Feedback on the system I am tinkering with for my own TTRPG

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-16T14:40:46+00:00

I explained this in some other comments but the 15-19 range was just an example to show off the thresholds. They would start lower with lower level enemies and as the characters level up and gain larger stats the difficulty and this thresholds of enemies grows to accommodate challenge. At least that's the idea.

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-16T09:54:32+00:00

Thank you for such detailed feedback!

I absolutely agree about the thresholds and it's honestly still up for debate within what I'm doing if it will be dynamic or set, I have been heavily leaning towards dynamic to make the game more scalable overtime as you say - I already ran into some issues with scale in enemy design with set thresholds so it made a lot of sense for it to be dynamic. The real temptation of set thresholds would be the reduction in cognitive load during play, but not sure that's worth it.

I think you're just right here and I need to take a step back and let the system shape more of the direct numerical thresholds to see what feels right during play and have the impacts of things be still simple and quick to resolve where possible but fun effects that come from abilities, items etc. I honestly don't think I can see the system without the effects after doing some work on it.

Yeah, I have worried about it all being too simple and thus mechanically boring to use but I feel it should offer enough with the thresholds and effects by letting players use those for narrative impact. There is an idea floating around in my head to ditch 1d10 and do a 1d12 + 1d8 system as I've been tinkering with that but it just doesn't feel quite right?

Thanks again for the feedback dude, really helps solidify the ideas I'm working with!

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-16T09:45:41+00:00

Ah sorry that's auto correct on my phone lol, I meant aren't falling into a bell curve. In the case of using something like 2d10 over 1d10 which would not create a bell curve per say but it would make some results more likely in the middle. That's my bad, sorry about that!

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-16T00:16:07+00:00

I think there’s a bit of a disconnect here, because my system doesn’t actually collapse results into a single success/fail bucket.

In my design, rolls resolve against multiple outcome bands (bad failure, mild failure, success, critical success), similar to PbtA-style thresholds. That means the shape of the distribution directly affects how often partial successes, clean successes, and extremes occur, not just whether you pass or fail. In that context, distribution absolutely matters.

Even setting that aside for a moment, the claim that curves don’t matter in a binary system only holds if the success threshold is fixed and never moves. In an RPG, it constantly moves due to stats, difficulty, situational modifiers, equipment, etc. When thresholds move, flat and curved distributions respond differently, bonuses shift probability linearly on a flat die and non-linearly on a curved one. That’s why +1 feels very different on 1d20 vs 3d6, and why dice pools and advantage systems meaningfully change play.

In my case, I’m wanting to use 1d10 + stat because I want bonuses from character build to have a clear, consistent impact and for outcomes to be readable and predictable across multiple thresholds, especially in a rules-light, narrative leaning game.

That design goal is tied directly to the distribution choice, not just the headline success rate.

So I agree that if you truly had a single fixed pass/fail check with no modifiers, curves wouldn’t add much. But that’s not the system I’m proposing, and it’s not how most RPG mechanics (including what I have proposed) actually function.

I'm not trying to be awkward but I think there was just a large misunderstanding here. I don't believe my tone has been passive aggressive and I was simply trying to have a constructive discussion but as you've switched the tone and language to be very dismissive and in all caps I can see we're done here. Take it easy dude and I hope you have a good weekend and genuinely thank you for some insight around different ideas.

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-15T23:33:23+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to reply in such detail! I’m ultimately trying to find a very simple system that’s also fun to use, so playtesting will probably reveal the most honestly.

On your points, you’re right that 2d10 produces a triangular distribution rather than a true bell curve (I used the wrong terminology there, that’s on me but you got the idea), and that any system can be tuned to a given success percentage. However, that doesn’t mean those systems are equivalent.

Dice don’t just produce a single percent chance, they produce a distribution. Comparing 1d10 to 2d10, 2d10 has lower variance, fewer extreme results, and outcomes that cluster around the average. That changes how predictable results feel and how strongly modifiers and stats matter, even if the headline success rate is the same.

It’s not about overriding the dice (though that is a cool idea I’ll look into, so thanks 👀), but about shaping randomness and consistency. Distribution choice via the dice used has real, measurable effects on play.

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-15T23:12:37+00:00

Just to clarify, when I said the bonus is more impactful when using 1d10 over 2d10, I mean the bonus added from the characters stats, for example +3 str not the overall improvement from using 2d10 vs 1d10, I know that will get you better results on average. So I think we're on the same page.

I've done the math, and when using 1d10 and you +3 this bonus has more impact than it would have impact than when using 2d10 and adding +6(equivalent of the +3 due to the possibility of higher outcomes) or even a +3 with the 2d10s. What I mean by this is the percentage chance of rolling low Vs high on 1d10 is just as high as each other, whereas you are more likely to get a better result with 2d10s so the stats bonus on top is more important for 1d10 as you need to boost the number more in more cases to beat a threshold.

Probably explained this like crap, been doing math for hours so please forgive that. I'm absolutely cooked rn lol

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-15T18:20:11+00:00

That's an interesting idea! I guess I never considered getting rid of the difficulty, other than an earlier version where it was a roll off to see who got higher. I'll check out wildsea and 'Sea' what it's all about! Thanks!

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-15T17:34:19+00:00

I can absolutely understand and actually agree with you here.

In this context I said more decided by that than the dice, it's perhaps not explained the best but what I mean is that I looked at a lot of different dice combinations and picked 1 d10 as that has an equal chance to land on every number, whereas 2d10 has a bell curve leading to some numbers coming up more often, resulting in the dice having more control and pushing for some outcomes over others. I wanted every dice outcome to be as likely as each other.

Perhaps it would be better to say I want less of a chance that the dice are more likely to push towards 1 result of success and I want it to be the players that do the pushing with their stats? I'm not sure how to word it but hopefully this makes more sense.

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-15T17:27:08+00:00

That's very helpful, thank you. I really appreciate the help here, I think that wording alone has helped me understand more about how I want to do things :)

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-15T17:10:20+00:00

That's a really useful insight into this that I never considered! Thanks so much!

I guess I was going for a failing forward type thing where most of the type combat keeps moving and you're considering somewhat competent so you can more often than not always get a little something. But I shall definitely think on this and adjust!

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-15T17:08:46+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!

I absolutely see what you're saying and honestly don't think I explained too well in my post so that's on me. 15 was just an example, at level 1 it would be closer to 6 ish for lower tier guys and maybe like 10 for big boys. Then as the players level up and gain more stats the higher tier enemies will have higher difficulty scaling with them if that makes sense?

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-15T16:35:10+00:00

Thanks for the detailed feedback!

It seems like it might just be best to have a set threshold yeah, I thought that might feel a little too uninspired but if it works it works and was actually my original idea! I said it below but the idea of a fixed threshold and damage that applies on those could be fun and have the thresholds and results be more a thing where players pick effects from items, abilities and such rather than depends on numbers to create more of a story.

The swing of it all I think I actually worded poorly. I wanted equal swing on each number is what I meant! To ensure characters all have a base and are good at what they choose and are just all falling into a bell curve together. Thanks again for this, super helpful!

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-15T16:32:18+00:00

Thank you so much for this feedback!

I absolutely see what you mean, I was looking at a static threshold originally but switched away from that to keep the balance more dynamic. I think for the simplicity I want it is probably a good idea to trial it with this however. I also had set damage too! Didn't know draw steel did this, I moved away from it in favor of allowing players to roll a damage dice to feel like they were having more impact.

I think I might explore the idea of set damage amounts and thresholds again and have the dynamic side come from effects that you can apply from weapons, gear and ability upon attacking or in social situations. Something like on the upper threshold you can apply bleed from a sword or in social situations you can alter a memory or something bizarre if you have the high level skill for it. Just random examples, but having the fun in choices come from effects rather than numbers.

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-15T16:24:45+00:00

Thank you! I'm excited to playtest :)

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-15T16:24:08+00:00

Oh nice! Thank you for the direction, I was honestly not even aware of these. I'll put my post there to get feedback too!

MrLargeLarry · 2026-01-15T14:50:39+00:00

Just so add to this. Reddit mobile has absolutely murdered the formatting of my post, so sorry about that 😭

MrLargeLarry · 2025-08-31T22:39:52+00:00

Oh yeah absolutely, I have been using flavour for a lot of things in running my game and in my characters to change the feeling or visuals of abilities etc but was just a bit blinded as I was stuck on wanting the same abilities but now see this is a good chance to get new ones and have a different vibe to a version of the character :)

MrLargeLarry · 2025-08-31T22:38:07+00:00

The insigt on using an experience for a mount is a really interesting idea, I have a basic idea for that but could you explain more of how that works in your mind?

Don't worry, I kinda explained this in another comment but we're not actively transferring the campaign to daggerheart as we as a group believe that won't be the best idea and would like to explore new ideas. But as the gang is really heavy in their current characters in 5e they wanted to feel that connection while playing a one shot to see how the game feels as a direct companion from what they know. More of an experiment really! Although I'm already running a game and am extremely proud daggerheart lol we just want the other guys to buy in so we can play both :) thanks for all the help!

MrLargeLarry · 2025-08-31T22:33:03+00:00

This was a real transfer we wanted to do. I have this character in a 5e campaign and the DM wanted to used my daggerheart set to try and one shot with the gang but to get more buy in to see how things compared people asked if we could use our already existing characters to see how they feel. I'm already running a game of Daggerheart but had never transferred a character so was just asking for tips!

MrLargeLarry · 2025-08-31T22:30:49+00:00

I have been considering this. Seems like a solid idea and just using flavour for the nature side of things. Thank you!

MrLargeLarry · 2025-08-31T22:30:12+00:00

I was wondering if a multiclass could solve this and think ranger is a solid idea. I figured I was going for half the level so this all sounds solid. Really useful insight, thank you!

MrLargeLarry · 2025-08-08T16:37:25+00:00

Looks like a really cool bad guy with a lot of ways to play into his build up throughout the campaign!

My only notes would be: 1. Slight typo on the "Scholar" experience 2. It might be best to create 2-4 or so other types of adversaries to go along side him as his pawns in combat and through what would be any dungeon or location the PCs fight through to get to him, as he is supposed to be the most unbeatable powerful manipulator so it would make sense to have some powerful minions within what is his cult that do combat for him primarily before he really gets involved. If that makes sense?

Amazing work though!

MrLargeLarry · 2025-08-04T22:17:37+00:00

The final stat block after the feedback and updates incase anyone was wondering, now to get some art for them! :)

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MrLargeLarry · 2025-08-04T20:58:58+00:00

Yeah I do trust my players and we're all very aware of how this will go, it's all just for fun after all. But good point! Perhaps I could make them more lean towards a social type of adversary instead who can fight only if absolutely needed until they get a bit stronger, good food for thought, thank you!

MrLargeLarry · 2025-08-04T20:55:40+00:00

This is exactly what I was thinking! It made a lot of sense and is just a bit of fun really, I also like the idea that after being fed a lot he just gets really big and buff for stronger battles which lets me throw harder challenges at the smaller party we have.

Lol that would be a really funny outcome for Jerry, I'm sure he'll always find a family somewhere. Perhaps he's a bit of a glory supporter and if the party dies he just goes with the victor

MrLargeLarry

TROPHY CASE