From Stormforge to Forge42Engine
If you’ve been following the development of Tharendell, you may have noticed a lot of new NPCs, locations, and stories appearing across the world. Behind all of that narrative work, however, something much more fundamental has been under construction:
The rules that govern the world itself.
Let me share the progress updates on that system and introduce you to the new engine.
What began as Stormforge has grown into something larger, more ambitious, and more foundational. As a result, the rules engine that powers Tharendell has been officially renamed:
Forge42Engine
This engine isn’t just about combat rolls or character sheets. It’s the mechanical backbone of Tharendell—the system that determines what characters can perceive, what they can do, and how the world responds.
What’s Been Built So Far
Senses: How Characters Perceive the World
The first major system completed is the Sense framework.
This governs:
- Sight, sound, smell, and other forms of perception
- Environmental detection (darkness, distance, concealment, noise)
- What information a character can reasonably notice or miss
In short, senses define what exists for a character at any given moment.
Features: What Characters Can Do
With perception in place, we’re now deep into building class features.
Features define:
- Special abilities granted by class
- Conditional modifiers (terrain, armor, timing, targets)
- Passive and active capabilities that grow with experience
This is where classes begin to feel distinct—not just in flavor, but in actual mechanical behavior.
We are currently building and validating these features across classes to ensure they interact cleanly with the rest of the system.
What Comes Next: The Battle Engine
Once class features are fully implemented and tested, work will shift to the battle engine itself.
Combat in Tharendell will not be a simple exchange of dice. It will be driven by:
- Senses (what you can perceive)
- Features (what you are capable of)
- Conditions and context (where you are and what’s happening)
Our goal is to have the battle engine in a solid alpha state by the end of January.
At that point, combat systems can begin to meaningfully interact with:
- NPC behavior
- World simulation
- Dynamic encounters
- And long-term narrative consequences
Why This Matters
Everything in Tharendell—stories, NPCs, conflicts, and quests—rests on a consistent underlying reality. Forge42Engine is what makes that possible.
It ensures that:
- The world behaves predictably
- Characters act within believable constraints
- And outcomes are earned, not scripted
We’ll continue sharing progress as systems come online and Tharendell’s foundations continue to solidify.
The forge is hot.
The rules are taking shape.
And the world is becoming real.
Remember, if you ever want to contribute to this growing world, please let me know
~ Babble Baz