Greatsword of Bashing - Weird Magic Item #26

Inspired by the incredibly excellent Weird Magic Item generator over at Donjon.bin.sh, I've been coming up with a few of my own system agnostic weird magic items to put in the many games I run, be they 13th Age or Beyond the Wall...

Eventually I want to try and put them into a randomizer, but I need to generate a few first. I'm going to try and post one every other Wednesday. Please let me know if you end up using an item I've created in your own game. You can find the entire series here...

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Greatsword of Bashing

The legendary berserker, Hjördís Bonebreaker, commissioned this sword after helping a band of adventurers clear the crypts of the Marrow King. During her time in the crypts she was frustrated by the need between to switch her preferred great sword and a maul that would better damage skeletons and other bony undead, so she asked a wizard to enchant her sword so that it dealt bludgeoning damage in addition to slashing. Hjördís christened her original greatsword Marrowdrinker, but since that time several more have been crafted as other berserkers and warriors ask mages to enchant weapons well suited to both cleaving goblins in twain and smashing the skulls of skeletons.

Music to Game to: The Bug vs Earth - Concrete Desert

I listen to a lot of music (over 41 days worth in 2018 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

The Bug vs Earth – Concrete Desert

I’ve featured Earth before, with my very first Music to Game to highlighting the two album epic Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light. On Concrete Desert, Earth’s Dylan Carlson collaborates with The Bug, dub/electronic producer Kevin Martin, for an album inspired by Los Angeles in particular and America more broadly. The result is a vast album, where the empty spaces of the American west meet a dystopic futuristic sound. A ghostly menace fills the tracks, which bear names like “Don’t Walk These Streets, givng them a bit of neo-noir flavor, making this album a great soundtrack for a modern, sci-fi, or post-apocalyptic game.

• Vocals?...Yes, but only on the bonus tracks
• Music Genre(s)… Doom, Electronic, Dub
• Perfect for… Modern or post-apocalyptic games set in vast, empty spaces or crumbling cities.
• If you only grab one track, make it... the epically haunting “American Dream” which features an eerie guitar melody that seems to wander a wasteland of drifting sand and broken promises.

Amalia Sebara’s Fire-breathing Coin Hog - Weird Magic Item #25

Inspired by the incredibly excellent Weird Magic Item generator over at Donjon.bin.sh, I've been coming up with a few of my own system agnostic weird magic items to put in the many games I run, be they 13th Age or Beyond the Wall...

Eventually I want to try and put them into a randomizer, but I need to generate a few first. I'm going to try and post one every other Wednesday. Please let me know if you end up using an item I've created in your own game. You can find the entire series here...

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Amalia Sebara’s Fire-breathing Coin Hog

Originally developed by the legendary wizard, Amalia Sebara, this small coin purse shaped to look like a pig is stitched out of the hide of a red dragon. There is a coin sized slot on the back which is used to insert coins of any size into an extra-dimensional space within. The owner can whisper a command word and amount into the tiny ear of the ersatz hog and the amount will spill out of the hog’s mouth, provided the coin purse contains the amount. The extra-dimensional space can hold up to a million coins of any size, but will accept no other objects. It will also not accept counterfeit coins or coin shaped objects that hold no value. If anyone but the attuned owner of the coin purse attempts to steal the purse or open it, the pig opens its mouth and targets the thief with a burning hands spell. The owner can give the purse as a gift, however, and the purse becomes also becomes un-attuned 2d4 hours after the death of its owner, so those are the two most common means of obtaining one of these magical purses.

Drunkard's Powder - Weird Magic Item #24

Inspired by the incredibly excellent Weird Magic Item generator over at Donjon.bin.sh, I've been coming up with a few of my own system agnostic weird magic items to put in the many games I run, be they 13th Age or Beyond the Wall...

Eventually I want to try and put them into a randomizer, but I need to generate a few first. I'm going to try and post one every other Wednesday. Please let me know if you end up using an item I've created in your own game. You can find the entire series here...

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Drunkard's Powder

This pea-green powder can be added to up to a gallon of any liquid to cause it to become a powerful intoxicant. While the powder does not change the taste, smell or appearance of the liquid, it imbues it with a potent effect, causing the imbiber to become drunk in 1d4 minutes as long as they have at least one swallow, and to stay intoxicated for 1d6 hours. The powder will affect all living creatures, though creatures larger than human size require an additional dose of the powder per size category above human sized. A bag of the powder typically contains 1d4+1 doses. Dwarves find it hilarious to put the powder in the teas of Elves, enjoying the normally stuffy Elves fall into a drunken stupor.

Music to Game to: Ufomammut - Snailking

I listen to a lot of music (over 41 days worth in 2018 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

Ufomammut – Snailking

Cosmic in scope and psychedelic in feel, Snailking is fantastic doom metal for games where you want mix of heavy riffs and chilling synths. There are some samples used on the songs which could be a little incongruous for high fantasy games, but overall the sweeping epic feel of the album provides a great sonic backdrop.

• Vocals?...Yes, in Italian and also samples. 
• Music Genre(s)… Doom Metal, Psychedelic Sludge
• Perfect for… Games with epic combats that could benefit from a backdrop of doom laden riffs.
• If you only grab one track, make it... “Lacrimosa” which features heavy riffs and thudding drums amidst swirling synths.

Breastplate of the Manticore - Weird Magic Item #23

Inspired by the incredibly excellent Weird Magic Item generator over at Donjon.bin.sh, I've been coming up with a few of my own system agnostic weird magic items to put in the many games I run, be they 13th Age or Beyond the Wall...

Eventually I want to try and put them into a randomizer, but I need to generate a few first. I'm going to try and post one every other Wednesday. Please let me know if you end up using an item I've created in your own game. You can find the entire series here...

Antagonist Relations Weird Magic Item Generator Presents...

Breastplate of the Manticore

This battered bronze breastplate features the gruesome image of a Manticore upon it and functions as a +1 magic breastplate. Once a week the wearer can call upon the magic of the breastplate to transform into a Manticore for up to an hour. During that time the wearer possess their own mind but has the physical attributes, including the hit points and attacks, of a Manticore. All of the user’s equipment is magically absorbed into the new form and unavailable until the transformation ends. The effect ends at the end of an hour or when the wearer is reduced to zero or fewer hit points. If the effect ends because the wearer is reduced to zero hit points or fewer they are returned to their normal form, unconscious but with 1 hit point. Before the breastplate can be used again the wearer must devour the raw and bloody heart of a freshly killed foe that was slain by their hand (or manticore claw, etc) within the last hour. The wearer can devour the heart in either the manticore form, while the transformation is in effect, or in their normal form, but until they consume a foe’s heart they can neither remove the breastplate nor call upon its power of transformation, though they still receive its armor bonus as normal.

Music to Game to: Moon Duo – Occult Architecture Vol.1 and Occult Architecture Vol. 2

I listen to a lot of music (over 41 days worth in 2018 according to last.fm) and I find that few things help me keep the mood of a game foregrounded in my mind like a good soundtrack. Plus, I’ve discovered that when I’m playing music to a speaker via Bluetooth, I’m less likely to be on my phone, lest my players hear any stray sounds, letting me better model engagement during a game. To that end, I want to share some of my favorite music to game to; the albums that inspire and inflame my imagination and that I’ve found work well as background music for games as well. I’ll do a mini-review and cover the basics of what mood it helps me set.

Moon Duo – Occult Architecture Vol.1 and Occult Architecture Vol. 2

A psychedelic conceptual opus in two parts intended to be “an intricately woven hymn to the invisible structures found in the cycle of seasons and the journey of day into night, dark into light through the Chinese theory of Yin and Yang”, Moon Duo’s Occult Architecture albums are a great choice for background music for any RPG. With driving rhythms, psychedelic guitar work and understated vocals these two albums provide a wonderfully evocative and thematic backdrop for a game.

• Vocals?...Yes, but unobtrusive.
• Music Genre(s)… Psychedelic Rock
• Perfect for… Games where you want a psychedelic touch that isn’t over-whelming or distracting.
• If you only grab one track, make it... The shimmering and sinister “Cult of Moloch” from Vol. 1 and the propulsive “The Crystal World” from Vol. 2