Finding a team of creators who support each other is a wonderful thing, and here in their world of Nuovarden (loosely translates as New Garden) is a world that is not only a blast to explore but can add so much more to your own adventures (you can visit at their own website here.) With a firm belief in supporting the community with regular podcasts, as well as appearing at conventions (see list later in the article) they're well placed to bring many a new player to the hobby.
We were lucky enough to grab a word with Dungeon Misterly who let us know quite a bit more about Nuovarden and a live twitch stream from the 10th April 2023 through to 1st May here...
Dungeon Misterly: As modules go I wrote a number of separate adventures for Dragon Turtle Press and their Carbon 2185 line. The one I’m most proud of is called “Transcendent Nouveau” (part of the Legacy Rising series). I was inspired to explore a bit into transhumanism, a disturbing and fascinating theory about how humanity might change with the direct integration of technology into our bodies. Since the genre is cyberpunk, it was the prefect opportunity to give it a shot, and Robert Dodds (the owner of Dragon Turtle and the Carbon line) was kind enough to give me carte blanche on my ideas. Cyberpunk is one of my favorite genres because it crosses so many borders between what is and what might be. We’re really living an early cyberpunk reality right now, and it’s evolving all the time.
TP: What would you say is the best selling point of your TTRPG's?
DM: For sure it’s my storytelling. I’ve been obsessed with fiction my whole life, and when I finally went to college my goal was to be a fantasy writer. I ended up going down the literary fiction rabbit hole, and I also learned and practiced just about every other kind of writing, but I always come back to story. When I write anything for TTRPGs I think hard about story: why are the characters here? What are their motivations? What is the plot and is it tight?
TP: Why the TTRPG space?
DM: I took the infamous 25-year hiatus from TTRPGs in the early 90s and went on with college, family, and career. At the end of the hiatus, I didn’t think I would get back into these games, so I gave away all my stuff, haha. Six months later, on a whim, I sat down for my first game of 5e and was immediately transported back to the early days of my gaming obsession. After playing for about a year (and creating my own adventures for a friends and family campaign) I started branching out into playtesting for companies when they advertised it, and I joined Discord servers where I met creators. My years of writing experience ended up serving me as a freelance editor, design consultant, and eventually writer. It was a perfect venue for me to write things that actually saw an audience.
TP: What is your favourite product that you produce and why?
DM: Without question my favorite product is my Nuovarden setting and associated Fortunes d4 System. I knew one day I wanted to have my own line of products, and I figured it would be something I would pick up later in life, maybe after retirement (I’m a long way from that in any formal sense). But after I moved, I ended up in a home game, and through some pretty heavy discussions with my friend Mike, ended up dreaming about a game where player agency was as much a part of the game as any mechanic. I woke up and started writing, and I’ve been working on it non-stop for the better part of two years. It’s my favorite for many reasons, one of which is because it came out of that dream, and the other because it gives me that old feeling back to when I was a kid and first discovered TTRPGS.
TP: What is your current work in progress and what can you tell us about it?
DM: As mentioned, I am still at work on Nuovarden. Pretty quickly after I got working on it, I started a company called Adventure Slang Productions. My daughter has a great mind for games and is a designer herself, and together we’ve been doing the gritty work of fine-tuning things and making it look nice. The setting is a non-medieval garden dimension where a cataclysmic event changed the dimension in wildly dynamic ways. The original people, called Lanplac, and a visiting trans-dimensional people called Starnam, found themselves sharing the world with six other peoples that manifested overnight thanks to the release of manifesting energy into the dimension by the Starnam. The result trapped the Starnam in the garden along with all of the other people, and the change also affected the flora and fauna in strange ways that, even 100 years later, the people are trying to learn about. The setting has flavor elements that might appeal to fans of Avatar: the Last Airbender, Castlevania, Monster Hunter, and other high adventure media. Technology in Nuovarden is loosely Bronze Age, though rumors of lost technology abound. Players choose from eight “cultures” and seven subcultures, and each is attached to a specific discipline. There are no classes in the traditional sense, rather the characters use mastery of their discipline (referred to as Primacy) to manifesting the things they need. There are eight core disciplines: Body/Mind, Song/Silence, Element/Technology, and Lore/Mystery. As characters evolve, they gain new disciplines to help them control the environment they live in.
The system is also unique. We use a d4 system that offers a robust series of mechanics that carry the simulation of reality without interfering with the narrative. Players make one or two actions, and may apply one to two dice per action, based on a limited pool. To help increase the percentage chance to hit the mark (usually ‘4’), the characters also have a pool of points representing primacy in their discipline(s). There are several other mechanics, but one of the most popular is our Assist Roll mechanic. During an active player’s turn, any other player may, if they have dice available in their pool, throw in on the active player’s turn once per roll. The Assist die is compared with the other di(c)e in the roll to determine a variety of outcomes. It’s a very cool feature of the game because it keeps the table engaged regardless of whose turn it is.
TP: Who do you think would love to play your TTRPGs and why?
DM: Our games genuinely strive to create a new experience, in setting, system, or both. With Nuovarden it’s definitely both. Erin and I agree that Nuovarden offers appeal to players looking for something different from medieval fantasy in particular. It also appeals to veteran players looking for that elusive “early experience” where the players truly don’t know what’s around the next corner. As mentioned, the system also encourages player agency and creativity – no spell slots or limits on ability beyond resource points and discipline primacy. If a player think it up (and it fits within their discipline) they can try it.
Anecdotally, our play testers say that Nuovarden feels truly original, and they tell us it’s “fun.” We’re also proud of the speediness of the game. Combat is legitimately quick, despite a virtually infinite number of options for PCs to explore.
TP: Where do you see your TTRPG writing career taking you in 5 years?
DM: My hope in five years is to have several Nuovarden products available for players, in addition to a couple of other “secret” projects currently on the horizon. I’ve had an amazing career path in my life, from education to science, and now game design. Every job I’ve ever had involved writing, so I can say I’ve not only achieved my personal goal, but I continue to use my education. If things go all right, in five years lots of people will be playing Nuovarden and discovering our other games along the way. I continue to do freelance work here and there, but I plan to be writing and designing exclusively for my own projects by that time.
TP: If you were given the time and opportunity to develop something unique, what would it be and why?
DM: Fait accompli! Now I just have to perfect it. But I am always thinking about how to make unique things – I’m not much for tropes and other cliches.
TP: Who do you admire in the Independent TTRPG writing space and why?
DM: I have a lot of friends in the space, and while not all of them are writers, they are all creators. I really appreciate the work and insight that Brandish Gilhelm (Runehammer) brings. He has a philosophical angle and great sense of humor that both appeal to me. I also have a lot of respect for Matt Mercer for being an old school DM, but also a seemingly genuine, and genuinely good, person. I also think Deborah Ann Woll is outstanding as a writer/creator. Others that come to mind are Connor Alexander, B. Dave Walters, Tanya DePass. There are so many awesome people, and not just writers but creatives all around.
TP: What got you into TTRPG's in the first place?
DM: My introduction to TTRPGs came as a request from my friends in 1983 middle school. They had heard about this Dungeons and Dragons game and told me to go meet a kid in the library (Mike W.) that would explain it to me. So, I learned the rules, taught my friends, and continued as a forever DM until about 2016 or 2017 when I made new friends who also liked to run games. But, man, I am grateful that my middle school friends got me to check it all out.
If you're out and about, Adventure Slang will be appearing at the following Cons:
May 26 - May 28 2023 - KublaCon - Burlingame, CA
June 30 - July 2, 2023 - RageCon Reno, NV
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