Four More Campaign Worlds And Retrospective Lessons

Three years ago I made this moderately popular post about past campaign worlds, and I think it's about time I updated it with what I've run since then and perhaps what was learned.

CASTLE NOWHERE

A drawing of the most active characters- Leah the thief and her goblin minions, Blix and her fairy and spider sidekicks, Aten Bast the mighty wizard (Later replaced by the also mighty Thirbaek Merrymace after Aten's many deaths cheapened his life in the players eyes), Olaf the wicked old usurper of the Sheriff position, Leo and Pilgrim/Lily the Witch, character and decoy replacement character after some party PKing, and finally Ambrose Noure, the sociopathic but easy to work with Gothic Villain and his pigman retainer Lump. There were other important characters such as Erhard De Vend as well, but such is the nature of open table games that there is no snapshot of the party that is perfectly comprehensive.

After the politicking of Crownless Lands, I wanted to return to ye dungeoncrawling, and an individual sense of struggle and survival rather than faction jockeying. At this time I had been playing quite a bit of Enter the Gungeon and Darkest Dungeon and had belatedly gotten into the lore of Undertale, so I had a notion of looping time where each adventure would go through similar areas, with increasing familiarity allowing easy bypassing, knowledge of where the plate armor was to upgrade the frontliner, and so on. Additionally, death would be irrelevant, a time loop ensuring a way to keep characters constant but threat level high, even easier than even widespread Raise Dead. To keep the focus on individual treasures rather than gold hoards, I used a copper standard without changing rulebook prices. 1 copper piece was worth 1 xp, making lanterns and other mundane items valuable treasures, and a suit of plate stolen from Castle Noure's armory racks

Not much of this design sentiment survived the early drafts, as I think it would have required a singular carefully crafted megadungeon to work, but I did not have that sort of prep time available. So the focus of the campaign was a single small village beneath the eponymous Castle Noure

A quick view of the village map. Upgrading the village wasn't the focus of the game, but was a satisfying part

With a very small hex map in case the players got cabin fever and wished to wander, though this campaign was set in the Moonlands, a place where the sun was a rare occurrence and the lights of alien moons warped reality and spawned monsters. It was no place for mortals to go wandering about narratively, and on the meta level, this was not a hex crawl campaign.

With the dire outside established, the focus then turned to the accursed, time-looped estate which was composed of 3 modules- Ynn, Castle Gargantua, and Maze of the Blue Medusa, with Ynn as the ever-changing grounds of the estate that must be crossed, Castle Gargantua as filling for the towers and 'minidungeons' that might be found from entering buildings that were not Noure proper, and MotBM as the 'Final Area' within which were contained the secrets of the decadent nobles and mad experimentation that caused this loop. All were warped to suit the campaign setting rather than used as is, but Ynn was praised, MotBM disappointed, and Castle Gargantua was mostly ignored, but I feel like, with some tweaking, could be worth trying again.

Another sleeper hit was a tweaked version of the Meal of Oreshegaal, (which I still can't spell) which in my warped version had the Tuskmen as once-human peasants subjected to famine that Oresh turned to pig-people so that they could survive via cannibalism rather than become ghouls. As some of the more ghastly elements of the manor were removed, Oresh became everyone's favorite creepy wizard uncle and the party allied with him against the entity responsible for the time loop (which in a twist, was not a time loop at all, but a manual reset using clockwork machinery, cloning facilities, which then gave everyone a bit of an identity crisis upon the revelation that many of them were clones made to play out assigned roles).

Player attendance became wobbly near the end, but a final epic conclusion or three were achieved, and a combination of retirement and new recruitment was set out for the next portion of the campaign.

Things I learned from Castle Noure
1. Having the players be desperately poor is fun, but can wear thin in the long run- I am more likely to switch to 'barter only, coin isn't real' than go full on copper standard but silver/gold book prices again.
2. Making death a non-issue has mixed results depending on playgroup. Some players had more fun not having to worry about permadeath, and/or learned the value of permadeath by seeing the effects of hanging on to a character who had outstayed their welcome. While others used it as a crutch to support existing over investment and loss-aversion and were led astray, perhaps. I think future games of mine will have to pick a path, so to speak, either making death more menacing, or leaning harder into the 'fantasy soulpunk' idea I have for the setting, where death is just deportation to the netherworld and human consciousness in artificial bodies is the new transhumanism mood.
3. An absolutely hostile wilderness less fantasy wilds and more 'cosmic horror' is very fun, but again can wear thin in the long run. I am greatly amused by my veteran players who survived the Moonlands chuckling to each other when newbies ask about the Moonlands or naively assume that they couldn't be that bad out loud.
4. Reliable 'crafting systems' for potions and the like have a sort of appeal, but I think are doomed for a variety of reasons. Most importantly, I think potion ingredients must be confined to things that cannot be farmed safely, or you run the risk of having to run Magical Industrial Revolution with potions/magic items. Which could be fun if that's the premise of the game, but if it's just one player wanting to set up basilisk and mandrake factory farming, you probably get a pacing/tone/balance issue.
5. Having a premise to do 'one thing' in a campaign is great and good and has always been more successful than keeping things strictly 'get in ye dungeon and get rich and figure out what you REALLY want along the way". "Break the Curse of House Noure or Get Rich Trying" was the initial goal of the campaign, it fragmented into other goals, and finally, when the campaign was over, some characters retired, but some had formed a proper adventuring party forged from the unity of their common goal.

If there was a theme to the 54 sessions or so of Castle Noure, it was something about leaving past trauma behind and focusing on found friendships and family. But of course, it was not to last, for call no PC happy till they are safely retired offscreen...

IRON-CROWNED OROBORO

Map lacks some player added portions

After the party finished with Castle Noure, their next goal was to take their 60-foot tall clockwork fighting robot and walk it out of the hellish moonlands to sanity and sunlit lands, for a variety of reasons. Thirbaek Merrymace, cleric of dead gods, had properly put one of his gods to rest, and now sought to find the sunshard fragments of Riikhus and reassemble him. Blix wanted to honor the wishes of some bugfolk and bury them on the isle of Ebetheron, and also go on a honeymoon with their protein polymorph gf. But mostly, people just wanted to keep playing and get out of the moonlands, and Oroboro was a part of the setting that was well-fleshed out due to the past Crownless Lands campaign, so it made for a good destination.

Oroboro was supposed to be a city crawl+megadungeon, and I had a vision for the megadungeon, with rooms that would fill and empty with seawater, making timing very important, and equipment more important yet, as armor protected from monsters, but not drowning. A hell of undead and fishy monstrosities, a corrupt sore at the heart of the city that had formed from the unfinished business of Oroboro.

After the very positive experience with Ynn, I did not prep the Sunken Sepulchre megadungeon,but instead filled it on the go with random tables. I think dungeons benefit from building in advance so parts coincide, but I think the enemy composition between sea creatures, outlaws, and undead was a memorable mix as they required different tactics to approach and the players rarely rushed in, rather scouting, then returning to 'lair' areas with preparation.

Looming threats were the cult of Janus, cthonic demon god of blood and gold, their temple a crater filling with seawater, and the dread Ningen King, a giant merman made into immortal monster by the artifact Topaz, and his rivalry with King Samuel Goffnagoff, an old PC who had become king, as well as the machinations of the ancient serpent rulers of the city, a necromancer cult which outlived the loss of its head, a giant wasp-queen Happy who was raised by humans but whose offspring lacked morality and hungered for brains, and the neighboring country of Fassulia in a magical cold war with Oroboro.

The players were no mere murderhobos delving with rusty spoonshivs now, however- levels started at about 3-5, and reached 6-7. Waterbreathing and light were spells that trivialized some of the mundane threats of the dungeon, which was slightly disappointing, but the players found the place disgusting and dangerous enough that they probably would not have been willing to delve it without these magical tools. A fine balance is required to make dungeon delving at higher levels still feel dangerous, and I think it was barely met here, but, especially once teleportation and flight became available, it surely felt like the players were outgrowing many of the problemsolving parts of dungeon delving.

However, their heightened power, especially mobility-wise opened them up to the wonders of hexcrawling and domain building, and I soon found myself in need of prep far beyond the Sepulchre.

They fought (and lost against) blue dragons in the deserts relying on their metal clockwork battle bot (but came back with a plan and grapple ballista and a small army and won), delved a ghoul-missile silo in Fassulia and uncovered the machinations of the lich Magister Verdurus (villain of Crownless Lands), riddled with terrible ifrits who could only be tricked and outwitted, not beaten, visited the islands of the realm and other city-states like Phavea and the accursed City of the Emerald (within which a kiss-spread curse made all appear as the lost Queen of that city), met the Knights of the realm in their castles, accidentally assassinated Oroboron Queen Buckley at the machinations of a player from Crownless Lands picking up an old character, igniting mroe Fassulian-Oroboron intrigue (tho necromancers were behind it all) and made war Against the GiantsSaga of the Giants™ and defeated and claimed the hill giant section of that module to dip their toes into that hazy theoretical realm of 'domain play, ' which really came into full force after the players defeated the Heart of the Kingen (and betrothed the High Incarceratrix of Janus) removing the two main sources of evil at the heart of Oroboro, only to be confronted with a choice- both the King of Oroboro, Samuel Goffnagoff, and the Serpent Queen Tinnea, giant platinum medusa (one of three medusa) offered payment for the monstrous-immortality granting Topaz, but each was vying for rulership of the city. Tinnea got it in the end, simply because she could pay the ONE MILLION SILVER bounty upfront, while King Samuel offered a payment plan.

Apologies for that doozy of a runon, have an image of Blix, Erhard, and Thierbaek, as well as retainers Serenity the hatecubus/Erhard's Sword, and Kitadatapa, moral compass spider cleric.



Samuel was petrified and overthrown, which led to what would later be known as the Oroboron Civil War, in which some supported the legitimate claim of the Serpent Queens, while others supported the human Goffnagoff family who refused political marriage and opted for revolt (Princess Evalyn being the Rebel leader). I rolled reactions amongst Samuel's knights to see who would join the rising serpent queen and who would rebel, and was surprised to see that most rebelled (save for the most mercenary of them). More surprising still was the split of player loyalty to different sides of the civil war. Each side was largely identical in politics, so it really was down to character moments- Some valued their feudal oaths to the knights, or had sinister mirror-cult conspiracies at play, or simply sided with their best friends or just were double-agent lesbians

hey, a motive's a motive

Anyway, each side was given private channels to communicate in, and they plotted and schemed, drawing allies from local factions they met in more standard play to aid them, employed counter-measures and counter-countermeasures via spying and double agents and intelligence work, and I as GM was just the neutral arbiter of all this. Though some people felt betrayed, for the most part this was very enjoyable to everyone, as playing against other players with GM as arbiter lead to lots of problem solving. In the end people died, players retired, and the Serpent Queens were cast into prison or the pocket dimension from which they came (or beheaded by KAN for inscrutable purposes), the Lumarian conspiracy was revealed and [REDACTED] (he sold his name to a bugbear) the Mirror-Pope fled to the mirror realm, and the party's ties were now shooketh and everyone resolved to sail away from this political squabbling on a boat to become pirates instead.

What did I learn from this 65 session campaign? Well, one thing was what D&D in the 5-7 range really starts to look like. I would not go so far as to say this was 'true' domain play as we did not get deep into the nitty gritty of how many pikemen can guard a 5' wide breach in a player-build castle wall, there were mercenary troops hired, there were night raids on war camps, there was A player castle built on the ruins of the reclaimed Hill Giant Steading, there were religious conspiracies and marriage angles, it was all pretty great. With regards to 'domain play' I think there needs to be a goal- idly upgrading and sleeping at Fort Fortenfort (said player castle) was briefly fun, then ignored, but the goal of the Civil War galvanized players into 'domain level' actions. The trick might be setting- you need it to be wilderness enough that the players have room to grow, but also have nearby factions of all types so the players aren't just clearing hexes of direwolves or whatever.

According to one player, the theme of this campaign was 'Loyalty' not just to fellow party members and maximising loot, but to ideological goals. While fun, the Civil War took a lot out of people and they resolved to go on a piratical boat adventure with no complicated politics, just a desire to escape Oroboron politics and stop a prophesy that said the fled wasp-princess might bring about the end of the world via domination of brain-eating wasps.

VOYAGE OF THE THIEFBOAT

Things seemed to start off well- the party scrying the wasp-princess, robbing a tower of an archmage of its goodies (even learning the Wish spell, albeit a Glogified one), dealing with plague rats on the ship and pressganging pirates into joining. Then came Cycladea, a Lungfungus created island module meant to emulate bronze-age greek mythology.

In and out, talk to the wasp-princess out of causing the apocalypse, and definitely don't get caught up in Iliad/Gigantomachia shenanigans, 20 minute adventure

Bouncing around Cycladea started low-impact, looting some dungeons, helping villagers, meeting wizards. But these were not fresh characters. They had strings on them. Arsem's madness and Firstborn(the forsaken homunculous 'daughter' of Blix)'s pact with the Great Raven led them to piss off a terrible wizard who was cursed by the gods after their initial friendly meeting. Animated skeletons (and covert vampires who snuck on in Oroboro) caused a mutiny on the ship, and Finzu, the Pyromancer, lit a city aflame with everburning fire with some magical shenanigans. The party sided with the king who had imperialist dreams, and vowed to defeat the goddesses of Cycladea who were admittedly jerks in the greek pantheon way. The temples of the goddesses were burnt and pillaged, the kings forced to bow. Those of the party who enjoyed the chaos revelled, those with morals left the boat behind, Kithri the halfling slipping off to garden and raise sabre-toothed tigers elsewhere, Firstborn teleporting back to Fassulia to atone and work on the side of law, mourning the lost friendships the Civil War had ruined, Thirbaek and his wife the High Incarceratrix used a sunshard and miracles to have a vampire-dwarf-sunchild and started a new pantheon and went on to rule Stonefast 2 in other lands, Grift died and joined said pantheon as a new incarnation of Kispiritis, and so on. The islands fought back, but frankly, Lungfungus's world was not meant to deal with level 7-8 adventurers with a wide variety of spells and multiple spellcasting systems, especially when supported by arguably the most powerful faction there.

However, the victory-drunk party did not heed the hint that they may be succumbing to hubris when the previously pissed off wizard got a good lightning bolt off, and did not correlate characters leaving them to their capabilities weakening. After the final temple was burned and the Cyclops were freed, they sailed to the forbidden Isle of the gods, slapped around some fantasy creatures, then picked a fight with 13 lions lazing under a tree.

After round 3 arrived and half the party was dead,

This is how a high (for OSR) level campaign ends- hubris, and cats

The survivors retrieved a teleport scroll from a corpse, and tried to teleport out. The teleport landed on the 100 result, the dreaded 1% chance to teleport yourself into rock and die (though we left it open to interpretation that they ended up in the Veins or another plane of existence) and so ended the campaign, on a wild but somewhat anticlimactic note Those players who had quit while they were ahead got happy endings at least.

I was gladdened to hear feedback that the 22 sessions of Thiefboat were satisfying to players though. It was not a glorious story, it was a tragedy of the corruption of power, hubris, and how fractures in interpersonal relationships go deep. What did I learn from Thiefboat?

1. High level play is strange, with its teleportations and flight and so on. Verisimilitude-wise, GMs must think of how cities and rival wizards will defend themselves from obscure methods of attack like, say, 2000-foot long dragon turtle shells being dropped from the sky, or magical arson. But things are still dangerous, and reliance on the big obvious tools can leave the players blind to the fact that they have 23 HP and that can go away from 3 dudes with arrows in one round.
2. Boat travel can be hard to make interesting without succumbing to the temptation of  shipwrecks and krakens. One of the more interesting things was the homicidal Captain Arsem secretly engineering a mutiny as an excuse to kill the 3 crew his madness demanded die to save the future from the prophecy, only to have that mutiny coopted by the vampires who had snuck aboard a while ago. While that's a rather extreme example, social scenes with people on a boat have a lot of potential, as can problems like 'how to get rid of plague rats' or 'find out who is drinking all the rum' or 'secure limes' and so on.
3. Player attrition, especially on open tables, may be inevitable as the scope of campaigns shift away from what originally drew them. Part of why Castle Nowhere/Oroboro/Thiefboat lasted as long as it did was thanks to player recruitment persisting so even when some players had to leave, there were usually some waiting to take their place.

Anyway, player numbers had dropped from 'open table' to more 'single party of regulars' by the end of thiefboat, so it was time to move on, and time to do something a little different (no no, we aren't at Lancer yet)

BETRAYAL AT QUEENS COAST

 

 

As a change of pace,  Betrayal was a game in a more idyllic, Shrek-like realm. Having read a great deal of Otome manga such as Bakarina I wanted to have a shorter more storygame style game where the players would be expelled from the Queen's Court and have to clear their name, gain the support of the provincial lords, and return to turn the tables on their nemesis Alicce Von Dumandred. The players had a pretty good time, though the single-group model as opposed to open table immediately showed its weaknesses as players couldn't make sessions, which led to cancelled sessions, which led to lower investment, and I knew its days were numbered... which was fine, as it was a palate cleanser more than anything. The players had to sleep in a haunted manor, saved a nun wedding from Alf Lords after diamond shoes, bullied Good Doctor Ogudugu, had intrigue with and married a Frog Prince, helped on eof Alicce's cronies throw off her influence and accept herself as a centaur, visited the castle of the Dark Lord in the Wurderlands (within an anarcho-communist city of mutants, in stark contrast to the feudal human-central lands of Queen's Coast), infiltrated the manor of Alicce Von Dumandred and had the dreamy Prince of Saresare seduce Alicce(or be seduced?) so they could escape with the party's Gothic Villain's imprisoned one true love, and had exciting dance parties with opaque rules. It was all very fun, though the final dance party conclusion never came together due to scheduling conflicts, but the conclusion was mostly foregone at that point- the party had restored their honor, and Alicce's misdeeds had been brought to enough light that she would flee to Saresare with the Prince (The mysterious foreign prince subplot with a wicked foreign bride and ulterior motives from both of them be good fuel for a potential future campaign)

Whimsical castle Daotengard, overtaken by demon-frogs and a contagious froggification curse

Anyway! I learned a few things here
1.Turning social scenes into more gamified spaces (I had a 'Dance Pentagon' where entering exposed you to various NPCs who could help or hinder you, attacking HP intentionally or unintentionally via mean words or simple dance exertion, but you had to do it to get private conversations) can help to make them feel like they have timing and stakes compared to just 'you talk at NPCs for 12 hours.' Just roleplaying via chat is fine too of course, but I think making weird social games based on positioning and resource management (spare dresses if wine is spilled on you!) is better than making them about rolling a skill check for Diplomacy or what have you.
2. Similar to wolf moons, this was a bloated disaster of houserules... having received the DCC RPG book as a gift from a player, I eagerly sought to add it to the game... on top of GLOG casting... on top of all my other houserules to BFRPG... on top of a mixed level up system using both BFRPG GP=XP and Die Trying X's and DCC's model... suffice it to say that this abominable frankenhack would have been better served by leaping into the nearest dumpsterfire and leaving us to play Fate or PbtA or a proper story game. We squeezed great roleplay and schemes despite the system, and used the system for a few janky heists and dungeon delving for coin, but it was really a ball-and-chain, especially the XP thing. We survived 22 sessions under its yoke, but I could feel my bloated house-rules coming apart at the scenes as it barely supported the story-game mode of play on it.

coins to XP is an elegant system IF you stick to the prescribed purpose of dungeons and dragons as a dungeon delver. This campaign departed far from those goals, but really made me think of the limitations I was working under. In short, I needed an OSR break to ponder what to do rules-wise upon my return. I dread subjecting players to a homebrew rulebook after the disasters of Wolf Moons's Nightmare Glog, but I think I have reached the point where 'BFRPG with houserules' is something I can only run if I return to very bare-bones 'delve the megadungeon!' campaigns, and even if I do that, I need to make a definititive houserules/setting primer document.

Anyway, I'm running and playing in Lancer games at the moment, and we'll see how long that phase lasts, and if I return to OSR immediately, or if my 'break' continues to run some storygames. However, even Lancer takes place in the same setting (after a fashion) so I hope to continue stacking layer upon layer of lore regardless of what the system is.

No proofreading, only post

Pantheon as DCC Patrons, Part One- Our Lady of Gardens, Murulu, The Fairy Queen, and Zaba (But really just the first two)

In the triple realm of King's Point, Queen's Coast, and Prince's Spit, there are four major supernatural forces that many call upon. I got a bit distracted thinking about the  d e e p   l o r e for my new campaign so by all means scroll down to the big numbered lists, but this is a doozy of a post either way.

Our Lady of Gardens is the goddess of, roughly speaking, the agricultural revolution and city-based society. Her domain is over the commonly domesticated animals such as goats, sheep, cattle, chickens, peasants, and so on(dogs included but they have their own canid deity), and she grew in power considerably after the Horse God of Yuba perished and horses fell (for the most part) under her protection, and again when the dominant sun-god Riikhus perished and the Stone Sun pantheon that she was part of collapsed, leaving her as sole guardian of the Tripartite Realm. Additionally, she is the one who, back in wilder days of antiquity, tamed the wild plants into orderly grain and vegetables, and while the harvest is determined by the will of the slavering moons beyond the reach of the sun, here in the Daylands it is by her grace the crops grow healthy and fruitful.
The Lady has a plan for humanity, just as a farmer has plans for a farm. She values social acumen, symmetry(an anti-chaos measure), health and skill, and so seeks to matchmake families, spinning a web of relationships in the hopes of raising individuals and institutions that are optimally suited to keep civilization intact through the regular cataclysms that wrack the world. Each of the three realms takes a slightly different approach, though whether this is cultural and clergical drift or the actual will of the goddess to test alternate models is most unclear. Anathema to her are mutations and disease and mutilations, monstrous chimera and moonspawn, undead and fell sorcery, for she enjoys things to be clearly defined and in top form, able to live lives and die deaths in harmony with established society. The living labor according to their roles, and reap the rewards in the expansive afterlife of Our Lady, an arrangement that for the most part satisfies those within the three monarchies and keeps the dead quiet.

Her counterpart is Murulu, Lord of Calamities, who has leashed the flood and the famine, the earthquake and the hurricane, drought and pestilence, and many other disasters that strain and bay at their leashes, and are set upon those who have lived without suffering too long, to remind them of the fate of all flesh. But Murulu is not a wicked goddess, per se- true, mutation and blight and disaster are directed by her to some degree, but without Murulu there would be no karmic justice to these events, only a meaningless grinding of the bones of mortals and shedding of their blood to feed the elements from whence they came. Murulu lurks at the edge of the world, able to direct disaster but not prevent it. Those who worship Murulu are not spared misfortune, but they may pick their poisons. Under Murulu, the famine stuck lands will be spared the next plague. The blind man may trade a leg to the legless woman for an eye, and those who are hideous monsters can find peace at the side of those who see with their hearts. Murulu says 'It is easier to change your self than the world' and encourages a view of change not being something to fear, but to adapt to and see the good in. Murulu has only a 'waiting room' style afterlife for the faithful as they await reincarnation in a future generation, as her followers are fewer.

The two approaches, civilization vs anarchy, planning vs adaptation, order vs chaos, classical beauty vs unique charm, humanism vs transhumanism have lead to great conflict between the goddesses, and so too their peoples. Murulu champions a reincarnation of the Dark Lord every century to march forth with hordes of mutants and monsters to showcase the futility of Our Lady's Garden, and Our Lady assembles the usual legions of warriors, shining knights, and roguish chevaliers to counterargue via steel that it is Murulu who is in the wrong for allowing the world to develop as it pleases rather than nipping problems in the bud and pruning deviations from stability. Once upon a time they each served the Tyrant-Sun Riikhus alongside each other, and perhaps the conflict between the two is from coming to different conclusions about how to withstand the entropic attentions of reality from the experience.

Heleognostics, safely sequestered away from the wars on their island, say the conflict itself serves humanities interests in the long run. We humans are mortals after all- if we must die, why not die and contribute to this aeons old 'discussion?' (Though on the subject of 'discussions,' as an aside, the goddess M'shesh who questions death itself is rather too radical and is not endemic to this region). The Tripartite Realm has an enemy to humble it when it grows too proud, and to unite against behind a single goal when it grows too fractious. The directed calamities fall upon those who are most prepared to blunt their effects, or those villains who deserve every gust of portentous storms, and each side gets to make their point most pointedly. Those who have tired of the Tripartite Realm's societal strictures may go to the Wurderlands and Murulu under the Dark Lord's banner and get freaky, and those who long for order and non-mutant chickens can settle in the Tripartite Realm and swear fealty to Our Lady of Gardens and be cleansed, and round and round it goes.

Set apart from the endless struggle is the Queen of Fairie, once called Flora, and her Alvish Courts that live within the dreams of trees, Elfland (A more populated Ynn is how I'll run it I expect). The Alves respect the gods for their power, but smile with eyes only and remember days of ash and ruin where the Alves were, and the gods were not. Those humans who forsake the human gods and swear to serve the dreaming woods over the armies and cities of humans (or mutants) may find favor with the elves, for good or ill, if they seek Elfland in the Queenswood or atop icy Mount Celephais(or was it Aran? It matters not). There are two courts- Summer and Winter, Seelie and Unseelie, and each is inhuman and glamorous in their own way. Time treads lightly in Elfland, and the elves, goblins, fairies, and what have you have forever to do all the nothing they so enjoy, and it serves as an alluring dream for humans to retire to even before their time in the waking world is up.

And finally is Zaba, a big fat frog god who hid in the form of a legless tadpole after being defeated by the snake goddess Yg in times so ancient even the elves know nothing of them. There are froggy folk in the bogs, not quite part of the Tripartite Realm, and not quite part of the Wurderlands, and they seem happy enough in their soggy logs. Perhaps they're the ones who have the right idea, and you should beseech Zaba to become as they. Ah, Lord Zaba! Grant us flies!

Zaba is just Bobugbubilz, the default DCC frog god, with a name from Lungfungus's own frog cult and lore from my world, so I am too lazy to repost the book info here (Plus it might be illegal, idk)

Anyway...
OUR LADY OF GARDENS
Quick Priest Info
May turn mutants, monsters that have at least one part being from a real animal, undead, and killer plants.

Sacrifices to reduce disapproval are monster sacrifices or finely bred animals who go to the altar ready to be reborn again, and of course gold. All gods hunger for gold.

Opposed alignments are pretty much anyone who tries to use chaotic powers for personal benefit, and anyone chivalrous is likely good enough to count as a similar alignment.

She does sponsor wizards who work as court sorcerers and protectors of the realm, rather than the usual power-mad lunatics though.

Invoke Patron Results.
12-13- Our Lady is otherwise engaged, but sends a horde of cooing doves to provide concealment to the caster and bafflement to the enemy that lasts 1d6 rounds and acts mostly helpfully to the caster. If falling petals or leaves, wheat chaff, etc would serve just as well, that will be the manifestation instead.

14-17- A faithful but otherwise unremarkable animal arrives to assist the caster, having been in the vicinity thanks to Our Lady's foresight. Though free of societal obligations, they will wish to return to their farm sooner or later.
1-Donkey 2-Cow 3-Sheep 4-Pig 5-Goat 6- Rooster

18-19- The Lady, having foreseen these events, sends forth a 3HD lowborn Knight Errant, Royal Forester, Masked Knight, Steel Nun, Hellknight, or whichever mighty devotee of the lady is most appropriate. They arrive as soon as plausible and aid for about an hour (though as a living being, this is subject to their own discretion)

20-23- The Lady dispatches an Animal Saint from the netherworld to aid the invoker. These beings are the platonic ideal of their species, essentially creatures with all 18's in their stats, max HP, etc etc.
1-Horse 2- Cow 3-Sheep 4-Pig 5-Goat- 6-Dove. These creatures will serve the faithful as best they can, with no fear of death

24-27- An ancient hero is temporarily awakened, arriving in spirit form with 5HD, similar ghost-gear to those of the 18-19 result,  and similar terms of aid (though limited to sunrise or sundown, whichever is sooner).

28-29- A Pseudodryad is temporarily awakened from nearby plant life, which is miraculously domesticated. All small nearby animals will take the side of the dryad, and the dryad may cause small plants to trip and entangle the casters foes, while larger trees may be capable of bludgeoning them. After 2d6 rounds, the plants will return to their default state, but the small creature (if any) will remain friendly and aid the caster by guiding them to safety as best they can.
If the terrain does not support this, use the lower result.

30-31- A Winged Matchmaker (Converted Foocubus) descends from the sky clad in white and green silk veils and robes if the crisis is social (or best served by a hasty aerial extraction), and wielding a cannon in one hand and silver scythe in the other if the crisis is best served by reducing the forces of chaos to bloody ruination.

Nintendo can't sue me for this abominable image edit because my flatmate bought fire emblem!

32+ Whispers in the clergy and the dreams of nobles grants the petitioner one favor from the highest Liege of the realm, and a Foocubus is dispatched as above to ensure the petitioners's request reaches the High Queen (or whoever), and that they survive to hear back from their liege.


Patron Taint-As Our Lady is against mutation and corruption, this is more akin to the Three Fates patron taints in DCC, but distinct enough (due to Our Lady also not approving of self-mutilation) that they must be described here. Once a caster has performed all three levels of all 6 'taints' no further patron taint need be rolled, and they become immune to mutation as a Cleric of Our Lady.

Upon completing all 3 stages of any one result, the caster is cured of 1d3 mutations as a show of thanks from Our Lady.

So long as something remains uncompleted, Our Lady may restrict access to invocations and patron spells at her discretion to remind the wizard of their unfulfilled bargain.
1- The Quest-The caster believes they are mentally falling into corruption and perversity, and must work harder to beat back chaos lest their principles become compromised.  The first quest is to find a tainted chaos-relic within 1d4 days travel time and destroy it (if any such items are owned by the party, they may be the most eligible targets). If rolled again, the quest is to hunt a chaos-beast of fell renown within 1d4 weeks travel. At the final roll, the quest is to slay or convert the current Dark Lord.
2- The Mirror- The caster becomes aware that their 2nd order reflection (their reflection's reflection) has crossed over into the waking world to destroy them. It is 1d4 days distant  and driven to slay the caster, and has a mutation the caster does not.
When rolled again, it will be a 3rd order reflection, be 1d4 weeks distant and working to undermine the casters reputation, and be 1d3 levels and mutations mightier than the caster.
If rolled for a final time, it will be a Champion of Lumar* and will have established a corrupt mirror-verse citadel populated by fiends and be 1d6 levels and mutations advanced beyond the casters feeble powers, and it will seek to corrupt the caster by showing them the power they have denied themselves by following Our Lady, and destroy all they love to prove their superiority.
*Not the prime lumar though, but a higher-order reflection of her, sometimes called Dark Lumar
3-Tenet of Generosity- The caster feels obliged to atone for the various crimes they have probably either been part of or begrudgingly overlooked while part of a party of adventurers. They will offer all obviously stolen goods to the nearest temple, and a 20% tithe of their monetary worth besides.
If rolled again, they will once more offer all indubitably wrongfully obtained goods to the temple for redistribution, and furthermore offer up a third of their magic items.
The final roll will require the mage to return all wrongfully obtained items to their original owners (or their graves) personally, and donate another 30% of monetary worth to the temple for good measure, as well as the item the GM wants to get rid of the most- I mean, their most prized possession.
4- Tenet of Humility- The caster will forsake a random spell forever, deeming it some combination of too dangerous to exist in civilized society and/or a bad influence on them due to its eldritch and probably corrupting nature. This may repeat up to three times, after which the caster deems themselves disciplined enough to handle any suspicious spells remaining in their pool of knowledge.
5-Tenet of Selflessness- The caster feels obliged to seek out a worthy mortal and grant them their hearts desire, as a way of showing their study of magic does indeed benefit others. If rolled again, they will, in adopted Saresaren custom, grant three wishes to the next person they meet upon a paved road of the Tripartite Realm (they are free to do dickass genie moves to ensure the wishes are not dangerous to society of course). The final task is to swear themselves to an appropriate noble court as court sorcerer and work from a place of high renown to watch over and protect society.
6-Matchmaker- To ensure people find their One True Love (and maintain good deific relations with the Foocubi and Saint Bridget) the wizard must solve the difficulties plaguing a couple so that they may live happily ever after.
The first issue is a simple affair, likely between peasants of a village no more than 1d4 days away.
The second issue is a tangled affair, likely between differing social classes or rival families, no more than 1d4 weeks away.
The final issue is a thorny mess involving competing Foocubi trying to maintain defunct bloodlines, issues of succession, and multiple noble families, and will require a trip to the capital.

Spellburn Results
1- The caster must briefly justify the use of these chaotic sorcerous powers to Our Lady. While 'self-preservation' is usually satisfying in many adventuring scenarios, good reasons that protect society at large may grant an extra +1 bonus to the spellcheck, and bad reasons and worse excuses may cause Our Lady to negate the benefits of the spellburn entirely.
2- The caster's spellburn is aided by a Winged Matchmaker, and agrees to go on a date with an eligible suitor at the next opportunity, or if the caster is already satisfying this, agrees to set up an acquaintance on such a date.
3-The caster's spellburn is aided by the lingering covenant with a past Sun(Riikhus), and gains +1 to the spellcheck if an appropriate sun is visible and overhead, but -1 otherwise.
4- The caster's attempt to call on further power goes unheard, and fails (expending no burn but wasting the turn) unless they resort to a forbidden chaos ritual. The stat damage is guilt and shame mostly, and doing this in front of the faithful of Our Lady would surely merit severe punishment regardless of circumstance.

Patron Spells
Domesticate
Level:4 Range: Touch Duration:Permanent Save: Yes
Our Lady of Gardens offers a covenant to wild creatures to trade the freedom of the wild for the security of living among human society. If the creature accepts(fails its save), it will change in form and thought as Our Lady wills and become a domesticated version of itself. This is a spell that channels Our Lady directly, and is usually reserved for great rituals. Clerics who serve Our Lady may learn it too.
Manifestation-
1- The caster kneels and extends a hand to the beast in question- if it places a paw or head upon the hand, the deed is done. 2- The caster offers a leash for the beast to bind itself and waits. 3- The caster speaks in the unintelligible tongue of the divine as Our Lady speaks through them to the beast directly 4-The caster and target's eyes glow white-green as they have discourse in the spirit realm with Our Lady.
Corruption- n/a, always Patron Taint
Nat 1-Lost, Failure, Patron Taint
2-11- Lost, Failure
12-17- Failure, but not lost.
18-19- If the beast fails its save, it will not be domesticated, but will be pacified and leave the caster and associates be.
20-23- The beast is soothed, though not tamed or domesticated, and may aid the caster so long as it need not go outside its normal life excessively.
24-25- The beast is domesticated, but not trained. Its natural attacks decrease by 1 die stage and it loses chaos mutations and so on and becomes fluffier and friendlier and generally more appealing. It may aid the caster and even follow them back to civilization, but it is more like a cat doing its own thing than a trained dog.
26-28- The beast is tamed and domesticated. It will aid the caster outside the scope of its usual life (such as acting as a beast of burden or a steed) but will require constant training and will take up a retainer slot, or two if it has more HD than the caster.
29-33- The beast is trained, tamed, and domesticated on the spot. It requires only amateur maintenance training to keep it able to carry, sic, stay, and so on.
34-35- As above, but the beast is also fond of the caster, essentially becoming a pet.
36-37- All beasts directly related to the target beast are tamed as well, and other beasts present will be soothed as per 20-23.
38+ The entire local population of the beast's species comes into the fold of Our Lady at varying levels of training, and becomes part of human society in short order.

Lady's Scythe-(Variant Blade of Atropos)
The scythe is an uncouth peasants tool, yes, but it is also a symbol of harvesting and cutting down Our Lady's enemies. Various other tools appear at lower levels of casting, but all serve the same purpose
Level:1 Range: Self  Duration:Varies Save:n/a
Manifestation- 1- The caster pulls the weapon from thin air 2- An existing item transforms into Our Lady's Scythe 3-Light bends to create the weapon of shining energy 4- An existing item crackles with white and green lightning, with spectral force extending from it to shape the weapon
Nat 1- Lost, Failure, Patron Taint
2-11- Lost, Failure
12-13- A shining silver set of pruning shears appears. It is a magical weapon that strikes at +1 to hit (+3 vs chaos monsters) and 2d4+Caster Level damage, and things like small tentacles, horns, claws, eyestalks, etc may be clipped through upon each hit. Lasts 1d3+Caster Level Rounds.
14-17- As above, but a silver sickle with +2 to hit (+4 vs anathema) and dealing 2d6+CL damage, lasting 1d4+CL rounds, and able to slice off larger monstrous appendages (never limbs though- the idea is to prune dangerous/mutant features, not maim)
18-19- As above, but a full scythe with +3 to hit (+5 vs anathema) dealing 2d8+CL damage and lasting 1d6+CL rounds.
20-23- As above, but two such weapons appear and the caster may dual-wield them without penalty, and the duration is 1d8+CL rounds.
24-27- As above, but a third weapon may be wielded in the caster's mouth, the duration is 1d10+CL rounds, and they inflict 2d10+CL damage, and they attack at +4, +6 vs anathema to hit.
28-29- As above, but the weapons attack at +5, +7 vs anathema, deal 2d12+CL, and last 1d12+CL rounds. Anathema may now have limbs severed if they fail Will saves.
30-31- As above, but attacking at +6, +8 vs anathema,  dealing 2d14+CL and lasting 1d14+CL rounds, and anathema may be cut out of their armor or away from their shadows or enchantments if they fail a will save when struck
32+As above, but attacking at +7, +9 against anathema, dealing 2d16+CL and lasting 1d16+CL rounds, and slaying (via decapitation or bisection) anathema struck who fail a will save.

Magical Transformation Rabbit Guardian Ronya- This patron spell is shared by all the patrons described here (Even Zaba, due to the results of a Log-Hopping contest in ages past) and has its own section at the end due to its lore being shared by the gods, but ultimately more of a realm-based thing.

The head of Murulu, ever changing, gazes over Wyrdton, the rest of the body buried in the earth, at the center of the strangest (and therefore holiest) parts of town.

MURULU, LORD OF CALAMITIES

Quick Cleric Info
May turn humans, elementals, disease spirits, and domestic animals.

Sacrifices to reduce disapproval are offerings ones own body (a finger being one point, an eye being 5 an entire limb being 10) which may result in the offered body part either being cut loose, horribly and permanently diseased, or mutated beyond recognition and function. Causing a calamity may reduce disapproval but is more likely to be an undertaking as payment for intervention. All gods hunger for gold.

Though the Calamitous Lord is open to all manner of things others find terrible, it is worth clarifying that the monsters Murulu likes are the sorts of things that are different beings trying to live in the world, sometimes conflicting with humanity, but NOT things like nightmare entities which only exist to be horrible things to torment people and have no place in the sane world.

Her chaotic energies are offered quite freely to those who accept transforming themselves, making her a popular patron for rogue sorcerers.

Invoke Patron Results. Calamities are not really dogs (or they would be the purview of the Jackal God of Yuba) but the metaphor of them being baying hounds leashed by Murulu is well-established. While Murulu has dominion over other calamities (locust swarms, plague, mutilation and mutation) these elemental wraths are the ones most suitable for saving an invoker's bacon.


If not mentioned, the duration goes on as long as Murulu cares to allow it, regardless of the caster's wishes.
12-13- The dread gaze of Murulu falls upon the area briefly. For 1d6 rounds, ill-luck plagues the invokers enemies, causing new wounds received to fester and attract disease spirits, limbs and more to be mangled on critical hits, and crumbling cliff faces, sucking mud, or collapsing roofs all become very likely.

14-17- Pup Tremor sniffs and strains at the leash, knocking the caster's enemies prone and overturning buckets, lanterns, etc, possibly collapsing already compromised structures.

18-19- Fog creeps into the area, limiting visibility to about 5 feet and stifling scent and sound.

20-23- Playful Whirlwind is unleashed to bedevil the land, blinding those within the tiny tornado (30' radius and 1000' tall) blocking flight and missile fire through the winds so long as the caster concentrates, but no longer than 13 rounds (as well as the other expected effects of  dust devil). Those inside may be buffeted by swirling objects each round (1d4 for assorted rubbish but increases with larger/sharper/harder things)

24-27- Younger Flood is unleashed, drowning the local area in 2d6 feet of water, washing enemies who fail to save prone and drowning and washing them away until they can get out of the current. Aboveground this takes the form of a torrential downpour, underground, a sudden gushing spring.

28-29- Storm, the grey hound, arrives howling, rain and hail nearly horizontal with the force of the wind, sand and anything loose blown away. Hearing and missile fire is impossible, and those outside will only bear the lashings of the storm if their morale is nigh-unbreakable, and even then they will be battered and bruised if not heavily armored, and risk lightning strikes if they are clad in metal.

30-31- The barely-leashed she-wolf Earthquake barks, and one of her pups answers the call- if there is a slope nearby or underground, Avalanche, Rockslide, Mudslide , or Cave-in buries the casters enemies until they can make a DC20 save to escape. If there is no slope, Sinkhole answers, casting the casters enemies into a pit 30' deep, and on the ocean, dread Tsunami answers, overturning ships that fail their save and flooding towns.

32+ The most terrible hound of Murulu, Volcano, stirs, a fiery crack opening and spewing forth lava at a slow, but not slow enough, pace. Those present have one round to get off the ground, or take 5d6 damage per round they wade through lava. Further heights must be sought as the burning earth swallows all before it, though it will cool to rock soon enough, probably.

Patron Taint-
As usual, once each result is gained 3 times, further patron taint is ignored.
1- Random mutation. Upon rolling this result a third time, the caster is no longer vulnerable to monsterization from too many mutations.
2-The caster becomes a veritable lightning rod for natural disasters- there is a 1% chance upon spell casts that a random disaster will strike the area soon after. Increase this chance to 3%, then 5% when re-rolled.
3- Random disease. Upon the third roll, the caster becomes unable to die from disease/parasite, but also is automatically infected by any exposure to diseases. They also gain +1 to spellchecks while diseased (possibly per disease).
4-Random curse (I don't have a good go-to for curses yet). Upon the third result, +1 to spellchecks while cursed (possibly per curse)
5-Each time rolled, choose one you have not chosen before- Lose a limb. Lose all conventional beauty standards, lose a sense. Once all three are rolled, you will be visited by the three fellow murulu disciples who received these lost gifts, and they will bear either gifts or a favor to you for your donations.
6-Add a Mercurial Magic/Spell Mutation to the spell cast. You gain +1 to spellchecks with these doubly-mutated spells.

Random Calamities-

1. Flood
2. Collapse (cavern or architecture)
   
3. Earthquake
4. Avalanche/Rock/Mudslide
5. Sinkhole
6. Drought
7. Famine
8. Locusts
9. Plague
10. Hurricane
11. Tornado
12. Sand Storm
13. Blizzard
    
14. Whirlpool/Riptide
15. Wildfire
    
16. Invasion/Revolution
17. Curse
    
18. Fog
    
19. Tsunami
20. Volcano
    

Spellburn Results-
1- The caster cuts, burns, etc themselves deeply, harming physical stats and leaving a thick scar, marking them as glorified to Murulu.
2- The caster snips off part of themselves- an earlobe, a fingernail, a toe joint, etc, the minor but permanent mutilation
3- The caster is called upon to host a random disease spirit in addition to the usual spellburn results
4- The caster is called upon to trade an existing mutation for a new random one in addition to the usual spellburn results.

Adherents of Murulu in most the world are mostly just missing bits or with extra bits, but in the depths of her holy city in the Wurderlands, things get weirder as you go deeper in, and end up completely unrecognizable as being anything save for that which they are.

Transcend Form
Murulu cares not at all for the standardized forms of so called 'species,' and allows casters to assume monstrous and unique forms that allow them to do things they could only dream of before. As with most polymorph style spells, mutations and mutilations remain (a one-eyed, lizard tailed human turns into a one-eyed, lizard tailed wolf if they were turned into a wolf, for example) but they are enhanced (in the above example, the transformation would result in a wolf with a single powerful eye rather than be 'missing' an eye, and the tail would provide lizardlike advantages rather than just being a hairless scaly wolf tail).
The transformation does nothing to those who have no wounds or mutations, and requires some back-and-forth discussion and pre-emptive work to determine what the precise outcome is, (and this updates with each new mutation or mutilation) but the outcome should be pleasing to the transformed person and has broad tweaks available. Items may remain worn, or be shed depending on the details of the transformation and preferences of the wearer.
Level:3 Range: Touch  Duration:Varies Save:Willing Only
Manifestation
1-The transformed twists and boils like molten clay shaping itself into the form
2- The transformed hatches from their own body like a butterfly from a chrysalis
3- The transformed turns inside out, with the inside being the outside of the new form
4- The transformed becomes a spinning, glowing pastel silhouette, which resolves into the transcended form.
Nat 1- Lost, Failure, Patron Taint
2-11- Lost, Failure
12-15- Failure, but spell is not lost
16-17- The caster or target briefly transforms into a monstrous form for Caster Level rounds. Though the transformation is largely cosmetic and unstable and grants no added benefits, it removes penalties from mutation/mutilation while active ands heals HP=CL as wounds close and will end bleeding effects. This healing and all associated healing effects of later results only apply once per day.
18-20- The target transforms for a full CL minutes, healing HP as above and gaining a power related to their favorite mutilation/mutation, as well as any obvious changes to locomotion and environmental survival (such as a fish tail allowing swimming and underwater breathing).
21-24-The target transforms  for a turn(10min) per CL and gains up to half the extraordinary capabilities from enhanced mutations and mutilations, as well as the benefits stated above.
25-29- The target transforms for 1 hour per CL, and gains all the blessings from the marks of Murulu and above entries they bear so long as they are transformed, but heal HP=CLx2
30-32- The transformation lasts for either 24 hours or until the transformed wishes to end it prematurely, but is otherwise as the above entry with healing equal to HP=CLx3
33-35- As above, but the HP of the transformed heals entirely to full.
36+  The change is permanent. Further mutations and mutilations will warp the form to accommodate and enhance the form.

Beautify
Level:1 Range: Touch Duration: Permanent Save: None Allowed
Called most small-mindedly by most people 'Corrupt' or 'The Vile Touch' this spell channels the powers of Murulu into the caster and allows them to spread mutation, mutilation, disease and calamity with just a touch. To the faithful of murulu it is a blessing and enhancement, to those who cling to their transient forms, it is among the most menacing and terrifying of powers.
Manifestation
1-The caster's hand (or hand-analogue) becomes shrouded in pulsing dark purple energy with flashing lightning within.
2- The casters primary touching appendage temporarily morphs into a knobbly, pustule laden tentacle dripping with slime.
3- The caster's tongue turns to a scorpion's tail, laden with a mutagenic sting.
4- The caster's entire body becomes slick with rainbow slime to flow onto and reshape those who are held.

1- Failure, lost, Patron Taint
2-11- Failure, lost
12-13- The caster may touch one living target and grant it a blessing or curse from Murulu, the difference being a matter of perspective. This requires a to-hit as usual.
14-15- The caster may touch one living or nonliving target and grant it a blessing from Murulu.This requires a to-hit as usual. Inanimate objects afflicted by disease act as a living creature would, grow mutations, or lose roughly equivalent parts according to on-the spot rulings.
16-18- The channelled energies persist within the caster for 1d3+CL rounds, allowing for multiple blessings to be given out.
19-20- The channelled energies persist within the caster for 1d6+CL rounds, allowing for multiple blessings to be distributed.
21-23- The channelled energies persist within the caster for 1d8+CL rounds, and may distribute them 2 per round, with no penalty for 'dual wielding' their unarmed touches.
24-27- The channelled energies persist within the caster for 1d10+CL rounds, and may distribute them 2 per round, with no penalty for 'dual wielding' their unarmed touches. Furthermore, anyone touching or even striking the caster with weapons without great reach will be granted a blessing as well.
28-31-The channelled energies persist within the caster for 1d12+CL rounds, and radiate out both via physical touch and unspeakable energies such that, if the caster is taking action to deliver blessings, all who come within 5' will receive one.
32+ The caster is entrusted by Murulu herself with the decision of what blessings to deliver, and may pick specific mutations, mutilations, diseases, etc to dispense for 1d20+CL rounds with direct touches (2 per round) and those who are within 5' will be affected as well.

Blessings of Murulu
Roll 1d4 for the enemies of Murulu, 1d6 for most targets, and 1d8 for the faithful of Murulu.
1-Mutilation- lose eye, ear, nose, mouth and associated senses, or a limb, or something else. This is painless and inflicts no damage for the faithful, but does inflict damage to the enemies of Murulu equal to CLd4 due to morale loss and fear. Inanimate targets just suffer rust, cracks, and other destruction.
2-Disease- Disease spirit or corporeal parasite comes to co-habitate for a while, immediately inflicting one instance of its effects. Ghul fever not included.
3-Curse! A tenacious and hard to get rid of spellwisp with an odd effect comes to haunt the target.
4- Negative Mutation
5-  Random Mutation.
6+ Positive Mutation

Magical Transformation Rabbit Guardian Ronya- This patron spell is shared by all the patrons described here (Even Zaba, due to the results of a Log-Hopping contest in ages past) and has its own section at the end due to its lore being shared by the gods, but ultimately more of a realm-based thing.

THE FAIRY QUEEN

Is, like Zaba, just a slightly reimagined DCC patron, in this case the King of Elfland.
In winter, the spell Forest Walk becomes Ice Walk and some minor changes to patron taint that are indeed so minor I don't think they're worth getting into here, and of course has the final spell.

But with a shield, not a sword, innit

Magical Transformation Rabbit Guardian Ronya
A rabbit heroine of past ages (and player character of past campaign) whose heroic spirit lives on, not in the temples of the nobility, but in the land itself, possessing any who are good of heart to battle wickedness in all its forms. Many of the Chosen of Ronya are often not intentional, but incidental champions who answer the call to fight villainy in the moment, but find their own skills and strength lacking, and so they may transform into an avatar of the rabbit to do battle

The enemies of Ronya are criminals of both the cruel brigand and heartless noble variety alike, and monsters of the truest sense of the word- nightmare things that have no place in the waking world. Only a single avatar of Ronya exists at a given time, and in the event opposing sides both attempt to call upon this spell, only the most worthy will be answered, though in the cases of morally grey circumstance, sometimes Ronya's invocation appears only to put an end more to the conflict itself than to win it for either side.

Anyone who has stood up for the weak and brought tyrants low may earn a point of favor and be able to call upon this transformation, but certain prayers(cleric versions), ghost-calling rituals, and so on are used by the powers of the Tripartite Realm and beyond to invoke the power of this peasant's hero. As Ronya is the true patron of the spell, it comes with its own misfires and corruptions and is subject to the ancient warrior's will alone, so it cannot be abused for wickedness.
Level: 2 Range: Self  Duration: 1 conflict Save: n/a
Manifestations
1- The caster's body morphs into that of  3 foot tall bipedal rabbit-woman, and their gear to plate armor and a shield.
2-The caster vanishes in a swirling pastel tornado of sparkles, and Ronya emerges.
3- The caster slaps the ghost-hand of Ronya and tag-teams out of the material realm as Ronya enters the wrestling ring. I mean, the scene.
4- The caster has a ghostly appearance of Ronya standing behind them, and they and the shadow act as Ronya would, imbued with the strength of myth both physically and spiritually.
Misfires
1- Caster craves carrots as if addicted, unable to perform tasks longer than a minute due to looking for carrots until either 1d6 hours pass or carrots are had.
2- Random nearby animal's behavior becomes that of a rabbit for 1d6 hours.
3- Rabbits attracted to caster and follow them in increasing hordes for a night and a day.
4- Nearest weapon transformed into shield. Magical items get a saving throw, but transformation is permanent.

Corruptions
1-Caster must attempt to cast this spell whenever they are exposed to carrots or are tempted by a character flaw that Ronya is trying to break them away from.
2-Caster becomes female if previously male.
3-Caster loses one foot of height, down to minimum size of a rabbit.
4-Caster sprouts rabbit ears, tail, fur. Eating rabbit counts as cannibalism from now on and will deny use of this spell (and you're on very thin ice before hand if you know this spell and be eating rabbit).
5-Caster's memories become muddled with that of Ronya and all those who have gotten this corruption.
6-Caster stalked by the Rabbit(less) Moon, or more precisely but less concisely, inherits an ancient meta-grudge from something from Beyond

 

Nat 1- Failure, Lost, and Misfire or Corruption. 1-2 corruption, 4-6 Misfire
2-11- Failure, Lost
12-13- Failure, not lost
14-15- Brief transformation allows the caster to take a hit targeted against an ally to themselves this round, reducing damage dealt by 12 and preventing associated effects (poison, etc) if the damage is reduced to 0.
16-19- Caster transforms into Ronya until the crisis is averted, fighting with +CL to hit, a shield bash that deals 1d6+CL subdual damage, AC as plate+shield, movement as unarmored human+leaping, and the ability to take hits aimed at a single guarded ally and reduce the damage of these hits by 1d12
20-22- As above, but Ronya's personality and experience shines through more, inflicting double damage and doubling the guard damage reduction against the following foes- Dragons, Thieves, Wizards, Clockwork Automata, Wolves, and Nobles.
23-26- As above, but the shield bash increases to 1d8+CL, the AC to Plate +3, the move to 150% human speed, and gaining an extra 10 bonus HP which are taken by Ronya and damage to this buffer HP will not be lost by the caster at the end of the transformation.
27-29- As above, but the shield bash increases to 1d10+CL, the move to 200% human speed, 15 bonus HP,  and all adjacent to Ronya may be guarded simultaneously.
30-33- As above, with a 1d12+CL shieldbash, AC as plate +5, 20 bonus HP,  and a guarded damage reduction of 1d20.
34+ As above, but with a 1d12+CL shieldbash, 30 bonus HP, and all allied with Ronya may be guarded simultaneously regardless of distance. Additionally, with this state of transformation, anything may be leapt over with a round of preparation, though the leap itself may take longer to complete.

I think future posts better be limited to a single patron...

Several Styles of 'Speak With Magic'

There are a lot of niche spells (Detect Magic, Read Magic, Write Magic, Identify) that make up 'magic literacy' and are often ignored or consigned to the cantrip bin or reimagined as class abilities. I rolled them up into a single spell, given by default to all casters. It's been a big hit and dare I say a defining feature of magic in my games, and seeing as how I have to do a lot of typing to attune it to the DCC wizard in my new campaign, I figured it could make for a blog post.

For a level 1 spell, it is extremely broadly applicable and useful to magical problems, but it naturally falls flat at solving non-magical problems. My experience has been that characters prepare it when they are unsure of what they will encounter, but preferably if they have a backup spell like Magic Missile or similar. Wizards will also prepare it in the hopes of catching new spells when they DO know of interesting magical effects to speak to, or if they are just very optimistic and confident that the party can handle themselves. It has aspects of Dispel Magic, the idea of 'counterspelling,' can double as a 'detect invisible/hidden beings' in a pinch, and is a general 'turn a magic problem into a roleplay problem' utility option that I think makes interacting with the arcane more of a roleplaying opportunity and less of a 'quibble over the semantics of the rulebook' time waste.

Speak With Magic- This "spell" is common to all magic users, divine and arcane alike, and is essentially projecting ones soul half out of the body and into the dreamrealm, allowing one to see and communicate with spellwisps, demons, gods, and all manner of supernatural beings that otherwise are not-quite present in the waking world. People unskilled in magic can sometimes pull it off with Blue Lotus, psychedelic mushrooms, and even vivid dreams, but wizards and such are trained to enter this state reliably and voluntarily. It is how wizards gather their spells and how clerics pray to the divine, and thus it is a technique that all users of supernatural forces must know, and have no need of a spellbook (or similar) to memorize.

It allows one to see enchantments and magical effects and to speak with them. Most arcane spellwisps are alien beings that only think in terms of what they do- ie, a burning hands spellwisp might wish to burn things, and remembers only things it has burned. Satisfying a spellwisps requirements (typically via offering appropriate subject matter to be subjected to the spell of value equal to 500 coins per spell level) will usually allow a spellcaster to add an arcane spellwisp to their collection of learned spells. Allowing the spellwisp to affect the caster and/or party members is often a good enough deal as well, especially for damaging and debilitating spells. This sort of negotiation can even get wizards to be able to utilize spells without the usual memorization and level requirements, like convincing a wall of ice to move into the shade, or convincing a spent Fireball spell to activate again at the chance to ignite a bunch of lamp oil-soaked wooden puppets. An additional round of convincing per spell level is decent shorthand for how long such negotiations take, but all is at the GM's discretion (a reaction roll for the spellwisps may be appropriate as well).

When it comes to items, wisps can be very forthcoming and ready to explain their operation, cryptic or riddling and prone to telling stories of past deeds rather than present details, or recalcitrant and reluctant to reveal their secrets to those they do not deem worthy. For instance, a magic sword probably wishes to show off in battle, not play twenty questions with a twig-armed wizard, and cursed objects often lie or ignore attempts to discern their functioning. Potions tend to be barely sentient conglomerates of fractional souls and are better off examined physically with licking and feeding to rats, and rings and other 'passive' effects are notoriously subtle and secretive. Items with 'charges' tend to be the easiest to identify, because the stored wisps want to be used and released (and the main gameplay action is not identifying them, but resource management anyway).

Language barriers can stymie attempts to understand spellwisps- the wisps of an elf may indeed speak only elvish, for instance(quick note: in my game, elvish spells are almost invariably fairies), or they may be too alien to even speak any humanish tongue, instead requiring interpretation of behavior, miming, and all manner of experimentation. This is why it does not double as a 'speak with anything' spell- A basilisk, for instance, has a magical effect, sure, but the magical effect is their own body and soul, and when you speak with it with this spell, it is still a basilisk and not say, the ghost of a medusa (a possible spellwisp for 'Flesh to Stone.')

The spell is not without risk. A good analogy is poking your head into a pool to speak with a shark- it probably won't bite your head off, and you can probably pull your head back in time, but you are still poking your soul into an environment you are not native to, and dealing with beings you do not 100% understand.

Vancian Style-Level One  Range (60') Duration (1 turn/level).
For divine or demonic miracles, the operator of spells from levels 1-3 is usually some manner of cherub, imp, or otherwise small servitor being, with levels 4-5 being run by more powerful angels, devils, etc, and 6+ opening a direct channel of communication to deities and other god-like entities.

GLOG Style- Duration [[Sum]] Rounds, up to [dice] different targets may be more specifically spoken with/identified simultaneously, with further targets merely being noted as bearing a wisp or not.
Spells convinced to act for or against the caster activate with 1 less die than was used in the Speak With Magic spell, and reaction roll for the spell is generally [[sum]]
This spell should probably not have normal mishaps, as it is not a part of typical wizardry and is merely your own soul getting chatty. Using the DCC Misfires is my recommendation if the extra book-keeping seems worthwhile

DCC Style- Replaces Read Magic & Detect Magic, and all mages know it. It may be used to Counterspell (as per the counterspell spell duel rules) any spell, but only if they are able to convince the spellwisp very quickly.
Level 1 Duration- Varies. Range- 30' feet or more Casting Time 1 Round. Save: Will vs DC Spell Check (Sometimes)
Manifestation-
1- Caster's Eyes glow and reflect the realm of spellwisps
2- Caster's spirit emerges halfway from their body
3- Caster's eyes close, a third eye opens on their forehead
4-Caster speaks in the voices of the spirits
Misfires
1-Caster inadvertently annoys spellwisp to the point of immediate hostility
2-Caster can only speak to spirits and spells for 1d6 hours
3-Caster blinded to real world for 1d3 hours, able to only see the dreamrealms
4-Caster accidentally activates nearby magic item or effect
5-Caster takes 1d3 damage to Int, Wis, and Cha as they lose touch with the waking world
6-Caster manifests spellwisp into waking world for 1d3 rounds (such beings, when not demons, tend to be strange aberrations with HD=Spell Level x2)
Corruptions
1-2-Caster gains minor cosmetic mutation based on a detected spellwisp
3- Spellwisp Breeding- Caster rerolls Mercurial Magic results for a spell/Spell Mutation
4-Caster grows third, blind eye on forehead. It does have vision in the dreamrealms though.
5-Caster can see spellwisps out of the corner of their eye-only with enough detail to be annoying
6-Caster possessed by spellwisp, which can attempt to cause the caster to take actions pleasing to it
1- Lost, Failure, and worse! Roll 1d6 modified by luck- 1 or less, Corruption, 2+, Misfire
2-11- Lost, Failure.
12-13- The caster glimpses the eldritch realm for but a moment, and becomes aware of magical effects within range. It lacks differentiation- ie, a warrior with a magic sword would ping as 'having more than one spirit' with no further detail, as would someone who was possessed. Entities wishing to conceal themselves may save vs spell to lurk in blindspots and evade detection (which is easier than it sounds, as the very air and earth have souls as well so the wizard vision can easily be distracted or mistaken against the chaotic backdrop)

A single question or sentence can be asked and answered of a located spellwisp, assuming it is cooperative. This is probably not enough to get immediate aid unless the caster is already very favorable to the spellwisp's motives and nothing extraordinary is asked.

A yard/meter of wood or earth, an inch of metal, or a foot of stone is sufficient to block this spell from noticing things. Lead is especially effective and even wafer-thin plating may provide concealment.
14-17- As above, but no save to hide is allowed as the vision is clearer, and the effect lasts for one turn, enough to have a conversation and greater understanding with spellwisps that are not secretive or hostile to the mage. This level is required to have a chance of learning a spell for oneself, though of course the spellwisp must be appeased and the wizard must make their check to learn the spell as normal.
18-19 As above, but the vision is very clear- the caster may identify how many magical effects (such as a magic ring and sword wielded by an enemy, or remaining spells of a wizard) are present and, roughly speaking, how strong or weak they are. This level and higher is sufficient to decipher magic runes and symbols (such as dwarf-runes or the Symbols of power that are the transcriptions of Power Words) The effect lasts for 2 turns.
20-23- As above, but the vision will have great specificity with regards to planar coterminality- ghosts, demons, etc may be differentiated from spellwisps, and it can be easily ascertained if personal magics are due to innate powers (such as the semi-invulnerable scions of Oza) or external enchantments (a prince turned to a toad, or a quaffed potion). Furthermore, the duration is 3 turns.
24-27- As above, but the nature of the magics is revealed, even if the magics are not cooperative, due to great experience or lucky insight. A warded door can be revealed as being guarded by an 8d6 strength Fireball in the form of a dragon-ghost, a cursed sword's maliciousness can be revealed, and so on, providing enough information to utilize magic items and understand spell-motivations that are not truly extraordinary in their power or vagueness. If the caster wishes, they may show the miraculous sights to another and let them converse with the spirit realm as well.
28-29- As above, but with a greatly extended range of '120,' and all nearby allies may enjoy the benefits of the spell.
30-31- As above, but with duration of one day.
32+ As above, but with duration of one month. Generally only the most insane of sorcerers (or bored of elves) would wish to reach this level of effect.