5 minute creative challenge

I thought this would be a fun practice to help me get back into the creative swing, and I would be interested to see what others do with this. The 5 minute creative challenge is to come up with as many spontaneous ideas as you can in just 5 minutes. Try not to jot down ideas you've already been thinking about. Allow spontaneity. I think you could do some more focused versions like 5 minute bestiary, 5 minute worldbuilding, etc., but for this first go I'm going to keep it general. Ok... go!

Grim version of the one eyed one horned flying purple people eater

A dog made of rainwater

Pineapple people

intelligent mustache fungus

Mongolian equivalent of ninja turtles

the last human in the future of the x-men

a brain folded in on itself like an ouroborus

a magic wand dildo

squirrel elves

bathing in shooting stars

a flat painting projected three-dimensionally

a species that look like caricature paintings

cat species that stand on their forepaws and have a second mouth where their butts would be, like a cat-gug

crawling skin bag


I had a lot of fun with that first one, even though I feel like 6 months ago I would have been able to do so much better, but anyway I decided to keep this train going. Here's 5 minutes of worldbuilding as well. Ok... go!

Space cowboys herding shooting stars

Poppy planet

LA roads spacetime distortion as being pulled into a black hole like Super Mario Rainbow Road

A world of living prepared foods as the reincarnations of their unprocessed selves

magic space colony


Oof, that one was a lot harder. Those aren't very good :(. Ok last one, 5 minute bestiary challenge, then I think I need to start getting on with my day. Ok... go!

Humanoid species that think in pure jazz

Green fur monkey with spider eyes, rat tail, elephant tusks

Cyborg space whale with the face of a star-nosed mole covered in blue flame

A planet-sized rat king

A double helix dragon

A lobster-like creature wrapped around the spine of a wolf-like creature bound by a cordyceps-like fungus

A humanoid species with a human-like exoskeleton


Hm... I was starting to get into a groove, but it took a while. I think I need more practice, but this has been a fun exercise.

Half-formed ideas from the onenote

Still figuring out the best way to be creatively active and also live my new life. I have a lot of ideas building up, but am definitely out of practice and don't have the time to flesh them all out. I want to do some more appreciation posts, keep building up some prose for Aquarian Dawn, eventually come back to World of Wonders, I've had some more thoughts for Second Exodus, and also more tables. For now, here are some half-formed ideas I'm sitting on.


Undead dreams


A "monk/psionic"-like class based on principles of massage therapy, reiki, and reflexology.


Ceramic-tech (toiletpunk?)
Microbiome / pathogenic / pheremonal communication network
Internet sewer / plumbing network


Cajun Mardi Gras mask tengu


Something with hell ants / vampire ants


Niobids as a fantasy species


German Drak fey-dragon (type of kobold?)


Crustaceans are arthropods but so different looking compared to other arthropods. What about other kinds of animals as arthropods (e.g.arthropod birds, horses, dogs)

"spider-monkey". Spider excretes a fluid that breaks down aether metal, which they weave into armor which allows them to grow much larger and still carry themselves and jump and climb. Eventually evolve into a monkey-like niche


Other elements of salamanders


Tarantula tarantism


Melting moon


Tree of life as Platonic, fractal dimensional representation of the universe; fractal geometry more common in nature than Euclidean.


Siren/mermaid is 100% fish, it's human-like appearance is just to lure humans


Copper-preserved mummies


Play on kubire-oni (hanging suicide oni)


Destrehan (near New Orleans) unsuccessful slave revolt. Slaves heads were put on pikes. Dracula analog with social commentary?


Norcini wandering mystic butchers. Sing in verse to cover the sounds of snapping bones. Combine dambe (Hausa butchers, Nigerian boxing)?


OSR class The Pervert. Deals in sexuality, sexual taboo, sexual imagery. Scarlet letter. Flamboyancy. Bondage gimp. Society begrudgingly tolerates them as a way of defining their social mores by being the exceptions.


Holy War Droid: A droid powered by the blood of soul-bearing life forms or celestial creatures.


A species that exists in the upper atmosphere or in space orbiting the planet that drop to the planet to feed and mate


Awkward/cringe as social horror. Folk monster out of that?


Whale wave-mancers


Black desert
actually singing dunes
sand moving at fast-speed like the sea
silver ants evolve to fill various ecological niches


The demon who doesn't think it's a demon


Magic "fishing" rod to fish out magical items, magical beings, demons, etc.


Dogu "Second City". Believed to be the original heart of the dogu kingdom, back when the positronic city was inhabited by its creators (or some other people).


Broken Node in the meridian system.


Culture which draws misplaced or misshapen facial features on themselves.


Scarring / mutilation as ritualistic worship


Rapa nui Easter island


Tenrec weird vibrating back quills


Taste/flavor-based creatures or species subtypes


Play on radiated tortoise, either “irradiated”, or something fractal or in some other way geometric or extra-dimensional.


Sea Sapphire-based creature. Glows, semi-translucent, can make itself ultraviolet (and effectively invisible).


Click beetle, railroad worm, and bioluminescent fungi.


An actual rain-forest


Barnacle goose myth / bird metamorphosis


SatPunk: An alternate universe where the internet was never invented and satellite TV technology advances accordingly, a la steampunk
CRTPunk?

Aquarian Dawn: Death Metal Crow

When she comes, first you hear a deep and rhythmic rumbling of thunder. Then, you hear a tinny wail that sends a tingle down your spine. A little closer and you see flashes of light glinting off black metal through a foggy film of crackling ozone and noxious fumes. Closer still, and you see a goblin channeling lightning from a magic rod. The current transmits directly into the impossibly loud metal instrument of the Death Metal Bard, strumming away furiously. The so called music is frightening in the basest sense, as much arousing as disturbing. Accompanying this show, you see a small army of goblins and hobs on black horses in black and crimson leather and spiky metal armor carrying clubs and swords and spears.

Then, she races ahead, the Death Metal Crow. The largest hob you've ever seen, covered from head to toe in black metal armor; a long, crimson, beak-like visor obscuring her face. She rides a beast thrice the size of a horse, with a scaly gray hide like a metal lizard covered in jewels, and a girthy horn longer than any man. She carries a metal compound bow as long as she is tall, and the metal string screeches and rends on each draw. Her metal bolts pierce the air, shrieking in absolute dissonance with the pounding music. Two massive blades protrude from both sides of her beast, the metal stained crimson from the fields of meat and blood left in their wake. It is said that at the end of battle, she draws these blades and effortlessly eviscerates every bit of dead meat into a single lump of pinkish pudding.

When total annihilation is not her aim, instead she sends her elites, the Crows. They are goblins and hobs, the most highly trained redcaps, greencaps, and blackcaps. They wear black leather outfits and spiked bracelets and plague masks, and wield metal claws on their hands and feet. They silently leap along trees and rooftops and glide from kites. Some have had their bones hollowed and granted true flight from gryphon wings grafted to their backs. Quietly and efficiently, they eliminate or remove anyone not on the guest list. When all is in place, the remainder of her elites, the Mosh, crash down from the sky, launched from blackcap rockets strapped to their backs. Heavy metal wings serve to adjust an unstable trajectory, shield from explosive detritus, and buffer their landing. They toss glass bottles of explosive and noxious black liquids, of gold-colored dust producing blinding flashes of rainbow or white light, and pulsing black boxes filled with metal discs encoded with the music of the Death Metal Bard. In this violent pit of sounds and sights, and smells and tastes, they slam and slash and shoot until no foe is left standing. With the remaining witnesses, those not on the guest list, stunned or otherwise overloaded and deprived of their senses, the Crows methodically and with extraordinary speed gather their belongings, cleanse all evidence, and exit stage left. If you were fortunate enough to be left off the guest list, you will come to with ringing ears, a pounding headache, a few bruises, and scattered memories.

Weird & Wonderful Blasted Lands: Tarsos Theorem Appreciation

I still don't have as much time or energy as I would like for tabletop or blogging right now, but one thing I've wanted to do is a series of posts where I take some of the generators and other tools that my friends have made, and do 'something' with them. In some cases it may be building worlds or monsters from their tables, or adding entries to their tables, or making scenarios. I'm leaving it loosely defined. Likewise, I'm not making a finite list of who I'll cover or when. I want to show appreciation for the awesome people out there, but I don't want people to think if I don't get to them right away that it means I don't appreciate them! I'm just doing these when I can, how I can, for whoever I can, as they pop into my head randomly.

I'm going to start this series with Tarsos Theorem. Saker Tarsos was one of the first friends I made in the blogosphere community, and currently he's working on some really impressive stuff, so it seemed like a good time to do this already.

So with that:

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There is a planet, a gas giant with beautiful rings which contain many broken ships, slowly hurtling towards the sun.

Within this ecosystem of refugee ships, there is one ship of particular interest to the treasure hunters of the stars, the Oberon Mariner Tango. It is rumored that within the ship are mineral resources, priceless ceramic artifacts, and databases of ancient cryptocurrencies. It is known that civilization on the ship all but collapsed nearly a century ago, after a disastrous collision with another ship containing rare and dangerous lifeforms from throughout the galaxy. Few historical records remain, and they come from dubious sources at best. Even so, they provide a rough account of events preceding The Impact:

Three hundred years ago Grodlise, the High Priest of the Unsteady Haven, forsook all the taboos of their fellow Refugees, learning the Uplifting arts of Savagery, in order to prepare for dark days ahead. It is believed that Grodlise traded an arm and a leg to Limb Dogs in exchange for the silicon eye of a long-dead god. The eye gave them the power to summon creatures and extract life essence. Through hideous experimentation, they combined bits and pieces of summoned creatures and siphoned the life essence of a most cherished, deceased friend. They did not know that the silicon eye was madness-inducing. They believed they revived their friend. It was their revived friend who taught them the uplifting arts of savagery. It is ironic that the fall of Oberon Mariner Tango's greatest civilization would occur as a result of the actions of the once great High Priest Grodlise.

Two hundred years ago Sirilise, Slaver of the Reassuring Caravaneers, led the reconstruction of the Haven of Salvage, in order to fill starving bellies. Sirilise was known for his deadly marskmanship, and his Gabor wave-rifle. An amateur programmer, he used his wave-rifle to program the AI of a dangerous android, accidentally triggering a Schrodinger reaction. Thus, the enslaved Reassuring Caravaneers became unwitting quantum waveform undead outlaws, said to swagger across the circuits of the Oberon Mariner Tango to this day. It is ironic that the revival that was to come, could only have occurred as a result of the actions of a slaver.

One hundred years ago Korliseing, the Gang Leader of the Unsteady Temple, forsook all the taboos of their fellow Prospectors, learning the Uplifting arts of Rediscovery, bringing hope to the downtrodden. Korliseing was opposed by the natural predator of all progress, the Spirit of Degeneracy. It is said to appear as an alert, droning old man with tiny, constantly fidgeting hands. In its presence, one will experience a sense of deja vu, yet to speak in the past tense will dissolve any sense of motivation. Some believe that the Spirit is some manifestation of Grodlise or their friend, or perhaps one of the undead waveforms of the Reassuring Caravaneers. It is ironic that just as civilization on Oberon Mariner Tango was about to reach its second apex, The Impact occurred.

All that is known about the impact is that the captain of the invading ship was Xixaka, a wriggling mantis monk who could command androids, had a penchant for mutilating dead bodies, and was adventuring for sweet, sweet vengeance. Of all the monsters he brought with him in The Impact, one is feared most. It is believed to be a giant maw on comically small legs, with a roar that triggers specific panic responses in sentient beings' brains. As a survival mechanism, it can spit forth a tiny clone of itself upon death. It is believed to be a creature from another dimension. Its guts are interdimensional worms that can be harvested as a means of faster-than-light wormhole travel. Some say it was metaphysically drawn to Oberon Mariner Tango by Grodlise.

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And here are the tools and generator results that went into this creation

Disreputable Wizard
You find this individual trying to bring their most cherished friend back to life through hideous experimentation. They are feeling contemptuous. They have the power to Summon creatures from other worlds. Once, long ago, they lost an arm and a leg to a pack of Limb Dogs. They currently have the madness-inducing silicon eye on a long-dead god.

Rambunctious Apocalyptic Outlaws

• You find these rapscallions ineptly programming the AI of a dangerous android.
• They are swaggering.
• They are bizarre in that they exist as a waveform of probably outlaws yet to be collapsed into a concrete reality.
• Recently, they were caught in the blast of a Schrodinger-Bomb and now are simultaneously alive and dead.
• They are led by a deadly marksman with a high quality sniper rifle.

d36 Automated Encounter Complications

Wandering monster appears: The enemies' natural predator.

Multifarious Mutated Monstrosities

• You find this creature starving and searching for its next meal.
• It is feeling suspicious.
• It is a giant maw on comically small legs
• With a roar that triggers specific panic responses in sentient beings’ brains
• That can spit forth a tiny clone of itself upon death that tries to escape.
• Long ago, this creature was exiled from its own dimension.
• Guts that writhe like snakes can be carved from its corpse. 

Spirits of the Blasted Lands

This spirit appears as a droning old man with tiny, constantly fidgeting hands. It is feeling alert. It was once tasked with opposing all change. You will know when it is near when you experience deja vu. In its presence, you must never speak in the past tense or else you will lose all motivation for your current goal.

Derelict Ship Generator

This ship is called the Oberon Mariner Tango. It is a uninhabitable Mining Frigate with no survivors. The engine, thrusters, and jump drive are non-functioning. It contains 146 scrap, 22 ore, and a cargo of ceramics. The ship was ruined due to crashing into another ship and the crew were pet hoarders.

Sci-Fi Adventure Location Generator

You find this blockade runner concealed within the beautiful rings of a gas giant. It seems ruined. It is on a trajectory hurtling into the sun. It contains data banks storing massive amounts of cryptocurrency, and a gang of infamous space pirates have made it their lair.

Hirelings of the Blasted Lands (with Various Names Generator)

Mantis Name: Xixaka

This is a wriggling mantis monk who can command androids, has a penchant for mutilating dead bodies, and is adventuring for sweet, sweet vengeance.

Histories of the Blasted Lands

1. Korliseing, the Gang Leader of the Unsteady Temple forsook all the taboos of their fellow Prospectors, learning the Uplifting arts of Rediscovery, bringing hope to the downtrodden.

2. Sirilise, Slaver of the Reassuring Caravaneers, led the reconstruction of the Haven of Salvage, in order to fill starving bellies.

3. Grodlise, the High Priest of the Unsteady Haven forsook all the taboos of their fellow Refugees, learning the Uplifting arts of Savagery, in order to prepare for dark days ahead.

I Believe Mandy Morbid / Zak Sabbath is an abusive piece of shit

I debated whether to post about the Zak Sabbath is an abusive piece of shit situation for several reasons.

• Others have written about it much more elegantly. 
• Others have dealt more closely with him and in my opinion are more qualified to discuss the matter. 
• I've intentionally disengaged from the OSR community (in no small part because of him, incidentally, but I won't entirely blame him for some of the things that I regret about how I've engaged with the community). 
• I was not quiet about the fact that I grew to hate his guts and don't think I can talk about this in a reasonable and mature way that doesn't make me look like an asshole. 
• Posting this is, in at least a small way, an acknowledgement of his significance, and I don't even want to give him that.

I'm posting this only for two reasons:

1. To contribute to the "Zak Sabbath is an abusive piece of shit" signal on the internet so that hopefully nobody else gets abused by him or inadvertently supports him.
2. As a Jewish heterosexual cis-gender male involved in kink and BDSM as a dominant, a set of qualities I share with Zak, I think it's important that I say that I believe Mandy Morbid. I don't mean to be a white knight or anything, but I do feel that as someone with many privileges, I should publicly declare my support.

That is all. Let's take out the trash and move forward.

Aquarian Dawn: Intro / Prose

So I'd be lying if I said I'm not extremely stressed out right now with my data engineering fellowship. After the first couple weeks in New York I basically stopped going to the gym, I haven't cooked or baked in forever, and I haven't done anything creative. The majority of what I've posted since January was stuff I pre-drafted or really old stuff I salvaged. I'd like to get back to World of Wonders, but that post was mostly a minor edit of a thing I wrote years ago and don't feel great about, and I don't want to post the rest of it just to say I did it, I want to make sure it's actually good.

I've been thinking about my micro-setting Aquarian Dawn, which I'd like to run for some of my local friends here in New York when I actually have a moment. I've got a whole bunch of ideas I haven't had the chance to properly write up yet, this barely scratches the surface, but I thought this bit of prose might be a decent intro to the setting. I've worried basically since the start of this blog that my setting writeups are too stiff, so maybe this more organic approach will do it some good, even if I feel it's leaving out a lot of worldbuilding.

I'd say the setting has a bit of The Witcher, Vampire Hunter D, X-Men, gritty street-level superhero comics, and Game of Thrones. It's relatively low fantasy and intended to be a bit more reigned in than my usual stuff (we'll see how true to that it ultimately ends up being), and more pre-apocalyptic than post-apocalyptic. I guess it's a bit political too.

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The archmages, the few of them left, say the magical things are coming back. That the roads are gonna get dangerous. That the crops'll get ruined. That we don't have the infrastructure for it when it happens, and that a lot of people are gonna die and maybe it'll be the end of us. Nobody's listening. Nobody wants to. That's why there aren't so many archmages anymore.

We killed all the pretty magical things a long time ago, or anyway we left them for dead, when we built the roads. We killed the ugly ones too, mostly. But not all of them. The archmages say when we killed the magical things, to build our roads, that we set off a cascade of sorts, and that's why the elves left the world or ran into the forests, and the dwarves went far above or far below and got all weird. The halflings were another matter. There's no mystery to what happened to them. Just some good old fashioned greed and bigotry and casual genocide. Remember that the next time you read about one of them stabbing folk for their jacket and leaving them to freeze, on the side of the road.

So here we are, living in our comfortable homes, riding along our convenient roads, with more food than we know what to do with. But the food's been enchanted with the gods know what and there's no nutrition in any of it. And there are fewer and fewer mouths to feed anyway because only a fool would have a child in this day and age, and that's why we have so many fools. And every day one of our wonders of science and magic breaks down and there are fewer and fewer left able to fix them. We yearn for the days when we used to turn the dials and flip the switches, forgetting all the accidents and all the gross things the magic used to do to our bodies and minds. Instead we drown in drink and drug, or drown in dread, and I don't think anyone really understands why.

So instead, they blame it on the irrelevant elves and dwarves, or the poor halflings, or the savvy fey-folk. Or the aquarians. The nobles like to talk about them like they're an invading horde, like the monsters of yore. Creatures with no individual will, collectivist insects dredged from the eastern shore to see the end of our way of life. The aquarians don't give a fuck about us. And frankly, I think they might be the only ones left who aren't monsters.

World of Wonders Pt. 1: Primer

This is the first post about my World of Wonders campaign setting. It's a speculative fiction setting with superheroes, a significantly alternate history, and science fiction elements. I conceived this setting well before East of West was a thing, but that's the closest parallel I can think of off-hand, so if it helps, think East of West but more superheroic. Grant Morrison's 18 Days could also be a good reference point for this setting.

I originally wrote this "primer" many years ago as a single document, but for the purpose of the blog I'm going to break it into parts. Admittedly I think this section alone is a little abstract, but hopefully once I post pt. 2 it will be more clear what this world is about.

Sadly this setting has been neglected in recent years, but at one point I considered this my "main" setting, long pre-dating Phantasmos. It's been several years since I've run this setting, and I imagine it could use some tuning up, maybe integrating my 100 Weird & Wonderful Superpowers.

Anyway, I'm sitting on two ideas for short campaigns in this setting, one a Watchmen-esque followup to my first campaign, the other more of a Teen Titans / X-Men style teen game. The original campaign was run in Mutants & Masterminds 3e, which is a system that I appreciate for what it is but don't have too much interest playing again. Instead, I'd be really interested in trying the Valiant Universe RPG (Cue System), Masks (PbtA), or maybe giving FASERIP another go. If this setting seems interesting and you'd like to try it out, let me know.

Also, I should say that I tried to write the primer in a sort of tongue-in-cheek style that sort of riffs on both Silver Age comics and some of the cliches of tabletop RPG books. Please let me know what you think of that stylistic choice as well. In retrospect I think it's still a little dry and I probably needed to lean into the stylistic writing much more heavily, but I've also been told in the past that when I do stylistic I go too far with it, so I'm never sure.

In addition to my list of superpowers linked above, if you'd like to read more about my take on superheroes, check out my FASERIP Superhero Crossover One-Shot, basically a What If? My Hero Academia was the near-future of a Marvel/DC crossover (with a few other settings tossed in for good measure).

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The World of Wonders Campaign Setting

Welcome to The World of Wonders! This exciting campaign setting explores a world where superheroics and magical alchemy is as commonplace as technology. Despite the myriad and complex differences in terms of historical events, cultural and religious representations, and even science, this world maintains a certain degree of parity with our own world. For instance, the impact of magic on society and its rate of development is not fundamentally different from that of technology on our own world, and many historical events still happen and historical persons still exist, albeit in some cases under very different circumstances. You are encouraged to look through the documentation (or ask your GM, if they have done their homework) to learn more about the world, but if there is no specific reference (and your GM can’t think up an answer on the spot!), it is best to assume that the event or person did occur in this world, under whatever circumstances would be necessary for the event to make sense. Much like our own world, The World of Wonders is as deep as you want to make it; you don't need to have a Ph.D in history, theology, or the sciences to fully appreciate the world, but the more you know, the more you can do. Knowledge is power, indeed!

Religion and Culture

In part due to the existence of alchemy, and in part as a result of the alternate history of The World of Wonders, certain aspects of religion and culture differ from the real world. For instance, in a world where alchemy, mysticism, and magic are empirically validated, there is less of a dichotomy between religion and science. Most people accept the existence of gods in some capacity, and furthermore there is little argument over whose gods are the “true gods”. Most people either believe all of the gods are real, or are all representations of a single truth, with the greatness of a given pantheon being determined by the degree to which it proliferates. In other words, wars are not fought over religion, but the value of religion may still be intertwined with war.

Despite modern geopolitical and economic globalization, there has been less cultural homogenization than in our world. Instead of a handful of broadly-reaching empires at a given time, many smaller empires have occupied their territories for longer stretches of time. Within these empires, nations and cultures change, and occasionally throughout history these borders have fluctuated, but with only a few exceptions (particularly the 20^th century), the geopolitical landscape of The World of Wonders has remained relatively stable over the centuries as compared to our own. Because of this, ethnocentrism is tacitly acknowledged, however racism in the sense that we think of it in the modern world is uncommon, as there is little historical precedence for one society being substantially more powerful than any other for any significant stretch of time.

Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta's comic book series East of West, while grittier and apocalyptic, is a good point of reference for what I envisioned with the World of Wonders.

Wonders

            The World of Wonders campaign setting is named so for the titular Wonders. Wonders are the superheroes of this world, and are usually associated with a god or religious concept, although they do not have to be. While the most obvious wonders are those who are born with or spontaneously gain powers, many wonders do not have powers in the traditional sense; they are either extremely talented in a particular way (martial arts, technology, alchemy, etc.), or they acquire a magical or advanced technological artifact. For this reason, it can be sometimes difficult to determine whether someone is a Wonder or not, or for that matter what a Wonder actually is. The study of Wonders is generally considered a field of alchemy.

Pt. 2 (in hopefully ~2 weeks) will include a list of the major world powers and a brief account of the history of the world.