I'm writing up the magic item section for TSR-East. Realized I'd not put in the note on 10% of magic armors being cursed. Noticed the lower encumbrance values for magic armors.
I'm sure this has occurred to many of you, but since I've never been a real stickler for encumbrance rules (eyeballing it seems to work OK), I never had this idea before in 35 years of gaming. And I don't remember seeing this in any published modules, either.
A cursed magical suit of armor. It has the normal plus value to improve AC. But it has double encumbrance instead of half encumbrance. And like normal for cursed items, once worn you're compelled to always wear it.
Showing posts with label curses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label curses. Show all posts
Monday, March 9, 2020
Sunday, January 5, 2020
Caves of Chaos in the Bag, Plus Gundark Hunting!
I'm about to start teaching another intensive English Camp tomorrow, so I got in some extra gaming this weekend. Last night I ran a second session of d6 Star Wars and today I ran West Marches.
In the previous session of West Marches, the party found a magic bag. Today, almost all of the treasure went into it. And it was a bag of devouring, not a bag of holding. Just shy of 3000gp worth of treasure and a shield +1 disappeared. Still, the party still got the XP for the treasure they earned, and they managed to strike bargains with both orc tribes (after eliminating most of the warriors from Cave C and the leaders of Cave B), took out the ogre, and then negotiated with the goblins, who were already weakened from previous losses and the elimination of their hobgoblin and bugbear allies. So at least one PC leveled up, and anther is less than 100xp shy of leveling, and they're happy about that.
Last night's Star Wars game was a blast to run, too. I'd started out with the basic Seven Samurai idea -- defend the village. But instead of bandits (or stormtroopers), I decided the threat was gundarks -- not realizing just how tough they are in d6! Plus, instead of being hired by villagers, I had them working for an ore mining company -- company spaceport, company shop, company mining village, etc. In typical 19th Century style, the company owned everything, and the gundarks needed to be driven off to protect corporate property (oh yeah, and the ugnaught technicians who operate the machinery and repair the mining droids). The party had a tough time with the gundarks, until in one round a few good rolls completely changed the tide of battle in their favor. And we played for nearly 5 hours with only that one battle.
In the previous session of West Marches, the party found a magic bag. Today, almost all of the treasure went into it. And it was a bag of devouring, not a bag of holding. Just shy of 3000gp worth of treasure and a shield +1 disappeared. Still, the party still got the XP for the treasure they earned, and they managed to strike bargains with both orc tribes (after eliminating most of the warriors from Cave C and the leaders of Cave B), took out the ogre, and then negotiated with the goblins, who were already weakened from previous losses and the elimination of their hobgoblin and bugbear allies. So at least one PC leveled up, and anther is less than 100xp shy of leveling, and they're happy about that.
Last night's Star Wars game was a blast to run, too. I'd started out with the basic Seven Samurai idea -- defend the village. But instead of bandits (or stormtroopers), I decided the threat was gundarks -- not realizing just how tough they are in d6! Plus, instead of being hired by villagers, I had them working for an ore mining company -- company spaceport, company shop, company mining village, etc. In typical 19th Century style, the company owned everything, and the gundarks needed to be driven off to protect corporate property (oh yeah, and the ugnaught technicians who operate the machinery and repair the mining droids). The party had a tough time with the gundarks, until in one round a few good rolls completely changed the tide of battle in their favor. And we played for nearly 5 hours with only that one battle.
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
The Lost Art of the Cursed Item
People these days seem to misunderstand cursed items in D&D. Players find some magic items and divvy them up. Then one player finds out that their item is cursed, and they now have some sort of drawback. And they probably bitch and moan a bit, and depending on edition and how high level the PCs are, they probably cast (or purchase) a spell to remove the curse, grumble a bit more about getting screwed over by the DM, and carry on.
But it's not intended to be that way. Back in the earlier editions of the rules, especially for cursed swords and armor, the rule was that if you could get the curse removed, the item then reverted to a beneficial item*. So curses were a means of providing an adventure hook.
If a player found a cursed weapon or armor, at low levels they had to deal with it until they could find a high level NPC to remove the curse (requiring paying large sums, a quest, or both), or go on a quest of their own to a location (in a dungeon or far out in the wilderness) where the curse could be removed. Getting a curse was a means of providing the players with a goal - remove the curse. And there was a reward to it besides just elimination of the penalty. The weapon or armor that was previously lowering combat efficiency would improve it instead.
Yes, this post is inspired by my 5E gaming. It seems like newer gamers just don't see the value in things like curses, save or die spells (a double edged sword, yes, but also fun!), or dwindling resources. And WotC seem to also have this mistaken idea that any sort of hindrance is unfun. Everything is awesome! Everyone is special! All the time! Well, to tell the truth, that's NOT fun. Getting cursed and then having to jump through hoops to get rid of the curse is fun and satisfying! Getting cursed (or level drained, or finger of deathed, etc.) adds spice to the game if it actually affects you. If you just need to have the party Cleric come over and cast a spell and it's over, what's the fun in that? Where's the challenge? Where's the satisfaction?
Probably more to come along this line of thought if I have time to blog again soon.
*Yes, cursed scrolls, potions, rings and miscellaneous items don't have this benefit. But it's easily house ruled for the permanent rings and miscellaneous items, isn't it?
But it's not intended to be that way. Back in the earlier editions of the rules, especially for cursed swords and armor, the rule was that if you could get the curse removed, the item then reverted to a beneficial item*. So curses were a means of providing an adventure hook.
If a player found a cursed weapon or armor, at low levels they had to deal with it until they could find a high level NPC to remove the curse (requiring paying large sums, a quest, or both), or go on a quest of their own to a location (in a dungeon or far out in the wilderness) where the curse could be removed. Getting a curse was a means of providing the players with a goal - remove the curse. And there was a reward to it besides just elimination of the penalty. The weapon or armor that was previously lowering combat efficiency would improve it instead.
Yes, this post is inspired by my 5E gaming. It seems like newer gamers just don't see the value in things like curses, save or die spells (a double edged sword, yes, but also fun!), or dwindling resources. And WotC seem to also have this mistaken idea that any sort of hindrance is unfun. Everything is awesome! Everyone is special! All the time! Well, to tell the truth, that's NOT fun. Getting cursed and then having to jump through hoops to get rid of the curse is fun and satisfying! Getting cursed (or level drained, or finger of deathed, etc.) adds spice to the game if it actually affects you. If you just need to have the party Cleric come over and cast a spell and it's over, what's the fun in that? Where's the challenge? Where's the satisfaction?
Probably more to come along this line of thought if I have time to blog again soon.
*Yes, cursed scrolls, potions, rings and miscellaneous items don't have this benefit. But it's easily house ruled for the permanent rings and miscellaneous items, isn't it?
Friday, November 18, 2016
Curses from the Library!
My mother is a retired librarian so books have always been a big part of my life. And just this morning, I came across this article describing some actual Medieval curses used to protect books from theft or disfigurement.
Of course, in the game, there is all sorts of potential for fun with this, since the curses can actually have an effect.
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
What a horrible night. Have a curse!
Again, multiple influences have congealed in my brain to inspire a blog post! Original content that isn't about Chanbara or Mentzer Basic or my latest game session. What a rarity!
Anyway, I've been reading some pseudo-science crap because it's interesting (but not believable), and reading about sprites and their curses, and not getting to do much for Halloween this year, and then I thought, curses are in the name of my blog. Why don't I blog more often about them? In fact, I don't think I've ever made a post dedicated to curses before. So this is the first of what may (or may not) become a series on interesting curses to inflict on your players.
Since I've been reading pseudo-science stuff, these two are of course based on those wacky, almost make sense ideas.
Curse of Spontaneous Combustion
The target of this curse has a percentage chance of bursting into flames each time they enter combat equal to the character's level (or hit dice, whichever is greater). Upon bursting into flames, the PC must Save vs. Spells or die instantly. If the save is made, the character burns for a number of rounds equal to the difference between the number rolled and the number needed (minimum one), suffering 1d6 fire damage per round, but being treated as an efreeti in its "pillar of fire" form while burning.
[Behind the scenes, I like this because the curse scales with level, becoming more likely to happen as you go up in levels, but less likely to kill you outright, and having some potential benefit, but with a risk of death still involved. Low level characters might feel the chances of it happening are low enough not to feel screwed over. High level characters might feel ballsy enough NOT to remove the curse, due to the potential for cool bonus fire damage, but at risk of draining more party resources to keep the PC alive. And really, the game could use more spontaneous combustion.]
Curse of Xavitna
The target of this curse suffers a loss of 1d6 points of Charisma any time they are the recipient of a cure disease spell, or similar magical effects, to a minimum of Charisma 3. As Charisma drops, the target becomes more withdrawn and easily annoyed, speaks in short, choppy bursts or rarely at all, does not react to others speaking to him or her, or shows other physical or verbal tics. The Charisma loss remains until the curse is removed, at which time lost Charisma returns at a rate of 1 point per day.
[Behind the scenes, your game may be different, but disease doesn't come into play often in games I've run or played in in the past. So, this curse is likely to be ignored as it's not such a common situation in which one gets diseased, unless you're commonly fighting rats and mummies, or the DM likes to keep things "real." And Cha is most players' favored dump stat, and draining it serves as a decent enough approximation of autism.]
Anyway, I've been reading some pseudo-science crap because it's interesting (but not believable), and reading about sprites and their curses, and not getting to do much for Halloween this year, and then I thought, curses are in the name of my blog. Why don't I blog more often about them? In fact, I don't think I've ever made a post dedicated to curses before. So this is the first of what may (or may not) become a series on interesting curses to inflict on your players.
Since I've been reading pseudo-science stuff, these two are of course based on those wacky, almost make sense ideas.
Curse of Spontaneous Combustion
The target of this curse has a percentage chance of bursting into flames each time they enter combat equal to the character's level (or hit dice, whichever is greater). Upon bursting into flames, the PC must Save vs. Spells or die instantly. If the save is made, the character burns for a number of rounds equal to the difference between the number rolled and the number needed (minimum one), suffering 1d6 fire damage per round, but being treated as an efreeti in its "pillar of fire" form while burning.
[Behind the scenes, I like this because the curse scales with level, becoming more likely to happen as you go up in levels, but less likely to kill you outright, and having some potential benefit, but with a risk of death still involved. Low level characters might feel the chances of it happening are low enough not to feel screwed over. High level characters might feel ballsy enough NOT to remove the curse, due to the potential for cool bonus fire damage, but at risk of draining more party resources to keep the PC alive. And really, the game could use more spontaneous combustion.]
Curse of Xavitna
The target of this curse suffers a loss of 1d6 points of Charisma any time they are the recipient of a cure disease spell, or similar magical effects, to a minimum of Charisma 3. As Charisma drops, the target becomes more withdrawn and easily annoyed, speaks in short, choppy bursts or rarely at all, does not react to others speaking to him or her, or shows other physical or verbal tics. The Charisma loss remains until the curse is removed, at which time lost Charisma returns at a rate of 1 point per day.
[Behind the scenes, your game may be different, but disease doesn't come into play often in games I've run or played in in the past. So, this curse is likely to be ignored as it's not such a common situation in which one gets diseased, unless you're commonly fighting rats and mummies, or the DM likes to keep things "real." And Cha is most players' favored dump stat, and draining it serves as a decent enough approximation of autism.]
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