Hex Descriptions A La Lungusfungus

Roll or choose what fits

Forest

You follow a path which _______. On either side there are trees which ______ and ______.

1. Sinks between two ancient embankments
2. Runs above the canopy, with a cliff on one side
3. Follows close to a clear stream
4. Is occasionally demarcated by archways engineered in a way you can't quite understand
5. Is rather disused, growing over with moss and grass
6. Bounces up and down over gentle hills

1. Grow solitarily, with little underbrush
2. Spread their roots across many and varied boulders
3. Hang short and low, like orchard trees
4. Are clearly coppiced in some areas
5. Bloom heavily with sweet smelling flowers
6. Shed a soft, green shadow, like stained glass

1. Are dead or dying in their far branches
2. Are clearly very old
3. Are covered in ivy and moss
4. Hardly sway in the wind
5. Occasionally shake, sprinkling droplets of dew all about
6. Seem kindly, being cool in the day and warm at night

Plains

You travel along _____. The fields here are ______, and it seems _____.

1. A well worn wagon path
2. A way paved with stones from a previous era
3. A riverside way, with frequent houses on the side furthest the bank and boats tied up on the other
4. A rather trackless expanse, making your way by sight from hamlet to hamlet
5. A path marked by ancient boundary stones
6. A path with many smaller branching lanes

1. Laden with grain and fieldworkers
2. Rather soggy and dew carrying
3. Mostly heather and herds of sheep
4. Beautiful green pastures
5. Filled with ancient ruined structures
6. Rolling and hilly

1. Very warm under the gaze of the sun
2. Very mysterious, especially in the drifting fog
3. Like the sky is twice as big as normal
4. Peaceful and pastoral
5. So nice that less adventuresome men would pound their swords into plowshares
6. Sleepy and sedate

Swamp

You pick your way through a waterlogged land. The swamp _____ and _____.

1. Is Full of tall grasses and dragonflies (surprisingly biting fly free)
2. Is Made of peat, rippling as you walk upon it
3. Slowly evaporates during the day, causing great fogs and dews
4. Is mostly made of small islands in a system of rivers
5. Bristles with rare flowers
6. Sucks at your feet while you walk

1. Pops with noxious gases which occasionally ignite with blue flame
2. Certain areas are shored up with large pine trees
3. Is shaded by willows and large shrubs
4. Actually smells pretty good
5. Is marred by large ruins emerging from the mire
6. Smells rather strongly of saltwater

Hills

As you travel along, the hills ______, their crests topped with _____.

1. Rise high into the sky
2. Loll beside you
3. Seem to hedge you in
4. Direct myriad streams toward you
5. Loom above you like giants
6. Cradle you gently

1. Small groves which strike you with religious awe
2. What were once towers
3. The occasional shrine
4. Awful standing stones
5. Bare rock cliffs
6. Shallow, clear pools

Mountains

The mountains rise before you, _____, ______.

1. Dark and forbidding
2. A great edifice of cliff and terraces
3. Parting the clouds themselves
4. Going down almost as much as they go up
5. Circular like a crown
6. Lit like a crystal by sunlight

1. Cleft in a pass right down the middle
2. With switchbacks snaking upward
3. Adorned with an enormous waterfall
4. Clothed with a great forest
5. Flattened on the top like a great altar
6. Topped with snow and ice

Waters

You walk along the edge of the water. The shoreline is ______, and the water ______.

1. Mostly pleasant, sandy beaches
2. Marked by muck, driftwood and seaweed
3. Watched by high rocks and cliffs
4. Nicely vegetated, with bright dune-grass and the occasional crab
5. Populated by docks and boats with multicolored sails
6. Silty and soft, but smells of fish

1. Shines deep and blue, as the sea should be
2. Glows green like an emerald
3. Flows with sweet waves
4. Reflects the bright sun, and is almost blinding
5. Erupts with islands
6. Feels very cool and refreshing

[I tried include a good variety, but I'm a sucker for beauty. LungusFungus/Melancholies and Mirth original Here]

Things to come (maybe)

Things I'm trying to work on maybe sometimes:

• My OC fantasy ruleset. It's gonna be comfy.
• Lengthy dissertation on the nature of magic in various works of fiction (i.e. is magic a language or a science, and why I need/don't need spell slots)
• Campaign world about beautiful, parasitic gods, and being those guys who snapped out of their charm.
• Campaign world about living on a literal island in a literal sea of darkness, clinging to the sun-king who keeps back the night.
• Ruleset for being children as a session zero for a comfy game
• Better info for the kingdoms on the Great Sea, including religion.
• More history for the Great Sea
• Page for the Language of the Great Sea, so you can name things like a pro. 
• Campaign world about living in a city fractured by reflections, dreams, and planes into many echoes
• Kirby System
• Maybe a Wisher-Theurgist-Fatalist style resolution and rule creating toolkit
• Story Game mode for OC fantasy ruleset so players can help establish the world
• Classes for GLOG, but probably not

I'm not planning on moving away from blogger unless someone actually explains whats happening with google+ and how that relates to it. In any case, I am lazy so don't expect all this stuff.

Romantic fantasy 20 Questions

Romantic as in romanticism, not as in sexy.

1. Do Dreams have a purpose? 
2. What's the infant mortality rate? How's the quality of life?
3. Where do we stand on the sliding scale of Monotheism<=>Animism? Organized <=> Unorganized?
4. What are the cultures that produced the ruins we're exploring?
5. Is the world getting more advanced? Or is it falling from the heights of the ancients?
6. How does magic work, exactly?
7. What's the architecture like? Use pics or describe.
8. Do people love each other? Are they welcoming to strangers? Are they dysfunctional even within families?
9. What are some socially acceptable / genre expected reasons to get married? To have a divorce? To have an affair?
10. What do people think of adventurers?
11. What's the level of social mobility?
12. What's the population density?
13. Is there a concept of fate? Does it have any bearing?
14. How personified are the forces of nature?
15. What is the moon? The Sun? The Sky? The Stars?
16. Prevalence of skull themed things?
17. What kinds of things do people drink? for taste or inebriation?
18. How attractive are people in general?
19. What kind of classes does it have, and why? (classes in the social sense, like knights and clergy, not fighters and clerics)
20. Is there a Big Bad that the players are meant to tackle eventually?

Monster: Scrawler

Ecology

Small, inky, masked gremlins summoned by wizards. Range in size from an ant to a house cat. Neither demons, nor angels, nor elemental spirits. Common superstition believes they are a manifestation of pure magic, and that they can occur naturally when objects are placed in certain ways. 

Wizard summoned scrawlers have masks marked with mystic symbols that gradually fade. As they fade, they lose whatever imperative the wizard summoned them for, and turn instead to marking every available surface with magic symbols which, when decoded, can be read to understand the properties of whatever they are written on. This work continues in a meticulous spiral around where they lost the last bit of pigment on their mask. These symbols are often found anywhere that is or once was inhabited by a wizard. 

They can be set back to work by repainting the symbols on their masks. Knowledge of magic circles is required for this task (general magic when no distinction exists). They can also be set to some other task if the painter is skilled.

Summon Scrawler can be learned as a first level spell, which can produce up to three scrawlers which cannot attack or carry anything larger than a large marble, or one scrawler which cannot lift anything larger than a dictionary. The larger one stays under your control for up to a day (concentration applies), while the smaller runs off in about a minute. The smaller scrawls for up to a day before perishing, covering almost every surface in a house, while the larger scrawls for up to a week and can cover almost a block. They can be killed before their time is up.

Symbols drawn by a scrawler can be read using comprehend languages or identify, but once decoded can be read fluently within that area. Each scrawler's pattern is unique and different uses of identify must be used for different scrawled areas.

Stats as house cat for large ones

Sigil-Scrawler

Also known as Scrawler-Scrawlers, a Critical Sigilluminary, or "You Dense Conjurer!". Child-sized, with many arms, dripping ink. Has one or more splattered masks. Their origin is unclear, with theories varying from Scrawlers consuming one another to a Scrawler copying the ritual to make a scrawler. Whatever it is, these pests copy the ritual to make Scrawlers over every surface. Expect wizard towers filled with cat- or child-sized humanoids and forests with ink-stained trees and leaves. 

Some wizards believe these little buggers to be the secret to complete omniscience, much to the chagrin of everyone.

Appear when the spell above is miscast.

Stats as Goblins with two or three extra attacks. 

More Ghosts, and maybe Other Things

Happy All Souls Day!

Ghost Stats

Specter

I Swear to God, if my Players keep reading I'll Kill Them

A type of half-corporeal undead, possessing of a divine soul tenuously attached to an animal/instinctual soul by sheer spite.

HD: 3-5*

Intelligence: Animal and Cruel

Armor: As Chain**

Resistances: Weak to Radiant, resistant to mundane**

Attack: +3, 1d6+3+1d4 unseen on a save. 1d2 unseen gaze attack (max 4).

Number appearing: 1d4 exploding. Gather to increase their spite sympathetically. Large flocks can sometimes be found.

*Instantly dissapate if they let go of their spite. Difficult to do because they have the personality of a defensive mongoose.

**Armor turns to cloth and loses resistance if attacker has more than 5 unseen damage.

Pyre Ghost

Pyres do not commonly produce ghosts. It is well known that pyres usually burn away every soul except the divine, and exceptions usually wither without any connection to the physical or the divine. However, when a great many people are burned, these exceptions can form a gestalt being of unending flame. At different times, it will speak with different voices with varying levels of intelligence (think No-Face from spirited away).

HD: 5-7

Intelligence: 2 in 6 Animal, 2 in 6 Human, 2 in 6 Zombie. Roll each turn.

Armor: As chain

Resistances: Immune to Fire and Acid, Resistant to mundane*

Attacks: +3, 1d8 flame+1d4 unseen (claw attack). 1d6 flame/thunder+1d4 unseen (shriek attack). Unseen save or take 1d10 flame (AoE attack)

Number appearing: One. If two meet, they devour each other in a bestial display of ash and gore.

Special: takes 1d6 per 4 gallons of water, and 1d12 per vial of holy water.

*no resistance if  attacker has 5 or more unseen damage

Ghost

A collection of souls with no physical components. Roll a d6.

1. Ghost has a personality, but no goals or memories. Acts a bit like its old self, but devoid of why it does. Makes inside jokes, has speech affectations, and experiences emotions with no knowledge of reasons.
2. The Ghost has goals, mostly in the form of "escape the unseen world," but if the ghost had strong convictions in life, it keeps them in death.
3. The Ghost has memories, but no goals or personality. Basically a free "speak with dead," spell.
4. Ghost has Personality and Goals, but no memories. Classically interpreted as "help me remember how I died," but maybe the ghost just hates you or something.
5. Ghost has Memories and Goals, but no personality. Often represents a poltergeist-like impersonal force.
6. Ghost has Personality and Memories, but no Goals. A ghost of irrelevance and passiveness, but almost a full person. Just a really boring one.

HD: 1
Intelligence: Human.
Armor: Cloth.
Resistances: Resistant to radiant. Immune to mundane. Warded off by the smoke of certain plants.
Attack: Special.
Number appearing: 2d10 drop highest. When ghosts congregate in numbers higher than 5, they tend to only appear to onlookers as one very powerful ghost.
Special: Ghosts can perform spooky actions and influence the environment around them. Unseen damage dealt to player characters is based off the expression of the players (1d4 for confused/joking, 1d6 for concerned, if you can get them to fear then that's 1d12). They can also deal damage with an unseen gaze attack (1 every dungeon turn). If players are concerned by the unseen damage, increase the spooky action die by one size.
Killing all the ghosts while a player is unconcious/untethered from the visible will cause death to appear.

Fairies and Fae

Fairies are beings which dwell in the Unseen world. They do not possess souls, but they do have two soul-like halves: The Form and The Name. Human scholars who research fairies (of which there are Very Few) have discovered two things about the fae:

1. They are Obtuse
2. The Name and The Form each dwell either in the Seen or the Unseen world, much like our souls, except without any natural inclination towards either one.

A Fairy with it's Form in the Seen world is often called a Seelie fairy, and vice versa. The names of the Seelie are in the unseen world, and are thus inherently unpronounceable and/or unknowable. Meanwhile, Unseelie fairies have names in the Seen world. It is often held that to pronounce the name of an Unseelie fairy is to call it to oneself, where it will wreak it's unseen destruction.

Scholars are dumb, though.

The Unseen World

Little is known of the unseen world. Current hypothesis state both that the unseen world is inherently unknowable and that it is highly metamorphic. It may be possible that different people experience it differently. A few things are known though

Firstly, there is an underworld and an overworld. The underworld appears as a (near literal) mirror to the overworld, reflected vertically. Everyone who has experienced it and lived recalls a distinct and unsettling feeling of being upside-down over an abyss, but never falling down. Muldagha, the home of Holy Death, is generally held to be an entrance to this place. Consequently, there are a lot of souls down there. Whether everyone in the underworld is going to The Lower Sphere is a matter of fierce theological debate and Extreme Concern (at least among the New Aeon Cult).

Second, The Five Towers (which ghosts must ascend to reincarnate) are located in the Unseen world. This is simple reasoning: ghosts dwell in the unseen world. Ghosts traverse the Five Towers. Ergo, the Five Towers must be in the Unseen world. Plus, it's not like we can see any physical towers to heaven around the great sea.

Ghosts & Ghost Damage

This, but like, more see-through

Common Knowledge

Ghosts, and spirits in general, are the souls of the dead. They, for the most part, cannot effect the world and, in turn, cannot be effected by the world. They are frightening, but not in the way that, say, a tiger is frightening. They are frightening, perhaps, because they are judging you. To see, or, more accurately, feel their presence is to know that someone is watching what you are doing, and may pass that information along. That's how it generally starts at least. 

How Ghosts Affect You

The reason that ghosts sometimes start by inflicting a feeling of being watched is to draw their target's attention to the unseen world. The more you are focused on the unseen world, the more that ghosts can affect you, for they are its denizens. This isn't exactly a cognitohazardous effect. It's actually less like becoming aware and more like being drawn in, and they have many ways of doing that. Most ghostly attacks draw you further into the unseen world in addition to any other effects.

Ghosts can also attack your souls directly, in a similar manner to Death. This makes you easier to fight, both in the visible and unseen world.

How this Works

1. Ghost attacks. They deal an amount of normal damage (maybe a d6 or something) that is capped based on the amount of Unseen damage that character has (they can only do unseen damage+1 max). Then, regardless of the cap, they might do some amount of Unseen damage (which acts like another hp or sanity bar or something).
2. Then, the player rolls a d20. If they roll under their Unseen damage value, they make a death save. If they fail that death save, mark it on their character sheet. The more death saves marked, the less visible the material world becomes to them. 1 and the world becomes lightly obscured; 2 and it is heavily obscured; 3 and the character becomes blind, or maybe unconscious. When they fall unconscious, their death saves are removed at DM's discretion. 
3. If the character is still conscious after this, the unseen damage makes it easier for them to see the unseen world. 5 damage and spirits are only lightly obscured instead of heavily. 10 and spirits are completely visible. 

Spirits can also do unseen damage by their mere presence. They can choose to deal 1 damage per 10 minutes, but this damage does not provoke the check. Cap that out at ~5 damage total. Tell the players whenever they take damage this way, and they'll probably roleplay that fear of the unseen pretty well.

Side note: Death Combat (see link above) does not occur when fighting a ghost (unless you want it to). 

Example

Frodo was pursued by ring-wraiths for a long time, which drew him into the unseen world badly enough that they were able to stab him, which both brought him further into the unseen world and severed one of his souls. He had ~10 Unseen Damage and had suffered 2 failed death saves (I.E. he could see the unseen world clearly and could hardly see the material world) by the time he was brought to Elrond, who gave him a soul made from the spell [light]. The morgul-blade gave him some permanent unseen damage, though, which only grew over time.

Why Ghosts are Like This

Humans have seven souls (maximum, some have less). They are: mineral, vegetable, animal, memory, personality, reason, and divine.  Three of these souls are entirely in the material world. Depending on who you ask, one or two of these are entirely in the unseen world. This makes people somewhere around one seventh in the unseen world already. This is why ghosts are able to affect them at all, and why people can dimly see/sense ghosts. 

Note, however, that these souls are just generally found in the seen/unseen world. Certain rituals can make more physical the memory, personality, etc.. In the same way, ghosts make less physical the various souls (except the mineral, which is literally all physical with no spirit bits. same with making physical the divine soul). Like death, they work their way down. Depending on who you ask, they work first on either the reason or the personality, which is why people act weird around ghosts (some people say that it depends on the person, because some people have very lofty goals which make them already a part of the unseen world. This is why some good people can act afraid but still be courageous).

While humans have 6-7 souls, ghosts can only have 4 max. The souls below the divine soul but above the physical soul can't (normally) exist on their own. Thus, most ghosts have a divine soul at least, but other than that can have any non-physical soul regardless of order, giving rise to non-person memory ghosts, classic amnesiac ghosts, and others. Ghosts that have animal souls don't generally have any other souls, and they are called Specters (though this can be used as a general word). Most people don't have enough cohesion to form their own ghost after death, but if there is a great enough number of other free floating souls (I.E. lots of death) around, they can form a collective ghost which can almost function. These collective ghosts might have every soul above vegetable at the same time, but have a difficult and tortured existence due to their terrible death and the predations of lesser ghosts who long to be whole.

Physical forms can be made for spirits who have proved themselves to their goddess either in death or in life. This is where Angels, Demons, Powers, Archons, and Elementals come from. Most ghosts don't achieve this, however, and the whole Great Sea has only 99 Archons and 3 Powers. You can also force a ghost into a physical form with a ritual in so they may be more easily defeated.

When killed, the souls of a ghost are scattered like any other being. This generally results in reincarnation

Happy Spooktober

More Angels, I guess

Average the above three pictures

Selenite Angels

Stats: as a powerful skeleton or weak nymph. Weakness to bludgeoning and slashing, but treat slashing as though it had +3 AC. Resistance to radiant (see below) Attacks: Glowing Beauty

These are the nobles of the heavens. They are physically weak, but they are beautiful. They can only see what they are actively touching. They often carry a light source, not to see, but to glow for others. If you can get them to make a deal with the devil (you), they make excellent lantern bearers and are knowledgeable in many things. They live in both the silver sands and the forest of the night

• Fiber-optics: radiant damage deals half damage to them. They can redirect the other half towards whoever, but do so as though blind, unless they are touching the target.
• Glowing Beauty: As long as they hold or are near a light source, they are filled with light. Creatures who appreciate light, like most humans, will think twice about attacking them, and may fall under their metaphorical spell.

Tactics: Befriend players (and backstab them if the reaction roll went poorly), Stockpile pyrotechnic angel bodyguards, live in beautiful slug-gardens or silver castles.

Sand Angels

but with more sand and silver

Stats: as water weirds or water elementals. Weakness to thunder, lightning, and piercing weapons with reach. Resistance to bludgeoning. Attacks: special

These don't serve as much of a purpose in heaven. They can serve as leaders to communities of human souls in the absence of other angels, and they are the main inhabitants of the solar reach, the area on the lunar sphere closest to the sun. They are shape-shifters with a literal heart of silver, which contains their soul, and it is what must break in order to kill them. Reducing them to 0 hp means they have lost the energy to continue fighting.

• Silver Sand: While sand angels are touching sand, they can change size at will. Most only get up to large, while the most powerful can become huge. When in a humanoid form, they can make 2 weapon attacks each round. A less humanoid form can perform 1 weapon attack and one Sand-Swipe attack (see below). A huge form can use three sand swipes, but must use flip a coin when they land the attack. If it lands tails, they must use the second effect of the sand-swipe
• Sand-Swipe: The Sand angel uses it's sand to attack, rather than an object. On contact, it deals damage equal to a club. If the sand angel has dealt more than twenty of this damage in total, the target must save or fall asleep (If the character already had damage from the blissed, this attack counts towards that instead. The physical damage is still preserved). Alternatively, the sand angel can make a sandy grab, immobilizing the opponent and preventing the sand angel from making another attack next round. This is the secondary effect listed above, and the character must make a strength/breath save or fall asleep before they can escape. If the Sand angel cannot make 2 sand attacks next round, it reverts back to medium size. If the Sand Angel cannot make any sand attacks, it reverts back to it's humanoid form.

Tactics: be a revered presence (even among these filthy devils), grow enormous if you're not taken seriously, only fight in the silvery sands.

Abyss Angels

Stats: as Giant, Sea serpent, Whale, Kraken, or Solar Angel (basically, whatever is big fuck-off powerful). Weaknesses: Harpoons, sometimes. Resistance: Bludgeoning, Slashing, Fire, Acid.

These are akin to the gods of the heavens. If you want to fight something near to Selene herself, fight one of these. Composed almost entirely of the water of life, They can produce amazing magical effects (Not gonna put a spell list here, because they are basically miracles). They have control over the seas, and can call forth tidal waves and create amazing things from water.

Like Sand Angels, they are shapeshifters. In their core is a sphere of semi-solid sand, silver, and glass containing 4 sand angel cores and the soul of the abyss angel encased in solid palladium. This space exists almost independently of the angel itself. It can be as large or as small as the angel wishes, regardless of the outside size of the angel. Some Abyss angel choose to create multiple manifestations of the same core. These manifestations appear in a more medium sized, humanoid form (solar angel).

I will now stop talking about all the things it can do and instead talk about the things it will probably do. If it creates multiple manifestations, it will probably house an entire dungeon at it's core as a defense. At the center of the dungeon will likely be the 4 sand angels. As the sand angels are defeated, the angel loses it's ability to control it's external form. This results in the forms of the angel becoming larger and larger, but also more erratic.

I won't discuss it's actual stats because it is unlikely to ever be fought, at least in it's larger forms. It's basically an aquatic tarrasque. It's more of a hazard than anything.

Does this all even make any sense?

Star-Speaker Angels

from angelarium

From Rupted on Tumble

These guys aren't so much angels as they are generic spirits. All the spheres have them, but they don't actually appear on their home sphere. They only manifest corporeally when in other spheres. When Star-speakers from the lunar sphere come to earth, they appear as blindingly white figures shrouded almost entirely with cloud and night. This shroud is basically their hazmat/space/fire suit. Like the lower spheres are caustic, boiling, suffocating places to humans, such is earth to the dwellers of the heavens. Thus, this bubble protects the angel's soul from the spirit-meltingly awful fumes and heat of earth. They mainly serve as messengers (in this sense, they are more angelic than all the other angels I have listed), and they parley with the powers and principalities of the earth. They vary greatly in terms of power. When you cast the spells Message or Contact Other Plane, you are summoning one of these, except you summon it from your own plane. Summon Star-Speaker is also probably a spell.
No stats, it's basically just a talking cloud.

If this is bad, tell me.