Underworld Ascendant: Runic Magic Confirmed (Also: T-Shirts)
Hello runestones, my old friends. I’ve come to cast you once again.
Magic in Underworld Ascendant springs from the original Underworlds. As with the originals, magic is built on rune stones. Scattered around the Abyss is an alphabet of rune stones, each inscribed with a runic letter. The Avatar discovers these stones as they explore the Abyss, over time building a vocabulary of spells.
To cast a spell, the player lays outs particular combinations of stones. For instance, the pair of stones IN LOR casts a dim magic light. A much more powerful version of this spell using 3 rune stones, VAS IN LOR, casts the brightness of daylight. Learning new spell combinations is part of the fun. You feel as if you are growing in arcane knowledge — which of course you are!
Of course, there’s a twist:
Underworld Ascendant explores a new dimension of runic magic. As players master the lore they will uncover hidden powers, and learn how to magically transform their runes. For instance, a mage might learn how to transfigure the runes for a Fireball, POR FLAM, to enlarge its blast radius. As the mage’s knowledge deepens, to make the Fireball dance around the chamber, seeking out each nearby foe in turn. Or perhaps instead, to burn with a violet aura, which clings to foes longer and with more terrible effect. Ultimately, a mage can craft their own repertoire of unique and powerful runes.
So that’s awesome; Runic Magic was always my favourite spellcasting system out of all the different systems featured across the Ultima games. One wonders, though, if Corp Hur Tym will be available as a spell?
In other news, Underworld Ascendant t-shirts are now available for ordering via Kickstarter; one can be added to your pledge for $25 USD.
So…how’s Underworld Ascendant doing in its ongoing Kickstarter campaign?
That’s not bad…there’s less than $50,000 left to be raised before the game reaches its base goal. It’s a pity that some of the planned stretch goals are likely now too far out of reach. But then, I would assume that OtherSide will follow up the Kickstarter campaign with a crowdfunding campaign on their own website…so it’s still feasible that features like Lizardmen or a toolkit might be added to the game should higher funding milestones be reached at a later date.
