That, and when I've been writing rpg stuff at all it's mostly been for a "Final Fantasy game+setting running on Lindwyrm" personal project; there's also been a couple of non-rpg writing things, and also expanding my videogame hoard again. But highly a case of "the world sucks" with a side-order of "and summer can fuck itself".
But enough of that! September means Swordtember, and I miiiiight have another thing percolating for the month (we'll see), and here I am with the first third of Swordtember's swords in nice punchy and system-neutral description ~
So you want a Dark Sun-esque setting of your own, eh?
At the minimum concept, for an Athas-like sword-and-sorcery post-apocalyptic (how many hyphens are we gonna use here) world, you need:
- a hellblasted desert, courtesy of the apocalypse
-> with a scattering of Weird or Extra Hazardous (or Both) Geographies
- water rules
- psionics - using magic is more difficult, destructive, kind of sucks, and gets you In Deep Trouble like as not - despotic city-states with themes to fight and free the people of - one Walking Apocalypse kaiju-type monster or entity - non-metal weapon rules if you insist and you hate yourself
Fallen so long, they are naught but bone and scattered panoply. What happened, one wonders?
Amongst mail and rusted sword, lance and shattered shield, the pitiful remains, might be found ...
01. A silken scarf tucked between armour and ribcage, embroidered with droplets and yet unstained by death and rot 02. A packet of thick leather, stitched and waxed all over, seal still intact 03. A twist of half-decayed green cloth tied around one bicep, faint traces of ink -- an inscription? -- still visible 04. The teeth in the bare jaws are noticeably fang-like, said jaws closed around a sunstone 05. A broken dagger-blade between pale ribs, translucent and black 06. Gold-wrapped threads still tracing the details of a coat of arms on a tabard long rotted; a motif of a style unknown in these lands 07. A small sealed horn flask engraved "dragonsblood" 08. Two rings on fingerbones; one of slim tarnished silver, the other golden and embossed with a famed knight-order's emblem 09. A single feather, colourless and luminescent and long as a forearm, exposed in its pocket in a rotting scabbard 10. Around the neck -- or where it should be -- a heavy herringbone chain of gold and sapphire; royal gift, or royal ... 11. The sternum of the fallen is pierced by a handspan and more of a unicorn's horn 12. A slim circlet of a translucent blue-gold metal, tumbled a short distance from the skull
Sometimes things just don't work out when you're spelunking your way through some labyrinthine dungeon or cavernous labyrinth or whatever other combination of words you want to describe the big ol' stony complex Down There today.
Sometimes it's not even the threat of instant death.
It's just weird. Or annoying. Or both.
And those little things can be Really Big Things.
01. Half your rations have sprouted brilliantly cyan bracket fungi. (you can try eating it anyway ... or eating the fungi ...) 02. The last suite of rooms was incredibly dusty and now the dust is everywhere and starting to itch -- 03. The labels have peeled off of your potions ... 04. "BEAT YOU AGAIN!" scrawled across the wall -- if the party can just catch up with whoever is getting to all the treasure first, dammit -! 05. This one skeleton keeps following and it's not hostile but it's clattering and noisy and it's already been turned and already been bashed and why does it keep coming back -- 06. Good job, you just dropped your torch(es) into the magic pool. Surely that won't do anything strange. 07. Uggggh why's the room filled with smoke *hackcoughhackcougheyewater* can't see a thing *coughhack* 08. Next dungeon camp, wake up with goofy doodles all over everyone's faces. Door was barricaded? Doesn't matter. Gonna get laughed at by every dungeon denizen til you scrub that off, champs. 09. Oh no a Loot-Carrying Method Of Choice[tm] has been losing coins and shinies bit by bit, like a shiny trail of crumbs right to the party. A shiny trail of lost loot! 10. All the party's healing potions have passed their best-by date; they still work but now they taste like week-worn socks. 11. Okay who doctored that torch with flash powder?! 12. It's probably a Bad Sign when a holy symbol suddenly blackens, isn't it?
Sometimes you just really shouldn't have read that scroll, tried on that ring, drank that potion ...
Sometimes inconvenient, sometimes awful, and sometimes really awful. Lol.
01. All fabrics touching one's skin feel like a metal file rasping across flesh 02. Now compelled to exclaim a threat of death or bodily harm every time one interacts with a figure of greater authority 03. Resistance to magic and to mental compulsion slowly erodes week by week (with no outward signs) 04. Cannot be healed by anything other than time, which is doubled 05. An invisible-to-most brand marked the cursed one as being allied to the forces of evil (alas the goodly hosts and their allies can see it just fine) 06. The skin or eyes or both darken to bruise-purple in patches that spread slowly, looking diseased 07. Water poured on the skin feels like licking flames 08. Touching precious metal turns it into swarms of scurrying insects 09. Thickets of steel-sharp thistles spring up and engulf any structure one sleeps in overnight 10. All efforts to create or mend something fail, with staggering pain and shattering results 11. Creeping small skeletal vermin conglomerate wherever one stays for more than an hour 12. Forced into a helpless animal form during daylight (or nighttime) hours
I suppose there's not really anything that actually goes *tick-tock* here, but that's fine -- after all, it's not strictly "steampunk" either, depending on your definition.
( o/~ just stick a gear on it / and caaaaall it steeeaaampunk o/~ )
But clockworks and gears and mechanical thingers have a way of popping up in my stuff again and again, and that's close enough, I imagine *lol*
So here's a short table of ticktocky trinkets and small treasures and tinkery tool-bits, with hopefully at least a touch of steampunky flavour --
01. Pair of spectacles with a half-dozen extra lenses on either side, on small articulated arms that fold away 02. Satchel of thick leather, partitions filled with bits of metal, chunks of glass, wire coils and ciphered underground missives 03. Spring-loaded dart- or blade-thrower wand, slim steel and inscribed with guildmarks 04. A palm-sized thin brass plaque with rounded corners, punched with holes and grooves 05. A self-propelled strongchest, bound in brass and trundling along on a hexapedal chassis fuelled by the small galvanizer of reagents on its underside 06. Flat coffer the size of a respectable tome, tin and brass and secured with a devilish gear-and-cylinders lock 07. Complete set of gearwright's tools in flawless steel, fine and delicate, secured in a roll of felt and leather 08. A hand-sized planisphere and lunar phase tracker, bronze and glass and enamel 09. Breather mask of lacquered leather and wire mesh, with extra filter sachets of linen and charcoal 10. Egg-shaped luciferous lantern, rippled glass in brass; when shaken, fluid lights green-yellow for four hours 11. Pocket reference of tables and calculations, bound in rough leather, sooty and stained and annotated 12. Oversized wooden scrollcase on a shoulder-strap, filled with paper scrap and foolscap, pencils and chalks, silverpoints, engraver and cunningly fashioned miniature abacus
Now go ahead and attach that thing (whether it's on a smooth stone, floating in the air, an inscription on parchment or tablet, or whatever form it spawned in) and use when you wish --
I like it when food comes up in a game. Reading about what gets commonly chowed down where is a great bit of worldbuilding or at least setting dressing -- and unlike the poor benighted souls of the Exalted fanserver, all agog over regional food and dishes being mentioned in Across The Eight Directions, I'm long-used to seeing (and writing!) that kind of thing. Even just a few well-placed phrases or a tavern menu (such as it might be) can really set the stage.
I've also been doing this long before anyone heard of Dungeon Meshi. Lol. (I probably knew about Dungeon Meshi long before a loooot of the ttrpg bodies currently agog over it but that's neither here nor there ...)
This isn't about Dungeon Meshi or Exalted, though; it's just me yammering into the wind, lol.
So if it's not about eating your way through a dungeon, what's here?
After I put Lindwyrm together, I was tempted to (and nudged, a bit, to) make a supplement to it. I dithered about it because that's my default mode these days --
-- and then a patronizing shithead in geminispace pretty much guaranteed the work would get done.
Spite is, as ever, a powerful motivator.
So Lindwyrm got itself a minizines'-worth of extra; and who knows, I might do more some time ~
In a folio of strange near-white leather, oddly sheened — like metal? like jade? — a collection of spells on parchment and silk, paper and great feathers …
Here are 36 system neutral, rules-light spells to play around with. There’s more than a few themes and sub-themes at work here, but that’s fine —
11. To Hold Grief: Conjures a palm-sized lacrima, a flask or phial of alabaster, that bottles up a source of pain for a day. Tempting as it may be, repetitive castings inevitably prove disastrous; the shattering of the lacrima heralds far greater pain.
12. Bygones: A memory of other, older times is called up on the scent of faintest lavender; all in 20’ find themselves wrapped in nostalgia for an hour, distracted and diffident.
13. Scribe’s Own Gift: Touch one’s own self and draw away a signature of fine parchment, at the expense of feeling heightened physical pain for the day that halves all physically exerting activities.
14. Drover’s Feast: Transform up to 5 gallons of water, or any other fluid, to thick and heavy cream. This may be further processed, for example into butter or clotted cream or the like. White meats produced in such a way have a faintly pearly sheen and unearthly tang.
15. Rebuking Mantle: Conjures a pale yellow-white mantle, hood, veil, or similar headcovering or drapery of a translucent, delicate nature. For the next four hours, any who strike at the one wearing the mantle are blinded, their eyes burning, until they flush their eyes with water or milk.
16. Immortal Mortality: Simultaneously cast upon a peach and either oneself or another subject. Subsequently, all soul- or spirit- or life-injury — such as from undead — that the subject may receive is channeled to the peach, which withers and blackens instead. The proxy lasts for one day, or six separate corruptions.
21. Rest, My Child: An intangible shroud settles over one unliving being, who promptly becomes an inert corpse (if physical), the undead spirit passing on in peace. Requires a scrap of mourner’s linen. Some that truly wish for release may not resist; some powerful revenants may be enraged by the attempt rather than succumb.
22. Nacreous Fortune: Cast over a powdered pearl, then consume the powder, for one of four possible effects — 1) purge toxins of all kinds, 2) conjure a hand-size orb of heatless, colourless flame for a day, 3) call a single stroke of pearly lightning, 4) bring gentle but constant rains in a 10 mi. area for a day.
23. Those From Before: Invokes the presence of the Past Ones; these stick-bundle shades of chalky robe and bleached bird-skull and tattered lace are pleased to indulge in long and detailed conversation, and will answer two questions, but they cannot speak or debate upon the present time. After six questions, the Past Ones will make a request of their own.
24. A Fragile Revolution: The subject is struck by the ‘revelation’ of the first philosophy or creed presented to them; prior influences fall away, and they will pick up this new banner with the fervour of the enlightened. But this is a false faith, and if challenged it will shatter; after an hour’s shaken fear, the subject sees the ruse.
25. Fame’s Flicker: For the next two hours the subject of this spell positively glistens and gleams with charisma, charm and the aura of great fortune. All who encounter them are inclined to aid them — and, potentially, follow them, being utterly fascinated. But when the enchantment fades, so does the phantom fancy.
26. Salt-foam Warding: An area up to 30’ in diameter suddenly glistens faintly, as if sporting the most delicate fogging of salty crystal. Elemental creatures and forces, and any incoming malefic magics, burn away and shy from its touch; the more it repels, the more the glittering ward darkens with impurities. Lasts 12 hrs.
31. Ran’s Soothing Anointment: A gentle sprinkle of silky white dust drifts over 2d4 subjects, who find themselves eased of any environmental discomfort for 4 hours (good for easing dungeon dampness) and healed of any minor injuries (scrapes, rashes, etc).
32. Rain-and-Thorn Entrapment: Conjures an area up to 60’ cubed (or 60 1’ cubes, however you like to think of it) of twining rose canes formed from pale rosy mist and glittering droplets. Passing through the briars causes one to become dizzied and confused for ten minutes; did you ever want to be anywhere but amongst these ephemeral roses, at all? The canes fade after 6 hours.
33. Once Again Ocean: Cast upon an intact seashell, transforming the shell into sleek small craft capable of carrying up to six+gear, or equivalent in cargo. The shelly ship is enclosed and self-propelled, and may travel on the surface of the water or below it. After 12 hrs, reverts to shell form.
34. Ghostwalk: For the next 12 hours, the subject is nothing but an insubstantial phantom, a colourless shade like unto a departed soul, and subject to all the same limitations and restrictions save for one — they are unaffected by banishments of any kind. They may interact physically with other phantasmal forms.
35. Winter’s Waltz: For the next 6 hours, cross all snow and ice without sinking, slipping or being soaked or chilled, gliding gracefully across the surface as if skating or dancing. Anything carried or pulled by you personally receives the same benefit.
36. Beckon The Cavalier: Summons the Cavalier of Roses and Ash; and that skeletal warrior and their dead courser, resplendent in bone-plate and dead garlands, will carry out one wish or quest with grim certainty if the request is deemed pained and true. The Cavalier does not look kindly on being called for frivolous — or, worse, black-hearted — tasks.
41. Sweetness Of Death: Cast on a corpse, a pale vine erupts from the remains and unfurls bone-white leaves; two hours later, a creamy blossom emerges. A corpse so cultivated cannot be animated nor resurrected. The nectar drawn from the blossom is sweet and pleasant beyond all things, and will sustain a creature for three days.
42. Remarkable Mundanity: For 1 hour, no one will notice the recipient of this spell unless they wish it; to onlookers, they are a nondescript nobody. One’s gaze just slides away. Six hours later everyone remembers someone absolutely spectacular and shocking — but it is still nothing matching the recipient’s description.
43. A Touch Of Pleasantry: One’s next meal is more satisfying, at least to the senses — watered wine becomes a refined vintage, biscuit has a buttery sweet or savoury taste, and so on — but the actual quality of the sustenance is not changed. Up to four people can be affected by the spell.
44. Courteous Calling: Summons the Lady In White, resplendent in colourless lace and bleached-silver mail, who — if pleased to do so — will offer advice in courtly politics, social maneuverings, wartime strategy or, perhaps, a lesson in swordsmanship.
45. Memory’s Bite: Conjures a sleek, featureless blade of ivory that wounds as a longsword and lasts for one hour. Any slain by the blade have their memories captured by it; an egg of ivory grows from the pommel nut and falls free, and the memories of the dead rest inside to be hoarded or consumed.
46. Harvestaff: Transmutes any wooden staff or similar object of vegetable matter into a preternaturally sturdy stalk of maize, still strong enough to be a staff. Six milky-kerneled cobs grow from the head of stalk; four are edible and sweet, while the last two may be 1) throwable and explosive; 2) entirely filled with dewy cornsilk than can wash away illness; 3) sports glass beads for kernels; 4) filled with pale fungal growths that will induce a vision of a faraway land.
51. Ancient Blossom Endurance: The subject’s flesh is traced with white silhouettes of magnolia flowers; while the patterns remain (1 hr), any action made in the name of a truly-sworn oath or goal doubles its chance of success. The spell’s effects may be expended all at once to shrug off a wound completely, or to deflect or destroy one spellcasting. One’s spirit can only support this enchantment once a day.
52. Borrowed Beauty: Drains the colours from up to a tree’s worth of flowering plant, condensing it into a shimmering fluid usable as ink, dye or stain — a rose, for example, will furnish enough to write a dozen pages. The colour must be used promptly unless stored in glass or crystal.
53. Unravelling: A single object is broken down into its component materials, which are laid out in neatly sorted piles (or equivalent) — a woolen cloak, for example, becoming undyed wool locks and little mounds of dyestuff and mordant. Will not work on enchanted objects, animated constructs or inanimate additions to a living body.
54. Beast Of The Old Sun: Beckons an otherworldly creature to serve as mount, guardian or messenger (as horse, wolf or eagle). Regardless of purpose the beast is sleek, alien and of a gleaming frosted-fawn colour, almost metallic, with a voice like chiming bells. It remains for two hours, or as long as required to perform one designated task.
55. Life From A Stone: A conjured phantasmal seedling, suspended above one’s outstretched palm, acts as a gently tugging lodestone towards the nearest source of fresh water, sustaining greenery, or a consecrated area or standing stone.
56. Taste Of Bitter Ashes: Cast on a target that has truly and deliberately caused grief or harm, it destroys their own joys — victories are hollow, entertainments give no pleasure, and even food is as ashes in their mouth until they truly make effort to atone for their deeds.
61. Open To The Universe: 2d4 targets are stunned for 1d4+1 actions and take psychic damage (as if shortsword) as their awareness is briefly wrenched into comprehending the great equilibrium of the multiverse. This can have extra side-effects.
62. Blade Of The Tearing Sky: Calls on one of the Cloud Rulers to annul an incoming calamity, whether that be deflecting or interrupting a would-be grievous wound, unraveling a hex, impressing a lord about to give judgement, or castigating a rival. This may involve various methods; Luth loans white-blue panoply, Gua constructs rain-webs, while many write cloud silk decrees, manifest lightning blades, and so forth. It is very seldom that the Rulers do not expect an acknowledgement in return.
63. Archivist’s Escaping Wings: One document or text dissolves into a swarm of white butterflies and flutters away in all directions, disappearing from sight. After no less than a day and no more than a year, the butterflies converge at a designated location and become the text once more.
64. Ghost Tiger’s Hymn: Conjures a colourless phantom in the shape of a tiger from smoke or still-warm ashes; the beast is insubstantial but may interact with other intangible beings, and it can sense and also respond — and will give an accounting of the fire, what it consumed, and that witnessed it in a chant of heartbreaking melody. It will remain for a year and a day as a guardian of any that were consumed by the flames.
65. Flesh-Eating Lash: Creates a coiling whip in one’s hands, pale orange-pink and slick to the touch. A strike from the lash initially stings but does not injure; over the following three actions the welts rise and then eat away at the flesh in steps, dagger-shortsword-longsword, causing excruciating agony. The wielder of the lash may choose to halt the pain and injury at any step, and the lash exists for an hour or for three successful strikes.
66. Chains Of The Moon: An oath sealed with this spell is marked by a silver brand on the flesh, around the throat or wrist or heart of those who so swear. If the oath is not fulfilled within a cycle of the moon, the brand grows silvery barbs and begins to constrict, causing bloodless wounds that mark one as an oathbreaker and compel strangers, and even distant acquaintances, to refuse all aid and shelter.
I like elementals and elemental critters and elemental effects and elemental enchanted whosits. Like, I like them a lot — an affection going all the way back to when I first started poking at rpgs.
Every once in a while I start tinkering with the basic elemental lineup; while I do love playing around with the extended base-para-quasi-elemental collection from AD&D, it’s not so practical outside of those particular scenarios (but boy howdy do I love them all in Planescape!), and in any case there’s that tinkering habit.
This time around it’s less tinkering-tinkering as a collection of thematic traits for an elemental spread, and also a few tables for sprucing up any given elemental that might pop up in one’s adventures ~
Air
Earth
Fire
Water
Lightning
Ice
Sun
Moon
Darkness
Blood
white
deep brown
scarlet
deep blue
white-gold
white
deep gold
silver
charcoal
crimson
transparency
ochre
orange
teal
pale violet
pale grey
rose
pale gold
pitch black
black-ruby
pale blue
grey
yellow
pearl
ice green
silver
amber
cream
midnight blue
deep red
clarifying
mending
purifying
cleansing
revealing
preserving
nurturing
changing
concealing
growing
fugue
destruction
violence
betrayal
spite
callousness
zealotry
delusion
ennui
hunger
inquiry
dedication
passion
patience
inspiration
clarity
hope
tranquility
relief
promise
yes half of the entries are colours. no i don’t care. colour is important.
d10
Type
Shape
Demeanour
Language
01.
Air
leonine
hostile
none
02.
Earth
serpentine
neutral
Helltongue
03.
Fire
draconic
curious
High Primal
04.
Water
amorphous
friendly
common speech
05.
Lightning
geometric
grovelling
First Speech
06.
Ice
avian
overbearing
Heavensong
07.
Sun
humanoid
arrogant
High Primal
08.
Moon
arthropod
wary
druid’s speech
09.
Darkness
piscine
bargaining
beastspeech
10.
Blood
hybrid or metamorph (roll twice more, combine)
fearful
arcane cipher
granted, most elementals are also probably not speaking with mouths. but they might. you never know.
d12
Elemental Quirk
01.
divides on defeat (2 elementals of half original HD-or-equivalent)
02.
can offer creation of material goods
03.
elemental jewel heart
04.
primal nobility; expect fallout if maimed or destroyed, potential boons if aided
05.
not vulnerable to opposing element
06.
100′ range teleport ability in addition to normal actions
07.
can bestow immunity to element for 24 hrs
08.
elemental infection or engulf, continual damage to victim after successful attack
09.
“explodes” on defeat (= HD-or-equivalent)
10.
knows 1d12 spells
11.
can shapeshift into flesh and blood form or forms at will
12.
can carry touched creatures to native plane
yeah, some of these are kind of mean. I like elementals.
This is what happens when I’m trying to jumpstart my brain, I guess? *lol*
11. Traveler’s Drop: Conjure a glassy bead roughly the size of a thumbnail, in any colour or pattern desired. When worn prominently, protects the wearer against mundane mishaps while traveling for three days. You cannot have more than three drops active at once.
12. Stoneflower Emulation: Transmute yourself or another into a dormant, hibernating form reminiscent of a low boulder or clutch of greyish stones. You may “sleep” like this, unaging, until a designated time has elapsed (no more than a year) or until water soaks all around the “stone”.
13. The Stars To Guide You: Designate a star or constellation of stars; once a week, so long as the stars may be seen, you may ask a single questions or be guided in a specific direction until sunrise. The stars see much, but are at a remove from the world; consider their responses carefully. The spell lasts a season.
14. Heart Of The Beast: Cast this spell on a slain monster’s heart (or reasonably equivalent organ or portion), then consume it. At any time, you may take the devoured creature’s shape, once, for 10 minutes. You will retain some physical mark of this transformation afterwards.
15. Wallflower: For the next hour, provided they move as little as possible, the target of this spell is just more furniture or ornament to anyone viewing them; they are seen, but simply do not register. (changing places or positions while someone’s back is turned is fine.)
16. Sweetveil: A filmy, silky ribbon of power drifts around one’s shoulders, to be wrapped around one’s head and face; it blocks miasma, mundane or otherwise, and allows breathing in all environments for 2 hours.
21. Fish Out Of Water: For the next seven days, the target must fully immerse themselves in water for at least two hours a day or be incapacitated, all efforts having a 50% chance of failure. The spell doesn’t grant water breathing, but keeping one’s face wet will do.
22. Vista: Up to six individuals touch a document – not necessarily a book, any form of recording knowledge will do – as the spell is cast. All involved will see the contents of the document play out vividly in their mind as if unfolding before their eyes, and somehow all within an hour at most. The spell does not, alas, guarantee comprehension.
23. Tif’s Bluebonnet: Conjures a cap – or if you prefer, an actual bonnet – of shimmering sky-blue shining “fabric” onto the head. In the next conflict, all projectiles will unerringly aim for – and hit, harmlessly – the bonnet. This is often rather traumatic for the wearer! So, it only works once a day.
24. Drawn From The Soul: A personal weapon spell. The first time it is cast, choose the following: shape, appearance, physical state, an elemental damage type if desired, and a physical bane (for example, a hard-light, golden shortbow that looks like flame, deals lighting damage and is wolf-bane). Whenever subsequently cast, the weapon will always take the chosen form; it lasts for 8 actions. Its standard abilities are longsword damage, longbow range if applicable, and doubles damage against its bane.
25. Personal Web Assistant: Conjures a surprisingly graceful, metallic spider from another realm to serve the caster or a designated recipient faithfully for 6 hours. The spider-construct does not fight, but it is the size of a kitten to a collie (as desired), can record conversations or take physical notes (expressing them onto resinous “silk” sheets), manipulate tools, scout or carry messages, and haul 10-50 lbs. depending on size. It does dutifully report its activities to its otherworldly superiors when its shift is over.
26. This Is The Place: Cast this spell on a deliberately crafted cairn, monument, begarlanded area, or any other place dedicated to a specific, notable entity. If a deity (or similar entity), they directly hear any pleas and receive doubled offerings; if mortal, they feel invigorated (doubled chances to succeed) and receive strange sweet rations from the aether which are the pleas and prayers; this effect remains on the physical locale for one day. Godlings have been known to be created from consistent usage of this spell, for good or ill.
31. Scribework Distillation: With a specially prepared phial or bottle in hand, the caster holds a text above its mouth and casts this spell, and the entire contents of the pages slide off and drain into the phial. Once sealed, it may be carried indefinitely; poured over a blank volume, it restores the contents (allowing for changes in size). Shattering a phial loses the contents in a splash of iridescent ink.
32. Skyclad: Absolutely a spell for appearance’s sake, when cast onto an article of clothing, that clothing takes on the appearance of the sky, shifting as the sky does – brilliant azure, stormy greys, aflame with sunset, and so on. Duration depends on clothing area, from 12 hours for a scarf to 2 for a fancy formal gown.
33. Far-Roamer: Conjures up an ephemeral spirit (with any appearance desired), capable of performing any of the following assigned tasks: carry a message, find an individual and report back, bring back a message. The spirit can travel unseen, and is as fast as an eagle. It is possible that the spell duration (4 hours) runs out before the roamer completes its task(s); the caster will know if it dissolves unfinished.
34. Tiny Grass Is Dreaming: In a 30’ radius, the ground – even flooring – slowly grows a carpet of lush, soft green grass over the next 1d4 minutes. All remaining inside the area of the grass when it has finished growing feel a gentle sleepiness coming over them; all who don’t fight it sleep for an hour and wake refreshed as a full night’s rest, calm, and having shared a dream of quiet cohabitation and happiness.
35. Plaguepurge: Draws illness out of a target in the form of a twisted, diabolical creature which the subject must defeat to be cured; a cold may be a small verminous creature, a life-threatening sickness like unto anything from a bear to a dragon. Others may lend aid, but the patient must land the finishing blow.
36. Pocket In The Glass: Erects a comfortable work(“work”)place in a wrinkle in the world. From the outside, a door-height hairline of light; on the inside 100’ sq. of work-tables, illuminator’s desks, fountain, couches, and two small facilities of the caster’s choice, from a silversmith’s bench to a potter’s wheel, all contained in what appears to be a glass-walled hall with a sprawling vista beyond. Access to the pocket lasts 6 hours, and objects created inside may be removed but the conjured tools cannot.
41. Iahi’s Scintillating Lace: Covers up to 20’ sq. in a plane – even if midair – in an intricate pattern of floral lacework in constantly shifting, brilliant colours. Just seeing the lace mesmerizes for 1-10 minutes; touching it causes injury like a dagger, lacy welts appearing on the flesh. Lasts 1d4 hours.
42. Moonmilk: Cast on at least a flask of milk under the full moon, creating a luminescent draft that prevents contracting lycanthropy (or represses its effects) for a single night if consumed in total. The drinker’s eyes give off a faint moonlight glow while the effect is active.
43. Rainsaint’s Mantle: Creates a cooling, enfolding mantle (with hood, if desired) of raindrops, like a silk-fine fabric of rain that never actually soaks you. While wearing the mantle, hot or desiccating environments cause no distress, and heat and fire damage is halved. The mantle lasts 4 hours, but may be dismissed earlier to grant the water to completely quench another’s thirst.
44. Final Wish Whispered: Designate a recipient for the spell; the other target is the caster. If the caster is killed in the next 24 hours – or another fate specified during casting occurs – the other party instantly knows of the death and any other vital bits of information the caster wished to pass along, up to six discrete details.
45. Narah’s Clubhouse Code: Trace a special sigil onto the skin of up to six people, including the caster if desired. For the next 48 hours, all those marked can leave sorcerous markings of up to six letters, glyphs or small doodles on any surface, just by tracing their fingertips, and only those marked by the spell can see them.
46. Viridian Harvester’s Talons: The subject’s hands (or equivalent) warp into green-bronze, scaled talons with biliously emerald claws. Any creature struck by the talons takes damage as by a shortsword – and calves away a cubed ration of disturbingly jerky-like, faintly sweet nutriment. (a plant may provide something more vegetal. maybe.) The talons persist for five attacks or other actions. It’s good for you! Honest!
51. Torchbearer’s Warding: Cast on a lit torch, this spell lies dormant but ready until the torchbearer is attacked. Then a coiling, prickly, smoky tentacle erupts from the torch like an enraged serpent to slash at the assailant – up to 15’ away – with burning fangs that injure like a shortsword. The spell can be cast on a lantern, but will only cause dagger damage. It must be recast after a conflict in which it was triggered.
52. Bonethorns: The target’s skeleton erupts in scores of hand-length, viciously sharp thorns – or appears to, as the caster prefers. If real, the target may deal unarmed damage as a longsword and gain chainmail-equivalent protection, but the pain leaves them able to act only half as often; if illusion, only a boost to intimidation and fear effects is granted, forcing opponents to test their resolve to fight. The spell lasts 4 actions regardless.
53. Brassbite: Any lock or similar mechanism enchanted by this spell will sprout strange grinding fangs inside its mechanism – and will cut and shear through the next key, probe or other tool inserted, unless it was touched to the lock while the spell was being cast.
54. Hutling Dasher: It may not hoist an actual hut, it’s true, but this spell does grant strong clawed birdie legs to anything that carries things, from barrel-sized to a respectable wagon, allowing it to travel at horse-speed for 8 hours total. (you can take breaks.) The spell causes the legs to lower the “body” safely before disappearing when the spell ends.
55. Trembling Candle: This spell may either enchant a real, burning candle, or create a tiny, floating candle flame. Regardless of choice, the caster designates up to four subjects present when the spell is cast; the flame will change colours, to the caster’s eyes, to reflect the emotional state of the subject(s). Lasts 2 hours or until the candle is snuffed out.
56. Kaleidoflutter: Fills a 20’ radius area with fluttering, clinging, baffling butterflies in a riot of colours that flock over 3d4 targets within the area of effect. Victims mobbed by the butterflies move at half speed and are effectively blinded. Lasts for 10 minutes.
61. Aka’s Equilibrium: This spell grants a brief preternatural insight into whatever the recipient is currently attempting or experiencing, allowing a series of instinctive adjustments as they work. One test or similar action, may be reattempted, the outcome now assured. May only be used once a day per individual, because so many perceptions strain the senses.
62. Wrapped With A Bow: Swathes up to 10 sq. feet in a tough, satiny substance, tucking whatever is contained into the optimally compact shape for easy transport. (yes, you can add an actual bow.) The content’s freshness, if applicable, is quadrupled in duration. Do not attempt on living beings (fails, gets gross); cut free with a sharp knife.
63. Comforting Calm: A soothing sort of warm fuzziness settles over all in eyeshot, like receiving the equivalent of a welcome hug. Fear effects and other adverse emotional influences are removed, and – pending the caster’s and others’ behaviours – a far more positive reaction from an encounter may be achieved. This spell is also known as let’s-be-friends.
64. Morma’s Patches: Breaks down any sort of discarded material – preferably but not necessarily organic – and magically weaves, sews and felts it together into a particolour, patchwork blanket of surprising warmth and ruggedness. The blanket lasts for 8 hours, or is permanent if honestly given away as a gift to another in need.
65. Othni’s Burrow: Digs a burrow up to 4’ wide and 12’ long, in any direction, through any material, be it earth, stone, sea, or most anything else. Even the air, but good luck finding it. The burrow is sound, ends in a blunt, rounded chamber slightly wider than the burrow itself, and lasts 8 hours.
66. A Bit Of Green In The Dark: Sprouts a seedling no more than an inch tall, nestled in a translucent sphere half-filled with soil. It can be watered by resting the sphere in the water; it will hover around the caster or whoever the spell was cast for. So long as the seedling is tended and is not destroyed, its tender cannot be targeted by negative mental influences. Over the span of a month it grows into … well, many possible things, depending on its treatment.
And also! These spells are released under Creative Commons — CC-BY 4.0! Which means you can use use them in your own stuff, as long as I’m credited (or credited for the original I spose, if you radically remix —
You hear a lot sometimes about the (supposed) lethality of OSR and OSR-adjacent games, and how players are used to having backup PCs and so on and so forth; but you know, in my experience the toss-away-the-dollie mindset hasn’t really been how it’s worked. Folks get attached to their characters. This always disposable-PC, cavalier thing is one of the more annoying bits, for me, of the “OSR” construct.
Having your PC die kind of sucks a lot of the time. It’s true.
So, chewing on this while trying not to get completely soaked at work, I came up with some alternate options. Toss 2d6 when a PC measures their length in the dust, and let them carry on — but with a bit more baggage than what they started with.
Of course, some might decide they’d rather have their PC die dramatically, or heroically, or comedically, or they just don’t like the result of the roll. That’s also totally cool.
What did you walk away from death with?
02: Marked by the damned … 03: Came back with a spirit (dead or otherwise) sharing body 04: Woke bound with a geas to perform a certain task 05: Maimed wind; prone to illness 06: Missing or maimed limb 07: Shocking or strange-looking scar 08: Lost or partially-lost sense (whether injury or trauma) 09: Permanent wound (requires tending) 10: Woke bound with a geas on a certain behaviour 11: Appear like the dead; healing is twice as difficult now 12: Marked by the beatific …
Or, what if for some reason an adversary had the chance to kill the PC, but chose not to? Though there surely would be a reason for such a decision, right? Toss 1d12 and —
Why did they stay their hand?
01: Proving they could have dispatched you is good enough for them 02: “Wait! I remember you! You were at –” (were you though?) 03: They don’t want you to die; they want you to suffer … 04: A prisoner is worth more than a corpse 05: That hexmark they just placed on you will ensure you’re no threat anyway 06: “If I spare your life, will you help me with …” 07: You would have been their first sapient kill, and they just can’t … 08: “I’m not the real enemy! The real enemy is –“ 09: It was less ‘staying their hand’ and more ‘didn’t check to be sure’, honestly 10: A strange faint glow appeared around you and they backed right off (but did it stay? what now?) 11: “Now I owe you nothing.” (have you even seen them before?) 12: A leader or companion orders them to let you live; they are not happy, but comply (for now) (and why were you spared?)
Today has decided to be a morning of near-tears in preemptive despair over taking Soci to a cardiological vet appt next week, so in an attempt to distract myself, have a three-d12-table slate for making unusual weapon materials (or anything else materials):
d12
Condition
Colour
Substance
01.
Corroded
Crimson
Steel
02.
Gleaming
Sooty
Glass
03.
Matte
Pearlescent
Bronze
04.
Rusting
Cerulean
Granite
05.
Engraved
Opaline
Cherry
06.
Chipped
Creamy
Horn
07.
Mended
Ochre
Silver
08.
Textured
Viridian
Ivory
09.
Cracked
Chalky
Jade
10.
Mirrored
Flame
Oak
11.
Frosted
Wisteria
Bone
12.
Polished
Ultramarine
Crystal
it could be odder — I’ve written odder — but sometimes the basics of oddness are also good
And we’ve reached the end of October and the last table of knightly orders!
d10
The Order Of …
details
01.
The Hidden Blue
“At times it is simply more prudent to appear other than what one truly is.” Not all knights parade around in shining steel finery, not all orders gather in bands and battalions; and not all cross their swords on a battlefield. The Hidden Blue are such knights, serving as companions and clandestine minders for their charges in both high society and low. – azure and cobalt; the outline of a sword (when colour and/or blazon is shown) – no armour, or quilted silk or other fabric, or reinforced coat; dagger or knuckleguards and shortsword or smallsabre, or as requested – packet of ciphered letters, healer’s kit, metal mirror and grooming kit, hidden thumb-knife, blue-enameled ring
02.
The Hard Road
“Let others choose to bury mistakes. We shall not be so foolish.” Losing — a battle, a manor, honour, glory, reputation — is a terrible thing, and many attempt to move on from a loss as swiftly as possible. That rejection is to this order’s gain; these knights maintain records of their own failings and those of others, knightly and otherwise, both to learn from those mistakes and to prevent them from being forgotten by rewriting history. – copper and grey; spiral of stones (ovals) – chainmail mantle or hauberk; mace, hammer or halberd – scribe’s kit, several scrollcases or rag-paper girdle-books, maintenance kit, hidden cache-spot, copy of tournament or battle record
03.
Steel Stars
“Be as flawless as the heavens above until you return to them.” By bird-wing and seeing-glass, by day or by night, in battle and in the court, the knights of the Steel Stars seek to embody what they see as the eternal, and eternally adaptable, purity of the skies. No matter what befalls the earth, after all, the heavens endure. – steel and silver; five stars in a cross-pattern – plate mail and round shield; longsword and warhammer – star charts, astrolabe, falconet or corvid, personal star- and weather-log, oath-ribbons
04.
Night Unending
“There is nothing to fear in the darkness save our wrath.” A weapon is meant to kill. The Night Unending internalize this to their very souls, bringing death and ruin to their adversaries without remorse or regret — and those adversaries are many, from knaves to kings, honourless curs to virtuous paragons. Though they destroy, they harbour no malice against those who do not or cannot. – black and dark blue; descending blade – chain hauberk, plate mail or plate; bastard sword, lance, morningstar – maintenance kit, signal horn, wardog, several whetstones, cold iron or silver armlet
05.
The Garden Repentant
“We cannot erase what we have done; raise a memorial of beauty to the fallen.” The creed of this order is, at its core, a simple one. Behave with grace, strike only when required by lord and honour — and nurture a hedge-rose or peony for every life taken. Senior knights often tend extensive gardens indeed. – emerald and burgundy; flower in full bloom – chain or plate mail and kite shield; longsword or mace, glaive – cuttings or rootstock, pouch of seeds, personal notes of lives and associated plantings, gardening kit, maintenance kit, knight’s token
06.
The Windswift
“What is a cavalier without the courage of their beloved steed? Nothing of consequence.” Dedicated riders all, these knights — to the point of fighting on foot only in cases of the most dire necessity. More, the order takes great pains in maintaining specific lines of mounts, and not all are mundane beasts. – rust and gold; two opposed horses rearing (or a horse and their chosen mount) – chain mail or platemail; lance, javelin, shortbow – harness repair kit, spare horseshoes or equivalent, extra feed for mount, traveler’s satchel, personal travel map
07.
The Indomitable
“I will not fall.” For some, it’s not about swift swords and flashing lances. It’s about being the rock against which swords and lances shatter and assailants dash themselves to pieces before winning past the knight and that which they stand for. – grey and crimson; stylized battlement – platemail or plate and kite or tower shield; mace or warhammer or halberd – armour repair kit, extra rations, reinforced pack or side-bag, meditation stone, oathring
08.
The Thorn And Bough
“Honour and chivalry has its roots beyond those walls of stone.” Hedge knights in the truest sense of the word, members of this order are found patrolling forest trails, accompanying local woodcrafters and forage-witches, vanquishing twisted beasts and challenging the brash and destructive knights come from city and castle-town. – deep green and wine-red; leafy branch – leather armour, chain mantle or buff coat; shortsword or axe and bow or crossbow – woodcarver’s kit, foraging basket, weathercloak, deepwood charm, iron knife
09.
The Midnight Tower
“Long may the great walls stand; swiftly may we bring great walls down.” Knights of the castle, these; trained to battle and to attend, not on the wide battlefield, but in the confines of stony hall and narrow battlement, to man the gates and hold back a siege. But the Tower’s familiarity with castled stonework cuts both ways — many a knight has undermined a palace to bring down those judged unworthy. – dark blue and silver; stars over a stylized tower – chain or scale mail + any shield; longsword, dagger, spear or crossbow – personal blueprint of current castle assignment, skeleton key, mason’s tools, ciphered logbook, collection of engraved worrystones
10.
Greyember
“When everything appears to be over, there is still work to be done.” The survivors of calamity may need a willing blade more than any other. There are those who make true effort to pull together the tattered remnants of pride, honour, legacy after all is stripped away. A loss is not the end of a war. For all this and more come these grey-marked knights. – grey and orange; roundel – chainmail mantle or chain hauberk; any weapon – extra waterskin, healer’s kit, tinkerer’s kit, traveler’s satchel, crafter’s kit of choice
But wait, you might say. Three d10 tables is only 30 knight orders. What about the 31st of October?
What about Halloween?
Not to worry.
The 31st order is not a unique knightly pledge —
The Order Of …
The Grave Heart
“Death is not the end.” Oaths still sworn. Loyalty unbroken. Dedications unbowed. Quests still waiting, commands still standing, missions left undone. All these and more await the knight cut down before their time. Which is why so many continue on from the other side of life and death. And they know of each other. – grey and silver-gold; heart’s outline over droplet – armour and weaponry as preferred in life – spectral weapon, teardrop manifestation, bone relic, token of favour or honour, place or person of earthly ties
Another week-and-half(ish), more Knightober and another d10 table of knight orders for scattering about a campaign and tangling PCs up with ~
d10
The Order Of …
details
01
The Velvet Glove
“Triumph is never solely through force of arms.” The battle-skills of these knights, notable as they can be, are overshadowed by their knowledge of battle tactics and strategic planning. One of the Gloves is content with hanging back from the front line, knowing that their strategies led their people to victory. – violet and black; chequered pattern or glove – chain hauberk or buff coat, longsword and light crossbow – satchel of dispatches, messenger pigeon or other small critter, signal horn, battle map, military annals
02
The Winding Path
“If you must put down your burden; if your cause has proven too much; know that there will be a way, in the end.” These knights have, as their unifying code, the codes — and wishes, and hopes — of others, each carrying on the work of one who was overwhelmed, who failed short of their goal, or was otherwise broadsided by fate or inability. – green and earth-brown; stylized path – chainmail or plate mail; any weapon, as appropriate – collection of letters and petitions, traveler’s pack, map of main roads, pledge cup, woolen mantle
03
Adamantine
“The path is clear, the way is known, and so I stride toward the future with eyes wide open and mind free of illusion. I will not fail.” There is both honour and tranquility to be found in the stillness of the mind, these knights aver, and they quest for it in actions and in silent crystalline meditations. Falsehoods and mirages of all sorts are anathema to the Adamantine, abominations to be fought at every opportunity. – silver and pale blue; crystal – chain hauberk; mace and dagger – personal journal-book or scroll, meditative focus of glass or crystal, pouch of salt, iron knife, string of crystal counting-beads
04
The Watchers
“Long may we stand, the devoted, the unworthy, in dedication to sacred grace.” Swearing themselves to a power higher than themselves; guardians of roadside shrines and soaring temples, travel companions of holy seers and anointed questors of the divine and those who serve them. – grey and brass; ten-pointed star – any armour; hammer and spear, or as directed by sacred calling – flask of consecrated oil (or water, milk or blood), sacred token, censer or anointing bowl, small knife, warding cord
05
Crimson Banners Burning
“Let the fires be started, let the blazes burn; hear our voices, hear our roars!” Knights-celebrant, equally likely to be seen flinging themselves headlong into battle or leading a shaken town in raucous, fire-lit rousing of flagging spirits — like the flame, they burn swiftly and brightly to show off exactly how it’s done. – crimson and orange; leaping flame – any armour, trimmed in flame colours; fire-arrows, greatswords and polearms treated with pitch – wineskin, firestarting kit, musical instrument, weapon-repair kit, handkeg of pitch
06
The Basilisk Claw
“If there’s blood spilling, we’re spilling it.” Some just want to fight. That’s the Basilisk Claws; first to take up arms, last to lower them, and legendary for never backing down from combat, no matter how brutal, no matter how insignificant. – sable and green-gold; reptilian claw – chain, scalemail or plate mail; bastard sword or greataxe – collection of whetstones, record of battles, healer’s kit, extra travel rations, satchel of battle trophies
07
Twinned Blades
“None of us need to stand against the world alone.” Matched up into pairs — at the very least — and, if possible, trained as such, this order emphasizes connection and support amongst its members in the face of the fact that knighthood means battle, and killing, and unpleasantness, and even if that connection is at a remove at times, it’s still a shoulder to lean on. – bronze and azure; two swords, sometimes crossed – chainmail or scalemail; longsword and choice of secondary – bundle of letters, personal seal, mending kit, token of partner knight(s), ceremonial ring or gorget
08
The Eighth Bulwark
“Fight to preserve that which cannot fight.” Most knightly orders take up arms for people, or for causes; the Bulwark stands between places, and objects, and all that may destroy them, whether out of a sense of history, of pride, or simply of the beauty that would otherwise be lost. – amber and brown; shield – plate mail or plate + shield of any type; hammer and glaive – antiquated text, choice of crafter’s tools, armour mending kit, small chisel, adze or trowel, healer’s kit
09
The Grey Wolf
“Learn from us, one way or the other.” Knights often die young. Of those who do not, many grow disillusioned and leave their order, or any association with the knighthood at all. Those who remain? Who return, even? They find a new network — a new order — and it rallies to show the youngsters, of all stripes, how to keep on keeping on. – dark grey and black; wolfprint – buff coat, scalemail or chain; weapons of their original order, or longsword and bow – traveler’s satchel, lined mantle, personal journals, collection of mementos, jack-of-trades mending kit
10
The Firefly Lantern
“O Light, lend yourself in these travails of the night-time, for the way is long and we have far to go.” In the rush of civilians fleeing war-torn land; in the depths of night as travelers try to reach shelter; in the face of the twisting alleyways of cities and the shuttered doors of wary villages, these knights are there — to be a guiding light to find a way for others out of their personal dark. – green-gold and silver; lantern or firefly – leather jack or buff coat or chain mantle; staff, shortsword, longsword – hand-lantern of glass or horn, healer’s kit, ciphered travel maps of several locations, dropbox location for letters and small parcels, traveler’s kit to be shared
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