The Narrator

Savari started as my first PF2e PC character. I think I technically started playing with her in DnD a while before but that’s pretty much neither here nor there. The only thing that’s really important is that this was my first time playing a Bard and weirdly playing a Bard was the thing that started triggering me thinking about making my own TTRPG.

Namely because… I just… never… felt like I was playing a Bard. At best I just felt like a run of the mill Swiss Army Knife which was in a lot of ways fun in it’s own right but I didn’t make her to play a Swiss Army Knife, I made her to play a Bard and nothing about playing her felt anywhere remotely close to Barding.

In spite of all of that, I slowly started building a back story for her: she’s a part of the Vivid Aurora Circus, then eventually became it’s Representative which will 100% become more relevant at some point in the near future because the Play Testing involves you actually meeting them but uh… well with pretty much every small thing I started building any level of interest in, I suddenly have to build a big thing for that thing of Interest to live in.

And this is where the tiny little seeds for Ash and Flowers were born!

I could spend a while talking about my dissatisfaction but honestly, if you want to drive through it, you can read more extensively about it in our Ash and Flowers Dev Post HERE. THIS post is more about what we’ve been finding exciting.

It was a bit of a late decision but the more we committed to making this feel like an actual Adventure and inevitably a Play, we decided that we needed a Narrator and Savari ended up being the perfect option for that because who else would you want to narrate a massive story about the end of the world than A Bard?

I don’t really know just how much I can share about this aspect of the game without it getting spoilery, but it is developed to be immersive which means it definitely will not be for anyone – especially if you find the RP part of TTRPGs at all annoying but it IS shaping up to be something that’s been incredibly challenging not only from a game development perspective but also from the perspective of writing because we really have the goal of making sure that this feels like you’re playing through something that did happen – even if it’s just to the people who live in Azraeém – and in turn, every decision you make adds up in the end … Just hopefully in your favor.

PURSUITS & THE BARD

One of the things we were struggling with for a bit was figuring out how to handle The Pursuits. We didn’t want them to just feel like run of the mill Classes that you play in a game. We wanted them to feel like this was literally your fucking job and somehow your job also comes with the perks of using Magic as a central focus!

While we were milling around with developing all of our Pursuits (one of which we ended up changing which we will share eventually!), the one that ended up being the first we solidified was… YOU GUESSED IT! The Bard!

Since we already had a firm understanding of Savari as a character as well as the role that she’d be playing in the game, it was a lot easier to start figuring out not just how a Bard could be played in a way that felt satisfying as a Pursuit, but to also help us better understand what other Pursuits are and are Not in some capacity.

While I am not going to say what Savari’s build would be out of what we developed because that would be spoilery for the Play Test, what I will say is that we sure as hell learned a lot about the game because we are definitely committing to the game being A.) Incredibly Lethal, B.) Incredibly Strategic and C.) Honestly probably really fucking stressful because there will be a lot of juggling and calculating necessary to actually get through the game. Even stepping back and thinking of Savari’s build gave me sincere anxiety because this is not something built to be open to spamming abilities or relying on anything as a crutch to try and get a win. You will need to cooperate, you will need to plan ahead and you will need to not assume that you can do this alone in any capacity.

I think one of my favorite parts of this, though, is that it also gave us a lot of freedom to think about considering what if everything actually mattered? This includes any items or connections you have access to whether it’s the instrument you play as a Bard or the type of animal companion you choose as a Hunter (WHICH I AM EXCITED TO SHARE ABOUT TOO!!!). Everything at the end of the day in this game serves a purpose which means it really definitely most likely not be for everybody.

ANYWAY, here’s a look at the basic set up for how we’ll be handling our Pursuits. This isn’t finalized but it does also give you a preview of a few things like The Governors in the world (((Which I’m excited to share more about their mythology later on))), a peak as to how leveling works in the game (((Sorry! it’s Milestone leveling so if you’re also looking to grind for XP, you’re not gonna be happy))), and how we’re handling diversifying options even within Pursuits. We’re keeping it strictly to Three Branches regardless just to make sure that we a.) are able to better focus on the function of each Pursuit and b.) challenge ourselves to utilize other options in the game like Rituals, Spells and more!

This is 8 pages, but it was also written up in Scrivener so this may not be how long this will look in the book BUT if you’re not looking to really sit and do any reading then once again – sorry to say that this game probably won’t be to your liking.

Also if you see anything that says One Turn, we mean One Round. We’ve also been working on getting our verbiage consistent which has been tricky because of it boils down to ~*vibes*~.