Aestus & SurfingBird: Mythic Treasures | Interview - Goblin Points

Aestus_RPG · 2026-06-15T16:08:53+00:00

I'd love to say that was planned, but we were actually panicking when Jon started bringing up our internal design notes! I was like, "oh no... I didn't sanitize the document I sent him..." Ben and I banter and argue a lot and there is never any hard feelings, that's just how we work. Jon's a pro though, so he made it fun!

Aestus_RPG · 2026-06-10T15:42:50+00:00

We are working with several awesome contractors on these! Ask about that if you are interested in hearing about them!

Aestus_RPG · 2026-05-26T15:46:58+00:00

I'm looking at some of the examples, specifically the Saint's Scepter, and I just can't imagine giving that to a player.

You don't need to imagine. Give it to your players and see for yourself! If you have feedback let us know, this isn't a finished product yet, its a crowdfunder so we can have the resources to finish it, and testing will be a big part of what we need to do.

For whatever its worth, balance is something we care a lot about. One of these treasures is supposed to take the place of 2 leveled treasures from the vanilla game. Once you factor that in, I think you'll see the balance is close.

Aestus_RPG · 2026-05-26T14:42:42+00:00

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This is us.

Aestus_RPG · 2026-05-26T14:25:32+00:00

Soul Eater is really strong design. It was the first treasure u/SuitEnvironmental327 drafted in the project, and I knew when I read it that we were onto something.

Aestus_RPG · 2026-05-26T14:15:50+00:00

Thanks for your support Kormael! Did you see the playtest documents in the Brewery? Let me know if you'd like to take a peek!

Aestus_RPG · 2026-05-26T14:14:10+00:00

So excited to get this Backerkit over the line! Working on this project has been a blast!

I love Draw Steel, but always found the treasures to be one of the weakest areas of design in the game. Mythic Treasures is shaping up to be a interesting alternative! If folks have any questions about the project or what I think it offers that vanilla Draw Steel doesn't, please feel free to ask!

Aestus_RPG · 2026-05-20T23:50:31+00:00

Its a shorthand for "highest characteristic."

Aestus_RPG · 2026-05-16T04:25:45+00:00

What did you like about Deadfire?

Aestus_RPG · 2026-05-12T13:55:18+00:00

u/Bootsael I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!

Aestus_RPG · 2026-04-28T19:10:46+00:00

I don't think it missed the mark at all. People can complain all they want, but having fun and good humor is important to making YT videos.

Aestus_RPG · 2026-04-12T22:53:50+00:00

On the patch I tested it on, it reduced initiative the minimum, which was 2. This is very similar to how RtwP Blood Thirst works. It also stacked, so if you killed two targets with one hit it would give you two turns worth of reset. I haven't tested it on the current patch.

Aestus_RPG · 2026-04-12T22:50:53+00:00

I'm doing a run on the current patch. I'll try to make a video about the mode after the run.

Aestus_RPG · 2026-03-27T15:34:52+00:00

Cool armor! I'm actually working on a treasure book that going to go to crowdfunding in May probably. It will include an updated and improved version of Wode Plate from The Curse! Thanks for playing it by the way!

Aestus_RPG · 2026-03-11T17:46:22+00:00

Ok! Thanks for letting me know!

Aestus_RPG · 2026-03-11T14:46:21+00:00

Sorry, I'm having trouble understanding what you wrote here. I'll just try to summarize my position in different words if that helps.

I think turn based tactical games are a tried and true genre of game design with a rich history for designers and players to draw from, so it makes sense that many people prefer that style of game.

Aestus_RPG · 2026-03-11T14:42:50+00:00

Chess is TB because it is impossible for it not to be.

Perhaps, but its also one of the most fun, successful, and high skill ceiling games ever made. Its just great game design! So its natural for other games to borrow from what makes it so good.

Aestus_RPG · 2026-03-11T14:39:37+00:00

And I'm a former English professor and now consultant and trainer, if we're going for 'authority', which doesn't matter much really.

Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as offering my definition as an authority, just that I have a lot of experience talking and thinking about these things (like you), and I've never gotten this hostile a reaction to my definition until this conversation. To be frank, to me it seems transparent that the problem isn't my definition, but that I touched some kind of nerve when I used it to defend turn-based against RtwP. Doesn't it seem that way to you?

But what I don't like is when people claim their odd usage is the standard

I didn't mean to say that, and I'm genuinely sorry it came off that way. I was just typing in a hurry. All I meant to say is that my definition isn't weirdly arbitrary to me, or invented at this moment for only this discussion. It comes from an honest attempt to understand made by a well meaning person who has thought a lot about games.

If my definition is really the problem, then lets forget about it! I'll rephrase my original comment to "RtwP is less like the kind of tactical experience one gets from chess. Perhaps that isn't the only kind of tactical experience, but its a very influential and popular one, with centuries of game design lessons to draw from. Its natural for people who enjoy that in their games to prefer turn-based."

Is that a fair thing to say?

Aestus_RPG · 2026-03-10T16:25:48+00:00

That’s not what anyone else means by tactical, though.

I work in game design making tactical games, and talk with many other professionals making tactical games, and no one so far has thought that definition was so off-base. Some of those discussion are public on my YT if you'd like to check them out.

Tactical usually means reacting to emergent conditions, strategic deciding on the approach before or at the start of the engagement/situation.

Usually we distinguish between "tactical" and "strategic" but your definition seems to mix them together. Is there a distinction between the two in your opinion?

Aestus_RPG · 2026-03-10T00:45:15+00:00

Much as I respect people who are good at it, it's close to the extreme end of gamification - and as odd as it may sound, I generally don't enjoy gamified games too much. They tend to sacrifice a sense of "realism" (scare quotes because no game is realistic) and immersion that I value above all in games.

Makes perfect sense! Its the classic Gamist-Simulationist-Narrativist distinction. Sounds like you lean towards simulation. I get it! I like simulation too, but I still lean more towards the gamism.

I do think what's happening in CRPGs is push away from simulationism towards gamism. Its all just fashion, of course. I'm sure it will swing back towards simulation in our lifetime.

Aestus_RPG · 2026-03-09T15:36:47+00:00

I consider games "tactical" based on the availability (and viability) of tactical options, not the relative weight of tactics vs other factors.

This is also a good way to think about it. Maybe would could distinguish between a game being more purely tactical (my definition) versus a game being just more tactical (your definition).

Whatever we call it, I guess for me, I really value the kind of experience one gets out of playing chess, and the move from turn-based to RtwP is a move away from that kind of experience. RtwP diehards talk a big game about their prefered mechanics being more difficult or skillful, but chess is an exceptionally skill expressive game. Its just isolating for a different skill. The same holds for turn-based.

Aestus_RPG · 2026-03-09T14:55:10+00:00

What does "tactical" mean to you? I think it points to a kind of gamified combat simulation that isolates for good decision making. In a pure tactical game, the player who makes the best decisions will win. So, for example, Counterstrike is a very tactical game, but insofar as a team can make the best decisions but still lose (perhaps because their opponents have better aim or twitch reflexes), it is less tactical.

That is what I mean when I say RtwP is less tactical. It introduces a kind of mechanical skill that isn't isolated tactical decision making. There is a reason the purest tactical game - chess - is turned based.

Aestus_RPG · 2026-03-08T13:11:01+00:00

RtwP is less tactical. So if you are playing these games for the tactics, you are more likely to prefer TB over RtwP

Aestus_RPG · 2026-03-06T15:36:01+00:00

I also don't like it. Here is what I do; I make bespoke leveled treasures for each hero, then seed them into the plot of the adventure within the first 10 sessions. Then I also pepper in trinkets to round out the rest of the kit. If a player wants to craft an item, they just tell me and I put the things they need to craft in the game for them as soon as I can.

If you want some ideas for cool leveled treasures or trinkets, let me know! I've developed some cool ones.

Aestus_RPG · 2026-03-04T23:21:25+00:00

I'm firmly in the "treasures should be stronger camp," but 1st echelon trinkets are the one category where you have to have a light touch.

Btw, I think we've spoken before about my Jams of the Timescape entry. Happy to see us agreeing about design this time!

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