Taking a break from filing away bank records and other terrible things I found in that *cupboard of holding* where all the paper stuff that needs to be filed away is stored until … I don’t know, I guess it’s just getting temporarily stored and not being filed away. Ouch!
I’m listening to the latest episode of 3d6 Down The Line because it promised to talk about Arden Vul and “Combat as War” (instead of “as Sport”), and it is available in podcast format, and it was the discussion *after* the game. I’m prefer the meta-game to actual play, so this is a great format.
Long have the ruins of the great city of Arden Vul sat desolate atop the great plateau overlooking Burdock’s Valley. But the inhabitants that riddle the caverns and halls beneath the Great Pyramid of Thoth have not been idle. Join Jon, Mike, David, Matt, and Ted as they plumb the depths of the most ambitious megadungeon ever created! – 3d6DTL: The Halls of Arden Vul (Podcast)
3d6DTL: The Halls of Arden Vul (Podcast)
In it, they talk about domain play and how to continue doing that in a dungeon game. What if you don’t want to build a castle or temple? What if you want to build your stronghold in the dungeon? What if you want to be a patron for low-level parties?
Here’s an idea based on the weirdly specific rules in AD&D. In my game, a 8th level magic-user asked me whether it was possible to brew potions and scribe scrolls for a list of spells. They had the magic feather quill, the player said. I had to look it up.
Potions may be made by any magic-user of 7th level or above, if he or she enlists the aid of an alchemist … the magic-user must have a proper laboratory … Both the cost in gold pieces and the days of compounding and infusing are determined by use of the experience points award … The point award for a given potion is also the amount of gold pieces the magic-user must pay in order to concoct the basic formula … Most important to the manufacture of a potion is the substance of its power, the special ingredient. The list of potions and special ingredients possible is given for your convenience only. You may opt for any reasonable special ingredient you deem suitable for a potion, keeping in mind difficulty of obtaining the material (hopefully high or greater) and its sympathetic equivalency or relationship to the end result of quaffing the potion. – DMG p. 116, “Manufacture of Potions”
Scrolls may be inscribed only by characters of 7th or higher level, and the spells placed upon the scroll must be of a level which the inscribing character is able to employ … Ink is a very special requirement. … To this liquid must be added blood, powdered gems, herbal and spice infusions, draughts concocted from parts of monsters, and so on. … Garments, wrappings, dust, sweat, tears, teeth, fangs, organs, blood, and so forth are all ideal components. – DMG p. 117, “Manufacture of Scrolls”
In all cases, and with the examples provided, it seems to me that we have a basic setup for monster hunting quests!
I wrote up a system (in German).
Grundsätzlich sollte es für jede Schriftrolle ein potentielles Monsterjagd Abenteuer geben. Je nach Grösse der Ortschaft und den Monstern in der Umgebung gibt es natürlich auch andere Abenteurer, welche die Zutaten gerade angeliefert haben, so dass, mit Würfelglück, das Abenteuer auch umgangen werden kann – die Zutaten können gekauft werden. – Alchemie
So here’s the gist of it, in English.
These things decay quickly, the potency disappearing. When killing a monster, you have 1d6 days to bring it back to the lab and start working on it. There are spells to stop the decay of a monster’s body but that won’t help with the magical potency. You’ll need spells to move faster if you want to extend the radius of your monster hunts, or a flying carpet, or build more alchemy labs out in the field.
More alchemy labs out in the wilderness! I like this consequence.
If an ingredient needs to be dried, you have to spend a night drying it over a fire; if it is a liquid, it needs to be stored in glass vials with pure alcohol.
These requirements are for the visuals. Also, in rare cases the glass vials might have to make a saving throw. It also limits the number vials that can be filled.
The price is affected by the monster’s hit dice, a d100 and the frequency based on the following table:
+-----------+------------+ | Frequency | Percentage | +-----------+------------+ | Very rare | 4% | | Rare | 11% | | Uncommon | 20% | | Common | 65% | +-----------+------------+
Compute the price:
1d100 × hit dice of the monster × (100 - frequency)
Example:
1 medusa: roll 69 × 6 hit dice × (100% - 11%) = 368 g.p.
7 harpies: 7 creatures × roll 30 × 3 hit dice × (100% - 11%) = 561 g.p.
The random fluctuations reflect the unknown other projects currently ongoing. Demand fluctuates wildly!
It’s important to make sure that there is no clear connection between the price paid “per monster slain” here and the number of magic items that can be created from them. It’s different for every magic item, for every magic-user, the phases of the moon, the age of the material, the flux of Earth Blood, and so on. I fear to turn this in to an accountant’s game.
Every potion and scroll should be a potential monster hunt adventure. At the same time, there’s a chance that other adventurers are doing it in the background, so sometimes the special ingredients can be bought and the adventure can be avoided.
It’s important to make sure that there is no clear connection between the price paid “per monster slain” above and the price paid “per unit required” here. This not a system for accountants.
This is where the missions come from: Higher level magic-users and clerics need ingredients to create potions and scrolls, these need ingredients, and these monsters can be hunted by lower level parties. This is important. It must be possible for lower level parties to do the mission, and it must be annoying for the magic-user or cleric to do the mission.
There’s always a chance for the items to be available, for a price. For potions, this price is part of the total costs, therefore the price to be paid for the fabrication of a potion is reduced by the price for the special ingredient. For scrolls, no price is given for the scribing of a scroll, only for the writing material. In this case, the price for the special ingredient needs to be paid on top of everything else.
Also, for potions, you need an alchemist. In my campaign, it’s possible to impose on another magic-user’s alchemist and their lab, but it’ll cost: An alchemist hireling costs 300 g.p./month, so I figure that it’ll cost 300 g.p./week to hire somebody else’s alchemist, and they’ll only work for one week. I mean, they have jobs to finish, right?
Alchemists will only be found in cities unless you specifically locate one elsewhere. It will require an offer of 10 to 100 gold pieces bonus money, plus a well-stocked laboratory, plus the assurance of not less than a full year of employment, to attract one to service. – DMG p. 29, “Alchemist”
So in theory, you’d have to pay them for a year (12×300 g.p.), plus bonus (1d10×10 g.p.), plus buy them a lab ((1d4+1d6)×100 g.p.) and pay for 12 months of upkeep (120% on top of the initial lab costs) – an average of 4975 g.p. or nearly 100 g.p. per week. The 300 g.p./week is a way to cut through all that.
What’s always possible is to add adventure hooks. In my case, the player needed more time than just 7 days so they agreed to bring 3 dried harpy tongues within a year, in exchange. Works for me!
But let’s get back to the special ingredients required. What about random other parties doing the job? Assuming that there is a certain background activity of adventuring going on, we use the following to determine whether the ingredients are currently available, based on the size of the location:
+---------------+--------+ | Settlement | Chance | +---------------+--------+ | Local capital | 20% | | Small town | 10% | +---------------+--------+
If the ingredients are at hand, how much do they cost? As an upper bound, they cannot cost more than the potion or scroll would cost, surely. Let’s say they cost less than 50% of the end price: 10% to 40%.
The final cost of magic items is determined as follows, based on DMG p. 121, “III.A. Potions” and “III.B. Scrolls”:
+-------------------+--------------------------------+ | Magic item | Price | +-------------------+--------------------------------+ | Potion | See treasure tables in the DMG | | Regular scroll | Spell level × 300 | | Protection scroll | 5× experience point value | +-------------------+--------------------------------+
The number of units available depends on the frequency of the monster, again.
+-----------+-----------------+ | Frequency | Units available | +-----------+-----------------+ | Very rare | 1 | | Rare | 1d4 | | Uncommon | 1d6 | | Common | 1d8 | | Unknown | 1d10 | +-----------+-----------------+
If the ingredients are *not* available, we need a monster hunting adventure! Look at your local encounter tables and lairs and dungeons for inspiration and assign something.
If you can think of a “sympathetic” monster but you can’t find it on your regional map, either place it, or say that no rumours exist.
Examples from my campaign, based on the inquiries by @settembrini. The question was something like “hey, are the ingredients for scribing the following scrolls available: *Fireball, magic missile, dispel magic, invisibility, strength, web, enlarge/diminish, unseen servant*?” Indeed…
So this being the local capital, this is what a I did:
The result for my notes:
Once this list is written down, I can add to it as more questions are asked. There’s no point doing this for hundred of spells, either! And I can think about adding new monsters to my region. There has to be a beholder, somewhere! And pixies.
#RPG