Hello everyone, I wanted to ask about what you consider the most relevant and interesting game design theory that currently exists?

I also want to know what you would expect a game design master and doctorate level education to focus on and care about in terms of topics, areas of study etc. In other words what would you consider the next frontier in game design as a field of study?

(I currently work as an educator at a game design department, and the conversation came up and sparked intense debate between various different interests. My grounding is that this is best answered by practitioners and people who care deeply about the field outside of academia)

I've been working on a game that's basically a love-letter to D&D, but without the need to carry around the legacy.

And I've come to a point where I just dropped the huge table of adventuring items (abacus, backpack, etc) because weight/carry capacity just isn't something I want to focus on and the list felt more and more like it was simultaneously excessive (who has ever purchased a mess kit and had it matter in a game?), restrictive (giving off very strong "only things listed here are available" and "things on this list are always available everywhere at this price" vibes), and under-inclusive (missing things that would actually be useful and especially missing rules for such things).

I've also trimmed the armor table, both re-arranging things and dropping armor that is strictly inferior to starting armor, for example.

Which leads me to a new possibility. Trimming the weapon table. Instead of a bunch of items, many of which differ very slightly (different weapon properties, costs, and weights), I'd go with something much more slimmed down, like the following (WIP):

• Two big categories: Ranged and Melee.
  • Ranged has a default range (60/180). Features may modify this. Thrown defaults to (30/90).
  • Melee has a default reach (5 ft).
• All start at 1d6 damage. If you have Martial weapon proficiency, melee does 1d10 base and ranged does 1d8 base.
• Several smaller categories that set the damage type, the main property, and limits the other properties.
  • Bashing: bludgeoning damage, Battering property. [2H, Reach]
  • Small blade: piercing damage. Precise property. [Light, Thrown, Parrying]
  • Large blade: slashing damage. Parrying property. [2H, Reach, Cleaving]
  • Chopping: slashing damage. Cleaving property. [2H, Reach, Light]
  • Projectile (ranged only): piercing or bludgeoning damage. Ammunition. [Loading, 2H]
• You can choose one additional property. This may change the damage die:
  • 2H increases it by one step (to 1d12 for melee with martial, for example), at the cost of requiring 2H to use it.
  • Reach increases the reach to 10 ft, but requires 2H and drops the damage die by one (back to 1d10 with martial proficiency)
  • Thrown drops the damage die by 1 step.
  • Loading requires 2H and increases by a cumulative 2 steps, but requires bonus action to reload between shots (without a feature).
  • Battering lets you do some amount of damage even when you miss.
  • Cleaving lets you carry damage over to other nearby targets under some circumstances.
  • Precise increases your critical hit range by 1 (ie 19-20).
  • Parrying makes a universal defense option (basically a parry/riposte reaction that costs one of the universal resources) cheaper.
  • Ammunition makes it consume ammo, but also gets benefits from special ammunition (magical, etc).
  • Light (forgot this one before) drops the damage die by one, but lets you two-weapon fight.

This is probably too fiddly...talk me out of doing something like this. Or not.

As above. I intentionally named my game "Railgun 25" so I could iterate on it each year. 26 "released" fine, with a switch from roll under to roll over, and a fork for the multiplayer PvP mode. For 27 I was planning on actually putting art in it and playing with the layout.

I'm now wondering whether to scrap the d20 roll over mechanic. At the moment it uses polyhedral dice and all the others are used in combinations for damage for weapon types. It gives some flavour to the weapons, and most people like maths rocks.

However, I could easily switch it to a 2d6 based system (dc7 for success). I would lose some flavour with the weapons, and I'd have to tweak PC creation, but that's pretty much it. Weapons would do static damage and have some other traits like armour piercing.

Has anyone made the switch? Thoughts?

As a TTRPG GM and a player I have found that RPG design benefits immensely by having useful sentences in a list on hand for roleplaying can be a great help as most of us(me included) are not professional actors. What follows is what I have collected over the years, some I authored, some are something my players have spoken but most are from movies, books and other media. I pre-emptively apologise for any spelling or categorisation errors.

Feel free to add to it and use it in your own campaigns.

Life wisdom and sayings

• New path starts with walking
• A clean conscience is a sign of bad memory.
• Ask not or a lighter burden but broader shoulders
• When the winter comes, the lone wolf dies but the pack lives.
• Gold does not burn
• The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, but the second best is right now
• If you are not capable of great violence, you are not peaceful, you are harmless
• Please don't try to explain to flies why honey is better than shit.
• It is useless to try to hold a person to anything they say while they are madly in love, drunk, or running for office.
• Balls gets you through the door, brains keeps you in the room.
• The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.
• Praise loudly and blame softly.
• Not all dragons spit fire
• Measure twice and cleave once
• If you pray for rain, be prepared to deal with the mud.
• The one that dies with the most toys is still dead.
• Ashes do not rise.
• The cure is a small part of the disease

General replies and sayings

• Stand in the ashes of trillion souls and ask the ghosts if honour matters. their silence is your answer.
• Let us speak the truth and then move to more interesting matters.
• You are watering a dead plant here
• The less you have, the more can be gained.
• It is easy to quit, I have done it hundreds of times.
• Give it to me unseasoned.
• Sail within the coin
• Squeezing blood from a stone
• If violence has taken the piece, let it then return it.
• In this soup of problems, I am but a fork
• Let steel sing
• Don't do your best, do what's necessary!
• I do not want to be forgiven. I want to be remembered.
• No one knows the violence it took to become this gentle.
• The one thing you just can't see is that you are just one bad day away from being me.
• Whoever said that money can’t buy happiness, simply didn’t know where to go shopping.
• I have the right to remain silent but not the ability.
• You mistake ink for authority.
• Is the result to be steel or silver?
• We could kill the skunk but might emerge worse for it.
• Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
• You reap what you sow, but are you ready for the harvest?
• Are you able to pay the price of Ambition?

Insults

• Your obituary will not include the word “untimely”
• Wisdom has been chasing you but you are faster
• One has the right to stupidity but you violate its bounds.
• He has all the qualities I abhor and none of the vices I admire
• He loves nature in spite of what it did to him.
• Pig in silk is still a pig
• The quality of the noises coming from you leaves one wondering from which end it emerges.
• Is a vapid man of banal people
• He rations sun
• You cannot afford to be more stupid
• In this problem soup you are a fork
• You pee into the wind and are surprised to be damp
• You are like a blade without a handle.
• You are all handle, no blade.
• Sharp as a marble that one
• At this point you can only impress me
• The bar was on the ground and I see you brought a shovel.
• I expected nothing and I was still disappointed
• I would agree with you but then we would both be wrong
• The wheel is spinning but the hamster is dead
• He only has two brain cells and they are both fighting for third place
• You are not the biggest idiot in the world, but you better hope he does not die.
• It is impossible to underestimate you
• The bar was so low it was practically a tripping hazard in hell, yet here you are,... limbo dancing with the devil
• You have such experience with going down on him your throat has memorized the veins.
• I have climbed over the dead bodies of better men than you to get to the toilet.
• You have a thumbless grasp of the subject.
• You appear to be trying to start a battle of wit. Unfortunately I don’t fight unarmed opponents.
• I have been called worse by better people
• Have the day you deserve
• You talk a lot for someone nobody listens to.
• Was so ugly that they have to sneak up on a toilet.
• You have the right to remain silent but not the ability.
• I am a gold digger and you don't even appear to afford Bronze.
• Having you around is like losing three good men.
• I hid your honour in a place you’d never find it, in the arms of someone who truly loves you.
• You were never dropped as a child because you were never held.
• If you help it is as if two people stopped working altogether
• Your existence highlights the strengths of everybody else
• I am impressed with your commitment to your current level of understanding.
• Somewhere in an attic, there is a portrait of you getting smarter
• I can explain it to you but I can’t understand it for you
• You are at the absolute top of the bell curve.
• You sure make this look hard.
• I concurred the castle you crawled out of (I fucked your mother)
• It’s nice to know your family lets you out in the daylight.

Spiritual

• Give this child the spark, make my edge sharp and my shield firm so I may walk upright into your kingdom.
• [Insert thing] is the greatest proof that the gods love us.
• Our purpose is the search for purpose.
• Let the gods choose between us
• May the next world be better for you than this one.
• May you better yourself in the next life.
• Exit this world and thereby improve it.
• I commend my soul to any god that can find it.
• I will leave the streets of hell crowded after the day is done.
• God give me patience, because if he gives me strength I will need bail money.
• Angels make the most wicked devils.
• The gods may judge you, but their sins far outnumber your own

Threats

• Pick a god and pray.
• Pig in silk can still become bacon.
• When the noose goes tight, I hope the weight of your sins will follow
• Your punishment will serve as the longest yardstick for the horrors that traitors can expect.
• History will judge the punishment of your betrayal as the furthest extreme of horrors meted out to traitors.
• I will make you into pavement lotion.
• I will feed you, your own teeth.
• I will hang you by your feet and pour liquid metal up your ass.
• I am a monument to all your sins.
• You cannot kill me in a way that matters to me.
• One day, you will decompose, and I will be there to witness it.
• I may knock on the gates of heaven, but I will be using your skull to do it.
• I am the nightmare you made when you spilled our blood.
• I am the avatar of your consequence.
• I've been at the mercy of men just following orders. Never again.
• Do not quote laws to us, who carry swords.

Jokes

• How do you know if your magic sword is blunt?
  • When it starts critiquing your form during combat.
• Why do paladins wear chainmail?
  • Because it’s holey armor.
• Why did the Halfling stop dating his Warforged girlfriend?
  • Because she was too high-maintenance.
• What’s a beholder’s favourite food?
  • Eyes Cream!
• What forest animal helps the druid get that nice green colour for their robe?
  • A Dyer Wolf!
• What tool helps a wizard with writing the correct runes into their spellbook?
  • A Spell Checker!
• Where does the ranger keep their arrows?
  • In the monsters!
• Which body of water do you get bonuses to sail across?
  • The proficien-sea!
• Why was the musician kicked out of the tavern?
  • He was bard!
• Why do wizards like fireball much?
  • It’s a well-rounded spell.
• How to Aarakocra prefer to send messages?
  • Via Twitter.
• What do you call a cult of deep old one warlocks who worship their astral ankheg overlords?
  • A sect-ant!
• What is a cleric’s favourite hot drink?
  • Divini-tea!
• Why is a necromancer not always a bad guy?
  • Sometimes they just want to raise a family in peace!
• What’s a rogue’s favorite medium armor?
  • Hide.
• What’s a rogue’s favorite metal?
  • Steel.
• What do you call an orc with two brain cells?
  • Pregnant.
• Why are there no dwarven lawyers?
  • They cannot pass the bar.
• How do you get a bar full of Dwarves up on the roof?
  • Yell “drinks on the house!”
• How many goblins does it take to paint a house?
  • Depends on how hard you throw ’em.
• What’s funnier than a dead goblin?
  • A dead goblin in a clown suit.
• Anytime they see an undead. “People are dying to look like that guy”
• Why did the dragon sleep during the day? To fight the knight!
• Two ogres sitting there and this worg is just licking itself. The first ogre says to the second ogre.. I wish I could do that.. .
  • The other says ‘nah, he’d bite you’
• Two Orcs are sitting, eating a bard in a harlequin costume. One turns to the other and says “Does this taste funny?
• Did you hear about the sensitive rogue thief?
  • He took everything personally.
• What does the ogre call a knight in armour?
  • Tinned beef
• What does a dragon call a knight in armour?
  • Tinned roast.

Motivational speeches

• Awaken steel, bring forth the spear, and let us walk through this red mist to a bright new dawn.

Reassurances

• To grieve fully is to have loved fully. Open up your heart the same way to the world, and you will find a stronger reason to be in it.

specifically, im talkig about the game rules themselves, not not feedback forms

Wildermyth is a *computer* game with a neat procedural story generation, but it falls short it many areas.

I want to use something like it for my TTRPG, but want to see more resources first to see if anyone has seen anything else like it, or if they have any designs they're working on / have worked on that they're willing to share.

So, I get this might be a little weird or niche topic, but I am looking to design a homebrew research and experimentation system for my games (I'm the GM). The setting of our next campaign will be in an early-modern (17th century) inspired fantasy world. Historically this was when science began to distinguish itself from alchemy and other more esoteric belief systems.

One of the players wants to play an alchemist/natural philosopher with a focus on research through the campaign.

So far I have thought of something in the structure of a basic research experiment:

1 Formulate a hypothesis - Ask the player what he wants to test

2 Design an experiment to test the hypothesis - Ask what methodology he wants to use (in general terms)

3 Create the experimental setup - The player and GM establish what the character can achieve with the available materials and equipment in regards to the experiment

4 Perform the experiment - Roll dice with modifiers to check wether the experiment is performed competently.

5 Interpret the results. If conclusive either reject or accept the hypothesis. - The GM describes the results (and maybe gives hints whether the player should attempt to reproduce the experiment or not).

I myself am a student in engineering, but being a relatively inexperienced GM (this next one will be my 3rd campaign GMing), I would like to know if anyone has either played a campaign that touches on these themes, or if there are any systems that aproach experimentation in a more serious way with mechanics that I could borrow/alter to fit the setting.

Hello, can you give me your thought and opinion about the skill list and resolution system of my game. My objective was to have fast resolution with small number and few to no calculations.

Skills are separated in two independent groups, with each having its own pool of points to distribute. (I already talked about this choice here)

Exploration Skills

• Strength: Ability to exert raw physical power. (Examples: lifting a heavy object or breaking down a door)
• Agility: Ability to move quickly and supplely. (Examples: climbing onto a rooftop or outrunning pursuers)
• Dexterity: Ability to perform precise manual tasks. (Examples: picking a lock or forging a document)
• Stealth: Ability to avoid being noticed. (Examples: moving silently or hiding in the darkness)
• Endurance: Ability to withstand hardship. (Examples: enduring a grueling journey or resisting poison)
• Knowledge: Ability to recall information. (Examples: knowing the history or the properties of a plant)
• Lucidity: Ability to analyse and reason. (Examples: examining tracks or understanding a mechanism)
• Perception: Ability to notice things through your senses. (Examples: spotting movement or hearing a distant voice)
• Insight: Ability to discern true intentions. (Examples: detecting a lie or recognising suspicious behavior)
• Charm: Ability to earn the trust of others. (Examples: calming an animal or persuading someone)
• Presence: Ability to intimidate or command attention. (Examples: intimidating a creature or delivering a speech)
• Luck: Ability to benefit from chance. (Examples: finding the correct path or winning a lottery)

Combat Skills

• Melee Attack: Ability to make Attacks against targets within melee Range (less than 2 meters). Any Action intended to injure or otherwise hinder a target is considered an Attack.
• Ranged Attack: Ability to make Attacks against targets beyond melee Range.
• Melee Defense: Ability to block or evade Attacks made by opponents within melee Range.
• Ranged Defense: Ability to anticipate and evade Attacks made by opponents beyond melee Range.
• Vigor: Ability to withstand injuries and recover from them.
• Power: Ability to wield and resist supernatural Powers.

Resolution system

As for the resolution system:

Each skill have a value between -1 and 3.

Whenever a Roll is required, the GM specifies which Skill applies and the difficulty of the roll (between 1 and 6). The value of the Skill determines the type of Roll: 

• Skill = 3: Roll 3 dice and keep the value of the highest one as the Result of the Roll.
• Skill = 2: Roll 2 dice and keep the value of the highest one as the Result of the Roll.
• Skill = 1: Roll 1 die and keep its value as the Result of the Roll.
• Skill = 0: Roll 2 dice and keep the value of the lowest one as the Result of the Roll.
• Skill = -1: Roll 3 dice and keep the value of the lowest one as the Result of the Roll.

You can find the whole chapters about skills and resolutions in the full document at pages 3 and 4 : https://ltesta.itch.io/another-path

Thanks for reading

I am in the main prototype stages of my ttrpg where i will be looking for editors and artists soon to help flesh out my system more. I have a discord server with progress reports, balance changes, and upcoming playtests. If your interested in giving it a lookover this is the prototype core rules). It is lacking in the art department for now and the layout and wording could be better but that's my gameplan with getting editors and artists. Any art i currently have is from one good friend of mine who helps when he has time

Currently this is just the prototype rulebook. I am working on the main rule book where almost all of the edits and changes will be going into with the prototype only being updated if huge changes happen or something is completely unbalanced and needs fixing for players.

Aetherfall is a modular tabletop RPG in containing a multitude of crafting systems for every combat type, bases, gear, potions, creatures/npc's. This system is built for every playstyle with no hard set classes. This system uses a action economy similar to pathfinder but uses 4 actions instead of 3. Light weapons use 1 action per attack, medium uses 2, and heavy uses 3. Spells use 2 at a minimum but heavy magic weapons(like big staves) use 3. You use yhe same 4 action economy during defense as well to block and dodge so you have to use your actions intelligently

There are no missed attacks in Aetherfall. Every attack is assumed to hit and survival depends on how well you dodge, block, or have the armour values to shrug the hit off. Skills and spells are built from modular parts. For example when making a spell you choose a essence(element of spell), a cast(where you spell originates from in the world), a shape(how your spell fires or interacts with the world), an effect(what your spell does to the thing it interacts with), and enhancements(upgrades to further improve a spell). There is a similar system for every other form of combat

Magic called Aether flows through all living things.The creator of this world descended down and gave us this power but with one condition, Danger is coming. Nobody knows what but it is set to arrive in 5 years time. Can people master control over the Aether in this time?

I have a game mechanic in mind where pools of dice are being thrown to check for the effect, let’s call them Damage and Soak.

If damage roll, that is usually done with smaller number of dice of various sizes is higher, then a soak roll, done with larger amount of smaller dice, an effect triggers.

I understand intuitevely I am dealing with two overlaping curves, but how do I collectly calculate what is an actual chance of one dice pool rolling higher then the other considering normal distribution.

I’ve been designing Hellebore, a TTRPG built around fast and fun combat, and I’d love some critical eyes on it before I run open playtests.

The core idea:

• Roll d20 + one of four abilities (Might, Agility, Mind, Will) against a target number. Beat it by 10 or more for a critical, miss by 10 or more for a critical failure. Natural 20s and 1s do nothing special.
• Your class is a deck of cards. You hold a hand of 7, draw back up each turn, and spend 4 action points on cards. Each class has a 24-card starter deck.
• No grid: two lanes per side, Front and Back. Melee hits only the enemy Front unless a card says “any lane”, and changing lanes costs 1 AP.
• Characters get marked by traumatic events and pick up quirks (virtues and afflictions), inspired by Darkest Dungeon.
• Monsters mostly play from a short hand of actions instead of a deck, so the GM has less to track.

The goal: encounters that are quick, easy, and fun without removing the complexity of players' decks and card management.

Quick rules (3 pages) + one class’s cards: https://main.wildbloom-studio.dev/hellebore-tts/hellebore-quick-rules-v0.2.pdf

Full Core Book draft (all rules, classes and complete decks): https://main.wildbloom-studio.dev/hellebore-tts/CoreRuleBook_version_0_2.pdf

What I’d most like feedback on:

1. Reading only the quick rules, could you run a fight? What’s unclear?
2. Do 4 AP and a hand of 7 sound fun to manage, or like too much bookkeeping?
3. Does the two-lane system feel like enough positioning, or too little?
4. Do the “deck = class” and the trauma/quirk systems fit together, or pull in different directions?

Five playtest classes are ready (Warlock, Trickster, Duelist, Warcaller, Alchemist). There’s a full Core Book draft and a Tabletop Simulator setup if anyone wants to dig deeper. Thanks for reading!

Picture a dungeon like the one in Dungeon Crawler Carl: lots of crawlers going down floor by floor, a timer on every floor, and loot boxes for doing well.

Now add a handful of unique relics, five for the whole dungeon, each with a power no normal item has. Think a bow that never misses and never needs arrows. They're mostly on the deeper floors and very hard to get.

The catch is that everyone can see who's holding one. So anyone who could use that bow knows exactly who to go after.

Does that make for good drama, or does the holder just get dogpiled until the relic changes hands every fight? Has anyone tried something like this, in a tabletop game or a video game?

Need an ultralight action-horror TTRPG to play this spooky season? I just published VISCERA, an incredibly lean, and incredibly mean little game in trifold format. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Some game design buzzwords: d6 dice pool, zero arithmetic, push your luck, fiction first, no levels, no HP or Damage, meta currency, wounds, death spiral, abstracted wealth, morality mechanics, edges and flaws, downtime system, player sided rolls, quantum inventory

This is the evolution of my Challenge Dice system I started designing on this sub like, almost a decade ago. Jesus I'm getting old. I'd love feedback on this version. There are huge limitations I put on myself making it into a trifold, it's seriously missing some examples of play. Do you still understand the rules with what is there? Working on longer form version for a larger project but I still think this version is playable as is.

Soo. I'm creating an rpg system, and it's real hard. Do you guys have any tips??

The name of the system is HXBRIDOL, and it's about

hybrids, magical creatures, and wizards it's based on the cyberpunk style league of legends vibe (the series), I already made the theme, base, some of the may it works (fight, magic, cards, dice and etc) but I still feel like something is missing😭😭

NOT EVERYTHING IS DONE YET

(Inglish is not my first language, sorry. And I don't know how to use the app😭😭)

Hi folks

I've been working on a system (Edit: fantasy TTRPG for context) for a while now and I feel like it's at a point where I can't go much further without running playtests, but I want to make sure that I test a variety of different play-styles to see how they fare in different scenarios.

If I make all the concepts myself I feel like I will, either consciously or unconsciously, optimise the gear and skills to be most useful, so I figured I'd throw this net out and invite people to share whatever they would consider a classic character archetype or build, and then I will make 10-15 of them as the pregen characters and put them through their paces, to see if different styles of build all have different strengths and weaknesses, or if there are things that prove to be flat-out useless.

If you'd like to throw a concept into the mix, please leave it in the comments. You can use the template below if you want to make it even easier for me to represent them mechanically, but the system is meant to work for representing a broad variety of things, so a more free-form concept is also fine.

I look forward to seeing what you all come up with, and I appreciate any and all responses.

Edit: If you're using the template, it only needs to be like one line of stuff per section. I don't need entire backstories or move sets (although you are certainly welcome to include more details should you wish to).

Thanks in advance,
TTP

Template

Personality: What are they like as a person? Charming? Stern? Manipulative? Intimidating? Ruthless? Honour-bound to act nobly, or lying as easily as they breathe? Are they well connected and wealthy, or scraping by and constantly needing to get the next job done just to be able to afford bed and board?

Background/Profession/Career: What sort of background does this person come from? Are they a mercenary? A thief? A monster slayer? Treasure hunter? Researcher for some university? Independently wealthy thrill-seeker? A religious figure acting in accordance with their god's will?

Style of Offense: Are they agile, nimble fighters that attack rapidly? Do they want to strike from the shadows and only attack surprised targets? Do they make big, high damage swings? Are they a dual-wielder, focusing on damage output and neglecting defence? Do they focus on ranged attack with a bow? A crossbow? Are they a mage? Do they fight unarmed as a brawler, or a fluid martial artist?

Style of Defence: Do they use a shield to tank blows? Magical wards? Nimble dodges to evade foes attacks? Are they an armoured juggernaut who allows blows to rain down on them ineffectually? Do they actively deflect and parry foes attacks? Do they avoid getting hit by focusing on stealth, staying hidden until the perfect moment to strike?

Gear (Armor/Weapons/etc.): How is this person outfitted. Do they have a weapon of choice? Armour, or regular clothes? A shield?

Magic: Can this person use magic? If so, what is their focus? Do they use a particular element? Are they a summoner? Are they using magic to augment their other abilities, or is it their primary thing? Do they focus on wards and protection? Nature magic? Healing?

-----------------------------------

I've been thinking about how much work goes into getting a small tabletop RPG noticed these days.

You're making the game, writing & playtesting the rules, sorting out artwork and production, running a website, fulfilling orders...and then you need to look at actually telling folk about what you've done.

So that means keeping up with the likes of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Reddit, Discord, YouTube, newsletters, blogs, and whatever new platform appears next week.

It sometimes feels like, whether you'd prefer to or not, you need to become some sort of social media personality and spend time on platforms you'd otherwise rather avoid, just trying to make some noise without being seen as spamming.

All when what we really want to do is just make the next game!

I'm not complaining. It's part of being a small independent creator, and there are some really cool communities out there. But it did get me thinking about the other side of the equation.

For those of us who enjoy indie TTRPGs, it's easy to scroll past a post from a small creator without thinking much about it. But a like, a thoughtful comment or a share can really help that person's work reach someone new. You don't have to buy every game or follow every creator. Sometimes a little engagement is enough to give someone a boost.

And for those making games yourselves, I'd love to hear your experiences.

How many platforms do you actively use? Have you found any that are genuinely worth the time, or is it just a case of trying to be noticed and relevant everywhere at once? And what sort of support from the community has actually helped you get your work noticed?

There are so many interesting games being made outside the big publishers. It would be great to find more ways to help people discover them.

I've done some research and I can't find anything that quite fits what I'm looking for? I may just be a new level of stupid or something but everything I've looked at isn't it.

I want something that can be restricted to the confines of a physical book but still be online too. I want it to have the same kind of layout the Pathfinder books do to where each page has the imaginary line in the middle of it separating the left half from the right half on each page. But I also want it to be easy to include images and a way to set a page background so each page has a special design but the design matches every other page in the book not just the plain white background

I also want a way to be able to make like the physical book cover but digitally inside of the same program or something similar.

And In case it wasn't clear I want it to have the same book like properties to where it can't just expand down infinitely so when you get to a end of the page you have to go to the next page.

What's the best way to incorporate that on a mobile phone that doesn't require to much confusion?

Edit: I also want it to have a easy table of contents to where it has the big chapter like classes then mini chapters for each class

Juggling a buncha ideas and I'm wondering what (the royal) you think about relying on stats to do the heavy lifting versus either having skills or bundling skills with stats.

Clearly one can be strong and not automatically a great wrestler. One can be smart and not know anything about quantum mechanics.

So I feel there's value in building a skill system of some type, but it also seems to be so often weighted wildly differently from game to game or to be ignored almost totally for a broader framework (classes?).

This specific thing has been bugging me a lot the past day or so. I've been reading the old WEG Star Wars and it's got Xd6 stats and Xd6 skills. Just a day or so ago, v3 of HyperspaceD6 landed and that uses Xd6 stats and a +1-6 modifier, thus changing the weight of skills dramatically.

This is a game that's essentially built on the same engine but takes a very different approach in that framework.

So I ask you all, how do you weight your skills and why? Or do you just roll them into a class/background structure like Shadowdark?

Thanks.

Would love thoughts and feedback on this character advancement system!

What we Focus On Grows Bigger

Each character begins with 2 Focus to invest.

Focus can be invested in Skill expertise, learning new Arcana, or a special Bond. This represents where the character spends their time and attention outside of the adventure. What they train, cultivate, and grow. Anything they invest Focus in, they can use on their adventure.

(Example: Bob has 2 Focus. He invests 1 in Athletics, increasing his bonus from proficient (+1) to expert (+2). He invests his other point in bonding with his magical sword, unlocking the first tier of abilities for the blade. Both will be useful on the quest.)

Invested Focus gradually turns training into mastery. In the downtime between adventures, mark a segment on a clock for each point of Focus in each investment. Investing Focus beyond the minimum for a benefit won't increase the bonus, but it will make you learn it faster. Some things will take longer to master than others. When the clock is complete, the skill, Arcana, or bond is now a permanent part of the character, and their Focus may be reinvested in something new, like a different proficiency or taking a Bond to the next level.

(Example: Bob has kept his Focus invested in his Athletics mastery for two full adventures, and now it's part of his character, giving him a permanent +2. He's still a couple sessions away from mastering his blade. 1 point of returned Focus, plus another point he's earned from experience, gives him 2 Focus to re-invest. He's interested in bringing Max, a corgi the party has rescued, along with them on the next mission, so he spends his downtime training Max to heel, fetch, and ankle bite. He invests 1 Focus in their bond and 1 in learning Animal Handling, along with keeping up his magic sword training. Soon he'll have a very capable pup companion that can adventure alongside the party.)

Characters can also shift their Focus during downtime. If they withdraw Focus before a clock completes, that skill, arcana, or bond goes dormant. The clock doesn't lose segments, but they can't use it on the adventure. Instead, they can use whatever they've shifted their focus toward. This allows characters to switch leveling paths and adapt to the next adventure, if they know what challenges it will bring, and always with the option to go back and finish their training.

(Example: A dragon's den is no place for a yapping pup, so Max will have to stay behind for this next assignment. Bob withdraws his Focus from training Max and invests both points into practicing with his Heavy Weapon and Armor. He knows he'll need to be at the top of his game to take this beast down. He loses his Animal Handling bonus for now, but his attack and defense rolls will be higher. When the monster is slain, he can pick up training right where they left off.)

When characters invest their Focus to learn new spells, it increases their general mastery of magic. Each point of Focus currently invested in learning a new spell is added to a character's Magic stat to give their bonus for Arcana rolls (the roll you make to determine how effective your spell is on an enemy). Each level of spell requires additional Focus to learn. This investment requirement is reduced if the character has access to a teacher.

(Example: May wants to master the Journeyman Arcana "Blink." She has 2 Focus invested in learning it. As long as that Focus stays invested there, she can use Blink while adventuring, and her Arcana rolls to determine the effectiveness of her magic are made at +2. If she had a good teacher, she would only need to invest 1 Focus to learn the new spell, and she could even master two Journeyman Arcana at once. It will take a few missions before she has mastered "Blink," and then her Focus will return to be reinvested.)

You can invest your Focus in special projects, relationships, and craft and knowledge expertise (like singing, cooking, or weaving) during your downtime. If it's not feasible for you to practice where you are mid-adventure because of resources or circumstance, you may be limited in what you can train at that moment. Wherever you invest it, the character gets the bonus right away for the next session, and it becomes permanent over time. This is how characters advance themselves and gain the special techniques and abilities that are the hallmarks of high-level PCs.

On the GM side, you grant the characters increases to Focus, HP, and TP on a milestone basis. Over a campaign the expected range would be something like going from starting 2 to 5 Focus at the very top end.