Returning to the reserve and left on the shore by the military, our survivors begin to survey the night.
Not caught up yet? CLICK HERE to watch all the apocalyptic action.
And get your hands on the Z-LAND corebook now by CLICKING HERE.
If you want to chat about Z-LAND with other players and the developers, then come join our Discord server!
On the last Dev Journal we showed you the new tweak we made the runic magic rules. For this Dev Journal, we’re showing off what your character can do when they are not being professional criminals for the Merchant League.
Not every moment of your character’s life will be spent sneaking around places they’re not supposed to be, taking things that don’t belong to them, killing people who get in the way of the first two, and in general being up to no good. They’ll need time to rest, recuperate, relax, or get back to their regular lives. That’s what Downtime is all about, seeing what your characters do on their days “off camera”. Down time is also a good way to “park” a character for a bit if you want to change out characters. One can be spending his time “off camera” while you take a new one out for a spin.
Downtime is split into three main parts: Work, Live, Play. Each part pretty much does what it says (and we’ll dive into them below), but there is a key thing that happens at the end of Downtime: paying the bill. Nothing in life comes for free, and you’ll need to pay for whatever you do on your Downtime.
At the end of it, paying the bill comes down to a Wealth Check with a modifier based on your lifestyle, but will be the only modifier. There is so much that can be done during Downtime, that we could drown you in modifiers to your roll. We’re not gonna do that. Instead, everything that happens during Downtime will give you either a Bonus Reroll or a Penalty Reroll. A Bonus Reroll means you reroll the Wealth Check and you choose the best result; and a Penalty Reroll means you reroll the Wealth Check but you must choose the worst result. Bonuses and Penalties cancel each other out, so when it comes time to pay the bill, you’re either gonna be left with just Bonus Rerolls, none at all, or just Penalty Rerolls.
It’s a quick and easy way to track your “spending” during Downtime, and so now let’s see all the things you can get up to.
Nothing in life is free, and for most of us, the way to make money is to work. During Downtime, your character can find a job, or go back to theirs and work like the rest of us plebs.
To look for a job, you’ll need to pass a Skill Check. If you pass, you can do that job for the Downtime. If you fail, however, you need to go look for another career. You can only attempt each job once per Downtime, and if you fail, you’ll get a -10 modifier to the next job-hunting Skill Check you do. If you already have a job from your background or a previous Downtime, you can just go straight back to it without having to do a Skill Check. And if you can’t find a job, or don’t want one, you can be a vagrant for the Downtime and get a Penalty Reroll to your Wealth Check at the end.
Here’s the list of Skills and what jobs you can get if you pass their Checks.
| Skills | Careers |
| Athletics | Chimney Sweep, Entertainer, Labourer, Messenger, Gardener |
| Broad-Craft | Artisan, Carpenter, Cobbler, Farrier, Mason, Smith, Wheelwright, Cobbler |
| Burglary | Footman, Locksmith, Tailor |
| Constitution | Brewer, Fishmonger, Labourer, Mason, Sailor, Tanner, Smith |
| Deceive | Artist, Butcher, Civil Official, Entertainer, Grocer, Office Clerk, Trader |
| Diplomacy | Barber, Barkeep, Coachman, Entertainer, Fishmonger, Grocer, Law Clerk, Printer, Trader, Retainer |
| Drive | Coachman, Farrier, Messenger, Sailor, Wheelwright |
| Fight | Barber, Bodyguard, Butcher, Constable |
| Fine-Craft | Apothecary, Artisan, Artist, Brewer, Cook, Jeweller, Locksmith, Runescribe, Tailor |
| Intuition | Barkeep, Clergy, Fisher, Scholar, Farrier, Cook, Retainer, Artist |
| Intimidate | Barkeep, Bodyguard, Civil Official |
| Investigate | Fisher, Gardener, Messenger, Runescribe, Scholar, Constable |
| Logic | Apothecary, Clergy, Law Clerk, Office Clerk, Printer, Runescribe, Scholar |
| Luck | Brewer, Chimney Sweep, Cook, Fisher |
| Might | Carpenter, Labourer, Mason, Sailor, Smith, Wheelwright |
| Perception | Artisan, Barber, Carpenter, Coachman, Jeweller, Locksmith, Tailor, Cobbler |
| Shoot | Bodyguard, Constable, Footman |
| Stealth | Chimney Sweep, Footman, Gardener, Tanner, Retainer |
| Wealth | Apothecary, Civil Official, Jeweller, Law Clerk, Office Clerk, Printer, Trader |
| Will | Clergy, Fishmonger, Grocer, Butcher, Tanner |
When you’re in a job, you can also make another Skill Check for the Downtime to see how well you are performing at your work. Pass this second Check and you’ll get a Bonus reroll to your Wealth Check at the end.
It’s the quickest and easiest part of Downtime, and it says what sort of level of lifestyle you have. How rich or poor are you living? The answer to that will determine the modifier you’ll get to your Wealth Check at the end.
| Lifestyle Modifier | |
| Homeless | – |
| Subsistence | 60 |
| Poor | 45 |
| Average | 30 |
| Comfortable | 15 |
| Wealthy | 0 |
| Lavish | -15 |
| Opulent | -30 |
| Decadent | -45 |
| Kingly | -60 |
There are also things that can get you rerolls. If you have dependants living with you, you’ll get a Penalty Reroll, but if you have another breadwinner in the house then that’s a Bonus Reroll.
Each Downtime you can also choose to increase or decrease your standard of living. Increasing means a Penalty Reroll for that Downtime, while decreasing is a Bonus Reroll (on top of the change in modifier).
This is where you get to unwind and enjoy yourself. Well, maybe. You can always choose not to do any activities for the Downtime and just focus on more work instead, which will net you a Bonus Reroll.
There are 10 broad categories of activities that you can partake in during Downtime, and each will have it’s own quirks and special rules (that will be fully explored in the book), and some will give you Bonus Rerolls or Penalty Rerolls; some will give you other types of rewards or misfortunes that could carry over into the next adventure as well.
Your level of lifestyle will also affect many of the activities you participate in. Going socialising with the upper-crust of society is clearly different type of party than slumming it in the… well… slums. Your lifestyle will add flavour to your activities, but it could also unlock some extra tidbits as well.
Now that you’ve done everything you could or wanted, it’s time to pay the bill. So tally up your rerolls, get your Modifier from your Lifestyle, and roll that Wealth Check. If you pass, then all is well. If you fail, well then you have a choice.
You can go broke, which means the number by which you failed becomes a negative modifier to all your Wealth Checks for the next session of gaming, and your Lifestyle gets forced down by one for the next Downtime. Or you can go into debt, which means nothing bad happens now, but eventually you’ll have to pay up alongside the interest. Who knows, maybe a determined debt collector might show up in an adventure or mission a few sessions from now.
Picked up brought into the unknown our survivors sit down with what remains of New Zealand’s military might.
Not caught up yet? CLICK HERE to watch all the apocalyptic action.
And get your hands on the Z-LAND corebook now by CLICKING HERE.
If you want to chat about Z-LAND with other players and the developers, then come join our Discord server!
In our last Entropy Preview, we showed you the mammal-reptilian hybrids: the Cyrex. This time, we show you the cryptic and foreboding Zord
The Zord is an empire that influences all the Cosmic Exchange with their presence. They are originated from their now dead red planet: Koz, in the currently almost empty system of Jede. Zords are quite cryptic, creepy, and towering individuals that work in almost perfect unison against the forces of the Anomaly. Led by the legendary “ZORD” from which they took the names they use, they patrol space in massive ships of very angular shapes equipped with heavy weaponry.
Zords are seen as very violent and hard to talk to, and most people would prefer them to be as far away from them as possible. Loyalty, faith, and brawn are the most shown qualities amongst the Zord, who train all their life in squads or on the field to hone their talents to kill anything that could stand in their way. Nobody knows the real weight that burden every Zord, for when all hell breaks loose, they will stand tall and give their lives to protect the rest of the galaxy, even if they would kill anyone of them to achieve it.
Zord culture is somewhat remote from the eyes of the other species since they only look like crusaders with a crazy cause as a reason to fight or being mean. This freezing demeanor could be the cause of why they are frown upon or avoided. Even the fear of being accused falsely of Lunacy usage or ritualism is present in stations around the galaxy when Zords are spotted, people hide and wish for them to go away with only the officials addressing them in person with their best spokesman to slow or stop the Zords from overreacting.
Only Zords knows what their people do in their stations for leisure time and diversion. From a few witnesses and meetings, Shlaugs discovered that what they mostly do of their time is: training, outside of their armor musculation, and disciplinary exercises but a few times some of them were seen playing a strange game that they could not observe for too long. Therefore, maybe they do have pass times activities, or this could be merely strategic simulations.
Lively Zords are sometimes encountered, but they are very hard to sympathize with. However, when trust is gain with a Zord, they share war stories and tactics advice with other people, since they travel a lot, they are full of wild and impressive tales of the unknown. Storytelling is the strong suit of Zords who wish to express themselves with other species that dare to approach them. Zords most precious thing in life is their limitless faith in their leader. They carry banners and kill in his name with high energy on the battlefields. They work for him and bring his words because the enigmatic “ZORD” never leaves his mothership in the Jebe system, in orbit around Koz. The interior of the station is decorated like a church and is full of depictions of Zords in action, chasing down monsters and “heretics” in the glory of their master.
If you want to know more about Entropy then join our Discord server, and chat with Charly the dev himself.
Something in the water awaits our survivors, a blessing or a curse. Today we begin to find out.
Not caught up yet? CLICK HERE to watch all the apocalyptic action.
And get your hands on the Z-LAND corebook now by CLICKING HERE.
If you want to chat about Z-LAND with other players and the developers, then come join our Discord server!
Tabletop RPGs aren’t always played in the afternoons and evenings. Some of the best games I’ve had were when we all showed up first thing in the morning, bright and bushy tailed, ready for a whole day’s worth of gaming. For those early starts, you need a little something to kick off your day, and there’s nothing easier to make in the mornings than these.
This makes around a dozen fritters, depending on how big those spoonfuls are.
This makes around 4 glasses worth. Keep chilled until you’re ready to serve with ice cubes and (if you like) some cold milk or cream.
If you like these recipes, have a go at making them, and let us know how it turns out!
If you’ve missed any of the previous recipes, find them HERE.
And get your hands on our newest game, Enforcer, by clicking on the banner below.
Gates has had its first major update for its beta version, so here’s James with what’s changed:
Gates has been a fun ride so far. Its gone through many updates behind the scenes, even being rewritten several times. All of those updates and rewrites served to polish the game into the best form it could be in. Though, I have a long way to go. This first update for the public beta progresses some of the game, but actually removes some as well. The following is a short update on the changes:
My personal favorite monster is the ninja. Particularly because of its ninja swarm ability. Essentially, if the ninja is in a large group of other ninja, then it is severely weakened. This gives that reverse ninjitsu feel that cinematic movies have. And what else is cooler than fighting hordes of ninja?
Try out Gates now by clicking on the logo above or just CLICK HERE.
If you want to chat with James and the other devs of Stormforge West about the games they’re making, come join our Discord server.
Strangers are out there in the night and our survivors are most certainly in for a fright.
Not caught up yet? CLICK HERE to watch all the apocalyptic action.
And get your hands on the Z-LAND corebook now by CLICKING HERE.
If you want to chat about Z-LAND with other players and the developers, then come join our Discord server!
Who doesn’t love burgers and chocolate? Well then, why not have the best of both worlds with a chocolate burger? Surely, it’s the next logical step, right? And to go with your chocolate burger, why not some chocolate mousse? No one ever says you can have too much chocolate.
This makes around 6-8 patties depending on how big you make them. Put them on some burger buns and some chocolate sauce, and enjoy.
If you like these recipes, have a go at making them, and let us know how it turns out!
If you’ve missed any of the previous recipes, find them HERE.
And get your hands on our newest game, Enforcer, by clicking on the banner below.
On the last Dev Journal we showed you how to arm your PCs with the very best weapons Middelburg has to offer. For this Dev Journal, we’re showing a change to the most crucial part of the Runed Age: the runic magic rules.
Well, when we say “change”, it’s more of an addition. None of the old runic magic rules will change, and no runic array will become obsolete. What we’ve added here is an extra rule that will make your life easier when designing a runic array, and give you more flexibility in how you draw them.
What better way to start than with an example:
On the left here you can see the original Furnace Fist runic array, and the thing that set it apart was how it showed that if you wanted to say Do X if Y or Z, you’d have to draw each IF part separately, since there was never a way to do IF-OR on a single branch of the runic array.
Well, as you can see, now there is. On the right you have the new Furnace Fist and the new bit being added to the rules of the runic arrays: the placeholder locus. This empty locus simply says any of these things CAN fit in here IF they are present. So in this way, you can now say Do X if Y or Z and keep everything on the same branch.
The old Furnace Fist’s notation looks like this: Create Fire if Animal is present, create Fire if Iron is present, create Fire if Stone is present, create Fire if Wood is present.
The new Furnace Fist’s notation with the placeholder locus looks like this: Create Fire if Animal, Iron, Stone or Wood is present.
Now isn’t that just so much more tidy? This new way cuts out a lot of duplication that needs to be done in the old way. Furnace Fist might just have one affecting rune (Create), but imagine if you wanted to link 5 affecting runes through that one branch, and modify them all? You’d have to draw the same thing for each branch, meaning 20 runes plus all the modifications to them all.
So not only will it save you time and patience, but it will also save you space and not clog up the whole runic array with duplicated drawings.
Heading home our survivors find that the world around them has kept on moving in their absence.
Not caught up yet? CLICK HERE to watch all the apocalyptic action.
And get your hands on the Z-LAND corebook now by CLICKING HERE.
If you want to chat about Z-LAND with other players and the developers, then come join our Discord server!
Since the last update came out, we’ve been busy little beavers, so there’s quite a bit in this update for you.
Look at those lovely new pieces made by the awesome Pat Callahan. The first three of the exemplar characters have received their art, and this is only the first step. All the money that comes in from Enforcer’s Early Access will go straight towards putting in as much art into the book as humanly possible, so expect to see much more art in future updates!
Sometimes the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. For those times, that’s when you need some cybernetic augmentation, and that’s exactly what we brought in this update. Augments work just like Perks in the game, but instead of having to wait to get them through experience, you can just buy them. Upgrade your Enforcers to make them more than they were, but becoming a machine comes with its own risks.
You know what’s great? Psionic powers. You know what’s better? More psionic powers.
We’ve expanded the psionic feedback table to give you 25 frightening things that can happen if you are unlucky when rolling a Psionic Check. These feedback options are also more flavourful than just giving character a status effect.
Minions are wonderful and adorable little things, and we’ve now put them together into their own little groups. If you are in need of some quick opposition in your games, you can now grab a premade Minion Squad from the list and go to town.
It’s the eternal balancing act, making sure everything is costed properly, and to that end we’ve changed how all the things in Enforcer is costed.
If you haven’t gotten Enforcer yet, you can grab it now by CLICKING HERE!
Enforcer is still in Early Access. This means that everything you need to play Enforcer is here, but it is not 100% finished. The main reason for the Early Access is to get funding for the art. Every dollar you spend on Enforcer is a dollar we give to an artist to make Enforcer look better. While the art is being worked on, we’ll keep polishing up the rules and increasing the lore. Everyone who gets Enforcer in the Early Access stage will get the full digital release for free, and we will also give you the final printed version at cost price.
If you want to know more about Enforcer, then come chat with other players and the developers on our Discord server!
With our final part of the chapter our survivors learn what truly remains of the Wellsford townsfolk.
Not caught up yet? CLICK HERE to watch all the apocalyptic action.
And get your hands on the Z-LAND corebook now by CLICKING HERE.
If you want to chat about Z-LAND with other players and the developers, then come join our Discord server!
It’s as cold and wet down here in New Zealand as the day is long, but you northerners are having quite a lovely summer I hear. So in honour of your heat waves, here are two quick summer recipes for today.
Food Processor/Blender
This makes around 4 glasses worth of smoothie. Keep chilled until you’re ready to serve.
If you like these recipes, have a go at making them, and let us know how it turns out!
If you’ve missed any of the previous recipes, find them HERE.
And get your hands on our newest game, Enforcer, by clicking on the banner below.
In our last Entropy Preview, we showed you the mystic and enigmatic Etsyon, at once so familiar but yet so alien. In this post we present giant talking snakes, otherwise known as the Cyrex.
The Cyrex is a race of reptile-mammal hybrids wandering space pirates, coming from a damp and hot jungle world where horrible predators live, and the law of the strongest is in effect.
The Cyrex is undoubtedly the most active predators in the Cosmic Exchange. Since they were discovered, thousands of people were killed, used as food or enslaved into breeding cults by the Cyrex in a strange effort to mix their traits with the most species in space. They are a physical culture who value appearance, strength, and talent into their friends, allies, and enemies.
Not all Cyrex are space pirates, but they always keep their primal predator spark when in civilisation and relationships, as well as their incredible hunger for meat, making them undying carnivores who can swoop and attack at any moment when craving their prizes, flesh or a good conversation alike.
Since they joined the Cosmic Exchange, in the effort of calming the hostilities and reform the species into a more modernised whole, they managed to buy back their reputation a little, but slavery and debauchery cults still are present everywhere making them one of the most polarised species in space.
Cyrex military is significantly focused on the ruthless attributes of their race. They hunt, kill, and feed on others they overcame. Their diet lets them eat what they kill and allow them to explore for an unlimited amount of time until they run out of target or they fulfil their mission. Sent out into the unexplored area of the galaxy to raid and explore for their warlord, they seek artefacts and technology they steal and take from the dead hands of the creatures that live there and with these technologies they upgrade their own.
The most apparent theft was made against the Zelar when the Cyrex managed to capture scientists and Arc weapons, enslaving and using the scientists until they were completely drained of energy and life. They built gear and ships able to help them in their endeavours. Stolen technology makes the bulk of their offensive power, and their artistic raw crafting skills led to the development of the Shredders, used by a majority of close-quarter fighters all around the galaxy.
Warlords of all clans do not see eye to eye, and all fight for the praise of the most powerful active one around. It is not rare to see warlords of inferior clans trying to attract and marry the most influential Cyrex warlord to merge their clans or merely kill them to steal it. Sometimes, female rulers offer themselves to the strongest to bear their children as a token of peace and raise it until it becomes strong enough to take their father’s place. The same thing can happen with the role reversed if the strongest is a female in search of an heir.
If you want to know more about Entropy then join our Discord server, and chat with Charly the dev himself.
