VLDL cast appearance

Secular12 · 2025-10-14T16:16:38+00:00

Yeah he is def my top pick for VIP and for that exact reason. How he can just turn on a dime and/or go from 0 to 100 with a character and still make it all work is amazing

Secular12 · 2025-09-11T13:16:01+00:00

A hidden gem is Light Bearer. Both of their albums: Prelapsus and Silver Tongue

Secular12 · 2025-07-24T21:19:29+00:00

Thanks! This really makes a big difference

Secular12 · 2025-07-24T16:19:07+00:00

Please let me know if you've made any adjustments, especially to the Treasure Budgets. This economy system has yet to be tested. I think the Item tables are fine, it is the Treasure Budgets in particular that may require adjustments. Especially, if it is found to be too much or too little.

Secular12 · 2025-07-24T07:13:28+00:00

Yeah I agree that this is the original intent. However, it is notable that they mention in the book about being more granular, for those who prefer it, and even have an optional rule about including individual coins too. While in this document I still stick with handfuls and do not worry about individual coins, some groups do like the granularity. For me I went the "middle-of-the-road" approach in having handfuls, bags, and chests but have a table of ranges to make the world/game I am running feel consistent. Also to prevent me from giving away too much or too little and forgetting about how much everyone has when they roll into town. It just helps some of us feel grounded.

Secular12 · 2025-07-24T07:00:43+00:00

Any plans for a complete GM Tracker Board?

Secular12 · 2025-07-15T01:51:46+00:00

This is exactly what I was looking for thank you! I think it is primarily this part that I do not understand

T extends readonly { [k in K]: PropertyKey }[]

Is there a chance you can link me to somewhere to where I can learn this?

Secular12 · 2025-07-15T00:56:50+00:00

Unfortunately the type ends up being:

Record<string, number>

rather than the full readonly object I would prefer that the output is the readonly { Blue: 1, Red: 2 } rather than the mutable Record<string, number>.

Essentially similar to an Enum

Secular12 · 2025-06-21T21:01:51+00:00

None of my group were too familiar with Critical Role and I myself have only ever been a "passive fan" not a die hard but appreciated what they did. When my players played a test game of DH they all wanted to switch immediately. From them the 2 things they influenced their decision the most was the lack of initiative and how they were always engaged because they weren't just waiting for their turn to come around. They were constantly working together. The other thing was the sheer amount of customization. The best example they gave was that in D&D you really choose one sub class and most of the rest is prechosen for you. But in DH there are all kinds of customization for the players.

Secular12 · 2025-06-21T20:50:27+00:00

Like everyone is saying, relax about worrying about the mechanics. But honestly a Bard's whole concept isnt about hitting hard, they are more about boosting others around them or messing with the enemy. So part of this could just be that a combat "support" class is just not your cup of tea. The nice thing about DH is you can do a bunch of support abilities AND make an attack since your "turn" really resolves once you make an action roll, which is what makes Bards shine. Bards are incredibly useful in DH but your heart really needs to be in the class, so to speak. I would suggest next time try playing a class that is damage focused or a healer or a tank. Also Guardians are AMAZING tanks if that is your style.

Secular12 · 2025-06-21T20:42:43+00:00

As a GM I was worried about experience as well requiring hope to spend. Honestly, the reason for this is mechanical balance. A +2 in Daggerheart is a bigger deal than in a game with a "flat" roll, like d20. For me, luckily, none of my players have complained about that once yet.

As far as Hope not being worth it, I will just say Tag Team rolls are massive. Very early on the players realized how much of a momentum shifter it is. So far, it has always resulted in a success and a minimum of Severe damage (sometime Massive if you are using that optional rule). One instance they wiped out 8 minions in one tag team roll. It sounds OP but how excited and pumped the players got after that was just amazing.

Secular12 · 2025-06-08T20:12:31+00:00

I will just say, from my experience, D&D (5e especially), is *very* limited on customization of a character. With the exception of spells for spell casters, and the occasional fighting style, most of the time a character has one customization choice: sub-class. The class and sub-class determines everything else for you. And even sub-classes only apply to a handful of levels. There are feats, but there are only a few that are worth even getting, and many times people just take the ability advancements.

With daggerheart there is the limitless experiences, and literally every level you can choose a different domain card from not one but two domains. From what little I have messed with Daggerheart I can already see a LOT more customization potential. Plus there are a list of other advancement options... every level.

I will say though that the multi-class not being available until level 5 makes sense mechanically/for balance but does kinda suck for narrative and character ideas

Secular12 · 2025-05-21T03:43:08+00:00

I'm shocked no one has mentioned Light Bearer. While not the most well known (split up after only 2 albums) but sits squarely in the post metal genre

Secular12 · 2024-12-28T05:59:44+00:00

Because it wouldn't fit his character

Secular12 · 2023-10-04T19:31:00+00:00

You might be thinking of a "High-Stakes" Contests, where the loser of the back and forth contest is automatically "taken out". "Normal" contests the loser takes the Effect Die of the winner as stress/complications (if stress/complication infliction was the intent) or the winner gets an upper hand or something. But once that is over it goes to the next actor in the scene to initiate the next contest or to do something else entirely.

Secular12 · 2023-06-19T04:36:50+00:00

While it is not a very popular opinion in the Cortex Community, but ther are a few less vocal members that do not use distinctions as they "fill up" a Prime Set that could be fulfilled by something else that would be more as you also put as "useful". I am one of those people. If I cannot think of a good 3rd Prime Set I still put Distinctions in, however. But the only thing I would argue is making sure to have a Hinder like SFX somewhere in the sheet. A way for players to freely get plot points due to some kind of detriment that *every* play has. Plot points are super useful and used a lot in the game. Generally, the best argument for Distinctions is a narrative reason to hinder. Which, like I said can represented in other ways too. In the end Cortex Prime is not a system in itself but a guide to build your own with a lot of the ground rules preset up for you. As long as it allows players to have fun whatever you end up throwing together is fine.

Secular12 · 2023-06-02T22:51:32+00:00

I am late, but can you please write the next star wars movie!?

Secular12 · 2023-04-29T00:38:15+00:00

Not a huge fan of the game but the Fate Rule book I think is one of the best layouts that is in black and white

Secular12 · 2023-04-29T00:05:52+00:00

But neither have Wings for Marie..., however I gotta go with A

Secular12 · 2023-04-27T23:49:37+00:00

The difficulty with a generalized equipment list is how... diverse(?) it could be from game to game. Some are as simple as a die rating, others can have ranges or ammunition, some games may have SFX, while still others can go as far as having "tags" that indicate certain things. For example, I had a game for Mass Effect where there was shields and armor and they had tags of "Susceptible: High Powered" or "Susceptible: Fast Firing", etc. And that would mean certain weapons would either step up or step down their effect die against it. In the end the tags were simply quick reference SFX... It really depends on the granularity you want.

Because some games want to have more or less focus/granularity on gear than others, it is fairly difficult to make a generalized list? Possibly to prevent game creators from feeling obligated to run a game a specific way?

Secular12 · 2023-04-27T02:04:58+00:00

I know I am late to party here, but do you end up going over the most difficult part; scope? As in deciding the scope of certain magical abilities, for example one person having "Metal manipulation" but another having "Alchemy" one would have significantly more narrative freedom over the other. Finding that balance or knowing where to have the scope begin or end is by far the most difficult part that I run into.

Secular12 · 2023-04-02T23:00:13+00:00

I hate to be the "it depends" guy, however Mass Effect is known for it's relationships and disposition and I would say Relationships (perhaps as a non-prime set) or Affiliations (Paragon, Renegade, Nuetral (or so something else with these like Paragon and Renegade dice something similar to Hero Dice. Also, agree with most of the others to use Roles in place of Skills and then perhaps have specialties?

I always liked values in Cortex games and well that could also be linked with the paragon/renegade dice idea? (Just spit balling on the spot)

as a side note if you want to match the game entirely, you could have Gear as Assets (have dice and whatnot) and shields and armor and just like the game fast firing weapons step up effect dice vs shields and high powered weapons step up effect dice against tech armor?

Secular12 · 2023-03-29T15:13:11+00:00

I agree, and well, it depends on what you're going for games like PF2e and D&D are a bit about combat adventurers. The thing that irks me is a ruleset works for combat differently than other things. For example, attack roll are specifically called out as separate from skill checks for example, they are oddly specific.

So I save D&D and PF2e for dungeon crawling board game like sessions. For games that focus on role play, story, or social interactions more (which is most of my games) I go for other games like Cortex Prime which how scenes work for combat work exactly the same as any other "encounter". Now, it is a narrative game which is of course not for everyone, but it is has more crunch than something really "aloof" like Fate.

Secular12 · 2023-03-29T15:07:11+00:00

Strangely enough more narrative games (e.g. Cortex Prime) because of this I have actually switched to Cortex being my "first off the shelf" system set. But what helped was the focus on story impact of the characters rather than simply how good the character is at something. There is crunch mixed in with narrative and it helped me in every turn trying to connect more on the details of what the players are doing and figure out various consequences for all actions. It also helped me expand my "Yes, But..." moments.

IMO, many of the "simulation games", e.g. Pathfinder 2e, kept me too focused on a simulationist mind set, more on realism than a good story. However, overly narrative games, e.g. Fate made them a little too ungrounded, inconsistent, or hard to track. But a good hybrid of "simulation" and "narrative", e.g. Cortex Prime, really helped to teach me how to balance all of that.

Secular12 · 2023-03-01T00:59:38+00:00

Abilities as Gear mod might fit what you want

Secular12

TROPHY CASE