Wyrdr Moravia: Mushrooms, plants and their wondrous effects

I am continuing work on the zine Wyrdr Moravia. It is a setting designed with Cairn 2e in mind, but easily usable with any NSR / OSR fantasy systems. I'm working on it, making good progress, and keeping my own deadlines, which is not always a given.

 Today I want to share a piece of the work from it:  Mushrooms, plants and their wondrous effects. The list is pretty straightforward, and contains a small system for after when the effects end and the user comes down. A drop of acid into the fantasy:

 

The karsty Carpathians with an abundance of water, humidity, seasonal warm temperatures and plant life of all different shapes and sizes are a wonder to explore and experience for any traveler or inhabitant. Those who know where to look will find specific plants or mushrooms, that will make this experience all the more wondrous. 

Mushrooms - D8

1. Czeshka - exhausting. Small mushroom, thin white stem, brown cap. Tastes of caramel. If dried and then eaten, the consumer can see through the eyes of a small animal, known to them for the a maximum of 1d4 hours.
2. Moravka - stupefying. Small mushroom, grey spiral stem, folded brain-like brown top. Tastes smokey. The consumer loses eyesight but gains wolf-like hearing for the next 1d4 hours.
3. Serbka - weakening, blundering, exhausting. Tiny mushroom, white curvy stem, blue-green cap. Tastes like dry red wine. If brewed into a tea and drunk the consumer can talk directly with the mycelium network for the next 1d4 hours. To the observer this might seem like the consumer crawling on all fours, whispering, with their ear to the ground.
4. Modra - stupefying. Small mushroom, brown stem, blue cap. Tastes like soil If consumed within one hour of picking, the consumer can relive any memory. The memory is perfectly recalled and detailed and lingers a maximum of one hour.
5. Kon - exhausting. Small mushroom, brown stem, brown-red cap. Mild buttery taste. When boiled in water for an hour, this mushroom allows the consumer to understand any language they hear, but not speak it back if they don't already know the language. The effect lasts 1d4 hours.
6. Tiger - weakening. Large mushroom, wide grey stem, flat brown cap with white flakes. Tastes like cooked fish. When cooked and eaten, the consumer can directly communicate with the spirits of soil and trees spirits for the next hour. To the observer this will sound it will sound like the ramblings of a dangerous deranged individual.
7. Cherven - exhausting, blundering. Large mushroom, wide white stem, red cap with white flakes. Tastes nutty. When brewed into a tea, allows you to see and observe one known place in real time for 1d10 minutes. 
8. Purpur - weakening. Small mushroom, grows on rye, wheat and other cereal plants, wide brown stem, purple-red cap. Tastes of honey. When dried, ground up and eaten, it allows the user to communicate with any grain product for 1d10 minutes. To the observer this might seem like the consumer shouting at the product from a hairsbreadth away.

Plants D6

1. Durman - stupefying. Wide, green, veiny green leaves, thick white stem, white cup. The flowers, when macerated in alcohol for one day, allow the user to directly communicate with the spirits of herbaceous plants for the next hour. To the observer this might seem as the consumer running from plant to plant laughing joyfully.
2. Myristica - stupefying.  Brown, nut-like seed, sold as a spice. When the whole seed is ground and ingested, it causes the consumer to completely forget the person who served them the plant for 1d4 hours.
3. Mak - tiring, exhausting. Small black seeds, harvested from the dried pods of mature, red flowering plants. When macerated in any fat, the user becomes calmer and resistant to fear and pain. In higher doses causes a deep, almost magical, sleep for 1d10 hours.  
4. Hashish - tiring. Brown, sticky resin, compressed from the flowering parts of a tall green plant. Sold by southern merchants. When smoked or ingested, it heightens the senses of the consumer for 1d4 hours. 
5. Mandragora - tiring. Leaves and roots, from a plant with wide green leaves and vividly colorful flower cups. When brewed into a tea, the consumer becomes very suggestible and will follow the commands of the person who served them the plan for the next hour. The consumer might not follow commands contradicting their habits and will not follow suicidal commands.
6. Blen - exhausting. Yellow flowers, from a tall narrow green plant. When brewed into a tea, a mead or made into an ointment and ingested or rubbed on the skin the consumer becomes a ferocious, wild warrior. Their attacks in the next battle become enhanced.

Comedown tags

• Exhausting-  causes 1d4 levels of exhaustion to the consumer, after the effects wear off.
• Weakening- causes 1d4 STR temporary attribute loss to the consumer, after the effects wear off.
• Stupefying-  causes 1d4 WIS temporary attribute loss to the consumer, after the effects wear off.
• Blundering-  causes 1d4 DEX temporary attribute loss to the consumer, after the effects wear off.
• Tiring-  the consumer falls into a deep sleep for the next 1d10 hours, after the effects wear off,

 

A short note on system neutrality and conversion. I want to make this as system neutral as possible, but I still design it using Cairn 2e guidelines. This list is designed with that in mind. The effects should work for any system or game. The Comedown tags, can be easily converted. My suggestions would be:

• Weakening and blundering - keep the temporary STR and DEX loss, or change it to a disadvantage / negative modifier for saves connected to these stats.
• Stupefying - keep the temporary WIS loss or change it to a more appropriate attribute - e.g. INT or CHA. You can also change it to a disadvantage / negative modifier for saves connected to these stats.
• Exhausting - if you do not use an exhaustion system, make it a temporary loss of 1d4 max HP, keeping atleast one
• Tiring - looks pretty system neutral.

 

A few weeks ago I put out the Hillfort of Neshtih - a settlement that will feature in the zine, complete with a marked map, NPCs, plot hooks and a short bestiary. Check it out. 

Aside from this list and the Hillfort of Neshtih, the final zine will contain:

• Weapons and armors, with an optional system for damage types, resistances, and specific abilities,
• Four new artefacts,
• Ten specific alcoholic beverages - six types of mead and four others - wine, beer...,
• Ten new monsters,
• and a Dungeon adventure - factions, NPCs and a sequence of potential events. 

My plan is to have it out by the end of July. 

If by any chance you wish to be a part of this project, I would appreciate help with layout and illustrations but also testing and editing, all pro bono as I am but a humble individual.