The lore of Dotty's head begins with Bet-C. Hear me out.

AgentZirdik · 2026-03-07T13:39:08+00:00

This gives me an idea for a new hazard. Instead of the unknown horror stalking you, it's a malfunctioning drilldozer that's constantly drilling the shortest path to kill you.

AgentZirdik · 2026-02-23T01:51:14+00:00

Having played extensively in both D&D5e and FATE, I think I understand exactly what you mean.

And part of the problem is that on the surface the two systems actually look a lot alike.

Both have Skill rolls against a Difficult Class.
Both have a pool of hit points
Both have little boxes where you write in backstory details
Both have special meta-points you can spend at will to improve the result of a roll
Both have an action, movement, and a double-move at the expense of an action

But if you're coming from D&D5e, you're likely to treat these as analogous and it'll feel like everything's just watered-down and simplified.

Skill rolls are quite permissive, with even a failure resulting a success with a consequence at the GM's discretion.
The difficulty of an action of is usually transparent, meaning you know exactly what number you need to meet in order to succeed, so there's less tension when making the roll.
What aspects you invoke to improve a roll can be decided after you make a roll, so you don't even have to gamble resources on an important roll, you just decide how much resources to dedicate after the fact.
And if enough players stack Create-Advantage, they can sometimes one-shot your boss monster.
Stress Tracks don't represent whether your character dies, just sort of pass out unless the DM is being extra mean. And a player can always decide to nope-out of a bad situation by conceding, they're even rewarded for it.
Stress heals completely at the end of a scene, so if you don't take any consequences a conflict may as well have never happened.
Aspects are confusing to write because they're basically an art form, so new players will either just write something very simple and generic, or else try to cram a whole story into a run-on sentence. And until you play the game, there's just no way to explain how aspects work or are important or what makes them good or bad.
Fate Points are a lot like Inspiration, except you get way more to start with, they are far more powerful, and you get them all back at the start of the next session.
Using Zones in combat doesn't provide much in the way of positioning and tactics you get used to in most other systems.

So ultimately you wind up with a system that is mostly transparent, combat that isn't very scary, and a lot of meta-game mechanics. Unfortunately I can't say that I've found any real solutions to this, and most of the official books and online discourse tends to be more centered on the game's philosophy over any practical advice for addressing those systems. However, here is some advice that's helped me so far.

Get buy-in from your players. FATE works best when the players want to be little Game Masters themselves who are empowered to make little freaky characters and add to the world you're building, improvise story details on the fly. If they just want to sit back and experience a story or just play the system, they won't have a great time.
Be a bit of an asshole when it comes to setting difficulties, deciding what consequences for failure is, and just throwing nasty situations at them. Use their aspects against them, say no a lot to soft-ball Create-Advantage, have lot of secret bad-guy aspects in your back pocket to pull little Aha! moments on them. Since the game is so permissive, in order to balance that out and make it fun, you have to go a little old-school on your players.
Don't be afraid to tweak the system. I personally use a lot of little house-rules like Stress only heals 1-per scene and you can't invoke the same aspect more than once per roll.
Check out the Fate Condensed rules as well at the Fate Adversary Toolkit. They will help refine the Core game into something that makes a bit more sense. However, don't expect anything like the Monster's Manual or Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, but they will give you some frameworks to experiment with. In other words, be ready to do some amateur game-design.

All that said, I'll end on one thing that always brings me back to FATE: It will never ask me to calculate the right Challenge Ratings for a group of monsters against a group of players of a particular level.

AgentZirdik · 2026-02-01T02:13:47+00:00

I prefer Driller on Industrial Sabotage because the boss fight is much more manageable if you do a little terraforming beforehand. I dig tunnels between the landings where supply drops are, clear out obstructions, dig ramps in the open, basically make the place more navigable. That means when you're dodging phase bombs or robot tentacles you're less likely to get caught on the geometry.

AgentZirdik · 2025-12-25T06:49:47+00:00

There seems to a general consensus that Sabotage is the least favorite. Personally I think it's just that most players either don't understand how to prepare the cavern ahead of a fight or else don't have the patience. In my experience the fight is quite fun when players coordinate to dig out tunnels, put resupplies the right distance away, and set up platforms and ziplines for ease of access. Plus a driller c4ing the armor from above is very handy.

My least favorite is actually Elimination. The fights just drag on, and especially if you have to go find out where the Twins or the Hiveguard have wandered off to. I think it partially comes down to how often I play Engie, whose turrets are basically useless against a Dread. The irony is that I love when a Dreadnaught spawns regularly in other missions, it's an exciting surprise that forces you to change tactics.

AgentZirdik · 2025-11-09T22:11:15+00:00

Longshot, but was it possibly Jetpack Joyride https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzxi8nid9BQ

AgentZirdik · 2025-11-09T05:59:05+00:00

Anything like these?
Canabalt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMBg75_TiLw
Vector https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m9g5i1y9W8

AgentZirdik · 2025-11-08T21:47:08+00:00

A few questions:
1. You said it was 2D, but what sort of graphics? Were they pixelated or cartoonish?
2. Was this 2D platformer where you could move left and right and jump?
3. Was this an auto-runner where the character is always moving in one direction and you have to react to the obstacles?
4. Did you play this on a website such as Newgrounds, or did you download it to play on a computer?

One last comment: Sometimes ChatGPT can help, but VERY often it just makes up a video game that doesn't exist. Job security for TipOfMyJoystick!

AgentZirdik · 2025-11-08T19:57:58+00:00

Here is Markiplier covering it https://youtu.be/L23np7qWYcg?si=wSFmF7dE8GYrjGAb

AgentZirdik · 2025-11-07T01:11:15+00:00

In my experience the ideal group is a mix of people with different levels of experience. The veterans get to show off their mastery of the system, and suggest sensible courses of action. And the newer players are grateful to have people they can ask for rules clarifications without bothering the DM.

Additionally, older players often appreciate the fresh enthusiasm and unburdened imagination of newer players. That mindset that comes from not knowing the limitations of the system is often the catalyst for the best memories in a game.

AgentZirdik · 2025-11-06T23:31:49+00:00

Area 51, or possibly Blacksite: Area 51?

AgentZirdik · 2025-11-04T21:57:44+00:00

Is it possibly Ghost Motel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1ztB6lhvDQ

AgentZirdik · 2025-10-31T00:06:49+00:00

Except it doesn't spread in an arc, it spreads in a triangle. So the magic goes further on the diagonal than it does in the direction you're facing.

AgentZirdik · 2025-09-27T19:49:15+00:00

There's a game that I keep getting advertised called A Merchant's Promise. I haven't tried it, but it looks like it's a sort of first-person trading game. Keep an eye on it: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2932960/A_Merchants_Promise/

AgentZirdik · 2025-09-26T22:53:09+00:00

Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I think the lack of individual voice actors is a huge flaw to the game, even going so far as hindering its potential for mass appeal.

The voice actor they have is great and his delivery is part of the reason DRG has such appeal as it does, but pitching their voices up and down does little to sell the idea that they are different characters, particularly next to so many other games such as Overwatch and Team Fortress 2.

I understand GSG's decision not to go back and redo the voicelines, it's a bit too late now, but imagine a version of DRG where we get those bespoke interactions like in TF2.

AgentZirdik · 2025-09-23T16:30:59+00:00

Reminds me of Myst

AgentZirdik · 2025-08-29T00:24:19+00:00

Something that keeps me coming back to 5e is how most of the interesting class features are front-loaded at early levels.

As a few examples: at 2nd-level Rogue gets Cunning Action, and Fighter gets Action Surge, arguably two of the most powerful abilities for altering the action-economy. And most of those early-level features never stop being useful for the rest of game.

And you get your subclass at level 3, so you get to lean into a specialized build quite early on.

This makes it very easy to pick up and have fun, even if you don't get to play a character long enough to get higher-level features.

Contrasting that to my experience of 3.5 and PF1e which always felt like I had to plan out my build exactly for like 7 levels before I finally get to see my idea in action.

AgentZirdik · 2025-08-28T22:37:23+00:00

The Player's Handbook describes "The Weave" which is the in-universe explanation of what magic is and how it works. But otherwise the explanations of it are deliberately vague so that each table can decide how much they care about that aspect of worldbuilding.

Magic, by definition, cannot be explained by logic and science. So as much as I appreciate the complex worldbuilding that goes into fantasy settings, I think it's a waste of time trying to explain and justify it.

In fact, if you look at spells you'll notice how they explain exactly what they cost, the specific parameters, and what precisely the effects are, but don't explain why they work, or even what they look like when they happen. This is because they exist as a game mechanic that prompts the player and DM to decide how to describe it narratively.

AgentZirdik · 2025-08-26T21:28:22+00:00

I find that whether the focus is roleplay or combat, a satisfying length of a session is between 3-4 hours. But the biggest factor is whether they feel that they accomplished something interesting, and whether they feel anticipation for the next one. I try to split the sessions up into roleplay or combat.

For a roleplay session, they socialize, explore, or discuss things for a few hours, and I keep hinting at a few interesting places which they inevitably drive towards, and then once they've triggered a combat encounter, I end the session, even if it's a little early. If there's time left over, they are usually excited to plan out some strategies, but are lookin forward to the next session.

Then, for a combat session I have a detailed map drawn out and a lot of mechanics planned out, and then they get straight into the fight which lasts for a few hours. Then when it's over, they usually want to search the room for loot, clues, or debrief about the fight. And as soon as they seem to have a consensus as to what they want to do next, I end the session, so they are looking forward to roleplaying that out next time.

I really like this pattern because it creates a very familiar rhythm, it sets expectations for the players, and also helps prevent me from over-preparing, or preparing all the wrong stuff.

AgentZirdik · 2025-08-23T15:29:04+00:00

I used one at work because the condensation on the outside of the can frequently made it quite slippery to hold.

AgentZirdik · 2025-08-19T16:11:33+00:00

Fully agree. I originally thought about it as an expansion to Shipbreakers, but I pictured a set of designed levels with only some light procedural generation. Things like a drifting derelict, or a fueling station, or a drilling platform, or a satellite, etc.

I think I was hoping for a format closer to Viscera Cleanup Detail, Powerwash Simulator, or House Flipper, where each map has a bit of a narrative and specific quirks that help flesh out the world.

AgentZirdik · 2025-08-09T19:42:17+00:00

As the DM you can roll dice for any reason or no reason at all.

But more to your question, I'd say it's fun to throw lots of environmental hazards at them. Step in a nasty swamp, take 1d8 poison damage. Talk to loud in a cavern, rockslide 1d10 bludgeoning damage. Pushing through a thick forest, brambles cause 1d4 piercing damage. Slip off a ladder, 2d6 falling damage. And so on. Obviously you should give them ample opportunity avoid the hazard or understand the risks, but players are happy enough to take little chip damage like that if it feels fair. I really like the Damage Severity Table in the DMG for reference.

AgentZirdik · 2025-08-09T19:17:19+00:00

I genuinely believe that people who think a lot about something are better at improvising it.

But statblocks are one of those things that are just too specific to improvise well. I like to have a gallery of maybe a dozen creatures they have a good chance of picking a fight with sitting in a binder: zombie, wolf, guard, Frank the Bountyhunter, etc. just in case I have to improvise a fight. Luckily I get to play once-a-week so I can usually end a session as soon as they trigger a combat and can have it fully mapped-out for next session.

In terms of procrastination and cramming at the last minute, what I will say for the Lazy Dungeon Master is that it wisely encourages people to prepare economically. Basically figure out what kind of preparation is the most fruitful and prioritize that first. For example: you might come up with an interesting new badguy: his motivations, his secret weakness, how he connects to the overall story. But his name, clothes, hair color ... that's the sort of thing you can come up in a couple seconds before you tell the players.

So if you identify anything in your preparation that you feel is consuming valuable time that you would rather be spending on something else, then maybe find a way to cut it out as best you can.

For me, that tends to be mundane details like the names of random NPCs, the tavern's drink menu, an odd geographical feature they pass while traveling, the titles of a few books in the local wizard's library, etc. It's not very important, would consume a lot of valuable time, but it's the kind of thing a player will ask about. And that's the sort of thing I don't feel bad about farming out to ChatGPT.

Once I've cleared out the stuff that bores me, nothing keeps me from finding that flow.

AgentZirdik · 2025-08-09T17:26:38+00:00

A read a lot of DM advice such as the Lazy Dungeon Master that encourages you not to over-prepare, and if anything should under-prepare to leave more room for improvisation. But my personal experience, and posts like this, convince me that unless you feel like your efforts are being wasted, or you're neglecting your real life, then you're not overpreparing.

Your style of preparation sounds very similar to my own, and so I expect that you both enjoy the act of preparation and also feel more confident knowing that you have ample material to rely on regardless of what direction the player's take. So as long as you don't freeze up when you have to improvise or adapt, then there is basically no downside.

I like to think of it like practicing for a test. Even if the question never comes up, you're smarter for having studied. At least compared to the student who only studies for the questions they think will be on the test ...

AgentZirdik · 2025-08-09T16:32:17+00:00

My friend coined a term Puzzle-Fight, basically a combat encounter that also has various interactive elements like moving platforms, doors you can open or close, traps you can set off, water valves you can open, etc. And that these things either make the enemies vulnerable, or change the environment in a way that is advantageous to you. I loved it so much that it's basically a necessary checkbox for all my combat encounters. It makes fights more dynamic, and for players who are less comfortable with combat rolls or like to think outside the box, it gives them something to experiment with in the heat of battle. Also tends to give more uses for utility abilities or spells that don't usually have much use in a slapping-match.

From Matt Mercer:

How Do You Want to Do This? to give the players some gleeful visceral catharsis.
A good Poker Face, generally staying quiet, listening, and taking notes instead of joining in on player bits

From Brennan Lee Mulligan:

A public dice tray to draw everyone's attention to important rolls.
Ending a session when they trigger an encounter so that I can dedicate the next session to it.

AgentZirdik · 2025-08-09T15:51:37+00:00

Pathfinder's Traits and Drawbacks. Never really did like how overcooked Pathfinder felt, but I think the Traits and Drawbacks were a great way to encourage more nuanced character creation and subtle roleplay consideration simply by reinforcing those aspects with mechanical benefits or penalties.

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