Making Wands For My Tabletop RPG - Ep3 | Arcane Ugly

Тәжірибелік нұсқаулар және стиль

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I continue making my own tabletop rpg, taking lots of inspiration from games like dungeons and dragons, pathfinder, icrpg and OSR stuff. Episode threes' focus is on wands, and I make a couple of prop/cosplay wands. This project is a way to combine all my hobbies of terrain painting, sculpting, converting, prop making, and projects like my nurgle diaries. The game I create is called Arcane Ugly, and uses Knave by the questing beast as the foundation.

Пікірлер: 395

  • @Miscast
    @Miscast3 жыл бұрын

    Get Arcane Ugly Here! - arcaneugly.com

  • @Aconspiracyofravens1

    @Aconspiracyofravens1

    3 жыл бұрын

    Wand of reversal, it makes any spell do the opposite of usual, all numerical stats are backwards (53 becomes 35) and effects are reversed

  • @matthewbearden2959

    @matthewbearden2959

    3 жыл бұрын

    idea ,some objects (wand(s) or books or bottles idk anything ) can have spells of there own that the item itself made(or learned) and that it allows you to use as-long as you do something in return (feed it , take it on a quest , read it a bedtime story) . also have you consider sentient items. ps i wrighted (wrought, idk) this before watching through most of it so most of it seems redundant now

  • @gremlinfifty2308

    @gremlinfifty2308

    3 жыл бұрын

    Incompatible spell and wand combos should have weird attributes that the GM decides so that its fun but also easier for the GM

  • @Aconspiracyofravens1

    @Aconspiracyofravens1

    3 жыл бұрын

    wand of chemical reactivity, any spell causes itself and things it touches to become chemically active, the PH and temperature goes bonkers, and electrons change hands like a game of hot potato, this has very big consequences

  • @calebdowning8877

    @calebdowning8877

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@Aconspiracyofravens1 with a the spell sentience, it would make someone inanimate.

  • @Nerdforge
    @Nerdforge3 жыл бұрын

    They turned out really cool! Great texturing😍

  • @Miscast

    @Miscast

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thanks so much! 😊

  • @michaelmakesstuff6657

    @michaelmakesstuff6657

    3 жыл бұрын

    hi Nerdforge, its good to see my two favorite crafters working together

  • @maninalift
    @maninalift3 жыл бұрын

    I like the idea of "all of the above": * Hettie Whistlebag has five different wands stuffed into her robe, each more knotted and unpredictable than the last. They are like ill-behaved but much loved pets, spitting out tangling vines, mesmerising words and biting insects. * Gildor Barrowbrow, has a single wand, he knows every owner it has had and every name it has born back to the day it was crafted 700 years ago. His wand is kept in an enchanted holster, gilded with the name Thoughtweaver, to prevent any ill coming to it. Thoughtweaver demands loyalty and in return grants the caster greater potency and control, even the ability, with some effort, to combine spells.

  • @invaderoz
    @invaderoz3 жыл бұрын

    For me, You Sir, are the most interesting 'crafting' youtuber right now.

  • @Miscast

    @Miscast

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thank you! That's really exciting to hear!

  • @deltafish5769

    @deltafish5769

    3 жыл бұрын

    I'm kinda new to this side of youtube and i love it, could recomend some other youtubers that do this kind off thing

  • @notoriouschamp7984

    @notoriouschamp7984

    3 жыл бұрын

    Maybe black magic craft and midwinter minus.

  • @bronco..2

    @bronco..2

    3 жыл бұрын

    I agree I also love all his work

  • @bronco..2

    @bronco..2

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@notoriouschamp7984 I think you mean midwinter minis and yeah 40k is a lot of cool crafting projects

  • @BlackMagicCraftOfficial
    @BlackMagicCraftOfficial3 жыл бұрын

    “Reading Harry Potter as a kid” Hold up. Trent is significantly younger that I realized. Sweet sticks young man.

  • @RaqrexArt

    @RaqrexArt

    3 жыл бұрын

    Is he even old enough to have his own KZread? Do his parents know?

  • @BlackMagicCraftOfficial

    @BlackMagicCraftOfficial

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@RaqrexArt shhhhh. He might get his account deleted. You've gotta be 13 at least!

  • @NordboDK

    @NordboDK

    3 жыл бұрын

    We had spell sticks at my school, too. I had this nice yellow one, with an eraser on the end.

  • @jherazob

    @jherazob

    3 жыл бұрын

    Exact same reaction, darn younglings! [Shakes walking cane]

  • @MidwinterMinis

    @MidwinterMinis

    3 жыл бұрын

    We're old, man... wait, I mean we're old men, man... man. Men. Wut

  • @noxiousbones
    @noxiousbones3 жыл бұрын

    The idea of spells stored in the wand has me thinking that you *Have* to keep your wands *fed* and maybe there is some bad thing that happens when your wand is *hungry*

  • @Miscast

    @Miscast

    3 жыл бұрын

    Hahahhah, thats a fun idea

  • @zedthefatone2864

    @zedthefatone2864

    3 жыл бұрын

    The Hungry, Hungry Arcane Rod: feeding your magic wand for dummies

  • @noxiousbones

    @noxiousbones

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@zedthefatone2864 isn’t a Rod different than a wand which is different than a staff? Why not use an Orb? That’s my favorite thing about this made up concept, it can mean anything, the differences could be majorly different or no difference at all.

  • @zedthefatone2864

    @zedthefatone2864

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@noxiousbones fair, I just meant like “point object that magic poops out of.” I also forgot about Orbs, seem like they can be hard to aim with.

  • @noxiousbones

    @noxiousbones

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@zedthefatone2864 yeah, maybe they are safer but also more difficult to use 🤷‍♂️

  • @pikapuffin368
    @pikapuffin3683 жыл бұрын

    Man this is shaping into something awesome. I love the “spell in the wand alters the spells cast through it” idea - you’ve talked about mishmashing models together for monster ideas, so the idea of letting players mash spells together in play sounds super fitting, and I know as a GM I’d be more than down to work with casters on how various combinations are supposed to work out.

  • @Miscast

    @Miscast

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thank you! Great to hear your thoughts. I'll keep that in mind

  • @angrygonk5238
    @angrygonk52383 жыл бұрын

    I think, maby, wands could backfire. You cast a spell of setient fire, and suddenly you become the deamon host of fire elemental.

  • @benstephenson9251

    @benstephenson9251

    3 жыл бұрын

    Heck yeah that is an awesome idea

  • @imperium40k62

    @imperium40k62

    3 жыл бұрын

    I love that idea

  • @MiniatureHobbyist
    @MiniatureHobbyist3 жыл бұрын

    Everyone loves a wand, brings the wizard out in all of us, regardless of our age =)

  • @sociallysupreme7101

    @sociallysupreme7101

    3 жыл бұрын

    Hello M. H.!

  • @Bluecho4

    @Bluecho4

    3 жыл бұрын

    Everyone, deep down inside, wants to be a Wizard. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying and too afraid of being seen as childish. Which, of course, is the most childish sentiment of all.

  • @jebthepleb492
    @jebthepleb4923 жыл бұрын

    Perhaps for the wand of sentience where the effects aren’t obvious, there would be a backup d10 personality table to roll, or the DM could choose the personality based on the spell’s history with its caster. For example, someone who typically likes to use abjuration magic and is bitter towards the things he casts abjuration on, casting “Wall of Force”; that Wall would have the personality of a gatekeeper, where none shall pass for even the most noble of reasons.

  • @nathanex5122

    @nathanex5122

    3 жыл бұрын

    I would say that personality of objects brought to life should be determined by how it was used And a wand of Life or something could have effects like player deciding on objects personality

  • @mcbrideaddison

    @mcbrideaddison

    3 жыл бұрын

    I might not have heard right, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but I got the feeling that the types of wands could be quite practically anything the dm/gm wanted it to be, so unless there's only a specific number of types of wands, you'd need to have something like that for every single wand, and they would also be very specific to the situation. I like the idea though, so if it turns out there are only like 10 different types of wands or something that'd definitely be a cool addition

  • @defensivekobra3873

    @defensivekobra3873

    3 жыл бұрын

    it was not a wand of sentience, it was a wand of thorns and the

  • @nathanex5122

    @nathanex5122

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@defensivekobra3873 its an idea, not a part of video

  • @danielgrunmann
    @danielgrunmann3 жыл бұрын

    I'm quickly becoming a big fan of your content! As an artist, its great to hear your reflections about the process of making things, running into roadblocks and overcoming them

  • @Miscast

    @Miscast

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thank you! That means a lot

  • @Gyrokosher
    @Gyrokosher3 жыл бұрын

    "You cast a sentience spell with the wand of thorns!" The stone tells you to piss off. Maybe don't use that wand.

  • @rwvids1
    @rwvids13 жыл бұрын

    Why don't you bind demons or spirits to the wands and channel their power through them?

  • @imperium40k62

    @imperium40k62

    3 жыл бұрын

    That's a sick idea, I have got to use that for the TTRPG that I'm making for my friends!

  • @matthewrayner571
    @matthewrayner5713 жыл бұрын

    How about this: "If the effect of casting the spell with the wand of thorns is obvious, and the GM agrees, bypass the table-rolling. Note that this common wand of thorns can never deal above X additional damage, and if a spell of level Y or higher is cast through it, there is a 20% chance the wand explodes doing X damage, and causing a magical calamity. If the effect of casting the desired spell through this wand is not obvious, or the GM disapproves the intended effect, roll a D6 and consult the table below 1: nothing unusual happens 2: the wand shrinks to the size of a tiny thorn for 24hrs, and you cannot use it during this time 3: a stream of thorns accidentally shoots out the wand, hitting the target of your spell and doing X damage. 4: The wand grows to a length of 5 feet as a thorny vine or bramble, straight into the ground, and the end wraps around your wrist. You cannot move more than 5 feet away from your current location until the end of your next turn. 5: as result 3, but it does an additional X damage. 6: roll again on the table. If you get another 6, this wand falls apart into a thousand thorns and requires magical repair in the next 24 hours or can never be used again."

  • @isaacmartinez2359

    @isaacmartinez2359

    3 жыл бұрын

    I get this system but my question is, if I am a player and I know that I will have to roll on a table if I use the wand with a spell that does not have an obvious effect, why would I bother? I would just cast without the wand and not risking anything happening.

  • @platoyando3978

    @platoyando3978

    3 жыл бұрын

    ​@@isaacmartinez2359 Well that's what you'd do in "real life". Or it should be a d12 and there should be 6 more positive effects, if you want to motivate your players to experiment with wands

  • @matthewrayner571

    @matthewrayner571

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@isaacmartinez2359 Perhaps you want the extra damage for a debuff or illusion spell? Maybe it sould have some positive effects, like Petr's suggestion. I'm not pretending this is a perfect system, but it seemed like a reasonable base to build off to me, as it provides a clear structure for GMs to make their own wands.

  • @isaacmartinez2359

    @isaacmartinez2359

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@matthewrayner571 i understand we are all just brain storming here! I know players who just want to be efficient in what they do lol it is a tricky thing to solve

  • @PhileasLiebmann
    @PhileasLiebmann3 жыл бұрын

    What if the spells and wands have some sort of keyword and there is a table in the rulebook that tells you what happens when you apply a certain keyword to a another one? Sure, it's a lot of work, but I just find looking stuff up in tables super fun. So say you cast the "Transmogrify" spell on a monster to turn it into a toad through a Wand of Gates. You would look up "Transmogrify" spell in the spell column and then check the effect in the keyword column for "Portal": the target is turned into a Portoad, a large amphibian that teleports when jumping. You could further break up the tables with super-categories. For example keywords like Ice, Fire, Earth, Wind etc. could be found in the Element keyword table. More powerful wands could have multiple keywords, either allowing players to chose the effects or selecting one randomly based on a dice roll, maybe depending on their skill with magic. Also if you have wands, you should definitely also have staves, orbs, totems or talismans.

  • @nathanex5122

    @nathanex5122

    3 жыл бұрын

    Its a cool idea but imagine that you come up with it yourself and not look at the spell column

  • @PhileasLiebmann

    @PhileasLiebmann

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@nathanex5122 Maybe the example I gave was a bit misleading for what I intended, but as I envisioned it the effect descriptions wouldn't be that specific (just as Transmogrify probably wouldn't just be for turning people into toads).

  • @droidblasta6130
    @droidblasta61303 жыл бұрын

    I think adding some sort of system where each character has some impairment like a vision problem, or an amputated limb or something might be cool and suit this game They would also have cool effects, like if you were dyslexic and reading spells, they would go wrong to some degree I just feel like having problems with your character are just as fun as your characters super powers, no one wants to play a plain old perfect wizard, but a wizard who messes up spells to some degree would be fun and intuitive It’s a real spontaneous game system and I feel like something like this would really help elevate how you play your character

  • @Miscast

    @Miscast

    3 жыл бұрын

    Great idea! I only have a very basic version of that atm but I think having really specific impairments could be really fun!

  • @noxington4260
    @noxington42603 жыл бұрын

    That mechanic where the wand becomes the modifier on the spell is *chefs kiss*. I could see it causing some hilarious accidents if a player forgets what wand they have in the heat of the moment

  • @Miscast

    @Miscast

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thanks! Me too hahah

  • @MrPug-dt4sd
    @MrPug-dt4sd3 жыл бұрын

    Fun fact: m e w a n t

  • @cyberhonk2999
    @cyberhonk29993 жыл бұрын

    Gotta say doing all of this amazing work is pretty poggers

  • @thedarkloon1563
    @thedarkloon15633 жыл бұрын

    I think it'd be interesting to keep exploring the idea of wands being a buffer between you and the spell. To give wands the same purpose of making spells less hazardous to the user, you could have wand effects replace the deadly chaos table effects. While the base table effect might be "you burst into flames", the effect with a wand is instead "the wand emits an incredibly powerful plume of fire that you cannot stop. The sheer force of the flame knocks you off your feet." Another example might include replacing "Mouths sprout up inside you and eat you from the inside" with "Your wand grows legs and a large mouth. It wrestles away from your hand and begins chasing you, looking for a bite of delicious wizard."

  • @mirrs
    @mirrs3 жыл бұрын

    MORE TABLETOP CREATION CONTENT BB

  • @ScratchBashing
    @ScratchBashing3 жыл бұрын

    Your idea for spell books being written and then locked up to age to perfection has inspired this: Origin of (some) wands: Enchantment placed on a seed, grows a tree, which is eventually suitably magically magical and a wand can be carved from its wööd.

  • @heathgillies6687
    @heathgillies66873 жыл бұрын

    I like the idea of spells acting as a barrier, as well as a modifier. say you absolutely blunder a spell, the kind of mistake that would instantly make you pixie dust. Maybe your wand disintegrates instead of you? This could be given extra effect by making players really love their wands. Maybe a non-linear scaling to them, where players can upgrade them in a way that doesn’t make them far behind their peers if their wand breaks? you could also implement the collaborative world-building into the wands, with some artifacts! Maybe a wand was owned by a great wizard, who journeyed deep below the shallow caverns that rookie adventurers face, steeped a willow rod in the latent magic there, and returned it to the surface, where he became a powerful arcanist. 400 years later, the players accidentally blast open his tomb, uncovering his wand, now occupied by his soul, who is terrified of amateurs casting spells through him and (just maybe) turning his new form into sawdust.

  • @RaqrexArt
    @RaqrexArt3 жыл бұрын

    Trent, somehow you managed to make magic wands super cool. Move over battle-ax...wand is the new weapon of choice 👌

  • @mustermannmax69
    @mustermannmax693 жыл бұрын

    The grip of the first wand you made looked a lot like a spore releasing mushroom. I think the Idea of the wands being alive is cool. I'd like to think of wands as the fruits of magic mycelium that ripens over time by consuming the magic floating up from the bottom. Once the mycelium has gathered enough magic it brings out a wand. By using the wand you are giving it a little bit of your magic in exchange for a much more stable but a little less powerful cast. But as the wand notices its caster is in trouble it can sometimes give a little bit of its magic to make something laughably stupid strong to protect him. Once the wand has gathered enough magic and it found a good place to grow (for example a very magical glade in a forest) it explodes releasing its magical spores to grow and repeat the cycle. The idea is that the spellcaster and the wand live in a symbiotic relationship and the wand kind of adopts the character of the caster and making sure it's "host" carrys it through the world.

  • @sasha-noelleord6780
    @sasha-noelleord67803 жыл бұрын

    That wand rule situation sounds tricky but maybe you could get a bit of everything by introducing a concept of "harmony". If the aspect of the wand naturally lends itself to augmenting the spell being cast then it works in that more fun flavourful way but as the "harmony" of ideas becomes more abstract the chance for the magic to go volatile increases because the magics oppose each other like playing with magnets. So maybe a wand with winter aspect when casting a drizzle spell turns it to hail since there's a natural harmony. When a kinda harmonic idea to the spell like winter and make ropes it simply flavours the spell but might not add any practical effect (though it would be a really fun and intuitive way to bring in that five senses of magic concept you discussed before to make it more vivid). Then when the essence of spells are opposed to the wand aspect such as a Summer Sun spell and Winter aspect you bring in that thing where you roll a dice and maybe you blow up the wand, maybe you grow a tentacle or if you're super lucky the spell works out with a secondary effect from the wand as a bonus. Another way might be to make the wand themes very vague or ephemeral like Winter or Night or Decay rather than a more tangible element like fire or water which might allow you to lend the effects to many more possible spells.

  • @Monkeyman12534
    @Monkeyman125343 жыл бұрын

    So casting spells is like firing a dirty gun. And wands are the string attatched to the trigger 5 feet away so you dont blow yourself up?

  • @tanuki9691
    @tanuki96913 жыл бұрын

    What if you added a special want called a "wand ball" that's just a ton of wands balled together, and it produces several effects at once but explodes after the first use, so if used properly, it can even turn into a grenade! Obviously the accuracy would be way down because the spells would be pointed in way too many directions but I think it could be fun!

  • @magnificentjosh
    @magnificentjosh3 жыл бұрын

    How about a wand having multiple aspects? Like, maybe a wand that smoulders with burning embers and its got the aspects of "fire, anger and perseverance". When you cast a rope spell, it might make burning ropes. When you cast sentience, it might make a angry little construct, or it might make a spell not go off immediately but be more powerful when it does. If you wanted to formalise it, each wand might have an elemental, an emotional and a mechanical aspect, and each spell might say which aspect would apply to it.

  • @muskmallo9623
    @muskmallo96233 жыл бұрын

    Your videos give me so many cool ideas every time.

  • @CaptIronfoundersson
    @CaptIronfoundersson3 жыл бұрын

    As a longtime GM, I absolutely love this mechanic. The caster has X spell and Y wand, they can modify the spell within the parameters of the wand. The rest is up to imagination and the GM's approval. You can really have a lot of fun with that. Limitless possibilities. A sleeping spell plus a wand of shadow knocks out the guard and summons a nightmare monster that is under the caster's control for some amount of time. A levitate spell plus a wand of wind creates a tornado. An invisibility spell plus a wand of thought allows the caster into someone's mind and either read their thoughts or control their body. A fire spell plus an ice wand (or any similar yin and yang combination) creates a void in space that sucks in everything around, including the caster.

  • @FablesD20
    @FablesD203 жыл бұрын

    Love the idea just making basic wands focuses (such as higher modifiers for spell attack) But really like the chaos of freeing chaos by mixing magic from the caster & the premade spell. I feel like for dnd, the dm will need to present the idea via an NPC. A lot of cool stories

  • @nathanex5122
    @nathanex51223 жыл бұрын

    Okay first thing I like about it is that you can actually come up with some cool spell effects My idea is a wand of Flesh (it looks like a tentackle with some eyes) And sentience would not only make an object come to life but transform it into a fleshy monster with tentackles and eyes. Maybe give the monster abbilities based on what it was originally (lantern would have fire breath, barrels could shoot their content)

  • @namename2186
    @namename21863 жыл бұрын

    A fun idea would be that a player declares Thier intentions with an attribute and the DM decides a difficulty modifier that will be added to the existing dice roll needed to cast the base spell. That way modifying spells with a wand can be a basic and easy thing even a beginner can do or a complex and nigh impossible feat of mastery that only a high level character with lots of int can reliably do depending on how op the player declared Thier intentions to be. A good thing for the setting of the game would be saying that all wands have a sort of super natural spirit in them that can modify the mana from the three great witches on the fly without having to prepare complex and expensive runes to suck the mana over a long period of time like the pathetic humans. This also means that if a player REALLY wants to create and OP spell using the academy system then they would have to pass the test of capturing one of these supernatural spirits and putting them in the SPELL BOOK ITSELF allowing the player to achieve the level complexity necessary to make Thier op spell that wins them the game and *maybe* gains them some respect from the three great witches themselves *cough cough* hall of fame and artifacts for previous player characters who achieved the impossible flavoured as them becoming immortal servants to the three great witches while still being treated well *cough cough*

  • @johnbozarth9805
    @johnbozarth98053 жыл бұрын

    I LOVE the idea of the creatures personalities being related to the wands properties 🤯🤩

  • @semomonkey
    @semomonkey3 жыл бұрын

    I cast the spell of LIKE using the COMMENTS wand!

  • @euansmith3699

    @euansmith3699

    3 жыл бұрын

    "This is a Blue Wand with a tip in the shape of a tiny fist making the thumbs-up sign. It casts the "Appease Algorithm" spell."

  • @argowen

    @argowen

    3 жыл бұрын

    dang spell fizzled out...

  • @epistimonkapetanios

    @epistimonkapetanios

    3 жыл бұрын

    Not funny, didn't laugh.

  • @kitbashbox
    @kitbashbox3 жыл бұрын

    I really love that the wands can be used to combine the power of the item with the spell you are casting, I can imagine heroes and adventurers collecting them as they go, and maybe only being able to use wands once so they have either a quiver full of wands or even a belt full like Chewbacca! Awesome work really love your stuff

  • @leadbadger9543
    @leadbadger95433 жыл бұрын

    Sentience + spell modifier = Alignment of object. ? not sure , Story always wins against game mechanics at my table. This has been fun see this develop. BYEEeee

  • @nomadbakunin

    @nomadbakunin

    3 жыл бұрын

    Alignment is a great idea, and would align with the idea of "magical generations" like evil spellbooks or blessed ones! Also, attitudes and aptitudes! A wand of confusion probably wouldn't animate a very bright statue...

  • @megajotb2918
    @megajotb29183 жыл бұрын

    Perhaps for spells where the effect is unclear when combined with a wand, the effects of the two just can't combine, and it forces the effect of the wand to try and target something else, meaning it could be used to sort of cast two at once, but it's more likely to make a teapot sentient, and then catch one of your party members on fire.

  • @hudsonmayne8702
    @hudsonmayne87023 жыл бұрын

    Maybe wands are used to add different effects to the spells like the sorcerer's metamagic in dnd 5e so that the wand that they use will have effects like that and also it will have specific senses whenever you cast a spell (eg. A vibrant pink coral wand, when cast could give all spells a longer range and all spells cast would sound like waves on the shore and look the color of the turquoise of the sea water in a reef)

  • @klebermarchand
    @klebermarchand3 жыл бұрын

    -Maybe wands could be used as some sort of "mechanical part" for a contraption or a trap. Ever wondered how this trap can shoot firebolts ? -When you can't use the "special" thing in your wand, it affects the caster's next spell. After you gave sentience with the wand of thorns, you try to cast a classic firebolt. Your target screams as their skin is pierced by red hot thorns. Teleport yourself ? The ground around you becomes thorny. You cannot however keep the special thing forever, as it will create a mutation if not used. Your fingernails are now thorns.

  • @michaelkennedy6759
    @michaelkennedy67593 жыл бұрын

    I think your last idea about making wands alter spells is a really good one. DMs can adjudicate that without too much difficulty even if it's less obvious. The idea that "Give Sentience" with the "Thorn" wand makes something have a prickly personality is wonderful! It's those moments that would be very memorable at the table. Give some examples of what might happen with some niche spells in the book as DM guidance and you'll be fine

  • @sordcooper2
    @sordcooper23 жыл бұрын

    So, two ideas for you; wands are like baby's first spellbook, they cast spells, sure, but they're limited in power and effect or whatever, the upside of this is when something goes horribly wrong the wan take an the hit instead of you, making it weirder, cooler, or outright breaking it. Either way you cant safely continue to use the wand until you take the time to understand or undo the effect on it. The second idea is a fairly simple bit of design that's basically the core of all RPGs; player states their intention, DM states the difficulty. For instance, a player has a wand of cold, and a book of wind, they want to combine the two to create a chilling breeze to freeze a lake, pretty simple, dm make the roll easy. Later, that same player wants to combo their cold wand with a book of emotions, to literally cool off a heated conversation, that's a more odd esoteric thing, so the roll is harder. You could also shift the design over to have the results on the miscast table get worse somehow instead of the roll being harder because your little wizard is messing around with magic even more than normal and opening themselves up to worse peril. I'd do both personally

  • @UnexploredUniversE7
    @UnexploredUniversE73 жыл бұрын

    Few months ago I had the strange idea to start developing my own RPG. From the beginning I was stuck with zero idea, only the imaginary world, where PGs (sur)vive was there. Casually found your first video about Arcane Ugly and it was very helpful. You are a source of inspiration! Unfortunately at the moment i can't be a patreon to follow this project from closer, so I will wait un update on this great channel!!!

  • @newbluedisk
    @newbluedisk3 жыл бұрын

    Wands act as a foci for magic, a storage for magic, and sort of on the spot cauldron. This represents as 3 stats for a wand; the bonus (adding or subtracting from the spell cast pool), the bind ( at least one spell can be stored, if it's old enough or powerful enough it can be more), and the boil (the spell being cast being mixed with the spell(s) inside the wand. The balance is those wands with a negative or 0 level bonus may have more spells stored, more room to store spells, or may have a lower chance of negative side effect when using the boil, while the ones with a great bonus may see a drop in the number of stored spells or a great chance for a boil backfire. So the spell is cast, the user has a choice, they can use one element, the bonus, the bind, or boil, or a a combination there of. So a +1 from the bonus could be added to the magic roll using the boil, to make sure it gives a positive outcome, or the bonus could be added to the stored spell when you use it up (additional bonuses if the wand is sacrificed in the process)

  • @dalooneylass5561
    @dalooneylass55613 жыл бұрын

    Magic in Arcane Uglys sounds like a wild untamed force of nature. So as an idea when you use Magic and it go’s wrong it happens during the channeling process and whatever bad stuff happens happens to the thing channeling it, more often than not that’s the player. So what a wand does it channels the Magic for the user, so if/when bad stuff happens it’ll happen to the wnd instead of the user.

  • @jcaob
    @jcaob3 жыл бұрын

    Now I know that you probably don’t have any room or desire to add more mechanics but what the heck. I’m also making my own RPG and I’m using these videos as a guide/inspiration. I’ve added a mechanic that I think is really fun. A) Luck. The GM has the players roll a d20. If the players roll under a ten then something bad happens to them (they get bad luck) if they roll higher than a ten then something good happens to them (they get good luck).

  • @cyagen9782
    @cyagen97823 жыл бұрын

    I like the combination a lot. When it is not obvious then the rule is: "All players make a suggestion on what the effect is. Then all players vote on the best, in case of ties, the suggestion that was the funniest wins or the game master casts the tie breaker vote. The winning suggestion give the player a small reward, like a bonus on the next spell casts." This keeps it simple, narrative and reward funny ideas.

  • @zodar526
    @zodar5263 жыл бұрын

    i think it would be cool for some flintlock weapons. since you've been focusing on magic for most of the project, thought it would be awesome if you added some muskets for a really weird combination of magic and maces, with cutlasses and muskets.

  • @Miscast

    @Miscast

    3 жыл бұрын

    That sounds really fun!

  • @remygierke8222
    @remygierke82223 жыл бұрын

    i ABSOLUTELY love this idea. the first thing that came to my mind is that if you were to cast sentience through the wand of fire it would be possessed by a fire elemental, or fire based entity (think calcifer from howl's moving castle). and to maybe balance out the player being able to do anything, you might want to incorporate some kind of roll to see if the intended effect would occur. again using the wand of fire and sentience, you could attempt to summon a fire spirit, and if the player rolled low, it could just give the object sentience and then light the object on fire so all you really get is an object screaming in pain because its on fire.

  • @DaemonSmith1
    @DaemonSmith13 жыл бұрын

    Honestly Trent, I think the wand + spell = cooler spell is a pretty great concept for players and gma to roll with. Even those more complex or unclear combinations are sure to jog people's imaginations! To me it sound like that's what your game is all about. People can be creative and follow the rules at the same time!

  • @BobtheOdd
    @BobtheOdd3 жыл бұрын

    In the homebrew I did I used wands as a spell component. So the wizard who cast with a wand never needed them....but if they lost the wand, they were SOL, cause all the spells depend on them. Made them very precious and valuable. The kinda like you said, specialty wands could be found(fire, ice, etc.) and amplify that energy, but decrease the power of opposite spells(fire wand would add a extra 🎲 or two to fire magic, but take them away for water based spells).

  • @jonnytheai1401
    @jonnytheai14013 жыл бұрын

    The more i hear about this project, the more excited i am about it. Maybe it is the concept of the game, maybe it is your happiness and excitement showing through in the videos, but i love Arcane Ugly already

  • @danicatempleton6745
    @danicatempleton67453 жыл бұрын

    I like the properties idea. At my larp, when the effect of a spell could be interpreted multiple ways, we always roll with the first way that comes to mind. So if someone cast "with water I command you to lie" then you could lie down or you could just start telling lies, but it has to be the one you thought of first.

  • @pcblite7203
    @pcblite72033 жыл бұрын

    First, love the videos! I only found your channel recently and I've loved every video I've watched so far. It's also incredibly cool and inspiring to see a behind the scenes look at making an RPG and I'm excited to see how it turns out! Second, I think instead of trying to outline every single possible combination for spells and wands, there could be a kind of scale of success for these muddy casts where the outcome isn't clear, and those work as guidelines for what actually happens. I'm personally a fan of the Powered by the Apocalypse model of perfect success, success with a drawback, and a miss. The player outlines what they want to have happen and then roll on that scale to see how closely the actual effect lines up with the intention. I think having the player outline what they want to have happen when casting a spell through a wand with the chance for success-- just not how they expected it-- could keep the absolute chaos of spell casting while keeping play moving. I don't think there's any way to completely take away the uncertainty from muddy casts, and honestly I think that uncertainty might be a fun part of casting through wands because it allows for the possiblity of casting the same spell twice through the same type of wand with different results. Hope you find the solution that works best for you!

  • @legolord9697
    @legolord96973 жыл бұрын

    I have a idea for the game: you should be able to summon creatures. To do this you have to first kill the creature then take its skull. Then you have to get a goat heart and merge the skull and the goat heart together(you could use a binding spell to do that). Then in battle you can use the skull to summon the creature.

  • @bustin9549
    @bustin95493 жыл бұрын

    Listening you talk with such fluidity about game mechanics is attractive, you have a beautiful nerdy mind

  • @444ocelot7
    @444ocelot73 жыл бұрын

    VINGARDIUM LEVIOSSA

  • @ciarfah

    @ciarfah

    3 жыл бұрын

    It's LEVIOSA not LEVIOSA

  • @Nitz1066
    @Nitz10663 жыл бұрын

    I have an Idea "The Seal of Arcane" So The Reason People can use Magic besides The Three Witches.your Left Eye Can Channel Magic

  • @WhoCaresDotCom

    @WhoCaresDotCom

    3 жыл бұрын

    That is the most anime thing in this entire comments section, and I love it.

  • @Nitz1066

    @Nitz1066

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@WhoCaresDotCom I like to think that if someone used like a weopon sommuning spell it would just Slowly Slide out of the person's Eye and they would be in so much pain just Screaming

  • @speedrunnercaliorda2787
    @speedrunnercaliorda27873 жыл бұрын

    You can go with matter and motive either with the wands or with the potions, so if you want a flamethrower you go matter fire and motive chaos.

  • @speedrunnercaliorda2787

    @speedrunnercaliorda2787

    3 жыл бұрын

    Or if you want a healing potion you go matter water and motive life

  • @thomaskaracwilson
    @thomaskaracwilson3 жыл бұрын

    I imagine there would be basic elemental wands for water, fire, air, earth, but you could also use the wands to do other types elemental magic. If so, you’d create a magical hybrid, so if you did an earth spell through a water wand you’d get mud, or a fire spell through an earth wand would create magma. Three base elemental wands, all spurts of variant spells that depend on, but aren’t limited to the wands element.

  • @aidanbrown3758
    @aidanbrown37583 жыл бұрын

    this is a very cool concept, it would allow each wand to be like a little puzzle with small visual clues as to what kind of wand it may be or if it’s too unclear it might force the player to cast a spell through it as a test

  • @plaidpvcpipe3792
    @plaidpvcpipe37923 жыл бұрын

    I think that perhaps for a spell like sentience or other abstract things like it, wand powers should have allegiances. So for fire spells, flames could be true neutral, while fireball would be chaotic evil, etc. Basically, the allegiance of the power affects the allegiance or effects of the object you're casting the spell on.

  • @funkmeister1546
    @funkmeister15463 жыл бұрын

    I am curious to know what you are listening to in your headphones? I paint for long hours at a time and have run out of things to listen to. Got any recommendations?

  • @euansmith3699
    @euansmith36993 жыл бұрын

    Those are some gnarly looking wands; and I like the idea of Wands adding modifiers to spells. They'd definitely add a free form element to spell casting. How about a Spell Displacement Wand: when you cast a spell with this wand, you add the wand's effect to the spell. However, the wand's effect is then replaced with an aspect of the spell you just cast through the wand, and that become the modifier for the next spell you cast. So, for example, you cast Forking Great Lightning through a wand with a residual Cloud Effect; so you actually cast Forking Great Lightning Cloud. This removes the Cloud effect from the wand and replaces it with a random choice of Forking Great or Lighting.

  • @davidgrubbs6362
    @davidgrubbs63623 жыл бұрын

    Someone probably already said this, but four-element physics led to the doctrine of humors, in which elements combined to generate physiological and psychological states: fire = hot + dry = fever/inflammation = choleric personality (acerbic & grouchy). Which means "add fire to the spell" could have a broader application, if the player knows a range of associations to apply creatively. Magic missile + fire = lingering fire damage; heal+ fire = counter cold/wet conditions; charm + fire = impart rage.

  • @dmmomma
    @dmmomma3 жыл бұрын

    Singing "He's got the moves! (he's got the moves) He's got the moves! (he's got the moves)...". Nice.

  • @WesHalloransRobots
    @WesHalloransRobots3 жыл бұрын

    As a dm for dnd, I love this shit. The wand mixing with a spell. I’m a person who dreams of combos of spells and will think of 10+ effects in a second. I’m not normal but would happily pay for this module

  • @BaffledOrange
    @BaffledOrange3 жыл бұрын

    Wands preventing a MISCAST is very on brand, nice

  • @Miscast

    @Miscast

    3 жыл бұрын

    Hahaha

  • @blexorcist3792
    @blexorcist37923 жыл бұрын

    Rolling with your idea to make wands modifiers, I think you should primarily allow players to figure out their own magical amalgamations. Cap each wand with a max additional damage bonus (possibly elemental) so that things can't get out of hand, then just have a very broad description for the wand, I.e.: Thorn Wand - add a thorny edge to any spell cast through this wand. (MAXIMUM +1d4 bonus damage) However Arcane Ugly is unpredictable and chaotic, maybe each wand has a chance for some undesired result instead of a spell when cast, scaling with more deadly results for more deadly wands. The thorn wand may grow thorns, dealing 1d4 damage and causing the adventurer to drop the wand in the midst of combat! An eldritch wand may make the adventure go mad for an hour, or grow a ridiculous amount of tentacles - it's all up to you Mr GM! Pedalling back to wands, the interpretative nature really let's players feel like their thinking of their own unique solutions. Capping the damage means you're never going to be allowing for an easy combat, if a player thinks of a unique workaround to get out of combat with their wand, then you want to reward that anyway! Let a play fall into the roll of a crazy thorn mage, each new spell generating thorn-sands of new possibilities in their mind. This also allows players to just pick up and play with any wand at any time, to whatever risk their comfortable with 😁

  • @gargolyer
    @gargolyer3 жыл бұрын

    Something interesting and somewhat unexplored from Harry Potter is how different wands seemingly channel magic better for different users - or in more interesting terms, they form a bond with the user. What if, as either a good or bad thing, wands in this world bonded to their users with more use? And maybe this bond takes on a physical aspect, like attaching itself to your hand or body in some way, or crawls up your sleeve when not in use. Or heck, develops an emotional bond! What if a wand gets jealous when you use other wands? What if there are spells it doesn't like to cast, and spells it REALLY likes to cast? There's lots of info on Sentient Swords in old OSR material, maybe apply some of that to wands? From a lore aspect, maybe wands are quite rare and hard to obtain or build. In my head I'm thinking that the wood of the wand must come from ancient trees whose roots have drunk from the cauldron of the Witch Giants below. But such trees are guarded with great dangers or hidden in secrecy. But to have one is considered a high honor and commands respect - much like a famous sword passed down through generations. Sounds like a wizard-y quest to me! Idk, just spitballing ideas here.

  • @Atmoseeker
    @Atmoseeker3 жыл бұрын

    I love physical props at the table ❤️👏 I like the idea of having a wand in the game is like a relationship with your arcane focus, kinda like the wand is an interpreter between the caster and the magical forces of the universe. (Giving the wand a kind of semi-sentience?)

  • @Kekatronic
    @Kekatronic3 жыл бұрын

    Steeping wands in alchemical brew will increase the potency at the cost of precision and reliability, an unstained birch branch wand could cast a fireball within another's skull but it would feel like warm breath on their brain to them. Increasing the potency of the brew and the time the wand is stewed will increase the corruption, a highly corrupted wand will cast merciless magic such as calcify muscle or could cause physical summoned objects to fuse and scar the flesh of whoever it touches, the most highly corrupted wands bring disease, mutation, haunted dreams and even sickening of the soul to it's users and those around it. The ones below who's corrupted magic seeps and stains upward have a keen eye on the riches within the shallow earth of the surface and so when precious metals and minerals are used in the fabrication of a wand it will have more power at it's disposal at any given moment. A wand may have more potential power to use than it could possibly expel at once so stronger, stiffer and much harder to work with materials must be used to widen this bottleneck in output.

  • @peterconroy4225
    @peterconroy42253 жыл бұрын

    I really like the idea the the wand alters the spell, I think it’s clever, especially for more crafty players. It leaves it open for them to dick around and find clever and instant solutions, which you said you’re going for Can’t wait to get my hands on this book

  • @korniestpatch
    @korniestpatch3 жыл бұрын

    I love the idea of casting magic with intention. So spells can have a keyword and the player can cast a spell on their intention using the keyword. They need to have an outcome that they are trying to achieve. Which makes experimenting a little harder, because you can’t just mix two words and get an outcome, you need to know what you intend to do and if the spells can interact in a way that you intend it happens

  • @korniestpatch

    @korniestpatch

    3 жыл бұрын

    Nevermind just saw the next video cool solution to the problem

  • @AzraelThanatos
    @AzraelThanatos3 жыл бұрын

    For the wands thing, you might also want to add other potential things to work. For example, the wand could be, largely, a tool to help with accuracy and detail. Someone with a wand is more of a sniper type with the spells, getting it to the exact right place and doing a lot more of what you want it to do...then you might have someone with a staff which is more of the heavy weapon where the spell might be amplified, but there's less control and a higher probability of collateral in the process. This could be expanded to other focus options such as swords (or other weapons) that might be great for combat but heavily lacking out of it...daggers/knives for ritual work. Following some mythology and such in building what each can do. Then throw in some interesting twists on things that work it out together. For example, a Caduceus staff that might be REALLY good at healing spells and such, but you might want to be careful because there's less control in what you're healing. Your party spending some time beating down the villain and the healer unleashes it...and, while it does heal up your allies, well, the enemy is looking quite a bit less banged up as well. Perhaps going against type for the focus could up the risk of mishap, or outright spell failure to direct reversals there.

  • @elnic_kai
    @elnic_kai3 жыл бұрын

    For balance reasons I'd say that there are a finite variety of wands made by materials from deep in the earth by tradesmen. It's like their family business to make wands from fire lizard egg shells or smth and all those wands would have fire properties. That way only a certain number of spells are made into wands. And then some more vague spells have clashing magic schools and won't mix effects but instead only increase the property of the non-wand spell. (Like more damage or range or duration) idk if that makes sense but I hope it helps.

  • @krystleproductions1287
    @krystleproductions12873 жыл бұрын

    here is an idea. when casting spells with a wand with a sertant property, it could just add an effect. so if you cast water with a fire wand, it could make boiling water, or water with flames on it.

  • @nomadbakunin
    @nomadbakunin3 жыл бұрын

    For casting with wands, If the effects aren't obvious, I like the tables idea presented in earlier comments. I feel that if you want to create a spectrum of events that is more holistic, you would require a positive/negative balance and also a caster/target balance. On a D6, that could easily be a 1/3 chance of a good and exciting outcome, a 1/3 chance of an unfortunate outcome, and a 1/3 chance of nothing or pure silliness. Another example, in your wand of fire, casting a sleep spell on a target - 1, the target is placed into a normal sleep 2, the target is placed into a restless /weakened sleep, dreaming of fire 3, the target is burned and knocked unconscious 4, the caster and target are both burned, and have a 20% chance of falling asleep 5, the caster becomes immune to fire temporarily, the target is put to sleep 6, the caster's hand grows burn scars/scales, which grow with more wand use. And I'm out of ideas. 🤷‍♂️ thanks for something to consider though. I'm really excited for more arcane ugly!

  • @leftwingdragon6235
    @leftwingdragon62353 жыл бұрын

    Definitely like discworld magic table absolutely loving it, it's like being protected from the creatures in the warp just like 40k

  • @RTRTRAAA
    @RTRTRAAA2 жыл бұрын

    I love your videos and the wands turned out so awesome! If you are looking for possible wand uses, one came to mind. What if wands were weird shields? When you find a wand you could roll for the name of the wand (e.g. Branch of the "Fire" "Insect"). As long as a caster is in possession of the wand, whenever a mutation or attack against them has the word Fire or Insect, the wand protects(?) them from that aspect of the effect. Example: If your spell backfires and the consequence is to be engulfed in flames or grow insect legs, your Branch of The Fire Insect could allow you to roll again and become engulfed in puppies or grow horse legs. This could work similarly when receiving an offensive spell from an enemy. Sunfire Bolt could become Sunflower Bolt, and Insect Swarm could potentially become a swarm of dolphins. Alternately the wand could also allow the caster to randomly roll the effect of their own spell, adding some more chaos and novelty to the spells they are regularly casting.

  • @minimishapsgames894
    @minimishapsgames8943 жыл бұрын

    Wild magic is a huge part of our RPGs. Combining spells, wand adjustments, this is fantastic. Great video, excited for Arcane Ugly. Expecto chaotico!

  • @Miscast

    @Miscast

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thats awesome! Thank you!!

  • @kairunelastreeper
    @kairunelastreeper3 жыл бұрын

    Sentience cast through a nature wand causes a fungus to grow from the creature. The fungus communicates and directs the creature, acting as the augmented brain. The fungus is visible though and can be burned off, removing the sentience.

  • @cruddytaco
    @cruddytaco3 жыл бұрын

    I’ve been working on my first ever Dungeons and Dragons campaign as a dungeon master and your videos have been a great source of ideas and just general confidence to try out new stuff and ideas I wasn’t sure about. I found your channel about a week ago but I’m already loving it. Keep up the great content!

  • @roasttoast2344
    @roasttoast23443 жыл бұрын

    dude, I would totally buy some teeshirts with some of your designs on them

  • @timmypickles3198
    @timmypickles31983 жыл бұрын

    I honestly think the idea of wands having specific effects that add on to the spells is really good. Also I’d enjoy having a conversation with a tree who’s a complete asshole because you cast the spell using a wand of thorns

  • @samura1s4m
    @samura1s4m3 жыл бұрын

    A spell like flight might use wands to increase propulsion, like is cast via a wand of fire, you become a jet engine for a while, and move really fast. Maybe with a wand of thorns, it would shield you from particles and objects while flying quickly with a small shield of vines. IDK, I just thought this would be interesting to add to the discussion.

  • @coolpranksfriends6202
    @coolpranksfriends62023 жыл бұрын

    I think miscast is my favorite KZreadr right now I freaked out when I saw this video

  • @tomreidy1527
    @tomreidy15273 жыл бұрын

    I really like the added a wacky effect based on the type of wand, definitely going In the Magica direction is a good idea

  • @fallenesther
    @fallenesther3 жыл бұрын

    I like the "GM and player compromise"

  • @grothart2303
    @grothart23033 жыл бұрын

    simplest answer is collaboration, when the a spell has a unclear effect the DM simply ask the group what do you all think happens? and then the ideas come. never underestimate the power of imagination, especially when it comes to players. if you need a negative result simply say "the spell misfires, what negative effect do you all think happens." this is were a lot of fun is had, and it gives the group to fail forward.

  • @reacespieces1551
    @reacespieces15513 жыл бұрын

    Adds wands to the game as an excuse to make wands IRL. Who can blame you, the wands look rad!

  • @52Miniatures
    @52Miniatures3 жыл бұрын

    Love it. Thanks 🙏 I’m not an RPG fellow... but definitely a wands and magic appreciator. So loved this.

  • @argowen
    @argowen3 жыл бұрын

    For something like sentience I'd say arguably the resultant spell creates an elemental of that type so, casting through a fire wand would create some sort of flame spirit that may or may not attack the intended target

  • @sociallysupreme7101
    @sociallysupreme71013 жыл бұрын

    So like a nerdy desire for a wand? Nice.

  • @Genetic5000
    @Genetic50003 жыл бұрын

    with more abstract idea-like spells it could just add on some adjective or ability that somewhat relates to the original wand. like that sentience spell mixed with the wand of thorns giving it a sharp tongue and making the sentient item somehow say harsh things, or maybe a wand of fire could make it either somewhat like a fire breathing dragon or just hot in terms of attractiveness.

  • @stankdelicious6479
    @stankdelicious64793 жыл бұрын

    I like the idea of the wand grab bag...a bag of 3 to 5 wands that have 1d4 -1 (minimum of 1) charges each of random spells (price determined by level of spell grouping..i.e. 1st - 2nd lvl grab bag = 100gp per bag*). Higher level spell casters trade or sell almost spent wands allowing for low level casters to buy them for more diverse spell casting options at that level (they still need to be identified). * prices may vary based on Setting, campaign, etc.

  • @alexchaviramusic
    @alexchaviramusic3 жыл бұрын

    This is my favorite series of ever. I love your lowkey and relaxed vibe to creating this game on the fly. It's such a joy to come right along side, thanks for making videos!

  • @shadowsketch926
    @shadowsketch9263 жыл бұрын

    Trent, you're a beautiful man with an amazing mind, I love seeing and hearing you talk and show the process you go through with your projects, how you problem solve and finally come to a conclusion. As for a suggestions, my advice is KISS : Keep It Simple Stupid, and what i mean by that is this; You already have so many possibilities with the magic within this game/world, restricting what a wand can do might help out the gm and player. As a basic example, let's say you can only have wands with the four most basic elements, but allow spells to evolve that basic element into something more, if the caster knows how to use said spell, so let's say you have someone who can produce streams of liquid, with a fire wand, that turns into lava/magma. this allows the spells to stay as creative as you can think of, while simultaniously keeping the trouble of the outcome to a minimum, a rope spell could end up becoming a fire whip, a rock hard pole, a dousing jet of water, etc, etc, hope you get the idea. by keeping the spells varied and creative, yet pushed through a restricted filter, people can come up with their own ideas of what the result is going to be, keeping the game fresh while also keeping the gm sane. With that said, thanks for the videos showing your process, much love from me!

  • @sunlizard13
    @sunlizard133 жыл бұрын

    Maybe break the wand effects into two categories, physical and intangible. The thorns would literally grow from something hit with the sentience spell through a physical wand of thorns, and on the other end, a fireball cast through a wand of rage makes those damaged by it go berserk.

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