Tyler F.M. Edwards's Blog, page 12

Wyrd Street Tease: Stay Focused

At various points as I’ve discussed my upcoming RPG Wyrd Street, I’ve touched on the focus mechanic, but I think it’s time I did a proper deep-dive on just how it works.

Focus is a universal resource used by all classes to fuel many of their most powerful abilities. You can compare it to mana or other similar resources in other games.

My reason for creating focus was simple: I have never enjoyed playing a 5E character without spell slots. Choosing how to manage the resources of your character creates interesting tactical choices, and it’s just fun to be able to pop off and execute abilities that are far beyond a basic attack in power.

Pure martial characters as presented in 5E are just too one-dimensional for my taste. Therefore I created focus so that every class in Wyrd Street could have compelling choices in battle.

Originally, higher level focus-spenders were more powerful and cost more focus so as to emulate higher level spells in 5E, but in keeping with my desire for Wyrd Street to have relatively flat vertical progression, I ultimately decided to standardize the power level and cost of most focus-spenders. There are still a few extra dramatic spenders with a higher cost, but they’re pretty rare.

The risk of a standardized resource system is erasing class identity, so to prevent that I’ve given each class a different relationship with the focus mechanic. Some classes have a large maximum focus pool, while others have a small one. Some regenerate focus rapidly, others only once or twice and adventure, if that. Some have small pools but fast regeneration, or large pools but slow regeneration.

Those classes that are more focus-starved compensate by having very strong core stats and/or passive abilities. If you like the steady reliability of martial classes in 5E, that’s still an option here — focus is more of an augment to that playstyle than a replacement for it.

Most commonly, classes regenerate focus by resting between adventures or recuperating between fights, but many have additional ways of getting it back. A number of classes have access to a selection of unique focus-generating abilities, while others have more exotic options baked directly into the class.

For example, the Dreamer class is all about being a team player, and their focus mechanics reflect this. In addition to getting some focus from resting, Dreamers also regain focus whenever anyone in their party scores a critical success on an attack, ability, or skill check. The amount of focus gained scales based on party size, so Dreamers aren’t hobbled if they’re on a smaller team.

This also creates some interesting class synergies. The Fortune Teller has abilities that can increase the odds of a crit, or even guarantee one, making them an excellent pairing with a Dreamer. Scoundrels can also be adept at crit-fishing with the right build, making them another good option to feed a Dreamer focus.

Speaking of Scoundrels, they’re another class that has a unique relationship with focus. Whereas every other class can eventually attain a maximum focus pool of at least five, a Scoundrel’s max focus is only three, and whenever they rest or recuperate, their current focus is set to one. This means they’re the only class that can lose focus by resting

They do, however, have a robust suite of abilities that generate large amounts of focus mid-fight. This means they are encouraged to spend their focus early and often — if you don’t use it now, it goes to waste. It captures the speedy intensity of their agile fighting style.

The focus mechanic seeks to both balance the complexity of classes while simultaneously fostering class identity in new ways. If you’d like to see it in action, you can try out our free starter edition.

Wyrd Street is currently crowdfunding on Indie Go Go. The campaign is a little more than halfway through, and unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’re going to hit our funding goal. However, keep in mind that the game will still be released no matter what. Whatever funding we earn in the interim helps to polish the game with more artwork and other perks. Every donation matters, and if you can’t afford to contribute, you can also help by spreading the word on social media or recommending Wyrd Street to your friends.

Geeks’ Cant Podcast Talks Wyrd Street

In my writing career, I’ve only rarely performed interviews, and never once have I been the subject of an interview. Until now, that is.

I recently sat down with the Geeks’ Cant podcast to talk Wyrd Street. I discussed the mechanics of the game, its world, its inspirations, and how the heroes of Wyrd Street are more like Daredevil than the Avengers.

Wyrd Street is currently running an Indie Go Go campaign to fund a proper launch. Anything you can contribute helps, even if it’s just spreading the word to your friends.

Wyrd Street Indie Go Go and Starter Edition Now Live

It’s finally hear. After years of work and preparation, the Indie Go Go campaign for Wyrd Street is now live.

Back now and experience this unique, intimate RPG.

We’ve also launched a free starter edition for anyone who wants a taste of the game before they commit to buying.

See you on the streets of Morhold!

Wyrd Street Tease: Lo Karlsson, the Drifter

The launch of Wyrd Street’s Indie Go Go campaign is now just a few days away, and I’m continuing my look at the game’s Iconic Characters. Today, we’ll be doing a deep-dive on Lo Karlsson, the Drifter.

The elder brother of Ji Wensdottir, Lo has a cocky attitude that can make him seem a bit childish, but the reality is he had to grow up fast. With an ailing father, an overworked mother, and a young sister he feels he must protect, Lo sees it as his responsibility to always put on a brave face — or, in his case, a confident smirk.

When it comes to the adventuring life, Lo has taken up the ways of the Drifter.

Along with Street Preacher, Drifter is one of the very first class concepts I had for Wyrd Street. The original concept for Wyrd Street’s classes was for each to be a run-down version of traditional RPG classes, and Drifters are the rangers of the setting.

As a long-time city-dweller and lover of the natural world, I’ve never agreed with the idea of cities as an opposition to or interruption of nature. There’s still lots of nature in the city; it’s just a bit different. Drifters understand this; they are the rangers of the urban jungle. They know the secret paths through alleyways and across rooftops, and they find allies in the stray animals and so-called “vermin” of the slums.

Mechanically, Drifters are primarily a damage class, but as you’d expect from a ranger, they have a lot of versatility. They’re equally adept with both melee and ranged weapons, and they can even get bonuses for using both in equal measure. And while they’re not well suited to being a primary tank or healer, they do have access to a decent set of tools to bolster their survivability or that of their teammates.

One of my favourite examples is their ability to acquire Back Alley Cures, “healing potions” of questionable provenance and uncertain results. Every time you drink one, you must roll a die to determine its results and hope for the best.

Drifters are also Wyrd Street’s premier pet class. While the options have been shored up a bit in recent years, when I first started work on Wyrd Street I was very frustrated by the lack of good pet class options in Fifth Edition, so I worked hard to make it a robust option in Wyrd Street.

To that end, Drifters have access to combat pets that are both powerful and plentiful. They can befriend resilient stray hounds or clever raccoons to aid them in battle. As they level, they can continue adding more allies and become master of a pack of as many as three three creatures.

Don’t worry, though — there’s also an option to play without pets if you don’t enjoy that playstyle.

Self-reliant and capable, the Drifter is the class that best represents Lo Karlsson. However, his backstory doesn’t strongly tie him to a specific playstyle, so he’s one of the easier characters to convert to a variety of other classes: Brawler, Scoundrel, Vigilante… I could even see his ready charm and cocky attitude fitting well with the Fortune Teller class.

Lo is the last character I commissioned artwork for prior to the launch of our crowdfunding campaign. I’m now ready to publicly reveal his artwork for the first time. Looks like he even brought a few friends:

Wyrd Street launches on Indie Go Go this Tuesday, March 29th. Keep following Superior Realities for more updates.

Wyrd Street Tease: Five Snow Blossom, the Dreamer

As the launch of Wyrd Street’s IndieGoGo rapidly approaches, I continue my look at some of the Iconic Characters with the Iconic Dreamer, Five Snow Blossom.

Five is one of the Bala, a race who trace their lineage back to the sylvan powers of the forest. The Bala are each named after the day of their birth in the Bala calendar, but since Five was abandoned as a baby, her name is taken from the day she was found and taken in by an orphanage: the fifth day of the month of Snow, in the year of Blossom.

Despite her lonely origin, Five has grown into a cheerful, optimistic teenager who tries to see the best in everyone. Though she never had a true family, the tightly knit community of Morhold’s Bala Enclave ensured she was safe and fed.

Now that she is beginning to find her own way in the world, she’s discovered a kind of surrogate family in the Wyrd Street community. Doctor Zuberi Mbogo (himself a playable Iconic Character) has taken her in as a kind of protege, and Five has developed a budding romance with his daughter, Subira.

Five is a Dreamer, a class that draws its inspiration from both druid and bard archetypes. Dreamers are those who escaped the struggles of poverty through tales of far off times and places, and their imagination burns so brightly that they can alter reality around them, to a limited degree.

Dreamer was one of the most fun classes to design. Their abilities are drawn from legends and myth, so it allowed me to flesh out the cultures of the setting in a very unique way. For example, Lash of the Cloud Shepherd, a lightning whip ability drawn from a Plainsfolk myth about a cosmic shepherd who guides the clouds across the sky.

Mechanically, Dreamers are primarily a support class. However, they have a very unique take on the role.

In most games, support tends to be a very reactive role. Someone gets hurt, and you heal them. In contrast to that, Dreamers have almost no capacity to directly heal allies. Instead, they must proactively use abilities to buff, protect, and restore their friends.

A prominent example of this playstyle comes at level one, with the Blossom of Life ability. Drawn from a Holder fairy-tale, Blossom of Life grows a spectral flower on the battlefield. Your allies can then touch the flower to receive a small amount of immediate healing and the Renewal Boon, a long-term heal over time effect.

Blossom of Life has the potential to heal a tremendous amount of damage across your party for a very low cost, but it requires forethought and team coordination to use effectively.

If you’re the sort of player who enjoys planning ahead and coordinating with the rest of your party, a support Dreamer is right up your ally.

But if you don’t feel like playing support, Dreamers do have another option. Like many nature-themed classes in RPGs, Dreamers have the ability to shapeshift… but because they live in the inner city, with little contact with actual wildlife, they can do so only imperfectly.

At level one, they gain access to the Chimera Form ability, which allows them to gain some animalistic traits and enhance their aptitude for melee combat. As they level up, they have access to many upgrades to Chimera Form, allowing them to transform from fragile ranged supports into exceptionally resilient melee brawlers.

Since Wyrd Street largely lacks distinct subclasses, you don’t need to fully commit one way or the other, either. You can dabble with Chimera Form to gain a bit more resilience while still offering support to your allies, or vice versa.

Optimistic and unflinching, the Dreamer is the ideal class for the eternally positive Five Snow Blossom, but if you’d like to play a more traditional support, her backstory could also fit Street Preacher well, or perhaps she could learn some tricks from Dr. Mbogo and adventure as a Quack. If you want to eschew support entirely, her keen mind and eye toward the future could even justify her as a Fortune Teller, one of the game’s must destructive damage classes.

Five is one of the first characters I commissioned art for. If you’ve already clicked on our pre-launch IndieGoGo page, you’ve caught a glimpse of her, but if not, here she is again:

Wyrd Street’s crowdfunding begins March 29th. Sign up on IndieGoGo to be notified by email when the campaign goes live.

Song of the Month: Aurora, Blood in the Wine

This week I got around to listening through Aurora’s new album, The Gods We Can Touch. Overall I’d rate this as one of her weaker albums, but there’s definitely still some good stuff there.

It’s also unusually dark by her standards — one has the impression she went through a break-up while writing the album — but of course that’s no issue for me. It’s still not half as dark as most of the other stuff I listen to.

I think this is my favourite track on the album, at least right now:

That chorus is infectious.

Wyrd Street Pre-Launch Page Live

The pre-launch page for Wyrd Street’s IndieGoGo campaign is now live. Sign up for email notifications and get notified immediately when the campaign launches on March 29th.

In production for more than three years, Wyrd Street is an action-adventure tabletop RPG about lower class heroes fighting for the people they love. Keep your eyes on this blog for more previews as we get closer to launch.

Wyrd Street Tease: Ji Wensdottir, the Street Preacher

In my last preview for Wyrd Street, I highlighted the Iconic Character Blue Rose, the Vigilante. Today, let’s look at another Iconic: Ji Wensdottir, the Street Preacher

At the heart of Wyrd Street’s story is a single refugee family. The Holder herbalist Karl Vinnarson; the retired Tiahnese soldier Na Wen; and their adult children, Ji and Lo. As war breaks out between the Free Holds and Tiahn, they find themselves torn between the two sides, distrusted by both.

The younger child, Ji Wensdottir is in many ways the heart of the family. Full of the optimism of youth and with a strong connection to the world of spirits, Ji tries to bring comfort to all she meets, be they the destitute of the slums or the fae spirits who still linger in the forgotten corners of the Holds.

Ji is the first character in the story I had a clear image of, and in my mind she’s become something of a mascot for Wyrd Street. Similarly, Street Preacher was one of the first class concepts I had, and when I finally started actually designing the game, Street Preacher was the very first part I wrote out. The class has had some revisions since then, but the general concepts remain the same.

Street Preacher is of course Wyrd Street’s answer to the traditional cleric archetype, though there’s also a touch of wizards and sorcerers to them.

With plentiful healing and buffing abilities, Street Preachers are an ideal fit for the support role, and they are also one of the best classes in the game for dealing AoE damage, capable of devastating hordes of foes by summoning mischievous Flame Imps and deafening Divine Bells. Lest you fear getting caught in the crossfire, they can also take the passive ability Shelter the Faithful to prevent their allies being harmed by their massive AoE bombardments.

That said, Street Preachers are perhaps the most versatile class in the game, so they can be built to fill virtually any role to at least some degree. With heavy armour and mastery of polearms, they can make resilient front-liners, or they can take up bows and magic charms to fight from a distance. Their only major blindspot is a lack of efficient damage options against strong singular enemies, and of course a jack of all trades does risk becoming a master of none.

At level ten, Street Preachers gain access to rituals, incredibly powerful abilities with high focus costs that often require multiple actions spread out over more than one turn to fully activate.

Each ritual emphasizes a different aspect of the Street Preacher identity. Ritual of Flame calls down the wrath of the heavens to deliver devastating and precise multi-target damage. Ritual of Glory blankets your party with a variety of powerful buffs. And Ritual of the Ancestors provides the ultimate expression of a Street Preacher’s versatility, allowing you to temporarily gain the use of a level ten ability from any other class.

Versatile, supportive, and eternally helpful, a Street Preacher can be the heart of any party, just as Ji is the heart of her family.

Of course, if you don’t want to be a Street Preacher, you can always ask your GM to let you change her class. The optimistic Dreamer class is also a natural fit for her, or if you want to take her in a more physical direction, you could make her a Vigilante, allowing her to follow in her mother’s martial footsteps while still wielding divine magic.

Before I go, I would like to provide one more little tease. I recently received the finished cover art for the core rulebook, and as the game’s mascot, Ji has a central role. I’m not going to reveal the full cover today, but I would like to offer you a glimpse of our inspiring Street Preacher in action.

Wyrd Street’s IndieGoGo campaign is scheduled to launch March 29th.

Song of the Month: Meg Myers, Jealous Sea

There was no way I was only going to share just one Meg Myers song, though it’s taken me a bit longer than I initially expected to get around to posting another.

Today, I’m going with the wonderfully brooding (and cleverly titled) Jealous Sea.

At the risk of fueling harmful stereotypes, as someone with borderline personality disorder, I can’t help but feel on some level this is the anthem of my people.

Star Trek: Prodigy Is Shockingly Good

I have not, as a rule, been terribly impressed with the newer crop of Star Trek shows. Discovery starting out appallingly bad, and after years of improvement has only clawed its way to “watchable, just barely.” Picard had some very high highs, but also some major lows, and overall it felt too bleak and cynical to really feel like Star Trek. I watched one episode of Lower Decks, and that was one too many.

I’m also not generally a fan of shows aimed at younger audiences. I can make occasionally exceptions, but usually I find them dull.

So it goes without saying that I had pretty low expectations for Star Trek: Prodigy, a new cartoon aimed at bringing a new generation of kids into the franchise. It’s perhaps a bit surprising that I even gave it a chance at all.

But what’s even more surprising is how incredibly good it turned out to be. As of the mid-season finale, I think I’m ready to declare it the best Star Trek show since Enterprise.

It’s not perfect, of course. There is a lot of very forced humour aimed at young kids that I find just plain cringe-worthy, and the half-hour format does leave some of the stories feeling a bit rushed (though somehow still less rushed than most of Discovery). It also tends to play fast and loose with the continuity of the Star Trek universe — not to an extent that really bothers me, but I know some people are off-put by the show’s fuzzy chronology and geography.

But despite these flaws, it still manages to be a very strong show.

Alone of all the new Trek shows, Prodigy feels like it’s hit a balance of being both fresh and faithful to what’s come before. The fact that none of the characters are Starfleet — none of them had even heard of the Federation before stumbling upon a derelict ship — gives us some fresh perspective on the universe, and allows us to have a more fractious and flawed cast, as opposed to the squeaky clean Starfleet crews we’re used to.

At the same time, we see the crew learning to come together and triumph despite their differences, and nothing could be more true to Star Trek than that. Prodigy is bringing back the franchise’s trademark optimism in a way that feels natural and earned.

I will also make another bold claim: Of all Star Trek shows in the franchise’s long history, Prodigy is doing the best job of balancing episodic stories with ongoing arcs. Every episode feels like its own satisfying adventure and advances the meta-plot in at least some small way. It’s neither the breathless sprint to the finish of Discovery and Picard, nor the “reset button” formula of The Next Generation and its spin-offs. I’m not sure even Enterprise struck this balance so well.

And to all that an endearing and diverse cast of characters, lots of action, and truly alien worlds courtesy of the animation format, and you have a formula for a thoroughly enjoyable show.

I even like Janeway now! I never liked her before. Turns out she’s a solid character when she has consistent writing.

I don’t do reviews on this blog much anymore, but Prodigy deserved some gushing. I’m not ready to declare it the best Trek series ever or anything; it still has a ways to go before I rank it alongside The Next Generation or Enterprise.

But I can say this much: Counting the Abramsverse movies, Prodigy is the fifth new installment of Star Trek since Enterprise was cancelled, but it’s the first time out of all of those I’ve found myself thinking, “Yes! Star Trek is back!”