“From two events to a real world” — CoolRPG Volume I development update
We’ve had one of the biggest stretches of development yet on CoolRPG Volume I (formerly “Ironvale” — the project got its real name this week), and it’s worth telling the story of how far things came.
The town went from two events to a living settlement
Nine days ago, Morgansfort — the game’s home base, straight out of the classic Basic Fantasy RPG module — was two teleport points on an empty field. Today it’s all
25 locations from the source module, built and populated: seven guard towers, the Toothless Dragon Tavern, the Iron Helm Inn, a working general store, the Bank, the Chapel of St. Queril, the Garrison, the Knights’ Quarters, and the Baron’s own Keep — every one of them with the actual named characters from the module, not generic filler. The town has real walls, real roofed buildings, streets connecting them, even a stone well in the town square.
Real bugs, really fixed
Building fast means breaking things, and we’d rather tell you what broke and got fixed than pretend it didn’t happen:
- A save-corrupting event-data bug that could crash Morgansfort on entry — found and fixed, then re-verified across the entire map file set to make sure it wasn’t hiding anywhere else
- A crash tied to character equipment icons that could black-screen the game on certain map transitions — tracked down and removed
- Equipment restrictions now correctly follow the tabletop rules: Magic-Users can wear proper light armor and accessories instead of being locked out entirely
- Starting gear now auto-equips correctly when you finish character creation
The database, for real
238 monsters with actual Basic Fantasy stat blocks, 124 of them now with genuinely bespoke combat behavior instead of generic attacks. 77 spells. 16 status effects. 66 items, 45 weapons, 12 armor pieces. We checked: every attack, every spell, every monster action resolves to a real, working damage formula — nothing here is smoke and mirrors.
Getting ready for release
This week also brought real progress toward an actual Android release: AdMob is configured with real ad unit IDs, and there’s now a full build guide for packaging an APK. A proximity compass now helps you find your way around town without hand-holding.
Still rough, on purpose
We’re not going to pretend this is finished. Several shops are flavor-only right now — you can’t actually bank your gold at the Bank yet, or pay a toll at the Gatehouse. The Gambling House’s rumored basement den isn’t built. Three companion dungeons from the module don’t exist yet. That’s next.
You can play the whole loop right now
Character creation, the Hall of Transference, the Gold in the Hills starter dungeon, and now a real, walkable home base with dozens of people to talk to. Rough edges and all, it holds together.
Looking for playtesters who don’t mind those rough edges — in fact, that’s exactly who we need. If that’s you, send me a message to preview the web version to help.