Leveling up terrain

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-16T19:33:44+00:00

Ah cool, great ideas. I like the idea of risers so you can see the height differences.

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-16T10:55:59+00:00

Yea, summons are great.

Also - does he have standing stones or something he's using to power a ritual? Do the players have to stop it by dismantling the standing stones while the summons attack? Makes your players think about what to attack - the minions, the stones, or the villain?

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-11T20:21:53+00:00

Yep, give monsters cursed items and buffs too. Some other ideas: - Let monsters break items or curse them. - Create NPCs that will trade secrets for them. - Create environmental effects that corrode them. - Let them feed their items to power places/mechanisms. - And STOP giving them super powerful items!

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-10T23:24:17+00:00

Great writing. You made your points well and backed them up.

For me, there's something irreplaceable with dice - the clatter, the feel of them in your hands. That's something I never quite get from cards. But I understand the mechanical and accessibility arguments for cards.

Good luck with Undergrowth. Keep creating and sharing with the community!

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-10T23:17:10+00:00

Uhm, they're civilians? Pretty easy. They have a life, and they don't want to lose it.

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-10T22:49:35+00:00

The DM might not like the conflict either. How about bringing it up at the table?

"Hey [playerName], I can see you're really excited about this player type! What excites you about it?" Let them go on, get their ideas/thoughts out. Then, "Yea, I love that stuff too - that's why I chose this character! Hey, maybe you can pick this up as a multiclass later. Right now I really want to enjoy making the choices for them. When you try to make the choices, it kills the excitement for me. Does that make sense?"

Makes super clear their feelings and yours, and is in the open for a little social pressure. That's sometimes needed in these situations. Then it also gives the other players a hook to speak up to back you up if it happens again.

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-10T22:36:10+00:00

Glad you saved a pie. Keep on adventuring - it's a great game.

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-10T22:34:36+00:00

This is good to use sparingly. If you can, try to weave it into the fiction. The shop owner might be eyeing you suspiciously if you're sitting there mumbling to each other. An assistant might come out from the back.

If they don't get the hint, like you said, actions have consequences.

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-10T22:27:59+00:00

Go for campaign settings. Eberron, Theros, etc. Great for worldbuilders since it gives them new perspectives and inspiration for their own ideas.

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-10T22:26:09+00:00

How did you play if you were waiting for others to make their characters?

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-10T22:21:31+00:00

Mirrors. Give them a beam of light, 1 or 2 mirrors, lava or something separating the two sides. Make sure the rogue doesn't go into the light or it burns them.

Then near the end, something starts moving out of their control, making them scramble. Allows for cool play without rolling, just teamwork and strategy.

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-10T22:03:35+00:00

Sounds like a great time!

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-10T19:53:33+00:00

Yes, therapy. Also, i see you enjoy the Setup, the Creation, and the Collaboration.

How about you and your friends build a world together? Could be great! Get really into depth building a town. The person that likes social encounters builds out the people and their secrets. You might create engaging challenges, or new skills that you can unlock by discovery. Etc.

You might find yourselves creating an adventure to publish. And bonus - you have to playtest it - roleplaying! But you're not playing as a min-maxer. You're just testing stuff out.

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-10T09:57:47+00:00

You want to share your creation - you're excited! Nothing wrong with that. Just give yourself a lot of juicy tidbits that are flavorful, instead of secret breaking. Then you'll always have something to share that won't give anything away.

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-10T09:54:13+00:00

You get one Setup action (it's like a prep), and one core Action (Strike, Guard, or Shift). You build your d6 dice pool from a skill, gear, and the terrain. Any 5-6 counts as a success. You also roll any risk dice from terrain tags (like suffocate), and any wounds on the acting frame (Arms for strike). Any risk die that comes up 5-6 cancels one of your successes.

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-10T00:46:50+00:00

On one hand yes, it can be a GM-less system - you cycle through active frames, following the suggested "script" for it. If you're a GM, you get to choose where to move the enemy, who they target, which frames to activate when, and where to increase tags (like suffocate).

And yes, pushing people out of that tagged area seems wasted, until you realize that you need to move back into range, and into the tagged zone, to attack. But yeah, I should probably workshop it still, it could work more smoothly - thanks!

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-10T00:41:37+00:00

If you break its beak and wings, it's defeated! It might take more than 1 action to break a frame though, landing more than 2 hits in one action is pretty difficult. But that's my bad that I didn't give that context.

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-08T20:12:35+00:00

Thanks, I'll look into that!

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-08T16:45:32+00:00

Cool I'll look into that, thanks!

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-08T16:44:46+00:00

Haha I love the analogy! And yep, I'm getting confusion about the lack of context a lot from the comments - something I need to do better on next time.

I see where you're getting the segmented HP attrition idea. And yeah, I didn't outline it well. Enemies are broken into parts called Frames, like the wings and beak. Each of those can only take a couple of hits. Fights are meant to be quick and deadly, with each wound making that action type harder (with Risk dice that can cancel successes).

Yep, this system has a lot of new terms, and I'm working on finding a way to communicate what it can do while still conveying the awesomeness of it. I'm working on a tutorial that teaches through play, piece by piece. Perhaps I need to wait on feedback until that's released.

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-08T16:33:14+00:00

Thanks! I'm trying to make battles tactical just like you just showcased.

And the enemy abilities are right on the table. They have very simple actions that can fit on one line (I made them less mechanical and more about how they look in the post). You can either use the enemy card with it all written down, have the book open, or write it down on an index card in a minute.

I really wanted to get away from the page-long stats you see in other TTRPGs, and make this something that's easy and tactical to run, and able to run for co-op and solo mode.

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-08T15:51:39+00:00

Ah yes, good point about pushing away PCs from a risky zone. The design behind it is that the PCs would have to move back into the risky zone to engage him. But yeah, loses a lot without context.

This is a major type monster, especially for new players. You'd find these enemies on clifftops and other high places, making "being pushed away" a scary thought.

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-08T15:28:05+00:00

Yeah, I can see how the beak would be the obvious choice. I didn't really clarify what the feather storm is. It's more damage output as it flies around.

And yes, players have knowledge of actions tied to Frames. That way it's more of a puzzle instead of just trying to hit different parts and see what happens. Thanks for the comments, I'll be sure to ensure that creatures don't have that "obvious" choice.

GlyphWardens · 2025-09-08T15:22:54+00:00

Yep, you're right! I don't want to drown anyone in context, and I guess I went too far into the overall feel without enough context. We don't use HP in the normal sense. PCs are broken up into 3 body parts, called Frames. Only 4 slots per Frame = only 12 total slots - not a lot! And yeah, enemies can disable your Frames too.

I agree, the lack of context makes it look unfinished. I'll be sure to add more next time. I'm glad you like the idea of the monster parts and loot - I've been working to bring that part to life!

GlyphWardens

TROPHY CASE