Tomb of the Serpent Kings write-up 1

So I've got a bit of a confession to make.

I've never DM'ed before.

I know!

And I've only played Dungeons and Dragons for what must be less than 15 sessions, too. That was 5th edition, and the people I ways playing with cared about a lot of stuff I didn't care about (lots of combat and very little thinking or discovering). So what am I doing writing a blog? Well, in my defense, this blog is mostly for me; and secondly, you're in no way obligated to read.

Anyway, I DM'ed Tomb of the Serpent Kings yesterday, for five players, four of which had never played a table-top RPG before. They were all friends and family - one of them was my mom.

I thought this dungeon would absolutely destroy them.

So far they're all fine.

So yeah.

I learned many things. I learned that a DM must keep track of *a lot* of things. I learned that you shouldn't go too easy on players. I learned much more. Here's a write-up.

The Bladeless Blade of Kammorachû

TL;DR: It's a blade that works as a spell. Any spell.

In the north the legends of the ancient kingdom of Tel Ammon are still whispered rather than spoken aloud, and never at night. Their enormous ruins, tombs, and broken statues still dot the north, and the darkness pooling in those tombs and in the shadows of those ruins is unquiet.

Still more is whispered of the Ammon mage Kammorachû, a bitter and black-hearted man, who deep in his cavernous lair beneath the city of Akh-Ammon forged the Bladeless Blade.

The Bladeless Blade, has, as the name tells, no blade; it is hilt only. Just a hilt. Useless. But for the gifted, those in the know, the Bladeless Blade is also a cage. It can capture spirits. It can capture spells.

When Kammorachû wielded it in battle against the southern birdmen the blade sizzled and thundered; some spells of water and lightning where intertwined there. It soaked and electrocuted the enemy simultaneously.
When the foul mage wielded it during the Ammon Kinstrife it sputtered and flared like oily flame. Fire and grease was on it. It set the enemy in flame as if they had been drenched in lamp oil.
When he cut off the head of the leader of the third slave rebellion, he had no spell on the blade at all. It is said that the Bladeless Blade caught the soul of the slave leader; sucked it right out of his heart, and used it as blade and that afterwards, the invisible blade screamed in anguish as it cut down its former comrades.
He wielded it with a spell of Cutting against the mountain hordes. Its blade was invisible but cut through sword, armour, and flesh as if it was nothing.

Rumour has it the dark one, Kammorachû, assassinated his own king and usurped the throne with the Bladeless Blade, using some vile curse set in the blade. He cut the king by stealth; the blade was mere hilt, after all, and easy to conceal. The curse could not be seen, nor did the king feel anything when he was cut; but it bit deep, and worked its way inside the king for 50 years, while Kammorachû waited patiently, till at last he died of some sudden illness - which the race of Ammon does not suffer. The Fifty Year Sword it is also called because of this. Deep its bite can be, but slow the blood to run...

Yeah it's a hilt you can put a spell on and I mean any spell. This is gonna fuck your game up.

New mage class: Earthsea Mage

I often dislike magic systems in games. It's often sterile, boring, or a very specific solution to a very specific problem.

Very rarely does it feel like magic truly connects to the fabric of the universe, to the very nature of existence.

By Tim Robbins

It does feel like that in Ursula le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea.

So I built a GLOG class of this type of magic.

Get ya pdf here

Summary:

• It's very wonky. There's only 4 spells and 1 unique ability. Yeah, you heard me. 

• It's subtle. There's no explosions here. Rather, there's a deep and subtle manipulation of almost anything.

• The spells are: Call, Command, Summon, Change. That's it; but you can use them on almost anything. Much will be up to the DM.

• You can only enchant something if you have the True Name of said anything. Finding out the True Name is an unique, once-a-day-ability.

d20 Escaped Spells

We all know that spells are actually spirits from another dimension that a wizard traps in his brain.

But we usually don't bother with the implications of that. He always meets them in books, doesn't he? He *could* meet them face-to-face, right there in the dungeon. Wild Spells. Escaped Spells. Spirits, for all intents and purposes.

Roll on this table for a random spell encounter. Or use it when your player's spells gain sentience.
Here they are.

by Apofiss.

1. Meln. A small, pink candlelight floating without a candle. Will strike up a conversation. 
1. Personality: hey heeey, my man! 
2. Speaks: like a ridiculously disarming friend with this voice who hasn't seen you in a long time. 
3. Wants: everyone to get along. 
4. Spell: Charm Person. The person regards you as a good friend and ignores the obvious spell you just cast on them. If you invest at least 4 dice into this spell, the duration becomes permanent.
2. Tutatat. Looks like any of the perfectly normal d3 following: 1. a red apple 2. a fresh fish (1 out of 6 odds it's swimming through the air) 3 a silver spoon. Ideally players take it with them before they realize it's a spirit. 
1. Personality: very, very shy. Will be embarrassed if the players figure out what it is. 
2. Voice: like a 4 year old girl, including the child-like cadence. 
3. Wants: to hide and to be hidden! 
4. Spell: Disguise.
3. Sashaan. An upside down green-stained copper mask wreathed in blue flame. 
1. Personality: seemingly harmless, but will express alarming interest in cutting tools and facial injuries. 
2. Voice: hoarse and after a while kind of creepy. 
3. Wants: to replace and become a face. All human corpses in the dungeon are missing their faces. 
4. Spell: Death Mask
4. Xoixoi. A floating eyeball in a reddish vortex. If it spots you it will scream and scream and scream until you can calm it down (CHA check). This may attract enemies, for which it will apologize.
1. Personality: skittish and anxiety-riddled. 
2. Voice: high and hysterical. 
3. Wants: for everyone to DON'T SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT, CHRIST. 
4. Spell: Alarm. Becomes a floating eyeball for [sum] / 2 hours; if it sees an intruder it will scream; you’ll hear it at any distance.