Tortured Earth

With regard to player characters, Tortured Earth has opted to side on diversity. All together, our first edition had 30 playable races. The new release should have closer to 60 races. The hardest part of character creation should be deciding what species to play.  Each of our races is built to be an encounter and has the normal stat block typical of our encounter creatures. The real difference between the two occurs in the PC Build section. Characters are allocated 11 attribute points and pre-assigned to the proficiencies associated with that race. The 12th attribute point is a floating point which will be assigned by the player to begin the customization process. This enables the player to begin creating an atypical archetype should they desire. Further enabling the customization process is the acquisition of a new attribute point for every 25 skill points earned through story advancement. New attribute points earned fall strictly in the domain of the player and can be allocate...

*For image credits as published, please see Fetid Hound creature sheet. Creature Abilities Creature Abilities represent the skill set a creature naturally possesses. Unlike character skills, these are not limited to uses per day nor independent advancement. For this discussion, we'll compare the Wolf and Fetid Hound in their Ability design. Based on Attribute design, it would appear the Wolf has a higher than expected attribute pool than suggested. However, it should be noted, the wolf increases a size category at Rank 5. As mentioned at the end of the article, creature creation is not a process set in stone. The creature does have additional bonuses to hit when starting at lower ranks. However, the damage it deals is also set quite low. The idea is to balance bonuses and damage to create playable encounters. When placing the wolf and fetid hound next to one another, it is evident both are canine body forms. Attribute distribution between the two forms is wildly different. Wol...

Visualizing creatures has become second nature to me. Fortunately, I've always had a very active imagination and writing provides an outlet for the things I envision. When creating creatures, I usually begin with the physical description and expand into the general description of its abilities. Once I've got the concept on paper, the creature needs to be converted into a playable form. The Creature Blank can be downloaded by clicking the link. The file is a Word Blank and can be modified to create your own creatures. A few tips on allocating attributes: Don't power stack. Creatures will develop strengths based on their lifestyle and have attacks which center on those strengths. However, nothing is solely dedicated to a single attack sequence. Real world examples include lions which have been observed to open car doors, squirrels solving complex puzzles to gain food, and crows demonstrating amazing abilities at memory recall and problem solving. If we power stack attribu...

I have a Bachelor's in Biology and a Master's in Environmental Chemistry. Clearly, I have an analytical approach to solving problems and a flare for fiction. I love how nature seems to fit together to make functional systems. I also love stories having unusual elements somehow fitting seamlessly together and creating new and alien worlds. This makes stories both relatable and believable.  Unfortunately, this concept has yet to reach game designers. Many designers create creatures having features not in line with the environments from which they supposedly originated. A classic example being the red dragon. A massive carnivore living on mountaintops, breathing fire, and living in hot environments. On the other end of the spectrum, we have the white dragon. Another massive carnivore living on mountaintops, breathing ice, and preferring cold environments.  This imagery makes absolutely no sense.  Let's begin with the red dragon. To begin with, life on this planet has deve...