hand me downs

[Comte]

Good morning everybody I noticed that there hasn't been much activity on this bord lately, so I figured I'd throw up two or three posts about this or that just to keep things moveing.  Today as I randomly flipped through the book to see what I needed to write about it fell open at the hand me downs section.  This promptly caught my imagination and what resulted was a buntch of stuff.  However the only two that got written down are what follows.

Jarold's Key:

Description:  It looks to be a heavly ornate wrought iron key.  It wieghs about one pound and has Jarold's name carved in along the shaft of it.  It ends in the way all thouse cartoon keys end with the two jutting out points.

Background:  Jarold's dad was a locksmith, and while they were relativly poor they were happy.  Jarold like most little boys his age was plauged by nightmares, many nights he would wake up screaming about the creature that lived in his closet trying to get him.  One day Jarold's dad had an idea and he brought home a heavly ornate wroght iron key, he had made for a client who had backed out.  He told Jarold that the key was enchanted by an ancient wizard against the monstors.  By useing it to lock a door no monstore could get through, that night his father pretended to lock all the dorrs and windows then gave the key to Jarold.  That night the monstor came like usual but he couldn't get through despite all of his hammerings and wheedleings.  Also Jarold's family couldn't afford a bed for him so there was no worries of intrusion from below.  When Jarold got older and his children started to have nightmares the key was passed on to them, and their children and so on untill one tragic day the key was passed to their former child's best freind.  The key left the family and circulated through many hands, going where ever it can be of use.  Legend has also told of it opening a door into closet land, but only on rare and desperate situations.

Game Use:  It can lock any door or window against the forces of closet land.  Also if it fits the GM's mood it can open a door into closet land

Old Tin Cans:
These cans are usually found in a pile rangeing from 2-5.  They all have holes puntched in the bottoms of them with strings protrudeing from them.  On all of the cups the names of thier previouse owners have been scratched in.  None of the strings are attached to one another.

History:  Over the years the tin can phone has been used by many best freinds as a means of communication to one another, and everyone that's had one would like to pretend that it works just as well, if not better than a real phone.  These rudimentary forms of communication have been the saviopr of many children over the years.  It opens up a rather intricate comunication network that allows the children to coordinate plans effectivly.  They have also been a symbol of freindship.  THe combonation of their usefulness and the actual beleife of how well they work have converted them into something truely useful.

Game Use:  Anyone with a tin can phone can talk to anyone else with a tin can phone no matter where they are.  Great for letting the players easly communicate with one another.

Story Hook:  While playing in the woods you find a row of tin cans on a log, through them can be heard a voice talking.  If the children are brave they can talk back and the voice is that of a child who is far away, mabey even another state.  THey make freind with the child and one day he get's pulled into closet land, with the phone still in his hand.  by useing the phones the other children can find and resque him.  
Writer's note: I always wanted to have someone to have a tin can phone with.

[Ron Edwards]

Here's some probably-unwelcome feedback, Jason ...

I really don't like the Hand-Me-Downs. They look like plain old magical items to me, and every time I see the list in the book, I see utility-items that essentially say to the players, "Do this."

Given the power of Belief magic, and the large number of available props on the character sheet (at least three categories involving stuff), our group found all manner of great Items occurring through play. Tossing in more, especially those oriented toward transport, attack, protection, or perception (the Big Four), seems superfluous.

'Course, I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority on this issue. Feel free to ignore.

Best,
Ron

[Comte]

To tell you the truth I don't disagree with you.  Like I said I flipped through the book and page it landed on would be what my post is about.  As I was sitting there cheerfuly writeing about a couple of new me downs I realized that most of the one's I had written up I'd never use.  I also realized that most of the one's in the book I'd never use.  These are on page 70 for every one's easy reference.  After a qhuick examination I don't think I'd use Nava's Sceptre ever.  Haveing an item that just flat out dose 1d6 damge to something 12 feet away without doing some sort of horrible thing to the child in return dosn't seem to fit with everything else.  It kinda feels like giveing a .45 to my Ad&d bard.  Still the problem comes with Nava's sceptre haveing a back ground.  I like this background and I am certain that all the hand me downs should have a background atached to them.  Backgrounds are important, it gives the item weight and signifigance, it adds to the power behind them and gives the players an idea that they are contributeing to a vast and  evolveing story.  I'm about to make my second AD&D refrence but oh well.  My favorite AD&D campain was the players finding an artefact, useing it, being cursed by it, and finally took them donw the path twords getting rid of it.  These are items of increadable power that come at a terrible cost.  I like the idea of hand me downs following this model somewhat.  For example double the belife loss when you mess up useing Nava's Sceptre.  All the other hand me downs fit within the game more or less.  They aren't to powerful and they seem to fit well more or less.  Dorothy's Doorknocker was the perfect example of this, it's simply a way into closet land that a person can find in thier grandmothers attic to do whatever it is you do in closet land.  The charm bracelet is also a very cool item that could be a spiffy newgame masters tool.  You get to turn back the clock 10 seconds only to possibly screw it all up again.  Being game master is fun like that.

Now lets look at what I hammered out yesterday.  The key would never fall into the player's hands.  It is way to big of a head ache.  However I would drop it off in the hands of an NPC who would put it to good use.  I don't know how...but I will eventualy.  I dunno I liked the story I though up.

The cans on the other hand are a really cool little item that could be used for both good and evil.  They can be used to coordniate a defense against the monster plaugeing the neiborhood or it could be used by a fallen child to lure her former freinds into closet land.  

This started coherent I'm not sure if it sure is.  I spent the weekend watching several sevearly mind altering movies and I've been haveing trouble figgureing out if I am real or not let alone write something coherent on hand me downs.  So to be safe lets stick an in summary at the bottom of this.

In Summary:  Hand me downs do seem extreamly out of place in this game.  However when you put a little work into them they can be a powerful tool.  Be wary of giveing these items to players, give them to NPC's.  Nothing is funnyer than watching a child with a brass ring be swallowed whole.  Same goes for Nava'a Sceptre.  You can use the charm bracelet to great effect, and the doorknocker is just cool.  K I'm done now.

[Jason L Blair]

Hand-Me-Downs were included to give a sense of history to the game. It can also add a faery tale element to a Scary Story or True Horror scenario.

Belief magic is great, but some children's belief is so great, it benefits all children.

[Grave Boy 13]

Hi all, I figured I would toss in my 2 cents on the hand-me-downs.  First I think everyone had a good point.  Hand-me-downs have the potential to be greatly abused and if not used right, just don't fit the game, but only if the GM allows it.  If you just hand them out like candy then that's just what they will be... sugar-loaded twinkies.  Be careful which ones you introduce into the game, and only introduce one if it is important to the story, not because its cool, or the players are whining, or you were promised certain favors from certain players who you've really wanted those certain favors from for quite some time now, etc.  Like Jason and Comte said, they are used to add a sense of history, a feeling of being a part of something bigger and, if done right, they will do that in spades.

Anyway, no matter the hand-me-down, if it fits into the story you are telling, then you shouldn't worry about letting a PC have it... just don't let them have it for too long.  The way I had always viewed them is as a tool of sorts that was, more then likely, under the control of the Divine Host more then anything else.  As such, they have a real bad habit of coming and going as needed... which means you give them to a PC when you deiced that it is needed and then take it away when its purpose has been served.  

Take the one Comte came up with, Jarold's Key, for instance.  Its real powerful and even Comte couldn't think of a good way to give it to a PCs without unbalancing the game.  Now lets say that the story the PC's are about to get involved with involves a particularly nasty monster which is really mean and truly powerful.  It even has the power to control the minds of other kids, and lots of them.  Well, it's been taking over the neighborhood with some kind of really nasty master goal in mind.  The PC's have found out about what its been doing to the neighborhood kids, but haven't had the time to figure out how to stop it before it had already amassed a small army.  A strange but kindly grandmother-like homeless woman who had befriended one of the kids some time ago had however, given them Jarold's Key.  When she gave it to them, she told them its story.  So now they know how to be safe, so they rush home and lock themselves in.  One of the possessed kids tries to chase them into the house, but when he comes in, the mind control link is broken.  So now they know how to break the link... only problem is they are stuck in the house now and the monster is still taking over the neighborhood.  And what's worse, tomorrow's a school day and they can only pretend to be sick so long...

However they now have a safe harbor to plan the best way to attack and destroy the monster. So they plot and plan and send out scouts to figure out what's happening elsewhere and eventually find the monsters layer.  After a daring attack, along with the help of several other neighbor kids who they freed, they defeat the monster, free the neighborhood and everyone's happy.  As they jump around celebrating and congratulating one another, one of them asks Little Tommy if he could see the key.  Little Tommy looks confused back at Mikie and says, "I thought you had the key."  "No, you have it.  You're the last one who locked up the house." Mikie tells Little Tommy as the player looks at the GM with a don't-screw-with-us look on his face.  "Mikie put it in his pocket" the player informs the GM.  So, indeed, the GM agrees that Mikie did have the key and that he did put in his pocket, so Mikie goes to pull the key out, only he finds a hole in his pocket!  Now the GM is getting I'm-gonna-kill-you-now looks from the players, so he politely informs the player of Mikie that, as he feels the hole in his pocket, he remembers the story that the old bag lady had told him about the key and how it found its way from child to child going to those who most needed it.  They had defeated the monster and now, maybe somewhere else, another kid really needed to help fight the monsters, and maybe, just maybe, they are now hearing the story of how Mikie and Little Tommy, the two little nerds from South Side Grade School, saved the neighborhood.  And so, the two friends go to sleep a little easier that night and the players, well, they feel like there characters are a part of something larger.  If nothing else, that they are now a part of an urban legend... and there aren't too many players who would be upset over that.

I know, that is a long bit of a ramble, but I think I've gotten the point across on how any hand-me-down could be used to help out a story if the GM introduces the right one in the right way and then gets rid of it when its purpose is over.  They are not so much tools for the PC's as they are tools for the story and, sometimes, the story might really need one...

[Comte]

It's been awhile since I poked at this topic or really even thought about it and after I posted my lastest Hand-Me-Down I realized something.  First off Little Fears is a multi setting game.  It seamlessly fits in with every single game I've picked up includeing Ad&D, Vampire, SLA, Socerer, Asylum, Over the Edge, et cetera.  So depending on the setting you are useing for the game hand me downs could either be a perfect fit or terribly out of place.  I noticed that there are several parts of the book where they try to touch on everything and they suceed more or less.  So if you are doing a realisic 1990's inner  city setting, then yeah handme downs don't really fit.  However if you are renacting a fairy tale or makeing your own, then they are almost nessisary.  

Most of the things I have written for the game, and indeed many of the images I get when writeing this is a white picket fense style new england neigborhood with somehting dark and terrible underneath.  Yeah yeah it's very stephen king but so what.

When we break out of that mould the game really changes and comes into it's own and all sorts of cool stuff can happen.  So these things can be 6 diffrent flavors of good and nesisary depending on where you put the game.