V.041 is here, our first relatively major update since launch! Here's what you'll find in the new PDF:

New Artwork

New sketch artwork for the new Ventures, Exsourcer and Venator, and for the Gundrifter! More info on these new Ventures below.

With the inclusion of these sketches, all the Ventures officially have artwork attached to them, to be completed in the full release version.

Changes

Inventory

Implemented a simple inventory & item system. While I prefer games without extensive inventory tracking, a game about recovering artifacts would be hard to run without some rules to determine how you do so. It currently uses a straightforward slot system - each Voyager has 10 Inventory slots; heavier/larger items take up more slots.

Actions & Casting

Added some clarification and visual aids regarding Actions and Casting: Since you have 3 Actions per Turn, spending any Action Die counts as taking a separate Action. However, Upcasting is a context where you can spend additional Dice to amplify the effect of a roll without spending additional Actions. 

To better clarify this, all Techniques and Abilities in the Venture list will have these icons next to their description; any of them that lists a cost (e.g. "Cost: 1 CAST") will now say "Cost: 1 CAST Action", denoting that doing so consumes one of your 3 Actions. This means that some Abilities may now cost 2 or more Action Dice, but only takes 1 Action, depleting your Loadout faster but still allowing you to do more things on your Turn.

Roles

Ventures have now been grouped into Roles: broad labels that help better organise them for Players to understand their general purpose in combat. Think of them like Ventures covering classes like Ninja, Pirate, Thief, etc. while they all can be grouped under the "Rogue" role, or grouping a Sorcerer, Wizard and Warlock under a "Mage" role. 

The four Roles for Ventures are Valiant (versatile), Vanguard (tank/healer), Striker (DPS) and Watcher (mage). These icons are placeholders, but will stick around as long as people can identify them easily.

Note that Roles are purely for classification purposes, and have no mechanical impact on your Venture - Each Venture is meant to be totally unique in their abilities and application, even if they share a similar theme or occupy a similar purpose in a party.

Venture Info

"Faction" and "Lore-friendly Sapient" on every Venture's info page has been changed to "Recommended Faction" and "Common Sapient". This is to accommodate Players who wish to make a Venture but flavoured as being from a different culture, and to emphasise that a given Venture is most commonly observed being held by a certain Sapient, but the Player is always welcome to create an exception.

New Origins

12 more Origins have been added to the list like the Scholar, Pilot, Freedom Fighter and Merchant, forming a decent spread of presets for beginner Players to pick up right away for their Voyager.

Stagger

Simplified the Stagger Condition, since it's one of the more common Conditions. It used to remove your highest value Action Die and deal damage if your Loadout is empty. Now, it simply removes an Action from the target's Turn, i.e. they start their Turn with only 2 Actions. The "removes 1 Action Die" mechanic may still crop up sometime as a Condition or Venture Ability, depending how this playtest goes.

New Content

New Venture: Venator

The Venator is basically a 1-to-1 conversion of a Hunter from RWBY into Voyager: Tactics' universe. You are a Venator, a newly formed class of warrior who wields a state-of-the-art transforming weapon, able to use elemental ammunition, and can even awaken to a Visage: a magical echo of a legendary figure from Earth's lost mythology, whose power you can call upon in times of need.

The Venator is centred solely around customisation. Your Loadout only starts with  5 Action Dice, but during character creation, you forge your Iconic Weapon: crafting it to your perfect specifications, choosing its different melee and ranged forms, which determines what Action Dice will be placed in your Loadout.

New Venture: Exsourcer

The Exsourcer (outsourcer + exorcist) is a freelance investigator of Dust, who either is employed by or runs their own Agency. They are quick-thinking abjurers able to improvise Actions on the fly, throw out magical Talismans that protect allies and debilitate foes, and even smack the soul out of an enemy's body and kick them around.

The Exsourcer can also draw magic warding circles around themselves and allies, which can trap spirits and undead, destroy magic and projectiles, or amplify the power of all attacks passing through them - friend and foe alike. Sounds dicey, but that's what that sharp wit of yours is for, right?

Corrections

• Large Sapient diagram in the Variant Traits section was blocking some text; fixed.
• "The Orzlaty come from far beyond the Known Worl." Typo fixed.
• Fixed some wonky wording in the Feithéan's Exoskeleton description.
• Changed some wording in "Play as an Heir if you like" section to better convey its player fantasy.
• Changed Heir's Vision Given Form ability as it had a slightly confusing wording and mechanic.

Upcoming Plans

• Sapient Features. There are plans to easier create a Voyager of mixed Sapient heritage. The current approach is to rework some of the default Sapient features (e.g. the Ruaya's waterbreathing) and make them all optional in a list during character creation, like the Variant Traits. This opens up more granular options for Players to create more specific types of Sapient. E.g. they can choose a tortoise feature for Ruaya that gives extra ADAMANT, or a gecko feature that lets them climb walls.
• Special Items? With the inclusion of the Inventory system, it opens up the game for unique items and relics, like magic weapons and deployables like drones and turrets. A full list of such items are planned for the full release version.

Thanks for all the support! We've got some new GMs and players getting ready and making characters in our Discord server, so feel free to join us!