Wandering Swords 0.7e is out now!
New update to Wandering Swords
Wandering Swords, my sword and sorcery tabletop RPG, has just received a new update! 0.7e brings a wealth of improvements to layout, rules, balance, and content, including new enemies, items, powers, and tools for creating adventures. Check it out on itch.
Kickstart apocalyptic fantasy game Lordsworn
There’s 6 days left to back Lordsworn, a collaborative storytelling RPG by Marren, which I had the privilege to illustrate the cover for. Lordsworn tells the tale of a company of war-battered acolytes whose patron deity has been killed in an apocalyptic battle, making a tired retreat back to their homeland as the world ends around them. Playtesting this was a blast! It’s currently kickstarting a print edition for Zine Month, and I recommend checking it out!
New strategic science-fiction project: Darkly, from the stars
I’m currently working on a new project of strategy in the face of planetary annihilation. Darkly, from the stars is a science-fiction game inspired by stories like The Three Body Problem, The Expanse and Dune, and is about leaders on an alien world trying to prepare themselves against a terrifying invading force.
I often like to blend different game formats when I write. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve done a straightforward tabletop RPG yet. Champions is part wargame, and heavily inspired by turn-time computer games. Bar the Windows is inspired by horror boardgames. forum.crypt converts the forum format to a tabletop game and can be used as the basis for an RP forum. Wandering Swords began life as an experiment in translating the Soulslike experience to tabletop. There’s a lot of inspirational potential in fusing together genres and modes.
Darkly, from the stars combines strategy and careful resource management with grand power-fantasy type roleplay, where the players are leading figures within powerful factions upon their homeworld. This is, however, proving a tricky blend. Striking the right balance mechanically to make sure the game isn’t too strategically easy, while not making it a doom-laden slog, means a fine control of numbers and timings. Too much attention to this kind of minutiae risks pushing the roleplaying element out entirely.
It’s a significant hurdle that my other fusion projects haven’t quite faced to this level, but hopefully not an insurmountable one. If all goes well with my adjustments and next playtests, I hope to release Darkly, from the stars later this year.
Thanks for reading!
-Nathaniel