Something new and exciting is coming...

 

...or rather - it will be rather old. And cringy. 

I've unearthed my very first Role-Playing Game. I wrote it between 1997 and 1999, when I was a teenager. 

And boy, it sucks! 

Or rather - not entirely. The final iteration of the game mechanics I made for this game had seen the light of day in form of Perilous Ages - my small simulacrum which I released back in 2016. And even more streamlined version will be used for Pain RPG.

So, what's the plan for that particular gamebook?

Well, I feel particularly brave.

 

I will scan and post EACH PAGE of that game on my Patreon. It was written in Polish, so I will provide a full translation of each page, along with my recent commentaries.

 

Maan, it will hurt me alot. But I think it might be interesting.

 

Tell me what do you think about this idea!

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!

Pain progress report 8/2021

 

 

Things are getting better for the game. I took an over 2-months break from working on the game (here I explained how I managed to get back on track) but now I enjoy designing new stuff even more than before.

GENERAL PROGRESS

• I rearranged the entire rulebook. In my previous vision, almost all lore about the game world was packed into one huge chapter, the Book of Keys. It was fun design-wise but I realized it would be a totall mess to find particular information there, despite being sorted alphabetically.
• I can't speak for other designers, but when I rearrange the old stuff in the project I'm working on, I always come up with some new ideas and re-evaluate the ones that already exist. Thus, I completely removed the descriptions of three locations (or maybe four), as I found them being too shitty. I mean, they weren't bad per se - but they were noticeably weaker than the rest. Also...
• ...I realized that I can't describe all places shown on the map. It always pissed me off in some products (I'm looking at you, World of Darkness) that everything was already fully described, leaving no place for my own ideas. Moreover - for me, things that exist only on the map and not in the world description add more mystery to the whole picture.
• So, as I kicked out three locations, I've already added two more! The Obsidian Maelstrom (for the sake of things described in the previous point, I'll leave you with the name only.... for now) is already described, the Shrines of Vortex still await being fleshed out.
• I... rather dislike detailed encumbrance rules, I always stuck with common sense. But I know that many folks prefer at least some description of how much junk can characters carry, so I added literally three sentences about it to the rules section.
• The Emblems were born - short lists of random items and quotes (mixed together) for almost each aspect of the setting. I need to make almost 500 of them, so far I have slightly over 100.
• More quotes. There will be almost no typical descriptions of the game world - everything will be presented in form of quotes. Lots of them. I managed to write about 15 new ones. I have no ideas how many quotes are already made - probably hundreds.

And all of this within one week! Which brings us to the second part of the report, which is...

THE PACING

I enjoy working on this game alot. But I enjoyed it before - and burned out. Now I must keep the right tempo and not strain myself too much. Now I try to create something new every day - but not too much. Also, I don't push myself. Right now I'm not bound by any deadlines - so I exploit this fact, haha!

Quick advice to all of you - IF YOU EVER COME UP WITH AN IDEA TO CREATE A D666 TABLE WITH AT LEAST TWO SENTENCE DESCRIPTIONS FOR EACH ENTRY - DON'T TRY TO FINISH IT IN ONE MONTH!

 

If you enjoy my work, consider dropping me few coins on Patreon.

Patreon

 

So, I decided to give it a try. I'm not very good at self-promotion, I'll keep it simple - if you enjoy my work here (and here as well), please consider droppin me few coins. The money will most likely circle back into the community.

I will still post new stuff on both my blogs, but I want to spam the Patrons with much more info - many texts I currently write for Pain (and probably also for the Void Blade), as well as both finished artwork and WIPs of them.

SUPPORT THE CAUSE!