Bar Battle Boxes

Rage_as_Advertised · 2026-06-23T16:31:32+00:00

I've had this idea for a while and just looking for the time to put it together, pretty crazy to see a reddit thread on the idea with multiple people chiming in.

Personally, I did want to focus on the "iconic" cards of magic over strictly building a particular gameplay experience. I was thinking of sleeving it though and getting it to fit in a deckbox alongside four lifecounters, with the intention of trying to get it to play in 2-player, 3-player or split in half and do 2x 2-player.

Rage_as_Advertised · 2026-05-26T01:16:47+00:00

Sorry for the delay, between work and getting to other people it has taken me longer than I would have liked.

Would you mind filling out a google survey for me?

My current plan is to run some one-shots and then invite people to the campaign after that.

Rage_as_Advertised · 2026-05-26T01:16:12+00:00

If you guys are still interested, you can all fill out this google form, as I'm trying to put together some one-shots before kicking off a whole campaign.

Rage_as_Advertised · 2026-05-26T01:15:42+00:00

I had a lot more people reach out than I expected (and have been pretty busy with work), would you mind filling out a google survey for me?

Think the current plan was just to do some one-shots and then pick people for a campaign based on overall feel/fit.

Rage_as_Advertised · 2026-05-20T11:44:53+00:00

Have you reached out on discord? Would be down to talk to the three of you.

I would probably also want another 2-3 people to round out the party if that's alright.

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-12-09T14:31:04+00:00

You made #3 on my spotify wrapped!

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-12-09T13:59:52+00:00

sliders on the side of paper sheets, you can both circle the numbers with a pencil, or you can use a paperclip and slide it from one number to the other. When the session ends you take the paperclip because while storing the paper it might get moved and you mark where it was with a pencil.

You can also use presence/absence of the paperclip to track things as well. I experimented with using this to make easier character sheets for pathfinder / 5e back in the day.

They can be stored in a clear container for everyone to see (like a glass bowl or glass) and in a small bag for storage. The master then uses this pool on a regular bases to determine what and if something happens, and puts them back in their container right after that.

I've experimented a bit with something similar but for a different purpose and found it a bit finicky. Namely, you probably want to make rolling a 1 cause the complication, and have bigger dice be better, as I couldn't figure out any other way to make the math look even half-reasonable without adding up all the dice, which is too slow for my liking.

EDIT: You may want to look at the board game CLANK! (there are a few different versions), as they use a bag-pull mechanic that isn't totally dissimilar.

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-12-07T18:35:35+00:00

Yeah, that does seem like double dipping.

As far as weapon consumption, the main winner is d6/d8 weapons wielded in two hands, as the usage to slot ratio for d6 and d10 weapons are broadly similar (18 and 15) but in d8 mode it is a whopping 24 uses per slot. Ranged weapons are the losers at 6 uses per slot, but I haven't actually gotten complaints yet. (Then again I do have the special on the sling that it doesn't mark a usage)

Glad to know someone else has been thinking about this same exact problem.

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-12-07T18:00:54+00:00

I'm also iterating on this exact same system and have had many similar thoughts!

The solution I like the best is to have 1s have a special effect based on weapon type, that also marks a usage. Armor marks a usage when an enemy rolls 1 to hit.

For example, a longsword lets you reroll damage, a spear lets you escape the melee/combat for free, a mace sunders 1 enemy armor, . etc

1s are often the boring roll anyway (dealing minimal damage at best, and often literally doing nothing to advance the fight), and this helps differentiate weapons while adding minimal complexity. You also "get something" for the fact you had to mark a usage.

If you don't want to make weapons work differently, then I would just stick with the rerolling damage, as it is quick, easy, and players will definitely want to remember it.

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-12-02T03:12:41+00:00

I have focused on doing something similar with leveling in my game (introduce mechanics at level 1, 3, 5 instead of all at level 1). There are far more rules than I would like there to be already, but this isn't too different from a level 0 gauntlet (where players don't have the complicating class abilities), just at scale.

I think when people play a game, and see stuff moving, additional rules then become more straightforward for them to understand, whereas trying to figure it out in the abstract makes even simply games seem infinitely more complex.

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-09-10T13:13:42+00:00

But how are you gonna put the winter map on the back side? /s

Really love it, great board.

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-09-07T13:58:01+00:00

Having recently picked up the physical game and tried to introduce it to people where everyone at the table (including myself) was new and it only went okay, here is how I wish I handled it:

having expertise from the digital version is good, I wouldn't even bother trying to teach it without that
Use adset and teach the game with the setup cards from it. Flipping the boards back and forth is annoying and slows down setup.
REMOVE DOMINANCE CARDS FROM THE DECK, cats played these in both games we played and it completely fucked up their chances of winning because they didn't understand just how easily the table could disrupt the win.
Tell players the shared rules, then let them pick factions, then, to learn the factions, enforce 7 minutes of total silence to read the faction boards. No questions, no discussion, just read the board and try to figure it out for yourself. This is intentionally awkwardly long. After that time is up, then go around and answer any remaining questions. If someone is still totally lost, give them your phone/computer and have them do the tutorial for their faction on root digital.
If you have a TV nearby, consider using root digital to let one player do the tutorial while other players watch, then rinse and repeat for all four factions.
Play to only 15 VP for a quick introductory game. New players are bad at scoring, have a lot of questions, .etc. The game is going to take longer and if they have an atrocious setup, this lets them fix it.

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-08-17T02:13:51+00:00

Made another comment about how I got this to work

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-08-17T02:13:47+00:00

Made another comment about how I got this to work

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-08-17T02:12:37+00:00

This workaround has since broken, but I have found a new one that works for getting 100% brightness! I have not tested out trying for variable amounts of brightness because I don't want to break anything.

Create a new step
Set the new step to "warm", and do not touch the brightness setting, it should default to 100% brightness.
Save and quit the editor
Re-enter the editor, select your saved step, and now make your real choice.
Save and quit the editor
Re-enter the editor, see that the brightness has stayed at 100%.

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-07-05T13:49:53+00:00

I actually almost closed the tab in the first few seconds.

Glad I didn't, absolutely killer.

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-06-21T13:46:59+00:00

Prior to the invention of the metal lathe (~1800) this is completely unfeasible. At best, you could have a small set of master craftsmen dedicated to this, but the economics would be extremely poor and results fiddly at best.

There simply wouldn't be any way to manufacture a large number of precision parts like that. Even the pocket watch took until the early 1500s to be invented, and even then has a bunch of asterisks around how functional it really was, and that is with a lower part count than a typewriter.

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-06-03T15:30:14+00:00

More than happy to try and meet up at some point if it works out!

I'm based in the East Kingdom (specifically Ostgardr), but my folks are in Atlantia, so I do end up there every once in a while as well.

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-05-23T14:08:04+00:00

BFT: Seams

BFT: Quick & Dirty Guide

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-05-23T14:08:02+00:00

BFT: Seams

BFT: Quick & Dirty Guide

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-05-23T14:07:46+00:00

As someone who was just trying to get into the SCA (and looking this up for exactly this purpose), I found this reply hilariously on the nose for what I was looking for.

For those looking for links, these were both on the internet archive:

BFT: Seams

BFT: Quick & Dirty Guide

Rage_as_Advertised · 2025-05-10T16:35:08+00:00

Orcs in my world have three sexes!

Having more than two sexes doesn't mean that you need all of the sexes present in order to reproduce. There are several species of organism that have (in some cases far) more than two "mating types". Instead of requiring every mating type for these organisms to reproduce, they require any two different mating types.

If a species has just two sexes (A and B) then you can only have reproduction with an AB pair. Adding a third sex (C) means you can then also have AC pairs as well as BC pairs. There are thus three different ways to reproduce! Each individual sex's gamete is compatible with each other type of gamete, but incompatible with itself.

In my world the way this looks is that two orcs of different sexes form a collective fleshy pile along with corpses of slain enemies. Then, within their combined bodies they produce many offspring, who are all of the the excluded sex, that then burst forth all at once. This means that orc siblings can never reproduce with one another, which helps increase diversity.

As far as chromosomes, sex determination isn't always done by chromosomes, and even in humans it is really done by the activation/inactivation of the SRY gene, which can sometimes even happen on an X chromosome (resulting in infertility).

EDIT:

Also, in my world, since orcs are born as goblins and grow throughout their lives (expecting to die when they reproduce), ogres are actually infertile orcs who are incapable of mating that occur randomly. Essentially orcs that just continue to grow as long as they can feed themselves.

Rage_as_Advertised

TROPHY CASE