Fablecraft News

We wanted to give you a heads-up, Mages. 🧙

Very soon, we'll release a large update for the Fablecraft demo, including new content, a new single-player mode, and a giveaway.



[h3]What are we giving away?[/h3]

We're giving away two cosmetics, the Rainbow Cake Dice Skin and the Rainbow Cake Token Skin. Here are those delicious dice now.



[h3]What do players need to do?[/h3]

We're putting the finishing touches on a large update to the Fablecraft demo now, and that update includes a new combat trial mode and new Combat Style tutorials.

If you complete the Combat Style tutorials, you'll earn the Rainbow Cake Dice. If you complete the combat trial mode, you'll earn the Rainbow Cake Token.

[h3]Will this be timed like the Stress Test?[/h3]

No! But...

This offer will be available as long as the demo is live. We're looking to pull the demo down in the coming weeks as we shift focus on wrapping the Early Access version of Fablecraft. That's still due to release this summer, and we're on pace.

If you have any questions, join us on our Discord and fire away! We'll see you soon!

Welcome to the official patch notes for Tales of Fablecraft v0.12. Our intention with patch notes (like these and the ones we put together moving forward) is to surface the marquee features in a blog and vlog format before offering the bulleted update rundown you’re probably familiar with.

The largest additions that arrive with Fablecraft v0.12 are Charge and the Galaxy Dice Skin Giveaway we’re hosting as part of an upcoming stress test.

Watch the video for the high-level overview and dig into the nitty gritty with the text below.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Meet Charge, your gateway to dying 💫[/h2]

If you’ve played lots of Fablecraft before in the closed beta or even the recently launched demo, you’ll immediately notice something new around your character portrait. This gold, notched semi-circle represents Charge, a new, key resource.



[h3]What’s Charge and how does it work?[/h3]

Charge is a requirement for Spellcasting outside of battle.

Spells, listed in the Actions menu, now require Charge in order to activate. Whether you’re looking to apply the Self-care Spell for an HP refresh or Condescend to really prove your point to that poor Timberwolf, it’ll cost one Charge to make it happen.

Your Charge capacity will increase with level-ups, and GMs can add or remove Charge at their discretion.



Separately, as part of this update, we’re adding some different mechanics to Spells. Self-care is our first in this process, as we’re making it easier for players to manage their health outside of battle. With this update, casting Self-care will automatically increase your health, no GM interaction or roll required. We’ll be tweaking Spells like this more down the line, too.

[h3]”Right, but you mentioned death?”[/h3]

Death… yes…

If your HP reaches zero, you’ll be KO’d. Getting knocked out will reduce your Charge by one.



If you’re out of Charge, you enter a state that we’re calling “Spent.” If you’re Spent and you get KO’d, your character will die. It’s up to the GM whether or not to bring you back to life. You could want to let a Mage die forever. It’s your story!



Of course, if you’re the GM, you have the power to make the Charge and its tendrils as brutal or not brutal as you and your party prefer. GMs control Charge and can add or remove however they see fit. Want your players teetering on the edge of doom, you can do that! Want to be more lenient and flexible, you can hand Charge out like candy.

Our intention is to give you the tools to make Fablecraft as challenging as you like.

[h3]Tension and consequence[/h3]

Charge arrives to provide some fresh tension and drama to roleplaying through sessions. With Charge, players now have to think a bit before they utilize a Spell to discern the worth of a trinket, for example. It might not be worth the Charge to see how legit that sea shell necklace really is.

Down the line, Charge will see a bunch of different tweaks and updates. Give it a shot, and let us know what you think on our feedback board!

[h2]Get those Galaxy Dice this weekend[/h2]

In case you missed our earlier posts on Steam, Discord, and Twitter, we’re offering up some free Galaxy Dice just for playing the demo during our stress test.



We’re working to ensure the Fablecraft servers can handle an increased concurrent player count, and we need your help. Simply log into the Fablecraft demo on Steam between 1:30pm and 2:00pm EDT on Sunday, June 2nd, 2024.

The Galaxy Dice will unlock for the account that you’re logged in with, and you’ll get a pop-up once they’ve been added to your collection. It’s as simple as that!

[h2]The Complete Tales of Fablecraft v0.12 Patch Notes[/h2]

[h3]Features[/h3]

• We added the previously described Charge system as a Spell casting resource and penalty for KOs, and that includes a slew of new tutorial tools and menus that you’ll encounter during play.
  
• We also added a Spent status for characters who run out of Charge.
  
• Thanks to that Charge and Spent system, we’ve also added the bittersweet release of death for your characters.
  
• We re-worked the Self-care Spell to be automatic on cast instead of tied to a dice roll. That’s right; healing only costs a single Charge with no risk of epic failure hanging over your head.
  
• We spent some time making the GM Guide a little bit easier to read and navigate.
  
• We updated the error message that pops up when you try to begin battle without any bad NPCs on the battlemaps. We’re shocked you tried to get your players to murder each other. Well, maybe we’re not shocked. We’re disappoi-- just kidding, we’re not even disappointed.
  
• We added speaker highlighting to video and voice chat. Now you’ll know who’s talking as their box lights up when they speak.
  
• When you click into your inventory, you’ll now get a full view of those beautiful items instead of a small popup. It’s pretty!
  
• We added main menu details and unlock pop-ups for those Galaxy Dice that you’ll get for participating in the Stress Test on June 2nd between 1:30pm and 2:00pm EDT.
  
• We reworked the models for the Underwater and Galaxy Dice Skins.
  

[h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed a bug that would prevent Mages from casting Spells and rolling skill checks during inactive combat.
  
• Fixed a bug that would cause the chat menu to stick on the screen, no matter what you poor Mages tried to do to get rid of it.
  
• Fixed a bug that would cause the inventory panel to display incorrectly during battle.
  
• Fixed a bug that would allow players to open multiple pop-ups while selecting between Spells and Skills.
  
• Fixed a bug that would cause the inventory panel to be blank in some Story Scene sequences.
  
• Fixed a bug that would prevent players without attached Mages from opening and viewing character sheets.
  
• Performed visual QA to the GM Guide and demo flow.
  
• Improved the account creation flow a bit more.
  
• Fixed various, smaller bugs.
  

[h3]Known Issues[/h3]

• If you're rejoining a campaign built before the end-of-May release (v0.12), hero Charge will be set to 0 (only on initial entry). You can refill charge manually by right-clicking the hero, or use the bottom-right menu to recharge.
  
• If you're rejoining a campaign built before the end-of-May release (v0.12), your campaign might show a blank or empty Story Scene / Combat Scene. The GM can select a new environment or battlemap, and the game should resume as normal!
  

CLOSED BETA PLAYERS: YOU MUST LOG INTO THE DEMO, NOT THE CLOSED BETA, IN ORDER TO EARN YOUR GALAXY DICE. The Stress Test is on June 2nd between 1:30pm and 2:00pm EDT.

Join the Riftweaver team as we stream a session of Tales of Fablecraft, our upcoming virtual tabletop RPG. We'll be streaming here on our Steam page from 12:00pm PT on June 11th, 2024.

What mischief and mayhem will we create in Mythas during this fresh adventure?

Fablecraft will be free-to-play on Steam, on PC and Mac platforms, starting on this summer. Wishlist to be notified at launch!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2176900/Fablecraft/

Welcome back, Mages! The Riftweaver team will continue its Steam Next Fest Stream-exclusive adventure beginning at 11am PT on June 14th, 2024. Watch us play on our Steam page!

You'll be able to gather your friends and begin telling a story of your own in just over a week's time. Fablecraft will be free-to-play on Steam, on PC and Mac platforms, starting this summer. Wishlist to be notified at launch!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2176900/Fablecraft/

Welcome to another weekly update from Riftweaver for Tales of Fablecraft. We have some fun info to share with you this week, Mages! 🧙

Today, we’ll showcase some of the animated battlemaps we’ve been cooking up. We’ll also show off a new GM-focused feature that will allow you to set the exact scene you want without breaking immersion. Finally, we need your help to stress test Fablecraft’s servers, and we’ll reward you with a dice skin for doing it.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Let’s begin.

[h3]From illustration to animation[/h3]

Earlier this year, we started the fun process of taking our beautifully hand-drawn battlemaps and giving them life with animation. We’re showing off four of those animated battlemaps; but, let it be known that these are only the beginning.

A quick note: Players always have the choice to disable animations on story scenes and battlemaps. Just click the options tool in the top-middle of the screen.

We’ll start with the Docks battlemap set in the Coral Coasts region of Mythas. This map has a night variant, too.



What adventure would be complete without a stop at a bustling tavern? This Tavern battlemap features three variants: summer (seen below), winter, and ocean.



The Village Square below is also region-agnostic, and it has winter and summer variants set both at day and at night.



Finally, the Mountain Impasse in the Highlands region features a narrow bridge and a seemingly bottomless drop that you can totally convince your GM to utilize with a nice shove and a Might check.



[h3]A wise word on battlemap animation from Greg[/h3]

Greg Platt, our Senior Motion Graphics Designer, has been working hard to animate our battlemaps and make your adventures through Mythas more dynamic.

“I love being able to breathe life into these beautiful illustrations to create a more immersive experience for the players,” Greg told us.

“What I enjoy most is that each one is like a little puzzle to figure out, with different challenges each time. For the Docks, how do we make the water feel realistic without causing too much motion sickness? How can I draw from my experience growing up in the Northeast to create a blustery winter village scene? What little creatures and insects would be buzzing around in Mythas?”

“These scenes are ripe for storytelling opportunities.”

[h3]Drag and drop meets night and day[/h3]

If you’ve run a session or two in Fablecraft (the demo’s available now!), then you know how easy it is to drag and drop batlemaps and story scenes as you build your narrative.

Currently, if you want to take a fight to the Rooted Terrain battlemap at night, for example, you need to take a couple of steps. You have to drag the battlemap onto the stage. It defaults to day, and that means your players will see you switch it to night.

Now, we're building a feature that lets you decide on variants as you drag and drop. It’s easier to show than tell, so check it out below.



The GMs on our team love this feature, and we hope you do, too.

[h3]Uncle Dill wants you for a Fablecraft stress test![/h3]



What about that stress test?

Okay, Mages! We need your help here, and we’re offering these fancy Galaxy Dice as a reward.



We’re looking to test concurrent server load, and we’d like to have as many players as possible log on during a 30-minute window. That window will be from 1:30pm to 2:00pm EDT on June 2nd, 2024.

We’ll share more details about this stress test, including exactly what you need to do, across our platforms over the next week, but please mark your calendars! Don’t worry—it’ll be easy to get those sweet Galaxy Dice once you make it online during the set time.

That’s it for this week’s news! Next week, we’ll show off the combat arena mode that’s coming to the demo in its next major update.

Until then, you can always chat with other players, find your next party, and hang out with the Riftweaver team on our Discord.

See you next week!