ShadowDark Magic Items

The next campaign I run will use the ShadowDark RPG. I'm not sure when that'll be (I'm hoping a little later this year), but ShadowDark is my choice. I've only experienced it with one-shots. I want to kick the tires on a campaign. 

ShadowDark is a grim, gritty, and other words that begin with g system. It is geared for low-level play, only going to 10th level in the rulebook. There are several low-level magic items included. Some familiar, some not so much. I needed to play around with creating a few of my own. Here is a quartet of magic items I offered on my Patreon. The PDF is free to grab. Some folks prefer the actual item can join and get some cool stuff in the mail. 

These magic items are very specific to my setting, but adjusting them to your setting would only take a little elbow grease. I just thought to myself younger people have no idea what elbow grease means. 

A trio of artists with their fanatic black and white artwork made these cards possible. Carlos Castillho did two of the pieces, Daniel Whitehall, and William McAusland. I used the format of ShadowDark and I like the section dedicated to the history of the item. It helps ground the item within a setting.

I hope this finds everyone well and gaming. Enjoy.

30 Second Magic Items

At lunchtime I asked for folks to take 30-seconds to create a new magic item, this is what I got so far.  Please add you own if you feel so inspired.  I trick is keep it to a short time and write with thinking about the logic of it.

So here is the one I came up with:

Mogger Bearing:  A simple metal ball and the end of a stick.  While it looks like a simple mace it sucks as a weapon, but is actually a part of a larger instrument.  Spinning this on the ground will tell you which direct you need to go.

+Tim Snider 
Pathfinder's Arrow: This is a simple wooden arrow with a small hole through the center of the shaft. The arrow needs to be threaded and hung on a string so it can swing freely. If the name of a location, object, or person is said aloud, the arrow will pivot to point in that direction. If said object is above/below, the arrow will slowly rotate.

+Paul Go 

Morgan's Laugh Fae:  This set of fake teeth is activated by a secret phrase (Merlin's Beard!) and automatically starts telling jokes in elvish.  All people of Elvish descent in range need to save vs Spells or be disabled for 2d12 rounds in peals of laughter -- unable to do anything but roll on the floor laughing.  Non-elves who understand elvish will get the jokes but not find them funny.

+Roger Giner-Sorolla 

ribcage xylophone that causes knee knocking and shivering if played, -4 save against cold, -2 morale and -3 move.

 +Grand DM 

Domark' Coin: this strange rusted coin appears to have been used to pry something open. Legend holds the great thief Domark once had a lucky coin he always carried.

Game use: If held in the hand when attempting to open a lock increases your chances by +2 once per day. 

+Mike Elston 
Verkingtorax's Pomander of the skunk: a small metal ball 2" in diameter that gives off the smell of a skunk to anyone not within a 12' circle whenever the sliding cover is slid to expose the small piercings. (think an incense censor (sp?))

Used to allow the bearer to evade creatures that hunt by scent.

 +Ken H 

Google Plus Geas: Wielder of this device commands others to name a magic item within 30 seconds. No saving throw.

+David Black 

A Small Dollop of Green - Green is a mutable magical byproduct that has seeped down into the bowls of the earth, meandering through the depths for hundreds of years, infused with psychic essences - it yearns to be more than waste.

When a player acquires A Small Dollop of Green  they have 30 seconds to decide what small hand-held magical item it will transform itself into, for 30 seconds.

A cool collection of instant magic items.  Except for Ken's.  He's a smartass and probably why we get along so well.

Magic Items of Praxus

Putting the final touches on Stone Field of Azoroth.  I thought I'd share a few of the magic items I created for it.  I also created a new god, Praxus, God of Imprisonment, but that is for another time. 

Imprisonment Stone

Imprisonment Stones are created by the priests of Praxus.  The can come in various forms, but most are made from granite.  It is imbued with every magical spell known that immobilizes a creature.  It takes one month to complete one Imprisonment Stone.  This will bind a single creature of 10HD or below for as long as the stone is intact.  Great Imprisonment Stones take three months to construct and can bind a single 15HD creature or below.  There is rumor of more powerful Imprisonment Stones, but they are made with rare materials and would be considered an artifact level.

If an Imprisonment Stone is broken, the magic contained within will explode the stone showering those within a 50’ radius with stone shards doing 6d6 damage.  A Great Imprisonment Stone showers a 100’ radius, doing 12d6 damage.  A successful save will halve the damage.

Swords of Praxus

The Swords of Praxus is a pair of short swords.  They are imbued with +1 to hit and damage.  One a successful hit, the target will need to make a save or be held.  The victim is immobilized for 10 minutes.  Each sword can ‘hold’ one target at a time.  The wielder can chose to release someone who is held to target a new victim. 

Requirements to wield the Swords of Praxus are a strength of 15 or better.  These are heavy swords, weighing 35lbs a piece.  To keep the swords powers active, the wielder will need to make a blood sacrifice (4hp of his own) once a week.  Each time this is done, there is a 2% chance that Praxus will notice and send him on a quest (no save).  The GM should think of something horrible the character will have to accomplish to complete the quest.  At the end of the quest the character may receive a boon.  This may include a bump of 1 to any attribute, bonus experience or money. 

So far so good.  Finished up this last part.  Let it sit for a day.  Do a read through and some edits.  Start printing and mail them to Jarrod.  I'm probably making him very nervous pushing this to the final days.  Sorry Jarrod! 

Hoping you guys who got in on the Mythoard box enjoy my contribution.  

Some Magic Items

Here are a few of the magic items I've created in my first two micro adventures.  The second is almost done.  I'm hoping to post it tonight sometime.  I've linked my Patreon page, but they will always be hear to snag.  I thought I'd give an example of some of my down home magic items.  None of them are too powerful (there are from low level adventures), but I think have a interest slant to them. 

Necklace of Noctum (From MA #1)
Allows the wearer to control 3HD of undead.

Bovolo's Harness (From MA #2)
This is a vesture made from preserved flesh.  I add +2 to AC and saves.  It also grants the wearer to go unnoticed among mindless undead such as, but not limited to skeletons and zombies.  This who have downloaded my Mini Manor: Faces Without Screams will recognize Bovolo is the name of the boss creature in that adventure.

Grave Dagger (From MA #2)
A Grave Dagger is considered to be magical in combat, but it provides no bonuses for to hit or damage.  It is a ceremonial dagger that when used in animating skeletons or zombies, these will be the strongest of their kind.  Meaning, they get their maximum hit points.

Enjoy folks.  It's Friday.

New Magic Item

Reading all these magic items for the OSR Superstar contest got my juices going.  The urge to create my own magic items was beset upon me.  I'm not sure if I'm using  beset correctly, but I'm feeling beset.  Anyway, this magic item comes from the game I ran the other week.  It's a variation of an oldie but a goodie. 

Ring of Holding

This ring acts like its big brother the Bag of Holding.  Actually they aren't related, but most get confused since they have the same last name.  The Ring of Holding has the capacity to hold very small thin items that weight less than a pound.  The players accidentally found a rolled up map in ring they found. 

These rings were often used to transport important documents in the old kingdoms, but as the rings aged they became more unreliable.  At times, what was placed within could not be retrieved, as if it were stuck.  Or if the person wearing the ring was jarred or fell, whatever was hiding within would pop or peek out of the ring.

A Magic Item You Might Find in My Campaign

Lately I've been working on my campaign in between times and spaces.  The pace is slow, but I'm enjoying the process.  Those of you who have read a few of my things know I try to make my magic items unique.  I don't like using canned magic items unless I can mess with them.  Since tonight I was working on the campaign again I thought I would create a magic item.

Hag's Eye

History: Merrick was a seasoned alchemist whose fascination with the dead caused him legal problems in the form of grave robbing, assault and his final act of murder saw him hung from a ironwood tree at the crossroads.  Before the authorities could raid his home, his assistants managed to escape with his formulas.  Many of the potions were failures that did very little other than make the imbiber sick...except for one. 

Ingredients: The base of the potion calls for the liquefaction of a corpse's brain no more than a day old.  Quoted directly from Merrick's notes "The man must not have been an idiot in life.  The brain must be intact and not scarred."  The recently deceased must have had a Wisdom of 13+.  A mixture of grave dust, a night hag eye and ten viz* harvested from undead creatures.

Imbuing: The mixture should be left over a high flame.  The brew takes very little time to become effective.  The hag's eye will absorb the liquid and viz, but remains the same size.  If it breaks during the process, it is ruined.

Using: The person wanting to use the Hag's Eye must consume it whole.

Powers: The person under the effect of the Hag's Eye can see into the world of the dead.  Can see and speak to spirits (like the spell).  It allows the imbiber to strike undead creatures with any weapon, even those requiring magic weapons.  It also allows the imbiber to interact with incorporeal undead as if they were a corporal form.  These powers last 1d4 hours.

Side Effects: The user takes double damage from silver or iron weapons during the duration.  After the duration ends, the imbiber will be blind for 2d6 hours (save will halve the duration).

Wand of Horrible Deaths

Tonight I decided to make a random table magic item.  Its called the Wand of Horrible Death.  It has random effects.  It can also harm the wielder.  It has no loyalty.  It has no charges.  You will see in the description where its still good or not.  The GM will need to decide if saves are allowed, what the damage is and blah, blah, blah.  I just added the description of he affect.  I also thinks it critical NOT TO LET THE PLAYER SEE THE TABLE.  They're smucks.  They'll try to will a roll.  Let them find out by pointing and shooting. 

Roll	Result (d20)
1	A small dart flies out of the end of the wand and strikes and enters the target.  There is a 6-second delay, before the target blows the hell up.  The wand may be reused.
2	Nothing happens.  The target is immune to the wand’s power this combat.  The wand may be reused.
3	The wand shoots out of the wielder’s hand and wraps itself around the target.  Take the target’s Con divide it by half and that is how many rounds of life it has remaining.  The wand continues to constrict even after the target is dead until it constricts upon itself and vanishes from existence.
4	Since this is Ivy’s favorite number only good things happen when this is rolled.  The wand shoots out 3d6 delicious cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles.  While this will not kill the target it will distract them for 1d4 rounds.  The cupcakes are edible and while have no magical properties they will make the eater happy.  The wand will be reusable after the frosting is wiped off the tip.
5	A dark gray puff of smoke envelops the target.  There is a 25% chance the smoke will envelop the wielder also.  In 1d4 rounds the targets skin will begin to melt and slide away from muscle and bone.  Sleeves of skin will fall to the floor moments before rest of the body crumbles.
6	The want turns into a big ass lizard that is fast as hell.  It will target the victim and will bit the target.  On a natural 20 the lizard swallows the victim whole.  The lizard will continue its ravenous, berserker attack one the victim is dead and likely to snack of the wielder.  The wand is gone, it’s now a lizard.
7	The obvious.  A gout of flame envelopes the target and reduces all its self and all its belongings to ash.  So if it had something good, you’ll never know.  The caught on fire and is no longer useful
8	No apparent effect.  But in 1d4 weeks.  The target will become will with a series of diseases and die in a day.  The wand is still good.
9	A high pitch noise with sound from the wand affecting everyone with ears (including the caster).  It will increase its volume each round.  1d6 1st round, 2d6 2nd round and so on.  The wand is still good but the wielder is no longer any good except for filling a ditch or being used as a carrion air freshener.
10	Tiny sea monkeys leap out of the end of the wand, 1000/round for 1d4 rounds.  The sea monkeys will coat the target and climb in any available orifice and run around in the targets guts until the too many monkeys go in.  Then the target explodes.  The sea monkeys will not attack the wielder, they simply die and make a mess.
11	The wand becomes an infinite reach blade.  The player can attack the target as if it were in melee range with the wand.  The invisible blade doe 1d10 damage.  It a natural 20 is rolled the target gets a limb lopped off.  Wand is still good.
12	Wand launches out of the wielder’s hand and embeds into the target.  Six legs will sprout from the wands and it will begin clawing itself into the target.  The wand is no good after this.  It’s a weird wand spider the player can use as a pet.  It doesn’t poop or pee, but its nasty disposition remains.
13	Simple.  Wand explodes showering a 100 hex area with magic death rays.  The wand exploded so you figure it out if it’s still good.  You’ll be dead so it don’t matter much.
14	A blue bolt erupts from the tip instantly killing the target.  There is a 5% chance for each god in the campaigns pantheon to take notice that someone used a blue bolt and it wasn’t one of them.  If a god notices it will hunt down whoever wields the wand.
15	All the bodily fluids in the target solidify.  Wand is shiny good.
16	The target is instantly transported to the date and time and place where death takes him.  The wielder is also transported to that time and place.  This is a one way ticket baby.  At least the wand is still working.
17	The wand turns into a copy of the target and attacks.  It will know everything the target will do and gains +3 to hit and to damage.  After the battle is done is will kneel and commit suicide.  Your wand is now dead.
18	Demons will reach out of the ground and drag the target into hell, the abyss, Wal-Mart, where ever your campaign’s bad place is.  The wand has now become a beacon for demons.  If there are any in the area they will play the player a visit.
19	The targets eyes, ears, mouth, pucker and other bodily holes grow shut.  Wand remains working.
20	The player is given a limited wish.  That wish must be used immediately and it must be in the form of a death for the target.  If the wielder fails to do this the wand will grant the target the wish.  The wand loses all its power and is kindling.

That's all I got tonight.  Have a good one.  And don't pull out a wand unless you plan to use it. 

Necklace of Second Chances

Last night the game ended with the party battered and one member rescued from the brink of death.  One of the interesting treasures the players discovered was a necklace with three cubes (I found the picture by google ganking and I was surprised to have a choice of three cubed necklaces).  For now it is called the Necklace of Second Chances.

The Necklace of Second Chances makes the saving throw for the player automatically.  Here's how it works.  Each cube can hold up to six charges represent by a rune appearing on one of the sides of the cube.  To charge the cubes requires Viz.

Viz is a physical manifestation of magic that occurs naturally in nature.  Also creatures with magical abilities have viz charged parts that can be harvested.  And some mages can create viz. Viz can be use in place of a spell slot.  One viz will allow a magic-user or illusionist to cast a 1st level spell without losing the spell.  The viz is consumed on use.

The cubes can be separated into necklaces to the number of cubes it has.  The one they found had three.  With each viz one charge is absorbed into the cube and a rune will appear.

Not all saving throws are the same.  If a player is bit by a giant centipede one charge is used to make the save.  If an ancient red dragon bears down on the player with a full blast of fire it may require six or more charges.  There is not set number of charges for the different saves.  The GM can determine that.

The only drawback is if a save is required the necklace will automatically use the charge if available.  The player has no control of when it is used.  If the necklace is worn it is in play.  The only time it will not use its charges is if the save requires more charges than the cube(s) has available.  So if the players necklace only has one charge when that red dragon breathes on him the necklace can do nothing to help.

These necklaces require contact with the person or creature they are protecting.  So having it in a backpack or pouch will not help. 

Very few of the necklaces exist.  The cubes themselves can be made of nearly any material.  Most are made of metal, but bone and wood have also been used.  So when the cubes are empty of charges they look like a normal cube and can be easily overlooked.

In my campaign I give 1000xp for the first time the players find and discover the use of the necklace.  Market value is determined by the location of where they try to sell and to whom they try to sell it.

Low Level Magic Item

Gerald the Not So Swift demonstrates how not to sheath a dagger.

When I write adventures I do the stream of consciousness thing and just keeping writing and putting down what ever sounds cool.  This is how I come up with most of my magic items, monsters or additional elements into the campaign.  When writing Starter Adventures, because it is written for absolute low level beginners I wanted to include magic items, but I needed to keep them low-level in power, but still useful.  The Torch Knife is one example.

Torch Knife

This useful item originated with the thieves guild.  With the invention of the torch knife thieves no longer needed to carry around cumbersome torches or lanterns.  A light source they could command to turn on instantly and more importantly off.  Since then their popularity has grown among adventurers and young nobles who like to collect roguish weapons.  

Torch knives are activated by a simple command sound, ‘shhh’.  This will activate and deactivate it.  Custom command words are available, but this increases the price.  A torch knife gives off enough light to see a foot or two in front of the wielder.  This illumination is not variable.  It's bright enough to read script, pick locks and signal someone in the night. 

It acts as a normal knife in combat.  It is not considered a magic weapon.  For those creatures that require a magic weapon to hit them, the combatant will need to find another weapon. 

The average cost at market for a torch knife is around 100gp.  This price can be as low as 50gp or up to 200gp.  These are not difficult to find.  Nearly any adventurer supply shop or magic shop will have these in stock.

Doppelganger Mirror

I was reading through the Swords & Wizardry rulebook and an idea popped into my head. I'm not sure what trigger the idea, but here it is. The Doppelganger Mirror is a nasty little item to spice up a campaign. Even the destruction of it is going to cause problems for a long time. Enjoy.

The Doppelganger Mirror is made of a high quality, polished glass. It is framed within a large oval silver steel frame. The frame is sculpted in a sea theme with waves adorning the edges and clam shells at each corner. It weighs 100 pounds and is meant to lean against a wall for support. It looks to be of elven craftsmanship, but its weight and thick frame suggest it is only elven influenced.

The mirror reflects a depth to objects and people that regular mirrors are incapable of doing. The mirror is able to see around things. When a person stands before the mirror and desires something that object or thing will appear in the reflection.

If the player concentrates on the object the surface of the mirror will begin to ripple. At this time the player can reach through the mirror's surface. If a player chooses to do this he must make a saving throw vs. spell or be imprisoned within the mirror. The doppelganger of the player is now free to move through the real world. This doppelganger has gleaned most of the surface knowledge from the person, but does not know the background or secrets. It will use its ability to read minds to find more information. A character can resist this with a successful saving throw.

The doppelganger will provide substance for the imprisoned player by bringing drinks and food within the range of the mirror's reflection. It is in the doppelganger's best interest to keep the prisoner alive. If the player dies then it dies. The player can interact with the objects that are reflected in the mirror and use them as they normally would. However, magical properties cannot be transferred through the mirror. A +3 sword would be a regular sword within the mirror.

Once the mirror has taken someone it reverts to a normal mirror until that person dies. Only the doppelganger can see the prisoner within. To all others it is just a fancy mirror.

Only a magical weapon or object can shatter the mirror. Smashing the mirror will instantly kill both the imprisoned and the doppelganger. The magical explosion will tear through the fabric of reality making the affected area weak.