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agreed, that is amazing. 
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Mar 20, 2022 01:53
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Hello everyone! I just got my first thing published on Drive Through RPG and it's been a really fun learning experiance. It's a book of tables for solo role-playing and DM prep in a OSR planar campaign: Malidrex Guide to the Multiverse https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/391171?affiliate_id=661936 I learned a lot about layout, formatting and public art, which turned out to be way more effort than I expected.  But now that I have a better understanding I'm planning to write a series of OSR system neutral adventure modules from my old DM notes. I think I have a better workflow now and I could put them out a lot faster being only a 20-30 page deal.
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Mar 26, 2022 01:11
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I'm at the point with my project that I need to start thinking about art. I'm building a setting neutral system, and I was thinking about just hitting up shutterstock or the like. Does anyone have experience with stock art sites or could recommend a better one? I'd be looking for a mix of fantasy, urban fantasy, and cyberpunk art.
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May 26, 2022 06:20
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IshmaelZarkov posted:I'm at the point with my project that I need to start thinking about art. I'm building a setting neutral system, and I was thinking about just hitting up shutterstock or the like. You can also check the Smithsonian's Open Access site or the British Museum's flickr account, although the art you'll find there is probably better suited to more classic fantasy stuff since it's mostly old paintings or etchings from books.
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May 26, 2022 06:36
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Oh hey I should probably post this here: My Disco Elysium inspired, Bluebeard's Bride hacking mystery solving game about amnesia now has a playtest version! It has playbooks and everything. If anyone finds that interesting and runs a game, please let me know - I'd love to get some independent playtesting at some point. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sPku8AGaHkio4CBtMz_zCNIJ5-TKtLTkKLA_izDIJxE/edit?usp=sharing
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Jun 12, 2022 00:47
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Joe Slowboat posted:Oh hey I should probably post this here: I'm not really a PbtA guy, but this seems pretty solid from what I know of it. How's the playtesting going?
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Jul 9, 2022 13:00
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Okay devs. Help a newbie out. I've almost finished the first draft, and I've got an editor lined up. Bonus points, I've got a gamer editor lined up, which has to be a plus. The next thing to organise is going to be art. Rather than trying to find an artist, I was thinking about getting a shutterstock account. It's a generic game system, so I figure generic artwork should work well enough. Has anyone has experience with shutterstock as a service? Is it likely to cause problems when actually creating a saleable product? Also, this might be a stupid question, what's the deal with setting up the copyright details? Is it just a casee of adding into the manuscript, or do I need to actually get something registered somewhere? (Yes, I 100% could ask google, but frankly I don't really want to trust my dubious google-fu to something that might be an important question)
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Jul 9, 2022 13:06
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I've been playtesting a game based on Digimon. The game is called Petmon. The game was mechanically inspired by Chuubo's Marvelous Wish Granting Engine. I have recently been told a complaint and I do not know how to handle the complaint. I am honestly and truly floundering here. You see, this complain sits at the heart of the entire game's design. They feel the freeform skill system is too nebulous, they feel it puts too much on them to figure it all out, and they are unsure how it would need to be fixed. The problem is they feel most of their skills are useless, that they don't do enough, and they are unsure how to make. It wrote a guide on making skills and they felt it didn't address the inherent problem with the entire system at its core. I considered dividing the Skills into different specialized Skill categories, but it didn't really help. They feel like they so often look at their Skill list and cannot find a Skill that fits because the freeform nature lends itself too much to potential to fail when making a Skill. A consideration, for me, is to revamp the system so that there are Fate Approaches, somewhat, and the Skills are like Cortex Specialties. Some other people said that perhaps I should consider doing another playtest and seeing if its only the group issue. I am honestly and truly floundering here trying to come up with a solution.
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Jul 12, 2022 03:08
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IshmaelZarkov posted:I'm not really a PbtA guy, but this seems pretty solid from what I know of it. How's the playtesting going? Well! There's a few notes but the core play loop has worked so far; game 1 went great, game 2 is PbP and ongoing (but the mechanics have worked), and game 3 is between session one and two but has been great. My main issue has honestly been my own keen inability to run a one-shot in one shot, haha. I have a sense of a lot of the editing I want to do, and I got Affinity Publisher on sale, so I should be in a good position to make an initial PDF, ideally by the end of the summer. (Also I have not used Shutterstock for anything like that, sorry)
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Jul 12, 2022 05:46
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IshmaelZarkov posted:Okay devs. Help a newbie out. Check the license terms for whatever you use, though—usually they're super-permissive (you're encouraged to credit the artist, but there's no other restrictions), but some might have actual restrictions (e.g. some Creative Commons licenses). For collections or free art sites there's usually a page linked in the header or footer that has the license terms (e.g. Pexels). You might wanna personalise the art you use a little (if the license allows that) e.g. by using an image editor to apply filters. In one game I made, I used the free image editor GIMP/Glimpse to tweak colours and apply a waterpixels effect to turn royalty-free photos into something unique, like this:   It takes more time than just finding stock art and dropping it in, but then I had people tell me they didn't even realise the art in the game was just edited photos until I told them. More importantly, the art was a much better fit for the tone and style I was going for. Copyrights don't need to be registered anywhere. If you're using non-public domain art then check the license in case there's a note you gotta put in your work for those assets, though like I said, most places that give free art have really permissive licenses. Hope that helps!
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Jul 12, 2022 13:56
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UnCO3 posted:
That's a HUGE help! Thanks. Now to finish this absolutely brutal work project so I can get back to something fun.
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Jul 14, 2022 03:53
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I just finished writing a rough draft of a module called Little Mound of the Prairie for my Hodgepocalypse world. Here is the Elevator Speech: "In the little town of post-apocalyptic Bruce Alberta, the industrialized undead is rising that threatens everything within range. Can your plucky band of adventurers find out before it's too late while dealing with tensions between a cattle baron and bandits cosplaying as pirates." I'm looking for people to read, review, players and/or gms. Any interest?
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Jul 20, 2022 01:38
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Covok posted:I've been playtesting a game based on Digimon. The game is called Petmon. The game was mechanically inspired by Chuubo's Marvelous Wish Granting Engine. I have recently been told a complaint and I do not know how to handle the complaint. I am honestly and truly floundering here. Is it that they feel it's too easy to accidentally come up with overly focused skills? ("I haven't gotten to use basketweaving once but Greg has used telekinesis every game!") Is it that they feel it's too easy to come to with skills unsuitable to a particular campaign? ("I took Veteran Mountaineer +3 and we haven't run into a single wall that needs scaling or adventuring club that needs a tale telling or a frosty environment we need to survive, never mind an actual mountain") Our is it just that they don't like doing things when they don't have a skill for it? Because that can be fixed by adding "Do A Thing +0" as a preprinted part of the character sheet.
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Jul 20, 2022 02:12
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One thing you can do is artificially restrict the skills in a way that's thematically appropriate to your game. To use pokemon as an example, instead of "pick three skills" the character sheet would have a place to fill in your type speciality, your main hobby (other than fantasy cockfighting), your best subject at school (before you graduated at 10 to go fantasy cockfighting), and one freestyle choice.
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Jul 20, 2022 02:29
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I'm once again working on my lizardfolk TTRPG where players are representative of the five divines. I'm sort of just feeling like I'm stabbing at this thing without knowing what to do with it. I feel like it's not ready for testplays yet, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what I need to add. My design goal is something somewhat crunchy, but not overly complicated or technical. my main inspirations are 13th age and 4e D&D with a bit of FATE. I mentioned a heat mechanic before, and I decided at least for now it's simplest to just make it like an escalation die in 13th age, but backwards (the enemies get the bonus), so there's a ticking clock where combat gets harder the longer it goes on. I'm intending to have powers that play with heat (raising it as a cost, or spending resources to lower it). I've decided on using 2d10+Stat (not percentile, it's a range from 2-20+stat) for rolls because I feel like it's more accessible than using custom dice and easier to math, and I like the idea of a center curve on the rolls. I know there have been a few games that uses this system, but I haven't played them, and maybe there's a reason it's generally avoided. One issue I found is crit/auto hit and misses are very rare with 2d10 (only 1% instead of 5% with 1d20). Though this may not be an issue if I balance so the target numbers aren't ever so high it's needed to do anything (a AC so high you need to roll a 20 to hit). Do I need to do 1-3 and 18-20 critical hit/miss, or is that too clunky? I've done some simulation battles, and it feels like it plays alright, though I don't know how many options I should give players to start/per level to prevent combat from being dull and repetitive. I was thinking players choose ~1-3 powers at first level and get a new one every level. I don't know if there's a good rule of thumb, or it really depends on the system. I also worry the game might be a tad swingy. Right now I have HP only raise when you raise your endurance stat, instead of at each level. I'm considering making it so you always gain at least a little HP each level. Is this a good idea, or is it down to the system and a raised attribute system could work? I don't want to have creatures/players have too much HP where combat becomes a slog. Sorry if this is a bit rambly. This is what I've been working on.
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Jul 20, 2022 22:06
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If you specifically want the D&D-esque 5% crits, consider having them proc off rolling doubles.
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Jul 21, 2022 10:15
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Lichtenstein posted:If you specifically want the D&D-esque 5% crits, consider having them proc off rolling doubles. So double 1-5 is crit fail, double 6-10 is crit hit? that could maybe work, thanks. Though I don't want to do it just because other games do it. Like I said, it's possible the game can work without crits at all, but I'm not sure I'm missing some obvious problem then if there aren't.
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Jul 21, 2022 19:36
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Crits add a fun and/or scary kind of randomness to a game depending on which side of the dice you're on, and that unpredictability is often a good thing, but they certainly aren't necessary. They also don't have to take the form of extra damage depending on what you're going for. Crits adding status effects to the enemy or bonuses for yourself or your party members are really fun imo and can feel a lot more interactive than just straight damage. If you wanted to add some interesting randomness and you're concerned about survivability, expanding the crit range with your heat die every turn could also be an option if your crit riders aren't strictly focused on damage. S.J. fucked around with this message at 21:37 on Jul 25, 2022 |
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Jul 25, 2022 21:33
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Foolster41 posted:So double 1-5 is crit fail, double 6-10 is crit hit? . WFRP has it so a double is a crit - if you succeeded on the roll, it's a crit success. If you failed, it's a crit failure. It's a pretty simple system,and helps to reinforce the feeling of being good at something. This level a double 4 is a crit success on this roll, last level it was a crit failure.
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Jul 25, 2022 22:03
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I like when crits and hits are different variables. Yeah you missed on your double 1 but hey you crit so <fun effect> happens
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Jul 25, 2022 22:38
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S.J. posted:Crits add a fun and/or scary kind of randomness to a game depending on which side of the dice you're on, and that unpredictability is often a good thing, but they certainly aren't necessary. They also don't have to take the form of extra damage depending on what you're going for. Doing effects instead of damage is a good idea, though changing crit ranges feels a bit fiddly/hard to remember than just remembering to add +1 attack each turn like in 13th age. IshmaelZarkov posted:WFRP has it so a double is a crit - if you succeeded on the roll, it's a crit success. If you failed, it's a crit failure. It's a pretty simple system,and helps to reinforce the feeling of being good at something. This level a double 4 is a crit success on this roll, last level it was a crit failure. Thanks! Right now I have five "classes" that are tied to a divine in the world, an attribute and an element. Most of them have sub-classes (so far I have 10 sub-classes). I'm thinking each level you simply get points you can put into raising your attributes and 1 new power. It's more of a darksouls style leveling scheme, as opposed to D&D where you get an attribute boost every few levels (but you usually get some minor stat boosts along the way). The classes are: Rela (Power/Strength, Fire) ->Barbarian/Rager - Brute force attacking ->Pyromancer - Mostly close-up fire magic that augments melee attacks (since a full caster doesn't make much sense for a power spec'd character) ->Inquisitor - Punishing evil doers, about doing damage. Sort of paladin-esque, though not necessarily tanky) Kakela (Endurance/Constitution, Stone/Earth) ->Guardian - Defender/Paladin type Laikei (Agility/Dexterity, Wind) ->Wind Walker - More mystical powers. Turn into wind, not entirely sure yet ->Blade Dancer - Agility-based combat, flippy twirly fighting. More monk-ish. ->Desert Mother - Control wild animals to fight for you (Feels thematic for the divine it's based on, but not really this attribute) Kai (Mind/Intelligence) ->Healer - What the name says ->Tactician - Leader/Buffer GIkar (Charm/Charisma) ->Sweet Tongue - Spoiler with maybe some lead/buff abilities. I'm trying to not force myself into a 1:1 mold of classic D&D/FRPG classes but build them from what I feel like would come out of the world. I don't know if these classes make sense, or exactly the "feel" I want for all of them. I like to image they all have some leeway between builds for some of these classes of more front-row with higher physical attributes (Power/Endurance/Agility) vs. going more all-in on mind/charm for caster-ish characters (at least for Kai and Gikar, and maybe Laikei.) Foolster41 fucked around with this message at 00:18 on Jul 26, 2022 |
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Jul 26, 2022 00:14
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Don't worry too much at the beginning - you'll end up wanting to change a bunch of stuff after a playtest or two anyways. I think that's certainly good enough to start off with.
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Jul 26, 2022 00:34
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Well, it took about 8 months and two complete rewrites of the core mechanics, but I finally got a new version of the motorsports ttrpg out, and one I think I actually like. Enjoy and drop me some feedback!
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Aug 21, 2022 21:05
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Oh hi. I picked up one of my random projects again the mechanics are starting to take shape. It's a hacked apart Fate system with a bit of DnD/Pathfinder crunch glued to it on top of a Traveller-inspired character generation. I'm not sure if battles might be a tad too crunchy though? Here's a character sheet and a half-finished, but kind of playable chapter on encounters:  I noticed that the folks i nerd out with (we're all pretty new at this) did more roleplaying in games that didn't have as much crunch (like Call of Cthulhu) but they enjoyed the more boardgamey games (like Pathfinder) even though they didn't understand half of the rules so I'm trying to make a weird hybrid. I've got most of the rules in my head and on pieces of papers scattered here and there so feel free to ask questions. Cosmo is the basically fate points but instead of rerolls and adding +2 to rolls, the players use it to temporary raise their base abilities (Strength, Dexterity etc.) to strenghten or unlock talents/actions that require a specific base ability value to use. For example; the player might want to charge a target but doesn't meet the requirement of 3 DEX so they may spend Cosmo to raise their DEX to the required level on their turn. Here's a non proof-read background of the (mostly fantasy) setting: quote:A GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
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Nov 28, 2022 17:48
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For anyone wondering about the fate of the 2014 SA Trad Games competition winner EREBUS, I've just finished the fifth revision of the rules for public playtest! It started as a 4e XCOM conversion, but the design has predictably drifted over the last 8 years. It's a 3d6-based, streamlined tactical game with a character progression system that emphasises horizontal growth over vertical. And lots of cool equipment you can bolt onto your character. The biggest selling point in terms of player feedback I've seen is that there's a handgun with such physically massive bullets that you can use the shell casings that are ejected as a secondary weapon. https://twitter.com/menoetian/status/1605678214801678342?s=20&t=9qIMkXmNzER4Jtc6p5PCWA e: there were some formatting issues in 5.3, I linked a fixed PDF a couple tweets down Depending on interest, I'm hoping to run some playtest sessions with players outside of my home group, and I would love feedback from anyone else who decides to play it themselves. EDIT: EREBUS also has an Itchio page now . Zeerust fucked around with this message at 15:04 on Dec 22, 2022 |
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Dec 21, 2022 22:51
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Zeerust posted:For anyone wondering about the fate of the 2014 SA Trad Games competition winner EREBUS, I've just finished the fifth revision of the rules for public playtest! It started as a 4e XCOM conversion, but the design has predictably drifted over the last 8 years. It's a 3d6-based, streamlined tactical game with a character progression system that emphasises horizontal growth over vertical. And lots of cool equipment you can bolt onto your character. Oh gently caress, I forgot I ran that contest. It's funny I stumble on this post. This is super interesting. I don't even know the people I used to hang with when we ran this competition. Brief aside, don't run a competition if you are the type to feel guilty about the other people losing. Anyway, erebus was very well made and went swimmingly. I'm super interested to check this out
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Dec 22, 2022 03:33
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Covok posted:Oh gently caress, I forgot I ran that contest. It's funny I stumble on this post. This is super interesting. I don't even know the people I used to hang with when we ran this competition. Brief aside, don't run a competition if you are the type to feel guilty about the other people losing. That would be the same contest where I made SBBQ, right? I "lost" but it went great and I made a cool game. The point of those sorts of things is to make cool stuff. It's like Knizia said: "the goal is to win, but it is the goal that is important, not the winning."
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Dec 24, 2022 20:29
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Funny story, I was sure that SBBQ was going to win. Wasn't that the original template for Strike!?Covok posted:Oh gently caress, I forgot I ran that contest. It's funny I stumble on this post. This is super interesting. I don't even know the people I used to hang with when we ran this competition. Brief aside, don't run a competition if you are the type to feel guilty about the other people losing. Ha ha, thanks! It's a very different beast outside of the core intent, but hopefully it's still got juice.
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Dec 25, 2022 10:27
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Jimbozig posted:That would be the same contest where I made SBBQ, right? I "lost" but it went great and I made a cool game. The point of those sorts of things is to make cool stuff. Holy crap, I forgot you submitted SBBQ to that. Did you make it for the contest or were you already working on it? And, thinking back on it, the goal was to try to promote more 4e retroclones so it definitely succeeded. Zeerust posted:Funny story, I was sure that SBBQ was going to win. Wasn't that the original template for Strike!? Honestly, the contest was scuffed as hell on the testing side. I used my 13th Age group who also loved 4e to test them. But we basically just ran a short adventure with one combat because trying to judge the complexity of these games were beyond me on my own. I used their feedback to try to get player feedback. But the reality was the games were so complex that I couldn't memorize all the rules perfectly in time and we had a lot of mess ups because of it. It also seemed like my groups patience with the excerise wore thin over time. I remember steakpunk really suffering because the players didn't want to learn it. Honestly, I ran that out of my college dorm room mainly out of a desire for attention and to feel important. I'm still that insecure attention whore, honestly, but nowadays I'd tried to seek that by doing something that had less work and emotions involved lol. Don't get me wrong, by the way. Erebus was fun. Honestly, I don't think any of the games were bad. I just think my contest wasn't handled well.
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Dec 26, 2022 23:04
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Zeerust posted:Funny story, I was sure that SBBQ was going to win. Wasn't that the original template for Strike!? Covok posted:Holy crap, I forgot you submitted SBBQ to that. Did you make it for the contest or were you already working on it? I made it for that contest. I had some vague ideas before, but it was the contest that actually got me writing it for real.
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Dec 27, 2022 07:16
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https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/425906/Hodgepocalypse-C---Monster-Manual--Book-of-Danger--Drev002 At long last the Book of Danger rears it's flowery head and reveals the monster of the Hodgepocalypse! You Like Monsters? I have Monsters! Enjoy the preview of a killer ice cream mascot to a play on words monster involving cabbages!
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Mar 10, 2023 03:14
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This almost feels like a double post given how my last post was on this very page, but EREBUS Beta 6 is live, for those following at home. I decided to simplify weapons down since my old weapon class system didn't really do anything but prevent Fun from occurring, and the Wound system has moved away from the 4e/LANCER style "hp bar segment" element to something more akin to Tenra Bansho, where you choose to take Wounds to prevent damage to your HP. I also wrote a new category of weird, time-eating monsters I'm calling Relicts. Have fun fighting sentient geometry! I don't know how many more revisions I'm going to drag out of this given this game is becoming something of an albatross around my neck. I'm considering giving each weapon a unique Ability, where you can modify your attack or gain an advantage at a cost, but that'll probably be it. Next stop: finding the money to actually make it look like a real game!
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Apr 10, 2023 14:57
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I would like to say woot on your behalf and wish you the best.
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Jun 20, 2023 02:31
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 And now that I've got your attention, the 7th iteration of Downforce, my upcoming car racing ttrpg, was finally put together. There's still a long way to go, but I also really feel this the moment the game transitions from the rough alpha to an early beta. Man, writing games is a lot of work. Lichtenstein fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Jul 18, 2023 |
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Jul 18, 2023 22:16
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So I've got my game Aristocracy to the point that I need to perform three final major tasks: 1.) Coming up with a better name 2.) Editing 3.) Layout I've got an editor lined up - and I've lucked out there, cause she's a gamer and professional editor, so working with game rules is a little easier for her. The layout is going to be the tricky part. The OP suggests using Scribus - does anyone have any advice or hints that I should look at regarding Scribus, or is it all pretty self-explanatory?
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Jul 19, 2023 03:55
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Is there a way to find RPG game jams - itch.io is almost all computer game ones.
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Jul 21, 2023 13:12
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Sometimes I do scribble little drafts to clear my mind from working on my main project, the car racing ttrpg. My largest perpetual heartbreaker so far has been a hollywood hacking game, using Scrabble tiles to punch in command line commands as a resolution mechanic. As you might imagine, it's one hell of a gimmick so it wasn't easy to make work. However, recently I've got an idea to refocus this eternal project a little and make it a duet game in which one player is a Sam Fisher-like stealth operative and the other is their little Otacon buddy, providing intel and doing Scrabble hacking from afar. GM optional, so that all of the setup feeds directly into the back-and-forth codec conversations. I wrote down the preliminary proof of concept draft which, let's be honest here, is a dogshit untested first shot at it, but it's also a fairly complete vertical slice to present the ideas involved.
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Aug 23, 2023 15:47
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It’s been in the works for almost two years, but my big detective-during-a-mental-breakdown TTRPG project is done and available! https://silk-stone.itch.io/detect-or-die Please check it out!
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Aug 25, 2023 08:13
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Two years of Thinking About It and a whole mix of working on my mental health to get to the point where I can write again later, I managed to finish an alpha for a mechanics-light narrative-focused resource management system. Influenced by Red Markets, Unknown Armies, Fate and FITD, I don't have a name for this but I've got a burning urge to playtest the poo poo out of it and see what levels I need to adjust. If you'd like to check it out and give some feedback, it'd be much appreciated. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k5ryhM0_AUF5lEpsJmYMkHD2kFI-cc5L/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112925173811469982025&rtpof=true&sd=true main text. https://docs.google.com/document/d/19zVm2YwHDp_LkbopyWiP29tTDSLwp-wP/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112925173811469982025&rtpof=true&sd=true horrible mock-up character sheet.
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Oct 5, 2023 23:59
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I'm on another creative tear don't know where it's heading, but posting for the entertainment of all. Posting my northern African Necromatic kingdom for entertainment and feedback. https://hodgepocalypse.com/2023/10/hodgepocalypse-africa-part-4-salted.html%85 #africa, #drevrpg, #apocalypse #dnd5e, #necromancy, #tunisia
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Oct 21, 2023 13:50
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