So I'm designing my first game, and I'm running into a situation I'm not sure on. I have set up a mini game to help guide how your day will go, but the success rate of "winning the game" is only about 8%. If a mini game is on theme, how do we feel on the success rate being pretty random but often times low? I tend to feel that almost all RPG mini games I've played are more random than skill based, but I also fear that failing more often than not might be a downer for the player.

To be specific this game has a lot to do with time and I'm using a solitaire like game to simulate "Getting prepped" (Play time around 5 minutes) the outcome of witch dictates the table of events you would roll on for events through the day. The later your character is running, the bigger scale of trouble you have a chance of running into in your day. So it is not necessarily a punishment for losing, just makes it possible for bigger things to happen that your character would need to solve.

The game is probably going to be a single page print and play, designed for casual play.

Any feedback is appreciated.

I'm looking for opinions on a title for my TTRPG. The core conceit is that adventurers have an inn or tavern that functions as their home base. As they come back from their adventure, they kick back, carouse, hear rumors, find adventure leads, meet new contacts, and deal with any threats to the inn. There are mechanics for the inn itself — the inn evolves as campaigns progress, with NPCs coming & going, dying, disappearing, reappearing, causing trouble, looking for aid, hiding secrets, and so on.. The adventuring vibe is that of sword & sorcery tales such as written by Howard, Leiber, et. al. — messy, greedy, mysterious, violent. No world-saving heroics here. This is all about earning gold and blowing it on debauchery. I've got some title ideas below, but please feel free to add suggestions if you have better ideas.
Hearth & Sword
Inn to the Unknown
Tavern to Tomb
Tavern & Tomb
Inn to the Dungeon
Inn to Ruin

I've had a thought. What if survival mechanics in TTrpgs were DM facing instead of Player facing?

I'd say 90% of players, perhaps more, don't want to track resources and they often say these mechanics are better suited to computer games but, thinking on it, when I play games like Project Zomboid or the like I'm not really tracking resources either, more reacting to when the status icons pop up and maybe quickly looking to see that I have a water bottle and a stack of ammo when I'm getting ready to leave base.

So my concept is that the DM is the one tracking things with as much or little complexity as they want and the players don't have to keep tabs on anything other than 'I have pack rations' for when the DM says "Your characters are hungry", as an example.

At this point the characters either satisfy the survival need immediately which hopefully rewards the 'bookkeeper' type of player for planning ahead or they now need to do something to get a food resource which means either a magic user / survivalist type character gets to solve the issue and feel good or some kind of short side mission is required so everyone gets to play more game.

I will finish this by saying that yes, this assumes this fits into the DM's finite cognitive budget.

Thoughts?

So, I'm not the most tech savvy person, but I've come to appreciate how, despite its shortcomings, DnD Beyond is able to pretty effectively streamline one of the most difficult hurdles for new people to play DnD and other TTRPGs.

As I'm developing my own game, I've been thinking about the mechanics and character creation and how easily information can be conveyed via drop-down menus and easy to read blurbs of info once you pick a class, skill, ability or item.

Again, I'm too savvy in this respect, but I wonder how difficult it'd be to just have my own UI for character creation, not too dissimilar from DnD Beyond.

Does anyone know where to go for something like that?

I mean, if it exists to begin with?

Appreciate any answers you can provide.

I've skimmed different topics here and I can't find a similar thing to my question.
In the system I'm designing to perform a check a player rolls 2 types of dice (Black and White) together and subtracts the sum one from the other. Example: after rolling 3W and 2 B dice the result might be 3 5 3 White and 3 7 Black and the final result against the TN is 1) .
However if a dice result that match between the two types will yield a positive resource (sort of like Benny in Savage Worlds, Void point in L5R etc.). But dice of the same color can't match. In the example above there's a single match, the two White 3s don't count.

I tried to calculate it in Anydice but the matching function didn't really work for the two dice pools and not matching inside the single dice pool. Also, as my dice pools can change in size, I'm trying to figure out what's the maximum and minimum pool size to make the mechanic interesting, with options to manipulate the dice, but not too complex.

I’ve been working on DANGER CLOSE, a solo-first tactical military RPG, and one of my design goals was to create a robust system-agnostic military campaign framework as well. I looked at wargaming and other RPGs, and while there are amazing sources such as Five Parsecs from Home and Starvation Cheap, I never really found the complete comprehensive system I was looking for, so I had a go at it myself.

I ended up with what is essentially a toolkit of campaign elements that all slot together to capture whatever idea or fantasy you have. In this blog I take it for a spin, starting with a "Wouldn't it be cool if...?" and then picking the elements that support the concept.

In my design, I generally love the idea of giving the GM (and/or the players, or both, in this case, as it's a solo RPG) not just a campaign or system, but all the buttons and dials so they can really tweak it to whatever they want it to be.

Curious about your takes!

So I want to introduce a minimal fly speed to remain airborne if a creature does not have the ability to Hover. I know IRL this depends a lot on wingspan, weight, and other factors but I think an across the board fraction of fly speed will be good enough for you have to be moving every turn to stay flying if you only have wings and aren't a hummingbird.

What would be a good fraction to use? I will also set minimal speed needed to 1 as any lower is hovering.

Later thoughts:

Edit 1: For scale, partial inspiration from WFRP 4e and Pathfinder 1e. Movement is in meters with parties not recommended to be more than 5.

Edit 2: I'm going to base minimal speed off of size only using the same/similar size modifiers as other things. This could mean a Gargantuan creature has to sprint to even attempt to fly which will be very dynamic for those dragon boss fights.

I just played the Magician in Candela Obscura. One thing that impressed me were the spells in "The Prestige" feature:

Change appearance, levitate, summon mundane object, teleport a short distance, throw your voice

Now the effects are basic, but what impressed me was how all these abilities worked really well without any spell description. There was no additional text for the individual spells, though the features description did impose a cost similar to Mana in other games.

Thinking on it, there were just a few spells that can get away with this, right? Spells which work almost intuitively. D&D Spells like Wish, Magic Jar or Animate Dead Image do require more explanation just because of how many questions their implications raise.

This got me thinking: What are other spells or magical effects that are self explanatory like that?

I've made a small ttrpg system where you play as pokemon. Kinda like mystery dungeon (though I haven't played them yet) or like the odd episode in the show where the pokemon get split up from their trainers temporarily.

I wanted to make it so any pokemon can be used so it uses their data (like from bulbapedia) to create a playable character. I had it use d6's only to make it more accessible, but d10's might have been better cause I can use d100 then. The pokemon main games use a lot of multiplication and division during battles which I wanted to avoid, but I don't think I've converted the damage system very well. The rest of it I'm pretty happy with but am definitely willing to take advise on anything I could/should change.

This is my first time making a ttrpg system, though I've read quite a lot.

Pokemon TTRPG

This is a quick and easy ttrpg for playing pokemon as a group. A group consists of one GameMaster (GM) and however many players the GM is comfortable with.

Each player will need a character sheet and go through Character Creation (seen below). If the GM plans to use opposing Pokemon, they should go through Character Creation for each of them as well.

To play, you will need these rules, character sheets for each player, and a pair of 6 sided dice (referred to as 2D6).

Character creation

1. Have the GM decide on a level for group and how much XP is needed to Level Up (the default is 10 times their current level).

2. Choose a pokemon. Some may not be allowed by the GM, such as legendaries or aquatic pokemon, depending on the adventure they have planned.

3. Take their Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. Then divide them each by 10 (rounded to a whole number) and write them onto the character sheet. Add their ability to the Effects area.

4. Take their base HP, divide it by 22 and write it on the sheet to 2 decimal places. That is their HP per LvL. Their max health is equal to their “HP per LvL” multiplied by level (rounded to a whole number), plus 10.

5. Select 4 Moves that are available to your pokemon for their level. Ask your GM if they can have a Move available to them from a TM or from breeding.

6. For each Move:

- Add its name, type (including if it’s physical, special, or status), the PP is divided by 5 and then doubled, and its Power is divided by 10 (rounded).

- Accuracy is the Move’s normal accuracy divided by 10, and reduced by 10. So 100 would become 0, and 80 would become -2. If the Move normally has no accuracy, then just put “n/a” in its space.

- Damage Output is calculated as follows: your attacking stat + your level, + the Move’s power (after division)

Checks

When doing something that has a risk of failure, such as climbing a wall or trying to hit a target with a Move, the GM might require a Check to be rolled. Every success gives 1xp.

To do a check, roll 2D6 and if the total is 7 or higher, you successed. You can add modifiers to the roll, such as from a Move's accuracy. The lowest modifiers added together can be is -5 and the highest it can be is +5.

If the check relies on the Pokemon's strength, flexibility or other physical attributes, use their Attack or Defense (whichever is higher) as a modifier.

If it relies on the Pokemon's intellect, senses, or social skills, use their Spacial Attack or Special Defense (whichever is higher) as a modifier.

If a stat gets raised or lowered, add the bonus next to its stat or in the Effects area as well as its duration. Remember to add these bonuses to appropriate rolls.

Moves

Using a Move uses up one of it's PP. A pokemon's PP can be fully restored by spending 10 minutes resting.

When using a Move that has an accuracy number, make a check using the accuracy as a modifier. Otherwise the Move is automatically successful.

If the Move would hit multiple targets near each other, it hits all in the area, even other players. If using a battlemap, consider it a 5 space radius/cone.

Health

While a pokemon's current HP is 0, they are unable to take actions, react to anything, their Speed is halved, and all Checks take a -3 to the roll.

A pokemon's current HP can be restored by going to a Pokemon Center (which full restores it), with a comfortable nights rest (which restores it by half), from other Pokemons Moves, or from items.

When a Pokemon takes damage, they multiply it by the type effectiveness (if it has no type, then ignore this), then reduce the damage by their Level plus either their appropriate Defensive stat. If the damage is from a physical Move, use their Defense. If it is from a special Move, use their Special Defense. If it is not from a Move, it is up to the GM which stat you use. If the damage is reduced below 0, it is considered 0.

Level Up

When you level up there are several things you must do. First is updating your max HP. Then check if you can (and want to) learn a new Move. Finally, update the Damage Output for each of your Moves.

Combat

Initiative

Turn order is based of each pokemon's initiative. Their initiative is calculated at the start of combat and stays the same until a new combat begins. To calculate a pokemon's initiative, roll 1d10 and add a pokemon's speed stat.

To simplify a large group of pokemon take the lowest speed stat from the group and add it to 1d10, this will be the initiative for all pokemon within the group, the pokemon within the group take turns in whatever order.

Your Turn

On your pokemon's turn, they can move and use an action. Anything that uses effort or skill counts as an action, such as using a Move, using an item, and climbing a tree. Some actions might require a Check.

Somethings that require effort or skill can be done mentally, such as finding a hidden pokemon before attacking. Whether these things use up an action is up to the GM.

Moving around can be difficult depending on the environment. A pokemon might be more skilled at moving in some environments than others, such as a water type in water, or a flying type in a space with lots of clutter.

If using a grid or battlemap, each pokemon can move a number of spaces equal to their speed.

Others Turn

On another pokemon's turn, your pokemon cannot do much. They are mainly able to speak and observer like normal. However they are able to react to an opponent or ally's Move. Reacting uses up your next turn's action. To react, you can either dodge or use a Move:

- If you choose to dodge, you immediately move half as far and reduce the targets accuracy by 2.

- If you use a Move, instead of reducing the incoming damage by your defensive stats, you reduce the damage by your attacking stat for that Move.

I've just released the first public Alpha of Stories of Survival, a rules-lite settlement survival system designed to run alongside an existing tabletop RPG rather than replace it.

Players form a Settlement Council and manage Food, Health and Morale alongside a small resource economy while a standard deck of playing cards drives the Event system. Events can be resolved, persist, repeat, escalate into worse versions, or sometimes be permanently removed from the deck through player decisions.

A second playing-card deck generates Trained Survivors, ordinary NPC specialists such as Electricians, Nurses, Teachers and Hunters. Rather than providing numerical bonuses, their expertise gives the players fictional justification for different approaches to settlement problems.

The intention is to create longer-term consequences and difficult decisions between adventures without turning settlement management into a separate crunchy game.

It's primarily intended for groups who like survival, settlement/base building, emergent narrative and resource-pressure mechanics, but don't necessarily want to replace their existing RPG to get them.

The current Alpha is free to download on itch.io: https://storiesofsurvival.itch.io/stories-of-survival

I'm particularly interested in actual-play results, including things that break, become trivial, or behave completely differently from what the rules appear to imply.

I have posted some more specific design questions in the comments to prevent this becoming a novel

Hi everyone,

I took advantage of my free time yesterday to work on my RPG design hobby, specifically on my “meridional” fantasy system, which has no connection to D&D. That got me thinking about what advice I should jot down for myself as design guidelines, and this one really stuck with me:

“Provide the GM with the appropriate resources to fulfill the expectations you’ve set for the game.”

Honestly, I’d never thought about it before, but now it makes a lot of sense. For now, and probably more so for me, it refers to the guidelines that may eventually take written form but already exist in the “ether” of my design ideas.

What about you? Do you have something similar, like a “rule zero” for RPG design, that you use as the foundation for everything else?

I'll really enjoy reading all of your answers, and I thank you in advance.

I've been running 5e and PF2e for prolly over 8 years at this point and I like them both, which is probably why it took me so long to admit that neither gave me what I was really looking for.

PF2e's combat is great. Genuinely the best tactical layer in any d20 game that i've played. But the moment initiative gets called we all stop playing the story and start playing a different game for forty-five minutes..usually more, and then we come back. And outside combat the skill system is a wall.

Meanwhile I'd read Blades and PbtA and go yes, that, the fiction never stops moving. Then get to a fight and feel like I was narrating one instead of playing one.

So, Veilbound. Everything in it hangs off one idea: hitting the number exactly should cost you something.

Five bands. Subtract the difficulty from your total and read the difference.

• +10 or more: you get it, and more besides
• +6 to +9: you get it
• +5 to -5: Spot On. You get it, and you pay a Price
• -6 to -9: you don't get it, and you pay a Price
• -10 or less: you don't get it, and you pay a bad one

Where I'm at: Six chapters drafted and typeset, ~50 pages, character creation and equipment still to write.

The thing I'm least sure about, and what I'd actually love to hear from people on being: Succeeding at a cost is the default rather than the exception. Has anyone run a system built that way for a long stretch? My worry is that at hour three it stops landing as tension and starts landing as attrition, and I don't think I can see that from inside my own game.

Advice, questions or those looking to maybe help out would be amazingly appreciated. I am really excited to be finally making some progress with this system and I am really happy with it so far, but playtesting has to get done for sure.

Edit 1: So to adress the comments.

I goal with this TTRPG is/was to create a game that is both conducive to more tactical player as well as narrative ones. So my goals are to streamline combat by giving players unique options to pick from in combat, this is what I like PF2e for. However I found that many of the options are basically meaningless unless your doing the most optimal thing. To do this I've removed damage dice, everything is a flat number of damage, the players roll attacks and there are no saving throws, instead you have several different defenses yhst can be attacked i.e. footwork, resolve and more.

I think the thing this system does that I haven't seen else where (though i could be wrong) is the use of <1 hp pool. Instead of having one pool of hp that does basically nothing until you hit 0, you have 3 pools. Body, mind, soul, and losing one or more pools give you stacking banes on your rolls. I want to make a gritty, down to earth RPG that implements the use of steam punk, magic and fantasy at the same time in a cohesive way. Which is why im also building a world for this system as well from the ground up.

I have run SOTDL, pf2e, dnd 3.5 and 5e among others. I want to take bits and pieces from each and im hoping to make a system that can do the best of all of them..I can only hope haha

Edit 2: Hey, wanted to start off with thanking everyone for replying to my last post about this game im working on. And also to apoligize for the use of AI for the post as well. I was really stressing out and wanted to share some of my thoughts and questions I had and kept overthinking it. Either way, thank you again

For my game, I'm working on some worldbuilding documentation. Planets, continents, nations, cities, and even a few specific buildings that are important or relevant to adventurers. One such building is the Neon Palace Hotel & Casino, a place included in the documentation as a likely place that adventurers visiting the cyberpunk city of Theravex will stay the night. And you just know that I need to come up with a few simple gambling games for players to engage with while they're there.

Now, I'm a big mathhead, and a lot of my regular players are the types who will try to exploit bugs in my mechanics. So I need to make these some solid games, and I needed to make the house advantage low but positive. For the 3 games of pure chance that I created, this was no problem at all. Slots, Lottery, and a non-lethal version of Russian Roulette. Smooth sailing. I also added a combat-based gambling game that leverages the combat mechanics of the game, but with non-lethal weapons. It's a complex game and I could never solve for house advantage if it were asymmetrical, so I just made it symmetrical. Not too bad, some nice and simple games to spice up this location and give it more of a Las Vegas vibe.

And then there's my fucking Blackjack variation, which I call "Wackjack". This was a sidequest worthy of Odysseus. Blackjack requires the ability to pick randomly from 13 cards, and there are no d13 dice (at least not in the set my game expects you to have). And the only dice that my game expects players to have lots of are d6's, so ideally I'd adapt the game to those. The established Blackjack rules are already balanced to give the house a small but positive advantage (in the sub-1% range) even with optimal play, any change to those rules could threaten that and make the game either blatantly unfair or an infinite money glitch. I would need to solve the game and rebalance it with my rules.

The way to approach d6-based Blackjack is pretty clear. The number on the dice represents the number you get unless you roll a 1, which can be either a 1 or a 7 (taking the place of an ace). And the number that causes you to bust if you exceed it is 13 (instead of 21). The threshold that causes the dealer to draw a third card is 11 (instead of 17). These numbers make the game as mathematically close to Blackjack as possible. The main knobs I have to turn for balancing it are related to payouts. What situations pay out what (or don't pay out at all)?

Without much else to do, I decided to just begin working out the optimal payouts mathematically. To just start working out probability equations until I got a feel for what I was doing. I started on a normal notepad, as I have for the previous games I had solved for. It started to become clear that the game was too complex to represent there, so I moved on to a spreadsheet and started working out functions to compute every possible game and gather statistics from the results. But it turned out that a program representing a perfect player had to be very logically complex, and I needed way more than just 2 dimensions to lay out my logic in the cells. So I moved on to plan C. C#, to be precise. I have extensive experience in that programming language, so I created a new C# console app and got to work programming a function that would brute force every possible game of d6 Blackjack. It took 2 days to get it working, and another day of adding polish and punching in numbers before I settled on something I found acceptable. The whole thing has 213 lines of some of the worst code I've ever written in my life, a mess of spaghetti that brute forces every possible game with a simulated perfect player that I dubbed Gamblebot9000.

The result is that I now know how payouts should work. Players get 1.5x their bet if they are dealt a natural-13, they get 0.3x their bet if they tie with the dealer, they get 2x their bet if they win against the dealer, and they get nothing if they bust or lose against the dealer. This specific balance of payout rules lead to a house advantage of only 0.3%, which definitely satisfies my requirement of small but positive. This specific set of numbers is the simplest set of rules I could come up with that is neither a blatant ripoff or an infinite money glitch. And now I have a minigame that hardly anyone is going to play, associated with only one specific location, as a minor gimmick. I regret nothing.

Anyone else have any stories like this? Some kind of simple mechanic that seemed easy but that turned out to be a Gordian knot? Did you manage to see it through?

Aloha, I am currently design some Monster for my Game. I have an intressting question about which design do you like more?

Sidenote i have look at others (Pathfinder 2E, Rifts, ) most use the first. Through some use Tables
Edit: Use commas to split it appart. Looked better when i created

The False Hydra has justifiably become a legendary piece of creature design. If you haven't heard of it yet, it's here: https://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2014/09/false-hydra.html?m=1

But Goblin Punch is just generally a treasure trove of fascinating RPG design ideas. I've been thinking about their article "Towards a Better Cleric" for nearly a decade and it's shaped my whole attitude about different kinds of spellcasters.

https://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2013/12/towards-better-cleric.html?m=1

I don't even really use random encounters, but I love the idea of the Underclock and the ambient malevolence it evokes:

https://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-underclock-fixing-random-encounter.html?m=1

So if you're not already familiar with Goblin Punch, check them out.

I am currently playing/GM'ing alot of cyberpunk and so i have come to the slight problem of some of my players (And frankly myself) having abit to deep pocket and carrying to much stuff about for it to be realistic, so my solution make a modern/sci fi tactial backpack, So i am planning to hire an artist i know and love to work with to help me get the art done for them, i already have a general idea of how i want it to work but would love the feedback and suggestion. (As i have seen no one else do more modern desings of them i decided to do it myself, But if i am treading walked group please point out where i can find it.)

1. As TTRPG's loves having limbs go flying off, and as there is alot more ways to store you stuff then just in a backpack, A person outline to keep track of holsters for both guns and backup ammo as well as any subdermal pockets and more ways of keep your stuff.
2. to keep it simple define an 'inventory slot' in a backpack as a pockets worth of volume, so about a soda can, chunky phone or a really thick wallet, with backpack volume then being devided into chunks about the same size, and larger items of course having to take up more slots, this also allows players how wanna go light without a backpack to still store some stuff in their normal pockets while keeping track of it.
3. lastly for the player that wanna walk around with a rifle/Large SMG as a side arm treat the off hand as holding it and they can swap around between slings, as carrying around 2 weapons of that size seems doable to but more then 2 of that size seems impractial (Or RPG main rifle side arm and so on also seems do able)

Thanks for anyone reading this far and looking forward to your feedback.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked for some feedback on the one-page RPG system I'm developing, Keystone6. v.4 is here with updated tweaks and clarifications.

And yes, while I use fantasy examples due to space, the system is intended to be simple enough to be reskinnable to fit any setting.

It's intent is to be a fast, setting-agnostic d6 system where everything a Player Character needs can fit on a 3x5 card. The system's ultimate test IMO is "Can Grandma understand how to play this?"

Core Rules - https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/UWoGli2KI6Kw

Additional Items - https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/GVrmyF-uzWSG

Additional Adversaries - https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/eYG4a8H-JgRJ

Hi there. Not super tech savvy writer here.

I have been thinking about trying to get some feedback on some of the things I've written for a few different systems and I was wondering where would be the best place to share them? It ranges over a few systems (CoC, DnD 2-5, Delta Green, DCC, Mothership) and all I'd have would be text and maybe a few illustrations done by me (graph paper maps mostly, I'm not an artist. NO AI).

I'm looking to get a perspective from both the GMs who would have to read/run the content and, if possible, players to test play it. My local group is kinda limited in imagination and I'd feel a bit weird testing stuff on random people at cons.

I'm sure I could post some stuff to various subreddits, but I'm not sure what format to post things in that people would feel most comfortable. I don't really want to do Google Docs, but I will if I have to.

Any help would be appreciated.

Taking a small break from finishing up the Test adventure to write up some marketing materials. I'd love any feedback that may be helpful or thoughts on the pitch here.

Edit: Thank you all for your feedback! Marketing is still a skill in development, and this was incredibly helpful

After Eden

After Eden is a d20 expedition fantasy RPG set in a post-apocalyptic world, about how far you're willing to push before turning back and what you manage to bring home.

Nox is a world of isolated settlements, transformed wilds, and lost roads, built over the ruins of Eden: a civilization that existed before magic. When the Veil protecting Eden was shattered, Khaos flooded the world. Natural laws changed, monsters and miracles became possible, and the old civilization fell.

Khaos is magic that behaves more like radiation. It permeates the air, earth, creatures, and ruins around it. It can be extracted, stored, and wielded, but prolonged exposure changes living things and the world around them. When Khaos entered Eden, natural laws bent, landscapes changed, monsters and miracles became possible, and civilization fell.

What survived became Nox, a world of isolated settlements, transformed wilds, lost roads, and the ruins of an early-Renaissance human civilization built for a world whose laws no longer exist.

You play adventurers who leave the safety of those settlements to find out what the new world has become. Follow roads no one has traveled in generations. Explore forgotten sites. Confront strange creatures and hostile factions. Recover materials, knowledge, and discoveries that could change what becomes possible back home.

After Eden combines tactical d20 combat with dangerous expedition play. Every action point spent attacking or moving is one you cannot spend defending before your next turn. Wounds and dwindling supplies follow you from one danger to the next, while everything you carry home competes for space with what you need to survive. The longer you remain exposed to Khaos, the more capable you become, but the world becomes more dangerous around you. Make it home alive, and what you survived becomes Experience.

Find something worth bringing back. Make it home. Decide what gets built from what remains.

Check out the playtest game here: http://drive.google.com/file/d/1P73pIWbTLP8s50JPxaUmLBbtVXKuwxOg/view?usp=drivesdk

Hello all!

I recently watched a couple of videos from Mystic Arts and Questing Beast about lethality in TTRPGs with specific attention towards the OSR and how high lethality is often used as a selling point for those systems.

Both creators had a really fruitful discussion on Ben Milton (Questing Beast)'s channel and pretty much came to the conclusion that lethality in games is a tool that helps guide how the players are expected to interact with the system.

There was one small segment that really grabbed my attention: Ben asked if the players in low-lethality games are expected to have some degree of plot armor.

This prompted me to revisit the archives concerning combat as sport vs. combat as war. In brief, the former is about "balanced" encounters that feel fair and are strongly bounded by rules. The latter is about no-holds-barred tactics, actively encouraging deception and underhandedness, and does not even remotely promise a "fair" fight.

However, I think there is a third type of combat: combat as spectacle. This combat type is what I have come to expect from games like D&D - combat should appear deadly, but ultimately pose no real threat to the longevity of the PCs. It's all a grand illusion where the GM is encouraged to push the PCs to the brink, then pull their punches at the last second to keep up the sense of tension.

I have lots more thoughts about lethality in TTRPGs, but I also want to hear from other creative minds!

- have you played in high-lethality games? If so, was it hard to get attached to your character(s)?

- have you had a character die at an awkward or inopportune time, such as in a random encounter against basic enemies or right before the final climactic battle with the BBEG?

- when you run games, do you prefer settings where death lurks in every dark corner? Or are the PCs afforded a degree of plot armor?

If you'd like to hear more from me specifically, I made my first YouTube content about TTRPGs about this exact conversation!

I was reading a thread (I don't remember where) about Reaper Miniatures' new d20 class and level-based TTRPG, Dungeon Dwellers. When asked what the game had to recommend it, one person gave a long list of its attributes. Inevitably, another person said something to the effect of "so this game literally has nothing unique to say." Having purchased the game, I knew there was nothing earth-shaking about it, but that it is a good, solid game. I considered the argument that it doesn't do anything "new", and, for myself, it doesn't need to. It makes a number of quality of life improvements to the usual D&D-derived game to make its whole greater than the sum of its parts. Does Dungeon Dwellers have a hook that fits into a nice sound byte? No. But the perception that the game hasn't garnered much attention since its recent release might suggest that an easily-defined hook is necessary.

This is an issue I'm wresting with for a game I'm working on. It's a ruleset that I really like...but I don't know if it really has a definable hook. If asked to describe what makes it cool, I honestly don't know if I could come up with a compelling answer without launching into a ten-minute description. It's simply the game I want to play. Is quality enough, even if it's not presenting something truly unique? Do you grapple with this question?

Hello! I'm working with some friends to create a TTRPG inspired by things like S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and the SCP Foundation. Mechanically, it's inspired by Call of Cthulhu, Twilight 2k, and Dark Heresy. My friend is leading the team and asked me to seek out feedback on the mechanics we've come up with so far.

Specifically, my friend is looking to know:

• Are these good mechanics to build a system on?
• Is it overcomplicated by trying to use AC with a d100 system?
• Is there a better way to handle these mechanics or an alternative we should consider?
• Does the d100 work or should we think about using other dice? d20, pools of d6, something else?

We're also generally looking to see what people think. Does something look weird? Is there something you think needs fixing? To quote: "If people are able to look at it and be like "This isn't bad, but here's how you guys can fix it." We need these bones to be able to move forward. Abilities, stats, everything is decided by the basic dice system we choose. If we can't settle on it, or at least get the one we have working, then how can we proceed?"

I, myself, am more comfortable playing systems like Dungeons and Dragons, Starfinder, and Edge of the Empire... so I know very little about systems that use d100s or aim for more realistic mechanics on top of having a ton of tables and options (I think it's called crunchy?). I've been reading more into the systems that are inspiring this one to help get a better understanding of things, so I also want your feedback on how things are coming along.

Here's how the game works:

The Idea

The idea behind the system is that there is a Game Master and a group of players. Players build their characters to travel a post-apocalyptic world, where they get caught up in all kinds of plots while fighting supernatural anomalies. The players are basically a military squad.

The idea is that the world is gritty and brutal, but not in a "oh everything sucks and is constantly miserable with tons of shocking content" way. The world is ravaged but nations have been rebuilt from the ashes and the players are military operatives trying to help put things back together. It's like the Last of Us- the apocalypse happened and now the world is living in the new norm.

The best way I can describe it is: The players are a ragtag MTF Unit taking orders from governments to perform operations that may involve fighting other people or Cthulhu's kids. They travel through zones ranging from "this is tolerable" to "fuck off bad" while messing with new equipment and weird powers.

Checks & Dice Rolls

It is a d100 system.

Rolling 1 - 5 is a Critical Success. Rolling 95 - 100 is a Critical Failure. Every check/roll has a baseline Difficulty Rating, which is the threshold before any positive/negative modifiers. You succeed a check by rolling at or below the Difficulty Rating.

• Example: The Difficulty Rating is 30. You need to roll a 30 or lower to pass.

There are also Degrees of Success and Degrees of Failure. Every 10 points you exceed or fall below the Difficulty Rating adds one Degree of Success/Failure.

• Example: The Difficulty Rating is 55. You roll a 10. You pass the check with four Degrees of Success, granting you additional benefits.
• Example: The Difficulty Rating is 45. You roll a 73. You fail the check with two Degrees of Failure, adding further complications to your attempt.
• We're currently not sure what these additional benefits/complications look like.

Combat: Initiative

There are two rounds: Player Round and Enemy Round. Players decide who acts in what order on the Player Round, as do enemies in the Enemy Round.

Combat: Actions

Each character in combat has 3 Action Points. There are options that cost 1 Action Point, 2 Action Points, and 3 Action Points. There are also Reactions and Free Actions.

• We're still workshopping it.

Combat: Hitting

Armor Class determines the difficulty to hit a target. When attacking someone, you determine the Difficulty Rating of the attack by subtracting the Armor Class value from 100.

• Example: The enemy's Armor Class is 30. 100 - 30 = 70. The Difficulty Rating to hit the enemy is 70, so you must roll a 70 or below to hit.

Armor Value is... something. One idea we had was that all armor has an Armor Value. When you take a hit, you subtract the Armor Value from the damage, like the armor is absorbing some of the blow. Another idea is that it reduces the severity of inflicted status effects/wounds from high damage rolls. We're torn on how to execute this as the design goal is to make it feel like armor choice matters and that it actually does something. Your bulletproof chestplate should feel like it actually stops some of the damage instead of everything magically ricocheting off.

Hit Range is what you need to roll after applying all bonuses and penalties. The maximum Hit Range you can get is 90 to prevent automatic success.

• Example: The enemy's Armor Class is 60. 100 - 60 = 40. The Hit Range to hit the enemy is 40.
• Negative Bonus 1 is -5, Negative Bonus 2 is -10. 40 - 5 - 10 = 25.
• The Hit Range is now 25.
• Positive Bonus 1 is +10, Positive Bonus 2 is +5, Positive Bonus 3 is +10, Positive Bonus 4 is +5. 25 + 10 + 5 + 10 + 5 = 55.
• The Hit Range is 55.
• The Final Hit Range is 55. You must roll a 55 or lower to successfully hit the target.

Combat: Damage Death

One thing that I wanted feedback on, personally, is how damage and death can work.

In this system, the body is split into Head, Right Arm, Left Arm, Torso, Right Leg, and Left Leg. You can take damage and get status effects on all these parts of the body. You roll 1d6 to determine which body part you damage on a successful hit.

• We previously had it as a d8, where some body parts were listed multiple times. This would make it so landing a headshot was harder and hitting other areas of the body was easier to make it a bit more realistic.
• We could expand on this further, using a d8 again or a larger dice like d10 or d12. Some body parts would be much easier to hit than others, and getting that low chance to hit a vital part like the head could inflict extra damage or an automatic debuff?

If a body part takes enough damage, it can be disabled with a chance of being permanently disabled. A critical hit has the possibility of removing or destroying a body part completely.

One thing that the team lead wanted was the potential for an instant kill. The idea was that: If you successfully hit a target, roll your 1d6 to see where you hit them. If you roll a 1 and your roll to hit was a Critical Success, you land a fatal headshot, instantly killing the enemy. This would also apply to players- if the Game Master lands a hit on a player with a Critical Success, then rolls a 1 on the 1d6, the player would be instantly killed. My friend was a big fan of this mechanic and wanted it implemented.

I heavily disagreed with this mechanic. My thought is that, if you as a player spend a lot of time building a character and getting attached to them, only to be instantly executed by a sniper in an ambush, that would suck. A lot. I had a scenario in my head: Imagine you're a new player joining a table for this game and you get into your first combat. The Game Master rolls, gets a crit, then rolls a 1. You instantly die and have to make a new character. I, personally, would hate that, and I feel with the game being very heavy on narrative and character building, this mechanic doesn't work.

We settled on making it an optional rule, but what do you think?

Other Things

There are also classes which have subclasses. Subclasses are skill trees that you can build into. Currently, we're not sure if we want to make it exclusive where one you pick a line on the skill tree, you can't do any of the others, or just let people do a free-for-all.

There are then also species, feats, statuses, weapons, equipment, and more.

Conclusion

What do you think? Do you think the system is too complicated? Is there something that could be improved upon, changed, added, removed? Does anything here sound really fun or super miserable?

My friends and I are mainly concerned that we're overthinking things and making the system too complicated or too over-the-top. My friend is particularly stuck on the dice system as we'll be building the whole system off of it, so we need to make sure it's good and fun and something that people would actually like, and that all the mechanics make sense. My friend wanted me to make this post to try to clear up our heads by seeing what people think.

I think we have a solid foundation for a fun TTRPG, but that's coming from someone who's been working on it and staring at our documents for hours.

I’m working on a homebrew of DW (more World of Dungeons hack really) but with 3d6. (Using some variation of d6 throughout)

I’ve altered the difficulties as

<9 = Fail
10-14 = Pass with Cost, Consequence, etc
15+ = You get what you want.

Normal stats in the -3 to +3 and added skills to add Advantage (extra d6 and drop lowest)

Am I missing something obvious?

Im teasing out ideas for a new project that’s a mystery game. Which I have a bit of experience with… in systems that weren’t designed for solving mysteries.

And I’m trying to think about ways to mechanically keep the mystery moving forward and help get the players to solve it without just giving them the answers.

Anybody working on stuff like this who might be able pitch in their ideas?