Tuesday Magic Item – Leader’s Ring

He idly tapped his ringed finger against the desktop.  “Where did I go wrong?” he asked the empty room.  “I only wanted to give the people what they needed, leadership, direction, a sense of purpose.”

He lapsed into silence again and opened the desk drawer, inside was an old and well cared for fighting dagger.  “You have never betrayed me, old friend.”

When the revolutionaries broke down the door, they found glassy dead eyes staring accusingly at them, a dagger buried in the leader’s chest, his own hands wrapped around the hilt.

Leader’s Ring

These rings are made from heavy gold and are set with a carved stone seal, the design of the seal is worn and undistinguishable until someone puts it on, then it changes to that of their personal seal.

Tuesday Magic Item – Arthelais’ Sacred Amulet

The young woman prayed and placed her hand on the wounded man’s leg, a bright -but warm- light suffused the injured limb and when it faded, the injury was gone as was the blood and gore.  She seemed to slump and her friend had to help her stand.

The no longer wounded man tried to thank her, but she was already moving away.

Later, when some of the Prefect’s soldiers came asking if anyone matching the faithful woman’s description had been seen, no one would give them any information.  It was a small kindness to repay her’s.

Arthelais’ Sacred Amulet

These amulets are simple holy symbols that have been invested with the pure faith of their wearer making them something more.

Two Short Shadowrun Adventure Reviews

Two adventure books for Shadowrun, one of multiple short adventures dual-statted for SR4A and SR5 and the other an introductory adventure for SR5:

Shadowrun: Sprawl Wilds contains four short adventures for SR4A or SR5, converted from tournament adventure:

Dark Future Ahead 5 – News from the ‘Net of a Cyberpunk bent

Taking bets on the future, the BBC looks to the next 150 years.  Where are you placing your bets for the future?

Europol’s European Cybercrime Center (EC3) looks to the challenges of 2020, interesting to see what the EuroCops think the future of technology will look like and the dangers it will pose.

French artist Vincent Fournier has seen the future of evolution, in which humans design animals for their own uses.  You can see more at his own galleries.

These augmented reality glasses take us another step closer to cybereyes.  And the TrackingPoint targeting system is a proto-smart gun system, currently undergoing field trails by the US military.  Technology marches forward.

And for some humor, sustainable kidnapping!

Tuesday Magic Item – Ice Fever Blades

The guards to my right and left went down, clutching at blades piercing their mail armor.  The split second of warning allowed me to bring up my shield and something shattered upon it.  Shifting my spear from rest to ready position, I started forward when another blade sunk into my calf.  It was bone-chillingly cold for a split second before blossoming into intense pain.

Forcing myself to ignore it, I moved forward looking for the source of these blades.  It was a thin person is shifting greys that was almost invisible.  Belatedly, I yelled an alarm.  They glared at me and fled, trailing wisps of shadow.  I pursued for a few steps but the pain was becoming overwhelming so I held my ground until the relief arrived.

Ice Fever Blades

These sinister weapons were first created by the servants of a plague demon but their use has since spread to others who have no compunction about using weapons as long as they are effective.  They are thin knives seemingly made from some red-tinted silver metal but is in fact magical ice, they are easily concealable and suitable for throwing but two light and lacking a proper grip for use in hand to hand combat.   The knives are cast in a magical mold, usually made of copper and often etched with unspeakable patterns, it is traditional that mold has space to make seven blades.

Tuesday Magic Item – Jacob’s Knife

The young ruffian with a jagged knife would not be a consideration, by he moved . . . oddly.  Jerkily fast one moment and then still the next.  But more importantly, there was something in his eyes, he was looking for a fight, looking for blood.

“My friends, leave him, we have no quarrel with this young man,” I said, confidently, my hand resting on the hilt of my sword.

“But . . ” spluttered Sir Rogirick, my charge and my burden.

“There is nothing to gain from conflict,” I said, tossing a silver star to the young man.  “Please, sir, buy yourself a drink with our complements and apologies.”  I drew Rogirick back from him with my offhand, waiting to see what the knifeman would do.

He caught the coin and snarled.  “Well, yes.  Go!  You are not wanted here.”  His stance was still aggressive and he was poised to strike.  We backed away, Rogirick almost tripping over the cobbles stones.

We rounded the corned and he did not follow.  I heard that the young man killed another man that night in a disputed over spilled beer.  I felt certain it would not be the last body he left behind.

Jacob’s Knife

This dagger appears crudely made with a roughly finished angular blade and an unornamented handle of leather wrapped bone.  However, it is very well balanced and exceedingly sharp.

D&D 40th Anniversary Questions in one Big (Blog) Hop

D20 Dark Ages is hosting a daily Blog Hop in honor of the 40th Anniversary of D&D.  But as I am not up to doing this on a daily basis (like Tales of the Rambling Bumblers) I will do it in one big post and wish the others well in their blog hopping.

1: First person who introduced you to D&D? Which edition? Your first Character?

Suddenly February with a look back over January.

How is it February already?  The first month of 2014 already over and it was a chilly one for us, we hope your January was good and productive.

February gets its name from Latin term februum, which means purification, via the purification ritual Februa performed at this time of year.  The Romans considered February an ill-fortuned month which is why they set it  shorter than the others.   For this month we return to the theme 0f curses, cursed items, ill-fortune and, perhaps, defense against such terrible things.  As usual, suggestions, comments and ideas are welcome.

I am working on my introductory adventure for the Sea of Stars Campaign Setting Kickstarter and hope to playtest it this month.

What was published on the journal in January, 2014: