Want to create magic items in Dungeon World? Here are a few moves to allow you to do just that. What do you think? I suspect these could be either Compendium Class moves or just tacked on to the 6-10 list for Clerics and Wizards.
Crafting Magic Items
Lord of Gifts
When you engineer a design for a magical item (weapon, armor, artifact, etc) tell the GM what you aim to accomplish. The GM will tell you three or four of the following;
You’ll need to disenchant ________ first.
You’ll need the aid of __________.
You’ll need to find some __________ to use.
It’ll take an especially long time to prepare.
It’ll be unusually dangerous to craft.
You’ll need to craft it someplace special.
Forged in Soul-fire
requires: Lord of Gifts
When you imbue a specially crafted item with your power spend XP and roll+XP spent (max +3). On a 10+ choose two tags to imbue the item with. On a 7-9 choose one and the GM will choose one, too.
New Tags
– glamoured (with a thought from the wielder, this item can take on the form of something else)
– indestructable (the item cannot be destroyed by mortal means)
– shadow (the item gives off clouds of smoky darkness)
– energy aura (the item is tangible to ghosts, spirits, etc)
– holy (the item is imbued with divine power, either generally or specifically)
– unholy (the item is imbued with energies antithetical to the gods and their works)
– bane (the item is particularly hateful to creatures of a particular race or creed)
– defender (the item grants +1 armor)
– fiery (the item burns with a powerful fire that does not harm the wielder)
– icy (the object is freezing with a cold that does not harm the wielder)
– lightning (the object is possessed of a powerful electric charge that does not harm the wielder)
– hurled (the item gains +thrown, no matter the form it takes)
– thunderous (when struck, the item emits a blast of sound that does not harm the wielder)
– chaos-born (the item has an unstable form and can destabilize matter around it)
– lawful (the item is imbued with lawful energy, and gives form to the unformed)
– wounding (wounds inflicted by the item or in its presence cannot be healed by natural means)
– light (the item emits a brilliant light)
– intelligent (the item has a will and mind of its own)
– cursed (the item cannot be discarded or gotten rid of except if gifted and accepted freely)
– attractor (the item attracts a certain kind of monster or creature to it)
– berzerking (the item invokes a powerful rage in the wielder)
– weakness (the item saps the strength of the wielder)
– life-leech (the item can drain the life force of those it is directed to)
– soul-stealer (when someone dies in the presence of the item, their soul is captured within it – the item can hold one soul at a time)
– anathema (the wielder is known by all to be an ill-omen and bringing of bad fortune)
– blood-drinker (the item must be fed a pint of blood each day or lose its magic)
I’d love to hear if anyone has ideas for more tags! Got a favourite magic item? Let’s hear about it.
We have a ‘Staff of Writers’ in our game. Allows the bard to pause the game and consult with everyone present and choose the best line given for his dialogue.
-cracked (the object has a crack in it that spreads to other objects but not the wielder’s)
-unstable (the magic powering the item is unstable, spilling out at random)
Intelligent.
I’ve re-read Elric’s saga recently and I suggest a variant of soul-stealer: soul-converter (the soul stolen from a dead enemy is converted into life energy)
-EGO the item has personality traits it gives to the owner.
Hungry- take +1 forward as long as you attack the same foe
I like Hungry, I’d probably make it +1 damage instead of +1 on the roll, but yeah, super cool.
-Chronomantic (the object only appears on the owner’s person at certain times)
Ha ha, Marshall Miller that’s kind of funny. “Sorry, this sword is unavailable at the current time. Please try again later.” because you’re already using it in the future.
Alternately, an intermittently available sword might have the tag +SimCity
Fair Adam Koebel I am still feeling my way around which type of bonuses work best.
Eric Duncan when in doubt, a +1 forward is a safe bet, a +1 ongoing is a game-changer.
Adam Koebel It’s awesome when you get captured and, at the stroke of midnight, you get your 10-minute sword…
-summoned (the sword can be called to you the GM will tell you from how far away)
-impermanent (the sword is not anchored in reality. When not held by its wielder it’s placed Elsewhere)
-harmonizing (the object resonates with the wielder’s voice, eerily enhancing it)
Every wizard I’ve seen has more or less done this at one point or another (the Ritual list is surprisingly comprehensive for this)
These are codified applications of Ritual in the same way every move is an application of Defy Danger. Fixed costs and fixed results.
Engineering a design sounds a lot like when you attempt to do something, not doing but thinking about doing. Could you rephrase it to be more active?
Marshall Miller it’s explicitly not about making the item. It’s about designing it. The making doesn’t need a roll – it’s the result of following the plan.
Ah, so it’s like Bolstering?
In a way. I figured crafting wasn’t a move. I mean, you know how to make a thing and you make it. It’s the planning and the spark of life that does it.
Maybe for Forged in Soul-fire: When you imbue a crafted item with your power. That way it’s independent of a place of power and Ritual.
That is a great idea.
Alternately, Lord of Gifts could be written to modify Discern Realities: When you study the plans for a wonderous item, you may add the following questions to Discern Realities:
-Who could help me craft this object?
-From whence could I draw power to craft this object?
-From what material could I craft this object?
There are Dungeon Moves for the GM, perhaps the questions in Lord of Gifts could be converted to a list of Crafting Moves for the GM to pull from on a miss. For example:
-Identify a missing or inferior component.
-Reveal a missing step.
-Mark something or someone for sacrifice.
-Suggest a sufficiently experienced mentor.
-Introduce an additional stakeholder.
-etc.
Not sure Marshall. But that there fleshes out a Compendium Class in my book. The Enchanter. The Great Smith. Reality Engineer. They go by many names…
I thought this all fell under the Ritual move, but now I suppose one of the requirements from the GM can be to get this move.
Boomergang of Aboriginal Magic (aka BAM !) requires:
– Return flying (get back to owner’s hand after being thrown)
The rumor says that Thor’s hammer has been enchanted that way too
Reminds me of the good old Dwarven Thrower!
Richard Robertson Oh yeah ! I loved this one !
My group actually uses something similar as way for the GM to generate magic items on the fly. What I’ve got is a list of “templates” that are basically compound words that give an item some history/origin, a list of magical effect tags that are much the same as your own(mine has acid, armor sundering, thorns, and some others, while missing some of yours), and a list of exotic materials. I wrote a script that pulls one from each category, and bam. Instant magical item. http://pastebin.com/WKgVRmEt if anyone wants the full list.
I’d definitively recommend “Acidic” as a tag, as it’s one of the classic staples of dungeon crawling.
Portal: the item can be used to go from where you are, to a set location – if you pay the price!
Bound: if you lose, sell, or discard the item, it will always return to your possession within 3 days and 3 nights.
Translator: the item lets you understand other languages.
Cornucopia: when you possess this item, you never have to mark off rations for yourself
Heartseeker: when you taste the blood of a living thing, you can always find it, so long as its heart is beating.
Corrupting: the item either causes physical corruption, or whispers evil thoughts into your mind
Painful: holding or possessing it causes mild pain. Using it causes agony!
Kingmaker: the item will indicate the rightful user, based on its own criteria.
Compass: the item will always guide you to a certain place, object, person, or creature.
Paranoia: it will always tell you when someone or something means you harm. Sometimes, it will tell you they do when they don’t.
Liar: when you possess it, you cannot say anything that is true.
Truthful: when you possess it, you cannot say anything that is a lie.