blackbelt352

joined 2 years ago
[–] blackbelt352@ttrpg.network 5 points 4 days ago

I've run 10 Candles a number of times and had an absolutely fantastic time every single time. It's perfect for a horror one shot and character creation is built right into setting up the game. Definitely talk with the group beforehand whether you all want to play a more light hearted comedic horror or something scarier.

https://youtu.be/GfePLMYmA7k

[–] blackbelt352@ttrpg.network 3 points 2 months ago

I really like WoD's Resources background, one thing I do tend to append to the rules is separate out recurring income from lump assets.

Basically Income Resources are used up and refresh each month worth of time provided players maintain their income or have retainers keep watch over the accounts. Lump Resources are like having a big pile of gold, or a big inheritance from an eccentric uncle or just a bunch of money in a savings account. Once they're used up, they're used up.

[–] blackbelt352@ttrpg.network 1 points 4 months ago

World of Darkness and other Storyteller/Storytelling system games call their GM the Storyteller, which I think is a good title for it.

As for why designers make up their own, the term Game Master is pretty generic, and kinda boring, and they want to create something unique and/or more flavorful to their games. The term "Dungeon Master" is also owned by Hasbro and also only really makes sense in more Tolkien inspired fantasy games where heroes are crawling their way through dungeons.

[–] blackbelt352@ttrpg.network 4 points 4 months ago

Because certain systems have different focuses.

The core game focus of DnD is pretty heavily directed toward combat. Most of the spells and skills your character has are for combat or for getting into combat or for between combat encounters. It's a combat centric game, with some RP rules added on top for in-between combat encounters.

Compare that to World of Darkness's Storyteller system, which is much more heavily focused on the social interactiom and narrative drama. Combat in that game is quick and usually quite lethal, and even in the 5th Edition games Paradox is releasing, calls for combat to be 3 turns before resolving the interaction.

It takes a lot of time and effort to add on your own rules to make these systems handle what they weren't really designed for.

I wouldn't really want to run a game of complex political intrigue in DnD just as I wouldn't want to run a monster slaying dungeon crawl in World of Darkness.

[–] blackbelt352@ttrpg.network 2 points 7 months ago

Less about specifically hating Roll20, than the blatant engagement in anti-competetive practices and the monopolization of the industry in a push toward a vertically integrated monopoly.

Sort of like if Hasbro bought out the main book printer used by a bunch of TTRPGs so they have a vertical integration and can basically force all those other games to either deal with a hostile competitor to get books printed at unsustainable prices or completely upend a huge section of their development pipelines, try to find another printer, build that relationship, rework the pipeline and formatting guides so the printer actually can print the books. That's a process that could take multiple years and millions of dollars to do. Both of which options would kill even large rpg studios.

[–] blackbelt352@ttrpg.network 11 points 7 months ago

As a DM dice are there to make noise behind the screen and raise tension. They're a psychological tool as much as they are a randomizer.

Personally I play a lot of World of Darkness games, which runs on dice pools, so if I can just keep obviously adding more and more dice to a pool, recount once or twice and roll to really sell the illusion that they may be in for something a lot bigger and scarier than they are. Or just roll a handful of dice as moments are going on, give a facial reaction and let that simmer under the surface for a while.

[–] blackbelt352@ttrpg.network 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Do my eyes decieve me? An honest to god Mage the Ascension meme???

[–] blackbelt352@ttrpg.network 3 points 1 year ago

Point taken, but they also still had the resources and people to make that many charts.

[–] blackbelt352@ttrpg.network 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Well Rollmaster has multiple authors/designers and the benefit of 43 years of accumulated writing and knowledge.

[–] blackbelt352@ttrpg.network 6 points 1 year ago

He laughed when I said 5.

[–] blackbelt352@ttrpg.network 1 points 1 year ago

I was more intending Mage the Ascension but Ars Magica works too. They were both initially created by the same company

[–] blackbelt352@ttrpg.network 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

When the Order of Hermes takes design cues from the Society of Ether.

view more: next ›