Kinbarrow

From the v0.2.0 build · 6 Oct 2026

What it looks like today

The character creator: parchment sheets on dark leather. 'You are in Greyharbor. Make yourself, and the company that stands with you.' A live character sheet fills in beside the choices. — The character creator.

The game in play at the Brined Gull, three in the morning after a night's rest. The journal on the left holds what the realm did meanwhile: debts collected across the vale, Martha Long walking out of the Harbor Watch, the Crown of the Vale raising Beatrice O'Sullivan's pay, work posted and finished at the Campbell's Arroyo Rest. The inn's floor plan fills the board on the right, with the people in it. — A night at the Brined Gull. The journal is what the realm did while you slept.

From the chronicle

Three days in a harbor town

Here is what the town did after a playtester tried to rob a tavern and failed.

Day 1 Hattie Stewart, the player, tries to pick the lock on the tavern’s cellar chest. The pick slips and jams the lock. A regular at the bar sees it.
Day 1 That night Innkeeper Marta finds the jammed lock and goes to the Harbor Watch.
Day 2 The Watch posts a paid patrol of the tavern: six hours, 1,600 coin.
Day 3 The watchman on patrol hears the regular’s account and takes down Hattie’s name.
Day 3 A writ is issued: fine Hattie Stewart for attempted burglary.

Hattie enlisted in the Watch on her way out of town, so the writ landed in her own journal.

The rules

D&D in its bones

Fully compatible with D&D 5e and 5.5e rulesets.

d2011 + 5 = 16 vs AC 14. A hit.

Fighter — Champion, from level 3

Hit die: d10
Primary: Strength
Saves: Strength & Constitution
Spellcasting: —

From the game’s own class files.

The opposition

Villains that plan

Factions and their leaders have their own treasuries and plans, based on the goals and knowledge of their leader(s).

Day 12 A camp appears on the east road and starts charging tolls.
Day 60 The camp has become a company with a payroll and a name.
Day 140 The company holds the road, and the toll covers whatever its payroll is short.
Day 200 By the time you ride out to deal with it, the company has had 188 days to get ready.

Neglect is a plan.

Or be the villain

There is no karma meter. People act on what they know about you, and rumor gets things wrong. You can steal and then intimidate whoever saw you do it, but sooner or later the watch starts asking after you by name and the warrants follow, and it may be your own sellsword who turns you in.

Builds go to the Discord first.

Join the table on Discord

A realm from a seed

Every realm is rolled from a seed. This one is greyharbor. The same seed on the same build gives the same realm. Change one letter and you get a different map.

The Crown of Wolfstead

Wolfstead — seat of the Crown; eel traps and reed cutters
Greyfork — a day’s walk past the mill; three rival breweries
Marshfield — two river-days downstream; stockyards
Stonereach — a nine-day road, most of it up; a paper mill and three scribes

the mine’s lower gallery has been sealed

…and more towns past these.

A toy version of the town namer, running in this page.

The seed is in this page’s address, so if you send the link a friend gets the same realm.

One copy per table

One person buys the D&D books and the whole table plays, and this works the same way. You buy the Steam copy and host. Saves and mods are yours, and your friends join free from a browser with the full game.

Their characters stay in your world between sessions and can pick up a warrant while their player is away. The browser table is being built now.

The workshop

Everything is a data file

A mod is a folder you drop in. It can replace anything the game loads, from one trade good to a whole campaign.

Spell(
  id: "mymod:rain_of_embers",
  school: "evocation",
  level: 2,
  delivery: Sphere(
    range: 60, radius: 20,
  ),
  steps: [
    Damage(kind: "fire", dice: "3d6"),
    Ignite(),
  ],
)

This one is made up for the page. The real files are in the modding reference, which is generated from the engine.

Browse the modding reference

The Steam release: one copy per table, workshop mods.
Friends joining the browser table at play.kinbarrow.com with a room code.
Procedural dungeons, most of them inhabited.
Combat AI that searches ahead. The search budget is a setting, and more budget makes smarter enemies.
Bigger realms with nations and wars, as many as your hardware will run.

Questions

When can I play?: When it’s ready. There’s no date. Builds go to the Discord, and the chronicle goes out by email if you want it.
Can I play alone?: Yes.
What will it cost?: One purchase per table, on Steam. Friends joining your world never pay.
Is the world AI-generated?: No. Everything in the realm comes from a seeded generator and a simulation, both ordinary code.
What do I need to run it?: A reasonably modern PC. Exact specs will come closer to release. The engine builds on Windows, Mac and Linux today.
What can be modded?: Everything the game loads is a file you can edit. The modding reference lists every field.

Follow along

Made in the open

This is one developer’s game, and the chronicles above are the devlog. New ones go to the Discord as they happen, and to your inbox if you sign up.