FASA Games, Inc.

There is a new developer blog post up.

http://www.fasagames.com/blog/?post_id= ... nd-preview

As I hinted earlier in the week (if you follow me on Facebook/G+), there is a new mechanic being introduced. I talk about it a little.

Interesting. I can see this being very useful, not only to tag Characters with a Corruption level, but also tag locations or items (tying into Purifier powers, or stuff like Abate Curse).

Purifiers hadn't occurred to me.

Questors of Garlen will likely have a power or two available that can remove Corruption Points. Raggok is likely a big fan of it.

If the Lightbearers ever see the light of day again, they might have some things that interact with it.

Abate Curse probably won't do anything, because its effect is temporary, and Corruption is (mostly) permanent. Since Corruption has limited mechanical impact (and will likely stay around the edges as it is not suited to every campaign style) there really isn't any way for them to interact.

Mostly what this does at this point is introduce a way to measure how far gone somebody is, with a slider the GM can adjust to suit how dark he wants things to be. It opens up design space for the future, but it's tough to say right now how the future will go.

Could this tie into a consequence for casting raw magic?

Not directly, but there are avenues.

For example, the Horror Mark of a bloatform gives a point of Corruption. (Not all Horror Marks do this, but that one does.)

Horror Marks in general give the Horror access to the character, and some powers (like the revision of... Karma Boost, if I'm recalling correctly) give Corruption when the character accepts the deal.

That said, if you want to have a bad raw magic cast cause Corruption, you can. If you go that route, I would probably only recommend it in areas where astral space is corrupted. Raw Magic is nasty enough without adding other stuff on top of it, and the Horror Mark can get that initial foot in the door anyway, as I just mentioned.

Talking about Questors ... any news on the Floranuus and Lochost questors?

Not really. We've discussed some (really) basic ideas about what shape questor powers might take when we get to that point, but it's tabled for now as there are other things that have higher priority, and we don't want to get distracted.

Understandable. Thanks for keeping us in the loop

Feels like L5R taint, which is a pretty cool effect in that setting.

I would point out 2 things :

#1 The corruption level should not be hidden to players. Perhaps hidden from characters, but not players. I'm not a "screen-GM" type and I don't appreciate as a player as much as a GM to hide stuff. This tends to make the GM call more arbitrary. Having the corruption level accessible also gives an idea how to roleplay it (which i would give extra legend points at the end of a session).

#2 Just like L5R, I wouldn't give an easy access to the cure. The growing taint should not be a challenge, it should be a critical event. I wouldn't allow Questors to cure taint. Passions and Horrors should not meddle between them (Vasgothia is a good example). Also, if questors could cure the taint, it wouldn't be useful to add that new rule. Players would heal them almost as fast as hit points. On the other hand, a purifier (which are far more less accessible) should be able to help.


On a different note, I would suggest to have Questors of Death too. Even if Death is imprisonned, people die In my games, Questors of Death "sanctify" cimetary so that corpses cannot be raised. They also banish spirits. Food for thoughts.

I wonder at what point artisan tests start to fail/show the corruption? At one point because the character is tainted, or at the corruption threshold when the character gets warped?