On the far northern border of the League of Princes, within the Principality of Kolonia, lies the Duchy of Falenburg. Surrounded by menacing mountains, infested with misty moors, and covered with foreboding forests, there are the lights that shine out from the villages and towns of this near forgotten land.
A hardy people eke out a living in this ancient land, whilst dark sorcery, malevolent monsters, and unpredictable fae lurk throughout.
For the past nearly two years, I have been slowly developing and play testing my new TTRPG, Falenburg. This game is essentially classic/old-school D&D mashed up with a mythical 17th century Central European setting. It is my homage to both classic D&D and my homeland of Germany, with our rich histories, myths, legends, and folklore. My design goal was to be able to run classic D&D (and associated modules) in a setting inspired by my passion and interest in the early to mid 17th century. Coming from the region around the German city of Münster, where the Peace of Westphalia was signed in 1648, I have had an interest in the Thirty Years' War period since childhood. The 17th century was one of great turmoil and suffering, coupled with a deep-seated belief in the supernatural. The latter was such an ingrained part of society that even the King of Scotland (and later King of a united Great Britain) wrote a book on demonology.
After a period of research into German folklore and 17th century society, I decided it was time to blend this into an OSR setting and system. The Falenburg game system is reminiscent of 1970s and 1980s D&D in many ways, but also departs from it in a very distinct fashion. Aside from changing some terminology and incorporating other OSR mechanics (e.g., resource dice and encumbrance slots), the area I changed the most was in the design of the archetypes (classes) and the magic system. It is a level-less casting system and after a year of vigorous play testing, it more than holds up. I've dived deeply into areas such as potion making and hirelings. added a quick settlement economic resolution system, brought in skills and combat mastery and focused a lot of the play on exploration and robust downtime mechanics.
At its core, Falenburg is an adventure roleplaying game of exploration and survival in a world of danger, mystery, magic, lost treasures, and horror...and with black powder! Influences upon the tone and aesthetic of the setting come from books like The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, Solomon Kane by Robert E. Howard, and The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski. Movies also influenced the mood of the world, and none more so than Brotherhood of the Wolf and The Witch.
My vision is for the game to have two core books. The Tome of Adventure with all the rules of the game and some basic setting information and the Tome of Judgement for the referee with more detailed procedures, monsters, treasure, and a gazetteer of duchy.
The game is still very much in development, but after a closed play testing period, I am not too far away from inviting a broad and open play test period. If you are interested in being part of a play test, please email me at realmbuilderguy@gmail.com with the subject "Falenburg Play Test" and I will put you on the list to receive the play test documents when they are ready. I will also be chronicling the development of the game on my Patreon.
I'm very excited to share this game and world with more people, as it's a passion project of mine that I hope many will enjoy.
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