Troll: The Culling - April 2026 Update - What's New?
Hey, all, and happy 4/13! Sorry for the huge period of silence! I've been really busy behind the scenes and haven't had much time for writing out actual posts, but I'm gonna try and change that with some monthly T:TC Updates! Some of these will just be one-off posts about what, if anything, has been going on, but others (like this one) will definitely be part of a series throughout the month. It all really depends on how much presentable work has happened between updates.
This month's update is pretty big, since it's been a while since I've said anything, and all of the new stuff to present is gonna be spread out across a couple of posts throughout this and next month. I'm aiming for one post a week until I've gotten everything I want to cover out, so this one's just going to be an overview of everything new.
But that's enough prologue. Let's jump into what's been going on!
Part 1 - Building the System
In between the last Mechanics post and now, there have been a bunch of updates and additions to the system. Stability/Mutation Balances, new Background Traits and Adaptations (thanks Beforus Ancestor Lore Drop), and a whole new mechanic suggested by a Playtester! These will be what the weekly posts are going to be about, but I'll give you a little bit of an overview for each right now.
As the central mechanics of Troll: The Culling, Stability and Mutation is one of the most worked-on parts of this system, and yet it's likely to be the shortest of these update posts. We've added new benefits and drawbacks for higher Mutation, more dangers to watch out for when Stability drops too low (some of which are tied into our newest mechanic), and more ways to manage both of them. It's not quite an overhaul, that term is better saved for the new Adaptations, but it's still a significant amount of changes.
Speaking of Adaptations, there have definitely been some changes there. We've added three new ones, two as replacements for three we got rid of and one as a response to some new information the Homestuck Community got a while back. On top of that, all of the remaining Adaptations have had some significant work done, with a few of them even covering completely new areas on top of what they already dealt with. This has also come with a near-complete redo of which Castes get what Adaptations, which I'll be covering in the Adaptations post hopefully coming in a couple of weeks.
We've also got some new Background Traits worked into the mix, most interesting of which are our Abnormalities. These were covered in a Mechanics post a while ago, but I figure it won't hurt to visit them in a bit more detail, and even outline a couple of the more interesting ones just to give you all an idea of what they actually encompass. On top of those, we've also slowly begun adding in Loresheets. That's been an incredibly slow process, but they are a staple in the World of Darkness, and they're something we've been angling at including for a while.
And that brings us to our new mechanic! Like I said above, this is something that was suggested by a Playtester, and, while I'm super excited to share it with everyone, I'm gonna hold off until the last update post in this particular series and build the suspense. More information on that is definitely coming, though, so if you're curious as to what that might be, keep an eye on those next few posts!
Part 2 - Rolling the Dice
Troll: The Culling is a complex system, and, while it originally started out pretty close to things like Vampire: The Masquerade or Mage: The Ascension, it's evolved into its own unique style and niche. Unfortunately, that meant that a lot of the existing Dice Rollers (particularly the bots available on Discord) didn't really work all that well, so my solution to that was to program my own! As a result, Troll: The Culling now has its own dedicated Dice Roller hosted on Itch.io. On top of automatically calculating Roll Pools and Results for you, it allows you to save the stats of up to three different Trolls. There's a Web Version that plays in the browser and a Windows Version available for download, both of which can be found on its Itch Page. Unfortunately it's a bit useless if you don't have the official rules, but there might just be a way to get them (hint hint).
Part 3 - Joining the Community
So earlier I mentioned that our big new mechanic was a Playtester suggestion, and then in the last paragraph I also super subtly hinted at the idea that there's a way to get your hands on the rules for this system. If you're interested in getting in on either of those, you might just want to sign up for Round 2 of Playtesting! Round 1 has been going really well for us, and we're at the point where we've started looking at how/when we're going to do the next one. Right now we're only planning on running two Chronicles, so space is limited, but please don't let that dissuade you! Even if you don't get in to Round 2 immediately, you'll still be put on both the backup player list (in case we have schedule conflicts) and the first-call list for Round 3. We might also be looking at doing more than two this time, and I'll definitely update y'all if that's decided for sure.
So after all of that, the big question is "what do you get for being a playtester?", and that's a really good question! The first thing is instant access to the system via our Discord Server, which all of our current Playtesters have had access to since last October. All of that new stuff I mentioned earlier was given to them as it was finished, which was well before this announcement.
On top of that, though, Playtesters also get to contribute to the system if they so choose. This was a much more recent development (hence why it wasn't mentioned until just now), but we've opened up a special suggestion box exclusive to Playtesters that lets them contribute to the system. We've already had several fantastic contributions, one of which a whole new mechanic sprang out of, so if you have any ideas you want to contribute, this would be the way to suggest them!
Finally, and this is what I personally consider to be the biggest one, you get to play the game. We're just wrapping up one of the two Round 1 Chronicles and have just kicked off the other, and we're already looking at setting up the next Round! We need new players for that, though, players with different perspectives, playstyles, and experience levels with both Homestuck and World of Darkness. I've said it at the end of every single Troll: The Culling post I made: regardless of how familiar you are with either of those franchises, we want you.
So if any of the above interests you and you're 18 or older, you can sign up for Round 2 using this form. We're planning on two Chronicles, just like with Round 1, and we've got a limited amount of space, so the earlier you sign up the better a chance you have of getting in! Invitations to the Discord Server will likely go out late July/early August, and will go to everyone who signed up regardless of whether you're a Round 2 Playtester or not.
We're, of course, still working on the system. We've been splitting our focus between mechanics and lore (specifically factions), so a lot of our progress in the near future is going to be centered around that and whatever problem points arise out of further Playtesting. There are nine factions in total, and each is going to have it's own Loresheet, so that alone is a fair amount of work we've cut out for ourselves. We're also continuing to tweak mechanics, add and change Background Traits and Adaptation Abilities, and work in new gameplay tools for both Players and Storytellers alike.
As far as information goes, I'll be trying to post at least one update a month from here on out. I've been radio silent for far too long, and I want to change that. I really enjoy sharing glimpses of the system with the rest of the world, and it's something I've missed doing. I've got two more lined up for this month, two spilling over into May, and then after that will depend on how much has changed from month to month.
Finally, we're definitely planning on doing more playtesting after Round 2. I know for sure I want to do at least one more round of two (or more) chronicles for Round 3, and I might intersperse a couple of smaller "spot check" chronicles (one-shots or two/three session runs) during that Round which would be open to anyone who participated in either Rounds 1 or 2. We're also planning on having some of our players from earlier Rounds run some chronicles of their own (which could be you if you join and enjoy Round 2) so we have some different perspectives on that end of the game.
Anyway, that's enough from me in this update. We've got more updates coming out this and next month, and then I'll try to hit at least one per month until we release (which is a fair bit away). As always, thanks for reading! Stay tuned for next week's update: Mechanics Tweaks!
