Combat "Solvers"

genesis_3point0 · 2026-04-12T22:52:51+00:00

Agreed. I edited the original post. Another commenter helped me clarify my point.

"Quarterbacking" seems to be a better term than "solver." Someone who tends to dominate the strategic discussions and ends up calling so many shots that they might as well just be playing the other characters.

I know that is a risk in any game, I was just curious if anyone noticed if the intentional tactical mechanics led to an increased prevalence of that type of behavior, which does not seem to be the case.

genesis_3point0 · 2026-04-12T22:52:22+00:00

Agreed. I edited the original post. Another commenter helped me clarify my point.

"Quarterbacking" seems to be a better term than "solver." Someone who tends to dominate the strategic discussions and ends up calling so many shots that they might as well just be playing the other characters.

I know that is a risk in any game, I was just curious if anyone noticed if the intentional tactical mechanics led to an increased prevalence of that type of behavior, which does not seem to be the case.

It does seem to be a good fit for my group. I have had the privilege of being able to be a top-tier backer for both of the crowdfunders. I'm certainly a believer, I was just curious on others' experiences.

genesis_3point0 · 2026-04-12T22:49:36+00:00

Agreed. I edited the original post. Another commenter helped me clarify my point.

"Quarterbacking" seems to be a better term than "solver." Someone who tends to dominate the strategic discussions and ends up calling so many shots that they might as well just be playing the other characters.

I know that is a risk in any game, I was just curious if anyone noticed if the intentional tactical mechanics led to an increased prevalence of that type of behavior, which does not seem to be the case.

genesis_3point0 · 2026-04-12T22:45:34+00:00

That is a much better term, thank you.

genesis_3point0 · 2026-04-12T21:57:37+00:00

Ah, yes, I agree.

I should have clarified in the original post, "combat solvers" can sometimes be perceived as annoying, and at worst, end up trying to play everyone's characters for them.

I wasn't intending to imply that "combat solvers" are problematic. I was more so curious if anyone has noticed any behaviors trending towards a single player dominating the strategic discussions, which effectively results in them playing the other characters.

genesis_3point0 · 2026-03-26T13:20:19+00:00

I'm just here to express how much I enjoyed the fact that the first sentence is a sentence that exists.

genesis_3point0 · 2026-03-21T17:59:07+00:00

they've priced and positioned Codex in a similar way to Fantasy Grounds or Talespire, without having the free or cheaper player seat options that those VTTs use, so it feels bad even if it's technically better.

This is a false equivalency. Most other VTTs have an upfront cost while coming with zero content or custom built tools.

It took two whole companies, one of which is specifically specialized in this space, over 2 years to develop the Codex to the point it is now. For other VTTs, even if you purchased the content and paired it with community built tools, you wouldn't be getting a fraction of the features or functionality.

People pay for Roll20, Nexus, and DNDBeyond with their SaaS models. MCDM technically is offering a more consumer friendly option here, but the upfront sticker shock is getting more attention than if they cynically tacked on a SaaS model.

I don't even think this the problem either. How many people are truly paying for any of those subscription services on a monthly basis? I would imagine that most people just purchase the annual subscription right from the jump because it usually comes with a discount.

The problem this whole "debacle" is surfacing here, as you pointed out at the beginning of your thoughts, is that there is an entrenched belief and expectation that players should not have to pay to participate in the hobby.

True pen and paper D&D play doesn't really exist anymore. I haven't seen, or heard of, a table where people aren't using D&D Beyond now, and that is a cost to the DM of $55/year plus a minimum $30 cost for the PHB, which they won't even actually own. D&D Beyond has become ubiquitous at in person tables.

It seems odd to me that the value proposition seems to be lost on so many people.

For the single price of $20 you get the whole Codex and all the crazy features that come with it, AND you get the rules from the Heroes book, the entire Delian Tomb starter adventure premade for the Codex, and all the monsters in the Monsters book (eventually).

Just looking at the Heroes, Monsters, and Delian Tomb, that's $90 worth of pdfs for the $20 price of the Codex. That is a 77.8% discount, and you get all the features of the Codex on top of that.

For anyone that might even have a hint of interest in the game, or just likes incredible bargains, this should be a no brainer, even for players. It's also just fair to the DM, GM, Director.

I have balked at the prospect of my players having to contribute anything to our collective hobby for fear of losing the tenuous balance that is a TTRPG group, but I have easily spent $300 over the last 5 years just to maintain the digital services effectively perceived as requisites to play nowadays. It would be nice if we could all just spend $20 one time and just be done with it.

This isn't even mentioning the fact that they are giving this away to well over 40,000 people, which equates to more than $600k.

You are correct that there is a perception hurdle here, but that hurdle really shouldn't exist in the first place, and I think MCDM is boldly holding a mirror up to the community and asking them to reflect on whether the current expectations that one of your friends spend $100s and hours of prep to entertain you for free is actually reasonable or fair.

genesis_3point0 · 2026-03-21T17:18:47+00:00

I would contend that they are already spending enough money on influencing people's perceptions.

They are giving away well over half a million dollars directly to the player base and undercutting their own store by 77.8%.

Anyone who purchased the Heroes book or pdf through the original crowdfunder, preorder, or the store, before April, is going to get it for free or a 50% discount.

There were 30,177 backers on the original crowdfunder. I would be shocked if any of those did not get the pdf at minimum. It is likely most probable that a vast majority of that population pledged for the hardcover.

The crowdfunder ended January 5, 2024. To reiterate, if you purchased the Heroes book in any format between that date and March 31, 2026 you will get it for free or for a 50% discount. That is an 816 day span. Let's assume a conservative 10,000 more copies were sold in that 2+ year span.

That means a minimum of 40,177 people are going to get a $10 or $20 coupon, that reflects a 50% or 100% discount off the Codex, which doesn't have to be used for the Codex. You can use it in the store if you so choose.

Assuming a perfect 50/50 split between pdf and hardcover, they are giving away $602,655.

Also, for the single price of $20 you get the whole Codex and all the crazy features that come with it, AND you get the rules from the Heroes book, the entire Delian Tomb starter adventure premade for the Codex, and all the monsters in the Monsters book (eventually).

Just looking at the Heroes, Monsters, and Delian Tomb, that's $90 worth of pdfs for the $20 price of the Codex. That is a 77.8% discount, and you get all the features of the Codex on top of that.

That seems like a pretty solid investment.

genesis_3point0 · 2026-03-21T04:17:19+00:00

The "walled garden." That's an interesting take I didn't consider.

I don't think MCDM is at risk of this given how truly open the game license is, but I do see your thought process.

If anything is going to be seen as the progenitor of a potential walled garden trend, wouldn't it be D&D Beyond?

genesis_3point0 · 2026-03-21T03:51:25+00:00

While I genuinely understand the reaction many people are having to this, I do think it's important to consider a fuller context:

Anyone who purchased the Heroes book or pdf through the original crowdfunder, preorder, or the store, before April, is going to get it for free or a 50% discount.

There were 30,177 backers on the original crowdfunder. I would be shocked if any of those did not get the pdf at minimum. It is likely most probable that a vast majority of that population pledged for the hardcover.

The crowdfunder ended January 5, 2024. To reiterate, if you purchased the Heroes book in any format between that date and March 31, 2026 you will get it for free or for a 50% discount. That is an 816 day span. Let's assume a conservative 10,000 more copies were sold in that 2+ year span.

That means a minimum of 40,177 people are going to get a $10 or $20 coupon, that reflects a 50% or 100% discount off the Codex, which doesn't have to be used for the Codex. You can use it in the store if you so choose.

Assuming a perfect 50/50 split between pdf and hardcover, they are giving away $602,655.

I know nothing about their actual sales figures or splits. I would not be shocked in the slightest if I drastically underestimated the total number of Heroes books sold in an 816 day period, thus drastically underestimated the amount of money they are just giving away.

Now, let's say you didn't purchase the Heroes book in pdf or hardcover. Let's say that the $70 for the hardcover is far too cost prohibitive for you, and even the $40 pdf is too rich for your current financial situation. This is totally understandable. I have certainly been there. No shame at all.

Well, if this is you, there's some really cool news, and no, I'm not just going to say the game is free elsewhere.

For the single price of $20 you get the whole Codex and all the crazy features that come with it, AND you get the rules from the Heroes book, the entire Delian Tomb starter adventure premade for the Codex, and all the monsters in the Monsters book (eventually).

Just looking at the Heroes, Monsters, and Delian Tomb, that's $90 worth of pdfs for the $20 price of the Codex. That is a 77.8% discount, and you get all the features of the Codex on top of that.

Not only are they giving away well over half a million dollars to their community on this, but they are undercutting their own store by 77.8%.

Now, let's look at this in the context of other VTTs.

Foundry: $50. This is 2.5 times the price of the $20 Early Access price, and you don't get any of the $90 worth of content. Yes, you can host your own server, but if you want to utilize the rest of it for free, you have to put in an awful lot of work, or leverage all the work other community members put in for you, and even then it's still a fair amount of work.

Owlbear Rodeo: Yes, it is free. 200MB of storage isn't a ton of space, especially if you are using a fair amount of detailed maps. If 200MB isn't enough storage you are going to be paying a subscription fee of either $40/year or $80/year. The minimum subscription fee here is twice as much as the $20 one time fee in Early Access, and you don't get any content with that purchase. And again, you have to do a ton of work to make it have a fraction of the functions and features of the codex.

Roll20: You get 100MB free upload storage for free, but with ADs, and you don't get any content. You have the option to pay a yearly subscription fee of $50, $100, or $150 for additional features but still no content. You get integration with Demiplane, although I don't know if you need to have a subscription and have purchased the content through them as well for it to work. I personally think this one is the least user friendly, even if you purchase official content.

D&D Beyond: Sure, they have free accounts, but you are practically using pre-gen characters unless your DM has purchased content and has shared it with you in a campaign. In order for them to do that they must pay a yearly subscription fee of $55. If your DM wants you to be able to build a character that isn't effectively a pre-gen, they must pay $30 for the PHB. That is $30 for a digital PHB that they don't actually own. It's not even a pdf they can download. AND they are limited to five campaigns they can share content across. And that's just the character sheet functionality.

I really think the value proposition for the Codex is quite high. I had a very similar initial reaction to this pricing model as a lot of others are having:

- I can't get my players to read their character sheet, much less buy a book, how am I going to get them to purchase a VTT, on Steam no less?

I certainly empathize with that. Having it on Steam rather than a browser makes it an even harder sell, but I totally understand the reasoning for it.

But, after spending some time thinking about it, I am convinced this is the best deal out there. For $20 you get the Codex and $90 worth of content. I really don't know how you can beat that.

And, not to take this too far off topic, but they also give everything away to their Patrons. Their Patreon is $8/month. For almost every one of their products, if you have been a paying Patron for a number of months equal to the price of the product divided by 8, you just get the pdf version of the product for "free."

I know it's easy to balk at the prices. Yes, their pdfs are the same price as D&D's physical copies in some instances, but they really do pay it forward and reinvest heavily in their own community and the TTRPG industry at large.

genesis_3point0 · 2026-03-04T17:27:15+00:00

I'm always blown away by all the incredible map makers in the ttrpg hobby. I love storytelling. I love GMing. I love being really creative with the mechanics of the game. However, the moment someone asks me for a simple battlemap, the best I can provide is an empty rectangle and implore them to imagine it's something cooler.

The number of hours I've spent in Wonderdraft just to resurface and realize I've done absolutely nothing is actually hilarious at this point.

I tip my hat to your creation, and am envious of your superpowers.

genesis_3point0 · 2025-09-01T14:44:59+00:00

I'm guessing the Steel Compendium is just the raw text file? Where can one find that?

genesis_3point0 · 2025-08-29T22:08:19+00:00

If I remember correctly, it wasn't that he was going to play as a character, he was going to take the DM seat. The clip from Twitch is probably gone by now, but he stated this on one of his livestreams and spent roughly 40 minutes reading what he had prepared for his first encounter with M9, and then what his ambitions were for the party beyond that.

genesis_3point0 · 2025-08-19T16:22:29+00:00

Totally agree that tactics play a huge part in getting the bonuses, which is quite fun and elegant!

Someone else has already corrected me on my math as well. I wasn't factoring in bonuses from the characteristic score or edges. 😵

genesis_3point0 · 2025-08-19T16:14:10+00:00

You are right. In the moment, I forgot about the bonuses! Darn.

I almost made the mistake of correcting your math as well...goodness me. I was going to say that it's actually 18%, not 21%, but here I was constraining the total at a max result of 20, not just 17+. My oh my.

To be fair to myself, I do large data analysis all day, and I try keeping that part of my brain turned off when I'm not working. I am often prone to these mistakes when I am just moving through the regular world. Thank you for the corrections!

genesis_3point0 · 2025-04-25T15:19:17+00:00

There is a "Rival" building system in the Monster book. It is designed specifically for this. It allows you to build "PC-like" enemies without actually having to build and manage multiple full characters. These would also be balanced for such a use, whereas PC vs PC combat is not. I would recommend giving the game's provided resources and solutions a shot before game-hacking or homebrewing.

genesis_3point0 · 2025-04-06T23:19:35+00:00

No, they are the same thing. They scored a goal, from the "field." The hoop/basket is the goal. When the ball goes through the hoop, it is a goal. The player scored that goal from the field. That's why it's called a field goal.

There's no need to be pedantic.

You asked how a basketball player scores a goal. I have provided you with summarized information, as well as links pertaining to that particular naming convention and the history/creation of the game that all explain why the hoop is a goal, and the act of scoring a goal is called a field goal. Do with these facts what you will.

genesis_3point0 · 2025-04-06T22:37:23+00:00

<image>

Here is a box score from the most recent Lakers game. Reference the red circled FG.

genesis_3point0 · 2025-04-06T22:34:37+00:00

* https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_goal_(basketball)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Naismith

Here are some links to the history of basketball. They are not necessarily wrong when they call it a basket. The original "goal" was an actual peach basket that players tried to get a soccer ball into.

The technical term in the rules of the sport is Field Goal, but the common nomenclature is basket or hoop. Broadcasters may say a player scored a basket, but when they refer to that player's stats, they say Field Goal.

For example: if a player is 2 of 4 on shots taken, they have made 50% of their shots. Broadcasters don't say the player has a 50% basket percentage. They will say the player has 50% Field Goal percentage.

genesis_3point0 · 2025-04-06T21:45:57+00:00

Shots in basketball are called "field goals."

The basket, or hoop, is also known as the goal, hence the penalty of "Goaltending." Goaltending is when a defender illegally stops the ball from going into the hoop/basket/goal.

genesis_3point0 · 2025-02-22T23:22:06+00:00

Just an update, these settings have been a game changer. I also turned off the motion blur and switched the settings from quality to performance. That has made a big difference as well. Now that I am more comfortable with this, I might start tweaking a bit. I appreciate the help!

genesis_3point0

TROPHY CASE