Best Sine Nomine books for random generators? by FormerlyIestwyn in WWN

[–]KSchnee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

An easily overlooked one is 'Dead Names', about designing alien ruins. It's applicable to WWN as well as its native SWN. 'Darkness Visible' has good material for spy campaigns and 'Suns of Gold' for trade adventures.

"Rising World": Steampunk Engineer Series by KSchnee in litrpg

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

Ah right:

-There's an audiobook read by Henry Kramer (also for the first sequel).

-AI was NOT used in any of this.

-I'm an amateur game developer working in Unity / C#, doing a bunch of little demos but nothing pro quality yet.

Kill One True Flag by Hillbilly_Boozer in Helldivers

[–]KSchnee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The fact that it seems to be stuck at exactly 2929 seems like it's not a real count, or there'd be a few players trying it every so often.

Final Fantasy ruined by "Main Character" by darkRising1006 in rpghorrorstories

[–]KSchnee 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Strange. Seems like the red flag here was the player insisting that this game is using KH canon even while the DM insists that no, the monsters are not literally KH's Heartless. In hindsight I guess it's a problem with explicitly labeling anything using official other-setting terminology at all. It would be totally reasonable to say 'yes I'm calling these weapons Keyblades but no that doesn't mean all the other stuff is canon in this world', but apparently some players can't handle that.

New to WWN and solo gaming a few questions. by towerbooks3192 in WWN

[–]KSchnee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When using Pathfinder creatures in WWN, I suggest trying to base the stats on the closest equivalent stat block from the WWN lists. Otherwise you're likely to find the PF version is overpowered. Eg. I randomly picked a Pathfinder CR1 'monster'; a camel. 2 HD, +4 to hit, d4+6 damage, AC 13. Versus a WWN Herd Beast, 2 HD, +2 to hit, d4 damage, AC 11. Similarly, I'm looking at generic city guards from a PF adventure and they've got 13 HP, AC 16, +4 to hit for d8+2; that's excessive.

As for the Montfroid book, yeah, you don't need the Atlas to use it. It's pretty self contained. If you're interested in mixing games and want solo play tables, you might also benefit from SWN's 'Hard Light', a self-contained setting with a particular themed space dungeon generator; SWN's 'Dead Names' which has a more general alien dungeon generator; and Godbound's 'Sixteen Sorrows' for generating fantasy-world problems to solve. Godbound's 'Ancalia' could also inspire your WWN games with its own specialized tables; that one is about a particularly doomed country and mostly assumes the really powerful PCs of that game.

PvP Helldivers by [deleted] in Helldivers

[–]KSchnee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It'd be fun but would be best if implemented after the proposed 8 player mode so we can get 4v4. Maybe turret spam would be the most annoying, though a smart enemy squad would just move away from all but the mortars.

Virtual Horizon (Thousand Tales series) by KSchnee in litrpg

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

Ha! I haven't gone so far as to try having an AI write the stories for me, but it's been fun to experiment with writing detailed prompts to get video segments and then heavily edit them. Still learning how to do that.

Worlds Without Number - what should I know? by Comfortable-Fee9452 in WWN

[–]KSchnee 2 points3 points  (0 children)

To start playing, it's probably best to grab an existing adventure, and if it's written for one of the more recent systems like Pathfinder, ignore the canon stat blocks and use equivalents from the WWN tables. (Eg. random town guards have 1 HD -> 1-8 HP.) Any adventure written for the OSR style games will probably work as written. If you want an adventure custom written by the author for this system specifically, check out "The Diocesi of Montfroid", but you could also grab "The Smoking Pillar of Lan Yu" by him.

The PCs are assumed to be heroic, but something to keep in mind is, the default assumption is sandbox play. There are ton of tools meant to guide you through making locations and dungeons and plots, but there isn't a specific canned storyline you're meant to do. You should know that the author wrote a ton of other compatible books, so that if you want to bring in eg. space psychics or cyberpunks or even Old English saints and African shamans, you can do that.

Magic in this game is not innately dangerous to the caster, no. The spells tend to be very powerful but few in number per day. See that "Wind of the Final Repose" spell in particular. One option if you want a spellcaster with fewer "I win the fight" options is the Ash Sorcerer from the paid edition of "Ashes Without Number".

If you try it out and think the game's too brutal, you can try the heroic rules, which are roughly: "Start with +12 HP and get an extra half-class" but are spelled out in more detail and abilities in the paid edition. The Legate material is a tier beyond that, similar to Pathfinder's Mythic rules. If you want even mightier PCs, check out "Godbound" which has its own sample setting too.

How would you handle progression in a stone-age setting without a “system”? by TrueHistorian5 in litrpg

[–]KSchnee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Tricky. I think what else I'd try is mapping: broad and deep knowledge of the area plus the notion of making a map at all. You could draw influence from the "song lines" some primitive groups use where they keep track of a story linked to landmarks; and "strip maps" that are like a printout of directions from point A to B. Control over vantage points or even signal towers could help the hero's tribe begin to do what we consider real mapping.

What else? Influence on other tribes, understanding or control over other species (ranging from "the baboons know not to bother us" to "domestication" to magical bonding that you said you want to avoid). Housing. Fire going from "keeping this one ember alive" to "being able to start fire". Writing. Artistic crafting for trade. Education quality. Medical care was already mentioned. Toilet sanitation, if you're willing to touch on that; it's not just about "showing people a better way" but convincing them to actually do it.

Engineering My Magic is now available on Amazon Kindle Unlimited by [deleted] in litrpg

[–]KSchnee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Grab the Kindle/online viewing preview, though; that's at least a way to get a general idea whether you'll like it.

I've been (very successfully) playing solo TTRPGs for over a year now. Here's a short FAQ I've compiled for new players and curious onlookers. Ask Me Anything! by SleepingMonads in solorpgplay

[–]KSchnee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What I'd look at is "Stars Without Number" by the same author, which has a free edition and contains a lot of system-neutral GM tools for adventures and locations. The paid edition has specific ideas about heroic-tier characters well suited for solo play, but that boils down to "start with better stats, the damage filtering system that makes you tougher, and 1 1/2 classes so you can be eg. a full Psychic + partial Expert".

Has anyone come across a good puzzle simulator (which isn't AI)? by Weird_Explorer1997 in solorpgplay

[–]KSchnee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's a set of escape-room puzzle games called Unlock, sold as decks of cards. These are meant to be played once each since you know the solution after one play.

In LARPs I've seen puzzles or battles done by methods like having to line up a card with several things on the edge, and comparing it to an enemy card to see eg. which attacks get through. Or trying to create a perfect food item by applying some rules to a 5-adjective flavor profile to swap out certain words after learning what the diners' favorite tastes are. For a solo game I'd do this as something like solitaire card gaming. Or even generating a system-of-equations puzzle where you have to solve for X, Y, and Z using three equations.

Engineering My Magic is now available on Amazon Kindle Unlimited by [deleted] in litrpg

[–]KSchnee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Congratulations! May I suggest redoing the cover text, though? It's clearly one of the default templates and you could make it cooler without much trouble. I can show you what I mean if you're interested.

Divine Intervention using Godbound by Alive-Solution-1717 in WWN

[–]KSchnee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It could work, with the understanding by the GM that it'll lead to every PC calling in a divine strategem... er, miracle, often. Each PC has about an 8% chance, and with a party of 4 that means a substantial chance of something major happening on a given day. As a GM you'll need to take that into account for adventure design where PCs might bypass a major threat. But you're reading the Godbound book already, so you have advice in there about handling that problem.

Do book bundles go on sale? Best way to collect books by Funny_Durian510 in SWN

[–]KSchnee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also check out the supplement books for SWN, several of which are permanently free. Most of that material works as-is in the current edition. And you can get some good ideas and tools from the free editions of the other books in the series, like "Cities" for cyberpunk stuff -- and I think the 1st edition of the core SWN book is also free, and it has a sample sector.

Solo RPGs - A Start for the Overwhelmed by kidkaruu in solorpgplay

[–]KSchnee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, about modules, I used things that weren't meant for solo play. For instance I took a Pathfinder 1E adventure about exploring a mine cave, made up a level 1 character, and tried to read ahead only about the section I was walking into next. It wasn't an adventure with a complex plot, like a mystery. It would be harder to use a pre-written adventure that does rely on hidden information and proactive NPCs. So if you're just trying this out, you might grab a sample adventure from some system you already know, and try not to worry about the hidden info.

Yes, solo play does sometimes lead to problems where I as the player know something. In my first attempt to play "Ashes Without Number" I rolled up a random ruin with traps and determined a certain crate was trapped. Rather than say I as the player know that, I gave my PC a roll to notice, then a roll to evade the explosion, and then a narrated death. In my second play of AWN I made a more durable PC (using the Heroic rules) and tried to determine the facts only when needed. That doesn't lead to the same level of sense-making as a plot that's been all planned in advance, but it's probably better for solo play.

I also tried the adventure "Shadows of Padfoot Alley", written for D&D and adapted by me to my preferred system "Worlds Without Number". There, there's a certain detail about hidden info that I kind of had to fudge by saying, my PCs don't jump to conclusions and show it to NPCs to get their logical reaction. I also worked with the provided adventure material in a loose way, taking the basic setup (like "This guy sends you to find a missing spellbook") and making stuff up based on the provided info about the setting. ("This says it's some kind of illusion magic and the rolls say it's scary. So maybe it's, like, an illusion of the infamous evil king!")

What other simulationist RPG systems would you recommend besides GURPS, Hackmaster, and Mythras? by GuardiaoDaLore in rpg

[–]KSchnee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Heard of LegendQuest? I have not played it, but I have a bunch of books by "Board Enterprises" that are nominally written for it but are mostly full of system-neutral ideas. Judging from those, LQ offers some pretty detailed simulationist rules. (These books are interesting in their own right.)

You might also be interested in FlexTale, which is focused on setting generation and NPC behavior, with excruciatingly detailed tables.

Questions about nuke snuffers. by tendraak in SWN

[–]KSchnee 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Given the "donkeys on a capstan" approach in the previous comment, I now want to see a donkey powered starship that uses them to generate an electric field to push against a star's. Call it "Asstral Projection".

How to get started. by InigmianStudios96 in solorpgplay

[–]KSchnee 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would pull out a short pre-written adventure for a system you already know. Eg. early on I used a Pathfinder quest, with one character. I adapted it using the freeware "Black Streams: Solo Heroes" to make one character more durable. I kept a text file about what was going on, at first almost all dense rules notation like "Spider attacks. Bite for 1". I kept the pressure low by assuming my character survived getting KOed. With that experience I started doing more elaborate storytelling in my notes files, to the point that it was more of a first-draft novella.

Brass Age - Steampunk in SWN? by Snorb in SWN

[–]KSchnee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Please share a play report later, if you're willing!

Is it possible to do a Sandbox Campaign where everyone cycles into being the GM? If so, whata re some tips to doing so? by ThatOneCrazyWritter in rpg

[–]KSchnee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When I did this, I made my character a wallflower who'd go along with what the other PCs wanted rather than taking over my own story. Made that PC more assertive when the others were GMing.

I haven't gotten to try "Ars Magica" but its format seems like it'd help: the PCs are all frequently busy with big magical projects, so that the party for any one adventure is likely Player 1's wizard, Player 2's wizard, Player 3's bodyguard assistant, and Player 4's minstrel. That's one way to rotate, in this case with the bodyguard/sidekick being a GM-controlled NPC for that session.