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brian 333
2014-10-04, 06:45 PM
The life of an adventurer is great: you get to see exotic locales, meet important people, and kill things and take their stuff. But it is also lacking in the comforts of home. Well, until the intrepid adventurer finds one of these useful items, that is!

Cohan's Convenient Cottage

What resembles a child's wooden block is painted to resemble a quaint cottage, complete with window-boxes and chimney. On what is apparently the floor-side of the block there is only one word, the command word which causes the block to expand into a 10'x10' cabin.

To activate the command word the block must be placed on the ground in a place clear of any obstructions. The ground must be reasonably flat and clear for at least 10 feet in all directions. (If the ground is sloped the block can be activated and the cottage will appear on pillars of the local rock, but no pillar can exceed three feet in height. The cottage is always level when erected and, if necessary, up to three steps similar to the pillars will lead up to the door.) Attempting to activate the block on any site not suited to support the cottage will result in the cottage not appearing. The cottage cannot be used to harm a creature by being activated over it, for example, and allowing it to fall on the creature, nor will it activate if a living thing is within its area obstructing its expansion. However, when properly activated, the block expands into a cottage with the cottage door oriented the same way the painted door on the block faced.

A simple door without a lock, but capable of being barred from within, opens onto a small single room with a small fireplace opposite the door and small shuttered and barred windows on either side. On one side of the door there is a comfortable cot and on the other a small table with two chairs sized for humans. The fireplace itself is rigged as a cooking hearth, with pot-hooks which can be swiveled over the fire and a small bread box, (oven,) built in. Pantry shelves beside the fireplace contain cooking utensils and a variety of herb jars and sauce pots, as well as space for the foods an adventurer wishes to store for ready use, and on the opposite side of the fireplace there is an armoire suitable for storing clothing and other personal goods.

The cabin cannot be restored to its block form while any living thing is inside it, (rather, anything larger than microbes.) When all occupants are out of the cottage, the command word said in reverse reduces the cottage back into a block, and everything alive, (again, excepting microbes,) is expelled. Lice, roaches, and other insects are ejected, but yeast, molds, and other cultures may remain within.

Items stored in the cottage's storage spaces remain in the cottage and can be retrieved when the cottage is used again, but they are not immune to aging. Bread may become stale and/or moldy, beer may go flat, and shiny silverware may tarnish if left untended. Furthermore, the items in the reduced cottage are actually thrust into the Astral Plane, and there is a 1% chance per use that a particular item has been noticed and taken by an Astral traveler.

The window boxes allow the owner to grow kitchen herbs or flowers as he desires, and the painting of the block will reflect what is growing in them. They will never produce any plant larger than a football, (soccer ball,) and cannot be used to grow magical plants of any kind, but parsley, rosemary, and other similar herbs can be kept to provide fresh spices, and decorative flowers can spruce up the cottage's appearance. Unlike the interior contents, what grows in the window boxes is dormant while reduced, and cannot be altered without expanding the cottage.

For combat purposes the cottage is to be treated as any ordinary peasant's cottage. If damaged it may be repaired by mending spell, but if the damage is so significant that it cannot be repaired it will not revert to its block form. If it is damaged via crushing, cutting, or burning while in its block form whatever contents it held are rendered permanently to the Astral plane and cannot be retrieved without a Wish or similarly powerful spell. In its block form it has the structural integrity of a child's toy block.


Gio Bayt alOmar, (Omar's Wonderful Tent)

The desert peoples of the many worlds have learned to bring their homes with them when they travel, but Omar, maker of fine hand-woven tents, has carried this art to new heights. These low, long tents appear to be brown or black waves on the dunes when seen from a distance, and from close up they are short, with the many peaks of the roof not much higher than a standing man.

However, once inside, the meaning of comfort becomes clear. Whether the space within the tent is larger than its exterior, or whether the person shrinks as he enters, the result is that when inside the ceiling of the tent is high above the occupants, and large open spaces are filled with wonders, each more incredible than the last. Throughout the tent the air is cool and breezy no matter the temperature outside, and the harsh glare of the desert sun becomes a shaded diffuse light, bright enough to see by without glare or heat.

Usually the first chamber of the tent has a pool or fountain in its center. The water is cool, clear, and refreshing. Typically there are ewers for drawing the water, as bathing in the well is considered barbaric and uncivilized. From there arched passages with gauzy screens lead to deeper chambers, some with sleeping mats, some arranged for groups to socialize on a variety of pillows, and some with tables laden with various foods. Throughout the tent's many halls thick carpets woven in complex abstract patterns cover the floor and lower walls, while thick open-weave walls reach to the ceiling.

When packed away for transport the tent weighs no more than 100 pounds. It is erected quickly by rolling it out and staking the various lines, and disassembled by removing the guy lines and rolling it up again. The tent can be erected on virtually any terrain, so long as ground stakes can be driven in and nothing especially large protrudes from its floor.

Depending upon the quality and size of the tent it can range from a bundle three feet wide and about a foot in diameter weighing about forty pounds to the largest at six feet in length and perhaps three feet in diameter when rolled up. When erected, the exterior dimensions of the smallest is about six feet by twelve feet reaching perhaps four feet in height, with the interior being sixty by one hundred twenty feet with a ceiling of no more than forty feet. The largest can rival mansions of the most decadent city dwellers, but mansions of stone cannot compare to the luxury of the Wonderful Tents of Omar.

Debihuman
2014-10-06, 10:38 AM
These are kinda cute but we already have similar items. See Daern's Instant Tent in the Magic Item Compendium or the Cloak of Shelter from Arms & Equipment Guide which turns into a 4-person tent. With Mage's Magnificent Mansion, you don't even need a magic item to create shelter. Your item should be able to be created using those as guidelines. The cost, however, should be commensurate with the amount of opulence you have.

In regard to the cabin: If you are growing plants in the window boxes can it still be shrunk? I'd say that living creatures are immediately expelled if the command word is spoken while they are in the cottage, just to make it easier so you don't have to find that one fly that flew in.

As to the tent: 100 pounds of tent to lug around does not make it convenient for most parties. It's a matter of encumbrance. Also, neither of these items should be able to be carried in a bag of holding

You should probably write these up as full magic items see here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm

Debby

brian 333
2014-10-06, 04:27 PM
My Apologies, Debi, but Cohan's Convenient Cottage predates my exposure to Leomund's Tiny Hut by at least a year, and Omar's Wonderful Tent came from my first desert campaign in 1982. (I had been in the Persian Gulf area before it became the Arabian Gulf, and was fascinated with nomadic desert tribesmen and their laws of hospitality.)

I posted them here because I am in the process of sorting through old boxes to discard what I will never use, and this process has been a trip through memory lane. Why, I recall when it took forever to make it to level 10, and you were a god among mortals at that level! Entire campaigns were fought without a single Raise Dead for the simple reason that nobody had achieved the ninth level in Cleric.

Back then magic items were unique, and a clever DM, (which I always considered myself,) would tailor the items he made available to the needs, and attitudes, of the players and their characters. Cohan's Convenient Cottage is one such item. The player of a character named Esmeralda, who constantly complained of having to sleep on the ground, found this cottage to be perfect for her character. It was not until I had discovered AD&D and Leomund's Tiny Chest that I added the rule about where things stored in the cottage went.

Omar's tents were a creation for an NPC, (Omar of the Burning Sands,) who was a traveling merchant in the inhospitable deserts where my characters were adventuring. After twice saving the party's life by his timely chance arrival he offered to sell them a tent he was having made for his daughter's wedding, and the legend of Omar the Tentmaker was born. Thereafter it was a rite of passage for characters in that campaign to seek out the legendary tentmaker. Of course, these tents are weighty compared to more modern equivalents, but back then I had no standard from which to judge, and instead based my guestimates on the amount of weight a string of pack-camels could carry.

I realize after reading your comments that looking at it from today's perspective it may seem a little commonplace, but back at the end of the '70's when D&D was brand new and there weren't that many accessories, we had to make it up as we went. At this end of it all, some forty years later, I'm glad to see the hobby is still viable, even if it has changed dramatically from a handful of kids sitting around the dining room table rolling dice and making up stories.

Debihuman
2014-10-07, 02:33 AM
My Apologies, Debi, but Cohan's Convenient Cottage predates my exposure to Leomund's Tiny Hut by at least a year, and Omar's Wonderful Tent came from my first desert campaign in 1982. (I had been in the Persian Gulf area before it became the Arabian Gulf, and was fascinated with nomadic desert tribesmen and their laws of hospitality.) No need to apologize. I started gaming with AD&D and back then there were far fewer resources. Nowadays, camping items that make camping easier are even frowned upon in the Superstar Contest run by Paizo because such things make adventuring "safe" and submitting such an item earns an automatic rejection.


I posted them here because I am in the process of sorting through old boxes to discard what I will never use, and this process has been a trip through memory lane. Why, I recall when it took forever to make it to level 10, and you were a god among mortals at that level! Entire campaigns were fought without a single Raise Dead for the simple reason that nobody had achieved the ninth level in Cleric.

THAT is so cool. I love hearing about old campaigns when level 10 was TOUGH to get to. Of course, that makes us sound terribly old (which I DENY and those are not gray hairs, they're blonde).


Back then magic items were unique, and a clever DM, (which I always considered myself,) would tailor the items he made available to the needs, and attitudes, of the players and their characters. Cohan's Convenient Cottage is one such item. The player of a character named Esmeralda, who constantly complained of having to sleep on the ground, found this cottage to be perfect for her character. It was not until I had discovered AD&D and Leomund's Tiny Chest that I added the rule about where things stored in the cottage went.

I love hearing how games and characters and their items evolve. Creating magic items is a lot more structured now in 3.x (and Pathfinder). I've taken to updating some older items that didn't make the transition. It's a lot more difficult than it looks to keep the design within the current rules.


Omar's tents were a creation for an NPC, (Omar of the Burning Sands,) who was a traveling merchant in the inhospitable deserts where my characters were adventuring. After twice saving the party's life by his timely chance arrival he offered to sell them a tent he was having made for his daughter's wedding, and the legend of Omar the Tentmaker was born. Thereafter it was a rite of passage for characters in that campaign to seek out the legendary tentmaker. Of course, these tents are weighty compared to more modern equivalents, but back then I had no standard from which to judge, and instead based my guestimates on the amount of weight a string of pack-camels could carry. I love hearing the background of homebrewed items. It makes them far more accessible.

Actually, that's not a bad jumping off point. Nowadays, we'd know how much a camel can carry before because someone would have put it on Wikipedia! As always, I find other people's NPCs fascinating. I bet you could update Omar too! Moving from older editions to newer is possible. WotC made a few manuals to help ease the transition, but it's still a fair bit of work. The thing I've found is that I can almost always find a way to make it work. Ad&D tended to be fairly lethal, with plenty of save or die rolls. The current editions tend to shy away from that a bit more.


I realize after reading your comments that looking at it from today's perspective it may seem a little commonplace, but back at the end of the '70's when D&D was brand new and there weren't that many accessories, we had to make it up as we went. At this end of it all, some forty years later, I'm glad to see the hobby is still viable, even if it has changed dramatically from a handful of kids sitting around the dining room table rolling dice and making up stories.

I didn't mean to imply that your item wasn't up to snuff. It's just that it sounded familiar (and for good reason actually). With a little work, it could be a fun item though not one that would engender great wonder. That doesn't mean it's not worth updating, it just means that you have to be content with where it falls in the context of other similar items.

Gamers were more isolated in the 70s and early 80s; we didn't get many opportunities to see what creations other DMs were making and using. I was fortunate to have a subscription to Dragon Magazine and to be able to get to a number of gaming conventions. I can't tell you how many times the DMs just assumed that I was someone's girlfriend rather than a gamer in my own right as "girl gamers" just weren't as prevalent. It didn't help that earlier editions of D&D were blatantly sexist. No female character could have an 18/00 strength for example. The times (and editions) have changed quite a bit, mostly to be more consistent and more gamer friendly for everyone.

That said, creating magic items now has a whole set of rules to follow but it makes for better designers actually. I see a lot more prestige classes, races, and of course, monsters, but there aren't as many DMs who are making magic items for the games. I think the rules are a bit surly on that aspect, unfortunately. It also requires a significant time investment to get it right. Plus, it's not an exact science so you still end up having to compare and contrast with other items. It's just as easy to overprice as it is to underprice an item. That said, I think anything is possible and there's no reason you couldn't update Omar's Wonderful Tent using the rules provided. Of course, I bet Omar himself is quite the character. Interesting NPCs are fun too.

It is still often kids sitting around a dining table, rolling dice and making up stories. It's just had some polish added and a few bells and whistles.

Debby

brian 333
2014-10-07, 04:03 PM
Omar is an incredibly fat, dark skinned, older man who is never seen without his turban and his twin curved blades with jeweled handles. He travels on his caravan of heavily laden camels with his four wives, nineteen sons, the husbands of his various daughters and the wives of his sons, various slaves and concubines, all of the many children, and a large herd of sheep and goats.

They mostly travel at night, stopping at oases and villages along their routes, which meander through the deserts in a highly unpredictable fashion. When encamped, a rather plain looking tent, built long and low, is erected, and from awnings along its side Omar sits among pillows and veiled wives and servants to barter with his customers.

Omar will not trade with anyone who refuses to drink his tea or eat of his salted bread, (which tastes like crackers and looks like pizza crust.) He will honor a good haggler with good deals, but greedy folk will not be so kindly treated. He will buy virtually anything if the seller is sincere and not attempting to trick him, and he will sell anything he has for the right price. Because of his purchasing habits he has a great deal of inventory covering a wide variety of categories.

Omar likes gifts. Especially gifts with which he can please his wives, such as silks, jewelry and gems, or decorative items. One who offers gifts to Omar before bargaining will have a much easier time in the haggle portion of the deal. The actual value of the gift is of far less importance than the fact of the gift and its potential to please his wives.

Omar does not like to be deceived. One who lies to him will find bargaining a difficult proposition in the future, as will one who misrepresents the quality or authenticity of an item to get a better price.

Omar does like puzzles, though, and indirectly answering a question honestly or otherwise keeping secrets without outright falsehood will intrigue him. As an example, a PC once gave him a bronze statue of a child as a gift, and when asked where it came from the PC replied, "I found it in the desert." The fact that he found it among a garden where many such items remained amidst a pyramid-city in the process of being swallowed by the desert and infested with lizard men was not mentioned, nor was the location of the ruins. Omar never missed an opportunity to discuss the possible origins of the statue, even having it present at a feast on one memorable occasion.

Omar does not tolerate drunkenness. While he prefers teas in the evenings and coffees in the morning, he does not get offended if others drink wine. However, if one becomes drunk Omar will have him hauled away and never allow that person to enter his tent again.

Other than his family, very few people have entered Omar's tent, the rest being restricted to a pillow under an awning attached to its side. Those few have been people Omar trusted like a brother, and Omar makes it plain that the privilege is not to be abused by speaking of what one has seen within. However, rumors of an opulent mansion carried on the backs of camels persist, and many a PC has set out into the desert to find the Master Tentmaker with the goal of purchasing a fine tent for his own use. Very few of these items have actually been sold; Omar reserves them as gifts to those who perform incredible feats for him or who give him gifts of commensurate value.

Some speculate Omar is a powerful wizard, while others insist it is his wives who perform the magic. Other than bartering, few have seen Omar use any of his various alleged powers. But it is true that many travelers have claimed Omar appeared nearby just as they were on the verge of death in the middle of nowhere to give them water, food, and the safety of the caravan. Of course, being a merchant, Omar expects to be paid for such kindnesses, and prefers to be paid before he asks.

If rumors are to be believed Omar also possesses some means of rapid travel, for he has been spotted in very distant parts of the desert at close to the same time. No one has reported a hasted caravan speeding across the desert, but it is possible that Omar has some means of being where he wishes to be when he wishes to be there.

It is also speculated that Omar has magical items to let him see distant places and to judge the true value of items. Hagglers who have asked far too little for an object because they didn't know its true nature have been informed by Omar exactly what they were attempting to sell. Omar takes pride in his ability to haggle, but he does not cheat his customers.

His views on thieves are an interesting problem for the casual observer to unravel. While he appears to abhor thievery, a bold thief can earn his admiration. A thief who knows what he wants and gets it he seems to admire, while one who randomly pilfers or performs sloppy bash-and-grab attacks earn his scorn. Of course, if he catches a thief it will cost the thief his hand, but a successful thief who employed cunning and daring can sit down to tea with him the following day and enjoy the banter as Omar hints that he is aware of the theft and of its dramatic execution.

Omar's eyes twinkle within the wrinkles of his skin, and he wears a perpetual smile. His mood is always jovial, unless something triggers his anger. However, his anger fades quickly and is again replaced with his usual jovial mood. This does not mean transgressions are forgotten, however, and PC's who have angered Omar at one point often find they are no longer welcome to attend him. There are also rumors of those who have greatly offended Omar being financially ruined, persecuted, and driven out into the desert to die. Some say the last things such unfortunates see before the madness of the desert takes hold of them is the smiling face of Omar.