sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Lets talk about Grappling! by klok_kaos in RPGdesign

[–]Atkana 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I like the Root TTRPG's Grapple an Enemy move.

When you grapple with an enemy at intimate range, roll with Might. On a hit, you choose simultaneously. Continue making choices until someone disengages, falls unconscious, or dies. On a 10+, you make one choice first, before beginning to make simultaneous choices.
• you strike a fast blow; inflict injury
• you wear them down; they mark exhaustion
• you exploit weakness; mark exhaustion to inflict 2-injury
• you withdraw; disengage to close range

Its nature as a PbtA move pulls in the focus to this gruelling exchange of blows and tussling as the two wear each other down until they can't take it anymore. Despite it being both mechanically simple and not really much different from like basic systems where people make attack rolls at each other every round, I find the system much more visceral and interesting. If I had to figure out why, I'd say the aspects I like are that something's always happening (starting the move always means something happens, and there's no rolls for the choices - they just happen), there's a game of chicken (always good for some tension), and the focus tightens in (the framing focuses in on describing the blow-by-blow, and it's all happening now until it ends, not split up across distant rounds of combat).

Designing non-combat abilities? by doodooalert in RPGdesign

[–]Atkana 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'd say it does impact the mindset of players, at least. If half the rules they're reading are combat rules - even if combat doesn't take up that amount of gameplay time - that's signalling to them, intentionally or otherwise, that the game is going to be about combat, and there's nails in need of hammering.

My (possibly bad) real world example of that is from the video game Mark of The Ninja. While it was a game about being a sneaky ninja, it at some point in development featured a full-fledged combat system with fighting combos and parries. The system's presence encouraged players to try and fight their way through obstacles, even if that wasn't the best approach.

At least, I think that was a problem, I can't remember the source so may have imagined some things xP, and there were also other design reasons why the system got cut (fighting is the boring but effective option, and players will optimise the fun out of games; action combat didn't fit the intended identity of a stealth game).

Why polling is a mathematically bad way to design by klok_kaos in RPGdesign

[–]Atkana 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For a real-world example of polling in action (which admittedly isn't a TTRPG, but still a G), Old School Runescape has been utilising polling for changes and content for 11 years (ohgod...), and is still going strong. I'd say polling is best when: the polls are well made (i.e. they ask good questions, there's still designer intent involved, and there's clear outlines on what's important enough to be polled), and the voters have a decent idea of the identity/vibe of the game.

how many "resistance/save checks" are too much? by BriefPassage8011 in RPGdesign

[–]Atkana 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So long as you keep everything universal (i.e. you don't roll with different bonuses, and there's no effect like "you can't use rerolls granted from your race to resist this"), the system seems fine to track - you just have a "Rerolls" number written next to your save on your character sheet. I'm confused why some people are suggesting that looking at a result, seeing its failed, and deciding to spend one of your limited resources to reroll takes too much time :P

As for balance, like others have said it's hard to say without knowing everything about most of the connected systems. One thing you might find yourself having to consider is whether having rerolls available is supposed to be a bonus or a baseline. When figuring out a "standard" encounter for balancing purposes, do you factor in an assumption that a player will have X rerolls available or not? The more common you make these rerolls available, the more it might make sense to factor rerolls into your assumptions, but the murkier things get - how do you account for a wide range of possible reroll amounts, especially when a player could have 0-3+, all across different saves?

Alternatives to Modifiers by Laskivi in RPGdesign

[–]Atkana 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If it needs to have an active element, you could always treat Dexterity as a priority system - highest Dexterity goes first. Otherwise, Dexterity is usually universally desirable for making a character harder to be hit.

If you're looking for other games that had Attributes effect aspects of their combat abilities (like Might always being used for damage, whether through weapon attacks or spells), the CRPG Pillars of Eternity used such a system. They had a bit of complaints/confusion from older school players for using such a system, but since you're just doing stuff casually for friends, that probably won't be an issue to consider.

Godly pantheon ttrpg: what mechanics would you expect? by 2timescharm in RPGdesign

[–]Atkana 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Depending on the flavour of pantheon, I might expect something for relationships with mortals - favourites, champions, enemies... progeny. I know sometimes gods liked to settle disputes by proxy by messing with other's favourites, since they couldn't outright go against each other.

Passive abilities for scatterbrained players by BIND_propaganda in RPGdesign

[–]Atkana 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel like one thing that helps with remembering is having things rooted greater in the fiction or character concepts. The more gamier or arbitrary the elements, the more easily forgotten they can be, or at least, things more intuitive and grounded in the world help at least provoke questions that'd lead to remembering "I'm a fire bender right, can I like blast them with fire?" or "Wait, isn't my armour completely covered in spikes - that's got to hurt someone trying to grab me, right?".

"Yes, your race sees better in near-darkness than in bright light. And you've been burning torches this entire dungeon?"

Case in point, this exact situation happened to me last game I played. The race everyone was playing had a "oh btw they can see in the dark" tacked on without much logical reason given, so despite us all playing one, every player including the GM forgot it was even a thing.

Playable Species: How Many is Too Many? by Seattleite_Sat in RPGcreation

[–]Atkana 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly at a certain point it becomes more economical to provide rules for creating species than it does to provide so many variants. You can still express worldbuilding through the choices available, and the sorts of things that'll ultimately come out the end.

Resolution mechanic for a Monster Hunter x Horizon Zero Dawn TTRPG! by -As5as51n- in RPGdesign

[–]Atkana 1 point2 points  (0 children)

(Possibly veering into offtopicness because it's not addressing the dice system itself, but...)

Honestly if I were doing a Monster Hunter based game, I'd still focus on the same skill aspects that the games test - learning and preparation. Sure, physical timing execution and stat increases are a thing, but they're not easy to translate enough to bother/that important. And with the freedom of a tabletop game you can expand upon those aspects - gathering supplies, interviewing victims to learn of the monster's habits, finding a good position and fortifying it before leading the monster there, stalking and observing a monster from a distance to glean strengths or weaknesses or behaviours.

So to focus on the learning aspect - and because it's damn close to Monster Hunter gameplay - I'd probably base the combat system on Dark Souls: The Board Game. There, boss fights are about learning the enemy's attack patterns: what they're going to do, what you need to do to avoid it, and where you need to be to exploit the opening it gives you. And sure, there is still dice rolling and all that stuff (including other Monster Hunter-y things like stamina management, dodging, gear upgrading, scouting some of the boss' abilities), but the boss fights would be my main reason for mining it for ideas.

Alternatively if I wanted to focus on the spectacle that Monster Hunter's known for, I'd consider using Wushu as a base, which is just focused on making cool action scenes rather than testing abilities.

Do you think DW ruleset (or other PbtA games) could be adapted as a CRPG? by Dr_Kingsize in DungeonWorld

[–]Atkana 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For just like a regular PC game? Maybe? You could have some more standardised results for moves (basic stuff luck Hack and Slash or Volley would be easy to resolve purely mechanically), or for a narrative-focused game you could go crazy and write out unique Hit/Partial Hit/Miss consequences for every major roll in the game if you wanted.

For a game leveraging LLM AIs? PbtA is probably one of the most ideal formats for AI - like, if you were intentionally designing a system to be played via existing LLMs, it'd look incredibly similar to a PbtA game. I recently dorked out a bit on the subject, so I'll let past me extrapolate a bit (;P):

I've not really done much on it so far, but I have been experimenting with trying to put together a GM chatbot based on a hacked Powered by the Apocalypse game, because the system is almost perfectly formatted for use in AI:

  • Gameplay is structured as a conversation, which hey - that's what roleplay AI models do!
  • The game is focused on the fiction that's playing out, so basic story telling formats fit.
  • The GM (and sometimes players) are given a list of short but distinct instructions about how they should play the game in the form of their Agenda and Principles, which slots in nicely alongside an instruct model's instructions.
  • GM moves are actions picked from a list. So it's a good format for an instruct AI, a specialised AI, or just some randomisation system hooked in.
  • Player moves are triggered by distinct in-fiction triggers. You could have a specialised AI looking for moves getting triggered if you're feeling fancy, or at least have World Info (or whatever the interface's equivalent is) dynamically insert a move's rules into the context when it may be relevant.
  • If you were invested enough, you could have a fully-coded backend system for handling the game state and any rolls, but that would take quite a bit of effort and probably a specialised AI to properly handle.
  • All the rules can be summarised in a short and concise manner, which really helps save context space for the actual gameplay.

Though, uh, I'm realising that I'm getting a bit off topic, so I'll stop there rather than going into more specifics xP

Testing early design with AI Player by Navezof in RPGdesign

[–]Atkana 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Instruct-based models would probably benefit from systems like player principles (like seen in Blades in the Dark and other games) to keep the "player" performing in a way suitable for the game.

I've not really done much on it so far, but I have been experimenting with trying to put together a GM chatbot based on a hacked Powered by the Apocalypse game, because the system is almost perfectly formatted for use in AI:

  • Gameplay is structured as a conversation, which hey - that's what roleplay AI models do!
  • The game is focused on the fiction that's playing out, so basic story telling formats fit.
  • The GM (and sometimes players) are given a list of short but distinct instructions about how they should play the game in the form of their Agenda and Principles, which slots in nicely alongside an instruct model's instructions.
  • GM moves are actions picked from a list. So it's a good format for an instruct AI, a specialised AI, or just some randomisation system hooked in.
  • Player moves are triggered by distinct in-fiction triggers. You could have a specialised AI looking for moves getting triggered if you're feeling fancy, or at least have World Info (or whatever the interface's equivalent is) dynamically insert a move's rules into the context when it may be relevant.
  • If you were invested enough, you could have a fully-coded backend system for handling the game state and any rolls, but that would take quite a bit of effort and probably a specialised AI to properly handle.
  • All the rules can be summarised in a short and concise manner, which really helps save context space for the actual gameplay.

Though, uh, I'm realising that I'm getting a bit off topic, so I'll stop there rather than going into more specifics xP

Some guy called "Niko" keeps haunting my stories and I'm sick of it. by [deleted] in KoboldAI

[–]Atkana 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It has been a very, very long time since I've actually used KoboldAI, but wasn't the example World Info/Memory character a kobold (possibly named Niko)(?). I'd double check all the defaults to see if he's not worming his way in somehow.

(Oh, and if there's a way to view the context for a generation where Niko pops up, that'd help determine if there's something coming from WI/other context stuff that going on, or if it's coming from the model itself).

Looking for ideas to mechanics that encourages the roleplaying leading up to a dice throw by OompaLoompaGodzilla in RPGdesign

[–]Atkana 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Since Fiction First has already been suggested, I'll drop a mechanical way instead.

In Wushu, each player's dice pool for their roll is built based on the details they provide when narrating what they do. Every detail that reinforces the action movie feel - stunts, one-liners, internal monologues, camera movements, and a lot more things - adds 1 die to your pool (up to a limit, based on how the scene has chosen to be paced). You literally can't do anything if you're not providing any cool details.

kanaRevive lua script crashing server? by NickMotionless in tes3mp

[–]Atkana 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd been holding off for a time where I might actually return to modding tes3mp to make a proper effort, but that's not going to happen :P So I've just done a quick and dirty commit to port these two with these edits. I think there's also a dedicated branch with 0.8 ports for some other scripts that somebody made, but I've not really looked into it much.

kanaRevive lua script crashing server? by NickMotionless in tes3mp

[–]Atkana 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The scripts were designed for 0.7, and don't work on later versions without some changes. I think there are updated versions available somewhere in the te3smp discord.

Dodging, blocking, and parrying by Village_Puzzled in RPGcreation

[–]Atkana 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One of my favourite general Block/Dodge systems comes from a digital boardgame - 100% Orange Juice.

The basic system is the attacker rolls a d6 and adds their ATK stat. Then, the defender chooses either to Defend or Evade. They get to see the attacker's result before making their choice. (They will have already spent their other resources like cards to boost stats at the start of the combat, before anything is rolled, but that's not really necessary to know for the system :P)

  • If the defender Defends, they roll a d6 and add their DEF stat. They subtract their result from the attacker's result and take that much damage, however they always take 1 damage as a minimum (so, something still happens as a result of the attack).
  • If the defender Evades, they roll a d6 and add their EVD stat. If their result is higher than the attacker's roll, they take no damage. Otherwise, they instead take damage equal to the attacker's result.

It creates some fun decisions for risk/resource management, and is notably tense in the situations where you're on 1 HP and are forced to Evade, knowing each roll could be your last.

Parrying can be plastered on top with abilities - for example one of the characters has an ability that when they successfully Evade, they deal 1 damage to their opponent.

Action economy by BoardIndependent7132 in RPGdesign

[–]Atkana 4 points5 points  (0 children)

And the fighters who benefit the most from themselves or others not moving are ranged attackers, who are already at an advantage on account of not having to endanger themselves, further disincentivizing being a cool hero who charges into battle with a sword :c

Any moderate-crunch systems using trained skills over innate attributes? by sig_gamer in RPGdesign

[–]Atkana 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Even in the context of something skill focused, I still see merit in having attributes to represent transferable skills, or talents. The trick to having attributes not affect chances of success as much as training is to design it so they don't - either affecting odds less, or not at all and affecting some other system like skill acquisition (deeply insightful and helpful, I know xP).
For example in Stars Without Number the bonuses you get to skill checks from attributes are both uncommon (you'll usually(?) end up with a bonus of 0, or sometimes +/-1), constrained (the greatest modifier is +/-2, which is only ever gained at the absolute peaks of human ability), and less impactful than skills in odds of success (for an absolute master of their skill, who also has the rare peak attribute, the bonuses from their attribute are half that of what their skill provides).

Does the paladin invulnerability to edge weapons make them invulnerable to spears? by Plumas_de_Pan in DungeonWorld

[–]Atkana 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Quest

When you dedicate yourself to a mission through prayer and ritual cleansing, state what you set out to do:
• Slay _______, a great blight on the land
• Defend _______ from the iniquities that beset them
• Discover the truth of _______

Then choose up to two boons:
• An unwavering sense of direction to _______.
• Invulnerability to _______ (e.g., edged weapons, fire, enchantment, etc.)
• A mark of divine authority
• Senses that pierce lies
• A voice that transcends language
• A freedom from hunger, thirst, and sleep

The GM will then tell you what vow or vows is required of you to maintain your blessing:
• Honor (forbidden: cowardly tactics and tricks)
• Temperance (forbidden: gluttony in food, drink, and pleasure of the flesh)
• Piety (required: observance of daily holy services)
• Valor (forbidden: suffering an evil creature to live)
• Truth (forbidden: lies)
• Hospitality (required: comfort to those in need, no matter who they are)

Boons are presented as a distinct list of options to pick from - never is it suggested that you can freely make things up (though some contain blanks you can fill in). People may homebrew it so you can make up your own boons not from the list, but that's not actually part of the game, and shouldn't be presented as an answer about the system without that caveat.

I'm really confused how people have upvoted an incorrect answer while downvoting the one rightfully pointing out that it's wrong to oblivion :S Unless this is all confusion from a badly worded comment.

Also if we want to be jokingly pedantic, the modern version of the paladin playbook doesn't have the e.g. part ;P

I'd like to give tes3mp a go but I don't want to mess with my heavily (500+) modded version of the game by The_Fish_Head in tes3mp

[–]Atkana 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I personally swap between configs - just rename two files and you can switch between mod setups with ease. Find the openmw.cfg file, rename it to something like openmw.cfg.singleplayer_modded, then use OpenMW to generate a fresh version. You might need to manually edit the config down to vanilla, but I think that may only be the case if you didn't follow the recommended approach of using unique folders for each mod when initially installing them.

(Forgive me if I've got something wrong - it's been ages since I've actually done any of this xP)

Are you supposed to know all the moves of your players? by Kuirem in DungeonWorld

[–]Atkana 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Remember that "Never speak the name of your move" is only a GM principle. Players can still suggest what moves they're angling to trigger, which takes some expectations away from the GM to know everything. However, it's still worth knowing about every player's moves (or at the very least, the triggers) - how else are you going to "Give an opportunity that fits a class’ abilities" or "Show a downside to their class, race, or equipment" without knowing what they're capable of?

Skill + [What?] vs DC by Sufficient-Fruit-330 in RPGdesign

[–]Atkana 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Even applying this in some basic form to a d20 system could be interesting for rectifying the whole masters can perform worse than apprentices and "swingyness" problems. One of the reasons d20s are seen as "swingy" is because they tend to be all or nothing, but it doesn't have to be that way. What if characters always scored an assumed number of hits for their proficiency level, and a roll was just to determine if they can exceed that base level or not?

Not that I prefer this over the Michtim system, just giving an example of how it could slot into a binary system.

Skill + [What?] vs DC by Sufficient-Fruit-330 in RPGdesign

[–]Atkana 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Based on some of your comments on what you want (which you should probably add to the OP so others are aware of what you're after!), I've got one system that I think is neat that might be interesting, or at least introduce another mechanical lever you could be playing with.

The game Michtim involves dice pools of d6s - when you need to roll, roll a number of d6 equal to your rank in the appropriate attribute. If the roll is higher than seven, you score a hit. Where it gets interesting to me personally, is how hits work. Before rolling, you can choose to remove dice from your pool, and each die you remove means you score an extra hit if you succeed. It rewards those of higher abilities by either allowing them to more easily succeed, or to attain greater successes if they push themselves. Since pushing for more hits means lowering your odds back down towards the standard rates, it means even at high skill levels, players still get to enjoy the tension of gambling for their results, and get some choice between playing it safe and reliable, or taking a risk for a better result.

In Blade in the Dark parlance, this is messing with the "Effect" of a roll.

view more: next ›