We've been hard at work this month beginning to really nail down layout of the book ready for all of the art and such to start getting made and added in, Conor even wrote over 20 thousand words of additional lore last week alone whilst he was moving things into the book! (Someone go check on him, he just keeps sending me pdfs full of lore). We actually have a little bit of a preview of some lore and the current style of the book here for you! I'll attach more at the bottom of the update*.
Keep in mind these page previews are early looks at the book, and are missing art and some design elements, and might have typos or other errors.
Before I get onto the usual rigamarole of playtests, surveys, and well wishes I just wanted to slide in a super quick reminder: Please do your survey! We're currently sat at 95% completed surveys, that's first of all pretty damn good! But also leaves about 150 of you who don't currently have any way to receive your bits and bobs for Lodestar! (This includes physical AND digital!) So just make sure you've given that a look if you haven't already!
Okay okay, onto what you're all really here for: More content! This weekPlaytest 06comes with two full casters that me and Conor have been going back and forth on for sometime. There was a potential that one of these two was going to be cut from the final release but I think we've really hit a point where we're happy with both of them! There's also a pretty fun new paladin subclass in there!
First of all we have the Druid: Circle of Everyworld. A druid that does not simply warden their home realm, instead pulling on the alien biology from across the beyond. Sometimes this manifests as chaotic (and a little bit gruesome) mutations to their allies, or bringing a touch of alien flora to their spells! This is a subclass we really wanted to feel different, it can be difficult in a game with as much content as DnD to really nail that but I think we hit a great place!
Next we have the Cleric: Tale Domain. A worshiper of gods of stories, tales, and fables, the Tale domain really pulls on the idea of being and embodying a storyteller yourself. Capable of twisting the narrative in ways that benefit you and your allies. Also one that we've been umming and arring on for a little bit, we didnt want to just do Cleric: The Bard subclass, but also wanted to really hit the vibe of a storyteller!
And finally the Paladin: Oath of The Charter, a real powerhouse of camaraderie and teamwork! The Charter Paladin is all about supporting your allies, creating a network of trust amongst allies (and also obtaining treasure of course!). Even their capstone transformation feature acts as a party-wide buff rather than simply effecting yourself!
Rogue & Warlock Survey
Overall we hope you enjoy these new subclasses! For those that managed to give the rogue or warlock a go from last months update head over here to take a quick look at the survey and let us know what you think!
That's it for me for this month! 3 whole subclasses and 19 pages of previews?! Man we're kind to you guys! But with this playtest we've finished with all of the subclasses in the book so if y'all have any specific requests for what you wanna see next feel free to shout em out in the comments or over in the discord!
Have a wonderful month! Aston
FURTHER PAGE PREVIEWS*
These are from the lore section of the book, particularly the sections focussed on the history, factions, and metaphysics of the Beyond! And again please keep in mind these page previews are early looks at the book, and are missing art and some design elements, and might have typos or other errors.
First of all I'd like to apologize for the small delay in communications, between handling international freight for our last project, the weather currently in the UK, and just getting on with Lodestar me and Conor have been busy busy busy! But that means I have more goodies to show you, this time two more subclasses as we close in on our final subclass playtests for Lodestar!
Anyone that got a chance to read over the Ranger, Monk, or Witch subclasses we'd love to hear what you think! We have our usual feedback survey here for you to tell us how you feel! Backer feedback is always super helpful especially when we're developing unique mechanics that might have room for exploitation, so if you have any thoughts or insider knowledge on how they play please make yourselves heard!
Now onto this weeks playtest: First we have the Roguish Archetype: Verminer, built for rogues that take Arcane Trickster just to get access to a familiar! Taking advantage of the distraction that a small pest can cause on the battlefield to get in some real cheap shots. (And of course what would a Roguish Captain be without his parrot/monkey/amorphous ooze pet?) Next is the Warlock Void Patron, for those that wish to stare into the abyss and go Mad*. The void patron suffuses your body with maddening darkness to warp the minds of your foes and as your pact deepens you become more primordial darkness than man. *New maddened condition also included!
Grab that playtest here! And we'll be back soon to field any feedback or fun combos y'all manage to cook up! If you wanna discuss things in the meantime the conversation is always churning over on the community Discord, we'd love to have ya!
The pirate port of Neversink, built in and around an ancient shell drifting though the silt glittered cosmos of the Beyond...
Ahoy All,
We've got a hefty playtest for you this week, featuring two brand new subclasses, the Far Eye ranger, and the Way of Celestial Alignment monk! As usual we will be releasing a feedback survey for this playtest next month, so you've until then to check them out and give them a spin at your table! In the meantime, come check out the 🐉Vault Community Discord; Aston and myself are very active there, so you can come chat to us or other members of the community, and even get early sneak peeks at art and book content!
Also, I wanted to show of the latest a piece of art I've been working on for Lodestar, the Pirate Port of Neversink! We are reaching the end of our core game and play design phase for Lodestar now, so expect to see more and more art over the coming months!
Witch Coven Playtest
For returning backers from Faerie, we also have a special additional subclass playtest coming your way this week: The Coven of the Spheres, allowing you to play a witch that divines the fates from the celestial bodies. So get ready to roll the bones, for weal or woe!
This playtest is releasing via Backerkit's distribution system to returning backers specifically, since you're the ones most familiar with the Witch class; so if that's you keep an eye on your inbox for the new coven!
Ship System Playtest
The ship system playtest in action! Photo courtesy of Bishop-Cz and crew over in the Vault Community Discord 🐉
As always, the ship system playtest continues! We've had some really useful feedback from you all already, and will continue to test the system and be open to feedback all the way till publishing.
We also want to remind everyone that if you haven't completed your survey, please do so as soon as you read this update. It is really important we get those filled in and signed off as soon as possible to help prevent delays, especially with the current global instability having such an impact on the fulfilment pipeline.
That's all for this week, I hope you're all well and sailing is smooth. We'll be back soon with more updates and content!
First of all, thank you to those of you that have had chance to read through, playtest, and review the first version of the ship system! Already, it's helping to mould the changes we make! Those of you that have already played the system but haven't had chance to give us your feedback yet we'd love to hear from you. This survey is where we will be collecting the bulk of our feedback for the system including versions going forward. At the start I've also included a small section so you can let us know which version you're talking about specifically! Those of you that have responded already: have no fear! We can collect multiple surveys from the same person, if you have comments about newer versions feel free to just fill the survey out again, just let us know in the additional comments if that's the case.
Next, we have a slightly updated version of the ship system for you today. Mostly small wording tweaks and some content additions (if you want to make sure you know exactly what's changed here is the changelog), but you'll find new weapons and munitions, as well as weather and hazards!. If you'd like to find the version 1.0 document, it can be accessed via the Vault Discord.
But that's not all, we've also bundled up a few of our ship upgrades and other hazards and weapons together for those of you that want to have a bit more of a play and insight into the shipbuilding mechanics, or spice up your encounter building!
Finally, we'd absolutely adore it if you hopped into our discordand had a chat to us about what you think, the ship system is a pretty big undertaking mechanically and we love seeing what people do with it!
That's all from me for this week gang! I hope you're all doing wonderfully!
I hope you've all had a chance to get some eyes on the official playtest packetfor the ship system! It's been lovely to hear all the stories, feedback, and just general compliments!
Me and Conor are currently working on the next iteration of the Ship System for next weeks playtest! This will include new content aswell as adjustments to existing mechanics based on internal testing and feedback from you guys! Thats where I come in a little bit early this week:
Ship System Playtest Survey
If you have played or read the ship system we would love for you to let us know what you think HERE!This survey is one of our more important ones we'd recommend, subclasses can often be strange and interesting but this is a whole new system!
We've also had some pretty wonderful conversations with people over in the Discord! If you wanna have a chat about the system, take part in conversations about Lodestar in general, or even just wanna meet some likeminded folks we'd love to have you!
As always, have a wonderful week, and I'll be back soon bearing some more ship system goodies!
