Fantasy Heartbreak Workshop

On Reddit recently, user wittmitin described a plane of existence : It is the realm of the Shapeshifters and is made of an ever-shifting forest of mist and reflection. It is very easy to get lost inside. And requested details which would make the place an interesting experience. This seemed like a fun opportunity to brainstorm, and below is what I came up with.

In response to the post: Can you selectively dust of disappearance just an individual? Could you ingest it or slip it into a drink for the invisibility effect? DCs given assume D&D 5th Edition DC. - --- - If the rules don't specifically allow it, I'm guessing that by default it probably isn't intended to work if used in ways other than described. Otherwise it would probably be an ointment or potion. But if players get creative why not allow something to work with side effects and caveats? When snorting or ingesting Dust of Disappearance, roll 1d12 or choose: You snort a line of dust of disappearance. Works. Perfect! But now, each round, make a Constitution save, DC 15. On a failed roll you sneeze, coating the opponent in dust and making them invisible. Lasts the usual dust duration. You're blind! A friend reads the small print: Not meant to be taken internally. May cause retinal transparency lasting up to 16 minutes. You itch like crazy. Allergic re...

A Quora user asked the question: In DND, can a Tiefling be born from two human parents? My answer to any question along these lines is almost always going to be: Yes! (setting norms permitting) To find out why mummy and daddy are human and you're not, pick or roll 1d20: Thauma-genetic manipulation at the fertility clinic. Surrogate birth. Cuckoo demon left an extra bun in their oven while no one was looking. Your twin sibling looks perfectly human though. Parents made a pact with the Infernal powers, dedicating their next child to the Grand & Decadent Cause. (ANGSTY TEEN TIEFLING: Jeez! Lay off mom and dad! I don't wanna do your stupid dark destiny plans!) One of your parents used to be an infernal pact warlock before you were born. They turned from that path a long time ago, repented, and tried to make amends for the things they did during those times. But a part of the pact they'd overlooked ensured their first born would be a Tiefling. So here you are...

I've come to realize that most of the RPG related ideas I come up with end up shuffled away to some forgotten corner of Quora, never to be seen again.  So, to collect them all in one place for easier reference, a few of those I liked better are getting transferred here. If you found an ancient Dwarven cookbook in a long forgotten ruins in Dungeons and Dragons, what recipes might you find? Recipes and cooking advice found in dwarven cookbooks tends to fall into one or more of the following categories: References to rare monsters (ones not listed in the MM, or listed by an untranslated dwarven name), but only described in detail as to how to gut and cook them. Might mention poison glands or horns or such, but not always directly helpful in identifying how to combat the thing. References to some highly prized ingredient (like Silphium) which was key for so many things, ultra healthy and made everything better, but which can no longer be identified. May not exist anymore or i...

Reading through the first couple chapters of the Monte Cook's Cypher System, and it is pretty neat.  The only thing that seems a bit odd to me is the requirement to multiply a Difficulty rating (1-10) to a Target Number rating (Difficulty x3) which is actually rolled against.  This seems especially odd in the case of expending effort, where you spend several points to lower the difficulty, which in turn lowers the Target Number, which you then roll against. Also while reading, the three pool system brought to mind Michael Wolf's wonderful WYRM System .  This in turn led to wondering: Why not just roll a d6 for Cypher and cut out the x3 Difficulty conversion? Looking into this, there's little trouble so far in switching from d20 to a d6 system. Maybe as I read Cypher further there'll be a later section where the need to multiply by x3 will be better justified.  But in the meantime, the conversion seems pretty straightforward: Basic roll Th...

I've been tinkering with something along these lines for awhile now, trying to put together a light universal RPG mechanic along the lines of get something like Seth Zaloudek's Folklore , but without dice pools, or borrowing from Michael Wolf's Warrior, Rogue & Mage , but more generic.  So when I noticed Kyrinn (of Urutsk fame) participating in David Schirduan's  200 Word RPG Challenge , it seemed the perfect time to give it a serious try. The resulting Coarse Light System was cranked out in only a couple hours, though fiddling with the word count and formatting took a bit longer. You can find the game here: Coarse Light System It could probably use a couple supplements to clarify some missing details and provide settings.  But if this is your thing, hope you have fun with it.

Here-in are a set of alternate rules for casting magical spells, intended for use with the Crude Roleplaying Engine, but adaptable to other editions.  Part of the idea here was to avoid the Linear Fighter, Quadratic Wizard (LFQW) issue which certain pre-fourth editions have been accused of. This material was originally inspired by Gorgonmilk's Memory Cell magic system, but eventually took a different shape here .  It was intended as a return to a more closely Jack Vance inspired magic system. Spells Spells are complex patterns of information which shift through multiple states, ultimately producing tangible effects in the mundane world. A spell can be created initially through inspiration of a magician's mind learned on a particular subject, or as an outgrowth of some supernatural creature's being.  For instance a godling may be able to cast a spell at will that is in affinity with its own nature. However, for most magicians the spell exists as a sort of ment...

Recording couple ideas I had on combat resources and other considerations for mundane combatants, culled from this thread , for future refernce: In this instance my own sense of verisi-simulat-emersio-reality would be better preserved if these sorts of things (and "sand bagging") got a special label like "tricks" and combatants got a chance to attempt each once per opponent (or per combat if all opponents are observing carefully) without penalty. Alternately (or additionally) some sort of "heroic exertion" system could be used to track how worn out a character becomes after each physically demanding attempt. And of course it's all just personal preference, but to me: Encounter/Dailies say, "You will not succeed at this task if you tried it once"; while increasing difficulty says, "Your chances are pretty slim, but if you think you can pull it off: Shoot the moon!" And Encounter/Dailies also say, "You can only ...

As usual Jeff put up another post that stirred a disused corner of my imagination: Cave man days, through the lens of a D&D fork. This is something I used to give a lot of thought to back in the day.  GURPS Ice Age seemed like such a neat idea, but I didn't love the system and couldn't figure out what to do for adventures (Fighting wolves and tribes all the time?  Hunting a lot?).  Acquisition of non-subsistence stuff isn't typically a big part of the caveman way of life. One possibility would be tribesmen stumbling across Lovecraftian horrors, but I had doubts about losing player interest while trying to build a backdrop of normalcy before contrasting it with the first unnatural discovery. Another thought was contrasting current neolithic era with finds of lost pre-existing civilizations of human or inhuman origin.  It's an idea I like, and I think it could work well used appropriately. The Lithic setting wouldn't really work as a part of the same...

I'm not a big fan of fire and forget powers, but those that wear down a resource over time I can get behind.   So, harking back to the reserves mechanic , a random idea: Using an at will power is same as usual Using an encounter power costs a number of hit points equal to the power level. Using a daily power costs a number of hit points equal to twice the power level. Again, this is is an attempt to not keep hit points from simply representing ablative damage endurance, and return them to being what they've nominally represented all along:  stamina and accumulated luck.  In this case they can also represent mystical sway.

All things are possible. All things are known. Nothing is remembered. In the Biblioteca Mundi setting there are spells available, or at least working theories, on how to do anything . However that was during the height of the Great Library three millenia ago.  Since that time all the books have been checked out and none returned.  Or more accurately:  The library has been sacked hundreds of times and it's pieces are scattered among guilds, wealthy collectors, misanthropic magicians, and the tombs of dead kings and sorcerers. If you want to cast a spell you can hope the information is easily available locally (unlikely) , or spend fifty years researching it yourself (Yay! A life well spent.) , or go raid the dungeon where rumor has it that a treatise on similar effects was once stored.