FtA: Another Art Update

Another +Jez Gordon joint, this time referencing the Technozombies from way back when...

FtA: From the Ashes: Art Update!

+Jez Gordon kills it, yet again - this time depicting the Humanists, as previously discussed here.

FtA: The World Is a Vampire... or an Angel

One of the original concepts for From the Ashes, and the one that I've struggled with most since I started down this path, has been how to create a system where the world reacts to the actions of the characters.  At the core of From the Ashes is the idea that the world is what you make of it.  As each game begins, the world is at its tipping point, and the actions of the characters will have a say in the manner in which it will develop.

But how to communicate that?

After wrestling with this for months, I've come up with a system that plots something like your alignment on a four quadrant graph.  Bearings, as they're known in From the Ashes, represent more than just an ambiguous moral code, they represent your ideas of how the world should work.  This is determined by a series of questions asked by your GM at the beginning of your character's first game.  Depending on your answers, your position on the graph moves up, down, left or right, until you find the place where you belong.

The X Axis represents Inspiration - from where do you draw your ideas?  It runs from Innovation on the left to Tradition on the right.  Someone heavily Traditional will look to the past when solving problems, seeking the wisdom of the ancients to help dig society out of the mess it's found itself in.  On the other hand, someone to the left will seek to come up with new ways of doing things and reject the old ways - after all, they were what got things where they are to begin with!

The Y axis represents Methodology - how will you implement your ideas?  It runs from Law above to Anarchy below.  Someone heavily into Law believes that only a robust (some might say authoritarian) system of government can properly check the natural, base impulses of its citizens.  If a character finds themselves at the bottom of the chart, they believe in promoting absolute freedom, where no-one tells anyone what to do, or how to live.

As the characters progress through the world, their Bearings may shift.  Not for everyday actions, but major decisions may shift a character's location on the plane.  Helping the sheriff capture some wanted murderers may not affect the Bearings of a moderate Anarchist, but helping a local lord to put down a peasant uprising would result in a shift of all but the staunchest Law-inclined.

How does this fit in with the development of the world?

Well, the world also has a character sheet, and a graph of its own.  This world (or area, or town, or whatever) starts out the game at 0,0 - tabula rasa.  The actions of the characters will shift the location of the world, but in a much more volatile manner.  While catching the murderers may not have a big impact on the moral code of the individual, on the societal level, it has a great impact, and will move the world towards Law.

Here's the thing, though - every character's mutations are slowly killing them, and it's because mutations are unnatural and their minds and bodies know it.  There is evidence that all the mutations spring from the mind, even if they are physical in nature, and the on some level, the character's mind and body realize that these things don't belong in a rational world.  They attempt to make sense of this contradiction by removing that which doesn't belong - themselves.  They push their bodies to the breaking point, and as the power of the mutations grow, so does the inner objection to their own existence in a sort of self fulfilling prophecy, until they reach a level at which it becomes unacceptable, and the mind shuts down the body - Level 9.

There is hope, though.  It's been found that by engaging with the world and focusing attention outward instead of inward, the progress of a mutant's mutations can be slowed.  By attempting to shape the world around it, the mutant is able to make the world make sense again.

In practical terms, each time a character reaches a certain point in its progression, there is a chance that they will level up.  This percentage is mitigated by the distance of its Bearings from the world's own Bearings.  The closer they are, the more in tune they are with the world as it exists, the less chance that they will find themselves inching closer to death.

I'm still working out the numbers and a less clumsy way to explain it, but that's the gist.

As long as I'm talking about it, this is really the last oddly-shaped piece of the puzzle to fall into place, and while there are a few more pieces to place, they are mostly large, and square (hit points, damage, that sort of thing).  Once this has been hammered into place, the system will be essentially complete, and ready for playtesting.

I really can't believe I just typed that.  It's been a long time coming, and hopefully some of you still have some enthusiasm for the finished product.  If you're interested in playtesting, drop me a line, and I'll shoot you out a draft once it's ready!

Tayxis: Santa Muerte

Santa Muerte is a sacred figure and feminine skeletal folk saint venerated throughout Tayxis. Santa Muerte literally translates to "Saint Death" or "Holy Death". Tayxan culture has always maintained a certain reverence towards death, so it was only natural that Santa Muerte would make it it's home.

Elements of worship include the use of skeletons to remind people of their mortality. The worship is condemned by the Official Church of Tayxis (OCT) as heretical, but it is firmly entrenched among Tayxis' lower working classes and various elements of society deemed as "outcasts".

Santa Muerte generally appears as a female skeletal figure, clad in a long robe and holding one or more objects, usually a scythe and a globe. Her robe can be of any color, as more specific images of the figure vary widely from devotee to devotee and according to the rite being performed or the petition being made.  Shrines can be found all around Tayxis, with skeletons propped up, covered in the gifts her supplicants have left her.  She has been known to intercede in the lives of her worshippers, offering boons to the faithful, holding back death from loved ones, or striking down those who have offended them.  However, Santa Muerte will often demand outrageous gifts or acts of devotion simply to gain the privilege of asking favor, and she will either grant or deny requests, seemingly without rhyme or reason.

Santa Meurte is often invoked by Cartel Assassins, who will leave tokens at the sites of their killings.  There are a small sect within The Pigs that worship her, as well.  Big Oil Men have been known to strike bargains, when it was in their best interests to do so.  While there is some commonality between Santa Muerte and Santeria, the Santeria Priestesses consider cults that worship Santa Muerte exclusively to be somewhere between Tasteless, Blasphemous and Pointless.

Should the PCs encounter a shrine to Santa Muerte, they can make a request of her.  There is a base chance that the request will be granted, depending on the but the odds will increase by 10% each time the PC completes a task that Santa Muerte demands of the PCs, determined randomly by rolling on the chart below.

Roll	Result
1	Run Your Last Race – Must flee in horror, never to return, as that which they most fear appears before them
2	Request Denied – Santa Muerte laughs mockingly and refuses to hear the request after all
3	Little Death – Must enter Santa Muerte’s realm, to be released only when her cold libido has been satisfied
4	A Life For a Life – Must take the life of someone they have never met
5	The End of the Rope – Must jump from the bell tower of the nearest cathedral
6	Feast of the Grave – Must swallow a pound of dirt from a freshly dug grave
7	Feast of the Flesh – Must taste of the flesh of a freshly dead corpse
8	Feast of the Spirit – Must inhale the final breath of a dying man (or woman)
9	Death’s Head – Must accept a small part of Santa Muerte into their mind that will constantly urge them to kill.
10	Death’s Bony Finger – Must strip the flesh from their pinky
11	Death’s Icy Grip – Must immerse themselves in ice water for an hour
12	A Celebration of Life – Must strip naked and run through the streets, proclaiming the glories of Santa Muerte
13	Cash In Your Chips – Must gamble away every cento, every dolar that they possess
14	Supplication - Must leave town, then crawl on hands and knees back to the statue and kiss the hem of Santa Muerte’s robe
15	Sprout Wings – Must collect and present the wings of 50 doves
16	Feed the Fishes – Must wrestle a giant catfish from the river prepare it according to traditional burial rites, and present the corpse
17	Answer God’ Calling – Must convert three children to Santa Muerte’s worship
18	Trying to Catch the Devil’s Herd – Must round up 50 head of wild cattle on an open plain and surround them in a ring of fire.
19	The Choir Invisible – Must sing a hymn of devotion to Santa Muerte
20	Donation - Must give 50 Dolars to the shrine

Late Kickstarter Roundup, GIF Edition

Because I'm standing on the corner of bored and lazy, I'm going to use a gif to describe the status of each of each of my late Kickstarters, and/or how I feel about them.

Dwimmermount -

Myth and Magic -

Ogre - 

Champions of ZED - 

Appendix N Adventure Toolkits - 

Tales From the Fallen Empire - 

Hydra Dice - Necron

Mike Nystul's Projects

Purge: Sins of Science - 

Martin Wallace's Moongha Invaders - 

The Morrow Project - 

Creature & Encounter RPG Card Decks - 

Alas Vegas - 

Today is the Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima

Today marks the 68th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, and while I enjoy playing games about the devastation that comes after this sort of thing, it is sobering to be reminded of what that actually means.

PANORAMA. Photographed by Shigeo Hayashi from a watchtower of the Hiroshima Prefectural Commerce Association, October 5, 1945. Location: Moto-machi. Distance from hypocenter: approx. 260m.

Read More About This Photo Here

Mr. Yamada took the above ground level photo from approximately a little over four miles northeast of Hiroshima a few minutes after detonation.

Read More About This Photo Here

The ruins of Hiroshima, as seen from the air, after the Japanese city was hit with an atomic bomb on August 6, 1945. The photo was taken a month later, in September 1945. Photo by Life/George Silk

Read More About This Photo Here

Photos and captions taken from War News Updates

Setting: Tayxis

I have a.... complicated relationship with the state I live in.  Understand, I was born in New York, and lived there for the first eighteen years of my life, before traveling the states for a living for seven.  Moving back to New York full time, I resolved that if there was one state I would love to live in, it would be Colorado, and if there was one state that I would be happy never to set foot in again, it would be Texas.

Of course, man makes plans/swears oaths and god laughs, so five years later, I found myself sitting in my boss' office, being told that my job now resided in Texas.

Now, I can't say I hate the place - I met my wife here, I've made good friends here, and there are lots of things to do and enjoy here that I wouldn't have access to living in the bowels of Upstate New York. Texas has been good to me, make no mistake.

But I can't say that I love it here, and while I live here, I don't know that I'll ever really feel at home.  Large portions of this state are the cultural equivalent of an irradiated wasteland; the type that glows at night and kills deer that drink from its streams.  I'm confused by the politics, frightened by the politicians, and befuddled when otherwise normal, rational people reveal that they stockpile weaponry like it's the 1770s.  Oh, and my office has a sign telling people not to bring their guns inside the building.  That sign exists, because if it weren't there, they could.  It's like a gun version of the Do Not Call List - if you don't opt out, you're in.

So basically, coming from New York, it's like I moved to another planet.

The fun thing about Texas is that you can talk to anyone from around the world, and regardless of what language they speak, they all know TEXAS.  Probably 70% know it from the show Dallas, and the other 30% from the sheer force of Texan will, which exports its culture in a forceful sort of cultural osmosis.  Texans love Texas, in a bizarre sort of way that I don't think I'll ever understand, and what's more, they love to talk about Texas.  As a result, you can walk into any bar around the world, say "Texas!" and somebody will yell back, "Big hats belt buckles and gun racks!"

As my wife, proud Texan that she is, would be quick to point out, it's not exactly fair.  Dallas, to a certain extent, and definitely Austin, are not stereotypically Texan cities.  I go days in Dallas without hearing a drawl ("y'all" excepted - that, at least, is universal), and for it's, for the most part, a thriving metropolis.

But, the presence of so many stereotypes, elevated to legendary status world wide, begs for stories to be told in their shadows.  Garth Ennis gets this - it's one of his "things" - the man loves him some Texas.  Preacher mythologized Texas to a degree I haven't seen elsewhere, and it was glorious.

So, to make a long story short, I've started writing up some things.  I'm calling the setting Tayxis, a gonzo version of Texas, turned up to 11.

In Tayxis, Big Oil Men own everything, and Luchadores wage a shadow war to free the oppressed.  Blonde
Bombshells cozy up to Gun Nuts for protection from the G-Men.  High Plains Drifters blow into town and square off against Cartel Assassins at high noon.  Preachers scream on street corners, warning that the Devil is buried out in Palo Duro Canyon, and he's stirrin' brother, he's a stirrin'!  Meanwhile, Antipostles vomit down the airwaves and screech from the pulpits of megachurches.  They rake in the cash, paving the way for their master to come again, and only Santeria priestesses bar their way.  Down on their luck, drunken Country Music Singers wander the highways and byways, gee-tar strapped to their back, putting the spirits of the dead to rest with a song.

There are Strip Malls, where you can buy any kind of flesh you could ever need, live or dead - cow, chicken, lamb or human.  There are trailer parks full of ninjas, and subdivisions full of the Walking Dead. Otherworldly chimera gather up tumbleweed into golems that terrorize the countryside, and only the shamen from the Rez can stop them.  And from deep beneath the Alamo, the Immortal 32 haved lived up to their name.  The streets of San Antone run red with blood, as they emerge each night to fight the Battle over and over again, cutting down any Mexican "invaders" they come across.

Don't worry, though, the Pigs are out in force, keeping things in check with their badge and a gun, but if they're the ones you're scared of, as Sons of Liberty have had enough of Big Government taking away their freedoms, and they're bringing the fight to the streets.

What is Tayxis?  Tayxis is six feet of crazy in a five foot glass.  It's a ten gallon hat on a midget.  It's God, Guns, and Guts.  It's the Wild West and the Deep South with a double bourbon chaser.  It's sharp dressed men and rough boys.  It's taxmen, texas floods and blue eyes cryin' in the rain.

Oh, and it's got the best darn Barbecue you'll ever eat.

Welcome to Tayxis.  Ya'll come back now, y'hear?