"Here is the very very rough idea for malefact bonecutter, I hesitate between ideas, leaning into the look of mimicking knight and gladiator, but the armor I want to keep on them is basically only on torso and helmet. On their upper body they are wearing the skin from other rodent, loosely tied to arm, and on lower body using mix of lizard scales and mixture skins to be pants that leaving openings for his blade cutting to form whatever weapons and armor they desire. And they also have the remaining parts of the rodent skin hanging from their waist, a big long tail hanging there like their second tail. I will mainly focus on bone and teeth as their motifs, but general look I'll modify when refining the drafts, before that I’d like to hear about your ideas, with more bones and brutal weapons, they are having the Aztecs look while the armor on them can keep them with some level of knights or warrior look."

"Based on your feedback I have shifted to more of the Gladiator vibe for Bonecutter, also added up a set of bone decoration like the winged hussar on the back to echo with the helmet design. Also add up iron trap element on the overall design, which I think could work well with the jaw skull on the helmet. In the illustration will be slightly more bone spikes than the usual look to show the moment that they generate blade and spikes out of the wound. The fabric all over is only sheet of skin and scale tied to the skin, the exposed part will show the scars and weird veins over the skin. Also the design on the blade and also later shield or armor I will look into some animal skeleton, for this blade I was referring to the sawshark."

A truly grisly ally for the dark delves ahead, but one who anyone would be lucky to have. Their cruelty to themselves is only ever for the gain of the party, making them an ideal team player. Sometimes the weapons of the enemy are the greatest tools. 

Let me know your final opinion on the Class Poll now that you've seen all 6 classes! 

7DA
your pub gob

" Here is the rough sketch of maker of hands, maybe a bit varied from the information you offered me but I will add some items I forget such as the books and also some more tools/hands/accessories. 
The idea for this one is mainly focused on Mesopotamian decorative elements and jewelry, also the art deco aesthetic, arm bonded before chest and holding a cracked metal plate on the chest where they hammer with their tail hammer to make hands. So radiated lines is a main design element for this character. Also having jewelry threading in the skin to cover up the partly burned skin. Magic hands I am thinking of the form as being like cracked mirror shards that with the hit by the other end of hammer can be destroyed (just some of my thoughts when I'm designing this.) And for the bells (hanging on ends of straps) I’m thinking about using the shape of hands that are hanging from their hollowed out ears."

"I get Maker of Hands's draft figured out, refined their accessories, the hands hanging from ears are all made in metal so naturally they clashing when moving around to make the noise like wind chimes. The magic hands will looks like shards, or mosaic forming into hand shape, the center of it has the cracks that can be aimed by the other side of hammer to destroy."

Alright, Wednesday will see the end of these character updates when we take a look at the Malefact Bonecutter! But I'd love to hear from all of you in the poll how you feel about the Maker of Hands below! As more of these updates come out, I see more people have new favorites, and that's awesome.

Can't wait to share what each class's ultimate abilities will be when we hit that $12,500 goal!

7DA
your pub gob

Welcome back to the road my friends,

I am impressed to see that the votes on the poll have fluctuated! The Trophy Collector was bottom of the bucket, last place. But something happened here and now it has votes enough to be the next character concept we take a look at!

The Trophy Collector, somewhat interchangeably The Collector of Skulls, came to my mind as two of my favorite things. 1), a character who has an array of weapons on their back that they can pull on for combat. 2), a character who is a bulwark of metal. In an early iteration of the game, there were classes you picked, then secondary classes you picked. You could go all-in on one class to get stronger effects in one vein, or go for two to get a unique blend. This is something I would consider mixing into the game with an expansion still. But I considered this Bulwark character to mix with the Antiquarian class to become this collector of weapons character. Instead of high damage with an axe or sword, they would have a fan of weapons on their back that they could draw, and a card that let them attack with all their weapons in one go.

The final version ended up being either The Banner or The Trophy. These two paths for him make him either a passive buff for all his allies, or a great big buff for himself, based on the items he carries. He does not need to activate powers necessarily, merely open the Aura for the delve, and his allies will gain benefits from the Aura for the rest of the fight. These buffs are small, but they add up! He's a powerful bulwark entity that will look out for his allies and be the great tank fighter everyone needs in their lives.

Not pictured in any of the art below is the fact that there will be some kind of option in the game that lets people play with two shields. That's my favorite thing in any game ever, when you can be a just beast of an armored shield creature, rushing people down and defending yourself and allies. It's just too cool-- and if I had the chance to add a third Path to the game for each Road, the Trophy Collector would be The Aegis. It was a high stretch goal, but it looks out of reach for now. Always space for an expansion!

Now, let's hear from the artist, Salty Water, as the design came together. (It was the last one we did art for, but is the 4th we're sharing in these updates!)

Now is the last character of all six. For trophy collector I'm thinking about the chain and nail motif to add on him, make the weapons and relics (especially the weapons) to be chained on him, to show the bond between what he has collected and himself, which is more than simple physical ownership. And a nail penetrate into his chest, to anchor the shelf on his back which is like a part of a wheel to hold the weapons and also combine with banner.
Also, add another set of skeleton, mainly the torso part, ribcage and part of spine, above his armor and fix by series of nail to his back. Although for this specific part I don't really think of a reason why he do that, maybe that was in memorial of his past kinship, or his own way of collecting skulls and skeleton on him, so also some different species of skull on right shoulder plate. The armor on him I'm planning on make it like collecting from different places so in some varied style but all used and partly broken, he somehow made them work as a whole set of armor. (Note from Seven: The Collector gathers skulls as well because previous adventurer's skulls can be used as Wells of Souls to revive when you die. It's important for the game!)

Getting the trophy collector draft revisioned, emphasis on the nail and chain elements more, and the items and weapons are chained instead of hanging on belts, also adding some spikes and spear motif onto armor and his very own weapon, generally I want him to look like a moving gravestone, or to say a moving monument that as a representation of the past. 

He has quite the banner, what do you think? So one more time my friends, does The Trophy Collector get your vote in the poll? And who will we talk about Monday? The Maker of Hands and The Malefact Bonecutter are both tied with the least votes at the moment. Maybe we can change that when we share what they are about!

Talk to you soon,
7DA
your pub gob

Welcome back Delvers,

Today we are quite nearly at $10,000, which is fantastic! Reminder that our next stretch goal is at $12,500, which gets us special moves from all 6 classes added to the game!

But our poll tells us there are favorites among the character classes. Well, The Caged Wraith and the Organ Eater were both at the top, and they've both been talked about in the updates already. It's time to check third place.



The Aeon Caller

The Aeon Caller has aligned their soul with Aeons. They have a bell or harp that they play, along with their singing, to empower items and machines, or call on Aeons to aid the group in combat. They seek to find harmony with the world, and are good support characters. They can follow the path of The Song, imbuing their Soul into Tools and Relics/Artifacts, making them and their allies stronger, or they can follow the path of The Hum, becoming part machine themselves, imbuing their own bodies with artifacts and power, keeping Relics in their bodies.


Now, from the artist, Salty Water:

I really enjoy the choice of bat for this one, big ears pointing to the sky, actually thnking about the composition for this one could refer to The Hermit in tarot.  I'm kind of thinking that the focus on this one can be mainly on their back, instead of carrying harp hanging from their back, Im thinking of their spine replaced into mechanical structure that extend out to form a harp, and the back of their ribs opened up like that torture called blood eagle, so they store the relics from the back into their ribcage. Or the soul of them pouring out passing the string of the harp and bless the whole group with the song. Possibly good make them in a humble posture and raising the lantern high similar to that hermit style.  Some more details i will think deeper when doing the rough sketches. 
For the clothing definitely good to reference to Eastern Orthodoxy for its form and also the fancy decoration, need to consider how to form the runic system as a language they praise their god, also for the pattern on clothes and their rings. 

Overall I'd like to give them a loop/knot element on the overall design and add some key elements to the bell design and stuff design(as a lantern), and using broken wings as the structure of harp on the back. Will add some more accessories on them, thinking about let them hang like the clock pendulum.
I'm still figuring on the language/rune system for this religious, the idea I was thinking of is the engraving on the rings is like music score, when the worshipper singing along with the pattern on it, the spell and music charges the magic, and can work for their machine god. And inspired by the alchemy sign and noise interrupting pattern, both for marks and the design on their robes. ...
Also for the ring and oil design, I was thinking the draining of oil means the death of the Aeons, and the power contained in the rings, so the oil is contained inside the intersecting rings. Like a living creature that reacts to prayer and hymns, like music wave patterns, so the ring as the basic structure remains minimal but the oil more as some active and interactable element, although rings keep moving even partly broken.

Also back to work on The Aeon Caller, redesigned his bell+lantern again, mixed the style of orthodox candle stand design and Astrolabe design into which will make it more unique looking.

I know the other two are fan favorites already, but the Aeon Caller is fascinating design. Salty really dug into this and hit it out of the park. The Aeon angels have music waves scratched into their rings, screaming and singing as they turn, their oil is their life blood. Just in exploring the design I gave them, Salty Water crafted more of the world through visual exploration. This is my favorite kind of collaboration, when ideas are shared and malleable.

So now that you've seen the Aeon Caller and dived deeper into what it's about, what do you think? Has your vote on the poll changed? And who do you want to see next?

GOALS

The Organ Eater

For this one, I'd like to go with the aesthetic in combination of necromancer, medieval plague doctor, and the chinese/japanese doctors in the ancient time who wandered around with a big wooden case on the back.
Based on the description you given this time, I think it is neat to make them a surprisingly small character instead of something like Nurgle monsters. But need a unfitting big mouth for devouring could be nice. Above the things you described, Id like to make several portholes with metal doors usually shut, in the Alchemy furnace fashion to show that their interior system is reforged into a machine that is allowing for processing the organ and material eaten into the medical potions, salves, and other things they need. Also they can have more pipes that extend out of the body, connected to several containers or bottles with acid and other potions. Not only on the torso with belts holding the materials for the alchemy but also the  wooden case, with rows of drawers on the back, covered in vermin and also various hanging body parts outside of it (claws shells, scales anything can be used to make into medicine)

I have finished finalizing the organ eater, looked further into the grave robber kind of elements, and giving less mechanical looks, referring to the bronze ware shards forged into body and the shovel in this specific type which was invented for this purpose. The shelf on back, bit vague, but mostly wooden structure and adding the butcher hook on the side for holding materials. 

And, of course, Salty Water brought more incredible design ideas to the final version, thinking about particular old artifacts. Truly, the Organ Eater was inspired and brings such a unique design to the game.


My favorite part of the Organ Eater is that we made it a Hare. The Caged Wraith was a mole, but most of the remaining ones are all rats. I liked that these two were something different. I also like how different one of the original sketches was compared to this final art, and think if we reach a tier to include more art on the cards, finalizing that other sketch with more piping through the body would be fun. Different versions of the archetype.

So what do you think? Do you want to eat flesh and excrete salves for your allies as the alchemist, providing healing and support to your allies as you share messages from the entrails? Or will you become an organ fueled engine with spikes of power and personal boosts from your processing of the organs you consume, becoming a sporadic battle machine, rushed with internally made drugs?

And which of the Roads/classes would you like to hear more about next update?!

Talk shortly yet this week!

7DA
your pub gob