Lost Swords- ideas for magic items & adventure?

[Blood Axe]

I had a bit of free time and was looking through my book shelves. I picked up Fred Saberhagen's Book of Swords. There are several in the series. The basic story of the books is that the Gods decide on a game. They create a bunch of powerful magical swords and want to scatter them , or give them to different followers and see what happens. Things dont work out as planned, and the swords have an unexpected power....they can also affect even the Gods themselves.

If you are an old time gamer, you possibly remember the treasure table had a sword +1 with the charm person ability. I always wondered where that came from. The idea might have came from the Sword of Glory, or Mindsword.

Anyway, its an interesting series of books. Some are very good, others werent so great. An interesting read though. Some good ideas for adventures , magic items or even a campaign.

Here is the Song of Swords, that gives clues to the swords powers.

THE SONG OF SWORDS




Who holds Coinspinner knows good odds

Whichever move he make

But the Sword of Chance, to please the gods

Slips from him like a snake.




The Sword of Justice balances the pans

Of right and wrong, and foul and fair.

Eye for an eye, Doomgiver scans

The fate of all folk everywhere.




Dragonslicer, Dragonslicer, how d'you slay?

Reaching for the heart in behind the scales.

Dragonslicer, Dragonslicer, where do you stay?

In the belly of the giant that my blade impales.




Farslayer howls across the world

For thy heart, for thy heart, who hast wronged me!

Vengeance is his who casts the blade

Yet he will in the end no triumph see.




Whose flesh the Sword of Mercy hurts has drawn no breath;

Whose soul it heals has wandered in the night,

Has paid the summing of all debts in death

Has turned to see returning light.




The Mindsword spun in the dawn's gray light

And men and demons knelt down before.

The Mindsword flashed in the midday bright

Gods joined the dance, and the march to war.

It spun in the twilight dim as well

And gods and men marched off to hell.




I shatter Swords and splinter spears;

None stands to Shieldbreaker.

My point's the fount of orphans' tears

My edge the widowmaker.




The Sword of Stealth is given to

One lonely and despised.

Sightblinder's gifts: his eyes are keen

His nature is disguised.




The Tyrant's Blade no blood hath spilled

But doth the spirit carve

Soulcutter hath no body killed

But many left to starve.




The Sword of Siege struck a hammer's blow

With a crash, and a smash, and a tumbled wall.

Stonecutter laid a castle low

With a groan, and a roar, and a tower's fall.




Long roads the Sword of Fury makes

Hard walls it builds around the soft

The fighter who Townsaver takes

Can bid farewell to home and croft.




Who holds Wayfinder finds good roads

Its master's step is brisk.

The Sword of Wisdom lightens loads

But adds unto their risk.

[Blood Axe]

The Twelve Swords of Power, each with a unique magic property, were forged by Vulcan and capriciously scattered across a world in which technology had been replaced by magic and the deities of classical antiquity returned.

Coinspinner - a sword which brings luck to its wielder but may desert him at any moment.

Doomgiver - the "sword of justice," which turns any attack back on the attacker.

Dragonslicer - a sword which transcends dragons' resistance to normal weapons (but does not protect the wielder in any way).

Farslayer - a sword which kills a named victim, regardless of distance, when it is thrown by its wielder... Who may, of course, become the next target.

Woundhealer - a sword which heals diseases and injuries and cannot be used as a weapon.

Mindsword - the "Sword of Glory" or "Skulltwister," which inspires instant and fanatic loyalty to the wielder.

Shieldbreaker - a sword which destroys any weapon, including other Swords... but which cannot harm any creature not bearing a weapon, nor will it allow its wielder to use any other method than itself to attempt to attack another being, even if that being is unarmed.

Sightblinder - a sword which causes its wielder to be perceived by observers as someone they either fear or trust, giving the power of disguise but not the power of stealth.

Soulcutter - the "Tyrant's Blade," which imposes instant and unbreakable depression on anyone nearby—including the wielder.

Stonecutter - a sword which can cut through stone.

Townsaver - a sword which will protect the innocent from any number of attackers... But does not protect its wielder.

Wayfinder - a sword which leads the wielder to whatever he seeks... But by the most dangerous way.

[Zargon]

That was something new to me, I enjoyed reading that. Thank you for posting. I find myself working and wondering upon the origins of many things in the fantasy world.

[finarvyn]

Wow. I had totally forgotten about those books. I never got to read the whole series (I think there are 12 or so books) but I enjoyed the couple that I did read.

If you are an old time gamer, you possibly remember the treasure table had a sword +1 with the charm person ability. I always wondered where that came from. The idea might have came from the Sword of Glory, or Mindsword.

Actually, it was probably the other way around. Sberhagen's LOST SWORDS books were written in the 1980's and so he might have gotten his inspiration from the table in {b]Grayhawk Supplement I[/b] (1975).

Good catch, though, on the magic swords from the series and for quoting the poem. Very much in the spirit of DCC, where each item has a reason and individual quirk.

[Blood Axe]

Dude, did you copy/ paste my post? Seriously. I posted almost the exact same thing in this forum.

Great stuff by the way.

[Blood Axe]

Gee , look right here.......

[Raven_Crowking]

I DID POST THE EXACT SAME THING HERE!!!

Wow, great first post- you copy/paste someone else and dont even give credit.......

Perhaps a sophisticated way to get through the spam filters? Copy one of more existing posts to gain posting rights, and the next post is an ad for Viagra?

[Blood Axe]

I DID POST THE EXACT SAME THING HERE!!!

Wow, great first post- you copy/paste someone else and dont even give credit.......

Is this like a Fight Club thing? Have the two of you ever been in the same room at the same time?

Number one rule is , we can't talk about it.....

[Rick]

And lo there was a thirteenth blade,
Copycat it was named (in haste)
The Sword of Mimicry was apparently made
To aid its weilder to Cut & Paste

[finarvyn]

Dude, did you copy/ paste my post? Seriously. I posted almost the exact same thing in this forum.

Great stuff by the way.

[admin voice]
Sorry that this happened. I didn't recognize the post and gave it the okay. Had I realized he was probably some SPAMmer trying to beat the system I would have flushed him right away instead of approving his stealing your stuff.
[/admin voice]

He picked some good stuff to steal, however.

[Blood Axe]

Fred Saberhagen has a decent fantasy series. They are old, you can pick them up at ebay pretty cheap.

The series has the greek gods (and even some other cultures),Apollo, Ares, etc, but if you read the books you catch that they arent exactly what you first think. There are also clues that this is a kind of post-apoc world. It was our world, but something happened to change it to a world of magic.
Its a "low-magic" world" , wizards and magic items are rare, besides the Gods and swords. The Gods are lower powered, maybe lesser or demi-gods.

There are even some ideas for three cool new patrons, Draffut Lord of Beasts, Vilkata, The dark King, and the very evil: Ancient One.

Here is some info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_Swords

Would make a great campaign.