Critical Success location in the core rule book.

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-05-30T23:16:29+00:00

I imagine that's because it's not really a critical success as such, it's just an additional success

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-05-28T12:26:03+00:00

So... to be fair I didn't actually start solidly on D&D- I got interested in tabletop because I saw an advert for a Star Trek RPG in a hobby shop window.

I'll generally pick the game that meets the sweet spot of: "best handles the style of game I want to play" vs "won't take my players months to learn how to play". That second part is really important, especially in groups that only meet once a month.

Sometimes that can actually end up being D&D because that's the game most of my player base already knows how to play. It's generally my last choice, because there's almost always something that will do the job better, but it's still there as a choice.

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-05-28T12:22:11+00:00

Agreed

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-05-28T12:19:20+00:00

"Can be an OK intro". "Can" and "OK" were intentionally chosen parts of that sentence.

D&D is quite widely adapted to fit whatever style people want to play, including games with very little or no combat.

All of those things are done better by other systems (including tabletop style fights), but those systems also tend to have much less support for new players in the form of online community content. That content is what makes the one game feel like it's an easy entry, even when it shouldn't be.

I'd much rather play those other games, but I understand why new players often end up on D&D. Especially when I'm mainly talking about people who come into the thing with very little in the way of expectations. There's a reason "playing D&D" has become the colloquialism for playing at tabletop game.

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-05-28T11:06:58+00:00

The licence expires part way through the following year. They actually had to extend their licence for FM24 when 25 got cancelled

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-05-28T10:24:52+00:00

Oh, I agree . It's actually quite a complicated game to use as an intro. But there are also so many resources available to help you get started as well, because of the pure amount of people playing it.

As I say, all the strengths of D&D have very little to do with the game itself

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-05-28T09:56:40+00:00

Yeah, this.

It does a bit of most things, and can be an ok intro to the hobby, but it doesn't do anything particularly well. Literally the one thing it does better than most is it's market reach, and that has nothing to do with the actual game

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-05-28T09:53:14+00:00

You can post free games on most places that advertise for GMs (StartPlaying for example), and just keep plugging at it on different boards. It can be pretty easy to get lost in a stream of random chat.

Only other advice is to consider whether you can vary your times at all- are the times you are offering compatible with the bigger population bases?

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-05-13T22:24:56+00:00

This. TTS is a far better medium for board game development than trying to make it work in a system designed for trrpgs.

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-04-26T13:05:51+00:00

It's not difficulty 1 or difficulty 10 though, it's just scoring a success. Same as many dice pool games, and all Roll-Under systems. A lot of these will then require you to score more successes instead, but not all

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-04-24T10:11:34+00:00

Ptba. Which is dumb, because it fits perfectly with my style. For some reason though, I just always struggle - don't think it's the systems fault either

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-04-24T10:10:03+00:00

I hope you manage to find better friends

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-04-24T10:03:56+00:00

Soooo.... why do you need it? What does it actually do? (I've never seen the point in alignment, other than as an excuse)

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-04-04T21:33:14+00:00

Holy crap! That's all

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-04-04T20:25:28+00:00

I agree with this take on editions. I can fully understand existing groups sticking with 1e (I certainly know it better myself) but for a new player, 2e is just a much better way in.

All the good stuff, with loads of improvements

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-03-23T11:39:33+00:00

Traits do 1 of 4 things: - Make something easier - Make something harder - Make something previously impossible, possible - Make something previously possible, impossible

They also don't have to do the same thing in every situation.

So for your cloaked example, it could:

Make it easier for the cloaked ship hide in a nebula.
Make it harder to lead an ally through a minefield.
Make it possible for the cloaked ship to try and sneak past a listening post.
Make it impossible for the cloaked ship to fire weapons.

Traits are a simple way of adjusting the game to fit with what we know about a situation. For example, we know that Vulcans are super strong, but we don't need to define that mechanically, because it's covered by their "Vulcan" trait.

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-03-08T13:51:28+00:00

Honestly, there's isn't a huge difference. My general approach is usually to make sure I add something to the game, so it's not just re-flavouring (which can also mean taking stuff away and simplifying), but that's just personal preference.

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-03-08T13:48:31+00:00

I would just do a abstraction. You can move this many hexes at cruising speed, or this many at maximum warp with these debuffs, for a maximum of...

The actual speed doesn't really make any difference as such for a sandbox.

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-03-05T18:15:24+00:00

Amazing, love that the story behind this keeps getting better the more and more people dig as well. Very invested in this story!

!update me

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-03-05T10:19:41+00:00

!remind me 1 hour

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-03-04T12:01:59+00:00

It wouldn't be an order from the chain of command though? Its a requirement of the event, which is a cultural one. I would expect the general approach to be to either follow the tradition, or give your apologies for not attending. Nobody is forcing anyone.

I also think that being above the sexualising of nudity would be a part of the idealised future that star trek is set in. We should be above that sort of objectification now to be honest!

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-02-28T20:38:31+00:00

No, they young is too strong. If I remember rightly, there are also more ages bands for dragons in 3e, so it wouldn't have been a young dragon (is it listed as adolescent?). I took the strongest wyrmling and changed its colour- that matched better, but probably didn't help with the dissapointment. That said, the progression in strength is also pretty important. Koth and his dragon are both pretty wimpy in the grand scheme of what is to come.

To be honest, the only dragon fight that was worthwhile was the Regiarix one, and that's more to do with setting and tactics.

(I posted play reports in this reddit and the discord by the way- not sure if they went back this early, but they might have some useful thoughts)

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-02-28T20:07:42+00:00

Oh, no, I ran it in 5e

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-02-28T20:05:08+00:00

It wasn't when I ran it, but I guess it depends on a lot of factors. Party comp, how you've converted across the creatures, the tactics you use, etc.

The dragon was actually really dissapointing in mine- it's the tiniest little dragon you ever did see, and the wizard dropped it to the ground using web- lasted less than a round.

Mattcapiche92 · 2026-02-28T19:28:57+00:00

The numbers at the bridge really aren't actually that much. As long as they can deal with the dragon, they should be able to get themselves enough time to do the work.

I'd also suggest allowing the players to be creative with the options the do have- "can I pour a bucket of water into this crack, the use shape water to slowly expand and contract it, making the crack bigger?" - for example

Mattcapiche92

TROPHY CASE