I strongly prefer version 3 over 4 and will continue to play that. I like the shadow events and combat rewards, but... Fatigue and camping bog down the game big time. I would suggest a mandatory camping event once per quest to overcome general fatigue. Rolling for Journey length seems unnecessary. The folk/races lost some individuality by getting only a single bonus, with Halflings being obviously superior. The companions got a little confusing.. The game is now much harder but starting Spirit and bonuses are greatly reduced so it feels unbalanced. My first game I immediately lost my event, then got "killed" at the location, then got killed again at my next event. The dice mitigation of previous versions, using Spirit and Fate, seem gone. I thought those were clever. The game was a not so difficult almost relaxing journey before, with a good level of simplicity. The only real anxiety came from fear of drawing a shadow card. I've been enjoying this game a lot since you first posted it. Thank you.
Thank you for the strong feedback!
I agree with you on multiple points. The new systems do feel un-baked, and not up to what I want them to be, and each will be changed or removed by the end of development. The nerfing of starting stats can be seen as a lot, so I will be revisiting this in the next version. I'm also not happy with the potential to lose, like you did in your example, from the gate. The intention was not to create events like that.
Fate and the old Spirit will be returning. I am currently revamping Fate to be recoverable by completing difficult tasks successfully. Spirit will be changing to a resource pool stat, and not used for tests. I'm playing with the idea of combining Fight and Reflex into Combat Skill, and removing Magic in place of natural abilities for the folk type you are. This would remove stat tracking and give more freedom of character storytelling for players through the use of unique abilities developed over gameplay.
Journey length is undergoing some changes right now, and all the rules concerning journeys need a couple more passes. My goal was to design a system that felt fun to 'take some time off' but honestly turned into more table reading and unnecessary page flipping.
I've got lots more coming, including the clarification on rules systems that are very much needed in a few places.
- Cody