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Cursed Item ideas - or Mining Various Sources for Ideas
I was looking up a show from a long while back that I recalled liking - I had forgotten the name but after some digging found out (and remembered) it was called Friday the 13th, The Series
So, the idea behind the show is summed up as follows from the prologue of the show...
“Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to sell cursed antiques. But he broke the pact, and it cost him his soul. Now, his niece Micki, and her cousin Ryan have inherited the store... and with it, the curse. Now they must get everything back and the real terror begins.”
I found a list of episode summary's - each show was about a particular item from the antique store and so, here were all these great ideas for various cursed items. Not all of them were that original, but some were and many spawned more ideas in my head - some related, some not - so anyway, I thought I would list some here for your mining pleasure but for a complete listing, head to the wiki entry here
Again, here are a few of the episode summary's...
...A scalpel rumored to have belonged to Jack the Ripper that can cure any disease, but only after it has been used to kill. Also, it can cut through metal with ease.
...A quill pen that kills people by simply writing about it. A persons real name must be written in order to kill them. If the intended victim uses another persons name, then the other person will die. Also, if the owner has their name written on the paper then they will die.
...An animated scarecrow that guarantees good crops after it kills three sacrificial victims. An image of the intended victim must be pinned to the scarecrow in order to seek them out.
...A patchwork quilt that allows the owner to kill others in their dreams.
...A foghorn that summons the spirit of a murderous pirate who grants gold coins in exchange for the lives of his betrayers’ descendants.
...A violin that allows its crippled owner perform if he kills a victim with a blade hidden in the bow. Its music can also be used to hypnotize its victims.
...A playhouse that grants two abused children a fantasy world, but they must lure other children into it as prisoners.
Anyway, those are just some of the listings there - some of these more easily than others could be ported into an adventure/hook of some kind, but all the listings there get my mind going with tons of ideas and I just thought I would share. I look at each one of these and can think of many different ways to change or modify them to come up with other ideas - things like these that really spur creativity into overdrive are the things I love coming across.
Thoughts?
Many of us mine all kinds of sources for ideas - what do you think about these? What sources do you tend to get inspiration/ideas from?
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Dark Water Campaign run in the Last Lands
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Man, I loved that show! And yes, I've used it as a premise for both traditional and modern fantasy campaigns- it works well.
Some of the ones in the show were inspired by real legends, like the scarecrow. Many cultures have stories of icons, constructs or avatars that promise prosperity and security in exchange for human sacrifices.
FWIW, I understand its now available on DVD.
My sources of inspiration? Anything and everything I experience- movies, books, songs, toys...recipes. Misheard conversations.
Yeah; Sci Fi recently ran a marathon, and all I could see was 80s 80s 80s all over it. BIG HAIR, the clothes, oh god.
The episode I saw was about a statue of an ugly cupid whose owner could woo any woman, but then he had to kill her.
On the topic of cursed items, the show Supernatural had an episode devoted to a cursed item. It was a lucky rabbit's foot that granted the holder untold luck (like, tripping over a bag of money good luck). However, it wasn't made to make good luck, but to kill; if you lose the rabbit's foot, then you get the biggest run of bad luck, and within a week you'll die by bad luck (think Final Destination/Rube Goldberg type bad luck).
And if you touched it, you were considered the owner.
Another dealt with a the wife of a preacher who had managed to trap a Grim Reaper. It was used to heal the sick by taking the illness from someone, and the Reaper would kill a target with that illness on the spot.
I personally would like some help coming up with a cursed item that my PCs could find in an ancient treasure vault. Something Primitive/Jungle themed (to fit in with the area). Something of the "Having it present or doing/using it brings you bad luck" type of evil, so they loot it and it brings bad mojo.
Or you could have a cursed prosthetic- glass eyes and hooks/hands are popular. Eyes usually see some kind of horrific scene, like the work of a serial killer who wore it before. Hooks & hands often force the wearer to attack persons they don't want to.
Another classic curse is the cursed gem, typically from an idol- you know, like the one from the 1Ed PHB or the 3.5Ed PHB2. The Hope Diamond was purportedly one such gem, and according to legend, each holder of the gem met an untimely end. Its not true, but it makes for a good story...one that got morphed into the history of JRRT's One Ring.
I personally would like some help coming up with a cursed item that my PCs could find in an ancient treasure vault. Something Primitive/Jungle themed (to fit in with the area). Something of the "Having it present or doing/using it brings you bad luck" type of evil, so they loot it and it brings bad mojo.
Interesting.
Ok, gonna just start typing here as I brainstorm...
So what does this make me think of... jungles, temples, stone work, vines, idols, figurines, snakes, reptiles, swamps, insects, pyramids, ziggurats, conquistadors, water-filled passageways, secret dungons passages, traps, spears, nets, mummy's, undead
So off the top of my head, some basic item possibilities...
...A Key (shaped like a snake?)
...Bone Jewelry (necklace perhaps?)
...A Spear (Common "Jungle" weapon, I don't know)
...A Golden/Jade/Ruby Idol (Beetle, Snake, etc)
Some more elaborate ideas...
...The foot (bones) of an ancient ruler, perhaps the first ruler of a temple/civ in the jungle who never set 'foot' outside of the temple (maybe carrying it out of the temple could trigger an event(s)). Why loot a foot? Perhaps it has elaborate carvings in the bones implying some sort of value.
...A Sacrificial Dagger/Knife/Sword (having been used in so many sacrifices a curse of some kind would definitely seem appropriate)
...An Ancient "Shaman's" Staff (bone staff perhaps with various ornaments on it)
...A Foghorn/Horn of some kind (see my OP, hehe) - maybe shaped like a coiled snake!
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I would have loved to add more but I pretty much fell asleep last night at the helm, haha. I'm up this morning and found this typed up but unfinished so as I head out the door, I'm posting it
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Dark Water Campaign run in the Last Lands
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