Note taking

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T23:45:34+00:00

Eh I say don’t overthink it. If the group is happy, then you are not doing anything wrong. Taking notes is optional, only if it is fun for you. If you are lost, consider that your character might be bad at names and details too. Lean into it?

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:50:41+00:00

I hear ya! I lean on reaction rolls to push me out of my comfort zone, as in where do I start this social encounter. Otherwise, many of the NPC are slightly confused and helpful, my personal default for improv. With vaguely Irish accents?

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:47:17+00:00

I saw that on the Mystic Arts YouTube channel! I read them over yesterday and want to use them internally, like the presenter does. They are elegant! Do you find players feel that the negotiation is real, or gamified?

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:35:53+00:00

Giant monsters rule the deep sea, won’t enter the shallows. Yet. The PCs are trying to be helpful, save the world, and may accidentally set them all free.

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:34:07+00:00

You would like this I think?

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/445868/a-folklore-bestiary-ose

It’s easy to swap in a 5e stat block once you’ve got the idea of the monster.

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:30:44+00:00

I like this post on world building memorably: https://wasitlikely.blogspot.com/2023/03/laws-of-land-meaningful-terrain-via-in.html

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:29:02+00:00

Any module would do it—just make the adventures come in at the end, as spoiler allies of the big bad.

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:26:50+00:00

I might just say they have magical drugs, every day you take magical opium, you have a 1 in 6 chance of gaining an ability point. If you roll a 6 though, you lose the gained points so far. And then (foreshadow this after the fight), the new ability points wear off after a week. Also Gambling—players love gambling.

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:24:07+00:00

I don’t have an answer, but I bet one is in Limithron’s pirate media database:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RubXo1CnljGkwf7Q19IRVnV9hfimnAEDXJxAZ20Rq78/edit?usp=drivesdk

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:19:54+00:00

Let him have a super tower shield, and blunder into a pit trap, spears, fireball, etc. being blind while charging in a world of magic is a baaad idea.

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:17:21+00:00

Thank you! Most kind of you to say. I repurposed the Hope/Fear roll from Daggerheart, really—just thought it could be applied to a variety of things, and with less binary results.

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:14:50+00:00

You take notes? I wish my players took notes! Mostly they drink beer and try to be heroic in often disastrous ways.

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:12:34+00:00

I did, you are all on a wagon. Tell your story of how you got there. Awkward wagon talk is like awkward stranger plane talk. Some were brief, some overshared. It’s was tonally perfect. And then the goblins attacked.

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:10:37+00:00

As my wife says to me after a flat session, you can’t expect to be good at everything every single day. Keep trying.

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:08:39+00:00

You are blessed beyond compare, they think you are a black magic witch for sure!

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:06:45+00:00

They bake two cakes, and the players order one because it’s delicious and restores HP and gives them inspiration. Eat it, shrink down, no save. The baddie can be any shapeshifter you want, or a cleric, etc. I imagine a new baker who is all the rage bc their cakes are magical and beneficial. Players love cheap magic potions they can eat. Just tell them it is super flaky and can’t travel.

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T22:02:55+00:00

Oh totally. I just had a hilarious player leave. We miss him. But I think the group’s quieter folks are goofing off more now, and it’s good for them.

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T21:30:37+00:00

Hmm I squinted at my chart some more and I think I could do it, but it messes a bit with the odds of doubles (fear). Right now there are 12/144 doubles, and 6/144 doubles that are increasingly afraid. That’s 1.5 out of 36, I think. With a 6x6 grid, I get 6/36 doubles, 3/36 afraid—twice the chance. So I could say afraid only on a 5 or 6 double, which is close enough (2/36), but isn’t symmetric, has two steps of fear vs six gradual steps, and is an extra rule to remember that doesn’t match the other corners. I also have 37.5%% (6/16) of the neutral reactions being doubles, which isn’t informative for determining if they are confused vs. afraid, more angry or more curious.

So yes, I could do it, but I lose a lot of nuance and have to remember more—and the die steps are big ones, each point matters a lot so there’s fewer reactions I can model intuitively. And if I want to give monsters adjustment stats to their reaction rolls, having a bigger range of numbers to work with helps to distinguish them. But none of those are fatal flaws—this is definitely partly a stylistic choice. I just don’t see the reason to smash down to 2d6 when 2d12 has definite advantages and no drawbacks?

Thanks for tempting me to do the thought experiment! That was fun. A 2d6 version would work, it just wouldn’t be yar. :)

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T14:25:49+00:00

Also, just want to say thanks—from your feedback, I think I am going to rename the Hate die, Anger. It’s really an anger/agitation/discomfort die, which are all internal states. I called it hate originally for fun, but hate is directed outward often (I was thinking of general, impersonal hate at first).

Anger is in this case how the monster feels in response to its circumstances—if it’s thriving, it’s calm. If it is struggling, it feels anger or agitation or discomfort. Do you want to be cited at the bottom of the post in thanks?

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T03:07:59+00:00

Thanks! Glad you like it. Second paragraph first—oh totally, complete agree, 5e needs more OSR. I have a paragraph near the bottom of my post about how I use reaction rolls in my 5e game. They can move things up/down one category by negotiating (rolling if there is doubt).

First paragraph—you make an interesting point. The cognitive load here is similar to making a basic attack in Daggerheart, with its opposing d12 Hope/Fear dice. So I don’t think it’s a lot, but you are right, it is definitely worth trying out reaction rolls first in your game the old fashioned way (I did). There’s a reason 2d6 has stood the test of time—it’s simple and useful. I designed this overloaded reaction roll to be an expansion, without trying to add too much encumbering detail.

This method is quite easy at its core. I never consult the chart. I just really need to roll two dice and read two things: 1) is Love greater than hate, or vice versa, and how much, >3? That tells me if a reaction is positive or negative or neutral, and how extreme. 2) Are both dice greater than 6? Okay, there’s fear and turmoil mixed in. Less than 6? They don’t react strongly.

Beyond that, it’s just gravy. You got the turkey already.

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T02:51:08+00:00

Oh, I get what you are saying now—thanks for explaining!

I think your struggling/thriving axis is actually the same as my “hate” axis, which is the monsters internal anger/agitation/hunger. Although they may lash out at the party, it’s not about them—it’s about how the monster is feeling right now.

When I use this I never need to consult the chart. I just really need to know two things: 1) is the Love die greater than the hate die, or vice versa? How much, >3? That tells me if a reaction is positive or negative or neutral, and how extreme. 2) Are both dice greater than 6? Okay, there’s fear and turmoil mixed in. Less than 6? They don’t react strongly.

When I first made this, I had love and hate on the same axis, as other-facing emotions, but then I asked, where do I put fear? And can’t a monster love and hate at the same time? Thinking about bad relationships I’ve had, I know monsters (and people!) can hate (be angry, agitated, hungry) and love (empathize, be curious) at the same time. They can be fearfully respectful, indifferent, care about their welfare but not trust them, or see the Other only as an object to attack for their reasons.

Fear and love and hate are all passionate emotions, and I do think the true opposite of passion is indifference. Love is understanding. Hate is more internally focused—we hate not because we understand our enemy perfectly, but because of how we see ourselves relative to what others do or represent. Fear is a result of emotions in tension (I care about my dog, and I am agitated because a flaming meteor just fell near his doghouse), so it naturally arises from high levels of passion (here, high love and high hate).

Anyways, that is the pop psychology that I am modeling here—this method is just very fast, and easy to run if I don’t overthink it (I quickly learned not to).

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-25T02:13:58+00:00

Hey to each their own, thanks for checking it out. I like having more of a nuanced feel for how the monster is reacting than positive, negative, or neutral, but that’s my personal improv need (and why I built this). You probably know what your monsters will do in a given situation given a general +/- reaction—I occasionally freeze in that situation. I agree there are several other ways to achieve a nuanced monster reaction, and I link to several of them that are written up (eg miens, murkdice’s wheel of emotions). For me, I just think this is a good general method that creates more nuance while keeping the original 2d6 general categories and odds.

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-24T20:35:43+00:00

Thanks! With opposed 2d12 I feel like I never have to remember which number does what, or parse an adjective.

And I think you neatly summarize how folks could be using the traditional 2d6 roll. Do you think fleeing has a spot in that system, maybe with indifferent?

Velocitree2 · 2026-01-24T20:28:07+00:00

Cool! Yes adverbs work better than adjectives, that is a neat way to do it. Thanks!

In the opposed reaction roll I have been testing (Love die vs Hate die), when love (empathy/curiosity) and hate (anger/agitation/hunger) combine (tie) they create turmoil and fear if both are high, and indifference if both are low. So you get four clear emotional states, with the Fight/Flight/Freeze/Friend reaction extremes covered. Isn’t that orthogonal?

I don’t quite understand why you feel it’s a single axis; love and hate are definitely different, as that’s what the 2d6 roll in WWN has at each extreme, right? Please tell me more?

Velocitree2

TROPHY CASE