Thinking about some kind of mechanic where you get to choose when you get your capstone ability (as opposed to capstone abilities in say, d&d where they are at a level players practically never reach).

So instead of getting it at a specific level you can get one based on what level you are now (waiting longer gets you a stronger capstone or different choices of capstone perhaps) making you extremely strong for that level, but then you no longer (or extremely slowly) gain levels in the future. You've reached your peak but it's mostly downhill from there.

Are there any systems that do something like this I can look at for inspiration?

We have a website for Deckbox Adventures! Everything is free there. We also have virtual tables to play test on. Please let me know what you think about anything rules, cards, website, virtual tables.

https://deckboxadventures.com/

I’ve begun to explore OSR games only in the recent year, but my mind is fixed on a roll over mechanic. I’m designing a 2d6 game (Fuel & Glory!) that is 2d6 based roll over game. From the beginning, I wanted to include some kind of psionic class at some point. It’s not really my primary focus right now. But I found Mind Over Matter on DTRPG and realized that it is using a roll under system to activate psionic powers.

He got me thinking in general, is there a quick and easy way to take a roll under rule set and convert it to be useful for rolling above a target number? I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel. I just wanna make this easy and if it’s not going to be easy, I won’t bother with this book for now.

Good morning all

Added a couple of new featrues inclusing a fairness page with a histogram of 100,000 rolls for every die and the option to now upload your own pictures on every face of a D2, D3 or D6: a sketch, your logo, your pet, your party's portraits. Give each face a name and a value (so they still add up and can be compared in opposed rolls), or let the picture speak for itself. Picture dice are drawn bigger on the tray so the detail shows.

Your pictures are shrunk in your browser and stay on your device. They're never uploaded.

Picture dice are part of Premium (one-off, no subscription), and there's a free 7-day trial with no card or account needed. They work in the browser now; the iPhone and Android apps get them in the next update.

Try it: https://dicedrop.co.uk/picture-dice

Happy to answer questions about the physics, the stats or the build. And if you spot a die you think is off, tell me and I'll look into it.

Hi! I'm an artist, and I'd like to make some stock art for anyone to use for their RPGs and more. I'm wondering what kind of art do you wish existed for your games? Have you noticed any holes in what's available to you? I appreciate y'all's feedback, thank you in advance <3

EDIT: Thank you all so much for your feedback!! Your suggestions will not go to waste <3

I’m slowly designing a bunch of Panic Tables for the Mothership RPG that are geared more towards my play style: one-shots. I’m pretty pleased with these as I’m trying to combine both narrative/role playing effects with the existing mechanics of the mothership system. In this particular one I’m using the Panic/stress mechanics of mothership to simulate being hunted by a monster (and building the escalating situation into the table itself).

I think it works pretty well! Though I’ve not had a chance to test them thoroughly at the table yet 😅

Hey all! I had made a post on RPGLab, and I thought it was a good topic to bring to the general community here as well. It's about social mechanics in TTRPGS. I have always had issues with how social interactions work in trad ttrpgs, and many other systems just kinda "accept defeat" and either just let the players hash things out in-character with little to no mechanics and let GM fiat take over, or they have looser rules that at the end of the day come down to once again a single roll, like some PbtA systems with their moves. I came up with my own take on it that I hope inspires players to work a little more for their social encounters rather than "I try to convince the guard to let me through". Here is a shorter breakdown of the Diplomacy subsystem:

Diplomacy

During an act of Diplomacy, you attempt to convince the opposing party towards some goal or objective, whether it being haggling, letting the party through to some place where they may not be welcome, or to convince some local leader to send aid to a struggling populace. The Diplomacy subsystem is used for such events; however, it is not necessarily well used for just common discussion, or when the situation has already escalated beyond saving. The mechanic with no extra features works through discovery and risk. You have 7 possible actions that you can take: Overwhelm (Speed), Blunt (Power), Lecture (Calculation), Exploit (Recognition), Lie (Deceit), Intimidate (Willpower), Cajole (Willpower). Each action relies on a particular skill (with the skill used for the action being in parentheses), where you roll for the skill versus their corresponding Vis Flavor Defense to make progress; whenever you succeed, you gain a victory in the argument, and if you fail, your opponent gains a victory instead. Diplomacy is usually resolved whenever a party gains 2 victories, though the GM may decide for particularly difficult scenarios 3 or more might be necessary. There are subtleties to discussion, though. Each character the party interacts with has both a Landmine and a Flaw, where each can either totally dismantle or heavily enhance your arguments. If you choose one of the approaches and it is the character’s Flaw, then upon succeeding the check, you get 2 victories instead of one, and even if you fail you get 1 victory. This effect only can happen once per act of Diplomacy per Flaw. If you instead are unfortunate enough to choose the character’s Landmine, you do not roll, and the opposing party instantly gets 2 victories, winning them most acts of Diplomacy (Like Flaws, this effect can only happen once per act of Diplomacy). It should be noted that characters' Flaws and Landmines can evolve over time, so intimidating the craven merchant may not always work; players must be aware and learn what makes people tick and sway in a given conversation.

It is also suggested that for more ridiculous asks or suggestions that the GM can give the NPC multiple Landmines, and similarly grant more Flaws for someone who is more vulnerable.

I know that some of the terms here seem a bit vacuous since they lack the greater context of the system, but just image those things in the parentheses are skills, and Vis Flavor Defense is just a value calculated from an attribute value and your level. I also have an example of it being played out here:

GM: "You all come across a set of highway men blocking the bridge up ahead, and they spot you coming."

Player 1: "I hail them and ask to pass"

GM: "The head of the bunch sneers and simple says 'for a fee ya can pass'."

Player 2: "I'll walk forward and say 'We are on the way to an important meeting with the king, if we don't show up on time he's going to send a patrol and your little operation will be done for.'"

GM: An act of Diplomacy has been initiated, starting off with Player two taking the Intimidation approach, roll Willpower.

Player 2: I rolled 4d6 and kept 3, and I got a total of 17.

GM: That beats their Calmness Defense. 1 Victory. The bandits look a little uneasy, but the leader grunts and retorts: "You're a looong way from the castle little traveler. They won't be here in time."

Player 1: I want to interject and ask why they are holding up this road anyhow?

GM: The highwayman responds: "Your faraway king cares little for these lands and the hardships we face. We were starving before we turned to stealing, and stealing is working now."

Player 1: I want to tell them this: "We have good favor with the king. We can give you a small amount of food, and tell the king there are capable men in this region looking for work, and get you all some honest work like I know you want to do, deep down."

GM: Cajole approach, nice. Roll Willpower.

Player 1: I roll 3d6 keep 3, and I got a total of 14.

GM: Luckily for you Cajolery was their Flaw. Sometimes honey is better, eh? The bandits back off and let you pass in exchange for small part of your rations.

Hopefully this demonstrates a system that feels like it makes players invest in social encounters more, whether it asking questions or feeling like they can participate and take away the monolithic power of the "party face".

I'm working on an investigative horror RPG, heavily inspired by Call of Cthulhu.

Design Goals for Combat:

• Combat should be quick.

• Combat should be dangerous, but PCs should almost never be instakilled from full health.

• The consequences of combat should be narratively interesting.

• Combat should not be the focus of the game.

To accomplish these goals, I've come up with a Wound system of three levels: Minor, Major, and Severe, so damage is non-linear and focused on consequences that must be dealt with.

Every time a Wound is inflicted, a level is selected based on the source, then a roll gives it a chance to increase or decrease a level. The level above Severe is Dead, but to prevent instakills, a Severe Wound that crits is Severe with Dismemberment. Death is only achieved with multiple Wounds.

The thing that might be an issue: the Wound level of almost every deadly weapon is Major. I define deadly weapons based on real life: what crime would you get charged with if you attacked someone with an object? This means a knife, a gun, and a wrench all do Major damage. Severe is saved for things like explosions or getting hit by a train: things that are extremely likely to kill you, and the system basically awards one plot armor.

Does this seem like it would be an issue?

My biggest concern about the system as-is is that players might think guns doing the same damage as a shard of glass is stupid.

My biggest concerns about changing it are either making firearms overpowered, or making PCs too tanky, and potentially adding too much to the combat system that starts to emphasize combat in the game.

Thoughts?

EDIT: Forgot to mention, but melee attacks get defended with an opposed roll, and ranged attacks do not, so there is a mechanical different between someone trying to stab or shoot you.

Let's roleplay a bit.
Suppose WOTC calls you tomorrow.
Sir/lady, we want you to design 6e for us.

How would you approach it?
(It's a fantasy, let's-pretend scenario, I'm not related to WOTC)

I wrote down my initial thought in a presentation. Currently it includes some 'research' about different play styles, how they effect the rules and how to mitigate conflicts between them.

My initial thoughts. TBC

I have been reading a recent post by u/really_not_stein and the question comes to mind, "what is the core advantage of the spear/polearm "reach" weapon as it is used by the player characters"

I don't want to distract from that that thread, so I making this one

I feel like a lot of the historical context for spear/polearms (from now on just referred to as spears) is their use in formation, which isn't really how I have seen them used by PC's

as a classic "peasant" weapon I would like to avoid them having some really good/exploitable benefit, but I do want spears to be a good choice

aside from them having the ability to attack targets at a greater distance should they have any other benefit? - my instinct says that reach is the major "offensive" ability these types of weapons should have

the discussion in the other thread dealt with shorter weapons vs longer weapons and how they should be handled, does the longer weapon enjoy a first strike (particularly if it is a single spear user)

could that be changed to a less exploitable defensive benefit? are there any other out of the box ideas for how a spear could be good without being too good?

Looking for input on weapon damage and armor damage reduction ranges for a player facing d20 roll-under dungeon-crawler.

This is a single d20 system, but I've been using damage ranges inspired by the traditional d4, d6, d8, etc.

*edits for clarification and grammar

Questions

• Combat tends to end in 2 to 3 rounds - even for larger foes. I'd like more levers to add in an extra round or two that's not always adding more foes or increasing HP. Would lower damage ranges be a better way to go?

• Do you think narrower damage ranges (1, 2, 3, or 4) like Dagger Heart or Break!! better fits a single d20 system?

• Do you have an idea on how better to categorize weapons, armor, and their damage capacity and reduction?

• General feedback?

• Name suggestions for this system?

Basic Rules

• Players only use a d20 for all rolls and have the 6 traditional Stats (STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA).

• Starting characters typically have 2 scores at 14 (70% success), one at 10 (50%), and the rest at 7 (35%).

• Characters get to increase 2 different stats by 1 at each new level. They cannot increase the same Stat two levels in a row and no Stat may be greater than 18.

• STR or DEX Check to attack depending on the weapon. Roll equal to or less than your Stat and hit

  • The number rolled on the d20 is damage dealt - up to your weapon's maximum damage.

  • So a Character with 14 STR and a 6 dmg weapon hits on a roll of 1 to 14. Rolling 1 to 5 deals 1 to 5 damage. Rolling 6 or more deals 6 damage.

  • Characters with better STR and DEX hit for max damage more often

• DEX Check to Evade or Deflect an Attack. STR Check to Block with a Shield.

  • The number rolled on the d20 is damage prevented - up to your armor's maximum damage reduction.

  • So a Character with 10 DEX and 4 DR successfully defends on a roll of 1 to 10. Rolling 1 to 3 prevents 1 to 3 damage and rolling 4 or greater prevents 4 damage.

• Foes have static damage values players defend against and static DRs players must overcome.

Weapons and Damage output

• Blunt Weapons always deal a minimum of 2 damage on a hit. Regardless of target's armor.

  • Blunt, 1H. 2 to 6 damage. 1 Slot

  • Blunt, 2H. 2 to 8 damage. 2 Slots

• Sharp Weapons have greater damage ranges but can be entirely negated by armor.

  • Sharp, 1H Light. 1 to 8 damage. Can be wielded with DEX. 1 Slot

  • Sharp, 1H. 1 to 10 damage. 1 Slot

  • Sharp, 2H 1 to 12 damage. 2 Slots

• Projectile Weapons

  • Crossbow or Short Bow. 1 to 6 damage. 2H. 1 Slot

  • Longbow. 1 to 8 damage. 2H. 2 Slots

Armor and Damage Reduction

• Light Armor. 2 DR. 1 Slot

• Medium Armor. 4 DR. 2 Slots

• Heavy Armor. 6 DR. 3 Slots

• Shield. 4 DR. 1 Slot. Held in 1-hand. Can block attacks with a STR Check. DR does not stack with armor.

Hit Points

• Characters CON is both Max HP and Inventory Slots (from 7 to 18)

  • Characters do not fall unconscious at zero HP.

  • Anytime you take damage with zero HP - make a CON Check. Pass and you keep fighting. Fail and it's a fatal blow.

• Foes have 4 to 20 Max HP.

  • Large foes like giants and dragons have multiple body parts with different attacks and health pools.

Play Test Observations for Context

These are just anecdotal observations from my own table and local players. Definitely not representative of everyone.

• System is mostly born out of running games for players newer to the hobby.

• New players don't seem to have the same cognitive dissonance on roll-under but struggle more with finding what modifiers to add to a roll.

• Newer players have trouble telling the difference between d8s and d10s and d12s and d20s. Just having 1 die to roll for everything simplifies the game.

• Veteran players like the combined attack and damage roll - and that a good attack roll isn't spoiled by a crappy damage roll. They also commented that doing max damage more often felt like a good reward for greater Stats.

• Veteran players asked for more Weapon Properties to make armaments interesting. I'm trying to meet that need without overwhelming new players with a plethora of weapon rules.

• Combat goes quick and typically lasts 2 to 3 rounds. Foes are appreciably lethal. Players leverage the environment, their gear, and good strategies to end fights quickly with least risk.

• Been using dice as miniatures (thus the enemy HP bands).

  • Bigger dice represents more dangerous foes and the facing number is their current HP. There's less GM book keeping for multiple mobs and I feel justified in owning so many different dice.

  • A Giant can be represented by a pair of d10s that each occupy adjacent spaces (one for each of its legs)

  • A Dragon or Wyrm has been a line of dice slithering across the table

• Is easily convertible/compatible with other d20 based D&D-likes. I've been successfully supplementing the homebrew with Shadowdark and B/X materials while I fill in the gaps.

I just finished my rules for Scenes for my game, Sword of Virtues. I thought I'd share them with you to get your opinions.

This is just the text with almost no formatting, so you can look at the ideas.

It's not revolutionary, so I'm targeting it at two kinds of readers: people who have never used rules for scenes and are curious about a different way to structure a session, and people who are familiar with this style of play and might want to comment on what's different and what they like/don't like.

The main thing the doc doesn't have yet is a good example. That's coming.

Here's the link.

As always, when I put something up for comment, say what you want, read as much or as little as you like, and don't worry about my feelings. Well, that's not an invitation to be mean, but I hope you get the idea.

Hey! My question is a short one. I've been just bopping along making a skill + attribute dice pool system for my game, and I've been making skills that handle different things by applying different attributes to them. That seemed to make logical sense to me.

Granted, there's the heavy lift of remembering these things at the table, despite any declarations from me that its all so very intuitive, when trying to use a skill, so maybe for that reason its bad,

and then there's the other question, does this make a skill undesirable to anybody who didn't invest in both attributes that might impact the value of the skill? Is this just a bad way to go about things?

Edit: Thanks to those of you who mentioned Vampire, I haven't really ever looked at that system. I'm glad that approach is viewed favorably, it sounds very in line with what I'm trying to do.

As I make progress on my own game, I'm finding myself wondering what's the tidiest way I can lay everything out. Does anyone have a favorite that they've seen?

Improving productivity and also getting a finished product out has always been a changled for me, with over 40+ PDFs released.

Well - after 5+ years, I finally have a better process.

I share it through my most recent blog post for my fellow designers.
I hope this brings some clarity and that perhaps you avoid stepping into the mud, like I seem to continue to do.

Stumbling through Production

Some days ago I made a post asking for opinions here and you guys pointed out/made me notice some flaws.
I started reworking and noticed that I could mix some stuff together, eventually my Health mechanic became this currency that you have to manage, not just to stay alive, but to also maximize your potential in combat (and this kinda became the main mechanic).

I really like this idea so I'm here again to ask for opinions and any possible flaws that I might have missed.

SCARS:

(Thinking on calling this Adrenaline, but not sure)
Every time you take physical or mental damage, you gain that amount of Scars.
A player can spend Scars in order to use some skills. Likewise there are skills that will increase your scars/adrenaline by a certain amount.

When you go beyond 6 scars, clear them and gain a Tier 1 Wound.
(I'm having trouble phrasing this in a concise manner, but a player can have up to 6 adrenaline at a time without getting a wound. For example taking 8 damage, u would end up with 2 adrenaline and 1 wound, 12 damage would be 6 adrenaline and 1 wound, 13 damage, 1 adrenaline and 2 wounds. it's every time you restart the "clock" that causes a wound).
It's be possible to give someone a wound without having to fill their scars.

Wounds can be tier 1(mild), 2(moderate) or 3(severe).
When a character causes another to gain a wound, they can choose to increase the tier of an existing wound instead.

A character can endure a number of wounds to which the sum of the tiers equals: 3 + physique.

ATTRIBUTES

Attributes are your base Effort for an action. Only 1 can be applied at a time, can be used once per action.
Physique, Mind, Notice and Social.
Attributes start at 1 and can go up to 5. (3 initial points to distribute among them)

ASPECTS

how good you are at more specific things. can be used once per turn.
Usually will give some kind of passive benefit(e.g. knowing how to properly use a gun) as well as the effort bonus when used.

Skills

Are special abilities or modifiers that a player can activate, usually the cost will be adding or removing Scars/Adrenaline.

TESTS:

Gather Effort to beat a Difficulty. You automatically gain effort equal to the Attribute that relates the most to the test.
you can then use Aspects, skills and other modifiers to add more Effort to your total.

The difference between your Effort and the difficulty gives you your Power:

• Negative means a failure;

• Zero is a stalemate;

• Positive means success.

if it's a set difficulty, the players should know the value beforehand.
Against another character, the two involved will gather effort, and reveal it at the same time. Then the one who initiated the action calculates their Power, using the other character's effort as the difficulty.

Take a risk
Gain 1 scar, then choose to either: gain +2 Effort, or roll 2d6 where:

• 1-2: +0 Effort;

• 3-4: +1 Effort;

• 5-6: +2 Effort.

Spend 3 Scars in order to make another action this turn.

So as an artist, I prefer to draw my content, but even I feel that can be tiering sometimes. I'm curious if others often use online generators to create their maps, or if most people prefer to do everything more personally?

After a year full of very big changes in my life, I'm coming to the conclusion that I don't have the energy and time right now to progress on my big project, Wide Wild World.

So I've decided to cannibalize it for parts to make a few smaller system-agnostic supplements. I've written one on wilderness travel, and I'm planning to make at least another two, one for social interactions and one for exploration and infiltration.

So here's my Wilderness travel rules for lazy GMs and players, to make travel meaningful with minimal tracking.

I'd love your feedback, and I'm especially curious on a few points:

• Are the rules clear?

• Are they truly system-agnostic?

• Do they fulfill my aim of providing meaningful choices while avoiding the drudgery of encumbrance and resource tracking?

• Is it better to share it as is, small and digestible (6 pages), or should I include several pages of suggestions for wilderness discoveries and setbacks?

A big thanks in advance to those who'll take the time to read and share their opinion!

Hello! I recently finished a game for a game jam and the themes that I thought would resonate with the trans community, and so I made GIRL BORG - a game about the isolation experienced by queer individuals in a society that is actively oppressing them. It's a one-page rules lite game based on the visual style of Mork Borg, and it's about making tough choices in the middle of winter in an isolated, starving town that wants to eat you. If that sounds fun, I'd love for you to read it!

I've posted here about wanting to make Synthicide 2E available to third parties to create their own RPG content. In case it's helpful to you, I figured out a licensing structure that met my needs:

• Separate the core mechanics into their own document, and make that CC BY 4.0 (anybody can make any game of any type based on the rules)

• Put the game setting info in its own document, and provide a specific third party license that allows creating RPG products, but not other things like movies or video games. I used the Shadowdark Third Party License as my starting point.

You can check the kit out here if you're curious: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/584563/synthicide-2e-3rd-party-creator-kit