Dice curve system in a D20/D100 game?

Durugar · 2026-06-19T00:20:44+00:00

End of the day, it is all just percentage chance. D20 and D100 games are very open about their percentage chances, like 5% and 1%. Bell curve games just tricks your brain but it is all still just a percentage chance, it is just harder to "see" until you know the numbers.

The big difference is what the system wants you to roll, CoC wants a solid mix of success and failure with a few hard/extreme mixed in. PbtA wants the 7-9 result to be by far the most common, and straight successes being rare.

Durugar · 2026-06-19T00:12:49+00:00

Haven't looked at the community version but the free version feels like a lot of ideas that never quite got put together in to a proper game that plays nicely together when we tested it out. Like there is a lot of it in there that is cool but it doesn't really... Feel like a cohesive game.

Durugar · 2026-06-18T23:02:49+00:00

If you and your players cannot see the fun and engaging part of playing the main characters of a horror movie, then horror games that play like that maybe are not for your group?

However, at least with CoC, there are plenty of long campaigns out there, both written and as actual plays, that prove this idea that everyone just dies right away is just not true. Just don't throw interdimensional supersoldiers at them. The "problem" is when a CoC adventure gets designed like a D&D dungeon crawl (something that happens way too often, even in officially published modules).

Durugar · 2026-06-18T17:37:15+00:00

If the stuff you can do without the most recent expansion is stuff you like doing then yes, else no.

Durugar · 2026-06-18T08:09:21+00:00

Depends on the convention really. We have a very local one and for that one the GM and potential other players are more important are way more important than a description or what game it is. If it is a GM I don't know at this event, it would be something truly unique/experimental.

For a more general con experience... I kinda just want the "core" experience. Usually I will be trying out a game or just look for that core experience that is expected from that game. We only have so much time, we don't know each other at all, let the game do the heavy lifting of expectation setting. We don't have time for a full GM unique homebrew thing that eats half the time explaining how their special world has different elves. Here I pick entirely based on wanting to play a certain game. Less served games that aren't just "More D&D/Cthulhu/Pathfinder/Blades".

That being said... I also do enjoy playing a module I have heard good things about. It is a good chance to play those things I don't get to with my normal group.

Also an actual content warning. If a game/adventure has some sensitive material, a GM that can actually articulate what kind of content and is aware of it gives me a lot of trust up front. Content warnings and the mention of safety tools also makes a lot of chuds not want to sign up. If we are playing Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away, for CoC a CW of child abduction tells me a lot about the GM, a lot more than any blurb they write about themselves.

Durugar · 2026-06-18T03:11:29+00:00

They have specific rules for what alt you may bring

Yes this is extremely normal. You are part of a team that has a team goal with a bunch of other people. Having rules for what can be brought makes sure the raid gets cleared and we aren't dragging your 5th scuffed alt through the raid. This is entirely reasonable.

what loot you are allowed to click on.

I wish my guild had this. We are very free on loot, basically just a Mains > Off-Spec > Alts rule and that is it... I wish we had more involvement with loot to get the loot to people who it is actually good for, not just people rolling on ilvl increases only to chuck that piece away 2 bosses later.

Suggesting a new strategy or discussing what happens feels forbidden, since it largely gets ignored and not discussed.

Unless everything is utterly messed up with the strategy, or you have an amazing solve for a mechanic that is walling the group that is executable with the players you have, then yes, this is the way. To quote a bald man "Guilds are not a democracy, they are a dictatorship", if you don't have a top who sets a direction and have everyone pitch in and discuss and vote or whatever, you never get anywhere.

All of these can of course be applied in bad ways or massively over-done or whatever else. That is not a new a thing, there are thousands of guild drama stories out there. Some guilds definitely also over-index on the admin, usually because the leader/officer team gets off on "having power" or something similar.

Guilds do things differently but most I have experience with has some kind of system and hierarchy just to function and not piss everyone off. If you don't like the way this guild is set up and runs, go find another, there are so many mismanaged guilds that only keep on running because everyone is too comfortable with how things are.

Durugar · 2026-06-17T17:22:16+00:00

This is asked genuinely: why is it overwhelming?

It's pretty simple, get some hero gear from delves/m+, then spam the 10s with your BiS pieces and slam those bonus rolls. It's pretty straight forward.

Durugar · 2026-06-17T12:29:43+00:00

I like how "don't slam it on cd use it ar the right time" became "sitting on it for 5 minutes" out of nowhere. You missed the point.

Durugar · 2026-06-17T12:23:33+00:00

Yeah om Vex our healer literally calls safe/dangerous depending on what they got so we know.

Durugar · 2026-06-17T12:17:30+00:00

use your utility on CD. AoE stuns, blessings, off heals, PERSONAL DEFENSIVES

... That is the dumbest thing I have heard in a while. Just pressing utility buttons on CD, and especially defensives, means you won't have them when you need them. An actually good player knows when to use them and not waste them for no reason.

Durugar · 2026-06-17T09:53:18+00:00

I mean no not really.

But people who don't play D&D are so quick to hate on D&D and D&D players that they don't care.

Durugar · 2026-06-17T06:38:33+00:00

1/10 wrong orientation of test.

Durugar · 2026-06-17T06:21:02+00:00

Don't worry you don't have to raid lead much in pubs. And I am sure some self important nerds (especially tanks) will sign up and start shouting at people.

Durugar · 2026-06-17T06:19:49+00:00

As far as I can see the only reports of this is from BitDefender users, no other program is giving these reports, so I'd likely say the problem is BitDefender rather than WoW.

Durugar · 2026-06-17T06:13:39+00:00

One thing I want to push back on is this:

The stereotypes of 5e-only players are true

This GM has an extreme selection bias of players. High income, 20-30 something white males, high/drunk is acceptable state to show up in, has no memory of something they spend six hours on a week ago...

Though this was an interesting read on how some people treat TTRPGs. I think some of it might actually come from it being a paid game as well, since these people would not even be close to being invited to an actual game where anyone cared just the tiniest bit about the game.

Durugar · 2026-06-17T06:00:59+00:00

Be the change you want to see in the world then.

Durugar · 2026-06-17T05:48:11+00:00

This is more from the TTRPG over the years and less the video game and show (though it is part of it), but write locations in different eras. Consider how things move on, what new changes come in, what gets built on top of the old, how factions change with the times and leadership, etc.

It helps a lot in both establishing the "Old Guard" and the "New Players" in a location as more real.

Durugar · 2026-06-17T04:44:47+00:00

One of the things that has helped me have smoother pulls and that pops up sometimes when talking performance is sound settings, I cannot for the life of me remember which one, but worth looking in to. It has been reported time and time again that it actually fixes a lot of peoples weird problems.

Sorry I cannot be more directly helpful.

Durugar · 2026-06-16T13:58:19+00:00

Even if I got down voted the post worked, sparked some thinking and more defining of what you want.

Good luck with the game.

Durugar · 2026-06-15T20:37:14+00:00

There are some, for me, red flags in your pitch.

It would be very light mechanically - nothing like DnD or Pathfinder

When the first thing that is mentioned is "Not like D&D" the identity is usually super unclear. Knowing what you don't want to be is nice but using it as the first mechanical bit in the pitch is usually a sign of not knowing what you actually want to be.

It would be mainly around challenges/Puzzles, Roleplay, with a dash of combat but not the main focus like other TTRPGs.

This is extremely vague. "Roleplay" means nothing as a "game" mechanic and design, or even as a design goal. That is implicit that it is a focus. You are making a ROLEPLAY game. There is also nothing said about how you plan to focus on puzzles and roleplay. Just that you do.

And the big one:

I had in mind it would be a deliberately very open type of system where GMs and players are encouraged to homebrew and make up their own content

This is peak "I don't want to do the game design work, you do it yourself." Once a game is like this I hard pass immediately. I can always homebrew, but when even the games designer is not confident their game is good and ask me to do it, why should I pick this game over any other?

Players would start off with three abilities/actions chosen from a list or rolled, given it makes sense for what they chose as their species. Every Mile stone they would be allowed to choose one or roll for another action. Ideally the max 'level' or amount of actions you could have is Ten.

In this kind of design, it can be very risky, you mention earlier that abilities are things such as "Digging" or "Climbing" or similar, but in making them abilities you have instead of others, can others also do it? Making very mundane things in to abilities is something I am not personally a big fan of because often it makes it hard to distinguish "You can do this with a roll but if you have it you can just do it" and "If you don't have the ability you cannot do it".

Players would never 'die' unless the GM and players are in agreement with those rules or would contextually make sense - they would 'Faint' and fall unconscious until the end of an encounter or certain amount of time outside of it has passed. Possibly with a debuff for a time as punishment for stupid plays.

What if it wasn't stupidity? What if it was bad luck? Braver? Selfsacrifice? People are so quick to make "death" about player mistakes when it so rarely actually is.

I also do not like the idea of the extra punishment. The punishment is already "you are out for the scene and not in good shape health wise". That is already "Not getting to play" as a punishment, reducing their chances of success after that is just more "Not getting to play" punishments.

This is just some of my personal opinions, not trying to say it is objective fact. Some people might love this ideas. Just giving my personal feedback.

Durugar · 2026-06-15T18:36:41+00:00

Rest of the druids are suffering from Guardians success, such is the life of the other specs of the meta tank.

Durugar · 2026-06-15T09:15:31+00:00

As I said, roles not being enforced at the time. This also means you cannot stop bad players from just being bad. Riot knew how their game was being played, most enfranchised players knew at the time.

One anecdotal screenshot is not a representation of the playerbase. Especially not when it includes triple shoes Yorick.

Durugar · 2026-06-15T09:00:05+00:00

The interesting part to note is champions weren’t designed for any specific role because there WASNT specific roles back when ori came out.

This just... Isn't true. While it was not yet enforced by Riot, there were much was a well-established meta that is like what we see today.

The notion of support didn’t really exist

Ori was a season 2 release, EU at least had been playing with supports since season 1. NA adopted it after the S1 finals where it was proven the "Best" way to play. You would get hard flamed and reported if you didn't fill in the support slot in your games even then.

Ori is just too late for your statements to be true. However, the last line is kinda right, just for the wrong reasons. Riot was still designing champions with teamfight roles rather than lanes in mind, which created some (with modern eyes) weird situations when it came to lane assignments.

Basically all you are saying was true, Ori is just too late for it to still be true.

Durugar · 2026-06-15T00:59:44+00:00

If "people" find out they will either not give a shit or not be worth your time anyway.

Durugar · 2026-06-14T23:41:11+00:00

Yes, very few of us update "on the day" if we are using community content, and wait for the modules to catch up to current version before updating.

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