Krake

In Calla I wanted to have several races that players would enjoy that stepped outside the normal rpg races and were something truly unique and fantastical. Tonight I have been working on the Krake. The Krake are a fungal creature, they resemble a large octopus walking around on its tentacles. They have four very large tentacles, these lack the suction cups found on an octopus. They use these limbs to move around and manipulate objects. They are an intelligent race, but lack the ability to verbally communicate. Instead they use a complex sign language. Fortunately, they have a written language and have mastered most of the common written languages of Calla over the centuries they have been in contact with other races. Krake can hear, but they lack a mouth or respiratory system.

Krake eat by burying their tentacles in soil. They can also sustain themselves with refuse, or waste if that is all there is available. Their preference is nice clean topsoil. Krake normally rest while "eating", and do sleep in a fashion very similar to other races.

At the end of their life-cycle, roughly 30-40 years, a Krake will settle down. Finding a suitable location it will plant itself in fertile soil and begin the process of reproducing. A Krake can have between 2-6 children which will sprout from their submerged tentacles and grow alongside their parent. The parent Krake will spend the next year or so teaching the children and preparing them for their lives in the world. After a year the young Krake will be fully formed and will break free from the parent's body and the soil. Soon afterwards the parent will die, it's life-cycle completed.

Krake are ancient allies of the dwarven race. Many centuries ago it was the dwarves who discovered them and helped them to develop a complete writing system. Dwarves consider themselves to be caretakers for the Krakes, and guard their homeland as if it were their own. This long alliance has helped the Krakes to be accepted in wider society, and at this point in history are not looked upon with fear or indifference as they might have been if they had not had the dwarves to speak for them. For their part the Krakes have worked hard to be a honorable people.

Krake are strong, and intelligent. They are not beautiful, they are not fast, but they are very dexterous. Not many Krake are arcane casters, without the ability to speak they are limited to what spells they can cast. Many Krake are rangers, or barbarians as they have a strong tie to the earth and the wild. Many are also rogues, fighters, or noble paladins. Krake worship the Calla dieties, and call no particular god their own.

Post Con

MEPACON was a great little convention. There was not much in the way of vendors. A couple local game stores, the con itself, an author, a custom mini painter, and a table for a RPG friendly summer camp. But, what this con did have was fun! The attendees and con staff were warm, friendly folk who genuinely loved to see our new faces, and the faces of our four kids. There were several other young gamers there, and the kids   all had a great time with their new friends. By the end of the first day, Christine and I agreed that it was a convention worth attending.

I didn't self-promote much at all while I was there. Focusing instead on playing games and talking with the other attendees. We purchased Lords of Waterdeep, and Small World Underground. I really wanted a copy of Castle Panic, but there were no copies available. It felt good to buy a couple big games from a small store at a local convention, rather than waiting until GenCon or Origins.

I did manage to finish all the artwork for my demo copy of Some Assembly Required. I located some generic bot minis, and an nice grid map to use. Now all I need to do is get that playtest group together.

on the road to MEPACON

So with my growing pursuit of game design, I have started to gain interest in attending more of the smaller conventions that take place around my area of the country. The goal is to scout out 'local' conventions where there is a large enough audience to attend and demo and sell games. There is also the added benefit of being able to take the whole family along if we go to something that is only a few short hours in a car away.

This weekend we have set our sites on MEPACON in Clark's Summit, PA. I read a lot about the convention, and it looks to be a nice laid back affair that is family friendly. I see a lot of role playing games on the schedule, but also a lot of boardgames, and other more casual games as well. This I found very encouraging. Another nearby convention I was considering was crossed off the list because it focused very heavily on tabletop wargames, with little room for anything else. I want to make sure the places I attend are open to casual games, as most of my designs are of that nature.

This weekend I plan to travel with one completed game, one game that is ready to beta test, and another that is barely able to be demonstrated, really only discussed. My goal will be to draw folks in using the completed game, and if interested play-test my other game. I will keep the raw game to pull out if there is a lot of excitement, to help demonstrate the process that I go through with game creation. Naturally this is only what I plan to do now. When there I may be too busy, or just never get past playing my completed game. But, I like to think about what could happen, and ensure I am prepared.

So all of my energy has been focused on wrapping up a play test ready version of Some Assembly Required. We are just about there. I found robots for the playtest, I just need to give them a bit of a paint job. I think having a decent mini to move around will help folks understand what the end product will look like. Here is hoping that I can finish off the rest of the cards over lunch the next couple days.

Very exciting times.

The Holidays

Its not often you hear from someone that they have been unable to work on projects due the holidays in October. But, around my house we take our Halloween very seriously. Everything is decorated, and this year's costume is almost ready for paint so I thought I'd take a few minutes to put up the old "I'm not dead post".

You're welcome. I plan to be back to work next month. See you then.

I'm never far from Calla

Work has been super slow, so game design has had a chance to shine lately. Although today I spent most of the day working on my Calla campaign instead of robots. Once Halloween has come and gone I'll be able to setup a nice playtest area for games.Until then, it won't make much sense with big party on the horizon.

My current efforts are focused around the magical side of Calla. I've spent a good deal of effort on those who hate magic, and even the divine, but not many words have been laid down on paper about the arcane masters of the world.

I started by working on two types of casters that displayed modern and ancient methods of weaving magic. The ancient method is code-named the naturalist. while the modern is the mechanic. A naturalist harness the energy found in physical objects and focuses that to cast spells. They craft "wands" which are capable of producing a specific spell effect. Focusing this energy depletes the stamina of the naturalist himself, which limits the number of times a day they can cast spells like a normal caster. The number of wands they can create is limited by experience, lesser spells (wands) allow a naturalist to select a higher level version of that spell later when they progress through levels. However, stats limit the maximum number of spells they can know per level just like a normal caster.

Now mechanics have studied how arcane magic works, and have applied this learning to creating spell effects without the need for spells. By performing complex calculations they can manipulate the energies found around them. They are limited in casting scope, by the nature of spells they can cast which are limited to effects based on the elements and the primals. (earth, air, fire, water, rage, fear, joy, sorrow)

A mechanic requires his calculator (abbacus or similar calculation device) to cast spells. Both hands must be employed and concentration is required. They learn spells (new calculations) as they progress in level. Their spells are unique in that they cause an immediate side effect when cast. For instance, when a mechanic casts sleep he selects a friendly target which has all fatigue removed from it. When he he casts heat metal, another target is cooled by the same amount.  A mechanic does not have to memorize calculations prior to using them, rather he must eventually rest to clear his head in order to perform more calculations. This limits the mechanic to a set number of spells per day much like a normal caster.

So you can see that both example casters manipulate energy naturally found in the world to cast spells. I want a world where magic can be created in a myriad of ways, but is founded in the same basic understandings. Much like the sword, it will take a variety of forms and it will be made from many different materials, but the basic idea will be the same.

Reaching Out

Posted an ad on Craigslist tonight to see if I can find local artists who want to work on games. I've decided that I need to have other hands doing some of the work involved in making a great game. So my first obvious choice is to start finding talented artists. My second will be to develop a team of dedicated play-testers.

This way I can focus on the design, instead of trying to create every aspect of the game. And, when a playable version is ready, have a group that I can call upon to provide feedback. So the search for artists has started, and the search for playtesters will go out on Facebook shortly.

In the meantime, I have almost finished all of the available strips for my webcomic. Once it is completed, the whole thing will get compiled into a book. Mostly this is so I can keep a copy on my shelf. Then it will be back to writing comics in a couple months, always a good way to eat up free time during the winter. Expect that I will plug it a bit here, even if it is a bit off topic.

Game Update

Work has been keeping me super busy so not much progress on the game has been made the last couple of weeks. I have almost completed all of the cards for bodies and heads. I have a couple arms and some legs done as well. Hopefully I will be able to put together a working playtest copy soon.

In the meantime, I scored rather low in the latest Game Crafter contest. I decided to tip my hat to that aspect of the community since it really pulls attention away from my actual game designs in order to put something together before the deadline of each contest. By next summer, I hope to be all caught up, and able to entertain the idea of entering in a game contest every month or so again because the challenge is fun. I just can't keep up right now.