Distal, a merciless d20 fantasy RPG

Mark your calendar, three weeks until blast-off!

On April 24, at 7pm EDT, the campaign for Distal launches, and we'll be livestreaming on BackerKit to celebrate! Early Backers get some goodies at the same time, but we'll talk more about those once we're closer to the day.

Each week I'd like to learn a bit about what you're interested in seeing more of, so you'll find a poll attached to the bottom of this post. You'll also find a schedule with upcoming events as they are added.

Upcoming Event:
Interview with Hardboiled GMshoe (Apr. 4, 8:30pm EDT)
I'll be interviewed by Dan Davenport, the Hardboiled GMshoe, in text-based Q&A format!
Swing by the Randomworlds RPG Discord and ask me anything you'd like to know about Distal!
To join: https://www.tinyurl.com/randomworlds-discord

For the folks at home:
Which lineage would you like to see art for?
There are currently 9 lineage options in Distal, with at least a couple more on the way. You've likely already seen Neszha, the Atlean Strategist, and we'd like to get some new concept art going for our next lineage.

This week I'd like to hear which of these four lineage options you'd like to see art for most!

This week we released the first edition of the Distal Monthly Digest, a lightweight digital supplement that aims to:

You'll find everything from game updates, to monsters and equipment, to thematic inspiration, to experimental rules and mechanics, to industry musings, and even articles that might make you a better GM.

Followers can grab the Digest for free below.
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The One Ring TTRPG is the most beautifully designed book I own. It has award winning art; weighty pages of untreated paper that feel good to touch; and immersive, thematic embellishments that connect you with the game's world. It's an envious piece of work that required a team of masterful designers, writers, and artists to produce.



One day, I hope to create something as inspiring, but until then: I'd like to create the most interesting book on your shelf.

For Distal, we're doing something a little unorthodox with the hardcover. You can flip the book upside down to immediately access different information based on your needs.

One side for prep.
One side for play.

While preparing a game, you're touching on the stuff that happens before, after, or between sessions. That'd be things like... creating or leveling a character, building adventures, planning encounters, and more casual reading on the setting and lore.

When you're playing a game, that's when you want to be able to hand the book off to a player so they can look up a rule, without having to tell them which of the 12 stickynotes they need to flip to. You'd see quick-reference tables, the core rules, and possibly an equipment list for shopping trips.



The goal is to spend less time looking for information, and more time using it.

You occasionally find this technique used in manga and comic books, or children's books in the 1930s, to tell multiple stories. Products in the TCG or board game space would occasionally use it to give different sets of rules or information based on the mode of play, but I've never personally seen it done with TTRPGs.

It's a bit bold, potentially a bit gimmicky, but I think there is potential worth exploring. What about you?

Would dividing information up like this be an asset at your table? Which books do you own that handle information delivery well? What's the most interesting book on your gaming shelf?

Let me know!
-Wrel

When I left the gaming industry, building Distal wasn’t the goal — creative freedom was. Of the two projects I pursued, Distal (known originally as “Keystone,”) is the one I felt would have a broader impact. Buuuuuuuut, it was also the one with the highest risk of commercial failure. So, is it still possible for the underdog to win?

Hey there folks, Wrel here. I wanted to share some hard truths about the nature of crowdfunding, and see if we can't find a better way to conduct business.

With rare exception, TTRPGs are not a lucrative market. Even Ed Greenwood, the prolific author of D&D’s Forgotten Realms setting, kept his day-job as a librarian in part for financial stability. In contrast to Mr. Greenwood, in order to finish, test, promote, and package this d20 system, the project will need to become my day job.

The good news is that in 2023, 90% of projects launched on BackerKit reached their funding goal (amazing!)

The bad news, is that the fear of not funding causes many creators to lowball their price, while secretly crossing fingers that they’ll make enough money via stretch goals and bonus content to make it all worthwhile. “Funded in 20 minutes! :D” might look good on a thumbnail, but that’s not a game I can personally afford to play.

Back in January, to everyone's surprise, MCDM decided to break the mold.

For MCDM’s new RPG project, they weren’t going to gamble their future on crossed fingers. They set the price point at $800,000 and asked if the community cared enough to fund the game they wanted to make. More than $4.6 million and 30,000 backers later, it was a resounding “Yes!”

To me, this is inspirational. It means that there are more honest ways to run a campaign… if you have the audience and interest. We don't, yet.

So here’s my ask: forward this email, or send this link (http://www.playDisRPG.com) to the players at your table or the GM that runs it. Send it to your favorite D&D or Pathfinder content creators, and maybe even your friends and family. Remember, the game is already playable (download the materials here) — and we’re further along than many similar projects out there (MCDM RPG included.)

Distal needs to find its first 1000 fans, and we've got about 25 days to do it. If you want to help build a merciless d20 system that inspires better character stories, encourages meaningful stakes at the table, and tackles age-old problems with streamlined solutions -- this where we start.

You help spread the world, and I’ll work on building the most interesting hardcover book on your gaming shelf*.
-Wrel



*unless you already own MÖRK BORG.

In 2016, I was faced with one of the most difficult decisions of my life. In order to pursue my dream job as a developer on my favorite game (PlanetSide 2), I would need to leave a wife and four-year-old child on the opposite side of the country. I wasn't originally going to take the position... which made it all the more difficult when I did.

Hey there folks, Wrel here. I’m the sole author of Distal, and since we're building a game that celebrates the hardships endured by your characters, I figured I'd share some hardship of my own.

Work has a profound importance to me. The perseverance, the act of doing. It's the slow, forward progress, step by step at the cost of one's own mind and body… Sacrifice, in other words. You can blame my father for that. He hammered a work ethic into me that, some 20-30 years later, I now view as a both a great gift and dire character flaw.

My time in the games industry was good, because of this, however. I could learn faster, do more, and devoted myself wholly to whatever needed done. Weekends were often spent shepherding community events or playing the game; planning for the future or putting out fires in the present; and I was no stranger to weekend office visits at obscure hours of the morning just to work on random ideas with no one else around.

I did well. What’s more is that I enjoyed the work for a long, long time.

By the end of a 7-year run, I went from Game Designer, to Lead Designer, to Creative Director (and de facto Executive Producer) managing a team of ~20, and running a multi-million dollar live service video game. If it's not clear, that is an astronomical rise both in breadth of duties performed, and the weight of the ones I already had. So when burnout finally hit me… it hit me like a truck.

Every new hat I wore distanced me further and further from the thing I most wanted to do, which was to design, build, and create. At the same time, the things that needed to get better at the corporate level showed no signs of improving. A lot of this had to do with how tumultuous it was at the organization over the years, and the (sadly standard) corporate politicking, and all the behind-the-scenes on-goings that ultimately affected those of us just trying to do good work. It wasn’t until late 2022 that I realized that I was no longer doing what I loved.

That brings us to now.

I’ve moved back across the country to be with my kid again, to start over from scratch, and to just do what fuels me creatively. I don't mind the slow, forward progress, step by step, sacrificing my mind and body to make amazing things… but with any luck, this time it will be with a bit more balance.

Thank you all for being here, and for helping support this project.

I realize this doesn’t answer the why of building Distal specifically, but... we can talk about that next time.