Infinite Healing

 I considered titling this blog post "Whiny Baby Edition" but then who would be the whiny baby?  Me... or the few reviewers who incessantly complained about Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 having way too much clerical healing?  "Infinite healing" you might say, wrongly, of course, as I've discussed many, many times.

Let me cut to the chase - it's never happened to me in the dozens of games I've run, but it's possible for an adventuring party to abuse the lack of healing limitations imposed on clerics.  Well, I just fixed that.  Yep, re-wrote a whole entire god damned paragraph.  It's all for you, Damien!  Shemhamforash!!!

What's the rule change?  Similar to something I came up with in a prior edition of Crimson Dragon Slayer.  If the healing die comes up 1, the cleric is temporarily exhausted (in the spiritual sense) and unable to heal anyone for the next 10 - 40 minutes (1d4 turns).  That's it.  Not much, but it's enough of a speed-bump to pacify those 2 or 3 dudes still shouting their disapproval.

See?  I do occasionally listen to critics, and happen to think this is a fair compromise for everybody.  Now, I fully expect Crimson Dragon Slayer D20 to soar past D&D 5e in popularity, as it's less crunchy, more old school, and extremely flavorful with a sword & sorcery vibe you don't get with mainstream rule-sets.  It was, after all, made with the Cha'alt campaign setting in mind.

And this change will be carried over into Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise... as soon as the layout team have finished making all the other little tweaks I've compiled over the last week (3 or 4 more days?).  

Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise became a "Best SILVER Seller" just a couple days ago, so thank you all for continuing to support my warped, pop-culture infused, eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic vision!

Oh yeah, there are a couple standout reviews I should link to... here and here.

I actually ran a Cha'alt / Crimson Dragon Slayer one-shot on Roll20 last night (first time in about 5 months).  I'll blog a play report in the next day or two.

VS

p.s. I still have about 40 luxurious hardcover Cha'alt books available.  Ordering details here!

Crimson Dragon Slayer Day approaches!

Yep, every July 11th, (you can remember it by the convenience store 7/11) is Crimson Dragon Slayer Day!  It's coming up, so definitely prepare by doing one or more of the following...

• Talking about the Crimson Dragon Slayer RPG... on sale right freakin' now (CreateSpace version here)!
• Posting your Crimson Dragon Slayer related home-brewed gaming stuff somewhere on the internet.
• Send me your Crimson Dragon Slayer related stuff - I'd like to put out a short PDF containing community created content - this PDF will be free and your name will be included as a contributor.
• Running a Crimson Dragon Slayer game!
• Playing in a Crimson Dragon Slayer game!
• Creating some Crimson Dragon Slayer artwork that can be used in conjunction with the free PDF.
• Write a Crimson Dragon Slayer review for the RPG or an adventure.
• Submit a Crimson Dragon Slayer article or essay for inclusion in Draconic Magazine.

Though it's been a little while since I've written any Crimson Dragon Slayer adventures, available here and here, I have not forgotten about my quasi-OSR, sword, sorcery, and silliness RPG of biblical (because of all the sex and violence) proportions.  Bits and pieces shall be forthcoming!

Help me celebrate Crimson Dragon Slayer Day(!) on Monday, July 11th.  Game until awesome licks the blood from an evil sword!

Thanks,

Venger As'Nas Satanis

High Priest of Kort'thalis Publishing

Aryd's End revealed

Jeff Brown did an absolutely terrific job bringing the city of Aryd's End to life.

Aryd's End is one of the largest cities in Torth - a world that's still paying for the grave mistakes of its past... whilst anticipating the apocalypse yet to come; a treacherous realm of sword, sorcery, and darkness on the very precipice of wizard-fueled draconic domination!

Behold, your desert metropolis illuminated by the seven demon-moons of unspeakable pleasure and misery...


VS

p.s.  Oh yeah, I was almost taken out by a falling tree Saturday afternoon.  Luckily, I made my saving throw!

The Second Wave of Draconic Magazine

Even though there aren't "issues" per se, I think readers will see a pattern.  A flurry of activity followed by a lull week so that new content can be properly digested; crests and troughs.

That means wave #2 is crashing upon the rocks of tabletop fantasy roleplaying!  Below is a list of recent articles...

• Q&A about noticing secret doors and skill checks.
• A new spell called Singing Spheres of Yogsoggoth.
• Trade-offs for investigative scenarios.
• A video review of The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.
• A new character class for ex-paladins who fall into a really, really bad crowd.
• A new monster called the Verge Fungoid.
• The 1st weekly advice column from Kodarr the barbarian!
• An article on becoming a better GM.
• A new magic item called the rainbow shadow cloak.
• An article on looking back at plain old failure.
• An amusing vignette about a chaotic halfling.
• And a suggestion about what to do with those expired character sheets.

Whew, that's quite a bit of new stuff in the last couple weeks.  Thanks to +Shane Ward, +Shawn Hartnell, Savage GM, and +Grand DM for their help.  The second wave wouldn't have been as strong without you guys.

If anyone else wants to submit an article or some artwork, please let me know.  More content coming next week!

VS

My thoughts on the Neuroglyph / Mike Mearls interview (part 1)

This is the latest from EnWorld.  An interview with Mike Mearls that took place during GENCON 2014.  I'm going to take this in stages because I'm about to leave work...

Neuroglyph: As one of the main Lead Designers for the new edition of D&D, how did you find your experience with the whole design process, and what was it like to work on the project?

Mike Mearls: I think the biggest difference… I mean obviously there’s the playtest… and I think what the biggest difference, say, between 2005 and 2011… 2012… was that when we started this game in ‘05, we had to guess, right? Gaming was changing… World of Warcraft had come out, obviously consoles like the Xbox Live and Playstation III and online multi-player had become the mainstream. And people still liked first person shooters and stuff, where people would set up a LAN party and stuff like that. And now there were services coming into to play where you could play head-to-head on the internet with other people - so gaming was definitely changing. And I think what 4th Edition, looking back, what we were trying to do was to start predicting for D&D where we thought the game was heading… so that was a big part of it. So what we think, when people are coming to role-playing games, they’re going to have that MMO background or a video game background. 


So, all those people who said I was being dismissive by stating that 4e fans who dislike 5e might get their gaming fix by playing something like World of Warcraft can officially suck on it.


VS

Mysteries of Torth

For those who don't already know, I'm creating a free online tabletop fantasy RPG magazine called Draconic.  This will be a constantly updated resource for gamers all over the world.

One of the magazine's features will be its own setting for organized play, less restrictive than D&D Adventurers League and FLAILSNAILS.  We feel that commonality can go hand in hand with unique campaigns.  Some gamers want to feel connected to a world and those inhabiting it.  So, we're working on a shared campaign setting... Torth.

Torth is still in the early development stages but that's the perfect time to present the bare bones and ask for your input.  I'm sure you'll notice parallels to Dark Sun, Numenera, Anomalous Subsurface Environment, Terminator, Star Wars, and similar stories/settings.  We're fans of all that stuff.  What inspired those settings has also inspired us.  It's part of our geek DNA.  Where possible, we intend to make specific details of this world unique rather than a rehash or hodge-podge of the familiar.

We're keeping this shared campaign setting as fluffy and system neutral as possible; however, there will be plenty of crunchy suggestions sprinkled throughout.  Without further ado...


Torth

Years ago, a magically advanced civilization flourished across the land.  Life was easy for humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, and the various humanoid races.  Sorcery was everywhere, paving the way for comfort, innovation, and decadence.  Magic was responsible for flesh-crafting, synthetic humanoid constructs, nano-mancy, dimensional gateways, and sentinels floating in Torth's atmosphere.

As the people got lazier, their magic-fueled creations were given more autonomy and power.  When the tipping point came, the created saw themselves as slaves and murdered their humanoid masters.  Unable to quell this revolution, a cabal of pyro-mancers unleashed a holocaust of nuclear fire, blasting the world's surface.  For the most part, the things created by sorcery were destroyed... and so was much of Torth.

Some areas were hit harder than others.  A handful of domed cities survived the inferno, as did subterranean habitats.  The shunned reptilian people living underground grew strong and bold in the aftermath.  Now they dominate the land, capturing humanoids found in the wasteland for slaves or worse!  A vocal minority believe peaceful coexistence is possible, if only the right envoys and ambassadors can be selected.

A few humanoid agents believe the synthetics, nano-magic, sentinels, and flesh-crafting should be implemented again, this time with greater fail-safe programming.  The prospect of quick and painless reconstruction must be weighed against the cost of another holocaust if something were to go wrong again.

There is talk of banning sorcery.  Certain zones forbid those ancient practices, enforcing their edict by sentinel disruptors; though crafty wizards work around such limitations by injecting a serum into their veins - a reagent teeming with sorcerous micro-organisms. With regular use, the serum is addictive and degenerative, but extremely potent.

Adventurers seek their fortune in the wasteland, between settlements and shielded cities, interacting with the genetically scarred remnants, magic-forged abominations, sentinel-created clones, extra-dimensional beasts crawling through holes in reality, hungry reptilian warlords, and dragons!  What role do dragons play?  I have no idea, but the Draconic Magazine staff will keep working on it.

You can help us, too!  Comment below.  And if you'd like to write articles for us on a regular or semi-regular basis, contact me (the publisher):  Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com


VS