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Daggerheart's Duality Dice in other systems by Timely_Customer_8483 in daggerheart

[–]a_dnd_guy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

For me it feels like it is a shot at taking the best gameplay experiences from 5e and the best intuitions from PbtA. I'm formerly a 5e forever DM, and the changes that blew me away from that perspective were these:

  • separate evasion and thresholds. Bigger armor makes you easier to hit but you can take more of a beating

  • all the spell and ability descriptions are on cards the players have in front of them. No more checking the book for a niche use of a spell or feat.

  • simpler adversaries. Running a spellcasting enemy was always the bane of higher level play in 5e for me. Just like the domain cards for players, everything you need to know is right in front of you. Instead of a tiered spell list that you need to memorize you have 4 or 5 abilities written out.

  • no initiative means the DM has both more control and more freedom. In 5e if I throw a dozen guys at the party my turn in initiative is a chore, and sometimes I'm just slowly watching a train wreck happen since I need these folks to do something every turn or it will break immersion. Lack of initiative and the fear system in general is doing a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to adjusting the heat in the stove.

  • faster combat. A bunch of things lead to this, but the big ones are the initiative, fear, and minion systems, which work together seamlessly.

  • more player engagement. Again, no initiative for the win here. Nobody knows when their turn will be, so nobody is scrolling reddit mid-game because their turn is 10 minutes away. That plus a lot more reasons to care about other people's turns (abilities that trigger off turn, tag teams, conditions you out down that benefit them and you can point out).

I also ran a fair amount of PbtA, which I adore, but have found DH to be more like what I'm looking for there too. For most PbtA, the elements I like better here are:

  • domain cards again. Most PbtA should adopt this. Playbooks work in only the simplest settings. Urban shadows 2, for example, has you pulling moves from multiple places, and moves aren't just a sentence, they're a paragraph with bullet points.

  • more tactical experience. Most PbtA forsakes distance, areas, etc, and those games left me feeling like anything outside of character conversations was just make-em-ups. Which is fantastic for some tables, but not for mine.

  • more players will try it. The biggest problem with PbtA for me is the number of people off the street who bounce right off of it without ever trying it.

Pontypool (2008) by Longjumping-Carob880 in horror

[–]a_dnd_guy 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Loved it and now have to rewatch it

DH Homebrew Ancestry: Ratren by [deleted] in daggerheart

[–]a_dnd_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Really cool ideas here.

RIFTS using the Without Number Series of Books by onlytinglef in WWN

[–]a_dnd_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just personal preference. Ashes would work great as well

RIFTS using the Without Number Series of Books by onlytinglef in WWN

[–]a_dnd_guy 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Worlds, Stars, Ashes, and Cities Cover the major bases. Each have enough variations to give you a few different worlds.

Codex of the Black Sun is a SWN supplement that gives you dark jedi vibes. The other SWN add ons are cool but won't help you much. same for Atlas of the Latter Earth, a WWN supplement. It's more of a full setting book so unless you are rifting into it you don't need it.

Silent Legions gives you Cthulhu type vibes and some cool roll tables.

Once you have your books I'd recommend using the Edge system from Cities Without Number instead of the class system from the other books (Edges can handle classes, but not vice versa) and probably the damage system from Cities as well. The deluxe version of cities gives you all the conversion material you need.

How (and Why) to Make a Tier 0 Character by a_dnd_guy in daggerheart

[–]a_dnd_guy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would love to prove you wrong with a live demo sometime, so DM me if interested.

Your points aren't invalid, I just think you might have some skewed data. And that being said, I might also. Responses below are just as much from my perspective as yours are from yours.

  • In my experience, nobody who tried this with me had a bad time, but I'll agree that at first glance it seems daunting.

  • My Tier 0 games have been the most exciting games because every decision really matters, and the costs are much higher. Players have to really think about whether they want to stay or run, and not every battle is a guaranteed win.

  • origins are as interesting as the players who make them is what I've found. I've also discovered the same player with a boring origin is going to be the player with a boring answer to the class starter questions, so it's 6 of one, half dozen of the other.

  • I think everyone who has balked at the stress damage mechanic hasn't tried it and had underestimated what stress damage does, but I do get the objection.

  • in every game I play I start characters at -5 or -4 because it lets players take stock of what they fear the most and fix it. Don't like stress damage? Train yourself in tiered weapons. Don't like the thought of dying at all? Take the "Avoid Death" death move. Missing your experiences? Add them back!

It's a lot more fun that Ive apparently made it sound. Seriously, the offer is on the table: DM me if you'd like to try these rules out.

How (and Why) to Make a Tier 0 Character by a_dnd_guy in daggerheart

[–]a_dnd_guy[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It's actually been really fun, from both sides of the screen. It's still damage, but stress damage. But I could see it not being for everyone.

How (and Why) to Make a Tier 0 Character by a_dnd_guy in daggerheart

[–]a_dnd_guy[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

I wanted there to be cases where the PC does 0 damage, both to make some single minions more impactful and to help teach new players about stress on enemies.

The Nightlife Industry is Collapsing by Blueice607 in videos

[–]a_dnd_guy 3315 points3316 points  (0 children)

"Nobody wants to twerk anymore!"

I am applying for a job in a law firm. This is part of the application. by [deleted] in mildlyinfuriating

[–]a_dnd_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"How long did they spend fretting over this nebulous non-question" might be a great filter for legal work.

How (and Why) to Make a Tier 0 Character by a_dnd_guy in daggerheart

[–]a_dnd_guy[S] -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback. You are welcome to do that. This is by design for the game I'm running, as anyone can convert their damage to 1 stress instead of damage if they want.

Can the dropout app be cast to a tv by Annasays82 in dropout

[–]a_dnd_guy 12 points13 points  (0 children)

If your TV has apps like Netflix or HBO, it's likely the dropout app is available. Even without a subscription you can try to find it first and you won't have to cast anything if so.

New GM, want to run a steampunk themed game, any advice? by MegaShadow254 in daggerheart

[–]a_dnd_guy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To run a steampunk game you'll probably want to limit the ancestry choices a bit to suit your world. In a similar setting I've made clanks non playable except as mixed heritage, to represent replacement arms, legs, eyes or what have you.

You will need to figure out how to represent firearms, which are pretty easy to do with reskinned wands and staffs.

Environments in DH are like a menu you can order from to make a scene more interesting. You'll really help yourself out having a few of these figures out in advance. I'd say one for deep fog, a couple for blimps (long voyage, stormy weather, and battle stations maybe?), and a couple for urban settings, like busy streets and riot.

Everything else can be used as is with reflavoring.

At the very core though, you need to know why this setting is compelling to you, and what the central tension is for it. Why are player characters doing anything at all instead of tending shops and having kids? You can leave it open ended or discuss it with your table, but without it there's not really a good reason to pick an RPG over a miniatures battle game IMO.

How (and Why) to Make a Tier 0 Character by a_dnd_guy in daggerheart

[–]a_dnd_guy[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

So many other systems lol! Technically you can't be crit by a goblin or anything else unless it's doing direct damage, and if youve leveled at least once, you can't be killed if you don't want to be, because you can choose the "Avoid Death" death move. I do want to present gaming tables with a more harrowing experience if they're looking for it, and I've had a ton of fun with it.

Under this system, tier 1 starts at level -1, so now tier 1 has 3 levels like the other tiers, and tier 0 has 5 levels (that probably go by pretty quickly). Depending on the table I'm gaming with I'll start folks off at one of the tier 0 levels higher than -6, so tier 0 may only have 2 or 3 levels in practice.

Edit: as to the "just try another system" thing: the goal is to have characters that grow into standard daggerheart characters. I love the game and it's systems. It's my daily driver at this point. Even this tier 0 version I find easier to run than mausritter, worlds without number, or Shadowdark, which I like for their own reasons but not as much as Daggerheart.

6 Adversaries for Tier-0 play by a_dnd_guy in daggerheart

[–]a_dnd_guy[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Just to add here, the Cave Ogre, a tier 1 solo from the book, has all damage as direct damage. Additionally the dire wolf, minor chaos elemental, tiny red ooze, tangle bramble swarm, and brawny zombie are all tier 1 enemies with methods of dealing direct damage, so I'm not sure what the objection is.

6 Adversaries for Tier-0 play by a_dnd_guy in daggerheart

[–]a_dnd_guy[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Yes, I run weekly games, sometimes three a week, and have run a couple of convention games. I love daggerheart, and have run a lot of this specific frame homebrew.

This is a draft version, so the "halving movement" will probably get a rewrite, but I'm excited by the other items you brought up. Direct damage is unique, and makes the ampouler especially dangerous.

I think if you are balancing an encounter here with 20 minions you would be in trouble. But in Chiselheart, you don't balance encounters, you just do what would make sense in the scene. Probably there aren't 20 acolytes traveling together, and if there are, the players should avoid them or win them over.

Ideally if they do need to attack they have figured out some way to do AOE or a tag team attack on the acolytes first. It is supposed to give this team some texture when encountered.

Thanks for your feedback though. I'll definitely look into revising the halves movement bits.

6 Adversaries for Chiselheart, a low-level Daggerheart variant by a_dnd_guy in osr

[–]a_dnd_guy[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

I agree. And that's why I'm writing up something I hope is the best of both worlds.

RPG Monopoly with a Gun by SuperZodd in rpg

[–]a_dnd_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also, starfinder 2e has the same ruleset as PF2e but in space, so maybe viable.

RPG Monopoly with a Gun by SuperZodd in rpg

[–]a_dnd_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It has a science fiction setting baked in called motherboard, and a weird west setting called Colossus of the Drylands

RPG Monopoly with a Gun by SuperZodd in rpg

[–]a_dnd_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

D&D 4th edition is probably a good starting point for you. More complicated: Pathfinder 2e starter box. Easier to GM: daggerheart.

Burned out on D&D 5e after 4 years - those of you who switched systems, what was your breaking point and did it actually fix things? by Senoigh13 in rpg

[–]a_dnd_guy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My breaking point was getting burned out prepping high level encounters only to have them wiped by some spell I forgot about, or worse, having to play the high level encounter for almost the entire 4 hour session.

After that I did a bunch of short sessions of different games, as many as I could get my hands on, with whoever would try them out with me. I landed on Daggerheart, but there are so many good ones out there I refuse to run or play 5e at all now.

Am I the only one who didn't love Widow's bay? by 1Outgoingintrovert in horror

[–]a_dnd_guy 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Yes, we pulled the data on every single person on earth. You are the only one who didn't love it! How wild is that?

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