The Foundry

Hey folks! Been a while since I’ve done any SCP content (almost a year, in fact), so I thought it was time for another batch of items. This has honestly been one of the most difficult sets to make so far. Some of the effects are just so out of left field and difficult to translate into game mechanics, so there was a lot of compromise and just using the original items as inspiration rather than gospel. Sure, they’re not 100% accurate, but I think I did a decent enough job getting the essence of the originals.

Another thing that I ran into for a couple of them was finding a reason you would want to use them. It’s common for SCPs to have powerful effects that are almost negated by whatever crazy (and usually lethal) anomalous side effects, so I usually treat them like cursed items, power for a price if you will. But some of these go from zero to a hundred so quickly or their side effects are so strong that it’s hard to justify using them.

For example, the Clockwork Teleporter lets you teleport, but your body and mind experience the jump as if you basically walked that distance without food, water, or sleep, effectively limiting how far you can travel before just outright dying of dehydration. Oh yeah, you’re also blind and paralyzed the whole time, so you’re basically locked in a sensory deprivation tank for days at a time before appearing at your destination. I can’t imagine the kind of psychological toll that would have on a person, and you would have to be crazy or desperate to use it for an extended distance.

Mechanically this one ended up being pretty easy, just cast the Teleportation spell but you take levels of exhaustion based on the distance traveled at a set speed. It was especially easy since you automatically take levels of exhaustion every 24 hours you don’t drink, no save or anything. I seriously considered adding a madness effect or psychic damage to represent the mental toll travel would have on you, but I decided against it. If y’all want to add something like that, consider a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw each period of 24 hours you travel or take 1d6 psychic damage. For longer trips where saves were failed, consider giving them Short Term Madness out of the DMG. Up to y’all.

And another one, the Lovecraftian Locket, had similar problems. It heals whoever is in front of it, but if you use it too much, you turn into a rampaging flesh monster. Thing is, up until that point there are no signs that something is going to happen. In fact, the body is actually improved to become stronger and more resistant the more you use it! It goes from 0-100 with no warning signs, and when the end result is the death of your character, that obviously had to change. I tried to put as many gates and signs to make it abundantly clear that something is wrong with the locket, while still granting the healing and improvements. You would really have to abuse it for anything bad to happen. Hope I accomplished that.

One last thing I have to talk about is the Sword of the Meteor Lord. Those who know SCPs will know that’s not the item’s “common” name. The original article refers to it as, of all things, “Clarke’s Third Favorite Sword”… I’m sorry, what? On top of just being a stupid name, absolutely no where in the article is there a “Clarke” or anything else that would make this ridiculous name make sense. Normally, I don’t change names of items to fit D&D better, mostly because I don’t feel the need and I want people to know what item it is not just based on the designation, but I HAD to change this one. The being in the article that made the sword is referred to as “The Meteor Lord” so obviously that’s what I went with. A much more fitting name, I hope y’all agree.

Anyway, that’s enough of my rambling. Hope y’all enjoy the new batch. It was nice to work on them again and actually release something. Feedback survey is HERE, let me know what ya think. Stay safe, don’t forget to love each other, and I’ll see you soon.