July 2023 Update
- Adam Donovan
- Jul 28, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 29, 2023
[July 2023]
Greetings all, and welcome to the July (2023) update for Roguelike Games!
The update from RLG this month will be a slight departure from the norm that we've putting out this year, primarily because we have been focusing on a single element of the Moralinth RPG; an element which has taken up our workflow for the entire month of July.
For the first time in 2023 we've not been spreading our efforts across multiple sections of the book(s). Instead, we have brainstormed, written, finished, and part-polished the introductory adventure that will be bundled with both the Uncanny and Gloom Edition core rulebooks:
About 'The Ties That Bind':
An adventure designed for starting Characters, The Ties That Bind is an introductory foray into the world of the supernatural that lurks in the shadows behind the façade of civility and etiquette that regulates the lives of most imperial citizens.
An adventure split into four acts each with its own selection of encounters, characters, mysteries, and in some cases monsters, The Ties That Bind is an adventure built for three or four Characters and gives the Narrator all the tools and resources needed to run the story including location information, flashcards, stat-blocks, player handouts, maps, and tokens. It is designed with the four pre-generated Characters that come with the Uncanny and Gloom Editions of the game but can easily accommodate originally-designed characters as well.
Though the narrative is identical with both versions of the adventure, the rules and mechanics are specific to their associated Uncanny or Gloom Edition.
The Ties That Bind sees the Player-Characters answering a request for help from a woman of high society who has recently lost her brother to a brutal and unusual murder. With members of The Watch struggling to find new leads to progress the investigation, she hires the group to discover the truth of her brother’s fate. Using their unique Talents as Uncanny, the Characters are tasked with unraveling a sinister plot of power, betrayal, and madness that soon devolves into a race against time to prevent the rising of a great and ancient evil.
The Ties That Bind & Moralinth: Uncanny Edition
The version of The Ties That Bind that is included with the Uncanny Edition of the rulebook is 1st-draft complete at the time of writing this blog. All the various Uncanny Edition rules as well as resources such as art and maps have already been completed, and it is undergoing a polish pass to ensure it is feature complete. The adventure is written for a Narrator and three or four Tier 1 Characters with limited experience of the setting or their new and strange Talents.
Uncanny Edition Roadmap Updates:
'PART VI: The Ties That Bind Background & Synopsis' moved from In Development to Draft 1 Complete
'PART VI: The Ties That Bind (Act 1)' moved from In Development to Draft 1 Complete
'PART VI: The Ties That Bind (Act 2)' moved from In Development to Draft 1 Complete
'PART VI: The Ties That Bind (Act 3)' moved from In Development to Draft 1 Complete
'PART VI: The Ties That Bind (Act 4)' moved from In Development to Draft 1 Complete
'PART VI: Conclusion' moved from In Development to Draft 1 Complete
'PART VI: Reference Tables' moved from In Development to Draft 1 Complete
(You can review the Uncanny Edition Roadmap here)
The Ties That Bind & Moralinth: Gloom Edition
The version of The Ties That Bind that is included with the Gloom Edition of the rulebook is a little over halfway to the 1st-draft complete, being able to use much of the work already completed for the Uncanny version of the adventure. All non-mechanical rules and information is identical for both versions, meaning the Gloom Edition version of the adventure directly benefits from the work already carried out for the Uncanny version. As the Gloom Edition of the Moralinth core rulebook is still under revision, many of the mechanics of the adventure cannot be completely finished until the rulebook itself is finalized. The adventure is written for a Narrator and three or four 1st Level Characters with limited experience of the world or their strange powers.
Gloom Edition Roadmap Updates:
'PART VI: The Ties That Bind Background & Synopsis' moved from In Development to Draft 1 Complete
'PART VI: The Ties That Bind (Part 1)' moved from Not Started to In Development
'PART VI: The Ties That Bind (Part 2)' moved from Not Started to In Development
'PART VI: The Ties That Bind (Part 3)' moved from Not Started to In Development
'PART VI: The Ties That Bind (Part 4)' moved from Not Started to In Development
'PART VI: Conclusion' moved from Not Started to In Development
'PART VI: Reference Tables' moved from Not Started to In Development
(You can review the Gloom Edition Roadmap here)
Moralinth Worldbook & Moralinth Quickstarts
As mentioned at the start of this update, July has been focused exclusively on the writing of the introductory adventure The Ties That Bind and, as such, no work has progressed on either the Moralinth Worldbook or Uncanny/Gloom Editions of the Quickstarts. Work will resume on all of these supplemental books in August of 2023.
Do the Quickstarts also come with a bundled adventure?
They do! The Uncanny/Gloom Quickstarts each also come with an introductory adventure for starting Characters in the Moralinth world, though much like the Quickstarts themselves this dual-system adventure uses only a portion of the rules found in the Core Rulebook(s).
Entitled Sleepers At Dockside, the adventure sees the Characters investigating the sudden disappearance of a streetwalker Companion with a mysterious past.
Roguelike Community
The Moralinth Official Facebook Group is the place to visit for quick and conscise updates for those who only want the summarised details of what is happening with Moralinth, and is a great place to see artwork, lore snippets and updates. We're looking to add more to it so that we can add extra information, but we need your help! What sort of things would you like to see included in the Facebook Group that isn't there already? Feel free to leave comments so we can know what is a priority for everyone - and make sure you tell your friends!
DISCORD:
For a more in-depth and interactive playground for all things Moralinth, you can head over to the Morlainth Official Discord Server. We're looking to foster the community and grow it out, and a few of the messages we've received of late have asked for more ways to interact with the game world as well as an increase in setting information. We're looking to try and grant both requests simultaneously, so keep an eye on Discord for more information! Feel free to invite anyone who you feel might want to follow the project but please remember they need to verify their account when they first join the server (you need to click the little "tick" to be granted the Uncanny role and gain access to all the Categories, Channels and Events).
Future Plans
With the completion of The Ties That Bind, the writing of the Uncanny Edition of Moralinth is complete! While we work toward the art, layout, editing and polishing of that version of the game, RLG's main focus can now shift toward the Gloom Edition of Moralinth, writing as much as is feasibly possible ready for when the Pathfinder 2e Remastered Project launches in November. While we have plenty of new and unique rules to bring to the table, the Gloom Edition of Moralinth will be running on the same system as the PF2E Remastered Edition while working under the O.R.C. so it is extremely likely that their rules changes will need to be implemented into our final design of Moralinth: Gloom Edition.
....and that wraps up our update for this month! Feel free to drop us a message or come visit us on our Facebook page or our Discord Group if you'd like! Until our next update,
Happy Gaming!
- Adam
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