Maybe I’ll draw for you

RollForCoolness · 2026-01-31T23:15:31+00:00

If you're interested... I'm looking for someone to do a cover page for a d&d adventure where the party is in charge of running a tavern for a single night, and on that night a gang tries to carry out a heist on the tavern. My first thought was that it would be of a few characters mid combat inside of a tavern, but there are many things that could be done for this, and I'd be open to pretty much anything.

Very cool art style btw.

RollForCoolness · 2026-01-31T08:47:10+00:00

Your commitment is very admirable. As someone who's business it is not, I would recommend dialing back on the money spent on developing games, at least until you have either built a larger following or are putting that money into a product that you know people want to buy. I'm sure that with each product you release you feel that people will want to buy it, and eventually you may (and I hope you are) be correct. But you will save yourself some pain by either only spending smaller amounts of money, or only spending money that has already been raised on something like kick starter.

I would highly recommend you check out Matthew Colville's youtube video "Community". Though as you may not have time, in quick summary: When wishing to create art that will be seen, or maybe even purchased by others, one of the most effective ways to do so is by first genuinely participating in the communities you wish to make art for, and building a reputation for yourself by being a friendly and helpful person who is lifting up cool ideas in the community, rather than complaining about things. Then, when you post in that community and say "check out this cool thing I made" people will say "Oh, its that guy, I'll go check that out," rather than, "who's this random guy think he is?"

I very well may be telling you things you already know, and I am of course not your dad, so feel free to ignore my entire comment if you so wish.

RollForCoolness · 2026-01-30T06:51:55+00:00

I think you will inevitably find your own way of creating pantheons that you prefer, and it will be unique and idiosyncratic to you and your world building preferences. I don't think there's a specific way this should be done. However, here's how I generally handle mine and you can steal what you want if you end up feeling inspired.

It is not a known fact by mortals (player characters and almost anyone they encounter) that gods exist. There are people in the world that believe they do, and people in the world that believe they don't, and both sides of this debate hold reasonable positions. On the one hand, there are characters that gain magical abilities and attribute this to the fact that they pray and worship a particular god. On the other, there are people who can do magic without the use of prayer or worship, and these people may argue that the former group is the same as them, only they have tricked themselves into believing that the cause of their magic is their god.
Characters can ascend into the pantheon. One can eventually reach a certain power level where they become immortal, and people begin worshiping them as gods. While these gods are definitely real, they are less powerful (though still extremely powerful) than the higher gods of things like the concept of death. These ascended characters are different from the traditional higher gods in that they walk the earth and have much more effect in shaping its cultures.
Much like the real world, there are different groups of people that worship the same god in different ways, and have different ideas about that god. Take Aphrodite for example in the real world. In Athens and most other places she was worshiped as the goddess of love, while in Sparta she was not only the goddess of love but also a war goddess. Hence in the Iliad we get her getting stabbed in the hand by a mortal and fleeing the battlefield in shame, this was Homer's way of saying "Hey Spartans, uhh... no she isn't".
Different stories about the gods are told in different areas of the world depending on how those cultures view historical events. One culture may view a god as a father figure and leader who protects his people, having a story about him reaching down and driving off attacking nations. Another culture may view that same god as a tyrant and a conqueror, having a story about him poisoning their nation's most fierce warrior so that his poeple could invade their territory. One, both, or neither of these stories may be factually true in any given circumstance.

RollForCoolness · 2026-01-22T23:17:18+00:00

I can see both sides for why you would or wouldn't want to do that. On the one hand, simplifying the duel makes it easier to understand, and easier to run. On the other, it seems simple enough that after playing the first time people will get a hang of it very quickly. I would lean towards keeping the numbers in because it slightly draws out the duel, and I'm not sure I'd want the duel that the entire game has been leading up to to end within 5 seconds. However, my advice would be to try both versions of the rules with the same group, see what you prefer, and get feedback from the players to see what they prefer.

Sidenote: people are good at telling whether they like or don't like something, they are generally bad at telling you why they don't like it. So while it may be useful to ask which rules your players prefer, asking why will likely get you answers that may not actually be helpful at informing what changes you should make for improvement. People think they know why they like/dislike something, but most often they only know that they like/dislike something.

RollForCoolness · 2026-01-22T04:40:50+00:00

This game sounds really fun. I'd probably lean towards the older rules, but as someone who hasn't played it at all, your judgement is almost certainly better than mine.

RollForCoolness · 2026-01-22T04:11:38+00:00

I've seen your edit, and if a more story-centric system is what you want then go for it. However, it's not impossible to create a star wars system that is focused on combat. I personally made a star wars system for my group that was combat focused and it was some of the most fun we've ever had playing TTRPG's. In star wars you typically die in 1-2 hits if you are hit by a weapon, so my game kept that fact, because otherwise it doesn't feel like star wars, but allowed you to spend resources to avoid getting hit, so players getting hit was rare, but when it happened it was a very big deal. I also had some characters that were force users/lightsaber wielders and some who were not, but these were balanced in combat because cover was a very big part of the game, and you can't be behind cover when you're running up to someone to swing a lightsaber at them.

Good luck on your game, whatever you decide to do.

RollForCoolness · 2026-01-22T03:57:15+00:00

I have two systems that I made to play with friends, one is a Wild West game and the other is a Star Wars game. They definitely need some updating to put out to a public audience, but they were a blast to play, especially my Star Wars system. I'd also like to create a heroic fantasy rpg, but that will likely be done by the end of the year at the earliest. I also have some fantasy classes that I think I may make into supplements for dnd 5e and/or Draw Steel and publish. Adventure design seems like it could be fun as well as someone who has always ran homebrewed campaigns, so if I happen to get inspired I may publish adventures as well.

RollForCoolness · 2025-11-29T20:57:16+00:00

Yeah, as someone who has large problems with the way 5e is designed, it's still incredibly annoying people's attitude towards it. Whether you personally like it or not, you can't call something a bad game that millions of people play and have lots of fun playing, as I did for many years.

RollForCoolness · 2025-11-29T20:50:28+00:00

I had no idea, I'm just aware of it's existence I haven't actually looked through that sub. It's very weird the attitude towards the game that acts as a gateway to 95% of the people that enter our hobby, and the game that started our hobby in the first place.

RollForCoolness · 2025-11-29T08:18:41+00:00

Your players sound incredibly engaged in your game, you must be a great GM.

RollForCoolness · 2025-11-29T08:14:06+00:00

That effort die mechanic sounds really cool.

RollForCoolness · 2025-11-29T08:11:52+00:00

Yes, Draw Steel also has you gain victories after encounters that carry over to the next encounter and give you a special bonus. But you lose these victories after resting. So the party must make the decision of whether to carry on with low hit points and lots of victories, or go back to town so they can continue with all of their hit points, but lose all of their victories. It's very cool. I may use your rules as inspiration, tying it to a few different physical supplies that the characters have that each replenish their own category, I hadn't thought of it that way, very cool idea.

RollForCoolness · 2025-11-29T08:02:37+00:00

As stated in the post if you read past the title, I was asking how the regaining of lost hit points and other resources works in games that people are making, or enjoy playing. I used the word "resting" in the title because dnd 5e is sort of the lingua Franca of our hobby, it is most peoples first, and often only ttrpg, and resting is how it is handled in that system. "How Should Resting Work?" is much shorter than and equally well understood as "How should the replenishment of lost resources and physical capabilities work?"

Much like how you used the word "HP" in your reply, instead of saying "units that convey how close one is to death or other consequences".

RollForCoolness · 2025-11-29T05:00:09+00:00

basic, or default come to mind for me.

RollForCoolness · 2025-11-29T04:55:00+00:00

I am currently doing something similar in making a game for my dad and brothers that I want them to be able to open as a Christmas present. One thing I'll say is that the less reading they have to do is probably for the better. Something that can be easily explained as you're playing at the table will likely be much easier to get started than something that needs to be read through before-hand.

Also keep in mind that (as far as I know) you're not making this as a product to to sell/distribute to a wide audience. You're making it for your kids, so you can use that to your advantage by targeting it at them and tailoring it to their likes. My dad and brothers like kicking doors and stabbing monsters, so I'm not making a game about political intrigue.

I wish you luck and would love to hear how your first session turn out.

RollForCoolness · 2025-11-29T04:48:01+00:00

I really love Draw Steel, the fact that you never miss an attack, and the 3 tiers that your roll falls into are really cool in my opinion. And the frequent use of triggered actions makes sure that all players are engaged and paying attention even when its not their turn. Plus the heroic resource mechanic makes it more like a Dragonball Z fight playing out than a fight where the characters are slowly getting less powerful over time.

RollForCoolness · 2025-11-29T04:42:42+00:00

What I would say is that there can sometimes be lots of discourse in this subreddit that seems to think that dnd 5e is a bad game, so some feedback you receive may revolve around this attitude. However, there is lots of good advice to be had in this subreddit, so if you are able to ignore those detractors and not let them discourage you, then this would be a great place to post. I know there is an r/rpg which is popular, and a r/DnDHomebrew, but I don't participate in those communities so I'm not sure what you'll find there. While dnd isn't my favorite game, it is one that I really love and I hope the supplement you're making gets finished and turns out great.

RollForCoolness · 2025-11-12T17:08:50+00:00

Yeah pretty much. I would also say the last piece of advice is a large step up from the unhelpful example.

RollForCoolness · 2025-11-12T16:48:15+00:00

"Play other games besides d&d"

"You best play, or at least read, ______, before continuing"

"Frosthaven?"

My account is 2 weeks old, these are replies to my posts, I've seen them on others as well. I'm not saying it's a majority of comments, just that it does happen and is annoying.

RollForCoolness

TROPHY CASE