News, news, news

Once again, I became silent. And I'm sorry for that - once again. But it seems that I'll have no choice and I will be literally forced to post new content on this blog. The reason is simple.

After almost eighteen years in the hobby, by biggest dream came true.

With the beginning of May, I'll start full-time job as a tabletop game designer.

Of course, mostly we will work on the board games (we have several ideas and most likely I'll post any progress here) but also we have idea to further develop my RPG-related stuff - mainly Polish edition of Bandits and Battlecruisers and Terminal Space, but also we think about creating the revised edition of BandB. But board games (and maybe non-collectible card games as well) will be our priority.

More info soon!

PS. I'm fucking pissed that I missed this year's AtoZ Blogging Challenge. Well, maybe it's time to finally create the Space Alphabet?

World of Ortix blog on Facebook

I'm not dropping Google Plus but still, someone may find it useful.

LINK

Jadia (Shadow God)

Jadia ev Kariis is one of the Shadow Gods, much older than mankind. They say that she's the mistress of the Dark Experiments, and Pink Worms, one of her creations, are in fact the human race.

Jadia dwells in the place known as the Obsidian Heart - multi-dimensional fortress located somewhere in the Shroud - between the real world and the Darkness. The Insane Prophet says that Heart looks like the mountain of black glass, gleaming in the storms of the Shroud. He also says that no one that no one is able to locate the fortress without Jadia's invitation.

Some imperial scholars say that Hybrids were created after the huge sacrifice to Jadia was made by Setemo Delem, the last emperor. As the empire crumbled years ago, it seems that the truth will never be revealed.

At the very beginning of her experiments Jadia created the Imperfection - strange, pale and faceless creatures. They still exist, because they are somehow disconnected from the flow of time (which is more and more common thing during the world's Darkest Hour, but this time it may be just strange and powerful ability). Few have ever encountered the Imperfection and even less have survived the encounter but some sorcerers are willing to pay lot of gold for even tiniest body part of these creatures.

Cryptic posts, yes, yes... And even more to come in the future.

Six reasons why I love WFRP 1st edition

WFRP was my first RPG book I ever owned. Now I own my third rulebook of this game (previous two were annihillated during the extensive usage, mostly due to poor binding of the book). And after almost nineteen years in the hobby, I think it's my favourite one (sorry CoC...). Here's why.

1. Evocative artwork. Some role-playing have outstanding images. WFRP hasn't - of course there are lots of amazing pieces of art there but some are just plain disgusting. But still - I'm not sure if there are more games with *that* kind of artwork - sometimes it's enough to look at one image and poof! Whole scenario materializes inside of your head.

2. Exciting character creation. Lots of side skills, shitty professions, randomly determined character age which has impact on amount of starting skills. It's always fun.

3. As I mentioned above - fuckloads of (sometimes) shitty professions. It's really amazing when you watch your character's transformation from the rat catcher or apothecary into an actual hero. And - if you are a GM - that facial expression of the player when he rolled up some pretty amazing stats and hit a servant or other (seemingly) useless and un-playable fucker.

4. Strange monsters. 2nd edition is full of well-organized and rather logically designed monsters, mostly derived from the WFB. What about giant leeches, carnivorous snappers and other strange inventions of the game designers?* AND FIMIR. AND ZOAT. Fuck yeah.

5. Setting. It's not said that all magic comes from the Chaos. Magic is magic, its background is irrelevant. Emperor is an old and demented guy (and they slay him during The Enemy Within campaign, which I love), World is not ruined. There is no shitty Archaon or other major pawn of the Ruinous Powers. Game world is not 100% based on the Fantasy Battle. AND FIMIR. AND ZOAT.

6. Adventure books. I played several 2e adventures and I ran more than several 1e adventures. They can't be compared. 2e adventures are just plain retarded, to the point of unplayability without some serious tweaks. And once again - dat artwork :D

*) of course I may be wrong, as I'm not an expert of the 2nd edition. In fact, I think it sucks, especially it's setting. Gods, I hate it.

The Oldenhaller Contract

Jonas actually escaped. Which is good for me.

First game session this year, third since Jan 2015. For the first time since 1997 I ran The Oldenhaller Contract. We've used the modded 1st ed WFRP rules, fresh characters. Only two players participated in the game. Two more should join use next time.

Three Fate Points were spent during the game and PCs got mugged during the first event of the scenario. Actually, both PCs lost consciousness and were robbed of even shoes.

Aside of that, everything went really good. They managed to strike a deal with both Valantinas and Huydermans. All minor cultists and the beast were slain, only Jonas Whitespore escaped. And most likely I will use him in the next game sessions.

Plans for 2016

Well, last two years weren't very active for me - but in 2014 I've run a lot of game sessions. And only two in 2015. It was a really hard year for me but well, fuck it. At least I managed to release Volume Three...

This year I plan to revive the blog, post more shit about my games (see below), more magic items and more random tables. And about new releases?

Revenant. I can't promise you that the game will be ready this year. Development process started in 2007 and almost nothing was done since late 2011. But we ran the game with over 30 different players and almost all of them liked the game a lot. So we feel it's our duty to finally polish the mechanics, adjust classes and roles and write the fucking rulebook :D But it will be a big game - probably about 250 A4-sized pages or even more. Plus artwork. HERE you can read more about the Revenant.

Ortix. I will try. Can't promise anything more. I will be filling up the alphabetical index but can't be sure if I manage to release at least alpha version of it.

Perilous Ages. Only random tables are left to do and the game will be ready. It's possible that game will be released in 2016 :) HERE is the latest progress report.

Volume Four. To be honest, nothing is done yet, except the map. Some hexes were explored and I still remember them but it may be hard to finish the whole booklet.

Well, we'll see how it will end ;)

The End of an Era...

1945-2015

Spaceship Sunday - special edition!

I simply must share it! Click the link and be amazed!

CLICK ME FOR FUCK'S SAKE!

The Ortix alphabetical index?

Clicky!

I have several pages of notes about the world of Ortix - the races, magic, places etc. Not much stuff so far but I have much more sitting inside my head ;) And due to the vast diversity of the things created so far and the things yet to come, I wonder if it will be a good idea to release it as an alphabetical index, some kind of encyclopedia?

Of course, the game book will be big one. And of course, it will grow bigger and bigger. And I think that it will be easier to add new stuff to alphabetical index than constantly re-formatting the text to add things to particular chapters.

Second idea is - alphabetical order but still divided in some major chapters, such as places, creatures, magic and so on.

Tell me what do you think about it.

Crypt Crawler - Scum of the Land

No dignity in adventuring - here is a list of classes for the Crypt Crawler system. PCs are more or less outcasts. Noble ones does not crawl in the ancient mud. Fuck the broken and the poor.

Assassin
Bandit
Brigand
Burglar
Executioner
Flagellant
Grave Robber
Mercenary
Plague Doctor
Sharper
Sorcerer
Thug
Witch

Diamond Diceless - explanation of the traits

Few posts ago I posted the one-page screenshot of the Diamond Diceless mechanics. At the bottom of the image, there was a list of traits which can be bought for the character creation points. Here is the explanation of all of them.

ALCHEMY can be used to craft potions, medicine and - if advanced laboratory is available - to transmute one substance to another. Even simple equipment is required to use this trait. Works well with: Herbalism, Medic, Natural Magic, Ritual Magic.

ARTISTRY - ability to create art: sculptures, paintings, drawings and even writing poems, singing and dancing. Works well with: Magical Talent.

CATACLYSM LORE is knowledge about the Cataclysm which devastated the world in the past. Also some stories, rumors and legends about the time before the catastrophe. Works well with: Spirit-bound.

HERBALISM is lore about plants and fungi that can be used as medicine and poisons. Works well with: Alchemy, Medic, Natural Magic, Survival.

HIGH MAGIC is ability to control the flow of magic for subtle and/or sustainable effects. Less devastating than Low Magic, still it requires years of training and almost superhuman focus skills to avoid catastrophic eruption of pure energy. Works well with: Magical Talent, Sense Magic.

LOW MAGIC - most raw and powerful method of channeling the magical energy. Manifestations of Low Magic are simple, almost instant and often very devastating. Very dangerous for anyone whose Power is not on very high levels. Works well with: Sense Magic.

MAGICAL TALENT makes using magic considerably easier. It doesn't necessarily mean that magical effects will be more powerful but preparations for creating and casting the spell will be shorter. Works well with: High Magic, Low Magic, Natural Magic, Ritual Magic.

MEDIC can be used to bind wounds, heal diseases and fix almost all problems with one's health. More complicated actions will require usage of special equipment. Works well with: Herbalism, Survival.

NATURAL MAGIC is form of magic involving contact with spirits of the ancestors, natural or supernatural beings and drawing the energy from the elements. Requires iron discipline and strong will to succeed. Also, remember that this form of magic often relies on some kind of pact between the shaman and the entity he summons. Works well with: Herbalism, Magical Talent, Spirit-bound.

REGENERATION. Some creatures are able to heal wounds much faster than others, some are even able to regrow lost limbs, although the regeneration process can last for months.

RITUAL MAGIC covers all kinds of magical effects that can be achieved by performing a ritual. Safest way to achieve powerful results but often requires lots of time and efforts. Some rituals allow to contain the spell in the magical wand, ring or scroll. However, creation of such spell containers can be complicated and expensive. Works well with: Artistry, Magical Talent.

SENSE MAGIC is the ability to feel the flow of magic and presence of the magical beings (or even entities not belonging to this world).

SENSE POWER - allows to determine the values of the Power stat. Note: GM should give the brief but somewhat accurate descriptions instead of exact numbers (eg. "this Korri is pretty inexperienced and weak" or "aura of near-omnipotence is emanating from the creature").

SPIRIT-BOUND is an mystical bond between the character and the spirits of nature - and of the dead. Allows to contact the spirits during the meditation, trance or - sometimes against one's will - during the sleep. Works well with: Artistry, Natural Magic, Sense Magic.

SURVIVAL is a set of skills allowing to survive (and live) in the wild. Allows to gather food, set simple traps, build shelter and set fire.

WARFARE - ability to plan and command large-scale battles, sieges and military operations. Works well with: Weapon Mastery (can be used to build siege weapons).

WEAPON MASTERY. Many weapons are too sophisticated to be used by untrained fighters. Characters with this trait have knowledge to use almost all kinds of weapons created by mankind (and sometimes even armament designed and used by other races). Works well with: Warfare (can be used to train others).

Stat-based dungeoncrawl (Part Two)

This night I managed to write down some basic ideas for the Crypt Crawler ruleset (mentioned for the first time here). I'll post it here as ordinary (for me) assorted list. Thanks for Claw Carver for the idea of levelling the stats!

• Only five basic character levels: Initiate (starting level), Adept (250xp), Specialist (1000xp), Expert (5000xp), Master (20000xp);
• Two "epic" character levels are Hero and Legend. Experience points needed to reach these levels are up to the GM. Heroes are able to defy death once (without divine intervention), Legends are able to defy death three times. Remember Fate Points from Warhammer? It's something like it;
• Base stats: STR DEX CON PER INT WIL LEA. It's highly possible that I'll add some extra statistics. During character creation, 2d6 roll (plus class bonuses) is used to determine starting level of each stat;
• All stat checks are performed by d20 roll. If a natural "1" is rolled, character has a chance to improve his (or her!) stat:
• Roll d20 again: 1-gain 100xp, 2-gain one point of the tested stat, 3-18-score more than your current stat level by using 3d6 and gain one point of the tested stat if you succeed, 19-20-nothing happens;
• IMPORTANT NOTE: even if game relies on stat checks, this is not a roll-playing game! If any action can be completed if only time is required, no checks should be performed;
• PCs are not gaining levels automatically after accumulating certain number of xp points. Experience points must be spent to gain a level! In addition, xp can be spent for spellcraft (see below) and to identify the ancient artifacts, magic items and so on;
• Spells must be contained in some kind of magical veseel - it may be magical dust, potion or even amulet or wand. In most cases, spell container is destroyed / must be destroyed to cast a spell;
• If all checks are stat-based and xp points can be used for other activities, why bother to level up? It's simple - better use of artifacts and - which is much more important - better resistances;
• List of all resistances: fire, cold, electrical, damage, poison, mind, death, magic, chaos;
• About character classes - must think about them. Most likely there will be more classes than in DnD.

Probably I'll release the ruleset along with the Darkest Hour setting, in form of small PDF booklet. Probably bigger than Towers of Krshal but still not particularily huge ;)