Introducing Glint - Devlog 1

Dear reader,

For the past year I have been developing my own OSR-influenced dungeon crawling heartbreaker. As is tradition! 

Well, I awoke yesterday morning to the clarion call of one W.F. Smith, beckoning the forever closet tinkerers to try tinkering in the light of day (or at least in the dim glow of a Discord server). I looked at all the drafts of my game and thought, why not?

It's called Glint.

The game is in playtesting, with large chunks of the rules receiving semi-regular revisions and tweaks. But the bones are, more or less, locked in. I've been testing it with my home group for the past 5-ish months, and I am ready to start sharing the ideas that have gone into its creation with anyone who cares to listen. If that turns out to be an audience of none, then so be it, this can just be a public journal.

Maybe, something that I write will inspire someone else to create, just as the things that I've read in the OSR Blogosphere have inspired me to do so.

I'm not quite ready to just upload a PDF and call it a day, but, over the next few months, I will present Glint's mechanics in a series of articles that break down the choices I've made during development.

But, for now, what kind of game is Glint?

Glint is my (Knave/Cairn/Block, Dodge, Parry/Black Hack/GLoG/Prismatic Wasteland/Crown & Skull) hack. 
What have I stolen?

• Knave 2e: Equipment slots being able to hold Wounds. 

• Cairn: Roll for damage, subtract defenses.

• B,D, P: The delineation of weapon types.

• GLoG: Magic Dice. (Though, I probably write out a new magic rule-set every month)

• Black Hack: Usage dice.

• Prismatic Wasteland: XP Dice, Bartering (Can one hack an unreleased game? You bet your ass they can.)

• Crown & Skull: The create your own Class, mix-and-match skill system.

That's a lot of theft, and there's probably more that I've forgotten, but it isn't to say that I haven't had to meaningfully change the shape of these systems to fit them together into what I've envisioned. I hope that some of those changes will earn back the good graces of the creators whose pockets I have picked.

What makes it unique?

Well, from a flavor standpoint, if you're not in the mood for another medieval fantasy dungeon crawler, then turn back now. Hopefully, for those who feel compelled to digest every remixed DnD-like they lay their beady little eyes on, Glint will feel like a fresh take on the formula. 

From a mechanics standpoint, the thing that will stand out first is that I've gone all in on gamifying the character's inventory, which uses a physical Tetris/Diablo-inspired slot system. I've found that having a visual representation of the character's inventory has allowed me to hide some of the granularity that causes some players to bounce off of games that emphasize inventory tracking.

Glint also leans a little further into the "combat as sport" circle of the combat Venn Diagram. Ultimately, this is a game that I created to entice my players to try something other than 5e. It's not fully OSR-coded. It's a little crunchier, characters do end up feeling a bit more heroic. But, hopefully not to the point where they can be careless. 

It's hard to say much else without going full deep-dive mode. ♫ Deep-Dive, spoilers spoilers spoilers ♫ ... But, it also feels a little self-indulgent to have this post just be an announcement of more announcements to come... 

Well, to soften that blow... My first real Development Log, where I talk about Inventory, is up right now! 

If this teaser has teased you in the least, then please join me as I discuss my learnings in Slots vs Blocks!

-2cp