So... why hasn't this game been updated? Is it dead? Has it been abandoned?

Good question, imaginary reader! 

I've been heavily playtesting the game with my group, which has shown me that my initial idea has a lot more potential than I realised. So, I have been working hard on a massive overhaul of the game. New layout, new sections, new mechanics, creatures, artefacts, art, etc. All of which has been informed by the playtesting. If you just want an list of the changes and additions to come, scroll to the bottom.

Check out the current version!

My original plan was to release the game for the jam with all the writing done and the art will follow after an update or two. After thoroughly playtesting the game, I realised I need to do more work on it.  But all the work I'm now putting into it has changed it's purpose somewhat. It can no longer be a game jam adventure I release for free and that's it. Its grown beyond that. So in the near future I will release a new version of the game, which will be used for Itchfunding to get the final touches (mostly art) in place. For now though, let's talk about how playtesting has made some of the biggest changes.

The Power of Playtesting

New character art by Niall

Right from the get go I needed something that wasn't in the adventure, a start. So I decided to take a small paragraph from the original, about a merchant caravan, and expand it into its own fleshed out section. Having a built in way to start the adventure helped my players ease into the game, as they were able to get familiar with the world during the journey to the town. Any questions they had could be answered by the merchants travelling with them. This also led me to flesh out the people and factions who would be involved in this biannual trek to the isolated town. We have; the Outland Company, an influential merchant's guild, the Order of the Missing King, an chivalric order from a fallen kingdom, the nomadic Theosian merchants, the Veiled Missionaries, an esoteric religious group, and the Hirberg University scholars. Each has their own goals and opportunities for the PCs. In order to emphasise the tensions between the townsfolk and outsiders, I have created a new mechanic to be used whilst in town:

TRUST

"Having only recently allowed trade with the neighbouring counties, the townsfolk are rather distrustful of outsiders."

As the PCs, as well as the other outsiders, interact with the town and its people, they will be judged. Causing a nuisance or committing crimes will lower the townsfolk's trust in them. Doing good deeds and helping people will increase their trust. Trust is capped for outsiders as a whole, but not for individuals. While the party's actions might increase overall trust, after a certain point, higher trust only affects them. This means that individuals might be trusted more than the collective. This will change how the townsfolk behaves and react, potentially opening up new opportunities or creating more obstacles.  

THE FOREST

The forest has seen some big changes. A few things needed to be restructured and updated to play better at the table. For example, the density of the forest is no longer based on individual locations. Density has been merged with the forest layers, so the deeper you go the thicker it gets. Simple. This change was made because it was annoying to roll a location and look up 2 other sections to know exactly what the location was comprised of.

One of my favourite additions to the forest section is inspired by Dolmenwood. These are tables for fishing, foraging, and hunting. These tables, beside providing players with unique and interesting food to gather, add much needed flavour to each layer by populating them with animals and plants the GM can sprinkle into their descriptions of the locations.

Lastly, the final location has been fully fleshed out as its own mini-dungeon/boss battle of sorts. This is the deepest part of the forest, the centre of its magic, and the climax of the adventure, thus it should have more than just a row on a table.

Example of layout update.

DUNGEONS

The dungeon was the area I was surprised by the most, because it worked almost exactly as I intended. As such, there is little change made to the dungeon section. There were a number of rooms that needed updating when my players found new and more interesting solutions, but the whole was lacking a very important feature. An encounter table. During play, the built in encounters weren't enough to make the place feel dynamic. Before, the dungeon felt like a museum, now it feels like Night at the Museum.

Lastly, and a blunder on my part, I didn't account for the players attempting to use the Dreamstride Network in their first dungeon. If the network hasn't been connected to another hub to go to, what happens? So I've added a paragraph describing the sensations of travelling through this network and perceiving other locations only to be spat back out.

To wrap up this already long post here is a general list of the major updates coming to the adventure: 

• Huge layout overall
• Lots and lots of art
• More adventure hooks
• New caravan section
• Trust system
• More town events
• Unique town dungeon
• Expanded forest composition section
• Fishing, foraging, and hunting
• Updated forest locations
• Major forest location art
• Final forest location mini-dungeon
• More forest details
• Updated forest treasure section
• More Dreamstride visions
• Updated dungeon room entries
• Dungeon encounter table
• More magical items
• More creatures
• New index section

Thanks for reading and supporting the game!

I look forward to sharing the new update with you all soon.