Excalibird

Hi, I’m Ben, I’m the designer of the TTRPG “Fate Be Damned”

[excalibirdnest]

If I had one wish, it would be to make a magic system for my game that I actually like. I have been creating Fate Be Damned for the better part of 2 years, and I am still unhappy with my magic system. Currently it's simple. Four types of magic empowered and weakened by specific emotions. Iraturgy is destructive and summoning magic empowered by rage and weakened by fear. Erosurgy is enchanting magic (like charms and hexes) as well as divination magic, it's empowered by joy, weakened by sorrow. Etc etc.

Sounds great, sounds fine. Except its not. I have been playing around with this system so much and it never feels right for the world or vibe of FBD. Magic based on emotion is cool but it feels odd to tell players how their characters are feeling based on a mechanic, even if that emotion is entirely artificial within the fiction of the game. It also has the issue of being powerful enough that players have been feeling like they're missing out by not investing in it, even though investing in it is making them weaker in other areas through opportunity cost.

I've tried different things to tackle these issues as we go through playtesting sessions but nothing has really felt right for the game. So I'm currently trying to wipe the board clean so to speak, and build a newer system mostly from scratch. My main idea is to have a "Havoc" gauge or something similar. Basically, the more you cast, the more Havoc you build. The more fuck shit can happen. You can probably invest in some perks that make you more effective the higher your Havoc but thats for after I build the system.

I'm just struggling to make a magic system I actually like y'know? That's probably in part cause I just don't usually like playing magic characters. Ugh, I'll figure it out.

[moonlightvigil8]

I never understood this relunctance to tell players how their characters react to things, with them being able to say "my character doesn't for XYZ", like, "its a big city full of people, making you overwhelmed" "my character lived in other big cuty for many years so they don't feel overwhelmed"

This seems like such a basic thing to do and yet, people don't want to do it

Also, you can use a paper clip to hold information on a character sheet

[excalibirdnest]

For the most part, in my experience if I narrate something that actively tells the players how they feel rather than suggesting how they feel, the players dislike that. People tend to dislike being told how their characters feel rather than narrating themselves how their characters might feel.

You can get around this by just suggesting how they might react, or by asking them “how’re your characters feeling”. But if you straight up tell players how their characters are feeling, they tend to feel railroaded.

[fishyoblivion]

I agree! Being told how you feel can pull you out of the game, breaking the immersion because of the difference

But in certain exception its important to use it, especially when the emotion is something that is imposed like fear or disgust since you dont control it

Also if the feeling is also artificial in the fiction, then it might be interesting to make them feel like the emotion is alien to them, it doesnt come from them, because then the difference of emotions because intra diegetic and not immersion breaking

[excalibirdnest]

Definitely. The more time that passes the more…i guess content i am with the magic system. I still definitely feel like I *could* do better with the concept. But for now i’m really focusing on weapon techniques, alchemy, and downtime.

I’ll probably release the public playtest with the magic system as is and work on improving it as needed later.

[excalibirdnest]

If I had one wish, it would be to make a magic system for my game that I actually like. I have been creating Fate Be Damned for the better part of 2 years, and I am still unhappy with my magic system. Currently it's simple. Four types of magic empowered and weakened by specific emotions. Iraturgy is destructive and summoning magic empowered by rage and weakened by fear. Erosurgy is enchanting magic (like charms and hexes) as well as divination magic, it's empowered by joy, weakened by sorrow. Etc etc.

Sounds great, sounds fine. Except its not. I have been playing around with this system so much and it never feels right for the world or vibe of FBD. Magic based on emotion is cool but it feels odd to tell players how their characters are feeling based on a mechanic, even if that emotion is entirely artificial within the fiction of the game. It also has the issue of being powerful enough that players have been feeling like they're missing out by not investing in it, even though investing in it is making them weaker in other areas through opportunity cost.

I've tried different things to tackle these issues as we go through playtesting sessions but nothing has really felt right for the game. So I'm currently trying to wipe the board clean so to speak, and build a newer system mostly from scratch. My main idea is to have a "Havoc" gauge or something similar. Basically, the more you cast, the more Havoc you build. The more fuck shit can happen. You can probably invest in some perks that make you more effective the higher your Havoc but thats for after I build the system.

I'm just struggling to make a magic system I actually like y'know? That's probably in part cause I just don't usually like playing magic characters. Ugh, I'll figure it out.

[moonlightvigil8]

I never understood this relunctance to tell players how their characters react to things, with them being able to say "my character doesn't for XYZ", like, "its a big city full of people, making you overwhelmed" "my character lived in other big cuty for many years so they don't feel overwhelmed"

This seems like such a basic thing to do and yet, people don't want to do it

Also, you can use a paper clip to hold information on a character sheet

[excalibirdnest]

For the most part, in my experience if I narrate something that actively tells the players how they feel rather than suggesting how they feel, the players dislike that. People tend to dislike being told how their characters feel rather than narrating themselves how their characters might feel.

You can get around this by just suggesting how they might react, or by asking them “how’re your characters feeling”. But if you straight up tell players how their characters are feeling, they tend to feel railroaded.

[excalibirdnest]

If I had one wish, it would be to make a magic system for my game that I actually like. I have been creating Fate Be Damned for the better part of 2 years, and I am still unhappy with my magic system. Currently it's simple. Four types of magic empowered and weakened by specific emotions. Iraturgy is destructive and summoning magic empowered by rage and weakened by fear. Erosurgy is enchanting magic (like charms and hexes) as well as divination magic, it's empowered by joy, weakened by sorrow. Etc etc.

Sounds great, sounds fine. Except its not. I have been playing around with this system so much and it never feels right for the world or vibe of FBD. Magic based on emotion is cool but it feels odd to tell players how their characters are feeling based on a mechanic, even if that emotion is entirely artificial within the fiction of the game. It also has the issue of being powerful enough that players have been feeling like they're missing out by not investing in it, even though investing in it is making them weaker in other areas through opportunity cost.

I've tried different things to tackle these issues as we go through playtesting sessions but nothing has really felt right for the game. So I'm currently trying to wipe the board clean so to speak, and build a newer system mostly from scratch. My main idea is to have a "Havoc" gauge or something similar. Basically, the more you cast, the more Havoc you build. The more fuck shit can happen. You can probably invest in some perks that make you more effective the higher your Havoc but thats for after I build the system.

I'm just struggling to make a magic system I actually like y'know? That's probably in part cause I just don't usually like playing magic characters. Ugh, I'll figure it out.

[excalibirdnest]

I have twin projects called “Arcana” and “Ironline”, their whole gimmick is that they’re compatible with eachother. You could take shit from Ironline and put it into Arcana or vice versa.

This is explained via worldbuilding. Arcana is set in Iris. Ironline is set in Iron.

Iris is your standard medium fantasy world. Monsters abound, fantastical non-human species like elves, dwarves, orcs, and the like. And of course. Magic.

Iron though is basically just a dieselpunk world in constant war (Iris also has a lot of war, its not like super happy funland or anything). You got mechs (called “Walkers” cause I think it sounds cooler), tanks, big robot soldiers running off of turing machine style tape rolls. And most importantly, NO MAGIC.

At least that used to be the case. Cause somehow (meaning I haven’t gotten around to figuring out why) there is a rift in the fabric of magic itself that bleeds between the two worlds, letting magic into Iron, which the people from Iron call “Rot”. This has caused mutations to take place, turning people into Iron’s equivalent of those fantastical races from Iris. Like, people will suddenly start growing scales like the Manasans of Iris. Or horns like the dwarves, orcs, satyrs, or minotaurs. Or maybe they can turn partially invisible like the Cythans. Stuff like that. As you might expect from a very not progressive world where a lot of people are afraid that people from the next country over could be a spy. Racism is rampant. No there is no reason. Yes it’s irrational. That’s how racism is. This also applies to anyone who has been “touched by Rot” too (AKA, mages).

And the final bit of fallout I can remember, monsters have started appearing in Iron too. So now most soldiers are required to carry at least 1 load of silver tipped bullets.

After a few years, units of soldiers called “Fumigator Squads” that are there specifically to hunt and kill monsters started showing up.

Not gonna lie, this turned into a rant post real quick. I just wanted to talk about this.

[a-wa-c]

Go off, this sounds fuckin' cool. Tell us more.

Question: If monsters and magic fall from Iris into Iron, can weapons and war machines fall from Iron into Iris? Was there a defining moment when some asshole Mage that used magic as a tool for control gets shot by a peasant that ended up with a rifle, unbalancing the power dichotomy?

[excalibirdnest]

Its moreso just magic that falls into Iron and causes a lot of weird shit to happen, like Monsters mutating from normal ass animals. Because of the nature of how monsters form in Iron, they look a lot more body horror-esque than their equivalents from Iris.

Traversal from Iris to Iron and vice versa is a very difficult process that requires you to be able to travel into the Plane Between (think of it like the Ethereal Plane from D&D). Basically you’d have to get to the Plane Between, and travel through the Scar, which, because it is basically a leak in an ocean of magic, is an extremely concentrated well of mana that will *really fucking hurt* to go through.

If you or anything attached to you manages to get through it though, thats where Fate’s (basically the author of the worlds) damage control comes in. They’ll send a creature called an Azhi to that world that will hunt down anything that doesn’t belong and completely erase it.

TL;DR, yes it is possible for things to fall into the other world, but they’re only there for a limited time before damage control comes in to clean it up.

[excalibirdnest]

Since the initial inception of my projects, I have basically reworked the whole thing. And I’ve been thinking about the crossover between Iris, Iron, and possibly other worlds. And I think now that the Azhi, at least how they were, are stupid.

Things should be able to cross between worlds. However, doing so intentionally requires magic that is beyond mortal (player) capabilities. Things can accidentally get swished away to new lands, it’s very rare, but it can happen. And they won’t be hunted for it.

A mech with its pilot inside gets transported to Patha, the plane of magic by some mysterious means. They drift in this mysterious infinity for days, running low on food. And running out of water. Until eventually, a storm comes. It rattles the hull of the iron beast and the pilot cowers, terrified of the screaming wind just outside. The wind pushes, pulls, flexes and bends every which way until suddenly, nothing. Then weightlessness, they are falling. As soon as the pilot realises, the mech crashes to the ground, sending the pilot hurtling forward, cracking his head against the console of his war machine and being knocked unconscious.

When he awakes, he is in a bed, a soft bed, if a bit itchy. Inside what he thinks to be a mill of some description. An older man comes up to him and says something in a language he doesn’t understand. Regardless of the words, he hands the pilot a bowl of some odd stew that tastes of home. In better shape, the pilot leaves his bed, and attempts to ask about his mech. They do not understand until he tries to mimic its shape. After realising what he means, the man shows him to a barn, where they’ve managed to hoist the beast up to examine.

The pilot gets inside, and miraculously, it still runs. He gets it free of its restraints, and shows to the people what it does. They are, of course, terrified at first. Though they soon come to understand that the metal beast means no harm.

The pilot decides to stay. All there is for him back home is war, a war he and millions of others would die in, thanklessly, needlessly he thought. The mech, once a tool of war, became a pack beast, taking things from one end of town to another. The pilot, once incapable of communicating through anything but charades, slowly managed to learn the language of his saviours. Eventually, the mech ran out of fuel and crumbled lifelessly to the earth, being laid to rest next to the willow tree overlooking the village. The pilot, once an alien from another world, became just another man within his new one.

[excalibirdnest]

I was running my playtest campaign of Fate Be Damned last saturday, and it was, without a doubt, the least fun I've had running this game so far. My players had a blast, but I, as the GM did not. However that doesn't mean that it wasn't very productive from both a narrative and a playtesting standpoint. A little background. The players have just entered the final act of the campaign, the big bads have revealed their hand, and taken over the city of Monteau, the baron made a refugee/war camp outside of one of the satellite towns and is planning out how to take the city back. He has enlisted the players to help him as they have the most experience fighting the big bads, and know how they operate. The players scouted out some of the towns that the big bads have taken over, gathering intel for eventual battles. In doing this, they got in one skirmish in the woods, supported by a troupe of hunters, as well as an allied fae named Talc. They also scouted out and raided a supply caravan on the road, aided by a small detachment of soldiers from the baron. Sounds standard, sounds great. But it wasn't, and for one big reason. The fights were just too big. In each fight, it was double digit numbers on both sides, with the second fight having the groups be condensed into "squads". This type of thing was NOT what Fate Be Damned was built for. FBD was built for small scale fights with depth. In large scale fights, you cannot have that kind of depth without having very long and boring turns. There have been some great fights so far in the campaign. The players had a pseudo boss fight against a mishipeshu in a ruined fortress, they loved it. One of the players fought a mercenary in a judicial duel, and even though the fight ended within 3 turns, the player fighting loved it, and even the players watching were invested. The key thing about these fights, is that they were small enough scale to have that kind of depth without feeling the need to condense. Even though I may not have enjoyed the session, it was fantastic for testing the limits of the game, and for figuring out what does and doesn't make the game fun to GM.

[excalibirdnest]

As V3 gets closer to completion, I've began to think about a lot of things for how I'll present the game to playtesters. One of my biggest worries was how to present the world. I could write up six pages on every region of the world and overload the readers with information, or I could lock down a specific area of the world and make that the primary focus. I'm sure you can guess which option I picked. I decided to go the route of a lot of games and build out the lore of a specific region of the world, and paint the rest of it in broad strokes. The region I picked is the one that my current playtest campaign is set in. I call it The Reach. I have a lot of lore written about this region specifically because of that campaign, and it offers a pretty nice playground for players to do mercenary work. Now all I gotta figure out is how do I handle languages in this small region? Be sure to follow me for more updates on the development of Fate Be Damned and to get in on the playtest once it drops.

[excalibirdnest]

Hey all, the rewriting and reformatting in preparation for the eventual public playtest of Fate Be Damned is going very well. I am incredibly happy with how it's all turning out, and I only hope I can get it out sooner rather than later. In a bit of self celebration, I would like to share the introductory section of the book, which serves to introduce you to the world of Iris and your role therein.

The year is 1312, the world of Iris is undergoing a technological, philosophical, and artistic revolution. This era will be studied by historians in the coming centuries, but you have the privilege of living in it.

Civilization

The hands of civilization spread to the reaches of the world, where hundreds of millions of people live their lives, unaware, or perhaps uncaring that the world is the best it's ever been. 

Though for some, that statement would be a cruel reminder rather than a comforting thought. As civilization spreads, so does hatred, intolerance, and war. When alchemists first discovered black powder, they could never have conceived of how many wars they would end, and how many more would take their place.

The resources to maintain large empires or confederations are far off in the future, the majority of world conflict happens as noble squabbles, or civil wars. Kingdoms are small, and kings numerous, with no shortage of reasons to levy men off to die mere miles from their homes.

Not all is so bleak however. In Azad, medicinal science is reaching heights never before seen, now able to save the wounded from deadly infection. In Casadia, they've popularised a form of theatre where angelic, vibrant vocals lead the story rather than rhyme or prose. Hallan metallurgy has fused with sculpture in some sects, crafting beautiful armour that serves a dual function as both a jousting harness, and an art piece.

The Wilderness

Between the bounds of civilization, where roads hold the empty promise of safety, is the wilderness, the untamed lands on the earth you walk. 

In the wild, it is best not to stray from the road, as in the wood lay all sorts of beasts, magic or otherwise. Bears see people as easy meals, and schrats will pull you beneath the bark of the trees you run past trying to escape.

The road too is unsafe, as brigands rob, kill, and take anyone they deem fit for robbing, killing, or taking. Led by robber barons occupying an empty fort, or perhaps just some desperate bastard in a lean to. What's it matter? You're dead all the same.

The Drifters

Amid this strife and innovation is you, a drifter. A wandering mercenary going place to place fixing problems for a price. You take jobs from people too weak, too entitled, or too busy to take care of them on their own. In return for shouldering the risk, you take home a coinpurse, should you survive.

You are not a hero. Your skillset can be bought and sold. You are not exceptional. You are just another man, woman, or something else living life chasing the next payday, or perhaps you're chasing another goal. Fulfillment through a religious cause? Vengeance on someone who wronged you? Death through battle? Your reasons are your own, so long as you get the job done.

A drifter is more of a category than a real occupation. A sellsword is a drifter in much the same way as a wandering physician is. They stay (relatively) neutral, they take jobs, they get paid, they drift away.

Regardless of your drifter's true vocation, the fact of the matter is that they are not special, but they are yours, so who cares about special anways?

Be sure to follow me for more updates on the development of Fate Be Damned and to get in on the playtest once it drops.

[excalibirdnest]

I crawl out from my cave to give another update on the progress of Fate Be Damned. I have been working on reformatting large swathes of the game in order to make it far more readable when I eventually open it up to public playtesting. I'm working on reformatting the abilities as we speak (techniques, perks, spells), after which I'll get to work on updating the rest of the book. In between my sporadic updates I am working on the game, and running a playtest campaign to see how everything works in motion. Hopefully once V3 comes out I have more things to update on, and more things to say besides "making it better". Just as a show of progress, here's a before and after of some of the combat section.

Be sure to follow me for updates on the progress of Fate Be Damned, and to get in on the playtest once it drops.

[excalibirdnest]

Just finished the combat section rewrite earlier today. I made some infographics, formatted it better, added in a list of basic actions (which I should've had in the first place but eh). All in all, that took me way longer than it really should have. Fate Be Damned V3 is slowly but surely getting written out. I still have a lot to write, and I'm trying to manage scope creep as much as I can. The extent of my writing for now is just expansion where there already should have been (like alchemical recipes, or the GM section). There's very few things I'm actually adding in. So hopefully, once I get things written out, I can work on the arduous task of reformatting, then releasing the first public playtest. Still hoping that discord doesn't go forward on their "I wanna spy on everyone" plans.

[excalibirdnest]

Hey all, because a certain company has decided that they really like the idea of spying on everyone, Fate Be Damned might not launch through a community discord server. Instead, should things not change, I will see if I can’t open a community here on tumblr and maybe in some other place I don’t know about yet. We’ll see though.

Until then, I’ll see you guys when V3 drops and public playtesting opens.

[excalibirdnest]

After finishing the weapon technique rework as well as the new spell list, I've been slowly chipping away at rewriting the (frankly, dated) combat and spellcasting sections. I'm going at them with my more developed technical writing ability and better formatting. My goal is to make it clear when a word is just text, when its important, and when its specifically a rule term. I've taken a note from LANCER's core book and decided to use a bold small caps font for the latter of those 3. Hopefully once I'm done, it'll be real easy to navigate these sections that were previously very ragged looking and kinda hard to read through in all honesty. I've also done a slight bit of reworking to the weapon list. Primarily for ranged weapons. For Throwers, I've added the medieval staff sling, as well the greek kestros. For Archers, I've added a war bow with a heavy draw making it difficult to shoot quickly, and a heavy crossbow with a long reload that requires a windlass (you won't have to actually have a windlass in your inventory, its assumed you have it). And finally, for Gunners, I've added the handgonne and arquebus to the weaponry table, because despite Firearms being a skill in-game, I had them tucked away in the special items section. Why? Because I'm an idiot. Anyways, that is all for now. Be sure to follow me for updates on Fate Be Damned, and to get in on the playtest once it drops.

[excalibirdnest]

As I get closer to revision V3 of Fate Be Damned and its subsequent public playtesting, I think I should share the design philosophy and the some rambling about the game itself. The core of Fate Be Damned is that you are not a hero. You and your ragtag group of drifters will never take down a dragon on your own. You'll never win a fight with the lords of whatever Hell there is. You'll never become a veritable god. You are a normal person. You are not special. And that's what gives you the power to be anything. Player characters in Fate Be Damned operate on a classless, skill based, character creation system. The skills are divided into 3 categories, general, weapon, and magic. Each category has its own unique type of ability. General skills have perks, primarily passive things that change how your character plays and acts with buffs in specific areas. Weapon skills have techniques, things your character has learned to do with their weapon beyond attacking and defending. Magic skills have evocations, spells which summon energy from the plane of emotion to whatever effects you've learned to conjure. My goal is to make it so that your character doesn't have to be good at combat to be viable. Your character can invest heavily in Speech and be the party diplomat through verbal combat. They can invest heavily in Alchemy and help the others prepare for fights. They can invest heavily in Performance and busk for money. Though naturally, as a TTRPG, combat is a part of it, and it is an important part of the identity of Fate Be Damned. Combat in my game is brutal, intentionally so. Damage is plentiful, Health is not quite so, meaning that it only takes a few good hits to incapacitate or kill you or an opponent. This is where passive and active defenses come in. Your passive defenses are your Unarmoured and Armoured Defense, essentially how "AC" acts in D&D5e. You can have 3 layers of armour to help you defend against any attacks that slip through your active defense. Your active defense is your blocking, parrying, dodging, warding (essentially a blocking spell). Blocking, parrying, and dodging all take up Stamina and all act different. Blocking allows you to bind you and your opponents weapons together to essentially lock you in a duel. Parrying allows you to riposte, giving you a free attack against your enemy, but they can parry you right back. Dodging is simplest, you get to move a bit away from the enemy when you dodge successfully, if you want of course. All enemies and NPCs in Fate Be Damned operate on the scale of the players. They all have levels in the same skills as the players, they all calculate their attributes the same as the players, they have access to the same abilities as the players. So the players have to work smart to survive. Brewing potions, setting traps, enlisting the help of others, anything they can do to tip the odds in their favour. Fate Be Damned is a game about normal people saying "fuck prophecy, fuck chosen ones, I'm gonna forge my own path." This world has heroes, warriors and people of such skill that none can hope to stand a chance against them, either in war or rhetoric. It just so happens that your character is not one of them. More than likely, they will never be one of them. Your Drifter is not special, which, in some strange way, makes them special all over again. Be sure to follow me for updates on Fate Be Damned, and to get in on the playtest once it drops.

[excalibirdnest]

I finished the new list of spells today for Fate Be Damned. All 96 evocations and 20 rituals.

I started with a list of about 500 spells. I wrote all of those over the course of several months, and those several months felt basically wasted because afterwards I read through these spells and hated the majority of them. But after a whole lot of work, I cut them down, reworked them, and even added a couple to make the evocations and rituals. So, I'd like to point out one ritual and one evocation I like, and why.

---

Threshold Novice Thanaturgy Ritual

You know how you should never invite a vampire inside? This ritual lets you apply those rules to everyone. Threshold allows you to declare a room off limits for entrance for up to 24 hours. Anyone who tries is blocked by a forcefield. In order to get inside, you have to be invited in. If someone who's inside leaves, the spell ends. You can also reverse the polarity of this threshold so that anything inside can't get out, but anything outside can get in, ending the spell. Now why do I like this so much? It's because of the preparation aspect. If you know you're gonna be fighting something that really likes to move around, you can find its lair, put a reversed threshold, and fight it in a confined space. Or if you're about to get attacked by a horde in the next hour, you can threshold your hideout and come up with a plan knowing that they can't get in...for now.

---

Conduit Apprentice Thanaturgy Evocation

Essence is a valuable resource in Fate Be Damned, it's how you cast your evocations after all. So what if you could give some to your buddies in need? Conduit allows you to do just that, spending up to 12 Essence (even more with Sorrow Volatility) and giving that to the target of your choice. This essence can even bypass maximums. HOWEVER, you'll start taking magic damage as that excess energy begins tearing you apart from the inside. Easy fix if you're a mage, just cast a spell. But if you're not a mage, you're gonna be taking that damage as you wait for it to passively vent off of you.

--- There's a lot more than just those 2 in the Fate Be Damned playtest. Follow me for updates and to get in on it once it drops.

[excalibirdnest]

Where can I read Fate Be Damned?

Currently it’s not publicly available. I’m in Version 2 of a private playtest. But when I get Version 3 done, I’ll open it up for public playtesting.

The PDF will be posted here to my blog, as well as a discord so I can collect feedback.

[excalibirdnest]

Spellcasting in Fate Be Damned is based on emotion. Magic literally comes from Patha, the plane of emotion. As such, in versions previous, there was an attempt for a system that let your emotions influence how strong spells are/aren't. I called this system "Volatility". And from my heart of hearts I will say,

it Fuckin sucked.

The initial volatility system was made at a time where the design philosophy of Fate Be Damned was very loose. As such, the volatility system was, in essence, "describe how your character feels when you cast a spell. The GM gives you a number of stacks they feel is appropriate." That was basically it, it was awful. It put basically the entire thing into the player's hands, who you would never expect to rule against themselves, especially in a more punishing system. It needed a rework, so I took inspiration from one of my favourite games, Vermintide 2. In that game there is a character named Sienna Fuegonasus, a pyromancer whose main mechanic is called "Overcharge". Essentially, the more you cast, the more overcharge you build up. When you build up enough, you go boom. So you want to keep it low. Unless you're an Unchained (my main). As an Unchained Sienna, you rely on being at high overcharge. You deal more damage, have faster attacks, all that jazz. It's very dynamic, very risk reward, very cool. I took that idea and I'm working it into FBD. When you cast a spell, you gain stacks of empowering volatility for that spell type (Rage for Iraturgy, Joy for Erosurgy, etc.). So the more you cast, the more powerful your spells are gonna be, but they're gonna be more volatile the more you push yourself. Once you hit 5 stacks (the maximum unless you take a drug called alkahest) then you suffer an emotional status effect. The volatility doesn't vent automatically either, you have to vent it by sacrificing action economy. You can also vent it if you fail a backfire check, but you're gonna take some hefty damage in response. This makes spellcasting a lot more dynamic, and a lot more dangerous. Do you want to keep casting more powerful spells while the backfire checks keep getting harder? Or do you want to forfeit your turn to vent the magical energy

Do you want to vent the magical energy but don't want to sacrifice action economy? you can cast a spell, willingly fail the backfire check and take damage in order to vent all that volatility.

[excalibirdnest]

I'm going right back into hell cause I'm cutting down the spell list for Fate Be Damned. For those who don't know, I wrote 500 spells for this game back in July and ever since then I have hated nearly all of them. There were a number of issues which I knew I would need a rework to address: 1. There's too fuckin many. 500 spells was a minimum I set for myself because before now, there were 20 levels of spells. So because of that astronomically high minimum I so foolishly set, there's a lot of bloat. 2. Magic is too mythically powerful. As the game evolves and as I figure out what I want it to be, mages having access to these crazy powerful spells just doesn't make sense. High level mages essentially become these heroes of monumental power that I DO NOT WANT players to become. Player characters should not feel like they're demigods, they should feel like just another person in the world. 3. Magic is not solely for those with magical ability. Folk rituals to do things like ward off evil spirits should WORK, they shouldn't be superstition. Because of this, I've done some things to rework the spellcasting system to better fit the world of Iris. I've chopped the spells from 500 down to 116. These spells are divided into 96 "Evocations" and 20 "Rituals". Evocations are what you probably think of when you think of "spells". They are your fireballs, your lightning bolts, your wards. Evocations are a form of magical expression that requires magical ability. An untrained person who isn't a mage could never cast an evocation. Rituals are far more accessible, should you have knowledge of them. As long as you have the components to conduct a ritual, and knowledge of the steps, words, movements, what have you that are required, anyone can cast a ritual. That's essentially the core of the new system. I don't have it all written out, but I'll post another update when I do. This is one of the things that I am going to push going into Version 3 of the Fate Be Damned Playtest. And when Version 3 comes out, I will open the game up to public playtesting. Hopefully I'll see y'all then.

[excalibirdnest]

Got the cover for Fate Be Damned recommissioned, this time by the wonderful Ace Sadler-Esp. The old cover was extremely generic and didn’t really show off the game too well. Not so with this new version.

I’ll start by saying that I’m extremely happy with how it turned out. The limited colour palette and the image within an image makes it stand out so much more.

It shows off the renaissance themeing of the game better as well as showcasing that the player characters are not some mythical legendary heroes, they’re just normal people.