New Vivimancer Spell: Nature's Secrets

A little taster of what I've been working on recently.

This spell is basically a mixture of the druidic commune with nature and the magic-user's contact other plane, with some vivimantic flavour and twists.


Nature's Secrets
Level: 5th
Duration: See below
Range: ½ mile radius per level

This spell grants the vivimancer the ability to interpret information from the subtle whisperings of plants, fungi and creeping creatures of the undergrowth. The spell may be used in two ways, as follows.

Firstly, the caster may gain mundane knowledge of the area within range. One fact per caster level may be gained, from among the  following subjects: the ground or terrain, plants, minerals, bodies of water, people, general animal population, presence of powerful unnatural creatures, or even the general state of the natural setting. It takes 1 turn to cast this version of the spell.

Alternatively, the caster may delve deeply into the alien intelligence of the natural world in order to receive advice and information on any subject. The vivimancer may ask as many questions as he wishes, and will receive answers in the form of riddles or cryptic statements with a 75% chance of containing hints at the truth – the vast and subtle intelligence of the natural world is so radically different to human intelligence that straightforward answers can never be obtained. Each question asked in this way carries with it a risk of insanity, as the caster opens himself to the inhuman mind of nature. A saving throw versus spells is required, with failure causing the caster to be afflicted with a form of insanity lasting for 1d4 weeks. The saving throw is penalized by -1 per question asked beyond the first. This process takes one hour per question asked.

It is known that some vivimancers drive themselves into a state of permanent insanity through seeking deep knowledge of the universe in this manner.

Ix -- The Metamorphs of Hul Nostra

Hul Nostra, city of metamorphs (see Ix campaign map).

This city's proximity to the mutoid wastes has caused a variety of unusual human-variants to arise. These make up approximately 30% of the population.


Pandrogynes: Sex changes on a periodic cycle, usually over the course of a year. Male -> hermaphrodite -> female -> sexless -> cycle restarts. If a pandrogyne becomes pregnant during its hermaphrodite or female phases, the sexual cycle pauses until the child is born.

Bimorphs: Have two distinct forms, usually both the same sex. Change between forms is voluntary but takes 1d4 days. Drugs exist which can accelerate this transformation.

Monoforms: Beings whose bodies adapts to match that of those around them, over a period of several weeks. Monoforms living in mixed company attain a kind of in-between or average state of those around them. Settlements consisting purely of monoforms are made up of identical individuals, and are sometimes mistaken for clones. When in the company of a single individual, a monoform can eventually achieve an exact mimicry.

Phagomorphs: Those who take on the appearance and characteristics of the beings they consume, by genetic absorption. Phagomorphs typically die young, as they develop non-human physiology which is unable to support their bodies. However rumours tell of specially trained (and carefully nourished) sects of phagomorphs engineered to exhibit powerful animalistic traits.

Changelings: An extremely rare form of metamorph -- one which can change its form at will. True changelings are valued for their talent as spies and assassins. Changelings are unable to reproduce, and thus cannot be deliberately bred.

Introverts and Extroverts in Gaming

Well, this is going to be something of a first for me: a post relating to a sociological / psychological aspect of gaming. Not a topic which I normally have much insight into, or even much interest in generally, but this just occurred to me and I realised that it's something I've actually never seen explicitly discussed before, so would be very interested to hear other people's input.

For the sake of discussion, let's say there are three (very broad) types of people: introverts, extroverts, and people who are either somewhere in the middle or who can switch / go both ways.

I am the classic introvert. Quietly spoken, often blending into the background in groups unless specifically involved, preferring small intimate situations to big open ones, and so forth. (This is a personality trait for which I've inwardly criticised myself for much of my life, and have only in recent years come to accept as both normal and ok, but that's another topic...)

My gaming group also tends (I would say) towards the introverted end of the spectrum. My regular group has a mix of introverted and "in the middle" people, but no one whom I would immediately and unreservedly describe as an extrovert.

Thinking about other people I've played RPGs with over the years, I can see a strong pattern: I favour other players who are on the introverted end of the spectrum. Indeed, the fellow gamers whom I've gotten on least well with over the years were all strong extroverts.

Of course, as I am almost always on the DM's side of the screen, the fact that my group is on my preferred end of the intro/extroversion spectrum is likely no coincidence -- I've probably selected such players in order to form a group to my tastes.


Noticing this pattern and preference is the first interesting thing.

The second thing, however, is the (to me) somewhat radical idea that there must almost certainly be gaming groups out there which are composed of people on the extroverted end of the spectrum! It's really something I've never given any thought to.

So what I'm now really interested to hear is what other people think about this. To me the typical role-player is the quiet / nerdy type, but I know there are extrovert role-players out there -- I've met them! To what proportion and in which combinations they exist is something I find quite fascinating.

Spell Layout 2

Following on from the discussion around yesterday's post, and the very helpful feedback people here and on Google+ gave, I've been playing around with possible page layouts again.

Here's what I've come up with. An A5 single-column layout, but with a kind of side-bar sort of thing. I like it a lot.

Any further thoughts or feedback?

Spell Layout -- Thoughts?

As part of a new super secret (not any more ;) project I'm working on, I've been fiddling around with possible page layouts for spell listings. (See... though my posting here has dropped off a bit lately, I am far from idle.)

I've come down to two fundamental possibilities, and I'm not sure which is best. So I thought I'd post examples up here to see if anyone has any thoughts.

Note that both these example layouts are rough. You need to ignore things like paragraphs wrapping over columns -- that stuff will be sorted out when I get to the layout stage of the document for real. For now it's just playing.

The first possible layout for a spell list is the traditional 2-column layout on an A4 / letter size page.

The alternative layout which I've had in mind is a single column, A5 / digest size page. I like digest size books a lot, so wanted to experiment with this format.

As you can see, the 2-column layout actually fits more text in the same amount of space, due to more efficient paragraph wrapping and less margins overall, I presume. You may also notice that I've gone for the traditional spell listing by level here. One advantage of this, in terms of layout and page usage, is that I don't need to specify what level every single spell is -- a nice side-effect.

Another small point of interest is the way I've put the Duration and Range on a single line. I'm not totally sold on this, but thought I'd give it a go.

So, what do you think? Any feedback / advice would be most welcome!

Brave the Labyrinth -- Issue 1 Out Now!

Just a heads up that the first issue of Pete Spahn's Labyrinth Lord fanzine Brave the Labyrinth is out now! It's available in print or pay-what-you-want PDF at RPGNow.

Contained within is a submission from myself including 6 new vivimancer spells. If you liked what you saw in Theorems & Thaumaturgy, get on over to RPGNow for a refresher dose of flesh warping!

ps. Actually, I'd recommend that players in my Labyrinth Lord campaign who happen to read this don't look at the article with the new spells, as it might spoil some surprises down the line.

Wild Magic -- Take III

As a DM I am renowned for my love of randomness and for my love of tables, so it's no surprise that I'm very much enamoured with the idea of a class of magic-user whose enchantments lack the technical reliability of the standard D&D spells.

The topic of wild magic is something I've mused on several times before, but which I've never really reached a very satisfying conclusion with.

I started work a while back on a new concept for a wild magic-user class, but forgot to post it. So here we go.

The basic concept I had in mind is that wild magic would, purely from a game rules point of view, work identically to the normal, time-honoured magic-user class. A set list of spells, of which a fixed number may be memorized by a wizard, the quantity depending on his level. No random tables of spell effects, no wild surges, etc. The standard D&D rules for Vancian magic are simple, elegant and (relatively) fast in-play, all features which wild magic systems, with their frequent profusion of random tables, often threaten to quash.

So without random tables or wild surges where then does the wildness come into play? My idea was that the nature of the spells themselves would provoke wildness and chaos. So these spells often wouldn't be valued  for their practical application, but rather for their ability to alter existing situations by introducing a random or unexpected element.

My guideline is that the randomness of these spells should not be purely of the "it might be good or bad" variety -- for example a spell which deals damage to a random target within range (caster or allies included). Spells like that aren't fun to cast. It's just Russian roulette, and if the "bad" result comes up the caster feels like he's wasted one of his precious spell slots.

Instead, wild spells should focus on effects which throw unpredictable curve balls into the game.

Here are a few ideas along these kind of lines.

I'm very interested to hear anyone's thoughts on this idea, and if you think it sounds like a feasible and fun approach.

Existential Instability
Level: 2
Duration: 1d6 rounds, +1 per level
Range: 60'

A targeted object begins to randomly fluctuate in and out of existence. The affected object must be within range, visible to the caster, and have no dimension larger than 1' per caster level. If the target is in the possession of another creature, the owner may make a save versus spells to resist the instability.
At the beginning of each combat round, the Labyrinth Lord should roll a die. If the die comes up odd, the target disappears; if the die comes up even, the target exists as normal.
Doors, walls, weapons, suits of armour, magic items, etc are all viable targets for this spell.

Juggling
Level: 1
Duration: Instant
Range: 30'

This spell causes the objects held in the hands of all creatures within range to take on a life of their own, leap into the air, and fly into the hands of someone else in the affected area.
For each held item, the target may make a saving throw versus spells to keep hold of it. If the save fails, the Labyrinth Lord should randomly determine to whom the objects flies. The receiver automatically catches the item.
Wise casters make sure to stow away any important items before casting this spell.

Mood Modifier
Level: 1
Duration: Instant
Range: 30'

All intelligent creatures within range are affected by a sudden change of mood. The following chart can be used to determine what mood strikes. If the randomly selected mood is too close in character to the prevailing mood before the spell was cast, the Labyrinth Lord may allow a re-roll.
Creatures of higher than 4HD (or 4th level) are allowed a saving throw to resist the spell's effects.

Mood modifier, result
1d10 Mood
1 Anger
2 Conviviality
3 Fear
4 Boredom
5 Lust
6 Earnestness
7 Whimsy
8 Ecstasy
9 Aggression
10 Capriciousness