Hearthstone Relay

Previous Themes

Rules

The first person in each relay archives the old page and decides on a new theme.
The second person then comes up with a one-dot hearthstone for that theme.
The third, fourth and fifth people then come up with two, three and four dot hearthstones, respectively.
The sixth person comes up with a five dot hearthstone, archives the old page, and decides a new theme. Thus, the wheel of wiki life turns afresh.

The forty-fourth theme is Twins

Twins, Basil. Twins!

Mirage Ruby (ArabianNinja)

Fire Manse •

Trigger: 2 motes

The Mirage Ruby is an odd appearing stone, as it is a wholly clear gem with a smaller red core. When fed Essence the stone fills to be wholly red, and causes the attuned owner's image to seperate slightly to all who view him. This "seeing double" increases the difficulty to hit them by 2 for half their [Permanent Essence Score] turns. Activating this effect is a reflexive action.

Twinstone (Darloth)

Lunar Manse ••

Trigger: concentration, 1wp

Whenever the bearer and another willing person are touching, and either of them spends one willpower, the Twinstone enables a certain change to take place. Either they can swap physical appearances (and gender, although this is only a robust illusion. casual touch is fooled, intimate contact is not), or they may each take on nearly identical appearances, as if they were identical twins. This lasts for a single day. Its appearance is of two perfectly reflective and perfectly spherical ballbearings, not physically joined but impossible to separate by any means.

Vassal's Keepsake (DeathBySurfeit)

Water Manse •••

Trigger: concentration

This stone is large and spherical, resembling a sapphire in hue but for the nebulous twists of discolouration at its base - as the stone is turned around, these seem to be changing configuration. The bearer of the Vassal's Keepsake may touch someone and focus on them to activate the hearthstone - so used, the swirls of discolouration twirl and shape into a new form, and so does the bearer's psyche. They gain the Motivation and Intimacies of the person touched, and temporarily suppress their own; their personality and mannerisms, however, are unaffected. This effect lasts until their Motivation is changed or fulfilled or the hearthstone is deattuned. The bearer may also relinquish the effect by spending a point of Willpower at any time; this is seldom possible, however, given their newfound emotional attachments.

Hearthstone Hearthstone (PassengerPigeon)

Sidereal Manse ••••

Trigger: touching another Hearthstone

This stone is a small round black mineral deposit about the size of a bon-bon. When touched to another Hearthstone, it shifts and reforms, becoming an exact duplicate of that Hearthstone, and granting its benefits (but not its Essence recovery). Deattuning it or smashing it causes it to return to its original form. If touched to another Hearthstone Hearthstone, all persons responsible gain three points of Paradox.

Celestial Butter Urn - willows

Wood Manse •••••

Trigger: Concentration

This Hearthstone is obtained from a Manse called the Ocean of Milk, where two armies of immortal gods use a serpent wrapped around a mountain to churn the ocean, and treasures come out. The Celestial Butter Urn takes the shape of a clay pot full of cold white butter. The butter is always fresh and sweet. Simply wearing the Urn gives the bearer a hypnotic fragrance and imbues his presence with a sense of completion; this continually has the effect of Perfection in Life.

When the bearer grasps the Urn on both sides and twists sharply, it cracks into two hemispheres, and the bearer does as well. She is transformed into the twin goddesses of bounty, Annapurna and Mohini.

Annapurna feeds all persons present. This refreshes their temporary Compassion and Valor points and eliminates all their bashing damage, if they accept. Those who do feel beholden to Annapurna; the bearer may add five dice to one effort to extract a favor from the beneficiary, once per time he has been fed by Annapurna. She may claim this advantage even when she is in her natural form.

Mohini performs the celestial dance that binds all things together. Those who watch her find their confidence renewed, refeshing their temporary Conviction and Willpower points. They are also attracted to her; they pay an extra Willpower point to resist mental influences from her, either as Mohini or the natural form of the bearer, until the end of the scene.

Both the twin goddesses have the same Traits as the bearer, except Appearance, which is increased by 2. This transformation continues for a full scene, or until the bearer puts an end to it. The Urn is cracked and does not perform its normal function until it is exposed to the light of the noonday sun and the moon at at least half her brightness; these lights will restore its shape.

Comments

How long does it last? Reflexive 1 attack? A turn? A scene? (I favour a turn or two, personally. +2 diff is fairly large.)
-- Darloth

Whoops. Errata'ed ~ ArabianNinja

What do you think? Too powerful? too long? Too flexible?
-- Darloth

I like it, and not too powerful for a simple illusion. - ArabianNinja

Another! ...DeathBySurfeit

The Hearthstone Hearthstone is double plus good in my books. - ArabianNinja

It's a cool idea, but is 3 paradox enough of a price for a level 4 hearthstone that can mimic a level 5's power pretty much forever? Maybe limit its effect to hearthstones of an equal or lower rating? - Stanoje

You should really consider it and the stone it's mimicking to be both 4.5s. I don't realistically believe that any player would try to copy, for the long-term, a Hearthstone that they don't have regular access to. - willows

Why does regular access matter? - Stanoje

Firstly, uh, you only get three Paradox for being silly. Secondly, yes, I think so, because you have to find somebody who does have a level 5 and will let you copy it and has an effect you actually want to have (and most people don't run around with neon signs blazing the various effects they're getting from their Hearthstone). This is not a munchkin move, it's an adventure hook! Unless you just copy your friend's level 5, in which case you probably told him in advance so he would get something you like, which still requires the same amount of social manipulation, only in real life, and sets you up nicely for conflict, because you're a moocher. Frankly, I think the inconvenience, plus the reduced Essence recovery, plus the fact that every time you get forcibly deattuned you have to go through the whole rigamarole again, is worth that point. - PassengerPigeon

Fair enough. Can I suggesst, in the spirit of glasnost, you add something like your comment to the text of the hearthstone? Explicit plot hooks are more useful than implicit ones, I believe. - Stanoje

I am not sure I agree! In my opinion, it's more elegant to leave your plot hooks implicit and allow them to emerge naturally from the negotiations and considerations of actual play, and the play resulting is more rewarding. I find it hard to imagine a game in which somebody would take the Hearthstone Hearthstone and argue that it entitles him to get whatever Hearthstone effect he wants without actually doing any work, and in any game where he could get away with that, I suspect that there are plenty of worse things going on than saving two bonus points. - PassengerPigeon

I agree that it's more elegant. I'm talking about usefulness, though! Sometimes you want a textbook and not a poem. But that's a whole other tangent. - Stanoje

The Hearthstone Hearthstone looks like a world of fun, but I've got a quick question. Assume, for a moment, a player has one of these in a game that uses Hearthstone damage effects, i.e. when a Hearthstone and/or Manse are damaged, the Hearthstone's effect starts playing up, and may, in fact, become more of a curse than a blessing. If the player unwittingly copied a damaged Hearthstone, would the Hearthstone Hearthstone copy the drawbacks of the Hearthstone as well as the benefits? --DarkPhoenix

Hm! I think you could play it either way; I hadn't really considered it. As strictly written, I think the implication is that you just get the "benefits," which to me means the base effects, and that's how I'd run it. - PassengerPigeon

Well, looks like willows calls the next theme. - ArabianNinja, waiting patiently.

HearthstoneRelay/Twins

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Hearthstone Relay

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The forty-fourth theme is Twins

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