It’s time for another blog for The World Below!

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Mi Amore

A nice, brief blog for you today, my fellow World Below spelunkers.

A question arose while our Creative Director Rich Thomas was reading through the manuscript for The World Below. Namely, he wanted to know how common armour (or armor, to those on the other side of the Atlantic (this is blatant Canada erasure. -Ian) ) is in the World Below. 

This got me thinking regarding the economy of armour and also forced me to review some of the character creation elements we have in place for The World Below. This line in particular:

Take one weapon, one armor, or one piece of adventuring equipment of importance to your character. Take two items of interest with little function.

Presently, at character creation, a player chooses a weapon or armour for their character, with the reason being that as soon as you’ve slain your first large bug or traded your first mined ores, you’ll be able to buy whatever you’re missing.

But I ask you, delving readers, whether this is a necessary step? It sets up the game so that the first few challenges will almost certainly be difficult. That, in turn, sets a tone for a harsh environment where you have to depend on your blade or your robustness to overcome a combative foe, but also depend on your allies, as some may be more inclined toward armour and resisting damage while others are your metaphorical glass cannons, rushing in with a whirl of steel, but fragile to damage.

An alternative, of course, is to allow players to give their characters both at character creation. This isn’t a game heavily dependent on X item costing Y GP or similar, so we don’t want to start characters off with a shopping trip. Should these base essentials just be assigned and taken as easily accessible, no matter who you are?

Frances Farmer the Llama Disarmer Didn’t Mean to Harm Her While Wearing Armour

These kinds of questions are ones I think we rarely consider, but are vital to keeping the mood right for a game, while also providing a mechanical heft (or weakness) to a character. 

It also affects art, as if we depict every character wearing metal and chitinous plate, it implies that most individuals roam the World Below in such a state of dress. If we instead go for the Conan / Masters of the Universe look of loincloths and negligible chest plates (looking at you, He-Man), that tells us and the readers something entirely different.

I invite you to think about this. When you picture the World Below, from whatever you’ve read of it so far, do you see armour as prevalent? Do you feel characters having armour at creation level is a must, or is it more interesting to choose between a weapon, armour, or a special item?

Let me know in the comments below! The most insightful commentator’s user name will end up in the book with some armour named after them!

Marmor is a Form of Marble

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