Child GLoG class

"This world is an awfully big place for someone as small as you. Tell me, little one, where do you hail from? Please, take a confectionery... I promise I don't bite."

You are not like most children. Most children are destined to grow up in a few short years, having their minds polluted by the byzantine and pessimistic world of adulthood. But you are different. The wonder and majesty of the world you find yourself in is not lost on you. You see magic in the mundane, and see the mundane in the magical. But it's a dangerous world out there, especially for someone so small.

STARTING EQUIPMENT: Choose two classic children's toys and your choice of a small pet or a magical good luck charm.

A FALSE SYLLOGISM. [Template] times per day, you can make a syllogism of questionable, child-logic quality. It takes effect in your line of sight for 10 minutes, or as soon as the effect leaves your field of vision, whichever comes first. (A syllogism is a three-part logical statement; the first two properties are taken as true, and the third one is a deduction as a result of those properties. i.e.: all snakes are long, thin and wiggly. The mean man's whip is long, thin and wiggly. Thus, the whip is a snake.)

B INNOCUOUS. Adults ignore your presence by default, and always underestimate you. You are never treated as a threat by default.

C IMAGINARY FRIEND. This invisible person can scout and tell you one piece of useless information about the room/space ahead and make exactly one sort of mischief (stealing keys, lighting important documents on fire, ect.) on your command.

(For extra fun, you the player can determine what the friend says about the next room, and the DM will have to deal with it.)

D COMING OF AGE. Choose to either Grow Up (convert all your templates to another class, but never be truly happy again) or Stay Young (get a troupe of 2d6 mundane children who follow you around, but never be truly happy again).

I wrote this as a result of some Druid talk in the GLoG server, it was mostly me wanting to get False Syllogism out there because I thought it was a cool ability. I heard some advice that a class should feel complete at first level, and that you shouldn't feel like you miss out on too much if you only get to play there, and so the Child tries to adhere to that principle. Thanks so much for reading, and happy gaming.

9 things I've learned from reading all these GLoGhacks

So, you have a GLoGhack. You’re pretty proud of it, and you’ve put it on the internet. But you want to level up. You’ve been seeing a bunch of other hacks, and they strike you as professional, clean, and honed. How did they get there, and how can you join their ranks?

Well let me tell you, after having read ~20 hacks for my GLoG review series and even more for the GLOGGIES, I've isolated 9 methods of GLoGhack gud. Disclaimer: I am by no means any sort of game design expert, and half of this stuff I haven’t yet done with MARROW (though you bet your boots I plan to), so take all this with a grain of salt.

1. PLAYTEST, PLAYTEST, PLAYTEST

I cannot stress enough that nothing will get your hack ready like sitting down with people and playing. No matter if your game is ballpoint pen on cocktail napkin or published physical artifact, players will make it come alive and show you where it could be improved better than any amount of theorycrafting. If you don’t have players in your area, find a group on Discord, even just to play a one-shot with! We only bite on days that end in Y. Also, playtest other people’s hacks, running and playing. Also also, play in your own hacks. Any perspective you can get from a table is invaluable, and better than any of the other drivel on this list.

2. FOCUS

This is perhaps the most important thing, hence first. What is your hack for? Is it centered around a cool mechanic? Is it built to exist in your homebrewed world? Does it emulate some genre? Get a lockdown on the aesthetics of your game, the narrower the better. A game about Dungeon Rats is great. A game about Dungeon Rat politics, with intrigue and backstabbing in the Knottail Court, is even better. Every dimension of your game should help feed into your mission as much as practically possible. Write yourself a manifesto.

3. MECHANICAL CONSOLIDATION

The second biggest problem I encounter, and one that plagues even me yet. Some hacks are no more than a curated collection of nifty mechanics and house rules bolted onto a d20 core. While that’s a great way to do things, especially for your first foray into hacking and game design, eventually you’ll want to trim the fat, step back, and look at each mechanic as it relates to the others. Is there redundancy? Inconsistency? Just too many subsystems for particular situations? Centralize as much as you can, it will help everyone.

4. FLOW

Perhaps the most nebulous, but arguably the most important. If you want anyone else to be able to run your hack well, you have to put a lot of thought into the order and manner in which you present information. Answer every question a reader has as quickly as you can muster. Present procedures in order of frequency of use, and present steps stepwise. Put similar concepts by each other. Lean on headings, page references, and repetition like a crutch.

5. VISUAL IDENTITY

Draw people in with flashy colors, fonts, and pictures. Add in a cover page. Throw in some cool headings and page borders. Establishing a strong and consistent visual identity is often the difference between a good but unremarkable GLoGhack and one that gets a lot of attention. Use this design to lean into the focus of your game. While you’re here, think about graphic design and page layout- are you using space as best you can?

6. PREFACE

At the beginning of your hack, tell us what it’s about, as well as what you’re proud of in it or what are the novel developments in the hack. After you read a bajillion, it gets harder to pick out the differences, so putting a “shopping list” up front will help it stick in people’s minds and keep the attention on your hack’s focus and unique strengths.

7. CONSISTENT DESIGN LANGUAGE

This one is really subtle, but once your brain locks into it, you can’t get out of the mindset. Keep your language consistent. Is it “making a roll”, “rolling a check”, or “testing”? Is it a “class level”, “Class level”, or “CLASS LEVEL”? Is it “Armor”, “Armor Class”, or “Defense”? It’s a subtle effect, but honing in on the language you use and creating repetitive and reliable structures not only makes your game look professional, but subliminally easier to make sense of.

8. INTERWEAVE CREATIVITY

Throw in sprinkles of humor, prose, art, or in-universe quotes. Don’t just hit us with a wall of rules that sound like they were written by a lawyer. Invite us into your world, show us what your game is supposed to be like by example. This is your chance to show off your purple prose or poetic prowess, or perhaps give those stick figures you doodled a forever home. Have fun with it.

9. STEAL LOVINGLY

If you see something you like, a graphic style, an authorial voice, a mechanic, a class, take (giving credit) first and ask questions later. We’re all in it together, and if we wanted our ideas to be stuck in our own skulls, we wouldn’t have blogs and Discords. And please feel free to reach out to your favorite creators, GLoG or otherwise. We’re all just a bunch of friendly, excited nerds who like to talk shop about our projects and help our fellow hobbyists out. If you’re polite, you can probably get into some game design deep dives with the writers you really admire with ease. Build community for yourself. Play in other’s games, and offer to run your own. Read other hacks and offer feedback and praise. Be a creative force, a building force, a guiding force, a beacon of knowledge and kindness.

I’ll stop before I get too preachy. Hope that helped. Thanks for reading, and happy gaming.

The first ever GLOGGIES!

    After a while of working with a talented council of GLoGGers, I'm happy to announce the very first GLOGGIES! This is intended to be a sort of community showcase of some of our favorite hacks, specifically to guide people to what we perceive to be exemplars in their particular fields. Keep in mind that all of the results are just out opinions, and the GLoGscape is much too large for us to comb through all of, so if you have any contenders you also like that we've overlooked, please pop them in the comments below for other people to peruse! I've tried to link and pay lip service to every hack that was nominated, as to make sure to spread the love and include as many people as possible.

Here are the staff of the GLOGGIES review board:

PHLOX, Architect of the Vain Sword, He Whose Measure God Could Not Take

WALFALCON, He Who Cries “YAGH!” In Battle, Herder of the Mall Rats, Marine Japanese Translator

MERGO-KAN, Captain of the Ship of Theseus, Illusionist of Immersion

SUNDEREDWORLDDM, Biter of Bone Marrow, Collector of Sundry Shields and Shillings

S: “I'd like to stay away from Orthodox GLoG and MRoS because they get enough attention. If this is to be a community showcase, perhaps we shouldn't be putting medals on the mainstream titles.”

P: “Maybe the standard for what qualifies for a GLOGGY should be that we should be able to cite the hack in question. The content doesn’t necessarily have to come from the same document, just be traceable.”

BEST CHARACTER CREATION: MIMICS AND MISCREANTS (HONORARY MENTION: SPWACKHACKS)

M: “Mimics is so clean, so efficient, and provides so many options. If I still had a printer this would be sitting on my kitchen table for next game night. Its ease of use and legibility leaves my formatting brain stunned. GLAIVE is very legible and solid as well, but Walfalcon compared it to Maze Rats and I have to agree. It's basically a massive improvement on that, but it's not really standing out on its own in terms of character creation.”

S: “I feel like we can group the SpwackHacks as a runner up, but generators for character creation feel like cheating.”

P: “I think in most cases that’s true, but the Spwackhacks are so tied to generators as to make them a Main Thing. They are the core of the game, and if we are considering Die Trying what is there to consider when the generators are removed? Just my two cents.”

S: “Fair enough, let’s give them an Honorary Mention.”

BEST NON-CASTER CLASS: ZOUAVE

P: “In this case, what do we mean by “best”? Is a class the best because it’s super-solid, or because it revolutionizes things?”

S: “I think the idea (in my mind) is one that toes the line between them. A novel element, executed cleanly and concisely.”

Though we collectively nominated *deep breath* the Shaman, the Crew, the Martial, the Berserker, the Traveller, the Butcher, and the Amazon, we ultimately decided on the Zouave because it most closely fit the established criteria of a solid, well-executed concept, and because it already had a lot of renown as a popular Fighter archetype in GLoG circles, for good reason.

W: “The Zouave has very strong flavor without relying on too many major setting prerequisites. The flavor is malleable enough that you don't have to include anything way specific, while still being a very specialized class.”

BEST CASTER CLASS: CALLIGRAPHER

While a couple of strong casters like the Draconic Disciple and Alchemist were nominated, the Calligrapher was on most of our lists before we even came to discuss. The simplicity and flexibility of the main casting mechanic was too good to pass up, and the really concise flavor didn’t hurt its odds at all. It definitely deserves the GLOGGY!

BEST ANCESTRIES/RACES: CRAWL INTO A HOLE AND FUCKING DIE

P: “CIAHAFD is marked by splashy, strong advantages and debilitating weaknesses.”

M: “Like that Gnoll, and that Orc! They’re really good.”

W: “There’s a number of cases, though, when abilities are vague when they should bring more specific data to the table, like the Lizardfolk and the Tiefling. I tend to prefer to not have rules that are ‘incomplete’- like, if it hints that you can do something, I'd like there to be either rules for that, or some clear way that the given rules extend to cover it. But I understand that some people are fine with rules that "evoke" more rules. I'm just getting it out of the way that that's where I'm reading these from. But my critique of a hack is not proportional to how much I like it; I think it narrowly beats out the competition.”

P: “I would be comfortable giving it the crown.”

S: “The fact that Robot is a playable option is the cherry on the cake.”

Rise Up Comus wrote a small set of race-as-classes. Ultimately, we couldn’t find a source hack for this one, but we liked it so much we wanted to at least mention it in the post. 

S: “I like how they treat humans as a full race-as-class. The two classic markers of humanity: xenophobia and being tall. Halflings are good, psychic gnomes are phenomenal, elves and dwarves are meh as ever.”

W: “There's just so much more there compared to the other non-race-as-class options. It's not perfect for every situation, but it almost feels like it should be an honorable mention for volume alone. I liked the elf and dwarf classes, actually. They’re fairly orthodox, to be sure, but the execution is rather good, I think. Why do you find them meh?”

S: “When compared to the gnome and human, I found their novelty lacking. Though you’re right, the execution is very solid!”

Other remarkable nominations included Vain the Sword, MARROW, this Animal People post, The Mountain from GROG, and the Knife Hawk as a joke. If Nuclear Ooze still had a working link, it would have also been on the table.

BEST ART: RUNAWAY PRINCESS (HONORABLE MENTION: GLAIVE)

Though Amulets and Eclipses, Moonhop, and Mall Rats all do have great accompanying art, Runaway Princess is chock full of flavorful and fantastical illustrations that go above and beyond to convey the whimsical, romantic feeling of the game without sacrificing quality or readability. Check it out, it’s truly a feast for the eyes.

S: “To be fair, Runaway Princess is not original art, though there is a good amount of alteration, plus the graphic design I think adds to the aesthetic intent meaningfully.”

P: “It was certainly well chosen, and I won't lose sleep if we choose RP over something with original art, though I do think it's a better example of good presentation more than anything. I also feel like we have to give GLAIVE points for having original art. Even stripping the art from the design and just looking at it in a slideshow, I think it really stands out.”

W: “I agree, let’s make it an honorable mention for original art.”

An intermission.

P: Remind me the difference between "best graphic design" and "best presentation/information design”?

M: Graphic design meaning like, header designs, good fonts, logos, etc. Presentation and Info design means legibility, formatting, and/or ease of use with things like bookmarks.

BEST PRESENTATION/INFORMATION DESIGN: SALTY GOO

M: “My main vote for info presentation is Salty Goo. I think having a whole website dedicated to the rules is really useful!”

Mergo was ultimately right- though contenders like Catacomers, Freeform Space Jazz, and G20 all made good use of the page, Salty Goo’s website was instantly easy to navigate, and very intuitive in a way that a stagnant PDF or doc really couldn't be. Though there was some tough competition, Salty Goo deserves its place at the top.

BEST GRAPHIC DESIGN: MALL RATS

W: “wat?”

P: "It would probably be something different if they were all in print, but Mall Rats is a nice read on my laptop."

There was a lot of overlap between art, info design, and graphic design. Salty Goo, M&M, and GLAIVE all got repeat mentions. Nothing Ventured and YAGH were two strong new contenders, but Mall Rats got it because of its awareness of medium and how well the layout and design supports not only the clarity of the rules, but the “feel” of the game.

BEST OVERALL: BONEPUNK

I have a secret: I’ve been omitting one nomination from the lists above. The reason for that is that it popped up over and over again. It was up for BEST ART, BEST CHARACTER CREATION, BEST GRAPHIC DESIGN, even BEST ANCESTRY, for crying out loud! And boy does it deserve it. The visual design is incredible, the game design is really focused, and the world and gameplay are really fun- I’ve had the opportunity to play it, and it’s great fun, I highly recommend it. The other nomination for best overall was BE SILENT, another phenomenal game with some truly inventive mechanics.

M: “BONEPUNK is just hard to beat! It's got a ton of thought put into it, and the mechanics involved are really creative. So much flavor.”

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we enjoyed reading and discussing these hacks! It was a lot of fun- If you have any favorites or exemplars we missed, please leave them in the comments below, or make your own post and hand out some GLOGGIES yourselves! It’s a great way to show appreciation and good vibes, and having more voices and perspectives saying what they like in hacks really helps out and encourages designers too. Thanks for reading, and happy gaming.

A treatise on the Middle Kingdoms

 If you were raised in the Still Pond Monastery from a young age, you were taught that the Middle Kingdoms and the “petty squabbles therein” were cosmically unimportant, and that you were to avoid interfering with such “ephemera”. Those who have lived in the Kingdoms know that this is very far from the truth. The Middle Kingdoms are defined by a sweeping conflict between a newly-risen imperialist Dynasty and the old nations, kingdoms, and tribes of the land that threatens to plunge the entire world into total war.

THE DYNASTY

The largest empire of the Middle Kingdoms, hungrily expanding from its capital Da Wan Zo in the greying Eastern Valley. Its expansion is fueled by STRENGTH, rare and strange magic that enhances power and stamina so greatly that even mere mortals under its influence are capable of herculean force. The secret means of manifesting STRENGTH, and thus control of the Dynasty, are held by the Half-Celestial Empress Sai Lan, a battle-hardened general and bearer of the Blade of Heaven. The zodiac-emblazoned blade, said to have been forged from dragon’s blood in the fires of the Jade Emperor’s star-forges, is so heavy that only a STRENGTHENED Half-Celestial could hope to lift it. Empress Lan claims that her unique capability to wield this blade gives her Dynasty divine mandate. Though the Dynasty’s brute military power is near absolute, its understanding and knowledge of magic is limited, and so rebellions often turn to strange (and occasionally blasphemous) sorceries to create an advantage. No magic comes without a price...

TRAVELING IN THE MIDDLE KINGDOMS

While travelling, choose the number of days the travel will take. (Travelling between two opposite Pillars takes 4 tendays.) If you’re exploring a part of the Middle Kingdoms whose contents have not yet been decided, roll every d8 days of travel therein to find out what’s happening politically in that area.

1 Dynasty land, securely held

2 Dynasty land in conflict of some sort

1-2 Rebellion

3 The Dynasty is yet seizing this land, roll for Empire

4 This is a military outpost

3 Roll for Empire

4 Roll for Empire, but there’s a Half-Celestial around here somewhere

OTHER EMPIRES

1 Hua Din. The people here wear flexible stained-glass mail to denote their status; a farmer has a line of shards along their clavicle, while the rulers wear full-on multichromatic plate armor.

2 Mau. The ruler is a cat of no particular sentience. The locals believe in her oracular power.

3 Ko’rak. In this swampy region, crocodiles are worshipped as the progeny of the gods. Some of the more intelligent varieties hold government positions.

4 Zyn Shou. If you are in need of botanical assistance, this jungle conclave is the place to be. They can pull the souls out of plants and weave them into silken drugs.

5 Tian Tian Tian. Atop the plateau, their greatest city lies dominated by a tower that simulates the motion of the heavenly bodies. Their zodiac-reading and astronomy are legendary.

6 Gou Huang. This massive monastery and canoneer’s workshop is the home of gun-fu. The headmaster will personally teach you, if you can figure out how to make waterproof gunpowder.

7 Monastery. This area is simply a large monastery that teaches a very specific style.

8 Inkblot Atheneum. This academy teaches calligraphy and doubles as a major library. A living crystal computer lives in the center.

9 Turvy. This hub of criminal activity rests in the hulk of a graffiti’d-up, Empire-destroyed city.

10 Feng Yi. Marsh-barges carry floating yurts across stagnant waters and shallow sands.

11 Xyrx. Everyone here is part of a hive mind of Venusian Skinjackers cloaked in human flesh. Why are all the villages so symmetrical and clean? And why are there no children or elderly?

12 Sou Liang Da. Some of the most talented chefs can combine spices and ingredients in a way that sings to the cosmos itself, crafting wholesome and delectable culinary magics.

13 The Tan. These people haven’t forgotten the tongues of beasts taught to them by the first of the Half-Celestials, and Beastspeakers lead their nomadic tribes in their explorations.

14 The Stoneheart Unity. These people worship large rune-scorned cairns they claim come from the stars. Apparently, the veins of the earth twist out from below those radiant stones.

15 Khar. Mummies and wights rule from mausoleum-palaces perched atop massive cemeteries. The few living gather in the deepest catacombs to plan a resistance against the tyrants.

16 Oxen Mines. Tunnels riddle the cliff face from which earth spirits are plucked and put into living bronze weapons. The ruler here is Threeface Dan, a miner fused with two such spirits.

17 Ren Shi Highlands. An indigenous group guards diamonds cast down by a meteor. The diamonds grant near-divine physical strength and willpower when ground and snorted.

18 Moonrake. An archway of antediluvian stone opens to a random place in the cosmos, which shifts every full moon. Around is a shanty-town of accidental wanderers from the other sides.

19 Lands of the Yellow Palace. Te Wang The King With One Eye has a written record of the formation of the cosmos with him in a scroll case made of liquid lapis. Or so they say.

20 Roll twice, they’re in conflict.

THE EIDOMON BABEL

 I have taken it upon myself to be the curator of the ever-expanding ‘mon cosmos. It is my intention to keep track of all of the mechanical developments, and eventually cobble a system from the scraps if I can. (Though may I say, with Anni’s new battle system, I think we’re in a good spot for ‘mon stats, and we should move onto things like classes and mechanics like Arkos’s Mutagens!)

In the meantime, here is my newest contribution. Instead of knocking every ‘mon senseless, there should be an inherent challenge of discovery in figuring out how to get a ‘mon to join your troupe. Here are d20 ways to get a ‘mon in your gosh darn Legaball!.

d20 was to get a ‘mon to get in the gosh darn Legaball:

1 An oldie but a goodie: knock it unconscious in battle

2 Kill it dead; it will return as a Ghost-type version of itself

3 Feed it special, rare, or sentimental food

4 Feed it a weaker ‘mon

5 Stroke its ego; let it beat your best ‘mon

6 Find an item of symbolic or emotional significance

7 Keep it captive for its RANK in days

8 Sacrifice something to the ‘mon in worship

9 Read the ‘mon a story or poem, perhaps a particular one

10 Make a positive memory with a ‘mon

11 It’s doing some sort of job, stop it from doing that job

12 It’s being prevented from doing something, help it achieve its goal

13 It’s bored, give it something productive to do for a while

14 It’s being forced to do something, help it stop

15 Electrify, poison, mutate, or otherwise harm the ‘mon in a particular way

16 Heal the ‘mon of a troublesome wound or ailment

17 Help it get back at another ‘mon

18 Help it win the admiration, love, or friendship of another ‘mon

19 Learn the ‘mon’s True name

20 This ‘mon simply doesn’t like you, and would rather die than serve you

(Use dispositional cues and trial and error to figure out what’ll work! Most ‘mon respond to 2 or 3 approaches, not just the one.)

The Dream Web: Since ‘mon are at least partially psychic entities, they can survive without physical form, as long as they are being thought about. If you’re particularly poor or desperate, scientists have developed Somnolence Chambers for you to take long-term residence in (risk of muscle atrophy and brain ballooning included). You’re put into an artificial coma through the use of powerful sedatives, and the free space in your brain is used to house ‘mon. The Dream Web is the collective name for this ‘mon storage matrix. It’s mostly safe to use, but rather expensive, and occasionally results in you getting back more ‘mon than you put in…

(I would imagine that you can probably only safely keep 6 ‘mon in the Web at a time: more taxes the brainpower RAM you’ve been assigned, and if you want to rent another Podder, it’ll cost you steeply...)

Legaball/Eidoball: These multifaceted chunks of vaguely-spherical crystal have special runes and impurities carved into them that make them work like small neural networks with the introduction of a lot of energy. Thus, they can store one ‘mon at a time each. Some balls are made of particularly resonant crystals that give them special capabilities, like the Ow Wow Ball, which is better at catching wounded ‘mon because of its Blood Quartz composition.

The Legadex: Foul magic power these arcane grimoires, massive tomes bound in rotting flesh and covered in pictographs. They catalogue each ‘mon a trainer discovers in real time, with physiological and personality data. Each trainer must cut their palm and bleed on a ‘dex to bond it to them, thus inducting them into the occult world of the ‘mon.

The Legamon (Mechanical) Bibliography

Deus: Genesis

Phlox: Generator, St. Bernard’s Shrine, religion

ArkosDawn: Mutagens, The Miznu Region

Mergo-Kan: Gyms and Dungeons

Some fucking weirdo: Battle rules, reaction rolls and sundry objects

Not Dark Lord(?): Other battle rules, starter moves, 'mon generator, XP, structural change

Anni: More battle rules

Robot Face: Items

Lexi: Battles, a 'dex full of 'mon

Zev: Fakemon

Everythings: Okay to use 'mon art, 'mon generator

Can’t wait to keep this up!

LEGALLYDISTINCTMON: My team, and battles

Drudged from the depths, my g*ds-given team of LEGALLYDESTINCTMON, plus a proposed system for LEGAMON battling.

My Team:

BALAPIS, an Electric Type. This one looks like a gleaming metallic adorable rodent. When it levels up, it gains a body much larger than before. It is venerated by the locals who share its habitat, who grew enraged when I snuck it out of the temple it was entombed in. Watch out for them, they’re looking for a new idol...

“(Bug Type) This one looks like huge, fancy colored dragonfly. When it levels up, it gains metallic chitin and a shell of natural material and a shell of natural material and it gained the dark type and extravagant antennae and extravagant antennae and metallic chitin and it gained the ground type and it gained the poison type. The design is complicated by the fact that it is always disobedient” The generator had some problems with this one, but I can work with it

MAGGOTMUCK, a Bug Type. It resembles a huge, fancifully colored dragonfly. It gets quite a bit when it levels up: a metallic chitinous shell, extravagant antennae, and the Dark, Ground, and Poison types. This is because it is a sibilant god of pollution that was exorcized from the land long ago, and it seeks a way to apotheose again and wreak more havoc. I have to keep a pretty close eye on it...

HANDILECTRON, an Electric Type. This one looks like a glowing yellow humanoid elemental. When it levels up, it gains a glowing bobble on a long antennae, signifying it as the leader of its pack. They have been employed en-masse to give jumps to cars, act as defibrillators, and do other light electrical work. It’s got a great sense of team spirit, cooperation, and direction-following, but it’s not very bright or creative on its own.

Earcing, a Ghost Type (traded from Phlox). This one looks like a bloated purple ear, but is actually a literal alien. When it levels up, it gains a growth piercing it. When you look through the hole in the lobe of Earcing's leveled-up form, you see visions of different worlds, speculated to be its home planet.

Kniise, a Flying/Ghost Legiamon (traded from ArkosDawn). This horrible bird resembles a translucent brown goose. They are born with the dead’s hatred of the world in their beady red eyes, and are always clutching a knife in their beak. When it levels ip, it’s feathers turn into brown knives, and it gains the ability to glide silently despite the horrible racket the knife feathers make.

WAVEWING, a Flying Type. This one looks like a brightly colored owl. When it levels up, it gains extraordinary hearing. It is an invasive species from a distant tropical isle- I hope to escort it back to its home someday.

Damn, no Ghost types. Those are my favorites! I’d love to trade someone for one…

BATTLING

In combat, there are three parts to your turn: MOVE (where you and your ‘mon can move through whatever means), MANEUVER (where you the trainer can take an action), and MARSHAL (where you command one of your ‘mon to take an action).

Each ‘mon has a pool of HEALTH and POWER DICE. A ‘mon can have a total HEALTH and POWER DICE equal to their RANK + 1 (so a RANK 3 ‘mon can have 2 H 2 PD, 3 H 1 PD, or vice versa; you can’t have a H/PD of 0). POWER DICE function like MD for a ‘mon’s MOVES, which function as spells. A ‘mon has HP equal to 5 times their HEALTH. When a ‘mon hits 0 HEALTH, they are unconscious. If they hit -(HEALTH MAX) HEALTH, they are dead forever. If a ‘mon needs to make a roll, they have to roll under their RANK or 5, whichever is higher.

After it deals the winning move in a battle against another ‘mon, it goes up in RANK. Trade in 10 RANKS for a LEVEL, which grants another MOVE. MOVES don’t have to be combat oriented, and they could get really powerful as a ‘mon gets more LEVELS!

Combat can involve trainers directly attacking their opponent’s ‘mon, ‘mon attacking trainers, ‘mon using their MOVES to change the battlefield… pull out all the stops and make each fight deadly and memorable. Sometimes, the most dangerous opponent is just Stabby Stan, the dude with no ‘mon and a magical harpoon gun...

Once we get a better core system nailed down, this can get more specifically oriented to that. But for now I guess it’s MOSAIC STRICT, given that you get how MAGIC DICE work.

Here are the stats for my team:

BALAPIS: L1R5 H2 PD4

    MAGNETIC FERVOR. Inspire divine awe in [dice] creatures near you.

MAGGOTMUCK: L2R2 H2 PD1

    ROT. Corrupt, corrode, or otherwise degrade [sum] square feet.

AGONY. Take [2*sum] damage in pain; the pain (and as such the damage) dissipates in d4 rounds.

HANDILECTRON: L1R3 H2 PD2

POWER LINES. A chain of lightning jumps between people in touch range of each other, dealing [sum] damage to each before the bolt grounds.

FUNGYBBUK: L1R3 H3 PD1

    PUPPET SPORES. Pilot a recently unconscious or dead creature for [dice] ROUNDS.

KOMBAT KORAL: L1R2 H1 PD2

PARALYZING FLURRY OF CHOPS AND KICKS. Deal [sum] damage; the target is frozen for [dice] rounds or until they save.

KNIISE. L1 R3 H2 PD2

        HORRIBLE KNIFE: The Kniise attacks the target with their knife in a honking frenzy. The target takes [dice] damage, then, if the target has [sum] or less HP, they promptly die horribly as a vital organ or artery is punctured or cut.

WAVEWING: L1R1 H1 PD1

    AMPLITUDE. Add [sum] to a roll of choice made before next turn.

(I imagine this to be a pretty experienced/competent team as it stands, with a total of 16 victorious battles under their collective belt, maybe 26 if MAGGOTWING were manually LEVELED instead of caught. Getting a single ‘mon to RANK 10 should be a real achievement, I think. Though a starter ‘mon might be a RANK 2 or 3, RANK 1 is pretty weak.)

Let me know what you think of the battle system, and if you want to make any trades! I’m excited to see this project develop.