Spell Reformulation 1: Change One Letter

Fact: a magic spell is an arcane formula which can bring about a certain well-defined effect.

Hypothesis: new spells are typically researched by making a series of small modifications to known spell formula.

Proposal: the game-mechanical description of a spell mirrors the corresponding arcane formula. Modifications to the former also apply to the latter. The description and the formula are inextricably bound -- one is simply a modern-Earth-human translation of the other.

Techniques: various forms of modification are possible, from altering, removing or adding single letters of a spell's name or description, to advanced splicing of the formulae of two different spells.

Note: obviously, this is weird. Such processes are only suitable for players and referees who are open to improvisation, free interpretation and radical re-workings of standard spells.


An Example
The sequential modification of the common sleep spell (text from Labyrinth Lord) by one-letter changes to its name. The description of the new spell is created by making small modifications to the text of the spell it was derived from, adjusting meaning as appropriate.

This simple example proves not only the silly fun but also the simplicity and practicability of this system.

Sleep
Level: 1
Duration: 4d4 turns
Range: 240’
A sleep spell causes a magical slumber to come upon creatures with 4+1 Hit Die or fewer. The caster may only affect 1 creature if it has 4+1 HD, but the spell will otherwise affect up to 2d8 HD of creatures. Calculate monsters with less than 1 HD as having 1 HD, and monsters with a bonus to HD as having the flat amount. For example, a 3+2 HD monster would be calculated as having 3 HD. Hit Die that are not sufficient to affect a creature are wasted. Creatures with the fewest HD are affected first. Sleeping creatures are helpless and can be killed instantly with a blade weapon. Slapping or wounding awakens an affected creature, but normal noise does not. Sleep does not affect undead creatures.

Change one letter → sheep

Sheep
Level: 1
Duration: 4d4 turns
Range: 240’
A sheep spell causes a magical fleece to come upon creatures with 4+1 Hit Die or fewer. The caster may only affect 1 creature if it has 4+1 HD, but the spell will otherwise affect up to 2d8 HD of creatures. Calculate monsters with less than 1 HD as having 1 HD, and monsters with a bonus to HD as having the flat amount. For example, a 3+2 HD monster would be calculated as having 3 HD. Hit Die that are not sufficient to affect a creature are wasted. Creatures with the fewest HD are affected first. Fleeced creatures are warm and snuggly and can be shorn instantly with a blade weapon. Slapping or wounding enrages an affected creature, but normal shearing does not. Sheep does not affect undead creatures.

Change one letter → cheep

Cheep
Level: 1
Duration: 4d4 turns
Range: 240’
A cheep spell causes a magical chirruping jubilation to come upon creatures with 4+1 Hit Die or fewer. The caster may only affect 1 creature if it has 4+1 HD, but the spell will otherwise affect up to 2d8 HD of creatures. Calculate monsters with less than 1 HD as having 1 HD, and monsters with a bonus to HD as having the flat amount. For example, a 3+2 HD monster would be calculated as having 3 HD. Hit Die that are not sufficient to affect a creature are wasted. Creatures with the fewest HD are affected first. Chirruping creatures are merry and gay and can be shooed instantly with a brandished weapon. Stealing of seeds enrages an affected creature, but normal foraging does not. Cheep does not affect undead creatures.

Change one letter → cheap

Cheap
Level: 1
Duration: 4d4 turns
Range: 240’
A cheap spell causes a magical frenzied 2-for-1 everything-must-go sales jubilation to come upon creatures with 4+1 Hit Die or fewer. The caster may only affect 1 creature if it has 4+1 HD, but the spell will otherwise affect up to 2d8 HD of creatures. Calculate monsters with less than 1 HD as having 1 HD, and monsters with a bonus to HD as having the flat amount. For example, a 3+2 HD monster would be calculated as having 3 HD. Hit Die that are not sufficient to affect a creature are wasted. Creatures with the fewest HD are affected first. Sale-frenzied creatures are merry and gay but can be sobered instantly with a brandished weapon. Stealing of goods enrages an affected creature, but normal haggling does not. Cheap does not affect undead creatures.

LotFP House Rules 2: One-Shot this Weekend

As I mentioned recently, I've been thinking of running a small adventure using the LotFP rules. Well, the thinking has becoming doing now, so here are the house rules we'll be using. Note that, for the sake of simplicity in this one-shot, I've not messed around with any of the classes.

Classes

• Humans only.
• Clerics are witch-hunters or crusaders.

Skills
Some additional skills. All characters have a base 1 in 6 chance of success. Specialists can add extra skill points as usual.

• Medicine: identify herbs*, spend one turn with first aid kit (counts as specialist's tools, 10 uses) to heal 1d3 hp of freshly accrued damage. The skill can only be used for healing if the patient has at least half of his maximum hit points.
• Arcane dabbling: use wands & scrolls. If the skill roll fails, the item is used (scroll destroyed, wand charge used) with no effect. If the skill roll fails with a 6 (or double 6), the item backfires, creating a detrimental effect (sometimes the opposite to what was intended).
• Sense magic: spend one turn to detect whether a single object, creature or 10' square area is magical. Further turns may be spent to determine the following things, in order: the type of magic, its potency (approximate spell level), the age of the enchantment.

*Bushcraft can also be used to identify herbs.

From the Zones: Phenomena

Having seen the Stalker film in the cinema last year, and just finished reading the Roadside Picnic book, I now feel prepared to write something for the "From the Zones" community project hosted at FATE SF.

First up, a few unusual and dangerous phenomena which may be encountered in a Zone. (Game mechanics are minimal, but are phrased in terminology compatible with any version of D&D or similar games.)


Loose Angles
Not all regions of a Zone tolerate the usual spatial constraints of reality. Loose angles are one such spatial anomaly. They manifest as a sporadic, concertina-like shuddering, opening and closing motion in one of the angles of a seemingly solid object, for example the frame of a door or the corner of a building.

This unusual phenomenon has been reported by several stalkers who have witnessed it at a distance. No reports yet describe the effects (if any) of approaching a loose angle.



Inversion Nodules
Small (1cm) geometric lumps found on otherwise flat surfaces, typically the interior walls of buildings. It is usual for clusters of several dozen nodules to be found in a small area. The nodules appear to be made out of the same material as the surface on which they appear -- apart from their incongruity with the rest of the surface, they have no distinguishing features.

Stalkers who come within 3m of an inversion nodule begin to feel an extremely unpleasant tugging sensation in their internal organs, as if they were wrapped with wires which are being pulled toward the nodule. At this point, a saving throw is required to avoid throwing up. Anyone coming closer than 2m experiences the full horror of the inversion nodules' effect: the simultaneous explosion and complete inversion of the body, over the course of a second or two. This process is, obviously, fatal. Victims are reduced to a sprawling mass of entrails -- the internal organs and bones on the outside, the skin and hair on the inside.




Scarlet Scree
Patches of ground covered with gravel or rubble sometimes manifest the phenomenon known as scarlet scree -- streaks of bright red colouration which glow faintly in darkness. It is not known whether the scarlet colouration is caused by a covering of some sort (a fungus? dust? dye?), by an inexplicable transformation of matter, or by some kind of light trick.

Unlucky stalkers who come into contact with scarlet scree feel a fizzing sensation in the blood vessels close to their skin, and must make a saving throw or suffer several long-term, deleterious effects. If direct skin contact (with any part of the body) is made, the saving throw is at -2. Those who fail the save experience no immediate side-effects, beyond the blood-fizzing sensation, but suffer a loss of all body hair within 1d6 weeks, a gradual reddening of skin pigmentation (over the course of 1d6 months), and a loss of 1d4 points of CON one week after the contact.

Patches of scarlet scree have been reported to move around slowly. The actual movement has as yet not been directly witnessed as it occurs, but maps and the word of experienced stalkers show that it can disappear at one spot, and move to another nearby location.

It is rumoured that scarlet scree reacts with water, causing a violent explosion.

2014 Ahoy!

As a few other people have been doing, I thought I'd write a quick post with some D&D / writing intentions for the new year.

• Continuing my Ix / Dying Sun campaign. The PCs are now hovering at the border of 5th level. By means of advanced XP granting techniques, I'm hoping we'll get into the high levels (15th+), and potentially some epic events, by the end of the year.
• The Complete Vivimancer is in the process of being illustrated by the illustrious Cadanse D. We're hoping for a late January / early February release on this one.
• I'd like to release a free PDF supplement of vivimantic material -- adventures, monsters, magic items, random tables, etc (see here for more details). I already have some nice submissions from Derek Holland, Noah Stevens and Alex Schröder, and will add some stuff of my own. If anyone has any ideas for something they'd like to submit, please send it my way!
• Project codename Wormwood, a micro campaign setting which I've been working on with Greg Gorgonmilk, is bubbling away, and may possibly be ready for publication this year. We're both planning to run some games in the setting soon, in my case probably using the LotFP rules (plus some house rule tweaks).
• Since finishing the writing of The Complete Vivimancer, I've been contemplating starting on another such supplement. Many different types of specialist wizard have been vying for my attentions... diabolists, elementalists, illusionists, necromancers, thaumaturges... I've even thought about having a go at my own take on the semi-classic alchemist class. In the end, however, it seems like the elementalist has won over. Today, in fact, I have started playing around with spell lists, rules for single-elemental specialists, and ideas for new spells. See below for a little taster.
• I've also thought about writing a supplement on "priests of specific mythoi" (to use the 2e terminology). I have some vague ideas for this, but nothing committed to virtual paper as yet.
• And lastly, I have a few ideas for small adventures I'd like to publish in some form. One is actually half-written already, so just needs dusting off and finishing up.

Here's an example of one of the new elementalist spells I've been coming up with. It was inspired by the druidic purify water, but has been adapted and expanded for elementalists.

Purify

Level: 1

Duration: Instant

Range: 30'

This spell has the effect of purifying quantities of elemental substances. It can affect matter of all four elements, the exact target chosen as the spell is cast. The effect of the spell varies depending on the element upon which it is cast, as follows.

Air: Poisons are removed from the air in a 10' radius. Alternatively, stale air in a 10' radius area may be refreshed with oxygen, making it once more breathable.

Earth: Impurities in a 2' cubic area of earth, stone or metal are removed. Valuable ores and minerals can thus be cleanly extracted.

Fire: The heat of a single normal (i.e. non-magical) fire of up to one cubic foot per caster level is intensified, burning fuel at twice the normal rate. The affected fire, when used in combat, thus inflicts +1 damage, and gains the ability to harm creatures which are only affected by magic. The flame of a burning torch counts as one cubic foot of fire. Purified fire may also be required by various magical processes.

Water: Up to four gallons of liquid per caster level are rendered safe to drink. Poisons and toxins of all sorts are removed.