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Quest Game Book version 1.5

September 19, 2020

Hello, adventurers!

I’m excited to say we’ve just released version 1.5 of the Quest Game Book. (The previous version of the game was 1.2.1) Customers will receive an updated download link in their email, and original Kickstarter Backers will be able to download the update in a Kickstarter project update.

We’re going to go into a little more detail than usual about the changes to the game today because we’ve made meaningful alterations to some of its content. An important note before we proceed: previous versions of the game are not broken. There are only a small number of mechanical changes, affecting about 7% of the game’s entire ability catalog. Despite the cost of ink, we’ve always felt that Quest was meant to be a living document that we would change over time.

The physical edition of the game will be updated to 1.5. When we re-open physical sales later this year, both the Game Book and the Core Deck will reflect the changes. Because we ordered replacements of the Core Deck before making the 1.5 changes, we’ll issue a small pack of replacement cards with those decks. (Only 13 cards out of 250 will be impacted.)

Before we dive in, here are some definitions:

Bug fix: an error in the text.

Mechanical change: A change that affects how an ability works.

Editorial change: A change to the voice or tone of the content, but not one that should change how it works.

Clarification: A change to the text that eliminates some possible ambiguity.

Additions

We have depreciated the separate Character Profile and Character Worksheet. We have combined these worksheets, and added a worksheet for tracking abilities.

We have added a separate player safety PDF to the main digital package directory.

We have added a new fork of the Game Book design, specifically designed for use with screen readers. This file is located in the main directory of the digital edition package. Thank you to the DOTS RPG project for helping us with this version.

General Changes

Character creation (editorial change): Renamed “idiot” flaw to “foolish” both because it’s less mean and because it now reads properly in the sentence on the character profile.

Guide manual (editorial change): Edited the combat example to feature foes who provoked a reason for combat, instead of an ambush on some poor goblins who were just having a good time playing cards.

Ability Catalog

General ability catalog changes

  1. To improve clarity regarding the costs of abilities, we have added an AP cost to every ability in the game that can be used more than once, including those that are free to use and cost no AP.

  2. Clarified under the rules for “Roll The Die” that any ability asking for a die roll entails the possibility for failure.

  3. For abilities that require a roll of the die, we have moved the “roll the die” badge to precede the ability’s text to prevent confusion.

Fighter

Duel — (Bug fix) This ability contained an error in the Game Book (It is written correctly in the Core Deck). The “Counterattack” card used in this ability should instead be the “Basic Attack” card.

Retreat — (Mechanical change) Modified this ability to make it more effective. Now, the party will automatically evade minions and commoners when retreating.

Focus — (Clarification) Removed the “Choose one” text from this ability to prevent confusion. You may use any of the features of the ability repeatedly instead of having to choose only one of its expressions.

Steel Pact — (Clarification and mechanical change) For this ability’s reroll feature, we clarified that you must take the result of the reroll. Add a coup-de-grace feature to this ability to make it more balanced against the power level of other legendary abilities.

Ranger

Speak Myth — (Mechanical change) Removed the die rolling requirement for the freeform obligation feature.

Naturalist

Wild Evolution — (Clarification) Modified the language of an example from this ability that created confusion regarding when an adopted animal form’s natural capabilities may be used. (They may only be used when the naturalist is in the animal form.)

Freeze — (Mechanical change) Removed die roll requirement and added a separate AP cost for encasing a target in ice.

Doctor

Relieve — (Editorial & mechanical change) Removed the addictive effect of this ability.

Heal — (Editorial change) Removed the list of “impairments” that are relieved to allow groups of players to use their own intuition and norms and help inspire the spell’s effects to be thought of in a more open-ended way.

Restore — (Editorial change) Similar to our change to the Heal ability, we modified the language of this ability to be more open-ended. The intention of this ability is to restore a player to their “normal” state, meaning whatever state they were in before being harmed somehow.

Feign Death — (Editorial & mechanical change) Changed this ability so that creatures feigning death wake IMMEDIATELY upon being harmed and may choose to wake up at any time.

Nox — (Editorial & mechanical change) Removed some of the effects of this ability to make it less cruel and more silly.

Afflict — (Editorial & mechanical change) Completely changed the first two symptoms in this ability to make it less cruel & better fit the overall tone of the game.

Shape senses — (Editorial & mechanical change) We changed the flavor of this ability to better fit the tone of the game. Now, when using the 2 AP version of this spell, you may transport a creature’s sense to another part of the omniverse, instead of disabling it.

Amnesiate — (Editorial change) This ability has been renamed to “Forget” to match the overall naming scheme for abilities.

Magician

Control — (Editorial & mechanical change) This legendary ability is the big red button for mind control, and should not be used lightly. We have added a severe consequence to this ability that fits the moral weight of the spell. Now, if the Magician uses Control to harm another creature, they must forfeit their character. Their character becomes a villain in the story and an NPC controlled by the Guide. The Guide will tell you if your use of the spell will turn your character into a villain (the player must choose to forfeit their character).

Wizard

Familiar — (Editorial & mechanical change) This ability worked against the spirit of the game’s rules. We have changed it so that the familiar is no longer bound to the Wizard. Similar to the Fighter’s Attendant ability, the Familiar may leave if they are mistreated.

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Thank you all for playing!