HEXCRAWL NAVIGATION & THE ROAD AHEAD – 5E DEVTALK 09.23 (Patreon)

Greetings Adventurers,

Today, we're thrilled to roll out a roadmap for our 5e campaign system, the Path of Penitence. We’ve already released two QuickStart guides which act as the main primers to this system and the world of Doaden, but there’s much more on the way! In the next few months, we aim to craft a richer and more dynamic experience, truly immersing you and your players in our darkly fantastic world. To accomplish those goals, we will be releasing several major campaign tools and sections. Here’s a glimpse at what’s ahead!

September 2023: Hex Crawl Map – LIVE NOW

Unfurl a hex crawl map of the Empire of Azerai! This tool gives you and your party the ability to explore Doaden and discover everything that hides in the shattered world together! Including random encounter and locations tables, and guidance on placing adventures throughout the realm, this tool will help you to build a flexible yet persistent campaign world. More still, it delves further into the atmosphere and environments for the empire’s regions, bringing the world to life even more.

This module is LIVE and waiting for you, Path of Penitence - Campaign Guides, has been added to your MMF libraries!

October 2023: Crusade Progression

As your party completes missions for the Penitent Crusade, they will gain ranks and respect amongst their peers. This progression system grants access to Crusade vendors, artisans, and specialists, providing the party with meaningful advancement and aid on their journey. Also, as the party gains favor, they might even regain their freedom to explore, select adventures, or conduct investigations on their own, taking charge of their own destinies!

November 2023: The Wagon

Last up in this development cycle will be our Crusade wagon system. This 3d model has been hanging out for a while and we’ve always had grand plans for it. Now, we’ll finally see it in action! When players reach a high enough standing within the Crusade, they will gain access to this mobile HQ, allowing them to travel the world in style. Most excitingly, while using the wagon they will be able to gather a colorful cast of crew and companions, providing a range of benefits on their journey, as well as a way for you to build meaningful NPC interactions!

Virtual Tabletop

During this cycle, we are also exploring options to bring our dark fantasy modules online to VTT! With assets ported online, we hope to make it easy and convenient for you to join your friends in this immersive world, no matter where you are. This would be a new frontier for us, so we’d love to hear from you if you have experience with VTT platforms.

Calling for Aid! On this front, if you have experience with preparing Foundry VTT asset bundles, please get in touch! We’re looking for excited new cultists to help us make these bundles so that we can bring an even more immersive and convenient experience to the community, even for those who can’t get to the tables each week. If you’re interested, please reach out to Alex, our lead game designer at the following:

Email: alexander.bestiarum@gmail.com

Discord: cultmaster_alex

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These core Path of Penitence sections will greatly increase the immersion and depth of the campaign experience but are heavily time and resource-demanding. To ensure we achieve this grand vision, we will be temporarily adjusting our adventure offerings. Starting in September, we'll be releasing these core PoP sections along with two adventure modules instead of three, allowing our team to tackle the amount of work needed on the campaign end. But fret not! As we conclude this phase of intensive PoP development, the trio of monthly adventures will return, more vibrant and engrossing than before!

As we embrace these thrilling new changes, we thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm. With these foundational campaign elements in place, we hope to foster the world of Doaden to become an experience unlike any other.

Thank you for being a part of this grand tale. The best is yet to come!

Warmest Regards,

Alex Dovermann

5e Lead Designer