Greetings, heroes!  Playtest version 0.3 is now live!

It took longer than I wanted and it doesn't have as much as I wanted but an update is still an update.

The biggest usability change in 0.3 is monsters.  Previous versions had a very limited monster selection, and weren't well-organized or defined.  This version more than doubles the number of monsters  available and splits them into Basic monsters and Complex monsters to help GMs run the game and build encounters.  General monster facts and features have also been better defined and explained.

New spells, feats, and combat techniques have been added as well.  Combat techniques at this time feel like they're mostly complete; just needs a few more defensive techniques and possibly a few more basic techniques.  Spells are going to continue to be added to.

Optional rules have been added to the core system in a few places, most notably optional rules for using a more traditional initiative system instead of AFN's default phases, and a quick optional rule for using abstract combat zones instead of defined distances.

Nightmares have been a little more clearly defined and slight updates made to the procedural generation system.  

Now that we have enough player options and enough monsters to face them to generate interesting sessions without needing to invent new things each time, the next update 0.4 will focus on Nightmare procedural generation and exploration, providing guidance for GMs to actually run a campaign of Against the Fall of Night using the campaign-level mechanics.  The XP system will also be updated to support this; instead of the current generic adventure experience system, players will gain experience specifically for closing Nightmares, and the current system will become an optional rule for campaigns that want to use the system without focusing so much on Nightmare.  Players will be able to scout Nightmares and mange their time on an XCOM-like strategic layer while the GM creates and updates Nightmares for them; and depending on the campaign style, events of gameplay, and Night clock chosen, the party may be able to keep up with the growth of Night, or they may not.

Unfortunately due to the demands of RL and actual job, I will not be promising any specific update time, but I certainly hope it will be less time between updates than the distance between 0.2 and 0.3.

Until next time, heroes!