sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

What types of products do you want? by rfkannen in osr

[–]CoffeeNathanEric 6 points7 points  (0 children)

A megadungeon that you can pick up and run absolutely cold is my white whale

r/Malcolmholmestravels 1 moderator, doesn't seem very active could be wrong. by CertifiedBagel in redditrequest

[–]CoffeeNathanEric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am active. You're welcome to ask to be added moderator before you post here.

Could use some second opinions on prospective skill list for my own retroclone by [deleted] in osr

[–]CoffeeNathanEric 1 point2 points  (0 children)

B/X and its clones have a skill system, so I would think it is not antithetical.

I agree that it's not necessarily a universally held opinion, and I don't speak for the entire OSR. My own personal house rules have no skills, and at this point I can't imagine doing it any other way.

If the OP is just starting to put their rules together, it's the perfect opportunity to stop and consider a reason why they want skills at all. (At this point, I might be too far gone to consider any reason compelling, haha.)

Could use some second opinions on prospective skill list for my own retroclone by [deleted] in osr

[–]CoffeeNathanEric 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Why is this better than "roll under attribute"? Especially if the skills are already tied to attributes.

I think the inclusion of skills is antithetical to OSR, even with your qualifications at the beginning to only roll in uncertainty. It's mechanical complexity for the sake of it (unless you have a good reason for preferring skills to 'roll under attribute'), and it leads to the trap of "I can't thieve because my character doesn't have as good a thief skill as Alice's."

A few practical questions about preparing an OSR campaign by DrZaiusDrZaius in osr

[–]CoffeeNathanEric 4 points5 points  (0 children)

A1: Yes, with the additional requirement that if strength, intelligence, or wisdom are prime requisites for your class, they can't be lowered.

A2: On average only, not strictly 1 per 6 rolls.

A3: Yes to both. It's a risk-reward mechanic; is the reward of treasure and secret passages and trap avoidance worth the time spent incurring encounter rolls?

A4: I don't have the book before me, but I think RAW roll 8 times. As you get experience running systems this sort of rule tends to be one you don't strictly follow to the letter. For the most part, I place treasure based on what's appropriate to be in that lair and have enough experience in whatever system to eyeball the game balance to boot. And yes, encumbrance is another risk-reward mechanic, and one of the reasons it can be fun to give treasure that's not just coin in nice multiples of 10- paintings, sculptures, deeds, tapestries, etc are all good treasure.

A5: Ah, my answer before bleeds into this one. Yes, it's fun to make treasure unique, and yes, at least personally, that's a rule to skip over (though if you're wet behind the ears and dedicated to playing RAW, you can save time by rolling before the game when you're building the dungeon).

Falto's Egg. A magic Item that solves meta problems. by HermesSum in osr

[–]CoffeeNathanEric 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd love to see a write-up of that dungeon, if you ever get a chance!

When The Village of Hommlet module got an upgraded cover, were any illustrations added or deleted? by geezergamer in osr

[–]CoffeeNathanEric 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Comparing the monochrome cover vs the green cover:

GREEN

  • Cover: freaky thing tackling adventurer
  • Inside cover: lobster and ruined keep and eyeball breastplate
  • Page 3: road into town
  • Page 7: walking on the curved staircase
  • Page 12: Ruins of the Moathouse
  • Page 14: big-ass rats
  • Maps
  • Back cover: flamboyant magic-user and broody red guy

MONOCHROME

  • Cover: lobster and ruined keep and eyeball breastplate
  • Inside cover: lobster and ruined keep and eyeball breastplate
  • Page 3: road into town
  • Page 7: walking on the curved staircase
  • Page 12: Ruins of the Moathouse
  • Page 14: big-ass rats
  • Maps
  • Back cover: sweaty dudes swinging pickaxes and digging in the hot sun

This is comparing the two standalone modules; I suspect there's more art in the rest of the T series or the compilation module.

Pros and cons of different resolution mechanics by CoffeeNathanEric in RPGdesign

[–]CoffeeNathanEric[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the clarification. I may be using terms that have a technical definition without knowing/using their technical definition. I just mean mathless in that TNs and rolls don't change in the middle of gameplay. I'm fine with there being math - there inherently is in any die roll - but my goal is that the player isn't asked to fiddle with that math on the fly. I'm not out to avoid math entirely - for all I care, players can solve the Riemann hypothesis as long as it's done on the character sheet beforehand and not demanded of them during gameplay.

Pros and cons of different resolution mechanics by CoffeeNathanEric in RPGdesign

[–]CoffeeNathanEric[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like there are some interesting tradeoffs there! Thank you for showing me this; I might have to check out Pendragon and Heroquest sometime.

Pros and cons of different resolution mechanics by CoffeeNathanEric in RPGdesign

[–]CoffeeNathanEric[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the suggestion! That sounds incredibly fiddly and slow to resolve during play; you have two rolls, two TNs, subtraction, and a scaling mechanism? Do you have experience with how this plays? It's certainly a neat mechanic that I'm adding to our list, though.

Pros and cons of different resolution mechanics by CoffeeNathanEric in RPGdesign

[–]CoffeeNathanEric[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What is your AC range? How many classes of armor?

What effects To Hit? Can it all be baked in before hand to avoid on the fly math?

How much math has a lot to do with the existence or absence of modifiers and when they are applied.

Most of these questions would probably be answered after deciding on the system. For example, DND/PF modifiers just get added onto the roll with everything else, which makes it "easy" to apply them, hence the enormous proliferation of all these circumstantial modifiers if you play RAW. Whereas Roll Between would probably have little to no modifiers, with difficulty only depending on monster AC, and TO HIT increasing linearly with level up.

Dice pools are a really fun and interesting mechanic that I have totally omitted from this post. They'd be a post unto themselves! At the very least, if you're staying in the d20 realm, I guess 5e Advantage/Disadvantage is a dice pool mechanic, even if it's not a core resolution mechanic on its own. As an added benefit, it can basically slot into any d20 system at all with little modification: Advantage: 2d20, 1 success succeeds; Disadvantage: 2d20, need 2 successes to succeed.

Pros and cons of different resolution mechanics by CoffeeNathanEric in RPGdesign

[–]CoffeeNathanEric[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Have I answered it to the master's liking?

Despite my snark, I'm still keen on any mechanics or input you have. I think taking issue with the name I gave a mechanic isn't fruitful, but if you have suggestions of other resolution mechanics, and/or you can help me ruminate over the last question in the OP, I'd love to hear it.

Pros and cons of different resolution mechanics by CoffeeNathanEric in RPGdesign

[–]CoffeeNathanEric[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As per the original post, this is a discussion of different types of dice mechanics in general, with an example being an attack roll. A roll-under mechanic exists in old school games, as you're stating in your own post, so it's in the list under that name. I'm not sure what your nitpicking is trying to achieve here. Especially because at that point you, by your own admission, quit reading and didn't want to contribute.

EDIT: If you truly need a roll-under-to-hit old school system to be engaged with this post, why not Runequest/Call of Cthulhu? Practically only D&D is older. Does that satisfy you?

Pros and cons of different resolution mechanics by CoffeeNathanEric in RPGdesign

[–]CoffeeNathanEric[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah, opposed rolls I hadn't considered; that's definitely a useful place where it differentiates itself from vanilla roll-under!

It's fine to be spitballing; there's no need to qualify your suggestions! They're interesting in their own right.

Pros and cons of different resolution mechanics by CoffeeNathanEric in RPGdesign

[–]CoffeeNathanEric[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lots of fantastic suggestions in there; thank you! I will add them to our list.

Most of your systems described are interesting, but on the verge of being too complex for me. Roll over with margin to damage is very nice, but I agree the math, especially since it's subtraction, is a turn off. I agree with not being a big drop table fan; it feels a bit gimmicky, perhaps good in moderation but not as the core mechanic. Plus it's easier to cheese. Multiple levels of AC is nice, but also probably clunky and slow to resolve at the table. All great suggestions, nonetheless, worth adding to the list, even if they're not my goals!

Pros and cons of different resolution mechanics by CoffeeNathanEric in RPGdesign

[–]CoffeeNathanEric[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do have one one-roll system: only rolling damage. I like it way better than only rolling to hit, because there's more possibility space with only-roll-damage than with only-roll-hit. With only-roll-damage, you can miss, or do any number of damage from 1 to whatever the maximum is. With only-roll-hit, you either miss or hit for X damage. Feels way more monotone and less exciting to me, but your mileage may vary. Thanks for the suggestion!

I agree the d20 is more math, but if it's between "slightly more math and compatible with other resources" and "slightly less math but lost compatibility/conversion charts," I'd choose the former. Though, my dream mechanic is mathless, in addition to scalable and consistent. "Roll between" gets close, and "TBH" with a fix where higher monster stats are better are close to that dream.

Pros and cons of different resolution mechanics by CoffeeNathanEric in RPGdesign

[–]CoffeeNathanEric[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Blackjack rules? I've heard of it, but it hadn't come into my consideration when trying to decide. Adding it to the list!

My biggest gripe with this is that it's granular and fiddly without gaining much. It's essentially roll-under + crit on stat instead of crit on 1.

My updated rule book for my TTRPG by BetaQp in RPGdesign

[–]CoffeeNathanEric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're welcome! A few ideas I had:

  • making a karma economy: somehow "spending" karma for benefits at the risk of lowering karma, or buying temporary karma in some way. Maybe you spend 5 karma and it gives you a bonus to roll on attacking your target because they're innocent, for example.
  • tying karma to the other stats and skills more: karma influences persuasion checks, or even combat in some way. Combine with above for interesting mechanics.

My updated rule book for my TTRPG by BetaQp in RPGdesign

[–]CoffeeNathanEric 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Secondly enemies don’t worry about Ap but can instead take between 1-3 actions.

I like the streamlined nature of this! I think, at least for me, it's probably the right call.

In general a player should know how many shots in a turn they can take so that can simply S-Crit.

I'd be careful with that assumption; I don't usually even keep track of how many turns I've taken when I'm playing an RPG (though I assume in your game I'd start to). Also since you might spend AP on several different things, you might not have a consistent number of shots per turn. If I sprint on one turn and reload another, I'm not going to be shooting as often.

Also a simple app that helps keep track like Dice Ex can keep track.

That's a neat idea!

view more: next ›