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RPGs

More Magic Dishes

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Yesterday, I wrote about magic dishes that neutralize poison.

Today, I present a list of different abilities sets of magic dishes might have.

  • Neutralize Poison -Cursed will poison those who use them
  • Neutralize Disease* – Cursed will Cause Disease
  • Healing – from cure light wounds to total healing and regeneration.
  • Self Cleaning Dishes – Either wipe/scrape clean, or they grow legs and take themselves to the wash bin. (Think sorcerer’s apprentice….)
  • Information Dishes – Dishes with various information gathering qualities. Clairaudience, clarivoyance, ESP, telepathy, etc. that allows the owner of the dishes to learn something from the guests using the dishes.
  • Transmutation Dishes – The next person to eat an identical meal off the same dishes takes on the appearance of the prior person. This will last until they eat another identical meal from the same dishes. Imagine the problem of a broken or missing dish!
  • Polymoph Dishes – These dishes will polymorph those who eat off them into the creature or object in the artwork on the dishes.
  • Raise Dead – Not useful for the dead, but a way to deal with the undead. Only helpful if the undead eats from the dishes. Only undead that eat can be affected.
  • Destruction – Death, slay living, finger of death, power word kill, disintegrate, etc. Whoever eats or drinks from these dishes….
  • Teleportation – Matching sets of dishes that teleport you to the location of the twinned set. Some sets have a third (or extra set) that one carries and allows to go to any of the others in the set.
    Special variation allows teleporting within a chain of dishes. Some chains require a one way flow, that is, one can only go forward or back one set in the chain. Other chains allow going to the location of any dish in the set, however, if the name, location, or other keyed descriptor is not named when the pre-teleport feeling comes on, the location is random.
    Obviously, the dishes must be taken to the desired location, via normal travel, or other means.
    Pre-Teleport Feeling: Euphoria, Nausea, Itching, Sneezing, Flatulence, Blindness, Hot, Cold, flashes of light, super abundance of floaters in the eyes, etc.
    NOTE: Sets lost on the bottom of the sea, or in a dragon’s lair could prove interesting.
  • Abilities – Those who eat from them gain one point of the specified ability. This could be the primary ability of the class, a specified ability, or a random ability. The same set only works once on an individual.
  • Wishes – Very rare, just another way to store wishes. Requires eating off the set and making a wish. The number of wishes will be finite.
  • Permanency – Makes the next spell a spell caster does permanent, if it makes sense.  This will allow a finite number of such castings.
  • Nystul’s Magic Aura – Introduce a set and this can be the next set your players find.
  • Ability/Class Stealing/Swapping – Eating the same meal from the same plate as the prior person will allow stealing from them or trading your abilities with theirs.  A powerful wizard who knows someone else is more intelligent might steal or swap intelligence wit them. An assassin who really needs to do well in a job, swaps classes with someone. What to do with the other? You can’t kill them if you want their class back?
  • Body Switching/Mind Swapping – A la Freaky Friday, Star Trek, etc. A mad wizard might have all the guests switch minds with others, perhaps switching with the last group who ate off the plates, who are originals passed from one unsuspecting group of travelers to the next. Are the bodies of the originals still alive? What of all the other minds and bodies? Just what will happen and how will the complex mix up ever be straightened out? This smells like a DCC module…..
  • Animated Dishes – Dishes run amok with a food fight. Without the correct magic word, or some other defined circumstance, the diners cannot eat in peace. The dish ran away with the spoon…. For example, if you do not say something outlandish, as cued by the host saying something like, “I have pink fluffy underwear with unicorns on it.” The guests must say something equally outlandish or their dishes will fight them for their meal. If multiple guests fail to say something outlandish, their table service will “war” with each other, or band together to gang up on their respective diners. The mischief starts slowly and builds up.

*Special note on dishes that cure disease, there is a variation that requires the next person to use the dishes to take on the disease. The intent is that a monk or other immune to disease eat to “re-set” the dishes to be used again. A rare variety would require someone to eat off them within a set time or a plague of that disease breaks out.

Any effect that one can imagine can be in magic dishes from benign to horrific. Any magic item from the DMG or other source could have its properties mirrored in a set of dishes, or any other less than usual device. It doesn’t have to be a full set of dishes. It could be only he plates, goblets, or spoons.

Different religions might have their own special chalices, patens, or other special dishes for some of the more powerful/ritual magic.

Healing someone of lycanthropy requires eating the ashes of a hard to obtain plant or tree bark, etc. but must be eaten off a special plate that cannot leave the walls of the temple where it is housed.

Where to go from here? Take any innocuous, every day item and transform it into a magic item. A chamber pot that heals all who rub its sides would be a well disguised item for that purpose. Make an item as far removed from its magical purpose to hide it even more.

Speaking of chamber pots – one that teleports or disintegrates waste, or purifies water from liquid waste would be interesting…. Where does teleported waste go?

 

RPGs

Magic Item(s) – Table Service

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This set of dishes and flatware, which could be china dishes, crystal glasses, and silverware, or each of the same out of other fine materials, defeats poison.

Such sets were developed in an era when intrigue and murder combined.

Glasses and bowls neutralize poison and purify water. Some change all liquids to water, while other sets only neutralize poison(s) in the wine.

Food placed on the plates would lose any poisonous effect. Rancid meat would have any foul disease causing bacteria neutralized, but the meat would not become a wholesome affair.

These place setting vary in number from a single setting, to a matched set for any number of places.

More elaborate sets even have cooking vessels to neutralize poison, but that is just an extra precaution.

Less fancy cooking vessels were issued to troops in barracks or on the march. These mostly prevented disease, but also prevented poisoning or drugging by the enemy. Usually, only the officer’s mess had a table service of such magic.

The crunchy bits:

I won’t lay out great detail on the mechanics aspect, but suggest a couple different routes for handling it.

A full set of table service, dishes, cups, utensils, etc. would neutralize poison. The dweomer requires the presence of all pieces for full efficacy. Add +1 for each piece present for the meal for less than a full set. For poisons with no save, it allows a save.

Lesser/Major:  A lesser set will only be maximally effective with all pieces for a setting present. A Major set would neutralize all poison and disease to be served on or in any piece.

[Edit: The next two posts I made delve further into this theme: More Magic Dishes and More Variations On Magic Items.]

RPGs

Near Misses – Thieves

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I had an idea for thieves picking pockets from an experience prior to my last game at UCON. The idea coalesced as I was in that dreamy, glad to be sleeping state before I woke up this morning. (I’m off all week; so I got to sleep in today to recover from both low quantity and quality of sleep the last few days.)

As I have mentioned in at least one other article, my Dad was a locksmith and I was drafted to help from the time I was about 13 until I went off to college. Dad gave me my own basic set of lock picks. I thought it would be fun to plop them down at a game, if I ended up running a thief.

I was getting stuff out of my bag, dice, paper, pen, pencil and other things so I wouldn’t have to keep rummaging in my bag during the game and slow things down. I was wearing many layers, including a jacket sort of like a hoody with out the hood. It has packets inside next to each outer pocket.

I put my picks in my pocket, or so I thought. I felt both sides of my hand feel fabric, so I thought it was in my pocket. I had just placed something else in that pocket and realized that I was about to drop it between my jacket and shirt instead of my pocket, so I corrected. I then checked and my picks weren’t there, so just as I was getting ready to bend down to get them, +Laura Rose Williams says, “Here, Larry, you dropped this,” as she hands it to me.

This morning in my dreamlike pre-wake state, this idea hit me, and I can just see a thief picking someone’s pockets and rolling 1 or 2 under what they need. So from now on, I will rule that a thief doing this, gets what they were after, or at least something, and they “pocket” it. Some kind soul will see them drop it and come up and give it to them in full view of all around. The “FUN!” will then ensue.

I did not play a thief as planned, +Laura Rose Williams wanted me to play a wizard along with her, which I did. So I got out my picks after the game to share what I was prepared to use as a prop.

RPGs

New Monster – Felt Golem

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I was trying to come up with an idea for a new monster. I looked next to where the dogs sleep, and saw how much they shed. I made a comment that there was enough hair to knit a couple of new dogs and cats. One dog is “mine” – actually my youngest son’s. The other dog and the cats belong to my oldest son and his girlfriend.

Instead of knitting, I thought of making felt and then filling a felt body with loose hair.

I know that the Mongolian nomads make felt from horse hair for their tents and clothes. Felt can be made of any kind of hair.

Such a golem would be susceptible to fire, but would otherwise have the characteristics of the animal from which it is made. If made from the hair of multiple animals/sources, it would have multiple characteristics.

For example, plant fiber fabric, such as cotton, or linen, also can be felted. Bits of fabric separate when washing. How about a dryer lint golem? It would be made of cotton, and artificial fibers.

If the hair of a dog, a felt golem of larger than normal size could be constructed. Add hit dice and damage capabilities based on your rule set of choice.

Gather the hides from slain animals with fur to make any manner of felt golem.

They would move silently, being made of a soft fabric.

If combined with amber for the eyes, they could have an additional attack similar to shocking grasp, say once per turn.

Can you imagine a woolly mammoth golem with a trampling and goring attack, plus a shock attack?

If attacked with electrical attacks, it would allow them to be re-charged and make an extra shock attack.

That cute life size grizzly teddy bear will rip your arms off!

How about a room full of the things?

Lions, tigers, and bears! Oh yeah!!

How about a hell hound felt golem! The possibilities are endless!

RPGs

Locks

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A Flickr post of a picture of the Darien Chest on the OSR Community Page got me to thinking about locks in FRPGs and I decided to write about them. My father was a locksmith, so I have some knowledge of this. Dad ran his shop out of the garage. I remember many cold and frozen nights going out to one of the truck stops out by the interstate to help some traveler who locked their keys in their car or broke their key in the ignition. Many locksmith tools require a fine touch or are small enough that gloves get in the way. Ice cold metal on bare skin in the middle of a snowstorm in January is not fun. I would have rather held too hot to touch metal in a hot and humid car in July with sweat in my eyes.

If you think weather doesn’t matter in a game, imagine a thief encountering a fancy lock that requires all his skill and his fingers are numb from the cold. Would you give the thief a negative modifier? Would you let the thief, if the player thought of it, warm his hands with a torch or lantern to negate the effect? What about a lingering Wall of Ice spell? It gives off a lot of cold and in AD&D a falling/breaking Wall of Ice causes damage like an Ice Storm. It would also cause a room and any metal, including locks, tools, and hands to be cold.

Locks prior to the industrial age, with its uniformity and interchangeable parts meant that no two locks were identical without a massive amount of effort on the part of the locksmith. Thus, picking locks is a new experience for each one encountered. Locks were of iron and perhaps brass. Iron locks tended to be bigger with less fine mechanisms. The use of brass in locks lead to smaller locks and keys, but it is only industrialization that makes the abundance of small and secure locks that we have with us today. Prior to industrialization, only the rich could afford locks. How many peasants have a lock other than a bar on the door? Locks could be made out of any material, wood, plastic, glass, metal, etc. I once made a crude lock with Legos, but it was far from secure.

Perhaps the same locksmith will use a similar design, but barring a lot of time to make them identical, there would still be some variation. Also as a locksmith becomes more skilled and refines that skill over time, the flaws and weaknesses in older designs will be addressed. Students of the same locksmith would show that influence, but the master would point out the most obvious flaws, perhaps reserving his best ideas to give him an edge. Students that exceed the master would have better locks.

Keys or means of opening the locks would be varied. There could be a combination of dials, like modern safes, or knobs, buttons, slides, or switches. Keys could look like we think of skeleton keys, or could have a variety of shapes and features to disguise their true nature and means of releasing a lock. That would be the strictly mechanical and technological means.  There could be traps incorporated into a mechanism on a chest, door, or other item to be secured. Traps could be merely mechanical and designed to frighten, draw attention, wound, or even kill. In addition to mechanisms, there could be various poisons to incapacitate/capture or flat out kill any thief, depending on the nature of the contents or anticipated contents to be secured.

In a fantasy setting, there would be magical means. A Wizard Lock spell is proof against all but magic or great force. Knock is a near universal key. Simply casting some spell that gives a hint of magic to confound wizards would be a neat trick, like Nystul’s Magic Aura. I’m an AD&D player/DM so I go with the names of spells that I am familiar with.

Keep in mind that a lock is used to keep others out and that lost keys are a big deal. In my online game our group found a simple small coffer with no lock, and one player went into overdrive looking for secret panels and a locking mechanism. This was a decorative item that a suspicious player latched onto the idea of more importance than necessary, and I am sure was of great entertainment to the DM. On the other hand, in AD&D, a thief can’t try to pick a lock he has failed to pick until he has gained a level. From the perspective of someone with locksmith training, that is not very realistic. A locksmith can keep at it until they have it. However, a thief usually does not have the luxury of trying. A thief operates by stealth and speed. Taking too long to get away with the goods is a no no. A prime example of this is stealing cars. I had my car stolen. I learned the hard way that GM cars of a certain era were easy to steal if one had the tools to bust the window and pry away the poor quality metal on the steering column. One then can use a screwdriver or even one’s finger to pull the mechanism that activates the starter. I started my car like that for a couple of years until I had the money to fix it. I had a Club, so it couldn’t be stolen. I still had an idiot try to steal it after I got the Club. They knocked out the window and then noticed the Club. SMH.

I helped my Dad with several bank jobs. Customers lost their safe deposit box keys, so we had to drill out the locks to get it open. With all the right tools and access to a safe, it is not that quick and easy as they do it in the movies. It always took us a couple of hours to drill out the locks get out the box and give it to a bank employee and then put in replacement locks.

One time, we even had to go to a nearby small airport to replace a lock for which they lost a key for a lock box built into it.

I always laugh at TV shows where the person has a single pick and picks a door. Nowadays it seems that they use a pick and a tension wrench, but I still laugh when they use them to pick a deadbolt. I’m not saying that you can’t pick a deadbolt, I’m saying you can’t pick and open one with a small spring steel tension wrench if the deadbolt is hard to turn.

Cars are not as easy to unlock as they make it appear on TV. Different model cars have different internal mechanisms and there are different variations on the tools used. Modern cars with power locks are beyond my knowledge. They were not too common when I was helping my Dad. He always said, if you can’t use the tool in a couple tries, stop so you don’t damage anything. I don’t know if that rule of thumb still applies.

Also a quick FYI – The points on your key should go up when opening the locks on your house doors. If the points/cuts on the key point down, then the lock is installed upside down and more likely to accumulate dust and dirt that fouls the pins and springs. For double-sided keys, like those for cars, it does not matter, those locks tend to have a dust cover.

I love the sign that my Dad used to have. It said lock work – $15, if you worked on it first – $50. I always got a kick out of the looks on people’s faces when they saw that sign and thought it was the real price. For some customers, it should have been.

But what does all this musing and reminiscing require? A Table! Better yet a series of related tables!

Material – 1d6 (Lock and key material are usually the same, but could be different to obscure their connection.)
1-Wood (Hard woods for strength, soft woods for decoration.)
2-Metal (copper, bronze, brass, iron, steel, mithril, adamantite, etc.)
3-Glass (clear, opaque, etc.)
4-Gems (Roll for type based on value.)
5-Mixed
6-Other (Plastic, bakelite, other high tech material in a low tech world.)

Size – 1d6
1-Tiny (Difficult for human to use, gnomes, halflings and smaller can use with ease)
2-Small
3-Medium/Average
4-Large (Difficult for gnomes, halflings and smaller to use.)
5-Huge (Difficult for humans and smaller to use. Very difficult for gnomes, halflings and smaller to use.)
6-Gigantic (Very difficult for humans and smaller to use. Without magical aid, nearly impossible for gnomes, halflings and smaller to use.)

Decoration – 1d8
1-Rough/No finish
2-Plain/Basic Finish
3-Fine/Highly Polished
4-Engraved
5-Inlaid with precious metals (brass, bronze, silver, electrum, gold, platinum, mithril)
6-Accented with gems (roll for type, or based on value)
7-Any two of 3, 4, 5, or 6
8-Any three of 3, 4, 5, or 6

Key – 1d6 (Can be same or different material from lock.
1-Skeleton Key
2-Hollow Tube
3-Rod
4-Sphere/Round
5-Standard Polygon
6-Mechanism (Turn/twist, press, slide, etc. to make some part available or more out of the way for key to function.)

Trap – 1d4
1-Noise/Alarm/Alert
2-Injure to leave a trail of blood or scent for tracking (Option to release the tracking beast, from a super friendly, but loud basset hound, to large and hungry something or other. d10 for severity)
3-Trap/Capture/Slow (Net, cage, rope, pit, sticky, stun, etc.)
4-Kill or Maim (Lethal mechanism or poison or both.)

Condition – 1d8
1-New/pristine/well oiled
2-Used but well maintained
3-Used but poorly maintained (rough, rusty, hard to turn, etc. Noisy when operating.)
4-Used but not maintained (Severe issues with normal use, in major need of expert to refurbish, chance to not lock or unlock when desired. Very noisy when operating. Chance to break or bend key.)
5-Disused but functional.
6-Disused but difficulty functioning.
7-Disused and very rusty/worn/corroded.
8-Broken (50% chance to be broken in the locked or unlocked position. What modifier is needed for a thief to unlock a broken lock in the locked position?)

Secret – 1d6 (Additional action required to enable/disable ability of key to lock or unlock. Could also be tied to disabling traps.)
1-Button
2-Lever
3-Switch
4-Knob/Twist
5-Slider
6-Combination of 1d4 of 1-5 above.

Magic – 1d6
1-Nystul’s Magic Aura
2-Magic Mouth with an obscure activation instruction, so it is likely to be in effect for decades or longer.
3-Magic Mouth designed to attract attention by giving the thief a severe talking to while waiting for the constable. (A wizard might want one to shout if someone used a Knock Spell.)
4-Wizard Lock at 3d6 level
5-Fire Trap at (For druids at 1st level plus 1d12 levels, and for magic users at 6th level plus 1d12 levels.)
6-Glyph of Warding – Typically to protect not destroy the protected item(s). Paralyzation, blinding, or draining a level. (4th level cleric plus 1d12 levels.)
7-Combination of the above. (Wizards with Magic Aura, Magic Mouth, Wizard Lock, and Fire Trap would tend to use all of them on something they wanted kept secure.)
8-Get creative. What is to stop a mad wizard from causing a Geas to be placed on the fool who dares mess with his stuff, or the high priest placing a Quest on a special object in the temple? Hold Person, Slow, Gate, Plane Shift, Teleportation, Conjure Elemental, Monster Summoning, etc. would all be ways to make it difficult for a thief or grave robber to get away with the goods.

Item – 1d6
1-Door/Gate/Cage
2-Coffer
3-Chest
4-Padlock
5-Cabinet
6-Special (What other kinds of items could be locked and how and why?)

[EDIT: You can hear this blog read on Episode 101 of Blogs on Tape.]

RPGs

Sandbox Plus New Ideas

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I had an idea for a missing NPC. An artist, Trebor, who works odd jobs to support his wife and kids and allow free time to work on his art. He goes out south of town seeking pigments and items to make his paints, dyes, and glazes, and clay for his pottery. He is also planning to scout the ancient quarries for rock suitable for making statues. He goes out and is usually not gone more than one night. However, he has gone missing and had been gone two nights.

His wife is frantic and seeks out someone to find him.

This fit in with the direction the players planned to travel.

They had an encounter along the way, but managed to find him trapped atop a rock surrounded by kobolds. The players managed to defeat the kobolds and get the artist back home. His wife has promised to make them a good home-cooked meal.

This was just something that came to me off the top of my head and I added in to add some interest to the game. I didn’t need to do that, as I mentioned in a previous post, my youngest son’s character started a riot.

I still have one more NPC and family in the mix of NPCs in town.

While out walking the dog yesterday, I came up with a couple more.

Adding NPCs to the town to help flesh it out and bring it to life are difficult to just do, but when an idea comes up and I put it to use, they always seem to work well. Even dumb ideas I have, or I think are dumb, tend to work out when the players encounter the idea for an NPC, adventure, etc.

I find that thinking about building my world while doing mundane, thoughtless tasks, like walking the dog, doing dishes, laundry, etc. frees me to let ideas bubble to the surface and I don’t think about my troubles. Most of my troubles are of my own making and building my game world and the surroundings of the players gives me entertainment without having to spend a lot of money. Ten dollars buys a lot of graph paper, index cards, etc. I have computer equipment and other game materials that are paid for, so I don’t have to spend a lot to have fun.

I decided a couple years ago that I spent too much time on my career, more doing the work of the job, than working towards advancement in position or salary. I tried for a better position and it became clear to me that my nose is the wrong color for advancement. I am at a place in my job where it is as secure as it can be, and it is mine to lose, unless something happens out of left field. So I have a job that I know how to do and I can get paid a salary that pays my bills and helps me work down my debt. I will put in my 8 hours each day and come home. On my lunch break, I don’t worry about work. I can use my free time to take care of my house and yard, spend time with my dog, watch the few shows I follow on Hulu for free. I’ve gotten into an online D&D group that had an excellent first session and promises to be a long term one if the next few sessions go as well.

I have thought a lot about RPGs over the years and not allowed myself the time to explore and play. Now that I have given myself that freedom, things seem to be falling into place to be able to find people to play with and actually play. My own efforts as a DM have gone well each session, I just need to get more comfortable with parts of it. I am comfortable just making up things on the fly, but certain mechanics of the game I want to use the rules to give a framework, so I end up looking things up, like mining and construction. I don’t want to make some things up, as it will be way off one way or the other. One gets better as a DM by doing it more. I look forward to trying to use Google+ Hangouts and Roll20 with my sons to perhaps do a weekly game. I need to spend less time reading RPG blogs and fleshing out the bits of the sandbox. I have a key with some basics of what is there, but nothing worked up for more specifics. I need to stat that stuff out and then build an encounter table for the area. Probably the equivalent on one night’s RPG reading, blogging and other activities would get that done. I’m really good at the big, high-level aspect of designing a campaign. I don’t mean level as in PC level, but the larger framework of the campaign and themes. Getting into the details seems to grab my attention and the less important things end up with minute detail, and the things that really need that minute detail get the back-burner treatment. I plan this week to work on this. I am writing this on Sunday, March 23, 2014, so by the time this publishes on Sunday the 30th, I hope to have those items done.