A MAGICAL PILGRAMAGE

Recently on G+ there has been a discussion on research of new magic user spells in the Wampus game that i try to play in every friday night, it a D&D folklore and pioneer mashup and if you havnt read about it you should. Dungeon of Signs also plays one of the mages in the same game.  Well this setting does flavor some of how i think, and i thought about it, here one of my ideas.

While its not ASE it could be used for something like that as a random table to generate ideas or as im gonna use it in my SWN as a drug trip table, because well my homegroup just found a suitcase full of narcotics

“I began my pilgrimage to far-distant countries.” — Aleister Crowley

So, The magic user in your game wants to learn some new spells and they cant find anyone to teach them. get a list from them of spells they want to learn/research up to level 5 spells.  heres a random table to help do a PbP or a single session. it makes them jump through some hoops but is fun and not just a dice roll to see if they research one and learn it and takes thinking over consumed gems and materials

I could also see this to explain or narrate a drug trip

planning the journey and research

locate and study these 1d4 items

1. old maps of the area
2. the rolling of pebbles in the river
3. the flame of a candle set on the skull of a ?/
4. barn owls hunting mice during a storm/
5. a weaver's loom operated by a blind weaver
6. the petal patterns in a hundred blooming roses
7. an augury of muskrat bones and smashed grapes
8. the rainwater collected in the leaves of the man lashing willow
9. the tracks of an ant carrying a grain of sea salt
10. the rust patterns in an old suit of chainmail by moonlight
11. ashes from a defeated wizards spell book
12. the ridges on a narwhals horn
13. the swaying pattern of a scale measuring the weight of blood against feathers
14. the twisted patterns of high grass after a tornado
15. the scales of a fish caught by hand in a frozen creek
16. the crying of 13 babies at feeding time
17. the hypnotic pattern of a swinging battle axe suspended inches from your nose
18. a strange pattern in the hair of a hibernating bear
19. the tickle of swallowed live centipedes down your throat
20. the laughter of an assassin

your studies will lead you to Gather for the journey 1d6 of these things

1. Stout shoes repaired by a seven or less fingered cobbler
2. 3 old friends
3. a silken parasol owned by a widow
4. 7 goats or a mated pair of guard goats
5. a white sow with a velvet bonnet
6. a jewel the size of a mockingbirds egg
7. a talking rabbit
8. 4 strands of hair for a jilted lover (yours)
9. wind in a bag
10. a caltrop that has injured a centaur
11. a ball of twine from a phase cat
12. a marzipan baby
13. a new hat in a pastel color
14. the closest blood relative of the last person you blasted with magic
15. a seven toed cat in a waistcoat
16. the residual essence of 13 moonbeams
17. 4 singing frogs
18. a bag of stolen gold
19. a wagon made of iron and a team of oxen stout enough to pull it
20. someone you have shot and wounded to accompany you on the journey

Once you have gathered these items you know that you must take a pilgrimage /quest

questing mages are known by the

1. purple feather in their hat
2. carrot in vest pocket
3. bag of live chickens carried in the left hand
4. pure white suit coat/ pure red for evil mages
5. crushed glittering jewels smeared in their hair and beards with honey
6. token of cast silver pinned to their lapel
7. stag horns that they clash like symbols in from of them
8. scroll of ? pinned to their back
9. gilded turtle on a leash
10. taberded herald ringing a cowbell

You will be headed  (compass direction) to the

1. swamp
2. grotto
3. ravine
4. barn
5. cairn
6. statue
7. obelisk
8. gate
9. bridge
10. waystop
11. crossroads
12. broken wall
13. well
14. shadowy rest
15. junction
16. outhouse
17. lichen field
18. hanging rock
19. roosting place
20. killing fields

of

1. sweet salt
2. pyrite
3. weeping
4. shining
5. blubber
6. silver bubbles
7. splintered bones
8. wailing cats
9. ladders
10. rusty sails
11. starry sights
12. fumes
13. bright feathers
14. pilfered goods
15. gilded turtles
16. laughing loon
17. knowing
18. fluorescent thought
19. impure dreams
20. tornados

there you will        Roll d20         for 1d? days

1. revel
2. meditate
3. pound sand (in a leather bag with a wooden hammer)
4. set up a picnic
5. bang on a zombie skin drum
6. walk backwards in tight circles until you pass out
7. construct a fishing rod and “fish” in the wind
8. pour liquor spirits on the ground from a jeweled cup at appointed times
9. build a roaring bonfire and walk through it
10. climb a thorny tree
11. sit on top of a column found there
12. dig 21 graves in a spiral pattern
13. arrange various rocks you will find there into a shrine to magical knowlege
14. plant a 1001 seeds of various food crops (regardless of season)
15. kill, slaughter, and cook a large game animal or domestic,  using only your dagger
16. construct a hut from mud and sticks
17. paint various symbols on the landscape in bright colors, then scrub it clean
18. bury yourself in the earth and listen to the stars, straw allowed for breathing
19. remain motionless and naked until you see a visitor
20. carve arcane star maps in the earth, fill the celestial points with gems

You might have 1d3 of these visitations

1. a mute will drop off a talking sack of parsnips
2. a   loupgarou with a banjo
3. a carriage pulled by a giant snail, get in, reroll a new location
4. a tornado, swept up, take damage, reroll new location
5. a phalanx of drilling skeletons who crumble if you speak
6. a flight of rainbow plumaged birds who  squawk from a high vantage point
7. a comet streaks across the sky at night, its tail spells things to you
8. a traveling group of hooded pilgrims ask to to join, new location
9. six mourning dwarves carrying picks, shovels and a lead casket
10. a rabble of drunken flying monkeys
11. a questing knight, hopelessly lost
12. a sudden violent storm, chance of lighting strike and hail damage
13. a swarm of locusts, devouring everything green
14. a singing cricket, with top hat and tailcoat
15. a pack of rabid blink hyenas
16. a lost puppy, gain a friend for life
17. a fairy wedding party, entertain them
18. a misanthropic old man on a mission to find someone
19. a lone dragon flying in the distance
20. a rabbit runs up an naps, a turtle plods on by later while the rabbit sleeps

They will/ might ask you to do something off this list

1. journey to ? roll a new location
2. play chess with missing pieces
3. waltz with them in the moonlight
4. organize and hold a feast on a set date
5. slay the next thing you meet
6. laugh till you cry
7. answer a riddle
8. plant a tree in memory of someone
9. take tea and discuss philosophy
10. destroy your most valued possession
11. search (roll new location) for (things to gather table)
12. study your spellbook for hidden writings
13. befriend an enemy
14. race or guide them to (new location roll)
15. adopt pacifism in your next adventure, tell no one why
16. build a statue in tribute to those you have slain
17. adopt a new style of dress
18. learn a musical instrument
19. teach them a spell
20. chew up a gemstone and swallow it

They might also grant you a boon or curse

Depending on how you have played this far

1. feather of featherfall pin, one use
2. feather of deadweight, fall like brick
3. bottle of brandy, protection from cold
4. bottle of brandy, burns insides with fire damage
5. ring of find lost item
6. ring of losing things
7. spyglass of infravision (long range only)
8. spyglass of poke your eye out when you look in it
9. sack of glowing crystals (continual light)
10. sack of coal para-elemental (pissed off)
11. shoes of stomping (kick attack extra once per adventure
12. shoes of wrong direction (get lost)
13. marzipan baby, with prize inside
14. marzipan baby, animated and crying, messy, hungry
15. smoking jacket of spell study
16. smoking jacket of stinking cloud
17. bonus spell that you were not looking for
18. migraine lose spell slot for adventure
19. Enchanted snuff box, snorting raises a random ability score (one use)
20. Enchanted snuff box, opening causes obscuring mist  (d6 uses)

you will then find knowledge of the spell you seek in this form

1. Folded up in your pocket when you are looking for something else
2. written in the wind, falling leaves, butterflies, etc.
3. a large albino catfish will sing it to you
4. you will be find a treasure map to it upon waking, tacked to your chest with a dagger
5. in the smoke from the pipe of a passing dwarf, he will wink at you
6. tattoed on the skin of a beaver, you must shave him alive
7. rolled up on a scroll and stuffed in a bottle, will fall from sky
8. drawing detailed star maps on a moonless night, there are words
9. in the slithering pattern of a drunken snake, or perhaps on his scales
10. spelled out in berries on a bush, hurry, the birds are eating them
11. in the cast moving shadow of a red globes lantern
12. under a rock that you trip on, scroll is large 20 lb rock
13. in the mesmerizing stare of an old tom cat, don't blink
14. when you go meditate at (roll location)
15. spelled out in the ticking of a clock in a crocodiles belly
16. printed in type only you can see in a newspaper story
17. in a trance while out riding (do you fall off the horse)
18. at the bottom of a large jug of wine
19. intricately spelled out in a spider web
20. spelled out in the ashes of a funeral pyre of an ally

Heres the link to another table of things that could happen ALTERNATIVE SPELL RESEARCH

Thoughts, always looking for ideas