Dev Log IV - Campaign Close, Abandoned Cathedral, & Pact of the Pleasure Seekers
about 1 year ago – Wed, Apr 19, 2023 at 01:40:16 PM

First off, thank you for your patience for this update. I was out of town, but now I'm back just in time to wrap up the Kickstarter. This week, we met our last two stretch goals and raised over 3.5k! Thank you again for believing in this project. I'm blown away by your support, and I can't wait to release the final version. It's going to be great!

Let's get right to it and take a look at the Abandoned Cathedral player home and the Pact of the Pleasure Seekers. Plus, there's a sneak peek at the cleric subclass, too!

Abandoned Cathedral

"Before, when the stars were young, our worship rang out from every corner of this world. We sang in reverent unison to the savage beauty of the red queen, but our majestic mother teaches that power does not beget strength. Our own dominion diminished our struggle, and without struggle we stagnate. By decree we abandoned our holdings, leaving their fate to the mother's will. Now, in dire struggle we reclaim these old vestiges of strength in power" - Unknown, Excerpt from the Book of Blood

The Abandoned Cathedral is an old and forgotten sanctuary that players can find and use as a home base. At first the Cathedral will be little more than rubble and a dark basement. Good enough for shelter in the wilderness on short notice, but not much else. However, as you and your party grow in wealth and power, you'll be able to expand the Cathedral, adding new rooms and unlocking bonuses.

Here's an example room. Please note that these rooms are a work in progress and are subject to change before the final release:

Cellar Garden: Amenity Add On

Not all plants need light, some even prefer to struggle in the darkness.

Till the soil beneath the Cathedral in the dark of a new moon. Wrap each seed in a blood stained cloth and plant in the chest of a fresh corpse half submerged in the earth. After one week, the garden will sprout. Slip the bulbs a spoonful of raw meat each night and wait another moon for the garden to bloom.

The Cellar Garden will confer the following bonuses:

• A number of Seeded Corpses to defend the Cathedral
• Harvest poisons and other ingredients
• Once a week, lay a wounded creature may lay in the folds of the garden heart to fully heal their body

Pact of the Pleasure Seekers

Pact of the Pleasure Seekers is a new warlock class feature uniquely suited to serving the Blood Queen. It's too soon to say exactly what bonuses this Pact will grant, but but it will focus on ancient rites of hedonism and spending Blood Points!

Sneak Peek at the Domain of the Red Queen

Originally, Cult of the Blood Queen was going to ship with several 5+ Roleplay & Customization tables, but after achieving the 2k milestone we're doubling that number to 10! These tables are only aesthetic. They're meant to give players and GMs ideas to make their characters stand out as well as hint at the larger world of the Cult.

Here's a snippet from one of the tables:

•  Root Eye - A growth covered in birthing holes protrudes from your eye socket and wraps around your neck.
•  Petal Skin - All or part of your skin is covered in thin petals that open and close as if breathing.
•  Hive Belly - A hive filled with a skittering and droning mass of insects protrudes from your belly.

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That's it for this week, thank you for reading! Please check back soon for more information on early access and other updates!

As always, please join our Discord to ask questions or get some good community chats! 

All hail the Blood Queen!

Ashton, Creator of Catacolyte Games

Dev Log III - 2k Milestone Cleric Deity & Subclass, ACHEIVED!
about 1 year ago – Tue, Apr 11, 2023 at 03:52:31 PM

Thank You & a Contest...

We broke the $2,000 milestone late yesterday evening, and that means Cult of the Blood Queen will now include a new cleric subclass, deity, art, and a lot more lore! I didn't know what to expect starting this Kickstarter campaign, but I'm very humbled to accrue 2k+ pledges. Thank you for your trust.

Since we're nearing the final stretch of our campaign, we've decided to do a little contest. We will randomly select one person who retweets this Twitter post to win the rewards from the Hierophant tier. This is our highest tier and includes a digital download, physical art prints, backer credit, early access and a personal thank you note. The contest ends at 11:59 PM on Wednesday, April 19th.

Without further ado, here's a look at Church of the Blood Queen!

Church of Blood

Whereas warlocks are the red queen's chosen agents of transgression, her clergy are her majesty's master shapers. These zealous souls sometimes spend the life of a sun working the disparate strands of a single seed into a plethora of blossoming life.

"Each life is a litany of struggles fought in hope for the future and because life has always fought. Forebears forgotten, but felt deep in essence. A history of a thousand chanting voices pushing towards one inevitable conclusion. Pain and evolution. These are our tools as the gardeners who prepare all life for final confrontation. All in the name of the red queen. Blessed be her name." - Excerpt, Book of Blood

The Church of Blood possesses no prelates or any appointed positions of power, and is instead a collection clerics only united in their devotion to the Blood Queen. Members prefer to pursue their own interpretations of the Blood Queen's will, but they sometimes congregate when desires align.

Living Gardens

Every cleric who follows the Blood Queen hosts a seed harvested from the essence fields in the red queen's realm. These seeds permeate the cleric's flesh, transmuting it into the perfect environment for the Blood Queen's favored children. 

Let's look at some example spells. Please keep in mind the following spells are still works in progress are likely to change before release.

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Life to Life - 1st level conjuration, spawn 

You unleash one of the many creatures teeming just under your skin. Roll 1d4 and spawn that creature in any space adjacent to you. The spawn always acts at the end of your turn. If you spawn another creature using this spell, the first one perishes instantly.

• 1 - Essence Worm / 5 HP / AC 10 / Speed: 15 ft / Action: Explode, dealing 1d6 blood damage to every creature within 5 ft.

• 2 - Thorn Slinger / 8 HP / AC 12 / Speed: 5 ft / Action: Hurl a poisoned barb at an enemy within 20 ft. to deal 1d8 piercing damage ( +2 to hit) and inflict poison on a failed constitution save versus your spell DC.

• 3 - Leech Tick / 17 HP / AC 7 / Flying: 10 ft / Action: Attempt to grapple an adjacent creature (+3 to grapple). On a success, it clamps down and begins to feed and deals 2d6 blood damage to its host (or half as much on a successful constitution save) at the end of your turn.

• 4 - Sorry, under construction!

Blood & Hive - 3rd level transmutation, duration: concentration

The seed unleashes its stored essence and transfigures the environment in a 30 ft radius around you into the Blood Queen's realm. All creatures favored by the red queen deal double damage while on this terrain, but is considered difficult terrain for all creatures other than you and your spawn.

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That's all for this week. Thanks for reading!

Ashton, Creator of Catacolyte Games

Halfway to the Finish Line - Mini Update & Cleric Subclass Teaser
about 1 year ago – Wed, Apr 05, 2023 at 04:17:26 PM

We are halfway through our Kickstarter campaign, and I can't believe we've raised more than 5x our goal! With your help, we've raised more than $1,500 and hit our first 2 stretch goals. We've also gotten to know a few of you on the Catacolyte Games Discord channel. Check it out for glimpses behind the scenes, awesome horror recs, and maybe a few cat pics. 

We're also only $350 away from our next stretch goal, the Church of the Blood Queen, Cleric Deity & Subclass. Not only will we get a new subclass, but we'll be able to expand on the red queen more directly.  Warlocks take interest in the immediate and find less value in the introspective nature that drives the Church of the Blood. The more pensive devotees strive to better understand the queen mother and her interest in us poor and suffering mortals.

Teaser: 

Eclectic Schadenfreude - Whenever you cast a spell that deals blood damage to a creature within 20 ft of an ally under the effect of a Bless spell you cast, you consume the effect and heal them for half the damage dealt.

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I'm also very psyched to announce that Ben Kolber, an old (and talented) coworker, will be coming on to help with design and writing. Thanks Ben!

That's it for this week. Thank you so much for your support. It has been a blast getting to do this with all of you.

Ashton, Creator of Catacolyte Games

Corpus Knight Kaz and Evolutions of Flesh Dev Log II - What's New?
about 1 year ago – Thu, Mar 30, 2023 at 09:36:25 AM

Welcome to Dev Log II! We'll take a look at the milestone Corpus Knight Kaz and the one of the central mechanics, Evolutions of Flesh. I want to thank everyone again for their support. I've dreamed of being an independent developer for a long, long time and this Kickstarter campaign has been an amazing first step.

Quick Update; TLDR

I'm knee deep in playtesting and the feedback has been invaluable. I've created a clearer layout and already improved on a few key Blood Queen abilities. We're very much on schedule for Early Access release in April, and I'm excited to share a little on Corpus Knight Kaz and Evolutions of Flesh.

Corpus Knight Kaz 

Not everyone who accepts the Blood Queen's blessings find bliss. Kaz's mind fractured in the eons after their ascent, slowly deteriorating as the colony of spores that strengthened their body subsumed their mind.

Now, Kaz reels between moments of lucidity and bouts of madness. Their soul, shorn between the Blood Queen's realm and the mundane world, wrestles for control of their flesh. One instant, Kaz is the same stalwart knight that they were before, and the next a madcap executioner intent on nothing but reaping death.

The exact mechanical details of Corpus Knight Kaz are still in the oven, but consider this a sneak peak at what will be possible with Evolutions of Flesh!

Evolutions of Flesh

Warlocks sworn to the Blood Queen develop Major and Minor Evolutions of Flesh instead of their usual Invocations. These are unique, body horror power ups that give you new and interesting abilities, though some come at a steep cost. Pleasure and pain in all things.

Major Evolutions mutate your essence in exchange for unprecedented power but also introduce weaknesses into your body that enemies can exploit to bring about your destruction. When you gain a Major Evolution, you must choose one of several Flaws. 

Flaws are weaknesses in your body or soul that make you susceptible to certain types of enemies, damage types, or even cause you to forget spells.

Minor Evolutions change your essence in subtler ways allowing you to build your play style without taking on more Flaws.

Every warlock chosen by the Blood Queen will end up with a small number of Major Evolutions in combination with a selection of complimentary Minor Evolutions.

Example Major Evolution and one of its abilities:

Worm Eye 

"As the worm skims across your retina, fractured images of infinite futures appear in your mind: The Blood Queen sits upon a thousand thrones. A legion of faithful sing to her dominion over the stars. The Cathedral Heart withers. A torrent of blood drowns the oceans in a tide of pain as the red queen dies. The worm grants no power, only agony."  - Unknown, excerpt from the Book of Blood

Fractal Possibilities: You may peer into one of the many possible futures. During a conversation, you may declare an anchor point. At any point afterwards until the end of the conversation, you may rewind to the anchor point. Undo everything up until the anchor.

Example Flaw:

Death Blind - The Blood Queen despises dead things for most are immutable and frozen in time. You are blind to all Undead (except vampires) and must treat them as if they were magically invisible.

That's it for this time. Thanks for reading!

Ashton, Creator of Catacolyte Games

Anathema Nurse Dev Log I - Two Milestones and I'm more pumped than ever!
about 1 year ago – Sun, Mar 26, 2023 at 11:12:08 AM

We're two milestones in and I'm more pumped than ever! I just finished a mockup of the Anathema Nurse Uniform and thought this would be a good time to share a little insight into Cult of the Blood Queen and my design philosophy. Forewarning, this equipment still needs testing and may change before release.

Dev Log I - Anathema Nurse Uniform & Tools

One of my main goals for Cult of the Blood Queen is to build different (and immersive) styles of play. The Anathema Nurse Uniform and the Anathema Tools will allow players to fulfill that doctor/nurse niche while also building towards fulfilling goals instead of just operating a healbot. D&D doesn't provide many opportunities to play a doctor or nurse, so I'm excited for this one.

Some potential uses of the Anathema Uniform and Tools:

• Roleplay the nurses from Silent Hill or Dark Deception.
• Become Dr. Birkin from Resident Evil.
• Combine with Alchemist's Supplies to live that plague doctor dream.

Min-Max Note: Grab this uniform and the Healer feat for maximum effect.

Experimental Surgeries

Tools in D&D don't get much mechanical attention and for good reason. They're meant more to encourage roleplaying and creative problem solving than provide concrete gameplay mechanics. That's really cool. I love open ended gameplay opportunities, but they can feel vague, too.

Let's look at two tools: Disguise Kit and Poisoner's Kit. The Disguise Kit is great since everyone roughly understands what a disguise is, how to create one, and (most importantly) how to use one. The transparent nature of the tool means less work for the GM, more creative problem solving, and a better game all around.

What about the Poisoner's Kit? The tool seems exciting for assassins and any skulking ne'er-do-wells, but what does it actually do? There's only the "Poison, basic" in the Player's Handbook, and worse there's no recipe or methodology for creating new poisons. The game puts the player in the driver's seat but forgets the map.

The goal of Experimental Surgeries is to provide players with guidelines for how to use their tool as well as a common language to discuss it with the GM. Players will understand at a glance what their tool can do and roughly what their goals are while still running into that terra incognita that promotes creative problem solving. To do this, the Anathema Tools will come with basic rules about how to gather materials and recipes to map goals. It will then leave more fluid rules at the end to ignite creativity.

Example Experimental Surgery:

Cursed Chords - 1 harpy’s vocal chords

"Peel open the patient’s throat and scoop out their vocal organ. Staunch the bleeding then pluck each new chord to test as you sew. Stitch the opening shut and apply ice. After a week of rest, the patient’s voice becomes sonorous and smooth. They gain +1 to Performance checks to sing."

Thanks for reading. Until next time!

Ashton, Creator of Catacolyte Games

P.S. If you want to dive deeper into my process, check out our Discord channel (link below) for design insights and great conversation.