Categories
Basic Fantasy RPG Creative Pursuits D&D Poems

Spell Rhymes of the Second Level

Here’s another installment of my short poems mages and clerics can utter while casting spells, this time of the second level. I previously wrote rhymes for first level magic user spells and first level cleric spells.

Continual Darkness

Inky darkness, down you clamp.
Spread and stifle beacons all.
Let no candle, torch, nor lamp
Shine its light beyond this wall.

Continual Light

Now from star and sun comes light
That spreads and stays forever long.
A shining beacon, true and white,
Proclaims the virtue of the strong.

Detect Evil

Open I pry my eyes to see
Any evil threats to me.
Glow, you creatures from planes beyond.
Open, eyes! Respond! Respond!

Detect Invisible

Spirits hiding from naked eye
Reveal yourself by outline drawn
With silv'ry pen of open sky
That shines your shape with bolts of dawn.

Invisibility

Descend yon darkened veil upon
Searching eyes now clouded, unclear.
You once were here, but now you've gone.
And with this touch you disappear.

Knock

For sticky door or stubborn key
With gentle tap, I now unlock.
To raise the bar and gain entry
Three times on solid clasp I knock.

Levitate

Now, rise by unseen hand. Soar high!
Keep floating while I concentrate.
Drift up from earth and towards the sky.
Behold the one that levitates.

Locate Object

By hoary hosts and spirits strange,
Upon my thoughts be fixated.
If found it could be within range,
Let now the thing be located.

Mind Reading

Thoughts are waves that through ether ride
Into my probing mind to scan.
The secret consciousness resides
And fills the space. My mind expands.

Mirror Image

Swirling, twisting, false images
Mimic form of magic casters.
Every strike must hit visages
Until final figment falters.

Phantasmal Force

A vision projects from my mind.
A silent illusion appears.
Concentration keeps it confined.
By doubt or touch the image clears.

Web

Like spider silk but more secure,
Now sticky strands extend and bind.
If ignited, let flames endure.
Entrap my prey in threads entwined.

Wizard Lock

Magic lock hold this portal fast.
Let wizard's knock only through.  
Make a seal that forever lasts,
So secret treasure hide from view.

The clerical spells follow.

Bane

Oh lord on high, fill my body
With a spirit inspiring dread.
Attacks will fail, and foes will flee,
Who within fifty paces tread.

Bless

Bless my friends, oh holy father.
Let courage fill their very hearts.
Pang of fear can never bother
Those who honor thy holy art.

Charm Animal

Music calms the savage beast, and
So do words most gently spoken.
That same creator joins our hands.
Friendship ties are now awoken.

Find Traps

Any peril laid by evil
I pray to see out before me.
Traps by glowing will be seen full.
Trust have I in him most holy.

Hold Person

Let glory hold thee in splendor.
My will is force, which I will prove.
Though mind is awake, surrender.
Limbs, be stiff unable to move.

Resist Fire

Fire harms none who honor the name
Of precious lord whose prayer they spoke.
Like saints of old who walked through flame,
Let faith provide a cooling cloak.

Silence

A globe of silence honors most
The one who spoke the world's first word.
In this moment speak no boast
Nor let no arcane spell be heard.

Speak with Animals

Creature made by the same divine,
Listen and understand my voice.
Converse with me if you incline.
To speak with me remains your choice.

Spiritual Hammer

By fervent faith in holy might
I call forth his awesome clamor.
Let my enemies quake in fright
From my spiritual hammer.

Update: see more Rhymes for Spells.

Categories
Games

How to Enjoy a Game

Perhaps it is absurd to offer advice on how to enjoy a game. Isn’t the point of a game to provide enjoyment? Not necessarily. Some games are serious and meant to discover information, such as Model UN simulations. Some games asymmetrically provide enjoyment for some players and torment others, such as a game of keep-away played by a couple of bullies who’ve just stolen your hat. But let’s narrow the discussion to games meant for the enjoyment of all players.

I’m about to get Aristotelian for a moment. For many human endeavors, there’s a range between two extremes, inside of which is a preferable middle. Not enough courage? You’re a coward. Too much courage? You’re foolhardy. That’s the Aristotelian mean. One range applied to games is the balance between what’s under your control and what’s beyond all control. You can use this balance to understand how best to enjoy the game.

Webster’s 1828 definition of game includes the following.

3. An exercise or play for amusement or winning a stake; as a game of cricket; a game of chess; a game of whist. Some games depend on skill; others on hazard.

https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/game

The first definition is just sport, but that’s to broad. We’re talking about an exercise, that is a series of procedures, meant to induce amusement by way of a winning condition. Games can require skill and they can present hazards. Skill is the beneficial application of the rules to enforce one’s will on the game condition. Hazards are events produced by the game beyond the control of the player.

Games have rules. Generally, the rules don’t change during the course of a game session, though there can be games with rules for changing the rules themselves. That’s getting a bit meta, so we’ll set it aside. The rules specify the actions a player can make within the context of the game. The player makes choices from these rules towards some personal satisfaction, usually to the win the game.

Most games offer an element of chance. These are the hazards beyond the control of the player. They may come in the form of dice, cards or even the inscrutable actions of an opposing player. Defeating the hazards, that is, getting your way despite them, is one way to feel satisfaction at the end of a game. This could be described as the agency theory of fun.

Consider a game at the extreme end of the range when it comes to randomness: Candy Land. This is a boardgame that simulates a race. A path leads from the start to “Home Sweet Home”. Players take turns drawing cards which direct the player’s token to advance to a colored square. The game offers no choices whatsoever. The result of the game is determined by the randomness of how the cards were shuffled.

Candy Land is not a fun game for anyone but toddlers. Youngsters who have not yet learned to count can still find some satisfaction in challenging themselves to follow the rules by matching colors. Sadly, there other games of extraordinary complexity that offer as little choice as Candy Land. Perhaps adults find these games amusing in the same way. The challenge lies in following obtuse rules.

What about a game with no hazards, no resort to luck? It would be natural to think of chess, checkers or go. These games have no element of chance such as a deck of cards, but they do offer the challenge of an opponent whose actions you cannot control.

To eliminate all uncontrolled elements, we must find a game with a single player. We can’t choose klondike or similar solitaire card games because those rely on a randomized deck of cards. We end up considering an activity with rules where only our own choices matter. Is writing a poem still a game? Whether it’s a sonnet or haiku, the poet must follow some scant rules.

Putting together perfect iambic pentameter with consistent rhymes is a difficult challenge that can be solved with many interesting choices. Once again, we find the game itself to be lacking while some enjoyment can be found in struggling with a personal ability to follow the rules.

Have you ever found that certain experiences tip over from being unenjoyable to being enjoyable when you add something outside the “rules” of the game? Maybe it’s the cake or the keg that convinces you to attend the party. Aside from intoxicants, maybe you indulge in meta behavior during a game, such as role-playing as a snobbish socialite while playing Monopoly or tormenting your fellow Risk players with insults in order to distract them from good play.

They key is recognizing where the game falls on the spectrum between hazards and skill. And speaking of intoxicants, I am reminded of The Serenity Prayer, or the first part of it, anyway.

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Reinhold Neibuhr

Look for the balancing procedures in a game. Most games will have the hazard of other players. Any cooperative game must make up the difference in some way, else it will creep too far towards staleness of “everyone agrees on this one best choice”.

Look for the skills required by the game. Developing those skills over time will be a separate meta-game played against yourself as you “get good”. As your skill increases, your ability to apply your will into the game state increases, as does your enjoyment. You achieve more and more agency.

When a game contains more randomness, you can accept that these are elements you cannot change. Focus on what you can change and don’t worry so much about what you can’t predict. As you develop the wisdom of knowing the balance between hazards and skill in a game, you can detach from any frustration that comes from lack of control.

Finally, my advice is to recognize opportunities to step outside of the game rules themselves to find amusement. Where the rules are silent, your will has free reign. Roleplaying games offer huge gaps in the procedures for injecting your own creativity for everyone’s amusement. Nothing in the rule book requires you to talk like a pirate, but it’s a choice you can make if it pleases you.

And after all, the point of playing a game is to have fun.

Categories
Basic Fantasy RPG D&D

Zexhund

This is a monster for use with BFRPG or similar game.

Armor Class:18
Hit Dice:2
No. of Attacks:1 bludgeon
Damage:3d6
Movement:20′
No. Appearing:1d6
Save As:Fighter: 1
Morale:7
Treasure Type:I
XP:75

The zexhund, otherwise known as Zexaki’s Hound, appears as a large dog with an even larger head. The largest of the breed weigh 320 pounds, are about five feet long and four feet tall at the shoulder. Although slow movers by foot, they can strike quickly with their hammer-like heads, doing 3d6 points of damage. If they are ever struck by a blow, they instantly become invisible until they make another attack.

The zexhund is not particularly aggressive, and they will often retreat once they become invisible. They were bred to transport platinum coins and gems using a small coffers attached to collars. For this reason, tenacious adventurers may pursue them even after they become invisible.

Categories
Creative Pursuits D&D Poems

More Spell Rhymes

Here are more short rhymes for spells, this time those for the first level cleric.

Cause Fear

Thy weakened will is torn away.
Flee, you coward, without delay.

Cause Light Wounds

Come black shadows, the sun descends.
Embrace the darkness without end.

Cure Light Wounds

Let holy light hold back death.
Mend the wounds and calm the breath.

Darkness

Ebon cloak of obscurity
Descend on eyes that none may see.

Detect Evil

Now I pray my eyes to see
Any evil threats to me.

Detect Magic

Holy patron, if it's present
Make magic incandescent.

Light

Eternal light that shines from high
Illuminate as bright as sky.

Protection from Evil

Within this circle I am secure.
Summoned evil must abjure.

Purify Food and Water

Banish all impurity.
This food and drink will nourish thee.

Remove Fear

Though fearsome shadows doth appear
Our hearts are troubled not by fear.

Resist Cold

Let inner warmth be never lost.
Resist the hands of chilly frost.

Update: see more Rhymes for Spells.

Categories
D&D Poems

Dungeon Shanties

Players in adventure games (TTRPGs) behave much like pirates. They probably should sing songs about their experiences.

Dead Companion

(Sung to the tune of Drunken Sailor)

What can you do with a dead companion?
What can you do with a dead companion?
What can you do with a dead companion,
Deep down in the dungeon?

Chorus
Run, run, run for the exit!
Run, run, run for the exit!
Run, run, run for the exit
Deep down in the dungeon!

Heave him out and bury him proper
Heave him out and bury him proper
Heave him out and bury him proper
Deep down in the dungeon!

Chorus

Loot the body and let it rot there
Loot the body and let it rot there
Loot the body and let it rot there
Deep down in the dungeon!

Chorus

Feed him to your mates as iron rations
Feed him to your mates as iron rations
Feed him to your mates as iron rations
Deep down in the dungeon!

Chorus

That's what we do with a dead companion
That's what we do with a dead companion
That's what we do with a dead companion
Deep down in the the dungeon.

Chorus