Overworld and Beyond Available in Print

More Ash Law goodness in print. Get yours now and travel to the planes in style. A planar hopping adventure that will rock your campaign.

The Carrow Hills

An amazing backwater setting you can stick in your world that includes towns, wilderness, and gates to other worlds. Use this setting for a 1st - 4th level sandbox as weirdnesses bleed in from other worlds.

Attack of the Koblins

A fast-paced 5th-6th level adventure that has PCs up against forces from another world. When extra-planar energies fuse goblin, kobold, and giant spider, look out! 

Further Adventures in the Carrow Hills

Flying ships, magical obelisks, lost idols and more. Adventure hooks to keep your players excited.

Life, Death, Rebirth

This adventure is intended for parties of upper champion tier to lower epic tier (7th-8th level), involving travel to multiple realms and classic “hex-crawl” style exploration. What out for the plane of flesh, the garbage heap of the multiverse, and a beastal world of trees.

Into the Overworld

There's a 9th-10th level adventure that has the PCs traveling to myriad other planes: the City at the Edge of Dawn, the Elemental Realms, the Fleshscape, the Green, the Lightless Realm, and the Middenlands. A mad wizard has damaged the connections to the planes, and the power to stop him is scattered among the realms.

The City at the Edge of Dawn Gazetteer

Where the Psychedelic Ocean trips into the Waterfall of Eternity lies the City at the Edge of Dawn. Also known as the City of Portals, the Eternal City, The Wheel of Angels, the One True City, and many other names—to its inhabitants it is simply “the City.” Whenever you need a steampunk transdimensional city of intrigue, the City at the Edge of Dawn awaits your thrilling adventures.

The Realm-Walker Class

Walkers between realities, travelers of the secret ways. Some are guardians of whole realities, some are cosmic vagabonds, others are simply lost. All know more about the inner workings of the universe than most wizards will ever learn, knowledge gained first-hand.

The heart of the realm-walker is teleportation. Right from 1st level you’ll be teleporting around the battlefield, unleashing waves of force and making fast hit-and-run melee attacks. You aren’t that tough, so you rely upon speed and maneuverability.

The Void-Caller Class

You are a void-caller—an adventurer soul-bound to a strange creature from another realm. How and why your fate came to be entangled with this strange creature we leave down to you, though it probably ties in to your one unique thing.

The void-caller class is two characters in one—the void-caller and their companion voidbeast, bound to them until the day that they (both) die. As the void-caller you’ll probably spend most of your time in battle avoiding being targeted while goading your void-beast to attack your enemies.

And

Plus a bestiary, magic items, new player races, realm feats, 13 Weird Worlds, 13 Peculiar People, and more!

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IMPORTANT: If you are a Kickstarter backer who backed at the level to get a print copy, yours in on it’s way. No need to buy anything else. Though they make great gifts!

Overworld in Print & Light Gets In Playtest

I'm just back from GameStorm, where I got to meet one of my favorite backers, and they asked "When is the print version coming out?"

I told them I was waiting for another proof from the printer, but expected it soon.

Guess what was waiting in the mailbox when I got home? And it looks good. I'll go over it more tomorrow, but we could be shipping soon. Which still means it takes weeks to get to Kickstarter backers, but weeks are better than months! Once the backers have theirs in the pipepline, we’ll open it up to everyone to buy. If you already bought the PDF and wish you had the print version, we’ll give you a discount.

---

Meanwhile we’re finishing up the playtest of The Sun Below: That’s How the Light Gets In. At the same time, I’m doing a writer’s edit on the whole manuscript. I’ll integrate the playtest results and do a few more passes before handing it over to the real editor (Alison Wells).

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— Nhoj

Valentine's Day Sale & Gaming News

Sale!

All Gaming PDFS Half Off! Use promo code PDF50%OFF during checkout. Now through Feb 28th.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

News!

The Overworld and Beyond at the Printers

The hit PDF will soon be available in print. Travel to outlandish planes, steal transdimensional ships, deal with crow gods, outwit elementals in their home planes, and more. New classes for the planes, new magic items, new monsters, and a massive gazetteer of the City at the Edge of Dawn. Everything you need to hit the planes in a 13th Age campaign.

Check it out.

The Sun Below: That’s How the Light Gets In in Playtest

Someone has stolen the Sun Below! Travel the dimensions, meet the child (right) on the good ship the Gravitas Mislaid, visit a city of wonders ruled by Terrible Beauties, track down the sun while riding a giant sun-catcher automaton, and don’t forget to have brunch at Ollies. Available Summer 2019.

Enter The Child

Just because I’m at a hotel in Bellevue for OrcaCon, doesn’t mean work stops on our upcoming games. I just got an amazing set the sketches for The Child for The Sun Below: That’s How the Light Gets In. Are they creepy enough? These are from the talented artist Chloe Wenz.

The Child is a creepy NPC that haunts one of the three dimensions of the transdimensional ship Gravitas Mislaid.

Meanwhile at the con, I’m running two adventures The Ripper of Shriveport (13th Age) and Journey to the Sun Below (Numenera). I’ll be playing in a few other games, and in my spare time writing and planning new products.

The Overworld and Beyond Ships

Get the Overworld and Beyond now! If you want to buy the print version, no need to wait. We’ll send everyone who gets a PDF version a discount for the price of the PDF toward the print version when it becomes available.

Aethercon Interview with John WS Marvin

Robin Bates of Coaching for Geeks interviews John W. S. Marvin of Dread Unicorn Games.

CYBER SALE!

Save 40% on All PDFs by using promo code CYBERPDF at checkout / payment.

Save 20% on All Print Titles by using promo code CYBERPRINT at checkout / payment.

Save Now!

Overworld in Layout

I’m having too much fun not to share.

And So It Begins

The Overworld and Beyond Enters Layout

It's always exciting to start layout. Instead of a zillion versions of a Word document and folders stuffed with art images, this is where it becomes a book, a PDF, a real thing to game with.

After a few weeks of layout, we send it back to the editor. Then we cut the PDF and send it to you. 

We wait a few weeks to see if anyone reports any problems, then print and ship. 

The Planes are coming.

Exact same text on the Kickstarter Update here.

Elemental Guardian

Here’s a 13th Age elemental that will be found in The Overworld and Beyond.

Elemental Guardian

This being physically embodies the idea of the four elements.

Large 12th level wrecker [elemental]

Initiative: +16

Elemental flux fists +17 vs. AC—100 force damage

Natural even hit: 40 ongoing fire damage.

Natural odd hit: 80 cold damage, and the target is stuck until it takes fire damage.

Natural even miss: All enemies in contact with the ground take 2d20 thunder damage.

Natural odd miss: All engaged enemies take 20 lightning damage and pop free.

C: Elemental vortex +17 vs. PD (1d3 nearby enemies, or 1d3 far away enemies in a group)—60 force damage and 30 ongoing damage (fire, cold, thunder, or lightning depending on which elemental realm it is in).

Elemental immunity: On turns when the escalation die is odd, this creature takes no damage from fire, cold, thunder, or lightning attacks.

NASTIER SPECIALS

Pick One, Determined by Which Elemental Realm the Guardian Is In

Hotter than hell: Enemies engaged with the guardian take 20 fire damage at the start of their turns.

Flows like the waves: The guardian automatically pops free when it moves and cannot be intercepted while moving.

Stronger than the mountains: The guardian has +3 AC.

Quick as the wind: The guardian can move as a quick action, flying if it chooses to.

AC 28

PD 26  HP 765

MD 22

Elemental Guardians and the Icons from Gods and Icons

Blue Aoife makes great use of elemental guardians, whom she sees as allies. Thrice-Wise Mercurius and Queen Tanadil use them as well, but as tools rather than allies. Occasionally these creatures will be seen in the service of Lady Akuma, Lord Ikal, or Ghiama.

Dread Unicorn at AetherCon VII

AetherCon! We’ll be at the on-line 24 hour a day internet tabletop game convention this year. There will be convention special sales, we’ll be in a number of bundles, we’ll be running games, staffing our storefront, and having a great time. Hope to see you there! November 9th - 11th.

Lightning Combat

Sometimes in roleplaying games, everyone at the table is so into some epic tactical combat that they never want it to end. I’m not talking about those times.

I’m talking about when you want speed combat along. It might be to improve the pacing of the story, because your players are going to leave in 20 minutes, or that you see everyone’s attention wander when a big combat goes on for more than two or three rounds.

Buff Offense and Initiative, Nerf Defense

This is a great way to keep the combat exciting but stop it from taking forever.

Why Buff the Offense?

If you are going to shorten at 5+ round combat to a 2 or 3 round combat, you want the players to still worry that they might lose. You need to hit them harder and faster.

In games like 5E with death saves, I like to have at least one player have to start making death saves. Nothing focuses players like death saves. I mean, just the name death saves. Also, it allows a healer character to really shine when they save the day.

To buff the offense, you can

• Increase the damage the monster does

• Increase the chance that the monster will hit the player characters

• Add more attacks by the monster

• For Cypher System games, start each combat with a GM Intrusion

A simple method is to increase the damage done by 1/3. What’s great about this is that is simple, easy to remember, and while you may need a calculator (like the one on your phone), you can do it on the fly.

The downside is what if you roll bad and the monster never hits? It’s unlikely that the players will feel like a 2 or 3 round combat where they were never touched was an exciting or memorable action scene. How big worry this is depends on the game system (looking at you, Rogue Trader) and the chance for the monster to miss.

If you’re worried that the monster is likely to miss, adding to the monster’s attack chances helps, as does adding another attack.

Initiative

Since we’re about to nerf the defense, you want to make sure your glass cannons get a hit or three in. See that they go early in the initiative order. For a d20 game that might be a +4 to initiative, for a Cypher System game it might be +2 to the initiative difficulty, and for a GUMSHOE game it might be a +2 to the weapon skill (but just in terms of initiative).

Or you can just decide your monster goes first. Simplicity is beauty.

Nerf the Defense

This is how you make the combat go faster. The PCs will be able to bring the monsters down faster and get on with whatever comes next. You can:

• Decrease the monster’s hit points

• Decrease the monster’s defenses

• Monsters could surrender or flee

• Steal the escalation die mechanic from 13th Age (for games like 5E where monsters get saving throws, the escalation die can be a penalty to that roll):

The escalation die represents a bonus to attacks as the fight goes on.

At the start of the second round, the GM sets the escalation die at 1. Each PC gains a bonus to attack rolls equal to the current value on the escalation die. Each round, the escalation die advances by +1, to a maximum of +6.

Monsters and NPCs do not add the escalation die bonus to their attacks.

• In a 13th Age game, allow players to spend an icon boon to increase the escalation die by one.

A simple method is to decrease the hit points by 1/3. Again, this is simple, easy to do (maybe with a calculator), and you can do it on the fly. A writeup of this for 13th Age by Rob Heinsoo can be found here: https://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/13th-sage-speeding-combat/

Again, the downside is potential misses. Those lower hit points don’t matter if no one can touch the monster. In a game like 5E, defenses are armor class and saving throws. Lowering some or all defenses by three or four in a d20 game will often stop the misses. In Cypher System, lower the difficulty by one or two. In GUMSHOE, lower the hit threshold by one.

What Works for Me

In d20 games, the +1/3 damage and – 1/3 hit points works well for me, especially on the fly. I will bump the initiative by four.

If I have time, I might lower the defenses of some monsters while lowering the hit points of others, just to mix it up and give different monsters a different feel. Same for offense, I’ll increase the damage for some, and the hit chances for others.

What have you done to encourage Lightning Combat, and how did it work for you?

Scheduling Game Time

We all love to play roleplaying games, so getting together with your friends whenever the itch to play arises is simple and always stress-free. Right?

Well if it is, count yourself lucky. But if not, here are a few suggestions to make finding time for your gaming more fun.

The questions you need to answer are:

• When?

• How often?

• For how long?

When?

This can often be a stumbling block when you have a group of gamers with busy lives. School, work, and family are oh so important, but they can all play havoc with your game time.

One tool that makes it easier is doodle.com. You can set up all the times you can play, and then everyone else can say which of those times they can play.

Not everyone can make every game

Unless everyone has very similar schedules, even with doodle, you might find there is no time when everyone can make it. You may have to find a time when most can make it. You’ll just have to get used to it, because the next game someone else might not be able to make it.

I recommend flexibility here. If someone can make most of the games, that’s good enough for me. If you insist on near perfect attendance, you may be missing out on some great players, and might find your gaming group becomes a group of one. You don’t want that.

Invitations

I use private Facebook events to send out invites and see who is coming. Email, Meetup, and text messages work too. I have a threshold (usually 3) for the number of players who should come. Otherwise we cancel (and sometimes play a board game).

How Often?

Typical gaming groups meet once a week, every other week, or once a month. Ask your players what they want. If some want to play more often than others, most groups go for less often, unless it’s one or two that can’t make every game at a more frequent schedule but could make most.

Consistent Game Times

You don’t want to go through the scheduling process every game, you want to give everyone a day and time they can depend on. That way they clear their schedules for gaming, their families and friends get used that schedule, and you have a great default. Just send out your invites and see who is coming.

For How Long?

Once folks are out of school, I find most games run 3 – 4 hours. Before graduation, games can go on very long indeed. Keep the coffee flowing.

I propose an end time and see what the reaction is. If one person must leave early, the rest of the party can continue. Sometimes I go over, sometimes I cut it short, all depending on what’s going on in the game now. About to start something big that requires time and concentration? Best not start it when folks are getting sleepy. In the middle of a major scene and everyone is engaged? Keep on keeping on.

Leave a Comment

Got other suggestions? Please leave a comment so others can achieve gaming enlightenment through your sage wisdom and advice!

Going to Mongolia SALE!

Going to visit friends in Mongolia SALE!

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• Any inquiries will have to wait.

Meet Syma

Syma can appear as housecat sized, tiger sized, and enormous sized. Syma can look like a four-eared feline of some kind, with hair that can change on whim. She can also appear as a four eared humanoid woman of the roughly the same size. As a humanoid, she can have a human or a cat head.

Isn't she nice?

Except for the fact she has stolen the Sun Below!

Art by Sparrow Buerer for The Sun Below: That's How the Light Gets In

A Numenera adventure, in production now. Compatible with the original Numenera, and with Discovery and Destiny.

Playtest, Art, and Progress

Want to Playtest?

If you are a 13th Age GM and have players, want to playtest? We need you to run some or all of the Overworld and Beyond, email me at john at dreadunicorngames dot com for details.

If you are a 13th Age Player and want to participate in the playtesting we are doing via Google Hangouts, email me at john at dreadunicorngames dot com. We are based in Bend, OR, USA, which is in the Pacific Standard Time zone.

Art Previews

Sparrow Buerer (of The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady and Gods and Icons fame) is working on the art for The Overworld and Beyond. Here are some of her illustrations.

Progress

Ash has submitted his final text. We added a ton of great content through our stretch goals, and we need to do more playtesting, and a quality job on editing and layout. I'm seeing a November release in my crystal ball.

Next Up

We'll be contacting the lucky winners whose NPCs, inns, or what have you will be illustrated.

The ENnie Awards!

Vote for Dread Unicorn Games for Fan's Favorite Publisher!

Go to: http://www.ennie-awards.com/vote/2018/index.php

Scroll down to Fan's Favorite Publisher

Scroll down to Dread Unicorn Games

If you want, give us a vote!

Thank you!

John

Tales of the Dread Unicorn, July 2018

Tales of the Dread Unicorn

The Overworld and Beyond for 13th Age is in development. Ash Law is adding all the new content that came out of the Kickstarter stretch goals. Sparrow Buerer (The Sun Below: Sleeping Lady and Gods and Icons) has started working on additional art. Editor Keith Garrett is chomping on the bit, waiting for the text. I am handing the project management and Kickstarter duties. Once editing is done, I’ll do the layout.

Backers should have received their PDFs for any add-ons they purchased. Print add-ons will start shipping in the next week or two.

If you missed the Kickstarter, preorders are now open -> https://john-ws-marvin-dread-unicorn-g.pledgemanager.com/projects/the-overworld-and-beyond-13th-age-rpg-planar-adven/participate/?ref=website
 
The Sun Below: That’s How the Light Gets In for Numenera is in development. I am working on a transdimensional city that exists in three dimensions. The City of Lost Worlds is the setting for the middle act of the plot. Aser Tolentino and Megan Tolentino (The Redacted Files and The Amber Clave) have contributed a new flavor, the Dimension Walker, plus an extradimensional portal full of new cyphers. Alison Wells (The Sun Below titles, Gods and Icons, The Gods Have Spoken) will be the editor.
 
Connor Marvin (Gods and Icons) is working on a new RPG, which will be “contemplative yet fighty.” Once That’s How the Light Gets In ships, I will join the product. It will be set on our own unique version of Lemuria where the forces of mindless conquest have almost destroyed civilization but have overreached. The players will be working for the temples to restore civilization, but it may be too late. We’ll be using the Powered by the Apocalypse engine.
 
We have some other projects we can’t talk about yet. More later!
 
Hope all our US fans had a Happy Fourth of July! We stayed home with our brand new (nine-week-old) puppy.
 
John WS Marvin

Ollie

Copyright © 2018 Dread Unicorn Games, LLC, All rights reserved.

 

PreOrder Now for The Overworld and Beyond

PreOrders are open!

Transdimensional 13th Age adventure for every tier! The Carrow Hills are a perfect sandbox for adventurer-tier, and we add three adventures for champion- and epic-tier parties. Plus two new classes (Realm Walker and Voidcaller), tons of new monsters, and magic items. Capping it all is plane after plane for your adventures to take place in.

PreOrder Now!

Gods and Icons Player’s Companion for $1

Score now! Use Promo Code PLYRCOMP1 at checkout payment.

https://www.dreadunicorngames.com/store/gods-and-icons-players-companion-pdf

To celebrate The Overworld and Beyond Kickstarter ( http://bit.ly/Overworld13 ), we’ve lowered the price for the Gods and Icons Player’s Companion PDF to $1 for the rest of May.

Everything a player needs to know about the gods and icons, plus the new playable races, suggestions on spending icon relationships, and more. The subset of Gods and Icons targeted at players, not GMs. Perfect for all 13th Age players.