Santicorn 2024 - Effects of Primal Darkness

For Secret Santicorn 2024, Vile Cult of Shapes asked for "effects of prolonged exposure of Primal Darkness on various surface dwelling species."

 

I decided to write two sets of results. One for player characters, and one for NPC hirelings, henchmen, and so forth. I leave it to the referee and players to decide what counts as Primal Darkness in their game, and what sets it apart from normal darkness, although I think if you get trapped underground at the end of an adventure, that should certainly qualify.

 

 

Some characters gain power from the darkness...

  

When a PLAYER CHARACTER is exposed to Primal Darkness, ROLL on the table below. On the first exposure, roll d4; on the second, d6; and so on, up to a maximum of d20. If you roll a result you've received before, immediately roll again using the next highest dice, and add +1 to each future roll.

 

1 Your skin, hair, and eyes become unnaturally bleached and pale. You look haunted and unsettling.

 

2 You become cold-blooded. Your skin is cold to the touch, and you always look sallow and wet. You no longer suffer any ill effects from the weather or the temperature of your environment.

 

3 You now understand undercommon, the trade language used throughout the underworld. You speak with a native's fluency.

 

4 You now revere one of the gods of the underworld. Any previous faith has been replaced by this heretical new piety. You are eager to acquire scriptures, icons, and other tokens of your newfound religion.

 

5 You begin to "hear" the emotions of others as whispers in your mind. This provides insight during negotiations. And thinking beings can no longer hide from or surprise you.

 

6 You receive a vision from the underworld. With absolute certainty, you know the location of a valuable treasure room, and a path d6+6 rooms long that leads there, starting from a previously unsuspected secret door in a dungeon room your party has already explored and can access easily.

 

7 You can no longer perceive colors, only shades of grey. But you can also see a faint aura glowing from any cursed or poisoned objects, emanating from unnatural creatures in ways that suggest the nature of their powers.

 

8 You grow gills and can breathe underwater. You can dive and swim as easily as you can walk. You need twice as much water each day as before, and suffer from exhaustion if you don't get it.

 

9 You now understand Aklo, the Deep Tongue, the language of underworld aberrations. You can eavesdrop on the servants of the deep, but are now vulnerable to their lords' commands, without the protection of your previous ignorance.

 

10 Hideous and grotesque sights no longer phase or disturb you. You can meet the gaze of creatures whose sight turns others to stone with equanimity, stare into the eyes of tyrants who suborn others as thralls without blinking. But the sight of your own reflection - in mirrors, glass, even water - turns you away in terror, as a walking corpse flees from a cross.

 

11 You have acquired a "pet" down below. It serves you as a familiar serves a spellcaster, but its true loyalty is one of the great powers of the deep, and it is always watching. The referee will decide your pet's form; its appearance is related to the entity it serves.

 

12 A physical third eye opens in your forehead. You communicate by broadcasting your thoughts, no longer deigning to speak aloud. You understand the hidden logic of underworld passageways. You can spot its secret doors and are no longer confused by its impossible architectural.

 

13 You have been crippled by the underworld. You are now an NPC under the referee's control, and you become an outcast in town, living in a hovel in the worst district. You survive by selling gossip and portents, rumors about what has happened recently in the underworld and eerily accurate predictions about what will happen next. Occasionally, you can do more, identifying or fixing or fabricating useful items - if you have the right material to work with.

 

14 You cannot bear to be outside in daytime sunlight, and you must stand apart and separate from any group carrying a torch or lantern. If you approach too close to fire, it burns you as though you were touching it.

 

15 Your hair and nails fall out. Your fingers and toes elongate; you grow webbing between them, and fins on your joints. Salt wounds you like acid, and any damage caused by heat is doubled for you.

 

16 You no longer understand common language of the overworld. Its words sound like discordant gibberish; the noise of it hurts your ears.

 

17 You can no longer be healed by the servants of the surface gods. You are an unclean thing in their eyes, and their faithful aspire to smite you. Holy things are deconsecrated by your presence. Animals shun you. 

 

18 A new eye appears in the palm of each hand and your normal eyes wither away. You can "see" the presence of other thinking minds, even in the dark and through weak barriers. You always know the way to the nearest exit to the surface. You cannot bear to hold things in your hands for long.

 

19 You are blessed by one of the great powers that dwell beneath. You gain one level. You know with certainty who your patron is, and what favor they want in return for the power they've bestowed. You know you will die if you don't complete the task they've given you.

20 You are lost to the underworld. You are now an NPC under the referee's control, and you become implacable enemy of your former friends, determined to trap them down with you in the dark, and to bring ruin to the dwellers above.

 

 

... and some are destroyed by it.

 

When an NPC COMPANION OR ASSISTANT is exposed to Primal Darkness, first ROLL MORALE. Being lost in dark is traumatizing, and even loyal friends may abandon the player characters after such an experience. 

 

Then, if the NPC is willing to continue adventuring, ROLL D10 on the table below. The referee should make this roll in secret. In all cases, the players will not know the effect of the darkness until it is revealed as a result of play during their next excursion. The NPC cannot explain their own condition to others.

1 They gain a level, making them stronger, and possibly unlocking new abilities and talents.

 

2 If they are exposed to darkness, even normal darkness, they need to check morale at the end of the session.

 

3 They are miraculously unaffected by their ordeal.

 

4 Whenever they're exposed to darkness, even normal darkness, they begin screaming in terror, inconsolable, until the light returns.

5 They have developed an all-consuming obsession. They spend all their downtime on it, and will interact with anything related to it while adventuring. If Lawful, they are obsessed with shrines and prayers to underworld deities. If Neutral, they self-medicate with any intoxicating substances they can find. If Chaotic, they're addicted to gambling, and spend all their money on games of chance.

 

6 The next time they're exposed to darkness, they vanish into the underworld, and are never seen again.

 

7 They are driven to protect others from danger. Whenever a player character would fail a saving throw, or receive a critical hit, or take lethal damage, they will interpose themselves and take the effects on themselves instead.

8 Whenever they're exposed to darkness, or all the player characters are asleep, they will steal a valuable item a player character they're closest to. The character won't discover the loss until the start of their next adventuring session, unless they reach for the item in a moment of need. 

 

9 They are paralyzed by the sight of violence. They can no longer fight or even defend themselves. They are helpless in combat, and though they may hold a weapon, they cannot use it.

 

10 Whenever they're exposed to darkness, or all the player characters are asleep, or they're alone with only one character, they will attack with murderous intent. (If this betrayal seems unimaginable, they have instead been replaced by a Doppelganger, and this is the moment of revelation. The real NPC remains a captive somewhere in the underworld, waiting to be rescued...)

 

 

 

And please check out A Swamp in Space to see "Gifts for the Adventurer in Your Life" - which wr3cking8a11 wrote in response to my own Secret Santicorn request!

 

You can also take a look at "Surreal Science Fantasy Adventure Seeds & More" - which Vile Cult of Shapes wrote for Kirt Dankmeyer of Orange Subterfugacious Raccoon.

 

Thanks to Archon's Court for organizing this year's exchange!

Down in the Chthonic Depths' Secret Jackalope Present to Me - Cafe Prost

There's a springtime prompt-trading blogathon going on right now called Secret Jackalope, and I'm participating this year! I'll be posting my submission here soon. But in the meantime, I wanted to shine a spotlight on Down in the Chthonic Depths, who answered my prompt.

I asked for "A small coffee-house dungeon, either - daytime (filled with factions) or nighttime (ready to heist), your choice!"

Molly J and Nick S went above and beyond with their submission - Cafe Prost and the Little Red Notebook

Secret police! The resistance! A criminal gang! A little red notebook that everyone wants to get their hands on! Plus 36 more café patrons with agendas of their own, looking for a place to read or a a chance to meet a lover, who you can try to inveigle in your schemes.

Secret Santicorn 2019

When I wrote about Secret Santicorn 2018, I was basically just working from my own sidebar, and noticing when people used that phrase as part of the title of a post, and I happened across a few more while looking up members of the GLOGosphere. This year, I had the benefit of being able to spot additional posts in the blogroll section on the OSR Discord.

Last year I counted 17 entries. This time there's almost triple that number. Approximately one year after the end of Google Plus, I would say that the health of the blogosphere is strong.

I should also note that Of Slugs and Silver scooped me by publishing their own Secret Santicorn compilation post. I was already collecting links when Ancalagon published their list, so despite the fact that I'm reduplicating their efforts, I still want to put mine up as well. Last year, there was no one else writing a list of all the Santicorn entries. I interpret Ancalagon's compilation as a further sign of the health of the blogsophere, and I'll happily pass the torch on chronicling the next one.

Unlike last year, it's not possible to assemble all of these into a continuous chain of requests and fulfillments, so I've organized the entries by the type of content instead. I'm not sure what it says about me that I've watched two of these from the wallflower seat without ever getting up to dance, but it's likely nothing flattering, so let's avoid uncomfortable personal introspection by diving straight in to this year's entries!


On the first day of Santicorn, the blogosphere gave to meeeee....

Character Options

Aura Twilight of In the Land of Twilight Under the Moon wrote "Fairytale Classes" for Pseudo Fenton

Iemcd of The Benign Brown Beast wrote "The Slipsoul - a Character Option" for Sky Seeker

Quietude wrote "The Succubus - An OSR Race-as-Class"

As a bonus... Rook of Foreign Planets ALSO wrote "Post-Apocalyptic Character Backgrounds"

Sofinho of Alone in the Labyrinth wrote "2 GLOG Classes - The Aviator & The Jazz Bard" for The Mimic's Nest

GR Michael of Numbers aren't Real wrote "Oberon and Titania - Class: Warlock" for A Swamp in Space

Ryan of Kobolds in the Sewers wrote "The Cryptozoologist Class and Nine Cryptids" for Throne of Salt

Kent Miller of Tropicrawl wrote "OSR Gothic"


Spells & Magic

400 Billion Suns wrote "So You Killed Santa ... What's in His Sack?"

Malcolm Svensson of Tales of Scheherazade wrote "D6 Body-Warping Magic Items and a Body-Warping Spell" for Unreal Star

Isaak Hill of Fallen Empires wrote "D66 Short, Utility-Only Spells" for d66 Classless Kobolds

Diaghilev from Diaghilev's Dice wrote "Field Alchemy!" for Meandering Banter

As a bonus... GR Michael of Numbers aren't Real ALSO wrote "A Sack Full of Toys - Merry Christmas to All"


Monsters

The Byzantine of Espharel wrote "They Came from the Moon! A Space-Breaking Monster" for Archon's Court

Martin O of Goodberry Monthly wrote "Flowery Orcs" for The Whimsical Mountain

Dan of Throne of Salt wrote "Troika Space Combat + d66 Ships" for Of Slugs and Silver

Spwack of Meandering Banter wrote "Creatures Amidst the Ash" for Ten Foot Polemic

Ancalagon TB from Of Slugs and Silver wrote "The 12 Birds of Christmas" for Kobolds in the Sewers

Velexiraptor from A Blasted Cratered Land wrote "The Shellcraze" for Archons March On

Ambnz of Ravenous Ambience wrote "Skyscraper Mimics - and Other Structural Horrors" for A Blasted Cratered Land

Type 1 Ninja of Two Goblins in a Trenchcoat wrote "Words for Monster" for Idle Doings of an Idle Doodler

Valker of Parasites and Paradoxes wrote "Ents and How to Prune Your Humans" for Wanderers and Willows


Campaigns & Adventures

The Goose and Pen wrote "Reinforcing Themes through Mechanics" for Was it Likely?

Vance A of Leicester's Ramble wrote "The Last City"

Luther Gutekunst of Archon's Court wrote "Sci-Fi Dungeon Fill" for Blue Wolf

Agile Goatman of The Man with a Hammer wrote "Drow Econ 101" for Goodberry Monthly

Jones Smith of Was it Likely? wrote "Post-Roman Pre-Saxon Tables, Generators, and Hexes" for Alone in the Labyrinth

Wizzargh of DMiurgy wrote "Pre-Adamite Minidungeon Generator" for Foreign Planets

Lejeune of The Young Dungeon wrote "Generating a Ruined Ship" for Quietude

Jim of d66 Classless Kobolds wrote "The Lounge Temple of Asavraki" for The Magic Spoon

Rook of Foreign Planets wrote "Societies, Gangs, and Cultures of the Post-Apocalypse"

Idle Doodler from Idle Doings of an Idle Doodler wrote "The Underground Caverns of Nodnol" for Same is Shark in Japanese

Journey to the Tomb of the Spider Princess wrote "The Trackless Peaks" for The Young Dungeon

Gabriel Hole-Jones of The Mimic's Nest wrote "The Temple of Lethe" for Princesses & Pioneers

Tamas Kisbali of Eldritch Fields wrote "All Aboard the Terrible Dogfish!" for Deus

Andy of Sword and Storytellers wrote "Herber's Expedition"

James Young of Ten Foot Polemic wrote "Tide-Flooded Caverns" for DMiurgy

Sven Weisserfuchs of Wanderers and Willows wrote "Three Funhouse Dungeon Rooms!"

Gorinich of The Whimsical Mountain wrote "Psychonauts - Courageous Healers or Conniving Thieves?" for Nick Roman

Cataleptic Kraken of Unreal Star wrote "Evolving Dungeons" for Goblin Punch

wr3cking8a11 from A Swamp in Space wrote "An Adventuring Economy" for Diaghilev's Dice

As a bonus... Ancalagon TB from Of Slugs and Silver ALSO wrote "The Secret Santicorn Compilation"

Mottokrosh Machinations wrote "Yuletide Haunting of TOMBS" for Mud & Blood

As a bonus... Iemcd of The Benign Brown Beast ALSO wrote "Crisis on Christmas"

Zoeology of Princesses & Pioneers wrote "Tarot Dungeon" for In the Land of Twilight Under the Moon

As a bonus... Sofinho of Alone in the Labyrinth ALSO wrote "A Gift from Mr Screw-on-Head to Us All..."

DG Chapman of The Graverobber's Guide wrote "Twelfth Night Heist"


... and a partridge in a pear treeeee! Phew!

Secret Santicorn 2018

A group of D&D bloggers ran a "Secret Santicorn" this year. I didn't participate, but did notice the posts appearing in my blog's sidebar, and I'm capable of following links, so I decided to reconstruct as much of it as I could.
 
"Secret Santicorn" works like any other gift exchange - each blogger makes a request for a D&D article, and fulfills one request made by someone else. Many of this year's participants are part of what I consider the GLOG-o-sphere. I believe that the exchange was set up on Discord, so it's possible that some requests were fulfilled there. While I can tell that I don't have all of it, I can't tell how much of it I'm actually missing. It could be as few as 3 entries, or there could be longer chains that are missing.
 
(Note, because of the way the gifts are exchanged, the completed blog entry list is like a circle. I've chosen to start with Throne of Salt, but I could have begun anywhere.)
 
 
On the first day of Christmas, Throne of Salt wrote "Animal Mutation Table" for Dungeon Antology,

On the second day of Christmas, Dungeon Antology wrote "The Rift Unending" for Demogorgonia,
 
On the third day of Christmas, Demogorgonia wrote "The Hyperlight Dragon Kills You in Reverse" for Ten Foot Polemic,
 
On the fourth day of Christmas, Ten Foot Polemic wrote "The Powerglass" for Unreal Star,
 
On the fifth day of Christmas, Unreal Star wrote "Santa's Sack is Full of Guts This Year" for The Die Uncast,
 
...
 
On the seventh day of Christmas, The Whimsical Mountain wrote "Kowloon Planet, High Rise Defenses and More" for Buildings are People,
 
On the eighth day of Christmas, Buildings are People wrote "Sci-Fantasy Extraterrestrial Race" for wr3cking8a11,
 
...
 
On the tenth day of Christmas, Unlawful Games wrote "The Magician plus Bonus" for SherlockHole,
 
...
 
On the twelfth day of Christmas, Rogue's Repast wrote "The Alchemist's Basement" for The Bogeyman's Cave,
 
On the thirteenth day of Christmas, The Bogeyman's Cave wrote "Ke'Sik Locales and Encounters" for Dungeonliar,
 
On the fourteenth day of Christmas, Dungeonliar wrote "Codpiece Crafting" for Tales of Absolute Doom,
 
On the fifteenth day of Christmas, Tales of Absolute Doom wrote "Unicorn, GLOG Race-as-Class" for The Bottomless Sarcophagus,
 
On the sixteenth day of Christmas, The Bottomless Sarcophagus wrote "4d12 Supernatural Mystery Clues or Occult Sacrifice Components" for Hmmm Marquis,
 
On the seventeenth day of Christmas, Hmmm Marquis wrote "Mothership Culture Tables" for Throne of Salt,
 
... and a partridge in a pear tree!