5.6

Highlights

• Company on the road: character-specific chatter and optional group Perception checks across the first four adventures.
• Read the result: bold CRIT, FUMBLE, MISS and RESIST feedback, with actual damage kept clear.
• Let the magic linger: more distinct effect families, recognizable original spell artwork and longer readable moments.
• A room without the wrestling: pick, place and release guests, preview deliberate swaps and open the Innkeeper’s Requests by controller.
• Get back on the road: corrected defeat-and-resume behavior, stronger save validation and broad interface cleanup.

Availability

5.6 (25) is prepared for native iOS qualification and test-iPad review. TestFlight availability is not yet confirmed. These notes describe the source handoff; Apple TV delivery is separate. Black Tundra and Boglands remain development previews.

The road has a voice

The first four books gain 40 chatter placements and 12 optional Perception checks. Remarks come from living members of your active party, with their own voices and portraits. Reserves do not speak from the roadside, and ordinary walking remains available.

A Perception check rolls one d20 for the Company. Success reveals an optional observation and awards exactly +2 XP to each living active hero; failure has no penalty. These moments never replace a required clue, open a route or automatically buy a level. Each placement happens once per expedition, and saved results do not pay again.

Cards allow six seconds of settled reading before fading. Approaching a new interaction, choosing Interact or opening a menu clears the card. With Guidance enabled, Wick introduces chatter and Perception once; his lesson pauses the card and returns to the same result afterward. His teaching surfaces also receive a warmer plum palette and better portrait framing.

Etched Impact

CRIT sits with the recipient’s actual damage. An ordinary MISS stays on its intended target. FUMBLE belongs to the attacker without a duplicate miss message. Combat’s giant natural-1/20 and joke flourishes give way to these clearer result graphics; noncombat dice celebrations are unchanged. Exact setbacks remain in the detailed results and conditions.

RESIST means an attempted condition did not take hold; damage may still occur. Condition endings use small disappearance cues, and major abilities share one warning line. The battlefield keeps its important information without filling the screen with ended-effect captions.

Victory receives its wooden, burned-letter presentation. Victory and Defeat clear lingering feedback while preserving the final hit, result and rewards.

Magic with time to land

Weapon impacts, protection, healing, recurring conditions, consumables and signature abilities gain clearer identities. Healing plus signs show actual restoration, and effects follow the committed recipient. Main spell artwork has a longer visible beat before the next action or ending, with extra impact for critical hits.

Stone Mantle, Quiet Focus, Thorn Skin, Gravity Well and Dreadbell use their original illustrations within the revised effects. Gravity Well descends upright; Dreadbell places its bell over each affected recipient. Atir’s preparation and outgoing Furnace Breath remain distinct. These are presentation changes, preserving the existing attack, damage and turn rules.

Town, travel and the next attempt

The room board now releases a guest after placement. Cancel puts a held guest back; swapping rooms requires an explicit preview and confirmation. The labeled Innkeeper’s Requests control and controller View / Select button open the requests without losing your selection.

A defeated Company can recover or resurrect in Town and resume its unfinished expedition. Older affected progress records retain their route history. Loading checks are stricter about malformed progress and preserve the current game if restoration fails.

The approved six-hero lobby gains finished wide and tablet scenery, separate branding and credit, and ambience anchored to the illustration. Supplied Spargle, Vestin and footprint replacements join the presentation.

The map destination panel, compact challenge buttons, exploration action captions and Sealed Orders dialogue controls receive polish. Combat history retains its browsable event line, and reading frames keep complete prose at the intended size.

Your Company comes with you

Existing Companies, settings, expedition progress and committed rewards remain supported. For older expeditions, new chatter and Perception placements in already-visited locations are skipped without backfilled XP; unvisited locations remain eligible. Start a fresh expedition to see the complete new set.

The current balance is retained following the broader review. Moonbones remains uncapped for this testing milestone. The six existing films are preserved, and this update does not turn the later adventure previews into completed books.

The Player’s Handbook, Game Master’s Guide and Monster Manual are refreshed alongside these notes. The latter two contain substantial spoilers.

When native testing begins

Try a fresh expedition for chatter and Perception, then compare an existing Company. Pause, open a menu, revisit locations and reload to check that cards behave naturally and rewards do not repeat. Review Wick’s first explanations with touch and controller.

Watch ordinary and critical attacks, fumbles, resisted conditions, multi-target spells, healing, Dreadbell and the final blow. Check that effects remain readable without hiding targets or outlasting Victory. Revisit room placement and swaps, defeat-and-resume, saves, background/resume and the six films.

Reports are most useful with your device, OS, input method, party, adventure, difficulty and steps to reproduce. Screenshots or short recordings help show timing and layout problems.