No, it's a McGuffin. Go to Comment

Very good, an explanation for all the crap enchanted swords. Go to Comment

Problem: How do you even the odds when your army is small and your enemies many? Make one uber-powerful munchkin-weapon for the king or hundreds of more modest blades to distribute of all of your men.

Answer: Fairly obvious really. In the long term, you get better return with a minor power boost to all of your men.

A nice explanation for the existence of basic low-level weapons - definitely worth remembering - 3/5

BTW - try to avoid the obvious D&D references - we like to keep things generalised here Go to Comment

Good! Can't wait to use this in my games. Go to Comment

Awesome backstory for an item everyone has touched in one way or another in their games.

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Perhaps lost in history but now realized by that collector or Mr. Evil is that the sum is greater than the parts.  Individually the swords are only +1.  But when many swords are massed there is some additional effect that takes place (each sword becomes +3, morale boost, berserk rage, haste, perhaps being near or touching forge grants mind control over sword wielders, etc).

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An interesting take on on a few D&D stereotypes.

Before anyone starts, in many game worlds there is no fast and easy way to know who or what is "good" or "evil". Actually, the terms themselves are hard to define easily. (See any of the debates on this topic on this page...)


Given that, it is very logical for a being that wishes to live forever, to bind its life force into something highly desirable, and unlikely to be destroyed. Still, it is unwise to leave such an item to freely wander the world - it could be even accidentaly destroyed. It must have been carefully guarded in some treasure vault, just as well as other items to avoid attention. The treasury was robbed, and the lich is best off trying to get it back. But unless the PCs are very easy to take out, he better not shows too much interest in this item... somebody could guess the truth.

So there come the varied plans of world domination, and other guaranteed PC attractors. :)

(The thing with the paladin seems to me a bit fishy, but is an acceptable plot-hook or clue.)


On the whole, I may not use the item itself, but the basic idea begs to be remembered and adapted. As for LOTR, the One Ring has clearly drawn people to evil; unlike this ring. (Hmmmm... but someone may get suspicious because of the evil-ring cliche, how about changing the item type?)


Oh, and one more note, to the powers: a ring of justice should have 'Detect Lie' or similar power, looks better that way. ;) Go to Comment

Oh, and yes (risking that we get into a debate about what is cursed and what is not) is it actually cursed? It is a useful item both for the wielder and the true owner... unless the wielder becomes a direct threat to the owner. Go to Comment

I see what it is. I see why it was done (by the litch). It is just not that impressive of an item to stop someone from actually taking it and destroying it to stop the litch. Go to Comment

Actually an interesting thought. 3
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This seems almost more like a plot than a specific item.

How did the item become good? Perhaps some daring artificer imbued it with holy power in an attempt to redeem it? If it has the power to disintegrate evil, then the lich wouldn't be able to handle its own phylactery! It poses, I think, a more interesting conundrum for the lich than for the PCs.

But then again, if intelligent items are considered forms of life, good PCs would be in a dilly of a pickle.

It has the potential to inspire moral equivocation in the all-too-often black and white world of fantasy roleplay. Good good. Go to Comment

MoonHunter's objection about it being a pretty crappy item is a valid one -- it was initially designed for some low-level D&D characters. Hence my advice to adapt it, make it as powerful as you need it to be, including adding other abilities that you like (such as "Detect Lies"). (As I stated in one hook: "The bearer is unwilling to part with the ring simply because it is so powerful (you might have to scale its powers up for a higher level party). This would create an interesting tension within the party itself").

I really like Finger Master's input on the morality of destroying an intelligent, sentient item. Go to Comment

Interesting... Go to Comment

I like it. It's clearly a rip-off of he Lion King, but it shows some promise. Power is always a commanding motivation for evil, and what some might term cliche, I would in this case term classic. I understand your desire to make it as maleable as possible so it fits into many different settings, but if you make it too maleable, it wont be worth fitting into those settings. Do some work and try again Gleeper. Go to Comment

Sort of lost on how to even use this in a game, any game. A psychological adventure based on exploring emotions? Besides the fact that the relational requirements for this plot are so specific as to force players into roles, but it also shoehorns each sides personalities. All you do is summarize the Lion King, as mentioned. Where does the roleplaying suppose to start when all you do is give us the story?

Maybe can be used as an overall storyline that is happening in the world. No, strike that...did you really have to go so far as to even use the stampede? yikes. Go to Comment

Actually, it feels more like a western I have seen.

So lets go through some productive comments
1) The Language level is acceptable. The writing style is choppy.
2) Presentation: While the Idea is fairly typical, if not cliche, it is presented poorly. There are not enough details here to make the cliche interesting.
3) Investment: There is not enough effort applied to this post. Most of the plot posts here take 30-50 minutes of dedicated work to produce, if not more. This looks dashed off. The author should looke at this listing, to see what we expect of a post.
http://www.strolen.com/plots/index.php?order=rating&dir=DESC Go to Comment

The rewrite is much better. The plot is still too hard to impliment unless the characters are specifically designed to part of it. Go to Comment

Lion King?

Err, something constructive to say... What about some background of the village and the ravine? What about the brothers, why is the other one good and the other evil? Where they raised in different places? Why why why why who why when how why. Those are pretty much the basic questions. When you answer those, the post's value skyrockets. In my eyes anyway.

zero points Go to Comment

0/0 Go to Comment

I have a feeling someone is trying to be funny. Go to Comment