A revised Solasta campaign sourcebook can be preordered

3rd Anniversary & Solasta Revised Campaign Sourcebook Preorder Available now!

Yes, it's finally back!

Hey hey people!

It's been forever and a half since our last News, hasn't it? Sorry for the radio silence, the Tactical Adventures' crew has been toiling over the past year on our next game - which we still won't announce for quite some time.

But that's not why we're here today! No? No! We're here to celebrate the 3-year anniversary of Solasta's 1.0 launch! And what better way to do that than bringing back the much-coveted Solasta Campaign Sourcebook. You heard that right, we've partnered with Modiphius Entertainment & Rookery Publications to publish a Revised Campaign Sourcebook including all the new subclasses released post-launch, totaling a number of 41 subclasses all adapted to Tabletop!

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

Ye Old Entertainment checked out Solasta: Palace of Ice:

Solasta: Crown of the Magister - Palace of Ice D&D RPG... that was fun... until now.

The development for Solasta: Crown of the Magister is coming to an end:

Patch 1.5.94 & Solasta Final Dev Stream (July 26th)

Heya everyone,

As you all know, we announced that Palace of Ice would be our last DLC. The final page in Solasta: Crown of the Magister's book. The dot at the bottom of the... okay I think everyone got the picture? Yea? Moving on!

The team has been slowly but surely shifting towards our next project these last few weeks, and you will probably not hear much from us in the coming months as we work on the foundations of our next game. It's a bit too early to talk about it, but we're sure you'll love it.

Before we go dark though, we'll be hosting one final Dev Stream at our office with some team members to take a trip down memory lane, looking back at Solasta and everything we worked on for the last... what, has it been 4 years already since we announced it? If you too want to hang around and share what you love about the game, we'll be delighted to have you here . Make sure you follow the channel to not miss it, the stream will start Wednesday July 26th at 7:30am PDT / 10:30am EDT / 4:30pm CEST and will be around 2h30 long!

[...]

Thanks Couchpotato!

Splattercatgaming checked out the DLC Solasta: Palace of Ice:

Solasta : Palace of Ice - Open World Medieval Fantasy cRPG

Mortismal Gaming checked out the new DLC Solasta: Palace of Ice:

Solasta: CotM | Palace of Ice - DLC Review

Thumb Culture checked out the new DLC Solasta: Palace of Ice:

Solasta: Palace of Ice – PC Preview

Palace of Ice is the latest DLC for Solasta and is a direct follow-up to Crown of the Magister. I was kindly invited to play with a few of the game’s developers & publishers at Tactical Adventures. Solasta is their debut game and I was thrilled to be able to see their passion for it. The hour-long preview showcased 3 new regions with the return of the Soraks and new enemies demons & devils.

The new campaign comes to PC on May 25th, almost exactly two years after Crown of the Magister. Fans of the base game will undoubtedly enjoy the 25+ hours of this high fantasy non-linear story. I also had the pleasure of reviewing previous Solasta content which I’ve linked below.

Solasta: Palace of Ice – the cold never bothered me anyway
I’ve had a great time playing past Solasta content and I’m sure Palace of Ice will be no different. I and the rest of Thumb Culture would love to know what you think or are looking forward to. Leave a comment below as well as what you think of my experience previewing the DLC.

[...]

Fextralife checked out the upcoming DLC Solasta: Palace of Ice:

Solasta: Palace of Ice DLC Hands-On Preview Impressions

The next DLC for Solasta - Palace of Ice - allows access to level 13 and higher:

Solasta: Palace of Ice - Taking a look at Level 13+

Hiya folks!

How is everyone doing? We're getting ever closer to the release of our next DLC Palace of Ice, for which we'll be announcing the release date pretty soon! While we wait a little more, what say you to some additional information on what's to come? But before that...

Palace of Ice Community Stream Archive

Didn't manage to catch Palace of Ice Community Stream? No worries, you can watch the session here and take 2d10 psychic damage whenever I start going on unrelated tangents (Developer-exclusive cantrip, DC 12 Wisdom Saving Throw) - but more importantly, get some interesting information on the upcoming DLC. If you prefer the text version, don't worry we've got you covered below!

Palace of Ice - General Information

• The Gnome and the Tiefling ancestries are added to the Character Creator
• Palace of Ice is a level 10 - 16 campaign that takes place a few months after the Crown of the Magister campaign. We estimate the playtime to be around 25h.
• You will be able to import characters along with their gear and inventory from save files, unless those save files are modded, include a custom item from the Dungeon Maker or are way too old such as saves from Early Access versions.
• Characters below level 10 will be be granted enough experience to reach level 10 when launching Palace of Ice, prompting you to do the standard level up process.
• You can't import save files where characters are level 13+.

Level 13 - 16 Subclass Features
Now we know what most of you are really curious about - what new features will our adventurers get in order to challenge those higher levels? As a reminder, you do not need to buy Palace of Ice to have access to level 13 - 16 in Custom Campaigns - however, Crown of the Magister and Lost Valley are still locked to level 12 maximum (otherwise we would end up with people unable to import their save files into Palace of Ice).

Important Note: Some features may end up getting slightly tweaked shortly after launch. Also, just like on Tabletop, Cleric Domains and Monk Traditions do not get new features between level 13 and 16.

[...]

Thanks Henriquejr!

The Palace of Ice DLC for Solasta: Crown of the Magister will be released in May:

Solasta: Palace of Ice DLC announced for May 2023!

The Snow Alliance calls for help!

Hey hey people,

Around New Year, we said that we were working on something big... And you've been patient. Very patient! Now, it is finally time for us to reveal the new upcoming DLC: Palace of Ice. By far the biggest update we've worked on so far, Palace of Ice is not only a new adventure - it is the continuation and the conclusion of the Crown of the Magister campaign.

Palace of Ice DLC coming up May 2023

As Caer Cyflen rejoice over the Soraks' defeat in the Badlands, the Snow Alliance cries for help. With the Kingdom of Gallivan suddenly declaring war on their neighbours, there is little doubt that these insidious creatures have agents everywhere – and that they always had contingency plans well prepared.

The Palace of Ice DLC is a high level 10 to 16 campaign that will take your party into the frozen lands of the Snow Alliance. The allies of Caer Cyflen need your help now more than ever, for Soraks are not the only foes that have been sighted lately. Other ancestral creatures have joined the battle, and there is little hope for victory without experienced adventurers to face them.

[...]

Thanks Henriquejr!

Ye Old Entertainment checked out the Lost Valley DLC: 

Solasta Lost Valley Review: The DLC to the beloved D&D RPG that might just be worth revisiting.

The Inner Strength DLC for Solasta is now available:

Inner Strength Release Patch Notes

Hey there folks!

The Inner Strength DLC is now available, with an extra serving of free update on the side! So, what's new? What changed? Everything will be revealed in the wall of text below.

17 New Feats (Free):

• Arcane Appraiser: Magical Items are automatically identified when put in your inventory
• Badlands Marauder: Gain +1 CON, resistance to poison damage and advantage on rolls against being poisoned
• Forest Runner: Gain +1 DEX and +2 cells movement speed 
• Mightly Blow: When attacking with a melee two-handed weapon, deal additional damage equal to half your Strength modifier (rounded up)
• Cloak and Dagger: After hitting an enemy with a light weapon, gain +2 AC until the start of your next turn (doesn't stack)
• Distracting Gambit: After hitting an enemy with a one-handed weapon, they lose -1 AC for 1 minute (doesn't stack)
• Forestalling Strength: Gain +1 AC while wielding a two-handed weapon
• Mender: Stabilizing an ally with a Medecine checks heals them by 1 HP
• Blessing of the Elements: When taking fire, cold or lightning damage, you can use your reaction to become resistant to those damage types until the start of your next turn (once per short rest)
• Trip Attack: Enemies hit by a melee Ready Action must make a contested roll (against shove) or be knocked prone
• Daunting Push: Successfully shoving an enemy makes them lose half of their movement speed until the end of their next turn.
• Ready or Not: Gain advantage on attack rolls when using Ready Action
• Toxic / Melting / Burning / Icy / Electrifying Touch: The first time you deal damage with an unarmed or weapon attack each turn, deal additional poison / acid / fire / cold / lightning damage equal to your proficiency bonus (can't select Touch feats multiple times)

3 New Backgrounds (Free):

• The Ascetic : Gain 1 language and proficiency with Survival, Insight and the Herbalism Kit
• The Artist: Gain 1 language and proficiency with Persuasion, Deception and Performance
• The Occultist: Gain 1 language and proficiency with Arcana, Deception and the Scroll Kit

Note: Unlike previous backgrounds, these 3 new backgrounds do not have a special quest in the Crown of the Magister campaign.

Gamepad Support (Free):

• You can now play with controllers on PC! Hurray! 

Dungeon Maker Improvements (Free):

• Boss Monsters can now be used in the Dungeon Maker. Legendary actions included. In case you didn't suffer enough.
• Many monsters and items which were previously missing have now been added too! 
• Honestly though, for those of you who haven't already - go try out some Custom Dungeons made by the community. Most are really great!

3 New Classes (Inner Strength DLC required):

[...]

Thanks Henriquejr!

Henriquejr spotted dev update #33 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update #33 - Warlocks: So anyway I started Blasting

Heya people!

Less than 1 week before the release of the Inner Strength DLC, coming out Monday November 14th! And you know what that means - it's time to talk about the last class of the trio. Warlocks!

Read the Fine Prints
So you're telling me you want to learn magic, but you've got no money to enter a magic academy and no ancient bloodline running through your veins? It's alright, just sign here and I'll take care of it. What is this? You can't read either? Even better!

Jokes aside, Warlocks are spellcasters whose magic originates from their pact with an otherwordly being - a pact that could be your stereotypical deal with the devil, a whimsical interest from a powerful fey, or even the protection of a compassionate entity. Their patron grants them power in exchange for services, a facet of the class that can be very interesting to explore on Tabletop but which could not be implemented in Solasta.

Starting at level 1 Warlocks get access to Pact Magic. This type of magic is very different from other spellcasters, as Warlocks know very few spells and have even less spell slots... with only 1 at level 1, 2 at level 2 and 3 at level... 11! What sorcery is this?! However they regain their spells on a short rest instead of a long rest, and all their spells are automatically upcasted to the highest level they can cast (which caps at 5th spell level)! This makes Warlocks very explosive spellcasters who can afford to go all in during each and every fight. Also, don't forget to learn Eldritch Blast - Warlocks' signature cantrip! It's by far the most powerful cantrip in the game, and it synergizes with many Eldritch Invocations. 

At level 2 Warlocks get their first two Eldricht Invocations. Those are like special Feats available only to them, which can go from granting them additional spells to greatly improving Eldritch Blast. There are a total of 22 Eldritch Invocations available in Solasta, and Warlocks can learn an additional one at level 5, 7, 9 and 12. On top of that, they can also swap one of them each time they level up so you won't ever be stuck with one you dislike!

[...]

Tactical Adventures posted Dev Update #32 about the monk class for Solasta:

Dev Update #32 - Monks: If you got a butt I'll kick it!

Hey there folks!

We're back with more information about the upcoming Inner Strength DLC (which releases November 14th), this time featuring the Monk! The perfect opportunity to make references to dumb (but fun) kung fu movies. But before that, here are some of our new hires!

I know Kung Fu

If I ask you which class runs around half-naked on the battlefield while smashing enemies left and right, you say... Barbarian, okay I guess that's correct too. But hear this - you want to go even faster? Punch people in the face and kick them in the nuts instead of relying on a big chunk of metal to swing around? Well look no further than Monks. These expert martial artists are simply the fastest among all existing classes, and although they are less durable than most other front liners their speed allows them to quickly get in and out of combat. 
Each of their strike may not deal large amounts of damage, but they can be empowered with Ki to add debilitating effects, such as the infamous Stunning Strike (which makes many DMs weep for their boss monsters). 

[...]

Thanks Redglyph!

Henriquejr spotted dev update #31 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update #31 - Bards are singing, Flowers are blooming...

Heya people,

As promised, we're back with more information about the upcoming Inner Strength DLC (which releases November 14th)! This time we'll put the spotlight on the Bard, one of the three new classes included in Inner Strength. Of course I'm not leaving you without what you're all looking forward to..

[...]

Time for a Song!
Ahhh the Bard. Often touted on Tabletop as charming fellows trying to seduce anyone (and anything) they come accross by rolling Charisma checks all over the place, they are in fact much more than just walking Don Juan stereotypes. Expert in many things and full-time spellcaster, the Bard is one of the most - if not the most - versatile class in Dungeon and Dragons 5e, both in and out of combat.

Starting at level 1 with Bardic Inspiration, Bards can help allies turn a failed roll into a successful one by adding a d6 (which later turns into a d8 at level 5 and then a d10 at level 10) to the result. This makes them very strong support characters when you just can't afford to fail a dice roll... such as when trying to land the killing blow on that pesky boss! As stated above they are also full arcane spellcasters - in fact, they have the largest amount of known spells aside from Wizards (who are able to scribe more), and they're even able to "borrow" spells from other classes thanks to Magical Secrets! With a spell list that has a lot of common ground with Wizards and Clerics, there is very little a Bard can't accomplish with their magic.

At level 2 the Bard unlocks Jack of All Trades, giving them half their proficiency bonus on any ability check that doesn't already include it, such as Skill Checks they aren't proficient in... but also Initiative Rolls which are Dexterity Checks! They also get Song of Rest for some extra healing whenever the party does a short rest, which is always nice to stay healthy and save some Hit Dice for when they are really needed.

At level 3 the Bard choose their College, which grants them a whole lot of new features! The different Colleges available on Solasta will be shared below. They also get expertise on two of their skills just like the Rogue. Skill monkeys unite! 

At level 5, Bardic Inspiration gets a huge boost with Font of Inspiration - not only does the Bardic Inspiration die changes from 1d6 to 1d8, but the Bard regains all their expended uses of Bardic Inspiration on a short rest instead of a long rest. You get a Bardic Inspiration, and you get a Bardic Inspiration, and you get a Bardic Inspiration! Everyone gets a Bardic Inspiration!

At level 6 Bards get access to Countercharm, a very unique ability that uses an action to activate and that lasts until the end of their next turn. While Countercharm is active, all allies (including yourself) within 30' have advantage on saving throws against being frightened or charmed - although it only works if you aren't incapacitated or silenced (obviously).

The last big feature for Bards in Solasta comes at level 10 with Magical Secrets - which just like mentioned before, allows Bards to take two spells from ANY classes. The Warlock is making you jealous with their Eldritch Blast? Yoink, yours now. The Druid's Spike Growth is looking spicy? Would you look at that, turns out it's a Bard spell! 

[...]

Tactical Adventures posted a dev update for Solasta, in which they present the dragonborn race:

ev Update #30 - Back with the Dragonborn!

Hey there folks!

It's been more than a year since our last proper Dev Update (which marked the end of our Early Access!), with Solasta gradually growing larger and larger with new classes, races, improvements, a higher level cap and even another campaign. And now as we're close to getting the final classes to complete the roster, we've decided to give you guys a few Dev Updates every two weeks while waiting for Inner Strength to be released! But before that... for those of you who never read our Dev Updates before, get acquainted to a tradition of ours. Cats!

Ye Ol' Dragonborn
Those of you familiar with D&D know that Dragonborns were primarily introduced in the 4th edition (although they were featured in Races of the Dragon
from 3e before that). Long story short: Spellplague happened, two worlds collided, hello Dragonborns welcome to Toril (apologies to all the Faerun historians that I've just offended). However, the biggest mystery when it came to the Dragonborn was... What's their origin? 
Are they descendants of dragons (by blood)? Were they created by dragons (by magic)? Are they victims of a spell that turned them into Dragonborns? Do they simply share an older common ancestor with dragons? Turns out, all we have are legends... which is fine with us!

You see, we asked ourselves all these questions to make sure that our Solastan Dragonborn wouldn't go against the very nature of what a Dragonborn should be. Solastan Dragonborns are a little less mysterious than their official counterpart, they are simply descendants of unions between polymorphed dragons and humanoid lineages. Although they were well accepted in the Manacalon Empire, they became very reclusive after the Cataclysm due to a number of reasons. The newly freed slaves did not look kindly upon their former elven masters nor their collaborators (such as the dragonborns) - and their physical appearance would often draw suspiscion from those unfamiliar with the race. And with many grieving their losses from the Sorr-Akkath... So there you have it! In Solasta Dragonborns are rare and fairly secretive, only recently starting to venture back into more civilized lands. With most having completely forgotten about the Soraks, their striking appearance is also less stigmatized than it was in the past.

[...]

Thanks Redglyph!

A new DLC for Solasta will be released on November 14:

Monk, Bard, Warlock & Dragonborn - Inner Strength DLC releases November 14th!

Hey there folks!

Mark your calendars because we're here with a date for the next DLC! With the Monk, Bard & Warlock joining the party, we've finally completed the full SRD class lineup in Solasta. To think we originally planned to release the game with only 4 - Fighter, Rogue, Cleric, Wizard - and now we're up to 12... All of this is only possible thanks to your support! But that's not all there is, the long awaited Dragonborns also make their appearance in this new DLC. Inner Strength, coming up November 14th - don't miss it!

Wishlist the DLC on Steam to receive a notification when it comes out! 

Inner Strength DLC Content

This DLC unlocks three new Classes (for a total of 9 new subclasses, plus 3 additional ones if you own Lost Valley) and one new Ancestry.

• The Warlock Class, with its 4 subclasses: The Fiend (SRD), The Hive (Solasta), The Timekeeper (Community), The Tree (Lost Valley)
• The Bard Class, with its 4 subclasses: College of Lore (SRD), College of Hope (Solasta), College of Heroism (Community), College of Tradition (Lost Valley)
• The Monk Class, with its 4 subclasses: Way of the Open Hand (SRD), Way of Survival (Solasta), Way of Light (Community), Way of Freedom (Lost Valley)
• The Dragonborn Ancestry

Free Content Update For Everyone

• Three new Backgrounds: The Ascetic, The Artist & The Occultist (note: these new backgrounds do not have a background quest in the Crown of the Magister campaign)
• 17 new feats to give our martial classes some more love!
• Gamepad support on PC is finally here <3
• Boss monsters are coming to the Dungeon Maker. Use them at your own risk and peril!

Henriquejr spotted the wishing well result for Solasta:

Wishing Well Result - Monk, Bard & Warlock Community Archetypes

Hiya folks!

We're here today with the results of the Wishing Well Event. Three community archetypes have been created and implemented for the upcoming DLC featuring the Monk, the Bard & the Warlock classes. What are they? Who are the lucky winners? You'll find everything below, bundled with a couple of other runner ups we really liked. We've also saved the VOD of the Wishing Well Community Stream if you missed it yesterday and wanted to watch it!

Wishing Well Stream Archive

Didn't manage to catch yesterday's stream? No worries, you can watch the session here. Witness my flawless mastery of the ancient tool named Powerpoint (which is part of the character background Computer Nerd in case you're wondering where I got the proficiency from) as I talk you through the different themes that caught our attention before revealing the winners. If you prefer text, read on!

[...]

Henriquejr spotted a new patch for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Patch Notes - Version 1.3.85

Changelog

• Fixed being able to give Esfalad the Dryad Queen's head before starting The Dryad Queen quest, preventing from starting the Jungle Escort quest
• Fixed the Waterfall exit area sometimes disappearing after entering the Hidden Caves in Verdant Valley
• Fixed Halman Summer missing from a cutscene... making the dialog very, very strange.
• Fixed a bug that could occur in Custom Dungeons if you spammed the skip button too quickly during dialogs
• Added a messsage when trying to select a DLC class in Multiplayer when the host doesn't own the DLC.
• Made some changes to improve movement smoothness in Multiplayer
• Fixed an error that could occur when right clicking on an item while in a shop
• Fixed more desyncs in Multiplayer, such as closing the inventory immediately after moving an item before the network validated the move, or playing around in the bestiary menu.
• Fixed a rare case where starting a random encounter right before 8:00 AM and finishing it after 8:00 AM would prevent the exit area from appearing.
• Fixed items not immediately appearing on the ground after being dropped in Multiplayer
  Improve stability and added more safety nets to prevent potential crashes
• Fixed the game sometimes displaying xbox controls in weird places without reasons
• Fixed the Point Buy System being unavailable due to its icon being replaced by the male/female slider (wut?)
• Fixed a scroll of Resurrection in the People's Hideout causing errors when looted
• Fixed a freeze that would occur when a Druid in Wild Shape gets knocked unconscious by an attack of opportunity (both the animal shape and druid reaching 0 HP in one strike)
• Made some optimization passes on Caer Hyfrid
• Fixed a Ranger with Fast Aim and a +1 Longbow equipped losing their UI when entering combat

The Vaniverse Gaming checked out the Lost Valley DLC:

Solasta CoTM Lost Valley DLC Review & Gameplay July 2022

The Lost Valley is a paid DLC for Solasta Crown of the Magister. It adds hours of new content and additional subclasses to the game along with the ability to play it multiplayer. It is worth the price for all of you Solasta fans!

You can design a subclass for Warlocks, Bards and Monks in Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Warlock, Bard & Monk Community Subclass Design Event

Wishing Well Event 2.0 is here!
Hello there folks!

Although we only had the budget and manpower to release Solasta 1.0 with 6 classes (7 with the Sorcerer), we've always hoped we'd be able to one day have all the official classes implemented in-game. And with your constant support and positive reception, we can confirm at last that the last three classes are indeed coming in a yet undisclosed date in the future! But that's not all. Those of you who've followed us for some time know that we've always worked hand in hand with our community - and today we are once again showing that it is a promise we keep. It is time... For a new Wishing Well Event, this time for the Warlock, Bard & Monk!

What is the Wishing Well?
The Wishing Well is an event where everyone gets to submit design ideas for the Community Subclasses that we’ll implement in-game for remaining classes – one for the Warlock, one for the Bard and one for the Monk. Just like the Stone Barbarian and the Wind Druid (you can find the previous results here), these community subclasses will be available when the classes are released in our next DLC. 

We (Tactical Adventures) will be going through the submissions to select ideas that we find really cool, and either implement them as such, or tweak them to fit the game (for instance if the feature sounds really great but is too complex to implement, we’ll adapt or simplify it). The name (or nickname) of those we’ll use ideas from will be added in the game’s credits as Community Designers, and they will also receive an exclusive title on our Discord Server, a Steam Key for our next DLC as well as the PDF of the Solasta Sourcebook.

When is the Wishing Well taking place?
The Wishing Well starts now and ends on Sunday June 19th 2022 at 11:59 pm PDT.

What are the rules of the Wishing Well?

• Please only participate once per person, i.e. 1 submission maximum per class 
• Please do not submit existing designs taken either from official sourcebooks or existing homebrew
• (unless it’s your own homebrew and you’re willing to share of course)
  You do not need to submit a complete design – for instance, if you have cool ideas for a level 3 and
• level 6 features, but nothing for level 10 and 14, you can still submit something!
• Please note that by participating, you agree to Tactical Adventures using the content you
• submitted. The legal guidelines can be found here, if you’re proficient in legalese and want to dig into the documents. Long story short: If you submit something, you allow us to use it!
• Please note that we may adapt and modify the design you submitted
• Please note that we may select features from different submissions to create both community
• subclasses (as in, picking a level 3 feature from one submission, and a level 6 feature from another one…)

[...]

Thanks Henriquejr!

Mortismal Gaming checked out the Lost Valley DLC:

Solasta: CotM - Lost Valley DLC Review

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PCGamesN checked out the new features of the Lost Valley DLC:

The perfect DnD RPG exists thanks to Solasta: Lost Valley

The addition of co-op multiplayer in Solasta: Lost Valley turns the Dungeons & Dragons inspired RPG romp into an open ended adventure with great results

If there’s one feature the Solasta community has been clamouring for since the Dungeon Creator DLC dropped last year, it’s multiplayer. The ability to take this DnD RPG on with a group of friends to get as close to the tabletop experience as a game has ever gotten is finally here, thanks to the Lost Valley DLC. After several hours with the multiplayer, as well as the new campaign, I can confidently say that this is Solasta at its best.

My multiplayer Lost Valley session with developers at Tactical Adventures focuses on two encounters, one of which features a new enemy type, the spritely dryads. There’s nothing functionally different about the combat in co-op compared to single-player, outside of the fact that you can’t make decisions for other characters. You can, however, see what they’re thinking about doing, thanks to a tooltip that reveals what they’re hovering over or which menu they’re digging through, but the decision is always theirs.

The communication between our party was solid since we were in a voice call, but without native voice or text chat, this mystery can be far more consequential. TA are hoping to add a ping system so you can signal your intentions to other players, but without a robust in-game way to communicate, you’re really just relying on trust or a third-party program like Discord. This decision was made out of necessity, community lead Emile Zhang tells us – there are so many restrictions tied to console certification that the studio had to omit the feature altogether.

[...]

Thanks Vanedor!

Vanedor spotted the description of the new subclasses coming with the Lost Valley DLC:

Lost Valley Subclasses Detailed

• The Commander (Fighter)
• The Hoodlum (Rogue)
• The Commander (Fighter)
• The Oath of Judgment (Paladin)
• The Mischief Domain (Cleric)
• The Court Mage (Wizard)
• The Swift Blade (Ranger)
• The Haunted Soul (Sorcerer)
• The Path of the Claw (Barbarian)
• The Circle of Balance (Druid)

[...]

WolfheartFPS is playing the Solasta: The Lost Valley DLC:

Solasta: The Lost Valley DLC Gameplay (Haunted Soul Sorcerer..)

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Henriquejr spotted that Solasta will get an co-op mode and a new DLC called Lost Valley:

Dev Stream, Multiplayer Beta Weekend & Lost Valley DLC announced!

Hey hey people,

We've been keeping it secret for a long time, but today's finally the day. We are announcing Online Multiplayer Co-op for Solasta - available in all existing and future campaigns, as well as custom Campaigns created in the Dungeon Maker! But that's not all, we're also announcing our next DLC: Lost Valley, coming up April 14th - a brand new level 1 - 12 adventure with branching paths and multiple endings, with 9 new subclasses and many new monsters and locations. And, of course, the free multiplayer upgrade for everyone!

Multiplayer Dev Stream March 16th
On Wednesday March 16th at 9 am PDT / 12 pm EDT / 5 pm CET, we will be hosting a Dev Stream on our official Twitch Channel. This time it will be a little different though - as we'll be showing off Online Multiplayer Co-op with a couple of veterans from our Discord Server. Make sure to drop by to check out Solasta Multiplayer a day before the Beta starts!

Solasta Multiplayer Co-op Beta Weekend starting March 17th
From Thursday March 17th at 8 am PDT / 11 am EDT / 4 pm CET to Monday March 21st 4 am PDT / 7 am EDT / 12 pm CET, a Beta Branch will be available on Steam with Online Multiplayer mode activated.

Tell your friends, boot up the game and enjoy some quality time beating up Soraks together!

Here is what you can expect from this Beta version:

• Multiplayer works on the official Crown of the Magister Campaign and Custom Campaigns from the Dungeon Maker. However, Custom Dungeons (not campaigns) are not available in Multiplayer, but it is fairly easy to convert a dungeon into a campaign (we will put up a how-to guide to help newer dungeon creators).
• You can play with friends all over the world, however if you do not live in the same region as the host you will need to select their region when looking for the lobby room.
• All DLC content is synced with what the host owns, meaning that if they have Primal Calling all players in their game will be able to create Druids and Barbarians. However, that also means a player with Primal Calling won't be able to play a Barbarian if their host doesn't have the DLC. 
• There will still be some desynchronizations - which is when something goes wrong and suddenly player A and player B no longer see the same things (for instance, player A rolls a 12 but player B sees them rolling 5 instead). When this happens, the host simply needs to save and reload that save to continue playing together.
• Note: Multiplayer will be fully released as a free update to all players on April 14th, when the Lost Valley DLC comes out.
• Note: There is no LAN mode, Multiplayer is online only.

On the day the Multiplayer Co-op Branch goes live on Steam, we will also be posting several guides on how to switch to the Beta Branch, how to Create / Join a lobby in Multiplayer, how to convert a Custom Dungeon into a Custom Campaign, and lastly what to do in case of desyncs.

Lost Valley DLC available on April 14th

Welcome to Lost Valley, a seemingly idyllic yet isolated enclave ruled by the benevolent (?) Orenetis

Available on April 14th, the Lost Valley DLC is a brand new level 1 to 12 campaign that will take your party into the lands of the Dominion. This remote place long forgotten by all is ruled with an iron fist by the tyrant Orenetis, but the arrival of your adventurers will light a fuse under this political powder keg.

[...]

Ye Old Entertainment applies his inimitable review treatment to Solasta.

Solasta Crown of the Magister review. Baldur's Gate III & Pathfinder Wrath of the Rigtheous fat bro?

Solasta Crown of the Magister is a D&D RPG with turn based combat that follows the 5th edition D&D ruleset. It was meant to be one of the big three D&D/pathfinder games to come out in the year 2021 along with Baldur's Gate III and Pathfinder Wrath of the righteous. 

Solasta feels a bit like Icewind Dale with turn based combat and few additional twists. For some reason it got the "little ugly brother" treatment though. So let's find out why. 

This review is based on a criteria that assigns weights to aspects of the game that are particularly important for me. It is not meant to be the ultimate truth about the game. Classic Role Playing Games are my favorite video game genre for a reason and there are a few things I expect from them... You can check our system of categories in one of our early videos.
https://youtu.be/QWD6AQWlIfw

Disclaimer: This is a computer RPG review, it's not meant to comment on the D&D ruleset or on how well the game implemented it in its mechanics.

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Tactical Adventures posted the results of the 2nd Dungeon Maker Contest and gave an update on the physical goods. @Daveyd is blessed by the RNG gods, congrats!

Dungeon Maker Contest Winners & Kickstarter Goods Update

It's been some time since our last update, hasn't it! Here we've been hard at work on our next DLC, which we should hopefully able to share more about in the near future. In the meantime, we want to congratulate the winners of the Crown of the Dungeon Maker 2 Contest (held by SirMadnessTV) who've been working on some fantastic custom maps, which you will be able to download below! Oh and we also noticed that the last cat picture we've provided was in 2021. Shame! Here is one for today!

Crown of the Dungeon Maker 2 Contest is over!

And congratulations to all the winners! This contest held by SirMadnessTV saw many contestants try their hands at making the best adventure they could using the Dungeon Maker tool within the limits of a 50x50 map, and boy did we get some treats.

• UncleSporky takes first place Shelter, a level 1 - 3 adventure inside a tavern that is filled with great RP moments!
• Cynoc takes second place with the Legend of the Woman in White, a level 2 adventure about investigating a local legend!
• EricWisdom takes third place with the Dragonstone Saga, a very tough level 6 - 8 adventure that will challenge your tactical knowledge of Solasta!
• Special mention to Cervando who made a great level 1 - 3 adventure where you attempt to save a princess from the Athenaeum of Arcana, but who gave up his spot to remain impartial as a jury member of the contest

You can find those custom maps and most of the remaining submissions on the Steam Workshop at this link! All winners, as well as the 5 participants that were blessed by the RNG gods (Marchiato, TWMB, DaveyD, Tordon & Werick93), will receive their Steam Cards prize in the coming days.

Solasta Physical Goods Update

We just heard back from our partner who's overseeing all the transport and shipping part of our Kickstarter, and here are the latest news!

• EU: Both the Sourcebook and the Adventure Box have made their way to the warehouse! EU Shipping should start next week if nothing goes wrong. Also, good news for our UK backers - since the goods were purchased before 2021, the new regulations shouldn't apply to your rewards (so no additional delays if all goes well). 
• US: The Adventure Box made it to the warehouse, but the Sourcebook is still stuck at sea. Latest ETA we were given is end of February, so shipping will be delayed (probably to early March). Sorry about that, there is literally nothing we can do but pray to the gods of the sea :(

Tactical Adventures held a stream today on Twitch with Q&A.

Tactical Adventures give us a look-see at the newly printed books.

Solasta Sourcebooks fresh off the press!

[...]

Last chance to update your address!

For those of you who are expecting the Solasta Sourcebook or Adventure Box as a Kickstarter Backer. Have you moved? If so, make sure you send us your new address at contact@tactical-adventures.com (with your name) before December 19th at the latest! After that, the shipping will be completely locked - and the rewards will be sent to the address you put on CrowdOx.

Quick peek at the Solasta Sourcebook

The Solasta Sourcebook is finally done! And by done I don't mean just the design - I mean all the copies have been printed and are now ready to be shipped. 

As a reminder, we're hoping that shipping will be complete around late January / February, but due to the global pandemic situation there's a high risk that delays may occur (for instance we've already been warned that ships being stuck waiting for refueling at port is a fairly common issue).

[...]

Tactical Adventures have pushed another udpate on the beta branch of Solasta.

[Public Beta] Version 1.2.14

This version is a Public Beta

As a reminder, we use Public Beta so that people who are blocked by specific bugs may try to get their run back on track as soon as possible, However, as it takes time to properly QA new versions, we can't guarantee they are 100% stable.

Therefore, if you do not have any of the issue listed below, you should just wait for the next patch instead.

Note: This Public Beta does not have a Mac version (not to worry, Mac will get the patch at the same time)

How to switch to Public Beta branch?

Simply go to your steam library, right click on Solasta and select properties. Then, go to the BETAS tab and select publicbeta from the drop down menu, and then restart Steam.

Changelog

[...]

Tactical Adventures has set up a survey to get a better idea of our preferences for their next product. The survey ends November 30th.

Looking at a future of (Tactical) Adventures!

Hey there folks!

Thank you a thousand times for your support so far. We hope you're having a lot of fun on Solasta, 'cause we sure are when we work on it! Now, while we still have some plans in mind for Solasta, we had a few questions for you folks.

As most of you already know, we highly value the opinion of our community. Which is why we wanted to ask you all : If we were not able to obtain a license from Wizards of the Coast for another Solasta game, we'd like to know your interest in the following game genres!

Note: You can absolutely put 0 or 5 everywhere if you want, in case you hate or love every genre.

Strat-Edgy reviewed Solasta: Crown of the Magister. If you wish to avoid spoilers skip to 12:32.

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Solasta | Crown of The Magister Review

Game Title: Solasta: Crown of the Magister
Developer: Tactical Adventures
Platform: Steam
SKIP SPOILERS - 12:32

Tactical Adventures released Primal Calling today, as well as free content in a major update.

Primal Calling DLC & Free Content Update Patch Notes

Primal Calling DLC Trailer

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Primal Calling DLC Content

The following content is only available if you purchased the Primal Calling DLC.Full detail of each class and feature can be found in the following article.

• The Barbarian Class, with its 3 subclasses: Path of the Berserker (SRD), Path of the Magebane (Solasta), Path of Stone (Community)
• The Druid Class, with its 3 subclasses: Circle of the Land (SRD), Circle of Kindred Spirit (Solasta), Circle of Winds (Community)
• The Half-Orc Ancestry
• The Wanderer Background, with its brand new background quest located in Copparan

Free Content Update - Major Improvements

The following content is available to everyone for free.

• Level cap increased from level 10 to level 12, unlocking new class features as well as level 6 spells
• Scars and Facial Paints customization options in character creation
• Tired of playing through the tutorial? You can now skip it!
• Rebalanced (harder!) fight at the end of the campaign - prepare for a challenge!
• New Campaign Creator Feature, allowing custom dungeons to be bundled together into a campaign with custom monsters, custom NPCs & merchants and custom items!
• New Town Exterior & Town Interior Environments for the Dungeon Maker

[...]

Tactical Adventures revealed the date and more information on the incoming DLC for Solasta.

Primal Calling DLC coming November 4th! Barbarians & Druids rejoice!

[...]

For those of you who've not been around Solasta for the last few weeks, here is what you can expect from the Primal Calling DLC:

• The Barbarian Class, with its 3 subclasses: Path of the Berzerker (SRD), Path of the Magebane (Solasta), Path of Stone (Community)
• The Druid Class, with its 3 subclasses: Circle of the Land (SRD), Circle of Kindred Spirit (Solasta), Circle of Winds (Community)
• The Half-Orc Ancestry
• The Wanderer Background, with its brand new background quest located in Copparan

[...]

Free Content Update Incoming!

Adventuring hasn't been kind to you lately and you don't got no gold to buy them goods? Worry not, we've got you covered. With the Primal Calling DLC also comes a fat content update - and everyone gets it for free! Aside from the usual bug fixes, here are some of the large changes or additions you can look forward to:

• You can finally skip the tutorial. Dry your tears of joy, serial rerollers, it's time to jump straight into the adventure.
  Max level 10? How about max level 12, how does that sound? With them level 6 spells and all.
• Our characters' faces may not be the prettiest around, but you'll now be able to add scars and face paints. Some more customization can't hurt!
  Was the final encounter of the campaign a little too easy? We made it harder for you.
• The Campaign Creator is here. What is the Campaign Creator? A new feature that allows you to bundle custom dungeons together, create custom monsters, items, NPCs and merchants. It's still in development though, so not every parameter can be tweaked yet.
• The Dungeon Maker now has a Town Interior & Exterior environment! Custom campaigns can now have main hubs where your party can safely rest, trade, and chat with NPCs in-between dungeons!

Tactical Adventures has posted an update with, among other news, the results of the Wishing Well, giving the two subclasses chosen by the community for the barbarian and the druid classes, respectively.

Wishing Well Results & Dev Stream VOD

We're back today with the results of the Wishing Well Event, with our final two community subclass designs (as well as some runner-ups that we really liked). We've also saved the VOD of last week's stream for those who might have missed it - which ended up becoming a Q&A and unboxing session (with the support of a cute cat cam). Also, make sure you check your emails - the final PDF of the Sourcebook has been sent through CrowdOx!

[...]

Barbarian Community Subclass - Path of Stone

Barbarians following this path draw their strength from their connection to stone. They never give up in the face of adversity and thrive in hostile environments. The first Stone Barbarians hailed from the North, even before there was a Snow Alliance. They were the ones who kept the people safe during the harsh winters, when hungry monsters were on the prowl. And once Manacalon began its incursions, they were in the thick of it, lending their legendary implacability to the resistance. 1000 years after the Cataclysm the Path of Stone still has many followers, from all lineages.

Druid Community Subclass - Circle of Winds

Druids from this circle draw their strength from the winds. As the Cataclysm raged, the connection druids felt to nature frayed. But not so for the Circle of the Winds. They felt the mana currents carried by the winds and through them a connection to nature. Through this, they were able to protect nature from the worst of the cataclysm-born depredations. The Circle is still alive today, its druids hailing from all part of Solasta, wanderers under the open sky.

[...]

Tactical Adventures hosted a Twitch stream to talk about barbarians, druids and to try out some community dungeons.

The stream starts at 22'45.

Henriquejr spotted a new update from Tactical Adventures, who will be hosting a "chill dev stream" on Tuesday 28th. They're also keeping us posted on the physical goodies.

Solasta Dev Stream on Tuesday September 28th & Physical Goodies Update

Hello everyone!

While we're all patiently waiting for more news about the upcoming Solasta DLC, we'll be hosting a chill Dev Stream on Tuesday 28th starting at 9 am PDT / 11 am EDT / 6 pm CEST, where we'll discuss Barbarians and Druids and check out some community-made dungeons (I heard the ones made by Silverquick are quite popular). Make sure you join us to chat about Solasta and chill together with other fans of the game!

Physical Goodies Update

We've just received good news from our partners helping us on the Solasta physical goods!

• Adventure Box: As some of you already saw in previous updates, we had receive a sample of the Adventure Box. Now we've received confirmation that the manufacturing process has started!
• Vinyl Disk: We've stated in a previous update that our Vinyl Disks have been sent! Hopefully everyone should receive theirs by mid-October at the latest.
• Solasta Sourcebook: We're finally getting there. We just got the final digital version of the Deluxe Sourcebook complete, and we're now validating the design of the physical cover. That's the final step before printing!

As a reminder, our goal is to start shipping the Adventure Boxes and Sourcebooks in January 2022 - so there's still quite some time before you receive them.

[...]

Thanks @henriquejr! :)

Solasta features Steam trading cards now and can be bought ona discount:

Steam Trading Cards are out & 35% Discount on Solasta!

Heya you lovely folks! 

We're still some way until our next update, but in the meantime we're putting out Steam Cards for y'all! But before that, we're going to treat you with another feline picture - two in one week, that's crazy!

35% Discount - Time to grab a copy!

It's time for some week-end sales! If you had some friends on the fence about Solasta, now's the time to tell them about it! The 35% discount is running this week-end and ends on Monday 20th at 10 am PST / 1 pm EST / 7 pm CEST. Also slightly unrelated, but we're seeing some people asking about the Mac version - don't worry, we haven't forgotten about it! We're still working on it, and we'll inform you as soon as we have a date.

Steam Trading Cards, woooooh
That's right folks, Solasta's getting some Steam Trading Cards! We wanted to do that at launch, buuuuut you all know how busy that can be, especially for a team that have less than 20 people. So, we're fixing that right now! Actually, they've been out for a few hours already, so you might have noticed them popping in your Steam inventory.

[...]

Alright folks, this is the end for today! Take care, and enjoy hunting for them Steam Trading Cards! Also, check out our Forums and our Discord Server to chat with other players

Article by Tactical Myzzrym

Thanks Henriquejr!

Tactical Adventures shares the main themes of the submissions they have received about the 2 new subclasses. They also announce that the vinyl disks have been sent and should be received shortly by physical-tier backers.

Wishing Well Update - Taking a look at the submissions!

It's been a bit more than a week since the Wishing Well Event ended, and we received so many submissions that we're still going through them all! No I mean seriously, we have several thousands of class features to read through, so that's going to take some time. In any case, thank you so much for your participation - we're super happy about how many of you took the time to send us your awesome ideas. But we aren't about to keep everything for ourselves! Today, we'll be presenting the main themes behind the subclass designs we received.

[...]

Barbarian Paths

Mighty warriors driven by their rage, overpowering their enemy through pure physical prowess and innate combat senses where Fighters shine through training and skills. You could draw similitudes to what Sorcerers are to Wizards: it's in their blood. 

[...]

Druid Circles

Druids are full on spellcasters who trade the ability to wear metal and to shoo spooky skeletons away with the ability to turn into animals - and large ones at that. 

[...]

How will I know if my submission is selected?

Before releasing the DLC (date not yet revealed), we will announce which ideas we selected (and some personal favorites as well) in a news post just like this one – and the name or nickname you put in the Google Form will also be added to the in-game credits as Community Designer. 

The Vinyl Disks are starting to arrive!

Some of you in France may have already received theirs! For all the others, our audio partner G4F gave us the following estimates:

• France: About a week
• Europe: 2-3 weeks, maybe more depending on the country
• USA: Around a month
• Others: 1-2 months

Forgottenlor had a look at Solasta: Crown of the Magister, spotted some shortcomings, but still enjoyed the game quite a bit.

 I started playing RPGs on the tabletop, and I can still remember my uncle surprised us years ago when he brought the D&D starter box with him on a visit. Since then I have been a huge fan of games which try to capture the feeling of a Dungeons and Dragons tabletop game, whether it is something pretty close to the original experience, like Temple of Elemental Evil or something more derivative like Pillars of Eternity. Solasta: The Crown of Magister is definitely more of the former. It does an excellent job of giving you the feel of a tabletop game, even actively rolling dice on screen each time your characters make an attack roll or attempt a persuasion check. What Solasta isn’t, and what could potentially disappoint some players, is a Baldur’s Gate. There’s no big open world, there aren’t tons of quests waiting around every corner, and there are no memorable companions for you to recruit. Its much more a linear quest that focuses primarily on dungeon crawling and combat. In that way its much more like the aforementioned Temple of Elemental Evil or Icewind Dale. You do have a hub, chat with NPCs, get an occasional side quest, can periodically talk yourself out of a conflict, and are rewarded for carefully combing maps. It’s just that those activities present you with an occasional change of pace from your main task, which is exploring and fighting your way through various dungeons, ruins, caverns, and other exotic locations.

Tactical Adventures announces two new classes that will come as a new DLC: the barbarian and the druid. Each will also include one subclass that will be designed based on suggestions from the fans.

THE WISHING WELL - BARBARIAN & DRUID COMMUNITY SUBCLASS DESIGN EVENT

Hey there folks! 

Are you ready for more Solasta? That’s right, today we’re revealing part of our upcoming DLC – say hello to the Barbarian and the Druid. But wait, that’s not all! As most of you know, ever since our Kickstarter we’ve been working hand in hand with our players – you – to make Solasta a better game, and that’s why today starts the Wishing Well Event!

What is the Wishing Well?

The Wishing Well is an event where everyone gets to submit design ideas for the two Community Subclasses that we’ll implement in-game for our first upcoming DLC – one for the Barbarian, and one for the Druid. We (Tactical Adventures) will be going through the submissions to select ideas that we find really cool, and either implement them as such, or tweak them to fit the game (for instance if the feature sounds really great but is too complex to implement, we’ll adapt or simplify it). Of course, the name (or nickname) of those we’ll use ideas from will be added in the game’s credits as Community Designers.

---

When is the Wishing Well taking place?

The Wishing Well starts now and ends on Sunday September 5th at 11:59 pm PDT.

Check the link for further details.

Tactical Adventures shows a preview of their physical rewards.

SOLASTA ADVENTURE BOX UNPACKING!

Hey there folks,

Hope summer's treating you well! We're here today with an unboxing of the Solasta Adventure Box as we've just received a sample from the manufacturer - spoiler alert, it's looking great! Also, for those who could not get a box before it was too late... There is something big coming up next week for everyone, so keep an eye out :)

[...]

The Solasta Adventure Box... in pictures

As a reminder, the Kickstarter Physical Rewards are planned to be delivered in Early 2022 as explained on a previous Kickstarter update. Also, as we receive these questions every time we talk about our physical rewards - no, unfortunately you can't purchase the Adventure Box or the Solasta Rulebook anymore :(

[...]

PC Gamer presents some mods for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

The best Solasta: Crown of the Magister mods

More options for Solasta, including parts of Dungeons & Dragons it left out, and some great user-made adventures.

Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a charming D&D game with the energy of a homebrew campaign—the kind where the Dungeon Master maps out a world, writes its history, plans an epic quest, and then the players come along and make bad jokes all the way through it. Thanks to Solasta's Dungeon Maker you can homebrew your own scenarios for it or play those made by others, though don't expect adventures with quite the scope of Neverwinter Nights and its ambitious modules.

Even if you stick to Solasta's main campaign, there are lots of mods worth looking at to tweak its implementation of D&D's 5th edition rules, its interface, and more.

[...]

SolastaFaceUnlock
Flexible Backgrounds
Alternate Human
SolastaEnhancedVision
Skip Tutorials
Respec
Barbarian, Bard, Monk, and Warlock
Gear Up Before Adventuring
Tomb of Heroes
Caer Falcarn
SolastaQuest

[...]

Thanks Redglyph!

SteelySam checked out Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Solasta: Crown of the Magister Virulent Review

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Solasta is a Turn-Based Tactical RPG based on the Dungeons and Dragons SRD 5.1 Ruleset. In Solasta, you make the choices, dice decide your destiny. Wizards of the Coast granted Tactical Adventures a license to use the Dungeons and Dragons SRD 5.1 Ruleset, further anchoring our will to make the most faithful video game adaptation with the Tabletop Ruleset and craft the game you are hoping for!

Redglyph spotted an upcoming dev-stream for Solasta: Crown of the Magister, with info about Kickstarter rewards:

We'll be hosting a small Dev Stream on Tuesday 27th starting at 9 am PDT / 11 am EDT / 6 pm CEST for about 2 hours, where we'll discuss the game, the update and also talk a bit about the future (a bright one, worry not). We're also taking the opportunity to give our Kickstarter Backers an update on everything that has to do with their rewards - especially their physical ones!

Redglyph spotted the 'Sorcerer' - update 1.1.6 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Sorcerer Update Overview - Solasta: Crown of the Magister

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Patch notes here.

The Sorcerer class will be available for Solasta on July 13:

Solasta Sorcerer Update dropping hot on July 13th!

Hey there folks,

We're happy to finally share with you the release date of the Sorcerer Update, coming in next week on Tuesday July 13th! The Sorcerer Update will not only bring a new playable class to the Solastan roster, but also several new environments for the Dungeon Maker and a plethora of bug fixes and improves. But before that... Let's go back to the good ol' habits of our Dev Updates! 

The Sorcerer is finally here!

As promised during our Kickstarter, the Sorcerer is coming for free next week to Solasta - with three archetypes to choose from! Sorcerers are powerful spellcasters with the innate ability to cast magic using their Charisma attribute. While they do not know as many spells as a Wizard would, they more than make up for that with their ability to twist their spells thanks to their Metamagic feature. The three available subclasses are:

• Draconic Sorcerer: Draconic Sorcerers' powerful magic comes from their bloodline, which they claim can be traced back to powerful dragons of ancient times. 
• Mana Painter: Mana Painters were born out of the mana starvation that followed the Cataclysm, with some individuals suddenly gaining the innate ability to drain magic and use it as their own. 
• Child of the Rift: When the opening of the Rift forced a new magic brought by the gods of Tirmar into Solasta, those most deeply affected by it were named the Children of the Rift.

Thanks Redglyph!

MMORPG checked out Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

The RPG Files: Solasta: Crown of the Magister Review

I've been diligently playing the release version of Solasta: Crown of the Magister since about a week before it launched. I also played a bit during early access, which allowed me to see how much it changed during the early access period and compare that with the launch version of Solasta. This is, without a doubt, the most faithful adaptation of D&D into a video game I have ever played. Some other games might be a bit more polished or fancy in certain aspects, but none offer detailed implementation plus the freedom for the player to augment things to the same degree Solasta does. Beyond that, it's a great game, even if you aren't at all familiar with the tabletop version of D&D.

[...]

Conclusion

Solasta: Crown of the Magister is an excellent game for anyone who loves turn-based RPGs or D&D in general. Since there are so many options for difficulty and game rules, pretty much anyone can play it regardless if you want something easy to experience the story, something extremely challenging, or something in between. Additionally, although I did run into some issues early on, all of them got better as I moved further into the story, which is the reverse of most games that typically start super polished and get rougher as you move closer to the end. This isn't a game to sleep on.

Score: 9.5/10

RPGFan checked out Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Solasta: Crown of the Magister

If the pandemic is making it difficult to get your regular D&D group together and you’re getting the itch to roll up a new character, you won’t be wanting for digital options. This may be the year of Dungeons & Dragons, at least in the virtual realm. Two similar D&D games were released in early access last year. Baldur’s Gate III, the highly anticipated sequel 20 years in the waiting, is the older, more famous sibling. The younger up-and-comer, which utilizes the SRD 5.1 Ruleset procured from Wizards of the Coast and comes from new developer Tactical Adventures, is Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

Pros
Freedom in combat, streamlined user interface, many options for building a party, gorgeous environments.

Cons
Story is too well trodden, writing lacks life, RNG frustrations.

Bottom Line
Solasta's combat and systems make for an excellent foundation, but until it gets a compelling story, it will feel a bit empty.

Score: 78/100

Redglyph spotted a Solasta survey on Twitter:

Hello,

Tactical Adventures is interested in our opinion. It's not a long survey, 18 questions on our preferences for the future updates and DLCs.
Hey folks! Want to help us better understand what you're looking for in upcoming updates and DLCs?
Just drop by and answer this quick survey to give us a hand.

Redlyph and Henriquejr spotted patch 1.0.22 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Solasta 1.0.22 Patch Notes & What's Next!

Hi there folks!

We're back with Hotfix 1.0.22 and a little preview of our what's coming up next, as well as some solutions for folks who are having issues!

Known Issues & Work Around
I have a high end GPU (GTX 2070, 3090...) and Solasta keeps overheating my computer!
We found out that the game does not perform properly above 60 FPS :( The solution is to go to the graphic setting and either switch VSync to Double, or if that doesn't work switch VSync to none and to cap your FPS at 60, and to lower your resolution to 1080p

My main quest is stuck even though the patch notes says it's fixed!
Most of the time if you sequence break (aka you manage to bypass a trigger that would make the quest move on), a patch won't fix your save retroactively. This means you will need to load a previous save file and re-do the level - for example, if you're stuck in Dark Castle, you will need to load a save from the start of Dark Castle (or before you arrived at Dark Castle).

I used to be stuck in a weird screen with clouds when I started a new campaign
This was an issue primarily with Windows 7 configs where Microsoft removed a certain codec that prevents Unity videos from working. We should have implemented a work-around without having to delete the movie in your folder, but if you are still stuck please make sure to let us know (at worst, the old work-around still works)

For some merchants, trying to open their shop just doesn't open anything
You simply need to save again and load that save, it should fix the issue.

Patch Notes:

[...]

What's next?
For now we're done with our first round of Hotfixes, and we'll disappear for some times in order to prepare... The Sorcerer Update! As those of you who followed us since Kickstarter already know, we promised the Sorcerer Class as a free post-launch DLC - and we intend to follow up on that promise!

Working on a Sorcerer will take some time, which is why we can't afford as a small team to keep testing and releasing hotfixes while doing so - but worry not, we will still be working on small improvements and fixes while getting the Sorcerer ready. Things such as the Tome of Understanding not working will be properly fixed with the Sorcerer Update as well!

So... the next question is when? We're happy to say that the Sorcerer Update should drop in the upcoming weeks, so keep the game warmed up in your library as you may want to do another run soon!

... Also, know that there will be a little something in that update for our Russian and Brazilian fans :)

A new game studio called Talyon will develop a new game in the Solasta universe:

TACTICAL ADVENTURES ANNOUNCES NEW VIDEOGAME DEVELOPMENT STUDIO TALYON

Talyon Opens its Doors in Lyon, France to Develop a New Game Set in the Solasta: Crown of the Magister Universe

French Independent videogame developer Tactical Adventures is proud to announce studio expansion through the creation of a new subsidiary development team, Talyon, a new studio based in Lyon, France.
 
Lead by Julien Millet, Talyon's first project is to build a team of developers for its first game, a new tactical RPG set in the same universe as Tactical Adventures first game, Solasta: Crown of the Magister.
 
With over 19 years of experience in the videogame industry with renowned studios (Quantic Dream, Eugen Systems, Wizardbox…), Julien Millet fully masters the production process thanks to his artistic, creative, and technical skills.
 
Julien joined forces with the talented and passionate team at Tactical Adventures in 2019 to help develop its first tactical RPG Solasta: Crown of the Magister, where he actively contributed to the game development, specifically working on narrative and level design aspects.
 
The Talyon team currently consists of two additional developers who also worked on Solasta: Crown of the Magister, and are actively recruiting more passionate and talented staff to join their studio based in Lyon, France.  
 
“A beautiful journey lies ahead of us,” said Julien Millet. “This new studio will take the Solasta universe to uncharted territories that we are eager to develop.”
 
 “It has been almost two years since we started working with Julien and his team, and their contribution to the development of Solasta has been crucial,” said Mathieu Girard, Founder, CEO and Creative Director of Tactical Adventures.  “It’s a privilege to be able to create this new studio with them, and to keep expanding the Solasta universe together!”
 
Solasta: Crown of the Magister released Steam version 1.0 on May 27 and has seen positive user reviews on all platforms the game is sold on including, Steam, GOG, Gamesplanet, Humble Store and the Microsoft Store, Xbox Game Pass for PC catalogue.  
 
Tactical Adventures wishes to expand upon the Solasta universe creating a rich and unforgettable tactical RPG with the new project that Talyon is developing. Talyon will benefit from the technical innovations that helped define the genre and success of Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

[...]

Thanks Redglyph!

Mortismal Gaming reviewed Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Solasta: CotM - Review After 100%

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PC Gamer reviewed Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Solasta: Crown of the Magister review

Get tactical in this authentic D&D roll-player.

Whatever else Solasta may be, you can't fault its authenticity. Tactical Adventures' RPG is the truest virtual representation of a D&D ruleset since Neverwinter Nights. Armour classes, spell preparation, wincing at a bad dice-roll, it all brings back fond, occasionally agonising memories of BioWare's early games. The Fifth Edition rules form the backbone of this sprawling RPG, filled with giant, puzzle-y dungeons and challenging tactical combat. It's a decent first effort from the small French studio, albeit one that suffers from clumsy and derivative storytelling.

That story sees you control four adventurers recruited as Deputies of the Council, an organisation representing various factions across the realm of Solasta. Initially dispatched to investigate a beleaguered border fort on the frontier of the Badlands (think Mordor, but in the West rather the East), you eventually stumble upon an ancient artefact known as the Crown of the Magister. But the Crown is incomplete, missing several magical jewels that can make it powerful enough to open rifts between worlds. No prizes for guessing what your party will be doing for the next forty-ish hours.

[...]

Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Solasta's storytelling may not be up to much, but its tactical combat and accessible approach to D&D rules make it worth considering for CRPG fans.

Score: 70/100

Henriquejr spotted the dungeon maker trailer for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dungeon Maker Trailer - Solasta: Crown of the Magister

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Create your own Dungeons. Endless possibilities, countless hours of enjoyment. And more feature to come in the future!

Capsule Computers checked out Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Solasta: Crown of the Magister Review

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If you're missing your weekly Dungeons & Dragons group because of the pandemic or you need to scratch that Neverwinter Nights itch, Solasta: Crown of the Magister might be the ideal RPG for you. This game uses the D&D 5th Edition SRD. Find out why we're addicted to this game in our review.

To celebrate the launch of Solasta there has been a dev stream, which you can still find on Twitch.

Next to that there is also news about a beta branch being started for the next version and some know bugs and workaraounds.

With the 1.0 release we've unfortunately run into a few annoying bugs, that we'll be working on to fix as soon as we can:

• The biggest one is the black screen / clouds / crash when starting the campaign due to a missing video codec. Workaround here.
• If you had mods installed before, your saves may not work anymore! Remember that using mods may cause issues with the game itself.
• Some people are also running into Unity crashes (small popup with a "!" on top of a Solasta logo). Unfortunately this is due to the engine and not the game itself, but we'll try to see if we can do something about it! Most of them are due to hardware issues (low specs, overheat,  overclocking...) so no promises here.
• Some people are reporting issues with the Return the Sword to Merton quest. We welcome any save file right before the bug so we can investigate in more details!
• Some beards and hair are not sticking to the characters face! We know about this and we're working on a fix

PC Invasion has reviewed Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Solasta: Crown of the Magister review — A treat for Dungeons & Dragons fans

Can it roll a 20?

Solasta Crown Of The Magister Review

One of my biggest regrets is that I never got to experience the Dungeons & Dragons fandom during its heyday in the 80s and 90s. Still, I’ve been intrigued by video games and tabletop games that are either based on or are loosely influenced by it. That brings us to Solasta: Crown of the Magister which is set to leave Early Access tomorrow.

Solasta: Crown of the Magister aims to continue a tradition of worthwhile offerings with a classic CRPG flair. Indeed, developer Tactical Adventures even touts that it’s a faithful adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons‘ ruleset. For the most part, though, Solasta is a surprisingly decent romp that brings hours of enjoyment, though it does falter towards the end.

[...]

Solasta: Crown of the Magister
A role-playing game that promises to faithfully adapt Dungeons & Dragons' ruleset.

Solasta: Crown of the Magister has a few notable problems, and it starts to stumble the closer you get to the finish line. However, it still manages to offer an engaging and highly customizable experience that will keep you entertained for many hours.

Score: 8/10

The Dungeons & Dragons RPG Solasta: Crown of the Magister has been released:

Solasta 1.0 Full Launch - We're finally there people!

Hey there folks,

This is it. A little more than a year and a half after our Kickstarter and 7 months of Early Access, we're finally there - Solasta 1.0 is now available on PC. Now the only question that remains is... Are you ready?

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Solasta 1.0 - Available now!

Solasta is finally 100% content complete and ready to be enjoyed by everyone out there. You will be able to play the entire main campaign as well as experience all the sidequests we've prepared for you!
Here is what you can expect from Solasta 1.0:

• A full epic campaign that will take you from level 1 to 10
• A large amount of sidequests to enrich and gear up your party
• Several new and exotic environments filled with dangerous monsters
• A full orchestral upgrade of Solasta's Original Soundtrack
• Many improvements requested by the community
• Less bugs, more stability, better performance
• A sizeable update to the Dungeon Maker (still in beta) with 3 completely new environments, new monsters and new gadgets that we'll go into more details below
• The 1.0 version is compatible with saves from the March Spring Update, however we do recommend to start fresh to ensure you get the final launch experience of Solasta!

Thanks Redglyph!

Tactical Adventures posted an update focused on the soundtrack and a video with the orchestral update to the main theme:

Hey there folks!

While we're all waiting for the final release of Solasta, here is a little something to listen to. And to watch. Those who followed the project during our Kickstarter campaign may remember one of our stretch goals - an orchestral upgrade to the soundtrack. Some of you might even have noticed that some tracks changed with the Spring Update version. Well, if you were wondering how those new tracks sound and how they were produced, look no further - we have a video for you!

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[...]

Thanks Redglyph!

Solasta: Crown of the Magister will be released on May 27:

Solasta is graduating from Early Access!

On May 27th 2021 after a little more than 7 months in Early Access, Solasta will finally launch its 1.0 version with all the promises made during our Kickstarter Campaign!

What a ride it has been, from the small prototype made by the hands of Mathieu Girard (our CEO and Creative Director) in Summer 2018, to the core team of Tactical Adventures shaping up end of 2018, to our Kickstarter Campaign and Ruins of Telema Demo in Summer 2019, to our Early Access launch in Autumn 2020... all of this leading to full release in Spring 2021! 

Redglyph spotted a new update for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update #29 - Next Stop, Full Release!

Hello there folks,

I hope you're all enjoying the Spring Update very much, as we are now headed for the final release of Solasta: Crown of the Magister! "And when exactly would that be" I hear you asking - my most humble apologies, this information will have to stay secret... for a bit longer! Keep an eye on the horizon, for you will soon know the date (for you worrywarts out there, I can tell you that it will indeed be this year). Now, for something you were all waiting for... cats! 

A perfect fit. On a sadder note, Linus (cat on the right, last Dev Update) passed away peacefully last week. Sleep well my friend!

Onwards, to version 1.0!

As stated in the introduction, our next big update will be the full release of Solasta: Crown of the Magister - meaning we'll be leaving Early Access once and for all! Thanks again to all of you who joined us during this journey and whose feedback help us make a better game - you guys (and gals!) are the MVPs. 

Here is a reminder of what you can expect from Solasta at launch:

• The full campaign of Solasta: Crown of the Magister
• Additional side quests, including a particularly difficult one!
• Full orchestral OST - you might have already spotted a few orchestral tracks in the Spring Update
• An increase of the max level cap from 8 to 10, with level 5 spells
• An update to the Dungeon Maker Beta
• Steam Workshop implementation to make Custom Dungeon sharing easier
• Digital Kickstarter Rewards for our Backers
• Supporter Pack Digital Rewards (special dice)

But the train doesn't stop there!

• Free Post-launch Sorcerer DLC, which will unlock the Sorcerer class to everyone (not just backers)
• Physical Kickstarter Rewards, planned to be sent the months following the release of Solasta 1.0
• More info later about our post-launch plans - we've got a game to finish first!

[...]

The Spring Update for Solasta: Crown of the Magister is now live.

Hey there folks!

The Spring Update should now be live, with a plethora of changes and new content! With the addition of the difficulty options, side quests and background quests, your Solastan experience is getting closer and closer to the final release. Well bugs and polish aside of course, Early Access has proved quite effective at finding and squashing them so far! But enough talk, it's time to dive into the patch notes.

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Old Save Files are NOT compatible 

As stated in our previous articles, due to changes in existing systems save files from previous versions will NOT be compatible with the Spring Update. That said, we're adding a lot of side content in this new update, so restarting a fresh run will give a new experience where you don't have to run after the main quest! 

Note that we will put the previous version of the game (January Update) on a separate Steam branch so that you can keep playing with your old saves if you want to. And although one is never safe from a bad surprise during Early Access, save compatibility should hopefully be preserved from the Spring Update onwards.

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Spring Patch Sales & Price Increase

Solasta will be discounted when the Spring Update hits the store on March 25th until March 31st, after which the price of the game will increase from $35 to $40 in anticipation of the 1.0 release. This is due to the fact that Steam prevents games from discounting within 30 days of a price increase, so we unfortunately cannot increase the price when 1.0 gets released while also having a launch discount. So if you want to jump in Solasta at Early Access price, make sure you don't miss the Spring Update sales! 

[...]

Jorphdan checked out Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Solasta: Crown of the Magister Review | Jorphdan

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Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a Turn-Based Tactical RPG based on the Dungeons and Dragons SRD 5.1 Ruleset! I'm having a blast with it, check out more from their website or on Steam!

Wccftech interviewed the developers of Solasta about their dungeon maker.

Given the importance that you're placing on verticality in Solasta, will there be a way for dungeon makers to replicate some of that?

Mathieu Girard: Not yet, because I've prioritized simplicity first. When you go with a 3D editor, you're going to lose 50% of the users who can create content. We're thinking of adding some verticality props like platforms, stuff like that, or maybe rooms with gaps in it. And then again, we will be driven by the community's wishes. If they say we need to have 3D, maybe we can go, I don't know, with an isometric perspective for the dungeon maker tool. It could be like an expert mode for the dungeon maker because most people want to use 2D first.

Emile Zhang: During the Kickstarter for Solasta, we had many people asking for a dungeon maker. One of the biggest issues was that the complexity was a little bit too harsh, as Mathieu said. We actually discussed with many modders from Pathfinder Kingmaker, for example, as that game used Unity as well. At first, we wanted to give the modders some kind of advanced SDK tool that they could load into Unity and make their own dungeon using our tools. That would include the verticality you were asking about. But the problem is that it was so complex that even the modders themselves told us that this would require someone to know how to code video games, meaning that it would be too harsh of an entry barrier. That is why Mathieu prioritized making a simple tool and then working on top of it to add new features on the go, depending on what the users will ask for. For example, we already know a lot of users are asking us for a dialogue system so that NPCs can talk to us and we can add NPCs to dungeons outside from monsters. We also know that they would like a quest system so that NPCs could also give you a quest and you have specific quests in your dungeon. So maybe, as you said, the verticality will come in because it's a huge part of Solasta. We will take a look at how to include that in a simple enough manner so that it is still interesting to use it. But at the same time, it doesn't lose half of your modders when you introduce this feature.

Mathieu Girard: We have a backlog of evolutions for this tool, with lots of cool ideas. It's just a matter of how much time we have and what the community wants to do first. This is why we are going to release this dungeon maker with the next update in the early access to get early feedback and to really adapt. Do they want, above all, new environments? Like caves or forests, etc.? Or do they want new features? Specifically, that's what we want to listen to.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

The spring update for Solasta: Crown of the Magister is planned for March 25:

Spring Update planned for March 25th!

Hey there folks,

We know you're eager to have a go at Solasta's Spring Update, so we're just going to come clean with the date. You'll be able to enjoy everything we've been talking about the last few weeks on Thursday March 25th - including the brand new Dungeon Maker. Alright, now for more information about this upcoming patch...

Spring Update Community Stream
As per usual, we'll be hosting a stream on Twitch to accompany the update. Join us on the day before the patch, Wednesday March 24th, at 9 am PDT / 12 pm EDT / 5 pm CET to discover the new content at our side and ask us any question you can think of! The participants this time will be Mathieu, Creative Director, Xavier, Gameplay Director, Pierre, Marketing Director and myself Emile, Community Lead. Make sure to follow us on Twitch so that you don't miss the stream!

[...]

Thanks Redglyph and Henriquejr!

Redglyph spotted that Solasta: Crown of the Magister will include a dungeon editor:

Dungeon Maker Showcase - Create your own Dungeons!

Hey there folks,

You wanted it, we wanted it - modding tools to create your very own adventures in Solasta. We didn't make any promises back during our Kickstarter as we weren't sure we'd be able to make it before launch... But today we're happy to announce the Dungeon Maker - a map editor that will be accessible in-game to each and everyone of you! And we're not just making promises with a few screenshots here - here's a full video to show you what the Dungeon Maker is, and how it works!

Will the Dungeon Maker be fully complete when Solasta 1.0 launches?
No, the Dungeon Maker will be in a beta state for quite some time - even after the 1.0 launch of Solasta. In order to have a playable version of the Dungeon Maker and avoid putting the main game at risk, we've decided to start small and add features as we go (rather than being too ambitious from the start).

What are the current features of the Dungeon Maker?

• Freely create dungeon layouts using a selection of preset rooms
• Link multiple maps together to create larger dungeons
• One environment available for now, the Necropolis, with its set of environmental props to decorate your dungeon
• Almost all monsters and items from Solasta: Crown of the Magister main campaign to create your encounters and loot
• A selection of traps (just a few for now) to punish greedy adventurers
• Easy to share online, it's a simple .json file in a folder. We plan to add Steam Workshop later on so it becomes even easier to share.

What are the future features planned for the Dungeon Maker?
Provided we see people using the Dungeon Maker, we plan to add a Quest system, Merchants and other environments. After that... time will tell!

Can I import my own monsters / items in the Dungeon Maker?
No, at least not using the official Dungeon Maker tool on its own. That being said, it might become possible through the use of other community-created mods, as some have already started to create new classes and archetypes - so new items / monsters may not be an impossibility in the long run!

Where can I share my creation / download other people's Dungeon Maker maps?
While Solasta will eventually be on Steam Workshop later, in the meantime you could always take a look at Nexusmod - where you can already find mods from community members adding new feats, archetypes and other creative ideas! Note that we (Tactical Adventures) do not guarantee anything when it comes to user created mods - some may not work at all.

When will the Dungeon Maker be available?
Soon! That's all we can tell you for now :D

[...]

Learn more about the difficulty settings of Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Cracking Open The Difficulty Settings

Hey there folks!

This week we'll be rolling Intelligence (Investigation) checks on the Difficulty Settings of Solasta. We briefly talked about them in a previous update, but it's time to get into the nitty gritty details - this way you'll know exactly your options at launch!

But before that, let's give a warm hello to our 3D Programmer's sleepy doggo, Newt.

Preset Difficulty Settings
As with most games nowadays, we will be offering you a few preset difficulty settings to choose from when you start a new adventure. Note that each of those preset can be manually adjusted at any time during your campaign (we'll be going into more details in the next section). 

Iron Man has not yet been implemented, but we haven't forgotten about it!

Story Mode, as its name implies, allows players who are not familiar with RPGs to simply enjoy the story. In this mode, damage taken by your party will be severely reduced and you will receive bonuses on most of your dice rolls, as well as having your character automatically revive at the end of each fight. Some features are disabled, among which needing food to rest, having to roll concentration checks when hit and spellcasting being restrained by the spell components.

Explorer Mode offers a more difficult challenge already. While the party still retains some bonuses to their rolls and a slight damage reduction, monsters will mostly be operating at full capacity so don't lure yourself into thinking that it will be a walk in the park. For players who aren't so familiar with the tabletop ruleset, Explorer Mode might be a good starting place. 

Authentic Mode is the game as we, the Tactical Adventures crew, play it. No modifiers, true RNG dice rolls that will make you curse the gods for making you miss 5 times in a row - only you, your characters, and the computer as a cold merciless DM. 

If you feel like the game is going too easy on you, Scavenger is here to spice things up!

Scavenger Mode will go beyond, making monsters slighter tougher... but much more vicious! At that level of difficulty, monsters will start attacking unconscious characters to finish them off, try to shove characters off cliffs and use powerful moves more frequently (still within the ruleset limits though).

Cataclysm Mode is there for those who've played the game in and out and are looking for the ultimate challenge. Monsters at this stage are not only vicious, they are also incredibly beefed up - on top of which your party will receive 50% more damage from any source. Prepare to die...

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Thanks Henriquejr!

Redglyph spotted the dev diary part #28 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Diary #28 - Side Quests, Monsters and... Digging?

Hey there folks!

Following a bit of misunderstanding from our article 2 weeks ago, we've decided to rename our Dev Updates to Dev Diaries - so that people don't end up thinking they were linked with actual game patches. For those who've only started following us recently, we've been calling this line of articles Dev Updates from the very start - as they were updates on what the Tactical Adventures crew was working on. However since "Update" could also be viewed as a "Game Update" (or patch) now that the game is actually available on Steam, it was understandably making some people confused. Anyway enough prattling, let's move on to the meat and potatoes of this week!

Side quests, reporting for duty!

Now that we've have a sizeable chunk of the main campaign playable, we've started working on adding some side quests into the mix! This should hopefully alleviate the feeling of the game being too linear, forcing you to rush down the main quest from one mission to another. That being said remember that Solasta is not intended to be an open world game -  side quests are meant to enhance the overall experience, which is still focused on the main campaign.

We plan to have two major types of side quests in Solasta. The first type, shown in the screenshot above, are fairly elaborate quests with cutscenes and oftentimes handcrafted levels - for instance, Background Quests and the Legendary Quest mentioned in last week's article. The second type are more straightforward quests with little in the way of narration, such as pickup quests asking you to clear a pack of monsters in an old location you've already visited for example. Those are mostly here to give you a little break from the story and encourage you to visit (or revisit) locations to make sure you're not missing out some cool loot and experience. That said, do not worry - you can absolutely ignore all of that and focus on the main quest if you prefer. 

[...]

Redglyph played the Early Access version of Solasta: Crown of the Magister and penned down some words about what he experienced.

Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a turn-based tactical RPG based on the SRD 5.1 ruleset, developed by Tactical Adventures. This will be the first title released by this new French studio of about 10 passionate and experienced game developers. It is issued from a Kickstarter campaign, which successfully concluded in October 2019 with a budget of 243,855€ (against an 180,000€ goal).

They released a first demo in September 2019 for the Kickstarter campaign; it was updated a few times and was already quite impressive for such an early work. The Early Access started on 20 October 2020, and received a significant update end of December. It offers about 14 hours of content, so less than half the final release according to their estimation; this will of course vary depending on how you play.

Henriquejr spotted dev update #27 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update #27 - What's cooking beyond Wizard's Tower?

Hey there folks!

With all the recent patch notes and other articles about community feedback and bug fixing, we haven't been showing you a lot of new stuff lately. This is something we intend to fix... today, now, this very round! In fact, stop whatever you're doing and roll initiative, we're getting right down to business!

... But first, here's our weekly cat allowance.

Fire in the Hole!
You know it, we know it, the adventure does not end at the Wizard's Tower. Your party will be going ever deeper into the Badlands, entering orc territory next. Now, there are tons of things we'd love to share with you - but we also do not wish to spoil everything, which is why you'll have to make do with a few pictures for now!

[...]

GiN checked out the Early Access title Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

An RPG Gem Shines in Solasta Crown of the Magister

Back in November, I took a look at Baldur’s Gate 3, which for me was one of the most anticipated games of the year. Having played through the entire classic series and all of the DLCs, I was really excited to see what the new game could offer. Developer Larian Studios released the game into Steam’s Early Access program, giving everyone a good look at the first chapter of the new title.

About the same time, I became aware of another game that used the Dungeon and Dragons fifth edition ruleset called Solasta: Crown of the Magister. Developed by Tactical Adventures, it promised a true to life conversion of a real D&D pen and paper type of game, at a time when meeting in person around the table was ill-advised. So they had good timing, but because they didn’t have the Baldur’s Gate name, it kind of languished in my to-do pile for a while.

[...]

Even though Solasta: Crown of the Magister is still in early access, it’s worth playing. Especially if you are really craving an authentic round-the-table type of D&D adventure, but one that can be played by yourself, you won’t get any closer than what Solasta offers. I’m sure it will get even better as it develops, but am pretty happy with how it plays right now, and look forward to many long caffeine-fueled dungeon delving adventures with the game into the wee hours of the night.

Solasta: Crown of the Magister got a new patch:

Solasta January Patch - Patch Notes

Hey there again folks,

It's time for the January Patch! This small update should work out most out the bugs released with December's Winter Update, as well as a few others that thrived in our game since our Early Access came out in October. This means... it's patch note time!

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Patch Download Size
As we often see people complaining about the size of each update, I'd like to clarify once more why you're more or less re-downloading the entire game every time. Long story short, due to how Unity works (the engine Solasta is running on) we've had to make a choice between longer loading time, or bigger patch download size - and considering we're not too keen on making loading screens even longer than they already are, we've prefered to choose the latter. That's pretty much the short version of it :(

[...]

Thanks Redglyph!

Henriquejr spotted the new dev-update for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update #26 - Welcome 2021 & Community Feedback #2!

Hello there everyone,

Hope you all enjoyed some quality winter break, hiding under your blanket sipping hot cocoa like I did. In any case Tactical Adventures is back at work, ready to build features, create assets and slay more bugs! And we're not the only ones back either...

Our adorable feline friends are making a comeback too! 

What's been cooking since our Winter Update?
You probably noticed, the Winter Update was not exactly bug-free. And while nothing is ever perfectly bug-free - especially during an Early Access - let's not pretend that we were anywhere close to satisfied when we saw the amount of bugs this last update introduced. Which is why we're planning on releasing an update focused on polish next week, which will tackle most of the issues brought up by the community these last few weeks. 

The fixes should range from the most problematic ones, such as the one teleporting and locking you into a cutscene after killing ghosts in the Wizard's Tower, to more annoying ones that have been around for a long time, such as fixing some feats which just didn't work. In any case, we'll be releasing the full patch notes when the update drops as usual!

Any future content update plans in mind?
Honestly? We're not certain. As some of you already know, we've stated on our Steam Early Access FAQ that we're aiming for around 6 months of Early Access. While we can never be sure of the exact duration (otherwise we'd already have announced a release date), we don't intend to stray too far from that estimation.

Every content update we drop has an impact on the final release of the game: we need to stabilize the build, test it, debug it and polish it before putting it on Steam, and our Winter Update was a good example of how things can sometimes go wrong when we don't allocate sufficient time for that. All of this is time invested away from completing the final game, since there's a good chance we'll be altering or breaking things again when we add or change game systems later on.

Which means we're currently balancing our options between A) solely focusing towards the finish line and get the final version of the game out so that everyone can enjoy Solasta in its entirety, with all its intended features and full campaign - or B) working out appropriate conditions and time to churn out another content update before that. And while the latter would allow us to have you try out new features and levels to keep the feedback coming on improvements and suggestions, there is always this little risk looming around the corner of impacting the final release - or worse, having to cut a feature or a level. 

That being said, it just might end up that we'll be able to release a content update around the end of Winter without having to compromise anything in our final release, but we've always been very transparent with you on the how's and why's when we make decisions. In any case, be certain that we'll keep you informed if or when we do decide to release a new content update!

[...]

Redglyph spotted the winter update for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

 Early Access Winter Update - Solasta: Crown of the Magister

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Hey there folks!

Welcome to Solasta's Winter Update! With the addition of the new Monastery Questline, the Early Access should now reach 12h - 14h of total game time. We've also taken action regarding the most popular requests, such as adding more customization options and changing the lighting system which was deemed too punitive (we've reverted the rules back to the 5e tabletop ruleset). Hope you enjoy!

Some tweets from Tactical Adventures announces that Solasta: Crown of the Magister is coming to GOG.

Wait what's this? #Solasta is coming to

@GOGcom

?! Yes, that's right! https://gog.com/game/solasta_crown_of_the_magister Make sure you click on the notification button so you don't miss out on a fantastic turn-based Tactical RPG rooted in the most popular Tabletop Ruleset! #crpg

For our dear Kickstarter Backers: We'll be posting a large update this Wednesday (9th) on Kickstarter, and you'll be able to request a GOG key as promised :) Note that it might take some time as we have our hands full with the Winter Update though! (1/2)

Also, yes you CAN request a GOG Key even if you already redeemed your Steam Key. You get to play the game on PC where you prefer

(2/2)

Thanks Redglyph!

Redglyph spotted the development update #25 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update #25 - New Content Sneak Peek

Hey there folks!

How are you all doing? Winter is starting show its nose, it's getting pretty cold here in Paris! However, that also means we're getting closer to the Winter Update, which we will be talking about a bit more in today's Dev Update. But before that...

[...]

Remind me what's in the Winter Update?

Worry not, we've got you. After all, it's already been 3 weeks since we first announced the upcoming Winter Update, and not all of us picked Keen Mind during character creation (though I sure wish I did, now where did I put those damn keys again...). So here is a reminder of what you can look forward to:

• An overhaul of the Lighting System, we're going back to the Tabletop Ruleset with no disadvantage in Dim Light and Darkvision working as its name implies.
• A new area and its set of quests, taking place after the Necromancy Main Quest
• The Scavenger System - no more lugging around all the junk you see lying around
• New combat features, such as hiding during combat and applying Poison onto your weapon
• More customization options in Character Creation, and a bit of plastic surgery on some faces
• Inventory and Shopping improvements, hand picked from your suggestions
• Optimization to the Food mechanic, so your party won't end up starving as often

[...]

Tactical Adventures answers to the most popular feedback and tells what is likely to change:

Dev Update #24 - Community Feedback & Sourcebook Update

Hello there everyone!

Today we're going to be doing a slightly different Dev Update than usual. You might remember that we've always been talking about working hand in hand with the community. This stance, which started during our Kickstarter Campaign, has not changed - if anything, Early Access is a direct extension of that. So far we've mostly used our Dev Updates to talk to you about what we have in store for Solasta. What we've planned, what we're working on, so on and so forth. This time however, we're going to be looking at some of the most popular suggestions and feedback we've received so far - and tell you what we'd like to do on each topic after sitting down together and discussing about it. For those who are curious on how we tackle feedback, we're holding regular meetings with the core team to go over the various community feedback. Considering the amount we've received, there are many suggestions that won't be featured here - but worry not, Community Feedback Reviews will come back in future Dev Updates as well. 

[...]

Community Feedback Review #1 - Let's get started!

Alright folks, time to tackle them suggestions and feedback! Hope you've got a mug of coffee / cup of tea / bottle of vodka (wait what) ready, because this is going to be fairly long.

Do you plan on adding a "quick start" feature to skip tutorials once we've already completed them once? 

Yes. This is something we're planning to do in the long run, however it is very likely that this feature won't be available during Early Access as we might still be adjusting things left and right - which might include the tutorial levels. Our current idea would be to have your party start in Caer Cyflen, skipping the tutorials and cutscene with lord Carran so you can immediately go to the council to start your adventure.

Will you be adding more crucial choices to dialogs?

This one is a hard one. Ideally, we'd love to have a wide range of impactful choices that would strongly impact the various quests you're tackling, but here's the thing - these things need time and money. A lot of it. 

Let me elaborate. Adding a dialog choice would mean additional writing, which in itself isn't too bad. Considering Solasta is fully voice acted, you'd have to add voice recording which already starts to become expensive. Then, if you decide that the decision affects the quest - for instance by opening a new path to go around an encounter for instance - you add on top of this time required for game design and level design (to create that new path). And then you also add time required every time we do a test run, because if we don't test all the options chances are some of them may not work.

I explained this in a forum post a long time ago, but it's the same reason we're not going for multiple endings. Let's say you have the time to write three large story quests for the end of your campaign, each taking around 5 hours to complete for the player. When you arrive at the end of the game, if you play those 3 quests back to back, the game is linear but every player gets 15 hours of extra playtime. On the other hand, if you have a to choose between three different endings - each with their own quest - each player only gets 5 hours of gameplay. Now you may argue that players get more overall playtime because they would be encouraged to re-play the game to see the other endings, but those players are exception and not the rule - most players are satisfied with a single playthrough.

So, a single end with more content, or multiple endings with much shorter content for each of them? In the case of Solasta, we never intended our game to be very long - so cutting content to add more forks in the road doesn't sound like a wise choice for us. We'd rather focus on delivering a single, well crafted campaign - even if it might feel a bit railroaded at time.

Now that being said, we also noticed that some dialog options may feel redundant or poorly exposed - for instance a lot of players were really surprised at the fact that experienced adventurers would just put an unidentified crown on their head without second thoughts. You can help us by bringing up particular cutscenes / dialogs where you feel like something just feels wrong so we can take a look at them and change the script a bit to make them feel more natural - I'm sure most of you would have less issues with the crown scene if it was implied that the crown was magically influencing the party to wear it.

[...]

Thanks Redglyph!

Redglyph spotted a dev-update for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

 Hey there folks!

Today's going to be a shorter article, so strap up and let's get going. Oh but before that, let's welcome our newest team member, Newt :)

[...]

Now that you've all met Newt, let's move on to the main topic: Lighting. 

We've been talking about Lighting quite a lot recently after receiving feedback from the community (that's you!), and we've been hard at work to tackle the issues you've brought up. I can safely say that we were quite happy to read your comments on our most recent Dev Update, however we also want to clarify a few things to avoid any misunderstanding.

Monsters Inc.

Some of you mentioned that if we are to buff monsters when they are in the darkness, than the problem would remain the same. Now, you have to keep in mind that we're not just planning to slap some generic buff on any hostile creature sitting in the dark - only a few, selected dwellers from the deep get to enjoy this. It will be part of their identity, not a simple video game gimmick - just like how Vampires regenerate while they aren't exposed to sunlight.

Those who had to fight Aksha know how tough these darkness-loving monsters can be!

Of course we don't necessarily think that we'll hit all the right notes straight from the get go, which is why Early Access is here. Considering how our previous lighting system added a hefty layer of complexity (although not necessarily well explained nor particularly fun to play with), some fights may become way too easy for parties with Darkvision. Monsters who get bonuses while staying in the darkness might end up a bit too strong to deal with at first. We'll be collecting data and feedback from you to make sure we adjust the difficulty properly for the 1.0 release in 2021.

Playing with the Light

Lighting is and will always remain a pillar of Solasta, which means that fighting certain monsters will require you to use light. Yes, even if your entire party has Darkvision. Just like how fighting Trolls with no fire or acid at hand is like shooting yourself in the foot with your hand crossbow, some Solastan monster will be extremely hard to take down if you refuse to shed some light in the darkness. Now the good part is, lighting a torch is something everyone can do!

Jokes aside, we've also taken to heart your comments about how hostile creatures could easily get out of an illuminated area which would lead you to a wild goose chase every round. We're currently testing around with a few new features to combat that, but keep in mind that not all of them may be implemented in the upcoming patches!

[...]

Henriquejr spotted dev update #23 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update #23 - Winter Patch Preview!

Changes to the light system, new area and more features!

Hey there folks,

Our Steam Early Access Launch has been a blast so far. We've spent hours upon hours reading your messages, comments, suggestions, feedback... and it's been great! This is everything we wanted from the Early Access period. Anyway, now that things have calmed down a bit, we're back with our scheduled Dev Updates - this time with a preview of the upcoming Winter Patch, which should drop in the coming months. But before that... Let's greet our newcomers with our usual ritual - a picture of one of our fluffy companions!

Winter is Coming

Grab your coat and fire up your computer, here's a little sample of what's coming next!

• A new area and its set of quests, taking place after the Necromancy Main Quest
• The Scavenger System - no more lugging around all the junk you see lying around
• New combat features, such as hiding during combat and applying Poison onto your weapon
• More customization options in Character Creation, and a bit of plastic surgery on some faces
• Inventory and Shopping improvements, hand picked from your suggestions
• Still under consideration, but we might be adjusting the lighting system following your feedback - potentially not in this patch!
• And plenty of other additions, that we'll talk about in the coming weeks!

[...]

PCGamesN has reviewed the Early Access version of Solasta:Crown of the Magister:

Solasta is no Baldur’s Gate 3, but it is Dungeons & Dragons

This RPG based on D&D's rules is a bit too raw to be considered a real contender right now, but there is promise

Solasta: Crown of the Magister starts where any good Dungeons & Dragons campaign should: with four folks coming together over some cheap ale to discuss a proposition, one which promises to launch them on a grand quest. Banter forges a bond between them while also recounting the harrowing mishaps that befell them on their way to the tavern. It also serves as a bit of tutorial, teaching the player how to navigate menus, sneak past enemies, and use clever combat manoeuvres to even uncertain odds.

[...]

If you’re clamouring for a Dungeons & Dragons adaptation that’s as faithful as it can be to the dice-throwing of its source material, Solasta is worth checking out. But if an enrapturing world and story are more your priority, I don’t think it’s ready for you yet. Waiting out this first wave of Early Access updates – at least – would be wise.

Blockcritics has reviewed the Early Acces version of Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Videogame Early Acces Review: Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Joining Baldur's Gate 3 in the RPG Early Access D&D ecosystem is Solasta: Crown of the Magister. Solasta is nowhere near as flashy as BG3, but it is an incredible simulation of the Dungeons & Dragons 5.1 ruleset and far more satisfying to play despite some flaws.

Set in an original High Fantasy world, Solasta started it’s life as a Kickstarter project back in September 2019. It launched the campaign with a well received demo and surpassed its target by almost double achieving many stretch goals.

[...]

I can say without reservation that Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a terrific game that benefits greatly from the D&D 5.1 ruleset but does not have to fit in it’s story universe. This allows the developer to make a deep tactical RPG with their own story and universe hooks.

The result is an excellent RPG experience that I am looking forward to seeing evolve in the Early Access ecosystem. Solasta is available right now on Steam.

Henriquejr spotted a new version of Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Version 0.3.3 Update - Fix ALL THE THINGS!

Hi there everyone,

It's been one week since our Early Access launch and we've been hard at work to bring you a whole bunch of improvements! 

DE version available here (thanks Raminblake)

Important: If you are running into infinite loading screens, make sure to verify your games files! 
Go to your Steam Library and right click Solasta => Properties => Local Files Tab => Verify Integrity of Game Files.
If this doesn’t fix the problem, try loading an older save (such as an auto-save) to go through the problematic area! On rare occasions, save files can get corrupted so the solution is loading another one.

[...]

C4G checked out Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Solasta: Crown of The Magister - Early Access Impressions

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Slanted checked out Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

 ‘Solasta: Crown of The Magister’ Preview: A Strong Start

If social distancing has your D&D gatherings on hold, “Solasta” should be on your wishlist. The game recently launched in Early Access on Steam, under the title “Solasta: Crown of the Magister.” The RPG is an ongoing project from Tactical Adventures, with combat based on the 5e ruleset.

You don’t have to have prior knowledge of D&D to enjoy the game, and you can pick up the gameplay mechanics rather quickly. Many tactical games have borrowed from D&D in the past, so if you enjoy the genre, it shouldn’t take you long to get a basic understanding of how combat and actions in Solasta play out. You will undoubtedly have a few stumbling blocks right out of the gate, but the game offers a lot of help and explanation along the way. Players will find familiar UI elements like spell and weapon slots, armor ratings, enchantments, positive and negative charms, a combat grid, turn-based gameplay, and a bit of randomized chaos.

Wizards of the Coast granted Tactical Adventures a license to use the Dungeons & Dragons SRD 5.1 content and rules in “Solasta: Crown of the Magister,” so experienced players shouldn’t have any trouble diving into the more advanced mechanics.

The game’s official description reads, “Solasta is a team-based adventure game where each character plays a critical role in the campaign and can be a hero. The dynamic and mysterious world features elements of verticality, allowing players to use their surroundings as an element of strategy. Players can position ranged characters on high vantage points or send their thief down into shafts and caverns to scope out what lies ahead. In Solasta, light is a tool to explore the depths and hallows of dungeons or can be used as a weapon against the creatures of the dark, but if players aren’t careful, it will give away the party’s position to nasty creatures bent on their demise.”

[...]

Solasta: Crown of the Magister, which is currently in Early Access, has been reviewed by WolfheartFPS.

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This video is an initial review of Solasta: Crown of the Magister's recently released early access. Solasta is a game heavily based on dnd 53 mechanics, and they represent the pen & paper very well! Very excited for this upcoming crpg by Tactical Adventures.

PC Gamer checked out Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

If Baldur's Gate 3 isn't D&D enough for you, Solasta may be the dice-obsessed RPG you're looking for

Solasta does a great job adapting tabletop combat, but there's not much else in its Early Access release.

Most videogame RPGs cite Dungeons & Dragons as their primary inspiration, but few directly adapt its rules. In a world of cooldowns and mana bars, D&D's dice rolls, bonus actions, spell slots, and long rests can feel clunky and restrictive when applied to a videogame. Even Baldur's Gate 3 makes many notable changes to make D&D more user-friendly, while indie RPG Solasta wears the 5e ruleset as a badge of honor, warts and all.

This is a game where combat is on a grid, where every d20 rolls on screen, and where jumping away from enemies is a sometimes-treat rather than a regular part of every meal.

While it may forever lurk in the shadow of Baldur's Gate 3, its crunchy, dice-heavy combat is just what I want in a lean adaptation of the tabletop RPG. Solastsa adapts the 5e rules via the Open Gaming License, which doesn't include the D&D worlds or trademark creatures. We won't be adventuring along the Sword Coast and battling beholders, but we will be creating a custom party of four heroes using five familiar races and six classic D&D classes like Fighter, Rogue, and Cleric.

[...]

The Early Access version of Solasta: Crown of the Magister has been released:

Early Access LAUNCH Trailer - Solasta: Crown of the Magister

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Fextralife checked out Solasta: Crown of the Magister which will be released tomorrow as Early Access game:

Solasta Crown of the Magister: First Impression

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WolfHeartFPS looks at the classes, races and version of D&D present in Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

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Solasta : Crown of the Magister is an upcoming CRPG that has many 5e dungeons and dragons elements to it. This rpg is coming to early access on October 20th. More solasta content on the way, subscribe.

Henriquejr spotted this Solasta: Crown of the Magister Q&A:

Ask Us Anything - PAX Q&A Recap

Hey there folks!

This week we're posting a recap of the Q&A that happened during PAX Online last week. Saddle up, because there's a LOT of text coming your way. 

== Character Building ==

Q: You will add some new class post-launch ?

A: Solasta launches in Early Access with the 6 classes available in the Demo, however we have already promised to add the Sorcerer as a free post-launch DLC during our Kickstarter Campaign. 

Ideally, we'd love to have all official SRD classes in Solasta - however we don't want to make any promises. We'll likely be looking at DLCs post-launch to add new classes (depending on how the game performs!). As for the order of release, we'll likely involve the community like we did during the Kickstarter!

Q: Will there be anything like Bladesinger or Eldritch knight?

A: So just to make sure people don't misunderstand - we won't have the Bladesinger or the Eldritch Knight as they are not SRD.

That being said, we do have the Spellblade that is our version of the magic-wielding fighter archetype, and the Greenmage which is a sort of Wizard / Ranger hybrid (vs the Wizard / Fighter that is Bladesinger)

Q: Are you only including content from the core 5e books in terms of class and races, or will you be expanding out to Xanathar's, Tasha's, etc. ?

A: As stated before, we're using D&D SRD 5.1 - we do not have a full D&D license. As such, we can't use any content from Xanathar's or other official D&D sourcebooks. Even taking the Player Handbook, we don't have access to all the archetypes for instance.

Q: Are Half-orcs going to be included?

A: Half-orcs have unfortunately not been confirmed for Solasta! So... maybe post-launch, but maybe never - I don't like to make empty promises, so we'll have to see!

Q: Is multiclassing something you are looking into for the future?

A: This is unlikely, as multiclassing brings in a LOT of bugs and balancing issues (who doesn't know of the Warlock dip when playing a CHA character). That being said, Solasta is a single player game so it's mostly for technical reasons than balancing reasons (it's not like we have a scoreboard or something).

Ideally we want to make more Archetypes / bring more Classes if variety is what is lacking, rather than do multiclassing. But again, we have the philosophy of "never say never" - if the community is behind it, and we find the time and decide to prioritize it, it may be a thing post-launch (but most likely not). 

[...]

PC Gamer reports that Solasta: Crown of the Magister will release as Early Access October 20th.

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French studio Tactical Adventures raised €243,855 on Kickstarter (over a €180,000 goal) for Solasta: Crown of the Magister, their RPG based on the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition rules. Now they've announced it'll be coming to Steam Early Access on October 20, and they're aiming to release the full game in 2021 release.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Solasta: Crown of the Magister will be released as Early Access version this fall. Henriquejr spotted a teaser:

Coming to Early Access Teaser - Solasta: Crown of the Magister [OFFICIAL]

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Coming to Early Access, later this year ! \o/

Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a Turn-Based Tactical RPG based on the SRD 5.1 ruleset. Wizards of the Coast has granted Tactical Adventures a license to use the Dungeons & Dragons SRD 5.1 content and rules in Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

Henriquejr spotted dev update #19 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update #19 - Rise of the Undead

Hello folks,

As usual, the Dev Update following a video is going to be a slightly shorter one. I hope you enjoyed our discussion with Antoine about the lore of Solasta, the video was very interesting to work on. We've had to trim quite a few answers to avoid entering spoiler territory of course, you'll have to forgive us for that. Another challenge was that my co-workers were definitely not being cooperative during the editing stage, as can be seen in the picture below.

[...]

'Cause this is thriller, thriller night!

When diving in ruins in search for treasure, always think of bringing a cleric - for oftentimes they will be crawling with undeads! Today we'll be showing quite a few of them, from the lowly Skeletons to the more threatening Broods. What is a Brood you ask? Well, stay tuned for more another time...

[...]

Henriquejr spotted dev update #18 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update #18 - Spells & Camera

Hello folks,

We're back with a new Dev Update (to the surprise of no one, I'd imagine)! Summer is really hitting us hard in Paris, with the temperature rising fairly high. With no air conditioning for those working from home, we have to rely on good old fans to keep us alive in these harsh times. And we're not the only ones...

Onwards, to new spell options!
We're very frequently showing off new spells in all their VFX glory, but we haven't often talked about what goes on behind them. In fact, creating new spells is fairly simple in our editor... as long as the options are already coded. Want to add Cone of Cold to the game? No problem, cone-AoE already exists thanks to Burning Hands. Adding Shatter? We already have sphere-AoE with Fireball. You get the idea.

However, what happens when the spell introduces something new? Something as seemingly simple as a new shape to tackle now has to go through the hands of our programmers (especially our graphic programmer) to make sure it's implemented properly for our game designers to play with. It's the same whenever you want to add a new effect - and let us tell you, there are a LOT of spells with very singular effects...

Vampiric Touch may seem very straightforward, but you can keep using it every turn for 1 min (or until you lose concentration)

To name just a few, we've recently added spells like Create Food and Water (generating new items in your inventory), Fear (forcing players / AI to run away), See Invisibility / Invisibility (handling combat / AI behaviour against invisible enemies) and Stinking Cloud (forcing players / AI to pass their turn if they fail). As you can see, most spells at higher level always bring their fair share of headache if we don't properly prepare beforehand! 

Anyway, let's end this section with some new spells that are fully dressed and ready to be shown to the world.

[...]

Henriquejr spotted dev update #17 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update #17 - Everybody Loves Magic Items

Hey there folks,

We've spent a lot of time on our Combat Video Dev Diary, so this week's Dev Update will be a little bit lighter than usual. Fun fact, around the same time last year we were hard at work to get our first version of the Ruins of Telema ready for GenCon 2019. Back then, we were both eager... and anxious - it was the first time Solasta would be playable by anyone unrelated to the project. Would people come to play it? Would they like it? Did we make the right choice coming to GenCon - an event primarily centered around tabletop - with our video game? 

Thankfully, everything went fantastic. Tabletop players flocked to our game stations (we only had two available!) and queues started to form - we even had a couple of fans arriving before us in the morning to get a chance at playing the demo. If you're curious, we did a small recap with pictures here.

Anyway, back to today's Dev Update. But before that...

Do I Roll One or Two Dice?
Let's start by showing off one of the most requested feature during the Steam Summer Festival: A tooltip telling you why you have advantage / disadvantage (or when they cancel out). Many of you highlighted the fact that it wasn't always obvious why you were rolling with advantage or disadvantage (most often the latter), and thus couldn't adapt your next turn to avoid running into the same problem. Well, we just implemented a first version to help you with that (WIP as usual)!

[...]

Henriquejr spotted a dev update for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update Video: Combat & Action Economy

Hey there folks, today we're releasing July's Video Dev Diary: this time on Combat and Action Economy! Action Economy is an important concept to understand if you're looking for efficiency during combat in 5e. 

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Henriquejr spotted an update about the monsters of Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update #16 - Here Be Monsters!

Hey there folks,

Hope you're all doing well in this fine summer weather! We've been hard at work on implementing quite a few new features... that we'll keep secret for now! Now don't worry, we still have plenty to share regardless. Without further ado, here is our first Dev Update of July - with your weekly dose of friendly feline attached to it.

Here Be Monsters!
Enough talk about adventurers, where are the monsters at? Give those poor goblins a break and show us something new. Well well well, today's your lucky day - for we're about to reveal not one, not two... but four new monsters you can look forward to meet in Solasta!

[...]

Henriquejr spotted the Solasta's Summer Q&A:

Summer Q&A - The Recap

Hey there folks!

Here is a recap of the Steam Summer Festival Community Q&A session that took place on Discord on Friday June 19th, during which anyone was free to ask us any question they had in mind - which were answered either by me (Myzzrym, Community Lead), Zaz (Gameplay Director) or Archimat (Creative Director and CEO). Enjoy your read!

General Gameplay (#01 - #20)
Q01: Are there any major gameplay features planned that aren't shown or hinted at in the demo?
Myzzrym: Hmmmm that's hard to say, there are just so many. There are very few skill checks in the demo, verticality is mostly hinted at through spiders, there is no city, no faction system and I could go on and on....

Q02: Huge and larger enemies, are we going to see some giants or big dragons? Also with the verticality being a thing, will we be able to climb on top of these giant enemies?
Myzzrym: There will be large enemies indeed. As to climbing on their back, it would be cool wouldn't it! Unfortunately that's a whole lot of animations and special rules to be made just for that, and I don't believe we'll have the time nor the budget for it!

Q03: What portion of combat encounters are avoidable, by one mean or another?
Archimat: Reminder that this is a Tactical RPG - meaning combat is VERY important in our game. Just think of how short XCOM would be if you were able to avoid all the fights! You will be able to bypass some fights by sneaking around or talking your way out, but those are the exceptions and not the rule!

Q04: Are there going to be able battles where fleeing is the only option?
Archimat: I'm not too sure about that, but there ARE some fights where you win by surviving long enough! Of course if you go attacking some monsters that are far too powerful for you, we'd still suggest fleeing to fight another day

Q05: Does the game have random encounters? Can you grind to overcome a difficult fight (be it level, money/gear, consumables)?
Zaz: You will have random encounters, but we're trying to find a way to avoid too much grinding - you shouldn't be able to grind too much above what's planned

[...]

Some new videos for Solasta: Crown of the Magister ahead of the Steam Summer Game Festival. Tactical Adventures also chatted with IGN about the game.

Hey there folks,

We have less than 24h before the Steam Summer Game Festival starts, and what is that? A new trailer?! Oh boy, time to feast your eyes on this video - you don't want to miss it!

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Play the FREE DEMO starting June 16th and Wishlist Solasta: Crown of the Magister on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/10...
Build Your Party. Choose Your Path. Your Tabletop Awaits.

Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a Turn-Based Tactical RPG based on the SRD 5.1 ruleset. Wizards of the Coast has granted Tactical Adventures a license to use the Dungeons & Dragons SRD 5.1 content and rules in Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

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We chat with Mathieu Girard, CEO and Creative Director of Tactical Adventures about Solasta: Crown of the Magister, a D&D RPG licensed by Wizards of the Coast. This is a classic tabletop RPG in video game form, and trying to give players the same amount of freedom they would have in a tabletop version can be a nightmare.

The Solasta developers at Tactical Adventures received a Dungeons and Dragons license from Wizards of the Coast to use the Dungeons & Dragons SRD 5.1 ruleset to make Solasta Crown of the Magister (their D&D video game).

This Solasta Crown of the Magister trailer shows off Solasta’s new universe and world, complete with original lore. In the game, players are sent on a quest to find the ancient evil that could destroy all of Solasta. To make a D&D video game that felt just like its tabletop ancestor—once the game is started—Solsata Crown of the Magister made the game’s four-player party unchangeable. During the game, players can’t be added to or changed. So, It’s crucial to keep your party alive throughout the whole campaign.

The gameplay featured in this Solasta gameplay trailer shows off the vertical tactical combat on which the game prides itself. Solasta Crown of the Magister gameplay will push players to think in three dimensions as they climb, jump, and fly around the digital tabletop board. For another Solasta trailer, Solasta gameplay and more about the Solasta Crown of the Magister game stay tuned to IGN.

You can talk with the Solasta: Crown of the Magister devs

• on Steam or Twitch on Tuesday 16th at 10 am PDT / 1 pm EDT / 7 pm CEST
• on Discord from Friday 19th 5 am PDT / 8 am EDT / 2 pm CEST to 12 pm PDT / 3 pm EDT / 9 pm CEST

Thanks henriquejr!

Henriquejr spotted the newest entry in the dev diary for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Video Dev Diary: Character Creation!

Hey there everyone,

Today's going to be a bit of a special update, as we're doing our Dev Diary... in video format! Hope you enjoy this little presentation about Character Creation - this time not limited to a few screenshots! If you have any questions or suggestions for a future video, don't be shy and post something below.

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[...]

C4G checked out the tactial RPG Solasta: Crown of The Magister:

Solasta: Crown of The Magister- Preview

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A new features trailer is available for Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

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Enjoy a first look at how to create a fully customized party, by choosing among a wide range of races, classes & subclasses, background stories & abilities, to maximize synergies and potential while adventuring. Wizards of the Coast has granted Tactical Adventures a license to use the Dungeons & Dragons SRD 5.1 content and rules in Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

GameReactor took a gander at the game and were impressed.

As we move closer to first-person photorealism in games, making it hard to differentiate real life from the life gamers live on-screen, a specific genre is moving in a different direction. The golden age of top-down RPGs is now with games such as Divinity: Original Sin II, Wasteland 3, Disco Elysium and Baldur's Gate III exciting an audience broader than many previously would have expected. A newcomer taking centre stage on this particular scene is indie studio Tactical Adventures and its game, Solasta: Crown of the Magister. While plenty of things set it apart from its competitors, the one that will surely get people the most excited is the fact that it has the license for the Dungeons & Dragons SRD 5.1 ruleset (a whopping 95% of the rules from the 5.1 have been implemented). This means that not only is the developer looking to wow the fans and potential players of top-down RPGs, it also has the chance to welcome the tabletop and pen & paper crowd with an experience that's faithful to the well-loved source material yet also brand-new.

Solasta: Crown of the Magister lets its players experience the depth, intrigue, tactics and deep storytelling elements of tabletop games without needing a set group to play with. You'll be controlling four characters, all of which you yourself get to build. Being a fantasy RPG, Solasta has plenty of options for you to pick from and we got to see five, three of which had subraces to choose from (hill dwarf/snow dwarf, high elf/sylvan elf, and marsh halfling/island halfling), with the two left being half-elf and human. Each race has special features as well so if you're dead-set on playing the game in a specific way, you need to pay attention to which features you end up with. The one we picked, high elf, had stat alterations based on being an elf first and foremost; this meant that she had a base dexterity of +1, an advantage against the 'Charm' debuff, immunity to 'Magical Sleep', had the stat 'Dark Vision' that let her see normally in dim light and see natural darkness as dim light. For the high elf subrace, she received a base intelligence of +1, proficiency with longswords, shortswords, short bows and longbow, had the ability to choose one wizard cantrip and intelligence as the spellcasting ability. We thought the race options were grand to start but more are set to arrive as development progresses.

[...]

Screenrant have also written their impressions.

During the course of the preview, Girard gave us the option of deciding which character and class we wanted to see shown off. After choosing a Snow Dwarf Cleric, Girard informed us, "You actually chose very well, because Dwarves and Clerics have the most customization options in the game so far." He wasn't wrong either as Clerics in the game have a range of different gods to choose from, which provide them with different skills and spells. There were many options for designing a character's looks as well, including different beards and hair styles.

Tactical Adventures has remained faithful to 5th Edition when it comes to backgrounds, but also adapted them into Solasta: Crown of the Magister in new ways. "Each background is going to define a story arc for this character, so players will have four different story arcs for their party. Each one will give the player a sidequest that unlocks a different part of the game," explains Girard. Just like in D&D, backgrounds grant players different skill proficiencies and abilities. Solasta also has a new system called "personality flags." Depending on what alignment and background the player chooses, they will receive specific personality traits that influence how the character behaves during cutscenes and narration. There will also be different dialogue options based on what a character's personality is.

[...]

Tech-Gaming have written up a preview also.

While it’s still a bit early to tell how well Tactical Adventures’ weaves its tale, it is evident that the team has spent a wealth of time making fallen Manacalon look unique. Hopefully, that quality will carry over to the quality of the exposition. As a party entered into the depths of a murky dungeon, there was some elaborate visual work, showing deteriorated limestone tiling and frail scaffolding undoubtedly left by previous explorers. Beyond evocative lighting emitted by campfires and hanging lanterns, both interior and exterior locales exhibited an abundance of verticality. Pleasingly, illumination isn’t just for mood. Purportedly,

The multitude of staircases and ladders weren’t just there for visual variety. Early on, Girard pitted a party against a bridge full of marauders. While some died from melee or ranged attacks during the snappy, turn-based battle, one unlucky foe was pushed off the bridge and tumbled helplessly to the ground below. This seemed to be a recurring theme during encounters. Staying true to their name, Tactical Adventures offered a multitude of ways to dispatch foes, and it was hinted at the campaign would shun being a liner affair.

[...]

A new update for Solasta: Crown of the Magister goes into spells and city design among other things.

Dev Update #13 - Enter all ye who seek knowledge

[...]

Power... Overwhelming!

Let's swap things around a bit this time, and start off with spells instead of finishing with them. Our VFX Artist has been very productive these last few weeks, and we have every intention of sharing her work with you! I present to you Frost Bolt, Guidance and Guiding Bolt!

We also have some more spell icons to share! Have fun finding out what spell each one represents. First one to get them all right get a Forum Title from yours truly!

Speaking of magic... Where did our adventurers end up this time? That's more books than you could read in a lifetime... several lifetimes even. I won't spoil too much about this location, but let's say if you expected Solasta to be all about going around caverns murdering orcs and goblins, Wendy you've got a surprise coming to you. 

Caer Cyflen Wasn't Built in a Day - Part 2

Oh boy, more Caer Cyflen. Being the main city of our game, it's very likely that we'll keep polishing it while working on Act II and even beyond. That means you get to see it evolve alongside the development team in our bi-weekly Dev Updates! Hopefully that's something you enjoy, make sure you tell us how you feel about that in the comments.

The marketplace is slowly taking shape, now the next step is to add some life!

Fruits and vegetables aplenty! Tonight we feast!

As its name implies, the marketplace is where you will be doing most of your shopping. Fun fact: we used to have all the vendors scattered across the city so that they could each have their little corner with its own ambiance and decorations, but after playing for a bit we realized that running back and forth between the different shops was more tedious than anything else. The first time going around the city was great, but doing that every time you come back from an expedition was excruciating to say the least. 

This is also when we decided to reduce the playable area of the city. Now that may sound like a bad thing to do, but think of it for a moment - larger cities don't necessarily make for a more enjoyable experience. Unlike playing on tabletop, you can't just skip the long and boring walk between the city gates and the castle - the DM isn't going to make descriptions of the same streets for 15 minutes every time you come back into town (at least I hope not). Adding fast-travel would be a work-around; but in that case what's the point of making a large city in the first place if players are always using fast travel after the first time? Therefore, we decided to pack most activities in a smaller playable area of the city - less time spent running is more time spent adventuring!

Here you can see the canal before adding the water, we'll have another screenshot ready for you once it's filled!

[...]

In the April update for Solasta, some information is given about some new systems they have added, crafting, spells and the town of Caer Cyflen.

As we're talking about new systems, I'd say it's high time we give you a glimpse of our crafting system! Now before we start, please keep in mind that crafting is not a main progression system in Solasta. It's used to make useful items such as scrolls, potions and poisons - not forge magical artifacts of tremendous power (you're playing a party of adventurers, not a party of blacksmiths).

Crafting is done during downtime when travelling - after setting up camp, adventurers can devote time to various activities before going to sleep, including crafting. Still, remember that as with anything else we're showing you in our Dev Updates, all of this may change in the future as Crafting is still in its infancy in Solasta.

The latest dev update for Solasta: Crown of the Magister shows off day & night cycles.

Hello everyone,

Are you ready for the first Dev Update of April? Well you better be, for we have tons of things to show you! 

[...]

Day & Night Cycles

You might remember us showing you a little sneak peek of the Day & Night cycle when talking about our new World Map screen in early February (Dev Update #7). For those who missed it  - or who simply forgot, it's been 2 months after all - here it is!

You can even see the clock at the top showing the passage of time!

Back then, you were only able to see the changes in luminosity on that specific screen... But it is no longer the case! When your party is inside a location, time keeps going - so when you do a short rest or a long rest (1h / 8h), you will see the level change with the time of the day. 

Before / After a long rest, from 10:50 am to 6:50 pm (8h)

Now for the fun fact: even when you're not doing rests, the time is actually flowing in real time. That means if you were to leave your computer with Solasta running for a few hours (without being in a menu), you may very well come back and see that the luminosity now looks a lot different! This should almost never happen if you're just playing normally, but just for fun here is what it looks like with a (very) accelerated video. As you can see, it's not just a question of having one "Day version" and one "Night version" of the level - the luminosity changes with the in-game time! It's also important to note that the changes aren't only visual - after a certain hour, you will be fighting under Dim Light conditions - and who knows, maybe even in total darkness!

[...]

This month's developers journal for Solasta, shows information about the updated spell icons, the updated character creation, environments, giant eagles and bloopers. But, perhaps more importantly, it also has a new video showing some alpha footage (if the video doesn't show, here is the link).

Here's dev update #8 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update #8 - Choose your Monster & More!

Hey there folks!

How have you all being doing? We want to start off this Dev Update with a big congratulations to Kiaradth Bright-Spark (submitted by Jackobake), winner of the Mayor of Caer Cyflen Contest. Look forward to meeting her in-game! And now, before jumping into the Update, it's time for the next Community Choice...

We did it once during our Kickstarter Campaign, and we're doing it again! It's time for you, our future players, to choose which of the following four monsters you want to see added to Solasta at release. In an ideal world we'd want to have all of them, but Game Development is all about making choices to stay within schedule and budget!

So which will it be? The mighty Minotaur, the towering Ettin, the undying Badland Troll or the treacherous Ettercap? Choose wisely, as you will be the one facing these foes! Click here to vote now!

Fetch me my Armor!

It might seem like a tiny thing, but swapping armors around is actually not that simple when you have characters with different sizes and shapes. Just imagine dumping Garrad's massive armor onto poor little Violet. It... wouldn't work so well. For those who may not know who we're talking about, Garrad was our Human Fighter and Violet our Halfling Wizard in our Kickstarter Demo - you can check out the characters' size difference from a screenshot of our old opening cutscene to the Ruins of Telema below.

[...]

Thanks henriquejr!

A new dev update for Solasta: Crown of the Magister shows off the WIP World Map, new face meshes, textures, and cutscenes.

Hello dear readers!

How are you doing? It's February already, and we're starting to iron out the first few hours of our campaign. Let us share with you some of the new stuff we've added to the game! Also, don't forget that the votes for the next mayor of Caer Cyflen are still going strong! If you haven't already, make sure you do your civic duty and go vote, citizen of Solasta.

World Map - Traveling the Badlands

Back in mid-November 2019, we shared with you a concept art of our World Map - which would be used to go from location to location. For those who may not have seen it or simply don't remember, here is what it looked like:

Today, we're happy to show you the first iteration of the World Map... in-game! Of course, there are still tons of adjustments and polish we need to do, but it's finally here and it's functional. Next step, implementing random events and encounters!

And we're experimenting around with the Day & Night cycle as well!

Say That to my Face!

If you paid attention to all our screenshots so far, you might have noticed (DC 10 Investigation Check) that we're always using Garrad, Violet, Rhuad and Vigdis. And to a lesser extent, Lena and Dek - the two scavengers you met at the entrance of the Ruins of Telema. This was mostly because we didn't make any additional faces yet, as we were mostly focused on creating new monsters, doing research on armor and the like. However, these days will soon be over!

Here are a few of the upcoming faces for PC and NPCs! And don't worry they won't all be bald, we'll have hair too I promise.

Pink Adventurers, Assemble!

New faces are not the only things we're adding these upcoming days; we're also bringing new armors and clothings onboard! Adventurers will soon be able to select from a new and improved range of armors, as well as remove their protection without going nude. Not that running through the prison tutorial with a nude character wasn't funny the first few times, but we're pretty sure it would a bit of an issue if we were to release the game in that state. 

You might be wondering: "Why are they all pink?" The answer is pretty simple - we still need to add some textures! Not that we dislike the color mind you, but I don't believe adventuring in a shiny pink armor would help with those Stealth checks. Here is an example of what they should look like after we're done adding textures:

Working on Cutscenes 

Cutscenes have always been an important part of our game, as we want to avoid throwing lengthy block of texts at our players every time they encounter a new NPC. Note that some games out there do the latter very well - we're not saying it's a bad thing per se - however it is not what we're going for. This is why we've been doing a lot of work to improve our cutscenes: tweaking facial expressions, experimenting with more camera angles, looking out for tiny details that would sometimes throw characters into the uncanny valley... We're no AAA studio, but you can be sure that when our community shares negative feedback with us, we'll lend an ear and attempt to fix the issue.

[...]

Henriquejr spotted some more info about classes in Solasta Chronicles:

Solasta Chronicles - Fighter & Rogue Archetypes

Those who survived the immediate effects of the Cataclysm found themselves plunged into a struggle for survival. Many different fighters and fighting styles emerged from the chaos that engulfed Solasta: nobles maintained armed bands to secure their lands, and every merchant house, temple, and town needed armed guards for defense. Each of the new nations had its favored troops, tactics, and equipment. In addition, there were some who made their living as adventurers or mercenaries, whose experiences shaped their fighting style in various ways.

As centuries passed, some styles proved more effective than others. Schools were founded to preserve and refine their traditions, each the product of different needs and circumstances. Here are three of Solasta’s best-known martial traditions.

Mountaineer

Most of Solasta’s martial traditions have their roots in the elite army corps of the Manacalon Empire or the Tirmarian Inquisition. Mountaineers, though, are born out of the ashes of the Cataclysm. For generations, the Marches and the mountains that stand between the Badlands and the more civilized nations have been infested by orcs and other monsters. Many of these creatures make their lairs in dark tunnels, narrow canyons, and cramped ruins. This is the world of the mountaineer.

Mountaineers are specially trained to fight and survive in rocky and vertical environments. They are masters of the shield, which is as much a weapon as a protection in their skilled hands. A mountaineer’s shield can wound or knock down an opponent, and given a wall on one side and a shield in the opposite hand, a skilled mountaineer can be almost invulnerable. Their extreme mobility lets them maneuver in ways that can surprise opponents and give them a considerable tactical advantage. The greatest mountaineers can combine offensive actions into devastating chain attacks.

While mountaineers do not fit the ideal of the elegant, noble warrior, they are impressively efficient killers of Badlands monsters.

[...]

Henriquejr spotted dev update #4 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update #4 - Farewell 2019, Welcome 2020!

Hello there everyone,
Welcome to our last update of 2019, where we'll show you not only the latest news of Solasta but also a full recap of this eventful year, bloopers included! Strap up, you're in for a ride!

Important info: If you haven't yet completed your CrowdOx Survey, please don't forget to do so quickly! We can't send you any Kickstarter rewards if you don't complete it.

Environment & Levels

When we talked about dungeon crawling and exploration in Solasta, quite a few of you were worried about the entire game taking place inside a dungeon. Time and again we've said that this was not the case... Now is the time for us to prove it with a screenshot of a new level!

[...]

Henriquejr spotted the Director's Log #3 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Director's Log #3 : On Kickstarter and moving forward

Article by Mathieu Girard (CEO of Tactical Adventures)

Hi everyone,
Over the past few months, we have given you regular production updates on what we have been working on. I thought that now would be interesting to share the bigger picture with you.

And it is thanks to you!

The Kickstarter Campaign has been a great experience for us – be it on the production, community or financing side. As we hoped for, the additional funds will allow us to add more content. You have joined us as a community, providing feedback, suggestions… and also reassuring us on the interest for Solasta, for it is always a leap of faith to start working on a new game! Don’t worry, we also know we have to improve the camera system 😊 and we are working on it.

Something that’s probably less obvious is that the production of the Kickstarter demo has been an amazing learning experience as well. It required us to set up a production pipeline very early in the development cycle, and forced us to confront challenges that usually only appear later when working on a video game. The Ruins of Telema were a boon because it was a “stand-alone” dungeon: we had to face not only the complexity behind designing a level with verticality in mind, but also keep an eye on balancing encounters and cutscenes to avoid slowing down the pace too much.

I think one of the biggest findings is that it’s really, really cool to have a demo showing off the quality level we'd like to achieve . Some Kickstarter projects only have a trailer, others a very early demo without sound or full of placeholders… We wanted to give a slice of what could be the final game (within reason of course), which is why we did some voice recording, had some music tracks produced and even added some last-minute tool-tips and tutorial elements. Obviously, we were trying to convince you that the game will be good, but it was also very useful for us – we get to tackle questions and clear some of the unknown before entering full Production. The state that we reached was critical to me, because it resonated with my passion for the MVP principle. But what is exactly MVP?

[...]

Henriquejr spotted an interesting article about Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

TL;DR #7: A primer on animating Solasta

Hello there folks! We're back with... TL;DR? What is this nonsense? Well, we thought that having two different type of articles named "Dev Diary" and "Dev Update" might be a little confusing, so we decided to rename "Dev Diary" into "TL;DR". As a reminder, "Dev Update" articles present the work we do on Solasta on a bi-weekly basis, while "Dev Diary / TL;DR" focus on a particular topic - like Game Design, or in today's article, Animation.

If I had to name one person as a reliable source of entertainment in our studio, it would be Grégoire - our Lead Animator - for he truly is a mystery. On one hand, he is a one-man army who constantly produces high quality, buttery smooth animations at an incredible speed. On the other, he regularly unleashes cosmic horrors upon the rest of the team for his own amusement (...and ours too, let's not lie about it). Just check the gif at the end of the article, you'll see what I mean.

[...]

Turn Based Lovers checked out Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Solasta: Crown of the Magister - Turn-based Rpg - Gameplay

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We played Solasta: Crown of the Magister. One of the most promising #turnbased #RPGs currently in development. Find out how it ended. :)

ABOUT THE GAME
Roll for initiative, take attacks of opportunity, manage player location and the verticality of the battle field in this upcoming Turn-Based Tactical RPG by Tactical Adventures. In Solasta, you make the choices, dice decide your destiny.

In Solasta, you take control of four heroes, each with unique skills that complement one another. Every hero expresses themselves in the adventure, making each action and dialog choice a dynamic part to the story. Players will create their heroes just as they would in a pen-and-paper game choosing their race, class, personality and rolling for their stats.​

You make the choices, dice decide your destiny.

In this month's update for Solasta some information is provided about the main city in the game together with a status update of various other development activities.

There's one question that has been asked quite a few times during our Kickstarter: "Is Solasta a pure dungeon crawling game?" If you've been following our updates, you'd likely know the answer is no! We actually just started working on the main city - which will remain unnamed for now as we don't want to spoil too much. We're still evaluating how much of it will be open for you to visit, we'd hate to pour too much time into that and end up having to cut other locations as a consequence. For those of you out there who are wondering - yes, there will be a tavern, for what's a city without one!

[...]

There's quite a lot we still need to refine in terms of rules and how everything works in Solasta. For instance, we've been working on Design Documents on two significant topics that weren't part of the Demo: Traveling & Random Encounters. What is revealed on the World Map (more on that later!) and what isn't? How do you travel to undiscovered locations? How do other RPGs handle traveling? This is but a tiny glimpse into the mass of questions we have to find answers to when we put a design onto paper in order to avoid wasting time coding something and realizing afterwards that... well, it just doesn't work (or it does, but it's not fun).

Other topics we've been tackling include climbing (how high can you climb? What affects the DC?), sleight of hand (can it be used for something other than stealing? What happens if you get caught?), rethinking the inventory system again (by the end of the project I think fingers won't be enough to count how many times we've revamped the inventory) and... Party Banter! (Kickstarter Stretch Goal)

Henriquejr spotted a development update for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Dev Update #1 - Goodbye Telema!

Hello there folks!
It's been quite some time since we last showed you what's going on behind the scenes, hasn't it? Worry not - I have you covered. So, what have we been up to since the end of our Kickstarter campaign?

Important Note: As a reminder, everything you're about to see is Work In Progress! That means some of it may look clunky, janky, broken, empty, ugly - and even if it does look "okay" or pretty good, it's not final (so it will look even better in the final game)! Also the design is not final, so things may work differently once the game goes live.

Main City
There's one question that has been asked quite a few times during our Kickstarter: "Is Solasta a pure dungeon crawling game?" If you've been following our updates, you'd likely know the answer is no! We actually just started working on the main city - which will remain unnamed for now as we don't want to spoil too much. We're still evaluating how much of it will be open for you to visit, we'd hate to pour too much time into that and end up having to cut other locations as a consequence. For those of you out there who are wondering - yes, there will be a tavern, for what's a city without one!

Campaign Introduction
It's no secret that most games nowadays need tutorials to ensure that the player understands how the game works. This could be as simple as pointing out elements in the UI (for instance, many people complained they couldn't find the "Rest" button in the Demo), or as complex as explaining the rules of combat to someone unfamiliar with the tabletop ruleset (Action, Bonus Action, Reaction...). So, in order to do that without boring our future players to tears, we've been working on including those during our Campaign Introduction Levels!

[...]

The (non-final) documentation of the four archetypes that were annnounced in the pre-alpha of Solasta: Crown of the Magister, can now be found on DNDBeyond. Here you will find:

•  The Battle Domain (Cleric)
•  The Darkweaver (Rogue)
•  The Mountaineer (Fighter)
•  The Shock Arcanist (Wizard)

The demo of Solasta will be leaving Steam on October 18, as they want to focus only on further development of the game.

Every good thing comes to an end. On Friday October 18th at 7 am PDT / 10 am EDT / 4 pm CEST, Solasta: Crown of the Magister's Pre-Alpha Demo will be leaving our Steam Page for good. If you haven't played it already, don't wait! The Ruins of Telema will finally close their doors to would-be adventurers looking for thrills and treasures soon.

The team will be switching focus to working on the final game to deliver you an entrée worthy of the appetiser that was the Demo! And don't worry, we aren't going to leave you hanging - we're still going to be posting news regularly.

The Solasta: Crown of the Magister Kickstarter campaign was a success - the Sorcerer class will be added later as DLC:

Kickstarter Campaign is over! THANK YOU EVERYONE!

That's it, the Campaign is over! The entire Tactical Adventures crew thanks you, each and everyone of you who made this Kickstarter a success. It was a wild month, but worth all the effort! But we're sure you're wondering about the last Stretch Goals. Did we make it or not?

We fell short of the Sorcerer Stretch Goal, which means we most likely won't be able to add it to the final game... at launch, that is! We've seen how much love this class received in the comments and on our social media channels, so we decided to offer the Sorcerer Class as FREE DLC after we wrap up Solasta: Crown of the Magister! 

Get ready to sling Empowered Fireballs and Twinned Haste, for the Sorcerer will definitively make its way to Solasta!

[...]

The voters for the half-elf or half-orc to be added to Solasta, favored the half-elf. And with one day to go the full orchestral music upgrade has been unlocked as well, which makes the next stretch goal another vote. This time about which of four monsters to add.

The music upgrade was about this:

Currently, we have planned for live musicians recordings in studio for Maxime Hervé's compositions - most often done individually. 

This Stretch goal will be used to extend it to Live Orchestral recording sessions. This means not only more recordings for more variations and better interpretation, but also a greater cohesive musical ensemble to create an even more vibrant world. 

The four monsters are:

Bulette - Extremely dangerous and heavily armored, the Bulette burrows beneath the ground to snatch its prey from below.

Remorhaz - A gigantic beast that can grow up to 40 feet long, the Remorhaz is a monster that can produce an incredible amount of heat, easily melting any non-magical weapons that dare hit it. 

Cloaker - A stealthy creature of the dark, the Cloaker is an intelligent monster that manipulates shadows and hunts unsuspecting victims from above. 

Roper - A horrifying monster that often goes undetected until it's too late, the Roper grabs its victims with long tendrils to sap their strength, drawing them close to consume.

The Ranger class has been unlocked - two days to go for the Solasta: Crown of the Magister Kickstarter:

Ranger Class & Six League Boots UNLOCKED! Half-Elf in the lead, 2 days left on Kickstarter!

Hey there folks!

Less than 10 hours after reaching the previous Stretch Goal, the Ranger Class has been UNLOCKED! Huge thanks to Cohh Carnage & The Cohhilition, as well as Swen & Larian Studios for their support!

Next in line is the Academic Background, and with it comes a Background specific questline (as well quite a few dialog options)! And after that... Half-Elf vs Half-Orc, the votes are ongoing! If you want to know more about these races in Solasta, check out our previous update.

As a reminder, Voting period ends when we reach the Stretch Goal. For the moment, Half-Elves are in the lead. While this isn't surprising - we all know Half-Elves are fairly popular - Half-Orcs are actually not so far behind! Will we see an upset?

The Ranger class is the news stretch goal for the Solasta Kickstarter and the party banter stretch goal has been reached.

Let's start this final week with some good news. As of a few moments ago, Stretch Goal #2 - Party Banter - has now been reached! 

Part of the fun of Tabletop RPGs is the "friendly" and "wholesome" remarks from your companions when you roll the dice - even more so when you fail repeatedly. It just wouldn't have the same charm without these jabs and sarcastic comments now, would it?

Well, worry not - you will now be able to experience this in Solasta: Crown of the Magister as well! The kind Cleric that encourages you to do better next time, the wholesome Paladin who tells you not to give up... Or the Rogue who simply laughs at you and tell you how much you suck. It's always the Rogue. Why is it always the Rogue.

Stretch Goal #4 - New Class: Ranger

The polls were so close that we just couldn't leave the Ranger behind! If you haven't already, we've posted an Update with the Lore and Archetypes of the Ranger that you should read. They may not have animal companions in Solasta, but they are no less deadly! The archetypes are:

•  Hunter (SRD) - Master of both Melee & Range combat, the Hunter is the supreme predator of the lands.
•  Marksman (Solasta) - Heir to ancient archery techniques, the Marksman is the deadliest ranged combatant of Solasta. 
•  Shadow Tamer (Solasta) - Wanderer of the desolated Badlands, the Shadow Tamer walks where others fear to tread.  

Solasta: Crown of the Magister is 100% funded!

You did it, 100% Funded! Stretch Goals start now!

You people are fantastic! We reached 100%!

Thank you, thank you from the bottom of our heart. From the very start of the project, we poured the passion we had for Tabletop RPGs into Solasta: Crown of the Magister. We stayed in the dark for some time, turning a prototype into a real, solid and beautiful game - followed by working on a public Demo.

During that time, there is one question that's always in the back of every game developer's head - will players like it? Then we went to Gen Con this summer with the first version of the playable Demo, and the tabletop crowd loved it. We went to Gamescom, and the journalists loved it. We went to Pax West, and the video game community loved it.

Finally, we went to Kickstarter and you guys loved it. It's thanks to every last one of you that we're funded today, and that we'll be able to expand beyond the initial scope of the game. As promised, these $200,000 will go towards many things, the most important being more content! 
Stretch Goals will be gradually revealed as we reach more and more of them!

The first Stretch Goal is the New Background: Lawkeeper!
You have an instinct for spotting trouble and the force of personality to nip it in the bud. As a deputy, you learned how to spot a lie and how to discourage a troublemaker with nothing but a cold-eyed stare. And if keeping the peace and protecting the innocent requires you to break a few heads, you're ready. After some time working in law enforcement in the Principality of Masgarth, you discovered that dealing with petty criminals on a daily basis wasn’t enough for you, and you left for a different life - one of travel and discovery, hoping that your experience and personal qualities would serve you well.

The second Stretch Goal is the New Feature: Party Banter!
Part of the fun of Tabletop RPGs is the "friendly" and "wholesome" remarks from your companions when you roll the dice - even more so when you fail repeatedly. It just wouldn't have the same charm without these jabs and sarcastic comments now, would it? 

Well, worry not - you will now be able to experience this in Solasta: Crown of the Magister as well! The kind Cleric that encourages you to do better next time, the wholesome Paladin who tells you not to give up... Or the Rogue who simply laughs at you and tell you how much you suck. It's always the Rogue. Why is it always the Rogue.  

The third Stretch Goal is... Thought I would tell you? You'll see soon enough!

As a reminder, the Paladin is already unlocked from reaching 100% of the Campaign Goal.

Thanks Henriquejr and Purpleblob!

Henriquejr spotted that Solasta: Crown of the Magister is 95% funded:

The Orcs & Humans of Solasta (+ Reddit AMA Schedule & 95% Funded!)

The Tactical Adventures crew will be holding an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit /r/games starting Thursday 26th at 7 am PDT / 10 am EDT / 4 pm CEST. Tactical Archimat (CEO & Creative Director), Tactical Zaz (Gameplay Director) and myself (Community Lead) will be answering questions live for at least 3 hours (and maybe a few more).

So don't be shy, come and ask us what you want to know! On another note, only 5% more to go and we'll be funded! 

Solasta: Crown of the Magister got a license to use the D&D SRD 5.1 Ruleset:

Wizards of the Coast granted us a license to use the Dungeons and Dragons SRD 5.1 Ruleset!

Great news everyone!

We've now officially received the license to use the System Reference Document 5.1 from Wizards of the Coast, further anchoring our will to make the most faithful video game adaptation with the Tabletop Ruleset to craft the game you are hoping for! 

For those who may not be aware of it, SRD 5.1 is an official document with all the necessary rules to play, upon which we will be building compatible Solasta content such as Sub-classes, Backgrounds, Feats and plenty of other things! 

Wishing everyone a great week-end, we're also almost up 90% funded! 

Thanks henriquejr!

Shaneplays interviewed the devs of Solasta: Crown of the Magister. You can find the podcast here.

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Highlights: Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a party-based, tactical turn-based CRPG built on the Fifth Edition game system and currently in development by France-based Tactical Adventures. Solasta also features verticality in dungeon crawling and has accompanying resources for tabletop RPG play. Tactical Adventures team members Emile and Xavier join to share the details. Plus: Implementations versus adaptations, party-based versus companions and the worst football chat ever

To support the vote for either a paladin or a ranger class, some more information is provided about these classes and their archetypes in Solasta.

Paladins

Paladins of Solasta are elite warriors who swore an oath to fight against evil. In addition to weapons and armor, they wield the divine power of their deity.

Between tours of duty guarding temples and other sacred places, paladins wander the world in a quest to spread justice and to uphold their sacred oaths. Bound to their faith by this unbreakable promise, they are granted divine powers and clerical spells, as well as powerful abilities that serve them in battle.

The Oath of the Motherland

Paladins who follow the path of the Motherland are generally lone wanderers who do not find comfort within standard religious tenets.

[...]

Oath of Tirmar

These paladins belong to an ancient order, inherited from the Tirmarian Inquisition. Some regard them askance, as they continue to be obsessed with the ancient archenemies of humans from Tirmar, from the time before the Cataclysm.

[...]

Oath of Devotion

The “classic” paladin is clad in bright armor and fights for justice, virtue, and order, following the path of honor, courage, faith, and chivalry. Such paladins worship either Pakri, the goddess of the law, or Maraike, the patroness of healing and mercy.

Rangers

Wanderers of Solasta’s wilderness, rangers are the kind of people who prefer to sleep out in the woods rather than in a town inn, listening to the sounds of nature rather than the chatter of people.

Trained survivalists and hunters, they are fierce combatants but have enough subtlety to be stealthy when needed. Excellent trackers and archers, they can also have the ability to cast spells that channel the powers of nature.

Hunters

Masters of the of melee and ranged combat, these are Solasta’s supreme predators. Able to track their prey for days through the worst terrain, they dedicate their whole being to the art of the hunt.

[...]

Marksmen

Heirs to the high elf archery traditions of the old Empire, these are undisputed masters of their art and the deadliest ranged combatants on Solasta. Their specialized training includes many different techniques.

[...]

Shadow Tamers

Used to wandering the desolated Badlands, these rangers know the lore and languages of darkness, traps, and the underground world. They walk without fear where others would hesitate to tread.

[...]

The latest update announces that you can vote for a new class in Solasta: Crown of the Magister. You have a choice between Paladin and Ranger.

The RPG Crawler checked out Solasta: Crown of the Magister. There are 21 days left until the end of the Kickstarter campaign.

RPG Crawler's First Look - Solasta: Crown of the Magister

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This looks like it'll be a better D&D game than the official ones.

In the fifth update for the Solasta Kickstarter, the halflings are presented.

The halflings have always had an affinity toward water. Very few folk from other races know, for example, that our young are born in water and are amphibious for the first part of their lives.

According to legend, the halfling race began in the great marshes of Olme Fen, where the marsh halflings still live. The name “Olme” is fen dialect for “home,” and is pronounced in a very similar way.

The Manacalon Empire of the elves could not conquer the fens, and the Cataclysm, while it certainly caused some problems, harmed the halflings far less than other races. Because of this, some scholars snidely claim that halflings have no history, because they never did anything except hide in the fens. In fact, the halflings have a history that is just as rich as that of any other race. While halfling history will not be found in elven chronicles or dwarven archives, every halfling knows enough history to keep telling stories for as long as the food and drink last.

In a recent update for the Solasta Kickstarter campaign, we learn that the game will also be released for Mac, that they are close to the 50% target and that 2 social rewards have been achieved.

This week-end has been an active one. We've reached not one, not two... But SIX Achievements, unlocking two Social Rewards at once!

•  The Wallpaper Pack, which can be found on our Website. Please keep in mind that a lot of these are Mood / Research Environment Art, and may not appear in the final game. They were created to help us visualize the world of Solasta and its different Biomes, and are not necessarily representative of what you will find in-game.
• Iron Man Mode is now Unlocked. This is for all of you crazy people who like challenges, for there will be no save-scumming allowed in this mode! Pray to the gods of RNG that they may treat you well, you will need their support. 

A new demo version for Solasta has been released that bring more camera options and a few fixes.

Many of you told us that your experience playing with the camera in the Demo was... less than stellar. Well, worry no more! We're coming out with an update to the Demo, with more camera options and a few fixes.

How do I access the New Version for the Demo?

As we don't want break everything right before the week-end, we're currently rolling out the new version of our Demo on a separate branch - meaning that you will need to do some extra step to update your game. Let me guide you through them.

1. Go to your Game Library, and right click on Solasta: Crown of the Magister Demo. Click on Properties.
2. Select the BETAS Tab. Under "Select the beta you would like to opt into", choose "beta -"
3. Close Properties. The new update should now download.

Patch Notes

There are now 3 different Camera Modes in the Settings Panel: 

•  Spring is the new default camera mode. It will follow the party around, but also allow players to move the camera around with the directional keys or simply by moving the mouse to the edge of the screen. If the player is not controlling the camera anymore, after a short time it will drag the camera back to the party. 
•  Follow is the old camera mode. It will follow the party around, and players will not be able to move it outside combat.
•  Free is the last camera mode. It allows the player to move the camera around, and will only go back to the party if the player presses "Tab" or clicks on a Character Portrait twice. 

Please give the Demo another go and tell us which Camera mode you preferred! 

Reaction Timer is now disabled by default. Solasta: Crown of the Magister being a Turn-Based game, quite a few of you raised the point that there is no reason to add time constraints to certain actions. Note that it can be reactivated it in the Settings (right above the Camera Mode selection)

We've also fixed a couple of issues that you reported!

Currently the Kickstarter has achieved a third of its goal.

In a Kickstarter update we get to know a bit more about the history of the world of Solasta.

Solasta is an old world.

From the mists of history, three races arose: Halflings, Dwarves, and Elves. At the height of the Elven wars, the creation of the Arcaneum, an institution dedicated to magic, marked the birth of the Manacalon Empire, and the beginning of the elves' supremacy over Solasta. The path of empire led to a separation: while the self-named “high elves” sought dominion over the whole world, the ancestors of today’s sylvan elves withdrew to the forests of the east and devoted themselves to living in harmony with nature and resisting the ambitions of their imperialist cousins.

The Empire grew slowly but steadily, spreading out from the elven homelands of the Aer-Elai and conquering the lands that would become known as the Inner Provinces. Few could resist the power of elven magic – but then, the expansion faltered.

The lands of the snow dwarves were harsh, buttressed by cold and high mountains. Strengthened by the neighboring sylvan elves, the Snow Alliance fought the Imperial armies to a standstill, despite their magic.

[...]

Solasta: Crown of the Magister is available now on Kickstarter. From today until the 4th of October. They are asking for 180.000 Euros and the Early Brid can get the game for just 18 Euros.

When in doubt, you can try their free demo on Steam and you can read our article on the game, see below snippet:

At Gamescom, I was shown Solasta: Crown of the Magister by Matthieu Girard of Tactical Adventures, who has been in the industry for 20 years and it has been a dream of him to create an RPG like Solasta, which he has been thinking about for a long time, well before Tactical Adventures was founded, which is about a year ago. He has been a big fan of the Gold Box games and obviously played a lot of games since then, of which Baldur's Gate and X-Com were mentioned. His vision for Solasta is to create a game that mixes the best part of the games he likes. As a basis for the game the 5th edition ruleset is used as described in the D&D Open Game License, System Reference Document (https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/systems-reference-document-srd). The game will stay as close as possible to this document, which results in almost everything requiring a dice roll, which means that there will be quite some randomness and the outcome depends on your abilities and on being lucky.

You can also watch the below videos.

We are kicking off the series of Gamescom articles with a preview of Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

I was shown a half hour of the demo that will be made available during the upcoming Kickstarter for the game. The demo will contain as much as possible of the game elements, features, art and music the game has to offer. The demo is however not a segment of the game, it is a stand-alone adventure specifically made for the demo and to showcase what is possible with the game.
For the Kickstarter their main goal is to build a supporting community and receive community feedback so they can make the best game possible, although it is probably also beneficial to the game if they raise a good sum of money in the process. But, regardless of the outcome of the Kickstarter, the game will be made, even if the Kickstarter would fail to raise the required funds. 

Morrus asked the devs of Solasta: Crown of the Magister some questions:

A Chat With 'Solasta' 5E Video Game Developers

What can you tell us about the world in which this game takes place?

We will be giving more information on the world fairly soon (we plan to introduce our lore during our Kickstarter). We cannot reveal too much, as we want discovering the world of Solasta to be part of the final experience. That being said, Solasta is a High Fantasy universe where players will find most of their favorite playable races, with one notable caveat: they may behave / interact differently than you think, as an ancient cataclysm forged Solasta to its current state.

You might also be interested to know that one of writer is Graeme Davis, one of the original author of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay back in 1986 - and that he won the Best Writing ENnies at Gen Con this year!

You mention some character types such as a Darkweaver Rogue and a Mountaineer Fighter. Which 5E classes and races can we expect to see in the game?

We would like to include the races and classes found in the System Reference Document of the OGL – though we may not be able to include all of them for our first game. Note however that the SRD only details one subrace per race and one archetype per class, so we will be adding more of those according to our own lore - hence the Darkweaver & Mountaineer. currently we have 4 races / Classes available on our Website: Human / Dwarf / Elf / Halfling, and Fighter / Cleric / Wizard / Rogue. More will be added through Kickstarter.

[...]

In the dev-diary #5 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister you can learn more about the AI basics:

Greetings adventurers,

Have you ever wondered how creatures think in video games? Why did this orc decided to attack my warrior, while the other one decided to just hide behind cover? If you have, you came to the right place as I will be shedding some light on what sort of dark thoughts drive the AI of our vicious creatures.

When designing the AI system for Solasta, we wanted to make sure that it would best fit a set of objectives that crystallized what's important for us:

• The AI must be able to choose from a large variety of activities. The 5th edition ruleset is quite expansive, and creatures can have a plethora of actions available to them at any given turn. Attacking, casting spells, getting to cover, dashing, dodging, disengaging, shoving are some examples.
• The AI must be able to evaluate its environment properly. The verticality of our levels, the importance of light and covers must all be considered thoroughly when making decisions.
• The AI must be easy to create and modify. We should not have to alter the code every time we want to tweak some creature’s behavior.
• The AI system must be usable in both turn-based combat and real-time exploration. Maintaining two separate systems should be avoided wherever possible.
• The AI must be adaptable to different creatures' behaviors. Intelligent creatures should not behave the same as creatures that are more feral and sensitive to light for instance.

[...]

Thanks henriquejr!

The latest developer diary for Solasta: Crown of the Magister focuses on the use of light.

Hello fellow adventurers,

Today I’d like to talk about how we use Light and Darkness as a gameplay pillar and fundamental concept in the world of Solasta.

When you think D&D, chances are one of the images that comes to mind is a group of adventurers exploring a dark dungeon, torch in hand, moving cautiously to avoid traps and ready to draw their weapon the moment a monster jumps out of a dimly lit corner. Infravision - and then Darkvision - allowed some specific races to be more efficient in the dark, and 5th edition rules now clearly explain the differences between Bright Light, Dim Light, Darkness and Magical Darkness.

But this has scarcely been used in video games, notably because of the many problems involved when it comes to player experience. We too had to brainstorm a lot to find how we’d use this in an interesting way: after all, micromanaging light must not become a burden. And we're pretty sure our Art Director wouldn't be very happy if all you see is a black screen the moment your characters toss their torch away.

Ambient lighting is a very important part of our Level Design

To see or not to see

At the very start, we discussed about how to represent each character’s own vision. As you all know, we human beings don't see that well in darkness - but for our elves and dwarves, life at night is a nice painting in shades of grey (as to how many, no one knows for sure).

We thus tried to represent the game based on the current party leader's vision... and you’d always end-up with an elf leading the path. Not that we have anything against elves, but you have to remember that the game ends up in black and white 90% of the time as you don't see colors with Darkvision. So... we decided that what would be displayed would have to differ from what the character sees. 

 

Adapting the Rules

If you thought that was the only challenge when it comes to light, we're just getting started. Most D&D players will already have an idea of this issue, but the difference between a character with Darkvision and one without Darkvision is huge. 

If we go according to RAW (Rules as written), a character with no Darkvision can't see anything in the Darkness - so technically you shouldn't be able to see where the enemy is. If your DM isn't playing nice, you'd probably spend a few rounds just trying to find your opponent before even starting to swing at him with Disadvantage. On the other hand, a character with Darkvision treats Darkness as Dim Light - which doesn't do much aside from giving you disadvantage for Perception Rolls. You could run the entire dungeon with a group of Elves without ever busting out a torch, and probably hear our Art Director sobbing in the distance while doing so.

I don't know guys, running the entire dungeon in the dark doesn't seem like a fun time to me.

When we tried to emulate that in-game, it was excruciatingly frustrating - you knew an enemy was right in front of you (because your dwarf can see him), but your human would just be unable to target him because he was in the Darkness. We felt like the player would be punished for simply not having a full party with Darkvision - heavily limiting the interest of having a Character Creation Tool. Want to play Hard Mode? Just have a Human or Halfling in the party. 

This is why we decided to seek a middle-ground - a way to make races without Darkvision less inept, and those with Darkvision more reliant on light. In Solasta, the Light System currently works in the following manner:

• Normal Vision: Disadvantage on Perception Rolls & Attack Rolls under Darkness & Dim Light Conditions.
• Darkvision: Disadvantage on Perception Rolls & Attack Rolls under Darkness Conditions.
• Superior Darkvision: No Disadvantage under Darkness Conditions (only for specific Monsters or Darkvision Spell)

With this system, characters with Darkvision will now have Disadvantage in Darkness - meaning they'll have to start relying on Light. To balance it out, other characters will now also have Disadvantage in Dim Light - but they get to "see" in Darkness and can target enemies there. Note that Darkvision does not increase Vision Range - as explained above you'd end up with different Vision Range for different party members, adding artificial layers of complexity to party management. 

 

Streamlining the complexity

During exploration, your perception will be affected by darkness - meaning you'd better have some source of light at hands if you want to detect those traps and secret passages. Darkvision will give you an easier time of course, but you shouldn't forget the rest of the crew - who could very well notice something your Elf / Dwarf missed in the first place.

You'll quickly realize that this is twice as important in battle, as it will affect your accuracy. To keep it simple for the players, in our current system you can see if your opponents are in Bright Light / Dim Light / Darkness by hovering over them, and the cursor model will change to tell you if you'll roll with advantage or disadvantage (or simply normally). Want your Warrior to have his Shield in hand? Better make sure your Wizard has a Light Cantrip for him. By putting a heavy emphasis on Light, it adds a tactical layer to Combat Sequences - using the environment such as glowing stones, braziers or pools of flammable oil to light up your enemies, or rushing in torch in hand so your archer can pick off your enemies from afar. Want to hold a narrow corridor and only your Warrior is still up? Drop your torch on the ground, take out your shield and stand your ground!

Same situation, Human Character has Disadvantage because of Dim Light Conditions, Elf Character does not.

Light as a weapon

Now, it wouldn't be very fair if Light only affected our party. This Gameplay Pillar is called "Light & Darkness", not just "Light" - there is a duality that we want to explore. While adventurers may have issues with pitch black dungeons, the opposite applies to creatures born deep underground, perfectly adapted to the Darkness with Superior Darkvision, Blindsense or even Tremorsense. These creatures will very likely not appreciate having a torch shoved into their face, and some of them will be Sensitive or even Hypersensitive to Light - making it not only a resource to manage, but a deadly weapon too.

Imagine your party of four facing numerous creatures many time their size, kept in check by the light they wield - it’s both epic and terrifying, and this is what we want Solasta to be about. Back from your quest, you’ll enjoy the fresh air and sunlight, only to rest for your next raid underground… and into darkness.

Zaz

Dev Diary #2 for Solasta: Crown of the Magister explains what is meant by verticality.

Dev Diary #2: What is Verticality?

16 July 2019

Hello again folks! You've been many to ask what we mean by Verticality, so Zaz (Game Director) is back with some answers!

Hello fellow adventurers,

As you already know, Verticality is one of our Core Pillars. But what hides behind that word?

From the very beginning, we decided that we wanted our players to be able to do things other Tactical RPGs wouldn't allow them to. Things like flying, climbing walls without being limited to ladders, pushing enemies over the ridge... and of course we wanted enemies to do the same! Flying, climbing and even burrowing to give your party a rough time. In essence, we wanted to recreate all the crazy stuff you can do in a tabletop game using all the magic and powers of the 5^th edition.

Hello good sir knight, may I nibble on your shoulder? 

Our engine was developed for this. Our world really is 3D - even the “air” is actually part of the game’s grid - allowing you to accurately track movement while flying. On top of that almost every type of surfaces can be scaled using Spider Climb, and the battle grid even goes below the floor to allow specific creatures to burrow and move underground. 

Cubes... Cubes everywhere!

This enables us to create very interesting levels and combat situations, and is the reason why we call Verticality one of our Key Pillars. The world of Solasta has been designed to foster many vertical locations for our players to fully use their abilities to move around in 3D space... and they better be careful, because our monsters will surely do so! In the other hand, one of our biggest challenges is to give the players the right tools to play in this vertical environment. The camera system is critical, to let you see what you need while moving around the battlefield. Efficient controls are also essential, since you will need to give orders not only on a flat grid but also in space.

Our current "See Through" System allows you to see your characters through walls when needed

Expect to experience vertiginous rooms, fight flying creatures harassing you while you try to climb up a fragile flight of antique stairs, fall to your doom when shoved over the ledge by massive monsters, and get your ankle tenderly nibbled on while crossing a sandy area.

Prototype of some slightly more extreme cases of Verticality in Level Design

But how does it work with Stealth? Well, that will be for another time...

Zaz

Solasta: Crown of the Magister will be at Gen-Con with a pre-alpha build.

You said "We want to see more Gameplay!", we answered "We will do that and more, there will be a demo!". You said "When?" and we answered "Soon!". How soon you may ask? Well... What about... One month from now? 

That's right, Tactical Adventures will be at Gen Con 2019 August 1-4 2019, Indiana Convention Center: Hall B, with a Pre-Alpha Demo - which everyone will be able to play at our booth! For those who won't be at Gen Con, worry not - we're still planning on having a Demo available to everyone at a later date!

What will our four heroes find in these ruins?

More Information:

• The booth will be open from 9:00 am to 7:00pm Thursday to Saturday, and from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm on Sunday
• This Demo Event is completely free of charges, no need for tickets (outside the standard Gen Con Access Badge) 
• You don't need to register either, just drop by whenever you want

Keep in mind that this is going to be a Work In Progress, Pre-Alpha Build - so please forgive us if the ride's a bit bumpy at times!

Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a tactical RPG based on D&D OGL 5e from Tactical Adventures.

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Visit Solasta's Website: http://www.solastagame.com

Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a new upcoming Tactical RPG based on D&D OGL 5e ruleset. Roll for initiative, take attacks of opportunity, manage player location and the verticality of the battlefield. You make the choices. Dice decide your destiny.