Fueled by Pain ver. 1.0

It overwhelmed me once again. I found out that I am unable to create quality artwork under pressure. And I found it the hard way, even though all pressure I felt was 100% self-exerted.

I will come back to this game - I put way too much heart into Pain to give up. But I need another break.

Meanwhile, I present you the full game mechanics of Pain RPG. It's a very simple, percentile ruleset, based on my Perilous Ages game. You should be able to post comments in the document, so feel free to ask questions and post your ideas and concerns.

FUELED BY PAIN ver 1.0

PAIN RPG - more substantial info about the game!

 

Inspired Artisan. Or maybe a Banana Warlock?

Few days ago I realized that every information I've already posted about the game is just some cryptic, in-game mumbo jumbo and that people don't really know any concrete information about the overall premise. It's time to change it!

GENRE

I'd say Science Fantasy. Even though technology is ever-present, not many inhabitants of the City understand how things work. In fact, they don't even understand the nature of their bodies. Also, there's magic. So yes, Science Fantasy is the best term to describe the game's genre.

SETTING

Only one City (named... Pain) remained after the cataclysm that destroyed the world one thousand years ago. And - of course - there is a vast Underworld below it. From the huge scrapyard of Rust, through the accursed Bone Forest and mysterious Sorrow, down to the ultimate corruption of the Machine - device which was used by the Hollow Ones to 'save the world' - which, of course, didn't go well.

RULESET

Percentile but very streamlined, kept in the OSR vibe. I grew up on WFRP 1e (as most of Polish gamers of my generation), so I'm very fond of % rules. They are extremely easy to tweak and hard to break. But, if someone decides to ditch the mechanics, I'll provide some (very general) guidelines how to adjust monster stats to the old-school D&D or modern retroclones.

THE FORM

Almost all descriptions of the setting will be presented in form of in-game quotes. And these quotes are sometimes contradictory. This way every GM can build his/her own vision of the game world.

And there will be maps. Probably lots of maps. Slightly artpunky maps. But I want to make them somewhat readable (and usable).

And there will be random tables. I love random tables. There will be over a hundred of them. Because I enjoy making them.

THE ARTWORK

I'm not a professional artist (although I sell my artwork from time to time) and I have no training in art. But I want to make almost all artwork for the game myself. The results may vary. But I enjoy the process and the results are acceptable (at least IMO). You can see the example above. It's not my best one but I'm not ashamed of it, haha!

I most likely forgot about something really important. Feel free to ask questions!

Some news about my recent RPGish activities

 

 

Guys and gals - I have some news to share with you. Both great and small. Well, mostly small...

• First - the biggest news! I finally finished writing Pain RPG. It took me a long time - and a long, seven-month break. But after it I managed to finish everything I had left to do in eight days! You can read more detailed report HERE.
  
• I've decided to shut down my Patreon page. I am waaaay too inconsistent with the pace of my work to charge people money for just waiting. Well, it was worth a shot but I'm sorry for inconvenience.
• As you are probably well aware, I don't know shit about promoting my games. But I keep trying. So, After eight years of dropping the initial account, I created a Twitter account for the Pain. You can find the link below (yeah, that big-ass, ugly text at the bottom.
• What are my plans for MMXXII? Well, playtesting! And drawing. I must make about 90 new drawings for the game (I even posted a detailed list on my MeWe page yesterday). And lots of maps. And after testing the shit out of the game and creating about 75% of all artwork, I will MAYBE launch the Kickstarter campaign. Yeah, I know what I've written in this post. But well, I must overcome my fears, self-doubt and other shit, And I have some amazing help down here, at my side! So - wish me luck!

FOLLOW THE PAIN RPG ON TWATTER

oops...

Cursed Blades (Swordtember)

 

I've already contributed to the Swordtember on the Instagram, but I realized I haven't posted any random table in a really long time! Soo, prepare a d10!

1. It permanently attaches itself to the wielder's hand
2. All damage dealt by the sword is also drained from the wielder's Hit Points
3. Wielder becomes deaf and mute when the sword is drawn
   
4. All healing magic directed at the sword's owner drains his/her HP instead of healing
5. Sword hits automatically but deals maximum of 1 damage
6. Wielder becomes blind for 1d6 minutes for each natural 1 rolled to-hit
7. Each time the sword is drawn it drains 1 HP from its wielder
8. The blade attracts insects and vermin - also the giant ones
9. Each time the sword is drawn it produces a very loud sound of a bell
10. The sword deals 1d4 additional damage but if its wielder is on full HP all attacks miss
    

Step up in the cross-section mapping

I love cross-section maps. In many cases, they are much more evocative and inspiring than ordinary maps of the regions (I'm not talking about dungeons and hexcrawl). And Pain rulebook will contain mainly such maps.

Also, I realized that I made some progress with my maps. Here is an example from January 2012:

And here is the most recent one I made for my current project:

 

Of course, the second one is much more abstract. But I fell in love with artpunk.

 

If you like my work and want to support me, please consider joining my Patreon.

Pain Discord channel

 

If you're interested in chatting about the game:

https://discord.gg/7xFp44g2j9

Pain RPG - the Trophy Room

 

Located in the maze of dungeons between Upper and Lower Cities, the Trophy Room is the largest known (has anyone actually seen it?) collection of skulls, skeletons and taxidermied animals in the entire City. Some of them originate from before the Fall.

>> some were brought from the outside
>> off-world artifacts
>> from the Shattered Moon
>> and beyond

Some outcasts from the Biologists claim that some of the trophies are still alive in huge vats, operated by the keepers bound by the ancient oath.

***

I've come up with an idea for this place about three years ago, when I started to work on Pain again, after years of hiatus. But it doesn't end there!

As I mentioned in this post, most entries in the description of the setting will have a short random tables, called the Emblems. In Trophy Room's case, I went much farther. I made a table of random trophies. A d% table. And I managed to finish it in one and half days!

Here are the first 20 entries from the table:

1. The Clockwork Crow
2. Blue Neural Core, preserved in a jar
3. Preserved skinless crocodile
4. A petrified troglodyte
5. Skull of cybernetically enhanced human
6. An Extraplanar Decahedron
7. Spider-squid in a water tank
8. An Ultraviolet Ladybug
9. Stuffed Newt Drake
10. A huge, eyeless, albino fish
11. Head of an enormous, four-eyed ape
12. Six-winged Swordfish
13. Dreamvoid Spectre in a stasis field
14. Skull of a Rat Man
15. Rust Gnasher's egg
16. A Void Spawn chrysalis
17. Huge Quartz Anemone
18. Stuffed Beetle Man
19. A Graveborn Larva
20. Toad Warrior's head

If you enjoy my work, consider dropping me few coins on Patreon. I will post a full table there!