#but the d6 one is really cool too and i like it a lot

[grimmshood]

remembering college when i got to show the class i was in my day6 album bc it was like The Moment for me at the time i love showing ppl my albums and talking about the designs its so fun... i miss it

[sprintingowl]

Magical Kitties And Other Cat RPGs

Magical Kitties Save The Day is a deluxe, all-ages ttrpg about cat adventures.

It comes in a big box, which is half empty space and half dice, character sheets, core rules, and multiple supplements. The art is absolutely gorgeous, and that quality you see on the cover is consistent throughout the core book and supplements.

Design-wise, Magical Kitties is pretty simple. You have a few skills, a talent, and a magical power, and together they give you a d6 pool. Outcomes on checks tend towards success-with-a-complication, and I'd broadly describe the game as being oriented towards mischief and hijinks.

Of note to me, the system is *really* similar to Joel Sparks' Cats Of Cthulhu, but absent some of the interesting lore about dreaming, without the more defined character classes, and a lot softer in tone.

Kitties in Magical Kitties can, at worst, get knocked out for a scene. And that's if you let your Owies build up enough that you start getting into actual dice pool penalties. Damage goes away fast, so if you get absolutely scrapped it's more of a signal from the game to cool it for a bit than a serious consequence for your character.

The overall design in Magical Kitties is trying to split the difference between being a game for kids and a game for adults, and I think mostly it works. There's enough meaningful choice during character creation that a typical DnD group could have a great time playing a mini-campaign of Magical Kitties. And the tone is soft enough and the consequences low enough that a younger kid isn't going to get too dispirited if the dice don't go their way.

My guess would be this system works best for ages 7+. For much younger audiences, you might want to check out something like Starport.

Overall, I'd describe this is a really, *really* big budget indie game that'll appeal the most to folks who:

-love cats -are at least a little interested in rpgs

It's impossible to overstate how lovely, fun, and creative the art is, and I kind of think the game is worth it for that alone.

That said, it's far from the only cat-based ttrpg! There's lots of good ones.

I've had the most fun with Cats Of Cthulhu, and strongly recommend it to anyone with an interest in rpg design, and I've also really enjoyed GMing Secrets Of Cats.

If you have a favorite cat-centric ttrpg, or if you've played Magical Kitties and have your own feelings on it, please feel free to continue the discussion.

[coffeeandjournaling]

Project Ecco

A solo roleplaying game by Elliot Davis

Materials

game manual

a planner, new or used

a coin/d2 and d6

materials to destroy your planner

further into play: additional coin and die, standard deck of cards, tarot deck

Premise

A mysterious agency, an even more mysterious entity feeding on time itself and smack-dab in the middle: You. As an extension of the Agency, you are tasked with uncovering the truth about “ECCO”, the Entity of Chronological Consumption and Obfuscation. Navigating the chaos of days flying by with the aid of a simple coin, will you complete your mission to the Agency’s satisfaction straightforwardly or will you travel down a road not yet taken, peeking behind a curtain of lies? Who is really on your side? Or, perhaps more importantly, on whose side are you?

Mechanics

In Project Ecco, you progress through time and the game using a regular planner and a variety of different time travel tools. While you might be tempted to use a brand new, untouched planner for this, a used one will do just fine and might even make the game more personal and varied, since existing notes or special dates can be incorporated into play. Keep in mind that your planner will end up at least partially destroyed by the Entity, then again the level of destruction is completely up to you. Scissors are certainly an option, but a good opaque paint marker achieves the same effect with less confetti.

Your tools of choice are in essence a set of game oracles: prompts decided by dice, playing and tarot cards determine how far back or ahead in your planner you travel and which challenges you encounter along the way. Time travel can be quite random, so don’t be scared when you land on the same day more than once. At least as long as you have your trusty coin, the only thing that will keep you from slipping in-between time and experiencing some truly harrowing events. How you respond to these prompts is up to you. Write, draw, use planner stickers; the only limit is the space your planner gives you for the date you are currently on.

During your travels, you tally up the times you either make it back to the Agency or get uncomfortably close to the Entity. Entity encounters in particular are interesting because they prompt you to destroy random dates in your calendar, possibly forcing you into a timeline divergence later on. Completing six encounters either way triggers the endgame – but not necessarily the end of the journey…

Thoughts and Examples from my Playthrough

I had a lot of trouble trying to summarize the game in the above paragraphs. Project Ecco is a very meaty, complex (but not necessarily complicated) game and is more of a five-course meal than an afternoon snack. Consequently, reading the setup instructions can be a little intimidating for someone who has only started dabbling in solo play. Everything is explained thoroughly without being exhausting, however, and on top of that I found myself really interested to read about the different tools and mechanics. In fact, I had to stop myself from snooping too much so as not to spoil my first playthrough.

Your game can last you several sessions over a couple of days. Don’t worry, though, all the cool time travel tools make for a fresh and exciting experience. Special dates, timeline divergences, personal notes and Agency/Entity encounters also serve to keep you on your toes. Whenever you feel like you have seen it all, a new prompt throws you a curveball, altering your perspective on the world and its inhabitants. It’s also great for replayability purposes, as your first playthrough can influence how you go about the challenges on your second round. I usually don’t care much for replay value (my time is limited and there’s a lot of games to try out), in this case, however, it’s so on theme that it’s almost a crime not to play again.

When you have the general cycle down, the game is a breeze. Have I mentioned that I love the time travel devices? Each and every one is unique in the way it lets you progress. As soon as you pick them up during the game, you can switch freely between them. Either you are very strategic about it to avoid repeat visits to certain dates or you embrace chaos for some interesting results. In the beginning, I dreaded losing my coin and experiencing timeline divergences. The closer I got to the endgame, the more I revelled in the wild and unpredictable element they brought to the game and the story that unfolded.

At this point, it shouldn’t amaze me that much how game designers manage to achieve this impeccable level of worldbuilding with just a bit of flavour text and a handful of prompts. From the agents’ designations being real world dates to the time travel tools with clear retro vibes, Project Ecco lets you dive into an 80s sci-fi flick with you as the protagonist torn between your fragile loyalty to the Agency and the conflicting discoveries you make about the Entity. I suppose if there was one thing you wanted to knock, it could be that this is not a very character-driven game. A lot of journaling games focus on the character you create, often as a stand-in for yourself, dealing with their emotions and feelings as they react to the events thrown at them. This is more of mystery thriller focused on plot than a character exploration game. Character creation is as simple as picking your agent designation and, if you’re using a personal planner and are very meticulous in adding dates specific to your character, weaving in details during the game. That being said, I did manage to spin this into a tragic queer romance…such is the nature of solo roleplaying. Hence, others might disagree on this with me, and that’s totally fine.

My attention span has been wavering lately, so I honestly didn’t expect to stick with this. But everything about Project Ecco drew me in. I love the manual that looks like a genuine little agent handbook and the details of the understated illustrations. A solid white-black-and-red colour scheme is always a classy choice. The prompts are descriptive enough to give you guidance and bits of lore without limiting you to a specific path. It’s simply an overall round and well-thought-out experience through and through. I’m a little peeved I didn’t get the Temporal Spread – Samantha Leigh was a guest writer for this specific time travel tool and I’ve been dying to get into their other games (especially Outliers, which seems to deal with adjacent themes), so I was looking forward to get a peek at their writing here. Alas, my agent just wasn’t destined to have it…perhaps the next one will.

I wonder how well this would hold up with a digital planner. Mostly, I am an analogue player when it comes to journaling games. I like how tactile it is and that you're creating an artifact of play to keep on your shelf, something very unique and often verging on if not being outright artistry. But the analogue format does (perhaps intentionally) limit your word count and thus keeps journaling rather short and to the point. I suppose a digital format would allow for more character development, if that is your goal. It would also extend your playtime – which is already significant as is. Still, certainly an interesting option, especially when you plan on playing more than twice.

This might be your cup of coffee if...

you revel in a good time travel mystery.

you prefer to play longer games with more complex mechanics than the average journaling game.

you enjoy some solid worldbuilding and lore to add onto over time, possibly in multiple playthroughs.

you are not afraid to mess up some prime stationary. Seriously. If you love your planner? Do not use it for this. Bullet journaling queens and kings, beware!

You can get Elliot Davis’ Project Ecco HERE on itch.io or as a physical copy available at the online sources linked in the description of the game. Make sure to check out Cassi Mothwin’s flip through of the game and take in the incredible actual play episode by the My First Dungeon podcast crew that I enjoyed immensely and proves that this game supports a more light-hearted tone, as well. In case you are the creative type, Davis is currently still running a game jam for supplements for and games inspired by Project Ecco on itch.io that lasts until March 1st. Plenty of time left to get your head in the game. :)

[aqours]

What do you think is Curse of Strahd's biggest weakness as a module?

oh there's so many potential answers for this. the racism that they tried to fix later by trying to erase the concept of minorities? the fact the layout of the book is a disaster? that's one of them but i've already talked about that. i think Curse of Strahd's biggest issue, by a very huge margin is:

D&D 5E is inherently a really bad system to use for a horror game and especially the horror that CoS wants to be

i think Ravenloft and it's many spinoffs worked better in 2E because things were different back then. you started off as a somewhat above-average person and became stronger over time. 5E, however, is a power fantasy to it's core. even at level 1 you are an extraordinary person much more powerful than any regular commoner could ever be. and CoS doesn't handle this well. you are extremely resource deprived, you can go from levels 1-10 with that same +0 longsword you have from character creation. it's about becoming more skilled with what little you have over time.

which is fine. but CoS's resource deprivement is atypical for 5E module design. it's about depriving players of the typical power fantasy that D&D usually is for the sake of atmosphere and tone... which is fine, but the game doesn't offer much in compromise. let me use Warlocks as an example. one of (imho) the best spells Warlocks can have is Shadow of Moil. it is an amazing spell. once i am getting near that level one of my priorities in playing a Warlock is finding an undead eyeball encased in a gem worth at least 150 gp so i can cast it. it's amazing.

good luck finding that in Barovia! your DM will really have to work with you if they want to run the game RAW which is also not a bad thing no matter what anyone says so you can use that spell. this is an issue with spells in 5E that require expensive spell components... it's not available.

if i can use something else from D&D as an example, i want to tlak about Masque of the Red Death. Masque of the Red Death was an official 2E gothic horror thing made by people who wanted a more "realistic" gothic horror by making the setting basically a grimdark earth. you can ONLY play humans and are told you use specific classes. it was kinda killed in 2E before the internet made looking up these things easier. it received a fan revival on 5e you can purchase in the link (or i can give it to you), but part of it is you are expected to use it's character classes instead of the standard 5E ones. that's because they fit the setting more thematically, and thus are scaled to the dangers and expectations better. 5E Curse of Strahd tries to achieve this by throwing extremely difficult combat encounters combined with resource deprival, but doesn't give a lot to compensate back for this. the sunword and holy symbol are cool, but that does not compensate for not being able to do a lot of 5E usual power fantasy stuff?

i think there are better systems for what CoS wants to do. if you want extremely deadly combat, some PBTA d6 game probably suits you better. someone on r/curseofstrahd mentioned Hunter: The Reckoning might be good, and HONESTLY one day when i'm more familiar with playing WoD games i'd fucking LOVE to try to a full conversion for Hunter at some point. a lot of people really love making CoS western themed, to which I say if you also want to play as vampires consider checking out Bloodbeam Badlands actually! personally, i think you could even pull off CoS's story using Call of Cthulhu or Pulp Cthulhu for extra power: the SAN mechanic might make for something really great in this game too! one of my issues with Masque is that while i like it i just can't help but think Call of Cthulhu/Pulp Cthulhu is still better for what that setting wants

i'll play CoS using D&D bc it is made for that, but i think rather than trying to stay super true to the horror themes all the time, a DM should consider adjusting it's tone or item distribution to meet the group's fun. i love CoS, a LOT, and I love Ravenloft, but i think there's definitely better systems for what it wants to be, and CoS as it is (especially for when it was written somewhat early in 5E's life) has never been quite the story right for a 5E story

[ritunn]

5 TTRPGs to Try in 2024

In 2023, I wrote up a short post pitching 5 TTRPGs I think folks should give a look at over the year in light of WotC's controversy. WotC has yet to do something on the scale of what happened last year again, but I think it's fun to tell people about the cool Indie TTRPGs I've been reading since then. So, here are 5 MORE TTRPGs you should read in 2024.

1. Lancer

Do you like mecha? Well, Indie darling, Lancer, has you covered! A highly tactical TTRPG that makes use of a hex-grid for combat and even has its own online character builder, Lancer has you play as well... lancers! Professional mech pilots who are called in when the going gets tough. There is an insane level of customization in Lancer for your mech, being able to use parts from 4 different manufacturers each with their own pros and cons, and then mix and match them together to create your ideal fighting style based on your choice of frame, weapons, and systems! The RP doesn't fall behind either, with the trigger system allowing one choose a variety of phrases that give you a bonus on skill checks when it applies, while outside of mech combat. The dice system itself is also quite simple, with a majority of checks being a d20 against a difficulty level of 10 with some modifications based on the situation. If none of this convinces you however, just check out the vibrant community for the game here on Tumblr and the terrifying ransom note style memes.

2. Ryuutama

Last year, I highlighted Fabula Ultima, but a lot of that game was influenced by other games, primarily D&D 4e and Ryuutama. The latter of which it gets some of its mechanics from! Coming straight from Japan, in Ryuutama you take on the role of a traveler venturing out into a vibrant medieval world straight out of a Ghibli film, your adventure helping the growth of the seasonal dragons who made the world. It's a game that emphasizes travel, exploration, and preparation with a simple class system. One could really call it the Oregon Trail of TTRPGs! Except with less dysentery and more dragons and Dragon Quest influence. The dice system is identical to Fabula Ultima, your stats being assigned a die and rolling those for checks. However, something that stands out is the Ryujin system, which has the GM make a character as well! The GM's Ryujin can be carried over multiple games and grows as the parties they challenge and protect accomplish more. Honestly, a great game of choice for a forever GM! Just like Fabula Ultima as well, the whole group helps build the world, so everyone gets to add a little something.

3. Mausritter

Mausritter is an OSR style game that has you play a mice on an adventure in our own wide world! There they contend with other animal threats and dungeons composed of buildings in the countryside. Doing away with classes, inventory management takes center stage in Mausritter, your items expanding what you're capable of in the absence of class specific abilities. Spells themselves are even items, each with their own set of charges that make them a valuable but limited resource. Other than this however, the system emphasizes hexploration and provides plenty of tools for GMs to make an adventure just as grand for the mice as any other. The dice system is also d20 based, but focuses on a roll under your stat style instead of meeting difficulty classes, with d6s and d8s used for other rolls like damage and stat generation. Though, you'll mostly be rolling those d20s for saves as your attacks always hit! Attacks first taking away from your HP, then your Strength stat when you're hit by the enemy. If the latter gets too low, that's game over for you, but getting your Dexterity and Willpower reduced can be just as detrimental for more than just saves.

4. Corvid Court

In the city of the Nest, you're members of a cult of assassins called the Corvid Court. Are you actual birds or just bird-themed cultists? That's up to you. Either way, Corvid Court is a very short TTRPG that has you carrying out assassination missions for the cult against others who are often just as terrible of people as you are. With 5 corvid themed classes to pick from, each with their own unique capabilities to benefit the party for taking out targets, like the murderous Crow and the talkative Jay, you'll need to be clever or incredibly violent if you want to take down your targets. However, don't expect to be around for a long time. The system is a d6 dice pool system where the best result you roll determines the outcome, most of them coming with the consequence of stress for one of your stats. Accumulate too much and you'll quickly fall into a downward spiral and have to deal with the fallout... or perhaps just die. No one ever said this was an easy life.

5. Quest

Quest's goal is to be approachable and inclusive, the best option for someone's first foray into TTRPGs, and in that it very much succeeds. A high fantasy TTRPG, Quest simplifies the formula while still keeping it interesting and deep by cutting out modifiers and grid based combat and simply having you roll 1d20 with the outcome depending on the roll. 11 - 20 being a success, 1 - 10 being failure, each with their own degrees of such however. Combat itself being based on distances. Damage is also just a simple number, no need for another die to roll after that. Other than this, there is a wide selection of classes to choose from that pull from your typical themes with the Ranger, Fighter, and Wizard with newer ideas too like the reality bending Magician! Each class has different subclass tracks of which you can invest into each as little or much as you want. Characters then get a pool of ability points they can spend to activate their most powerful abilities, with standard features being free. Overall, however, Quest shines in being a casual TTRPG that doesn't require tons of rules expertise and rewards creative thinking and use of abilities. It's free too! So, if you got someone you want to introduce to the hobby, don't bother with D&D 5e, grab Quest instead.

Conclusions

Got a TTRPG you love? Talk about it in the tags or a reblog! I'm always looking for new systems to check out and others are too, so do share. I hope you get to check these systems out though, each is loads of fun, that I can promise. Feel free to check out last year's suggestions here.

[cyberkevvideo]

The Dragon Ball Z TTRPG -- Yes, an Official One Does Exist

Before I go into the game itself, I want to talk about the creator of the franchise.

Yesterday, the world learned of the loss of the great Akira Toriyama. He was so incredibly influential to so many of us, and like many others, I was absolutely gutted by the tragic news. He was far too young.

Dragon Ball was a big part of my life growing up, and it's what helped me create bonds with so many people who became good friends. Other people online have written poetically about how much each of his series and creations have touched their hearts, and I don't know that I can do the same justice. I'm not wordy like that.

I grew up during the start of the NES era so I knew about Dragon Quest, but at the time I had no idea that the iconic character and monster designs were thanks to him. When the SNES came out and Chrono Trigger was released, I immediately recognized the style of art. Dragon Quest VIII is still my favourite, if only because it's cool to see the characters go pseudo-super saiyan. In 1995, the original dub of Dragon Ball hit airways here, and a few months later Dragon Ball Z was released. It was surreal to watch kid Goku and adult Goku every week, simultaneously. Seeing the flying nimbus, but not seeing the Power Pole, and not knowing who Piccolo or Krillin were, but recognizing Master Roshi and Bulma, and finding out Goku was an alien the whole time. It was jarring at times, but seeing references to each series like the Kamehameha Wave and capsules, helped. Then there were all the Budokai games for PS2. I practically broke my dual-shock controllers trying to win those beam battles.

This is going to get long, so I'll put a separation bar here.

When the internet finally came out publicly and schools had access, I looked up Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, discovered what anime was, learned of Akira Toriyama and how he had a comedy series called Dr. Slump, that the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z anime were considered separate stories, but the manga kept it as Dragon Ball, etc.

Heck, when the cards came out, I was one of the first people to buy Ani-Mayhem's DBZ set.

What's really great to see is people discovering the Dragon Ball manga for the first time, hearing their thoughts on YouTube videos (namely Merphy and TotallyNotMark), and how original and groundbreaking the fight choreography is compared to others series, and how much his style has influenced current day shounen manga. And that doesn't even include how Team Four Star and DBZA has influenced people.

But, let's get into the rest of this post.

When the TTRPG came out in 1999, DBZ was such a phenomenon that our local bookstore was having trouble keeping it in stock. My gaming group ended up having to pre-pay for a copy of the TTPRG. DBZ: The Anime Adventure Game from R. Talsorian Games was a little rough around the edges when it came to balance, and how powering up worked compared to the series, especially when that system was revised in the Frieza saga book. Still, it was nothing any of us had experienced before. Up until that point, we had done AD&D, Rifts, Toon, Shadowrun, and Marvel Super Heroes.

The person who usually ran the games, ended up being the GM and we did two campaigns. I had an absolute blast. Unfortunately, I was kind of alone in that. The TTRPG doesn't leave a lot for social interaction, which a number of our players preferred doing. This is closer to a war game. As such, we never played the game system again after the two campaigns. In fact, we never even finished the second one. I still picked up all three books as they came out though, and the GM from that group still has his original Saiyan Saga book.

The first thing that made me happy, as I didn't have nearly the dice collection I do now, was all you needed were 6-sided dice. That made my life so much easier, and for the Shadowrun players, they had tubs of d6 ready to use.

When it came to the contents of the book, what I really enjoyed was seeing all the power levels, and the character art.

These power levels updated with each book, and the lore and special abilities would also update.

If you kept the game to Dragon Ball levels, you felt that you could keep the campaign going for a very long time. The character sheet was extremely simple, and there were tips on what you could build a campaign around, as well as basic suggestions on trying to keep the "main character" complex to a minimum. The Star Wars RPG systems have a similar concept where the GM is told that either everyone's a Jedi, or no one's a Jedi. Same thing for ewoks since they were so limited for weapon proficiencies (they literally could never learn how to use tech, ever, which I find ridiculous). Basically, for Dragon Ball, namekians should look at fushions to power up, or everyone should be a saiyan or half-saiyan, especially if you're bringing in the super saiyan transformation. Otherwise, no saiyans in the game at all. This way everyone stays about the same level and can't be a spotlight hog while everyone else is forced to sit back and watch the game instead of participate.

If you'd like to read a full review of it, you can check one out here. Barnabas did a great write-up.

Personally, I find it kind of wild that there's literally zero stats for dinosaurs or other prehistoric animals. Where's the T-Rex and sabertooth tiger? This feels like a massive oversight given that people live alongside dinosaurs and other extinct-in-our-world beasts.

Overall, it was original in what it tried to accomplish, and I appreciate that. We've since seen other game systems that can replicate this fairly well. I prefer BESM (Big Eyes, Small Mouth), and any edition works, but I know others really enjoy doing DBZ using FATE, which I can see working. I've seen people try to pull off DBZ characters using 3.5e, Pathfinder 1e and 2e, and 5e, but you'd need to homebrew your own class from the ground up, and it likely wouldn't be balanced. At best, you could maybe get something close with a 20th level character.

If you find a copy somewhere, I definitely recommend it for a one-shot, if nothing else. Maybe you can run it at a convention. I'm considering doing that. It'd be a nice send off. And this year's convention is dinosaur themed, so maybe I'll have the mission be to teach a dinosaur how to ride a ball.

In closing, I'm so grateful to Akira Toriyama for giving us the stories and designs that he did. I can not convey in words just how important the Dragon Ball franchise was for my friends and I to even have met one another, and then Chrono Trigger brought us even closer and we'd go to one friend's house every lunch (he lived across the street from school) and we'd watch him play because we were so immersed in the story and with the characters...

So much respect and admiration for him. Akira Toriyama, thank you for everything. In Eiichiro Oda (One Piece mangaka)'s words: "I wish that heaven is as jolly of a world as the one you imagined and drew."

[roserysttrpggarden]

A review of the 2025 Forgotten realm UA Subclasses

Hi there~! It's been a while, sorry about that, i'm. Never the less, I wanted to give a quick review of the latest subclasses coming to 5e, curtosy of the new Forgotten Realms Subclass UA that was released just today. In this write-up, I plan on giving my thoughts on each of the subclasses, what I like, dislike, all of that jazz. With that out of the way, let's start with the first of the new subclasses.

College of The Moon Bard

The first new subclass in this document is the College of The Moon Bard, which can best be described as what would happen if a druid and bard had a baby, you sing of primal tales and use them to bolster your allies, thematically it's nothing groundbreaking, but it's fine enough.

Both 3rd-level features are already, getting druidic (The useless little shit) a druid cantrip and a skill proficiency is neat, Moonshae tales is decent, I like both Tale of life and Tale of gloam, not so much with tale of mirth cause I swear at least 3 bard subclasses have a "Subtract a roll equal to your bardic inspiration die" feature now. I don't know why it takes a whole action to activate since the creation bard got a similarish feature at the same level just by using bardic inspiration without needing to use an action first, but the feature overall is okay. Blessing of the Moonwells seems decent enough, being able to grant 2d4 temp hit points when someone fails its save against moonbeam is a good enough upgrade (At least the Moon bard gets moonbeam, unlike a certain sorcerer subclass). And Bolstered folktales is alright, it acts similar to the swords bard capstone letting you roll a d6 for tale of life and gloam rather than spending a inspiration die, and it lets you teleport up to 30 feet with tale of mirth, decent effects all around, not a bad final feature.

Overall thoughts on the subclass. It's meh

Knowledge Domain Cleric

Our next subclass isn't new in the context of 5e, but rather a revised version of the knowledge domain subclass from the 2014 PHB (Though this version is basically a new subclass). I hate that people are gonna have to buy the subclass all over again, but there's not much I can do bout that. Let's get onto reviewing the subclass.

For starters, the subclass gets way more domain spells than any other getting a total of 15 spells (Essentially 3 per level), granted, a lot of the spells gained are more out-of combat utility spells but still, I guess it fits the knowledge aspect but damn. As if that weren't enough, their mind magic feature allows them to expend a use of channel divinity to cast one of their domain spells without components, which means you can get free castings of command, dispel magic, arcane eye, banishment, confusion, and synaptic static, which is really good. To round off 3rd-level you also gain proficiency in one artisan tool and expertise in your choice of Arcana, History, Nature, or Religion, those checks might not come up super often but I am not gonna complain about getting two skills to expertise on a cleric. Moving on from the roller coaster of 3rd-level features, unfettered mind is a pretty good, telepathically communicating to a Wisdom mod number of creatures is nice, and being able to use your Wisdom score as the result of an Intelligence check is pretty situational but still appreciated. Divine foreknowledge is also really good, advantage on all d20 tests for 1 hour as a bonus action, that can also be used again by expending a level 6+ spell slot is nice, thematically the abilities kind of weak and miss some of the cool thematic elements of the previous version, but I will concede that the new version is way stronger combat wise.

Overall thoughts, yeah this subclass got a glow-up compared to its 2014 counterpart, and it largely keeps a lot of the thematic elements present on the old version. It might border on being a bit too strong? But for what it is, it's a good revision, Next subclass.

Purple Dragon Knight Fighter

Similar to our previous subclass, the purple dragon knight isn't new in the context of 5e, this one originating from the ever-infamous Sword Coast Adventurers Guide (Scag for short). The subclass was intented to turn your fighter into a commander type, rallying your allies as they fought alongside you. But the subclass was hampered because all of its features relied on your existing fighter features. Like the Knowledge domain before, this subclass is basically something entirely new, it's now the fighter version of Drakewarden for lack of better words, you get a dragon companion that fights alongside you and you can later mount, it's interesting enough, hopefully it'll be better than the original (Spoilers, it is).

Knightly envoy is fine, a free language and ritual spell is neat, the purple dragon companion itself is pretty decent, interestingly enough it acts during your turn, rather than after like the beast masters pet or the summon spells (which makes it work better as a mount) the dragon also has a gravity breath weapon that can push people, which is not bad Dragon rider is nice cause it not only lets you actually ride your dragon companion, but also improves its breath attack, and causes it to regain hit points and a use of gravity whenever you use second wind. Rallying surge is really cool, allowing three allies to either move without provoking opportunity attacks or make an attack as part of action surge is phenomenal, amethyst pinnacle is largely decent, but I wish the tandem attacks were part of the base feature or came at much earlier levels, cause forgoing your own attacks to have your dragon attack is so cool! I just wish it didn't come online near the end of your characters career. Unfortunately this subclass ends out not with a bang, but with a wet fart, while you and your dragon gaining resistance to force and psychic damage is cool, it sucks that the capstone is so, nothing.

Final thoughts on the subclass, it's definitely a marked improvement over the original. But I kind of miss the battlefield commander idea it had going on, which is only present in two of the subclass features. Besides that nitpick I think this version of PDK is good, a dragon rider fighter is always cool. Funnily enough this subclass arguably does a better job at being a dragon rider than than the drakewarden did, but maybe that's discussion to have later. Next subclass.

Oath of The Noble Genies Paladin

We now take a break from the revised subclasses and move on to an entirely new one for the paladin, this subclass is based around revering the elemental planes and wielding the power of the D&D genies. The thematic is rather unique, but it does feel funny to have a genie paladin in 2024 before reprinting the genie warlock. But enough dilly-dallying, lets get to reviewing it.

The oath spells all around are pretty good, with the obvious highlight of you getting the ever broken Conjure Minor Elementals, it's also neat you get the Elementalism cantrip as a bonus. Elemental smite is rather expensive, requiring both a use of divine smite and a channel divinity, but the effects are pretty good (Especially Marids Surge). Aura of Elemental protection is really good, resistance for yourself and all allies within your Aura of Protection is already nice, but being able to swap the resistance at the start of each turn is what really sells me on this feature. Elemental Rebuke is strong but boring, halving damage taken and possibly dealing 4d10 + charisma modifier to an attacker is good, it's unironically better than some of ranger capstones that do a similar effect. The capstone is really fucking good-potentially bordering on overpowered, being able to use your reaction to turn any failed d20 test into a success is massive, even more-so cause you can keep doing this for up to 10 minutes, and like the other 2024 paladin capstones, you can use this ability again if you spend a 5th-level slot, I don't think I can underestimate how strong this feature is.

Final thoughts for the genie paladin. This subclass is really good, the genie theming is really interesting and its features are consistently strong, the biggest gripe I have with the subclass might be noble scion just due to how strong it is, but otherwise, I love it. Next subclass.

Winter Walker Ranger

Moving from one half caster to another, we arrive at the Winter Walker ranger, which is a subclass about braving frigid tundras and taking on those that'd dwell within such regions. I love what this subclass is doing right off the bat, more elemental subclasses are always nice, and a tundra explorer ranger is a sick as hell idea, now how does it translate?

The spell list is alright, a lot of ice spells for obvious reasons, Pass without Trace is really good, I don't really get why is has Remove Curse besides curses being mentioned once at the very end of the subclass description, but I guess I'm not complaining, Frigid Follower is also nice, resistance to a fairly common damage type, on top of additional cold damage on weapon attacks (which ignores resistance) is always welcome. Hunters Rime hurts me, gives me psychic damage as one might say, the effects are nice, 1d10 + ranger level temp hit points is nice and an enemy being unable to disengage is nice, but it's tied to the infamous hunter mark spell, I might go more in depth about it later down the line but for a TLDR. Hunters mark requiring concentration in my opinion leads to either the ranger always using hunters mark, but missing out on the more powerful high-level ranger spells, or the ranger not using hunters mark, but then missing out on class features (Including you 20th-level capstone). Moving on from that, fortifying soul is kind of neat, being able to help your allies regain hit points between rests + granting them advantage against being frightened is cool, Chilling Retribution sounds nice, but (this might have changed with the new monster manual) at 11th-level more and more things are getting immunity to the frightened condition, so while the fail effect is strong, you might not get it off that often. Frozen Haunt pains me, being able to move through walls, gain immunity to cold damage and deal 2d4 cold damage at the start of each turns is good, and the flavor idea of turning into this ghost of winter but man, why is it tied to hunters mark??? Even flavor wise, how does you casting hunters mark transform you into a ghost.

Final thoughts on the subclass, As a whole, I love what the subclass wants to do. I love the theme, a lot of what it wants to present is cool, and hell, I think this subclass handles hunters mark usage better than the Beast master or hunter did, but it just sucks that two of the abilities rely on the use of that spell since you never have a way to cast it without concentration, I think if the capstone wasn't tied to hunters mark i'd be fine but man, it just sucks. With that rather bitter end to the subclass, maybe the next one can boost our spirits, which is.

Scion of The Three Rogue

The next subclass is the "Scion of The Three Rogue" which-as the name suggests, is for rogues that pledge alligence itself to the Dead Three: Bane, the god of tyranny. Bhaal, the god of murder and violence. And Myrkul, a god of death. As if the rogue couldn't get any edgier, but will this edge translate into dead enemies?

Bloodthirst is situational, but rather thematic, dealing additional damage to bloodied creatures is neat, good fight closer, the second part of the ability is also cool-being able to teleport and make a melee attack when someone dies, but I almost wish it was unlimited use, realistically, how often are you gonna get the effect to occur? The ability also becomes useless if you're fighting a solo boss, it's not even a bad effect, I just don't imagine it coming up enough to warrant a limited number of uses per day. You also align yourself with one of the dead three, which get you a cantrip + a damage resistance, it's nothing too big, but still neat to have. Strike Fear kind of sucks for it's level. All it does is give you a new cunning strike option to spend one die to attempt to frighten someone, at base I don't mind this but the fact that- due to the rouge subclass structure, it means you have to wait 6 levels to this feature, and that sucks. if it had another option in addition to the frighten it'd be nice but as it stand, yeah this isn't great. Thankfully Aura of Malevolence is better, dealing int modifier damage to creatures within 10 feet of you at the start of each turn is pretty good all things considered, it also ignores resistance too, so being aligned to Bhaal won't cripple your character (The aura deals poison damage if you're aligned with him, since the damage type is the same one you gain resistance too from Dread Allegiance). Dread Incarnate is a mixed bag all things considered, the advantage on attacks against frighted creatures probably won't come up that much at 17th-level, but treating any 1's or 2's as 3's when you roll damage for sneak attack is really nice, it basically means that, at minimum, your sneak attack will deal 27 damage (assuming you roll really low) at the level you gain this ability, and combine it with the Bloodthirst damage boost means you'll be really good at ending fights quickly, decent stuff all around.

Overall thoughts on the subclass. This is weakest subclass in this document (in my eyes). There's some good abilities here, but most of what this subclass offers feels rather niche. Also, while I haven't brought it up until now since all of these subclasses are very explicitly meant to be tied to the forgotten realms setting, I feel like this subclass is gonna be the toughest to translate to other campaign settings cause the subclass doesn't really have a strong theme beyond being tied to the dead 3, the only other theme I can think of is "Agent of evil god or "Make things deader" which, is already done by the Assassin and Phantom. While the scion of the dead three might have been dead on arrival, maybe the next subclass will do better.

Spellfire Sorcery Sorcerer

The next subclass is the Spellfire sorcery sorcerer (Try saying that three times fast) It's basically a more magicy sorcerer, with you gaining your powers directly from the weave (The forgotten realms source of magic) and using it to blow shit up and heal people. Thematically it sort of reminds me of the old phoenix sorcery subclass from the Unearthed Arcana, but how does it fair?

The spells provided are decent, it's an nice mix of blasting and restorative spells, Cure wounds, Lesser and Greater Restoration, Dispel Magic and Aura of Vitality are nice, the only real stinker on the spell list is Flame Strike, but I guess it fits? (For the record no, you don't get Fireball with this spell list), Spellfire burst is nothing too special, but still neat, an extra 1d6 damage or some temp hit points whenever you spend sorcery points is always welcome. Absorb Spells is really cool, having counterspell auto prepared and being able to regain sorcery points when someone fails its save against counterspell is cool, though I wonder why they didn't make it work with dispel magic since it's also on the spell list? Honed Spellfire is a decent enough increase to Spellfire burst, and lastly, Crown of Spellfire is a pretty good transformation capstone, getting evasion to magical effects is always nice and hey! Wotc finally remembered hit dice were a thing! Overall, not a bad capstone.

Final thoughts on the subclass. I like it, the mix of blasting and healing is interesting, I like how the subclass interacts with sorcery points, I love the thematic of absorb spell, and features overall are pretty decent. Not much more to say about it, it's just a really good subclass. Now we shall move onto our final subclass of today, which is.

Bladesinger Wizard

And the last of the subclasses within this document is a reprint of the Bladesinger wizard from Scag-and later reprinted within Tashas cauldron of everything, for those unaware, the Bladesinger is the Gish subclass of wizard (meaning a spell and sword type of character).

Compared to its Tashas counterpart (And the other revised subclasses in this document) nothing big changed about the Bladesinger, you lost the ability to use light armor, but can now use Intelligence when making attacks with melee weapons, and you can use them as a spellcasting focus. And Song of victory was changed to function like the 2014 Eldritch Knight version of war magic (You can make a weapon attack as a bonus action if you used an action to cast a spell) If my thoughts are correct and you could attack action, make an attack with your weapon -> cast a cantrip- > make a weapon attack as a bonus action then I'd gladly call this a buff, but if that isn't the case then this feature is okay.

Final Thoughts on the subclass, it's still the same old Bladesinger basically, some things got changed, I dunno if not being able to use light armor is that big of a deal due to Bladesongs existing boost to AC + spells like shield being a thing, the buffs are nice but I doubt they'll make anyone go "Omg the Bladesinger is OP now!" I'm scared to see how the new Bladesinger preforms with 2024 conjure minor elementals.

Final Thoughts

To close out this write up, I like most of the subclasses offered here. Granted, none of them make me want to jump out of my seat and beg my DM to let me try them, but they're all baseline decent, I generally like these subclasses more than the ones added with the 2024 PHB. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely! But for a rought 1st-draft of these subclasses, the team did an alright job with them. But what are your thoughts on these new subclasses? Let me know in the

With that, that's all I have to say in this post.Take care, and go make some D&D content.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Howdy!

I have a friend that really wants to get into other games that aren't just mostly combat like pathfinder and dnd but they're a shitpost kinda player so they aren't fond of horror or angsty games.

Do you have any good suggestions for more light-hearted/comedic rpgs? They like Risus if that helps,just it's a bit too light for me to run it.

Sorry if this is a lot.

THEME: Shitpost Games

My friend, this is not a lot, there are plenty of great shitpost-style games out there of all kinds of genres! Let’s see what I’ve got that might be up their alley.

When it comes to the “lightness” of Risus, I’m not sure if you mean that there aren’t enough rules or if there’s not enough setting. These recommendations will have much more specific settings, although shitpost games tend to be pretty light on rules all-round, so hopefully there are some rules systems here that still appeal to you!

Pride and Extreme Prejudice, by Grant Howitt.

A hand-created one-page RPG about proper ladies of a marriageable age and their giant robots powered by a malign eldritch intelligence. Will you find a suitable husband? Will you repel the French invaders? Will your eternity reactor leak and drive you and your sisters irrevocably mad, haunted my whispers from the dark between the stars?  And - will you be late for the ball on Thursday eve?

Combining Regency styles of flirting with giant multi-pilot mechs is a game that I didn’t know I wanted until I found it. It involves 4 players and a GM, with each character embodying one of four young women, all looking for a husband while also fighting off giant French clockwork dragoons.

 Each situation will be a combination of a social outing and a military action taken by the opposition. Each turn, your players will have to figure out how to pursue true love while also redirecting power, how to unleash hell with a shot cannon while also coming across as cool, calm and collected, and how to charm someone with your earnest opinions while also charging an enemy before they can shoot the gentleman you’re flirting with. 

I think the only thing more hilarious than playing this game, is playing this game absolutely 100% seriously. Go ham.

Never Send A Barber to do an Assassin’s Job, by Silver Hoof Games.

You are a professional. You are a…  Confectioner, Architect, Fisherman, Gravedigger, Barber or Actor. But you couldn't find proper employment for yourself! You had no other choice, or perhaps by mistake, you became none other than an assassin.

You would need some d6, friends and no DM! 

As a GM-less game, this might be a great way for the person who usually runs the show to get in on the action with everyone else. Using only d6s, you’ll find ways to use your confectioner’s bag of sugar or your barber’s strong perfume to play as assassin’s who are just trying to pay the bills. Something about using a round peg to fill a square hole - right now it’s just a page with rules, but the designer is hoping to use whatever funds they raise with it to turn it into something more complete.

OSHA Violations: The Game, by Alex Kingsley.

Regulations are in place to keep workers safe. But c’mon, in this economy? The goal of the game is simple: commit as many OSHA violations as possible without getting caught. The player with most OSHA Violations at the end wins-- unless they get shut down by the Safety Inspector! 

This game selects one person to play the role of Safety Inspector, while the rest of the group will present themself as Site Managers. The Safety inspector will create a tragic backstory, a dirty secret, and their favourite OSHA violation. The Site Managers will design their construction sites and roll a d6 to determine how many OSHA violations they MUST have on site (although they may have more). What specific violations those are will be determined by a roll table. 

This game heavily relies on improv, but there’s a win condition: the Inspector must guess who has the most violations. If they guess correctly, the player with the second-most violations is the winner - if they do not guess correctly, the player with the most violations wins the game!

Games I’ve Recommended in the Past

My Silly Games Post.

My TragicComic Games Post.

Something is Wrong with the Chickens, by Elliot Davis.

Clown Helsing, by Planarian.

Untitled Ghost Game, by Alice V.

Everyone is John, by Gamer Nation Studios.

[non-neutoniangender]

Well the train is started and so I guess I'm watching episode 35.

McAdverbot .... Sam this one is good, but you can't rap lol

Top table has a new member..... :/ I'm not sure putting Fearne next to Chetney was a good idea...

Oh I hadn't realized that they lost their note-taker

10k gold 👀 Thats a lot.

I gotta say, I love portable holes as a extraplanar storage option, because they require organizing, like you can just chuck shit into a bag of holding with very little care but with a hole, its just a easy to carry, very large box.

(Also its really funny how the starting storage options are worse in each subsequent campaign, bag of holding -> haversack -> portable hole)

Treshi got involved in stuff he didn't quite fully understand huh... Interesting that he is in some ways happy to be pulled out of it.

MOLD STORAGE!!!!

I love the question of "Is Laudna undead"

"I'm tired of leaving people behind" ....I should've finished EXU

Its really interesting that they players have to ask "is this above board or does your character know this" with regards to Delilah. The whole situation is very interesting

The whole "take notes about the briarwoods" is a really funny bit. I really like how big this world has gotten that character knowledge is much bigger than player knowledge in ways that doesn't happen in a typical campaign.

Sam....... the flask...... its way too on point, but its also such an odd callback to c2.

"at this point we're friends" found family my beloved!

I need to be normal about Matt playing his wife's character.....

I'm not being normal about Matt playing The voice of the Tempest

aaaaaaaaaaaaa voice actors are good at their jobs

"That is the best use of wood I've ever heard of" Chetney 🤣 I love how much everyone is essentially fangirling over keyleth, to be fair, she is a very cool level 20 character....

Oh this was back in the ✨Enhance✨ era of the internet

"Wow that was a big waste" "Ok Jester" What a great comeback. (you poopin?)

"Sweet little metal boy" good LORDY

Poor Ashton with character development. They're going soft. He's not happy about it

SAM MADE A SPELL!??!?!?!?!?! Share Dream?!? thats so fucking cool

Also I love the casts reactions to that.

Chetney just accidentally yelling

Since Travis loves a good d6, he should play a wizard!

Finally googled the meaning of Pyrrhic.... a good title choice.

I really appreciate that Matt is continually correcting people on Xandis' pronouns, I don't appreciate the cast continually forgetting.

.....oh my god. Will is gone because the resurrection didn't work....

Thats so much worse, I hadn't thought about that....

God I had almost forgot there was a city on the moon. Moon's haunted

I really love the idea of ashton, I love how dunamancy is now a central part of the world

Anyway, these mind sequences are very cool, I love them.

How does Matt even come up with, or plan these things?!?? I can't even imagine

"There is strength, but there is pain. There is pain but there is strength" good God!! Matt, that is so cool.

Oh my god Ashton..... poor kid.

I... I love this story though. Ashton. And the chronic pain is..... wow

It's really interesting to watch them try to figure out dunamancy from zero knowledge and just random stuff.

Perhaps not definitely, but I bet Matt's description of the inside of Ashton's head with stars and possibilities would've been different if the person had seen inside a beacon before.

"Do any of us know who we are?" asking the right questions

Delilah is dying with Laudna........ good God.

Man these players created some fucked up characters.

The moment of realization that the wisdom save was against Keyleth's scry lmao.

Keyleth!!!!!! I love her!!!

I love how she's like, buckle up fuckers, you're coming with me on a trip to whitestone.

Anyway, that episode was amazing and the ending was perfect, I cannot wait to find time to watch the next one!!!!!

[hypermoyashi]

AHOY! READER ASK MEME TIME. A2, B4, B7, C9, D6, D10 :]

Hello!!! Thank you so much!!!

A2. How did you find your first fic?

I think I was between the ages of 10 and 12 and I was googling about Inuyasha and a fic popped up. I think I wanted to see what happened after the anime cut off and discovered fanfiction to fill that whole through google of all things. That was how I found ff.net.

B4. Who is your current favourite author? What is their best story?

HO BOY this is a hard one. I've generally really enjoyed a lot of writers, so I'm gonna cheat here and name multiple (fair warning that it is All Trigun at the moment because that is what I currently have brain worms for):

The Celestial Evening Series by tragic_unpaired_electron

kinder, gentler by skittidyne

before tomorrow ends by chuuyasoup

in the woods somewhere by halfdemonvash

In the Next Life by orcelito

come and see by avoidingavoidance

There are, of course, lots of other fics I love in other fandoms, but these are ones that have stuck out to me and currently make my brain go brr. There are probably lots of really good one-shots I'm missing because I tend to get brain worms more over longer fics, too. This list also probably has a bias towards fics I've followed a long time, because the longfics and one-shots I binged over a few days are ones I have a harder time remembering, though I do tend to go back and reread them.

B7. Which character is your favourite to read about? Why?

Right now? It's 100% Vash. Not only does the fact that the fandom largely writes him as trans or at least Not Cis make my enby, doesn't identify with my gender assigned at birth self very happy, but he's honestly such a complex and interesting character. There are so many different interesting things you can do with him, and there are a lot of subtle aspects of his character you can really dig into in fanfiction. I'm also just... a sucker for characters with a lot of struggles getting support systems, hurt/comfort tropes, and found family tropes, all of which Vash is great for.

C9. What show did you really try to watch, but you just couldn’t?

Hmmmmm there are a lot? I've completed 300~400 anime in my lifetime, not even counting Other Kinds of Shows, but I've dropped more than I've finished. Naruto comes to mind because I think I watched maybe 500 episodes of that for a friend, and like, I liked parts of it, but it was such an inconsistent watching experience that I ended up never really liking or really finishing it. I didn't have nostalgia to get me through it lol.

D6. How many bookmarks do you have?

612 right now! Granted, I've had my AO3 account for about ten years now, so it's not too impressive when you factor in how long it's taken me to get there.

D10. What is one story idea you really want to read but no one has written yet?

This one is haaaard because if no one is writing an idea I want to read, then I tend to write it myself. I guess a Vashwood SWAP AU is one? I technically haven't posted the Vashwood part of my SWAP AU, so I would say it counts lol. But on a serious note, I think there are a lot of cool AUs that would work really well for Trigun, but I don't see too many that try to take new and fun takes on the characters. I've seen a couple here and there, but a lot of people tend to stick pretty closely to canon. Which is great! Lots of really great fics like that out there! But it's also fun to just get wild with it sometimes, so I'd like to see more AU fics that just go ham and have fun with some outlandish and creative ideas.

Thank you again for the all the questions!!! It was really fun answering all of these!!

[ Fic Reader Ask Meme ]

[1-50thofabuck]

Dice containers and organizers

Speaking of dice, everyone knows the classic dice bag. I suspect that more gamers have used Crown Royal bags to store dice than have actually tasted Crown Royal.

I like to use other things than bags for dice storage, especially if I have a bunch I really want to organize. One handy solution is a fishing tackle box. You can find all different sizes and styles, and often at discount places like Ollie's or even thrift stores. There are all kinds of storage devices that can be utilized not only for dice organization but for your other favorite little items, like your good luck charms and miniature tape measure and what have you.

Art storage boxes and pencil cases can be pretty cool too. I got a new set of dice and organized them in this, an "ArtBin Quickflip," which I purchased at either a discount outlet or a thrift store, as above.

There is a center piece separating the two sides, and one has more room than the other.

I like to have at least 5 sets of dice because I hate re-rolling them! This container keeps them well-organized. So, I have my main dice set - whatever I'm using at the moment. These are my new ones, so obviously I'm favoring them, though usually this time of year I'm using orange and black sets!

Other side is thinner and less... manueverable, but works well nonetheless. If you get confused about how you're opening the case, you can make all the dice on one side fall out! It's difficult to do, but I'm a ditz...

Some games ask for "wild dice." Other times, I want a distinguishing die - say I'm rolling an attack cycle such as claw/claw/bite, and I want one of the attack dice to be a different color to account for the bite. So I put one extra set of dice here, again whatever I feel like. The blood-spattered ones are fun, but unbalanced! Lots of games use d6s exclusively, or call for sometimes, if not often, rolling handfuls of them. So I put some extras here, choosing these old Warhammer Winds of Magic dice because they're cool, and two Illuminati! dice from the Steve Jackson card game for the same reason!

I also include a scatter and misfire die, as they can be used for lots of things. Check out the website for some rules for them! I also keep a d30, which can be used to roll days of the month, as well as supplements like the d30 Sandbox Companion and the d30 DM's Companion, both of which, incidentally, I cannot recommend enough. A d24, good for, among other things, rolling an hour of the day, such as to determine when a random encounter takes place. A d16, which can be used to give characters wildly varying ability scores by rolling a d16+2 and avoiding the bell curve. A d7, which can generate days of the week, and a d3, which I just like because I enjoy having a die with 1-3 printed instead of dividing a d6 by 2. It's not because it's difficult, I just like using it.

Any cool or fun methods you use for dice storage? Recommendations or tips? Let me know!

[open-hearth-rpg]

#HorrorRPGs2016 Bloodshadows Third Edition

There’s a phrase I often go back to, drawn from the Save the Cat screenwriter’s book: Double Mumbo-Jumbo. The idea of a cool, wild concept which then has a ton of additional unrelated concepts jammed on top of it which muddy the waters. This can come off well with some games: when there’s a synergy which emerges from the elements. That’s often the case with collaborative world-building, where the process of creation and ownership invests the players. 

Then there’s something like Bloodshadows. This is the third edition of a game originally part of West End Games’ Masterbook d6 series (1994). Unlike many others, this one didn’t rely on a license. That meant WEG could more easily build the line which they did with eight supplements in a little over a year. A reconstituted WEG would release an Open d6 version in 2004, though they did little to support it. This one comes from genreDiversion and uses their house system (also used with Coyote Trail, HardNova, and more). The core book includes conversion notes for a variety of systems. 

But back to double-mumbo jumbo. The idea of fantasy noir is a great one: fantastical creatures, people, and magic is an alternate take on the world. The Edge of Midnight and Deadlands Noir are examples. Note that, despite many changes, they’re both still in another version of our world. Streets of New Capenna, the recent Magic the Gathering card set is also fantasy noir with an art deco element. It’s not on our Earth, but the set up for it comes out of the cosmology of MTG itself. 

Bloodshadows has all the look and trappings of classic noir: guns, fedoras, foggy streets. And there’s magic, non-human folk, and dark cults, that gives us the horror trappings which land it on this list. But then it adds a massive high fantasy backstory about a Godswar, a fantasy world, the last cities each with distinct magic and tech, and a massive wilderness separating them, etc. It invites many more questions than it answers. (How is the economy supported? where do they get cigarettes? what about communications?). Its wild and imaginative, but also stops me every time I have a hard think about it. The mix of gritty noir with hand-wavy fantasy world-building throws me.

YRMV I know a ton of people who love the setting: for them the contradictions and nonsense of it fuse together or they just simply ignore it. 

genreDiversion’s third edition is interesting. It’s a text dense release and the pages have a newspaper background that I don’t dig. The art’s a mixed bag, some really solid and others either raw or too dark. In play I didn’t grok the system over several sessions. But there’s a lot of material in this book and it clocks in at about 260+ pages. If you dig the setting, it probably wouldn’t be that hard to port over to another system. 

[sonneillonv]

Hokay SO. This post is cut for lots of images and links. Many of the dice sets I could find failed on one axis or another, so I tried to show preference to the ones that would be acceptable or even GOOD if the numbers were recolored, since that’s the easiest customization to do. Plenty of these are pricey so I want to clarify I’m not saying “Buy these sets from these sellers specifically”, but I’m hoping they’ll give your friend some ideas about what to look for or ask for when they’re looking into a set for themselves.

This lemon-lime set from King’s Dice Shop is very cute, with non-busy inclusions and bright, stand-out numbers in an easy-to-read font. It is a dice set, so it does match, but it also has of the alternate shapes that could make it easier to tell the dice apart.

This liquid rainbow set, also from King’s Dice Shop, could easily be re-inked in white so the numbers would stand out better, and the different colors would make it easy to tell the dice apart. They use the same big, clear font.

The same is true of this dark rainbow set.

And this one is much more subtle, but still beautiful...

MMzakkahappysupplies is a drop-shipper but they have some good sets available. This one has subtle, unique shading on the dice to help tell them apart and a nice, legible font:

Titusdecor has this really cool LED set that lights up to make the numbers more obvious:

DracaenaDraco has several sets like this - unique pastel swirls with nice big numbers. Most of them would need to be re-inked, but they have some lovely colors:

This one from TerribleTrioCrafts might be a little too busy but I think it could be re-inked to be nice and clear, and as far as each die looking different goes, you can’t beat a box of chocolates. This is my #1 most coveted dice set. One day I may be convinced to actually buy it.

And I’m not reccing these dice specifically, just showing them as an example, but if you like standout criticals, CrystalMaggie has some of my favorites:

the ‘yeet’ and ‘fuck’ options are available on a number of their dice sets so the trick would just be finding one you liked and asking about it. One of the things I like about her shop is that she sells single d6′s and single d20′s separately, so you can build a set you like by getting different dice. And while their font isn’t the clearest I’ve seen, they do have several glass or gemstone sets that have very nice, clear inking, as well as roman numeral and other ‘symbolic’ options. Plus these:

MinMaxMouse has these delightful Pasta Dice which use the colors of the Italian flag to help differentiate numbers:

as well as this cute ‘cocktail bar’ set where each die is different, though the numbers are a little fancier than I assume you prefer:

URWizards has this cute pixelated set with standout criticals:

as well as this nice, simple fossil coral set:

but as you can see their font is very spindly. A lot of their designs are CRAZY busy, so I’m not even showing them, but they do have agate and labrodorite sets that have similar differences in color and pattern.

DoDragaoGaming is also a drop-shipper but they have some decent options like this pastel set:

I admit the chicken set is one of my favorites, but really only the d20 and d4 are different. Still, it’s cute and has nice clear numbers

FennekandFinch is one of my absolute favorite shops. Their font is a tiny bit embellished but they also have some very pretty, simple sets like this matte flourite:

this pastels set

and this beach party set, which has a clear ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ which might make it easier to tell the dice apart:

this jade set is just plain beautiful, though of course the dice all look the same:

and this Holy Nexus set has some adorable standout criticals

RedcatBoutiqueCo is dropshipping but they have some pretty options with good, clear font like this set:

Since they favor this nice big, clear font, a lot of the options are a little more accessible:

Anyway, I know a lot of this isn’t perfect but I hope that it gives you some examples of what’s out there and some options to look at. I specifically left out most of the bog-standard acrylics because you can find those literally anywhere and you specified that they wanted PRETTY dice which is an urge I absolutely understand.

Hey, asking for a friend, has anyone got links/recs for DND dice made in mind for dyslexic people?

We've found some character sheets but nothing for dice, and it's a real stone in the path.

[ostrichmonkey-games]

Design Thoughts 🤔

I have this in progress game thing (that will not be finished any time soon so) that tries to synthesize elements of Forged in the Dark, Belonging Outside Belonging/No Dice No Masters, and Apocalypse Keys into one thing.

So I love setting elements as a piece of tech from BoB stuff, but I always find it a little tricky to use them in play. In the sense that they're another level of layer to keep in mind while also keeping in mind everything else about the game! The upcoming game Brinkwood: Refuge handles this in a very cool way (but its also not out yet so I don't want to talk too much about it) and Wanderhome's Natures and Traits also are really good, and feel nice to use (so nice that they hugely inspired the world elements in Extracausal: Monolith). So Step One of this game-design-idea is how can I make something using setting elements that really clicks for me?

Forged in the Dark is one of my favorite "design engines" in general. I love position/effect, actions, rolling a bunch of d6s, consequences/resistance, factions, I could go on and on. There are a lot of very fun levers to pull once you dig into FitD design. I also wildly prefer the Action system compared to a Skill list system. It provides enough structure that players aren't floundering on what to do at a given moment, but not so restrictive or overwhelming that some skill list stuff can turn into. But one thing I always forget to do (both as a player and GM) is utilize Devil's Bargains to their full extent! So Step Two is working on a way to make Devil's Bargains more consistent.

Apocalypse Keys rules (full disclosure, I worked on system development and also contributed a mystery and in progress playbook). One of my favorite part (which is also present in the game Librete!) is how instead of stats, you have a shifting pool of tokens (similar to BoB styles) that you can spend to get bonuses to your 2d6 roll. There are specific triggers that naturally come up in play for each playbook that get you more tokens, and then you can't hoard them because if you get too many tokens at a time, there are Consequences. It creates a very satisfying loop for your characters! So Step Three is how can I emulate this token-loop?

What I've got so far;

To enact a Devil's Bargain you must play a Setting Element. Devil's Bargains are traditionally meant to inject complications into the scene, and often times, so can Setting Elements. Feels appropriate to link them here. This also gives a clear mechanical moment for when a setting element is brought into play (which for me, is really the tricky part in existing games).

You have no stats/attributes that numerically define how many dice you roll at a given time, instead you must spend tokens 1:1 to gain d6. By limiting how many dice you might have access to in a given moment, Devil's Bargains become even more appealing! Rolling dice is good, and so is injecting new complications.

Each playbook has a set of conditions that when met, net you more tokens. This is basically the same format as Apocalypse Keys.

What is still kind of nebulous;

What happens when you gain too many tokens?

Is the loop of "determine if tokens are gained -> spend tokens -> get dice -> roll dice" too clunky? Will probably need to do some actual playtesting to figure this bit out. On paper, its not too distant from the typical FitD "conversation" involving position/effect, but I also want to include position/effect on top of everything else.

Basically everything else about the game lmao.

We'll see how everything starts to shape up in the next few months. This is very much something I'm just poking at here and there, since I have some other projects that take precedence and I would like to get done first.

Anyways, thoughts? Recs for things you think I should look at? What's up?

[wereshrew-admirer]

checking transcripts on marrow creek and this line* is SO spooky. this is the course talking directly to chine!! is this the most explicit message that chine ever actually gets from the course? they fuck up so many rolls trying to understand what the course is telling them (rip) and here in this little tiny bit of dialogue is a person made up by the course directly speaking to chine about the nature of marrow creek? 

*”austin (as crowd person): It’s not about what I want. It’s about what you want...”

(transcript of the whole scene below cut)

Austin: There is a banjo playing, and then people are slowly picking up fruit, and one at a time throwing. The fruit are like, sort of like peaches. They’re stone— they're various stone fruit. They're fruit that have pits in them. Very ripe, overripe, I would say. Like, you can see someone reach to grab one of them in their hand. Their fingers depress into the flesh of the fruit very easily. 

Keith: Ew.

Austin: You know what I mean? Like, without much force. And you get the sense that the pit inside is bigger than it should be.

Sylvia: I think like when someone near me starts doing this, I'm just like:

Sylvia (as Hazard): [outraged] What are you doing? 

Austin (as crowd person): Shhhh. Shh. Can I help you? 

Sylvia (as Hazard): [quieter] Why are you throwing fruit at them?

Austin (as crowd person): Because they're doing a poor job. Are you okay?

Sylvia (as Hazard): [loud again] I'm fine. I'm apparently the only person here who has—

Austin (as crowd person): Shhh. 

Sylvia (as Hazard): [hushed] I am apparently the only person here who has a normal reaction to not really liking music that much!

Dre (as Chine): [hushed] Hey! Hey! Do you have a— do you have an extra fruit? 

Austin (as crowd person): Yeah, of course. 

Austin: And hands you the one in their hand. 

Dre: Okay.

Austin: I mean, there's a box— there's a crate filled with these things.

Dre: Cool.

Austin: Like, on top of a barrel not too far away.

Keith: They do this a lot.

Dre: Yeah, no, I'm gonna— I'm gonna throw it directly at the person. 

[0:50:00]

Sylvia (as Hazard): Chine!

Austin: Directly at the person. 

Dre (as Chine): [quietly] I'm blending in!

Dre: Yeah, I wanna hit…I wanna hit the banjo out of their hands. 

Austin: Ooh. Okay, give me a, um…that sounds like a Hunt to me. 

Dre: Sure. 

Austin: Give me a Hunt. 

Dre: What’s—

Austin: You don't have Haven, do you? 

Dre: No, is the domain—

Austin: Again you could use any domain you want. If it's not Haven, it's Risky, but— and that's a bad trade on the math, for what it's worth. So I would just use Hunt, if I were you. Without help, Risky— I mean, Risky’s always just very scary, but… 

Dre: Oh, so Hunt and then just leave the domain blank?

Austin: Yes, yeah. Yeah.

Dre: Okay. 

Austin: Which means it— and it shouldn't be Risky if you aren't trying to call on something else. I mean, you can try to call on something else, and that will color what happens, is what I will say. I…Chine, you can use Cursed.

Dre: Hmm. That's probably fine. It’s probably fine.

Austin: Yeah, it's fine. Don't worry about it. 

Dre: Yeah, don't worry about it. [Sylvia and Dre laugh] 

Austin: Uh huh. You got a six, which is success at a cost.

Dre: Mm-hmm.

Austin: You, again, are gonna take D6…

Keith: That's lucky that you had that, by the way.

Austin: Oh my god. 

Dre: Whoo.

Austin: Take six to Echo, here. 

Sylvia: Boy.

Dre: What's the, uh…what's the tier that we're at?

Austin: Oh, we're on tier three, my friend.

Dre: Okay.

Keith: You have rollen— you have— “rollen,” Jesus Christ. You've rolled—

Austin: Uh huh?

Keith: —18 possible damage and hit 17 of them for stress.

Austin: That’s true. I'm killing it tonight. 

Keith: Us. You're killing us. 

Austin: I'm killing you. Go ahead and give me that Fallout test. [Sylvia laughs] No Fallout. And guess what, Chine?

Dre: Mm-hmm? Yeah? 

Austin: You knock the banjo out of his hands, and doing so fills your chest with a sort of warmth and confidence. Clear Vulnerable. 

Dre: Ah.

Austin: You've wandered onto one of the Haunts of this place. And I think the person who gave you that stone fruit…and again, if you picked it up, you could tell the pits in these, it's like they've been bred to be bigger than they should be. [Keith and Dre laugh] Like, it's big, heavy, like… [Sylvia laughs] The banjo clatters, and one of the strings breaks, and the person who handed it to you puts their hand on your back, like “well done,” you know? 

Dre (as Chine): It's called deescalation, Hazard. [Austin laughs softly] 

Sylvia (as Hazard): Wh— [frustrated but resigned] fine. 

Austin: I mean, people are continuing to throw at this point, and the person is just standing there.

Keith: You said that Chine stumbled upon a Haunt. Does that mean that the Haunt is having hit this person with a fruit?

Austin: Mm-hmm. This is a place you can heal. 

Keith: You can heal at hitting with a fruit. 

Austin: Yeah.

Keith: Okay.

Austin: Yeah. It’s a Mind Haunt. 

Dre: Feels good to break things. 

Austin: Mm-hmm. You feel yourself, as you throw it, Chine, connecting to something— and you used Cursed, right? 

Dre: Mm-hmm.

Austin: You feel yourself connected to something here in a deep way. Not just the people around you as you let go, but like, you feel rooted. You feel good. You feel like this is…this is a good town. [with unnerving conviction] This is a good town.

Keith: We are having very different times. 

Sylvia: Yeah.

Austin: What are y'all doing at that point? I mean, this person, I think, again, uh…they put their hand on your back, and they're like:

Austin (as crowd person): Ah, damn good throw. Here, you should throw another one.

Dre (as Chine): Yeah, yeah. 

Austin: And they pick one up and throw another one and, you know, hit the person. The person is just standing there, just taking these hits at this point. 

Dre (as Chine): Hey, uh, you haven't seen a tall demon with one horn anywhere, have you? 

Austin (as crowd person): Demon, mm… 

Austin: There's like a little bit of, um…they look arou— they like shake their head, but there's clearly something being hidden here, or there's currently being held back.

Sylvia (as Hazard): [quickly] Hey, hey, hey. Hey. You know something. What have you seen? 

Austin (as crowd person): [stammers]

Sylvia (as Hazard): You've seen the— hey, tell me. 

Austin (as crowd person): Hey.

Dre (as Chine): Listen.

Sylvia (as Hazard): Tell me, and I will throw as many fruit as you want at this guy.

Dre (as Chine): Listen, you tell us where that person is? I’ll— 

Austin (as crowd person): Shh.

Dre (as Chine): [hushed] Hey, hey. I'll nail this guy wherever you want me to. 

Austin (as crowd person): It's not about what I want. It's about what you want. [hesitates] Quiet. Come with— come— you stay here.

Austin: Pointing to you, Chine. And looking at you, Hazard, and saying like:

Austin (as crowd person): Come with me. 

[lea-andres]

Zavok anon here! What, you didn’t think I only like Vavokilla because of Vector and Vanilla, did you? ;D

Dont worry, i totally understand why people hate him lol. The game didnt do him justice 😔 (actually, it didnt really do any of them justice). The main reason I like them is because I filled them up with a shitload of headcannons, which I’ll explain down below.

This kinda turned into why I love the deadly six as a whole, so I hope you don’t mind too much! Also I think they’re all important to Zavok’s character in some way.

I first found out about the D6 through the sonic wiki. i was just getting back into sonic at the time, and wanted to check these dorks out. Their wiki pages made them sound so cool! I decided to watch the lost world cutscenes. I immediately fell in love with all of them.

They were very 2D, but i saw a lot of potential in them. How did they become a team? Why are they like the way they are? What are their dynamics with each other? Most of which… aren’t answered. So you know ya girl had to fix that-

Most peoples problem is that Zavok is a 2D knock off of Bowser and… yeah I can see why. But there’s so much more to consider when writing him! When I write Bowser, I make him a goofball single dad doing his best for his 8+ children while trying to rule a kingdom and kidnap his crush at the same time. When I write Zavok, I make him a stoic and cunning leader who’s Guarding the lost hex along with his team, willing to do some violent and scary things if it means keeping his team safe. (It also helps that I tend to write them more as siblings)

Not to mention the other D6 members! Yeah, they’re not what most people would call “fleshed out”, but those are what headcannons are for baby! Heres how i usually write them, if you’re interested:

I characterize Zazz as a feral puppy/cat. He will (and has) absolutely bite and chase after whatever creature captured his eye, but he’s fiercely loyal to the deadly six and considers them family. He’ll do that cat thing where he’ll bring a dead mouse to them and go “I hunted this for you! :D”. He also tends play fight with them  if they’re in the mood.

Zomom is written as a big brother for the team, making sure they’re well fed and not doing anything TOO stupid lol. His quotes from the game show some hidden depth, too! Some of his quotes can get really self deprecating, and his final quote when Sonic defeats him at his final battle is “Mom was right, I am a failure!” iirc. Because of this, I also write him as insecure and worried. It’s a part of why he acts like a big brother. He doesn’t want anyone to feel like how he does, so he’s there to help with what the other 6 needs.

I don’t really focus on Master Zik a lot, but he is very important to the rest of the D6. He is seen as a stern father figure among them, training their abilities and giving advice. He’s very close to Zavok, as he adopted him when Zavok was a kid. If Zavok isn’t there, Master Zik will resume leadership until he comes back. Very proud of his kids team!

When it comes to Zeena, I don’t make her as self centered like she is in the games. She still is, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a little more toned down. She doesn’t always show it, but she very much loves her team, and shows it in an older sister kinda way. She likes to tease them about whatever, but she’s the only one who can do it, no other zeti! Also willing to lend an ear if they need it.

Zor is an interesting fellow to me. He canonically uses dark magic that the others wouldn’t dare touch, which has a lot of potential. I headcannon he was an outcast due to the black magic, which gave him a shitty childhood. He was in a really dark place before meeting the D6, and to cope he kinda went extreme with the whole “life is meaningless why try” and that’s why he’s like that. Most of that is exaggerated tho, and he’s doing wayyy better with the team! He kinda has the attitude of “everything’s useless except these 5 idiots I live with”.

And then there’s Zavok! Trained under Master Zik, he devoted himself to being a warrior, and created a team of 5 other Zetis to guard the Hex. He is very professional in general, and is usually the straight man to all the madness, but he doesn’t mind getting involved with the chaos sometimes. He’s kind of the glue that holds them together. He is very proud of his team, and considers them his siblings.

This is why I like them so much! I used my headcannons to give them some substance, and went to town! There is so much you can do with them, I swear.

This ended up a lot longer than I was planning lol. I hope you enjoyed it! I can go on and on about them, I’ll gladly talk about them more if people want me to. Anything to stolkhome them into liking more characters against their will~!

Ah ha! We have a name to put to the anon!

AHHHHHH, yes! Tossing the bits you don't like and replacing with headcanon! I should've known. 😂😂😂 We're all guilty of that to some degree. :P

And honestly, I love your D6 from these summaries. They sound much more interesting! I especially appreciate the fixes you did to Zomom! Canon Zomom might be my least favorite of the D6, he's just one big fat joke and that always rubs me the wrong way whenever that happens in media, but yours is an actual character and I appreciate that immensely. 😭

Thank you for sharing! I'd be open to hearing more about them in the future if you're willing to share!