And now I rest as my pen runs dry. Er, computer pixels, uh, dim? I have finished a month long sprint of writing, playtesting, and re-writing. 23 mechanics were ultimately tested and about half of them were failures. Start watching here: Honorbound Emergency Playtest 2 – COMBAT!!!
At the end of the day the failures were more rewarding than the successes. It let me know that the original design was working. It also led me down some interesting alternate rules for different types of gameplay. I cannot stress how much I have cherished this time to improve Honorbound. Without further ado, here’s some highlights:
- The Bonds system is completely overhauled. There are seven unique types that give different benefits. A character is limited to six at a time and they include guild (the GM answers a question), rival (explain how your rival complicated the current scene, gain 1 Unity Point), and romantic (just by invoking them you heal).
- Untold Stories now have some guidelines based on characters from Three Musketeers.
- A dynamic swashbuckling mode that focuses on wits and sharp quips before cold steel is drawn. Perfect for duels and small skirmishes.
- The campaign mode finally makes sense to me AND is easy to use. The core rulebook will include three offerings of Disaster/Apocalypse, Corruption/Rebellion, and Nemesis.
The next steps are to wait 3 more days to receive the last of the art assets, send it to layout, and then off to Will to size it for DrivethroughRPG. All of these updates allow me to finally get some sleep…meh, who am I kidding?
No Sleep Til GameHole 2025
I am happy to report that every slot I am running at Wisconsin’s premier gaming convention has enough players to fire! I’ll be taking Goblyn Market and Honorbound out for a spin. I am both excited and terrified. I am suspicious of any GM who says they aren’t…
The next two weeks are going to be spent snagging some miniatures and brushing off the one-shots!
Dee Sanctioned Adventure
A small while back I entered an adventure writing contest for the Dee Sanction system judged by the games creator, Paul Baldowski. I was one of six winning entries! Check out the announcement: Post by @jwmuk.bsky.social — Bluesky I will run it for the public on the Raspy Raven discord channel in November. However, I will have it for sale on Drivethrough as soon as I get a little more feedback to see if I should do any updates!
Only A Fool is based on the true story that Copernicus’s body was not found in his grave. Find out why he took precautions and who is attempting to dig it up in 1580? Take the forced pilgrimage to his last known resting place in Frombork Poland, bring your heretical theories, and stay for the grand planetary alignment that actually happened!
Too Soon to Share Gig
This month I will busy writing up an outline for a OSR adventure to review by November 1st. If accepted, it will keep me busy into February. We have already agreed in principle, but I want to make sure both parties are meeting and managing expectations of the job. Some of you may or may not know I ran D&D games for the better part of 90s and 00s so it feels a little like coming home.
I’d love to see some of my former creations get updated and see the light of day. There is no world like your first. Aldenia calls to me.