Yup, the game will (probably) be named Depths Above. Because there will be (almost) no City anymore.
So, here's the list of all weirdness that will be available for the players:
It's been over two years since I finished writing Pain. And despite my best efforts, I couldn't do anything with it. I tried to make some artwork (and I even succeeded with some attempts!) and some layouts (and I failed miserably). But there was an issue.
I felt something is wrong with the game.
And it took me two years to figure it out.
There was a problem with immersion - weird world isn't a problem itself, but weird world combined with really unusual playable "race" is bad. So bad that even I was unable to "feel" the game.
So, it's time to rework. And probably like 30% of the game (like 70 pages of text) must go. But it must be done - and honestly, I feel excited. Because it seems that this time I'll be able to do it right.
I just need to re-include humans. The Unliving Ones are cool - but the players need to be able to relate to their characters. To their drives, goals and emotions. Their fear and hunger.
So, back to work! I'm unsure whether I will keep you up to date, as I noticed a strange tendency of mine - the less I write about some projects, the more progress I'm able to make. It's weird and probably subconscious. And even though you should be used to be disappointed with decade-spanning delays, let's make an experiment and not post much about Pain in the upcoming days/weeks/millennia. At least not here!
By the way - new weird random table (Mystic Flowers) is coming soon!
Cheers and thanks for your ceaseless support throughout the last fifteen years or so.
Well, I'll keep it simple - I took a break. I was unable to make quality artwork in time that was satisfactory for me. All artwork I made for the Character Classes turned out to bee too low-res to be OK in print. And I need to make over 80 drawings for the game. And I felt pressure, so I snapped.
It was a purely self-exerted pressure, as I haven't promised any deadlines, release dates etc. So - it was just fucking stupid. I felt pressure, so I become feeling uncomfortable. And I've lost fun I had while working on Pain. And - to be honest - it was all about fun. The process of designing and illustrating this game was a source of great joy, until something in my mindset has changed.
So - let me repeat myself once again - I snapped. I felt like shit, like I let myself down.
Did I mention it was stupid? Yes, I did. And I realized that just mere moments later. So I've decided that it have to wait and that I need some rest. To regain the ability to have fun while working on the project.
My way of taking a rest is, well... I immediately started to work on something different. A setting that was slowly taking shape in my head for quite some time. And man, when I started writing it down, it begun taking shape really quickly. And still is.
So far I have over 8k words written (it means about 1k words per day - not great, not terrible). And it's not 8k words of notes - it's 8k words of an actual game. It's Towers of Krshal pace. And it's fun. Hard and difficult work but fun nonetheless.
Maybe I will post something more about the setting tomorrow.
Oh, and the artwork above - it was made with help of an AI. I like it alot. And the new thing will have all artwork made or enhanced by a heartless machine.
If all of this sounds gibberish - I'm sorry. I'm not very good at writing essay-ish things about myself, in foreign language, haha!
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.
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| 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!
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.
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:
If you enjoy my work, consider dropping me few coins on Patreon. I will post a full table there!
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
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.
Actually, the page (blog) for Pain RPG is up for quite some time, but I only recently started to fill it up with some information. I will post there mainly artwork and excerpts from the rulebook (however bear in mind that all the texts are prior to proofreading). Enjoy!
Also, as you can probably see, you can also find the link in the navbar.
I knew it would look like that. It's like playing games with my mental issues - and cheating to win, haha!
I plopped into a creative abyss with Void Blade. I managed to write several pages of text and random tables and made two full pages of laid out artwork and text. And created half of a map. And then I hit a wall, again.
Guess what happened next...
After half a day spent in brawling with depression (played ADOM, had an amazing run, got torn into shreds by Cat Lord), my brain was immediately filled with an urge to work on Pain instead. And it actually worked - currently I'm filling the gaps in the descriptions.
Also, I realized that there is a significant flaw in my mindset - it's like a clearly visible pit in front of me, and it's filled with manure. And I still hop into it, each time.
I often thing "I must do this", "I must do that". And that's okay. Life forces us to do things all the time. And in many cases, it's rather wise to do some things. But - at least in this case - the problem is not that I must design some less-fun stuff, like equipment lists and monster stat blocks. The problem is that it took me DECADES to figure out that it depends solely on me HOW I will make these things. How I will design them and how I will present them in the rulebook.
What does it mean for the game? From your perspective - not much. From my point of view - everything has changed. And I must hack out the significant portions of the manuscript, and rework it. But it will be fun.
Two posts in a row? I must be outta my mind!
Oof. I missed the March update.
Well, I took a break from designing the Pain and writing the rulebook. After completing a huge, d666 Sync Omens random table (216 entries, whew!) I was totally burned out. But I feel like I should be able to work on it again.
Why I took a break? Because I could. I have no deadlines and no commitments. I made no promises. And I believe that's the only way to make this game as good as it could be. To minimize the stress associated with the project and maximize the fun.
That's why there will be no Kickstarter campaign for the game.
I do believe that I could do it right. Calculate everything properly, manage to print and deliver the game in time. But I will be honest with you - even the thought about the responsibility is scaring the shit out of me. There are way too many variables which aren't dependant on me. Hell, we are living in the interesting times. Everything can become worse literally every single second. And I couldn't even imagine the levels of stress I'd experienced during the KS campaign and after it.
I'm battling depression for years. And one of the most important things I learned about the daily struggles with mental illness is that stress is making everything worse. And stress + depression could easily make everything spiral out of control. And it could issues with any aspect of fulfilling the campaign.
Okay, that's one extremely chaotic post! To make things even more convoluted, I will end it right here!
Feel free to ask any questions or express your opinion about my decision (or current weather, haha) either here or on my MeWe account (I stopped updating FB Ortix profile some time ago, as FB sucks ass).
Yup, entire ruleset on one page. Of course I expanded it in the Pain manuscript, which by the way is now over 110 pages long. Still, even though I slowly see the end on the horizon, it's still relatively far away.
And then I must make the artwork :)
For the last two days we were working hard to figure out what Character Classes we want to include in the game. So, after almost boiling our brains due to the overheat, we came up with the following list. They both fit the game world perfectly and also are full of its dark atmosphere.
I think it's a pretty good post for the 700th blog entry!
CHAOS WARRIOR [to embrace the Machine's corruption]
DEATH CULTIST [follower of the Assassin's philosophy]
DOOMED SENTRY [I've seem too much on the surface, time to delve down]
ENLIGHTENED PILGRIM [in a search of Wisdom of the Depths]
FORLORN AVENGER [going to the Depths Below to avenge his fallen ones]
INSPIRED ARTISAN [and inspiration lies deep under the City of Pain]
LOST MOON SAGE [the Crimson Ones must be punished for the Moon's destruction]
LUCID DREAMER [they need my ability to dream]
MASTERLESS GUARDIAN [looking for a purpose, down there]
REPENTANT SINNER [salvation thru service for the Seekers]
RESTLESS CHRONICLER [someone have to write it down]
ROGUE TINKERER [in a search for the Artifacts]
SHADOW ARCANIST [not all magic is demonic, although all magic is destructive]
VERMIN SPY [servant of the deity known as the Chaos Rat]
XENOLOGIST [not all life is extinct... but all life is dangerous]
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:
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
THE UNLIFE
THE SEEKERS
PAIN IS ETERNAL
THOUSAND SECTS
THE HOLLOW ONES
THE FALL
THE ARCHONS
IMMORTALS
THE BOOK OF KEYS
MOST IMPORTANT INDIVIDUALS FROM THE CITY
COGNITION CARDS
THE CRIMSON ONES
UNSORTED TEXTS
