Afterlife: Wandering Souls

Character Creation Preview
almost 5 years ago – Thu, May 09, 2019 at 10:59:11 AM

Hello lovely Wanderers!

Since we are one week into our Kickstarter I wanted to give everyone a deeper look into what character creation is like in Afterlife: Wandering Souls. Rather than rolling up a character or assigning points to a character sheet before play starts, character creation happens in game while your Wanderer is on the boat traveling from the world of the living to the world of the dead. Together with the other dead souls on the boat, you speak to the boatman, answer questions about your past life, and desperately try to cling on to what hazy memories you have. (Skip to the end to listen to a podcast where I run an entire character creation from start to finish).

The boatman poses your Wanderer a series of questions once they wake up on the boat and deal with the fact that they're dead. What questions you are asked is based a roll of 2d6 and various charts we have in the book. Once you answer the question in character - you get part of your stats and also live through a small memory fragment.

The memory fragments you gain in character creation are important, they are tied to your Death Marks, and later in game you'll pick different Death Marks you want to unlock. Unlocking a Death Mark means you get to play through a full blown important memory for your character and get a cool new ability for your character.

Let's look at one part of character creation to give you an idea of what happens. The start of character creation deals with a part of your past which defined who you were as a person. You roll 2d6 and get a 1,4. 

Your GM starts:

The boatman asks where you grew up, what you learned. Before the words, "I can't remember..." form in your mind an answer pours from your lips, "I lived in destitution, my belly hungry for the next meal, my skin yearning for shelter.  Something was lost to make ends meet, it would never truly return. "

The boatman nods listening to your story and he asks you, " What was sold and why?"

Now, it is up to you as a player to form a short memory based on the prompt and leading question from the GM.

Once you've answered you get your Core stats based on what you rolled, along with a Death Mark: The Empty Nest. Your Death Mark ties into your memory and when you unlock it you get the following ability:  Regain a point of Ferocity when someone tries to take something from you. 

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Character creation continues like this until each character has nine Death Marks and nine unique memories. There are over 100 Death Marks ensuring that your character's memories are unique.

After Death Marks, your character receives their Approach, learns a Talents, and finds a few curiosa (useful items explained fully in the core book) on the deck of the ship before finally reaching the Tenebris.

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If you're interested in hearing how an actual character creation session would run:

Jeff over at Party of One Podcast was kind enough to have me on his show and we actually played through an entire session of character creation. You can listen to that episode here!

Questions on character creation? Leave them in the comments and let's discuss!

Till next time Wanderers,

Liz

Stretch Goal UNLOCKED - Wanderer's Tome Upgrade
about 5 years ago – Sat, May 04, 2019 at 05:33:23 PM

Hail Wanderers,

We did it! The first stretch goal is unlocked! The Wanderer’s Tome is upgraded with illustrations on each notebook page echoing the beauty of the core book.

The Wanderer’s Tome started as a dream of my friend Floor and I. Some of you who backed WITCH: Fated Souls may remember her ;). We are both notebook fiends and love having a different notebook for just about any occasion. While creating WITCH we dreamed of a very special notebook that not only had space for a person’s notes, but also their character sheet and a rules references. One book to fit the player essentials.

That dream notebook never materialized for a number of reasons, mainly - I was just a baby-publisher at the time, but now it's a reality! I hope everyone enjoys the Wanderer’s Tome as much as I (and Floor) will!

What’s next? Well, at 7k we unlock a custom Limbo by Felipe Real. 

Felipe Real (Santiago de Chile, 1986): Writer, editor, and translator. When it comes to tabletop roleplaying games he has written for Magpie Games (The Fate Codex, Bluebeard’s Bride), John Wick Presents (various books for the 7th Sea Second Edition line), and Third Eye Games (AMP: Year Four). He also authored The Way of the Pukona (Evil Hat Productions, 2018), a Fate World & Adventure about young warrior women on a fantasy world based upon the real life Mapuche people, the indigenous inhabitants of Chile and Argentina. He’s also the editor of TRAILseeker, a Pathfinder RPG compatible e-zine. 

I am so excited to bring Felipe onto this project. We met when I brought him on as a writer for the 7th Sea 2nd Edition Heroes & Villains book and loved working with him. There’s not a lot of people I meet who approach projects with the same enthusiasm and creativity of Felipe, so I can’t wait to make him part of this project.

At 7k we'll also be adding the extremely talented Carol Darnell to our team edit our Stretch Goals. Carol has worked with AHP on many projects and we're excited to have her back and working on Afterlife: Wandering Souls. Carol began freelance editing in 2011, focusing mainly on RPGs. She co-hosts the podcast "All Games Considered" (www.agcpodcast.info) and is the Gaming Track coordinator for ConGlomeration (www.conglomeration.info). She lives in Southern Indiana in the US. You can see more of her work on caroldarnell.wordpress.com. 

After Felipe, Jaym Gates’ Stretch Goal is next. Once we unlock her Stretch Goal not only will I tell you more about this incredibly talented woman, but I will also reveal what book we could unlock at 9k.

Lots of love,

Liz

Funded in less than 24 hours!
about 5 years ago – Thu, May 02, 2019 at 11:12:14 PM

Hail Wanderers,

We did it! I just under 24 hours Afterlife: Wanderings Souls is funded! I am a bit in shock at the moment, I didn’t expect to fund this early and I am blown away at everyone’s support for this project. Afterlife is a special project for me. Since I created WITCH: Fated Souls I’ve been doing a lot of freelance work. I became the developer of a few books for 7th Sea Second Edition, I wrote the book of Lore for Bluebeard’s Bride, and I’ve be a loyal author (and fan) of just about any book Gallant Knight Games has put out. 

Working in the industry has given me a lot of experience and Afterlife feels like the culmination of that experience. It is so deeply rewarding to see the project fund early and I really want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. It means a lot <3.

Another reason I am so excited about Afterlife is it features the biggest, most diverse group of people who’ve ever worked on an Angry Hamster project. Normally, it’s me and an artist (or me, the amazingly talented Steffie and an artist). Funding early means we can move on to our Stretch Goals and hopefully knock them all out of the park! Part of our Stretch Goals is bringing on new and exciting talent to our list of creatives! 

Check out the first few goals below:

At 6k we'll upgrade the Wanderer's Tome for any person purchasing a copy! The content of the tome will stay the same, but we'll make sure each notebook page includes a beautiful illustration fitting with Afterlife's theme and setting.

7k unlocks a Limbo created by Felipe Real - more on Felipe when his goal is unlocked!

8k unlocks a Limbo by Jaym Gates - more on Jaym when her goal is unlocked!

If we manage to reach 9k we'll develop an entirely new book of content for Afterlife: Wandering Souls. You'll be able to purchase it as an add-on to your pledge and we'll create a new tier to include it. Want to know what the book is about - you'll have to wait and see!

Please share the project on social media, tell your friends, your family, and weather permitting shout about Afterlife from the rooftops! If you’re at a loss of what to say I created a few primers for you:

Twitter: Afterlife: Wandering Souls has funded in less than a day and is unlocking stretch goals! Play a Wanderer travelling through strange worlds in search of memories. Check out the Kickstarter by @angryhamsterrpg today https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1568822309/afterlife-wandering-souls 

Facebook: Afterlife: Wandering Souls has funded in less than a  day and is unlocking stretch goals! In Afterlife you play a Wanderer travelling through strange worlds in search of lost memories. Check out the Kickstarter by Angry Hamster Publishing today https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1568822309/afterlife-wandering-souls 

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I can’t wait to see what we unlock next! Speak to you soon.

Lots of love,

Liz