Update on A Magical Society Guide to Place Names

Two weeks ago I hit 200 entries for the Magical Society Guide to Place Names and I just penned the 300th. Progress is coming along nicely and I'm starting to get the itch to get on with the synthesis/writing part of the work and out of the data collection part. However, that'll have to wait as I'm only a little more than half done with all of the various place names in the scope of the work. Adding new words has slowed down some, so I'd be surprised if I hit 600 entries. 500 entries will probably be where I end up and that should be plenty to make a nice useful list for a GM's campaign world.

...and now I'm thinking perhaps A Magical Medieval Society: Guide to Place Names should be the published title. I am only focusing on a relatively short time period and location, after all. I'll have to think about it.

...and now I'm thinking that I could turn this into a new chapter for a 3rd Edition of Western Europe like I did with the warfare chapter for the 2nd edition. It's been 7 or 8 years since the 2nd edition, so that may not be a bad idea either.

...and now you're thinking that I don't know what I'm going to really do with this and you'd be right. :-)

New 1e Spell: Dameon's Shadow Spellbook

Dameon’s Shadow Spellbook

Illusion/Phantasm

Level: Illusionist 3

Range: Touch

Duration: 6 turns/level

Area of Effect: Special

Components: V, S

Casting Time: 1 turn

Saving Throw: None

This spell creates a semi-real phantasm of any of the caster’s spellbooks. The phastasm glows with a soft light (equal to three candles) and allows the caster to memorize any spells contained within the real book. The shadow spellbook has 1 hp. The illusionist Dameon created this spell after yet another imprisonment

The Magic Hoard: Ring of Long Eyes

Ring of Long Eyes: If worn continuously for more than a week, this ring triples the wearer’s normal sight. Once acclimatized, the wearer suffers dizziness and nausea for 6 hours after removing the ring. Experience Point Value: 1,000 G.P. Value: 5,000

The Magic Hoard: Ring of Ringmastery

Ring of Ringmastery: This ring informs the wielder of any magic rings within 100 ft. The wielder can tap into the power of rings in that area, gaining their ability for his own. Additionally, the wielder can try paralyze (2-5 rounds) the bearer of any magical ring within 100 ft. if the target fails a save. The ring can only paralyze once per day per magic ring. Experience Point Value: 1,000 G.P. Value: 5,000

A Magical Society Guide to Place Names update

Work continues apace on the upcoming Magical Society guide to naming places. I'm up to 200 entries on the root table, and am guessing that I'm about 1/3 done for the list. Once I've created the list, I can then dive into construction notes, how a campaign history should influence place names, and other various and sundry issues surrounding the naming of places.

I'm totally up in the air about how many pages the final work will have. Right now it's what I call a bikini work - a work that's going to be only as big as it needs to be to cover the subject.

Sunday Un-Seriousness

Note to Self: Print Promotional Products during Black Friday sales

As a heads-up to the creative folks who follow/read what I babble about, I need to remember next year to prepare some promotional products (bookmarks, postcards, maybe even a calendar or poster, and some more business cards as it appears I've run out) and have them ready to print during the Black Friday sales season. I've seen quick-print rates drop 75%.

Note to Self - be ready next year. If you've printing needs as well, you might want to be ready too.

So I apparantly co-wrote an inpirational book...

Finally got my 5th Edition set (I waited to get all of the books at once) and it turns out that A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe is listed in Appendix D of the Dungeon Master's Guide as inspirational reading.

It's not much, but it brightened my day, and that's always worth something.

The Magic Hoard: Staff Sphere

This is my first additive magic item - a term I'm using to describe a magic item that you add to another magic item for new/more power.

Staff Sphere: This small crystal sphere magically attaches or detaches from any magical staff at will. The bearer can cause the sphere to glow like a torch whenever desired and the glow takes a bluish tinge when facing north. Additionally, the bearer can use the staff sphere’s charges to charge the staff. When found a staff sphere has 2d6+2 charges. If emptied of all charges, the sphere cracks, falls to the ground, and shatters. Experience Point Value: 600 G. P. Value: 5,000

Annoucing A Magical Society Guide to Place Names

Just finished the 100th entry in the forthcoming A Magical Society Guide to Place Names! This PDF-only work (probably) will explore the history of place naming in the UK. It will have a massive list of origins (such as how "pool" turns up in place names as Pul-, -mere, -more, -pool, or -pol), a random generation system, and some words on how a GM can turn the list into a guide on any of his campaign languages, providing a solid and consistent method of place naming.

I don't know when I'll be done (I'm slowly knocking it out, and it should be in mid 2015), but I think it's going to be tremendously useful for a world-building GM, or writers of fantasy novels.