GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 4: Mixed Blessings

[Kromm]

Dabbling in magic
Remember to ask yourself
At what price power?

— Note scrawled on a scroll in the hand of a corpse

Asked why they cross monster-infested wildernesses to brave pits filled with horrors, most delvers will shout, "Treasure!" While they won't turn down goods they could buy or steal in town, the dream is to loot rare or unique artifacts that offer power and bragging rights. Yet every veteran GM knows that without careful planning, wonders that seemed cool today can cause unanticipated problems tomorrow.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 4: Mixed Blessings offers 13 artifacts that address this issue by throwing in a little bad with the good. They aren't exactly cursed . . . they just don't offer power, free and clear. Between its examples and general advice, this collection doubles as inspiration to GMs bent on creating mixed blessings of their own

Because the most powerful magic inevitably exacts a price.

—

Store Link: http://www.warehouse23.com/products/SJG37-0364

[Anders]

I think the real treasure is the friends we make along the way.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Anders

I think the real treasure is the friends we make along the way.

Any necromancer would agree with you. There's no treasure quite like a zombie made from a dead dragon or giant, and those are very special friends indeed.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Yet every veteran GM knows that without careful planning, wonders that seemed cool today can cause unanticipated problems tomorrow.

Like intelligent swords.

[b-dog]

This book seems pretty cool although I don’t have it yet. I always like magic items that have some sort of cost to use. One thing from D&D that always got me was that armor and swords are always awesome and can be used continuously while wizards staffs and rings always had charges. I guess a wand of frost frost gets depleted when used to make a cone of cold but a frost brand sword continues to work indefinitely for some reason.

I would love another book of artifacts that are of the infernal kind like those found in a demonic temple or a liches treasure trove where the items are cool but they have some negative affects that tempt those that use them toward evil. But the items must be awesome enough to use them even in spite of the cost of the soul.

[Edges]

Originally Posted by Anders

I think the real treasure is the friends we make along the way.

Like intelligent swords.

[David Johansen]

Originally Posted by Anders

I think the real treasure is the friends we make along the way.

No, no, the real treasure is the lessons we learned though our hardships! Wheel of Morality turn, turn, turn, tell us the lesson we must learn!

Hmmm..."the real treasure is the friends we make along the way"

Is this thing rigged or broken or something?

[SolemnGolem]

Very cool, this reminds me of a 2nd Ed. D&D supplement for Ravenloft called Forged of Darkness, which lists a load of magical items from a black vault. All of them carried some sort of curse, which pretty much made them unuseable. Any PC that figured out what they did would be hard pressed to find any net benefit (or even circumstantial benefit) to using them since the curses were so heavy. So: stylistically interesting, but everything was almost fated to end up "given to the NPC responsible for disposing of evil items" since the party would generally be punished if they tried to keep them.

The Mixed Blessings items feel a lot more balanced, in that most feel like the temptation of engineering a net beneficial use (and bypassing a penalized use) is much higher.