heretic

 working title for ttrpg

idea:

the kingdom you're in is a state run religion. (to the king?)

you work for the gov. 

You receive a vision for the true god. your goal is now to free the kingdom from heresy! 

you're now a double agent for god. 

join/make an underground religious rebellion. 

character:

classless system

pick profession? mostly for flavor?

you work under the state as a soldier, clergyman, admin, ......

play is your boss sends you on jobs. create or roll them

examples

clear a dungeon for the state 

deal with rebels

set up a religious event

protect this person

etc

successfully completed jobs gives you xp to level up which is a promotion in your job. This gets you bigger jobs and opportunity to fulfill your ultimate goal of overthrowing the gov. 

-----

The design goal/feel i'm going for is a tense double agent feel. Try to advance in the gov to learn more but not get caught as a heretic of the state. You play both sides trying to get info for the rebels while the gov sends you on jobs to kill/deal with said rebels! DOES MY BOSS KNOW!? DOES HE KNOW I KNOW!?? ARE THEY COMING AFTER ME? IS THIS A SET UP!?!? 

Rumors on the dungeon.

 For rumors about a dungeon that the DM gives to the players before they go: if they could be a lie. 

Then I'm inclined to disregard them all. I'd rather not indulge any of them if one could be a lie. 

This is an overly pessimist view. 

How do you do rumors and what are your thoughts about them and what have you learned in using them? 

Do you have a philosophy about them? 30% true, 50% half true, 20% lies? 

What's the design point of rumors? to wet the players appetite? To give them clues of what they'll be facing? A clue on how to beat them? 

If they can be lies, then is that to intentionally misdirect them? 

What if the rumors are only true and half truths? 

I don't have answers for this. Rumors certainly aren't needed but they could be a hook for why the players are going to this dungeon. Maybe that's reason enough?

Something to experiment with.... 

Dungeon idea

 Take or make a generic dungeon. Reuse one you've already done and reskin it. 

THEN 

add 4 other adventuring parties exploring it.

The 1 in a million chance. Not only is then another party there's 4! 

roll for their dispositions. Hostile to friendly. Maybe one attacks, one talks, one suggests teaming up!? etc

Have they cleared a room or two? Roll to see if they already got the treasure of some of it?

If you want to add complexity roll to see how they're exploring the dungeon as the players do. 

They could meet up after the initial meet and one or some of them were killed.

They could interact with each other. The players meet both groups and later in the delve find that one group killed the other! Your players come across a room with their bodies stabbed and looted! 

Have a big enough dungeon for this but it can have more than normal empty rooms and increase the chance of meeting the other parties. 

You can have fun and plan things out. Give the different parties themes, flavor. etc 

but this can also be used with minimum prep of rolling to generate them and see what happens! 

On Design

Thoughts on the idea of worldbuilding for a story/game:

What's most important is what will be interacted with for the characters and thus the audience. What will add conflict/resolution. 

For making a ttrpg game/setting/adventure your players don't need to know histories and backstories of the world. 

You need conflict to have something to do. From the conflict add details/explore the world that are relevant. 

thoughts

 I want to keep a list of ideas without feeling overwhelmed or defeated by how big it is but wanting to do it all. 

I want to have a list of focus's that i'm working on so I finished projects instead of jumping to another one. 

I want a way to make a daily list where I'm taking items from my focus list and working on them. 

 

Colette’s greedy pendant

This pendant made by the witch Colette is cursed that upon seeing it a person is drawn to it depending on their willpower. The person will want to wear it but by doing so it kills them over a few months.

 

Magic item: Bluestar Herb

An herb able to cure curses, hexes, and dark magic. A useful and lightweight item for every adventurer. 

Magic: Alto’s dragon spear

Crafted to kill the black dragon that attacked the Hulem kingdom. Enchanted to pierce dragon scale. 

Magic Item: Grimghal Armor Set

 This armor set increases the wearer’s stamina and has a strong resistance to curse magic and poisons.

 

Magic item: The Hound Dagger

This dagger’s pommel (the bottom of the handle) has a hound head. Once it has blood on the blade it can track the victim anywhere they go. 

 

Magic item: Abel’s deerskin boots

 These sturdy hide boots are enchanted to give the wearer the sure “footedness” of a deer. Aids in traversing difficult terrain, climbing and the like. 

Abel was a wizard and ranger who loved the outdoors and enchanted items for that purpose.  

Magic Item: Azula's Bracelet

A normal looking bracelet. It can be activated to cast three fireballs to circle the wearer.

Magic Item: Bertal's magic marble

 When this marble is used it starts to duplicate till it's made 500 copies. A great tool for a rogue being chased. 

The marble was made by Bertal the cobbler. A mage well known for his magical items. He was a cobbler (repaired and made shoes/boots) in his youth. He also made a wide variety of magical items that he and others who wore his wears looked like they had "cobbled" the mismatched clothing or armor together. 

Magic Item: Colette's herb Pendant

 Colette's Pendant guides the wearer to nearby herbs and flora for alchemy and potion craft. 

Magic Item: Alto's mace

 Alto's mace was enchanted that once per day it could make a swing with the impact to knock down a village wall. In addition two times a day it could make an enhanced strength swing. 

Alto used it in the siege of Miego. In one swing he knocked down the gate. The defending army was completely taken aback. Not only did this surprise let Alto's forces surge in but the defenders thought Alto was as strong as giants and were ready to surrender to him after seeing the blow. 

 

Magic item: Alto's shield

 Alto's shield is a slightly below mediocre shield against physical attacks. It was made to defend against spells. Not only is it enchanted to have a strong defense again spells but will reflect some of the magic away, reducing the total impact and amount of magic it's hit with. It even has a chance to reflect the whole spell back at the attacker. In addition the shield can be used to absorb and storage a spell used against it to be used when the welder chooses.

 

dungeon23

 I made this twitter account like a dungeon23 crawl. Check it out!

https://twitter.com/DungeonCrawl23

Magic Item: the dark cloak

 This enchanted cloak casts a spell on all who see it causing them to struggle to remember seeing it or the person wearing or what they look it. 

Details about who made the cloak or where it came from are.....forgotten. So it's been simply referred to as the dark cloak. 

Magic item: Duke Dane’s lucky hat

This hat was made and enchanted by Bertal the cobber at the request of Duke Dane. It's enchanted to increase the accuracy of whoever is wearing it. The Duke was an avid bow hunter and fencer. These hats are called cavalier hats.

Bertal the cobbler. A mage well known for his magical items. He was a cobbler (repaired and made shoes/boots) in his youth. He also made a wide variety of magical items that he and others who wore his wears looked like they had "cobbled" the mismatched clothing or armor together. 

Azula’s torch

Azula’s torch is actually a wand that looks like a torch with a flame that can never go out. It enhances all fire spells. It can’t cast water or ice spells. It can cast Azula’s flame which is a fire that lasts for 2 days before being able to be put out. 

Abel’s walking stick

This walking stick can be stuck in the ground anywhere and “planted”. When "planted" it grows into a mature tree growing refreshing fruit from its branches and the most refreshing sleep when slept under. It will return back to a walking stick when commanded.

Magic item: Ghost Gauntlet

 This gauntlet let's the wearer "ghost" up to his shoulder up to 3 times per rest. He can reach threw any object and can "ghost" items he holds or grabs when "ghosted". 

The gauntlet was made by Bertal the cobbler. A mage well known for his magical items. He was a cobbler (repaired and made shoes/boots) in his youth. He also made a wide variety of magical items that he and others who wore his wears looked like they had "cobbled" the mismatched clothing or armor together. 

Magic item: Shauna's Flute

 This flute enchants listeners to be more favorable towards the musician. They are more likely to be persuaded by them, agree with them, and be generous towards them. 

The enchantress Shauna crafted the flute and used it to her own advantage. Things went very well for her until after two months receiving hospitality at the court of Duke Barnworth the wizard Matus detached the magic and told the Duke. Shauna was imprisoned and her flute taken.   

My Itch Page with solo journal games I've made

Check it out and let me know what you think of them!

https://goldfizh.itch.io/

Dungeon23 Spaceship room #1

I had the thought that a good reason to make a dungeon instead of just using a generator for rooms and encounters is puzzles. 

In a dungeon what if you meet a lost or wounded adventurer? Do you aid or raid them? Do they know helpful information about the dungeon or world? Are they truthful or looking to backstab you at the boss fight and run off with the loot? 

 That's not a puzzle but I'd have one in this spaceship. The scenario is your crew finds a ship that's abandoned. You attach and board it. The first room is empty. As they look around there's buttons and boards. One is obvious to open the door to the next room. Among the others is the code for the rooms (the DM knows this but not the players). 

The DM could say something like you see a sign where + = blue, hand = red, gun = green, etc.

The + is first aid

The hand is the control deck

The gun is the armory 

These colors are in the halls to lead you to the right rooms like in a hospital. Because the ship has been attacked it's in lock down mode so only 1 color can be active at a time. Players need to return and press the button matched with the room/color to open the doors to get there. Turns into a little maze. 

Dungeon23 basement room #4/5

 A room with a large tapestry of Shemeth worship covering most of the far wall. There is a drawer with a sag of money in it. 

For a deeper campaign story I'd develop a story of the tapestry to reveal something about the cultist beliefs. This could be about a location, information, or item that would give the players a lead to explore if they wanted. 

The room being empty (I would hope) would be strange to the players to the point them them investigating it more. Of course the tapestry but not just what's on it but that it's hiding a door behind it. 

In the last room it's a small cell. In it is a kidnapped knight who knows a lot about the cultists and other issues. The reason for him being put in here is to separate him from the other prisoner but more importantly over cultists. Only select members would know about him and interact with him. He knows things that low level cultists don't know about the higher up leaders in the cult.  

Magic item: unicorn horn wand

 This wand amplifies ones magic ability and they can cast heal, cure, and illusion once per rest. 

If stabbed with it one takes magic poison dmg. 

Magic item Colette's ring

 This cursed ring was made from the witch Colette. It binds itself when worn and is unable to be taken off other then having the finger taken off with it. It enchants the wearer making them more likely to be favorable to whoever gave them the ring. It also can be "activated" to strengthen the wearer making them stronger, greater reflexes, and magic ability if they have any. It does this at the cost of their health however. They immediately become sick and weak afterwards and will usually  vomit (often with some blood). It will leave lasting health effects and/or disfigurements.  

dungeon23 basement room #3

 One of the doors of the worship room leads to the cultist treasure room. They are not rich however. A small chest with coins in it is all they have. It's in the corner next to a table with cultists bagging coins. 

The two or three (depending on the roll) cultists here are very strong. They cast enchant weapons, as well as fear, blind, deafness, and heal. 

magic item: helmet of vines

 This helmet lets a player rapidly grow and control plants on them/their armor for an encounter per rest. Not just vines but I thought vines sounded better then plants. Add it to the lore, the first person to tell others of the helmet saw the welder just using it for vines and the name stuck. 

dungeon23 basement room #2

 Room with two other doors then the one you entered from. A Shemeth worship room (Shemeth being the God the cult follows) It has a scroll of the prophet of Shemeth on a stand and a shrine with candles. 1d4+1 cults with daggers in the room. They know some spells. 

There is also a ornate birdcage in the corner which seems ordinary but the players can take. It's used for trapping and binding elementals. 

dungeon23 the basement room #1

 The basement rooms are dark and made of stone and dirt. There is a table with a candle and two torches on the wall for light. 

There is an armored cultist with a mace and a robed heretic priest with a dagger. 

There is also a cage or cell holding a man. After defeating the cultists the man will beg to be freed. He says the cultists kidnap and kill those in the order Zul which he is. If you free him he goes to get the mace or dagger from the cultists to defend himself. He will try to backstab and kill the player(s). He's actually an outlaw and would try to kill you then risk getting caught. If you stop him from getting the mace or dagger then he will try to leave the basement and house. 

Magic Item: birdcage

This Birdcage can hold elementals for a week. Bound elements have to help with one task when released if asked. This can't be "save the world" or "beat this dungeon" but one specific thing like "steal this item" "persuade this person to do this thing" "help with this boss fight". 

Once used the elemental is free and the cage needs three days to "recharge".

 

dungeon room #4

A few rooms 

First would be a dining room. In a very cinematic take two tables and a few chairs could be very interesting crowding a room for a fight. It could be very difficult to maneuver around them and a smart fighter would use them to his advantage kicking chairs into people's way and throwing them etc. 

A kitchen. It might be interesting to look up what was in a medieval kitchen. No refrigerators at the time. Maybe an icebox but probably shelves and bags of produce, flour, salted and dried meats etc. 

But the main thing for the room would be kitchen knives and pots and pans for make-shift weapons. 

Bedroom/sleeping quarters. 

Bland but in the bed room is a trap door to the basement.....

Twitter

 I started a twitter account and to tell a growing story of King Arthur and the Round Table. 

I made a promote generator and get pics for pinterest. check it out at

https://twitter.com/theRoundTable37

Cindermother (a Fairytale)

Once upon a time there was a stepmother named Cindermother who cared for her bratty step children. They were awful twerps. Always demanding their way, and presents. They never said thank you and threw tantrums. 

Cindermother would discipline them when they were naughty and still be kind and loving to them. She worked hard to make ends meet, take care of the house, and bless the stepchildren. The little punks would make messes though and not clean them up and steal from Cindermother to buy lollipops. 

One Sunday night Cindermother was fed up with the snots. She was crying even though dancing with the stars was on she was so depressed by the stepchildren. Then all of a sudden a bright light flashed in the backyard. She went out to see what it was. A fantastic looking man with thick brown hair, rippling muscles, a silk V neck shirt that pirates would wear, a smile that caused traffic accidents and a wand stood in the middle of the yard. 

“Who are you?” asked Cindermother. 

“I’m your fairy godhunk.” said the fairy godhunk. I’m here to grant you a wish. 

“Oh that’s wonderful!” beamed Cindermother. “Could you do something about stepchildren? Make them behave, stop getting detentions at school, and be so naughty?” 

“Nope,” replied the fairy godhunk. “They’re rotten eggs.” 

“Oh” Cindermother slumped like a hunchback. 

“Instead we’ll leave them and go travel the world with these cruise tickets I have.” said the fairy godhunk holding up the tickets and flashing a winning smile that woke the neighbors who thought it was a semi truck light beam. 

“What the hey” shrugged Cindermother. The fairy godhunk waved his wand and a red corvette appeared. They jumped in and drove off. They left the stepchildren who from then on had to live off spinach, liver, and really bitter grapefruit that would squirt them in the eye. 

And so kids the lesson of the story is you better behave so your parents don’t leave you.

 

magic item: silver candle rod

 generating items to making up magic items. 

This ordinary looking silver candle rod is actually magical. It will never go out on its own. It will draw and absorb fire it is put next to. The rod enchants its fire to be hotter then natural fire can be. It can also be used like a wand and "shot" "fireballs" by non magic users. 

dungeon room #3

 From the armory the next room is a "chapel" room. A false shrine and mats to prostate on. 

There are shelves of books and scrolls. 

Large candle rods and dishes on are desks that make for good improvised weapons. 

d6+1 cultists. 

dungeon room #2

 Armory room 

medium sized room with chairs along a wall and 3 cabinets on the other.

 The cabinets hold weapons of swords and daggers, bows and arrows, and armor.  

magic item: Chair of the dead.

 inspired by dungeon23 I wanted to try to regularly make items. maybe they won't all be magical though. 

I'm starting with randomly generating them but I imagine I'll do weapons, armor, etc too. 

I got chair. 

I could go the route of a throne. but I won't. 

Chair of the dead. 

This 4 legged wood carved chair is dark green with skulls intricately craved all over it except on the seat. When a mage sits on it they can channel a spirit to talk through them.

Alternatively you could put a dead body on it and they can speak. 

Ok I like it. one down. 

Even before rolling a chair and coming up with this idea I had the though of wanting to do a notebook and I had the image of a skull also. I was thinking deathnote and also harry potter with tom's diary, and other stories where you could write something down and someone had the other magic notebook they could read what you wrote and write back to you. texting in fantasy. 

could also be like the chair where you write in the notebook and the spirit of a dead person "wrote" back for you to read. 

I'm going a different route though. 

apothecaria's notebook

Write down the potion you want to make or what you want a potion to do and the notebook will "write" back the ingredients needed and how to make it. 

 

starting dungeon23

Not doing the full actual thing but wanted to try it for the first time. I'll start with the dungeon design and goals. 

For a campaign I have a cult. I'll have their base be my dungeon. 2 story building. 5 rooms per story. 

Thinking this is going to be "vanilla" but hey I'm just starting, baby steps. 

First room

A long entrance hall. Stone walls. There is always at least 2 cultists on guard. 

roll d4 to see how many others? 

One is always near a pull string that sounds a bell to warn the building. He doesn't necessarily pull it because PC's walked in. Only if he believes he should. 

This rooms purpose to be a disguise from what happens in the rest of the building. It has chairs along the sides and a table with food for the guards. 

solo dungeon crawl generator idea

 Add tension by not knowing the length of dungeons. Do this by saying the dungeon exit is when you get to 12. To see what your current # is add your current room # + d6 roll

So you roll a d6 for the encounter of each room. for room 1 you roll a 5. Your number is 6. this makes it so you have at least 6 rooms before you could get to the exit. 6+6. The max would be 11 rooms. room 11 + 1 (from your roll). 

Cat Impulse

 When a cat knocks something off a table or desk like a lamp or a cup it's not for a thrill. It's not out for enjoyment, or rage. It's an impulse. They see it and they just think I want to knock that over. I call that a cat impulse. 

I sometimes have a cat impulse. I see something and just want to knock it over. 

Dinner idea

 I'm going to make some quick and easy flat bread and have a bunch of different dips. Think this would be fun with others/a game night. 

have the bread be nothing special, just a vehicle for dips. 

I won't go 100% on pre-made store bought dips but make them and try to be creative about them. 

A warm marinara sauce

Fresh mashed avocado guac dip. Squeeze a lemon on it. Not sure but needs a touch of something else. 

Never made a spinach dip so I'll look into that. 

Olive oil and zaatar. 

balsamic vinegar

Something sweet like honey. 

Wow that just gave me the idea of a cinnamon raisin dip! I'll have to look into that but sounds fun and delicious! 

A carrot hummus dip!?!?

A fun part will be trying out different spices and things with each. 

tangy gauc, garlic gauc, spicy guac, honey and guac, cinnamon gauc? 

Dice games

I want to make some table top solo games that you can play with other people if you want.  

A journaling ttrpg 

A dungeon crawl

A high score game

They'd all be rolling dice to generate outcomes. It's hard not to want to combine everything into one for me. I need to keep them separate.

For a journaling ttrpg, that's probably the easiest. Roll dice to generate/stimulate ideas. everything else, loot, stats for you, enemies, equipment, etc are nice not not necessary. Story/role playing first. 

An example of a high score game would be Scrap! My big take away from this game is assigning an action for all your dice. I think it's best when there's a mixture of positive and negative results that the player chooses. Having to assign the dice you roll gives the player decision and therefore the "fun/play" aspect. 

Dungeon crawl is the hardest as stats matter the most and the more content the more replayability to an extent/degree. It's the most work and you want some degree of balance for combat. 

Sage - fantasy story idea

-This is a story idea I may pursue at some point.  

A sage creates a species. 

The sage like a merlin-esque man with a white beard, robes, walking staff. He creates sectman. combination of insects and man. I'm think 3ft tall, bug eyed people with big thick hands and feet. 

We'll name the sage Yarvin. He created them for a number of reasons. 

1. as an experiment 

2. as workers 

3. as company 

At first it's an experiment to do it because it's powerful enough and wants to see what'll happen. Also as workers to aid him in magical study, building a world, home, etc. He's also lonely so while originally he created like simple ants to work he gave some intelligence to talk with. He cares for them, teaches them, and builds relationships. Yarvin is seen as a kind, patient old grandfatherly figure.

at some point other sages find them and there's conflict. Yarvin killed another sage and ran from justice. the other sages don't immediately attack. They want Yarvin punished but are afraid of attack. 

Could be a twist of Yarvin was in the right to kill the other sage. The other sages could be morally grey and know about it or they don't and don't believe Yarvin. 

Ttrpg idea - an Eater

 An idea for a ttrpg character/class/race - 

Eater - can eat anything and get stronger. Depending on what they eat effects how they get stronger. If they eat rock or metal they get stronger skin and muscles. If they eat something magical they can gain some of it's magical probertites. 

There are limits on the among they can eat however. As a newborn can't eat what an adult can so a young eater can only eat a small amount of an unnatural food like metal, rocks, etc. Just a little bit and they could be stuffed/bloated for days, weeks, etc. As they grow and eat more their stomachs can handle more. Just like growing it's a slow tedious process but rewards continual focus.