Mysterious artefacts!
Introduction
Hello there, my lovelies,
Welcome back to what is the 4th instalment of my series on how I create a new campaign. In a nutshell, I try to create a sense of immersion for my players. I want them totally engaged and excited to play in the game world I have created.
Remember that every player is building a mental model of the world their character inhabits, and each player will have a mental model unique to them. So instead of providing massive, in-depth descriptions, it is better to offer short, evocative statements that add one more bit of lore to the world so that your players can knit together all of these data points into a whole.
If you want to catch up and read the previous articles, you can find them in the links below:
Creating a Campaign Part 1: Creating Concepts
Creating a Campaign Part 2: Character Creation
Today, we are going full Dark Souls and investigating how we can leverage those ideas to create artefacts that add a whole load of flavour into our games. For clarity, when I talk about artefacts, I mean them quite generally. It could include magic items, arcane grimoires, or even steampunk knick-knacks. We can think of artefacts in this case as objects that either augment or enhance a character or their abilities.
The reason artefacts can add so much flavour to your world is that your players become attached to them. I think we can all think about a character who has a very personal bond with their beloved magical greatsword. So this is a great opportunity to give the player an item that feels like it was part of this world’s history and culture, and through it, they can feel linked to it.
Naming Artefacts
Obviously, this is a personal thing, and undoubtedly most people have their own process. I try to give artefacts short names that echo their theme. For example, if I had a fire-based artefact, I would use words in its name like ignite, flame, or conflagration.
It is often the case that artefacts are retrieved from the ruins of long-lost civilisations, or from alien cultures. When that is the case, I run the chosen name through a translator of ancient or dead languages to create a weird but cool title. In the past, I have used Google Translate or the following sites to help name my artefacts.
Sanskrit: https://www.learnsanskrit.cc/translate?search=hello&dir=au
Latin: https://www.translate.com/latin-english
Norse: https://www.polytranslator.com/old-norse/?src=eng_Latn&tgt=non_Latn&q=%0A
Aztec: https://lingojam.com/Aztectranslator
Examples
Bani-Blot (Blood Axe): A throwing axe that returns to hand on command.
Tarangarakshakah (Wave guard): A trident that allows the wielder to walk on water.
Umbra Cultro (Shadow Knife): A dagger with an insubstantial blade that ignores armour.
Esteyaochiualistli (Blood Weapon): A large natural club with thorns, making its victims bleed out.
Evocative Descriptions
I believe that any artefact of note should be accompanied by a description. I do this by giving the player a card that acts as the physical representation of the item, and the item description is displayed front and centre (see below).
A typical item card from a campaign
The masters of item descriptions without a doubt are the Souls games. In general, these descriptions provide:
- A description of the items form, or its function.
- An extremely short but impactful sentence of lore associated with the item.
Let's have a look at a few examples from Elden Ring:
Exiles Hood
 |
| Sexy |
(part of the exiles' armour set)
‘’Deep red hood that covers the whole head.
Worn by soldiers sent to the penal colonies, who were required to keep their faces hidden.’’
This description tells us that the knights are here because of a crime they, or their order, committed. Additionally, this crime is so bad or so shameful that they have to keep their faces hidden. It hints at a large event in the world of which they are a part.
The Briars of Punishment
not so sexy
(a sorcery collected from blinded cultists)
‘’An aberrant sorcery discovered by exiled criminals. Theirs are the sorceries most reviled by the academy.
Wounds the caster with thorns of punishment, sending a trail of bloodthorns running over the ground to impale enemies from below.
This sorcery can be cast repeatedly.
The guilty, their eyes gouged by thorns, lived in eternal darkness. There, they discovered the blood star.’’
This unsettling description hints at cosmic horror. That these criminals, who have been punished by having their eyes scourged out of their heads by thorns, have been able to witness the Blood Star. Something no sighted person could ever see, and this thing has gifted them with blood magic.
That is powerful and evocative world-building.
The following two examples are from important artefacts from my own campaigns. The first is from a campaign of Shadow of the Demon Lord. This weapon was found in the hide of a great demon, and it was designed to hint at the true scale of the threat the shadow of the Demon Lord posed to the world.
Fearsome Bloom
“This weapon is the final remnant of a lost people from an extinct universe.
It appears as a brilliant magenta flower, in the shape of a crescent axe.
Its handle is covered in fearsome thorns upon which a careless user could prick their hands.”
The second item is from my Webrail campaign, and it is designed to reinforce the train and spider aesthetics of the setting.
Resonance: Silk steel battle wrench
“This oversized wrench has the familiar blue tint of a silk steel.
When struck on a solid surface, the wrench sings with a rich metallic hum.”
In Conclusion
Use naming conventions that echo the theme of your artefact, and there is always the option to put that name through a translator.
More importantly, your artefacts should have descriptions. Focus on short pieces of flavour text that include a piece of lore, and the player will then weave that information into their mental model of your game world.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. Next time, the one thing that should never be discussed over dinner, religion.
Ta-ra!
Love Tea Set
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