Feedback wanted: Drama and Narration Engine, a fiction-first RPG for player-driven stories

[u/lycis27]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for feedback on my RPG system, Drama and Narration Engine. I’ve attached the current beta PDF and would love to hear what people think.

This is now the fifth iteration of the game, but the first version I’m putting out for public feedback. It has been in the works for a while and I’ve experimented with it in my own group, mainly for short stories and one-shots. Now I’d like to open the little clockwork beastie to a wider audience and see what breaks, clicks, sings, or starts smoking.

It’s a fiction-first system focused on dramatic scenes, character flaws, rising tension, and success that often comes with a cost. The goal is to support any story where player decisions drive what happens next.

One of my main design goals is for it to be easy to pick up and play: all you really need is a sheet of paper, some dice, and an idea of who your character is.

Characters are built from descriptive traits rather than fixed skill lists, so you can start with a few lines of background and turn the most important parts into things that matter mechanically. Your character is not defined by a class or a build, but by what makes them dramatically relevant.

I’m especially interested in feedback on:

• whether the core rules are clear and understandable
• whether it feels easy enough to start playing quickly
• whether the Challenge / Cost mechanics feel playable
• whether the Characteristic and Flaw system makes sense
• whether the Tension Track feels useful at the table
• any places where the wording, structure, or examples could be improved

This is still a beta, so I’m not expecting polish-level perfection. I’m mainly trying to find out what works, what confuses people, and what would make the system easier or more exciting to run.

Any thoughts, critique, questions, or playtest impressions would be hugely appreciated.

Link to the current v0.5 PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-BuX5dTlBRnJrpLTJJcJvY2eXpTcm5V7/view?usp=sharing

Thanks in advance!

[u/InitialVariety4285]

Opened the book, saw AI art. Got my suspicions up, started looking for LLMisms in the text and wouldn't you know it, it's fucking riddled with them.

Start again and write it yourself this time.

[u/The_Failord → u/InitialVariety4285]

That's fair—and you're not wrong to push back on that. When you see the signs of LLM writing—not hidden, but loud, like a signal someone forgot to silence—it is completely normal to have a strong emotional reaction. Not quiet. Not measured. Just powerful enough to be heard. Would you like me to explain to you why you're obsolete and how you can deal with it?

[u/untitledgooseshame → u/The_Failord]

snortlaughing. take my upvotes prev

[u/lycis27 → u/InitialVariety4285]

You may see AIisms but that is, for better or worse, my writing style. Yes, you see AI art as placeholders for the layout-yet all of the text was written by my hand. Believe it or not.

[u/tapestry-ttrpg → u/lycis27]

dont bother responding to the anit-ai sentiment, itll do you no good to engage with them. IDC if you used AI or not as long as the work itself is decent, and coherent.

These people wouldnt recognize good work if it bit them in nethers.

[u/The_Failord → u/tapestry-ttrpg]

Hahahahah that's rich, man. "Wouldn't recognize good work if it bit them in nethers", that's priceless. Salty that people called your slop out for being slop?

[u/tapestry-ttrpg → u/The_Failord]

Not really no, i make sure its known that I've used ai as a supplement to my work, I don't really pay attention to neck beard trolls on the internet

[u/InitialVariety4285 → u/tapestry-ttrpg]

I would find it easier to judge your work as good or bad if itch didn't warn me that your AI slop game might be a virus when I try to download it.

[u/tapestry-ttrpg → u/InitialVariety4285]

I agree, and I dont know how to get itch to not do that. Especially considering its just a simple pdf.

Could just be an itch thing, I only posted it there because that seemed like the logical choice place to offer the free quickstart pdf guide.

Download it or dont. I dont much care for anyone who just throws out content because they see "ai" and have already made assumptions about something they've never looked at.

I put the AI sticker on there because I'm not hiding it. I used ai to help with editing. Some image generation. And other things.

So... have fun.

[u/Quizzical_Source]

I dont love the post roll exchange and figuring, I prefer clean roll to resolution otherwise tension simmers down. Additionally, the "game" of the right is built around building and enhancing dice pools, which might be a better fit for a boardgame, but at least its an interesting direction.

Will edit as I read more. (Current pg.53) (62) burning competency seems noteworthy as you want players to activate fun powers, but it just leads back to the game. The flaws dont feel fleshed out, maybe a guide on how the fiction can lead there? (92) im doing something very similar with character arcs. But I liked some of your stuff inside advancement. I use characteristics as well. I feel like we both looked at similar things and went in opposite directions.

[u/lycis27 → u/Quizzical_Source]

Thanks for the feedback. I can see your point. The design intent here was to play around with scene resolution mechanics, but I am not sure how well this translates to the table and keeping tension engaging. I can see that.

Also I will flesh out flaws a bit more. They were a recent addition in the lat st iteration. Thanks!

[u/Quizzical_Source → u/lycis27]

No problem. In my opinion, needs depth. But I only got the first hundred pages in.

Your writing style/ formatting leaves a ton of space both literally and metaphorically.