Pandion Letters - Making Banda's Grove Yours
We want your Grove to be unique! Let's talk about the tools we give the table to create the kind of community you want to participate in - the people, places, events, celebrations, creatures, and more before we launch this Tuesday on itch.io.
From a bustling community of friendly faces and children playing in the ponds to a dark convergence of quantum interference-filled mysteries, we want Banda's Grove to exist as you imagine it and the way the players wish to interact with it. From the very beginning, you're in control to shape Banda's Grove.
We Build it Together
When you first start a game, everyone will build the Grove together - either on your own or by following the New Resident Orientation - a no-prep learn-while-playing introduction to the game.
You create the Grove: the way the first Planar Fragments fit together, the buildings and how they look, the initial NPCs, and, of course, yourself.
How is the Lake different and odd because of the Planes it adjoins? What does the Ranger's Residence look like? How big is the Community Campfire? Does it have string lights and chairs, or is it a simple fire pit with wooden logs for seats? What are the Biomes and Features of each Planar Fragment? Does one have a cave? Where does it lead?
All in the Details
Players have access to powerful, story-altering actions. For the cost of a Pebble, you can define a large detail about the Grove - something that becomes true about a Plane, a character, or even the Quantum Realm in which it all exists. And by noticing the small details - the color of a butterfly's wings, the feeling of the bark on a tree as you lean against it - you gain Pebbles.
Players can spend Pebbles to define new NPCs - giving them names, hobbies, secrets, or any other details they want, written down on notecards. Any player can pick up these NPC's "Camper Card" and act on their behalf - bringing them to life at any moment.
Spirits of the mysterious Quantum Woods can be created and each one offers the opportunity of cozy, emotional, or terrifying scenes and whole Quantum Events can be made to help them become whole and join the Grove as campers.
The table is frequently asked to create Quantum Events - the mini-adventures that players go on that define goals, complications, and outcomes. All of these are varied and unique. Each will change your Grove in small ways that add up over time to create intricately woven stories.
We will offer a catalog of Quantum Events to choose from to help run no-prep, low-stress games, but we purposefully made them easy to create at the table together.
We also provide the tools to create new Badges used to grant characters special moves and abilities, Special Events to celebrate important moments, Creatures to find in nature, and Facilities to build the kind of locales you want to visit.
Draw, sketch, color - Map it!
Every copy of Banda's Grove comes with the Map Pack and includes a myriad of map options - grided, gridless, prefilled, and sized A4, A3, US Letter, and US Ledger - to draw your own map, use your favorite hex tiles, or ours!
Break out your colored pencils, markers, and crayons, and start drawing away. Add a legend, notes, and your own 'here be dragons' warnings as you play.
Templates
As part of the Grove Ranger's Welcome Packet tier, we include many supplemental print-and-play materials, including blank, editable templates for making new Planes, Creatures, Quantum Events, Campers, and Spirits using the same designs that we use.
Banda's Grove is a community-building slice of life RPG. We wanted to give you, the players, all the tools we could to build the community the way you want and to craft the stories you want to tell at the wonderous Quantum Convergence of Campgrounds.
Thank you for reading and we hope to see you at the community campfire roasting marshmallows soon!
-Andrew