Hello everyone! I'm so happy to see so many new people here venturing into Brumvar.

I also wanted to share two exciting updates with you. 

Coincidentally, just as the game started gaining attention again, I had already begun working on some improvements — so I thought now would be a great time to talk about them. Shall we?

1. I’m revising and expanding the game’s adventure.

That means it probably won’t be a pamphlet anymore, but two pamphlets or a full zine. I’ve made some corrections based on suggestions I received — for example, changing the Challenge stat from [CHA] to [CHL]. I’m also reviewing some paragraph loops and adding rules to prevent them from happening again. On top of that, I’ve added 38+ new story paragraphs so we can explore the forest and its events even further. I’ll share some percentage stats later on, but it’s coming along nicely!

2. As much as I love the gamebook style,

I’ve been feeling like it has some limitations — especially since there are many stories that could unfold in this adventure, but I can’t tell them all… though you can. A few months ago, I started working on two new games that use procedural map generation. They’re also based on paragraphs, but one doesn’t depend on the other, which gives much more narrative freedom. Since Brumvar is a mysterious place, using guided paragraphs still makes the most sense — but with that in mind... I was inspired by a few games I’ve been trying out and some mechanics I’ve been exploring, and I’ve decided to recreate What Hides in the Dark as a journaling game. I love this format, because with the help of oracles, I can offer all kinds of narrative prompts, and you can explore them without limits — and that’s what I find so magical about journaling games.

In conclusion:

We now have two versions of the game — an updated version of the original, and a brand new journaling game edition. I’m still not sure how I’ll release them… maybe I’ll make a zine for each version, or perhaps keep the original as two pamphlets and release the new version as a zine.

Either way, I really hope you enjoy the updates. Before I finalize the layouts, I’ll release a simple text version for some playtests. I’d love to get a few more feedbacks before moving on to design, so here’s my invitation if you'd like to collaborate. Feel free to reach out via email at heyalbqrq@gmail.com, or message me on BlueSky or Discord.

Warm hugs!