Bottled Memories

I swear I have read about these on another blog or forum post, but cannot for the life of me determine which one.  Maybe I bottled that memory.

 Jeff Haynie

(I found the image HERE at Goblin Punch).

Bottled Memories are just one more odd item that can be found, either in abandoned wizard towers or a fey market.  Sometimes they are traded elsewhere for varying prices, depending on which memory is said to be within.

The bottles themselves are reminiscent of potion bottles, crystal or ceramic vials that pulse a bit with power, and depending on the memory within in, might be warm or cold to the touch.  Memories trapped in bottles utterly leave the mind of those the memories come from, and the process of bottling memories is lost to modern societies, although certain ancient texts, fey, dragons, extraplanar creatures, and liches may still know how to go about it.

This means that most bottled memories are old.  Terribly old, and perhaps not even from remotely human minds.  This also means that the memories within may be groundshaking revelations.

To use the bottled memory, one merely opens it and inhales the scintillating fumes that waft out of it.  Then the memory is in their mind, to do with as they please.  Sometimes, the memory is such that the new owner of it rightfully fears knowing the information.

Known memories that have been bottled include (according to opened memories and labels on unopened bottles):

Lost spells.

Maps to now-sunken cities, lost temples, hidden troves.

Answers to puzzles or riddles.

How to bypass and navigate trap-filled labyrinths.

Where certain beings are buried, dead or otherwise.

True names of extraplanar beings.

Secret formulae and processes.

National secrets.

Truth behind legends.

Now-dead languages.

Forgotten faiths.

The ability to manipulate magic.

Entire skillsets (a gnome became a master shipwright overnight after one particular bottled memory).

Living spells.

Personalities that dominate and replace the new possessor (the lich Joseph Curwen returned this way).

Recipes.

Personally traumatic events.

Personally satisfying events.

Family faces and names.

Seasons in the sun.

Country roads.

As can be seen, a bottled memory ranges from a precise single memory to a complex connected series of memories.  Yet there is no way to know what it actually is until the bottle or flask is uncorked and the memory inhaled.

For what it is worth, the process of bottling a memory involves a specially-prepared bottle or flask and an (un)willing memory donor.  Research suggests the spells Feeblemind, Modify Memory, Detect Thoughts, and Legend Lore are involved, and from ancient descriptions, the donor tends to end up suffering the effects of Feeblemind for some time after the memory is bottled.  Once bottled, the memory no longer can be recalled, nor can anything short of a Wish determine what it might have been.  Other requirements, such as how to prepare the bottle or flask, are unknown.

PC Backgrounds and the Frankengame

I am sorely tempted to implement this in my Frankengame ruleset, but it implies a system that doesn't provide regular feats and stat boosts with leveling, ala' 3.x and 5e.  I'm good with that, but it pushes my Frankengame closer to B/X than before.  

Something I am also good with.  

From Moldvay Basic, 1981, artist uncertain.

PC background – Roll on the Failed Careers table (from Ten Foot Polemic: 200 Failed Medieval Careers).   Each time you level, roll on the Retroactive Background Table (from Ten Foot Polemic: 1d100 Retroactive Backstory). As the game progresses, use of the I Know a Guy rule can expand character background, perhaps tied into the Retroactive Backstory. 

Tied to backgrounds is the PC's astrological sign, from New Big Dragon Games.  The linked post references a d12 with Zodiac signs on it, but a normal d12 would suffice.  As an aside, New Big Dragon Games has lots of great BX supplemental rules.

Then there is the matter of Faith.  For Clerics (and Paladins, if I include them), it is of utmost importance, but for other classes, not so much.  

I haven't decided upon a pantheon yet, and would be happy letting players choose/design their own deities on the fly.  

So I guess that is for another post.

DCC and the Frankengame

Compiling various houserules to run the game I want to run has led me to DCC, and it has lots to borrow: the mighty deeds, the entire magic system, the lovely random tables, and the flavor.  

Honestly, about the only thing I might dislike about DCC is the additional funny dice and that is because I feel I own enough dice - heresy, I know!

The cover of the comprehensive rules tome; the hardback holds a (large) place of pride on my bookshelf.

So the question I am asking myself, is why not run a full blown DCC game and be done with it?  I have the rules in pdf, so providing players with copies is trivial.  I have reams of adventures for DCC, initially for idea-mining, but I can run them as-is, as well.

Finding the players prove the issue.   Where I live are lots of gamers, but from what I can tell, most are 5e, which is the system they have grown used to.  Nothing wrong with that - my Frankengame certainly uses advantage/disadvantage from it, and the Ghosts of Saltmarsh book is a lovely addition to my shelf (but I am a Saltmarsh fanboy, so that may bias me).  I've run and played 5e, and it works, despite being too super-heroic for my tastes.

I can do a rough survey and find out.  

Then its a question of time.

Edit:  HERE is a fairly thorough review of DCC.

 

Mixed Feelings

A variety of things to write about, mostly focused on why I haven't posted much lately.  Regular readers may not care, but I do, so free therapy.

MekHQ and MegaMek have been eating lots of time.  I am running a full combined arms regiment at this point, so lots of minutiae and micromanaging in the name of entertainment.  It is still fun, but I keep increasing the optional rules, to self-moderate and make it more challenging.  In the name of 80% salvage, I fight through and crush all, not even bothered by potential salvage exploding from ammo and fuel tanks.

All the fights take time.  Thankfully, the latest release lets me shut off chase missions, which are ridiculous time sinks.  Even without chases, the battles take time.  

No guts, no galaxy and all that.

I got to play DnD this past week.  A buddy is running the Candlekeep Mysteries adventures, on a first-come, first-serve basis.  I was able to join for the second session.  From the way it played out, I suspect the intent was not needing to kill anything, but the random PC I chose (my buddy provided a handful for late/lazy players) was the Evil Bugbear Rogue, so death was a member of the party.  Murdering critters in their sleep made me feel a touch bad, but as a bugbear, that is kinda what they do.  

Anyhow, we had fun and solved the mystery (I think).  If I can join next session (schedules dictate yes or no), I will continue playing as Tumble the Bugbear Rogue.  Despite his murderous tendencies (he also likes to eat, or at least taste, everything he kills), I am enjoying the murderous bastard.

Other than that, I am solidifying my comprehensive house rules, reading, mapping, watching movies, and drinking too much.  The urge to write more is there, but peters out once I'm in front of a computer.  If it is laziness or apathy or true writer's block, I have no clue.

Watery Magic Items

These are inspired by a Facebook post I responded to.  The poster asked for aquatic magic items, and these were some of my suggestions.

Shark-Tooth Necklace

This large black shark's tooth hangs from a stout silver cord, with several beads and smaller teeth to either side.  In addition to providing the wearer with a +1 bonus towards Charisma-based checks with sea folk and sailors and such, it also curses the wearer with becoming a wereshark.  Before the first change, the wearer develops a massive appetite, preferably for raw flesh.

While transformed, the wereshark becomes a temporary NPC and performs one of these actions (or something similar, but aquatic).  

Remove Curse at DC 12 allows the wearer to remove the necklace, but the DC increases by 1 for each sentient being slain.  Upon killing a full score of beings, the curse cannot be removed except by slaying the wereshark, whereupon slayers tend to claim the necklace as loot and the cycle begins anew.

Figuring of Wondrous Power: Driftwood Dolphin

When activated (it must be submerged in salt water and the command word Flipper is uttered), a full size playful and intelligent dolphin grows and splashes in the water, awaiting its command.   This dolphin will carry you to shore, scout out a location, fetch something underwater (or carry something under), and attack on your behalf.  

Should the dolphin die, it remembers you when it returns and is not amused.   Dead or dismissed, the dolphin shrinks back into the driftwood carving and may be carried away by the waves if the controller is not quick. 

In fact, this is how the statue changes hands - it is often found washed up on a beach.

Coral Helm

Amy Weber, Coral Helm, 1994

This pink coral helm was obviously grown, but its odd symmetry suggests guidance in its growth, perhaps from sea elves, perhaps from tritons, perhaps from a bored sea god.  Regardless of how it was formed, the Coral Helm is a wondrously useful tool for land dwellers.  Most importantly, it allows whomever dons it to breathe saltwater as if it were oxygen, and to see through the dim ocean waters as if it were normal lighting.  In addition, it allows the wearer to swim as if a sea elf and the ability to speak and summon sea life (although not control it, but the wearer doesn't know that).

The longer one wears the Coral Helm (either cumulatively or straight in a row), the more at home they become in the ocean, and the more they prefer to remain.  Webbing grows between the fingers and toes, gills open on the neck, and the wearer becomes incapable of breathing air.  After three months of use, the wearer feels an unavoidable urge to dive down to the ocean floor, where she curls up and becomes the seed of a new coral reef.  Regardless of how long submerged, the Coral Helm always remains at the top of the reef, easily harvested by those curious.  Digging into the roots of reef, directly below the Coral Helm may reveal the remains (or at least some of the magical and metal bits) of its last wearer. 

What effects potions carried have on the growth of the reef are uncertain, but makes for fascinating debates among half-drunk water wizards.

Conch of the Tritons

There are several versions of this Conch Horn.  

1. Basically a Horn of Valhalla (DMG p175), but only works underwater, and the warriors summoned are tritons, sea elves, or sahaugin, depending on the Conch's alignment.  

2. Formerly belonged to a Triton Princeling, and like all such horns, has a unique sound tied directly to that Princeling.  Tritons that respond will not be amused to find a non-Triton sounding the horn, but will not immediately attack.  They will demand to know how the PCs gained the Conch Horn and what became of the Princeling. 

3. Stormcalling.  When blown, a storm begins brewing around the caster (see the spell Control Weather), quickly spinning up into a hurricane.  Once sounded, the storm begins to brew, until the equivalent of a Cat 5 Hurricane strikes the land, centered upon wherever the horn was blown.  While the storm takes a day or two to hit full destructive potential, it blows itself out by the end of day three.  Note that the supernatural nature of the storms summoned make them excellent breeding grounds for lightning elementals.

4. Summoning.  Sounding this horn is dangerous, as one of the following hears, responds, and wants a damn good reason for why it was summoned.  If it doesn't like the reason, it attacks.  1: Kraken  2: Dragon Turtle  3: Leviathan  4: Sea Giant  5: Elemental Water Dragon   6:  Charybdis   Note that this Conch Horn is the real reason behind several coastal legends of apocalyptic city-sinkings and terrible storms.  Edit: Then again, the Conch Horn of Summoning might call up a whale, instead.

Lanyard of Flotation

Anything this lanyard is properly attached to floats, incapable of sinking entirely.  Heavier objects float along just under the surface, the ball of the lanyard remaining visible (and strangely dry) above the water.  As might be imagined, these Lanyards are actively sought and well-protected by pirates, marines, and others who spend too much time on the water.

Attaching a Lanyard of Flotation to a body does not prevent drowning nor even the body being eaten.  It merely keeps it afloat.  Rumor has it that bodies kept afloat too long become a terrible form of undead.

Edit: Wow! I stumbled across this d100 list at Elfmaids & Octopi, and it puts my work to shame. 

Quirks, Flaws, and Imperfections in Magic Items

This document exists because I firmly believe that magic item usage in D&D should be a meaningful decision for players, not an automatic one.  As such, adding costs in the form of quirks, flaws, and imperfections to items make players truly think about the merits of using an item at any given time.  Either as part of a custom item or merely attached to something from a published source, these twenty options provide the DM with an imperfect method of balancing otherwise potent magic items.

Remove Curse spells do not remove these traits, and they have no affect on attunement, because these traits are not curses – they do not bind the cursed item to the user, they merely affect the user when the item is used.  Successfully unbinding one of these traits typically destroys the item in the process.

Some of these suggestions work better with certain types of items than with others.  Mixing and matching these effects can also make for some entertaining items.  Durations of these effects vary between long rests and entire sessions.  This is to prevent people gaming the system and the whole exercise being a waste of time.

Erol Otus, from Moldvay Basic, 1981

 

1.  Exhaustion. Each use of this item leaves the user with a level of exhaustion. 
2. Footprints. For the next several hours, the user’s footprints glow, sear, form chalk outlines, steam, or otherwise make it readily apparent which way the user went.  These footprints remain for the rest of the session.
3. Glows. Using this item places a Faerie Fire upon the user.  This particular version lasts until the next session.  The color of the glow may be dictated by wielder’s alignment, by random, or may be a specific color each time. 
4. Volume.  Using this item either makes the wielder mute until after the next long rest or forces them to shout everything until after the next long rest.  Roleplayers rejoice!
5. Synesthesia.  Activating this item affects the user’s voice, and their words come out and appear above them in glowing letters.  These words are visible to anyone with eyes, and of course, the words can still be heard.  Shouted words are LARGE AND IN ALL CAPS, while whispered words are far smaller.  All of the words glow bright enough to see by.
6. Addictive.  Using the item forces a Wisdom save DC 12 or immediately use it again, even if not a tactically sound move.  That time forces a DC 14 save.  The next time a DC 16.  Etc.  If a wielder successfully saves, the next time used starts at the DC left off on.  This is how stories of berserkers begin…
7. Senseless. Using the item renders the user temporarily blind or deaf until after the next long rest.
8. Reduces stat. This item is powered by its wielder’s Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma.  Activating the item reduces the appropriate stat by 2d4+1 (or a fixed amount, as you prefer) for the rest of the session.
9. Vulnerability. When carried, this item makes the carrier/user vulnerable to 1d6: 1 silver, 2 iron, 3 wood 4 fire 5 water 6 truth.  Alternatively, when activated, the user becomes vulnerable to that substance for the rest of the session. 
10. Spell immunity. The bearer/user is immune from all spells of specific levels (typical 0 and 1, or 2, or 3, etc).  All spells, enemy, ally, and self, fail to work on the PC.  Discarding the item helps, but the immunity takes a month to wear off.
11. Enrages.  All living and unliving things that encounter you are enraged and want to ruin you (physically or in reputation, if they cannot reasonably win a fight.  Even allies are affected, but their familiarity nets them a DC 14 save to not attack.  EDIT: It might just enrage beings of a certain race or species.
12. Draws fire.  The user mystically draws the attention and anger of all opposing combatants, so when in doubt, they attack the user and try to kill him/her dead.
13. Magic Surge.  When used, a blue sphere of light surges out from the user for 60’ in all directions. All spells cast in that 60’ radius automatically force a roll on a good Wild Magic table.  This affect wears off after a full night’s rest.
14. Lucid Dreaming.  Using this item guarantees strange dreams or visions during the next long rest; even creatures that typically don’t dream are affected by it.  Some of these dreams are oracular in nature, providing a hint or answer to a current problem.  Others are hellish nightmares, resulting in the long rest being disrupted. 
15. Unlucky.  This item is powered by fate.  Activating it makes the user roll at disadvantage the rest of the session.
16. Vampiric. This item is powered by allies’ spell slots, luck, or hit points.  Never the bearer/user, though.  Just their allies.  If there are no allies to drain, the item fails to function. 
17. Magic Draining.  This item is powered by other magic items or spell slots.  When used, the nearest item loses a charge or becomes useless if a single-use item.  If no items are available, the wielder loses their highest spell slot for a month.  Should the wielder not have an item or spell, the power is leeched from the nearest such item or caster.
18. Forgotten.  With each use of this item’s power, a necessary NPC utterly forgets the PC’s existence. Family, friends, and patrons – all are eligible.  In theory, a PC might forget the other PC, but that requires actual roleplayers and DM scheming.  One person forgets per use.  A PC utterly forgotten by all s/he knows dissipates into nothingness.
19. Haunted.  This item has one or more ghosts bound to it; exorcising them probably disenchants the item as well.  The ghost might be the creator, the first wielder, or one or more beings slain by it, if a weapon.  Go all American Werewolf in London and the ghosts only begin manifesting after the first being slain.  Of course, they all have their own agendas and offer all sorts of commentary. 
20. Elemental.  Activating this item creates a wave of elemental energy that deals damage to all in a 60’ radius, to all but the wielder.  The element type may be random or may be static due to nature of item. 

Fey Bargains

In many DnD games, bargaining with Fey beings is an option.  Fey being Fey, they have no need or desire for mundane things like gold or mortal magic.  Instead, their prices are more intangible, more meta.  Players being players, they readily accept such bargains, thinking they can weasel out of them or that they will otherwise emerge unscathed. 

The Fairy Market, by Charles Vess

Here are 10 prices for a Fey to ask.  What they need these things for is entirely their business, and prying mortals will regret asking.

1.     Your last breath.  Mechanically, this means your PC now only gets two death saves instead of three.  (I read this on Facebook, so if it is yours, thank you).

2.     Your luck.  Only three times, and only temporarily.  Mechanically, this means your PC rolls at disadvantage for everything for an entire session.  Three sessions, actually.  At the start of each session the DM (or the player under DM supervision) rolls a d6.  On a 1 or 2, this cost is paid.

3.     Your <stat>.  Stats are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.  Only three times, and only temporarily.  Mechanically, this means your PC loses 2d4+1 in the named stat for an entire session.  Three sessions, actually.  At the start of each session the DM (or the player under DM supervision) rolls a d6.  On a 1 or 2, this cost is paid.

4.     Your innocent rest.  Only three times.  Mechanically, this means your PC suffers nightmares during a long rest, so it has no benefits.  Each time a long rest is attempted, roll a d6.  On a 1 or 2, this cost is paid.  Note that RAW, no more than one long rest can be attempted in a 24-hour period.

5.     Your voice.  For an entire session, your PC cannot speak, sing, or cast spells with verbal components.  Whether or not the Fey chooses to impersonate you with your voice and stir up mischief is entirely up to the DM.  At the table, the player should embrace this role-playing opportunity.  At the start of each session the DM (or the player under DM supervision) rolls a d6.  On a 1 or 2, this cost is paid.

6.     Your memories and experiences.  This Fey is particularly jaded and is looking for some new thrill.  Living vicariously through a mortal will suffice.  Mechanically, this means that whenever experience points are doled out, the DM (or player) rolls a d6.  On a 1, the PC gains no experience points for the session.  This continues until the Fey is satisfied or convinced to stop.  Alternatively, the player throws out the PC’s backstory and plays dumb if encountering someone or something from it.

7.     Your sense of purpose and being.  For an entire session, your PC is afflicted with terminal ennui.  Mechanically, this means making a DC18 (or more or less, depending on the Fey bargained with) Wisdom save to do anything meaningful: travel, cast, fight, use skills, heal someone, heal self, eat, drink. The only things the PC can do without issue is sigh loudly, talk about how pointless everything is, wear black, and write bad angsty poetry.   At the beginning of each session, the DM (or player) rolls a d6.  On a 1 or 2, this session goes goth for the PC.

8.     Your service. At some point, the Fey will need something accomplished, and the PC is contractually obligated to see that task through or die trying. Mechanically, this means that the Fey can summon and command the PC to act for it. If the PC refuses, they act under a Dominate Person spell until the task is accomplished (or they die, which is far more likely). Unbeknownst to the PCs, their own bonds tie them together, so that when the PC is summoned and given the task, the rest of the party travels with him or her. Note that the rest of the party is free to refuse, but the PC that made the bargain must fulfill it. Whether or not this service takes one session or spans several is up to the DM and players.  This happens at the DM’s choosing – probably when nothing else is planned.  If nothing else, the Fey needs an item retrieved from the Gardens of Ynn or the Stygian Library.

9.     Your aggression and desire to harm.  This bargain makes the PC a born-again pacifist for an entire session.  Mechanically, the PC spends the session avoiding combat, or defending self but not striking back.  Running away, surrendering, negotiating, healing, holding torches, and anything else that results in not harming others, to include explanars, undead, constructs, and other such things, is still possible.  If the PC does inflict harm on another (DC18 Charisma to try), that damage is dealt tenfold back on the PC. 

10.  Your magic.  The Fey needs to fill a battery with sorcerous power, and your magic will suffice.  It needs 3d6x10 spell levels to fill the battery.  Mechanically, this means that each time the PC casts a spell, the player rolls a d6, and on a 1 or 2, the spell fizzles and the spell levels go to fill the battery instead. So that Fireball is considered three spell levels, unless upcast to 5^th level, then it is worth five.  The spell slot is regained as normal with a short or long rest.  Once the battery is full, spells stop fizzling.

Whether or not you roll for the price or choose something fitting is entirely up to the DM … and the Fey in question.

Edit: I found THIS d100 table of non-gp payments, and it fits with this post. 

Edit: I also found this d100 table at d4 Caltrops - so you know it'll be good!