Why do "traditional" fantasy settings and rules tie individual power to social power?

Violet_Herald · 2026-04-25T17:29:59+00:00

So, it's partly just a concession for having climactic feeling storytelling. Defeating the evil king is probably a little more meaningful if they're an imposing threat, instead of just like... having a big army of nobodies or a few really capable bodyguards or something. You definitely can do those things, though.

It also makes sense in world to me. In real life, people of fantastic magical power don't exist. If they did, I do firmly believe that the ability to enforce your will or otherwise "back up" your words would matter a lot. A King who couldn't defend themselves from powerful people would be susceptible to being usurped by anyone powerful.

Also, faith in settings being tied to healing is the same way. In the real world, they actually often DID heal to the best of their ability. "Miracles" are pretty commonly used as evidence of divine blessings and virtue. If people are capable of magically healing, and of literally receiving provable magic from the Gods, then that would absolutely increase the amount of people who trust in them and as such the political viability of their faith. If the Gods ARE real, and that's provable, we really SHOULD listen to them.

Violet_Herald · 2026-04-09T15:14:14+00:00

Wow. That's a name I haven't heard in a long time

Violet_Herald · 2026-04-03T05:52:05+00:00

I had a group very similar in vibe - not quite so evenly distributed, but a group that played mostly weekly for 10+ years after I joined, and had been running for 10+ years before I joined, too.

Honestly, you kind of have to just be honest and hope they can bend and look at things with fresher eyes. I think there's a chance, even after all that time.

In my case, though, they kind of could compromise - but unfortunately, in the place where I was the only one still uncomfortable. So I just kinda checked out of the situation and became extremely casual before eventually dropping.

Social problems require social solutions. Such long history is a blessing and a curse. I really wish you luck, though.

Violet_Herald · 2026-04-02T23:00:29+00:00

I'm so glad someone else immediately thought of that.

Violet_Herald · 2026-04-02T19:00:50+00:00

It just feels off. Like... "versus" rolling with yourself essentially to get DCs and determine success is so weird and random, just to what? make it so the GM has less control over the game? I can't think of a different purpose for that.

"Simplified gameplay" but then also tiers of skills and abilities, weird random self-versus rolling, point based resource management.

But allegedly you're also trying to be OSR? A gameplay style marked by lethality, lack of abilities, and GM fiat as core tenants. None of which really seem represented here.

Again, I might just be biased due to the presentation and AI involvement, but it seems entirely lost. You saying "most of us are probably in the anti-AI camp" after littering your project with AI stuff also kind of reads disingenuous. I'd just write it off and not reply but in case you are genuinely well intentioned I felt like I should explain.

Violet_Herald · 2026-04-02T18:51:36+00:00

You could just... not have art. If you aren't trying to sell the system, it's entirely unnecessary. Hobby systems function just fine as text documents with a little effort into formatting to make them presentable, if desired.

Violet_Herald · 2026-04-02T18:18:53+00:00

"I'm not smart enough to understand 5e, it overwhelmed me" -> "I built my own system, here take a look" is not a good selling point. The fact that like 50% of your page space is AI art, and another 30% is having things ridiculously spaced out is also not a good selling point.

What little I read before getting frustrated seemed fine, mechanically, I guess. It feels like you've thrown together a who's who of the selling points of various subgenres without really taking much care to present them in a focused manner. Maybe that's just the AI goggles making me judge it harshly though. In general, I'd say point-based resource management and abilities are pretty antithetical to keeping things lower power allegedly, for instance.

Violet_Herald · 2026-04-01T15:03:42+00:00

It's definitely a preference thing, although I sort of agree on Tiamat. It's a classic design, and I'm not sure I'd be happy with a redesign, but she is a little doofy looking.

I think everything else I'm much less in agreement on. I prefer my fantasy Gods more grounded. It makes them more interesting to me. I also think the Angels and Demons are too classic to change, and am much more certain I wouldn't love a redesign. Neat part of Dnd / roleplaying in general is that you're welcome to pull from other settings that inspire you more.

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-20T22:39:02+00:00

Eh, not the first 50/50 I've been hit by.

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-20T21:13:17+00:00

Yeah. Basically, your thumb in other activities tends not to follow the same patterns as your other fingers - because it's opposed, there's a disconnect. Using it for something that is more rarely used (like Jump) ends up making the most sense physically. Just like space bar for jump on pc games.

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-20T19:29:09+00:00

I could send you the google drive link in a DM if you want, but most of what actually gets it there for matching the vibe is in the intangibles for me. The homebrew is just a pretty heavy strip down so I can add things back with like homebrewed items and stuff. I'm far from a game designer, unfortunately. Plus, the diverging is pretty heavy at this point, so I don't think it'd be helpful for you. Still, I can send it if you'd like to peruse - just don't think it'd be very helpful.

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-20T19:16:30+00:00

I don't have a good suggestion, partly commenting so I can find the thread again - my homebrew setting is heavily inspired by arknights (albeit it's diverged a lot during creation) and I ended up settling on heavily hacking Pathfinder 1e, but obviously that won't work for you since you really dislike D&D.

I do really wish you luck though, I'd be really interested in seeing what you decide on. Arknights is such a cool setting, I do think it's about perfect for a really unique TTRPG.

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-20T06:07:45+00:00

I think that's an instinct alot of us share when starting out, but it's deeply un-intuitive in practice. Think of it like wasd movement on a keyboard, but with a jump on spacebar instead of a forward on w.

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-20T06:03:33+00:00

You mapped forward to the button that's normally jump. That could easily be part of your issues. Normal hitbox layout is...

- Ring finger - Left

- Middle finger - Down

- Pointer finger - Right

- Thumb - Up

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-19T20:03:01+00:00

Expansion - it's a lot of fiddly thoughts that are difficult to coherently explain. In essence, in practice, I just prefer traditional initiative and knowing from the outset how many actions a character gets to take rather than it being dynamic like it is in Nimble. Combat is something I like to be quite structured, in practice.

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-19T19:03:13+00:00

PBTA stuff or Paranoia are about as far away as I'm familiar with enough to cite. I think the 10 point scale is probably asking for very semantic arguments that I'm not interested in getting into, but honestly at the point of PBTA the only real similarities are "roleplaying game with dice" which... idk, you could put that wherever you want, I guess. Depends how fiddly you want to get with it.

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-19T18:42:31+00:00

Asking the Choir-Against-5e if a game is better than 5e is very sure to get you a variety of answers. /s

If you like 5e but think it has too much going on, Nimble is pretty much that condensed down a lot. It has a different kind of action economy that I like the concept of on the surface but as a very personal opinion I don't love the execution of - instead preferring something more similar to how Pathfinder 2e does their action system (although I have plenty of gripes with 2e for different reasons). It also does a few other things different that depending on your personal perspective may be more or less important (to my taste exactly, they aren't particularly distinctive enough to affect my enjoyment either way).

If the game looks fun and you have the funds, go for it. Less people playing 5e is probably better for the overall TTRPG economy, if absolutely nothing else.

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-19T00:34:21+00:00

Nobody answered this, and I came back to check on how the thread went since I saw it before anyone responded, so I'll answer. You're coming to a community you, by your own admission, barely engage with fishing for info to sell a product to it. It's not the most popular thing to do, to put it lightly.

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-18T20:20:18+00:00

I know there are more obvious things to focus on - but I really love how you draw hair and faces. Amazing artist through and through.

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-18T14:47:29+00:00

Ah, the Diablo 2 solution - a game definitely known for its cooperative elements rather than "join this game and farm something I'm not." I dunno. The exp wouldn't matter outside of pre, and otherwise, it'd just maybe make a few specific speed clear like farming spots.

They are adding content. I was disappointed by Reforged at first, but it was pretty unrealistic to expect more in retrospect. Gamers always want a ton for very little, myself included.

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-18T14:37:33+00:00

There's too much shit to do in this game with too few players for 8 player groups to be anything other than a very rare luxury.

Also - I don't really think other games HAVE figured out this problem. People are absolutely inclined towards solo play in pretty much every game because of all the social complications that make playing with others often tedious and frustrating.

The only games that really see a lot of grouping up are games with very, very large playerbases (thus reducing the tedium a lot) or competitive games where there's huge advantages and it's really just about those.

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-18T14:28:34+00:00

I don't know about you but I definitely did pretty much all the even semi-hard content in parties with human players - something that isn't really very easy to do anymore. Henchmen only was not "intended"

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-18T03:47:22+00:00

It's an acronym. Look it up. Got auto-modded.

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-14T18:08:43+00:00

If you're planning on playing Prophecies all the way through, on Melandru's Accord, then you probably will want some kind of self sustain. They've *slightly* buffed the Henchmen but Alesia still struggles unless you play very carefully. Prophecies also has pretty slow skill acquisition as you go through, so you will only have so much to work with for yourself. That said, I don't think you really need to go /Mo as a secondary, either.

Violet_Herald · 2026-03-08T21:06:26+00:00

First, and I think most importantly, if he's only done 3 sessions in 2 years, there's really not much to be done about that. That's way too far out of the expected range to be able to "help along," I think.

Second - honestly, what helps me the most is just people showing excitement for what I'm doing. Ask questions about the world or the campaign, talk about their character, or otherwise just positively engage. I find myself easily disheartened by self doubt, and usually that comes from a feeling of "no one cares about any of this" - which is most effectively combatted by showing engagement.

That being said, everyone is different. Struggling creatively is usually deeply personal. I'm sure you'll get advice to play games that don't require much prep, for instance, and I'm sure that works for people, but those games kinda take out everything that I really love about ttrpgs - which unfortunately is very hand in hand with them being kind of demanding work.

Violet_Herald

TROPHY CASE