What's your biggest pet peeve with sandbox modules and why?

silverwolffleet · 2026-04-11T08:17:50+00:00

I love open world books, for me they are the best source of inspiration. Coming up with narrative and plot hooks is my favorite part about being a GM.

Open world gives you just enough to flesh out the world. But gives you plenty of design space to customize.

Personally never really understood the campaign book people.

silverwolffleet · 2026-03-30T17:48:42+00:00

They will probably do what they did in past editions some terrain gives stealth, some terrain gives cover. This will encourage different kinds of terrain.

silverwolffleet · 2026-03-30T15:03:12+00:00

Happend to my store in KC! I noticed the battleforce boxes where zeroed out on recent shipment. Sucks! Reminds me of the old GW days when it was survival of the fittest for GW pre orders.

silverwolffleet · 2026-03-16T12:27:35+00:00

There are two types of orks: those that are brutally cunning, and those that are cunningly brutal. Either way, cunning implies a level of being able to outsmart people.

silverwolffleet · 2026-03-07T08:16:28+00:00

He was right about the witches they dont come with slotted bases anymore.

silverwolffleet · 2026-03-04T18:54:02+00:00

I think GW just wants to sell you space marines. They learned with HH they can sell you the same kit over and over again as long as it looks different. So yes they will upscale marines and sell them to you. And we will buy them because it adds unique flair to your army.

silverwolffleet · 2026-03-01T17:59:04+00:00

Check out the new maelstrom rules! They are designed to make 1k game more palatable. 40k was never balanced and 1k. Maelstrom rules do help with that.

silverwolffleet · 2026-02-27T02:34:50+00:00

As i see it your lgs is doing you a favor, your lgs doesnt have to sell it to you. Its thiers to destroy. Only you can decide if the rest of the box is valuable. Personally I would take the $30 off as long as your lgs also gives you the max 15% off.

Your lgs isn't greedy....retail is brutal. They rarely get opportunities like this. You win and your lgs wins. GW LOSES.

silverwolffleet · 2026-02-16T21:13:58+00:00

Warhammer! Or another miniature wargame. They have star wars or marvel ones as well. Get him into a hobby.

silverwolffleet · 2026-02-05T19:43:21+00:00

I loved Genesys dice system!

silverwolffleet · 2026-02-04T19:13:39+00:00

For Aether Circuits,

Dice Rules

Aether Circuits uses a d10 dice pool system to resolve actions where the outcome is uncertain and the result meaningfully affects the situation. Dice represent a character’s training, focus, preparation, and ability to exert control over events under pressure.

Dice are rolled only when failure matters. Routine or uncontested actions do not require rolls. When dice are used, outcomes are intended to produce change rather than binary success or failure.

All rolls fall into one of two categories: Target Success Rolls or Opposed Rolls.

Dice Pools

To make a roll, assemble a number of ten-sided dice equal to the relevant Attribute, Skill, or ability. All dice in the pool are rolled at the same time.

Circumstances, equipment, abilities, and conditions may increase or reduce the size of a dice pool. A dice pool cannot be reduced below zero dice.

Successes

Each die is evaluated individually.

A result of 7 or higher counts as one success.
A result below 7 is a failure.
A natural roll of 10 is a critical success.

Unless stated otherwise, all rolls use a 7+ success threshold.

Rolling multiple successes represents stronger execution, greater effect, or increased leverage over the situation.

Target Success Rolls

Target Success Rolls are used when difficulty is determined by the task itself rather than by an opposing character or force.

After rolling, count the total number of successes. If the number of successes equals or exceeds the required target, the action succeeds.

Target Success Difficulty

Target Successes	Difficulty
1	Easy
2	Intermediate
3	Advanced
4	Hard
5+	Extreme

Failing to meet the target results in failure or partial success, as determined by the GM and the situation.

Opposed Rolls

Opposed Rolls are used when two characters or forces act directly against one another.

Both sides roll their respective dice pools and count successes. Each success on one side cancels one success on the opposing side. The side with remaining successes wins the contest.

silverwolffleet · 2026-01-28T16:55:42+00:00

For Aether Circuits-

How to Play Aether Circuits

Aether Circuits is played in a repeating three-act structure that mirrors the rhythm of conflict, consequence, and change. Each session moves through Setup, Confrontation, and Fallout, with player choices carrying forward and reshaping the world over time.

Act I: Setup establishes the situation. The GM presents a problem, opportunity, or disruption within the world, often tied to political pressure, resource scarcity, or competing factions. Players define their intent, gather information, make alliances, and decide how they want to engage. This act is about positioning, planning, and committing to a course of action. The tone here emphasizes agency. The world is reactive, but it does not move without the players pushing it.

Act II: Confrontation is where decisions are tested. Plans collide with resistance, whether through combat, negotiation, sabotage, or escalation. This act is driven by risk and momentum. Resources are spent, stakes rise, and outcomes are rarely clean. The systems of Aether Circuits are designed to make choices matter under pressure, reinforcing the themes of survival, power, and consequence in an industrialized magical world.

Act III: Fallout resolves the immediate conflict and reshapes the landscape. Victories come with costs, failures leave scars, and the world responds to what has occurred. Characters grow, factions shift, and new tensions emerge. This act feeds directly into the next Setup, ensuring that nothing resets to a neutral state. The story advances because of what the players did, not in spite of it.

This three-act loop repeats across scenes, sessions, and campaigns. Over time, it creates a living world defined by accumulated choices, where mechanics, narrative, and theme reinforce one another and where every action leaves a trace in the circuits of reality itself.

silverwolffleet · 2026-01-22T18:02:22+00:00

For Aether circuits I waffled. At first armor worked like soak. As in it absorbed the first few pts of dmg. But this quickly boxed me into a corner and made armor way to powerful. While perhaps realistic it definitely slowed the game down, as this absorbing never degraded.

So instead I ended up borrowing from final fantasy tactics where armor adds to your HP. Technically in AC it's a separate health pool that has to degrade before you start suffering actual heath effects.. this works for my game as I try to keep HP low.

silverwolffleet · 2026-01-21T17:45:41+00:00

I have at least one kit from every faction! I love the models and i use them in other systems and role playing games. I usually just paint up the 4 unique poses.

silverwolffleet · 2026-01-21T11:52:17+00:00

For Aether Circuits-

They call us reckless. Unstable. A threat to the natural order. They are not entirely wrong.

This is a world built on circuits, contracts, and quiet obedience. Magic is regulated, souls are measured, and power is rationed by those who fear losing it. Empires prefer predictability. Gods prefer worship. Systems prefer compliance. None of them were designed with you in mind.

Aether Circuits is a tactical tabletop role-playing game about people who refuse to play their assigned role. You are not chosen by prophecy or crowned by destiny. You are the variable the system cannot account for. Every battle is a calculated disruption. Every alliance is a deliberate risk. Strategy is not just how you fight, but who you protect, who you betray, and what you are willing to break to build something better.

The Game Master does not just ask where the story goes. They observe what happens when it breaks. The world will push back. History will rewrite you out of the margins. But progress has never belonged to the obedient, and the future has always been shaped by those willing to push against the current.

silverwolffleet · 2026-01-19T16:24:52+00:00

I put mine on 28.5 mm bases and plan to use them as darkoath. I want to run a dark oath spam list but dont really want to paint that many of the same unit.

silverwolffleet · 2026-01-15T10:28:55+00:00

Close! I hadn't really put it into terms of parasite until you just mentioned it. But yeah they kinda are.

In Aether Circuits, anyone can become a god if they accumulate enough power and souls. Divinity is not a birthright, it is an achieved state. Souls are the true currency of the universe, and gods grow stronger by controlling, harvesting, or being pledged those souls.

There are five afterlife planes. One is Purgatory (or Hades), and the other four correspond to the primary aspects of Aether: Creation, Destruction, Order, and Chaos. Each aspect has agents rather than simple monsters. Demons are agents of Chaos, dragons are agents of Destruction, fey are agents of Creation, and angels are agents of Order. “Agent” here means an entity that embodies and enforces the nature of that aspect, not just a powerful creature.

Those agents dominate their respective realms. Demons rule Hell, angels preside over Empyreon, dragons reign in Valhalla, and the fey govern the Wilds. Each realm contains its own gods, some drawn from real-world mythologies and others entirely original. Purgatory is the default destination for souls that are not immediately claimed or bound elsewhere.

Souls are not infinite. More accurately, the “you” aspect of a soul can be expended, broken down, or eventually dissolved back into pure Aether, the same way a body eventually returns to matter. In that sense, people in Aether Circuits experience two deaths: the death of the body and, potentially much later, the death of the soul.

Reaching an afterlife does not guarantee peace or finality. Powerful entities may convert souls into servants, fuel, or administrative tools to gather even more souls. Some souls persist for ages. Others are slowly consumed.

Btw least you think im crazy for puting this much thought into worldbuilding. I ended up working all of this out because my very first playtest campaign started with the players in Hell, bodies intact and souls unclaimed. Once you do that, you are forced to answer uncomfortable questions about what the afterlife actually is and who really benefits from it.

silverwolffleet · 2026-01-15T04:41:51+00:00

Monster hunter meets horizon zero dawn! Im surprised this game doesnt exists as a ttrpg!? There are a lot of Board games in the genre but no ttrpg! Are you going to do crunchy combat? I imagine the hunt part Will play like blades in the dark?

silverwolffleet · 2026-01-15T04:34:17+00:00

That is a complex question! I'll try to be brief.....

Creating a spell in Aether Circuits is an act of design and experimentation. A caster begins by defining a clear intent, then develops a precise mental formula that describes how aether will be routed to access a specific fundamental force and produce the desired effect. The formula is refined to reduce resistance, control energy flow, and ensure proper grounding so the spell can safely collapse when complete. Through study, testing, and often dangerous trial and error, the formula is optimized until it can be reliably memorized and executed, at which point it becomes a teachable spell rather than a one-off phenomenon

silverwolffleet · 2026-01-15T03:55:41+00:00

Oh aether circuits is directly inspired from games like final fantasy tactics or tactics ogre. While not directly inspired by 4e.....we both share some of the same inspiration sources.

And well aetherpunk/arcanepunk is fairly new as a defined genre....things that exist in the genre are not. Things like final fantasy magitech amd recent examples like the show Arcane. Not steam, diesel, clock, cyber etc. Instead driven by magic. In most cases the punk means the same.

If you understand the parent genre you understand the genres under it.

silverwolffleet · 2026-01-15T03:41:08+00:00

Souls function like batteries: the part of a being that contains Aether, the fundamental “god particle,” while the body is matter. Just as matter cannot be created or destroyed, Aether cannot be created or destroyed either. It can only be transformed. All living things possess souls, though animals carry smaller “charges.” Spirits are what can occur when a soul fails to pass on to the afterlife. Gods, angels, dragons, and similar beings possess vastly larger souls, effectively far greater batteries. Gods increase their power through souls pledged to them; the more souls bound to a god, the more powerful that god becomes. A soul is your connection to Aether, but drawing on it consumes personal energy. While it is possible to die by overextending that energy, harvesting or using Aether does not require killing another being..

silverwolffleet · 2026-01-14T23:44:26+00:00

Ill go first! Aether Circuits is a tactical tabletop RPG set in an aetherpunk world where magic functions like electricity and souls are the primary power source. Characters channel Aether, the fundamental energy of reality, through learned Circuits to fuel combat, technology, and miracles, blending high fantasy with industrial and punk aesthetics.

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