I'm thinking of running a game based on journeymen wizards from the colleges of magic. So the players each represent one school of magic, while also having non magical careers to best represent their assorted vocations within the college.

Starting off as second career characters and getting steadily more over and super powered, with little regard to the whole "six careers only" malarkey, I'm kinda looking forward to seeing how ludicrous this gets.

Another fun thing is going to be that magic items will start to appear, first a few, then steadily more ludicrously powerful items.

I welcome suggestions for interesting stuff and McGuffins, and I'll be throwing some of my own stuff on here for discussion.

Regarding magic items I have some guidelines that I use when I create my own magical items.

• Be specific.
  When defining the items power make it narrow/targeted. While it limits the usefulness of the item, but at the same time gives the item more flavour. For example the Acitus item card (from the Gathering Storm I think it was) that only gets bonuses against goblins.
• Be nasty.
  Allways have some hidden (or obvious) drawback to the item. It's corrupted by chaos, inhabited by a deamon, force you into frenzy, wounds you on use or whatever other not so good quality. It makes the story better, and the item an doubble edged sword. Like the Wand of Feathers (from Lure of Power maybe?).
• Be smart.
  By this I mean, use the qualities for items that already exist in the game. This makes it a lot easier for you to create the items, and easier for the players to use. A magic weapon might be Vicious against beastmen, have a better CR/DR against elves, gain Pierce 1 (or more) against enemies with the beast trait or gain the Fast and Defensive traits when you're outnumbered. The same goes for drawbacks on the items, use existing stuff. It could add negative condition cards, be a source of corruption and so on.

Obviously you do not have to follow all the "rules" above, but I've found that it gives a good foundation to build items on. A holy magical item for example might not have any significant drawback (but you could give it a small drawback such as a higher encumberance than normal).

Another tip is to see if you can find props for any of the created items. One of my players got a magic coin, so I gave her a silver coin with a skull symbol ( http://campaigncoins.com/freeport-silver-skull-10/ ) so she could play with the coin and use it any time she would flip a coin. Made the item more "real" for everyone in the group. It's nice to have some physical representation for at least some items.

Pernogriffyn's Poly-applicable Pole-arm

Usabrion Pernogriffyn made many trips behind the relatively safe harbours of the old world, even being rumoured to have spent some time in the Nipponese courts. Of course, he's also rumoured to have just bought any old junk from the Marienburg docks. Or was it buying from people that were on a junk?

The Poly-applicable polearm was originally thought to be a simply a wizard's staff for years, with a slightly retarded ability to channel a wizards internal energies. Nothing much was thought of it until Usabrion happened to sell a long, curved blade in Nipponese style to the holder. It was then noticed that the staff had a curious socket arrangement which aptly suited the placement of the dagger, turning it into a fairly fiendish looking glaive-like weapon.

The Pole-arm has several arrangements, both as a separate knife, staff and together as a naginata ahem, glaive-like weapon.

Glaive:

Damage: 6

Crit:2

Qualities: Channeling 2, Vicious, Fast, Defensive Vessel .

Vessel

In it's polearm form, a caster may use any spell that simulates a weapon (Flaming sword of Rhun, for example) and have the polearm stand in for the magical weapon. If they do this, the user does not need to track recharge on the weapon, it remains until the end of the encounter. The highest stats for damage and criticals between the weapon and spell apply, and all beneficial qualities apply.

The uber mgcuffin of the whole campaign will be the altogether rather unassuming Von Hiltengraf's Wonderous Clock.

A cylinder of heavy metal discs stacked upon each other, marked with curious runes and astrological symbols. Each disk turning upon the other, occasionally revealing a row of symbols that indicates a date, time or place of some particular significance. If the cylinder is present at this juncture, it releases all of it's stored energy in a "random", unknown spell.

Any wizard that touches the cylinder immediately has all their stored power drained into it. There is no negative effect for this, one second it is there, the next it is gone. The wizard suffers no stress or wounds. If the cylinder is within close range of a wizard, that wizard loses one power per turn. This is in addition to any power lost or gained for being above or below equilibrium. Wizards at medium range lose one power if they are not attempting to retain power or actively casting a spell.

The Clock is any item of special significance to the Celestial Order, as they seem to have the greatest knack for deducing when it's next activation will be and indeed, most of the random spells that seem to emanate from it come from that same school. The cylinder spends it's time storing magical energy in the interim and seems to have an infinite reservoir. It was recorded to have sat in a magister's pocket for six months at one stage, who worked in the heart of the celestial college, before he followed the directions and stood on a hill three miles outside Altdorf. At midnight, an intensely powerful beam of energy fired into the sky. Suitably perturbed, the magister passed it to someone else the following day.

In my own games I have found that a magic item that is either too easy to use or too general in its effects becomes quickly passe to the player.

Its use should be for a very specific task or effect, each item was made by someone for a specific reason.

Considering the dangers associated with "any" use of magic, the reason for creating a powerful item would have required a very important or

emotional / psychological need in its creator.

These needs and psychological quirks kinks and or motivations should be a complete mystery to anyone finding the item, and have at least one or two

side effects or unexpected results for the player both physically and psychologically. Clues towards its creator's motivations can be a good part of a player's

sense of discover and mastery of said item.

Your idea for a magical adventure of power and discovery is a good one, an adventure arc in multiple episodes could revolve around gaining and mastering

the item or spell desired, along with all the consequences of such a quest towards the potentially corrupting power it contains.

The discovery of an item - or a players quest to recover a lost item believed to be at a hinted location has many potential plots and kicks and twists to it.

A few surprises should also lie in wait, the player may not being the only one seeking the item. Or due to consequences of the item's use unknown to

the players, the item - spell etc will being guarded by powerful forces.

Even the gods of order and their minions could have something to say about their use.

Over all I try to have fun and give players a few worrying moments and a moral dilemma or two, is using the device or spell once gained actually worth all

the cost and the risks they have suffered through. The results should play towards the players motivations and hunger for power and what they are willing

to put there beloved character through. Maybe a mutation or two is worth the power gained, or the sacrifice of a few others lives outweigh the benefits to be

achieved.