The Torchbearer Second Edition Kickstarter Is Live!

Cave Serpent by Arik Roper

Hello friends!

Just posting to let you know that the Torchbearer 2nd Edition Kickstarter is now live!

We’re splashing out on this like never before. The new edition is based on 7 years of playtesting and feedback on the first edition. We started off with the intention of making a few tweaks like fixing the bow and wound up revising the entire game.

Don’t worry! It hasn’t changed so much that your existing supplements will be useless, but we’ve clarified, revised, refined and expanded the rules. If you back at a tier that includes the Lore Master’s Manual, you’ll get tons of new material, some of which I know many of you have been clamoring for. It includes:

  • New class: the thief, go from a knife-wielding cutthroat to the shadowy power that rules this town
  • New class:  the shaman, fueled by the Immortals of Beasts, channeling their wild power
  • New stock: the Troll Changeling; they’re part troll, part human and all trouble
  • New conflicts: Banish, Abjure, Bind and Battle
  • New settlements like Borderland Fortress, Shire and Walled Town
  • Lots and lots of gear in a comprehensive list
  • Rules for making base camps—good for tackling those megadungeons. 
  • Economic rules so you can crash the economy of your town
  • Travel rules
  • Simple guidance on town adventures
  • More spells and invocations
  • More monsters!
  • Wild new rules for spiritual quests 
  • And more!   

Join us in this adventure and you’ll score some fabulous loot!

The Bridge of the Damned: Under the Bridge

Hello friends! Happy Torchbearer Thursday! This post has been cross-posted with my Bridge of the Damned Kickstarter project. Please back it if you’re interested in seeing the finished project!

The amazingly talented Kurt Komoda sent me some concept sketches of the Bridge of the Damned cover yesterday and I wanted to share them with you.

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The Bridge of the Damned

Castle Erobring by Kurt Komoda

Hello friends!

We’re excited to introduce the Kickstarter for our latest Torchbearer project: The Bridge of the Damned. Follow the link to back this project and help me bring it to fruition!

The Bridge of the Damned is a new adventure targeted for characters levels 2-3. It’s based on the amazing contributions all of you have made in the Robber’s Bridge series of posts right on this blog:

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One More Day

Hello friends!

My apologies, but if you’re here for the announcement of the new Torchbearer adventure Kickstarter, we’ve opted to push it back by a day. Sorry if you’ve been waiting with baited breath, but thanks for your interest!

We’ll launch tomorrow instead (Monday, Feb. 18). I’m not sure what time, but we’ll make sure to post here, on the Burning Wheel HQ forums, the Torchbearer RPG Facebook page, the Torchbearer subreddit, and I’ll post it on my Twitter account too.

Talk to you tomorrow!

Thanksgiving Thank You!

Religious Procession by Kurt Komoda

Happy Thursday!

It’s a holiday today here  in the US, so I’ll keep today’s post short.

I and the rest of Burning Wheel Headquarters wish you and yours a happy Thanksgiving. We are thankful to all of you who support us in continuing to make games. We are thankful to all of the friends we have made through the years while doing this, and for the friends we hope to make in the years to come. We are thankful for all people out there that have taken and continue to take a stand against racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and all other forms of intolerance. We are thankful for all those who stand with our LGBTQ+ family.

I’m writing this from my brother’s home, surrounded by loving family and beautiful things. I’m thankful for how lucky we are, while recognizing that so many other people, here and around the world, are suffering. They lack adequate food to eat and water drink. They’ve lost homes and loved ones. They suffer the injustices of poverty, illness and war. I am thankful for each and every one of you that takes some small step to help mitigate this suffering.

The world of Torchbearer can be a dark and unforgiving one, but it is also one in which we can triumph by working together and supporting each other for a common cause. I remain hopeful the same is true of our own world.

As a special ‘thank you’, here are a handful of magic items for which Torchbearer characters would be very thankful.

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Torchbearer PDF Updated!

Hello friends!

Just wanted to let you know that the Torchbearer PDF has been updated on the Burning Store and DriveThruRPG. Bits & Mortar also has the updated PDF.

If you bought the PDF through the Burning Store, or received it via the Torchbearer or Middarmark Kickstarter:

  1. Go to the Burning Store
  2. Log in
  3. Go to the My Account tab
  4. Click the My Downloadable Products link in the dashboard on the side
  5. Click the Torchbearer PDF link

The latest version of the PDF, TB_layout_r27_2ndprint_scrn brings the PDF in line with the second printing of Torchbearer. Most of the updates are fairly minor:

  • We fixed some punctuation and typos and cleaned up a few sentences to make them clearer.
  • We added Laborer as suggested help for Alchemist, Armorer, Healer, Hunter, Survivalist and Weaver.
  • We removed Lore Master as suggested help for Hunter and replaced it with Survivalist.

The only “big” change is that Level 2 traits now grant +1D to two rolls per session, rather than to all rolls to which they apply during the session. (See Trait Levels, page 22)

 

Middarmark, Torchbearer GM Screen Now on Sale!

Hello friends!

I know many of you that missed the Kickstarter have been eagerly awaiting the release of Middarmark. Well the time has come. The Middarmark book+PDF ($20) and PDF ($10) are now available on the Burning Store, as is the new and improved Torchbearer GM Screen ($15).

For those of you who may have missed it, Middarmark is a setting supplement for Torchbearer inspired by Scandinavian myth and folktales. It’s chock full of adventure ideas to give you a jumping off point for your campaigns, along with new settlements, legends of infamous lairs and harrowing places, details on the more popular Hero Cults of the Young Lords, and, of course, new spells, magic items, monsters and more!

Contend with the slave-taking pirates of the Skera Strait and the Kraken that preys upon those waters. Explore the Trollfjells for signs of the chaos cultists of the Jotunn Hrym and the terrifying Temple of Black Skulls dedicated to him. Follow the legends of Sigrun, Lady of Battles, to the fog-shrouded barrow downs in hope of winning her war-magic. Aid the elves who quest ceaselessly for the Tower of Seven Dreams where the Erlking holds the key to ending their long exile. Seek the fate of the fabled dwarven kingdom Nidavellir, near the gates of Hel. Adventure awaits!

Middarmark opens new vistas of possibility for Torchbearer. Within you’ll find nature descriptors and questions for six human tribes, a new class in the form of the human skald, rules for steadings (a new form of town), rules for how various weather conditions affect your adventurers and much more.

At last Middarmark

At last Middarmark.
http://kck.st/2jIxfKn

Middarmark - KS Image

Thor showed me this draft over four years ago. I told him it was amazing, but it wasn’t done. Since then, Thor has regretted that day and every day since. For I have born the lash against him, driving him to frenzy and madness.

But he finally did it. Middarmark is ready to enter this world.

Like all of our best work at BWHQ, this book has been a challenge for us. We’ve never done anything like it. Traditionally, we eschew setting and focus on evoking atmosphere through the rules. But Thor’s work is so powerful, so evocative, that it was worth breaking our own Beliefs. Even so, we made sure that every detail in the book is hooked back into the system in some fashion. Because, as ever, we don’t just want you to read, we want you to play.

We hope you like it.
-Luke

Middarmark - Cover ImageMiddarmark - MapMiddarmark - Map 2