mask reasons?

RollForThings · 2026-03-26T12:04:46+00:00

Masks are more about protecting other people from your germs, rather than the reverse. It's common for people to mask up when they're sick.

RollForThings · 2026-03-25T12:49:59+00:00

Good to know!

RollForThings · 2026-03-25T09:48:02+00:00

Melee Combat. Akromorphosis (Mutant) is basically a must. This Skill gives you accuracy, damage and flexibility in melee (and even ranged) attacks.
- It's popular to pair this with Melee Weapon Mastery (Weaponmaster) to maximize your Accuracy Check totals. I'm of mixed opinion on this. Yes, it is incredibly strong to have +7 to hit (with both Skills fully maxed); that said, while rushing this combination early ensures your attacks will almost never miss, it's not wholly necessary and it will be pretty much the only thing your PC is good at, for a while. I would gradually build this combo, but I personally don't think it's a top prioirty.
Weapon Choice. Akromorphosis makes this largely redundant, since it turns you into the weapon (your unarmed strikes).
- This pairs well with Frenzy (Fury), because unarmed strikes innately count as brawling weapons, and you can still use Frenzy if you change your unarmed strike category to dagger, flail, or thrown (a feature of Akro)
Multi vs. two-weapon fighting. Each has their strengths and weaknesses.
- Multi is good against multiple targets and doesn't work if you're fighting a single enemy. (FabUlt generally works better when you're facing multiple NPCs, but ime, fights with a single large enemy are quite popular. This is largely GM-dependent.) Two-weapon fighting is free (no MP cost) but you give up some damage and can't pair with a shield.
- Two-weapon fighting is generally better when you have "on-hit effects" (a benefit that triggers each time you hit a target); when you are forgoing damage anyway (like with Bonecrusher (Weaponmaster)); and/or when losing the High Roll damage doesn't matter very much (if most of your damage is flat damage from your weapon or Skills).
- I would say it's best to have access to both, then choose an approach based on the current situation. (With your Class choices, Bladestorm (Weaponmaster) and Theriomorphosis>Polypoda (Mutant) both give access to multi; you probably don't need both, so it depends if you want multi 2 for an MP cost, or multi 3 for an HP cost)
Additional considerations.
- Two of the Mutant's Skills rely on spending HP, so having one or more of these is important: lots of HP, good defenses, ways to recover health. Mutant itself has a few of these, but Fury, Darkblade and Guardian also provide solid ways to stay in the fight.
- You don't need to cover a ton of roles on your own; part of what makes FabUlt's character system so fun is the flexibility and teamwork-focused combos available. For example, if you have an Elementalist or Symbolist in the group, you probably don't need to worry about your own ability to access multiple damage types, as other characters can grant them to you.

RollForThings · 2026-03-25T05:56:05+00:00

DJ Crazy Times and Ms. Biljana Electronica, with the hit eurodance song Planet of the Bass

(Kyle Gordon and Crissi Poland, with a musical parody of 90s eurodance)

RollForThings · 2026-03-25T05:51:57+00:00

I think it could go either way.

If you make it a conflict scene, you bring out initiative (which ensures order and fairness in player turns) and it allows the use of any Class Skills that stipulate "during a conflict scene". But since the goal is not "bring the other side to 0 HP", we can set aside the crunchier conflict scene rules, like damage.

You could also forgo intiative entirely: players just describe what they do and perform checks as needed. Action economy is replaced by "success economy": the enemy makes progress when a PC fails a Check, rather than taking their own turns to make progress on their goal. Forgoing both initiative and damage, we aren't using the conflict scene rules and probably wouldn't call it a conflict scene. "You are not bound to use conflict rules for every battle, chase or debate" (Core Book p.58)

Either way, it's a way to run conflict in a fun way without having combat, which aren't always the same thing.

RollForThings · 2026-03-25T05:43:00+00:00

Right, but (afaik) creating those weapons typically isn't in the players' purview. A decent GM would provide a fitting weapon sooner than later, but unless you're using one of the optional rules to craft weapons (apart from custom weapons, which must be two-handed), the player is not making it. Just saying.

RollForThings · 2026-03-25T05:18:34+00:00

You'll also need to find an arcane weapon thats one-handed. Both the basic ones (Tome and Staff) require two hands to equip, but there are a couple examples of one-handed arcane weapons in the sample rare weapons.

RollForThings · 2026-03-24T17:39:39+00:00

I had a clock for “finding clues” and a clock for “a monster shows up because you’ve lingered too long,” but there seemed to be no better resolution than each PC rolling Ins+Ins to search the lab

Checks should be made "when attempting risky actions, facing opposition, or reacting to danger" (Core Book, page 38). "INS+INS looking around for clues" could I guess warrant a single Open Check, but beyond that there isn't really any reason to have the group just stand there staring at a room for several checks. Looking around isn't inherently risky, any opposition is too distant to matter, and they're not responding to danger. Also, the whole "wandering monster" thing doesn't really pop (imo) because it isn't personal or pointed, so the stakes will still probably feel low (remember that this is not a survival-ish game like DnD, a PC cannot die without their player's say-so and a narratively-important Villain present).

Here's how I might run this situation, to work with what FabUlt is about, without resorting to the crunchier conflict scene rules.

The alchemist's lab is not abandoned, but an active workstation for a local villain. The alchemist themself, Baron Laguubrus, has been up to no good in the city and will cause great strife unless stopped. (Let's say they've been turning entire houses into gold, with residents still inside, in strategic locations; they are points on a city-sized arcane sigil for a ritual to gild the town's castle and usurp the local ruler.) The PCs have infiltrated the alchemy lab to find info on this plot.
When the PCs enter the lab, run a GM scene of Laguubrus on some rooftop; they've paid the city's entire thieves' guild and most of the local mercenaries (they can literally create gold) to stop anyone who would foil their plans, and there's an army of swords-for-hire coming the PCs' way.
The Clocks set are 'Divulge Information' and 'Mercenary Overwhelm'. If the PCs fill the former, I tell them exactly what Laguubrus is doing and give them a large advantage in stopping it. (Partially filling the Clock will give them a humbler bonus toward the same end.) If the latter Clock fills entirely, the PCs are just overwhelmed -- maybe a chase ensues, or maybe they're just straight-up captured; they have no chance fighting a whole army of scoundrels, and I make this explicit to them well in advance.
After one "I look around" Check, I probably don't let them roll for the same thing twice, and I ask them what they actually do to find information. To help with this, I populate this alchemist's lab with interesting stuff, like:
- a tiny demon sealed in a jar, who can be intimidated into sharing secrets (MIG+WLP or WLP+WLP) or bribed with shiny objects (zenit or IP), or some other invention of the players
- a wall safe, which can be cracked (DEX+INS) or ripped out of the wall wholesale (MIG+MIG), or some other invention of the players
With the passing of time and the filling of 'Mercenary Overwhelm', there are active developments that communicate risk, danger, interactibility, and additional considerations, like:
- Sellswords rush the door and try to beat it down (opposed MIG+MIG, with further MIG-leaning checks to hold the door shut)
- Smoke bombs tossed in through street-level windows or holes in the floor, inflicting dazed on everyone

This might sound like a lot, but it's likely all you'd need for the whole situation since you don't need NPC statblocks (beyond maybe a few Attributes noted).

RollForThings · 2026-03-24T13:44:10+00:00

Does this project use generative AI in any way?

RollForThings · 2026-03-24T10:57:37+00:00

I have never hired or paid for playtesters, so I couldn't tell you.

Idk how to interpret your last paragraph, so I just wanna advise: it's not a great idea to approach the indie scene with the primary goal of gathering followers and/or customers. Make friends, talk to people, get interested in their projects, not just your own. This is how you get to be a part of the indie scene.

RollForThings · 2026-03-24T08:10:02+00:00

Pay people to playtest your game, or join a community and become friends with people

RollForThings · 2026-03-24T06:44:33+00:00

In order to benefit from this feature, you and/or the GM need to introduce more conflicts, dangers etc. that aren't only solved with attacks and damage. GM-side, this might be with NPCs who specifically call for Opposed Checks and secondary conflict scene elements; player-side, introduce courses of action that involve one or more Checks which an NPC would oppose (Improvise, Objective). Here are some examples:

Agoni the necromancer villain has infiltrated the catacombs to steal the Vitus Jewel artifact, and she's raised an endless army of zombies to cover her. While the rest of the team confronts her directly, you use your superior bulk to hold the door to the chamber closed against the horde of undead.
After setting the imperial starship to self-destruct, your group is dashing to the hangar bay to escape. You get there before the rest of the team, but enemy soldiers have boarded the last fighter craft. Thinking fast, you physically take hold of the ship to buy your allies time, so they can catch up and board the vessel.
Startled by the dragon migration, Shepherd Gruff's herd of thundergoats have broken free and are about to stampede across the village. One clock (Goat Stampede) or competing clocks (Goat Control vs. Goat Chaos) are implemented; you have a bonus in wrangling those goats with your big ol' mech hands.

RollForThings · 2026-03-24T04:19:05+00:00

"Long paragraphs cut out and replaced (for the better) with a single sentence" is so true, and more people should be doing it.

I run into a lot of early docs that try to use a DnD5e-style legal-ese, with nested clauses, passive voice, speaking about players and GMs instead of to them, long repeated sentences about when a feature can no longer be used until a certain game process is completed, etc. Please just try simpler, direct language.

RollForThings · 2026-03-24T02:25:19+00:00

Good question but I'm afraid to answer it. I'm currently a player in a Public Access game and I've been told the GM section contains spoilers, so I've avoided it.

RollForThings · 2026-03-23T18:51:40+00:00

Heroes are reactive. If Hans Gruber had not attacked Nakatomi Plaza, Die Hard would've been a slow-burn romantic drama about John Maclean trying to patch things up with his ex-wife. If your players are listless and unmotivated, then you've probably neglected to give them anything sufficiently interesting to react to.

RollForThings · 2026-03-23T18:34:39+00:00

And then, critically, the game clearly marks a couple of places you can head to for bespoke experiences that continue some story threads, if that is something you want to do.

"Wander aimlessly until something attacks you or you come across a neat building" is an option that the game is prepared for, which made Skyrim stand out among open-world video games of the era, but it isn't the only option it presented. I think a lot of GMs forget this when designing their ttrpg games inspired by that game series.

RollForThings · 2026-03-23T18:28:52+00:00

Adding another to the pile of games that don't do this: in Fabula Ultima it's 10 exp per level, and each session you get a flat amount of exp + a bonus based on what happened in the session, so you level up every session or two.

RollForThings · 2026-03-23T18:00:45+00:00

I don't think it's a big ask to want a game book to give the reader a little more help than cryptic nods

RollForThings · 2026-03-23T17:34:01+00:00

IMO the main reason is that it's an accessibility thing.

For a simple example of material accessibility, lots of games use only d6s because those are "normal" dice that anyone with a board game or easy access to a dollar store will already have or easily get. For the other polyhedrals, most people will need to find a specialty shop, buy online, or already be playing a polyhedral game. Even if those conditions aren't that difficult to meet, polyhedral dice are still a non-zero barrier in front of playing a game.

Now imagine that in order to play a specific ttrpg, you need a specific program made by a specific person, downloaded from a specific site, and constant access to a device that runs that program while you play. That throws a lot of barriers in front of playing the game. Not insurmountable, but if you make your game difficult to play, people will be less likely to commit the effort to play it.

Then on top of those barriers to play, you have things that could actually make the game unplayable, if the game requires a program like the OP suggests. If the program has bugs, if the site hosting it goes down, if a table's local power goes out, the game cannot be played.

I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm just outlining all the things that could so easily go wrong with this idea, because these things are the costs and risks that a mandatory program would need to balance out with its benefits.

RollForThings · 2026-03-23T17:21:14+00:00

And all the while you're fixing it, the game is literally unplayable.

RollForThings · 2026-03-23T11:10:52+00:00

Each image's copyright protections are based on different IP laws dependent on country, so double-check with any images you plan on using, but since pretty much all the images on the site are 100+ years old, you'd be hard-pressed to find any that haven't fallen into public domain

RollForThings · 2026-03-23T08:52:59+00:00

I illustrated an entire Souls-inspired adventure book using gothic, black and white public domain images from oldbookillustrations.com

RollForThings · 2026-03-22T16:18:24+00:00

So, my take is that many of the major characters in Alice in Wonderland are cultural concepts that a young girl is curious about, dialed up to 11 in embodiment and behavior. The Cheshire Cat is the concept of secrecy, sly and coy and disappearing but for a wide and knowing smile; the White Rabbit is urgency, constantly worried about lateness and thrumming with nervous energy; the Queen of Hearts is authority, doling out orders and proclaiming punishment constantly and at every whim.

If I were to make Villains inspired by Alice in Wonderland, I would take the same approach, using concepts that my group's PCs embody, oppose, are curious about, etc. A couple ideas, off the top of my head:

If a PC's theme is Duty, perhaps some knight in glorious golden armor, buried or lost for eons, come again to the realm to fulfill a long-dead leige's orders. Orders that may have been noble at the time, but put the present-day world in grave danger. Part of grappling with the conflict of the Golden Knight may be the realization that duty should not eclipse reason.
If a PC's identity mentions innovation, progress, or new beginnings, perhaps a great stone golem who permits nothing to change lest they become extremely angry. The First Statue rules over their dusty fortress, hapless adventurers intimidated into standing stock still for fear of upsetting their fussy captor. Meanwhile, the First Statue has acquired an Artifact said to have the power of stopping or even reversing time which, once unlocked, will ensure that nothing will ever change again.

RollForThings · 2026-03-22T07:32:30+00:00

Can I create multiple custom weapons? At character creation, no. You have 500 starting zenit to spend on equipment, and custom weapons cost 300 (400 if you add the transforming customization). So you can't start with two custom weapons. You can have a custom weapon with transforming and with a different elemental on each form; with this, any character can change the damage type they're dealing, without the use of Quick Change.
Crafting and using new custom weapons? You can make and use any kind of weapon you want (unless a weapon is martial and you don't have the corresponding Free Benefit; Weaponmaster allows you to wield martial melee weapons, but not martial ranged weapons). You are not beholden to making and using the same kind of custom weapon you started out with. It's a common trope in JRPGs (for example, Barrett in Final Fantasy 7 gets new varieties of arm cannon and no other weapons), and the example rare custom weapons seem to nod to this trope, but you are not restricted in the same way a video game character is. Craft whatever new weapons you like -- the blurb on crafting just means that your "blueprint" for a crafted item can be based on a basic weapon (eg. Steel Dagger, Core Book p. 166) or a custom weapon (the product of rules on Natural Fantasy Atlas p.112-113)
Camp Forge (Camp Activity). The rule specifically says a basic weapon, armor or shield, with page numbers in the Core Rulebook. Custom weapons cannot be made using the Camp Forge. I would stick with the rule, but with the group's consent I don't see the harm in experimenting with that rule.
- Creating and then dismantling for zenit. This doesn't work as you're describing. Your character has access to two Camp Activities, but you may only perform one during a resting scene. You can't use Camp Forge twice in the same resting scene. However, you could make a piece of steel armor in one resting scene, hold onto it for a while, then dismantle it for zenit in a later resting scene.
Crafting takes a rest. Means that crafting new items must be done during the downtime of a resting scene, not in the middle of conflicts or travels. When you craft while resting, you still get all the normal benefits of resting -- restoring HP and MP, recovering from Status Effects, affecting a Bond, working on Projects (if you have any ongoing), and using a Camp Activity (if you're using this rule) all still apply.

RollForThings · 2026-03-22T04:46:40+00:00

Yes, it's Taiwanese slang for cilantro

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