toad Couchant 32
Three Wrens A'Wrenning 18 Wagon To The Moon 33
A Raven Recursant 19 Black Candle Bouffant 34
Hound A'Hunt 20 Proof Of Marque 35
Some Religious Thing 21 Conflagrating Crab 36
The Back Of A Clock 22 Ox With Head Of A Magpie 37
Blackbird  Carrying The Moon 23 Knight Lancing A Snail 38
Memento Mori 24 Snail Overwhelming A Peasant 39

Thursday 12 March 2020

WFRP 4E New Careers: Warrior Priest of Ranald; Warrior Priest of Rhya.

Hello NERDS. I've been a player in a WRFP 4E game recently. 

I have opinions about the rules but let's not talk about that.

I did a thing for our game. You can use it.

It'll probably show up in my friend's hack of WFRP/Genesys probably but whatever.
_______________________________________________________
Warrior Priest of Ranald
Our Ranald warrior priest: We started with random characters. He's a beggar who has been blessed by Ranald to Occupy Wall Street. Basically. The Empire is corrupt, we all just witnessed the Emperor and his army trample women and children in the streets, and redirect funds away from internal security and agriculture while villagers starve, are disappeared by sewer creatures, fall to chaos, etc. The Ranald WP is basically Rage Against the Machine. 

He doesn't like to fight - he thinks it's weak and represents a failure of wiser means. But a) he too has been forced into battles against foes that cannot be reasoned with, and b) those he considers his enemies have no compunctions deploying violence against he or the people - it would be foolish to ignore the reality of that threat, and to let his efforts be undone by an arrogant disregard for the ability to succeed in violent times. Sometimes, to bring down a government, you gotta start a fight.


He is not the "Warrior Priest in an army of the Empire" type.

WS
BS
S
T
I
Ag
Dex
Int
WP
Fel
+


++++
+++
++
+


+

+ Novitiate of Ranald Brass 1 
Skills: Cool, Dodge, Endurance, Gamble, Melee (Any), Perception, Pray, Sleight of Hand 
Talents: Bless (Ranald), Criminal, Etiquette (Cultists), Lucky, Read/Write
Trappings: Deck of Cards, Dice, Concealed Symbol of Ranald, Unassuming Attire, Weapon (Stiletto), Lucky Coin

++ Scoundrel PriestBrass 3 
Skills: Charm, Climb, Evaluate, Pick Lock, Ranged (Any), Secret Signs (Thief), Stealth (Urban)
Talents: Cat-Tongued, Etiquette (Criminals), In-fighter, Invoke (Ranald)
Trappings: Soft Leather Armour, Pouch of Marbles or Grease, Contraband

+++ Prowler's HandBrass 4 
Skills: Gossip, Intuition, Language (Thief), Lore (Theology)
Talents: Combat Aware, Dirty Fighting, Holy Visions, Step-Aside
Trappings: Dose of Weirdroot, Quality Clothing, A Small Band of Fortunate Folk

++++ ProtectorBrass 5
Skills: Consume Alcohol, Lore (Politics/Anarchism/Marxism)
Talents: Cardsharp or Diceman, Fearless (Any), Kingpin, Master Orator, Sixth Sense
Trappings: Band of Agitators, Thieves, and Scoundrel Priests; Inflammatory Propaganda
______________________________________________________
Warrior Priest of Rhya


The warrior priest of Rhya emerged fairly naturally - We started with random characters. There's a Nun of Rhya who has left his commune to strengthen the worship of Rhya among the people - there's too much hate and war and death, and not enough effort spent strengthening life and love. As YeOldeOle said, Rhya worship is poorly organised - Rhya has charged him to correct this.

Anyway, almost immediately upon leaving he and his friends have been attacked by cultists, beastmen, misguided bounty hunters, thugs, random tough guys, demons etc. Rhya has granted her blessings on he and his followers throughout this time; evidence that she has endorsed whatever violence he has so far been forced to conduct. He is merciful to normal men, who a


re misguided in their actions, and tries to bring them to the right path once the blood stops flowing.

The message is: Spread love and life. Defend yourself, and those who cannot defend themselves, from those hurdles you cannot otherwise overcome. So you can continue to do spread love.

He is not the "Warrior Priest in an army of the Empire" type.

WS
BS
S
T
I
Ag
Dex
Int
WP
Fel
+

++++
++



+
+++
+

+ Novitiate of RhyaBrass 1
Skills: Animal Care, Charm, Heal, Intuition, Lore (Nature), Melee (Any), Pray, Trade (Herbalist)
Talents: Attractive, Bless (Rhya), Etiquette (Cultists), Read/Write
Trappings: Book (Religion), Leather jerkin, Religious Symbol, Robes, Weapon (Any Pummel)

++ Warden of RhyaBrass 4
Skills: Cool, Dodge, Endurance, Lore (Theology), Outdoor Survival, Perception, Ranged (Any)
Talents: Animal Affinity, Invoke (Rhya), Public Speaker, Strike to Stun
Trappings: Sling with 10 Lead Bullets, Shield, Trade Tools (Herbalist), Healing Poultice

+++ Warden ErrantBrass 5
Skills: Animal Training (Any), Navigation, Ride (Any), Swim, Track
Talents: Combat Aware, Holy Visions, Resistance (Disease; Mutation; Poison), Stout-Hearted
Trappings: Alms for the Poor; Shrine with Priest, Nun, Novitiates of Rhya.

++++ Paladin of Rhya – Silver 4
Skills: Charm Animal, Lore (Agriculture)
Talents: Disarm, Fearless (Any), Master Orator, Shieldsman
Trappings: Religious Relic; Temple with Attached Farm, Priests, Nuns, Wardens
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