Spellsword RPG Development Update #11 — July 28, 2026

Hello Reader, here are the latest Spellsword updates!

Snapshot / TL;DR

The full Starting Spell set is done. All eight classes have complete, reviewed, and published Starting Spell lists.
Another Mass Combat test confirmed that the core model—including the action-economy solution—works well. The tracking format did not.
Every participating Faction has been submitted, edited, and approved. Internal Faction Play testing begins with the first call for orders.
We decided how the first PDF release will fit into Spellsword’s business model and outlined a practical conversion plan. The exact contents and layout remain in development.
Companion App: specialization learning is in, and the first working version of Campaign Mode is live for Alpha and Beta testers.
We rewrote the lore for every race, improved navigation for Rulebook Owners, and continued refining Discord onboarding.

Major Progress This Cycle

Starting Spells: Live for Every Class

All eight classes now have complete, published Starting Spell sets. Warrior and Wizard cleared final review this cycle, closing out the last two classes. We held the full set and released it together instead of trickling classes out one at a time.

This closes a project months in the making. Starting Spells are now baseline content. Every new character has class-appropriate spells they can use immediately, study as examples, or modify once they are ready to engage more deeply with spellcrafting.

Our original plan expected most players to create their own spells during character creation. That works for someone who already understands the system and is excited to experiment, but it asks too much from players who are still learning, have not built confidence in spellcrafting, or simply want to start playing. Starting Spells remove that barrier without taking custom spell creation away from anyone.

Companion App: Specializations and Campaign Mode

The app now supports learning new specializations. That closes a gap where characters could select a starting specialization but had no in-app path to gain new ones later. It also brings us closer to supporting a character’s full progression through the app.

Campaign Mode has also reached its first working version, which is now live for Alpha and Beta testers. Characters can be loaded into a campaign, have skill checks called for, visit shops, receive rewards, cast spells, and enter combat. Alteration effects from spells can also modify the affected character directly.

There are still bugs, and some features do not yet work as intended. Testers should report anything they find. The current build may already be capable of rough remote play, but it is not yet stable enough for us to treat that as a finished feature.

Bug fixes and map capability are next on the developer’s task list. We are also investigating access problems affecting some Apple devices.

Mass Combat: The Rules Held Up, the Tools Failed

We ran two Mass Combat tests across this cycle.

The first, conducted before the previous update, helped us resolve the action-economy problem created when units of sharply different sizes clash. Breaking each force into a manageable number of sub-units allows us to preserve Spellsword’s normal action structure while representing numerical advantage and attrition at a useful level of abstraction.

A smaller force must spend its actions more aggressively to prevent the larger force from making uncontested attacks. However, contesting an attack does not merely cancel it. A successful response can disable or destroy an attacking sub-unit, allowing the smaller force to reverse the numerical advantage if it lands the right blows at the right time.

Last Friday’s test confirmed that the core model—including this action-economy solution—works well. The failure was the tracking format. It did not communicate unit status or the state of the battle clearly enough for us to follow the resolution easily in the moment.

We also held an exploratory discussion about how magic should behave at Mass Combat scale. We have not tested it yet. Our current suspicion is that magic may need strategic recommendations rather than a single hard formula, but that remains a hypothesis until we put it through actual play.

First PDF Release: Direction Decided

We have decided the direction of Spellsword’s first PDF release and how it will fit into the broader business model.

The PDF will provide a stable, portable, and printable version of the rules while opening another way for players to discover and purchase Spellsword through DriveThruRPG. It will exist alongside the living digital rulebook and the membership model rather than replacing either one.

Players who purchased permanent rulebook access as Rulebook Owners will receive the PDF through their accounts when it is released. Membership access will continue to function separately and will not automatically include the downloadable PDF.

We have also outlined a practical plan for converting the existing rules into a highly functional PDF. This will not be a basic export of the website. The content must be edited and designed around fixed pages, readable tables, useful cross-references, callout boxes, printing, and physical navigation.

The exact contents are not yet locked. We still need to decide which planned revisions belong in the first release, which sections need additional support, how many more monsters are required, and what specific formatting conventions best serve the book. We are also considering a ring-binder-friendly layout for players who want to print and organize the rules for table use.

Faction Play: Internal Testing Begins

Every participating Faction has now been submitted, edited, and approved. We are issuing the first call for orders and can now receive, review, and respond to them.

We also built a Google Apps Script that converts Faction Order form submissions into readable order documents instead of leaving us to work from a raw spreadsheet dump. That was the last major tool blocking internal testing of Faction and Braunstein-style gameplay.

Testing begins now.

Lore, Site, and Discord Updates

Every race received a rewritten lore entry, and all of them are now published and live.

Rulebook Owners now land on a dedicated home page instead of sharing one with free Quickstart accounts. This makes navigating into the full rulebook more direct and better distinguishes permanent rulebook access from other account types.

We also continued refining Discord onboarding and server organization in preparation for increased testing and community activity.

Systems Under Active Refinement

What We’re Iterating On

We are rebuilding the Mass Combat tracking and notation format so the table can understand unit status and follow a resolution without confusion. Once that format survives testing, we can move into dedicated magic testing.

Campaign Mode is undergoing bug fixes while map capability is added. We are also testing whether the current build can support practical remote play.

For the PDF, we are moving from broad product planning into editorial and layout planning: final contents, required additions, page structure, reference tools, and print considerations.

Problems We’re Solving

The Mass Combat rules work, but the current tracking format does not present enough information clearly at the table.

Campaign Mode contains significant functionality, but bugs and device-access problems still prevent us from treating it as stable.

The PDF direction is settled, but its first release still needs a firm editorial scope and a consistent visual language.

What’s Still Uncertain

We have not yet tested magic at Mass Combat scale, so we do not know whether it needs a hard mechanical rule or strategic best practices.

We do not yet know how well the current Campaign Mode build will perform across a full remote-play session.

The exact contents, additional monsters, callout structure, page design, and binder-friendly formatting of the first PDF remain under consideration.

Design Insight

At first glance, making a PDF for a game that already has a complete ruleset sounds straightforward: export the existing text, position the tables, and break out a few examples or callout boxes.

In practice, the rules are only one part of the product.

Spellsword’s living digital rulebook gives us tremendous flexibility. We can publish extensive entries without worrying about page count, hide secondary information inside collapsible sections, and make large bodies of content manageable through search tools, filters, links, and scrolling.

Fixed pages change all of that.

A table that works perfectly well online may be too wide or too long for a printed page. Information that can remain exhaustive on the website may need to be condensed, reorganized, or divided across multiple sections. Collapsible explanations must either occupy permanent page space or move somewhere else. Navigation that takes a single click online must be replaced with page references, indexes, and a clear physical structure.

The PDF will contain functionally the same rules as the web rulebook, but it will not be an identical copy. It will be a separate presentation of the same game, built around a different set of strengths and limitations.

The web rulebook will remain living, searchable, and the most current version of the rules. The PDF will be stable, portable, printable, and permanently available to the people who purchase it. It will also allow Spellsword to reach players through the broader RPG marketplace, including DriveThruRPG.

That means treating the PDF as its own editorial and design project—not as an automatic export.

First, we need to define its editorial scope. Which planned revisions belong in the first release? Which sections need additional explanation? How many more monsters do we need, and how should their information be organized? What other supporting material is necessary for the book to function as a complete product?

Then we have to solve the information design. Tables, cross-references, examples, navigation tools, and callout boxes all need to work together without wasting space or forcing readers to hunt for important rules. The goal is not merely to fit the material onto pages. The goal is to make those pages easy to use during actual play.

Finally, we have to design for printing and physical organization. Margins, page spreads, section breaks, duplex printing, and divider placement all matter if players are going to put the rules into a binder and use them at the table. We may even need different print layouts depending on how people intend to assemble the book.

Designing for actual use produces different decisions than designing a PDF that merely looks complete on a storefront.

For a PDF, format defines how usable the product will be.

—Christian

What Members and Testers Should Test

Grab your Starting Spells and try building a character with them from scratch.
Alpha and Beta testers: try the current Campaign Mode build and report any bugs, broken interactions, or device-access problems.
Share feedback in our Discord.

What’s Next—2-Week Objective

Rebuild the Mass Combat tracking format and run another internal test.
Begin testing magic at Mass Combat scale once the tracking procedure is usable.
Process the first round of Faction Play orders and begin internal Faction and Braunstein testing.
Lock in the editorial scope and core layout requirements for the first PDF release.
Fix Campaign Mode bugs, add map capability, and move closer to stable remote play.