Quick update! 

A lot of to-dos that have been sitting on the list for many months are getting knocked out. Started a new job so that has made things more difficult to work on. I'm just doing a little bit every week and trying to make progress towards establishing a solid beta. Once that beta is done, I will need to re-print everything out again and run some playtests to see how it all works again.  Very happy with the progress I'm making so far and looking forward to giving more details when the update is finished.

2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

I just realized that today marks 2 years since I created the first playable copy of what has now become Spellswords! Even though the development and ideas were coming together in primitive forms back in 2021, it wasn't until 2024 that I managed to piece together a fully playable version. 

To celebrate the occassion, I wanted to take a look back at some key dates to see how far the game has come. 

• May 23, 2024
  • First playable copy of ‘The Terror of Drakthyr’ was created. This version had a 120+ page event book to flip through that was very similar to Barbarian Prince.
• July 7, 2024 
  • The game was overhauled to be more like the version it is today (without the event book) and renamed to ‘The Terror of Drakar’
• March 16, 2025 
  • The first public playtest of the game was released under the game’s now current title of ‘Spellswords’ (this version was on Google Drive for a long time, but the download stats were never visible)
• April 12, 2025 
  • Completely redesigned the world map
• September 2, 2025
  • The Spellswords itch.io page was created, published, and a completely overhauled version of the game was released for the public to playtest
• September 11, 2025 
  • Reached 200 downloads on itch.io
• October 27, 2025 
  • Reached 400 downloads on itch.io
• January 8, 2026 
  • Reached 500 downloads on itch.io and Introduced a massive graphic redesign of the cards to bring it closer to a professional standard
• February 5, 2026
  • Overhauled the look of the Dwellings book
• February 16, 2026 
  • The playtest documents were removed as maintaining them took away from development time. 
• March 8, 2026
  • Overhauled the look of the character sheet
• March 11, 2026
  • Overhauled the look of the dungeon maps sheet
• May 14, 2026
• Overhauled the look of the Cities & Villages sheet
• May 15, 2026
  • Overhauled the look of the spellbook covers
• May 20, 2026 
  • Reached 70 followers on itch.io

The Future of Spellswords

Of course, there was a whole lot more things that happened in those 2 years, but these are just a few things that came to my mind as I looked back. And, as the game has come so far, in the next update I will be taking the game out of its 'Alpha' phase and into its 'Beta' phase where I will be focussing my efforts more and more on playtesting and getting the balance and fun feeling as good as it can. 

As we're approaching this new phase in game development, the future of the game is looking very bright and I’m very optimistic about a very late 2026 or sometime-in-2027 release date. My goal is to give the game a max of 1 year in the beta stage, but life sometimes gets in the way and development is sometimes put on the back burner for a bit. 

What Else Needs to Be Done?

• Lots and lots of playtesting. This is the main thing that needs to be done as it dictates what else needs to be done. I’m particularly focussing now on the balance of encounters to see what is too easy or too difficult. 
• Create the Oracle cards
• Write the following sections in the Rulebook: The Game Master, The Oracle, a huge example of play that starts at character creation and ends after finishing up a cave dungeon, and make sure multiplayer rules are clear throughout the rulebook.
• Continuously make formatting adjustments to all components so they look as professional and thematic as possible
• Compile a list of all of the artists I use for the art I’ve purchased and the art I use that’s royalty free (will be a long list for sure)
• Consider redesigning everything in Affinity according to the printing standards of whatever company I choose to use to print the game (considering either DriveThruRPG or the Game Crafter).
• Create a video showcasing the newest version of the game (the first video I made is extremely outdated and no longer appropriately represents the game in its current state)

NEW UPDATE (13)

UPDATE SUMMARY

• This update primarily focusses on clarifying rules in the rulebook (especially as it applies to multiplayer games). 
• The covers of the spellbooks have been redesigned.

DETAILED UPDATE

Rulebook - Game Setup

• The different methods of play have been explained much better. 

Rulebook - Encounters

• Made a big section outlining rules for multiplayer such as: how to form and split a party, how to handle encounters, and how to take a turn in a party with multiple players.

Rulebook - Skill Tests & Followers

• Parties with multiple players has been addressed

Rulebook - Magic

• Enchantment types as they apply to weapons vs clothing has been explicitly defined under the Enchantments section. 
• The Poison potion has been changed to an Antidote potion for curing the poison trait T
• he way potions function has been changed to be more explicit. Examples are also provided to help guide players on how they can use potions.

Rulebook - Combat

• Rules for Player vs Player combat have been added
• The way resting works with parties that have multiple player characters has been clarified

Rulebook - Travel

• Slightly expanded the section titled Interacting with Dwellings
• A small section mentioning dead ends in dungeons has been added The section on Dungeon Rooms has been formatted and explained better 
•  Updated the mount section so it’s up to date with the way mounts on the travel cards are phrased 
• The way traps and disarming them works has been expanded and clarified better. 
• The way movement works with parties that have multiple player characters has been clarified

Spellbooks

• Redesigned the front covers of all of the spellbooks to be more in line with the front covers of the other books (see example of the arcane spellbook below). I have a feeling I may return to redesigning these, but I think my vision for the spellbooks is going in the right direction.

Old Spellbook Design

New Spellbook Design

Thanks! It's coming along well! 

NEW UPDATE (12)

UPDATE SUMMARY

• This update primarily focuses on revising the Dwellings Book for clarity, balance, and consistency with the most current rules
• The Cities & Villages sheet has finally received a total visual overhaul. A lot of the text has also been revised. 
• Now that the rules for solo play have been fully established, the way that multiplayer functions has been more explicitly mentioned in some sections of the rule book.This is something that needs to be expanded on more, but I’ve made notes where I need to clarify about multiplayer, so hopefully I can do it in the next update.

DETAILED UPDATE

Dwellings Book

• Made a long list of minor (and a few major) changes to this book for formatting, balance, consistency, clarity, and to be more thematic.

Cities & Villages Sheet

• Completely overhauled the graphic design of the sheet (see the before and after pics below). Some text alignment still needs to be done, but I'll get to that in the next update since the software I'm using doesn't allow text indentation.
• Some typos have been corrected.
• Reworded some sections for conciseness and clarity.
• The 'Rumors' section has been moved to the Advanced Rulebook for GMs to use if they want. This made it also possible to increase the fonts on the pages (i.e.: readability of the sheet), as well as made space for some decorative images. 
• The description of the greataxe has been changed so it's more clear
• Combat strength of the peasant has been changed from d8 to d6

OLD VERSION

NEW VERSION

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Sharing some random thoughts I've been getting as I think about developing the game. 

Challenge Encounters

I recently got the idea to make a new encounter deck that will count as 'Challenge Encounters'. This will be encounters for the sky during travel by air and for encounters in the ashlands (AKA the lands surrounding the volcano of Malfeasance). Since I already have the sky enconters written up, and the ashlands encounters I have some ideas about, I would just need to spend some time designing the card template. The only thing I would be concerned about is that having only 2 types of encounters on a single card will leave a lot of empty space... I might have to consider what else could go on the card. Originally I considered water encounters but the map doesn't have water and I don't think I want to add that to it... I also want to keep the number of card decks down to an absolute bare minimum to respect table space, so it could also be possible I keep the sky encounters in the advanced rulebook for those that want to use them.... 

NEWS UPDATE

Since it's been a while since my last update post, I wanted to jump in to state where things are at right now with the development of the game. In the time since the last update, I've gone through several life altering events that I've had to mainly devote my time toward. Recently, however, I've found things to settle down in some ways and I've been able to work on the game again bit by bit. So, I can't guarantee when the next update post will be, but I can guarantee that I'm still working on things when I can find the time. 

To give some insight as to what I've been working on at the moment, I've made a list of things that I've been focussing on. 

• Cities & Villages Sheet: Making several small revisions to the diferent services offered and working on a first draft of the graphic re-design
• Travel Cards: Establishing a visual way to differentiate Legendary encounters from normal encounters 
• Dwellings Book: Revising the entire book for clarity, rule consistency, and balance
• Spell Name Changes: Tons of spells need new names to be more thematic, useful, and true to the sphere of magic they come from. Most importantly, however, I want spells to be fun and inspire people to use them in creative ways. 
• Rulebook: The rulebook needs a ton of additions for clarity 
• Character Cards: These cards need some minor formatting changes
• Spellbooks: Design the front covers to look more consistent with the designs of the other books (Rulebook, Advanced Rulebook, etc.)

Hi Smit!

Thank you for your interest in playing Spellswords! I took the download down for now as maintaining the files was taking away from development time. The next time the game will be able to be downloaded will almost certainlty only be when it is 100% finished. 

If you're curious about anything else related to the game, please feel free to check out the FAQ and Update Notes. If you're still wondering something that the forums don't seem to answer, then please feel free to ask me here and I'll try to get back to you when I have the time. 

NEW UPDATE (11)

Continuing off of the last update, this update brings in a visual overhaul of the Dungeon Maps sheet. I am hoping to dive into the covers of the spellbooks and the Cities and Villages sheet next. Once those are done, everything will have received a visual first draft of what they should look like in the final version. 

This new version is quite different from the previous versions as, for one, the individual maps have been greatly expanded to accomodate larger dungeons and larger drawings. This should also leave plenty of space for any notes about lingering traps or wandering monsters. This new version has currently space for the drawings, the name of the dungeon, the total number of rooms in the dungeon, and a tracker for how many rooms in the dungeon have been delved. What it's still missing is a space for the hex location of the dungeon and the type of dungeon (cave, temple, or fortress). I'm not quite yet sure how I'm going to add on these extra details, but I'm hoping to playtest with this version and get some ideas as I go. Below you can see the older version. While functional, it's definitely not all that interesting to look at. 

NEW UPDATE (10)

After redesigning the character sheet so many times, I've finally had the chance to dedicate time to drafting a version that looks more like what I want the final version to end up looking like (itch.io image quality kinda sucks so it appears a bit blurry). This is a rough draft that will need a lot of fine tuning, spacing, and formatting changes, but I'm happy to finally get the game to a stage where I feel comfortable designing a more artistic version of the character sheet.

As I've been slowly redesigning a lot of the game components (world map, character sheet, dwellings book, the rulebook, etc.), I can really feel the game coming together into a more finished state. I still have a lot more playtest sessions I will need to get in to fine tune everything, but I'm happy to see that the game is very much headed in the right direction. 

Early Versions

The character sheet has been something I've always looked back to to see how far the game has come, so I wanted to share a few of the older versions as well. Again, itch.io image quality sucks so they're kind of blurry and hard to read, but you can at least get a feel for all the changes that have been made since the first prototype. One version I believe had 20 different skills; much different from the current 5 skill system. 

NEW UPDATE (9)

UPDATE SUMMARY

This update focusses on going through many of the cards and updating them for formatting, readability, consistency with the rules, balance, and just making them more interesting all around. 

DETAILED UPDATE

Dungeon Deck

• Went through all of the cards and made adjustments to many of them for balance, readability, and consistency
• The Poison ability has been made the same as the newly worded version in the Travel cards
• Searching chambers has now been changed so you have a chance to find a treasure
• All of the dungeon names have been renamed to be more thematic and in-line with the lore of the world.

Character Deck

• Went through all of the cards and made adjustments to many of them for balance, readability, and consistency
• Quests have been redesigned to be more interesting and varied.
• Quest rewards have all around been greatly improved to further motivate players to complete them. Rewards have also been varied to be more interesting than just receiving a random treasure or some gold. 
• Quests now consider the quest giver’s alignment when it would make sense
• Many reactions and quests have been renamed to be more thematic
• Dungeons stemming from reactions and quests are now primarily based on the terrain in which the dungeon is. 

Loot Deck

• Went through all of the cards and made adjustments to many of them for balance, readability, formatting, and consistency
• Replaced the Drake Slayer shards with a Magic Greataxe since the Drake Slayer has been changed to function primarily through the Kraythen Keep dwelling 
• Certain enchantments have been scaled to the power die of the item. The better the power die, the more powerful the enchantment is.
• The power die of the Magic Longsword has been changed from a d10 to a d8 to be in line with the power die of a normal longsword

Dungeon Maps Sheet

• For each dungeon map, there are now small circles labelled 1-20 to cross out so you can easily keep track of how many rooms you’ve delved in that dungeon. It was pretty annoying before where you would have to write the room’s number next to each room. 
• The maps have been aligned better

Dwellings Book

• Changed Fortress room count from 3d6 to 2d6

Map

• Changed Fortress room count from 3d6 to 2d6

NEW UPDATE (8)

UPDATE SUMMARY

The travel deck has been heavily updated and the rulebook has had several additions made for rules that were missing. 

DETAILED UPDATE

Rulebook

• General
  • Made many wording adjustments all over the rulebook so the rules are a lot more clear
• Game Setup
  • The ‘Drive’, ‘Sandbox’, and ‘Module’ game modes have been removed (drive was changed in how it functions, sandbox was too similar to a different game mode, and modules are essentially the dwellings and their quests found in the Dwellings book) 
  • Added the ‘Choose a Village’ section
• Character Creation
  • The ‘Inventory’ sub-section has been added under ‘Equipment’. A method for writing multiples of items has also been introduced.
  • How Drives function has been completely redesigned. They now have a much more mechanical function that rewards players for performing actions that relate to what drives them. 
• Encounters
  • Added the ‘Following Your Alignment’ subsection under ‘Alignments’
  • Added the ‘Deterioration’ subsection under ‘Power Dice’ 
  • Added the ‘Quests’ subsection under ‘Reactions. Players can now only take on 1 side-quest at a time. It was a little chaotic before when you could have tons of different side quests active at the same time. 
• Travel Dwellings & Dungeon
  • Movement rate has been clarified that the party’s movement rate is equal to the slowest member’s movement rate
  • Flight has been clarified better and the mechanics fleshed out a bit 
  • Taming mounts has been better explained and slightly changed

Actions Reference Sheet

• Reworded the actions to be more clear and easier to read
• Added the ‘Tame’ action for taming animals

Dwellings Book

• General
  • A note about ‘General Services’ has been added to all cities other than Zornagash to refer players to the Cities and Villages sheet
• Kraythen Keep
  • Adjusted some wordings for clarity
• Malfeasance
  • If the player slays Drakar, they can use the Drake Slayer to absorb his soul and transform the sword into an extremely powerful weapon.
  • Drakar’s HP has been increased by 1 (now stands at 9HP)

Travel Deck

• Formatting adjustments
• Adjusted the wordings of many cards for consistency, clarity, and readability
• Flavor text has been shifted to the end of encounter descriptions so the most important information is at the top
• Patrolman: Gave him a horse
• The Arch-Bishop encounter has been reworded so that it now fits in its description box
• Some encounters have been renamed so they fit better in their title boxes
• The XP in the wishing fountain has been adjusted to fit the current XP system
• Redesigned the poison ability slightly and made it the same across all encounters that use it
• Added the ‘Mount’ and ‘Flying Mount’ keywords to many encounters to make it clear what can be used as a mount
• The beggar has been greatly expanded. He’s not just flavor text anymore.
• Halflings now have the special ability to spot traps in caves
• The bard can now play an inspiring song to grant the player +1 for 1 test/turn
• The way the loyalty trait functions has been changed. Now a follower can subtract from their loyalty when they take damage. 
• The plague effect has been expanded in that all followers abandon you and you can’t gain new followers until cured.
• The rickety bridge has been updated so it’s not an insta-kill. You instead take double damage and fall into a cave if you fail a test against it. 
• The Fey Chest encounter has been fixed to show the reward for opening it
• You must now perform a Cold test after the Strong Winds encounter
• The Foreign Merchant has been updated so he also sells an artifact and will stay for 7 turns instead of just 1 to give other players the chance to purchase something if they want to. 
• The wishing fountain disappears after granting a wish
• Bandits alignment changed from evil to neutral

NEW UPDATE (7)

UPDATE SUMMARY

This update focuses on adjustments to the Cities and Villages Sheet and Dwellings book, as well as adding some new sections to the Advanced Rulebook. 

DETAILED UPDATE

Cities and Villages Sheet

• General
  • Slight formatting adjustments
• Jail
  • Removed the ‘Bounty Board’ (it functions too similarly to quests)
  • Adjusted wording of rolling on a table to drawing a card
  • Completely restructured the Jail table to make everything more legible. Also reworded a lot of things so it’s more clear how all the methods of escape function.
• Tavern
  • Replaced ‘Hire Adventure-Seeker’ with ‘Hire Peasant’. This section has also been substantially shortened and simplified. 
  • Added a ‘Rent a Room’ section that allows you to rest and recover lost resolve for 3 gold/party member.
  • Taking on quests has been removed to make them more special when you receive them from random encounters in your travels
• Mystic
  • Monster Part has been renamed to Alchemical Reagent. This section has also been significantly shortened as it previously contained a tutorial on how potion making works (this info is already readily available on the Actions reference sheet)
  • Spell scrolls are now sold depending on the kingdom (Holy sold in Human villages and Kraythen Keep, Chaos sold in Orcish villages, etc.). The mystic also only has 3 different spells available for purchase per turn. 
  • Slightly changed wording of some things
• Merchant
  • Shorted the Tool wordings 
  • ‘Buy’ changed to ‘Sell’
• Temple
  • Slightly adjusted some wordings

Actions Reference Sheet

• Removed all mentions of rolling on tables and replaced them with the appropriate card decks

Dwellings Book

• Added flavor text for the Winterhaven and St. Alexander’s Cathedral dwellings. All dwellings now have flavor text. 
• Added ‘Village’ as a new entry in the Dwellings book 
• Reworded Zyphus
• Kraythen Keep has been reworded so everything is shorter and addresses the possibility of multiple players attempting to get the Drake Slayer
• Made an adjustment to the Ultimate Power section in the Azurite Spire. The Wizard can now destroy a kingdom’s city if all of its villages have been destroyed.
• The villages have now been labelled so it’s clear what villages belong to what kingdom

Character Sheet

• Changed ‘Casts/Day’ to ‘Casts/Turn’ in the follower section

Advanced Rulebook

• Redesigned the layout of the front cover to be more like the regular rulebook
• Fortress: The way enchanting works has been simplified and made much easier.
• The section titled ‘New Realm Mode’ has been renamed to ‘New Realms’ and the rules here have been finished. 
• Added the following new sections
  • Skill Perks
  • Bric-a-Brac
  • Loitering
  • World Events

NEW UPDATE (6)

UPDATE SUMMARY

This update focuses on finally finishing the Dwellings book and clarifying some rules in the rulebook.

• Dwellings Book
  • All of the unfinished sections have finally been finished

• Rule Clarifications
  • Various rules in the rulebook have been better clarified

DETAILED UPDATE

Rulebook

• General
  • Minor typo corrections
• Setup Example
  • Updated the map to reflect the most recent version
• Encounters
  • Significantly expanded the wording of the ‘Animal’ subsection under the ‘Alignments’ section
• Magic
  • A new subsection titled ‘How to Use Potions’ has been added under the ‘Brewing Potions’ section.
  • The concept of Good and Evil enchantments is now explained in the rulebook
• Travel
  • Added the ‘Mounts’ subsection under ‘Movement’
  • Added the ‘Flying’ subsection under ‘Movement’

Dwellings Book

• Front Cover
  • Redesigned the layout of the front cover to be more like the rulebook
• Knave’s Cradle 
  • Finally finished writing the description for this dwelling
• Werewolf Den 
  • Finally finished writing the description for this dwelling
• Kraythen Keep
  • The very first description for this dwelling has finally been added. The way you gain and upgrade the Drake Slayer has also been changed by the addition of this dwelling’s description. 
• Zornagash 
  • The very first description for this dwelling has finally been added. This one should very much be considered a rough draft. I’m still not 100% sure yet how I want the army/war mechanics to work yet. 

Hi there, Reperes. 

As I am now in the fine tuning stages of the game, I think by the end of 2026 would be a realistic goal. This game is very much a passion project and work is done in my spare time, so it makes it difficult to give a more definite date, but I will be sure to post about a release date when it becomes more clear.

As for the pricing, I haven't yet decided as it will depend on a variety of factors. Since my main focus is on making the best game I can, pricing and finances is not really something I've concerned myself with all that much at the moment. Something I will have to consider is how to price the game when it will come with a large map, rulebook, advanced rulebook, and 100 or more cards. 

Feel free to share your blog by the way. If you post anything on your blog about Spellswords, you can also post about it here. 

I'll be here if you have any other questions.

This is a place for anything you want to talk about regarding Spellswords.

FAQ

Below you can find answers to the most common types of questions regarding the game.

What kind of game is Spellswords?

Spellswords is a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game that can be played alone or with as many players as you can fit at your table. While the rules for the game are comprehensive, they are also intuitive and can be quickly and easily learned. Character creation, for example, has been designed to take less than 5 minutes so players can get in the game as soon as possible. Also, as nearly all game information is recorded on the character sheets, setup and downtime takes very little time. 

What makes Spellswords different? 

Spellswords is a mix between a board game and a tabletop roleplaying game. The structure that a board game provides allows for the game to be easily played without a game master, and the freedom of a tabletop roleplaying game allows for players to engage with the world in a way that feels truly immersive. 

Some board game elements include

• Decks of cards to draw from to quickly and easily generate random quests, encounters, and magical treasures
• A huge hex map of the Sundered Kingdoms that players can use their figures to move on and explore
• An action-based system that provides a procedure for everything
• A built-in turn-based system similar to that of a regular board game

Some roleplay elements include

• Spell effects that are completely up to the interpretation of the caster
• Oracle cards for generating answers to roleplay questions
• A skill-based system that allows players to build the exact kind of character they want 
• An advanced rulebook filled with tons of optional rules that focus more on roleplaying and immersion
• Optional game master rules that allow you to play Spellswords more like a regular TTRPG

How long have you been working on Spellswords?

Extremely primitive iterations started back in 2021 and it wasn’t until late 2024 that I managed to create a version that looks a whole lot like the current one you see today. 

How done is the game?

At the moment, the game is mostly done. The core systems for example, have been tested and adjusted a lot and seem to work well together now. My focus now is primarily fine tuning things to be simplified, intuitive, and, most importantly, fun. 

How can I playtest the game?

The public playtest for Spellswords has been closed. The next version of the game to be released will be the final version of the game. If you’re a content creator and would like to try the game out, I’d be more than happy to provide you with a free digital playtest copy (I can be contacted at the following e-mail: dungeongobbo@gmail.com).

How can I keep up with the development of the game?

Refer to the post titled ‘Update Notes’ on the game’s itch page. There, I will periodically post what I’m up to, upload links to any videos I make about the game, and will be sure to post about the game being finished once it gets to that state. 

When is the expected release date?

I am currently shooting for the end of 2026, but a 2027 release date is not out of the question. The main factor that decides the release date is how much time I have to dedicate to the development of the game. Since this is essentially my hobby, and I therefore often only have time to do it in my spare time, it’s difficult to give an exact date at this time. 

What needs to be done before the game is finished?

As most of the game is finished, playtesting is the main focus. I am constantly playing the game and making adjustments as they come up. 

Will you be doing a Kickstarter for Spellswords?

As this is a passion project and funds for developing the game are very limited, a Kickstarter is a possibility. I will need to revisit this question as the game progresses to a more completed state.

Where will the game be published when it’s finished?

I haven’t yet decided how I want to publish the game. However, one thing is for certain, I want to make sure that both a PDF and physical version of the game is available. At the current moment, DriveThruRPG seems to be an obvious choice. 

How much will the game cost once it’s released?

TBD

NEWS UPDATE

Removal of the Playtest Documents

As I haven't received much feedback in regards to any of the playtest versions, I will be removing the playtest documents for now.

Staying Up to Date

I will continue to use this forum as a sort of developer's journal and will continue working hard toward finally completing this game. If you'd like to keep up to date with where the game is at, here would be the best place to do so. It's also possible that I get back into making some playtest videos, but, if I do, then I will be sure to also post about it here. 

Potential Release Date

My current hope is that I would finally finish the game by the end of 2026, but we will see how that turns out.

NEW UPDATE (5)

UPDATE SUMMARY

This is mainly a clean up update to make sure everything looks and reads better. 

• Rulebook Clean Up
  • A lot of sections needed to be cleaned up for typos and inconsistencies, so a lot of that’s been done. 
• Dwellings Book Overhaul
  • The layout of the Dwellings Book has been completely overhauled and the wording for many of the dwellings has been reformatted and reworded for clarity and consistency.
• Advanced Rulebook Update
  • The Advanced Rulebook was updated according to the most recent version of the game.
• XP Update
  • The way player characters and followers gain XP has been changed to be a whole lot simpler and similar to one another. This also means that the character sheet is a little easier to look at now that those 250 XP circles have been reduced down to just 50.

DETAILED UPDATE

Rulebook

• General
  • I combed through the entire rulebook and made a lot of updates to the wording of many sections for clarity, typos, and keeping the rules consistent with the current version of the game. This was essentially a massive clean up run, so I won’t be listing out each individual change. 
• Glossary 
  • Defined the term ‘Trait’
• Components
  • Updated component explanations to be up to date with the most recent component versions
• Setup Example
  • Many of the components depicted in the example are out of date, so everything has been updated.
• Character Creation
  • Added a bit more to the lore of the Human race (the overall wording still needs to be redone, but most of the content for the lore is there)
  • The rule that characters starting out in a sphere of magic could purchase additional spells other than the 3 they start out with has been removed. 
  • The pre-made characters have been adjusted to account for the above rule change that new characters can only start out with 3 spells.
  • The Witch, a new pre-made character, has been added
• Encounters
  • Reworded the Evil alignment section to help players consider different forms of evil
  • Added a bit more description to the Monster alignment description
• Actions, Skills & Followers
  • The way that player characters and followers gain XP has been overhauled. PCs need 10XP to level up a skill and followers need 6XP to level up a skill. A follower also starts their secondary skill off one die step lower than their primary skill, but they may not level up their secondary skill higher or equal to the same level as their primary skill. The examples have also been updated to reflect these changes.
• Travel, Dwellings & Dungeons
  • Dungeon rooms now have 3 different types: Chambers, Passageways, and Stairs. Chambers can be searched for items, passageways are narrow and you therefore can’t perform the Switch action while in them, and stairs increase the number of rooms in a dungeon.

Character Sheet

• Included a section for ‘Drive Points’ which exist as an optional rule found in the rulebook under the section called ‘Character Creation’
• The skills sections for both the player character and their followers has been changed to reflect the recent XP update.
• Fixed the ‘Casts/Day’ to ‘Casts/Turn’
• Expanded the ‘Notes’ section

Map

• A note has been added to remind players that movement has a -2 penalty when travelling in mountains and swamps
• The room numbers for caves, tombs, and fortresses have been added so player don’t have to consult the Dwellings book as often

Dwellings Book

• Completely overhauled the layout of the Dwellings Book. It should be much easier to read and navigate now.
• Rewrote many of the dwellings’ descriptions for clarity and consistency with the current rules of the game.
• Zyphus, from the Sky Encounters table, has been added under the Winterhaven dwelling.

Advanced Rulebook

• Added the Sky Encounters table as part of the advanced rules (it was previously in the main game, but the encounter tables have since then been transformed into cards and there is currently no space for the sky encounters on the travel cards). It’s possible a new deck of travel cards will be made that will have the sky encounters as well as other special encounters (water?). 
• Some clean up has been done to ensure the advanced rules reflect rule changes made in previous updates
• A new section titled ‘Equipment’ has been added. This used to be part of the base game rules but was removed as an equipment power die doesn’t fit on the Travel and Dungeon cards.

NEW UPDATE (4) + 500 DOWNLOADS!

UPDATE SUMMARY

• CARDS!
  • Say goodbye to the Adventure Book because cards are now in! This update introduces 4 decks of cards so you can very quickly generate random results without having to flip through pages of random tables.

DETAILED UPDATE

Rulebook

• General
  • Since the Adventure Book has been replaced by decks of cards, many sections in the rulebook have been changed to reflect this. Listing all of the changes would make for a huge list, so you’ll have to just see for yourself. 
• Character Creation
  • Reworded the lore descriptions for the following races: Vasilith, Orc, Tsar (Human, Dwarf, and Elf still need to be done). The wording before felt more like disjointed facts as it was mainly written as my notes about the races. The writing for these entries should now be more cohesive and flow better. I’ve also tweaked some aspects of the lore to fit better with my current vision of the story behind the Sundered Kingdoms.
  • The names from the Adventure book have been moved to their respective race sections to make coming up with a name during character creation easier and more accessible. 

Travel Deck

• This update re-introduces the travel deck with a much needed visual overhaul. Many cards have also been updated for balance and clarity.

Loot Deck

• This update re-introduces the loot deck with a much needed visual overhaul. Many cards have also been updated for balance and clarity.

Dungeon Deck

• This update re-introduces the dungeon deck with a much needed visual overhaul. Many cards have also been updated for balance and clarity.

Character Deck

• This update re-introduces the character deck with a much needed visual overhaul. Many cards have also been updated for balance and clarity.

Thanks, Keren! 

NEW UPDATE (3)

UPDATE SUMMARY

• Advanced Spellswords
  • Tons of new optional rules have been added and moved into a separate file called ‘Advanced Spellswords’ (originally they were in the section titled ‘Optional Rules’ in the main rulebook). 
• Action Overhaul
  • A reference sheet has finally been added. The first of the rules to be summarized are the actions a player can perform in their turn. The action system has also been completely overhauled. 

DETAILED UPDATE

Advanced Spellswords

• This is a new component that has been added and contains all optional rules. The section ‘Optional Rules’ from the core rulebook have all been moved to this new component. This file can be found in the ‘Optional Rules’ folder.
• Fortress Building
  • Added rules for other players to be able to participate in player-held tournaments
• Advanced Alchemy 
  • The ‘Shockwave’ potion effect has been changed to ‘Healing’
  • Added a note regarding that each monster part can only be used in a single recipe
• New Sections Added: The following sections have been newly added with the addition of some new illustrations as well
  • Racial Abilities
  • Racial Reactions
  • Animal Activities
  • NPC Activities
  • Mortal Wounds
  • Camp Encounters
  • Pick Pocketing

Rulebook

• General
  • Slight formatting, grammar, and typo fixes
  • Slightly reworded some sections for clarity and correctness
  • All references to the ‘Dwellings Sheet’ have been changed to the ‘Dwellings Book’
  • Actions in the game have been redefined and more explicitly defined to help clear up any confusion as to what types of actions can be performed and what skills to use to conduct such actions. Before it was purposefully somewhat vague and more open to interpretation to encourage players to focus on using their imagination to resolve encounters.
• Glossary
  • Added the following definitions 
    • ‘Party’
  • Reworded several definitions for clarity and correctness
• Actions
  • This section has been overhauled and moved to fit in the Actions, Skills & Followers section (orginally the Skill Tests & Followers section)
• Encounters
  • Added a heart symbol in the ‘Hit Points’ section
  • Slightly reworded the section on ‘Power Dice’
  • Added a new heading under ‘Power Dice’ called ‘Modifiers’
• Skill Tests & Followers
  • Added an ‘Item Bonus’ optional rule under the section ‘Skill Tests With Items’
  • Reworded the section on ‘Follower Skills’ for the sake of clarity
  • Rewrote how skill tests work 
  • Fixed a typo in the example regarding Logar gaining XP in his encounter with a thief
• Combat & Death
  • Reworded the section on ‘Death & Retirement’
  • Reworded the section on ‘Calm & Befriend’
  • Rewrote the section on ‘Combat Actions’
• Oracle
  • Slightly reworded the example in the section ‘Strange Results’
• The Game Master
  • The contents of this section have been temporarily removed. Once the writing is finished, everything will be added back in.
• Optional Rules
  • Removed the Optional Rules section from the rulebook and created a new component called “Advanced Spellswords” where all optional rules will be maintained. All notes regarding changes made to the optional rules are mentioned under the the ‘Advanced Spellswords’ section

Map

• Changed ‘Capitals’ to ‘Cities’
• Changed ‘Towns’ to ‘Villages’
• Added a section called ‘Dungeons’

Actions Reference Sheet

• This is a newly added game component that summarizes the types of actions, how to perform them, what skill to use, and whether they are a primary or free action.

400+ Downloads! 

Whoo! Thanks to everyone who've downloaded the game!

What have I been up to?

Hey guys! It's been a while since my last post as I needed to take some time away from actively developing the game so I could have some time playing it and also just get a break for a bit to get to work on other things going on in life. Well, there's no way I'm giving up on this game in case anyone was wondering. In fact, I would like to share a sneak peek at what I've been up to! 

I'm currently trying to bring the tables from the Adventure Book back to their original card forms (fonts will need some changing for readability... I mean, just look at that 'M' for 'Monster' for the Gaseous Spore), Here's what they used to look like:

What's the plan?

So, yeah, definitely a pretty big upgrade will be coming at some point. I wish I could say when I'd have all the cards done by, but it's hard to say at the moment as I've been quite busy with other responsibilities as of late. At the very least I would like to share my plan for the next update:

• Turn all encounter tables into encounter cards 
• Turn all dungeon related tables into dungeon cards
• Turn the quests, reactions, and some of the character tables into character cards
• Turn the spells, enchantments, curses, goods, treasures, and artifact tables into loot cards

So, in total, there will be four decks of cards. It's possible that an oracle deck will be coming at some point, but that's going to be very low on the list of priorities. I'm also going to create the sky encounter deck separately as (1) there's no way I could fit it with all the other encounters on the encounter cards, and (2) the sky encounters are insanely difficult so I'm thinking they will be more like an optional addition to the game for those seeking an even greater challenge (maybe it will be a part of a 'Challenge Deck' that will have some other terrain like water and the desert). 

Keeping these cards constantly up to date with the latest version of the game will probably be a huge chore that will take away precious game development time, so I can't guarantee that I will update them all that often if at all after creating their first versions. For that reason, the Adventure Book will be staying for those who wish to have the most up to date encounters, loot, etc.. 

NEW UPDATE (2)

Hey guys! I'm back with another update. This one focusses on fixing a lot of minor things while also introducing some new mechanics such as new functionality for the longsword, being able to now dig your own tunnel out of jail, and a huge section on how you can claim and build up your own fortress.  

Rulebook (0.9)

• General
  • Updated the wording of the ‘File Naming’ section
  • The ‘Tent’ and ‘Large Tent’ had different die values in several sections of the rulebook. All of the values have been updated to match those found on the Cities & Villages sheet.
  • Updated the wording on many different sections for clarity, consistency, etc.
  • General typo fixes
  • General formatting fixes
• Game Setup 
  • Slightly updated wording in some sections
• Glossary 
  • Defined ‘Follower Skill’ under ‘Level Up’ 
  • Fixed the formatting of the ‘Optional Rules’ section 
• Character Creation
  • In the ‘Pre-Made Characters’ section, changed the wording of ‘Trained Skills’ to ‘Skills’
• Encounters
  • In the ‘Encounter Roll’ section, changed the wording regarding the section on ‘Travelling’ to better reflect the most current rules for encounter rolls
• Combat & Death
  • Made a note about that you cannot make melee attacks from the back row
  • Updated the ‘Using Items to Rest’ example
• Optional Rules 
  • Adjusted the wording in the ‘Cooking’ section from ‘3 days’ to ‘3 turns’
  • All of the rules regarding building your own fortress has been added in
• Magic
  • Reworded some sections that mentioned ‘daily casts’ to ‘casts per turn’
  • Updated the Spells table to match the one found in the Adventure book. The spheres of magic were also connected to the wrong spells, so that’s been fixed as well
  • Added a note that you do not gain XP from making tests against the Miasma die

Adventure Book (0.9)

• Adjusted the ‘Talking’ enchantment wording of ‘day’ to ‘turn’
• Changed the ‘Tent (d12)’ to ‘Large Tent (d10)’
• Shortened the ‘Binding’ enchantment so that the note regarding the usage of enchantments would fit on the enchantments page again
• Updated the ‘Longsword’ and ‘Magic Longsword’ with the newly introduced ‘Parry’ effect
• Re-alphabitized the chaos spells 

Dungeon Maps (0.8)

• Updated the quality. It was very pixelated before.

Cities & Villages (0.9)

• Adjusted to presentation of the power and cost of items to make it more clear that the cost of items is tied to their power die value
• Slightly adjusted the formatting of the ‘Tavern’ table
• Added a ‘Parry’ effect to the ‘Longsword’
• Slightly reformatted the ‘Jail’ section for readability
• Added an option that characters who are jailed can attempt to dig a tunnel into the sewers to escape

Dwellings Sheet (0.9)

• Goblin Fortress: Added a note that if Grubfang wasn’t encountered in the first two fortresses, then you are forced to encounter him in the last room of the third fortress.

Chaos Spellbook (0.8)

• Changed the ‘Fear’ spell to ‘Cause Fear’
• Changed the ‘Deathspeak’ spell to ‘Speak with Dead’

Arcane Spellbook (0.8)

• Changed the ‘Enchant’ spell to ‘Acid frog’

Character Sheet (0.9)

• Added a section for players to write in which temple their soul is bound to
• Character sheet should also appear in a better quality as the last version 

We just reached 200 downloads! 

Thanks everyone! I'm hoping to get new updates coming in before the end of the month. Stay tuned here for all details regarding those updates.

NEW UPDATE (1)

Here's a brief breakdown of the changes to be found in version 0.8. These changes are not comprehensive but should list most things.

Rulebook

• Typo and formatting changes
• Added in many illustrations (see the note about illustrations on the second page)
• Added an illustrated cover page
• Changed the rules for travelling to be more simple and for you to encounter something every turn
• Added an Optional Rules section (some parts are still work in progress)
• Added a draft of information for The Game Master section (to likely be completed in the next version)
• Updated some old pictures that didn't represent the current version of the game
• Changed 'Casts/Day' to be 'Casts/Turn' to clarify how regaining spells works
• Added a section about the front and back rows in the Combat & Death section
• Added a table regarding Combat Actions
• Added further clarifications as to how actions work
• Added several changes to different sections of the rules for the sake of clarity
• Added a new form of treasure called 'Artifacts'

Dwellings Sheet

• Greatly expanded the content for several dwellings
• Created a first draft of the following dwellings: Werewolf Den, Elden Citadel, and Winterhaven
• Removed 'Zyphus' and put it in the new Sky Encounters table

Character Sheet

• Changed 'Casts/Day' to 'Casts/Turn' in accordance to the change made in the rulebook

Adventure Book

• Changed the name of the 'Book of Tables' to 'Adventure Book'
• Updated a few spell names
• Rebalanced several encounters
• Added a new encounter table: Sky Encounters
• Split the Treasures table into Treasures and Artifacts

Map

• Removed Zyphus from the map (it can now be found i nthe new Sky Encounters table)

Cities & Villages Sheet

• Renamed the 'Castles & Towns' sheet to 'Cities & Villages'
• Updated several things here to match with current rule changes

Here I will post all notes related to updates made to the game

This is very well laid out. I tried it out and met my first enemy: a Bugbear. We engaged in combat and I rolled, hit, and did a little damage, then he rolled and missed, then I rolled, hit, and did a little damage, then he rolled and missed, and so on. He never managed to land a single hit on me, and after doing so many rolls where it felt like I was just slowly whittling down a number, I had to put the game away. 

I'm not sure if it's possible to speed up combat somehow by making monsters stronger but with less health? Alternatively, you could make it so that in every round someone receives damage so there aren't a bunch of combat rounds where nothing happens. Either way, this is a cool little project you've got and I wish you the best in the future development of your game. With a bit of fine tuning, I'm sure it could turn into something pretty awesome.

Hey, thanks a lot for clearing everything up! Yesterday I played it for the first time and took it to a friend's place and we all played together and it was a lot of fun. Very much looking forward to any updates you have in store for this game! 

Hey, thanks for the clarifications. I didn't know that defeated monsters are still technically alive after defeating them (since it's not stated anywhere). The rules made it seem like anything that's been flipped over already counts as a blank territory.

Also if you can 'grind' monsters. Do you have to step out of the card the monster is on then back on to fight them again or can you just stay on the card and fight the monster for as many turns as you want? 

And for the Megabeasts: If you defeat one of them and get the rewards, I'm guessing there's no point to ever trying to fight any of the other ones since the rewards state they can only be collected once per game and not once per game per megabeast. So, if I defeat the Hearts Megabeast and collect the reward, I will get no reward for defeating the Clubs Megabeast, right?

Just wanted to say that I'm really liking this game and am utterly impressed how you managed to fit so much depth into such a simple game. I just have a few points of confusion below. 

If I am playing alone and don't have any bonuses, if I encounter a 7, 8, 9, or 10, do I just auto-lose since it would be impossible for me to roll any of those numbers on a d6? This creates a weird situation in places like the Hard Lands where if you fail the roll, you have to stay there. So, if you encounter a 7 or 8 and you have no bonusses, you essentially auto-lose the game. I was playing with a group and we just house-ruled that you could roll 2 dice when you had no bonuses as it otherwise felt a little silly to lose the entire game on one unlucky encounter.

Another thing that I found weird is that the supplies are defined as "Needed to live, travel, and tend to wounds" but nowhere does it say that you can use supplies to heal injuries. Is the only way to heal an injury by someone using the Holy Rod on you, using the Healing Herbs, or you paying for removing injuries at a town? I found it a bit annoying having to circle back to the town over and over every time I got too many wounds and it made my supplies dwindle quickly so all my treasures would be spent on supplies and the injury healing fee. Is the game designed for you to keep going in this loop of venturing out and returning to town every few turns?