It’s… done!
A week later than planned – because I found an amazing editor, who meticulously went over my incoherent ramblings and returned a far better core text than I could ever hope for.
The itch.io page has been updated – which means that if you’ve purchased Block, Dodge, Parry in the past, you can now download the new Lightweight PDF! The version with proper layout should follow within the coming months.
Changes
Boy, there is a lot. Let me try to summarize:
- Age & Experience has been integrated into the main text.
- List of starting gear packages has been expanded.
- Expanded Time, Gear, Skill Framework: The Time, Gear, Skill system has been expanded to cover a broader range of scenarios, making it easier to resolve actions in a way that feels natural and logical within the game world. Whether lockpicking or scaling walls, this system now offers more versatility and depth.
- Enhanced Damage, Injury & Death Rules: I’ve added new layers to how damage is handled, particularly in terms of environmental damage and critical injuries. This provides a grittier, more realistic feel to combat and survival, ensuring that each encounter carries weight.
- More on Healing & Recovery: Use a waterskin to recover HP (making water an important resource), prepare delicious meals to recover Fatigue in dungeons, and forage to make healing salves or herbal antidotes.
- Combat: Restructured into Before The Fight Starts, Attacking, Defending and The End Of The Fight. New surprise rules, reaction roll modifiers, clarified ranges, added theater-of-the-mind Zones, added Detachments, tweaked Gambits, added Sacrificing Gear, tied Block/Dodge into gear choice, added an extensive Example of Play.
- Careers: Added interesting trinkets for each Career, updated the Skills associated with Careers to integrate the new Skills.
- Skills: Removed a few Skills to integrate their abilities into base rules, grouped Skills into into categories for easy reference: Allies & Morale, Combat, Esoteric & Arcane, Exploration, Knowledge, Socializing and Tricks & Subterfuge. Added new Skills that tie into new areas of play, such as Wilderness and Dungeons.
- Character Improvement: Added Combat Experience to reward player dedication into specific fields, added Combat Superiority to allow for hordes of minions or single elite enemies (or players!)
- Weapons, Armor & Gear: Now includes Armor & Gear, added price reference, added Weapon Variations and added new Weapon Skills. Total list now includes 31 weapons. Added Armor categories, as well as 19 pieces of Adventuring Equipment (which tie into the new mechanics).
- Added Horses and Horse Armor.
- Arcane Magic: Reworked how Sculpt Energy works, making it easier to use. Added The Upper Limits of Magic to manage the magic flying around in one’s campaign, added Arcane Equipment to facilitate “you are what you carry” gameplay.
- Divine Magic: Reworked how Miracles function, streamlined the process of making a Higher Power.
- Lyrical Magic: New addition; sing songs to raise the spirits within the party.
- Settlements: New chapter on the function of settlements within an adventure and how they interact with Block, Dodge, Parry. Added a big table which lists what NPCs of a certain career might want from the party, and what they have to offer.
- Wilderness: New chapter on wilderness exploration, building upon the Cairn 2e framework. Camp actions, foraging, terrain obstacles, weather conditions, and tables describing 3 possible terrain ‘modifiers’ in random encounters for 6 types of terrain.
- Dungeons: New chapter on dungeoneering, building upon the Cairn 2e framework. Procedure for dungeon crawling, and how elements such as traps and doors work within Block, Dodge, Parry. Entirely new Treasure system, to quickly generate interesting treasure (in terms of value, lore and gameplay choices).
- Friends, Foes & Monsters: Expanded method on making new NPCs, 18 monster features to add to creatures (each with gameplay implications). Expansive system to roll up rival adventurers.
- Tools & Tables: Table of Generic Jobs to insert into campaigns, list of examples on how to rule Practical Magic, Vantage Point/Point of Interest system, Finding A Trainer table.
So, what are you waiting for?
Dive into the update, while supplies last*!
*Block, Dodge, Parry is a digital product and not actually limited by stock.
