#DC20 TTRPG

[kalianos]

As a forever DM, I'm sold.

[ilthit]

Alternatives to Dungeons & Dragons (2024) now that they are going all-in on gacha:

Dungeons & Dragons (2018) + any number of compatible indie produced modules (Obvious Mimic Press is the one I've played)

Pathfinder 2e (basically the same game, tons of adventure available)

DC20 (if you like rules improvements; not a lot of modules available yet)

Shadowdark (if you want to party like it's 1979)

Obviously Daggerheart if you're a Critical Role fan; the setting is familiar and rules easy and you can play a mushroom (or their version of tiefling, dragonborn, etc)

Literally any older version of Dungeons & Dragons that still has playable adventures out there.

Have you REALLY played all the existing DnD campaigns and modules yet? Until you have, you don't need to buy new ones.

Roll20.net has automatic DnD character sheets so you can cancel that DnDBeyond subscription if you use it just for that. It has also recently bought up Demiplane, another similar platform, which is prettier and has many of the games mentioned here.

If you want to get more adventurous with rules and setting but still like fantasy combat and skill lists, there's Runequest (bronze age fantasy for you ancient Mesopotamia nerds), which I have been reading recently.

Other genres:

Pathfinder is working on an update on Starfinder, so you can play DnD-like rules for a space adventure.

Teatime Adventures is aD20 rules game for a cozy rural furry stories about pies and being kind to each other.

Call of Cthulhu for horror (check out Chaosium Inc's Youtube channel for actual plays, love those guys) and Pulp Cthulhu for extra cheese on top; there's even Regency Cthulhu if you want to try balancing a monster hunt with a husband hunt.

This is a deep cut but A Ghastly Affair is a game set in the long 1700s and the character classes are stereotypes of gothic romance fiction, and I know I have followers who are into that shit, available on DriveThruRPG (I can't find their original website anymore so get it while you can).

I have to mention Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades, a wuxia roleplaying game from Osprey Publishing, considering @minutia-r and I have written 480K of adventuring for it.

Also I must mention Vampire: The Masquerade, which is the game that got me to take on gamemastering for the first time. The Storyteller System they use is still my favourite TTRPG system. Very gritty modern supernatural setting, and the Core Rulebook even has a caveat saying "yeah there's problematic stuff, because problematic stuff is part of the real world, fuck the Nazis though" (paraphrased). Caveat, the Core Rulebook is kind of unintuitive.

All of the above are games that have rules with skill lists and kind of the same logical approach to playing as DnD (broadly speaking).

I would not go directly from DnD to Powered by the Apocalypse games like Candela Obscura, Girl by Moonlight, or Blades in the Dark, because their logic is very different and they are less about rules and more about genre; or rather, the rules define things that the above games leave to role-playing, and very little for anything else.

For example, in Candela Obscura you would do the same roll for punching a person and breaking through a door, and in Girl by Moonlight you have to roll to confess your true feelings. Girl by Moonlight is absolutely perfect for playing a magical girl TV show though. That's what it's for.

[coqotheclown]

Stuff made for ttrpg time, wheeeee

[pyritewolf]

Mihail's three phases 🥰 Priest of Valutar, Paragon of Prosperity and Paragon of Greed.

Love the lil guy!

[copperweave]

I wish more TTRPGs had fun damage dice mechanics without also having massive HP bloat. 30-50 really is the highest it should ever go but I like rolling 12 dice then doubling some of them on a crit yo.

[dc20homebrew]

Combat Variation

We all know the classic way to run combat. In the win state, enemies are unconscious or dead, and the players lose if they're unconscious or dead. This is an excellent way for combat to work. However, it gets tiring after a while. Like eating Mac and chees without any exceptions. I like macaroni, but I'd eventually want something else besides mac and cheese. The same goes for the runaway variety of fights where they're meant to run away. At that point, I don't consider it a fight, more a combat-themed obstacle. ( I am drawing inspiration from the "D&D Combat is boring (and how to fix it)" video by Pointy Hat, "4 ways To make DnD combat Less boring" by Aromas, and " Fixing my BORING D&D combat" by Ginny Di. These videos give good advice regardless of systems, but I will be adjusting descriptions for Dc20)

Disclaimer: Let's make something clear, the bonk till they're dead method of combat is still valid! not every fight should be these new fights. Doing that would just have the same problem as regular combat. Sometimes having mac and cheese is fun and fine. These are meant to be interesting.

Change the target

The winner of the fight is the one that brings one thing to 0 hp. not the first one who brings everyone to zero hp, but a specific target. This changes the strategy of the battle. This can let the players be more aggressive towards one target. Bonus points if the players have something similar to an escort quest. You can also do a combat sport where the winner is the first team to kill the majority of another team's constructs.

Reach the goal

Basically, a rase. Reach the goal before anyone else. Is it more advantageous to cast spells or trigger abilities to use movements, or do they use them to disadvantage the enemy team? Suddenly difficult terrain is a much bigger deal. I can also see it when the players need a cart to cross the finish line and not just the players. Making a target to slow down the enemy carts. like two parties rushing to a one-charge portal with vital supplies in a minecart, but they know damn well the enemy team's gonna close that portal the second their cart is on the other side.

Sports

This is something that relies on being a sport atop regular combat. Using agility to pass goals and Might to body check and guard against the enemy team. I often use soccer as a reference (Not just because Pointy Hat did it, but because I do have no experience besides soccer with the additional experience with basketball). Each team has a ball, and the goal is to throw a goal.

Elemental typings

It's a Cliche, but having certain damage deel extra to enemies can make the Pcs really get into experimentation. Maybe you can even have damage or affect immunity. For this, I recommend a vulnerability for every two immunities.

Centerpieces

This could be a fountain in the main square that provides cover and blocks line of sight, it could be an unstable weapon that has a charge and is fought between the players and enemies, or maybe a river that bisects the battle and the enemies having range weapons on the other side. With a change in the environment Halfway through, like the river flooding, while anyone near the two closed spaces by the river is knocked prone, while a tree near the river becomes able to be tipped over into a reliable bridge with a might check.

Narratives in Combat

Sure, if you have obstacles like bandits and guards standing in your way, but make the obstacles negatively charged. Like maybe they're trying to kill an NPC the PCs have been hired or have an interest in protecting (Bonus points if the players like the NPC). Add a third faction that is fighting both the party and their enemies at the same time (And if you wanna make it more spicy, can they be negotiated with?). Even the enemies' moral failing and the survivors fleeing from the fight can change how the combat goes.

Interactivity

Put stuff that can be interacted with! Furniture can be knocked over to act like cover, barricades, or just get in the way. Bridges can be cut to prevent being followed, drop people on the bridge into the abyss below, or stop people from retreating. Horces can be spooked to cause chaos or prevent escape.

Cover

Enemies should use cover to force movement, you can't just lob fire from a doorframe if you can't see the target. Use pillers, bushes doorframes, wrecked, ruins, trees, giant corpses and more can be used for this.

Zones

Combat doesn't have to be limited to a single zone. People may come in from outside the zone from other rooms, they may push the players outside that zone, they could have people from the upper floors shooting through the floor to try and shoot people on the lower floors, could be in a tunnel where range and shields are king, up the stairs and through portals.

Entry points

It's tempting to make things linear. Maybe some environments don't have as much linearity. Where enemies can come up behind players, and allies can pop up at any moment from unexpected locations.

Change

Even an interesting place can get boring after a while. So something being lit on fire and speeding could be fun, or parts of the architecture are destroyed and block a path or make difficult terrain.

Monster goal variations

As a GM, I know the temptation to just have monsters fight with the same objective. However, there isn't much overlap between how bandits fight and how guards fight. And neither would fight the same way as a powerful Magic user. Along with what their goals are. Like, what's a bandit's goal? Get some loot and make it out alive and without being put in prison. What's a Gaurd's goal? To protect their charge, not die, and get at least one living person to interrogate after the fact. What is a Mage's goal? Service and don't run out of spells. Another example is wolves. They'll act differently if they're starving and looking for food, compared to them defending their den. Even then, how important is this to them? The bandits are likely to bult early if they're not willing to die, in comparison to the guards who will die for that salllerly.

Tactical creatures

Most monsters and people follow at least basic survival instincts, and smarter ones may use simple tactics. They may also try and alter their actions to avoid things. Remember though, this doesn't mean the enemies should be guaranteed a win. the players are the characters at the center of the story unless they mess up hard, it should be beatable and have the players feel smart.

[jeffs-gamebox]

Why I’m More Excited for Smaller Titles.

Here's the list of D&D killers that may be just a quick, rather expensive flash in the pan. Will we still be talking about any of these games in 2025 or beyond?

Fantasy RolePlaying is undergoing a renaissance of its own right now. Recently I recommended 5 Alternatives to Dungeons & Dragons. The reason I created that article is simple: I’m getting a bit burned out on million dollar Kickstarters and everyone trying to “kill” Dungeons & Dragons. While I totally support games rising in popularity over Wizards of the Coast’s current model for D&D, I think…

[moonlightrpg]

magic

i would like to have a bigger theme around it, like Rick Riordan's mist, but i need a auxiliar magic system so players around too tied on plot to have magic, so i am just throwing the idea of nobles do magic with movements and stuff by writing on the air, kinda like Dragon Prince but with material components.

to cast a spell, you need freedom of movement, speak and any materials the spell ask, but instead of needing a specific item like bat shit, you need something like a descriptor, so a cloud of daggers would be a cloud of edges, and anything that is sharp could be used to make the spell work. a item can have multiple descriptors, like a tiger claw would be "sharp", and "bestial", all to the discretion of the table and the master, any item used to cast a spell is consumed, and when you gather or buy an item you roll a rarity die and this becomes the modifier of the item, you roll once for a bunch of the same item, i am not entirely sold on this system, it would be cool, but i can't play test it.

familiars can be used as material components, so if something needs a "flammable" component you could use your familiar that spits fire and cast the spell with no item bonus. it should make sense with your familiar, so not every familiar can be used as every component. familiars should be useful in combat more as pokemons and not as spell bot, so they have this nice benefit for mages without being any less useful for everyone else.

because you need to take a action from your 4 to get an item to your hand or to change items of your hand, you can cast most fast spells with one action instead of two or three. it should also cost a resource but i am not sure what, maybe a resource that gets better as the battle goes on to create tension, leave your ideas.

you can cast spells outside of combat for free if you take a lot more time to do it, like rituals in ded, any material cost would still apply.

if you see another spell cast casting a spell, you can spell duel them, you cast another spell and roll opposing checks and who wins decides the result and if you two roll the same, wild magic happens. this is blatantly stealing from DC20 spell duel, but its a cool mechanic, again, the table and the master decide if it makes sense on the narrative.

i don't have any idea on how to theme this around but i decided on some schools of magic, these could be

soul, life, death and healing

time, gravity and entropy

prophecies and divination

enchantment and illusion

transport, transformation, manipulation and creation

this is all very generic and depending on themeing it could be bundled differently, but i don't know themes for generic arcane magic, i wanted some philosophy to support it like i have for the solarpunk druids, but i cant think of anything.

i think that's all i have around generic arcane magic that i need to make magic accessible to this fantasy setting, maybe i could make it more steam age and in a setting where people are already slaves of capitalism instead of in the process of capitalism world domination. so the magic would be more to be fantastic steam technology, i don't like that.

thank you for reading :3

[churning-the-sea-of-milk]

Okay pixelberry, now make another stats collection for blades but make it pathfinder. Ecclesitheurge Nia and Eldrich Knight Tyril for the win.

[destronlok]

So I only just found this out.

Wizards of the Coast sent a copy of the new 2024 Player's Handbook to Michael Shea (Author of the Lazy Dungeon Master and the Forge of Foes - two amazing books you should check out)

After the video had been up for a while, he was asked to blur almost all footage of the book by Wizards of the Coast due to concerns over piracy.

Michael doesn't even show the whole book in the video.

It just goes to show you how arrogant and out of touch wizards of the coast is. They don't even want you to see their products. They know people will buy the product independent of the content inside of it.

If you play 5th Edition, please switch to an equivalent game by a different company like Level Up Advanced 5E or Tales of the Valiant.

[phasellama]

Just found out through a friend that there is a guy (ok, actually a somewhat-known ttrpg youtuber, but I never heard about them before) who is making a ttrpg-system aimed at being somewhat like D&D 5e, but streamlined and more engaging:

https://thedungeoncoach.com/pages/dc20

The alpha playtest rules are accessible for free

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1skm_yOjNnxtFl-L5pCzVB2l3XZUPd9kY?usp=drive_link

and this Video

https://youtu.be/298EA6woVfo?feature=shared

is quite a good (extensive) overview of the system.

[hiyaluronic]

Last 36 hours to help support DC20! Lets get to 2M!!!

[featheredsnek]

Behold, the dragon soul monk! Featuring GUN because the kobold totally needed more firepower hehhh

Comm for @Amulrei on x dot com for a cool custom class he's submitting for DC20, one of my new favorite TTRPG systems!

[infinitemachine]

Post-OGL Debacle D&D 5e Alternatives Round Up

After Wizards of the Coast screwed the pooch by trying to rescind the OGL several designers, youtubers, and TTRPG streamers decided to make their own D&D-adjacent games. Let's have a look at them! (These are not reviews, and I have not played or read many of these. Just an overview of the field for future reference. Please let me know if I've skipped any entries I should have included.)

Tales of the Valiant by Kobold Press is to D&D 5e as Pathfinder 1e was to D&D 3.5. It's basically the same experience as D&D, updated and tweaked, but recognizably still the same game. Like Paizo back in the day, Kobold Press is a highly rated third party D&D publisher, and this has a good chance of getting continued development and support. If you like 2014 5e but want some quality of life updates and don't want to support Wizards of the Coast, this is a great option for you. On the other hand, if you have the 2014 5e books and just want to keep playing them...no one's stopping you, and this may feel redundant. It's already available.

Draw Steel by MCDM is the RPG from Matthew Colville's company, announced very quickly after the OGL dooblydoo. This is not a 5e or D&D clone, but a new cinematic heroic fantasy RPG. While D&D is kind of locked into supporting several different directions and styles, Draw Steel purposefully eschews "zero-to-hero" character development and dungeon crawling. The characters start as powerful, competent heroes. If that's the style of play you want, this could be a good option! If you're interested in a steeper leveling experience or OSR rat-catching, maybe it's not the one? Draw Steel is still in development.

Daggerheart by Darrington Press is Critical Role's long-form fantasy RPG. Like Draw Steel, it is not a 5e clone, but an entirely new fantasy RPG system. Unlike Draw Steel (from what I've seen, correct me if I'm wrong) Daggerheart does not appear to require/support tactical miniature combat, so if that's your jam in D&D (and, honestly it kind of *is* for me) this may not scratch that itch. I wasn't really impressed with Candela Obscura, Darrington Press' previous RPG, but I'm still willing to give this a fair look when it's finished (if only to understand what's going on when the Critical Role team inevitably play it on stream). Daggerheart is still in development.

DC20 by The Dungeon Coach. Of the RPGs on this list this probably has my least favorite title, if only because it's based on a pun which itself requires knowledge of D&D mechanics to understand. I've heard the rules described as "5e and Pathfinder 2e's lovechild". The game itself seems to be a collection of often interesting homebrew rules; it's as if the author looked at each part of D&D, took it out, thought of something they liked better (maybe from PF2?), and replaced it with that. That means it could be a good game to try if you like D&D but want something a bit "more", or could be good resource for homebrew ideas to plug into your own "actual D&D" game. Available now.

Nimble by Nimble Co, like DC20, is an attempt to take the 5e rules and improve and streamline them, in a fairly modular way that would be easy to cross-pollinate into existing D&D games (according to the KS page, it's fully compatible with existing 5e adventure modules, monster books, and supplements). This one does seem a little more polished than DC20, at least in terms of production values. But ultimately, like DC20, whether you want to play the game as-is or how helpful as a resource it will be will depend on how much you like the adjustments to base-5e that they've made -- YMMV. Still in development.

Vagabond by Land of the Blind is an RPG by youtuber Indestructoboy (aka Taron Pounds). It appears to be more generally "D&D"-like rather than specifically 5e-like, if that makes sense. As such, it does advertise some compatibility with previous D&D editions, as well some more modern rules design ideas cross-pollinated from elsewhere (e.g., the monsters don't roll for attacks!). Like both DC20 and especially Nimble, it boasts a streamlined experience, particularly during combat. It's still in development.

[pyritewolf]

Finally presented this map to the players of a small DC20 4-session adventure that a buddy is running. It's a banger, y'all. Super pleased with the map, the adventure, the players, and the whole experience.

[thydungeongal]

There are many in-development TTRPGs that are trying to compete with 5e, such as Daggerheart, DC20, MCDM, etc. Are you interested in any of them?

I personally have run a few sessions of Daggerheart and we have had some extremely good sessions, but I'm not sure if it's because of the system or if it's a really good homebrew campaign.

DC20 I have absolutely zero interest in because the impression I've gotten is that it's just 5e with fan patches. The MCDM RPG I'm not actively following but of the ones mentioned I'm most cautiously excited about because it actually seems like a game built to consciously support the type of play people want out of 5e and that 5e is dogshit at providing, plus Matt Colville name-dropped Rolemaster in one of his videos so he's definitely one of the coolest designers out there. Daggerheart I'm not sure I've heard about, was that that Critical Role joint?

But yeah, we need fewer hacks of 5e and more games like the MCDM RPG that starts from zero and works towards trying to provide the type of gameplay people want out of 5e, instead of starting with 5e and trying to twist it into a game it's not good at (this is as much a critique of the play culture surrounding 5e as it is of this school of design where people try to turn 5e into a different game by applying what amount to band-aids instead of trying to address the fact that a lot of the issues that lead to this disconnect between the game and playstyle go much deeper than what individual patches can fix).