From Lone Shark:
Thornwatch is a graphic-novel adventure game that bridges the gap between board games and RPGs. It is created by Penny Arcade cartoonists Mike “Gabe” Krahulik and Jerry “Tycho” Holkins, Betrayal at House on the Hill and Pathfinder Adventure Card Game developer Mike Selinker, Lone Shark Games lead developer Chad Brown, Lords of Waterdeep co-designer Rodney Thompson, and the whole crew at Penny Arcade and Lone Shark.
Thornwatch bestows upon one player the role of the Judge, who manages the game’s challenges and enemies, playing a unique governing spirit that has their own goals and powers. The other players are members of the Thornwatch, a legendary group of spirit guardians who aid the forest’s denizens. Those guardians are the Blade, Greenheart, Guard, Sage, and Warden. The game begins with the Judge selecting a storyboard in which the Thornwatch manifests before a tree adorned with a knot of thorny brambles, surrounded by conflict. If the players overcome this first challenge, the Judge offers choices that lead to new storyboards and further adventure. The core engine is the momentum system. This system tracks turn order and monster health, encourages teamwork, and creates dynamic combat with priorities that change turn by turn and round by round.
The Thornwatch players each have decks of cards that give them skills and actions, as well as trackers and trait cards to show their unique outlooks on the world. They roll custom dice including focus dice gained by manifesting their traits. Each session, Thornwatch players can gain knots, which grant their wearer a bonus if worn in real life, regardless of which Thornwatch they choose to manifest in a session.
Finishing a game doesn’t mean the story is over. Whether the Thornwatch is victorious or they fall to the power of the Ebb, the Judge and the players gain new abilities which follow them to their next adventure.
