Ogwood

Germ of an idea: Run an RPG one-shot in the setting of HBO's Deadwood, using the rules from Og.

 Here's your (insensitive and horrible) word list. You've been warned.

• Dead
• Wood
• Fire
• Water
• Whiskey
• Beer
• Drunk
• Medicine
• Cowboy
• Injun 
• Chink
• Doctor
• You
• Me
• Horse
• Pig
• Gun
• Gold
• Money
• Cards
• Pick
• Axe 
• Dance
• Vote
• Kill
• Ride
• Mine
• Snatch
• Whore
• Mother
• Fuck
• Fucker
• Fucking
• Fucked
• Up
• Bastard
• Cock
• Cunt
• Sucker
• Indignity
• Shit
• God
• Damn
• Ass
• Piss
• Motherfuckingcocksucker
• Truth
• Gratis

Everyone gets their preferred version of the F-word for free, plus a randomly-chosen assortment of other words.

What, you're still here? That was the joke.

Okay, fine, let's pretend I'm serious, as I really do enjoy a good game of Og now and again. Instead of being stupid cavemen, the PCs are fuckin' drunken cowboys. So you use the existing Og rules with a few simple modifications. You'd rename most things, and have to create a few mechanics. Eloquent Caveman becomes Cussin' Cowboy (or perhaps Fuckin' Wordy Cowboy), for example. And it might be worth creating a new class for Sober Cowboy who never forgets how to do things, though I'd strictly limit that class to one PC per campaign.

You'll need twice as many words per character, so 2d6+4 per PC, and the Fuckin' Eloquent Cowboy gets 4 more than anyone else rolled, plus all 4 versions of fuck on top of that. PC's names are of course not on the list, but I'm sure you'll come up with nicknames from your word list.

You have guns, so damage is 1 for a punch (2 for Strong Cowboy) and 1d6 for a gunshot, reversing the default Og unfairness (where Banging isn't nearly as good a Strong). That's a much faster and bloodier combat system too, and all the more so because there's no 40-Unnnggh T-Rex's to deal with. All of which is okay as the length of combat is at times somewhat unfortunate in Og. Replace your dino and mega-fauna monster list with miners, cardsharps, goons, saloongirls and railbarons.

The hardest part would be making the economy work. Og has no economy, but Deadwood is all about the gold in them thar hills. So you let gold buy guns, property, booze and whores, all of which need mechanical benefits. Guns = damage boosts, obviously, and the others could all be mechanisms for restoring Unnnggh, or might give some other bonus (like adding +1, or rolling two dice and keeping the better one). Giving them all mechanical benefits gives the PCs something to fight over, which is kinda the point. So these resources need to be limited and tightly controlled by the GM. The system becomes crunchier than default Og, but characters die so fast once the guns come out that I don't think you'll really feel the heft of the crunch. Some groups will have so much fun cussin' up a blue streak that they won't ever roll the dice.

I just thought up the marketing pitch: "No use big words, fuck Og."   :)

Another Hypothetical RPG - an alternative BSG RPG

Battlestar Galactica - yeah, I know there's already a BSG RPG. I'd never play it. I'll start with a few points as to why I'm not interested in just playing it as-is:

• It's based on the current show. I enjoy watching the current show, but as an RPG setting it sure has flaws. It's muddled, and I really can't tell what will prove to be prophetic destiny arranged by godlike beings and what will just be Baltar's paranoid schizophrenic ravings. I'm not entirely convinced the writers will be able to make the cosmology make sense in the end, and I'd hate to find that out for certain in mid-campaign.
  
• Worse, there's giant logic holes in the show that wouldn't survive contact with your typical playgroup. To keep the PCs from having a cylon detector by episode two, you'd have to deny them access to any science or engineering characters, and also disallow cameras and the seduction of their fellow pilots. The Galactica has a never-ending supplies of missiles for the vipers - so PCs would jury-rig missile launchers onto the hull of the President's ship by the end of session one. It goes on and on.
• I've read that the two types of Viper (Mk II and MVII) have the same stats in this system. There's 40 years of tech development seperating them. I know the show doesn't dwell on it real long or hard either, but they ought to have some variation in stats. Abstract elegance is good, but for a setting the features space-dogfights so prominantly, you need more granularity.
  
• On the other hand, the rule book lists several different pistols that only vary in cost, not effectiveness. Why differentiate between costs of identical handguns? The show never names gun types, never dwells on them beyond "he's armed", and only mentions money when plot points are being discussed over a game of Pyramid.
  
• Politics is a huge part of the story, and resource depletion is a recurring plot line. You could handle the resources with a light and abstract touch by having an NPC admiral give the PCs missions every session - "The Admiral says Fuel supplies are low and we need to raid that Cylon tillium station". Sadly, that runs into the same "powerless PCs" problem you get when you have a NPC Prince in a Vampire LARP - it would strip the Politics out of the setting, and/or make the PCs feel like bit players. Alternately, you could have a very gritty system that tracks resources so players can make the hard decisions - but every review I've read of the game suggests that it's crunch-lite, without any rules for how to find a world with food, how much fuel it takes to jump the fleet, etc.
• Most generic systems lack the ability to make 3-D space combat meaningful or exciting. I haven't heard any praise of how this one is different.
  

Assuming, for the sake of an post/argument, that I had some desire to capture the feel of the series, but not the precise exact canonical details... Here's a quick rough draft of how I'd start:

I'd go with a really rules-light system for the actual characters. Probably FATE, as it's solid, simple, flexible, not too cinematic, and provides some character background. PCs would have skills, but not lots of feats. I'd put the majority of the focus on the ships, instead.

I'd have each player design a ship - and I'd focus my game-design energies on making a system for that rewards the players for making a fleet that's diverse. Their PC would be the captain of the ship they designed. Rather than having one big Battlestar to focus everything on, the needs of the fleet would be split between various vessels.

When the Captain of the only Agriculture vessel in the fleet decides to play political hardball, I want him to have some clout. When he tells the Military Carrier that he wants their engineers to install some point-defense on his vessel or else he'll cut production to emergency ration level, I want it to be a workable threat. I also want the players to be able to prioritize which ships get protection and babying based on what they bring to the fleet based on an appraisal of how important that vessel is to the fleet, and the mechanics need to make that possible.

Of course, when a fight breaks out, who wants to play the Agriculture ship, even if it has some jury-rigged flak guns? To solve that dillema, each player would have option of having two PCs. One is a captain of a civilian vessel, the second is one of the hot-shot fighter pilots. The captain characters would take part in the political struggle and resource management, and the fighter pilots would face the threats head-on. During full scale fleet battles and "33"-inspired ambushes, each player would control both their fighter and their civie ship, and the game would need a good tactical 3-D space combat system to make that work... Problem is, I have yet to play an RPG that does so, so I'm uncertain where to start.

I think I might crack open my old Full Thrust miniatures game books. Something similar, with individual ships-systems recorded and tracked, and using relative vector movement, would probably be the way to go. Fighters would have to be souped up a bit to feel like BSG, but Full Thrust is at least a good inspiration. You'd add systems like "Cargo Hold", "Tillium Processor", "Improvised Housing", "Hydroponics Bay" and the like so that the ships could hold a purpose in the fleet. You don't want a system where a critical hit makes the whole ship explode, nor a system with abstract hit points and a boolean unimpaired/destroyed status for the whole vessel. Instead, you want a brutal system where ships get battered and impaired, systems go offline one by one, and you have to nurse it back into shape after the battle.

That's where I'd start, anyway.

Hypothetical LOST RPG

Talking with my wife the other day, the topic came up the other day of what mechanics I would use if I were to adapt the TV show LOST into an RPG. There was no existing system that I felt would work especially well for it, so I'd probably start from the ground up making something new. The brainstorm of a hypothetical system has gone pretty far...

---

Attributes :
I'd start with an attribute auction, kinda like in Amber. The auction system in that game does a great job of establishing rivalries right out of the gates, and that sort of "uneasy truce" feeling, that tension where the characters alternately cooperate and backstab, is something you really want for LOST.

However, LOST should not be diceless. Characters on the show can and do fail on a regular basis, and the mechanics need to simulate that. There's no guaranteed competence - Jack can lose a patient, and John can get tusked by a boar. So, you'd start with a 100 points to bid in the auction, and after the auction was finished, there'd be a chart/scale that the GM would use to convert bids into dice pools. Exactly how the conversion chart works... I'm still workin' on that. Thinking out loud, I'd aim for ranking determines average/maximum roll, but number of points invested determines whether it's one big unreliable die or multiple small dice.

As to the nature of the Attributes & Skills... I'm leaning towards things that feel more Skill-based than Attribute-based, as far as theme. Watching the show, it's hard to rate the Strength and Endurance of the various characters, but you know who's got the most survival training, who's the best liar, who can administer first aid better, etc. Off the top of my head, I'd be tempted to use 6 Attributes - probably named Hunter, Caregiver, Charmer, Interrogator, Scientist, and Shaman.

Hunter is used for tracking, hunting, fishing, setting booby traps, and attempts to injure another character via ranged combat or ambush.
Caregiver is used for surgery, herbalism, foraging, and providing care or comfort.
Charmer is used for persuasion, leadership, lying, confidence games, and efforts to be social or friendly.
Interrogator is used as a lie-detector, and to coerce or force behavior against someone's better judgment. It is also valuable during point-blank stand-offs, and attempts to injure a character via close combat.
Scientist is used to diagnose illness, handle sweaty dynamite, jury-rig a radio transmitter, or determine where the Others camp is based on an electrical diagram or the crazy map painted on the blast doors of a hatch.
Shaman is used for interpreting visions, building sweat lodges, and fending off the smoke monster. On this island, anyone might see a ghost, but it takes a good Shaman roll to compell the ghost into revealing something meaningful.

There's a certain amount of flexibility and overlap between those 6 attributes. This is intentional. Often there will be more than 1 trait applicable to a task, but the trait the GM deems most appropriate will get a bonus. See also "flashbacks", below.

---

Sidekicks, Wards, and Obligations:
Michael has Walt, Sun has Jin, and Boone has Shannon (or the other way around). In each case, there's a minor character attached to the major, primarily for the purpose of generating conflict. I'd like to incorporate this into game in some way without needing a ton of players, or swamping the GM with a ton of extra minor NPCs.

Having one of these attached characters doesn't seem to be a boon - the interactions mostly hose you, though they provide for fun secondary conflicts and subplots. It's not a flaw in the standard RPG sense, either, as you definitely don't get bonus points for having a sidekick. If anything, the characters who are saddled with sidekicks seem even weaker for it - Jack and Locke certainly have more character points than Michael, Sun, Boone, Nikki or Rose.

From your initial 100 points, you may reserve from 0 to 30 for a secondary character. Points reserved in this way are doubled when making the second character. If you set aside 30 points, you'd have a 70-point main character and a 60-point secondary. If you set aside only 5, you'd have a 95-point main character, and a 10-point sidekick. You get more points this way, but there's a couple drawbacks. First off, since each individual character has fewer points, you'll probably be better off making specialists instead of generalists - you just can't spread the points around as far per character. In addition, secondary characters are made after the first auction is done, and they must bid lower than 1st rank. So Jin may be focused on Hunter, but he's not going to eclipse Locke. And actually, there's a third wrinkle.

The third trick is, your secondary character isn't your sidekick. Instead, you pick another player, and your secondary character is the ward, significant other, sibling or obligation of the other player's (primary) character. You're all PCs, so some amount of working together is to be expected, but it's also understood that the person playing your sidekick is going to occassionally make life "interesting" for you. Probably by dissapearing into the woods with that bald guy who has all the knives. It's considered very bad form to just decide your character doesn't care what happens to the sidekick they were assigned. Doing so will result in penalties of some sort (details still to be worked out).

Example of character generation with sidekicks:

• Michael is created from 80 points in the auction, leaving 20 points unused. Those are doubled to 40 points, from which Michael's player creates a new character named "Shannon" - 40 points makes a well-rounded, but not powerful, character with just a little of everything. He thinks Shannon is just perfect to be someone else's spoiled kid sister.
• Sun is created from 95 points in the auction, leaving 5 points unused. Those are doubled to 10 points, from which Sun's player makes a new character named "Walt" - since he's only 10 points, Sun's player decides that Walt will be someone's estranged child, too young and weak to defend himself, and sinks the 10 points all into Shaman to give the kid just a touch of the mysterious.
• Boone is created from 75 points in the auction, leaving 25 points unused. Those are doubled to 50. For his new secondary character, named "Jin", he puts nearly all those points into Hunter. He wanted to put them all into Hunter, but was handicapped by not being able to surpass the highest bidder (Locke) in the primary character auction. He put the remaining couple of points into Charmer, but really didn't use them in the first season.
• One person is playing Michael and Shannon. One person is playing Sun and Walt. One person is playing Boone and Jin. They'll get involved in each others plots and scenes, and create a very lively social dynamic.
  
• Meanwhile, Locke's player and Jack's player did not set any points aside, and thus did not make Secondary Characters. This allowed their primary characters to be real bad-asses, but also deprived their players of an opportunity to influence the flashbacks and subplots pertaining to the other players. As a result, Locke became a bit of a loner, and Jack overcompensated by sticking his nose in everyone's business.
  
• Note, however, that not creating a sidekick in no way innoculates you from being saddled with one. If the players had so chosen, they could have made Walt be Locke's kid, or Shannon be Jack's half-sister. However, if two or more people try to attach their secondary characters to you, you may choose to deny all but one of them, and pick which one is connected to you, or you can choose to just have a big family. If you do so pick just one, the creators of the extra sidekicks must then choose someone else to attach their secondary character too.
  

---

Combat System:
Seems like anyone can lick anyone in LOST. It's mostly about initiative and weaponry. Such unlikely warriors as Charlie and Shannon manage to get the drop on people. Even Hurley manages to be useful in a fight in a few episodes. To get the right feel, fight scenes should be short and bloody, and reward sneakiness and treachery. Gun fire needs to be deadly, and pointing a gun at someone needs to be a significant deterent.

However, wounds heal quickly on the island, and what does not kill you will only make you stronger. Provided they don't die, all PCs begin every session at full health.

---

Flashbacks:
Obviously the game needs these to capture the feel of the show, but we don't want to spend too much time in the past, especially since flashbacks almost always focus on just one character at a time. We aim for short and sweet, but frequent.

I'm thinking flashbacks are linked to the experience system. You spend experience to initiate a flashback, and gain narrative control of some backstory element that relates to what you were about to do. You then gain bonus dice based on two factors: amount of experience spent, and how badly the flashback screws your character with secrets/shame/enemies. How we rate that second factor, I'm not sure yet, but making it work is vital. You shouldn't get bonus dice for just having been a surgeon - you get bonus dice for being a formerly-wheelchair-bound fugitive surgeon-turned-drug-smuggler with a price on your head.

The bonus dice do not alter your initial attributes - they're locked in at the end of the auction during character creation. Instead, the bonus dice become skills or modifiers which could concievably be used with several attributes. For example, if your flashback revealed you to be a surgeon for the mob, and it got you +d6 (just throwin' out a number) in a skill called "Surgery", there'd be times you'd roll that along with Caregiver (to ease someone's pain), with Scientist (to figure out what's wrong with them), or maybe even with Interrogator (to strike a pressure point and make someone beg for mercy).

---

Island Economics: Luggage, Debris, Hatches, etc
I can see two ways of dealing with the economic system of The Island.

• One way would be via charts. You make a big chart for randomly determining the contents of a piece of luggage. A different chart tells you what you find amongst the fuselage and debris from a plane crash, and another for a ship wreck, and either of those charts can turn up luggage (which would then be rolled on the first chart when you open it. You make a bunch of rolls as people search and recover in the first couple sessions, and a fairly organic barter system should develop. Later, you make a "What's In The Hatch?" chart, and a "Dharma Supply Drop" chart. There's two downsides to this system. Prepping the charts will take a long time, and it'd be very easy for random charts to put all the real wealth in one player's hands. At the cost of those two flaws, however, you'd get a very detail-oriented system with a great deal of verisimilitude. People who enjoy the accumulation of treasures would get a good kick out of that, and it'd give the game an oldschool RPG flavor.
  

or

• Another way (and this is the way I think I'd end up doing it) would be to make resources behave more like Schroedinger's Cat. Instead of worrying about the specific inventory of your 3 suitcases, instead we just assume that 3 suitcases equals 30 clothing points, 12 entertainment points, and 6 medical points. Need a bandage? That's 2 clothing points or 1 medical point. Good running shoes? 15 clothing points, and they give you +1 to all movement rolls. A book to read is 1 entertainment point. An iPod costs 10 entertainment points - but you can break it apart into 5 Tech points. Need fuel for the signal fire? 10 points of entertainment or clothing will burn for a night, or you can forage for Nature points to burn. The hatch you just blew open has 600 tech points, 100 entertainment points, 2000 food points, and 500 points of guns. Improvise whatever you need out of those totals, and we'll just adjust them downward till the hatch has no more secrets.
  We'd need charts for this system too, but rather than being detailed charts, we mostly just need categories of resource points, and guidelines for how much various items cost.
  This version would also need some mechanical way to get a monopoly on things - since every couple episodes someone gets their hands on all the medicine or all the guns.

---

Plot, Setting, NPCs, Etc:
Obviously, we're setting the game on The Island, and there's some familiar aspects to the backstory. That said, the GM is under no obligation to include any specific NPCs, and parts of the Dharma saga might be different. The players are under no obligation to play characters from the show, either. Personally, I'd probably have the PCs be Danielle's group, and set the game 16 years before the story depicted in the show. Thanks to Desmond and Faraday, you could work in time-shifted cameos if you like, or just make entirely new stories and characters. Heck, it might not even be the same Island - maybe there's more than one of them floating around out there.

Re-evisioning Arete

Rather than Arete, which is a very narrow Purview (that only exists as somewhat flavorless die-adder), I'd like to make a broader Greco-Roman Purview.

I'd like to see the things Arete does (excellence on a handful of focused skills, aka rerolls and or bonus dice) be just a couple (neither too weak nor too strong) boons within a larger Greek Pantheon Purview.

So, I'd stick some skill boosting boons in the lower stages. Probably 2 boons total.
One grants one free reroll per scene to a small number of Abilities.
The other grants +Legend Dice to those same skills.
I'd be tempted to call those levels 2 and 4, in the absence of a larger context.

Somewhere in the low levels I'd have a power that reveals the trophies of Titanspawn. This is something Scion's been needing for a while, and it jives with the notion of the Greek myths seeming to really emphasize the "use bits of the monsters later" theme.

Some level should involve little models of mortals, being placed upon a chessboard or miniature ampitheatre, since anyone who's seen a Ray Harryhausen film thinks of that when you mention Zeus. This would manipulate mortals or fate.

For that matter, a "View From Olympus" observational power or something that superimposes you as a giant transparent dude in the clouds could work.

Perhaps a Pandora's Box power somewhere in the high levels? We could then reveal that it's what Prometheus used to make cavemen everywhere discover fire simultaneously.

Pomegranites, Golden Apples - there could be a level about accursed fruit, though I don't yet know exactly what it would do.

Some sort of transformative power might work, too. This could represent both Circe's efforts at turning men to beasts, and Zeus's many non-human dalliances. (Zeus doesn't have Animal Avatar, since it's not one of his Favored purviews. That means he probably doesn't have Animal 10 either, so either he has Level 5 a whole bunch of times, or there's some other power at play).

For level 10, I'd be tempted to have it be Zeus's lightningbolts, or perhaps the power that locked the Titans in Tarterus in the first place, but both are possibly better handled elsewhere.

If there was some way to work Hubris and questing into this Purview as well, so much the better.

Other than being paragons of skills, what else do Greco-Roman gods and heroes have in common? What other cool powers could we work into boons and stick beneath the Dodekatheon banner?

Prophecy Brainstorm

I posted the following to the Scion forum last week:

Has anyone put any serious effort to making Prophecy (and/or Mystery) worth raising above the first level?

My experience with it is that the PC who has it will likely never buy the second level. She gets enough to be interesting off of her 6 dice nearly every time she uses it, without it wrecking the plot by revealing too much. If the rare cases where she really needs more info, she spends a Deed or Channel on it. At Legend 7, you can imagine what a shot-in-the-arm those Legendary Deeds do, easily tripling the number of successes.

Anyhow, I was considering ways to make it more engaging, but didn't want to spend a lot of effort if someone else already has done so.

I was thinking that it'd be a good idea to strip the die rolls out completely, and/or give it boons.

Say, the first boon could be:

Minor Visions
(Prophecy o)
Dice Pool: None
Every session, the GM provides you with a minor Vision. This can take the form of a dream or meditation, or just an insight given you. The GM choses what he wants to reveal, and it can be fairly trivial. It must apply to a future (not the current) scene. If by the end of a session the GM has not given you a Minor Vision, you may prompt them for one and they must deliver. Minor Visions prove truthful and accurate unless a being with Legend who is aware of your prophecy takes actions to thwart or prevent it.

EDIT: To be clear, I'm intending this to be kinda like rolling a single success (under the old system) every session, except it happens automatically and the GM is free to make the tidbit given up by that success somewhat less useful.

Higher levels could involve:
bigger visions,
more frequent visions,
visions you can actively summon up,
powers not unlike that Rube Goldberg knack,
bonuses to dice pools when acting to fulfill visions,
bonuses to Perception or Wits rolls to act intuitively,
the ability to influence the dreams of others,
etc.

The die-roll for visions effect of the current purview could be made into a high-level boon that allows Epics.

It's such a pain to search for things on the white wolf forums, so I put this link here.

There's some feedback from people in that thread, but not much in terms of actual boon ideas. I plan to do some more brainstorming, pick it apart a bit, and then construct an entire new Purview out of it. We're talking top to bottom - 10 new boons, plus possibly a change to the avatar to separate Prophecy / Mystery / Magic a bit more. I mean, the Avatar power is really cool and quite flavorful, but if you had 2 or 3 of the three "fate-based" Purviews, you'd be a bit let down in a long-running God-level campaign - though I suppose revising prophecy would remove enough of the let down that a person might not care or complain about Avatar overlap.

If you see something you like, please comment

Yesterday, I learned that someone I've never met in person (though we have communicated via the Scion Forum) is using several Knacks from this blog in his campaign. It was cool, and a bit flattering, to learn my crazy ideas are getting used elsewhere. It encourages me to continue to post stuff I use in my games. At the risk of sounding like either an egomaniac (or conversely, insecure and seeking outside validation) I would encourage you to let me know when you see something here that you like. If I know what things here are useful or interesting to others, it will make it easier for me to decide how to budget my spare time. If for example, two different topics might be of equal interest to me, but one has an outside audience and the other is only relevant to myself, I'll often choose to explore the topic of more universal appeal. I'd usually rather be helpful than merely introspective. I can't do that if I don't know what you're interested in reading.

Expanding the Universe

I'd like to generate some fan-created-materials for use with Dark Heresy. The question is, "What angle to take?" Here's a brief brainstorm of things I could do:

• Wargear. I could break out the old 2nd Ed 40k wargear cards and the even older Rogue Trader books, and stat out items to expand the possibilities for tech, gear, and armaments.
  Pros: Easy, and compartmentalized. I could do as many or as few as I like.
  Cons: Wholly derivative, minimal creativity involved. Also largely unneeded 'till many many sessions into the campaign.

  
  

• Classes. I've got many pages of roles/occupations/classes written up from my own aborted attempts at converting WHFRP into the 40k setting. I could either update them to the linear class system of Dark Heresy, or just update them to the skills and talents of DH and reverse-engineer the existing linear classes into WHFRP-style class chains.
  Pros: Fairly easy, as I could dust those off and update them to the gun stats and rules systems of Dark Heresy.
  Cons: The version of this that appeals to me the most (WHFRP-style) is going to be the least useful to strangers that blunder across this site - they'll want minor new content, not wholescale revisions to core mechanics.

  
  

• Xenos. Not just antagonists, but PCs as well. A home-brewed Eldar or Ork sourcebook would be cool.
  Pros: It's not likely to be contradicted by anything coming out from Black Library before the freeze. "GorkaMorka: the Role Playing Game" would be ded gud, guv'nor.
  Cons: It's a lot more work than the other options.

Rockin' Ork Art by Flying Debris Guy.

Everway Albinos

This was in the margin of the file on major NPCs in Night's Adornment, an Everway Realm. In Everway, names are meaningful, and often evocative of the person so named. Coming up with a bunch of names on the spot would be difficult, so we brainstormed a list before the first session.

Generic Names for Albinos in Night's Adornment

• Alfredo
• Cloudline
• Lace
• Blanch
• Mozzarella
• Cream
• Faded
• Pale
• Silver
• Frost
• Icicle
• Whiskey
• Wisp
• Ivory
• Bones
• Wash
• Drab
• Haze
• Fog
• Ash
• Wax

Everway Realms that might have been

Everyway Concepts - This was a short file where we first brainstormed Realm concepts before fleshing them out. When all was said and done, only two realms in the file never got built out further. They are:

Sphere/Realm/City Name:
Base Concept: When you lie, you are struck by lightning
Details: A mage (or some mages) has a magic that detects lies in the city, and a magic that casts lighting on that location. Lightning should be small, localized, doing damage only to the individual, or the structure they are in.

Sphere/Realm/City Name:
Base Concept: All inhabitants are Lawyers.
Details: Even though each person has some job in the society, everyone dabbles in the Law. Of course that means that our group will have to be very careful while visiting this Realm.

BrewerBarrow - Beer Disclosure

This is a page of secret details on the Everway Realm of BrewerBarrow. These are things not included in the player's binders, things they might discover if they visit...

---

Magic Beer: Here’s a few unusual drafts that the Brewers might just unleash on the players. Unless otherwise specified, assume they last 30 (divided by your Earth score) hours.

Ol’ Tonguestealer: Each pint of this draught reduces all communication-based applications of your Air by 1 point. When your Air Score reaches 0, you can neither talk nor understand speech.

Rock Hard Stout: Each pint of this drink increases your Earth Score at the cost of reducing your Fire. With each draught you get stronger but slower. Duration is based on your original Earth Score. When Fire reaches 0, you become paralyzed. This is based on the drink described in the Amber Novels.

Hair Of The Dog: They claim this drink will cure what ails ya - especially hangovers. But what it really does is slowly turn you into a Brewer. With each pint you shrink just a tad, your hair turns half a shade redder, and you become a wee bit of an alcoholic. If a player doesn’t get help, they’ll find themselves in the body of a leprechaun after a hard night of drinking.

Gizzard Kicker: Despite the rather colorful name, this is just a normal beer. Figured you’d need at least one of these on the list to start the players off with.

Gravestone Ale: While under the effects of this drink, you’re immune to the touch or breathstealing of the Old Ghosts.

Smiling Wee Thing: While this is in your system, it’s hard to take anything seriously. Everything is funny, and you can’t help but smile. If you’ve drank more than your Fire, you can’t attack.

---

Why are there no other visitors? Cause they’ve been incapacitated and filled full of the Hair of the Dog (see above). You can’t tell them from the natives anymore, and most stick around for the beer.

---

Edit: The other part of this file has moved, since it had to do with ghosts, not beer.

139 Everway Powers

This huge post is the result of a brainstorm session Sarah and I did a few years back. It has numerous Everway powers on it. Some number of them are straight out of the book, but many are new. No challenge is intended to copyright - it was just easier to copy/paste from my old file than to search and remove the ones that first appeared in the rulebook or sample character sheets. You wouldn't be able to use them without having a copy of the Everway rulebook and cards, anyway.

Feel free to use these in your Everway campaign (though it would be even cooler if you let me know what you're using via a comment to this post). I wrote 139 powers in the title of this post, but it looks like there may be some duplication/redundancy, and a few non-powers are listed as examples of things you can't buy.

Suggested Everway Powers # Frequent? Major? Versatile? Category Details…

1. Resistant to DeathMagic 0 Anti-Magic Any spell or magical ability that specifically kill the target will instead merely weaken you severely. Other damaging or enchanting magics affect you as normal.
2. Ancient Gesture of Clarity 1 Major Anti-Magic You can dispell magical illusions by means of complicated arcane hand motions.
3. Cleansing Ritual 1 Major Anti-Magic You may conduct a special day-long ritual to cleanse all but the most powerful curses and enchantments from everyone joining you in the ritual.
4. Spell-Reversal 1 Major Anti-Magic When a spell is cast on you specifically, it affects the caster instead. Spells cast on an area, or just cast near you, aren't affected.
5. Boomerang Arm 0 Combat Anything you throw will always come back to you. Unless you are blinded, bound or knocked out you will always be able to catch anything you throw. Foes can attempt to grab projectiles rather than let them go back to you, but doing so is very difficult.
6. Lightning Bite 0 Combat Bite gives target a shock. Those with low Earth will suffer ringing in the ears, dizziness & disorientation.
7. Weapon Master 0 Combat You can use any sort of mundane, hand-held weapon without training. It just comes naturally to you. Doesn't necessarily apply to siege weapons or weapons that are activated by magic.
8. Berserk 1 Frequent Combat When threatened by dire odds or overwhelming foe, you go beserk. You get bonuses to fighting talents and Elements, but cannot think clearly and have trouble identifying friends. Returning to normal takes time and leaves you exhausted.
9. Toxic Sting 1 Frequent Combat Paralyzing Venom: if the target has less Earth than you they'll be paralyzed after a few moments. If their Earth is equal or greater they'll merely feel fatigued.
10. Magic Hammer 2 Frequent Major Combat A powerful magic hammer capable of smashing dams, cracking rock walls, and crushing your foes. High Earth & Fire scores will increase its effectiveness.
11. Throw Fire 2 Frequent Major Combat Hero can produce fire from bare hands. These large, hot flames can be thrown and used to increase your combat abilities.
12. Mastery of Flame 3 Frequent Major Versatile Combat You can create heat, light & flame at will. This can be used for melee and ranged combat. You may cause objects to ignite from a distance.
13. Pet Viper 1 Major Companion A large venomous viper has befriended you. F:1 E:2 A:1 W:3 It's bite sickens & incapacitates an Earth:3 target.
14. Cat Familiar 2 Frequent Versatile Companion An intelligent cat accompanies you. It can talk to you (and only you). It can spy, stand guard, carry written messages, etc. F:1 E:2 A:2 W:5
15. Horn Pouch 2 Frequent Versatile Companion Accompanied by a Stag-Spirit as long as it's horns are in your medicine pouch. Sense are supernaturally accute, bonuses to woodcraft, stealth, surefooting & endurance when running.
16. Wolf Companion 3 Frequent Major Versatile Companion Clever loyal wolf friend. It does tricks, track by scent, fight, stand guard, hear noises the PC might miss, etc. F:4 E:3 A:1 W:4
17. Ape Sidekick 4 Frequent 2 x Major Versatile Companion Talking Ape. Can speak and use tools very well, and it's really strong. F:6 E:4 A:3 W:3
18. Friend of Fire 0 Fire You are unharmed by fire.
19. Sun's Son 0 Fire You are marked as child of Father Son. You never suffer from heat exaustion, sunburn, sunstroke, or blinding light.
20. Tending the Ritual Fires 0 Fire You may physically enter the spirit world via a firey ritual that does not harm or consume you. You must start the fire yourself to use this ability, and become stranded if the fire goes out while you're in the spirit realm.
21. Sweat Fire 1 Frequent Fire You can make fire come forth from your skin. Doesn't really help in combat, except against monsters that are really vulnerable to flame.
22. Throw Fire 2 Frequent Major Fire You can produce fire from your bare hands. These large, hot flames can be thrown and used to increase your combat abilities.
23. Mastery of Flame 3 Frequent Major Versatile Fire You can create heat, light & flame at will. This can be used for melee and ranged combat. You may cause objects to ignite from a distance.
24. Fast Healing 1 Frequent Healing You recover from physical wounds 7 times as fast as normal. A day's rest is as good as week's to you.
25. Instant Healing 2 Frequent Major Healing Your wounds heal nearly instantly, so no wound remains open more than a few seconds. Any attack that causes instant death can still claim your life.
26. Unkillable 2 Frequent Major Healing You cannot be killed. You can still be sickened by poison, knocked down by blows, slowed by injuries or weakened by disease.
27. Ageless 0 Immortality You do not age. It rarely has a direct effect on play, and will generally only be helpful in the very long term.
28. Unkillable 2 Frequent Major Immortality You cannot be killed. You can still be sickened by poison, knocked down by blows, slowed by injuries or weakened by disease.
29. Body of Stone 3 Frequent Major Versatile Immortality You are extremely durable, don't need to eat or breathe, and don't suffer from anything but the most extreme heat or cold. Damage from all physical blows is reduced greatly. On the down side, you way several hundred pounds.
30. Invulnerable 3 Frequent 2 x Major Immortality You can't be wounded or poisoned. You can be knocked down by strong blows, but not harmed by them. You can be knocked out by asphyxiation and drowning. The only thing that can really kill you is starvation.
31. Shadow Slip 1 Frequent Invisibility You can blend into the shadows to be invisible (but not magically silent). It requires concentration, and tires you out to keep it up for long periods of time.
32. Silence of the Hunter 1 Major Invisibility When stalking an enemy you become nearly undetectable as you approach your prey. Without very specialized senses or a very high Water score you will not be observed until you pounce on your prey.
33. Standing Unseen 1 Frequent Invisibility You can become invisible, but only when still and silent. Movement or noise will make you noticeable again.
34. Walk Unseen 2 Frequent Major Invisibility You can become invisible at will. Moving doesn't break this power. Making noise will attract attention, but they probably won't know where it's coming from. You can still be tracked by scent.
35. Bird Tongue 0 Language You can talk to birds of all sorts. They don't necessarily want to talk to you, and they may have little useful to say.
36. Universal Reading 0 Language You can read any alphabet, but not necessarily any language or code, just The Tongue.
37. Shadow Whispers 1 Major Language You may talk to the dead. Some ghosts are in no shape to hold a conversation, and some may simply not want to talk.
38. Speak to Animals 1 Frequent Language You may talk to all manner of animals. It doesn't mean they want to talk, have a lot to say, or see things from a perspective that's the least bit useful to the character. Animals that don't interact with humans much might not be able to identify specific people.
    
39. Illuminating Clap 0 Miscellaneous When you clap your hands, it creates a gentle glow of light that follows you around. It slowly fades away in around an hour.
40. Cat's Leap 0 Movement You can jump 15 feet straight up from a standing position.
41. Drift as a Feather 0 Movement You drift and tumble as a feather, rather than fall as a rock. Falling never harms you, but you can't control what direction you drift when falling. Your jumps are a bit longer than normal, but also less accurate.
42. Marching Song 0 Movement You can walk and sing indefinitely, provided you do them both at the same time.
43. Riding Master 0 Movement You can ride any sort of mount without training.
44. Walk on Water 0 Movement You may walk across calm water as if it were dry land. Impacting the surface at high speeds or with great force will result in you submerging, so be careful around storms and big waves.
45. Call Yourself Home 1 Major Movement You may wish yourself to your true home with a single thought. Transit time is roughly the same as a sphere walk. You may only have 1 true home, and designating a new home as your true one takes a month-long ritual.
    
46. Run Like The Wind 1 Frequent Movement Your running speed is more than twice as fast as would be expected for someone with your Fire & Earth scores. This doesn't effect how fast you attack, but it does let you cover ground quickly and make impressive running long jumps.
47. All Doors Are As One 3 Frequent 2 x Major Movement When you step through any door, you may teleport to any other door or Gate you have ever stepped through before. Transit happens instantly in the same Realm, otherwise with the speed of a Sphere Gate.
48. Spherewalk With Friend 0 Movement: Spherewalk You may take a single person with you through the Gate, provided they hold your hand and go willingly.
49. Spherewalk Leader 1 Major Movement: Spherewalk You may lead small groups (no more than 4 people at a time) through Gates regardless of your Water Score.
50. Spherewalk Master 2 2 x Major Movement: Spherewalk You may lead larger groups (no more than 30 people at a time) through Gates regardless of your Water Score.
51. Spherewalk Free Movement: Spherewalk You have the ability to pass through a Gate and enter the Sphere it connects to. You may not bring others with you unless your Water is 6+ or
52. Dirge of the Dead 0 Musical All who hear your music are touched by the sadness of it. How they express this sadness will depend on their personality, Elements, and the culture they live in.
53. Perfect Memory of the Bard 0 Musical You can remember everything you were taught or trained as a bard. You can perfectly recall any story or song you've ever heard. New songs and stories become learned as soon as you hear them once. You never forget how to play any instrument you've had even one lesson on.
    
54. Phantom Musician 0 Musical You can make a musical instrument play itself.
55. Magical Singing 1 Versatile Musical Your songs can raise spirits, soothe bad feelings, stir a crowd to action, and generate other emotional effects. It affects all who hear it, provided they aren't too distracted to notice, so it won't stop a charging enemy and you can't single out a specific victim or ally.
    
56. Sphere of Infinite Sound 1 Frequent Musical Crystal Sphere can, at a mental command, make any noise from as loud as thunder to as quiet as a mouse's sigh. You must be within 100 feet of the ball to do this.
57. Horse Friend 0 Persuasion You befriend horses automatically. Horse-like supernatural creatures may be resistant, based on their Elemental scores.
58. Pretty 0 Persuasion You are very pleasing to the eye, and likely to draw attention whereever you go. Those you meet will often have favorable initial impressions of you, and will remember you clearly.
59. Troll Friend 0 Persuasion Trolls, dwarves and other earthly magical beings generally take a liking to you immediately.
60. Winning Smile 0 Persuasion Your charming smile is stunning. It may make someone more favorably inclined to you, but it won't sway the hearts of enemies in the least.
61. Persuasive Voice 1 Frequent Persuasion Your voice can sway the hearts of others, but only if they are already neutral or favorable to you. You can influence your friends, but not your enemies.
62. Charming Voice 2 Frequent Major Persuasion You can win the affection of those you talk to at length. It can affect enemies, but only if they pause to hear you out. When no longer around you, targets with a high water or air will realize they were enchanted. Manipulating other PCs can easily ruin their player's enjoyment, so be careful.
    
63. Persuasion 2 Major Versatile Persuasion Your strong intuition about people lets you manipulate them easily. You can seduce nearly anyone, and pull strings to get them to do things they otherwise wouldn't. However, they will remember you as "that slick character who talked me into doing something I shouldn't have".
    
64. Dominating Gaze 3 Frequent Major Versatile Persuasion You can gaze into someones eyes and issue firm commands to them. The weaker the subjects earth score, the more you can get them to do. The control is a little unpredictable, and people have been known to snap out of it at critical moments. Using this on fellow PCs is a bad idea.
    
65. Instant Control n/a Persuasion A power that would give a character instant and complete control over others would ruin too many plots, so it is not allowed.
66. Sanctity of Marriage 0 Priestly You may bless weddings and similar unions, making their bond stronger and more enduring.
67. The Call 1 Major Priestly Through an elaborate ritual, you may call heroes to this place. You don't choose who they are, but they will be willing and capable to help with your current quest or dillemma. The heroes arrive in a few days or sometimes sooner if a likely place for hero to come from is nearby.
    
68. Priestly Rites 2 Major Versatile Priestly You can lead worship services & rituals to harness energy. Effects include: Forging Oaths, Blessing Unions, Bringing Fertility and Good Harvests, Improving An Armies Fortune In War, and other mighty ends. Your powers are at their best on holy days, and rely heavily on GM narration.
    
69. Invocation 3 Frequent Major Versatile Priestly You can invoke the power of the deities to bless people, sanctify oaths, provide guidance, etc. You ask the Gods for help, and they give whatever they feel is appropriate to the situation. The gods may deny specific uses of this gift on the undeserving.
70. Earth's Surety 0 Protection If both your bare feet are in direct contact with the living, level earth you cannot be knocked over.
71. Friend of Fire 0 Protection You are unharmed by fire.
72. Friend to Water 0 Protection You can breathe water, and swimming doesn't tire you as much as it does most people. It is still possible to drown, provided you are submerged in something that is not primarily water, such as thick mud.
73. Inured To Pain 0 Protection You endure physical pain easily, making it difficult to incapacitate, impair or torture you. However, emotional pain can still reach you as normal.
74. Resistant to DeathMagic 0 Protection Any spell or magical ability that specifically kills the target will instead merely weaken you severely. Other damaging or enchanting magics affect you as normal.
75. Sun's Friend 0 Protection You are marked as friend of Father Son. You never suffer from heat exaustion, sunburn, sunstroke, or blinding light.
76. Spell-Reversal 1 Major Protection When a spell is cast on you specifically, it affects the caster instead. Spells cast on an area, or just cast near you, aren't affected.
77. Instant Healing 2 Frequent Major Protection Your wounds heal nearly instantly, so no wound remains open more than a few seconds. Any attack that causes instant death can still claim your life.
78. Unkillable 2 Frequent Major Protection You cannot be killed. You can still be sickened by poison, knocked down by blows, slowed by injuries or weakened by disease.
79. Body of Stone 3 Frequent Major Versatile Protection You are extremely durable, don't need to eat or breathe, and don't suffer from anything but the most extreme heat or cold. Damage from all physical blows is reduced greatly. On the down side, you weigh several hundred pounds.
80. Invulnerable 3 Frequent 2 x Major Protection You can't be wounded or poisoned. You can be knocked down by strong blows, but not harmed by them. You can be knocked out by asphyxiation and drowning. The only thing that can really kill you is starvation.
81. Lightning Eyes 0 Senses You can see great distances, even in darkness, but using this sight causes your eyes to flicker & flash like lightning.
82. Sight of the Soul 0 Senses You can tell by sight whether someone is awake, asleep or dreaming.
83. Usurper Sense 0 Senses When you enter a new Realm, you immediately identify the Usurper force of that Realm, and understand what it's normal and inverted forms represent.
84. Sleepers Transformation 0 Shapechange While you slumber, your body alters. Everytime you awaken after 4 hours or more of sleep, you are unrecognizable. You cannot prevent these transformations. You always retain the same number of limbs and sensory organs, and can request 1 specific detail with each night's rest, but the rest is up to the GM.
    
85. Feather Coat 1 Frequent Shapechange You may change into a bird at will. You can fly, and fit into small areas, but you also have hollow bones, so be careful. Your clothes change form with you, but not the things in your pockets, backpack or otherwise carried.
86. Lunar Wolf 1 Major Shapechange When the sun is set and the full moon is showing, you turn into a powerful wolf. When in wolf form, you are immune to non-silver/non-magical weapons.
87. Flow Like A Creek 2 Frequent Versatile Shapechange You may transform your entire body into fluid given a minute of concentration. While liquid, you have only minor control of your movement, mostly being taken by gravity, but can slowly flow against nature. You can also soak into the dirt for safety, flow under a door to escape, or wash away a foe on a slippery surface.
    
88. Werewolf 2 Frequent Major Shapechange You can turn into a wolf or powerful wolf-man form at will. When in wolfman form, you are immune to non-silver/non-magical weapons. Your clothes transform with you, but items you're carrying do not.
89. Animal Forms 3 Frequent Major Versatile Shapechange You may transform into the shape of any natural creature up to the size of a horse. You can't take the form of someone specific, just a generic version of the species you choose.
90. Werehawk 3 Frequent 2 x Major Shapechange You can turn into a powerful hawk at will. When in hawk form, you are immune to non-silver/non-magical weapons. In were-hawk form you have sharp talons and the gift of rapid flight.
91. Mimicry 4 Frequent 2 x Major Versatile Shapechange You may transform into living creature you have touched, up to the size of a horse. You take specific forms of people and animals you've touched, so may duplicate anyone you get close enough too. You copy every aspect of their physicality, including voice.
92. Tending the Ritual Fires 0 Spirit You may physically enter the spirit world via a firey ritual that does not harm or consume you. You must start the fire yourself to use this ability, and become stranded if the fire goes out while you're in the spirit realm.
93. Shadow Whispers 1 Major Spirit You may talk to the dead. Some ghosts are in no shape to hold a conversation, and some may simply not want to talk.
94. Ghost Strike 2 2 x Major Spirit You may attack ghosts and spirits as though they were physically present. Your weapons and unarmed attacks may strike them, but this does not make you any more vulnerable to them than normal.
95. Horn Pouch 2 Frequent Versatile Spirit Accompanied by a Stag-Spirit as long as it's horns are in your medicine pouch. Your senses are supernaturally accute, and you gain bonuses to woodcraft, stealth, surefooting & endurance-when-running.
96. Clench 0 Strength While wearing your special magic gloves, you can grasp with great strength and endurance. You could hang all night by hand if you needed to.
97. Earth's Surety 0 Strength If both your bare feet are in direct contact with the living, level earth you cannot be knocked over.
98. Glimpses of the Future 1 Major Visions During times of stress, you get visions of the future. These are often hazy or incomplete, merely clues to what might happen. You don't control it, but may remind the GM about the power as often as you wish.
99. Glimpses Through Time and Space 2 Major Versatile Visions During times of stress, you get visions of the future, past or elsewhere in the present. These are often hazy or incomplete, merely clues to what might happen. You don't control it, but may remind the GM about the power as often as you wish.
100. Visionary Ritual 2 Frequent Major Visions You may perform a ritual to gain visions of the future. These usually come in the form of clues and symbols, not simple answers.
101. Mystic Eye 3 Frequent Major Versatile Visions You can concentrate to gain visions of future, past or elsewhere in the present. Visions are often hazy, incomplete or symbolic, so don't expect easy answers to all your problems.
102. All Seeing Eye n/a Visions A power that would ruin all the mystery elements of the plot is not allowed. So you can't have crystal-clear totally-controlled visions on demand.
103. Friend to Water 0 Water You can breathe water, and swimming doesn't tire you as much as it does most people. It is still possible to drown, provided you are submerged in something that is not primarily water, such as thick mud.
104. Bottomless Cup 1 Versatile Water You have a magic cup that never empties. Those near you need never die of thirst, you always have water to wash with, and you may flood an room by turning the cup upside down.
105. Flow Like A Creek 2 Frequent Versatile Water You may transform your entire body into fluid given a minute of concentration. While liquid, you have only minor control of your movement, mostly being taken by gravity, but can slowly flow against gravity. You can soak into the dirt for safety, flow slow
106. Exhalation of Fog 0 Weather If you spend several minutes taking deep breaths, you may surround yourself or a small area with a thick fog that others cannot see through. This will conceal you, but is obviously supernatural. You can also blow small fog rings, have fog stream from your nose, and other parlor tricks.
     
107. Lightning Bite 0 Weather Bite gives target a shock. Those with low Earth will suffer ringing in the ears, dizziness & disorientation.
108. Call Down the Storm 1 Major Weather You may call down thunder, rain & lightning by doing a specific dance. You don't control the storm.
109. Calm Spot 1 Major Weather You and those within 10 feet are never harmed by inclement weather. Rain does not soak you, hurricanes don't blow you over, lightning does not strike you. You may still fall victim to flooding if downstream. Heat hot enough to burn flesh may still harm you, but the effects of cold are ignored completely.
     
110. Frostfriend 1 Major Weather You may cause the air around you to become bitterly cold, enough to slowly freeze water you are touching. It causes discomfort and chills in others, but no actual harm unless you focus it on them for several minutes. Cold does not harm you.
111. Wind Is My Weapon 2 Frequent Versatile Weather You may buffet enemies with strong winds, and deflect or assist arrows. You may cause light objects to be blown from other's hands (and into yours), and strong winds extinguish or spread flames as you see fit. The sails of your ship are always full. You take reduced damage from long falls.
     
112. Weather God n/a Weather Total (or pinpoint) control of weather would be frequently useful, double major due to being able to destroy a city or just lightningblast a single enemy, and double versatile because you could: harm or slow foes, freeze a lake to cross over, save or destroy a person or settlement. It is therefore not allowed.
     
113. World Windows 0 Movement: Spherewalk You may see through gates as if they were windows to the Sphere they connect to: You can see the conditions and events at the other end. You can't interact with anything there, just spy on it.
114. Unbound 0 Freedom Ropes, Shackles, Bindings and Belts fall off of you unless they are magical in nature.
115. Chilling Gaze 1 Frequent Weather Anyone who meets your gaze feels a sudden chill, as if the temperature just dropped 10 degrees.
116. Fortunes Blessing 2 Frequent Major Miscellaneous Whenever a Fortune Card is drawn by the GM in regards to one of your actions, the GM must draw cards instead. You get to choose which card they use before they tell you the results.
117. Net of Hair 0 You may catch objects or people in your hair like a net. It's not animated, just very clingy. It's no stronger than normal hair, and still hurts if pulled.
118. Pick The Right Flowers 0 Persuasion You always choose the right flowers for every occasion, and find them growing or available for sale on your way to any event that requires more than a mile of travel to arrive at.
119. Detachable Head 1 Major With a moments prep, you can remove your own head without suffering pain or injury. Head and body can operate independantly, as long as niether suffers major wounds.
120. Hummingbird Ears 0 Companion Your ears are shaped like bright colorful flowers, and your earwax is a sweet nectar. Hummingbirds like you, and will whisper secrets to you about the realm you're in and particularly its wilderness. Monstrous hummingbirds (giant, poisonous, bloodsucking, undead, etc) are somewhat less likely to attack you, but otherwise immune to your charms.
     
121. Sphere-Spanning Discus Your magic discuss will never touch the ground, and can keep a slow forward hover going perpetually. It can be thrown to the horizon, carry messages, possibly even skim around a Sphere to judge its size.
122. Tireless Shoes 0 While wearing these shoes, you can walk forever and never suffer stress, aches, soreness, or discomfort from walking or jogging. Falls, fatigue and similar movement-related problems can still develop, and it doesn't mean you can go without sleep.
123. Sand Stone 1 Versatile Things you build from sand hold their shape as if they were stone. Castles are a natural, but you could make sand clubs or furniture as well. It takes several minutes to sculpt and set such an item.
124. Glass Blower 1 Versatile With a calm, deep exhalation you emit shapes of molten glass from your mouth. You are immune to the heat from glass you produce. But you could use it as a weapon or torture device in addition to obvious craft applications.
125. Tree Meld 2 Major Versatile You may melt into any tree you touch, hiding within it and flowing to whatever branch, root or trunk you like. Entry and exit require a moment of concentration. Anything that harms the part of the tree you're in will harm you.
126. Origami Companions 2 Frequent Versatile Companion You may fold paper into plant or animal shapes. If you do, they come alive. They behave very much like real creatures, save for their size and the natural limitations of paper (flimsy, combustible, damaged by water, etc). They have loyalty to you as if they were your child.
     
127. Cooking Hands 1 Frequent Place ingredients in palm of hand. Clasp hands, hold closed as long as it would take to cook it normally. Open hands to find food prepared as though cooked (in any method you're familiar with) for that length of time.
128. One Thousand Eyes 1 Frequent Your body is covered with eyes. You may see in all directions, and notice things most people would miss. However, beware of sandstorms and other airborne eye-irritants.
129. Water Witch 0 While in a meditative state, you may detect water, and know direction and distance to it.
130. Windless Sea 0 Whenever you are near a large body of water, the wind dies and remains dead until you leave.
131. Clothing Shift 1 Frequent Shapechange Your clothing is a shapeshifter. It may take any style, cut or color you choose, taking just moments to transform as you will it. It may shape into a mask or costume, but is noticably such.
132. Branch Perch 2 Frequent Major Any living plant may support your wieght. You can stand on treetops or walk along the tips of the tall grass. It is very difficult to track you, and not easy to dislodge or unbalance you either as long as there are plants about to support you.
133. To My Javelin! 2 Frequent Major You may call yourself to your javelin, teleporting close enough to grasp it. Doing so takes a moment's concentration. Most often you carry it with you to throw across obstacles, but there's no reason you couldn't leave it somewhere for a quick escape.
     
134. Purifying Gargle 0 If you put water in your mouth and gargle with it, it will be clean and germ-free when you spit it out.
135. Crop Head 1 Major A nourishing food grain grows where your hair should be. It's not a complete protien, but it could sustain life for several weeks off it if absolutely needed. Enough food grows for one person per day, so you can always see it sprouting or growing. It won't die off and doesn't need watering, but can be trimmed or burnt much like hair.
     
136. Incubator 1 Major If you nest upon an egg for 72 hours, it will hatch. This even works for fossilized or sterile eggs, as long as its shell and shape are intact.
137. Abortion's Touch 1 Major Your touch upon the belly of a pregnant women kills the unborn child in their womb. Death is quick, and painless for the child but the mothers can feel the effect unless they have very low water scores.
138. Unopened Bottle 0 You may drink liquids from the bottle or flask they are contained in without opening them. Just suck on the lid or neck. This does not break the seal, nor contaminate the contents in any way.
139. Rope Hair 1 Major Your hair is so strong and healthy that a braid of three strands is enough to be a sturdy rope capable of supporting the weight of a full grown man, or even strong enough to bind a Earth:4 captive.

As I indicated above, if you feel any of the new powers are cool enough to use in your own campaign, please share via a comment to this post. Thank you!

Everway/Amber names

One Everway campaign I ran was a follow-up to an Amber campaign (where Eric destroyed the Universe and all the PCs gave their lives but failed to stop him). As a result, we (I was one of two GMs for both campaigns, the other was Sarah, my wife) put some thought into what Amberites Eric would bring back for his new Universe, and how he would refashion them. Here's a short brainstorm list of Amberites and possible Everway names for them in Eric's universe.

Eric
Errata, Firstborn of Amber (he revised the Universe)
Errant (he may be absent often from Amber, exploring the new reality he created)
Eriach (the word means a fine paid to the family of someone you murdered. In otherwords, eriach is a synonym of weregild, which is cool 'cause Eric's army in Amber were werewolves.)

Oberon (Eric's Dad)
Overlord (for a very draconian King of the Universe)
Over One (sounds like Oberon, and is slightly less ominous than Overlord)
Auburn (perhaps too feminine, but it would indicate Errata doesn't harbor any bad feelings)

Faella (Eric's Mother)
Fae (she was but a fleeting ephemeral presence in his childhood, dying while he was quite young. As a result, she's somewhat idealized and unreal in his new Universe. In the new Universe, all the Amberites are her children, and Eric is the eldest of her kids.)

Dworkin (Eric's secret grandfather, inventor of Trump)Art (anything less would be insulting)

Cymnea (Oberon's first wife, the mother of Benedict)
Unicorn (all the ex-wives, save Faella, are wrapped up and washed away, bound to Dad's old horse)
Chlamydia (sums up his feelings quite nicely)

Siblings with easy names:
Benedict - Benediction
Bleys - Blaze
Brand - Brand
Caine - Cane
Florimel - Floral
Random - Random

Siblings with trickier names to Everwayize:
Llewella - Lore Well (she's always been so bookish and quiet)
Fiona - Fiat (a decree or legal proclamation)
Dierdre - Diesis (in music, a division of a tone, an interval of less than a half step. Eriach has invoked some Errata over her)
Corwin - Corvee (it means a forced labor exacted by a government. This indicates a slightly bitter Eriach)
Gerard - Gerent (meaning: one who manages or governs) or Gladiator
Julian - never did find a name we liked for him. He's too manly to be Jewels.
Finndo - Finder
Osric - again, we didn't think of a name we liked, and it was unlikely he'd be needed anyhow...

Names for Everway

In the Everway RPG, characters have meaningful names. Such names are made of words, not just sounds. Coming up with a good name on the spur of the moment can be tough, so, when Sarah and I were prepping our 2-GM Everway campaign a couple years ago, one thing we did was generate a brainstorm list of possible NPC names. We were free to claim names off the list as need be, and would note that we'd done so by writing the name of the characters home-realm in parenthesis after their name. Here's the list as the digital version exists (there was a hardcopy in our binder that probably had a lot more place names, but I'm having trouble finding it). A few of the names are goofy as heck, perfect for light-hearted/throw-away NPCs.

Some of these were from a list of members of the Order of the Eternal Rose known to the PCs. When players joined the game in progress, we handed them that list and made them choose a name from the list.

80-Foot Icicles (Frostbridge)
Accusatory (Restriction)
Ailettes and Pauldrons
Angry Ink Bottle
Bangs Bathe the Knees
Barded Boar
Bear Killer (Grand Pelt)
Besscologist (Bess’s Nut - was once known as Blasted Oak)
Blasted Oak (Bess's Nut - Besscologist, before learning about the trees)
Blissfully Stared At
Brazen Song *became Jenn's PC*
Brimming Scimitar (Bamboo City - don't tell players)
Buxom Talisman
Capering Thunderbolt
Chariot Humbler (Legs-Of-Ra)
Chequered Gallows
Clap Puzzle
Cliff Down Holyplace
Compulsory (Pure Heart - part of the bad guy group)
Croisé
Crossed Gateways
Derived From Ink
Double-headed Friar
Dozing Fawn
Drooping Candlestick
Elfin Curves (Redsky)
Fairy Candle
Flesh of My Flesh
Freed Of My Weights (Restriction)
Frothy Kitty
Frozen Cane
Frozen Lips
Giver of Great News
Godson
Grace Of A Hundred Zebras (PantherHunt)
Grandmaster of Earthquakes (Flashfire)
Great Skull Zero
Grotesque Scent, Maker of Cheeses
Growling Fool (The Moon’s Babe)
Grumpy Yew Pentacle (Boundless - don't tell the players)
Health, A Bearer Of Souls (Pure Heart)
Herd of Purple Flames
Herring In The Peach Trees
Hollow Road
Homeopathy
Howling Mushroom
Incontrovertible, King of the Realm of Fossil
Judgment of the Grand Days of Our Lives
Knight Enchantress Thief
Knower of Things
Lack Of Magic (Flashfire)
Ladylike Scepter
Lard Gulper
List of a Thousand Words
Little Walking Bridge
Lost In The Wild (PantherHunt)
Magnificent Umbrella
Malapert Butterfly, Chairman of the Inheritance Board (Night’s Adornment - don't tell players)
Minerals and Hermits, A Miner Of All Things (Viridian)
Moon’s Height (The Moon’s Babe)
Mountain Goat
Muscular Legs That Travel Well
No Sickness In Me (Pure Heart)
Opener of All Things Evil
Painless Virtue (Restriction)
Pantheon’s Plaything (Pleasure-In-Communion)
Peace Maker
Protector of Plants
Prudence
Pugwash
Red-eyed Dromedary
Resounding Lesson, Master of Tutelage (Opal)
Royale, With Spike
Rumtruffle
Scars Like Bark *became Jeremy's PC*
Seeker of Challenges (Grand Pelt)
Sinewy Flight (Bamboo City - don't tell players)
Sloppy Thistle
Spot On The Wall That Can’t Be Seen
Spring’s Stone Grave
Steamsmith’s Pride (Opal - a golem)
Sterling (Night’s Adornment - Died 300 years ago. ) *became James's PC*
Strong Wind (Bamboo City)
Sups With No Spoon (Rustheart)
Things You Can’t Find In Books
Thorny Cloaked Mane
Toolhand Luck
Tree Shark
Trident Tortoiseshell
Unerring Sextant (Olive Isles)
Valkyrie’s Wake (Frostbridge)
Volumes, Milker of Knowledge (Opal)
Water That Pours From the Mountains and Into the Streams
Water’s Caress (Pleasure-In-Communion)
WaterWatcher, The Gleamer (The Plains)
Wild Goose Benighted
Worker Ant

Feel free to use any of those character names in your own games and projects, though if you do, I'd really love to hear about via a comment to this post. Thanks!

Firefly Brainstorm Lists: Amber-Conversion

The two people pushing hardest for the Firefly/Serenity campaign that almost happened last year were me and Jeremy. We both prefer rules-light systems, and neither of us wanted to learn the Serenity RPG system well enough to run it. It was intended to be a rotating-GM game, so everyone would have had to learn it pretty well. The system discussion took a couple weeks. We went from the Amber-based system below, to Dogs-In-The-Vineyard in the Firefly setting, to just playing something else (Amber, as it turns out). In retrospect, I wish we'd done the DITV Firefly.

Diceless System for Firefly/Serenity (based on Amber DPRG mechanics)

This is based on Jeremy’s idea that a diceless version complete with Amber Auction would:

1. create some built-in rivalries from the get-go, to put the players in the right frame of mind,
2. give everyone a clearly-defined specialty, something everybody knows they’re good at
3. allow us to play very rules light so it’s easy for anyone to GM a session
4. put the exact definition of our abilities and capabilities in the hands of each sessions GM (which is great for Psy powers, for example)
5. be a lot of fun

Attributes that may prove important to the setting:
Speed
Accuracy
Strength
Endurance
Intellect
Intuition
Tech
Charisma
Cool

Here's the logic behind portions of that list:

Speed vs Accuracy: I think we need two separate stats for these. Being a good shot and a fast draw feel like two separate skills in a western. A successful gunfighter needs to be good at both, but plenty are better at one than the other.

Strength vs Endurance: Jayne is a character who’s clearly strong, but kind of a sissy.

Intellect vs Intuition: Simon is clearly very rational and clever. River is primal and psychic. Shepherd Book has a good balance between the two. Jayne lacks both.

Tech vs Charisma: Kaylie (and to a lesser extent, Wash) is good with machines. Inara (and to a lesser extent, Mal and Simon) is good with people.

Cool: Where Zoe excels and Wash scrubs out. (Zoe, by the way, is like Bleys in Amber - 2nd or 3rd best at everything). Maybe this is part of Endurance?

Your Talent: Each PC gets something that makes them special beyond stat points, but it’s limited to one per PC. Examples drawn straight from the show:

• Simon is “The Doctor”.
• Kaylee “Understands Technology”.
• River has “Amazing Potential, But It’s Completely Beyond Her Control”.
• Wash has “Hotshot Pilot”.
• Mal has “It’s MY Ship”.
• Inara is a “Certified Companion”.
• Jayne has “Personal Armory”.
• Shepherd Book has “Mysterious Past”.
• Zoe seems to lack anything terribly special, so maybe she’s just got more points than anyone else to explain her being second best at everything -or- maybe Wash is the NPC pilot, and Zoe has “NPC Husband”
  

Should each PC get one free Talent, or should Talents cost 20 (out of 100?) Points?

Related posts: Character Concepts and Genre/Plot Ideas for use with Firefly.