Offering Thanks to the Stars

From down here in my little knothole, the stars have always seemed awfully bright. I'm glad to have seen them up close, now. - Halath, deerman sage

Starting this blog recently, after discovering the OSR and meandering around the blogosphere for a while, has been a wonderful experience.

I'm thankful for the community of creators and cool people that encourage me to make, and to play, and to continue with whatever I'm doing here.
I'm thankful for the group of players I've known for years now, always willing to try whatever shit I've crocked up, and I'm thankful for all the new players I've begun to meet in school.
I'm thankful for the family that supports me as I find my footing in the world.
I'm thankful for the friends and people that have entered my life, and grace me everyday with their continued presence. Its truly a joy to know you all.
I'm thankful that I have enough time to keep playing and creating, and that I'm not strung out with no time to unwind anywhere in between school and work and play.
I'm thankful for such an awesome school to be able to attend, and all the education and insight I've gotten even this early.
I'm thankful for my greatest pillars, those select few people who are always with me. The players on my team, as we're cheered on from the bleachers. You know who you are.
I'm thankful for all the superstars (to me) in the OSR and DIY scenes that have inspired me to write, and have even encouraged me personally to continue! Its amazing to be in a community that is so down to earth. I never expect to just have a conversation with some of the people I've been reading, and yet, here I am! Starry eyes and all.

And I'm thankful for all of you. Anybody who reads this blog, you are the reason I do this. Its satisfying to see my notes on a webpage, but being able to make someone's game better or to give them just a few minutes' enjoyment reading is miraculous.

So, thank you to all the people who make my life as amazing as it is. All the love and encouragement and support a man could ever ask for.

Thank you.

And now, lets all retire to our beds on the Eve of Thanksgiving. None of the horrible colonialism and murder and such.

That's for tomorrow.

P.S. Come and join the OSR Discord from Chris Mcdowall! Its a great place

Inktober 2018

I popped my Inktober cherry this year, and (no surprise, this is like my only hobby) I drew fantasy characters. I generated some random characters, and set out. Here's what came out of that.

Dwarf Druid

Triton Sorcerer and Dragonborn Rogue

Aarakocra Warlock and A portrait of a friend (Bonus!)

Air Genasi Sorcerer and Human Druid

Changeling Druid and Orc Rogue

Aasimar Cleric and Dragonborn Monk

Warforged Wizard

Aasimar Fighter

High Elf Druid and Wood Elf Cleric

Tiefling Rogue and Human Ranger

Tiefling Paladin and Changeling Ranger

Half-Elf Monk and Half-Orc Monk

Gnome Paladin (Special thanks to TheLawfulNeutral for the inspiration)

Dark Elf Paladin and Goblin Barbaian

Half-Orc Sorcerer and Gnome Rogue

Dwarf Fighter and Firbolg Druid

Dwarf Monk and Halfling Bard

Gnome Barbarian and Triton Fighter

Wordsmith Wizards: Practitioners of Paronym Follow-up

Recently, I've become very taken with the OSR (and +Arnold K's GLOG in particular) and I started to compile some homebrew rules and classes and whatnot for my future use.

My table took a look at the doc I was working on, and found +Type1 Ninja's Cleric rendition to be very fun! The very first spell they made was Annihilate Baby, so of course they fucking liked it.

They desperately wanted an equivalently random school for the wizard, and so I obliged.

(Thanks so much to +Martin O and his Paronym wizard order, which I shamelessly riffed off of, my players for their feedback, and to +Ben Milton for his fantastic magic tables in Maze Rats that I happily stole.)

Wordsmith Wizard

Status: Chartered

The world was spoken into being, many say. The Wordsmiths are obsessed with language, and seek to unravel its secrets to reshape reality. The current state of affairs is.. grim, but the pursuit goes on.

Perk: You remember everything you read exactly as it is written. Gain the Law skill.

Drawback: To cast spells, you must be able to speak and hear yourself clearly. The words don’t come out right otherwise.

Cantrips

1. You can touch paper and some form of pigmented fluid, instantly creating a full page’s worth of words from your thoughts OR editing words on the paper.

2. You can burn a Magic Die to change, remove, or add a letter to one word of a spell you cast.

3. You can create enough ink to fill a teacup once a day.

Spells

	Effect	Element	Form
Ethereal	Unobservable Forces	High Concepts & Metaphysics	Intangible Manifestations
Physical	Observable Forces	Classical Elements & Flora/Fauna	Tangible Reality

For this wizard’s spell list, you will pick any two categories below and roll to generate each spell.

Generally, any two of the categories explained above will produce sensible spells. (Excluding Form and Form, because Loop of Trap doesn't exactly seem cool, but you do you. Although, Loop of TrapS sounds kinda awesome...)

When rolling, use 2d6; one for the individual block and one for the numbered entry therein.

EX: I get a 3 and a 5 for my Physical Effects roll, so I get Illuminating.

1. Physical Effects
1.Animating 2.Attracting 3.Binding 4.Blossoming 5.Consuming 6.Creeping	1.Crushing 2.Diminishing 3.Dividing 4.Duplicating 5.Enveloping 6.Expanding	1.Fusing 2.Grasping 3.Hastening 4.Hindering 5.Illuminating 6.Imprisoning
1.Levitating 2.Opening 3.Petrifying 4.Phasing 5.Piercing 6.Pursuing	1.Reflecting 2.Regenerating 3.Rending 4.Repelling 5.Resurrecting 6.Screaming	1.Sealing 2.Shapeshifting 3.Shielding 4.Spawning 5.Transmuting 6.Transporting

2. Physical Elements
1.Acid 2.Amber 3.Bark 4.Blood 5.Bone 6.Brine	1.Clay 2.Crow 3.Crystal 4.Ember 5 Flesh 6.Fungus	1.Glass 2.Honey 3.Ice 4.Insect 5.Iron 6.Lava
1.Moss 2.Obsidian 3.Oil 4.Poison 5.Rat 6.Salt	1.Sand 2.Sap 3.Serpent 4.Slime 5.Stone 6.Tar	1.Thorn 2.Vine 3.Water 4.Wine 5.Wood 6.Worm

3. Physical Forms
1.Altar 2.Armor 3.Arrow 4.Beast 5.Blade 6.Cauldron	1.Chain 2.Chariot 3.Claw 4.Cloak 5.Colossus 6.Crown	1.Elemental 2.Eye 3.Fountain 4.Gate 5.Golem 6.Hammer
1.Horn 2.Key 3.Mask 4.Monolith 5.Pit 6.Prison	1.Sentinel 2.Servant 3.Shield 4.Spear 5.Stead 6.Swarm	1.Tentacle 2.Throne 3.Torch 4.Trap 5.Wall 6.Web

4. Ethereal Effects
1.Avenging 2.Banishing 3.Bewildering 4.Blinding 5.Charming 6.Communicating	1.Compelling 2.Concealing 3.Deafening 4.Deceiving 5.Deciphering 6.Disguising	1.Dispelling 2.Emboldening 3.Encoding 4.Energizing 5.Enlightening 6.Enraging
1.Excruciating 2.Foreseeing 3.Intoxicating 4.Maddening 5.Mesmerizing 6.Mindreading	1.Nullifying 2.Paralyzing 3.Revealing 4.Revolting 5.Scrying 6.Silencing	1.Soothing 2.Summoning 3.Terrifying 4.Warding 5.Wearying 6.Withering

5. Ethereal Elements
1.Ash 2.Chaos 3.Distortion 4.Dream 5.Dust 6.Echo	1.Ectoplasm 2.Fire 3.Fog 4.Ghost 5.Harmony 6.Heat	1.Law 2.Lightning 3.Memory 4.Mind 5.Mutation 6.Negation
1.Plague 2.Plasma 3.Probability 4.Rain 5.Rot 6.Shadow	1.Smoke 2.Snow 3.Soul 4.Star 5.Stasis 6.Steam	1.Thunder 2.Time 3.Void 4.Warp 5.Whisper 6.Wind

6. Ethereal Forms
1.Aura 2.Beacon 3.Beam 4.Blast 5.Blob 6.Bolt	1.Bubble 2.Call 3.Cascade 4.Circle 5.Cloud 6.Coil	1.Cone 2.Cube 3.Dance 4.Disk 5.Field 6.Form
1.Gaze 2.Loop 3.Moment 4.Nexus 5.Portal 6.Pulse	1.Pyramid 2.Ray 3.Shard 4.Sphere 5.Spray 6.Storm	1.Swarm 2.Torrent 3.Touch 4.Vortex 5.Wave 6.Word

Emblem Spells

11. Paronym

You speak amendments unto reality’s laws with authority. You can take any two words from the spells on your list and smush those into a new spell upon casting. For each MD invested, the effect is strengthened (whatever that means) and you may change 1 letter in either word. The exact effects are debated upon by you and the GM.

12. Tongues

R: touch T: [dice] creatures D: [sum] days

Eyes turn a worn beige, and whatever words are read or heard scroll over them in inky print. The affected are able to interpret any attempt at communication with utter accuracy. Improvised hand gestures, symbology in dying blood, and the Language of Gods are all fair game.

Mishaps

1. MD only return to your pool on a 1-2 for 24 hours
2. Take 1d6 damage.
3. Random mutation for 1d6 rounds, then Save. Permanent if you fail.

4. Blinded for 1d6 rounds.

5. Spell targets you (if harmful) or enemy (if beneficial) or fizzles (if neutral)

6. Deafened for 1d6 rounds.

Dooms

1. You are unable to understand written or nonverbal communication for 1 day, and must save or misunderstand spoken communication for the duration.

2. You are unable to understand any language or form of communication for 3 days. Words actively flee from you.

3. You lose the gift of communication permanently, locked inside of your mind and body without escape or reprieve. The quiet will likely drive you insane immediately.

This doom can be avoided by seamlessly assimilating two different cultures (with different languages) into one, or by inventing a complete language from the ground up.

Design Notes

This school's cantrips and dooms are my primary attempt to deliver the flavor of this class. I imagine them, in my world at least, to be the most anal-retentive of all the schools. They have all the skills necessary to create incredibly rich and decisive treatises on the world, and their biggest power and temptation is to alter the world through their words. (Not unlike the Sorcerer from Skerples.) I hope that comes across in this class.

That's my first blog post, everybody. There it is. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.