Awesome submission. Very cool idea. Another twist might be that Cardinal becomes a tulpa, a thought form that becomes manifest in reality under certain conditions and more independent as time goes by and his legend grows. Go to Comment
Great article. The mystery aspect is very important, especially critical for the particularly arcane. Weapons (and other items) that change over time with epic events or the bearer is also great, so is special materials.
In my game there are special fabled swords called Kio blades, made from an alloy of meteoric iron. The Kio word for meteor is Yhkimejin, related to the term for (once mortal) male celestial warriors,the Yhkimijin, that battle chaos and demons to keep them from invading the Nine Boughs, reality as they see it. A meteor is really the dropping blade of a fallen Yhkimiji. A smith finds this rare metal and makes a Kio blade,so the warrior who wields it must always be true and virtuous; once they die, they replace the fallen celestial warrior, literally guarding the Nine Boughs from the end of the world. Go to Comment
Mike Oldfield's Killing Fields soundtrack.
Dead Can Dance
Midnight Syndicate
If you want a pretty creepy cultist's rantings, check out Null by Copernicus. Go to Comment
Excellent. Resourceful and detailed. I haven't seen many other articles on horses like this, and most are not so good.
I'm 6'5" and the first horse I rode was 15 1/2 hands w/an English saddle, felt too small. I started off at a trot, but did not realize that I was so nervous, I began to squeeze my legs together, which to horse meant, "Oh, you want to go faster? Sure!" Off he went. I guess I also lifted my butt up and arced slightly forward, which I was told was correct by the owner. She kept asking if I was sure if I'd never ridden before, that I was a natural. That was hilarious to me at the time, because it sure as hell didn't feel like it. :) Lucky I got an even tempered horse. Go to Comment
Very simple gag but a great one, since it can be used multiple times over, even in the same adventure. Great for tribal natives gone restless and humanoids.
As GM you can place the bag on a stick anywhere, in a floor crack the heroes have passed before, outdoors in a clearing or path, or at the edge of the PCs' encampment the following morning, what have you. Place anything on the stick - a coiled yellow viper angered by the bag removal, mini crossbow w/poison, transdermal hallucinatory drug dusted on the bag, yellow mold colony, an ally NPC's head, a weapon, scroll tube or satchel, what have you.
The idea is to build tension and/or stall for time/distract the party. You'll be amazed at how paranoid players will get from this simple gag. Go to Comment
Very simple gag but a great one, since it can be used multiple times over, even in the same adventure. Great for natives gone restless, humanoids,and my personal favorite, country commoners (or bandits) - especially when players feel overconfident and unthreatened.
Place the bag on a stick anywhere, in a floor crack the heroes have passed before, outdoors in a clearing or path, or at the edge of the PCs' encampment the following morning, what have you. Place anything on the stick - a coiled yellow viper angered by the bag removal, mini crossbow w/poison, transdermal hallucinatory drug dusted on the bag, yellow mold colony, an ally NPC's head, a weapon, scroll tube or satchel, what have you.
The idea is to build tension and/or stall for time/distract the party. You'll be amazed at how paranoid players will get from this simple gag. Go to Comment
Wow. I've created a few languages but not with this complexity. Useful to me and I'm sure others, as are the added links and comments. Five cowries from the Fish. Very nice. Go to Comment
Nice piece here. One of my favorite treasures is mundane books, especially lost epic works, medical treatises, ancient glass making or steel making techniques, and histories where a dark age and revealed history takes on very significant relevance. Hidden and alternate histories (or better, bygone heresies) are good too, so are medieval style psalters and codexes with numerous books inside of wildly varying subjects. Some of these things could potentially change the course of history, with the heroes at the center.
Another gag I pulled on my players was gifting them with a primitive warrior after they had saved an island tribe from multiple dangers. This man was a capable fighter but he wasn't resistant as they were to certain diseases, and of course he had an entirely different cultural perspective. Great cause and effect game. Go to Comment
Very nice. Ubiquitous enough that they could exist anywhere, basically. A magical crystal like this could cause all kinds of things under numerous circumstances. A pocket (or geode) of dragon's blood crystals for example, breaking down in a marsh spring would be interesting, especially if there were bog iron around it. Add a peat bog around that, which would be harvested and burn exceptionally brightly, used by locals for fires on holy days, lanterns (Jack-o-Lanterns...) and scrying, or as a blacksmith's secret ingredient (along with smelted bog iron) to make hard bitten or enchanted items. Then of course there's bog men, ancient criminals that suddenly come to life from under the peat to plague the living....
It might also be a hallowed place for nearby Iron Age tribes,the bog men being sacrificial victims a shaman or priest could call forth in dire need. They might also be the remnants of pagan chieftains, Sun/Serpent Kings ritually slaughtered after a seven year reign.
I'm giving this one high marks, since it obviously gets my mind plotting immediately. :) Go to Comment
Interesting if typical fantasy device but, well, too vanilla. This needs editing and a rewrite before I'd even give it a vote. Of all the related subs, the fire gems were the strongest in this regard, but it still doesn't make these entries seem any less plain. Needs another pass. Go to Comment
Old but a goody. :) An excellent low level adventure to break up the monotony. Once the Heroes find and deal with the beast, it would be cool if they had to also find out who was responsible.
Another interesting thing of note is that alligators grow much faster in darkness. Go to Comment
Very cool plot device, heh. :) One of my favorite villains past was a druid gone mad who attempted to pull off a spiritually caused blight. You should write this guy up as an NPC and submit him. Even if he's killed by the heroes, he undoubtedly has cooked up something to make him arise again as a recurring villain. Go to Comment
NPCs (Major) (Artistic/Performance)