Welcome back to the Jams Review for day 2; at first today's ancestry was going to be randomly chosen like yesterday's; I had already picked it and it was ready to go. But while skimming over the many entries, there was one that fully caught my attention through genre dissonance alone. I am sure you have already seen the title of this post, and yes, someone created a Mascot Horror ancestry for Draw Steel. I will cover the other ancestry tomorrow, but for now let's see what heroes may inhabit your local fantasy Chuck E. Cheese.

As a quick rundown for those who haven't read the first article. Hello, my name is Jacob, and I'm the co-owner of Psiocratic Press, alongside my friend Will. I plan to create daily posts for at least the next 20 days. AKA until the judges results come in. The goal isn’t to point out imperfections or give a solid rating but instead to explore the cool ideas present within each given ancestry. You can check out my stuff here, but more importantly, let's look at other people's stuff!

Before you read any further please make sure to give it a download here: /jam/jott02-ancestries/rate/4219285

The Animiton was written by Jack Meddick, and similar to Atomic Sorcery, this appears to be his first time publishing for Draw Steel. For a first foray, I was very impressed with how well the abilities feed into the fantasy. For those unaware, as I am unsure of the overlap between mascot horror fans and Draw Steel fans, the concept of mascot horror originates mainly from the popular video game Five Nights at Freddy's, which this ancestry is pulling alot from. The main figures in that game are the costumed animatronics you would see at places like Disney World or Chuck E. Cheese.

Starting from the signature ability, it directly sets what makes an Animiton different from a standard robot-esque ancestry; it has the standard no need for air, food, or sleep but also specifies the ability to swap into a different mascot suit during the respite, which makes the ancestry not the suit itself but the magical mechanism within. Honestly, the ability could have been easily designed just with the lack of basic needs, but adding the small detail of switching your suit feeds into the fantasy without any added mechanical buff. A simple thing that I feel shows that the designer really thought about how you would play an animatronic is Draw Steel while not just feeling like a generic robot ancestry.

One of the more well-known things about Five Nights at Freddy's is the games' jump scares, and funnily enough, the Animiton builds this in with its traits, having the ability "Ambusher" where it gives an edge on hide checks, and if you reveal yourself to a creature who didn't see you, they become frightened. Once again, this is a very clever design that goes directly into how you would expect an animatronic character to play. They have a similar ability where you can rip off your mask, revealing your face to push away and scare your foes; again, this is a cool ability! I also love that since the Animitons were built for entertainment, there are plenty of abilities that give edges on performance or that help with negotiations. The abilities mechanic-wise are pretty standard, but they fit well into the expectations of the ancestry. Also, "Marketable" is now my all-time favorite ability name.

I really didn't know what to expect when going into this ancestry, but I am honestly really impressed. I can't wait to see more from Jack Meddick. As I mentioned in the last post, I am very interested in the fiction of these one-page ancestries, and the Animiton fiction does not disappoint, as we see a rabbit Animiton having slaughtered a bandit camp talking to another character who came to the camp for revenge. It does a good job of depicting the uncanny valley of these machines masquerading as giant marketable plush creatures.

Now it's time for my self-indulgent character creation corner of the post. This one is really giving me a curveball in regard to creating a character. With just how not incompatible it feels at face value with the main storyline of Draw Steel, I think it would be hilarious to play a serious Animiton character who is very anti-Ajax. I think leaning into further Five Nights at Freddy's lore, having the Animiton being possessed by a character who was killed by a Wardog Patrol, would be fun. Maybe they were present in a traveling carnival when it all went down and the tent caught fire by the patrol. Climbing into the suit to hide while the tent came down, and they are a Fire Elementalist!

Yup, perfect character 10/10

Thanks for reading, and make sure to return tomorrow for something a bit more Kafkaesque.


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