The SKALD Roleplaying System has been in development since early 2018 — or, at least, that is when the developer, Scape-IT, started posting development blog entries — and purports to be something of a multipurpose engine:

What is the SKALD Roleplaying System you ask? Well, it’s essentially three things:

– A set of RPG rules usable for pen-and-paper as well computer RPGs.
– A game engine for making gamebooks, interactive fiction and text-heavy roleplaying games.
– The games published using the SKALD engine.

The system is being developed by Scape-IT and is a passion project born out of a long standing love for all things roleplaying.

The project is still at a fairly early state of development; Scape-IT has begun working on a markup language for the engine, and has set out a list of project goals. SKALD — the game engine realization thereof, at any rate — is being developed as an add-on for the Unity engine.

Scape-IT is also working on a SKALD-based game as the engine is being created: Against the Black Priory.

AtBP sees you in the role of an imperial agent dispatched to the island of Idra to uproot a mystical religious order, turned apocalyptic cult. The expedition is off to a disastrous start however, and surviving Idra will take all your wits and skill.

For AtBP I have chosen to go with a strong retro look and feel. The game draws heavily on inspiration from classic “Golden Age” RPGs like the early Ultima games, the Gold Box Series and the Magic Candle series. In other words: Games we love!

There was also, and then quite recently, an update concerning Black Priory posted to the Ultima Dragons group on Facebook:

Hi again dragons! Thought I would give you a short update on “SKALD: Against the Black Priory”! Have spent more time then I intended on graphical updates (adding animation for characters and tiles) but the project is still pretty much on schedule. As always, you can follow me on twitter at https://twitter.com/SkaldRpg or on my website www.skaldRPG.com 🙂 The plan is still Kickstarter in June so be sure to stay posted if you want to help make “SKALD: Against the Black Priory” the game it should be! AL

(PS: Be sure to check out the intro track for the demo here: https://soundcloud.com/surt…/surt-r-against-the-black-priory)

You can follow the development of the engine — and now Against the Black Priory as well — at the SKALD website. There’s also a new project entry for SKALD and Against the Black Priory here at the Codex, although at present there are no downloads available thereat. You can, however, find a number of screenshots there to enjoy.