Greetings subscribers. Apologies for the late delivery of this newsletter, I once again find myself at the mercy of real world events. To be candid, I’ll be out of work by the end of the month and have been trying to come to terms with that, and to work out what to do next. Nonetheless, I have a skeleton of a post which I’m happy to share with you today.
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PARIAH
Last month I updated you with some changes to the PARIAH character generation, with some implicit consequences for how the game is played. Currently I’m working on a series of zinis, free to download, which detail updates and clarifications to the material in Volume 1. I’ll be able to deliver more news on that front next month.
In the meantime, have a look at how curse templates are applied under the revisions to the rules with this new (and I think improved) spirit-touched available on the blog Alone on the Labyrinth:
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2024/09/curse-template-spirit-touched.html
I’m very pleased to announce that the latest (third, in fact) volume of the adventure compendium UNBREAKABLE features an adventure written for PARIAH by the publication’s founder, Anthony Alipio. In the author’s own words:
As for my small part, I wrote Tastes Like Heaven, Smells Like Hell (for PARIAH by Atelier Hwei), a short adventure set in the Bukubo Archipelago (inspired by notions of proto-neolithic Philippines) about a wedding, generational differences, tribal disputes, and of course food. As the title suggests, the king of fruits plays a focal role throughout. Turning the delicately delicious yet overpoweringly pungent fruit into an a potent Pariah entheogen seemed a natural thing to do, and what better way to enrich the southeast asian inspired roleplay than to peel and eat some fresh durian at the game table? (For a milder olfactory experience, you might substitute a durian milkshake from your favorite restaurant or dessert shop instead.)
I purchased a copy of the entire compendium as a hardcover PoD which arrived recently. It’s a very attractive book featuring adventures “optimised” for OSE, Errant, Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Valor, PBTA and YZE. Tastes Like Heaven, Smells Like Hell reads like an excellent introductory adventure, and I’d love to read more about the proto-Neolithic Philippines setting the author describes.
It’s the first time I’ve seen a 3rd party PARIAH material in print and I’m both touched humbled. Here’s an affiliate link to its DTRPG page:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/478806/unbreakable-pathways?affiliate_id=767873
In other Pariah news, the City of Ghosts drop-in campaign has restarted! Still equivocating over if/how much to share as it’s essentially a playtest of what (one day?) will be a published adventure, but please let me know if you are interested in joining.
OTHER STUFF
I’m still working on an (extended) essay, prompted by Nova/Idle Cartulary, about the parallels between adventure design and landscape design. It’s… grown… but my current career issues are causing me to reconsider some sections of it. Hopefully Part 1 will be published before the end of the month as part of the Ariadne’s Thread series
Was hoping to have wrapped up Beyond the Pale by this post but scheduling has conspired to thwart these efforts… we’ve still at least one session left and I don’t have much to say other than it is an excellent example of how a mystery/investigative scenario can emerge within an N/OSR framework. It also has two small but perfectly formed dungeons.
Until next time,
~ Sofinho