Let's Try Of Blood & Clay! Part 1: Character Creation
"In the beginning, the Clay was wild, and we were its children. Then came the Breath, and with it, enslavement."
— Attributed to Namtarash the Unbowed
Hey, everyone! Let’s try out the latest release from the twisted mind of Alex T. (still in beta, only available for Patrons): Of Blood & Clay!
Inspired by Levantine Bronze Age mythology and aesthetics and dark fantasy classics like Dark Sun and Conan, Of Blood and Clay is set in The Wounded Earth, a harsh world ravaged by a mystical war between the followers of The Divine Architect and the Firstborn.
Like other Blackoath RPGs, the game is built for solo from the foundation, but it also supports co-op and group play with a GM.
It features a rules-light, highly procedural engine using a d6 pool against a difficulty that might require 1 to 4 successes. Any die landing on a 4, 5, or 6 counts as a success. Meet the difficulty to pass. Simple as that.
We’ll check out other procedures as we go. I’m not sure how long this playthrough will be, but my goal is to show how the mechanics work and have some fun exploring the setting.
Remember though, Of Blood & Clay is still in beta and subject to change.
Character creation
Our characters start at Level 1 and level up at each 10 XP.
Attributes
We have 6 core Attributes and must select one of three distributions among them.
Let’s go with the generalist. Strength, Fortitude, Nimbleness, Intelligence, Willpower, and Presence are all 3. That simplifies things.
Secondary Attributes
Health (FOR x2): 6\
Mana (WIL x2): 6\
Stamina (STR + NIM): 6
Kindred
Kindred represents our background and starting archetype. They work kind of like race and class.
The Kindred are very thematic and different from each other.
The Emmaruqi are branded by Qashur. His divine Mark grants twisted powers at a terrible cost: we must drink 1 liter of blood from a living creature every day.
Members of Namtarash’s Court are adepts of Blood Magic, but are usually physically weaker (-1 to STR and FOR).
The Nepharud are blessed by the Girakim, or Watchers, and were trained by the Star Gazers. Descending from those powerful angels, they’re like enhanced humans that can learn Cosmic Sorcery spells.
And finally, the Kinless grew up alone and carved their own path. We can choose any one Talent from the other Kindred and learn Combat Maneuvers and Cosmic spells when leveling.
I’m torn between Emmaruqi, because they’re simply awesome, and Kinless, because they’re simple.
Ah, I’ll go with Emmaruqi. This vampire-like Kindred sounds too cool to pass.
Nimbleness and Presence are now 4, and Strength and Willpower are down to 2. That reduces my Mana to 4.
I like those traits! Not having to eat or drink is great, but I’ll still have to hunt to find fresh blood if I don’t find a... blood bag, let’s call them.
For my Talent, I’m picking Living Shadow (Advantage when hiding or skeaning). Advantage allows us to reroll a 1-3 result. Disadvantage forces us to reroll a 4-6 and keep the new one.
For the name, I’m rolling on the random table in the book:
d20: 8 = Maruzhan
Starting Gear
Characters can carry STR x 3 items, so 6 regular-sized things for Maruzhan. Smaller stuff doesn’t count.
I also have 100 Shekels (currency), a week’s worth of food and water (that I’ll keep for maybe a companion/blood bag), a backpack, and a weapon of my choice. I’m going with a composite horn bow.
Can I spend Shekels to get some new stuff? I’ll assume so. Maruzhan also has a long dagger and 3 torches (Shekels down to 75).
Do all those things count as items toward the carry limit? As a rules-light game, a lot of things are left to our interpretation.
I’ll rule that the dagger doesn’t, as it hangs in Maruzhan’s belt. Three torches count as a bundle and occupy 1 slot. I can still carry 5 more items.
Backstory
I’m going with a random reason to explore the Wounded Earth. There’s a cool d6 table for motivation and objectives.
d6: 4 = Whispers of the Fallen. A dormant Watcher or primordial entity has sent visions into your sleep. You must travel to its resting place to decipher its cosmic secrets before the Elythrians do.
I really like that! Let me get some sparks for it:
d20 Action: 18 = Endure / Survive
d20 Theme: 5 = Omen / Prophecy
Awesome! That gives me an idea for Maruzhan’s motivation to not only explore the Wounded Earth, but also to live.
Maruzhan was raised in Emmaruk, the First City. Founded by Qashur, the sprawling megalopolis is built of black stone and bone.
He grew into an assassin and scout. Marked by the divine curse, Maruzhan embraced his thirst as a blessing in his veins that refined his predator’s edge.
During a job, he struck an ancient Nepharud whose blood carried a strong celestial Watcher essence. The moment Maruzhan drank it, he received a feverish prophecy.
Maruzhan witnessed the terrifying future of the Wounded Earth before the spreading border of Elythra. Pristine, sterile white marble cities expanded outward to encroach the land, flattening mountains into rigid pyramids, and mind-scrubbing the Clay-Born into obedient servitors.
If the Elythrians succeed in rewriting the wild world into sterile geometry, all life will be erased permanently. Never mind the blood he needs to survive, Maruzhan himself will become a hollow husk.
The vision burned an urgent instinct into his clay form: to endure. But more than that, to oppose.
To preserve his own existence and the freedom of the Firstborn, Maruzhan must hunt down the worldshapers, discover dormant Watcher relics before the Elythrian zealots can get to them, and keep the Wounded Earth bleeding and alive rather than sterile and conquered.
Note on the lore: The Elythrians are infused by the Divine Architect Ytheon with His divine soul. The Firstborn are not.
Marching forth from Elythra, the divine Garden created for them, they hold a cosmic mandate to subjugate or erase the Firstborn, whom they view as soulless vermin.
Armed with Logeion , the power to rewrite reality by speaking the True Names of things, the Elythrians overwrite the chaotic world into sterile, right-angled geometry.
I might be getting part of the lore wrong, but I’m really happy with this to start. Next time we’ll see how Maruzhan fares in the badlands!
Here’s Maruzhan’s sheet:
