CRUX: Universal Roleplaying + Apocanomicon Survivor Generator (WIP)

Hey, happy Frigg's Day, everybody. I've got a pretty big post as we head into the weekend here...

First up, the CRUX: Universal Roleplaying rules have been updated, and are now fully in line with the Coils of Chaos rules (which is where we've been testing and refining systems for the last few months). You can grab the universal rules from the page on our site, and while it's only 30 pages, it has all the basics you need to play and create your own worlds like we did with Coils. Speaking of rules supplements...

We talked about releasing an early version of the character generator from our upcoming Apocanomicon project the other day, and here it is. 

This is an extreme WIP, and will likely be dramatically different by the time we release the full book, but for now, this is what we're using to get random apocalypse survivors to our own gaming table. This document is going to be lousy with typos and the like, and while it's designed to create a wide range of everyday folks, it's not going to encompass the whole human experience. At least not yet. If anyone spots any glaring omissions or has suggestions for additional tables or whatever else we should add or take out, let me know here. 

The document also has an experimental optional rules variant for "Destiny Points." This is a sub-system that we've been wanting to include for years, and this felt like a good time to test it out. Basically, these are like EXP gained by the players themselves, which can be used through any character they control to alter the narrative, forcing the GM to include certain story elements or give boons to their character or the party. This is a really rudimentary version, and it can be pretty interpretive, but I'd like to have a big table of example options in the final product if we end up keeping this dynamic.

For those who have access to the Coils of Chaos rules, we've been using this generator to do a sort of prequel game to our campaign, with each player rolling up and running multiple survivors, then taking them through a meat-grinder/funnel game set during the Great Discordance (the apocalyptic event that created the weird wasteland of Thaarn). One character from this entire batch will end up escaping certain doom to travel into the future and become our "everyperson." If you're playing and want to do something similar, I would suggest giving your final survivor the Story Armor trait once they travel to the future. (I think it's fun to look at this trait as a weird side effect of their displacement in the time stream.)

Also, shout out to Arthur Cordeiro, who illustrated the image posted above/in the WIP generator. This is technically for our Streets of Plasma game (another CRUX exploration of post-apocalyptic antics), but it fits as a placeholder. Arthur has done a ton of excellent work for our various projects, all of which are that much closer to moving ahead thanks to the universal rules being complete.

If you create some characters, post them to our creator page here on Patreon! We might make a model for them (either our own sculpts or through DesktopHero) if they're particularly compelling/we get the time. (No promises, but I want to do a few at least.) Have a great weekend! 

-Dutchmogul