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Verdance: Grimcrafter's Field Guide - Tinderbox Demo

by Grim Sour Games

Released July 8, 2026
Pay What You Want
A solo playable field guide power fantasy demo at a dark academia university.

Player Count

Solo

Mechanics

GM-less

System

LUMEN
Get This Game
RPGTrader

About This Game

THIS DISASTER IS ONLY THE BEGINNING…

An emerald-academia power fantasy about cleansing an ink-stained university, studying & spellcraft, and locating a dangerous Grimoire before its cursed ink spreads beyond the city.

Verdance… what a mess. A kind of horrid beauty, though, as the ink seeps through the flora & fauna around the campus city. These notes will help me complete the new first-year Grimcrafting curriculum, that is, if I (Professor Tress) can make sense of all this. 

I believe a certain Grimoire that we are forbidden from speaking about has been freed (or freed itself), and the cursed ink of its pages leaked all over our campus. I can not say anything about the Assembly as of now, but it seems they were supposed to have this Grimoire under their control, and well… to say they are in a panic would be an understatement. 

Verdance is more than any old school to me. This is my city. My home. Therefore, I will scrawl my notes as I make my way, studying how my world now works with the recent incident.

Something must be done for the students, graduates, professors, and those with nowhere else to go. Some districts have it worse than others (though that’s not far off from usual).

I’ve observed that the Inkwrought are not simply threats to destroy. They are lost, scared, and seeking power through fear. They are the plants, creatures, citizens, and constructs of our city. Corrupted by The Spill. And they need our help. Through defeat, the ink is cleansed.

The missing Grimoire must hold more than anyone suspects. Here I will leave a record of observations, guidance, and thoughts to update the new Grimcrafting curriculum.

FEATURES

Verdance is a solo (for now) emerald-academia, spellcrafting ARPG-inspired game about washing cursed ink from a magic university.

This Tinderbox Demo reads like a field guide written by the Grimcrafting professor of Verdance Univercity, but it's also fully playable!

You have everything you need to explore the six archetypes and The Deckled Edge district, take on Assignments, Battle against the Inkwrought, Study for proficiencies, and Advance your capabilities, all in this 12-page PDF, including pages arranged for booklet printing!

However, this demo is intentionally rules-light. With so little space, some parts stay open to interpretation, but that allows you to make the Univercity yours, and later, the full game will give clearer structure and detail.

SYSTEM & INSPIRATION

Illuminated by Lumen 1 and 2. This is a diceless system with optional random tables. There are no stats; health is a resource. This is a highly narrative-focused game with resource management.

"I’ve been told by off-world students that we remind them of the Lord of Mysteries series, A Discovery of Witches series, and power fantasies to the likes of Dishonored or Hades. However, I am unfamiliar. Most of our technology is battery-powered, so we lack certain machines from other planets." - Professor Tress

MADE BY HUMAN HANDS

UPDATES

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PLANS FOR THE FULL GRIMOIRE CURRICULUM

(SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

  • Drops full list (& Rares)

  • Crafting and performing Rituals

  • Vials (Supplementary Alchemy)

  • Constellations & Blessings

  • The other Archetypes

  • Advanced Loadouts

  • Appearance & Style 

  • Small Charm Enchantments

  • Tethers & Curios of power

  • Downtime & Grimoire bonding

  • Grimoire Binding Sheet for tracking

  • Finding Solace & Personal Assignments

  • Assignment board & full Advancements

  • More Lore & Study for Specializations

  • Exploration, Hobbies, & other Activities

  • Mutations (rejecting & accepting their powers)

  • Descriptions of each district, faction, & location

  • Full list of all the wings of magic at Verdance

  • Index of all the Inkwrought and their Drops & Defenses

  • Lists of Tools, Talents, Curios, Weapon Runes, rares, etc.

  • How Favor works at the Univercity (and the art of manipulation)

  • Grimoire Absorption powers & Companion fighters

  • How it works when fighting with other Grimcrafters

  • Finding & designing your Sanctuary (plus benefits)

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