So I have created a game where there are three main attributes Force, Reflex and Spirit.

For each attribute the players roll 3d6 to start their character and choose the highest. The number they roll is the d6 dice pool they use to attack with, so if their Force is 4 they roll 4 dice to attack etc.

Now, the three stats are then combined to make three more stats that I want to use for opposed rolls and interacting with the world

• force + reflex = Power, used for grapples, lifting pushing etc.

• reflex + spirit = Intuition, opposed rolls using your senses, investigating

• force + spirit = Will, opposed rolls for magic and endurance.

So if my character has a Force of 5 and a Reflex of 3 their Power stat would be 8. My issue is that currently, to make an opposed roll you roll a single d6 and add it to your stat, this is rolled against an opponent doing the same. Whomever has the higher roll wins the contest

My question really is, does this make sense, to me it caps how strong a roll could be like if a stat is 8 like the example, the highest you could roll is 14 (+6 from the dice). Should i have maybe a roll 3d6 and try to get over your stat or am I just thinking about the dice pool all wrong.

Thanks.

In short, I'm flirting with the idea of players using blackjack to resolve actions in a game I'm working on, however I am unfamiliar with card based mechanics in ttrpgs and would like some insight, or at least some games to check out as examples.

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Then long contextual version is the game is about playing a group of filmmakers working on a grind house spaghetti western where the players play both the crew and the cowboys in the movie. If you fail a check, it would not mean you fail the action, but that the scene either goes sideways or it goes as planned but you go over budget for the scene (lose your bet).

We are Firebreathing Kittens, a podcast that records ourselves playing a different tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG) every week. This week we have a free actual play podcast of Cascade Effect. This two hour long recording, called “Aura Of Mishui”, demonstrates three players and a Game Master actually playing so you can listen to what it’s like and maybe try it yourself.

About Cascade Effect:

In its own words, “In Cascade Effect, players explore a near future collapsing under the weight of a climate that is changing faster than anyone expected. Players role-play characters that are about to embark on an adventure that reveals that the world is much more complex, strange, and dangerous than they ever thought. Not only are they discovering secrets about the world, they’re also starting to discover new abilities that seem to come from a connection to a mysterious intangible realm. Gameplay consists of the GM and players collaborating on a story. The GM presents a situation, and the players say what their characters are doing in the situation. Most of the time, anything a player describes their character doing just happens. However, if the action described is challenging to the character in some way, the GM will assign it a Difficulty number. To determine if you succeed, and at what cost, you must use your character's Metabolism scores to attempt to beat the Difficulty number. For every Challenge , choose a pairing of one Physical Metabolism and one Hidden Metabolism that you will use to attempt to overcome the Difficulty .”

Link: http://cascade-effect.com/

Oneshot recorded game session, Aura Of Mishui:

Bartholomew, Fennis, and Sadie respond to a request for help from Mishui to investigate an epidemic of memory loss. This episode uses the gameplay mechanics from the system Cascade Effect.

• Youtube: https://youtu.be/uDzukOLbVc8?si=3_i340gnZKv97UGT
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0qI21Cq9VdBTk9DUN2v5GZ
• Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/aura-of-mishui-cascade-effect/id1459051634?i=1000652684368

About us, Firebreathing Kittens podcast:

Firebreathing Kittens plays a different TTRPG every week. Four of the rotation of cast members will bring you a story that has a beginning and end. Every episode is a standalone plot in the season long anthology. There’s no need to catch up on past adventures or listen to every single release; hop in to any tale that sounds fun. Join as they explore the world, solve mysteries, attempt comedic banter, and enjoy friendship.

If you’d like to play with us, please visit FirebreathingKittensPodcast dot com and read the new members tab.

If you’d like us to play a completed tabletop roleplaying game you designed, please email us at FirebreathingKittensPodcast at gmail dot com. We reply to all emails within three days, so if we haven’t replied, then we haven’t seen your email, send it again.

Our reviews of Cascade Effect after playing it:

Review 1: “Cascade Effect is a really interesting and unique approach to a TTRPG with a lot of cool and interesting ideas, but it's held back by it's confusing ruleset. The complicated terminology and just the general way that the different mechanics were referred to was very misleading in a way that made the actual rules themselves much harder to understand than I think the game actually is.”

Review 2: “Cascade Effect was a fun game with unique mechanics that are a bit complicated to retain, but fulfilling when understood. I like the Physical / Hidden Metabolisms and how players can explain the way their Challenges are dealt with, especially getting to choose Traits, Taking Time, and Advantages to remove bad Complications and add positive Complications. Combat is tricky to learn, but makes sense after you practice. If the rule book gets edits to be easier to read, the game would become a hit! ”

Review 3: “Cascade Effect is a 37 page role playing game. Players create a character who has three physical metabolisms: fight, flight and focus, and three hidden metabolisms: self, near, and far. You have a number in each of these metabolisms, for example a 4 in fight, a 5 in flight, a 2 in focus, and ones in self, near, and far. To succeed at challenges, you add one physical and one hidden metabolism together and see if the sum can beat the difficulty rating. For example you'd use fight and near to punch an opponent, adding 4 from fight and 1 from near to be able to beat any challenge with a 5 or less. The challenge might have a negative complication, such as risky, strenuous, or stress. Risky changes your five points from an automatic successes to dice you roll. For a risky challenge, roll five six sided dice and any dice that gets a 4, 5, or 6 succeeds. Sixes explode; you roll an additional dice. The challenge might be strenuous, where any trait point you use is spent and must be refreshed. You could be at 3 out of 5 after a strenuous challenge. Or the challenge might be stressful, where each point of stress gained reduces your maximum by one going forward until that stress is removed. So risky, strenuous, and stressful are the three negative complications a challenge can have. As a player, you are trying to either remove these negative complications or add positive complications. Positive complications include controlled, relaxed, and satisfying. For controlled, you can add more metabolisms to your sum, for example adding your focus number of 2, increasing the sum of fight, focused, and near to 7 total. For relaxed, you can remove the strenuous tag. For satisfying, you can recover spent metabolism points. To apply these positive complications to a challenge, you the player are encouraged to find a way to apply one of your roleplaying character traits, find a way to take your time, or find a tactical advantage such as getting the right tool for the job or the element of surprise. That's my explanation for how I interpreted Cascade Effect's rules as working. As for my thoughts about the system, I think the rule book could use some more examples to help new players understand how it works. Once I understood how the rules worked they work fine, it just took me longer to learn to create a character sheet and to play than it would have if there had been more examples. I do appreciate that Cascade Effect is different from other systems. The creator could add these four examples to the rulebook: one some example pre-made character sheets, two an example of each complication being applied in combat, three an example for each of the three player actions: using a trait, taking time, and finding an advantage, and four some example enemy stats.”

Plot Summary of Aura Of Mishui:

!The episode begins with the adventurers, Bartholomew Xalvador, Fennis Lightwall, and Sadie Duca in the Firebreathing Kittens Guildhall, where they notice a job posting for the town of Mishui, which has been experiencing strange occurrences leading to memory loss and comas among its inhabitants. Intrigued by the mystery, the group decides to take on the job.!<

!Upon arriving in Mishui, the adventurers encounter a barrier that triggers a dissociative experience, revealing hidden auras around them. Inside the town, they meet Wren Hursh, an old acquaintance of Fennis, who provides some insight into the situation. The town appears to be under a spell causing people to see things, fall unconscious, or wander around in a memory lapse. Taking one of the comatose people far from town, the old man wakes up and explains how they are all trapped in a shared dream, and most don’t seem to want to leave. The team learns from a local, Barry- that a woman named Kahono Estrada recently returned from the big city with an item she acquired from out of town, which coincides with the onset of the town's troubles.!<

!The adventurers decide to investigate Kahono's home, where they meet her parents, who are also affected by the spell. Posing as Kahono, Sadie manages to gain access to her room, where they find evidence of copper scraps and a piece of foreboding filament that might be linked to the spell. As they prepare to leave the house, they hear a scream outside.!<

!Rushing out, they find Wren frightened and Barry collapsed on the ground with his aura gone. Ren describes a cotton candy-like tentacle that attacked Barry, pointing towards the Tavistock Manor as its origin. The team decides to head to the manor to confront the source of the spell, hoping to find answers.!<

!Arriving at the manor the team discovers a rock man in the garden, after some effort they haul him out of town in a wheelbarrow to question him properly.!<

!He identifies himself as Ashton Tavistock, the Marquess of Mishui, and he reveals that shortly before his dream began, he was attacked. He begs the team to go back to the manor and find his wife; Esther, who was not present in the shared dream, and gives them the key to the manor.!<

!As they walk back to the Manor, an aura similar to the filament they had found appeared to enshroud it, and Fennis realized he recognized something about the mysterious aura that covers both of them. He tells the team that the copper artifact they are looking for involves an ancient powerful magic and that it likely originates from the Fomui Dunes.!<

!After entering Tavistock Manor, the adventurers find the source of the strange occurrences in Mishui. They encounter Kahono Estrada, a young woman wielding a scepter that emanates a powerful aura, with Esther at her feet. Through a combination of strategy, skill, and a bottle of acidic chemicals, the team manages to disarm Kahono and destroy the scepter, effectively ending the spell over the town.!<

!Kahono reveals that she acquired the scepter from a pirate in Jishoap, believing it would grant her power. However, the scepter's magic was too much for her to handle, leading to the unintended consequences in Mishui. Bartholomew examines the remnants of the scepter and realizes that it is an ancient artifact, possibly from a shipwreck off the coast of Jishoap that contained treasures from the Fomui dunes.!<

!With the town saved and the mystery solved, the adventurers are rewarded by the Marquis and Marquess of Mishui with a monetary prize and a week-long vacation in the town. !<

I am creating a TTRPG at the moment and I'm having a hard time figuring out what is a good program to create a full documents with rules. Possibly one where I can make something similar to the 9th edition of Warhammer 40k's army books?

Okay, bear with me please. The dice mechanics are:

1. Each character has three stats (standard Str., Dex., Int). Each stat has three sub stats (Social, Combat, and Traversal).

2. The substats have a Tier and a Rank.

• Tier is the number of dice you roll (1 being the best, 3 being the worst)

• Rank is the kind of dice you roll (D12, D10, D8, D6, D4). D4 being the best, D12 being the worst.

3. Lower roll = better, and most dice rolls are contested. The fundamental math is such that 3d12 can technically beat 1d4, so success is always possible, but it's much more rare than the 5% chance of a d20.

4. Your HP is your dice rank. You gain ranks in that substat, and each time you fail, you mark down one rank. You'll still roll at the highest achieved, but once you've run out of ranks, you can't use that skill until the encounter is over.

THE ACTUAL QUESTION:

Currently, the player sheet is grouped via Main Stat, in columns side by side, like so- https://imgur.com/a/Jowk7Cl . Would you group them via skill type - Social//Combat//Traversal?

• My hope is to encourage players to rank up a variety of skills, rather than just all in on one stat. so maybe it'd be better to present them as almost like a venn diagram, where each substat points in the same direction?

Anyway, if you have any ideas or know of anyone who has used a dice system like this, please let me know. I'd love to see how they arranged it. Thank you!

I'm currently working on a compact (simple, high-concept) setting and system. I would like some feedback on the base structure of the game and if you think this is a good core design.

My first inspiration is anything relating to occult mysteries in a modern-ish setting; WoD, Kult, Call of Cthulhu, Hellblazer, etc.

My second inspiration are the games from the Free League, which are often "high-concept" systems. High-concept for me means that they are focused on telling a specific type of story rather than being more general for a broader application, for example Free League's Alien RPG.

The Core

In the Cold Case Unit (CCU) the players assume the roles of police and specialist investigators working for a CCU. My version is going to be set in a fictional city in Maine named Ravencliff (I'm not from the US thou), but the system is going to be setting neutral. The investigators are all special in some way, they have been chosen for this CCU for a reason. The player characters are all "psycho-sensitive" in some way. In-setting this means that they have a supernatural ability to experience psychic echos. They can experience things that have happened in the past as if they were there themselves (and maybe some other abilities, WIP). This ability is key to the game structure. Every cold case should revolve around some form of occult event that has not been fully understood/explored.

Every player is going to play two characters. The primary character is the investigator working for the CCU. Every campaign revolves around a new cold case. This introduces the secondary character: every player also plays a person that was present at the time when the events leading to the cold case file happened.

Play is going to be structured around the investigation of the cold case. The investigators play is going to be focused around the players piecing together what truly happened in the past. The secondary characters play is going to be focused around experiencing the past first hand and exploring the weird occult events that took place from the perspective of someone that has no knowledge of the occult.

If the investigators find new evidence or explore a place where the cold case took place the play group might all switch to their secondary characters and play thru a "flashback". This can be done multiple times during a game session, or every other session could be a flashback. Whatever works best for the play group. What the characters do in the past will shape what happens in the future (within reason of course).

What I want is to try to capture the two sides of playing in a modern occult setting. The investigators don't know what happened but they know about the occult and can start to piece together the bigger picture. The secondary characters have no knowledge of the occult and can focus on exploring the unknown (whatever the players enjoy here, horror, weirdness, etc). What happens in the past matters and players choices should shape the investigation in the future. Optimally the mysteries of the case should not be clear for anyone except the investigators in the future. This might also include a final confrontation with "the monster" or whatever happened in the past. The secondary characters can die and players might switch to new ones depending on what happens in the past.

System

Probably something story-focused and simple, like the Year Zero Engine

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Does this sound like it would be fun to play? Is it needlessly complicated? Is this just a unplayable game-play disaster? Any and all opinions are welcome.

I've been working on a system for about a month now, and I'm having second thoughts about the ability checks mechanic I chose.

Basically, you roll 4d6 and determine the outcome based on the doubles. So if two dice come up as 5s, you rolled a five. Two pairs are just the two numbers added together, and a three of a kind is the number doubled.

I'm looking at it and I'm worried it's too complicated. I like the feel of rolling a bunch of dice, and I love the sort of vague gambling vibe to it, but if it's too slow or confusing, I want to change it.

So I'm currently designing a system that takes inspiration from systems like DND, Pathfinder, VTM, and Ordem Paranormal (a very popular TTRPG in Brazil). Each of these systems deal with Downtime in different ways.

I want to make Downtime mainly something for recovering resourses (Health, Mana, ability uses). But I want to see how other systems besides the ones already mentioned handle it. Would you give me some systems for me to check out and study?

Hi everyone, like everyone here i'm designing my own TTRPG. Think of it as a classless fantasy system where only the players roll. I've researched tons of systems and i mean tons of them, but i can't seem to decide on a dice/resolution mechanic.

So far i've considered using d6 dice pools, where you roll your skill dice against a target number and add atributes as modifiers.(Think Heroes and Hardships with smaller pools or Fantasy AGE with less modifiers)

One problem i had is that when players roll to defend... it felt weird. Like the dice pool just doesn't work in my brain when they're reacting.

Because of that, i changed combat to work like in Runecairn where players roll the damage dice(d4,d6,d8,d10,d12) and the attacks always hit. They also roll a dice to defend or let armor absorb it.

It worked... it was fast and punchy and felt great. But now having dice pools only for the skill rolls feels weird. I suppose i could use atributes or skills as step dice but they felt clunky when i started writing and the d20 is a no-no for me.

Dice pools, Atributes, Fixed Numbers, Meta Currencies, Skills. One thing begins to fit with the other and suddenly it doesn't. Can you guys help me?

sooo hypothetically speaking, if my rpg had the option to build character with stacking "resistance/save check", how many exactly would wou consider too much?

for example, you are making a character with a race that gives you proficiency with vitality, thus giving you a +1 resistance check in case your standard check fails. you also choose a class that gives you the same vitality proficiency, adding up to +2 checks.

you also gain a passive from your personality perks/traits, giving you +1 and adding up to +3 checks.

this is a very basic form of example(yes there is a chance of getting bigger ammounts, dunno how much exactly since havent tried yet), but how op/broken do you think this would be? do you think having multiple chances to resist the attacks per fight is too much?

for the record, i do have a balancing plan, where once you use the extra save checks beside the standard one, you can only regain them back after the fight is over, meaning you cant use them again during the fight whey were consumed.

I'm being a little vague with terms because I don't know the history of guns very well, but I'm talking maybe ear;y 19th century and earlier. I heard a quote that a soldier in the late 18th (?) century who could fire 3 shots a minute was a good soldier.

So the question is, how can such weapons -- if replicated relatively accurately -- be implemented in a RPG in a realistic and balanced manner? I think pretty much any other weapon could do far more damage in the span it takes for them to shoot again, ignoring the iffy accuracy of the gun.

I know actual armies used them effectively through certain group tactics, but I don't know how well that applies to 3-6 players in an RPG.

One thought is that they could be most useful as an opening salvo, such as the group firing off some shots before charging a group of enemies. Maybe the value would come in pistols that leave a hand open in a sword while packing decent firepower or also a psychological factor. Maybe there could even be an effect with the gunpowder smoke that obscures enemy shooters, giving value to shooting first. I don't know.

Another thought is that firearms could be much more useful at farther ranges. So if you're attacking a group of enemies 100-200 feet away (?), it's worth the reloading time, but if they're 40-80 feet away, it'd probably be better to just use a sword. I don't know.

What do yall think about this? Do you think it might just be better to do what games like 5e DND do, which is basically pretend that guns aren't guns mechanically; at least, have them function like Civil War or later guns without outright admitting their modernity? I'm curious what yall have to say.

EDIT: I'm probably going to ignore bows and crossbows (at least first) so as to focus on guns and get them right. Plus, it's meant to be set later, technology-wise

Hi!
I'm making a PBtA game inspired on Ironsworn among other systems.
I'm trying to emulate 3 degrees of success + crits. Like BitD But with poker/french cards instead of dice.

Rules:
One draw a number of cards tipically in the range from 1 to 5.
If one of them have a Face (J,Q,K) is a success. If there are 2 Faces, the result is a Crit.
If no Faces but 7+ Sucess with a Complication.
Else is a Fail.

What are the odds? I suspect similar distribution like the Original D6, just a bit easy to reach full success.

Burning Wheel introduced the notion of giving character belief, instinct and traits that are way to define a character give opportunities for story. The example they give of a Belief in Burning Wheel is "It's always better to smooth wrinkles than ruffle feathers", which could give way to a lot of cool story bits.

By roleplaying a belief, instinct and traits you gain meta-currencies that can help you out in the game.

It was then reused for Mouse Guard and Torchbearer (and probably other).

It is a very short summary of the mechanism, but I'm curious to know what do you think about this type of mechanism?

If you every played one of this game, or any that use a similar mechanic, is it something that you enjoy as a player? Or as a GM do you think it often leads to cool stories? Or is it too hard to create a good belief/instinct/etc.. ?

I'm just curious about this type of mechanism and wanted to discuss it with this community! Thanks for reading and have an awesome day!

What is your opinion on Organized Play as a form of marketing?

Back in the 2010's, I got into D&D through the Organized Play groups that formed around that time: D&D Encounters and then Living Forgotten Realms.

I'm curious if any other companies do Organized Play.

I know in the Wargaming Hobby there used to be Press Gangers and Wyrd Games Henchmen that would be community representatives for promoting games. In particual Wyrd's Henchmen would get prize support for running tournaments and such.

Business wise for larger companies I could see running Organized Play groups as a way of pre-releasing modules/adventures to a select few to act as promotion for the base game and the supplmenet the module/adventure is made for.

Thoughts?

I want to add a “Block Based” way of casting spells to my system. I’m defining this as rather than having a long list of predefined spells, players can mix and match individual spell components to make custom spells. I know that this is a well traveled method, and I would like some suggestions of other games with this system to gather inspiration from.

I noticed the math in my game can get a little wacky at times (like, multiplying triple digit numbers by decimal values), so I was wondering if an app could be helpful for this kinda stuff.

Then I thought, why not take advantage of the app being a thing to include math that'd otherwise be impractical with only pen & paper.

Like having damage values be exact numbers with 80-100% variance instead of needing to roll and count a bunch of dice.

From what I've experienced, companion apps super commonplace now & get used a lot for 5e, Pathfinder, GURPS, etc. Though those are usually just for character sheets and dice rolls, and aren't exactly required.

Would an app being required to skip calculations detract from the experience much?

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Edit:
okay so I made this post while half asleep, but I felt the need to clarify that for my specific use-case, it's only for damage calculations. The triple digit thing is more or less an exaggeration, but functionally all the player does on their end is pass three values (your offence, target defence, and skill multiplier).

It's absolutely on me for not being more specific, but I'll keep everyone's advice in mind going forward w/ regards to abstraction and speed. In the meantime I'll try to scrap out a playtest version and report back on my players' impressions.

Okay, so it's a bit of a shot in the dark, but I'm developing an RPG (my first). I've playtested it to death. I've finished the rulebook. I've even had a presence at local gaming conventions and events and so far, people really love the game. So far all I've got is a Facebook page with two thousand followers (many of which I'm sure are bots) and a plain manuscript.

I just don't have the capital, knowledge or means to continue just on my own as a self-publisher. The people who like this game, REALLY like this game.. and I feel compelled to do what I can to get it out there. Does anyone know anybody?

I posted this on another subreddit and got a lot of really useful and welcome advice for selfpublishing and fundraising which I'm now seriously considering, but I'd love to understand my options more.

I am thinking about dungeon delving, and a roguelike/into the breach feeling. So heavily grid-based tactics, very little randomness

I want to start thinking by using some of the small RPGs out there (like cairn), but, as far as I understand, most of those Old School Revival RPGs are not heavily grid based. Is there any small game out there that focuses heavily on grid combat?

so i have been making my own overwatch x dnd type of combat system (based off dnd 5e) for me and my friends to play and since this is my first time making a pvp based combat system i was hoping to get some sort of feedback to know how well the balancing is (a normal game that we plan on doing is supposed to be a 5v5 1 tank 2 damage and 2 support)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o4AVjlw0XF5EQHV3NBEq31TahT6iQ3zSr1CLkGXMkPY/edit?usp=sharing

Hot take / rant warning

What is it with this prevailing sentiment about avoiding math in your game designs? Are we all talking about the same math? Ya know, basic elementary school-level addition and subtraction? No one is being asked to expand a Taylor series as far as I can tell.

And then there's the negative sentiment about stuns (and really anything that prevents a player from doing something on their turn). Hell, there are systems now that let characters keep taking actions with 0 HP because it's "epic and heroic" or something. Of course, that logic only applies to the PCs and everything else just dies at 0 HP. Some people even want to abolish missing attacks so everyone always hits their target.

I think all of these things are symptoms of the same illness; a kind of addiction where you need to be constantly drip-fed dopamine or else you'll instantly goldfish out and start scrolling on your phones. Anything that prevents you from getting that next hit, any math that slows you down, turns you get skipped, or attacks you miss, is a problem.

More importantly, I think it makes for terrible game design. You may as well just use a coin and draw a smiley face on the good side so it's easier to remember. Oh, but we don't want players to feel bad when they don't get a smiley, so we'll also draw a second smaller smiley face on the reverse, and nothing bad will ever happen to the players.

Hey folks.

I feel we are getting really close to finalising the main book for Dark Era.

Right now I need other eyes to review it and look for 'things that are missing'. This can be just about anything else really that you would want to see in the game.

Then we can collate them all and look at what goes into the Core book or to the Dossiers (supplemental books).

I really appreciate any help you can provide.

Link to site where you can join Discord and/or download the current files

DarkERARPG dot com

Edit: Have attempted to post this here before but was filtered.

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Hello, my game is centered around discovery and exploration of the unkown, it is set in a mythological ancient earth, where settlements are sparse and civilization is rare, as the world is not kind to you, survival will be the main challenge of the game mechanically (it's as much about if you can survive this fight as it is about if after surviving it you have the strenght necessary to reach the next settlement). The game aims at taking place in between settlement as much as in them.

I'm trying to make the idea of discovering knowledge, information, regions and other societies central in most systems of the game, for example progression is greatly enhanced with books (which can be found in libraries in the biggest cities or more often in the wilderness in some ancient ruin forgotten by time) by seeing someone do a feat that you are trying to learn or by finding someone that can teach you.

Magic is a part of the game, but even though late game could be pretty high magic, as knowledge has been forgotten, magic and runes are not known and those who know them keep them as a very well kept secret. Survival and magic made me think about potions, and I think some potion producing system that we will now call alchemy was a perfect fit.

I want to have a system that mechanically feels like beeing an alchemist, trial and error, trying new materials to see their effects and writing them down. This feel is perfectly in line with the idea of discovery, so my first thought was to create a system where ingredients didn't have a predetermined effect, but the effects could be discovered by generating them the first time an ingridient was used at the table. A few doubts about this approach have come to mind:

• If the effect is generated on the spot with a die I'm not sure the feel will be of discovery but more of randomness and if the effect wasn't what the players were hoping for they would feel betrayed by the die. A solution could be having the effects generated by the GM, but this is adding more work on GMs, even if it's not properly putting designer work on them as I would include instructions on how to do it, it doesn't look good. I want people to play my game, not work on it.
• Having known effects adds reasons to travel around the world, which is core to my game. For example "there is a centipide that when properly mixed with copper allows you to float, it lives on the flower that grows on top of the southernmost mountain in the eastern shore" and then the players have a gameplan, they have a trip and everything is set up. Some effect, not all, could be decided by the GMs, but this could, again, feel wierd for the players as they would see everything getting generated and this wouldn't be, it could feel as cheating in some sense (I know some people here value stories beeing interesting more than appearances of fairness, but I value the appearances as much)

I think the idea of discovery is the right direction in this alchemy subsystem, but I think I need some thinkering, and I hope and know you can help. Do you think my worries are worth worring about?

So I decided this weekend to make THIS.

An easily edited table that breaks down my game into its core elements and what factors into them. I can now copy/paste this page for each skill and highlight which parts of my game that skill will touch. This will help give each skill its own identity as well as being a guideline for the design of Talents/Special Abilities. In my crunchy game it can be rough to come up with varied but impactful talents after i run out of ideas for mechanically translating popular tropes into my game. Now I can easily just point at one of these nodes and think of all the ways that particular aspect could be modified or influenced by a Talent and start designing from there.

I don't know if this will be useful for anybody else but I thought I'd share a little something I came up with this weekend and think is neat.

Hello friends. I am Gautam and I have been playing lite RPGs for a while now because proper RPGs are too complex for me. That notwithstanding, I have always wanted to play complex scenarios like in my favourite grand strategy games by Paradox Interactive such as EU4, CK3 and Hoi4. That's why I made this, Dynasty RPG, a grand strategy TTRPG with simple rules. Hopefully you guys like it.

Link here

So, I'm attempting a sort of revival mechanic in my system. Now this has some mixed implications in my head. On the one hand, Destiny 2 is one of main inspirations and I like how it incorporates respawning as an actual lore bit; on the other hand, I'd need a substantial bit of work to make sure there's still a element of danger and risk. So here's what I've got:

Each player had a limited number of revives (probably 3 and going up to 5 by max level). Characters have low HP values and 4 wounds; when a character reaches 0hp, they suffer a wound and reset their hp to full. When a character suffers 4 wounds, they die... for the time being. After a set number of rounds/turns (undecided), they return to life, fully healed but at a cost (reduced thier stat, hp, or mana maximum, take a bane, lose an ability, etc). Other characters can interact with the dead character's relic (the object that gives them their revive) to shorten the wait time.

This is just a rough idea. I'm not sure how well it works as opposed to having meaningful ways to make character deaths interesting or other ways of having PCs cheat death via class abilities, talents, racial traits, etc or some other mechanic like "hero points", but that's why I'm looking for a second opinion. What do you guys think about something like this? Would it work in a ttrpg (kinda in the middle of gritty and heroic; PCs are powerful in the scope of the world, but will face equally dangerous threats at any turn) or does it come off as too game-y to maintain immersion and such?

Basically, at the start of initiative, every player rolls 1d8, the lower the better. If a player rolled a 1, its their turn. At the end of your turn, you turn your die to the max value and, everyone else turns their dice to the side 1 lower (so if they rolled a 7, they would put it with the 6 side facing up). Then just keep going, taking your turn on 1s (players go before monsters on ties).

At face value, this seems overly complicated for something that mimics traditional initiative, but I want to introduce mechanics that let you take mini reactions during turns that are not yours. "Step" lets you move 1 tile, "Dodge" or "Defend" lets you try not to die. Missed attacks could let you move your die lower (your turn sooner) while getting hit moves it up. "Ready" lets you move your die down twice. Rogues or players with a haste type spell on them could roll 1d6 or 1d4 for initiative instead.

I like the concept of this, since its inspire by the way video game rpgs do it like Child of Light. I enjoy the idea of rogues having more turns than other players instead of just going sooner, which only really matters in early stages of combat. I realize that this method can be too crunchy and slow, but thats why I wanted to ask if there is anyway to improve it or add mechanics that make it bearable. Or is there another ttrpg that tries something like this, or has similar mechanics. I know initative has been a tough problem for a lot of people, so Im throwing my hat into the ring and seeing if I can hit gold.

Hello hello! I'm working on my "your PC gets to the end of their rope" segment and I'm curious on how you handle hard-to-kill PCs? I have 2 approaches:

Destiny is one of my major inspirations for my setting and I kinda like how they incorporate the idea of legendary heroes that are functionally immortally and required the enemy to adapt to learn how to kill them. Whether this a biological "your body regenerates", having some special item that can heal lethal wounds or keep your soul from crossing over, or being a sort of revenant in which you did die and have no soul, but your consciousness remained intact enough to keep living, albeit with some issues. It keeps the power fantasy while reminding you to not get too comfortable with having a little buddy that can give you a 999th attempt at ramming your face into the same giant monster. One of the Fragged games does this (Aeternum iirc).

Plot armor is something I have mixed feelings about. While I understand suspension of disbelief is usually needed for rpgs, seeing how daggerheart handles PC death got me thinking of ways to make those possible final moments more interesting. Do they fall a hero or do they live at a cost? So many times in 5e campaigns I've played, someone drops to 0, but we always have a healer so no one ever feels like they're in any danger and it makes that turn you missed while your PC was fighting for their life feel less... important? But having some way to make dropping to 0hp feel exciting, where it's hype moment of survival or a heart-wrenching loss of a character.

What are your thoughts? How do you guys handle lethality PC death in heroic settings or games where your characters are powerful, but taking on equally dangerous threats? Are the mechanics and rp aspects separated or combined? Discuss!

I'm working on a hack of a D% system and trying to find a way around variable weapon damage through damage dice. I'm really into the idea of a to-hit-roll with degrees of success in combination with static weapon damage. Levels of success are resolved by black jack like "roll under your ability score, but roll over the armor score of the enemy".

Since i wanted PCs with differing ability scores also dealing different amounts of damage, i got inspired by the way weapons work in the Dark Souls games. Each weapon type has one or more scaling factors which determine the overall damage the weapon inflicts on a hit with increasing player level.

The way i would implement this is by dividing the PCs ability score, which is relevant for the weapon, by the corresponding scaling factor.

One example: A wooden club may have a STR scaling of 10. Let there be two PCs who are equipped with a wooden club. We suppose both are equally skilled in melee combat and thus have the same chance to succeed in the to-hit-roll. PC 1 with a STR score of 40 hits 4 damage with the club. PC 2, which is physically stronger, may have a STR score of 60 and would inflict 6 damage with the same club on his enemies. When compared, the difference is only 2 damage between PC 1 and 2.

Now consider a morning star with a STR scaling of 5. PC 1 would deal 8 damage. But PC 2 would hit with a whooping 12 damage. That's a difference of 4 damage.

If a weapon has multiple factors (e.g. DEX+INT for an enchanted bow which shoots magical arrows) the resulting damage is summed up.

What do you think of this approach? Would you eagerly look for a new weapon which makes more use of your character's abilities among the loot or would you be annoyed by recalculating damage values each time you level up or aquire a new weapon.

I'm happy for any feedback :)

My system I'm working on DAUNTLESS is a d10 dice pool game, taking inspiration from the spire/heart/resistance.

The main difference is it has more rolling and feels a bit more like savage worlds with some of the extra mechanics.

I am currently stuck trying to decide if I should have saving throws.

For when something bad happens to the players (bomb goes off somewhat close) should they have a chance to save? Or should they take some stress and that's life?

I'd like to hear your opinions on doing math versus manipulating dice results in a game.

Under the math header, I mostly mean adding or subtracting numbers. That can go from the basic "+2 to attack rolls" to "add modifiers to your TN then roll under 1/4 of it to get a crit".

On the other hand would be things like "roll Xd6, dice explode on a 6" all the way to "assemble dice in a set, save dice from one set to add them to another, split sets, etc."

A couple questions to get us started:

• Which approach do you prefer personally?
• Which approach do you think is simpler to teach, then use?
  • Is there a point of complexity at which you think the other approach becomes simpler?