A Progressive Doom System for GLOG
The magic system of GLOG really caught my eye when I first saw it about a year ago and ever since I've been thinking how best to implement it in to other systems that I use to little success. Therefore I, like many others before me, have chosen the accursed path of creating my own GLOGhack. Instead of trying to force GLOGs fantastic magic rules in to my favourite systems I am instead going to force the parts of those other systems in to GLOG.
Todays inspiration comes from an unlikely source; Mothership's Panic Tables. One of the core precepts of Mothership is managing Stress during your escapades through haunted megastructures or coming face-to-face with aliens that would make the Xenomorph look like a Care Bear in comparison. Seeing spooky things increases your Stress, and failing a roll causes you to Panic, rolling 2d10 + Stress and comparing the result to a table of increasingly worse results culminating on a 30+ result instantly killing a character from a stress induced heart attack. This constant management of risk hanging over a character like the Sword of Damocles helps push the player to make difficult decisions when each roll could potentially set off a cascade of negative consequences and so provides a constantly increasing level of tension over the course of a session, or even a whole campaign.
GLOG: Wizards, the popular Many Rats on Sticks, and most other GLOGhacks use a risk vs reward system for casting magic, where rolling doubles causes a Mishap - a 1d6 table of minor magical effects - and rolling triples results in a Doom. A Doom progresses through 3 levels of growing intensity, with the final result usually having permanent, and sometimes fatal, consequences. This incentivises a player to make a choice between using only one MD for a casting and thus limiting their power, or investing more MD and potentially risk advancing their Doom.
I enjoy the way GLOG handles the consequences, however I do feel that it can be made a bit spicier, and more impactful on the level of risk a player is willing to take, by combining this system with Mothership's Panic tables to provide that extra layer of growing tension. To this end I have been working on the following simple tweak:
Progressive Doom
Doom:
Each character has a Doom stat, this starts at 0.
When a character rolls a double or higher when attempting to cast magic increase their Doom by the number of matching dice, and perform a Doom check.
Doom is reduced naturally by 1 each day that the user abstains from casting any magic.
Doom can be also be gained, reduced, or checked through other methods at the GMs fiat. Perhaps offerings at temples can alleviate Doom, or a Monster Template has an ability that forces Doom upon it's foes.
Doom Check:
The first time a character needs to perform a Doom check they are given the Omen from the relevant Doom table, these are harmless hints as to what consequences lie further down the list if they keep pushing their luck.
Roll a 1d201 and compare the result to your characters current Doom, if the result is below then the character takes a consequence from the relevant Doom table. If it is over the Doom stat then disaster is avoided this time.
Example Doom Table:
This Doom table is designed for - and extrapolates from - the Animist Wizard school from Many Rats on Sticks.
| Roll | Consequence |
|---|---|
| (Omen) | You feel something move beneath your skin and muscle, willing your bones in to new and painful shapes. |
| 2 | You feel a slight murmur in your magic, as if it was tainted somehow. Gain +1 Doom. |
| 3 | Your magic falters, your connection weakens. MD only return your pool on a 1-2 for 24 hours. |
| 4 | The world grows silent around you. You are deafened for 1d6 rounds. |
| 5 | Something within yearns to change. You gain a random bestial mutation for 1d6 hours. |
| 6 | The world grows dark around you. You are blinded for 1d6 rounds. |
| 7 | You magic turns on you, a betrayal. Spell targets you (if harmful), your enemy (if beneficial), or fizzles (if neutral). |
| 8 | Your connection to your magic grows dim. Remove one MD from your casting pool until you get a good nights sleep. |
| 9 | Your magic is corrupted by something within. Gain +1 Doom each time you cast a spell in the next 24 hours. |
| 10 | You feel something within stir. You gain a random bestial mutation for 1d6 days, and suffer from Cracked Ribs for the same period. |
| 11 | You feel that your magic has taken something from you. You gain Anathema for 24 hours. |
| 12 | Your connection to your magic fails you. Remove all MD from your casting pool until you get a good nights sleep. |
| 13 | You feel a cascade of corrupted magic fall over you. Roll twice on this table. |
| 14 | You feel as if your magic took something. Permanently lose 1 from a random stat. |
| 15 | You feel something within twist and claw. You gain a random bestial mutation permanently, and suffer from a Fatal Wound and Crushed. |
| 16 | You feel something within tear and crack. You gain a random bestial mutation permanently, and suffer from a Fatal Wound and Skullcracked. |
| 17 | You feel something within constantly shifting, digging, gnawing. You gain the following Curse: You can no longer gain the benefits of a good nights sleep. |
| 18 | You feel your connection to your magic sever. You gain the following Curse: You can no longer cast Magic. |
| 19 | An emptiness fills your core where once something stirred. You gain the following Curse: You can no longer use your Transformation. |
| 20 | You feel your bones crack and muscles rip as your body rearranges itself in to a mass of misshapen bestial horror, mismatched wings sprout from your back as patches of fur, feathers, and scales work their way across your body. You are lost to the beast within and are now a dangerous foe. |
Or whatever dice your system uses. If you prefer the pleasing probability patterns of a 2D6, then I'd recommend using a modified 2D6+Doom table↩