[Invisible Congress] Holy Relics of the Temperances

The Temperances are the faction of the Holy Archons who believe that Creation should only contain things which are strictly verified to be not only Good, but incapable of being put toward Evil use. As part of the Great Debate in the Invisible Congress which spawned the World-in-the-Mirror, they have been given authority over Creation. Both in the sense of manifesting the Was Not into the Now Is and in the sense that they have a universally recognized right to administer the World-in-the-Mirror. One which they Created approximately six minutes into the start of the Grand Test Case, right after creating plenipotentiary physical avatars for themselves and temples to the assorted campaign planks of the Celestial Temperance movement.

None of the relics here have an alignment requirement to use. Instead, they have a specific (typically transgressive) act which they reward with wealth and/or power. They're not bound to honor these bargains, but their track record is pretty solid. If you DO find a way to use them in ways that the Archons of Temperance would obviously disapprove of, they'll just conjure up fires and floods of scorpions or infect you with leprosy until you give up. Then restate its demands more loudly.

Idols
A Tempting Idol of the Temperate Archon...
1. Kenosis. [For each unjust punishment you see carried out...]
2. Nirodha. [For each precious thing that you lawlessly steal...]
3. Ataraxia. [For each day that someone curses your name...]
4. Ahimsa. [For each day that someone you've maimed yet lives...]
5. Syncope. [For each crime that you conceal from justice...]
6. Lacuna. [For each beautiful thing you destroy forever...]

...in its aspect of the...
1. Generous One. [...you will be given a reward in mundane wealth.]
2. Humble Servant. [...the idol will serve you as a beastman slave.]
3. Medicine God. [...you will heal three times as quickly that day.]
4. Vengeful One. [...you may name an enemy to be struck with disease.]
5. Bloody-Handed. [...you will be given the use of a magical weapon.]
6. Whisperer. [...you may have a question about your rivals answered.]

[Invisible Congress] Holy Relics of the Benevolences

The Benevolences are the faction of Holy Archons who believe that Creation ought to be Full of everything, with only that which is confirmed to be Evil and completely without Merit excluded from existence. As part of the Great Debate in the Invisible Congress which spawned the World-in-the-Mirror, they have been given authority over Destruction - if the Archons that claim everything should be given a fair chance at existing say something is too awful to be allowed, it gets deleted from reality with a bare minimum of questions asked. They wield this power like a jeweler cutting a dozen breathtaking jewels out of a single somewhat translucent lump of dusty rock.

All of the relics here require that you be politically and spiritually aligned with the Benevolences as a faction. If you're not with them, the relics just won't work for you. Faking it isn't an option; the Benevolences destroyed every disguise that could fool them in the first six minutes of Creation, right after destroying the Unity of the Temperances, the Resistance of Nuanced and the Twin Impediments of Distance and Duration as they apply to the Truly Righteous (e.g. them).

Amulets
A Sacred Amulet Depicting the Benevolent Archon...
1. Panoply. [Your weapons do not break and your arrows do not go missing.]
2. Pleroma. [Your magic dice are halved (round up) and thus never exhaust.]
3. Bythus. [You do not get lost. You always turn in the right direction.]
4. Potentia. [You do not get tired. You can march indefinitely without sleep.]
5. Aletheia. [Nobody tries to trick you in ways you could be convinced by.]
6. Plethora. [Food, drink and air are not depleted by you partaking of them.]
7. Pangaea. [You cannot fall. If you walk off a ledge, you just keep going.]

When you wear an amulet, the indicated harm cannot befall you. Period. Someone up there has put a detour sign on the road of destiny and tore down the bridge behind it. Instead, roll 1d6 each day to determine which of the other six fates bedevils you. The Temperances are out to get you and will conjure locusts, gusts of wind, arrow-stealing birds and whatever else it takes to ruin your Prism-damned day. If you remove an amulet or put a second one on, the old amulet ceases to exist.

Providence Die
A set of sacred dice, marked with symbols instead of numbers: Road, Bridge, Falls, Wind, Tree, River, City, Shadow, Tower, Sails, Peak, Ocean. If a pious servant of the Benevolences rolls them, they will always show a face suggesting the direction which the Benevolences would most like the servant to travel or the action which they would most like the servant to take. If anyone else tries to roll them, they scoot away just fast enough that the infidel cannot grasp them. If none of the symbols would offer good advice, the dice sit on one tip and spin in place very quickly. This is generally regarded as a bad omen. Expect a Visitation soon after.

[Setting Post] The Invisible Congress

The first thing that the All-and-Nothing created was the Mirror, so that It could examine Itself. It knew what Good was, you see, but It knew not Itself, nor whether Itself was Good. It set to examining Itself and then to interrogating and then as the Mirror became a Prism, to dividing Itself out into the three score and twelve Archons which exist today. Each of the Archons are said to embody an element of the Good and to be charged with confirming the rest also conform equally to the Good.

Politics ensued. Debates. Quorums. Decorum. And worst of all, hypotheticals. The Archons of the Invisible Congress (for that is what they came to call themselves) found themselves constantly returning to the same question: is it better to start from Nothing and add to it only that which can be confirmed beyond all doubt to be Good, or better to start from All and subtract away that which is shown not to be Good? Empty or Full? Dark or Bright? Silence or Sound? Around the debate went.

The two great Celestial Coalitions, the Temperances (who thought it wise to refrain from accidentally permitting Evil) and the Benevolences (who said it wiser to not overlook any opportunity for Good) voted that this question merited a Test Case. 

They would build a World within the Mirror and in that World, half would be drawn from the All and half left as Nothing. The Temperances would be empowered to choose what would be included, for they wished to add no Evil and the Benevolences would be empowered to choose what would be omitted, for they wished to overlook no Good. And the third of the Archons who held to more nuanced positions would be set within the Mirror, experiencing it as merely mortal beings and report back how it truly was.

The Temperances immediately set to the Creation of every wicked thing that might prove their doctrine true, while the Benevolences set to employing their due of Destruction with all the skill of a sculptor smiting the marble around the statue. One score and four were the Archons of Nuance, now passed through the Prism and splintered into three hundred and forty three shades of distinction. From this the lineages of man, beast and blossom until the End of Days and the Nuanced Report.

Glaugust 2026: Monk

 
A sketch of a class that is absolutely not a fighter, not a wizard, not a cleric and not a thief. What it is instead is a nnoying.

Monk

A. Leap
B. Meditate
C. Swiftness
D. Stillness

Leap: At most once per hour per [Template] and no more than once per round, you may jump up to ten feet in any direction, even during someone else's turn. Any action declared during the same turn as your leap (even if declared after the leap) must be resolved as if the one acting believed you were still in your pre-leap position. 

Meditate: For each of the following that is true, double your leaping range: A] you have not moved in this round or the prior one; B] you have not attacked in this round or the prior one; C] your hands are empty and you are fully unencumbered.

Swiftness: You may leap without needing to declare where you are leaping toward until the start of your next turn. If you leap this way, you are not adjacent to anyone unless and until you declare you are leaping to be adjacent to them. You may still leave your destination ambiguous among the available adjacent spaces inside your leaping range.

Stillness: If you leap and choose to remain in place while doing so, this triggers all the usual benefits of leaping without consuming an hourly use of your leaping ability. The limit of leaping no more than once in a single round remains in effect.

[GLoG] Scoundrel

NBateman has made a post, detailing all the ways that people have tried and failed to mechanize thieves. In the spirit of perversity and sass, I was immediately overcome with the impulse to make a framework that isn't on the list. This is the result of me listening to that impulse. I make no promises of quality.

 
Scoundrel

A. Trickery, Locks
B. Scramble
C. Improvise
D. Signature Trick

Locks: You know locks. If a lock can be picked, you can pick it in six seconds. If a lock cannot be picked, you can tell it can't be picked just by glancing at it.

Trickery: You maintain a selection of Tricks on your Trickery Table. Your Trickery Table has six rows and two Tricks per row. It takes eight hours of brisk exercise and skullduggery in a semi-civilized area to swap out a single row of Tricks. You can't have the same Trick on more than [Templates] + 1 rows at a given time.

At the start of each dungeon turn, at end of your turns during combat and whenever instructed to do so by a Trick, roll 1d6 and consult your Trickery Table to see which two Tricks you have access to until the next time you roll. The effects of each Trick are listed below. You get no benefit from erased Tricks until refilled.

Example Trickery Table 
1. Ambush & Blackjack
2. Ambush & Blackjack
3. Ambush & Forgery (Deed)
4. Eavesdrop & Disguise (Maid)
5. Lying & Seduction
6. Lying & Explosives

List of Tricks
1. Ambush - Whenever your group rolls initiative, you may erase this Trick from your Trickery Table to surprise the enemy before rolling. Replace it as normal.
2. Arson - Until you roll a row on your Trickery Table that doesn't show Arson, you can see through smoke and safely traverse flames from any and all fires you lit.
3. Blackjack - You are exceptionally lucky at card games. Also, if you bonk someone in the head before they can act during a combat, they must Save or be knocked out.
4. Bribery - You can always tell if someone is willing to be bribed or, if they are actively soliciting a bribe, the minimum amount they would be willing to accept. 
5. Climb - Anything a normal person could climb with rope, you can climb without. If you would fall during a climb, you can choose to retreat to where you started.
6. Codes - If you encounter a enciphered message, you can start decoding it. Read off one line every time you roll this result again. You can also encipher messages.
7. Disguise - Pick any person when adding this to your Table. You can impersonate them convincingly while the trick is available, or costume yourself as their peer.
8. Eavesdrop - You may pinpoint the number, species and activity level of living creatures in every adjacent room. You can overhear anything said in the same area.
9. Escape - You may create a brief distraction, redirecting the attention of anyone watching you, then free yourself from any one set of physical or social restraints.
10. Evasion - You may choose not to be hit with an attack. Against a melee attack, you must erase this Trick from your Trickery Table afterward. Replace it as normal.
11. Explosives - When you add this to your Trickery Table, fill an inventory slot with three charges gunpowder (1d6 damage each, stacking) and 30 feet of fuse.
12. Fashion - When you add this to your Trickery Table, fill an inventory slot with fancy attire, granting +1 to Reaction and AC, but only while clean and uninjured.
13. Forgery - When you add this to your Trickery Table, prepare a official looking document. Anyone who cannot issue such a document will think someone who can did.
14. Poison - When you add this to your Trickery Table, gain a dose of deadly poison (3d6 if ingested). You can safely handle it, or dilute it into three doses of blade toxin (1d6).
15. Ruses - While talking to someone, get a one word hint about what they hope is true. When studying a crowd, pick a lie and see who is most likely to believe it.
16. Seduction - When you add this to your Trickery Table, pick a location. You've convinced someone who lives, works or hangs around nearby that you love them.
17. Smuggling - When you add this to your Trickery Table, pick one inventory slot. Whatever is kept in that slot won't be found on a search. It does not have to be your inventory slot.
18. Sneaking - Whenever you would be discovered while sneaking, you may erase this Trick from your Trickery Table to take back your last action. Replace it as normal.
19. Threats - While talking to someone, know if they are afraid of you and get a one word hint about what else they fear, besides potentially being afraid of you. 
20. Traps - Whenever you or an ally would trigger a trap, you may erase this Trick from your Trickery Table to take back the triggering action. Replace it as normal.

Scramble: If you're about to take damage or attempt a d20 roll, you can erase up to [Templates] many Tricks from your Trickery Table to take -25% damage or get +1 on the roll per Trick erased. You must choose whether to do this before rolling.

Improvise: Once per day, you can swap out your current active row on the Trickery Table for two random Tricks generated by rolling a d20 for each. If you roll the same number twice, you may choose anything else on the list as your second Trick. This can explicitly replace an erased Trick without needing the usual eight hours.

Signature Trick: Pick a Trick. It only takes you four hours to switch to or from your Signature Trick and when you Improvise, only roll a single d20: the first Trick rolled is always your Signature Trick instead of being randomly rolled. 

[GLOG] Make Necromancy Evil Again!

Make Necromancy Evil Again!

A pamphlet with the scowling face of a lich on the front, decrying the hypocrisy of so-called 'necromantic ethics'. 
* You can cause pain akin to being jabbed with a needle by pointing at someone. No damage.
* Each time you study this book, you receive an invitation from a lich, vampire or evil wizard who would be pleased to have such an up-and-coming menace to society come around for a visit. 
* Roll 1d4, you gain the following spell: Dark Banquet, Grim Company, Vampiric Touch, Vision of Agony.
(In the style of a Salty Goo spellbook.)


Dark Banquet
Range: Touch. Target: [sum] corpses. Duration: Permanent.
The caster poses one or more corpses as if they were about to eat a meal. Each must have a seat, at least three full rations worth of meat, at least a quart of blood and all dishes and cutlery necessary to eat the provided meal. If done correctly, up to [dice] living guests of honor can be named and up to [sum] dead guests will rise from the dead as skeletons who seek to slay all living creatures who were not guests of honor. The skeletons are not otherwise controlled.

Grim Company
Range: 20'. Target: [sum] HD. Duration: Permanent.
The caster lays a curse on a group of creatures. Three nights after any group member dies, the spectre of every dead group member will emerge at the site of the death and begin hunting the closest living member of the group. Spectres retain all of the abilities they had in life, but can walk through organic (wood or cloth but not stone or metal) walls. This curse is subtle; it does not seem to have had any obvious effects until the first victim rises up as a spectre.

Vampiric Touch
Range: Touch. Target: One creature. Duration: [highest] days.
The caster lays a curse on a victim, sapping all warmth and life from them. For the duration of the curse, the caster may choose to absorb the benefits of all food, drink, warmth, rest and entertainment that the target partakes in while letting the victim go hungry, thirsty, cold, tired and/or bored. The victim automatically knows that the caster can suppress the effects of the curse at will but that killing the caster will see the curse active for its full duration.

Vision of Agony
Rage: 20'. Target: One creature. Duration: One Hour.
The next time the target is struck, they roll on the Death and Dismemberment chart as if they had no hit points remaining and experience a lifelike vision of the result. The caster also learns which injury was rolled. If the victim falls below [sum] hit points in the next hour, the result immediately comes true, with the victim either dying or suffering the indicated injury.

[MOSAIC Strict-ish] A Basic Combat Engine

Herein lie some MOSAIC Strict rules for combat and recovery, with a free form 'stunt' system to cover combat maneuvers, grappling and most other 'how do I do X in combat' questions. If there is interest, I will do a commentary post but as things stand I don't have the word count to include such commentary within the document itself.

Turn Order in Combat
In a fight, combatants should be divided into sides. Sides take turns in a fixed order (GM decides which) and when a side's turn comes up, they nominate a combatant on their side to take a turn for that side. Where possible, avoid letting characters take more than one consecutive turn for their side; rotate between characters on that side until everyone has acted at least once in the fight. Do not let the players divide into more sides in order to get more actions - if two characters are working together toward a goal, they are on the same game mechanical side.

Combat Actions
On their turn, a combatant may do a few things for free: move up to their move speed, speak a few sentences and roll their weapon die. Then, they must declare their intent for the turn: what outcome they hope for their actions to have during their turn. Any opposing combatant may thwart this intent by spending as many vigor as the weapon die (plus relevant bonuses) indicates, but if no opponent is willing or able to do so, the combatant may narrate how they accomplish their intent. Events go as described. Intent is restricted by three major rules: 

• Plausibility: Intents can only accomplish feats that are plausible for the combatant (and any other cooperative characters) to accomplish in under a minute. If a character has no way to fly, an intent flap their hands and rise into the air does not matter.
• Limited Scope: If an intent disadvantages multiple opposing combatants, it costs two vigor per additional combatant to attempt. For opponents thwarting such an effect, the first person saved costs full price (and must all be paid for by a single character) while each additional person beyond that only costs two vigor, payable by anyone.
• Willingness: If an intent requires purposeful action from another character, the player of that character may refuse, forcing the combatant to pick a different intent. For example, if a bandit says "Your money or your life!" and intends for everyone on the carriage to hand over their gold, anyone unwilling to be let themselves be robbed can insist on the 'or your life' half of that equation, making a proper fight of it.

Suggested weapon dice include 1d4 (concealed or improvised), 1d6 (one hand), 1d8 (two hands), 2h6 (two weapon fighting). For firearms, triple damage at point blank, double within ten meters and half (round down) beyond that or when someone is behind cover.

The table is encouraged to codify (either collectively or through the use of other rules) specific conditions which can be referenced when declaring intents in combat. This shared frame of reference for the mechanical impact of specific injuries makes the stakes clear and the choice to accept or reject a specific intent more meaningful.

Vigor and Vigor Recovery
Vigor reflects a character's ability to avoid lasting harm. A character with no remaining vigor is at the mercy of their foes and can be maimed or even killed out of hand. Most characters should flee combat well before reaching this point. Lost vigor is regained in one of three ways:

• Rest: When a character rests for the night, they roll 1d6 for each that they possess: food, water, warmth, a roof overhead and servants attending to them. Compare the total against their current vigor. If both the character and their resting place are clean, their new vigor is set to the higher of the two numbers. If either the character or their environment is unclean, they take the lower of the two instead. 
• Water: If a character spends a whole turn drinking water, roll 1d6. On a 4+ their canteen is drained. Otherwise, they may stop or keep rolling next turn as they wish. Characters with a current vigor of ten or more cannot recover further vigor this way, nor can characters who have become unclean in a way that water cannot wash away. 
• Vice: Indulging in a vice for at least an hour allows a character to roll 3d6 and set their vigor to the sum, if the new number would be higher. Character may indulge multiple vices if they wish, but each extra vice in a given day needs an extra hour. That is, if you indulge two vices in a night, you enjoy three hours of both vices. Three vices takes six hours, four vices takes ten and five or more would be just ridiculous.

Side Note: Cleanliness
A character is assumed to be clean as long as they haven't engaged in hard labour, gotten into a fight, handled something unclean without precautions, rested or been intentionally made unclean since the last time they washed. Characters who are sick and/or poisoned are unclean until they recover. This is in addition to the symptoms of the disease or poison are outside of rest penalties. 

Locations become unclean if they are physically unsanitary, but also if people visit the location to indulge in vices; if supernatural evil resides there or if the place has an unwholesome moral character for other reasons. Casinos, brothels, pawn shops, demon lairs and sewers are all unclean for one reason or another. Outdoor areas are usually clean, due to natural rain.

Vices
Characters living in unclean places or who have been made unclean through sickness or sinister magic have few good ways to recover vigor. Fortunately for them, there are bad ways to recover vigor. This is not a comprehensive list of vices. Anything that fits into the general format of imposing a consequence on the character in exchange for creature comforts could reasonably be taken as a vice and allow vice recovery.

• Alcohol: Those indulging in alcohol are unreliable. Anything said, heard, seen or done while drinking alcohol (and for an equal amount of time afterward) can easily be discredited or disavowed by the sober. It is socially acceptable to 'bribe' gods and spirits by offering them an alcohol libation; wealthy individuals with a bottle of wine and a crowd of people (of any social rank) by buying them a round cheap swill.
• Gambling: Those indulging in gambling must find strangers who also wish to indulge and then put up an ante. Flip two coins: for each heads, the gambler doubles their ante, but on double heads or double tails, they make an enemy after being cheated or being accused of cheating. Gambling with lesser stakes is not a proper vice. It is acceptable to brawl in support of a friend (but not a stranger) in gambling disputes.
• Opium: Those indulging in opium become lethargic and indifferent. Those who have taken opium in the past twelve hours are not allowed to look at weapon dice in combat and must decide their intents and whether to spend vigor trying to thwart an opponent blindly. Such characters can go into the negatives on vigor, but immediately fall into a stupor on doing so and do not awaken until nursed back to health by outside parties.
• Religion: Those indulging in religion must find a religious community to join and/or a spiritual leader to follow. For the next lunar month, the character will lose one vigor per ten minutes when doing things that their community and/or leader are likely to disapprove of. Unlike most other vices, sincere religious faith does not make places in which it is practiced grow unclean. Religious hypocrisy has no such protection.
• Tea: Those indulging in tea must be outwardly clean and socially decorous to obtain any benefit. For the next lunar month, the character must thwart attempts to humiliate them if at all possible, spending vigor and other sources to do so if necessary. Those who are unable to do so immediately drop to zero vigor and faint on the spot. It is socially awkward to refuse a tea invitation, even if not actively indulging in it.
• Tobacco: Unlike most vices, tobacco is not indulged in hours-long binges. Instead, treat smoking a pipe or cigarette the same as drinking water (see above) except that it takes a minute per roll; a character continues rolling on a 1-4 instead of a 1-3 and a lack of cleanliness is no obstacle to recovery. Tobacco turns the clothing and living spaces of smokers unclean over the course of a lunar month of regular use.