Cursed Objects and Double-Edged Swords

 It's been too long.

These don't follow that outline for cursed objects I wrote once, mostly because I started writing these in the back of a car on vacation and brevity saves me from too many bumps in the road rendering one idea illegible.

Do you believe in the power of a curse?

d10 Cursed Items

Good cursed items are tricky. I like the idea that they're punishing, no mere double-edged sword, but you want the punishment to itself be a fun problem to deal with. I am considering the practicalities of a campaign where cursed items can only be suffered by those who gain them by ignominious or transgressive means.

1. A blade that Slays By Its Own Will. Razor, quick, you've drawn it and struck someone down in the time it takes to say so. The blade loves to use this power to bring sorrow to its wielder but can only suborn their sword arm, so it can be wrestled with. It resists being simply discarded by holding tight.

2. Drawing blood with the Barbocephalus Axe turns you into Varent, a 4 HD half-demon barbarian from a time and place otherwise. You have to play him until he sets the axe down, and he respects only violence. As he figures out what banishes him, he becomes wary to avoid parting with the axe-- this place is much nicer than his own.

3. Ever-Burning Candle. Enables +1 day's worth of downtime activity per day, imparting frantic vigor. Won't go out until it kills you 1d4+3 months from now.

4. Consume one of the Organs of Wicked Albus to instantly memorize a spell of level equal to the number of Organs you've eaten, and also see a vision of one of Albus's most horrible deeds. They are gritty and bitter, but addictive to the tongue and stomach. Once you've had one, save or you won't be able to memorize spells in the normal way for a week. After five are consumed, save each week or turn into the mage Albus. There are nine-- the brain, the lungs, the stomach, the liver, the spleen, the eyes, the larynx, the intestines, and the tongue.

5. The Nine Lives Amulet has 1d9 charges. When you would make a save vs death or die due to damage, instead consume a charge. Thereafter, you must save vs spells or impulsively drink potions, leap into portals, and take other hellcat risks.

6. The Cruel Dart imparts a curse on touch-- that you shall not create new life. No children, no fire, no wind, no songs, no orders.

7. Like a matte ruby, the Rubedo seed is always sought-after. Shake it around your waterskin, and the water is turned to weak merlot. Swallow it, and all you taste shall be as the finest wine. Swallow it, and ever after all you taste shall be as the finest wine. 

8. Some sages keep a Two-Tailed Coin in their money boxes. Their killers are ill-fated, for those who carry the coin, easily overlooked in a purse, see beautiful lights and light-tempered beauties in the depths of every body of water. They must save or be tempted down into the warm embrace of the depths, getting +1 for each reason they provide for why they must pass by. They can never repeat reasons, even on later saves.

9. A simple one-- the fine velvet Slippers of a Vampire seem perfect for those who seek to sneak without echo, but they don't only avoid holy ground. If they pass over unhallowed undergrounds-- grim graves or doomy donjons-- they step the wearers through the very dirt into the very deepest section.

10. A Compact Henway. Reverses your stats and handedness. Can't be set down once strapped on except in a mirror.

d8 Double-Edged Swords

1. A Cool Sword with a blade at either end. Crits on a 19 or 20, deals damage to you on a 1.

2. Some wizards who are bad enough dudes sign the Contract of Fire. Your spells = Fireball, and scrolls, wands, or other items you cast from = that thing, but of Fireball.

3. A flappy, flaking Viper Skull Cap. All your attacks crit. Your HP = 1.

4. Bralon's Favor, a simple kerchief. Your retainers don't test Morale/Loyalty like normal. Instead, flip a coin. On a heads, they fight to the death. On a tails, they beat a fighting retreat, taking potshots as able. Be careful; your DM will not modulate these results to fit the context better, so making a Morale flip after falling into a pit full of bones may be bloody.

5. When mending your clothes in the morning with a Golden Thimble and Silver Thread, choose a type of save. You always pass that save that day, but fail all others.

6. Some weapons are Everyone's Problem. This straightsword in a quickdraw sheath has a blazing yellow eye in the tang which radiates a Ruin-Cloud Nimbus, dealing 1 damage each round to all in 10', including the wielder.

7. Death's Palm, a pistol that's shaped like a hand and replaces your hand. It can only do one thing-- fire bullets of magically conjured purple flame-- but it does it well.

8. Weightless Robes, barry Argent and Azure. When worn and for an hour after, your weight = 0. You float like a slightly deflated balloon. Be careful not to jump when outside, lest you float off into the sun.

Considerations on Cursed Items (GLoGtober 2023)

(Thanks to Semiurge for the prompt and CatDragon for running GLoGtober this year)

Cursed items in dungeon games have sometimes suffered due to tthe gradual shift of how such games tend to be played. I'm sure it made sense at the time to liberally spike treasure hoards with shields of arrow attraction and swords of you-have-to-you-use-them and they're -1, but for many games, even those riffing on old-style dungeoneering themes, it may be good to rethink the approach.

For this new approach, I would like to consider a quite famous magic item, the One Ring from Lord of the Rings fame. You could argue it's not even a cursed object at all, being an intelligent item that works as intended in the most straightforward ways possible given its few tools available to it. But that's kind of neat, isn't it? When I think about what's so cool about the One Ring, I consider:

1. It has a strong connection to an important faction. (In literature, this is story relevance)
2. It has a powerful ability which turns out to be a minor byproduct of its true significance (invisibility)
3. ... and the ability is useless against powerful members of its aligned faction (Ring-Wraiths can see you better, in fact)
4. You can study old lore to find out more about it.
5. It has a hidden strangifier (throwing it in a fire reveals a cool poem that proves what it is)
6. It calls trouble.
7. It corrupts the mind of the bearer and those around them.
8. It must be destroyed to solve the problems it poses
9. ... but it is difficult to destroy.

Generalizing from this method, we can take any useful magic item, like a cloak of elvenkind or a +2 sword or a bag of holding, and answer these questions:

1. This item is important to...
2. It is useful because... (perhaps answered by the item you chose)
3. But it is useless against...
4. You can learn more by...
5. Its hidden strangifier is...
6. It brings trouble by...
7. It is onerous because...
8. You can't just throw it away because...
9. You can't easily destroy it because...

To test this out, I will apply the method to a +2 sword, a bag of holding, and, just for a challenge, a wand of light.

The Caprine Blade, a +2 scimitar of shining steel, the edge curling back like a goat horn.

This item is important to the two kings of Capria, rival claimants for a nearby throne.

It is useful because it strikes truer and better than any mundane blade.

But it is useless against either king, if he can gather the rest of the regalia and sit on the throne uncontested. Then he will be able to commander the wielder.

You can learn more by consulting frescos and cryptic inscriptions in the tombs of Caprine nobility.

Its hidden strangifier is shown when the sword is used to injure a goat. The blood turns to bright violet smoke, in which a horned face can be seen.

It brings trouble by focusing improbable and mythic events onto the life of the wielder-- kidnappings, crossroad knights, prophetic dreams, affable bandits, and bridge trolls.

It is onerous because it cannot be hidden. The sword is always the most prominent thing in a crowd.

You can't just throw it away because both king's agents search for it, and if one manages to get it he will transform into a horrific goat demon.

You can't easily destroy it because the shards will always find their way to each other again, and in the meantime there will be plagues and curses upon the land.

The First Bag, a humble sack of sewn lionhide, battered and ragged. 

This item is important to giants and goblinoids, who consider it sacred beyond reckoning.

It is useful because it can carry any amount of unliving material, including Death himself.

But it is useless against the usurper goblin king Mabdab Boney-Face, a necromancer and warlord par horreur.

You can learn more by interpreting the legends of goblinoid shamans regarding the curse Death laid on clever heroine Zheepdeep Skullbiter.

Its hidden strangifier is found when it touches a corpse up to three days fresh, which will get up and flee the bag.

It brings trouble by rejuvenating long-dead giants and antediluvians wherever it is taken.

It is onerous because it isn't. When the bag is in hand, it weighs only a little. When it's not close at hand, everything else you're carrying starts to weigh more.

You can't just throw it away because those damn undead giants will seek it out and use it to flood and burn your sinful contemporaries in ultimate generational warfare.

You can't easily destroy it because the one thing you love more than anything is lost within, and to destroy the bag would destroy everything inside.

Gatestaff, a thick wand of ancient, polished pine.

This item is important to the Lightblinders, a society dedicated to freeing a star that was long ago imprisoned within the staff.

It is useful because it can fire a glow that blinds or guides, with many charges

But it is useless against the Lightblinders, with their searchlight eyes, who ever seek it out.

You can learn more by consulting wizardly royal advisors, the students of the students of those who imprisoned the star long ago.

Its hidden strangifier is glimpsed in total darkness, faint writing that glows, warning against "breaking the gate"

It brings trouble by glowing in the presence of those it thinks can bring it closer to its servants.

It is onerous because every time you actually use the wand, consuming charges, you reduce the strength of it as a prison.

You can't just throw it away because it sometimes fires a blazing beacon, using up charges and calling the Lightblinders. A wielder can contest this by strength of will.

You can't easily destroy it because that will free the horrible star from its jail and cause untold catastrophe.

As a parting note, I observe that the plan to destroy the One Ring was based on some pretty clever (dare I say OSR-compliant) reasoning, that the Fires of Mount Doom must have been able to melt the ring because they were hot enough to forge it. Feel free to design special ways of disarming these major cursed objects, but allow for good problem solving as well. These items don't need to radically redefine the aims of the PCs. It's just nice that they might.