Stealing food from Wilderfeast
I don’t know what’s in Italia’s food these last years but they ate. We got Brancalonia, Broken Compass, Household, Outgunned, Fabula Ultima… And now Wilderfeast is out and it’s just as good as the rest. A game by KC Shi, published by Horrible Guild, of Monster Hunter meets Dungeon Meshi, fighting with giant pans, cooking monsters.
And the pledge had an apron, I had to take it.
Anyway, in the grand potluck that is the ttrpg world, what ingredients can we take from Wilderfeast ?
Transmedia know-how
Horrible Guild, the publisher of Wilderfeast, is a board game publisher. And this knowledge is present in the product.
First with the rules sheet : clean, concise, all I need to run the game. They clearly have experience with putting as many rules as they can on one page while still being understandable. The mechanics are color coded. This is straight up board game rulebook design. Most layout we tend to incense are the creative, imaginative ones, that blend art and word. We should also take examples from layouts like this, made for readability. It is easy to read and a great conveyor of information. Just at a glance I know what is pure mechanics, which mechanics are discussed, what is diegetic or not, what is optional.
I will also say that, in a moment of both clarity of mind and clarity of purpose, only the techniques you can access at character creation are present in said chapter. All the other techniques are in an Appendix at the end of the book. That way, the page isn’t cluttered with information and when leveling up, you don’t need to go back and forth.
The board game side is seen mostly with the box. I know many pledges who would (and have) just put all the material in the delivery cardboard box. But no, here we have the collector's edition box only for these. It contains the gm screen (with the name of the game that takes all of one of the three panels, something I loathe). Beneath it are the dice, the technique and condition cards, the Area and Monster cards and tokens for characters and the monster. And there is another level below with characters journals, a monster timer and the combat tracker all neatly arranged.
When only seeing the box, one can easily assume it’s a board game. Sadly it still takes a lot of space in my bag but at least I don’t have to rummage inside to find what I want. I think we will see more and more mixes between media in the rest of the decade. Mask of the Mask’s layout is a comic. DIE comics and tabletop game are two sides of the same experience, thought of by the same person at the same time. Night by Guillaume Jentey is only audio.
Go full in on theme
This may be just me, myself & I but I love games that go full-in on their premise. With Wilderfeast, one of the main themes is food (and community and nature), and we’re going to simmer everything in it.
The weapons? We forget the swords, axes, bows and other classics. No, you fight with giant kitchen utensils: chopper, frying pan, spit and so on. Your background is defined by three dishes that have marked you : your childhood, your initiation into the wilders (what the PCs are) and the meal you want to eat the most. The only inventory you follow, apart from your weapon, is your capital I Ingredients.
There are cooking mechanics as an integral part of the game ! Different ingredients give more health or bonuses to stats and traits. Honestly just steal these mechanics for your home games, I love cooking monsters and experimenting recipes. Some of my characters cooked monsters way before I read Dungeon Meshi. Plus, there are vegan options, yes, the game thought of it.
Eating a meal from a monster at the end of a Hunt is also how you level up, but more on that later.
Even the supplements are cooking themed : an apron and a cookbook of recipes both in game and in real life.
I am a big proponent of Theme first design, since my time in escape games. The theme informs the mechanics, the lore, it gives a focus. Don’t hesitate to explore the ramifications of all your delightfully weird ideas. Wilderfeast was built on “You are what you eat”, what will you build your game on ?
Monster hunter boss fights
While the game is made of various phases like tracking the monsters and Downtime (yes some things from this game were stolen from Blades in the Dark), it seems that combat interests the majority of tabletop roleplayers (that’s why so many play D&D right ?) so here we are. For a game inspired by Monster hunter, it better be delicious.
Like the video game, the combat is mostly boss fights against a single monster. No need to calculate distance, you are 0 to 4 strides away from the monster. There is a tool in the game box for that, and if you play online, it is really easy to represent. The main takeaway is : all distances are from a focal point, the monster, the only thing that counts. It does not matter that two characters are X feet/meters/etc. away from each other. It matters that they are both 3 strides away from the monster. Really simplifies things.
Each character round is made of 3 actions, with a list of options in the book. The attack part cost more or less actions depending on the Style used. You want to strike hard and Mighty ? That’s 2 actions. A Swift strike, only one. The monster takes a turn after each character. After playing it once, I can tell you the combat is both dynamic and strategic. Especially when Parts enter play.
What are parts ? Well you know how in Monster Hunter, you can cut the tail of a monster, or break their horn to stop it from flashing ? Same principle. Every monster has parts, usually three, and they enable them to use some attacks or passive effects. Once broken, they can’t use these anymore, simple isn’t it ? I warn you that these parts don’t count for the monster's overall health points. Each part has a separate durability, striking them weakens the monster but does not reduce its HP.
Plus it is the only game I have seen so far that cleverly reproduces the multiple health bars of video game boss. No need to calculate the 25% or 75% of its total health. Each bar has the same total of HP and when one is empty ... well the monster reacts in a big way. With all the mechanics, the game is really easy to run for a GM, and I think I will recommend it for newbie game masters.
No level level up
Wilderfeast does not have levels for character. To make your character more competent, there are two ways that level up different things.
First your Styles (sort of characteristics), Skills and Traits ( special things you can do). They can be upgraded by eating a frenzied monster and only a frenzied one. The game discourages you from killing willy-nilly. During the feast part of the game, players can ask one question per character to the GM about the monster’s Styles, Skills and Traits. Wait, aren't those the same as the characters ? Yes, an interesting choice, isn’t it ? You can choose to level up only one of them if the monster has a better level than you in it. Or you can choose not to eat which results in other bonuses.
But a character is also defined by their weapon. Each weapon has their own techniques, divided into beginner, intermediate and advanced. Some are passive, some cost stamina or Actions. SInce it is the weapon, you can’t get better by eating, you little gluttons. No for these ones, you have to train, only once per downtime. No technique can be learned in a single session, and the more advanced, the more training you need.
The main problem with the consumption of monsters for level ups is the lack of control the players have. The group only gains X = the numbers of wilders informations on a monster for each hunt. If you want to upgrade a particular Style or Skills, you may wait until you find a suitable monster. Nonetheless you can always gain something at first, only in the late game will you have troubles, and even then, there is a way for the group to control what they level up. It’s called discussing with your GM about what you want for your characters.
Diegetic lore presentation
Yes the lore, the background of this game is presented in a diegetic way, as a book from one of its inhabitants. And it is interesting for multiple reasons.
First because the in-game author (and the game too) acknowledges that they may not tell the truth. They work with a lot of theories and their own feelings, and it is clear in the text. This leaves a lot of space for the GM and the group to fill in the gaps, to see what is true or not. It gives ideas, and that’s one of the best things a game can do.
Then the chosen point of view. The author is anonymous, because the simple fact that they wrote about History is a crime punishable by death for the Charter (The big business conglomerate, controlled by giants, that rules most of the land) they used to work for. They are not a wilder (what our characters are) either, and are in fact quite miffed by the secret they keep. A sort of neutral point of view that helps the reader discover how these two group are viewed by the populace.
You know what this is ? This is a fill-in-the-blank NPC almost ready for your game. This is a book the characters can find. This is free real estate.
There are other games that present their lore diegetically, like Ecryme. Instead of being one author though, it is a lot of actual transcript excerpts from academic lessons. It gives us the opinion of most people and it informs us on how academia works in this steampunk world. Now, of course, not all games would benefit from this treatment, but it is something I enjoy reading. Immerse me in the world, game designer !
The monsters duh
This is a game of cooking monsters, so it better have a good bestiary. And it does, of course, with a double page for each, one part diegetic about their regular behaviors and the other about mechanics and combat behavior.
And one of the things to steal is : you don’t need to put all their stats in the bloc. The only ones that are written are the ones used by the monster, every trait and skill at 0 is out. That’s some breathing room right there. And yes, give me, the GM, some pointers and advice for fighting with this beast.
Also some of these are just real life animals that got beefed up. Like the giant bird that drops blazing tree trunks ? A little downscaling and that’s a real bird, the Black Kite ( yes, pyromaniac birds exist, can you guess where you can find them?). An elephant-sized pelican is terrifying. There is a giant orangutan with flint on their knuckles (kinda like a simian Qurupeco from Monster Hunter). Honestly, real life nature is scary enough, you don’t need to make a peacock’s feather steel. Well I say this, but it’s a great design principle, take inspiration from nature and make it worse, mix and match.
Also putting the emphasis on them being animals rather than monsters really reinforces the themes of the game. Even if some of these are nightmare creatures like the Onanung. That’s a great one to surprise your players with.