steeldragons
Steeliest of the dragons
In putting together my own campaign setting as a possible publishable setting and accompanying game system, I've had to go into some thought and detail about what classic magic items are available (at least at beginner levels) and giving them a bit of a homebrew twist and/or actual homebrewed items from the setting.
All entries have physical appearance descriptions and a few more rare things might have a bit of myth or legend surrounding them that things like arcana checks or diviners or bards could reveal.
Then there are a few that are really rare or limited items which are known to belong to certain individuals or have a known location. For example, I have a Staff of Illusion. I decided there are only 7 Staves of Illusion (1 for each rainbow color) in the whole of the known world...and most are known to be in the possession of the top Illusionist mages in the realms; the Sceptre of Beguiling is known to be the royal sceptre, in the hands of the ruling magess-queen, of a certain principality; etc...
I guess the question is/becomes, is this sort of fluff welcomed/helpful/fun and potential for plot hooks (as they are intended) or is it just something that is likely to be ignored/thrown out in lieu of using an item in some random treasure pile? Is the level of flavor worth the space needed to convey it? When is there "too much" fluff?
All entries have physical appearance descriptions and a few more rare things might have a bit of myth or legend surrounding them that things like arcana checks or diviners or bards could reveal.
Then there are a few that are really rare or limited items which are known to belong to certain individuals or have a known location. For example, I have a Staff of Illusion. I decided there are only 7 Staves of Illusion (1 for each rainbow color) in the whole of the known world...and most are known to be in the possession of the top Illusionist mages in the realms; the Sceptre of Beguiling is known to be the royal sceptre, in the hands of the ruling magess-queen, of a certain principality; etc...
I guess the question is/becomes, is this sort of fluff welcomed/helpful/fun and potential for plot hooks (as they are intended) or is it just something that is likely to be ignored/thrown out in lieu of using an item in some random treasure pile? Is the level of flavor worth the space needed to convey it? When is there "too much" fluff?
