[Mythic Dream Studios] Dark Inheritance?

[Darke]

So, I checked the Dark Inheritance d20modern setting on your website - looks good, but I want more infos.

So, tell us more!



das Darke

 

[MythicJustice]

Hi,

Sorry for not getting to this earlier but we were working hard yesterday to get the book to the printers, which means Dark Inheritance will definately be in stores early in April.

For starters here is the back cover text.

Fear the Future, Destiny has Failed

Now is an age transformed by disaster and wonder, a world of terrifying adventure.

The catastrophe known as the Rip transformed Jerusalem into an urban nightmare. Life as we knew it has been forever changed.

Hidden from the masses, the Human Genome Project unearths the secrets of our race, secrets buried deep inside each and every member of humanity – the Godgenes.

The Rip and the Godgene blur the boundaries between science and what can only be called – magic. Relics and powers of the Lost Age crash onto streets lined with glass and steel.

From beyond the world we know, terrible threats arise. From their abyssal prison, the Daemonhost have been let loose to threaten this teetering new world, while the denizens of the Otherworld stalk the shadows.

You are a titan, an inheritor, genetic heir to the gods and monsters of legend. Locked within your genetic code are answers to ancient mysteries and new, startling revelations. What secrets will you uncover – or die to protect?

Now that destiny has failed what future will you create?

----------------------------------------------------
We'll be getting some pdf previews up shortly but first, Friday in fact, we'll have the first legacy preview. Legacies are the lines of titan lineage. Besides a short description of the legacy, we'll have the legacy's iconic character illustration and character sheet available for download.

Also, expect a repost of the Eldritch Monk. This time it will be directly from the book.

Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll post the Table of Contents on the boards tomorrow.

 

[Skywalker]

Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll post the Table of Contents on the boards tomorrow.

Dark Inheritance looks very cool. Despite Gamma World which is coming out much later, it is only d20 Modern setting that has me interested. I for one would like to see the table of contents.

As for questions - I see that Dark Inheritance is very eclectic but what would you consider some of its biggest inspirations?

From the limited material I kind of got the feeling of Dark Angel and Highlander, but I could be way off

 

[MythicJustice]

Dark Inheritance looks very cool. Despite Gamma World which is coming out much later, it is only d20 Modern setting that has me interested. I for one would like to see the table of contents.

As for questions - I see that Dark Inheritance is very eclectic but what would you consider some of its biggest inspirations?

From the limited material I kind of got the feeling of Dark Angel and Highlander, but I could be way off

Thanks, I'm thrilled your interested in Dark Inheritance. I'll be posting the table of contents in just a few minutes. I couldn't get to the boards yesterday so they were unfortunately delayed.

You are right that Dark Angel was a source of inspiration. We actually looked into that license but Cameron wanted several hundred thousand dollars for it. I don't think they understood the RPG industry lol. Highlander is also an inspiration but not a big one. Our primary inspirations have been Hard Boiled, Replacement Killers, Pitch Black, Hellboy, and Dark Angel.

Here's a small section of the introduction that will shed further light onto your question.

Dark Inheritance is a world in which heroism can easily lead to death, and the action is bloody, tinged with enigmatic terror. Think of your favorite John Woo film, gritty and ultra-violent, with hugely elaborate and breathtaking action scenes, and couple it with the best suspense thriller. Now, add a healthy dose of dangerous supernatural elements, and you have an enthralling Dark Inheritance campaign.

This is a world where the fear of what may be crawling in the shadows becomes real and each day brings startling new revelations. Greed and necessity will take the characters to perilous prehistoric ruins in the Gobi Desert, the treacherous and bloody hallways of international mega-corporations, and the fantastic but dangerous Otherworld. In Dark Inheritance, Promethean Order warrior-mystics fight Eight Heavenly Dragon triad gangsters in the dark alleys of Cairo, each side trying to recover a gilt dagger, a relic that was stolen from the Louvre. Project Titan operatives raid a TransGenX lab conducting illegal gene research in an attempt to harness the power of the Godgene, and there they run afoul of a misshapen failure of the now-murdered scientists.

Only resourcefulness, courage, and cunning will see you safely through.

 

[MythicJustice]

Table of Contents

Fear the Future, Destiny has Failed

Now is an age transformed by disaster and wonder; a world of terrifying adventure.

You're a titan, genetic inheritor of primordial gods and monsters, and the world is going to hell.

Grab a Gun!


Table of Contents

Destiny's Oveture - Prelude

Introduction

Chapter One: The Ways of the World

Twenty-one pages detailing the Dark Inheritance setting.

Chapter Two: Allegiances

We want to let people play Dark Inheritance in various ways. To accomplish this we've created 7 fully detailed Allegiances. These are organizations the characters can belong to or work for, allowing a gaming group to customize their game's style of play.

The 7 Allegiances are:

Brotherhood of the Iron Rose: The church and the world need protecting from the forces of evil and Hell and the Brotherhood will use any mean necessary to do so. Murder and extortion are as much tools of their trade as devotion and loyalty. When the order was founded centuries ago, they were granted a papal dispensation, called the Purity of the Rose, which pardens all members of the order for any sin commited while in service to the Brotherhood.

Eight Heavenly Dragons: This Hong Kong based triad is wrapped in mystery and enigma. Although the triad is one of the most successful heroin and people smugglers in the world, they are also rumored to practice an ancient mystical martial art, unrivaled by lesser forms of martial arts. Gritty two-fisted gun action coupled and Hong Kong action theater.

First Team: "We’re the First Team. Who’s second? Who cares." This South American based mercenary company is the best in the world. Most of the world doesn’t know First Team exists. Yet every military and every intelligence agency has a file on them, even though few details exist: they know the team’s name, its function, some of its activities over the years, and how to contact them for jobs — and that’s about all. The company has a strict "Rule of No Names" , a practice that reinforces the widespread notion that First Team is actually a small unit, rather than a large collection of people.

Fugo a watu: Every conspiracy has conspirators, a well funded and knowledgeable group that knows the great secrets and wants to keep them from being discovered. The fugo a watu is such a group. The fugo a watu were originally a breeding cult founded before the rise of Egypt and Sumer, whose goal was to track and foster the failing inheritor lineages. Today these conspirators fight a loosing battle to keep these ancient secrets from those who wish to uncover the powers and relics lost to time.

International Geographical Society: The quest for truth is one that requires dedication and courage. The IGS clandestinely investigates reports of the supernatural while remaining a credible source for legitimate anthropological research. Teams of IGS explorers scour the world for hidden artifacts and knowledge of the Lost Age.

Project Titan: This black ops division is secreted deep inside the U.S. government, hidden within Department-7, itself a secret agency. Project Titan was the first to discover the Godgenes and ruthlessly ensured that the genetic secret was kept. The agency is reeling after the Rip. The world is no longer the same place it was a few months before, forcing Project Titan to take a more heavy handed approach and prepare for a time when the power of the titans are revealed to the world.

Promethean Order: As the god Prometheus brought fire to mankind, angering the gods, this Allegiance brings the fire of knowledge to mankind. The Promethean Order is an ancient cult of mystics and sages whose original intent was to shepherd the titans until they were once again needed to fulfill an ancient prophecy — to prevent the Daemonhost from escaping their abyssal prison and wreaking havoc in the world. Their failure left Jerusalem a twisted and ruined city. Now, the order fights to protect humanity from the terrors that were released and hunts for the relics and arcane lore needed to explore the Otherworld.

Chapter Three: New Character Options

7 New Occupations - Caregiver, Child, Cultist, Gambler, Mystic, Streetperson, and Tribal.

New Uses for Skills

28 Feats

Titan character type, carefully balanced to be playable with normal human PCs (NO ECL).

Hidden among the throngs of humanity are those few born with a unique ancestral legacy. Across the world, in every nation, descendants of primeval gods and monsters discover the inheritance passed down to them through their very genetic codes. Within these individuals hides a secret long buried and nearly forgotten — a secret that has only rarely manifested itself, until recent centuries. By some quirk of fate or some transcendent design, more and more people today are manifesting the traits of these ancient beings, through family lineages so old that the pyramids of Egypt are young by comparison.
You are one of these nascent demigods. Within your very genes lies the seed of greatness, a birthright that transcends human limitations. You are an inheritor, a titan, a child of ancient gods or terrifying monsters. By the virtue of your blood, you carry the powers of the gods and heroes of antiquity.

Five titan legacies - Crimson Lords, Hidden Suns, Storm Crows, Void Phoenixes, and Wild Bloods

9 New Advanced and Prestige Classes

Stim Freak - Strong hero
Super Soldier - Strong hero
Eldritch Monk - Fast hero
Explorer - Tough hero
Initiate - Smart hero
Mystic - Dedicated hero
Crusading Advocate - Charismatic hero

Spec Ops - Strong hero/Soldier AdC
Two-Fisted God of Guns - Fast hero/Gunslinger

Chapter Four: Birthrights

The wondrous abilities exhibited by titans are the most obvious sign of their potent lineage. This chapter provides all the rules needed manifest and acquire birthright powers. Titan birthrights are grouped into trees of related powers. Below are the birthright trees for each titan legacy.

Crimson Lords - Emotion, Grace, Vitality
Hidden Suns - Secrets, Shadow, Sun
Storm Crows - Second Sight, Thunder, War
Void Phoenixes - Ash, Genesis Fire
Wild Bloods - Bestial Urge, Chimera, Wild Form

Chapter Five: Magic

How magic works in Dark Inheritance

Rules for Foci

11 New Spells

4 Modern Elementals

Rules for Relics - For starters, a relic is not a single item, as most might expect, but rather a collection of items used together for a common purpose. The Holy Grail, for example, is not an item of power in and of itself, but when combined with the Staves of the Apostles, it becomes an instrument of remarkable significance. Similarly, the Round Table is not an item of power in itself — but when combined with the Shields of the Valorous, they create a mystical circuit much greater than the sum of its parts.

Chapter Six: Equipment

New Guns and Ammo

15 New magic Items

Chapter Seven: Terrors

Rules and Guidelines for creating and Gamemastering Demonic Cults.

12 New Creatures, including the Daemonhost template.

 

[Darke]

Sounds great. Can you give us some hints about the magic system?

das Darke

 

[melkoriii]

Looks really Sweet

From the cover and the stories on mythicdreams.com I get the feeling of a Akira and some other anima modern style movies.

Looks cool

 

[Skywalker]

You are right that Dark Angel was a source of inspiration. We actually looked into that license but Cameron wanted several hundred thousand dollars for it. I don't think they understood the RPG industry lol. Highlander is also an inspiration but not a big one. Our primary inspirations have been Hard Boiled, Replacement Killers, Pitch Black, Hellboy, and Dark Angel.

Cheers for all that. It looks very good indeed. Cheers also for answering my further question RPGnet (ENworld was having problems yesterday).

I think this is the first d20 setting that I am really looking forward to. The first reason is that the setting looks very good. Hellboy + others but broader I also see Planetary in there in a big way.

The second reason is based on DIs clever use of the increased flexibility of d20 Modern over D&D. I am amazed how most other d20 Modern products don't seem to take advantage of this so far. My favourite existing d20 products that rely on D&D are either radical changes from D&D to suit the particular setting (Fading Suns and Slaine) or required their own book to work (Star Wars and Spycraft). These are all good but a little unsatisfactory. However Dark Inheritance is different. It still uses most of the d20 Modern rulebook and simply adds to that world with new classes and templates. The subject matter is stylish yet suits the d20 Modern mindset of high action.

Again congrats on a great product.

BTW if you have a moment - I am looking to start a d20 Modern campaign in March. I know that is before DI comes out but not by much (any estimate of release date and what distributors) I am tempted to start the game in any case set in the normal world of today. The PCs will be "drafted" from normal jobs in the military, police force, fire service and civil service into the government organisation called Project Titan. Sort of like MIB I guess. From there they will undergo a training and a few X Files missions focussed on controlling genetic engineering. Adding a splash of Dark Angel.

Once I get the DI book I then plan to actual have the Rip occur in Jerusalem (maybe the PCs will be nearby) and then begin a DI game proper. I am happy for the PCs to split from Project Titan if they want to. I hope to make one of the PCs a plant for the Promethean Order or Fugo a watu who is trying to recruit the PCs for different ends.

If nothing else this will also allow me to get through the basic class levels Without asking you to go through the setting (happy to wait for the book) my question is will this type of introduction work fine in DI. Is there any bigs bits of info in the setting that make this incompatible? Again this type of intro is able to work because of DIs high compatibility with d20 Modern.

For the benefit of others here are some other answers to DI questions I had on other forums:

Titan characters are balanced to be playable right along side normal human PCs. I've edited the post but let me give some examples.

Titan characters start with 1 less feat and fewer skill points than their fully human siblings. Birthrights, the powers of the titans, cost action points to initially purchase. Each legacy also has a weakness. Finally, manifesting birthrights can cause strain (various conditions based on the result of a strain check), for titans are still mostly human and the human body is greatly stressed when manifesting a birthright. The result of strain may even leave the titan character marked with a legendary transformation.

The human body was never designed to channel the potent ethereal energies summoned by birthright manifestation. The physical and mental transformations induced by the manifestation of birthrights are an attempt by the body’s DNA to change its self so as to be able to better handle the intense energies.

Legendary transformations are unique to each birthright tree and reflect the themes of that tree.

All legendary transformations penalize the titan in some undesirable way. Some transformations alter the physical appearance of the character — changing eye color or sprouting elaborate horns are minor examples of this type of transformation — and some of these changes only appear while the titan is actually manifesting birthrights. These legendary transformations are obvious and reveal the inheritor for what he truly is, a descendant of inhuman beings.

and

Bear in mind as I answer these that I only wrote a small chunk of the game, and that was all setting and (apologies) opening fiction. I've got the full text, but I haven't really examined the mechanics yet.

All that disclaimed -

1) The game's about modern-day investigation, conspiracy and exploration of horrors and mythical power from the distant past. Alias and Hellboy got mentioned during development. Elements of SG-1 and At The Mountains of Madness went into my section. There are seven alligences in DI, each supporting a style of play, and each of those has a list of inspirational works.

2) At low levels, humans and titans are roughly on a par. I'm not sure how the high-level playtests went. You can certainly play a viable human character.

3) Yep, the normal classes are usable.

4) Normal distribution channels, I think. I'll check with Mythic Dreams.

 

[d20Dwarf]

That sounds like it will work just fine to me, after all, titans did exist before the rip. As for leaving Project Titan, well, that might be a DM's dream come true. Titan would never willingly let a group of titans just go on their merry way, not without a fight anyway. But it could be a great pretext for subplots such as Project Titan lets them go but only so they can lead them to something, or perhaps two of the Titan leaders are both manipulating the PCs in different directions, making them pawns in the internal politics of the organization.

The world of Alias, with SD-6, the Alliance, the CIA, K-Directorate, and the rest, was a big influence to me while I was writing this allegiance. If you're looking for spy/intrigue/special ops modern play with a supernatural bent, I think this is definitely a good starting place.

 

[Skywalker]

That sounds like it will work just fine to me, after all, titans did exist before the rip. As for leaving Project Titan, well, that might be a DM's dream come true. Titan would never willingly let a group of titans just go on their merry way, not without a fight anyway. But it could be a great pretext for subplots such as Project Titan lets them go but only so they can lead them to something, or perhaps two of the Titan leaders are both manipulating the PCs in different directions, making them pawns in the internal politics of the organization.

I agree. I don't want to restrict the players freedom and I can see how they may come to dislike Project Titan when they get to know the whole truth, that is is an organisation employing them to control their own kind. However, I don't think it would be easy to leave Project Titan by a long shot. Maybe a few Prisoner inspired sessions would be in order

Overall, I hope that the PCs decision and conflict with Project Titan leads to many interesting stories even if they decide to stay. If one PC is a member of Fugo a watu then the PCs would have a powerful hidden ally, but they would need to trust Fugo's own shadowy aims. Jumping out of the fire into the frying pan.

The world of Alias, with SD-6, the Alliance, the CIA, K-Directorate, and the rest, was a big influence to me while I was writing this allegiance. If you're looking for spy/intrigue/special ops modern play with a supernatural bent, I think this is definitely a good starting place.

I am a big fan of Delta Green too so this will be a great inspiration. However, I often found DG to be impossible to write for based solely on its focus on a well known mythos and its...high intellectual integrity. I find what I have read of DI so far is more accessible and will be something new for players. It calls upon a great variety of inspirations but retains a coherent style. All the allegiances look interesting enough to focus an entire campaign on.

Just another quick question (and I may be completely wrong on this) but is the Eldritch Monk's Spells and Spells Known stats the wrong way around? I would have assumed it to be the other way around. It seems strange (in light of the Sorceror) that the Eldritch Monk knows a lot more spells than they can cast.