Resumption, Jackals, and Kashshaptu

Resumption

I am back! This blog fell by the wayside as I started to do more game design for various companies. Additionally, I published my own RPG – Jackals. You can find it here and the first campaign Fall of the Children of Bronze here. But I miss blogging and am getting back into here.

So today, I am sharing a new monster for my RPG – the Kashshaptu!

Kashshaptu

The last of seven Rathic sent by Imil-Ajas to devastate the Hann of Ekur Enir (the Bright House Which is Like a Mountain) ruining into Eki Ezeru (the Twice Cursed Home). Sent and received, these Rathic of hunger consumed flesh, mind, memory, and soul of the Hann. They consumed their past by eating their memories and their future by consuming the souls of their children, so few and precious to the Hann, turned them into the Issuq Kįn, the hollow ones. Six of the seven fled the mansion, heading out into the world during the fires of the fall of the Hann. But one remains in the bowls of the mountain. This creature rules over the depths of Eki Ezeru, waiting for the day when it too will be free to join its brethren and rend marrow and mind again.

This is a new monster for my home Jackals game, that I created on my show for Iconic Production – Behind the Screen. I am building new monsters for Eki Ezeru as well as creating the Hannic mansion there, on stream. If you want to join in the discussion, you can find me here on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 CST.

Now this is a new monster that I have yet to test out. If you end up using it, please let me know in the comments or join me on Twitch.

Kashshaptu

Type: Spirits (Rathic) Location: Eki Ezeru

Defence: 60%

Combat: 80%*

Knowledge: 65%

Urban: 35%

• Stealth: 65% when in darkness or shadows

Common: 70%

Wounds: 80 Protection: 6 (insubstantial)

Move: 24 Initiative: 10*

Clash Points: 6* Treasure Score: 5

Corruption: 20

Special Abilities

Inured to Darkness

Rathic: the Kashshaptu is an insubstantial being, and as such enjoys a high level of Protection from normal weapons. Additionally, Jackals cannot simply slay a Rathic. When its Wounds reach 0, it flees into the Silent Lands, driven away by the battle. Slaying a Rathic permanently requires a ritual and is a feat of legend.

Consumption: When the Kashshaptu inflicts wounds, it can consume the essence of its target. When it does it gets a consumption point, which the LM may spend to increase one of the following abilities:

• Increase Skill – The Kashshaptu gains +10% Combat skill. When this takes them above 100%, they gain a talent of their choice.
• Increase Initiative – The Kashshaptu gains +2 initiative
• Increase Attacks – The Kashshaptu adds 1 attack to any combat range with a *
• Increase Clash – The Kashshaptu gains +1 CP
• Increase Protection – The Kashshaptu gains +1 PRO
• Steal Rite – The Kashshaptu learns a rite known by the target.
• Invoke Rite – The Kashshaptu may invoke, as a free action, any rite from the Mouathenic tradition, or that it has stolen from a jackal.

Consume Essence – If the Kashshaptu slays a Jackal, and it may assume its form, and leave Eki Ezeru.

Remembrance: When driven off, the Kashshaptu takes 1d6 weeks to reform. However, it retains all abilities gained from Consumption and seeks out the Jackals it has feed from.

Combat Range

1-15 – Howl in the Depths (1 Attack) – The Kashshaptu lets out a below of rage which provokes a hard Willpower test from all Jackals within 15 yards of the target. On a failed check, this attack inflicts 2d6 (7) Valour (which ignores Protection). On a success, the target takes 1/2 damage. This attack may be used as a ranged attack against targets within 30 yards.

16 – 35 – Consume Flesh (1 Attack*) – The Kashshaptu rends the flesh of its target for 2d6+2d4 (12) Wounds.If this attack inflicts wounds, the Kashshaptu gains a consumption point. Typically, this will be spent for Clash Points, PRO, Attack, Skill, or Initiative.

36 – 50 – Consume Spirit (1 Attack *) – The Kashshaptu consumes the target’s will for 2d6+2d4 (12) Wounds (which ignores Protection). If this attack inflicts wounds, the highest value on the damage die is also inflicted on the target’s Mettle. The Kashshaptu gains a consumption point. Typically, this will be spent for Clash Points, PRO, Attack, or Initiative. This attack may be used as a ranged attack against targets within 30 yards.

51 – 80 – Consume Devotion (1 Attack) – The Kashshaptu rends the soul of the target for 2d10 (11) wounds (which ignores Protection and Vitality). If this attack inflicts wounds, the Kashshaptu also deals that damage to the target’s Devotion. The Kashshaptu gains a consumption point. Typically, this will be for, Invoke Rite or Steal Rite. This attack may be used as a ranged attack against targets within 30 yards.

81 – 90 – Consume Memory (2 Attacks) – The Kashshaptu rends the mind of the target, attempting to absorb its identity. They inflict 3d8 (13) Wounds (which ignores Protection). If this inflicts a wound, the GM rolls a 1d6.

1. Common Skill
2. Defensive Skill
3. Martial Skill
4. Knowledge Skill
5. Urban Skill
6. Magic Skill/Category of Choice

The LM selects a skill from that category. The Jackal loses % = to the damage roll in that skill (x2 on a crit) and the Kashshaptu gains that % in appropriate category. If this reduces the Jackals below a talent threshold, they lose the talent.

Additionally, to aid LMs, I am providing three possible Consumption tracks. These are road maps on how to build your first 10 consumption points, depending on what you want the Kashshaptu to be effective at.

Consumption Points	Combat	Stealth	Invocation
1	+10% Combat	+1 CP	Steal Rite
2	+1 Attack	+10% Urban Skill	+1 CP
3	+1 CP	+2 Initiative	Invoke Rite
4	+10% Combat	+10% Combat	+1 PRO
5	Talent – Rending Strike or Power Attack	+2 Initiative	Steal Rite
6	+1 PRO	+10% Urban Skill	+1 CP
7	+10% Combat	+10% Combat	+1 PRO
8	+1 Attack	Talent – Quick Reflexes – Sweeping Arc	Invoke Rite
9	+1 CP	+1 CP	Steal Rite
10	+1 PRO	+1 PRO	Invoke Rite

Shadowcraft: The Glamour War

I know that it has been a while since I updated Origins of a Dark God. There are a lot of reasons for this. But most are boring, daily life things. However, one of the projects I have been spending much of my time and word count on just went live on Kickstarter yesterday!

Shadowcraft: The Glamour War is a Fate RPG by ReRoll productions. And I am the setting write for it! As of this blog post we are over 30% of the way funded, and still gathering momentum. If you have enjoyed the posts on this blog, please go check out Shadowcraft. I am very excited about the setting, which you can read about on the Kickstarter page.

While Origins might go silent for a while longer as I write for Shadowcraft, know I will be putting my efforts toward bringing this unique setting to life.

Thank you for all the support this last year, and I hope you will consider backing Shadowcraft.

RPG Stash Busting Challenge Update 1 – Numenera

Not one to just post a challenge and not compete, I have started the first of my Stash Challenge games for 2015 – Numenera! I have a group of five people, all with characters made and ready for the first session next Monday.

Getting the group together was easy as I am running the game on Hangouts. Character creation was a blast, I even had one player ask me to create a foci for him on the fly (Sees Shatterpoints!). I have had the idea for the plot rolling around my head for a while, so we will see where this goes.  I am so excited that I even created audio clips for the first adventure to play during the session. So far the challenge is going far better than I had anticipated. Sometimes you just have to dive in!

My Updated RPG Stash Busting Challenge 2015 list:

Shadows of Esteren – [In the planning phase.]

Adventurer, Conqueror, King – [Limbo.]

Infinity RPG – As soon as I posted this list, I was invited to the Infinity playtest. So, I immediately got a group together and knocked out the intro encounter and we were hooked. [Damn it, I have to add this to the list but I got a playtest in so that has to count for something.]

Numenera ­– [Characters created. First session on the schedule.]

In Nomine – [A scarier Limbo than where ACKS is at.]

Also, I have a number of writers in the group, so I am hoping I can convince some or all of them to write session recaps.  If that happens, they will be posted here! So stay tuned for more updates, and please post your own!

RPG Stash Challenge!

Welcome to 2015! I have been thinking about 2014 vs 2015 and how I wanted to kick this year of blogging off. Unsurprisingly, the best idea came from my wife.

My wife is a crafter. Her bins of yarn, paper, stamps, arcane torture implements, and hole punches put my gaming collection to shame. She and her friends, in an attempt to prevent their craft stash from collapsing in upon itself and forming some sort of malevolent gestalt sentience, have challenged each other to ‘Stash Bust’ in the year.  Essentially, their goal in 2015 is to create, craft, and burn through their supplies to clear room for new material.

When I heard about it, I thought it was a great idea. I mean, I have tons of games on my shelf that I collected over the years. I am intrigued by them, I spent money on them for some reason, yet they have yet to see life at the gaming table. So I am putting out the challenge to any and all who will take it up.  RPG Stash Busting Challenge 2015. Comment here or on my G+ thread. List four games on your shelf that you want to bust through this year. Run said games. That simple.  To make it a true challenge, one shots don’t count. You need at least four sessions of a game for it to count. Give the game a chance. Air it out and take it out for a run.

My RPG Stash Busting Challenge 2015 list:

Shadows of Esteren – I have read all their books, and am supporting their Kickstarter but have yet to even make a character for it.

Adventurer, Conqueror, King – I have run a couple of sessions of this in the past. This year’s goal is Dwimmermount. Or at least get a group to D@W levels.

Mindjammer – This game captured my imagination and I want to get it in front of my group. They love Fate, and Mindjammer solves most of my group’s issues with the system.

Numenera ­– Another game that I have only run oneshots for after a failed campaign in 2013.

In Nomine – My first game-line that I collected for the sake of collecting!

What is on your list for 2015?

A Look Behind and a Look Ahead

Here we are at the end of 2014. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who reads my little corner of the internet.

This has been a full and crazy year. This blog turned 1. I broke 100 posts. I co-started a gaming podcast. And I have been drawn into some freelance writing projects. A lot of it is thanks to this blog.

Looking at the website stats 2014, Origins had 9,418 views from over 5000 visitors. That is mind boggling to me. I made 80 posts this year (not counting this one), and it seems most of you are here for my reviews. Which, while not why I started the blog, is ok with me.

Looking forward, what does 2015 hold for Origins of a Dark God? Honestly, who knows? Between Iconic, Masters, and the new writing jobs I have, I have a lot of extracurricular activities. However, I have some 13^th Age articles that I am pre-writing for the start of 2015. In-depth Icon write-ups, creature ecologies and stats, and some new mechanics that I want to share. Also, I have plans for a world building exercise using the Adventure, Conqueror, King system.  Intermixed will be reviews as often as I can put them together, and general advice from my table.

I look forward to seeing what 2015 holds! See you all next year.

Something Exciting

Back in September, I reviewed Book 0 of Shadows of Esteren. I have devoured the rest of the books and hope to get a group of the game started next year.  That being said, the Esteren Team has launched a new Kickstarter, here.

The Kickstarter has three components.  First is the Occultism book. Occultism is a thema, much like their book The Monastery of Tuath. Monastery covered the religious themes of Esteren and included an adventure, and it sounds like this book will do the same for mysticism. This Kickstarter also includes the third album for Esteren, Rise. I have Of Men and Obscurities (their first album), and it is a great instrumental album that I listen to while working, in addition to using at the table. Finally, they have the Ghost Stories add-on, which includes two books The Black Moon Handbook (a kind of manual about ghosts) and Howlings (a collection of short stories).

They have made it super easy for fans of Esteren to jump in with this Kickstarter.  If you already have Esteren books, look for pledges with the title ‘Farl’ and you will be getting just the new material from this Kickstarter. New to Esteren and want to get it all? Pledges with the title ‘Varigal’ are geared towards you.

The Occultism Kickstarter runs through January 21^st, 2015. Check it out here if you are interested!

I will be doing one more post this year, as Christmas and New Years fall on Thursdays.  Next Monday, I will look at this year in review and hopefully will be able to give some insight on where I will be going in 2015.

Jadepunk Review

Disclaimer: This pdf was graciously given to me by Ryan Danks of ReRoll Productions. All opinions within the review are my own.

I mentioned before I have decided to take a second look at the Fate system. There have been some recent additions to the Fate Universe that have really impressed me. The Dresden Files RPG captured the feel of the novels superbly. Atomic Robo RPG had me laughing while reading the core rule book. And Mindjammer has jumped to the top of a very short list of Science Fiction games I have to run. But nestled in all the Fate discussions I have had with friends recently, Jadepunk has kept popping up. In talking with Ryan Danks, the publisher and lead developer on the line, he offered to send me a copy. Well, I read it, and here we are.

Jadepunk – Review

Jadepunk – Tales from Kausao City, is a 139 page PDF available from ReRoll Productions or Drivethrurpg. For $9.99 you are getting a complete game. The system is powered by Fate. From my understanding of the Fate world, Jadepunk is more Fate Accelerated than Fate Core. That being said, Jadepunk serves as a great example of the Fate engine and good place to dive into that system. The game is extremely friendly to new players: new to Jadepunk, new to Fate, new to RPGs. The book is littered with little callouts which boil the system and setting down into brief overviews. It would super simple to grab those and make a GM screen or player handout with all the pertinent information.

So, what is Jadepunk? It is genre mash setting, westerns meet wuxia, with a generous helping of jade powered tech thrown in. The game takes place in Kausao City. This city is a jadetech marvel. White jade airships travel between tower skyscrapers of Green jade. Blue jade provides stable forms of energy and Red jade provides violate ones. The great nations of the world all are represented in Kausao City, seeking to control the flow of the Jade, which exists in abundance under and around the city. The rich look down on Kausao City, corrupt and greedy, seeking to oppress those beneath them. The writers sure know the punk genre. In my mind, you can’t call it punk without having oppression to fight against.

Characters play as a developing society of vigilante martial artists called the Jianghu. They are trying to bring justice to Kausao City. Martial Artists, rebels, jadetech engineers are viable character archetypes in this game. With fist, blade, and red jade six-shooters, you and your group fight for the soul of Kausao City, and tell stories worthy of Hero or Tombstone.

The setting is rich in flavor and focuses mainly on Kausao City. The major players in the city (nations, religions, ect.) get enough detail to give players and GMs a springboard to make this game their own. In fact that is especially true of Kausao City. While you are given rich information on the city, the writers want your Kausao to be uniquely yours. For example, when talking about using the map of the city, the writers don’t give you a huge key of places. Districts are sketched out, and important places are given write-ups.  But, then they suggest you mark the map up as you play, putting your game’s locations into the city.

Conclusion

I know I did not talk about the system side of Jadepunk. That was on purpose. Partially because I want to do a standalone Fate review, and partially because I feel that the settings are what make Fate games unique and interesting.

This is especially true of Jadepunk. The book gives you a great setting, mashing two genres in a fun way. If you like the idea of martial artists armed with six-shooters, fantasy westerns, or a fresh take on punk tropes, pick this game up. The layout and design of Kausao City is how I always envisioned releasing Shadow’s Reach from Ta’nar; invocative without being restrictive. You can also, drop the city into any campaign, and hit the ground running with western-wuxia goodness.

ReRoll already has a number of expansions for the game that you can purchase from their store. Also, as a side note, if you purchase from the ReRoll Store, 30% of your purchase is donated to charity. Treat yourself to a fun game and feel good about it while you do.

The Secret of Secrets

Imagine if you will that Star Wars was a role-playing game – the movies, not the actual roleplaying game. There you are sitting around the table, having split the party (never a good idea). While you are running through Cloud City trying to escape, your buddy, let’s call him Chris, is battling Darth Vader in the bowels of the city.

Natural 1.  Chris fumbles his defense roll and Fweem!! There goes Chris’ character’s hand. He makes his save and is holding onto the railing about to fall down a giant shaft. You are completely engaged with the dialogue flying back and forth between Chris and the GM, then this happens:

GM: If only you knew the power of the Dark Side. Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.

Chris: He told me enough! He told me you killed him!

GM: No… [whispers something into Chris’ ear].

Chris: [shocked] No. No! That’s not true! That’s impossible!

You sit and wait for the reveal, but it never comes. Weeks go by. After the campaign ends, the second Death Star destroyed, complete with many inside jokes between the GM and Chris, you finally ask, what was said back there?  Oh, that? The GM told me that Vader was my father.

How anticlimactic would that be?

Secrets (campaign or character) Are Only Awesome When Revealed!

Personally, I think that secrets are only cool when they are revealed. I have had players who come to the table with a cool character secret and expect to ride across the campaign with their secret intact. What is the point in that? RPGs are a social, co-operative game. Secrets, either the GM’s or the PC’s that are never revealed run counter to that. If your character is a dragon, hiding in a world where dragons are feared and hunted down, that is some great story material!! But don’t expect to not be put in situations where that will be revealed. I am not saying that secrets should be revealed in session one, but eventually they should come out.  Because when they do, they tend to be explosive.

A recent, nearly deadly, example:

In one of my 13^th Age games, the party had been hired by a being of power, who had been bound to a graveyard and stripped of her name for an unknown crime against the gods. The players had been able to discover that although this entity had done the crime, the punishment was, after many eons, exceeding the crime. This entity was slowly being pushed beyond repentance into madness. The twist was that someone had assassinated all of the gods of knowledge to prevent anyone else from discovering this creature’s name, for true names hold power. The group was searching for the last of these slain gods, Azometh. They had discovered that he was not truly dead, but being held and tortured somewhere in the Land of the Dead.

In a recent session, two new players joined the group right before everyone descended into the underworld to free Azometh. The old group decided they did not entirely trust the new characters and kept the scope of their mission hidden from the new players. When they finally found Azometh, being tortured and repeatedly questioned by a Big Bad Evil Guy from my world for ‘THE NAME’, the truth came out. What happened next was an epic night of gaming. The new characters felt betrayed and could not understand why anyone would risk saving such a bound entity. One of the new players decided that no one should have the name (which would control the entity) and slew Azometh. One of the original players managed to contain some of the god’s essence within himself, while another (a forgeborn who sought to raise Azometh to worship him) went berserk and attacked her god’s slayer.

Suddenly, I had PVP in my game. The Fighter going after the cleric, the cleric trying not to die. The Sorcerer trying in vain to maintain his own identity while absorbing the power of a god. The players had a great time working through their character’s choices and the fallout of the revealed secrets.

Conclusion

I am not saying don’t have secrets in your game. I am not saying don’t come to the table with character secrets. But if you horde them and only reveal them after play is over, you are the only one who cares. If you take the risk of letting your secret come to light, not only do you get that enjoyment of a pertinent reveal, but the rest of the group gets to share in that. And your secret has the potential to change the scope of the game for weeks to come.  Which is more satisfying?

As a GM, present opportunities for secrets to come out, but if they are not yours, let the character decide whether or not to reveal them. They should have the final say, but giving them the opportunity or creating consequences for keeping the secret is fair game!

PS

Jadepunk review is still in the works.  Between work and sickness, it has been a rough couple of days.

Good GMing & Finding Fate

Happy December. I hope your holidays were great! It has been a crazy couple of weeks for me, between work projects and grad school. But, this week promises to be the last busy one for a while! Which is great, as I have new reviews to write, podcasts to record, and game design to do! Ok, maybe not less crazy, but definitely more fun!

I have been digging into a lot of great books on GMing over the last couple of weeks. I have reread Play Dirty and Robin’s Laws of Good Gamemastering. I tore through Never Unprepared, and Unframed by Engine Publishing (reviews forth coming), and have Kobold’s Guide to Combat sitting on my desk next to me. It has been enlightening to review and absorb other people’s view on gamemastering and the hobby. I firmly believe that GMing is a skill. Like any skill, practice and study are key to improvement. I plan to be sharing what I am taking away from these books, as well as reviewing them, in the coming months.

Another set of books that are on my radar to read and review are a number of Fate products. For a variety of reasons, I have started looking into Fate Core and Fate Accelerated. I picked up Mindjammer, Atomic Robo, Jadepunk, and the Fate Core books. I have played Fate before, in its Dresden and Spirit of the Century incarnations. I am looking forward to digging into the nuts and bolts of this game, and seeing how I can apply it to Ta’nar.

Come back Thursday, when I will be looking at Jadepunk, a game powered by Fate.

The Translation Codex

Disclaimer: This pdf was graciously given to me for the purposes of review by Ryan Chaddock Games. All opinions within the review are my own.

I was about to crash for the evening last night, when I received an email telling me that I had a review copy of a book called the Translation Codex waiting for me.  I figured I would download it, flip through it and then head to bed.  Three hours later, I finally made it.

Translation Codex – Review

One of my issues with The Strange, it is a small issue but from what I have seen a pervasive one, is that the core rule book spreads the setting a little thin.  Earth, Ardyen, Ruk, and The Strange itself are major settings, and the book contains a number of other smaller recursions. They manage to cram a lot of information into the setting sections, but unlike Numenera whose setting enflamed my imagination, it was not until the adventures started coming out for it that I felt like I connected with The Strange.  Another major part of this feeling of thinness is the foci. While there are 25 foci, this is 5 less than the Numenera core rule book, and they are not universally applicable.

Why am I bringing this up? It is a problem that Monte Cook Games already has a book in the works to resolve.  It was an understandable issue due the nature of the setting and it doesn’t make The Strange unplayable.  All of this is true, but it still makes The Strange somewhat constrained for now.  However, Ryan Chaddock Games’ newest PDF is designed to address this problem.

The Translation Codex is a 142 page PDF, available for $5.00 from Drivethrurpg.com.  This PDF contains 100 foci and 18 new recursion write ups.  100!  The book separates the foci between 5 broad genres and 5 more niche ones.  You can drop these foci into the current settings of The Strange, use them with the books provided settings, or mix and match them to create your own recursions.

The broad genres covered are: Low Fantasy, High Fantasy, Mad Science, Earth, and Psionics.  The narrow ones are: Lovecraftian Horror, Mythic (Greco-Roman), Space, Strange, and Wild West.  These are not just foci that expand upon the current core settings of The Strange.  Low Fantasy covers your Song of Ice and Fire, low magic worlds.  Mad Science and Psionics allow you to build an effective Super Hero recursion.

Each of the broad genres have fifteen foci, and the narrow ones possess five. As I read through them, I found ones that were spot on for their genres, as well as some creative surprises. For example, the High Fantasy section covers the standard Dungeons and Dragons tropes of: Cleric, Bard, Invoker, and Druid.  It also has the Carries the Weight of Destiny foci, which allows your players to play a character on Campbell’s Hero’s Journey.

The Mad Science genre has a great side-kick foci Assists a Mad Genius as well as Plays with Portals, which I really want to play. Within the Earth genre, you find everything from action movie tropes, to professional athletes.  The Space genre contains only 5 foci, but they are ripped from Star Trek, so this is a huge win.  There is even a Red Shirt foci.

Conclusion

Excluding the obvious cross-use for a Numenera game, or the fact that you could use it to play in your own setting before the Cypher System Rulebook comes out, The Translation Codex provides a lot of meat for your Strange game.  The foci are as useable with the recursions in the main book as they are useful in creating your own.  It stands alone, and provides a much needed expansion for The Strange line.  At .05 cents a foci, The Translation Codex is an amazing deal.