A Mechanical Use for Whetstones

I thought of this today. Whetstones sharpen blades. For adventurers, a nice sharp blade would be better than a dull one. However, I've never seen whetstones used in games, other than as dressing or as useless items you would find or never buy because they had no mechanical use... until now! This isn't about weapon maintenance, characters are assumed to be doing that - it's an elective bonus, a rule for when the party dramatically sharpen their swords to razors before going into battle. 

It takes 10 minutes (or 1 hour, you choose) to sharpen a bladed weapon with a whetstone. Once sharpened the weapon deals a minimum of 2 damage. Damage rolls of 1 are bumped up to 2. The player writes [sharp] next to the weapon on their character sheet. This effect lasts...  (select one)

• for a single battle (in which the weapon is used)
• for the whole day (even if the weapon is unused)
• until a result of 1 is rolled on an attack roll using the sharpened weapon 
• until the weapon is notched 

A whetstone doesn't last forever. When a whetstone is used, roll a d20, if you roll under the maximum damage of the weapon being sharpened (e.g 6 for a d6 weapon) the whetstone cannot be used again.

Sulphur and Snuff, a Horror Dungeon

A wicked theatre, a blue-skinned vizier, an imprisoned demon, evil noblemen and lots of torture, mutilation and cannibalism (and more within!). Sulphur and Snuff - A Devilish Performance is a rather horrible 11-page dungeon with horror and heist elements for Old School games. It would be a good fit for Lamentations of the Flame Princess or Mörk Borg.

Find the PDF of the dungeon below by clicking on the map or the link. I'd appreciate any feedback as it will help my future dungeons to be even better. 

SULPHUR AND SNUFF

Comments and Reviews: 

"No Regerts"

Bryce Lynch, tenfootpole.org

"Damn that way of doing maps is really clever, usable and a TON of flavor"
"Yeah I really wanna run that, and a lot of that is from the map alone"

Johan Nohr, MÖRK BORG artist and graphic designer (via Discord)

"Excellent work! This is better stuff than many published dungeons. It features a compelling layout and visual design. Just looking at this pdf invites me into a horror story with teasing secrets.

The more I read this, the more I love it, as an excellent opportunity for mixed violence and social engagement. Something of a weird fever dream, the core interior concept informs suspension of disbelief and all of the characters. Bullwain Boque for example is a character without much prose dedicated to explaining his personality, but because of the context he seems full of potential. I applaud your design for canny delegation of detail.

The puzzle-like pieces of the map which are scattered throughout the .pdf create a portrait of the internal space which is both easy to refer to, because the pieces are right there next to their details text, and easy to memorize, because the pieces fit together with a clear logic which is distinct for each piece. Thus it is easy for me to follow, page-to-page"

Peter Webb, Instadeath (via Facebook)

A Peer Beyond the Alchemical Aleph Null - a Poem-Dungeon

A dungeon (or dungeons) for False Machine's poem-dungeon challenge. 

I certainly found the challenge interesting, the poetic style is reminiscent of how I make dungeons for my own use; terse, personally evocative (unusable by others). Making a dungeon this way, especially for an audience is a very different experience. I found the limited space and a keen adherence to terseness, limited the text's utility and overall, holistic descriptiveness. At the same time the 'poetic language', while fun, used up that same space I lacked. I consider my effort an interesting failure (a critique I have of most things on my blog). 

With this is mind, the dungeon had to become binitarian; two dungeons constituting one whole. A LIGHT (more utilitarian, 'clearer' and 'useful') dungeon and a DARK (evocative and murky) dungeon. They should be used at the same time in concert with one another. Work will have to be done on the part of a DM running the dungeon to flesh it out but I hope the ideas within kindle imaginations.        

The Dungeon: Alchemists push their art beyond God's limits discovering unknowable elements. Disaster ensues. I tried to include standard D&D'isms, traps, treasures, magic swords and boss battles but it's all just a little odd and creepy.  

Aleph Null or  ℵ₀  is the mathematical term for the smallest infinite number.

DUNGEON (DARK)

DUNGEON (LIGHT)