Things Death Wants by Gygaxian Democracy

The following is a result of Gygaxian Democracy threads on both Reddit and Twitter. Many thanks to all the contributions. Y'all have the big brains. 

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Pick up whatever rulebook you use. Flip to the spell section. Go to the entry for "Resurrection" (if one exists). Take a Sharpie. Mark through the spell description like an FBI censor returning a FOIA request about the aliens' role in the Kennedy assassination. 

Jot this down instead:

"The first time you cry over a dead body at a shrine, a church, or holy site, Death appears and offers you a bargain for the soul of the dead. 

Roll on the table below. Accept or reject Death's bargain. 

Anybody can call upon Death once. Afterwards, they will not answer your call again.

In the interim, the player of the dead character can play a henchman or roll a new character, as per usual." 

Roll 1d100

Death wants...

1. Their hairy toe back.

2. To tell a specific person that they are sorry.

3. Everything listed in The Twelve Days of Christmas.

4. An end to poverty.

5. For you to complete the grieving process and know that it’s okay to cry.

6. A decent pair of brogans.

7. A day off. Here's your hit list (approved by deity so it won't affect your karma). Complete it within 24 hours and you get your favor. No special abilities, just go do what you do best. You can take your team with you.

8. A replacement soul. The accounting daemon is exacting and quotas must be filled. You have to deliver a suitable replacement, someone who deserves to die for their crimes, and deliver it as a substitute. You can't just go murder them, you have to follow protocol: get a judgment angel to issue a death certificate for specific name and hour and day; reveal yourself secretly to the target three times in the 24 hours before so they know their time is up and can make peace with god or whatever; and then capture the soul at the appointed time using an official "ethereal death sickle." If you fail to fulfill the terms, the deal is off.

9. An excuse they’ve never heard before. And they’ve pretty much heard them all.

10. To create life, just once.

11. Go down to Georgia and win a fiddling contest with some guy named Johnny, who has a lot of hubris.

12. To harvest an innocent life that nobody wants to take. All the deaths drew lots and they got the short straw, but they just don’t have the heart to do it. Death has a cold cold heart, so you know this is going to be a gut-wrenching task.

13. To experience death without waiting for a strange aeon. Of course when you kill death then nothing can die. 

• Don't worry they’ll re-spawn in 24 hours, but it's gonna get crazy in the meantime. With some cleverness you might even use this to your advantage.

14. A challenge. They’ll transform himself into a killer named Jack o’ Knives with knives for fingers, close their eyes, and count to 10, and you better run. They will hunt you in your dreams. If you can evade them for five days, your friend will be returned. Good luck!

15. You have to win a riddle game.

16. Listen to Death’s musical, and if you survive, give it your honest review.  They can take the criticism!

17. Death animates your fallen comrade as a skeleton and opens the door to the positive energy plane. “Your friend must eat from that tree before they discorporate... forever”

18. The head of a ghoul that hasn't eaten since it was reborn into undeath.

19. Rubbings from the headstones of the oldest and newest graves in the burying ground of an abandoned village.

20. Find and bury the body of a hero fallen and lost on the field of a forgotten battle.

21. A dagger that has claimed only one life and still has blood on it. 

22. Mundane herb, unrecognizably from its allegorical name in a dead language.

23. 18 royals, 12 children, 6 peasants, 3 knights, 2 maidens, 1 PC.

24. The requisite analogues for a full chess set.

25. To be shown what 'fun' is.

26. To know love.

27. A perfect red rose from a famous garden.

28. A date with a particular Medusa.

29. A new handle for their scythe made from Entwood.

30. About $1.50

31. The extinction of a cultivar of bananas the Death really enjoys because they don’t want to share with mortals. (Death can only really enjoy things that are extinct. They really like dinosaurs.) 

32. The perfect pet to go psychopomping with.

33. The swaddling blanket of a newborn child.

34. Go back in time and tell the mortal-who-has-become-Death to refuse the quest and profess their feelings to their one true love instead. (Yes, this means going back in time. Yes, this means there have been many Deaths. Yes, this means one of the party must accept the quest and risk becoming Death.)

35. The killing hand of a murderous child, red with the blood of one it’s slain.

36. A "Goddam minute of peace and quiet". 

37. A day off as a human, you'll need to find a replacement Death.

38. Kittens.

39. The calm before a storm.

40. The silence between lighting and thunder.

41. A shooting star that hasn’t landed.

42. A pen pal.

43. A whetstone formed from a meteorite (for his scythe). 

44. A magical dowsing rod that can locate lost spirits. 

45. An assortment of eyes to try out. 

46. Extra pockets. 

47. An earring that fits. 

48. Death wants one perfect souffle, as prepared by someone currently imprisoned by a cruel dark lord.

49. Exactly 37 teeth from different creatures. 

50. A really big frog (you must make your case for why your subjective standard of rally big should match theirs). 

51. An antique tea set cursed, then blessed, then cursed again. 

52. A very fine chess set. 

53. One of your memories, either:

1. Your favorite smell 

2. Your happiest time

3. The names of your parents

54. An oath to take no life for a year and a day.

55. A vestige of your form: burn an ability score off your sheet. (It no longer exists for your character.)

56. Flowers from the grave of the recently passed queen.

57. The true name of a newborn child at a specific address in the beggar's corner.

58. A soul of one who has committed lethal defenestration.

59. Shoes for Death's horse, Binky. The only iron that will last must be forged in the heat of the deep earth by the Ur-Dwarves.

60. Advice on a gift that Death wants to get for a potential romantic interest.

61. There is a child recently born to a destitute family in a nearby city. He will die in twelve days. Death has taken a liking for this child and doesn't want him to die, but cannot affect the fate of humans directly. Death will not touch you as long as the boy lives.

62. Lich marrow for his pipe.

63. The tears of a long-dead saint.

64. A vampire's reflection.

65. An ode to the sunset, written by a blind man, sung by a deaf man.

66. A woman with a foot in two different oceans.

67. An engagement ring from a broken betrothal.

68. Death is sick of chess, but their preferred game went out of fashion three centuries ago. You're going to make it the hot new thing and spread it far and wide, aren't you?

69. One of your kidneys (gotta find a doctor or some means to remove it).

70. Flowers from the grave of the recently deceased queen.

71. A single drop of blood from the crown prince.

72. The collar of a black dog that was buried under the cornerstone of a church.

73. Their favorite comfort food from a tiny store in the middle of nowhere.

74. Tears of a creature that doesn’t have tear ducts.

75. A really good cup of coffee.

76. A sunflower.

77. A letter written from an ill pregnant woman to the child she shall never meet.

78. The ax of an executioner who used their own blade to kill themselves.

79. A shroud used to swaddle a stillbirth. 

80. The incorruptible heart of a saint.

81. A rigged game of chance (marked cards, weighted dice, etc)

82. Death wants the souls of those who refused to go. It can be:

1. The soul of a powerful lich

2. A clever wizard

3. The souls of twenty undead minions

4. The soul of a dragon or other immortal beasts

5. The End of a Love Most Cherished

6. The Birth of a Tyrant's Aspiration

7. The Dream of an Innocent, Smothered but Alive

8. The Reversal of Fortunes between Man & Beast

9. The Awakening of a Long Dormant Wail

10. The Revelation of the Obsessed and their Quarry

83. To take another deity’s domain 

84. A pearl from the deepest sea.

85. To kill their nephew, a demigod.

86. Death snaps their fingers and another 1d6 parties appear, each with their own dead companion in tow. The lot of you must plead your case as to which of your companions should be saved.

87. The PC's favorite magic item.

88. A hole.

89. Mother's milk

90. A really good bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich with real mayo--not that Miracle Whip crap.

91. To make the royal executioner laugh.

92. Arrange a pardon for a guilty man and a death sentence for an innocent one. 

93. Obtain a type of meat that Cerberus has never tasted. 

94. Help them convince a mad titan they’re just not into him.

95. A translation of a poem written in an extinct language.

96. Moss upon which a dying man slept.

97. The year’s first born goat.

98. A widowers wedding ring.

99. Fancy cloak and skull polish.

100. Don't worry about it this time, someone else already paid your way back...

Omphalos - Tarot-based City Generator

 

Do you like "town" sessions? Limping home from a dungeon, counting your filthy lucre, finding an inn, feasting and drinking? Do you like to plan your downtime actions—things you’re doing while staying in the city? Do you like to zoom in on your character's slice of life?

If you answered "yes," this supplement might be for you. 

Omphalos is a Tarot-based city generator. This supplement helps you create an evocative sword-and-sorcery cityscape for tabletop role-playing games using Tarot cards.  Randomly create new settlements to populate your campaign setting or build a massive city-state for your players to explore. 

• Each district has a name and a brief description of their most interesting parts. 
• Each entry includes some sights and sounds visitors might encounter. 
• Most entries have an example rumor that the GM can use when the players visit that district. 
• Lastly, each entry has special actions that may be used by adventurers who dwell there. 

The supplement is system neutral-ish. It's designed to work for my forthcoming game, His Majesty the Worm, but if you squint and do a little jury rigging, it should work for whatever OSR/DIY/D&D hack you're using. 

All proceeds will go to pay cool artists good money for future projects. 

Ain't No Grave - Card-based Combat in the Wild Wild West

One day I should stop making tiny systems and focus the precious free time I have on polishing and publishing. 

(But not today)

Ain't No Grave

Card-based Combat in the Wild Wild West 

The sun is directly overhead, and it's hotter 'n hell. A tumbleweed is the only thing moving through the muddy streets of the outpost. There are only two kinds of people: the quick and the dead. 

Which will you be?

These rules cover shoot outs, carriage chases, bar fights, train robberies, and other matters of pulpy Western action and misadventure. Special rules for one-on-one pistol duels not included. 

Disclaimer: The combat subsystem requires flipping or sliding poker chips. If you're the sort of person who won't find physical dexterity tests fun or appropriate for your games, this system isn't for you.

Set Up

The game begins with two standard poker decks, Joker's included, shuffled together. Everybody shares this deck. 

The dealer (who rotates each combat round) puts four cards, face down, in the middle of the table. This is the River. 

The dealer deals four cards to each player involved in the unpleasantness. This is the player's hand. 

Each player starts with a full set of ammo (represented by red chips) and three points of grit (represented by blue chips).

The Game Marshall (GM) should set up a map of the situation, either sketching it out on a dry-erase board or creating a diorama with miniatures. Everybody should be clear where they are and where other obvious combatants are. 

On a separate, but easily accessible surface, the GM should set up a shoot out silhouette. See below for details.

The dealer then flips the first card of the River over. This signifies that the first turn of the combat round has begun. 

Combat Turns

At the start of each turn, each player places one card from their hand face down in front of them. When the dealer signals, everybody flips their cards up at the same time. The player with the highest card numerically acts first, then each other person in descending order. Jokers high, aces low. Players with ties go simultaneously. 

Once all the actions are resolved in the first turn, the dealer flips the next card of the River. Play continues until all four River cards are flipped and all actions are resolved. If the combat situation continues, the next person counterclockwise becomes the dealer and a new combat round begins.

Actions!

During each turn, each player selects a card from their hand and places it face down. By doing so, they are choosing to do one of two things: use an action (based on their card's suit) or use a special technique (based on a poker hand available to you). When it's your turn to declare what you're doing, you say what action or special technique you're using and who you're doing it to.

Jokers are wild and high.

Additionally, when you act, your character may move one zone on the map, e.g., from the street to the porch, from the porch into the saloon, from the saloon to the backroom, etc. 

There are four basic actions based on the suit of the card you played. Some actions have a counter. If your opponent has a card in their hand that counters your action, they may play it by spending 1 grit. This interrupts your action in a specific way, discussed below. 

Spades - ♠Shootin'

Counter: ♦Dive for Cover

When you play a Spades card, you take the ♠Shootin' action. You may take one of your ammo chips and slide it or flip it onto the shoot out silhouette. 

• If you hit the silhouette, your opponent takes a wound on their body corresponding to that section. If the chip is hitting two places simultaneously, the victim chooses which unwounded body part to wound. They mark an X accordingly on their character sheet.
• A shot to the leg hobbles a character. They must discard a card of any suit to move (instead of moving for free). If both legs are shot, they cannot move at all. 
• A shot to the arm means that the player cannot toss an ammo chip with the corresponding arm. 
• A shot to the torso kills the character. A shot to the head kills the character. 
• A shot character may spend 1 grit to change the hit to a graze. They mark an / on their character sheet to show a graze. Two grazes = one hit. 

If countered, your target places their card over their shoot out silhouette, as if they had preemptively dived for cover. See  the ♦Dive for Cover action for full details.

Clubs - ♣Roughhouse

Counter: ♣Roughhouse

When you play a Clubs card, you take the ♣Roughhouse action against someone in your zone. Choose one of the following options:

• Your opponent loses 1 grit. 
• If your opponent has no grit to lose, you cold clock them. They're knocked out.
• Your opponent is grappled. Neither of you can move zones or use the ♠Shootin' action until you decide to let them go. Your opponent can take the ♣Roughhouse to break free on a later turn, too.

If countered, you and your opponent compare card totals. If your opponent's card value is lower than yours, you tussle a bit but nothing happens. If your opponent's card value is equal to or higher than your ♣Roughhouse action, you lose 1 grit.

Diamonds - ♦Dive for Cover

Counter: None

When you play a Diamonds card, you take the ♦Dive for Cover action. Choose one of the following effects:

• You may move two additional zones this turn (for a total of 3). 
• If your zone has any physical cover (tables, columns, horses, gallows, etc.) the next time you are shot at, you may place this card on top of your shoot out silhouette. 
• If an ammo chip lands at least partially your cover card, it misses you completely. The cover is destroyed. Remove your card. 
• If the ammo chip does not hit your cover card, the cover remains where it is until you move zones or it is destroyed. 

Hearts - ♥Recover

Counter: None

When you play a Hearts card, you take the ♥Recover action. Choose one of the following effects:

• You fill your ammo allotment back to your weapon's full capacity.
• You regain 1 grit (to a maximum of 3).

Miscellaneous Actions

Counter: None

You may discard a card of any suit to do literally anything else the Game Marshal allows. You can jump from one carriage to another. You can pull the train's breaks. You can shoot your horse to create cover in an open field.

Shoot Out Silhouette

I'm picturing a laminated small poster sized page like this:

I got this off of Walmart dot com. I'd imagine a few different silhouettes being included in the game to represent different scenarios. Maybe some overlays like "Window" or "Behind horse." If you want to try out this ruleset at home, there's a million Google images for "cowboy silhouette." You'd have to print it out large enough to let you flip your chip onto it. 

Techniques

OK here's where things really get complicated/interesting/fun. At the beginning of a turn, you can play face down as many cards from your hand as you want to make a poker hand. You may, if you want, also create combinations with cards in the River.  

For example, if you have a 5 of Hearts and a 5 of Clubs in your hand, and the River has a 5 of Spades, you may play both of your 5s face down. When you declare your action, you may activate your Three of a Kind special technique. 

(In a full version of this game, different characters might have entirely different sets of special techniques they could trigger. These are just examples.)

Each poker hand triggers a technique:

Pair - Thrillin’ Heroics

You can perform some unlikely feat: shooting a hangman's rope, jumping into a conveniently placed hay wagon from a third story window, or swinging on the chandelier across the saloon. This technique allows you to edit the details of the scenery somewhat to accommodate your thrillin’ heroics. 

Two Pair - Fast Draw

You take the ♠Shootin' action but it can't be countered. 

Three of a Kind - Catch Your Breath

You take the ♥Recover action and regain all grit (up to the max of 3). 

Straight - Greased Lightning

You interrupt another player’s action to perform your own. You can use any of the main actions and it will resolve before the current player’s. 

Flush - Trick Shot

You take the ♠Shootin' action and can remove a cover card from the silhouette. Alternatively, you take the ♠Shootin' action on someone you don't have a normal line of target on, e.g., shooting around corners. 

Full House - Dead Eye

Take the ♠Shootin' action and call what part of the body you're aiming for. If you hit, it can’t be turned into a graze. 

Four of a Kind  - Fan the Hammer

Take the ♠Shootin' action and you can spend as much ammo as you have against different targets. You may only take one shot per target.

Straight Flush - Ace in the Hole

You automatically hit your enemy on a body part of your choice. They take a wound there. It cannot be turned into a graze. You can use this technique to blast a gun out of their hand or leave ‘em dead standing. 

Royal Flush - Dead to Rights

You have your enemies dead to rights. You (or an ally) may make one demand of each varmint you have cornered. If they agree, you feel cocksure they'd never violate this oath. If they disagree (or if you just want to) you can waste ‘em. 

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Self Plug

My currently in-development dungeon crawler HIS MAJESTY THE WORM is another card based game. If you think flipping over cards dramatically and choosing your actions based on the cards you've drawn sounds fun, I hope you'll check it out (soon).

Diegetic Classes [Wilderland]

 Cavegirl introduced me to the term diegesis last year. In this past year, I’ve seen amazing content come out of the indie/OSR space, aligning tons of rules to the fictional world. 

I am super into this. I have sensed that my preferences lie with the diegetic since before I learned the word. Way back in my LARPing days, I knew it was better to roleplay with bloody bandages than say “I heal you 1, I heal you 2, I heal you 3.”

The Future of Wilderlands

This is tagged as Wilderlands content because I have plans to collate and collect as much of this content as I can into a zine called Errantry. 

Errantry will be a zine, a new DIY/SWORDDREAM/OSR game, a hexcrawl setting, and a campaign. It will have lots of blanks for people to build it out and adapt it to their table. 

That’s the plan anyway. More on this later. 

A Class on Classes

D&D has never been super clear whether its class paradigm is diegetic or non-diegetic. Is a monk an ascetic martial artist from Kara-Tur or a generic template for someone who fights unarmed? The more editions that passed, the less specific it seemed.

On the other hand, 3E’s prestige classes always seemed very specific and diegetic. You weren’t just a fighter, you were one of the Cormyrian army’s Purple Dragon Knights. This was fun in theory but wasn’t successful. It never mattered what your character did or said in the game, only that their Intimidation and Rope Handling were 9+ or whatever. 

When I discovered OSR-style play in G+, I was thankful to get away from builds, level planning, feat acquisition and such. If I gained a knighthood during play, I was excited for whatever the GM said that meant. 

But what if...

Diegetic Classes for the Wilderland

“That would be no good,” said the wizard, “not without a mighty Warrior, even a Hero. I tried to find one; but warriors are busy fighting one another in distant lands, and in this neighbourhood heroes are scarce, or simply not to be found. Swords in these parts are mostly blunt, and axes are used for trees, and shields as cradles or dish-covers; and dragons are comfortably far-off (and therefore legendary). That is why I settled on burglary —especially when I remembered the existence of a Side-door. And here is our little Bilbo Baggins, the burglar, the chosen and selected burglar. So now let’s get on and make some plans.” 

• The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

Levels aren’t diegetic. Get rid of them. 

Traditional classes aren’t particularly useful either. Get rid of those, too. 

In the Wilderlands, there are various organizations, tribes, cults, and sects. Membership in these organizations grants certain benefits. These are called classes. 

When you speak to a member of an organization, they will (almost always) tell you what you what quest you need to complete to join their ranks. This is never tied to your statistics; this is always some thing your character must do in the world. 

If you join a class, you gain some boon. This is some discrete and useful ability. 

(This may be thought as being roughly analogous to a single template in the GLOG.)

Some classes are mutually exclusive. For example, you may never be both a Knight of the Grail and a Blackguard.

You begin your career as an adventurer with no classes. Adventure and earn them in play.

The classes listed below are explicitly appropriate for the Wilderlands setting. Your game world should probably have different ones. Write some up and let your players discover them. (Hint: Look at the level titles and concoct a few based on those.)

Berserk

Quest: You must slay, skin, tan, and create a coat from the hide of a dire animal. 

Boon: If you wear your dire coat, but no actual armor, you may choose to fly into a berserker fit.  While in this fit, you may only perform Melee attacks, but you gain damage resistance 2. This fit only ends when every creature who has attacked you is dead or you are. 

Bravo

Quest: You must challenge and best another bravo in a fair duel.Thereafter, as a bravo, you must accept any fair challenge from any duelist. 

Boon: You gain +2 to hit. 

Burglar

Quest: You must join the Burglar’s Guild, whose membership dues cost 1 Treasure. 

You cannot be both a Burglar and have Knightly vows. 

Boon: At any point, you may declare that you go sneaking. This allows you to go dramatically off-stage. Later, if you are not present in a scene and it’s at least somewhat plausible that you could have snuck there, take 1d4 damage to arrive on the scene dramatically. 

If you go sneaking and all tension evaporates, you may rejoin the scene by slinking out of the shadows. This does not cost HP.

Champion

Quest: You must make an oath of service to a lord from your realm and hold them as your liege. 

Boon: You gain 1d8 additional HP. 

Druid

Quest: You must make an appropriate sacrifice to Green Gods at the Tree of Faces inside the Myrkvith Forest. The Tree of Faces hungers for many strange things, but nothing more than the decapitated heads of orcs, who despoil trees. Thereafter, you may not carry works of iron.

Boon: When you apply one of the nine sacred herbs for healing, your ministrations heal 1d4+1 points of damage (instead of 1).

Knight Errant

Quest: You must slay a monster and present its head to the Folkmoot. If they accept your offering, they will dub you a Knight Errant. 

You may not be a member of two orders of knighthood at the same time. 

Boon: If you have not told a lie since the last new moon, you may ask “Is what they just said true?” in response to any statement from an NPC. The GM will answer you honestly. You may do this once per day.

Knight of the Green

Quest: If you drop to exactly 0 HP and recover, you may thank the Green Gods for their blessing and dedicate yourself to their cause.
You may not be a member of two orders of knighthood at the same time. You may not worship two pantheons at the same time.

Boon: You (and everyone you are with) may travel through forest hexes as if they had a road.

Loremaster

Quest: If you find an ancient book of lore, the GM presents you with a sudoku puzzle with runes instead of numbers. You must solve this puzzle out of character.

Boon: You may now spend a dungeon turn to read any runes you encounter.

Ranger

Quest: Write an in-character field journal documenting 15 hexes

Boon: You may use a Camp Action to scout nearby. You investigate a specific location in your hex or an adjacent one. Thereafter, you may ask the GM three specific yes or no questions about something you’d know having infiltrated that location, e.g., “Is this door trapped?” “Is this room guarded?” “Is the wizard’s bedroom on this level?” “Do the bandits have bows?” “Were the orcs green-skinned?” 

Shieldthane

Quest:

Boon: As a maneuver, you may create a shield wall if you have at least two other companions who also carry shields. 

• The shieldthane “leads” the shield wall. They gain a +2 bonus to their attack roll by being in the shield wall. Other players in the shield wall cannot attack. 

• Damage done to a shield wall may be split up in any way between the participants. For example, a troll’s hammer dealing 12 damage may be split up as 6 damage to one participant, 3 damage to a second, and 3 damage to a third. 

Skald

Quest: Best a supernatural creature in a riddling contest

Boon: When you bid lore, you may ask a follow up question for free.

Skinchanger

Quest: Skinchangers put on a cloak of hide from the animal whose shape they wish to take. The ritual needed to create this magical cloak is known to few, but you know a rumor of at least two: Grimbold the Berserk of Northmark and Alianora of Svanlindale. Seek either of them out to learn this art. 

Boon: If you don your cloak of hide, you may take on the shape of an animal. In this form, you gain no new stats, but you may leap, climb, slither, bite, swim, or fly as a beast. 

Sorcerer

Quest: On a night of the new moon, open one of the barrows of Northmark and plunder the Treasure you find there. If you survive the encounter, you will surely be called a sorcerer.

Boon: A sorcerer may cast one the spells of wilderlands for each item of enchantment they hold.

Wizard

Quest: You must pay 1 Treasure and spend a Downtime Action to take classes at the Tower of Grammarye. Each time you do this, you learn the lore of one of the noble herbs. 

Boon: Each time you gain this class (which may be done up to nine times), you are shown a row in the chart which represents the combinations of herbs into magical reagents. You may prepare these reagents as a Camp action. 

Further Reading:

Unbeknownst to me, my cohort Chris at Wayspell posted a very similar system a few hours back. We didn’t collaborate on this...but now we’re going to (and by that, I mean I’m going to steal his content). Give his system a read too.