Today we will look at Ramos’s entry, Cleaning the Wild!

For me, Ramos’s entry came out of left field with its emphasis on a cleaning and rearranging terrain. Given how skillfully this was made, no wonder it won Developer’s Choice!

Here are Ramos’s thoughts:

When I originally started working on an entry for this jam, I started with an adventure that would double as a Christmas special. It was meant to be pretty humorous and would arrive at the convenient time of just before December as a nice way for groups to have an unusual one shot. Unfortunately, life then happened and I didn’t have nearly enough time to put together such a large project. So instead I shifted my focus to something smaller and more mechanically focused.

So Cleaning the Wild spawned from two different sources. One, the Halloween one shot I ran for my friends two years back where the gimmick was the maps were randomly generated (along with the characters, enemies, etc). The maps should have been a horrifying mess but thanks to Reclaim the Wild’s terrain system, they were not only usable but very functional and robust. Combine that with using sprites from the Gameboy Zelda games and you’re able to convey a lot of visual information succinctly without overwhelming players.

The second thing on my brain was a new anime series that came out at the time, Akiba Maid War, which despite its name, is a dark comedy crime drama show that pulls from Japan’s long history of Yakuza stories. But mostly I was thinking about maids. What do maids do? Cook and clean. Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure out how to get cooking in there (mostly because Reclaim the Wild pretty much covers all the bases already) but cleaning logically slotted into picking up stuff, picking up stuff like… terrain squares.

It was such a simple concept that everyone I mentioned it to immediately intuitively got the idea behind it. Granted, that’s also when everyone started mentioning that sounded like Minecraft and yeah, it is basically Minecraft but I was already enamored by the cleaning theme, so much so that I just scratched off the maid bits because they distracted from the core idea.

If you ever feel like using this system, I’d suggest using a virtual tabletop or a dry eraser mat you can draw on and several different colors of markers. That way terrain can be changed around easily and quickly without too much fuss. And if you do feel like using this system, thank you! I’m glad it proven interesting enough to add to your own game.

If you want to clean the wild using your own two hands, check out Ramos’s Cleaning the Wild!

Today we will look at JcaLord’s entry, Grappler’s Expansion!

The second place winner is the gripping Grappler’s Expansion, your one-stop doc for all things wrestling! Feats, techniques, and even spells expand your grabbing options – and even non-grabbing options.

Here are JcaLord’s thoughts on his work:

So I’m not really an in depth planner. At the time, I was already doing other Homebrew for the system and thought the theme reminded me of the good old Heavenly Potemkin Buster. So I asked myself the question: “Can you make a Grappler in TTRPGs work?” I arrived at no for most, but this system’s guaranteed damage with Techniques gave me enough to work with for a “maybe”. So I took a look at Potemkin’s moves and asked myself how that would work.

The general idea was a committed unarmed or handsfree fighter who’d fuck up anything that came too close. The system has plenty of devastating damage techniques so there was no need to focus on that. But none that really relied on grappled targets, so that’s where the focus would be. The Feats were fairly easy to make in concept but balancing some of them in my head was tricky. For awhile, I thought Grappler’s Opportunity would be too crazy to keep. But it kind of stopped seeing overpowered when I considered the only thing the player gained was coming online one turn earlier. Not a huge deal, but a playstyle defining feat.

Techniques are where the main spice of the expansion would come in. The Busters are a blatant reference to Potemkin and his busters. Gigantic Claw is there to pay homage to the Technique that really paved the way for the document. The outliers are the Gerudo Combo Holds, which were inspired by King’s chain grabs in Tekken. Since it just made sense for Amazons to have skillful disabling grabs and holds.

Spells were something I wasn’t expecting to add, but ended up being some of the best general use things in the document. Greater Kai and Powered Shell are great ways to deal with those pesky projectiles (zoners) while either protecting the team or allowing you to rush in. The Minish Magic and Gigantic Gifts were very easy to do but feel like a very nice bow on the entire package.

Overall, I think the Expansion came out well. It won Second Place after all! It far surpassed my expectations of a silly idea thrown in for fun. But the people don’t lie, sometimes you just want to show the Big Bad Evil Guy of your campaign why you lifted at the gym, rather then the library. Bust those wizards good, and look out for the wizards who Buster you back!

If you want to try grip your foes into a vice, check out Jcalord’s Grappler’s Expansion!

Today we will look at Clapforthunder’s entry, Fight and Flight!

Clapforthunder combines both the theme of this year’s Homebrew Jam with the joy of battle. This homebrew provides new ways of flying, as well as new rules for holding fights up in the sky and feats, spells, and techniques that can improve fights in the sky, or just about anywhere.

Here are Clapforthunder’s thoughts:

When I was first looking at this system years ago one thing that initially struck me was how it balances flying. Seeing the difference in flying capabilities between Rito and Fairies, for example, made so much sense to me! Then once I saw the theme “Ever Upwards” I knew that I had to do something to incorporate it. What about putting together a set of rules that gave all players a chance to fly and resolve encounters in the sky?

It was fun to put together the various tools for flight. I wanted to have a good option for a variety of character builds and encourage this kind of tactical raising and lowering of altitude via updrafts and gliding during combat. Definitely my favorite option has to be the Cucco. Fond memories of their use in Ocarina of Time make me really want to let a tank character use one and go crazy with their passive distraction bonus. I started working on the Stance Master content during that same month so I thought why not throw it into the mix? It’s based off of one of my characters, a Twili/Gerudo named Alo, and I really enjoyed trying to express the forms of fighting that I envision him eventually mastering.

All in all, my first Homebrew Jam was an awesome experience. I want to express my appreciation to everyone who works hard on maintaining this awesome system, it’s really special.

If you want to try out these new rules and options, check out Clapforthunder’s Fight and Flight!

Today we will take a look at JimiboyGM’s entry, Races of the Sky Era!

JimiboyGM’s entry is a fairly simple, but useful one, providing 4 new races for players and GMs to use, from Skyward Sword!

Here are JimiboyGM’s thoughts:

When I saw that the theme was “Ever Upwards” my mind immediately went to Skyward Sword, and since the rules already had a template for making custom races I thought I’d throw together the stats for the Kikwi, Mogma, Parella, and the Ancient Robot. I’m honestly suprised it hadn’t been done before!

I did have a little more trouble than expected though. Since these races had only appeared in one game, it was a bit of a struggle to give them abilities that fit them. I also struggled to fill the lore section with something that wasn’t a copy-paste of the zelda wiki, or personal headcanon stuff.

If I ever get a second pass at these, (which I may do when I figure out how to add to the wiki), I’d give them all a bit of a buff in the form of a fourth ability, and I’d get round to finishing the lore section.

If you want to try out these four races, go check out JimiboyGM’s Races of the Sky Era!