Wayfarer
A downloadable game
A long-in-development game inspired by Forged in the Dark and adjacent games, as well as the flavour and worlds of the big d20 fantasy games. Wayfarer's narrative-focused rules can be very easily adapted to support heroic or dark fantasy, but I have specifically written the character creation and setting to be brighter, optimistic, and (I daresay) possibly cosy. Adapt for use in your own quirky fantasy campaign: kaiju care squad, travelling tavern owners, theatre troupe, fixer-uppers, tea monks, etc.
Polished and released a public beta because I was coerced inspired to do so by W.F. Smith of Prismatic Wasteland.
It is unfinished. It does not have layout (at least to the level I like). The rules are probably 80-ish% there, I want to put in how to manage a wagon, more obstacles, and more optional rules. Character creation options are all listed (20 each of Ancestries, Backgrounds, and Callings) but only partly fleshed out -- this is the majority of where I do my worldbuilding, and in as few words as I can.
Comments and encouragements are very welcome.
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A little character creation "rule", which I don't recall where I stole from was inspired by but I've always wanted to see more of, is being able to mix and match categories of your identity. From the current iteration of the game: "Pick 3 cores. A classic character would go ABC: ancestry, background, calling. But you can pick any combination, e.g. ACC, BBA, AAA. "
So... Third-culture kid? AAA is perfect. Can't stop multiclassing? CCC might fit.
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Rules are primarily inspired by the Wildsea, Grimwild, Blades in the Dark, and Fate Core. Cover art by Ombremonde. Words by Benji T.
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Please explain the rule for burning the Trait.
Burning a track is sort of like a higher-order exhaustion.
Imagine how most days you use your phone and it runs out of juice. Charging it overnight means it's back in use -- this is marking a track, it's easily cleared.
Now, if you were some kind of computer whiz, maybe you'd overclock your phone to hack past some high-security defences, but that overheats and damages a part of the phone. That part can't just be fixed with a charge overnight, you have to get it repaired at a specialty shop -- this is burning a track, you need extra effort to clear it.
Hope that's clearer!
I'm sorry, apparently I didn't formulate it correctly, you misunderstood me.. I know what it means to burn a Trait(tag). I would like to ask you if there is any way to burn a tag other a Hard Сonsequence.
This sounds a little like the Legend in the Mist rules that you're talking about, which makes sense as I drew some inspiration from it! Wayfarer has no strict rules (as yet) on when to burn tracks, only suggestions. As a game with lighter rules, I didn't intend to write out explicitly all the ways a track/tag is burned, these should come up narratively.
If you'd like more guidance on burning tracks, Wildsea and PICO are the core inspiration for that rule, you can check them out! I believe they each have free quickstart rules to look at.
Thank you for responding. You're a great game writer.
This combination of systems is fantastic, and I love how you set the world up. It's equal parts cozy, friendly, inviting, realistic, and still full of potential challenges and dangers. I also love the way you sneak such depth into the different ancestries, backgrounds, and callings.
I'm very glad you were inspired to release this before it was done! :D
- ✨Beth