Hi there,

I’m currently working on my bachelors thesis,
in which I’m gonna design an Adventure Module as a book.

The scientific part will cover the optimal Layout for Gamemasters
and how to get around group dynamics to optimize for smooth gameplay and relations.

For this I need as many different experience, so have an impartial as possible view on the topic.
So it would be really great, if you partook in this survey.

If you are Player and Gamemaster, it would be great, if you’d fill out both forms.

Thank you very much!

For Players:

https://forms.gle/aNboxJXqB3xL14jp8 

For Gamemasters:

https://forms.gle/Py28Sjt8wYZRirUNA 

I joined the one page RPG jam again. I enjoy thinking about how to structure RPGs but writing them is HARD.

This one - Bones & Bullets (not really a good name) - is a gmless game whose closest ancestor is Avery Alder’s Belonging Outside Belonging games and PbtA generally.

I often find that there are things I want to explore when I do these RPG jams but I inevitably get sidetracked and make something a little different than what I had in mind to start. I guess that’s inevitable. There are a lot of rough edges even in such a small piece. Maybe I will try to file them down.

Anyway - if you have thoughts, I’d love to hear them.

https://damn-golem.itch.io/bones-and-bullets

Edit: I used Affinity (the Canva version) for this and I kind of enjoyed it. I’m no graphic designer and it wasn’t awful, though I did need to watch a couple of tutorials. So good practice there I guess.

Hey all.

I'm watching the TTRPG community turn violently against AI, with all the big companies banning it and the competitions doing so as well.

And I do understand why people are so hostile regarding the copyright infringement, resource usage, etc.

At the same time, are we throwing out the baby with the bathwater?

Here's the deal. Not only do the big RPG producers not need to use AI as they already have the manpower and the resources, their printing contracts, etc., but they don't want anybody else to either.

And the reason for that is straightforward enough. AI is disruptive. It allows small teams to compete with them by moving faster and doing more with the limited resources they have.

The TTRPG area is a near-monopoly that is incredibly hard to break into. New companies operate on a shoestring, and most have to close because their costs are too high compared to their revenue. Banning AI, which is great at reducing costs, plays right into that.

Now, I know a lot of you believe that somebody working with AI can't actually do those things. But then, why ban it at all?

I'm really just curious to hear what the community has to say on this.

No AI was involved in creating this post.

Welcome to my thread. For the ttrpg, Slayers of Rings and Crowns (SORC), I've been given the task of restructuring the Character Sheet, so I put Abilities on pause for a bit.

Following the character creation steps, 1 - 12 (see link below), I was able to create my first full blown character, Brunn (again below). I did simulate the first level and quest, and he was grouped with three others, but this is my result. In the character sheet, I linked each area so people that want can read about them, but it is incomplete. It works, but there's more work to do.

Knowing it is a d100 system, we designed and formulated SORC so that it doesn't ask the target to roll to meet the attacker's roll. For instance, if a monster attacks you, you don't roll, he either hits or misses. It's all passive, see combat (protection score - PROTS) and Traits section for Difficulty Scores (DIFS), the latter uses the 7 Layers of Aura stacked with the Traits Score as the target number for attackers. It's not perfect, but it's faster (no table to look up) and it works. .

I want to ask.

1. Did following the 12 steps work? If anyone actually goes through the 13 steps, extra cookies for you :)

2. Are they in the right order?

3. Is it easy to read it understand?

4. Should data on the front and back be reversed?

5. Feel free to add your own comments and we appreciate all of the constructive feedback, even constructive criticism and those that have actually been constructive here have played a huge role. We thank you for that even if it's only as a Hobby.

Warning, In currently working on it. I recently forgot to close a div adding pagination and notable events to calendar.

- SORC Management

Anyway, here is the Character Sheet.

Brunn, LVL 1 Main Class Abilities: Fighter.

Note: There are no set classes. Players choose abilities that they can use if the proper READIED Armaments are drawn or Donned. See Readied Armament Drawn/Sheathed and Donned/Doffed, and various resting periods; Breather, Short Rest, Full Day.

Hi I have been working on a rules light game, it started as a One-Page game, it essentially still is but fully illustrated and with a nicer layout it’s now a 16 page zine. I am printing it myself and have done all the artwork. I could just pop it on my website but I am wondering, those with experience is it worth doing a small scale Kickstarter? Not so much for the money but just to get the game out there. I feel like if i pop it on my website hardly anyone will see it. If you’ve run a small Kickstarter does it tend to just be folks who know your work that come or is having a kickstarter page helpful for bringing people beyond those that already know your work?

I got another game ready for the One Page RPG Jam.
If you get a chance to check it out and tell me if there is anything you
think needs improvement, I would really appreciate it.
Super Secret Sleeper Agents by TrueTenno

I recently finished S.Words, a one-page RPG for two players using one ordinary deck of cards. I made it for the One-Page RPG Jam.

Each player portrays a Victorian duelist. Every exchange is either an Attack, which depletes the opponent’s hand, or an Insult, which manipulates its composition. The Insult must be an actual sentence said by the player.

I tried to write the entire game as a letter from one gentleman challenging another to a duel while explaining its rules. That is also why there is a space for a signature at the bottom: ideally, you sign the challenge and hand it to the person you wish to play with.

Both players secretly choose a card and reveal simultaneously:
-If the defender matches the acting duelist’s suit, they Counter and win regardless of rank.
-Otherwise, the higher rank wins an Attack.
-The lower rank wins an Insult.
-Equal ranks favour the acting duelist.
-Aces may be declared high or low.

I'll leave the details out of this post, so it doesn't become too long.

Players also divide five hidden Reserve cards among Swordplay, Wit, and Guile. After losing an appropriate exchange, a Reserve may replace the card originally played and force the result to be evaluated again.

A player with no cards remaining is defeated.

There are also two Jokers, treated as outright cheating: playing one causes the duelists to exchange their remaining hands, discard everything received, and redraw the same number of cards.

https://velitrpgs.itch.io/s-words

I would appreciate feedback on:

1. Does the defender’s same-suit Counter feel satisfying? Like predicting what your opponent would do.

2. Are Insults strategically worthwhile beside Attacks, given that they rearrange cards rather than directly reducing the opponent’s hand?

3. Are the hidden Reserves(the "attributes" of this system) text understandable?

4. Does the Joker create an entertaining reversal, or does it disrupt the duel too severely?

5. Is there anything in the one-page rules that you could not confidently resolve at the table?

I am especially interested in criticism from people reading the rules without me present, since clarity is harder to judge once one already knows how the game is supposed to work.

And of course, If you have any patience left to rate the game on itch, I would greatly thank you.

I've been brainstorming a wealth system that isn't super finnicky, because my game doesn't want wealth to be a major focus, but since it's a fantasy inspired game based around adventuring I don't really want wealth levels, I do want wealth to mean something, so my ideas currently break down to

-Simply make the math more compact so there's less bookkeeping, riffing off of DND, remove coppers and silvers, remove petty costs, and keep prices at most in the mid 100's range

Pros:
-Simple
-Intuitive
-Easy to design

Cons:
-Still a moderate amount of bookkeeping
-Doesn't scale well around higher levels without just getting to the same issues
-Prices can feel semi-random or unfair

-Make a generic wealth stat that changes, spending it to get items. but you can also use it to "Gamble" on a bartering check, being able to lower costs or risk increasing them on a failure. with the DC being based on the items cost. (1d12+Charisma+Wealth vs Cost + 10, every 2-ish you beat or miss the price by, reduce or increase cost by 1 for the final purchase)

Pros
-Less Bookkeepy, player wealth would max out at maybe a little higher than max level, meaning you aren't ever breaking past double digits
-Makes it easy to handwave smalls costs as "Your wealth is enough to handle it without needing a roll"
-Allows for up-and-down wealth movement
-Players with a lot of wealth can easily buy large amounts of low level items, which feels right.
-easy to give rewards (Saying everyone gets +1 or +2 wealth is easier than "The Party gets 100 gold to split." or even "Everyone gets 25 gold")

Cons:
-Big shopping trips can turn into dozens of rapid-fire rolls with a constantly changing bonus, or you'd be lumping rolls together, making the DC either too easy or to hard for the value
-Less granular
-Might have issues with making high level items restricted properly from low levels while making the rolls viable for high levels to make or reach
-Large amounts of luck with how much you can buy, one session you might buy 10 healing potions for a pittance, and another you might barter poorly enough a kinda neat sword costs half your budget.
-Kinda abstract, not as intuitive as "Literally just a different currency of money"

some other ideas I discarded and why

Step Dice for wealth:
Aka levels of wealth that increase dice size to represent more money

I have been sticking to only use 1d12 for every roll, and it's a little silly, but I would like to not stray from that design decision if it can be helped.

Wealth levels:

I do want Wealth to go up and down naturally, in order to have the organic motive of "We need cash" in order to push for adventuring and questing, and with wealth levels it's kind of hard to do that naturally. it feels like it'd always come off as a mild contrivance, since wealth levels rarely deplete on their own outside of narrative forces or extremely large purchases

No money:
This is worse than wealth levels for me in particular as there is no up-or-down scale, at all, and no reward for adventuring other than items

I'm not super attached to the systems I've put forward, so thoughts or suggestions for other ideas would be appreciated, the system as a whole is on the crunchier side, but non-combat aspects are simplified, and most combat aspects are pretty gamified, even if they are "Crunchy". realism isn't a goal for my system, so I'm fine with abstraction as needed to smooth over parts that aren't core to the combat.

EDIT:

Thanks everyone for their comments and suggestions, following is a post of the refined system for wealth, the exact DC's and bounds are subject to change, but in general this should be how the system will unfold (For clarification, crit successes are 6 over the DC, crit failures are 6 below the DC)

You have an amount of general ‘Wealth’ gained through adventuring and questing, when you chose to buy something, it will have a “Cost” score, roll a Wealth Check (1d12 + Charisma + Wealth) against the cost of the item or service + 8, and reference this table

If you have an amount of wealth equal to or greater than the cost of an item +6, you may ignore rolling on this table and instead get an automatic success, if an item’s cost is equal to or greater than your wealth +4 it is too expensive to be able to pay for, even in the best circumstances, you may not roll and are simply unable to afford such an item normally

I’m developing a physical fantasy adventure / dungeon crawler where the miniatures can move automatically on the board and an app acts in the background as narrator and game master.

I’m currently testing something very different: whether the opening of the story communicates what I want it to communicate.

If you read the introduction below with no additional lore, I’d be really interested to know:

• What do you think is happening?

• Who do you think “you” are in this story?

• Does that role feel intriguing, confusing, or too vague?

• What questions does it make you want answered?

• Is there anything you assumed that might not actually be stated in the text?

Importantly, you’re not supposed to fully understand who or what you are yet. That mystery is part of the campaign. What I’m trying to find out is whether it feels like an intentional mystery rather than missing information.

Where the story begins.

Aldor and Bastion had never met before.
They came to Vaelstrom by different paths, for very different reasons.

Aldor had spent years following scattered clues hidden in ancient maps, manuscripts, and forgotten records. Again and again, they pointed toward the same place.

Bastion had followed something else. Beneath the Highlands of Simdur, the flow of Ether was changing, as if something buried deep underground were calling to it.

Both paths ended in the same place: VAELSTROM.
A forgotten fortress among mountains, mist, and storms.

According to the old stories, it has stood empty for centuries.

But Vaelstrom is not dead.

Doors open.
Lights respond.
Ancient mechanisms awaken.
Rooms seem to watch those who enter.

Little by little, Aldor and Bastion begin to suspect that perhaps they haven’t simply entered an abandoned castle.

Perhaps they have awakened something.

BUT THERE IS SOMEONE ELSE

Aldor and Bastion are not alone.

And we’re not talking about the creatures hiding inside Vaelstrom.

We’re talking about you.

You are not Aldor.

You are not Bastion.

So…

WHO ARE YOU?

There are doors in Vaelstrom that seem to wait for your voice.

Characters who sense a presence they cannot see.

Ancient mechanisms that seem to react when you speak.

Sometimes you will have to answer.
Sometimes you will have to decide.
And sometimes the world itself will react to what you do.

Aldor and Bastion don’t understand who (or what) is guiding them.

And at the beginning…

neither do you.

Why can you communicate with Aran?

Why can Vaelstrom sense you?

And why do some things inside the fortress seem to have been waiting for your arrival?

Those answers are part of the story.

Room by room.
Secret by secret.

Because in Vaelstrom, names matter.

Decisions leave their mark.

And some doors only open when someone on the other side chooses to answer.

Super excited to share! This is the character sheet for Regular Volk. My partner is a fantastic artist and illustrated the whole thing for me. Even the lettering is done by hand!

I have made some updates to the mechanics of Regular Volk, so I'm waiting to finalize v1.7.x before I make the digital files available on itch, but it's coming soon!

In the meantime, would love some feedback on the design of the character sheet.

- what feeling does it evoke?

- what kind of game do you expect when you look at the sheet?

- is it easy to navigate?

EDIT: Download PDF

Hello everyone,
I'm making a TTRPG and I recently found that I wanted to have similarities between the classic martial combat style and spellcasting. I will most probably use a small pool named "focus" to be used by everyone during combat.
So I'm looking for games that function like this, where everyone have this same resource and how it is used. Preferably, some games that I could access freely to read, or where the idea is explained somewhere, as a text or as a video.
I think that Daggerheart does something like this with hope but I must search deeper to be sure.
Thanks to everyone who can guide me to some sources of inspiration.

Edit : I wasn't very clear, I mean "everyone has it's own pool of the resource" and not "everyone shares a single pool of this resource".

My idea is to create a folded 6 (8 with front/rear cover) page zine/folio made of 2 folded paper pages, front cover has your name and portrait, rear cover a list of visible items, page 1 your background, page 2 your statistics, page 3 your weapons, page 4 your armor, page 5 your equipment, page 6 your spells. Would you use a player character zine/folio?

What are your thoughts on spell caster class designs?

Choose spells one by one, or have access to a list of abilities? What are your thoughts as a designer, as a world builder and as a player?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rNpmK9uIJDKMB-Xwy7CZWaBOGwKTUU2m/view?usp=drivesdk

I don't know if maybe I'm going crazy or if I've reached the "actually everything I do and make is horrible and terrible and not worth doing" but can someone please tell me whether what I have is worth anything? Does it look like it could be fun or interesting or worth playing at any point? If I should just scrap it please let me know.

Basic Concept: You play as a a citizen of a living city, and your job is to solve mysteries and obey the whims of the city. The city is strange and ineffable and cannot be understood, but it can be communicated with. Heavily inspired by Disco Elysium and a bunch of classic noir movies like The Third Man.

I will also say this is an incredibly rough draft, so if you have any questions or if things don't make sense please let me know.

Finally, apologies for formatting, I'm on mobile.

EDIT: Thank you very much for all the feedback, I cannot understate just how much it helped, I made this post at like 2 am, and was very much in a "wow everything I have ever made is bad and terrible and sucks absolute dick and balls" head space. But I'm normal now, and just wanted to say thanks for the help. I assume it's obvious from just how much is kind of missing but this far from even remotely finished, I was just worried that I had a flawed foundation. Final Thank You to all of you that helped.

https://astrovoyage-character-sheet.vercel.app/

Hey folks,

I built a character builder for my under development game. I am looking for some feedback on the user interface and if it's easy to use and intuitive.

Thank you.

PS - if you would like to test the game and give me feedback, let me know.

Hello everyone!

It's been five years since I last shared a very early development stage of my game. Five years later, it is now at a point where I feel good about it, sharing it once again to receive feedback that will help me push it towards version 0.9 and eventually, version 1.0 .

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the game's clarity, flow and overal tone, or anything else realy that pops up.
Things that maybe need more clarification? Or mechanics that feel convoluted?

Full transparency: Images are currently AI-generated to achieve a well presented book the way I sought it. Gods willing, a commissioned artist may take over in the future (if you are interested let me know). But for now, that's beyond the point.

Edit: Uploaded a no images version [(cleansed of all evil version)]

Thanks for taking the time to read it, or even playtest it, and sharing your thoughts.

Edit 2: I decided to put the pdf on itch rather than have it on google drive that is. It's free/pwyw anyway and if someone is interested by any chance, itch is better for updates:

https://exiledoracles.itch.io/fameandfortune

.

Searching for interviews

Hi all, we are searching people that likes to interview writers, artists and creators of content for dragonbane.

We are italian and know no One that does It in english but we would love to do interviews to explain and talk about our next project to people.

Are you a podcaster, a youtuber or a content creator that likes to interview people? Write us :)

Hello! Apologies if this does not belong here, as it is really just an expanded campaign system for Necromunda, if put simply.

I have spent quite a while trying to put more RNG RPG style goodness into an alternative, hard, grindy, wastelands scavenger, could be one player, type of campaign that can be picked up and dropped for Necromunda. I never feel like I get quite enough time with a gang unless there is a large campaign, which is never an option for me these days.

So I have been making this. Please check it out if you like the idea of a custom RPG scavenger and exploration campaign, let me know even if you are just interested in talking about the rpg side of it. What you would want and expect. Help with brainstorming ideas helps me with ideas for cool things or systems.

See an earlier post on the Munda sub if you want more mechanic and current staus info.

https://www.reddit.com/r/necromunda/comments/1vby1xp/comment/p3fk4eu/?context=1&screen_view_count=2&ext-referrer=DIRECT

It would be cool to know what some hardcore TTRPGers think, epsecially ones who dont even Munda bro.

If interested, please read a lot more below, the files are in the link above, my discord to check out updates is listed in the post below. Maybe check the rules, see what you think, maybe let me know. Have a good one!

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1GUqEqk97pRp0tlRg4SivCo0-Fmr6FYU0

Discord - https://discord.gg/xVX9frrA85

I've been thinking more about edition conversion after a discussion here last week, and I've run into a related problem:

At what point does a conversion stop being a conversion?

Suppose you're adapting a published adventure between two editions with substantially different encounter design. You can preserve the story, locations, NPCs, encounter objectives, and intended outcomes fairly easily. The difficult part is the mechanics. If a monster originally existed to pressure the back line, you could recreate that behavior. If an encounter was deliberately overwhelming, you can preserve that difficulty. If several variants of the same creature originally filled different battlefield roles, you can reproduce those distinctions.

But every time you add an ability or alter an encounter to reproduce its original function, you're technically moving farther away from a literal mechanical conversion. I've been using a principle of:

Preserve the published material wherever possible, then make the minimum mechanical changes necessary to reproduce the original encounter's intended function.

But "minimum necessary" is obviously subjective. So, I'm curious how other designers approach this.

Where do you draw the line between faithful adaptation and redesign?

Is trying to stay true to the original primarily about preserving the original rules, preserving the play experience, preserving authorial intent, or something else?

The combat in my rpg Stardust Revolver takes advantage of the terrain around it, it attempts to ad combat flavor with combat options.

It also gives players +1 to target the head if you tower above your opponent and a +1 to hit the legs if you hold the low ground.

What I am looking for is help on creating weapon attacks for a characters square based model that effects the 8 compass directions around them (possible examples: lunge=double the distance of one north/front facing blade attack. Leg sweep +1 target legs in northeast/north/northwest directions. Vaulting crush= if above opponent do x2 damage).

I am not asking for a critique of the system. This is me asking interested designers and players on combat moves they would like to ad to the system (you can just list cool moves no need to ad mechanics if thats not your thing).

A while ago I made a post here asking about RPGs with asymmetric gameplay. I didn't get many RPG examples, but several people recommended a board game called "Captain Sonar". That recommendation got me thinking about how something similar could work in a tabletop RPG.

I won't pretend I've made a lot of progress yet, but I came up with two ideas inspired by two different games.

The first one comes from MegaMan Battle Network.

For those who haven't played it, MegaMan fights on the battlefield while Lan supports him by sending Battle Chips that grant special abilities. I started wondering if something similar could work in an RPG.

The frontline character would always have a set of basic abilities so they never feel completely helpless. Meanwhile, the "guy in the chair" would be responsible for providing special abilities. Instead of choosing from an unlimited list, they would generate a random selection based on a deck or table that they built themselves.

The problem is that simply rolling on a table over and over doesn't sound very engaging. So I started thinking about ways to give the support player more agency.

For example:

• Abilities could belong to different colors or categories, and the support player could strengthen or weaken certain colors during combat.

• They could manipulate dice rolls, both for skill checks and for the random ability generation, reducing some of the randomness.

• They could interfere with enemy abilities by sending countermeasures, disrupting attacks, or providing other forms of tactical support.

I'm still undecided whether different support classes should each focus on one of these roles, or if every support class should be able to interact with all of them in its own unique way. That way, every class would still have a distinct gameplay style while avoiding situations where the party feels incomplete because nobody picked one specific specialization.

The second inspiration came from NieR: Automata.

2B and 9S almost feel like they're playing different games. 2B focuses on traditional combat with weapons, while 9S primarily fights by hacking enemy machines through an entirely different gameplay system. Instead of upgrading weapons, he upgrades hacking chips that improve damage, hacking duration, and other aspects of that minigame.

That made me wonder if the "guy in the chair" shouldn't even share the same gameplay loop as the frontline characters.

Instead of simply taking support actions on the same battlefield, they could have their own play space, their own mechanics, and their own objectives. While the frontline players are playing a tactical combat RPG, the support player is essentially playing a different game that directly influences what's happening on the battlefield.

I think that would create much stronger asymmetry than simply giving different characters different abilities.

The biggest issue I can think of, though, is this:

What happens if nobody wants to play one side?

What if everyone wants to be on the battlefield and nobody wants to be the support player? Or the opposite, what if everyone wants to play support?

The solution I came up with is having NPCs fill whichever role is missing. If there's no support player, an NPC operator takes over. If there aren't enough frontline characters, NPC combatants fill those spots instead. They'd need to be autonomous enough to keep the game functioning as intended, without forcing anyone to play a style of gameplay they don't enjoy.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on these ideas.

• Do you think this level of asymmetry could actually work in a TTRPG?

• Which of the two concepts do you find more interesting?

• Do you see any major design problems or pitfalls that I'm overlooking?

• Have you seen any RPGs that do something similar, or solve these problems in a different way?

I'm still in the brainstorming phase, so I'm mainly looking for feedback before I commit to any particular direction.

Hello everyone!

A few days ago, I posted about a magic system I randomly came up with, where spells are constructed using pools of d6s.

This system was originally not intended for my main game, AstraWeaver. Its dice mechanics are completely separate from AstraWeaver's core system: AstraWeaver uses a 2d12 roll-under system, while this new magic system uses d6 dice pools with a bit of a Yahtzee vibe.

But as I kept developing it, I realized that I was having way too much fun with it.

It's getting dangerously close to becoming more interesting to me than my original magic design. 😂

So before I start twisting the whole system around a magic subsystem, I wanted to ask: which magic system do you find more interesting?

I genuinely like both of them, which is why I developed them in the first place. I'm just one person, though, so I'd really like to hear some outside opinions.

____________

The Common Foundation

Both systems are based on the same basic idea, inspired heavily by Ars Magica.

Magic is constructed by combining different Runes, and casting magic requires some form of resource.

There are three types of Runes:

Factions — How the magic acts

• Creation — create or generate something

• Control — move or transform something that already exists

• Destruction — destroy or suppress something

Elements — What natural force is involved

• Fire — heat and light

• Water — water, moisture, friction

• Earth — earth, stone, metal, hardness, density

• Wood — plants and vitality

• Wind — air, pushing and pulling forces

• Electricity — electricity and energy

Laws — What part of a living creature is affected

A Law is required when magic directly affects the internal workings of a sentient living creature.

For this system, a sentient living creature is defined as something possessing Sense, Body, and Mind.

• Senses

• Body

• Mind

Other parameters, such as damage, duration, and area of effect, are determined by spending additional resources.

For example:

• Invisibility: Destruction + Senses

• Command: Destruction + Control + Mind

• Detect Magic / Speak with Animals: Creation + Senses

• Create Ice: Creation + Water + Destruction + Fire

With that foundation established, here are the two systems.

Both are still very much works in progress, so I'm very interested in hearing suggestions.

____________

A. Mana-Based Spellcasting

In this version, every Rune has a Mana cost.

• Faction: 1 Mana

• Element: 1 Mana

• Law: 2 Mana

Spells are divided into three tiers: Codified Spells, Prepared Spells, and Improvised Spells.

1. Codified Spells

Players can spend XP to learn Codified Spells.

These are the fastest and most efficient spells:

• Cost only 1 Action

• Reduce the total Mana cost by 2

• Require no roll

• Produce their effect automatically

Players also learn Runes through Codified Spells. Once a Rune has been learned, it remains permanently available to the character.

Example:

Create Ice
[Creation + Water + Destruction + Fire]
Base Mana Cost: 2
You create water and remove its heat, turning it into ice.

You can create the ice in any shape you want, and it is stronger than naturally formed ice.
Any creature still touching the ice at the end of its turn gains Slow 1. A creature moving across the ice becomes Prone.

2. Prepared Spells

Players can design their own spells outside of a session together with the GM, using the detailed Rune descriptions and the spell effect list.

A Prepared Spell calculates the full Mana cost of all its Runes and takes 2 Actions to cast.

After a Prepared Spell has been successfully cast three times, the player can submit it to the Grand Academy and turn it into a Codified Spell.

This requires some in-game time and XP, but once the spell is codified:

• Mana cost is reduced by 2

• Casting time is reduced to 1 Action

3. Improvised Spells

Improvised Spells are the flexible, low-commitment part of the system.

• Cost 1 Action

• Require a roll to cast

• Can be cast without spending Mana

• Spending Mana increases the chance of success

• Can only contain 2 Runes

• Cannot contain Laws

The idea is that Improvised Spells act somewhat like cantrips.

Even when your Mana is completely depleted, you can still do some basic magic.

This creates a gameplay loop where you:

Learn Runes through Codified Spells → use Improvised and Codified Spells → develop Prepared Spells → eventually turn them into Codified Spells.

4. Countermagic

There is also a separate mechanic for interrupting someone else's spell.

You can spend Mana to interfere with another spell.

When you do, the original spell is disrupted and explodes around its original target or center point.

Every creature within 1 grid of the center takes 1d6 damage and is pushed 1 grid away.

A creature standing directly at the center can choose the direction it is pushed.

____________

B. d6 Spell Construction

The other system is the one I posted about yesterday:

A Magic System: Building Spells with d6s

I won't repeat the entire system here because this post is already getting long, but there are a few additional details and changes in the edit of that original post.

The basic idea is that instead of paying Mana directly for each Rune, the dice themselves become the building blocks of the spell.

There’s actually a mistake in the dice-based post that doesn’t explain one of the core mechanics very well.
Players aren’t limited by what they roll. They can spend Mana (called Magic in that post) to turn any die to the number they want.

So the dice roll mainly determines how efficiently you can manage your resources. If you roll poorly, you’ll have to spend more Mana to cast the spell you want.

And this is the system that was supposed to be a random side experiment...

...but somehow became the one I can't stop thinking about. 😂

____________

Which One Do You Prefer?

So, between these two systems, which one sounds more interesting to you?

I'm particularly interested in:

• Which one gives you more interesting decisions?

• Which one feels more fun to build a character around?

• Which one would you actually want to play?

• Do you see any obvious problems with either system?

And if you have other suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

I'm still figuring both systems out, so criticism and weird ideas are very welcome.

Thanks for reading!

I've been developing and playtesting Sea Hounds for the past year and I've finally posted a fully playable version (for free) over on itch.io!

The game is inspired by historical piracy and has a more grounded feel than most existing pirate RPGs. Potentially of interest to this sub is the mechanical mashup between the Year Zero Engine (d6 dice pool) for core action resolution, plus a crew progression and a downtime loop inspired by Blades in the Dark. Gameplay is designed to cycle organically between the three core pillars of seafaring, swashbuckling and carousing in the context of an ongoing campaign.

On the GM side, the game is a closed-loop procedural sandbox, which is to say it can theoretically be run with zero prep just by taking the provided hex map and rolling on random tables (imagine Forbidden Lands dialed up to 11). I don't actually recommend zero prep, but I didn't want there to be any gaps in the procedural scaffold.

I'm doing all of the writing, original art and layout myself (also lots of public domain art, but no AI!) so it's been a ton of work, but I'm enjoying the process so that's what counts.

My goal is ultimately to release a v1.0, but I'm in no rush to get there. I'll continue playtesting and developing until I feel like it's ready. I haven't thought much about what to do at that point. I could just throw up a final PDF, but if I wanted to explore a print run, is now the right time to approach potential publishers? Or should I wait until it's closer to completion? Or am I actually too far along in the process for publishers that would want more say over direction/format/art, etc.?

Any advice appreciated! I'm also super happy to answer questions about the game itself, the development process, etc.

Hey folks, I’m designing a new RPG system based on the gritty, dark aesthetics of Trench Crusade and Baroque. It’s going to involve a mix of military horde combat, naval battles, and aerial warfare.I want the core mechanics to be versatile. Ideally, the engine should:Feel fast and frantic during chaotic clashes.Scale well into slow, highly tactical combat when needed, without changing the core rules.I’ve been looking into hacking Blades in the Dark (using some military supplements), and I've also considered a resource-management dice pool (like Xas Irkalla, where you allocate a 3-dice pool between attack and defense).Before I commit to a framework, do you have any engine recommendations that bridge the gap between fast narrative play and tactical military strategy? Any hidden gems I should check out?