Baldur's Gate 3 will get official modding support:

Community Update #27 Official Modding Support

Hey everyone,

We come bringing news of Patch 7!

Finally, we hear you say - but don’t get ready to throw yourself into our next patch just yet, we’ve got a lot of work to do to bring you our first iteration of modding tools, evil endings, plus a whole bunch of fixes, quality of life improvements, and more that we’ll go into detail about in a future Community Update!

Coming to you this September, the next major update for Baldur’s Gate 3 will also introduce an officially sanctioned toolkit for giving Lae’zel a mullet. I mean, sure, go for it. You only live once.

As we mentioned in our last Community Update, we want you to have the opportunity to test out Patch 7 and the Baldur’s Gate 3 Toolkit so you can share your feedback with us before it goes live!

Patch 7 testing is now being split into a two-phase process, which begins with working closely with a small team of mod authors from the community. This is our closed alpha stage, where they’ll be able to help us further develop the modding tools, and have a go at bringing their existing mods to life using our Baldur’s Gate 3 Toolkit.

The closed alpha is set to kick off today, June 3rd, and we’ll be inviting more mod authors to take part over time.

Come July, we’ll be opening registration for a further closed beta, capped at roughly 1,000 players, that anyone on PC can go ahead and sign up for - and we want you to test the mods created during the alpha!

With the intention of working through your feedback throughout the summer, it will give us time to polish off Patch 7 ready for release in September. In the meantime, we still have plenty coming your way, including some anniversary extravagance as we look back on the months since release. We’re also still pressing on with the development of an in-game photo mode, crossplay, and more fixes that will arrive later down the line!

Catch up on what’s coming in Patch 7 and view a teaser for the improved evil endings by reading our last Community Update here.

For now, we want to give you a little insight into what official modding tools mean for Baldur’s Gate 3, and have put together an FAQ that aims to answer some of your burning questions!

MODDING FAQ

[...]

Mortismal Gaming reviewed Capes:

Capes - Review After 100%

Dualshockers reports that the fan-made Fallout 2 remake Project Arroyo intends to launch on Steam:

Fallout 2 Fan Remake Project Intends To Launch On Steam

Steam is simply the most efficient solution.

HIGHLIGHTS

•  Project Arroyo is a fan-made remake of Fallout 2 in Fallout 4's engine.
•  The team plans to launch the mod on Steam for easier access and updates, similar to Enderal for Skyrim.
•  With over 100 volunteers, Project Arroyo features original content like voice acting and music.

Project Arroyo is a collaborative fan-made remake of Fallout 2 in Fallout 4's creation engine. Development on the mod is full-steam ahead with the team regularly posting updates on X (formerly Twitter) on the mod's progress.

In an interview with TheGamer, project lead Damien Daponte spoke about reimagining Fallout 2 as an open-world, fleshing out the game's setting of San Francisco and how the team intends to handle the mod's launch.

"I'm leaning towards doing what Enderal: Forgotten Stories did and putting it on Steam," Daponte says. Enderal is a total conversion mod for Skyrim, an open world with an original narrative, with "believable characters and psychological undercurrents."

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

Couchpotato spotted weekly RPG news from:

TBL: EVERYTHING TURN-BASED – WEEKLY RPG NEWS AND RELEASES 2 JUNE 2024

RPGamer Round-Up: May 26 – June 2

RPGFan: RPGs Coming This Week, 6/2/24

Couchpotato spotted dev diary #1 for Enotria: The Last Song:

Enotria: The Last Song - Dev Diary #1 I Behind The Mask

Hello everyone, It’s the Jyamma Games team!

Welcome to our first developer diary. In this video we provide an overview of Enotria: The Last Song, talk to our team members, and show off some behind-the-scenes footage and gameplay clips.

Below is a summary of the highlights of the video:

The Game Director, Stoyan Stoyanov, reveals what Enotria is and how we approach the storytelling in Enotria, the biggest challenges that we faced during the development and what makes Enotria unique in terms of mechanics.

The Lead Game Designer, Erik Nascimben, highlights the gameplay unique approach. He is talking about Loadouts, Mask Lines, Path of Innovators and Mask Perks, Enotria Combat Loop.

The Art Director, Federico Ferrarese, explains what inspired the team to create Enotria: The Last Song, the creative decisions made during the development and how they impacted the game’s design.

The Executive Producer, Andrea Beneduci, is discussing how the team is working to achieve their goals in terms of production processes, vision for the final output and the target audience.

We hope you will enjoy learning more about our game and the talented team behind it! 

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

Matt looks back at the 1986 adventure game Tass Times in Tonetown:

MC529: Tass Times in Tonetown with Becky Heineman

Thanks Couchpotato!

C4G checked out the Dungeon Siege series:

So I Played ALL Dungeon Siege RPGs in 2024

Thanks Couchpotato!

Fextralife summarizes this week's gaming news:

Gaming News - Wuxia Soulslike, Monster Hunter Wild Gameplay Trailer, God of War Ragnarok to PC

Timestamp
0:00 - Top RPG News of the Week
0:02 - Warhammer Rogue Trader Void Shadows DLC
1:08 - Zenless Zone Zero Release Date
2:06 - Cyberpunk 2077 Officially Ended
3:17 - Alan Wake 2 Possible DLC Soon
4:04 - Dragon Age Dreadwolf Listed on PSN and Xbox Store
5:02 - Warhammer 40K Mechanicus 2 Announced
6:11 - Monster Hunter Final Fantasy Collaboration
7:08 - Mirthwood Demo Out Now
8:10 - New Monster Hunter Wild Gameplay trailer
9:03 - Ballad of Antara Free to Play RPG
10:17 - God of War Ragnarok Coming to PC
11:10 - Path of Exile 2 Console Annoucement
12:23 - Where Winds Meet a Wuxia Soulslike 

Born 2 Game checked out Yet Another Fantasy Title:

Yet Another Fantasy Title (YAFT) Review - A Bit of a Hit and Miss

Vampire Dynasty will get a demo on June 10:

Restless Vampires Roam!

Vampire Dynasty Demo coming to Steam Next Fest

In this silent embrace of night, time unfurls a relentless march like a shadowy spectre, incessantly whispering all the secrets of transience into my immortal ears. Every tick of the clock echoes through the hollow chambers of eternity, a haunting reminder of the fleeting moments slipping from my grasp. This urgency coils around me like a serpent, urging me to seize the night before dawn's cruel light banishes me back into the gloom. Time, a relentless adversary, hurries me on, a ruthless pursuit of the essence of life in the face of the seemingly endless night. It's about time!

For an undead in Sangavia, time is truly pressing, and he would very much like to get to know you himself. That's why we don't want to deny him this desire and who knows, maybe new blood bonds will form 
We are very happy to announce that the Vampire Dynasty Demo will be a part of Steam Next Fest. Which means that you can slowly start sharpening your fangs, before the gates to Sangavia open on June 10th, 2024.

Good bite!
Mehuman Games & Toplitz Productions

XboxEra checked out the rently released action RPG Morbid: The Lords of Ire:

A Soulslike Worth Your TIme - Morbid: The Lords of Ire | Review

The party-based RPG Vendir: Plague of Lies has been released:

Vendir: Plague of Lies Now Available

We're delighted to announce that Vendir: Plague of Lies is now available on Steam!

The once-great kingdom of Vendir is now under the tyrannic King Elrik who rules with an iron fist, his judgments harsh and his punishments torturous. When discovering an ancient prophecy promising the end of Elrik's reign, two siblings must make their way from one muddy end of the Kingdom to the other- inciting Elrik’s wrath every step of the way. Challenge the truth in a Kingdom drowning in a plague of lies.

Expect to encounter an intricately crafted world, steeped in history and brought to life through a carefully crafted atmosphere and the stories of the people that inhabit it. It is a world where your decisions will have real weight and consequence - in conversation, combat, crafting and every other aspect of this old-school RPG created by a team with a true passion for the genre.

Rock Paper Shotgun reviewed the retro RPG SKALD: Against the Black Priory:

Skald: Against The Black Priory review: the best of 80s RPG design without the baggage

I regret not covering Skald Colon Against The Black Priory when its developer told us about it 2019. I'd get to be so smug now.

Skald is terrific. I've tried to come up with a clever angle on its journey, but they all wind up saying the same thing: For all its retro stylings (right down to party portraits taking up an unnecessary quarter of the screen at all times), it's an accessible, charming treat, and the best modernisation of 80s RPGs that I've ever played.

While Ultima seems its clearest influence, Skald mostly eschews its philosophical high camp, and gives us a shipwrecking on an archipelago beset by madness-inducing horror. It's an excellent vibe; obvious enough that you know what you're getting into, but slow-burn enough to make the reveals rewarding, and lends the setting and tone a little more depth than the usual "Dark Lord is evil shock".

[...]

That they might be bigger in my imagination speaks to Skald's greatest success: I'm super into it. It's crunchy but friendly, playfully secretive, and familiar in many ways but nonetheless refreshing. I lost half a day to "fact checking and screenshots" for sheer desire to keep playing, and a few minor issues aside, my only real problem is that there's only one of it.

RPGFan reviewed the tactical RPG Capes:

Capes Review

Superheroes have found themselves represented in a multitude of genres over the years, from action-adventure to match-3, but the principles of patient strategy and slow control haven’t really been explored in the turn-based RPG space. While a few examples exist, they’ve had questionable success for one reason or another. Spitfire Interactive seek to change that with Capes, a tactical turn-based RPG with a dash of flawed superhero characters and a smattering of dastardly villains. They’ve enlisted the support of Morgan Jaffit (writer on 2002’s real-time RPG Freedom Force) to craft a story that would sit comfortably among weekly comic series of the last forty years. Although Capes’ graphics and mission design never soar to the greatest of superhero heights, the tight focus on tactical battling and team-based synergies offers a breezy romp worthy of a double-page spread or two.

[...]

Capes offers a fresh theme in the TRPG market, with a story of flawed superheroes fighting for justice in an oppressed city. The turn-based combat is sleek and well-balanced and the unique Team-Ups offer a bevy of approaches to address mission challenges. The UI is clear and concise, and the game does a great job of presenting key information to make effective tactical choices. It’s a pity that a few hindrances, both graphically and in the repetitive combat, hold the game back from being truly epic, but if you want a little bish, bash, and boff with your tactical, turn-based RPG, you could do a lot worse than playing superhero with Capes.

Score: 81/100

Like every week the RPG Crawler sums up the computer and tabletop RPG news:

RPG News Roundup (6-1-2024)

The demo of Swordhaven: Iron Conspiracy got a new patch:

DEMO PATCH 0.1.4

Greetings and salutations!

We are pleased to announce the release of a new patch/update for the demo. Most of the work we are currently focused on will NOT be included in this update, but it does contain a lot of fixes and some additional visuals. Which is always nice :)

• Fixed game freezing when trying to rest;
• Automatic arrow and bolts 'reloading';
• Fixed issues with UI disappearing;
• Fixed descriptions of some effects in battle;
• Added burning effect in combat;
• Fixed issue with getting knocked;
• Better performance;
• Fixed bug with NPCs disappearing;
• Fixed a cutscene bug;
• Changed duration of tonics in battle;
• Fixed movement issues after loading;
• Fixed portraits display during battles;
• Fixed hit chance for throwing bottles;
• Fixed cursor bugs;
• Added technical description for some potions;
• Paused enemies idle sounds when in menu;
• Fixed some movement bugs;
• Fixed bugs with language switching;
• Fixed price positions when trading;
• Added new item visuals;
• Fixed a bug with open doors and house titles;
• Improved combat balance with certain enemies;
• Tweaked Sole Survivor and Level Headed Leader distinctions;
• Finished Japanese translation.

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

Age of Wonders 4 will get an expansion on June 18:

Eldritch Realms coming June 18th! ft. Umbral Abyss Dev Diary

Read the Dev Journal and Watch First Look Dev Stream!

Dear Godir,

We are excited to announce that the Eldritch Realms expansion and the free Mystic Update are going to be available in less than a month — on June 18th!

You can find below:

• Eldritch Realms key art reveal
• Feature highlights
• First Look Stream
• First Dev Diary about Umbral Abyss

Watch the teaser to see the breathtaking key art of Eldritch Realms:

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

Couchpotato spotted a new trailer for the action RPG Lost Hellden:

Lost Hellden - Combat Dev Diary | AG French Direct 2024

A combat gameplay trailer for Lost Hellden was shown during the AG French Direct 2024 Showcase. Release on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series and Switch in 2025.

Wccftech posted an Q&A for The Wayward Realms:

The Wayward Realms Kickstarter Q&A – ‘There Are Plenty of Ways to Advance Procedural Generation’

It was early August 2021 when former Elder Scrolls Arena and Elder Scrolls Daggerfall developers Ted Peterson and Julian LeFay announced they had partnered to create The Wayward Realms at their new studio, OnceLost Games.

Nearly three years later, the developers have just opened a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for their 'Grand RPG', which aims to hearken back to the old-school of games like Daggerfall, which featured massive open worlds and a strong emphasis on choices and consequences.

[...]

As far as I can see, Julian hasn't worked in the industry for a long time. Why did he choose to come back now?

After Julian did an interview about The Elder Scrolls with Indigo Gaming, Ted Peterson reached out to Indigo and did an interview as well. Through him, Julian and Ted got back in touch with each other and began talking about what they would have done had they continued working more hands on with the series. Eventually, they decided to give it a try, and thus, OnceLost Games was born.

OnceLost Games was founded in 2019. Were you affected by the COVID pandemic, leading to a delay in the development process?

The biggest effects were on team members' personal lives which did lead to a rough start for the company. It was early on enough that there wasn’t any delay, per se, but things did take a little longer to get going.

What's the project's status, and how many developers do you have currently?

We are currently a team of around 40 members. We are still in early production with the aim of the Kickstarter campaign allowing us to work full time for a year to get an early access version of the game out to supporters.

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

On September 3, 2024, Wolcen Lords of Mayhem will no longer support multiplayer functionality:

The Future of the game

Dear Wolcen Community, 
Thank you for your unwavering support and patience. It’s been a while since our last update, and we apologize for the silence. However, we had to make serious decisions that required careful reflection and time. Thank you for your unwavering support and dedication. We are fully aware of the challenges that have emerged from the early technical decisions made regarding the game's architecture, challenges that are insurmountable without a complete technology overhaul. 

We have diligently updated Wolcen, enhancing every facet of the game from introducing new chapters and items to improving UI, animations, and the meticulous balancing of skills, items, and gameplay, alongside technical enhancements. Despite these efforts and the team's dedication behind our patches, we've encountered foundational hurdles that prevent further improvements under the existing framework. 

It is with a heavy heart that we announce a significant change: Starting September 3, 2024, Wolcen will no longer support multiplayer functionality. Additionally, we will cease further development and support for the game. This decision allows us to focus on new projects, carrying forward the lessons learned from Wolcen. We are committed to excellence and driven to create new experiences and adventures that we hope you will be eager to join. 

We want to assure you that Wolcen will still be available to play in single-player mode and to purchase at a new, permanently reduced price. Your feedback has always been invaluable, and it will continue to guide the development of our future projects. We've learned a lot from developing and supporting Wolcen but more than that, we have learned a lot from you and we are internally preparing to make sure lessons have been learned and we will be ready to have a stronger connection with all of you, and our community. 

Thank you for your continued support. We are excited about the future and cannot wait to embark on these new journeys with you, setting new standards for what we can achieve together. 

The Wolcen Team

Thanks Couchpotato!

The Turn Based Lovers present games of their favourite genre:

TOP TURN-BASED RPGS AND STRATEGY GAMES OF JUNE 2024

THE MOST RELEVANT RELEASES ON PC, SWITCH, PLAYSTATION, AND XBOX

We are in June, and I know many of you are eagerly awaiting the new version of the fifth chapter of Shin Megami Tensei. I am, too, since I don’t have a Nintendo Switch, so this PC version is just perfect. But note that it’s not just Shin Megami Tensei this month. Accompanying the Atlus title, there are some other interesting titles: a remastered version of the first chapter of a famous JRPG, an interesting 4X strategy game with highly inspired graphics, a HOMM-like game, and a survival RPG that shouldn’t be underestimated.

[...]

SONGS OF SILENCE
FIELD OF GLORY: KINGDOMS
THE ANCIENTS
SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI V: VENGEANCE
MONSTER HUNTER STORIES REMASTER
INTERREGNUM: FALSE PROPHET
PENNON AND BATTLE
DRAGON ECLIPSE

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

The Scarlet Seeker checked out SKALD: Against the Black Priory:

SKALD: Against the Black Priory | Worth Your Time and Money (Overview)

Gematsu reports that Path of Exile 2 will enter Early Access at the end of 2024.

Thanks Couchpotato!

The Koalition reviewed Capes:

Capes Review – Strategic Superhero Gaming

What if you took the world of superheroes in the aspect of the TV show Heroes and mixed it with turn-based strategy tactical games like XCOM, well then you would get a very thought-out game called Capes. Capes is the debut title from Australian-based company Spitfire Interactive with publisher Daedalic Entertainment.

Capes draws its comic references from the 80s and 90s. This was when they were still goofy and cheesy but also starting to venture into darker subject matter like Image Comics with Spawn or Wild C.A.T.S. This was the perfect time for a comic book reader, with the new character backgrounds, the design change, the tone of the comics, and the amount of original ideals.

The mood for Capes is straightforward, there are no superheroes anymore they all have been unalived, and only The Company and the Capes remain. In King City, superheroes (referred to as capes) have been banned for the last two decades after a mysterious group known as The Company came in and promised to get the masked vigilantes under control.

[...]

I believe that they chose to work more on the core of the game to make a great product than to work on the parts of the game and leave it open for bugs and such. I really enjoyed Capes, the idea is great and the play was very decent. It was challenging at times and I didn’t want to see where it was going so that was fun. I think that for its first release, Spitfire Interactive hit a home run. I can not wait to see what else this small company has in store for the future.

Score: 4/5

Thanks Couchpotato!

The development of Wildermyth is finished:

A Farewell

Active development on Wildermyth is coming to an end

Hi, this is Nate Austin, co-owner of Worldwalker Games.

Wildermyth has been a wonderful journey for us, but that journey has now come to an end. We feel proud of what we've accomplished, and lucky to have an incredible team and an amazing community. And it's never fun to bring something to an end, but sadly this is that time.

The Facts
Active development on Wildermyth is complete. We will continue to support the game and fix critical bugs, but don't expect new content, going forward. We will be saying farewell to many of our team members. <3 Worldwalker Games is going into hibernation for now.

What's Not Going Away
This does not, in any way, affect plans to bring Wildermyth to other platforms. We hope to be able to announce more on that fairly soon, but I cannot say more right now.

The Soundtrack Kickstarter is also not affected. Live recordings of the music will be integrated into the game, and made available as a purchasable OST.

French and Spanish translations for Omenroad will be completed.

We will continue to maintain the discord, wiki, social media, support emails, and merch store.

Why, and Why Now?
Wildermyth has been wonderful, but nothing goes on forever. We wanted to ship Omenroad, and having done that, we're ready to move on. This was the plan, and it doesn't have anything to do with how well Omenroad is doing. (It's doing quite well! And we're extremely proud of it, and will continue to support it!)

We're an independent studio, which means we're not answerable to investors. Nobody is shutting us down. We are going into hibernation because we are done with this project.

The Feels
When I started working on this game, um, 11 years ago, I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder. "I'll show them. I'll show them all." It's not there anymore. The last crumbs (is that how it works? What kind of chip is it supposed to be? A wood chip? A tortilla chip?) Well, the last crumbs of that chip were brushed away some time ago. I feel like we contributed something positive to the ongoing conversation of "what can a game be?"

For my part, I feel that we did what we set out to do, and the time has come to move on. I'm very proud to have been a part of a very special team, and a very special game, and I'm hopeful that the game will continue to live on. We have a tremendous community of players and modders, and that's a dream come true. It's been an incredible honor to deliver you Wildermyth, and I thank you for it!

I'm pretty sure we'll eventually find something else to pour our passion into, and we'll let you know about it when the time comes.

Thanks Couchpotato!

Learn more about Arcanum from Tim:

Arcanum Development Timeline

Thanks Couchpotato!

Couchpotato spotted a trailer for the Wuxia RPG Where Winds Meet on GameSpot:

Where Winds Meet Announcement Trailer | State of Play 2024

Couchpotato spotted a gameplay trailer for The Wayward Realms, which is currently on Kickstarter:

The Wayward Realms- Life of An Adventurer - A Gameplay Trailer

A spiritual successor to the Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, The Wayward Realms, a medieval fantasy roleplaying game led by industry veterans Ted Peterson & Julian Lefay, that aims to bring the "old-school" design philosophies of Classic RPGs together with the latest technology and quality of life improvements, courtesy of Unreal Engine 5. 

Farflame spotted a sign of life of the Stormrite team:

A Much Needed Announcement

Hello all, I thought I’d make an announcement to update you about Stormrite. It would be silly to ignore the long period of silence from the team. We’re truly sorry about it, and it’s something we never wanted to do & never want to do again. Through university, work layoffs, and life, the team as a whole weren’t able to work on the project as much as we’d have liked, and progress just… stalled.

Moving forward, our primary focus is a public demo. We want you all to be able to get your hands on Stormrite. It will feature Act I of the game, letting you get an introduction to the story, and a feel for the core gameplay features.

We’re back on track behind the scenes. The animation revamp is underway, and we should have some material to share with you soon on that. We'll be back to our schedule of regular progress updates in no time.

Again, we’re terribly sorry for the silence, as much as we have had our struggles recently, there’s no excuse for the lack of communication. We’ll do better, and we hope you as the community will continue to support us from here on out!

Thank you all for everything,

Kelechi

Farflame spotted a new update for Lords of the Fallen:

Lords of the Fallen - 'Clash of Champions' OUT NOW

GamingBolt interviewed Mighty Coi about The Night Wanderer:

Mighty Koi speaks with GamingBolt about its upcoming Soulslike action RPG.

Based on award-winning series of Polish sci-fi and fantasy novels The Lord of the Ice Garden, developer Mighty Koi’s upcoming The Night Wanderer is making some intriguing promises. Not only is it looking to adapt the acclaimed novels in close collaboration with their author Jarosław Grzedowicz, The Night Wanderer is also promising Soulslike combat, a world designed around Metroidvania-esque exploration, and more. Intrigued by it as we have been, we recently reached out to the upcoming action RPG’s development team, hoping to learn more about its world, combat, development, and more. You can read our interview below.

"We’re aiming to strike a delicate balance between honoring Grzedowicz’s existing stories and weaving in our own narratives inspired by his works."

What was it about Jarosław Grzedowicz’s The Lord of the Ice Garden series that attracted you to it and motivated the decision to make a video game adaptation?

Polish fantasy literature is incredibly rich, with a long history and many talented authors crafting world-class stories. While The Witcher certainly brought attention to the genre, it’s just the tip of the iceberg.  Lord of the Ice Garden is a beloved classic in both fan circles and the wider Polish literary scene. We see immense potential in its worldbuilding and story, making it a perfect candidate for a modern, immersive game adaptation.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Noisy Pixel checked out The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak Preview - A Refreshingly Ambitious Combat System

The Wayward Realms Kickstarter started, a game by 3 Veterans who worked on Daggerfall: Ted Peterson, Julian Lefay and Eric Heberling:

The Wayward Realms

"A game that aims to bring the “old-school” design philosophies of Classic RPGs together with the latest technology and quality of life improvements, courtesy of Unreal Engine 5.

Get lost in a massive, beautiful open world, filled to the brim with adventure. Explore vast, realistically scaled cities, sprawling towns, deep dungeons filled with untold treasures, and a plethora of diverse environments. Discover populations of warring factions, dangerous creatures, and an expansive cast of characters that come to life the more you interact with them."

Thanks Kordanor!

Learn more about the gameworld of Myrthwood:

A Simulated World

Hi Folks, Daron here from Bad Ridge Games. Today, we’re taking a look at how the world around you functions in Mirthwood.

Seasons of Change
In Mirthwood, you will experience the distinct beauty and challenges of the seasons - Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter - with each bringing its own crops, colors, and events. With Mirthwood being an open-world, this has been no small task. The game features seven large main regions, each with unique aesthetics and sub-biomes. This means each change of season offers a myriad of new visuals depending on where you travel.

Transitioning into Winter will have the most impact on gameplay. With no crops to be grown, you’ll need to shift your focus to other tasks like mining, upgrades, or other adventures. For the inhabitants of the world, potential shortages of food can be deadly.

Raising the Stakes
Most NPCs in Mirthwood are mortal and can pass away, whether from starvation, illness, or if they find themselves the victim of a bandit or animal attack.

This gives NPCs real and tangible goals to work towards. Mortality also paves the way for organic stories to develop. Characters that die will be known to you, possibly even close friends. While there may be opportunities for you to intervene, not every life can be saved. Those who die are buried, and in time, replaced by a new immigrant from the Continent.

The Storyteller
Mirthwood’s storyteller will generate Events of varying intensity to keep things interesting. Some Events are seasonal - you might encounter a Heatwave in Summer or a Blizzard in Winter. Other Events can happen year round, like a Full Moon (...enjoy). Not all Events present challenges. You’ll be notified if a Traveling Merchant is nearby, or if the Trade Ship has arrived and docked at the coast, bringing rare items from the Continent.

Survival & Crafting
Mirthwood will feature survival-lite gameplay. You’ll need to pay attention to your core vitals - Health, Stamina, and Hunger. If you decide to set out and travel across the map, be sure to have a plan for food. Many herbs and berries can be foraged, but cooked meals offer the most benefit. Herbs will also help you craft elixirs and medicines vital to curing illnesses.

You’ll discover campsites and settlements across the map that serve as respites, places to cook, sleep, and save your progress. Some of these campsites can be upgraded and turned into strategic homes-away-from-home for your character. Here you'll be able to access your stash, cook, and craft gear provided you have the materials.

Hopefully that gives you some insight into world experience in Mirthwood. Let us know what questions you have!

Thanks Couchpotato!

Learn more about the Green Knight and the upcoming demo of Legends of the Round Table:

The Green Knight

We're ready to tell you a little more about another of our adventures, which is inspired by the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by the anonymous poet known as Pearl.

In The Green Knight, a mysterious man covered in greenery comes to King Arthur's court to challenge one of the Knights of the Round Table to strike him. Normally it's Gawain who rises to the challenge and beheads him. The Green Knight picks up his head and proclaims that whoever accepted the challenge must receive the same blow from him, in a year and a day at the Green Chapel, in Wales.

Following the storyline of the original tale required adaptations to make it interactive and enjoyable to play. The symbols and layers of meaning, typical of tales and texts with a mythical background, have been preserved but also adapted to deepen certain aspects, provide explanations to the player, and achieve better coherence between gameplay actions and narration.

This adventure combines dreamlike sequences with moments of investigation and courtesy, as well as battles with monstrous creatures. And as you can see, it takes place in snowy landscapes...

We also greatly appreciated David Lowery's film The Green Knight with Dev Patel in the role of Gawain!

The Demo
We have a playable demo coming soon and are looking for players for our very first playtests! If you're interested, join our Discord server and pick the "playtest" role.

Thanks everyone and until next time!

Thanks Couchpotato!

Learn more about the Ventrue Clan:

Clan Highlight: Ventrue

Clan Highlight #4 - The Clan of Kings, Blue Bloods, Tyrants, Warlords, Patricians, Borgias

Ventrue vampires usually choose their progeny from mortals familiar with power, wealth and influence. Seeing themselves as the rightful leaders of vampire society, Kindred of clan Ventrue take up the mantle of leadership wherever possible, often in the form of high positions in Camarilla Courts.

Playing a Ventrue in Bloodlines 2
Ventrue are blue blooded tyrants who incite obedience in both their allies and their foes. Focusing on the Discipline Dominate, Ventrue forces their prey to obey their command to fight their friends, forget what they’ve seen or even kill themselves. Feeding builds up Fortitude, allowing the Ventrue to soak up more damage in case any enemy is powerful enough to resist their force of will.

Abilities
When you choose your clan, you will start out with a passive ability unique to each clan. You are then able to unlock abilities from the Ability Tree, starting with your chosen clan. Each ability requires spending Ability Points to unlock which are earned from completing missions, combat and exploration. At the peak of the Ability Tree, you can unlock the clan Perk, a reward to those dedicated enough to unlock all of the abilities for a clan, giving a permanent passive upgrade.

Flesh of Marble
Clan Passive: Feeding hardens your skin, making you highly resistant to damage.

Cloud Memory
Cause a target to forget you were there, putting them into a relaxed state.

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

A revised Solasta campaign sourcebook can be preordered

3rd Anniversary & Solasta Revised Campaign Sourcebook Preorder Available now!

Yes, it's finally back!

Hey hey people!

It's been forever and a half since our last News, hasn't it? Sorry for the radio silence, the Tactical Adventures' crew has been toiling over the past year on our next game - which we still won't announce for quite some time.

But that's not why we're here today! No? No! We're here to celebrate the 3-year anniversary of Solasta's 1.0 launch! And what better way to do that than bringing back the much-coveted Solasta Campaign Sourcebook. You heard that right, we've partnered with Modiphius Entertainment & Rookery Publications to publish a Revised Campaign Sourcebook including all the new subclasses released post-launch, totaling a number of 41 subclasses all adapted to Tabletop!

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

Sector interviewed Josh Sawyer about game development:

Josh Sawyer Reflects on Design Evolution: From Icewind Dale to Pentiment

Josh Sawyer is a name that has been familiar to RPG fans for decades. He's worked on Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights 2, Alpha Protocol, Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, and most recently Pentiment.

How did he get into game development, how has his design philosophy changed over the years, and why did he decide to do Pentiment a little differently? He answered all these questions for us during the GDS conference in Prague.

Your work is often associated with intricate narratives and designing complex systems. Could you discuss your design for these systems, and how did this philosophy evolve over the years?

Yeah, I do think it's changed. Initially, when I started working at Black Isle, the first game I worked on was Icewind Dale, even though it had a strong combat focus, it came right after Planescape Torment, which obviously was known for very big branching dialogues. And the studio in general, Black Isle and later at Obsidian, was very, very into big branching dialogues with a lot of question nodes you could loop through and lots and lots and lots of options, and also a lot of reactivity to your build choices and ways to complete quests that unlocked in that way.

And then that kind of migrated towards such a reliance on question nodes, not flooding the player with as many options, especially if the options felt superfluous, like they weren't really adding anything. And on New Vegas, one of the things that we noticed is, in contrast to Fallout 3, which had percentage-based checks. We went with flat checks, either you made it or you didn't, which on the one hand is good and it's satisfying that your build is rewarded, but also it was always clear, like I should always pick this option. So the role playing element kind of went away because it implied that if you ever saw your option come up, you should pick it.

This continued into Pillars and Deadfire because, at the time, they didn't have a super great idea of how to handle it. On Pentiment, the way I've tried to approach it is that there are almost never any question nodes. Every conversation has a through flow. It's about a thing, and you never reach a point where you're kind of circling back and looping. It has an arc that ends, and I feel like that makes the conversations feel much more natural. You can still put in all sorts of cool branching, but it's all sort of moving towards the end goal that you know as a writer when you start the conversation. And then the way that I've tried to handle using checks and dialogue is if you unlocked it, you can pick it, but sometimes it's not actually a good idea to do that.

In Pentiment, characters very often get aggravated when you pick those options. So you kind of have to think about the character and the situation that you're in and whether or not the character is going to respond positively or negatively to you sort of saying that thing. And I think that's a nice balance because the player is clearly being given more options because they're backgrounds, but they still have to role play and read the social situation to get the outcome that they want. And sometimes though they might say like, „I don't care about getting an ideal outcome, I want to pick this option,“ and that's totally valid as well.

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

The Old Acquaintances DLC will be released on June 12:

Old Acquaintances Release Date Trailer | Vagrus - The Riven Realms

Vagrus - The Riven Realms is a Strategy-Roleplaying Game for PC, in which the player takes the role of a vagrus - a sort of a caravan leader, who makes a living on a strange and dangerous dark fantasy world by taking a traveling company on all kinds of ventures. Besides its story-rich narrative, the game features tactical turn-based combat and strategy elements, such as elaborate cargo, crew, and character management systems.

Thanks Couchpotato!