Faelan Niall
Banded Mongoose
Anyway I have been plugging away at a new setting for a while, and have been using RQ2 for its framework. One of the biggest hangs up has been magic (typical). For my purposes the way enchanted items work is just too D&D for the setting. So I have wracked my brains trying to figure out a way to do these differently. After much thought I arrived at the point where I stopped looking at the item as a bonus factor, or even something which delivers a typical game effect, instead I started looking at what they are in literature and myth.
Magic items, weapons, armor, are all plot devices, tools to tell the story of the hero more than a way to make them "super". Once I decided to walk down that road I realized that the way I always looked at things was what had always bothered me. So the solution I came up with was something I think people might want to give a try.
Magic items are simply items with names, items with their own destiny or fate in your game, your story, your myth, they are almost minor heroes in their own right. So in the setting I am developing for a future campaign magic items have hero points. That is it. That is all they do, they get hero points. They can spend them just like characters and use them either to protect themselves or their owner.
Last Chance Combat Action: Your blade is blood thirsty and gets an extra action, your armor makes you move faster, your cloak comes to life and strangles your opponent.
Second Chance: your toys are lucky and others need to overcome great adversity to get to you.
Glancing Blow: the item can protect itself or you. That sword is not indestructible its just hard to kill.
Heroic Insight: Plenty of room for a variety of "mental" type items
Heroic Abilities: The item might have access to some heroic abilities and can use them for the player or for itself.
Special Power: Provide a single power. Seven League Boots, Cloak of Invisibility. The duration of the power is whatever the story needs, possibly even ending at the wrong time.
Items get hero points for accomplishing things of note. They should get them about as frequently as characters. And can accumulate as many as any character.
This provides a story driven item instead of leading to the christmas tree effect. The uses of hero points are flexible enough to simulate just about any item in literature or myth without simply providing a mechanical bonus or penalty. I'll post some items as I write them up.
What do you think?
Magic items, weapons, armor, are all plot devices, tools to tell the story of the hero more than a way to make them "super". Once I decided to walk down that road I realized that the way I always looked at things was what had always bothered me. So the solution I came up with was something I think people might want to give a try.
Magic items are simply items with names, items with their own destiny or fate in your game, your story, your myth, they are almost minor heroes in their own right. So in the setting I am developing for a future campaign magic items have hero points. That is it. That is all they do, they get hero points. They can spend them just like characters and use them either to protect themselves or their owner.
Last Chance Combat Action: Your blade is blood thirsty and gets an extra action, your armor makes you move faster, your cloak comes to life and strangles your opponent.
Second Chance: your toys are lucky and others need to overcome great adversity to get to you.
Glancing Blow: the item can protect itself or you. That sword is not indestructible its just hard to kill.
Heroic Insight: Plenty of room for a variety of "mental" type items
Heroic Abilities: The item might have access to some heroic abilities and can use them for the player or for itself.
Special Power: Provide a single power. Seven League Boots, Cloak of Invisibility. The duration of the power is whatever the story needs, possibly even ending at the wrong time.
Items get hero points for accomplishing things of note. They should get them about as frequently as characters. And can accumulate as many as any character.
This provides a story driven item instead of leading to the christmas tree effect. The uses of hero points are flexible enough to simulate just about any item in literature or myth without simply providing a mechanical bonus or penalty. I'll post some items as I write them up.
What do you think?
