Questions tagged [game-design]
For questions about the design of RPGs themselves. Not for questions about homebrewing subsystems, rules, or house rules questions. More specific tags may apply—click “info” or “learn more…” for a guide.
246
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How can I make weapons of the same playstyle (reliable/risky) in my dice pool system (Feedback Loop) feel distinct mechanically?
I am currently making a sci-fi biopunk TTRPG system. In the system, attack rolls are made by rolling 4d6, then adding together either the 3 highest or the 2 highest rolls, depending on the weapon. If ...
- 330
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2
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How can I simplify a series of rolls without changing probability too heavily?
Ok, I'm working on a combat system converted from a video game to a tabletop game, and I'd appreciate some feedback on how I can make my combat defense system work. Currently attacking is handled as ...
- 330
27
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10
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How can the probability of a fumble decrease linearly with more dice?
I'm working on a simplified RPG system that uses only D6s, and I want a mechanic for fumbles/critical fails.
Depending on how good the player character is, they have 1-5 dice to roll and they have to ...
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4
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Is there a citation for "D&D is not a physics simulation"?
In multiple questions that deal with how the rules lead to outcomes that differ from what one would expect from real-world physics, answers make the point that "D&D is not a physics ...
- 143k
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How could I lower the rate of critical successes?
I'm trying to create my own RPG, to play with friends. To be honest, I never played published RPGs before, only home-brewed ones, but I don't feel like spending money on a thing that I may never use, ...
- 2,441
5
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3
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Advice for designing clocks in PBTA games
I'm creating a PBTA game about mice with swords. The feel I'm going for is "little creatures in a big, dangerous world."
I'd like to use clocks so that the GM can track moon phases and ...
- 17.5k
3
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2
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307
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How to design a superhero rpg around a certain power level? [closed]
A common thing in superhero rpgs is that they're designed for all characters to be within a specific power range, mainly for balance purposes and not having to deal with absurd situations like Aunt ...
- 13.7k
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0
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How do I develop a vehicle design system for a tabletop roleplaying game (examples include Traveller, Striker, and Fire Fusion& Steel)? [closed]
How do I develop a crunchy simulationist vehicle design system for a tabletop roleplaying game (examples include Traveller, Striker, and Fire Fusion& Steel)?
How do I develop a vehicle design ...
- 121
5
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1
answer
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Attack Range to Movement per Turn Ratio; Dunnigan's Ratio?
TL;DR
What is the less-obscure replacement to the term 'Dunnigan's Ratio' - the range of ratios of weapon ranges to typical distances moved in a single combat turn that produce tactically interesting ...
- 51
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3
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Benefits of PC attribute generation methods? (custom RPG)
I'm working on a pen and paper RPG of my own, and have hit a snag on determining stats for beginning player characters (such as Strength, Intelligence, Perception and the like); I'm not sure whether ...
- 43.1k
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7
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How to handle falling down during LARP combat?
I am currently working on writing the combat rules for a Dishonored LARP with a team, and we are stuck on how to proceed with a certain point: handling falling.
Sometimes during LARP melee combat my ...
- 10.3k
2
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0
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What are the design differences between Pathfinder 2E and D&D 5E? [duplicate]
(I do not believe this is a duplicate of What are the major differences in style and system between D&D 5e and Pathfinder 2e? [duplicate] -- despite the similar name, the answer there just ...
- 2,612
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5
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Does this trigger violate GM principles? Can it be fixed?
I have been working on homebrew class replacements for dungeon-world, and as part of this we have added "class triggers". Class triggers look like the compendium class triggers. However ...
- 29.2k
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Is it possible for a single system to handle a huge range of different power levels?
I'm thinking about designing a game based on Shonen battle anime, and one of the aspects I'm having difficulty modelling is the range of power scales. The anime I'm referencing (Dragon Ball, Naruto, ...
- 13.9k
6
votes
2
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How do I calculate probability for the dice mechanic in my custom indie ttrpg?
I am currently working on writing an indie TTRPG based on the "press your luck" style games instead of being based around miniature war games.
I am struggling to understand the probabilities ...
- 24.4k
19
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5
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Is there any known reason for the seeming paradigm change for the number of skills?
I'm collecting RPG systems and have almost a full library worth of books lying around. From what I saw, at least the big systems that were available in my country between 1990 and 2000, almost all had ...
- 23k
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2
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How do I determine a baseline difficulty when converting a d100 system to a d20 system?
How do I mathematically determine a baseline difficulty number when converting a d100 "roll under" system to a d20 "roll over" system?
The Basic RP system (and variants) uses a ...
- 102k
20
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3
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When I'm making a Powered-by-the-Apocalypse game, how do I pick good questions for moves like Read a Person?
The Apocalypse World RPG has the following move:
When you read a person in a charged interaction, roll +sharp. On a 10+,
hold 3. On a 7–9, hold 1. While you’re interacting with them, spend
your hold ...
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How many rolls of a D20 would you expect to equal or beat (20 - number of tries)?
I have what is chiefly a probability / game-design query, but one with a clear RPG gaming purpose behind it.
Assume I have a check in some game system, using a single 20-sided dice, that requires ...
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4
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2
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Can I get some help on calculating damage per round in my homebrew, that mixes d20s and d6s?
I am tweaking my homebrew RPG and trying to determine various Damage Per Round through an Excel spreadsheet. Here are the details:
A single players always roll d20 system where 20 is a auto hit and 1 ...
- 1,080
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2
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Why Does Spellcasting Have Levels?
I was reading this question, and it occurred to me:
I don't know why the designers of 5e chose this magic system. There are a lot of spellcasting systems out there, and I want to know why they choose ...
- 149k
7
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1
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Easy Tracking of Sliding Ranges on Character Sheets
Background
I am making an RPG that uses poker/Yahtzee like hands from die rolls instead of the normal "dice+mods vs target number" paradigm for determining effects of character actions. Each ...
- 43.1k
4
votes
2
answers
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How to make a good height and weight table? [closed]
I am wondering how I would make a good height and weight table that has balanced ranges across a range of around 6-8 feet. When I have tried making a table, it always ended up being too light for ...
- 43.1k
5
votes
1
answer
775
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How to balance a one page RPG that has three scores? [closed]
I recently saw a great little one page RPG called Potatoes shared by Death by Badgers on twitter:
Potato, a one page RPG about being a halfling and trying to quietly enjoy your potatoes in a world ...
- 89.6k
3
votes
0
answers
2k
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Why is the base DC for a spell saving throw 8? [closed]
Does anyone know what was the rationale behind making the base DC of a spell saving throw 8 instead of 10 in D&D 5e? Most attacks, passive attributes, spell attacks use 10 as the base. The average ...
- 114k
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2
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What is the reason for introducing the rule for Attacks of Opportunity in D&D?
The Attacks of Opportunity are an important part in D&D and spinoffs of the game like Pathfinder. What does this rule do for the game-system? How does it affect the fun of the players? Why was ...
- 2,047
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3
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Where does the concept of "failing forward" come from in RPGs?
Listening to some old podcasts, I stumbled over the idea of "failing forward" mentioned in a March 2020 (in this interview) edition of Court Games (RPG). The game designer Max Brooke there ...
- 29
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3
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What would be a good 'fantasy' disinfectant/antiseptic? Is it necessary? [closed]
I have been consuming a lot of LARP, bushcraft, and military survival content lately, but I've noticed something about material hygiene and cooking that's got me thinking about fantasy cooking/...
- 114k
7
votes
2
answers
304
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Adjust difficulty without affecting character's capacity, without adding steps to assess result, for a dice pool with unvariable target system
I'm searching for alternatives to adjust the difficulty for a count success system with a d6 or d10 dice pool, where characters' stats form the pool (ex: dext 3 + guile 3 = 6 dice pool).
The ways I do ...
- 2,047
20
votes
6
answers
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How do I make players more comfortable in an unusual historical setting?
I run a lot of games/write systems set in specific historical/cultural contexts, because I like rpgs as a way to explore them and think they provide a great sense of place. However, I tend not to ...
- 51.3k
4
votes
1
answer
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Balancing a conflict resolution system favouring players picking a spread of skills and attributes in a challenge, while rewarding some over others?
Introduction
I'm hoping I can draw on the Game Designer experience of this stack to help be make a decision on a dice-based conflict resolution system I'm designing for an RPG that I've been ...
CommunityBot
- 1
2
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1
answer
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Determining dice pools for given percent chances of numbers of successes
The Question
I'm working with my friend on a new (we think) dice system for a homebrew RPG (soon to hit the TTRPG world by storm, no doubt). A design goal is that players' statistical success rate at ...
- 4,435
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5
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Is there a Open Game License (OGL) or similar life-path system out there?
I've decided to try and "build" a system of my own, and I've decided to make it a "life path" system but I don't really want to start from absolute scratch, but thus far I've haven't found any open ...
- 2,047
9
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1
answer
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What information is available about the intended mathematics of D&D?
D&D 5e was heavily play-tested prior to its release. I have heard (but have not verified) that, at low levels, the hit rate of the attack rolls of PCs was intentionally optimized to be ...
- 2,047
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2
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What is a "Game Jam"?
If you've been in TRPG General Chat before, you may have seen BESW share a link to a "jam" on itch.io that's about tabletop games. Curious, I went to itch.io and there is a Game Jams tab ...
- 13.5k
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How do I work out the skill modes for a new Fate game design?
I’m working on a new Fate implementation as a personal project, deriving mainly from Fate Core, and I’d like to use skill modes for its skill system — I feel modes would be extremely suitable ...
- 49.9k
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votes
4
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Calculating dice pool probability with limited rerolls
I need a probability calculation script that works with various dice and dice pool sizes, that accounts for a mechanic that allows you to reroll up to X dice that are failures, but ONLY once per die. ...
- 4,435
8
votes
2
answers
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What is the probability distribution for CthulhuTech rolls?
I've recently learnt about CthulhuTech, which has a unique dice pool system:
CthulhuTech uses a proprietary game system known as "Framewerk" that focuses on a dice pool system. An unusual ...
- 4,435
4
votes
2
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331
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How to resolve player confrontation without dice or stats?
I will be running a homebrew RPG.
It is going to be a mystery game played over Signal. One day in game will be played over three days in real life. Players are characters in a hotel, they find a ...
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What systems should I look at to see how hit points as a resource impacts gameplay?
So I've got a system I'm designing in my limited spare time. Two of its features are experimental and I don't really have a good basis for judging how they'll play out together.
First off, instead of ...
- 49.9k
4
votes
1
answer
306
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Making a new TTPRPG with some mechanics borrowed from DnD5e and PF2e SRD
I am making a new TTPRPG for a non-English market. I use many class concepts and mechanics mainly from PF2e and DnD5e SRDs, but not their lore, world settings or named trademarks.
My questions are:
...
- 352k
13
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3
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Is repeated playing the only way to test system balance?
I've been working on a new RPG system, a variant of Savage Worlds, for a special one-off game I'm designing for my friends. Everything is going well, but one thing I've found myself wondering more ...
11
votes
3
answers
1k
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Dice rolling mechanic where modifiers have a predictable and consistent effect on difficulty
I am looking for a dice rolling mechanic that makes it such that increasing or decreasing a modifier on the roll has a constant multiplier effect on the probability of the outcome.
Say you have to ...
- 4,435
4
votes
0
answers
95
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First time Pathfinder GM and I want to make an animal companion one shot [closed]
This is an odd question, but I figured y'all could help me. I have been playing Pathfinder and DnD for years, but I have never created my own one shot. I am creating a high-level one shot for my ...
- 19.6k
4
votes
0
answers
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Running a Low Magic RPG for beginners [closed]
I'm running a campaign for a small group of friends- we're inexperienced with tabletop RPGs. The campaign leans heavily on the story I've written and I wanted it to be more character driven than ...
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1
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How to hire freelance writers for my self-published RPG who will adhere to my canon?
I'm in the early stages of writing my own tabletop RPG System/Setting. I plan to self-publish most likely, probably starting off just on DriveThruRPG and seeing how it goes from there.
And I'm looking ...
- 143k
15
votes
3
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Does this proposed move cross the line? And what does that mean for me?
I have a move I am working on for throwing improvised projectiles.
Lob
When you hurl an object at a foe from a distance, roll +DEX.
On a 10+, the object soars to its mark.
The enemy takes a Hit.
On a ...
- 4,287
5
votes
3
answers
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Which systems use a dice pool *and* highest score mechanic? [closed]
I'm trying to design a system with a dice pool mechanic that looks at the highest roll in the pool as well as total number of successes? I want to show the quality of a success and it's extent.
...
- 19.6k
22
votes
2
answers
3k
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Roll Xd6, keeping highest value and adding +1 for each duplicate of that value?
I'm making a card/dice game and I'm trying to set something up on Anydice to compare the odds of the dice rolls, but I'm having some trouble wrapping my mind around some of the language Anydice uses.
...
- 28.8k
4
votes
2
answers
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Mana, Backlash and Slots: how to limit a magic system
Generally, I encountered three big systems for limiting the amount of magic that characters can wield at a given time in my RPG career. This is not to be confused with the number of spells a character ...
- 43.1k