Monday, December 30, 2024

Oracular Kanji Card Improv for Elfgames

Sometimes a DM has no idea what to do. One trick you could try is turning to a random page in a book and finding a random word to inspire you. But I usually have kanji study cards at hand.

Example from a recent game. The players got interested in the fact that there were itinerant barbarians in town and wanted to hire one, so I had to come up with a guy on the fly. The card I drew had the kanji 介, which triggered the word 介護 for me, which can be used for care-giving. One English word I associate with that is nurse, because care-givers for the elderly are often called that. So I came up with a nurse-barbarian. He is into taking care of the wounded. For his name, I took the reading of the kanji, kai, and made him Kai the nursebarian.

In the same session, I let the players world-wank up some rumors about the house they were going to rumble. One player was like, "I dunno, I got nothing," and I assured them it was fine to pass on the question, but I also showed them the next kanji card in my box which was the kanji for other, and that got some creative-release.

You could use kanji to answer many kinds of questions. What does the prophesy say? What kind of trick is in this room? If you don't feel joy sparking, go to the next card in the box.

I looked a bit for some online random kanji generators, but frankly I like these cards (translations are on the back side) much better, as the example combo words are really what gets the juices flowing, and a kanji without a friend is often a half-baked idea--unless you happen to know a good wago word that uses it.介 is not such a kanji, so yeah, the card is helpful.

You could try a random English word generator, of course.

Like I said, there are a million ways to randomize ideas, like dictionaries. Sometimes, when I need a treasure, I turn to the kanji cards, but often I turn to a copy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's catalogue.
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Saturday, December 28, 2024

Pregame Warmup Worldwanking

I’m pretty particular when it comes to the demihumans of my world, but besides that, I think maybe my group could really get into the game setting and roleplaying mindset if they had a hand in describing some of the other features and rumors of it. So here’s what I’m gonna try:

At game start, I recap the last session with Spencer Crittenden music. Then I pose a question such as:
  • What dangers await in the purple hills?
  • What factions vie for control of the wastes?
  • It is said that a miracle occurred in Gropecuntelane. What is it?


I do not ask any one person in particular. I tell the group to think for just a second, while I have them roll initiative. The person at the top of initiative gets the first game turn, which consists of them saying something their character heard, and how they heard it--if they want. The second person does this as well, spouting their own take on the answer. After these two, I then ask if anyone heard a different tale or rumor about the thing.

That’s it, that’s the process. I as the GM have to decide which answer is true, if any of them are, and to what degree. If I’m not sure, I could consult a die to see which is the rumor I want to focus on and its veracity. d6: 1) this answer is spot on, 2~5) this answer is somewhat true, 6) this answer is ironically quite false.

Addendum:
Those cheesy scripts that started WEG Star Wars modules? That was the only time I got a certain player to speak in any sort of accent or funny voice. Those things may bear some revisiting by GMs and designers.

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Friday, December 27, 2024

A List of Dungeon-world Style Bonds I’ve been needing


I like the bonds in DW, even if I rarely play that one. I never seem to have them at hand, so Imma blog my own version and bookmark it. Also, it’s a d12 list. The best kind of list in the OSR.

  1. BLANK has stolen something and they think they got away with it.
  2. BLANK is a figure of the prophesy. The signs are all there, right down to their birthmark.
  3. In a pinch, BLANK can/cannot be relied on to save my hide.
  4. BLANK is a great big phony! 
  5. BLANK is burdened by their past; but I know the way to cheer them up.
  6. BLANK is like a bull in a pottery shop. 
  7. The wisdom of BLANK is rivaled only by their QUALITY.
  8. I need to protect BLANK because REASON.
  9. BLANK matches the description of the guy that shot my pa…
  10. It’s easy to seduce BLANK, so I’mma keep an eye on them.
  11. BLANK is a bully… and I hang out with them. What does that make me?
  12. I’ll never doubt BLANK after THE INCIDENT.

Monday, December 16, 2024

Trauma Conquering System for dealing with sanity in an elf game

This is a refresh of a post I previously made. I’m trying to make it simple to adjudicate.

A ghost touches your soul. An elder evil's face is glimpsed. Your whole family dies. So you had a bad day, and now you are not in your right mind.

When you fail to save vs insanity, take a condition. While you have a condition, you cannot gain XP, though exorcising your inner demons may come with a cathartic XP bonus. The good news is you cannot gain more than one condition at a time.

All the conditions' mechanical effects and XP nullification will go away once their requirements have been satisfied, but these should prompt lingering role-playing issues. You were broken, and like a kintsugi bowl, you will beautiful, but never the same.

One rule: Give these in secret to your players. They should keep their insanity secrect (act, it's a freakin RPG) and their motives mysterious.

1d12 Broken PC Conditions:
  1. WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?!†: You're certain that a random ally or NPC has a secret, and you must find it out by any means necessary (the secret doesn't have to be true, but your character must be satisfied with the confession).
    • I hate the smell of honey, don't you? Anyways, best tell me where you hid the baby.
    • If you don't admit right now, by Mitra, what is in your pocket, I will drop this puppy.
    • This is potent wine, isn't it? You might slip and let me know anything and I would never tell a soul!

  2. HIDE YOUR SOUL!: You must change your current, true name (use ceremonial methods) and hide it in a Matryoshka doll in a box in a chest within the pits of ______ (the DM can decide how to get you the name of the place).

  3. I NEED TO TAKE HIM DOWN A PEG: You must secretly or suddenly set up a situation harmful to an NPC. This should expose them to significant loss of reputation. Tripping a guy in the street is not enough; you need this person to be shunned by their peers. If they get jailed or killed, well, they deserved it, right?!
    • Lady Chattery's brooch is missing? What is that dangling from Lord Tashertorn's boot?
    • Ha, little does the acolyte know that I gave him a scroll of explosive runes to take back to Sandelstin the Imperious.

  4. I NEED THE POWER AND CONTROL: You must gain an office or station with sway over no less than 10×level sapient beings.
    • Some of you may die, but that is a risk I am willing to take.
    • I have received a revelation, and have been directed to marry all three sisters, brother Hyrum. As the humble representative of Xenu, I must obey.
    • Too long have orcs lived in the shadows!

  5. PUZZLES ARE THE KEY TO REALITY: You have to solve one adventure puzzle or riddle on your own. If anyone tries to help you, not only is the chance to end this condition ruined, but you also have the Resentment condition (3) from above towards that character too!
    • Shut up, I know how knights move on the board!
    • All these squares make a circle...

  6. MONSTERPHILIA: you have to woo one monster. Consummate the relationship somehow before regaining your wits. Oh lord, I hope your game has safety tools.
    • I roll to seduce the dragon.

  7. GOLDFEVER: You need to collect at least 100 gold coins (no sharing!), then roll a (DC 15-1 for every 100 gold hoarded since you got unwell) Will save, or you still have this condition.
    • I need, like enough to swim in.

  8. CRAVENNESS: Hire a body guard and cower during fights as long as the body guard lives. After they die, you reluctantly start taking care of business again.
    • Brave, brave sir Robin! You tell them, my henchman.

  9. MY OATH WILL KEEP ME PURE: Chose a quest/mission/objective you have yet to fulfill (even if it is a really old one you kinda forgot), or throw yourself at the mercy of the DM and they will make up one for you. If possible, drop any other current objectives and single-mindedly pursue that one to completion.
    • I will not rest until the level one goblin chieftain is dead.

  10. FAY-PRIMITIVISM: You abhor worked metal of any kind, and seize up with imagined allergic reactions at the touch of such. This condition ends once a foe has pierced you with such an implement and you survive.
    • It burnses us!

  11. WATCH THE WORLD BURN: You must set some structures (occupants quite optional) ablaze. The amount of floors or burned structures must equal or exceed your current level.
    • Warms the soul.
    • Anyone know where I could get a fiddle?

  12. I NEED A TOME TO HELP ME MAKE MY CREEPY NOTEBOOK: You become obsessed with finding esoteric information (of your choice) that you are convinced is to be found in the tome of ____ and won't be sane until you have studied it for a number of weeks numbering (roll until you roll under your Int). You must do some research to find the name of the tome, as well as clues to where it might be.  

†: This one is almost directly ripped from a False Machine post that started this idea for me.
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here's one I rejected for not being questy enough and overlong:
Body issues: You must (1d3) 1: loose 1d20 pounds, 2: gain 1d20 pounds of fat, or 3: gain 1d10 pounds of muscle. It will take 1 day of fasting to lose any 1 pound (roll over Con to confirm), and 1 week to gain any (roll under Str or Con to confirm). If you lose or gain fat, also lose or gain a point of Con when you reach your goal weight. If you gain the muscle, gain a point of Str, but you must eat double rations to maintain your body image/gained score.
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Sunday, October 20, 2024

A Psionics Sytem Using Playing Cards for Old School D&Ds and BRPs

Zener cards

First, you gotta see if you are psychic. You must roll a d100 at or under your mind stats (one chance per each stat. So in D&D you would roll three times, once each vs your INT, WIZ, and CHA.

Since the average score for an ability is around 10 if you are doing 3d6, you overall end up with about a 27% chance of being psychic in this system, so DMs gotta be aware that it won't be rare if they adopt this rule.

Let's get to the actual meat of the post. The brain meat. If your GM has access to those psychic guessing cards from Ghostbusters, use those. Most tables will have to use tarot or playing cards tho. Do magicians shops have Zener cards?

Anyhoo, to do a psionic thing, negotiate the potential effects this the ref and then guess a card (Zener) or a suit. If you guess right, you did the thing without issue. If you guess wrong, you take a consequence in accordance with how hardcore you pulsated your temple-veins.

when she goes
for closing the
gate at the end
of a season,
that is a
high stakes risk


For instance, if you tried to scanners a guy's noggin to pulp. The game Judge may simply say, "you're dead." But I say if you are trying to splode a simple mook's pituitary, the stakes are still low. If the stakes are low, I think it is more appropriate to have a psychic nosebleed.

You take damage from the nosebleed equal to the number that appears on the card (face cards make you pass out). Since Zener cards don't have obvious numbers, count the lines on them (a circle has 1 line, an star has 5).

See, now that you know they are more forgiving, you are going to buy the game facilitator a deck of these Zener things.

One parting bit of consideration: as a PC gains experience, perhaps they should get a little bit better at doing the dramatic stuff. Maybe once you get seasoned, stuff that used to be dramatic, like picking up a whole semi truck, are not quite as risky for you as they used to be. Or maybe you get to draw two cards and take the best for something that is now a tried and true power for you. The world is your Ψ-oyster.



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Thursday, October 17, 2024

d12 Names for Ravens

I'm not sure when I am going to use these in the course of running elfgames exactly, but I think I might adapt the Crow Mauler from Fear & Hunger. To be honest, I mostly was geeking out about the etymology of raven words.

1. Nihthroc
2. Hhræfn
3. Corvo
4. Huginn
5. Muninn
6. Poe
7. Abraxas
8. Phobos
9. Deimos
10. Oreb
11. Brân
12. Corbie

Do you have any good black bird names? Rook away in the comments. I wanna see a whole murder of you.
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Monday, October 14, 2024

Vexillum [Dungeon Vocab]


Today's word is one that may work for something held by hobgoblin bands and clerics alike, tho of different appearance. 

Vexillum is a diminutive form of the Latin word for sail. I stole most of the followng info from a wiki. Suckers.

The term "vexillum" (plural "vexilla") is used more generally for any object such as a relic or icon used as a standard in battle, & may be considered the offensive equivalent of the more defensive palladium in this context.

 Vexillology, or the study of flags, derives its name from this word, and a vexilloid is a standard that is not of conventional flag form. Nearly all of the present-day regions of Italy preserve the use of vexilla.

Many Christian processional banners are in the vexillum form; usually these banners are termed labara (Greek: λάβαρον) after the standard adopted by the first Christian Roman emperor Constantine I which replaced the imperial eagle with the "Chi-Rho" symbol ☧. For example vexillum is used by the Legion of Mary as the term for its standards. A small version is used on the altar and a larger one leads processions.

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Bonus words: Furca is a hobo-pole and sarcina is a hobo-bindle, in roman soldier terms.

 

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