I'm having one of those rollercoaster mornings where the good and the bad are taking their turns. So let's focus on the good...
We've unlocked our first Stretch Goal!
ACHIEVED! - At $7,000 in Funding - New Pugmire Unleashed Appendix
A new appendix will be created for Pugmire Unleashed, featuring character creation tables including material from the Realms of Pugmire core rulebook and Pugmire Unleashed.
So let's set up an Onyx Path classic for our next goal.
At $11,000 in Funding - Redbubble Shirt Design
A Pugmire Unleashed-themed Backer shirt will be hosted on Onyx Path’s Redbubble store for a limited time. All backers will be notified when the shirt becomes available for purchase.
It's a fun celebration and will hopefully help us keep pace as we move through the campaign.
But let's get to the real draw of today's update! A sneak peek at some of our newest options unleashed in this book! It's all about badgers, baby, and we're goona look at three of the upbringing options.
The badger clans are finally making steps toward friendship with other species, or at least toward ceasing outright hostility. Now that they share a common language with other people, some are reaching tentative feelers in the direction of peace, and perhaps even trade or alliance.
On tuesday, backers will get the next chapter, which contains an exploration of badger society, from their history to modern day, as well as rules to make your own badger player character.
Upbringings
All badgers are raised to perform a specific function within their clan and its hunting and gathering parties, a necessity of life in the wild. This informs the traits they work to improve in their formative years and usually defines their role in their tribe as an adult.
Though they’re called the badger clans, badgers in Realms of Pugmire include representatives of many kinds of animals from the time of the Old Ones. Though any kind of badger can belong to any of the upbringings, they fall into five general groups.
Brochs are any type of badger, including honey badgers and European badgers.
Ferrets include weasels and stoats as well ferrets themselves.
Otters can pull from any of the otters that exist now, from sea otters to river otters and more.
Polecats can be any of the current species of polecats, but can also be skunks, as it’s one of their colloquial names.
Wolverines include martens and minks among their ranks, in addition to actual wolverines.
Each of the five badger upbringings contains that upbringing’s general description, attitude toward other upbringings, attribute bonus, and their first trick. Today, we'll get a small sample from three of those!
Ferret
Any badger raised to be lithe, quick, and dexterous is called a ferret. They’re often used as messengers and scouts, and they’re also generally adept at sneaking in and out of places they shouldn’t be. Ferrets act as advance intelligence gatherers, scoping out any places a clan intends to use as a resting spot, and checking for enemy movements to avoid ambushes. Some ferrets also use their skills to find hunting or gathering spots to help feed their clans.
Ferrets’ reliance on being quick, both in their speech and movement, leads to others sometimes thinking they’re flighty or irresponsible, but that’s usually untrue. While ferrets dislike standing still and droning on about things, it’s because they always feel like they’re busy — and they usually are. Often, people throughout the clan ask ferrets for favors without realizing other people have also asked them to fetch something and also the leader needs them to scout ahead... and so it goes. Thus, ferrets are incredibly good at multitasking and figuring out where priorities lie. Would it hurt worse to get in trouble with the clan leader or their own mother? Best to be double quick and not ever have to find out.
Ferrets are well-suited to anything that requires being light on their feet, whether that’s chasing after and ensnaring enemies (trappers), or keeping up with their speedy animal companions (wildspeakers).
Ferret Tricks
Ferret tricks are all about the ferret’s physical nature as a character who can wriggle out of sticky situations and maintain balance.
Darkvision
Ferrets with this trick can see further in darkness than other people. If a character is using their Darkvision to see, they only see in black, white, and shades of gray. Darkvision doesn’t let the character see things that are invisible, magically or otherwise.
Perfect Balance
This trick gives a ferret a boon to any check having to do with balancing. Also, any falling damage they take is halved.
Wriggle Free
A ferret with this trick can remove nonmagical conditions that restrict their movement, such as being restrained with rope or choked in entangling vines, or while suffering the effects of difficult terrain. They can use this trick twice before needing to nap.
Otter
Now that the badger clans have started opening diplomatic relations with the other species, the charismatic otters are widening the scope of their duties. Otters have been the peacekeepers and arbiters among the clans since they joined many years ago, but sending envoys to Pugmire, the monarchies, and beyond is precariously new. They know one misstep could set them back, so they read the histories, train their rhetoric, and carefully pore over any missives they can get their paws on to learn the nuance and connotations of their new language.
Otters smooth over both intra- and inter-clan conflict, while advising others in leadership positions how best to judge and perhaps even punish transgression. Usually, a clan’s chronicler is an otter, and when badgers need to write missives to each other or to members of another species, otters typically act as their scribes. Most otters cultivate both a cool head and a keen eye for detail; they are excellent at reading body language and intentions, as well as convincing other people to follow their course of action. Otters are also excellent teachers who can adjust their instruction to any individual student on the fly. Most young badgers have a favorite otter who taught them how to fish, hunt, weave, read, or sing.
Placid, calm otters excel at waiting for their prey to come along, whether literal or in social settings (sniper). They also exhibit infinite calm working with animals and cultivating plants (wildspeakers), as well as when weaving nets and setting snares (trappers).
Otter Tricks
Otter tricks represent their ability to perform diplomacy and tell if others have good or ill intentions.
Friendly Countenance
An otter with this trick gets a boon to disposition-level rolls and Persuade checks, due to their friendly and trustworthy face. They may use this trick twice before needing to nap.
No One’s Fool
Badgers with this trick are excellent at telling when someone is lying and can signal the information to their allies silently. The otter has a boon to Cunning tests against being duped, and companions will know when someone’s lying as well, as long as they can see the badger’s signal. The signal may be something like a nose twitch, a body movement, or a wink.
Wolverine
The badger clans’ bruisers and enforcers, wolverines are usually the largest physically as well as the most vicious. They value toughness above all and are the first to lead the pack in larger-scale conflicts and most hunts. They spend their days training and drilling when they’re not hauling crates or helping build wagons and other structures needed for their caravans. Wolverines also gather wood for campfires, regarding swinging axes at trees as a good use of their muscles. Protecting their individual clans, as well as badgers as a whole, is their foremost goal, and there’s usually a wolverine among any guard rotation.
While anyone with an aptitude for physicality can become a wolverine, they’re one of the more insular upbringings, adopting mostly from badgers and other larger types. Some others question their role in the clans, especially as they turn toward less-martial ways of settling conflicts, but it can’t be argued that they’ll always need someone on the frontlines or leading great hunts, and wolverines have long proved best at those. Even their traditional dances and tales draw from the warring side of their history and propping up great badgers like Kibu the Red, who’s known not only for his gift of language but also his bravery in combat.
Wolverines lead the majority of their clans’ hunting parties (bashers) and are also trained with ranged weapons (snipers), though it’s rarely their first choice. When wolverines bond with nature (wildspeakers), they favor predator beasts as their primary companions.
Wolverine Tricks
Wolverine tricks represent their physical prowess, whether in battle or when using it to impress others.
Impressive Physique
Wolverines with this trick can use their Might instead of Presence for checks involving positive influence or intimidation.
Wolverine’s Might
Having taught their allies a few tips and tricks learned in training, the wolverine with this trick can motivate their companions to otherwise impossible feats of strength, adding the badger’s Might score to the Might of up to four companions and improving each companion’s Might until they take damage or rest. Once the effect ends, however, the affected character receives the Exhausted condition.
I'm a real sucker for stoats - like, a really big fan - so happy to have the ferret upbringing and I'll absolutely be building a badger character when we get the full chapter next week!
On Monday, we'll get a sneak peek at a badger trapper, followed by the full chapter available to backers only! Remember, all project backers will have access to the complete manuscript by the end of this campaign, before any pledges are processed or payments collected!
Like the stoat, we're small but powerful, so please continue to spread the word about this project and let's see where we can take it in the upcoming weeks!
