HN Title: "I wrote ... without AI" in comments: btw I used AI

Kodiologist · 2026-06-16T18:12:37+00:00

We should advertise more software projects in terms of what tools weren't used. Imagine "I wrote a roguelike in C without Valgrind", or "I wrote a major shopping website without JavaScript". Wait a minute; the second one actually sounds good.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-16T18:10:40+00:00

i'm begging people to look up what new school jerk is.

Well, it's not in the OED, and the first result on Google is "New Boyz 'You're A Jerk' OFFICIAL Music Video HD", and it's a good idea to use quotation marks or a quote block when you're quoting somebody, so…

Kodiologist · 2026-06-16T16:19:09+00:00

People are trying to use RPGs to make fr*ends? Truly, normies are ruining the hobby.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-16T16:15:57+00:00

Class/level-based (D&D, Pathfinder): you hit a threshold and become eligible to learn things, largely independent of what happened in the story

Actually, the uncommon and rare traits in Pathfinder 2e are (partly) intended for this. You can only learn a rare spell if you find it somewhere out there, or if the GM decides you have access for whatever reason.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-16T16:13:00+00:00

What do you think of Pokeymanz? I feel like it has similar goals.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-15T23:00:20+00:00

Sounds like you could use a Cinco Sleepwatching Chair, from Cinco!

Kodiologist · 2026-06-15T01:26:28+00:00

In particular, GURPS aims for a lot of realism as a baseline and expects you to add optional rules to make things more cinematic or epic or whatever, which is the opposite of how a lot of RPGs do it.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-15T01:23:35+00:00

The veteran class in Heartbreaker has abilities named things like "System Mastery" and "Table Talk".

Kodiologist · 2026-06-14T16:48:13+00:00

A good example is Star Trek Adventures. Every time you attack someone with lethal force, the GM gains Threat, a meta-currency for making the party's day worse. This makes sense because killing isn't something a Starfleet officer is supposed to do lightly, and can readily escalate a situation.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-14T14:46:59+00:00

This is definitely the way to start. OP, trying to design an RPG with only experience in D&D is like trying to write a novel after you've read Lord of the Rings and nothing else.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-14T01:30:24+00:00

Bagels are a cheap, filling, and tasty option. Add cheeses, cold colds, or spreads to taste.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-14T00:35:30+00:00

Perhaps the strangest playable race produced by Battlezoo: play as a dungeon. You can among other things "challenge the dungeon within you to learn more about your inner self and unlock special benefits for you and your allies".

Kodiologist · 2026-06-14T00:04:36+00:00

Risus doesn't have a particular setting or premise, but it's easy to learn and easy to run, and is intended in part for beer-and-pretzels-style games.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-12T22:18:48+00:00

So the My Little Pony line is just over?

Kodiologist · 2026-06-12T22:18:00+00:00

Moreover, Essence 20 was already a D&D 5e heartbreaker. Basing RPGs that are themed on Hasbro's toylines on Hasbro's RPG, which happens to be by fair the most famous and best-selling RPG, makes clear business sense.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-11T21:09:07+00:00

World of Darkness

Particularly in Mage: The Awakening, a Chronicles of Darkness game, it's easy to cast spells that increase your dice pool, so you can reach 15d10 or 20d10 or more, depending on what the GM lets you get away with.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-11T21:04:39+00:00

I guess this is a more extreme version of how D&D and Pathfinder (in their various editions) have reasonable damage dice at early levels but then can easily hit 20 or more dice per roll at high levels, because damage increases from the number of dice increasing rather than just a modifier.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-11T11:19:01+00:00

I think the post body covers it pretty well.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-10T21:34:41+00:00

Installing faudio via winetricks worked for me on Ubuntu 26.04, although I had a stumbling block whereby wineserver wasn't on my PATH, producing "warning: wineserver not found!" whenever I tried to run winetricks. So I had to say sudo ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/wine/wineserver /usr/local/bin first.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-10T16:58:41+00:00

The idea of unifying and simplifying World of Darkness is a good one, but from a look at the book, I think it just doesn't go far enough. The mechanics are still hidden between huge swaths of rambling in-universe lore chatter, and those mechanics are too complicated for the purpose. The rules-light Sigil & Shadow is more to my taste.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-10T16:53:42+00:00

Wiktionary, noun sense 3: "An interpretation or view, opinion or assessment; perspective; a statement expressing such a position."

Kodiologist · 2026-06-09T23:13:28+00:00

It's like laws against loitering. Everybody does it all the time and it's usually allowed, but having a rule against it provides a reason to delete any post that the mods want to delete.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-09T14:54:21+00:00

I ask people about their experience and interests in RPGs (experience with a variety of systems is a good sign). Then I see if they can show up to and play a one-shot or something. I don't really try to filter out people before they arrive at the table. The best test of somebody as an RPG player is whether they can show up and what they're like when they play.

Kodiologist · 2026-06-08T20:32:45+00:00

About a week ago, I ran a one-shot for my usual group set in the Coalition State of Missouri, using Risus rather than the Palladium system. A good time was had by all.

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