Time for another experimental game. Definitely not a joke I've heard a hundred times by now.
THE Soup Stone RPG
Every problem you try to solve can be solved by making a proper meal.
Your stats are listed below. Distribute 36 points among them (minimum 2, maximum 12).
Filling. A filling meal can give you tons of energy, which helps you in speed and endurance.
Stylish. Good-looking meals are good for your creativity.
Tasty. A tasty meal is good for your mind. This makes you more sociable.
Healthy. A healthy body means you're gonna move well, therefore, this is good for physical matters such as strength and agility.
Digestible. Your body doesn't need to focus on digestion, therefore, this is good for smarts.
Whenever you attempt something relevant to the stat, roll 1d12. You succeed on a roll less than the stat (not equal).
When you attempt to make a meal, roll 5d12 and distribute them among the stats. Each roll that's less than your stat successfully causes that quality to manifest within the meal. If more characters are cooking the same meal, they may choose to roll fewer d12's and then select which stats they contribute with for the final meal. Why choose fewer? Because too many cooks will spoil the soup - if two or more characters contribute with a success in the same quality, it's considered a failure.
Different characters might require different qualities, and the players will have to guess which ones exactly based on the characterization of NPCs provided by the GM through role-play.
Woohoo, the soup stone game is finally out. It's a rushed job done mostly within the last 10 minutes of the April Fools, but it's something.
It's time for the truth to be revealed. Maybe I never really wanted a game that's action-filled in the first place. I have always dreamed of a D&D game with an all-bards party, where they'd go on a world tour. Or something similar for another system. I lost this dream of mine somewhere along the way to Game Dev years ago and have forgotten about it... until today.
It's time to showcase how the musical pillar will work for the Runehack RPG!
A quick musician doodle redeemed from Mishroomarts
Music Pillar
There are four qualities that the music can have:
Intensity can range from Calm to Strong, describing how loud the music's loudest tones are. It utilizes Muscle.
Tempo can range from Slow to Fast, describing the general speed at which the music is played. It utilizes Agility.
Authenticity can range from Bright to Dark, describing whether the music is more upbeat or emotional. It utilizes Comprehension.
Creativity can range from Stock to Fresh, describing whether the music is predictable or if it's unafraid to experiment outside of the music theory's range. It utilizes Hunch.
Training isn't represented as a musical genre because it defines your expertise with musical instruments. You can play a number of musical instruments equal to 1 + your Training, and they can have a total number of unique properties equal to your Training.
Note: You can select a musical instrument in place of one of the expert areas that your Training gives you in the Core Pillar. If you do so, you will have expertly knowledge in how this instrument works, its history, maintenance, and significant artists who primarily played this instrument.
The musical instruments can have the following properties:
Pedaled. Advantage on rolls for Intensity.
Two-handed. Advantage on rolls for Tempo.
Multi-tonal. Advantage on rolls for Authenticity.
Contiunuous. Advantage on rolls for Creativity.
Static. Advantage on rolls for both Intensity and Tempo.
Custom-made. Choose one of the musical qualities. You can use Training in place of the original stat when rolling for that quality using this instrument. You can take this property multiple times.
Musical Performance
When performing, it is important to appease the crowd's demands. The GM begins by secretly rolling 4d6 and dividing the numbers between the qualities. The highest roll stands for a preference for high rolls in that quality, the lowest roll stands for a preference for low rolls in that quality, and anything in between begins neutral. If multiple numbers are the highest/lowest, it's applied to multiple qualities. If all four numbers are the same, they correspond to low (1-3) or high (4-6) rolls. The GM keeps them in the order of Intensity, Tempo, Authenticity, and Creativity behind the screen.
At the start of every round, the GM rolls 2d12 without adding them together to see which preferences flip. If they were neutral so far, they get tipped either way at GM's discretion.
1-3: Intensity
4-6: Tempo
7-9: Authenticity
10-12: Creativity
These preferences can be represented in crowd actions. These are, on purpose, ambiguous to keep the band guessing. For convenience, each is listed twice to be easier to reference. The GM should mention ideally two of them (one if there aren't two) at the start of each round to clue the players in on what the audience demands.
Intensity (low)
or Tempo (low): swaying
or Creativity (low): whistling
Intensity (high)
or Tempo (high): head-banging
or Authenticity (high): stomping
Tempo (low)
or Intensity (low): swaying
or Authenticity (high): lights above heads (e.g. lighters)
Tempo (high)
or Intensity (high): head-banging
or Creativity (high): playing air instruments
Authenticity (low)
or Creativity (low): screams
or Creativity (high): crowd wave
Authenticity (high)
or Intensity (high): stomping
or Tempo (low): lights above heads (e.g. lighters)
Creativity (low)
or Intensity (low): whistling
or Authenticity (low): screams
Creativity (high)
or Tempo (high): playing air instruments
or Authenticity (low): crowd wave
The DC for all music-making rolls is 8 unless said otherwise. However, the players must either roll above the DC as usual, or under if the audience demands low for some musical quality. Whether a player is trying to roll over or under 8 should be announced before the roll along with the musical quality (e.g. "I'm trying to go for low Tempo). Due to this, any musician can choose to roll with a disadvantage at will, and they can choose whether their stat is ignored, added to, or subtracted from a roll after it is made. The goal is to play according to the crowd's preferences, confirmed by the reactions described by the GM. If a musician succeeds in playing according to the crowd's preferences two times in a turn, or when they roll exactly 8, they get a Starpower Point.
Starpower Points are a way of performing extra actions while keeping up the performance. The pillar will feature some special actions that can be performed by spending an act or a number of Starpower Points. The details aren't worked out yet, but for now, examples could include:
getting the crowd to sing in your place,
dance moves,
musical instrument tricks,
activating special effects such as fireworks,
jumping onto the crowd and letting it carry you,
tossing a keepsake into the crowd.
Each would have its effect, but right now I don't have any further details worked out. Maybe some could coordinate their preferences or something like that.
That's about it for now. Of course, once finished the pillar would feature its own roles, their features, and so on, but that all should be done on another day. All that being said, ... it should be obvious this isn't what I want my game to be about, but I do want it to be an actual part of the game. It's not on my priorities list, but I had some time to spare during Easter and thought of working this out before I get to the final details of the core system I want to release this year as a way of relaxing. It might not come off as all that funny of an April Fools joke, but I came up with it not too long ago. The article was written in about 2 hours, most of this isn't set in stone yet. Obviously, it borrows some ideas from Play It by Cheer!, and that's because I really liked the foundation I've laid out there. Its stats map nicely onto this system's stats, Training is an awesome "ace in a sleeve" stat that'd work universally elsewhere, and... I think when I get to making the roles for this system, I'll make it so that the roles are named differently. Writing all this out made me realize that the roles probably should have different names in every pillar.
Anyway, writing the Core Pillar article took me too long, I wrote like 5 or 6 articles since I mentioned it last time it, so I can't promise I'll publish it before I begin the playtests. I'll see what I can do though. I like the way the game's development is going, and my 12 good games resolution is going to be finished soon enough. Or, it would be, if Witcher 3 wasn't still ahead of me.
That's about it! Thank you for reading, and happy beginning of April, everyone!
Initially, I wanted to write an article about why I'm leaving D&D for good, showcasing my goodbye homebrew. But I realized that I already did talk about why I'm done with it in my 2022 Review blog post. So with my final creation, I wanted to publish finally being out, it's time for me to move back to my favorite stuff to do: Runehack, and other worlds in my magitech multiverse.
I didn't have too much time to think through this one, so... uh, you'll have to deal with surface-level thought-through magitech here. Also please forgive my limited explanations of physics here, it's a fantasy world after all.
Sparktech
The lightnings are chaotic. The lightnings are unpredictable. The lightnings are powerful. In the darkest of storms, bolts of lightning can surprise and startle us by striking something really tall. But... lightnings do seem to like metal. What if there was a way to trap it in a prison of metal? Let's just assume that there is a device for that, called "captor" for now. Now if we connect the captor to some very thin lines of metal (think like wires), we could perhaps find a use for them!
If you're lucky enough to see a metal struck by lightning, you'll probably notice that it's got hot. That's something we might want to limit if we want our wires to last very long. What if there was a magical device, one that we could attach the wire to restrict how much spark (lightning in wire, I'm getting tired of writing lightning over and over) gets to course through a wire at a given moment. Let's call it "limiter".
If we have a wire loop with a captor and maybe a limiter on it, we'll notice that in time, the spark does escape. We want to avoid that. Perhaps this process could be slowed down if we make it so bits of wire can be detached or attached with a manual human-activated motion. Like a button or something similar. Let's call it "flip".
What if there was a way to make it so that a wire works as a limiter only in one direction? And like a very effective limiter at that. I'm not sure what this could be useful for just yet, but it could perhaps force the spark to travel in a deterministic direction within the wires. Let's call such a limiter "director" because it directs which way the spark flows.
There's one more important part of this puzzle that should be discussed. You can create a magical device out of silicon that has two inputs and one output (don't feel like figuring out how). One of the inputs is a source, and the other input is a control. The spark travels from the source to the output wire only if the control doesn't have a spark. I'm imagining it sort of like a portcullis, which is held down if there's someone who can pull it down at its lever or whatever those used to be controlled with. That's why I'm gonna call it "gate".
Now, let's say that I connect three wires together, attaching directors to two of them arranged so that the spark would flow towards the meeting point. If either of the directed wires has a spark in it, the one without a director gets it too. Maybe attach a limiter to it too just to make sure the wire will be fine. We got ourselves a way to detect the presence of a spark on any of multiple inputs!
How about this. If you attach a captor to the gate's source input, and attach some wire that can but doesn't have to have a spark in it to the controller, the gate will let a spark through to the other side only if the control is off. And that's how we got ourselves a way to negate the spark!
Since we can negate signals, as well as combine them, we could work out support for the rest of the logic from there. I'm pretty sure that the gates could somehow also be built so that information can be stored in them, probably through a complicated combination of gates. But I think this can go further.
The legends speak of an arcane ritual that involves weaving a wire around a rod into a spiral. When you let spark into such wire, it will magically draw closer objects made out of metal. I'm gonna call this "spool", and its applications are obvious. You could use this to move metal objects around, thus letting us convert spark into mechanical movement!
I believe I could keep on making more and more technology for this purely hypothetical world in the future. Perhaps the heat from the wires could be useful for something, like heating devices. Maybe I could even find a way to redirect the heat somewhere else involving special liquids and making cooling devices. Heated metals glow, so they could be used for producing light. There could of course be other ways to make light as well. Maybe there could even be a way to communicate between two wires without them being connected through some sort of spark-related invisible energy. And if I were to learn more about lightnings, maybe I could come up with further applications for this new kind of technology. But I'll cut it here for now.
The countryside is lined with crosses that carry the sparks to those who need them. ... what? No one ever said that these sparks can move about outside of wires. ... well, maybe for short distances. But that's beside the point. Imagine how bizarre it would be to see these things everywhere. What kinds of shapes they could have depending on the nations, and how these massive wires could become parts of buildings, perhaps even integrated into them. Wouldn't that be wild? Utility Poles, by RegusMartin
But for now, I think I'm gonna stick to runes because they require less explaining. Besides, I do believe many authors have already utilized sparktech in their own creations, though they tend to label it "electronics" for some reason beyond me. Etymology tells me that that word is derived from amber, and frankly I don't know what that has to do with any of this.
I hope you've enjoyed reading my article. It's nice to get into writing again, and I hope I'll be able to post more good things to the blog soon. Thank you for reading, and have a nice April Fools!
If decades worth of movies and nearly one century of comic books tell us anything, it's one thing: people love their superheroes. And I want people to love my world So maybe I should put some superheroes into it. Probably focused in one place so that they don't alter my world too much.
Helethon
Deep in the Hidden Valley found in one of New World's numerous forests stands the majestic city-state of Helethon. What seems to be an ordinary modern city owned by a corporation surprisingly disconnected from both Nexuspace and Lifestock turns out to be a system corrupt to its core. As soon as the sun goes down, the crime rate grows tenfold. However, the valley this city exists in is a zone overflowing with anomalies. It is a valley of superstitions and myths come true, of deities walking among the mortals, of scientific experiments gone wrong in an amazing way, and of real magic. If you believe just hard enough, you too might gain the capabilities to change this city for the better... or worse. All of this has led to many vigilantes seeking ways of curing the city, only to get tangled in its web of corruption.
Geography
Helethon is found in the Hidden Valley that's supposedly found someplace in the continent of the New World. Its precise locations are kept secret from others for a reason that's unclear to most, if not all. A legend says that whoever will wander into the wilderness and follow their heart will stumble upon this place within a season. The city's walls encompass a fairly large lake, as well as a small mountain.
Whatever people need, Helethon can provide. An abundance of meat from chicken and sheeplets, as well as rare cows, pigs, and goats, are raised on multiple farms found within this city's walls. Many fish are caught in the lake, which also provides plenty of other resources. All sorts of vegetables, and many fruits, are also grown here. Silver, amber, gold, iron, and many other minerals and metals can be mined in the mountain that the city of Helethon protects. This mountain also provided the city with plenty of wood, and its powerful warriors are known to protect the woodcutters doing their work outside of the city walls by fighting off the morphers. Strangely, however, this state is unwilling to export or import any of these goods.
History
The Hidden Valley was left untouched until 52 years ago, when a collective of wandering humans, elves, and dwarves entered it. Due to unknown powers influencing the valley, some of these people have gained supernatural powers. Within years, they’ve gathered enough materials to build up a city, with more and more people moving in. The city remains independent from both Nexuspace and Lifestock to this day.
Structure
Helethon's districts are extremely straightforward, named after colors that dominate them. While residences tend to be brown in color on the inside, outsides of the houses of each district are mostly monochromatic, using various shades of their district's titular color. Vigilant and villainous lairs are hidden in each of the districts.
Blue District. The lake, as well as all ports, are part of this district found in the northern parts of the city. It borders the Green, Red, and Yellow Districts.
Gray District. The mountain, along with all its mines, makes up this district. It's found in the southern part of the city. It borders the Green, Red, and Yellow Districts.
Green District. The district dedicated to the variety of people who grow plants for a living can be found on the western edge of the city. Contained within this district is even a small forest, grown by the local vigilante Dryadica. The Green District is on the west of Helethon and borders the Blue, Gray, and Yellow Districts.
Red District. This formerly residential district on the east has been turned into the nest of most lowly criminals, which has led the Helethon’s governing body towards training guards and sending them to this area. This is where most villains’ henchmen usually come from, as well as where most trained non-vigilante soldiers reside. The Red District borders the Blue, Yellow, and Gray Districts.
Yellow District. If you wish to visit a bank or someone in a corporate position of power, you should visit the central district of the city. It borders all other districts.
Culture
For the most part, living in Helethon is like living in most other city-states owned by corporations, such as New Prista. However, all the differences come from the fact, that people can seemingly develop powers out of nowhere due to the secretive influences of the Hidden Valley. And civilians have largely adjusted to these.
If there is a fight between a vigilante and a villain that can’t be observed safely, civilians of Helethon struggle internally with a choice between two opposing forces. Either give in to the curiosity and approach the struggle to watch how it will end, or rush as far as one can to safety. Observing dangerous combat can be risky for those who lack special abilities that would let them survive it easier, and yet many do it in order to watch the spectacle, or sometimes to try and help the vigilante. News of such fights spread faster than a wildfire thanks to technology.
Due to the possibility of the city getting destroyed, people of this city try to minimize assets that they own which could be put at risk when two or more superpowered individuals face off. Ownership of cars or other vehicles that are hard to hide in case of trouble is rare since most civilians prefer to use public transportation. Owning a big house or multiple buildings, personal vehicles that aren’t used for work, and expensive fragile possessions is a display of either courage, riches, or both since it translates to a higher chance of getting damaged in dangerous combat between vigilantes and villains. The damages tend to be repaid by the villain if possible, or in uncommon cases the vigilante if they were proven to act recklessly enough, or the villain can’t be proven to be guilty.
Beyond managing their villains and their personal problems, the vigilantes have one more thing to look out for—public relations. If people love the vigilante, they are seen as an idol, celebrated by others whenever witnessed personally. However, not all vigilantes do or can manage their public relations so well. Whether it’s negligence, arrogance, incompetence, or a different reason, vigilantes like these actively hide from the public eye to avoid hostility from the civilians. Of course, companies capable of fixing one’s public relations for the right price are commonplace in Helethon.
On the 10th day of the summer, fans of vigilantes (and occasionally even villains) gather together for the VIVICON, a meeting of people rooting for the superpowered masked individuals. Many people bring their costumes here, in order to appreciate these individuals for their contributions and efforts to society. Panels with the vigilantes are held, where they tend to talk about themselves, what they do, and how they do it. Most of all, though—it is the one day of the year when villains are not judged by the public unless they decide to commit a crime on that day. As it has been proven in the past, sometimes a villain needs only a kind heart, an open ear, and some comforting words in order to turn back to the side of good. Actual vigilantes and villains mingle with the crowd, blending in and interacting with people even in their alternate personas because they belong. Ever since VIVICON has been organized on the Blue District’s beach once, it has been the preferred location for everyone involved.
The following are some phrases and slang words used in this city:
“Battleground” is, simply put, an area in which a violent fight between a villain and a vigilante is currently going on.
“Curio” is a nickname for a person that always rushes toward a battleground to witness the fight.
“Daft” is used as a verb describing the transformation of a vigilante into a villain, be it because of a reputation that goes way too low, broadening the scope of means through which one is willing to achieve their goals or another reason.
"Rolling uphill" is what happens to the vigilantes and villains drawn to other, way more famous vigilantes and villains, with hopes of challenging them and usurping their fame. It can also be used as a description of what someone is doing, for example, "rolling uphill to defeat Reaal".
"Skyfolk", "seafolk" and "groundfolk" are all nicknames used for bizarre alien invaders who lived in the sky, sea, or earth respectively, and try to overtake the city or the world.
"To wick" is when a vigilante kills a villain. Vigilante who does so is sometimes called "wicker", and villain who dies due to this is posthumously called "wickee". It tends to be one of the signs of a vigilante who's about to daft into a villain themselves. Wicking is followed by a punishment equivalent to murder if possible.
Subculture Showcase: Vigilantes and Villains
Note: This time, this section definitely implies that the presented subculture is unique to this city.
Vigilantes and villains of Helethon prefer tight form-fitting clothes since those tend to be ideal for fighting and moving around a lot. This art was kindly created by my amazing girlfriend Arell.
Art Curiosities: Depicted here are two of Helethon's many vigilantes: ML8R on the left, and Long Joanna on the right. Showing their superpowers was rather difficult to figure out, especially in Joanna's case, but I'd say that this art turned out great.
Duty resides in power. There are four types of people in this city: those who commit crimes, those who try to stop the criminals legally, those who take the matter of stopping the criminals into their own hands, and those who do nothing about it. The difference between a vigilante and a villain is that vigilantes step outside of the bounds of law in order to stop the villains who do the same.
To a villain, ends justify the means. These are people so driven to achieve their goals, that they will do anything for them, even if it means paying lowly criminals to do their bidding. What ends are they trying to achieve depends from villain to villain. Riches, power, chaos, death, or some weird contorted form of justice are usual suspects. Sometimes they unite their forces into organizations, but for the most part, they operate without the assistance of other villains. That being said, rumors say that most of the villains in the Helethon serve the Cabal of Five, a secretive group of five unknown figures who supposedly pull all of the strings behind their actions. Plenty of villains claim that their actions are independent of any greater force, but it’s generally unknown if this is true if there are five of these figures, who they are, and what powers do they hold.
The vigilantes are people with supernatural abilities who oppose villains in fulfilling their plans. While their methods of doing so tend to vary, usually it ends in some form of violence. What unites vigilantes overall is their desire to avoid unnecessary murder. The villains are sent to the Forgiving Penitentiary for a hopeful reformation and change for the better. The vast majority of the prisoners held there however manage to escape the facility, leading them back to wreaking havoc upon the world once again. The henchmen usually get away with a mild slap on their wrist due to how little importance they have in the overall crime when compared to the villain. While vigilantes start working on their own, it's normal for them to join not one, not two, but a whole lot of vigilant organizations that mirror the villainous ones.
The two sides are united by the fact that their superpowered persona is merely an alter-ego to their actual identity. Its name, outfit, and supernatural abilities are all hidden from the public in order to let these people experience an ordinary life too, free of judgment. It is frowned upon by both sides when a vigilante or a villain has their secret identity exposed, and it is seen as a brave move for someone to expose it themselves (such as Long Joanna).
Relations
All other countries are aware of Helethon, but none of them knows where the Hidden Valley is. Thus, if anyone travels anywhere, it’s usually Helethon’s denizens traveling to and from other cities temporarily.
Curiosities
Much like the Hidden Valley, Helethon too holds a multitude of curiosities, such as:
Cairn Manor is located on the edge of the Yellow and Blue District. It is the home of lonesome millionaire triplets who have inherited the ownership of several city banks when their parents died. Gossips around the city claim that at least one of them is secretly a vigilante, despite the fact neither of them seems to have any extraordinary powers.
Esqape is a name of a nightclub frequented by both vigilantes and villains. All enmities vanish in this place of true neutrality, letting anyone who wishes to reveal some personal aspects and opinions of themselves while relaxing here.
Forgiving Penitentiary is the prison dedicated to reforming all captured villains. It's found on the bordering point between the Gray, the Red, and the Yellow Districts. Rumors claim it's a former factory building repurposed to serve as a prison, and that over the years many secret tunnels have been built into the walls of the building without its guards becoming aware of it.
Justice Hall is home to a court, in which vigilantes can serve as judges side-by-side with non-superpowered judges. It has been established because oftentimes it has been proven that issues regarding the villains need the perspective of both vigilantes fighting them off, but also civilians who are affected by the collateral damage.
Memorial of the Thousand Burdens is a massive stone statue in the port area of a man holding a gigantic boulder on his back, representing the duties so many of the superpowered people in this city hold. It is a frequent target of attempted attacks by the villains trying to convince the vigilantes that they are not obliged to fight.
The Sentinel University is an educational institution dedicated to training those who have developed supernatural powers and wish to become vigilantes. It’s located in the Blue District, where it can be easily found thanks to its golden tower. There are still many vigilantes who are self-taught in their powers, not seeking any guidance on the use of their abilities and instead choosing to learn on their own.
The Violet Tower is a tower covered by violet velvet fabric that can’t get wet, created by the Pink Genius. This vigilante has lost her life when Reaal tried to kill half of Helethon’s population by detonating a massive runic bomb. Nowadays, her tower remains unvisited by anyone except for the vilest of villains and teenagers who have no respect for her or what the tower came to represent—the sacrifices that the vigilantes have to make sometimes in order to save others.
.
Important People
Helethon is a home of many vigilantes and villains, which is why each of these characters will have its nickname listed in front of its actual name.
“Achoe”, Snozz Lozz, goblin, male; a minor villain with the ability to make any person or group of people sneeze with a snap of his fingers. Generally viewed as a harmless nuisance. Tends to get annoying when he has a song stuck in his head that he can’t help but snap to.
“The BubbleBot”, no other name given, runebot, female; a vigilante who traps the villains she fights in psychic spherical force fields. She is enthusiastic about the prospect of fighting the villains, and oftentimes seeks ways of making people’s days generally better.
“Dryadica”, Lesann Woods, elf, female; vigilante who embodies the soul of the forests. She can grow plants, flowers, trees, and vines as she wills, and seems to be partially made out of wood herself.
"Emulator" also known as "ML8R", Hed Lived, human, male; vigilante who was brought back to life by an unknown being from another world that also granted him shapeshifting powers. Many citizens dislike him despite helping them out because they think he is a very intelligent monster that has infiltrated the city and is trying to gain people's trust. Curiously, the silver is his weakness—when touching it, his muscles strain and lock, causing him paralysis everywhere except for his face.
“Meatball Moon”, no other name given, unknown, unknown; a sentient villain that was a shapeshifter equivalent of a rat king. This ball of flesh has hurled years ago towards the Helethon city without any other city noticing. It has been dispatched by the combined forces of several vigilantes, and now it is gone.
“Mr. Kat”, Marquis Katoward Felmund Starfur XVII. of Amberwatch Lineage, cat, male; an orange-furred villain who’s extremely wealthy, influential in the society, and possesses an army of custom-made runebots with cat heads. All of the tools he uses are cat-themed, and he speaks through a runetech-powered translator. His superpower is to access all of the memories of his ancestors named Marquis Katoward Felmund Starfur, but he can’t do so on the first day of a season. On such days, he goes on a wrath-filled rampage, knocking down any objects placed on top of other objects. His only weakness that’s a well-kept secret is his love for layered pasta meatcakes, which are capable of incapacitating him until he’s done eating them.
“Runegirl”, Amber Drawn, dwarf, female; a vigilante with the ability to manifest the effects of runes out of nowhere. Her powers also allow her to access the Mistweb intuitively through unknown means, which is why she uses plenty of Mistweb slang and analogies. She likes to browse encyclopedic articles in her free time.
"Traveler", Long Joanna, human, female; vigilante with a supernatural speed (roughly twice as fast as a trained runner), and an ability to teleport anywhere she can see. Her vigilante nickname has eventually been used less and less in the actual stories. She loves teas that she makes on her own at home.
"Æp", Tarisha Greenblossom, fairy, female; vigilante with a magical ability to forbid people from taking some actions (or to take this restriction away), as long as she can touch them and speak. In her personal life, she serves as a judge giving out life sentences, and she battles the temptation to use her powers every day.
"Reaal", Joh K'eeng, orc, male; villain with the power of commanding people to take certain courses of action. The main opponent of Æp, and one of the few people with willpower strong enough to resist her powers.
"Fowls", Bay DeVeil, goblin, male; a villainous farmer with the power of transforming into and controlling game such as chicken, ducks, geese, and pheasants. Strangely, his powers also cover games played with cards, dice, boards, and balls. His main enemy is Mr. Kat.
I would like to suggest you read out loud to yourself the nicknames of the last three superheroes in quick succession before you continue.
The Truth
Now that you know what day I've published this work on, here's the truth about this city: It is a work of fiction within the world of Runehack. People produce comic books, movies, and stories of these fictional characters in this fictional city, for the same reason for which we've done it. Entertainment. And this was quite an amusing city-state to write about for me. I can only hope you've enjoyed it too.
Howdy! I'm feeling kind of emotional as I write this. The final installment of my Villainous Cookbook. I'm kind of afraid, truth to be told. Can I ever start writing these articles again? Will they ever be of such high quality? What if my well of creativity has run dry completely?
Well, while I'll search for these answers, it's time to do this. While I was working out this one, I've come to realize that it's... actually resembling a boss fight from a videogame I really enjoy, Crypt of the Necrodancer. In order to honor this game, I decided to name this villain after its boss, the Necrodancer. The series has gone full circle, beginning just the way it ended... with a necromancer.
Preface
My goal is to make an interesting villain using the player options found in the official and homebrew rules of D&D 5th edition.
The goal is not to make a villain who deals the highest amount of damage. This is not the right place for that discussion.
I will leave some details out to let the DMs adjust the villain to their preferences. Ability scores are one of them.
To emulate character development, I will only make character builds at levels 4, 10, 16, and 20. Players should be at best equal to the villain's tier, optimally at a lower tier.
Limitations breed creativity. But I will bend the rules if it makes the villain more interesting.
If it seems overpowered, it could be because of rulebending (see the point above), or because I'm mixing homebrews that were not balanced with each other in mind.
The Necrodancer
"My pulse is beating like a drum, but my blood is running cold. I came here with a question and I'm going to find the answer."
― Cadence, Crypt of the Necrodancer
"You can love somebody without it being like that. You keep them a stranger, a stranger who's a friend."
― Truman Capote
Ingredients List
Magnis race (Travelers' Homebrew Original)
Bard 15: College of Whispers (Xanathar's Guide to Everything)
Since I haven't had the time to write out lore for this race in order to publish it properly, I'll write out the racial traits as part of this article. Consider it a sneak-peek into one of my possible future projects. The concept for this race is that it's an Alfallen race one could become during their life, based on idolizing another person for a long time. You are now an echo of what you used to be. When it comes to the original race, you can choose to go with anything. My personal bias says elf because then this could be a possible elvish impersonator.
Magnis Traits
Each magnis is unique, but they generally share these traits.
Ability Score Increase. Choose either Dexterity or Charisma. That ability score increases by two, while the other score increases by one.
Age. Magnis can live as long as others of their origin race.
Size. Your size is determined by your origin race.
Speed. Your speed is determined by your origin race.
Languages. Magnis are fluent in Common and in the language of their racial origin.
Booming Voice. You have a great amount of control over your voice. You can choose to make your voice up to three times as loud as normal requiring no action. Additionally, you can use your action or bonus action to throw your voice, making it seem like it originates from a point of your choice within 30 feet of you that you can see.
Thunder Adapted. You are immune to the deafened condition, and you gain resistance to thunder damage. If you would also gain this resistance from a class feature, your inner power awakens, granting you the ability to cast the thunderclap cantrip. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this cantrip.
Yestermuse. You can use your bonus action to create an illusion of yourself. This illusion moves and produces the same sounds as you did last turn. Doing this will also recreate all of the illusions of yourself you've created using this feature in your previous turn.
Tier 1
First, we need to make them loud and annoying fast. We begin by investing three levels into warlock, and one level into the cleric. The warlock might seem fitting, considering it's a perfect chord, the most musically-themed warlock I know of, but you might wonder why do we need the civilization cleric. Let me resolve that first.
Bonus Proficiencies (1st-level Civilization Domain feature) At 1st level, you gain proficiency with martial weapons, as well as two tools of your choice. You also gain proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: History, Investigation, or Persuasion.
Divine Consul (1st-level Civilization Domain feature) Starting at 1st level, you are able to sense the presence of civilization itself. By spending 1 minute in meditation, you can discern the direction, distance, and name of the nearest settlement within 100 miles. You also learn the name and title of the ruler of that settlement, as well as the name and title of their liege, if they have one. Additionally, you learn the majority race and culture, as well as the general size and description of the settlement, such as "port city" or "farming town".
Now, martial weapons are just a neat thing to have, and the tool proficiencies could be used for literally anything that's not a musical instrument. Extra skill is a nice thing that we could use, but the most important part is Divine Consul. If our Necrodancer ever gets lost in the wilderness, they can focus for one minute to find where the biggest nearby cities are. That means audience, and audience means potential undead servants.
Now then, from the warlock we'll want multiple things, so let's have a look at those. We're assuming Pact of the Tome here, by the way, but I won't talk much about spell choices in this article since I believe you guys can figure them out yourselves. For now, what we need a lot is thaumaturgy.
Seeker of the Sound (1st-level Perfect Chord feature) At 1st level, your heartbeat is tuned to the Perfect Chord. You gain proficiency in the Performance skill and with all musical instruments. You can use a musical instrument as a spellcasting focus for your warlock spells, and can play it in place of using a verbal spellcasting component. When you cast a spell that has only a verbal and somatic component, you can choose to cast it as though it only had a verbal component. When you cast a spell of 1st level or higher that only has a verbal component, including those modified by this feature, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier that last for one minute.
Composition of the Masters Prerequisites: Perfect Chord patron, Pact of the Tome feature You can ignore the effects of the silence spell and of magical effects that would produce a similar area of magical silence, enabling you to speak and cast spells normally. You also become immune to the deafened condition.
Barred Mind Whenever you make a Wisdom saving throw and succeed, your mind locks shut. If the same creature or effect forces you to make another Wisdom saving throw before the end of your next turn, that saving throw is made with advantage.
So what does this mean? We have an outspoken musician who can sing really loudly and play any instrument too. I think we could have them sing and play instruments instead of just playing an instrument, but whatever floats your boats. Onto the next Tier!
Tier 2
Six levels of bard. I mean, we did want them to be a necromancer too, right? May as well start getting to that. Now you might be thinking "what, are we gonna add animate dead to the bardic spell list? Of course not, silly! Bards get magical secrets. At... level 10. Well, be patient. We'll get there when the time is right. In the meantime, check out this neat feature!
Mantle of Whispers (6th-level College of Whispers feature) At 6th level, you gain the ability to adopt a humanoid's persona. When a humanoid dies within 30 feet of you, you can magically capture its shadow using your reaction. You retain this shadow until you use it or you finish a long rest. You can use the shadow as an action. When you do so, it vanishes, magically transforming into a disguise that appears on you. You now look like the dead person, but healthy and alive. This disguise lasts for 1 hour or until you end it as a bonus action. While you're in the disguise, you gain access to all information that the humanoid would freely share with a casual acquaintance. Such information includes general details on its background and personal life, but doesn't include secrets. The information is enough that you can pass yourself off as the person by drawing on its memories. Another creature can see through this disguise by succeeding on a Wisdom (Insight) check contested by your Charisma (Deception) check. You gain a +5 bonus to your check. Once you capture a shadow with this feature, you can't capture another one with it until you finish a short or long rest..
With this, our Necrodancer will be capable of impersonating people they get rid of, which is just absolutely lovely to have for infiltrating big cities and collecting bodies secretly. Let's get to Tier 3 right away!
Tier 3
Five levels of bard will get us the animate dead that we've wanted for so long. I'm pretty sure you've by now noticed what's been going on here. We get them expertise with Performance, which you should have picked up by now, they get proficiency in all musical instruments, they can make themselves three times as loud using thaumaturgy, and three times more thanks to Booming Voice from the Magnis race. We're making someone who's annoyingly loud. Who can always find themselves a place to perform. And who keeps gathering bodies while pretending to be this extraordinarily charming redheaded musician. Or was the hair brown? Who can tell.
Anyways, with that out of the way, let's add some juice to this with one level of sorcerer for this cool ability.
Commanding Voice (1st-level Imperial Birthright feature) Your bloodline has granted you a voice fit for a ruler, one that makes your enemies tremble and puts fire into the hearts of your allies. At 1st level, you gain proficiency in your choice of Intimidation, Performance, or Persuasion.
Additionally you learn the command spell, which counts as a sorcerer spell for you, and does not count against your number of spells known. You can cast command without expending a spell slot. Once you cast the spell in this way, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest, though you can still cast it normally using an available spell slot.
Also, whenever you cast a spell of 1st level or higher that has verbal components, you can grant temporary hitpoints equal to your Charisma modifier to a friendly creature within 30 feet of you, which last for 1 minute.
... what's that? Feats? Look, you can put there whatever you want, okay? Yes, I am taking this seriously, stop asking me silly questions and let me get to Tier 4 without looking like I'm rushing to some imaginary punchline.
Tier 4
Four levels of bard. Yep, it's that simple.
Shadow Lore (17th-level Soulknife feature)
At 14th level, you gain the ability to weave dark magic into your words and tap into a creature's deepest fears.
As an action, you magically whisper a phrase that only one creature of your choice within 30 feet of you can hear. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. It automatically succeeds if it doesn't share a language with you or if it can't hear you. On a successful saving throw, your whisper sounds like unintelligible mumbling and has no effect.
On a failed saving throw, the target is charmed by you for the next 8 hours or until you or your allies attack it, damage it, or force it to make a saving throw. It interprets the whispers as a description of its most mortifying secret. You gain no knowledge of this secret, but the target is convinced you know it.
The charmed creature obeys your commands for fear that you will reveal its secret. It won't risk its life for you or fight for you, unless it was already inclined to do so. It grants you favors and gifts it would offer to a close friend.
When the effect ends, the creature has no understanding of why it held you in such fear.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.
Oh wow, would you look at that! Now the bard can, uh... go into a city. And manipulate a person. To get them to lead people to the bard so that he could kill them secretly to convert them for his necromantic army or something.
Sigh.
Alright, no way to evade it anymore. It's time for... the Truth.
The Truth
That's right, all of this was just an elaborate Rick Roll!
Alright, now that the cat is out of the bag, it's time to tell the truth. This isn't the final Villainous Cookbook I'll ever write. In fact, I have the actual final article planned and in the works, I hope I'll be done with it by the end of April, but I can't promise it. Seeing how it's way more elaborate than a standard Villainous Cookbook, I feel like it would be fine if I published it by the end of May, or possibly later (but at that point even I would feel bad about delaying it so much). In the meantime, I have a bunch of article ideas that I hope I'll have time to publish too, either about Runehack or about random game-mastering advice. I even think I'm on my way towards breaking through my D&D burnout at last! Before that comes about though, I hope you've enjoyed reading my April Fools' article, and I wish you a nice day! :)
It has been done. Today, I released by Magnum Opus. The greatest 5e homebrew to ever see the light of day. I can do no more but bask in my glory, as I move on to more superior forms of activity. Like making complicated theories about animated shows for my own entertainment and upvotes on /r/fantheories.
HELLO INTERNET, WELCOME TO ANIME THEORY!
You know, ever since my young years, there's been this one show that I used to follow where a couple of cool characters wordlessly did funny stuff. And lately, these memories have resurfaced. I looked them up on youtube, and sure enough they're there. Seeing them though made me ask so many questions...
What are they?
Where are they?
Are they the only ones?
When are they?
All of these questions and much more will be answered in today's article. So sit back, bring popcorn, and let's see where this goes.
