Re: [Thaumatology] Magic Item Design Game
 

A fanciful, but well-made traveling cloak with a rather heavy-handed hourglass motif to the black-and-silver design, the Cloak of Time grants the wearer Perfect Timing. Nice on its own, and that seems to be the only power. Deeper probing, however, reveals a more subtle power. It also makes the wearer imperceptible to all manner of time-scrying. All prophecy will overlook the cloak and its wearer, so will any attempt to divine the past. While the effects of the cloak and it's occupant may be observed, they are effectively invisible to such senses.

Next: The First Mate's Horn

Re: [Thaumatology] Magic Item Design Game
 

Gragnat was a famous minotaur sailor who spent 40 years on the waves as a first mate who would never take a captaincy because it was too much responsibility for his taste. In his final battle, one of his horns was broken off and claimed as a trophy by his killer before the rest of his body was consigned to the waves. The horn is still in some sense alive, and imbued with Gragnat's essence. The horn will graft itself onto anyone who holds the base of it against their skull for one minute, and can thererafter only be removed by violence or surgery. While the horn is attached, the user has four levels of Born Sailor talent, which stack with any they may already have. The user also has quirk-level Laziness, and non-Minotaurs get Unnatural Feature and a piercing striker on their heads.

Next: The Goblin's Griddle

Re: [Thaumatology] Magic Item Design Game
 

The Goblin's Griddle is a horrible contraption to cook meals. Its ability is to render rotten food into edible food. No matter how rotten or dank the food is if it is cooked in the Goblin's Griddle it will no longer be dangerous to consume. It even makes the food taste "not that bad".

Next is Tainted Letter.

Re: [Thaumatology] Magic Item Design Game
 

The Tainted Letter appears to be a perfectly ordinary block of type, usually a vowel*, but close magical analysis will reveal its true nature. (If anyone bothers, of course). Anything printed using the Letter will be subtly altered in a harmful manner, according to the nature of the text: A children's book might show characters lying or cheating and getting away with it, while a religious text would emphasize the most parochial and insular aspects of the faith, etc. A deliberately harmful text (a bigoted screed, a summons to terrorism, etc) will become more convincing.


*The few occultists aware of the Letter debate whether there's only one that changes shape, or if there are multiple Letters.

Next: Minintal's Magnetic Mink

Re: [Thaumatology] Magic Item Design Game
 

A taxidermized mink of unknown origins that comes to life after you sing a certain nursery rhyme to it. Its heart sounds like the expanding waves of the big-bang. A tattletale that will follow its "master" (the singer) until the end of their main-quest (after which it vanishes); a bearer of fortune and cringe jokes, your best aid for parlor-tricks and a living encyclopedia of the occult. It also grants you weirdness magnet (origins); handle with care, it is said its most known owner (Minintal) ended up merged to a llama (and remains like that to this day).

Next: Whisper of the rain.

Re: [Thaumatology] Magic Item Design Game
 

Whisper of the Rain is a technomagic artifact which first came to light in the late 1970s. It is a 45 minute long recording of rain falling in the sea in the Bermuda Triangle, originally made on cassette tape. It has the following properties:

-anyone who hears it must make a Will -8 resistance roll or fall under its stupefying effect,
-those affected remain apparently awake but their thoughts become completely submerged in listening to the sound; they must take Do Nothing maneuvers for as long as they are affected and they lack the impetus to even take free actions,
-the effects end immediately if the playback ends or is interrupted;
-subjects can make further resistance rolls during playback in response to stimuli like shaking, shouting, gunshots etc.,
-playback can be effective over any media, like a school intercom/PA system or even broadcast,
-the Whisper can be recorded onto other media, but doing so transfers the power to the new media and removes it from the prior one (although the sound remains); it was last identified on an audio CD.

Next: The Three Tokens

Re: [Thaumatology] Magic Item Design Game
 

The Three Tokens are a set of three ceramic coins. On the obverse side, each coin has engraved a coat of arms depicting a set of three dice, and with the motto Alea Iacta Est. The reverse sides of the coins show a lobster and the number 1, a tiger and the number 2, and a lizard and the number 4, respecively.

If a single token is flipped into the air while holding the other two in hand, it will show the user how to play their next game of rock-paper-scissors. If the lobster token is used and lands with the lobster up, the user should select rock; if the token lands with the lobster down, the user should instead select what beats rock, i.e. paper. The tiger (paper) and lizard (scissors) tokens work the same way. Following the token's instructions leads to the most beneficial result in the rock-paper-scissors game, which may not always be to win (ref. Mat Cauthon in Wheel of Time). Tossing the same token multiple times will always show the same result until the user has played rock-paper-scissors. Tossing another token before playing said game will however inflict bad luck on the user, and the tokens will soon find a new owner.

Tossing all three tokens (as long as a rock-paper-scissors future isn't locked in) shows the most beneficial choice for the user. The user must enumerate exactly eight choices (starting at zero) before making the toss, and speak the list out loud, e.g. "Zero - Enter the door on the far left; One - Enter the door on the far right..." If the user fails to list eight choices before making the toss, or doesn't go through with the choice within one minute, the tokens disappear and find a new owner. If all eight choices are catastrophical to the user, the tokens will also disappear. To learn which choice to go for, look at the tokens after the toss and add up the visible numbers.

Next: The Shard of Anguish

Re: [Thaumatology] Magic Item Design Game
 

The Shard of Anguish is the sole remaining remnant of the Wishing Crystal of Kal the Enchanter. The original Crystal granted wishes, but also cursed the wisher to suffer tragedy within one year. An unnamed mage attempted to remove the curse effect, which shattered the Crystal into pieces. Each of the pieces turned to dust upon granting one wish, except the Shard of Anguish, which had only the curse effect.

Anyone who holds the Shard becomes subtly obsessed with it, and begins to attribute all of their good fortune to it. In reality, the Shard is twisting their fate to increasing hardship, usually culminating in a tragic end or a reduction to a state of complete misery after about a year. The Shard then abandons the holder in search of a new victim.

Up next: The Ring of Fool's Wisdom

Re: [Thaumatology] Magic Item Design Game
 

The Ring of Fool's Wisdom afflicts the user with the following metatrait: Wise Fool (Chummy [-5], Clueless [-10] OPH (Crude jokes) [-5], Common Sense [15], Intuition [10].The wearer will never willingly remive the ring or acknowledge that their behavior has changed at all.

Next: The Hellish Hearse

Re: [Thaumatology] Magic Item Design Game
 

Less a magic item than a supernatural phenomenon, the Hellish Hearse (a stately black wagon drawn by a team of four hell horses) appears at the deaths of remarkably evil individuals to carry their souls to hell. However, the driver of the hearse can be bribed or coerced into transporting other persons - traditionally with 30 pieces of silver or actual divine (or infernal!) authority. The Hellish Hearse can travel anywhere in the world, the lands of the dead, or hell, but cannot enter holy ground or the divine realms (or, if they exist in setting, elemental planes, the astral, etc.). Any journey takes no more than an hour, regardless of how far the distance. If the passengers are not very careful, powerful, or holy, they will end up in Hell regardless of their intended destination! Riding the Hellish Hearse may risk damnation, as well.

Next: the Brand of Brotherhood.