The Alchemist - A Dungeon World Compendium Class

I developed this (with my player's help) for the one on one game of Hot Springs Island I'm running. It gives us an excuse to interact with the weird plant life on the island, and gives a solo player access to a wider variety of abilities if they plan ahead.

I've written as a compendium class here, but we used it more like a Class Warfare micro class to build the playbook the player ended up using.

This is partly inspired by the Cauldroneer from an earlier play test versions of Maze Knights by Ben Milton.

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Alchemist

Casting spells? Why would you need to do that? It's all hogwash anyhow. Show me some magical effect that I can't replicate with a careful mixture of heat, time and ingredients and I'll show you a CHARLATAN. Magic's a shortcut, alchemy is the pursuit of a true academic.

Compendium Class

Once you have brewed your first potion, whether through experimentation or following cryptic recipe, you may consider the Alchemist specialty an available compendium class. The next time you level up you may add this specialty to your character instead of choosing a move from your class.

Starting Moves

Extractor 

When you have time and supplies, you may extract the essence of plants, ores, and animal organs to produce nectars, salts, and biles (respectively).

Each 1 load of raw material produces one use of extract.


Brewer

When you have the materials and a safe place to brew, you can create three doses of any potion you have a recipe for.

Alternatively, when you state the effects of a potion you wish to create along with a recipe you propose to achieve that, the GM will tell you what caveats apply to achieve the effect:

• You'll also need ______ as an additional ingredient
• It can only be brewed under the _______ moon.
• It will take hours/days/weeks to brew.
• You can only make one dose at a time.
• You can only produce a limited or reduced version of the potion.
• The potion has a negative consequence or side effect when imbibed.

When you brew a potion for the first time roll+INT:

On a 10+ you produce the potion and record the recipe.

On a 7-9 pick one:

• You actually also needed an additional ingredient, the GM will tell you what. Once you obtain it the potion will be complete.
• It worked, this time. You manage to brew the potion but were unable to record the recipe. The next attempt to brew this potion will still count as the first try.
• You produce less than you expect, you only manage to create one dose of the potion (can only choose this if the recipe would produce multiple doses)

Advanced Moves

Efficient Extractor

 When you extract nectars, salts or biles from an ingredient you produce 1d4 uses rather than just 1.

 Extraction takes half as much time as it would otherwise take.


Opportunistic Harvesting

When you travel through safe lands or undertake a perilous journey and state what ingredients you're on the lookout for you can attempt to harvest in addition to any other role you take. If the GM agrees this is a likely place to find it you obtain 1d4 load of that ingredient by the time you finish the journey.

Potion Expert

Your potions can be applied in ways other than imbibing. As you brew the potion choose what form it takes (gaseous, powder, liquid, etc) and the form of applications (applied, touch, inhaled, etc.)


Bomb Maker (Requires Potion Expert)

You've learned the trick of pressurizing potions as you seal them in bottles.

When the bottles are thrown or shattered they gain the Area tag.


Potion Taster (Expert Move)

When you experience the effects of an existing potion you may ask the GM what extracts would be required to recreate it. The GM will answer honestly (along with any caveats that must be applied to the brewing process).

You may brew this potion as though you already have the recipe.

Potion Master (Expert Move)

When you brew a potion with a recipe you already know, you may substitute one ingredient or processing step with another. Explain why this substitution still achieves the desired effect.

Exploring Hot Springs Island with Dungeon World

Having acquired both the Field Guide and the Dark of Hot Springs island during a black friday fueled book purchasing spree, I found myself the proud owner of some gorgeous books and nothing to do with them. My in person group was already in the middle of alternating between Band of Blades and Vampire the Masquerade, and my online group was still attempting to escape from the Dead Planet with Mothership (we've since moved on to exploring the Anomalous Subsurface Environment using Electric Bastionland).

Luckily a friend of mine was convinced to buy a copy of the Field Guide and was on board for playing a one on one game exploring the island.

After throwing around a handful of ideas for what system to use (Scarlet Heroes was the other main option in contention) we decided to use Dungeon World to run the game. I recognize this is likely a blasphemous decision for any OSR readers.

We arrived at Dungeon World after a lengthy "Session Negative One" conversation, and it came down to the following points

• The main purpose of the game is exploring and experiencing the weird shit on the island
• We are less interested in player challenge, and more interested in the character's journey
• We want danger and the threat of death to be present, but not omnipresent
• We want the character to start out as being reasonably competent in the area of expertise
• The player has developed something of an allergy to d20s

We decided to add the Legacy Weapon supplement to give the character a slightly broader set of skills (and to provide continuity to the game if the first character dies) and worked out a Ranger/Alchemist combo playbook to give the player a good set of tools and motivations to explore the island.

I then broke down my goals as the GM into a list (my principles as it were). Some of these cleave closer to story games, and some closer to Old School thinking.

Game Goals

• Explore Hot Springs Island
• Let the setting and characters shine
• Leverage HSI’s systems to provide a living, dynamic and exciting world
• Project consequences
• Reward creativity with approaches to problems and interactions
• The player’s actions can influence the setting and factions  (the "Sandbox of Black Powder")
• The world exists independent of the player, and does not revolve around them
• The world is dangerous
• “Encounters” are not balanced (and should not be thought of as encounters)
• Focus is on the Character rather than the Player
• Leverage game mechanics to push the story forward
• Danger is present, but the character is tough and competent
• Risk of death is real, but not omnipresent

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To support these goals here are the custom moves and modifications we're using for the game.

Travel and Exploration Moves

I'm using the exploration and time tracking rules from HSI, but using modified travel moves (some mixture of RAW and Perilous Wilds probably).

These moves count as Undertaking a Perilous Journey for the purposes of other moves (mainly Ranger moves).

When you travel to a neighboring point of interest that you have discovered, you make it there after one watch.

When you navigate to an undiscovered neighboring point of interest, roll+INT:
On a hit, you make it to your destination after one watch.
On a 7-9, pick one:

• It takes you an additional watch to reach your destination.
• You arrive at your destination tired or out of sorts, take -1 forward until you take a few minutes to catch your breath.
• You veer off course (the GM rolls a d6 to determine where you end up). You don’t end up where you wanted to go, but you manage to keep your bearings.

On a 6-, you become lost in addition to whatever else the GM says (the GM rolls a d6 to determine where you end up).

When you travel through dangerous territory, roll +WIS:
On a 10+, you get the drop on whatever awaits.
On a 7-9, you are not taken by surprise.

When you Make Camp in a dangerous area, there is a 3 in 6 chance of experiencing an encounter. Additional preparation (secluded camping area, camouflage, no fire) can reduce this chance. Deliberately calling attention to yourself can increase this chance.

Debt

Debt is a 6 tick clock (adjust for campaign length) that when filled will cause the brand to fade. Ticking the clock represents repaying the debt you owe to the Martel Company.

Whenever you go a week without checking in with a Martel quartermaster, the brand burns.

When the brand burns, check an unchecked box below.

• You become Weak, it cannot be cured until this box is unchecked.
• You become Shaky, it cannot be cured until this box is unchecked.
• You become Sick, it cannot be cured until this box is unchecked.
• You become Stunned, it cannot be cured until this box is unchecked.
• You become Confused, it cannot be cured until this box is unchecked.
• You become Scarred, it cannot be cured until this box is unchecked.
• Take your Last Breath as the brand consumes your flesh.

When you check in with a Martel Company quartermaster, Roll + one for each of the following you have returned with:

• Maps of a new location of interest to the Martel Company
• A significant amount of gold or riches
• A valuable or powerful artifact from the Elves or Ancients
• Valuable information or news about the factions on Hot Springs Island
• A filled bounty or completed job
• A specimen of unknown, or rare, flora of fauna. Gain an additional +1 if it is still living.

On a hit, clear all check boxes from The Martel Brand Burns.
On a 10+, you clear enough of your debt that the brand fades slightly (tick the Debt clock).
On a 6-, your offering is insufficient. You may remove a tick from the Debt clock to clear all check boxes.

Then, gain Martel Scrip for each 100 coins worth of treasure brought back. Scrip may be spent on basic supplies from the Martel quartermaster based on availability. Sometimes artifacts, weapons and treasures returned by other adventurers that the Martel Company has no use for will be available.

Bonds, Companions and Factions

The normal Bond limit is removed, and I'm encouraging the player to write bonds with any and all NPCs he encounters that have some sort of impact.

We're using the Perilous Wilds follower rules (primarily for the animal companion) and I'm so far just running other travel companions with GM moves.

I'm stealing the faction system from the Root RPG, but it hasn't come up much so far and I'm honestly considering yeeting it and just running things on a case by case basis.

Monsters

I started making stats for all the monsters, creatures, plants, and NPCs but then realized I was mostly just plugging answers into the online Monster Maker and using whatever popped out, and so I've switched to making stats on the fly as needed rather than making them all ahead of time.

Experience

Here are the end of session questions we're using to reflect the goals of the game, as they differ somewhat from those of a standard DW campaign:

At the end of a session, answer the following questions:

• Have I explored a new point of interest on Hot Springs Island?
• Have I learned hidden or useful information about Hot Springs Island or its denizens?
• Have I recovered a piece of valuable and interesting treasure?
• Have I made progress towards freeing myself from my debt slavery?

Gain 1 experience for each.

Then, reflect on your bonds. If any have been resolved or changed significantly, rewrite them. Gain 1 experience for each bond changed this way, up to two.

Then, gain an experience if you have completed your Drive trigger.

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We're so far about 6 sessions in (although each session tends to be on the shorter side) and it's been a blast so far. At some point when I have more free time, I'll likely try to write up some session recaps if people are interested.

Electric Bastionland Oddities for the Anomalous Subsurface Enviroment

I'm currently running a small party through Anomalous Subsurface Environment using Electric Bastionland (having placed Mount Rendon and Chelmsfordshire into a patch of Deep Country).

Because character abilities in Electric Bastionland are mostly based around what they're carrying, and also that I've found it's easier to encourage players to look for clever solutions when they have things to be clever with, I wanted to put together a list of Oddities (Electric Bastionland's version of magical items) to be found within the ASE.

These are all intended to be found within the Gatehouse level, and so are things the military or scientists working there would have found useful to make. Or more commonly they are the sort of things a bunch of scientists would decide to create if they were given access to a massive budget, advanced fabrication technology, and apparent magic (along with little to not oversight).

Some of the items are immediately useful, some will be useful in the hands of clever players, some I have no idea how they could ever be put to a productive use.

Although designed for Electric Bastionland, the items are mostly system agnostic. Specific damage, HP, or stat references should be easy enough to adapt to your preferred system. Where items have effects that last 10 minutes the assumption is that it will last for the duration of a single exploration turn, so adjust as necessary. Protonium is a virtually indestructible and magic proof metal; Argonium is the slightly less indestructible plastic version of it.

 Ancient MRE

     "Let's get this out onto a tray. Nice!"

     A Meal Ready to Eat with a Best By date in a format you don't recognize, but it looks to be in surprisingly good condition aside from the faint glow.

     Upon consuming reroll your STR with 3d6 and consult the table below:

     2-4: What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, metaphorically anyway. You are fully immune to all poisons and toxins, and can consume spoiled food with no negative consequences.
     5-11: Your saliva is now corrosive. Given enough time you could spit your way through most materials.
     10-15: You are Deprived for 24 hours from extreme nausea.
     16-18: Your eyes have been opened to the joys of preserved food. Eating fresh food causes you to become Deprived.

 Quantum Adventuring Gear

     Leather satchel with "Adventuring Gear" branded onto the surface alongside an atomic symbol.

     When you say out loud, "It'd sure be useful if we had a [thing]" where there [thing] is a mundane item that would fit inside the satchel, the item will be found within the satchel.

     The item exists for 10 minutes before decohering, and that item can never be found within the satchel again (write down items as they are pulled from the satchel).

 Universal Meter

     Small protonium box with two slots, an analog dial, and a flexible probe tip. In the case with it, are a series of punchcards with single word descriptions.

     When two punch cards are inserted into the slots and the probe is touched to any object, the dial will indicate roughly where that item falls between the two words.

     Exact details are impossible to discern and any ambiguities will cause the dial to swing back and forth between possible answers.

     The punch cards are labeled:
      1) Alive
      2) Cold
      3) Good
      4) Plant
      5) Honest
      6) Mundane
      7) Anomalous
      8) Bird
      9) Dead
      10) Old
      11) Edible
      12) Dangerous
      13) Dog
      14) Weapon
      15) Benign
      16) Functioning
      17) Exciting
      18) New
      19) Evil
      20) Hot

     Roll a d20 10 times. The first time a punch card is rolled all but 1 letter of its label is illegible, if it's rolled twice only the number of letters can be made out, if a card is rolled a third time nothing useful can be made out from the label.

     Also included are 6 blank punch cards, which a clever enough person might be able to program themselves after studying the labeled ones (and determining what the cards with unreadable labels are).

     If you're nice, replace some of the more esoteric descriptions with useful ones. If you're mean do the opposite.


 Smart Vacuum

     Small hemispherical robot vacuum. When found has a small blinking green panel on the top, which if touched will bio-metrically bond to the person who touched it. After this the vacuum will follow that person around, attempt to complete instructions from its owner, and if left unattended will attempt to clean the floor of whatever area it's in.

     2 HP, can store roughly 1 liter of material (wet or dry) and can perform basic analysis of whatever it is carrying (although its only forms of communication are simple emojis along with chirps, trills and beeps).

 Inverted Observer Effect Pocket Barometer 

     Brass barometer which can be used to predict future weather with 5 in 6 accuracy. Inscribed on the back is the phrase "Inverted Observer Effect".

     It also has an extra red dial not usually found on a barometer, which can be set to each of the following locations

•   Storm
•   Heavy Rain
•   Rain
•   Fog
•   Fair
•   Dry

     If set, the chosen weather will occur in the immediate area of the barometer within 10 minutes, and last for an additional 10 minutes before dissipating back to normal conditions. The needle locks in place after selecting an option and will reset after an hour (at which point it can be used again).

     Results if operated indoors will be more dramatic (and dangerous).


 Novelty Wand

     A wand made of flexible Argonium styled to look like wood. Contained in a protonium case along with a note that reads

     "I know I've been away from home for a while, so to make up for that I had the guys down at the collider help me put together something for mommy's little witch. You can cast spells just like in those books you like so much!"

     When the wand is *swished* and *flicked* and a suitably magical phrase is spoken, it will cause one of the following effects (at random) to whatever it was pointed towards

     1) Turn Invisibility
     2) Float In Place
     3) Turn a Random (but Vibrant) Color
     4) Shrink to One Quarter Size
     5) Grow to Double Size
     6) Be Totally Silent

     Each effect lasts for 10 minutes, and only one instance of each effect can be active at a time.

 Non Copyright Infringing Plasma Sword

     Six inch rod of protonium, covered with complicated tech-y looking detailing, and a metallic thumb panel. Stored in a protonium case with a note attached to it.

     "Look, I appreciate you guys trying to make something that Billy would like, but I can't let him play with this! He'll cut the dog in half!"

     Can be activated once a day to cause a tube of plasma to be projected out of one end (1d8, ignores armor). The beam of plasma can cut through just about anything, but can only be activated once per day and can only run for 10 minutes once activated.