Games I have played recently....

The Witcher
Assassins Creed II
just about to start Bioshock

...yes I know these are all old (well oldish) games, but I'm catching up on some classics that passed me by whilst I had my head in the sand.

I'll give the lowdown on what I thought about the first two soon enough.  But for my next post I'm going to talk you through a couple more classic magic items which have featured in numerous P&P games I've run over the years.  I started this blog with a post about The Homunculus Jar.  And this next post will be adding to that subject... (i.e. magic items for P&P games).

O, and in case you didn't know, had forgotten, or are deluded... P&P is still the best gaming experience you can ever imagine.  Don't get me wrong, I love video games, but P&P is the heart and soul of the gaming process.  This is a universal truth.  Make no mistake.

Schizo...

Not sure quite how to entitle this post.

A feature of many of my P&P games, and also a number of computer game proposals I have produced revolves around the concept of either switching forms, acquiring new forms, or absorbing abilities.

The longest running P&P game I GMed revolved around the concept of an ancient race, and an ancient, once lost form of magick that involved summoning daemons, slaying said daemons and absorbing their souls in order to take on their powers. This blend of original race, stocked full of daemon souls forever changed the player and turned them into a new being, a creature I called Shafaerinhai. Which - roughly translated from their ancient tongue - meant 'daemons in the blood'.

In a much later game set in the same world a couple of Ages on, I reworked this theme. In this game I had a cult of sorcerers attempt to resurrect Shafaerinhai magick, but fundamentally misunderstanding it. They used spells to summon daemons, and then excommunicate their spirits so that the daemon's corporeal form (which the daemon grew to journey within the material plane) was left an empty shell. The sorcerer was then free to excommunicate his own spirit, ripping it from his body and binding it to the daemon's empty shape.

In this way, sorcerers were able to acquire powerful, monsterous forms. And it made for a great game, even if I do say so myself.

This body-swapping concept I translated into a couple of computer game proposals. In one, the players played a sentient blob of jelly genetically engineered from an organic sample taken from a meteorite. The blob of jelly had the unique ability to blend with carbon-based lifeforms via osmosis and take over the brain functions of the entity, thus controlling it.

In this way the player had free reign to blend with guards, scientists, dogs, rats, birds and even some mutations from the labs as they sought and fought for their freedom.

I used another version of the sentient blob of jelly idea, in a game I called Evolver (later finding a game of the same name already existed - although significantly different) I changed the name to Wild World. Wild World was designed as an MMO with a difference. A vast perpetual world consisting of all manner of flora and fauna. Players start as the blob of jelly and slither around until they come across a creature with powers they want to incorporate.

In this idea, the blog can absorb the DNA of creatures it consumes and then mutate, taking upon some of the characteristics of its victim. In this way, somewhat like the Homunculus Jar, a player can end up with a creature sporting a complex array of different features... bat wings, toxic spines, acid spit, retractable claws, gills and so forth.

The basic principle was to evolve your creature and do battle with other creatures in the environment, attempting to acquire new abilities. There was a secondary thread about evolving an opposable thumb which would enable players to use ancient artefacts from a long lost, technologically advanced civilization, whose ruins adorned the world.

I'm not sure why exactly this theme of changing or utilisng alternative forms fascinates me. But whenever I have used it in games it has gone down very well with players. It breaks the mold to some extent in terms of established genres, but for me it extends still further the concept of acquiring news skills and equipment, and opens up a realm of new possibilities.

Homunculus Jar...

This is an idea I came up with for a P&P role-playing game some years ago. I've used it in several games subsequently and it always provides players with some dark delight.

The idea basically works like this. A lot of games provide mages with the opportunity to summon a familiar (MMOs in particular have developed this idea further, and many classes have the ability to control 'pets').

The Homunculus Jar basically provides mages (in my games, but could be extended to be adopted by other character-classes) with a series of sideline missions or sub-agendas during which they attempt to find useful components for their Jar. Useful components are basically body parts of creatures. These are placed within the jar, and dependant upon the mages power and success in this, the mage can effectively create a 'frankenstein familiar' - magically stitching together components from other beasts to create a unique and multi-faceted entity.

I had one player who took bat wings, venomous fangs, toxic spines, multiple limbs and a goblin foetus to construct a tiny winged, six-limbed goblinoid which poisoned its victims with its fangs and spines.

There have been many and varied examples.

Obviously the freedom of P&P supports this concept wholeheartedly. But a stripped down version could be employed by MMOs.