👋 Hey there,
Great to see you. Whether you're new here or a returning friend - grab your mug and let's dive into this week's topics. ☕️
🔎 Single Bean - Harken Scythe: Resharpened
Spooky season started early last issue with Magia Daemonica, but we're staying in the dark a little longer. Harken Scythe: Resharpened - brought to you by ACGaming - is a magic mod built around reaping souls and blood essence. Less about stacking spellbooks, more about slicing off heads and limbs to use the remains in rituals and crafting.
The core loop splits between a Soul Path and Blood Path. Scythes reap souls from kills, Glaives harvest blood from wounds. Both store essence in Keepers or Vessels, which fuel ritual crafting at Altars of Souls or Blood. You can resurrect entities with the Ancient Necronomicon, forge self-repairing Livingmetal gear, or craft Soulweave/Bloodweave armor that boosts essence collection. New mobs like Spectral Miners and mini-boss The Harbinger (where did I hear this before?) add combat variety, while the Dimensional Mirror lets you teleport using stored soul energy.
Links:
Tl;dr: An atmospheric magic mod without drowning you in complexity. Now please add dual-wielding scythe support so I can roleplay Darksiders 2. 🥺
📝 Roaster's Notes: Meet - Part 2
Alright, confession time: the plan for this week was an interview with . Then my life decided to flip the table again - if you've ever had one of those weeks where everything catches fire at once, you know the drill. Sorry for not pulling through, but we'll reschedule. So instead, we're picking up where we left off last week: part two with Foreck. If you missed the first round, that's where we covered RotN leadership and his art - this round is all about the mod that took home the 2025 Modjam. Second cup, darker roast.
The Translator's Path
Enderman: Before we talk mods though, I want to shine a light on your day job - I don’t know anyone else who translates stuff professionally, and I'm curious how one even gets there. What does that path look like? Do translation skills and modpack/world/lore design share anything in common for you, or are those completely separate mental gears?
Foreck: Interesting question. I studied translation at university because I was interested in using English for whatever path I chose (I'm a Spanish native speaker, from Chile!), and although I have indeed translated plenty of texts, more often than not I have occupied positions unrelated to the profession proper, like revision and data analysis. Much in the same way, I wouldn't say I ever tied translation directly to what I do in relation to the modded scene, but during my learning years I gained access to all sorts of media and social spaces, as well as a better understanding of them. In that sense, my entire formation helped me develop various skills that I use in all my projects, but that goes for all of us, doesn't it?
Before the Modjam
Enderman: Now for the project that occured on the spotlight in the first place: Traces of the Fallen took home the 2025 Modjam, but every winner has an origin story. Did you have the idea for the mod before the competition, or did the Modjam spark it?
Foreck: It began with the "lost cargo" item I had originally planned to create with Content Tweaker. WinDanesz (Dan) saw the model and we decided to expand on the concept of "what if this loot came with a price?"
Into Rebirth of the Night
Enderman: A Modjam-winning mod created by the lead dev of one of 1.12's biggest packs - the obvious question practically asks itself. Are there plans to use Traces of the Fallen in RotN, and if so, how would it be integrated into the overall experience?
Foreck: Absolutely! It has been a solomonic endeavor, designing the mod in such a way that Dan and I would be happy with it as a standalone, while sneaking in content that would fit almost seamlessly with the pack. One of the main goals when implementing it is to make the world feel more alive, with all these traces and beings pointing at civilizations long gone or waiting to be found around the corner, as well as horrors better left buried...
Spoiler Alert
Enderman: Since we've got you here anyway, let's peek behind the curtain - no promises on keeping secrets, of course. Any spoilers you'd like to share about upcoming features or additions?
Foreck: We've shared quite a few snippets of upcoming content without much context behind them. Some things I can explicitly mention include incense mechanics, at least 7 new mobs with custom animations, a deep expansion on goblins, tea, new weird artifacts, and more! I don't want to give away too much, but I'm particularly happy with the implementation of one creepy thing roaming around dark halls. The new goblin shamans are also very fun to play around with. Also, someone new to meet.
Beyond Biomes
Enderman: Currently, traces spawn across the world's biomes - but the overworld has more than just terrain, it has landmarks. And landmarks feel lonely without stories buried nearby. Have you thought about adding "traces" to specific structures instead of only biomes - especially places like the igloo, the woodland mansion, or desert temples?
Foreck: Originally, I had this idea that traces should be these larger "blocks" composed of three elements (large, medium, and small) to make them more than blocks, but less than structures. However, I have softened my vision on that, we are now traditional blocks as well as a fully new structure. In that sense, there will be traces in structures, but I hadn't considered adding to existing vanilla structures. If I'm honest with you, I think the best approach to that sort of feature is to combine different mods to decorate those structures according to the preferences of different packs, to their fullest potential. Can you tell I work on modpacks? 😉 Still, it's definitely an idea I will consider! It might present some unique opportunities...
Thanks for Brewing
Enderman: That's enough questions for one sitting - thanks again for the time, Foreck. Folks who want to follow along can find him on the 1.12 Coalition Discord, plus his CurseForge and Modrinth pages. Between Rebirth of the Night and Traces of the Fallen, there's plenty to track.
💬 Counter Talk
As time was tighter than usual this week - the newsletter felt like a cup that got cold before I could finish it. So instead of the usual brew, I'm just pointing out a few community updates worth noting. Hope things settle down by next week so we can get back to a more comfy experience for all of us.
Distant Horizons - 3.3.0 Released
Distant Horizons newest update landed on Modrinth this week. Still Cleanroom-only for now, but progress to run it on Forge is almost complete. Read the full changelog on Modrinth for all changes and fixes.
Pale Bloom - Updates and Fixes
For those who caught the Pale Bloom spotlight back in issue #005 - SirSquidly pushed an update including advancements, new configs, tweaks to its Pale Moss Cloak and Resin Bulbs. If you missed the first coverage, worth circling back to.
Cleanroom Loader Newsletter - v0.7.0
The people behind Cleanroom Loader (the Forge fork) published a new newsletter covering their upcoming v0.7.0 release. Topics also include ongoing friction with Modrinth, plus work on meta projects like Weblate (translation platform) and Chizu (1.12-only mod hosting platform).
🧽 Cleaning the Tables
Alright folks, that's the brew for this week. Thanks for sipping along. ☕️
Got a mod you think should get the Single Bean spotlight?
Hit reply or DM me on the Atmosphere.
Stay caffeinated,
~ Enderman