Project Forge is now on World Anvil!
It feels great to say that.
So, as this is the first Forge News article on WorldAnvil, perhaps I ought to introduce myself, the project and share some ideas. I also want to use this opportunity to list out what has been done up until now and to provide a small Road Map to what is to be worked on going forward.
Project Forge and Me
Hi! I am
Heffé; writer, worldbuilder, streamer, artist and, now, a worldbuilding resource designer, maker, creator, person...
anyways
The concept of Project Forge is something I've had for about a year. The idea was to create a worldbuilding game, but eventually, it grew to be more than that. Though at that time, I felt I had a lot going on and so I benched the idea.
It was not until after Summer Camp 2021 I played
Mappa Imperium by Nookrium
(which I totally recommend you play, its super fun!). Then the lightbulb flashed! Then like a dwarf in a fey mood, I started Project Forge!
Project Forge So Far...
The Idea
The specifics and the methodologies may change in time, but the mission and direction won't.
Project Forge is a project (obviously) where I am to create worldbuilding tools, games and systems. All of them can be used individually or all together. All of them can be used on WorldAnvil too. In fact, it's highly recommended you do. Some products will come with a physical method of worldbuilding (sheets, pen & paper, dice, etc.), but WorldAnvil, because... WorldAnvil!
I love worldbuilding. It is such an inspiring art form and, honestly, I think WorldAnvil has revolutionised worldbuilding by being such a unique platform for it (I can go into that more at another time if you want). Worldbuilding is fun and I have learned loads about our world with it too... (here it comes) ... However, worldbuilding has its issues too.
It's a complicated art form. It's complex. It can be difficult to know where to start and what to do next. Not only that, when you finish one article on WA you've created stubs for 10 more. That's not a criticism on WA, that is just a side effect of creativity and WA makes it easier on us to brainstorm as we go.
And so, I want to do something about that and more.
Realms
This is my first attempt at doing something to, hopefully, ease the process of worldbuilding. Also to perhaps help new and experienced worldbuilders with their worldbuilding projects.
Realms is a Worldbuilding Strategy Game, where you create and control a nation, kingdom, empire, or any other geopolitical organization. The goal is to keep your population alive while expanding your realm. At the same time, you are to build the world around them as you go.
My goal is to eventually make Realms into a system of creating a living world. At the same time, act as both an outliner and detailer for your worldbuilding. You can play it as a game, or use it as a tool; either way, it is to be a complete sandbox in the similar spirit as many tabletop games out there.
This is still in heavy development, but the first version of it is released both on WorldAnvil and as an
Ebook/PDF on my
Ko-fi shop for Project Forge. The PDF is available on a Pay What You Want basis! This means you can grab it for free. The best thing about using Ko-Fi as the vendor is you can always
donate via Ko-Fi after purchasing. So you can pretty much try before you pay.
The Future
The whole project is still in its infancy stage, but I am pleased to be passed the "I have a secret project" phase as we're now in the "I have a not so secret project" phase now.
I'm going to keep working on this project, as well as incorporating others I have started too; like the Generator Project, which I've started months ago. I want to keep on creating resources to help all worldbuilders. This is where I will need your help.
How to help & support the project?
There are freeways and not so free ways to support. Also, firstly, thank you for being at least curious enough to read this section.
Free ways
Just following and using the tools I make will help. If things like Realms are being played and are giving you some entertainment, or it's helping your worldbuilding, then knowing that will is a massive motivation booster. I would love to hear (or read) your thoughts and opinions on what I make.
I have a Discord server you can join. It is doubled up with my world, the Hefflings. Think of it as a community hub of everything I do. I have also created some boards in the Discussion Boards area for Project Forge.
Please also share this with anyone you think would be interested. If you like something, why not tell people about it? Right?
Not-so Free ways
Support Project Forge, financially, by visiting the project's Ko-Fi page and donating. Any amount will be super, and thank you so so much ♥
Also make sure to get any products I release in the
Ko-Fi shop. Right now, Realms is available for free or Pay What You Want. Again, any amount will be super. If anything, it tells me how much you think it's worth (monetarily at least especially as I do plan on releasing not-so-free products in the future.
I am also considering enabling memberships on Ko-Fi with rewards & things. I just need to figure out what rewards to add. If you have any suggestions, I'm open to them.
You can also join me on my live streams on
Twitch. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I am live at 5 pm UK Time. Monday's I do map-making (Map-making Mondays), Wednesdays are Worldbuilding Wednesdays and Fridays are Forgeday Fridays, where I tinker on what needs to be done at that time on Project Forge. Feel free to pop in my streams at any time when I'm live and let's hang out!
Whatever you choose to do to help and support me, I will forever appreciate it. I will understand if you choose to only support freely, there is no pressure to. At the end of the day, I just want to help fellow worldbuilders build worlds. I love what I do and so I'm going to keep doing it regardless.
What do I plan on doing next?
I want to continue working on Realms. There is a lot that needs to be done as I have a ton of ideas. Also with your feedback on it, I can make the changes necessary so that Realms can be one of your go-to tools/systems you use to world build with.
My next step is to work on updating Realms. At the same time, support you lovely folks if you've found any issues with Realms.
I would love to implement some sort of "multi-realm"/multiplayer ...multi-builder? ... features that allow you to collaborate more. I think that will be super fun to do.
Anyway, that's about it for this long newsletter. I just wanted to outline Project Forge and the things I would like to do with it. I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions about what I could do going forward. As I said, I just want to help you build worlds.
Thanks for reading and make sure to follow the Project Forge "world" for updates and more news that'll come in the future.
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