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tissek

@ tissek @ttrpg.network

Posts
30
Comments
201
Joined
3 yr. ago

  • Jesse bringing geometry to the table

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  • The more abstract the map is the more of a support for TotM it becomes. I selfom do a map, rather a flowchart. Quicker, easier and knocks out the last desire to measure things.

  • Jesse bringing geometry to the table

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  • This brings us back to zones, a good middle ground. Draw rough map, or great map, and on it mark intresting combat zones. Some are separated with emptiness, others by obstacles.

    For example a tavern brawl. Zones could be the Bar, Kitchen, Common Room, Balconies, Private Rooms, Out Front and Out Back.

    Fighting on the Balconies could be tight, only one in width and with the risk of being thrown off it into the Commonroom. In the Kitchen there would be fire hazards, improvized weapons, knifes and the Stew. Not to forget other ways to spice things up in there. Around the Bar there would be some cover fighting someone on the other side, bottles to be broken and combatants to glide alond the bar for maximum mental damage.

    And so on. Make each zone memorable and with special features. Did I mention drawing it out really helps?

  • Jesse bringing geometry to the table

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  • No grid only effect templates. Freeform battlemapping y'all!

    And rulers.

  • How much combats in your game ?

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  • Depends on the system. Classical fantasy adventuring? Most if not all sessions. Adventure and Sword&Sorcery? Sometimes, half perhaps. Character drama? Very seldom.

    I look at how the system spends its page budget and use that as a guideline. If there is a chapter for combat, one for harm and recovery and one for combat magic then the system wants me to focus on those parts. Also I look at how the players/characters are rewarded and try to have each session hit several of those criteria. So if the only (reliable, non gm-fiat) way to earn rewards if through combat then you bet your sweet ass there will combats each session.

  • enjoy

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  • Do you actually want us not to repost it?

  • Some thoughts on how DnD makes Monsters dangerous compared to Dragonbane

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  • Or why not simply have degrees of success on EVERYTHING? But as you say it would be a lot of work. Folks have done it, just look at yhe various dicepool system or even Pathfinder 2e.

    On a sidenote I find saves boring. I enjoy actively rolling skills much more engaging. And all spells being "attack rolls".

  • Some thoughts on how DnD makes Monsters dangerous compared to Dragonbane

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  • The way DnD is built does require the counter dance. Big abilities are part of its features. So there need to be ways to counter those abilities. That is the (modern?) DnD way.

  • Some thoughts on how DnD makes Monsters dangerous compared to Dragonbane

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  • Very sparse with such abilities and those that exist generally don't apply to Monsters. Some only apply up to human sized targets. No hypnotic patterns, hold monsters etc.

    Dragonbane leans a bit into OSR aporoaches here in that you will have to work with the GM and the fiction to get things capable of trivialising encounters. But then the encounter vs the Monster wasn't fought in battle but in strategizing and preparation.

  • What’s right for me?

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  • Solo, GM-less (co-op) or guided (with GM) all work well. The tools provided for GM-less/solo play also facilitates GMing. Almost autopilot.

  • What’s right for me?

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  • I would point you to Ironsworn. Possibly also Ironsworn:Starforged, its SciFi adapatation and rules version 1.5e. Nothing wrong with base Ironsworn, Starforged just is better.

    While rooted in dark perilous fantasy that can be changed through description and presentation. At its core it's a Powered by the Apocalypse system, just as Dungeon World is, and can open up that whole ecosystem with highly rated games such as Monster of the Week and Masks: A New Generation. Ironsworn is also free which removes a barrier to checking it out

    What makes Ironsworn so great is that while its narrative/light roots from PbtA is still there it structures gameplay much more than others. Part of this is because it it made from the ground up to accommodate GM-less and solo play. So many of those small considerations the GM does are spelled out. Second is Ironsworn's excellent new take on tracks. Instead of filling it up and once filled it is done it puts the fulfillment in the players hands. Once the fiction is such that it could have been completed the player can roll against its progress and see what falls out. Or they can push on, fill the tracker up more for a more sure result.

    So all-in-all Ironsworn is a system born in the narrative PbtA tradition that further structures gameplay. A great system for questing campaigns.

  • Their ideas are as interesting as they are frightening

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  • It would silence as many screams as hands you are loosing pulling items from it. Which is zero.

  • Hasbro Seeks to Sell IP “DND” and Has Had Preliminary Contact with Tencent

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  • In Tencent's favor I haven't really heard about them mismanaging properies or being too heavyhanded when it comes to squeezing out profitability.

    Do I want DnD to be owned and controlled by another multinational holding company? No. Will it matter to me? Not really. But I do enjoy the drama.

  • Hasbro Seeks to Sell IP “DND” and Has Had Preliminary Contact with Tencent

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  • It could be that Hadbro only licence the "video game" part or all dynamic electronic content (beyond, vtts etc). But I'm not sure how much of a cash influx that would give Hasbro.

  • TTRPG Product Category terminology?

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  • I would have the top level tag "Rulebook" and put "Core Rulebook" as a sub-tag. Under Rulebook also have "Player Handbook", "GM handbook" and "Splatbook". Keep the rules together.

    Also tags for your dominant systems (ex DnD, PbtA) including "System Agnostic". Perhaps add subtags "Pre-made" and "Generators" under "Setting". Publisher tags? Language? Decade/year of release? Have played?

  • It's time we had this conversation.

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  • D3/D4 And a small splash of milk to round it off. At most a tablespoon (15ml) to a pint.

  • How does your favourite game ease the GM job ?

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  • Both my favorite systems makes my GMing job easier and they do it in the same way - they give the players responsibility though their character's goals to drive the game forward. And they have explicit rewards helping in this matter.

    Ironsworn (a PbtA) is the more direct of these. The characters swears vows and once they are fulfilled they get XP. Starforged, the SciFi version, adds more ways to earn XP through Bonds and Exploration. But we'll stay with the base Ironsworn. The vows are essentially quests but what makes them different from just any random quest is the mechanics surrounding them. First a tracker to measure vow completion is created, then as progress is made it is filled depending on vow difficulty. Now this sounds fairly standard except the only way to mark progress is through triggering moves, primarily the move "Reach a Milestone". Since Ironsworn is a PbtA the moves are player facing, it is the player through their character's actions that triggers them. Second awesome part is those trackers, each being ten segments long. They aren't automatically completed when they are filled instead there is move "Fulfil your vow" that states

    When you achieve what you believe to be the fulfillment of your vow, roll the challenge dice and compare to your progress.

    That is when the player thinks their character is in a position to have completed their vow they make a roll and see what comes out of it. It lets the player decide if their little work is enough (not much progress marked, high change of complications) or if they should work harder on it. Awesome pacing tool. Ironsworn is also made for GM-less play which gives so may tools to the GM they can almost go on autopilot.

    Burning Wheel has an awesome feedback loop called the Artha Cycle. The very short of it is

    • Player states their character's beliefs (goals)
    • Player have their character try to achieve their beliefs possibly spending Artha (a player-facing currency used to manipulate rolls) to increse chance for success
    • Character earns progress in tested skills slowly increasing their proficiency in them
    • At regular intervals (often end-of-session) the players earn more Artha for their character's progression on beliefs
    • Player states their character's beliefs (goals)

    And so it goes on and on. Often all I have to do as a GM is to keep track of the world and put obstacles in the way of the characters, as in challenge their beliefs. With players working the system I often not only get stated what their character's goal is but also what the obstacle is. Then all I have to do is play the world.

  • Result of today's presidential election in Taiwan.

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  • BBC article giving more information https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67920532

    TL:DR "Taiwanese voters have chosen William Lai as their president in a historic election, cementing a path that is increasingly divergent from China."

  • Ca...can I just roll for it?

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  • Something that is also helpful in this situation is to ask what their Intent is with their action. The why they want to do it. Often striking up that conversation looses some blocks.

  • Which character concepts are less cool to play than they seems ?

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  • Or if they have robust invention rules the player playing the inventor knows exactly everything about them and how to exploit them.

  • A community for bread bakers! @lemmy.ml
    tissek @ttrpg.network

    A very seedy bread

  • What Should I Play? @ttrpg.network
    tissek @ttrpg.network

    Let's play a little game of recommendations

  • RPG @lemmy.ml
    tissek @ttrpg.network

    2023 Nominations – ENNIE Awards

    ennie-awards.com /2023-nominees/
  • rpg @ttrpg.network
    tissek @ttrpg.network

    2023 Nominations – ENNIE Awards

    ennie-awards.com /2023-nominees/
  • Ask Game Masters @ttrpg.network
    tissek @ttrpg.network
    Featured

    Welcome to Ask Game Masters

  • rpg @ttrpg.network
    tissek @ttrpg.network

    Go then Roll vs Roll then Go

  • Death Metal @lemmy.world
    tissek @ttrpg.network
    Finland 1994

    Amorphis - Black Winter Day

  • rpg @ttrpg.network
    tissek @ttrpg.network

    Today is the last day Modiphius has the Conan licence and the last day the T H I C C Conan Mega PDF Bundle can be bought

    www.modiphius.net /collections/conan/products/conan-mega-pdf-bundle
  • TTRPG.network Instance Meta Discussion @ttrpg.network
    tissek @ttrpg.network

    Missing communities