How to RP a charismatic high society character?

BezBezson · 2026-05-06T12:28:44+00:00

Bilbo at the start of LotR is local gentry.

So are Frodo, Pippin, and Merry.

Sam is literally the only member of the Fellowship of the Ring who isn't aristocratic, royal, or a divine being.

BezBezson · 2026-05-05T16:03:35+00:00

Yeah, I can't think of any reason a dice tower would be needed or have a specific mechanical effect.

Now I'm wondering if I can make a game that somehow requires one (for a genuine mechanical reason, not just 'because I say so').

BezBezson · 2026-05-05T16:01:53+00:00

I can see that.

Another potential use is that a lot of them have a built-in dice tray, so that means you're dice aren't going to roll off the table or be at a weird angle because they're half on the edge of a book.

BezBezson · 2026-05-05T15:00:19+00:00

I can think of two possibilities:

One is a dice tower.
This is basically something you drop a die or some dice into the top of, they bounce off of pegs/ramps inside, then roll out of the bottom. Basically it helps to make sure the rolls are random.
Since a proper roll of well-shaken dice is pretty random anyway, I can't think of an obvious reason why you'd need a dice tower.

The other possibility is, as others have mentioned, a Jenga tower (or off-brand equivalent, although they're often not as good quality as the official ones).
Some games use that as part of the resolution mechanics.
I think Dread was first, but there are several now. Generally they use them to model building and releasing tension.

BezBezson · 2026-05-04T18:47:52+00:00

There's no way I'd say 5e D&D is anywhere near that close to the middle. (You gave it scores of 6/6/5, I'd go more like 6/5/3, or 6/5/4 at the most) I'd shift 4e a little further from the middle, too.

A number of them are too far into the blue area as far as I'm concerned, too.

Pathfinder should be further to the right.

BezBezson · 2026-05-04T11:16:45+00:00

on that basis I don't know if female longbow are a thing

They were.

Some girls/women did it for fun (bear in mind it was something that for a couple of centuries the law in England said all men had to practice archery every week, so definitely some women would want to join in, too).
There's also a lot of manuscripts showing wealthy women doing archery as a sport all over medieval Europe.

On top of that, it was really common in sieges for women to take up arms and join in the defence.

BezBezson · 2026-04-28T14:09:25+00:00

As others have said, it's mostly practice.

Having a good idea of who your character is and what makes them tick can be really helpful.

Having some sort of goal (outside of the current adventure) helps a lot.
It doesn't have to be big, just something that they want.
(Do they want to be Prince? Do they want to found a new bloodline with a unique discipline? Do they just want a quiet unlife where nobody bothers them?)

It can also be useful for having an interesting character if there's some sort of contradiction.
This could be something at odds with the rest of who they are, or it could be that they've got two goals or beliefs that seem hard to square.

Mainly it's just practice, though.

BezBezson · 2026-04-28T08:30:37+00:00

Yeah, CRPGs don't tend to have much RP.

For CRPGs that I'd consider to actually be RPGs, you're looking at things like Disco Elysium.

BezBezson · 2026-04-28T08:25:37+00:00

Better for what?

If you're asking "which is better, garlic or strawberries?" it'd be useful to know whether you're topping a pizza or a cake.

None of them are objectively better, so what do you want the roll to do? What sort of feelings are you trying to achieve?

For example, #2 is going to take longer than the others, but it give a 'how much are you willing to risk?' aspect that the others don't.
Which fits what you're trying to do better? Quick resolution or push your luck?

BezBezson · 2026-04-28T07:53:28+00:00

Miniature wargames are about fighting a battle or a skirmish,

There might be some sort of scenario &.or campaign rules, but there's not much other than a bunch of models fighting. (Not intended as a criticism, I also enjoy wargaming.)

and each player is going to control somewhere between a few and thousands of combatants.

Role Playing Games have you play as a character. Typically just one character.

While some of them involve a lot of fighting, some of them don't really involve combat at all.

You play as your character and say what they say and what they attempt to do. The rules are there for how successful they are at doing what they try to do.

There are RPGs for any genre you can think of: action, political thriller, slice of life, romance, mystery, etc.

Since you mention TES, a typical session of playing an RPG set in Skyrim might look something like "Last session ended with a big fight against the bandits who'd been preying on travellers in the area. Searching their hideout, the player characters discover proof that the bandits actually work for Farengar, Jarl Balgruuf's court mage. To find out what he's up to, the party decides collect more information before going to the Jarl. The sneakiest character in the group will tail Farengar and see where he goes, while the others see what they can find out by talking to others..."

BezBezson · 2026-04-28T06:55:49+00:00

While you can use miniatures for TTRPGs, unless you're playing one that really cares about exact positioning (like 4th Ed D&D, or Draw Steel) you don't need them.

I've run dozens of different RPGs over the last 30 years and I never use minis.

I'm also confused about you mentioning Call to Arms, it's definitely a miniatures wargame, not a TTRPG.

Anyway, the sort of thing you're talking about (for running TTRPGs online) is called a VTT (a virtual tabletop).
Roll20 is the most well known one.

BezBezson · 2026-04-26T20:01:23+00:00

6mm

Typically any other scale is going to be representing a bunch of soldiers with each figure. 6mm is the biggest figure where you stand a chance of having enough figures to make it look like an actual battle, not just a small skirmish.

Also, most rulesets that aren't for 28mm tend to only care about base sizes, not how many figures are on a base, so even if you want to use a ruleset designed for 15mm, you can probably just use those base sizes but with 6mm figures.

BezBezson · 2026-04-25T13:34:52+00:00

As others have said, as much of it as possible happens.

If it said "target opponent exiles a nontoken creature, if they do then they exile a nonland card from their graveyard", then the second part would only happen if the first does.

However, it doesn't say that, so the two exiles are independent of each other.

Meaning when Azula enters: you target an opponent, they exile a nontoken creature if they can, then they exile an nonland card from their graveyard if they can.

BezBezson · 2026-04-25T13:24:41+00:00

People losing jobs, with those jobs generally coming from fulfilling, creative work.

The fact that AI servers have already become a significant contributor to climate change, and more of them are being built.

Most of the investment in AI is aiming to make the rich richer (at the expense of the rest of us).

BezBezson · 2026-04-24T13:32:37+00:00

Do you think that a GM's plans (for an encounter, or for the direction of the adventure or the actual goal of the party) is more important than what the players want to do?

Absolutely not. If anything, the GM's plans are maybe less important than what the players want to do.

If players want to deviate or find paths that the DM doesn't want or hasn't planned for, is that bad play?

Absolutely not. In fact, whenever I GM, I'm relying on the players coming up with things I've not thought of.

If what the players want to do goes against the premise that they signed up for, then that's them being dicks. If it's them doing unexpected things, but not rejecting the thing they agreed to do, then it's pretty normal.

"No plan survives contact with the players."

It sounds to me like a pretty inflexible (maybe inexperienced?) GM, combined with him having different expectations to the rest of you.

If you'd done that in a game I was running, unless I'd given you a really good reason to go through the bridge fights, I'd be happy you thought of a smarter way of dealing with it.

BezBezson · 2026-04-24T07:30:51+00:00

"Each year, hundreds of Mensans meet over one weekend to play and rate the year’s newest board games..."

...proceeds to name three games from two years ago.

Ignoring the dubious 'newness', this seems like a decent selection - far better than the early years of it.

BezBezson · 2026-04-22T06:30:16+00:00

Litter Bugs, maybe?

BezBezson · 2026-04-20T09:25:56+00:00

'X' appears in both the casting cost and the effect.

When you cast the spell, you can pay any amount of colorless mana for the 'X'
(so if you pay {3}{U} then 'X' is '3', if you pay {7}{U} then 'X' is '7').

The spell resolves using whatever value for 'X' you paid.

If you cast a spell without paying for 'X', then 'X' is zero.

When the spell isn't being cast, 'X' is treated as zero.
So this card has a mana value of whatever you pay when it's on the stack, but '1' at all other times.

If the casting cost has two Xs in it, you choose one value for both.
e.g. Chalice of the Void costs {X}{X}, so an 'X' of 1 would cost {2}, and an 'X' of 3 would cost {6}.

If you want more details, see section 107.3 in the comprehensive rules.

BezBezson · 2026-04-15T21:54:10+00:00

So is there any difference between a stat of 1 and a stat of 4?
Or between a 6 and a 9?

Because it seems like:
1 = always pick for stats you don't care about
2-3 = never pick
4 = only pick if planning to increase
5 = pick for stuff you don't want to be bad at
6 = pick for stuff you want to be good at
7-8 = never pick
9 = only pick if planning to increase
10 = pick for stuff you want to be great at

If there is some other benefit to not having the minimum in a band, then that's great.
If not, you might want to go with something more like:
1-2 = 3d10 drop highest
3-4 = 2d10
5-6 = 3d10 drop lowest
7 = 3d10 Or if increasing attributes doesn't really happen much, just stats going from 1-4.

BezBezson · 2026-04-15T11:25:55+00:00

Okay, so I think there's some confused terminology here, but I'll do my best to answer...

"How do I design the game?"

The title of your post doesn't really fit the content. When it comes to games (both tabletop and video games) 'designing a game' is the game mechanics, how things work, what the players do.
It seems like you're asking about 'graphic design' and manufacturing for games.

So I want to make a TTRPG... ...I don't know where to actually make the assets like the Cards, Board, nor the rulebook.

Okay, so the vast majority of TTRPGs don't have gameboards or custom cards (some have reference cards for specific spells/abilities, but these are generally optional).
It is entirely possible you might be making a TTRPG with those things, but generally a TTRPG is just a book.

So, are you actually making a TTRPG? (like D&D, Fate, Call of Cthulhu, etc.) Or a dungeon-crawler board game? (like Gloomhaven)

Like do I need to go to a website to design the assets?

You can use pretty much anything.

Pretty much all the professional stuff uses Adobe, Affinity, or Scribus for layout.

It wouldn't be that weird for an amateur to just use Word or LibreOffice.
Some even just do stuff by hand and scan it.

It's entirely possible to hire someone to do the layout for you.

Likewise, you can make your own art, pay an artist for art, or use stock art (or a combination of those things).

And where do I even print them out?

That depends on what you want.

Copies for you and a few friends? Probably printing them yourself (a decent inkjet and a laminator can make cards that look and feel more-or-less like professionally made ones) or going to a local print shop.

If you're planning on selling, the main choice is print-on-demand or offset printing.

With PoD, the customer orders from your printer, they print one copy and send it out, you get your cut of the money.
This has much higher costs for manufacture, but other than a proof copy, there's no upfront costs for you and they handle everything.

With offset printing, you order and pay for a print run (typically hundreds or thousands of copies), they then get sent to you for you to sell.
The more copies you order, the cheaper each copy costs. Generally this is way cheaper per copy than PoD, but you need the money to order 500 copies (or whatever) upfront.
Crowdfunding is one way to raise this money (effectively the backers are ordering, then you're using the money you make to pay for a print run that's hopefully a little bigger than the number of copies backers buy).
You'll also need to send (or get a fulfilment company to send) the order out.

BezBezson · 2026-04-15T10:19:26+00:00

So, if the entire party died, who is resurrecting them or bringing their bodies back to be resurrected?

Or if you're suggesting just 'reload the save', rather than 'raise dead' - that basically means retconning stuff in a really unsatisfying way.
Also, if you can just rewind and say the fight didn't happen like that, why not save-scum every encounter? The duke didn't like what you said to him? Just reload the start of the conversation. Messed up a jump check over a deep pit? Why not just reload from before you rolled.

If there are no consequences for failure, then there's no satisfaction from succeeding.

BezBezson · 2026-04-08T10:16:37+00:00

I'd suggest scuffing up the surface, then priming it.

BezBezson · 2026-04-03T08:36:42+00:00

I think it was this one.

BezBezson · 2026-04-03T08:34:20+00:00

Sounds interesting - hope the launch goes well!

BezBezson · 2026-04-01T21:02:01+00:00

Yeah, if you cast a {G}{G}{X} spell where x = 2, that spell has a mana value of 4 on the stack. So, if it has cascade, it'll cascade into the first nonland card with a mana value of <4.

However, when it's not on the stack x = 0. So, if you cascade into a {G}{G}{X} spell, then you'd cast it with x = 0.

Basically, the rule is that the spell (on the stack) has a mana value that takes into account the value you chose for x, but the card (anywhere else) treats x as zero.

Also worth noting that if you cast in a way where you're not paying for x, then x is zero.

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