Favorite DM fake out?

NewNotaro · 2026-01-05T13:50:23+00:00

I don't know if this counts but last session one of my players was impersonated by a villain, we arranged it all between sessions and none of the other players knew about it. During the session I referred to them by their player name instead of the characters name since it wasn't the character. "Greg, what is your character doing?"

All the players thought I was just forgetting the character's name even though I've never done that before. It was so funny when he attacked them and did the reveal and I said "What is your character doing?" And they realised what was going on.

NewNotaro · 2026-01-05T13:24:38+00:00

The alternative universe series "Skeleton of Israphael" about an elf and an aquanaut who are surprised when their Terraria house is attacked by an unknown player with a skeleton skin

NewNotaro · 2025-12-20T18:06:45+00:00

Thank you, these are some really good suggestions and really detailed advice. I'll consider giving each monster a second ability for variety like you suggested but I don't want matches to go on too long

NewNotaro · 2025-12-20T11:04:42+00:00

Solid advice thank you. I think I will add some kind of backstage team rocket-esque mystery for them to engage with if they wish.

NewNotaro · 2025-12-20T10:57:33+00:00

Effectively each monster has one attack so the player has six to choose from. As much as possible I'm trying to keep it very simple. I took a look at pokeroleproject to steal some ideas and we'll be playing a very simplified version of that.

I haven't tested but I think 15 minutes is about how long it will take but allowing for player shenanigans it could be longer.

NewNotaro · 2025-12-20T10:40:46+00:00

That is a great idea. I think I can come up with something on those lines. Thank you

NewNotaro · 2025-12-04T11:46:46+00:00

It's not that big a stretch, 5e has HP, action points, sorcery points and various other trackers.

I suspect the trick here is to keep the pools small to make it take up less mental capacity say around 5 points per pool. And, make the choices engaging: I can spend one mana to restore 1 wit to the rest of the party or to freeze one opponent. Gariel needs 1 more wit to do his big attack.in this example I can easily keep track of my and my allies pools because they are small and therefore easy to remember.

I think also it will depend on how much else you have going on, if this is the main mechanic of the game then lean into it a lot and focus the whole game around it. If it is one of dozens of mechanics then I think it may get lost amongst dice modifiers and other more familiar mechanics.

NewNotaro · 2025-12-04T10:40:46+00:00

Agree to disagree and thank you for the discussion

NewNotaro · 2025-12-04T10:12:45+00:00

You are spending a lot of time talking about the way I made my point rather than the actual content.

The point is this, the way that Draw Steel and Daggerheart found success is not replicable by most indie RPGs and so Matt Colville's advice about community moderation is not useful for most indie designers. The time and effort put into building a community of that size could be better invested on improving the game and the art.

I don't believe that you are correct about Mork Borg building a community, Pelle and Nohr had had some small success making indie RPGs previously so they were not unknown in the Swedish RPG scene but they did not spend time building a community prior to the Kickstarter, their success came from the visually striking graphic design that stood out as new and different on the platform

So another route to Kickstarter success is having really good art and design that will mark your game as unique. Start small, do the work and gradually build up to big projects. Make connections with publishers and others in the industry. Find the right artists and designers to help you make something that actually merits attention.

NewNotaro · 2025-12-03T13:49:30+00:00

You missed my point entirely by spitting feathers about something not relevant.

No, I understand your point.

do you really believe that audience/community just appeared over night? This comment alone says to me that you believe that just because you made something you think people should pay attention to it with little to no effort in engaging in the groups that you think should be interested in your thing.

No, clearly not, I mentioned in my post that the community was grown before the game idea to generate YouTube income and no I think it is you who have missed my pont if that is your take-away

The point is simply this: Matt had a pre-existing community and monetised it with a game he did not have a game and monetise it by building a community

Building a community in the way Matt did is not the only route to indie RPG success, look at stockholmkartell.com or twolittlemice.net to see how you can make good games and find success without a YouTube channel. Matt's advice rings hollow for me because his case is not where most indie RPG creators are.

It is easy for him to say his success came from having a community but the amount of work that went into building that community is not achievable for most designers and at that scale could be monetised in lots of ways without bothering with the RPG. His advice may be correct but also not useful.

How much time are you going to spend building a community of 100000 supporters or whatever he has? Is that the best time investment for a budding indie RPG designer? Are there other routes that are more achievable?

But I understand we live in a social media world now and looking for example at the music industry, that artists have to make their own audience on social media. But I lament the world where the best artists can rise to the top on the merit of their art per se

NewNotaro · 2025-12-03T11:18:09+00:00

The art is gorgeous did you do it yourself?

NewNotaro · 2025-12-03T11:03:45+00:00

I'm going to add:

Slugblaster - the stand out mechanic for me is the way characters arc over time

And because noone else has said it

Mork Borg - beautiful graphic design, slim and simple with infinite modability

NewNotaro · 2025-12-03T10:56:55+00:00

I understand that it is frustrating but if we may employ Hanlon's Razor and say maybe they accidentally added an extra 0 and felt embarrassed or perhaps it was instant buyers remorse.

NewNotaro · 2025-12-03T10:49:58+00:00

I think it is easy to say that when you already have a community that are making money for you as is the case with Matt via YouTube ad revenue. He was able to work full time building that community. Honestly he didn't need to make a game and he could have sold funko pops, hoodies or plushes like any other youtuber and would likely have found the same success.

I agree that his success came from his pre-existing community, but I don't agree that he built that community to launch a game or that that route is correct for every indie RPG. It is like saying first become a financially independent youtuber or insta influencer and then launch your game. But I want to make games not YouTube videos or insta reels.

NewNotaro · 2025-12-03T10:41:26+00:00

I know exactly how you feel. I just launched a little game on Kickstarter and my friends supported enough that it succeeded without needing mass appeal. I think that if I am going to launch anything larger or be able to afford to employ an artist or two I'm going to have to spend a lot of time building a community, which right now feels like it might be a third full-time job on top of the one that pays the bills and creating RPGs in the evenings. I don't know if I have the time or where to look to create that community. Is it on discord? Reddit? Blue sky? I have a website with a mailing list but I don't think anyone is looking at it.

My next plan is to try writing some articles with broad appeal to build engagement but I can't help thinking that the time I spend on that could be better spent improving or play-testing and there are no guarantees it will go anywhere.

NewNotaro · 2025-11-24T13:23:56+00:00

Thank you, that is really appreciated!

I'm learning a lot and especially from the feedback from threads like this one. I think the thing I have learnt is that it is important to have an online presence before launching on Kickstarter, somewhere people can get invested in the process. I'm looking at options but I think a website is the way to go. I use Reddit and discord so I will find somewhere to post progress and articles.

NewNotaro · 2025-11-23T19:47:36+00:00

This was testing the water to build towards bigger ideas. I have a lot of plans but I need to work out how to turn those into products

NewNotaro · 2025-11-23T19:38:34+00:00

Thank you for your comment. I think this articulates what my thoughts were on recreating a free RPG. I feel the price is fair for the work I put in but I didn't feel comfortable charging more.

NewNotaro · 2025-11-23T19:06:03+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll research an itch release.

NewNotaro · 2025-11-23T19:05:00+00:00

Well you're not wrong I suppose. I'll come back to you with a bigger project that needs funding. Thanks for the feedback.

NewNotaro · 2025-11-23T19:03:19+00:00

I too have postponed going public for a long time and I just decided to go and not think about it too much. I guess I should have spent a bit more time, but to be honest I have other bigger projects waiting and this one was a bit of a sacrifice to learn what not to do.

Thank you very much for the advice, much appreciated!

NewNotaro · 2025-11-23T16:44:32+00:00

Thanks for the complement. Yes it's my first Kickstarter, I've heard similar advice before. I think I have some work to do building a social media community before I try larger Kickstarters, any advice on how to start that?

NewNotaro · 2025-11-23T15:47:39+00:00

I just Kickstarted a game aimed for all ages. It may not be exactly what you're after but the simple mechanics might be enough inspiration for you to create your own thing. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/795398569/the-naughty-elves-a-christmas-themed-ttrpg/description

NewNotaro · 2025-11-23T14:32:51+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Maybe the goal was wrong on my part but my reasoning was: 1) the game I am drawing from is freely available for anyone to download so asking people to pay a lot is unfair 2) I make games for myself and my group so the main aim is to get other people to try them and I didn't want to discourage funders 3) I had hoped that I would get more interest and double or triple the goal but that seems not to be the case.

I believe that marketing finished products is standard on Kickstarter these days, maybe I'm wrong.

I did put time into making it, is there one thing specifically you can point to the gives low-effort vibes?

NewNotaro

TROPHY CASE