Bolthaven Folio #3 Is Available Now

The Zine, Printed.

On 2/28/26, at the very end of Zine Month, I uploaded Bolthaven Folio #3 to itch and DriveThruRPG. It's playable, and I've got many expansion plans for the system.

I'd love your feedback on the system as it stands. If you play with it, please let me know what you think about the system. If you think it needs more explanation on any piece, that's hugely important to me. Similarly, please let me know if you want the information presented in a different order to make it easier to digest and use.

You can leave me a comment on this post, or reach out to me on Bluesky or at the dice.camp Mastodon instance. I'll respond, though it might take me a few days. I'll give you a mention on future iterations of the Settlement System.

And speaking of which...

MoteWright: The Future of the Settlement System

As I mentioned previously, I envision this system as half of the MoteWright TTRPG I'm developing. (Yes, this is the system I'm working out with these design specs.) The world of MoteWright exists some time after a cataclysm struck down a high fantasy civilization, where elements of civilization are starting to coalesce and regrow what was lost despite the ongoing assault of creatures both magical and mundane.

The play jumps between adventuring, where heroes of civilization explore ruins and recover resources, and settlement building, which improves defenses, expands the reach of trade networks, and unlocks facilities to open paths to better technology and tools. The need for mundane resources motivates most adventuring runs. The magical Motes hiding in the ruins contain massive potential to those adventurers brave enough to gather them and experiment with unlocking their powers.

Motes carry the magical power of the fallen civilization, but they also contain the corruption that brought down that civilization. Adventurers have some resistance to corruption, but the darkness can still steal their thoughts when the corruption overwhelms their resistance. How much of yourself will you sacrifice to channel the magical power you need to save your friends or your settlement?

I'm still miles away from something playable, but I'm working on it. I wanted to get something working on the settlement side, so I focused on the Settlement System first. I've got some notes on classes and some ideas on how motes work, but I don't have a solid handle on the core mechanics as of yet. But stay tuned.

So that's where things lie on this front. Hopefully I'll have more details worked out soon, and something approaching a system. Yes, I'll need playtesters for the adventuring side as much as I'll need for the settlement side. If you're interested, please let me know (see above for how to reach out).

Thanks for reading!