Cheap Thrills [GLoGmas 2025]
My GLoGmas...uh...recipient? this year is Louis over at Garamondia! I am definitely not the right person to handle their setting (drugs are bad for you, m'kay?), but in the spirit of GLoGmas I did my best. This post largely interacts with the following four posts over at Garamondia:
Plus the rulest set G24, which Barony 1.1 is based on.
Louis has way more than four posts on their blog. They have a daunting amount for only two years of posting, frankly. Go read them!
And to Louis specifically - you've put an immense amount of effort into your setting. That much is evident across the 150+ posts in the last two years and your bajillion discord messages. My greatest aspiration with this post is to give you something you'll be pleased with, because your effort alone demands a worthy post. I hope I have succeeded.
This post focuses primarily on cheap drugs.
Cheap Thrills
From Disease and the Underworld
"Everywhere will sell cheap drugs, even if it's the local innkeeper selling across the counter. Cheap drugs have a 1 in 20 chance of not working and are much, much cheaper than properly prepared stuff...if an adventurer is buying cheap drugs, they are in a very bad way..."
From A Minimal Setting Document - Equipment
"The culture of the Barony is a drug culture...drugs are important as medicines but also as social binders...You can get very cheap doses of each (10 copper), which have a nasty taste and smell, and a chance for unpleasant side effects..."
All cheap drugs abide by the following rules:
- They are considered delicate.
- They cost 10%, at most, of their "normal" counterpart.
- They have a 1-in-20 chance of producing no effect.
- They have a 9-in-20 chance of producing an unintended effect.
- They have the same duration as their "normal" counterpart, regardless of the effect produced.
- They are more addictive than their "normal" counterpart. Drugs which are normally non-addictive are now addictive, with a 3-in-20 chance you become addicted. Normally addictive drugs have their addictive-ity increased.
Unintended Effects of Cheap Drugs
If you take a cheap drug, roll a d20. On a 1, nothing happens. On a 2-9, the drug produces an unintended effect instead. The unintended effect is determined by the number on the d20.
Medicine
Cheap Prophylactics (1 silver / dose)
Cheap prophylactics, if they work, are guaranteed to prevent something external from becoming internal.
- 2-3 - your diaphragm seizes, making anything more than a shallow breath impossible.
- 4-6 - your jaw seizes shut, unable to be opened without breaking it open.
- 7-9 - your eyes fail you; you are temporarily blinded.
Cheap Curative (3 silver / dose)
Cheap curatives stop working at one "level" of disease above their "normal" counterpart. Unintended effects of cheap curatives last until they, too, are cured.
- 2-3 - your immune system is busy fighting the cheap drug. If you become diseased, the disease progresses one day "faster" per stage.
- 4-6 - the curative attacks your joints. You suffer as though a gruesome injury were inflicted on every joint in your body.
- 7-9 - the curative attacks your nerves, numbing your extremities and darkening your vision.
Cheap Painkillers (1 silver / dose)
Every time you take a cheap painkiller, there is a 12-in-20 chance you become addicted to them.
- 2-3 - your pain response dramatically increases. You are considered shocked.
- 4-6 - your brain is "killed", leaving you comatose.
- 7-9 - you cannot feel anything whatsoever, whether physical, mental, or otherwise.
Labor
Some "employers" skimp on the drugs to cut corners and save costs. Half of the time, they get away with it. The other half of the time, they don't. Leery workers often sell these "labor-grade" drugs within the community, becoming the main source for them.
Stimulants (2 copper / dose)
- 2-3 - you fully succumb to panic and immediately your "fight or flight" response kicks in, even if there is no threat.
- 4-6 - you must roll with your worst modifier to ignore the effects of panic.
- 7-9 - you get the "jitters" and cannot remain still or silent.
Sedatives (2 copper / dose)
- 2-3 - you become over-sedated, unable to hold yourself upright, walk, or move your limbs. For all intents and purposes, all inventory slots are treated as filled with fatigue. Any items you carry count as fatigue-over-your-maximum inventory slots.
- 4-6 - you giggle and laugh at everything and nothing; nothing you say or hear makes any sense.
- 7-9 - brain fog sets in, making it impossible to focus on anything for longer than a few seconds.
Social Drugs
Cheap Narcotics (2 copper / dose)
Every time you take a cheap narcotic, there is a 6-in-20 chance you become addicted to them.
- 2-3 - you become hyper-sensitive to all stimuli, especially pain. You can vaguely make out entities if you focus intensely on one spot, though no one else can see them.
- 4-6 - you become nauseous and your vision swims. Any quick or sudden movements or any strong smells will cause you to vomit. You gain no health from eating a ration until the high wears off.
- 7-9 - you suffer a terrible crash after the high, seriously hindering you physically and mentally until you can rest it off.
Cheap Psychotics (5 copper / dose)
- 2-3 - you catch a glimpse of the Material Hell. Something in there met your gaze. Morale breaks.
- 4-6 - you suffer auditory and visual hallucinations until the high wears off. You cannot tell what is real. You are considered scrambled.
- 7-9 - you are delusional. You suffer extreme paranoia.
Psychedelics (5 copper / dose)
- 2-3 - the sounds of legions screaming explodes in your ears, incapacitating you for the duration of the trip.
- 4-6 - you see great worms tearing through the earth far below. Your eyes are glued to the ground for the duration of the trip.
- 7-9 - you find audience with the wrong entity, one whose language you do not know. You've essentially kicked the door to their house down - they are not pleased.
Exotic Drugs
There are no actual cheap equivalents to Imperial drugs, but not everyone is privy to this information. Taking a "cheap" Imperial drug guarantees an "unintended" effect. Roll a d20 if you take one. You suffer the effect of your result.
- 1 - you'll be dead in 24 hours unless an antidote is found, and you'll suffer incredibly while you die.
- 2-4 - you suffer severe brain damage. It is probably permanent.
- 5-7 - excruciating, unrelenting pain races through your body. You feel as though your entire body is ablaze.
- 8-10 - you contract a disease of the DM's choice. It is already stage 2.
- 11-13 - your body enters a heightened metabolic state indefinitely. You cannot satiate your hunger, no matter how much you consume. You are permanently exhausted.
- 14-16 - you lose your sense of self, instead latching onto other personalities around you to fill the void. You forget your name and any markers of your original identity.
- 17-19 - you are permanently sterilized.
- 20 - nothing happens.