Pathfinder starting gear

Jake has created the starting gear artwork for the Pathfinder. I dig the Mayan pyramid background quite a bit and the rich colors on all of these.

Pathfinder

Mike has finished the male Pathfinder, which finishes the artwork for this Adventurer. Looking forward to getting the new card printed up using both pieces of art!

Witherneb

While I’m not super keen on the name of this foe, this demonic insect creature stalk the jungle for intruders and use virulent poison to take down the largest prey. I love the depth of field on this image. This things looks like it’s right about to leap and spit acid all over your face.

Underworld Rulebook has been updated

While I still have more revisions to go on it, especially with graphic design of the various cards, the rulebook for Underworld has had a major update. If you’re interested in giving feedback on it, please click here for the link (or you can find it on the Underworld page under the Game Rules button.)

Carbuncle

One of the few "cutesy" foes in the game, the Carbuncle is another creature from folklore. There have been quite a few takes on this animal in fantasy literature and video games, but this one fits the mechanics of the creature in the game, as at the beginning of the 3rd round, this slippery little bugger scampers off into the bushes along with the precious gem embedded in it's forehead.

The Abúhukü

One of my personal favorite foes for the game, the Abúhukü, or Blood Sucker is a horrifying creature from South American folklore. This creature was clearly the inspiration for the Predator (of movie fame). Just read what this thing does to it's unfortunate victims:

Sneaking into villages under cover of darkness to attack peaceful sleepers, they cut a small hole in the back of the skull and suck out the blood and vital fluids. Even if one survives an abúhukü attack, they may still sicken and die, wracked with intense fever and painful rashes. Curiously, abühuwa do not attack infants or very young children; rather, they will often abduct them and attempt to raise them as their own.

I feel like Brenda really captured the creepiness of this creature in her illustration - it was great fun watching this one come together from the concept art to the final artwork.

Underworld Playtest Log - 11/14/19

I had the opportunity to playtest the game with my old gamer group in Ohio yesterday and we all had a great time. The group played the following adventurers:

• Firebrand - Gunnar (ended game with 105 Gold Crowns)

• Peacekeeper - Dave (ended game with 70 Gold Crowns)

• Treasure Hunter - Megan (ended game with 115 Gold Crowns)

• Austringer - Bill (ended game with 160 Gold Crowns)

Both the Peacekeeper and the Austringer received Wounds during the game. The Austringer’s was cured by the Firebrand, the Peacekeeper returned to town with a Ruptured Organ.

Here are some of the changes coming out of this playtest.

• Treasure Rewards: The active player draws 1 treasure for each Adventurer, chooses one, and then passes the three to the left (clockwise). Basically, a drafting mechanic for choosing rewards allows players to get treasures that may be more useful to them (like the Antichthon Orb).

• Look at some of the terminology on the player cards regarding Ally. Perhaps change it to Hero or some other word.

• Treasure Card idea: Potent Spirits - Reduce X Stress or Remove a Wound

• Consider adding ‘Kickers’ to some Adventurer abilities:

  • Example: Reduce Stress by 2 to increase damage of this attack by 2.

• Firebrand - Zealous Strike: damage felt low compared to other abilities.

  • I checked the spreadsheet and it had been increased from 1 + weapon damage to 2 + weapon damage, so I just forgot to update the card to reflect this.

• Night Hatchet : This foe card needs updated with new targeting dice mechanic. Also need to change Erratic Strike from a d4 to a d6. (I don’t want d4 dice to be used in the game any longer).

• Spore Hunter idea: Consider making it immune to Bleed?

Beware the Iron Devil

Holy warriors of the tusked creatures native to this land and blessed with the ability to manifest bestial features during battle. The holiest and most powerful of these warriors is rumored to be an enormous armorclad obsidian behemoth and stalks the jungle in search of intruders.

Playtest Notes from 7/25/19

My friend Jason came over and we played a 2 player game of Underworld. He chose the Knight-Errant and the Firebrand and I played the Treasure Hunter and Austringer. We both completely forgot to use our Hero Powers for the game. This made this run through the game feel pretty grim. My Austringer ended up with a Madness (Sadistic) and Jason’s Firebrand was wounded during the game. Had we both remembered to use our powers, neither would have happened… so balance is probably just right.

Changelog/Action Items:

• Text that says “Foe heals +1” is confusing - perhaps shorten to Self Heals +1 or just simply Heals +1

• Change Worm Tongue name to Hellmouth. Rename primary attack from Hellmouth to Worm Tongue

• At the beginning of combat, all players can use 1 item (like a potion, or item ability) before combat rounds begin.

• When a hero gets a wound, that takes them out of the combat. They recover half their Health at the end of the combat and come back into play.

  • On a TPK, the players lose half their gained Colony Resources and the Expedition ends.

• Should probably considering disallowing Big Foes to be Stunned. It is too easy for the players to “stunlock” them rendering the fights much easier. Consider making Stuns reduce their Speed by 10 instead.

• Armor Decisions

  • The starting armor decisions are weak and need to be re-evaluated. +1 Protection is still the “correct” choice. Need to consider other options for the +Max Health choices. Some ideas:

    • Increase Max Health values

    • Stress “Armor”

    • Regenerate After Battle

    • Add Utility effects to +Health Armor decisions (I like this one the most)

Our heroes are locked in an epic struggle with the Hellmouth and friends…

A Tempest Witch appears!

Brenda Rodriguez is an amazing freelance artist working on the foes for Underworld. This is her first completed work for the game - the Tempest Witch! I couldn’t be happier with the results.

You can see more of her work here: https://brenrodri.artstation.com/