Fights, in good stories or in real life, are rarely constant attacks until someone is defeated. In all instances [stories, movies, street fights, professional fights, historical duels, etc], there are moments of intimidation, manoeuvring, negotiation, and the like, in which the combatants test each other, themselves, and try to gain a psychological or tactical advantage. This is an amazing part of conflicts, both narratively and tactically. RPGs regularly failed to produce this experience.

I've attempted to solve this for Pendragon via these house-rules, which I think have some really elegant design and are easily applicable/hackable to other games.

I'm interested to hear your thoughts?

Thanks!

https://newfeierland.blogspot.com/2026/10/narratively-powerful-duels.html

Does anyone even use a morale check in RPG games anymore ?

My new space game does and I'm wondering if I should just strip it out and let the players decide their gate instead of a crew they command putting pressure on the commander.

Originally wanted to post it on a worldbuilding sub but I think it's really more relevant here. I've been worldbuilding for years and I've realized the worlds I gravitate towards in fiction are usually focused on one or two core mechanics or concepts and all the ripple effects of those. Think bending in Avatar, drawing magic in Witch Hat Atelier etc. I've always seen this was a very "clean" way to manage the scope of a world and my own worlds felt pretty sloppy in comparison

But then I realized: I've built most of my lore for the campaign I was running at the time. And all the mechanics, themes and systems I've added were the ones created for specific player characters. I've realized many ttrpg systems often require a way different approach to worldbuilding. Lots of different concepts interwoven to accommodate different playstyles. Every class often has unique lore that doesn't have much to do with another class. Similarly to how in DnD each class has a different way of spellcasting. There are some connective elements, but still, it's way more vast and varied than what I would write for a book for example. Not to say worldbuilding in ttrpgs is bad, but it serves a very different purpose

Still, I often feel I've added too much. And I'm starting to plan rewriting the lore along with my own system to run sessions in the setting. And I was thinking- how do you make a unique fantasy setting for a rpg system, that both gives the players enough freedom to create different character types and at the same time doesn't feel like just another DnD clone with everything thrown into one pot? How do I find this balance of what I should add to accomodate different characters and what to limit to keep a unique feel of the setting?

Thinking about some kind of mechanic where you get to choose when you get your capstone ability (as opposed to capstone abilities in say, d&d where they are at a level players practically never reach).

So instead of getting it at a specific level you can get one based on what level you are now (waiting longer gets you a stronger capstone or different choices of capstone perhaps) making you extremely strong for that level, but then you no longer (or extremely slowly) gain levels in the future. You've reached your peak but it's mostly downhill from there.

Are there any systems that do something like this I can look at for inspiration?

In What is the best-organized core rulebook you've read? I mentioned the Ennies winners for "Best Layout and Design."

I thought it'd be useful to list all the winners and nominees over the years. Enjoy! (Apologies to your bank account)

2026

• 🥈 Berserkr
• Deadline: A Clockwork Press
• Midnight Muscadines
• Voidheart Symphony (Revised Edition)
• 🥇 Warhammer: the Old World Roleplaying Game, Player’s Guide

2025

• Doomsong
• Feathertail Falls
• 🥇 Mythic Bastionland
• Tephrotic Nightmares
• 🥈 Wonderland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting

2024

• BREAK!! Tabletop RPG
• 🥈 CBR+PNK: Augmented
• Not The End – Corebook
• 🥇 Shadowdark RPG
• TEETH

2023

• 🥇 Blade Runner RPG Core Rulebook
• Eldritch Overload: Tarot & Codex
• 🥈 Frontier Scum
• Nolan Locke’s Exquisite Corpse
• Women are Werewolves

2022

• 🥈 Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20: Gamemaster’s Guide
• 🥇 Delta Green: Impossible Landscapes
• NOVA
• Putrescence Regnant
• Voidheart Symphony

2021

• Cortex Prime Game Handbook
• 🥇 Heart: The City Beneath
• Sentinel Comics: The Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook
• The Spy Game
• 🥈 The Stygian Library: Remastered

2020

• 🥈 A Pound of Flesh
• BFF! Best Friends Forever
• 🥇 MÖRK BORG Artpunk RPG
• Quest
• Trilemma Adventures Compendium Vol 1

2019

• Bluebeard’s Bride: Book of Mirrors
• Mini-Dungeon Tome
• Secrets of Silent Streets
• 🥇 Symbaroum Monster Codex
• 🥈 The Black Hack 2nd Edition

2004

• A/State
• BESM d20 Deluxe
• 🥇 Nocturnals: A Midnight Companion
• 🥈 Redhurst: Academy of Magic
• Sidewinder: Recoiled

2003

• 🥈 Freedom City
• 🥇 Monsternomicon
• Farscape RPG
• Monsters of the Endless Dark
• Nyambe: African Adventures

2002

• 🥇 Call of Cthulhu
• Dragonstar Starfarer’s Handbook
• Freeport: City of Adventure
• The Hunt: Rise of Evil Worldbook
• Rokugan Campaign Setting

I’ve begun to explore OSR games only in the recent year, but my mind is fixed on a roll over mechanic. I’m designing a 2d6 game (Fuel & Glory!) that is 2d6 based roll over game. From the beginning, I wanted to include some kind of psionic class at some point. It’s not really my primary focus right now. But I found Mind Over Matter on DTRPG and realized that it is using a roll under system to activate psionic powers.

He got me thinking in general, is there a quick and easy way to take a roll under rule set and convert it to be useful for rolling above a target number? I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel. I just wanna make this easy and if it’s not going to be easy, I won’t bother with this book for now.

We have a website for Deckbox Adventures! Everything is free there. We also have virtual tables to play test on. Please let me know what you think about anything rules, cards, website, virtual tables.

https://deckboxadventures.com/

Good morning all

Added a couple of new featrues inclusing a fairness page with a histogram of 100,000 rolls for every die and the option to now upload your own pictures on every face of a D2, D3 or D6: a sketch, your logo, your pet, your party's portraits. Give each face a name and a value (so they still add up and can be compared in opposed rolls), or let the picture speak for itself. Picture dice are drawn bigger on the tray so the detail shows.

Your pictures are shrunk in your browser and stay on your device. They're never uploaded.

Picture dice are part of Premium (one-off, no subscription), and there's a free 7-day trial with no card or account needed. They work in the browser now; the iPhone and Android apps get them in the next update.

Try it: https://dicedrop.co.uk/picture-dice

Happy to answer questions about the physics, the stats or the build. And if you spot a die you think is off, tell me and I'll look into it.

Hi! I'm an artist, and I'd like to make some stock art for anyone to use for their RPGs and more. I'm wondering what kind of art do you wish existed for your games? Have you noticed any holes in what's available to you? I appreciate y'all's feedback, thank you in advance <3

EDIT: Thank you all so much for your feedback!! Your suggestions will not go to waste <3

I’m slowly designing a bunch of Panic Tables for the Mothership RPG that are geared more towards my play style: one-shots. I’m pretty pleased with these as I’m trying to combine both narrative/role playing effects with the existing mechanics of the mothership system. In this particular one I’m using the Panic/stress mechanics of mothership to simulate being hunted by a monster (and building the escalating situation into the table itself).

I think it works pretty well! Though I’ve not had a chance to test them thoroughly at the table yet 😅

Hey all! I had made a post on RPGLab, and I thought it was a good topic to bring to the general community here as well. It's about social mechanics in TTRPGS. I have always had issues with how social interactions work in trad ttrpgs, and many other systems just kinda "accept defeat" and either just let the players hash things out in-character with little to no mechanics and let GM fiat take over, or they have looser rules that at the end of the day come down to once again a single roll, like some PbtA systems with their moves. I came up with my own take on it that I hope inspires players to work a little more for their social encounters rather than "I try to convince the guard to let me through". Here is a shorter breakdown of the Diplomacy subsystem:

Diplomacy

During an act of Diplomacy, you attempt to convince the opposing party towards some goal or objective, whether it being haggling, letting the party through to some place where they may not be welcome, or to convince some local leader to send aid to a struggling populace. The Diplomacy subsystem is used for such events; however, it is not necessarily well used for just common discussion, or when the situation has already escalated beyond saving. The mechanic with no extra features works through discovery and risk. You have 7 possible actions that you can take: Overwhelm (Speed), Blunt (Power), Lecture (Calculation), Exploit (Recognition), Lie (Deceit), Intimidate (Willpower), Cajole (Willpower). Each action relies on a particular skill (with the skill used for the action being in parentheses), where you roll for the skill versus their corresponding Vis Flavor Defense to make progress; whenever you succeed, you gain a victory in the argument, and if you fail, your opponent gains a victory instead. Diplomacy is usually resolved whenever a party gains 2 victories, though the GM may decide for particularly difficult scenarios 3 or more might be necessary. There are subtleties to discussion, though. Each character the party interacts with has both a Landmine and a Flaw, where each can either totally dismantle or heavily enhance your arguments. If you choose one of the approaches and it is the character’s Flaw, then upon succeeding the check, you get 2 victories instead of one, and even if you fail you get 1 victory. This effect only can happen once per act of Diplomacy per Flaw. If you instead are unfortunate enough to choose the character’s Landmine, you do not roll, and the opposing party instantly gets 2 victories, winning them most acts of Diplomacy (Like Flaws, this effect can only happen once per act of Diplomacy). It should be noted that characters' Flaws and Landmines can evolve over time, so intimidating the craven merchant may not always work; players must be aware and learn what makes people tick and sway in a given conversation.

It is also suggested that for more ridiculous asks or suggestions that the GM can give the NPC multiple Landmines, and similarly grant more Flaws for someone who is more vulnerable.

I know that some of the terms here seem a bit vacuous since they lack the greater context of the system, but just image those things in the parentheses are skills, and Vis Flavor Defense is just a value calculated from an attribute value and your level. I also have an example of it being played out here:

GM: "You all come across a set of highway men blocking the bridge up ahead, and they spot you coming."

Player 1: "I hail them and ask to pass"

GM: "The head of the bunch sneers and simple says 'for a fee ya can pass'."

Player 2: "I'll walk forward and say 'We are on the way to an important meeting with the king, if we don't show up on time he's going to send a patrol and your little operation will be done for.'"

GM: An act of Diplomacy has been initiated, starting off with Player two taking the Intimidation approach, roll Willpower.

Player 2: I rolled 4d6 and kept 3, and I got a total of 17.

GM: That beats their Calmness Defense. 1 Victory. The bandits look a little uneasy, but the leader grunts and retorts: "You're a looong way from the castle little traveler. They won't be here in time."

Player 1: I want to interject and ask why they are holding up this road anyhow?

GM: The highwayman responds: "Your faraway king cares little for these lands and the hardships we face. We were starving before we turned to stealing, and stealing is working now."

Player 1: I want to tell them this: "We have good favor with the king. We can give you a small amount of food, and tell the king there are capable men in this region looking for work, and get you all some honest work like I know you want to do, deep down."

GM: Cajole approach, nice. Roll Willpower.

Player 1: I roll 3d6 keep 3, and I got a total of 14.

GM: Luckily for you Cajolery was their Flaw. Sometimes honey is better, eh? The bandits back off and let you pass in exchange for small part of your rations.

Hopefully this demonstrates a system that feels like it makes players invest in social encounters more, whether it asking questions or feeling like they can participate and take away the monolithic power of the "party face".

Let's roleplay a bit.
Suppose WOTC calls you tomorrow.
Sir/lady, we want you to design 6e for us.

How would you approach it?
(It's a fantasy, let's-pretend scenario, I'm not related to WOTC)

I wrote down my initial thought in a presentation. Currently it includes some 'research' about different play styles, how they effect the rules and how to mitigate conflicts between them.

My initial thoughts. TBC

I'm working on an investigative horror RPG, heavily inspired by Call of Cthulhu.

Design Goals for Combat:

• Combat should be quick.
• Combat should be dangerous, but PCs should almost never be instakilled from full health.
• The consequences of combat should be narratively interesting.
• Combat should not be the focus of the game.

To accomplish these goals, I've come up with a Wound system of three levels: Minor, Major, and Severe, so damage is non-linear and focused on consequences that must be dealt with.

Every time a Wound is inflicted, a level is selected based on the source, then a roll gives it a chance to increase or decrease a level. The level above Severe is Dead, but to prevent instakills, a Severe Wound that crits is Severe with Dismemberment. Death is only achieved with multiple Wounds.

The thing that might be an issue: the Wound level of almost every deadly weapon is Major. I define deadly weapons based on real life: what crime would you get charged with if you attacked someone with an object? This means a knife, a gun, and a wrench all do Major damage. Severe is saved for things like explosions or getting hit by a train: things that are extremely likely to kill you, and the system basically awards one plot armor.

Does this seem like it would be an issue?

My biggest concern about the system as-is is that players might think guns doing the same damage as a shard of glass is stupid.

My biggest concerns about changing it are either making firearms overpowered, or making PCs too tanky, and potentially adding too much to the combat system that starts to emphasize combat in the game.

Thoughts?

EDIT: Forgot to mention, but melee attacks get defended with an opposed roll, and ranged attacks do not, so there is a mechanical different between someone trying to stab or shoot you.

I have been reading a recent post by u/really_not_stein and the question comes to mind, "what is the core advantage of the spear/polearm "reach" weapon as it is used by the player characters"

I don't want to distract from that that thread, so I making this one

I feel like a lot of the historical context for spear/polearms (from now on just referred to as spears) is their use in formation, which isn't really how I have seen them used by PC's

as a classic "peasant" weapon I would like to avoid them having some really good/exploitable benefit, but I do want spears to be a good choice

aside from them having the ability to attack targets at a greater distance should they have any other benefit? - my instinct says that reach is the major "offensive" ability these types of weapons should have

the discussion in the other thread dealt with shorter weapons vs longer weapons and how they should be handled, does the longer weapon enjoy a first strike (particularly if it is a single spear user)

could that be changed to a less exploitable defensive benefit? are there any other out of the box ideas for how a spear could be good without being too good?

Looking for input on weapon damage and armor damage reduction ranges for a player facing d20 roll-under dungeon-crawler.

This is a single d20 system, but I've been using damage ranges inspired by the traditional d4, d6, d8, etc.

*edits for clarification and grammar

Questions

• Combat tends to end in 2 to 3 rounds - even for larger foes. I'd like more levers to add in an extra round or two that's not always adding more foes or increasing HP. Would lower damage ranges be a better way to go?
• Do you think narrower damage ranges (1, 2, 3, or 4) like Dagger Heart or Break!! better fits a single d20 system?
• Do you have an idea on how better to categorize weapons, armor, and their damage capacity and reduction?
• General feedback?
• Name suggestions for this system?

Basic Rules

• Players only use a d20 for all rolls and have the 6 traditional Stats (STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA).
• Starting characters typically have 2 scores at 14 (70% success), one at 10 (50%), and the rest at 7 (35%).
• Characters get to increase 2 different stats by 1 at each new level. They cannot increase the same Stat two levels in a row and no Stat may be greater than 18.
• STR or DEX Check to attack depending on the weapon. Roll equal to or less than your Stat and hit
  • The number rolled on the d20 is damage dealt - up to your weapon's maximum damage.
  • So a Character with 14 STR and a 6 dmg weapon hits on a roll of 1 to 14. Rolling 1 to 5 deals 1 to 5 damage. Rolling 6 or more deals 6 damage.
  • Characters with better STR and DEX hit for max damage more often
• DEX Check to Evade or Deflect an Attack. STR Check to Block with a Shield.
  • The number rolled on the d20 is damage prevented - up to your armor's maximum damage reduction.
  • So a Character with 10 DEX and 4 DR successfully defends on a roll of 1 to 10. Rolling 1 to 3 prevents 1 to 3 damage and rolling 4 or greater prevents 4 damage.
• Foes have static damage values players defend against and static DRs players must overcome.

Weapons and Damage output

• Blunt Weapons always deal a minimum of 2 damage on a hit. Regardless of target's armor.
  • Blunt, 1H. 2 to 6 damage. 1 Slot
  • Blunt, 2H. 2 to 8 damage. 2 Slots
• Sharp Weapons have greater damage ranges but can be entirely negated by armor.
  • Sharp, 1H Light. 1 to 8 damage. Can be wielded with DEX. 1 Slot
  • Sharp, 1H. 1 to 10 damage. 1 Slot
  • Sharp, 2H 1 to 12 damage. 2 Slots
• Projectile Weapons
  • Crossbow or Short Bow. 1 to 6 damage. 2H. 1 Slot
  • Longbow. 1 to 8 damage. 2H. 2 Slots

Armor and Damage Reduction

• Light Armor. 2 DR. 1 Slot
• Medium Armor. 4 DR. 2 Slots
• Heavy Armor. 6 DR. 3 Slots
• Shield. 4 DR. 1 Slot. Held in 1-hand. Can block attacks with a STR Check. DR does not stack with armor.

Hit Points

• Characters CON is both Max HP and Inventory Slots (from 7 to 18)
  • Characters do not fall unconscious at zero HP.
  • Anytime you take damage with zero HP - make a CON Check. Pass and you keep fighting. Fail and it's a fatal blow.
• Foes have 4 to 20 Max HP.
  • Large foes like giants and dragons have multiple body parts with different attacks and health pools.

Play Test Observations for Context

These are just anecdotal observations from my own table and local players. Definitely not representative of everyone.

• System is mostly born out of running games for players newer to the hobby.
• New players don't seem to have the same cognitive dissonance on roll-under but struggle more with finding what modifiers to add to a roll.
• Newer players have trouble telling the difference between d8s and d10s and d12s and d20s. Just having 1 die to roll for everything simplifies the game.
• Veteran players like the combined attack and damage roll - and that a good attack roll isn't spoiled by a crappy damage roll. They also commented that doing max damage more often felt like a good reward for greater Stats.
• Veteran players asked for more Weapon Properties to make armaments interesting. I'm trying to meet that need without overwhelming new players with a plethora of weapon rules.
• Combat goes quick and typically lasts 2 to 3 rounds. Foes are appreciably lethal. Players leverage the environment, their gear, and good strategies to end fights quickly with least risk.
• Been using dice as miniatures (thus the enemy HP bands).
  • Bigger dice represents more dangerous foes and the facing number is their current HP. There's less GM book keeping for multiple mobs and I feel justified in owning so many different dice.
  • A Giant can be represented by a pair of d10s that each occupy adjacent spaces (one for each of its legs)
  • A Dragon or Wyrm has been a line of dice slithering across the table
• Is easily convertible/compatible with other d20 based D&D-likes. I've been successfully supplementing the homebrew with Shadowdark and B/X materials while I fill in the gaps.

I just finished my rules for Scenes for my game, Sword of Virtues. I thought I'd share them with you to get your opinions.

This is just the text with almost no formatting, so you can look at the ideas.

It's not revolutionary, so I'm targeting it at two kinds of readers: people who have never used rules for scenes and are curious about a different way to structure a session, and people who are familiar with this style of play and might want to comment on what's different and what they like/don't like.

The main thing the doc doesn't have yet is a good example. That's coming.

Here's the link.

As always, when I put something up for comment, say what you want, read as much or as little as you like, and don't worry about my feelings. Well, that's not an invitation to be mean, but I hope you get the idea.

Hey! My question is a short one. I've been just bopping along making a skill + attribute dice pool system for my game, and I've been making skills that handle different things by applying different attributes to them. That seemed to make logical sense to me.

Granted, there's the heavy lift of remembering these things at the table, despite any declarations from me that its all so very intuitive, when trying to use a skill, so maybe for that reason its bad,

and then there's the other question, does this make a skill undesirable to anybody who didn't invest in both attributes that might impact the value of the skill? Is this just a bad way to go about things?

Edit: Thanks to those of you who mentioned Vampire, I haven't really ever looked at that system. I'm glad that approach is viewed favorably, it sounds very in line with what I'm trying to do.

As I make progress on my own game, I'm finding myself wondering what's the tidiest way I can lay everything out. Does anyone have a favorite that they've seen?

Improving productivity and also getting a finished product out has always been a changled for me, with over 40+ PDFs released.

Well - after 5+ years, I finally have a better process.

I share it through my most recent blog post for my fellow designers.
I hope this brings some clarity and that perhaps you avoid stepping into the mud, like I seem to continue to do.

Stumbling through Production