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A Different Kind of Artifact
In traditional Dungeons and Dragons-esque games, Artifacts are items of immense magical power, usually with a terrible price attached to their use, such as a curse, or something else. In fact, the rules are written to encourage this type of item.
For some artifacts this proves a good model, especially if the item is already in the control of an enemy. But so artifacts to spawn creativity and story ideas, and to be able to be a continuing source of them, I think a different set of creation criteria is needed.
The best artifact I can remember encountering came from the third Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie in the form of the scepter which allowed the turtles to travel through time. What are the elements that made this item so perfect?
Re-usability. The scepter has no reason to be destroyed, which means that it can easily be re-used at any point, whether because of a return to the past, or someone else stealing the item. There are many different stories to be told with this one item.
No Strings Attached. The scepter never forced anyone into a story line or line of action, in fact all it does is create opportunities for new and different things to happen.
Plot Driver. The scepter drives the plot in new directions naturally, just by having players explore the consequences of the items abilities.
Zero Repulsion. There are many artifacts which players and characters alike will do their best to distance themselves from. This item not being one of them means that it encourages players to embrace the story, instead of making the story about escaping the story itself.
Infinite Possibilities. Perhaps the best part of the scepter is that it can allow time travel between any points where the scepter exists, so long as equal mass is displaced. This means that in addition to returning to ancient Japan, travel is possible to other points in the past as well as the future.
How do you like to design artifacts in your game? What kind of artifacts would you like to see more of?
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In a way, the artifact idea you’re laying out almost matches a change of the game’s genre. A time travel artifact really moves most games into the time travel genre, where affecting the past, etc. becomes important.
Similarly, adding a piece of hypertech will usually change a post-apocalyptic survival game into sci-fi and convenient morality free blood would move a Vampire game from horror to street level super heroes.