Adventures Abound!
Midnight Muscadines Updates, Devlog, & Moving Sales!
I. We’re Moving!
At the end of the month, we are moving up to the Twin Cities in Minnesota! Months of planning has gone into this, and we are incredibly excited to start a new adventure up north.
As part of the move, we’re having a sale to clear out the warehouse!
Get 25% off everything and free shipping on US orders over $50 until February 20th (discounts applied in cart)!
II. Midnight Muscadines
What started as a cute game jam game has exploded into one of the most exciting TTRPG’s we’ve ever worked on! Below we cover some of the latest updates to the game.
At the beginning of January, we sent off for proof prints of Midnight Muscadines to be made. These copies are to ensure the margins, bleed, colors, and general layout are working so we don't run into any issues or snags when it's time to order the full print run, and we think they turned out beautifully.
Custom Card Deck
Since Midnight Muscadines uses a card deck for play, we are making custom cards. These will be available as a physical deck, but also as print-and-play.
But these won’t just be your standard deck of cards, oh no. They will also act as randomized tables for encounters, items, creatures, and our mentor prompt system that prompts players to take GM-like actions to build the world and story. When in doubt, just draw a card.
Expanded Character Creation
Character creation in Midnight Muscadines got a makeover recently. Characters start with two abilities, a magical jam of their own making, a unique item, a new guild ability, and some fascinating styles and quirks.
Backgrounds act as quick start templates, but we also include steps to build a wholly unique character from scratch as well.
Abilities
Your character doesn’t just have items and magic at their disposal, but unique abilities as well! These can be passive or active, and may let you jump in the way of danger for a friend, earn the trust of hostile folk by offering aid and remedies, or even having a loyal animal companion.
Each character starts with 2 abilities from their background and a third from their chosen Guild, with 40 additional abilities you can take when advancing.
Styles and Quirks
There are 20 styles to give your character some panache and elusiveness, and 20 quirks that define a flaw or tick they have. These combine to add fantastic flavor to your character.
Are you a Firefly Chaser, always chasing small moments of wonder, while being an Overpacker, carrying too many items “just in case”?
Or perhaps you’re a Twilight Gambler, taking calculated risks with a sly grin, while being a Worrywart Weaver, over analyzing every situation?
Conflicts! Challenges!
As many of our fans know, our games attempt to shift the focus away from hack-and-slash play styles.
After a lot of playtesting and feedback, we have created a new conflict and challenge system that allows players to stand toe to toe with territorial Glow Bears, enter heated debates with a baker for a free slice of pie, or ford a raging river.
Characters use their items, magic, or roleplay feats to overcome conflicts and challenges. Both are fast, interesting, and narratively driven while players roll dice, burn cards, and lay it all on the line to overcome any situation!
We call them “Conflicts” because at the outset, players can determine the goal of overcoming an adversary: Is it to capture? Wound? Persuade? Deter?
The system is not tactical and doesn’t require minis or a map. It’s designed to be easily played with theater of the mind. This is a very “Pandion-styled” combat system.
So, how does all this work?
Confront an Adversary
Confronting an adversary works like any other Check in the game: Gather your attribute and impact dice from the item, magic, or feat you are using, and roll against their Difficulty Rating (DR). Burn cards you’ve gathered to add dice to your roll!
On a Setback, the adversary can take a number of actions against the player using their abilities, magic, or a roleplay feat of their own.
To overcome an adversary, players must accumulate a number of Successes equal to or greater than the adversary’s Resolve. If their Resolve is 2, you need to roll two successes.
Heroic Actions
But here’s the cool thing: Your character can put forth a heroic effort to earn more than one success during a single Check when you achieve multiples of the DR.
For a DR 5 adversary, a result of 10+ counts as two Successes. But for a DR8 adversary, a result of 16+ is needed to count as two. What was your heroic action?
Leveling the Playing Field
If the adversary’s DR is just too high to roll a Success, players can also use their turn to put the adversary at a disadvantage, reducing their DR, reduce an adversary’s ability, or attempt to flee. These usually have a lower DR to achieve, but don’t count towards a Success against the adversary. However, a Setback still allows the adversary a turn. Plan your strategy wisely for powerful adversaries!
Overcoming Challenges
All the same is true for Challenges, which are non-violent encounters with creatures, folks, or the environment. Instead of taking damage, players make not achieve their goal, take a negative Condition, an item may break, etc.
Fording the raging river may be a DR8 | Resolve 4 challenge. Players must accumulate 4 Successes before 4 Setbacks to overcome the challenge, with the GM describing what happens after each roll.
Perhaps on a Setback the player takes the Waterlogged condition, weighing them down, making future checks harder, or one of their items is lost down stream - whatever makes sense in the narrative.
Additionally, players can reduce the difficulty of Challenges just like an adversary. Maybe they throw a rope across the river first, and on a Success, the DR is lowered as they hold on tightly while crossing.
In future devlogs, we plan to discuss magical jams, crafting them, and the narrative aspect of items, magic, and feats!
Until Next Time!
-Andy