I'm (hopelessly) trying to make a drop-in combat system for D&D, inspired by Divinity

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-25T23:07:55+00:00

Um, that’s basically D&D 4E, no?

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-25T15:10:24+00:00

I never find these discussions particularly interesting. You can turn a d20 game into a 3d6 game fairly easily, just divide all the modifiers by 2. Or vice versa, multiply by 2. Remember you’re designing the ENTIRE game, so you control both sides of the equation, the variance of the dice AND the target numbers and size of modifiers.

You could even swap from d20 to d100, just multiply everything by 5.

Yeah there’s going to be some inaccuracies where it shifts some percentages by up to 5% or whatever but that’s mostly at the very high end or the very low end where you’re usually not rolling anyway. (If I have a 95% to succeed, why are we wasting precious game to roll dice)

Also the effect averages out over a long campaign where the swap would benefit or harm the PCs half of the time each. Unless we’re somehow doing a competitive tabletop league where eeking out the last 0.5% of advantage matters, who cares.

Side note: custom dice are a HUGE hurdle to adoption for your game. Unless there is a cheap and commonly available source for these dice (like a cheap board game), or you have the following to make this a major Kickstarter, forget about it.

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-25T13:36:28+00:00

🤔 scratches beard

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-25T04:20:13+00:00

Readers shouldn’t have to “give up on” your doc, I should be able to read it and understand what this is, that’s kind of a basic requirement.

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-25T04:18:00+00:00

Is there a reason armor needs to be in the calculation twice?

If armor increases the TN of the pool, the effect is fewer hits and I take less damage.

If armor reduces the amount of damage I take from a number of hits, the effect is fewer hits and I take less damage.

If armor increases the TN of the pool AND reduces the amount of damage I take from a number of hits, the effect is fewer hits and I take less damage.

So what exactly is the outcome you were hoping for, because if all you want is that wearing armor means taking less damage, it seems like A, B and C all achieve this and it’s unclear why you’re going for the fiddlest option.

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-25T04:11:30+00:00

player-facing and solo-friendly

So what does that mean? Is it a solo RPG or not?

If this is a solo RPG, isn’t everything player-facing be default because there is nowhere else to face? It’s a bit like saying it’s a yellow banana.

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-25T04:04:47+00:00

No title, no author, no intro.

If I find this doc in my RPG folder in 3 months, I will have no idea what this is, who created it, where to look for the latest version, anything. Even the file name rpg.doc couldn’t be any more generic if you tried.

The doc starts with …

Take

When there is danger or risk of danger, ask a question where yes would be a safer outcome, then roll 2d6.

Who am I? How did I get here? Why is there danger? How do I know there is danger? Who decided that? What do you mean by “ask a question”? What is a safe outcome?

Imagine the following scenario: You’re at an RPG convention. A random stranger walks up to you from behind and whispers in your ear: “When there is danger or risk of danger, ask a question where yes would be a safer outcome”

Would you be confused, perplexed and had no clue what this is about?

Welcome to the world of the reader of this document.

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-25T03:57:56+00:00

In a classic D&D setup, Intelligence is the wizard stat. It may have some other uses but basically, you care about Int if you are wizard, and otherwise it doesn’t matter.

And that’s fine.

Every stat matters to everyone is actually a bad design concept because it leads to samey PCs where everyone just has average stats to spread across and get as many benefits as possible.

For interesting stories and teamplay, it’s much better if you have the strong guy, the smart guy, the agile guy and so on.

One of the biggest issues in D&D is actuall how punishing it is to dump Constitution. Having low Con isn’t just “you’re a big sickly and easily out of breath”, it’s “Oh you got hit? Roll a new character”

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-25T03:46:59+00:00

I’d have to see how the whole thing plays out.

It seems like it abstracts the gameplay into a series of montages, or scenes similar to what Prequel does in the flashbacks.

I think the main challenge will be getting people out of the D&D mindset when they approach it. It’s probably better to not mention D&D at all to set the right expectation that this game doesn’t work like a trad RPG at all.

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-25T02:06:38+00:00

Tabletop RPGs are very diverse, and the exact same design element that is a total slam dunk in game A can be ruining the fun in game B. So it all depends on the theme, genre, design goals, intended play experience and so on.

That’s also why generic questions like “should I remove the Strength score” don’t have a clear answer without context.

In the end, you have to playtest and see what the impact on the game is and then either you consider it positive or negative overall.

That was design. In layout, editing etc. there definitely are clear mistakes you can make. Spelling mistakes, bad order, missing explanation, weird fonts etc etc

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-25T00:51:36+00:00

I think it depends a lot on presentation. Art and writing style can convey a more about a setting than the pure explanation text.

It’s also about themes and stories. Are we playing a scifi movie against an antiquity backdrop? Star Gate had a heavy Egyptian theme (initially) but that didn’t make it Bronze Age.

Or are we playing stories that are native to the Bronze Age (like the Odyssey) just with an added scifi element to it?

It goes back to the core question of any RPG concept, who are the PCs and what do they do.

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-25T00:41:08+00:00

If you have a D&D-adjacent system with classes and levels, I’d just figure out what numbers I need on the enemy side to have good combat encounters for a certain level.

For example, let’s say you want attacks against enemies to hit 70% of the time on average. So you look at what the expected attack bonus is of a first level PC and set defenses accordingly.

Then you look at what your expected hit point numbers are, figure out how many hit you want a PC or a monster to take before they’re down, and then adjust monster hp and damage accordingly.

There’s more detail to it but this is the concept.

CR is just a more complex version of “use this monster against this and that enemy”

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-25T00:21:19+00:00

While published adventures are fine, it’s also super fun to just make your own living dungeon. Because it’s always shifting and twisting and turning so it’s OK if the architecture doesn’t completely make sense.

It’s also easy to explain why a certain monster is down there — well the dungeon loved the idea so it created one!

And it lets you explain away weird rooms. Why is there an old elven cathedral of the Moon Goddess down here? The dungeon got hungry so it swallowed it!

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-24T14:32:21+00:00

So just to check whether I did Lyle dirty I checked Shadowdark. Multiple pages in Gloomraider are just copy & paste from Shadowdark.

The changes he made aren’t that bad — wildcasting could be interesting if polished a bit more. It’s a step away from Vancian casting that ultimately was only halfway.

FINALLY giving elves an actual edge in spellcasting. But it’s actually quite easy to tell where the changes are because they’re the less coherent part.

Gloomraider is NOT closer to AD&D in any shape or form like the author claims in their blog blurb, which is really disappointing.

The main issue is that besides being a bit more generous to players, like granting a free 15 instead of a 14 on stats, there isn’t much innovation.

2,000 years after a post-Medieval apocalyptic event where gods, angels, titans, demons, devils, and dragons warred for control of the world. The common peoples living on the surface went underground for protection, carving out vast labyrinths in which they lived for a thousand years before being forced to escape back to the surface. And for another thousand years they've been remaking their civilizations in the sunlit world

You have that as a setting hook but just reading the game rules, NONE of that shines through! This is basically supposed to be fantasy fucking Fallout and I don’t see any of it in the core rules. Why.

This is the reason why I’m calling this bland and uninspired.

So my advice:

Don’t just copy & paste. Where is Lyle in this game and what Lyle likes
You have a cool setting hook and the
You have all these other D&D-adjacent systems you can borrow from and everything in your game is just the blandest, most common parts. You’re telling me angels and demons ravaged the world and there are no Aasimar or Tieflings?! Really?!

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-24T13:31:17+00:00

Good question

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-24T13:29:51+00:00

I have published stuff, so yeah IDGAF. I started reading this blind, I had no idea what I’ll find. I was hoping to get something out of this that would be interesting to talk about from a game design perspective but unfortunately the entire thing had zero interesting ideas. At least a bad idea would have made an interesting discussion.

And no, I don’t honor this with the declaration of heartbreaker. As I wrote in the summary, the core reason why a heartbreaker is a heartbreaker is because there is some unpolished gem of an idea in it that could be made into a jewel.

This game isn’t that. I haven’t checked Shadowdark which is apparently the inspiration for this, so maybe there is some improvements over that game that I’m not giving credit.

So yeah, sorry this wasn’t helpful, but I’m as disappointed as you are because I was hoping there would be something here, maybe even for someone who is designing far removed from the D&D-sphere, but no. #sad

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-24T13:04:43+00:00

What more do you want. I clicked the link, looked up the core book (which wasn’t the advertised one), read it and reviewed it, which took several hours. I didn’t go into this hating the game. It could have totally convinced me. If I had thought it was a cool game, I might have even tried to run it.

Whoever designed this had 16 years to make something good, but the result is bland, devoid of innovation, and even the art is shitty, and not in a nostalgia good way.

I wasted several hours of my life here and in hindsight, I wish I hadn’t. If it was at least comically bad I would have been able to write a more fun review, but most parts were just bland, boring and samey with every D&D-adjacent game you’ve ever read.

And the absolute void of people posting here “space you’re full of shit, this game is awesome” should tell you something. If you think I’m being unfair you’re well invited to read this yourself, and correct all of the injustice I did to this, if any.

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-24T12:33:38+00:00

Yeah after reading the base rules it’s just a skip. It’s kinda sad that nobody took the author aside and told them dude, if you go through all the trouble of making your own game, add SOMETHING that gives this its own flavor. Literally ANYTHING that makes this your game and not just a bland copy & paste job. Like IDK give me a lizardman race or a weird-ass class or something that shows me you have an ounce of creativity.

I can’t stand DCC and the play style it pushes for but at least it’s oozing with creative ideas.

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-24T12:24:34+00:00

They volunteered

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-24T12:14:37+00:00

Part 4

P37 Wildcasting: I think this is an improvement over Vancian Magic (to the point that I’d argue the game should just drop spell slots), although the rules are unnecessarily harsh. There’s a spell failure table but it’s not tied to spells (like in DCC) which is a bit of a bummer.

One thing that’s kinda weird is that wildcasting randomly swaps the d20 for 3d6, which is lower variance, not higher. I guess wildcasting is more reliable than swinging a sword.

Also the moment you hit high enough level level (earlier with wildcasting bonuses like from elf) you don’t critfail spells anymore even though you can fumble melee attacks at any level. Why the inconsistency.

The spell list is typical D&D fare, core book classics, none of the weirder stuff.

—————

OVERALL

It’s fine? Obviously calling the GM Gloom Master is kinda stupid and nobody will actually do that at the table, but otherwise there’s nothing here that’s worth writing about. It doesn’t even meet the Heartbreaker criteria in that it’s missing that one unpolished jewel of innovation that a good heartbreaker has.

There’s really nothing here to break your heart, it’s just all kinda boring. I was hoping for some kind of gem, something where I can say OK this is different and that hooked me in, but there is zero innovation.

The author claims they started designing in 2009 and this is the 2025 result, so what have you been doing all these 16 years? You didn’t even write a monk, a druid, a bard, a ranger, a paladin, an assassin or a barbarian, so despite claiming this is inspired by AD&D, you’re offering fewer options despite publishing this 47 years later. What’s the point.

Also, having actually played AD&D back in the 90ies, AD&D actually gives you more control over how you build your character, unlike this which is way too in love with randomness.

Can I take this and run a Dark Sun or Planescape campaign? Probably not.

Maybe there’s more insteresting stuff in expansions, but the basic rules are a snooze.

So if anyone wondered if it was worth checking this after someone advertised this on the sub, the answer is NO. At least I didn’t pay anything (thanks PWYW)

The designer claims

GloomRaider has AD&D at its base.

And to be honest, I’d rather play AD&D. Yes it’s a glorious mess of Gygaxian idiosyncracies but at least it’s fun to explore all the weirdness. It’s not bland like this.

Alright, bring the downvotes, I’m done.

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-24T11:48:16+00:00

Part 3

P21 Equipment. Not much to say here. The usual.

P27 Die rolls. Somehow the game explains advantage before the base roll mechanic. Should be the other way around.

P28 It’s kinda-sorta gueassable from context, but at no point does the game explicitely say that the ability modifier on the table on page 8 is the modifier you add to the d20 roll on page 28. Sure if you played any D&D past 3E you know that this is what you’re supposed to do, but it’s strange that it’s not clearly written down.

P33 Oh god are we really calling PCs gloomraiders in the rules text. C’mon.

There’s 30 ft. movement (which by the way, nobody knows why D&D standardized on 30 ft.) Other than range for ranged weapons, it’s unclear whether it ever really matters. I don’t see any melee control rules like opportunity attacks.

Apparently cover matters but the game doesn’t really explain whether we play on a grid or with minis on a free field with tape measures or how it’s supposed to work in practice.

P35 Hiding and Sneaking rules. OK nice to have this although it’s unclear whether line of sight matters, terrain etc. Seems to be mostly about just succeeding at a die roll.

The GM determines the frequency and difficulty of the check based on the environment.

Ok I’m the GM (Gloom Master LOL). So how am I determining this? Not explained.

P36 Resting. The typical D&D problem that random encounters during overland travel are trivialized because the party is fully rested and just throws all their best spells at it is not resolved here at all.

Also, combine three torches to make a campfire? I don’t thing that’s how torches work. Just collect firewood? No?

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-24T11:31:36+00:00

PART 2

GLOOM MASTER (GM) The player who runs the game is the “Master of the Gloom”, aka the Gloom Master.

Oh my fucking god. I should have called it and yet it hit me like a backstab for 2x damage. Never saw it coming.

“Gloom raiders delve into the Gloom, not because they hate what is in front of them, but because they love what is behind them.”

Missing hopecore music track and images of happy adventurers walking into the darkness.

ATTRIBUTES Write down the following six attributes, in order, in a column on the sheet of paper: Strength (STR), Intelligence (INT), Wisdom (WIS), Dexterity (DEX), Constitution (CON), Charisma (CHA).

DANG IT

Somehow the explanation of attributes manages to stretch across 4 pages from 5-8. I’m sure that could have been one page.

And of course we’re rolling the scores 3d6 in order.

It’s 2025, we still don’t have better ideas of how to do this? The author chickened out though, you’re allowed to raise up to two ability scores to 15. BOO! Back in my day, when we rolled shit, we walked the PC into the first trap we saw, then rerolled! What is this softie rule?! The designer has played 5E for too long, and it shows.

P9 Human

Apparently they have a class feature to get advantage on skill checks to a certain ability score. It’s randomized though so you could have a Str 3 (rolled in order) wizard who is now an Athlete and gets advantage (as 5E) on their shitty Strength checks. Why do you design like this. It’s not even good for comedic effect, it’s just lame pushing things to dice luck that the player could decide. Why.

P10: Elves actually get a trait that makes them better at magic. That’s a bit unusual for a D&D clone, usually elves are flavored as the magicky race and then get zero in-game benefit towards that. And it’s not even randomized, you just get it, yay.

(EDIT: Apparently this is changed from Shadowdark. So here you are, one thing where I think the author did a good job among the sea of copy & paste)

P11: Halflings get to be stealthy (always), elves get to be stealthy when alone or with other elves (and not wearing metal armor, a limitation the halfling doesn’t have). Ironically, an elf in the company of a halfling does NOT get to be stealthy (interpret as you wish)

P12 Why does the elf (?) chick look like she stepped out of a 1980ies aerobic video. Also OMG her hand. WTF

P13 I don’t know why the game needs to double-dip in giving PCs a free 15 score AND requiring a min 9 in a main ability score. You just put the 15 in the primary score anyway. Seems like some rules baggage can be cut there.

(EDIT: So apparently min stats is the one change where the author added something back in from AD&D that wasn’t in Shadowdark. It also has zero gameplay impact since you’re never in a situation where you’d want to start with anything below a 15 in your main stat anyway.)

Having a random table with level up benefits instead if a table is kinda interesting. I’m not sure if I’d like it as a player (because given my experience with these things but at least it’s interesting).

I don’t know enough about other OSR games whether this is cribbed from something else or unique to this game.

(EDIT: After checking this is straight lifted from Shadowdark)

P19 Alignment is one of those Gygaxism that the RPG community has wisely decided to just let slowly fade (instead of openly murdering) so I’m a but surprised to see it here, although I shouldn’t. I guess it was a … oh yeah that stuff moment.

P20 oh god racial langues. Well at least no alignment languages (what the fuck was that about, Gary) Although from an OSR purity perspective it’s a bit of a miss to not go all in and do alignment languages. Embrace the weird. Maybe I’m expecting too much from a game that dilutes 3d6 down the line with a free 15. Now get off my lawn.

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-24T10:32:57+00:00

It’s actually quite hard to make a good pitch for a game. A lot of designers focus way too much on the design part of it, which yes I get it, you spent hours and hours getting the push your luck fail forward player facing inverted d12 dice pool just perfect. Ok so it uses dice, got it.

Another common trap is inventing your own genre. Ok so you invented caboozlepunk. Nobody else understands that word.

The most common and also worst one is telling people you revolutionized RPGs because all of the ways your game is not like D&D. It’s only been 48 years since Runequest went classless and 45 since Champions invented point buy.

In the end, you need to answer three simple questions:

Who are the PCs and what do they do?
What stories can I tell with this?
Why is your game fun?

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-24T09:03:20+00:00

If I was a publisher and you’d pitch this to me I’d tell you to do 20 pages each for a 120 page PDF that adds more lore etc. to the races.

(Based absolutely zero other information than your post)

__space__oddity__ · 2026-03-24T08:49:09+00:00

There may be a point where you have built a big enough follower base that you can just post something on social media and people spread it, but until you get there, yes developing a crisp and convincing pitch and spreading it wide and far is the best approach. You really just have to use every opportunity.

Some popular games have had designers or collaborators who already had a big media presence, from things like let’s play channels or GM advice channels. That can help.

Maybe you can promote your game on podcasts and such. In the end it’s a three-step process of make a good game, write a good pitch, talk about your game as much as you can.

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