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The WTF item that stole the show.

Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 4:01 am
by phantomgangster
Hi guys,

This is the thing, a couple of editions ago (you know, like 10 or 15 years), I participated on this forum where GMs of some games (Earthdawn among them) shared ideas and experiences to help each other. One of the most popular threads was about this items that looked or were designed for a very specific purpose but that player that is always... more creative(?) ends up mixing with other things and start using the whole thing in amazing ways.

So, since I'm looking for a group, I have this idea of basically a "mad scientist" as the guy who hires the company for the first arc of the campaign and I want to open the possibilities by community thinking.

A couple of items that I became fond of:
-The eternal cauldron:
A cauldron with "Purify Water" and other spells engraved on the stones that decorated the cauldron. The main issue is that as long as the cauldron has some liquid on it, it has "soup".
If the player do the research they will find:
LVL 1: the cauldron will have enough soup, no matter how many people eat from it.
LVL2: The soup has some type of beneficial power: small HP recovery, ease the pain or stress, etc.
LVL3: Reduces character's social defense towards to the person serving the soup. If the opinion is already favorable, it will generate trust, friendship or even love.

The Sword of the Hero:
A sword that helps you to achieve your oath. For drawing the sword you must do a ritual bonding making a promise and putting your prize. Depending of how much you put on the sword, the benefits received.
LVL1: +X steps to attack or damage against the sworn enemy, where X is the amount of blood offered. If the player fails to do his/her quest, the sword will be lost and the player will not find it again.
LVL2: The sword will inspire fear on those who know the enemy or are related to the enemy with force equal to the blood offered. Any social skill that can inspire fear or be used as a weapon towards an enemy can be used with this power (Taunt, Intimidate, etc) The sword will let the hero know that the target is related. (No false positives, weapon master life warranty). If the oath is broken, the hero will be "marked" as not trust-worthy for a certain period of time.
LVL3: The thirst of "Justice" will fill the sword, which will point towards the enemy as a Karma Ritual. The user have a year and a day to complete the task or to commit suicide using the sword. If the oath is broken, the user will need to resist the urge of the sword for blood. Basically, the sword will become Stormbringer.

So, what do you think?

Re: The WTF item that stole the show.

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 6:40 pm
by Bonhumm
I just can imagine trying to explain to a group that the breached underground kaer they just found is full of soup because the horror attacking it tip over the cauldron and the entire city slowly filled itself in the following decades.

Re: The WTF item that stole the show.

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 9:57 pm
by Slimcreeper
I am down with soup. It is the right weather.

Re: The WTF item that stole the show.

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2018 12:46 pm
by Lursi
I like the idea of a small blood offer before bonding to a potentially dangerous item...
Makes the player think twice.