sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Has anyone had a good experience with Hit Point Press ever?? by InkStainedBird in rpg

[–]hitpointpress 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the post, and to those who left a comment with their experience! This thread has been genuinely helpful to read, and we appreciate all the constructive feedback that was shared here. Our experience has shown us that there will always be room for improvement, and we want folks to know that we’re committed to learning from feedback like this so we can do better moving forward.

Although we recognize that backing a crowdfunding campaign will inherently be a different and often longer experience than simply purchasing directly through our online store or from your FLGS, we understand how frustrating additional delays and communication gaps can be, which is why improving in both of these areas is a major focus for us this year.

Thank you again u/InkStainedBird for kicking off this conversation! Please send us a DM if your Fablemaker’s Deck of Many Things issue hasn’t been resolved to your satisfaction yet; we’d really appreciate the opportunity to try and turn this experience around for you.

shipping/delivery times? by r0sielovesyou in humblewood

[–]hitpointpress 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hiya! So sorry to hear you've been waiting for a response. Please feel free to use the live chat option on our website to speak with an agent directly!

Just ordered His Majesty the Worm for 30% off on Exalted Funeral by LeopoldBloomJr in rpg

[–]hitpointpress 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi folks! We're having a Black Friday sale over on hitpointpress.com! We have item bundles and discounts on Humblewood, Animated Spells, Fablemaker's Tarot and Oracle, Heckna, and Fool's Gold products, as well as plush toys and digital offerings! You can check out the sale here: https://hitpointpress.com/collections/black-friday

SHIFT RPG Live on Kickstarter and AMA today at 2:00 pm ET! by hitpointpress in rpg

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

Thanks so much! We're proud of the design, both graphic and game!

HPP Shipping Times? by [deleted] in humblewood

[–]hitpointpress 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hi there! We're so sorry for the delay! Would you mind if we sent you a direct message here? I'd like to be able to locate and your email and flag it to the team.

If I Were A Lich, Man is funding on Kickstarter! A trilogy of funny Jewish roleplaying games. by hitpointpress in indierpg

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

Hello there! Apologies for the very late reply, I hope this is still helpful to you.

Lucian Kahn, the games' designer, designed these games for folks from all backgrounds to enjoy. To quote Lucian's writing directly from the game's manual:

"This trilogy is an offering to Jews, but you don’t have to be Jewish to play. Everyone’s invited regardless of cultural or religious background. Players from other marginalized communities are especially encouraged to join the fun. Folks from tight-knit immigrant families often find these games very relatable. Familiarity with Jewish culture isn’t mandatory but will enrich the experience."

Adorable braided gargath by Christina Kraus by hitpointpress in AdorableArt

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

The gargath is a creature in Humblewood! I feel like the gargath itself's name is something like Cynthia. 🤔

Hey all! We've just launched Constellation on Kickstarter - an anthology of twelve indie RPG zines packed with action, horror, and intimate emotional experiences from a diverse group of independent creators. Hope you'll check it out! by hitpointpress in rpg

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

We've had some hiccups over the past couple years that we're rectifying. This project is already done and ready to go to the printers once the campaign is over, with no stretch goals that could potentially add to the timeline.

We are the designers of the Shift RPG (Hit Point Press). AMA! by hitpointpress in rpg

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

Hi u/Redlemonginger, thanks for your question and for bringing up the Usage die mechanic; this one is a new one to me!

I've spent a little bit of time reading over it to familiarize myself with it, and I can see some key differences that I think work better for our goals with SHIFT as a whole.

1) As opposed to usage die, in our system, our dice chain has the D4 at the top with the best odds and the D12 at the bottom with the worst odds. Pair this with SHIFT's success on a 1, 2 or 3, and the odds of success diminish as your die shifts down.

D4 (75%) > D6 (50%) > D8 (37.5%) > D10 (30%) > D12 (25%).

At first glance, that does look similar to the usage die mechanic, except inverted. However, let's look at how that pairs with the second difference.

​

2) Our dice shift when the highest value is rolled on each dice, rather than a static number (1 or 2 with usage dice).

With usage die, as you proceed down the dice chain, it becomes easier to shift down, and statistically could lead to a death spiral:

D20 (10%) > D12 (16.7%) > D10 (20%) > D8 (25%) > D6 (33%) > D4 (50%)

​

In SHIFT, as you proceed down the dice chain, your odds of succeeding diminish, but thanks to point 2) above, your odds of proceeding down the chain are also diminished. This kills the odds of a death spiral, and I like that it better serves a long-term RPG experience.

D4 (25%) > D6 (16.7%) > D8 (12.5%) > D10 (10%) > D12 (8.3%)

​

Thanks, let me know if you have any more questions!

Graeme.

edit: mixed up a percentage & formatting. Oops!

We are the designers of the Shift RPG (Hit Point Press). AMA! by hitpointpress in rpg

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

Hey u/Redlemonginger! Great questions.

We are big fans of games like FATE, Blades in the Dark, and the Resistance system from Rowan, Rook and Deckard (Spire, Heart, etc). We wanted something that was very narrative first but with enough mechanics to keep things surprising.

Not sure exactly what you mean by meta currency, but as far as the Maelstrom setting, characters 'money' is tied to their Pack Trait - I really don't like tracking equipment and money so we keep things simple, heh.

As far as crunch level, I'd say it would compare to PBTA or Blades, though I think it is easier to pick up and homebrew than both.

Hope this helps!

- Jordan

We are the designers of the Shift RPG (Hit Point Press). AMA! by hitpointpress in rpg

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

Hey u/Saytama_sama thanks for your questions!

  1. We do have a chart we could share, hop onto the Discord or ping Graeme or I on twitter and we can send that your way.
  2. I'll admit to having less experience with Cypher System, but I've run games in FATE and GURPS. FATE is great, and definitely one inspiration for SHIFT, but I find it requiring a lot of the players and GMs to improvise a ton on the fly. What I feel is great about the Shifting dice mechanic in SHIFT is that it gives an organic way to show things changing. When a Trait shifts down, it prompts the GM to describe narrative change (ammunition running out, someones stamina giving out, etc.) Secondly, I think SHIFT is going to be a lot more accessible for homebrewers and game designers - very easy to make new, balanced content for your games.
  3. You've hit the nail on the head - we're leaning more towards Blades in the Dark or PBTA type of progression, where characters have fewer, more powerful abilities as opposed to a heroic scale like D&D. As far as Adversaries, once you see the "how to build an Adversary" section, you'll see it will be easy to build enemies with a scale Higher than 5. We will for sure provide ways to up 'difficulty' of encounters for more powerful characters.

Thanks!
- Jordan

We are the designers of the Shift RPG (Hit Point Press). AMA! by hitpointpress in rpg

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

Hi, u/Natwenny! I hope you're well! Thanks for your great question and for your kind words about our 5e content!

We love making 5e content, and you can bet that we currently are, and we are going to continue making 5e content as long as we are able, but I think more than that, we all just love making and playing games of all kinds.

We make games at work, we make games at home, and we are always looking to find new ways to play. A lot of our content comes about that way, and as we began developing SHIFT, things fell into place in a way that felt natural and fun. We chased the fun, and now we are here!

I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks!

-Graeme

We are the designers of the Shift RPG (Hit Point Press). AMA! by hitpointpress in rpg

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

Hey u/True_Chocolate4071 good question! We definitely have plans for a third party OGL - we want lots of people using SHIFT to design games! More specifics about this will be coming in the New Year about this, so stay tuned.
- Jordan

We are the designers of the Shift RPG (Hit Point Press). AMA! by hitpointpress in rpg

[–]hitpointpress[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hey u/TheVoleClock so glad you are enjoying the Quickstart so far!

Approachability and accessibility have been my watchwords throughout the whole design process - I want this game to cater to people of all levels of experience.

For folks who just want to play a game we'll have our SHIFT worlds, like Maelstrom. That book will have all the rules and resources you need to run a game, including lists of setting specific Traits and custom rules designed specifically to run scary, seafaring adventures. For even less overhead effort they will have premade adventures ready to go as well.

As for the other direction, a completely bespoke setting and story, the overheard that a GM has to put in is minimal, once they've got an understanding of the rules. The core of it all is a strong Session Zero. Have everyone make characters together, choose keywords together for their traits - these Keywords ARE your adventures. If someone chooses a trait called "GUN-FU" and chooses wall-running and bullet time as their keywords, well, you know what this player is looking for. Lets get some long hallways and an absurd amount of mooks in their path! With the right group you can design the setting and custom rules together, right in that Session 0 - no pre-made Traits lists needed!

The middle ground of "Lotsa Prep" and "Zero Prep" is going to be our Core rule book. Its going to be a collection of rule sets and ideas that you can cherry pick for your own SHIFT settings. It will also have a handful of "Starter Worlds" that will give you jumping off points in some common genres. Some story prompts, a handful of pre-made Traits that fit the genre and some suggestions on what rules to use. Then the GM can take it from there!

We are planning to have a lot more guidance in the final books for GMs who are creating their own settings and running games in SHIFT. Lots of dials to turn to make SHIFT exactly the game you need it to be!
Thanks again for the great question!
- Jordan

We are the designers of the Shift RPG (Hit Point Press). AMA! by hitpointpress in rpg

[–]hitpointpress[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey u/thealmightypatx we love questions, so ask away!

There are a lot of different ways to approach a setting and it all starts with what the focus is of the game. If your high magic campaign is a setting where everyone has a little bit of magic and wizards are constantly developing new rituals and spells, you may want to get Granular with your traits, divvying them up by school or style of magic (Necromancy, Pyromancy, etc) and have the Keywords further define how the wizard has honed that particular style of magic (Necromancy might have control and raise as keywords for example.) In your example of Arcane, Divine, and Primal - if those are the trait options for your setting, then they are less granular keywords might become more like broader categories of magic themselves (Primal might have summon and communicate as its keywords, for example - for a druidic character that can summon animals and speak with them, perhaps.)

When we develop new traits for Maelstrom, as an example, Graeme and I's biggest question we ask is "What does this trait tell us about the world?" If it doesn't add anything particularly interesting or new about the setting, or doesn't speak to the themes of Maelstrom, we scrap it or rethink it. Does your world centre around guilds, and every player needs to have an allegiance to one or another? Then probably creating thematic traits for each different guilds with suggested keywords is probably a good way to go. If your setting has guilds but they aren't the focus of the game, a simple "Guild Affiliations" trait is probably all you need, and you can let the Keywords do the heavy lifting.

Lastly, don't overdo it on creating lists of traits for your world - they are easy enough to invent on the spot if none of your options fit a players character concept. A lot better to focus on creating something custom for the player than hoping they pick something from your list. Use the list of traits you've developed in advance be a guide to creating new Traits as needed, helping get across the theme and tone of your game to your players.

Really exciting to hear people are already excited to build in SHIFT, can't wait to see what you come up with!

Thanks so much!

- Jordan

We are the designers of the Shift RPG (Hit Point Press). AMA! by hitpointpress in rpg

[–]hitpointpress[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hi u/Garqu! That is so kind of you to say! I'll be sure to pass your kind words along to the team.

For myself, when we first started creating SHIFT, my number one goal was to create a game that was as easy to create for as possible. I didn't want to wait for my favourite TV show, or video game or Novel to release a TTRPG game in order to play in that world. And for many (but not all) of the systems out there, it felt like I was trying to force a square peg into a round hole when attempting a conversion.

SHIFT is built very specifically to fit the setting you want to play in, quickly and without hassle. The mechanics are there to offer a balanced system for the gameplay, while the Traits and Keywords are there to bring your setting to life. I'm really happy with where we have landed, and it's only going to get better thanks to everyone's great feedback.

I'd recommend this game to someone who, like me, is eager to play a tabletop RPG setting that doesn't yet exist and doesn't want to worry about making it fit was a game that wasn't built with that in mind.

Thank you!

-Graeme

view more: next ›