Scroll & Steel 1.3 released! The biggest (but smallest) update yet!

Scroll & Steel 1.3 is now available!

Get the latest update on Itch!

This is the biggest update yet. My changelog for 1.3 has as many changes as 1.1 and 1.2 combined. Because of that, I've decided not to list them individually here. Instead, it's best to just assume that, while the core concept and flow of play hasn't changed, just about everything else has. This is the first update since I took Scroll & Steel to Metatopia last fall, so I've been busy incorporating all of that feedback. Every move has been reviewed and most of them have been tweaked or completely rewritten.

But even though I don't want to do another changelog, I figured I'd give some highlights:

• Common moves across the board have been tightened up and streamlined. Recovery is now much simpler, combat no longer has gambits to track, and overcome is a lot easier to parse now.
• Starting bond prompts have all been revised based on player feedback. The overwhelming feedback I got from Metatopia was that players had an awkward experience assigning bonds, especially the more controversial ones. They're now much cleaner and more welcoming.
• Added GM principles & agenda, and added more specific advice for running combat and making moves. The GM section is so critical for making clear why Scroll & Steel is such a special game, and there's more to do here, but this is still a huge step in the right direction. The game is now a much better introduction to running a PBTA game and no longer relies quite as much on players having a background in this design theory.
• Added look and name options for each playbook. Each playbook now has much more evocative descriptions to help players understand what types of characters work best with it.
• Added the Brute, a new playbook focused around control and power. This playbook features exciting options for combat and battlefield control while also including new angles on relationships and power. It's the first brand-new playbook I've designed since developing Scroll & Steel, and it incorporates everything I've learned about what this game is so far.

But why so small?

With all these additions, you might notice that this latest PDF is shorter than either previous update. That's because, in addition to figuring out what Scroll & Steel is, I've also been thinking a lot about what Scroll & Steel isn't. So in that vein, I've removed a lot of major elements from the game, including:

• The Commander playbook. This playbook wasn't hitting the things I want to hit with this game, so I've removed it for now. I've been thinking a lot about what warfare, especially mass warfare, looks like in Scroll & Steel, and I hope to reintroduce it in a later update.
• All minor archetypes. Minor archetypes occupied a weird spot in Scroll & Steel. Any time I changed a core mechanic, I had to review all the minor archetypes to determine if they needed changes too, and too often I wasn't attached enough to the minor archetype to keep it. In order to be nimble at this stage of development, I've removed them completely, but I hope to reintroduce them at a later time once the core mechanics feel more stable.
• Weapon proficiencies. This mechanic was fine, but it didn't excite me and was going to be a pain to transfer to printed materials. Since I've cut them, I haven't missed them one bit.

All these changes are included in the 1.3 release and are also included in the updated online character keeper. As mentioned above, I am also working on printed materials, but I need a bit more time to get those ready. I figured I'd go ahead and share the online materials for those who want to get started with them.

You can get this new update on Scroll & Steel's Itch page. And, as always, I'm posting at BlueSky over @thedevteam.itch.io. Feel free to pass along feedback and let me know if you have any questions on this latest update.