#cloudtender

[jewelpit]

Intro

Hi everyone! I've been here for a while, but I only just now switched my account from my pseudonymous username to my actual name*, because I want to be able to post and talk about the tabletop roleplaying games that I've been working on.

I've been playing TTRPGs for about 2/3rds of my life now, and self-publishing them for nearly 1/3rd. I'm about as small-time as it gets (thanks ADHD and a giant discomfort with talking about myself online), but I'm just happy to know that people could stumble across my stuff and maybe find something that clicks with them.

My Itch URL is https://jewelpit.itch.io, and every game there is PWYW. I only accept money for them in order to offset the cost of art, so if you wanna check out a game but don't wanna pay, that's totally cool. I make games because I wanna play them, so even if no one ever downloaded them, I'd keep on making them!

* I chose to migrate my main blog over instead of creating a sideblog because I wanted to be able to receive asks, and I chose to migrate over creating a new account because I still have eight months of ad-free paid for haha

Updated Feb 6, 2024

[nxghtlight]

Pooka stuff and family structure (as well as a brief glimpse at how the Brotherhood’s central council works) below the cut

The basics of how we understand genetics comes from the Punnett Square, and while the link there will take you to wikipedia, a quick and simple explanation is “this is a chart that shows what crossing two plants will make”, and that’s gonna kind of be our jumping off point here.

There’s really not too much more to say about family building in the Clans as I’ve largely covered that here. The main focus of a bonding is offspring to further the Clan, with the health of the offspring being placed over patterning or other attributes. All Pookan kits are taught the Punnett Square (though not by that name) from a young age, as most Clans revolve around animal husbandry, botany, and community management.

Each Clan is made of several smaller family lines, with the largest recognized Clan (the Ashbands) having close to 40 distinct families to the smallest (the Tavendirs) having only six distinct families, but considering that a Pookan family is typically an expanded “warren” household with multiple generations living together (four to five generations of descendants-- each breeding pair having several clutches of kits, and each healthy clutch can be anywhere from four to twelve eggs) while the Clans are private, they are not by any means particularly small.

Often times a Clan can colonize, support, and maintain an entire solar system on their own after enough time in one place. In some cases, a Clan will get so large on one planet (and it’s moons) that it will be seen as wiser for some of the families to split away and make their own way, in which case they will depart for another, though still nearby planet. Sometimes this results in a new Clan forming.

All Clans must be registered with the Brotherhood, which is made of the eighteen “original” (according to Pookan folklore) Pookan clans:

Clan Bunnymund, the First

Clan Branchbrindle, the Fleet

Clan Yewcall, the Brave

Clan Rockcoil, the Wise

Clan Ashband, the Clever

Clan Mayrend, the Stalwart

Clan Cloudtender, the Farseeing

Clan Gulchtie, the Noble

Clan Peatdish, the Trustworthy

Clan Tearmender, the Compassionate

Clan Caverndrop, the Loyal

Clan Lochender, the Forgiving

Clan Evesend, the Yielding

Clan Dawnbreak, the Just

Clan Alpwinder, the Tall

Clan Leafbyrd, the Capable

Clan Ichorpress, the Painted

and Clan Underhill, the Last

Each of these Clans have distinct heraldic colors and symbols, and these can be used to trace family lines back (supposedly) to the beginning of Time, as divergent Clans retain their parent Clan’s iconography while adding their own.

Clans are headed by bonded couples who have been voted on by their family community. Only bonded couples may hold the position, and if the couple is separated or otherwise unable to serve, a new vote is had to determine the new representatives.

[jewelpit]

My new website is now live at https://thecloudtender.com! Moving forward, I'm going to try to post blog stuff there and more off-the cuff stuff here under the #cloudtender tag :)

[jewelpit]

I know the timing on this is really unfortunate considering I just made that intro post about how I was gonna be moving my content to Tumblr, but until @photomatt is gone I'm not going to be posting here beyond this message.

Social stuff will be posted at https://dice.camp/@jewelpit, and long-form content will be posted at https://thecloudtender.com.

[jewelpit]

[WIP] The Jester and the Prince

Here's a silly little one-shot I threw together in a few hours and ran for my wife and a friend last weekend. I might clean it up a bit and put it on my blog (once I finish the site redesign that goes with my migration to my new URL), but I figured I might as well toss it up here in case anyone wants to noodle on it.

The stats given are for Ikaros, my fantasy game, but they should be pretty easy to translate to other games.

Background

400 years ago

Leonoro, the prince of the Desert Kingdom was betrothed to Princess Jenevelle of the Kingdom of the Gate (which guards The Pit, an open entrance into Hell). The prince, however, had fallen in love with his jester, Athyed, and wrote a letter to Jenevelle telling her that he wanted to call off the betrothal (he was going to tell his parents after he got Jenevelle's blessing).

Jenevelle and her parents were, uh, not cool about it though. Unbeknownst to Jenevelle, her parents used their knowledge of devil magic to place a curse on the castle and surrounding castle town, killing everyone inside and trapping them in a demiplane, and fragmenting the Desert Kingdom into a handful of warring states.

Adventurers start trying to plunder the castle during the one day a year it's visible, but none ever return.

370 years ago

Princess Jenevelle, now in her forties, has spent her life studying curses and cursebreaking after finding out that her parents are the ones who destroyed their allied kingdom. When they die, Jenevelle abdicates the throne to her younger sister, and heads out to the capitol of the Desert Kingdom to infiltrate the castle and free the people there, including Prince Leonoro and Athyed (both of whom she has long since forgiven).

She enters the castle.

365 years ago

After five days in the castle (castle time), Jenevelle manages to pull out the curse demon into physical form, but it's too strong for her. It grievously injures her using its demon claws (a wound that doesn't heal until the curse is lifted), then vanishes back into the curse. Desperately injured and running out of food and water with no way to leave, Jenevelle is forced to survive by drinking from the magic Spring of Souls that the castle is built on top of, which nourishes her body and keeps her alive for the next year of castle time until the players arrive, at the cost of slowly sapping her of her memories. By the time the players arrive, she'll no longer know who she is, why she's in the castle, or what gave her the demon wound.

Today

The players arrive.

Clues

The prince is magically kept inside the throne room, where he will attack anyone who enters while doing a mummy mumble of "aaiiiiiooooeeeeeee" ("I'm sorry")

The jester is magically kept outside of the throne room, where he will wander the halls, attacking any livings while also doing the mummy mumble of "I'm sorry"

The prince's room has a desk with a prominently displayed note saying "My heart, my love, I cannot wait until we are married. Yours, J." The "J" stands for "Jester" 😉

The corpses of the king and queen will be sitting in their chairs in their bedroom, and any player who fills a basin with water from the Spring of Souls will be able to see and converse with their ghosts in the reflection of the water. Their ghosts are bound to always be within twenty feet of their bodies, so they don't really know much about what's actually going on (although they know that "that intruder woman" has been here for about a year, and that she's the only intruder who has managed to stay alive for more than a week)

They'll also comment, when asked, that Prince Leonoro "spends too much time hanging out with that damn jester, and not enough time studying his duties!"

The castle library has every book on healing, curses, and necromancy pulled out and leafed through, along with scattered notes that become increasingly incoherent. The notes are obviously written in a different hand than the letter in the prince's bedroom (for one thing, Jenevelle is left-handed)

End conditions

Social: If the players find out the prince and jester were lovers and convince the parents to give their blessing (the parent ghosts don't know it's been 400 years, they think it's only been one and that they can still salvage the marriage deal), the curse demon will be summoned.

Mental: If the players can decode Jenevelle's notes in the library, they can bring forth the curse demon.

Physical: If the players lure the jester to the Spring of Souls and immerse him in its waters, the curse demon will come forth in a rage ("you cannot take his memories! He's supposed to suffer!").

In all cases, killing the curse demon after it's summoned will break the curse. The prince and jester can act freely while the curse demon is out, but if it's not defeated the terms of the curse are re-asserted.

The curse demon knows Jenevelle, and will refer to her by name when summoned. This won't restore her memories, unfortunately. Memory loss from water of the Spring of Souls is permanent. Her demon wound will heal when the demon is killed, though.

The castle

The castle gates are barred shut, and the only way in is by climbing up to the rooftop gardens, then either going through its gate or going through the broken hole in the ceiling that drops down into the temple room on the southeastern side of the castle. Once the players enter the castle, they're magically prevented from leaving.

The castle is also managed using an Underclock, where the first 3 the players roll will reveal Jenevelle, and every roll less than 0 will bring the jester. For searching rooms, roll a d4 underdie if the test passed, or a d8 underdie if the test failed. Either way, the players find what they were searching for.

First floor

Temple

The temple on the first floor is one of two main entrances into the castle, through a hole in the ceiling in the rooftop garden\ (the rooftop garden into the upper hallway is the other entrance).

A previous adventuring party piled up all the pews to form a hasty barricade between them and the throne room, with 3 corpses still behind them, showing signs of blunt force trauma over their entire bodies. The corpses are loaded with treasure, but if the players try to steal any of it the bodies will animate into zombies that attack on site and follow the players until destroyed, attempting to get their treasure back.

Exits

North to the library

Northwest to the throne room (TN 10 Athletics to clear)

Southwest to foyer

Up to rooftop garden

Foyer

The main entrance to the castle, or at least it would be, if the front gate wasn't magically barred shut. Dusty, with a good view of the throne room.

Exits

West to the mingling room

North to the throne room

East to the temple

Mingling room

The main room where guests would hang out while staying at the castle, and the largest room where the royals would meet for official business. The chairs in here are covered in a layer of dust, and the nose is immediately greeted by a bit of a funk from some rotting food.

This room has been fairly obviously ransacked by previous adventuring teams, with a large bloodstain in the middle of the room that looks several months old with bloody footprints coming from the dining hall.

Exits

North to the dining hall

East to the foyer

Dining hall

The main dining hall where people ate. The curse struck after dinner, so this room actually smells less funky than the mingling room to the south (where people were eating post-dinner snacks). Some silverware is still set out, as well as silver candleholders, all of which are conspicuously un-fucked-with. The west and east walls are covered with tapestries, suits of armor, statuary, and various other assorted trappings of wealth. Bloody footprints lead from the southern end of the room into the mingling room to the south.

The walls are flanked by suits of armor, two of which are possessed by the ghosts of knights of the castle. The suits of armor will only animate if people try to fight the jester or steal the silverware and candleholders, at which point they will tirelessly follow them through the entire castle to get it back.

Behind one of the cupboards is a secret hallway that leads directly to the library, bypassing the kitchen and back hallway. It's unlit and the jester does know about it.

Exits

North to the kitchen

Secret: northeast to the library

East to the throne room

South to the mingling room

Kitchen

The kitchen! It smells absolutely atrocious in here from all of the rotting food (after all, only 400 days have passed inside the castle). There's a servant's entrance to the west, but like the main entrance it's currently held fast by the magic of the curse.

A large clay stove is to the northeast, with a half dozen broken down chairs in front of it that had obviously been used for burning. This room initially looks like a good place to rest, but making a fire will cause the spirits of the chefs in here to start becoming agitated and moaning, increasing the size of the underclock die by one step as long as the fire is lit.

Exits

East to the back hallway

South to the dining hall

Back hallway

This back hallway joins the kitchen, servant quarters, stairs, and library together. Blood spatters and halting bloody footsteps come out of the western servant quarters and into the hallway, before stopping about halfway through and being replaced by a long trail of blood smears from a body being dragged.

Lighting in this hallway is exceedingly poor, with only one window that leads directly to the outside on the far east end. There's some light if the servant quarters and kitchen doors are open, but it's still not great.

A disgusting, rotting smell is coming from the western servant quarters exit.

Exits

West to kitchen

North to servant quarters (western)

North to servant quarters (center)

North to stairs (eastern)

Servants' quarters

Where the servants stayed! Of all the rooms that have been ransacked by previous adventuring parties, these ones (the west and east quarters) have been ransacked the most. Clothes are strewn about, trunks are torn open, the whole nine yards.

A dead adventurer in the western room is sitting on the floor underneath the message "NO ESCAPE" written in blood. The body looks to be several days old, and absolutely reeks to the point that it can be smelled from adjacent rooms. Approaching the body takes a TN 11 Willpower or TN 12 Might check to get through the stench. Searching the body reveals a notebook with handwritten notes about past adventures, with only the last used page pertaining to this castle and having a single note: "the jester and the prince don't seem to be able to be in the same room together." A TN 10 Lore check will reveal that this body has been dead about as long as those of the zombies in the temple (and in fact, they're all from the same adventuring party! The note-taker died first, then the temple barricaders died a few hours later).

Exits

South to back hallway

East/west to each other

Stairs

Everyone knows what stairs are.

Exits

South to back hallway

Up to upper stairs

Down to lower stairs

Library

The castle library where Jenevelle did her research before succumbing to the memory loss. The smell of paper is overwhelming here, and there are both tables and armchairs. Every book on healing, curses, and necromancy has been pulled off the shelves and left on the tables, chairs, and floors. There are also notes everywhere, written in a neat and confident hand on multiple different kinds of paper (including some on pages that have been torn out from other, less relevant books), which start off coherent but rapidly lose any sense of structure.

Collating the notes together is a TN 12 Lore check (+2 advantage if the character making the check is a sorcerer), which will reveal the ritual to draw out the curse into physical form. Material components for the ritual include water from the Spring of Souls and a personal item from someone who cast the curse, or one of their relatives (in this instance, anything of Jenevelle's).

One of the shelves on the western wall hides a secret tunnel to the dining hall

Exits

North to the back hallway

South to the temple

Secret: west to the dining hall

Throne room

The room where the prince's mummified corpse is cursed to stay, the only room the jester cannot enter, and the room where the curse will have to be drawn out (meaning that performing the ritual will also involve holding off the prince!). Soft yellow lighting streams in from the skylights, and there's a stillness in this room that goes even beyond the rest of the castle. The ground in front of the throne dais is littered with the corpses of a dozen adventurers, although something in the magic in this room is stopping them from decaying.

When not active, the prince sits on his throne, two-handed sword in hand. When any living creatures enter the throne room, the prince will animate and begin to attack, swinging his two-handed sword in powerful, well-trained strokes while trying to say "I'm sorry!" through his mummified mouth.

The floor in the center of the room is heavily burnt, along with any chairs near or on the burn mark.

Exits

West to the dining hall

East to the temple (barricaded)

South to the foyer

Second floor

Stairs down

Everyone still knows what stairs are.

Exits

South to the upper hallway

Upper hallway

The upper counterpart to the back hallway. Unlike the back hallway, this one is much better lit, with windows on the west end, east end, and much of the southern end where the rooftop garden is. An absolutely nasty smell comes from the dovecot.

Exits

North (central) to the king and queen's room

North (eastern) to stairs down

South (eastern) to dovecot

South (central) to rooftop garden

South (western) to the prince's room

King and queen's room

The king and queen's room, with their mummified corpses still sitting in their chairs! Their mummies aren't animate, but their souls are in this room, and can be spoken to using water from the spring of souls. The room is fancy, although everything of value has been taken from it.

Exits

South to the upper hallway

Prince's room

This is the prince's room! His desk has a note on it with "My heart, my love, I cannot wait until we are married. Yours, J." written on it in a thin, looping, spidery hand. Below that is written "I'm so, so sorry. I wish this could have gone differently" in a neat, confident hand (Jenevell's handwriting). Below that is written "GET A ROOM YOU FUCKING LOSERS" in a rough hand (random dead adventurer's handwriting).

A TN 12 Noticing check will reveal the prince's diary, with entries talking about his betrothal to the Princess Jenevelle, his love for Athyed, and how he would be writing Princess Jenevelle to float breaking off their marriage to free him up to marry Athyed instead. The twelve days of entries after the one talking about the letter to Princess Jenevelle are just talking about normal day-to-day activities and how nervous he is about how the princess will take it.

Exits

North to the upper hallway.

Dovecot

This dovecot is where the messenger pigeons the castle bred were kept. The smell in here is atrocious, with a 50% mix of bird shit and 50% rotting flesh. This room has pretty bad vibes, and anyone attempting to search it will be attacked by a flock of zombie pigeons.

Rough.

Exits

North to upper hallway

West to rooftop garden

Rooftop garden

This formerly gorgeous rooftop garden was the jewel of the castle, visible from the entire grounds. Between the curse and the lack of irrigation (and the kingdom only making it to the real world one day a year, and in the middle of dry season too!), all of the plants here, including the cacti, are dead. The air is dry enough that they aren't rotting too much, but it definitely smells pretty ripe up here when the wind dies down.

The center of the rooftop garden is an A-frame glass skylight, which looks directly down onto the throne room. All of the glass panels are fixed in place, but several of them have been broken by prior adventuring groups that wanted to try dropping fire on the prince (it didn't work).

Exits

North to upper hallway

East to dovecot

Lower floor

Stairs up

Guess what. Everyone still knows what stairs are. There's a secret door in here behind some movable stones that goes to the spring of souls. TN 13 to find the door (and it'll be pretty obvious there is one, since there'd be no reason to have the stairs otherwise!).

Spring of souls

Sitting under the castle, the spring of souls bubbles up all of the soul energy that seeps into the ground for miles around. The water here gently glows with its own light, and possesses magic properties that provide healing while taking memories.

Drinking from the waters counts as an immediate major rest (including food), but the every drink from the water results in the permanent loss of one memory.

Ending the game

When the curse is lifted, the entire castle shakes and an impossibly loud thunderclap sounds from the throne room. The curse demon will appear, freeing the prince and jester's memories. If the players are there when the curse demon appears, then they can team up with the prince and fight it. If the players aren't there (for example, if they got the parents' blessing or took the jester to the spring), the curse demon will defeat the prince in their absence, taking some damage in the process.

Defeating the curse demon in physical combat will end the curse.

Stats

Zombie adventurer

As skeleton.

Animated armor

As gargoyle.

The jester

Major NPC

Trait: mummified jester forced to kill. Skills: Fighting +3, Athletics +2, Might +2 Talents: Combat Momentum, NPC Talent: Tough Exterior (x2), NPC Talent: Monstrous Resilience Resilience: 20 Armor: 4 (mummified body) Weapons: jinglebell staff (1d3+1 / 2d3+1)

The prince

Major NPC

Trait: mummified prince forced to kill. Skills: Fighting +3, Athletics +2, Might +2 Talents: Mighty Blow, NPC Talent: Tough Exterior (x2), NPC Talent: Monstrous Resilience Resilience: 20 Armor: 4 (mummified body) Weapons: greatsword (1d3+2 / 2d3+3, AR 1)

Jenevelle

Major NPC

Trait: amnesiac cursebreaker living with a demon wound for the last year. Skills: Lore +3, Stealth +2, Noticing +1 Talents: Helping Hands Resilience: 12 Armor: 2 Weapons: throwing axe (1d2 / 1d3+1)

Curse demon

Monster

Trait: Demonic manifestation of a curse. Skills: Willpower +5, Might +4, Fighting or Shooting +4, Lore +3, Sorcery +3, Shooting or Fighting +3, Athletics +2, Noticing +2, Stealth +2 Talents: NPC Talent: Tough Exterior (x2), Flurry Resilience: 31 Armor: 4 (divine aura) Weapons: claws (1d3+2 / 2d3+2), flame breath (1d3+1 / 2d3+1, attacks using sorcery, hits all targets in room, recharges on 6, deals 1 damage on miss)

Zombie pigeon swarm

Whole swarm acts as a pair of funeral bats.