Pain progress report 2/2021

 

I started working on the current iteration of the game in May 2018, while the first concepts began to appear in... 2005. But for the first time in countless millenia, I feel really full of energy for the game.

So, today I have a big announcement!

I've finished working on the setting! 99% of the world's descriptions are now ready. I worked on it on a daily basis and even reduced my roaming thru the local forests to focus on Pain ;)

Of course, there's still much to do, namely:

• The game mechanics (based on even more streamlined Perilous Ages ruleset) - as I absolutely love working on game rules, I think I will do it in the following weeks. I must playtest it ASAP!
• At least 20 random Artifacts (it won't be easy, as so far I created over a hundred such items for my previous projects, haha);
• Circa 30 maps of various size and detail;
• About 100 pieces of artwork. It will be pretty time-consuming, as I decided to release this game in full color!

Also, this time I will do a proper proofreading of the game. I want to release it in physical form (as premium as possible!), so I want to make it as perfect as I am able to.

More info really soon!

Oh, and I think you'll be interested in seeing the list of actual content made so far! Here it is:

INTRODUCTION

• Welcome to the Nightmare
• Modular game, modular setting

THE UNLIFE

• General appearance of the Unliving Ones
• Feeding
• Healing and body augmentations
• Connection ports and interface

THE SEEKERS

PAIN IS ETERNAL

• Layers of the City
• What Lies Below
• The Outside

THOUSAND SECTS

THE HOLLOW ONES

• The Black Dust

THE FALL

• The Machine 

THE ARCHONS

• Blood of the Gods
• Asccension
• The Architect
• The Alchemist
• The Assassin

IMMORTALS

• The Grey Wanderer
• The Silent Observer
• The Masked One
• The Watcher
• The Hunter

THE BOOK OF KEYS

• What do we know about the Book
• The Abyss
• The Archives
• The Altered Ones
• Awakened Ones
• The Arena
• The Ashen Spirits
• The Black Druid
• The Bone Forest
• The Book of Names
• The Chaos Rat
• The Chimney Towers
• Chronicles of the Lost
• Cosmology
• Dark Iron
• The Dead Tree
• Death Pits
• The Dust Sword
• Excavation Station
• The Fossilized God
• The Furnaces
• The Gatekeeper
• The Great Father
• The Guarded Passage
• Human Skulls
• The Inverted City
• The King
• The Knights
• The Lake
• The Last Star
• Lower City
• The Lower Outpost
• The Map Room
• The Mines
• The Moons
• The Necropolis
• The Portal Fortress
• Portals
• The Prison
• The Resurrection Monolith
• The Rift
• Rust
• Sorrow
• The Sunken Spires
• Thorns
• Tower of Mirrors
• The Trophy Room
• The Unknown One
• Upper City
• The Void Moth
• Warding Pillars
• Watcher's Outpost
• The Waterfall Cave
• The Waterfall Passage
• THE FOOTNOTES COMPILED

MOST IMPORTANT INDIVIDUALS FROM THE CITY

COGNITION CARDS

• Origins
• Card Suits
• Known Cards
• The Moon

THE CRIMSON ONES

• The Red Moon
• Ritual of the Seven
• Demonic Flesh

UNSORTED TEXTS

 

MMXXI - Pain progress report

 

Wow... three posts in 2020...

This time I decided to give up on any RPG-related plans. I just try to do my part of work but without any promises to anyone - even myself.

BUT I think there is one thing I could share with you - progress I made with designing Pain since my last post.

You know me - bullet point list incoming!

• I'm currently revising everything I wrote so far - condensed text fits into 27 A4-sized pages. And I rather remove stuff than add new. I simply rip out anything I'm not entirely satisfied with. This should help with, well, finishing it!
• Yup, only twenty seven pages. But when divided into chapters and fit into B5 format (which will be the final one - or at least I think so) they already take 77 pages. And that's without even touching game mechanics.
  
• Moreover - many entries must be expanded. Some really important figures and places are only described in 2-3 sentences. But for now I hit the wall and my brain is empty. So I focus on other aspects of the design.
• No artwork touched so far, except the first attempts to design a logo. I posted some initial doodles on my Instagram.
• I often switch methods of designing new stuff - sometimes I write only on Google Docs, sometimes I use pen and paper. The latter works especially well with revisions - but geez, applying the changes to the GDocs is PITA! But there is no way around - I tried a tablet but it was even worse than relying on a laptop! Good thing is that I borrowed one and had not spent any money on my own device.

I really hope that I will finish this game in MMXXI. But we all know how things are looking now. Still - expect no excuses for my laziness. If i drop it for several months due to me being too lazy - I will let you know haha.

Okay, I think it's enough for now. Still no promises - but I will TRY to post at least monthly updates on topic of this project. And it's more than sure that I will drop some less-important stuff on my IG (link above).

Stay tuned and be safe out there!