Tag: item seed

Item Seed: The Book of Incipient Words.

the-book-of-incipient-words-google-docs

The Book of Incipient Words

 

This artifact superficially manifests as a standard child’s black-and-white composition book.  It appears to be about twenty years old, bound with aged rubber bands, and about to fall apart — but it never quite does.  In fact, the Book is functionally invulnerable. To give one example: it  has stopped a fifty caliber machine gun round on at least one occasion (the force of the bullet still killed the person trying to use it as a shield, though).  Needless to say, The Book of Incipient Words will register as magical in standard identification spells.  With that particular tint of esoteric color that denotes “Here Be Dragons.”

Continue reading Item Seed: The Book of Incipient Words.

Item Seed: The Twelve Inscrutable Masks of the Dark Zodiac.

Blame this.

the-twelve-inscrutable-masks-of-the-dark-zodiac-google-docs

The Twelve Inscrutable Masks of the Dark Zodiac

 

By definition, we know very little about what happened prior to the invention of writing and the keeping of records.  Ever wonder that this may be deliberate?  That writing itself might have been a desperate weapon, wielded by people who needed to learn a new way of thinking before they were eaten by the all too seen, and the dangerously definable?

Continue reading Item Seed: The Twelve Inscrutable Masks of the Dark Zodiac.

Caf? [TL 12] [0 points] [GURPS]

caf-google-docs

Caf? [TL 12] [0 points]

 

It’s not a typo and it’s not a transcription error. Caf? is the morning drink of choice in the Age of Miracles: the ‘?’ is there to establish that the stuff does not precisely fully exist in our dimensions. It tastes marvelous, and not in a mysterious way, either. Imagine a rich, but not overpowering chocolate-vanilla contrast with an aftertaste of banana that somehow is enjoyable whether or not you like those flavors and you’re not too far off. Caf? has clearly been designed with human taste buds in mind.

Continue reading Caf? [TL 12] [0 points] [GURPS]

Item seed: The Shazaam Gun.

the-shazaam-gun-google-docs

 

The Shazaam Gun

There are certain items that are so alarming that they get suppressed by the Conspiracy.  Sometimes the very name of the thing being suppressed gets hidden, in order to hide it from people.  And then you have things like the Shazaam Gun, the broad details of which are included in every Man in Black’s new hire orientation packet. The Conspiracy wants its agents to be proactive in hunting down new versions of this profoundly dangerous headache.

Continue reading Item seed: The Shazaam Gun.

Item Seed: The Anti-Saxophone.

the-anti-saxophone-google-docs

 

The Anti-Saxophone

If there is a single magical device that is more universally hated by magicians, the name of said device has been lost to the forces of entropy.  And many magic users would love to do the same to the Anti-Saxophone (usually shortened to Anti-Sax, and invariably with a curse word serving for an adjective).  Unfortunately, the Anti-Sax is far too useful to toss away.

Superficially, an Anti-Sax resembles a regular tenor saxophone, and in fact can be used (mediocrely) as one.  However, once activated the Anti-Sax acts as a powerful magical booster to anyone within earshot.  The wielder can choose to: quadruple all bonuses to cast spells in the area of effect; cut all costs to cast magic to one-quarter of the usual; or double bonuses and cut cost to cast in half. Continue reading Item Seed: The Anti-Saxophone.

Draught of the Wolverine [TL5+1] [GURPS]

draught-of-the-wolverine-tl51-google-docs

 

Draught of the Wolverine [TL5+1] [0]

 

This ‘potion’ is actually not supernatural at all: it is instead derived from a carefully cultivated species of arctic fungus that grows in the vicinity of whatever super-material or substance that allows steampunk realities to function.  Once drunk, the Draught of the Wolverine essentially permanently infects the drinker’s body with a stable colony of the fungus.  Regular TL5 science cannot cure the condition, but TL5+1 super-science or a TL8 broad-spectrum antibiotic would be able to successfully clear up the infection.

Continue reading Draught of the Wolverine [TL5+1] [GURPS]

Item Seed: Summary Folder for Department of Defense Briefing 09042016 [SECRET (GINGER RELATIVITY) Clearance Only]

summary-folder-for-department-of-defense-briefing-09042016-secret-ginger-relativity-clearance-only-google-docs

 

Summary Folder for Department of Defense Briefing 09042016 [SECRET (GINGER RELATIVITY) Clearance Only]

Oh, how this folder is classified. Not only do you need SECRET (GINGER RELATIVITY) clearance to read it, there’s a rather unpleasant-looking sigil on the front cover that will give anybody with even rudimentary magical ability the heebie-jeebies.  It’s not that it’d normally explode your head if you look at it too hard (it’d just knock you out and set off the magical equivalent of an alarm siren); it’s that the sigil is damaged, in precisely the same way that a grenade launcher with a misfire in the chamber is ‘damaged.’  The urge to dive to cover only gets worse, the more magic you know. Continue reading Item Seed: Summary Folder for Department of Defense Briefing 09042016 [SECRET (GINGER RELATIVITY) Clearance Only]

Item/Adventure Seed, Bob and the Button of Death

I was out of ideas.  So, BY CROM, I went out and got some.

bob-and-the-button-of-death-google-docs

Bob and the Button of Death

You know that Death Box with a Button thing that was half-popular as an ethical question, a while back?  Basically, it’s the entire “Here’s a box, it has a button, press the button, you get a million dollars, but a random stranger dies” thing that you get when you don’t make philosophy majors go out and join adventuring parties.  Because any competent murderhobo knows dang well that the real answer is “Break the box now, before whatever screwed up magic that’s building up inside of it goes critical all over the landscape.” Continue reading Item/Adventure Seed, Bob and the Button of Death

Item/Creature seed: Weaponized Balloon Animals.

Blame this.

weaponized-balloon-animals-google-docs

Weaponized Balloon Animals

And that’s what they’re called, in fact. Even the official Galactic Patrol documents use an obscure phrase from one of the more accessible Ascended Race languages, which pretty much translates to… Weaponized Balloon Animals (WBAs). Basically, humans think that it’s funny, and the other races don’t really care if humans think that it’s funny.  Which is why any part of Galactic civilization that has humans running it will be overrun with puns… but I digress. Continue reading Item/Creature seed: Weaponized Balloon Animals.