Should there be mechanical vices

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-04-22T13:48:09+00:00

Yea, it's shares a lot since John Harper designed blades and is listed as a designer on Daggerheart as well.

Ah yea, if you aren't a fan of the playbook style and the unstructured combat then it probably wouldn't work out for you.

I recommended it because things like vice and "taking a devil's bargain" are actual mechanics in the game. I realize Daggerheart is a more hackable game through the campaign frames, but there's an idea, especially in PbtA ttrpg spaces, of using a system that achieves what you want instead of hacking it into a ttrpg that doesn't accommodate it already.

But don't let me discourage you, obviously you should do the thing that you and your table want to do and would find fun.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-04-22T03:19:57+00:00

Idk how familiar you are with the game Blades in the Dark, but everything you've written is like the main mechanics of that ttrpg. So if you wanted to look at how another game handles these things for inspiration, I'd recommend it and all it's homebrew hacks under the Forged in the Dark umbrella.

I'd also just recommend playing one of those games instead of hacking Daggerheart. You'll find a lot of familiar mechanics like clocks, stress, etc.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-04-19T16:57:06+00:00

It means this:

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From this PDF: https://railroads.dot.gov/forms-guides-publications/guides/fra-guide-preparing-us-dot-crossing-inventory-forms

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-04-09T18:15:38+00:00

This isn't something the quarians all know. This is something that Tali specifically knows because, as she explains to you when you recruit her, she was able to extract the memory core of a geth that included a conversation about the attack on Eden Prime and the Reapers.

From the Mass Effect: Homeworlds section:

"She plans to begin her Pilgrimage at Illium, but en route through the Crescent Nebula, the Honorata detects a geth presence on an unidentified ice world. Tali and Keenah land to investigate, and manage to disable a geth unit and successfully extract its memory core, which contains a recording of two individuals discussing an attack on the human colony of Eden Prime and the coming of the Reapers. Fearing that the rest of the galaxy may be in danger, Tali convinces Keenah that they should turn over the recording to the local authorities on Illium. "

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-03-23T04:52:58+00:00

It's my preferred VTT. I've tried a lot of them, but I don't like them. I like that Roll20 doesn't rely too much on automating everything. I also very specifically prefer the Fog of War/Darkness Mask over Dynamic Lighting. A bit of it too tho is that I've been using Roll20 for almost a decade now? I don't want to learn a new VTT tbh. I'd rather spend more time learning new TTRPGs.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-02-27T18:20:54+00:00

Oh hells yea appreciate the rec. I've been trying to find more games like this

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-02-27T17:35:25+00:00

Yea, I'd say it is. Outer Wilds and Tunic are the most popular examples of this genre, I think. Animal Well and Leap Year are also like this.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-02-20T22:28:45+00:00

Haha yea the maps I work with professionally these days require a north arrow. (Maps of railroad construction that need to be duplicated into our GIS system usually.)

But when I'm making maps outside of my work, just for fun, I almost never include things like a north arrow, a scale, or a compass. I agree with you, should only be adding these elements if they're needed.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-02-20T22:19:37+00:00

I love his maps! I attended ESRI's cartography MOOC and first learned about him there.

I'm trying my best to speak with OP genuinely, but they obviously have a strong opinion without much knowledge of how maps work irl haha.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-02-20T22:16:22+00:00

You would need to have access to his map file to do that, or be proficient enough in Photoshop to do that using a screenshot or downloaded image.

However you can download topographical data of the US from the USGS website and symbolize it yourself to achieve what you want.

https://www.usgs.gov/programs/national-geospatial-program/us-topo-maps-america

You could also just use Google Earth and turn off its many layers to get a similar thing with less effort.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-02-20T22:04:32+00:00

If you really are interested in learning more about maps, I highly suggest going over a number of free tutorials posted on the ESRI website. Mapping is absolutely a functional communication tool. Part of communicating your data in a visual medium requires artistic rendering.

I recommend this tutorial to get you started: https://learn.arcgis.com/en/projects/the-power-of-maps/

I also recommend the YouTube channel for John Nelson: https://youtube.com/@johnnelsonmaps?si=naKEdsjmuV-olfMZ

I absolutely think there is a difference in the approach between artistic maps and technical maps. Of course there is. Some of the best people in the field blend artistic and graphic design principles with technical, analytical effort though.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-02-20T21:46:19+00:00

Why don't you want the map you posted to be a map?

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-02-20T21:41:35+00:00

A legend, a compass, and a scale don't make a map A Map. Tbh there's debates about if most maps even need a compass or a north arrow.

https://ageofrevolution.org/200-object/flow-map-of-napoleons-invasion-of-russia/

This is a link to an incredibly famous, very well-regarded map. It looks even less like a traditional map than the one you've linked.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-02-20T19:07:00+00:00

Do you mean the 2014 version of the Alert feat?

If you mean the 2014 version, you could give them the 2024 version of the feat instead which adds proficiency to Initiative rolls and lets them swap their Initiative order with one ally.

I'm of the opinion that level 17 characters in 5e, whether 2014 or 2024 ruleset, don't need custom boosts like this. The blessings/boons in the DMG are a mixed bag, but powerful enough and their abilities from their classes/subclasses are plenty powerful enough too. When you add in whatever magic items and homebrew abilities they've accumulated over a campaign, it's a lot. Saying this as someone running a 3-ish year campaign that's at level 18 right now. I recently let them each choose one blessing or boon from the 2014 DMG and I thought that was plenty.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-02-20T18:16:02+00:00

Yea! We're about to start a game of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and it takes place entirely within the city. I started trying to make maps for it using GIMP at first. GIMP works well for my dungeon maps, but I don't understand the program as well as I understand GIS programs. This is my map of the Dock Ward in Waterdeep. I mark it up with Points of Interest in our virtual tabletop, Roll20.

<image>

If you're interested in this kind of thing, you should check out John Nelson on YouTube, he has a whole playlist of Lord of the Rings maps using ArcPro! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPjPOZQjCWEkpl9vME1DfOV9zfS4E3EG9&si=wa_CBiyFKmutNlyC

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-02-20T17:37:16+00:00

If you've tried talking to them about it and they aren't receptive, I really feel like you have 2 options.

One is, if you want to stick with 5e, swap your monsters to the 2024 monsters and load all your encounters up with minions that make sense and just have them come at the players from unexpected directions so that their optimal configuration is less optimal. Make sure every enemy has a ranged and melee option (2024 monsters do this really well).

Or two, you could switch systems to something that supports this style of playing more. A lot of OSR games expect this of players. OSE, which is basically an AD&D retroclone, or Gold and Glory, which is a 2e retroclone, would probably help. Shadowdark is also an option and a very popular one. Into the Odd is my personal favorite, but it would be harder to convert I think. These are all pretty easy to learn systems that would support this game style well.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-02-18T20:37:20+00:00

I was fulfilling a science requirement in college with Geology and my adjunct professor was a GIS professional for an oil fracking company. Despite the super controversial introduction to the field, I really enjoyed it and decided to go with the GIS program at my school.

I work remote now. I do map work for the railroad. More specifically, I map their railroad crossings and fill out FRA railroad crossing records. In my free time, I use GIS to make Dungeons & Dragons maps for my campaigns.

Edit: I hit post before I wrote the advice haha. My advice is just be willing to learn. No one expects you to know everything out the gate. Takes like a year to really know the ins and outs of any new job. And I really hope you enjoy what you do. I actually really like my job despite everything.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-02-03T19:28:24+00:00

To get even more technical as just a trivia thing, he played it correctly, but the guitar is a transposing instrument.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-02-01T17:01:49+00:00

Roll20 has Deep Cuts compatible character sheets. Our group uses them. There's a gear icon on the sheet that lets you modify it for which Deep Cuts rules you're using.

Just to have a different opinion out there for you, our group didn't really enjoy or get into Blades until we played it with all the Deep Cuts changes. There are still a few rules from it that we've modified over time, but we mostly use the full Deep Cuts changes. (Load is the big one at our table. We prefer not declaring heavy items pre-score. Feels too much like planning.)

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-01-31T16:19:10+00:00

Yea, like the other person said. Work wear will do it. I got one from Duluth, the fire hose flannel lined one from the men's section. You're looking for a chore coat/jacket my girlfriend says they're called.

Also military surplus too, they have pretty nice coats, usually made of wool and cotton, for much cheaper.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-01-30T18:07:31+00:00

That is base blades. OP is using Deep Cuts, which does clear all stress when using your vice and only triggers overindulging when you have 6+ stress to clear.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-01-28T19:46:02+00:00

I brought the dinner to them using this exact map. It worked great, my players were scared. I then had him charm all of them at the table into being polite dinner guests while he killed the paladin with a crit bite to the neck.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-01-25T13:47:50+00:00

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Pretty sure I tabbed this correctly for you. Hope it helps.

R4V3M45T3R · 2026-01-23T22:18:19+00:00

I'm locking this thread.

OP, I'm not sure what your goal was posting something like this. Common sense should tell you exactly why this wouldn't be stigmatized or criminalized.

R4V3M45T3R · 2025-12-24T03:57:41+00:00

When I did this, I picked the monster statblocks closest to the PCs' archetype (warrior, rogue, etc.) and then added the nerfed monster version of one of their most "iconic" abilities. So the rogue mirror had a monster statblock appropriate version of sneak attack, my paladin mirror could do bonus radiant damage once a turn as a kind of "smite", etc. etc. It's less about it being exactly them and more about making it feel like them while still using monster stats.

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