The Memory of the Meatgrinder

My colleague, Warren at ICastLight, posited that we can embed short-term memory into tables like your encounter table to create a more dynamic or interesting engine for exploration.

Example of an encounter table with "RAM"

So, in his example, each time you roll a "dungeon event", you put a checkmark next to the box. Once it's been rolled three times, there's a cave in. 

It occurred to me that the Meatgrinder in His Majesty the Worm already has some in-built short-term memory just by virtue of the random encounter being card based instead of dice based. In the normal flow of game, unless there's a combat (in which case a reshuffle is very likely), you won't get the same random encounter on the Meatgrinder in an evening because the card that triggered it is in the discard pile.

By default, His Majesty the Worm plays with the inherent short-term memory of cards only a little. This post imagines some subsystems that could exploit that feature more.

The Creeping Dark

Here's a variant rule proposed by the folks on the Worm Discord server: When a Meatgrinder (random encounter) event is ticked off, it is replaced with "Torches gutter." The longer you spend in the Underworld, the more the darkness closes in around you. Soon, you won't be able to take a step without your candles going out.

Ranger's Wisdom

Riffing on Warren's idea of a single event having a clock, a ranger might have a class feature that adds a checkbox to monster encounters. The first time they encounter a monster, they don't - they discover its spore. Then, the party has a heads up that a monster of that type is lurking on this floor of the dungeon.

This class feature may be tied to their level. At level 1, they get one checkbox for one monster encounter. As they level up, more and more encounters have buffers. 

Ranger's Wisdom, card redux

Obviously the last idea wasn't thinking about cards, I just liked it. Here's one that thinks about card tech a bit more.

When the ranger uses the Range action, they can take a look at the top card (or top 3?) of the Meatgrinder. If they pull a random encounter card, they are shown a spore that tells them what the type of monster they will eventually encounter. 

The ranger can spend a Resolve to put the card onto the bottom of the deck instead of the top. They take a careful path around the sphinx. They're not ready to fight it, yet.

Discard as a value

Mechanics can be tied to the number of discarded cards in the major arcana discard pile: the more Meatgrinder events that have happened, the higher the number. It's a clock that counts up throughout the game.

For example, in a zombie horror movie game, whenever you make a loud noise, [discard] zombies show up. At the beginning of the evening, this will be one or two zombies. By the end of the evening, you could have significant hoards descending. 

Because the GM shuffles their discard pile back into their deck when they run out of cards, the game has a natural swing between "easy" and "hard." Also, in such a game, you could have player abilities that oblige the GM to shuffle cards from the discard to the bottom of the deck, or trigger shuffles.

Discard as a clock

You could have significant events happen at certain intervals based on how many cards you have discarded. Once 5 cards are discarded, the lights in the dungeon go out and players have to rely on torches. Once 15 cards are discarded, zombies encounters are upgraded to skeleton encounters. If the GM runs out of cards, the ritual is complete and Zog takes over the multiverse. 

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Anyway, I think the idea of encoding memory into game procedures with cards to be a rich vein to tap.  These are just a few ideas I had resting on the top of my brain. If this triggers some good ideas for you, why not blog about them?

Worldbuilding through the Rebuking Cleric

As Dan pointed out in his post, the cleric's Turn Undead ability says something about the default setting of D&D: there are undead here. Indeed, for this to be a core class core ability, there has to be a lot of them. Barrows teaming with draugr. Unquiet ghosts lingering near their graves in cemeteries. Abandoned castles ruled by a vampire lord and his brides.

But if we want to have a special theme for our campaign setting, one way we can broadcast that is to change the cleric's Turn Undead ability to focus on our main antagonists. 

Indeed, historically speaking, the sign of the cross was said to ward away almost anything evil, not just undead - devils and demons, werewolves, mermaids, storms, etc. A real swiss army knife. 

So. What does our D&D look like with different Turn Undeads? 

Turn worms

Saint Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland. He did this by turning worms and other crawling crawling things. 

At low levels, clerics can turn venomous snakes and serpents. At high levels, they can turn literal dragons. 

In such a setting, dragons plague the land. They kick dwarves out of their homes and sleep on their piles of gold. They crawl down into wells and poison the water. They bother the Smith of Wootton Major. Clerics go about, rebuking them in the name of Saint Patrick, and driving them continuously towards the wastes (as long as their luck holds).

Turn trolls

When Christianity came to the north of the world, the sign of the cross could drive away the trolls that haunted that land. (Of course, the trolls could smell a priest coming.)

A campaign setting framed in Norse mythology might give clerics the ability to rebuke trolls. In such a setting, clerics are adherents of a foreign religion, driving out the folk ways as much as they drive away trolls. 

Turn fairies

The ringing of church bells is one surefire way to drive away fairies of all sorts - banshees, dapplegrim, red caps, bugbears, hobby lanthorns, etc. 

A cleric in a Celtic themed campaign might drive away fairies instead of undead. These clerics keep the peace between human and fairy settlements, and serve as exorcists for mischief of all kinds - animate furniture? Call the priest. Baby crawling up the wall? Nope, that's a changeling, call the priest. Richard the Miller's Son came back with a wife with a hollow back? NOPE, CALL THE PRIEST. 

Stranger things

You can imagine not just defining a campaign setting through a cleric's mechanics but inverting and subverting them. 

A cleric might Turn Humans in an evil campaign, where they worship the dread lord Sauron. Here, clerics are sorcerers, sending forth their Black Breath to inspire fear. 

A cleric might Turn Apes in a far future campaign. They invoke the light of the Claw of the Conciliator, that most precious of jewels. An ape "destroyed" by the ability might join the cleric instead, offering their service.

Ten Staves of Wizardly Might

1. Weirwood Staff

Made of white weirwood, carved with a mournful face. On nights of the new moon, you can ask the GM about a past event. On nights of the full moon, you can ask the GM about the present. The GM will describe a vision that attempts to answer your question.

2. Staff of the White Hand

A staff of white entwood, topped with a carven hand. The hand is fully articulate. While holding the staff, you control the hand as easily as you control your own. In a simple way, this is like an extendy shark grabber. But the hand can also be commanded to hold things (a wand! a torch! a sword!). When you attack with your staff, the hand curls into a fist. If you misuse the staff, it will extend its middle finger to you frequently (but still obey your commands). 

3. The Walking Staff

Beechwood staff fitted with a white gold foot at its end. The staff is ambulatory; you can call it to your hand. Given its experience traveling, you can ask its opinion about which way you should go and it will make a considered guess. In a dungeon, if given a choice of doors, it will point towards the one that leads in the quickest way to the exit. When hexcrawling, the staff increases the likelihood of finding a notable feature and reduces the chance of getting lost.

4. Horned Staff

Carved of an oak that has grown around the skull of an elk, with only the antlers now protruding. While carrying it, you can pass through overgrown areas (thorns, tangled undergrowth, briar patches, etc.) like a druid. You never leave a trail. While in the forest, you can cast misty step by spending 3 HP.

5. Living Staff

A branch of the ur-Apple Tree from the Garden of Eden. Each night, it can be planted in almost any soil (but not, like, carven rock) and sprout into a great apple tree. The apples provide enough to eat for a small host. The tree is easy to climb and provides almost perfect protection from the elements. Each morning, the apple tree begins to die, but a new living staff can be cut from one of its branches. Can only be carried by those bound to Law. If carried by anyone else, withers away.

6. Nail Bat

This staff is a heavy blackthorn shillelagh studded with iron nails. Acts as a +2 weapon against the fay. You are immune to charm while carrying it.

7. Staff of the Key

A wrought brass staff shaped like a large skeleton key. Runes cut into the teeth of the key contain the spells knock, lock, gate, and magic mouth, allowing you prepare those spells if you are a magic-user of appropriate level. The staff can be used to pick locks with a X-in-6 chance, where X is equal to your Intelligence bonus. Once per day, you can touch the staff to a door and receive a list of the true names of all who passed through the door since the last time the sun crossed the horizon.

8. The Kite

A cedar staff, topped with a crucifix on which a mummified leprechaun is crucified. When the staff or a spell you cast kills a creature, any damage beyond what is needed to reduce a creature to 0 HP is stored in the staff. 20 damage can be stored in this way. When making an attack with the staff, you may add an extra dice of damage. The size of the damage dice is determined by how much damage is stored in the staff. The dice size steps up for every "platonic interval": a d4 if 4 damage is stored, a d6 if 6 damage is stored, etc. 

9. Staff of the Cup

A staff of yew, wrapped with tattered prayer flags and topped with a carven wooden chalice. Natural animals will not willingly attack you while you bear this staff. When filled with water from a clootie well or sacred spring, it is charged. A charge can be spent in the following ways:

• Create a use of holy water in the cup
• Heal 2d6 damage
• Cause a natural spring to burst forth from the ground

10. Arachne's Distaff 

A pine staff, topped with a carved spider. While carrying the staff, your clothes are always immaculately clean, never rip or tear, and appear to be of the finest quality. You can change the color of cloth you touch with the staff at will. You may cast the web spell by spending 2 HP. Whenever you would suffer the effects of the web, you are immune, but the staff is charged with one free casting.