#d20-simulator

[orions-garden]

Fantasy High Dashboard Simulator:

⚙️steven-steelberg Follow

why did a high schooler just campaign for student body president at my union meeting

⚙️steven-steelberg Follow

she’s the only politician I respect btw

🎸bardyboysnorelation Follow

12,543 notes

🗡️pactofyourmom Follow

didn’t get a date to prom everyone manifest a dragon attack or smth

🗡️pactofyourmom Follow

by sol this can’t be happening

543 notes

💼theycallmetheball Follow

“kinda gay to be a private investigator, whose privates are you investigating” NO ONE’S I’M AROACE LEAVE ME ALONE

398 notes

👑nightmarekingluvr69 Follow

why the nightmare king kinda…… but I would never…. unless? 👀😏

👑nightmarekingluvr69 Follow

trapped in a hellscape

4,597 notes

🥁battle-of-the-bands-bracket Follow

10,322 notes

🍃420fireball Follow

one time i got so high on gorgenfern i learned the name of the only true god

📚all-spellbooked Follow

what was it

🍃420fireball Follow

brennan

89,475 notes

🔮elvenoracleee Follow

“the best revenge is letting go and living well” WRONG. ADAINE’S FURIOUS FISTS. 👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥👊💥

769 notes

🔥protector-of-elmville Follow

thank galicaea there’s not one of those evil versions of my blog 😅

❄️destroyer-of-elmville Follow

yeah that’d be crazy

🔥protector-of-elmville Follow

6,880 notes

[natjennie]

what's weird about the fantasy high drama is that like. it seems to me like people forget d&d is primarily a) a game you play with your friends and also b) luck based.

I mean it's fine to say that "nothing felt like a challenge" and "they just dominated everything and there weren't any stakes" but like. it's not as if they weren't up against huge threats. they lost the mall fight. the last stand was an onslaught of enemies. they fought a dozen dragons from an airship. the fights were hard. they're just really good. they've had very good dice luck in general this season and are all very high level and highly specialized. fig is gonna beat deception and performance checks. adaine's gonna figure out the arcana. riz is gonna succeed investigations. like. for some reason their strategical competence and wisely picked abilities are. a downside? a disappointment?

the thing about d&d that you need to remember is it's first and foremost a game. it's mostly random and it takes you down weird paths and you're playing to have fun with your friends. the dice are literally telling the story that it's their time, it's their year. they've struggled enough. they've trained enough. they're good at what they do. and in my post about the academic/domestic/personal stressors being the focus, d&d doesn't have any other system to work them out than rolling different skills. that's what d&d is. brennan set specific challenge levels for different tasks and the players strategized to prioritize which abilities they were strongest in. the challenges were there. and the players rose to them. they were both smart in their delegation of responsibilities and lucky with their dice rolls. of which, both are foundations of d&d.

don't mistake them being good players and getting lucky with there being no hardship. just because they smashed through the wall, that doesn't mean the wall wasn't strong. they were just stronger.

[theresattrpgforthat]

me and my frend has tried to hack KoB to make a dating sim ttrpg (becouse flirtig with our frends is why we do this) but its hard and I dont know if I will be abel to finish it.

I cant find a good game that woud work that isnt extremly explicit, do you have any tips.

THEME: Dating Sims

First of all, I did get both of your asks, and I'm going to be addressing them separately, even though they're connected. So never fear, I got both questions!

Hacking Kids on Bikes as a dating sim is a really interesting notion to me - it’s certainly not the first system I would choose for a game all about romance, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth giving it a shot! From what I understand about the game, it’s kind of meant to encourage the characters to play to their strengths, since your chances of success are rather swingy, and you’d rather be rolling your d20 skill to succeed over your d4 skill most of the time.

If you want to make the goal of the game to be finding a successful partner, I’m guessing that your characters would have to be playing to their strengths when it comes to looking for love - which means that every stat would have to be possible to use when you’re flirting. If I had a brawny character in this hack, I’d want to be able to woo by lifting things to impress them, while if I was an witty character, then I’d want to approach the situation by striking up a conversation about something that I’m an expert about.

If you want to make finding a date the end-goal of your game, then it might be an interesting endeavour to check out some games that focus on romance, and work your way back to Kids on Bikes with substantial additions, or perhaps using some core conceits but re-structuring how the game is run.

Hearts & Espionage, by samanthag168.

"Hearts & Espionage" is a tabletop RPG competitive multiplayer dating simulator set in a futuristic world where high-stakes espionage and technology collide, YOU are an elite agent navigating dangerous missions while attempting to secure a date for your final mission, the prestigious Grand Ball—an event shrouded in mystery and intrigue.

Academic rivals, enemies to lovers, fake dating, and more cliche tropes that you can use to describe your relationship with your love interest! Compete with other agents for love interests or compete to see who wins over their love interest. Sabotage your fellow agents to gain the upper hand and win more romance points! 

Hearts & Espionage feels like a cheesy spy drama or a romantic comedy in terms of tone, granting players romance points when they succeed on dates and/or missions. This is a one-page game, but if you wanted to flesh it out, you might be able to combine this with another game system - for example, if you’re running Kids on Bikes, maybe you have the goal of the players is to get a date by Prom night, and re-structuring each date/mission as a date/mystery instead. You can run each mystery as a standard Kids on Bikes game, but involve the characters’ romantic interests as central NPCs and wrap up each session with rolls to see which characters were the most successful at impressing their prospective dates. If you want a secret Russian spy agency as a threat for the kids to face, you can probably still make it work!

Routes of Love, by Flowergal34

Routes of Love is a TTRPG centered on the idea of playing through a visual novel from the perspective of the romantic routes.

The GM plays the Love Interest and narrator of a visual novel game, while the player characters play the “Routes” - the Love Interest’s potential soulmates, pining for the Love Interest’s affection. Players aim to gather Affection Points through having pleasant interactions with the Love Interest, and sharing special Moments with their prospective romance partner.

Routes of Love is inspired by anime tropes, so it probably fits best in a school setting. That being said, if you’re all playing teenagers in a romance situation, then you could likely modify the character features in order to make sense for a different genre; perhaps you want to re-style the tropes to fit a typical American high school, or perhaps you want to use horror tropes instead. As a group, you’ll collaboratively create three different locations that the Love Interest could potentially visit, and you’ll roll randomly to determine the kinds of meet-cutes that could lead to a future date. What is really interesting about this game is that the GM could be considered the typical “player” character, while everyone else is directing a piece of the game.

If you’re hacking this game with Kids on Bikes, then perhaps the goal is instead to become a beau that the central character wants to woo. Kids on Bikes has mechanics for making a powered character that the entire table has control over, with various aspects that each player will have control over. You could try doing the same thing with a central love interest, and have the players taking turns to embody those aspects when other characters are trying to have a romantic moment with them.

Monster Mash, by BoxDeer.

You and your friends are monsters seeking love and marriage before the end of the Monster Mash. But unfortunately, there are not enough eligible bachelors and bachelorettes to go around. So, in order to secure a matrimony with (hopefully) your soulmate, you must court, scheme, and scare better than your competitors.

There was a trend for a while where regency novels were re-written for film in the context of teenage drama in a high school. As a regency game, Monster Mash could likely be hacked to replace the regency flavours with high-school traits, and your social standing could be replaced with your reputation - considering everyone in a small town knows everyone, and dirty laundry is hard to hide. Each character in this game has to write down a dark secret that might be revealed throughout the course of play, and the game itself has the potential to be rather cutthroat, since the players will be competing with to find a suitable partner.

Making a dating game incorporate your reputation might re-structure it into something more akin to a survival game. Lose too much reputation, and you’re knocked out of the game - which makes sense for short-term games, or if you make the setback temporary. Either way, the route of play will feel a bit more hostile, with you fighting for a place in the ranking that makes you an eligible partner, just in time for a big dance or something similarly high-stakes. If you want a game where dating is the weapon by which you win or lose, you might want to check out Monster Mash.

Step Into My Coffin Babe, by Super Sardine Burial.

With a cohort of your immortal siblings, you have rented the Vlad mansion for a night. A night of debauchery, of elegance, of freely flowing blood… And perhaps more? You have until sunrise to overcome a formidable challenge: making an undead heart beat again. For you.

Generate a number of vampire crushes using card draws from a deck of cards, and move through 12 hours of dates in an attempt to find a vampire lover. If you play this as a multiplayer game, you can compete for a specific Crush’s affections, and you’ll have to come up with new date ideas of you want to increase your Crush’s Feelings.

This is a game that requires a bit of bookkeeping, as you’ll have to track the Vices and Feelings of each of the Crush characters as you play. This is also a game specifically tied to vampires dating, so you’d have to do a lot of hacking to make it about teenagers or other kinds of people dating each-other. That being said, there’s a lot of typical vampire tropes in here, so you’ll find a lot of gothic horror moments inside this game.

The series of dates and feelings trackers feel very reminiscent of a dating sim ttrpg, and if you wanted to incorporate elements of this kind of game into a system like Kids on Bikes, I’d consider the central core of the game experience being the slow discovery of your crush’s likes, fears, secrets, and vices. It would be a mystery game where the mystery is how your crush truly feels about you, and incorporating your discoveries into the dates that you ask them on. Step Into My Coffin makes your characters kind of awful, but maybe that makes sense if you’re tracking them down and watching them to figure out what they like.

[bardinthezone]

Stardew Valley Dash Simulator

👾 d20--coding . . .

i love programming but sometimes it really just makes you want to bash your head into a wall huh. i'm talking to my computer all day and my computer is just responding with 18 different ways to say "fuck you"

👾 d20--coding . . .

#sounds about right #i'd do the same thing if i was a computer

hahahaha says the girl who eats rocks

🗡wretchedbeastie . . .

this you?

👾 d20--coding . . .

wh. what. where did you even find that

18 notes

🤖gogogadgetastra reblogged . . .

✈️doctor-h-starbird . . .

Not much in the skies this week, sadly. But some exciting stuff nonetheless!

Piper M 600 SLS! Hello up there!

TVS-2DTS biplane... dropping... boxes? Supply crates? Not sure if that's safe, I hope whoever that is has the proper permits...

#sky watch weekly

3 notes

🗡wretchedbeastie . . .

just got woken up by the farmer knocking on my dad's door at like 6:30am. again.

#the shop is closed on wednesdays #you have to know this by now

8 notes

👾 d20--coding reblogged . . .

🛹 radshredder17 Follow . . .

yo joja was bad but at least i never saw morris chug an espresso before sprinting halfway across town and passing out in front of the clinic

#and then they're banging on pierre's door at 7am the next day #like bro are you okay #get some help #or at least some sleep dude #farmer sightings

7 notes

🎨leahs_crafts . . .

Just posted the latest sculptures to my online shop!

Plus a 20% off sale on all pins and stickers. Please stop by, and thank you all again for your continued support!

#sculpture #abstract sculpture #drawing #frogs #fantasy #etsy #abstract art #art #artists on tumblr #my art

36 notes

🐔 chickenbastard Follow . . .

My aunt and i have been just scrapping by for years out here and yet that fuckin farmer shows up and creates a goddamn empire off of... blueberries? starfruit? chickens that we sold them? Good for them i guess but it'd be nice if life didn't suck ass sometimes.

☀️farmer-is-here . . .

skill issue

🐔chickenbastard Follow . . .

Hello??????

16 notes

🤖gogogadgetastra . . .

Working on a big new project, details to come when it's finished! No spoilers, but let's just say... it's big :)

🤖gogogadgetastra . . .

robot gone

👾 d20--coding . . .

what, like it broke??

🤖gogogadgetastra . . .

robot gone

9 notes

🍂cindersaprancher Follow

I swear I just saw the farmer run past the ranch into the woods from their farm, and then not 5 minutes later they ran past my ranch.. from town? How did they get there??

# I know I didn't miss them passing by at any point #farmer sightings

5 notes

🧿mui-wahhhhhh . . .

hi hi hiiiiii~! I'm preparing a spell of "have a lovely day" for you! (∩^o^)⊃━☆

:・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧✯ ~Like~ to charge, ~reblog~ to cast :・ﾟ✧*:・ﾟ✧✯

9 notes

☀️farmer-is-here . . .

these mfers don't even know what kind of magic i've got access to. you're wondering how i get around so fast meanwhile i'm out here meeting with a goblin

🗡wretchedbeastie . . .

like. like a whole ass goblin?

☀️farmer-is-here . . .

goblin on deez NUTZ and ASS-WHOLE

45 notes

👾 d20--coding reblogged wretchedbeastie . . .

🛹 radshredder17 Follow . . .

Crushing it in Zuzu City, thanks to everyone who came to our latest set!

# stream Dead End Street out now !!!!!!

18 notes

🗡wretchedbeastie . . .

someone new moved into pelican town! apparently they're taking up that old crumbling farm?? so exciting, i can't wait to meet them!

🗡wretchedbeastie . . .

date of posting: spring 1, 2016

8 notes

🧿mui-wahhhhhh . . .

got a new amethyst today~!! ~^o^~

🗡wretchedbeastie . . .

mmmmm a healthy snack

🧿mui-wahhhhhh . . .

no!!!!!!

11 notes

✈️doctor-h-starbird . . .

Not to get too personal on here, but if I have to recusitate the farmer after a botched mining adventure one more time I'm going to be the one needing medical attention. For acute heart failure. My therapist in Zuzu city does not get paid enough for this.

☀️farmer-is-here . . .

is this because i passed out on our anniversary

☀️farmer-is-here . . .

s-sweetie

#im so sorry it wont happen again

56 notes

🐔 chickenbastard Follow . . .

THE FARMER IS MARRIED??????

☀️farmer-is-here . . .

🐔 chickenbastard Follow . . .

????????????????????

34 notes

🟢green--slime-1938ry Follow . . .

i'm in a fuckin cave

1 note

🪷 bardinthezone . . .

and, scene :)

[allycryz]

Kinktober 2024

How To

• Each week has 12 possible kinks and 8 writing prompts

• Customize however you want: use just the kinks, just the prompts, combine a kink and a plot hook, combine several kinks etc. 

• You can do every day, every week, every other week, one or two for the month, etc.

• For randomization, use a d12 and/or d8 to select your prompts. Combine lists to bring in your favorite dice (d20, d10, etc)

Week 1

Kinks:

1. Exhibitionism

2. High Heels

3. Autofellatio

4. Stuck in Wall

5. Ponyplay

6. Edging

7. Bloodplay

8. Breeding Kink

9. Docking

10. Knotting

11. Free Use

12. Scent Kink

Prompts:

1. Fleshly

2. Heartward

3. Jollity

4. ​​Concupiscent

5. Tactile

6. Blaze

7. Gust

8. Flush

Week 2

Kinks:

1. Blindfolds

2. Cock worship

3. Leashes

4. Possession

5. Bound After Use

6. Rimming

7. Lactation

8. Run a Train

9. Facesitting

10. Beads

11. Partner Swap

12. Watersports

Prompts:

1. Crafting words

2. Raising hell

3. Meeting them

4. Stirring up

5. Getting there

6. Singing soft

7. Sensing danger

8. Coming close

Week 3

Kinks:

1. Dirty Talk

2. Role Play

3. Piercing Play

4. Corruption

5. Uniform

6. Fisting

7. Hot Wax

8. Shaving

9. Squirting

10. Camming

11. Orgy

12. Oviposition

Prompts:

1. Heavy gloom

2. Outright pride

3. Stark fury

4. Full relief

5. Chilling doubt

6. Torrid passion

7. Intense greed

8. Total confusion

Week 4

Kinks:

1. Anal Training

2. Cock & ball torture

3. Crurophilia

4. Stockings

5. Chastity

6. Age Gap

7. Sensation Play

8. Footjob

9. Food Play

10. Sexting/Mailing Nudes

11. Facial

12. Abrasion

Prompts:

1. A meeting

2. A tale

3. A touch

4. A pass

5. A dream

6. A wound

7. A whisper

8. A lie

Week 5

Kinks:

1. Scopophilia

2. Anonymous Sex

3. Consensual Non-Consent

4. Dry Humping

5. Face Fucking

6. Tentacles

7. Humiliation

8. Sixty-Nine

9. Temperature Play

10. Bratting

11. Claustrophilia

12. Cheating

Prompts:

1. Shade

2. Fantasy

3. Spectre

4. Simulation

5. Memory

6. Tenebrous

7. Vigilant

8. Ecliptic

[thydungeongal]

sorry if this is a question you've gotten before, but i'm thinking of looking into rolemaster, and i wanted to know if there was an edition you think is "best" (or if there even are major differences between editions?)

I've gotten this question many times but I never get tired of answering it :)

Broadly speaking, there are currently three major versions of Rolemaster out there. The third one, Rolemaster Unified, was supposed to be the one to unify players of the first two under one banner. Comic unrelated.

Here's a quick overview of the three currently available versions:

Rolemaster 2e/Classic: Rolemaster's 2nd edition is basically original flavor Rolemaster, and it is the one I grew up with (and happens to be my favorite). It is arguably the simplest of the three versions of Rolemaster: at its core it's very much a D&D style fantasy adventure game and the deep world simulation only started creeping in via later releases. It was reissued in the early 2000s under the name Rolemaster Classic which features improved layout and organization, new presentation, and some quality of life fixes added in via optional rules snuck in from the various companions.

Rolemaster Standard System/Fantasy Roleplaying: In the 90s Rolemaster was due for an update and the designers decided to take a look at some of the lessons learned during the run of Rolemaster 2e and apply those to the system. What they ended up with was a version of Rolemaster at its most world simulationy. Rolemaster Standard System (later reissued as Rolemaster Fantasy Roleplaying) is actually streamlined in places and also introduced a lot of depth into the system when it comes to non-combat and non-dungeon gaming activities, but it is also the most front-loaded in terms of math. It is a fantastic piece of game design in my opinion, but also a game where the character sheet has a separate workbook for doing the character creation bits that you then transport to your main character sheet.

Rolemaster Unified: The currently supported version and I do think there is a lot to love about it. It is also the first time Rolemaster has explicitly gone for a toolkit approach, with the game coming out with explicit rules for creating new content, including rules for creating new playable races! The core set of books isn't finished yet, since we are still waiting for the Creature Law books, but the playtest rules are still out there for free. The aforementioned toolkit nature is the main differentiating factor of Unified, in other ways it feels very much like a "greatest hits" of Rolemaster. It hasn't quite grabbed me like the other two, but it's still a fine game and the one most likely to find you other people to play with in the future.

Obligatory mention of Lightmaster (a free d20-based clone of Rolemaster 2e) and Against the Darkmaster (an extremely good modern indie fantasy RPG inspired by the design of Rolemaster).

[ankh-morporkianpostalworker]

The Rise of Dimension 20: The Changing Face of Roleplay

I remember when I first heard about Dimension 20 in 2019. I had subscribed to Dropout to watch Um, Actually and I saw D20 being pushed on the platform. I sat down and watched the first episode, then the second. In two days I had finished the first season.

I had never seen anything like it. I had tried NADDPOD and CR and bounced off both (I'd eventually fall head over heels for the former, and gain a solid respect for the latter), but I fell in love with the Bad Kids, the Intrepid Heroes, the world of Elmville, and the style of Brennan Lee Mulligan.

Later, I would learn that the first season of Fantasy High was seen by most in the community as a sort of novelty, the last death-rattle of a dying company. It was cool and new, sure, but it was also a flash in the pan.

Escape From the Bloodkeep proved the naysayers wrong. It proved that Brennan was as much the source of the fun as the Intrepid Heroes, and it showed us something that set him apart from the pack - Brennan was constantly pushing himself to be better. Out of the starting gate, he proved a technical proficiency on par with Matt Mercer, the reigning king, but for Brennan, that wasn't enough. He wasn't facing off with Matt, he was facing off with himself, and he needed to be better.

The Unsleeping City continued this trend. It was another setting the DND actual play community wasn't used to - the real world. The characters were fresh, new, more nuanced than the children they played in Fantasy High. They were up to the challenge, with the same drive as Brennan. Brennan and Ally redefined how the Wild Magic Sorcerer was played, Lou Wilson brought an abandoned Unearthed Arcana to the forefront, and the pair played, perhaps, their best roles to date.

Tiny Heist showed that Brennan could bend 5e to be something it wasn't meant to be - a heist simulator.

Then came A Crown of Candy. Some hold this season to be Brennan's magnum opus and the best performances the Intrepid Heroes have ever given. The combat was quick, dirty, tactical, the characters textured and nuanced. Our heroes had to get out of impossible situations, both in roleplay and combat. Death was a very real possibility. And this season was what sealed Brennan as a real rival for Matt, and was when "I only have Dropout for D20" stopped being a joke and started being a reality. Brennan had hit his stride.

The sidequests and seasons two from this point don't really prove my point, but they're good. Brennan didn't do a couple of them, though.

Then we get to Starstruck. Set in a world his mother had created, it obviously meant a lot to Brennan, and so he strived to outdo everything he'd done up to this point. It was funnier, more moving, the combat more tactical than anything he'd done before. He included space combat, and the cast once again rose to the occasion, portraying those cast out and cast aside by the corporatocracy that was the Starstruck universe, forming a touching bond. It was as if he had peaked.

And then came Neverafter, and with that, Brennan became king. It was horrific, scary, brutal. Combat wasn't fun or interesting, it was intense and nail-biting. The party dropped in their first combat encounter. Children were brutally murdered. They were up against eldritch horrors in perverse retellings of fairy tales. The humor was there, sure, but it was twisted, dark, more about relieving stress than being funny. And again, the cast excelled.

And all because Brennan wasn't trying to outdo Matt or Griffin or Brian, but himself. Each season, he wanted to be better than he had ever been before, pushing his technical abilities, his storytelling abilities, to the max. And the world of actual play shows improved as well. Matt stepped up his game, as did the other big dogs. Brennan redefined the game.

Or I could just be a massive fanboy who's reading way too far into things. Either/or.

[willows-unnamed-rpg]

Post 1) Overall idea - turn based pirate rpg/ttrpg system

TLDR: I am working on a ttrpg system as a basis for a turn based rpg that is magic, piracy, and exploration. A focus on wealth and growth plus a vast world (hopefully). I am inspired by alot of things, mainly horror and pirate media, so the intent is a more darker setting

Ok onto the post :)

I figured if I actually want to get this bloody game in production I might as well start with a long post detailing some initial thoughts with some hope of any amount of actual engagement (doubtful that is). This thing has lived in my brain for weeks now and it has officially kept me up at night now. Figured I should post something out into the world. Now I guess I should have some form of organizing

Why a turn based rpg

Honestly, it's what I love. I grew up playing RPGs and I love table top RPGs. I figured it was this or action rpg and I don't want an action rpg. Granted it might fit the genre more but also I'm the one making it the thing so I get to call the shots (until someone else hops in if I ever get someone else)

I also Game Master several table top games currently so I have an understanding of combat flow and narrative, I am just used to others adding to the story rather than it being all me (since ttrpgs are inherently collaborative works)

I have some ideas for the system, something I want to go into detail when I am less sleep deprived, but in short I want it to be classless but still guiding the player to general play styles, like mage or tank. I know pirates and magic, but the whole magical dungeon diving fits exploring ancient ruins for money (plus casting a big old fireball at a ship sounds cool as hell).

So a custom rpg system?

Yes. Like I want it to work on its own as a standalone ttrpg system. Since I should be able to make it translate well into a video game. I mean that's the hope. I won't be the first person to do this (look at all the d&d games from the 1980s on dos to BG3, it works)

The idea as said above is classless with point buying perks (kinda like fallout). Unsure if I want it to be a d20 system but I am absolutely going for high roll is better since low roll systems hurt my head (looking at 2e dnd, had to learn it for some dos d&d games and it took a bit of getting used to). But it's all subjected to change since it's literally this post and my brain

Pirates?

You bet. Look, the only good pirate games are Assassin Creed: Black Flag and Sea of Thieves and both are subjective. Of course the big problem here comes from the question of how much time do we put into ship combat to make it fluid. Especially with turn based rpg combat. And I know that will be the challenge. I will not back down from this point. I want ship combat. Even if it's just boarding other vessels. I want fireballs to light gunpowder holds and deal massive damage. I want artificers repairing the ship and manning guns. I want the player to feel at full control and be able to react while making choices that fit into the system. Without it being full on simulation.

As for the player exploration off the boat, that should be easy, like any other RPGs. Of course I have done ttrpg games not video games so I know it will be a pain nonetheless but that's learning and art.

So about that world for exploring

I want that to be it's own post once I nail down the system's mechanics but in short, kinda an Isekai (well not literally, the player isn't from another world, not yet anyway) but all the "Species" (no idea what I want to use for the word) are not native to the world, and so they have been invited over time to explore a long dead universe that they brought in their own beliefs. Does that mean human Christianity mixing with let's say elven nature faith? It's been in my mind as a neat idea but also *yikes* as well. I want to be sure that I consider everything, including cultures who were exploited during the age of sail so I don't propagate more harm. So that will require a lot of research and help from those communities. I also don't want to plop in fantasy races "just because" since they probably won't belong. We tend to see them because Western fantasy is typically "eurocentric", and this game will not be. Pirates were European sure but that ignores so many other groups (Barbary Pirate, Malagasy, South East Asian. Again I need to do more research)

I have tied in my own Mexican culture into my ttrpg games before but that's my own culture and in a small group. This is far larger and I need to give the world the respect it deserves.

What kind of art style?

I am not a very good artist so this one will be in the air until I settle, but I need to grow or get help. I would like something near realism (Honestly like how the Paradox Strategy games tend to do art, EU4 especially since it's the right period of time but again that's eurocentric so who knows)

I can't settle on a style when I haven't even made custom stat blocks for creatures or even know what creatures will be in the game yet. I will say, I love pixel art but I'm aware of exactly how much work it takes to make it wonderful. I have exactly zero skill in most art/drawing and what I do have need work, so best get to doodling to get better

The story?

On my main blog I usually write (though I am bad at posting, let's not make that a habit shall we?) but that doesn't mean I'm good at writing. Writing like drawing is an art, so I need to work on this and get help from others as it warms up. I don't want to disregard writing, it's an rpg, it lives by the narrative.

Other than exploring the world for money, I like the idea of it being focused on either one country or one city. A pirate republic. You could leave on expeditions and come back and those would be arcs. Do everything around town, hang out with companions, romance, and then to move the narrative along we build up to an expedition that changes the republic. Kinda like Dragon Age 2 and Kirkwall (not going into it here since spoilers for the game) but I really like this idea. You can see growth and change and get an impact on the narrative. Obviously this isn't anything new. But it's always a good time

My Inspirations?

That is a hell of a question. I have alot, ranging from Dark Fantasy/Gothic Horror with Ravenloft, Dragon Age, From Software's Library, Lovecraft's work (he isn't gothic horror I know, Eldritch is different but also water monsters in a ocean setting hits good) to pirate media with One Piece, the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies and the actual historical pirates I know.

And Obviously with any game, Lord of the Rings and System Shock 2 despite how far apart both are and possibly irrelevant they are.

I don't have any current "required reading" minus The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings (and maybe The Dunwitch Horror?)

I guess my inspirations lead me to a darker world, which fits real pirates well

[sprintingowl]

Cthork Borg

A few years ago, in a fey mood, I wrote a 120 page Mork Borg hack.

This happens to me sometimes. I try not to let it happen too often.

Anyway, Cthork Borg runs on a simple d20 system with quick-but-deep character building and tells stories of Jazz Age cosmic horror.

Apart from my fishing simulator, it's probably my most successful game, and I've released fifteen expansions for it.

There's LOTS of good cosmic horror tabletop rpgs (let me know if you want reccs!), and I understand that it's a crowded ecosystem, but the high notes here are:

-Pulp tones -Resource management -You can play as creatures and it doesn't change the tone -Downtime and character development

In particular, Cthork Borg's designed to enfranchise characters without stepping too heavily on the toes of the horror. Your protagonists are frail but powerful (and sometimes powered by their frailty).

Also everyone gets a big heap of rerolls at the start of each scenario, and you have to try and make them last until the end.

Nearly all of my games are free if you click the Community Copies button, so please grab a free pdf if you'd like one.

I'm working on more support for it as well, so there should be a pack of five scenarios due out soon.

[caught-in-a-tism]

Corruption

I was struck with inspiration as I lay in bed last night. I'm gonna write it as a rule for dnd 5e but the concept could be adapted to similar games easily.

The basic idea is to sometimes replace damage with Corruption Dice (spooky), which are subtracted from d20 rolls and sometimes cause surprise damage.

(plain text is rules jargon, purple text is me saying stuff)

Concept:

This mechanic is meant to emulate various forms of magical curses as an alternative to damage. In my head it's something that can be inflicted on players if you want to create a sense of impending doom without just damaging them.

It adds a numeric way to simulate indirect harm that spooky things might cause. Just damage can get boring so this is something to heighten vibes and force players out of their comfort zone. The intended effect is to make players feel like something bad is coming, or like they're being forced by some supernatural energy to accept harmful consequences.

Added bonus is that it can mitigate insane modifiers that high level players end up with.

Mechanics:

Corruption is inflicted on characters (or creatures generally) as a number of dice. These dice are not rolled but are added to a pool. For example, if a creature takes 3d6 corruption, add 3d6 to their total corruption and don't roll them (this could be a written tally or a kept as a pile of dice in front of the player). A creature with a non-zero amount of corruption is referred to as corrupted.

This pool of dice remains until spent, or until removed by the lesser restoration spell or any effect that removes curses. Whenever a corrupted creature makes an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, they can spend some of it by rolling a number of corruption dice and subtracting the total from the initial roll. When they spend corruption in this way, they cannot spend more than 3 dice on any given d20 roll.

Alternatively, a corrupted creature can spend up to 3 corruption dice during a short rest, roll them, and take damage equal to the total.

When a corrupted creature makes an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw and rolls a natural 1, they must immediately spend all of their corruption dice at once. When the dice are spent in this way, they deal necrotic damage to the corrupted creature equal to the number rolled.

Implementation:

Corruption can be quickly inserted as a replacement for damage. It can appropriately be inserted into the spells or abilities of fey, fiends, or undead. One use I would recommend would be to use it instead of damage for magical traps or include the mechanic when designing cursed magic items. For a direct conversion, consult the following table:

If this makes it more complicated than necessary, or you don't want to mix types of dice, just do 2d6 for every 5 damage.

Lair/Legendary Actions:

This is a good place on a stat block to sub in or add corruption. In addition to damage conversion, you may replace any condition caused by a special action (such as frightened or paralyzed) with a number of d12s equal to the challenge rating of the creature. If you wish to make a creature more powerful, choose one or two of these actions and add d6 corruption/CR to the existing effects (allowing a wisdom or charisma save to avoid it if you want).

Regional Effects:

Unhallowed land, the shadowfell, the territory of a cursed or undead creature, or the domain of an illegitimate ruler may all be places where corruption permeates the air and soil. Use it when it feels right or for a specific antagonist or faction if you want them to have a unique flair. When a creature finishes a long rest in a corrupted place, they must make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw. On a success, the creature feels a vague sense of unease but suffers no other effects. On a failure, the creature gains 2d6 corruption.

If the source of the corruption is a sentient creature, they can choose up to 13 creatures that they know to be within the affected area. When any of those creatures fails their saving throw, they instead gain 1d12 corruption for each night they have spent in the affected area.

Monster Traits:

Following are a few example traits that use corruption. They can be added to the statblocks of appropriate creatures. Alternatively, they can be used as identifying features of all creatures in a specific faction or from a specific place.

Aura of Evil. Any creature that starts its turn within 10 ft. of [this creature] must succeed on a DC [8 + proficiency + Cha or Con] Charisma saving throw or gain 1d12 corruption.

Corrupted Strikes. [This creature]'s weapon attacks are magical. When [this creature] hits with any weapon, the target gains 1d8 corruption. A creature immune to necrotic damage or curses is immune to this effect.

Foul Magic. Any creature that fails a saving throw against a spell cast by [this creature] also gains 1d8 corruption. A creature immune to necrotic damage or curses is immune to this effect.

Tainted Blood. A creature that touches [this creature] or hits it within a melee attack while within 5 ft. of it gains 3d6 corruption.

Items:

Below is a single example magic item, to show the way this mechanic could be used to represent curses.

I think it's neat because the ability to use corruption to your advantage encourages a player to seek out dark and dangerous situations. It makes corruption a little less scary, but it uses the meta to push the character to find opponents to inflict it on, lest they suffer the consequences of their actions.

Narrative:

In darker campaign settings, corruption can be used in roleplay to underline thematic elements. The DM may inflict 1-3d8 corruption on any character who gives in to dark desires, betrays someone's trust, does something impious or blasphemous, or witnesses something grim and horrifying.

The DM and players should decide ahead of time exactly which actions or events will lead to corruption, and how severe they have to be to incur a given number (or size) of dice. Consider which type of roleplay you all want to encourage, and which themes should be emphasized.

Player Options:

Spells and abilities that deal damage can easily be converted, either on a character by character or spell by spell basis. Spells that this change would be most appropriate for include arms of hadar, blight, chill touch, cloudkill, dissonant whispers, summon celestial, summon undead, toll the dead, etc.

You could also modify (or make up!) class features so that they inflict corruption instead of damage, or in addition to other effects. A vengeful Cleric's Channel Divinity might inflict corruption upon sinners, even a Rogue's sneak attack might inflict supernatural woe in place of additional damage.

If you, as the DM, allow players to cause enemies to gain corruption, remember that you should spend it more liberally than a player might. You can and should roleplay as that monster or enemy, but consider that a creature that will likely not survive the fight may make the players feel cheated if it never chooses to suffer the penalty.

Variants:

The damage type that corruption deals could easily be changed to highlight different themes. Change it to psychic damage for a more horror or lovecraftian setting, change it to poison damage it you are using it to represent toxic substances or diseases. Perhaps you want to use it to represent radiation poisoning, in which case it could be radiant damage (if not poison or necrotic).

Another idea I like is to make the corruption represent horrible luck. Because the damage is triggered by natural 1s, the DM can describe it as a consequence of some kind of accident and declare an appropriate damage type. For example: a character that rolls a natural 1 on an attack may fall on their sword and take piercing damage equal to their remaining corruption, or a natural 1 on the Constitution save triggered by a green dragon's breath may represent a character gasping and breathing in additional poison damage like an idiot.

Another change, for a more sword and sorcery setting, could include allowing spellcasters to accumulate corruption in exchange for more potent magic. Whenever an arcane caster casts a spell, they may gain 1d12 corruption and increase the level of the spell by one without expending a higher level slot. This could also be a mandatory feature, to make all magic a form of dark bargaining.

This has not been play tested so you may also find it necessary to balance it by including maximum corruption (perhaps dealing its damage if it reaches that threshold), limiting it to d6s or even d4s, or making it less deadly. If the potential damage seems too high, random, and/or disruptive to combat balance, it could be spread out. To do so, change it so that each time a corrupted creature takes damage, they spend one die and add it to the damage.

[aninventoryofthepossible]

Short Solo Games for Saturday

I've made a couple of bigger solo games in the past two years (Lighthouse at the End of the World and VOID 1680 AM, specifically), but I didn't actually set out to make solo games when I got started.

Nope, it all began with a couple "wouldn't it be cool if" writing experiments using the Second Guess System. They're much shorter in scope and ambition, but I'm still proud of them. And maybe you'd get something out of them.

The Getaway was my first swing, and the name and subhed probably tell you what this is: a way to simulate a high-octane car chase after a bank robbery gone wrong. You use a d20 and the game's table to throw twists and turns into your frantic getaway, and your competing Heat or Escape tracks determine whether you get away clean or... don't.

Second Guess's whole deal is using re-rolls to cast old information into new light (hence the name), and the spin on that with The Getaway is using repeat rolls to introduce further complications and steadily escalate your getaway's shenanigans.

You can get it on itch for $1, or DTRPG for $2. What can I say, DTRPG's cut is a lot steeper.

The second solo game I ever made is Axe Wielding Priest, an homage to a certain strain of character you see in John Carpenter movies like The Fog and most especially Prince of Darkness.

In it, you play the priest of a sleepy parish who becomes aware of a great evil stalking it - a great evil only you can see. The d20 table raises the stakes and deepens the mystery... and repeat rolls introduce a sliver of doubt that it's all in your head, a paranoia that competes with your zealotry as your hunt escalates (or deteriorates).

Fittingly, your two tracks here are Hunt and Paranoia. Complete the former to find and destroy the evil; if the latter fills up, it becomes unavoidable that you have been horribly, horribly mistaken all this time.

As a little bonus, Axe Wielding Priest also includes a series of tables to generate your priest and starting circumstances, so you can keep it fresh on different playthroughs.

Pick it up for $1 on itch, or $2 on DTRPG.

[atthedeathofjohnsmith]

The bots have found the tags I follow.

Makes me wanna burn my feed with napalm.

Why the fuck am I having to play bot hunter simulator for this cursed web hole.......

All I want is for wholesome my d20 fan content to not be polluted with sketchy links from lindsey-grace27.

[willknightauthor]

One Pool to Rule Them All

I managed to cram almost every single mechanic into a single mathematically simple d6 dice pool, and I'm kind of proud of myself.

Skill level

Difficulty

Action economy

Health

Stress

Exhaustion

Starvation

Disease

Fear

Monstrosity

Magical limits

And it's all just adding, removing, or switching dice from a fixed pool never exceeding 12d6. That's it. And the number of dice maps roughly onto corresponding d20 difficulty classes, with roughly linear changes in probability at the low and mid levels. I may yet achieve the dream of simulation sans crunch!

*Slaps the hood of my dice system* "You can fit so many mechanics in this baby!"

[queencaramilflinda]

Ok so here are my current theories for the new D20 season based off the fact it’s not IH, the purple mist in the image background, the fact it was said that we would never guess it, and the Hank Green Atoms conspiracy

Astronauts/classic spaceship adventure - seems too simple for something we would never guess, but they may put their own spin on it

Aliens come to earth and they play the aliens - this seems like it would be a fun twist, but I don’t know how likely it is, or if it works with the purple mist picture from the promo

Nautical underwater thriller - so much of the ocean is unexplored, who knows what could be down there?

Cells At Work - y’know the anime Cells at Work where all the characters are human cells personified doing stuff in a body? Like that. But with atoms instead of cells

Periodic Table the TTRPG - what if the elements on the periodic table were dnd characters? Wouldn’t that be fun

Nuclear fallout - idk atom b*mbs is that anything

Some joke guesses not based on anything include: a season sponsored by the Barbie movie, a season where everyone is a lawyer, a hospital drama, former spies do one last job, dad simulator, vampire paralympics, tarot card based game, oops all bards, PVP season, animorphs season

[flaetsbnort]

What RPG systems do the guilds of Ravnica play?

Azorius: They exclusively play GURPS, as they believe it's the only system thorough enough to actually simulate reality. Some of them got really into Paranoia but they can't make it work because they can't help playing it straight.

Selesnya: Prefer cooperative worldbuilding games (Microscope, Ex Novo, i'm sorry did you say street magic, etc.) If they're feeling spicy enough to play actual characters it'll still be something nice and/or ethereal, like Nobilis, Wanderhome or Do: Fate of the Flying Temple.

Gruul: You'd probably think they like something violent and full of crunchy combat, but when you remember that the things the Grull hate the most are needless complexity, mathematics, authority and bigotry, you understand why they only play Belonging Outside Belonging games.

Rakdos: "FATAL, of course" they'll say with a smug grin. They're technically saying the truth. They won't say that while their ongoing campaign did start in complete debauchery, it moved into what is essentially collaborative storytelling, barely using the game's mechanics and rarely more offensive than a Ren & Stimpy episode. They're also quite fond of Toon but will never admit it.

Dimir: The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Played in what they call 'hardcore' mode, in which they'll just start telling an outlandish story and others have to figure out the game has started.

Boros: These are the ones who like stuff that's violent and full of crunchy combat. They're usually playing some flavour of d20, although most of them have dropped the pretence of roleplaying and moved on to Zombicide-style skirmish board games. Some of the higher brass prefer Gumshoe games, but even then they play it in very pulpy, 'punch out Cthulhu' style.

Izzet: Do you want to play Guaxinins & Gambiarras, the generic hack of Lasers & Feelings made for a Brazilian podcast? Or maybe Roguelite, a game in which you find letters of alphabet and can only roll for actions that starts with them? Every time you drop by they'll have a different one-page game with a bizarre mechanic. They absolutely adore Grant Howitt. If you want a longer campaign, though, ask them to take Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast off the shelf. I guarantee you they'll have a copy.

Simic: "Well it's Electric Bastionland, except we're using GLOG classes, and also a few MOSAIC modules to spice things up. Oh, and the setting is completely homebrew, of course."

Golgari: You'd think they'd all be playing grimdark adventures full of death and decay (and probably using Lamentations of the Fire Princess, or Trophy if they're cool), and they are, but their favourite game by a long shot is The Quiet Year.

Orzhov: Physically unable to have fun playing anything that doesn't use treasure as XP, they're mostly stuck playing really old editions of D&D and their retroclones, albeit some of them did make the jump to Esoteric Enterprises. But if they ask you to come over for a game, refuse: they're trying to have you play as the Business Tycoon in Conspiracist, the character that can pay the DM actual money for in-game benefits.

[roadandruingame]

RAR Musings #26: Shifting Perspectives

As I continue to strive for a "perfect system" that covers all the bases I would like for it to cover, while still being simple enough to be player-facing, and even not explicitly require a dungeon master, I've had to do a lot of philosophizing over what game mechanics are even meant to accomplish. This has lead me from an extremely crisp system that simulated results great, but wasn't fun to play or easy to communicate how to operate, to where I am now, with an explicit focus on easily communicated outcomes and variables, where I cleanly lay out the path for players to follow, and don't get all twisted if players choose to interpret the game differently than I necessarily would, but still operate it within suitable parameters.

But more than anything has been the difficulty in accepting input from people who fundamentally misunderstand what I'm trying to do here. Worse still, people who DO understand what I'm trying to do, but expressly, and sometimes venomously, try to tear me and the project down for it, having sometimes frightening outbursts about it.

Take dice, for instance. World of Darkness introduced me to using pools of d10 for gradiant outcome resolution, a breath of fresh air away from Dungeons and Dragons' use of a single d20 for literally everything, with no meaningful situational variables to speak of. I built Road and Ruin to use d10 pools, but for add-up, something I've since discarded for slowness and lack of fun. Still, I work d10s into the system where possible, feeling better about the "roundness" of 10% increments than d20's 5%, including d100s adding more granularity with a "nat100" on a 1%, something truly worthy of the miraculous outcomes gushed over by dnd greentexts and youtube shorts alike. And again, in the use of "3d10" has a certain roundness to it that "roll a d8, d10, and d12" lacks. But if, for whatever reason, you have a raging hatred of d10s and seek to bury them whenever the rules suggest to use them, even digitally, there's not really much more I can do for that person.

Or take the concept of digital dice itself. I'd handwaved away any real concerns about mechanical complexity early on in development, reasoning that ttrpgs would benefit from leaning on the digital pocketry that each and every player brings to the table, but now understand that many players desire, or even require, tactile response from paper, pencil, and dice to feel grounded at the table and improve their enjoyment and focus. That, and the release of Magic: The Gathering cards that would become increasingly suited to an online TCG platform and not to paper, would leave me frustrated with digital, and questioning whether they streamlined the product, or created an incentive program for the developers to add increasingly obtuse mechanics.

Player-facing plot patterns to follow to conclusion, Schrodinger's Secret Door, Exert/Exhaustion, Stable Attributes that don't grow in perpetuity till you're out there punching god, and Monstrous magnitudes that threaten extreme harm to anyone who ever felt good about going up to fight a dragon, have all been angrily shouted down by any number of people. Perhaps none so more than the suggestion of Behavioral Guidance, and making roleplay have mechanics. But a lot of that has had to do with a shift in perspective given player agency.

A good friend clarified to me in an unexpected way, paraphrasing for eloquence, "The amount of misfortune and consequence delivered to a player's character needs to be proportional to the number of mistakes that player made to get to that point. Otherwise, you rob them of agency." It was enough to get me to sidestep the usual cringe I experience at those blistering words, 'player agency'. The 'muh agency!!' crowd had been the most frustrating of debates, incapable of articulating why Perfect Control of their character was required to enjoy a game where you're regularly obstructed by movement speed, health points, or even sight, but it went a long way in explaining exactly where the line was drawn, and what it took to move it.

It's for the same reason that you can't really include a behavioral system putting a character on auto-pilot to 'follow their truth'. Which feels like a shame; people will insist that roleplaying their character need not have any mechanics, but time and again has proven to me that they can't be trusted with it, devolving into psychopaths as soon as you stop jangling the keys of bloody combat in their face for even a moment, Lawful Good alignment or no. But, true to form, players don't like having Muh Agency removed from them when they didn't do anything do deserve it. Including... you know. Having made the character have those traits in the first place.

When redesigning my dice system, I also had to shift perspective on what Normal is. I'd tried to make a Base 0 game, where "Normal" was somewhere up around the mark of 15, so that it could scale as high above that as I needed, but have since changed to a "Base Human" system, using +1 and -1 off baseline, and much more like DND, much to my chagrin. But this philosophy of "baseline", when applied to roleplaying, doesn't completely work. "Health" is a great example of baseline philosophy: you have HP, and then when you make mistakes, you take damage, proportional to the severity of the mistakes that you're making. When you run out, you fall unconscious, and lose agency, but only as a result of those choices.

Roleplaying, though, lacks a baseline that feels good. If I implement a 'sanity' mechanic, where choices that deviate from the character's "moral compass" impose an escalating weakness of conviction and confidence, a penalty on any check to influence others or resist being influence in a way that might shift your moral north, players are just as likely to protest the eventual brainwashing of their character after all their mucking about as they are if you were to subject them to an instant-death trap.

In Musings #24, I discuss the makings of ttrpgs, and I name Relationships as a pillar. Put another way: CONTINUITY, the tendency for the world, and consequences, to persist beyond the arena that they were born in. Dungeons and Dragons feels like it's at one time smelled the passing of the memory of someone who felt Continuity once, 80 years ago as a small child, what with all the healing spells and lack of reputation system and ability to recover literally your entire character sheet given you conk out for an 8hr snooze, but I really feel like Continuity might be the single biggest hurdle that players I've encountered have trouble mounting. This doesn't go for everyone, of course, my experiences are not universal, but Continuity in ttrpgs really feels to me to be the one thing that, if agreed on, could make or break a campaign or game table.

Continuity states that if your character has a belief, or a goal, or a compulsion, that those are simply things that character does. They're the ways that character acts. The player, despite all the promises in the world, can't simply be given the power to say "UH, NUH UH" and simply self-destruct in a moment of rapid-onset psychosis. The more upsetting and antithetical to nature, the more damage that character receives to their psyche. This can be represented as an immediate penalty that lasts for a scene, but accumulates, imparting a penalty based on the current number of stacks -1. Character beliefs, defined by an amount of Conviction value, are lessened by the penalty, and if another character ever works to convince the character of their perspective, and exceeds this lessened value, the character becomes shaken. With repeated working, this may permanently erode the character's Conviction, and even turn them to the side of whoever's convincing them.

Or, this is all a stupid idea! As the mechanic suggests, if players are actually playing to their character's traits, none of this should ever be necessary. The rules would simply not come into play. But, does this simply mean that a character not controlled by the players can NEVER convince their characters of anything the players do not wholeheartedly endorse? Do we not have speed limits and laws, for WHEN someone goes too fast, not IF? I'd love if players played to their character, but what if someone doesn't? Do they simply get kicked from the table for poor sportsmanship? Or does anyone even care?

The same people who scream and moan about 'muh immersion' and 'muh agency' tend to be the same people who tend to act like ttrpgs are a whimsical trip to Disneyworld, a perfect playground for them to run around knocking over trash cans and punching the mascots. Videos and guidebooks abound for recommendations on how to have a "safe table space", with X cards and Session Zeros and the like, but little seems to be done to protect the purity of the game experience itself, instead rigging safety rails and bandaid packs in case any of the players get a booboo while doing sick kickflips off the king's castle. It's not a perfect system, but so long as it exists, players are free to ignore it, or implement it. I, personally, would be really interested in the challenge presented by a campaign that fundamentally shifts the beliefs of my character, in a way that I didn't expect, and while I know not everyone will be, they're free to ignore the mechanic.

I got a bit more jaded with this post, by the end. Ultimately, I'm never going to create a product that will appeal to everyone, or create a rule or mechanic that everyone will use. I began Road and Ruin for me, but part of my shifting perspectives on these things came from realizing the hesitation I was having in wanting to play my own, solo-possible game. I do have more fun playing with friends, even idiots, but it really struck me that I seemed to be unwilling to put the work in to play what I was attempting to make as my own ideal game. I get frustrated aiming to get feedback from players who are patently disinterested in any gameline that isn't kickflipping off the Disney castle using DND's d20, but I hesitate to surround myself with yes-men who tell me my ideas are good. If nothing else, these detractors can act as my rubber duck, for me to bounce ideas off of, and for me to find kernals of my own personal preferences amidst the broken back-and-forths.

Next time, I want to try to brainstorm some more social mechanics. Figure out where that shifting line in the sand is, how much consequence is too much, how is conviction rated, and the like.