EOS-SAMA

There was a review in Nuclear Power back in late January which I didn’t see. There will be more reviews when the printed book hits the shelves. The reviewer loved Legends of the Wulin so much…I had to put a link to it here.

Also, there is a cool wuxia webcomic there called “How I killed your master.” It reads like a LOTW Story.

Speaking of when the printed book will be sent… our printer had delays related to Chinese New Years; we got the proof today. If everything is looking as we designed, we should be able to start production run next week. I will update everyone on the status next week.

For thousands of years, the cults of the Old One have shown their endurance. They have done so by hiding themselves in the shadows that civilization provides. The cults have been polluted through vile practices from profane revels, practicing of the ancient, and at times, insane arts of magic, while they also worshipped malignant gods that slept beyond the world of human beings. Even to this day, there has not been a day when these degenerate and obscene rituals have been suspended.

We are now in the Lord’s year nineteen hundred and twenty two. Humanity has been blessed by providence for thousands of years. At times, and for short periods, planets have aligned, or caused a gate to open between between some dismal world and the Earth. That is when, for brief periods, cults had their day, and their ancient gods succeeded in bringing forth vindictive glory, and thus brought unholy ruin on to the world. In the time between such inauspicious moments, the cult’s monstrous deities slept.

Humanity has been blessed by providence for thousands of years.

Not any more

Our Lord’s year of nineteen hundred and twenty two is on us, and there are indications that say it is the right time for the return of the Old Ones. Now, they will not be engaging in days of horror, or a few restless hours, before they go back to their troubled sleep. They will linger on the Earth forever, this time, rewarding those that are devoted to them and discarding all other human lives.

A great sorcerer has come out of the shadows in this fatal hour. He had exiled himself, centuries ago, from the world of man, and remained hidden from the prying eyes of humanity. Now, this mystics arts master is back, and is the only one who has the vision to cause the Old Ones to come awake and return to the world. He wanders the earth with this end in mind, looking for independent covens and cults of the Old ones, and forcing them join his service, bringing them together to band and form a single entity called the Brotherhood.

There is a singular purpose to which the Brotherhood turns its strength and rituals. Their intention is to get together and breach the veil that has led to the separation of the human world from their own malevolent gods who are still slumbering.

They are cruel as well as strong, and they are favored by the stars to attain their objective, but even now the world is not lost.

Every power in the world has another power to balance it. A small band of adventurers and scholars have had their attention drawn to the the rise of the Brotherhood, and the sorcerer’s insane actions. More than anything else, it was through foolish luck that they stumbled on to the Brotherhood’s trail, but in the short time that they had, they have found evidence of a mad conspiracy that is so perverse and unacceptable, that its existence is not being believed by those officials in power. They will, therefore, have no help or solace, but believe that there is a chance for them to take action themselves to stop the Brotherhood.

It is really not much of a chance, but it is all that is available to humanity.

These valiant men and women travel the world while they pursue this master sorcerer. Their survival is a struggle, as they face danger wherever they go, while they undermine the actions of the sorcerer, as and when they can. They try to constantly disrupt the collective work carried out by the Brotherhood. They are trying to find the keystone item, which when destroyed, will allow them to end the plans of the Brotherhood.

They are running out of time.

The sorcerer’s secrets are being learned. They are starting to understand what needs to be done. But they are running out of time.

If they are unable to stop the Brotherhood, the world will come to an end.

Sorcerer Player: The role of the ancient sorcerer is taken on by one devious player in the game, Trail of the Brotherhood. He, this character, travels all over the globe to bring into the Brotherhood all independent cults by unifying them. Through these cults, this player must be able to acquire sufficient power so that a magical item is activated that allows the summoning of a specific Old One who is a malignant god, that the player has chosen before beginning the game. For success, the Sorcerer Player must not allow the the pursuing investigators to learn about the Great Old One that the sorcerer is trying to awaken. This can be achieved by the player in a number of ways, including misdirecting the pursuers, having cult agents attacking the investigators directly, or by calling on lesser creatures.

Once the sorcerer has, through the binding of cults to the Brotherhood, earned sufficient power, this enables him to acquire the magical item that is needed for the ceremony of summoning the Old One who has been selected. This leads to the horrific ending of the world in the twentieth century and the existence of the player becomes dependent on the bubble of malformed causality that is transient, but the bright side, is that the game is won by the Sorcerer Player.

Investigative players: The Investigative Teams are made of 1-3 other players. Their role is to prevent the Brotherhood from gathering the power required to summon the Old One into this world. This they can do, ultimately, from the clues that the activities of the Brotherhood leave behind, while they are identifying the magical item that is needed for the summoning ceremony. They must then destroy this item, after they take it from the Sorcerer or a cult, which then condemns, for the time being, the Old One to continued slumber.

When, and if, the Investigative Players destroy the item, they will have won the game. The added bonus is that the world does not end.

The game, Trail of the Brotherhood, is part deductive strategy and part adventure, where the players enter H.P. Lovecraft’s desperate world.

This article is written by one of the members of a grease trap company in Boston.

Maybe you’ve heard of them. Maybe you haven’t. It doesn’t matter, because either way this book will give you everything you need to know.

If you’ve found this site then you’ve probably heard the stories of the Nobilis. You probably know that they’re supposed to be living among us, or, at least, beside us, in the corners of your vision or down some short cut’s twisty path — a little bit real and a little bit legend, anyhow, walking the secret ways between the mundane and mythic worlds. They’re a god-haunted folk, supposedly, heroes and villains unto us, creatures standing between us and the great forces of being and unbeing, humans raised up and given power beyond the dreams of vanity and forbidden only love.

“When I feel myself tempted to love,” Idri-mi said, “I scrape a tiny piece off of
my heart—the part that loves—and leave it here.”

There was a pile of red scraps at the end of the catwalk. I eyed it with new respect.

“No,” she said, and gestured with her head. I looked over the catwalk’s edge.

The pit was as deep as the world, and it was full of wind; and the wind was full of red.

—from the Thought-Record of Ellen McIntosh

Nobilis: the Essentials (Volume 1: Field Guide to the Powers) will serve as your guide to the Nobilis and other magical creatures that live among and beside us, as well as including a complete and full-featured role-playing game” that allows you and your friends to take on the role of Nobilis. Each of your characters — a “Noble” or “Power,” one of the Nobilis — will command and embody a sacred Estate, a fundamental principle of the world such as Fire, Storms, Hope, Dreams, Cars, Cities, Pain, or Love.

HIDDEN TRUTHS

Dharma Worms

These transparent green inchworm-spirits assign people their dharma — the way they should be in life, the path that is harmonious with them, the “destiny” that is given them.

They crawl over you sometime in your youth to provide the initial dharmic determination and return occasionally throughout your childhood to touch the matter up.

Inchworms don’t really care whether they’re assigning people power, potentialities, attractions, or inevitable outcomes, so it’s not always clear what exactly a person’s dharma is; what is clear is that it somehow defines what works for a person and works a kind of goingness of direction into the fabric of their self. When an Imperator makes you a Power, your old dharma becomes obsolete. You can attract dharma-worms with a mixture of honey and crushed flowers left out on a porcelain plate, but unless you’ve lost your dharma and failed to replace it with anything else all they can really do is crawl on you, polish any bits of your dharma that may have faded, and measure roughly how many dharma-inches you have remaining.

MYTHIC REALITY

This is the reality behind the dream that is our world. In an endless emptiness there is a single cup of fire. The flames of it are blue.

There is no scale to it.

There can be no scale to it. There are no referents. The texture of the void is impermeable to the idea of measurement. The stars are unreachable and incomparable above.

It is larger than the universe and it is smaller than a pebble in your shoe.

And in that cup, a tree. And from its branches — dangling like fruit — are worlds.

A GAME OF POWERS

The Nobilis RPG uses a diceless system built around resource allocation and semantics.

You’ll have access to a collection of loosely-specified abilities that range in power from the mundane to the world-shattering. Most of these abilities are defined in reference to your Estate — e.g., Fire, Storms, Transformation, Consensus, Cats, Fleece, or whatever else it is of which you are a god; the better you are at forming and expressing ideas about that Estate, the more potent your abilities become.

You’ll also use a limited supply of “Miracle Points” to push past your ordinary limits and perform atypically incredible feats.

The new Nobilis includes a lifepath rules for developing new concepts and characters, as well as a brand-new Destiny system for advancing your character, changing the world, and winning even an Excrucian or Imperator’s heart.

The Diceless systems of Nobilis handles:

• • lifepath rules for developing new concepts and characters;

• • Diceless systems for —
    • mastering the power of body and mind;
    • wielding and controlling the substance of your Estate;
    • becoming one with that principle; and
    • seizing the treasures, principalities, and armies that the Nobilis have at their command;

• • an updated version of the Nobilis “Gifts” system for creating customized and unique abilities;

• • a new system for defining the rules and laws governing your nature and your Estate; and

• a brand-new Destiny system for advancing your character, changing the world, and winning even an Excrucian or Imperator’s heart.

We are happy to announce that Legends of the Wulin pre-sales will start on December 15th…next Wednesday… and will last until the end of December.  Legends of the Wulin special pre-sales book will include a complete, downloadable PDF version of the game, available immediately after purchase.  We intend to make an “ePub” version available for pre-sales customers, but this will not be available until beginning of January. We will also insert into the book a small poster art from Li Chang (the LOTW artist), signed by the himself, and the writers: Arik Ten Broeke, David Ramirez, and Jerry Sköld.

We will airmail out Legends of the Wulin pre-sales version to direct to customers in approximately 45 days after the the pre-sales period ends.  The pre-sales price will be $65 (includes international shipping). Regular retail price will be $44.95, but does not include extras (PDF, signed art, etc)

Legends of the Wulin

Enter Shen Zhou: a land filled with challenge and adventure, based on an Ancient China that never was. Join the Martial Arts World to roam the land as a Wandering Blade with a shining sword as your only companion; a Traveling Monk searching for enlightenment through the path of Kung Fu; a Noble Courtier whose words are as powerful as his Chi; or a Daoist Scholar seeking to understand the higher mysteries of the world.

In these pages you will find.

• A brand new Wuxia setting full of history, locations, treasures and mysteries.
• Loresheets that provide useful story hooks and advantages while tying characters to the setting background.
• Eight new organizations of the Martial Arts world for beginner characters to chose from, from warrior monks to kung fu beggars.
• A revised Wuxia Action System, designed for high flying Kung Fu action.
• Brand new Martial Art Styles ranging from powerful but simple forms to earth shaking Chi-based attacks.
• The powerful Secret Arts a system that allows characters to manipulate the human body, passions and emotions, the flow of battle, and even predict the future.
• An array of sample characters and factions, to use as allies or enemies, or to serve as inspiration to create your own.

Leave the mundane world behind and join the Wulin, a world where your destiny will be decided by the fire of your passions, and the strength of your Kung Fu. Face the challenges ahead if you have the courage and become a legend that would live forever in the history of the Shen Zhou.

It’s a wonderful time to be a hero!