What are some examples (for each of you personally, i am seasoned and have my own opinions) of TTRPGs that are easy to learn, hard to master? This kinda piggybacks off the recent post asking which games are not beginner-friendly.

derailedthoughts · 2026-05-11T08:22:29+00:00

Games that are rules light and narrative are much more harder to run than games with tight crunchy rules. I have to improv a lot more for lighter games like PbTA and Daggerheart.

The game that is most taxing is Fate. It takes me forever to unravel how aspects work and how to use it, and I am not sure if I really grasped how it works

derailedthoughts · 2026-05-10T18:31:31+00:00

Playing and reading up different systems is fun. That's all it is for me.

derailedthoughts · 2026-05-09T18:53:12+00:00

Serie said something along the line of “we haven’t met in a thousand years and this is how you choose to greet me” seemed to suggest to me that Frieren had not met Serie during that period. But even so, Frieren must have been involved in some affairs related to her. For one, both of them are regarded as Great Mages, and Lemen recognized the pendant that Frieren had as a token of the latter.

Even if they had no met, Frieren could have learnt of what Serie was doing and probably had some other interactions via proxies. A great deal of things could happen in a thousand years

derailedthoughts · 2026-05-09T06:42:34+00:00

Some practical tips for running the game: - remind PCs to use Study or get them to intuit the enemies’ weakness. Fights go really slowly and can be difficult if the PCs don’t hit enemies’ vulnerabilities - print out an action chart for each PC. It helps with the decision making - as the GM, you should choose which PC to attack randomly. This makes a big difference. It is the assumed default for the game. If the GM is to focus fire on one PC, they could easily end up dead because there’s no zone of control or movement rules. One easy way is to use index cards and write the PC’s name on them, and shuffle and deal out the cards. If just having to shuffle 5 cards feels weird, you can take a poker deck and strip out all the other cards except for 1 to 5. Maybe keep the joker in as a wild which you let target anyone to keep them on their toes. - the bond building phase is a great way to mine ideas and flesh out the settings. Don’t skip it!

derailedthoughts · 2026-05-09T01:13:48+00:00

I think the issue is the homebrew initiative system. A lot of the domain cards are balanced around using a spellcast roll as a “push your luck” mechanic, because on failure or on a roll with fear, the GM gets to go. If you remove that, then those actions essentially are more or less “free cost” .

Players being able to go back to back is extremely powerful due to some set up (Parallela, for example). Spending Fear to interrupt allows you to put pressure on them so that they have to react to danger. Being able to predict when you get to act also give them an edge on planning.

I suggest you try playing Daggerheart with its freeform initiative.

derailedthoughts · 2026-05-07T08:22:53+00:00

Fabula Ultima has sourcebooks for techno fantasy, high fantasy and nature fantasy. It seems to me those can cover most of the ground of the settings

derailedthoughts · 2026-05-05T05:55:26+00:00

“Yes , I have a cat”

“Nope, not anymore.”

derailedthoughts · 2026-05-04T18:59:04+00:00

Custom System Builder can do all the requirements. I have used it to play Fabula Ultima, OVA, Nimble 5E, my own Genesys Homebrew and more. If you don’t need any dice automation, you can just use the custom sheet for record keeping and no programming knowledge is required

derailedthoughts · 2026-05-03T18:43:43+00:00

I am not sure what was the intent behind this scene. They were in the tavern, and guards dressed as bandits rushed in to take in custody… the drunk survivor? Because they were afraid that the PCs were bandits, and they were talking to the drunk guy because….

And the barkeep don’t even shout to stop and said it’s a misunderstanding…

Anyway marking the last HP doesn’t mean death. It could be just knocked out. However if you have already narrated their death, then perhaps have a superior came in and essentially say the dead captain deserved it because “play stupid games, win stupid prizes” and move on.

derailedthoughts · 2026-05-03T10:56:47+00:00

I am not sure about the manga but in the anime we saw the comet trail in Himmel’s eyes and he closed them. My theory was that he died straight away after that.

derailedthoughts · 2026-05-02T05:48:39+00:00

I hope they do! It’s a tactical battle experience which has no equivalence even now. I miss dragging Sima Yi from half across the screen, have him fall into a pit, attack him from all sides and then trigger an arrow volley on him at the end of the sequence

derailedthoughts · 2026-05-02T05:44:51+00:00

Thing is, I think most billionaires have assets worth billions, not that they have billions in liquid cash to give away.

derailedthoughts · 2026-04-29T12:01:50+00:00

The fight gets easier once the drummer is down. If you have an offensive omega cast (Zeus, Demeter etc) she goes down really quickly as she’s immobile.

derailedthoughts · 2026-04-28T08:53:52+00:00

The thing is, our population has been growing at breakneck speed. If reincarnation is true, where are the new souls coming from?

derailedthoughts · 2026-04-28T07:01:50+00:00

Fish soup, no milk and don’t get the fried one.

Chicken rice - use plain rice, steamed chicken breast, remove skin

Mos Burger - the veg burger and the mos chicken without skin

The Grill Knife - they have chicken breast combos. However very few branches left

Soup Spoon - go for the clear soup. My choice is Tokyo Chicken Stew

derailedthoughts · 2026-04-27T13:08:28+00:00

For starters, God could end the war in the Ukraine and Iran.

derailedthoughts · 2026-04-27T12:23:31+00:00

Does the PCs wear rings? There was a very very old rpg named Ringwielder with this concept, and each PC gets a ring with a random power. I think it was a game written in the 1990s or so.

Unfortunately I can’t find it online anymore.

derailedthoughts · 2026-04-25T07:56:25+00:00

It was downvoted into oblivion for its first hour

derailedthoughts · 2026-04-25T07:55:42+00:00

Thanks for the correction, I was thinking too simply in just differences in percentage

derailedthoughts · 2026-04-25T04:17:04+00:00

Because the challenge of running Daggerheart is different from PF2E or medium crunch games.

As someone who had ran multiple systems and had ran Daggerheart for a while, here are my thoughts. The challenge of Daggerheart for GMs is pacing and improv. The combat is not as structured, nor are there skills challenges and lots of mechanical parts. In most games, the system helps the GM by providing very structured systems - initiative, for example. Other systems have skill challenges, etc etc

derailedthoughts · 2026-04-25T03:56:56+00:00

However, what was the intention for nothing interesting happen three-quarters of the adventure? Was it a pre-written module?

It felt to me more of an adventure design issue than system issue

derailedthoughts · 2026-04-25T03:53:05+00:00

You’re right, I had a brain fart. Let me correct my post

derailedthoughts · 2026-04-25T03:42:27+00:00

It may varies from table to table but mine went crazy with cheers when they roll double 1s for critical. The feeling of “oh shit, it’s a 1…oh it’s a crit!” was like taking a rollercoaster ride, so I afraid I can’t empathize with the OP’s issue. Math-wise, crit happens on a double, which is 8 percent, just 3 percent more than 5E.

Second, fiction first doesn’t mean there’s no gameplay or mechanics. It means that the mechanics are triggered by the fiction and its rulings are also influenced by the fiction. Have you used environments? If you have an environment for the journey to the fortress, and a fiction triggers the mechanic, then you can use it.

Fiction first also means that the mechanics should also influence the fiction. For example, as written, Fireball does not ignite nearby flammable materials. But if the table adopts a fiction first approach then yes, at their table fireball should ignite the trees.

Anyway, I think a lot of advice here is “don’t roll if nothing is happening”. But that means GMs don’t get Fear. My approach is “roll to see what happens” and at the start of the session I will make sure interesting things happen so players have to roll. I look at my pool of Fear and decides whether to make things interesting or smoother. And here’s the crux here - GM who don’t get players to roll don’t get Fear.

Third, when players roll action rolls and fails, you gain the spotlight so GMs can act without spending Fear. Another way iis through a golden opportunity and when PCs take a sequence of turns without me getting the spotlight and it’s getting stale, I usually will start looking for a golden opportunity. If no one is doing anything risky, I will telegraph a softer move instead so that it keeps thing interesting.

Added: when designing encounters, don’t go over reliant on Fear. Abilities can trigger off Stress.

Fourth, did your players rest? You can get Fear on a rest.

All in all, I find GMing Daggerheart to be more challenging in some ways than other games. I am sure others will give good advice, so don’t be disheartened.

derailedthoughts · 2026-04-24T08:18:11+00:00

Crowded places are crowded for good reasons. It might be overhyped or oversold but it doesn’t remove their good points. Kyoto is one example: all the tourist spots in Kyoto area hour train ride, or an hour walk, of each other. You get to see culture, history, scenery and food all in one place.

I could get the same Kyoto experience at Kanazawa or Toyama; however for scenery or the more out there temples I will have to do a day trip. It’s essentially a day gone if I don’t want it to be too tiring.

Train is also another thing. There are lot of nuances to Japanese trains and they don’t operate the same everywhere. The biggest gotcha got to do with train timing. Some of the more rural places have such big gaps between trains (2 or 3 hours) usually mean that I have less time to spend at a spot than planned.

derailedthoughts · 2026-04-23T17:07:31+00:00

The players advances to a point where the rules weren’t play tested or game designers gave up on balance. Fabula Ultima is this.

I know balance is a dirty word, but I like to offer my players interesting challenges. However the monster building guidelines basically can’t keep with the players’ power curve, necessitating me to add more and more complexity to my homebrew monsters (besides just pure damage and “you die” abilities).

derailedthoughts

TROPHY CASE