#the arcane characters are turning out to be fairly difficult for me to draw

[soriagravity]

an attempt at vi :)

[wearesorcerer]

Crossblooded: Abyssal/Shadow

This one is by request of @i-am-the-incendiary-anarchist. If anyone else has a combo they would like me to analyze, just send me an ask.

The short version of this one (flavor aside): Abyssal is primarily focused on Strength-based melee attacks, while Shadow is entirely about Stealth. Focusing on both as-is would be a detriment unless you’re planning to be an Eldritch Knight (or some other gish build). However, if you pick one over the other (in IA’s case, Shadow) and use the other more as a supplement, then you’ll end up with a couple of interesting benefits.

General

There’s basically no overlap between these two bloodlines, which makes this a tricky wicket. It’s not precisely a candidate for the Eldritch Heritage feat chain, however, as you can use one bloodline to shore up issues with the other.

The closest to an overlap is in summoning. The Shadow bloodline provides shadow conjuration as a 9th-level bonus spell and its 20th level ability adds the benefits of Augmented Summoning to that spell. Abyssal’s arcana applies to spells of the summoning subschool, which shadow conjuration is not, but its 15th-level ability (summon an additional creature of the same kind whenever you summon a creature with the Demon subtype or the fiendish template) would because “summon” isn’t quite the same thing as “summoning subschool.” Yes, you’re going to be at an extremely high level before you see any benefit of this overlap.

If there were a feat (probably metamagic) that would allow you to treat Illusion (Shadow) effects as Conjuration (Summoning) ones, you’d gain the benefits of the Abyssal bloodline’s arcana as soon as you learned shadow conjuration, which would be amazing. I am not aware of such a feat, but I have barely started to peruse third-party material and am finding all sorts of tasty trinkets, so it’s possible that there’s something that would do this out there.

Bloodline Features

Bonus Class Skills: Stealth and Knowledge (Planes), natch. Stealth is useful in most campaigns anyway, so it’s good, and Knowledge (Planes) will become mildly relevant when using summoning and shadow conjuration.

Bonus Feats:

Abyssal - Augment Summoning, Cleave, Empower Spell, Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Sunder, Power Attack, Skill Focus (Knowledge [Planes])

Shadow - Acrobatic, Blind-Fight, Dodge, Quick Draw, Silent Spell, Skill Focus (Stealth), Stealthy, Weapon Finesse.

As I said, Abyssal is heavily Strength-focused and Shadow is heavily Dex-focused. IA’s build is mostly Shadow, from what she has said, so feat-wise you’re probably not going to want much from Abyssal besides Augment Summoning (which won’t apply to Shadow spells) and Skill Focus (Knowledge [Planes]).

Bonus Spells: 3rd - cause fear/ray of enfeeblement, 5th - bull’s strength/darkvision, 7th - rage/deeper darkness, 9th - stoneskin/shadow conjuration, 11th - dismissal/shadow evocation, 13th - transformation/shadow walk, 15th - greater teleport/power word blind, 17th - unholy aura/greater shadow evocation, 19th - summon monster ix/shades

The only spell on these lists that isn’t a Sorcerer spell is unholy aura, which in this case I wouldn’t take because you’ll want greater shadow evocation. It’s a little odd that greater shadow conjuration isn’t a bonus spell, but that leaves you open for greater teleport, which is always useful (not that power word blind isn’t). Since this is more Shadow supplemented with Abyssal than the other way around, the only bonus spells I’d take from Abyssal are cause fear (because ray of enfeeblement doesn’t stack with itself) and maybe bull’s strength (because chances are you’ll already have darkvision as a racial trait and will be wanting See in Darkness anyway). Dismissal is fun, but you’ll want shadow evocation first anyway.

Arcana: creatures you summon via a spell of the summoning subschool gain DR (1/2 sorcerer level, minimum 1)/good, but it doesn’t stack with any DR they might already have; gain a circumstance bonus on Stealth = [darkness] spell’s level for 1d4 rounds.

The Abyssal bloodline’s arcana is one of the few things that points that bloodline towards summoning: it combos with the class skill (eh), Augmented Summoning bonus feat (which you need Spell Focus [Conjuration] for anyway), and 15th-level ability. The rest of the bloodline is about Strength.

While the Shadow bloodline’s bonus spells are primarily from the Shadow subschool and do not have the [Darkness] descriptor, that’s not a difficult issue to work around. The arcana synergizes with the bloodline’s 9th-level ability, could with the 1st-level ability (if it weren’t crap), and would with the 3rd-level ability if you could find a way of turning darkvision into See in Darkness.

Bloodline Powers:

1st: Two claws for 3 + Cha mod rounds (1d4 slashing; 5th - magic weapons; 7th - 1d6; 11th - +1d6 fire) or shadowstrike (melee touch attack that deals 1d4 + 1/2 Sor level nonlethal; targets without low-light vision or darkvision are dazzled for 1 minute). Take the claws: unless you find a way to upgrade dazzled to blinded, shadowstrike is worthless. You can deal nonlethal damage with weapon attacks (not sure about spells or energy attacks), so this is a restriction, and dazzled is the least effective condition in the game.

3rd: Electricity resistance 5 and +2 on saves vs. poison (+5 and +2 at 9th level) or Darkvision +30 ft. (+60 at 9th). Unless you’ve managed to gain the See in Darkness ability without a range limitation, the Darkvision is much less situational. Further, if you opt for the Abyssal’s 20th-level ability, the 3rd-level one becomes a dud.

9th: +2 inherent bonus to Str (+4 at 13th, +6 at 17th) or Shadow Well (hide in plain sight as long as you’re within 10 feet of a shadow besides your own, 1/day [+1 use at 17th and 20th] use a standard action to transpose yourself and a willing ally within 60 ft. [or at 13th swap two allies each within 60 ft. of you] as dimension door if all targets are in dim or lower light). Both of these are useful. An inherent bonus is the sort of bonus you get from wishes or tomes, but they usually cap at +5. Hide in Plain Sight is a lot of fun, but is fairly easy to get through prestiging, and the rest works like benign transposition (a 1st-level spell), but with slightly better range (but the lighting restriction).

15th: As mentioned, the Abyssal one adds a single duplicate summoned creature whenever you summon a demon or a creature with the fiendish subtype and works with the Shadow bloodline’s 20th-level ability. The Shadow bloodline’s 15th-level power is enveloping darkness (1/day deeper darkness that also entangles; you are immune to it, freedom of movement works as normal), which is crap for this level. (At a lower level it would be awesome.)

20th: Immunity to electricity and poison; Acid, Cold, and Fire resistance 10; and telepathy 60 ft. or +20% more real shadow conjurations and evocations and any creatures so created gain the benefits of the Augmented Summoning feat. Immunity is no laughing matter and this capstone gives you immunity or resistance to most of the major damage types and then gives you telepathy, but all of these are more easily gained through items. The Shadow bloodline’s power is better, especially since you don’t need to take either Augmented Summoning or Spell Focus (Conjuration) to benefit from it.

I’d go Abyssal (claws)/Shadow (Darkvision)/Shadow (shadow well)/Abyssal (added summonings)/Shadow (shadow master).

Since shadow evocation is on the table, I’d also recommend the Bloodline Mutation “Blood Havoc,” which adds one point of damage per die rolled for damaging spells from your bloodline or from schools in which you have Spell Focus. If you can convince your DM to let Crossblooded and Wildblooded stack, get the arcana from the Brutal (Abyssal) wildbloodline (one target takes +2 damage from spells that deal hit point damage).

Miscellany

From what I’ve gathered from this and IA’s description, the character should be a Tiefling, but could easily work as a Fetchling, Wayang, or similar. I’d go with Tiefling because it has the most support and you can take Improved Fiendish Sorcery to gain an additional +2 bump on class abilities (the wording allows it to stack with Fiendish Sorcery, so you’re talking Cha +4 for any class ability; that might include spell save DCs).

If you’re not taking the See in Darkness alternate racial instead of darkness 1/day, you can get it via the Fiend Sight feat (if you take that twice). Personally, I’d take the alternate racial, since I’m not sure your bloodline arcana will apply to your spell-like ability under PF rules (it would under 3.5 rules, but I think PF went out of its way to quash Warlock-enabling builds), though there are racial feats that make use of that SLA. Either way, See in Darkness negates the 3rd-level ability from the Shadow bloodline and would be more useful (it’d work with the bloodline arcana, for instance). If the Abyssal bloodline’s resistances don’t appeal (for a Tiefling, you get the bonus against Poison and your Electricity resistance would improve at 9th level), the Blood Intensity mutation works well with Blood Havoc.

The Shadow bloodline practically demands something like Arcane Trickster (Shadowdancer, Unseen Seer, etc.), but that would cost you your late level bloodline powers. If you do decide to go that route, I’d find ways of getting needed class features (e.g., Sneak Attack) without multiclassing and then finding feats to boost your effective Sorcerer level for determining what bloodline powers you have (like Magical Enigma). The UndeFEATable series has several feats for Arcane Tricksters; you’d absolutely want Devious Bloodline (bonus spells) and Greater Devious Bloodline (power of bloodline powers), but you’d need more than just that. (It almost begs to have another feat in the series -- Supreme Devious Bloodline: add your Arcane Trickster level to your Sorcerer level for determining what Bloodline powers you have.)

There are undoubtedly other options out there for such a character. Check around; you might find something interesting.

[note-katha]

Chapter Two: The Five Circles and The Four Rings

Welcome back! It’s time for...chapter two, right? Right. Okay, let me find my page again, let’s see.

There was a long silence….ah, no that’s too far ahead. We’re not ready for that yet, or at least you probably aren't.

Here’s chapter two! Let me tell you, this chapter is going to be filled with information. Classes and more classes and a few people that I recommend you take a moment to burn into your memory. Not literally though, I should point out. I can’t afford another literalism lawsuit. Well, let’s move on. We have a fresh pot of tea and an enthralling chapter to get too!

As entrancing as orientation can be, especially for new students, we, unfortunately, have to cut through all the chatter to focus! We’ll pick up right about here, where the professors smartly split the group into Witches and Nevermore-originating students. It’s just for ease of communication, I’m sure you understand, yes? There’s such a variety of different material to cover that it’s the only way they’d be able to get everything done.

We haven’t even gotten to the Rings!

Professor Maaya took the group not too far away, leaving Dr. Avali to deal with the Nevermore kids. Maaya, unlike Avali, was endlessly rational, a benefit when it came to describing magic to a few scores of people that hadn’t known magic existed until now.

“Shall we begin?” She asked with a warm smile. The professor turned to trace out the Five Circles of Magic in the air, illuminating it in Energy-based magic. Ah, you might want to see it, I’m sure my explanation wasn’t the most helpful, huh?

Here, hand me that paper, would you? I have a pen.

There we go! I haven’t been drawing this symbol for years to be bad at it. Now you have something to refer to while I keep going.

“The Five Circles of Magic are the most basic concept that as Witches, you all must understand,” Maaya explained. “The Fifth Circle is the most common, containing the spheres of Energy, Nature, Voice, Time, and Space. I’m sure most of you here are attuned to the Fifth Circle. I, myself, am an Energy Witch.”

Ardis and Jules shared a look, one that went “oh, that makes sense”. Ardis and Jules were both separately mildly relieved to know they’d have someone at least somewhat similar to them nearby. Aw, that’s so adorable, isn’t it?

As she spoke, the sigil lit up, starting at the very top and moving around in a clockwise pattern. Yes, this order is important, make a note of it.

“The Fourth Circle of Magic is less common but very important. The Fourth Circle contains the four basic elements, Wind, Fire, Earth, and Water.” The pattern repeated, showing where each one was placed with Wind at the top and Earth at the bottom. “While some countries choose to replace one or two of the elements with others which they feel works best, Evenfall has chosen to follow the Western Arcane theory for the Five Circles.”

She nodded to herself, eyeing the group to see if anyone was lost. No one was tired, though that was rather due to her energy spell currently covering the students. They’d sleep well tonight, luckily.

“Alright, moving onto the Third Circle of Magic, I hope you’re paying attention!” She clapped her hands together with a brilliant grin. Oh, right, did I forget to mention that Professor Suli Maaya was one of those kinds of people. The type that has a switch to flip and suddenly be a disconcerting vibrant (and mildly aggressive) person. “The Third Circle contains, from the top, Mind, Soul, and Emotion! This here is a very dangerous circle, as it relates to altering a person’s self but it’s not necessarily something to be feared,” she adds as a reassurance, “And Third Circle attunement is quite rare.”

Well, I hope that wasn’t too much for you, because we have a little more to go before we can get back into the fun stuff.

“Finally, the Second Circle of Magic, Creation and Destruction. This is the rarest and technically power circle to be a part of.” Professor Maaya scanned the group. Kal squirmed a bit, she was feeling guilty for some odd reason. It’s good to be unique! I would imagine she knew that but now, but she’s an odd one. “I want to preface one very important thing before I ask for questions,” Maaya said, “Despite how it may appear, you are all equal in power and strength. The Inner Circles often appear more powerful but are far more difficult to ever truly use. The Outer Circles may seem limited or small but they will provide you with undeniable abilities and skills. At Evenfall, we want everyone to thrive together and work as a group to hone your powers. Strength comes in multiples not singles.”

Oh my, that was quite cheesy. I told her once she should probably change that line, but it’s managed to make an impact every year. Judging by the baited breathes and silence, it worked once again!

“Any questions?”

There was a long silence, people don’t figure out things that quickly.

Fortunately, something did break the silence.

“Magic...MAGIC ISN’T REAL!” Someone unknown screamed from the back of the group. She’s one of those people I mentioned to remember. Her name is Mira and you’ll be hearing that statement and a variety of variations from her quite often. At least it broke the silence, sending the group into a crowd of laughter.

Kal bit her lip, unconfident. Originally, she was inclined to agree with Mira, but now? She was more unsure if she was capable of surviving at a school like this. Which, is absurd. She’s a main character! Well, she doesn’t know that, but that doesn’t make it not true. It looks like we’ll have to wait for the character development for the rest.

Someone raised their hand for a question, “What about the First Circle of Magic?”

All the energy seemed to drain as a quite deadly serious expression was now on Maaya’s face, “The First Circle of Magic is dangerous, so I beg you, please, do not look into it.”

“Isn’t that...just gonna encourage people to look into it?” Juli whispered quietly. These three were, in fact, the exact type to look into it.

“You could lose your life by doing so.”

“....Nevermind.”

There was far more to do in terms of “beginning”, but it was decided many years ago to place those in the first few days of classes.

All students being required to take their respective Circle Magic class gave a guaranteed spot for students to finish the final steps that would truly allow them to step into the world of Nevermore and Everless.

And allow those scared to run away. Don’t tell anyone I said that, I already got in trouble enough about it before, I would rather remain on good terms with the school.

Anyways, by the unfortunate thing called “organization”, all our wonderful students are all in separate classes.

Well, Kal was guaranteed to be separated but Ardis and Jules wound up in separate classes. Quite tragic, really.

Well, who’s first? Well, we started with Kal first so why not Ardis? He’s in for some, how would I put it, interesting company.

Ardis was humming lightly, as he tends to do, as he entered his class. He didn’t recognize anyone, which makes sense, Ardis you haven’t met anyone yet. Though, that’s probably because he’s in that dorm. A mostly empty place which people rarely actually lived in.

His luck was only evident of his main character status, don’t worry. He took a seat near the front of the class, hoping to be left mostly alone. He wanted to learn! Which, well, he hopefully will at Evenfall. That’s the point of college, isn’t it?

However, as unfortunate is it is for him, there was someone who recognized him.

“Hey, is this seat taken?” The voice of an obnoxiously flirtatious voice called out. Ardis glanced to his side, only to see Mary Sue, his suitemate.

“No?” Ardis answered quite unconfidently. Ardis wasn’t sure if he was relieved to see a familiar face or off-put by the girl’s odd behavior. He was fairly certain that getting involved with someone with a weird name like “Mary Sue” wouldn’t be a very good idea. Though, let me be honest, he’ll be doing far more than she will.

“Hey!” Mary Sue hissed, glaring as she looked around. “Who said that?”

“Who said what?” Ardis asked.

“That, uh,” she stopped. “Whatever it doesn’t matter, it’s just part of my fantastic destiny probably.” Oh dear, I think she can hear us. That shouldn’t be happening.

That’s quite a problem, but it doesn’t matter. We don’t see that much of her! So we can move onto discussing what happens during class. Personally, the Circle classes are always delightful to teach. They’re pass/fail classes and unless you miss all the classes or skip the final, you’ll pass. It’s education on how to use your magic, most students aren't inclined to miss the class.

Mary Sue plopped down with a huff, but caught Ardis’s confused staring.

“I’m sorry, uh, whatever you’re named, I’m not interested,” she said with a weird smile.

Ardis cocked his head to the side, very innocent, “What?”

“I’m not interested in you, so don’t even try.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I mean that look you’re giving me!” Mary Sue laughed. “You have something to say, right?”

“I was going to ask if you needed stomach medicine, you had a weird expression,” Ardis said simply. Ah, that’s what I love about this kid. Blunt and innocent, it’s a very fun combination to see. Especially now that that Mary Sue girl’s eye is twitching. Let’s hope that doesn’t become a habit.

“I don’t.”

Ardis gave a nod, finally being able to focus on his own stuff again. A delightful set of pens and paper to take notes with. Oh yes, he’s one of those people. He likely spent a few hours debating which of his colorful stationery he’d bring along.

Class began shortly afterward. Professor Zita Cavallo was teaching this class. I hate Professor Zita Cavallo, she owes me for an incident way back in ‘33. She’s a generally nice person, however, which prevents me from telling you to hate her.

Regardless of owed debts, she was teaching this class. Attuned to Space Magic, she was quite the interesting teacher.  Someone stood beside her, a glamour placed upon them. It seemed to be tied to Professor Cavallo but none of the students here were really talented enough to notice that.

“Good morning students,” Cavallo signed, accompanied by their assistant. “My name is Zita Cavallo, this person beside is Luna. This is the Introductory Fifth Circle Magic class,” she paused to cast a spell. The fifth circle emerging behind her. “That includes Energy, Nature, Voice, Time, and Space.” The corresponding points lit up as she signed. “I’m attuned to Space, personally. There’s a lot to discuss! So, we need to discuss and work on the assignment of Rings.”

“Rings?” Someone called out.

“Evenfall and the surrounding area is unfortunately not very safe. So, in order to protect our students, we have made pacts with ancient entities. These old and wise beings have protected our school and students since the beginning of the school’s life. Today, before any classes truly begin, we will be allowing the selection process to occur.”

That got Ardis’s attention. “What do you mean, allowing?” He asked, looking at the professor with confusion.

“You and I do not select your Ring. Their Guardian selects you.” Ah, yes, the stock line every Circle Magic professor uses. I mean, it’s not bad just not creative! “We’ll step outside for a few minutes for the process. It shouldn’t take long but we’re organized into times since there’s quite a few classes to get through and our guardians can’t stretch themselves too far trying to help all of us.”

There were murmurs through the class as Cavallo began to lead them out of the room. It was rather unexpected, after all. The Rings, however, are quite interesting and I always find it fun to watch students in their amazement for what goes on.

They filed out onto an open area, where Cavallo ordered them to circle around. She stepped into the center. The first step to the Ring ritual was the origin summoning.

Cavallo was good at this, she’s done it plenty of times. She stretched out slightly before beginning to cast a very specific spell.

Five circles, well, five rings were illuminated around Cavallo. They burned brightly for a long moment, even despite the sun shining above the students. They soon disappeared and Cavallo grinned. I swear, I hate her cockiness, she did a simple spell, not changing the world. I would know.

“Okay, students. So, the Selection process isn’t very glamorous, but that’s not the point here. This is important, so please listen well.”

Well, we’re not listening to her. I find that Cavallo’s explanations drag on and on and on. She’s the through type and we all know that through means boring.

The Five Rings each represent a Guardian. Fye, Brist, Mir, Sair, and Ravere.

Brist, who manifests as an owl, represents wisdom and creativity. She’s a sweet person but can be terrifying when upset. I don’t recommend making her upset. Mir, who manifests as a deer, represents nature and growth. They’re quite a nice being though a bit of boring. They’re very reliable.

Sair, who manifests as a fox, represents fire and trickery. He was once considered evil but if you give him pets, he melts. Don’t tell him I said that though. Then there’s Ravere, manifesting as a hawk, she represents wind and passion. She’s very strong and appears most frequently to her charges.

Finally, Fye, of ice and courage. A lone wolf, both in personality and form, they’re very selective in who they pick and rarely show kindness. They’re just shy, I think.

Anyways, with that explanation, let us return to the story.

Mary Sue, who had stuck near Ardis for some reason, leaned over. “Obviously, Fye will pick me. I’m the perfect choice!” Ardis nodded half-heartedly, far more curious in the ritual than the girl beside him.

“We’ll begin with…” Cavallo scanned the class. “You! Come here.” Ardis! Wonderful, this chapter was getting long.

Ardis walked over, curiosity suppressing any of his nervousness.

“So, quick explanation, you’ll stand in the center of where the circles were and with a bit of your own magic energy, the Guardians will appear for just a moment, before one selects you. Quick and simple, your magic carries part of yourself, allowing the Guardians to start to understand you.”

Ardis nodded, “How do I use my magic energy?”

“Ah! I forget, not all of you know. Just take a deep breath, focus on whatever it is you feel within you. Search for that energy and cling to it. That’s enough.”

Deciding that was enough of an explanation, mostly because he had been able to do some types of magic beforehand, Ardis figured it wouldn’t be hard.

He closed his eyes, trying to shut out the students around him. He could feel it, the energy and the magic that was there.

He jerked, opening his eyes to see the rings once again bright with light and animals in each one.

The Guardians.

There was only a short moment of tense deliberation before one ring, rimmed in orange with a fox at the center was the only one to remain. Sair, the fox of fire and trickery. He had been selected.

The fox seemed to bow before disappearing as well.

Cavallo clapped her hands to grab Ardis’s attention. “Good job! Let’s get to the next person. You?” She pointed at Mary Sue.

The two switched places as Mary Sue flipped her hair. She was confident, very confident.

Ardis was now able to watch the scene that had unfolded for him, yet slightly different. From the outside, you couldn’t see any of the Guardians, simply the light of the Rings.

For now, Ardis quietly wondered how Kal and Jules were getting along and what it meant for a being of trickery to select him of all people.

taglist: @falling-rivers @superwaywardangel @immawritethat @arynneva  @likeicarusifall @aschenink, @writing-for-the-batfam, @ekrizdis, @wiccanchester, @spacebrick3

[rerwby]

RWBY: Combat Ready Demo Review

Turns out GenCon was going on the same weekend as RTX. So while y’all were on edge for RWBY and Gen:Lock trailers, I was present at the Best Four Games in Gaming trying out some new games, one of which was RWBY: Combat Ready. Before I get into that though, let me tell you what a mess the demo’s situation was. Please note that nothing here is set in stone and is entirely based on how I perceived the game’s instructions.

This is the Arcane Wonders booth. AW is a nice developer that has made some fun games, and at their booth this weekend they were mainly showing off GoodCritters, a mashup of Zootopia and the 1920′s mafia scene. I played it a couple times and had a great time; I recommend it. Anyway, I looked around and noticed a distinct lack of anything RWBY-related. No signs, no Rooster Teeth logos, not even a single box on display.

This is an image of the back of their booth, the only sign of RWBY in the entire massive exhibit hall, other than like one overpriced figurine at another booth. I asked one of the people working the booth, who told me that there was a miscommunication with the convention at the last minute and that their play area had been cut in half. As a result, they allocated half of their demo setups to one of the game halls not far away. I suppose the plus side to this was that the game would be available to play once the exhibit hall closed, but I could be wrong.

People are playing the RWBY demo on the table to the right. it’s kind of messed up that they didn’t show off this big-deal game they were made to develop at their main location. There was nothing indicating there was any RWBY in the game hall; you had to be told directions. This is especially surprising given the way AW advertised the game in their coupon book.

Yes, that was what AW used their spot in the coupon book for. Not for a coupon, not even as an ad for their other new game(s), but to simply advertise RT’s Kickstarter lovechild. And that’s not me being overly-critical because like 90% of the pages in that coupon book either save you money or let you redeem them for free stuff.

An employee made it clear that they were not selling the game this weekend and were just doing the demo. In fact he had no idea when it would release or how much it would cost. He only gave the estimation of “mid-October.” Apparently there had been multiple issues in the production process, but whether or not this was due to RT or AW was not disclosed.

About two employees at any given time were the only ones who knew the game, but they were pretty well-informed. If you were lucky you played with one of them. I had the misfortune of being led by this dude who didn’t work there but seemed to know how the game worked. He was kind of fuckin annoying and kept unironically referring to Jaune as his waifu. Next to him was a gentlemen who didn’t know Grimm Eclipse existed (suggesting they make a video game out of RWBY) and some cosplayers dressed as Ozpin and Qrow who were actually pretty chill. Their Oobleck was off to the side with the instructions.

I attempted to get in on another play session later that weekend but it proved difficult. Mind you there was only a single box on-site. If that didn’t make it hard enough, it turned out this was a ticketed demo. This means you had pay money for event tickets in order to play. It was only a couple bucks, but for demos, that’s unheard of. Nearby, the Final Fantasy TCG required tickets for its demo but it also had a tournament attached and gave you free cards with entry. RWBY: Combat Ready’s demo gave you nothing. There were free play sessions in between the ticketed sessions, but you had to hope no one else was crowding the table to get in first. That’s what happened to me Saturday, so I snapped all the pictures I could and prepared to do a write-up of my experience based on my hour of play.

The game is part deck builder and part board game with RPG elements tossed in for good measure. The goal is to defeat the villain characters, not controlled by any player specifically, without them defeating all of you first. They got big health and are backed up by RNG, as well as an array of Henchmen. Each player gets a character (Team RWBY and Penny were available, no sign of the new character, though they are allegedly a villain) and a large card to go with them. The card details their Semblance and keeps track of their Experience and Aura with counters. You also have a little figurine of your character that goes on the board during your turn.

Each character has an associated deck of cards. These all have different attacks and/or effects. Each one has a speed and damage rating. Some have effects that work when you attack or support, while others have effects that only work when you use that card to combo. Usually the better the effect, the lower the speed, as speed is what dictates whether or not your attack is successful. On the other hand, Weiss in particular (who I played) had a 10-speed (the highest) attack with no effects.

You draw 6 of these cards and at the start of each round, or “Duel,” you refill your hand back to 6. Notably, there were not an awful lot of cards for each character’s deck, which meant we would shuffle our discard piles back into a new deck every other Duel. You also have an Ultimate card which you can use under certain circumstances, and finally, a smaller deck of “upgraded” cards. You can spend Experience between Duels to swap out a card in your hand for one of a higher tier. At the moment there are only tier 2 cards, and none correspond to specific weaker cards; you just turn one into any other. You can also upgrade your Ultimate.

The board is fairly small and simple. There is a “Fury” meter across the top for both a hero and a villain. As the players inflict damage on the villain, they move their figurine up the Fury meter, gaining Experience along the way. Once they enter the “Ultimate” zone their Ultimate ability becomes available for play, and once they get to the end they receive a huge power-up. The villain’s meter acts similarly, granting them bonuses to their Speed and Power that are kept track of on the board. Once they get far enough on their meter, they can “Bash” a player, knocking them out and ending the Duel and starting the process over again with the next player. It’s at this point I realized why the rounds are called Duels; because each player takes a turn dueling the villain, with the other players providing Support or Combos. I may have those names mixed up but their functions I’m sure of.

When the Duel begins, the turn player picks a card from their hand to play. The card’s Speed is what tells us if the attack will succeed, and the Damage tells us how much damage the villain will take if the attack succeeds. Each other player can add a maximum of one card to this attack. They can either stack their card under the initial one (Support) increasing the damage and providing a corresponding effect, or place their card to the side (Combo) which adds different effects. Notably, if the Speed of a combo card is lower than the initial card, the net speed of the attack will lower. Lowest Speed is the Speed of the attack. The Ultimate card is unavoidable, but if Combo’d with it will be brought down to the Speed of the added card.

You can also use Semblance once per Duel. I was only made aware of Weiss’s and Blake’s. Weiss simply adds a Speed point while Blake has to specifically be used before the attack and lets her or an ally avoid taking damage. Weiss’s is called “Propulsion Glyph,” Blake’s is “Copy Cat,” Ruby’s is “Super Speed,” and Yang’s is “Rage.” I didn’t catch Penny’s. It’s unclear if these are supposed to be the specific names of their Semblances or just the names of abilities provided by those Semblances.

Then you flip over the top card of the villain’s deck. We had Roman, but Cinder and Adam appear to be present in the base game. They have a nice hefty deck that’s much larger than those of the players. He has his own Speed and Damage just like the others, as well as effects. You take into account his bonuses, match his Speed up against your Combo’d and Supported hero, and dish out damage accordingly.

Then you shift focus to the Henchmen. I wasn’t terribly clear on these dudes because I was at the opposite end of the table, but they are a random batch of NPC bad guys you flip over and fight. A player can choose to fight off a Henchman instead of providing Support or a Combo. The purpose of the Henchmen are to have another source of damage in case you really beat down the villain. You can stop Roman, but if no one kept an eye on his goons you’ll take some damage. We faced off against Roman’s mooks from Episode 1, but there are also Grimm. I don’t know if the Henchmen correspond to a specific villain.

Adding to what I was unclear on, there were two other cards present. A yellow and green one. To my knowledge, the yellow one has to do with an objective or something. I think it gives bonuses to the Henchmen or rewards the players for taking them out. The green has something to do with Zwei. Zwei never came up during our game, but I think I heard it mentioned that he has something to do with RNG.

My impressions of the game are lukewarm but I didn’t dislike it. It isn’t fair to blame the developer on things I don’t like about RT but at the same time it makes no sense to blame RT for anything weird in the game’s mechanics or rules. I highly doubt they did anything more than sending an intern to make sure the property isn’t disrespected. I do find myself wondering if the devs aren’t totally enthusiastic about the game. While the people demoing GoodCritters wore trilbies and spoke with New York accents, I didn’t sense much excitement from anyone involved with RWBY.

I think a deck building game fits. The show’s homages to fighting games and other video game elements translates well to the cards. I also really like the use of the Supports and Combos because it adds to the feeling of the show’s teamwork aspect. Maybe it reminds me of like, the DC deck building game too, which lends to that super hero feel.

There is original art for every aspect of the game and I think that’s wonderful. Even the massive deck of Roman cards appear to be drawn specifically for the game when they easily could have chopped scenes off from the show. It also doesn’t have the inconsistencies of Amity Arena, which for some reason gives us V4 Blake next to pre-V4 Ruby, Weiss, and Yang.

The cards with Experience and Aura add to this, and I like the inclusion of Semblance, even if the Semblances themselves are pretty flat and lame. Like wow, Weiss can +1 Speed someone? Blake ignores some damage? Real creative. The Ultimates are likewise pretty boring and seem to have 0 percent chance of failure unless someone willingly screws things up. I don’t know about the board. I don’t think the game totally needs it. I feel like it also says a lot that I could totally ignore the stuff with Zwei as well as much of the Henchmen thing and we still won the game.

The cards bug me a little. Like I said, there are surprisingly few cards for the players to use considering how many cards you draw and how many the villains get. Also, the backs of the normal cards, upgraded cards, and Ultimate are non-distinct. I accidentally combined everything together at first, only to learn I needed to keep the upgrades separate. Things can get messy and confusing with so much stuff on the table.

Some more details involving expansions and such. Penny is apparently an expansion. JNPR is likely a planned expansion. There is also an expansion that allows a player to play the role of the villain, upgrading them from just being a game construct and possibly letting them pick from a hand of cards rather than relying on RNG. My problem is the cost. We don’t know the price of the game but from what I gathered the Kickstarter goal of 100-something dollars gives you Penny along with the base game. I know it’s just a reward but it makes you wonder how much future installments will cost.

You also have to wonder if there will be additions to the game. It needs to sell well, after all, and this is just a game. A single sale will provide for multiple people. RT hasn’t done a great job of expanding RWBY’s influence so I genuinely wonder how much money this will make. Not to mention many future owners of the game have basically already paid for it.

It also does not bode well that there have been errors with the production process and that the employees seemed to know so little given that the game is slated to come out in October.