Fantasy Flight and Games Workshop

Well, I don't think this is good for the gaming industry.  I hope that alternate plans are about to be announced for the continuation of game lines affected and both companies are able to move forward in a profitable fashion.

Fantasy Flight and Games Workshop

Societal Entity: Dwarven Monastery

What happens to a Dwarf when the citadel falls, friends and family killed and things just aren't going they way they should?  Strap on the armor, sharpen the blade and charge headlong into a no-win situations, taking as many enemy with you as you can?  Maybe...  Or maybe, since there is no one left to tell the tale, to sing the songs or perform the toast to your valiant deed, it's time to find a refuge.  Time to find a place where a clan can be remade, families rebuilt and oaths resworn.

Welcome to the Alloy Halls, a Dwarven monastery dedicated to helping our wayward and lost kin find their way back to more proper pursuits.  Founded generations ago by a small clan of folk who were too young to help defend their original home from a rampaging demon.  Originally a series of goblin and orc caves that the youth cleaned out, Alloy Halls now sits as a bastion of opportunity for those lost Dwarves to find a purpose again.

Perhaps it seems odd to think of a Dwarf without heavy plate armor, a sculpted shield and razor sharp axe or massive hammer slicing and dicing, hammering and heaving a path of carnage through waves of foul green-skins.  But let me put this image out there.  A Dwarf, family slaughtered, clan destroyed, home ravaged, looks at all they had ever been taught and realizes it wasn't enough.  Through either soul searching, prayers to a deity or random chance, this lost warrior finds a group who show that there are other paths, other ways.  Perhaps all that time spent learning to swing a sword, practicing putting on armor and wielding a shield actually taught the Dwarf exactly how to defeat those things.  A controlled hand cannot swing a sword, an uplifted shield fails in its defense against an attack from below and armor cannot cover every vital place on a body.

When a Dwarf suddenly moves much faster than expected itcatches foes off guard.  When a cloak is pulled back, not to reveal armor but a history of deeds and training, reverence and commitment, enemies suddenly find themselves questioning their techniques.  When a walking staff suddenly becomes a weapon wielded with surprising flair and painful accuracy resulting in looking up from your back or kissing the ground, armor seems a heavy burden when trying to crawl away.

Fists and feet, hard as granite, knees and elbows cutting as painfully as any sword or axe, headbutts that would leave a bull stunned, the Dwarven Monks of The Alloy Halls are here to guide you, to help you, to give you purpose.  Yes, you, the one who has lost the path, let us show you a new path, a bold path, a path few of our kind has ever followed.

Mage the Ascension

Let me start this by saying, I love this game, I hate this game.  If you have never played, do yourself a favor and give it a shot.  If you have played, you probably have some idea of what I'm saying.  If you have run this game, join me at the bar, I've got the first round of scotch already poured.

In this particular game, I've got the following:

A Verbana who's day job is a nurse in the cardiac ward of the local hospital.



A Cultist of Ecstasy who spends his time competing in on-line gaming.










A Virtual Adept who teaches chemistry at the local university.







An Akashic Brotherhood who works as a well-known motivational speaker.










A Dreamspeaker who is a librarian at the local public library.
















I love watching their thoughts develop as they explain how the different magics work within their paradigm.  There is much enjoyment stemming from the fact that none of them have any clue about how the World of Darkness works or how this game's mechanics work.  It should be quite a fun ride as they begin to experience things that are way outside the norm.

Of Cursed Rings

Been thinking about cursed magic rings lately and thought I'd share some of the ones I've come up with.



Ring of Appearances - 3/Day wear can cast disguise self; after each casting, base 10% chance + 5% per casting, one aspect remains disguised permanently.  

Ring of Life - 3/Day wearer can cast cure light wounds; wearer leaves dead footprints anywhere they walk on grass; cannot wear organic clothing or armor; significant negative reaction from any good aligned healer and/or denizen of the forest.

Ring of Raging Change - 1/Day gives the wearer the Barbarian Rage ability; must enter into mortal combat at least once a day, everyday that the wearer does not enter into mortal combat, the wearer changes one physical aspect to that of the ring's previous owner.

Ring of Random Blinking - +1 AC to the wearer; if the wearer is hit by an attack, the ring blinks the wearer away up to 100' (d100) in a random direction (use a d8 on a grid, d6 on a hex or d12 for no battle mat) - if the space is occupied, both occupants take d10 damage and are knocked prone to an adjacent space; if space is occupied by a solid object (tree, wall, etc.), wearer takes d10 damage and blinks to a new space.

Ring of Scrying - 3/Day wearer can cast scrying; has base 50% chance + 10% per use per month to summon the closest Beholder, who now hates the caster.  Beholder arrives in whatever time it takes to travel however it chooses to the caster and knows casters whereabouts at all times.  Beholder can choose to see through the casters eyes up until the Beholder and caster first see each other in person.  

Ring of Sliding - Wearer can cast teleport as the spell; each time the ring is used, it uses 1d4 charges from a nearby charged magical item; if no charged items are within 100', ring uses 1d6 spell levels from a spell caster; if no spell caster is within 100', ring uses 1d8 hp from wearer; has 5% base chance and +5% change per use each day to summon 1d4 Invisible Stalkers to attack wearer.

Ring of Thunderous Bolts - 3/Day wearer can cast Lightning Bolt at character level, though the bolt is always centered on the caster, extending equal distance in each direction; wearer is immune to electrical damage but takes X2 damage from fire and cold.

War between the Gods

In my current game, I have set the party up around The High Forest in the Sword Coast area of Faerun.  There is a paladin of Mielikki
and a pair of Tiefling siblings that are hellbent on causing as much chaos as possible - to the point that the paladin player considered retiring his character in favor of a PC that fit in with the Tieflings better.  I urged him to wait another game session as I had a brainstorm for an event in the prior game session that had not fully played out.  That event was the discovery that Yeenoghu had ordered his gnolls to start hunting Unicorns, which is going to piss off Mielikki and lead to a pretty interesting war.




At the same time, the fiendish mother of the Tieflings contacted them with instructions to assist the paladin in his fight against Yeenoghu's forces as much as possible while also trying to corrupt him and get him to fall.  She feels that weakening Yeenoghu might open a door for her to gain more power and a fallen paladin is a nice little trophy. 


While I like playing players off each other, especially when they are so opposite in manner and play-style, I feel like I may have overstepped my control of the game.  Originally, the main story-line was supposed to focus on the PCs saving their adopted town from gnoll raiders that would lead them into The High Forest and a Centaur/Elf conflict that had pushed the gnolls out of the area.  But this story seems so much more epic.  I am tempted to drop the Centaur/Elf war story as they haven't really had a chance to get into it other than seeing a few skirmish groups of Centaur.

Thoughts?

Downtime activities

So my current game also happens to be a lunch game with my co-workers.  Save one person, they are all brand new to tabletop rpgs, though most have experience in digital rpgs.  The party make-up is as follows:

Half-Orc Paladin - raised by Elves
Drow Bard - raised by Humans
High Elven Wizard - no real background story
Tiefling Rogue (sibling to the Barbarian) - raised by deceased, Human Father
Tiefling Barbarian (sibling to the Rogue) - raised by deceased, Human Father
Dwarf Fighter - orphaned to the military

Under normal circumstances, I'd just throw them in a couple dungeons and not worry about the social situations.  However, as it is a limited time-available game where players may not be able to play due to work requirements, I have set-up the theater of action to be close to a Human town.  This allows me to "excuse" players easily.  Also, I have allowed them to create a justification for absences so that they stay engaged in the story.  For example, the Dwarf had to miss the last two sessions where the party escorted a caravan back and forth from a trade center, bringing in the last of the winter supplies.  He spent the time preparing the cave system the town uses for storage.

So why am I telling you this?  Because we all need some downtime activities.  So here's some ideas I had.

1. Training with a local expert - martial or skill oriented.
2. Prepping the ______________ for the upcoming ________________.
3. Researching a particular topic.
4. Creating a new piece of equipment.
5. Attending to a family members needs.
6. Attending to a professional organizations needs.
7. Being sick.
8. Training animals.
9. Summoned by local nobility - good or ill.
10. Constructing/repairing a building. 

Mostly just some random thoughts on a random Monday.

Building a magical item: Metals

Before I went on hiatus for several years due to family and work commitments, I had started this series on item construction, now I'm finishing it up.


Sometimes, you get a player who is so heavily invested in the game and character development, that little things like item construction play a critical role.  Sometimes I like this, sometimes I find it a bit frustrating, but most of the time, I'm the player asking these questions.

Since metal serves as the base for almost all weapons and armor in fantasy games, it is useful to know what does what and how.  So, here we go...

Popular Types of Construction Metal:

If you are shooting for running a game with a very ancient feel, stone, copper and bronze make for good options to look into as your primary source of weapons and armor.  As for making items in a more advanced setting, these items make for good inlays.  As do the more precious metals like silver, gold and platinum.

Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12% tin and often with the addition of other metals and sometimes non-metals. These additions produce a range of alloys that may be harder than copper alone, or have other useful properties, such as stiffness, ductility or machinability.

Iron is relatively soft. Crude iron metal is produced in blast furnaces.  The material is significantly hardened and strengthened by impurities, in particular carbon from the smelting process. A certain proportion of carbon produces steel, which may be up to 1000 times harder than pure iron.

Steel (popular iron alloy)

 

  
 




Titanium is a lustrous metal with a silver color, low density and high strength. It is highly resistant to corrosion.









Mithril resembles silver but is stronger than steel, and much lighter in weight than either. It was originally introduced by the fantasy writings of Tolkien.













Adamantium and Vibranium are fictional metal alloys appearing in Marvel Comics.  The strength and uses of these "metals" has become the stuff of comic book legend.

Popular Types of Inlay Metal:

Gold is bright, slightly reddish yellow, dense, soft, malleable and ductile.
Gold helps to improve one’s character via education and learning oneself better; as well as lessening the trauma that is sometimes associated with the situations that are experienced during which the knowledge is gained.  As it is through many necessary experiences that Gold will help one to gain knowledge. 
Legend tells us that it has masculine qualities ruled by the sun.  It is told that Topaz in a Gold setting will disperse enchantments, and that Ruby in a Gold setting may refresh one’s body by absorbing energy from the sun.
Gold is said to clear away negativity, having the ability to transform energy and negativity.  One must be prudent with its use, as it is told that it may bring greed to the soul.
Gold is traditionally called The Master Healer. It is an excellent substance for purification of the entire body. Producing an energy that is both receptive and cooperative, Gold allows for extensive use with gemstones, as it is capable of attracting, holding and stabilizing the influence of any stone one chooses to use.

Intimately linked with divinity, Gold is particularly useful with any and all deity associated with the Sun.  Magicians working exclusively with the Sun or solar energy, wearing gold during rituals is said to assisting in attuning with that power source.

Gold is the most magically potent of all metals, and is utilized to lend its magic energy to rituals. Worn during spells and rituals, it will enhance the ability to build and send forth energy where it is directed.

Silver is a soft, white, lustrous metal, it possesses the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and reflectivity of any metal. The metal occurs naturally in its pure, free form (native silver), as an alloy with gold (electrum) and other metals.
While Gold is beautiful, impressive and inspires power; the calmer, more tolerant attitude that surrounds Silver is more enjoyable and pleasant. Like gold, silver symbolized wealth and prosperity, Silver is the metal of emotions, of the psychic mind, and of loving as well as healing.
Quite early in human history it was noticed that liquids kept in Silver containers remained fresh and pure longer.
Numerous legends, traditions and myths have grown up around this bright reflective mineral. Certain purification rites practiced by the Egyptians called for special basins made of Silver. Such practices even find their way into contemporary rituals as well. With Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran religions, their chalices for mass must be constructed of Gold, Silver or Vermeil.

Silver is told to bring advantage to its wearer throughout life. It is used to conjure patience and perseverance to the wearer, and it used extensively with gemstones due to the fact that the metal attracts and retains the qualities emitted by the stones.

It is known to enhance the powers of the moon, particularly during the full and new moons. Throughout the world it is identified with the lunar manifestations of the Great Mother, the eternal goddess. As the metal is reflective, as the moon reflects the light of the sun, so does silver reflect negativity from the wearer. Tiny silver globes, or any sliver jewelry can be worn for magical security; used to provide protection again evil intent, reflecting spells of harm back to the sender.

Silver can also be used to enhance one’s psychic abilities, as it is a psychic-influencing metal. When worn it stimulates one’s psychic awareness but simultaneously lulls the conscious, so as not to overwhelm. Donning silver jewelry before sleep is another method of producing psychic dreams. If the piece is set with moonstone or other gemstone with psychic properties the effects will be more powerful.

There is a long history and tradition of healing associated with Silver. It is believed that Silver is antibacterial of sorts. A disinfectant for the human body that boosts your immunity.

In many ancient cultures, silver was used to purify water and in the prevention of festering of wounds.

Energy workers will find this metal a wonderful conduit for sending energy to a patient. It can also be used to help channel the energies of gemstones in healing, particularly: Turquoise, Carnelian, Moonstone, Amethyst and Quartz are excellent healing stones to channel with Silver.

Gemstones that you are working with are more powerful set or wrapped in silver. It has almost no vibrational impact on the stones, quite the opposite in fact, it will enhance the connection between the wearer and the stone, allowing for a gentle flow of energy between the two. It is said that over time that the silver will in fact absorb and reflect the same energy as the stone it is set in.

Practitioners of astral travel may like using Silver as an anchor as they move from one reality to another. It provides a kind of energy beam or signal trace that allows you to always “see” where your physical body is. So you aren’t distracted by the fear of not being able to return.

Copper is a soft, malleable and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a reddish-orange color. It is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, as a building material, and as a constituent of various metal alloys.
As Copper is a conductor of heat and electricity, it is also considered a conductor of one’s spiritual energy, moving it back and forth between people, auras, crystals, and the spirit world. Said to be able to amplify one’s thoughts, sending and receiving psychic communication.
Also said to combat laziness and lethargy, passivity as well as non-acceptance of oneself.
Said to be the bestower of good and the bringer of luck, Copper is said to especially bring positive energy in the recovery of property or possessions when lost or fallen into the wrong hands.
Copper is said to attract money. And although pennies are no longer crafted of copper, those produced in earlier years have been placed in and about one’s kitchen to draw wealth to the household.

Physically, Copper is said to stabilize and balance the flow of blood within the body, assisting to increase circulatory functions of the blood system. Said to help cleanse wounds as well as fighting  bacterial infection, as well as arthritis, rheumatism, and to simulate the metabolic functions of the body.  Helpful with the alleviation of cramp like symptoms, promoting the proper functioning of the glands, and to prevent the daily wear and tear of the joints.

Long used to stimulate healing of all types, it is said to be linked to Copper’s ability to balance the body’s polarities, as well as the flow of projective and receptive energies.  Pure copper is often worn to prevent illness, motion sickness and any disease due to unbalance.

Copper is generally worn on the opposite side of one’s dominant hand; thus the left hand if one is right handed.

History and ancient texts indicate that Copper has long been linked with the Divine, attributed to the Queen of Heaven, as well as all goddesses associated with the planet Venus.  Being a well known conductor of electricity, modern day practitioners fashion wands of copper tubing or adorn wands with copper wire or pieces.

Used in rituals to call on the Goddess, Copper has a permanent place on the altar and most all rituals and spells of any kind.

Mercury is commonly known as quicksilver. A heavy, silvery element, mercury is the only metallic element that is liquid at STP.
It is the stuff of legend, the key to alchemy and witchcraft, a deadly poison and yet also a potent medicine. We use it to weigh the air, generate reflections and also to measure our temperature.
Mercury is poisonous, rots the brain and is a general menace.
Quicksilver, the old name for mercury, is a heavy metallic element, 13.5 times denser than water. This density gives rise to some of mercury's most fascinating properties. If you built a bath of mercury and jumped in, you would break your bones.
Once in, you would bob around on the surface like an insect on water, barely sinking in an inch.
If you had the balance you could easily walk on mercury and it is possible to play billiards on a mercury bath - the balls would only sink a fraction of an inch.
To touch cold mercury feels like, well, nothing else on Earth. Not liquid, not solid, but cold, clammy - like cold, fresh liver.  Thanks to the fact that almost anything will float in mercury baths, they were traditionally used as a low-friction rotation mechanism for the giant mirrors in lighthouses.
Historically, man has always treated quicksilver with a mixture of fear and respect.
Fear because it is toxic, and respect both for its strange properties and its supposed medical uses.
The vapours given off by this extraordinary element are highly toxic.  Animal skins were dipped in a solution of mercuric nitrate which turned the fur into a matted felt. The fumes given off by this process poisoned the brains of anyone in the vicinity, causing an epidemic of psychiatric problems among workers in the hat industry, hence the phrase "as mad as a hatter".
It may be dangerous, but mercury is also extremely useful.  Mercury dissolves aluminium. Mercury's otherworldliness has always been recognised. In China, India and Tibet, mercury compounds were thought to prolong life (although they often had the opposite effect).
The Hindi word for alchemy is "Rassayana", which means "the way of mercury". Alchemists thought mercury was a primordial element, the first matter from which all metals were formed.
Mercury was thought to be the key to the transformation of base metals into gold (the holy grail of alchemy), perhaps because the noblest and most precious of metals actually dissolves in the stuff.

Backing a Kickstarter

It would seem that my long hibernation from gaming may be coming to an end.  If you have a few bucks, consider throwing them this way.

Katanas & Trenchcoats Kickstarter

Building a magical item: Items of Wood

Wood is one of the most fundamental items used by man, it provides material for weapons, fire, lodging, pretty much anything early man needed to get on about their day.  Today we have improvements over some of the original uses of wood, metal for weapons, coal/petroleum/gas for fire, concrete for lodging, but wood is still just about the most used item.

So, let's take a look at all the wonderful and wondrous items we can make with wood and which woods might make the best version of a magical item.  

First stop, WANDS:


Yeah, kinda cliche to list wands first, but they are a foundation piece in D&D.  Intricately carved or naturally grown, straight and true or gnarled and wicked, wands come in all shapes, but generally not all sizes.  What is one to do when wanting to craft that particular wand?  Since wands can hold charges of just about any low level spell, the options really are too many to list here.  But a few examples would be:
  
Lightning - you will want a wand crafted from a tree that has been hit by lightning and survived.
Fireball - you will want a wand crafted from a tree that has some fire resistance or that burned in a forest fire.
Magic Missile - as the spell manifestation is unique to each caster, the decision here is up to you.
Healing - you will want a wand crafted from a tree known to have healing properties (such as birch or willow for the salicylic acid they contain).

Next up, Staffs and Hafts:

Here, you will likely want a wood that is solid and strong, something with an appealing grain and texture. Waxwood has gained popularity in use as a staff, but traditionally we look to the ash, hickory and oak trees as sources.  I can see this being a good opportunity to get in some role-playing or to flesh out your characters area contacts - perhaps they know a Treant who would assist in finding a suitable log or Druid that knows of a recently felled tree.  Conversely, the PC could make an enemy out of said individuals by taking a tree without permission.  If one is using the legacy concept of magic item evolution (my grandfather's axe), then by all means, make sure to use the same kind of wood that was previously used.

BOWS and ARROWS:

This has always been a bit of a tricky subject to me, some games attribute magical properties to the bow, some games attribute it to the arrows and some games to both (making for a very power combination). I tend to lean to the side saying the bow is magical and imparts that magic onto the projectile unless the arrow is a specific item (arrow of dragon/giant/etc slaying). Yew and Elm seem to be popular choices, but any hardwood should be considered.

Defensive items:

Most tanks are going to want a shield and wooden shields are historically very common. Some games create wooden armor and this is historically accurate in certain areas of the world and certain time periods.  Oak seems to be the wood of choice, then covered in hides and capped with metal.  The sizes and shapes obviously depend on the source.

I can see a big, ancient oak that has been hit by lightning several times and survived a couple of forest fires providing material for a lot of shields, staffs, hafts, wands, arrows and bows.  When it doubt, talk to an elf or druid, those Treants are hard to find unless you've pissed them off!

Of Teaching Of Tables Of Tops

Good morning class, welcome to Tabletop Gaming 1003.  The "1" designates that you do not know anything about the subject and the "3" designates how many hours of credit this class is worth.  For the life of me, I never knew what the middle numbers were used for other than complicating my life when trying to make sure I had the easy teacher.

            How about we start today with understanding what tabletop gaming really is.  It is not Scrabble, Checkers or Tic-Tac-Toe.  It might be Monopoly, Sorry or Apples-to-Apples, but let's be honest, that crap is for strict Christian family night at home or the church picnic.  Family's who's kids are one high school graduation away from being shown what the real world is (note: there is a time and place for everything and it's called college, if you didn't do stupid shit in college, you missed out).  Now quick, you can jump over to Wikipedia and read some douche bag's idea of what constitutes tabletop gaming...OR...we can toss your ass into the fire and see if it burns.

Tabletop gaming comes in five basic styles: Strategy, Chance, Miniature, Card and Role-Playing.

            Strategy (sometimes called European) is based on planning your moves, anticipating what your opponent(s) will do and reacting to minor changes in the gaming environment.  Lords of Waterdeep and Carcassonne are decent representations of this style.

            Chance (also called American) is based on random events that can radically change the game, game environment or game progression with a roll of the die or a pull of the card.  Cosmic Encounter is dice-less, but is so random that the game can turn on one card being pulled from the deck, while SmallWorld may or may not require dice depending on your decisions.

            Miniature games require boards, miniature pieces and often lots of money to invest in the pieces and time to invest in their customizations.  Warhammer (and its 40K version) and Leviathans represent miniature gaming very well.

            Card games generally involve either pre-building a deck before the game starts - Magic: The Gathering or as the game progresses - Ascension.

            Finally, we get to Role-Playing games for the tabletop.  Traditionally, this has meant Dungeons and Dragons or any of its numerous derivatives.  However, Wizards of the Coast got the idea a few years ago to introduce a true board game version and they did it quite well with Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon and Legend of Drizzt.  However, others are there as well, Game of Thrones or Descent fill in quite nicely.

            So, now you have some idea of the plethora of games and game types available out there.  In the next installment, we look into some of the digitized versions of these games.

Of Fans Of Fantasy Of Football

Of Fans Of Fantasy Of Football

Many years ago, I asked my father why he was a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals.  He responded with some long drawn out diatribe on why the Cardinals were a great franchise and why true mid-westerners rooted for the "Cards" and not the "Cubbies" or some other random team in the mid-west.  Then he went on to say that, he did not like to think of himself as a "fan", but rather someone who enjoyed the games played by the Cardinals.  "Huh, why don't you want to be a 'fan'?  Because fan is short for fanatic and I don't want to be considered crazy."

Fanatic - a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal, as in religion or politics.  Synonyms: enthusiast, zealot, bigot, hothead, militant...you get the idea...

Therefore, this got me thinking about the word 'fantasy' and its origins. 

Fantasy - imagination, especially when extravagant and unrestrained.  OH THERE IT IS!!!!

Unrestrained, sounds a lot like enthusiast, which just happens to tie into fanatic, which brings me around to FANTASY FOOTBALL, aka Dungeons and Dragons for jocks (yes, you've seen the meme). 

A bunch of people (mostly guys with personal hygiene issues) sitting in a room looking at numbers, hoping for random chance to fall their way, anxiously awaiting a specific day of the week, or going overboard and participating multiple times a week.  Initially it starts out cheap, free leagues, borrowing a friend's books; before long, you are buying used copies and paying just a $5 entry fee.  Somewhere down the line, you have started your own league (gaming group), have hundreds of dollars tied up in franchise players (dice, rulebooks, beloved PCs).  You have a completely new group of friends (more like you, less like...people) that you see and talk too regularly, your old friends are still around, but they do not get you now.  Entities that you have no reasonable expectation of ever interacting with have become critical to your happiness, completion and success.  How does one cope?  How does one go on?  How does one make sure not to bench the RB3 who is going to have a monster game against a defense rated 25th against the run?  It will be ok, right?  I can bench Tony Gonzalez and play Vernon Davis against the depleted Arizona secondary this week, right? Wait, am I playing the Arizona defense this week in my PPR league?  Do I go with swinging a 2-hander or sword and board, with the plate armor?

After all, it is just fantasy...right?

Shifting Focus

Inevitably, when I make a decision about starting or stopping something, an event occurs that changes what I just stated.  Well, it happened, I've gotten an opportunity to write for the on-line site - Lightly Buzzed.  I get to cross post my articles here, which is good, but I'm not sure how well the formatting will translate. Regardless, this should be a fun and interesting new endeavor.

Accursed Kickstarter

Some time ago, I thought that I would have time to actively run an interesting blog.  That time has come and gone unless something happens that really changes the status quo.  In the meantime, here's a kickstarter for a friend of mine's game - he's a long-time professional in the gaming industry.  Check it out:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1231173913/accursed-rpg?ref=tag

Building a magical item: The Crafting Process

  While I will not even begin to claim I know anything about forging metal, crafting bows, carving wood or stone or pretty much any skill even remotely related to *ancient* craftsmen, I have seen and read enough to at least speculate on some of the things necessary to craft items in a fantasy setting.

  So without further delay, here are some of the things one might take into consideration when crafting magical items:

The specific person (or thing) crafting the item.  I list this because chances are, your character isn't a master craftsmen, if they were, what are they doing adventuring?

    Master Craftsmen (racially dependent) - years of training, followed by years of skill perfecting lead to perfecting the ability to match an item to the user (most useful for weapons and metal armors)
    Planar Entity - physics on other planes make items on the prime plane more effective (think manufacturing in space as a real world equivalent)
    Divine/Abyssal/Infernal Entity - hey, an angel isn't going to fail you and an item crafted by a devil/demon is gonna advance their own agenda (not saying you will be advancing their agenda though)
 
 

Quenching Fluids (used in the forging of metal: swords, axe, hammer and arrow heads, wands, etc.)
    Blood - used to give an item SEEKING, HATED, SLAYING, LIFE STEALING, just need the blood of X (i.e. vampire) for effect against X (i.e. vampire)
    Milk - used to give an items HEALING,
    Natural Oils (olive, peanut, etc.) - used to give an item nature based effects
    Petroleum Oils - used to give an item SLICKNESS, SHADOW
    Holy/Unholy Water - used to give an item the Holy or Unholy ability, also potentially for use against divine/abyssal/infernal targets
    Salt Water - used on an item designed for use underwater
    Elemental Water - used to give an item power against elementals
    Your own Blood (likely mixed with something from above) - should give the item more power (at least in your hands), or possibly increase the likelihood of an intelligent weapon.

Phase of the Moon (when the primary part of whatever is being crafted would be crafted, i.e. blade of a sword, head of an axe, shaft of a staff), I'm not sure how waxing or waning might be included in this.
   Full - Protection, Power, Strength
   Gibbous - Chaos, Performance, Knowledge
   Half - Insight, Wards, Balance
   Crescent - Wisdom, Creation
   New - Stealth, Subterfuge
While these aren't necessarily *powers*, one can see how they might be used in conjunction with the intent of the item being created.

Seasons
   Spring - Life, Growth, Chaos, anything that involves increases
   Summer - Heat, strength, power, anything that involves stability (note: this is different that stasis)
   Fall - Decay, anything that involves decreasing
   Winter - Cold, Death, weakness, stealth, anything that involves stasis

So how does all of this work together you might ask, well that's mostly up to you and your DM.  Personally, I like to think of these things working in conjunction to boost the overall power of an item.  In game mechanics terms, something along the lines of a +1 of every component you might be able to use.  Case in point, how many +5 items (weapons or armor) do you see in a standard game, probably not many unless your DM is Monty Haul.  Thus, you could say that if a sword were crafted by a master sword smith (+1) during the Full Moon (+1), in the mid-Summer (perhaps specifically on the summer solstice) (+1), using a gallon of your own blood (+1) mixed with Holy Water (Holy) would result in a +4 Holy Sword *when you are wielding it, +3 Holy Sword in the hands of another.

Finally, enough has been stated about the necessary spells used in magic item construction so I won't go into those.  But, I would like to point out that spells used to improve the crafting environment (endure elements), skill of the craftsman (bless, bull's strength) and assistance to the craftsman (unseen servant) might be of importance to a DM.

Building a magical item

    I love my gaming group, I love my gaming group, I love my gaming group, well sometimes not so much.  Life, loves (or at least lusts), work, play, family, all seem to plague this group of people that constitute my gaming group.  We barely maintain an every-other week game after trying for about a year to have a weekly game - 2 hours a week just doesn't cut it for me, but I understand the demands of other's work requirements, so I try not to complain when they had to end or leave a gaming session at 8.  Perhaps I'm just a little spoiled in previously having a gaming group that played for 5-ish hours at a time, every week.  But this is mostly off-topic, what brings me to my point is that we are shifting game systems, likely to one that isn't as "highly magical" or "magically active" and the Pathfinder/D&D default worlds (yes, I know that the various D&D worlds vary in their magic-isity) in that magic items (weapons, wands, staves, rods, etc.) are going to actually be defined by their make-up.  If you want a magic wand, unless you find it, you aren't going to go to the store and "buy" a wand of magic missiles, so you have to make it, finding a special (perfect) tree branch or bone or having a craftsman make one.

   Well, what makes up a magic item?  That varies from item to item:

A sword is likely going to require:
metal for the blade and guard - iron, steel, etc.
leather for the grip - cow, deer, displacer beast
"something" for the pommel - gemstone, metal, bone
To add to the creativity, a different metal or gemstone might be inlaid along the blade. Wood from a certain type of tree might be used for the grip. A certain design (snake, vines, holy symbol) might be used for the guard.







What about an axe you might ask, well:
metal for the head - mithril, star metal
leather for the grip - umber hulk, drow skin
metal or wood for the haft - oak, trent



-C over at Hack&Slash has 3 good posts of random materials for item creation and that's a fine place to start.

But ultimately this information is only a side issue of where I'm headed with this series of posts.  What I'm really striving for is what "things" you might need to craft a flaming burst great axe +3 or a dancing long sword. So, over the next few entries, yes they are already written and scheduled to post automatically, I'm going to talk about what *I think* would allow for special ability to manifest in weapons and yes, there will be some discussion and elaboration on the actual crafting process as a means of adding abilities (hint: get ready to shed some blood).

Lords of Waterdeep

Lords of Waterdeep

Classified as a "European" style game by my friends, this game has been extraordinarily fun and quite enjoyable, if a bit complicated in learning how to play it.  The various aspects of this game have me wanting more games like it.  The game is very much a hybrid, providing the feel of a good combination of computer based MMO (quest completion and competing for limited resources) and tabletop RPG (making the decision on what, when and how to achieve goals).

The game starts with a combination of intrigue cards and quest cards, gives you a Lord of Waterdeep, a couple of agents and a money supply.  In the group pool of resources are gold, clerics, wizards, thieves and warriors.  On the board are more intrigue cards, quest cards, building cards, potential agent recruits and game control pieces.  Default locations on the board provide starting players with access to the various classes needed to complete quests and gain more gold.  Because only 1 building can be purchased each round, the selection of buildings (3 to choose from at any given time) can significantly affect your ability to complete quests.  As an aside, knowing which quest type your particular Lord wants can make a huge difference at the end of the game, so pay attention.

So far, there have been some obviously better quests/buildings/intrigue cards and some that seem to be after thought crap.  The difficulty in executing the quests varies and depending on how you approach it, can make a slow start erupt into a run-away winner.  

An important note, the execution order of each turn does seem to have a significant impact on play and determination of play by other players, so paying attention to the game is a must.  This is not a beer and pretzels game if you are trying to be competitive.  And while it can be complicated at first, getting to know and understand the little things about this game, make me like it even more.  But, because it has a fair bit of randomness, it does not benefit the regular player so much so that a new player cannot compete in their first game.

I highly enjoy this game, highly recommend this game and will consider purchasing this game upon my return from GenCon.

-

Thunderstone Advanced - Towers of Ruin

Thunderstone Advanced has me torn.  Some aspects of this game I love, some irritate me and some just don't make a damn bit of sense.  There is a Facebook version of this game, but it is not the advanced version and is irritating in its own way.

Thunderstone gives the players an option of going to the village to acquire items (weapons, gear or villagers), heroes and spells or going to the dungeon to fight monsters.  In the dungeon, each "rank" of dungeon is progressively harder due to light levels, with rank 1 being -2 to attack, rank 2 being -4 and rank 3 being -6.  Fortunately, there are various light sources that can be used to counter these penalties.  This is significant as the monsters at each level are randomly pulled from the monster deck and thus you can get high/hard monsters at the "upper" ranks and low/easy monsters at the "lower" ranks, making them much more difficult.  In addition, most of the monsters now also have battle effects that can seriously affect the game.

Ok, some of the good - leveled heroes, no dice, lots of cards and options for deck development.  Fundamentally, this is just like other deck building game - a system of which I have become a huge fan.  The items can make a huge difference in how fast you make it into the dungeon, but can also be challenging due to becoming hero starved.

Some of the bad, one of the stated goals of this "advanced" version was to allow you into the dungeon faster - it has failed at this every time I've played it.  In the scenarios, the spells have been weak and at least one hero was pretty much useless, if not worse than the starting basic soldier (see picture above) you can get for free every round.











That said, some of the heroes are amazing and it is usually blatantly obvious that they are the best and go the fastest.  I mentioned "leveled heroes" earlier and I really, really like this aspect of the game.  You can level up your starting "basic heroes" to the purchased ones on the board and level the purchased ones up to more powerful versions using the experience gained from killing the monsters - that is fun and very useful.  The leveled up heroes eventually become worth victory points, so leveling at least some of them is usually a very good option.  Surprisingly, experience points (the little thunderstone shard pictured below) are not worth victory points, so holding on to them is useless - this is a point often lost on new players.

I cannot say I agree with most of the online evaluations giving this game a fairly high score (8+/10 in most cases).  I think they have tried too hard to refine it and actually made a slightly less fun version.  I cannot say that I would actually recommend spending money on this version, but if you already have, perhaps the expansions can redeem it, but I won't be purchasing them.