SCULPTED WORLD: Genesis

 Here are some new rules, built off of RBSDnD, for an upcoming game I'm running in a more traditional fantasy style than Pb. Take it, for now, plus these reference images I've been collecting and annotating. Hopefully more to show soon- ideally a map or something?

The taigas and tundras of Vaneland and outer Sordheim, in their ice-hearted beauty.

    One of the spider-boats used to cross the ice field between outer Sordheim and the Durnish Lands.

The prophet X pierces the veil for the first time and glimpses the Nethersphere in all its perverse grandeur.

A Senior Lecturer in Exorcism and Binding Studies teaching pupils at Mordent Academy by wrestling with a Daimon.

The Society of the Angled Circle invoking a Daimon in utmost secrecy.

Panem et circensis for the Vanish aristocracy.

A wedding between Lesser Houses.

(Incidentally, my current favorite painting in the Yale art gallery, and potentially anywhere.)

A troupe of Revelers, eternally restless in their worship.

Music nurtures the soul- a profane truth the pontificate of the Outer Orthodoxy cannot ameliorate.

The ramshackle altar of a Reveler conclave.

Sue, that'll work for now. Thanks for reading, and happy gaming.

An Idiot's Guide to Chemistry and/or the Infernal Arts: 2 new RBSDnD classes

 ALCHEMISTS brew impossibility into liquid being. Whether you are a chemist, apothecary, or forager, you can bottle miracles.

• While resting for the night, you can brew two random elixirs with a one-day shelf life.
• You can identify magic by taste.
• Start with 2 random pieces of equipment, your reagent-mixing equipment, and a weapon.

ALCHEMIST ELIXIRS. Interpret freely and liberally.

1 PHILOSOPHER’S STONE

2 MUTAGEN

3 NEPENTHE

4 VERITASERUM

5 ANACHITIS

6 ALKAHEST

7 PARALYTIC

8 POISON

9 PANACEA

10 HEALTH POTION

11 MANA POTION

12 FULMINATING GOLD

13 HYPNOTIC

14 ALCHEMIST’S FIRE

15 FLASHBANG

16 SMOKE BOMB

17 COOLANT

18 AMPHETAMINE

19 ADHESIVE

20 AQUA VITAE

DIABOLISTS dip into immoral secrets to seize malevolent magical power. Whether you are a cultist, demonologist, or harlequin, you abandoned the well-lit road long ago.

• You know 2 random DIABOLIST SPELLS. You have 3 SLOTS with which to cast them.
• You can pull out and reinsert your sensory organs.
• Start with 2 random pieces of equipment, an icon of your misdeeds, and a weapon.

DIABOLIST SPELLS. Interpret freely and liberally, though strenuous casting requires a CHA roll.

1 CATACLYSM

2 MALCONVOKE

3 (RE)ANIMATE

4 OUBLIETTE

5 SHAPESHIFT

6 HELLFIRE

7 LUST

8 DISEASE

9 ROT

10 CORRODE

11 CURSE

12 VAMPIRISM

13 LYCANTHROPY

14 HALLUCINATION

15 LEVITATE

16 PETRIFY

17 SLUMBER

18 BLINDNESS

19 SORROW

20 MAGGOTS

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Random class (roll 1d6 for even distribution, d20 for diegetic proportion):

1-5 FIGHTER (WARRIOR?)

6-9 ROGUE (PICARO?)

10-12 ALCHEMIST

13-15 WIZARD (MAGE? …PHILOSOPHER?)

16-18 CLERIC (ADHERENT?)

19-20 DIABOLIST

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Pondering using RBSDnD for my upcoming game. Wanted to put a little more meat on the bones in terms of character creation, and free myself from the one-page constraint by blasting that door off its hinges. Watch this space for developments there. Otherwise, thanks for reading, and happy gaming.

Link-flavored slush

I've been collecting blog posts that have sparked something creative in me for a little while. That collection has gotten...

...well, you can see for yourself. Time to liquidate.

CHALLENGES

Poetic Keying. Using shortform poetry to constrain the description for dungeon rooms/hexes. Might be a good way to write a dungeon for A Weary Work to Do, what with the one-page formatting constraint and the thematic connection to flyting. The real disadvantage is that I don't really write full room descriptions in my notebook that I DM out of, so if I were to write a dungeon with this, it would be for the blog only, and I kind of hate doing that.

Four-Image Setting. This idea intrigues me, but none of the cool pictures I have stockpiled have really lit this sort of fire in me. I see some worldbuilding in my future, though, so maybe I'll revisit this, especially as I need to make it something fairly simple and easy to onboard new players into.

Orgami Hexes seem a fun way to make a hexcrawl tangible and more feasibly ran. If I were to run a hexcrawl, I might give this a shot.

DUNGEON DESIGN

Hallways. This is one of two posts that address the space between big, setpiece dungeon rooms. A random table of ways to spice up what might otherwise be a mundane hallway.

Myth of the Map. On the other end of the spectrum, this post by Runehammer (who I think is a genius of dungeon design, especially for his TTT method, which I implore you to google) advocates for the handwaving of hallway space and empty rooms between climactic scenes. While this philosophy probably wouldn't work well in your average OSR game, it compelled me, and I might experiment with it.

This dungeon is keyed in a way that doesn't make me want to kill myself, seems a feasibly runnable size, and thematically seems like it would fit well in Pb as-is, even more so with some slight tweaking. If I weren't allergic to running non-homebrew, this would have been at my table already.

DELTA-ADJACENTS

Achievements are always fun, and the mind reels with possibility as to how to integrate these into a system or campaign.

Delver Class. I am always torn between classless and classed games: on the one hand, "adventurers tend to be one of X varieties" rubs me the wrong way in principle, but on the other hand, I crave the mechanical progression and thematic support that classes offer. This class shows a world in which I get my cake and eat it, too.

MAGIC BULLSHIT

Draconic Elements. A more gameable alternative to the four elemental planes. Makes me also wonder how much better a wuxing cosmology would be... something to consider when next working in a kitchen sink fantasy headspace.

d100 Spells. Consistently top-notch and creative; many examples of giving a traditional spell a facelift through the addition of an interesting constraint.

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What's on your backburner? What blog posts have been burning a hole in the back of your mind? Let me know in the comments, or through a post of your own. Thanks for reading, and happy gaming.