In my head rent-free

the


            
                            March 8, 2024
                        
                
                In my head rent-free
                

                        Hello Friends,
I started a session of Overlight with some friends this past week. We're running pregen characters just so we can get a feel for the system. What we know so far is that the planet got split into a series of vaguely continent-sized floating islands of land suspended in a void. Beneath all the islands is an interminable sea. Above the islands is the Overlight, a perpetual radiance that shines down from above. Lower islands receive less light than higher islands, and all the islands can move about a bit. Like Magic: the Gathering or Invisible Sun, all players are a special kind of person in this world that can wield magic in way that others can't. But instead of Planeswalker or Vislae, players are Skyborn.
Initial reaction: boy howdy does it need a lot of dice. More thoughts to come. 
The Brain Box
~ divers inputs for creative outputs ~
📜 PCs are not NPCs - ". . . giving NPCs full PC stats implies—incorrectly—that NPC stats and PC stats serve the same purpose in the game." Monte Cook makes a case for treating NPCs as design tools for the purpose of crafting good gameplay as opposed to fully-realizing them mechanically in the pursuit of unhelpful verisimilitude.
📖 Some wikipedia tidbits this week:
Capriccio - A type of painting that depicts fantastical, elaborate architecture.
Orcus - A real world deity likely from Etruscan mythology. Possibly the origin of the word ogre?


Ten Landlords
~ ripe for guiltless dupery ~
Why would your players interact with a landlord except to remove them as an obstacle or take advantage of them? So, these landlords all come with a property that can be used for a scene and a weakness to exploit.
d10 Notable Features They own: Their weakness:
1 Thinned with age, leathery skin stretched over brittle bones. Has a habit of wearing too many rings. A multi-story building of rundown flats. A fondness for cherry cordial.
2 Covers their bald head with a tacky wig they haven’t maintained. Thin-lipped, and a small paunch makes their clothes ill-fitting. A two-story downtown building. The first floor has small shops (bakery, leather worker, consignment), with living spaces on the second floor. Easily charmed by something young and pretty.
3 The wave of perfume drenches you before you can see them. Likes to show off the belts they’ve collected from their various travels. A historic open market. Merchants have to lease space. Their pet bat that they lavish with gifts.
4 Their hair is slicked back and a cheap, faux-gold circlet keeps sliding down their forehead because it’s too big. They’re young enough you think their family must have given them the property. A three-story house they picked up cheaply when it was rundown and abandoned. Each floor has a modest apartment. They occupy the ground-level flat. Genuinely moved by the flimsiest sob stories.
5 Has a gnarly scar through their left eye they like to brag about. Wears lots of dark furs. A compound with three warehouses. Clients rent storage for short-term and long-term purposes. They are convinced one of the PCs has figured out why people occasionally vanish from their properties.
6 Never seen without their brocaded, velvet half-cape. Daubs the corners of their mouth with a kerchief when uncomfortable. Several houses that no one seems interested in purchasing or renting from them. So they lie fallow. A growing addiction to pain medication.
7 Every conversation magically comes back to that one trip they took to another country when they first became an adult. They own the stables and quarters used by stable employees. Their pretentiousness - they won’t admit they don’t know something.
8 Gruff and hairy, wears only sleeveless shirts. Grime, mud, and oil constantly stuck in the creases of their hands. The building a local charity group uses for operations. Any “exotic” trinkets that let them appear worldly.
9 Has a third eye on their throat that blinks uncontrollably when they’re excited. Loves to wear loose skirts in bright colors. The brand new theatre constructed downtown. An extreme allergy to silver.
10 They have a different, unnatural eye color and hair color every time you see them. They tend to emote with their eyebrows more than anything else. A rundown manor property with overgrown, browned gardens. They swoon for talented singers.
---
Thanks
Have fun. Be weird.
-Strange Years
                    
                
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d10	Notable Features	They own:	Their weakness:
1	Thinned with age, leathery skin stretched over brittle bones. Has a habit of wearing too many rings.	A multi-story building of rundown flats.	A fondness for cherry cordial.
2	Covers their bald head with a tacky wig they haven’t maintained. Thin-lipped, and a small paunch makes their clothes ill-fitting.	A two-story downtown building. The first floor has small shops (bakery, leather worker, consignment), with living spaces on the second floor.	Easily charmed by something young and pretty.
3	The wave of perfume drenches you before you can see them. Likes to show off the belts they’ve collected from their various travels.	A historic open market. Merchants have to lease space.	Their pet bat that they lavish with gifts.
4	Their hair is slicked back and a cheap, faux-gold circlet keeps sliding down their forehead because it’s too big. They’re young enough you think their family must have given them the property.	A three-story house they picked up cheaply when it was rundown and abandoned. Each floor has a modest apartment. They occupy the ground-level flat.	Genuinely moved by the flimsiest sob stories.
5	Has a gnarly scar through their left eye they like to brag about. Wears lots of dark furs.	A compound with three warehouses. Clients rent storage for short-term and long-term purposes.	They are convinced one of the PCs has figured out why people occasionally vanish from their properties.
6	Never seen without their brocaded, velvet half-cape. Daubs the corners of their mouth with a kerchief when uncomfortable.	Several houses that no one seems interested in purchasing or renting from them. So they lie fallow.	A growing addiction to pain medication.
7	Every conversation magically comes back to that one trip they took to another country when they first became an adult.	They own the stables and quarters used by stable employees.	Their pretentiousness - they won’t admit they don’t know something.
8	Gruff and hairy, wears only sleeveless shirts. Grime, mud, and oil constantly stuck in the creases of their hands.	The building a local charity group uses for operations.	Any “exotic” trinkets that let them appear worldly.
9	Has a third eye on their throat that blinks uncontrollably when they’re excited. Loves to wear loose skirts in bright colors.	The brand new theatre constructed downtown.	An extreme allergy to silver.
10	They have a different, unnatural eye color and hair color every time you see them. They tend to emote with their eyebrows more than anything else.	A rundown manor property with overgrown, browned gardens.	They swoon for talented singers.