The Story of Trove
When It Began
In 2016 three friends, who had been playing various roleplaying games together for years, decided to take a well-known game system and use it to create a story in a setting borrowed from another game. As had often happened before, these friends began adding their own customized game rules, just because it was fun.
Now We're In Business
By 2017 the cohorts had begun working on some fantasy game settings of their own and began writing game materials. They decided that it might just be possible to make a go of publishing what they wanted to create, and so formed a company. They named it Tumbledie Games.
One System to Rule Them All
After much work and much play, in 2018 these lads had written a bunch of stuff, tried out a bunch of different games, had lots of meetings and came to a heady conclusion: None of the games they had played quite scratched the itch for the kind of game experience they were longing for.
On December 11th, 2018 it was proposed that we do that thing that so many gamers have tried or dreamt of trying to do: create our own roleplaying game system. We knew what we didn't like about the systems we had been using. We thought we had a good idea of what we could do better. So, we delved into game theory and research and had many high-brow, esoteric discussions and beer-fueled debates about how best to use game rules to woo that shared storytelling experience that we had flirted with so many times in the past.
Digging for Treasure
So now, 4 years since that first proposal, after countless meetings and iterations, playtests and rewrites, we have finally produced something that we think will be very special. A game that gives players a light rule system without lots of tables, charts and statistics to keep track of. A system that feels cinematic in the way scenes play out, that moves quickly and prioritizes telling a story that everyone at the table can participate in. A gateway for people to come together to have fun by immersing themselves in a story created with the treasures of their own imagination. The Trove system.
And so, we humbly present: Trove Foundation, a collaborative storytelling roleplaying game. This first book about Trove is a rulebook that covers the concepts of the system and how to use it to tell stories together. It does not limit players to a specific setting or types of characters or genre of stories. Any and all worlds are at your fingertips. It is up to the group to come together and decide what form their story will take.
Where, What & How?
We have launched the game on the Itch.io platform using a model called Itchfunding. As we sell more copies of the first version we will incorporate feedback from our audience and take the proceeds to continue to improve the book. We have a number of goals that will trigger improvements like adding more artwork, reformatting it for print-on-demand and of course, revising and refining the game rules and the text of the book to make it easier and more fun to play. Eventually, when we reach the final goal of the Itchfunding campaign, we will release it as the full 1st Edition of the Trove Foundation ruleset. Anyone who purchases the book on Itch.io during the campaign will receive all updates and additional materials that are created up-to and including the full 1st Edition book.
What's Next?
Having begun this final effort to complete the Trove Foundation rules, we will also begin work on other projects which use the Trove system at their core. New projects will offer amazing settings, character concepts and new rules that work on top of Trove Foundation, enhancing the game experience within a specific world.
We can't wait for you to see what comes next, but for now, please take a look at the Trove Foundation book and help us to make it the best it can be, so that everything we build upon it will have nowhere to go but up.
Thank you, Kevin, Andrew and Kylen of Tumbledie Games