Greathelm: Update zum Jahreswechsel

Es gibt ein Update zu Greathelm.

Hey my friends, happy holidays!

(and I guess happy new year, too!) It’s been a good-minute since I’ve written an update, and I’m sorry about that! With the Christmas break, things have slowed a little bit over here, but I have still been hard at work crafting! Greathelm originally, obviously, didn’t have any lore—but with each passing day it takes shape. And I am really excited about each new detail that I discover. I want to talk about some of that with you today!

First, check out the solo campaign map!

Now in old school map feel, thanks to Brooke Penrose! (I have defaced it in this example) We wanted to invoke some feelings of what it was like to stare at fantasy maps of old and wonder about the potential for adventure! I think this does the trick! But importantly, it has to do several tricks. It has to look awesome and be awesome, but also was illustrated to fit within a particular space, pertaining to the overlapping hex grid. (also, 1 hex = roughly 20 miles!)

Although, for me, in my head, there is a lot of lore and background details that help me construct the framework, and the background it rests upon—it’s important for me to keep the background for Greathelm really open and accessible for you. The age old term ’sandbox‘ keeps on coming up in my mind, and that is what I am wanting to create. The lore does firmly make this game different from others, and is it’s own, but it won’t stand in the way of your games, no matter what your vision is. But the other side of that, if you really do like the elements and themes that are present in the lore then it will be very cool to see people exploring that on the tabletop with their projects. The term ‚Chivalric fantasy‚ was something that I was thinking about when dreaming up the background of this world.

Okay, that’s all fine and well, but what does that actually look like? Okay, if you take a look at the map again, there are a few details that are based on the worlds history that informs some of the things that take place in the adventure. 1. There is a figure carved into the side of the mountain, which the river ‚Tear‘ flows from, that is a carved relief of Saint Alethea, an important character in the worlds history, but in the era the game takes place in, it is a name mostly lost to memory. 2. There are a few temples also that which dot the land, that are no longer in use. Their past shrouded in subtle mysteries. Other references lie in items, and encounters that you might face during your adventure. Actually, lets chat about that a bit.

Encounters, and events!

Encounters are what happen while you’re moving about on the world map, and events are things that can happen during encounters. Every time you move into an adjacent hex, you will perform an encounter roll, which is a roll of 2d6. The encounters are tied to different tables according to the color coded zones associated with difficulty. Each encounter table has a result tied to making a roll on the event table, which itself is a d36 table! Lots and lots of action taking place.

Above, a section of the encounter table, and below, a section of the event table.

You can see that there is mention of a few things in these entries. Namely, ‚tests‘ and skill bonuses, mentions of new items, and the possibility to pass and fail at something. You might already be familiar with the stats and skills that named knights interact with, but in this mode, those stats, skills and abilities will take on a new life by use of tests that are introduced.

The test frame work is simple, and just like a lot of Greathelm, is based on the roll of a d6. On a 4+ the test is passed! You add your relevant stat (should the testing knight have it) to your roll, and skill bonuses will do the same. If the testing knight has the listed ability, they will be able to roll an additional dice and select the result that they want. Oh, and crits? Easy too. Roll a 1, that’s crit fail, roll a 6, that’s crit success!

And the enemies?

I’ve chatted a bunch about the Man-animals and how they allow you to just use whatever models you’d like to collect to face off, and create your own unique vision of the game world—but I don’t think I’ve shared with you what they will be using against you!

The enemies you face in this adventure will have their own action chart. While you use the traditional one featured in the core rules, the enemies will use this one. In combination with some light rules and guidelines about how to activate and move enemy models, they should provide a deadly threat!

Enemies only perform actions that are rolled, and don’t adjust dice unless they cannot perform the action. So, you will be able to adjust your plans accordingly and don’t have to think too hard about enemy optimization when it comes to activations and the like.

All in all, it builds seamlessly on top of the existing Greathelm framework of mechanics that you are pretty familiar with if you’ve been playing games, especially knightly quests! But there is a few more key pieces to the puzzle that are still unrevealed. I’ll share those in the next update with you.

Okay, shifting gears. Lets talk briefly about Knights!

Skullforge, has, as you might know-been forging(as the name implies!). And we wanted to share a mere glimpse into the Knight STL’s.

The idea is to create a set of selection of miniatures that allow you to create really awesome and dynamic knights. Each model is comprised of different sections, we have: the head, arms, hands, torso and legs.

Torso will have 3 versions. Cloth covered cuirass, exposed metal, and a loose cloth covered like a crusader and similar to that in the WGA kit. The arms include, heavy armored with full plate and shoulders, medium armored with chain mail and a light armor with cloth covering option. Then with the hands we have your fingered gauntlet, mitten gauntlet, leather glove, and bare hand. With the legs we got plate armor, cloth pants and boots, and a chain mail option. Plus a bevy of accessors, scabbard, pouches, heraldic bits and other fun things!

The main way that we will be changing up some of the vibes with the kit itself is through different head options, allowing you to make your knights have a real sense of personality despite being inside of a helmet. (and sometimes being out of it too!) I’ve also been reading a lot about representation for women in armor, and that is something we’re going to have available as not to leave anyone out of the clash tests.

Okay. That’s enough from me ya’ll. More adventure soon!

Happy Holidays, from me to you, I hope that 2026 is a great year for you! Thank you for being there for me in 2025, I will do my best to be there for you in this coming year. Much love friends! Happy gaming, and don’t forget to don the Greathelm.

Malev

Quelle: Greathelm Kickstarter