Has anyone written a supplement that adds structure to creating magic items (or ritual effects in general)?

Has anyone written a supplement that adds structure to creating magic items (or ritual effects in general)?

Has anyone written a supplement that adds structure to creating magic items (or ritual effects in general)? The Ritual move itself is an ok start, but it doesn’t provide a lot of guidance for balancing “ok, how steep should the cost be for this particular effect”.

I’m playing the Wizard, and my DM kind of gets a panicky look every time I start talking about doing another Ritual. 🙂

10 thoughts on “Has anyone written a supplement that adds structure to creating magic items (or ritual effects in general)?”

  1. Well, the ritual move is supposed to be very freeform, but what your GM may not realize (it’s really not obvious) is that he can potentially lay every single one of the listed drawbacks on you at any point.

    It really does make things a little bit better when you suddenly need the tears of an angel spread over a cog from the clockwork god in the light of the three bloodmoons.

    Epic effects call for epic consequences.

  3. I think one of the important points of the Ritual move is the bit that says it can be used in a place of power. Not everywhere IS or SHOULD be a place of power. So there’s a really great way there for a DM to limit their players.

    But it’s also a great way for the players to give the DM inspiration. “Do I know where the nearest place of power is? I want to find it and harness it.”

    I’d love to see a supplement giving some creation rules for items in Dungeon World, especially since the monster creation rules work so well. I’d love to see an expansion of the tags for items.

    But at the same time, “item” can be so many different things that you’d absolutely find things which don’t fit into any classification you could come up with.

    The freeform style of it works really well, because it’s only limited by your imagination (I know how tacky that sounds, but I mean it).

  4. I can see why your GM gets panicky. The big issue with Ritual, in my mind, is that the answer to the question “What can this move accomplish?” is explicitly “Anything.”

    And failure isn’t really dependent on chance, as it is with most other moves, because you don’t have to (or get to) roll for it. The only way you can fail is if you choose not to fulfill the requirements, or are unable to fulfill them, which will likely only happen if your GM makes them too steep for your liking or capabilities. Which, from a GM standpoint, can essentially feel like saying “no,” which makes you feel like a jerk and is contrary to your principles and agendas.

    I think the underlying language for Ritual is just very different from most of the rest of the game. Instead of the usual “Yes / Yes, But / No, But,” it’s more like “Yes, If” or “No, Unless.“

    I feel like the solution must in essence be the underlying table contract, but I’d also be interested to see a supplement for creating items and/or effects akin to monster/front creation.

  5. From Apocalypse World. The discussion about the Workspace move that is the origin of the ritual move: 

    “For the easiest projects, you can choose just 1, but consider choosing 2 and connecting them with an “or.” “Sure, no problem, but you’re going to need Marie to help you with it or else it’s going to mean exposing yourself to serious danger while you experiment.”

    Stringing 4 together all with “and” would make a project really, really hard, so hard that you probably ought to just say no instead. For the hardest realistic projects, 4 with an “or” in the mix should be hard enough: “Sure, no problem, but first you’ll have to figure out how the brain-pulse isolator works, and then it’s going to take months of work plus either you’ll need Marie’s help or else you’ll have to take Ba’s brain apart. I’m up for it if you are!”

    “You’re going to have to add _ to your workspace first” is for those projects where the character’s workspace includes a junkyard, machining tools and a proving range, but the character wants to probe Ba’s brain or whatever. “Sure, no problem, but you’re going to have to add a brain-proborium to your workspace first.” Fortunately for the character, expanding a workspace is just a project in the workspace: “Sure, you can add a brain-proborium to your workspace, no problem, but you’re going to need Marie to help you, and assembling the components is going to cost you a fuckton of jingle.”

    Remember your agenda when you’re making all these conditions, though. Your job is to make Apocalypse World seem real and to make the characters’ lives not boring, not to deny them what they want or could use.

    When it comes time to write up a savvyhead’s new creations:

    • If it’s a weapon or gear, use the descriptive tags for weapons and gear, and add a custom move if it calls for one.

    • If it’s a vehicle, give it its profile, and you can go up to +3 for power, looks and weakness, and up to like 4-armor or some crazy shit — plus whatever’s mounted on it. Give it its frame, strengths, looks and weaknesses, and you aren’t limited to the lists available to choppers and drivers. Expand them as seems good.

    • If it’s something else, you should almost certainly create a custom move or two to give it its function. For details about creating custom moves, see the advanced fuckery chapter, page 267.

    “

  7. James Etheridge yeah, we often stick a roll in there anyway, because it kind of feels wrong not to have one. I mean, whenever I’m building something in real life, the most exciting moment is when I cross my fingers and flip the ON switch.

    The problem we have is yeah that “this can do ANYTHING” is a giant blank page, and you’re staring at it at the table with four people looking at you, and you have to have a good idea Right Now. It’s the kind of situation where some limits and guidelines would help the creativity.

    Tim Franzke thanks for reminding me of that bit from AW. We can totally work through something like that for Ritual. I thought maybe someone else had already done it, though.

  9. Cool, I like the Ritual game.  I don’t suppose you’ve collected your stuff anywhere other than g+?  I can find some stuff, but no idea if I found it all.  (Why has Goog made a thing that’s so crap at search?)

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