Shatterkin (Early Access)
A downloadable game
Shatterkin is a tabletop role-playing game about kids with evolving monster pets. Each player takes on the role of two different characters — a small-town kid and a strange evolving monster (known as shatterkin), who have formed a bond to help each other learn and grow.
Defend your small town from dangers — wild shatterkin, agents of the secretive Syndicates, or the mysterious power known as the Malice. When the situation is dire, your shatterkin can evolve to new levels of power, to face ever-greater foes. Be careful not to put too much strain on your shatterkin — you don't want to break their trust!
Shatterkin is a Forged in the Dark game — it's based around the same core mechanics as John Harper's Blades in the Dark, but with alterations and new systems to best capture the excitement and challenges of childhood adventure, and the evolving monster genre.
This game is in early access — there are gaps and incomplete sections within the main rules document, and all content is subject to change.
Want to talk about the game or follow its development? Join the Scribbles & Dice Games Discord Server!
Last Update - December 3, 2023 - Shatterkin Rules v1.05, Shatterkin Sheets v1.10, Shatterkin Cards v1.03, Shatterkin Maps v1.00, Shatterkin - Rulebook Preview - Plant Type. Shatterkin Syndicate Update v1.00, Shatterkin Refuge Update v1.01, Shatterkin Tokens v1.00, Shatterkin Theme Song
Download
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Development log
- Update - Dec 3 2023 - Plant-Type ShatterkinDec 04, 2023
- Update - August 6 2023 - Syndicates & TrollsAug 06, 2023
- July 11 2023 - Shatterkin - Refuge Update!Jul 11, 2023
- Update - July 11, 2021 - Major System UpdateJul 11, 2021
- Update - June 5, 2021 - Marine-Type Shatterkin!Jun 05, 2021
- Shatterkin Theme Song and Actual PlayApr 06, 2020
- Update - February 22, 2020Feb 22, 2020
- Update - August 31, 2019Aug 31, 2019
Comments
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Lovely game, Scribbles and Dice team! I'm really looking forward to the final version!
Thanks! It's inching ever closer to a finished game!
Is it possible to play this solo?
At this point, I've not built anything into the mechanics to directly support solo play, and I haven't really considered any plans to do so later. There aren't very many mechanics in the game that are fully dependent on there being a GM or multiple players, though, so I suppose you could make it work — you'd probably just have to do a lot of the work building the narrative on your own.
As the core system of Shatterkin is derived from the Blades in the Dark system, however, you might look at the game "Alone in the Dark" for ideas for how you could run Shatterkin solo.
Since leaving twitter I'd love to join the discord to keep up with the game's development, but it looks like your link has expired.
Oh sorry! That should be updated now! Since it's not considered a Community server, I can't set the links to never expire.
Is this still in semi-development? It seems cool.
Well, it's been well over a year since the last update, so it hardly looks like it's still in development — but there are updates coming. Of note, right now, is that additional artwork is underway for more of the different forms of Shatterkin. I've commissioned a wonderful artist with a lot of experience in monsters like this — I'm very excited for when I can show that off and add it to the core rules document.
On the development side of things, what you can look forward to seeing in the next significant update is a restructuring of the overall gameplay cycle — something that gives it a little more direction, and meaningful objectives, if players want that.
Cool! I can't wait.
Yeah so I was trying to listen to 80 Dice playtest but it wasn't working do you have any other examples?
Unfortunately, I don't have any other recorded Actual Plays of Shatterkin. If the links on this page weren't working, you might be able to find it by directly looking for it on Spotify, where it is still hosted. I hope that helps!
It's not playing on Spotify. Oh well. Ty anyway!
Is this game still in active development?
Let's call it semi-active development. I'm still working on the game, but updates are inconsistent. Right now my attentions are primarily focused on another project (Behemoth, my sci-fi rpg), but before too long I'll come back around to get more work done on Shatterkin. I recently finished up another fully playtest campaign of Shatterkin, and came away with only a few minor adjustments to make in my next update. I appreciate your patience, and apologize for the lack of consistent updates. I hope you're still able to have a fun time with Shatterkin in its current state!
Given the complexity of FITD and the focus on children it might be worth looking into Crescent Moon's simplified version of the system for dice resolution.
Shatterkin is good.
It's a take on monster collecting that, in my opinion, leans more towards Digimon than Pokemon. As opposed to collecting a massive roster of monsters your character has a single partner. This detracts from what most people might consider monster collecting but if you adjust your expectations you can get a lot out of this game.
Forged in the Dark games, in general, are robust in terms of fictional play, where the emphasis is on fictional positioning. And Shatterkin is no exception. There's a lot of innovations to the system and influences that are used well, the inherent ability/resource from Band of Blades for instance is used really well, I like the introduction of cards to represent the evolution of your shatterkin, giving you an easy to access list of traits or gear to use. Each type of shatterkin is represented via their own playbook, which makes sense as the story is about the intermingling of your normal kids and their experience with these wacky creatures.
I recommend Shatterkin if you're interested in creating stories like Digimon or Animorphs where you're wanting to explore the position of children who have the power to change the world they're in. Or even stories that are much lighter and styled after Saturday morning cartoons.
The game is still in development but I think there's a lot to chew on here and is worth investing in.
Hello there! I am very interested in this game, but thanks to covid-19 (And the fact I'm mute) I have to rely on Online Play (Or VTTs). Is there a way to get fillable PDFs? Or any other method so we can play online?
Thank you in advance!
My friends and I played a six-session campaign of Shatterkin and it was SOOOO fun! The design is awesome and the rules are well-written. It was really cool to play as a kid in the 1990s with a lizard-type monster that was able evolve into a huge kaiju-looking princess dinosaur. I can't wait to play again!
This is looking great!
Thanks — that's really good to hear!