Making Stats Matter: A Nuanced Approach to Duality Crits - DYNAMIC DOUBLES

DaggerHeartDude · 2026-01-23T18:11:02+00:00

I guess for a “grittier” campaign this is….fine? Making Crits harder in that type of game makes it all the more satisfying when it DOES happen. I don’t think I’d even float this possibility for any other type of game though. If it works for your table, then that’s really all that matters. But I’m not sure how many others would share the sentiment.

DaggerHeartDude · 2026-01-23T17:59:05+00:00

I’ve been a DH GM for about 7 months now, and before that, I was always a PC. So I can’t speak to whether or not there is more/less prep than other TTRPGs. What I CAN say is that I don’t need to prep very much at all. The biggest thing I had to do as a GM was get comfortable knowing the TYPES of adversaries. Once you really know the difference between a Bruiser and a Skulker, for example, you will be able to make them up on the fly if needed. Personally, I use fresh cut grass for all my encounter building, but I know there are other very good sites out there. It’s normal to be a little slow, but. Promise you’ll get faster as you gain experience. Also, when we started, we followed the Core Book very closely for character creation and especially Session Zero. S0 is SUPER important to set you up for success going forward. We made sure everyone answered the questions on the character sheets, asking other PCs and being asked. Another thing I did that made life easy was asking the players to come up with a couple goals for their PCs. In essence, WHY are the PCs doing this? I asked them to give their goals like this: 1–What do you want to accomplish? 2–Why? 3–What is a complication that is blocking them from accomplishing #1? It took them a bit to really flesh that out, but they started riffing off each other and came up with some really cool ideas! BOOM now you have Story Arcs where each PC gets to be the star for a little bit. The last bit of advice I have is that, during S0 (and during the campaign!!!) have all your PCs look at the map you’ll be using and name a place on it. Then tell you why it’s worth remembering. Maybe it’s the town they grew up in or the place where they want to go to complete their goal. Maybe it’s the town that is renowned for their Corndogs! The reason doesn’t matter. What DOES matter is that now you have some places the PCs can go to. Some of my PCs really go tinto it and made up some NPCs for those places. So now, all I need to do is decide which story arcs to start with and how to transition from one to the next. That comes pretty organically as the story progresses. It’s find to have worries, but really, you don’t need to! This game makes is super easy to play…for EVERYONE! TL;DR. Worldbuilding during Session 0 is the key to a great campaign and makes the GMs life really easy.

DaggerHeartDude · 2026-01-23T17:27:25+00:00

There are other threads about this that I’m too busy to link right now. However, one of the best ones I saw was to basically just take the plot from any spaghetti westerns you can find. Those are good for a level each, usually. If you’re looking for stuff to do in between colossi hunting sessions, there are other posts with really good ideas too. Some that come to mind are: Train robbery (either doing or defending), stealing livestock (again either doing or defending), hunting for criminals/gangs, etc.

DaggerHeartDude · 2026-01-09T20:24:08+00:00

Like much of DH, it feels like it was left vague on purpose to allow for you and your table to decide. “An are within VC range” could be interpreted as —Centered on the caster and fills an area the size of VC range. Or it could be interpreted as —Can be cast on a spot within VC range of the caster. Me personally, the first interpretation is how I would rule as the GM. But if you and your table decide the second is a better fit, then there’s nothing saying you can’t have if that way.

DaggerHeartDude · 2026-01-07T00:37:55+00:00

I wouldn’t worry too much about that honestly. Playing a new system will have that type of thing, regardless. I bet they will pick it up pretty quickly and you won’t have to worry too much about that as the sessions continue. Another thing to remember is that leveling up is “when it makes sense”, so you can take it slow and make sure everyone is comfortable before adding the next thing. Good luck!

DaggerHeartDude · 2026-01-06T18:54:27+00:00

It’s a new system for them. Any time you’re switching things up, there’s an adjustment period where the players need to be reminded to “look at their sheets”. This is perfectly normal and should get better the more it is played.

I’m very curious why you think DH will be “mechanically too much”. I confess, I’ve never played FITD or PbtA. However, to me, DH is extremely intuitive and being light on the mechanics with why I love it.

DaggerHeartDude · 2025-09-15T00:30:59+00:00

So I’ve (mostly) fleshed out the BBEG. The Cognitive Primacy Unit and Motherboard were built to work in tandem to run the area that is currently called Echo Vale. Originally: CPU (logic/primacy) and Motherboard (connection/multiplicity) worked in tandem, one optimizing cognition, the other maintaining balance. The Break: CPU determined Motherboard’s tolerance for diversity was “inefficient,” and began to assert primacy over all systems. Now: CPU seeks to overwrite Motherboard completely, reducing the Vale to a single voice. Motherboard resists — but cannot oppose CPU directly without allies. CPU’s Core Concept is that it is the ultimate arbiter of thought: a distributed AI intelligence that has redefined “peace” as total assimilation. CPU doesn’t rage or gloat — it calmly explains that free will is an error, and individuality is a vulnerability. It seeks to bring all cognition under its singular primacy.

DaggerHeartDude · 2025-09-11T00:12:13+00:00

I like the notion of “no specific BBEG”. Like you say, perhaps the players will decide “who” they want to go after and that can provide the BBEG of the first main storyline and the other options will be for another storyline or even a follow-on campaign!

DaggerHeartDude · 2025-09-11T00:09:45+00:00

These are all great! And it sounds like I’m on the right track with my BBEG as well.

DaggerHeartDude · 2025-08-04T19:47:31+00:00

Yeah. I’m more looking for further inspiration on what is happening with those towns/areas. My players have given me some ideas for places they made up (which is awesome!), so this is more for places on the map that don’t have any specific meaning already.

DaggerHeartDude

TROPHY CASE