On Unnamed Horizons

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

The Future Elite

We live in the past.

Or, more sensibly stated, everything we perceive is delayed. The conduction of sensory signals isn’t instantaneous after all. The flow of ions, the building potential of gradients, the rush of neurotransmitters- all of this takes time, however brief. All of life takes place compensating for a veil of latency.

But this isn’t about us, it’s about them- the Future Elite.

Often, they are born or mature under strange circumstances. A baby born, suckling on the spine of a half-born twin. A young boy, changed after surviving a seemingly-deadly blow to the head. A little girl, whom caught the fever despite warnings of looking away from the shivering star.

Such children seemingly lose the ability to function in society. They seem cognizant, but unable to interact properly. Their speech comes out choppy and distant. Sometimes their hands jitter, doing something just bordering on the perceivable. Any tasks which they may attempt, they seem to do quickly. But perhaps most distressingly, is the constant fear in them reacting to something which we can’t perceive.

Whatever has sparked change in them, has broken one of the core mechanisms by which the human brain operates. Without the latency intrinsic to how a human mind perceived the world, they have awoken to something- something hiding behind the milliseconds of time which is filtered between the eyes and the brain.

Most children are not fortunate enough to live into their adulthood. Hence why the colloquial name “the Future Elites” coined by the disavowed scholar Barthock Pauling has since fallen out of favor for the term Sheeghr. Many are merely tried as witches, demons, or other aberrations and disposed of by villagers. Some manage to survive by the grace of their family, kept gibbering away some place apart from human contact in a spatial manner to match the temporal one. Most meet unfortunate ends from self-inflicted injuries acquired when attempting to deal with whatever it is they find within the true-present that they see.

Those rare children that manage to make it into their adulthood however, are incredibly dangerous. Having existed without human compassion for years or perhaps experiencing some cosmic truth not meant for human eyes has left them twisted. Those that had precious few years of normalcy may cling to small mementos from a world that made sense, but many are prone to living in manner more befitting beasts then person.

Beyond their quickness, those Sheeghr which have lived to adulthood also manifest a number of strange abilities. Their movements are silent, and carry incredible power. Their bodies generate precious little heat, beyond that which is absolutely required. Pauling hypothesized that “the Future Elite instinctively possess a limited power to losslessly utilize energy,” however this claim hasn’t been investigated outside of his own research. As many of the specificities have been censured for heresy after Pauling was found beaten to death, it may remain unclear.

Sheeghr may be found wandering- filthy, scared, and starving. As even with nothing but the barest of rags they can be deadly, it is highly suggested to avoid them unless you are a thoroughly prepared expert. Typically Sheeghr show little interest in people, instead intently focused on the source of their fear. However, if trapped or otherwise interfered with by a person, a Sheeghr will not hesitate to resort to violent behavior. They seem to seek only to try and deal with the source of their fear- through any number of ways. Some run, some attempt some form of bizarre ritual behavior, etc. Sheeghr are often found near civilized areas. It is advised to simply give them space, to avoid eye contact, to let it merely pass until it becomes somebody else’s problem.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

The Shepherds of Kah Haba

Kah Haba is a harsh, sun-baked region. Aside from the sandy terrain and masses of desert scrub, it is a mostly flat land. There are no major landmarks, no towns, nothing but miles and miles of emptiness to be traversed on your way to some other destination.

Occasionally however travelers may see something on the far-off horizon of this flatland, something which is initially a novelty just for its existence: what appears to be a small forest or other mass of growth. Those with keen eyes, clever optics, or a modicum of patient approach may note that the shape isn't quite right though. That and, this "forest" is clearly moving. Upon drawing nearer, the shapes become more distinct: almost as if bamboo were growing out of a shrubbery. A tree upside down. It's at this point that the noise also becomes noticeable, as these long poles occasionally cross or slam into each other and a loud resonating carries across the flat land. Should it be a stormy day, some travelers may even see stray bolts of lightning strike into this moving mass and spark with terrifying brilliance.

It is at this point that most travelers steer themselves in another direction from the clanging mass. They have goods to peddle or places to be, and so they are content to continue their travels and merely bicker over myths and rumors. This is doubly true in those who have heard the ghost stories of those brave enough to investigate further, who were found as charred piles in the brush.

__________

Those who seek the truth of the rumors and venture closer hear the clanging become the backing to a cacophony of reverberating bleating. Before them stands nothing more, then a peculiar flock of sheep.

Their wool grows coarse, dark, and dense- and appears to be made of fine metal. As they move lightning visibly crackles underneath its surface, wafting off the smell of ozone within the vicinity. The previously mentioned rods are actually long poles of some strange metal, extending directly from the center of their spine far above them and into the air. This makes them weighted too awkwardly for normal movement, causing the aforementioned clanging and noise as they are prone to tipping over.

It is also at this point that the unskilled traveler often dies- either from reaching out to touch this oddity and dying from the discharge of the sheep, or after being gutted by their strange shepherds fresh from righting a sheep onto its feet.

They blend into the terrain, with forms that look as if someone shattered statuary made from the local sun-baked earth and repurposed it to new ends. Stiff pieces of rubble, bolted together with joints and straps and made to move. Up close one can see the expressions of their faces: perfectly sculpted features frozen into all manner of different expressions. The origins of these strange shepherds is unclear, but their purpose can be quite clearly discerned from their behaviors. They do not merely protect their flock, but they create them.

Whenever a baby lamb is born from the herd it is indistinguishable from a normal lamb, because it is one. Only through the efforts of the shepherds will it ever become anything different. While it is being reared during the dry season, instead of suckling at it's mother it is coaxed into licking at specific veins of metal found in the local area. This process is done with a strange and disputed methodology, as the herd moves in a pattern only known by the shepherds guiding them. All that is known for certain is that despite this practice, the young sheep would appear to grow hardy. Instead of heavy metal poisoning, they merely have the aforementioned strange wool.

Eventually, just before the wet season rolls in, the shepherds will use some of the wool harvested from other sheep to form long cords of fine wire. Using this wire, they begin to sew into the flesh and bones of the lambs. A small group of the shepherds will work so lightning quick the sheep do not even notice, all together at once passing and spinning the wire until it forms a rod of almost wicker-like manufacture. Once the wet season sets in, the herd moves to follow the darkest storm clouds. Lightning continuously strikes the herd, bewildering but otherwise not harming the slowly moving beasts. With each strike not only does the lightning rod smooth and fuse with the sheep, but charge the beast with the very lightning itself. Without the proper shearing regularly given by the shepherds, a single touch of a sheep's wool is enough to discharge a deadly bolt.

__________

Among scholars, the enduring question of why any of this occurs remains. Many promising lines of questioning have been proposed and are being researched.

Perhaps the shepherds use the lightning trapped within the sheep as a sort of fuel to sustain themselves? Scholars have found that the occasional sheep does appear to go missing from the flock, and the shepherds must maintain themselves in some regard.

Ancient documents have suggested that massive beings once fought by hurling lightning at one another. Along this line, a recent expedition has claimed to use an ancient coin to barter for one of the sheep, and since developed a pair of gloves with which one may wield it like a maul which may hurl a single bolt lightning. Perhaps this is their purpose?

A minor noble has recently proposed an eccentric plan. They intend to disguise themselves as a lamb to not only observe the shepherds in a closer way, but to also undergo this galvanizing process themselves. What might this discovery mean, but more importantly: what damn fool adventurers would aid such a thing?

Thursday, January 31, 2019

Count Câbleon, Lord of Château de Velourese

As one approaches the Château de Velourese, the more simplistic observation is that it is merely a massive and grand castle. Those well traveled or well read however notice its peculiar structure. It's a very wide very short building; appearing to consist of only perhaps one floor with high ceilings, and windows only lower to the ground. These observations of oddness only become magnified as one actually enters the building.

The ground floor appears like a lavish palace fit for a noble of much higher standing than a Count, but the short second floor is what tends to draw the eye. Besides being completely open to the floor below it, it is also painted black and completely unlit. The best one can make out with a naked eye is the existence of catwalks separating the two floors, and using any light-casting device to look further would be a terrible rudeness to your host.

Count Câbleon after all, besides his peculiarities, is an excellent host. Formerly a man hardened by battle, he is now a flabby orb of a man. While still seemingly full of piss and vinegar, he's still quick to also share the luxury which has softened him to his guests. Even those dropping by to deliver a message at the very least receive a rather hearty-sized lunch. As long as guests are polite, the Count will treat them nicely in classical royal fashion.

In fact, these grand meals are probably how a party of players begin to understand the real secret behind the Château de Velourese. As they follow Câbleon through the halls, they may note how despite being a heavier man he's incredibly quick and light on his feet. They may note how the halls are seemingly devoid of any servants, yet any request they or the Count make is filled incredibly quickly just out of sight. They may notice the shifting black masses moving around the level above them, or the thin little strands they cast which occasionally catch the light.

A noble can be measured by many things- their gold, their estates, their possessions. In the case of Count Câbleon however, his worth is demonstrated by his never lifting a hand.

You see: Château de Velourese is home to a secret which quickly becomes obvious to visitors, but is never mentioned for the sake of manners. The Count doesn't lack servants, he has a horde of them- only his pride over his glory days has warped their presentation. Instead of being openly demonstrated, great lengths have been taken to conceal them.

They live within clever constructions within the castle- a hollow wall here, a little priest hole there- all connected by their living area in the inaccessible basement below and the catwalks above. They move around quietly, dressed in skin-tight black velvet garb, and hiding their faces behind black theater masks. Generations of servants, chosen and "bred" for stealth, skill, and speed, live this way in hiding. Among them are numerous skilled individuals: engineers, cooks, cleaners, and more. Perhaps the most interesting of them however, are puppeteers.

Count Câbleon serves as nobles not engaging in manual labor to its logical extreme. He does not walk around, does not lift his hand, does not move a muscle on his own beyond speaking and eating. His servants provide for him. Only... Câbleon still prides himself on his power and independence. So this scheme slowly developed, in which his servants literally puppet him around with thin-but-nigh-unbreakable threads of strange metal. In this way Câbleon has established a supreme act of cognitive dissonance for all involved; as servants are still openly displayed enough, but manners instead force people to complement his individual skill.

Those uncivilized enough to challenge these noble notions will quickly see some of Câbleon's classic royal sensibilities fade away, as they are informed by the Count that these servants are an extension of his power before being dismissed from the castle forever. If challenged further, Count Câbleon will not be able to handle cracks forming in his facade of normalcy. He will whimper and whine in his impotency, before lashing out.

________________

Count Câbleon

[On his own, Câbleon is quadriplegic. Whether this came from his use of servants, or his servants acted as a growing crutch to a medical condition, is unclear. With the aid of his servants however, he will act like a bombastic showman- like if Brian Blessed was in an anime- declaring his attacks loudly and chewing the scenery.

If he dies, but the party does not destroy his body / burn down the castle / kill all the servants; he will subsequently appear to still be living and acting in the Château de Velourese on later visits. He's actually being Weekend at Bernies'd by the servants; may actually be better this way. Though the ventriloquist still needs a lot of practice.]

HD: 6
Armor: 12
Move: 0'
Morale: 10
Save: 13

Quadriplegic: Câbleon cannot move, take most actions, etc of his own free will.

Commanding: Câbleon may use his turn to command a Servant to use "Move" or "Technique" on his turn for free.

Plotmetalium Wires: Câbleon is held up by some incredibly strong but thin wires, made of whatever weird super metal is appropriate for you (e.g. mithril, australium, grimacite, etc). Should these wires be removed by some means, or the people manipulating these wires removed, Câbleon is rendered helpless.

________________

Velourese Puppeteer Servants

[Should combat start: all the non-Puppeteer Servants will retreat immediately. Only 2-4 Puppeteer Servants will be out on the catwalk at anytime, for subtlety. Killing the Servants normally doesn't really stop the battle, but effectively cycles the Count's abilities as new Servants swap in. Barring their entrances, destroying the catwalks or their wires, talking them down, manipulating them somehow, killing mass swathes of them, or just killing the Count will stop them though.]

HD: 0 (HP 1d6)
Armor: 12
Move: 120'
Morale: 8
Save: 16

Shank: 1d4; will really only use if players are right in their faces on the catwalk

Move: The Servant spends it's move action to instead move Câbleon up to 120'.

Technique: Each Servant may conduct one special move of the following:

"TELEKINESIS": One target must Save, or be moved up to 20' in any direction as it gets hooked on a wire and Câbleon acts mystical.
KNEEL!: One target must Save, or be bound as if by [Hold Person] as they get wrapped or clotheslined on a wire and Câbleon issues royal-sounding decrees.
BLINDING FLASH: One target must Save, or be blinded for one turn as a bright spotlight flashes their eyes and Câbleon claims God's protection.
POWER-PUNCH: Câbleon delivers a wire-assisted punch which deals 1d8 damage. If it lands the target is also hooked and moved 5' back, as they and Câbleon move in slow-motion style.
ARMOR, TO ME!: Upon use, a piece of armor on a wire flies onto Câbleon's person. His Armor increases by 1, up to a total of 18. This may also replace broken pieces of armor instead.
SMASHING THROW: Câbleon fakes throwing a sandbag, which really drops from the ceiling at a target as an attack for 1d6 damage.
"FIREBALL": Câbleon loudly acts as if he's casting a spell, when a lit firework as [Fire Bomb] is dropped from a ceiling on a point and detonated.
WRRRECKING BALL: Câbleon is curled up and launched forward like a cannon ball, dealing 1d10 to all targets in a straight line for 40'. After doing this, he cannot be subject to "Move" and this ability cannot be used again for a round.

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Twinelings

[Terrible notebook doodles inbound...]

There are many folk tales about the Twinelings.

Some claim they were first created by a careless wizard, animating a piece of rope to create a toy for a child- but through an act of wild magic, creating an animated rope which could in turn animate rope. Others claim they were first created when fairies were so astounded by the large-folk's invention of jewelry, that they created little crowned golems out of necklaces as dancing partners. Yet others still claim that they are born from the dying words choked out of a strangling victim, dancing along their noose or garrote in search of revenge. While there are glimmers of truth in each of these stories, who really created the twinelings or why is something which may never be known. All that is known is the following:

Twinelings live on the fringes of society- hiding in the forest outside a village or living in an empty cupboard in an attic. They are mischievous, child-like, and surprisingly mobile. They sneak around in little hunting bands, poaching and stealing as they see fit. They may slide just outside your field of vision by flattening out and sliding around, unspooling and winding like a snake, or even coiling like a spring to perform a huge leap. They do this for two reasons: to steal materials for small spears, and to kill using rope to create more twinelings.

You see: twinelings themselves may cast a version of Animate Rope on any short length of material like vines, necklaces, rope, twine, chains, strings, and even links of sausages. These versions are hollow body-doubles however, and not "alive" as the twinelings are. The only way a twineling may create a true new twineling is to have this double choke the life out of a living being- most often a small animal or young child (with the latter often leading to people finally dealing with a twineling tribe, or at the least hanging someone for child murder).

Twineling tribes are often set up a bit like Lord of the Flies or Peter Pan's Lost Boys; with clearly visible childlike squabbling, aggression, and play amidst violent actions. One minute two twinelings may appear to be squabbling over a spear crafted from a set of shears, the next they'll be coordinating a garroting like little guerillas. The most authority in a tribe is given to the largest twineling of the bunch, which in some cases is a Twineking; which is essentially a rat-king composed of many tangled twinelings acting as if it were one massive twineling. These masses often break up quickly when presented with danger or petty issues. Many have speculated what might happen if enough twinelings organized in this way, and their conclusions usually center on some form of grey goo scenario in which twinelings go on a strangle-spree of all life to create more twinelings.

________________

Twineling

[Tactics as described above. TLDR: Coordinated guerrilla actions.]

HD: 0 (HP 1)
Armor: 18
Move: 80' ground, 60' leap
Morale: 12
Save: 16

Stealth: The Twineling has 4-in-6 on Stealth.

Spear: The Twineling stabs with its tiny spear for 1d4.

Launch: The Twineling uses its body as a slingshot or bow, shooting a rock or other nearby debris up to 60' for 1d4. If it uses it's spear, this damage becomes 1d6; however it loses use of its spear.

Garrote: The Twineling coils its body, grappling and strangling the target [as Garrote].

Is Rope?: The Twineling is immune to some forms of damage and susceptible to others depending on what it is made from. (e.g. A Twineling made from rope may instantly burn or be cut by a blade, but be immune to bludgeoning. One made of chain may have different vulnerabilities).

Animate Rope: Once a day: the Twineling may animate a length of rope, chain, etc. While animated: treat this length of material as a Twineling, however it only has the "Garrote" attack. Should this pseudo-twineling kill a creature, it becomes another Twineling.

________________

Twineking

[It will prefer to run away, or lead from the rear by creating more pseudo-twinelings. If it's forced to fight, it's preferred tactic is to ambush from above. If things are looking dire, it will begin to break apart into individual Twinelings and run away.]

HD: varies (HP varies)
Armor: 12
Move: 30' ground
Morale: 12
Save: 14

Massive: The Twineking is made up of multiple Twinelings, and has 1 HP for each twineling in it's mass. When it takes damage, the Twineking may choose to lose 1 HP to free 1 Twineling.

Garrote: The Twineking coils its body, grappling and strangling the target [as Garrote].

Is Rope?: The Twineking is immune to some forms of damage and susceptible to others depending on what it's Twinelings are made from. (e.g. as with Twineling, but feel free to mix it up with composites).

Animate Rope: The Twineking may animate a number of lengths of rope, chain, etc. equal to it's HP each day. While animated: treat this length of material as a Twineling, however it only has the "Garrote" attack. Should this pseudo-twineling kill a creature, it becomes another Twineling.

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Attacking the Sheet & The Prestige

Over the course of my winter break between semesters, I've been going back and putting on a movie while I do work- something which either doesn't require a lot of brainpower or is something I've seen before. In this case, the film was a rewatch of The Prestige. While chock full of readily game-able material, one specific element of the plot jumped out at me for non-conventional usage. As a without-context spoiler, the film features a teleportation device straight out of a philosophical problem: the device creates a perfect duplicate at a different destination while destroying the original. This of course raises questions regarding the continuation of consciousness and other existentialist weights which would be great to throw at players.

The only problem is doing so lacks a certain weight to it. Just describing to a player "your character is dead, you are now playing a perfect copy of your character" is something which'd probably be quickly overlooked; unless accompanied by some doppelganger fight or sanity mechanic, which even then may feel a bit forced. After a bit of stewing though, I defaulted to coming at it with a design principle offered up by Arnold Kemp of Goblin Punch: "attacking every part of the character sheet." While almost always a useful principle, the only issue in application here is that by it's nature this shouldn't affect a character sheet at all. For the weight and feeling of this to land, the character should be completely unchanged aside from their potentially duplicate nature. That's when it hit me to take the principle literally.

I've never had a GM rip up a character sheet in my face- and personally I find the idea in it's usual context often rude- but such an act has weight to it. People grow attached to certain characters of theirs, and to a certain extent they grow attached to the sheets of those characters as well- to the point where they hold on to ratty old sheets without replacing them or they retire a dead character's sheet and hold onto it as a memento. So it'd be fair to say this action, ripping up the actual sheet the character is written on and replacing it with an exact duplicate, has impact while ultimately having no effect on the game beyond the description that comes with it and having a new piece of paper. It does something despite doing nothing.

Well... it may do something. This may be more another neat idea and less a useful tool in practice, as admittedly this idea does come with a lot of caveats and baggage which may make it have a lot less mileage. If your games involve turning over character sheets a lot more often or your players aren't the sentimental type, then it'll probably be neat but not phase them much. Not to mention that the whole sort of "act" probably requires a bit of theatrics and a lot of preparation, including quickly replacing player's character sheets after turning them into confetti. You'd also probably have to have duplicates ready by your own hand, as having players copy them down would save on effort but deflate this down to being a big tax and waste of everybody's time.

Friday, September 28, 2018

Regarding Papers & Pencil's Magic Words

I first got into tabletop role-playing via the twilight years of 4E D&D, and almost nearly gave up the hobby as a result. While I can enjoy a good tactical game, the rigidity and tedious combat just didn't fill that niche I was looking to fill. Eventually the beta for 5E rolled around, which while more engaging, still had its frustrations for me- leading me toward looking online for solutions, leading me to a lot of wonderful blogs listed on the sidebar there, leading me to try and modify 5E to my own ends, until finally a year or so ago leading me to start developing my own tabletop system. It's still a ramshackle and unpresentable thing- a hobby project strewn about thirty or forty constantly updating separate documents- but it's something which suits my usage.

The inspiration I had for the use of magic was the excellent +Beloch Shrike's original post on Magic Words over at Papers & Pencils . So, in light of Magic Words 2, I thought I'd share some elements of my system which work towards the similar ends of a creative and engaging magic system

__________

Magic words each occupy one of three different roles: Modifier, Effect, and Target. This mostly breaks along a words usage:
- most adjectives, adverbs, and so forth are Modifier words, like Fiery, Silent, or Illusory
- Effect words mostly are verbs, such as Manipulate, Damage, or Create
- nouns and the like constitute most Target words, like Humanoid, Earth, or Weapon

So one might simply move the earth around them via casting Manipulate-Earth, or they may cast Illusory-Manipulate-Earth to cast an illusion of appearing to move the earth. As casters grow in power they not only obtain more words, they also may use more Modifier words within a single spell (via a sort of spell point system which I won't get into here).

A lot of these words then can modify the power of a spell without being straight +1's. For example: casting Fiery-Damage-Humanoid may be throwing a spark of fire at an enemy, while a Deadly-Mass-Fiery-Damage-Humanoid is closer to a traditional casting of fireball. The upper end of this limit does create long and dangerous spells like Timed-Silent-Invisible-Deadly-Mass-Fiery-Damage-Humanoid, but as a whole this creates the chance for more intricate and unique-to-caster spells depending on lexicon rather then just strictly more powerful choices.

Essentially: each Word is a modular component of the final spell. In addition to this, each Word was originally well defined in operation- however upon further testing and some ideas from Magic Words 2 I'm heavily leaning towards dropping this for two reasons: referencing a big bulky list is what I was trying to get away from, and the edge cases are too awkward and hard to process. After all, how does one "Fiery-Damage-Sadness"? A more free-form description system suits it all better.

Upon gaining the ability to cast spells, either at character creation or during play, the method of obtaining Words is selected of three modes:

- The character has a large list of related Words (eg all words related to fiery destruction, all words related to animals, etc), which they randomly roll on to permanently gain new spells when they level. They require no additional effort or research, as this method is meant to reflect the spontaneous and innate use of magic. Inspired by Brendan of Necropraxis and parts of their work Wonders & Wickedness.

- The player must choose to either forgo all but one Target word of their choice, or all but one Effect word of their choice. They can effectively learn an unlimited number of words through whatever spell research rules you favor otherwise, but one of these categories is only ever limited to one Word. This method creates magic users who are extremely specialized to a field (eg a magic user who can only effect things by putting them to sleep, can only cast spells on or related to snakes, etc). Inspired by trying to sort of emulate Stands from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Arnold Kemp of Goblin Punch's amazing wizards but failing spectacularly.

- The character has a large list of Words, which they do not permanently know. Instead each day they must prepare and select a set number of words off this list as appropriate for their level. This method is meant to reflect more prepared sorts of magic, such as prayer or alchemical concoctions. Inspired by the usual sort of magic bobbins.

Each set of benefits and limitations, along with an already highly variable approach to spell implementation, hopefully creates unique fun casters.

Friday, September 21, 2018

Genesis is Pointless

Excerpt from The Holy Dialogues of Pazuk, Volume 134, Page 12.

When the sun never set and before man grew old and died, a student once asked the Wise Pazuk about the nature of the universe. Holy Pazuk, in their wisdom, walked with the student through the monastery- taking them to the unassuming and humble kitchen. Many students sat, making the simple bread which sustained them. To this, the student began protesting Pazuk's apparent refusal to answer their question. Why had Pazuk brought them for chores instead of providing cosmic truths?

Blessed Pazuk, rifled through the firewood. The student was silenced as Pazuk withdrew two pieces of lumber, and asked the student to examine them. The student began to study the wood, realizing that this may hold some hidden wisdom for their question. The student performed every analysis they could think of. After the span of a few hours, the student became dejected. They had failed their lesson. Finally, they asked Pazuk what was the meaning of this wood. Slowly and with the greatest mindfulness, Pazuk lifted one of the pieces in their hands- before promptly beating the student to death. As their body lay on the floor, the other students in the kitchen looked on.

With saintly reverence, Divine Pazuk turned to his remaining students and uttered his third holy law: "Do not disrespect your masters by asking stupid questions."