52 Weeks of Magic - Week 19 - Staff of Eyes

The Staff of Eyes grants the user infravision and ultravision when held like a torch. Additionally, the user's eyes will glow like a cat's eyes while using the staff in this fashion. The device emits no light. This effect takes some time to get used to so the wielder will be at a -2 to hit the first 3 times they experience this effect. Since the effect requires no charges, the wielder will probably do this long before going into combat. Once the user becomes used to the device, they will crave this type of vision. To stop using the effect, the wielder must save vs. magic to stop. One attempt per day can be made, usually first thing in the morning.

The wielder is able to cast a light spell at the cost of one charge, however the staff will not allow this spell to target creatures eyes. For two charges, the user can cause a flare-like missile to shoot from the staff into the sky. The effect lasts three rounds and is as bright as daylight.

The flare does no damage if it hits something or if fired inside of building, cave, etc. If fired indoors, the light bounces around in a very nonsensical way and the swaying shadows and light causes all people within the area of effect to suffer a -2 to hit with melee weapons and a -4 for missile weapons. This even affects the wielder.

The staff also has a defensive nature, it will absorb spells targeting the casters eyes, such as blindness, light, dark, power word blind, etc. This consumption of spells restores charges to the staff at a rate of one per level of the spell cast. If the staff absorbs more charges that it normally holds, the orb and the caster's eyes appear to burst into flames for one hour per charge over 50. This is uncomfortable, but not damaging to the holder.

It is not possible for the person holding the staff to recharge it by casting spells at themselves. Any attempt to do so will give the user a bad feeling and if the caster persists, the effect of the spell cast will be permanent until "remove curse" is cast on them.

This staff is rather light weight but can be used as a weapon. It is +1 and will do 1d4 +1 if held one handed and 1d6+1 if swung two handed.

The orb at the top of the staff will take on the color of the holder's eyes. The staff normally holds 50 charges. As the charges are used, the orb and the wielder's eyes become milky white which is only a cosmetic effect, it does not impact the user. The staff remains a +1 weapons without any charges, but all other effects end immediately. Once all of the charges have been used, it cannot be recharged by absorbing magic spells.

Navigation

Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item	Week	Item
1	Magic Lamps	2	The Rat Bag	3	Emulous Cursed Sword	4	The Cloak of Peaceful Repose
5	The Cowl of Death	6	Scimitar of Smiting	7	The Symbol of Sol Invictus	8	The Equi Phalera
9	Libertatem	10	Sorrow	11	Aemilla Carna	12	The Obice Cardeam
13	The Gnollish Rattlebone	14	Bands of Roland	15	Shape of Memory	16	Defender's Boss
17	Missile Mirror	18	Stone Horse	19	Staff of Eyes	20	Helm of Aware Airs
21	Potion of the Lionhearted	22	The Unnamed Potion	23	Whispering Wings	24	Monk's Bane
25	Token of Infi	25b	Device of Defense	26	Shield of Force	27	Coming Soon

Now, the commercial. I have a little book called Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners, over at DrivethruRPG. Also on Drivethru is my custom character sheet for AD&D and Unearthed Arcana.

I am obviously thinking of writing another and Gnolls might be the subject. Please let me know what you think in the comments. 

Opening Day at Six Flags Darien Lake.

I was the fourth person in the park! There was a family of 3 in front of me and they fired off a bunch of confetti cannons to mark the new sign.

I haven't noticed too many changes from last year. Skyscreamer has replaced the Vomit Log or whatever it was called. Good. 

The Preditor was out of action, I saw some workers on the tracks making adjustments or repairs. 

I stopped at the camp store and lounge. The only change I noticed was an uptick in beer prices at the camp store, which is still cheaper than everywhere else in the park and the fact that wifi is having problems in the lounge. Not too bad for opening day under a different brand.

Corfu, NY

I find myself traveling in Genessee county all the time for camp and vacationing. On of the better stops is on Route 77 and 5. This Tim Hortons has a nicely appointed sitting area, bathrooms and free wifi. They have an outdoor sitting area and charging stations inside at the big wooden table. When I need a coffee, breakfast or just a break this is my go to place. It's about 10 minutes from Darien Lakes State Park* and Six Flags Darien Lake.

*Did you know the lake at Darien Lakes State Park is called Harlow Lake?

A Forgotten Classic - The Dark Tower By Milton Bradley Company

As a child, I spent many hours attacking the Dark Tower. Back in 1981, this game was an incredible technological feat. Now, it seems rather simple, but I would kill to get my hands on one.

Game play was simple, up to four players adventured from their home citadel to find 3 keys to unlock the final battle at for the Dark Tower. Keys and three other treasures, The Sword, The Wizard and The Pegasus could be found in the 8 tombs and ruins around the map. At the Bazaar, players could purchase warriors, food, a Scout, a Healer and a Beast.

Warriors fight but could also carry gold for you, up to 6 bags each. If you ended a battle with more gold than you had warriors can carry it, you lose the surplus. Warriors also ate food. Up to 15 warriors ate 1 food per move, 16-30 ate 2 food, 31-45 ate three and so on. Moving without food caused the loss of one Warrior per turn.

On your adventures, you could make a safe move with no event occurring, get lost, encounter a plague, a dragon or engage in battle with Brigands. Battles were the most common event. In combat, if you won a round the Brigands would lose half of their force. If you lose a round, you lost one warrior. Winning or losing a battle could increase your gold, but if you didn't have enough warriors to carry the gold, you lost it. A Beast could carry 50 bags of gold, on top of what your warriors could carry. Getting lost caused you to lose a turn but if you had a scout, you could move again. When struck by a plague, you lost 2 warriors and possibly some gold due to carrying capacity being reduced. If a healer was purchased, you received two warriors instead of losing them. The dragon could wipe out 25% of your warriors and gold in one swoop. Having The Sword drove the dragon off and awarded gold and warriors.

The Wizard curse was a special event controlled by other players. When The Wizard was awarded to player, they could curse one other player. The curse transferred 25% of the other player's Warriors and gold to the cursing player. There was no defense and the effect was immediate. 

The Pegasus allowed a player to advance anywhere within the kingdom they were in. They could not use The Pegasus to leap over the Frontier. Any attempt to do so would result in a lost of the turn AND The Pegasus.

Once the player had all 3 keys, found in the other three kingdoms, they could advance on the Dark Tower but only from their home kingdom. Going to your home citadel with 16 or less Warriors would double your troops. You could repeat this, but only if you went to one of the other special places such a tombs or ruins before returning.

The assault on the Tower required the player to guess the correct order for the keys. The riddle showed a random key and the player would guess if it was correct. If it was, they had to guess the next key until the correct order was input. The game would display a random key, but the order was fixed in the system so that it would not change, making the process less painful than it sounds.

In the final battle, the number of Brigands was based on which of the three levels they players selected at the outset. Level 1 had up to 32 Brigands while 2 and 3 had 64. You could approach with up to 99 Warriors, but there was little point in doing so.

Pre-generated Character Sheets

I've started updating my layout again and loaded some pre-generated characters to the top tab. These are first and second level fighters and dwarves for Basic Dungeons and Dragons. I based them on the format from Ghost of Lion Castle, so there are three per pdf.

As I get around to digitizing some of the background NPC from my various campaigns, I will upload them to the character tab.