The Bloom Ashcan; Deluxe Edition Reaction Rolls + Wounds
As The Bloom approaches completion, we look forward to the Deluxe Edition
Summer is quickly waning, as we approach full blown spooky season. Josh Domanski & I are wrapping up The Bloom as we also start to delve deep into the Deluxe Edition.
Newsletter contents:
The Bloom Ashcan release
The Bloom Actual Play
Between Two Cairns: The Bureau review (with Chris McDowall)
Exalted Funeral Summer Sale (LIMINAL HORROR content in print)!
Deluxe Edition Sneak Peak
Reaction Rolls
Wounds
What I’ve Been Reading
THE BLOOM ASHCAN RELEASE
Doom has almost come to Coldwater. We’ve laid out the entire text, have 90% of the final art, and 50% of the additional
The Bloom Ashcan pdf now 25% off.
What's Left?
Final Editing Pass.
Additional Design Assets.
One Final Piece of Art From Zach.
Internal Hyperlinking.
Bonus Content/Handouts?
Get The Bloom Ashcan on itch.io for 25% off!
THE BLOOM ACTUAL PLAY
The award-winning podcast Girls Run These Worlds just wrapped their 5 episode mini-series campaign of The Bloom. Integrating elements from The Bureau, this team did a fantastic job bringing Coldwater to life.
You can find the playlist with 4 current episodes available here.
BETWEEN TWO CAIRNS: THE BUREAU
The Between Two Cairns podcast did a fantstic review of The Bureau. Alongside the phenomenal special guest Chris McDowall they delved into what they liked, and some critiques they had for The Bureau. It was a delight to hear them talk about the module and to hear their critiques & feedback.
LISTEN HERE: BETWEEN TWO CAIRNS - THE BUREAU
EXALTED FUNEAL SUMMER SALE (20% OFF LIMINAL HORROR TITLES)
The annual summer sale over at Exalted Funeral is here, and you can snag almost all of the LIMINAL HORROR (official & third-party content) in one discounted swoop.
DELUXE EDITION BEGINS
The dev team (Goblin Archives, Josh Domanksi, Jarrett Crader, Zach Hazard Vaupen) for the LIMINAL HORROR Deluxe Edition were able to get together multiple times last week to start to chart out the production journey for the project.
We have a plan that will see the project grow and form over the next months. With writing, design, art interweaving to create a truly special hardcover edition.
You can take a peek at the deep dive into the manuscript in the previous missive from The Stacks:
Josh & I are getting close to wrapping up the player section of the text, which we will send off to editing and then begin design work as we start writing the Facilitator’s Toolkit, Appendixes, and starting adventures/deluxe setting.
Here are two aspects that I have been thinking a lot about:
1. WOUNDS
The design intent behind the deluxe edition was not to do a 2e but instead to expand on the facilitator portion and create an amazing hardcover that is fully compatible with the core zine. Rules wise the only “change” will be the official addition of Critical Damage= Wounds.
The idea behind adding Critical Damage = Wounds is to mirror how Critical Stress = Fallout works in the core edition. Wounds change your players similar to how fallouts do. It also more readily manifests the physical danger present in horror.
Instead of Critical Damage taking you out of combat, Investigators would receive a Wound and have the option to keep pushing (risking more Wounds and potentially death).
I originally drafted a general idea for how Wounds could work in a previous newsletter but we’ve come to realize that getting it just right for the Deluxe Edition will take some work. There is currently a draft of the Wounds that is ready for playtesting (it takes inspiration from the Mothership 1e Wounds Table and the straightforward nature to how Mausritter uses Wounded/Injured condition) and provides some scaling severity of Wound specifics based on the type of damage inflicted.
2. REACTION ROLLS
As I mentioned in the Deluxe Edition preview, I was planning on expanding and clarifying the Reaction Rolls table. This is something that is included in the core zine but during the Between Two Cairns review Chris McDowall brought up as being missing in The Bureau. I realized that making that tool a more present thing in both the text and design for facilitators was extremely important.
Having the Reaction Roll Table clear, accessible, and reinforced, helps facilitators create more fluid and dynamic play. Some people who have really inspired me to invest the time in Reaction Rolls are:
Sean McCoy (if you look at the top of his picture that launched Dungeon23 you can see a note that say: “Don’t Forget Reaction Rolls!)
Chris Bissett (Loot the Room) did a great thread that went into what a Reaction Roll is and it’s history. They even included their favorite example from OD&D (Games Workshop printing of the 1973 Holmes edition)
Noora Rose does a great thread on procedures that concludes with:
Luke Gearing often writes about the importance (and necessary for intersection between) Surprise, Reaction, and Distance procedures in creating dynamic and interesting encounters during play.
Next Time we’ll look at the difference between Backgrounds & Archetypes and how both are integral in the character generation in the Deluxe Edition.
SOME COOL STUFF I’VE BEEN READING
Ransacking the Room: Ty over at Mindstorm created a fantastic procedure for searching spaces that hits just right (Inspect, Search, Ransack)
The WOP Model: Mike Lombardi over at Flagrant Garden did a great writeup for designing for digital formats.
Snow’s TTRPG Class Reading List: welcome to ttrpg (hell) school