WITCH ASTEROID

 Scotty: Drim. Calvin: Brook. Justin: Jubilo. Grandaunt Ngeng will not wed! Middle Month of Summer. Day 1, evening watch. HEX A. Ilyra retires for the night and disappears into the city. The vizier introduces Drim, a young, squat, handsome wilderness explorer. The vizier dismisses the party and repeats that the skiff will be ready tomorrow. The party spends the rest of the evening at the markets.  Jubilo searches for an expert tracker and comes across Callan, an intense, wide-eyed man chewing on a metal toothpick. Jubilo and Callan form an unlikely, awkward bond and mentally (via imagination) sign documentation for the hiring of Callan. Drim buys some rope. Brook buys a fishing rod.  Day 2, morning watch... The party meet at the palace bright and early. Callan is already there, eyes nearly bursting out of his head as he searches his surroundings. The vizier has prepared their skiff earlier than expected. Jubilo "Alaric the Thief" at the prow, Brook and Callan in the midd...

 The Tide Returning, by Zedeck Siew. Running Cairn with home-brew. Treythan: Ilyra. Calvin: Brook. Justin: Jubilo. Grandaunt Ngeng will not wed! Middle Month of Summer. Day 1. HEX A. The Great Wood, a tidal mangrove forest populated by elder trees the size of skyscrapers. At the southern end of the forest lies the city and palace of Zum, a colonial-military-merchant population who has "co-habitated" with the Witch Folk of the Great Wood for the last few generations. Two days ago the Zum King (and his canny Scepter) disappeared. A young wild woman with magical tracking abilities: Ilyra. A cautious and investigative Gul bodyguard: Brook. A legendary gentleman Zum thief: Alaric. These three are contacted by the vizier to the throne, to meet at the Second Market Docks. A water wrestling match is overseen at the docks by Karor (sentient tiger) and Good Captain Fintan (greasy leather-clad stranger).  Ilyra watches the scene from a nearby side-dock-street. Brook avoids the wrestlin...

 I want an alternative to spell books. I like the image of a mage carrying around a bookshelf of reading material, Death Stranding -style. I like Dungeons & Dragons and Knave and Cairn. The cloistered scholar archetype is intriguing. But I still want a creative alternative.  How do wizards in traditionally wet or humid environments hold their magic? How does the magic-user in the wild — outside of their high tower, carrying all other manner of gear — find the cargo space to fit a few textbooks? And what really is magic?  Waves. Vibration. Sound. Magic affects everything. Naturally, the magical organ is the ear. It keeps balance. It filters these waves, intoning them within the body and solidifying their magical effect. Let’s create a “spell book” with these parameters. I’m going to call them “totems” instead. They are small, often hand-sized objects, perforated with holes that create unique sounds at specific volumes. Each totem holds one spell. Rolling a random spel...

Seek the Myths. Honor the Seers. Protect the Realm. Spring. One day until Sceptremass. Sir Baldric and Sir Brom part ways with Jabek, a captain of the warty guard, and decide to ride towards Fort Grasp; the Seat of Power of the Realm. Journeying North, they come across a group of shepherds at night. They speak of tigers killing sheep in the East. In the morning the Company gallops with urgency to the fort. The river joins trifold and the knights have difficulty crossing. Brom is across with ease, but Baldric must be aided by his squire Dorf. Afternoon on the day of Sceptremass. The Company approaches the colossal structure, noise and jubilation inside. A courtyard filled with guardsmen training, archery, sparring with hay dummies, dogs chasing carved sticks. They tie their poor exhausted horses up with a young squire named Spike. The Company enters the grand hall, tables set with food and drink. Two Sworn Bell Knights guard a locked door on the right. One of them, Sworn Bell Knight R...

  Mythic Bastionland, by the book. In the home-brew realm of Grasp. Treythan: Baldric. Christian: Brom. Seek the Myths. Honor the Seers. Protect the Realm. Spring. Four days until Sceptremass. Young Knights-Errant; Baldric the Gilded Knight , a beautiful force of violence in a short-and-shiny package, and his squire Dorf ; Brom the Rune Knight , a hulking thoughtful behemoth, and his squire Noll . Visitors from a distant Realm. They are instantly cursed by false paths amongst eastern bluffy crags. Dorf takes a watch all night and nearly depletes his Clarity to 0 (it is left at 1). The next day the Company runs into a logging team of warty guards captained by Jabek . He wears full plate with a frog helm, but is NOT a Knight. The warty guards mention “The Toad,” and how they’re gathering materials for his castle. The guards deposit massive logs beside the lake and depart on fat donkeys.  The next day the Company come upon two scouts investigating the prints left in the boggy ...

“How can only one zombie be scary to a group of adventurers?” Short answer: watch an Evil Dead movie. Cheating answer: let’s design a new zombie. The core zombie: AC 8, HP 11, ATK 1 slam +2 (1d6), MV near, S +2, D -2, C +1, I -2, W -2, Ch -3, AL C, LV 2 Undead. Immune to morale checks. Relentless. If zombie reduced to 0 HP by a non-magical source, DC 15 CON to go to 1 HP instead. Let’s add some old-school flavor and edit Undead: Undead. Silent until it attacks. Immune to morale checks. In the world of Lefort undead are always corpses possessed by demons . After watching Evil Dead: Rise tonight I realized how similar this concept is to the Evil Dead series and was inspired to create this post.  This isn’t some poor soul dimly reanimated. This is a master of chaos and evil inhabiting corporeal form,  possibly for the first time. ATK 1 gore +2 (1d8 + black bile), I +1 Black Bile. DC 12 CON or 1d4 CON damage (can’t heal while ill). Repeat check once per hour; ...

Incorporeal and possessive demons underly most of Lefort’s fantasy antics: monsters, wizards, and also the undead. Undead are similar to other kinds of demon-possessed creatures (like minotaurs being demon-possessed cows), except the creature in this case is a corpse. Undead, like zombies or wights, are summoned magically by inviting a demon through occult ritual into a corpse to possess. And undead, like skeletons, are still encountered naturally, demon-possessed bones wandering around with semi-sentient abandon. Most demons are powerful enough to possess whole graveyards’ worth of corpses, making chaotic deals with warlocks and liches for undead armies. Ghostly and specterish undead, like wraiths, are transitory souls that demons have latched on to in the same way, favoring their natural state of incorporeality. Twisting Liches Argus, the Wizard-King of Argusdoom Wizards who seek to extend their lifespan can become a lich. Wizards of any alignment can become a lich, but the process ...

1. Adamic Plum Within Shiver, on the neighboring mountain to Zahir's pear tree , grows the adamic plums. Light-yellow plums grow on the surface in lush fields of vibrant tall grass. Uprooting the plums' plant reveals roots in the shape of an elderly man. When the roots are exposed to the cold air of Shiver they speak out of the elderly man's mouth: 1. The words of a random scroll! Which, if quickly written down on parchment, can be cast as a scroll.  2. A poem! An arrangement of words never before spoken. Listeners gain permanent +1 WIS. 3. The True Name! Of: 1. Adom 2. A demon king 3. A ruler 4. An assassin. 4. "Filth!" Yellow gas slowly spews out of the elderly man's mouth. After a minute the gas becomes Cloudkill.  2. Kingsfeather It's rumored the first kings of Lefort used this flower to gain power. If kingsfeather is worn against one's forehead the wearer can cast Command using their CHA. Kingsfeather cults exist in the slums of Babilan, but the...