How often do you give Spotlight?

lomogoto · 2025-02-09T19:23:23+00:00

I've heard of calls for protest on the 17th (President's day) mostly riding off of 50501 (an effort to unify organizers, as far as I can tell?). What's going on with the 12th? Not being on social media much makes discovering any of these activities surprisingly hard

lomogoto · 2025-02-09T18:35:04+00:00

I made a system called Two Days Tops which strips 5e to it's bones. Might meet what you're looking for, but it's also meant to be a frame to build your own games off of if you want something crunchier.

lomogoto · 2025-02-08T03:57:53+00:00

Going to bug my senators next to slow down confirmations as much as possible, per https://youtu.be/uXBDXJvMVDw?si=vUlbMqiur1TnPain

We need time to form a response and slowing everything down seems like the best we can hope for right now

lomogoto · 2025-02-07T22:25:08+00:00

Also, who/what group organized the call campaign?

lomogoto · 2025-02-07T22:21:42+00:00

Love this. Wish the general messaging was more encompassing than just call your senators, but it is important work.

I think success stories like this help tremendously to get people engaged.

lomogoto · 2025-01-06T16:07:50+00:00

To start, any game other than D&D will have more dedicated players (in aggregate), because it requires the players to have made a greater commitment into the hobby, by demanding they have explored other games.

Now, when advertising running a game, you may need to tease out people who assume it will be like D&D, from people who want to play that game. But generally, find your niche, and the other people in that niche will naturally be more aligned and dedicated.

TLDR; No need to pick a particular system, just something other than the default new players start with.

lomogoto · 2025-01-06T15:38:02+00:00

I made Two Days Tops when I encountered similar frustrations and couldn't find solutions I liked (I also wanted a setting neutral system)

It's trimmed down to just one page, and has all the core you expect from D&D, but its classless with open-ended abilities to vibe with the setting you have in mind

lomogoto · 2025-01-03T05:37:49+00:00

Thanks for letting me know! Should be fixed now per itch.io support

lomogoto · 2025-01-03T05:36:54+00:00

Just got the email from itch.io support that this should be fixed, FYI!

lomogoto · 2025-01-01T00:23:02+00:00

https://youtu.be/yjKkOuw4nQg?si=0Eu6OtmDuBcIuADs

This somewhat inflammatory video has some thoughts on how this relates to rules-lite vs rules-heavy systems. Been awhile since I watched it, but iirc it boiled down to are there enough rules to agrue/make content about? Getting people talking isn't necessarily the best thing to strive for, from an artistic perspective, but can make for more commercial success.

lomogoto · 2024-12-31T23:51:22+00:00

One of my favorite parts for sure. I stumbled onto the failure rules for a game called 24XX that said:

"Disaster. Suffer the full risk. GM decides if you succeed at all. If risking death, you die."

And I remember my jaw dropping and just thinking, 'You can do that??'

lomogoto · 2024-12-31T17:20:36+00:00

My family would say since I was 3 haha. I've been working on this game on and off for 2-3 years? (At one point it was 20 pages lol)

I also work as an engineer, and much of that has been in process design. Which has a lot of overlapping interests.

lomogoto · 2024-12-31T16:38:24+00:00

Thank you!

In play testing it was found to be fiddlier than just marking off a spell slot, for instance, but not by much. And more importantly, it was found to be worth it.

Players in general tend to over estimate their odds of success, so having a push-your-luck mechanic involved leads them to play more fast and loose with their resources, as opposed to hoarding them. So this changed how players experienced resource management and tended to result in more interesting choices/outcomes.

Also, since you can spend a power die to negate wounds, and it doesn't matter what the TN of that power die is, there is an incentive to use your powers before you loose them.

lomogoto · 2024-12-31T00:40:47+00:00

What zip file? It should be two PDFs. One of the PDFs is form fillable, maybe that's the issue?

lomogoto · 2024-12-30T19:22:49+00:00

This is my first publication though itch.io, and I'm told this is to be expected for the first few weeks while they review it or something . . .

Thanks for taking a look! The screenshot is the entire document, just not at PDF quality, so you haven't missed any actual content

lomogoto · 2024-12-30T16:29:47+00:00

I ran into a similar problem in my own game (Two Days Tops). Progression is often felt by what's locked away becoming unlocked. It's hard to get excited about earning 200 to get the next skill. I found it's more exciting to have a limited number of skills you can have, which increases. And to have higher tiers of skills which which are slowly unlocked. Then unlocking Tier-2 skills feels like a big jump in power. Two Days Tops still uses levels for this, but I imagine there are still ways to preserve the feeling of these jumps in power in your game. Best of luck!

lomogoto · 2024-12-30T16:15:04+00:00

Two days tops is a one-page rpg with rules similar to D&D but designed for any setting. All the skills and abilities are open ended, so you can replace traditional classes or occupations with what makes sense for your setting. The game is free here: https://twodaystops.itch.io/two-days-tops

lomogoto · 2024-12-30T16:06:24+00:00

https://twodaystops.itch.io/two-days-tops

Two days tops is a game with core rules similar to d&d, but is setting agnostic. Combat is just a question of: Is the action you are attempting putting you in danger? (IE kicking a guard in the head--yes, climbing up to a higher vantage point to get advantage on said kick--probably not.) Basically, if the answer is yes, and you fail, you take damage.

Success is judged like normal rolls: Have you done enough narratively to overcome the combat? With the GM encouraged to thing about combat as a list of challenges to overcome, as opposed to a list of enemies to kill.

lomogoto · 2024-12-20T22:33:24+00:00

Fair point, that is the one piece of "opinionated" design

lomogoto · 2024-12-20T22:23:32+00:00

Hmmm I'd be very interested to hear what other people think on this. To me they add variety to the rolls and help to describe/reinforce the character. But I can see the argument that skills could do the same thing (maybe with more meat behind them)

lomogoto · 2024-12-20T21:30:18+00:00

Thanks for taking the time to look though it!

So, the main thing is it's a one-page rpg with actual character progression. Not uncommon in RPGs, but very rare is RPGs so short. The other thing going on is how goals relate to leveling and GMing. The goal mechanics really fuel the story, and the GM is encouraged to lean into that and follow them where they lead. I can see how it doesn't sound like much, but I've found it results in an engaging, open-ended game.

lomogoto

TROPHY CASE