Reagents in Wilderland

This post is a follow up to my post about magic in my Wilderlands setting. 

Reagents in Wilderland, or, Herb Lore and Why It Matters

Jimmy Cauty hung on my wall all of my high school years.

And that is not surprising: such incantations might indeed be said to be only another view of adjectives, a part of speech in a mythical grammar. The mind that thought of light, heavy, grey, yellow, still, swift, also conceived of magic that would make heavy things light and able to fly, turn grey lead into yellow gold, and the still rock into a swift water. If it could do the one, it could do the other; it inevitably did both. 
- J.R.R. Tolkien, "On Fairy Stories"*

So. As I've said, magic in the Wilderlands is both rare and pervasive. What a paradox. 

In my earlier post, I called deliberate magic "spells," which were separated into least magic (called cantrips), discrete expressions (enchantments), and greatest workings (runes). 

((If I had my dithers about me, I'd probably render "cantrip" into something a bit more Germanic (spae? dwimmer?), but ah well.))

This post is concerned with enchantments. That is, the type of spells one might work if one is a magical professional, i.e., a wizard. These are intentional workings of magic, separate from the natural magic a supernatural creature may intuitively possess or ritual expressions of magical craft.  

It does not seem that Gandalf casts his spells one after the other. There seems some limiting factor as to when he unleashes his potency. Vancian spell casting (for all its charms) seems inappropriate for the Wilderlands setting. Therefore, what is the limiting factor? 

Magic is complicated in the collected legendarium, with only breadcrumbs given to readers to lead them towards an implied system of the "physics" of the supernatural. The better part is given in Letter 155 (which comprised the main source for my thesis). If you take The Hobbit by itself, in true Formalist fashion, these breadcrumbs become so sparse as to be meaningless. So let's widen our view by one degree. 

It's clear that Tolkien was writing The Hobbit as a professor of Old English. The names of the dwarves, the selection of monsters and fantastic elements from northern Europe, the presence of manifest Scandinavian mythology, all point to a scholarly exercise of (children's) literature in the vein of the Eddas or Beowulf. If we ignore the rest of the trilogy, we must at least accept the direct influences of Old English literature on The Hobbit. 

When constructing a gameable magical "system" from The Hobbit, we can therefore look towards the text as a primary source and Old English literature as a secondary source. If the primary source is silent, we defer to the secondary source. 

Northern European Fairytale Magic

Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf; / Witches' mummy; maw and gulf  / Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark; / Root of hemlock digg'd in the dark; 

Orson Welles's adaptation of Macbeth

What do we know about magic in the Old English mode? Well, I'll quote Neil Price from The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia: 
> "There were seiðr rituals for divination and clairvoyance; for seeking out the hidden, both in the secrets of the mind and in physical locations; for healing the sick; for bringing good luck; for controlling the weather; for calling game animals and fish. Importantly, it could also be used for the opposite of these things – to curse an individual or an enterprise; to blight the land and make it barren; to induce illness; to tell false futures and thus to set their recipients on a road to disaster; to injure, maim and kill, in domestic disputes and especially in battle."

I'd argue that magic in this genre is inseparable from the *tools* of sorcery: the magic staff, the magic cloak, the magic potion. Therefore, we limit enchantment to the tools that the wizard has at his disposal. It's the old D&D inventory management sub-system: a pack can only haul so much, and wizards have additional inventory management concerns. 

From the (now sadly defunct) webcomic House of Orr

Reagents

"Now these nine herbs have strength | against nine who had fled from glory"

In my previous post, I posited a few rules for finding magical reagents. Those were, hm, fine. In this post, I'd like to expand on those rules and create additional structures for enchantments. 

For these rules, I assume that inventory management is important. I'm using rules similar to Lamentations of the Flame Princess. If you hand wave inventory, wizards will be particularly more powerful. 

The magic of the Wilderland is hidden in its wild spaces. Wizards collect the strange, the uncanny, the weird, and the unpleasant to weave enchantments.

Reagents are items that, at their basic level, have small magic. When combined together, however, their alchemical potential become unlocked. 

The known reagents are nine herbs, and are:

1. Mucgwyrt; a root that grows in marshes and is good in beer
2. Attorlade; a tall grass that grows in cultivated lands
3. Stune; is an bitter herb that grows in soggy turf
4. Wegbrade; is sometimes called "waybread" since it's tuberous root is edible
5. Maegthe; a fair-smelling flower that blooms in spring
6. Stithe; is a nettle-like plant covered in fine, irritating thorns
7. Wergulu; is a wild tree that yields all-but-inedible crab apples 
8. Fille; a bushy, very aromatic herb with silver leaves
9. Finule; has yellow flowers and feathery leaves, and grows especially near the sea

Finding Reagents

Searching for reagents is a hex action. It takes about as much time and effort as hunting or camping. A gather components hex action allows a number of rolls equal to the wizard's Intelligence modifier, with a minimum of one.  A relevant skill such as Herbalism yields an additional +2 rolls. 

A reagent takes up one slot in a pack. 

Use the following table for your rolls:

Reagent	Fields	Fens	Forest, Haunted	Forest, Verdant	Graveyards, Battlefields, Barrows	Steadings	Seashores	Mountains, Foothills	Mountains, Peaks
Mucgwyrt	-	1	1	-	-	1	-	-	-
Attorlade	1	-	-	1	-	2	-	1	-
Stune	2	2	2	-	1	-	1	2	-
Wegbrade	3	3	3	2	-	-	-	3	-
Maegthe	4	-	-	3	-	3	-	4	1
Stithe	-	4	4	4	-	-	-	5	2
Wergulu	5	-	-	5	-	4	-	6	-
Fille	6	-	5	6	2	5	-	-	3
Finule	-	-	6	-	-	6	2	-	4

Reagents may also be traded in a steading as a haven action, assuming the steading has a magic worker. Witches at the edge of town, elven loremasters, visiting wizards, and advising alchemists may all part with some of their reagent store for treasure or favors performed. 

Weaving Enchantments

"As soon as Gandalf had heard Bilbo's yell he realized what had happened. In the flash which killed the goblins that were grabbing him he had nipped inside the crack, just as it snapped to. He followed after the drivers and prisoners right to the edge of the great hall, and there worked up the best magic he could in the shadows." 

A wizard can weave an enchantment if they have two reagents to mix together. 

A combination of two reagents creates the components for a single spell. This component must be held in the hand when cast. Weaving an enchantment takes one exploration turn and combines the two reagents into a component, which takes up one pack slot. Weaving multiple enchantments in this way may be done as part of a camping hex action. 

Each reagent combines with another with a unique alchemical effect, per the following table:

Reagent	Mucgwyrt	Attorlade	Stune	Wegbrade	Maegthe	Stithe	Wergulu	Fille	Finule
Mucgwyrt	X	Abjure Undead	Second Sight	Pass Through Grave	Restoration	Lifespring	Part the Veil	Circle of Protection	Levitation
Attorlade	Abjure Undead	X	Magic Missile	Command	Giant Size	Far Hand	Animate Object	Seal Pact	Word of Truth
Stune	Second Sight	Magic Missile	X	Charm of Fire	Charm of Air	Charm of Earth	Charm of Water	Elemental Aegis	Turning of Seasons
Wegbrade	Pass Through Grave	Command	Charm of Fire	X	Love	Hate	Vision of the Past	Vision of the Present	Vision of the Future
Maegthe	Restoration	Giant Size	Charm of Air	Love	X	Glamour	Guise	Sleep	Flare
Stithe	Lifespring	Far Hand	Charm of Earth	Hate	Glamour	X	Darklight	Malediction	Give Voice
Wergulu	Part the Veil	Animate Object	Charm of Water	Vision of the Past	Guise	Darklight	X	Lightning Bolt	Werelight
Fille	Circle of Protection	Seal Pact	Elemental Aegis	Vision of the Present	Sleep	Malediction	Lightning Bolt	X	Entangle
Finule	Levitation	Word of Truth	Turning of Seasons	Vision of the Future	Flare	Give Voice	Werelight	Entangle	X

Reagents cannot be combined with themselves, e.g., two portions of mucgwyrt are not reactive with each other. 

Optional Rule: Unknown Effects
If your PCs are merely wizards' adopted pig boys or witches' apprentices, you can randomize and keep the combinations hidden. When the players mix stune and finule, they'll have no idea what enchantment will happen until they cast it. This can add some Rogue-like experimentation fun (and danger) to the mix. 

Casting Enchantments

Then Gandalf climbed to the top of his tree. The sudden splendour flashed from his wand
like lightning, as he got ready to spring down from on high right among the spears of the
goblins. That would have been the end of him, though he would probably have killed many of them as he came hurtling down like a thunderbolt.

An enchantment is cast when a wizard holds the component and commands the spell with an incantation. Casting an enchantment is super obvious. 

A spell can effect anything a wizard can see. A spell cannot effect things the wizard cannot see. 

Components are consumed when the enchantment is cast. 

Some enchantments may be maintained with concentration. You may only maintain one enchantment with concentration at a time. If you suffer any damage, you must succeed in an Wisdom saving throw to maintain concentration. 

New Rule: Incantations 
When a wizard casts a spell, the wizard's player may elect to cast using an incantation. If this is the case, the wizard does not use table talk to describe how they cast the spell or what the target is. Instead, the wizard's player must speak an incantation. 

An incantation is:

• A poem
• At least four lines long
• Rhyming 

The GM knows what spell is being cast because of the component the wizard is holding, but must interpret the target or effects of the spell based on the incantation spoken. 

Furthermore, if an incantation is used, the spell is considered empowered. An empowered spell does a little more damage, affects a few more people, or lasts a little longer. Many enchantments listed below have pre-built empowered versions. Some don't. If there is a gap, the GM and the wizard's player can work together to set something reasonable. Empowered enchantments may be given caveats, IFTTT conditions, or lingering durations based on the GM's interpretation of the incantation spoken. 

The Enchantment List

Small wonder that spell means both a story told, and a formula of power over living men.

A list of spells of enchantment here follows. Steal or tweak for your game set in Wilderland and the Wide World. 

Abjure Undead

The wizard sings a song of rest and reminds the undead of his true nature. The target undead spirit—be it wraith, or grave wight, or vampire—must flee to their resting place as if they had failed a Morale check. When they reach their resting place, or if they are already dwelling there, this spell ceases to affect them.

Animate Object

The wizard commands an object to fulfill its intended purpose. A dagger stabs. A key unlocks. A pick digs. The wizard gives a single word command to an object. The item then obeys the command as if wielded by an invisible hand.

The GM interprets what the object does based on the instruction given.

An item will only ever fulfill one task per casting of this spell, no matter how many words are spoken in explanation. A key will unlock either the door to the cell, or your manacles, or your friend’s manacles, but never all three in the same casting. By this token, an unattended weapon will only strike once per casting. The item will strike with the wizard’s Attack value, in this instance.  

This spell may be maintained by concentration.

Empowered: If empowered, the wizard gives a command to an object that consists of as many words equal to his Wisdom modifier (minimum 1).

Charm of Air

The wizard controls the flow of wind in simple but significant ways. The wizard may:

·        Blow out a candle or torch

·        Disperse or isolate a dangerous gas

·        Cause minor adjustments to the local weather i.e., diverting an afternoon rain

Empowered: An empowered charm of air creates even more meaningful effects, per the GM’s discretion: it might be enough to power a sailing vessel or blow a door off of its hinges.

Charm of Earth

The wizard controls a substantive amount of earth in simple but significant ways. The wizard may:

·        Lift, push, or pull about 10 lbs. of stone or wood

·        Shape a piece of unworked stone or wood as if you had craftsman’s tools

·        Shatter a fist-sized hunk of stone or wood

·        Quickly bury an object about the size of a chest

·        Raise a small hill

·        Dig a trench

Empowered: An empowered charm of earth creates even more meaningful effects, per the GM’s discretion: it might be to create a navigable tunnel through solid stone or to raise a meaningful length of stone wall.

Charm of Fire

The wizard controls a substantive amount of fire in simple but significant ways. By channeling a fire mana, the wizard may:

·        Start a fire as if he had flint and tinder

·        Cause a fire to produce a huge amount of smoke

·        Extinguish a torch or bonfire

Fire, even when woven with magic, still must obey its basic nature: a wizard cannot start a fire on “nothing,” it must have a fuel source to burn.

Empowered: An empowered charm of fire creates even more meaningful effects, per the GM’s discretion: it might be possible to extinguish a house fire or change the direction of a forest fire.

Charm of Water

The wizard controls a substantive amount of water in simple but significant ways. The wizard may:

·        Raise something that’s sunken but visible

·        Move about a bucket’s worth of water

·        Dry something that’s wet

·        Grant advantage or disadvantage to tests related to swimming or sailing

·        Cause the nearby water level to raise or lower by about a foot

Empowered: An empowered charm of water creates even more meaningful effects, per the GM’s discretion: it might be possible to part a lake Noah style or to capsize a ship.

Circle of Protection

The wizard etches a mandala of protection around himself. As preparation for casting, the wizard spends a turn sketching out a circle of protective runes with the component. This circle encompasses a radius of no more than 10 feet.

When the wizard incants this spell, he names a type of creature. All creatures who share this category—be it specific name (e.g., John), gender (men), race (goblins), or feature (born of woman)—may not pass the circle. 

Empowered: If the wizard traces the circle but does not yet “cast” the spell, may trap a creature within through a word of power.

Command

The wizard speaks a single word of command. The target must try and obey the command, as long as it’s not outright suicidal, until they complete it. Each turn, the target may attempt a Saving Throw. If successful, the target shakes off the command.

Empowered: If empowered, the wizard may speak two words of command.

Darklight

The wizard’s light is invisible to others. A targeted light source will not go out while this spell is active. Additionally, this light provides illumination only for the one holding it. The light is not seen by any others nearby. This allows the wizard to move stealthily even with perfect visibility.

This spell must be maintained with concentration.

Empowered: If empowered, the wizard may specify up to (Intelligence modifier) targets to also see in the light of the targeted object.

Elemental Aegis

The wizard makes a sign of protection against the world’s bite. The target of the spell becomes almost immune to damage from one of the chosen elements.

If the target is protected against fire, they and their gear take no damage from heat or flames up to and including a forge’s fire.

If the target is protected against water, they and their gear take no damage from cold or icy blasts.

If the target is protected against air, they do not need to breathe.

If the target is protected against earth, they do not suffer damage from falling.

This spell is maintained by concentration. 

Empowered: If cast empowered, the wizard protects the target from two elements.

Entangle

The wizard calls forth thorns, stones, or unseen hands to hold their foe. Until the target can pass a Saving Throw, they cannot move from their current space.

Empowered: If empowered, this spell targets a 10 x 10’ area.

Far Hand

The wizard moves objects without touching them. This spell can lift an object within line of sight and move it as if the wizard had his hand on it. This spell can only lift objects about as heavy and as large as the wizard could lift one handed.

Empowered: If empowered, the wizard may maintain this spell with concentration.

Flare

The wizard causes a torch to suddenly blaze with light. Whoever’s holding the torch is blind until they can pass a Saving Throw.

Blinded creatures treat every attack like a surprise attack.

Empowered: If empowered, this spell can target lights as large as a bonfire. If cast on a bonfire, everybody in the immediate area has a 50% chance of becoming blind until they can pass a Saving Throw.

Giant Size

The wizard becomes the size of a mountain giant. The target triples in size. Their fists deal d6 damage. When making Strength checks, treat their Strength as 20.

This spell may be maintained by concentration.

Empowered: If cast empowered, the target of the spell takes half damage from the weapons of puny humans.

Give Voice

The wizard awakens silent things and talks with them. This spell allows one thing the power of speech, even if it can’t normally talk. This lets the wizard converse with a dead body, with trees, with the stones of a castle, with a sword, etc.

The thing will converse with the wizard, but is under no compunction to tell the truth or be helpful (check Reaction as normal). The thing has a basic knowledge of events that happened near it, or of actions that it took, translated through their unique perspectives. For example, a sword might know if it killed someone, but doesn’t remember what the victim looked like; however, it has a clear memory of the weapon its victim wielded.

If cast on an inanimate object, the thing speaks in the language of its owner or creator.

If cast on a corpse, it speaks in the language it knew in life.

Plants have their own secret languages. Test Intelligence to see if you speak the tongue of root and leaf.

Empowered: If cast empowered, the Reaction check is made with advantage; the GM will choose the most advantageous reaction.

Glamour

The wizard weaves glamours. The wizard creates an illusion of any object or creature you wish. The illusion is merely an image—a hologram—and has no weight or substance, creates no sound, no smells, etc.  Interacting with the illusion reveals that it’s fake.

This spell is maintained with concentration.

Guise

The wizard befuddles the mind. This spell places an illusion on a target that makes it seem as if it is a different, but similar, thing. For example, the wizard may pass another person of their same race. A silver coin might seem like a gold coin. A letter from your elderly aunt may seem like an official writ. Assuming the object is the same basic shape, this illusion is not broken by interacting with the object.

This spell is maintained with concentration.

Hate

The wizard plants seeds of hatred. The target of this spell feels an intense feeling of hate toward a secondary visible target that the wizard specifies, until the target can pass a Saving Throw. While active, the primary target attempts to attack the secondary target.

When this spell is over, all parties become particularly aware of the spell’s influence on them.

This spell is maintained by concentration.

Levitation

The wizard floats upwards, unshackled by the earth. If cast on a creature, the creature may move upwards or downwards through the air as if climbing a ladder. If cast on an object, it becomes all but weightless. This spell may be maintained by concentration.

Empowered: The wizard may instantly cast this spell, as long as he has the component on his person, via a word of power. This may stop an unwanted fall, as the target gently floats earthward.

Lifespring

The wizard shelters the spirit of a dying creature. This spell applies one of the following effects; apply the first relevant effect in this list:  

·        If cast on a creature with 0 Blood who is not yet dead, the target restores 1 Blood and is considered stable.

·        If cast on a creature who is stable but unconscious, the target becomes conscious.

·        If cast on a poisoned creature, the target is cured of the poison.

·        If cast on a diseased creature, the target is cured of the disease.

·        If cast on a creature with at least 1 Blood, the target regains 1d6 Blood.

Empowered: If empowered, the wizard can choose which of these effects to imbue—not just the first applicable one.

Lightning Bolt

The wizard conjures up a blast of thunder and lightning. The target takes 1d6 damage.

Empowered: If empowered, this spell deals 2d4+Wis damage.

Love

The wizard charms the eyes of the unwary. The target of this spell feels an intense feeling of love (ala charm) towards a secondary visible target that the wizard specifies, until the target can pass a Saving Throw. While active, the primary target wishes to express their love as ardently as possible.

This spell may be maintained by concentration.

When this spell is over, all parties become particularly aware of the spell’s influence on them.

Magic Missile

The wizard asks if there is something in his environment that’s flammable—some pinecone or acorn. If the GM says no, the wizard has the option of pulling something from his pack to set ablaze and throw.

The magic missile explodes on impact and spreads fire in a 5’ radius. All creatures in this area may make a Dexterity roll. If successful, they may move 5’ and avoid the blast. If unsuccessful, the target catches on fire. Creatures on fire take 1d6 blood damage at the end of their turn. They can spend their turn putting themselves out.

Malediction

If cast on a creature, they will suffer a random curse effect—use the table below to find out which one. Wizards will use this spell to bully others into completing quests or working their will.  This spell is maintained with concentration.

1. Dogs hate you. Any dog you meet automatically is going to try and attack you and prioritize you over all other targets. Going into a city is a nightmare.   
2. You’re afflicted with bad dreams. You have a 50% chance to regain no blood or sweat from sleep due to your nightmares. 
3. Food has a 50% chance of becoming ash when you eat it. If this happens, you waste that ration. 
4. You are doomed. All Saving Throw actions are made with disadvantage. 
5. You gain the desiccated look of an undead corpse. Most NPCs will default as hostile towards you. Nobody wants to sleep with you. On the plus side, most undead will ignore you. 
6. You’re cursed to speak in rhymes. Everything you say in-character must rhyme.
7. Your weapons rust and break easily. On an Attack roll or 1-3, your weapon gains a Notch. Wooden weapons can suffer one Notch, iron weapons can suffer two, and steel weapons can suffer three before breaking. 
8. You transform into a member of the opposite sex. It’s weird (but maybe exciting?). 
9. Rats and other vermin begin to love you. They follow you around everywhere. They want to sleep in your mouth. Every night, there is a 50% chance they’ll relieve you of something in your pack that they know you don’t want and replace it with garbage. Nice garbage. 
10. Every footstep you take rings an ethereal, unseen bell that accompanies a voice that says, SHAME. Stealth is impossible. 
11. You grow sick and infirm. You are (regrettably) immune to effects that would magically heal you. 
12. You grow old for the duration of the curse—like a withered crone. You are ugly and unattractive. You cannot see more than 30’ in front of you through your cataracts. You don’t go anywhere fast.   

Empowered: If empowered, the curse will stay with the target until the wizard dismisses it (which he can do at any time) or it is counter-spelled. It is not maintained with concentration.

Part the Veil

The wizard pulls down the veil between the seen and the unseen. Everything within ten paces of the wizard are in the same world. Spirits from the Unseen World are visible and tangible. Living beings may likewise be interacted with by spirits.

However, outside of this small radius, those covered by the enchantment seem as spirits. They are partially transparent, which gives advantage to hiding tests. They are intangible, and cannot be harmed by arrows or missiles.

This spell may be maintained with concentration. The wizard cannot move from this area while the spell is maintained.

Empowered: Spirits who enter the area of the spell cannot leave until they pass a Saving Throw.

Pass Through Grave

The target of this spell is invisible and unnoticed by the undead. This spell may be maintained by concentration.

Restoration

The wizard’s touch restores strength. If the target has at least 1 Blood, the target regains 1d4 Sweat.

Empowered: If empowered, this spell restores the target 1d6+Wis Sweat.

Seal Pact

The wizard creates a magical contract. When cast, the wizard magically seals a contract or oath made by two willing parties.

If a party to the oath ever violates the terms of the pact, two things happen: 1) all other parties of the oath are immediately aware of the violation, and 2) the violator becomes doomed. This means, at the absolutely most crucial moment in the future, the violator will automatically suffer a critical failure when making a test.

Empowered: If empowered, this spell may create a pact that includes more than two participants.

Second Sight

The wizard sees into the Unseen. Any magical effect is immediately apparent as magical. Invisible creatures or incorporeal things become visible. Any illusion seems as unreal as a painting or fresco.

This spell may be maintained by concentration.

Sleep

The wizard puts another into a magical sleep. If not in a tense or dangerous situation, the target falls asleep and can only be awoken with a sharp slap. If in a tense or dangerous situation (like combat), the subject goes last in initiative and has disadvantage to their Armor checks until they suffer a sharp slap (or worse damage).

Empowered: If empowered, a sleeping target does not age, nor do they need to eat or drinks while asleep.

Turning of the Seasons

The wizard chooses a different season to visit on his immediate area.

·        If spring is chosen, the air becomes cool and a light rain begins to fall. Plants immediately bud and flower.

·        If summer is chosen, the air becomes very hot and the skies become clear. Plants immediately leaf and produce fruit.

·        If autumn is chosen, the air becomes cool, the skies become misty, and an obscuring fog raises in the area. Plants darken to their autumnal hues.

·        If winter is chosen, the air becomes bitter cold and a heavy snow begins to fall. Plants immediately become dormant.

The GM may adjudicate certain effects on plant-based creatures based on the season chosen, e.g., sleep effects during winter.

This spell is maintained by concentration. Plant life returns to their normal state as soon as the spell ends.

Empowered: This spell is not maintained by concentration. Instead, the effects last until the sun crosses the horizon.

Visions of the Future

The wizard glimpses the weavings of fate. The player may ask the GM, "If X happens, will Y happen?" The GM will answer him honestly.

Empowered: If empowered, the wizard may ask a follow up question.

Visions of the Past

The wizard glimpses the weavings of fate. The GM answers one yes or no question about a past event.

Empowered: If empowered, the wizard may ask a follow up question.

Visions of the Present

The wizard glimpses the weavings of fate. The GM answers one yes or no question about a single extant person, place, or thing.

Empowered: If empowered, the wizard may ask a follow up question.

Werelight

The wizard binds a will o’ the wisp to his service. A small light, providing a candle’s worth of illumination, is conjured. The wisp will obey the wizard’s verbal requests, but is insubstantial and easily dispelled. This spell is maintained by concentration.

Word of Truth

The wizard discerns truth from lies. While this spell is active, the wizard knows if the target tells a knowing lie.

While under the effect of the spell, the target knows that they are essentially hooked up to a magical polygraph.

This spell is maintained with concentration.

Sidebar: Magical Efficacy I like it when spells are successful. I think it's more interesting and more in keeping with the source material. In The Hobbit (and related fairy tales) you rarely see a spell just "not working" because of a monster's strength, will, or chutzpah. I find it more interesting when a spell works, but the target has the opportunity to overcome it. This makes spells a valuable resources that, in essence, create a stopwatch of effects during combat. 

White Magic vs. Black Magic?

Did you know Christopher Lee provided voicing for a concept album based on a Lord Dunsany book?

It was in this way that he learned where Gandalf had been to; for he overheard the words of the wizard to Elrond. It appeared that Gandalf had been to a great council of the white wizards, masters of lore and good magic; and that they had at last driven the Necromancer from his dark hold in the south of Mirkwood.

We know one more thing about magic that I haven't yet covered. Gandalf's off screen battle with the Necromancer in The Hobbit exposes Tolkien's early thinking about the "two types" of magic in the legendarium. As quoted, an apparent distinction is made between good magic and bad magic. My assumption is that enchantment is "good magic," i.e., white magic. The other type of magic, that employed by the Necromancer, is black magic. 

What's the difference? The difference is in the reagents used to create the enchantment. White magic uses herbs and the natural gifts of the world. Black magic's reagents are animal viscera. Hence Shakespeare's: 

"Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab"

I assume the spell lists for both black magic and white magic would be more or less the same, with some thematics changed, e.g., Entangle calls grasping ghostly hands instead of thick roots and vines. 

I'm not taking the effort in this post to write up a corresponding reagent combination table featuring eye of newt and tongue of dog. If your players are playing necromancers, golly, by all means. Go for it. Share your results with me. 

Authorial Note: Hey, sorry about the big gaps between posts. I started this blog when I had a very boring job. Now I have a very exciting one that I like a lot more, but it keeps me way busier. Thanks for still hanging around. 

* "On Fairy Stories" is going a little afield of using the Hobbit as a pure primary text, but it predates the trilogy and is so essentially in "theme," I can't resist. 

Strange Gods, Strange Bedfellows

Rise up Comus, sing your song, bewitch the maiden, the day is long

Cast your spell, sweet music crack her virtuous shell

Enchanted damsel, curious ear, Comus music dispel all fear

Here are a smattering of additional cults using my rules from here and here. Use them to provide a bit of a different color for your clerics.

Cult of the Horned God

The druids worship the Archfey, the leader of the Wild Hunt, He who Dwells in Empty Places: the Horned God. When the aurora is shown in the sky, the Horned God rides with a host of the unliving through the trackless wilds. Woe be to any who cross his path on those nights. 

Commandments of the Horned God

• Mete out justice and punish wrong doers; capture murderers and sacrifice them on holy days.
• Wearing metal armor and carrying metal weapons makes you slow, lazy, and weak. 
• Reading and writing make your mind weak and unable to memorize the laws and histories of the land. Do not indulge in the sloth of literacy. 

Favored Foe: None -- A druid does not have the Smite class feature

Miracles: Any spell from Elementalism (W&W p. 14)
Special: The Horned God has no favored foe, but is the Lord of the Hunt. Druids wear robes or cloaks made of dire beasts hunted in the name of the Horned God. By spending 1 Faith point, they may activate the magic of these robes and shapeshift into the form of the beast who gave its skin.

Druids begin the game at level 1 with one ceremonial garment: a robe of raven feathers, a wolf skin cloak, or a stag antler crown. (Or, you know, something else with GM approval.)

Each time a druid gains a level, they may go to the wilderness to seek a sign from the Horned God. The Horned God will loose from his herd one of his beasts. The Horned God's beasts are paragons of their kind (dire variants). The druid hunts* for the creature. If successful, he may take the beast's skin and make a garment from it, and add a new creature to his repertoire of shapeshifting.
* For hunting,  I'd use the Snakes and Ladders chase rules.

It is improper to wear more than one ceremonial garment at a time. Much less impractical. Additional garments must be kept in your pack.

Cult of the All-Father

The All-Father is known by many names: Böðgæðir (Battle-Enhancer), Faðr galdr (Father of Magic), Fjölsviðr (Very Wise), Geirtýr (Gore God), Hangadróttinn (Lord of the Hanged), Sigtýr (God of Victory) and Valkjosandi (Chooser of the Slain). These names hint at his nature: a god of death, a god of battle, a god of wisdom.

The All-Father hung himself as a sacrifice to himself. In his suffering, he gained wisdom.

Though warriors and wizards alike all pray to the All-Father for wisdom and victory, his priests have few men among them. Those who observe the rites of the All-father are mostly women, intersex, or third gender. In the northern lands, the practice of holy ritual is seen as "ergi," or "womanly work." The women who worship the All-Father are called valkyries.

The Commandments of the All-Father

• Never make a wrongsome oath or break your troth
• Remember the respect due those of great age
• Give kind heed to dead people: straw dead, sea dead, or sword dead
• Give mead and meat to all who ask you for it
• Never break guest rite; give all due honor to your host

Favored Foe: Giants and Trolls
Miracles: Any spell from Spiritualism (W&W p. 28)

50 Campfire Discussions

A focus for my current project, His Majesty the Worm, is interpersonal conflict and a focus on downtime. When the players camp, the GM can provide some discussion prompts and ask for a small roleplaying scene to be played out. Here are fifty topics of discussion to get some inter-guild roleplay during “family dinner.”

1.      What’s special about your weapon?

2.     What does your character currently look like? Has adventuring torn or tarnished your once-pristine gear?

3.     What’s your favorite personal possession?

4.     What weird traits does your pack animal or familiar have?

5.     Who were your parents? Are they alive?

6.     What songs do they sing in your homeland?

7.      What was your first adventure into the Underworld?

8.     Do you have any scars? Where did you get them?

9.     Do you have any tattoos? Why did you choose it?

10.  Who was your first kiss?

11.   When did you lose your virginity?

12.   When was the first time you saw magic performed?

13.   If you could learn another language, what would it be?

14.   What monster was the scariest for you to fight? Why?

15.   When did you learn how to swim?

16.   What’s your favorite food?

17.   Would you rather eat a plate of maggots, or have a one hundred maggots placed secretly in your food over the course of a year?

18.  What do you miss about your homeland?

19.   Kill/Marry/Fuck your other guild members?

20.  What was your first pet? What was his name?

21.   What was the worst quest you ever had?

22.  What was your first job?

23.  Would you rather give up cheese or oral sex?

24.  What’s your homelife? Do you have a partner? Children?

25.  When was the last time you cried? Why?

26.  What’s your favorite alcoholic drink? Is there one you refuse to drink?

27.  Would you rather be famous while you’re alive and forgotten afterwards, or unknown during life and revered after death?

28.  What would you do with 1,000 gold in your pocket right now?

29.  What was the last dream you had?

30.  If a sorcerer transformed you into an animal, but you had a choice, what animal would you choose to become?

31.   What’s one item at the top of your bucket list?

32.  Just how old ARE you anyway? When’s your birthday?

33.  What is your greatest achievement?

34.  Is there any quest you would flatly refuse to do?

35.  What’s something you love about another guild member?

36.  What do you have in your pockets?

37.  What’s your favorite game?

38.  What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done?

39.  How many three-year olds could you fight at once?

40. Would you rather fight twelve child revenants or one revenant troll?

41.   Would you rather be a vampire or a werewolf?

42.  What’s your favorite joke?

43.  What’s something you’re looking forward to?

44.  What’s something you want?

45.  What’s a secret that you know?

46.  What’s the last thing you masturbated to?

47.  When’s the first time you took a life?

48.  What’s something you’d change about yourself?

49.  What’s something you’re afraid to lose?

50.  What is best in life?

And then...the PCs arrived

Despite it being out for some time, I only recently picked up Broodmother Skyfortress by Jeff Rients. And boy oh boy, it rules.

The basic premise of the adventure is that there's a floating fortress that hosts hammerhead shark centaurs that will fuck your campaign world up. (Awesome, right?) To facilitate this, Rients asks this question:

"What would happen if a bunch of giants showed up here and wrecked the place?" 

He goes on to say that this might be painful if you are in love with your campaign setting. Nobody wants to spend hours lovingly crafting a world only to tear it apart. But this sacrifice is necessary--the pain of the loss of your favorite sites will let your PCs "get" the threat.

This is old writing advice: you have to kill your darlings (or, as one professor of mine put it, "drown those puppies.") In this instance, Rients is talking about the hammerhead centaurs. But really, this advice supersedes the adventure. This advice should be forefront in the minds of every GM out there.

You see, the PCs are the giants. And they are going to ruin your beautiful little fantasy world. They're going to set fires to your favorite inn, they're going to assassinate your aged kings and wicked despots, they're going to resurrect your forgotten gods, they're going to replace your strange cults with stranger ones.

When you're constructing your setting, your adventure, your quest, ask yourself: "What would happen if a bunch of giants showed up here and wrecked the place?" Be confident the PCs will do just that. And that's the point. That's why your players are playing your game. Let the PCs make a mess of your setting, and they'll keep coming back. Don't be afraid to kill those darlings.

Bifurcated Sheets and One Shots

One of the features of OSR games is "quick character creation," and for the most part that's true. Even so, it requires SOME fiddling before a one shot game to wrangle everybody and make a character (especially if you grant random gold and let the players pore over the equipment list--definitely the biggest offender). I wanted to share a technique that's worked fairly well for my one shots. It lets players totally ignorant of the system to slap together a character quickly, and allows for a middle range of character customization. This does require a little GM prep time, but it's not hard if you're familiar with the system you want to run.

I call it the "bifurcated character sheet."

You, as the GM, are going to make a few premade characters for their players. What I do is usually create a few standard flavors of an adventuring party (e.g., Ranger Fighter, Front Line Fighter, Elementalist Wizard, Illusionist Wizard, Cleric, Thief). For one shots, I rarely roll and count gold. Rather, I fill up equipment packs with considerations towards "failed occupation." For example, I make one pack for "Dominatrix" and fill the pack with like, whips and chains, and make another pack for "Outdoorsman" and fill the pack with a tent and a bedroll, and another for "Rat Catcher" and give them a cudgel and a mean dog or whatever. Then, I cut the character sheets of these characters into parts. Separate out the section that details your race and/or class and the one that details your gear.

When the players arrive, I tell them everybody has gets to pick a class (and a race, if applicable) and a failed profession. Go around a circle and give everybody one choice, then reverse the order and give them another. The combinations they make are often really cool and subvert my expectations.

The stupid simple sheet I use for my own homebrewed OSR games is here.

Doppelgangers

For my fantasy heartbreaker, His Majesty the Worm, I recently ran the party through a doppelganger encounter. It was fun! We had about three sessions of doppelganger nonsense; one where the players freaked out, and then two more when they weighed the pros and cons of just letting them hang out. I was impressed with how the players handled the situation (TONS of creative solutions) and how the general premise worked at the table. I found that this monster encouraged puzzle-esque OSR play.

In the game, doppelgangers are a type of fungus that read the minds of your companions to construct the perfect image of you. They want to be you.

They want to be you so bad.

From Dungeon Meshi

Doppelganger Fungoid

Encounters with the doppelganger fungoid start out the same way. Adventurers tromp through a patch of them when they're in ther larval state. At this point, they look like some mildew on the wall, just barely probing their dark world with their flagella. Then, they get a sniff of the adventurer.  A little bit of psychic residue stains them. They push upwards. They grow. They follow.

Doppelganger fungoids use psychic images to choose their appearance, behavior, and demeanor. They, essentially, form themselves into clones of the first people they encounter as mushroom children.

Adventurers often encounter doppelganger fungoids while they camp. If there's ever darkness, ever a moment of sleep, the fungoids slip in and bed down. They want to belong.

The fungoids will try and tag along with adventurers for a while. At first, they'll even be helpful. They continue to refine their appearance and behavior on the original. They love to be as close to perfect as possible.

But they make mistakes. This infuriates them. They develop body dysmorphia. They develop self-image disorders. They get confused, genuinely confused, about who is the original and who is the clone. They begin to self-harm. They begin to lash out.

What does it look like?

Well that's the question, isn't it? What does it look like? It looks like you. A little taller than you. Its left boob is a bit lopsided. Your eyes are hazel but its eyes are brown. But other than that, it looks like you.

That is, until you stab the imposter. And mash it. And burn it. Then it reveals its true form: moldy, tubular stalks of fungus. A lopsided mushroom head. A face like a carven jack o' lantern. Hallucinogenic spores spilling out of it.

They are a painting of you in fungus.

The doppelganger fungus derives its image of self not from the original's self-perception, but from the perception of their companions. To run encounters with these creatures, ask the players to each text you a description of themselves and a description of each of their guild mates. A player's description of themselves becomes canon for what the original looks like. A player's description of their companion becomes a description of one bloom of doppelganger fungus.

For example, if you are running the game with four players, each player would text you a description of their own character and a description of each of their three companions. Then, when you wish to reveal the fungoids, you would reveal twelve new creatures—each described as one of the originals, but seen through the eyes of another player.

Likes: Dampness, rain, tearing things up (obsessively shreds paper, sticks, etc.)

Hates: Fire, mirrors, probing questions about childhood

Special: Make it clear to the players that during an encounter, a "loyal" fungoid will follow the commands of the original like a henchmen. Do not tell the players that the doppelgangers are imperfect. Roll a dice. If the result is odd, the doppelganger misinterprets the command or makes a mistake. This usually ends up with them attacking an adventurer by accident.

HD: 4
Attacks: Pretending to attack as base creature, 1d6
AC: Same as base creature
Save As: 4th level Fighter
Morale: 9
# Encountered: The doppelgangers appear in a crowd equaling n * (n - 1), where n = the number of adventurers. See above.

Abilities:

Minor Illusion: A doppelganger can replicate through illusion any item that the original could believably have. A doppelganger can replicate through illusion any class ability that the original has demonstrated previously. 

Imperfect Imitation: If they have not yet acted during the turn, doppelganger may elect to move simultaneously to their "original." When the original takes an action, they also take that exact action. If this happens, the original and the doppelganger have become mirror images of each other. If they are in the same zone, it is impossible for an outside observer to tell who the original is. Essentially, the clones act like mirror images. 

Fungal Regeneration: A doppelganger may spend an entire action thinking about who they really are (you). They heal 1d12 HP. 

From Dungeon Meshi