itch.io

"Rob Hebert (nerdypapergames.itch.io)" is best. Thank you for checking!

Hey, that’s awesome! Yes, you can adapt this game, just give proper attribution and link back to this page.

And please link to your game here!

Thank you for the kind words! That’s a really cool idea for iterative play. Could even introduce some legacy-like elements to the castle itself :)

To be totally honest with you, plague times + family medical stuff + having a kid put the SRD on the back burner, and I currently have a few paid gigs I'm churning through. But I do have *some* of an SRD for EfDCD, and I *will* return to it when time permits. I am a man of my word, just... an "eventual" man of my word.

That's an interesting question. I don't think it's mandatory, per se, that a player selects Saraneth. There are a few options worth considering:
- As you mentioned, the GM can run Saraneth as an NPC or GM-PC
- The players can control Saraneth as a group
- The players can take turns controlling Saraneth
- You can actually run the game without Saraneth! Any information, power, or authority that she has could be gifted or granted to one of the other party members. Perhaps she gives someone her magic staff, or she tells someone King Nothing's secret name. It can be really fun to figure out, as a GM or a group, why Saraneth isn't there (is she dead? trapped? diverting KN's attention elsewhere?) and how she--or the party!--has made up for her absence.

Of course, please feel free to add whatever guidance you think is helpful in your translation :)

Thank you, zerodan!

Hi Sdocquir! In that instance, you would continue to play with 2 cards. 

Under the standard rules, you don’t “draw back up” once you’ve taken damage; it unnecessarily lengthens the game.

However, if you like having more cards in your hand, you can play with alternate rules. Instead of discarding when you take damage, track successful strikes with a point system. First person to 3 points wins (or reskin the points as HP or Hearts or whatever for your setting).

Hope that helps, and let me know how it goes!

I'm so glad you enjoyed the game, Gerdino, and honored that you took the time to translate it into German.

You have my permission to share your translation online so long as you make it freely available to all (you can do PWYW or have a "tip jar," you just can't require payment for the game). Please also include the original credits page and link back to the original here.

Thank you for reaching out!

Amazing! That’s exactly the kind of situation I wanted SBB to help with, so it’s great to hear that it worked for your group :)

I sent you the indd file last week, were you able to download it?

Wow, that's incredible! Apologies for the delayed response (I was OOO during the holidays), but if you email me at hebert(dot)rob(at)gmail(dot)com, I can send you the indd file.

Oh my stars and garters... Spawny Toorte with a solo adaptation of game by lil ol me???

Thank you for the kind words! Unfortunately, the Lead/Follow mechanic (which requires at least two people) is a pretty integral mechanic in SBB, so I'm not sure how one would go about playing solo, but Spawny Toorte figured it out (see below)

I dig it!

Hmmm... I'm thinking about a "Hunter" class, probably built around upgrading a Legendary Monster Slaying Weapon and the Sub-Weapon box from many a Castlevania. Stay tuned.

Cool notes! I'll have to noodle on them for a bit.

Just finished up a lengthy campaign with this fantastic book. It's essentially a collection of procedures, mini-games, framing devices, story prompts, and (small) random tables that spur directed creativity at your table. That alone would be worth the money, but the organization and layout is the imho the killer feature: I downloaded the pdf like 10 minutes before the session, skimmed it real quick, and was able to utilize it with ease. You know a game like this is good when everyone at your table is excitedly trying to jump into the scene and add their own bits.

And to top it all off, the book features incredible, evocative art in a wide range of styles. Get this game, y'all.

Whoa, good catch! That's a typo, thanks for letting me know :) I'll have to fix that and upload a new version.

Absolutely! Please post a link here and I’ll update the game page.

Absolutely! Please link it here when you publish!

That would be so awesome, let me know whatever assets you need

So cool! I just downloaded it and can't wait to read it.

Thank you! I really appreciate the feedback on the playlist!

Thank you for the kind words, I'm so glad you enjoyed the game!

Thank you for the wonderful feedback! It means a lot that it inspired you to make new tech for it.

You have my permission to upload your solo rules to itch so long as you link back to my page. And please let me know when it goes up so I can link from here, as well. Thanks!

Thanks, Tim! I appreciate the compliment :)

Thank you so much for the kind words! Stay tuned, as I might be kickstarting some decks with updated art real real soon :D

Hi TheGiftofGabes! The character keeper can be found here tinyurl.com/sbbcharkeep 

Just copy it to your own Drive account and it should become editable for your own sessions :)

Thank you playing, and for the questions! I’ve done my best to answer them fully below:

Inflicting 2 wounds vs minions with only 1hp... Is the extra damage is wasted?

It’s up to the GM to determine whether (a) the extra damage or condition carries over to another enemy, (b) the extra damage is “lost,” or (c) the player/PC receives some other appropriate benefit.

What about using the Reapers scythe "vs groups"?

Same principle applies, although in this instance I would almost always transfer the “extra” damage to a monster in the same group.

How is area attack intended to work?

This is super-easy to miss, so I should probably reiterate this on the weapons page, but per p. 24 : “Area attacks and magical burst effects are especially effective against swarms (i.e., the hero rolls with advantage).” So basically “roll with advantage on attacks against swarms,” but also there could be situations where the GM grants some other ad hoc benefit (like extra damage against a group of enemies tightly packed into a hallway or something). 

How do you handle disadvantage when rolling with the Beast die? Roll all 4 dice and then drop the lowest? Or roll 3 normal dice, drop lowest, and then add Beast die to that?

The latter (though it would be drop the *highest* for disadvantage). It might be simpler to think of the Beast Die as a separate mechanic that works independently of the initial dice roll. You just “add +1d6” to appropriate rolls (but watch for the “lose control” condition).

Conditions are never actually explained. They're kind of intuitive for players, but how would they work against enemies?

It can be any hindrance or situational disadvantage. Broken limbs, getting frozen in ice, blinded by bright light, whatever. I usually factor it into (a) what sorts of actions an enemy takes (eg, if a PC opens a crack in the Steam Knight’s boiler, then maybe it can’t use its steam blast attack) (b) advantage/disadvantage against the enemy (eg, giving a PC advantage on their attack against Candelabra Spider bc it has “Condition: limbs bound in rope”). In an earlier version, there were specific conditions with explicit mechanical effects PCs could inflict on enemies, but it just wasn’t worth the complexity.

Amulet? How does armor work in this game?

The Summoner’s Pentacle decreases all damage received by 1. 

How much Blood can you spend on a single roll?

As far as I’m concerned, if you got it, you can spend it! Though a GM can certainly substitute their own ruling for a different vibe or difficulty curve.

Can you spend Blood first to get a +1, roll badly, and then spend Blood for a reroll?

Yup!

When a player attacks an ally (Beast loses control etc), I assume they roll the Attack move. How much HP loss is each "wound" the attacker inflicts? I assume the defender can use the Dodge move.

I treat it as “defender-facing”: the Beast doesn’t roll against the defender, we just assume the Beast is out of control and attacks. Usually, the defender gets a reaction roll, like Dodge (to keep things feeling fair). For the damage, it depends how hard you wanna go. I usually leave it at the default Major Trauma (1d6) but YMMV.

Trauma is wildly dangerous, which is ok, but it's VERY unpredictable. Even Minor Trauma will do 5-6 HP damage somewhat regularly. Perhaps change the damage scale (use smaller dice?) or change it to a flat number of Wounds, the same as enemies use.

It’s intended to be swingy, because I wanted every failed roll to feel dangerous—but feel free to alter to taste!

But that being said, I actually think it *feels* more dangerous than it really is. Outside of Epic Trauma, every PC can take at least one hit, because the max damage is 6 and HP starts at 8. Secondly, dropping to 0HP doesn’t mean a PC dies. They are only “taken out,” so it’s left up to the table’s interpretation of the fiction what being “taken out” means in context. Could be knocked unconscious, get thrown into a nearby pit, or start bleeding out.

I hope those answers help, let me know if any of that didn’t make sense!

Sorry for the late reply, I didn't notice your comment. Here is a screenshot of the character keeper from a session we played. A lot of the PC definition comes from play, but I hope this helps. Please let me know if you need anymore guidance!

Thank you so much for the kind words, Michael!

Holy crap, that's awesome! If you'd been interested in being part of an official Spanish-language release, please contact me!

[brass instrument sounds]

Wow, thank you so much, Gates! This review absolutely made my day

Thanks, Raul! You can hack/modify/use this system for your own stuff so long as you include appropriate attribution (eg, a link to this page) and get my permission beforehand. Which... uh, I hereby give you. Go forth with the Frogmother's blessing!

Thank you, DeReel! Good catch, I've uploaded a new version with the arena strip fixed.

I will be also be adding an addendum for "translating" the system to settings/conflicts exactly like what you mentioned, so stay tuned!

Hell yeah! Thank you @thecraigedgar!

It does seem similar from the outside, but I haven't read it yet. I'm doing a review series this month on Twitter, and I'll probably review Castle of Memories bc it was suggested in a Discord I'm on, so I'll see how close it is then. It's possible that Adrian was either inspired by my game or maybe it's a case of "multiple discovery." Will be interesting to break it open and see what makes it tick.