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...

Irons In Fires

Happy Zine Month!

I've made a goal to publish 6 things in 2026. I'm knee deep in laying out and polishing up Bolthaven Folio #3 right now, and I've got a new editing gig in the door, so the next few weeks feel very full. I've got some other projects in the hopper, but I may take a look back and rehab some old projects during March. So let's see what's on my mind lately.

The Present

I've done some testing with the Settlement System that appears in Bolthaven Folio #3. It's minimal as tests go, but I think the system holds up. It'll be interesting to see this work at larger settlement sizes. I'm hoping to get that published this week for Zine Month (#ZiMo), so stay tuned. And the aforementioned editing gig just kicked off, so I'll be distracted for the next few weeks.

Testing Settlements - Coldwater Bend Part 5

Finally A Hamlet!

I'm testing my settlement system by telling the story of Coldwater Bend, a brand new hamlet built by a party of ex-adventurers by the riverbend teeming with trout. You can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, and Part 4 here.

Turn 13

Income generates 4 Coin (the Tavern triggered!), 2 Morale, 2 Wood, and a River Trout. Growing to a Hamlet proceeds apace (4 of 6 PP done. Next turn for sure.). Foraging turned up nothing. We get an Attack for an Event this turn, so we'll resolve that after Trading.

Our Specialists take their 2 Coin. Zofia trades a Wood for 1 Iron and 1 Coin (yay, special ability!), and pays 1 Coin to get some Wheat, as a hedge against growth. Tadek takes the Iron and forges weapons, giving a +1 to Militia until next turn.

Testing Settlements - Coldwater Bend Part 4

Need better outhouses.

I'm testing my settlement system by telling the story of Coldwater Bend, a brand new hamlet built by a party of ex-adventurers by the riverbend teeming with trout. You can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.

Turn 10

Income consists of 3 Coin, 2 Morale (Culture has a +1 temporary bonus, so we're currently at 7 and getting a few bonuses on rolls), 1 River Trout, and 2 Wood. The people finish work on the Tavern, and it gets added to the Infrastructure list, giving +1 Culture and a 50% chance of generating 1 Coin at Income. The Recruiting effort bears fruit, attracting 2 People (I rolled a 1 and added 1 from High Morale). I rolled Settlers as an Event, so another 5 People (rolled 4, plus 1 for High Morale) move to town. That puts us at 18 Population, squarely in the overlap between Holding and Hamlet. Looks like we should start working on growing Coldwater Bend pretty soon.

Testing Settlements - Coldwater Bend Part 3

Citizen With A Dog.

I'm testing my settlement system by telling the story of Coldwater Bend, a brand new hamlet built by a party of ex-adventurers by the riverbend teeming with trout. You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

I've changed the turn order a little, so I'm making those modifications in this test run. I'm planning on running another few turns later today, and I'll post those results this week.

Turn 7

Income consists of 2 Coin, 1 Morale, and 1 River Trout. The Lumber Mill finished this turn, so that gets added to the Infrastructure (costs 1 Coin in Upkeep, gives 2 Wood at Income). People harvested a second River Trout for their Forage project. The dice gods were kind, giving us no Event this turn.

No trading took place this turn, as there's enough Coin and Resources to go around this turn. Specialists now get paid here, just before resolving their effects. So Zofia gets her 1 Coin here, and Coldwater Bend enjoys +1 Trade for another turn.

Testing Settlements - Coldwater Bend Part 2

Getting Swans In A Row.

I'm testing my settlement system by telling the story of Coldwater Bend, a brand new hamlet built by a party of ex-adventurers by the riverbend teeming with trout. You can read Part 1 here.

Turn 4

Income consists of 1 River Trout, 2 Coin (Trade went up to 2 last turn thanks to Zofia), and 1 Morale. Residents gathered 2 Wood to prep for building a lumber mill, and they managed to trap 1 Rabbit for food. I rolled an Exodus event, so 3 people left (the refugees went back to the city to the rest of their family, bringing the population down to 10), causing Morale to drop by 2 (it hurts to say goodbye).

I was planning on building a lumber mill this turn, but with Morale running in the negative, it's time for a Festival (1 PP) to cheer people up, plus foraging for more food to keep everyone fed. Zofia sold off the River Trout for 1 Coin, and everyone had rabbit stew to keep their bellies full. Upkeep also included 2 Coin (1 for Size and 1 for Zofia, bringing us down to 1) 1 Morale (bringing us to -2).

Testing Settlements - Coldwater Bend Part 1

They probably have cows.

I've got enough structure built for the Settlement System to give it a whirl, so let's try an alpha test by starting with a brand new settlement.

A few definitions to navigate what's happening might help. Basic stats are Size (governs the scale of everything), Trade, Culture, and Militia. Each of those except Militia corresponds with a more volatile stat that potentially changes every turn, namely Population, Coin, and Morale. Settlement Turns are how often Income, Events, Projects, and Upkeep happen; I'm using a week per turn, but for a more casual experience a month per turn should work (and probably make more sense).

Settlements have Resource Income, which generate Food, Raw Materials, and Luxury Goods for consumption or trade, with extra Resources persisting between Turns in the Warehouse. Infrastructure tracks settlement buildings and Specialists are notable people in the settlement, and both can impact settlement stats. Projects allow the citizens to build and do things, and Events happen randomly every Turn to help or hinder the settlement's progress.

With all that as prologue, let's follow along as six ex-adventurers found a tiny settlement named Coldwater Bend.

Designing a Settlement System

Welcome to Worcester

I wanted to make something to model the growth of the settlement the party leaves behind when going out on adventures. It started as a random event table, but then it sort of inflated into a mini domain game. I was planning on developing this system sometime in December for the next Bolthaven Folio, but my brain started early.

So let's talk about where this came from and how it's going.

I wanted something that could handle random events in a frontier village serving as a base of operations for an adventuring party. I then thought about the PCs actually settling and growing a settlement on their own, as Name Level used to imply back in AD&D. And then the idea for Motewright flew across my Bluesky feed, so I started developing this system that I could flesh out for that particular RPG project.

Bolthaven Folio #1: Coming Soon

Draft of Bolthaven Folio #1

I've been fighting with myself for a long time. I'm just an editor (even though it's never "just" editing). I'm not a game designer (even though I've been doing it since I started playing, and I even have a card). I'm not good enough (even though friends keep asking for me to run more games for them).

It took time and effort, but I can finally talk over my Brain Weasels.

I have ideas. Given the 240ish posts here about Fellport over the past 2 years, apparently I have plenty of ideas. That's never been the issue. Developing the idea and sticking with it until there's something solid that can stand on its own has been my stumbling block. Now, I think I have something worthwhile. I thought I'd start a series of zines to start getting these ideas out into the world, called Bolthaven Folios.

Timing Isn't Everything...

Preliminary layout and art.

...but it is most things.

Bolthaven Folio Update

Suffice to say that the Bolthaven Folio Kickstarter will not happen in February. I had enough to go live with, but I'm waiting for Kickstarter to approve me before they can review the project. Part of me is bitterly disappointed. Part of me knows better.

With the delay I take get a better crack at a header. I can continue layout tweaking and figure out how to format the tables that I want to include in the interior pages. I have time to edit the text and get the second draft out to pre-readers for feedback. My daughter can finish the cat samurai artwork - she just has to tweak the katana and do some finish work on the piece.

I'm excited at the prospect of getting something out the door, and I'm thrilled at having another dozen issues worth of ideas. Let's get this one done and shipped, then I can poll the backers and figure out which few ideas to develop next.