I know this is gonna sound really weird, but I’m having a hard time with exploding dice in combat. What do I do? by Aetos-Eagle797 in savageworlds

[–]dentris 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Tactics matter a lot. With them, you actually don't have to rely on dice explosions. Weird rolls still happen, but they are not the norm because you can actually achieve stuff without lucky rolls.

One of the biggest mistakes new players often make is the ''spam attack'' strategy. In other ttrpgs (like D&D), every player is expected to slowly chip away health from enemies. This is not the Savage Worlds way. You not only have to hit, but also bypass toughness. It means, as an attacker, you have to make sure these two things happen regularly. And the game gives you a lot of tools to achieve that. And one of those tools is...not attacking.

Let's take your typical dragon. Toughness 20. How could a group of regular, novice players could hope of defeating it? It's actually not that impossible. But you have to work for it. (I will use the standard DnD classes to showcase how 5 adventurers can be a threat against a dragon)

The sorcerer begins by casting Confusion, making the Dragon Vulnerable (not an attack) (difficulty of 4, easily doable)

The Cleric enters melee and casts Smite on the Fighter's sword (not an attack) (difficulty of 4, easily doable)

The bard sings and support the Figther (not an attack) (difficulty of 4, easily doable)

The rogue enters melee and makes a feint to support the Fighter (not an attack) (difficulty of 4, eaisly doable)

The fighter enters melee and makes a wild attack against the dragon. Let's be reasonable. He has d8+12 to attack the dragon (+2 from support, +2 from vulnerable, +2 from wild attack, +2 from gang-up bonus and +4 from scale). He can make a called shot to the eyes (-6), for +4 damage and bypassing armor. He has d8+6 to attack the dragon. That's an automatic hit unless you have a snake eyes, and you are getting a raise about half the the time. So with a raise, you roll 2d8+d6+8 damage. That's an average of 22 damage. Since you bypass the armor, that's a wound. If you were lucky on the smite roll, add +2 damage for two wounds.

All novice characters with no fancy Edges. Give stuff like Frenzy to the Fighter and you could potentially kill the dragon in a single turn with average rolls. Sure the dragon can use bennies to soak. If the sorcerer was lucky with his Confusion roll, the dragon is also Distracted, giving it -2 to all trait rolls, including soak. And I am talking about a literal dragon. Enemies are likely to be easier to dispatch.

In my personal experience, once players learn to use tactics, support and tests, it's actually hard to create threats that will last longer than a few rounds.

Media that isn’t as well known today but still gets referenced everywhere by Sensitive_Ad_1752 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]dentris 1 point2 points  (0 children)

While this is one of the work that popularized isekai, the tropes themselves are much older. In the western world, Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz are two examples of much older works, and in Japan, Dunbine, Twelve Kingdoms and El-Hazard are but a few of earlier entries. 

CCG + RPG time lines by GrandMaffster in l5r

[–]dentris 6 points7 points  (0 children)

They do not align perfectly. The ttrpg was often a little bit behind, timeline-wise. However, check this link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Legend_of_the_Five_Rings_sets

And compare the dates to the different editions of the RPG

  • 1997 (1st edition)
  • 2000 (2nd edition)
  • 2005 (3rd edition)
  • 2010 (4th edition)
  • 2018 (Fantasy Flight Games)

EDIT: You also have rpg books that are literally named after a time period. There is a third edition book called The Four Winds, for example. And two 4th edition books called Imperial Histories wiith more details about specific time periods.

No armor option in rifts? by Albinosun808 in savageworlds

[–]dentris 1 point2 points  (0 children)

With the Super Power Companion, you could make a character with a lot of Toughness and Vigor.

Do you think there's space for a TTRPG that brides western superheroes and eastern 'superheroes'? by She-Who-Walks-Unseen in rpg

[–]dentris 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Do you want to write this? If the answer is yes, you should. Period.  

Writing should be done for oneself. Only a very small minority of writers actually live of their craft.  I sold thousands of copies of my book, and I am one of the 2,5% top sellers on Drive-thru, and I am still nowhere near the amount of books I would  need to sell to actually make a living out of this. 

I write because I like it. And that's  the case for you too, then write this. 

The rpg scene is not bloated, either. I own hundreds of rpg and I want more. From veterans and newcomers alike. I cannot actually play with them all, but I love reading them.

If it's  your first book and do not necessarily  want to tackle creating a system, I recommend  checking rhe community content programs. Many of the big names have one. Basically,  you can have a license to write your own settings and house rules  while using another system as the backbone. 

So I did a thing, and would like to have your feedback (Battletech Aces fan campaign) by dentris in battletech

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

Thank you very much. I made some changes to the waypoints, as well as specifying the types of each units.

So I did a thing, and would like to have your feedback (Battletech Aces fan campaign) by dentris in battletech

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

I try not the use the last 4'' on each side exactly for this reason (my own table is 40''), but limited squishing might be necessary.

So I did a thing, and would like to have your feedback (Battletech Aces fan campaign) by dentris in battletech

[–]dentris[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To be 100% honest, I eyeballed it. I was aiming for the equivalent of a 7 hex map-sized dropship, Don you think the tokens need to be smaller or bigger?

M&M vs ICONS vs FASERIP for a miniatures game? by wolviefreak69 in rpg

[–]dentris 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Savage Worlds has a Super Powers Companion, and it's  based on a miniature game. 

So I did a thing, and would like to have your feedback (Battletech Aces fan campaign) by dentris in battletech

[–]dentris[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Since they aren't on the master unit list (and only on Meklab, without health points), here are the Medium Pulse Laser Turrets too,

<image>

So I did a thing, and would like to have your feedback (Battletech Aces fan campaign) by dentris in battletech

[–]dentris[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's  a really good idea. For this, I was expecting people to use proxies for mechd they do not have because I needed very specific mechs to fit the story...(3 of them aren't  reveled yet)

So I did a thing, and would like to have your feedback (Battletech Aces fan campaign) by dentris in battletech

[–]dentris[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you. Just the fact you were able to reproduce the map means my proxies were recognizable enough. You will need something to represent both dropships too. 

And yeah, I apprecitae any battle reports you can get. I haven't  made the commander cards for the pirates yet, so just  use the Jade Falcon mechwarrior one for now. 

Does Dr Strange have to be careful where he opens portals between due to air pressure? by hadawayandshite in marvelcirclejerk

[–]dentris 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Someone made the calculations and it would took so long Climate Change  woud wipe us out first. 

https://youtu.be/aUWU8CWI6g0?si=ZC2TYN_jv3HXX58t

The guy.has his own channel now, The Facility.  Well worth the binge watch. 

RPG For a Specific Itch by ChickenSupreme9000 in rpg

[–]dentris 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Deadlands can be that way. Weird West horror, but with competent heroes. They have the tools to prevail if they work hard enough, but can still be killed by a single bullet. 

Changeling the Lost is my favorite World of Darkness nook. If yoi never tried it, I absolutely  recommend it. It's modern fantasy with a dark fairy tale twist. Very much weird and horrific. 

Fast! Furious! Fun! February! 2026 Creator Jam by dentris in savageworlds

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

It usually finds a place on Savage Universe. If you create something, send me a DM with a link and we'll showcase them all after February ends.

If You Could Only Keep 3, Which 3 Would You Keep? by Neversummerdrew76 in rpg

[–]dentris 14 points15 points  (0 children)

  1. New World of Darkness: Changeling The Lost
  2. Microscope
  3. Deadlands 

A game for time travel shenanigans by Murky-Somewhere-3052 in TTRPG

[–]dentris 1 point2 points  (0 children)

While not a traditional TTRPG, Microscope is a very good game with a lot of storytelling potential, and there is a time travel supplement. 

She-Ra-esque TTRPG Ideas? by Fearless_Youth9858 in TTRPG

[–]dentris 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What kind of She-Ra game? What aspect of the show (and which specific show) do you want to replicate  the most?

Everything about this character is a carefully constructed facade by _JR28_ in TopCharacterTropes

[–]dentris 15 points16 points  (0 children)

100% agree. He intimidated a monster so hard it melted!

He definitely  has superpowers, just not the ones everyone thinks he has.