Races
In gaming terms, choosing your character’s race means you will select which sentient species you would like to belong to.
RPG Series
Illustrations by the inimitable Julie Dillon.
PERFUME OIL BLENDS
Presented in an amber apothecary vial
“You all meet at an inn…”
Pen and paper role-playing games have been a tremendous influence in my life since my formative years. My parents bought me the magenta D&D boxed set back in 1982, along with the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster Manual. My lifelong passion for fantasy, science fiction, war games, and mythology was well-channeled through RPGs, and I credit playing D&D with helping me sustain my imagination and sense of wonder through adulthood.
I played with one particular group through the bulk of my late teens and early 20s, and this series — along with the atmosphere tools that Black Phoenix Trading Post has introduced — was inspired, specifically, by the time that we spent campaigning together. Our group was somewhat prop-driven in our gaming: we felt that setting a mood was conducive to our style of gameplay. Little things like changes in lighting, minor sound effects, and music made a world of difference, and we found that utilizing miniatures, model railroad scenery, and other tools in order to physically illustrate strategies and provide visual cues was tremendously useful. How much more immersive would it have been if we’d been able to smell the crypt we were crawling through? Or the stench of steel and blood that permeates a warrior’s cloak? What do the wizard’s spell components smell like? What does winter in the desert smell like? Or spring in a druid’s sanctuary?
Pen and paper role playing games are, to me, dynamic stories that are propelled by the active participation of many individuals. You can’t have a strong storyline without creating characters of some depth. When you create a character, you generally have their personalities, priorities, and history in mind, along with a clear vision of what your character looks and sounds like. But how does she smell? What does the world around her smell like?
In most pen and paper fantasy RPGs, three of the primary attributes that you must choose for your character are race, class, and alignment. Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s RPG scent series was designed to emulate the character creation process, and are meant to be layered in order to create a character concept. In short: you layer your class, race, and the two fragrances that compose your alignment to construct your character scent. RPGs in all their myriad forms — CRPGs, MMOs, and old school pen and paper — have brought me immeasurable joy. This is my homage. This series is dedicated to my first DMs — my parents — for laughing off the nutter-perpetuated AD&D Satan Scare of the 80’s. Thanks for taking the time to play with your little girl. I miss you, and I love you.
amboland90 –
Wet: too soapy for me, very green
Just dry: much sweeter, still green, love it
Later: subtle, balanced, love it more
pandosimms –
This was my very first scent ordered from Bpal just based on the description. I was not disappointed at all….to the contrary. Close your eyes…breathe deep….ahhhh. Spending years on the Gulf Islands of Canada I certainly can tell you that this scent draws me back to those woodland walks after the rain….misty…floral…berries…earth. I truly love this scent. One of my staples for sure.
Rebecca –
Elf was my first RPG bottle purchase and is one of my very favorite BPALs. Wet, you’re tramping through sharp evergreens, but they quickly soften. The golden musk and honeycomb emerge with some light, wild florals. The berry is a hint of tart fruit, and it all merges into this magical blend, like walking through dappled sunlight in a late spring woods, while knowing the secrets of all the plant life you pass and having the ability to take out a foe with a well-aimed arrow at 100 paces. Gorgeous. And it lasts forever on me.
Sam –
I’ve had a frimp of this for about a year and a half and I never wore it because I Did Not Care For It in the bottle. It was syrupy, sticky sweet and medicinal–kinda reminded me of NyQuil to be honest. I never actually even put any on. Cut to twenty minutes ago when I said to hell with it and took a dip.
I LOVE IT. Obviously my tastes have DRASTICALLY changed since I first opened it up. I still don’t like it in the bottle, Not At All, but it is absolutely lovely on. Like a rainy mountain forrest, berries and honey. Violet usually bothers me a great deal, but its soooooo nice like this. Not overpowering and it’s not making me ill. Will def be getting a full bottle.
MFilbeck –
I wear this all the time. I’m an elf in my soul, so I want to love this fragrance. It does smell lovely. On me it’s mostly sweet berry with pine-y undertones. I pair it with Good, and together they smell sweet, warm, fresh, and green. My main complaint is that Elf seems to have little throw and staying power on me.
Natalie –
This has been lovely since I got it two years ago. It seems to have strengthened with age, since I put it on 8 hours ago, and it’s still going strong. Imps age faster than full bottles. Age, age, age a bottle that smells ghastly. Some have even left the cap off their bottles for extremely controlled amounts of time, and therefore hastened the aging process. There’s a reason you don’t receive an order for almost a month after you’ve made it. Age it!
Anyway. Smells like a lovely, flowery forest. How I imagine Arwen smells.
Sarah –
I purchased the imp size of ELf and immediately regret not purchasing a full sized bottle! I’ve tried 10 different BPAL scents, and I think this one might be my favorite. The different ingredients blend perfectly together. It is soft and fresh. I live in Appalachia and it definitely reminds me of the forest, but with a slightly sweeter botanical scent. It is perfect for Spring.
Witold –
By my wife: I adore elves, woods, meadows and everything in fantasy world. Elf was one of the first oils I’ve tried (my beloved RPG’s charachter is an elf, soo.. I needed to try it). Now it’s one of my favourites.
First it hits me with nice and fresh smells of forests, meadows and flowers. Later on skin wild berries and sweet musk combine all scents into one pleasant aroma! Beautiful! Elf definitely deserve a try out if you are into this stuff.
morwen09 –
Elf is light and fresh, like a spring morning. The initial notes are cool and etherial woods (it does almost smell of pine) and florals, though as it dries, the sweetness of the berry comes through a bit more. I like that it is fresh and botanical without being overly flowery. It’s a great match for the character; I’ve always imagined elves would smell of forests, and this manages to evoke the woods without being overly earthy or heavy. It’s smells of the purified idea of a forest, or perhaps an elf’s immortal memory of a spring morn from the youth of the world.
Empornium –
First Application: Huge waft of a balsam pine/aspen fragrance that reminds me of walking in the boreal forests here in Canada.
1-3 Minutes: an incense-like warmth begins to waft between the trees, must be the amber showing herself. The violets begin to scream in the distance.
5-10 minutes: The violets are angry. They become shrill, demanding, and very soapy. A powdery drydown waits in the shadows with the beeswax and golden musk.
10-20 minutes: The soapy violet is still lingering with a bitter (yet clean) pout, and the musk has decided to make an appearance. It smells like buttery caramel.
xaglow –
I’m getting this in a larger bottle for sure! The lily is very nice and light, not overpowering or powdery. This one is cool when wet and only warms a little when it dries. There is a wonderful hint of sweetness that carries over as this one dries that I absolutely love.