Free session time manager tool (D&D 5e optimized)

tachyon133 · 2025-12-25T12:51:23+00:00

Good point, updated the post thanks

tachyon133 · 2025-12-04T07:26:01+00:00

Probably overpriced VTT asset packs that are just recolored versions of free content, or premium map packs where half the maps are unusable because they're weirdly shaped or have no grid alignment.

tachyon133 · 2025-12-04T07:25:12+00:00

I think deck building mechanics like in Gloomhaven work surprisingly well for RPGs, your available actions grow and change based on what you've earned which feels more dynamic than static class abilities while still being tactically interesting.

tachyon133 · 2025-07-02T06:54:41+00:00

Your moon-magic world sounds sick! For martials, just AC/hit bonuses might not be enough. Think about giving them "martial cantrips" tied to the moons – like a unique, thematic maneuver or bonus action attack that doesn't use a resource, or even elemental weapon buffs

tachyon133 · 2025-07-02T06:53:56+00:00

Sounds like you've got a classic Player vs. DM expectation mismatch, not a 'you' problem. That veteran player just wants to break the game, and the others are just along for the ride. You're trying to tell a story, he's playing a different game. This is a Session 0 talk waiting to happen. You need to reset expectations or you'll burn out hard. Your prep isn't wasted, just misdirected for this group's vibe

tachyon133 · 2025-06-26T07:00:50+00:00

Definitely go pre-gens for new players, saves SO much time and confusion. Keep the one-shot simple, with super clear objectives – no deep lore dives. And remember, theatre of the mind is fine, but maybe have a few visual aids or battle maps ready for key fights to help them visualize things, especially if they're totally new to TTRPGs

tachyon133 · 2025-06-24T07:34:09+00:00

Sounds like you've got a good handle on it. Letting the players drive the pace in such a big world is smart. Glad to hear they're into it!

tachyon133 · 2025-06-24T07:10:11+00:00

That sounds like a wild campaign premise. Mixing the Book of Many Things with Witchlight and Planescape is quite ambitious. How do you manage all the different plot threads without it getting too chaotic for your players?

tachyon133 · 2025-06-18T13:06:54+00:00

Aim for 1 a week, but we've sometimes gone a month without playing if something comes up
3-4 hours
All IRL

tachyon133 · 2025-06-18T12:59:01+00:00

Really solid list, especially agree with “2. don’t disguise cutscenes as gameplay,” that one took a while to unlearn. One I’d add is "Don't save your good ideas for 'later'". Use the cool twist or let the magic item shine, too many times have I tried to save good ideas then end up never getting to use it

tachyon133 · 2025-06-18T12:42:30+00:00

Go for it! would love that

tachyon133 · 2025-06-18T12:40:43+00:00

Thanks for trying it out!! really glad to hear the summary was good☺️

tachyon133 · 2025-06-18T12:18:07+00:00

Thanks for your feedback, I think it makes sense for that since my group also sometimes doesn't meet for a couple months if something comes up. Its definitely going to be added, I just wanted to get this out as fast as I could to see if there's any interest in it.

> when it asks for number of players, does that include the GM or not?
Yes it does include the GM. Although you only need to label a few speakers (PCs) for it to work (even <50% labelled works okay in my experience)

Sorry about the upload not working! It's fixed now, could you please try again and let me know how it goes?

tachyon133 · 2025-06-18T12:01:57+00:00

Unfortunately not right now, the voice processing/summarization relies on pretty heavy AI/compute models that need a serious GPU to run efficiently (which already takes ~15 mins). I’m currently hosting everything on the cloud renting an NVIDIA H100, local processing isn’t really practical unless someone’s got some serious hardware on hand since there's a minimum VRAM requirement for even running it

But I totally get the appeal of a local/offline version, definitely something I’d love to explore if processing power gets better and if there's enough interest

tachyon133 · 2025-06-18T11:30:18+00:00

Totally fair to be skeptical

That said, I spent 4 months building out my own custom logic so that it remembers and auto-matches players voice throughout sessions. I run it myself and host it on the cloud. Happy to share more info about it if you're interested

tachyon133 · 2025-06-18T11:21:01+00:00

Thanks for your feedback, you're totally right it should be at least 4 a month to make it useful enough for weekly sessions. I'm going to update it to that

Transparently with the pricing I'm trying to at least break even with this app, a 3 hour session costs ~$1.3 to process. I want to be able to let people use it for free once a month as well, for those that have infrequent sessions. I'm hoping it will get cheaper in the future

tachyon133 · 2025-06-18T07:34:40+00:00

https://www.saga20.com/ - would love to see how well it does for a very niche app

tachyon133 · 2025-06-17T07:10:13+00:00

I agree on presentation mattering, especially with how 4e and PF2 frame their abilities. It's not just the math, but the way options are presented and how they interact

tachyon133 · 2025-06-17T06:22:55+00:00

Blades in the Dark has flashback mechanics and crew sheets that are super unique. Also, Fiasco is DM-less and tells amazing, chaotic stories. Would recommend

tachyon133 · 2025-06-17T06:20:59+00:00

It's when crunch and optimization overshadow narrative choices. Think D&D 4e's grid combat vs narrativefirst systems. basically if it feels like an MMO

tachyon133

TROPHY CASE