TTRPGs

Minified vs Minimalist Rules

Mar 19, 2023 · 4 min read · RPG BIND

D&D got a way with a lot of bad habits, because it was the only game in town. People are expected to read the core rules, then the Dungeon Master's Guide, then an adventure. I've copied their style, and only now realized the error of front-loading MAXIMUM RULES. The order of books in this case is: Core Rules …

What the RPG Community Should Steal from FOSS

Mar 17, 2023 · 3 min read · RPG FOSS Development

Software engineers regularly jump into others' open source, and help out, but the RPG community do not do the same, because they do not have the right tools. Look throughout the history of any number of software projects and you'll find a slew of apparently random people, unknown to the software's creator, jumping in …

Deathless RPGs

Mar 2, 2023 · 2 min read · RPG Theory

RPGs where nobody dies really irk me, because they have rules for dying. If you want an RPG where nobody ever dies (or runs out of food, or whatever), then I won't complain...until the rulebook states 'these are the conditions for death'. We have two problems. Problem 1: Fudging GMs Everyone writes up some dramatic …

Drinking Game Design

Feb 9, 2023 · 2 min read · Prattle Game Design

Standard drinking games are badly designed; if someone does badly, they get drunk, then do worse on the next game, which prompts more drinking. The only people who play drinking games want to drink, but when you lose, you drink, so the incentives don't track anyone's goals. A better drinking game would have a drink as …

Group Rolls

Feb 5, 2023 · 3 min read · RPG Theory BIND

Dice can give unexpected results when groups of people roll. When a group of 5 players need to roll to sneak past a guard, you already know someone will fail, because they have 5 chances to fail. If everyone rolls for Alertness, they will succeed every time, because they have five chances to succeed. The Alertness roll …

Realtime Synchronization with Story Weaving

Jan 28, 2023 · 2 min read · RPG Theory BIND

Ideas on Campaigns with Real-time synchronization seemed interesting, but I'm unsure how they will interact with my Story Weaving methods of constructing adventures. Presumably, if nobody who started part 1 of a thread is present, then part 2 will simply not appear. But what if 1 party member who saw part 1 is present? …

Spreadsheets are Great

Jan 27, 2023 · 3 min read · RPG Theory Design BIND

Whenever I'm unsure about a rule, I pull out a basic spreadsheet, and start populating numbers. The image I had for the ghoul spell began with a mage who could raise small things from the dead, like a cat, or dog. Slowly, the dark sorcerer would learn to raise gnomes, then humans, and finally raise undead ogres or …

Community Assumptions on Source Files

Jan 19, 2023 · 1 min read · RPG Marketing

I've found myself aghast at the multiple (not loads, but still) conversations I've had online where I've proposed an open-source RPG, and I'm told that this really isn't adding much, because people can already copy systems. I have personally copied a system. I have rewritten White Wolf's rules so that I could modify …

Shitty BIND Review

Jan 17, 2023 · 3 min read · RPG BIND

A lot of people are their own worst critic. In my case this is trivial, because I'm my only critic - very few people have seen BIND yet. Anyway - here are the problems I want to address in the form of a shitty review. BIND jumps from body-horror with the nura, and griffins eating babies, to semi-comedic nonsense like …

BIND's Attack Style: Aftermath

Jan 16, 2023 · 2 min read · RPG BIND Theory

The previous post went over changing BIND's Combat system significantly, but I've not been able to resolve the problems. Every change I make demands other fixes. Everything I fix breaks something else. Once combat's simplified, the shield's don't work. Or they work with swords, but don't provide any use when holding a …