The original concept for Join My Merry Band was creating a whole sandbox in a page as it was created for the One Page TTRPG Jam. In the end, it was too much and even the final concept was challenging to squeeze in such limited space. 

Anyway, the game worked well and soon my mind was boiling with more ideas. The obvious ones were new terrains to explore to go further than just plundering dungeons and new types of adventurers. 

Other than ruins, crypts and forbidden temples, one of the archetypic setting for fantasy ttrpg is a forest. A forest offers a lot in exploration matters: is hard to find your way as opposed to closed environments were the walls give you an idea of the exits, its natural inhabitants can be as challenging as fantastic creatures and the necessary survival skills require different types of adventurers. 

The logical reason to get in the woods are either crossing it to reach a place (the entrance to the dungeon or going back to civilization after leaving it) or find something in it (which I decided could be an orc settlement). With this in mind, the game suddenly could be played in two different ways. 

The Ranger and the Druid are the most appropriate choices for nature adventuring and they are present  in the original game. Still, they were created with dungeoncrawling in mind and, as the woods would be their chance to shine, I decided to rebuild them to make them more appropriate. 

Here are some of my ideas:

• Elf: 2d Combat (Ranged), 2d Survival (Stealth, Nature), Life 2. Cost 15 
• Ranger: 3d (Ranged), 1d Survival (Nature, Stealth), Life 3. Cost 19 
• Druid: 1d Combat, 2d Magic (Divine, Nature), Life 2. Cost 14 
• Guide: 1d Combat, 1d Survival (Nature), Life 1. Cost 5
• Porter: Food (4). Life 1. Cost: 3. 
• Torchbearer: 1d Survival, Life 1, Cost 2. 
• Wolf: 2d Combat (Wild), Life 2. Cost 8. 
• Owl: 2d Survival (Wild, Stealth). Life 1. Cost 8

The main new feature is the tag "Nature" that gives advantages in the wild. It's not as useful in a dungeon but, as both games are compatible, it can ve an interesting challenge to recruit a group with chances of success in both places. 

The terrain is another interesting matter. More than just make the same tiles but painting the walls with leaf motives, I decided new types were needed. Apart of the obvious corridors and turns, a walk in the Botanical Garden gave me the idea of including uneveness of the terrain and ravines that can only be crossed with ease in one direction. Additionally, as the woods don't have completely solid walls but bushes and vegetation, the walls can be crossed with certain rolls with the risk of attracting unwanted attention. 

Traps are rarer in the woods. They are not impossible to find but they tend to be more focused in catching food than intruders. In any case, they are more a thing for dungeons were there's an interest in stop strangers from getting deeper than in the wild were there are few, if any,limits. To give the game a different identity, I skipped the traps and added other types of challenges like tracking, food management and camping. 

And so on. The game should be available soon. I hope.

By the way, I have updated the prices of some adventurers and changed the cover for a colourful one.