Great Machine

Against the many perils of their clockwork world stand paragon defenders of cog and groove alike: The Gear Guards. Often unnoticed, these keepers of the peace patrol the vast gears to which the Great Machine assigns them — detailing each singular part and ensuring nothing goes awry in the perpetual cycle of gear rotations. These are the policeman and technicians of the nodes, unofficial masters of their respective regions who labor incessantly to protect the rhythm and direction of the gears within the Great Machine; it is a role they neither neglect nor under-appreciate… as (in their own opinion) most other Klik are prone to do.

Entrusted with the safety of the Great Machine itself, the Gear Guards view themselves as perhaps the most studious workers within the colossal clockwork universe — their efforts keep the vast labors of the other Klik from toppling into oblivion. This notion is reinforced by the comprehensiveness of their task: their labors teach them of the inner and outer workings of the cogwheel they serve, providing access to recesses and areas hazardous or unknown to the other Klik on their node. It is the Gear Guards who flush out hives of Dyne Mites, torch nests of rogue Gear Gnawers, chase down rampaging Surges and troublesome Rust Moths, and tend to the thousand other incessant problems of maintaining a universal metallic gear superstructure. "All in a rotation's work," as the Gear Guards would surmise.

What is the Event?

No one really knows.

All that is known is that at some point in the distant past, a massive, pan-cosmic event occurred that changed everything forever. Before the Event, life was considered "normal" (at least on Earth); there was only one known universe, humans believed they were the only sentient species (and quite possibly the highest form of life), and they thought that (for the most part) they had a pretty good handle on physics and how things worked.

The Event changed all of that.

Never let it be said that the guys from Wandering Men Studios dislike giving away free stuff! Nothing could be further from the truth, in fact. We LOVE giving stuff away so much that our accountant wants to kill us - seriously.

But, we do it anyways...

So, to continue this proud tradition of self-inflicted degradation, we'd like to give you last month's newsletter today for free! Sure, it's about a month behind and you may have seen some of this already, but hey - if you want to see it when it's "hot off the presses", then simply subscribe to our newsletter today! The new issue will be out very soon and it's at least one hundred point three times (100.3x) as awesome as this one!

(honest!)

Untold was crafted to be both infinitely expandable and simultaneously accepting of any other pre-existing world(s) or setting(s) out there. This way, GMs are never forced to craft their games solely around or within a single Campaign Setting. We feel that this supports two of our core Untold tenets — flexibility and fun — and puts the power back into the hands of Players and GMs. As such, you'll find our default Untold setting, Splintered Serenity™, is quite different from most! What's more, we hope you can help us add to our setting by joining our online community at http://www.untoldthegame.com and posting your in-game locations, race and creature concepts, power ideas and more! Who knows, something that YOU create just might wind up on a real Untold card one day! (For more information on this, please see the section on Untold Designers).

Card List

Races 
Klik Roller ("201132")
Klik Roller ("G-earl-1002e")
Klik Roller ("d3lV32")
Klik Roller ("Ha1")
Klik Roller ("Syntr33")
Klik Roller ("63a2-6UA2D")
Klik Roller ("59-UA4")
Klik Roller ("S(21Be")

Races 
Klik Tripod ("Buzzsaw")
Klik Tripod ("Deep-6")
Klik Tripod ("J()nk32")
Klik Tripod ("K'rAb")
Klik Tripod ("LOW-Drrr")
Klik Tripod ("@+145")
Klik Tripod ("m1-nER")
Klik Tripod ("23a-V32")
Klik Tripod ("Cs-A11")

Key:   = What is a Race Card?

Beings of metal and steam, gears and gyros, pistons and pulleys, the Klik at first glance appear to be nothing more than strange conglomerations of odd, physics-defying gadgetry. Yet, once one spends any amount of time in the presence of these assertive and driven beings, they are sure to redefine their perceptions of them. While the Klik could not be considered individuals by any means, as they continually strive to perform their part in the service of their Great Machine, they are anything but random collections of parts and pieces. Little is known about their originating Collective, which seems to be nothing more or less than a massive universal-sized clockwork machine, with an alien conciseness all of its own. Yet the Great Machine certainly seems just as sentient as the Klik it regularly spawns and sends out into the realms beyond its own, always seeking knowledge and answers.

Sarge’s’s military reflexes kicked in; the pounding staccato of rounds from the M-321 smashed into the offending automaton. The heavy .306 bullets ripped through the leader-klik's comparatively light armor, sending up sparks and rending pieces of metal from the machine.

Apenimon was suddenly airborne, bat-like wings had somehow come into being creating a webbed membrane along the L’na’s outstretched arms and sides, the rest of his body was covered in thick, yet supple, iridescent scales. The External wove artfully through a network of cogs and drive shafts, coming in at an oblique angle to one of the other sentry klik as it cut wide to flank Roller. The small, densely muscled Apenimon slammed into the klik, his claws, glowing with some eldritch fire ripped through the automaton’s neck, shearing off its expressionless head in a shower of sparks and popping rivets.

Buzzsaw and Toa turned as another group of sentries approached from a lower tier, riding a giant paddle-wheel of a cog like a lift. As soon as they hit the slowly rotating platform they shot across the dull bronze surface, coils arcing with deadly intent. Buzzsaw’s hand popped backward on a hinge as its chainsaw attachment emerged, revving up in chorus with its massive circular blade that was running at full RPM.

None can perceive the apparent logic (or lack thereof) of the Great Machine. A massive, universe-sized, sentient, clock-worked machine would be a hard thing to relate to, much less understand. Nevertheless, it seems that either the Great Machine either has a twisted sense of humor, a sadistic streak, or is outright insane - this seemingly aberrant behavior is clearly seen in the existence of the Dyne Mtyes.

The Dyne Myte is a small creature of amazing clock-worked and spring-driven precision; commonly only 1.5 cm or less in size. As is common with the other creations of the Great Machine, such as the Klik, no two Mytes are alike, each looking as if it was hand-crafted by the finest artisans. Each Dyne Myte clearly displays these amazing and clever inner-workings, with it's various gears and springs visible within their bodies.

We've been waiting to show you folks this for some time!! While we were at Gencon, we were approached by a very nice lady, Aimee Stanton, who was impressed by Untold. At first we thought she wanted a demo, but we were surprised to discover that she wanted to feature us on her Youtube Show! So, we sat down for a few minutes and talked a bit about Untold. Please excuse Ashy's voice in the video - he had nearly lost it by this point in the convention, he'd been talking so much!