Introduction to World of Terra Fitness RPG

Origins

One of the goals we had with founding FortifySTR was to help get people to find a movement practice that they enjoyed and could practice consistently without fail. Even before the world had heard of Covid-19, it faced a pandemic of rising rates of obesity and sedentary lifestyles. This is something that we felt that this is somewhere we could have impact. We just had to get people to move.

We figured that one of the best ways to do that is to combine some of the narrative and game mechanics of things we loved (DND, RPGs, Board Games, Magic the Gathering) and turn it into something that could help people get moving into better health.

This is how we came up with the idea of the World of Terra Fitness RPG.

It was always our intent to create some sort of gamified ruleset, but we wanted to get something out during the pandemic as a sort of sample or teaser of what we were trying to create. That is why we created and released the Adventurer’s Guide. It talked a little bit about starting a healthy lifestyle, offered a character sheet to get started, and offered different movement archetypes that a player might explore in their search for a movement practice. But that was just the beginning. Over the last few years, we have been developing a ruleset for a game that takes those archetypes and makes them unique ways to play a narrative fitness game that combines aspects of a card game and TTRPGs.

The Concept

Taking the foundations we created with the Adventurer’s Guide, we wanted to create a versatile rule set that could be modified by a game master to create their own stories and adventures which players could explore through movement and exercise. While there are dice involved (because of course who doesn’t want to roll some dice), the primary way players will interact with the world is through moving their bodies. As with any good RPG, the stakes increase with consistent adventuring…you gain levels, new skills and movements…and you face more challenging monsters that offer the promises of greater, more epic loot.

Card Based

We decided on utilizing game cards because they allowed for a few things: simple illustrated reminders of the exercises, a reference guide for what the attacks and spells do mechanically, and a place to share some amazing art from the community of artists we work with. Nothing beats adding a shiny new card to your attack stack, fresh with a new movement for you to perform and a more powerful ability to help slay greater and more dangerous foes.

Cards also allow for a little bit of randomization. One of the mechanics in the game is called making a “Save”, where one has to perform a corresponding movement or task in order to succeed. These are drawn randomly from the corresponding save deck, which is shuffled each time you need to make a save.

It will also allow us to create a full set of collectible cards that you can take with you to play wherever you are. We plan to create things like subclasses which would unlock a whole new set of attack and spell cards with new corresponding movements or exercises that go along with them. For example, a monk subclass may have different movements you can perform using a sword, while a Warrior subclass may use something like a mace or kettlebell.

Utilizing a card based system to develop our mechanics also lays the groundwork for a future app/ mobile game which we would seek to pursue if the game takes off.

Archetypes

We took the idea of different movement archetypes, and turned them into playable classes that are VERY different in how they play mechanically and physically.

For example, a strength based Barbarian, might have to lift dumbbells overhead in order to perform an attack, while a mobile Druid may have to hold a yoga pose to cast a spell. The Bard will have to combine dance moves to buff their party, while a wizard may have to hold an isometric squat hold to cast a protection spell. A Ranger may gain their powers from preparations and scouting (cardio) which will give knowledge and benefit to the party before a big Boss Fight.

The idea was that there are very different ways to move your body, and some may be more appealing than others in how enjoyable they are to a individual player. Archetypes allow you to explore different ways to move (and even mixing and matching if you so choose).

Strategy Mechanics

You may need to heal your party members to survive.

The TTRPG and Magic the Gathering crowd love a little bit of crunch to their mechanics. While we are constantly trying to streamline our ruleset, we wanted to give players the ability to strategize before and during gameplay in order to encourage teamwork when defeating especially difficult foes. Each archetype has different ways to affect combat: the Warrior is a damage dealer, while the Druid and Bard are more support characters who can heal or buff the party. Some enemies may be resistant to certain types of damage, which may make certain movements more powerful against them. Some enemies may require combining abilities with your teammates in order to defeat.

Some elite enemies may have abilities that require you to make physical challenges during battle which will drain a specific resource not found in other RPGs: Your physical stamina. Sure, you may have practiced your archetypal attacks and spells throughout the week…but have you had to do them while performing burpees in between each round of combat? You will need to strategize the order of how you perform your attacks because doing ten sets of pushups in a row is going to be much more strenuous than mixing it up with some air squats inbetween.

A Living Breathing World

While we designed the system to be modular (meaning you can slap the system into any setting of your choosing), we wanted to provide a rich, vibrant setting for your adventures and combat. For the last few years, we have been building and playing DND games in the World of Terra. Players have met some of the great warriors and leaders of the land, and have built pages and pages of lore, history and adventure.

Having narrative context to the missions, quests and combats you face can be very powerful in developing yourself as a Hero of Terra. Fighting a boss who was responsible for burning a small village in the Nystagmic Forest, is much more engaging and fun than fighting some nameless troll who stepped out of the forest into an open field to attack you.

Open BETA

Some parts of the game are going to require extensive testing in order to dial in. This is why we created the Open BETA, where your feedback and experiences will shape this game which we believe can change thousands and thousands of lives for the better. You can be part of something bigger that helps others to find their movement practice and to join a community of people developing themselves into the heroes of Terra. Who knows, maybe your story will be etched into legends and lore of the World of Terra…

If you want to join the BETA click below!

Introducing the World of Terra Fitness RPG