Good news! We are on track to finish the Encounters book by late January or early February. What does this mean? This will be the first draft of the Encounters book, so the majority of the writing will be done. Art, graphics, and editing are the only things left to do before it’s publishable and sellable. Our next biggest goal in our roadmap is to have a complete first draft of all core 4 books.

The Roadmap

Here it is:

1. Finish first drafts of the core 4 books
2. Commission some artwork and branding pieces for promotion
3. [ strategy stuff? secret stuff? who knows! ]
4. Kickstarter campaign!
5. Commission more art, editors, and graphic designers based on how well the kickstarter does. (This will be the second draft of all the books.)
6. Finish book #5, which will be a campaign booklet
7. Ship everything out!

Will things follow this roadmap? Probably not perfectly. I bet there will be some wildcards thrown in there. I’m also ambitious and have some super secret stuff I really hope to get to in #3, before the kickstarter.

Here’s the progress towards the first draft of each book:

• ████████████░░░░░░░░ 60%, Blue book (rules and setting)
• ██████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 30%, Green book (treasure, items, etc)
• ███████████████████░ 95%, Orange book (encounters)
• ██████████████████░░ 90%, Red book (abilities and character progression)

How long will all of this take? Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve been making up deadlines for a decade now. The only thing I can reasonably estimate is what’s next: finishing the Encounters book. I move on to items next, and I am absolutely stoked to dig in.

Patch Notes

We have 5 major changes to core combat mechanics. The last 4 are closely related, while the first one is just a change to Mitigation rules. We’ve done a lot of work balancing since the change of rules to lethal damage (you don’t die when head or chest health reaches 0). This has had surprising effects on balancing! The minor changes and 5 major changes all work to balance the chain of effects this has had, as well as some other things we think are going to be pretty sweet.

Minor Changes:

• All health damage across the board has been doubled.
• Stamina damage has been increased as base weapon damage for melee weapons.
• All weapons in the same PT tier have had their base damage perfectly balanced. No weapon will feel weak for no reason.
• Bows and crossbows have had additional damage balancing, to make sure they consistently deal the same damage-per-PT (dpp) averages.
• Spells that deal damage have had additional balancing, based on mid-range wizard’s total PT costs. This means that high level wizards may favor lower PT spells like Conjure Fire once Direct and Range get down to 1PT each.
• +100 Stamina healing has been added to the base effects of Encourage, to allow it to scale better at both high and low levels.
• Healer-licensed wizards will be happy to hear that Conjure Blood can be used with PT now, making it viable in combat.
• Conjure Blood, Conjure Bone, and Conjure Flesh (and their reverse counterparts) have all been buffed and balanced and now also cure different wounds when limb health is full. We believe this is gives healers a much stronger sense of their role, without making healing too convenient (as lore dictates).
• Social spells (like Onus, Daunt, etc) all have been reworked to offer special effects instead of just a “magical way to use your Prestige Arts.” This gives them a lot more fun options for their use, in addition to the fact that they can still be used in the old way.

“Scaling Stamina MIT”
Benefit: Stamina Mitigation is no longer a flat number (like health) but a percentage. MIT is written like this: 5/15% or like this: 5|15% with the new change. Leather armor that is fully upgraded through crafting and shape purchases (essentially legendary dragonhide or demonskin) will have a max of 60% Stamina MIT. Completely maxed entwood has 55% and pyron has 50%. These scale inversely with the health mitigation they offer (12 max for dragonhide up to 20 max for heavy pyron). Toughness passives add another 5|15%, while spells and Gird (shield ability) can each add another 10|10%. There is a cap though: Stamina MIT cannot go over 90% for any reason. This also applies to super legendary creatures like the Achune and their shell or the level 60 Tank’s shield arm (which stacks a shield and armor on the same limb).

Explanation: This single, elegant change has brought more balance across all levels than any change of it’s size I’ve made in the last 17 years. The idea here is that armor stops a flat number of health damage per attack, which means that larger, stabby attacks are better for hurting health. There is no change there. But Stamina never really hit its stride. High level characters shouldn’t worry about being knocked out in a single strike, which definitely happens because of how Stamina damage scales right now (it gets around 2-4k damage at the highest levels, with someone capable of dishing out 20k in a single turn). We want end-game exchanges to last more than one turn at least. This change does it! Big attacks, small attacks, and flurries all reduce Stamina the same. It’s a pretty great equalizer and gives Stamina a really distinct feel. Plus, getting some good Stamina MIT early on can even help lower level characters stand a chance against immense and colossal attacks (which are very big, hit very hard, but are extremely slow).

“Dice normalization”
Benefit: All attacks need to be converted to only roll d20s for stamina damage and d6s for health. This means I need to remove d10s and d100s that are used in some cases for Stamina and d20s in some cases that are used for health.

Explanation: This simplifies dice so that attacks can be combined more easily, helping Volatile Dice and Flurried Attacks below.

“Volatile Dice”
Benefit: All damage and healing rolls are “volatile” – you only roll once and then multiply based on the #, rather than rolling again each time based on the #.

Explanation: nobody wants to roll 24d20!! That is insane AND boring! Statistically, that many dice is almost always the average. “So why not just average it?” you ask. Well then why even use dice at all! So if we want dice for damage/healing (to create variability and chance) let’s make things FUN instead AND save time. 😉

“Flurried attacks”
Benefit: When attacking in succession 3 times on the same location, you may group your total damage (even if using different attacks). This is only done in threes. Grouping damage works like this:

1. The attacker spends all PT and resources up front. “I am going to attempt a flurry.”
2. They then roll for each attack separately and the defender defends against each attack separately.
3. The total attacks that hit or glance may be added to the flurry damage!
4. If a Glance is rolled, that attack alone has its damage reduced. But on the flipside, since all of the attacks combine damage, whichever roll had the best effect gets to apply to the damage in the end. So if +1 Trauma level was rolled on one or more attacks, +1 Trauma Level adds to the combined damage in the end. Nice!
5. All damage dice are then added as a single, volatile roll.
6. All damage before MIT is added together, against MIT.
7. The resulting damage is used to calculate Trauma Points. A +1 multiplier is added to Trauma Effects for every attack in the flurry beyond the first (so 3 attacks gains +2 multiplier for Trauma Effects). Trauma Damage is then dealt only once, using this multiplier.

Explanation: This simplifies characters who have a lot of PT making many attacks, so mostly a concern for very high level folks.  Why did we do this? Because nobody wants to sit through someone using Light Strike 12 times with their 24PT! This change also scales really well for characters with 6PT attacks and 18PT or more to spend. Hopefully everyone will be happy. The advantages are significant: it is easier to get a bonus to Trauma Level and easier to get through Mitigation with a huge amount of damage. There are some situations where someone might actually deal less damage because of flurries, but we believe that this will just be a minor tradeoff compared to the advantages of this mechanic.

“Visceral Criticals”
Benefit: If you roll a critical strike, you add 5x the base PT of your attack as health damage and automatically hit, even if the attack table says otherwise. Simple!

Explanation: this simplifies crits and makes them work well with flurries. Crits should feel “visceral” and like they hit a weak spot. But a flat bonus to Trauma level (our current mechanic) favors low PT weapons and weaker attacks. This new change equally weights attacks based on their base PT while performing balancing across types of attacks: spells see the least benefit (since runes have low base PT), bows less (since there is a PT overhead to loading bows), while melee weapons have even balance. This is all intentional balancing, since wizards are especially strong right now and bow users are still a little ahead of melee at low levels.

Braven came a long way in 2019. We wrote nearly 250 pages in the “Encounters” book and are about 95% done with the first draft.  This book contains npcs, monsters, and creatures that players can encounter in the world of Braven.

While our progress means that there might be a secret pre-release draft you can buy, we want to be realistic and mention that there is a huge amount of work still left to do before we can officially publish it. Because of the cost of artwork, the final version of this book might not exist until after Braven’s eventual kickstarter campaign.

But still, this is a huge accomplishment and we really think the “Encounters” book is going to be amazing. We would love for y’all to take a look at some of the creatures we’ve imagined up over the last 17 years.

But for now, let’s peek into the two main sections of the book, Personas and Creatures.

Personas

Personas features 11 different non-player characters types, which are based on a the characters listed in the Red Book’s Example Character Builds with several new additions. Each Persona has been made with levels 1, 5, 10, 15, 30, and 60 versions of their strengths and abilities.

Every persona is made using Braven’s character creation, leveling, items, gifts, and shape features. This means that if someone was inspired by a persona, they could make that persona themselves! This is obviously a great option for new players or even just for inspiration. Some of the combos put together for various moves might not seem straightforward at first. 😉

Here’s an example of the level 60 Champion Persona, a character whose Prime Stat choice is Physique and Personality is Innovative, Harmonious, and Spontaneous. The Champion uses both their muscles and encouraging spirit to aid their allies in and out of combat situations.

We still have a few things to add to each page, like a Flavor Quote and Loot information (as well as unique art). These will be part of draft two of the Personas.

The 11 Personas are:

The Champion: Physique-prime, 2-handed weapons user with a gregarious, encouraging attitude. Their Personality is Innovative, Harmonious, and Spontaneous.

The Charmer: Prestige-prime archer with a graceful approach and even more charm than the Champion. Their Personality is Conventional, Harmonious, and Spontaneous.

The Fighter: Prowess-prime master of weapons with a quiet, practical, and calculated way about them. Their Personality is Conventional, Resolute, and Deliberate.

The Specialist: Grace-prime sneak using devious tactics and deadly weapons with a bit of cunning thrown in. Their Personality is Conventional, Resolute, and Spontaneous.

The Tank: Wellness-prime being of grit and metal with a steady and compassionate philosophy to life. Their Personality is Conventional, Harmonious, and Deliberate.

The Mender: Wits-prime, Naturalist or Healer-licensed wizard with unstoppable humor and love of others. Their Personality is Innovative, Harmonious, and Deliberate.

The Mystic: Nerve-prime practitioner of religious magics, possessing steely calm and an iron fist. Their Personality is Innovative, Harmonious, and Spontaneous.

The Sage: Erudition-prime, Alchemist, Scholar, or Chandler-licensed wizard full of eccentricities. Their Personality is Innovative, Harmonious, and Deliberate.

The Spellslinger: Wits-prime, unlicensed or Mage-licensed wizard with a penchant for getting into trouble. Their Personality is Innovative, Resolute, and Spontaneous.

The Synergist: Nerve-prime knight with a Paladin or Templar magic license in pursuit of dramatic ambitions. Their Personality is Innovative, Resolute, and Deliberate.

The Vicar: Prestige-prime, Officiant or Priest-licensed wizard interested in the pursuits of fame, truth, and order. Their Personality is Innovative, Resolute, and Deliberate.

Creatures

The Creatures section isn’t organized with a bajillion different versions of the same thing at different levels like Personas. Instead, a taxonomy organizes all creatures into categories. There is a Lore Page for a creature’s category, which is how each new sub-section of Creatures begins. After every Lore Page is a page devoted to each member of the category. These pages are sometimes just divided between a juvenile and adult version of a creature, while other times the category actually contains a much broader spectrum of members (even entirely different sub-species).

Here’s the lore page for Grolls, personally one of my all time favorite Braven creatures:

The Lore Page is meant to give the host and players all of the most important information about a creature. It is divided into three main sections, always with a fun Flavor Quote from a scholar or expert thrown in.

This organization is the same on every Lore Page:

• Sensory Descriptions: Everyone can access these. Hosts are expected to relay some or all of this information to player characters, which explains what is before them.
• Lore Checks: Only some player characters can access these if they have the knowledge. When encountering the creature, player characters can actively roll Analyze (using the Lore they believe is most appropriate) in order to discover some insight. Characters can also passively know about the creature if their Lore is high enough, no rolling necessary. This info can give an edge when encountering the creature and even unlock greater mysteries about Braven’s cosmology.
• Narrative Information: Only the host can accesses these. When player characters ask around for information on a creature, things from this section can be shared. But at a bare minimum, this information is useful for the host when constructing a creature with believable behaviors, setting, and history.

Here’s an example of the two-page spread devoted to the fully-grown groll:

As you can see, our hope with this layout is to have some incredibly dope art commissioned to fill our pages!

Stay tuned, because I’ll be rolling out a Patch Notes post at some point to go over some changes to the system over the last year. Most of these are combat and balancing related. In that post, I’ll also talk some more about the roadmap for what’s next after the Encounters book!

The hardest part about making a character in Braven? Picking your Personality.

Welcome to an introduction to the Personality System in Braven! The Personality System is used to create your character and is the single most important (and difficult) decision to make.

There are a lot of other decisions to make when you build a character, such as:

• Your ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and general appearance.
• What culture or nationality you’re from.
• Your primary profession before becoming an adventurer (or up until the campaign’s start).
• Your body size (which is a balance between how easy you are to hit and how much health you have).
• What starting moves, skills, or items make sense for your backstory.
• And minor customization using Shape Points.

Even if this seems like a big list, nothing is too daunting. It’s all minor stuff.

Personality is the core of your “role” in this roleplaying game. Some games use class or nothing at all. Braven views roles like acting, and personality is a cornerstone of a good casting between an actor and a role. So the Personality System is intended to be helpful, like a wind in your sails when you’re unsure how your character might respond to a given scenario. It’s not a requirement that you flawlessly play as your character’s personality, but it can be a helpful way to remember that you have a part to play and have the expectation to be more than just a “barbarian” or “paladin” in this roleplaying game.

Also, what determines your base Stats and Vitality as you level up is your Personality. So, this is the big one. The hard choice. Your stats are used as a baseline for all of the Arts they govern. This can shape what your character is good and not so good at. If that doesn’t make sense to you yet, that’s okay!

For now just know that the 8 stats every character has are:
Physique (muscles, nice)
Wellness (physical endurance)
Grace (gentleness and precision)
Prowess (speed)
Erudition (book nerd! knowledge! brains!)
Wits (cleverness and creativity)
Prestige (can you convince others?)
Nerve (can you resist being convinced?)

Consequently, there are 8 personalities. Each personality gets a pre-chosen set of bonuses to a wide array of stats during leveling but also gains a slightly larger bonus to one stat more than all the rest. While leveling, every personality has a few points you can spend unrestricted (“free” stats). So it’s not a big deal if you want to be a book nerd but your personality doesn’t *max* Erudition out. You can spend your free points to max out whichever stat you’d like.

So to determine your personality, there are three binaries you must choose from.

That being said, the three binaries that determine personality are:

I versus C, or your aversion to risk.
R versus H, or your aversion to interpersonal conflict.
D versus S, or your aversion to order.

And before I explain these, just know: all personalities are valid! And in fact, a good party has a mix of personalities that play well off of each others strengths and weaknesses. “Aversion” to something is not bad. I really hope to state that clearly before you dig in!

Also: You don’t *have* to choose a personality different than your own. I recommend you start with yourself and then only flip one of the binary options if it sounds like it would be fun to explore. Playing your complete opposite typically makes for a miserable experience after a while (most people have a hard time committing to it).

Okay! So the first binary is Innovative versus Conventional. This one can sometimes be hard for people to own up to (we often think we are all innovative and open minded and want our characters to be also). But the key question you need to ask yourself is: How willing are you to take risks? Are you open to something untested and theoretical or are you risk adverse and would prefer something straightforward, tried and true? In real life, would you rather gamble at a casino with 1000$ or invest it in an index fund? Obviously both ends of this spectrum are useful in a group. *Someone* needs to think of the safest way while someone else should be willing to think out of the box.

The second binary is a tough one for a lot of people: Resolute versus Harmonious. Be honest with yourself on this one and think which one you do most often (especially in situations that are stressful or morally tricky): do you stick to your “convictions” when faced with difficult decisions or do you prioritize the input of others around you? Does a decision feel rushed or unempathetic or unethical to you if you haven’t consulted those you care about or those that will be affected by your choices? Or should a tough decision fall to your principles, morals and reasoning that you live by?

The final binary is Deliberate versus Spontaneous. This one is (hopefully) the most straightforward. Do you like to plan things to feel a sense of peace or do you find peace by “going with the flow”? If you need a plan to feel safe about something (but don’t like planning things yourself), then you’re spontaneous and we had better make sure someone else in the group is deliberate! If you like to make plans even if you know they might go to shit, then you *could* be Deliberate (but maybe a little on the spontaneous side). If you are cool with other people making plans but don’t mind if there even is a plan at all, you are definitely spontaneous. A good way to approach this is: how much have the previous binary choices made you stressed? Did you spend 30 minutes to an hour on this exercise or a week or more? Since picking your personality can feel like planning, if you’re loving this exercise *and* have taken a long time doing it: you are definitely Deliberate. If you don’t give a shit because all of this is dumb horoscope garbage, then you’re most likely either spontaneous or just an impatient person.

In the end, most people are a percentage of each value which can change based on context and time. However, the goal of this exercise is to try to determine which one you *feel the most connection to* in each pair.

At the end, you should have a result that is something like: IHD (Innovative, Harmonious, Deliberate). That’s your personality!

Once you’ve mulled this over a bit and gotten at least one personality you think fits okay, take a breather. The next step will be to see if the stats for that personality make sense for your goals.

If you’re still stuck, another way to help you decide could be looking at some examples of famous people I’ve put into my Personality System.

The system allows for incredible spectrum of actual character. So for each one I’ll give a predictable and a chaotic example:
IRS: Marie Curie or Cthulhu
IRD: Jane Austen or Adolf Hitler
IHS: Virginia Woolf or Jaime Tanner
IHD: Oprah Winfrey or James Warren Jones
CRS: Bruce Lee or Donald Trump
CRD: Mother Theresa or Mussolini
CHS: Snoop Dog or Quentin Tarantino
CHD: Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko or Emma Watson

Ultimatums and Penultimate Crises in the Northwest: Field Research Report in a time of Guerilla War
Nathaniel Szeizos Lasheschire, Gaminite Scholar, Goldwynne University
In Collaboration with the VNFC, Woodlands University, Drae-Kye

[FOR URGENT REVIEW: Military Intelligence]

CONFIDENTIAL REPORT

Dated thus: In Western Reckoning, Fourth Age in Dawn, Year 6, Second Season, 88th Day: 4.6.S.88

Abstract:

[FOR URGENT REVIEW: Military Intelligence]
Scholars are working to understand the emerging third party in the conflict in the far west after the betrayal of the chamari fire-king, Bryce Kas’hai. It seems as though Kaladuks’ legions are just as surprised by this emerging peoples as the western nations are. This paper refers to this emerging people-group through the popular moniker, “the Consensus” (as a nod to the investigative reporting that was recently published in the Woodlands periodical, The VNFC Period). With the majority of the chamari’s offensive forces dispatched on the Red Expanse north of Tacklesbard and with the pacifism of Drae-Kye, a proliferation of crimes against humanity have plagued the already displaced tribal alliance of Fay-Erawan Hawdorian natives. This paper seeks to examine whether the dramatic exploitation of these peoples is merely a fledgling nation’s violent opportunism against the marginalized, or the evidence shows that the Consensus is preparing to enter into this already complicated international conflict with some unprecedented weaponry.

Keywords: 

War, Chamarolain, Tacklesbard, Drae-Kye, Kaladuk, War of the West, Fay-Erawan Hawdorians, Consensus, Guerilla War, Slavery, Slave Trade, Golems, Remnants, Titans, Weapons Systems Analysis, Weapons Tech, Pithology, Geomancy, Meta-Psychic Socialization

Research Body:

Through a series of field research spanning 32 months, the VNFC Period has released their reports on the Consensus. It appears as though the VNFC research primarily focuses on testing a theory about the “Talians” (their self-identification) and their unique ability to communicate psychically among one another. VNFC correspondent Nila Withers reports, “As a nearly silent peoples, their motives are difficult to ascertain. They seem to act with restraint, as though they require permission of some kind. While popular fiction depicts their socialization phenomena as an immediate kind of mental understanding and co-action, it seems as though there is no ‘hive mind’ behind their activity but rather a similar social network to our own. Clearly, they are more individualistic that we had originally understood. It seems that either way, this research has no conclusive opinion on how their socialization techniques relate to the epidemic of enslavement they are perpetuating against the western indigenous peoples.”

But in collaboration with intelligence agents from a local anti-Consensus guerilla army, calling themselves “The Resistance,” we have enough evidence to prove that the exploitation of the displaced Fay-Erawan Hawdorian natives is more than just a rising slave-trade epidemic.

One lead analyst, whose name is redacted, says of the situation, “It appears as though some form of ancient weaponry is being leveraged using the physical bodies and essence of the captured peoples. This weaponry is to be regarded as cataclysmic in proportion and immediate international intervention is requested.”

Those of weak continence are not encouraged to look further. The snapshot transcription footage may be disturbing to some audiences:

[[The words read “Here we see hard proof of body-soul extraction techniques used on masses of captured slaves.” A violent snapshot transcription shows a large cage-like device with a massive marble slab roof crushing 8 people. As their blood drips out of the human “juicing” machine, it flows into a floor drain that begins to glow with a light-blue sort of magic.]]

With my years of field expertise on illegal magic and necromantic practices in the west, what we are dealing with is an ancient kind of body-soul drain that extracts enormous portions of essence from the fresh blood of victims. This particular practice can be understood further in the work of the famous E.R Dyan, whose early work outlined this exact ritual. Her theory into this draining mechanism began with her field studies into gem-embument and pithology that was used by the early Valdian dwarves to create powerful jewelry. She writes of a similar drain (still viewable in the Valdis National Museum today), “it appears as though the energy is required to power certain technologies. These could be varied in application, but most involve bridging materials and organics. Much research is required to understand this further. For now, it appears as though there is an intersection between geomancy and illegal pithological practice, even though we are not sure what this is used for outside of merely transferring a human essence into a jewel.”

What Dyan is referring to here may have to do with two particular events that have unfolded in the region in recent years: the murder of King Bryce and the decline of dragon-sightings. As many know, King Bryce was slain by his close confidant, Bracelord Micah, in a dramatic display during the Battle of Perch. We have heard the stories of the Red Poison being used in this surprise killing.

[[The words read “But what of this detail?” A transcription-snap shows clearly two demon-like figures swooping down and carrying a dark-armored man with a handsome face and golden locks, Bracelord Micah, out of the battle and into the sky. Micah’s face is twisted with agony, white and frozen in terror, with speckles of the king’s blood on his chiseled chin.]]

Speculation has been rife over this. Was Micah working with a demonic pact? We know that the legendary Drake Centinal of Haven Bastion believes this to be the truth. In an interview seasons ago he said, “We see this, these dark knights- they have come about recently. They have strange powers, evil powers. They can regenerate. It’s their armor, it keeps them from death. Micah has this armor, too. And it is clear that Micah is the leader of these dark knights. They are dealing with devils, and this is what Haven is committed to fighting against here in the Highway.”

Of course, this fueled my research. My first thesis was studying the intersection between Dyan’s work into the geo-pith practice of draining blood-essence through stones and how this is used to forge armor (not merely crafting powerful jewels). My work led me to investigate Centinel’s claim that there is armor-forging of incredible power, and I had to investigate the region to learn more. In addition, it seems as though the “demons” that carried Micah were not demons-in-flesh, but actually golems. My earlier paper, “Sauzarian Relics or Neo-Necromantic Praxis: Bloodletting and Geomancy in the Highway” reveals this:

[[The words read, “Clearly these cave networks are not natural. And in fact, there is evidence of golem-incubation taking place here.” Transcription-snaps show demon-like shapes in the stone walls of a dark cave room. The words continue, “The way that the wall is carved out, coupled with the drain in the room’s center show recent golemic activity. We see that while there is not evidence of armor or weapon forging with this practice yet, there may be a relation here between golems and this power-draining practice.” Transcription-snaps show both the carved walls and the drain-mechanism in the center of the cave’s floor.]]

While this practice is not known to be underway anywhere else, I believe that we can look to another (less well-known) VNFC article that was published two years ago by Sha Stand, “The Decline of Draconic Activity from the Highway to the Far West Hawdorians.”

While I am no scholar of draconic activity, Sha Stand arguably is the foremost. Her work outlines a clear decline over the last 15 years in western draconic activity. Her most important finding related to the discovery of a murdered ancient dragon thirty DU to the west of the Fay-Er outpost of Kas-Meknes not more than a few years ago.

[[The words read “She discovered something unprecedented in two ways. First, recent activity of a dragon-worshiping tribe (long thought a lost peoples) as well as the corpse of a dragon that is at least twenty thousand years old. The marks on the bones show significant physical trauma was inflicted in order to kill the dragon. No known creature alive could have performed this, save perhaps another dragon.” The transcription-snap shows the researcher examining shattered bits of bone, as thick as the researcher herself, before she turns around and begins to examine littered portions of sewn leather and footprints near an abandoned and ashy bonfire pit. Around the fire pit are logs placed like seats and behind them, wooden frames of abandoned wigwams.]]

To make this more interesting, we managed to uncover new information about this dragon-tribe during our interviews with The Resistance. We asked a leading lieutenant if he was aware of any dragon-tribes or peoples who were involved in (as victims or otherwise) in the recent slave-trade war. We mentioned Stand’s research as well, in hopes that there might be a connection.

[[The words read, “His answer was surprising.” The transcription snap shows a dark silhouette of a male figure who then speaks, “Well, we actually have a member of our forces who claimed to be from a dragon tribe. He even claims he can speak draconic. No one actually knows if he can or not though, because we wouldn’t know how to verify it. He is an excellent specialist with a unique skillset. We honestly didn’t know if we should believe him or not. But I hadn’t heard of this research by this Dr. Stand before. Perhaps he is telling the truth after all. I wish we could have him speak to you himself, this research sounds important. But he’s in the field right now.”]]

In my research further into ancient dragon-tribe practices, I discovered what I believe is the most important link of all: a study from the late Second Age by a Yis’rit Vautbaum, an Erawan scholar, titled, “The Dracotribunal Way of Life, Series #4: The Anti-Mirthic Philosophy of Draconic Tribal Practices in the Western Hawdorians.” This study has one vitally important piece of evidence:

[[The words read “Dragon tribes, it seems, practice old rituals of repentance. As it was once believed to be the worship of a dragon’s power, it is actually a ritualized-practice of apologizing for humanity’s crimes against the dragons, in the days before the Mirthic arrival and the sundering of the first moon.” The transcription-snap shows various villagers offering up clay pots, necklaces, baskets, foodstuffs, and other items to a medium-aged dragon of perhaps no more than five-thousand years of age. With each item, the dragon appears to also participate in the ritual: the dragon scoffs at every gift. But as the gifts become more and more meager, the dragon begins to show more and more affection to each member. Eventually, the villagers offer up themselves because they have nothing left to give, and the dragon begins to embrace each one for their willingness.]]

Now, this obscure article is in itself not too significant yet. But the research that followed this looked further into the Mirthic arrival and why material possessions are seen as either all that is to be coveted by dragons, or all that is to be hated. In the geomancy piece by Ri Richus, “Golems as Mirthic Technology” (regarded as the paramount piece of research on Mirthic technology) we have a fascinating finding that brings our research to a terrifying conclusion. Richus writes, “It seems as though the Mirthics used a form of psychic communication with geological formations and communicated with the essence beneath geology itself. This lead to the constructs widely known as Golems, as we see them today. Crude research claims that Golems are a natural phenomenon. But my research shows that while an environment may animate these golemic figures, the figures themselves were actually forged by Mirthic technology and have long since been abandoned. This leads us to the conclusion into draconic psychology: dragons have since become either obsessed with or full of hatred for the magical, material creations of humankind.”

Seeing this here, another scholar by the name of Chakrabarti Aaryahi studied the methodology of golem-control. The findings of her research were clear and shocking, and were used as litigation of Mirthic war crimes committed before the First Age. They write, “The means by which Richus mentions golemic control are startling. Our research has found that it is the indigenous biological forms of the Nanonians that fueled the golemic power. This is also related to why some environs will animate remnants that are abandoned; the souls of the dead nearby are influencing the golems into action. But alive or dead, there are three primary sources of this unique essence: dragons, the Fayfolk, and the Erawan. It seems as though their particular bio-essence composition enables an arcano-pithologist to take control of geomantic constructs, such as we see in the golemic figures of Richus’ research. Quite literally, the Mirthics killed many indigenous Fay and Erawan so that they could control golems powerful enough to kill dragons. And after the dragons were slain and their power was extracted? This is the origin of the once-mythical Titans. We believe that Titan-golems, given our research into the power of this pithological control, were not a fantasy invented by storytellers of old. But perhaps constructs did once exist that they were really powerful enough to slay dragons.”

While Chakrabarti’s research was originally rejected as fanciful, it was later believed to be reputable after Titan remnants were discovered by researchers digging underneath Isk’Tuum’s mire, in “Remnants: Fables, Monuments, or Ancient Weapons?” by the team at Shik-Fal, College of Gods in Isk’Tuum. This provided proof that while no known functional or complete Titans have been discovered, their remnants remain from a time of Mirthic world-domination.

In conclusion, it seems that the complicated conflict between the northern alliance of Tacklesbard and Chamarolain against the Kaldaki Empire may get much worse. A third party has entered the fray, and their sudden appearance (rife with the controversy of enslaving those displaced by the Kaldaki invasion over ten seasons ago) is more than it appears: with the decline of draconic activity, the enslavement of peoples known to have special bio-essence compositions, the golems that carried away Micah after the Battle of Perch, and the discovery of recent geo-pithological practices, is is clear that the Consensus has access to the ancient city-destroying weapons known as the Titans. To state this clearly: the Consensus is stealing and murdering slaves to harness weapons of unimaginable power. The Mirthic’s dark history may be repeating itself through the actions of the Consensus. Their researchers may already have begun experimentation on extracting essence from dragons as well. There cannot be inaction here on the international scene. An immediate response must be made by the Lamoorian Council and at minimum Drae-Kye should activate their reserve forces and respond preemptively. With the Highway mountain range, full of various troves of necromantic weapons and relics, Drae-Kye is an especially valuable target for a first-strike by the Consensus.

This research is to remain highly confidential until after military deliberation has been made. While no conclusion can be offered towards the intentions of the Consensus, whether they intend to siege a city, kill dragons, or something else entirely, it is clear that they are amassing significant military strength and this must be dealt with swiftly. In addition, further analysis is required to ascertain the role of Drake Centinal’s “dark knights” and their involvement in the Consensus’ golemic geomancy.

END REPORT

CONFIDENTIAL

[DISCLAIMER: I did not even try to make this anything less than a cheesy wad of glory, straight and unfiltered, from the depths of my soul. I am not trying to win an award for writing, but rather just scribing the exploits of my friends as they faced off against a necromancer.]

Thus begins the recording of the twenty-second day of the Sept, in the sixteenth year of the second millennium:

The adventurers, who had just defeated an ancient wyvern in the dank, dungeonous, chamber witnessed a lanky, shadowy figure emerge from the leather slab atop the beast’s forehead.

The necromancer, which had tormented them in his lair of torturous magic, offered the group a plea: for killing his only friend and solving all of his puzzles, he wants to adventure again.

In an absurd gesture of trust and forgiveness, he offered to travel with the group to have exciting times with them. In exchange, he mentioned, he will let them take from him again and have his precious box of concealment, the onus of their quest to retrieve, for whatever they wish to use it for.

While the group is discussing the offer, Levi noticed (albeit too late) the glimmer of cigar embers, floating in the darkness behind the necromancer. Snake suddenly pounced out of the shadows and attempted to snap the necro’s neck from behind. Snake-sneak for Necro-neck. Apparently, nobody had noticed that he wasn’t discussing the offer with them and instead was attempting a surprise attack.

The shadeform of the necromancer quickly disappeared in a cloud of dark smoke, leaving Snake sick and seemingly paralyzed with shock, on all fours on the ground.

The Door revealed to everyone that there is a secret phylactery in the back of the room, which binds the necromancer to this plane.

O’gell, Kris, and Arya rushed to find the phylactery, passing the two massive bone piles and Snake’s paralyzed body resting in the valley between. They hurried further into the void, with just Kris’ torch for light, and discovered a beautiful lantern glinting ever so slightly in the darkness of the back of the giant chamber. The lantern reminded each of them of good times and warm memories.

O’gell, Kris, and Arya became enchanted by a lantern.

Levi went to the middle of the room, to retrieve his light arrow from the wyvern mother’s skull.

Nearby, Cid stood guard while Eiress looked to Snake’s condition. Eiress concluded that Snake is probably okay, but just in shock from whatever powerful magic was used on him.

Suddenly, a horrific scream pierced the air. It drowned out all thought and left nothing but a rush of terrible adrenaline. Something about the scream was beyond humanity. It was a form of magic, and it shook everyone who heard it to their core.

Since O’gell, Kris, and Arya were already peacefully entranced, they were unaffected. But Levi lost his mind, fear taking him beyond the threshold of sanity. Eiress remembered that she is a strong, independent woman, and resisted going insane. Cid seemed to be fine, although a bit shaken by the scream, he shortly came to his senses.

Suddenly everyone realized that the scream came from Snake. Snake turned dark like the necromancer’s previous form.

Snake levitated upwards, eyes and maw agape, empty, soulless.The body of Snake was perhaps no longer their friend. The Special Agent had become possessed by a lord of wicked sorcery.

The hearts of all sunk. They felt the lump of dread grow in their throats; the grim horror that they may have just lost their close friend choked everyone.

Taking advantage of everyone’s stupor and fear, the necromancer-form fixated its opening strike on the nearby Eiress; he reached out to strangle her and grasped her head in his hands, despite her attempt to escape his clutches.

Immediately, a pestilent wizardry drained from his veins into her head, infecting her with a crippling ailment. Eiress attempted to counter the spell, but failed. She contracted the mysterious disease, which at the onset gave her instant and near total blindness and drained much life-force from her head and body. Her physical and mental countenance was seized by rapid attrition.

Cid, heroically attempting to save his sister, repeatedly sliced at the spine of the necro-Snake form, whose back faced him now. Cid hoped to swiftly disable his foe. But despite the wounds immediately drawing crimson, the necromancer did not abjure his intention to ruin the adventurers.

Levi withdrew back to a safer distance and nocked an arrow into his bow, readying to strike.

A whirlwind began kicking up dirt near the necromancer’s form, and the three offspring of the wyvern screamed in terror as they were drawn into the swirling gale and their bodies fused together like clay. From their bodies they formed, in the wailing torrent, a grotesque creature with a gaping, crooked maw, one arm, scaly skin, and the body of a serpent. Within this whirlwind and the formation of the monster, it seemed that many bones from the nearby bone mounds also conjoined, and Levi’s dragon-bone harpbow grew hot and difficult to hold on to. In his already panicked state, he dropped his bow and it flew into the flesh of the beast, perhaps even giving it additional power. Levi watched helplessly as the bow sank into the beast’s shoulder, leaving just a tip of it sticking out.

Levi now had lost his mind and his bow.

Before any could fully apprehend the new and terrible beast before them, it lashed out viciously with its bony and sinewy arm towards Cid. Cid, knowing confidently he could take the hit, continued his focus on the necromancer and took the slash across his chest, only glancing down the creature, sizing it up, fully unafraid.

The necromancer began to grow in muscle and size. His form seemed to go far beyond the mere physicality of Snake. With his heightened power and his grip still on Eiress’ head, he squeezed with mighty strength, attempting to squelch her brains in. Eiress managed to harden herself with a powerful rune, resisting what would have turned her skull into sauce. Her bones grew sturdier than iron, and skin tougher than wood. But with the strain of casting such a feat, her vision grew darker.

Arya was the first to shake herself from the lantern’s enchantment, and she immediately decided to destroy the lantern with a powerful conjuration. Just before she unleashed upon the object, the voice of Door pierced the darkness just in time to warn her against it. He urgently told her that only he knows the secret to using the phylactery against the necromancer. So in a display of prowess, she diverted her spell onto the face of the serpent abomination that the necromancer had conjured in the middle of the room. The creature’s maw exploded in flames from the mouth outwards, blasting its cheek out, gaping its face further open in a raw mess of burnt flesh.

Arya began to prepare the glyphs needed for her next devastating attack.

Meanwhile, O’gell shook off his stupor from the lantern and decided to grab it. While he ran the risk of it being enchanted and causing him trouble, it seemed to do nothing to affect him as he picked it up. O’gell, holding the lantern aloft, gave the necromancer one final parlay for peace. O’gell promised that they would not bring the necromancer to ruin, if only he would surrender his fight and free Snake.

The necromancer was caught in this consequence, perhaps by the lingering thread of humanity that must have remained somewhere within his abysmal heart. He loosened his grip on Eiress, and lowered his arms. Then he slowly turned to O’gell, staring straight at him. Determined and grisly, the tainted wizard proclaimed that it was too late; he was ready to leave this existence for good, if that were the case. He no longer wished to be their companion.

Immediately in response, O’gell dashed out of sight and started sprinting around the outside of the room. O’gell was attempting to avoid getting caught with the phylactery and a possible conflict. He skirted along the edge of the chamber, steering clear of the fracas in the middle of the two bone piles (where the thick of the fight ensued). O’gell knew that he could not risk the necromancer defending the phylactery and had to get it to Door as soon as possible. O’gell shouted for Kris to run straight for Door, so that someone could be there in the chance that he could not make it in time himself.

But while this was happening, Cid swung violently, taking advantage of the lowered defenses of the necromancer. He continued to rupture the necromancer’s back with powerful swings of his axe. The dark form gushed with blood. Cid knew full well that he may not be able to save Snake, but the necromancer had to be slain.

Now Kris sprinted full-bore across the room before anyone noticed. His giant-born strides made short work of the run. He made it to his new friend and hurriedly asked Door what must be done with the lantern. Door responded that the lantern’s casing must be removed, the tip of the wick must touch Door-self, and then the small handle of the lantern must be turned. Door assured Kris that he would be able to do the rest, at that point. Kris yelled to O’gell, who was still on his way (shifting along somewhere behind one of the bone mounds), that he must get the lantern to him immediately.

Levi, stricken by his loss of bow and mind, comforted the nearby little-Snake (the nabinask grub) and drew from his backpack the pincers of the great nabinask. Levi readied himself with these pincers as weapons, then chose to encourage his leader, Arya to do what he could not: destroy them.

Arya strengthened her will and gained confidence, and continued with her spell.

The serpent creature, in terrible pain from the blast from Arya, decided to charge at her and mount an attack. But the creature foolishly ran past Cid, who took advantage of the opportunity to earn purchase across its face with his axe, widening its gory wound. The creature’s jaw now hung from only one side. Its already hideous maw (now even more nightmarish) flailed in a mess of flapping flesh while the creature continued furiously in Arya’s direction. By the time it was not more than a mere meter away, Arya was already prepared to finish it off.

But before she could, the necromancer lurched towards Eiress and hugged her fully in his now massive form. He began to wildly whisper esoteric magics, perhaps in a language of his own devising, squeezing her tighter. She struggled against him. The necromancer had been weakened enough to go into a frenzy of some kind. But even in his compromised state, Eiress could not break free.

Suddenly a realization struck fear into the group: the necromancer might be devising a devastating final event. This move seemed so strange, so reckless. But it was obvious that whatever was happening would not bode well for anyone.

Arya, stricken for a brief flash decided not to endanger her allies by using her wizardry on the necromancer, and instead directed her magic onto the creature just a hair’s breadth from her now. The creature’s oblong, flapping mass of a ragged head exploded in a burst of incinerated flesh and bones. The air filled with the mist of red.

There was a breath of silence as the rest of the battle seemed to pause, necromancer included, to admire the awesome sight of such magical force.

But the flash of awe soon passed, and the urgency settled into everyone’s hearts again. O’gell sprinted full bore at Kris, and lobbed the lantern at him once he was within range. The giant caught the lantern, and the turned to face Door, all the while fully trusting that his new, stony friend would follow through on what happens next. The tall and handsome elf then heroically took a turn to the fray and rushed forward, dagger out.

Cid was raging at this point. He swung furiously at the necromancer’s exposed back two more times. But to his even greater frustration, despite the rivers of carnage emerging from the gigantic valleys he had created, the necromancer seemed unfazed. Cid knew that no living thing could have survived the punishment he had just inflicted.

Meanwhile, Kris (having just caught the lantern) immediately removed the token’s brass top and glass casing and placed the small, naked, cloth wick against the cold stone of the massive doorway. He turned the knob at its base.

A small flame appeared in a lick of writhing sparks near the tip of the wick. Door immediately began to laugh in victory, echoing across the room. But Door’s disembodied voice did not come from the door anymore: he had entered the lantern now. The flame was his voice, and it seemed to dance as he spoke.

Door quickly explained to everyone that the necromancer was now most vulnerable, because for these few seconds his soul, which once resided in the lantern as a phylactery of undying, was now displaced by his own. The lantern only had room for one individual’s essence, so the necromancer was temporarily rendered fully mortal.

The necromancer, realizing this, hastened his ritual to finishing.

Eiress seemed to be succumbing further to her blindness, and was still weary after her impressive spell of hardening. She knew she still had to try to get away; she had to try one more time. Every ounce of grit left inside of her pushed back against the necromancer, but alas his form had grown to strong. Her frail arms were nothing in the struggle to break free. The reality of her doom was setting in. She had been rendered powerless under the necromancer’s might. A thin veil of fear entered the hearts of all of her friends too: everyone sensed that whatever the necromancer was concocting, they may not be able to stop in time.

Levi was determined to retrieve his bow. He wanted to take it back and place an arrow between the necromancer’s demonic, glowing eyes. He was already running towards the fat mass of flesh that lay before Arya, while everything else had been going down. He knew that his bow had to be somewhere inside of it. Arya, seeing Levi’s plight, understood. She gripped the protruding ivory of Levi’s dragon-bone harpbow that jutted out from the creature’s unmoving corpulence. From the distance as he approached, Levi cried out a cantation which gave Arya a sudden rush of strength. She dramatically ripped the bow out of the corpse’s chest and passed it to Levi.

Receiving it, Levi let out a deep breath of relief, knowing that his masterpiece weapon was unharmed. His fingers moved across the bloodied ivory, wiping away the filthy mess. He tightened his grip and, reaching back to his quiver, his fingers touched a fresh arrow. His gaze turned upon the necromancer with steely confidence now.

Meanwhile Arya too, prepared for her most calamitous spell yet. She knew that it was now or never; the necromancer had to be stopped and she had to be ready to use any means of force necessary. The room grew thick with heat from the energy she was gathering to unleash.

O’gell now had reached the fray and yelled out for Cid to step aside. Cid obliged just as O’gell lept through the air with his dagger pulled back for a strike. He expertly thrust his blade into the side of the necromancer’s throat.

The necromancer’s voice choked and undulated as his vocal chords filled with the thick blood from O’gell’s wound. But despite this lethal-appearing blow, dark bindings held the evil sorcerer to this coil. The necromancer, though gurgling his conjuration now through his drowning throat, did not perish as expected. His borrowed lizard-like body, the now dying body of Special Agent Snake, seemed to have little bearing on his mortality.

The cleverest in the room began to doubt if killing Snake’s body would do anything to stop the necromancer at all. Perhaps this violence was in vain, at the cost of their brother’s life. O’gell, certainly counted among the clever, inspected the form of the necromancer and noticed what would be their foe’s greatest flaw: the crude, stitched piece of leather (which was once adorned like a crown of slavery atop the possessed wyvern’s skull) was exposed underneath the dark buttocks of the necromancer. The dark and ashy leather patch appeared as though it had adhered to the back of Snake’s thigh at some point, binding itself to his body.

O’gell’s dagger dashed between the leather and the leg’s flesh. O’gell knew that even though he wasn’t able to save the potentially innocent wyvern, he could perhaps save his friend. Rending with a furious vibration of sawing, O’gell tore the small patch from Snake’s thigh. It fell several feet away, onto the dusty earth at the bottom of one of the bone piles.

It was at this point that everything changed.

A burst of cold, ashy wind blasted forth. The form of Snake suddenly lost its artificial size and fell to the ground. Snake shrank and curled into the fetal position, on his side. But a phantasm of smoke hovered above him and still held the pose that his body had just a moment before. Like a statue frozen in time, the necromancer’s raw form was revealed again, still strangling Eiress and gagging on liquid as it continued its magic. This form was the very same form that Snake had woefully tried to assassinate not a short time earlier. The dark visage seemed to pulse and flow like a storm of clouds, trapped in a silhouette of ash. The being emanated hatred, countless generations of undeath and disdain for the living, wrought from spells of immoral origin, all in a single being.

Door cried out excitedly that they had done it, that now they must finish it while it is exposed; this was their best chance.

Before Eiress, she only saw now a faceless face of evil. A grim and emotionless being loomed over her. Her knees grew weak. Its colossal arms continued to crush her. She was losing her sight and her breath. Gasping, she feared losing her soul, too.

In that instant, in a picture of sheer, unapologetic machismo, Cid yelled out an incomprehensible warcry of sheer emotion. His massive, rippling arms guided his axe expertly towards the necromancer’s vulnerable, shade-like head.

-This is the act that could end it all; this could be the swing which saved everyone.-

But Cid missed, the necromancer barely ducked in time. Cid, knowing that his love for his sister was now his only hope, desperately swung again. He worried that time was against him and perhaps it was already too late. Fighting the fear, his weapon whistled through the thick air.

The necromancer seemed to grow quiet for a pause. Time itself was almost standing still.

This swing, Cid’s blade felt sweet purchase across the side of the necromancer’s neck, severing the spine inside and the jugular. A shower of crimson chased the axe as it exited the flesh.

But by what seemed to be unholy magic lingering on beneath the surface, the necromancer did not loosen his grip, though he grew silent and his gaze grew wide with insane intensity. His head wobbled to keep its balance.

He stared into Eiress’ eyes, his pupils wildly vibrating from the energy within him.

Surprised his last swing did not finish the sorcerer off, Cid caught a glimpse of the wounds he inflicted earlier; he could see faint beams of light shining through the visage before him. He had cleaved clean through the necromancer’s torso earlier, leaving large chasms of empty space.

Now, Kris had already been sprinting for the necromancer at that time, having left the lantern behind earlier (once Door first explained the situation from his flame). Kris arrived just as Cid was recovering from his second swing. The burly giant loomed over the rest of the combatants, like an adult among adolescents. With a dagger in one side of their foe’s throat, and a massive gash on the other, Kris deftly grabbed the top of the necromancer’s head in his broad, meaty giant-hand, his grip enveloping like a standard person might grip a small melon. He placed his other hand firmly and heavily on the necromancer’s shoulder.

Before the necromancer could do more than squirm, Kris ripped his head from his body. In Kris’ grasp, as the purple skull was being pulled from the body, it tore straight out of the the rubber-like film of the necromancer’s skin. He literally ripped the necromancer’s skull from his face.

A dark mist suddenly burst upwards from the neck-hole, in a fashion similar to a volcanic eruption, and fell into a plumage of dark ash on the curled form of Snake below. The body of the shade collapsed into a mound of fine dust, the skull following suit shortly after.

The necromancer had been slain. Everyone felt a rush of elation, and Door cried out in victory from his new lanternous body, lauding his heroes.

Now the form which had taken so much abuse-the body of Snake-lay quivering on the ground. He was covered in the thick ashes of his former captor. The temporary shine of glory darkened in everyone’s hearts: their comrade was surely dead.

But he lay there intact with no visible, physical wounds, knees to his chest and arms curled up, covering his head. His eyes were open wide, peeking over his knees; he seemed to be frozen in a mindless haze. He twitched slightly, every so often. Eiress inspected him immediately, after first catching her breath from nearly being strangled. Even with her occluded vision (the affliction did not leave her when the necromancer was killed), she could tell that Snake’s body was unbroken and healthy. She attuned herself to his thoughts, and concluded with her expertise, that perhaps his sanity had been deeply affected by this experience. She explained to the group that he may be in shock, or perhaps some other thing lingers on mentally. Whatever it was, she knew it was beyond her ability to heal and that it resided in his mind.

She then also wondered about her own health. She knew that the disease manifesting within her could have taken years to incubate; the methodology for the spell which brought it into being was surely lost on her. She was not trained how to deconstruct illegal magics at the university.

Kris tended to Door, reassembling his casing and handle-cap.

The whole party gathered ’round Snake, Eiress, and the pile of ashes that once belonged to their worst foe yet. They all visually inspected one another. Relief finally let itself into the room, and they did not take for granted that things could have gone much worse.

 

—-

 

What will happen next time?

Where is this box, the thing which can conceal anything, the purpose for their quest?

And how will the party save their beloved friend, PK, who for all they know may be lost forever after being consumed by the chalice of life and death?

Can this absurd quest of theirs really bring peace to the region?

Hello friends, Frank here. So, most of you have already seen the video I made for casting magic. (If not, you can check it out below.) I thought I would give a little walk-through of magic in general, for those interested (just in case the video wasn’t enough).

Up front I will place a “logical checklist” to help people decide how to best cast their spells. (This checklist will make a lot more sense after you read this article.)

The basic logic of casting spells:

1. Prepare your glyphs. The glyphs you have prepared are “on deck.”
   • Spend your resources for your glyphs. (You must spend the resources when you put the Glyphs on deck, not when you decide to use them later.)
2. Choose from your glyphs “on deck” that you would like to use.
3. Choose which Rune to use, to complete your spell.
   • Spend your resources for the rune. (You must do this before you actually cast on your target!)
4. Decide what target to cast your spell on:
   • Is the target yourself? The spell is an automatic success.
   • Is the target someone or something other than yourself? Decide how to cast it below:
     • Is the target’s likely spell resistance (their level + 35) something that you would be able to cast on using your Lore? Cast on the target directly.
       • The appropriate Lore art will be mentioned to you before you cast, so that you can decide.
       • Your target has no way of defending themselves (unless they have Counter Spell). You simply have to roll higher than their Spell Resist.
     • Is the target’s likely spell resistance too high for you to reasonably hit them? Make sure to use Direct or Direct+Range glyphs. Choose to cast your spell from yourself. After casting from yourself, you may punch or throw the spell into your target.
       • Punching uses Hand to Hand to hit your target. If you are holding onto your target already, the spell is an automatic success. If you are not holding onto your target, they may choose to use a defense against your spell.
       • Throwing uses Missile/Thrown to hit your target. Your target may choose to use a defense against your spell.
     • Do you want to be really cool or tactical? Repeat the previous step, except instead of targeting yourself, cast your spell on a weapon or object (whether your own, a friend’s, or something just laying about.) Make sure to use Trigger: Touch (or some other, appropriate trigger glyph). If you cast this for a friend: make sure they are already touching the item, or it will cast on them once they touch it.
       • You use your Alchemy Lore to set up a trigger on an inanimate object. The spell automatically succeeds when the object is touched by the thing the spell is stored on.

Now, if you want to understand more about what that logical checklist actually means, feel free to read through this guide for spellcasting. If you are new to Braven or new to using magic in Braven, it is highly recommended that you read this guide so that you can understand what magic is all about.

Casting magic can be complicated for newbies and veterans alike, for several reasons. Generally, it comes down to three things:

How to create a spell, how to cast that spell on a target, and how to manage resources. Understanding these three things becomes key for anyone who wants to unlock to true potential of Braven’s magic system. The first two require a little bit of logic, creativity, and experimentation. The third is simply something that players understand through practice. (The video below mostly addresses how to manage resources like a pro. Feel free to skip the video if you are more interested in the basics of how magic works first.)

That being said, we are going to break down the first two things mentioned in the previous paragraph:

Creating Spells:

Creating spells is a subject briefly addressed in the beginning of any Runebook that a player may possess. Generally, it reads: “Glyphs + a Rune = a Spell.”

To really understand what this means, a player has to learn the basic difference between glyphs, runes, and spells. Here are basic explanations that we will be working with:

Glyphs: These are commands and techniques for spells that a character discovers as they become more skilled with linguistics, symbols, and magic use. The art Inscription is used to unlock more glyphs. The use of glyphs can take many forms, and generally it is encouraged that each character finds their own way of expressing magic. Glyphs are always a symbolic form of communication with the magical world of essence. One character might dance as they prepare spells, another may whisper, one might write or record their own personal language of scribbles; pretty much anything is possible for what a glyph looks like. In general, a glyph is required to make some sort of noise and have some sort of motion attached to it. Other than that, the wizard themselves learns how they cast their own magic. Many different schools, guilds, and religions practice magical casting in their own way. But of course, any wizard can simply invent their own style, if they choose. As a wizard becomes more powerful, they learn more incredible ways of controlling magic. But to put it simply: Glyphs are learned ways of manipulating runes and spells.

Runes: These are the substance, the actual essence, of magic. These are recorded words of magic that a character reads in order to bring that spell into the world. Runes are generally recorded in Runebooks, which often require a specific Wizard’s license to own. A character only gains access to Runes as they are allowed to, within their license or religious establishment’s rules. Some characters may be lucky enough to find unbound spellbooks in the wild, so to speak, but that is incredibly rare. Sometimes runes are taught by old religions or ways of magic and passed on orally. Runes are always the only way that a spell can be brought into the world. Runes unlock a passage, or a portal, into the infinite realm of essence and summon something from that realm into the realm of physical reality. Runes are like the keys to the doors of infinity. To put it simply: Runes are the thing that makes the spell actually happen, without a rune a spell does not come into existence.

Spells: Anyone can cast a spell, as long as they read a rune. But that spell will cast on them, if they do not specify any special commands for the rune before it is read. So that means that a skilled magical practitioner is one who prepares commands for their runes before they read the runes. The magical practitioner prepares (like a cooking recipe) all of the possible glyphs (like ingredients) that they want to use in their spell. For example, if a silly barbarian picked up a magic book and read a symbol inside of it, not knowing what it was, the spell would still try to cast. This poor barbarian, let’s say, has read the rune for “Conjure Fire.” The barbarian would burst into flames the moment they read the symbol for the spell. So, a skilled wizard might prepare “Direct” and “Weaken” before reading Conjure Fire, so that they can light a pile of logs for their companions’ bonfire that night (without Weaken, Conjure Fire is a powerful blast of flames). The reading of a rune (or recalling it from memory, if it is memorized) is considered the act of casting a spell. To put it simply: preparing glyphs and then reading or remembering a rune is how a spell is made.

So, how does one create a spell? Simple, really: You never know when you might need to cast a spell quickly, so make sure your glyphs are ready for you. You cannot prepare runes (because runes immediately cast once you finish reading them), but you can have one glyph of each kind “on deck” (so to speak). Glyphs will never “expire” when they are on deck, so as long as you have the command prepared, you can use that glyph on a rune when you read it.

Here are a few pointers for preparing glyphs:

1. If a glyph doesn’t have a Sanity cost (and only costs PT), there is no reason you shouldn’t have that prepared when you are out of combat. Examples include: Direct III, Range III, Weaken, and Control: Bounce.
2. During combat, you should always do your best to have at least Direct on-deck.
3. At the end of a day, if you are about to reach your maximum Sanity (you expect that you are getting close to fully healing), prepare some glyphs. You never want to sit at full sanity if there are glyphs you could be preparing.
4. Duration! (This tip allies especially with #3 in mind.) If you have all of your glyphs prepared and on deck, and you still might have excess sanity, you can always invest in stacks of Duration. You can have unlimited stacks of Duration ready.
5. Still want to be even more prepared? You can actually enchant or set up triggers on your items, if you find yourself wanting to be super prepared.

 

Casting Spells:

This final section will outline how exactly you use that spell you just created. This section is the most difficult for people to overcome, because it can potentially create nearly infinite possibilities. Obviously, there are only a finite number of ways you can use glyphs and runes together (although there are probably hundreds of thousands of ways). But this next section will outline exactly what makes the magic of Braven come alive.

How is magic different than say, fighting with a sword? Well, when a swordfighter swings her blade at a foe, the foe then may choose to defend against the attack. Let’s set up this scenario to show how the system works normally (then we will show how magical casting works):

1. The swordlady, Dana, swings her mighty 6PT weapon at a slanky, little Gollard Nymph named Steve.
2. Dana has a total sword art of 55 and adds her roll of 12 to it. Her total attack is 67.
3. Steve is an extra-slanky Gollard Nymph and decides to dodge for 6PT.
4. Steve’s total Agility/Balance is 50 and he adds his roll of 15 to it. His total defense is 65.
5. In essence, the difference is +2 (67-65), in favor of Dana. On the attack table, Dana would hit her target with a Glance (since +2 isn’t the greatest hit, but still a hit nonetheless).
6. This interaction can be understood with the following philosophy: One character makes a choice and uses their ability to bring that thing into action. Another character made a choice to try and combat the ability of the first character. This is a scenario of choice versus choice. The combatants use their skill against one another, in a test to see who can best the other. Both combatants made the choice to use their PT and skill against each other.

Magic is similar, but slightly different. Let’s pretend that the slanky Gollard Steve knows some magic, and returns against Dana with his own attack:

1. Steve uses Direct (Glyph) + Conjure Essence (Rune) against Dana for 7PT total.
2. Dana does not have Counter Spell (or any magic at all), so she cannot use a defense at all against Steve. Dana has to hope she is simply a high enough level to resist the spell naturally.
3. Steve has 40 total Common Lore and rolls a 7. His total attack is 47. (Note: the type of target he is casting a spell on determines which Lore needs to be used.)
4. Dana is level 11. Her spell resist (since she has no other modifiers) is 35 + her level. Her spell resist is naturally 46.
5. The difference is +1 (47-46), in favor of Steve. On the attack table, Steve glances with his spell (but still hits). Dana’s arm is hit and becomes nearly crippled from the magic that warped her bones and flesh.
6. This interaction is understood with the following philosophy: One character makes a choice and uses their ability to bring that thing into action. The other character is not able to do anything in their defense, and must hope that their passive resistance will save them. Only Steve used his PT in this interaction, which means that Dana (although having just taken a powerful spell) still has all of her PT waiting to be used.

But that is combat, right? Spells can be used for almost anything you can imagine not just for fighting. All possible targets for spells are divided into the four Lore categories:

1. Alchemy Lore (inanimate substances and items),
2. Common Lore (other people),
3. Essence Lore (magical things), and
4. Nature Lore (living plants, animals, and creatures).

Any spell can be cast on any target. Why is that? Why is it that a spell that accesses memories can be used on a rock (which assumedly has no brain)? This is because of this vitally important paradigm in magic:

Spells are not cast on the thing, but on the essence that is beneath that thing. In philosophy, this might be casually referred to as a metaphysical interaction. (That reference is partially correct.) A spellcaster does not cast their spell on the form of a thing, but the essence that is within it. Everything, from a corpse to a bird, to a stone, to an Elf, has both a form and an essence bound to them. Spells technically cast on the form, but are brought into reality through their essence. For example, casting Conjure Fire on a pile of chopped wood makes the wood catch fire, which means that the form of the wood ignites in flames. But the spell is brought to the flesh of the wood through opening a portal in the wood’s essence. This is why the knowledge that the caster has of their target (their Lore) is used to cast a spell.

So, how could one read the memories of a rock? The essence of the rock holds the “memories,” not the rock itself. Spells, whatever they are, can be understood as bursting out from within the subject, casting onto the form of the subject. Conjure Fire comes from deep within the target being hit by it, and the target suddenly bursts into flames. Onus comes from deep within the subject, into their brain, telling the subject what they must now do.

But what about casting a spell on a powerful target? (This is where spellcasting becomes even more amazing.) If you want to cast a spell on a level 100 dragon (for example), you would actually punch or throw your spell into your target instead of trying to bring a spell into reality through your target’s essence.

For example, in classic roleplaying games, a sorcerer might have a skill like Fireball: an exploding ball of fire that is thrown in a direction (much like a flaming baseball), striking its target and immolating everything within a radius.

Below, we will outline two different ways to cast a Fireball-like spell in Braven:

First, the classic Braven way of spellcasting:

1. A high level wizard prepares and uses Direct III, Range II, Radius, Impact II x4, and Magnify I glyphs. The wizard uses Conjure Fire rune and targets a Gollard Nymph centrally located in a group of other gollards.
2. The wizard uses their Essence Lore and rolls to cast the spell on the gollard in the center of the pack.
3. The wizard succeeds, and a fiery explosion suddenly bursts from the gollard in the middle, blasting it and all of its friends nearby.
4. Note: this spell did not fly through the air at all, but was brought into reality through the essence that was beneath the gollard nymph. This spell suddenly appeared in a massive explosion. Most spells in Braven are cast in this way (and cast successfully so long as the wizard has a high enough Lore to pull it off).

But what about shooting a flaming fireball that flies through the air, like in other roleplaying games? Check it out:

1. This wizard in this next scenario is a lower-level wizard who does not have a very high Essence Lore. The wizard knows that they might fail casting their spell if they were to try (and risk wasting all of that PT and Sanity).
2. This low-level wizard prepares and uses all of the glyphs and runes as in the previous scenario. But in this situation, the wizard decides to cast the spell from themselves and throw it, instead of conjuring it directly from their enemy.
3. Casting on or from yourself is automatically a success. Note that because the wizard used Direct and Range glyphs, they can actually shoot the spell from their body instead of hitting themselves with it (without Direct, the spell would have actually immolated themselves instead). What this means is that the wizard decided to use their own, personal essence portal (within themselves) to bring the spell into reality, instead of bringing the spell into reality through their target’s inner essence portal.
4. So the wizard throws their fireball using their Missile/Thrown art instead of their Essence Lore. (This attack is treated with the exact same PT as before, it doesn’t cost more or less.) So, what’s the difference? Now, the enemies are able to use dodge (or block/parry, if they are stupid enough) against this spell because they can see it coming.
5. The lower-level wizard cleverly used their environment and setting to their advantage, even though they were too weak to cast their spell directly on this particular enemy. But unfortunately 3 of the 6 gollards were able to dodge the explosive blast by spending a boatload of PT each. Still though, 3 out of 6 is better than a spell that was bound to fail entirely. On top of that, the wizard forced all of the gollards to spend PT, which could turn out to be advantageous later.

Here are some examples of different spells, how to cast them, and why you might want to cast them in this way:

Make your snipulid opponent (a giant spider creature) who is far away, suddenly burst into flames:

• Use Direct and Range glyphs + Conjure Fire rune. Target your opponent using Nature Lore. Roll your dice and hope your total is higher than their spell resist. Your opponent cannot use any PT to defend themselves.
• [You may wish to use this method if you are confident that you can cast your spell on your opponent and you do not want your opponent to be able to use any form of defense.]

Throw a firebolt at your snipulid opponent who is far away, and make them burn in flames:

• Use Direct and Range glyphs + Conjure Fire rune. Target yourself, and cast the spell from your body in a flying streak of fire that flies towards your opponent. You use your Missile/Thrown art plus your roll to attack. Your spidery opponent may choose to spend PT, if they want to dodge, parry, or block your attack.
• [You may wish to use this method if one of the three things are the case:
  1. First, if you are too low of a level to cast directly on your opponent (and you know your spell would have a high chance of failure).
  2. Or, if you have a very high Missile/Thrown bonus and you wish to use that art instead of your Lore.
  3. Lastly, you may wish to use this method simply because you want to bait your opponent into spending their potential (this could possibly set up a nearby ally to attack them while they have no way to defend).]

Make your snipulid opponent who is right next to you, suddenly burst into flames:

• Use Direct glyph + Conjure Fire rune. Target your opponent using Nature Lore. Roll your dice and hope your total is higher than their spell resist. Your opponent cannot use any PT to defend themselves.
• [You may wish to use this method if you are confident that you can cast your spell on your opponent and you do not want your opponent to be able to use any form of defense.]

Magically strike your snipulid opponent who is right next to you, with a flaming “fist” attack (flames appear like a fiery fist, even though you don’t actually do any punching yourself):

• Use Direct glyph + Conjure Fire rune. Target yourself, and cast the spell from your body in a streak of fire towards your opponent. You use your Hand to Hand art plus your roll to attack. Your spidery opponent may choose to spend PT, if they want to dodge, parry, or block your attack.
• [You may wish to use this method if one of the four things are the case:
  1. First, if you are too low of a level to cast directly on your opponent (and you know your spell would have a high chance of failure).
  2. Secondly, if you are actually touching or holding on to your opponent, you can cast through yourself and melee “Automatic Aim” bonuses apply (it is very easy to aim if you are holding onto what you want to attack).
  3. Or, if you have a very high Hand to Hand bonus and you wish to use that art instead of your Lore.
  4. Lastly, you may wish to use this method simply because you want to bait your opponent into spending their potential (this could possibly set up a nearby ally to attack them while they have no way to defend).]

Embue your friend’s arrow with a flaming blast that will trigger when they hit something (note: if you don’t use trigger, then the flames will be expended on the arrow instead of whatever the arrow strikes):

• Use Trigger: Touch glyph + Conjure Fire rune. Target your friend’s arrow (hopefully they are already holding it, else it will cast on them when they touch it) and set up the trigger spell. You use your Alchemy Lore plus a roll to cast on the arrow. (Hopefully your total is higher than the Alchemy Level of the arrow.) When your friend fires their arrow and strikes something that has sentient essence (an animate entity), your Conjure Fire spell will automatically cast on the same location that the arrow struck. Note: The target only needs to use a single defense against both of these attacks (since they are combined, technically).
• [You may wish to use this method if your friend has a better chance of hitting a target than you do or you simply wish to strike an enemy with a single powerful attack instead of two separate ones.]

Embue your own sword with a flaming blast that will trigger when you hit something (note: if you don’t use trigger, then the flames will be expended on your sword instead of whatever the sword strikes):

• Use Trigger: Touch glyph + Conjure Fire rune. Target your own sword and set up the trigger spell. You use your Alchemy Lore plus a roll to cast on your sword. (Hopefully your total is higher than the Alchemy Level of your sword.) When you use your Weapon Art to hit a target that has sentient essence (an animate entity), your Conjure Fire spell will automatically cast on the same location that your weapon strikes. Note: The target only needs to use a single defense against both of these attacks (since they are combined, technically).
• [You may wish to use this method if your Weapon Art has a better chance of hitting a target than your Lore does or you simply wish to strike an enemy with a single powerful attack instead of two separate ones.]

As I play different table-top RPG missions with different people, there are a few things I’ve noticed make or slightly break the game. No matter the specific game you play, many people struggle with staying in character, communicating with teammates, or remembering to act like a real person.
So I put my brain juices to work to find the key ingredients that make certain games simply magical; the things that could help newer players, or those who want to get better, grow into the characters that others want to play with.

Without further fluff talk, let’s get into the good stuff! Note that these tips are in a relative order of importance, and each will lead into the others more fluidly once people become comfortable and familiar with themselves and the game. Being intentional with one step at a time can produce great results.

Quick Summary:

Tip 1: Communicate with your group-mates as characters and players.

Tip 2: Specify your actions through detail.

Tip 3: Let everyone have a turn in game play.

Tip 4: Find out more about other characters, like their skill-sets.

Tip 5: Encourage characters who are best suited for the task to act, or take initiative.

Tip 6: Use your character to create a story.

1) Communication: Tell other players what you find out or what you know.

Keep in mind that what you find out as your character nobody else knows, unless the Host says so. Relaying what you’ve learned to the rest of the group can help game play go much smoother and stop meta-gaming (something players know, but their characters actually don’t). It also gives other players a chance to dive in more and contribute, because they can say they know what is going on.

Of course, if you are trying to be secretive you don’t need to say everything, but in general players should converse with their companions. If everyone is on the same page, it’s easier to move forward and make decisions as a team.

An example of this could be you notice something happening while on night watch. Have your character share that you saw a shadowy figure in the darkness. This could further plot through other characters having useful information, or simply continuing the current mission.

 

2) Be specific about the actions you do: Avoid confusion or trouble with description.

Part One: Describe your actions in first person. We all know we’re playing fictional characters, so don’t worry about clarifying that your character, not literally you, is doing something. In the game, you are them. Become them and own it! This creates a huge difference in making the experience more immersive and believable; for you and other players. It’s less immersive if you were to say, “my character unlocks the door” rather than saying “I unlock the door.”

Part Two: Showing us what you do paints a better picture than just telling. Vagueness isn’t as helpful as detail. The more descriptive you are; the more other players can understand how you are doing something or how you are saying something. We all know that voice inflection is crucial to really understanding how someone feels or what they mean. Even body language speaks volumes without using words. Help other players know your character by being descriptive. Pro tip: It’s even more effective if you act it out (not necessary, but way more fun and makes you more legit).

Part Three: Not being specific can greatly affect the outcome of a situation. Often, the Host is going to take you at your word. If you say you want to walk straight ahead down a dark hallway, that’s what you’re doing. If you meant to say you wanted to be careful and look for traps, it may be too late. What you say is usually what you do, regardless if you meant something else. If you haven’t experienced this yet, you will, and it may not be fun. But in the end, the Host is working really hard to manage a million things at once, so specificity helps them to not have to guess your intentions.

 

The rest of the tips are all deeply intertwined, so keep in mind that they are each needed for the others to work.

3) Taking turns: Learn how to wait for the right moment to act.

It’s really easy to get caught up in the moment and focus on what you want to do, but remember you are playing with many other people who also want to act. Share the load (channeling Samwise here). If someone says they’re doing something, give them the space to explore that option, and if you can still do your action, do it next. This can be situational, and your character can attempt to stop someone from doing something, but try not to place your action over someone else’s.

A great way to get a better feel of how turns work is to watch players with more experience. Here’s some actual Braven game play: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_mWxaslUMA&feature=youtu.be ) Or Geek and Sundry’s Critical Role is another great option.

 

4) Get to know the other player’s characters.

Again, this very important and ties into Tip 3. Even though we know each other as players, our characters may not! Tell a story: have your character get to know others, act out those moments. This will help the game because you’ll know more if someone else is good at something, or has a fun personality quirk for flavor. The more you understand the roles of your companions, the smoother time can proceed because you know person A is really good at sneaking, person B is a healer, and person C is the talker. The truth is, everyone can perform every action to some extent. But if there was magic present, you would want your wizard to check it out, right? Or your archer to hit an unreachable target? Yup! So let it happen. This can be seen as good ol’ fashioned teamwork.

Learning the skill set of your friends is important, but this shouldn’t overshadow the importance of learning their character’s history, personal experiences, hopes, dreams, or just getting to know them better.

 

5) Give other players the chance to act: Practice inviting others to contribute.

There are multiple players, and it’s not always easy for everyone to get to play if only a couple people are the driving force constantly. If you’re a player/character who tends to act first, work on communicating better with the rest of the group. As someone who takes initiative, use that power to be a leader. Ask questions if someone else is better than you at doing the required action. Allowing each person the space to be active in the game is much more fun than doing everything yourself, or watching someone else do everything.

If you like being an active force, just keep in mind that your character might not. And if they are, just be a team player and don’t hog all the game time. This is a co-op, not a single player game.

 

6) Play your character: Tell a story!

The most important tip of all. Along with tip 4, the goal of Braven is to tell a story together. To do this, each person is encouraged to play their character as how they would react in the situations, not us as players. Remember that your characters may not be comfortable around each other like you are in real life. Many new players still need to cultivate and practice self-awareness. Remember to think about the story you are telling when you respond to or talk to another character. Braven is not a video game where you run around collecting achievements, getting upgrades, and short-cutting reality. Picking up a book doesn’t mean you learn the language, and neither does simply asking another player. Actually act out what that conversation would look like. Now you’re telling a story! However you play, just be genuine to who your character really is.

 

And lastly,

7) Have fun ♥

Hopefully, everyone in the group is playing because they want to have a good time. Positive attitudes make the game more enjoyable! Be aware of other players, be a friend, and help make game-time awesome by cultivating a great environment. This includes making the table a safe space to resolve conflict if it arises, voice things that worked, and maybe the things that didn’t. Like in any group work, there will be opposing personalities or butting of heads, but try to keep an open mind to correction. We all make mistakes. Be courteous and caring when bringing up issues.

I hope these tips will be helpful and set you on a path to leveling up. +50 exp.
So get out there and practice!

With Love,

Shelby