Back to Numenera School Sale!
Back to Numenera School Sale!
August 25th - Sept 2nd
30% Off on The Sun Below: City on the Edge and The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady!
http://drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/7306/Dread-Unicorn-Games-LLC
Gods and Icons Comes Together
We've got some great playtesting feedback, which really helps. The art is rolling in, the writing is almost done, and editing is underway. Next up: layout!
I wanted to share this lovely picture of Lady Akuma by Jeshields. People say terrible things about the Lady, but they don't know the half of it. Maybe she's just misunderstood. ;)
We were so lucky to find some great artists for Gods and Icons. Since I both love art and fail at the basics, I'm in awe of what people can turn my art specs into.
And let's not forget Supreme Commander Tyrvek! I'm pretty sure he's not misunderstood. ;)
James did a great job on Tyrvek standing alone, but I wanted to show him as leading an army. So James added the background and I love it!
Now that's it's August, our Christmas in July sale is over, but the savings don't stop! We lowered the price for both The Sun Below: City on the Edge to $2.49 and The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady to $6.49.
Keep on gaming!
John
GMs Want Their MTV
Have you seen MTV's The Shannara Chronicles? Season 1 is on Netflix now, and it's a great show to watch with a GM's eye.
Not that it's great all the time, mind you, but it uses all the standard fantasy tropes you might want to use in your games. Great adventure action scenes, heroines and heroes sacrificing everything to get the job done. All in big, obvious, plot points you can see and steal.
And some pretty uneven inter-party romance scenes. Let's just say everyone looks great and has a cute butt, but not all the lines are great and not all the actors sell those uneven lines. A lot of things happen that make the plot work but don't make much sense, but hey, we've got magic elf stones, sword fighting, betrayal, demons, d20s, and Star Trek.
It's fun watching yourself watch the show. What parts work for you, and what don't? How can that impact your game? For me, parts were total fails. And yet, I couldn't stop watching. Why?
IMHO, it's easier to see things to steal for your game from an uneven show you can take a step back from and analyse. So what were they?
- The party works. We had a 3 person party, a caster, a rogue, and a noble. All were young and first level when we start, and grow as the season progresses. Each had a backstory that enriched the show.
- NPCs don't steal the show. There is a super high level druid who threatens to steal the young party's thunder, but the plot demands they go off on their own while he manages a secondary plot of intrigue in the elven palace. It's almost like the show's GM is running two games, one with the party, and a one on one with the druid.
- "Bad" and "good" start off clear in the characters' minds, and change as the series continues. We start off in a very elven point of view, where humans destroyed the world that was, and all elves are honorable, and other races are evil. We learn that what people believe isn't necessarily true. This kind of worldview change is great to do in a game, and often takes a good chunk of a campaign to pull off.
- Related to the the good and bad theme was NPCs who are not what they first seem. Even evil jerks can turn out good, and a friendly face is not always attached to a friendly person.
- Tropes galore. Pit traps, splitting the party, magic swords, magic powers that grow with the character, mentors who make you feel safe then send you on your way, threshold guardians, characters with destiny, and heroic sacrifice. All great gaming material.
- Mooks (AKA minions). If you ever want to see the faceless mook trope, watch the elves.
Anyway, fun show. What did you think?
One of these Heads is not like the Other!
Here's a little art preview from Gods and Icons by Jeshields. Why does the dragon queen have an undead head wrapped in silver chains? There must be a story there...
This is Ghiama, whose name was protected by Iconic Namer Jenn of the North. She liked the preliminary name so much she protected it so it wouldn't change. Hats off to Jenn of the North!
Roll20Con 2016
I had a really fun day at Roll20Con, followed by a real frustrating evening.
I'll start with the evening, and then get to the good stuff. I should be GMing as I write this, but my second game never started. We had constant audio/video crashes. 2 players showed up, 3 were no shows. I really needed 3 players, plus the sound went out every 2 minutes. The video with it.
My advice to the Roll20 folk, work on stability, not new features. It's very hard to sit on top of the (flaky) internet, and with the increased usage of the con, things were failing.
OK, let it go. Deep breath. I really did have a good day. I got to watch 3 great twitch shows.
I watched Marketplace Creator, Publishing in the Digital Age, and the 13th Age game. All were great fun. Then at 1:30, I ran my game: ColdSnap for 13th Age. We had a blast! I even sneaked in some content from Gods and Icons.
The final battle ended with the cleric turning crits from double damage to triple damage and the swashbuckling rogue jumping on the back of the white dragon and critting. Epic end to a 1st level adventure!
I made a few macros for the official 13th Age character sheets. In case anyone cares, here are a few:
Attack Macros: Attacks are special. You don't tell it to roll a d20 or put it in [[]], so here is the dex-based rogue attack:
@{DEX-mod}+@{level}
Just change DEX to WIS, STR, or whatever for the attack.
Barbarian Rage Attack: I couldn't get it to work in the attack place, so I put it in a custom action:
[[1d20cs>11 + @{STR-mod} + @{level} + ?{Modifiers:|0}]],
[[1d20cs>11 + @{STR-mod} + @{level} + ?{Modifiers:|0}]]
This flags both d20 rolls to crit (put a green box around the result) if they get 11+. I added some text saying "If both rolls crit, you crit."
Hit Damage. Here's the sorcerer's Breath of the White Damage:
[[3d6 + @{CHA-mod}]] cold damage
Miss Damage: Pretty much all the time it's either a hard coded 0 or:
@{level}
I know, all this seems like crazy talk. And it is. But this explains it best.
Most of the rest is entering (copying and pasting) text. The lack of word wrap is annoying, but you get used to it.
ColdSnap "Sold Out"
Just a quick note for those interested in Roll20Con. My 1:30 PM PST game of ColdSnap is "sold out." (It's free, but it's full.) So I added a 2nd at 7:30 PST. Come Play! We'll be using our new icons from Gods and Icons.
I called it ColdSnap Evening, since it's evening for me. It could be morning for you. What's with this round planet anyway?
3 Days to Go for Gods and Icons Kickstarter!
Thank you backers! Only three more days, how many stretch goals can we hit? Please help by spreading the word.
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Thank You!
Gods and Icons Preview: Hessis of the Old Gods, on Kickstarter
Hessis of the Old Gods
Hessis is the eldest of the Green Goddesses, the Forest Ladies, the Sweeping Eyes, who sprang fully-formed from four shining fruits of the world tree...
Gods and Icons Interview
I'm interviewed by the Iconic Podcast! In text! Great questions from the Iconicistas.
Gods and Icons Kickstarter has Launched!
Gods and Icons is a supplement for the 13th Age Roleplaying Game that is d20 compatible. Gods, Icons, Icon Relationship Results, Magic Items, and More!
Post Valentines Day Sale
Because Mor-Klish Loves You
40% Off on The Sun Below: The City on the Edge and Sleeping Lady! Good through the end of February.
Player Facing Monster Mash-up
I sometimes build monsters off of the PC's backstories. I'll use 13th Age as an example, because ba
ckstory elements are a major part of the game and every PC has them on their character sheet. But any game where you've got player character backstories will work.
For 13th Age PCs, I look at their one unique things, backgrounds, icon relationships, and whatever weirdness the players have latched onto, and try to build monsters out of this strange stew. I don't use every backstory bit every time. I pick 2 or 3 for my monster mash-ups.
First I figure out what level, and then I mash up two monsters of that level that have some tie to my PCs backstories. There's a great master monster list you can download here. Or just use the chart in the back of the Bestiary.
For example: Do the PCs have lots of icon relationships with the Orc Lord? And a PC whose background is an ooze and slime collector? I look for monsters associated with the Orc Lord and ooze or slime at my target level. I think it must be time for a 4th level Gelatinous Orc! Simply take the best features from both, and use them.
If I take a 3rd feature from a PC, I'll take one that is just for flavor, like Cat Whisperer of the Elf Queen's court. A little gelatinous cat sits on the monster's shoulder, but has no mechanical effect.
Hmm, I can't find any 4th level orcs, but a bugbear will work! A gelatinous bugbear! I take stats from the Barbarous Bugbear from the Bestiary. (I could level an orc, but if I'm improving in game, I don't have time.)
And the gelatinous tetrahedron, also from the Bestiary. I better bookmark both pages.
I take the higher value of two out of the three defenses and for HP and initiative. I take the lower of the two for one of the defenses. I chose the lowest of the defenses from either monster and use that. I like to keep the rock, paper, scissors (armor class, physical defense, mental defense) design of 13th Age combat going.
I'll write down the init, defenses, and hit points. So, AC: 18 or 19 -> 19; PD: 17 or 17 -> 17!; MD: 16 or 14 -> 14; HP: 51 or 160 -> 160. Init +12 or +3 -> +12. I'll make the size huge for the gelatinous special effects. I might give small boosts to PCs with relationships to the Orc Lord or with ooze and slime backgrounds, say +1 to hit.
"It's a huge bugbear made out of green gelatinous goo. On it's shoulder sits a gelatinous cat who squints at you."
I'll just flip back and forth in the Bestiary for the attacks.
Bugbear stuff: The ferocious start is cool, I'll use it. 2 attacks a round to start with, yay! I'll also use the club attack from the barbarous bugbear, calling it a gelatinous club, but I won't use the natural even hit or miss power. I'll save the special effect for the gelatinous part of my creature.
Gelatinous stuff: I'll say an even gelatinous club hit triggers the gelatinous tetrahedron's engulf and dissolve, on an odd hit it does the club damage from the bugbear. "The gelatinous club splats all over you and covers you in slime, drawing you inside the huge jelly-like bugbear. The gelatinous cat licks its lips."
I think I'll leave out the gelatinous tetrahedron's instinctive actions. I'll save those for the full-on gelahedrons.
Nastier Specials: For extra scariness I like to ask my players. "What's the worst thing about a gelatinous bugbear?" One player is sure to blurt out something awful. Probably about the gelatinous cat spitting slime balls. The rest will moan and beg them not to say things like that, but really, everyone is enjoying the fun. If no one offers a fun suggestion, I'll choose from one of the base creatures or make my own (slime ball attack on a natural even miss!). Crits on 18+ is easy. 16+ if I'm in the mood.
See Also: The undead owlbear archaeologist.
End of Year Sale!
Farewell 2015 Sale! 40% Off!
That's Right, 40% off on PDFs & ePubs
20% off Print of The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady
Cypher Cyber Monday Sale!
Cypher Cyber Monday Sale! Dread Unicorn Games Numenera titles: 40% off on electronic versions, including The Sun Below bundle! 20% off on Sleeping Lady Print!
Sale runs for the rest of November.
ThanksCypherGiving Sale!
ThanksCypherGiving Sale! Dread Unicorn Games Numenera titles: 40% off on electronic versions, including The Sun Below bundle! 20% off on Sleeping Lady Print!
Sale runs for the rest of November.
Halloween Sale for The Sun Below
Today is my birthday! To celebrate, let's have a sale! Numenera adventures The Sun Below: City on the Edge, and The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady pdfs are now on sale for 30% until November 1st!
Happy Halloween!
PDF Poll Followup: What format is best for you?
The standard format (Wizards of the Coast, Monte Cook Games, Pelgrane Press, ...) is portrait orientation with two columns. IMHO, this is great for print. But what about when viewing on your laptop/tablet/neural implant? [polldaddy poll=9096262]
[polldaddy poll=9096285]
[polldaddy poll=9096290]