Stoneburner RPG was developed by René-Pier Deshaies-Gélinas and Galen Pejeau. Crowd-funding on Kickstarter begins today! I'd like to thank RP and Galen for the opportunity to get a playable copy of the game early. Stoneburner has rocketed to the top echelons of my favorite TTRPG list in my short time with it.
Stoneburner is a solo-friendly TTRPG of demon hunting and community building in a dwarven asteroid mine. Become a space Dwarf and fight demons for the glory of House Grandrock!
Who is Valnor Redblade?
Let's Play...
Valnor Redblade’s cylindrical dropship settled into the dusty surface of Kazab Baram. This asteroid was the most picked over of the rocks in the Long Belt, and the aging Spellwinder did not expect much from the expedition. He stepped out of the ship and looked around at the abandoned processing plant.
The intel Grandrock station received was not an exaggeration: the old processing facility in Fremir’s Crater was mysteriously active. Robotic miners, diggers, loaders, and sorters trundled over the pitted, rocky ground or bounced along old rail lines into the tunnels. To the North-West, Valnor’s gaze was drawn to a plume of gray smoke rising into the asteroid's limited atmosphere.
The old Spellwinder pressed a button on his armored gauntlet, and took a deep breath as a rush of tingly numbness flowed through his aching limbs. The disease would kill him, Valnor knew that. He was not afraid of death. He only wanted to live up to Bolkur Longneck's legacy, and leave the station he loved in a survivable state. To that end, the sturdy dwarf set off in the direction of the smoke.
Valnor crouched behind a boulder and inspected the scene before him. A ship, emblazoned with the orange half sun sigil of the Sunburst Biotech corporation, smoked in the midst of the crater. One human limped around the wreckage, dragging both his right leg and a piece of metal attached to a long length of leather. Movement near the ship’s entry ramp caught Valnor’s eye, and he watched as another, female, human attempted to lift themselves up off the stony ground. The woman landed hard on her backside as her legs gave way beneath her.
The dwarf stepped into the open, palms out in a gesture of peace. The limping human stopped and reached to his hip, only to remember half-way through the gesture that he didn’t have a firearm.
“I come in peace,” Valnor rumbled, and walked closer. “What happened here?”
“We’re being pursued,” the human said, his voice hoarse. “They shot us down.”
“Who is chasing you?”
“Tidebone Raiders. Heard of ‘em?”
“Aye, I’ve heard of them. Had a few run ins with a group of Tidebones a few years back. Nasty sort,” Valnor said, remembering the event clearly. He lost a few good comrades to the raiders. “What do they want with a science vessel?”
“We are carrying an item of scientific value. I can only assume they are after the prototype. Why? I couldn’t say. Perhaps word of Sunburst’s breakthrough leaked and a competitor hired them.”
“I have no interest in your prototype, but I’ve a vendetta against the Tidebones. Are there any nearby?”
“My scout, one of the few of us who weren’t injured in the crash, reports a camp to the north.”
“I have a drop ship down this tunnel,” Valnor says, gesturing over his shoulder. “If you can make it there, radio Grandrock Station. Tell them Redblade requests evacuation for however many you have. There’s a facility there that you can hole up in and await them.”
“I will see if my people can move. Thank you dwarf.”
“Do not thank me, yet. There’s still time for the Tidebones to find you.”
Mechanic Explanation: the Oracles
Oracle
The human bobbed his head in acknowledgment and turned to order the evacuation. Valnor watched for a moment, then set off. The science vessel billowed smoke so thick that he was certain the sentries on the Station would have spotted it, and so would the Tidebones. He hoped he was able to find them before they reached the scientists.
Valnor was surprised, at first, to find no resistance in the tunnel leading north toward the reported camp site—until he came closer and the sounds of humanoid screams and the report of weapons’ fire echoed down the tunnel to him. The Spellwinder picked up his pace, certain now that the pirates had other things to deal with than searching for scientists or watching for interlopers like himself.
The tunnel expanded before him, opening up to the thin atmosphere of a medium sized crater. In the midst of the crater were two tents and a table spread with papers of some kind. The ground around the tents was littered with humanoid forms. Some were still alive, attempting to drag themselves away from the carnage, others were unmoving, eviscerated despite the thick armor they wore.
An inhuman screech echoed through the crater, and drew the Spellwinder’s attention to the far corner where a hulking brute of a demon had a lone pirate boxed in against the wall. The pirate, a grizzled dwarf from the look of him, blasted away at the massive demon with his slugthrower to little effect.
Oracles
Mechanics Explanation: Demons
Demon Tables
Valnor reacted instinctively. He had trained many years in the use of magic for the purpose of combat, and one giant, antlered demon was not going to stop him from accomplishing his goals on this rock. He drew his pick and, with a flick of his thick wrist, extended it to staff length. The magic runes inscribed on the staff and heavy pick head glowed in the dim light. He mumbled ancient words of power, quietly so as not to give away the element of surprise as he moved the fifteen feet from the tunnel opening to the tents.
The runic blast erupts from the head of the pick and sizzles through the thin atmosphere. The demon turns at the last moment, catching the magical blast directly to the chest. It stumbles and falls to its thick knees.
Mechanics Explanation: Solo Combat
Challenge
Seeing the demon on its knees, Valnor pressed his attack, casting a second spell. It crackled through the air, slamming into the demon’s shoulder. The creature roared, and spat two molten rocks from its sucker-like mouth. The first went wide as the demon reeled from Valnor’s magical attack, but the second came directly at the Spellwinder.
Challenge
It seemed as though the missile moved in slow motion, but Valnor was too slow to avoid it completely. His old legs didn’t work like they used to, and his reactions had slowed too much of late. The second blast caught him on the left shoulder, sending him stumbling backward. The impact nearly knocked him to the ground, but, using a bit of that stubborn determination he was so well known for, he retained his feet and, issuing a raging battle cry, launched himself forward, pick raised to strike.
Challenge
The runed pick-staff slammed down into the creature’s leathery hide, the sharp edge grinding against its shoulder bone. The blade squelched free as Valnor yanked it hard and backed away, preparing to strike once more.
Challenge
He felt the power of the staff waning, and his own magical reserves were nearly empty but he steeled himself and cast one last spell, sending tendrils of white and purple energy arcing through the sizzling air. The electrical currents pierced the wound on the demon’s shoulder and Valnor watched with satisfaction as the lightning wound its way inside the beast’s body. It jerked on the ground, roaring and howling in pain.
Challenge
The staff’s magic fizzled out, and it shrank down to its normal pick-axe size. The creature, somehow, was still able to drag its long body upright and roared defiance at the dwarf. In a last ditch effort, feeling the drain of the fight more acutely than he ever remembered doing before, Valnor withdrew his Firelight Rune from a pocket in his coat and held it high above his head.
The rune blazed with bright, white light and warmed his weathered hands. Three blasts of white-hot light shot out of the small rune-inscribed stone and pummeled the demon in its blackened wound.
The fiend screeched and clawed at its shoulder. It didn’t fall, however. The monstrosity simply vanished in a cacophony of screams and roars and the rush of flames as it returned to its own plane of existence to recuperate from its wounds.
Challenge
Tired as he was, Valnor didn’t see the pirate captain move until it was almost too late.
In the last instant, just before the pirate’s long bladed knife reached him, Valnor stepped to the side and slammed the butt of his pick into the other dwarf’s face. The pirate dropped to the ground, unconscious.
Valnor dropped to the stony ground beside the pirate and took several deep breaths, recovering his expended energy as best he could. Soon, he told himself, he would bind the pirate and question him. As well as take a look around the pirate camp for anything of value. For now, though, the old dwarf needed a break.
Challenge
Mechanics Explanation: Resting
Rest & Resource notes
Thanks for reading! Come back next week to see the rest of Valnor's adventure in Kazab Baram. If you're interested in Stoneburner RPG, check out the Kickstarter. Thanks again to RP and Galen for making a brilliant game and letting me have a playable version early! This has been a blast.
