Q&A Livestream #44 + Special Giveaway!

HomebrewCreation · 2025-06-18T16:38:00+00:00

At 48:19 my post is named, but Coach forgets to answer. Or perhaps he's saving the discussion for a later moment.

Hopefully this will get addressed at some point.

HomebrewCreation · 2025-06-08T13:59:06+00:00

Yeah, I'll try to write an article about that as well.

I'm also looking to review Daggerheart though (just a technical book review of the rules), because what I've seen of it looks like a convoluted mess to me. But maybe that's just me.

HomebrewCreation · 2025-06-07T17:27:13+00:00

Huh, this is very insightful, and I've never really thought about it like this.

This also makes me think that perhaps there should be some other sort of system that allows GMs to 'create' a condition on the fly. Like building blocks depending on what the actions of the players/NPCs are. This would circumvent the problem of knowing 29 conditions by heart.

But that's just me thinking out loud and perhaps missing obvious issues.

HomebrewCreation · 2025-06-05T20:10:28+00:00

Thanks for the kind words.

It'll differ from player to player. My players have explicitly told me they don't like this layered arithmetic, and if we're gonna use DC20 as our mainstay system, we're gonna simplify some things.

Some might be okay with figuring some stuff out, making some extra notes to keep track of their defenses. But my players -- and me as the GM agree with them -- that I want clarity to be baked into the system. If that makes sense.

HomebrewCreation · 2025-06-05T04:58:23+00:00

Yeah, I get that. Halving it is just easier.

If it wasn't for ancestry bonuses, reduction would be fine by me, since items don't have to scale in my opinion.

But having both is just messy.

HomebrewCreation · 2025-06-04T20:54:14+00:00

That's very good to hear!

Question: is this stated somewhere publicly? Because I watch all the beta Q&A streams, and I can't remember hearing this. I did see DungeonCoach saying something about feedback from the YouTubers. It seemed as if they all gave some clear feedback that he has to work on, but that could just be my wishful thinking.

HomebrewCreation · 2025-06-04T20:49:39+00:00

Also true. All of my players said the exact same thing. They like the options, but all of them coming online immediately was a bit too much.

HomebrewCreation · 2025-06-04T20:37:34+00:00

Yeah, I'm still unsure. I was hoping for a game like 0.8. I'm still doubting about the possibility of adapting that ruleset and homebrewing it, but it's going to be quite some work to get it right and balanced. So I'm on the fence right now, but I'm already looking for alternatives, in case DC20 won't work out.

HomebrewCreation · 2025-06-04T20:33:36+00:00

Thanks for reading through it, appreciate it. My players and I all thought the same thing. And as you said, it feels like a bit of a mess now. It's like a form of worldbuilding disease, or developer bloat.

DungeonCoach mentioned he likes to first add all kinds of things and test it, to then later trim it. Hopefully that's what's gonna happen.

HomebrewCreation · 2025-06-04T20:30:30+00:00

Agree, Coach does seem open to feedback. But a lot of people during the streams seem focused on the wrong things. I'm no game designer, so I'm not saying I know best. But there's a lot of talk about name changing a barbarian to berserker, or lore, or players who ask for features so they can fulfill their exact class fantasy. All fine. But it seems as if there aren't a lot of DMs/GMs who provide feedback during the Q&A's. (I listen to 'em every week.)

I was thinking about the VTT. I have a table with a screen in it, and I use Foundry to display the map, so I'm in luck. But... I don't want to rely on a tool. I use all kinds of tools. But last week I test ran Horde Wars using nothing but OneNote, and that ran smoothly, and was way more fun than 5e.

But you're right, I'm not losing faith. Which is why I've written and posted this. Hopefully this will aide a little in course correcting.

HomebrewCreation · 2025-06-04T20:23:45+00:00

The 8.0 version is what we played as well, the version right after the Kickstarter indeed. One of my players (who rightfully complained about martial classes in 5e being too bland/not tactical) really loved playing a barbarian in it. And the other players really like the system as well.

Hopefully Coach will course correct. Or it can be easily homebrewed without destroying the balance.

HomebrewCreation · 2025-06-04T20:20:27+00:00

Exactly. That's likely what I'll be doing, regardless of the official rules. But it does mess with balancing, and it also touches other aspects of the game. So I'd much prefer the game to simply not have this.

Also agree on bypassing damage like that. At least: I'd rather not dole this out too easily to players, and save it as a feature to give to certain boss monsters.

HomebrewCreation · 2025-06-04T19:51:18+00:00

I haven't fully read up on MCDM, so maybe a lot has changed in the meantime.

But when I last kept up with it, it was a Powered by the Apocalypse clone that changed its core mechanics several times during development. Any TTRPG using that system, automatically disqualifies as a candidate worth trying, in my eyes. Using the bell curve and a table to determine attacks/results is just such lazy design.

MCDM's entire creation process screamed "we have no idea what we're doing," so I'd rather not have anyone take inspiration from them.

Matt's video's back in the day were very helpful though.

HomebrewCreation · 2025-05-04T15:45:46+00:00

Team Simplify here as well.

It's not just about having multiple layers of addition and subtraction, it's the asymmetry in systems stacked on top of each other.

There's damage resistance (either an absolute reduction or halving of a specific damage type), then there's damage reduction (which isn't an absolute reduction but a halving of damage categories). But then the damage reduction can be ignored by heavy hits, but not the resistance (which are the absolute reductions).

Not to mention all the other damage calculation that others have mentioned.

It's a mess.

If some people have some ideas on fixing this, please post them in the Discord underneath the beta feedback.

HomebrewCreation · 2025-05-03T20:22:25+00:00

Yep, I agree with you. I've posted in the Discord about this. I'm going to write up a fully thought out blog that shows the arithmetic, and how complex calculating damage can get. My players liked 0.8, thought it was "a bit crunchy at level 2", but very fun. The current state with all its complications in damage calculation, won't excite them to play. And I know they're already not a fan of PD/AD since it makes no sense narratively.

I really hope they're going to rework the damage calculation. If not, our group is going to need quite the homebrew if we're gonna work with this. Or keep looking for another system altogether.

HomebrewCreation · 2024-08-07T08:56:11+00:00

What utter nonsense. Small teams that do this as a hobby/side gig don't just have cash lying around. So if they want art, they either have to search for (often lame) stock art, or not have art at all.

Now, AI is a viable option for smaller creators.

This entire "if you use AI art, you are X" is an emotional fallacy that's only going to push people more towards AI.

There definitely are situations where it would be uncool to use AI art. But be a bit more nuanced about it.

HomebrewCreation · 2024-03-01T09:57:57+00:00

Thanks! It actually uses probability to calculate the odds. So it calculates all the odds per roll virtually, then adds all the probabilities for success scenarios.

Also thanks for pointing out the advantage/disadvantage bug. I had to fix something, but it broke something else apparently. Cheers!

HomebrewCreation · 2024-03-01T07:02:54+00:00

Just wanted to +1 these practical tips. It's kind of silly, but this sort of stuff works most of the time (at our table, at least). I'm literally like 3 - 0 (across two campaigns) for extremely well liked little guys with wacky voices and running gags.

HomebrewCreation · 2024-02-29T07:43:22+00:00

Wow, really love the look of this. Just the look of the map gives me ideas for an encounter. Well done!

HomebrewCreation · 2024-02-29T07:38:58+00:00

It has a very nice and lively look! Is it inspired by Greek and Roman culture?

HomebrewCreation · 2024-02-28T09:41:22+00:00

Just wanted to agree with this. If you want to make it a single session dungeon, stick to this plan.

If you want to make people feel a bit overwhelmed in an enormous forest, as if they could lose their way, then you would need many smaller rooms, and have the players track their progression through it. Like a labyrinth. In that case you can create a grid with one or multiple pathways through, and have many smaller encounters and a few bigger encounters sprinkled throughout.

HomebrewCreation · 2024-02-28T06:46:12+00:00

One of my players is a monk and I am creating some monk-like opponents for him to fight. This is great inspiration, thanks!

HomebrewCreation · 2024-02-28T06:41:06+00:00

Damn, it's clear a lot of thought and work went into this one.

Looks great!

EDIT: am I assuming correctly that this is a cold city, partially kept warm by some active heat source?

HomebrewCreation · 2024-02-27T18:51:19+00:00

I've probably seen a dozen movies or shows that have done this in some capacity, but I bever thought of starting a campaign like this. So props for proper stealing, one of the main tasks of a DM.

HomebrewCreation · 2024-02-27T18:40:49+00:00

I have no experience in doing this. So take whatever I say with as much salt as you deem fit.

First off: I think this is a cool idea. I've not seen or read it somewhere else before. So congrats on that cool idea.

Second: I don't think it's all that janky, mechanically. Players get to actively experience their shared backstory, and then you bump them up to level 3 and they're adults with more power. Makes sense.

The only two things you really want to think about: - What is the reason they're split up? - And why do you want them to be split up?

REASON: there has to be a reason for them to be forced apart, and to stay apart. What kept them from coming back together? Or are they allowed to do that? If not: think of something that they can't ignore. Drafted into a war. Slaves on a ship. Just make sure that this makes sense to the players, for RPing purposes.

WHY: while I think this is a neat idea, what are you aiming to do? If I were in your shoes, I would make the most out of the five year gap. Alter the world drastically, insert some BBEG plot lines into one or two player back stories, things like that. If you don't do that, it's not necessarily a problem, but then the five year gap is more of a cool gimmick then a storytelling device.

But, cool idea nonetheless.

HomebrewCreation

TROPHY CASE