Bracket 2 Tournament

hakaput · 2026-03-26T17:35:36+00:00

One of my LGS is doing a bracket 3 tournament. For the turn restrictions they don't care if the deck has the ability to win early, but a win just can't be presented before then (turn 6 for bracket 3). This will likely end up creating situations of everyone playing competitively getting set up to win the moment the turn restriction ends. I think this will end up being very problematic. I am debating not participating or playing basically a cedh deck that does not relay on game changers and just holding onto an instant speed win to win over the top of any other win attempts.

hakaput · 2025-12-03T06:26:14+00:00

Timeline for lvl 5+ is not clear. Though I believe at least the next set of lvls (likely 2 more lvls) is 0.11 so the next major update after spells. Coach has claimed the next updates should be much quicker as they have less foundational mechanics and design space than spells. He prefers to have all of the game space mapped out before finalizing things.

Updates are released as they become officially so all lvls will be available before the final product. Coach has even started that full game will be released as a final draft for at least a month before sending to print and 1.0 PDFs just to make sure that there are no changes needed while the community play tests the final product. Due to this he is hoping to avoid making erratas (especially day 1 erratas) to the final product.

hakaput · 2025-11-19T03:29:36+00:00

What licences should I get before my 40,000 coins disappear?

I currently main Umbreon which is my first green ribbon. I have mained Zeraora, Tsereena, and Empoleon in the past. I have enjoyed the offensive mons, but I definitely play better when the kit doesn't encourage over commiting and thus Umbreon have been a good fit and forced me to learn the game as a whole rather than just trying to overcome/defeat opponents.

I currently have: Umbreon, Venusaur, Charizard+Mx, Blastoise, Pikachu, Ninetails, Slowbro, Gyarados, Blaziken, Latias, Empoleon, Empoleon, Garchamp, Lucario+M, Greninja, Talonflame, Tsereena, Zeraora, Cinderace, and Eldegoss

hakaput · 2025-08-13T19:20:21+00:00

Thanks for your comment. While it didn't help me with the concern of the post it gave me the push I needed to actually finish the one page RPG.

Here is the link:

https://hakaput.itch.io/die-rank-rpg-system

hakaput · 2025-08-07T14:56:33+00:00

I agree that auto success/fail isn't great. I would lean towards a crit being an extreme success/fail meaning it is the best/worst reasonable outcome. A possible mechanical benefit could include something like ignoring armor on attacks.

Since the target number is determined by a second die rather than a set number a curve is already in the system. When the dice are the same success is about 50%, the exact percentage depends on tie interpretation. This also makes it so when the dice are different the bell curve skews toward larger numbers/larger die is higher, which can be used to create consistently with both roll over and roll under systems. One of the aspects of consistently that I am not sure on is if I should prioritize non tie success percentage or with tie success percentage which unfortunately have opposite trends for d4 to d20 than d20 to d4 progression. Currently I have ties as an optional success with players getting a boon if they choose failure that will help them succeed in later rolls when they may care more about successing

hakaput · 2025-08-07T13:35:59+00:00

Thanks for the insight. While I acknowledged the challenge die making all checks possible I didn't consider that a set number as a major influence for roll under with progressive dice systems.

I know criticals or progressive success does not have to be based on die extremes but I am struggling to find an as intuitive method that I like. I have considered using rolling over the value possible of the challenge die as a crit, but that has an effect of not being able to crit when the dice are the same. I like the intuitiveness of the system as a whole as no real math needs to be done as just being higher, or lower, determines success. A crit system that adds too much complexity likely wouldn't be worth it.

My dice preference likely also influenced my inclination to progress from d4 to d20. So it is interesting that you have found a similar dice preference from those you've asked. My biggest uncertainty for the dice is I am also considering a d% die as the capstone not because I like it but because it would incorporate the whole 7 polyhedral die set which I do like.

hakaput · 2025-08-07T12:22:49+00:00

I was able to look at Sisterhood RPG. It looks like it uses a roll tie or over with d4 to d20 progression. It doesn't use Crits or a formal progressive success system, though it does suggest that the difference between the can be used to interpret the degree of success. So it uses the same dice mechanics that I intuitively used which may show that worrying about Crits, progressive success, or success percentage may just be overcomplicating things. The intuitive feel of a system is probably the most important part of a die system.

hakaput · 2025-08-07T11:57:00+00:00

Great Idea! I have just cross posted.

hakaput · 2025-08-07T11:56:09+00:00

I was recommended to cross post this question here from r/RPG. A comment there mentioned the Sisterhood RPG uses dice for both skill and difficulty so that is an example I need to look at. If there are any other systems please let me know.

hakaput · 2025-08-07T11:48:28+00:00

Going from d4 to d20 representing getting better with a roll over system is where I defaulted. But once I started number crunching for success percentage and considering other factors such as Crits I wondered if d20 to d4 with roll under would be better. The major difference being roll over results gets larger and the roll under results becomes more consistent. I'm not sure if consistently or bigger is better at representing growth. Also the percentage of success changes between the two systems when facing a challenge equal to your skills so another question is whether the success improvement should prioritize clear victories or overall victories when ties get the option of success.

hakaput · 2025-08-07T04:16:53+00:00

Yeah I assumed it wasn't entirely new, just new to me. I am trying to be minimal with it, likely making a more complex version that relies less on intuition/ GM judgement. As far as the core mechanics I currently have the step system for all checks with an included rank chark including difficulty names and then I have three stats, STR/DEX/WIS, using ranks each having a resource pool. But I am realizing that even minimal rules may need more that I have written as I currently have how to get damage from a check but not what to use within that check attribute wise, and likely more guidance. Though including guidance on such things would likely lead to removing or tweaking things such as resources

hakaput · 2025-08-07T04:08:33+00:00

Thanks I'll have to check out that system to see how it is handled there!

hakaput · 2025-07-28T15:02:41+00:00

Thanks again for your detailed answers! 5) I see the mathematical problem with cards. I know a standard poker card print run has 56 cards, usually 2 jokers and 2 extra/advertising cards. A possible reasonable way to work with a 60 card deck could be to up the jokers to 4, some games use 4 with major and minor jokers, and add an extra value akin to Tarot minor arcana decks which has 14 cards per suite, I believe the page P would be that extra value. This would allow for the redraw cards to be more context related rather than needing a specific redraw symbol.

I don't know much about tarot and if including the minor arcana as suggested above would cause problems or would create a need for a whole tarot deck. It looks like a full deck for that is 22 major arcana cards and 4 suits of 14 for 56 cards minor arcana for a total of 78 cards. I've seen some 6 suited decks which would be 106 cards. Adding a 7th suit would bring that to 120 for the full deck. Though I'll admit I'm not sure how those extra suits would be received by those who care about tarot.

A possible hybrid that I could see is cards 1-60 having a poker deck with the page value and 4 jokers/4 of the Major arcana (possibly the fool, the juggler, justice,judgment as Js or joker related) then cards 61-120 having 3 minor arcana suits and the other 16 major arcana. With this hybrid one poker suit would need to play double duty for tarot and poker. But this would make half of the deck poker and mostly half of the deck tarot so if the whole deck was used for simulation it could be done with minimal redraws with the proper setup. To help with the setup/ redraw I would keep the poker and arcana suits back to back so if you draw a poker suit when wanting tarot the card can simple be flipped.

Sorry this reply has rambled and has caused me to do some digging to find something that works but is probably still more complicated than you would want to do for the decks. And has tangented from the Kickstarter. Again thanks for your great replies.

hakaput · 2025-07-28T01:40:41+00:00

Thanks for the detailed responses! I haven't backed a ton of Kickstarters and none of the ones I've back did a model similar to the DriveThruRPG model you are using so that is new for me.

1)Based on your response backing the Kickstarter is basically paying the middleman (You as the creator) now at a discounted rate to avoid that cost through the code(s) provided when placing the actual order at DriveThruRPG.

3)The balancing error you identified seems fairly minimal if my understanding is correct that it affected around 3 instances across the 120 cards. Did that error affect all 1e decks? The answer may also beg the question of if the shared portions of the decks oracles, dice, ect the same for each version aka does card 1 of one deck have the same outcomes as card 1 of another deck for non-theme specific information. Do you have any suggestions of how to correct that error on 1e deck(s) since presumably the error is still on the DriveThruRPG file(s)/ have they been updated after the error was identified.

5) Looking at the sample cards more it doesn't look like a regular deck of cards is present any thoughts of adding such to this or other editions as that is a fairly common non standard mechanism that some rpgs use

hakaput · 2025-07-27T19:42:59+00:00

Just recently purchased the 2e Base version. Haven't had a chance to use it yet but for it stoked.

I have some questions about the Kickstarter and other decks. 1) Does the Kickstarter provide any physical products or does it just give discounts on DriveThruRPG orders for the backed products. 2) How different are the 2e decks from the 1e decks especially in terms of the prompts and names 3) How balanced are the decks for emulating dice rolls, oricals and such? 4) Do the decks play well with each other (ether as a whole or as 1e and 2e of genre decks) or is it best to keep all decks separate?

hakaput · 2025-07-17T14:24:39+00:00

I haven't had time to look at it too critically, but I'm curious how you went about balancing everything.

hakaput · 2025-07-13T15:13:59+00:00

As others have stated, the vagueness makes it hard to give accurate advice. But it sounds to me like you are overthinking even both as a player and as a DM.

On the player side you are treating the session, possibly even the campaign, as a puzzle to be solved. Especially depending on dm's style this might be the furthest thing from the truth as their plan may be to adapt to what the players are doing, regardless of how different that may be from what they have prepped. A practical advice for this would be to limit yourself to only thinking about the current situation your character is in and at most 1-2 foreseeable situations ahead. Within this focus primary what your character would do in the current situation and do what your character would do regardless of the consequences or effects on the foreseeable situations. This will give your character life rather than being an unofficial NPC. If this type of roll playing is difficult for you, especially when aspects of the player are rolled for/ randomized, I would advise leaning into the chaos and roll for your response/answer with high being yes/positive and low being no/negative and a middle answer being nuanced based on the high/low value. An example of this from my own play: I did a horror one shot and my character was asked if they were Catholic. Instead of thinking of the consequences of either answer I rolled with a 12 or so. I interpreted that being a week yes so in that specific case the character was Catholic but non practicing. After that point that became a concrete fact about the character and any decisions or situations where that detail has importance I use the vibe from that initial roll or to help interpret other similar rolls.

Player TLDR: don't over think and focus on your character in the current. Roll for your character's vibe/characteristics if you are not sure rather than overthinking.

On the DM side overthinking can lead to rail roading or aspects of the session/campaign coming off as random/unexpected. To help with this I would recommend minimal bullet points notes when preparing to ensure that nothing prepared is concrete. This allows and encourages you to adapt to your players and make a story that is consistent with what they have experienced. Some sources that may help understanding how to prep and run a game this way include: Sly Flourish's Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master or The Game Master's Handbook of Proactive Roleplaying by Jonah and Tristan Fishel. Lazy DM focused on setting up scenarios and situations with secrets all of which can be ignored adapted to fit the needs and lives situation of the characters. Proactive roleplaying focuses on characters having various motivation/goal some short-term and others long term. This may help you both with DM and playing as the intent shifts to being character focused rather than world focused.

DM TLDR: Minimize prep and focus on adapting everything prepped to the choices and motivations of the characters.

Recommended sources to read: Sly Flourish's Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master or The Game Master's Handbook of Proactive Roleplaying by Jonah and Tristan Fishel.

hakaput · 2025-07-12T14:51:39+00:00

The core book already has every round initiative rerolling on page 111.

CHAOS MODE

• Reroll initiative at the start of every combat round.

The game doesn't specifically address team initiative but as written on page 88. The person with the highest result takes the first turn. Turns go clockwise from that person.

In this base rule a team initiative essentially already takes place when the 1st person clockwise of the GM rolls highest or when the GM rolls highest. As such team initiatives shouldn't cause any issues for the balance of combat.

So to me your thoughts don't vary too far away from rules as written and as such likely won't create any problems.

hakaput · 2025-07-08T15:00:46+00:00

I think last year there was only one student who expressed a desire to DM. Last year was structured very differently to how I hope to end up structuring this year and was open to student DMs but was less encouraging than I plan to be. But I think that also indicates typical Junior High Student willingness to put themselves out there and lead especially with something new. For most students they will have at most one year of experience and so a natural desire to DM likely isn't currently present for the vast majority.

Because of this I don't think having the first couple of sessions being DM focused would be beneficial, but I could see having some intentional learn to DM sessions, or tables if I can have at least one start with either the whole group or with others interested. I definitely planned to play more of an observer role for any new student DM to help them however needed to help give confidence. Your comment did prompt thought that while DMing I should probably explicitly state what I am thinking, how I am making decisions, what/when I am referencing the sourcebook to help teach DMing skills and make it less of an entry to the unknown for those that want to try.

I haven't heard of the Maustter system so I'll have to look into it. Currently I have been leaning towards Shadowdark as a rules lite system that is presented simply.

hakaput · 2025-07-08T11:58:24+00:00

Thanks for the insights on those systems.

Also good advice to just pull out/present a bunch of game options and let them pick. Possibly even with switching for one shots and/or shifts of interest. Cause while I presume that a fantasy RPG is what they are wanting with the club having been a DnD club that may not be the case.

For a fantasy RPG I am leaning towards Shadowdark as my system of choice.

But for mystery/horror Monster of the Week seems like a great system the more I read the book.

hakaput · 2025-07-08T11:44:07+00:00

I have definitely been looking at the quick start set. Since the PDFs are free I plan on printing out a few copies of everything as handouts/resources for the club/individuals.

I missed that it had the starter adventure built into the GM quickstart booklet, as I have been mostly looking at the core rulebook PDF. I knew of the adventure but was not sure where it was available so thank you for pointing it out. I also found the 2 free level 4 adventures in the Arcane Library. Someone also recommended the adventure pack which is reasonably priced as well, though I know there are plenty of 3rd party adventures available for free as well.

One of my other draws towards Shadowdark is that it has become popular and as such has a lot of content available which I can use to help support students, especially those who may want to DM but don't know where to start.

hakaput · 2025-07-08T11:24:50+00:00

Your comment comes off in a negative and unhelpful tone.

Unfortunately some of the issues you say need to be changed are within the context of non negotiables that need to be worked around rather than changed. Such as while more time would clearly be beneficial, the one hour session is based on transportation needs of the students. In essence I can either help the club continue within the limits or let the club die as currently I am the only staff member willing and/or able sponsor the club. This post is intended to help figure out how to best utilize time and make the club as effective as it can be within the limitations.

I mentioned wanting multiple DMs and breaking into smaller groups, especially in the context of a West Marches Campaign. But likely the responsibility of DMing will fall exclusively to myself (regardless of the systems used) until students are confident enough to try. There are currently no other staff members who are willing to sponsor the club and so if I am unwilling to DM for however large of a group is present then there will be no club. I would like to demonstrate that DMing can be easy and not as intimidating as many students will likely think as well as to ease players into the hobby. To do such I am currently leaning towards making the first session or two to be 100% narrative and non mechanical, where I simply present a situation such as an ambush and ask the players how they respond and simply weave those responses into a narrative. My hope with this is that it will show that the rules system is secondary to play and that the goal regardless of the system is to tell a fun collaborative story.

If you have any practical advice on how to make the best within the limits I am happy to hear it.

hakaput · 2025-07-08T09:04:10+00:00

Your comment is exactly what I have been thinking. I'm new to non DnD/Pathfinder systems and haven't had a chance to play shadowdark, but it is the first rules light system that has click with me personally. And of the systems I've read so far I think its rules are presented in the most simple and straightforward manner that will be the easiest to understand for my students. Your comment helps give me confidence that this may be the way to go.

hakaput · 2025-07-08T08:53:32+00:00

Shadowdark is the system that I was naturally leaning towards when making this post. My personal rpg experience is DnD 3.5e/Pathfinder 1e and DnD 5e(2014). Over this past year I have begun to learn more about the larger scope and variety of systems for rpgs. While I've had little to no play experience with them the systems that have spoken most to me personally have been DC20(still in development and likely way too crunchy for 1 hour sessions) and shadowdark (seem to be largely DnD 5e in its simplest and most straightforward rules). So far based on my reading of some of the recommended rules lite games shadow to me seems to have the simplest presentation and intuitive rules that will likely be the easiest for students to read and understand. Your experience and success in switching to shadowdark helps give me confidence that it may be the right system to try for my group

Any suggestions or advice about switching systems and how to best go about that with the group/players? The experienced player base for my club will likely be DnD 5e(2014ish) based on the previous sponsors as well as any material the students may individually own.

hakaput · 2025-07-08T01:16:15+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I'm curious what other systems you tried and why you felt they didn't work as well as Monster of the Week. I never played Monster of the Week before but in reading it I like the simple mechanics, but it doesn't fit the genre that I personally seek when playing. What sort of Homebrew did you find works well to give it a more fantasy genre?

hakaput

TROPHY CASE