Broadly speaking, I think most approaches to alchemy in adventure games tend to go wrong in one of two ways:
1) All mixtures and alchemical works are ultimately random, involving combining some arbitrary combination of junk that results in nothing more than a random roll or two on a table. In some rule sets, this will not even be a repeatable process, so that eye of basilisk mixed with cyanide will be a healing potion one week and a potion of flame breath the next. Player skill is irrelevant to the final outcome.
2) In predetermining what combinations of ingredients will create. Usually this involves a list of ingredients or mixtures of ingredients, and a correlated list of effects. The list may be kept secret from players, or may not be. Either way, the referee must create a large table of ingredients and effects beforehand, only a small portion of which will likely be used. Once a given formula is determined, players will either ignore it (if detrimental) or attempt to reproduce it to the point of trivial accessibility (if beneficial).
Neither of these approaches is completely wrong, but rather each emphasises one possible fun element of alchemical systems in games and then builds itself around reproducing only that element. Random systems emphasise surprise and unpredictability. Indexed chemical lists emphasise reproducibility. What I will propose is not an alchemical system, but a procedure for running an alchemical system.
My Proposals Are That:
1) One ought to start off with no list of ingredient combinations in one's alchemical system. A potion mixture begins with combining two ingredients. Ingredients are two interesting bits of the environment that a PC wishes to mix alchemically (presumably using a lab, though not necessarily). Combining the two ingredients produces a random roll on the table of effects (or you can just make something cool up, as one pleases). Once this has been done, write the ingredient combination down with the effect next to it. As PCs continue to do this, more entries are added to the table, ensuring that only combinations that will actually be used in play are generated. Entries become fixed in this way.
2) If a third ingredient is added to the mixture, either roll an additional effect (increasing the likelihood of poison), or roll on the table of potion-mixing results if one's adventure game provides one, or make something else up. Add any additional effects created by the mixture of each of the constituent ingredients of the original mixture with the new ingredient. Write this combination down with its correlated effect twice. Once as "[Potion of X] + [Ingredient 3] = [Effect 1], [Effect 2]" and once as "[Ingredient 1] + [Ingredient 2] + [Ingredient 3] = [Potion of Y] with [Effect 1], [Effect 2]"
This will provide potions with multiply-realisable pathways for their creation. It may also lead to the production of additional effects as players work out the logic of various combinations:
i.e.
a) Eye of Basilisk + Cyanide = Potion of Healing [Randomly determined]
b) Cyanide + Kraken's Blood = Potion of Flight [Randomly determined]
c) Potion of Healing + Kraken's Blood = Potion of Flame Breath [Randomly determined]
d) A Potion of Healing (Eye of Basilisk + Cyanide) + Kraken's Blood = Potion of Healing + Potion of Flight + Potion of Flame Breath
Eventually a deadly poison or acid, or some other detrimental effect will be generated as one of the effects, so this system tends to be self-limiting. I tend to use a list that includes a variety of non-deadly poisons to make the decision to use potions more calculated. In Emern, the one type of healing potion the PCs knew how to make also caused them to hallucinate wildly for 1d6 hours.
3) For simplicity's sake, have the players keep the paperwork. If they can't produce a written record of what a previous combination of ingredients did, then mixing ingredients defaults to a random roll. If the potion has no obvious ingredients (viz. you randomly rolled it in a treasure hoard and are too busy dealing with the consequences of the ring of three wishes the PCs obtained at the same time), then the effect of its combination with another ingredient is randomly determined. If this ends up partly mimicking an already-existing combination and a PC can demonstrate so through reference to written records, then the potion was clearly composed of those constituent ingredients. This also means no one devotes more time to a complex alchemical system than they feel useful.
4) A PC may conduct alchemical research, which is just figuring out the effects of potions without having to administer them to one's self or another named character. This can be a skill test, cost money, whatever (this is not an alchemy system; this is the sort of thing alchemy systems exist to do). PCs name an effect they want (either off the table or more generally) and then are given two ingredients (which may be complex mixtures themselves) that will create some version of it. You can just roll on your already existing list of ingredients, or your already existing list of potions, or already existing table of monsters or whatever other table one pleases to generate these ingredients.
Additional Comment on "Potions"
"Potions" as fluid-in-a-vial are kind of boring and one can easily spice them up by doing nothing more than providing them in forms requiring different types of administration. One of the things I tried to do in my Emern potion tables from a couple years ago was to create potions that almost never came in the form of bottled liquids. One can provide an additional random factor to the above system by randomly determining the form the new potion is in. This may mean that certain combinations are more useful / tasteful than others, as well as providing amusing colour about the process of creating the potion (feeding it to docile spiders who then inject it into one; pouring it into the ground surrounding a tobacco plant and then harvesting the leaves, etc.).
Sep 30, 2013
Sep 16, 2013
Second Dawnlands Campaign Finished
Finished the second Dawnlands campaign last night after nine (maybe ten, I lost track) sessions.
The set up: The PCs are Kadiz nomads, members of the Barreeve clan. Killer Rohan, a mercenary related to them, returns home for the winter assembly and kills one of the members of the rival clan while drunk (the dude hit Rohan's kid). The PCs are recruited by their clan to assemble the goods necessary to win the potlatch that will decide Rohan's fate.
What they did: They decided to slay the Killer of Wives and Children, an undead sorcerer who used to belong to their clan who killed a bunch of people 70 years ago before fleeing into the wastes. Along the way to finding him, they explored a ghost city inhabited by necromantic terrors and a friendly cyclops; interfered with an archaeological expedition looking for demons to dig up; slew a golden god-shard golem; got killed by the golem and then brought back to unlife by the cyclops; attempted to become kings of the ghost city; met a raiding party from the Orthocracy led by a guy with no face who rode horses made of shadow; met a cool gobliness tattoo artist one of the dead PCs married surreptitiously; had a wagon chase with some hobgoblins; picked up a cantakerous and slightly nutty priest of the God of Gates; hung around with some Dwer merchants and helped them against the guy with no face; met a cannibalistic ogre hermit whose dryad wife made him eat vegetables (because she was also a cannibal); slew the cannibalistic ogre hermit's former wife, a harpy with a leech head who shat blue flames, and her twisted spawn, including giant spiders with human hands growing out of their backs, a thing that's kind of like Jabba the Hutt except it sprayed poison gas, and a thing that was basically a starfish made of legs.
The conclusion: They got to the citadel of obsidian glass the Killer of Wives and Children had raised, got inside to meet him under the pretext of negotiations, and then one of the PCs thought negotiations had broken down and tried to trick the KoWaC into believing they had come to welcome him back to the clan. The KoWaC proceeded to make them his Nazgul, complete with flying black horses, summon his zombie legions to crawl into the belly of his Dracolich for easy transport, and fly with them back to the ghost city to summon the rest of his army before heading back to conquer the Barreeves, their rival clans, and anyone else nearby. About half the PCs were pro-Nazgul, and half were uncertain. The KoWaC summoned the ghosts and met up with the faceless Orthocrat's band, who the PCs had sent to this city several weeks beforehand thinking it was a good way to get rid of them. Finally, realising they weren't going to get a better chance, one of the PCs threw a javelin into the Killer of Wives and Children, and an epic battle ensued, with PC vs. PC combat, a dracolich tearing someone in half after biting their head off, the KoWaC doing the Vader death grip and a PC's magic shield repelling it, ghosts possessing zombies that the dracolich was shitting and puking out of itself all over the battlefield, somebody shooting a giant lightning bolt, and shadow horses tearing off people's shadows as they escaped their control. It ended with one of the PCs using magic berserker axes to behead the dracolich while the priest of the God of Gates castrated the KoWaC's decapitated body (to neutralise his sorcerous power). They released the ghosts from their imprisonment, waved goodbye to the Orthocrats who'd helped them out, and went home where they won the gift contest handily, released Rohan, and retired as mighty heroes of their clan.
Pretty good for nine or ten sessions.
The set up: The PCs are Kadiz nomads, members of the Barreeve clan. Killer Rohan, a mercenary related to them, returns home for the winter assembly and kills one of the members of the rival clan while drunk (the dude hit Rohan's kid). The PCs are recruited by their clan to assemble the goods necessary to win the potlatch that will decide Rohan's fate.
What they did: They decided to slay the Killer of Wives and Children, an undead sorcerer who used to belong to their clan who killed a bunch of people 70 years ago before fleeing into the wastes. Along the way to finding him, they explored a ghost city inhabited by necromantic terrors and a friendly cyclops; interfered with an archaeological expedition looking for demons to dig up; slew a golden god-shard golem; got killed by the golem and then brought back to unlife by the cyclops; attempted to become kings of the ghost city; met a raiding party from the Orthocracy led by a guy with no face who rode horses made of shadow; met a cool gobliness tattoo artist one of the dead PCs married surreptitiously; had a wagon chase with some hobgoblins; picked up a cantakerous and slightly nutty priest of the God of Gates; hung around with some Dwer merchants and helped them against the guy with no face; met a cannibalistic ogre hermit whose dryad wife made him eat vegetables (because she was also a cannibal); slew the cannibalistic ogre hermit's former wife, a harpy with a leech head who shat blue flames, and her twisted spawn, including giant spiders with human hands growing out of their backs, a thing that's kind of like Jabba the Hutt except it sprayed poison gas, and a thing that was basically a starfish made of legs.
The conclusion: They got to the citadel of obsidian glass the Killer of Wives and Children had raised, got inside to meet him under the pretext of negotiations, and then one of the PCs thought negotiations had broken down and tried to trick the KoWaC into believing they had come to welcome him back to the clan. The KoWaC proceeded to make them his Nazgul, complete with flying black horses, summon his zombie legions to crawl into the belly of his Dracolich for easy transport, and fly with them back to the ghost city to summon the rest of his army before heading back to conquer the Barreeves, their rival clans, and anyone else nearby. About half the PCs were pro-Nazgul, and half were uncertain. The KoWaC summoned the ghosts and met up with the faceless Orthocrat's band, who the PCs had sent to this city several weeks beforehand thinking it was a good way to get rid of them. Finally, realising they weren't going to get a better chance, one of the PCs threw a javelin into the Killer of Wives and Children, and an epic battle ensued, with PC vs. PC combat, a dracolich tearing someone in half after biting their head off, the KoWaC doing the Vader death grip and a PC's magic shield repelling it, ghosts possessing zombies that the dracolich was shitting and puking out of itself all over the battlefield, somebody shooting a giant lightning bolt, and shadow horses tearing off people's shadows as they escaped their control. It ended with one of the PCs using magic berserker axes to behead the dracolich while the priest of the God of Gates castrated the KoWaC's decapitated body (to neutralise his sorcerous power). They released the ghosts from their imprisonment, waved goodbye to the Orthocrats who'd helped them out, and went home where they won the gift contest handily, released Rohan, and retired as mighty heroes of their clan.
Pretty good for nine or ten sessions.
Sep 9, 2013
A Procedure for Exploring the Wilderness
This post will refer to the party roles I outline here.
Structuring overland travel makes it easier to run, and in my experience, more fun for players. This post will outline one possible procedure for structuring this part of play. The procedure is sequential, with each numbered step resolved before moving onto the next one.
My assumptions in the design of this procedure:
1) PCs are moving overland under their own initiative.
2) PCs are in at best semi-civilised lands where resupply is uncommon.
3) There are subprocedures for certain steps not outlined in detail here (for example, wandering monsters, determining what you can see when you look around, searching and surveying, handing the PCs shady and contradictory agendas before their adventure).
4) You are using a hexmap.
5) The PCs move on average 2 hexes (20km) per day, one in the morning and one in the evening.
6) I interpret 3-in-6 to mean "On a result of 1-3 on a d6", 4-in-6 to mean "On a roll of 1-4", etc.
7) Each PC is executing their role in parallel rather than sequentially.
This procedure is executed each day the PCs travel, once per day.
1. Preparation for departure (2 hrs.)
a) Spellcasters determine memorised spells.
b) Any healing from resting overnight or for the previous day is recorded by each PC.
c) Any relevant landmarks within sight of the party are noted.
d) Roll 1d6. The corresponding hex face has the path of easiest travel.
e) The direction, pace and marching order are determined by the caller.
f) The timekeeper determines any expendable resources that have been activated by the PCs (rations, water, protection items, etc.).
g) Any relevant spells may be cast.
2. Morning travel (4 hrs.)
a) If the PCs are not on the path of easiest travel then the DM rolls to determine if the PCs veer off-course. (3-in-6 chance; +1 on the roll per landmark kept in sight for the entire morning)
b) The mapper is informed of what terrain the PCs are moving into and marks this on map in pencil. (Either procedurally generate or DM informs them based on prepared map). They also mark the existence of any paths the PCs have been following.
c) Any extended in-character socialising during the morning is performed.
d) The guard, or one PC not otherwise occupied, rolls for any morning random encounters and fills in the random encounter tracking sheet appropriately.
e) Resolve any morning encounters.
f) Timekeeper and quartermaster update their records.
3. Noon stop (1 hr.)
a) PC may attempt to determine if they are lost. (1-in-6 chance to determine correctly; +1 per landmark they can sight themselves on).
b) Any relevant landmarks within sight of the party are noted.
c) Roll 1d6. The corresponding hex face has the path of easiest travel.
d) The direction, pace and marching order are determined by the caller.
e) The timekeeper determines any expendable resources that have been activated by the PCs (rations, water, protection items, etc.).
f) Any relevant spells may be cast.
4. Afternoon travel (4 hrs.)
a) If the PCs are not on the path of easiest travel then the DM rolls to determine if the PCs veer off-course. (3-in-6 chance; +1 on the roll per landmark kept in sight for the entire morning)
b) The mapper is informed of what terrain the PCs are moving into and marks this on map in pencil. (Either procedurally generate or DM informs them based on prepared map). They also mark the existence of any paths the PCs have been following.
c) Any extended in-character socialising during the afternoon is performed.
d) The guard, or one PC not otherwise occupied, rolls for any afternoon random encounters and fills in the random encounter tracking sheet appropriately.
e) Resolve any afternoon encounters.
f) Timekeeper and quartermaster update their records.
Structuring overland travel makes it easier to run, and in my experience, more fun for players. This post will outline one possible procedure for structuring this part of play. The procedure is sequential, with each numbered step resolved before moving onto the next one.
My assumptions in the design of this procedure:
1) PCs are moving overland under their own initiative.
2) PCs are in at best semi-civilised lands where resupply is uncommon.
3) There are subprocedures for certain steps not outlined in detail here (for example, wandering monsters, determining what you can see when you look around, searching and surveying, handing the PCs shady and contradictory agendas before their adventure).
4) You are using a hexmap.
5) The PCs move on average 2 hexes (20km) per day, one in the morning and one in the evening.
6) I interpret 3-in-6 to mean "On a result of 1-3 on a d6", 4-in-6 to mean "On a roll of 1-4", etc.
7) Each PC is executing their role in parallel rather than sequentially.
This procedure is executed each day the PCs travel, once per day.
1. Preparation for departure (2 hrs.)
a) Spellcasters determine memorised spells.
b) Any healing from resting overnight or for the previous day is recorded by each PC.
c) Any relevant landmarks within sight of the party are noted.
d) Roll 1d6. The corresponding hex face has the path of easiest travel.
e) The direction, pace and marching order are determined by the caller.
f) The timekeeper determines any expendable resources that have been activated by the PCs (rations, water, protection items, etc.).
g) Any relevant spells may be cast.
2. Morning travel (4 hrs.)
a) If the PCs are not on the path of easiest travel then the DM rolls to determine if the PCs veer off-course. (3-in-6 chance; +1 on the roll per landmark kept in sight for the entire morning)
b) The mapper is informed of what terrain the PCs are moving into and marks this on map in pencil. (Either procedurally generate or DM informs them based on prepared map). They also mark the existence of any paths the PCs have been following.
c) Any extended in-character socialising during the morning is performed.
d) The guard, or one PC not otherwise occupied, rolls for any morning random encounters and fills in the random encounter tracking sheet appropriately.
e) Resolve any morning encounters.
f) Timekeeper and quartermaster update their records.
3. Noon stop (1 hr.)
a) PC may attempt to determine if they are lost. (1-in-6 chance to determine correctly; +1 per landmark they can sight themselves on).
b) Any relevant landmarks within sight of the party are noted.
c) Roll 1d6. The corresponding hex face has the path of easiest travel.
d) The direction, pace and marching order are determined by the caller.
e) The timekeeper determines any expendable resources that have been activated by the PCs (rations, water, protection items, etc.).
f) Any relevant spells may be cast.
4. Afternoon travel (4 hrs.)
a) If the PCs are not on the path of easiest travel then the DM rolls to determine if the PCs veer off-course. (3-in-6 chance; +1 on the roll per landmark kept in sight for the entire morning)
b) The mapper is informed of what terrain the PCs are moving into and marks this on map in pencil. (Either procedurally generate or DM informs them based on prepared map). They also mark the existence of any paths the PCs have been following.
c) Any extended in-character socialising during the afternoon is performed.
d) The guard, or one PC not otherwise occupied, rolls for any afternoon random encounters and fills in the random encounter tracking sheet appropriately.
e) Resolve any afternoon encounters.
f) Timekeeper and quartermaster update their records.
5. Evening (4 hrs.)
a) PC may attempt to determine if they are lost. (1-in-6 chance to determine correctly; +1 per landmark they can sight themselves on).
b) The quartermaster, or one PC not otherwise occupied, draws the camp layout on a scrap of paper.
c) Any research, preparation for the following day, etc. may be done.
c) Any research, preparation for the following day, etc. may be done.
d) The caller determines the watch schedule.
e) Any extended in-character socialising during the evening is performed.
f) The guard, or one PC not otherwise occupied, rolls for any evening random encounters and fills in the random encounter tracking sheet appropriately.
g) Resolve any evening encounters.
h) Timekeeper and quartermaster update their records.
6. Night (9 hrs.)
a) The referee rolls for any night time random encounters and determines which PC is on watch if/when they occur. The PC on watch fills in the random encounter tracking sheet appropriately.
b) Resolve any night encounters.
c) Timekeeper and quartermaster update their records.
Note: Searching Hexes
The PCs may search hexes during morning and afternoon travel and during the evening. Searching a hex takes four hours and allows them to activate whatever searching subprocedure you wish.
Edit: (May 7, 2015) This system has been updated. The new version is here.
f) The guard, or one PC not otherwise occupied, rolls for any evening random encounters and fills in the random encounter tracking sheet appropriately.
g) Resolve any evening encounters.
h) Timekeeper and quartermaster update their records.
6. Night (9 hrs.)
a) The referee rolls for any night time random encounters and determines which PC is on watch if/when they occur. The PC on watch fills in the random encounter tracking sheet appropriately.
b) Resolve any night encounters.
c) Timekeeper and quartermaster update their records.
Note: Searching Hexes
The PCs may search hexes during morning and afternoon travel and during the evening. Searching a hex takes four hours and allows them to activate whatever searching subprocedure you wish.
Edit: (May 7, 2015) This system has been updated. The new version is here.
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