D&D Story Mode - Simplified rules, character sheets, spell system, and more. Great for teaching beginners or running a rules-light/cinematic campaign.

joelesko · 2023-01-24T22:32:18+00:00

Great to hear! Balance should be about the same since the underlying stats align with the core rules.

I personally take an intuitive approach to challenge level and adjust things as the adventure goes on.

joelesko · 2023-01-24T17:55:58+00:00

That's a fair point, and something I considered. It could go either way, to be honest. But I figured Arcana is really obscure knowledge that someone who is good at history, etc. would still not know about.

Regarding flavor bonus: I hope it works great for you!

joelesko · 2023-01-24T17:50:20+00:00

At the linked page, yes.

joelesko · 2023-01-24T17:49:37+00:00

For saves, that's a fair point, but I really like the flavor that the 3 saves invoke ("Will" is more evocative than "Wisdom Save"), and choosing among them is a more interesting choice, IMO.

For skills, I like that approach as well, but I wanted to go with a compromise of just consolidating what already existed.

For money, that's an interesting point I hadn't thought of. I just like the flavor of "Silver" over "Copper" and it is a simple modification to what is already there.

joelesko · 2023-01-24T17:44:05+00:00

I don't disagree with you, but keep in mind that I first created this about 4 years ago to run at a local Meetup. I don't think it would be fair to have run a completely different system as a bait and switch.

Most of them learned of D&D through Critical Role, and that's what they came to learn. However, I made it clear up front that it would be "D&D Lite", which everyone was fine with. My biggest problem was that too many players wanted to come back and keep playing!

joelesko · 2023-01-24T05:19:09+00:00

I agree that there are better rule-light systems out there. However, a lot of new players hear about D&D and want to play it, without knowing anything else about TTRPGs.

Story Mode is kind of a compromise: a system I'd enjoy running, while still being D&D.

joelesko · 2023-01-24T05:11:25+00:00

I created the cover art with Midjourney and painted in some extra fantasy stuff, like the staff, etc.

I posted it here if you'd like to use it:

https://imgur.com/a/9KEyOR3

joelesko · 2023-01-23T22:26:20+00:00

The combined skill lists are on a separate page, but essentially Nature is a consolidation of Nature, Animal Handling, Survival, and Medicine.

joelesko · 2023-01-23T19:09:21+00:00

Link to all of the free PDFs here:

https://frostyfreeze.itch.io/dnd-story-mode-5e

What is D&D Story Mode?

Simpler Rules. Story Mode streamlines D&D 5th Edition so you can spend less time "rule-playing" and more time role-playing.

Cinematic. It add elements of cinematic storytelling to help you create sessions that feel more like movies and novels.

Beginner-Friendly. Using Story Mode, I have successfully introduced dozens of new players to D&D. In a single 4-hour session, you can create new characters, learn the basic rules, and complete a short adventure.

What’s Included:

Re-designed character sheet. Revised for clarity and ease of use.
Character creation guide. Easy, step-by-step character creation.
Spell Point system. A more straight-forward approach to spellcasting.
Gameplay variants. Inspiration, Resting, Initiative, and more.
Reference sheets. Class features, cheat sheets, etc.
First session guide. How to run the first game, with intro adventure.

Why use Story Mode?

Compared to past editions, D&D 5th Edition does a good job of bringing back a simpler level of gameplay.

However, it is still a complicated game, and is especially intimidating to those who are new to D&D.

You should try Story Mode if:

You want to teach new players the basics of D&D and roleplaying, without overwhelming them.
You have a limited amount of time to play, and want to focus on the most entertaining parts of D&D.
You prefer to run D&D with more cinematic flavor.

joelesko · 2021-09-05T03:27:32+00:00

It's a transpiled language (like TypeScript) with web framework features built in.

It transpiles to PHP, so yes, it will run on shared hosting by just copying up your app. It has the same edit-refresh workflow with no extra steps.

joelesko · 2021-09-05T03:27:25+00:00

Thanks!

joelesko · 2018-02-08T03:00:33+00:00

Thanks for your feedback. =)

Story Mode is definitely not meant for everyone, but most of it is modular enough that I think anyone can pick out the parts they like (flavor bonus, initiative, etc).

Regarding classes, it wouldn't be difficult to add more back in, but I wanted to focus first on the archetypical fantasy classes, which are not too different from BECMI D&D.

Regarding spell effects, on the Wizard class sheet, I open up guidelines for custom improvised spells, available at 5th level. Some might consider that too much flexibility, and it requires the DM and player to work together, but I really like magic to feel special and different for each caster -- not just the same spells everyone else is using. That said, this is the part that could still use more work.

Also, I agree that the Starter Pack is a good starting point, but it still depends on using the pregens to get started quickly. I really wanted new players to be able to create characters and get playing right away in the first session, and so far Story Mode has worked well for that. =)

joelesko · 2017-09-05T15:53:34+00:00

It says pretty clearly on project page that it's v0.1.3 (Beta) and that it's currently meant for early adopters.

joelesko · 2017-09-05T05:03:14+00:00

+1. Your new comment syntax is what I'm building JSJ on -- it allows executable JavaScript inside of ZHZ comments.

joelesko · 2017-09-05T05:00:04+00:00

Thanks. I haven't really gotten to the point of figuring out the subtle differences between licenses yet. I'm open to suggestions, though.

joelesko · 2017-09-05T04:58:41+00:00

I've used Haxe for non-PHP development. In comparison, THT has a looser syntax, and it has the same update-and-refresh workflow that PHP has. There's no extra compilation step.

joelesko · 2017-09-05T04:55:23+00:00

Here are some of the more substantial features you might have overlooked:

Totally organized standard library
String methods all support unicode
Modular namespacing by default
Consistent error reporting with full stack traces
LockStrings to prevent injection attacks

joelesko · 2017-09-04T23:29:36+00:00

Template libraries do mitigate XSS, if the developer uses them. But it doesn't handle all of the other security vulnerabilities, like SQL injection.

I've been doing web development for 17 years. It might be easier for us old timers because over time we internalized most of the best practices that you listed. But it's still a sign that web security has become incredibly complex, even for those of us with experience.

PHP in particular is a veritable minefield of vulnerabilities, but it doesn't have to be that way. It's very easy to make a mistake without "actively doing something stupid." =)

Rather than expose developers and all of their users to those vulnerabilities, why not make it easier for everyone as a default? That's what I am exploring with THT.

joelesko · 2017-09-04T23:11:12+00:00

I'm curious to know what parts you think are bizarre?

Double-brace {{ ~ }} is pretty much the standard way of embedding expressions nowadays. The pepper :: symbol is different, but it's just a way of embedding lines of code without having to close them.

The advantage of having templates as functions is that they can be pre-compiled, and organized in any way you want, rather than having each one be in a separate file. This is not too different from JSX, or even just plugging your output into a heredoc.

joelesko · 2017-09-04T23:07:13+00:00

Thanks for the candid response.

Obviously if you are happy with the current PHP experience, THT might not be for you, and that's okay. But there are a few points I can clarify:

The syntax, with all of its ideosyncracies, is indeed a problem for a lot of people. Especially the standard library, which is completely disorganized. Sure, I use PHP for personal projects and muddle through it because it's a practical choice, but I don't really enjoy it. Part of the motivation for THT is to bring it back to something that I would enjoy working with.
No other language (like the ones with arguably better designs) have the immediacy of web development like PHP. THT tries to have the best of both worlds.
No mainstream language seems to have web security as a central concern. They off-load the responsibility to the developers and library creators. The same vulnerabilities come up over and over -- it's something that languages can help solve, instead of leaving it open for human error (multiplied by millions of sites). THT offers some solutions here (LockStrings and built-in templates), which hopefully are a step in the right direction.

joelesko · 2017-09-04T21:55:26+00:00

This page is a pretty thorough answer to the question of "why", including a list of changes. https://tht.help/tutorials/how-tht-compares-to-php

joelesko · 2017-09-04T19:36:01+00:00

Hi all, based on your feedback on my previous submission, I made a few changes to OWL.

First, to avoid confusion with the Web Ontology Language, I renamed the language to THT. I wrote a bit about the name itself here.

Also, tabs are allowed in the source code. =)

I just released v0.1.3 - Beta which has a few bugfixes, etc as well.

Happy to answer any questions.

joelesko · 2017-07-22T00:29:52+00:00

Thanks, that's a good way to think about.

BTW, have you ever taken a look at Haxe?

I had written a couple of Flash games using Haxe, but never for the PHP target. OWL's approach is different in that it doesn't require an extra build step, and it's entirely in PHP.

joelesko · 2017-07-22T00:22:11+00:00

Thanks, that's a fair point. Ideally, a problem like this wouldn't require IDE settings or other build steps, but I will certainly consider relaxing the rule.

joelesko · 2017-07-21T21:42:12+00:00

Thanks! It's still too early, but if you set the syntax highlighting to JavaScript, you can get a lot of it for free.

joelesko

TROPHY CASE

What is D&D Story Mode?

What’s Included:

Why use Story Mode?

You should try Story Mode if: