That which we acheive too easily, we esteem too lightly - Questing for magic items.

Of course it's a good idea!

                A few articles back, I talked about giving players quests in order to have them gain magic items. A question was posed to me in the comments which asked how I suggest game masters go about such a task. This is something that I had to think about, because, primarily, what can I suggest that has not been talked about by other people? As always, the best I can do it to present some solutions with which I have had success in my own campaigns. With that in mind, here are the (admittedly limited) methods I have used successfully. As a caveat, while most of my ideas are used in the low-fantasy, sword and sorcery settings that I am personally obsessed with, it stands to reason that these should work well in any setting. And remember, as always, tweak these ideas like there is no tomorrow.

  

              Before I dive in, I would encourage you to read my other posts on magic items in a low-magic setting. The ideas laid out in those posts directly inform the strategies I will discuss here and are, in my opinion, necessary components thereof. In case you don’t have time/don’t feel like going back and reading articles on magic weapons and alchemical items, allow your humble servant to give you the tl;dr version: 1) Magic items should have names because they are special; 2) magic items should not be easily acquired for they are rare; 3) rarer still is the person who can craft such items; 4) items should have properties beyond bonuses “to hit” and damage; and 5) the more magnificent the item, the more costly (not necessarily monetarily) it should be to obtain it.

Hand wave it

Sometimes the easiest way to get something done is to just do it yourself. Players can be downright unpredictable, and if the storyline you have written (or a character’s long-term goal) hinges on the possession of some item or another, it is easiest just to hand wave the thing and simply give it to the player character. I am not, however, suggesting that the item be found in the treasure hoard of some normal (or even deadly) encounter in the course of the normal adventure. That would undermine the very idea of magic items being difficult to come by. Rather, the Game Master could construct a narrative in which the acquisition of the necessary item is described.

There are, I think, two ways of doing this. The first would be to write a well-thought through piece of prose wherein the event is described in evocative detail. The other way to hand wave this process is by simply summing up what happened as a short expository speech. This all depends on the play style of your gaming coterie. Either way, hand waving may be more efficient, but it is usually not very satisfying.

Blue booking

Similar to hand waving, blue booking allows the player character to acquire the item in question while allowing the main narrative of the campaign to continue. This method is especially useful for groups that are not able to meet often. In order to blue book successfully, parameters need to be set for the manner of the interaction between Game Master and player. There should be a time frame established, as well as an agreement on the depth of writing involved. After all, it is never fun to be the person contributing a disproportionately large amount of effort.

Blue booking should begin by the Game Master writing a prologue that involves some information about the quest itself. Then, the player can contribute a short explanation of his/her initial actions. After this, the game master explains the first encounter the player faces. The player writes how his/her character would deal with the situation, and then the Game Master writes up the next encounter. The key is to not get bogged down trying to write encounters on a turn-by-turn basis; that way lies madness and frustration. Because blue booking can take weeks or months at a time, it may be useful to give the player character the item, advance the main game by an appropriate length of time, and continue on with the whole party while you and the PC in question hash out the details.

One-on-one sessions

Assuming you have the time, a one-on-one session is my preferred method for having a single player go on a quest for a magic item. Adventuring parties conceivably need to split up from time to time, and the competent Game Master can come up with plenty of activities for the various members to do. After all, everyone should have a fleshed out enough backstory to enable their characters to have goals outside of the main plot. Perhaps the fighter is going to clear that land for his keep, the magic-user may actually have time to research that new spell, or the thief may have the opportunity to get in good with the local Guild. A series of short adventures could be constructed for each of these characters in order to pass the time, or (for things like clearing land or spell research) blue booking provides a suitable means for getting characters through the “down time”.

The main reason to have a one-on-one session is when the majority of the party wants to keep adventuring, but the the quest of a certain character is one that is either of a highly personal nature, or one that other members of the party simply have no interest or personal stake in. If something like this happens, my advice is to simply allow it. For instance, in my AD&D game, were I to send the paladin on a quest for a Holy Avenger, the rest of the party (made up almost entirely of chaotic, murder-hobos) would have no interest in going along. In this case, I would provide a separate adventure for the remainder of the party, and have them establish a rendezvous point for when they are ready to return to the main plotline.

Sub-plots

The easiest way to incorporate the quest for a magic item into your game is to simply use it as a sub-plot. Need to get to Sigil? Perhaps the party must first find a gate key of some kind. Summon a demon? Have an adventure wherein the player characters quest for the necessary ritual components. There is not really a wrong way to do this. I, however, tend to stay away from item quests as sub-plots because, most of the time, the item being sought after is only important or, ultimately, usable by one character. If you drag everyone in the party along, there is a good chance the players might get salty about not receiving magical items of their own. Of course, this is only a significant problem if you are a low-fantasy junky such as myself.

Strong on his mountain (er…at his desk),

PJ

She held aloft Excalibur: concerning magic weapons in sword and sorcery games.

A few posts back I discussed how to make an anthropocentric,low-fantasy campaign. I touched in a very minor way about magic items, but at the time I felt like this is a subject that could be dealt with in greater detail. It is in this spirit that I turn towards the idea of magic items in a low magic, sword and sorcery style setting. While this discussion is not likely to exhaust the matter, it should give the prospective DM a good jumping off point and a way to appease his/her players when they inevitably complain about the lack of magic items.

I am not going to re-plumb information I have already written about, so instead I will attempt to offer up something new for the consideration of the reader. The first thing to remember about magic in this sort of setting is that it should be rare, powerful, and mysterious. When players find a magic item, they will not have a way of really knowing whether or not the item is or is not imbued with eldritch properties, because they will be unlikely to have a spell that can identify the item. This makes it so description by the Dungeon Master and experimentation by the player characters. I will go a little more in depth about the identification process in just a bit. Let’s jump in to some quick guidelines for magic items, shall we?

Make It Wondrous

The first guideline I follow is to make sure that magic items given out (aside from minor, alchemical items) are always wondrous in nature. Too often players find boring, quasi-mundane items (“ooh a +1 sword, how original…”). In a high magic campaign this is legitimate because of the sure multitude of magic items that are floating around in the world; heck you may even be able to straight up buy magic items. In a low magic campaign, by contrast, these items are not readily available and it can be very discouraging to the player characters to go through a taxing ordeal and only walk away with an item that grants a strictly numerical advantage over what they were previously wielding. It is for these reasons that I propose that the Dungeon Master give out Wondrous Items. While most of them will not be weapons or armor (we’ll talk about that later), they are always items of legendary power and great utility. Would the thief like a +2 rapier? Totally. Would a gem which prevents the thief from being detected by magical means be more epic and amazing from a story stand-point? Unequivocally yes! Besides, giving players something which makes their character truly unique in the world and which allows them to role-play creatively is, in my opinion, intrinsically valuable in a game like D&D (or OSRIC, DCC, LL, BoL, etc., etc.).

Eschew Magic Weapons and Armor

This is the guideline I anticipate getting the most blow-back from. People love magic weapons, and, ultimately, what is not to love? They are sleek, cool, and help you kill monsters better; every warrior's dream. But do they really fit in a sword and sorcery setting? While I am sure we can all think of S&S characters with epic magic weapons (Elric much?), I remain unconvinced that they strictly fit into the setting. Generally, the S&S setting is all about a human character overcoming magical or supernatural obstacles with little more than grit, strength, and good, old-fashioned tenacity. Having said that, it is nice to give players a numerical bonus to hit and damage, especially when a majority of their foes will have resistances to non-magic damage starting at around fifth level (in 5e). So allow me to propose giving weapons qualia which give them a +1 - +3 without making them magic. I will break theses into four levels in ascending order: masterwork, heirloom, legendary, and mythical. I will often use the word “weapon” in place of “weapon or armor”, because having armor of these qualities will be so cost prohibitive that it is unlikely a character will be able to afford the commission of one. Finally, weapons of superior quality should be given names. This adds to their flavor and prestige.

Masterwork: A masterwork weapon is non-magical in nature and is the product of a particularly skilled craftsman. The weapon confers a +1 to hit and damage because of the way it has been forged and the superiority of its balance and edge. A weapons of this quality should cost no less than ten times the amount of the normal weapon type. Hrunting, the sword given Beowulf by Unferth, is good example of such a weapon.

Beowulf fighting the dragon.

Heirloom: An heirloom weapon confers a +2 bonus to hit and to damage, but remains non-magical. This is a weapon made by the sort of smith that only comes around once in a generation, and as such should be incredibly hard to come by. Those who possess such a weapon likely hand it down to their heirs, or lose it in battle with a superior force. Should a player seek to commission such a weapon, it should cost no less than one-hundred times the standard cost of the item, and require some searching to find the artisan capable of crafting such an piece. Beowulf’s sword Nӕgling given him by Hrothgar is an example of such a weapon.

Sigurd and Fafnir

Legendary: A weapon of legendary quality is one that is, in fact, quasi-magical in nature. Conferring a +3 bonus to hit and damage, a legendary item is one that comes into being perhaps once in a lifetime. It is likely made out of esoteric or rare material, made by the greatest craftsman of the age, or both. Acquiring such a weapon should always involve a quest of some sort; whether one seeks an extant item, the material to have it forged, or the artisan who can properly forge the item. On the off chance one wants to commission such an item, it should cost no less than one-thousand times the price of the normal item. Sigurd’s sword Gram with which he slew Fafnir in the Völsungsaga is an example of such an item.

Elric by Michael Whelan

Mythical: A mythical weapon is one that is literally magical in nature. The item does not just confer a “plus” to hit and damage, but contains other properties as well. This sort of an item is one that cannot be forged by human hands (without the aid of powerful magics) and must always be received as part of a quest or adventure. A mythical sword should ignore magic resistance (at least to a certain level) and have other abilities. It is likely that such an item will have an intelligence of its own because it was formed by unearthly means. These items can never be bought with normal currency, but boons, souls, and other more esoteric means may be used to acquire them. Again, I stress that these weapons should have qualities beyond a simple “plus”. Elric’s sword Stormbringer is an example of such a weapon.

Strong on his mountain (er... at his desk),

PJ