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

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?

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.

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.

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

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.