As I suggested in my last post, I'm aiming to be a little more "posty" this year, if only to better justify the cost of web hosting. Not quite rising to the level of a resolution - last year's hardly held out, after all - but hopefully I can get a decent streak running for my heartbreaker.
For the uninitiated, "heartbreaker" in this context is short for "fantasy heartbreaker", a handwritten fantasy TTRPG. It's not a compliment, as it refers specifically to games that hew too closely to D&D - they're heartbreaking for perhaps having a good idea or two that are overwhelmed by how otherwise uninspired they are.
Now, I think of my game as being better than that - referring to it as a heartbreaker in my personal notes is a bit of a self-deprecatory dig - but there's some truth to it. See, I'm trying to take the structure of Blades in the Dark and attach a couple D&Disms to it. I want rolling a handful of polyhedrals to happen, for it to be exciting when you roll a 20, for you to make "Saving Throws" and be able to have a Dwarf Cleric. I'll be aping the trade dress of Basic D&D. I'm using the six Abilities, which among some circles would already be a game design cardinal sin.
Anyways, for this year, hopefully I can keep up with posting about this game more regularly. Eventually I'll have the core rules more or less straightened out and I can start on player-facing game elements.
The actual name of this game will be Blades & Basilisks, though I'll be sticking with Heartbreaker as a codename. Here's to the new year.
