[7:34 PM]Anton Relict: Greetings, my name is Anton Relict, I am humble aspiring author from Kyiv, Ukraine, and right now my main project is Archeterica – TTRPG of genteel conspiracy, set in alternative Napoleonic era. This is classless 2d6 game about managing secret societies, seeking dangerous enlightenment and fulfilling brave ambitions in a changing world!
[7:34 PM]Anton Relict: (done)
[7:35 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Thanks, @Anton Relict! The floor is open to questions!
[7:35 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Is there a supernatural element to this setting?
[7:41 PM]Anton Relict: Yep, it is game of mystery and occult, mainly in form of doubtful visions, vanishing ghosts, subtle paranormal. Archeterica is more about mind games and questioning, than about fireballs and long-bearded wizards in pointy hats. In-game characters usually start as someone who has never before encountered Unearthly Phenomena, because it is quite rare, and they can be both believers or sceptics, as this historical period is full of uncertainty, false evidence and pseudoscience.
[7:42 PM]Skipper: I like to ask this question often here; what are some of your inspirations for this game? What would be your Appendix N so to speak.
[7:42 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): To what degree does this setting diverge from real-world history?
@SkipperI like to ask this question often here; what are some of your inspirations for this game? What would be your Appendix N so to speak.[7:44 PM]Anton Relict: Archeterica has been in production since 2013, a lot of stuff has inspired me since then! I even have a list ready TV AND CINEMA: Sharpe, 1993–2008 Taboo, 2017 Black Sails, 2014–2017 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, 2015 Turn: Washington’s Spies, 2014–2017 The Emperor of Paris, 2018 Prestige, 2006 VIDEO GAMES: Cultist Simulator (2018) Council (2018) Assassin’s Creed: III (2012), Black Flag (2013), Rogue, Unity (2014) MUSIC: Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns Hitman: Blood Money OST by Jesper Kyd
[7:46 PM]Skipper: Dope dope1
@Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe)To what degree does this setting diverge from real-world history?[7:50 PM]Anton Relict: It is inspired by real-life events and tendencies of early 19th century, mainly French Republican Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, but is fully fictional in terms of countries, main personas etc. We have world that you can feel vague familiar with, but it still gives you creative freedom. We choose such approach to give players and game masters ability to dive into game without having degree in history, and we leave enough blank space for you to fill with your own countries, events, political figures for backdrop and you can do with them whatever you want without being afraid to be historically incorrect.
[7:50 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Does the game focus on the setting’s counterpart to Europe?
@Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe)Does the game focus on the setting’s counterpart to Europe?[7:58 PM]Anton Relict: Yes, we have signature county named Bramian Republic, it is cradle of republican revolution (Freedom! Equality! Fraternity!) but moved to eastern Europe But we have a huge lore for different continents, and if your game is set in Adrianno (our analogue for Europe), it may be sophisticated game of political espionage, but you also can be engaged in adventurous expeditions through living jungles of Salmandia or lead dangerous researches in grand steppes of Graaldo. Different countries, different ideas to explore, we try to fill up lore in the Encyclopaedia at our website, creating a lot of plot hooks to inspire games. So, if you have some original idea, usually it will be easy to find optimal place to set it in vast world of Archeterica
[7:59 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): What is the significance of the game’s name?
@Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe)What is the significance of the game’s name?[8:09 PM]Anton Relict: In-game Archeterica is pseudoscientific mystical teaching, that tries to tie in different religious and occult practices. It is built upon idea of Imago – that everything and everyone has paranormal image, soul, and this Imagos can influence physical world in a number of ways. Accordingly there are a lot of Archeterics – wandering charlatans and mystics, who try to reach true enlightenment and rise as immortal Imago, meanwhile claiming to be scientists and men of reason The name itself was inspired by my wife a decade ago, she studied philosophy and is now a Ph.D, and she taught me of greek word Arche, that means First, The Origin. So Archeterica is meant to mean “Science about Origin of all things”
[8:10 PM]Anton Relict: Full name for game used to be Archeterica Imago, but we decided it is too long)
[8:10 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Ah. Well, it’s a cool name. 1
[8:11 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Is the tech level consistent with the time period, or is there any weirdness in that regard (steam, clockwork, etc.)?
[8:15 PM]Anton Relict: We made a lot of historical research and we can tell for sure that 1800th was certainly a weird period There was a lot of wonderful prototypes and experiments, that were not widely known. Steam engines were already present but not widespread, there were plenty of takes on firearms with multiple charges and etc. Though we took some liberty with a lot of stuff, just to make things more interesting, so you can say that setting wise we mirror time period of 1750-1850. But secret organisations and societies can experiment with more obscure, unearthly technologies!(edited)
[8:17 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Out of curiosity, do you inclue air guns?
@Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe)Out of curiosity, do you inclue air guns?[8:21 PM]Anton Relict: Hah, yes, in full rules we have airguns as a very expensive experimental weapon, that has its use for some characters. We were very surprised to find out about these fast-shooting rapid fire weapons of Napoleonic era and tragic history why they remained unpopular (mainly due difficulties of technical maintenance and misuse of special troops by officers). We have plan to introduce a lot of weird weaponry of the period to the game. Everyone wants to try shooting pepperbox or duckfoot!(edited)
[8:22 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Oh, was the pepperbox revolver available then? I didn’t think those showed up until another decade or so.
@Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe)Oh, was the pepperbox revolver available then? I didn’t think those showed up until another decade or so.[8:25 PM]Anton Relict: Yes, all kinds of multi-barrelled weapons and revolving mechanisms already existed in Napoleonic era, but allways remained too expensive and unreliable for mass production. Why bother with such arms if you can just conscript hundred men, give them cheap muskets and have your own machine gun in form of line infantry shooting and reloading in lines 1
[8:26 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): What sorts of conspiracies exist?
@Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe)What sorts of conspiracies exist?[8:35 PM]Anton Relict: In real world, most of conspiracies are either political in nature, or criminal. In Archeterica main point for conspiracy usually is connected to attempts to study and control unearthly phenomena and artifacts. Different societies do it in secret to protect reputation of their members and protect their findings from rivals. This societies build complex hierarchy in form of Shadow Leagues or even Shadow Empires, with inner politics and intrigues. It was important for us in worldbuiding to do realistic secret societies, with believeble reasons for them to exitst. In Archeterica that is small fact that Otherworldly does exist and is dangerous to tamper with, but can provide huge possibilities. Our in-game secret societies are not all-powerful, most of them are presented as small clubs with no real influence, but in right place in right time they can forge the history.
[8:38 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): How powerful can magic get in this setting? Can you give some examples of what truly powerful magic might accomplish?
@Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe)How powerful can magic get in this setting? Can you give some examples of what truly powerful magic might accomplish?[8:43 PM]Anton Relict: In full rules we have more than a hundred pages dedicated to optional rules of Ritual Craft. Your characters can spend years mastering this forbidden art, and start with something like “with our week-long ritual we can make this person see really bad nightmares!” and goes to “I will die and come back as immortal entity, also I can make stars move according to my will”. But as I said, all of occult stuff is very balanced both mechanically and lore-wise to be believable enough and for world not to be tottaly dominated by it.
[8:45 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): How does someone with the power to control the stars not dominate the setting?
@Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe)How does someone with the power to control the stars not dominate the setting?[8:52 PM]Anton Relict: Mainly because they have more interesting things to do and are more drawn to Otherworldly realms than Earthly Realm. In setting you can meet a lot of powerful beings, most of them occupied with things of greater scope than simple conquest. By the way, we always aimed to portrait occult activities in Archeterica as something dangerous, but not inherently dark and twisted. Yes, you can loose your mind multiple times, but this is more a perilous road to enlightenment than cursed trap that will consume your soul.
[8:52 PM]Anton Relict: All in all, Archeterica is a positive setting!
[8:52 PM]Anton Relict:
[8:53 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): You mention powerful beings. Can you describe the game’s overall cosmology?
[8:56 PM]Anton Relict: There are no gods as world-creators, but there are Imagos, immortal images, who can be contacted for guidance. Usually player characters on their path of enlightenment seek them, forge pacts etc. But because this entities usually dwell on other levels of existence, you should more worry about agents of rival organisation backstabbing you)
[9:01 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Aside from Imagos, what other supernatural beings exist?
@Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe)Aside from Imagos, what other supernatural beings exist?[9:11 PM]Anton Relict: Usually every encounter with supernatural in Archeterica is build upon Imago, the spiritual stuff, but in fact we have a little of X-Files in our Napoleonica. We have actual aliens, bringing in small sci-fi element But they are even more rare in setting, usually using world as a pit-stop. In fact, we have a lot of deep lore, tying all together, but we prefer to keep it hidden until revealed in gaming process Our Archeterica adventure formula is simple: start in believable circumstances with intriguing, but what appears to be at first glance down-to earth mystery, then introduce gradually rise of tension and doubt, then break all expectations in weird plot-twists! Extra points if ending is not dark, but with promise)
[9:13 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Aliens, huh? I certainly didn’t see that coming!1
[9:13 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Napaliens!1
[9:14 PM]Anton Relict: You have to aim for such reaction from your players (This is our Good Mayor Scenario Actual Play with organisers of Horror Illusion Con, Brandon F. historical youtuber and Val from Corkboards and Curiosities)1
@Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe)Aliens, huh? I certainly didn’t see that coming![9:15 PM]Anton Relict: As I said, we have a lot of secrets and deep lore, and looking for best way to deliver it in games)
[9:15 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Do you have a character sheet that we can see?
@Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe)Do you have a character sheet that we can see?[9:18 PM]Anton Relict: Here is pregenerated character, signature character of Gentleman Incognito. As you can see, he is built on Narrative Attributes and Talents, which you do not choose from list – you can make up your own Narrative Attributes and Talents, as long as they fit setting and other players understand you, creating very interesting and diversed characters.
[9:19 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Can you describe the system?
[9:24 PM]Anton Relict: Easy to start, hard to master classless 2d6 game system. it is very narrative and flexible out of combat, but delivers very tactical crunchy battles with a bit of innovations because of dynamic initiative and fencing rules. And of course we have hundreds of pages of additional rules for managing your own secret society, building up ritual practise, doing X-Files style medical experiments and fullfilling other brave ambitions. For now most of rules are in Ukrainian language, we put a lot of work, thought and playtest to them, and are gradually translating them in English
[9:25 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): What modifies the 2d6 roll?
[9:31 PM]Anton Relict: Nothing! But Game Master modifies Difficulty of the test, starting from 3+ Trivial test to 12 Desperate test, judging on context of situation, your set of Talents an their levels (more than one talent may apply), your Burdens and etc. It is very easy concept to go with and gives space to use characters with very interesting niche talents… such as Handshake or Weird Imagination! There is one mechanic to modify your roll, it is called Flip Upward / Downward. You literally take your dices and turn them upside-down, turning for example double 1 into double 6 and thus getting better result. In fact 2d6 because of their normal probability curve have a lot of hidden benefits and we use them, but that is more math theory)
[9:33 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): How does magic work in terms of the system?
@Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe)How does magic work in terms of the system?[9:41 PM]Anton Relict: Either it is represented as small paranormal abilities (like 6th sense or ability to manipulate attention of others, feel otherworldly stuff etc.) and curses (being night-dweller or have weakness to holy signs). But true power to bend reality comes with rituals, that takes years of in-game time to master and it is game inside of game itself! You build your ritual practise, discovering new elements with experience, fuelling your rituals with combination of Incrustations, that are actually smaller flavour and mechanically important rituals. There is place for both random effects and strategic thinking. I hope we will release one-shot scenario that explores this gameplay in a few next month!
[9:41 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Great!
[9:42 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): In the time remaining, is there anything we haven’t covered that you’d like to bring up?
[9:46 PM]Anton Relict: There is a lot of stuff to talk about, because Archeterica is a deep and vast project with some history, and I am happy that we are bringing it to international stage in digestible pieces. There is PWYW Quickstart and signature adventure Good Mayor on DrivethroughRPG, and right now we are in last week of Kickstarter for our The Invitation Starter Set, that includes 50-pages rules, three adventures and laser-cut miniatures! Next on the line we aim to release more and more adventures to explore this game, and I hope in a few years we will be able to present our full Rulebook with 666 pages of dubious content(edited)
[9:47 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Impressive!
[9:47 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Thanks very much for joining us, @Anton Relict!
[9:47 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): Usual reminder: If you’ve enjoyed this Q&A and would like to treat me to a coffee or two, you can do so at https://www.ko-fi.com/gmshoe. Anything’s appreciated! Ko-fiBuy Dan Davenport a Coffee. ko-fi.com/gmshoeBecome a supporter of Dan Davenport today! ❤️ Ko-fi lets you support the creators you love with no fees on donations.
[9:48 PM]Anton Relict: Thank you a lot Dan and thanks to all Randomworlds TTRPG Community 1
[9:48 PM]Dan (Hardboiled GMshoe): If you’ll give me a minute, I’ll get the log posted and link you!