Wednesday 20 February 2013

Ten wizard's towers




Greg Gorgonmilk's last post reminded me just how unwizardly wizard towers can be. For now, warming up for a possible community project, here's a table with some ideas. They might not be easy to model as wargames terrain, but for tactical roleplaying they're fine.

The wizard's tower is... (1d10)
  1. anchored along sunbeams in a shaft of unusually vivid light and accessible only by means of a reconfigured spell for illumination adjusted to the given wavelength.
  2. zipped up in a dimensional hollow; the hollow and/or the owner may be a braner.
  3. strung taut up into the heavens, space elevator-like; the wizard may import/export offworld and/or keep a personal space fleet, or be luring someone else's from afar.
  4. inside an exceptionally dense orbital introid (a large mass orbiting within a world's atmosphere), accessible using convection currents, maybe Mary Poppins-style.
  5. tightly woven from thick silver cord and suspended somewhere on an astral plane.
  6. built upside down into the ground, the foundations showing flush with the surface.
  7. compressed into a pointed hat (I thought Jason had done this, but I can't find it..).
  8. one fractal scale further down, easily mistaken for the wizard's intricately carven staff - just as the wizard in turn is easily mistaken for a woodworm while inside it.
  9. the original inspiration for the old British police box; often imitated, never bettered.
  10. sewn of the outer skins of gas giants, bobbing like a cork on a lost sea of stars.

There's a chance ambition got the better of the wizard and it's unfinished. If so, roll here.

A potential problem is the use of a d10. This seems to be the old new d6 in wargaming, but if you don't have one and can't wait for Gates of Antares or pick one up at a friendly local gaming shop, I'd suggest Q-workshop more for form and Game Science for function

For the moment though you can just roll a d6 twice, first as 1d2. If the result of this first roll is a 1, roll 1d6 to get a number of from 1 to 5, i.e. rerolling any 6s. If the first result is a 2 instead, roll 1d6 and add 5 to get a number of from 6 to 10, again rerolling any 6s.
_

8 comments:

The Happy Whisk said...

I don't much about all of this, but saw you pop up on my blogroll, and I wanted to say howdy.

Howdy.

Greg Gorgonmilk said...

I like, I like! So how extensive should this community table of wizard cribs be? Shall we go d30 on this?

Porky said...

@ The Happy Whisk - It's always good to have you stop by. I'm still getting used to the potato head image though - I think you're forever Wonder Woman to me.

@ Gorgonmilk - That sounds like the right number. I could roll mine into a single entry to save nine slots - I'm betting there are plenty of ideas out there...

Greg Gorgonmilk said...

Done!

The Happy Whisk said...

But Porky, that is a Wonder Woman potato head. The bestest kind of potato head, around.

Porky said...

@ The Happy Whisk - So much for my imagination. In my defence I claim loss in translation, from human to tuber.

@ Everyone - Feel free to work your magic here.

The Happy Whisk said...

Porky: In your defense, I am a tiny Wonder Woman potato, so it's not easy to see. But if you look really hard, you can see my headband.

They actually sell Wonder Woman potatoes, but I haven't gotten one yet. Waiting for a sale.

Porky said...

I see it now. I'd actually forgotten she was supposed to be an Amazon too - the link to Greek myth had evolved in my mind into an assumption she was a goddess. Which in some sense might still be the case of course. Anyway, must work on observation...