I’ll soon be releasing the ‘taster set’ with its solo adventure and single pregen. After that will come the ‘quickstart’, which will feature more detailed rules for group play, including the use of low-level aether invocations and scientific gadgets. The quickstart will also include at least 3 more pre-gens, of which this is the first. […]
After a solo playtest and some refinements, this is the latest version of the pregen ‘adventurer log sheet‘ for The Aether Throne. This, together with the intro rules and the solo online tutorial adventure, will form part of the ‘taster set’ for the game and setting. Amazingly, someone in the industry whose work I have […]
The Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro OGL1.1 furore has caused an understandable stir amongst the ttrpg creator community, from established third party publishers like Kobold Press to indie creators self-publishing on DriveThruRPG. The official license and details thereof have still to be released, but by all accounts it’s not great news for creators, particularly […]
As previously mentioned, I am close to finishing my ‘starter set’ version of The Aether Throne, my steampunk ttrpg system and setting. Now, I’m considering the ‘backlog items’ – the rules, sections and other material I want to produce for the full game, which is going to take a lot longer to put together, but […]
I’m making good progress on my ‘starter set’ for The Aether Throne, my steampunk ttrpg system. It will consist of 3-4 pages of basic rules, an online Twine ‘tutorial adventure’ and a pregenerated adventurer for players to run through the scenario and familiarise themselves with the mechanics and setting. The Twine adventure is about 60% […]
I’m a big fan of ttrpg starter sets. Although they are often gateway drugs to the never-ending world of rulebooks, expansions, scenarios and accessories, some of them are marvellous self-contained worlds of adventure that represent great value and give players an idea of what to expect from the full game. I’m adopting the starter set […]
The Aether Throne uses just one die to resolve all actions and outcomes. A twenty-sided die (a d20 for short) governs all the fickle fortunes and fates of adventurers as they attempt to overcome obstacles, hazards, situations and foes in their path. At its simplest, an adventurer rolls the d20 and adds modifiers to the […]
Now that I’ve made the major design decisions for my steampunk ttrpg system, I have started to write the first draft in earnest. I know how I want the major parts of the system to work, and as such I know what attributes, characteristics and values I want players to be able record on their […]
The Aether Throne is an alt-history version of our own world, in a time period resembling the late 19th century: the Victorian Age. In The Aether Throne, a distant Queen rules over a vast Empire, her prosperous rule having allowed huge advances to be made in science and technology. The powers of steam, clockwork, arclight […]
As a break from the mechanics of my steampunk ttrpg system, I’ve started to think about the setting and worldbuilding. Playing cards are a core mechanic of the game, and I have a magic system of sorts in the shape of aether. When I started to think about how I wanted magic in the game […]