Shepherds
Shepherds is a tabletop RPG about young members of a League of professional do-gooders, who strive to protect the peace and safety of ordinary people. These young Shepherds will forge bonds of trust with each other, grow and mature as people, and possibly foil some evil plots along the way.
As an adaptation of the popular “Powered by the Apocalypse” design framework, Shepherds will feel familiar to those who have played other PbtA games, but also introduces a few things that won’t be so familiar. It takes its inspiration from “hopeful fantasy” JRPGs -- most particularly the Trails/Kiseki games by Falcom, and the Tales Of series by Bandai Namco.
The game is 79 pages (counting cover and title pages) fully laid out (by me), with hyperlinks, table of contents, PDF bookmarks, and a scattering of art. It is complete and fully playable, though it may receive small updates in the future. Also included in the book is one starting community (Adventure), with another available for purchase here: Fregena on the River (It's also available in a discounted bundle with the game here.)
There's a Google Sheets character keeper template for online play HERE, which contains all the same information as the Play Materials download, so it should be the only reference players need for online play.
The good folks over at Firebreathing Kittens were kind enough to record an Actual Play. You can find it here or here.
Purchases at or above list price will unlock more community copies. All proceeds so far have been donated to Direct Relief (See the dev log for more info) and once there's more to send over, it will happen again. Thank you everyone!
And finally, Shepherds is officially licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareaLike license. That means you can share, adapt, and sell anything you want to do with it, as long you credit me and release anything you make under the same license. It seems like the most fair and open option available.
That said, the ART is still all copyright the original artists -- none of my products will ever use AI art, and all art in Shepherds and its supplements is created by either kanachroma or radifacp.
For more Shepherds content, check out:
 The Abandoned Soul A free additional Story |  Dungeons for Shepherds Procedures for exploring dungeons |  Fregena on the River An introductory scenario |
And now, there are some additional Stories courtesy of Sam Robson!
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $10 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Community Copies!
Support this game at or above a special price point to receive something exclusive.
Community Copies!
If you're struggling right now, and need a copy of the game, we've got you covered. Feel free to claim a complimentary copy.
These are limited by the number of people who actually buy the game though, so please don't just grab them because you can. Or rather, if you do grab one, please try to use it! And maybe consider leaving a review or a good rating in lieu of payment.
All copies claimed? Leave a comment and we can work something out.
Download demo
Development log
- Additional Stories!89 days ago
- Small fixes to the Story Sheets90 days ago
- Small update, new art, improved Story sheetsJun 02, 2024
- Third DirectRelief PaymentApr 18, 2024
- Dungeons Mini-supplement LaunchFeb 19, 2024
- New Cover EditionDec 10, 2023
- Version 1.11Nov 05, 2023
- Looking for feedback!Oct 23, 2023
Comments
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This game looks amazing! Sadly, there are no more community copies, and of course this is the one time I'm short on money. If there's anything you can do, let me know, but until then I'll be anticipating this!
Ah! Thanks for the reminder! I had been putting off adding more community copies while the Trans Rights West Virginia bundle was running, but now that that is over, I've added the backlog, so there should be a few around for you to grab!
I had the pleasure of playing a short campaign of Shepherds run by the game’s creator. While I’ve read a bunch of Powered by the Apolocapyse–style games, Shepherds was the first I’ve actually had the chance to play. My experience was so positive that I recommend Shepherds both in general and in particular to others looking to dip their toe into the PbtA-waters.
My favorite thing about the game, at least mechanically, is the system of Resolve and Insight. These are two resource pools, keyed off your character’s core attributes, that you spend as you’d expect from their names. For example, you spend Resolve to withstand a foe’s attack.
What makes the system so elegant is how these resources tie into the system’s focus on narrative and player agency in multiple ways. When you spend resolve, you (the player) say how your character overcomes the foe’s attack and avoids harm. And you replenish resolve by interacting with your allies—for example, by sharing a moment with them during a rest. It’s not quite HP/healing, it’s not a metacurrency, it’s a unique structure that does wonderful work reinforcing the game’s flow and themes of comraderie.
On those themes—and the general JRPG-inspired vibe—I would consider myself a modest but wayward fan of the genre that inspired Shepherds. I loved the Final Fantasy games of my childhood, and while I haven’t played some of the more specific inspirations (Trails and Tales games), playing Shepherds felt like slipping into a warm bath of nostalgia. YMMV of course—every game’s vibe depends on what players bring to it—but for me, the game nails the approachable, whimsical, heroic high-fantasy-and-magitech vibe of the games I loved as a kid. The clarity of the setting and intended tone went a long way toward helping the players gel early on.
Review: If you're looking for a feel-good, JRPG-inspired PbtA game, I can't recommend this enough. Your character is a Shepherd (with a choice from a variety of Playbooks, each with their own prototypical history and issues), helping out those in need all while dealing with your own problems and getting to know yourself better.
Of course, you're part of an adventuring party, so get ready for mechanics that actually make team-work and your relationships with your teammates matter!
I'm a high school student in my tabletop club and i'd love to dm this for them because i love kiseki and want to share it in some way but i've been between jobs for about 6 months due to moving around because of family and currently don't have money to spare and i would like to ask for a community copy and pay when i am able to if possible :)
No problem! There should be more community copies now. Thank you for your interest!
Did you manage to grab one? There's one left, but I can add more if there are zero when you come looking.
Hi, I was just looking through the recent update, and I was wondering about the "Work Together" mechanic. It looks like the first two outcomes will be useless for characters who have zero or negative Trust, effectively meaning that only the third can be picked. Is this intentional, or should such characters always at least get a +1 for the first two? (After all, characters with negative Trust are already suffering a penalty for Working Together.)
Thanks!
Characters with zero/negative trust are actually the reason the third option exists, since as you've noticed, the other two don't really work. It does mean that there will probably be fewer instances of low-trust people helping each other, but the relative power of the 3rd option helps compensate.
If you find it doesn't work out that way, you can certainly try things out with a minimum bonus of +1, though this means there's not really any difference between Trust 0 and Trust +1.
I also briefly considered changing Trust to go from 0 to 4 instead (and move the 'negative trust' penalty to 0) but overall things seemed to work well as-is. The place it feels like it would sting the most is in shorter games, and for those it's probably a good idea to use the reduced cost to increase Trust from page 60.
All that said, the Trust/aid cycle isn't a tightly balanced equation where everything falls apart if it doesn't work 'exactly so' so if you'd like to give lower trust characters more options, by all means, go for it.
That makes sense, yes, but I feel it might be better to clarify in the text that this is intentional and not an oversight.
Oh, another thing I noticed was in the Advanced Prisms rules, there's no rules for how they act when they're damaged. I assume that for the Prisms that are just basic elemental prisms with an additional effect, they'll lose the +1 but keep the ability to use that element, but will they keep their additional effects? (I assume that the ones that need to be damaged to use their effects can't be damaged again, at least.) And what about the double-elemental ones? (I assume that the non-elemental ones just can't be damaged at all.)
Thanks for your reply!
Good idea on both counts! I admit I didn't entirely think through the effects of damage on some of the more complicated Prisms. I think it's probably cleanest to say "Damaged Prisms continue to give their +1 stat, but offer no additional benefits" but I will definitely want to make an update clarifying that.
Thanks for your feedback!
I've updated the main rules doc with minor notes to clarify on your points. The rules for damaged Prisms now say: "When this happens, you lose the +1 Attribute bonus and any other benefits the Prism provides, but can still use Arthic Moves as normal."
And the "Using Work Together" section notes "However, for characters with zero or negative Trust, only the third option is viable – since the first two give no bonus. This means Working
Together is powerful but expensive until the characters can forge stronger bonds."
Thank you for your feedback!
Page 5 details all the harm levels except Dying (it gets mentioned under Critical as the next step but not described). Is this an intentional choice?
I ask because clearly it can be inferred and is described later in the book, so it’s obviously not missing information
I think there's a problem with the single-pages document where that info is, for some reason, not displaying: It's supposed to be in the white space at the top of page 6. For some reason, this is NOT a problem in the spreads version, so please reference that for now.
I wanted to fix this, but the current version of the game has a bunch of revisions, and I figured I'd make sure it was fixed in the next update, though that has been a little longer in coming than I intended. =/
Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad someone noticed and I apologize for the issue.
No apology needed. And it sure looked like the space that would belong; it's the right shape for it.
Honestly I wondered if it was there and not seeing it was a me problem. Wouldn't be the first time this month an itch pdf displayed wrong but just for me personally
This issue should be fixed in the latest version, which is now available. :)
Grand! Looking forward to reading the GM section additions, too. I live for a good GM guidance section, which so many games lack, and this one was already pretty solid so I'm stoked to aew how it got better
I hope it's valuable. Please let me know if there's anything you can think of that you'd like more guidance on or which you think is missing.
Wonderful Day. im Exdremly in Love with the entire Trails of Series startet from in the Sky till the Cold steel games. Sadly im not in the Posititon .. so spare any money for anything. But i would love it to share the love for the Trails of Games for Pen&Paper Friends of mine. thats why i wanted to ask if its maybe possible to get a Community Copie. Already thank you for reading this <3
There should be a couple more community copies now! I hope you like the game!
thank you very much <3
Let me know if you have any feedback. :)
Hello. I'm a Brazilian and big fan of Trails of. Unfortunately 10 dollars is not that cheap around here. I was wondering if I could get a discount or a community copy. Thanks in advance.
There should be some more community copies now! Thank you for your interest, and I hope you like the game!
Your book just made me wanna go and play The Legend of Heroes again. Amazing work
Thank you! That's pretty much the highest compliment you can give! Please consider leaving a rating as well if it's not too much trouble! And tell your friends who like Trails! :)
Hi! This is a very cool-looking game, and I'm looking forward to trying it.
I do have a question, though. If a player decides to become a Mentor to the whole team, how does the Trust work? Does the Mentor character have +1 Trust with the whole party (in either direction) or is it just for one specific other character? Also (more generally) is this Trust in addition to the +1/-1 Trust from normal character creation?
Thanks!
I am glad to hear you are excited!
I hadn't considered mentoring the whole team - I think it's probably best to pick one character with whom they have a special relationship to add the extra Trust with. Giving it to everyone seems a little strong. But if you want, you could give them 2 moments with each party member instead.
And yes, the bonus Trust from being a mentor is in addition to the usual +1/-1 that everyone gets.
Looking at this (and the Fregena adventure), and the thing that jumps out at me is how the missions are structured like quests in a video game. While it seems obvious in retrospect, I've never seen it done this clearly before. I think it's a good idea, especially for new GMs who are still figuring out how adventures fit together. Stealing this idea for future projects.
I was 100% trying to emulate the feel of chapters in the Trails games, but overall I think it's a pretty decent way to do prep -- though as you say, more for a newer GM than for a more experienced one, who probably won't need so much structure. As long as you don't get too rigidly locked in, it's a pretty good way to think about "Okay, here's something this person wants, and why it's something they can't just do themselves." ;)
Thanks for your kind words, and hope you are enjoying the game!
Just purchased this! I am planning to host a Crossbell RPG with this system, do you have any advice you would like to share for that? Thank you!
That's awesome!
Since Crossbell is relatively small, you may have to worry a little more about the players choosing to return to a previous area in the middle of an Assignment, so it might be cool to prepare a couple of Tasks that can be dropped into areas they've previously visited. Also, lean in extra hard on re-integrating existing people -- don't create a new NPC for something if an existing one will do!
If you run into any problems, let me know here, I'll do my best to respond promptly, and I'd love to hear how your game goes!
i will be propably hosting this game in few weeks and system looks awesome! I wil write my feedback about system when i finished playing. Do you have any advice when running Shepards?
I hope that all my advice made it into the book! But mostly I think it comes down to to usual sorts of things:
Are you planning to use one of the Assignments I've provided as a start, or are you making your own?
Oh, and also, if you are playing online, I created a Google Sheets character keeper here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O4F7S531piD-gboNIqFZIyKID0iT7psFVyLWgZnt...
You'll want to make a copy for your own use.
Thanks for all the advice. :) they are all great. I will remember and use them all. I plan to do my own task and setting, but I will use all the rules and advice. Thanks so much for google sheat we actually want to play online so it will be a great help.
Great! Let me know if you have any questions, or any ideas for improvement to the sheet. I look forward to your feedback on the game.
Also, one thing that I'm putting in the next revision, and the only thing from that list that I think is important enough to merit a mention is a change to the question list for the Child of Heroes.
Replace "What about them do you most want to emulate?" with "Who wishes them ill, and might try to use you to do it?" -- This gives the Child of Heroes a bit more worldbuilding agency and the GM a little bit more useful material to work into play without really sacrificing much.
My RPG is starting a campaign in this, is there a fillable version?
Since I never heard back from the last person to ask, I didn't work on that. How quickly do you need it? And do you prefer form-fillable PDFs, or a 'character keeper' Google Sheet template?
Maybe the next few weeks and a google sheet would be amazing. Also I have a few other questions, could I give some kind of contact info to my DM? feel free to PM this account inbox with info instead of publicly posting?
I think I sent you an email, because I can't find any kind of DM functionality here on itch.
Oh heck yes a kiseki game! I love it already.
I hope it suits your needs!
I've been waiting for a game like this since I first read a Let's Play of Trails in the Sky! The best PbtA games are ones that go all-in on emulating a specific genre, and Shepherds uses the framework to make a game that perfectly captures the Trails experience, whether that's having a separate advancement track for growing into a mentor, "defeating" most recurring villains by eventually talking them down, or earning a title that will be used every time you walk into a room. It's also the first PbtA game I've seen that doesn't use playbooks at all, giving everyone the same moves and using character archetypes purely for storytelling purposes, which is really interesting.
Thank you very much! I will freely admit that this game started as my love letter to Trails in the Sky, but I hope it does the job for people looking for that kind of story.
I should be producing a draft of a scenario for it in the next few days, which will be free with the game, or purchasable separately.
I've been looking for a Tales Of-inspired RPG since forever so thank you for this!
I hope it suits you! Let me know if I can help at all.
Having now looked through it more thoroughly I found myself liking it more and more with each page, I especially like including a system for limit breaks/mystic artes
I'm glad! The only thing I think I'd really want to do if I wanted to go "Full Tales-of" would be to expand on the magic system a little bit -- maybe with some advances that add specific new things you could do.
I may work on some optional modifications/playsets once I get the scenario I'm working on finished up.
Is there any fillable PDFs of the story sheets?
I haven't made any, but I might be able to figure it out if you find it valuable. I've also been considering a Google Sheets character keeper for online play.
This looks really promissing!
Please let me know if you have any feedback! I have a lot of ideas still rolling around in my head, but I am hoping to get some more input before I decide which to work on!
The only thing i really want is more elements, but not necessarily feedback, since i haven't played. But i'll let you know if i have one!