Friday 29 November 2019

Dedicated Followers of Fashion

Clothes are sort of a big deal in modern Bastion. The trick is to look both classically timeless and effortlessly a la mode.

Alaine Crevatte’s Forum of Fine Suitery

After a lengthy relocation process, this cramped but extensive emporium specialises only in truly memorable apparel. Aside from their appearance, every article of clothing comes with a romantic story presented by Alaine himself.

The door rings a bell when you enter, but Alaine is already there waiting for the next customer. Between the overloaded rails and coats hanging from the ceiling there is barely room for four people inside. The air is heavy with ironing steam and peppery cologne.


Alaine Crevatte

Gangly but refined, every bit of his body carries some sort of accessory, scrap of fabric, or measuring device. He insists that you sit down and let him pour you a drink for his gasping, melodramatic tales that he has for every item in the shop. He refers constantly to his no-haggling-policy but caves in at the slightest disinterest from the potential client and dropping prices down to as low as 50% if he feels he is losing his audience.


The Chiotesta Collection (d6 x 30 each)

A range of hats so eye catching that the people you meet are barely able to take their eyes off it. Alaine keeps three in stock at any time. Roll 2d20 and combine for the specifics of each hat.


d20
Basic Form
Detail
1
Tricorne
Magpie Feathers
2
Top
Gold Leaf
3
Bowler
Taxidermied Mice
4
Flat
Roses
5
Stetson
Stained Glass
6
Fedora
Spider Webs
7
Balaclava
Pinned Butterflies
8
Tiara
Dangling Beads
9
Veil
Silverwear
10
Bearskin
Electric Lights
11
Fez
Exceptionally Wide Brim
12
Bonnet
Exceptionally Tall
13
Turban
Human Bones
14
Nightcap
Meteoric Rocks
15
Beret
Crystals
16
Helmet
Horse Hair
17
Fascinator
Bonsai Tree
18
Peaked
Clockwork
19
Sombrero
Candles
20
Pointed
Coral


While wearing the hat, anybody you meet always remembers the hat, but will not recognise you without the hat unless prompted.

Excelador Foundational Wear (£79 in stovepipe grey, £119 in a range of colours)

Sets of dense woolen underwear so comforting that anybody wearing them walks slightly taller. Rain seems to stick to them less, crowds part slightly, and upon perusing a restaurant menu a confident choice is made without hesitation. There is no greater sense of security that comes in such humble garments.

The wearer counts as having Armour 3 against anything that would cause CHA loss, but this new assuredness means they must always declare their action before any other players not also wearing the garments.

The confident self-assurance that Excelador Foundational Wear brings.

The Quest for the Nine Piece Suit (Worth £1k each, priceless as a set)

The story goes that a great tailor had eight sons and one daughter. Upon becoming ill, the children decided to craft him a suit to be buried in, each striving to create the perfect example of that item. Despite working independently, the combined suit was a perfect match. Upon trying it on, the tailor was filled with life and went on to outlive each one of his children, burying each one in the article of clothing that they crafted.

Several decades later, rumours abound that all nine items are in circulation in Bastion’s most exclusive fashion retailers, each one held in secret by a jealous business owner longing to lay claim to the complete suit. 

If you befriend him, Alaine will reveal that he possesses the Vest, a deep blue waistcoat of the highest quality, silk and triple-lined in felt. 

But where are the others?

If you ask around...

The Shirt is locked in the vault of The Silken Glove, Aggilette Bracer’s highly fashionable bar 
and fashion-show venue.

The Collar is worn in plain sight by the Machinist evangelist, Brockman Gaiter.

The Jacket was bought at an Exhumauction by down-on-her-luck travelling salesperson, Gale Galloon.

The Coat is on display in the Museum of Clothed Statues, where famous articles of clothing are presented on repurposed ancient sculptures. Modelling the jacket is an angelic figure with its wings smashed off. Security is extremely tight.

The Trousers are in the private collection of curiosity collector, Seymora Flounce. She has a legion of inept servants trying to find the other pieces.

The Sporran is held by Alaine’s former business partner and bitter rival, Epaula Tette. Her rival shop has long gone out of business, but she occasionally wears it on visits to the shop just to taunt Alaine.

The Sash still lies buried with the Tailor’s Daughter. The graveyard she was buried in has sunk deep into the underground.

The Scarf was formerly owned by Alaine, but on his last ever day off a part-time shop assistant sold it to a very strange lady. She was tall enough that she had to hunch under the doorframe. She spoke in a rumbling song. Her eyes were like pools of golden ink. She left a large enough tip that the shop assistant has comfortably retired. Alaine suspects The Scarf now lies among the Living Stars.



A Hat Enthusiast Society on a day trip to visit the Tailor's Grave.

Friday 1 November 2019

Electric Bastionland Sparks to Life



What is Electric Bastionland?

You are desperate treasure hunters, thousands of pounds in debt with only a Failed Career behind you.



This is just one of the hundred Failed Careers you might start the game with. You might get something entirely different.






But your shared debt has bound you together, to do whatever it takes to make that big score.

How does this relate to Into the Odd?

Into the Odd is a game of industrial horror with fast character creation, simple rules, and flavour baked into every page of its tiny softback book. Electric Bastionland has the same speed and simplicity, but moves Bastion into the electric age, ramping up the flavour into a ~300 page hardback.



There's lots more advice and procedures for creating and running your own vision of Bastion, Deep Country, and the Underground. The whole book is illustrated by the brilliant Alec Sorensen, replacing those unsightly red rectangles in the screenshot above. He's got a unique style that suits Electric Bastionland down to a tee, and I think it's going to look quite unlike any other book out there.

Are the rules the same as Into the Odd?

It's essentially the same set of rules. There are Scars in place of the previous advancement system. These are lasting marks that make you stronger in the long run. Combat has been slightly tweaked to make ganging up on one target slightly less devastating. Things are still fast and deadly, but your death will be forecast a little more clearly.

Most importantly, all of the rules still fit on a two-page spread.



Electric Bastionland is live on Kickstarter now!