by Norman J. Harman Jr. (njharman @ knoggin.com)
Have you ever noticed how the magic in a fantasy setting is lost? Not the magic as a mechanic, but the mystical nature of magic itself. Here's a few suggestions on how proper treatment of magical items can help magic be something other than a dry mechanical feature of the setting.
Make a commitment to yourself that every magic item your players pry
out of you will be special, have a name, history, previous owners,
secrets, etc. Spend an equivalent amount of time on each item as you
do on each NPC. Your goal is to have each item be notable and prized
by the player who obtains it. And, not just another +1 weapon. This
is doubly important for campaigns where magic is more common. Fudge
is a great system for this as it can take the focus away from stats
and numbers if you want it to. Being insanely flexible helps too.
Personally I've decided not to have any +x items. There is no such
thing as a +1 sword in my world. The closest match is something like a
sword possessed by the soul of a great fencer that increases the
wielder's sword skill rank, among other things :) or a scimitar of elf
slaying that changes -1's into +1's when used vs. those nasty fey
folk. Since there is no long list of spells in the rules, items aren't
just copies of spells either. No wand's of magic missiles here.
Each magic item gets a 3x5 note card which is given to the lucky new
owner (keep a separate card or notebook for secrets about the item the
player is not yet privy to) Hopefully this is a bit of a psychological
trick. It's something tangible that the player receives, can hold,
point to, wave in the air, throw across the room when it fails, and
most importantly that can be taken away. It also gives plenty of space
for descriptions, pictures, known history and so forth. Occasional
additions to or outright replacement of the card can be made as the
player learns more of the abilities or history of this item. The
back of the card is reserved for player notes (where she keeps it,
thoughts on how it works, great actions she has accomplished with
it.) Even very common items such as crossbow bolts of lighting (many
of which are issued to Alnorian calvary troops) get a card outlining
the 'class of item' if not each and every individual instance.
Potions might be treated the same way.
Never tell the player what the magic item does. Even if you want them
to know don't just blurt out "you hit the gong and walls come tumbling
down." Relay that information in a mural on the wall of the temple in
which the gong was found. Or in a song or story the players heard
several sessions ago. Or leave them clueless and in the dark. One
example I'm anxious to use is presenting the players with a treasure
of 5-10 bottles of potions, elixirs and rare alchemical components.
Unfortunately, the carefully scribed labels have fallen off into a
pile at the base of the potion rack. So, the players know what they
got, but not which one is which. In describing and creating magic
items it's best to be vague, so that you can add/change things later.
But, if you do change something, don't get caught. Make the players
think that it was that way all along and they just hadn't figured it
out yet. Being too secretive can backfire. In one campaign I ran
druids were bestowed magical torcs upon leaving the grove for the
greater world. This torc would allow the character to change into
various animal forms based on level. Even though he spontaneously
transformed into an animal several times, it was never linked to his
torc. The druid missed out on an advantage and never even realized he
had a powerful magic item around his neck. The player later told me he
had completely forgotten about the torc and thought the
transformations were "gifts" from nature.
When describing an item the players have found describe that
particular item, "this staff is a 5' long smooth metal rod capped on
one end by a large translucent bluish-white crystal." Not, "staves of
lighting are from 5-6 feet long and often have crystals incorporated
in their construction." Describe in specifics, not general terms. Look
for key details to call attention to. Not "a crystal" but "a large
translucent bluish-white crystal." If the character asks a question,
latch onto it and make the item personal. If she asks "What's in the
crystal?" Never say, "oh, nothing just a translucent bluish-white
crystal." Do this "The crystal, a many faceted ovid, captures your
gaze. The feeble torchlight seems to be reflected and amplified
within its depths. It's dim orangish hue transformed into pure
white. The reflections remind you of moonlight sparkling off the
frost white snows of your long missed homeland. Startled from these
pleasing visions by Johan's firm hand on your shoulder. He claims
that you've been entranced for several minutes" Maybe that's too
schlock ridden for you and I couldn't pull that out of thin air
(maybe I would take a moment to write the player a note) but, you
get the idea. Don't forget about sounds, tastes and smells the item
might posses or generate. Depending on how magic & morality work in
your world the item might be keyed to a certain school of magic,
radiate "evil", or allow creatures of powerful magical aptitude to
"sense" it from afar. If your players become accustomed to certain
senses being associated with certain magic items you can capitalize
on it to create great atmosphere and immersion. For instance, from
frequent past usage the party's "scout" knows that invisibility
potions smell strongly of lemon. While in the dark dungeon of
despair he makes his detect hidden roll. Instead of saying "Uh,
dude, you detect something sneaking up invisibly" you blurt out "You
smell something, you can't quite place. It gets stronger, you know
this smell. It's lemon! And now its quite strong indeed." Hopefully
he won't say "huh?" and force the assassin to garrote him into
silence.
Once a player has a magic item, don't forget about it. Defiantly don't
let the player take it for granted. Peasants will ask to see it.
Collectors will try to steal it. Have the players hear songs or
stories that mention it. Perhaps an heir of the original owner thinks
it belongs to them and takes her claim to the king. Ask them where
they keep it. If on their person put it in danger; of being broken,
getting rained on, or pickpocketed. If at 'home' the place should be
broken into and ransacked but the item fortunately was not stolen,
this time. How do they store it? Does it need maintenance? Perhaps
some fungus(magical) starts growing on it. "Brave sir Hadley what is
that fuzzy brown stuff on your Holy Avenger?". If it fits the
character, encourage them misplace it for a few days "oh, here it is
in my other robes." Don't make every event negative. It shouldn't be a
constant burden just to own a magic item (unless you want it that
way). An artist or scholar might want to see it, even pay for the
privilege. Perhaps a great wizard asks to copy it. Having a wizard owe
you a favor should be worth something. Events involving the players'
magic items shouldn't come up every 5 min's either. Say, once every
third session something about one item occurs or whenever the players
complain about there not being enough phat lootz.
Use props. Encourage artistic players to draw, sculpt, or craft their
items. Bring a gong for the player to bang on. Use a tarot deck for
the "Deck of Many Things." Play some thunderous sound effects when the
wizard hurls a bolt of lighting from his staff. Change the light
level/color as the dagger that glows when orcs are near activates. Get
a cow's horn or bugle for the "Trumpet of Courage." Try food coloring,
juices, and other liquid flavorings for potions. Be sure to let your
players know before hand that they can "dump your icky concoction into
the plant" and pretend they drank it. I know a GM that uses flash
powder with miniatures for fire based effects. You'll have to decide
yourself and gauge what level of this your players enjoy. Some might
think its hokey and distracting, but others will love it.
When designing magic items it is best to leave most everything
undecided and flexible. Just get the basics or germ of an idea and
decide the particulars as they are needed. Although, this makes it
hard to write down items for gaming magazines it provides many tools
to the GM. They can be used to deny players trying to abuse the
mechanics or reward those being creative. Great for plot hooks, moving
the current story forward, anything really. Players come up with great
ideas, you should always be prepared to steal them as your own. For
example, I started one campaign (not Fudge) by giving each character
some minor magic item. One player had decided her elf was a black
sheep and ran away from home. I decided that she had borrowed her
family's sword on the way out of the forest. Later I screwed up and
let ghouls, which were too tough, tangle with the party. They had
rendered unconscious or paralyzed every valiant hero save the
elf(immune to paralyzation). It was going badly, three ghouls vs. the
poor elfy when she rolled a '20'. At that moment I knew what her
family's sword was, a vorpal blade of ghoul slaying. Off went the
first ghoul's head and the last two were dispatched soon thereafter. I
played it as if I had made the sword that way from the beginning and
the elf player had finally activated it with the natural '20' vs.
ghouls. I'm sure the craftier players suspected some tomfoolery but
they were happy not to be rolling up new characters and kept quiet. A
sad day in my GMing career but not the disaster it could have been.
Try some random and/or flaky items. They combine being unique, vague,
and flexible. Best of all, players tend to come up with great ways to
(mis)use these items. (See Notes to Mimi's Wand of Armor below) Bags
in which random things are found, robes with similar pockets. Items
that amplify or are keyed to what the character is thinking, a ring of
weather control which creates weather based on the wearer's mood.
Items that change effects based on phase of moon or how close they are
to some object. Instead of fudging dice rolls, well I still fudge
rolls, I try to equip the party with some item like this that I can
make "do things" when the party/plot needs it.
[Note: There should be a lot more detail about history
and past owners, but it's hard to flesh out in the absence of detailed
campaign world. Often such details can be made up on the spot. For
example: you need the players in Fooberg so they can meet the princess
bla, bla, bla. But the characters are staying put in the pub where
they get free drinks for being heros. Well someone drops them a rumor
that the lab notes of the wizard who created the item they've been
trying to figure out for the last month just happens to be in archives
of the Fooberg Academy Des Magic. I guess, if you're smart, you
could figure all this stuff out in advance. But I'm dumb, so I wing
it.]
Wizard Dolls
History: Court wizards are fond of creating these dolls and presenting
them to princes and boyars in order to maintain, er, pleasant
relations. The Tzar's personal collection is said to contain dozens.
Prince Guba, an accomplished wizard, is said to have created the first
magical doll of this type for his daughter, Negoshka, a hundred and
seventy years ago..
Description: A Wizard's doll is an enchanted variety of a folk craft
common throughout Novaka. It is a wood or very rarely metal, vaguely
egg-shaped doll, richly painted, carved or embossed. That divides
horizontally in the middle revealing a slightly smaller doll of
similar construction within. Another doll awaits inside this one and
so on until only the smallest sliver of wood remains, the "baby doll."
When each doll is first 'opened' some magical effect manifests. It
happens only once and is somehow related to the nature of the doll
just split. The exact effect is never documented and debating what it
will be is one reason these gifts remain popular.
Sample doll effects:
Vedomye zheny(wise woman) - An ancient, wrinkled crone, peasant cloths
and holding a black kettle. When opened one nearby fire/oven will
become temporally enchanted. If no cooking apparatus is close, a fire
and kettle will form/emerge from the ground. This mystical oven/kettle
knows what the doll's owner needs better then they do and will
magically prepare it. If they are sick or wounded, a healing tea will
be brewed. If they are about to embark on a hard day's travel then a
nourishing and energizing stew will appear. If they are lovelorn, well
you get the idea. At the next sunrise the enchantment fades / fire &
kettle returns to the earth.
Tzar's army - Doll is of a stately costumed soldier of the Royal
Guard. Summons 2-4 mystical beings (spirits of past soldiers) that
will obey the orders of the doll's owner until they vanish at
daybreak.
Winter scene - Not a doll but a finely painted landscape of a sleigh
and team speeding past a warmly lit Izba. Soon after splitting this
doll the jingling of bells and neighing of horses will be heard. If
there are appropriate ground conditions a magical sleigh will briskly
arrive steps away from the owner. Otherwise, the magic is wasted.
Pulled by a barely visible team of phantom horses it will transport
four adults and a small amount of equipment with great speed over ice
and snow. Disappearing at journey's end or the next sunrise whichever
occurs first.
The Guard - One side has a typical stern faced foot soldier dressed in
blue, and the other side has the same soldier dressed in red with a
slight grin. After several moments a man dressed in blue will appear
(walking out of the woods, entering the bathhouse, etc.) He'll offer
to serve as guard and watchman in order to repay an ill-defined debt.
The man has senses far superior to those of any natural being.
Although, avoiding combat, he performs his guard duties admirably.
After a day or so the man will change his dress to red and at some
point will betray the owner (leading an enemy to camp, stealing horses
when needed, etc.) at which point he will indicate the debt is paid
and leave.
Magma staff
History: It is said that at the source of every volcano is a sliver of
stone chipped from Surt's big toe as he stumbles around deep in the
underearth. (Surt == blind god of fire) This sliver still burns with
Surt's anger and from it pours all the magma that eventually makes its
way to the surface destroying any village unlucky enough to be near.
The only way to staunch the flow of lava is for a great hero to plunge
into the heart of the volcano and remove this sliver. This is how the
magma staves became known to surface dwellers. This staff was long
the possession of the Drazk Doublebeard, high priest of the Pilzn
Druegar Dwarf clan. When the great wyrm Alganor roasted and ate every
last Pilzn Dwarf the staff was presumed to have been become part of
Alganor's vast hoard. That is, until today when it was found by three
intrepid adventures half encrusted by minerals, in a subterranean pool
Description: This Magma staff is composed of rough obsidian. About 4'
in length and varies in a cone shape from 1"-6" in thickness. It is
quite heavy. Always painfully hot to the touch it readily melts snow,
wax, and similar materials. It will spoil items vulnerable to heat
it is stored with.
Upon command copious amounts of molten rock, volcanic gasses and other
deep and fiery things "shoot" with a low whooshing sound out the
larger end. Being hit by this will hurt a lot! But, the stream is
slow, short-ranged and easily dodged. Depending on the ambient
temperature, which will quickly rise the more magma is spewed about,
the magma will cool and form a weight- bearing crust surprisingly
quick. By laying layer upon layer barriers can be built or ramps
formed over walls.
This item is one which it's up to the players to surprise the GM with
"effective uses", or for the GM to add effects as needed. Perhaps,
"drawing" a magma pentagram opens a gate to City of Brass. Maybe, if
used too often, fire elementals will start appearing along with the
magma and gases.
Mimi's Wand of Armor
History: It depends on your campaign world. But, if owned by a
"villain" their flunkies ought to be sporting a wild and varied array
of protective outerwear.
Description: About a cubit in length. Wrapped in leather and banded at
one end with thick wire like that used for chainmail. When activated,
depending on the type of armor produced, strong odors of a tanning
works or scorched metal and forges will emanate from the wand and
target. This smell will spread far and linger a good while. In
addition a loud clang of hammer on anvil will sound out for metal
based armors.
This wand will create a random suit of armor on its target. It only
works on living targets. There is no way to tell what type of armor
will be created.
Sample random armor chart [I originally used d6+d12 table, use
whatever floats your boat]
| 4dF | Armor |
|---|
| 4 | something exotic, mithril, suit of samurai-style armor |
| 3 | plate mail |
| 2 | chain mail |
| 1 | leather |
| 0 | padded, hides |
| -1 | reinforced leather |
| -2 | scale mail |
| -3 | split mail |
| -4 | full plate |
[Note: When a player tested this on his pet dog I decided that the
wand creates armor that fits its target whatever that might be. Rover
got a nice suit of reinforced leather dog-barding. Later, a knight in
full-plate was galloping away instead of sticking around to be
questioned by the party. The same player thought "drew a bead" with
the Wand. Since it was a novel and interesting way of dealing with the
situation, I decided on the spot to extend the 'fits its target' to
include whatever the target was currently wearing. The knight had
three or four suits of additional armor before his horse collapsed
under the weight. This player was great, if he had done something else
like keep zapping himself to get the 'best' armor or use it as an
armor 'factory' to make gold I would have decided that the armor
vanishes after a few hours/days or that the wand had only four
charges.]
A little extra work on your part can add depth and mystery to your fantasy genre. With luck, your players will love these modifications, and your effort will be well spent.
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