7:31 PM +Ben_Redmond: Hello everyone, I’m Ben Redmond. I’ve been writing RPG material since 2000, both self-publishing as Malladin’s Gate Press and more lately as the Black Orifice, and freelancing for Goodman Games and Paradigm Concepts.
7:31 PM +Ben_Redmond: I guess if there’s anything you may have heard of me for it’s Etherscope, which was published by Goodman Games back in 2005/6 and achieved nominations for a few different awards.
7:31 PM +Ben_Redmond: Most recently I have released a brand-new original game, Newtonium Engine, which is available now on DriveThruRPG.
7:31 PM +Ben_Redmond: Newtonium Engine is an alternative history game with magic, superpowers, demons and clockwork technology.
7:32 PM +Ben_Redmond: The discovery of a magical alloy, called Newtonium, has allowed the creation of powerful clockwork-powered devices: flying machines, automata, powered armour, enhanced weaponry and more.
7:32 PM +Ben_Redmond: The players are Augmented humans, who have a special clockwork device grafted onto one of their internal organs, called a Newtonium motor that grants them super powers and the ability to channel powerful magical forces.
7:32 PM +Ben_Redmond: At the core of the system and magic in the setting is the four humours theory of medicine. In this theory health and temperament are a feature of the different levels of these four humours in the body: blood, phlegm, black bile (or gall) and yellow bile (or choler).
7:33 PM +Ben_Redmond: In the game, each of these humours has a virtue, a vice, a classical element and a magical discipline that it favours. Having a Newtonium motor grafted to a particular organ enhances a character in one of these humours and all the linked aspects.
7:33 PM +Ben_Redmond: So, for example, a character with a Newtonium motor grafted to their spleen has the ability to control fire, enhanced mesmerism rituals and improved valour, making them braver, more assertive and confident. However, the linked vice is wrath and they will find their anger tricky to control.
7:33 PM +Ben_Redmond: Elemental powers use a really flexible system where players can build their own effects by manipulating different parameters to mechanically describe the effects that they are trying to achieve.
7:33 PM +Ben_Redmond: The game also has a unique dice mechanic that, in addition to generating a number that determines success, it also generates different trigger effects. The triggers can boost yourself or an ally in some way, mess with an opponent or speed up extended tasks.
7:34 PM +Ben_Redmond: Overall, it’s quite a traditional style of game, yet has plenty of unique mechanical aspects and enough flexibility to allow players to play that role in developing the story that you have with more modern narrative-focused games.
7:34 PM +Ben_Redmond: Introduction complete.
7:34 PM ~Dan: Thanks, Ben_Redmond! The floor is open to questions!
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