Changelog¶

D12 Pool System¶

June 2001 Kaernest didn’t exist at this point. Sergio and I were working together on a system and Setting Overview that we considered a better choice to allow for role-playing in a new Setting Overview where story was the focus, and we wouldn’t be restricted by odd balancing constructs such as Vancian magic, classes (ala AD&D), or Tolkien’s mythology behind his races.

Caernest original creation¶

July 2013 At this point, Kaernest became its own entity and it was going to be developed free from any other creation I’d worked on. At some point between 2001 and 2013, I'd decided to lean more into a 2d12 system for faster dice rolls. I believe that Sergio helped in that decision, but I can't find any old documentation to confirm that.

Kaernest – Tallas Mashup¶

June 2015 This was when it was decided that I would try to start to work Kaernest into Tallas. This was to try to reduce the amount of Setting Overview writing that I would have to do. This ended up feeling all wrong, and didn't last long.

Kaernest – Incorporating Elements of old Tallas¶

February 2016 Letting go (to some degree) of Tallas, and moving back towards Kaernest as its own world. This will incorporate elements of Tallas that “worked”, but also have its own, more planned background.
I ran a short campaign with the Rochester crew. It was successful into itself, but not as any Kaernest lore building.

Kaernest – On its own again¶

May 2017 After (another) successful GeekFest, I was inspired to get back to writing this. Instead of making many changes, I want to go back to it being its own thing. Simplify the system, and focus mostly on the Setting Overview. Hopefully, I’ll be able to incorporate this into a campaign of some type. I want a somewhat crunchy system, but without the 5 million options of Pathfinder or 3rd Edition D&D.

Kaernest – Pathfinder¶

September 2023 Hoping to inspire myself, and maybe someone else, I decided to run a Pathfinder game, incorporating as much of Kaernest as I could for a group that really knew nothing of the Setting Overview. The campaign was largely a success, and I learned some things about the Setting Overview that will affect future versions. https://kaernest.fandom.com/wiki/Riverwood_Frontier

Kaernest - Obsidian¶

August 2025 (v0.07) After having some success with the Pathfinder campaign, and wanting to try out “Obsidian” for campaign notes, I decided to get back into design mode. Obsidian proved to be a great tool and it really got me moving. I start using ChatGPT to help with Obsidian formatting and running simulations to have at least an idea of how thing might look in actual play.
Going from a wiki with about 30 pages and maybe 20000 words, after 4 months of work on mostly Setting Overview, I’m up to almost 100,000 words. Less growth at the moment, more re-work and a bit of churn. ChatGPT is arguably too optimistic, but it’s also encouraging. January 2026 Planning 0.07.03 My vault is currently at 180,000 words, 264 notes. My planning document is down to about a manageable list. I started treating this a little differently. From here out, I'll have planning docs for each version, including what comes out of playtests. When I clear a Planning doc, I'll increment version. I want to keep some more notes here to cover the "big picture". This really feels like it'll get done.