After several months of playtesting across multiple groups, including with myself as a player at other Overseers' mercy, I'm excited to release version 1.4! This is the game's biggest update since launch, and comes with a number of significant rules changes, simplifications, and additions that resulted from experience. In addition, the game now includes a more detailed discussion on using and statting NPCs, a chapter for optional rules with three frequently-requested options, and a brand-new QUICK REMINDER SHEET for dice and Break Board mechanics!

First, let's talk about the rules adjustments!

• Command Spells have been adjusted. Now, instead of allowing a Master-Servant pair to each roll two Parameters for a total of four, a Command Spell allows a pair to add one of the Servant's Parameters to the result of a Bond roll. This greatly increases Command Spells' consistency and impact. This also streamlines the use of Command Spells against rolls, and cleanly allows for the Servant and Master to disagree on the order - in that case, the Parameter can be subtracted from the roll's result instead.
• Clashes have been greatly simplified. Now, when a roll ties, both parties gain one Meter and fill one Break Bar box, and enter Clash, in which both parties are considered to "have the Edge" -- whoever wins the next contest is able to fill their opponent's Break Bar. This rule massively reduces the possibility of battle stalling out and generally increases the pace of gameplay. Clashes no longer allow participants to gain Meter based on the number of Successes they roll; this rule slowed down combat, and the change to "both sides gain one Meter" should speed up rules litigation without noticeably reducing Meter gain. With this adjustment, Clashes can now cycle into other Clashes without grinding the game to a halt and requiring the execution of special repeat rules.
• The Opening Strike has been added as a separate rule from Clashes. The Opening Strike acts like an old-style Clash. During the Opening Strike, both parties gain one Meter for every 3 Successes they roll as before, and whoever wins gains the Edge without filling their opponent's Break Bar.
• Meter gain has been simplified as well. In addition to the removal of variable Meter gain from Clashes, Meter gain on dealing a Break has been removed. In execution, this rule was hard to remember, and I've found Meter gain's pace to be plenty acceptable without it. One Meter is gained when your Break Bar is filled any amount by attacks from the party with the Edge, and one Meter is gained when you regain the Edge by successfully defending against a roll with the Edge.
• A special rule regarding back-to-back failed Finishers has been added. The recoil Break Bar fill caused by failing a Finisher can, depending on board state, cause the failing party to be put into a Finisher themselves. If this Finisher fails as well, THE BATTLE IS OVER. For the sake of good storytelling, the players and the Overseer are given the chance to decide together what the outcome of the battle is, and how that outcome doesn't quite give either side what they want. This rule was added because repeatedly failed Finishers strip the momentum and excitement from battle. If neither side has the will or magical energy remaining to finish off the other, the battle should end in a more interesting way -- perhaps with the two opposing Masters hurtling down towards the open maw of an artificial Loch Ness Monster? Just an example...

Next, I'm also excited to introduce OPTIONAL RULES! For now, there's only three of them, but I'm hoping to expand this section based on my play experiences and those of others. If you make a house rule and it turns out to be a success, PLEASE tell me about it! The three new optional rules are:

• Class Skills: For a lore-loving group that misses Magic Resistance and Madness Enhancement, this optional rule allows every Servant to have two Class Skill slots, and gain bonuses from invoking those instead of a generalized Class bonus. While this rule isn't recommended for typical play due to it being an added layer of complexity that can generally be managed by good roleplay, it can bring setting-realism and a greater level of detail to Servant creation for those who crave it.
• Demerits: With the Overseer's permission, characters can possess one Demerit in one of their Skill slots. Demerits inflict a -1 on Dice Pools they're relevant to, but can grant a +2 if the player can spin the Demerit to their advantage. Demerits are recommended against in most cases, as characters' foibles and drawbacks can largely be managed with roleplay and generalized Dice Pool penalties, but this rule gives a more mechanical option. Remember that a character's drawbacks can also simply be represented as a normal Skill -- think Migraine or even Madness Enhancement!
• Orders of Mystery: For groups that crave the feeling that Servants are on another level than human magi, this rule provides a special setup for when humans and Servants face off in direct hostility. Humans rolling against Servants directly take -1 to the result of their Dice Pool, and humans and Servants cannot enter into Clashes, the Servant automatically being declared to have won by 1 Success. This rule is recommended against in general so that Masters and their bonds with their Servants can be a greater part of gameplay, but when used well, can give the players the feeling of having beaten truly insurmountable odds in combat.

This update also includes an expansion to the Overseer's chapters, such as a large discussion of handling NPCs, Command Spells and player counts, and more. And finally, the new Quick Reminder Sheet should make it easy to remember the rules and flow of gameplay in the heat of magical battle!

Before I sign off, I'd first like to thank the Beast's Lair Create-a-Servant community. They've been invaluable in helping me playtest and improve the game, and are also just a fantastic creative community. I'm especially indebted to Pinetree and Vididii, who ran an entire twelve-session Last Chance game with me. In it, Pinetree was the Overseer, putting my beloved magus Volumnia Innogen through a brutal Subcategory Holy Grail War in the Nevada badlands with the partner she'd come to trust, Rider, Dorothy Gale. You can read about a few sessions of Everybody Wants to Kill Brevig on Pine's blog! Though, as a spoiler the blogs aren't up to yet, I'll tell you right now that Volumnia and Dorothy did, in fact, kill Brevig, after a long and harrowing Holy Grail War. This was the first time I've played a tabletop game with only two players, and while I was worried at first, it ended up being one of the most intimate and personal roleplaying experiences I've ever had. I truly came to feel Volumnia and Dorothy's connections, their fears and struggles, and their beautiful, cathartic triumph. I may have cried when Volumnia was saying goodbye to her partner in front of the Badlands Holy Grail. Just a little bit. Here's a little art Vididii drew for the game of our braid buds bonding over mage murder:

My gratitude also continues to go out to the group I've been playtesting this game with all the while. Since the previous update, I've handed over the Overseership reins to multiple others and had a blast traversing through Hell, struggling in an Egyptian Lostbelt, assassinating Marisbury Animusphere, and more. Chaldea's Team C will live forever!

Before I sign off, I have one more exciting thing to say: Version 1.5 will be coming soon! In what I hope to be an update even bigger than this one, version 1.5 is going to bring a full play example based on one of Volumnia and Dorothy's grueling battles, and a set of example character sheets for Servants, Masters, and NPCs of all stripes!

Please continue to enjoy Fate/Last Chance! Send me your feedback and tabletop tales, and I hope to see you soon for another update!