New Sins Explanation Series
One of my presiding goals with Sins of Our Mother is to challenge how you, the player, think about and play Dungeons & Dragons. I designed the stori...
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Catacolyte Games
about 2 months ago
Sins Early Access Release!
Hooray! Early Access is OUT NOW!
Hey, Backers! Sins of Our Mother Early Access is out! Please scroll below to the Backer exclusive section for the link to the early access downl...
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Catacolyte Games
about 2 months ago
Sins of Our Mother EARLY ACCESS Coming on Sunday, the 15th!
Sins of Our Mother Early Access Announcement
Hey, @everyone! Sins of Our Mother early access is coming out this Saturday weekend! Early access will be available to all backers r...
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Catacolyte Games
8 months ago
Sins Update I - Progress, Changes, & More!
Hey Backers!
It’s been a minute, so I thought it high time to share some progress. Here’s what we’ll cover this update:
• Quest Hooks & Ritual Feats
• Hospital of Quiet Minds...
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Catacolyte Games
11 months ago
Campaign End & Thank you!
Campaign End & Thank You!
To new backers, welcome! To old backers, thank you so much for your continued support. I'll strive to live up to your expectations.
We crossed the fi...
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Catacolyte Games
11 months ago
Last Week! Sins Campaign & Progress Update
Hello! We're in the home stretch, so I wanted to share what I've been working on while the campaign pushes past the finish line.
$2,359 and Counting!
This is fantastic! Thank y...
One of my presiding goals with Sins of Our Mother is to challenge how you, the player, think about and play Dungeons & Dragons. I designed the stories and game systems inside to upend expectations and to push the game in new directions. To showcase what I mean, I’m doing a “Meet the X” series leading up to the release that delves into some of Sin’s most unique facets. So, let’s Meet the Medusite.
Meet the Medusite
The Medusite’s power comes from accessing their ancestors’ memories. At first, they just inherited an ancient martial art honed over generations. That’s interesting… but how can a Monk with extra steps challenge players’ expectations? So, I took it one step further. Medusites remember EVERYTHING. I won’t say why (that’s for you to discover), but they inherit the sum of a species’ memory. They recall with equal acuity their progenitors’ first stumbling steps onto land, and their great grandfather’s last gasping breath.
Flavor and Level Table for Medusite
Why Snakes?
Serpents are complicated symbols. They’re often seen as evil tempters like Satan in the Garden of Eden. Yet they can also symbolize cycles and rebirth like with the ouroboros. Me, I find snakes terrifying. That fear fascinates me. I used to have nightmares of a great serpent that’d erupt from the earth’s crust and swallow me, my family, and my house whole. The same snake would appear again later in my nightmares following my first car wreck.
I’ve read that phobias of serpents, spiders, and other one-hit KO creepy crawlies could be an evolutionary advantage or learned fear. The first theory argues that humans who feared snakes were more likely to avoid them, and thus survive. The learned fear theory goes that we learn to despise snakes from our parents and the stories we consume.
I’m certainly in the later category. My dad hated snakes so much he’d stand on the porch with a pair of binoculars scanning for water moccasins. When he’d finally spot one, he would run out with his pistol and start shooting. He was no hunter, though. He hated killing, but happily made an exception for snakes.
All this learned fear turned into fascination when I started reading Ovid. Medusa, a victim, was blamed and punished for her own rape. Minerva cursed her, transforming her hair into serpents and made her gaze petrify. This entwining of serpent and human struck me as terrifying and equally enthralling. It was as if I were turned to stone, and couldn’t look away.
But what do all of these themes mean for Medusite in Sins of Our Mother? I wanted something that combined primordial memory, body horror, and inheritance. Thus, Reminiscence was born.
Reminiscence– 3rd level
Your connection to the eternal chain grows deeper. The Symbiote gains a number of Sequence slots equal to your proficiency bonus. You may fill these slots with traits you gain from Inheritance Memories (unlocked at 4th level) or other creatures.
When you Devour a creature via Voracious, you may absorb part of their essence. A creature’s essences include:
Senses
Damage Resistance
Damage Immunities
Condition Immunities
Special Traits
You cannot gain a creature’s Innate Spellcasting this way.
Damage resistances and immunities apply only to the Symbiote, but senses and condition immunities apply to the host. Special traits may apply to either the host or the Symbiote, whichever is most relevant.
You may choose which type of essence to plunder, but only the goddess may determine what you gain, if anything.
Essences persist until you complete a long rest. If you plunder an essence while you possess no empty Sequence slots, you must replace an Inheritance Memory trait or the oldest essence. When an essence that overwrote an Inheritance Memory trait expires, regain the Inheritance Memory trait.
1 of 3 Inheritance Memories
Conclusion
I love this class feature. It accomplishes everything Catacolyte strives to do in the tabletop space. Reminiscence extends the play area into the realm of imagination. The feature asks players to treat monsters as a potential resource. It encourages them to play while wondering what they might become. In essence, players can use Reminiscence (and its supporting class features) to build their own subclass.
So, what do you think? I’ve always wanted to play a snake themed character, but nothing’s ever scratched the itch. I’ve tried a Druid who exclusively wild shapes into snakes (that was fun), a serpentine Wizard in Deadfire using the unique Cobra Strike spell, and more. I hope you also find the Medusite fun and interesting. That’s it for now. Thank you for reading! Check back soon for more insights into the project!
Hooray! Early Access is OUT NOW! Hey, Backers! Sins of Our Mother Early Access is out! Please scroll below to the Backer exclusive section for the link to the early access download.
Hey, @everyone! Sins of Our Mother early access is coming out this Saturday weekend! Early access will be available to all backers regardless of their pledge tier. In my opinion, extra eyes and new perspectives will help improve the project, and ensure Sins becomes the best possible version of itself. So mark your calendars, and please don’t hesitate to share your feedback!
Sins early access will include the following:
4 Classes
Anathema Nurse class (previously Euphoria)
World Bearer class (previously Sloth Druid)
Vow of Beauty class (previously VoB Paladin)
Medusite class (previously Medusite Monk)
Red Mass
Crisis of Faith
2 Narrative Dungeons
Traitor Duchess & the Estate of Undeath
Star Lich Race
Church Armaments
Sinful Spells
Sins early access does NOT include (these are still coming):
Flesh Singer class (previously Flesh Singer Bard)
2 Narrative Dungeons
Hospital of Quiet Minds
Sickle City
Divine Creatures (monster stat blocks)
So, What Does Early Access Mean?
Games these days seem to treat early access as a kind of “pay to playtest” deal. I could definitely use the help playtesting, but that’s not the focus here. D&D is foremost a cooperative storytelling game. I’ve meticulously tweaked the game systems to ensure that the stories, quests, and classes inside Sins of Our Mother are fun, interesting, and evocative. But nothing’s perfect. Please, if you have the time, this is the perfect opportunity to share your thoughts , concerns, and impressions about the project.
Here are examples of the things that can change in early access:
Numbers (hit points, damage die, durations, etc.)
Specific Weapons, Items, Spells, or Abilities (too boring, weak, just don’t work, etc.)
Typos (self explanatory)
Here are examples of the things that CANNOT change in early access:
Major story beats in Narrative Dungeons (example, Resurrection from Traitor Duchess)
Class systems (example, Inheritance Memories from Medusite)
Class Redesigns
Originally, Sin’s new classes were supposed to rely on existing class design. However, D&D 2024’s impending class changes encouraged me to push Catacolyte’s own designs in a much more original and (hopefully) interesting direction. This shift meant going back to the drawing board for Flesh Singer, Medusite, and World Bearer (previously Sloth Druid). Although it cost time, I’m now confident this was the right decision. That said, there’s always room for improvement and polish. I’ll be looking for ways to better balance the classes until the full release.
Final Release When?
Sins of Our Mother is slated to release on PDF this winter and all other rewards to follow shortly after!
It’s been a minute, so I thought it high time to share some progress. Here’s what we’ll cover this update:
Quest Hooks & Ritual Feats
Hospital of Quiet Minds
Medusite
Conclusion & Partings
Quest Hook & Ritual Feats
I originally pitched Quest Hooks & Ritual Feats as separate sections, but while writing I realized they belonged together.
Have you ever played a game, fought an enemy, and thought ‘that’s awesome! I want that’? At the table we usually call this “NPC magic,” and I hate it. There should be as little distinction as possible between NPCs and PCs. Basically, PCs should be able to do whatever an NPC does.
At times these differences are necessary for the story or mechanical balance, but the greater this dissonance grows the less players feel part of the world and more like they’re playing a video game.
This change benefits both Quest Hooks and Ritual Feats and allows the two pieces to reinforce each other. We’ll get richer, more personal Quest Hooks for GMs and deeper, more immersive Ritual Feats for players. This new section is called Red Mass.
Here’s a sneak peak at part of the rough draft for Blood in the Streets, one of the entries in Red Mass.
Blood in the Streets
Rumors change as they spread from tongue to tongue, but you’d need not meet a gossip to know someone holds this city in a vice grip. At sunrise, the streets fill ‘til bustling, but look and see how they walk with eyes to their feet and never saying a word without need. At dusk, the streets clear, shutters slam shut, cats prowl, and the city listens with bated breath for a portent of the morrow.
Sacrament
Faithful may carry out ritual murders in the dark hearts of crowded cities to instill fear, provoke hatred, or elicit other emotions. This holy blasphemy is best suited for rogues, sadists, and anyone capable of killing in plain sight then absconding. To earn the Blood Queen’s blessing of Delectable Fear, a faithful must perform 5 ritual murders with the following conditions:
Commonality of Victims: Each victim must share some aspect such as profession or class.
Consistent Method: The manner of murders must be recognizable and attributable to the same entity.
Commentary: The deaths must speak to some purport whether personal or social and cannot be solely for slaying’s sake.
Delectable Fear - Ritual Feat
Death and fear hand in hand.
[REDACTED]
Here’s a few of the other entries:
Ecstasy & Death
Saints of the Setting Sun
Delicate Degeneracy
Also, here's some new art from Amin Manaa.
Hospital of Quiet Minds
I’ve shelved over a month’s worth of work that went into the second narrative dungeon. Hospital morphed into something that went beyond the bounds of a D&D 5E supplement. It grew into its own game involving characters made up of their constituent body parts and movement based combat. It is, in two words, a skirmish game. I’m proud of what Catacolyte designed, but the work is best suited for a different project.
So, where does that leave Hospital of Quiet Minds? The mechanical effort helped settle the core narrative elements. Hospital will raise questions like whether we are our bodies or our brains and force PCs to confront their own self-conceptions.
Medusite
I stand by the core thematic aspects of the Medusite, but the mechanical execution didn’t feel right. Playtests revealed that we need to beef up the class' foundation and better integrate Inheritance Memories. While it needs a rework, I can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Conclusion
Sins of Our Mother is Catacolyte’s biggest project yet, and I’ve found the sheer size difficult to manage. Unfortunately, I may have to delay Sins by a few months. That said, this book is double Cult’s length, and page for page is denser. Sins already has more content than Cult even at just 30~ pages. Please look forward to its release, it’s going to be great.
To new backers, welcome! To old backers, thank you so much for your continued support. I'll strive to live up to your expectations.
We crossed the finish line with 114 backers, raising over $2,700. Between this project and Cult of the Blood Queen, we have come so far this past year. I hope you have as much fun playing in this world as I have creating it.
Crisis of Faith
We unlocked the Crisis of Faith milestone on the last day! These challenges will be standalone encounters GMs can slot into existing campaigns to test their players. These encounters could be boss fights, puzzles, or even moral quandaries. More on these soon!
Cult of the Blood Queen 1.3
I've spent an extensive time iterating on the layouts for Sins of Our Mother in an attempt to create something unique. I still have a long way to go, but researching fonts, graphical hierarchy, and general layout design has taught me Cult of the Blood Queen is still really raw. I'm committed to producing the best possible version of my work I can so I'll spend a short stint bringing Cult up to level.
Everyone who backed Cult of the Blood Queen will receive an updated pdf copy via Backerkit, and this new version will become the standard issue.
Happy Holidays!
Best, Ashton Baker Creator of Catacolyte Games
P.S. The Lich Star Race won the Community Choice Poll by 1 vote. Woo!
