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(+1)

Wohooo, a fellow physical game!

Since it's for at least 2 players, I can't wait to try this with a friend ASAP and then get back to you about how it went!

Until then I'll review based on what my experience trying this alone is like, even if from my understanding it's not the intended way to play :)

First of all, I will admit that I was a little intimidated when my pdf reader showed me the document was 32 pages long.

But then I realized that this is because you have spaced out the text beautifully and included some extremely aesthetically pleasing designs.  When starting to read the text, it was like a patient friend was gently guiding me as I was learning about how to play this game - and before I knew it, I was absorbing the whole book in one go.

The mood this game is setting up is just really well put, starting with even the intriguing title, the downloads page and the trailer. With the right cover story, the mechanics of a game can immediately become just that much more fun, especially for a TTRPG this is essential. And the writing style is just perfect for the kind of ambience this is going for!

All of it builds up to the simple yet powerful mechanics. I love the idea of sitting at a table with friends, and just telling a story in the candle light, drawing Tarot cards.

I think the one suggestion I'd have is that, even if it's pretty clear to understand from the writing style, it's still handy for TTRPGs like this to have a "cheat sheet" with a condensed overview, one for the Fateweavers' and one for the Reader's convenience. It would save them from flipping back and forth in the book whenever they have to look up a table.

However I could also get it if you say that adding this wouldn't be in the spirit of what you're going for, since the table of contents already has handy links and it would be advisable either way for the players to just have their own notes.

The world you've built for Fateweaver is just incredibly immersive. Personally, I can't wait to pair this system with something like Decuma by Golden Lasso Games, which also uses Tarot cards.
We'd use Fateweaver to build or characters and have the basis as a setting, then with Decuma we would build upon that and create relationships in between the PC's, and then we would get back to Fateweaver to play the actual adventure within that world.  I'm getting excited thinking about it!

I made my own character by drawing cards, in case you're interested, I drew a two of Swords and the Hierophant - I imagine they must be working for the City Watch, training new recruits. Since the Two Of Swords is somewhat indecisive, maybe they have an inner conflict about which motto of the Trinity they would align themselves with, particularily the Luminous Weavers and Equilibrium.

By repurposing the Readers Tools a bit, I learned that they would uncover hidden truths and mysteries (The High Priestess) and later learned they were manipulated from the shadows (The Fool), so it sounds like while working for the City Watch they uncover some kind of conspiracy...

It will be fun to play out their story! Thank you for making this, I'd say I'm exactly the target audience for this kind of thing - I was hoping I would get games like this out of this jam once I heard the theme was going to be Tarot cards. :D

(+1)

Thank you ever so much for your comment. It's been lovely to read and hear your thoughts about the Fateweaver.

The formatting took some time to get right but I'm really happy with the final result. Funnily I have used Word to make it, instead of opting out for some more complex tools like GM Binger (which I know you used in Gretel) :) Which by the way I'm planning to test out tomorrow :)

As for the Fateweaver itself with 32 pages I hoped to provide a full TTRPG game with core rules, basic setting and core GM tools to allow the game to be played 'out of the box'. I was considering making a GM tool cheat sheet, but in the end run out of time to create a whole set of these. Also I thought that printing or screenshotting specific pages with the respective tables should be simple enough to run the game smoothly :)

Thank you for checking the Fateweaver out and for such a positive response! Good luck with the jam ratings!

You're very welcome! Also, after GMBinder "bullied" me a bit once it came to exporting the pdf right before the deadline (it just refused to include the final page and I had to remake it in Homebrewery), I don't know if I would still recommend it after that. You're obviously very talented at using Word, I thought you had used something super specific for the design! :D

And a cheat sheet would have been more like a bonus, I totally get it since you already did an amazing amount of work in the limited time - it was more of an idea for the future. :)

By the way, I have a question: So, the GM is the Reader, and the players are Fateweavers. And then there is also the Fateweavers in the game world. Theoretically your player character wouldn't have to be a Fateweaver right? You could still play a commoner? Or would that not align k with the Minor Arcana skill check? :D

I'm asking because I have an idea for siblings where one is a Fateweaver and one is not, I think that could be cool to play (as you can tell I'm really in love with the world!)

Good luck to you as well, although I'm sure you won't need it, this is an amazing submission!

(+1)

Yep. By all means you could play as one of the ordinaries. There's nothing stopping you from doing that, but you're cutting out a large chunk of the gameplay by not including the powers related to the Major Arcana cards. Fateweaver being a TTRPG allows you to play whatever you really feel like :) A political intrigue among the Elders, goody-goody adventure to save some poor Ordinaries, or some dungeon delve to uncover hidden secrets of the Fateweaving itself :D

As for choosing your affinity as a commoner, you could still do it but this would be more related to your job in the society. A farmer would be a sword, needing physical strength, while a scientist could be a wand for their smarts. It's all fully playable as ordinaries where Fateweaving is something you heard of but never truly understood nor seen. You could play a whole group of ordinaries who are hoping to challenge the status quo and refuse their pre-ordained life status :D Plenty of ideas just from that bit itself I'd say!

Have fun and make it your own!

Oooh I love that! Thank you for your insight :)