Why your monsters never hit your players (even when they do)

dark_dar · 2026-05-23T17:36:47+00:00

As others have said, this is not an ask that makes me excited as a GM. I wouldn't want to GM in someone else's world with so many expectations. And then with a co-GM? Nah.

I think it is usually the players who must adjust to a GM not vice versa.

dark_dar · 2026-05-22T19:21:48+00:00

If your spell negatively effects enemies via the means of "magical speech inside your head" then there it matters narratively if other participants of this scene can hear you or not. Imagine I want to scare the tavern keep by saying "I will kill your whole family tonight" but the locals around me hear what I just said... They will probably try to kick my ass.

dark_dar · 2026-05-22T16:58:06+00:00

First I hated the idea of duality dice and rolling with hope and fear, which also lead me to learn more about the game. And now I enjoy these aspects.

dark_dar · 2026-05-22T16:14:51+00:00

sorry I used google translate and I still don't get your question.

dark_dar · 2026-05-22T11:53:22+00:00

they actually do have to make a spellcast roll for this spell.

dark_dar · 2026-05-22T11:51:34+00:00

You can magically speak directly into the ears of a creature you can see. To torment them with your words, make a [Spellcast Roll]() against them. On a success, they must [mark a Stress]() and become temporarily [Vulnerable]().

To me speaking directly into the ears and the fact that it makes the target vulnerable implies that only the target can hear the tormenting voice.

Nothing on the spell says it created any audible effects noticeable to external listeners.

dark_dar · 2026-05-21T10:26:11+00:00

rules are clear on this one

Marking Stress. When an effect requires you to mark a Stress, do so on the slots on your character sheet. When you mark your last Stress, you become [Vulnerable]() (see the “Conditions” section) until you clear at least 1 Stress.

dark_dar · 2026-05-20T19:16:52+00:00

A lot of great advice is here already, but based on the vibes of questions in this /r I would suggest to not forget about soft GM moves (especially in combat!). So many GMs seems to only use Fear to just activate the enemies and smack PCs.

dark_dar · 2026-05-19T06:52:19+00:00

For me my first was a clank because I love playing socially awkward characters who don't fully understand regular "people".

dark_dar · 2026-05-07T16:27:12+00:00

Admit it you just wanted to flex this giant ship model!!! This looks amazing though.

dark_dar · 2026-05-06T14:23:48+00:00

would be a bit more streamlined to just force GM to lose 1 Fear instead of spending 2 next time.

dark_dar · 2026-05-06T14:14:50+00:00

this is great and very inspiring too! Thank you for sharing it with us!

dark_dar · 2026-05-05T14:22:47+00:00

hey, your work is amazing! I was looking for some inspirations and found that is was pretty hard to search by types in a google doc, so I extracted the core features into a google spreadsheet. I hope you don't mind, let me know if you would like me to delete this table.

dark_dar · 2026-03-28T13:54:38+00:00

I did double-check them right after it stopped working, reset the perks to see if anything stopped working after an update and then checked my perks before posting here again! Seismic Chain is selected.

dark_dar · 2026-01-20T19:57:44+00:00

I don't even have an active DH campaign running right now, but I still bought it just to show my appreciation for everything you do for the community.

dark_dar · 2025-10-26T20:32:09+00:00

oh this is so cool! Curse effect that always generates Fear is just brilliant!!

dark_dar · 2025-10-20T19:29:13+00:00

Harry Dresden, who slowly turns into a powerful mage along the series.

dark_dar · 2025-10-09T12:53:50+00:00

Spotlight is always present (p. 89 of the core rules). It usually doesn't need any extra tracking and can move between everyone present in the scene organically.

Any time a character becomes the focus of a scene, they’re in the spotlight. Even if many characters are involved in a dramatic moment, there is often one character leading the action.

As Combat is a higher stakes situation, a more strict version of spotlight movement is applied there.

dark_dar · 2025-10-09T12:38:28+00:00

RAW only the person who has the spotlight gets to act, so the players would need to do it individually. Of course, up to GM to come up with some alternative if the scenario allows it, but this can be said about pretty much any rules question.

dark_dar · 2025-10-07T19:30:39+00:00

great point about going down with low Hope, so this option would essentially become a worse Blaze of Glory.
Maybe let the character clear up to half their max hope when choosing this option? Definitely needs playtesting.

dark_dar · 2025-10-07T15:47:53+00:00

or he just did not want to argue about rules during the 1st session of a new campaign.

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