Wizard's Tower (Promptober 2025 #19)

Arcane Forces Gather

Why do wizards build towers? Do they need thinner air to interact less with their experiments? Are they concerned about explosions and hope to minimize the area of damage? Do they want to be closer to heaven and further from the mud and dust of earth? Or does tradition simply demand that wizards must occupy a tall, unstable structure?

Maybe wizards think a few steps ahead about the third dimension.

Consider the magic circle spell. It creates a 10-foot radius effect with a 20-foot height. If we assume a standard modern floor height of 10 feet, we end up with two floors of the tower completely within the circle. So instead of casting one circle on every floor to ward an area and contain summoned creatures as a safeguard for experimentation, the wizard can conserve spell slots and cover more of the tower in a single casting.

Efficiency!

Sorcery (Promptover 2025 #18)

Thrice Spoken, Once Fulfilled

Back in my youth, I read Master of the Five Magics by Lyndon Hardy as part of my quest to read every fantasy book I could. The world involves plenty of handwaving, but most of the worldbuilding went into the 5 systems of magic. Perhaps I'll explore more forms of magic in future posts, since each set of rules provides some great flavor and interesting drawbacks.

Since today's prompt is Sorcery, let's take a look at that particular flavor of magic and see if we can adapt it in a useful manner.

Sorcery in Hardy's book focuses on manipulating other minds by making eye contact with your target and reciting a charm three times. Sorcery is governed by the Rule of Three: Thrice spoken, once fulfilled. Reciting a charm in the exact same way three times seems a little cumbersome in a game with fast combat rounds, but maybe we can think about using the Rule of Three for slower magic and ritual use.

Blood - Bloodward Vial (Promptover 2025 #17)

Just 3 drops...

Thankfully we've moved beyond the days where everyday magic requires a living power source. But some older items still require a blood sacrifice to function. One of the most well-documented is the Bloodward Vial.

Bloodward Vial

Wondrous item, uncommon to very rare (requires attunement)

This old cylindrical pendant consists of woven strands of gold around a small glass or crystal vial. Its red metal cap has a loop for a leather cord or metal chain, and it unscrews to expose the inside of the vial. It may contain blackened dust when found.

Many varieties of the Bloodward Vial exist, each offering a different defensive spell that activates automatically just as an appropriate effect lands. Anyone who attunes to the item will know which spell the vial contains, and that the vial requires 3 drops of the wearer's blood and a short ritual to activate.

Hauntings (Promptober 2025 #16)

What Vibes Haunt Here?

When thinking about hauntings, images of ghosts, poltergeists, and imps spring to mind. Those are all echoes of beings of one sort or another. What if we start with something less tangible like emotions or actions? What happens when emotions haunt a place instead of beings?

Anyone with telepathy or psionics can sense an area of intense emotional haunting, but others will just have a weird feeling when entering the area. Effects can vary wildly, from simple spookiness or a feeling that someone watches your every move, to overwhelming emotions or even suffering the effects of an enchantment spell cast upon you.

Every emotional haunting is different, as is each character it influences, so reactions will vary widely. Generally, some sort of willpower resistance roll should negate the effects, like a Wisdom saving throw in D&D. If they fail, apply effects as they feel right, so let your GM intuition guide your decisions here.

Do Whatever - Information (Promptober 2025 #15)

Sunset in Cyberspace

Much of a tabletop role-playing game involves the gaining, transfer, uncovering, and restriction of information. Players always need more information about a scene, or where people move during combat, or what a spell does, or what effect keeps them stuck in one place, or where the next piece of the MacGuffin hides. GMs typically hide information until the characters find a way to unlock it, or make up interesting new bits of information on the fly to deepen the players' experiences.

In many ways, information provides the lifeblood of society. If a town can't communicate with its neighbors in a reasonable amount of time, they stand alone against any faster threat that arrives. And if the PCs can't communicate with each other, they each must act independently and waste effort in redundant actions.

Let's stick with the GM/Player dynamic for now.

How can GMs transfer information about the game to players more effectively?