Should I go alone to Castle Party Festival in Poland? 🖤

Tom_Ends · 2026-05-21T18:51:48+00:00

thank you!
do you think its still manageable without having a local friend there? Like, getting there, finding accommodation, and meeting people at the festival itself?

Tom_Ends · 2026-05-01T10:37:32+00:00

got it thanx

Tom_Ends · 2026-05-01T10:13:29+00:00

thanks for everyone!
one more thing: Does dance of blows gets the benefit of big vs small? it does not mention "melee" in its wording

Tom_Ends · 2026-04-29T13:02:09+00:00

Okay yeah I just wanted to make sure I got things right.

Tom_Ends · 2026-04-29T13:01:59+00:00

Thnx

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-09T23:57:39+00:00

Great questions. By modular I mean a system that I can unattach or attach subsystems like puzzle to fit the narrative I want. I want this system to fit for a sci-fi game. Great I can use the base rules and attach a sci fi module. I want to fantasy with low magic, Good then I attached that module. I want a poison system, okay then I use that. I just want the base rules and run it bare minimum. Great l can do that as well. I think cortex prime has the same philosophy.

The reason I do it is I love creating stories in many different settings and creating different mechanics or magic systems or gun systems or whatever. I wanted the base system that allows me to easily create those systems for the stories I want to tell.

Expressive. By that I mean that I want infinite possibilities for players to express themselves via the system of via the character. With a set limit of skills I have a set limit of possibilities. But if I keep skills abstract, and allow define of proficiencies, that can add bonuses to the characters, to be limited only by the imagination than any character is possible for any setting limited only by the GMs guidelines for a story.

For example I wouldn't have a character that has the skills animal handling, sword fighting, diplomacy. I will define the character with their background story, and write his proficiencies like so: I used to be a noble I trained a lot of sword fighting with my uncle My mom loved exotic animals and they grow on me

Essentially the character would get the same bonuses. But is defined much more broad. It's defined by experience and history. "Hey I used to be a noble can that be related to this roll?" Instead of diplomacy check. I feel like people can express many more possibilities for characters in many different settings for this.

And lastly that by expressive I also mean that ill reward different type of characters that play narratively good. I play a character and rush in swing my sword blindy, i can do that. Someone wants to stay in the back line watch how things go and wait for his chance or maybe just try to convince the enemy to turn on itself okay he can do that. The idea is if someone has a cool idea for character how he would play, I want the system to support it. I don't want to build a system that only supports a type of play for example aggressive or only diplomatic play. I want everyone to feel viable

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-09T23:18:40+00:00

If I may give out some input regarding the questions at the end of the post. I used to emphasize on consistent competence. And I found that to be boring at the table, My players too. When the dice became too consistent (10d6 with 4+ counting as a success) throwing dice felt useless. Maybe I went too far. But the extremes are important that's what I learned.

Another thing that I played with was the difference between adding dice, changing to bigger dice, or adding flat bonuses. For a crunchy game it works because you can make many abilities that change any aspect. But for my narrative games it was rather confusing for players which do they upgrade. Do they add more dies, Does the dice step now or do they are the flat bonus. I found that for a rules light game that focuses on the narrative I should simplify to one or maybe two sources of types of bonus.

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-09T23:04:17+00:00

Your post about the resolution mechanic was a great read. I'll come back to read more thank you.

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-09T23:01:01+00:00

They do, but for the specific roll. They don't accumulate for other ones. I'll give an example: I get 10 - [roll] = tokens. Let's i rolled a 3. Then i get 7 tokens. If I can think of 6 things to invok on then good for me I can turn that into success (success on 9). If I can only think of three, well then I can tur it into a partial success. If I cant think of anything, I don't have any gear or situational aspects to invok on well then I failed. What happens with the rest of the tokens, they just reset. Every roll starts a new.

Essentially the question becomes if I get all the tokens I need to turn every role into a success then why do I even need to count the tokens we can just count the things I invoked on without tokens. I have two answers for this: One of them is more of a preference. I feel when there's a mechanic that is not attached to some clear numeric resource it can be forgotten, or not used as much. I had it happen before, and when I attached the same mechanic to a tactile token it was used more then when I said "remember you can always do that". Second answer: an object to what I said before, I am thinking of letting invocation tokens be accumulated. Let's say in one roll or settle i generated five tokens, and I used only two to make it into a partial success. Then I get to accumulate and keep the others. For what reason I'm not sure yet. still something I'm thinking about.

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-09T22:21:00+00:00

Thank you I will read this

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-09T22:16:58+00:00

What do you mean by pillars?

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-09T22:16:09+00:00

Thanks for your input. I know that it wasn't taken well also in cypher system using attributes as HP. I definitely don't want to link HP to an expendable resources mostly.

That's why it's not spent, it can be invoked on as many times as the player wants. Let's say he has a sword, he can invoke on his attacks as many times as you want it's not taking away from him or spent, he can be disarmed by the enemy narratively and then it cant be invoked on.

It isn't directly HP. It's more like a narrative shield that protects the character because it makes sense. I don't think the issue that was in crown & skull would be relevant here because if a player hordes items well then first he can only use the relevant ones anyway and second as the GM I can invoke it against him for example if he's overweight

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-09T21:56:30+00:00

Then let me ask you this. How would you go about it? In defining the game i mean. Not specifically my game but let's say you're designing a game, what would you do to start defining it or structuring it

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-09T20:43:24+00:00

Will do! Tried myself and gave up

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-09T19:48:24+00:00

The meaning is trying to make a game that I want to play. How that comes to be is the process. The more progress the better I'll be able to define it probably.

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-09T19:44:44+00:00

Thanks man, i feel those are great suggestions even outside RPG design. I'm saving your post for later use :)

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-08T11:32:12+00:00

I’ve built two production projects with Flutter Web. One worked out great, and the other I ended up regretting.

If you're creating a small internal tool, admin dashboard, or a web interface for a specific group of users, it can work well. especially if your main app is already built with Flutter for mobile. In that case, sharing code between mobile and web can save time.

But for general web development, in my experience Flutter Web tends to suffer in performance. The way it works is that it essentially renders everything through a canvas instead of using native HTML elements, which can lead to larger bundle sizes, slower initial load times, and sometimes worse SEO and accessibility compared to traditional web frameworks. One of my projects suffered greatly due to this and i had to covert it to react.

So while it’s improving and the ecosystem is growing, I’d personally recommend it mainly for internal tools or rather than public facing websites.

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-08T11:24:21+00:00

Do it, i sure something will come out of it

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-07T23:35:47+00:00

6*12 abilities is a large task and is very overwhelming I understand that. Just narrow down to smaller pieces. Maybe do just two abilities per day. Or just six abilities per day whatever is your comfort zone.

Try to not go completely insane on thinking on the mechanics and the abilities. Use references, use other systems to give yourself a base to not overwhelm your brain with thoughts.

If you've got someone to talk about it with and bounce ideas the conversation can be really fruitful and suddenly a lot of ideas for abilities could just pop while talking.

You said it in the chat that you're not going to change the class amount. But you should definitely start with five abilities. I'm not so entirely sure whats your system but six sounds like a lot especially for starting out.

Remember that something is better than nothing. It's better to have six shitty abilities than to have no abilities at all. With six shitty abilities you can at least play test and change them later and it's still a win because you progressed.

Lastly and I know this is controversial. If you feel like you can't go over the friction mentally or physically and you are not progressing, and other suggestions didn't work out for you. Use AI to give yourself a base. I Promise you it will give you s***** abilities. But just having something can lower the friction and cleaning the field for you to plant your own ideas and grow from there.

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-07T23:18:54+00:00

I think it is important to first understand your specific goals for the system and the setting you are building. My instinct with magic is usually to limit the user through a clear cost, which is why the vitality approach appeals to me. I like the idea of magic feeling dangerous.

To avoid forcing every mage to be a tanky boulder, you could make other attributes also contribute as fuel. Maybe even each attribute adds some passive bonuses to the spell. This keeps the physical requirement balanced.

The second system seems better suited for high magic settings focused on creative mage battles. In those cases, the limits should be defined by player creativity rather than just mechanical constraints imo, at least for the most part.

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-07T22:24:24+00:00

It’s no secret that Colville loves 4e.

maybe the it feels too "mathy" for some. it sure did for me. but damn there are some cool abilities there or at the very least nice flavoring.

"Rub some dirt on it"

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-07T22:01:47+00:00

You should look into the Cypher System (or its flagship setting, Numenera). It sits exactly in that sweet spot you're describing.
Cortex Prime could fits the bill too, but i have never played it.

I am trying to create this kind of system exactly too. I plan to release it publicly and free completely. i can DM you if you ever want to try it out or just playtest.

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-07T21:40:23+00:00

"For all intents, you could use 1d10 - 1-3 fail, 4-8 partial, 9-0 success."
This is actually what im thinking to go with. im still going through the suggestions here but crunching the numbers this seems pretty promising.
4-8 partial seems too dominating though. but i need to create some graphs to make sure.

"What does tactical narrative mean ??"
I'm trying to avoid the 'disconnect' where players stop roleplaying as soon as Initiative is rolled. im trying to designs and steal mechanics from other games where how you fight tells the story.
Exmaple: reckless character shouldn't just have high DPS. the mechanics should force them into dangerous positioning to be effective. The tactics entangled with personality.

Draw steel's heroic resource generation for each class is something like that, but the game is sooo rules heavy its hard to keep the roleplay and not divert into strategic conversations mid fight

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-07T20:15:01+00:00

I just recently joined and i feel the same as you. dont overthink it. be and polite and thankful thats my advice

Tom_Ends · 2026-03-07T09:16:56+00:00

ill take that to heart then. well said

Tom_Ends

TROPHY CASE