A goal-based heroic fantasy role-playing game. Old-school adventures, with modern mechanics.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
April Progress Update 1
12 months ago
– Mon, Apr 07, 2025 at 11:34:01 AM
Hello Adventurers!
It’s been another fortnight, so it’s time for another update.
So two things have been a major step for me: the Battlerager, and face to face gaming!
Firstly I have completed the Battlerager to Level 6 and got a solid outline for the other Archetypes. The big thing here is that I’ve done the first iteration of a Level 6 “Heroic Deed”. This is a Deed that has four advance tracks and once complete rewards the character with a new structure within Emberwatch. With this I am going for a bit of classic D&D Name Level fun where you get to have your own building, but I’m not going as far as counting bricks or hiring labourers. Effectively the legend of the hero has grown so much by the time they reach level 6 that they have become a sponsor and great boon to Emberwatch, and the baron decides to enable them further through a specific structure.
The Battlerager is able to pick from 3 options: the Gladiatorial Academy, the Monster Fighting Pit, or The Gauntlet. Each provides Downtime benefits that greatly benefit the Battlerager. The Darkdelver will create a Guild, the Lightbearer dedicate a Temple, the Oathsworn will start an Order, the Runewielder will found an Enclave, and the Wildwalker will create a Haven. Each will add something special. It should make Level 6 not only very attainable but also super fun.
The structure allows increase of Attributes and sometimes the recruitment of Hirelings
Secondly I have started a face-to-face game of Heroic Deeds! Yay! This is something I haven’t done since playing at Dragonmeet in 2023. I’ve been playing nearly completely online for the last few years and it’s really nice to get back to the table. I sat down with 3 players last Tuesday, and I’ve got a 4th joining for our next session. Having recently introduced some friends to D&D I am super happy with how quickly I was able to introduce the game and get the campaign started. We created an Elf Darkdelver, a Dwarf Battlerager, and an Orc Lightbearer, allocated rumours to Adventure Locations, did a downtime action at Emberwatch and then completed their first Journey out to The Lost Beacon location.
A zoomed in view of the party's Starting Region. They decided to put one Rumour on each starting location.
It was a lot of fun to step through the non-combat phases and it be lots of fun. Looking forward to our next session and I’ll let you know how that one goes!
There’s been loads of other work as well, but I’ll save some of that for next time.
More soon,
Pete
March Progress Update 2
about 1 year ago
– Mon, Mar 24, 2025 at 04:23:05 AM
Hello Adventurers!
As promised I'm starting to post every two weeks with some updates on how the game is going. This helps me to keep momentum and focus and hopefully keeps you excited about the game you'll receive later this year.
The last two weeks I've been working on:
editing Trappings to make them all relevant or adjust their effects
incorporating Exploration playtest tweaks
starting the Running Heroic Deeds section (Exploration tips and tables)
nearly finished with the first two Adventure Location GM Playsheets
Monster Encounter tables for the Journeys section
playtesting Exploration and Combat
We've been having lots of fun with a Play By Post campaign with Patrons of the channel. We've got 7 players in the Lost Beacon Adventure Location wandering around battling skeletons, avoiding spectral winds, end ensuring crypt doors don't seal them in while searching for lost scouts. It's been a great process to understand how the phase actually plays, rather than simply detailing a procedure. I'm about to try and start an in person game to see how it goes at the table drawing out the map as we go.
After defeating a small troop of skeletons the party has to contend with physical obstacles that might seal them in!
The discord has proven a great place to have a nice slow burn adventure rolling in the background and little test bed for this way of playing. So it's been really useful.
If you want to find out more about the PBP game head over to the Patreon - even free members can see the posts there. Paying members get to join in or view the game as it runs in the discord server.
If you want to come and ask questions about the game then join the Gartopia Discord server where we're talking about this and loads of other rpg/gaming stuff in general!
More soon,
Pete
March Progress Update
about 1 year ago
– Mon, Mar 10, 2025 at 05:15:40 AM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Heroic Deeds BETA pdf - download right now!
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Nov 09, 2024 at 12:49:56 PM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
October Update - Development for the Beta PDF
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Oct 05, 2024 at 01:02:48 AM
Hello Backers!
Today I thought I'd give you a bit of an update on the development on the Beta PDF, which I don't have a specific date for, but is my next goal.
So, the next big step is that I want to get to is a document with the following content so that players and GMs can play a full proper game/campaign of Heroic Deeds.
Planned Beta PDF Contents:
Core rules for the four pillars - this is an 8/10 page section for each of Combat, Exploration, Journeys, and Downtime.
Example sections for Exploration, Journeys, and Downtime - 2 page spreads giving a clear idea of how each phase works at the table/VTT
Character creation section and Trappings tables
All 6 core Archetypes with level 1 to 3 - Abilities, Deeds, and Talents
1 Adventure Location with Playsheet, Map, Monsters, and Descriptions
I've been making good progress against this goal:
3/4 pillars written and laid out - only Downtime left to go and I'm currently working on the Rumours tables
1/3 Examples written (see below) - these are fun to write, but its weird switching to dialogue from rulebook writing
Trappings is there, just some of the Ancestries to finalise (from a fluff writing side) and the section to tidy up
4/5 archetypes laid out in the pdf, 5/5 designed - just some work to do on the Wildwalker and I think I've got a better take on that now.
Adventure location is outstanding - I'd like to do one that's not the Crumbling Outpost but that might add more time - we'll see.
Here is a view of the Journey Example as it currently stands:
This is the format I'll use for Exploration and Downtime Examples as well. I hope that these give a clear steer on how the phase works. The final book will have a "Running the Game" section which will talk to the Gamemaster about tackling each phase and give a few extra tables of events and oddities that they can bring to bear.
Following last months update of a delay I wanted to reassure everyone that work was progressing full steam ahead, and you can see that is definitely the case.
Heroic Deeds Play by Post campaign
Once the Beta PDF is complete I'll be sharing it with Garblag Games patrons in order to run a large playtest Play by Post on the Garblag Games discord: Gartopia. We already have a set of heroes forming at Emberwatch and I'm just waiting for a few more to arrive (and to finish the pdf). So if you want to join in that event on the server please sign up to the Patreon for that extra curricular activity. You can also just sign up to the patreon as a free member and you'll get access to watch the Play by Post in action - in case you are not sure, but want to check it out.
Heroic Deeds on Garblag Games
I'm also going to be streaming a playtest game once the Beta PDF is available, so that people can follow along at home. This will be us in Foundry trying out all the new pillars - we've really only tested combat before.
While you wait, don't forget we did a Heroic Deeds campaign last year (which ran into the start of this year). I adapted The Red Hand of Doom D&D 3e campaign for my ruleset and we had a great time. The players really enjoyed the combat system and I tried to incorporate early versions of Journeys, but in a very limited way.
You can check out our playthrough here:
Hopefully that's enough to keep the Heroic Deeds vibe going for a few more weeks until I get the Beta PDF sorted, at which point I'll be sharing it as a pdf on Google Drive for all you lovely backers. I'm also going to try and share it with some people out in the social media sphere to see if I can get any traction - so if you have an angle there that you'd be happy to boost HD through please let me know!
Hope you all have a great month, and lots of great gaming - whatever the games!
