Reaver and Cleaver

The great white wyrm raised its head looking to strike yet another fatal blow the to one of the members of the party.

It was then that a young dwarf, Rlog Nuraald, who had been told to hang back and protect the rear of the party from any sneak attack charged the beast. The look of shock was upon the face of the other members of his company as he raised the two twin headed battle axes he had forged himself those many months ago by moonlight in the heat of his father’s forge. The same weapons that nearly every member of his group had scoffed at, jeered him about, and told him he should go buy better ones that they would even be willing to pay for them.

Weapons no one thought would last a moment in a real fight.

The wyrm turned to face this new threat when the first axe struck and bit deeply into its flesh slicing it open as though its tough hide wasn’t even there. The cold that came from within is said to have caused that axe to glow with a bluish light and thus was born Reaver.

The giant jaws snapped at the air where the young dwarf had been. He was moving with a speed rarely seen for his kind, and then the eyes of the beast went blank as the head was severed from the body with a blow from the second axe. It is said that the blade seemed to be sheathed in fire as it struck, pulling power from the very forge it was born from. Thus was born Cleaver.

This month the RPGBA blog carnival was hosted right here at of Dice and Dragons and we shared posts about Weapons of Legend. I thought I would close out the month’s submissions with a pair of battle axes, Reaver and Cleaver.

The above story tells of how these two, rather plain looking weapons, finally showed their powers to their weidler and the world at large. It is something I find frequently missing when I see weapons brought into a campaign or story line, what’s the back story?

An example from the well known book, The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien

“I will give you a name, and I will call you Sting.” – Bilbo Baggins.

Bilbo named his blade after his battle with the giant spider based on what happened during the battle – it gives it meaning. It makes it a character in the story, something of value to the other characters or in the case of a table-top RPG, the players. It forms a bond with them, something they want to keep.

So, the next time your players are given a Weapon of Legend have a backstory for it. You don’t have to tell it to them directly, maybe they can quest for it, maybe that old storyteller by the fire at the inn can fill them about those strange runes carved on it.

Or maybe, just maybe, they will be the ones that write the legend.

May your dice roll well.