Stormbringer Redux #33 - Elric On Drugs

(This article is one of the backlog that piled up when I went off on a much needed vacation. As I slowly get back into blogging and prep for fall semester, I'll be working my way through these in addition to more NUNA, game design, Coyote & Crow, and Stormbringer posts)

I just watched this amazing video about how medieval pharmacology as the engine of knighthood.

And it got me to thinking, doing drugs is a HUGE part of Elric's (pre-Stormbringer) life (and Moorcock's youthful writing practice). That said, every Stormbringer game I have played in or run never gets around to using drugs in any meaningful way. Heck, D&D has more of a reliance on potions than old Stormbringer.

So let's dive into Elric on Drugs, and see if we can't figure out how to juice it up! As always, I'll flesh out the rules based on what is there already, extend it to match the source material, emphasize themes such as addiction and the price of power in this case, and make easily-implementable suggestions that don't overbalance the game.

Let's go!

Imagine the mic is a sword
and that's my head canon Elric

ELRIC'S LUST FOR LIFE

From my long past readings of the Elric books, my biggest recollections of drug use are first and foremost the albino's daily need of drugs to survive, and his helplessness without them. My second recollection is of Elric avoiding the Noidel berries on Imrryr, which drive one 'blind then slowly mad.' Last, there is Elric and Moonglum's infamous partying while taking the Elixer of Invulnerability. Past the original books, in Fortress of the Pearl, Elric is tricked into taking a poison that revives him but will ultimately kill him unless he completes a task to get the antidote. Then there is Stormbringer itself, a potent metaphor for addiction, as Oona from The Pearl intimates.

With these in the back of our mind,  let's dive deep into drugs in the Stormbringer rules.

FUN THINGS WITH DRUGS PART ONE - ELRIC'S POISON CABINET

The rulebook does give us the basics of drug creation, but as usual details are scattered throughout the skill section with a lot of handwaiving. Let's put it all together.

Poison Lore [4.8.8]

Buying Poisons - The Poison Lore skill can be used to see if a merchant has the right poison to sell. A bit meta but poorly thought out - sellers don't appear because you have a high skill. Later on it states that large cities have apothecaries, with a natural 20 on D20 being a Poison Master (or just use POW x 1% Luck roll as I dislike arbitrary rolls).

Costs - No costs are listed (of course), but let's use a baseline of 100LB per level of poison. Moreover, people and city officials are likely to look dimly upon a poisoner in their midst (especially levels 2 and 5), so characters using poison openly should be targeted by the authorities. Also, a Demon or Virtue of Knowledge used by the authorities should be able to track down any successful poisoner.

Conditioned Immunity - Poisoners can also get immunity to poison after a time if they prepare in advance. No details given. I'd rule you can only do one poison type at a time, and can't adventure or exert oneself while doing so. Immunity takes a year to build and dissipates after a fortnight I'd say.

Learning Poisons - Poison Lore can't be learned from XP, only taught by other characters or Demons of Knowledge. I kind of like this, it provides atmospheric adventure seeds. Two players meet and talk, learn 0-9% off each other after talking for an hour (I would prefer a day, and limit the gain to the percentage the teaching character has. If you only have Poison Lore 5%, that is the max someone can get off you).

Knowing Poisons & Antidotes - The rules are a bit vague, bit you can recognize and make an antidote if you have the right level for the poison. Make a roll if you don't for a Hail Mary play.

Antidotes - Max skill % is 200 due to Antidotes, skill is halved when researching or making them, 00 is ALWAYS a fumble. Yes, poison, like magic, should always have a chance of failure.

Poison Classes - Once again, the information is scattered throughout the section, so let's put it all in one place. Note that ALL classes can be either one of PAINLESS or PAINFUL. Painful poisons reduce ALL skills and physical attributes by half as they work.

Level 1 (01-20) Instant Damage. Antidote BEFORE poison. Considering how low HP are, these seem a tad high.

Level 2 (21-40) Slow Death. Antidote AFTER poison. No natural immunity.

Level 3 (41-60) Paralysis or Unconsciousness. Natural Immunity possible (CON x1% roll). Antidote AFTER poison.

Level 4 (61-80) Fake Illness. Natural Immunity possible (CON x1% roll). Antidote AFTER poison, Master must have 120% skill. Healing plants don't work. Needs more details, so roll on following:

 1 Nausea (lose balance, DEX and related skills at half) 2 Shakes (can't use hands) 3 Blindness 4 Deafness 5 Amnesia 6 Weakness (STR reduced to half)

Level 5 (81-00) Instant Death. Antidote BEFORE poison, Master must have 120% skill. No natural immunity.

Ambiguity # 1 - The rules state there is no natural immunity for 2 and 5 (death), but there are for 3 and 4 (paralysis or sickness). What about 1? I'd say yes as those damages can be high.

Ambiguity # 2 - How is poison delivered? Syringes are not a thing in The Young Kingdom (unless Jerry Cornelius arrives with his needle gun), so there are two methods.

Oral - The poison is put in food or drink. The imbiber has a chance of a Taste roll (minimum is INT x 1% unless skill points have been used) to notice the taste and stop drinking or eating.

Weapons - Poison can only be applied to small cutting weapons (daggers, darts at 1D4 damage), and last only 1 hour before dissipating. Only one application can be done at a time, and if a weapon does 1 HP of damage the poison is delivered and must be reapplied.

FUN THINGS WITH DRUGS PART TWO - PLANTS OF THE YOUNG KINGDOMS

Turning to Plant Lore [4.8.9], again we have the bones of a useful system with a lot of handwaiving and incomplete ideas. Let's build it up a bit.

Buying & Costs - There is even less in this section than the Poisons section. No costs are listed (of course). Foraging is usually done for free, but a Hunter could be hired for INT x 2LB per day to provide food in the wilderness. Apothecaries and merchants everywhere would definitely sell poisons, healing, and cures (levels 3, 5, and 6). Poisons are as previous section, 100LB per level, and frowned upon by authorities. Sorcerous herbs are usually sold by wizards or apothecaries in Chaotic lands for 400LB per use, highly illegal in Lawful lands (double price). Healing is usually administered by Priests of the temple for a donation of 25 LB for minor, and 50 or more LB for major, and 100 LB or more for a cure. Stimulant potions or magical elixers are costly, so a flat 1000LB per potion and 1500LB per elixer. Moreover, Lawful people and city officials are likely to look dimly upon a brewer of potions or elixers in their midst (levels 9 and 10), so characters using potions openly should be targeted by the authorities. Stimulants would be limited to Nobles or High Priests in all lands, while Elixers (9-10) would be limited to Nobles and High Priests in Chaotic lands, both due to cost and the need to protect their power.

Learning Plants - As Poisons.

Right from the start the rules tell us we can recognize plants and their effects, but actual use is restricted to 10 levels. 

1 Recognition (01-10) General knowledge of plants.

2 Foraging (11-20) Basically can feed oneself if edible plants are available, I'd add that on a roll you can feed 1D4 others but must spend the day foraging. This could save a party trapped in the wilderness.

3 Poisons (21-30) Helps you recognize poisonous plants, plus gives you a free 10% in Poison Lore.

4 Sorcery (31-40) Effectively a stealth rule that you can't do demon summoning without getting these herbs and burning them. I would also allow it to give 10% in Sorcery skill, so learning Plant Lore becomes a gateway to magic.

5 Minor Healing (41-50) Helps you make a weak healing poultice (1D6 HP after 1D6 hours). Let's clarify this is for minor wounds incurred by combat or accident (falling, fire, etc).

6  Serious Healing (51-60) Allows you to make a stronger healing potion (2D6 HP after 2D6 hours), useful against wounds, poison, and disease. Note doesn't cure poison per se, just lets you outheal it.

7 Cures (61-70) Find plants to cure infections & disease in 1D6 days. Good as an adventure seed 

8 Mind Altering (71-80) Allows you to make hallucinogens, emotion-affecting drugs, aphrodisiacs, hate-agents etc.

9 Stimulants (81-90)  Allows you to make a potion that increases or decreases a single attribute by 1D20 for 2D6 hours.

10 Potions & Elixers (91-00) See below.

Addiction (NEW!) Since Elric's addiction to drugs then Stormbringer is a major theme of the books, this should be reflected in the game. For Plant Lore levels 8-9 (Mind Altering drugs and Stimulants), there is a POW x 5% chance of resisting addiction whenever these are taken, and the modifier for this chance is reduced by 1 each time the drug is used in a week. If a character fails to resist, they are addicted and cannot function without the drug. I leave details up to you.

NB - I may flesh out poison and drug details at some point, but for now I leave as is and suggest GMs craft effects that reflect the themes of Stormbringer.

MAGIC POTIONS ARE US

It is somewhat disappointing that the only genuine magic potion we get is the Elixer of Invulnerability, but since it comes straight from the novels, this can be forgiven. However, players and GMs demand more from a game, so let's just take new Elixers from [5.7.1.4 Special Demon Abilities], which already includes Invulnerability, and add 2 for fun. Remember, these all only last 1D6 hours, but are great ways to power up PCs to fight Elric level cosmic baddies or multiple groups of smaller foes who may just surrender if overpowered.

There are limitations. First, you cannot take more than 1 elixer at a time, as that power is too much for mortals. Also, only one a day to reflect human fragility and preserve game balance.

List of Elixers

1 Invisibility - Half chance to be hit, double surprise chance, ie Ambush roll I suppose

2 Life Drain - Soul Leech sounds better, sucks 1D6 POW from a foe in combat if a POW vs POW roll is successful. This is added as temporary POW to the Leech, so useful for Sorcerers or those needing high POW to fight off spectral attacks. Extra POW dissipates when used or by 1 a day till gone, does not increase actual POW attribute, as that would be OP

3 Strength Drain - Vampire sounds better, sucks 1D6 STR from a foe in combat if a POW vs POW roll is successful. This is added as temporary STR to the Vampire, so useful for Warriors or those needing high STR to do more damage, also may reduce the foe's damage bonus. Extra STR dissipates  by 1 a day till gone, does not increase actual STR attribute, as that would be OP

4 Regeneration - Regains 1D6 HP per turn, very useful and in keeping with fantasy literature

5 Fear - Intimidation sounds better. If POW vs POW is won, foes in combat cower in fear. The POW roll is only ONCE per target and you must make eye contact, so a good limitation and useful when outnumbered

6 Sleep - If POW vs POW is won, foe falls into a slumber for 1D6 hours. The POW roll is only ONCE per foe you make eye contact with, so a good limitation and useful when outnumbered

7 Invulnerability - Original rules state they ignore ALL physical damage, but magical weapons do half damage. Let's change this to the 20 points of armor of Demon abilities, normal weapons have 50% change to break when hitting the drinker, magic & demon weapons do half damage against them

8 Acid - Instead, change to Flame Form. Drinker is wreathed in flames that does no harm them, but does an extra 1D6 fire damage to any foe they hit, plus 1D6 per round to any foe in close combat (short weapons or grappling).

9 Speed - Gets first and last attack in any round, cannot be caught if chased

10 Teleport - Teleports 50 ft in one direction once per turn in addition to their normal attack. Can still be hit by missiles and melees if in range

11 Transformation - The drinker turns into an animal. INT and POW remain the same but everything else is rerolled. More fun if the animal is random. 1 tiger 2 great ape 3 bear 4 eagle 5 6 7 8

12 Intangibility - The drinker can only be hit by magical weapons, but cannot do physical damage unless holding a magical weapon. Can pass through non-magical walls, so good for escape or dungeoneering / scouting / spying.

MYSTICAL HERBS & WHERE TO FIND THEM

Finally, the availability & location of materials is handwaived in the rules, so let's nail it down a bit.

Poisons - Exist just about everywhere in The Young Kingdoms, like on Earth, but grow more readily in Chaotic nations (+5% to find) and especially ruined lands (+10%, Forest of Troos, Melnibone, The Silent Lands, Sorcerer's Isle, The Marshes of Mist, The Sighing Desert, R'lin K'ren A'a and Jungle Lands, etc).

Healing herbs - Exist just about everywhere in The Young Kingdoms, like on Earth, but grow more readily in Lawful or Balanced nations (+5% to find) or sacred lands (+10%, ie Tanelorn, Myshella's castle grounds, Myrrhn, etc).

Sorcery & stimulant plants - In all Chaotic nations (no bonus) and ruined lands (+5%).

Elixer ingredients - In ruined lands only (no bonus).

Foraging - For every day spent foraging to the exclusion of all else, roll on the following.

Critical - Get a double dose of what you search.
Success - Get one dose of what you require.
Failure - No luck, spend another day.
Fumble - No luck, also have an encounter.

SOURCES

https://nat20w.wordpress.com/2022/02/21/rereading-elric-2-1-drugs-are-bad/