A goal-based heroic fantasy role-playing game. Old-school adventures, with modern mechanics.
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
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.
I've been making good progress against this goal:
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.
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.
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!
More soon,
Pete
Hello Backers and other associated onlookers,
Today I wanted to do two things. Provide you with a set of nice visuals from the layout of the book that show the development that is ongoing across the four pillars of Heroic Deeds: Combat, Exploration, Journeys, and Downtime. All artwork in the images below is from Dean Spencer, and you can find his stuff here. The scroll work used for backgrounds and examples is from Mustafa Bekir, and you can find his stuff here.
I also wanted to announce a delay in the fulfillment of the project. I’m guessing you’re more keen to hear about that first. So here we go….
In March of this year I had a rather intrusive operation to remove a large benign tumour that was between my spine and lung. Needless to say, it was quite an experience and has required a period of recovery. The good news is that I’m now in a great place, with few problems left over, and in full flow on development of the game. The bad news is that it has taken longer than expected to get to this stage. Below you’ll see the progress I’m making, and I’m super excited about sharing this and more with you. But I think this has put me back by 2-3 months.
So I’m going to push back the fulfillment date of the project from December to March. Again, I’m not going to specific a date in the month, but March is achievable. I hate having to do this, but I’m hoping that all the cool stuff below will offset the instant sense of dread that might be creeping into your mind as you read this. I’m not sodding off with your cash, I’m trying to make this a great game for you, and your table.
So my sincerest apologies, but a necessary delay.
Now that all the pain and discomfort is largely done with, I've been rocking on with the development and layout of the game. The core mechanics were confirmed through our live play of The Red Hand of Doom campaign that you can see here. I learned a lot about how things work during those 12 episodes, and had a load of fun playing it. We’ll soon be doing a playtest campaign to work through the Exploration, Journeys, and Downtime. However, those are built on a strong foundation and I think will only need tweaking.
Alongside the work I will now be sharing a Development Diary with our Discord- so make sure you join up to see that unfold. This will be a stream of consciousness and considerations while making the game in the dev forum I already share particular rules or visual updates in. Some of the work below has been shared or discussed there, but not all.
Exploration
The Exploration Phase I’ve developed is designed to create a sense of old school dungeon crawling, but in a way that I don’t think has been specifically done before. We have exploration turns and group actions that the party can take, but we also have a GM Playsheet which helps the Gamemaster to run the Adventure Location quickly. This sheet has the highlights of all the things the GM needs to remember and any key information tied to them. All of these elements help structure the dungeon delving experience, but have enough flexibility to allow roleplaying moments and for the party and GM to get creative with the events that occur.
Journeys
Journeys in Heroic Deeds are done on a hex grid, like all great wilderness games, but it’s not a hex by hex crawl. Instead heroes always get where they want to go, but have to make rolls to see how well the forge their path (Navigation), how much it takes a toll on them (Hardship), and whether or not anyone senses their presence and intervenes (Encounter). The party and GM work together to create a narrative of the roll results, fill out a Journey Log and share any fireside moments that the rolls and narrative require. Imagine this like a montage in a movie. We don’t track every step Conan takes, we see a montage of landscapes and witness a character building conversation by the fire with Subotai.
Combat
I’ve tidied up combat from the Quickstart, and added in some visuals to help with Line of Sight, Area of Effect, and Movement specifically. Combat is the most play-tested element so far, and is pretty robust now. So this has been more of a layout and expansion process rather than any real new design. I think the main element streamlined was Area of Effect. I've used Inkarnate to create combat grid examples to illustrate these elements more clearly.
Downtime
The Settlement is the safe zone that heroes return to from their forays into the wilds and dungeons of Bargdumiraz. It’s here that the party resupply, tool up with new weapons, improve skills, learn spells, make magic items, and much more. Like all other phases there are standard actions that Emberwatch permits, but each Archetype adds more as they advance through levels. Heroes can also gain influence with different elements of the outpost, gaining benefits and access to more restricted gear as they undertake certain deeds or actions.
I’m really looking forward to working on the Rumours system which sees heroes gather information in the Downtime Phase to attach to Adventure Locations out on the Region Map. Rumours add rewards to a location, but also make them more dangerous. The heroes might hear from Krilge the Outpost Chronicler that the texts tell her an ancient dwarven blade is hidden in a location, but any location they assign it to will have more hazards, obstables and monsters guarding it.
I’ll be looking to provide a dev diary update at least every Thursday on the discord, and potentially the odd video about development as the next few months go on. So please join the Discord so you can get involved.
After those core elements are finalised I will return to the Archetypes. I currently have them mapped out to Level 6 in terms of Deeds, Abilities and Talents. However, this map needs to adjust now that some new rules and tweaks have been added to the other pillars of play. I want every Archetype to be relevant and useful in each phase of play, but in different ways. Darkdelvers will be more useful than Battleragers in Exploration, but the Battlerager gets the talent Bend Bars/Lift Gates - which can come in very handy in overcoming Obstacles.
I have also launched the late pledge Backerkit page - so if you’ve read through this but haven’t backed and think it sounds cool then click here to get in on the adventure.
That’s the update today. There is a delay, but hopefully you can see that dev is in full swing and we’re headed towards a distinct, fun roleplaying game that provides a well defined gaming experience at the table.
More soon.
Pete
It's been a long time coming.
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More soon,
Pete