Jonathan Wicke: Bloodbath Aftermath (New Artwork Showcase)

Greetings, my fellow Murkans! Happy Content Drop Wednesday Friday (Origins is stressful and I lost track of time lol, my apologies)

Today I bring you a brand new beautiful work of art depicting the famed Murkan assassin, Jonathan Wicke, after slaying his way through the fires and the flames to get his hellhound puppy back. RIP to the guy with the buzzblade sticking out of his back, lmao.

Digging into this art piece was a lot of fun. The artist behind it is Andrew Clark, a new artist for Action Fiction. It's been a blast working with him so far, and he's really picked up a lot of that makes Murka so magical.

Also, while researching for this art piece, I started learning more and more about the source photo:


Really, I learned two very important things:

1. Keanu has gone on record to say that he wasn't particularly sad during this photo, which makes sense, but man it really does make you wanna get inside that man's brain
2. That bench doesn't even exist anymore. That whole section of the city has basically been transformed, now there's a statue there and some hedges. And it isn't a statue of Keanu on the bench, which IMO would have been the move  

Googol's Translator & Googol's Scroll of Searching (New Magic Items!)

Greetings, my fellow Murkans! Happy Content Drop Wednesday (every time we do one of these, I get better at remembering how tf you spell "Wednesday")

Today I bring you two MAGNIFICENTLY MAGICAL ITEMS. These are actually part of a set of more items, and I'd love to hear what you guys think the other items in the set might be. But, for now, you get these two to go off of.

Look, I love making magic items, if that wasn't clear by the sheer number of magic items in Murka (and the number of brand new magic items we're adding). And I also love it when fantasy settings attach mystical names to magic items, like Bigby's Hand, or Mike's Hard Lemonade (wait a second).

So, of course, we wanted to combine both of those loves and make a whole set of items based on the dystopian all-seeing megaconglomerate family-friendly company we all know as Google. You know, that company that removed "Don't be evil" from their code of conduct. Yeah, that one. We're really excited for the lore we're building behind who (or what) the great wizard Googol might be. Buckle up for that one.

Google has a LOT of products (and an impressively large product graveyard) to choose from, and as tempting as it was to do them all, we had to narrow down our choices to the most recognizable, most useful, and most funny options. That's how we landed on Googol's Translator & Googol's Scroll of Searching.

The Translator mechanics offer a lot of really fun roleplay opportunity, especially with introducing the (high) probability of things being lost in translation. I can't wait to see this thing hit the table.

The Scroll of Searching is a REALLY powerful magic item that allows you to look up anything you could possibly desire (within reason, I suppose). I particularly like the diegetic way that this scroll works in-world as it unfurls to impossible lengths. Abandon all hope, ye who get to the second page of search results,

Anyway, I hope you enjoy Googol's Translator and Googol's Scroll of Searching. Scroll (HA!) down to the followers-only section for the full content. Let us know your guesses for what other Googol items are making it into Murka!

Power Word: Cringe & Power Word: Moist (New Spells!)

Greetings, my fellow Murkans! Happy Content Drop Wednesday (we're not changing it because I'm too stubborn)

Today I bring you a pair of new spells imbued with raw arcane power. Two words which, when spoken, evoke such a violent response, that they've become forbidden knowledge.

The Power Word spells have always been such a cool concept in Vancian magic: words which hold enough power that the mere act of speaking them is a deep and ancient magic. But there just aren't enough of them. And if the pen is mightier than the sword, it begs the question whether it is also mightier than the staff.

Adding new Power Words to the Power Word Lexicon (PWL for cool kids like me) required us to REALLY consider what words hold that kind of special power in reality, and then how do we translate that power into 5e rules. I am REALLY happy with where both of these spells wound up—and don't tell anybody, but there are even more Power Words than these.

The mechanics on Cringe especially are so fun, because we really had to figure out, like... "what does cringing look like in terms of 5e mechanics?" Also, something that drives me nuts is that there is no "drenched" type of condition. So, consider Power Word: Moist our soft pitch of a drenched condition. Oh, and remember: Don't kill the part of you that is cringe. Kill the part of you that cringes. And then kill that goblin over there.

Also, if you're one of those people that hates that word... 

Moist.

Subclass Overhaul: Conclave of the Lone Ranger (Ranger)

Way out west, there are these folks I wanna tell y’all about. These folks call themselves “Lone Rangers,” wanderin’ the red, desolate plains with the sun in their eyes and a big iron on their hip. Sometimes they’re alone. Sometimes they’ve got a gang together. And I reckon, sometimes they’re even keen on makin’ friends and helpin’ out.

Y’see, sometimes there’s a person—I won’t say “hero,” ‘cause what’s a hero?—but, sometimes, there’s a person—and I’m talkin’ about a Lone Ranger here—sometimes, there’s a person with no place. A person with no name. A person on a horse. A person with a gun. A person who... Aw, hell. I’ve introduced them enough.

Submit Your Own Murka Potion! ✨🍾

HOW TO ENTER

1. Color your potion however you’d like—markers, crayons, digital, ketchup and mustard… whatever inspires you!
2. Write a short blurb about what your potion does. Not a game designer? No problem! Something as simple as, “Jar o’ Tummies: Gives you advantage on poison saves,”  or “Potion of Spoiled Milk: Makes you stink and damages whoever drinks it,” is perfect! If your potion is selected, our Action Fiction number nerds will balance it for play.
3. Post your submission in the #Potion-Contest-Submissions channel on our Discord Server using the following template:

```
### Potion Name
- Image (if applicable)
> Description / Effects
> - Credit Info (if selected for the book)
> - Social media tags to include if we share it online (Optional)
```

CATEGORIES

• ✨ Community Vote
• 🧠 Action Fiction Favorite
  
  

• ✨ Community Vote
• 🧠 Action Fiction Favorite
  
  

PRIZES

• Your potion added to Monsters of Murka: Ratified & Radified
• Your name credited in both the item description and writer credits
• A free pledge for the physical copy of the book your item appears in!
  
  

• A free PDF bundle pledge of all three Ratified & Radified books

VOTING & TIMELINE

• Submissions open: May 5
• Deadline to enter: June 30
• Top 10 finalists selected by Action Fiction: July 4th
• Public voting on BackerKit: July 4th - 11th
• Winners announced: July 14th (on Discord & BackerKit)

RULES

• Only potions submitted during May 5 to June 30 will be accepted
• Up to three (3) submissions per person allowed
  Only one category win per person (we want to spread the love!)
• Submissions may be shared on Action Fiction’s social media with credit given
• Submissions must include at least:
  • Potion name
  • Description or effects
  • Credit info
  • Social tags (if you want)
• Server & Discord rules apply. TL;DR: Don’t be a dick. No spam. No NSFW or illegal content. Stay on topic. Don’t DM people without permission. Don’t link to other Discord servers. Mods reserve the right to remove posts that break rules.