A beyond Grim Dark TTRPG of Epic violence & Fantastic despair.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Ov the Magic of Fairy Tales
9 months ago
– Mon, Jul 17, 2023 at 07:21:31 AM
FIRST
Development is sort of done. There are some editing left and one chapter left to curate, apart from minor tweaks and layout. Book I is fully layouted except for 1 chapter and my plan is to finish Book II and hopefully Book III in the coming three weeks (which also happens to be the timeframe of my summer vacation). When layout is done I still have left to curate and rework the images that I still have left, so I can’t sadly give you a good estimation, or timeline before that.
Blind Tests are coming along and I also plan to get all of the mechanics chapters out to blind testers the following weeks. About 10 chapters have been blind tested so far and there has been a lot of simplifications and rearranging texts coming out of that, moving sections and parts to make it all more logical. If you are interested in joining the blind tests send a mail to [email protected]
Also, if you haven't done so, join the official Discord https://discord.gg/JEYCX3dc where we can answer more directly and also shares some stuff we're working on.
SECOND
Astro Inferno has truly gone its own way when it comes to its mechanics. Woven into this gritty system with numbers and skills is actually this great framework for storytelling. The story points, truths and aspects are of course the center of this. But alchemy is another great example of how storytelling is stitched into the mechanics. All these traditionally non mechanical narratives in stories of authors like Neil Gaiman or Clive Barker are actually explainable in the mechanics of Astro Inferno.
Trapping a demon inside a sword?
Opening a gate to inferno by solving a puzzle cube?
Seize the power from a powerful relic?
Stealing the memories of a lost God?
Storing the key to the 8th heaven inside your bloodline?
Stripping a god of their powers?
Catching the wrath of an angel in a vial?
Making a city disappear from history?
All of this and much more is explainable with the use of alchemy tech, hardcoding fairytales into a tangible system. Even if not every GM (or their players) necessarily will use this mechanically in their games, the system exists and gives them a reason and a purpose to include such events and stories in their campaigns, and importantly weave them naturally into the world.
THIRD (well sorta)
We will be doing a final Add-push on Facebook, so expect to see some updates and images appearing there these coming weeks as well. We’re closing in and darkness will prevail!
Hark! Obey the call of the Black Emperor, He of nine throats and tongues seven-fold.
Whispers that through the abyss rend, thy soul they do embrace, thy heart they swath in the unfathomable darkness.
Inside a dreamers palace
So desolate and vast
Amidst the solemn pinnacles
And shadows of a past Ihsahn - Wake
Ov the Crow and the Phoenix
11 months ago
– Tue, Jun 13, 2023 at 12:40:13 PM
FIRST
Time is a fickle bitch, you look away for a second and she bites you in the throat. June is here. I’ve laid out about 80% of Book I and the only chapter that still is left to edit is the Alchemy one. So far everything is looking great and the book is looking awesome and I can’t wait to start with the Legendary edition.
Book II will go much faster to lay out and has been edited to about 90%. What is taking time is the images right now. I’m currently reworking and creating new art pieces at a staggering rate. Some productive days I can finish three or four pieces and I have even developed blisters on my pinky doing so, while wearing artists gloves.
Time wise, I’m none the wiser at the moment. Endlessly optimistic at a July release, but seeing the delays that have come earlier, I’m not saying anything final. Let’s just sum it up with: It’s going great! The game looks awesome! Release is coming!
SECOND
Let’s talk about leveling characters, because this is the core of Astro Inferno’s mechanics. To level your characters in different ways, develop their stats and skills but also abilities in different ways. To be able to play your characters in long campaigns while dying over and over. To become mighty characters without losing the excitement of failure and death, and to become truly epic and godlike with skills over 40 but still have a chance to fail.
We can dive into the different kinds of leveling your players will be doing in this game:
Identity: This is the characters main leveling and is done with experience points gathered from creating songs in the journey. Basically just playing the game and doing cool stuff. Identity is a very soft leveling and apart from raising your qualities you also get to upgrade your living arrangements or add new functionality to your existing ones.
Corruptions: The only way to die permanently is to get 10 of these bad boys (or more if you have the correct abilities) and are the most random way to level. Each time you corrupt you simply roll a dice and can get anything from +1 in a skill to getting dark satanic powers together with cosmetic abominations often evolving your soul into a more sinister and brutal being.
Dark Marks: Comes in 10 Ranks and when you raise the connection to your master or gain a blessing from them you can also raise one of your Dark Marks. The ranks of Dark Marks are incentive leveling, meaning that the players can see what they will gain and aim for a certain rank in a certain Dark Mark. Rank 10 is almost always something sort of ridiculously powerful.
Blessings: Blessings are gifts from your master and can be a raise in a skill tree, an artifact or a Postcendant power. These powers are fun features that are randomly rolled words in a series of tables, and can be abilities somehow tied to your master. They are interpreted together with a GM, if you have Horus the God of the burning sky as a master and on its tables of [Thelema] and [Witchery] would roll the words Wretched + Wines you could interpret this as a power that lets your character call down tendrils of divine cloud from an open sky that envelops a target and burns them with glittering drops of pure sunshine.
Path of Blood: As the characters adventure they will come across different ancient beings with ascended blood. By drinking this blood they will themself become ascended and this gives them benefits of a divine nature, like repressing the cosmetics of corruptions and giving them bonuses to qualities and skills. On higher levels they also give you a unique set of Divine Elements and Divine Powers that work like Postscendent powers but not tied to your master. Glowing Elk horns and the power to breathe fire, or invulnerability to bladed weapons and so on.
Path of Black: The most corrupted way to develop apart from corruptions themselves, is through the Black Honey of Haxan. Five different recipes to choose from, and each comes in five different stages turning the affected character into a monster with god-like abilities and dark powers. Black Honey stages are only increased through ingesting a Legendary Black Honey jar of the correct recipe, needing a total of five jars to reach stage 5 and becoming a god of Haxan.
THIRD Been a while since we made some new wallpapers so why not indulge in the latest ones below.
Ov Eternal dedication & time
12 months ago
– Sat, Apr 29, 2023 at 11:16:45 AM
FIRST Development is looking good, slow but steady. Most chapters in Book I are proofread and there are only a few that still need the proofreading treatment. We’ve heard the communities wish loud and clear and won’t release any pdfs to backers without having them proofread. I believe that blind testers will have the first pdf very very soon.
Some sort of error has set the kickstarter project page as “canceled” and we’re investigating why this is. Could be that the release date has passed, or that this april update is about 2 weeks late, not sure. But I can assure you the demon is not canceled in any way and is growing stronger in its womb of darkened flesh.
SECOND
Release Date, launch, blind-testing, images and so forth. Very tough questions as we still have not decided how we should do, and determined how long stuff takes to finish up.
We’ve previously mentioned June, and proofreading wise that could still be viable. But since I’ve decided to rework all AI art (mine and Jasper), this time frame is not viable, but I don’t want to mention any new dates as of now. The game looks fantastic and every new chapter amazes me in some way, and as many of you have pointed out it’s better to make it perfect than to rush it out the door. So for now the only timeline you’ll get is that it’s “probably not June”.
If you’re a blind tester on the other hand you can anticipate a rough pdf (no full art reworks) in the coming week(s). If you’re interested in blind-testing you can send an email to [email protected] and tell us you want to participate. This is a way to make sure comprehension of the layout is perfect so it’s mostly smaller tasks followed by some questions about the experience.
THIRD
Let’s talk characters, because this is (apart from the lore) where Astro really shines.
When you create a character there are some package deals for you that will have a great impact upon how they will develop. Some of these are random and some are up to you.
Form - This is your corporeal form and your type of soul. It determines what Dark mark you can start with and some are more inclined to get a Fallen master or a Worm god and some have a tendency to get an Ancient master, Machine Angel or an Eternal. Master - One of the leveling cycles of the character. The Master doesn’t force you into being a certain character but will through their blessings evolve certain skill trees for you, encouraging you to become a certain type of character. A character with the god of hunting as a master is probably going to become better in survival and movement skills, while if the master is a forging god or of wisdom or magic, the character will probably excel in such skills instead. Dark Mark - Is also an evolution array, a ten tiered list giving you bonuses or access to certain abilities. If you are The Behemoth you will become better at fighting and grow bigger and if you are The Fool or the Whore you have very different evolution. A character can at most have three Dark Marks and these will all affect the character in various ways. A Behemoth can be a Fool and a High Priestess at the same time. Destiny - Together with the dark mark decides the fate of the soul. As with form, this is only a starting thing, determining what skills you excel in from the start as well as giving you a Destiny feature which is unique for that destiny. A Jäger can evolve and become a witch and a Satanic Knight can become very proficient in crafting. Nothing stops you from switching paths during your adventures. Inner Demon - This is how your character handles stress and fear and is mostly a set of reactions that colors your character's actions. Do they have a lust-demon who makes them say inappropriate things in the most awkward moments or a greed-demon that can’t keep your fingers away from shiny stuff?
Creation a mere dream of the meak - the Rotten Dragon crawling your subconscious mind
The paths to where we might belong
Are riddles in a long forgotten tongue
And these sentiments we share
Unspoken violence suspended in the air Ihsahn - Rites of Passage
Ov Darkness and Sacrifice
about 1 year ago
– Fri, Mar 17, 2023 at 05:00:06 AM
FIRST Been a rough month with turbulence both personal and development wise. I’m starting to feel the stress of the upcoming launch and experiencing a divergence in how finished the game is between my aesthetic side and the business side. Along with this is the growing worry about legislation in AI laws and I’ve been in contact with a legal team who want me to secure the assets of the game by changing all AI modified images to fit a certain style, making them essentially not AI images. This would be best for the IP of the project and securing its future, regardless of how future laws and legislations are decided, but will take time.
We’re still proofing texts and have not been able to make the pdf of the first part of Book I, partly because it takes much more time than initially thought, partly because I’ve been so distracted by other aspects such as shipping, production and also a bunch of personal matters that sort of ruined my reality for a while. This together with the legal discussions has made me decide that we need to make a longer delay in the launch. I’ve mentioned this earlier, and this is the verdict.
Earlier I thought an April release would be feasible, but seeing this latest development, I’ve decided that a June release is more in line with what we’re facing.
There is no way the whole book can be proof edited to the same extent as we have up until now and still be released in the coming months, so I’m making some sacrifices here and will layout some parts of the book unedited. This isn’t ideal but it is a must to get the game out. I will be transparent as always, and you will be informed what parts are edited and what parts are not, and hopefully you can help us with the last proofing. My plan right now is to make the first part of Book I, ready as soon as possible and get it out to backers. Further on, I will release part after part to backers as we progress in layout and editing.
SECOND The Tarot of the Inertial star is completely done and it is actually awe inspiring. I love this thing and think it’s going to be a great tool for GMs who want some inspiration mid game, or who want to use it to flesh out their campaigns or encounters.
Here’s a brief description of a card to give you some idea on how they are built.
Suit: This is the suit of the card. The deck has 4 suits and each has a set of 14 cards. Card: This is the card number. Ranging A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 P Kn Q K twice. Book and star: The total numbering in the deck. Name: Each suit has its own theme, all tied to the lore of Astro Inferno.
Book I: Mercury suit - Concepts
Book II: Sulphur suit - Locations
Book III: Salt suit - Personalities
Book IV: Silver suit - Events Skill: One of the skills in the game Location: A setting or location Inspiration: A short text to give inspiration to a narrative. Personal event: Inspirational experience, emotions or events.
There is also the Major Arcana of 22 cards and a couple of Jokers in the deck. If you paid attention you’ve noticed that there are a lot more cards than in a regular tarot deck, but yes, you will be able to use this as a normal tarot deck if you remove the extra cards.
As for how to use the deck there are multiple ways, and eventually we’ll include a couple of strategies to build, destroy and rearrange your players reality with them.
THIRD Death of gods. There are many ways to play TTRPGs and some of the most popular ones are dungeon crawling, simulation and storytelling. Often combined in many ways. Astro Inferno is introducing many features used in video games, things that might be thought of as irrational in simulation or storytelling.
Things like gear with random attributes, the Conflict end roll deciding if you are victorious instead of your actual performance, and even limitations tied to mechanics. An adversary could have a rule telling you that you can’t use a certain skill during conflict with it, or a botch on a skill check could swap two of your skill values permanently.
This is of course tied to the Dark Lord merging Myth, Dream and Creation during the Rapture. The Rapture of Astro Inferno has likewise merged the mechanics with the narrative, sometimes shattering the fourth wall. We are super stoked to see what crazy things this will bring about and hope that you are forgiving in this delay. We’ll try to keep the updates coming as we progress this spring to keep you all in the loop.
Prospero - That cross you wear around your neck, is it only a decoration, or are you a true christian believer? Francesca - Yes, I believe truly! Prospero - Then I want you to remove it at once! And never to wear it within this castle again! Prospero - Do you know how a falcon is trained, my dear? Her eyes are sewn shut. Blinded temporarily, she suffers the whims of her god patiently. Until her will is submerged and she learns to serve, as your god taught and blinded you with crosses. Francesca - You had me take off my cross because it offended -? Prospero - It offended no one. No, it simply appears to me to be discourteous to, uh To wear the symbol of a deity long dead. My ancestors tried to find it, to open the door that separates us from our Creator. Francesca - But you need no doors to find God if you believe. Prospero - Believe? If you believe you are gullible. Can you look around this world and believe in the goodness of a God who rules it? Famine, pestilence, war, disease, and death, they rule this world. Francesca - There is also love and life and hope. Prospero - Very little hope, I assure you. No, if a God of love and life ever did exist, he is long since dead … someone, something rules in his place. - Masque of Red Death
Ov Discordant impression and Odysseys through the void
about 1 year ago
– Wed, Feb 08, 2023 at 03:20:46 AM
FIRST
Development is proceeding as planned and we’re just about ready with Book I, just filling in some details and I’m currently making the layout and the final illustrations for it. My hope was to include a pdf of the first part with this update, but since I’m too picky, I’m having a hard time letting anything sub par out to backers, so It’ll be at least another week.
Haxan Studios welcome Neil Kingham as an editor and proofreader and he has done some astonishing work in January editing large sections of the texts at record pace.
Pedro is doing his final rounds on mechanics while helping Neil acclimate with the heavy lore parts and they’ve done some great changes to help readers better understand the underlying structure.
I’m currently doing the final layout and together with Jasper Jensen and Helge C. Baltzar - created some astonishing pieces of art to portray the legendary epic grandness and misery of Astro.
SECOND
Here I was going to introduce the pdf of the first part and give you all a nice link to your backerkit where you could download it in its full glory, but instead I’ll just share a couple of screenshots of the layout in progress.
THIRD
Travel. Travel is fun, making epic journeys is fun, being told “you travel for 3 days and see the mountains grow larger each day” is not fun.
That's why traveling in Astro is something completely new. To travel the void of the Black Kingdom you need to have a map of some sort. Just heading out from a location will soon engulf you in the shimmering void, seeing visions of places through a haze as time displays her improvised scenes of Creation, Dream and Myth. You can walk out of your little hamlet into the void and traverse the trenches of the great war, the spidery rich forests of middle earth or end up at the Lake of Fire watching the great Beyond melting your brain as insanity takes physical form inside. Traveling without a map is very dangerous and can take you anywhere, and probably kill you.
In Astro we implement a system of traveling that works something like this:
Each waypoint of a map will mean a random hardship in the void. This is a simple description that the GM can interpret and build either an encounter, a scene or an event out of. The hardship also mentions a skill check and a punishment and a bonus, so the GM can if they are lazy or the group is weary of travel, just use the system for a quick solution to the encounter.
Here’s an example to give you a quick insight:
Let's say the group encounters a hardship and rolls 28.
The GM is given the instructions. “Treacherous terrain”, this can be anything from some cliffs they have to traverse to an old scrappy bridge across a raging river, a meteor storm, asteroid field or a monofilament wire running across a sea of boiling maggots. It all depends on how the group is traveling.
The GM can describe it like a scene and tie the hardship into the narrative or they can use the mechanic solution and tell the group to make a Navigation check. Any character in the group can make the check and it could result in a bad outcome or a better outcome. Let's say they roll 4. Then the GM would tell them that if they fail the check something in their gear will break and lose 1 Tier, and if they succeed they will instead be given a loot roll.
Some results, such as the 1 and 2 in the example above, will even give you a punishment even if you succeed your check. This system also can be affected by the map you are using, the Dark Marks of “The Cartograph” and “The Navigator” and other stuff in the mechanical lore.
The “Group loss-mechanic” means that if the group loses 10 HEART they can choose themself on how to divide that loss. Will all be hurt a little together or is it just the beefy Satanic Entity who gets a huge wound?
A great GM would of course use both of the systems, incorporating the mechanics into a narrative, still relying on the random elements but dressing them in a sweet veil of fantastic story.
WIth that, I’ll continue to dive into the world of layout and hopefully you’ll hear more soon.
Hark o Angels of corruption, Heralds of Ruin, ripe with blood honey, their decrepit world of a thousand descendants feeding the million lusts of Amon Athep. - Agara of the Leifel
Down, down, buried beneath
I feel like I'm running out of time
Running out of time
Down, down, make me believe
I want you to show me I'm alive
Show me I'm alive - Love & Death - Down
