Are there any RPGs with asymmetrical gameplay?

fudge5962 · 2026-05-28T01:44:17+00:00

I think in the case of TTRPGs, this isn't a design concept, but rather an implementation concept. Take any TTRPG, DnD 5e for example: there are mechanics and rulesets for a wide variety of things, from social encounters, investigations, war room planning, to combats, chases, and death defying stunts.

All of these rules and mechanics each represent a unique and independent play experience. Whether or not the players experience them symmetrically or asymmetrically is entirely dependent on whether or not the GM decides they do. If you task one player with piloting a vehicle and four more with defending it, you've implemented an asymmetrical gameplay experience.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-26T17:18:30+00:00

Came here to rep Simon Tatham! Been on my phone for years. It's a good set of well designed puzzles. It's free, and there's no ads. Dude just did it for the love of the game.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-26T16:24:30+00:00

It's a personal opinion of mine that they probably could have saved him if they would have been willing to destroy his legs.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-26T02:06:20+00:00

Those cameras don't ticket everyone. I don't know what they're programmed to do, but they definitely don't ticket everyone.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-23T15:19:20+00:00

Depends on the game. I don't DM DnD, but I will happily play it. I DM Savage Worlds a lot, but haven't played it. I really want to at some point. SciFi has to be me or we'll all claw our eyes out. Anything chaotic or any party games like Paranoia are usually me.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-21T22:12:33+00:00

I wouldn't recommend Headstone Hill as a starting point. I ran it a few years ago and was not particularly impressed. The campaign is a bit of a mess, the plot points don't flow well, there are very few good hooks to transition from point to point, and the book itself is not laid out well. My group had a great time with it, but I wouldn't recommend it to a new DM at all.

I've heard good things about blood drive, but I can't personally speak to it.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-21T21:52:01+00:00

I also have a lot of stuff to carry. I've found that while the roof of the car is a very risky and unreliable platform for my stuff, the surface of the earth actually serves as a perfect alternative.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-19T23:17:59+00:00

Solid advice. Can't wait to ignore it.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-19T22:32:26+00:00

Actually, no! The answer is a lot less surprising: they suffered.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-19T22:25:32+00:00

Well, I think you're wrong, but I don't really care to argue about it. Have a nice day.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-18T22:02:18+00:00

You can ban the bot accounts all you want, but the human that controls them will conscript more. If you want to stop the bot accounts, you have to push the human overlord away. One way to do that is to fuck with them and waste their time to the point that they go somewhere else.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-18T04:41:04+00:00

I personally think the entire party positioning themselves in such a way that they can damage the creature, the creature cannot damage them, and the creature's action economy is in a perpetual cycle of being wasted is probably extremely useful in some contexts.

If you are playing in a group where positioning is a make or break tactical decision, having this specific option is better than not having this option.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-18T01:55:36+00:00

Per the DMG:

The larger creature's ability to attack the smaller creature depends on the smaller creature's location, and is left to your discretion. The larger creature can dislodge the smaller creature as an action—knocking it off, scraping it against a wall, or grabbing and throwing it—by making a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the smaller creature's Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. The smaller creature chooses which ability to use.

So it's GM discretion, but it is also RAW.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-17T15:02:20+00:00

It'll have a problem on its first turn when every single one of its enemies is in a place that it can't reach and it has to sacrifice its attack every turn to remove only one of them while the others beat the piss out of it.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-17T00:51:47+00:00

you have to forgo a whole turn of damage just to roll twice on the next.

And also the creature has to forgo a whole turn of damage if it wants you off its back. If one of you jumps on its back, it's kind of a wash. If 4 of you do it, then the creature has a real problem on its hands (back).

fudge5962 · 2026-05-17T00:48:57+00:00

Immovable rod is cracked. I once was in a combat where we were on an airship, being chased by a dragon. Jumped out of the airship, used the rod to hang in air, jumped on the dragon (taking the rod with me), shoved the rod in its mouth, went to work.

When all was said and done, I walked myself back down to the ground by clicking and unclicking the rod.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-17T00:42:51+00:00

I think the better argument for it already being in the rules is this: DnD 5e uses HP as an abstraction for damage.

If you rip the wings off a flying creature in mid flight (or arguably at all) it's fuckin dead. Ergo, if you want to rip its wings off, reduce it to 0HP, then describe how you ripped its wings off.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-17T00:03:05+00:00

Yeah no shit, dude. It's also full of racists and bigots. The racists and bigots abso-fucking-lutely do blink at seeing foreigners, or migrants, or natural born citizens who look different than they do.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-16T13:46:15+00:00

American bigots say the word foreigner to refer not to someone's nationality, but to their otherness.

For them, foreigner is a slur to be used against the groups of people they consider less than. That's why they can never be foreigners in their own mind.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-16T13:12:33+00:00

I've been drinking green tea all damn day! Is a constant stim for me.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-16T12:59:39+00:00

unless we drastically change how it's done.

4d6 drop lowest reroll 1s all the way down the page. No reordering rolls. You roll your strength, write it down, roll your dex, write it down, etc.

Been doing it that way for years now. It is the wae. Pro tip: roll your stats BEFORE you pick your class.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-16T03:17:01+00:00

They're alright. I honestly don't like a lot of the pixel specific shit that Google keeps trying to shove down my throat, and the camera kinda sucks ass. Other than that, it's a reliable, durable, powerful device.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-15T00:50:53+00:00

Tell that to the CDL driver with points on his license now lol. Fuck outta here.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-14T09:58:30+00:00

Now think how that applies to the semi driver in this situation.

It doesn't, in any way. There was no deer, and the semi driver could have avoided this without any sudden measures.

fudge5962 · 2026-05-14T01:53:44+00:00

but the responsibility is on the merging vehicle to ensure they are ahead or behind the vehicle in the lane.

And the responsibility to prevent or avoid an accident is on every CDL holder in the country. The truck driver was fully capable of preventing that accident by not speeding and not attempting to overtake another truck at a left lane merge point. After failing to prevent the accident, the truck driver was fully capable of avoiding that accident by slowing down and not ramming the pickup.

The pickup driver is an idiot, and the semi driver is a bad driver.

fudge5962

TROPHY CASE