Corruption, the sword

WARNING: do not read this. it is bad. it is the first RPG thing I wrote.

At the bottom of an ancient tomb, or some great temple or other, there lies a sword sung of in myth and song. It is not a remarkable sword, no mark or glyph crosses it, no precious jewels adorn its hilt.

No, it is sung of not for presence in the hand of a king, not for its use on the field of battle. It was never graced by god, nor by any known wizard of any court.

It is known for power, child, and that is all you need.

Welcome to this first post in my OSR blog "Traveling Mailsman", today we will be discussing why giving your players an insta-kill sword is a great idea.

Mechanically speaking, a corruption sword is an ordinary sword that kills anybody who takes even a single point of damage from it. Maybe give a round or so before death for a single last deed. Or not.

Because of this, you dont need any special aesthetic for it. I personally have it rapidly turn its target to crystal, and have them vanish in a flash of light, but it really is up to you.

Other than the corruption brought on just by its very nature, be sure to have occasional thieves try to steal it. Generally, i like a base 0 in 6 chance for secluded areas (like a nunnery or lumber camp) 1 in 6 for villages or towns, 2 for cities, 3 for weird places like hell or some kind of wizard land.

Add 1 to the chance if the player uses it in the place. If the chance comes for someone to steal it, have a couple burglars or assassins come for it in the night. The first time, have them crack a tree branch or something. Your players will make sure they hear every time after.

The idea is that the sword is far more trouble than it is worth. It gets assassins after you, you lose money on guards and traps to protect yourself and the sword, and the power to kill anyone wears down your humanity.

You're an outlaw, an addict, and a fool, but the sword is too powerful. Too strong. You cant give up now. Power through.

It is no suprise to learn i wrote this after reading "the pearl"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Diastasi Mati

    The Diastasi Mati are people with one eye that can see from the fourth dimension. This is the only interesting thing about them. The rest is just details.  Physiology The Diastasi Mati are the same size and shape as ordinary people, with much the same internal organs. The exception is that they lack any internal or external reproductive organs of any kind. They still have sexual dimorphism, and they still reproduce, by unknown means. In all Diastasi Mati, it is the left eye that is peculiar. The left eye is a silvery grey, and reflects light wrong, sometimes reflecting light that isn't there, other times not reflecting light that is there. It is slightly bigger than the socket it is in.  The Eye The power of the eye is best thought of with a classic metaphor to 2D people. Picture a 2D person with one eye on their head, and the other 6 inches to the left of their entire world. This eye allows them to see the inside of anything within 100 feet, and see any other Diastasi Mati wit
Read more

A challenge I pose to all who dare face it.

    There are a lot of worldbuilding challenges passing around, from Jojiro's orthodoxies  to Vayra's ten setting question's  we've got an abundance. Oh boy can I help. I've got my own method to step up to the ring with and it's one hell of a doozy. Design a world in 6 hats. As is traditional, I will go first. 1. A crudely made Ushanka hat with an actual hammer and sickly nailed to it. 2. A lightly bloodstained gas mask with a sticker saying "Safety First!". 3. A pair of night vision goggles with a metal plate guarding the back of the neck. 4. A blindfold with "DONT TOUCH" written in blood on the front. 5. A crown of scrap metal with a hole through the front center. 6. A very expensive pay-by-the-hour VR headset that just displays a warm green field.     Mine were very short but had some description, obviously you can go as far as paragraphs on paragraphs or as little as the names. Happy harberdashing!
Read more