Showing posts with label practitioner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label practitioner. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Full GLOG Hack: Vain the Sword

NOTE: THIS IS NOW OUT-OF-DATE. THE SECOND EDITION CAN BE FOUND HERE <---
click for link
Click for the link!

Thanks as ever to Arnold K., Skerples, and all the rest. I will try to attentively update this document as mistakes become apparent.
Read a review by SunderedWorldDM here, or thoughts from others (including Arnold K.) in the comments below.

Highlights:
  • Functioning table of contents with links
  • renaming anything in the game that sounds like it's for nerd accountants
  • Roll-under stats
  • Separate dodge-and-block defense
  • a collection of classic and strange base classes, each up to level 4
  • strange languages
  • skills are perhaps magic?
  • charisma as godly grace, charisma-based "battle cry" initiative
  • light-based critical fumble chance
  • Gods! Arcana! Gigre!
  • advice on exploration and hexcrawling
  • an appendix N
  • An example dungeon adventure, "Brenton's Bride."
June 28, 2020 Update
  • Renamed "race" to "folk."
  • Added more description for each folk.
  • Changed how dodge and HP works to simplify math.
  • Cleaned up headers and similar things.
  • Rather than saying you get one ken from your lot and one of your choice, I just wrote every lot to give you an additional ken.
  • Dreamer's dream hunting now more concrete. Introduced nightmare injuries.
  • Replaced dreamer spell "speak with birds" with "argue with birds," since speaking with birds is available to anyone who wants to learn the language.
  • Modified talismans.
  • Reformated death and dismemberment table. Made minor edits.
  • Updated acolyte dictates.
July 15, 2020 Update
  • Replaced ordena with talking animals. They were fine, but playing an ordena is not a sufficiently dramatic change. Also, talking animals keep showing up as NPCs anyway.

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Designing Holy Drugs

The lot of the practitioner is one of someone who masters the art of gigre, a holy drug that imparts certain behavioral commandments for its use. But other people can and do use holy drugs, or else their semi-magical relatives such as wine, opium, or absinthe.

Unlike the paladin, a practitioner is held to the standards of a commandment only for as long as they take them. It is possible to break a commandment, but to do so makes you Unclean; you cannot benefit from chemic or divine magic and if something bad happens, it happens to you. Some commandments proscribe mortal sins. These are harder to wipe away.

I do my best to pepper the occasional gigre (or gigre recipe) in every dungeon, since it can be used by practitioners and non-practitioners alike.  The guidelines I've hewn to are that there should be at least one commandment that compels you to take actions and at least one that forbids you from taking certain actions. The better the power imparted by the gigre, the heavier the burden of the commandments should be and the more likely that gigre should carry a mortal sin. It's also important to remember that these commandments should be relevant to whatever your game is about. A vow of abstinence is much less of a sacrifice in a dungeon delve than it is for many people in normal life.

To facilitate quick gigre creation, I've heavily borrowed from taboos listed in Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature to create a list of example commandments, mortal sins, and prompts for gigre powers. In a hurry, you can just roll once on each table and apply some imagination to figure out the drug's name and purpose. I would recommend curating it so that the commandments are commensurate with the power.

 d20/20/20/10 Random Gigre


d20 Compelling Commandments
  1. Must answer questions honestly
  2. Must give thanks upon encountering water/fire
  3. Must boast
  4. Must touch everyone before speaking to them
  5. Must be sexually active
  6. Must eat some of everyone you kill
  7. Must count things compulsively
  8. Must steal when able
  9. Must make sacrifices after victories
  10. Must be silent on the sabbath
  11. Must attack the followers of a certain god
  12. Must pay homage to artists/priests/singers/artisans
  13. Must travel by starlight
  14. Must kill any birds/insects
  15. Must accept wagers
  16. Must daily drink saltwater/alcohol/poison
  17. Must mark yourself with blood/symbols/tattoos
  18. Must consume the heart/brain of a person weekly
  19. Must keep secrets
  20. Must sleep indoors
d20 Forbidding Commandments
  1. Cannot harm someone on sacred ground
  2. Cannot wear leather
  3. Cannot see someone naked
  4. Cannot offend a child
  5. Cannot have bread/meat/alcohol
  6. Cannot sleep indoors
  7. Cannot touch the dead
  8. Cannot touch supernatural creatures
  9. Cannot ask questions
  10. Cannot reveal gigre use
  11. Cannot speak to peasants/nobility/soldiers/priests
  12. Cannot use metal weapons or armor
  13. Cannot cross running water except at its source
  14. Cannot look at holy objects
  15. Cannot lie
  16. Cannot disobey men/women/laws/promises
  17. Cannot harm the followers of a certain god
  18. Cannot glimpse the moon
  19. Cannot ignore pleas for aid
  20. Cannot be suspicious of others

d20 Random Mortal Sin
  1. Wrath
  2. Gluttony
  3. Avarice
  4. Pride
  5. Envy
  6. Betrayal
  7. Malice
  8. Submission
  9. Vandalism
  10. Accepting destiny
  11. Chastity
  12. Temperance
  13. Charity
  14. Diligence
  15. Patience
  16. Kindness
  17. Vainglory
  18. Attachment
  19. Blasphemy
  20. Wealth
d10 Random Ability
  1. Naming a certain animal summons it.
  2. Incite love/hate/curiosity
  3. Cast a certain spell
  4. Smell a certain substance/magic/animal/type of person
  5. “Warp spasm” increases strength/speed/insight
  6. C0mmune with stone/plants/animals/the dead
  7. multiply/summon/refine items/coins/plants/fire/food
  8. prophecy/augury/divination
  9. Create a mask or tool from a cadaver/donor/portrait
  10. Stave off/inflict a certain illness
So say we rolled a 9, a 19, a 10, and a 2:
  • Gigre of the Hearth: Must make sacrifices after a significant victory. Cannot ignore pleas for aid. Accepting destiny is a mortal sin. You can entice someone to share something with you.

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Bazaar

In the past, when I’ve attempted to track what kinds of equipment might be available in a given town, I have usually just handwaved it or gestured vaguely at the normal equipment list. For a planned hexcrawl game, I will be trying a different approach that I’m calling the Bazaar system. 
First, I assign a market theme to each letter of the alphabet. Then, I populate each theme with three to seven items and attached prices. The same item may appear on different lists with different prices. Printing each market theme on a different card, I can combine different cards to represent different markets. The principle is simple, but it lets me tune things a great deal.

  • You can designate one letter as always present for market staples.
  • Assign more common market themes to more common letters. Then, when I want to populate a random bazaar, I can just ask a player for a random word. The longer the word I request, the more developed the bazaar. Example: I figure a small city will have a small bazaar, so I have the players give me a five-letter word: QUERY. With the themes below, that means the city will have wood, jewelry, travel supplies, beasts, and excavation tools.
  • You can use overlap strategically. Items present in multiple market themes may have different prices, meaning that players will want to shop around.
  • When players go out of their way to follow leads, track down sellers, or barter, reward them with extra cards.
  • When players need to replace or upgrade weapons and armor, they are not assured to get exactly what they want. With sparse options, players are more likely to take up picks, hammers, and shovels.
  • This is a great way to inject setting details
Example market for the Mesomergos setting I'm developing:

A- general supplies
Beer (2 cp)
1 pound soap (2 cp)
Heavy cloak (4 gp) light armor
30’ rope (8 sp)
Knife (7 sp) light weapon
Torch (2 cp)
Wooden pole (1 cp)
Beer (1 cp)
Rice wine or pomace wine (3 cp)
Opium (1 sp)
Absynthe (1 sp)
Random narcomanta* (8 gp)
Random formula (10 gp)
Random gigre (25 gp)
B-armor
Cuirass (13 gp) medium armor
Plaited reed armor (12 gp) medium armor
Scale armor (120 gp) heavy armor
Wicker shield (2 gp)
O- holies
Tefillim* with a random WORD (15 gp)
Amulet* of a random spell (10 gp)
Serpent torse of a random formula (10 gp)
Idol of a random god (2 gp)
C-oil
5 pounds lard (2 cp)
1 pound soap 1 cp
Candle (1 cp)
Oil flask (2 cp)
Sesame oil barrel (6 gp)
P-weapons
Shortspear (5 sp)
Sickle sword (2 gp)
Sling (5 sp)
Lance (5 gp)
Masterwork spear (22 gp)
D- hirelings*
Beer barrel (3 gp)
Porter (half share)
Linkboy (half share, tale of adventure)
Servant (half share)
Eunuch (one share)
Q- wood
10 stakes (1 sp)
Mallet (1 cp) light weapon
Sled (2 gp)
Walking staff (3 sp)
Javelin (1 sp)
E- travel supplies
Beer barrel 2 gp
30’ rope (6 sp)
Block and tackle (2 sp)
Whistle (3 cp)
Porter (half share)
R- beasts
Cattle (1 gp)
Dog (1 gp, promises)
Tamed Onager (2 gp)
Sheep (3 sp)
Goat (3 sp)
F- illegal goods
1 pound iron (100 GP)
Thief’s cord (1 gp)
Grappling hook (5 sp)
Cursed item (you don’t pay… money)
Fencing service (25%)
S- fabrics
Quilted linens (2 gp)
Heavy cloak (3 gp)
Fancy chiton (10 gp)
Ciclatoun or samite bolt (20 gp)
Battered narcomanta (15 gp)
G-entertainment
Lalon Set (1 sp, or 1 drink and victory in a game)
Ur Set (2 sp, a game)
Instrument (1 gp)
Minstrel (half share)
Opium (2 sp)
T- magic
Random magic ostentation* (10 gp)
Random magic talisman* (10 gp)
Random magic scroll (2 gp)
Random magic scroll (2 gp)
Absynthe (2 sp)
H- writing supplies
Ink (1 sp)
Chalk (1 cp)
Scroll (1 sp)
Scrollcase (1 gp)
U- jewelry
Gem mantle of a random formula (10 gp)
Spiralled bracelet (4 gp)
Reefstone* brooch (2 gp)
Ceremonial dagger (8 gp)
I- trade goods
Beer barrel (2 gp)
Socketed axe (2 gp)
1 pound salt (1 gp)
1 pound copper (1 sp)
1 pound tin (12 cp)
V- alchemy
Acid (1 sp)
Mercury draught (2 sp)
1 pound chimerite*  (3 gp)
1 dose of poison (3 gp)
Dry ice (2 gp)
J- bogwork
Bog mummy (4 gp)
Hand of glory (10 gp)
Random necromantic talisman (8 gp)
Stilt boots (1 sp)
W- contracted work
Indentured worker (60 gp)
Banded club (3 gp)
Apprentice (40 gp)
Concubine (100 gp, half share, promises)
K- metal
Round Shield (2 gp)
Lantern (2 gp)
Bronze ingot (1 sp)
Hammer (1 cp) light weapon
Mirror (1 gp)
X- marvels
Telescope (5 gp)
Lock and key (40 gp)
Water clock (45 gp)
Icon of Noryawes (1 sp, talking shop)
Engineer (1 share, first dibs on loot)
L-claywork
Chisel (1 sp)
Clay tablet (1 sp)
Terra cotta tool (1 cp)
Urn (3 cp)
Y- excavation
Pick (8 sp) medium weapon
Ard plow (3 gp)
Bronze Crow (2 sp)
Shovel (1 gp)
M- mercenaries
Jaded slinger (1 share, 1 drink)
Byway conjurer (1 share)
Bravo (1 share, tale of adventure)
Healer (1 share)
Z-goblin market
A skill (two skills)
A secret (your name)
A fortune (Your firstborn)
A spell (your luck)
-
*While using a gigre, narcomantas are used to share the benefits and drawbacks with allies. Think a rallying banner, but it gets you high.
*Tefillim, amulets, and other ostentations are simple magic items used to reroll a magic or WORD die.
*Talismans are simple magic items that allow you to automatically memorize a spell.
*I strongly feel that you shouldn't have to track hireling wages per day. Just give them a full share if they're expected to fight and a half share if they're not.
*Reefstone is cut from living above-ground reefs
*Chimerate is the catalyst for magical transformation from which the chimera gets its nam.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

d10 Holy Drugs (Practitioners V. II)

In Holy Selmat, the first gigre was revealed to a village elder in a dream. It was the recipe for a drug that protected holy men and gave them miraculous powers. Since then, different gigre have been invented (discovered? bestowed?) and its use is common even outside of Selmat. The Prophet Ehud is said to have created several skews of gigre.

All drugs follow the same rules. Three times a day while under the effect of a drug, you can spend a "wisp" to either add a d8 to a related test or to use its associated power. Each drug has at least one commandment. Breaking it makes you Unclean, which is a condition that prevents you from benefiting from holy or chemic spells. It also makes you unlucky. If something bad happens to a random member of your party, it happens to you. You must spend an hour ritually cleaning yourself to undo this effect. So:

  • Wine: Helps to resist fear. You can get a feeling of whether divine magic is at play. Attacking your guest or host is unclean to you.
  • Opium: Helps to befriend intoxicated people. You can get a feeling of whether chemic is at play. Manual work is unclean to you.
  • Absynthe: Helps to resist fear. You can get a feeling of whether arcane magic is at play. Attentiveness is unclean to you.

Michael Sztuka Sowa

Gigre is different in only a few ways. It has more commandments, and sometimes has mortal sins. Commiting a mortal sin is like the fall of a paladin, and makes you unclean until you perform an extreme act of penance such as a quest. The upside is that gigres confer a greater power than mundane drugs. If you have are a practitioner, the Selmat equivalent of a paladin, gigres are abundant and have additional uses. A new gigre recipe makes for good treasure.

d10 Holy Drugs
  1. Gigre of Angled Sight: Must remain silent every seventh day. On all other days, must compose a stanza. Must only eat seeds and meat. Indiscretion is a mortal sin. Additionally, you can see around corners but dead bodies are unclean to you.
  2. Gigre of Justification: Must drink saltwater daily and only travel by starlight. Must keep a servant. Gullibility is a mortal sin. Additionally, you have an affinity with lions but the touch of a wolf is unclean.
  3. Gigre of Sensual Embers: Must obey all laws and break bread daily. Must mark yourself with the blood of a relative. Betrayal is a mortal sin. Additionally, menstruation is unclean but if you would become pregnant, you instead gain a temporary level for nine months.
  4. Gigre of Cometary Inertia: Must stay perfectly groomed. Must burn incense in prayer daily. Cannot ride any animal. Malice is a mortal sin. Additionally, you are untrippable and inexorable but sex is unclean to you.
  5. Gigre of Cannibal Honor: Must consume the brain of an intelligent creature weekly. Must give your true name to anyone who asks it. Cannot imprison anyone. Weakness is a mortal sin. Additionally, you are immune to charms and staggering but holy days are unclean to you.
  6. Gigre of Natal Strength: Must carry a weapon at all times. Must abstain from non-gigre drugs. Cannot take another life, even that of a fly. Abandonment is a mortal sin. Additionally, reduce the chance of miscarriage or complications of childbirth by 75%.
  7. Gigre of Licit Work: May avoid sabbath restrictions. This gigre has fewer commandments, but a weak power.
  8. Gigre of Circumlocution: Must keep all secrets. Must avoid direct sunlight when possible. Cannot tell the truth about yourself. Submission is a mortal sin. Additionally, you can pass through walls but entrapment is unclean to you.
  9. Gigre of the Smiths: Must sleep indoors. Must flagellate self daily (1d4 damage). Vandalism is a mortal sin. Cannot be untrusting. You can extrude tools from your body or transmute one to another, but meditation is unclean to you.
  10. Gigre of Revealed Wisdoms: Must engage in hedonistic acts whenever possible. Must accept all challenges and wagers. You get hunches about whether an act would be for weal and/or woe but firelight is unclean to you
A dose of gigre is of comparable value to a potion or scroll. A gigre recipe is of comparable value to a minor magical item.

Daniel Romanovsky
Finally, I present the updated practitioner. This class is a little more complex than average, since it tracks wisps per day as well as spells. Remember, the average intoxicated person can spend three wisps per day.

-PRACTITIONER-
Starting skill: drugcrafting
1: See evil, Plenty
2: +1 CD, Smite
3: +1 wisp, Tribulation,
4: +1 CD, Reckoning
  • Chemic Dice: Charisma is your casting ideal. You begin play knowing two footnotes and three random formulae. More formulae can be learned through study. To cast a formula, you invest at least one chemic die. They work like wizard dice invested in wizard spells.
  • Plenty: You can automatically gather enough ingredients to dose one person with any gigre whose recipe you know per day. You start with knowledge of one gigre recipe.
  • See evil: Name three things which would make someone evil by your standards. As an action, you can identify who before you is evil by this definition.
  • Smite: If a foe is evil, you may spend a wisp of gigre to deal an extra +1d6 damage to that target for the rest of a combat.
  • Tribulation: When you lay low an evil foe, you may immediately use one of your formulae or regain one wisp.
  • Reckoning: When you lay low an evil foe, regain a chemic die.
Practitioner Footnotes:
  1. Smell Drugs: range 30'
  2. Secret Combination: magical convince someone you will keep their secret, but only if you intend to.
  3. Alter disease: can direct illnesses to act differently with a test of charisma.
Practitioner formulae:
  1. Divine Lacuna: A single god chosen by the caster cannot see the target. Lasts [dice] days
  2. Wisp: you gain [dice] more wisps of gigre.
  3. Acute Quintessence: The weapon grants +[dice] to Attack. The next hit deals +1d6+[dice] damage, then the spell ends
  4. Alter Self: Change your physical appearance, 2 CD changes voice to match.
  5. Rubbery Body: +3 AC against bludgeoning. Immune to fall damage and similar things. Amazing contortions. Lasts [dice] minutes.
  6. Shrink: For [dice] hours, target becomes half their size.
  7. Adhesive Spittle: ranged attack to stick target in place for [dice] rounds.
  8. Truth paste: when consumed, cannot lie. 2+ CD, must answer all questions.
  9. Torque: automatically fail initiative and move slowly, but roll advantage on physical rolls. Lasts [dice] rounds.
  10. Transparency: +2 AC and +5 stealth for each CD.


Saturday, November 17, 2018

Holy Selmat, with Prejudice

"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." -H.L. Mencken, Prejudices


The time has come. Feats and paragraph-long spells have been banished, and awful goblins, hands full of abbreviated monster stats and pre-alpha rulesets, emerge from their hiding places to declare victory. Things fall apart, the center cannot hold. The Gods of the Copybook Heading with terror and slaughter return. Etc.

I have begun the conversion of my weekly game in Holy Selmat to GLOG. I've found sufficient GLOG classes for most of the current PCs, but since two of them are classes unique to Holy Selmat, I've decided to take a crack at giving them something unique.

Art by Roman Chally

WITNESS
A variation of Type1Ninja's Bard class.
For every fifteen years you’ve been alive, increase your save by 1. Starting skill: history A: Eidetic Memory, Make Known, Witness B: Tale of Monsters, Relax C: Tale of Treasure, Group Witness D: Mythologize, Legends
Eidetic Memory- You automatically remember everything that you witness
Make Known- When you expound something in a public place, everyone in the area knows about it within one week. (When you talk to someone, roll under your Charisma to see if they believe it.)
Witness- Before another player rolls, use your action to witness them, which gives them advantage (roll twice, use best) on their roll. Uses per day equal to your number of witness templates.
Tale of Mortals- Sing about a past figure, who is now real. Takes at least 10 minutes. Uses per session equal to your number of witness templates. The GM may deny this ability if your claims are ridiculous, irrelevant, or conflict with known information. There’s a 50% chance that the next important person you meet is similar to this figure.
Relax- Once per day, you can play especially relaxing music. Allies who can hear you regain 1d4 HP. This is non-magical healing. If you use this ability out of combat, allies instead gain 2d4 + your Charisma bonus HP.
Tale of Treasure- Sing about a treasure hoard, including one specific item that you make up, which now exists. Takes at least 10 minutes. Uses per session equal to your number of Bard templates, shared with Tale of Monsters. The GM may deny this ability if your claims are ridiculous, irrelevant, or conflict with known information, but you might get a bonus for listing the curses as well as blessings. The next time you get a lead on treasure, the specific location of the item is revealed.
Group Witness- As Witness, but you can use it at the beginning of a round to grant your entire party the buff. Unlike Witness, you can only use this ability once per day.
Mythologize- As Tale of Mortals and Treasure, but you can sing about entire dungeons or anything else you can think of.

Legends Born- Guarantee that someone succeeds on a single roll, as long as it's plausible that they could succeed. Usable once per session. 





PRACTITIONER
Starting skill: drugcrafting A: Alchemy, Commandments, +1 MD B: Smite, See evil, +1 to hit C: Chemic, +1 MD D: Reckoning, +1 to hit
Alchemy: You begin play knowing two footnotes and three random formulae. More formulae can be learned through study.
Commandments: Must remain silent every seventh day. On all other days, must compose a verse or measure in remembrance. Must only eat seeds and meat. Indiscretion is a mortal sin. Additionally, you can see around corners but dead bodies are unclean to you.
Smite: Once per day, designate a wicked target. For the duration of combat, deal an extra +1d6 damage to that target.
See evil: Can identify wicked creatures at a glance. It's like a whole other color. I know a lot of people don't use alignment, but this is the holy land. Some things are antithetical to the world's grand purpose.
Chemic: When you reduce an opponent to 0 HP, you may immediately use one of your formulae. Additionally, you may start researching new forms of Gigre, an undertaking that takes a great deal of resources.
Reckoning: When you kill the target of your smite, you may immediately designate a new target. You may choose to regain a magic die. If you do, the threshold for mishaps and dooms decreases by one.
-
Practitioner Footnotes:
  1. Smell Drugs: range 40'
  2. Know God: reveals if a holy epithet belongs to a god you know of.
  3. Alter disease: can direct illnesses to act differently. Like diplomacy but different.


Practitioner formulae are a combination of holy, alchemical, and combat-oriented spells. Some examples:
  1. Rubbery Body: +3 defense against bludgeoning. Immune to fall damage and similar things. Amazing contortions. Lasts [dice] minutes.
  2. Shrink: For [dice] hours, target becomes half their size.
  3. Adhesive Spittle: ranged attack to stick target in place for [dice] rounds.
  4. Truth paste: when consumed, cannot lie. 2 MD: must answer all questions.