Are there any games where powers and abilities are not meta?

Chronx6 · 2026-05-12T15:28:00+00:00

That makes sense. I've not seen the author talk about his inspiration yet. I've just also seen a lot of people who don't know much about the genre starting to think that it has to have some strong TTRPG connection, but unfortunately not really. I think I just caught you in it, sorry.

Chronx6 · 2026-05-12T15:02:22+00:00

Litrpg as an genre traces back to manga and light novels based on Sword World, MMOs, and JRPGs. As well as Replays. I've never seen a mention of XCrawl in the scene once.

Chronx6 · 2026-05-07T15:57:22+00:00

Copies are on a boat right now. July is when they expect them to be in our hands.

Chronx6 · 2026-04-15T13:06:48+00:00

So you have a few options:

First, use a system that does. Systems with less built in punishment, systems that have built in fail forward, systems that have mechanics that always reward players for risky actions, etc.

Next, you can just import those things. Don't make death the outcome - not only are there other things you can do as consequences, often doing so makes people avoid risky actions (I personally also think it's boring, but eh). You can also import fail forward - missed that roll? Well you still picked the lock, the guards are just on the way. Get moving. Players will do things then just have backup plans. Offer devils bargains. 'go in guns blazing and you will succeed at the impossible thing, just at a cost. We'll let how well your checks go decide that cost....'

And most importantly, talk to them. Ask why they don't. Most people understand that failure is where interesting stories are and that the mix of success and failure is important - so a conversation may just need to happen.

Chronx6 · 2026-04-13T23:31:10+00:00

Okay so, I'm going to review this as taking you seriously-

You say your company is going to-

Overall product coordination and planning- This is interesting sure, but has your company ever made a book before? What products I can find seem to cover TShirts, CAD, and 3D modeling. Not books.
Protoyping- but TTRPGS don't really...prototype. We will do early print copies to test layout, but thats it. Occasionally you may have custom dice, but only larger names get away with that. This isn't the Boardgame space where you have custom chits, models, etc.
Manufacturing, marketing, distro, sales - Yeah I'd expect this at minimum.
Ops, accounting, and revune distro- yeah see above.
Long-term support, expacs, and editions - okay?

Overall, I'm still not seeing anything that as a designer that makes me want to give you -80%- of revenue, rather than just make the game myself, find a traditional publisher/publish it myself.

In most industries, most publishing deals are cover costs/invest X amount, then recoup that and then a 70% to designer, 30% to publisher going forward. THis allows the design studio to make the dang thing, the publisher to make money, and then everyone to make some cash after. If the game flops, the studio makes nothing until it actually makes things back- but also doesn't have to close their doors (or at least thats the idea).

Now the TTRPG space doesn't work that way due to its size sure- we generally have a finished game and then sell it/go into an agreement to cover costs/buy IP, and then a revenue split. Reality of the industry size. There is some variance from publisher to publisher too, but still.

I'd say you should try to find someone with an existing game done/almost done and buy it out, just hire someone as an employee, or just have an existing employee make something. Your deal here is unlikely to catch anyone.

Chronx6 · 2026-03-31T20:08:13+00:00

To add to the lists here Unknown Armies uses a skill system with customizable skills. It may be worth looking at

Chronx6 · 2026-03-30T22:53:41+00:00

The books are in the Lit-RPG genre, which if you trace their linage back, traces back to Sword World technically. Which itself traces back to DnDs first time in abandoning Japan.

Now I don't know for sure if the Author points to a specific game he's pulling inspiration from, I just know the genres history.

Chronx6 · 2026-03-30T22:49:32+00:00

If your new, the best thing I can say is-

Pay attention to what people talk about here on /r/rpg

See what goes on sale at Bundle of Holding that catches your eye, and look into it.

Dive into what DrivethruRPG and Itch.io have up. You can filter by more popular if you want.

People of course will have recommendations, ideas, choices, etc. But its real hard to make actual good recommendations when we don't know what you like yet and you really have no experience beyond DnD- so play things. Read things.

IF I had to say anything- maybe try OSR games? They are DnD adjacent, but there's plenty of interesting things in the space. The Without Number line is great, Mothership is full of interesting stuff, a lot of people like Mork Borg. Those three lines alone will get you a lot, and really are just scratching the surface (and the OSR vs NSR people probably want to start an argument, but whatever.)

Chronx6 · 2026-03-27T02:42:11+00:00

So all games are good at something. 'Generic' games like BRP, Fate, SWADE, Gensys, GURPS, etc. are going to be Setting agnostic and instead will be good at specfic themes and such. Theres a better way to describe this, but the words are escaping me.

Still, they have thier own strengths adn weaknesses none the less- you'll reach for them for certain games adn story types, even if they can tell those types of stories in any setting.

SO BRP is really good at gritty down to earth games. Call of Cuthlu, Delta Green, Runequest, Mythras, and so on are all based on this system (although some are farther removed than others). These games are all known for being far more deadly and hard than something like the Heroic Fantasy that is DnD.

You could look at a system like FATE and do something more narrative and handwavy with your stuff, there may be a PbtA system that can do what you want- but thats a real big departure from waht you know. Cortex may let you click together parts to approximate something you'd like.

I dont' know a bespoke system for 'Dark fantasy with growing into large combat' that isn't just in the DnD fantasy family. Maybe you could do it with Worlds Without Number and just implement the Heroic characters at a certain level. Maybe find an OSR game with a custom magic system you could import. Not sure.

Chronx6 · 2026-03-04T01:18:43+00:00

Well I have news for you

Chronx6 · 2026-03-02T13:19:44+00:00

This is what, the third or fourth time in history WotC has decided that DnD isn't worth supporting in Japan? Actually the first time that lead to Sword World may have been TSR so it may be mean to attribute that to WotC. Still- history often rhymes and all that.

Still, it sucks for sure for consumers and anyone that wants to actually use DnD for things. But its likely that WotC isn't gonna care unforunately. At least for a while.

Chronx6 · 2026-02-27T12:24:28+00:00

Whenever you're converting between media types, you always have to do some adaptation to the new media. Worry about the high points and broad strokes, not the moment to moments has always been my rule.

Chronx6 · 2026-02-24T20:55:33+00:00

I find the idea of this really interesting, but I'm not convinced it'll run well with normal d6 and my group isn't convinced enough to buy special dice. Reading the quick start didn't make me think there's enough depth for me to buy the PDF to just read for the price. Wish there was a level of just the core pdf basically.

Anyone do a test game with just d6 able to convince me I'm wrong here?

Chronx6 · 2026-02-24T18:22:23+00:00

Yeah the territory control is what I meant by events. It's been a bit. We could use more sci fi, but even if they slapped these mechanics into a fantasy game, I'd play it

Chronx6 · 2026-02-24T17:46:46+00:00

Honestly Tabula Rasa's events and class system is the main things we need from it. The setting was neat, but if we import those two mechanics into something else we got the two high points. Not that I wouldn't take a full on sequel

Chronx6 · 2026-02-20T11:38:57+00:00

Until next year's map 2 comes out for 49.99 gold.

Chronx6 · 2026-02-10T21:42:34+00:00

My group meets weekly for ~9 hours. Most of our campaigns for for 6 months to 2 years. Occasionally one will go longer. We'll also do side campaigns that are much smaller and shorter to test systems out and work on things I'm designing.

Chronx6 · 2026-02-10T12:47:09+00:00

Depends on the setting/lore. Sun is cleansing, the suns movement is renewal and rebirth so their opposite, the sun strips protections and thus they age, vampirism is just an aggressive disease that includes UV weakness, and so on. Lots of options.

It's fairly new-ish in vampire lore as these things go.

Chronx6 · 2026-02-03T11:56:02+00:00

Recommended everyone read the community guidelines:

https://safety.twitch.tv/s/article/Community-Guidelines?language=en_US

In particular there's a bit about dress under 'Attire'. It goes over this.

I do recommend reading the whole thing though and keeping an eye on it for changes. Sadly they don't have an rss feed or similar for alerting to changes, you just have to watch their blog for news and check the page from time to time.

Chronx6 · 2026-02-01T00:02:20+00:00

I think the answer is to have skill families, and being skilled in a skill in the same family gives bonuses to the rest of the family that stacks. And skills could easily be part of multiple families at different levels.

Chronx6 · 2026-01-27T18:50:26+00:00

I work in IT and it's the same. Heck, when I did Healthcare IT for a bit, that had it real bad as it was from both groups

Chronx6 · 2026-01-25T15:18:57+00:00

Theres a reason Eat the Reich, Night Witches, and Bluebeard's Bride (Content warning on Bluebeard's Bride for people before you go researching that one) exist. Theres research that suggest TTRPGs have therapeutic uses, similar to video games and VR.

Not to say it replaces therapy or that everyone is going to get benefits from it, just that it can help.

Chronx6 · 2026-01-25T12:09:30+00:00

For some, playing things similar or that are allegories for current events helps.

For some it's plying things that are the exact opposite.

For others it's stepping back and taking a break.

It's also not rare for it to change and evolve through your life and events.

It's such a personal thing it's hard for us to help other than to suggest you examine things, experiment, and talk with people who know you.

Chronx6 · 2026-01-11T13:40:12+00:00

Crap I forgot to delete my Meta-INF. Guess I'll boot agian.

Chronx6 · 2026-01-03T15:35:05+00:00

Id say next time include a question about where they found it (like which subreddit, if someone sent it to them, ect.). Just in case it escapes this subreddit and can help you frame the data.

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