probablyottrpgideas

[probablyottrpgideas]

There is a particular character archetype that I find immensely entertaining to use in TTRPGs that it has shown up over and over again in games I run;

The being so powerful that its hands are tied.

The Ancient Silver Dragon who needs the Party to do something for it not because it CAN'T do the task, but because too many other powerful entities are watching with a hair trigger for when it leaves its lair.

The Witch who hires the Crew to deliver a message to the Church because if she goes herself she either dies or kills everyone and the message still doesn't get through.

The Corpo Exec who wants to investigate their new acquisition but all their own internal channels are crawling with corporate espionage.

It is such a useful tool, because it achieves several storytelling goals at once. It says to the PCs "this world is bigger than you, so don't get too cocky" but it ALSO says "money is good, but having someone powerful owe you a favour is much better."

What character archetypes show up over and over in your games?

[probablyottrpgideas]

As opposed to the metal we stuck full of meat and iceberg, also known as the Titanic

The Cyberg, part man, part machine, part iceberg.

Question:

Human with machine and iceberg parts?

Machine with biological and ice components?

Iceberg that we stuck meat and metal into for some reason?

[probablyottrpgideas]

Ok, ok, hypothetical. You and your party have sealed the great evil demonlord in an amulet.

You are a canny adventurer, and have heard many a tale of artifacts like these that end in tragedy, either from some corruptive force emanating from them or some dickhead finding where the thing was hidden and breaking the demonlord free.

You're going to be smarter than those chumps. What do you do to safeguard the amulet and keep the evil sealed for good?

[probablyottrpgideas]

"Arms as in Limbs or Arms as in Weapons?" "Yes"

mayfly character who gets granted immortality and has no idea what to do with his life since he didn't expect to live longer than 24 hours and had no other plans but "get laid and die"

­Turns out if mayflies live for 25 hours they get human level intelligence and arms, who knew?

[probablyottrpgideas]

Honestly, based on my own experiences with Dispel and those I've heard about from others, quick poll:

No other considerations like overall quality at this time, just are they more like or unlike their listed product photos?

[probablyottrpgideas]

lol someone commissioned me to design a death counter for their dnd stuff.

i feel like this would be a particularly good candidate not for a print, but for a downloadable pay-what-you-like on the ko-fi

thoughts?

[probablyottrpgideas]

[probablyottrpgideas]

[probablyottrpgideas]

I know we indie ttrpg snobs on this website kinda collectively moved on from getting mad at people using "D&D" as a generic term for all ttrpgs like two years ago in favor of having more productive discussions but. Oh boy. Boy oh boy.

[probablyottrpgideas]

Paladin/bard character whose magical mount is Vanessa Carlton’s piano

­

[probablyottrpgideas]

My copy of Steinhardt's Guide to the Eldritch Hunt had finally arrived!

Gold-embossed hardcover and 491 black-paper pages of Dark Souls and (especially) Bloodborne inspired Dungeons and Dragons content. This is one of the most beautiful pieces of game material I've ever seen; the pictures don't do it justice!

[probablyottrpgideas]

the group chat when i ask whos available to hang out next week

[probablyottrpgideas]

I wrote this, but I called it the Oath of Fidelity. About bonding yourself to a person and using Paladin power to protect them.

DND character who accidentally becomes a paladin at their wedding bc they meant their wedding vows a little too hard and invents the Oath of Love subclass. Is this anything

[probablyottrpgideas]

Director's commentary bonus feature that periodically pops up a choice of what to "ask" the director to talk about next, and as it goes along it very gradually becomes apparent that you're playing a visual novel about dating the director implemented entirely via DVD menus.

[probablyottrpgideas]

"The prophecy was unambiguous and immutable."

"I know."

"No weapon forged on Earth could defeat the Lord Baarthus"

"I know."

"And yet here we are, you telling me, Lord Baarthus was struck down by the Peasant King. Wielding... just a regular sword. Forged on Earth."

"I know what I saw, okay! The Peasant King walked up to him, shoved the sword in his neck, and then just kept going. It was nasty!"

"Okay, okay, fine. Clearly what's happened here is there's some kind of loophole in the prophecy that enabled this. Happens all the time. No weapon forged on Earth... How sure are you that sword is of this world?"

"What do you take me for? I've done my research. Even tracked down, interviewed the original blacksmith."

"There must be something. Prophecies can't be wrong!"

"I mean... I didn't take stock of her inventory. If it was one of those meteorite swords..."

"No, no. The prophecy didn't say 'No weapon with parts sourced on Earth'. It was pretty specific about the Forging."

"I don't hear anything better coming from you!"

"How about this. What if it wasn't a weapon? The Peasant King... it'd only be fitting for him to slay the Dark Lord with a blade meant for peasantry! Not a weapon, but a farming tool, like a scythe, or a really long trowel--!"

"A long trowel?? It looked like a damn sword!"

"That doesn't mean anything! A ritzy, college-educated diviner like you, you wouldn't know a trowel from a ploughshare!"

"It had a hilt, and a pommel, and it went in a scabbard-- come on! Even if it was some kind of-- newfangled grass cutter I've never heard of, it was used as a weapon, and it was forged to be a weapon! I've seen the ledgers!"

"Clearly you screwed something up, madam, because the Lord Baarthus just got sliced up like an old dairy cow and the prophecy very clearly specifies the only instrument that could bring his end is--!! Oh. Ohhh. Oh, gods damn it."

"What?"

"Fucking... 'forged on earth'."

"Yes, and?"

"It wasn't forged on earth. It was forged on a fucking anvil."

"What? No, you're-- you're joking. That wouldn't-- that couldn't-- what weapon would be forged on earth, by that definition!!?"

"I hate prophecies so much..."

[probablyottrpgideas]

I am looking for something in a ttrpg that seems difficult to pull off and I'm wondering if you're aware of anyone who's made something that can handle branching timelines, overwriting of timelines, and/or stable time loops as a core functionality of play.

I'm really looking for something that actually has specific mechanical rules for repeated time travel, setting things up for a future or past version of your character to complete, multiple copies of a character existing at once, etc. any advice? even a pointer of where to look for such games or something that has rules that could be bent to accommodate time travel in a way that isn't functionally "go to another location where everyone wears silly clothes" would be greatly appreciated!

The only published tabletop RPG I'm personally aware of that's taken a serious crack at game-mechanically systematising time travel the way it's depicted working in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure – which is essentially what you're describing here – is Aetherco's now-out-of-print C°ntinuum: roleplaying in The Yet.

Coincidentally, C°ntinuum is frequently cited as a justification for why no other notable game has made a serious attempt of it since.

[probablyottrpgideas]

Blades and Dishonored are aesthetically very similar (BitD actually calls out the original video games as direct inspiration which is...obvious, lol) but mechanically have some differences that I personally really enjoy. The main two are; Momentum is a shared resource, and Truths are more powerful than Flashbacks.

With Blades you get access to bonus effects by burning your own Stress; it is an individual's measure of pushing through the difficulty and doing extraordinary things. Dishonored does that with Momentum, but the momentum pool is being refreshed constantly with everyone else's moves. And even if it's not full enough yet to use it when you want to, you can always add Chaos instead to get those bonus dice or add a Truth.

BitD Flashbacks are extremely cool, and very appropriate for the style of the game, but they still only do things that your character can reasonably do, just ahead of time. Dishonored's Truths, on the other hand, give players minute access to world building and narration; sure, your Bold Talk may have distracted all three of the guards, but the guard captain is "Transfixed".

I also really love Styles; I love being able to tell players "you can do the thing however you want; if you always want to use Forcefully because you have the highest number there, go ahead. But even successful Forceful actions are noticeable, even successful Clever or Quiet actions are slow, etc."

Blades feels grittier, you really are pulling yourself up from rock bottom. Dishonored is like Blades as an Action Movie. Great for one-shots, campaigns are doable and fun but it lacks Blades dense gang management stuff that angles it towards long-term play.

God I fucking love the Modiphius "Dishonored" TTRPG