What's In Box 13?

The current play-by-post adventure going on over at Gems and Giants, combined
with my general Supernatural fandom has set me thinking about curse boxes, and why they might make an interesting addition to your game.

In the slip of reality that is Supernatural curse boxes are, well, boxes, built with the express intention of binding the magic of the item contained inside.

Usually this is because the item inside is cursed in some manner but, generally speaking it could be said that this has a lot more to do with how magic is portrayed within the Supernatural setting and the mythos surrounding it. It's generally a bad thing, being one of the main paths that leads a human to become a demon.

It's an interesting idea but, high-fantasy is of course a million miles away from this in it's perspective. Magic being wide-spread and relatively common place. Even settings that are not jammed to seams with spells and incantations are generally populated by a wealth of magical beings. Which, if you think about it, creates an even greater need for curse boxes.

But why might you introduce them?

• "Radioactive" Magic: Occasionally a magical item may become unstable and, unable to hold it's own power, leaking it's effects into the surrounding area. Such items, even those with purely beneficial effects would become abhorrent to magic-users in this instance as the chaos created by the radiation would make any magic used within it's vicinity high unpredictable. A curse box in this case would work a lot like a lead container.

• A Fiendish Trap: Delver love nothing more than looting a ruin and finding a magical object. It's their big score. That's probably why cursed objects were invented by GM's in the first place if truth be told.. So why break with tradition? Maybe the next chest that they find contains a dancing sword.. That attacks whosoever is close by, be they friend or foe.

• A Quest Of Duty: This one comes straight out of Supernatural, where hunters often keep such boxes locked away so that the item within can do no harm. Now if we ramp that up to a high-fantasy level of magic, the item within could be truly devastating. What would your party of adventurers do if they came across what is effectively a Pandora's Box? If they're smart, they won't open it but, how will they keep it safe from others? They can lock it away, but thieves may break in. They can drag it to the end of the known world but someone may still find it. It's quite the dilemma!

There are obviously many more reasons to introduce such items, but in the interests of time (and not rambling on) I'll just keep to those three, that illustrate a few likely possibilities.

When Is An Orc Not An Orc?

In my last post I outlined that rather than focusing too much on writing up my house rules of late, I had been working on fleshing out a setting. Not just a setting though. To be worth its salt or, weight in words a good setting has to be evocative and new, yet grounded in the familiar.

It's a tall order.

It's important though. I'd even go as far as saying that the setting is more important than the rules, as it's the setting that allows you to bring your character to life. It's your stage on which to roleplay. So this was not a task to be taken lightly.

Okay, maybe that's a bit heavy a tone but, hey, it's important.

So, I had been mulling over a couple of ideas but nothing seemed to have that certain sparkle that I felt the task at hand really called for. That was until by chance a couple of unrelated ideas clicked together to create something, which so far is really working for me. Like all works in progress, it's subject to change but, I'd like to take the opportunity to sight my sources that have led me this far, which would be the Peryton RPG and, Supernatural (the TV series).

In particular it's the chapter concerning races in the Peryton RPG that peaked my interest and their approach. They DON'T tell you what an Elf looks like, in fact they clearly state that they aren't going to tell you that an Elf is willowy and thin, if the Elves in your setting are more childlike in appearance (or much to that effect). The net result is however that my Orc, may not be your Orc. It's still an Orc though, just a different take on the mythos.. Which brings me to my second inspiration, Supernatural.

Supernatural is a great show but, the one thing that always kind of bugged me about the whole set-up for the show was their tendency to screw with the mythos surrounding the bad guy of the week and, how the names of the various angels and demons in the later seasons never really tied up with any of the actual lore surrounding them.

Is that such a bad thing though?

Sure, it still bugs the hell out of me but, reading the Peryton RPG has helped me realise that all the writers were doing was making the familiar fresh again. Which is exactly what I'm setting out to do.

I still fully intend to draft in the Orcs. They'll just be different. Very different. Related to Werewolves and Hellhounds, all woven into being by dark elves for their own twisted reasons. Not that even the dark Elves will be run of the mill. Werewolves will still be very much allergic to silver, but for a very different reason.

A blend of the familiar with the new. Just what I was shooting for.

Now I just need to sit down and write it all up!