Hey, hey, Nick here! Wanted to touch base with our monthly update of what’s going on in the Automata shop as we continue to work on the game line. Before we jump in, I want to stress the importance of the feedback form again. We are making small tweaks to address some of the your input, but we won’t be tackling all of it until we do another full round of editing. And if you want to tell us about your experience playing that isn’t specific to the mechanics, such as the feel of the game, praises, concerns, hop into our Discord! Anything we can to keep moving the game forward. It really helps us out in the long run to deliver a kick-ass product.
Manuscript Update
Location modules are about down, I’m currently finishing up on the Academy and the Pegasus right now. It is always interesting to see how my ideas have evolved from the framework that I originally set out to see how much more has been added to those. I look forward to getting the maps started for the location modules so people have some cool blueprints to work for. The Pegasus I am particularly happy with just for being one of the many concessions I made in my creative process for making something that is so much more inexplicably sci-fi than anything else while still retaining the horror aspect that we’ve come to love from Eldritch Automata. I’ll leave you with a little preview:
The Pegasus has the ability to maintain indefinite flight due to an unorthodox technology dubbed the “Prometheus Engine.” At the core of the engine is an Automata, the eponymous ‘Prometheus,’ that has been fitted to act as a massive power source. This Automata uses its Ego Chamber to funnel the power of the Anathema into powering the ship. Further, a Manufactured operates Prometheus, permanently built into the Automata itself. Not only does this “pilot” serve as the conduit to channel the Anathema, they also act as the neural personality unit for the ships onboard AI. The Manufactured is hooked up to life-sustaining machinery to keep it capable of powering Prometheus.
In other news, Heart of Entropy is officially wrapped, alongside Operation: Open Arms, completing the Guest Operations chapter of the core rulebook. This chapter is currently the longest in the book, coming in at a whopping 20,000 or so words, and we’re excited for players to run both of these operations!
Art Update
Pilot Archetype art is in the works and we’re excited to bring you the first looks, mostly likely in the next update. Plus some of the prototypes of some other cool art we have going in the book as well! We may even possibly share a layout spread so you can get a preview of how the book is going to look. We’ve gone through a lot of iterations of what we think the book should look like, and while the Quicklaunch has given us some solid direction we do want to make it a little more stylish so you can occasionally oooh and aaaah while still able to use it as a reference book. But we won’t leave you hanging till next update, here’s another sample of some of the new Automata art! Introducing… The Overload.
Now it’s time for another lore drop.
Lore Drop: The Liminal Fall & Genesis
What is the Liminal Fall?
Advent Day was the beginning of what would become the end of our world and the beginning of a new one – a transitional age of human extinction. Advent Day and the years immediately following it, referred to throughout this chapter as the Liminal Fall, would see civilization as we know collapse. With the collective mass extinction of nearly three-quarters of humanity in the initial arrival of the Architect, large swaths of infrastructure, residential neighborhoods, and several positions of power were left vacant.
Currently, the Liminal Fall refers to the time between the current Age of Automata and Advent Day. You might be asking what is the “Age of Automata?”
Simply put, the Age of Automata begins with the first confirmed kill of a Seraph, showcasing the powers of the Automata against the most powerful beings in the Architect’s army. From that point forward, all nations still standing, in an agreement under the Automata Accords,began sharing research with one another and start the rapid stockpiling of Automata. With this, the defense of humanity truly begins. All scenarios take place in the Age of Automata by default, although there is nothing stopping you from playing back within the Liminal Fall.
How does the Automata story continue?
Three weeks after the discovery of the Anathema, a group of survivors in the remains of then-Turkey stumbled upon a massive chasm that ripped itself across the ancient complex of Göbekli Tepe.
When we last touched on the Gehenna Institute they had just discovered and had begun experimentation on the Anathema, a powerful force of reality-rejecting energy. Now in the ruins of one of the biggest Neolithic monuments, a discovery was laid bare for them.
“...a massive burial chamber that may or may have not been constructed before humanity’s first civilization.”
In their initial investigations, they discovered something had been left there, a skeleton of a creature on a colossal scale.
“Whatever being the skeleton belonged to had been larger than any living creature on earth, even bigger than most man-made structures. A true ancient astronaut. But even more so the members of the Göbekli Tepe team referred to them as ‘Dead Gods’.”
These dead gods would become the templates for the Basel Experiments and framework upon which the Gehenna Institute would build their new war machine.
“If the dead gods were no longer around to defend this world, then we would simply have to make gods of our own.”
We’ve always discussed how Automata came to be and how they were built on the blueprints of once-lost primordial beings, but never really delved into how that came to be. The core rulebook will include the full prose sampled here, but as for where these “dead gods” came from, that will be something to explore in a later book.
“With the blueprints finally complete, it was time to put the full knowledge of this discovery to use. A hybrid of ancient and modern technology. To create the first one of these Automata. A being called Genesis.”
Finally, Some New Enemy Statblocks!
Some of you were asking for more enemies to use in their games since it wasn’t a part of the Backer pre-release, so here are two new enemies to use in your Eldritch Automata games.
Death: Corrosion Revenant (Threat 6) - Pilot (Threat 8)
Description: Resembling a bloated mass, this Horror spouts various external intestinal tracts that feed from various parts of its hunched form. Covered in corrosive fluids, this Horror dissolves its foes with acidic projectiles launched from its distended maw.
Health: 8, Ego Field: 3
Attack:Acidic Spew
Tags: Light Damage, Long Range, Damage Over Time
Attack: Wicked Maw
Tags: Medium Damage, Close Range, Grappling
Talent: Swallow: Targets that are currently Grappled, the enemy can spend a Slow Action to engulf the grappled target removing them from the battlefield. While inside the victim suffers ongoing damage equal to the enemy’s Threat Level each round at the beginning of the Target’s turn. The swallowed target can attempt to escape by making a successful opposed Close Combat roll. If successful the target is expelled from the enemy's stomach into the same zone.
Justice: Stalker Vice (Threat 7) - Pilot (Threat 10)
Description: A stealthy Horror that embodies darkness, unable to be perceived against the night, this manifestation of dread steals the victim's shadow before consuming them into the abyss of its bottomless stomach.
Health: 9, Ego Field: 5
Attack:Umbral Strike
Tags: Light Damage, Close Range, Stealth, Swift
Talent: Ambush: The enemy exceeds in the art of surprise, often lying in wait for the perfect chance to attack its target. When attacking from a stealthy position, the enemy gains a +3 bonus to its attack roll.
