Update #1 is in!

We updated ... a lot, here's a summary of the main points:

Premade Scenarios

• The playtest kit now includes two premade scenarios: one in Venice and another in Dioscoria!
  • Foil a plot against the Hidden Isle and unmask a magical spy in The Face of the Enemy!
  • In The Rialto Scrolls, find and rescue a brilliant Jewish scholar from the Venetian ghetto before the Doge’s pompous magician captures her and misuses her research!

ENTIRELY NEW MECHANICS :O

• We added an ENTIRE MAGIC SYSTEM, inspired by 16th century magical theories!
• Group Actions and using magic now have specific rules.
• When the party crosses a Narrative Threshold, players now use Tarot cards to invent the coming action together.
• Players can congratulate, or criticize, each other in the new “Agent relationships” scene, rewarding the most awesome performances with mechanical character development.
• GMs no longer need to face the hardest part of running a game: naming NPCs. (Venice now includes a list of time-appropriate names.)

Rules Changes

• Players are now discouraged from commiting murder.
• Ideals now convey a moderate benefit while still presenting a challenge.
• Players are able to use their ideal with their untrained skills.
• No challenge can be an automatic fail: anything is possible, just risky.
• Many class abilities have been updated and rebalanced. Every class has also been given an entirely new ability, bringing the total for each class to eight.
• Summary of Play and "Downtime" sections have been reordered, so that character development can take center stage during downtime, and players can break a session either after a scenario, or after downtime.
• "Items and Inventory" section has added information about item advantages, using items, single-use items, and load.
• New xp trigger questions. Tweaked xp balance.
• Changes to the process of defeating an adversary in "Advance Adversaries."
• Tweaks to "planning a scenario" and "The Divination Ritual."

Character creation

• "Character Generation" section has additional content: 
  • Tips for creating a character ahead of time. 
  • Option to begin the game with a magical proficiency (even if you aren’t a typical magic-user class).
  • Start with a Dioscorian friend.

Character Sheets

• The backside of the character sheets have new content:
  • List of magical sources and proficiencies.
  • Skill summary and references.
  • Updated abilities list for each class.
    
    

Very happy to get some comments - do not hesitate to playtest and give us feedback!