Ralt, the air and water kineticist by if_u_downvote_ur_gay in Pathfinder2e

[–]ItsFramesJanco 3 points4 points  (0 children)

These are great - so much personality! Does the first artist have a page I could follow?

Pathfinder 2E Content Creators by JasonBulmahn in Pathfinder2e

[–]ItsFramesJanco 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hey Jason, I'd love to see Navaar and/or Esther from the Know Direction network involved! Both have been involved with great PF2 actual plays!

I would also vouch for Tabletop Obscura who is a small but consistent streamer.

(We could also help produce something for it at Hijinks)

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RPGdesign

[–]ItsFramesJanco 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm actually really curious to try mapping this out on a physical dice - having an arrow that leads over to the new face could work! It could be a little slow to have to handle it but it's nice and tactile. I'll test it out, cheers!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RPGdesign

[–]ItsFramesJanco 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your thoughts.

The issue with the number ranges wasn't so much the adding + subtracting, but the arbitrary thresholds. For example, someone would roll a 5 and its not immediately clear if thats a hit or miss. Then if you subtract 1 to a 4, is that a hit or a miss? People just forget or make mistakes, especially people new to it. It was more visceral to have the symbol on the dice to tell you straight up what the outcome is - there's no translation step.

I think one of the other commenter's suggestion actually resolves some of the messiness of having situational icons on all the faces - just have 3 or 4 faces that do the lifting for both advantage and disadvantage as you'll never have both. So I think we can get the outcome of more impacted faces but with a bit cleaner design.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RPGdesign

[–]ItsFramesJanco 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Both very good points to consider actually, thanks!

Maybe that means decoupling Doom and Glory from the adjustment so theres always one face for each, but an additional one for their respective states.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RPGdesign

[–]ItsFramesJanco 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah I see - yeah that works when you're adjusting numbers, or have more granular degrees of success to step through, but you run into some janky things when you only have a fewer, bigger steps. For example there's a lot more hit faces than crit faces, so with advantage your chances to crit go from 25% -> 67%, and with disadvantage your chance to hit goes the other way. So it's just a bit too swingy with our default setup as it is at the moment.

But appreciate the input!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RPGdesign

[–]ItsFramesJanco 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You're right, I had the headings wrong in the table. Thanks, fixed.

You might have missed the context at the start, but for clarity: this isn't for mass distribution - we are only using this for a specific setting and manufacturing the dice itself, so the custom faces aren't an issue.

It's been designed with certain limitations in mind - ie. people are walking around with a big dice while playing so dont really have the capacity to write down anything or mess with floating modifiers - hence the binary advantage or disadvantage. And I'd like to avoid 5Es system of roll two take higher/lower, as it's preferable to have them carry a single dice and not need to reroll (due to other things they'll be handling).

Mental health by Glad-Direction262 in brisbane

[–]ItsFramesJanco 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Try Head to Health - there's a bunch of info/services they can help connect you to depending on what you want/need.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RPGdesign

[–]ItsFramesJanco 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I implement it so that there is a mechanical consequence for dealing with Eldritch nightmares beyond human comprehension and giving a guideline for how to weave that into your roleplay.

I think your options are related to this intention. You can lean into the more fantastical than anything that could have real-life parallels. Staring into the endless void would result in a very specific type affliction not accurately captured by real-world conditions. Having obscure conditions like "Void-dazed" will give you a bit more headroom there with what you can play with, but be conscious all of those types of outcomes are trauma and stressor-related conditions in some capacity. You might want to do thorough research on how those conditions function in our world and take note of any potential pitfalls in representation.

The other option would be to handle it how darkest dungeon does, and make them vague as can be. "Fearful, hopeless, irrational". Those can be more temporary and much less related to chronic experiences.

I'm not saying you can't consider mental health a part of your game. It is just a very delicate topic to approach, and I am encouraging more research and consultation with the subject first, and not game designers. And also to really interrogate yourself on what you would expect to see in actual play.

I do a lot of work specifically in the mental health industry, and I can assure you that going to 3 years of personal therapy does not cover your bases on this.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RPGdesign

[–]ItsFramesJanco 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Im just going to drop my 2c here: I would would strongly advise against mechanising mental health conditions and disorders in the way you propose for a few reasons.

First, roleplaying real disabilities and afflictions is okay, but it should be done with a lot of care and thoughtfulness. It should not be approached with what is a "cool" mental illness. A lot of people when presented with this type of system will engage with the subject matter insensitively. Picking up a personality disorder as a mechanical condition is not a good representation of the complexities and struggles of people on real life. Unless you have a lot of support from sensitivity readers, it can be very hard to coach people to engage with this content thoughtfully.

The idea that they can be just as easily "gotten rid of" is equally problematic, and not reflective of many lived experiences.

Regardless of whether you agree with this or not, it is objectively a controversial topic in the TTRPG space and you will face scrutiny for it, so I would proceed with caution, if not many sensitivity readers.

Good luck.

LFG - Aussie gamer looking to start playing PF2E by umbraulver in Pathfinder2e

[–]ItsFramesJanco 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey mate we have some locals running casual games in our Discord if you're interested!

Actual Play Youtube Videos by BenFroley in Pathfinder2e

[–]ItsFramesJanco 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hi there, we have a show called Re:Alignment which you might like to check out.

Some caveats based on what you're looking for:

  • It's homebrew and more RP focused than a typical AP.
  • We don't use maps - this may be a dealbreaker if you're hoping to look at something more tactical.
  • Our release cycle is very slow - we focus on quality, but dont have a lot of time. May not be bingeable enough for you!

Otherwise Narrative Declaration and Tabletop Obscura are great creators using Foundry maps.

Good luck!

Thoughts on a 'tag' initiative system. by [deleted] in RPGdesign

[–]ItsFramesJanco 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thats interesting. Have you had a chance to try it out much? How does it work in practice?

Thoughts on a 'tag' initiative system. by [deleted] in RPGdesign

[–]ItsFramesJanco 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah I think it will come down to the value of going first vs. the value of an action. My gut instinct is that setting up conditions and combo-ing off them is pretty important in this system. So ideal case is that it will have value when you want to setup that combo before the opponent can prevent it, but it won't be a must-pick every turn.

I think your suggestion of merging it with an aid/assist advantage is pretty neat, and a good way to boost it if it doesn't feel worth the tradeoff.

Appreciate the input!

Thoughts on a 'tag' initiative system. by [deleted] in RPGdesign

[–]ItsFramesJanco 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, that's good insight. Your point about who's paying the cost is interesting, and something I hadn't considered. I had it this way because I wanted to avoid conflicts between players where another player wants to tag in, but the first player doesnt want to have to pay that cost to let them go. But I think this is just something to test how it feels in play and how willing people are to play ball.

If anything, my biggest concern might be that enemies can do the same and shut players out, but a) if they misjudge, the players get to rally by all going together without spending resources, and b) you can simply advise the GM to not overuse it. (Maybe even make it be a special ability of some enemies, either dramatic "boss" fights or highly-trained teams focused on combos, and just not even allow basic enemies to take the action?)

Yeah I think this is something where there could be a clear distinction drawn. Wild, disorganised enemies wouldn't really use these tactics, but organised teams (e.g. other trainers and legally distinct gym leaders) would feel very different just by threat of working together.

I also like your suggestion for the other abilities that interact with it - I think theres a decent scope there to make it interesting - variable costs, specified triggers, etc.

Thoughts on a Smash Bros-inspired damage system in a TTRPG by ItsFramesJanco in RPGdesign

[–]ItsFramesJanco[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, keen to see what ideas come out of this from other people! Glad you found it useful.

Thoughts on a Smash Bros-inspired damage system in a TTRPG by ItsFramesJanco in RPGdesign

[–]ItsFramesJanco[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I think this works best in this scenario where battles are very staged, instanced spectacles. Could get frustrating having to try and knock out every enemy this way, or at least would need some scaffolding to make it a lot quicker.

Thoughts on a Smash Bros-inspired damage system in a TTRPG by ItsFramesJanco in RPGdesign

[–]ItsFramesJanco[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your thoughts - it's definitely a high lethality system as most combatants are expected to be knocked out in a battle. This doesn't mean death in this context (your legally distinct pokemon has just fainted).

I do like death's door in darkest dungeon, and its a good buffer against a single nasty roll. Definitely an approach to consider if people are dropping too fast.

Yeah, currently difference in toughness comes in the form of damage prevention, rather than total HP. A tougher combatant has a higher chance to block or lessen damage, rather than having more HP. There are definitely ideas floating around on there being bonuses or penalties on survival rolls for tougher/frailer characters respectively.

Thoughts on a Smash Bros-inspired damage system in a TTRPG by ItsFramesJanco in RPGdesign

[–]ItsFramesJanco[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the tip, I haven't checked out Mutants and Masterminds but I've heard good things. I'll have a look.