We’re lost. Genrik was sure this was the way, but I don’t remember this chasm. We crossed a fissure on our way to the tenebral caves, but it was no wider than a jump. This one requires a bridge. Unless the stratum changed around us outside the Kalm season, we’ve taken a wrong passage somewhere.

To their credit, Genrik and Fyrn remain optimistic. Genrik is already at work amending his map. Joanne is sullen. She thinks we’ll struggle to reach Longdeep in time for our reward.

I think we just need to find a local or better, a community. We passed a caravan of Chlzyl, but they kept themselves to themselves, even when Fyrn offered to speak on our behalf.

The question is whether to double back or cross this chasm and get even more lost. 

In the meantime, I’m admiring my surroundings. I should be scared right now, but taking in the luminescent fungi, the diamonds scattered across the vaulted ceiling, and down in the chasm the glow of a molten silver river… It’s impossible to not admire the beauty. It’s dangerous, but it’s beautiful. And it needs exploring.

Hello Diggers,

Before we have a brief review from our latest manuscript section, I wanna share some Stretch Goal updates! First, a major victory, and one I'm very excited about!

ACHIEVED! -At $39,000 in Funding – ED GREENWOOD’S MOUNSTROUS ECOLOGY – A PDF supplement detailing some of the strange and unique creatures that dwell in the World Below. The intrepid Ed Greenwood delves into some of the common colossal bugs, monstrous entities, and carnivorous beasts dwelling in the World Below with the first part of our ecology book.  This PDF supplement will be added to the rewards list of all backers receiving The World Below PDF as one of their rewards.

That's right, Ed Greenwood will be writing about bugs and creepy crawlies for The World Below! Already a part of the writing team for this book, it'll be great to get more words and wisdom from the legend. And we're calling this "Part One" because we'd love to keep funding and eventually be able to come back with a "Part Two" Stretch Goal option! Let's keep at it!

Before that, though, we'll have a few other options. Keeping with our routine so far, we'll have a celebration target to help us keep up our energy and pace, and then a new content goal right after. Let's check 'em out!

At $41,000 in Funding – WORLD BELOW DIGITAL WALLPAPER – Weird and wonderful World Below artwork will be used to create a wallpaper for your computer desktop. This digital wallpaper will be added to the rewards list of all backers supporting this project.

At $43,0000 in Funding – WORLD BELOW MONSTER CARDS – A set of Monster Cards with illustrations on one side and information on the back will be released as a “Print-and-Play” PDF and added to the rewards list of all backers receiving The World Below PDF as one of their rewards. Backers will receive an option to order a physical version from DriveThruCards at a discounted rate.

I love having visual aids to show players, especially as you get into some of the odder elements of The World Below! A handy resource, to be sure! Love it, let's keep this ride going and unlock these two new Stretch Goals!

With those new goals in place, it's time to review a bit from our latest manuscript section, which was made available to backers yesterday <in this update>.

For me, one of the most interesting bits from yesterday's systems chapters is that stuff that happens *between* adventures! I love seeing stuff like this, which really shows how your actions affect the ecosystem, and also how you characters are a part of a greater whole. Maybe the story you're creating is but a chapter in a much larger tale.

The Kalm season allows gives time for the characters to get new gear and provisions, and for players to spend XP and grow their abilities, but it also allows the game to impact the world around the characters. Neat stuff here!

Stories carry hopeful tones of what it was like to live in a light-filled world without a care or problem in sight. In these stories, people had time to stay still, enjoy their homes, and build elaborate and illustrious cities. Pining for this world in part fuels the Farsighter Heliogy, but the World Above now is no place to live, and certainly no place to stay.

Now, the only reason people stay in one place for any length of time is Kalm. 

Kalm’s a subterranean season for folk to hole up in their caves and corners and dig in against the trials of the World Below. People exchange exploration and the pressure to migrate downward for building, creating, and defending what’s theirs. Despite the name implying a time of peace, the World Below becomes intensely hostile during Kalm, forcing its inhabitants to shelter from the storm. The outer dangers include raging storms of Kaos that somehow leave the Vast Underneath’s monstrous inhabitants unaffected and able to assault and invade the territories of others. The phrase “Kalm and Kaos go claw in claw” becomes a mantra during the Kalm season. Few but the mightiest adventurers venture out at this time.

In game terms, Kalm happens after every adventure. It’s not sustainable for a group of characters to spend their whole lives fighting and hunting: they need time to rest and heal. They’re also expected to participate in their community: mending walls, training guards, and making sure the settlement doesn’t starve. Sometimes Kalm’s planned, as when every member of the community’s needed to bring in the seed pod harvest. Other times it’s forced on a community, as when swarming insects trap people in their homes for protracted periods of time. Ideally Kalm would be a quiet period during which the player characters shut out the Vast Underneath from their homes and families, but it rarely is. Something always happens to stir up interest, whether it’s something terrible or a happy event like a discovery that makes life easier or a wedding that brings the settlement together for a moment of happiness.

For clarity’s sake, while Kalm applies to communities, settlements, and even tiny habitats, any reference to one is a reference to all in this section.

Five things happen during Kalm. 

These activities resolve in the same order every Kalm, even though they’re abstractions of many things happening at the same time. 

Completed party Aspirations pay dividends during Kalm. They speed up relevant developments or steer the community toward more positive Kalm Events. 

The completed Aspiration might materially affect the status quo, for example getting rid of a corrupt, lazy leader, or it might just give the community members a much-needed boost of confidence and resilience. If the characters completed a party Aspiration in the previous adventuring season, move down two rows from the rolled result on the Kalm Events table. 

Communities and settlements form their own Aspiration every Kalm season, to be agreed upon between the players and Storyguide. If they achieved the last season’s Kalm Aspiration, move down four rows. 

If both party Aspiration and Kalm Aspirations apply, choose whichever result you prefer. 

Kalm Aspirations also lead directly to positive Developments. A completed Kalm Aspiration should deliver one breakthrough. 

Each Kalm season becomes known for one occurrence. It’s not the only thing that happens during those weeks or months, but it’s the event that goes down in history. Successes have a way of making people forget minor setbacks, and disasters make everything else feel trivial. Some settlements name Kalm seasons after their memorable event: Swarm Season, or When We Murdered All Those Raiding Bura. 

While Kalm Events are designed to be random, if you’ve spent several sessions setting up the threat of raiders from a nearby settlement, it’s fine to have that happen during Kalm instead of rolling. 

Every Kalm Event has three components:

Some Sample Kalm Events

Kaos Storm

Kaos rages outside the settlement, contaminating everything with surging energy. 

Awful things from voidward storm the settlement. 

A section of rock collapses above or below the settlement.  

A dragon makes its new lair nearby. 

Kalm Developments are the result of the players’ efforts to guide and improve their settlement. They’re long-term projects that can take several Kalm periods to complete. 

Characters can work on Kalm Developments independently or together, using the normal rules for Working Together. A character can have more than one Development underway but can only roll to advance one of them in each Kalm season. 

Each Kalm Development has: 

Developments have between 1 and 3 breakthroughs, depending on complexity. Building a storehouse in a community with plenty of space and building materials would only need 1 breakthrough. The same project in a cramped warren of passages, where the only plentiful material is fungus, would require 3 breakthroughs: one to find a location, another to find materials, and finally the last to build the storehouse. 

Unlike regular actions, Development rolls don’t fail. They just contribute no hits toward the breakthrough. The player keeps rolling each Kalm until they achieve the breakthrough or abandon the project. 

Breakthroughs generally involve research and development, preparation, and activity. The settlement’s status or the goal’s simplicity might let the character skip one of these breakthroughs. Characters might reduce the hits needed for a breakthrough during a story, such as by finding a piece of technology to reverse engineer or making a trade agreement with another community. 

A Development can’t achieve more than one breakthrough per Kalm season. If actions during a story complete a breakthrough, move on to the next breakthrough when Kalm starts. If those actions finish the Development the community benefits from it immediately.  

Developments are limited only by the players’ imaginations, but the list provided here is a sample. Replace goals with more specific ones that suit the player’s intentions and adjust the breakthroughs and Skill + Attribute combinations as appropriate. 

Some Sample Goals and Breakthroughs

Develop Industry/Agriculture

Goal: Improve, or initiate, a way of producing food or resources for the community. 

Impact: Either roll two extra dice to resist the effects of Scarcity or add an additional Industry to the settlement’s traits.

Change Leadership

Goal: Replace the community’s leader(s) with someone who shares the character’s vision — or with one of the characters themselves. 

Impact: The community exposes itself to hardship to help the characters. They willingly give up resources or divert people from community industries to support the characters’ goals. This loyalty won’t last if the characters don’t repay it. 

Goal: Build fortifications: defenses walls, traps, alarm systems and the like. 

Impact: Increase the settlement’s Defense rating by one. 

The Kalm season is the optimal time to create new weapons, armor, and tools to prepare for explorations and adventures to come. Your characters may approach artisans and Moths in the local settlement to procure new gear, or may choose to build such items themselves. 

Once the Kalm period concludes, players may spend the experience they gained during their previous period of activity. This represents time spent studying, training, or stumbling over discoveries, and the rest they’ve enjoyed (with any luck) allowing them to become stronger in their chosen fields. 

OK, we've got some new Stretch Goals! We've got a new system to help us navigate our downtime between adventures! Let's use our Kalm time this week to continue to spread the word in our social circles and on our social media and let other backers know about this game and this campaign!

Tomorrow, I'll be back with a preview of Sorcery from the game!!