Making Wands For My Tabletop RPG - Ep3 | Arcane Ugly

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I continue making my own tabletop rpg, taking lots of inspiration from games like dungeons and dragons, pathfinder, icrpg and OSR stuff. Episode threes' focus is on wands, and I make a couple of prop/cosplay wands. This project is a way to combine all my hobbies of terrain painting, sculpting, converting, prop making, and projects like my nurgle diaries. The game I create is called Arcane Ugly, and uses Knave by the questing beast as the foundation.

[@Miscast]

Get Arcane Ugly Here! - arcaneugly.com

[@Aconspiracyofravens1]

Wand of reversal, it makes any spell do the opposite of usual, all numerical stats are backwards (53 becomes 35) and effects are reversed

[@matthewbearden2959]

idea ,some objects (wand(s) or books or bottles idk anything ) can have spells of there own that the item itself made(or learned) and that it allows you to use as-long as you do something in return (feed it , take it on a quest , read it a bedtime story) . also have you consider sentient items. ps i wrighted (wrought, idk) this before watching through most of it so most of it seems redundant now

[@gremlinfifty2308]

Incompatible spell and wand combos should have weird attributes that the GM decides so that its fun but also easier for the GM

[@Aconspiracyofravens1]

wand of chemical reactivity, any spell causes itself and things it touches to become chemically active, the PH and temperature goes bonkers, and electrons change hands like a game of hot potato, this has very big consequences

[@calebdowning8877]

@@Aconspiracyofravens1 with a the spell sentience, it would make someone inanimate.

[@Nerdforge]

They turned out really cool! Great texturing😍

[@Miscast]

Thanks so much! 😊

[@michaelmakesstuff6657]

hi Nerdforge, its good to see my two favorite crafters working together

[@maninalift]

I like the idea of "all of the above": * Hettie Whistlebag has five different wands stuffed into her robe, each more knotted and unpredictable than the last. They are like ill-behaved but much loved pets, spitting out tangling vines, mesmerising words and biting insects. * Gildor Barrowbrow, has a single wand, he knows every owner it has had and every name it has born back to the day it was crafted 700 years ago. His wand is kept in an enchanted holster, gilded with the name Thoughtweaver, to prevent any ill coming to it. Thoughtweaver demands loyalty and in return grants the caster greater potency and control, even the ability, with some effort, to combine spells.

[@invaderoz]

For me, You Sir, are the most interesting 'crafting' youtuber right now.

[@Miscast]

Thank you! That's really exciting to hear!

[@deltafish5769]

I'm kinda new to this side of youtube and i love it, could recomend some other youtubers that do this kind off thing

[@notoriouschamp7984]

Maybe black magic craft and midwinter minus.

[@bronco..2]

I agree I also love all his work

[@bronco..2]

@@notoriouschamp7984 I think you mean midwinter minis and yeah 40k is a lot of cool crafting projects

[@pikapuffin368]

Man this is shaping into something awesome. I love the “spell in the wand alters the spells cast through it” idea - you’ve talked about mishmashing models together for monster ideas, so the idea of letting players mash spells together in play sounds super fitting, and I know as a GM I’d be more than down to work with casters on how various combinations are supposed to work out.

[@Miscast]

Thank you! Great to hear your thoughts. I'll keep that in mind

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

“Reading Harry Potter as a kid” Hold up. Trent is significantly younger that I realized. Sweet sticks young man.

[@RaqrexArt]

Is he even old enough to have his own KZbin? Do his parents know?

[@BlackMagicCraftOfficial]

@@RaqrexArt shhhhh. He might get his account deleted. You've gotta be 13 at least!

[@NordboDK]

We had spell sticks at my school, too. I had this nice yellow one, with an eraser on the end.

[@jherazob]

Exact same reaction, darn younglings! [Shakes walking cane]

[@MidwinterMinis]

We're old, man... wait, I mean we're old men, man... man. Men. Wut

[@noxiousbones]

The idea of spells stored in the wand has me thinking that you *Have* to keep your wands *fed* and maybe there is some bad thing that happens when your wand is *hungry*

[@Miscast]

Hahahhah, thats a fun idea

[@zedthefatone2864]

The Hungry, Hungry Arcane Rod: feeding your magic wand for dummies

[@noxiousbones]

@@zedthefatone2864 isn’t a Rod different than a wand which is different than a staff? Why not use an Orb? That’s my favorite thing about this made up concept, it can mean anything, the differences could be majorly different or no difference at all.

[@zedthefatone2864]

@@noxiousbones fair, I just meant like “point object that magic poops out of.” I also forgot about Orbs, seem like they can be hard to aim with.

[@noxiousbones]

@@zedthefatone2864 yeah, maybe they are safer but also more difficult to use 🤷‍♂️

[@angrygonk5238]

I think, maby, wands could backfire. You cast a spell of setient fire, and suddenly you become the deamon host of fire elemental.

[@benstephenson9251]

Heck yeah that is an awesome idea

[@imperium40k62]

I love that idea

[@danielgrunmann]

I'm quickly becoming a big fan of your content! As an artist, its great to hear your reflections about the process of making things, running into roadblocks and overcoming them

[@Miscast]

Thank you! That means a lot

[@MiniatureHobbyist]

Everyone loves a wand, brings the wizard out in all of us, regardless of our age =)

[@sociallysupreme7101]

Hello M. H.!

[@Bluecho4]

Everyone, deep down inside, wants to be a Wizard. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying and too afraid of being seen as childish. Which, of course, is the most childish sentiment of all.

[@jebthepleb492]

Perhaps for the wand of sentience where the effects aren’t obvious, there would be a backup d10 personality table to roll, or the DM could choose the personality based on the spell’s history with its caster. For example, someone who typically likes to use abjuration magic and is bitter towards the things he casts abjuration on, casting “Wall of Force”; that Wall would have the personality of a gatekeeper, where none shall pass for even the most noble of reasons.

[@nathanex5122]

I would say that personality of objects brought to life should be determined by how it was used And a wand of Life or something could have effects like player deciding on objects personality

[@mcbrideaddison]

I might not have heard right, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but I got the feeling that the types of wands could be quite practically anything the dm/gm wanted it to be, so unless there's only a specific number of types of wands, you'd need to have something like that for every single wand, and they would also be very specific to the situation. I like the idea though, so if it turns out there are only like 10 different types of wands or something that'd definitely be a cool addition

[@defensivekobra3873]

it was not a wand of sentience, it was a wand of thorns and the

[@nathanex5122]

@@defensivekobra3873 its an idea, not a part of video

[@rwvids1]

Why don't you bind demons or spirits to the wands and channel their power through them?

[@imperium40k62]

That's a sick idea, I have got to use that for the TTRPG that I'm making for my friends!

[@Gyrokosher]

"You cast a sentience spell with the wand of thorns!" The stone tells you to piss off. Maybe don't use that wand.

[@droidblasta6130]

I think adding some sort of system where each character has some impairment like a vision problem, or an amputated limb or something might be cool and suit this game They would also have cool effects, like if you were dyslexic and reading spells, they would go wrong to some degree I just feel like having problems with your character are just as fun as your characters super powers, no one wants to play a plain old perfect wizard, but a wizard who messes up spells to some degree would be fun and intuitive It’s a real spontaneous game system and I feel like something like this would really help elevate how you play your character

[@Miscast]

Great idea! I only have a very basic version of that atm but I think having really specific impairments could be really fun!

[@noxington4260]

That mechanic where the wand becomes the modifier on the spell is *chefs kiss*. I could see it causing some hilarious accidents if a player forgets what wand they have in the heat of the moment

[@Miscast]

Thanks! Me too hahah

[@matthewrayner571]

How about this: "If the effect of casting the spell with the wand of thorns is obvious, and the GM agrees, bypass the table-rolling. Note that this common wand of thorns can never deal above X additional damage, and if a spell of level Y or higher is cast through it, there is a 20% chance the wand explodes doing X damage, and causing a magical calamity. If the effect of casting the desired spell through this wand is not obvious, or the GM disapproves the intended effect, roll a D6 and consult the table below 1: nothing unusual happens 2: the wand shrinks to the size of a tiny thorn for 24hrs, and you cannot use it during this time 3: a stream of thorns accidentally shoots out the wand, hitting the target of your spell and doing X damage. 4: The wand grows to a length of 5 feet as a thorny vine or bramble, straight into the ground, and the end wraps around your wrist. You cannot move more than 5 feet away from your current location until the end of your next turn. 5: as result 3, but it does an additional X damage. 6: roll again on the table. If you get another 6, this wand falls apart into a thousand thorns and requires magical repair in the next 24 hours or can never be used again."

[@isaacmartinez2359]

I get this system but my question is, if I am a player and I know that I will have to roll on a table if I use the wand with a spell that does not have an obvious effect, why would I bother? I would just cast without the wand and not risking anything happening.

[@platoyando3978]

​@@isaacmartinez2359 Well that's what you'd do in "real life". Or it should be a d12 and there should be 6 more positive effects, if you want to motivate your players to experiment with wands

[@matthewrayner571]

@@isaacmartinez2359 Perhaps you want the extra damage for a debuff or illusion spell? Maybe it sould have some positive effects, like Petr's suggestion. I'm not pretending this is a perfect system, but it seemed like a reasonable base to build off to me, as it provides a clear structure for GMs to make their own wands.

[@isaacmartinez2359]

@@matthewrayner571 i understand we are all just brain storming here! I know players who just want to be efficient in what they do lol it is a tricky thing to solve

[@cyberhonk2999]

Gotta say doing all of this amazing work is pretty poggers

[@PhileasLiebmann]

What if the spells and wands have some sort of keyword and there is a table in the rulebook that tells you what happens when you apply a certain keyword to a another one? Sure, it's a lot of work, but I just find looking stuff up in tables super fun. So say you cast the "Transmogrify" spell on a monster to turn it into a toad through a Wand of Gates. You would look up "Transmogrify" spell in the spell column and then check the effect in the keyword column for "Portal": the target is turned into a Portoad, a large amphibian that teleports when jumping. You could further break up the tables with super-categories. For example keywords like Ice, Fire, Earth, Wind etc. could be found in the Element keyword table. More powerful wands could have multiple keywords, either allowing players to chose the effects or selecting one randomly based on a dice roll, maybe depending on their skill with magic. Also if you have wands, you should definitely also have staves, orbs, totems or talismans.

[@nathanex5122]

Its a cool idea but imagine that you come up with it yourself and not look at the spell column

[@PhileasLiebmann]

@@nathanex5122 Maybe the example I gave was a bit misleading for what I intended, but as I envisioned it the effect descriptions wouldn't be that specific (just as Transmogrify probably wouldn't just be for turning people into toads).

[@mirrs]

MORE TABLETOP CREATION CONTENT BB

[@ScratchBashing]

Your idea for spell books being written and then locked up to age to perfection has inspired this: Origin of (some) wands: Enchantment placed on a seed, grows a tree, which is eventually suitably magically magical and a wand can be carved from its wööd.

[@RaqrexArt]

Trent, somehow you managed to make magic wands super cool. Move over battle-ax...wand is the new weapon of choice 👌

[@Monkeyman12534]

So casting spells is like firing a dirty gun. And wands are the string attatched to the trigger 5 feet away so you dont blow yourself up?

[@muskmallo9623]

Your videos give me so many cool ideas every time.

[@thedarkloon1563]

I think it'd be interesting to keep exploring the idea of wands being a buffer between you and the spell. To give wands the same purpose of making spells less hazardous to the user, you could have wand effects replace the deadly chaos table effects. While the base table effect might be "you burst into flames", the effect with a wand is instead "the wand emits an incredibly powerful plume of fire that you cannot stop. The sheer force of the flame knocks you off your feet." Another example might include replacing "Mouths sprout up inside you and eat you from the inside" with "Your wand grows legs and a large mouth. It wrestles away from your hand and begins chasing you, looking for a bite of delicious wizard."

[@MrPug-dt4sd]

Fun fact: m e w a n t

[@heathgillies6687]

I like the idea of spells acting as a barrier, as well as a modifier. say you absolutely blunder a spell, the kind of mistake that would instantly make you pixie dust. Maybe your wand disintegrates instead of you? This could be given extra effect by making players really love their wands. Maybe a non-linear scaling to them, where players can upgrade them in a way that doesn’t make them far behind their peers if their wand breaks? you could also implement the collaborative world-building into the wands, with some artifacts! Maybe a wand was owned by a great wizard, who journeyed deep below the shallow caverns that rookie adventurers face, steeped a willow rod in the latent magic there, and returned it to the surface, where he became a powerful arcanist. 400 years later, the players accidentally blast open his tomb, uncovering his wand, now occupied by his soul, who is terrified of amateurs casting spells through him and (just maybe) turning his new form into sawdust.

[@nathanex5122]

Okay first thing I like about it is that you can actually come up with some cool spell effects My idea is a wand of Flesh (it looks like a tentackle with some eyes) And sentience would not only make an object come to life but transform it into a fleshy monster with tentackles and eyes. Maybe give the monster abbilities based on what it was originally (lantern would have fire breath, barrels could shoot their content)

[@sasha-noelleord6780]

That wand rule situation sounds tricky but maybe you could get a bit of everything by introducing a concept of "harmony". If the aspect of the wand naturally lends itself to augmenting the spell being cast then it works in that more fun flavourful way but as the "harmony" of ideas becomes more abstract the chance for the magic to go volatile increases because the magics oppose each other like playing with magnets. So maybe a wand with winter aspect when casting a drizzle spell turns it to hail since there's a natural harmony. When a kinda harmonic idea to the spell like winter and make ropes it simply flavours the spell but might not add any practical effect (though it would be a really fun and intuitive way to bring in that five senses of magic concept you discussed before to make it more vivid). Then when the essence of spells are opposed to the wand aspect such as a Summer Sun spell and Winter aspect you bring in that thing where you roll a dice and maybe you blow up the wand, maybe you grow a tentacle or if you're super lucky the spell works out with a secondary effect from the wand as a bonus. Another way might be to make the wand themes very vague or ephemeral like Winter or Night or Decay rather than a more tangible element like fire or water which might allow you to lend the effects to many more possible spells.

[@johnbozarth9805]

I LOVE the idea of the creatures personalities being related to the wands properties 🤯🤩

[@CaptIronfoundersson]

As a longtime GM, I absolutely love this mechanic. The caster has X spell and Y wand, they can modify the spell within the parameters of the wand. The rest is up to imagination and the GM's approval. You can really have a lot of fun with that. Limitless possibilities. A sleeping spell plus a wand of shadow knocks out the guard and summons a nightmare monster that is under the caster's control for some amount of time. A levitate spell plus a wand of wind creates a tornado. An invisibility spell plus a wand of thought allows the caster into someone's mind and either read their thoughts or control their body. A fire spell plus an ice wand (or any similar yin and yang combination) creates a void in space that sucks in everything around, including the caster.

[@mustermannmax69]

The grip of the first wand you made looked a lot like a spore releasing mushroom. I think the Idea of the wands being alive is cool. I'd like to think of wands as the fruits of magic mycelium that ripens over time by consuming the magic floating up from the bottom. Once the mycelium has gathered enough magic it brings out a wand. By using the wand you are giving it a little bit of your magic in exchange for a much more stable but a little less powerful cast. But as the wand notices its caster is in trouble it can sometimes give a little bit of its magic to make something laughably stupid strong to protect him. Once the wand has gathered enough magic and it found a good place to grow (for example a very magical glade in a forest) it explodes releasing its magical spores to grow and repeat the cycle. The idea is that the spellcaster and the wand live in a symbiotic relationship and the wand kind of adopts the character of the caster and making sure it's "host" carrys it through the world.

[@tanuki9691]

What if you added a special want called a "wand ball" that's just a ton of wands balled together, and it produces several effects at once but explodes after the first use, so if used properly, it can even turn into a grenade! Obviously the accuracy would be way down because the spells would be pointed in way too many directions but I think it could be fun!

[@FablesD20]

Love the idea just making basic wands focuses (such as higher modifiers for spell attack) But really like the chaos of freeing chaos by mixing magic from the caster & the premade spell. I feel like for dnd, the dm will need to present the idea via an NPC. A lot of cool stories

[@kitbashbox]

I really love that the wands can be used to combine the power of the item with the spell you are casting, I can imagine heroes and adventurers collecting them as they go, and maybe only being able to use wands once so they have either a quiver full of wands or even a belt full like Chewbacca! Awesome work really love your stuff

[@magnificentjosh]

How about a wand having multiple aspects? Like, maybe a wand that smoulders with burning embers and its got the aspects of "fire, anger and perseverance". When you cast a rope spell, it might make burning ropes. When you cast sentience, it might make a angry little construct, or it might make a spell not go off immediately but be more powerful when it does. If you wanted to formalise it, each wand might have an elemental, an emotional and a mechanical aspect, and each spell might say which aspect would apply to it.

[@UnexploredUniversE7]

Few months ago I had the strange idea to start developing my own RPG. From the beginning I was stuck with zero idea, only the imaginary world, where PGs (sur)vive was there. Casually found your first video about Arcane Ugly and it was very helpful. You are a source of inspiration! Unfortunately at the moment i can't be a patreon to follow this project from closer, so I will wait un update on this great channel!!!

[@klebermarchand]

-Maybe wands could be used as some sort of "mechanical part" for a contraption or a trap. Ever wondered how this trap can shoot firebolts ? -When you can't use the "special" thing in your wand, it affects the caster's next spell. After you gave sentience with the wand of thorns, you try to cast a classic firebolt. Your target screams as their skin is pierced by red hot thorns. Teleport yourself ? The ground around you becomes thorny. You cannot however keep the special thing forever, as it will create a mutation if not used. Your fingernails are now thorns.

[@cyagen9782]

I like the combination a lot. When it is not obvious then the rule is: "All players make a suggestion on what the effect is. Then all players vote on the best, in case of ties, the suggestion that was the funniest wins or the game master casts the tie breaker vote. The winning suggestion give the player a small reward, like a bonus on the next spell casts." This keeps it simple, narrative and reward funny ideas.

[@bustin9549]

Listening you talk with such fluidity about game mechanics is attractive, you have a beautiful nerdy mind

[@pcblite7203]

First, love the videos! I only found your channel recently and I've loved every video I've watched so far. It's also incredibly cool and inspiring to see a behind the scenes look at making an RPG and I'm excited to see how it turns out! Second, I think instead of trying to outline every single possible combination for spells and wands, there could be a kind of scale of success for these muddy casts where the outcome isn't clear, and those work as guidelines for what actually happens. I'm personally a fan of the Powered by the Apocalypse model of perfect success, success with a drawback, and a miss. The player outlines what they want to have happen and then roll on that scale to see how closely the actual effect lines up with the intention. I think having the player outline what they want to have happen when casting a spell through a wand with the chance for success-- just not how they expected it-- could keep the absolute chaos of spell casting while keeping play moving. I don't think there's any way to completely take away the uncertainty from muddy casts, and honestly I think that uncertainty might be a fun part of casting through wands because it allows for the possiblity of casting the same spell twice through the same type of wand with different results. Hope you find the solution that works best for you!

[@jonnytheai1401]

The more i hear about this project, the more excited i am about it. Maybe it is the concept of the game, maybe it is your happiness and excitement showing through in the videos, but i love Arcane Ugly already

[@dmmomma]

Singing "He's got the moves! (he's got the moves) He's got the moves! (he's got the moves)...". Nice.

[@namename2186]

A fun idea would be that a player declares Thier intentions with an attribute and the DM decides a difficulty modifier that will be added to the existing dice roll needed to cast the base spell. That way modifying spells with a wand can be a basic and easy thing even a beginner can do or a complex and nigh impossible feat of mastery that only a high level character with lots of int can reliably do depending on how op the player declared Thier intentions to be. A good thing for the setting of the game would be saying that all wands have a sort of super natural spirit in them that can modify the mana from the three great witches on the fly without having to prepare complex and expensive runes to suck the mana over a long period of time like the pathetic humans. This also means that if a player REALLY wants to create and OP spell using the academy system then they would have to pass the test of capturing one of these supernatural spirits and putting them in the SPELL BOOK ITSELF allowing the player to achieve the level complexity necessary to make Thier op spell that wins them the game and *maybe* gains them some respect from the three great witches themselves *cough cough* hall of fame and artifacts for previous player characters who achieved the impossible flavoured as them becoming immortal servants to the three great witches while still being treated well *cough cough*

[@michaelkennedy6759]

I think your last idea about making wands alter spells is a really good one. DMs can adjudicate that without too much difficulty even if it's less obvious. The idea that "Give Sentience" with the "Thorn" wand makes something have a prickly personality is wonderful! It's those moments that would be very memorable at the table. Give some examples of what might happen with some niche spells in the book as DM guidance and you'll be fine

[@megajotb2918]

Perhaps for spells where the effect is unclear when combined with a wand, the effects of the two just can't combine, and it forces the effect of the wand to try and target something else, meaning it could be used to sort of cast two at once, but it's more likely to make a teapot sentient, and then catch one of your party members on fire.

[@alexchaviramusic]

This is my favorite series of ever. I love your lowkey and relaxed vibe to creating this game on the fly. It's such a joy to come right along side, thanks for making videos!

[@hudsonmayne8702]

Maybe wands are used to add different effects to the spells like the sorcerer's metamagic in dnd 5e so that the wand that they use will have effects like that and also it will have specific senses whenever you cast a spell (eg. A vibrant pink coral wand, when cast could give all spells a longer range and all spells cast would sound like waves on the shore and look the color of the turquoise of the sea water in a reef)

[@CJ-sh6gj]

All of it, absolutely wonderful.

[@BaffledOrange]

Wands preventing a MISCAST is very on brand, nice

[@Miscast]

Hahaha

[@jcaob]

Now I know that you probably don’t have any room or desire to add more mechanics but what the heck. I’m also making my own RPG and I’m using these videos as a guide/inspiration. I’ve added a mechanic that I think is really fun. A) Luck. The GM has the players roll a d20. If the players roll under a ten then something bad happens to them (they get bad luck) if they roll higher than a ten then something good happens to them (they get good luck).

[@DaemonSmith1]

Honestly Trent, I think the wand + spell = cooler spell is a pretty great concept for players and gma to roll with. Even those more complex or unclear combinations are sure to jog people's imaginations! To me it sound like that's what your game is all about. People can be creative and follow the rules at the same time!

[@cruddytaco]

I’ve been working on my first ever Dungeons and Dragons campaign as a dungeon master and your videos have been a great source of ideas and just general confidence to try out new stuff and ideas I wasn’t sure about. I found your channel about a week ago but I’m already loving it. Keep up the great content!

[@weirdbed6113]

You have such a surplus of raw creativity 😍

[@danicatempleton6745]

I like the properties idea. At my larp, when the effect of a spell could be interpreted multiple ways, we always roll with the first way that comes to mind. So if someone cast "with water I command you to lie" then you could lie down or you could just start telling lies, but it has to be the one you thought of first.

[@randomcasual001]

Keep up the great work man! It’s been really fun seeing all of your progress so far!

[@newbluedisk]

Wands act as a foci for magic, a storage for magic, and sort of on the spot cauldron. This represents as 3 stats for a wand; the bonus (adding or subtracting from the spell cast pool), the bind ( at least one spell can be stored, if it's old enough or powerful enough it can be more), and the boil (the spell being cast being mixed with the spell(s) inside the wand. The balance is those wands with a negative or 0 level bonus may have more spells stored, more room to store spells, or may have a lower chance of negative side effect when using the boil, while the ones with a great bonus may see a drop in the number of stored spells or a great chance for a boil backfire. So the spell is cast, the user has a choice, they can use one element, the bonus, the bind, or boil, or a a combination there of. So a +1 from the bonus could be added to the magic roll using the boil, to make sure it gives a positive outcome, or the bonus could be added to the stored spell when you use it up (additional bonuses if the wand is sacrificed in the process)

[@zodar526]

i think it would be cool for some flintlock weapons. since you've been focusing on magic for most of the project, thought it would be awesome if you added some muskets for a really weird combination of magic and maces, with cutlasses and muskets.

[@Miscast]

That sounds really fun!

[@dalooneylass5561]

Magic in Arcane Uglys sounds like a wild untamed force of nature. So as an idea when you use Magic and it go’s wrong it happens during the channeling process and whatever bad stuff happens happens to the thing channeling it, more often than not that’s the player. So what a wand does it channels the Magic for the user, so if/when bad stuff happens it’ll happen to the wnd instead of the user.

[@plaidpvcpipe3792]

I think that perhaps for a spell like sentience or other abstract things like it, wand powers should have allegiances. So for fire spells, flames could be true neutral, while fireball would be chaotic evil, etc. Basically, the allegiance of the power affects the allegiance or effects of the object you're casting the spell on.

[@burntmunchkin2586]

can’t wait for the game to come out! so far it’s very intriguing and has a lot of creative aspects to it

[@legolord9697]

I have a idea for the game: you should be able to summon creatures. To do this you have to first kill the creature then take its skull. Then you have to get a goat heart and merge the skull and the goat heart together(you could use a binding spell to do that). Then in battle you can use the skull to summon the creature.

[@speedrunnercaliorda2787]

You can go with matter and motive either with the wands or with the potions, so if you want a flamethrower you go matter fire and motive chaos.

[@speedrunnercaliorda2787]

Or if you want a healing potion you go matter water and motive life

[@badger1904]

Such an awesome craft series, thanks for the inspiration to make awesome games with my buds

[@BobtheOdd]

In the homebrew I did I used wands as a spell component. So the wizard who cast with a wand never needed them....but if they lost the wand, they were SOL, cause all the spells depend on them. Made them very precious and valuable. The kinda like you said, specialty wands could be found(fire, ice, etc.) and amplify that energy, but decrease the power of opposite spells(fire wand would add a extra 🎲 or two to fire magic, but take them away for water based spells).

[@reacespieces1551]

Adds wands to the game as an excuse to make wands IRL. Who can blame you, the wands look rad!

[@sordcooper2]

So, two ideas for you; wands are like baby's first spellbook, they cast spells, sure, but they're limited in power and effect or whatever, the upside of this is when something goes horribly wrong the wan take an the hit instead of you, making it weirder, cooler, or outright breaking it. Either way you cant safely continue to use the wand until you take the time to understand or undo the effect on it. The second idea is a fairly simple bit of design that's basically the core of all RPGs; player states their intention, DM states the difficulty. For instance, a player has a wand of cold, and a book of wind, they want to combine the two to create a chilling breeze to freeze a lake, pretty simple, dm make the roll easy. Later, that same player wants to combo their cold wand with a book of emotions, to literally cool off a heated conversation, that's a more odd esoteric thing, so the roll is harder. You could also shift the design over to have the results on the miscast table get worse somehow instead of the roll being harder because your little wizard is messing around with magic even more than normal and opening themselves up to worse peril. I'd do both personally

[@52Miniatures]

Love it. Thanks 🙏 I’m not an RPG fellow... but definitely a wands and magic appreciator. So loved this.

[@skiesquiggles7319]

Been thinking about this project for a minute now! Love the progress updates

[@WesHalloransRobots]

As a dm for dnd, I love this shit. The wand mixing with a spell. I’m a person who dreams of combos of spells and will think of 10+ effects in a second. I’m not normal but would happily pay for this module

[@timmypickles3198]

I honestly think the idea of wands having specific effects that add on to the spells is really good. Also I’d enjoy having a conversation with a tree who’s a complete asshole because you cast the spell using a wand of thorns

[@semomonkey]

I cast the spell of LIKE using the COMMENTS wand!

[@euansmith3699]

"This is a Blue Wand with a tip in the shape of a tiny fist making the thumbs-up sign. It casts the "Appease Algorithm" spell."

[@argowen]

dang spell fizzled out...

[@epistimonkapetanios]

Not funny, didn't laugh.

[@aidanbrown3758]

this is a very cool concept, it would allow each wand to be like a little puzzle with small visual clues as to what kind of wand it may be or if it’s too unclear it might force the player to cast a spell through it as a test

[@artzpops]

I love your creativeness ..keep the faith man

[@remygierke8222]

i ABSOLUTELY love this idea. the first thing that came to my mind is that if you were to cast sentience through the wand of fire it would be possessed by a fire elemental, or fire based entity (think calcifer from howl's moving castle). and to maybe balance out the player being able to do anything, you might want to incorporate some kind of roll to see if the intended effect would occur. again using the wand of fire and sentience, you could attempt to summon a fire spirit, and if the player rolled low, it could just give the object sentience and then light the object on fire so all you really get is an object screaming in pain because its on fire.

[@coolpranksfriends6202]

I think miscast is my favorite KZbinr right now I freaked out when I saw this video

[@fallenesther]

I like the "GM and player compromise"

[@blockprime3006]

This is epic I'm loving arcane ugly, it's helping me make my own role playing system, all your concepts are extremely interesting

[@davidgrubbs6362]

Someone probably already said this, but four-element physics led to the doctrine of humors, in which elements combined to generate physiological and psychological states: fire = hot + dry = fever/inflammation = choleric personality (acerbic & grouchy). Which means "add fire to the spell" could have a broader application, if the player knows a range of associations to apply creatively. Magic missile + fire = lingering fire damage; heal+ fire = counter cold/wet conditions; charm + fire = impart rage.

[@grothart2303]

simplest answer is collaboration, when the a spell has a unclear effect the DM simply ask the group what do you all think happens? and then the ideas come. never underestimate the power of imagination, especially when it comes to players. if you need a negative result simply say "the spell misfires, what negative effect do you all think happens." this is were a lot of fun is had, and it gives the group to fail forward.

[@leftwingdragon6235]

Definitely like discworld magic table absolutely loving it, it's like being protected from the creatures in the warp just like 40k

[@tomreidy1527]

I really like the added a wacky effect based on the type of wand, definitely going In the Magica direction is a good idea

[@Pjjc65]

Great job dude you never fail to impress

[@Miscast]

Cheers mate!

[@leadbadger9543]

Sentience + spell modifier = Alignment of object. ? not sure , Story always wins against game mechanics at my table. This has been fun see this develop. BYEEeee

[@nomadbakunin]

Alignment is a great idea, and would align with the idea of "magical generations" like evil spellbooks or blessed ones! Also, attitudes and aptitudes! A wand of confusion probably wouldn't animate a very bright statue...

[@p4ticus]

This content is so amazing. Can’t wait to play this game

[@Miscast]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@SalmoneTattico]

Love the idea to apply the wand elementi to the spells casted through that

[@AndrewDowell]

Sweet, I just discovered your channel and you're already bring out the crafty side. Amazing work!

[@Atmoseeker]

I love physical props at the table ❤️👏 I like the idea of having a wand in the game is like a relationship with your arcane focus, kinda like the wand is an interpreter between the caster and the magical forces of the universe. (Giving the wand a kind of semi-sentience?)

[@laurawilliamson4303]

I like the wonds giving a affect to the spell like u said a fire wond or forns. It just seems cool and fun.

[@blexorcist3792]

Rolling with your idea to make wands modifiers, I think you should primarily allow players to figure out their own magical amalgamations. Cap each wand with a max additional damage bonus (possibly elemental) so that things can't get out of hand, then just have a very broad description for the wand, I.e.: Thorn Wand - add a thorny edge to any spell cast through this wand. (MAXIMUM +1d4 bonus damage) However Arcane Ugly is unpredictable and chaotic, maybe each wand has a chance for some undesired result instead of a spell when cast, scaling with more deadly results for more deadly wands. The thorn wand may grow thorns, dealing 1d4 damage and causing the adventurer to drop the wand in the midst of combat! An eldritch wand may make the adventure go mad for an hour, or grow a ridiculous amount of tentacles - it's all up to you Mr GM! Pedalling back to wands, the interpretative nature really let's players feel like their thinking of their own unique solutions. Capping the damage means you're never going to be allowing for an easy combat, if a player thinks of a unique workaround to get out of combat with their wand, then you want to reward that anyway! Let a play fall into the roll of a crazy thorn mage, each new spell generating thorn-sands of new possibilities in their mind. This also allows players to just pick up and play with any wand at any time, to whatever risk their comfortable with 😁

[@funkmeister1546]

I am curious to know what you are listening to in your headphones? I paint for long hours at a time and have run out of things to listen to. Got any recommendations?

[@sociallysupreme7101]

So like a nerdy desire for a wand? Nice.

[@minimishapsgames894]

Wild magic is a huge part of our RPGs. Combining spells, wand adjustments, this is fantastic. Great video, excited for Arcane Ugly. Expecto chaotico!

[@Miscast]

Thats awesome! Thank you!!

[@thomaskaracwilson]

I imagine there would be basic elemental wands for water, fire, air, earth, but you could also use the wands to do other types elemental magic. If so, you’d create a magical hybrid, so if you did an earth spell through a water wand you’d get mud, or a fire spell through an earth wand would create magma. Three base elemental wands, all spurts of variant spells that depend on, but aren’t limited to the wands element.

[@shadowsketch926]

Trent, you're a beautiful man with an amazing mind, I love seeing and hearing you talk and show the process you go through with your projects, how you problem solve and finally come to a conclusion. As for a suggestions, my advice is KISS : Keep It Simple Stupid, and what i mean by that is this; You already have so many possibilities with the magic within this game/world, restricting what a wand can do might help out the gm and player. As a basic example, let's say you can only have wands with the four most basic elements, but allow spells to evolve that basic element into something more, if the caster knows how to use said spell, so let's say you have someone who can produce streams of liquid, with a fire wand, that turns into lava/magma. this allows the spells to stay as creative as you can think of, while simultaniously keeping the trouble of the outcome to a minimum, a rope spell could end up becoming a fire whip, a rock hard pole, a dousing jet of water, etc, etc, hope you get the idea. by keeping the spells varied and creative, yet pushed through a restricted filter, people can come up with their own ideas of what the result is going to be, keeping the game fresh while also keeping the gm sane. With that said, thanks for the videos showing your process, much love from me!

[@Kekatronic]

Steeping wands in alchemical brew will increase the potency at the cost of precision and reliability, an unstained birch branch wand could cast a fireball within another's skull but it would feel like warm breath on their brain to them. Increasing the potency of the brew and the time the wand is stewed will increase the corruption, a highly corrupted wand will cast merciless magic such as calcify muscle or could cause physical summoned objects to fuse and scar the flesh of whoever it touches, the most highly corrupted wands bring disease, mutation, haunted dreams and even sickening of the soul to it's users and those around it. The ones below who's corrupted magic seeps and stains upward have a keen eye on the riches within the shallow earth of the surface and so when precious metals and minerals are used in the fabrication of a wand it will have more power at it's disposal at any given moment. A wand may have more potential power to use than it could possibly expel at once so stronger, stiffer and much harder to work with materials must be used to widen this bottleneck in output.

[@Balambambuny]

Never got into HP myself but Magicka...now that's my jam. Great work as always.

[@Mukenin90]

All the concepts behind this huge project are just astonishing! Bravo. I was kinda mesmerize during the binge watching of the part 1,2 and 3. Greetings from Italy 🇮🇹

[@georgiosstathopoulos]

Quality content right there, guys!

[@Miscast]

Cheers! :D

[@korniestpatch]

I love the idea of casting magic with intention. So spells can have a keyword and the player can cast a spell on their intention using the keyword. They need to have an outcome that they are trying to achieve. Which makes experimenting a little harder, because you can’t just mix two words and get an outcome, you need to know what you intend to do and if the spells can interact in a way that you intend it happens

[@korniestpatch]

Nevermind just saw the next video cool solution to the problem

[@enveritas4948]

In the case of unclear results mixing spells, just have the DM ask the player "it's your spell, what do you want to happen?" as if the caster is willing an outcome. Then you can have the DM decide if there is a difficulty roll to pull it off or whatever if the player want a particularly powerful outcome.