FIST is a TTRPG about paranormal mercenaries doing the tough jobs no one else can (or that no one else wants) during the Cold War.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
MARCH - SLIGHT TURBULENCE
about 2 years ago
– Sun, Mar 10, 2024 at 10:38:44 PM
Some of the new Fractal traits include fantastic powers of ludomechanical alteration and the ability to summon boss monsters from the module. We hope to drop the full 36 soon.
Hey folks! Sorry the updates have been a little sparse lately (we do see you requesting them); the dev team is fighting some health issues as of late. We went over this in the Risks & Challenges section of the Kickstarter, but you're playing a game designed by a wholly disabled studio - sometimes, one or all of us are stuck in bed for a few weeks, waylaid by random chronic illnesses or unbearable pain. Our development timeline has this factored in, but you never know what's gonna happen when your body goes haywire on a regular basis. If we expect any serious delays in the release schedule, you'll be the second to know (we will, of course, be first - would be pretty weird if you guys knew before we did!).
Interestingly enough, while disability and madness do ding our productivity, they're also great creative inspiration. Some recent hallucinations and bodily sensations, turned into gameable material:
WARNING: BODY HORROR
The expanded MANDELBROT SET is still slated for a Q1 release, at least a beta. On top of private playtesting, we've also been running a small public game in the server to test some new mechanics for SUPPLY DROP and gather info about what the community is looking for in a larger-scale adventure module.
Expect to meet some curious new characters while exploring the updated Fractal Zone.
Looking for some tactical espionage action to tide you over until the next official CLAYMORE release? FIST: JAM OPS IV wrapped up recently, and you can give the winning entries a whirl right now.Coming in first in the STYLE category AND winning overall first prize: Knighthouse Co.'s PRECIOUS CARGO! This one looks good, folks - you can never go wrong with an anomalous train heist.
This is actually the second jam win from Knighthouse, following the excellent adventure THE MELTING OF WEST HARRISON.
That's all for now. Rest assured we'll still chugging away to the best of our ability, and your patience is highly appreciated - it's not every day a bunch of penniless amateurs get to make something this cool.
All the best, CLAYMORE
CRUNCHING NUMBERS
about 2 years ago
– Thu, Feb 01, 2024 at 02:59:31 AM
Hey folks! We don't have much to show off this time—January has been dedicated to boring clerical work which bears no interesting fruit. Some things we've been working on:
Learning how to file taxes for such a large amount of money
Making sense of the pledge manager and figuring out 2024 shipping rates for each country
Working out how to add late pledges since people have been asking about it
Seeing if we can stretch and squeeze the budget to produce CONTROL GROUP, the third campaign module we didn't quite fund but really hope to include anyway
Sorting through Kickstarter spam and responding to real users' questions
Improving the community Discord
And more...
We've also been writing and drawing, but it's nothing good enough to show yet. If you have any questions or concerns, drop them in the comments below. Hang tight and expect a beefier update midway through February...
Best,
CLAYMORE
December Update + FIST Game Jam
over 2 years ago
– Mon, Jan 01, 2024 at 04:11:18 PM
[DISCLAIMER: YES WE KNOW IT'S JANUARY - DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, CAPISCE?]
An in-progress, brand-new illustration of HOLY DIVER, miniboss of MANDELBROT SET.
Hello, operatives! This month's update isn't terribly glamorous, but here's the most important news: you can expect the new MANDELBROT SET to release in Q1 2024 (that's sometime in the window of January to March), followed by CRY HAVOC in Q2. That's our rough timeline at present, anyway... knock on wood!
The remastered Fractal Zone adventure will come stocked with more puzzles and environmental hazards.
So: what have we been working on this month? Here's a rundown:
A BETTER SYSTEM FOR WYRD TRAVERSAL. The old, broken system has been replaced by an "overloaded encounter die"-inspired "FCU tiers" system, where different spawn tables are associated with different levels of anomalous radiation. Each hex moved has a chance to inflict corruption on the party, and a randomly appearing resource (called Wyrdfruit, inspired by Metal Gear Survive's Kuban Energy) can be harvested at certain points to stave off FCU creep. Disorientation has also been made usable, no longer literally removing the ability to navigate after a certain point. This more complex, bespoke system is currently in the throes of playtesting, but seems to be doing what we want: making the Zone more fun to explore with a classic OSR resource-drain gameplay loop!
A MORE VARIED WYRD. Instead of mostly-combat encounters, we've peppered in strange weather events, resource-rich oases, portals to elsewhere on the map, and a new roaming miniboss (the vexing DESERT RANGER V). You're now far less likely to encounter repeats during a single run, and far more likely to string yourself along for a few more days in the Zone, in search of that next Fractal treasure.
NEW TRAITS. Ever wanted to grow metal bones like Wolverine? Develop active camouflage? Use the developer console in a TTRPG or—let's break out the big guns—nuke the campaign entirely? Now's your chance, as long as you can brave the Zone for long enough to acquire them...
New Fractal Traits are cooking. We're adjusting the Fractal Traits system to be more varied and less punishing, especially for those who choose to explore every corner of the map.
We've also been meticulously remastering and rebalancing what's already there. The old book was made before the FIST style guide was really established—the new book, even in areas which are largely the same, has acquired a certain je ne sais quoi it didn't have before...
Also, HOLY DIVER now has a pack of subordinate paracausal goons.
We haven't begun a public playtest yet, but when we do, folks can watch and commentate on the Discord server, where we run games asynchronously via text chat. Who knows—slide in at the right time and you may even be able to join!
DID YOU KNOW? The Fractal Zone is currently incurring upon Lincoln, Nevada!
Note that nothing you see here is immune to being canned, and no text shown is final. Hope you don't mind seeing us without our makeup...
This is almost entirely old text to be replaced, but the graphic elements are partially new.
Some more important news: there's a ranked FIST game jam with prizes running from New Year's to Valentine's 2024! If you're unfamiliar with the premise of a game jam, it goes something like this:
Homebrewers gather for a period of collaborative competition, vying to make the sickest, slickest project and win the grand prize while also sharing their work as a sort of mental "jam session" (you can do this on our Discord, among other places)
Everyone else gets a boatload of new FIST stuff to play around with, and the jam is followed by a voting period where all the participants (not us!) are in charge of who wins
Everyone votes for the winners. The grand prize is a physical core rulebook, RATIONS collection, and bookmark, and all three winners get added to a special role in the FIST discord that makes your name red!
It's on! If you want to join the server to talk with other jam participants, you're more than welcome. Happy new year, and happy jamming!
All the best - CLAYMORE
November Update + New Mission You Can Play Now! + Free Campaign Download
over 2 years ago
– Sat, Nov 18, 2023 at 06:08:31 PM
Hey folks! It's been about a month and a half since we wrapped up the campaign, and most of our time has been taken up with clerical duties, finances, planning, and fulfilling unrelated orders from before the Kickstarter. That said, we've got some cool stuff to show off pertaining to the new version of MANDELBROT SET and SUPPLY DROP...
The original "Superposition Table" from MANDELBROT SET. The spread details six variants of Dr. Onyemaechi Okonkwo, a central character in the saga of the Fractal Zone.
The same spread, remastered with new art and a clean design language which closely follows the FIST: Ultra Edition style guide. Note that most of this text is copied from the original, and does not necessarily reflect the final version.
Even though FIST Ultra is totally backwards compatible, we've learned a lot since this campaign was originally designed for FIST Classic, so you'll probably see at least a few drastic changes as we go - plus lots of small tweaks. If you want to check out the original MANDELBROT SET, you can use this special KS update link to download it for free (usually it's $10!):
In addition to a visual overhaul, MANDELBROT SET will build on the FIST Classic version with new content such as:
16 new Outposts (36 in total) to populate each iteration of the Zone map, including an Army blacksite, an irradiated landfill, the Russian Sleep Experiment, and Poetic Space (where players are forced to speak in rhyme)
24 additional random encounters (36 in total), like Red Oil, Hypodermic Eels, and CRO Team EIGENGRAU
A new "anchor" system to encourage exploration - Outposts will have optional objectives that can be completed to destroy transdimensional anchors, pre-emptively weakening the final boss of the current run
An expanded Facility Zero - the original MANDELBROT SET was heavy on hexcrawling with a fairly small dungeon in the center, but expanded "Good News" and "Bad News" tables will help generate a proper dungeon crawl for each run through the Zone
Rebalanced bossfights - OGHMA and HOLY DIVER are being rehauled to play nicely with FIST Ultra and give players of any level a challenge. OGHMA is also getting additional characterization for less violent, "talkier" adventuring parties
New Fractal Traits - more on these later!
We're also chipping away at SUPPLY DROP while MANDELBROT SET gets remastered. Lucky for us, we have some excellent guest writers on deck contributing missions, stories, and other material to the book. Here's the entirety of HALLOWEEN SUBMARINE, a comedy-horror adventure by Jayme Antrim (who you may know as Brandoff, the Off-Brand Gandalf - a high-level FIST wizard and longtime pillar of the homebrewing scene):
We're still working on the official maps, but Brandoff was kind enough to provide these lovely placeholders, complete with a creepy font.
All of HALLOWEEN SUBMARINE has been playtested and is ready to take for a spin at your table (thanks Hevybot, Ripley Caldwell, Sam W., and the Beginner Friendly Game Crew!)
You can also look forward to further cool tidbits from SUPPLY DROP, like:
36 brand-new rare CYCLOPS gadgets, for all you spy tech fans out there
36 highly dangerous members of CYCLOPS Recon Operations, better known as the CROs
Expanded base-building - protect wildlife in your habitat module! Build a holodeck! Read enemy statblocks with your room full of sensors!
Thanks for following along!
- CLAYMORE
October Update
over 2 years ago
– Tue, Oct 10, 2023 at 01:00:32 PM
Hey folks! We're still recovering and doing a lot of preliminary planning and budgeting work (plus wrapping up any old projects or problems before we start working on the set in earnest). Some updates of note:
We sent out PDF download keys for the core rulebook via email. We recommend grabbing the newest version (we also threw in a PDF of the early backer bookmark): https://claymorerpgs.itch.io/fist
We've uploaded source files for all FIST: Ultra content so far. If you want templates for making homebrew, you're interested in how the game was made, or you want to print off your own bootleg copies of things like the core book, RATIONS, and the bookmark, visit here: https://claymorerpgs.itch.io/fist-homebrew-resources
As always, all FIST material from CLAYMORE is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0. In plain terms, that means you don't have to pay us or check with us to make FIST content, you just need to a) give us credit, and b) use the same license for your own FIST work, so that others can, in turn, freely derive from your work. Happy hacking!
