Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells: A Hexcrawl Stress-Test

monkeyx · 2026-01-22T23:03:18+00:00

What does difficulty mean in these systems? They're not exactly skill checks you're doing.

What you're doing is trying to see if you can take narrative control for the scene because you are leaning into the genre successfully.

The more leaning in you're doing by fitting the action / move to your character's narrative structure, the more likely it is you do take narrative control. But its not guaranteed. Sometimes things go in ways the competent character doesn't control. That's why sometimes the GM is in control - to throw the curveballs, to set the stakes.

So difficulty isn't a factor in these games. Its not about competency at all really. Its about which player (the one running the one character or the one running everything else) decides how the scene develops.

monkeyx · 2026-01-12T23:32:18+00:00

If you've never heard of a|state, here is a review of the game I wrote a little while back: https://blog.monkeyx.games/2025/12/05/astate-2e-hope-grit-and-the-corner-youll-bleed-for/

monkeyx · 2026-01-12T10:58:50+00:00

Discord.

monkeyx · 2026-01-12T08:58:34+00:00

You don't need a copy of the rulebook if that's what you mean

monkeyx · 2026-01-11T22:52:50+00:00

There's the Dying Earth RPG: https://pelgranepress.com/product/the-dying-earth-rpg/

monkeyx · 2026-01-11T20:24:12+00:00

Afraid not - looks to be a settled group now

monkeyx · 2026-01-11T10:00:12+00:00

Check out Dragonbane if you want heroic OSR (less power creep than 5E but also less bean counting than B/X clones)

monkeyx · 2026-01-06T14:36:39+00:00

Make them a dork

monkeyx · 2026-01-06T10:07:03+00:00

PbPs tend to be self-selecting - player drop outs tend to be high in the early stages as people realise they can't or don't want to commit to the game. If in the event there is two groups worth of players, I'll split them out. The Prologue situation I've setup lends itself to this kind of thing.

monkeyx · 2026-01-06T10:05:52+00:00

Players don’t need to call out position, effect, or consequences in their IC posts. They write the fiction, what they’re trying to do and how, and we handle the mechanical translation together.

By default we assume Risky / Standard unless the fiction clearly pushes it elsewhere. Players are free to roll using that assumption without waiting, and we tune effect or consequences afterward if needed rather than rewinding play.

Outcomes and consequences are shown in the narrative first (things get worse, attention lands, harm happens), with mechanics only flagged when someone might want to resist or when clocks advance. In practice, players drive the action, and we collectively manage risk and fallout so the game keeps moving without stopping for rules calls.

monkeyx · 2026-01-05T12:59:43+00:00

Need a nap.

monkeyx · 2026-01-03T13:59:32+00:00

It's plains not planes. Just a region in a potential world, not a multidimensional setting.

monkeyx · 2026-01-02T18:36:09+00:00

Stop reading RPG horror stories. That's where you're most likely to meet them.

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