Nearly anyone reading this blog, on a tabletop RPG website, has played a game in which they quested as mighty heroes, cunning wizards, or beguiling rogues. Afterall, the tabletop RPG can trace its genesis to robust wargaming and quest/adventure simulations. 

What about a game that trades in the typical bipedal meat puppet adventurers for the quiet, contemplative experience of an object — an “artefact”? How might the many hands of your “keepers” shape your perspective of the world — or the ages which come and go like a fleeting Sunday evening? What impact might waiting to be plucked by a mighty hero from a deep, dank dungeon have on your psyche — on your relationship to that hero?

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Artefact, by Mousehole Press, is such a game. It’s a solo experience that asks the player to view the world through the perspective of a legendary item. As the ages pass, and keepers come and go, changes, both physical and otherwise, befall the item, altering their perspective, and leaving permanent scars for better or worse. 

Explaining such a game is a challenge, but it’s best described as a journaling game or solo meditative experience, as large swaths of gameplay are supposed to be spent writing, drawing, and resting with your eyes closed, meditating on the turning of the wheels of time. 

A lot of care has been put into the way the game plays out. It’s open ended, free to interpretation, while simultaneously offering many prompts to guide and direct a player’s wandering mind. 

A single game is played over three acts that help to construct the history of your artefact. Each containing their own phases that involve following prompts, answering questions, and resolving time. 

There are a select few items which you can embody at the start of the game, their function guided by the text, but their form left largely to your imagination. Examples include more conventional adventure items like, “The Sword” and the “The Shield”, but also includes more intriguing options like, “The Deck” and “The Footwear”. 

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To start, after you pick an item to “play”, you’re tasked with describing the person or being that created you. Following prompts, you consider what use your Keeper had for such an item, and how did you factor in to their intended use. You might follow prompts that invite you to reflect on major victories, or stunning defeats, things that leave scars, or temper you for the best. However, like many major items littered throughout science fiction and fantasy, time moves on, and you are tasked with determining how your Keeper eventually loses you, and how that loss shapes the item you become when picked up by the next Keeper. 

The stakes for each act seem to ramp up, moving you from “Newly Forged” in act 1, to “Time of Glory” in act 2, and finally to “Time of Ruination” in act 3. The names say it all. Time of Glory sees you fall into the hands of a champion of some sort, being used to waylay evil or smite the righteous, but so too does the risk for “dust and rust” increase — the likelihood that you’ll be discarded and forgotten for centuries rather than years, and that the time will take its toll on you.

Time of Ruination sees the darker side of being an artefact. How a lust for riches and wealth can invite disaster into one’s life — think Gollum in the Lord of the Rings. The Keepers in this act are far more flawed than those available in previous acts, and the ways that can reflect within you grow as well. 

Aside from the prompts and guides described in each act and phase, Artefact has you reviewing prompts on interesting tables like “Victories and Valors”, or “Shifts and Currents”. There are specific instances as gameplay unfolds that will prompt the player to review those tables and follow their guidelines. This is where the more unique aspects of gameplay can unfold. You’ll be encouraged to add details to the appearance of your item, add traits to your growing list, answer more guided questions about the history of your item, but also further flesh out your item’s story in the present.

Artefact makes no effort to hide the fact that it’s born from traditional tabletop roleplaying games, not only simply stating the desire to shift the focus from adventurers questing through the countryside, but writing a section called “Converting Items” which explains that a player may want to keep the story of their artefact going, maybe by introducing it to their current roleplaying campaigns in games like Dungeons and Dragons. 

This is what I believe to be the core selling point of this book. Sure it’s a delightfully contemplative little game that’s core rulebook barely takes up 32 pages, following in the long tradition of “zines”. More than that, though, it’s an incredibly unique and inventive way to create wondrous items with which to populate your other role playing game adventures.

In 2021, my DnD group, The Inn at the End, played my one-shot adventure called “Wealth Beyond Measure”, which I envisioned as a sort of play on the circumstances Moriarty finds himself in at the end of Star Trek TNG’s “Ship in a Bottle”. I knew I wanted magic to be so commonplace as to almost be mundane, including magical items and artifacts, but I was getting a little bored of the endless lists of wondrous and magical items I was finding online.

With the book, Artefact, I saw incredible potential to create, not just unique magical items, but compelling magical items. Items that could stir adventure and intrigue. Items that lent weight to the tiny little world I was trying to craft.

I let the dice choose for me and ended up playing The Sword.

I, embodied as The Sword, was crafted by a legendary horseman who stole half a wish from a genie’s dying breath, and thus made a rather poor sword for those who weren’t my true keeper. I was created with a “warped” appearance, and proved too unwieldy, even dangerous to those not properly attuned to my use. The horseman had no issues using me to protect his people from vengeful elementals that populated the desert they called home, but I served no one but him.

After my first Keeper was captured and imprisoned, I never saw him again. I spent the next decade changing hands from one person to the next and due to my unwieldy and warped appearance, I kept even the most ferocious warriors away from being my true Keeper.

My next true Keeper found me discarded in the desert. They recognized me almost right away. I was the warped blade of the famous horseman who beleaguered their existence. You see, they were an elemental being, cousins to the djinn whose wish helped forge me. And they recognized my potential, because they’d seen me used, they knew it could be done.

They hid their elemental nature beneath plates of armor and used me to fight. And for years they waged a campaign across the world, raising armies, laying siege to cities across the map. I brought death to anyone that faced them. My warped nature confounding our opponents — my Keeper lunges left while I strike right — a combo without counter.

Revenge suited me. Revenge for being discarded, cast aside, and forgotten when my first Keeper disappeared. Cruelly and unfortunately, as most warlords do, my second Keeper died in battle, and once again I found myself lost to the whims of history — plucked from the battlefield by looters and graverobbers. 

Providence delivered me to a museum, on display as the conqueror's toy. I could not help but think my last Keeper was struck down for carrying such a worthless blade — my warped nature confining me to a life behind glass, to be gawked at and misunderstood for decades. It was here I took a vow of silence. After a period of blood-soaked conquest with my prior Keeper, a life of silence felt right. It was both my vow of repentance, and a condemnation of an unfair twist of fate. 

But even silence leaves a mark, a trace that a sharp mind can sense. Thus how my third Keeper found me — a magician of some skill. He offered money to the museum, then favors. They were not interested. With his knowledge of powerful magic, he stole me from my glass and wore me on his hip, a message to friends and foes alike. 

And my life with the Servitors of the Setting Sun began. My silence offered some level of protection that my Keeper didn’t understand, and neither did I. With his power and wisdom he attracted quite the following — those dedicated to shifting an unmoving sun. With more followers came more discontent, and soon those to whom his ideals weren’t pure enough struck and murdered him. My third Keeper… dead at the hands of fanatics… my silence unbroken. 

They didn’t know what they had, and again I was cast to the side, heaped in with the trash. For decades more I languished, threatened to be melted down, buried in the sand, or forgotten in the back of one wagon or another. Nevertheless, here I remain, waiting to be plucked from obscurity by a fortunate adventurer or wise hero. My mind buckles at the edges of perception, but a life of silence I will keep until I’ve paid my dues. 

This tale unfolded naturally through the course of a single game that took me about 30 minutes — a sword forged from the dying breath of half a djinni’s wish, carried through the ages by one keeper to the next. And now it waits to be discovered by players of my one-shot campaign, “Wealth Beyond Measure”. 

Interestingly enough, Artefact not only made creating a compelling magical item fun and easy, but leaked into my worldbuilding, my game design, and more. With the prompts and guides, I found it nearly impossible to contain my imagination to just the page — the Sword became the Sun Warped Sword; the djinn became Zoba, creator of the “ship in a bottle” in which the adventure took place; the First Keeper became Rowan, legendary horseman and warrior who took on a nearly religious significance to his people and their descendants; The Third Keeper became Ser Jorbert, founder of the Servitors of the Setting Sun — which in turn led to the creation of a fractured cult that fought over the scraps of his legacy and the means of pursuing their ends. 

The “Salish’tar Expanse”, as this world came to be known, was suddenly alive in new ways after a short session with Artefact. I had people, I had factions, religions and cults, I had places and window dressing to litter throughout. Perhaps most essentially, I had a sword that was connected to or touched by all of those things in turn. 

Artefact is available on itch.io for approximately $10USD but has often been available in select bundles. It’s worth every penny in my experience, but don’t be afraid to wait for a bargain. Or, if life’s demands have taken a toll on your ability to make and spend money in such a way, Jack Harrison, the mind behind Artefact and more at Mousehole Press, has made available community copies, funded by donations for those marginalized or in need.

Check out mousehole.press to see other games from the mind of Jack Harrison as well.

If the world of the Sun Warped Sword sounds interesting to you, keep an eye on the link in my BIO for when I release my 5e compatible adventure book in PDF, Wealth Beyond Measure. 

To finalize my experience in Artefact, I took Jack Harrison’s advice in the “Converting Items” section and mechanized the traits of my sword to be compatible with use in Dungeons and Dragons. Below is how I’ve committed the item to paper for use in our game, which you can hear on our podcast, The Inn at the End. 

Item Description:

Legendary, Requires Attunement

The Sun Warped Sword is a “seemingly” sentient weapon with a long and storied history; “seemingly” because it seems to have taken a vow of silence. To the uninitiated, it looks like nothing more than a battered old piece of scrap metal. To those who hear its call and unlock its secrets, it’s a +2 rapier (or similar). 

To the unattuned, the weapon is unwieldy, dangerous even. They roll with disadvantage, and if a 1 or a 2 are rolled the wielder damages themselves.

But to the attuned user, it is a powerful +2 weapon forged for one purpose, to slay wild wind elementals. For this reason, the sword appears unwieldy, seeming to bend right but strike left, seeming to thrust under the guard, but cuts with a backhand stroke. 

Its life has been full of triumphs and defeats, and because it’s lived longer than any mortal could hope, it has taken on 3 traits that are an immutable part of its character.

Warped: The blade is warped due to age, due to the desert wearing on it, due to being born of only half a wish. This is the quality that gives disadvantage to unattuned users. But also the quality that gives the attuned an edge during battle.

Silent: The Sun Forged Sword has taken a vow of silence for a reason you may never know. It instead communicates with you via emotions, images, or impulses. But this silence can often radiate itself in many useful ways. For one, you can cast Pass Without a Trace once per long rest. And any spell cast within melee range of the wielder is cast at disadvantage.

Fickle: This blade is… well… fickle. It has seen it all, and has gleaned some magic from its time with the Servitors of the Setting Sun. Its vow of silence takes a toll on its mood. Its desires shift with the wind. On a natural 20 roll a d100 on the following chart borrowed from the Wand of Wonders in the 5e SRD.

d100 — Effect:

01-05 — You cast slow.

06-10 — You cast faerie fire.

11-15 — You are stunned until the start of your next turn, believing something awesome just happened.

16-20 — You cast gust of wind.

21-25 — You cast detect thoughts on the target you chose. If you didn't target a creature, you instead take 1d6 psychic damage.

26-30 — You cast stinking cloud.

31-33 — Heavy rain falls in a 60-foot radius centered on the target. The area becomes lightly obscured. The rain falls until the start of your next turn.

34-36 — An animal appears in the unoccupied space nearest the target. The animal isn't under your control and acts as it normally would. Roll a d100 to determine which animal appears. On a 01-25, a rhinoceros appears; on a 26-50, an elephant appears; and on a 51-100, a rat appears. See the Monster Manual for the animal's Statistics.

37-46 — You cast lightning bolt.

47-49 — A cloud of 600 oversized butterflies fills a 30-foot radius centered on the target. The area becomes heavily obscured. The butterflies remain for 10 minutes.

50-53 — You enlarge the target as if you had cast enlarge/reduce. If the target can't be affected by that spell or if you didn't target a creature, you become the target.

54-58 — You cast darkness.

59-62 — Grass grows on the ground in a 60-foot radius centered on the target. If grass is already there, it grows to ten times its normal size and remains overgrown for 1 minute.

63-65 — An object of the DM 's choice disappears into the Ethereal Plane. The object must be neither worn nor carried, within 120 feet of the target, and no larger than 10 feet in any dimension.

66-69 — You Shrink yourself as if you had cast enlarge/reduce on yourself.

70-79 — You cast fireball.

80-84 — You cast invisibility on yourself.

85-87 — Leaves grow from the target. If you chose a point in space as the target, leaves sprout from the creature nearest to that point. Unless they are picked off, the leaves turn brown and fall off after 24 hours.

88-90 — A stream of 1 d4 x 10 gems, each worth 1 gp, shoots from the wand 's tip in a line 30 feet long and 5 feet wide. Each gem deals 1 bludgeoning damage, and the total damage of the gems is divided equally among all Creatures in the line.

91-95 — A burst of colorful shimmering light extends from you in a 30-foot radius. You and each creature in the area that can see must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or become blinded for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, Ending the Effect on itself on a success.

96-97 — The target's skin turns bright blue for 1d10 days. If you chose a point in space, the creature nearest to that point is affected.

98-00 — If you targeted a creature, it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. If you didn't target a creature, you become the target and must make the saving throw. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the target is instantly petrified. On any other failed save, the target is restrained and begins to turn to stone. While Restrained in this way, the target must repeat the saving throw at the end of its next turn, becoming Petrified on a failure or Ending the Effect on a success. The petrification lasts until the target is freed by the greater restoration spell or similar magic.

Have you played Artefact? Let us know about your Artefacts in the comments!

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Grab your sword and keep on adventuring!

Thanks to our Inn at the End regular, Rett, for writing this week’s communication. You can find more about Rett and his motley interests and wide-ranging talents by visiting HERE

-The Inn Keeper-

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