Hey!
This one will be quick since I need to catch a train in an hour, so let’s jump into it!
The Electrum Archive
I’ve continued work on TEA 02 this month. Most of this time was spent setting up the BackerKit and finishing up the beta rules. I published the beta rules last week and the response has been great so far! If you want to get your hands on it but missed the Kickstarter, the pre-order store is now open!
In a burst of sudden inspiration I’ve begun writing some bits for the third issue which will cover the Sunless Princedoms (Orn’s Underdark equivalent). Something I’m really excited about! I want to start sharing some of these bits on my Patreon over the coming months, so go check that out if you’re interested!
I’ve also play tested the first dungeon of issue 02 again, The Grafter’s Tomb, and I’m really excited to see how it is shaping up!
TEA has also been nominated for a CRIT award for “Best Multiplayer TTRPG of the Year”! If you like the game and would like to help it win this award, you can vote here!
Shrine Warden
I find that when I’m working on a creative project for a long time, I need to do something completely different to regain some fresh creative energy. So halfway through this month, I decided to join a nine-day game jam to scratch my video game developer itch again. Something I have been neglecting since I started writing tabletop RPGs. I have been tinkering with the Godot engine for a few months now as a fun side distraction, so this was a excuse way to create something a little more cohesive.
That something became Shrine Warden, a simple roguelike inspired by games such as Hades, Hyperlight Drifter and The Binding of Isaac, where the main gameplay consists of dodging enemies and killing them by throwing a chakram which returns to you after a button press. This chakram can then be upgraded at a shrine in each level, granting it additional effect such as freezing enemies or just increasing its size or speed.
This simple gameplay loop proved to be enough to get people hooked, and I’ve heard of players spending roughly 2 hours playing it, which blew me away since most game jam games are 5 to 10 minute experiences with little replay value.
The game is still very rough around the edges and does not have nearly enough enemy and room variety to make it a full game, but it made me excited to keep working on it. So over the last week I’ve been cleaning up my rushed code and preparing the project for some longer term support. Besides some quality of life features such as game pad support and a mini map, I really want to add some new powers and different enemies to spice up each run, and have been toying with the idea of adding a boss fight at the end as the grand finale to a run.
We’ll see how much time I have to tinker with it over the next year, but it is definitely something I would love to push a little further :)
If you want to try it for yourself, can play the jam version here!
Odds and Ends
Warren of Prismatic Wasteland wrote a great post about how the OSR is dead and called me a poser. Good stuff.
I received Reach of the Roach God in my mailbox last week. I’ve long been a fan of Zedeck’s writing, and this one has been my most anticipated book of the last year so I’m incredibly excited to dig in!
Marcia B. of Traverse Fantasy wrote an interesting post about how modern games’ approach to the tiers of play differs from classic D&D. She used an old early sketch I made for the Errant referee screen as an illustration which displays the four turn types in Errant: Travel, Exploration, Initiative, and Downtime.
I’ve been working on this illustration for a good while now (it has changed a lot since this initial sketch), and I’m super excited to show it to you all once it is finished!
That’s all for now, thanks for reading!
Have a good day wherever and whenever you are, and stay safe :)