The Djinnbusters of Bandar Karahc

The desert town of Bandar Karahc is home to many strange things, one of them being the so called djinnbusters - ghost hunters of the dunes.

They're not organized.
It's not a cult.
They're not even particular good at what they do. They just happen to own an oil lamp that can catch nasty djinns.

A djinnbuster's oil lamp is his most important tool, but it's far from the only one. You see, catching a ghost is pretty simple: point the nozzle at the djinn and rub the lamp's body until the ghost is sucked inside.

Of course, first you'll need to find the bloody thing (I dare you to find an invisible djinn in the vast al-Musahhar desert).

Then, you'll need to prepare it. Preparing a ghost is what weakens it, and as all good djinnbusters know (e.g. all four of them), you can only catch a weakened ghost.
Some things known to weaken ghosts are:

1. Burning incense
2. Reciting poetry, telling jokes but leaving out the pun, crying
3. Dancing, clapping hands, spinning around
4. The sheer sight of wealth (and plenty of it)
5. Anointing, smearing it with fat mixtures
6. Chewing on your beard

Note: one djinn's weakness is another one's strength. The late djinnbuster Hadar abd al-Makul used to smear his body with almond oil to weaken ghosts (most djinns are allergic to nuts for some reason). That is, until he met the marid Halaba, who swallowed him whole thanks to the lubricant.

Learning the weaknesses of a ghost is what makes a good djinnbuster, and takes time, especially if you need to recite a special piece of poetry that the djinn hates, or burn a particular type of flower in its presence.

Or, you could gamble, and just throw a handful of dates at it and hope for the best.

After you weakened the ghost, rub your lamp and stay close to the ghost. If all goes well, the ghost is captured inside the lamp, immediately turned into fuel.

It's not the size of the oil lamp that determines how much fuel (e.g. captured ghosts) it can hold, but its quality in terms of material (clay, stone, bronze, gold, etc.), embellishment (carvings, gemstones) and sentimental value.

The most standard, lowest quality djinnbustin' oil lamp can hold roughly 4 units of fuel (+1d4 units/decoration that raises its quality).

The amount of fuel a djinnbuster can get out of a captured ghost is likewise determined by the quality of the djinn. Start with a base value of 1d4, and then add accordingly:

• Size:
• Capturing anything smaller than the size of an human adult is like pouring flour in your fuel chamber; it will just turn to a thick dough and you'll have to throw away the lamp.
• Other than that, add 1 unit of fuel per wow-factor regarding its size
•  Abilities (flying, shape shifting, invisibility, etc.):
• Add 1 unit of fuel per ability
• Age:
• Juvenile: these ghosts are more trouble than they're worth (no extra fuel)
• Old djinns: for every wow-factor regarding their age, divide the total amount of fuel by two. This is because their ectoplasm is going stale
• Other than that: 1 unit of fuel

If a djinnbuster captures a ghost whose total amount of fuel exceeds the capacity of the oil lamp, one of several things may happen:

1. The djinnbuster is possessed a number of days equal to the excess (e.g. capturing a 5 fuel djinn in a lamp with only room for 2 more units causes the djinnbuster to become possessed for 3 days)
2. (If the lamp isn't empty) Fuel equal to the ghost's value is sucked out of the lamp, creating another djinn of equal strength on the spot
3. The excess is stored in the djinnbuster's body: during the next couple of days (equal to the excess value), a new minor mutation occurs
4. Lamp explodes, spreading fuel everywhere. Stained objects become animated

To empty the lamp, the djinnbuster must burn the fuel during the night time (1 unit of fuel/hour). You may also do like the legendary Fatima al-Sabiha and drink the contents; to this day, people still claim to see her drifting across the sky.

Nope, haven't seen any tentacled terrors around here, sir, but do try the next pond. Ta-ta for now!

One man's loss is another man's gain

The ectoplasm of some ghost goes stale over the years, turning them into white, opaque, motionless objects. Giants sometimes use these as replacements for missing teeth.

The Badgerbrough Inquisitive, issue 6:4

Get your copy of The Badgerbrough Inquisitive, issue 6:4 here! (It's licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA).

(Older issues may be found on the old blog, under "Lore".)

Non-physical swords

Ethereal swords that harms spirit and mind, but leaves the body untouched.

Roll to hit as normal, but for target AC use the attribute that the sword targets. 

To create a sword, roll for appearance (two rolls), attribute and effect table (depends on attribute).

Appearance (roll twice; start with a standard sword)

1. S-shaped blade
2. Blade is like a wedge
3. Jagged
4. Blade is swirly, and engraved with a moral story
5. Blade is composed of stacked V:s (e.g. no pointy end)
6. Two thin, parallel blades

7. Filled with letter-shaped holes

8. Blade always seems to be pointing at the viewer, no matter the angle

9. Hilt is a living rodent

10. In windy places, the sword whistles

11. Blade is the length of a dagger, but the hilt is the size of that of a two-handed sword

12. Blade is impossible to sheathe

Targets this attribute (look up exact effect on its table below)

1-2. Intelligence

3-4. Wisdom

5-6. Charisma

Effects on hit: Intelligence

1. Releases one random spell (if applicable; otherwise nothing happens)
2. Target may only speak in verbs
3. Target's next move will be irrational and not very well planned
4. The common tongue is no longer understood by the target
5. Bleeds intelligence points; one point is lost per round (save ends; can't go below 3)
6. Target gets lost in an old riddle s/he suddenly remembers (save ends; unable to speak/react/move unless struck physically)


Effects on hit: Wisdom
1. Target gets a false memory about his/her current whereabouts; s/he will feel very strongly about it
2. Will only notice every other person in his/her vicinity (save ends)
3. Attacker shares one slice of his/her own wisdom, that is diametrically opposite of what the target believes in
4. Lose faith; start crying (save ends)
5. Lacunar amnesia:

1. Memorized spells are forgotten
2. Attacker is forgotten
3. Current objective is forgotten
4. Own name is forgotten

6. Everyone's a stranger; every new face is a possible friend


Effects on hit: Charisma
1. The next person the target talks to believes s/he is lying
2. One random hireling/henchman of the target suddenly feels disgusted by his/her presence; will leave next night (50 % chance will steal something as well)
3. Turn undead will attract instead of repent
4. Target's party believes him/her to be a traitor of their current cause
5. 1 point of Charisma is spilled on the floor; it materializes into a ghastly rat and runs away unless the target manages to catch it (which will restore the lost Charisma point)
6. Every word that leaves target's mouth annoys the receiver (save ends; annoyance may build up to violence if going on for too long)

City of B

In the city of B, people adore and worship letters. Most of all, the letter B.

In the beginning, there was nothing but hope.

And then, the twice-pregnant came to B, and turned hope to land and C.

      (from the city's often wrongly cited historical ledger)

Consonants are most valued, because they are hard and indestructible like the mountains.

• Only people of high age may add a consonant to the beginning of their names
• The shape of the shield of the town guards reflect their rang; the closer to the letter B, the higher the rang. New recruits may only carry shields shaped like an O, probably because 1) they're supposed to do the fighting and therefore need more protection, and 2) it resembles the sound they make when fighting ("Ouw! Oof!")
• Criminals have their names stripped of all consonants
• The coins used are called (in order of value): boles, chives and debris, after the markings on the metals ("B", "C" and "D")

Vowels are the soft seas between the consonants. Wishy-washy things not really meant for pronunciation; more like sounds of someone breathing.

• Children may only have names consisting of vowels. When they turn 10, they may add three consonants to their names except at the beginning (this day is called the B-day, in honor of the first consonant). At age 40 they may add additional two, or one at the beginning.
• Most children are named after a specific thing, with all consonants removed. This is to encourage them to complete the name during their lifetime. 
• When addressing foreigners, one or two vowels are added to the beginning of their names

Carta mundi

(Labels are missing because my player will see this. Andreas, the desert city of Bandar Karahc is in the top right corner.)

(And god jul, if you celebrate that kind of thing!)

Compulsive goblin carolers

Goblins love to sing.

Or, rather, to make sounds with their throats that only differs from their usual babble in that it is more rhythmical.

So, goblins love to make sounds with their throats. During the high season of the annual common goblin cold, some are struck by another compulsive behavior: they need to spread these guttural ear diseases throughout the queendoms.

Forming a band of goblin carolers

Grab any number of dice (equal to how many carolers you want), throw them, and look up each die result below.

• Even number represents multitasking goblins: they both sing and play an instrument
• Odd number are goblins that just "sings"
• The number 1 is special: this is a goblin that is conducting the group. This goblin is thankfully mostly quiet

Instrument (even number-goblins)

Those who both sing and play an instrument, may (roll again):

1. Sing into a wooden bucket, held in front of their face, for that "special" effect
2. Hit the nearest goblins with a wooden spoon, more or least on beat
3. Play the "flute", by sticking any number of fingers into their mouth and blow
4. Play the "trumpet", by grabbing and blowing into another goblin's ear
5. Snapping their toes
6. Thrusting a sword into a pile of snow repeatedly 

The conductor

For a baton, this goblin use (roll again):

1. His long, gnarly nose
2. Two arrows tied together with a bit of string
3. A twig, too long to handle gracefully
4. Piece of goblin underwear 
5. "INVISIBLE SUPER POINTY SINGY THING!!" (nothing, but he's a great poser)
6. An animal leg, alarmingly fresh

Titles of songs they may (try) to "sing"
Roll once for each column, combine:

1	The joy of	licking	sticky trees
2	Hark, the angels are	fighting	piles of snow
3	Blessed Brood Mother, she who is	eating	people
4	Goblins sing while	gargling	loudly
5	Ugly humans,	farting	poison
6	Snow fall, start	being	hung over

These bands of goblin carolers travel the roads, sneaking up on people to perform their songs. They will sing 1d4 songs, after which they will attack their audience on sight.

A bunch of places and stuff

(UPDATE 2019-05-13: there's a recording of this blog post over at Blogs on Tape.)


The Bottomless Forest (area)
Woodlands. Tropical.
A forest where the inhabitants lives in the tree tops, since the roots are carnivorous.


Witch Wart (settlement)
Plateau. Temperate.
A small agricultural society built around a huge, yellow monolith. The big piece of rock is said to belong to a witch that sleeps in the ground. A rumbling snoring can sometimes be heard at night.


Mooncardigan Fen (area)
Marsh. Temperate.
A large marshland, named after the Mooncardigan that's said to originate from here (a dark blue piece of clothing that sedates the wielder). The people living here lives in stilt houses.


Lycanstorp (village)
Plateau. Temperate.
One large, perfectly round house, that actually contains several smaller houses. People suffering from lycanthrope comes here for a safe haven.


Archfoot (area)
Flat. Cold.
This area is covered in inverted mountains in different sizes. Tiny giants are living at the bottom.


Trollbanetorp (castle)
Woodlands. Cold.
A group of exiled goblins have taken this place as their home. They're trying to live like humans, more or less successfully. They hate trolls and cookies with raisins.


Onrecht (city)
Desert. Hot.
One of the three trade cities.
A filthy and dangerous city. Built in layers in some sort of limestone. Rainbow coloured togas are very popular. Veils that protect against the glare of a gorgon (see Mierenhoop) can be bought here, although they wither to dust at midnight.


Mierenhoop (city)
Desert. Hot.
One of the three trade cities.
Not a city for humans, since everyone living here stems directly from a line of gorgons. They're not evil or bad people, it's just that it's rather difficult to trade with someone without looking them in the eyes.


Weegschalen (city)
Desert. Hot.
One of the three trade cities.
This whole city is a big bank. Mountain Kings patrol the "streets", tearing apart any thieves they catch.


The Frostwave (area)
Desert. Arctic.
An enormous (several hundred meters) frozen wave. Rumor has it that there's a rich city at the very top, unaware of the world below it. Peeking inside the ice reveals shadowy figures.

Planet Percussion

Planet Percussion is a peculiar little planet.

It orbits the great white sun of SELWAY'S STAR.

One third of the planet's surface consists of a thick membrane, and it works much like trampoline. When this side faces away from the sun, it's pulled towards the core of the planet. When gravity's pull on the membrane diminishes, the membrane is released and great bang is produced.

Dropping things into the membrane is a popular way to shoot things into space, like rockets, waste and criminals.