Hey dungeon fam, I’m working on second session love letters and I would love some ideas for fun magical projects or discoveries that my elf wizard can work on with her teacher.
All we know so far is that a threat from a world beneath the surface is causing a disturbance in the way magic works, and that our wizard draws her power from plants.
Here’s the move so far! The blanks are for the player and the group to decide 🙂
Dear Freya,
It must be a nice change for you, learning from someone like Magister ___, who is just as interested in wizardly pursuits as you are (despite being a bit ___). The Magister of the Arts always has a project on the go or a magical mystery to solve, and the two of you have been hard at work for the last few months. Choose one from the list below, and then roll+Int.
– ?
– ?
– ?
On a 10+, you have been instrumental in the process and you are nearing a breakthrough! The Magister firmly believes that all you need to do is acquire a _____and the project will be complete! Go get that for them, will you?
On a 7-9, it’s a little more complicated. You’re getting close, but you’ll need to retrieve a rare artifact known as ___ from a very dangerous area. Good luck!
On a miss, the Magister has been totally absorbed in the project and they’re starting to seem a little… obsessed? They’ve told you that you’ll need to track down something called ____and recruit the help of ____, an Adeptus of one of the darker arts. Something’s not right here…
Hit me with your ideas and your thoughts!
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Matt, do you want suggestions for projects that the Magister and the apprentice (PC) are working on? I love this idea, because it is a quick roll that can denote weeks of downtime between adventures and yet lead to the next adventure(s).
yep, that’s the idea! I want a list of fairly vague project prompts that the player can choose from and then add detail to as they work on it. Stuff like:
“Cultivate a Liferoot sapling.”
or
“Produce an extract of pure Dream Essence.”
No matter the result of the roll, I want there to be a hook tied to completing the project, and whatever happens when it’s finished will probably generate another hook! So… anyone got some crazy magical science experiments to share?
Okay…. howzabout:
1) Combine two “schools” of magic into a single item with an enchantment. The item cannot be combat oriented. What is it, what is it called and what does it do?
2) Conjure the perfect enchantment, it doesn’t have to be big, but it is such an elegant casting that surely the Gods/Goddesses of Magic will respond to such an offering. What is the enchantment? What is the boon the Gods and Goddesses of Magic grant the Magister? What small benefit is granted to the apprentice as thanks by the Magister?
3) Trying to stabilize Gate enchantments (fixed teleportation), a happy accident of a spell is created. What dimension does the spell draw upon? What are its benefits to the caster? The spell should be small, but the casting is surprisingly safe (hence happy accident).
4) Delving into Summoning extra planar entities is always dangerous. A 4 hour ritual is discovered to make it more likely of coercing the extra planar entity. What is the ritual’s cost? What offering makes the extra planar entity more likely to comply with the Sorcerer’s wishes? And what drawback is enchanted onto the caster?
5) Your study and hard work come up with a spell that is easily taught. What is the spell? Better yet, when others cast the spell, the original architects of the spell gain a small, miniscule part of the power. Once it is taught to 7 other mages, you may always cast this spell without memorization, no matter what the dice say.
6) A powerful artifact will be created for a great hero. What is it? Who is the hero? You can write a prophesy about the artifact, what is it? And what great powers have your truly pissed off for creating such a wonderous thing?
Dude, this stuff is AWESOME!!! The player for whom this move is written is brand new to fantasy role playing so a few of them are little open ended, but I’m saving all of these for future use and adapting at least three of them for the love letter. The follow-up questions are fantastic, and I love the idea of drawing the attention of the goddess of magic. Thanks for your kickass ideas!
Matt Doughty, glad you liked my ideas. I wasn’t sure if I was giving too much freedom to the player(s), although as a GM I like to give a lot of freedom and trust them.
I hope your player loves it and you will post the results/fall out/ fun that happened!