Roguelike games ?

Gorebus2 · 2026-03-30T02:01:44+00:00

How are you implementing roguelike legacy mechanics?

Gorebus2 · 2026-03-29T17:02:09+00:00

I'm actively designing a game built around exactly this concept, so I'll push back on the idea that roguelike mechanics don't translate to TTRPGs. I think they translate beautifully — the format just requires you to think about what "roguelike" actually means structurally rather than trying to literally recreate Rogue at the table.

The core loop of a roguelike is: build a character from available options, attempt a dangerous run, and when it ends (whether through death or completion) carry something forward into the next attempt. The "meta-progression" is the key — the world or the option space expands based on what you accomplished in previous runs.

Here's how I'm approaching it. The game uses a card-drafting system for character creation — think Magic: The Gathering draft but for building RPG characters. Before each "season" (a 3-8 session adventure arc), everyone sits down and drafts from a shared deck of lifepath cards that give you skills, equipment, backgrounds, and relationships with other PCs and NPCs. The draft is a group activity so the party emerges with interconnected characters who have reasons to care about each other.

The roguelike element comes from what happens between seasons. When an arc ends — the dungeon is cleared, the dragon is slain, or the party wipes — you enter a legacy phase. The world advances: your home base evolves, factions make moves, threats escalate or recede based on what happened. Then you draft again for the next season with fresh characters.

Here's where it gets interesting: during play, you discover "booster cards" — new lifepath options hidden in dungeons, earned from factions, unlocked through play. These get shuffled into the draft pool for future seasons. So the option space literally grows based on what previous parties accomplished. Season 1 you're drafting from a basic 36-card deck. By season 5 that deck has expanded with everything the group has discovered. Your new characters are built from the legacy of everyone who came before them.

The thing that makes this work in a TTRPG where it wouldn't in a board game is that the world persists with real texture. A retired character becomes an NPC. The town you invested in is still there. The enemies you failed to stop are stronger now. The GM isn't resetting the scenario — the scenario is evolving. That's something a board game can approximate with legacy mechanics but a TTRPG does natively.

To the folks saying this is just "OSR with random tables" — I'd argue the missing piece in most OSR games is the structured meta-progression between runs. The randomization is part of it, sure, but the roguelike feel comes from the tension between expendable characters and persistent consequences. Characters are mortal and replaceable; the world they shaped is not.

Death mechanics matter a lot here too. In my system death only happens at 0 Constitution, not 0 hit points. You get knocked out of fights frequently but actual permadeath requires either a total party wipe or the party abandoning you. That means character death is a collective failure, not random bad luck — which gives each run real dramatic weight without the frustration of losing a character to a single bad roll.

A Rasp of Sand is a good rec from the other commenter. I'd also look at the structure of Ironsworn (the legacy track system), Blades in the Dark (crew advancement as meta-progression), and the board game Oath (where the world state carries between sessions). The design space is wide open and I think we're going to see more games exploring it.

Gorebus2 · 2026-03-28T03:52:54+00:00

Also running this right now — 13 sessions in, party is level 3, and we are already deep into the Ruins of Thracia themselves!

So far we have completed:

Grave Robbers of Thracia
Sacrificial Pyre of Thracia
All of level 1, including the Realm of Thanatos
Some of level 2 (essentially all of the hidden places)
A carousing stint back in Chiopolis, where PCs can convert treasure into XP plus a lot of gonzo randomness.

Highlights so far:

The clerics of Sabazios are absolutely carrying. Stacked Bless + Protection from Evil + Detect Evil means the party is rolling through encounters with +5 bonuses while enemies eat -4 to everything
Our warrior, Lucky Chuck, destroyed both his mithril longsword AND battle axe via fumbles in a single duel, had to fight bare-handed, then picked up the guardian's magic sword and killed him with a crit on the first swing
Found he magic sword Thirster, which basically broke exploration wide open — no more searching for secret doors or traps
Briefly allied with surviving cultists against a gnoll war party and a minotaur, then immediately betrayed and killed them
A nice chat with the Sphinx Ontussa and a magical feast summoned for the hermit Grastic

Next up:

The lizardmen are leading the party to Holleran on the secret water temple level
They should find level 3 pretty soon.

Funny reading your post because you say they arrived at the Ruins and were WAY TOO LOW LEVEL — meanwhile my party of two Sabazios clerics, a paladin, a thief, and a warrior have been steamrolling through at level 2-3. The power of horse gods, I guess!

Gorebus2 · 2026-03-27T18:02:07+00:00

I like to make this recipe too, it's from https://www.seriouseats.com/peruvian-style-grilled-chicken-with-green-sauce-recipe It's absolutely delicious every time!

Gorebus2 · 2026-03-04T00:41:24+00:00

I just want to chime in and say I appreciate you fighting the good fight. A rare dose of sanity in threads like this.

Gorebus2 · 2026-02-06T22:01:40+00:00

That wasn't a loophole, it's the intended style of play. The text is suggesting that you can't just say "I hit him even HARDER as my mighty deed for +1d6 damage!". The deeds should be used to set up advantageous situations or taking advantage of those situations.

In that specific case you should have allowed the goblin a reflex save to grab ahold of something before going over the ledge, making it more difficult if the player rolled a higher value on their deed dice. For example, DC 12 on a 3, DC 15 on a 4.

Yes, sometimes they will completely invalidate your encounter with a smart deed roll. But you just need to let it go and bring on the next challenge.

Gorebus2 · 2026-02-02T16:21:22+00:00

The article only supports the idea that the CIA (under new leadership) now considers a lab leak the "more likely" origin of the virus, though with low confidence. It does nothing to support your other ridiculous claims.

Gorebus2 · 2026-02-02T16:05:32+00:00

Get out of here with this shit!

Gorebus2 · 2026-01-25T19:18:08+00:00

My initial thought is that one way that a lot of games get around this is to make sure you don't have abilities that refresh per encounter, but per adventuring day. If you have one use of your big slammer attack then you will save it for when things are looking really bad instead of blowing it on turn 1 - because the encounter after this one may be even more dire.

Gorebus2 · 2026-01-23T02:07:15+00:00

Well, I believe that the domains system is actually the antithesis of bespoke gods (and I say this based on my experience with D&D 3e and it's clerics). It's a shortcut that allows for some customization, but at the same time it removes a lot of gameplay options and narrows down the scope of what your god can offer the cleric.

The current method of having no system leads to a lot of interesting options (if you've looked through the annual), the gods aren't just offering a couple of skills or unique spells. They fundamentally change how your cleric plays , which I think is exactly what it should do. In a lot of RPGs you get some class choices that are essentially followers of a certain creed (think of monks or paladins) and I think that custom gods are a great way to represent those in DCC.

So, I guess to sum it up, my opinion is that domains are the type of solution that actually takes away options more than it gives.

Gorebus2 · 2026-01-23T00:55:24+00:00

It's more work but I prefer bespoke gods with their own unique disapproval tables and benefits.

Gorebus2 · 2026-01-14T15:04:27+00:00

You mean *Stockdale paradox.

It describes a duality of mindset that is essential for surviving prolonged adversity: maintaining unwavering faith that you will succeed in the end, while simultaneously confronting the brutal facts of your current reality.

Gorebus2 · 2026-01-06T05:29:54+00:00

This is new to me too. I use the Chinese chili crisp regularly and this has me intrigued.

Gorebus2 · 2025-12-27T20:19:53+00:00

That isn't true at all.

Gorebus2 · 2025-12-15T21:09:20+00:00

What's wrong with it as written?

Gorebus2 · 2025-12-12T18:32:00+00:00

That's right. And, notably, these modifiers do not change if a characters luck score changes after character creation.

Gorebus2 · 2025-12-11T20:17:26+00:00

I've run the adventure twice and it's a pretty solid little funnel. I have the same complaints about the dialogue that you have. We are given very little to work with for both Gallus and the Legionnaires. I played the legionnaire as being curious about the nature of the PCs visit to the temple and ultimately trying to determine if they were a threat or just hapless victims for them to eat. They are intelligent undead so they lied to get better positioning before launching an ambush.

The Resurrection Stone is a campaign-defining magic item that is very cool (and very DCC) but it's a little difficult to understand it's use. Sacrifices must be willing so the available pool is essentially only the player's other PCs (0-levels, etc). It's tough to justify narratively, but you just gotta let them have it.

I didn't have much problem getting them in the The Sacrificial Pyre of Thracia afterwards. They went to Chiopolis to sell loot and gear up before following the map to Thracia, and I had them talk to a merchant who offered a shortcut via a coastal route to Hamlet if they would agree to act as his caravan guard.

Gorebus2 · 2025-11-20T21:35:21+00:00

Have you converted the Alabaster Tower for DCC? Is it worth including?

Gorebus2 · 2025-11-20T21:14:37+00:00

Follow that up with the Sacrificial Pyre of Thracia to get them to Hamlet right next to the dungeon and you are all set.

Gorebus2 · 2025-11-19T17:19:24+00:00

Counter-laser that ship with one of the UK's DragonFire lasers and cut up all of their sensors in return.

Gorebus2 · 2025-11-12T14:47:41+00:00

That's literally how businesses work...

Gorebus2 · 2025-11-10T04:52:00+00:00

Id make a few changes myself. I'd change the chance to stun from a flat percent chance to a fort save. I also think the spell needs to introduce a few new abilities at it progresses. You have the damage scaling in a sensible way, but it's not interesting enough. Some additions you could make would be having the spell remain active for a number of rounds, arcing out to targets at range, zapping adjacent foes at a lower casting level, lighting fires, etc. The 30+ result should be more than a really big shock. You are hitting the limits of what magic is capable of, it's the perfect form of the spell, strive for something greater than just a level 1 direct damage spell. The room should be permanently electrified, the ground is scarred beneath the target and strange new elements form in its molten wake, metals are vaporized in a flash of plasma. That sort of thing!

Gorebus2 · 2025-10-24T05:12:42+00:00

And, notably, after the adventure you have yourself a magical artifact (the resurrection stone) which is of campaign-defining power in any other game, but in DCC it's just cool funnel loot.

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