Alpha v0.1 release

I sorely wanted to take part in Clay's Classic Explorer Workshop jam, and didn't realistically have the time complete much by the deadline, so settled on a "minimum viable product" to squeeze in a submission now and to be polished + expanded on later. It has the barest barebones of character creation and rules, pulling stuff from the amazing work that's inspired me recently, like SDM: Eternal Return Key (free version) and Mörk Borg (also free version). The barest layout too, since i only used starter layout template (free, too).

Rules-wise, it's just another 6-stat roll-over game in the vein of the above games and Knave. I just mashed together stuff i liked so i can play all the amazing adventures and modules i see floating around. I'm convinced that nothing i've written is new. But i'm just sharing it anyway, just in case someone else out there likes it.

On the Look / Aesthetic

While most other "classic" fantasy i see in the DIY space is very Tolkien/D&D-esque, the fantasy gaming i grew up with was distinctly video gamey -- all the fantasy books i'd read up til then were filtered through my gaming lens. Nodeka was my first love, a MUD with its minimal yet evocative maps drawn out in coloured ASCII. Ragnarok Online came next with its anime/chibi and isometric-ish look (aesthetics i love to this day). And while i enjoyed a number of Final Fantasy games, the first i played was FFX, so i really want there to be some sports references in the game eventually. 

As much as i loved the first cover i made, the reality of not being able to (quickly) find more images with similar aesthetics for the interior was a mental hindrance to working on it. I would eventually like to pay an illustrator for art, but AI art will have to do for now, since (1) i don't have the time to trawl the interwebs for images with matching style, (2) i don't have the skill to make disparate style mesh together well, (3) the game is free/PWYW, and (4 and most importantly) i don't have the money. 

Anyway, here is a reimagined cover. I liked that it had some chinese on the cover, so i kept that. It might change again in the future, i'm not sure, but i like it now. I hope it still looks cool to some of you!