A beyond Grim Dark TTRPG of Epic violence & Fantastic despair.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Sixth Commune - Ov Blackened books and Conflic
about 2 years ago
– Tue, Mar 15, 2022 at 02:37:23 PM
FIRST
We unsealed the final stretch goal, the Core edition upgrade, giving the Core edition a black cut. Making this version of the book. Completely black. Black hardback, black logo, black text and black page cut. We’re so thrilled about this becoming reality!
SECOND
We’re still curating the conflict rules. They are actually done at this point, but we want to make sure they are as easy to understand as they actually are to play. I think we’ll have a full fledged example of conflict out within a day or two and hopefully we’ll have the complete rules out later this week.
But I’d thought I would give some hints on what conflict in Astro Inferno could entail.
Conflict in Astro Inferno
Conflict is really violent and often starts with a situation. It could be very epic: “The creature starts to lift the massive 300.000 ton oil tanker over it’s head. At the end of this verse he will drop it on your heads, what do you do?” It could be very mundane: “A sixth soldier enters the room from behind and notices you standing in your hiding spot. The new soldier will scream and alert the others at the end of this verse, what do you do?”
Actions are always only one dice roll and an attack could start out as something completely different:
"I rolled two story points on my jump roll getting up on the edge, I want to use them to make two attacks on the soldiers beneath me.”
Fighting enemies can be very different depending on the enemies. Fighting a horde: "You swing your sword and cut down... let's see. 4 damage and 3 SP, that's 12 of the enemies in one swing." Fighting a boss: "You realize that you can't hurt this enormous creature with your weapons. But you also notice that there is an holtz-field shining around it's head like an gloria, someone proficient in Genesis Tech could interact with the nano machines, if you could find a way up there, without being killed."
Being attacked is not an exclusive event. All players get the chance to get in on the fun. “The six bandits open fire at you and one of them charges at you with a nasty spear. All of you roll for maneuver.”
Being wounded is horrible, since you don’t get to know how near you are to your impending doom. “You feel a sharp pain and something warm splashes all over your face, you fall to the ground and realize that part of your chest is gone and the huge hole is bubbling with blood and air from your useless lungs. You gain the wound truth - Gaping hole in chest.”
Conflicts can end in a plethora of ways and many of them aren’t victories. You often can’t just defeat all enemies to reach the end of the conflict as in other games. Often going from the pinnacle to the pit in one final dice roll. “10 soldiers left, I want to cut the neck of the bastard in front of me! I roll 2 that’s… 3 story points since I have 18! I want to End the Conflict! I need to roll, let’s see. 10 + 4. 14 or below to win this fight.”
As you see, conflict can be really interesting in many ways and we’re excited to hear what you have to say about the rules as we release them later this week (cross our fingers and pray to death).
THIRD
We heard some requests about wallpapers and of course we need to oblige.
Title 1
Title 2
Here’s the two main Title images of the game in two different formats. 16:9 and 32:9
We will be making a couple of more wallpapers as the kickstarter progresses.
There's a crack in the window - An open door There's a place in the hollow - Across the moor I see the end of the morning - My dying fear It's the eternal dawning - Oh, take me there
Moonhorse
Fifth Commune - Ov work - art and inspiration
about 2 years ago
– Wed, Mar 09, 2022 at 08:41:10 AM
Fcuk we have come a long way!
FIRST
We defiled the list of stretch goals and are up to the last one we can muster, but it's a great old one!
We unsealed the Legendary Upgrade II - an addendum to the Legendary version with a page from the Codex Satanas embroiled in gold. We’re not sure how we’re going about this (never thought we would come this far) since the CS is a book of pure myth and satanic heresy. But we’ll figure something out…
The last stretch goal is the Core Edition Upgrade. This gives the Core Edition the Black page cut that the Legendary edition formerly had. This stretch goal will make both books into Epic RPG books that certainly will raise eyebrows.
SECOND
Helge turned in such a funny and crazy render yesterday, we just had to share it.
This is an image from the Blood Ascension chapter and the image depicts a creature of True Unlight (maybe a Baron or even a Prince) smoking the heart of a god. This is pretty common within the Satanic court or even among less scrupulous ancient gods. To drink the heavenly Ichor of the Golden blooded and smoke their Blood Relics in order to gain powers and protection from all sorts of things.
THIRD
The rules the rules the rules. We have updated the Beta pdf with the skills but we have yet to finish the edit of the Conflict chapter. We’re trying to make this happen as soon as possible. We promise!
FOURTH?
Yeah, this is sort of off the record but I’ve been meaning to share a list of musical inspirations but have not yet dared to. This game sort of suffers from an identity problem. It’s a very dark subject, it’s violent and graphic but still it’s sort of funny and beautiful. Epic and gritty at the same time. Gray and gloomy and colorful.
The inspirational music is really a mirror of this and might seem plain insane to some people. But there is a lot to unpack, and if you read the books and then listen to the lyrics of some of these songs, things might suddenly align. Heck you only have to glance at the titles of the songs to begin to see red yarn all over.
So this list in its entirety, is not for everyone.
But do explore the darkness of our horrid minds, please do!
Fourth Commune - Ov Tarot and the Inertial star
about 2 years ago
– Sat, Mar 05, 2022 at 11:26:20 PM
FIRST
Wow, we just passed 80.000€.
We Unsealed the Mythicalart upgrade - which will put Helge to work on creating a couple of epic images. We're thinking something along the lines of hero shots of corrupted satanic beings, being swarmed by enemies and huge monsters. It's going to be awesome!
We unsealed the digital Map package (Legendary Places). This is something we first wanted to put in the game but we soon realized it was going to be a lot of pages that were needed for more core stuff. But now we can share all these "maps" and micro locations with you in a pdf instead.
SECOND
The Tarot of the Inertial Star.
This is something we currently work on and our plans are not 100% set in stone yet. We plan to divide the cards into four sections with different uses. You should be able to quickly see the difference between the four "books" as we call them. The back of these cards will feature custom art and a couple of different pieces of information that can be utilized in game. So we are going to use both sides of the cards for text and information.
This decision will probably anger some purists who want a blind side of the cards, but this means we can insert twice the amount of information and we think it's a great idea and gives us the ability to give the deck a new function also.
Right now this functionality is to give the GM and players some random prompts they can use in game.
A book and a psalm number from Codex Satanas.
A title
A custom image created by Ruu Arts
A skill reference
A location
A inspirational piece for the GM
A "different" way to act as a player
We're currently working on making these a part of the game and give you a sort of direction on how you can use the cards in different ways. We're very fond of the idea for the GM to lay out the cards in a pattern before a session and "reading" how the session or scene will play out. But this will not be their only function.
THIRD
Nope no third today!
ANUBIS - My souls is so light, like a feather I can fly!
ANUBIS - Don't let me wither and die!
I am proud for what I am, the guardian of the dead
Appointed by the gods, to be their final judge
Tertiary Commune - Ov necessity and rules
about 2 years ago
– Fri, Mar 04, 2022 at 09:17:35 PM
Our journey into darkness continues.
FIRST
The campaign is going great and I never imagined there would be such a response to this very very niche and dark product (sort of dark at least).
We unsealed the Free add-on (digital & physical) Journal Satanas. You can read about it in the last commune.
We unsealed the GM screen Upgrade, which means we will use a more expensive, sturdier and more luxurious material for our GM screen. We also want to do some sort of post finish FX to it, maybe gold, or relief varnish or something. We'll see what the hell we do.
SECOND
The Mechanics chapter has been added to the Beta rules. This is not the full rule set, just the main mechanic of it. How you roll, how you use that roll, and how the system in general will work. On top of this more storyteller friendly layer there's another layer of qualities, skills and stats.
We’re fairly finished with the extra chapter with pre-made characters and quick rules and I hoped we could add them today, but It has to be done tomorrow instead.
Our plan is still to get the conflict mechanics (and even harder to get good, a "conflict example"...) into the beta rules this weekend.
So wish us luck as we dive into editing like motherfuckers!
- Oh, and feel free to ask about the beta rules, that gives us an idea about what still is unclear and where we might need to rethink stuff. We will be doing more changes and editing after the campaign is over to refine the texts, and before publishing we'll also get an native English speaker to proofread the whole thing, but if you find errors or editing mistakes please message us about it, and we’ll probably update the pdf in hours.
"We were searching for reasons, to play by the rules
But we quickly found, It was just for fools
And after all the sorrow, we'll be riding high
And the truth of the matter is, I'll never let you go, let you go"
-Mary on a Cross
Secondth Commune - Of places and thing
about 2 years ago
– Sat, Feb 26, 2022 at 07:41:47 PM
FIRST
We're blown away by your response! This will make this game truly awesome!
So stretchgoals:
We unsealed the Character Sheet upgrade, so our pad with character sheets will get a rework and be printed on a very thick luxury paper.
We unsealed the red ribbon, now the books (both editions) will feature three ribbons (white, black and red)
We unsealed "the Perverted" art upgrade, which will take things a bit over the top into the Ludicrous territory. But it will be good fun.
We unsealed the Size Comparison chart. This is something every game with different creatures should have. Can't wait until you get to see this one after the drawing board sketches!
We unsealed the Legendary Upgrade: Gilded page cut. Which will make the Legendary Edition something very very special indeed. Yes, yes, we're also sad to let that black page cut go, but when you flip through the Legendary edition you'll understand the true beauty of a gilded page cut, we promise!
Up next among the stretchgoals is the "Journal Satanas". This is a free compendium (digital and physical) printed on the same paper as the Legendary edition, containing ALL the stuff that we couldn't fit in the game, and there plenty in here. GM tools, tables, sketches, flavour. This will not feature any special layout or fancy imagery but be more of a compact text, reference journal kind of thing.
SECOND
The BETA rule set has been updated and now has three parts included. A sort of introduction, and a brief look at the setting. We opted to go the Pre made character route as the "create a character" route made us cry, because of all the modifications we had to do in the existing materials to make it work. The plan is to get the pre made characters and some guns into the BETA by in the beginning of the week and then implement conflict rules by... next weekend. Cross our fingers and call out his name into darkness.
THIRD
We really want to push our trip-tych system of rng tables that we use throughout this game. It's really used for everything and generates so many unique outcomes. We'd thought we share some examples with you.
Location generatrix
This can be used to roll or reference a location. An adventure could describe a location as 3. Basalt 9. Athenaeum 17. of the Beast. The name is of course optional and this could as easy be "The Conflux of the Magic heart" or whatever the GM is up to. But as you see, this would give the GM the result below with a set of "areas/rooms", a set of "loot" to find and some inspiration or events. All so that the GM can use their noggin for more important stuff such as creating atmosphere and story, instead of focusing on coming up with the fundament for them.
Item Truths
All items that aren't a valuable or a consumable uses this system. Weapons, armor, equipment, random items. They are all assigned an Origin and a Tier and this is how they are referred to in the game
You find a Masterful IV: Crown [Ancient] or a Legendary V: Box [Harrowed]
The origin tells you which table you should use when analyzing the thing, and the tier HOW you should roll that table. (As for weapons and armor, the tier also determines the base stats of them.)
The Crown could end up be a
Mystic Crown [IV] Turning you - warm
and the box could be a
VeryLoud Box [V] Bleeding - organs
However that could be useful....
Okay that's enough for now, go back doing important stuff and we'll keep making this game the best it can be!
Torn asunder thy stars!
Ravaged by the vibrance of the colors of darkness!
