Spes Magna Games

Who can understand the mind of Shimaus Cruaum? A man of wealth and sophistication, he moved with ease within upper classes, among whom he was widely admired for his erudition and talents as a healer. He also murdered prostitutes, those women Cruaum both desired and hated.

Now that Cruaum is dead, rumors abound about his earlier life. Many say he was no stranger to murder before arriving in the city. He poisoned his first wife, whom he’d gotten pregnant and was forced to marry. A female patient was found dead in the shed behind his clinic. He narrowly avoided imprisonment when two of his patients died under mysterious circumstances, the second one having been poisoned.

Rumors aside, this much is true: After moving to the city, Cruaum established himself as a respected healer and began to murder. His modus operandi was simple. He would solicit a prostitute, introducing himself as a man of medicine. They would take an evening stroll or some such activity. Cruaum would offer medicine, feigning kindness, suggesting that the prostitute appeared ill. He would then depart, and prostitutes who took Cruaum’s medicines would die a painful death by poisoning.

Cruaum murdered nearly a dozen women before he was caught. One of his victims survived, agreeing to take the offered medicine but later approaching a city official with her suspicions and the unconsumed poison. Cruaum met his fate at the business end of the executioner’s axe.

Cruaum’s wealth and property were seized by the city. Many of his moveables were auctioned off, but one lot disappeared before it could be brought up for sale. Cruaum had what appeared to be a thick book that, when opened, revealed an icon of death and several drawers in which he kept deadly ingredients. Tales of Cruaum’s Codex persist to this day. The infamous poisoner’s book reportedly holds insidious magic and also carries a curse.

Barbarians of Lemuria

An alchemist can use Cruaum’s Codex to make poisons, which can be Common, Uncommon, or Rare Preparations. The book counts as having access to the proper laboratory or shop and having the necessary raw materials. Cruaum’s Codex never need be restocked. An alchemist who fails a roll when using the book to make a poison must make a tough (-4) mind check. If the alchemist fails this check, the wicked spirit of Shimaus Cruaum will possess him for several hours the next time he falls asleep.

Dungeon World

Whenever you have time to use Cruaum’s Codex in a safe place, you can make three uses of a deadly applied poison. Each time you use the book, roll+WIS. *On a 10+, you suffer no ill effects. *On a 7-9, disturbingly pleasurable dreams about killing women haunt your sleep. *On a miss, the wicked spirit of Shimaus Cruaum possesses you for several hours the next time you fall asleep.

Swords & Wizardry

Cruaum’s Codex is a magical item usable by Assassins, Chaotic Clerics, and Thieves. Given a few uninterrupted hours once per day, the book’s user can concoct a single dose of deadly poison (save or die). This dose may take the form of a pill or a liquid (either of which must be consumed to be effective). Each time this item is used, there is a 5% cumulative chance that the wicked spirit of Shimaus Cruaum will possess the user for several hours the next time he falls asleep.

Tags: Barbarians of Lemuria, Dungeon World, magic items, Swords & Wizardry

Salmagunderland presents an inhospitable mixture of dark canyons, rushing rivers, and rugged highlands covered in all but impenetrable rainforest. The hazards are legion. Biting insects carry horrible tropical diseases. Venomous lizards that grow as long as man’s leg wait in ambush. Degenerate dwarfs hunt for the heads of their enemies, eager to feast on the flesh of their conquests in order to gain supernatural power. Lost cities, demon-haunted and choked by vegetation, still hold the treasures of long-vanished peoples. Volcanoes spew up rivers of molten rock that burn their way through the jungle before plunging in fiery falls into the canyons, giving rise to thick clouds of steam that cling beneath the canopy.

Rarely, mbweha crystals are mined from the basalt shores of these lava rivers. In the hands a skilled weaponsmith who knows the necessary runes, these crystals can be fashioned into magical weapons. Unfortunately, few mbweha crystals are large enough to be fashioned into even a dagger. Mbweha blades channel their wielders’ force of personality, making them powerful weapons in the right hands.

When creating a mbweha blade as a treasure or reward for your players, choose one from each of these categories:

Base Description: Axe, Dagger, Spear, Sword. (Nota Bene: All but the dagger are base weight 2. The dagger is base weight 1.)
Range: Hand, Close, Reach
Enhancements: Perfectly Weighted (add precise), Serrated Edges (+1 damage), Sharp (+2 piercing), Versatile (choose an additional range)

When used for hack and slash, on a 10+, you may treat the result of 7-9, inflicting CHA+1d6 damage but also exposing yourself to your enemy’s attack.

When you channel your personality through your mbweha blade, roll+CHA. *On 10+, hold 3. *On 7-9, hold 1. As long as you wield the mbweha blade, you may spend hold, 1 for 1, to choose an option:

* Force a target to make a move.
* Awe or frighten a target, granting you a +1 forward against that target.
* Encourage an ally, granting that ally a +1 on their roll as if you aided the target.
* Discourage an ally, causing that ally to take a -2 on their roll as if you interfered with him.

Tags: Dungeon World, magic items, place of power

The Pattern of Gallant Commerce: This magic item appears to be nothing more than a common set of sewing patterns. If the instructions are followed meticulously (which requires 1,000 gold pieces worth of fine cloth and bejeweled accessories), the tailor produces a magical set of merchant’s clothes. The enchantments woven into these clothes increase the wearer’s business acumen. He can appraise the value of an item to within 10% of its actual value with only a cursory inspection. When buying goods, the wearer always pays 1d6+4% less than asking price due to his magically augmented negotiating skills.

The Pattern of Gallant Commerce‘s outfit is widely viewed with distaste as it grants what many view as an unfair advantage. Anyone seeking to benefit from the enchanted clothing made by following the pattern’s instructions is well-advised to figure out ways to mask the outfit’s magical powers from detection.

Tags: magic items, Swords & Wizardry

The Kivulis of the Cairn Lands specialized in magic related to light and shadow. Each of these five protectors wore a Charm of Emitting Shadow as a badge of their authority. When the Ebon Contagion swept across the Cairn Lands, not even the Kivulis could stem the tide of soulless evil that followed. The sacred burial grounds guarded by the Kivulis for generations became corrupted, and the cairns themselves cracked open as the hallowed dead within clawed their way to the surface as undead horrors.

Four of the five Charms of Emitting Shadow remain lost, presumably somewhere within the haunted wilderness that once was the Cairn Lands. Princess Nuru of House Taa wears the fifth charm, and it is no secret that she wishes to found the Kivulis anew as a first step toward reconsecrating the Cairn Lands.

The Charm of Emitting Shadow: This colorless crystalline sphere holds within it a shadowy imperfection that seems to shift and twist as if seeking escape. When held and concentrated upon, the shadow within the sphere leaps forth, extending from the holder across intervening surfaces to a range of 60 feet. As long as the charm’s user concentrates, he can will the shadow to shift location, but it always remains anchored to the user. The shadow can manipulate objects with its shadowy hands, lifting and moving up to 20 pounds per point of Wisdom possessed by the user. It is up to the Referee’s interpretation whether the objects can be thrown, and, if so, to what effect. The charm will not function in total darkness.

Tags: magic items, Swords & Wizardry

Sequeko was a powerful magic-user from the ancient land of Kush. Famous for her beauty and wisdom, Sequeko ruled Kush for two centuries, sustaining her youth and vitality by means of annual exposure to a strange fire that erupted from a crater in a cavern deep beneath the royal palace. While skilled in all arcane arts, Sequeko’s greatest power resided in her mastery of interdimensionalism. She could open portals to other planes of existence, and she forged alliances with several extradimensional powers. Sequeko crafted several unique magic items, both for her personal use and as gifts and rewards for those who with whom she was well-pleased. Many of these magic items made use of Sequeko’s interdimensionalism.

Sequeko’s Coextensive Neck: This rare and unusual magic item appears to be a series of gold rings that fit snugly around the neck. When worn, they create a protective aura around the wearer’s neck. Hazards related to swallowing dangerous substances, invasive parasites, et cetera, do not affect the wearer, for the source of the harm is shunted into another dimension. Attacks that affect the neck are likewise ineffective.

Tags: magic items, Swords & Wizardry