- Optional Rules and Difficulty Settings - 30 August 2026
Greetings everyone!For this month’s Steam feature, I want to talk about the difficulty settings and optional rules that will be included in the game. They range from simple conveniences to changes in how the AI behaves. Without further ado, here’s the list of optional settings that are either already in the game or are being actively worked on.Automatically Identify ItemsAs a convenience, the game will support all loot found in chests and on monsters being identified when you find them. If this is off, you will have to either cast the Identify spell on the items or have them identified at a shop. This setting starts out off for the campaign and on for the Endless Dungeon roguelike mode.No EncumbranceEncumbrance is already slightly relaxed compared to the actual SRD limits. This setting allows your characters to carry whatever you want, limited only by their available backpack slots.Show…
- All about the Rogue - 1 August 2026
Hello everyone! Welcome to the end-of-July feature discussion for Revenge of the Firstborn. This month, we’re taking a look at another one of the classes that will be available when Revenge of the Firstborn enters Early Access: the often-misunderstood rogue.Not Just a Backstabbing ThiefThe first thing that comes to mind for most people when they think of rogues is the thief sneaking up behind an unsuspecting victim and either pickpocketing them or outright murdering them via a stab in the back. However, the rogue can be much more than that. With class skills that include Appraisal, Gather Information and virtually all of the social influence skills, a rogue can make a great “face” for the party, handling all sorts of interactions from negotiating rewards to settling disputes between belligerents.But Kind of, Sort of Mostly a Backstabbing ThiefWhile the above is true, the rogue’s definin…
- Exploring the Book of Beasts - 1 July 2026
Hello everyone,Welcome to the (approximately) end-of-June feature discussion for Revenge of the Firstborn! This month, we’re going to talk about the Book of Beasts.What exactly is the Book of Beasts? It’s a compendium of knowledge on all of the creatures in the game, but there’s a catch… you have to find and defeat the creature in question in order to make it show up in the Book of Beasts.There are a few entries that show up by default at the start of the game, but only the races you know everything about already. In order to learn about the more interesting creatures in the game, you’ll have to search them out.Below you can see a version of the Book as it will appear at the start of the game. It lists all of the creature types, buttons for selecting all or none of the creature types and a checkbox for hiding undiscovered creatures.Here’s we have a more filled in Book of Beasts showing…
- Inside the NPC Portrait Workflow of Revenge of the Firstborn - 30 May 2026
This month, I'm having a guest 'columnist' share details on how the 2D art for Revenge of the Firstborn is created. Read on the learn all about it!Salutations, adventurers! Today we’ll talk about the art behind the portraits of Revenge of the Firstborn. My name is Heitor Queiroz, also known as The Lizard Soup. I’m the artist responsible for bringing the bestiary’s visuals to life, helping adventurers like you identify the monsters you’ll face in battle and plan your strategy against them. Portraits are a fundamental part of the game’s UI. They carry much of each character’s personality, allowing the player to read their health points and identify who is performing an action, whether ally or enemy. My challenge as an artist is to amplify the immersion of the game’s 3d creatures’ models through their portraits, making them truly feel like part of the world. Because of that, I always place…
- A Closer Look at the Cleric - 1 May 2026
Hello everyone,Welcome to the End-of-April feature discussion for Revenge of the Firstborn! This month we’re going to take a deep dive into another of the classes launching with the game, the cleric.The Overlooked Holy WarriorWhen people think of “the holy warrior”, especially in Dungeons & Dragons, they usually think of the paladin, but the cleric can also be a frontline fighter, particularly when they focus on domains that grant benefits in combat. There’s more about domains below!Up through AD&D second edition, the cleric was restricted to only blunt weapons. The popular theory around why is that medieval clergy were forbidden from shedding blood, so bludgeoning weapons were the way to go. Like a few things in D&D, this is something of a “pop history” theory with only a little bit of history back it up.In third edition, with the introduction of weapon categories, that strict prohibit…
- Revenge of the Firstborn’s Demo is Now Live! - 2 April 2026
After months of working on the game, improving its world, lore, visuals, combat, and RPG elements, I’m excited to announce that the demo for Revenge of the Firstborn is now live!Step into an isolated story within the world of Revenge of the Firstborn specifically made for the demo. Create and build your party however you want by immediately starting at level 5. Work with a hidden society on the hunt for knowledge called the Lorekeepers against a deadly vampire hoarding away ancient documents containing never-before-seen lore regarding the mythical, elusive Firstborn. Explore an expansive outdoor area before delving into a decrepit dungeon in search of this dangerous foe. Find a way to defeat him and claim the secrets for yourself. Also, check out the latest trailer for Revenge of the Firstborn down below!
- Revenge of the Firstborn is in Dark Dungeon Days 2026! - 2 April 2026
I’m thrilled to share that Revenge of the Firstborn is part of the Dark Dungeon Days 2026 Steam event, ongoing from now until April 9, 10 AM PT!In celebration of the event, the official demo for Revenge of the Firstborn is now live, and it’s here to stay! You can finally try out the game and see what it has to offer by playing through an isolated story within the game’s world. Try the demo out for yourself, and check out all of the other awesome games included in the Dark Dungeon Days event!
- Using the Third Dimension in Revenge of the Firstborn - 28 February 2026
Hello everyone! Welcome to the end of February update for Revenge of the Firstborn. This month, we’re going to talk about verticality in the game. From exploration to combat, the third dimension shapes almost all aspects of the game. Jumping, Climbing and Balancing – You CAN get there from here.Historically, isometric RPGs have pretty limited traversal options, although that has started to change in the last decade or so. More and more RPGs have added climbing and jumping so their exploration is more engaging, leaning into cliffs, ravines and other vertical spaces. Revenge of the Firstborn follows this trend.The 3.5 SRD has well-defined rules for climbing, jumping and balancing on ledges, and those rules are included in Revenge of the Firstborn. There are lots of nooks and crannies that reward the party that invests in exploration skills. While these skills aren’t required to complete t…
- Itemization in Revenge of the Firstborn - 29 January 2026
Hello everyone!For the first update of 2026, I thought we’d talk a bit about the loot system in Revenge of the Firstborn. In a past update, we talked about the crafting system, which can be used to improve any of the loot in the game or to create new items altogether. You can check out that game update at this link. For this update, we’ll focus on some of the unique items in the game, some craftable set items and touch on the random loot system in place for the Endless Dungeon roguelike mode.The Classic Items You’d ExpectOne of the benefits of going with an existing ruleset such as the 3.5 SRD is that it comes with a number of built-in iconic items. The Holy Avenger, the Sun Blade, the Vorpal Sword…All of these weapons have quests related to obtaining them, and some of them come with their own consequences of ownership – for instance, as hinted at in the screenshot above, obtaining the…
- Tactics and Maneuvers in Combat - 31 December 2025
Hello everyone,It’s time for the final feature discussion of 2025 for Revenge of the Firstborn! This month I thought we’d take a deep dive into the main feature that people think of when they think of D&D-based games, the combat!More Than Just “Push Button, Kill Monster”Despite its origin as a tabletop game, Dungeons & Dragons, especially the 3.5 edition, has a complex set of combat rules, supporting a lot of interesting options. Revenge of the Firstborn aims to incorporate as many of those options as possible. From readied actions, to counter-spelling, to tripping and grappling and, of course, mounted combat, which we’ve talked about in-depth in the past.Revenge of the Firstborn includes all of the combat feats you’d expect from the 3.5 ruleset. You can trip your enemies and get a free attack on them using the Improved Trip feat, you can take their weapon away from them using the Disar…
- Exploration and Dungeon Delving in Revenge of the Firstborn - 30 November 2025
Hello everyone!Winter is in the air here in the Midwest of the USA. Thanksgiving is over, the Christmas carols are beginning to come out in force and it’s time for the end-of-November monthly deep dive into one of the features in Revenge of the Firstborn. This month, we’re going to talk about exploration. We’ll touch a bit on the overland map and look more closely at the ways you get the most out of dungeons in the game.The Overland MapThe overland map is completely open from the start of the game. There are a number of cities and villages you can visit, most of which will have something for you to do, if you need a distraction from saving the world. There are also a number of hidden dungeons where you can find unique gear, including parts of artifacts that can be combined into powerful items.Just be careful where you wander, you may quickly find yourself in a fight that is too tough fo…
- Exploring the Martial Classes in Revenge of the Firstborn - 2 November 2025
Greetings everyone! This month we’re going to take a deep dive into the melee classes in Revenge of the Firstborn. The wizards have their flashy spells, but when they run out of juice, it’s up to the frontliners to bring it home.The PaladinWhen someone thinks of a knight in shining armor, they’re thinking of the paladin, at least in D&D-inspired games. With his ability to Detect Evil at will, his immunity to fear and his smite evil ability, the paladin makes a formidable foe for the forces of evil. His Lay on Hands and Remove Disease abilities make him a strong protector for his allies as well.Add in some limited spellcasting ability and the power to turn undead, and the paladin brings a broad array of skills to bear.One of the paladin features that is often omitted from computer RPGs is the paladin’s mount, but with mounted combat featuring heavily in Revenge of the Firstborn, having t…
- Revenge of the Firstborn's House Rules and Sandboxy Nature - 30 September 2025
Greetings everyone! This month, I thought I would address a few of the common questions I’ve gotten over the summer since the game was announced. So, today we’ll discuss how “sandboxy” the game is and what house rules the game has outside of the SRD content.A Sandbox to Play InWhile the game is not nearly as sandboxy as games like Skyrim, the completed campaign will include a number of towns, from a capital city to tiny villages. All but the smallest villages will serve as little quest hubs, having something for the player to do that will let them spend an evening in one place, solving people’s problems for them.The intention is for the main campaign not to provide all the XP to get to a level high enough to handle its content. In other words, visiting these towns or discovering dungeons by exploring the wilderness will be necessary to gain the gear and levels to tackle the full campaig…
- Revenge of the Firstborn's Crafting System - 29 August 2025
Greetings everyone!This month’s feature spotlight is the game’s crafting system. Revenge of the Firstborn features a complete implementation of virtually every part of the 3.5 SRD rules for crafting, from scribing scrolls to enchanting weapons and forging rings. Read on to learn about each of these features!Have a Drink on MeThe first item creation feat is the Brew Potion feat. As the name implies, this feat allows a spellcaster to create a potion with any spell of third level or lower that he is able to cast normally. The only caveat is that the spell has to be one that targets one or more creatures. So, you can create potions of Haste or Blur, but not potions of fireball or Scorching Ray.When creating a potion, you decide what level the spell should be cast at when the potion is consumed. This affects how long the resulting spell lasts and a few of the numeric portions as well. So, ch…
- Nature's Champion: The Druid - 1 August 2025
Greetings everyone! This month we're talking about one of the most interesting classes in the 3.5e system - the druid. From his animal companion, to his wildshape ability to his exciting nature-based spells. Read on for more!The Druid's Best FriendThe first ability druid's get is the ability to summon an animal companion. In Revenge of the Firstborn, that takes the shape of a wolf, which druids can summon immediately at level one. As the druid levels up, her wolf gains additional hitpoints, natural armor and high strength and dexterity. It also gains the evasion feature and an increased number of attacks along with a bonus to its will save.Additionally, any spell that the druid casts that affects herself will also affect her animal companion, provided it is within 5 feet of her at the time of casting.I Can be Whatever I Want to BeThe ability that is often cited as the defining feature o…
- Lore and Campaign Intro - 29 June 2025
Greetings everyone! It’s nearly time for 4th of July celebration in America, and it falls on a Friday, so long weekend for me! Looking forward to spending a lot of time debugging, looking into game performance and generally doing nerdy game dev stuff!As promised last month, we’ll talk a little bit about the game world for Revenge of the Firstborn and a few interesting mechanics that folks have been asking about. Hopefully this doesn’t end up being a boring lore dump!The Titular FirstbornThe most common misconception about the game is related to the title. The Firstborn does not refer to any sort of royal heir. It refers to a group of immortal beings that were the first beings created by the gods at the beginning of time.These Firstborn were imbued with immense power, enough to rival the gods themselves. The Firstborn eventually disobeyed the one commandment they were given, to not creat…
- Exploring the Endless Dungeon - 23 May 2025
Revenge of the Firstborn has two game modes: the classic campaign a la the Baldur’s Gates of the world, and a roguelike mode I’m calling The Endless Dungeon. This month, we’ll delve into the Endless Dungeon and talk about some of its features. Next month, we’ll talk a little bit about the campaign and the world it takes place in. As mentioned above, The Endless Dungeon is a roguelike mode. This means there is minimal story and all of the elements of the world are randomly generated, from the loot and monsters to the layout of the dungeon itself. The Endless Dungeon is actually a set of three dungeons, each of increasing difficulty. The challenge is to survive all three, reach level 20 and defeat the final boss. Going to See the Boss Speaking of bosses, each of the dungeons ends with the opportunity to fight a boss. These are unique set pieces ranging from a fight against a young dragon…
- A look at Revenge of the Firstborn's AI - 19 April 2025
This month I thought I’d change things up a bit and talk about one of the backend systems in Revenge of the Firstborn, specifically the AI system. RotFb uses an AI approach called utility AI. In utility AI, each action that an agent can take is given a “utility” score where utility refers to how happy the actor would be if it took the given action. To determine the action with the highest utility score, the game loops through a series of a couple dozen different potential actions, ranging from ending the NPC’s turn, to casting a spell or making an attack. Each action has one or more decision inputs, each of which has a numeric value for when the condition is true and numeric value for when it’s false. Those values are then added up to get the final utility score for an action. Let’s take an example of drinking a healing potion. To get the healing potion utility score, the game has sever…
- The Arcane Masters: Wizards and Sorcerers - 16 March 2025
All About Wizard and Sorcerers Revenge of the Firstborn sports the two main arcane caster classes from the 3.5 SRD – wizards and sorcerers. Below, we’ll discuss the features and differences for the two classes. Wizards: The Brains of the Party Wizards are the classic spellcaster in the game; toting around a big spellbook and a collection of scrolls and wands. They must memorize their spells daily in order to be able to use them. They are able to learn spells on level up and from scrolls found during their adventures. Wizards can learn any arcane spell in the game. Specialist Wizards: Do One Thing and Do It Well When a character takes his first level of wizard, he has the option to choose a school to specialize in. All of the spells in the game belong to a single school, and specializing in that school gains you an improved ability to identify spells from that school as they’re cast and…
- Exploring Mounted Combat - 20 February 2025
Mounted combat is one of the features I'm most excited to have in Revenge of the Firstborn. The game includes ponies, horses, warhorses and paladin mounts, the latter of which gains levels and abilities as their owner levels up. All of the mounted feats from the SRD are present in Revenge of the Firstborn, so you can use the Mounted Combat feat to protect your mount or use the Ride-By Attack skill to gallop around the battlefield, dealing damage. Equip a lance and use the Spirited Charge feat to devastating effect or take the Trample feat to simply run down your enemies. Pay close attention to your positioning, because if your enemies can get close enough, they may attempt to pull you from the saddle or ruthlessly kill your mount! Warhorses are trained to attack with hoof and tooth and act on your turn. Non-warhorses are not meant to be used in combat and require a skilled rider just to…
