It's the annivesary of Mangayaw's release on itch.io!! I feel inclined to do something special to celebrate this milestone. But instead I'm writing you all a blog post. Ha!

Here's what I've been doing to further develop this game.

IGDN Mentorship Program

I became the recipient of the wonderful Mentorship program of the Indie Game Developers Network! I'm two months into the mentorship, and my mentors have been nothing but helpful. I also received a grant from the program, and you better believe I'm using that money to make Mangayaw a Good Game. It's all going into art, editing, and something I have planned that I'm hoping will not stay as a plan for long.

Mangayaw Update

I keep calling it an update because I don't want the pressure of releasing "new edition" in my head. But if I'm being honest, I'm revising and adding so much to the current release. Almost like a new edition. But let's not call it that.

The game doc has gone from 30 pages to around 75 now. And I'm not done yet.

World Building and GM tools

I wasn't satisfied with the worldbuilding in the current release. I felt constrained, having the bulk of it in two pages of "Principles of the World." So the current plan is to sort of integrate bits of worldbuilding throughout the book.

I'm trying to adopt a more Electric Bastionland-y approach to worldbuilding and GM tools. There will be less established truths, and more tables and material that helps GMs craft their own little worlds, while still staying in the theme and aesthetics of folkloric Philippines.

I'll still try my hand at more concrete worldbuilding, but in the form of modules and adventures. But that's stuff for the future.

Player Characters

Character Creation has undergone some changes. I think it requires a bit more player engagement, and PCs are a bit more developed to start with, compared to Cairn's. I think Mangayaw is going to be slightly less lethal than Cairn, because of the added Debt mechanics.

Again, Electric Bastionland inspired a bunch of these changes. More on this below.

Debt

PCs start with Debt now! And they have EB-style Debt holders that may change up a party's whole deal at the very start.

Debt here is an actual mechanic. Sure, you're in Debt right now, but in the course of your adventures you may find yourselves being owed Debt.

Debt can also be used as a sort of social currency, because I thought it's a good idea to play with the very real pressures of utang na loob in a fantasy game. This, of course, is inspired by Gubat Banwa.

Advanced Combat

I added to Cairn's combat. I wanted a bit more engagement in combat, while trying to minimize bloat as much as I could.

There are proficiencies to different weapon types. Anyone can swing a stick or a sword, but those trained with a weapon can do a lot more than newbs. This is an extension of my PH/SEA weapons brainrot, which has only festered since I started training in Lapunti arnis.

Slow actions are a thing, based on this Bastionland blog post. Some actions, like casting sorceries, are inherently Slow. This formalizes combat sorcery, but still makes it risky.

I added combat/power scales, namely Individual, Strong, and Overwhelming. It works the same way as detachments, where an individual would have difficulty hurting a group of people or a giant, but I extended the meaning to include not just size and number but also raw power. Small gods and nature spirits are everywhere in this setting, and I want there to be an inherent difference in power between them and mere mortals. Maybe think twice before attacking the local deity.

Sorcery

It's known as Mentala now, which are incantations and formulas for sorcery. They are inscribed on physical items, rather than stuff memorized by the PC.

One big thing I wanted to do with Mentala is to not merely have them cost Fatigue as with Cairn spellbooks. Rather, I want different kinds of Mentala to cost different things. Mentala that borrows power from spirits and gods costs Debt. Mentala that changes your body might change your body permanently, and possible for the worst.

This is probably the part of the game that has gotten so much revision. It's getting to a good place, I think. I really want to run a campaign to stress test sorcery, among other things.

NPCs

I'm trying to do quality over quantity for this section. Less different kinds of NPCs, but what remains each have a one or 2 tables that gives some variety. I'm inspired by Mausritter for this one.

Stealing from Cairn

This game is already like 90% Cairn with added bells and whistles. That tradition of stealing from Cairn continues with Yochai Gal's WIP stuff for Cairn 2e. I'm adapting the WIP Dungeon and Wilderness Exploration procedures to fit better with Mangayaw's setting. I'll also do the same with the Downtime and Faction stuff.

Get excited for Cairn 2e, there's good stuff in there!

Playtesting

On mid-June, I'll transition my regular Cairn game to Mangayaw. I'll be running Lorn Song of the Bachelor for this group, and I'll open it up to a sandbox campaign set on an archipelago made of all the A Thousand Thousand Islands locales and other RPGSEA-made modules that fits.

My goal for this playtest campaign is to see how Mangayaw holds up in an extended campaign. Until now, I've only run oneshots and short campaigns, so I've been itching to do something like this.

I want to stress test mechanics like Mentala and Debt. I want to see what sort of character progressions are possible in Mangayaw. I want to see if the GM tools I'm working on are robust enough to fill in the details in between the A Thousand Thousand Islands locales.

Release when??

The goal is to release the update within the year, but I can't really think that far ahead. I will at the very least have to wait until Cairn 2e releases, because it's kinda rude to release before it, considering I extensively used a lot of text that is still considered WIP.