Sunday 27 November 2011

Blackpowder on the Coin

Gunpowder, more commonly known as blackpowder, does exist on the Coin, although it's use is as yet not widespread. It gets used for all the various things it got used for in our own history, such as guns, cannons, bombs, fireworks, and the Xingian Flamethrower.... but it is also used by trolls as a hard drug, typically inhaled through the nose. The rocky consistency of the trollish metabolism can occasionally cause sparks, which is turn means that troll blackpowder addicts run the risk of spontaneous cranial explosion. This explains why they are often referred to as "crackheads".

Friday 18 November 2011

Other food and drink of the Coin

in our previous post the dwarven taste for rat was mentioned. A few other items of food and drink are noteworthy as well...

Gruznuk, or Orcish Death Spirit
Orcs are horrible cannibalistic creatures, and love alcohol, so it's probably no surprise that their most famous beverage is actually made from fermented internal organs, usually the livers of the brewer's enemies. The stuff is horrific, almost undrinkable to any non-orc, and even for orcs it can occasionally be lethal. The orcs see this as a plus, though. If a drinker is slain by a bottle of gruznuk, his internal organs are removed, fermented, and then poured back into the bottle, and the defeated orc's name is added to the label. Besting a bottle that has defeated all prior drinkers is considered a heroic feat by the murderous greenskins.

Dematerialized Food
An attempt by wizards to make light and easily portable rations for long journeys, this was once normal food that has had its very physical existence removed, making it a good deal lighter. In fact, it typically appears to be a completely empty paper bag. It is made edible by adding any kind of solid material to the bag, which turns into the specified kind of food.

...Usually. Live frogs are still technically food, right?

Monday 7 November 2011

[To Coin a World] Giant Rats

In dwarven cuisine the staple meat is rat.

The giant rats that can be found infesting anywhere liable to be explored by low-level adventurers are the result of a dwarven attempt to breed something big enough to supply a decent steak...

Sunday 6 November 2011

The Icebone Wand of Arng-Duvool

(this item came about thanks to my ruminating on One-Ring-Like artefacts in D&D-like campaigns, and how one has to make sure they're more dangerous in the hands of the bad guy than they are useful in the hands of the PCs, otherwise the whole dynamic shifts a heap, and you're dealing with a different kind of scenario)

Believed to have been crafted from the thighbone of a god or demigod, killed to free the world from the last ice age, the Icebone Wand of Arng-Duvool holds vast magical power, far beyond that of most mortal mages, and can be wielded by any being who possesses the will to do so, even if they are not themselves a mage or wizard. It would be the ultimate weapon, did it not possess a severe flaw: when its power is used, it saps heat from the user. Even a small manifestation of its magic can leave a wielder shivering and in desperate need of a warm fire, and any serious spellwork will cause frostbite and hypothermia, or even death by flash-freezing.

But for a lich, an undead abomination composed of only a skeleton, unable to feel winter's chill, the wand would be the ultimate prize...