Hello Deep Delvers,

The World Below is currently in the errata and indexing stage, so we’re going to switch to another of our stretch goals - the upcoming Underworld Adventures - and I’m going to preview the very start of the In The Roots scenario. If you’re looking to start up a game of The World Below yourself, feel free to use this as your jump off (or drop down) point!:

In the Roots’ opening scene, Grand Entrance, offers an easy way to literally drop your characters into the story. Still, Root-Home is a ways off the beaten track, so characters have several reasons to arrive in the area:

In this story, where the characters came from and how they prepare doesn’t affect the course of events or how they respond to the unfolding situation in Root-Home, leaving you free to get straight to the exciting part.

The characters survive a traumatic arrival in Root-Home, experience a modicum of comfort, and are plunged into a night of attempted mass murder.

The journey begins with the characters finding themselves in a vast, unoccupied cavern. There’s nothing but bulbous brown fungus creeping across the walls, but signs of animal presence exist. With a Survival + Intellect action, characters can discern something recently spooked the animals, with two or more hits indicating it’s likely a reaction to something environmental: perhaps a poisonous gas or earth tremors.

Allow the characters to explore this phenomenon or simply cross the cavern. Before they leave, the earth rumbles and the cavern collapses around them, giving them seconds to react before plummeting into the unknown.

Roll initiative (the cavern has a pool of 6). Characters who beat the collapsing floor receive one action (at difficulty 2) to cling to something before the ground crumbles away. Athletics or Survival — plus an appropriate Attribute — are the most likely Skills, but certain Theses, Syntheses, or Sorceries may also help. Regardless of our outcome here, we want the characters to end up in the cave below, so this is less a chance to avoid it, and more an opportunity to arrive uninjured. All routes to exit the cavern are sealed by the cave-in.

As the cavern floor collapses, the twinkling lights of a colony pierce through the darkness below. Almighty splashes signal that below them lies water, and once the tumult of the cave-in dies down, the lights of the settlement shimmer across the newly revealed lake.

Characters who failed to react plummet directly into the deep lake around which Root-Home has grown. It’s a long but not lethal drop, and the water breaks much of the fall. The drop (and the falling rubble) inflict 3 injuries; certain Theses and Syntheses may help here, as does an Athletics + Might action to help land safely (reduce injuries by 1 for every 2 hits).

For those who succeed, there’s now no way across the cavern in either direction, and the risk of falling is high — really it would be easiest to descend to the settlement. Climbing down requires an Athletics + Might action (difficulty 2). Characters who fail take 1 injury as they land in the lake.

Since the aim of this scene isn’t to fatally injure characters, they drag themselves out of the lake without an action.

The rockfall significantly damages several of the structures in the settlement, but somewhat surprisingly, the locals’ immediate concern is for the injured strangers (and their own injured people, but the characters are unlikely to see that). Characters immediately notice how the populace of Root-Home is overwhelmingly of the Myceli Dialectic — not unusual to see, but certainly rare in such vast quantities. A group of four myconidal people, led by Snag (a short, stout man with hints of makiru ancestry) wade in to help everyone out of the water, before leading them to away to the safety of D’anandell Gardens. Other denizens of Root-Home stare slack-jawed at the outsiders. Snag keeps them company until Zelandre, the town’s physician, arrives at the gardens.

Characters may feel this is an unusually warm reception for a settlement in the World Below: Suspicion and hostility are more the norm. A Culture + Composure action confirms the folk of Root-Home have no ulterior motive — they’re just kind, concerned people.

Something about Root-Home seems… off. Keen observers (Empathy + Intellect, difficulty 1(1) — unresolved Complications inflict the Confused status effect) catch on to something unusual in the way the people of Root-Home interact.

One hit: It’s like they barely listen to what other Root-Homers are saying. This doesn’t apply to their visitors, to whom they’re solicitous and courteous.

Two hits: They have an unusual degree of empathy and concern for one another: They’re quick to anticipate what another Root-Homer needs and often start fulfilling a request before the other person’s even finished asking. Some locals group themselves tightly together.

Three+ hits: Either they’re phenomenal at interpreting body language or they’ve got an additional way of communicating which outsiders aren’t privy to. The occasional fungal-flecked group can be caught staring blankly at the characters but are quick to resume their cheery demeanor when engaged.

The explanation behind the behavior is the mycelium network — not only does it flow through the very roots of Root-Home, but it lives within the flesh of locals. Any of the people of Root-Home explain the network if asked. It’s not a secret. In fact, they’re rather proud of it. 

The World Below lets you combine any appropriate Skill + Attribute to make a dice pool. This is a great example of when and why to do that. Let players use any Physical Attribute they can justify: Might could represent clinging onto something to slow the drop, Dexterity landing well, and Stamina holding one’s breath and relying on that water landing.

What happens next? We’ll have to see how your group handles their descent into Root-Home or wait for the book to arrive! It’s coming soon!

 

Thansk to everyone who sent in their feedback for The World Below backer PDF. The team are using your notes to help take the book to the final stages so they can release the PDF and begin prepping the print run. The Storyguide Screen is now in layout.

If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://the-world-below.backerkit.com/

You can read Onyx Path's most recent monthly summary, covering all projects and their status up to that point here: <October 2024 Project Status Summary>

You can find the weekly Monday Meeting blog updates <here>, which note any projects with status changes since the previous Month End summary. The project statuses listed are current as of last Monday, so do check it out each Monday night to see if anything may have progressed!

I will continue to post regular updates everymonth until the final reward has gone out.

You may be able to get further insight and possibly some in-depth conversation at these Onyx Path discussion zones:

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The Alchemical Exalted are the Chosen of the Machine God, biomechanical demigods forged from divine metal and heroic souls. They do not rule the Eight Nations, but serve as Champions of the people, a sacred duty greater than any ambition. The eldest of Alchemicals transcend their human forms to become metropoli, living cities that offer the Eight Nations a stronghold against Autochthonia’s perils.

The Realm of Brass and Shadows is unforgiving, and the Eight Nations find themselves faced with many challenges: cataclysmic upheavals of Autochthon’s world-machinery, incursions of gruesome techno-organic gremlins, and the ever-present threat to their livelihoods. All the while, the slumbering Autochthon grows ever sicker, his corrupting Blight metastasizing throughout his world-body. Despair not. There is work to be done.

Alchemicals: Forged by the Machine God is an expansion for the Exalted Third Edition tabletop roleplaying game. It’s set in a mythic world where spirits walk openly among humanity, warring demigods topple kingdoms, and the restless dead roam on moonless nights. Heroes granted divine power contend against one another for the future of Creation. These are the Exalted!