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Seasons of Adventure

I thought I'd take the opportunity in this dev log to preview one of the elements of the full JourneyMon game that isn't included in the Quick Start Guide. So let's talk about the kinds of moves that player trainers can make during the game:

Trainer Moves, Class Moves and Monster Powers are all ways that player trainers can shape, direct and interact with individual scenes and characters in an Episode of JourneyMon. They all represent crucial moments of risk, and are the bread and butter of any tabletop roleplaying game. The Quick Start Guide includes all five Trainer Moves, and a small sampling of Class Moves and Monster Powers.

Journey Moves are a little different. While they're still tied to a pivotal moment in a given scene or Episode, Journey Moves all address the long-term story arc of a given player trainer. They’re performed less often than other moves, and no more than once in an Episode (session) each! You can think of them as tools for campaign play, rather than one-shots. They map out your character's journey through a whole season of the imaginary television show your player trainers are starring in!

Serenemone, a Water- and Fey-type monster, evolved from a tiny Chorral when her trainer needed her most.

Journey Moves

When the full version of JourneyMon hits the digital or physical shelves, you'll find five Journey Moves ready to use in your game:

• Recruit. You convince a monster you have encountered to join your team.
• Evolve. One of your monsters grows and changes.
• Reach a Milestone. You reflect on what happened in this Episode.
• Say Goodbye. A monster leaves your team.
  
• Dive Into Battle. You recklessly intervene in a monster Battle.

Let's take a look at each one...

Team Building

The Journey Moves, Recruit and Evolve relate to the growth of your player trainer's personal team of monster companions. Though you start your Pilot Episode of JourneyMon with only one monster (unless you're playing the Youngster), you'll eventually find yourself in charge of several.

Recruit

All player trainers can make the Recruit move in the Epilogue of an Episode. If you have a scene in which you try to convince one of the monster's you've met to join you on your future adventures, you roll with any of your Aspects to make your play. Will you layout the logic of joining the winning side, and roll +Brains? Or will you simply win them over with a promise of fame and roll +Style? Importantly, you don't make the Recruit move if you're seeking a momentary alliance mid-Episode—you probably Make an Impression or Show Kindness instead. Recruit is only for lasting bonds!

Evolve

Probably the flagship move of the genre, you have made the Evolve move if one of your monsters pushes itself to its absolute limit or has a breakthrough about your relationship. You can make the Evolve move at any time during an Episode, but only once... so make it count! There's rarely a better time to look to your friends and see if they'll return any of your friendship tokens for a +1 bonus!

This move is the main outlet for XP that your player trainer earns during their Journey. You usually gain 1 XP when you roll a Miss while making a move, but certain trainer classes gain XP at other moments too. 

Let's take a look at the Evolve move in full:

Hawk-eyed readers will note that you can make this move even if you haven't accumulated any XP at all!

You can use this move in one shot games of JourneyMon too, though you're not likely to have built up much of a cache of XP yet. If you're feeling up for it, you could even use it while running the Mount & Manta Episode featured in the Quick Start Guide!

Tell Your Story

The final three Journey Moves, Reach a Milestone, Say Goodbye and Dive into Battle all relate to advancement of your player trainer themselves, rather than your monsters. 

Reach a Milestone

Every Episode ends with all player trainers making this move. It's your opportunity to decide how the events of the Episode affected your character, what will stick with them most, and how that will carry them through on the rest of their Journey.

In the full game, all the trainer class playbooks have a spot to record your milestones, and a suite of Advancements you can choose from. For example, the Ace has the following Advancements available:

• Mark 1: Gain an Ace Move.
• Mark 1: Choose one of your monsters with a Mon score of +3. Raise that monster’s Mon score to +4. You must Say Goodbye to that monster at the end of the next Episode.
• Mark 2: Increase one of your Aspects by 1, to a maximum of +2.
• Mark 3: Gain a move from a different Trainer Class playbook.

By saving up unmarked milestones over a number of Episodes, you can purchase more impactful Advancements! 

"But Imogen," I hear you cry, "can I reach more than one milestone per session?"

That's where the next two Journey Moves come in!

Say Goodbye

Grab a tissue and prepare for a tearjerker. Reflect on everything you've learned from one of your monsters, perhaps even narrate a little montage in their honour, then Say Goodbye.

To be a little shameless, I'll say it with a GIF depicting the biggest inspiration for this move...

The Say Goodbye move lets you record a new milestone. The real impact of this move is the story it lets you tell, but if mechanics are more you thing, you can look at it as a way to transfer the progress you've made building your monster team into progress for your player trainer.

Dive Into Battle

It is a core principle of JourneyMon that all conflicts are solved with monster battles. Trainers do not get involved. 

... until they do.

Your trainer can Dive Into Battle only once in their entire career. While it always ends a monster battle, it's also the only way that can get your trainer killed. Perhaps friendship (tokens) will save you?

Signing Off

I hope you enjoyed this preview of the full JourneyMon experience! Remember to sign up to be notified about the release of the game on our Kickstarter pre-launch page. Every last person that signs up brings us closer to launch, and closer to release. And I can't wait to share this game with you all!

Let me know in the comments if there's anything you're interested in hearing more about next time!