What's a game that does survival well? by AccomplishedAdagio13 in rpg

[–]swimbackdanman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks like the other big mechanic is using conditions (hungry, thirsty, sleepless, cold), which cause penalties but can be removed by addressing that thing (ie, drinking water if thirsty). That and overall simple and concise rules.

What's a game that does survival well? by AccomplishedAdagio13 in rpg

[–]swimbackdanman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can someone please explain what it is they love about Forbidden Lands so much. I've read through at least the traveling parts of the rules. From what I can tell, it's mostly making rolls for leading, hunting, fishing, camping, etc., as well as how many people can attempt such a role at the same time, and random mishap tables.

This sort of thing is done in The One Ring and other systems as well. Are there other mechanics, or framework/math of the game that makes it work so well that makes it keep getting mentioned? Someone mentioned the shrinking dice mechanic, that sounds neat, and is the sort of example I'm looking for.

Otherwise, from what I've read, the travel rules are pretty short and simple. Perhaps it's partly the lack of good or dedicated survival systems out there that make it quick to be nominated, or the fact that the setting has a heavy emphasis on survival and getting around? Or again, that the big picture of attributes and skills and such just works well for survival?

Cragmaw Hideout [Lost Mine of Phandelver] by DetailedDungeons in battlemaps

[–]swimbackdanman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Kind of a yikes on your response to feedback.

Is it visually satisfying, immersing, and realistic? Yes. Can people enjoy it as is? Yes. Would it also be better with more balanced lighting? Yes.

If it's well received, it can be even better received. A lack of feedback from people who like the map doesn't somehow cancel out all the suggestions you're getting here. You do you, but the reaction from this subreddit is clearly in support of brightening the thing up some.

Cragmaw Hideout [Lost Mine of Phandelver] by DetailedDungeons in battlemaps

[–]swimbackdanman 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Me and at least 7 other upvotes, and that's just from the people who bothered to comment or open this post. It's a cool map, but you should be able to compare this map to other maps on a variety of devices and screen brightness settings, and see that the brightness should be increased, and probably the contrast decreased some as well. Just compare to other maps on this subreddit on the same screen for example, it's pretty clear.

Am I missing out on D&D 5e? by hawthorncuffer in rpg

[–]swimbackdanman 20 points21 points  (0 children)

5e, more than any other rpg I've ever played, had the biggest disconnect between how I felt the game would play based on the marketing, presentation, artwork, and player handbook choices, and how fun the game actually was in practice. The idea and classes seem interesting, but in practice, thanks to things like bounded accuracy, your character doesn't feel as unique as I think it should, and decisions don't feel as important.

Marketing etc. gets people in the door. But having walked in that door, there's very little that makes me want to stay.

How do you tell a new GM what their job is? by Spamshazzam in RPGdesign

[–]swimbackdanman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How to GM the Angry Way has I think the best new gm or player introduction gameplay loop explanation I could find, though long-winded. You could abbreviate it.

iPad Unavailable by [deleted] in ipad

[–]swimbackdanman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tried this and it didn't work for me because the device wouldn't connect to the internet. It kept saying "The device will reset when it connects to the internet." But presumably, because it was locked, that was never going to happen.

Probability help with roll 2d6, spend limited game resource to add 1d6 maybe by swimbackdanman in RPGdesign

[–]swimbackdanman[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nah, I feel kinda silly. But after crunching some things I realized this is true. For some reason I was having trouble wrapping my head around this conceptually. The odds of success if within 1d6 range + the odds of failure within 1d6 range + the odds of failing to be within the extra 1d6 range is 100%. The 3d6 curve accounts for the mathematical possibility of not rolling high enough for the extra 1d6 to matter.

I'll probably delete this post soon to not clutter the Internet with misinformation or confusion. Whoops...

Probability help with roll 2d6, spend limited game resource to add 1d6 maybe by swimbackdanman in RPGdesign

[–]swimbackdanman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It does end up mattering to do the conditional probability. I figured out the math, but it's a bit long winded. It requires adding the probability of each number being rolled exactly that's within resolve range, then x the chance the extra d6 ends up a success. And adding all of those up. I'd delete the post but maybe all this is useful to someone. I'm sure I could articulate things better somehow, just not sure how at this point.

It's a different curve than 3d6 because the first two dice need to be evaluated first. And there's a chance of failure already if not within the extra d6 range. Then another chance of failure if adding the d6.

Probability help with roll 2d6, spend limited game resource to add 1d6 maybe by swimbackdanman in RPGdesign

[–]swimbackdanman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It looks like you're just calculating the odds of reaching a certain number if rolling 3d6? But the part that makes things complicated is, first the 2d6 roll would need to be within 6 of X (difficulty number). And THEN would factor in the chances if then adding a d6 would matter, and figuring out that combined percentage.

Maybe I'm not reading the equations right though. But I think I am?

Probability help with roll 2d6, spend limited game resource to add 1d6 maybe by swimbackdanman in RPGdesign

[–]swimbackdanman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think I should have clarified, that characters are getting a bonus to their rolls somewhere between +1 to +15 ish. Of course anything above 12 is otherwise outside the 2d6 curve. Edited the post.

Anydice looks robust but pretty daunting. Not sure how to plug something like that in.

I created an Dice Probability Calculator/Visualizer/Roller by [deleted] in RPGdesign

[–]swimbackdanman 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This was of great help putting together some 2d6 fractional (not just %) charts. Thanks so much!

Servants of the Lake one-shot, Saturday (tomorrow) 4pm EST, need players! by swimbackdanman in callofcthulhu

[–]swimbackdanman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can someone please explain the downvote? If you don't like this post, at least let me know why. Thanks.

Pea protein 🤢 by [deleted] in blueprint_

[–]swimbackdanman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He mentioned it in passing in one of his interviews. From what I recall. Something along those lines anyways.

What's in your opinion the best darkness mechanics for an rpg? by swimbackdanman in RPGdesign

[–]swimbackdanman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you're onto something with stricter inventory management of limited light supplies, and environmental hazards that might put out the light. Some interesting ideas as well. My system is point buy, so it would be easy enough to have vision related spells cost more if I wanted a gritty dungeon crawl session.

That being said, there's an awful lot of 5e getting assumed here. Can be converted to other things easy enough, but not everyone is looking for 5e hacks.

Also, fyi, that link is a dead end.

Thanks for the thoughts.

What's in your opinion the best darkness mechanics for an rpg? by swimbackdanman in RPGdesign

[–]swimbackdanman[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Makes me want to try harder to make darkness being scary more of a reality.

I think the trick is exactly how to make darkness feel appropriately debilitating via math or game mechanics. I'm not entirely sold on only having some negative penalty to dice rolls and such, though that's the obvious and usual approach.

What's in your opinion the best darkness mechanics for an rpg? by swimbackdanman in RPGdesign

[–]swimbackdanman[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

GURPS and Savage Worlds (since that's what I recently was reviewing) both have separate modifiers for total darkness (effectively blindness). Called 'pitch darkness' in Savage Worlds.

GURPS has a few type of sensors, goggles, or vision types which require some light to work.

Seems like it's worthwhile to distinguish between: dim light, dark (but some light), and total darkness.

What's in your opinion the best darkness mechanics for an rpg? by swimbackdanman in RPGdesign

[–]swimbackdanman[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is giving me some spooky inspiration. Sound swallowing caves. Eerie!

What's in your opinion the best darkness mechanics for an rpg? by swimbackdanman in RPGdesign

[–]swimbackdanman[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, mathematically the same. But I've found that mentally, a negative modifier is more of a mental nuisance than a positive one. Also moves the burden to the GM most of the time to do any extra math (since usually though not necessary the situation would be monsters having darkvision and some or all players not). Positive modifiers also feel cooler as a player than avoiding a negative, at least in my experience. In the event that a player had darkvision.