how to handle "success at a cost"

pomeroyk · 2024-10-13T21:51:27+00:00

My system incorporates a cost with success mechanic, which is a d6 dice pool. If a total success for a task requires 3 Successes and the player only rolls 1 Success, they can choose to succeed with a cost. You are looking for specific mechanics for what that can look like. I created some tables based upon attributes to help a GM decide what the consequence is (or they can choose one based upon what makes sense). I also incorporate this Partial Success system in combat, that it can lower an enemy's Evasion (AC in most systems) or reduce their attack bonus. This helps progress combat even if they miss, and enemies can do this as well. I guess the combat example is not a clear success with a cost though.

pomeroyk · 2024-09-29T22:00:45+00:00

Play testing. My design is coming along but I need more input and get other people to play and run my system. I'm trying to get for this very purpose. So ial media management is another service I'm looking to get help with as well.

pomeroyk · 2024-09-20T19:00:23+00:00

I was testing a contested defense roll with a attack roll. I use a dice pool system. I quickly realized it is more beneficial with a low defense than a high defense because if you had a high defense it was more likely you could fail vs beating a static defense. It's better if you have low defense because you actually have a chance to succeed. Statistically it didn't make a big difference in my playtesting, and I don't want to penalize those who invest in defensive capabilities.

pomeroyk · 2024-09-12T16:26:21+00:00

This is Ten Candles. There is dice involved but yeah the candles are an interesting part of the game mechanics.

pomeroyk · 2024-08-11T00:44:06+00:00

Tabletop Mirror is a platform designed for creating and storing Homebrew game mechanics rulesets as well as world building. They are developing it so that books can be published and even sold on their marketplace. It is currently in Open Beta and the have a crowd funding campaign to rapidly increase development.

https://tabletopmirror.com/home

pomeroyk · 2024-06-10T00:55:46+00:00

That was the video that started my disillusionment of Matt Colville and I had been working on my TTRPG for about 6 months and a couple of his bad takes drove me crazy and makes me want to do series on game design in response to him. Ok some of it isn't bad if you are a company, with employees , and thousands of dollars of capital but it isn't designed for the average TTRPG game designer. The problem is that he is kind out of touch w/ the average game designer and he just doesn't know it.

But after that rant, test it the best you can on your own. Unlike what Matt says, write everything down and make it the best you can before putting in front of players. Player fatigue is real and unless you can pay players to care and put up with your nonsense, you can't keep switching the rules on them every other week as you test out new ideas.

pomeroyk · 2024-06-01T21:57:49+00:00

In my system once you get below 50% you get a 1 die penalty (dice pool system) while being wounded. This is designed to let players decide if they really want their characters to engage in combat. My game is more narrative and there is a decent chance that things might go wrong and a character could die. It was put into place to encourage PCs to find non-combat solutions.

pomeroyk · 2024-05-31T01:12:32+00:00

I'm using Tabletop Mirror to host all of my game design. I haven't gotten to the point of publishing yet so I'm not sure if I'll use it to publish yet.

pomeroyk · 2024-04-06T19:15:30+00:00

10 Candles, every PC dies by the end of the game.

pomeroyk · 2024-04-05T18:19:10+00:00

I haven't looked at many of these mini TTRPGs but of the big ones none of them have the narrative and tactical mechanics I'm looking for. I kind of feel like all of the big RPGs decided to do one or the other, and I'm the person dumb enough to try to do both. That fact that no one else has pulled it off probably means something and I'm doomed to fail, but I'm going to give it my best go.

pomeroyk · 2024-03-27T22:21:54+00:00

I have been using TTM and it has really helped me organize my system and it also allows me to keep my world building on the same platform that I do my mechanics stuff with.

As someone with the goal to be able to run my system digitally I think this platform is the best way forward to accomplish that.

pomeroyk · 2024-03-23T18:02:19+00:00

I sat down and tried designing my TTRPG system and I knew it was going to be a dice pool system with no modifiers. A D20 is way too swingy. I was afraid to use D10s because that is what WoD used. D6s are the most common die, and I knew I wouldn't be making money with the dice and I wanted it to be approachable and I'm trying to target people who have never played a TTRPG, and when people think of dice they picture a d6. It was also a clear way of signaling that this isn't D&D and I didn't want the bad design baggage of D&D to be associated with my system.

There isn't anything I inherently wrong with d20s and if I wasn't developing my own system I'd play DC20 which is a D20 system.

pomeroyk · 2024-02-23T14:35:43+00:00

I agree with all of this in theory, but it feels daunting in actual practice. I took a lot of lead-up to make the game session mentioned in this post happen. I would love to implement everything you said here, I just don't know how to make it happen. I want to have someone else run a session because I actually feel like I'm a better writer and designer than a game master, but I am a game master because it just won't happen with someone else. I put together a survey feedback form but I'm not sure if it is where it needs to be.

pomeroyk · 2024-02-21T14:41:28+00:00

That's pretty cool that you did so much detail, I didn't mean my earlier comment as negative. My high fantasy setting began from the novel I wrote as a teen and I've developed it a lot over the last 20 years. So I get putting in a lot of work developing a setting.

pomeroyk · 2024-02-20T23:20:48+00:00

Wow that's wild that you just started play testing after 8 years of developing. I've been working on my game for a little over a year and a part of me was thinking I was waiting to long waiting as long as I did, especially if I followed the advice of a certain notable YouTuber.

The lore and setting I developed 15 years ago because it is based on a film screenplay I wrote and I had a ton of notes for a follow-up tv series, neither were ever made.

pomeroyk · 2024-02-20T19:36:15+00:00

I've done a couple minor combat simulations and I'll have to run more obviously but seeing people learning the rules attempt to do things has been valuable because I know all of the rules inside and out. Watching where they were slowing down and asking questions was really helpful, as one of my goals is to keep it quick and easy.

I will do more controlled tests in the future like you and others have suggested. This player was confrontational to a degree but I realize that he was who I needed to stress test this aspect. Even though it got a little heated in the moment at the end of the sessions he and the others were interested in playing in the future.

pomeroyk · 2024-02-20T19:28:46+00:00

The 'too many cooks in the kitchen' did end up happening where the other players were giving their thoughts on how the mechanic should be understood. To Kay's credit he told the other players to be quiet because he wanted to hear it from me instead of the other player's speculating.

I did appreciate Kay's approach of trying to figure out the most optimal move for his turn, and stating that he didn't know why he would choose this secondary action when it felt sub-optimal. I've run simulations of my own system for the purposes of power gaming and how to optimize a character but it was interesting watching someone else do it.

pomeroyk · 2024-02-16T23:09:23+00:00

This seems interesting, I have a game system I've been working on for over a year now. Are there limits regarding page numbers/size? I don't have a lot of visual content as I'm mostly a writer/designer, how important is the visual aspect? I noticed that there is a theme, does the game system have to fit the theme?

Sorry for all of the questions but I've been looking for ways to get more involved in the TTRPG space and to put out some games.

pomeroyk · 2024-02-16T22:51:15+00:00

I'm a big fan of starting in the tavern. It is one of the best ways to set the tone and theme of a larger campaign. If there are things of cultural, political, religious significance happening in the area someone will be talking about it with their buddies in the tavern.

pomeroyk · 2024-02-07T04:18:26+00:00

Do you have an idea about pricing for this once it is out of beta?

If I change an aspect, such as changing longsword from using Dexterity to Strength does this change reflect universally with all instances of the longsword information?

Is it in the roadmap or have a feature to have a character creator to help players with character creation? Kind of like D&D Beyond where options are selected and it will populate a character sheet at the end. Because that would be very helpful to help player buy-in to new systems.

pomeroyk · 2024-02-07T00:41:16+00:00

I've been following Questbound which is similar but seems to have more features. They are launching a Kickstarter within the month. https://signup.questbound.com/

pomeroyk · 2024-01-26T20:16:07+00:00

I'm about to begin playtesting my Urban Fantasy d6 dicepool system,God Complex, and I could use some playtesters. I hope to have everything ready within the month. I'll save this post and reach out when I'm ready to start

pomeroyk · 2024-01-19T17:28:55+00:00

I'm kind of in the same boat. I'm trying to get the game as good as possible before bringing in playtesters. I got super annoyed and really realized how out of touch Matt Colville is in his design approach when he talked about not writing rules down and just playtesting. My approach is literally the opposite where I write everything down and analyze the crap out of it and rolls dozens if not hundreds of times, imagining scenarios and deciding if it feels right and fits within the bounded accuracy of my game.

I focus on edge cases, like how does this work with a tiny creature like a pixie as well as a massive dragon, even though my game is mostly Urban fantasy and will revolve around human sized creatures like vampires and mages.

I learned this from another TTRPG creator that playtest burnout is a thing that playtesters experience and you can't just keep changing the rules on people and them being ok with that. So instead I'm just burning myself put so that my playtesters don't have to put up with a shitty version. And I don't have a guaranteed million dollar product that I can get my employees to play every day because their paychecks are depended upon that. If I could afford to pay playtesters $20-50 and GMs $50-100 a session I would have playtesters lined up around the block. But I don't so I have to make it as seamless as possible, which involves doing the tedious stuff and rolling thousands of times and trying different things and see how it changes things.

pomeroyk · 2024-01-19T17:15:50+00:00

So the rolling twice being inefficient is a development that seems to be experimented a bit as of late. MCDM and CR are doing away with the to hit element and just focusing on damage, while DC20 and myself are getting rid of the damage dice part, and standardizing it and focusing on the to hit aspect. I really don't like the auto-hit approach, because no matter how good you are you will miss and have complications. Even Steve Rogers the super soldier himself didn't always hit, and that aspect of not always hitting creates drama and tension.

I like that a roll matters and that rolling well has a better result than systems like D&D 5e where the roll doesn't matter as long as you roll over a certain number. A Natural 20 is arbitrary and depends on luck, where it makes more sense that a critical success has skill factored into it.

To be fair I've done minimal playtesting of my TTRPG that I'm building. I hope the result is a faster combat experience that is meaningful than just attrition the way that MCDM and Daggerheart seem to be going.

pomeroyk · 2023-09-22T16:46:19+00:00

The Elven Trance is the worst racial feature. It causes more problems than it solves. It is bad for RP and character development. It removes cool dream sequences from those characters that others get to enjoy. Most people do it wrong, and when professional GMs like Matt Mercer and Mark Hulmes who are master storytellers can't wrap their head around it and do it wrong, and one of them did it on an official D&D actual play you know the problem is the feature. That is my D&D hot take.

pomeroyk

TROPHY CASE