December? Where has the year gone?

Where did the month go, scratch that, where did the year go?  Wasn’t it just May?

With the first of December comes the meteorological start of Winter and it certainly seems that way here.  December was, as you might expect, the tenth month of the Roman calendar and it is a month filled with holidays for us modern folk.

So, the themes for this month on the Sea of Stars design journal will be Winter, festivals and gift: cursed gifts, divine gifts, magical gifts or whatever else we can think up.

If there is a particular idea that any of those themes inspire, let me know and I will try to realize it.

Looking back over November, 2020, we saw the following posts here:

New Monk Path for D&D 5E – Way of the Sohei

Way of the Sohei

Monks of the Way of the Sohei are the unusual in that they use weapons and armor to enhance their formidable martial arts skills. Their focus is on defense and defending others, when an armored sohei blocks your path, they are difficult to get out of the way.

For the purpose of this document polearms refer to the following weapons from the OGL: glaive, halberd, quarterstaff, pike, spear, and trident. It may also apply to campaign specific weapons as well, talk to your DM.

The Way of the Sohei is inspired by the Japanese warrior monks of the same name who were once a fearsome presence on the battlefields of medieval Japan.

Armored in Life
When you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in polearms, and in light and medium armor. Polearms are monk weapons for you.  You can use your martial arts class feature while wearing light of medium armor.

Tuesday Magic Item – Cornucopia of Friendship

“Most kind of you to invite us to join you and your family, Madam Sugarfoot,” said Voddick spreading butter on a slice of fresh bread.

“Jan spoke highly of your and it is a time to be among family,” replied Madam Sugarfoot refilling Voddick’s mug of spiced ale.

“It is still very welcoming of you.” agreed Gollaon.  “I am sorry Jan was not able to be here, I looked forward to renewing our acquaintance.”

“Jan has found a very good position in a noble household, very prestigious”

“We done Jan!” said Gollaon raising a glass of spiced wine.

Cornucopia of Friendship

This cornucopia usually appears as made of woven straw, though it can take the form of a large animal horn or even of crafted metal.  It changes its form to be the least intrusive a large horn can be.

Tuesday Magic Item – Pelican Medallion

“The young queen is most admirable,” said Voddick, “to spend time among her wounded soldiers.”

“She understands what being a leader is about,” agreed Gollaon.  “Showing that you are willing to share danger with your people, being with them rather than hiding with luxuries.  It is good politics.”

“True, but I hope it is more than that.”

“I think it does, she is giving of her own life’s blood to heal some of the worst wounded,” said Gollaon.  “Like the Pelican, who gives its own blood for to feed its young.”

“I did not know that.”

Pelican Medallion

These medallions bear the image of the pelican wounding itself to feed its young, they can be simple or highly decorated.  They are warm and welcoming to the touch.

In Memory of the Noble and True Who Served

This year has been so strange that it seems sudden that we have reached another Armistice Day (in modern parlance Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the US).  As Armistice Day it originally served as a remember of the end of the Great War, the Armistice that ended the war starting at 11:11am on 11 November, 1918, and those who served and died there.  Since then, it has been expanded to include the many others who have served and died for their country in honorable service through the years.

If you remember, pause for a minute of silence to honor the brave soldiers and other members of the armed forces that have guarded us -and still do- at 11:11am.

While it has been my wont in recent years to find poems from lesser known war poets, for this year:

Tuesday Magic Item – Staff of Reason

Gollaon frowned.  “I must say, I do not trust fervent believers,” he said quietly as they made their way through the festival.

Voddick nodded.  “It is a short step from fanaticism to oppression.  We had best be careful.  You will have to restrain your biting wit,” he added with a smile.

“You would think people who devote themselves to what they call reason would be more . . . reasonable.”

“That is exactly what I was warning about.”

Staff of Reason

These staves are made from ivory or white wood with silver fittings, nothing seems to be able to stain them and dirt and muck just falls away from their surface.  The original creator of the staves is unknown but them seem to appear wherever someone is trying to suppress religion or superstition in the name of the public good.

Shadowrun Campaign News and a new Seattle Scream Prop (#68)

Shadowrun continues to be played via the wonders of the proto-Matrix  (supported by Tyche’s Games our local game store).  It makes an adequate replacement for play around the table but I look forward to being able to play live and in person again, someday.

Still working on house rules for the SR6WE but not quite ready to share what I have yet publicly, but soon.

Have managed a few games in our NorCal set campaign, still using 5th Ed rules, you can read about that here.

To support the ongoing campaign, we have a new scream sheet: Seattle Scream 68, the one regarding Aztechnology and illegal dumping is the aftermath of one of the games.  Hopefully it will prove of some use or inspiration for your games.

Notes: Photo Major toxic waste dump by HM Revenue & Customs used under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) license.

PinkCat: Running in the Shade “Haul Sixteen Tons” (A different sort of SR campaign report)

To understand what is going on here, you had best read the first PinkCat: Running in the Shade post, but short summary, this is a campaign report for our Shadowrun campaign set in NorCal through the filter of a cartoon made by one of the team members.

Episode Forty Six: Haul Sixteen Tons

Guest Starring: Clawz, DoubleUp, Gimmick, and Tora.

Pink and the crew are hired to help landscape one of their classmate’s places.  Only to find out that they are expected to plant trees, oh so many trees.  And that there is a group of angry golfers who do not want them planted.  A classic escalating cartoon conflict ensures, starting from comedic sabotage and ranging to all out war.  Finally ending with trees everywhere and both sides having a party together.

What really happened:

Tuesday Magic Item – Historian’s Quill

“Stop right where you are, my friend,” said Gollaon. “Unless you wish our conversation to become part of court records.”

Voddick stepped back. “Ah,” he gestured to a large book with a quill scribing away without human hands. “A historian’s great tome, I have heard of them. Recording the minutia of court.”

“Yes, I do not think we wish to be noted among such.”

Historian’s Quill

These are not always quills, they can be pens or brushes, whatever is commonly used for writing in the place where they were made, but they are always of the highest quality and usually decorated to match the colors of the court or the office of historians.

The quill, when set to a blank page will record anything spoken within 30′ as long as it has space to write. If set on a a stack of pages or a book, it will turn pages to get to a new page to continue recording. The quill never runs out of ink.

The quill will record different speakers in different styles of writing becoming more pronounced and unique the more time it has to ‘listen’ to the speaker.

Aura faint transmutation; CL 5th
Slot none; Price 3,500; Weight –
Construction Requirements
Create Wondrous Item, arcane mark, clairaudience, unseen servant; Cost 1,750

For D&D 5E:

Wondrous item, uncommon

As above.

Notes: Partly inspired by the Korean show Rookie Historian: Goo Hae-Ryung which features historians recording the court. Also useful for spies, if you can conceal it properly.

Image edited from “fox writing with a quill pen” by 50 Watts is licensed under CC BY 2.0.