For me it was "Hollyhock God" from Nobilis.

Why do game designers do this? Does anybody, anywhere, actually use these weird terms while actually playing?

Last year I made a physical board game that ties in to my group's pathfinder campaign, and with how well it went I've made a digital version of it and released it under the Paizo Community Use Policy.

Its set in Thuvia and centres around the Sun Orchid Elixir Sale.

The game consists of eight rounds with two main phases, and is a mix of strategic worker placement/resource management and card based bidding/bluffing.

The game supports up to six players, but also includes rules for playing solo.

It is fully free to play, and you can find it here: https://vassalengine.org/wiki/Module:Sun_Orchid_Elixir_Sale

(Although mechanically complete, there are some cards that are missing flavour text right now. This might get updated in future versions, I invite your suggestions)

(This was originally a physical board game, and some design elements still reflect that. I am considering redoing the main game board from scratch, if you see anything else that might need redesigning now that the format has changed to digital, I invite your suggestions)

ITT I accidentally perform a capitalism. What are your experiences with AI Art?

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/2145288

I'm a developer for an open-world tabletop RPG called Fully Automated! The goal is to create a free, open-source game that can be to solarpunk what D&D is to fantasy and Shadowrun to Cyberpunk. And the first version is mostly done. It's got:

• A flexible, easy-to-play system similar to a d20 game!
• A massive open world!
• An easy character creator along with a dozen pre-made example characters!
• A high-stakes three-story campaign with over 14 hours of content! ...And a lot more!

I'm looking for more play testers, both as players and (if you're game) GMs! We've got a Discord server where we're running games on a rolling basis. The goal is to release it for free by the end of the year. I'd like to get as much feedback as possible before then, and if possible build a community around this totally free, open-source tool for making and sharing diverse solarpunk adventures!

Fully Automated! RPG Manual

Fully Automated! Campaign 1: Regulation

Share these freely!

Image credit: "Exploring Los Angeles", a concept image by Sean Bodley

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/2145336

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/2145288

I'm a developer for an open-world tabletop RPG called Fully Automated! The goal is to create a free, open-source game that can be to solarpunk what D&D is to fantasy and Shadowrun to Cyberpunk. And the first version is mostly done. It's got:

• A flexible, easy-to-play system similar to a d20 game!
• A massive open world!
• An easy character creator along with a dozen pre-made example characters!
• A high-stakes three-story campaign with over 14 hours of content! ...And a lot more!

I'm looking for more play testers, both as players and (if you're game) GMs! We've got a Discord server where we're running games on a rolling basis. The goal is to release it for free by the end of the year. I'd like to get as much feedback as possible before then, and if possible build a community around this totally free, open-source tool for making and sharing diverse solarpunk adventures!

Fully Automated! RPG Manual

Fully Automated! Campaign 1: Regulation ** Share these freely! **

Image credit: "Exploring Los Angeles", a concept image by Sean Bodley

Found this video intresting as Matt talks about what dice to use and how to use it for the game they are making. Loved the shoutout and critique of "FUNKY" dice used in FFG's Star Wars lineup (and Genesys) and how it influenced them in their process.

He also got a bit into how the task resolution mechanic (dicerolling) will tie into other things such as class resources.

Wrote a new blog today about how much setting should go in a rulebook. It's different for every game, but I feel a lot of games put too much lore in with the rules.

I know it's really hip to have your setting lean on your mechanics and vice versa, so neither works great without another, but I am more of a fan of rules that support tone and play patterns that reinforce genre more than specific settings. Probably mostly because I am not big on learning a lot about a setting before I feel good about running a game.

I also like to have lots of room to improv and make a setting my own. I know you can do that with any setting, but I just feel more confident doing that with less definition in the setting.

I could probably drop a little something more into my rulebook as a stinger to get people excited about what kind of fiction the game presents. I guess that could be interpreted as setting, or at least adjacent.

Curious about what other think about this topic.

https://infantofatocha.itch.io/chronomutants/devlog/572397/whats-a-paradox-war-anyway

Hello there

Figured this may be relevant here, otherwise let me know and I will delete it:

Affinity is having a summer sale.

It is a very affordable program with no subscriptions, that can do all the things most people would ever need for making book and graphic projects. I have been using the "family" since 2019 for all my projects (though, I am not a fan of Affinity Photo, but I have used it).

They all also have a 30-days trial.

Today’s blogpost is all about my flailing to refine and streamline my design docs into a coherent rulebook. I read enough of the d**** things you’d think I would know how to compile and order one. I understand the basics and where I went wrong, and have roadmap, but compared to design development is long and grindy.

Would really love if other folks have input on what makes a rulebook good? what have people done to make their projects easy to get? Which books are your favorite examples? What are your biggest hurdles?

For me I intellectually understand what needs to be there, but actually getting the writing clean and succinct to read is a challenge. I see a lot of DiY books for of background art and such trying to emulate a AAA book but they don’t have the text and order of content hammered out 1st, I didn’t want to move to layouts until my text was set, but maybe that’s a mistake? Curious to see what people think.

I wrote an RPG system that matches what I've always wanted from a system and never been able to find. Posting to a different community on this instance because I realized this one is a better place to post it.

For those interested, here is a Pokemon ttrpg that tries not to be as crunchy as other systems I've seen out there. Instead, it uses PbtA to make the game feel more like the manga/anime. I doubt I'll ever finish this, so feel free to take what is here and use it/tweak it for your table. If you do post an updated version, I just ask you reference us and send a link so I can see your handy work!

Issues I ran into: Too many npcs. Each Pokemon counts, so even just two players with 3 Pokemon apiece means 6 permanent npcs that the players want to interact with and have full personalities or might expect to interact with each other.

Number's distribution: The d6s of PbtA may not be the best because it limits the potency of +/- stat bonuses I was originally going with. I might have swapped to d8s or d10s and added more ways to get +/-s to your rolls.

Fun things I found: Randomly rolling the traits table lead to some cool Pokemon looks and designs. For example, a grass Torus that had leafy vines for its tails.

Evolution not being tied directly to level up but to actions/side quests pushed players to do fun and interesting things!

Pokemon rolls being tied to player stats help veteren characters be able to take a new/weak pokemon with them and not feel so far behind the curve while still giving veteren pokemon alot of potency.

Have fun and let me know what you think as you play!

DMs Guild, Pathfinder Infinite, and the future of a TTRPG creator in an unsteady landscape

Looking for folks to trade a little proofreading. I will read your book and give the best feedback I can on your document. I am not an editor, consider this more like a playtest for an enthusiast seeing your book. I do read/love a lot of rulebooks and game. I can tell you what does/doesn't make sense to me. I can tell you what spelling/grammar mistakes I notice. I can tell you if I see any rules contradictions. If you want I can also give design feedback/impressions, but I was thinking more of a editing pass, at least for what I would like in return.

Specifically, I'm looking for feedback on clarity of my rulebook. Awkward sentences, poor grammar, unclear rules. My rulebook is 20,847 words. So if you have something for me to proofread it would cool to exchange. I feel like this is the only part of my book I cannot do without a 2nd person.

You can reply here or move to DM for specifics, and if you would like to see the gamepage to decide if you are interested first: https://infantofatocha.itch.io/chronomutants

Hey, everyone!

I've been working on Pulp Arcana, a Pay-What-You-Will/Free-To-Play edition of dnd based on the 5e SRD, and I'd love any eyes on it (or if you're just into checking it out, also great!).

This keeps what I love about the game while giving a refresh to what I and my tables have found frustrating. You'll find martials with turn-to-turn options, spellcasters with strong themes to their powers, and robust equipment support.

So far, we have 8 classes. The core four— cleric, rogue, warrior, and wizard —are joined by classic supplemental classes paladin and ranger here, as well as two Pulp Arcana originals, The Antiquarian and the Arsenal.

There are also thematic previews of all but two of the remaining planned classes.

Features Include:

• A magic system built around theme; a fire mage should know all fire spells, rather than just a few of the best ones
• At-will maneuvers
• No Turn Wasted conditions and dying rules
• DM controlled resting to allow for month-long sieges per long rest, etc.
• A new form of codified encounter, called the venture encounter, which can be used for situations where combat would be tedious, such as chases, escapes, mass combats, and vehicle battles.
• A feat-based alternative to multiclassing for safer balance

And I'm updating all the time!!

Just had some thoughts on the interesting dice mechanics in OpenD6 and how it avoids the additional math introduced in abstracting this to numbered skills and modifiers.

In the OpenD6 system, skills can be purchased down to the pips on the D6. This is a fascinating idea where they remove the numeric skill or modifier math and go right for the dice jugular.

I'm interested in the chance math behind this. The D6 system only allows +1 or +2 before the player moves to a full additional D6. Technically, moving from +2 to D6 induces the chance that a 1 comes back on the D6, which leads into the wild dice mechanic.

What really is the cost benefit of moving to a D6 vs. potentially rolling a 1? You'd immediately improve best case scenario by 4, which seems quite vast in a 2-3 dice pool, while running the risk of rolling a 1 or 2, which puts you at the +1 or +2 level or worse.

If it was broken down to purely just +1, +2, D6, is there a method to expand "pip-buying" beyond D6 and avoiding additional crunch/complexity such as the wild die?

Does anyone else know systems that allow for breaking down dice into pips or direct "dice purchase" during character creation?

By default, the challenge roll is 3-in-6, which represents rolling 3 or less on a d6 roll.

A player may elect to increase their character's chance of success by bidding boons, which are fictional factors that makes a task easier, and increase the X-in-6 chance (up to 6-in-6, which is an auto success). Fictional factors that make a task harder are called banes, which decrease the X-in-6 chance (down to 0-in-6, which is an automatic failure). Boons and banes cancel out 1-for-1, which means a given roll should only be made with one or the other.

A small medium at large!

This is a post