CHAPTER | A STORY IN EVERY ITEM

# When designing a rare item for a natural fantasy campaign, take some time to think about the story it tells:

what technique was required? What materials were used? Which places or creatures did they come from?

One of the core themes of natural fantasy is transformation, which can also be interpreted as the death or sacrifice of something in order for something else to exist. From this point of view, a character’s equipment is a collection of stories, taken from fragments of other beings’ lives and bodies.

The rules for creating rare items from materials (see page 76) offer an excellent opportunity to dive deep into this concept over the course of the campaign.

## Special Equipment

Characters with animal or plant-like features are rather common in the natural fantasy genre, and it might be interesting to create equipment tailor-made for them (perhaps using the custom weapon rules; see page 112), or give their pieces of equipment an unusual name and appearance.

Example: A spider-person using silk flails or elemental stingers; a flower fairy dressed in petals; an anthropomorphic cactus whose caps and berets are actually custom weapons that determine the profile of their needle spray.

## Historical, Folkloric, and Literary References

If you’re looking for a name for a natural fantasy item but you’re short on ideas, you might draw inspiration from items and creatures from folklore and literature, especially works tied to spirits, ghosts, or fairies, or you could pay homage to famous scholars, warriors, artisans and explorers from the real world.

Example Names: Bai Suzhen, Boggart, Bradamante, Cervantes, Csoma, Da Vinci, Earhart, Gentileschi, Grimm, Guðríðr, Gwyllion, Huolong, Kaguya, Oberon, Okiku, Qingzhao, Rembrandt, Shahrazād, Shiranui, T omoe, Vasilisa, Yoshizawa, Zaratan.

As usual, do your best to match each name with an item whose properties mirror the historical and cultural inspiration, rather than misrepresent it.