Pilcrow

Ivars the Troll came stomping out of the woods one day. Up he strode to the gates of Bell-town, and he banged upon the gates with a massive fist. Open the gates to me, he cried. Now a troll is not to be trifled with, but the people of Bell-town felt secure behind their walls and gates, and so they asked, Who are you, ruffian, to demand entrance so? The troll answered, I am Ivars, and I will be a Wizard of Cetak! At that there was much laughter, for all knew that, fearsome though they may be, trolls were uncouth barbarians without the wit for wizardry. So the guards said, Be off! We'll not have your foolishness here. Were you a Wizard, you could enter at will without force. Ivars replied, Indeed! If you wil not open the gates for me, why, I will make a gate for myself. Fearing an assault, the guards readied their weapons. But Ivars stepped back, and with a hum and a thrum and a wave of his hands, he bade the stones of the wall to move aside for him. And the stones shivered and shifted, they slid and they stacked, and soon there was a new archway through the wall. Ivars strode through the archway into Bell-town, and said, I'll not have others use my arch, and with another wave, the stones moved back to seal the wall. 


Now the burghers of Bell-town still did not want an uncouth troll claiming the status of Wizard, so they sent to the Conclave. The sorcerers of the Conclave came to Bell-town and challenged Ivars, saying, We know the fey have the secret of stone-speech. Your trick is not enough to claim to be a Wizard. Ivars laughed at the sorcerers and said, Set forth your challenge! I am Ivars, and I will be a Wizard of Cetak! The sorcerers said, Though you be strong of body, all know that trolls are weak of will. We shall compel you to return to the woods, and you will not resist. And they stretched forth their staves, and scribed the symbols in the air, and declared, Begone! But Ivars laughed again, and said, Troll I am, but Wizard I will be, and you will bow to my will. And with a hum and a thrum and a wave of his hands, he wiped the symbols from the air, and with unseen hands hoisted the sorcerers into the air by their staves till they cried out for mercy. Then Ivars let them fall with a bump to the ground, and the sorcerers bowed before him and departed on the wind back to the Conclave.



Still were the burghers of Bell-town reluctant to call a troll Wizard. So they said, if this troll claims to be a Wizard, we'll let a Wizard deal with him. And they sent for the Wizard Kyson. The burghers cried, We'll not have this troll here sullying our town! See him off! And Kyson said, I will see to this troll. Kyson stode to the square where Ivars waited, and looked the troll square in the eye. Ivars returned the gaze without flinching. And Kyson extended his hand and said, Welcome, brother Wizard. For Wizard knows Wizard. And Ivars grinned and cried, I am Ivars, and I am a Wizard of Cetak! And the burghers bowed their heads in acquiescence. And that is how Ivars the Troll became a Wizard of Cetak.

This is a story the people of Bell-town tell of the Lace Queen:


A young elf maiden had business to attend in the dark alleys of Near-Square. She came to a shifty-eyed merchant and said, I have need of ten ounces of morphenas, for my uncle is ill. The merchant replied, morphenas comes out of the Sunderground and is hard to get, it will cost you a hundredweight in gold per ounce. The elf maiden said, I have not gold in such amounts, but can offer you a fine pearl instead, and she drew forth from a small purse a shining pearl larger than any the merchant had ever seen. The merchant's eyes widened, and he stretched forth a hand to take the pearl, but in his greedy haste he trod upon the tail of a cat from the alley, which had been twining itself about the elf maiden's legs. The elf maiden drew back her hand at that and said, you should take more care for the cats. But the merchant spat and said, cats are worthless, skulking about and taking what they will but giving nothing in return, and he kicked the cat from his path. The elf maiden's eyes darkened and she declared, I shall not bargain with a man who mistreats cats, and she strode off.


Now the merchant was angry, and he called to him two ruffians and told them, I'll not lose out on a sale on account of some verminous cat! We'll go after that maiden and take her pearl, and more besides. So the trio pursued the elf maiden down through the dark alleys and cornered her, and the merchant said, you should have taken the deal, now I'll have your pearl and whatever else I may like. But the maiden said coldly, I told you I shall not bargain with one who mistreats cats, but I shall certainly deal with you! And the trio suddenly heard a chorus of snarling miaows, and found themselves surrounded by a circle of cats with narrowed eyes and bared teeth. As the merchant turned to swat at the cats, they pounced upon him. The ruffians too found themselves swarmed as they tried to help the merchant, attacked fiercely until they were forced to flee, with clothes and skin in tatters from claws, one with eyes scratched out, the other with ears bitten off. 


An hour later, having convinced some other merchants to check out their story, the two ruffians timidly led a small crowd back to the alley where they had cornered the elf maiden. And there they found an unusually large number of cats lounging about contentedly, but no sign of the merchant who had kicked the cat and pursued the maiden, nor was he ever seen again. But later that afternoon yet another merchant told the tale of how he had been visited by an elf maiden who traded a pearl of great price for ten ounces of morphenas, and how the maiden had been accompanied by a cat that seemed friendly and content yet made the merchant nervous the whole time.



It is said that that elf maiden was the Lace Queen. And to this day, no one in Near-Square will dare to harm a cat.

Ahh, bonds! Damn, I didn't even think of that before. Dungeon World doesn't have the History (Hx) stat like Apocalypse World, but it does have bonds between the characters. The sha'ir totally needs to be creating bonds with genies as it goes along.

• The sha'ir starts with a bond with its gen familiar.
• When you Bind a Genie to Servitude, of course you take a bond with it.
• Maybe using a genie prison reduces your bonds by one?
• And probably some other moves or conditions also change your bonds with geniekind.

Currently the sha'ir may pick up ongoing penalties for dealing with geniekind, as a result of using a Genie Prison, or failing to meet the demands of a genie when you call one to service, or for slaying a genie that you've bound to service. I need some kind of move for making amends or appeasing geniekind, and I've just realized (based on glancing at the "Playing with the Form" section in the "Advanced Fuckery" chapter of Apocalypse World) that such a move could be based on rolling +bonds (+Hx), rather than +CHA. That highlights and strengthens the interactions between the sha'ir PC and the genie NPCs much better than by using just the sha'ir's Charisma modifier. 

I also realize that the move to appease geniekind needs to be separate from the move to Seek an Audience with a Genie Ruler. Now I'm wondering whether I can have a move that's affected by both the sha'ir's Charisma modifier and by the bonds with geniekind. There are rules for one player helping (or hindering) another player, but I don't believe there are currently any moves that use two (or more) stats, and I'm not sure that would work. I'll have to think about this some more.

I'm all caught up on my concert reviews! It's about time.

I'm way behind on the monthly list, though—once again, I've barely touched any of it, and I'm expecting to be busy with other things in the next couple days so that I won't get any of those items done. Maybe on Thursday I can tackle a couple things, it depends on whether work that I was expecting to start showing up yesterday actually starts coming in by then.

I'm also behind on dungeon preparation. I've been excited about Dungeon World, I've had a lot of neat ideas about the Seattle/Cetak setting, I've enjoyed playing Dungeon World, I had a good time running Dungeon World over Christmas using the "Purple Worm Graveyard" dungeon that Tony created… but when it comes down to it, I don't actually like preparing to run games (or even doing between-session character preparation if I'm a player). This is a serious problem, because I also can't run games off the top of my head without having something prepared. Well that's not quite true, as I've done it successfully on a few occasions, but most of the time I just freeze up, unable to articulate any ideas or make decisions on the spot about what I should present for the adventure. I think I get the most fun just dreaming up setting ideas; it's more about the creative writing than anything else. In the short term, I'm sure what to do: I offered to run a game, I have to spend some time right now preparing to do so tomorrow night, and fortunately I do actually have some idea of what I want to do, I just have to spend the time jotting down the ideas and getting the game stats and such. In the long term, I don't know; maybe I just shouldn't run games.

Anyhow, that'll do for today's journal entry; I've got a game to prepare.

Okay, here's a revised draft of servant genies and the Bind a Genie to Servitude move.

Servant Genies
When you either Call a Genie for Service or Bind a Genie to Servitude, the genie has this basic profile:
Level 10, hp 80, damage 3d6, armor 5, powers invisibility / gaseous form / carry heavy load (up to 1,001 lbs), trait recalcitrant.

Recalcitrant (cue, constraint): This is how a bound genie reacts when balking at a command. It doesn't directly come into play with the Call a Genie to Service move (which is one reason why a sha'ir would use that move rather than just relying on a bound genie all the time), but may color the genie's interactions with the sha'ir.

• Capricious—The genie will pursue its own whims rather than follow its orders.
• Malicious—The genie will seek to cause harm to others, including its master, through following its orders.
• Devious—The genie will seek to twist commands to its own purposes, whether by following them literally or by interpreting things in its favor.
• Imperious—The genie will demand additional favors or rewards before obeying its orders.

Bind a Genie to Servitude
The sha'ir may negotiate to bind a genie into servitude for a period of not more than 101 days. Upon agreement, the genie will act as bodyguard, servant, and advisor, and will perform acts of genie magic as per its nature. This amounts to gaining a genie as a hireling. There are four types of genies, and each type has its own powers and particular recalcitrant trait.

When you bind a genie into servitude, pick a type:

• Air (Djinni)—Powers: carry upon the whirlwind; conjure food and drink*; create storm or tornado. Recalcitrant: capricious.
• Earth (Dao)—Powers: create stone; earthquake; shape the earth. Recalcitrant: malicious.
• Fire (Efreeti)—Powers: create fire; create illusions; shape flames. Recalcitrant: devious.
• Water (Marid)—Powers: create water (including fog and mists); grant water breathing; move or part water; purify water. Recalcitrant: imperious.

*Conjure food and drink may seem a little weird or inconsistent with the other powers, but it is one of the powers the standard D&D djinni has, and it's also a traditional wish that folktale genies fulfill. However, I am considering whether to replace it with something more consistent with the rest of the elemental-themed powers. (The efreeti's create illusions power isn't obviously fire-based, but does seem appropriate for having power over shaping flames and thus in a sense light, and it's also a traditional genie / standard D&D efreet power.)

As stated, this servitude is negotiated between the sha'ir and the genie. The default condition of service is that the sha'ir may release the genie at any time, but the genie is automatically released from service if any other condition is violated. Choose three other conditions:

• The genie will not be entrapped in a genie prison.
• The genie will be allowed to flee combat if it has lost more than half its hit points.
• The genie will be provided a large amount of its natural element as a home.
• The genie will receive a share of all treasure gained by the sha'ir, from 50 to 70 percent.
• The genie will be maintained in the same lifestyle as the sha'ir, doubling general living costs.
• The genie will be free from all tasks one day in every 10.
• The genie will be freed upon the death of the sha'ir, but will first bring the sha'ir's body home.
• The sha'ir will satisfy some whim of the genie, such as barking like a dog whenever a particular god or ruler is mentioned. (DM's choice.)

Once you have completed the negotiations (that is, chosen a type of genie and three conditions of service), you gain the Command Genie move as follows.
Command Genie (CHA): When you command a bound genie to perform a service, roll +CHA. On a hit, it is as you wish. On a miss, the genie is recalcitrant as per its nature. Note that none of the conditions of service prevent the sha'ir from punishing a recalcitrant genie, but slaying a bound genie incurs a -5 ongoing penalty in any further dealings with genies of any type. Also note that punishment cannot be in the form of reneging on one of the negotiated conditions of service, as that would still break the contract and release the genie.

I've been doing a little more thinking and note-taking about my Cetak/Chiaroscuro setting for Dungeon World. One thing I was thinking about was what to call creatures of the Shadowfell—I don't want to call them "shadows" as a category, or "shades". I was thinking of using "shadowen" (which comes from Terry Brooks' Heritage of Shannara series), I'm also thinking "shaden". Maybe "shadekin"? Any thoughts? Anyhow, that's an aside to my main idea here.

I'd been thinking specifically about orcs. I had the idea that they should be shadowen (I'll just keep using that for now), and started to flesh them out a bit. Or rather, not flesh them out: I thought it'd be cool if on the prime world their heads have the appearance of bare skulls (possibly with a pair of small horns), while in the Shadowfell they're grey-skinned and look more like the Lord of the Rings film orcs from Moria. I also wrote without thinking about it that there are no orcs in the Feywild; as shadowen, this makes sense, of course, and it also fits in with the way that orcs are generally (but not always) distinct from the goblin races in D&D. But today I was thinking some more about their appearance: if they were fleshed out in the Shadowfell but skull-headed in the prime world, how would they appear in the Feywild? I had an image of them as hooded robes containing nothing but shadows, like Tolkien's Ringwraiths, and suddenly got excited about it. Maybe it wasn't just that orcs weren't native to the Feywild, maybe they actually had no substance there and appeared just as shadows—possibly still dangerous and capable of causing harm, possibly not.

The immediate follow-up thought was that, if orcs were just shadows in the Feywild, then perhaps elves were shining spirits in the Shadowfell, likewise insubstantial and possibly ineffectual. It's rather Tolkienesque, but hey, the symmetry is neat. However, it does lead to a potential problem: if player characters can be elves, what happens when they go to a dungeon in the Shadowfell? As I'm leaning toward having the spirit-forms being ineffectual as well as insubstantial, that wouldn't work so well for players. A corollary thought was, hey, why aren't there half-orc options for any of the player characters? Half-orcs are part of classic AD&D, if not old-school red-box basic D&D. (Looks like half-orcs were introduced with AD&D 1st edition.)

So, I have two ideas on handling this concept with player characters. My first idea is that elf characters would have a magic elfstone that anchored them to the Feywild, building off the tether-stone idea and passkey-stone idea I've discussed before. By implication, there would also be orcstones, though perhaps the orcs could be searching for such a thing so that they can assault the Feywild. My second idea, building off my question why there aren't half-orcs, is that there are no elf player characters after all; I would simply substitute "half-elf" for "elf" in any of the class options. Hmm, I thought at least one class had a half-elf option already, but in the current draft none do, so perhaps it was taken out. Half-elves, by virtue of their human side, would maintain their appearance, substance, and effectiveness in the Shadowfell; if I added half-orcs as an option, they would do the same in the Feywild. Now that I've written down these two ideas, I'm inclined to keep both of them: no elves (heh) for player characters, just half-elves, and adding half-orc moves for some classes; and elves and orcs may keep their substance in their opposing plane through an appropriate tether-stone, but perhaps those are extremely rare.

Oh and while I'm thinking of it, I'll just toss this bit out there too: fuck the drow. No demon-spider-worshipping elves in my setting. Really, the proper counterpart to the elves are the goblins; they are, after all, all fey.

I don't have much time to post, I'll toss out a few more quick ideas for moves for the sha'ir.

Levels 2-5 Moves

Historian
When you Spout Lore, you may ask "What is its history?"

Soothsayer
When you Discern Realities, you may ask "Are they telling the truth?"

Authority
When you Parley with members of your tribe, take +1.

Levels 6-10 Moves

Elemental Mastery
When you cast a spell of the same elemental type as your gen, take +1.

Early last summer when Tony first introduced rules for spellcasters in Apocalypse D&D, he suggested one possible result of a wizard's miscast spell could be that "a powerful being takes note of the wizard or the wizard's activities". That immediately reminded me of the sha'ir kit from Arabian Adventures, the 2nd edition AD&D sourcebook for its Arabian-Nights-style setting Al-Qadim, and I knew that I wanted to convert that kit over to Dungeon World. The reason I thought of it is because sha'ir are spellcasters who gain their abilities through summoning and dealing with genies, and one possible result of one of their abilities—the ability to acquire priest spells as well as wizard spells—is that the gods could take notice of the sha'ir and send punishment for meddling. It would obviously fit perfectly into the Apocalypse World system.

So first some background. Historically, sha'ir were Arabian poets who were believed to be supernaturally inspired by genies, and who had some authority within the tribe as a result. They acted as historians and soothsayers, and also apparently engaged in duels of poetry that could carry the weight and influence of an actual battle. Although the historical sha'ir sounds a lot like the Celtic bard, or at least the bard as it appears in modern fantasy and D&D, the designers of Arabian Adventures chose to focus on the genie inspiration aspect and use that as the basis for a wizard kit, using the historical rawun as the bard analogue instead. (It's perhaps telling that they compared the sha'ir to Merlin, a character who may be described as a druid and even given ties to the bards in modern fantasy fiction, yet who is firmly considered a wizard in the popular imagination regardless of historical revisionism.)

I figured that as with everything else in Dungeon World, the sha'ir should start from the D&D version, and retain its focus on spellcasting. However, given the historical roots as well as the Dungeon World system, it makes sense to base a lot of those abilities on charisma rather than intelligence. Further, it makes sense to fill out the sha'ir's moves by borrowing or adapting some from the bard class, and making up new ones if necessary that play off the historical roles of poet, historian, soothsayer, and even militant satirist.

Here's the original list of sha'ir abilities by level:

• 1st: Summon gen (familiar genie spirit that fetches spells)
• 3rd: Recognize the works of geniekind
• 5th: Call upon the jann for aid (once a day when lost in the wilderness, a jann may be called for help)
• 7th: Protection from elemental attacks
• 9th: Call upon a genie for aid (once a week a genie may be summoned for services including labor, transport, protection, or genie magic except wishes)
• 11th: Bind a genie as a servant
• 13th: Create a genie prison
• 15th: Travel the elemental planes at will
• 17th: Receive an audience with a genie ruler

Additionally, they start with the Genie Lore proficiency, which grants them familiarity with the nature, background, hierarchy, and etiquette of geniekind, as well as a chance of identifying disguised genies and the work of genies (on a more limited basis than the third-level ability).

Starting Moves

Familiar Gen
You have a gen, a minor genie spirit that stays with you and offers some services, including most importantly fetching spells. Note however that on the prime plane, gens must stay within 100 yards of their master; they can travel any distance on the elemental planes, where they travel to fetch spells. All gens provide an additional benefit of 1-armor against elemental-based attacks of their type. All gens, unless specified otherwise, have: level 1/2 sha'ir's (minimum 1), HP 1/2 sha'ir's max, armor 2, damage 1d6.
Choose a type of gen:
Air—strength: Fly, weaknesses: aloof, moralistic (lawful, good), looks: bluish skin, white hair
Earth—strength: Strong (damage 2d6); weaknesses: tactless, direct (chaotic, evil), looks: tan skin, jet-black hair
Fire—strength: Produce Flame at will; weaknesses: malicious, judgmental (lawful, evil), looks: ebony skin, long flame-red hair
Water—strengths: Swim, breathe underwater; weaknesses: capricious, playful (chaotic, good), looks: greenish skin, bluish eyes and hair

Genie Lore
When you Parlay with genies, take +1.

Request a Spell (CHA)
When you send your gen to fetch a spell, on 10+ choose 2, on 7-9 choose 1:
* The gen returns quickly (quick enough for combat)
* The gen does not attract the attention of genies (if a wizard spell)
* The gen does not attract the attention of the gods (if a priest spell)
* The spell does not misfire

Levels 2-5 Moves

I could probably use one or two more move options for these levels. I think I would adapt a couple of the other non-weapon proficiencies the sha'ir has available, about knowing (mundane) etiquette, history, and other social skills.

Recognize Genie Work
When you Spout Lore or Discern Realities, you may always ask "Is this the work of genies?" OR "Is there a genie hidden here?"

Call Jann for Aid
When you Undertake a Perilous Journey, you can choose one extra result—even on a miss you may choose one.

Elemental Protection
You have +2 armor against any elemental-based attack, or +4 against attacks of your gen's element.

Master of Satire
When you improvise a poem to lampoon your enemies, you can Pull a Stunt with CHA instead of STR.

Poetry Festival
When you Carouse in town, you may use CHA instead of CON.

Levels 6-10 Moves

I'm still working on these. The problem is that Call a Genie for Aid, Bind a Genie to Service, and Create a Genie Prison all offer similar results in the original version, the main difference being the strength of the sha'ir's position to demand service and the length he can require. So I'm trying to figure out how to distinguish these into useful distinct abilities. I'm also not sure whether Travel the Elemental Planes at Will makes sense as a Dungeon World move. Receive an Audience with a Genie Ruler is the easiest in a sense: this will simply become a custom "open your brain" type of move, but I just haven't written it out yet as I've been concentrating on the genie summoning/service moves when I've been working on this. I may post my current draft versions of these moves tomorrow, but I don't have time tonight to get them in.

We don't really comprehend distances very well. I was doing a little research the other night, wondering how far could the player characters expect to travel from the center of Setak?

In reality, the city of Tacoma is about 32 miles southwest of Seattle. A trained marathon runner could run that distance in, say, three to four hours. The average person, without carrying a heavy burden, could walk that in about ten hours—so traveling to Tacoma on foot is effectively a day's travel, and you wouldn't return the same day unless it was a really pressing matter. I tried to find out how far a horse can carry a rider in a day, but it turned out to be surprisingly difficult to track down a clear answer. It seems that a horse can be expected to travel about 30 miles in a day, maybe double that if it's well-trained and the roads are good and fairly flat, or even a bit more if you really push it but you'll probably exhaust and hurt it.

Now consider that modern Seattle itself is somewhere around 18 miles from north to south. Traveling from Lake City to West Seattle on foot would itself be a significant portion of the day, basically all day if you have to return. That means the settled and relatively secure area of Setak would be fairly compact, right around the current center. It's something worth considering in developing the setting.

What's prevented the local populace from plundering these dungeons already? Aside from the fact that they're not the player characters, and therefore aren't the heroes—is that enough? Seems like there should be some plausible in-setting explanation—and it has to account both for the fact of the locals not plundering but also whatever dangerous creatures dwell there not sacking the surrounding settlements. That's kind of true for any dungeon, of course, but here with the dungeons and settlements entwined, it's more of an issue.

Hang on, I've got it.

I've written a bit before about the default cosmology of Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition. One of the changes I really like in this version is the addition of two parallel planes, the Feywild and the Shadowfell. They're basically distorted reflections of the world, the former being the faerie realm and the latter being a classic underworld realm of the dead, and they're supposed to overlap extensively, though structures built in one plane do not appear in the other two. 

And I also recently wrote about an idea of magically tethering beings to long-lasting, durable objects such as stones, in order to prolong their lives or effectively slow their passage through time. Obviously there are plenty of other stories about using enchanted objects as anchors or tethers, but also as passkeys—just one example, in C.S. Lewis's The Magician's Nephew, the enchanted rings which function by either drawing toward or pushing away from the Wood Between the Worlds. 

So, it's that simple then. At least in the area of Setak, the Feywild and the Shadowfell do not merely overlap upon the prime world, they intrude upon it so that in some places the three are contiguous, or even coterminous. A few of the enclaves will actually be present in one of the parallel worlds—the Queen's Hill, for example, will be part of the Feywild, and Cap-Ill might be in the Shadowfell—and maybe most of the dungeons will be as well. All of these areas will be present to the senses in the prime world, not just ghostly images or shadows but fully visible, audible, smellable; however, they will not be physically reachable except through certain gates. The gates to the enclaves are probably fully open, meaning that anyone can cross back and forth without needing magic (though of course the gates can also be shut and barred).

To enter one of the dungeons, however, you would need some kind of talisman; or perhaps the dungeons can be freely entered, but a talisman is needed to return. And on occasion, some of the monsters in the dungeons are able to wander out, but most of the time, in most of the dungeons, most of the monsters can't get out without also having talismans or magic of some sort. 

Also, once you're inside one of these overlapped areas, whether enclave or dungeon, there would be other exits leading out into the rest of the plane instead of back into the prime world. Maybe in at least some of the overlapped areas, all you can see is the rest of its proper plane and not the contiguous areas of the prime world or other plane, unless you're looking through one of the crossover gates. So it's possible that the characters could lose their talismans while in a dungeon, thus trapping them in that plane, but they'd have the chance of making a dangerous crossing over to one of the enclaves in order to get back into their world.

This is good. I'm now thinking again of changing the setting name to "Chiaroscuro", because the Feywild is said to be more vivid than the prime world—something like the difference between Kansas and Oz—while the Shadowfell is of course shadowed and gloomy. The urban area would still be Setak, or Cetak, or whatever, but "Chiaroscuro" is kind of a better name for the overall setting. Of course, now I want to call the city "Palimpsest" instead of Setak…