Earlier this year Hex Games released American Artifacts, a collection of magical items with a uniquely American flavor. Now they're gearing up to release a second volume of mystical Americana, and they're giving the fans a chance to get involved. If you've got an idea for an American Artifact, write up a description of the item (including physical description, background information, and game mechanics) and send your entry to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . All game mechanics should use the QAGS system. If your entry is selected for American Artifacts, Volume 2, you'll get credit in the book and a free copy of the PDF when it's released. Entry deadline is December 7, 2010.

If you need some inspiration, here's a sample entry from the first American Artifacts:

Gygaxian Dice
This set of well-worn polyhedral dice consists of one four-sided die, three six-sided dice, an eight-sided die, one twelve-sider, one normal twenty-sided die, and another twenty-sider numbered 0-to-9 twice. All are made out of low-quality, dull-colored plastic, and their edges have been worn almost round. The numbers are poorly filled in with fading crayon. These dice were used extensively in the 1970s by the creators of the world’s most famous role-playing adventure game. Over the decades, these humble game aides have absorbed huge amounts of psycho-causality energy. As such, the person who possesses these dice can use them to alter probability and, indeed, warp the nature of implausibility itself.

A person needs the complete set of Gygaxian Dice to utilize their powers. Single dice or partial sets have no special abilities. Once per day, the possessor can think of an event or outcome he would like to occur, make an offering of pretzels and beer, and roll the dice. If his willpower is strong enough, and the dice land in the proper pseudo-ritualistic patterns, then probability will alter itself to the roller’s wishes. Perversely, due to the nature of Gygaxian physics, manifesting wildly improbable and illogical outcomes is easier than invoking plausible and seemingly logical phenomenon.

Mechanics:
The Gygaxian Dice have the “Improbability Control” Gimmick with a Number of 13. The player tells the GM how he’d like to alter probability, and the GM gives him a Difficulty Number to roll against.  Remember, the more improbable the desired effect, the lower the DN.  Some examples are listed below.

Difficulty Number Probability Example
12 Perfectly logical and expected  It’s cold inside a closed refrigerator.
9   Probable, but not guaranteed  There is a ham sandwich on the middle shelf of a closed refrigerator.
6   Possible, but highly unlikely  There is a hand grenade inside the crisper of a closed refrigerator.
3   Almost entirely improbable  The refrigerator is actually a type of fiendish monster that has evolved to look like a household appliance in its quest to devour homemakers.