#integration of game-mechanics as ''spells'' & everything

[caffeled]

shaking like a rabid chihuahua in anticipation for the new sao movie bc it's takin things from the top but from the reboot/rewrite of the first novel where side characters get more development & kirito n asuna actually get more time together to get to know each other. for all the eugh that's in the original & that got added in the anime, there is So much good & So much potential in there & i was, alas, hooked on this shit from the 2nd episode of s1 so. im making it everyone else's problem.

[dartagnantt]

Dungeon Delver's Survival Guide | Or how I learned how to DC skill checks

PDFs of this and more can be found over on at my Patreon here! I release everything for free, so your support makes this possible. I'm working on a new class for 5e! Follow the Kickstarter here!

Not to be mistaken for my other survival guide that has yet to go anywhere

A conversation and a youtube video made me consider re-examining some skill checks in a bubble, as opposed to just observing the weird table in the using ability scores section of the PHB and binary success or failure states.

So, enjoy me rambling and inventing game mechanics!

I considered doing an entry for insight check on creatures who aren't lying, but I ran out of time, and it was kind of off theme

And now to plug my stuff. I release homebrews weekly over on my Patreon. Anyone who pledges $1 or more per post don't have to wait a month to see them, and also help fund my being alive habit.

At the moment, they have exclusive access to the following:

Oath of Integrity

Path of Iron

Stranger than Fiction

Trickery Domain: Revised

I also have three classes, and a splatbook over on DriveThrueRPG to check out:

The Rift Binder. A class specialising in summoning monsters and controlling the battlefield.

The Witch Knight. A class that combines swords and sorcery in the most literal way.

The Werebeast. A class that turns you into a half beast to destroy your foes.

d'Artagnan's Adventurer Almanac. A compendium of races, subclasses, feats, spells, monsters and more!

[dailyadventureprompts]

So, I mostly just need some advice. I want to introduce stuff like the combat wheelchair into campaigns I run and play in, but some players say it’s “unrealistic��� for stuff like that to be in a campaign because “why wouldn’t you just get greater restoration or regenerate casted on you or something”. I know that’s a bunch of bull crap, but I’m not sure what to say to convince them.

Heavy Topics: Disability in Fantasy

I'm going to start this off with saying that people with a lot more education and experience than me have written quite a lot about the inclusion of disabilities in d&d, and I encourage you to seek out their testimonials.

Next, you don't need to convince anybody about introducing things in your campaigns, especially when that introduction is specifically to highlight inclusion and diversity . They're YOUR campaigns, and people that cry "realism" when it comes to matters of inclusion are almost always covering up for their own prejudice.

Now what I can do with expert efficiency is address the bullshit claims that people try to use to support their prejudice, how it doesn't line up with the mechanics of the game, and how it doesn't line up with good storytelling.

TLDR: Disability is a fact of life, and so it is a fact of stories. In trying to brush it aside by saying " oh magic could fix everything" we also brush aside the lived experiences of millions of people, equally deserving as seeing themselves as characters in the fantasy epics we tell. Purely form a storytelling and world building perspective, it's also far more interesting to see how people adapt to challenges then it is to make those challenges simply not exist or be easily fixed by author fiat.

First lets talk over the mechanical issue: In vanilla d&d there's no way to restore lost limbs short of the regeneration spell, which is 7th level and thus requires a 14th level character to cast. 14th level characters are thin on the ground, meaning that your average person would have to undertake an arduous journey to find such a caster willing to perform this working , to say nothing of finding one willing to perform the service for any payment a commoner could provide.

Likewise, regeneration specifies that it's SEVERED limbs that are restored: rules as written it doesn't fix neurological damage, birth defects, or congenial traits. As someone who's needed glasses from youth onwards, I find it hilarious that a flimsy pair of lenses can fix what high level divine magic ( possibly even the wish spell) cannot, but that's more a matter of the designers thinking more about the lives of adventurers than the worldbuilding implicit in their rules.

Turning to 3rd party material and homebrew, we enter into some very interesting territory. There's much back and forth about magic that "fixes" disability outright and where I fall on the discussion tends to land on the idea that said magic lets the character overcome many of the hurdles of their impediment but doesn't negate it completely. Here's some pop culture examples:

Toph from ATLA is always go be the go to for disability representation in media: She's blind, but uses her earthbending powers to be able to sense vibrations in contact with the ground allowing her to "see". In a badly written show, this would totally negate Toph's disability, but thankfully ATLA is written by people who know what they're doing so instead Toph's blindness provides just as many novel drawbacks as it does advantages. Toph can detect things happening on the other side of walls and doors, but is vulnerable to projectiles that don't touch the ground. She can sense if people are lying, but can't read printed text. Force her onto a small, isolated platform or into water and you cut off her ability to see just as much as a fully sighted character in pitch black darkness.

Edward Elric from fullmetal Alchemist is missing an arm and a leg, and uses a pair of integrated robotic "automail" prosthesis which seem to give him all the functionality of a regular set of limbs. That said, any utility the automail provides is matched with whole host of downsides, ranging from their lack of touch, their weight causing discomfort, and the expense of having them in the first place. What's most pressing is that these limbs are mechanical and prone to malfunciton from overuse, requiring Edward to see a specific technician to get them fixed. When they break ( which is often) or simply require refitting, Edward needs to travel days or weeks out of his way and then suffer through a painful process of reattachment in order to get the use of his limbs back.

Professor Xavier from the Xmen is paraplegic, but in many depictions has some kind of hoverchair that lets him go out into the field and navigate difficult terrain without the aid of others or other mobility devices. While certainly an upgrade over a totally mundane wheelchair it again doesn't completely compensate for his inability to walk or his vulnerability should the chair be damaged or taken away from him.

With these examples in mind, we can look at how different 3rd party resources can model various forms of accommodation, giving characters with disabilities the utility they need to go out adventuring, without removing their disability in the first place.

The "combat wheelchair" is a great example of this, giving characters unique options while at the same time making them atleast partially reliant on a somewhat cumbersome object. In terms of logistics, it's not much different than having a centaur in the party and the fact that most dungeons aren't wheelchair accessible just means the party has to do maybe one or two more platforming problem solving challenges.

In my own time running steampunk games I’ve usually instituted a “misfire” rule onto most technology, including the ubiquitous mechanical limbs. A natural 1 using that limb means that the limb is suffering a malfunction, and until the malfunction is fixed, another natural 1 will break it. It’s an easy way to get across that these marvellous contraptions aren't perfect yet.

Now lets talk storytelling:

Upfront I'm going to say that I don't consider myself disabled,I have some mental health hurdles that I have to navigate on the regular, but my body works at a solid 6/10 most days. 

I think there’s a lot potential in examining disability in stories, and not just in the “overcoming adversity” inspiration porn sort of way. The loss of a limb can represent a sacrifice and the toll of war, prejudice against disfigurement can drive a character down a dark path, sometimes there’s no greater thematic reasoning behind it and a character is living with disability because that’s a thing regular people live with. What I will say is that disability introduces vulnerability, a theme that power fantasy games like d&d don’t often deal with as their centeral arc is about characters getting stronger and stronger and stronger until they can challenge the gods. 

Vulnerability runs counter to that desire for strength, but it makes a better story because what a character does with vulnerability makes them a more interesting character: Do they rely on others? Close themselves off? Come to terms with their weakness or strive to overcome it? These are all fascinating questions that you wouldn’t get to ask with a character that was 100% able bodied, well adjusted, and socially accepted.

It’s not a stretch to say that people who have regressive political views are terrified of vulnerability. that’s why the right-wing chuds are so vehemently opposed to the idea that someone with a disability could be a hero. To them, adversity is all about the superior overcoming the inferior, and the thought of someone with weakness or disadvantages, someone they consider “inferior” triumphing against someone stronger is a direct challenge to their place inside their own worldview.

Finally I’m going to leave you with something relating to vulnerability to consider from my own campaigns:

In my home games when someone fails their death saving throws, I generally don’t kill them, killing them cuts the narrative short and I want to see how things play out. Instead I give them an offer: do they pass on into death, or do they let me take something from them? 90% of the time they chose the latter option and I make things interesting. What happens to the master archer who can’t string a bow anymore, or the fame hungry bard who’s scars distract from their performance? What price will the wizard pay to regain the use of her eyes?  Forcing players to confront these questions takes a lot of tact, and a lot of trust, but always yields better stories but given enough time to develop.

Art

[dungeonmastersconsortium]

How do you treat wizards and sorcerers differently in 5e, other than the mechanical stuff? I feel like there isn't much there other than "these people are smart, these people have magic in their blood"

The mechanics inform a lot of their flavor, but I'll ignore that part.

In my games, there ARE mechanical benefits based on how I flavor them. Mechanics and flavor are pretty linked for me. For me, what I love about them is how integral magic is to them, how "natural" it is. Wizards have a deep, factual knowledge on how things work, it's why they can cast spells without having the innate ability to do so.

Sorcerers feel. Their magic is an expression of something deep within them. When they cast spells, it is an expression of a part of them. Also, the vibe is TOTALLY different. Let's go with two famous spellcasters from popular media in similar situations.

Spellcaster 1:

Spellcaster 2:

Both of these spellcasters are in DIRE straights in their respective stories. Both have a goal and find themselves in deadly peril. Both (spoilers, I guess) end up nearly permadead by putting everything on the line for the people they're with. But what does that look like for them?

Spellcaster 1: Gandalf has his back up against the wall here. He knows his buddies can't outrun this thing. They can't fight it. They don't have the powers, they don't KNOW what he knows. He has the tools... maybe. If anyone does, he does. He has the right magic at the right time. It's not the flashiest, but it's effective. But another wizard would NOT have been able to do this at this time. I think Saruman would have fallen to the Balrog. He still ends up nearly permadead, and it takes all of his resources, as well as the intercession of greater entities, to prevent that.

Spellcaster 2: Yennefer's back is up against the wall. She has decided to make a stand to prevent an army from invading. She's not much of a planner in this situation. She's great at social intrigue, and she has some tricks up her sleeve, but she does something when it feels like the right thing to do. Even then at her direst moment, when she has to make a last stand, here is her display of power:

Is it elegant? No. Is it the precisely right answer for EXACTLY what's happening? No. She's pouring everything she has into her magic here. She's tapping on deep wells of emotion here to summon up that kind of power, she's putting EVERYTHING on the line here. She nearly dies from this kind of Limit Break™.

Can you have flashy, emotional wizards? Sure. Cold, calculating sorcerers? Yes. (Just TRY to introduce a tall, thin male elf with blonde hair to my friday crew. It's fight on sight with that calculating bastard.) But those aren't the wells of power that they'll be tapping in to when push comes to shove.

Wizards are planners, sorcerers are creatures of the moment. A wizard's power comes from their control of external forces. A sorcerer's power comes from within.

These are not constants for everyone's games across D&D, but they hold true for mine. Just as I might let a martial character throw themselves in the way of a fatal blow for a dramatic moment or push themselves beyond their Mortal Limits™, my spellcasters get big, flashy limit breaks when it's good for the narrative, provided they're willing to pay the price.

[1waywardbirdlane]

you said you didn't write anything but have lots of ideas, so let's play! 🌤️How do you (would you) interpret the game mechanics in your fic?

Once again, thank you so much for sending me this!! it really truly means a lot <3

I’ve been drafting this response all week, but eventually I did just kinda let myself ramble. There are a lot of other ideas I have, but i’m going with this for now.

I think the way combat is broken down in bg3 is helpful to writers, especially those who may need guidance or inspiration when writing battles. It literally breaks down the things characters can feasibly do within the universe in one “turn.” 

For instance. Shadowheart uses her Action to cast Spirit Guardians to create protection for herself, then casts sanctuary on Gale with her Bonus Action because she knows he’ll need his Action to cast Mage Armor on himself. Meanwhile Lae’zel is running at the enemies approaching Shadowheart because she needs Concentration to maintain Spirit Guardians. Or does she also need concentration for Sanctuary…. SEE? I dunno I think it gives you a lot of fun things to play with… or to throw out and/or modify for your purposes (self indulgence and fun being absolutely valid ones).

You could further use your knowledge of the characters’ powers to help color the themes and vibes of your story. Maybe Wyll features a lot because you want to explore that deep and dark allure of the Infernal… and maybe you also want a lot of bloodshed. Karlach is already an obvious strong candidate for addition, but so is Lae’zel. Or maybe you just can’t stand being without that damned vamp and you want him to explore his infernal powers and influence after he ascends…

I think I’d like to see more writers include the Illithid powers in their stories.  Do they become an integral part of your battle strategy? Do you go too far? Do you feel yourself slipping into madness? Doing things you wouldn’t normally do? Which other characters in the party decide to use them? Does it strengthen the telepathic connection between those that do? Does that make it harder to turn off? Perhaps only you and your lover have used tadpoles and you’re practically in each other’s brains 24/7, then another companion decides to use one and suddenly they can hear…. Everything between you and lover. Everything.

Going back to that battle, some of these powers/game mechanics can factor in further with creating scenarios/interactions or dialogue… Lae’zel gets surrounded by enemies while Gale’s longer range spells keep enemy reinforcements at bay but you/Tav got stuck against a bugbear that just. wouldn’t. die. (Bad dice rolls) Finally Shadowheart’s Concentration breaks and an archer seizes the opportunity, hitting her with an exploding arrow that knocks her back into a stone wall that partially collapses on her. You realize you have to use your tadpole. You order Gale and Lae’zel to get Shadowheart and run for the entrance. You use Force Tunnel to fly to the center of where the enemies are grouped, knocking a few enemies aside and your Passive Ability Culling of the Fold finishes several of them off. Gale and Lae’zel have reached the cave entrance and turn back to look for you. You summon the Repulsor Ability to blow them all off their feet for good…and nothing happens. The Emperor whispers something in your ear about The Luck of the Far Realms, and suddenly the power that erupts from you explodes outward as if you’d never whiffed it in the first place. Once you’re safely out of the cave, Gale uses Telekinesis to take over carrying Shadowheart while Lae’zel charges you, shrieking terrible things in Githyanki. At least you imagine they’re terrible, based on the rage on her face. You stumble backwards a few steps, half-heartedly because you know there’s no escaping her. She sweeps your feet out from under you, and before you know it you’re on your back and Lae’zel’s knife is against your neck. She’s furious with you. How could you be so troubled by a lousy bugbear? How could you not be there to protect Shadowheart? How could you let her be hurt? Gale mutters something under his breath about being Bloodless every morning and he told you it would eventually catch up with you. 

I know a lot of us also like playing dress up with our characters, and I do too. I kind of love managing the inventory of the whole party. I’m not saying that the in-game system/UI is great, but I enjoy leveling up each character and tracking what they’re wearing to give them the best bonuses. I can imagine myself writing bits about inventorying the loot in the evenings at camp. Arguing whether or not Lae’zel or Karlach needs the armor upgrade more. Whether or not they should hold on to this necklace in case it’s needed later or let Gale eat it.

One thing I love doing is looting a LOT of armor, even stuff I know I won’t need. I send it to Karlach or Lae’zel, or Halsin once he joins the party. They can carry the most weight. Once they’re decently loaded up I take them to a merchant and sell all my wares. A waste of in game time? Lol probably, but it’s how I get enough coin to be able to buy any fancy armor/potions/weapons etc that I want to. But for a writer that could be a fun way to explore relationships, especially if you just made it two characters running that errand. Maybe the party finds a horse which you load up with your goods and then you could include any of the companions. I think that could also possibly be a cool way to frame the story. Like, every few chapters there’s a shorter one that’s just a long conversation while your characters make these trips. It could be your main ship. Or a side ship that brings some levity to break up the battles. It could always be the same two characters, or it could be Tav with a different character every time. Maybe they’re never from your main characters’ perspective. Maybe Scratch tags along and they’re written from his perspective.  You can track relationships, passage of time or distance they’ve trekked. The first few trips are to the Emerald Grove. One is from the camp by the lake, but the others are from the camp under the Blighted Village, and on those trips you have to watch out for rogue goblin patrols. Then suddenly they're walking through the endless night of the Shadow Cursed Lands, trying hard to keep each other’s spirits up. Karlach tells you all the stories she heard about Jaheira when she was younger. You vent to each other about camp struggles. Gale refuses to be convinced he doesn’t need to sacrifice himself. Astarion has been pensive and secretive since he learned his scars are in Infernal. Shadowheart is the only one not struggling with the curse and is determined to become a Dark Justiciar… When they reach Act 3/ Baldur’s Gate, one trip bumps them into an old friend of Karlach’s, and on another you stumble upon the Society of Brilliance.

And there’s obviously a wealth of story beats, moments, dialogues that you can pull right from the game (like I have done a lot here). Probably almost all fic I’ve read has done this, which I think is fun, and smart! You still get to write/choose how you get your story there. 

What do you guys think?

[space-spring]

Got through the first few battles of Let Us Cling Together! Pictured here is Denam hanging out with Lanselot (who I'm side-eying much less now).

Main highlights:

The UI + tutorial text! It's a little detail but I'm kind of obsessed with how well the UI blends into the world of the game. All of it uses the same fantasy-esque voice that you'd expect any of the characters to actually talk with, and it's just a fun detail. I wish I'd gotten more screenshots from the middle of the first tutorial battle, but the one below kinda shows what I mean:

Another highlight: this entire conversation/fight that happens between Canopus (one of the more experienced NPCs) and Vyce (Denam's friend (?) who everyone wants to throttle).

Not pictured here is Vyce + Canopus actually committing friendly fire mid-battle by throwing rocks at each other. Again, I'm a little insane over all the little ways they're integrating the game mechanics into the story; I've played around with modding/game stuff before and always find myself giving up on little details like this because they're so much of a hassle, so it's so so cool to me that they went through the trouble to actually have their HP decrease. That's immersion baby!!!!!!

Same thing with the sprite animations during cutscenes; there are so many unique animations (most with a not-insignificant amount of frames), and I can only imagine what a labor of love it was to put all of those together

Dame Raveness! Mostly she looks like Sumia from fe awakening while acting absolutely nothing like Sumia so it was just funny to me. I'm not sure if she's supposed to be a major character or anything but I'm hoping she shows up again.

Catiua is wonderful and I want good things for her. Unfortunately I keep doing everything she tells me not to and effectively keep forcing her to stick it out with me and Vyce. I'm assuming she'll be a little more leaned toward the neutral route, which is making me wonder whether I might shoot for that one, but I haven't quite figured all of that out yet.

There was also a level with some ghosts and necromancy that was fun, and now I am stuck on the next battle after that (which also has ghosts and necromancy). The difficulty curve is nice!!! I'm slowly being forced to figure out how to apply the skill points/spell slots in an efficient way, so I'm feeling very smart and strategic which is my #1 goal in trpgs. Also recently realized I can hurt the Risen undead foes by using heal spells, which is handy

Plot-wise I'm excited to figure out what exactly it is I'm doing haha; my initial thought was that Vyce and Denam's strings were being pulled by bigger political forces + that they weren't super clear on what the consequences of their actions were going to be, but I'm also currently fighting a guy who's pretty much a dead ringer for the Nergal-esque "I suck the life out of people for fun" type of villain, so it seems like maybe I was being a little too harsh on em.

[aftonfamilyvalues]

i know ive said it before but I genuinely am super excited for hogwarts legacy, everything ive seen of it looks so amazing. i love the way theyve integrated lore and certain aspects of the world into game mechanics (like the room of requirement being your own personal hub for customization when it comes to spells, potions, beasts, and plants) i love an open world with lots of customization and when my decisions change the course of the game

[eighthdoctor]

so im rereading the power to manipulate belief, and i just got to the bit where jaina considers spell refractory periods-- is that idea from the game mechanic of ability cooldown timers? because if so that is SO unbelievably cool!!! its just. such a clever integration of game mechanics and lore it makes me want to gnaw on the concept like a rabid dog i ADORE it

IT IS YES. what I said in the ao3 comments is:

One of the challenges with Jaina is "why doesn't she just solve the problem" and in this case, I do want her to get her abilities back (for optimal curbstomp battle against Goreans) but in a way such that she can't just throw open a portal and deliver an Alliance army to fix everything. So: 6 month cooldown.

[truly-sincerely]

Back in January I attempted to do a heavily modded Skyrim playthru and I tweeted a thread with lots of screenshots. I got to level 10 before I found out that the thieves guild had a major bug and could not figure out how to fix it, so I put Skyrim down and probably started aggressively playing Vintage Story instead. I’m a very one-game-at-a-time kind of autistic.

I know the joke is that modding Skyrim is a game in-and-of itself but I’ve never done the main plot past returning Jurgen’s horn to the Greybeards and I would really like to. I would like to complete the Thieves Guild questline, and become the Dean of Magic and Werewolves and maybe find out what the Dawnguard’s deal is, if only for the huskies. But what I really want is to go to Solstheim and Blackreach (especially since I installed what look like some really pretty mods for it, and a train!!) and take pictures of mushrooms like a filthy tourist.

I’ve checked a bunch of the major locations with my new loadout and they should be good. If there are any wildly broken dungeons or mechanics I will try to fix them and/or ignore them. I will do my very best not to install any new mods until I’m done with this run.

So here’s Savvy the Forsworn. She’s gonna do great.

I'm using Skyrim Anniversary Edition (that's special edition + all the creation club stuff) with Survival Mode. This is an extremely abridged list of the mods I'm using, not including patches to make them all work together.

UI/Core - SKSE, Address Library, USSEP, Cutting Room Floor, USCCCP, SPID, PapyrusUtil, and a bunch of other acronyms - A Matter of Time (hud clock), A Quality World Map (w/ stone roads), Atlas Map Markers, Dynamic Timescale, Disease Descriptions - SkyUI, RaceMenu, MCM Helper, Menu Maid 2, Better MessageBox, menuHUD/inventory, Use or Take, Read or Take, YesImSureNG, Conner's Survival Mode

Stats - Path of Sorcery, Smithing Perks Overhaul, Stealth Skills Rebalanced, Economy Overhaul and Speechcraft Improvements - Odin, Triumvirate, Tonal Architect, GIST - Evenstar, Morningstar, No Starting Spells, Trade & Barter

Items - WACCF, ACE, CACO, CCOR, Open World Loot, Morrowloot Miscellania - Warmonger, Immersive Jewelry, Cloaks of Skyrim, Winter is Coming, Wearable Lanterns - Dynamic Things Alternative, Book Covers Skyrim Updated

Quests - Alternate Start, Timing Is Everything, Rebalancing AE, Even Better Quest Objectives - Thieves Guild Requirements, College of Winterhold Quest Expansion, Blackreach Railroad, Forgotten City, Tools of Kagrenac, The Midden Expanded, Penitus Oculatus - a whole bunch of mods that tweak existing quests; most of the daedric quests, the CC quests, radiant quests - itty bitty mods like Gildergreen Regrown, Bring Meeko to Lod, Finding Derkeethus, Helgi & Laelette, Nilheim, Battle Brothers, etc

NPCs/combat - Immersive Horses (+Wild Horse integration) with KrittaKitty's gorgeous horse replacers, Haladoon's Dogs, Realistic Husky Sounds, All Couriers are Dogs, Unique Barbas - SkyTEST, True Wolves, True Hunter, Less Confrontational Animals, CLAWS, Zim's Dragon Improvements, Arachnid Brutality - Carriage & Ferry Travel Overhaul, BUVARP, Relationship Dialogue Overhaul, Extended Encounters, Immersive Citizens, Realistic Conversations, Rustic Clothes, Prince and the Pauper - Civil War Refugees, NPC AI Position Fix, More Tavern Idles, Less Charitable NPCs - Thugs not Assassins, Hunters not Bandits, Guard Dialogue Overhaul, Bandit Lines Expansion, Forsworn & Thalmore Lines Expansion, Brawl Lines Expansion, Civil War Deserters, Varied Guard Armor, Immersive Patrols - Know Your Enemy 2, Valravn - ELFX, ELFX Shadows, RAID Weathers (Realistic AI Detection), Dynamic Immersive Seriously Dark Dungeons (w/ ELFX hardcore for just dungeons), Dynamic Weather and Time Based Detection

Scenery - The Great Cities, JK's Whiterun Outskirts and about half of JK's Interiors, Magical College of Winterhold, Capital Windhelm, Enhanced Solitude, Quaint Raven Rock, Ryften Down, Paint it Blackreach (w/ a patch to remove the trees, this isn't elden ring) - Civil War Battlefields, Environs-The Western Watchtower, The Ruined Tundra Farmhouse, Hroggar's House, Haafingar Expanded, Unique Border Gates, Lanterns of Skyrim II, Nordic Ruins of Skyrim - Dracos Hearthfire Homes, Hearthfire Extended, Honeyside, Proudspire, and Vlindrel Hall TNF, some other player homes - Do As You Say Redux, Restoring the Aretino Residence, Smelter for Riften, Clutter Doesn't Respawn - DynDOLOD, so many mesh and texture fixes, majestic mountains, seasons of skyrim, turn of the seasons, and a whole bunch of mods that support changing the look of the world based on the date

[kavinsps]

NFT gaming development company

Features of Play-to-Earn games

Among the main characteristics of this type of video game we find the following:

How do Play-to-Earn games work? The mechanics of the games is not as complicated as it seems. Although certainly, everything will depend on the modality formulated by the game to generate income. Or directly from the game itself. You don’t necessarily have to earn money while playing, as you can also earn rewards by completing daily in-game tasks, quests, or ultimately by competing within the game.

Nft gaming development company The operation of these games will be directly conditioned by the mechanics defined by the developer. Some of the most popular games are the pioneering Spells of Genesis , the first NFT game; The Sandbox or Sorare . Here the user can get cryptocurrency rewards in the form of free cards that are given at the beginning of the game.

The user will have to register in a computer game that is based on NFT to get rewards. While some may require an initial investment, as you play you can get free NFTs.

Play-to-Earn video games put the player at the center of their economic engine. It is the player who owns these digital assets (whether they are NFTs or tokens), who have the decision to exchange them for money, for other NFTs or collect them and wait for their value to increase over time, or, in the worst case , is reduced.

Everything you need to enter the world of Play-to-Earn video games To launch into this world and start playing in the Play to Earn model is not as simple as registering and creating an account. You must follow a series of instructions without which you could not play:

get a purse The first, and most important thing, is to have a digital wallet or purse to store the cryptocurrencies and all the monetary rewards that you receive while you are playing. One of the best known is the Metamask wallet.

Create your account in an Exchange Now comes the step that we all know, and that is to create an account in an Exchange or exchange platform. This will allow you to buy the cryptocurrency you need to start playing with real money. It also serves to sell everything you fan in the game, and from it get real money. The most used by players is the Binance exchange platform .

Register in the game and start buying cryptocurrency. Now is the time to buy in-game cryptocurrencies, and with them acquire the NFTs you want. As we mentioned in previous lines, some games require you to buy characters or objects in order to play. Others don’t. As you continue playing you will earn cryptos that you will keep in your wallet.

As you can see, there are three very simple steps, but they can provide you with many possibilities as an investor.

Some of the most popular Play-to-Earn games

Obots Framed in the genre of 2D Fighting Games, with PvP combat in real time, this video game breaks with the norms established by other Play to Earn games that have only faced the turn-based combat genre. It is built with the Unity engine together with its own blockchain platform integrated with the Polygon network. By playing and winning games, you earn two types of tokens: OBT and NAB.

Axis Infinity NFT gaming development It is the most popular game among Play-to-Earn video games and the world of cryptocurrencies. Its main token is AXS, and it uses the Ethereum blockchain. Although it also takes advantage of the Ronin sidechain to avoid congesting the mainnet.

It has an NFT market to sell creatures, and the possibility of reducing them between them thanks to the Small Love Potion (SLP) token. In the game, users raise their little pets (which are NFTs) and make them fight with other characters. Money can be obtained by feeding and raising them or by winning battles with other characters.

cryptokitties This game laid the foundation for the most popular Play-to-Earn game mechanics. Based on the Ethereum network, here players can buy kittens on their NFT marketplace and breed them. You can cross the DNA of these cats and their own characteristics to obtain a new offspring with their unique characteristics.

In addition, the game also features other adventure and puzzle mini-games.

kaby arena Based on the Polygon (MATIC) network, this video game does not require an initial investment to start playing. Here the user can start their own game with non-NFT characters. The main exchange currency is the KABY token, available on decentralized exchanges.

conclusions Play-to-Earn video games have established themselves as one of the main axes of the cryptocurrency market. There are many experts who see in these platforms the future of gaming and video games that we know today.

In addition, it is the perfect gateway for all those users who still do not know how blockchain technology works and want to bet on it.

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[critgoblin]

there’s been a lot of great dialogue about dorian’s trust me, imogen, and the choices he made in that scene given the context of his upbringing and the role he was expected to play as a prince. it’s all spot-on: dorian took control of the situation because that was all he knew how to do--the team was a mess, there was no clear plan or direction, and they were seconds away from getting caught. someone had to step in and force the plan forward, and dorian saw himself as the only person in a position to do that. he’s got the mindset of authority, he’s probably had a lot of experience and exposure to what someone of his status is supposed to do when things start to go wrong--there was no other choice he was going to make. 

but i want to add an element to this that really just touches on how brilliant dorian is as a character, and how brilliant robbie has been playing him. in order to do that though, we have to take a slight detour into the weeds of game mechanics. specifically, i want to talk a little bit about dorian’s class and how it shapes both the ways robbie plays him, and dorian’s role within the group.

bards are a versatile class. they have a wide variety of spells accessible to them with enormous potential both in and out of conflict. they’re pretty good at just about everything, and they are built to support and round out their party. those of you familiar with campaign one know that scanlan was a bard played more or less to his fullest extent--although he rarely got the HDYWTDT, he was an integral part of their strategy every battle simply because he could do so many things and because he was hyper-aware of what everyone else was doing. 

the thing about bards though, is that they are a support class. bards aren’t power-hitters like fighters (whose primary purpose is to inflict as much damage and to take as many hits as they can) and they aren’t glass cannons like sorcerers or rogues (who spend just as much time dealing damage as they do getting the fuck out of the way of it). bards aren’t meant to be the front-liners or the heroes or the battle masters, they aren’t meant to deal the killing blow. between their buffs and their heals and their insane catalogue of spells, bards are built to set up plays for other characters. they are supposed to create opportunities by warping the circumstances of the battle to their party’s advantage. the perfect example of this is in the battle with kevdak in the first campaign, when scanlan manages to decrease the damage of a blow, paralyze the opponent, and inspire a teammate within a turn and a half, thus unleashing a torrent of attacks (with advantage) from his teammates.

dorian is not a great bard. he’s faithful and he’s loyal and he’s done some cool shit, don’t get me wrong. but he’s not a very good bard. he is waaaaaay too willing to get in the way of major attacks, he panics in battle, and he tries too hard to do damage. this is not to say that robbie isn’t doing a good job--he is making dorian a bad bard on purpose. because dorian is trained to be a bad bard. he’s not trained to be a support character. he’s not trained to bide his time on the sidelines for the perfect opening. he’s not trained to set up the killing strike for orym or ashton or imogen. he’s trained to be a prince. he’s literally been trained his entire life to be the main character. he’s trained to do what royalty do, which is to save the day by killing the monster. 

which sucks, because that’s not what dorian’s good at, and it’s not even what dorian wants to be doing. 

the insane thing about dorian, the thing that makes me want to take robbie and shake him because he’s a fucking genius, is that dorian WANTS to be a really good bard. not because he’s a coward, not because he wants to keep himself out of the line of fire, but because he is motivated and driven by his friends. dorian doesn’t want the glory of winning the battle--he wants to keep his friends alive. he wants to be support, he wants to be their aid. he wants to be the solid ground beneath their feet keeping them steady. 

but his training is getting in the way. brontë isn’t supposed to choose the support play. brontë is supposed to be the arthurian knight. brontë is supposed to pull the sword out of the stone and be the new dawn’s light. brontë is supposed to take control of a terrible situation and fix it through brute force. 

do you see what i’m getting at, here? dorian’s been struggling with the dichotomy between identity and class this entire campaign. he’s been struggling to be the hero since ExU. and then his friends literally tell him to go for it. be brontë, they tell him. be our leader, they say as they throw him into the fire with six seconds to save the day. given everything, there was no other choice dorian could make. he shut imogen out not just because that’s what he’s been taught to do, but because that’s what his friends asked him to do. they told him to be brontë, and being brontë means throwing his duties as a bard - buffing, healing, support - out the window. no creating opportunities for others, he did what a good leader does: saw his chance and took it. 

[rabdoidal]

Hei there! Hope you're having a good day!

I saw your offer to do pro bono cases for D&D Court and I might actually need you advice.

I'm DMing for the first time a group of three beginners. Everything is going pretty well except for when we go into combat because one of my players does everything in her power to avoid combat (even deciding to run away from the battle and leaving the party behind). I don't really know what to do, because the other two players like combat, but this means that often I have to run the combat for the two of them while I come up with something else to do for the third player who run away.

Thank you for offering advice!

Hiya anon! I've run games for a lot of first time players, and here are some potential reasons why she might run from combat:

Character choice - maybe the character is naturally fearful or chaotic, or the player themself likes to annoy you

Fear of death - combat in D&D can be no joke when facing big bad guys, being scared your character might die is a real fear

Not understanding combat mechanics - when a player doesn't understand the fighting mechanics, combat can either be confusing, boring, scary, or any combination of the three.

My advice is different for every issue - if the player doesn't want to engage in combat because their character doesn't like violence, incorporating non-combat competitive elements to a battle can allow them to integrate into combat without fighting - having a timed puzzle, a chase, or a contest as a secondary mechanic (ie. catching a thief, solving a riddle, etc) could help them re-engage with the rest of the party.

If your player is just trying to be contrary, try make fights that necessitate all 3 players participate (ie. a wrestling match or magical dueling tournament, a weighted puzzle, a magical trap that needs to be deactivated and only she can do it, etc). If she still doesn't engage, then I'm afraid they might not be a great person to play with.

Finally - if your player struggles to know what to do in combat and is confused, bored or scared for their character, make up a battle with funky environments and mechanics; your player can't escape from a battle that encompases an entire room or area they're in. I've done things like car chases, mazes and corn fields, carnival rides, scavenger hunts, game shows, talent competitions, murder mysteries, and even a wedding. 5e is a rich and diverse medium for storytelling, and if your player is looking at their spells and they aren't sure what to cast, or they aren't sure of their class abilities, make an environment that appeals to all 3 of the players interests, and you can introduce one or two of those confusing abilities gradually until they get a handle on initiative economy and spell slots etc.

This was a long one! I hope this helps!

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #190 & 191

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re providing you a horror double feature- Mecha-Eli chan and Mecha-Eli chan Mk. II! Since they’re nearly identical (in NA) all you have to change between one and the other is how you roleplay. But hey, you technically get an extra build this week, go you!

Both of these servants are 100% Armorer Artificers for some fancy techno-gadgets built into their metal bodies.

Check out their builds breakdown below the cut, or their characters sheet over here!

Next up: She’s got so many pigs around her you’d think she opened a doughnut shop!

Race and Background

Shockingly, the robots... are robots. Specifically, Warforged, which gives them +2 Constitution and +1 Intelligence. They also get Constructed Resilience, which makes you a better ruler since you don’t need to eat, drink, breathe, sleep, or get sick, you get advantage and resistance to poison saves and damage. Elisabeth might get sick from eating all that candy, but you won’t even be tempted.

Instead of sleeping, you take a Sentry’s Rest, spending 6 hours in a still state- you can still see, but you can’t move without breaking the rest.

Integrated Protection gives you your first armored casing, adding +1 to your AC. You can also don armor by fusing it to your body over an hour, letting you wear heavy armor without having to take off your tutu.

Finally, you get a Specialized Design, giving you proficiency with Performance and one set of tools. If you want to get your Elisabeth on, I’d suggest Bagpipes, so you can clear the room just as fast as she can.

Being a robot makes your background a bit complicated, but you were made to rule Castle Csejte Pyramid Himeji so we’ll call you a Noble, which gives you proficiency with History and Persuasion. If you’re playing Mk. II, swap the latter over to Intimidation, boom, roleplay changes done.

Ability Scores

Your highest score should be Intelligence, you have a supercomputer for a brain, it’s not a huge stretch. Constitution comes next, aside from Babbage you’re the only servant made out of iron. So far. Your Strength should also be pretty good, while you do shoot people, you also hit them, and you have one of the most damaging NPs in the game when ignoring type advantage. Your Charisma isn’t bad per se, but your delivery does get a little stiff from time to time. Your Wisdom isn’t that great, neither of you really “get” people. Yes, humans might take offense at being forced to stay in their homes their entire natural lives. That means we’re dropping Dexterity. Your head literally falls off on a regular basis, that’s an accident that would kill most people. Also, you’re not exactly running around in leather, so it’s not like you’d need it.

Class Levels

Starting off as an Artificer gives you proficiency with Constitution and Intelligence saves, as well as two skills. Arcana is the closest thing to robotics in the forgotten realm, and Investigation will help you make a sweep of the battlefield with your robot eyes. Your first machines are made using your Magical Tinkering, adding minor effects to tiny objects. It’s not exactly the wish spell, but you can get creative with it. Speaking of Spells, you can cast and prepare those now using your Intelligence. All you have to do is be smart. Grab the cantrip Mage Hand for a non-combat use for your rocket arm, and Sword Burst so you can try spinning to damage nearby enemies with your tail. I hear it’s a neat trick. You can also cast first level spells, like Feather Fall and Jump (it’s almost flying), as well as Catapult for a prototype rocket arm. Also, if you can spare the slots, grab Detect Magic for robo scanning.

For more substantive mechanics, you’ll have to Infuse Items over a long rest, creating two items from a choice of four blueprints, both of which will go up in number as you level up. Right now, I’d suggest grabbing Goggles of Night and Sending Stones for recon missions, an Enhanced Arcane Focus for better bullets later, and an Armor of Magical Strength for a suit of armor that can either add your intelligence modifier to strength checks and saves or prevent you from getting knocked prone. Doing either spends one of six charges, which partially get refilled at dawn.

Moving to the Armorer subclass dumps you into a proper heavy armor setup, but you can make it even more impressive by turning it into Arcane Armor. This lets you ignore the strength requirements for heavy armor (which you can wear now), and you can use the armor as a spellcasting focus. There’s also stuff about the armor being a part of you, but that’s already true thanks to being a warforged. As the guardian of Hungary you get the Guardian Model, which gives you cool Thunder Gauntlets that use your Intelligence to attack instead of your strength. Creatures that you punch this way have disadvantage against other creatures for a round. It can also produce a Defensive Field as a bonus action, giving you your level in temporary HP, up to Proficiency times per long rest. Finally, you get some free armorer spells to go along with your new outfit. Magic Missiles do a good job of standing in for bullets, and Thunderwave gives you a finale for your Breast Zero Erzsébet.

Your first Ability Score Improvement is going towards making your regular attacks even more powerful with the Crusher feat, rounding up your Strength and making your fists able to shove a creature they hit once per turn, moving a large or smaller creature 5′ away. Your critical hits also give all other attacks against that creature advantage. (Catapult is a save, so I don’t think they work together, but that’s a DM thing, I guess.)

Fifth level armorers get an Extra Attack per action, so you can make enemies taste both of your hands each turn. You also get second level spells, like Mirror Image to put together some cheap factory-made knockoffs to take damage for you and Shatter for more sound-based pain. You can also prepare spells like Levitate for your first taste of flight, Enlarge/Reduce to make yourself the giant mecha you were born to be, See Invisibility for more robo-scanners, and Pyrotechnics for some movie magic.

Sixth level artificers get Tool Expertise, doubling their proficiency with all proficient tools. Now you’ll be really good at clearing out a bar with your bagpipes. You also get two more Infusions, with one more up at a time. Some Resistant Armor will make you deaf to your own music with resistance to thunder damage, or you can customize it to block out plenty of other types, like acid, cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, poison, psychic, radiant, or thunder. Makes a great gift for the totem barbarians in your party! You also get a Spell-Refueling Ring, because pretty soon you’ll be flying, and the worst thing you can do while flying is run out of spell slots. As an action, you’ll recover a 3rd level or lower spell slot once per day.

At seventh level, your Flashes of Genius make your smarts even smarter, letting you add your intelligence modifier as a reaction to nearby checks or saves Intelligence Modifier times per long rest. You were literally built to do everything for your subjects, it only makes sense that you’d be good at it.

Use this ASI to bump up your Intelligence for stronger spells, stronger punches, and more flashes of genius. You take a little bit to get warmed up, but that’s true of most computers.

Ninth level armorers can make Armor Modifications, turning your armor into four items for the purpose of infusion, and you can infuse an extra 2 items specifically if they’re part of your armor. That’ll be really cool next level, but what’s really cool right now is your third level spells, including the freebies Hypnotic Pattern and Lightning Bolt. I would’ve preferred fireball, but we’ll take what we can get for big guns. You can also prepare spells like Fly to fly under your own power instead of awkwardly levitating like a balloon, Haste to overclock your computer, and Intellect Fortress to lord your superior brain over the fleshlings, giving you resistance to psychic damage, and advantage on intelligence, wisdom, and charisma saves.

When you hit tenth level you become a Magic Item Adept, partially because you’re a magic item. This means you get an extra attunement slot, and crafting common or uncommon items is a lot cheaper and faster. You also learn the Fire Bolt cantrip for more options from your guns. On top of all that, you get two more infusion blueprints, and can have one more made at a time. I’d pick up some Winged Boots for concentration free flight up to 4 hours a day, and a Helm of Awareness to give a creature advantage on initiative rolls and immunity to being surprised. You don’t really wear a helmet, but you give one to Guda during the valentines events, so now you can do that in game.

At eleventh level, you can make Spell-Storing Items at the end of a long rest, shoving a 1st or 2nd level artificer spell into a weapon or focus. A creature can cast that spell from the item up to twice your Intelligence modifier times, and it is as powerful as if you cat it yourself. You can only have one spell stored this way at a time.

I really wanted to multiclass into sorcerer this build, but to be honest the final level of artificer is too good to really pass up. So instead, use this ASI to become a Metamagic Adept, gaining two sorcery points and two ways to spend them. Most of your spells are really just part of your body, so a Subtle spell will make that more obvious by making the casting less obvious. You won’t need somatic or verbal components. Alternatively, you can use a Careful spell to turn your giant blasty spells into something slightly more controlled, automatically letting one creature make their save against the spell. You use a lot of firepower for a single-target NP.

Thirteenth level artificers get fourth level spells. Fire Shield and Greater Invisibility aren’t in character, but they are useful, and using useful things is in character. You can also cast spells like Stoneskin, which is an understatement if anything, Summon Construct or Fabricate to build extra Elis, and Arcane Eye for your very own security drone. I also recommend grabbing the glyph of warding from level 3 so you can fully stock your castle with summoned versions of yourself to attack intruders.

Fourteenth level artificers are Magic Item Savants, letting you ignore all restrictions for magic item use, and you can attune to five items at a time. You also get the Prestidigitation cantrip for easy 3d printing, and two more infusions, plus one more built at a time. Grab the Belt of Hill Giant Strength for a whopping 21 strength, and an Arcane Propulsion Arm for a proper rocket punch. That last one does come with a pretty hefty price though- you will have to chop an arm off to put this one on. (Your armor will replace the arm if you have to make space for another infusion though, so it’s not all bad.) Annoyingly, this arm also deals force damage for some fucking reason, so you can’t use crusher on this either. I’d let you just punch people normally though.

Fifteenth level armorers get their final goody, giving them Perfected Armor. Now your guardian model lets you spend a reaction to pull a huge or smaller creature closer to you at the end of its turn if it fails a strength save, and if it’s pulled into melee range you can wollop it as part of the reaction. You can do this Proficiency times per long rest. We’ll consider this a giant hand giving them a nudge in your direction.

Another ASI, use this one for more Intelligence. Now you have the strongest and most flashes, as well as super strong spells and force punches.

At seventeenth level you get fifth level spells, like the freebies Passwall and Wall of Force. Technically it’s invisible, but a giant hand cupping around you to block damage is totally possible. Speaking of giant hands, Bigby’s Hand lets you make a giant mecha hand that actually acts like a hand for once. Yes, we are fitting Mecha Eli’s bit from Las Vegas in here. You can also use Creation to make an exact copy of your body, and Animate Objects to bring it to life. It’s not as powerful as the original, but that’s what you get with factory-made goods.

Eighteenth level artificers are Magic Item Masters, letting you attune to six items at once. You also get another two blueprints with another one built at the same time, so unless you’re powerbuilding grab another Arcane Propulsion Arm for two rocket fists, and a Ring of Protection for a bonus to your AC and saves.

Use your last ASI to become Tough, for 38 extra HP right away and another two when you level up again. You are literally made of steel. Come on.

Your capstone level grants you a Soul of Artifice, which is pretty busted. You get a bonus to all saves equal to the number of magic items you’re attuned to, and if you would drop to 0 HP you can end one of your infusions instead, sticking around at 1 HP. We weren’t able to make your mass-production work out that well, but if you have to die 9 times to actually go down, I’d count that as extra copies.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

You’re hard as hell to kill. With your lowest save being a +6 and the ability to add 5 to any save you don’t like the look of, magic will just slide right off you. Plus, with an AC of 20, just over 200 HP, and temporary HP from the guardian model, you have a lot of health to chew through from martial classes as well.

And that’s assuming they can even hit you! Flight is awesome, giving you plenty of mobility to avoid most combatants entirely and rain down fists and hellfire from a safe distance.

This build is highly customizable, with tons of tricks and gadgets to swap out as the situation calls for them.

Cons:

You’re super reliant on magical items to protect you, so if you get caught up in an anti-magic field it won’t be fun. Like, most artificers will have an awkward fight, but you won’t have arms.

While you have a lot of infusion options, you can’t have all of them up at once. That means you’ll have to make hard decisions constantly, and basically predict the future each long rest.

Two of the feats we took aren’t really that great, and probably should have gone towards better stats. Crusher only works on your regular punches, which are outclassed by your magic weapons, and you only get two weak uses of Metamagic per day.

[entropy-game-dev]

Balancing (Part 1) - Overall considerations

In this blog, I’d like to share with you guys some rules of thumb/tips/methodology that I’ve picked up over the course of my first round of inputting robot/move/part data into my various databases. I’ve had this first pass finished for some time now, and I wanted to write up what I’ve found while it’s still somewhat fresh in my mind.

Just as a recap, here’s what I was looking at for each category:

Robots: Stats, elemental affinities, moves, part slots, rewards, recruit conditions

Moves: Element(s) Costs, damage, targeting, secondary effects, status effects

Parts: Stats, elemental affinities, moves, power cost

All these aspects needed to be balanced against one another, and as you can see, there are a lot of things to take into account! I initially found this task quite overwhelming, but began to tackle it one bit at a time.

Primarily, I wanted my robots, moves, and parts to be memorable! My favourite RPGs have really really strong enemy identities, primarily a function of their affinities (if hitting weaknesses was a big part of the battle system), and their moveset. When you have enemies that can seriously affect your action economy by absorbing, reflecting, or take double/triple damage from a particular attack, it really mixes up how you approach any one encounter.

Even parts and moves can be memorable! The Final Fantasy games (I’m thinking mainly of 9 and Tactics Advance here) where equipment grants skills always made it super fun to pick up new gear. Similarly, moves with varying ranges, costs, and conditional effects (such as in Dofus, Wakfu, and Super Robot Wars), made them feel really good to use! Nothing annoys me more than having multiple spells be just copy-pasted with differing elements attached (Final Fantasy and SMT/Persona suffer from this greatly).

Thematic integrity - absolutely no compromises!

I really strugged to come up with the right word here - organic, ludonarrative harmony, thematic, flavor were all considerations - but the exact word doesn't really matter. My main consideration when designing content was that it absolutely MUST make narrative and mechanical sense in-universe. At a basic level, robots built for attacking would have strong offensive stats, and sturdy robots would have strong defensive stats.

Moving deeper, I also wanted their elemental resistances to tell a story. The rubbery-looking robot would reflect kinetic attacks, and a robot with a large generator would be charged by electomagnetive waves. A primitive communications device might act as a vulnerability point that spreads data damage to allies, and a robot made of particularly volatile materials would be sensitive to temporal damage. The same goes for their moves, I mean, if you have a robot that has a move that folds space in on itself, it better have a good reason for doing so!

So when I say no compromise, I mean it! If it meant the robot would be overly hard or easy due to an odd distribution of strengths, weaknesses, or stats, that's just how things have to be. Of course, I made sure that each unit has at the very minimum, one element it was weak to. A physically sturdy unit might have outdated architecture, making it vulnerable to data attacks, or a precisely calibrated timekeeper might be heavily disrupted by precise particle damage.

So I've spoken about this "organic" design moving beyond the specified bounds of balance, but I haven't yet defined what those bounds should be! Let’s have a look at that graph at the top of the blog. There are two axes, with easy/hard on the vertical and variable/homogenized on the horizontal. This represents my two primary considerations when designing interesting and challenging content, and the two areas show off my target zone (purple area) and how willing I am to stray from this (the red area). Importantly, I don't want EVERY enemy to land in the center of this purple zone, but rather, the optimal is to fill the purple zone as much as possible with different, interesting units, some hard, some easy!

The easy-hard axis

The vertical axis is simple to understand - being an indicator of how easy or hard a player would find a particular enemy at the appropriate level, or how much brain power should go into using a particular part or move. Enemies are intuitively easy to understand - challenging amounts of stats, a good spread of resists, interesting moves... basically nothing that'll stop the enemy from appropriately challenging the player.

For parts/moves, “hard” in this case represents those that were difficult but rewarding to use. For example, moves generally have costs that make the prohibitive to spam, and targeting ranges that need to be maximized to get the most use out of them. Parts too followed the same logic, both having bonuses and detriments to stats and affinities + a power cost such that you can’t just equip everything you find without purpose.

I believe that enemies/moves/parts that are harder to fight against/use will most likely more memorable and make for an overall better experience, and this is reflected in my graph's shadings. This is because you'll have to think more carefully and change up your tactics when dealing with them. I feel like this is more reflective of a harsher and more dangerous universe. Especially for someone coming from the past, it wouldn't make sense that some human is easily able to subdue ultra-advanced war machines! That’s not to say that there won’t be easy robots to fight, because fighting only hard things eventually becomes a slog, but on average I aim to make encounters feel dangerous.

The variable-homogenized axis

This one’s a bit tougher to conceptualise, but to me, this represents how much variance something could have relative to the average. An extremely homogenized unit might have 5′s in all stats, and no affinities. Completely run-of-the-mill. On the other hand, a unit that would be considered highly variable would have all its stats at extremes (~1s and ~10s) and no neutral element affinities - you’d always be hitting a strength or weakness no matter what element was used.

Parts and moves are also subject to balancing on this axis. A more "variable" move would have more of it's databases boxes ticked - it might have hp, energy, AND ammo costs, AND do multiple elemental damage, AND have a weird targeting mechanic, AND have an extra effect attached to the move, AND also apply a status effect... that's a lot of "and"s! Same story for parts, parts would be giving bonuses/negatives to almost all stats and resistances, as well as enable usage of several moves. Here, part and move variability is tied somewhat to how easy/hard they are to use.

Overall I wanted content that does require some thought into their pros and cons both inside and outside of battle, but not so much that the player gets overloaded and burnt out due to taking minutes assessing every possible move/target. As a result, there'll naturally be some easier to use moves and parts as well, especially earlier on!

In summary

I didn't want enemies to have too much OR too little going on. They had to be in the realm of "oh no, not this thing - I have to remember it gets healed by chemical damage and can dish out some nasty aoe attacks! Good thing it's slow!" Parts and moves had to have some benefit to using them, and not have any strictly better counterpart. This blog is getting super long so I'm breaking into two parts, with part 2 focusing on some of the tips and tricks I used to help make sure things were kept within reasonable limits.

[rpgsandbox]

Years of design. Thousands of playtesters. Evocative art. This Compendium brings KibblesTasty's most popular systems together into a single book containing:

Two full classes: the Psion and the Inventor (commonly called "Kibbles' Artificer")

12+ subclasses tying into the themes and mechanics of Psionics and Arcane Technology!

Items, spells, feats, monsters, character building tools for the new classes, and optional world building tools for integrating psionics and fantasy technology to your world!

Kibbles' Crafting System - Blacksmithing, Alchemy, Enchanting (making wondrous items), and much more (everything from Cooking to Wand Whittling and Scroll Scribing!) - all artisan tools have a use here!

...all clocking in at 230+ pages of content all designed and extensively playtested for 5e D&D.

Loaded with original art to give life to its content, I want this book to be an exciting thing to flip through; a true compendium of ideas.

In addition to the Hardcover Compendium, there are a few ways to experience the content:

The PDF will feature everything the hardcover does, in a digital format.

The Class Handbooks are standalone soft covers that contain everything needed to play that class (Psion or Inventor). Great for people that only want that or to get in addition to the compendium to hand out to players.

The Crafting Reference Guide is the whole crafting system as a standalone thing in a softcover booklet.

The most popular homebrew Psionic system for 5e and its eponymous Psion! Bring the most popular missing playstyle of 5e to your group! A flexible class with a lot of opportunities to specialize in what sort of mind (or reality!) bending hero they want to be! Along with the Psion comes a selection of psionic subclasses that tie into its features and bring Psionic crunch and flavor to other classes.

The Psion can be fully previewed online. The version that will appear in the book will be an updated version combining more playtesting feedback and professional editing into making a definitive edition to the beloved class.

Contains the subclasses Awakened Mind, Unleashed Mind, Transcended Mind, Wandering Mind (the Nomad!), and of course the astral construct creating Shaper, each of whom wield a Discipline from Telepathy, Telekinesis, Transposition (manipulate space and dimensions), Psychokinetics (manipulate energy), Enhancement (enhance material forms), or Projection (project the contents of your mind into the world!), the unique model of the Psion allows each subclass to have one core Discipline from their subclass and another of their choice, allowing extensive flexibility and combinations, without ever getting to mystical levels of complexity or compounded effects.

What will be new? Item support! Feat support! Extended tools for backgrounds and character building! Optional tables for character details, backstory details, and more, as well as a suite of things that makes Psionics a better and more seamless fit for your world, and, of course, an update to be fully OGL. Plus it'll get even more new art to have fully original art. Professional editing and proofreading!

The original Kibbles' class that started it all, now dubbed the Inventor! Forge what sort of hero you are yourself - choose from a wide array of subclasses and master gadgets, magical infusions, magnificent warplate, or turn more... experimental. Widely known as "Kibbles' Artificer" or "Alternate Artificer" this class served as the original 5e Artificer for many, and is still one of the most widely played homebrew classes - now updated to live alongside default classes and updated to its best form yet.

At the nexus of magic, technology, and creativity, it is a beloved class that has had tens of thousands of players try it out over the years.

You can explore the class for yourself, as it's freely available online. The version presented here will be a comprehensive overhaul that focuses on editing and clarity to bring about a definitive 3.0 version with all the features people love.

What will be new? This will convert it to the OGL system, bringing with it a double handful of new spells, a lot of new items, more new art to have completely original art, and a massive editing pass by professional and talented editors (not me!)

A comprehensive crafting system for 5th edition. You can forge a longsword with Blacksmithing and enchant it to +1 with Enchanting; you can use alchemy to brew a potion or concoct an explosive. This is a system that had a few core goals:

Let you make anything that exists in the game (as much as possible) and give concrete and extensible rules for everything else that could exist in your game.

Open the door to new kinds of loot. Allow a player to be excited by something they cannot even use because of the possibilities of what they can make it into. This opens the door to loot and rewards that make sense in a world and give the players incremental but satisfying rewards that build toward something they want.

Make it a player driven system. An aspirational system you can put in front of the players and let them drive toward their goals.

A system that is easy to use for the GM and players alike, but offers a satisfying depth.

The whole system is available on my patreon, but early versions of Blacksmithing, Alchemy, and Enchanting can be previewed to give you an idea of what this system will look like, as well as inside look into how it'll work. The beta system of Crafting will be made available to all backers of the Compendium (including PDF) or Crafting Reference Guide tiers. The completion and fine tuning of this system is one of the major pieces of crunch remaining to flesh out this book.

Beyond the large tentpoles of the design, there's a lot more: items (both mundane and magical!), spells (40+), feats, variant features, and more. This book comes packed with all the tools a player could want to play the options it presents as well as helpful tools for the GM to run these systems (as a GM twice a week myself, I keep your time in mind when designing any system!)

And in additional to all the crunch, this compendium will come with large sections about integrating Psionics and Inventors (and the style of magic-technology they can bring) into your world - they are entirely optional, but one of the most common things I hear from GMs and players is that they love the ideas, but aren't sure how they fit or what impact they'll have on world building - in this book will be a suite of tools and ideas for how they might be present, and what sort of things they add.

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kickstarter campaign ends: Thu, February 4 2021 5:00 PM UTC +00:00

Website: [KibblesTasty Homebrew] [facebook] [twitter] [instagram] [patreon]

[seafleece]

i don’t know how to fully explain this but so many memes about d&d actually fundamentally hinge on weaknesses of the system.

memes about how hard dming is? that’s because the pressure is squarely on the dm to create and provide a world, and players to only create a character and maybe their family rather than influence and discuss aesthetic and cultural environments of the world and how they want to interact with it from the get-go. the dm is supposed to make everything and hide it from the players, and the players end up making characters that feel absolutely dropped into the world from nowhere, with no familiarity despite backstories that suggest they grew up in these towns and these systems.

memes about character abilities purely based on class? that’s because interesting and unusual class combos are de-incentivized by the stat system and because you know the features you’ll eventually acquire instead of gaining abilities that reflect your progression, forcing the dm to create a world in which you gain these predetermined abilities instead of one in which you could potentially learn anything, and could easily pick up new skills without sacrificing the ones you already know.

memes about dms that get angry with players for wanting to do fun things or memes about “murder hobos”? that’s because there’s a serious disconnect between the path morally active characters are likely to take and how fun the game has made it to kill people and get away with it, and because there’s no robust mechanical way for the players to view how groups or factions feel about them.

memes about natural 1s and 20s? that’s because the roll system is an absolute mess of players not being sure if they succeeded on middling rolls, being told their character exhibited random incompetence on a critical failure, and believing nat 20s should auto-accomplish what they want no matter the magnitude, leaving the dm to consistently scramble. systems where the player always knows if they have succeeded or failed means failure often means further complications that don’t have to discourage the player, successes mean the player(s) gain a meaningful advantage, and everyone is aware of what the situation actually looks like and how it’s progressing. blades in the dark uses a system that tells the player how successful a roll can possibly be before they make it and allows the player to decide what they’re rolling— this solves the investigation versus perception problem immediately, because the dm can effectively communicate that yes, you can survey the area, but even if you critically succeed, the result will not be the same as actively searching through drawers, and that you might not get what you want if you proceed.

memes about spell loopholes and about crazy combinations that “break” things? that’s because the emphasis in combat and out is on adhering to what your character is provided with and seeing who uses the plethora of rules the best. creativity exists secondarily and within the system. spellcasters cast spells they didn’t write, and have to figure out how to use incredibly specific existing spells in various scenarios instead of having a basic ability to do magic and deciding how they want to use it in the moment. players feel invincible and are pushed towards the aforementioned disproportionate fun of doing something ridiculous unexpectedly when they find the loophole for create or destroy water, and dms have to feel like the asshole for arguing minutia and vetoing when the player and dm should have the same understanding of what the player is capable of at a certain level. the dm and players should be on the same side. d&d makes it so they are not, and then convinces you that this disconnect is funny and good.

d&d can be very fun and silly!! a lot of work has gone into it, and i think you should play it if you want to. i still do. but it is by no means the pinnacle of ttrpgs, and if you want to explore complex themes i think you’re likely to find it a hindrance or an uphill battle, even if you don’t realize it. as a dm you will relax and have infinitely more fun when you allow your players to make things. the creativity cannot only come from one end, or the result is tension and/or disinterest. characters are disconnected from a world they’re born into, don’t actually have a foundation of skill associated with their class, and remain distant from npcs because every interaction is made into a roll with confusing results that aren’t communicated.

as a counter-example, forged in the dark encompasses a number of games based on the titular blades in the dark— they employ a lot of mechanics that solve many of these problems, as well as ones i haven’t mentioned. they swap heritage as personally decided and specified by the player for race, they incentivize multiclassing, invite players to shape scenes as much as the gm, make combat interesting without relying on minutia, and integrate roleplaying throughout. they’re worth checking out.