The demo for my latest DECKBUILDING BRAWLER is live! You can grab it on itch now!

Crownbreakers is a fast-paced card game of revolutionary violence. This spiritpunk world is ruled by tyrants that grow fat by stealing souls just to grind them into profit. Fight against necromantic criminals and demonic billionaires. Break the soul trade and free your city. Crownbreakers combines turn-based tactics with deck-building mechanics in one snappy package.

Use your champion's actions and your cards together to control the battlefield. Push enemies into the perfect position for your area of effect abilities or chain explosive barrels together to pulverize the opposition. Master this to make the most of your abilities.

Each turn the battlefield advances, uncovering new obstacles, new enemies but also new rewards: rare cards for your deck, powerful relics to enable new synergies, and stickers to add to your cards. Build your deck and keep pushing forward. Only the strong can make it to the boss.

Add Stickers to create powerful, custom cards. With stickers you can increase a card's damage, add new abilities or even extend a card's area of effect. Limits are for other people. And the right sticker on the right card can make or break a run.

You can check out the trailer here:

I hope you'll enjoy it!

You can just  redownload the game on this page.

Roland (who runs Sphaerenmeister's Spiele) is a class act and is really well stocked. Definitely a great store to support! Happy to have sent you their way :)

I've tried to look for the api key in butler_credsbut there's no %USERPROFILE%\\.config\\itch\\butler_creds folder

I'm trying to set up a build pipeline to push builds to itch but I can't seem to get to log in to butler.... 

I'm on Windows 11, and 

butler.exe login 

opens up an auth window. I can click to authentificate and then when I go back to the command line I get:

authenticating: retrieving wharf status: Server error: HTTP 403 Forbidden for /wharf/status

This happens, whether I run the command in the command line or powershell, whether I'm executing them as administrator or not. I have no clue what's going on. Can anyone help?

The games are not up yet on IPR. You should be able to get copies through SABRE GAMES and VORTAK GAMES already tho.

Hi Dare! Ex Umbra is not yet available in physcial form but a kickstarter is planned. You can find it here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sharkbombs/ex-umbra

As for Ex Novo: It might be available in your FLGS towards the end of the year/beginning of next year if you're in the US. If you're in Europe there are some copies with Spharenmeister's Spiele, If you're in the UK there will be some with Dungeonland and Iglotree.

Alternatively you can also get the game directly from me...

It seems like that the issue still persists?

Good morning! The Goblin Errands digital files are available through the bits and mortar program. Your LGS should be able to join it (if they aren't already) and send you digital copies through that system.

https://bits-and-mortar.com/

I concur!

Fuck yes!

Hey Big! The second edition will be a free update for all existing customers. We're not planning on making it a separate product to require you to repurchase. However, that said - the Crowdfunding campaign still has its late pledges open for a few more weeks, if you would want a physical copy. But even if you don't have the funds now - no worries! There will be other ways to get the game later on.

Lovely game! I'm here after seeing Shamika's talk at AMAZE. Thank you so much for making and sharing it.

Happy to hear it! I do call it a no-prep game because if you're comfortable improvising, it works really, really well for that!

Happy to hear you've been having such a good time! I do agree, that side quests can be distracting, which is why the book recommends one, and then just see if more pop up to distract the players a little.

My experience is that it massively depends on how long you want the session to be. If you want to be through in 2-3h, then no side quest is probably the way to go. If you want to have a grander adventure, 2-3 might be good to give the gobbos something to do besides the main errand.

Also, thank you for the wonderful and kind words! I appreciate them!

Man that sounds great! Happy to hear Goblin Errands was played at PAX East. I was at one PAX a decade ago and it is still a fond memory for me. I am curious though, what is the PTI Library?

Also note that if you got a physical copy through your LGS: If they are a member of bits and mortar (https://www.bits-and-mortar.com/) then you can get the digital edition through them for no extra cost!

Nah it's absolutely fine if you have one copy for the entire classroom! Have fun!

yay. I am not sure what we can do about that. I found out that someone had uploaded the pdf on some website. Got it taken down but wouldn’t be surprised if that‘s where they got it from. 

Does it recreate the text verbatim?

Glad it worked out and I am more than happy to help! I wish you all a lot of fun with the game!

All these extras are also available through Bits and Mortar. There's a Goblin Errands download and a separate Goblin Errands Extras download. Maybe that wasn't the best way to arrange things but it is available through that.

we‘re part of the bits and mortar program. So if your FLGS is a part of that initiative (free of charge), then they can send you a pdf copy through that system. That is generally essiest. 

Thank you for the compliments! I am really happy you're having so much fun even before starting to play! 💚

Ah, so Send is more like a message than anything else. Maybe clarifying that a little might be good so folks don't use it to terrorize hapless guards or something :D

I think for SHIFT you could make it only move objects you could lift yourself.

I appreciate it! It's a lovely submission! And polish is not really needed for Goblins :D

Absolutely happy to! Thank you for contributing! I really appreciate it!

An alien visitor in a goblin colony? That's such a great idea! I absolutely adore it. I also want to shout out "multiple hearts" as a A+ descriptor! Absolutely lovely playbook!

I also think I'd like some clarification on "Send". Like can you inject visions into unwilling participants? Can these be nightmares or are they purely to communicate?

And in "Glow" (love the simple feat names, by the way), I'm not sure what "shift an item from far away" actually means.

Oh, and another thought: If you want to keep working on it and add advanced feats, I think it might be a fun idea to have each advanced move be some weird technological gadget?  Tho that might make the space a little too constrained.

The Goblin Errands game jam has come to a close! It's been a blast, but also a little stressful for me. I stated this on a whim, not knowing if anyone was going to contribute beside me so I'm really happy for everyone's submissions! I just want to take a second here and say thank you for participating and submitting something to the jam!

I plan on reading all the submissions and responding with some feedback in the comments. I also plan to call them out all submissions on the Goblin Errands game page so more people can find them and give them a try.

Also if you have any feedback, on submissions or on the jam itself, please let me know! I hope you had fun but I'm always happy to find out how things could improve.

💚 Martin

I'm happy to hear it and even more happy to have the jam get you to draw some! That's a wonderful outcome!

A great new draft! I like it! I have only one question about the "Official Papers" Feat: What is +2 to a task success? Is the level of success of a risk roll always two levels higher, so you can't fail? Or does it grant you extra dice? I like the idea of changing at least one success into 3 successes. If you succeed with your papers it's at least a profound success, even if you roll only one success.

I am just now noticing the "goggled" eyes and I love it. I think the tweaks are pretty good, here's a few more thoughts and ideas:

This is Interesting: Maybe rephrase this? "When you pick up a letter, note or package; give it a...". This makes it seem less like the feat gives you a letter note or package? Alternatively you could turn it into one of the "ask the TP" moves: "When you shake, sniff or look at a note, or package, you may ask the TP: What's it contain? Gain +1 dice when you act on the insight."

Apart from that it's looking great. I agree that you may have a few too many advanced feats. You got 11, not counting any extra stat Advanced feats. The usual number is 7+2. That said, I think what I'd scratch in order of "scratchworthyness"

1. Wait I've Got That Somewhere Here (because it encroaches on the Rowdy's gadget skills)
2. The Mail Must get Through (because it encroaches on the Rascal's squeeze skill AND Unexpected entry is essentially the same, just funnier.
3. Well Connected: Because it's a Rambler move and adding more new stuff is always cool. People can always mix and match if they want anyway.
4. Delivery Error: Because it overlaps with News in a Flash, but the News seems like it has more potential to be useful and/or funny.

Also you are missing a Starting Feat that helps cement the idea at the moment. I think moving one of the Advanced Feats up might help with that. My candidates for that in order of "startingness" would be:

1. Official Papers because it puts a focus on the "official business" and duty aspects of the messenger. Gives them an air of importance I think that might be fun. In this case the question could be about the form and/or origin of these papers?
2. It’s in the Air!  Goal! because throwing things probably comes in quite handy. (Oh "Air Mail" would be another fun name for the feat!)
3. Better Than Walking because they are all about covering large distances and that gives you access to fun shenangians

Hope that helps!

Looking great! I Love all the illustrations so much!

Really nice! I love the idea of a postman/messnger/delivery boy playbook! A great fit for the game!

Here's some of my favorite points:

• Zoot is a great name for the Messenger! Lovely!
• Oh, I also love the dutiful heart! Definitely creates an image of a specific vibe of goblin!
• I also love unexpected Entry. A great feat, but I think it would be better as an advanced feat though. It also overlaps a little with "The Mail Must Get Through".
• No Matter Where You Are: Also great! Maybe useful to specify it as "a person you know"? Or maybe even better: "A person whose name you know". That has weird mystical implications!
• Speed Sorter is also a great feat!

Here's some additional feedback, which you might want or not:

I Read Your Mail

I don't like the fact that the Messenger opens letters. While it fits the goblin mind I think it's intrusive in a way that might be squicky for some players. I wouldn't bake it into the playbook. Players can still opt for that, if they want.

Here's an alternative suggestion that gets you a similar in-game result: The Messenger is really good at reading cues and understanding people. Tells and mannerisms. Interpreting writing and words. So he gets a lot of information by just holding a letter, looking at the writing of the address, the way it smells. So a little sherlock-holmes-y.

Which is also interesting because it's in some ways a trauma response. If you grow up in a highly unstable environment, many people learn to be very observant in the hope to avoid instability. And since mental health is an undercurrent in the game, that feels like a good fit, for me :)

The Mail Must Get Through

Interesting move! I feel it overlaps a little with the Rascal though. I think unexpected entry might be a better core move. Or instead doing the whole "I Read Your Mail" thing from above as the core feat.

How do you carry your messages?

The feat question is remarkably important to help people come up with a character. I think it should be as open ended as possible and allow for as many different interpretations of the character as possible, without leaving the core idea behind. As such, I think always assuming the goblin has a vest might be too contained.

Here's some suggestions for different questions:

• Why are you so passionate about delivering messages? (one answer could be: Because I'd be bored otherwise)
• Where does your duty as a messenger come from? (I like the idea of "duty" being a thing for this goblin)
• What do you deliver? (Opening it up into a wider delivery boy idea: Parcels, paper route, everything, magical ingredients, food?)

Just What's Needed

I like the idea of delivering something that will turn the recipient into a friend to goblins. However this feels like it can't come up very often because how likely are you to have the perfect thing? Unless you have the feat that gives you that, and then it's trivial. (Also that feat kind of infringes on the Rascal a little, I think).

Advanced Feats

Advanced feats are a really important part of the playbook. All regular playbooks have 7 complex and 2 simple ones. That's a pretty good number to hit. You're a little short of that so maybe by putting Harebrained Schemes back into the Starting Feats you can move one down to fill out the lineup a little.

Also here's some ideas:

• The ability to produce some authentic/official/important looking document
• The ability to lob something precisely on target without damaging it (paper delivery)
• The ability to pilot/operate/ride any kind of vehicle/beast (but it might not come out unscuffed)
• The ability to find a mode of transport anywhere?
• The ability to (once per errand) deliver an important piece of news to someone. Come up with the news, as strange as they may be. Good news? Bad news? Your call. (Might be a replacement for Just what's needed and rewards creativity)

Feat Capitalization

Your feat capitalization is a little inconsistent. "I ready your mail" should probably be "I Read Your Mail" (here's a tool that helps: https://capitalizemytitle.com/)

Possibly! I actually envision the relationship between minion and patron to be a genuine friendship. It's just that the minion is pretty goth and frames everything in sinister ways. Warlocks want to be edgelords after all. For example the Crown of Darkness from the ol' Grandma could just be a nice beanie. 

That said, I don't think this idea comes across that well in the text as is.

If you've caught the office hours you might have seen me work on a goblin class: the Minion!

Inspired by the warlock D&D class this goblin has a close tall-person friend! Their gifts give them strange and eerie powers. Which might be the gifts themselves or just because the goblin is a little goth and looks at the world through a lens darkly.

Here's the current Draft! I'd love to get some insight and feedback on it!

Goblin Errands - Minion

Inspired by the Warlock class

You are eerie and gifted. A powerful being has taken an interest in you, adopting you, becoming your friend. Now their gifts help you twist reality, while your companionship gives them strength in return.

Starting Feats

Master's Secrets

Spend the Focus to introduce a secret fact that is relevant to the story. Explain its consequences and why and how your patron confided this to you.

Mother is Helping / Calling the Cavalry

Spend the Focus to let your patron know about an obstacle or challenge in your way. They will personally intervene to remove the obstacle but their influence or presence adds a truly big complication to your errand.

You can roll normally, and even if you fail, you succeed but with a big complication

Melodramatic

Add +1 to your Mouth stat.

Friendship is Power

Spend the Focus and explain how one of your patron's gifts lets you do one of the following:

• Obscure a fact or object
• Tempt someone

Who is your mysterious friend and patron:

A neurotic dragon, a regular ol' grandma, an overtaxed sorcerer or a bored demon. Pick one and give them a name or come up with your own.

What gift have they given you:

You start each errand with a gift from your Patron: The crown of darkness, tome of secrets, chains of temptation, socks of fate, or mask of hunger. Pick one or come up with your own.

Advanced Feats

Sinister Aura

You start each errand with another gift. Spend the Focus and wear one of your gifts to create an aura that:

• makes people stay away from you
• makes people want to be close to you

Puppet Master

You start each errand with another gift. Spend the Focus or consume one of your gifts to

• briefly bring an inanimate object to life
• manipulate shadows or dim a light source

Beguiling Influence

You start each errand with another gift. Spend the Focus or give away one of your gifts to

• gain insight into the surface thoughts and immediate desires of someone nearby
• make someone briefly ignore the rules and limits imposed on them by others

Grown Alike

When you help another goblin in an action, you can express an aspect of your patron. The acting goblin can upgrade all stumbles without complications but you suffer one of your patron's limitations for a while.

Impish Little Helpers

You can consume a gift to summon a small number of helpers from your patron's domain. They will come and either open up a new pathway or block an existing one.

Phone Home

Once per errand you can call your patron for insight and ask them three questions. The TP will answer and help you understand things a goblin might otherwise not. For each question gain +1 dice on one appropriate risk roll.

Sinister Bargain

When you fulfill someone's immediate desires or give away one of your gifts, they either owe you a favor or become a friend to goblins.

Glib

Add +1 to your Mouth stat

Astute

Add +1 to your Eyes stat

I love it! I really like the introductory text and the method to use two D20 as a D100 alone made me go WOAW :D

I do think calling one table the Focus table when the game has a Focus mechanic is a little confusing. I don't have a better suggestion though. Also you the Descriptor table has the heading DescriptION. And I am a little unclear which combination of tables I should use when. I think expanding on that with some examples might be useful?

Also, if you're interested in making it look a little more like the original book, check out the digital extras and the "GoblinExtras_playbook-instructions" file. It contains colors, font choices and more...

Whatever works for you! Happy to provide feedback, if you want me to!

I haven't really shared much in the channel but maybe I should. So far it's been mostly relegated to the Twitch stream :D

Oh man I LOVE Oracles! I love solo-playable games. I think it make stuff so much more accessible. Generally I love the social aspect of RPGS but I enjoy Ex Novo as a creative tool all by myself. And I think oracles for goblin errands sounds like a SUPERB idea! It's the kind of idea where I go: I should have thought of that! 

I can only encourage you to work on them. Happy to help in any way if I can.

If you missed the streams - I started working on a warlock-inspired player class about the power of friendship :D

I've updated the main page of the Jam with the full information! If you've already read it, here's the salient points:

• The theme is UNLIKELY FRIENDS
• I will hold open office hours on twitch.tv every Tuesday at 7PM German time. Come to watch me work on my entry and ask question about yours, game design and life in general!
• Among all entries (excluding mine, of course) I will raffle off a prize: A free digital copy of the Sharkbomb Studios game of your choice!

Sorry for the slight delay in the update but I was celebrating my birthday and just now got around to catching up with things :D

Let me know if you have any questions! And I hope you have fun!

If you are curious about the potential themes and want to participate, join the Sharkbomb Studios Discord server and vote! But don't worry, even if we end up with a theme that doesn't inspire you, it'll be optional. A goblin isn't bothered too much by Tall People rules anyway :D