Sorry it's been a long while. I have been working on a lot of things for Oakbound of late, the first of which is something rather pretty.
Those familiar with The Woods in its previous iterations will know it has a strong RPG leaning. The background actually began as an entirely separate roleplay game which failed to materialise. I love the RPG elements of Warhammer 1st and 2ns edition, Rogue Trader, Confrontation and Inquisitor. The shortcomings of skirmish games like Mordheim, Necromunda, Frostgrave etc. are, to my mind, that they set out on a scale which lends itself to narrative roleplaying but limit players to combat actions. The big intention with The Woods ruleset was not to do that. Interaction in other ways should be just as core to the game, in fact more so, than fighting. The current Woods rulebook has a section entirely for roleplay and the first supplement, Barrow Ring Burning, was a roleplay campaign. BUT...
There is definitely a gulf between most roleplayers and most wargamers. Oldhammer seems a decent bridge (for reasons I have touched on above) but for the most part never the twain shall meet. I therefore decided last year to strip out the RPG rules and expand them into an entirely standalone system. I have been doing the same with the Skirmish rules with the help of the very capable rulester Roderick Hamilton. Developing the two separately but consecutively has allowed them to grow into their own distinct, uncompromising entities but have a shared heritage and set of principles. They feel like the same world, they can still be played alongside one another with the same statlines etc.
Deepwood Shadows, as the RPG is titled, is intended to run as unbroken narration. No dice roles, of course. This does mean a bit of work for the GM (or Fateweaver), cross referencing character stats with a difficulties chart as the players elaborate on their attempted actions. It's well worth it though as the result is an act of communal storytelling that is quite wondrously immersive. Combat and some semi-random events are controlled by the drawing of runestones from a 'wyrdbolg' (fate bag). The stones in the bag can be manipulated to make it more or less likely to draw a particular result. The runes also have a flexibility of interpretation allowing them to act as story prompts rather than definitive outcomes.
I'm also very excited to be doing card screens, player dashboards, character sheet pads and token sets for the game. These elements were so far out of budget a couple of years ago but thanks to Thunder and a couple of years of advent calendars we can finally invest in beautiful play aids! Now I just have to work out how to store them... The books (three of them!) also contain a load of all-new art from Christian Schwager, Tony Hough and Jimm Odell. Sumptuous pen and ink illustrations in the best tradition of game book art. Christian has done a stonking cover as well, ably showing the perils lurking in the shadows of the deep wood.
The game will be launching at Dragonmeet this year and in the Oakbound store before Christmas.
