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Post by bloodchoke on Feb 25, 2014 4:33:16 GMT
On the old forum, I mentioned a fun little trap I sprung on my players. After robbing a library, the PC carrying the loot was stricken with intense diarrhea, which became debilitating as the encounter wore on. It was pretty fun watching him try to figure out what was causing his problems, and the other players all had a nice laugh at his expense. Anyway, I got this idea while researching ancient texts and libraries. Curses like this were very common and existed almost as long as libraries. Even Asurbanipal's clay tablet library was protected in this way against thieves. Anyway, Noncharan's scrolls got me thinking about that again, so I googled to see if I could find some of the actual curses. Here are a few: www.litterascripta.com/bibliomania/curses.shtmlBTW, if such things interest you, check out a book called "The Swerve." It basically credits Lucretius with the development of modern society, but--provocative thesis aside--is a pretty fun book about the hunt for Medieval manuscripts during the Renaissance.
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Post by bloodchoke on Feb 25, 2014 4:33:52 GMT
Also, I'll mention that in Medieval times, books were literally considered treasure and were often stored along side gold and jewels.
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Post by onethatwas on Feb 25, 2014 6:50:55 GMT
Also, I'll mention that in Medieval times, books were literally considered treasure and were often stored along side gold and jewels. This is a very useful and invaluable detail. Oft DM's struggle with the consequence of having too much coin and magic items strewn about. This reminds us that sometimes items we take for granted today are veiwed quite differently in medieval context. Indiana Jones is a really great example of this...many invaluable items he sought were quite mundane but had academic interest...
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Andevel
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Posts: 9
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Post by Andevel on Feb 26, 2014 23:25:16 GMT
The "You need this book to save the world" is affected by the "nice ass curse" everyone in a 5 feet range of the one that carries this book will have a uncontrolable rape desire to the one that have this book... this will make 1 of ur PC's to hate u for a while!!! LOL
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Post by DnDPaladin on Oct 19, 2014 12:53:27 GMT
one of the curses i really liked is the gender change curse...
it mainly makes those role players really angry when you make them play a girl out of nowhere !
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hakon
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Post by hakon on Feb 22, 2017 2:52:22 GMT
one I used to do in the case of a wizards library is a magical disease of some sort or some effect on their magic casting. Another was a blanket curse that would affect the whole party. like a -2 to charisma and dex until a remove curse for each is performed.
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Post by DnDPaladin on Feb 22, 2017 10:02:12 GMT
last time i tryed to put curses on my players, they role played it as if they knew what was cursed... really its hard to find players who actually role play the curse.
what i mean is, last time i cursed a player, after a while he started hearing voices. so his first idea was to just throw away the mask he had found. reasoning, it was the last object he had picked. before that nothing was happenning. so he threw the mask, once he realised it wouldn't stop still, because cursed, he just told the group we need a cleric and stopped in the next city got to a shrine and paid for remove curse.
this is pretty video gamey. when it comes to me and my cousin we role play the shit out of stuff. we just like it. but it seems 3 of my 6 players dont like curses and just wants them removed as fast as they can.
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Post by Sam on Feb 22, 2017 11:37:44 GMT
last time i tryed to put curses on my players, they role played it as if they knew what was cursed... really its hard to find players who actually role play the curse. what i mean is, last time i cursed a player, after a while he started hearing voices. so his first idea was to just throw away the mask he had found. reasoning, it was the last object he had picked. before that nothing was happenning. so he threw the mask, once he realised it wouldn't stop still, because cursed, he just told the group we need a cleric and stopped in the next city got to a shrine and paid for remove curse. this is pretty video gamey. when it comes to me and my cousin we role play the shit out of stuff. we just like it. but it seems 3 of my 6 players dont like curses and just wants them removed as fast as they can. Most players are willing to not roleplay if it has a negative affect on their characters. I played a Cleric of Selune (Goddess of the Moon) at a convention one year and almost got beat by the other players when I role-played a bout of depression. The party was transported from the Forgotten Realms to Ravenloft. The DM said there was no moon in the sky, and that I could sense no connection with the goddess when I prayed. No moon meant, ... no goddess, which meant, ... no spells, which meant, no clerical bonuses, which meant, just a half-as_ fighter. Fortunately we did escape back to Faerun. I was voted the worse player in the group by most of the other players.
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Post by onethatwas on Feb 22, 2017 17:29:21 GMT
That is the hardcore version of RavenLoft. Most DMs who run RavenLoft regularly encourage a player to acknowledge the discomfort of having a distant disconnect, but will generally not punish a player by taking spells (of course, it makes you wonder who is really providing the spells).
Sounds like you were in Sithicus. There aren't very many places where the moon is absent in RavenLoft (Since they are a key part to how werewolves work).
Honestly when it comes to Curses and/or detrimental game effects, as a GM, I use the method of giving the player the option: RP the curse/effect...or suffer the negatives. Usually my players prefer to RP the effect. Only in severe cases do I inflict both (RP plus minor negs, or full blown, character crippling negs).
Players want to get rid of a curse? Cleric needs special herbs and ritual rubbish. Come back in 3 days with the stuff, when the moon is in the right alignment and the goddess smiles...
Oh, also, the Cleric who does that sort of stuff is out of town anyway. You can't just pay your way through stuff like that in my games. But you CAN RP your way through it.
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hakon
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Post by hakon on Feb 23, 2017 5:04:01 GMT
last time i tryed to put curses on my players, they role played it as if they knew what was cursed... really its hard to find players who actually role play the curse. what i mean is, last time i cursed a player, after a while he started hearing voices. so his first idea was to just throw away the mask he had found. reasoning, it was the last object he had picked. before that nothing was happenning. so he threw the mask, once he realised it wouldn't stop still, because cursed, he just told the group we need a cleric and stopped in the next city got to a shrine and paid for remove curse. this is pretty video gamey. when it comes to me and my cousin we role play the shit out of stuff. we just like it. but it seems 3 of my 6 players dont like curses and just wants them removed as fast as they can. Most players are willing to not roleplay if it has a negative affect on their characters. I played a Cleric of Selune (Goddess of the Moon) at a convention one year and almost got beat by the other players when I role-played a bout of depression. The party was transported from the Forgotten Realms to Ravenloft. The DM said there was no moon in the sky, and that I could sense no connection with the goddess when I prayed. No moon meant, ... no goddess, which meant, ... no spells, which meant, no clerical bonuses, which meant, just a half-as_ fighter. Fortunately we did escape back to Faerun. I was voted the worse player in the group by most of the other players.
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hakon
Cardboard Collector
Posts: 11
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Post by hakon on Feb 23, 2017 5:29:12 GMT
Most players are willing to not roleplay if it has a negative affect on their characters. I played a Cleric of Selune (Goddess of the Moon) at a convention one year and almost got beat by the other players when I role-played a bout of depression. The party was transported from the Forgotten Realms to Ravenloft. The DM said there was no moon in the sky, and that I could sense no connection with the goddess when I prayed. No moon meant, ... no goddess, which meant, ... no spells, which meant, no clerical bonuses, which meant, just a half-as_ fighter. Fortunately we did escape back to Faerun. I was voted the worse player in the group by most of the other players.
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Post by bluecloud2k2 on Feb 24, 2017 13:26:55 GMT
In regards to players wanting to get rid of their curses, have it so only a miracle spell can break the curse.
Or only a priest of a specific deity on a certain day of the year can use remove curse to break the curse.
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Post by DnDPaladin on Feb 24, 2017 21:46:12 GMT
you dont understand what i mean... the players do not have fun when cursed. its like they dont like anything detrimental who makes their character look bad, they want to be all powerfull at all time. because thats what heros do. i kept a player for a while before making him leave the game. but as soon as he got a curse he started getting depressive. wouldn'T RP it and when i gave him negative. he just said my charcater became useless. and 2 games later he wanted to change character. of course me and the rest of the gang encouraged him to leave the game and he did. but reality is...
in the world we live today, role playing means gaining levels and new abilities and since MMOs have shown end game content. pretty much all people now wants to have fun by fighting hordes of people and true role playing has gone below deck and only true role players actually role play. but my actual group is fine. even the 3 players who are non role players are fine with me giving them negatives.
let's take exemple of critical role. why are they role playing everything including loves and all. why do people love them, because they are true role players, mostly because actors. if the DM tells them, you feel sad for the demise of that robot. they will role play it. but in home games by people not actors. if you tell them how to feel, they 99% of the time. will not role play the sadness because they think their character wouldn'T act like that. because their character is above emotions, above what they have in mind.
my cousin as an exemple.. everytime we tell him there is a choice between hit the dude or save the hostage lives. he always go for the throat because its useless to go any other road. if you do what the bad guy wants the hostage is dead. so why bother he just always go for the badguy. reguardless of alignment. thats how he thinks. shoot first to save lives later because the bad guy isn't there anymore. there is no changing that mentality. and i tryed for years on end.
some players are like that.
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Post by bluecloud2k2 on Feb 25, 2017 16:44:53 GMT
I generally don't do curses that impair the game, but advance the story.
For example: One player picks up a amulet with a strange demonic creature carved in it. Even though he no longer has the Amulet, he starts seeing the creature plucking bits of light out of certain NPC's and replacing them with bits of darkness. It also sees it plucking bits of light out of certain slain enemies. What isn't known to the PC is that where the demon appears, the target of its attention is Chaotic Evil. If the player is ever able to deduce that only CE individuals are receiving the entity's attention, then they would realize they have a passive Detect Chaotic Evil constantly active. But otherwise it becomes a game of paranoia, since ONLY the affected PC sees the demon-thingie.
Another Example: I had an Annoying Reoccurring Villain in a campaign that kept escaping and ambushing the party. After the fourth fight, they finally managed to prevent his escape and killed him. Afterwards, I would randomly ask the party for a perception check, I'd tell the highest rolling player they saw the A.R.V. wave cheekily at them before vanishing into the crowd or something along those lines. And anytime they were about to set off a trap or as they got ambushed, I'd make his annoying laugh. They finally put two and two together and realize he'd cursed them by haunting them. A trip to a cleric and they had to go find his body and put it to rest properly.
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Post by DnDPaladin on Feb 25, 2017 21:53:21 GMT
i barely ever make stuff with negative effect on mechanics either. but an exemple of player who can't understand simple curses...
a player passes through a door that separates his body from his mind. after the whole event with his mind when he is back into his body he still sees the little faery following him. she speaks to him tells him stuff. in reality she is just a figment of his imagination. he speaks to her back and she answers him but somehow the player is unable to comprehend the whole thing. if i dont speak for the little faery he doesn'T roleplay the thing.
another player got a mask that had a creature trapped in it. the creature speaks with his emotions. not languages. so his own emotions get screwed up by the creature. if the creature is angry the player feels angry. but the player knows its not coming from him. the first reaction of the plyaer, pick up the mask and drop it because its curses. and if i tell him he can't because somehow he doesn't seem to want to get rid of it. he starts metagaming and telling the others how they can know about the thing and just ask the others to remove it for him.
those players are great role players, but when it comes to cursed object it seems they lose all manners of role playing.
thats just what i'm getting at.
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Post by bluecloud2k2 on Feb 25, 2017 23:28:51 GMT
Sounds to me like they had a blind spot in their RP skills. Even good roleplayers have a blind spot.
That first example I mentioned, got used against me recently. I played up being a paranoid wreck, to the point my fellow players were worried I was taking the game too seriously.
I just looked at them and shook my head. "No, I know (insert DM's name here) is screwing with my character). I'm just playing up the fact that my character is turning into a nervous paranoid wreck that doesn't trust anyone. It's called -"
At this point I struck a ridiculously dynamic pose
"Acting!"
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