Well met, Titan Hunters!

First, I want to apologize for two things: 1) The next beta is later than I wanted it to be, and 2) I also haven’t updated you as much as I should have while we’ve been working through it.

That’s on me, and I commit to detailed updates at least every other week.

The good news is: the beta is not late because we’re stalled. It’s late because this next release got big, and because several pieces needed the kind of final pass that only happens when you actually sit with the material, test it, push on it, and ask, “Is this fun? Is this clear? Is this balanced? Is this actually ready for other tables?”

We’re very close now, and I wanted to give you a fuller look at where things stand.

The next beta is shaping up to be a huge release: roughly 200 pages of new Titanbound material. It will include all 12 new Titanbound classes, plus the supporting material that makes those classes actually work at the table:

But that’s not all. This beta will also include the major rules that make Titanbound feel like Titanbound:

That means this beta is not just a character packet. It’s a much deeper look at the actual engine of the game: creating titans, hunting them, climbing them, fighting across their bodies, and surviving the chaos when the ground beneath your feet is a living apocalypse.

The Relic Hunter brings usable, disposable relic magic into the game.
The Elemental Weaver brings roughly 120 Weaves and Threads.
The Planeshift Summoner brings a full summoning and bonding system.
The Bloodbinder brings potion recipes and ichor-fueled choices.

And the titan rules bring the scale, danger, and verticality that sit at the heart of the entire book. I want this beta to feel useful the moment you open it, not like a rough pile of notes, but like a real preview of the book taking shape.

Here’s where we are right now: The Relic Hunter, our former resident problem-child, had that title taken by the planeshift summoner.  The core idea was always exciting, but it needed a lot of attention to make the summons (a few dozen new creatures) balanced, and most importantly, very easy to play. We want a brand new player to be able to quickly pick up the class and run with it.

We’ve also been tightening the climbing, titan hunting, and titan creation rules so they’re easier to understand, easier to run, and easier to use at the table. These are some of the most important pages in the book, so we’re giving them the attention they deserve.

That means the biggest remaining pieces of this beta are moving through layout, proofing, and final internal review. Once that pass is done, we’ll get the beta out to you. When we do, I’ll include a link to the Discord so you can come tell us what you think, what you love, what broke, what confused you, and which class caused the most glorious trouble at your table.

One more thing I’m really excited about: the art is coming in fast. Our incredible artists have finished dozens of new pieces of art, and it’s making the book feel more alive every week. 

I’ll include a few favorites at the bottom of this update so you can see some of what’s been arriving behind the scenes.

One of the big things we’ve been focused on is making sure these classes feel exciting without simply outclassing the core Shadowdark classes. We want them to be bold. We want them to feel different. But we also want them to live in the same ecosystem.

Here’s a quick look at where the new classes currently stand compared to the core class power level:

The Titan Slayer is right where we want it: strong in its lane, built for big monster fights, but not overwhelming outside its specialty. It feels heroic without becoming a universal answer to every problem.

The Free Runner is mobility-forward and extremely fun in Titanbound’s vertical environments. Earlier versions pushed a little hard, but the current build feels much cleaner: fast, stylish, useful, and very tied to the setting.

The Pantheon Priest has settled nicely into its own identity. It brings a different divine flavor than the core Priest without replacing it, with flexible support and utility that feel very Titanbound.

The Spell Reaver is one we’re watching closely. It is extremely cool at the table, but because it interacts with spell power, risk, and reward, it naturally lives near the top edge of the balance band. Right now we like where it is, but it’s getting extra attention.

The Death Shot is doing what it should: delivering a focused ranged experience. It feels  satisfying without creating balance issues.

The Elemental Weaver is one of the most ambitious classes in the book. With roughly 120 Weaves and Threads, it has a huge amount of variety and customization. That makes it exciting, but also means we need to be extra careful. It is powerful, flexible, and very fun and the key is making sure the weaves come together smoothly.

The Dragoon has been a joy. Big movement, big leaps, dramatic combat moments, and a playstyle that feels completely at home in a game about climbing Titans. It feels strong, but in a very clear and flavorful way.

The Shadow Raider is brutal, direct, and easy to understand. It hits hard, starts fights fast, and has a strong fantasy without needing a complicated subsystem. This one is feeling solid.

The Bloodbinder needed a lot of tuning, but the current version has settled into a very good place. The recipe system gives it a strong identity and plenty of tactical choices without letting it run away from the rest of the party. The trick was finding any loopholes that would have let the bloodbinder craft too much too quickly (and loopholes were found! and plugged!).

This one a lot of work. The Relic Hunter now feels like an intellectual adventurer and battlefield improviser who brings something genuinely new to the game: usable relic magic. Relics are powerful, limited-use tools that can be attuned to, used, combined, and eventually spent. The goal was to make sure the class didn't feel like any other magic user without adding a lot of new rules.

The idea behind Planeshift Summoner was to bring a summoner to the table in a very Shadowdark-turn-economy kind of way. But it also has a very clear structure: you call creatures, trade places, build bonds, and make big positioning choices. For the Summons, we ended up going with a mix of SD Core monsters, monsters from Unnaturual Selection (used with gracious permission of Dungeon Damsel), and lots of originals.

The Wastrel is exactly the kind of troublemaker we hoped it would be. A dark twist on a bard, powered by luck, charm, and terrible decisions made with absolute confidence. It has a press your luck mechanic that can be, to undersell it, EXTREMELY swingy - but that's by design.

Green means the class currently feels in line with the core game and is behaving the way we want.

Yellow means the class has mechanics that are naturally more flexible, swingy, or powerful, so we’re paying closer attention to wording, limits, and edge cases before release.

And honestly, that’s exactly where I’d expect classes like the Elemental Weaver, Spell Reaver, and Planeshift Summoner to land. They’re ambitious by design.

Thank You for Your Patience

Show Your Work!

How did we get to the above valuations? Below, you can find a few charts that we've been using internally. After an incredible amount of simulations (i.e. rolling a d20 A LOT), here are the results:

Beta Progress by the Numbers

Thank you for giving us the room to do this right. I'm grateful everyday that you took a leap with us, and want to deliver big.

Onward and Upward,

Geoff