Tag: item seed

Item seed: Mechows.

You know that rule When in doubt, involve a cow? Yeah.  Sometimes that rule takes you to weird places.

mechows-google-docs

Mechows

 

When Humanity first encountered the Blip-yaps in the beginning of the Interstellar Era, things went surprisingly well.  Yes, Blip-yaps look like pulsating-yellow, diseased tiny cockroaches, and they have a certain, ah, odor: but Humans weren’t any more attractive to them, and Blip-yap currency spends extremely well on the Galactic market. Also, Earth had things that the Blip-yap apparently  very much wanted to buy.  Mostly organic; in fact, mostly complete animals of every sort (although fur and pelts were always in demand). Preferably live, and even the dead ones had to be perfectly preserved.

Continue reading Item seed: Mechows.

Item Seed: The Baptismal Surveyor.

I dunno why, either.  Might be interesting to just hand this one to a bunch of players and see what they do with it. You can get some interesting campaigns that way, at least.

the-baptismal-surveyor-google-docs

The Baptismal Surveyor

 

That’s what it says, right on the box.  Yes, it comes in a box.  The contraption itself is firmly in the “wood-bronze steampunk aesthetic:” all polished gold-browns and dark woods, rivets, a basic shape that evokes a bulky tazer without being so crass as to really resemble one, vacuum tubes and needle-dials… and a blunt-tipped probe that extends, gently, when you pull the trigger. If the probe touches a person’s bare skin, a mechanical readout on the top of the Surveyor will gently spin to one of the following entries:

Continue reading Item Seed: The Baptismal Surveyor.

Item Seed: Winston Churchill’s Walking Cane.

winston-churchills-walking-cane-google-docs

 

Winston Churchill’s Walking Cane

 

This is the walking cane that Winston Churchill carried throughout World War II. As you might imagine, it can have a certain resonance, in the right hands. And if it ever ends up in the wrong ones, well, the pyrotechnics could be entertaining.  Also, messy.

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Item/Adventure Seed: Deborah the Destroyer.

I assume I’m not the first person to make this joke, sure.

deborah-the-destroyer-google-docs

Deborah the Destroyer

 

Because even Black Ops Necromechanic Engineering (BONE) teams have senses of humor.  And, for that matter, kids.  No, really, you want men and women with families for that kind of job. Keeps them focused on the exoteric world, and not on the bad half-heard whispers on the edge of hearing.

Continue reading Item/Adventure Seed: Deborah the Destroyer.

Adventure Seed: The Sanditon Enterprise.

I… I don’t know why either, folks.  Sometimes I just don’t have a choice.

the-sanditon-enterprise-google-docs

The Sanditon Enterprise

The book is privately printed: the title page claims that it was written by Jane Austen in 1818, and revised by her in 1824. This would immediately indicate that it’s a fake, of course; but it’s a contemporary fake, because everything about the book suggests Nineteenth Century construction.  The book does not particularly appear to be esoteric or otherwise unusual.  The contents, however… well.

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Item Seed: The Divje Babe Flute [Night’s Black Agents].

So I checked with Pelgrane Press, and they’re cool with noncommercial fan material for Night’s Black Agents that doesn’t violate copyright.  Which is what I figured, but it never hurts to check, right? Especially when you may not know what, if anything, may be going on with ’em elsewhere. Anyhow:

the-divje-babe-flute-google-docs

The Divje Babe Flute [Night’s Black Agents]

The original form of this supposedly forty-three thousand year old flute was found in a Slovenian cave in 1995; and it was allowed to stay in the hands of mundane researchers for about a decade or so. It might still be in researchers’ hands if a forensic analyst with Poland’s Internal Security Agency had not correlated the positioning of the holes on the flute with a particular half-burned manuscript dating from the 8th Century AD.  Said manuscript told the tale of a powerful pijavica that had been warded off by the playing of ‘the Flute of Nebuchadnezzar:’ and the one drawing that survived more or less matched what pictures were available of the Divje Babe Flute. So the Flute was thus duly stolen, and surreptitiously replaced with a duplicate.  From there it was merely a matter of waiting until 3D reconstruction and printing was up to the task of ‘repairing’ the item.

Continue reading Item Seed: The Divje Babe Flute [Night’s Black Agents].

Item Seed [heh]: Deathcorn.

deathcorn-google-docs

 

Deathcorn

 

Oh, those wacky guys in the OSS and SOE. The things that they could come up with, once they were in a place and time where nobody asked them inconvenient questions, like “Is that a practical idea?” or “How much is that going to cost the government?” or even “Did they ever happen to call you ‘mad’ at university?”  Amazing how much leeway people get when it comes to punching Hitler.

Continue reading Item Seed [heh]: Deathcorn.

Item/Creature seed: Squid-Helmets. [GURPS]

Blame this.

squid-helmets-google-docs

Squid-Helmets (TL1+2) [10/12 pt]

Squid-Helmets are what you get when somebody figures out during the Bronze Age how to successfully train a tree octopus so that it can be usefully worn on somebody’s head, then the species gets selectively bred accordingly over the next few thousand years. By the time you hit a medieval-equivalent Tech Level you’ll have something that’s simultaneously useful, and not a little bizarre. But not creepy — or at least no creepier than a domestic goat or pig. Squid-Helmets live about thirty years, if properly fed; the species is almost extinct in the wild*.

Continue reading Item/Creature seed: Squid-Helmets. [GURPS]

Item seed: The Lost Mace of Columbia.

I’m not sure what to use this one for, actually.  I guess mostly local flavor? It’d work for that.

the-lost-mace-of-columbia-google-docs

The Lost Mace of Columbia

 

Very few people really pay attention to the fact that there is in fact a ceremonial weapon for the United States of America: it’s called the Mace of the House of Representatives, and it’s (theoretically) wielded by the House Sergeant at Arms. The current incarnation of the Mace is a reasonably hefty silver-and-ebony ceremonial item, so-called because it’d probably fall apart if somebody tried to use it as an actual mace for too long.  A magical or esoteric scan of this particular Mace would reveal that it’s got a reasonable amount of power; but precisely the power that you’d expect from a normal item used in mundane rituals for a couple of centuries. Nothing really esoteric, in other words.

Continue reading Item seed: The Lost Mace of Columbia.