Final 24 hours, huge Quickstart Update (v0.3.1) + Changelog, new art!
about 2 years ago – Wed, Jul 10, 2024 at 04:26:00 AM

FINAL 24 HOURS

QUICKSTART UPDATE

LAYOUT CHANGES (these are also on the campaign page now)

Changelog v0.2.2 -> v0.3.1

• Added a new gameplay intro page (pg. 7) that better describes what the game is about.
• Described d66 tables and crucibles in detail (pg. 8)
• Better detailed stats and how specialized tasks function. (pg. 11)
• Updated the character sheet with new character traits that you choose on character creation, and the front/back sheet with the new adventuring party options. (pg. 13 for an example).  Also expanded the section for additional wises.
• Removed narrative elements from spark. Instead now it adds +1d and activates certain abilities. Adding details, previously called bits (now without a specific name), is done by spending "story". You gain 3 story per session, marked on your sheet.
• Introduced an inventory system, marking boxes to indicate equipment carried. You can also spend "pack" to add small items you have on the fly. (character sheet)
• Spark had been doing too much and I wanted to refocus it, and move some of its utility options into story and pack. This has landed nicely in playtesting and made explaining the concepts clearer in the rules.
• Renamed and refocused "Creative Freedom" to "Cinematic Gameplay", organizing the narrative gameplay elements of the rules prior to the mechanical dice-related one. (pg. 14)
• Detailed story usage and wises more clearly. (pg. 16 and 17)
• Added character traits, prompts on the sheet to indicate personality and ambitions that you character does and doesn't have. This replaces the adventuring party motivations, which have been simplified into choosing a party type and previous adventures. (pg. 18 and character sheet)
• Bonds completely removed. They are mostly replaced with the character traits, drives, tangles, and quarreling forming natural bonds that don't need specific detailing.
• Quarreling mechanics revised. You no longer roll bond. Instead, you build a pool:  1d, +1d for a relevant trait, +1d for a relevant drive. You're better at fighting for the things you care about.
• Abilities: You now gain your core ability and select one additional ability at the beginning of the game.
• XP & Advancement revised.  Multi-class abilities now cost the same 10 XP as class abilities. There is a prompt to explain how you picked up those out-of-class skills.  Core abilities remain at 20 XP.
• Wise gains: For every 15 XP earned, you gain a free wise.
• At character creation, you gain 1 XP for detailing your drives and giving a flashback pursuing 1.  This means you will receive your core+1 ability at character creation, then third ability after the 3rd session. You'll get a 3rd wise after the 5th session.  This ramps up early progression to realize character concepts more quickly.
• Clarity added to how to build the basic dice pool, including a new flow chart. (pg. 20)
• Thorns explanations expanded to give more clarity on how the GM adds them and how they interact with dice pools (pg. 21)
• Defense rolls moved to its own page and better explained in detail, especially what happens on a messy. (pg. 23)
• Montage rolls changed.  Now, you roll 3d on any montage. If it's a group montage, all participating roll 2d. Thorns can be added to these rolls by the GM. (pg. 24)
• Helping has been changed. You no longer roll bonds or spend spark. You can now help at any time it makes sense. You roll 1d and share the risk and narration. (pg. 24)
• Diminishing pools are now well explained over a two-page spread, detailing 5 different types of pools: timer pools, danger pools, task pools, resource pools, and potency pools. These show the different ways pools can be flexibly applied. Clarity that criticals on pools only counting if they're potency pools was also added. (pg. 26)
• Damage restructured into a concept called Escalating Damage, from Marks to Wounded/Vex to Dropped. Nothing has changed, but this adds clarity. The layout is substantially different for both this and vex, on the next page (pg. 28-29)
• Clarity was added to conditions and how the GM uses them as a catch-all outside the basic damage types, and also on when to allow them to be recovered from. (pg. 30)
• Magic has been much more clearly explained. Nothing has changed, but there is a great deal of added clarity. (pg. 32-34)
• Touchstones as a broad concept were removed along with Bits, instead now only serving as touchstones for setting the limitations of magic. (pg. 33)
• Fronts renamed to Faction pools and you assign goals to them. Campaign timers are also rolled along with fronts, representing other movements in the fiction at the campaign-level. Fronts ended up being confusing terminology when 95% of them were factions. (pg. 40)
• The GM Crucible had layout problems in v0.3. These are fixed in v0.3.1. (pg. 41)
• A new rule added to melee weapons. Heavy weapons now always reduce a pool by 1, then roll the pool. They cost 2 inventory slots instead of a normal weapon's 1.  This is a temporary rule as I hone in on mechanical rulings involving weapons, but is a good starting point for my thoughts on them. (pg. 45)
• Roleplaying with Moxie section has been trimmed slightly to focus it better. (pg. 48 & 49)
• The adventuring party creation process is much simpler now.  You choose the style of party (e.g. Heroes and Rebels, NOT Believers) and then the results of your last adventure. You then make characters and fill in character traits to create a cohesive group, but with some friction between their personalities and motivations.
• You take your core ability + one more ability at character creation.
• You get 1 XP for establishing a character drive in character creation, then pursuing it in a brief flashback. This lets you advance to your third ability after the 3rd session, establishing character concepts more quickly.  Advice for slower campaigns will be in the last chapter of the book. (pg. 52)
• The cleric ability Guidance was changed from spending spark to usable Twice per session. (pg. 54)
• The cleric ability Iron Will now ignores any mark once per session, not just mental marks. This ability is in flux as I compare it to other class abilities.
• The rogue ability Lurking Presence has had references to bits removed instead just presenting three choices. It's easier to use now. (pg. 58)
• The wizard ability Familiar now allows you to respawn the Familiar after a proper rest, instead of after downtime. (pg. 60)
• A few repeated or confusing terms in the Wizard spell crucible (rot, wood, wine) were changed. (pg. 61)
• Chapter art for each of the other 4 chapters in the game is now included in the quickstart. This also gives a better sense of the structure of the final book.

Last week! More art, more dice, more cards! Stretch goals!
over 2 years ago – Thu, Jul 04, 2024 at 04:12:17 PM

• More art: There will be 6 more art pieces commissioned for Grimwild.  I got Per to turn his attention back to Grimwild's art and expand upon it, filling it out with some fun pieces we both wanted to see.  Two of these are already included in this update - check them down below!  
• More dice: The set of 6d6 and 3d8 will be increased to 8d6 and 4d8. There are some edge cases where you'll end up rolling all of those at once and I wanted to make sure it was possible all in one go - but the more dice also makes it easier to share them around the table.  So 3 more added per set!
• More cards: I set the exploration deck to 20 cards but as it turns out, I want to expand it up to 60. As I've developed its concepts, I felt it was a little bit jam-packed into the previous 40 card limit so giving it some space to breathe and add some more options was an easy choice.   Speaking of which, if you order the physical deck, you will get the PDF with it (it's not listed on the reward tier till now) - and you can also pick up only the digital PDF as an add-on if you want.

Grimwild Quickstart- Clarity Update released!
over 2 years ago – Sat, Jun 22, 2024 at 12:38:37 PM

You can download it from Drivethrurpg.

 
Here are some examples!

Anyway, go download it!

Funded, Grimwild is happening! And news of what's to come!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Jun 12, 2024 at 06:07:29 PM

Well met, adventurers!

Thanks to you all, we had a very amazing first day and things are looking great heading into our second!  We've hit our initial funding goal, people are coming and hanging out on the Discord, and we've been getting tons of really great feedback.

With a project like this, the feedback, positivity, and buy-in from backers that comes with crowdfunding is just as important for development as the additional funds we have to work with. People being excited and helpful is pure motivation fuel for us. And hearing the problem areas people see with the rules is just as helpful (moreso!) than hearing what they like. The game still has a lot of room to grow before being finished, so if you like getting involved in development, now is definitely the time.



Here's what you can expect moving forward.

• Backerkit Updates: I won't be drowning you in updates. I'm happy you're hyped, we're hyped too, but we don't need to bash your inbox telling you about it. Expect an update about once a week, combining several items into one update, and each update containing more content to take a look at. We'll also be busy with game development—we don't want the campaign eating into time spent on making the game better. I didn't want this to be confused with radio silence, though! If you have any questions, please feel very free to post them on Backerkit or reach out through other channels.
• Quickstart Clarity Update: Early next week, I will be rolling out an update to the Grimwild Quickstart with fixes that provide clarity, examples of play, typo fixes, and document quality of life improvements. Please note it hasn't seen an editor yet—feedback has been incredibly helpful and we wanted to remain flexible to change.
• Online Sheets: Google Sheets versions of the character sheets are coming, likely early next week. This will make setting up Quickstart games even easier. 
• Scenario: We'll release an adventure seed, bundled with a few monsters, to provide an easy one-shot scenario for playtesting purposes. We're excited to show you our take on adventure tools.

• Module Preview: We'll be taking a clearer look at what Luke has in store for these sandboxes.
• Moxie Release: The underlying system powering Grimwild will be released. It is licensed CC-BY (as is Grimwild!), so if you're interested in hacking the game or using the mechanics in your own game, stay tuned.
• Pointcrawl Exploration System: We'll release another scenario that makes use of the pointcrawl exploration scenario, bundling it with a few points and paths to show how an emergent sandbox story and exploration that feels like exploration are quite easy to achieve.

More will come as well, but this is the game plan for now. Thanks a ton for all the support. We're incredibly grateful!

- J.D, Luke, and Per