Announcing: The Grove System

A new tabletop system for building and exploring communities

First, some quick housekeeping: It was announced that in December our newsletter host, Revue, would be closing their doors. We have migrated the newsletter to Substack. There is nothing you need to do on your end, but we wanted to make you aware. Now, on to the Grove System!

Eleven months ago, I set out to build a game that explored what it was like living in the communities that form at campgrounds all across the United States. Inspired by games like Wanderhome, Outer Wilds, and Stardew Valley, I wanted to make a game system that captured the tactile camp crafting vibes of late summers.

The game quickly turned into a whimsical science fiction setting and the system developed over time into a unique way of playing - a three-phase gameplay loop, token-driven gameplay, narrative crafting, a skill learning progression system, collaborative adventure creation, and much more: Banda’s Grove.

Banda’s Grove was released earlier this month in version 1.0, and so we turned our attention to how we can provide tools to the community - and the Grove System was the obvious next step.

The Grove System is the outcome of months of work, distilled down for others to use. We are releasing it for free and with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license! Inside, we provide easy cut-and-paste rules for you to copy and tweak, along with design notes that share insights of why we designed things the way we did.

As we wrote The Grove System, we made another game in parallel to test it out and ensure we weren’t missing anything, and while we still have a lot of work fleshing that game out - we know now that the Grove System itself is solid.

(Expect an announcement in the future for that game!)

What kind of games can I make?

From cyberpunk to farming sims, and space exploration, to coffee shop socials, the Grove System is robust enough to handle your game idea! The core feature of The Grove System is building and exploring communities’ triumphs and struggles in your setting and themes.

Is making a Grove Game hard?

Not at all! In the document, we provide copy and paste wording for you to drop all the parts into place, and flesh out and tweak however you choose - writing detailed settings, or a rolling table, or even simple prompts for players to build out details themselves. If there’s a mechanic you don’t want to use, you can simply ignore it.

I’m not a game designer, why should I care?

If you have enjoyed Banda’s Grove - its nostalgia, gameplay, or even just individual pieces - the Grove System is our way of helping other game designers make games that use those same mechanics you love in Banda’s Grove!

But that said, you can also be a game designer, if you have an idea for something, this document gives you the foundation to build from. We’d encourage you to join our Discord server, where the community can help answer questions to help you with your own game!