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Hahaha, I wanted to do something different than the usual Tolkienesque names and Greco-Roman names evoked the right mix of gladiators and empire to me. And yeah, the equipment list is why this version took so long to finish.

For what it's worth I've done a lot of work on my mental health / perfectionism issues this past year and I don't intend on taking the game down again.

I hope you appreciate that the Faster Combat variant rule is ripped directly from your blog post, haha.

I'm in love with this concept. Keep up the good work.

Yes, and I would be very excited to see what you do with it! The game is licensed under CC BY 4.0 so the only requirement is that you credit me with something like, "Based on Ruins & Rogues by Tim B."

This is amazing and I'm terribly sorry for updating the game within hours of you finishing it 😅. The game should be relatively stable from now on!

This is a great question that I am ill-equipped to answer! I have never gotten into solo gaming, but I have run a lot of duet games (one GM and one player) and I tend to give the player one NPC ally and one pet so that combat is balanced a little more in their favor.

Hi there! For the time being, monsters' weaknesses and immunities are up to the GM, yes. In the future I may design a more expanded monster manual of some kind to go alongside the game, but in the current version I am working with limited space! (P.S. I just uploaded a new version that should make combat more impactful, see my latest devlog post for an overview of the changes.)

That is correct! This is a system called Milton dice, you can read Chris McDowall talking about its advantages in the screenshot below:

3-6 on a rainstorm spell: The rain is only a light drizzle and/or it doesn't last very long.

3-6 on a disguise spell: The disguise looks silly or unconvincing.

3-6 on levitation: Your target can't float very high or has to drop items so they weigh less if they want to float higher.

The intent is that any roll of 7 through 12 means you lose the spell until your next level. And yes, it is a bit harsh! It's like that for a couple reasons:

1. As you level up, you get access to more spells, more magic items, more tools. I want to force players to rely on all the tools at their disposal, not just spam the same spell over and over again.

2. The alternative is "you can cast the spell again after a long rest" or "you regain your spells at sunrise" or something like that, and I don't want to incentivize players to sit around and do nothing until they get their spells back! I want players to constantly be pushing forward toward the next level.

Are you completely new to fantasy role-playing? Are you confused about what that even is? Ask questions here! I want Ruins & Rogues to be a game that anyone can play, so don't hesitate to ask for help or clarification on the basics.

A topic for discussing making hacks and new versions of the game! I'm excited to see what you all come up with.

R&R's GM advice says to "ignore the designer's intent," but the mark of a true artist is to ignore any and all advice! If you have questions for me about how the rules are meant to work or why they are the way they are, leave them here.

Potential is very neat.

Knighthood, old men blather on, used to mean something. These days, with mercenaries fighting all the wars, all a knight has to do is pay his tithes.

When the war gets hard or the crops don’t yield, a knight sends his squires to quest for long-forgotten gold in ancient caverns and horrible tombs.

The squires, traditionally tasked with recovering 10,000 gold pieces worth of treasure, are promised knighthood if they are so courageous and clever as to return...

The players’ rules for Squires Errant are the beginning of a new RPG in the vein of minimalist, old-school-D&D-inspired games like Electric Bastionland and Maze Rats. (It was, in fact, a submission to the Electric Bastion Jam.)

Features include:

1. Simple rules designed to be flexible and varied while at the same time easy to memorize
2. Seven classic starter classes with 21 Boons in total: spells that can be cast, maneuvers that can be performed, and items that can be produced at will
3. Lots and lots of three-point lists

Cute!

Lovely!