Why is 50TD so long?

In an earlier post I mentioned that the second edition of Five Torches Deep, Fifty Torches Deep (50TD), is almost ten times as long. I think some people found that disconcerting.

So why is it so long?

The design goal of 50TD was to be a “comprehensive” version of FTD, which in short means that it includes all of the optional and supplemental rules from previous releases.

The actual core rules are only slightly longer, and that’s mostly due to expanded clarifications and better procedures. The longest extended rule section is the procedure around adventure turns, which could be completely disregarded without much issue.

Even with all of the supplemental information, it is of a comparable word count to OSE and Shadowdark.

So what are all of these extra and optional rules?

Expanded ancestries and lineages, similar to the Origins book (though some tweaks and clarifications, and trimmed down).

Significantly expanded spell lists for all casters.

Significantly expanded example monster and monster building rules.

Potions, alchemy, and crafting rules.

Down time and extended haven rules, significantly expanded beyond the Homesteads supplement for FTD.

Training, leadership buildings, and other domain management rules (even for lower level PCs).

Duels and advanced combat rules.

Simplified “one roll combat encounters” rules.

Significantly expanded options around retainers, mounts, animals, vehicles, and large scale battles.

Expanded corruptions, including rules for crafting poisons or similarly corrupting components.

A more fleshed out GM section, as well as more rules around hex crawling, procedures, and adventuring.

Expanded class functions and more details around features and talents.

If you just want to play the simple streamlined version of the rules, we plan on organizing and tagging the content in such a way that that becomes quite easy to do. Limiting ancestries, one roll combat, no adventure procedures, etc.