#01 - fantasypunk - release 1.0

Finally, fantasypunk is out and there's a bit to unpack here. Let's go for technicals first:

• I've uploaded the game as PDF and TXT, as well as the license files.
• There is a Google Doc where you can look at what's being written and make comments and suggestions, drop feedback, and so on.
• A few suggestions of supplements and plugins you can use to improve and mod the game to your liking.
• NEW: I’ve just added a Google Sheets character keeper.

I have been working on this game, on and off, for a few weeks and suddenly found out there was a jam going on. That means that I crunched the work a bit to finish by the jam's end and so there's a bit of crudeness to it.

I must admit I have not playtested it yet but I will get to that. SOON!

Let's talk a bit about the game systems and my intent behind some design choices.

Stats

The infamous dragon game 6 stats were the 1st thing I wanted to do away with.

I am big on approaches over quantification of body and mind faculties, and as much as that is a thing to keep in mind for that OSR compatibility, I have been meaning to test how approaches change the feel of the game.

Kind, Fierce, Curious, Confident, Attuned. Those five words represent how I want players to explore a world of fantasy. I'll be honest to admit that often some moves felt like fitting more than one stat. So if you feel like it, change the moves as necessary or pick a different stat for any, I don't care as long as you're happy!

Conditions

Obvious Masks influence here. I didn't want to go conditions=resilience here, but I like to have these as a currency or trade-off for player actions.

I considered conditions blocking a stat completely, but I decided against it after all. It felt clunky, and I wanted conditions to be bearable (for moves such as Meet).

Encumbrance

The slots and containers were based on the Anti-Hammerspace thing I found some weeks ago and I instantly loved the base Idea. 

Equipment is limited and vulnerable, and I don't need to care about weight or tracking numbers. What's not to like?

I don't remember where the idea of making equipment size influence durability and effectiveness, but I thought it was neat for a dice pool system.

Of course, you can get to 5-7 dice really quick, but that only goes to show how carrying the proper quality equipment will help your task. Plus, higher quality means less variety, so when you pick up your gear, keep that in mind.

Harm and HP

I am not big into hit points. I don't find the concept a satisfying abstraction of resilience so I went with a tiered harm system. It was a bit inspired by Fantasy World, but a bit less punishing. 

So HP became Heroic Points. Basically like an inverted Stress, you get a pool of points you spend to manipulate the system in your favour.

Here is the thing though, I have been toying with the idea of making it a collective pool, much like in Masks, to represent how the group pools their strength together. Some of its workings would be tied to the Party Dynamics. 

Moves

I changed the moves around a bit to fit my taste. Most of them were edited to how I felt it was more intuitive, or how I felt they brought the vibe I was looking for. 

A couple of highlights:

Risk

It's your bread and butter "do the thing" move. Someone described it, according to Twitter's translator, as "silly but effective," and I like that.

Meet

Inspired by Wanderhome's Kith creation system, it is designed to give players worldbuilding privileges. Meet someone you wanna meet with the rest of the table and let's all have fun!

Journey

Journeying is inspired by Wanderhome and has a similar premise to Meet.

You are expected to create the locations you go through as you travel. Simple and very open-ended, and it's supposed to be fast too. 

Specialities

I shuffled the moves around a bit, got rid of some and added others. 

The Peasant became the Keeper, and we got a bunch of moves for that speciality. The idea is to have someone be the heart of the party, and that's why its main Approach is Kind.

The others saw some changes, new moves, scratched moves, but in general, remained true to the original design. 

Guide and Moderator

There was little to no change here. I got some plans but that will come later. 

The one essential was adding Dungeons and Direct Actions to it as an essential add on. It is a masterpiece and I love it. 

Character Sheet

While I have not designed a character sheet, I made a simple character keeper on Google Sheets. 

I'll have a printable soon enough, but you can use that for a start!

What's Next?

I'll keep it short:

• playtest and updates;
• add the remaining 3 Elements;
• add the dungeon generator module;
• add a character sheet, printable;
• revise some systems and moves, and update or change them.