Category: Rolling Word Play

Rolling Word Play – 4

Creating RPG ideas based on randomly generated words.  Here’s today’s selection.  Discover more about the Lying Spoon, Slim Treasure and Motionless Snow.

Lying Spoon
Anything a person eats with this piece of cutlery will disguise the taste and deceive the taster. A delicious dessert will taste fowl whilst rotting meats will taste fresh and divine.  The spoon doesn’t however protect the user from poisons or disease, so consuming dangerous products will taste healthy but will still cause harm.

Slim Treasure
The Harp of Aratras has strings made of pure gold.  They are so finely made that they act as if they are hairs from the strongest horse or silk from the largest spider.  The wooden shell of the harp is beautifully decorated but the real value in in each golden string.  When plucked by a musician proficient in playing the harp, the sound is both earthy and warm, and is so unique that there is no sound quite like it.

Motionless Snow
In the Tarpa Seas is a mist that has been created by the Tarpa Waterfalls.  Some say that the source of the spring that created these falls is magically because it cures weapons of rust when placed in its waterways.  By the time the water gets to the falls it creates a mist that stays in the air and forms a dense, unmoving cloud.  The cloud is so dense and so magical that when the weather turns cold, the ice and snow crystals appears in the air, motionless. In such weather, it becomes impregnable for sea vessels and in some instances, 10 foot diamond shapes have formed, standing impossibly on one edge.  Only direct sunlight destroys the clouds, but they reform quickly as the mist ascends again.

Rolling Word Play – 3

The Inspiration of Chance and Improvisation – Word Play

I’m starting a series where I generate Roleplay ideas based on random words. Let’s see what words I get to play with today:

Massive Analyst
This is a pill taken by a creature that is desperate for an answer that they cannot yet grasp. Many of those that have taken the pill take a long time to re-emerge from their semi-comatose state.  Some never return, lost in the midst of a mental or spiritual maze.  For most, they have returned profoundly shaken and many are never the same again. The epiphanies they bring with them are often not simple and take events in a completely different direction.

Here is a way of playing out the effects of a Massive Analyst on a d10 die roll:

1 – Utterly lost. Re-roll again the following day to see what happens next.   Add a mental quirk to your character sheet from this life-altering experience.

2-3 – Confused in the unconscious realm. You re-emerge 1d10 days later, but have lost some of your mental sharpness.  Add a condition to your character sheet to reflect this.

4-5 –   You return quickly but altered by the experience.  Add a mental quirk to your character.

6-7 – You were unaffected by the experience and were able to return quickly.  You will gain +1 to the die roll if you ever decide to retake this pill.

8-9 – You found an answer to the question.  Check with the GM to see what wisdom you gained.

10 – You had a profound epiphany.  It is greater than you could have possibly imagined!  Check with the GM for details.

 Activate Understanding
A scene of devastation. Zombie roam across an area known as the Death Zone.  They are surprisingly fast and aggressive, attacking living organisms, which either bleed out or become animated undead husks like themselves.

The source of the trouble is in a grave.  A powerful magical ring was left with the corpse of an elderly lady who died a few years ago.  She carved it and used her magics to prolong her life.  As her own energy drained away, the ring’s stored energy was still working.  As the flimsy wooden coffin in which she was buried deteriorated, the ring’s influence tainted the soil and cause an un-life in the corpses of those in the graveyard.

The town records and library will have information on an old woman who dodged death for so long (she was over 140 years old) and where she was buried.  There is also information about how to use witchcraft to change the energy flow in an item.  Using a ritual and a few key ingredients, the ring’s energy can be changed to generate a flow of peace and rest.  This is a way to finally end the reign of un-life.

Sorry Accept Patience
A society run by a zealous religious faction expects their citizens to report their own sins and the sins of others.  For those who are brought to receive their punishments, they must first ask for repentance (Sorry), accept they are wrong and sign a confession (Accept).  Having signed, they must then await punishment, which will be delivered when the religious faction deem it appropriate (Patience).  This can sometimes take several years and can even be provided in smaller installments.  The faction controls the populous in this way, with fear of punishment and of being reported for sins.

Rolling Word Play – 2

The Inspiration of Chance and Improvisation – Word Play

I’m starting a series where I generate Roleplay ideas based on random words. Let’s see what words I get to play with today:

Drag Intention
A tactic used by a Gillatora; a long, spikey creature with 2 tentacles and a powerful beak.  It deliberately weakens its enemies by stunning them with its beak before grappling them and dragging them along the ground where rocks and other debris can cause further damage.  If the ground is smooth, it can also drag their victims along its spike-covered back.

Judge Cook
All societies have their own system of justice, on which they promote fairness and deter selfish, harmful actions.  In one particular society, the judge and the cook is one in the same.  Those who are found to be corrupt and selfish are prepared a complex and tasty food dish.  They then must replicate the meal and dedicate several hours and days (depending on the severity of the crime) to perfecting it.  If they are able to consistently impress the judge (often the same person who served them the original dish) then they are allowed to dedicate time to improve the dish.  This is not only a good way to improve recipes but a way of focussing the mind of the criminal.  This new dish becomes the ex-criminal’s new speciality dish.  One day, they too might become a judge-cook for other wayward citizens.

Basic Desperate Relationship
In a dystopian future, relationships are seen as essential.  Everyone must buddy up as single individuals have been found to be most likely to resort to terrorism and episodes of violence in this dark future. Where the relationship has started to breakdown, there is a certain amount of help provided to by the state. The relationship states are as follows:

Blissfully Operating (BO) Essential Functioning (EF) Basic Working Relationship (BWR) ….. Basic Desperate Relationship (BDR) Advanced Desperate Relationship (ADR) Failing Relationship (FR) Deadly Relationship (DR)

Those below the dotted line are considered a risk and a potential burden on society.  A BDR is usually because one partner raises complaints or their working efficiency is down below acceptable standards.  BDR provides credit to attend talks on relationship issues and attending a check-in (compulsory attendance by both partners to agree on ways to improve their relationship) once a week.

Advanced (ADR) includes counselling sessions and even starts with credit for a short holiday for first time offenders.  Failing and Deadly are a concern to the society at large.  Those caught before they do anything fatal result either in divorce of partners or a clean slate (memory wipe).

Rolling Word Play – 1

The Inspiration of Chance and Improvisation – Word Play

I’m starting a series where I generate Roleplay ideas based on random words.  Let’s see what words I get to play with today:

Relevant Salmon
A group of salmon who are dependent on a single entity for their survival.  Like a hive mind, they collect their intelligence and ‘pool’ it together into one fish, who leads the others; hopefully to salvation and safe spawning grounds.

There have been instances where a salmon has been caught and all other salmon have attacked the unsuspecting fisherperson until they dropped their catch.  Unfortunately a myth has grown up that killing the one, relevant salmon will grant you wishes.  There is no record of this being confirmed, but there are records of a single salmon being speared and the entire group instantly dying.

Drafty Chocolate
Made from cocoa beans grown in the harsh tropical caves of Hinreln, the taste mentally transports the user to those harsh, windy conditions.  The shock can be good or bad depending on the creature, but it has been proven to lower the body temperature significantly and is highly sought after by those in hot, desert climates.

Suspicious Negotiation
A term that can be applied to many situations, but the particular story to earn this title is a play, very popular in rural towns in which royalty do not reside.  The story starts with a king who rules over a peaceful nation.  In the story he sees a fey creature (the sort of creature varies with each telling) imprisoned in his city.  Fascinated, he ignores his advisors and buys the creature for himself.  The king asks it questions and using its charms and illusory powers the fey creature convinces the king that it can see into the future.  For each question the fey creature conjures up a dystopian vision which in turn feeds the king’s growing concerns.  As the story goes on, the visions get worse and the king’s paranoia alienates him from everyone around him.  The story ends with the fey creature tricking the king into being released.  It then kills then king and assumes his form.