Rules Preview - Advantages and Disadvantages
over 8 years ago – Sat, May 14, 2016 at 11:53:57 AM

The Kickstarter has been live for five days, and in that time we've funded almost 500% ! Typically, this is the time when most Kickstarters enter a lull in the action, which means that we have a little more time to discuss the game itself. It's a good time to share (and retweet) with newcomers who are curious about The Dark Eye but might need some more information.

With that in mind, we wanted to provide an excerpt from the Core Rules. Since there has been a bit of discussion about Advantages and Disadvantages, we thought it would be nice to share a couple of those. But we also want to point out how the rules of The Dark Eye are not just about combat! They provide flavor and motivation to roleplaying as well. Here are some examples:

Two-Voiced Singing (Advantage)
Two-Voiced Singing is an ability possessed by elves. With it, they can sing magical elven songs. When singing, the elf’s voice sounds as if a second voice is harmonizing with the first one.
Rules: A hero can use Two-Voiced Singing and can learn magical elven songs. The hero can use the application Two-Voiced Singing for the skill Singing.
Prerequisites: Race, culture, or profession must have Two-Voiced Singing as an automatic or suggested advantage.

Annoyed by Minor Spirits (Disadvantage)
Minor spirits are small elemental creatures that are not inherently dangerous but can be very annoying. Some spellcasters attract minor spirits to themselves when using magic.
Rules: Each time the spellcaster spends AE, the player rolls 1D20. If the result is lower than or equal to the amount of AE spent, minor spirits appear and harass the spellcaster. The GM decides what kind of minor spirits appear, depending on the situation. Examples include windbags, which make the spellcaster’s hair blow around, tearlings that sit under the eyes, and firescuttles, which can heat or burn the spellcaster’s possessions. All skill checks suffer a penalty of 1 due to the minor spirit’s distraction. Even if you attract more than one type of minor spirit at the same time, the penalty does not increase. Minor spirits stay around for 10 minutes and then disappear.
Prerequisites: Advantage Spellcaster

Hair-Bound Power (Disadvantage)
A portion of a magic user’s power is bound to the spellcaster’s hair, which grows very quickly regardless of its length. This disadvantage is especially common among elves and witches.
Rules: A hero who loses some hair for any reason (by cutting, fire, and so on; length doesn’t matter), also loses 10 points of AE immediately (minimum 0). AE lost in this manner regenerates the usual way. Hair lost due to everyday shedding doesn’t activate this disadvantage.

Of course there are combat-focused Advantages and Disadvantages too, but we wanted to give you a taste of some of the things that are truly unique about The Dark Eye. Over the next week or so, we'll be focusing our efforts on reaching out to new gamers and new communities, so we want everyone to see why this game is special to us.

Thank you for your support!

Locations - The Lands of the North
over 8 years ago – Thu, May 12, 2016 at 03:52:11 PM

Locations Preview

If you haven't already had a chance to see it, please check out our recent blog post, which includes several videos by Orkenspalter TV that discuss some of the lore and history of Aventuria. We also wanted to offer some descriptions of the various regions as they are listed in Core Rules. Our first set covers the lands of the North.

Thorwal
Many say that Thorwalian culture consists only of bellowing, brawling and boozing. But this is only one side of the coin, as the combative north men are more faceted than it appears at first glance. The people of the Thorwalers produced some of the best sailors of Aventuria, feared on all western coasts as pirates and robbers. The enmity the north men feel for the slavers of the deep south and their hatred for whalers are well-known, as they worship the divine whale Swafnir as highest among the gods. The landscape is rugged and primal.

Bornland
South of the eternal ice lies the Bornland, situated on the banks of the rivers Born and Walsach. Bustling seafaring trade marks its capital Festum and makes it one of the biggest cities of Aventuria. Beyond the free cities, the bronnjars reign: these noble landowners wield unrestricted control over their territories and rule their bondsmen with iron fists. The rest of the land is thickly forested, and you often find the ruins of ancient castles and forts, reminders that the Bornland was once conquered by the Rondrian Theater Knights.

The Far North
The far north of the world, where the pale, flickering North Star, also called Ifirn‘s Light, is the only light source in winter, is caught in the frosty embrace of eternal cold. The names of the regions here, like the Clashfrostdesert and the Grimfrostwastes, show the terrors that await all travelers. The northern-most island is the Yeti Land, home of the wild snow-men. There are few creatures living in the eternal ice that have a liking for humans. The rough tribes of the Fjarninger ice barbarians live here, just as the mysterious firn elves, who avoid most contact with other intelligent creatures.

Social Media Achievements

Some of you have wondered what's going on with those social media achievements. The numbers may seem a bit high based on what we have right now. We thought it might be a good idea to explain the thinking behind them.

An important consideration in the design of Kickstarters is the balancing of achievable and aspirational goals. For The Dark Eye, our achievable goals have been the funding stretch goals - we've kept those fairly close and frequent so that we can see tangible progress and so that you can feel like you are benefiting directly from our success. The social media achievements are the aspirational side - these are the goals that are focused more on long-term hopes and dreams.

The Dark Eye has a long history in Germany, but we are just now introducing ourselves to the English-speaking world. For us to achieve lasting success, we need to build a community of English-speaking players. That starts with social media development. And more importantly, it starts with your word of mouth. Your shares and retweets help bring our game to new players. They help spark curiosity among the new audience that will become that English-speaking community.

The social media achievements are a call to action. The previews that they might unlock really are less important than the family of gamers that you can help create.

Finally, unlike the funding goals, the social media goals do not end when the campaign is over. We'll post them somewhere else to keep track, but we want to keep pushing for many of them past June 2nd. And whenever we unlock a preview, it will be a preview of something not yet released.

Thank you all so much for your help so far! You are the most important part of this campaign!