For those not aware of the jam, here is the link: https://itch.io/jam/classic-explorer-workshop
I’m calling it Harbingers for now. What you’ll read below is the overarching plan of the game. Some of the mechanics and systems are already drafted and I’ll post them later.
I would appreciate y’all poking questions at the whole thing, offering advice and suggestions, and in general talking about what you would like in a game like this.
premise
Grand Heroes save the world and now no one can die.
People are Undying but their souls Rot over time, until they are Unliving, mindless and obsessed.
A Gardener has preserved Seeds from the Tree of Life.
You are Harbingers, tasked by the Gardener to carry the remaining seeds to the place where the Tree of Life rotted, purge its dead Roots, and Sow the Seeds of Life, allowing all Unliving and Undying to finally pass on.
The world will perish and from its ashes new life may grow.
create character
Choose a Title
Your title represents your “class”. You pick all benefits associated.
Examples/tone
- deceiver
- heretic
- thief
- charlatan
- fool
- betrayer
- murderer
Each allows the following categories of benefits (tbd)
- delving
- journeying
- surviving
- solo skill
- team skill
- bargaining
Starting Qualities
All start at 10.
Testing a Quality: roll 1d6. Spend as many d6 from your personal pool as you want.
#todo
- [ ] pool: hope, it’s finite but can be replenished
- [ ] pool: start at 1d6 per rank
Rank
Starting Rank is 1.
Every pick from the options below has a rank requirement. You can pick and keep as many things as you want as long as their total requirement is equal or below your Rank.
#todo
- [ ] how do you increase rank?
- [ ] encounters equal a sum of everyone’s ranks? Average? Highest?
- [ ] is rank individual or for the whole group?
Choose a Memento
A memento represents another aspect of your past and let’s you choose a single benefit from a second class.
The first one is free.
Equipment & Magic
List of items you can pick with a Rank requirement.
create haven
A settlement with a Bonfire and a few key individuals.
Procedure for its creation. Draw a map or write a description.
Some NPCs come here after you find them.
Journey
When you set out, start drawing a map. Roll on the hew map for next location.
Describe it according to procedure.
When you roll doubles, there is a complication there.
Resolve the encounter, draw the map and move on.
Delving
When you enter locations 14 and 16, you enter a Delve.
Choose a Theme and a Domain. Describe what the first impression of the Delve is and name it.
Roll 2d6 on the Ladder table to define the next site. Use dice of different colours, one lighter and one darker. Keep the lowest result.
The lighter die moves you towards the top of the table, the darker die moves you towards the bottom.
If you roll past the top, return to the Bonfire. Decide if it’s the same from before or a new one. If you roll past the bottom, return to the Guardian of the Delve.
Doubles spell trouble. Remain where you are and resolve it.
Once you deal with the Guardian of the Delve, keep going until you roll past the top or the bottom.
Botrom: Connect the exit of the Delve to the next hex on the Journey.
Top: move straight to Hex 19 and start a Heroic Delve.
surviving
Blackjack style dice minigame.
Roll higher than the opponent t without rolling over 12.
Hitting, standing, and other default blackjack moves reskinned to fit the theme, plus a few moves added.
dying
When a solo character dies or the whole group dies, return to a previous bonfire.
- [ ] what happens when characters backtrack?
- [ ] what do they lose when they die?
- [ ] what and how will they regain it?
Heroic Delve
In most aspects, identical to the regular delve, with these differences:
- Hero: a unique boss
- increase the Harbingers rank at the end
- earn Heroic Curse at the end
#todo
- [ ] determine further differences and similarities
King of Heroes
The final Hero.
Procedures to create the King of Heroes.
Defeat the King of Heroes and delve into the Rotten Tree.
#todo
- [ ] detail the conclusion