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Author Topic: Are there any traditional RPGs where you play as Stormbringer or the One Ring?  (Read 1196 times)

hedgehobbit

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I was watching Ultraman Zed on YouTube with my daughter and there is this "magic" sword character named Beliorok. When you try to pick him up he says, "Before you use me, what do you intend to do with me?" and he'll either refuse to let himself be picked up or will switch sides in the middle of a battle. This reminded me of an old French RPG called Bloodlust which Hoggshead Publishing was going to translate into English before they disappeared. In that game you played as a magic weapon and as the weapon's bearer.

Are there any traditional (i.e. non-story game) RPGs that let you do something like this? Either as the main theme of the game or as a single magic weapon character in an otherwise normal adventuring group. 

David Johansen

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Well, in GURPS or HERO you could sell off your limbs and buy damage and magical powers.
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HappyDaze

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In several effect-based games, like HERO or Mutants & Masterminds, you could play the sapient enchanted item as your character and take a follower/henchman/sidekick as the wielder/bearer of that item. It's a slight variation on the "reverse familiar" where the familiar is the PC and the wizard is the follower/henchman/sidekick.

jhkim

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The closest parallel I can think of is Wraith: The Oblivion - which is a World of Darkness game so might or might not count as a story game.

Each player both plays their own PC but also the Shadow of another PC - which is an inner force trying to drive them to destruction. That's not an external item like Stormbringer or the One Ring, but it's acting in a similar role.

hedgehobbit

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Well, in GURPS or HERO you could sell off your limbs and buy damage and magical powers.

Statting up the sword would be no problem, I already created a Magical Weapon class for my OD&D game. I was thinking more how you could control an NPC weapon bearer in a manner that would still be fun to play. Sort of like having a PC that you don't control 100%. I was hoping someone had figured out a way to do this already.

Omega

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Touched on this once here in a different thread.

On a MUD I used to play on my character picked up a transformation power. This allowed you to become any NPC or object you knew of, could see or had on hand. And I had good enough stats and training to pull off some pretty wacky things.

For fun I would park in the main foyer where players tended to drop stuff for new players to use. And then transform myself into a magic sword I had come across. Then I'd wait and see if anyone would wander by and pick me up.

If they did I'd use telepathy "Who has picked me up?" and they'd hear -Magic Sword speaks to you by telepathy "Who has picked me up?"- and the fun begins. And since I was pretty good at this spell I could copy all its bonuses. Drawback was that if I botched the spell I was stuck like that for an hour or so.

Problem was weapons had a durability factor and eventually I'd wear out and die. Great fun.

In an older edition of Dragon there is a short story about a battle between two leaders who are using a set of futuristic gear that both communicate with eachother and advise the user on battle tactics as well as being able to slightly move the user to assist I believe. Essentially a set of sentient +1 gear.

And bemusingly d20m Gamma World had a monster that was essentially appliances and weapons placed into armatures by their owners so they could survive. So you might be attacked by a toothbrush piloting an exoframe.
The big thing in that game was EVERY appliance was sentient. And usually going slowly insane from boredom or neglect or sensory deprivation as these were apparently effectively copies of human minds mass produced and stuffed into anything and everything. Because!
So you could reasonably play a robot PC who is say a sword or gun piloting a exoframe or robot.

Could even do that in D&D. And I'd lay good odds theres some monster in one of the books that is exactly that.

Barbatruc

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A French rpg named Bloodlust (same title for English translation) has this as its main gimmick, I believe. This is the only thing I know about it. Here’s an old thread about it:

https://www.therpgsite.com/pen-paper-roleplaying-games-rpgs-discussion/bloodlust-metal/

Ghostmaker

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Touched on this once here in a different thread.

On a MUD I used to play on my character picked up a transformation power. This allowed you to become any NPC or object you knew of, could see or had on hand. And I had good enough stats and training to pull off some pretty wacky things.

For fun I would park in the main foyer where players tended to drop stuff for new players to use. And then transform myself into a magic sword I had come across. Then I'd wait and see if anyone would wander by and pick me up.

If they did I'd use telepathy "Who has picked me up?" and they'd hear -Magic Sword speaks to you by telepathy "Who has picked me up?"- and the fun begins. And since I was pretty good at this spell I could copy all its bonuses. Drawback was that if I botched the spell I was stuck like that for an hour or so.

Problem was weapons had a durability factor and eventually I'd wear out and die. Great fun.

In an older edition of Dragon there is a short story about a battle between two leaders who are using a set of futuristic gear that both communicate with eachother and advise the user on battle tactics as well as being able to slightly move the user to assist I believe. Essentially a set of sentient +1 gear.

And bemusingly d20m Gamma World had a monster that was essentially appliances and weapons placed into armatures by their owners so they could survive. So you might be attacked by a toothbrush piloting an exoframe.
The big thing in that game was EVERY appliance was sentient. And usually going slowly insane from boredom or neglect or sensory deprivation as these were apparently effectively copies of human minds mass produced and stuffed into anything and everything. Because!
So you could reasonably play a robot PC who is say a sword or gun piloting a exoframe or robot.

Could even do that in D&D. And I'd lay good odds theres some monster in one of the books that is exactly that.
Holy shit, that had to be hilarious. I'd buy you lunch just for the chance to read the logs of such interactions. Watching a newbie freak out about his 'talking sword' would be comedy gold.

finarvyn

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Back in an early issue of The Dragon magazine there was a short story article about a sword named Freddy and his adventures. No rules for playing that type of character that I can recall, however.

I'm pretty sure it was a James Ward article, part of his "Monty Haul" series. Probably somewhere in the first 25 or so issues, if anyone is interested.
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Omega

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Holy shit, that had to be hilarious. I'd buy you lunch just for the chance to read the logs of such interactions. Watching a newbie freak out about his 'talking sword' would be comedy gold.

Since I knew the area inside out I mostly issued dire warnings of impending disaster.
"Beware. I sense the presence of Lurker who dwells at the intersection of stories and angles." when the walked into the library as there was a thing there that would pop out of the corner and mangle anyone present.
Or "Light not the black candle unless you can put down that which you will called fourth."

The other use was to cover my true form as normal folk looking at it might lose sanity. And the NPC police would attack on sight if was not concealed as an acceptable NPC or object.

zircher

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Artefact is a solo game about that.  If your budget is tight, scroll down the page and grab a community copy.
https://mouseholepress.itch.io/artefact

Wield: Chronicle of the Vatcha is also a game about playing artifacts.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/131729/Wield


You can find my solo Tarot based rules for Amber on my home page.
http://www.tangent-zero.com