CRESCENT 2E 🌙
A downloadable tabletop game
Ahoy, little one! Welcome to The Daydream 🌙 ✨ 🐊
Ahoy, little one! You and your friends have just wandered into the strange world of The Daydream: An ever-shifting land carved out of wild imagination and whimsical dreams.
Sometimes The Daydream takes the form of an ample, glimmering sea. Other times, it presents itself as a dense forest, so thick you can hardly see above its leaves. Do not fret: While this land will do everything in its power to keep you within, a way out always lurks somewhere deep. Mind you, it won't be easy finding such a road—for The Moon, you see, watches your every step. Her wax and wane always loom over your path, and she will seek to lure you in deeper and deeper into this realm until you can't go back.
Alas, you may just manage to outsmart her: follow your heart, make acquaintance of the creatures that trod alongside your path, and (with some luck!) you may find your way home in no time.
Got it? Then buckle up!
A feelings-delving role-playing game of brave children, wild imagination, and fantastical adventures
CRESCENT (Second Edition) is an all-ages fantasy adventure game. Prepare to embark on a series of daring deeds across the strange lands of The Daydream—for a bold tale of vibrant landscapes, unlikely friends, and unbridled emotion awaits.
Will you find a way back home?
And if so, who will you be by the time your journey ends?
Take my hand and close your eyes. Let’s find out together.
The Game
- UNPREDICTABLE HIJINKS. Every time you embark on a new quest, you shuffle wacky abilities and chilling consequences into your character sheet. Reveal them midway through an adventure to escape danger together!
- THE STORY, TOLD YOUR WAY. Craft memorable tales with little to no setup—Powered by a light ruleset that encourages fast choices, creative problem-solving, and collaborative worldbuilding.
- CARD-BASED EVERYTHING. A haunted boomerang? That's a card! That time the Shadow Tiger kidnapped you? That's also a card. Your deepest fear? You won't guess it…it's a card! All of this and more lives on your character sheet as an ever-changing deck, ready to be printed out for play on a DIY home kit.
Digital Edition
This digital release of CRESCENT is a beautifully illustrated, 130-page PDF. It includes all you need to create a gang of mischievous rascals, detailed GM instruction on how to run Adventures across a full game campaign, a tome worth of in-game resources to generate characters and situations, and 1 fully-fledged starting adventure. A digital play template is also included with your purchase.
- 1 GM + 2-4 Players
- 2-3 hour sessions
- Appropriate for both oneshot games and campaigns of up to 12 sessions.
- Requires the print-at-home playsheets, polyhedral dices, pencils, and tokens.
📙Physical Edition launching in early 2025
Sign up to the One of Wands newsletter to be the first to hear about it. 🪃
The story continues…🩸
Join a band of exiles and claw out of the nightmare lands in EXILE, Crescent's dark fantasy sequel. The two games share a similar setting and ruleset, but can be enjoyed independently of one another.
Purchase
In order to download this tabletop game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $12.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Download demo
Development log
- 2e is out as a free update!3 days ago
- Merch Drop + 2e Coming Soon!Apr 22, 2024
- The Exiles Expansion ✴️ Last 24 hours!Mar 31, 2022
- THE EXILES — Crowdfunding now!Mar 11, 2022
- Miro play templates + THE EXILES announcement!Feb 20, 2022
- 1.3 release! Shop open and physical copies available!Dec 20, 2021
- version 1.2 is here ~!Oct 14, 2021
- full game is out!Sep 30, 2021
Comments
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Thank you so much for updating the game to the 2E version for us freely, Ema!
Hey hey! It's my pleasure :-) Thank you for your support!
Is there trait advancement in the game? 0, 0, 1 seems like not very good stats to keep for the whole thing, but I couldn't find anything talking about it. The game looks super neat and I'd love to be able to run it sometime if I can!
Hey Chocobloc! There is no Trait advancement in the game (although as part of kid creation you pick a Spark, which grants you an additional +1, and you can swap Sparks during the game). That said, if you're okay with waiting a couple of months, the second edition of the game is about to release during the fall, and it includes all-new rules that incorporate character progression more thoughtfully (much more akin to Exile's ruleset).
Let me know if you have any other question, and I hope you get to run the game! :-)
hi ema!
i wanted to ask, for the sake of fair compensation to you and because im not super sure about what the etiquette is, how you would feel about one party sharing the purchased pdfs amongst each other. Is it okay if only one of the party has bought the pdfs or would you prefer that everyone involved does?
Thanks in advance!
Hey Ellis! You are more than welcome to share around the game amongst friends, especially if you're planning to play—it's no big deal. As an alternative to a purchase, anyone is welcome to make a one-time donation. Happy gaming!
Hey Ema,
I was wondering what your stance is on people hacking CM for their own games - I personally would love to use some of the games' rules for my fantasy heartbreaker. Is there a licence to use (some) rules from your work?
Regardless, thanks a bunch for your time working on this and your other games!
run free to your heart's content!
Is CM a FITD hack too or is it its own thing?
Hey, Crescent is loosely based on Blades and takes inspiration from it on certain mechanics (dice building, phases of play, etc.) If you're familiar with BiTD it'll be definitely be a smoother learning curve, but prior knowledge of that engine is not required.
OK thank you!
CM is really lovely! Just wanted to ask if the double 1 result is chosen for criticals because there are times that d4 and d8 are rolled (instead of d6)? Or is there perhaps another reason?
right on!
Ah okay! I'll probably houserule doubles to be double-highest instead, it's easier for me.
So excited to read/play Exiles! Even its current "hacky presentation" looks sleek and polished
My experience with Crescent Moon tugs on my heart like the memory of a lost friend. Its structure created a magic circle around play where moments of unbridled joy, dreamlike surreality, melancholy and fear all sat in harmony. This is a trait shared by masterworks of the genre.
I saw that the kickstarter for the Exiles ended recently, but the page mentions the Exiles as a playable Link already, what does this mean? I really like the idea of the Exiles, but I don't know if I should wait until the page is updated with the Exiles content, or if it's already there and the kickstarter was just for a revised version.
Hello SinRyder! I'm afraid the game page is outdated in that section, as the base game doesn't include any support for The Exiles and the expansion must be bought separately. That said, you can find a free demo for the expansion over at https://pocketcompass.itch.io/exiles
While the Exiles' playkit is just a rough preview of the final game, you can feasibly get a game of it started in combination with base CM in the meantime 🙂
Hope that helps!
Perfect! I'll plan to buy CM soon and give Exiles a try, thanks for responding. I'll be sure to leave whatever feedback I or other players give!
Are physical copies available somewhere, or have they been delayed? I'd like to put it on my Christmas list since it's first on my very short list of physical goods I want, but I don't see anywhere to buy it.
Hello! It depends a bit on where you're based. Copies to the US are unfortunately delayed until we sort out some customs paperwork, so at this point it might not be possible to have an order delivered before Christmas if you plan to get it from a North-American shop > <. That said, the good news are that European retailers (including myself!) are receiving the game now, which will pop up for sale in different storefronts over the remainder of the month. You can expect an update post on this page over the next 1-3 weeks with a list of all the stores where the game is available for purchase. Thanks for the patience!
I have never DM'd a game before, but something about this tickles me in such a way that I'm determined to overcome my anxiety and make this one my first DMing experience. I keep coming back to check if the physical copies are released yet. I'm so excited. <3
Best of luck with DMing this Breena! It was a big goal of mine to make the role of The Moon as easy to pick up as possible, so hopefully you won't find it overwhelming. Thanks for looking forward to the physical release, they are close ❤️️
It just pokes me right in whatever part of my brain first made me excited about gaming. Wondrous, fun, warm, and absolutely gorgeous.
Congrats to the new release. Is there a way we could get a single pages PDF instead of the spreads?
Sure! I'll add it right away. May I ask why you find the single pages version easier to use? I always read on spreads and am curious :o
I'm not the original commentor but in my case, I prefer single pages partly because the screen of my cheap tablet is too small to read in spreads without zooming in a lot. Another tiny reason is it's became a habit after reading e-books and research papers exclusively in single pages.
May I ask for single pages version of the handouts set as well, if it's possible?
Hey! That makes a lot of sense. In the case of the handouts, I'm afraid they're laid out in single A4 pages since they're meant to be printed out, so there's no way to divide them in half. Sorry!
Oh, I understand so no need to apologize! Thanks for replying!
Thank you very much!
I have not yet found a good way to print speads as a brochure. If I have single pages my printer allows me to make a nice A5 copy.
Ooo, "magical otherworld" is one of my favorite things in media, and I never did really like combat in TTRPGs, at least when it wasn't presented as a problem to solve. That's why I like casters, they get fun tools like "throw things quick" and "move dirt around" instead of just "hit with axe." I'm going to keep an eye on this.
Ooooooohhhh, I just saw the description of The Dreamers and... oof, that's a little... too accurate to me. I've got a bit of a problem with escapism, I think. I'm one of the people that sees "may you have an interesting life" as a blessing, not a curse.
I love your game. I'm the creator of Inspirisles. Question: How did you set up pre-orders? I can't find the way to do it anywhere.
hello,
just like that !
Thank you! Think it was because I had mixture of free downloads too. Didn’t realise you could isolate prices.
Reading the Quickstart makes me truly excited for the book.
Beyond the wonderful art and layout, Crescent Moon is also delightfully written. I truly appreciate its gentle voice, that clearly guides the reader on the principles and flow of play. It reminds me of Quest, Wanderhome, but Crescent Moon also impresses me with how it develops a unique, possibly deep system of play.
I'm following this project for sure.