Dev Update: Precipice (10/8/2026)
This week, Wild Plum Games is proud to present the 4th and final story in Part 1 of Michael Gernes’ Harness. Plus, the invention of the L-Trak (in a playtesting meeting, no less!).
Harness Chapter 4: Possibility
After the battle, Orlondo and Cante discuss the ambitions of kings, the future of their republic, and the ominous rift that lights up the sky above them. Here’s an excerpt:
Now that the battle had ebbed, the oblates knelt in a semicircle around the harness’s feet, shadowed by the green nimbus light above. Orazia had gathered them from their hiding places among the wood. Orlondo did not blame them for scattering; they were sworn to pray for Premonta, not fight. As he swayed on his feet, the oblates’ cantor, Veltrus, rose to support him, and pushed a leather flask to his lips.
Orlondo drank it, tasting honey and mint, and felt a liquored rush of warmth through his chest. Hoofbeats echoed on the stone ruins and a horse snorted. Orlondo focused through his haze on its rider, seeing the taut face of Counselor Cante, his black gown powdered with road dust.
“Medicine is a poor toast for a victory. Even half of one.” Cante smiled thinly, then beckoned. “There’s wine and words to be had under my canopy. About all of this.” He raised a hand to gesture at the tear in the sky, still rising over the mountaintop above. Although it had narrowed somewhat, alien landscapes still shifted within it, throwing color and light across the mountainside terraces and valley below. Orlondo gazed into it at a black void strewn with strange stars, which clashed starkly against the midday sun beating down in the sky. He found it hard to take his eyes off the tear again.
Continue reading here, or start at the beginning to read all four chapters in Part 1 of Michael Gernes’ Harness!
The Invention of the L-Trak
In last week’s playtest, we got some good feedback on the matter of the learning curve around movement. At present, even with the simplified archetypes of the Preview Pack, it can be a bit steep! There are a lot of ways to move, and they can accomplish similar (but subtly different) things!
In light of this, Brooks made the excellent observation that we need a trainer mech. Something that is somewhat limited in its movement options, so that the pilot really has to master the basic options to put the mech through its paces. And this started the line of questioning: what would this look like in our various worlds? I started pondering the applications on Arbelos…
A bit of puttering with the original M-Trak and the A-Trak sketches in TinkerCAD, and behold: the L-Trak! The experimental “missing link” to the M-Trak, the L- (for “Legged”) Trak has the vulnerabilities of both its predecessor’s bulky frame and it’s successor’s finnicky legs (without the ability to fold them into treads).
A machine mostly kept in service out of spite for the pilot trainees on Arbelos who have to master it.
A little bit of rapid-prototype wireframing, and our mech was ready to go (nowhere fast)!
Next week, we’ll have a printable sheet of the L-Trak, along with a learning scenario to help you master this notoriously challenging machine!