[Little Red Goblin Games] Necropunk is Coming...


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Necropunk

The hardest thing to do when you've been working on something this BIG for the last 8 months is to say nothing.

Well the time for silence is over. I am proud to announce that Little Red Goblin Games LLC is well into the development/testing process on a campaign setting for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game that will change how you look at what is possible with the system.

We are giving several areas of the game, including the social aspects & crafting system, major overhauls. We are committed to bringing to like a living campaign setting unlike you have ever seen before.

Without further adieu, I present some juicy bits for you all:

~A Few Little Teasers~

Golem's vs Shaolin Monks:
"Eleven foot tall, two ton skeletons of giants, piloted by warriors who move at the speed of thought fight an army of nomadic, space faring, shaolin monks who are gifted with the perfect martial arts and wield knives crafted from the bones of their fathers."

The Price of Bone:
"When humanity ventured past the edge of our solar system, the gift our ancient alien progenitors encoded in our bones gave them thought-transmissive qualities. As such, the price of the bone in your arm is worth twice what you will make in your lifetime."

Graveworlds:
"What we once called graveyards are now maximum security vaults guarded by tireless undead soldiers and are braved only by romantic "grave robbers" who risk life, limb, and so much more to seek fame and fortune."

~A Word from Scott~

Introduction:

Necropunk is a game and setting that offers a look into what it means to be human. It will be, in the strictest sense, a roleplaying game set in a fantastic future where science has become indistinguishable from magic and necromancy is the flavor of the day.

Necropunk will be so much more than a campaign setting. It is our intent to build a community around Necropunk by exploring new ground and engaging players in a way they haven't been engaged before. We want to launch an extensive integrated fiction line in tandem with the roleplaying product in a fashion similar to the digital living campaign setting that others have explored so successfully in the past. Each subsequent release after the core rulebook will include fiction and material related to the fiction included within it.

We aim to invoke a sense of “subtle horror” rather than slasher movie gore. Political intrigue and duplicity will play out against a backdrop of war and personal hubris. We have a vision of a cohesive aesthetic pervasive throughout all elements of the product (from font to formatting, linguistic style, stroke, color choice, and everything in-between).

Structurally, we aim to produce 1 fiction line accompanied by 12 products per “season” and release one 20-30 page product every 2 months. Our current release schedule is 1 release every 15-20 days so we aim to get out ahead of a season rather quickly. Each product will include a bit of fiction that can be seen as a standalone work or be taken in as part of a whole. Our goal is to release them digitally and collect them at the end of a season for hardcopy sale.

We’ve included our vision for the game’s in the design aesthetic section. You’ll note our exclusion of any lore at the moment. Though we have a significant (30+ pages) of fluff and another 30+ pages of mechanics, we are going to hold off on revealing that just yet. In addition we have artists waiting in the wings (in house and long time freelancers), designers writing their fingers off, and a group here at Little Red that is just bursting at the seams with excitement to get your feedback on this.

~Necropunk Design Aesthetics~

A Fantasy Setting in a SciFi World:

Our goal is to create an approachable, unique, science fiction setting that feels like a fantasy setting. We want someone who understands the dynamics of a fantasy game to understand the dynamics of necropunk. Because of boneskin, melee weapons have made a reappearance on the field of combat. While there are no “magic” powers, we have psychic abilities that, at least in part, functions in a similar way to familiar magic-based concepts (scrying, anti-magic fields, use magic device) Space travel is designed to mimic overland travel (albeit on a larger scale) in a more medieval sense. Ship to ship combat in space is designed to mimic ship to ship combat on water. We drew direct parallels that allow a wider audience to comprehend the universe we are describing.

Only Human:

We intentionally made all races human in origin. The only differences are political/social in nature. This is to keep the message and theme of the game focused on political/social issues rather than actual physical racial issues (“the dwarves fight the elves because the elves don’t have beards. They and are too proud to apologize and the dwarves are too stubborn to stop.” has no place in Necropunk).

We do not intend to ever employ sapient aliens. The only aliens we intend to employ are as “beasts” as enemies for the players. They will be our analogue to mythical creatures employed in traditional fantasy works. Our bestiary will draw heavily from mythological sources. Where magic or mythological abilities exist- we will use technological/aberrant biological counterparts.

Subtle Horror:

We intend to favor subtlety over direct overt action. The concept of M.A.D. (mutually assured destruction) will be front in center in combat. If full on large scale combat breaks out- even skilled players will not have a good chance of walking out without a few scars. We will be gearing our mechanics toward a more subtle approach. Players will be designed to excel at one on one/small scale combats, stealth, political/social circumventing rather than going in guns blazing.

As the name of the game suggests, Necropunk employs a good deal of horror. This primarily comes in the form of body horror/psychological horror. However, we want it to be subtle. Something can be horrifying and not grotesque or disgusting. The difference comes in the reason something is horrifying. Things are subtly physically “off” (in the uncanny valley sense).

We want to raise a number of unsettling transhumanist questions pertaining to the definition of humanity and life itself. We want players to examine these questions and come up with answers on their own. There are no easy answers in Necropunk.

Example Ethical Dilemmas:
-“Where do you draw the line between human and posthuman and does it matter?”
-“This ship feels, has a gestalt consciousness, and has biological processes, is it alive?”
-”“This ghoul used to live. It still technically meets most of the qualifiers for human life, what rights does it have as a human?”
-”Is it ethical to sell body parts? Those with money will survive and those without will suffer.” (The “buying donor organs” debate)

Complex, Not Dark:

One of the greatest pitfalls of this project could be its degeneration into a “grim dark” setting. We would rather steer clear of that. We want to make a world where people can ask complex questions and find complex answers. In fact, we do not want this setting to be depressing at all. One of the primary factions, the Ewgee (and the Sentinels in particular) stand as a beacon of light against any sort of darkness. They are not corrupt, they are not ultra violent, and they do not “cross the line” often. They are cultured, explorative, and the defenders of what’s morally right. In the same vein we even have some humor with the Magpies. Improbably lucky, intentionally naive about the darker applications of their powers, and to be honest- a little silly conceptually.

We want the conflicts not to be “painful”, but to be bitter sweet & unfortunate. The fact that the Ewgee and the Welshen are fighting is basically the fault of the Necromancers Guild. The Guild pulls strings to arrange conflict to keep the Ewgee reliant on their necrotech. The Necromancers Guild is meant to be the only truly “dark” group (But come on, who doesn’t occasionally want to play the schemer?). Even the unaligned rogues (the Grave Robbers & Hackers) have a flare of romance about them.

The universe as a whole is generally in pretty good shape. It’s not really destitute or ravaged by constant war. The unfortunate conflict between the Ewgee and the Welshen breaks out pretty often, but the casualties are limited and the battlefields often isolated to the dark recesses of space.

Socializing:

At the core of our gameplay is the social/political aspect of the setting. All class have a social implication. Qu’em are expected to behave a certain way and a b’Vague is expected to do certain things. Sentinels have a military code of conduct and Mothers of the Prime Bloodline are role models/spiritual leaders for their entire society. This is a game that is so much more then “roll to see who goes first and beat it with a stick”.

This all culminates in the “Humanity Symposium”. If the battlefield is the stage for combat characters to excel, the floor of a symposium is the stage for social characters to get their time in the spotlight. Part political knife fight, part scientific trading hall, the symposium is reminiscent of open court.

Shopping Spree!:

Weapons and technology are going to play a large role in in what a character can do. As a design team we have dreamed up some of the most bizarre and wonderful necrotech equipment. We can’t wait to do a robust equipment section. We want players to feel like a kid in a candy shop when they are buying all this amazing technology. Necrotech (and other equipment based roles) can change not only the way a character fights, but interacts with the world at large. Cognitive boosters, anti-psychic metal plates attached to your head, powerful magrail sniper rifles capable of firing miles accurately, chaos rounds, temporary organ transplants, subdermal thought radios, bone chain whips (like Scorpion from Mortal Kombat) made of spines, shoulderblade hatchets, life-detecting eye replacements, magrail cannons that throw superheated slag at enemies, and so much more!

Characters like the grave robbers and necromancers will almost be defined by their equipment. They will have easier access to normally limited equipment. We intend to employ the vaguely defined “resource” as currency rather than hard dollars and cents (or gold). This is done to allow for things like social influence, owed favors, discounts, availability, bartering, and other socioeconomic factors.

Putting the “Punk” in “Necropunk”:

Artistically we will be drawing heavily from cyberpunk/steampunk aesthetics. Art and design should be in lockstep so design will adventure into themes related to it. During a design meeting we made the joke, “So this is like if Dune had drinks with Rainbow’s End, Shadowrun, Star Trek, and Neuromancer while playing a game of 40k in a cyberpunk rave club?”

Necromancy is the flavor of the day. Everything is organic. Even things that should be technological are actually, in some way, organic. (Self-repairing cloths that “heal”, surfaces with germ repellent surfaces, brain-based computers, information enzyme veins, cameras that use synthetic corneas, etc) We want to use a lot of “undead” terminology (“ghouls”, “Necromancers Guild”, “Zombie” (a drug), the reliance on bone, and season 2 introduces “Lich-tech” as examples) We also are keenly aware that certain terms can be overused, so we strive to come up with fresh phrases.

An Evolving Game:

Every aspect of the setting is designed to work with a living setting. Yearly “tech tree” updates (designating how far off in the future certain technologies are and how difficult they are to create) and fiction are planned. Storylines, influenceable by a player community, are constructed and ready to release. We want to develop and grow a strong player community with an almost totally digital environment.

~Wrapping it Up~

Project Milestone 2 Projections:

  • Page range: 250-300
  • Base Classes: 8
  • Archetypes*: 41
  • Project Release Date: July 23rd, 2013
  • Genre: Scifi/Fantasy
  • Overhauled Systems: Crafting, Social, and Magic

    *Archetypes are called "kits" and differ in that a player MUST select one, as they provide required class features.

  • Want to Know More? Check out our design aesthetics document!

    Want to hit us up on Facebook? Check our Facebook for regulara updates!


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    This sounds amazing. Godspeed, you Red Goblin!


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    Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

    To quote Will Smith: damn!

    July is a long, long way away...


    1 person marked this as a favorite.

    This setting sounds absolutely fantastic. Can't wait to see it released and in my hands!


    Hey guys! Thanks for the interest!

    If you've noticed, we've been putting out splat books since we finished up Legendary Levels' second wave in the summer. We did this so we could work on Necropuk.

    It's a HUGE project and we are taking our time with playtesting, art, and editing to make sure this really feels like something that would be worthy to sit on your shelf! (Hence why we have a release date in July!)

    We will be launching a Kickstarter in the coming months, but we have the capital to bring this to market regardless. (Kickstarter will be so we can get even BETTER art and editing! We got some real big names lined up!)


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    Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

    Sounds awesome,in fact.


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    Sounds ambitious. Sounds awesome. Godspeed!


    For sure! It IS ambitious but we decided that we had the right people & talent, enough capital, and a topic worth writing!

    We are looking at doing an open playtest prior to launch so we will keep you guys in the loop.


    A few quick updates:


    • The alpha version is pushing past 150 pages (totally unformatted and with no images) now with lots of more fun stuff to be added!

    • After some early testing, the Core Rulebook will contain only 8 core classes (2 of which are alternates of existing pathfinder classes) and we have 23 archetypes in the core book (though they are much more extensive). We have 2 other base classes being released during Season 1 (for a total of TEN!).

    • We just finished shooting our Kickstarter video and we'll be posting it up in Feb. once everything is edited together. We got some great footage from both Scott & Caleb on this.

    • We did a lot of rule edits to make the system more pathfinder friendly (including conversion rules).

    • Art is coming along great! We've got an impressive start and tied some of our best collaborators from previous projects to this one!

    Dark Archive

    Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

    Sounds interesting. I got a friend that would love this.


    Interesting, I would love more info on the lich-tech and necro-tech, the setting as well sounds fun to me. I also cant wait for the new classes!

    Liberty's Edge

    I love the basis of the idea. I loved the necrotech in Iron Kingdoms and am happy to see some of that train of thought in Pathfinder.

    I'm very glad that you all are taking steps to keep it from getting too dark because the way you all describe it one of my first thoughts (after reading the part about the price of bone) was baby farms, and I really have no desire to have stuff like that in games.


    Thanks for the feedback guys, glad to see we are turning a few heads.

    We've actually never played iron kingdoms!

    That is exactly what we are trying to avoid Shadowcat. Like traditional fantasy, evil things are not commonplace. Wicked enterprises do exist, but when they are rooted out and brought to light- they tend to be destroyed and the ones responsible punished.

    I'd imagine that if someone was doing a so called "baby-farm", they'd probably have every Sentinel in the coreworlds gunning for his head.

    Even the necromancer's guild wouldn't do something that heinous (not that it probably hasn't been discussed...). In fact I wouldn't be surprised if they dispatched a Phagen or Hassassin to take you our and flay you alive in front of everyone!

    ~Red


    Sounds really good. When do you intend to put out the Kickstarter? You'll have my support.


    ZOMG. Can't believe I didn't see this before now. I repeat: ZOMG!!!

    AND it cometh soon!!! (Well 10 days after my birthday is "soon" at my age)


    @Kastarr
    Yep! Kickstarter is launching in Feb. as soon as the video is edited and our alpha is done!

    @Oceanshieldwolf
    "ZOMG" was our thoughts too. Great minds think alike I guess!
    (It actually launches around my birthday too!)

    ~Red


    Just another brief update:

    After about 6 months of work on this, we had our first playtest on Sunday. It was a brief battle with some rogue necromancers and their ghoulish creations, but it showed that our numbers were spot on! We had some issues with tech level compatibility and psionic charges have be be adjusted but overall the numbers matched up to a standard 5th level encounter. We want to get a few more playtests in on this alpha phase system before the kickstarter but we can't wait for the public to see this!

    An interesting quote came out of the playtest by the way and we wanted to share it with you guys,
    "Crafting a new campaign setting with a lot of new mechanics is kind of like making a sculpture in the dark. Today we got to let a little light in the room in the statue is looking pretty good."

    ~Red

    Dark Archive

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    Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

    cool keep us posted how it goes.


    Thanks D_M. Will do :-)
    It's been quite the journey this last week.
    A lot has got done thanks to the team pulling some overtime to get this out while still working on their typical Pathfinder 3pp workloads. (We've got a dragonic book coming out with some AMAZING artwork!)

    This is what we've done since last Tuesday:


    • We are currently at just over 165 pages (+15)
      That's after 2 editing passes and complete reorganization of the equipment section. We are planning to wrap up this milestone at like 175. This will allow us room for the bestiary, formatting, and pictures. With all that our predictions will put us in the 200-300 range, right where we want to be!

    • It's All about the Equipment
      It comes down to just fleshing out the equipment section right now and keeping Scott away from writing more lore. We actually pulled one of our video game designers from our mobile development team to help out with equipment. The designer, Dayton, has a lot of great (and sometimes creepy...) ideas for this. (The phrase "hairy 4 armed midget ghoul with a chainsaw hand" got tossed around last night) We still need to do some basic ship stats (they will be fleshed out in a future product).

    • Alpha Rules
      It's looking like our Kickstarter will include "Alpha rules" for anyone who donates at least $5 to the kickstarter. (.doc, bare bones, playtest rules) rather then just a "lore bible". We also hammered out the exact rewards.

    • Plot
      We are working to finalize the brass tacks of the plot for the season 1 adventure path. Season 2's overall plot is formatted but it depends on player feedback during season 1.

    • Kickstarter Video
      Work progresses on the video. Music is selected. Our video editor Justin says the video will probably be in rough form by next weekend.

    • Art
      On the art side of things we've got a lot of artists we are collaborating with on this beyond our normal roster. We've already got about 15 pieces secured + 4 in development. We need to start working on our graphic design/formatting assets (page textures, buttons, typography, etc)


    So with the adventure paths in "seasons", does that mean we'll see a full AP that takes characters from 1-18 or so, or shall it be broken up into chunks.

    With the Kickstarter, will there be a pledge level where we can get the first AP alongside the ruleset? I'd be interested in running this on a PbP basis to see how well it works.


    Although you already had me at "lich-tech", "hairy 4 armed midget ghoul with a chainsaw hand" is also nice and heartcolding. Thank you ohso much.


    @Kastarr
    Yes. There are aprox. 12 adventures in season 1. They are slated to be released every 2 months. I believe it's the $100 donation tier.

    The way "Seasons" work are like so:
    Each "book" we put out includes not only part of the story, which can be read/played in a stand alone fashion, but it also includes a fair bit of "crunch".

    Instead of "splats", which focus on a certain topic, we will be including rules for things relevant to the story included in that issue. (New classes, archetypes, feats, weapons, armor, etc) Each adventure is short (only a few pages) and is meant to be interjected into a game. Together they can be played, once the season is finished, as a full adventure. I can't imagine it taking a character 1-18 alone but will probably span a few levels. (We are still working that out)

    Keep in mind that this is designed to be a sort of "living campaign" where players can chose to send in results (digitally) to influence events in the next season.

    @Oceanshieldwolf
    Wait until you see the list of body modifications. One of our designers, Dayton, cooked out like... I don't know maybe 30+? (Including lesser/greater) Combine that with all the necrotech gear, weapons, the weapon customization system, armor, and you've got yourself a party :-)


    Sounds good. Do you envision putting out assets that would aid in PbP games? For example, releasing clean maps alongside the adventures so that GMs aren't forced to use maps with all the secret doors and the like visible?

    PbP is my main forum for gaming and I'm very interested in seeing this play out. With a season lasting two years, I think that could work very well in the PbP domain.


    Starfinder Superscriber

    Hmm, be interesting to see when it goes live.


    @Little Red Goblin Games: the link to the design aesthetics document mentioned in OP appears to not have anything to look at....


    @Kastarr Eunson:
    Perhaps. We will have to see where we are when production begins. I'll make sure this is at least noted if nothing else. I'd like to see PbP being a viable option for players.

    @Oceanshieldwolf:
    Oh yeah, we had to do some file-shifting: Design Aesthetic Doc


    Update:

    • We actually are including a 9th base class to fill in the much needed "healer" role. However, don't fret- it still has full BAB and can play like a fighter! (Medic)

    • Well, we are past 185 pages. We are gonna be limiting our page count but there is so much we wanna do with ti!

    • Got some fun playtesting done this morning. We calculated damage output during the fight and came up with similar (in some cases exactly the same) numbers to what a typical pathfinder character puts out. Right on the mark! (at least at 5th level)

    • Added quite a few styles. Gotta have your zero-g wing chun kung fu right?

    • Had to fix some phase mechanics and PPI charge mechanics. Devil is really in the details.

    It looks like we are getting pretty close to our alpha build.
    I want to run some playtests incorporating necrotech and do it at higher levels (like 15th-ish) before we stick a fork in it and call it done (well... the alpha)


    Update:
    Yesterday Scott sent the pre-alpha rulebook out to a friend of ours for an upcoming playtest. He said he would (quote) "read the sh@#t out of it".
    We waited with baited breath until he got back to Scott via Facebook last night. This is a quote from the first external person we showed the Necropunk core rulebook to:

    M: Scott
    S: Yeah
    M: I am allowed to talk to you about what I read right?
    S: Yes
    M: dude you gave birth to something amazing a philosophical table top that not only questions your very action when playing but also when you develop a character. It is good s@*& man, this game seriosly not only challenges the player in a mind but along with combat too.
    M: How did you come up with this?

    It made us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

    Other Updates:

  • Rulebook is now about 200 pages (+15) as of Thursday.

  • Zerby is working on the archetypes for Medic as well as some revisions on the class after playtest data came in.

  • Scott had to re-write all the archytypes for the *spoiler* base class. They were based on a previous build of the class. He says he is glad he did because he got to make them MUCH cooler and more interesting than before.

  • "Outfits" (social armors) are nearly complete. (Pending playtest data)

  • Expanded lore on government types, religion, and all the "meaty" stuff.

  • Got concept art back on Qu'em and Sentinel. Should be ready for the video (which is going a little slow due to a requested re-shoot)

  • We've got a lot of questions regarding the Kickstarter & sneak peek we are offering along with it. We will be launching mid to late Feb. and it's currently our plan to release 3 of the base classes along with some of the new core rules (PPI in particular and probably not the social combat system). We want to give everyone SOMETHING, even if they only donated $1.

    Be back next week with more updates as our milestone 1 deadline comes rushing towards us :-)

    ~Red


  • Sounds very cool. "Outfits" (social armors) for one is making me salivate. This game sounds very refreshing. Can't wait to see the Kickstarter.

    I would rather see the Kickstarter for the entire rules, not just some of it - is this the intent?PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make this affordable!!! I've seen too many $100+ RPgames/accessories/products recently. If I can get a PDF for cheap or a softcover of the final rules for $30-35 I'll be a happly ol' wolf.


    I think the PDF tier is the $10 tier (off the top of my head). However, anyone who donates anything will be getting a free taste with some sample content before the Kickstarter is even over.

    We are formatting it for PDF & POD printing but we didn't want to have to deal with the logistical issues many other developers have had with physical prints as kickstarter rewards.

    Thanks for your invaluable feedback as per normal shieldwolf :-)

    ~Red


    All that sounds good! And thank you both for your swift replies and attention to transparency.


    No problem. Thanks for the input!

    We also have some very big news coming out that is going to stretch this world into not only a Pen & Paper game but something more... (The opportunity just kind of fell into Scott's lap this morning)

    More news to come as it develops.

    ~Red

    Sczarni

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    Nice.

    Will be following this project closely.


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    Little Red Goblin Games wrote:

    No problem. Thanks for the input!

    We also have some very big news coming out that is going to stretch this world into not only a Pen & Paper game but something more... (The opportunity just kind of fell into Scott's lap this morning)

    More news to come as it develops.

    ~Red

    I really need to not read announcements like that! Dang teasers. I can guess about a million possibilities... But really it sounds like some sort of computer/app/movie/console version. Either that or cardgame. Possibly a cat's cradle conversant interpretive dance social LARP.


    (Or miniatures. Can't forget the awesomeness of lich-tech minis as a possibility...)


    Wow my post got eaten! It read something like:

    (Or miniatures! Can't forget the awesome possibilities of lich-tech minis!!!)


    Oceanshieldwolf wrote:
    I really need to not read announcements like that! Dang teasers. I can guess about a million possibilities... But really it sounds like some sort of computer/app/movie/console version. Either that or cardgame. Possibly a cat's cradle conversant interpretive dance social LARP.

    I want to make sure we have all of our ducks in a row before I give a formal announcement, but it is more on the digital/app/game side of things. (We are actually an indy game studio/app developer as well. Hence the quick game tools on our site).

    I like the last idea though. I'll pitch it to the team on Tuesday ;-)

    ~Red


    Update:

  • Book is pretty stable at 200 pages. It bumped up then down a bit. We still need to add ship stats and the basic bestiary so expect it 235-250 by the time we launch in July.

  • Medic needs to be further tested tonight, but otherwise is finished. The archetypes all play very differently but still fill the same role.

  • I'd like to say the “alpha” rules are complete. There is a LOT of editing to be done (for sure) but basically it is wrapping up for this milestone.

  • The final (alpha) class line up is: Diplomat, Engineer, Magpie, Psychic, Qu'em, Sentinel, Stalker, Wild Card, and Medic.

  • The final (alpha) race line up is: Coreworlder, Primebloodline, Firstborn, Exile, Welshen (T'ka, Magdaline, Magdaleeno, and Magdavuul clans)

  • We got some of our first real art in. We are working with Ash (Law & Order, Heroes of the East, etc) on character class art at the moment. It's really inspiring watching him work, he is giving life to this project in a way we couldn't have foreseen!

  • Andrew “Viking”, our art director, is working on the bestiary but took a break to work on the logo. At first it wasn't very representative of the project but last I saw it was something amazing!

  • Kickstarter video is coming together. We got music and the first REALLY rough cut (pacing, what shots/takes we will be using, etc) and I'm told it should be done in a week or so.

  • The Kickstarter itself is going to be launching before the end of the month. (I'll get a firmer date tonight) We can't wait to share it with you all! We have a low initial goal (which will allow the creation of the full product) but we have some seriously cool stretch goals that will add a LOT of fun content to Necropunk! We will be making a new thread for all of our updates and whatnot once it launches.

  • Our *cough cough* sister project, set in the same universe, is under way. I got to see some early concept art, talk with the lead designer on where he will be taking it and budget out a rough time frame for production of it. It's very interesting writing for an IP rather than just a game/campaign setting and we are having a lot of fun adjusting.

    We'll check in next week right before the Kickstarter launches! Wish us luck!

    All the best,
    ~Red


  • How can you keep doing this to us?!?! "Sister project"?!?! "Set in the same universe"?!?! Gaaaaaiaeh! Just kill me now and the suspense will be over! ;p

    Obviously I'm super psyched. Love the Magpie, Sentinel, Stalker and Qu'em class names...


    Once we get some mock-up artwork for that project, we will be announcing it as a Kickstarter update.

    A little about those classes you mentioned:

  • Magpies are very setting specific. They are dice manipulators, area of effect damage dealers, and... really just a little off the wall. They can literally "see luck" as a topographical map that flows across the universe like a river that's effected by karma. Via an amphibious alien parasite they willingly swallow they can see bad luck coming a long way off.

  • Sentinels are the fighters of the setting, though they have focus on equipment and teamwork feats. (Boneskin first level!)

  • Stalkers are more akin to rogues. They are best described as hit men rather than cads with a sword. They have a mechanic similar to sneak attack that resolves based on critical hits.

  • Qu'em are the Welshen warrior caste that study the perfect martial art. Akin to samurai from feudal japan, they reflect the monk class more than any other. They have some very effective avoidance mechanics (they play like a "dodge tank") but are ultimately glass cannons.


  • Interesting, dot has been placed.


    Topographic HUD causality map? Ingestable amphibious alien luck sensing parasite?

    Okay. Totally sold. I'm a Magpie/Sentinel. There are of course robust rules for multiclassing I take it?

    P.S. What colors do the ingestable amphibious alien luck sensing parasites come in? Are they customizable or tradeable?


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    Very cool idea. Dotting to follow.


    It's not an HUD element (it flows to fast, we have to abstract it). D'jek, in a way, chose their host. It is only via happenstance that they end up with their host. Then again the host has to make the choice to swallow a slimy gray fish when offered.

    Multiclassing:

    "Sometimes progression in a given class becomes impossible. The reasons can vary from the political to the emotional to the mechanical or even the physical, but for whatever reason- your character cannot continue in the class they started in. Generally a character is not allowed to multiclass in necropunk. This is because characters, when they start at level 1 in their character class, have already had a great deal of training & experience to bring them to that point. A qu’em has undergone years of training and seen combat a dozen times, a sentinel went through the most grueling war college in the Ewgee and survived, a psychic has honed his mind for his entire lifetime up until this point, diplomats have arbitrated a hundred disputes, stalkers have perfected their deadly craft on a thousand failures, engineers have studied for decades, and a magpie has learned to read the t’jek with a natural grace. Under the special circumstance that a character can no long progress in their base class they have two options. The first is to find a suitable prestige class to enter. The other is to begin to take levels in one of the following classes: wild card, mercenary (sentinel archetype), fighter (Pathfinder Core), Rogue (Pathfinder Core), Barbarian (Pathfinder Core), or Gunslinger (Ultimate Combat). These classes are setup to allow a character to enter them. A character multiclassing into one of these classes uses their first class’s PPI.”


    Just came across this discussion and it is SO AWESOME!!! Social armors?! Necrotech?! Human-centric setting?! I'm serious nerd-spasming right now! When, oh when is the kickstarter? I am SOOOO interested in this! And is the release date in July the PDF, the physical copy, or both?


    Little Red Goblin Games wrote:

    It's not an HUD element (it flows to fast, we have to abstract it). D'jek, in a way, chose their host. It is only via happenstance that they end up with their host. Then again the host has to make the choice to swallow a slimy gray fish when offered.

    **Multiclassing...**

    Aw shucks. Oh well. This is the only problem I also have with Monte Cook's Numenera - the setting becoming too specific for the ruleset. Sure, I can change the setting, but when the ruleset conforms to the setting, and core mechanics conform to that theme (in this case a completely understandable "career-investment" approach to classes that leave only the simpler archetypes to multiclass with and then only with a hugely monumental story reason to do so (or so I take it) after some progression) the broad possibilities of this excellent ruleset diminish.

    (Note I'm not saying Numenera's setting will constrain the rules, I haven't seen them, just some of the cypher-based/non-finite item stuff seems a lit constricted at this stage.)

    Still a fan of Necropunk. Still gonna back it. Just ever so slightly deflated. ;)


    @Ocean
    Every setting has the capacity to be run in the fashion that the GM sees fit. If that doesn't go along with how your story should, you should ignore that section of the rules. Story comes first.

    We always felt that general Pathfinder can be molded to whatever a GM wishes to play. If you'd like a game that is more theme-centric, a campaign setting is direction you should go.

    @SilverPrince
    Social armors allow players to incorporate fashion into a game. What does that military dress suit say about you? What does it mean to those who listen to you? We have a number of them but we plan to include even more in future books. They buff your defensive capacities for your social stats.

    The kickstarter is launching by the end of this month. We will be putting out an announcement in advance. We are just waiting on some B-roll for the video and a final cut of that to be made.

    We will be formatting the final copy of Necropunk for both hardcover print and PDF. We are going to be shying away from actual physical copies as part of the kickstarter to avoid the logistical issues.


    Update (Probably final)
    So, we are now on the final stretch. We went through our design doc on Saturday and looked what we were missing/wanted to improve before we lock it down for Alpha:

    • We fleshed out our game mastery section (something that was rather atrophied).
    • We included a whole slew of exotic martial weapons (and feats to back them up).
    • We fleshed out our ranged weapons section and divided it into exotic/martial categories (I believe the phrase someone said was "all the guns")
    • Logo is almost done. Watching it come together has been a lot of fun! We will probably be revising it all the way up until launch.
    • Official in-house artwork is in for the Sentinel, Qu'em are 100% done and boneskin is about 75% done. We have a good deal of freelancer artwork done (about 15 pieces) depicting more mundane things.
    • We tallied our new feats and they are over 90!
    • Total page count: aprox. 210. (So much for 175 right?)

    For the first time, we are announcing that the Kickstarter is launching February 23rd at about 6pm (AZ time). We'll have a public Facebook event up next week. We've decided that anyone who donates anything will get our alpha test versions of: Qu'em, Sentinel, and Magpie along with some of the rules that you need for play. (PPI, Phase order, some lore, etc).


    Heh! Great news! I look forward to the Kickstarter. Can't wait to see the three classes, but also really looking forward to the logo, art and general flavour of Necropunk! Thanks for the info LRGG!


    So we launch the Kickstarter this weekend! We will post a new thread up on Saturday once everything is good to go.

    We have a pre-kickstarter facebook group we will be using to send out updates once it launches. We wanted to thank everyone for this intrest, we're almost there! :-)

    Necropunk Kickstarter Facebook Event.

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