Dev Dive: Advanced Ancestries

[DISCLAIMER: Everything regarding unreleased projects, including the W&A Underworld Rulebook, is subject to change.]

Hello all! This week, we’re taking another look at some of the things coming in War and Aether’s first expansion, the Underworld Rulebook. Specifically, today we’re looking at some new updates and expansions to Ancestries. Read on to learn about the new creatures (and monsters) you can play in your future War and Aether Campaigns!

[Two peoples meet to settle their scores - Art generated using Adobe Firefly]

Ancestries, Races, Species, are all names for the creature you play as in one tabletop to another. In War and Aether, the average Player will be introduced to the game as a standard Human. But, as an optional ruleset for Game Masters, players may play as “Advanced Ancestries” to include rules to play as Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, and so on while fitting in the W&A universe and the lore of its planet Zale. In the Underworld Rulebook, we’ll be expanding on the options for Advanced Races dramatically, while also touching-up the system that makes them work.

War and Aether is built from the ground-up to be simple and easily accessible to brand new players of Tabletop Roleplaying Games, and that’s why Advanced Ancestries are relegated to an optional ruleset that may or may not be implemented by the Game Master (GM); rather than players being able to pick their ancestries straight out of standard character creation. But when GMs determine that Advanced Ancestries can be used for a campaign, that applies to all Ancestry options, including humans. So how are the Ancestries you know being adjusted?

As Advanced Ancestries are already an optional ruleset, I wanted to retain their simplicity in design, but expand on their impact in character creation. They still retain the Trait Bonuses and Penalties, allowing for min-maxing characters to get Trait Scores as high as 4 or as low as -3 during Character Creation (as opposed to 3 and -2). As well, they have their skill bonuses largely retained, but mildly reworked. In order to fit with the cultural themes of each people, they’ve been provided Knowledge Skill bonuses to better represent their ancestral knowledge. But not just Knowledge Skills have been added, as well the skill bonuses have been touched-up alongside the new Ancestries being introduced!

In the Core Rulebook, your options for Advanced Ancestries included Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Swamp Orcs, and Blood Orcs; with a handful of lore-based subtype options intermixed. Now those ancestries will be seeing a massive expansion. Similar to how orcs are separated between Blood and Swamp, the Original Elves will become Wood Elves, and new core types of Elves will be introduced. Meanwhile, all subtypes of ancestries still remain and exist, but will provide additional bonuses of their own. A Keenfolk Wood Elf, for example, gaining a +2 bonus to any Skill of Choice as a result of their subtype selection. But we’re not just expanding the traditional roster of Advanced Ancestries, we’ll also be introducing Monstrous Ancestries!

Do you just want to be able to play a monster? New rules are being implemented for Monstrous Ancestries. All monstrous ancestries have lost some of the abilities or specialties of their monstrous peers, but gain increased intelligence and potential far beyond traditional means. Through Monstrous Ancestries, you can live out the fantasy of playing a shapeshifting Gnome who’s hungry for eyes, a Gorgling who has left the horde, or even someone cursed with the early stages of Vampirism- seeking a cure or seeking ascension! But it doesn’t end with the Underworld Rulebook, as this is a system I intend to expand upon with future expansions. Bringing new Advanced Ancestries and Monstrous Ancestries along the way!

But most importantly, what do you think of the new Ancestries? Have any further questions about how they work or what’s in store? Let us know in the comments and we’ll keep you updated! And look forward to more Dev Dives in the future, as we go into other new systems and additions coming to the Underworld Rulebook!