This TTRPG Inspired Game From Former Blizzard Developers Could ‘Transform Game Night’

Sanderfolk is a new turn-based RPG that aims to alleviate some of the obstacles players may face when trying to get into tabletop gaming. The upcoming game, created by publisher Dreamhaven’s own Secret Door studio, takes players into an underground fantasy universe for an experience that studio head Chris Sigaty says will “be”transform game night” On-screen rant recently attended a hands-on event for the game, where we got to experience over two hours of multiplayer gameplay with game director Erin Marek.

The title comes from a team of seasoned industry veterans: Dreamhaven is the creation of Blizzard co-founder Mike Morhaime, and Secret Door itself is made up of developers who have worked at companies like Riot and Blizzard. The game’s cast is also stellar. although there is only one person in itAnjali Bhimani, known for her roles in games like Stray Gods, Apex LegendsAnd Overwatch. One voice-over actress who serves as the game’s narrator, as well as each character, are meant to recreate the dungeon master experience to some extent, and Bhimani does a great job in this role.

Six different Sanderling classes available to players in Sanderfolk are Ranger, Bard, Wizard, Berserker, Pyromancer and Rogueeach of which features a suitable animal in a role that fits well with the character. For example, a berserker tank is a large and strong polar bear, and an arcanist is a mysterious-looking raven. I chose the role of a pyromance salamander, whom I named Sallymandy, and set out with the rest of the group, consisting of a bard developer and a berserker fellow writer, to begin our missions.

Missions in Sanderfolk

Not every meeting is just a fight

There are five main types of missions in the game. Sanderfolk: Explore, solve puzzles, fight, rescue and survive – some of this I’ll try out in the preview. They always involved combat to one degree or another, but their overall focus, despite everything, felt clear enough for different types. A rescue mission took place earlier in the session when my group was tasked with escorting two villagers from an ogres attack. Because they were scared, they needed to be interacted with to start moving, and then continued to need protection as they moved across the map to safety.

The puzzle mission did overlap with the rescue mission, but the mystery was still clear. My group needed to rescue a kidnapped giant beetle by opening its cage and then protecting it as it escaped. The twist was that on its turn the beetle would move the same number of spaces in the direction it was facing until it encountered blockages or hazards, meaning the party had to manage its movement while protecting it and themselves from enemies. Our decision turned out to be quite funny because of our party.in this case, Berserker is able to simply throw the beetle towards the exit.

The exploration mission was one of the most chaotic we’ve undertaken, sending us into cobweb-filled caves to gather supplies. The area was already infested with spiders, and each time the web-covered area cleared, it could mean one of two things: the supplies they were looking for, or – more often than not – the discovery of even more arachnids. This required even more coordinated strategy, and my Pyromancer’s fiery moves proved especially useful for breaking down webs. Even though it’s difficult, the unpredictability of this mission was also particularly interestingwith many colorful exclamations whenever another spider was revealed.

The survival mission was even wilder and involved surviving a certain number of rounds while keeping the gate intact. We were helped by three caterpillars with different abilities – one stunned enemies, one healed and one set fire – to which we had to give names; this, by the way, made the situation even more dramatic when someone was killedwhich was why our group was screaming so loudly, PR came into play to make sure everything was ok. With so many enemies, allies, ever-growing fires, and a survival goal that completely changes strategy, it was some of the most chaotic fun of the event.

Fight in Sanderfolk

Streamlined but meaningful turn-based combat

All battles within these, and of course combat missions, use the same system, which takes place on a combination of the player’s screen and phone. Each character has a set of skill cards that accumulate a growing arsenal as they level up; however, players can only select three at a time to be part of their loadout, requiring some strategic planning before each encounter.. These cards are selected on the player’s phone, and this is where all movements are also controlled using an intuitive gesture-based system to select locations instead of individual taps.

These skill cards come in multiple parts, usually combining movement and another primary action such as attacking or healing, although each part can be skipped. Each character also has a passive class skill – for example, Sallymandia gained firepower, which allowed for stronger attacks when moving through spaces with fire, while the bard provided extra movement to characters who swapped places with them. Instead of cubes Sanderfolk uses Fate cardswhich usually either add to or subtract from the base Skill value, although some have a different balance, such as the -2 card, which gives strength to the character.

The Fate Deck can be customized as players acquire more over the course of the game, but it must always contain a certain number of positive, negative, and neutral cards. There are also trinket cards that can provide a small benefit once per encounter, such as a temporary boost to movement, and weapon cards, which my group didn’t encounter in the early part of the game but were told would come later. Moves can be made in any order each round instead of using initiative.which has definitely encouraged a lot more conversations about what our strategy should be.

During the preview, my fire-loving salamander was quite fun to pilot. It was nice to have what is usually considered Dungeons and Dragons The subclass is available from the start, and over the five levels that Sallymandi climbed during her playthrough, it became clear that the Pyromancer would acquire an extremely varied arsenal of skills over the course of the game that combined attacks with environmental manipulation through fire. All characters have an Ultimate attack that requires a special cooldown: I had health regen with fire, although my party only ever used the extremely damaging Berserker AOE strike, which was incredibly nice.

Final thoughts on Sanderfolk

Great potential for strategic and silly collaborations

The other main function of controlling the phone is to move around the village between missions.. There are several places you can visit, such as a post office where players can send each other gold and items (since they are not shared among party members), as well as vendors for things like destiny cards and trinkets. Players can level up buildings to give them more features, as well as improve relationships with residents, and some can even be used for dating. I didn’t see too much of this feature during the event, but it seems like it offers a lot of potential for meaningful progression beyond character leveling.

Beyond decks and equipment, there aren’t many character customization options, but players can tailor their experience even further with difficulty levels. “Balanced” mode gives players three lives, but there are other, more challenging modes that let you reduce that number, make enemies more deadly, or add timers to encounters. All in all, Sanderfolk does a good job of facilitating situations where multiple solutions could be used, and does an even better job of facilitating player conversation, truly capturing many of the same feelings that arise during games like Dungeons and Dragons.

In his introductory presentation, Sigati spoke about how Sanderfolk aims to overcome three TTRPG obstacles: steep learning curves, too much customization, and the genre isn’t for everyone. In my few hours with this game, I feel like it solves all three problems, allowing you to quickly get into the fun. Even more important Sanderfolk managed to cultivate connecting moments. There were so many laughs in my session, and we even came up with a few inside jokes by the end – with so much happening in a few hours, the prospect of running an entire campaign with friends is very promising.

Source: plays underfolk/YouTube