Pentagruel (Ashcan Edition)
A downloadable zine
Pentagruel is a fantasy battle/skirmish game zine. It is fast-paced, rules-light, and miniatures-agnostic. I put this zine together the good old fashioned way - with scissors and glue. The game will always be free for you to print at home.
For a long time I've wanted a dynamic and fast-paced fantasy battle game with easy-to-learn rules, the ability to use any/all miniatures in my collection, and to have some strategic interest while playing. Pentagruel is my best attempt at all these things. It is mostly inspired by Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game Quickstart (2017), Risk (1957) and Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Skirmish (2017), as well as many others. I made extensive use of the Proxie Flash Sheets while putting the game together.
There are 4 files up for download: 3 versions of the Pentagruel zine and a printable Roster Sheet for keeping track of your Host. I've provided an easy-print file of the zine which can be printed on 3 A4 pages (double-sided, flip on short edge!) as well as a Spreads and Singles for screens.
This is the ASHCAN EDITION of Pentagruel, meaning it's not quite balanced yet. This is a 'complete' game, and includes everything I want the finished version to have and is completely playable. I'm just not 100% convinced that everything is as balanced as I'd like it to be before calling the game finished. Rather than sitting on a 95% finished game for the next year while playtesting, I thought I'd rather release this version for everyone to play. Please let me know what you think of the game so far! If things aren't quite balanced or rules don't make sense please let me know in the comments or ping me on discord (@jamzillarpg)!
Once the game is as balanced as I'd like it, I'll print out a few copies and sell them here as cheaply as possible for those of you who don't have a printer or access to one at home, though your local library is always your friend!
I'll update this page and the downloadable pdfs with changes based on my own games and your feedback. I hope you enjoy what is currently available!
Since making my last game, Dragon!, I've been more drawn towards print-and-play zines and the community spirit that has historically been the pillar of zine-making. For my next few zines (and hopefully beyond!) I'm going to be focusing more on tabletop games that are easy to print off at home, fun to play, and most importantly free! I feel like there are enough premium games out there for people to spend their money on, and I'll get more enjoyment out of making something lofi.
May thine sword be ever sharp, and thine cunning ever sharper!
Download
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Development log
- A Revised Ashcan Edition is coming soon!36 days ago
Comments
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My partner and I played this last night and had a blast!
That's amazing, I'm glad you both had fun! And thank you for leaving a comment!
If there are any suggestions or changes in the game you have I'd love to hear them, as I'm slowly but surely working on a revised version of the game : )
Oh, there was something! Do creatures with more life essentially get free hits against creatures that have less?
For example, we played it to where if a 2 life attacker meleed a unit with 1 life, the target would would always take at least one hit, since the attacker's second roll can't be contested.
I intended it that unopposed combat rolls were ignored and don't inflict damage - having more lives means you're more likely to win as you're rolling more dice and likely tobget a higher roll compared to someone rolling one. I'll try and make this clearer in the next revision of the rules, thank you for the feedback :)
Gotcha! Thanks a bunch, looking forward to the future of Pentagruel c:
This looks really cool and I am glad to see you released an aschcan edition because it encourages me to do the same with one of my games - it is indeed much better to release a project that is in fact ready rather than keep it on hold for years just because you know it could be a bit better if you have more time to work on it (a situation, that may never come in the future). :)
Thank you for your comment, I'm glad you like the look of the game so far :)
I'm definitely gonna start doing more Ashcans for games I have 'ready' but not 'finished', I don't get too much free time for working on zines and games either so doing finetuning/balancing on a game just isn't an option unless I want to release a game every year (or longer!)
I'm looking forward to seeing what you put out next, Ashcan or otherwise!
Pentagruel rips!!!
Thank you so much man! I hope you have fun with it!
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