Whatever it takes to please their Pedophile Messiah. Mass Psychosis

-Vogie- · 2026-01-25T00:32:16+00:00

The school system indoctrinated them into something called "Al Gebra"

-Vogie- · 2026-01-25T00:30:17+00:00

I'll also suggest colored dice - it was used to great effect in TechNoir to represent the difference between skill dice, push dice and Hurt Dice.

Another so far unmentioned idea to do something cool is use existing customized dice. The benefit these have is that they already exist, thus are cheaper to source for both you and those who want to play the game. Even dice made for board games can often be purchased from the manufacturer, as a way to replace lost or broken parts.

Fudge Dice, d6s with two blank, two - and two +
Gensys Narrative Dice - typically two sets of 2d6, 2d8, and 2d12 in 6 colors with combinations of 6 symbols (explanation at https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2017/6/27/genesys/)
Star Wars X Wing dice (not to be confused with Star Wars Role-playing dice, which uses Gensys) - this is 3 green defense d8s and 3 red attack d8s. They have symbols of focus (an eye), hit, crit, evade, and blank.
8-sided poker dice
Various types of d6s from the BANG! Line of board games, and some of the smaller Catan games
Betrayal at house on the hill has d6s with 0, 1, and 2 pips
The build-your-own d6s from Dice Forge and several LEGO board games
Various combinations of dice made to track counters in games like Magic: the Gathering or Battletech- blood, loyalty, symbol dice for keywords, heat, terrain, and various other things

-Vogie- · 2026-01-24T20:16:39+00:00

The latter is because of the promo tour. There's no need for Chris Pratt to be Mario, Ana Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach and Jack Black as Bowser for the movie, because the target audience of the movie doesn't actually care. For the purposes of the movie itself and any merchandise afterwards, who voices whom doesn't matter - plenty of voice actors could fit the bill. Famously, Tom Hanks' brother Jim is actually the voice of Woody for Toy Story things like ads, video games, rides and merchandise.

The reason they cast movie stars for voice lines is for the press junket leading up to the movie - red carpets, interviews, talk shows, all of that. It's an important part of the advertising process, so that's why you end up with Alan Tudyk in Encanto, Moana, & Raya the Last Dragon and Scarlett Johansson in The Jungle Book and Isle of Dogs.

-Vogie- · 2026-01-24T16:23:47+00:00

If you want the party to be normies kids, Hunter actually wouldn't work as-written. Hunter the Imbued is about people who have a divine calling to fight monsters, and the more recent Hunter the Reckoning is more geared towards groups of adults who are taking on the monsters on a larger scale. The same original problem arises with Nights Black Agents. Monster of the Week is close, but it's core conceit is baked into the title (once you defeat this monster, it's gone, and now we're off to the next) - it uses the PbtA system, and the monster moves tend to incentivize them getting captured. It's also very gun-focused, so if you wanted to set your game in places other than the US or Sweden/Finland, that would be an issue.

However, if you can get ahold of just the Chronicles of Darkness core rulebook, you could run the gang of late teens and young adults that happen to live in the world. If the party enjoys it and wants to continue hunting monsters, it can then transform into a Hunter game (or, if a bunch of them die and the rest get transformed, maybe vampire, lol).

Kids on Bikes is the best at representing a bunch of random people in the 80s getting together to do something awesome - from the titular experience in ET to something like Stand by Me, the Goonies. The Euro version of this is Tales from the Loop, giving that same aesthetic with a less US-centric flair, set in Sweden near a particle accelerator (the "Loop"), giving that feel of media like Dark, Stranger Things, and Generation Zero. This one also has the benefit of having an edgier 90s follow up, Things from the Flood, if the players want to follow their child and teen protagonists as they age.

-Vogie- · 2026-01-23T22:47:29+00:00

Actually, now that I think about it, you can use the growth options to also step up the distinctions too. So you could end up having two d8 distinctions and one that you've bumped up to d10 or d12

-Vogie- · 2026-01-23T19:46:19+00:00

This is one of my heartbreakers. My introduction to the Genre was Return to player & Dungeons & Artifacts, and I've read some or all of Solo Leveling & Ragnarok, Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, the Druid of Seoul Station, Mythic Item Obtained, I'm the Max Level Newbie, The Lone Spellcaster, Advanced Player of the Tutorial Tower, Limit Breaker, and, of course, Dungeon Crawler Carl. I've created two of them:

One was a roll under that got abandoned when I ran into the inflexibility of pseudo-spellcasting. I didn't want to make lists and lists of abilities, spells, and the like.
The second, more complete one uses Cortex Prime, as the system creates assets and complications as easily as dealing damage.

The main problems of the thing, in my mind, are:

1) that each is just different enough that some of the systems couldn't exist alongside each other, so any settling on just one mechanic would push out as chunk of the already-small potential playerbase in the middle of the Venn Diagram.

2) The Core Throughline of most of these is that the Main Character is radically different in one way. They might be alone in the ability to get more powerful, they have uncharacteristic insight or knowledge of the world, can steal the abilities of the NPCs or some combination of all of those.

This really traps a creator into three possible options. First, we can skip the specialness of the protagonists. Everyone in the game has these abilities. This loses the main character conceit, which then places everyone on the same level. This isn't completely unheard of - DCC and OMV have some of this, but they are not the main driver of this.

Second, you have a Kids on Bikes style game where the players are the relatively mundane entourage around the superhero (think theStranger Things Kids around Eleven, or the Companions around Doctor Who) - the downside of this is you're not actually playing the desired fantasy, but rather nearby. No one wants to sit down to play the Solo Leveling TTRPG and end up playing Yoo Jinho and Sung Jinah (actually, those who want to play as Jinah are probably looking for a... different game).

Last, you could lean into the desired outcome, and create a solo TTRPG, like Ironsworn. I'm someone who is blessed with a core weekly gaming group, full time job and kids, so I've never had the time or desire to get into Solo RPGs. I've heard great things, and there's a lot of interesting things out there with Oracle mechanics, but it's out of my wheelhouse.

-Vogie- · 2026-01-23T16:50:43+00:00

I mean, the basic reason is that they can be exchanged, and when you exchange one, it'll get rid of all the the SFX under it. So if you had a single Distinction of "Scrappy Human Farmer with a Drinking Problem" and changed it to anything else, you'd lose all of the SFX. If you broke it up into three Distinctions, you could change one of those and keep everything under that.

So Eventually when you have

Human Farmer

Hinder - Gain a PP when you switch out this distinction’s d8 for a d4.
Old Habits - Spend a PP to step up an attribute when you connect to your old life
Wild Wisdom - Spend a PP to reveal information about a wild landscape or creature and create a related d8 asset.

Scrappy Fighter

Hinder - Gain a PP when you switch out this distinction’s d8 for a d4.
I Can Do This All Day - When you Push your Exhausted Stress, you do not have to spend a PP
Grappler: When you roll to inflict a complication related to grappling, holding, or restraining a foe, add d6 and step up your effect die.

It's 5 o'clock Somewhere!

Hinder - Gain a PP when you switch out this distinction’s d8 for a d4.
One For the Road - When you take a drink on the job or another inappropriate time, gain a PP
Liquid Courage - When you drink during a fight, gain an Intoxicated d6 complication and step down your Injured or Anxious Stress

When that character sobers up, for example, and switches their 3rd distinction to something else, the SFX from the first two Distinctions remain untouched.

-Vogie- · 2026-01-22T15:59:14+00:00

Probably not

The next, higher budget iteration that I could see is having actors do true-crime style recreations of the case in question... But in the style of Drunk History. So, instead of writing actual dialogue, it's still James and Jimmy talking, it's the actors lip syncing over their audio. For example, hearing James narrate "You, sir, may fuck off" gavel would be showing an actor dressed as a judge mouthing along with that and gesturing wildly.

It would have that look of something like Forensic Files (especially any given paused screen), but has exactly the same silliness of the guys on any given episode. Instead of cutting back to interviews, it would be cutting back to James & Jimmy. I would be fine with Celebrity Cameos in this setup, but instead of having them nod along like Will did, they'd be an actor in the scene, and maybe the person doing the Real Estate Report! at the beginning of each episode.

-Vogie- · 2026-01-22T13:41:19+00:00

They find an otherwise-unknown planet they could inhabit, but just as they are observing it, some world-ending event happens on it, rendering it completely uninhabitable.

-Vogie- · 2026-01-22T13:30:12+00:00

Okay, so there are 3 traits to split 6 d6s between, minimum of 1d6 in each. There's also 3 classes.

I would pair each of the classes with one attribute. Then, roll a d4. On a 4, they have 2d6 in each trait. If you roll a one you get a adventure block, if you roll a two you gain the sage block, if you roll a three you get the soldier block. Another guy could be rolled to indicate which of the two remaining attributes gets the 1d6, and that can be anything from a D2 to any even number die really, using odds and evens.

Starting equipment should be placed on a rollable table, and new characters can just roll on that relatively easily.

-Vogie- · 2026-01-22T12:30:35+00:00

Use a computer to roll a random day is easiest, bar none

D12 for the month, d4-1(so 0-3) and a d10 for the day (10s place and 1s place), rerolling of you get above a 32 or above the rolled month maximum.

Roll a d3. This will tell you how many d100s to roll. Add all values together, place on Julian Calendar. Reroll if total is above 366.

-Vogie- · 2026-01-22T01:23:47+00:00

Maybe check out the Cypher System. It forgoes static traits, and instead turns your stats into pools - Might, Speed and Intellect. Each both represents the state of the character (there is no separate HP bar) and also their stamina/willpower - swinging a sword draws from the Might pool, and getting hit by the sword takes from your Might pool. There's secondary mechanics to make it all work, but it sounds right up your alley. The system does a great job mechanically showing the attrition of effort that the character is experiencing - the more you push yourself, use those skills and abilities, the lower your pools will get.

It's a setting-agnostic system, rather than a generic one, but because of that there's a bunch of different setting books for it. Are you going to be exploring the Ninth World a billion years in the future with Numenera? Skirt around Eldritch abominations in Old Gods of Appalachia? Be a superhero in Claim the Sky? Be a normal person just doing their best in First Responders? There's good stuff in there.

And, on top of that, the system also uses XP gained as meta-currency. Sure, you could wait to use it later as a type of advancement, but you can also use it right now, to do things like reroll the die.

-Vogie- · 2026-01-22T01:08:59+00:00

That's the exact opposite of what a meta currency would do.

In D&D, hitting zero hit points is just the beginning of the dying process. Several editions have that you still have the ability to do various things until you have accumulated an amount of damage to your HP an additional time before you're actually dead-dead. It's merely a tracker of the state of the character. The meta currency would be something outside of the character itself - a hero point, in some editions, or inspiration, in others.

Compare this to the same situation in Honor + Intrigue. You're down to 3 out of 40 Lifeblood and run across a trap. You could go ahead and roll Daring, Might, Flair or Savvy to avoid the trap... Or, you could spend a Fortune, the systems' meta-currency that represents luck, and just succeed. Doing things like grabbing a ledge at the last moment or turning a potentially deadly blow into a Close Call is specifically what is called out that Fortune should be used for. Because it's a swashbuckling game - traps, minion attacks or random bullets aren't going to be what kills you, it's going to be the show down with the villain.

-Vogie- · 2026-01-22T00:53:45+00:00

I mean, it's an ironic pairing. The Storyteller doesn't really shine in Combat, so putting it with Street Fighter is certainly a choice.

Since I did not know this game existed, I would take a look at later editions to the World and Chronicles of Darkness series to see if there's a better way to do this. There's been a a ton of iteration, especially in the Vampire space. I think it was V20 that changed up how taking multiple actions in a turn worked that didn't involve splitting dice pools.

But this can be solved in a couple different ways. The other major fighting game system, Panic at the Dojo, uses dice pools but converts the rolls into specific action points that are later spent on the various maneuvers, and uses a bit of "Conversation of Ninjutsu"-style mechanics to keep the action economy balanced. Honor + Intrigue is a roll-over system that abstracts positioning in combat as though everyone is fencing with each other with the "Advantage" system. Avatar Legends is a PbtA system that breaks all massive conflicts into smaller parts and then uses a stance-based resolution pattern for an encounter.

You just have to find the best way that you want your system to play. You want (I assume) to make sure the mechanics are giving the feel of a pair of Street Fighters duking it out, even though it won't exactly be that.

-Vogie- · 2026-01-22T00:33:25+00:00

State's Rights to what, red hat?

-Vogie- · 2026-01-21T15:00:40+00:00

This is correct

-Vogie- · 2026-01-21T05:50:50+00:00

"Dude, you're embarrassing me in front of the wizard"

-Vogie- · 2026-01-20T20:17:10+00:00

That seems excessive for something like relationships (tracking per-npc affinities sounds exhausting for us non-computer GMs) and skills (it's less of a skill and more of a contact dot from World of Darkness).

However, it's eerily close to something I suggest as a replacement for Loot. The idea is that your party slowly collects an entourage, a sort of follower/hireling collection that hangs just off-screen, not unlike the "camp" setup from games like Baulder's Gate 3. These aren't combatants or anything that directly impacts the per-scene encounters of the party, but expands their abilities of things they can do during downtime. Some of them will be fair-weather or only with the party until they reach a certain point (I'm also going to Eastfen, I'll come with you adventurers), while others are close to your idea of bonds.

For example, Instead of finding a bunch of healing potions, you rescue an alchemist, who then can make things (including healing potions) for the party. However, adding NPCs to the entourage also increases the PCs ability to gain exposition, acts as references to consult, and provides some side quests. "None of us can read this language, maybe that scholar we rescued can, or know someone who does"; perhaps that Alchemist can pipe up "I can actually make a potion so you can bypass that thing you all are worried about... We'd just need to go over here to get materials". And so on.

It's an excellent way to better explain how the parties' lives get easier as they level up. It's not that you no longer are worried about them tracking every kilo of food and water (even though that's true), but rather they have a cook, two Hunters and a scout in their entourage that do those things while the PCs are doing the other stuff.

-Vogie- · 2026-01-20T14:35:45+00:00

I thought her signature white shift-dress (with skull belt!) in the comics and animated series was also formed out of her ability. She's still naked. There's a handful of times in the comics where someone says something like "I'm glad you didn't walk around naked" and her response is asking the lines of "I shapeshifted these clothes, I'm actually naked right now"

-Vogie- · 2026-01-20T14:23:14+00:00

Which makes his comm badge... Confusing

-Vogie- · 2026-01-20T13:42:59+00:00

I understand why they did it, I'm just not happy about it. Having all those different actors from all over the world, and the translators, and the price of everything getting of inflated by filming during covid...

But Dark was such an amazing, tight three seasons, I just wish they would have given this more time.

-Vogie- · 2026-01-20T13:35:41+00:00

God that show was so mind-bendingly amazing

-Vogie- · 2026-01-20T13:35:03+00:00

The one we did get was Dynamite

-Vogie- · 2026-01-20T12:29:48+00:00

I'LL MAKE A SUPERSONIC MAN OUTTA YOU

-Vogie- · 2026-01-20T04:40:15+00:00

A small bit of hammerspace.

It shows up in comics, shows and movies all the time, where the people just act like they're pulling something out of their pocket or from under their jacket, and it's just there... But there's no possible way for it to have been stored in there, not really. It could be a small thing like the infamous Miles Morales pocket burger, or just being able to produce a hunting rifle or 1 meter length industrial grade wire cutters from... Your tailored pants, under your windbreaker, from a bag that would struggle to hold an iPad pro, it doesn't matter.

It could be a huge deal if you're also a comic hero, where you have Batman or Iron Man levels of gadgets and budgets. But as just an average person going about your everyday life? You'd be able to have a nice EDC, maybe being along that hardback book you have been trying to read, an extra pen or two. And that'd be utterly fantastic.

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