Thanks, I appreciate it. It's a little like sharing my GM notes, so I was a little worried, but so far people like these weirdos.
I made this thing for a game jam. Its 12 weird patrons for spicing up your player options with a healthy dose of chaos. This kind of thing is maybe not that useful for most, but I'm giving it to y'all anyway. I mean somebody out there probably wants to make a deal to serve a taxidermied unicorn.
Questions or feedback appreciated.
Yes. page 23 has an example, an actual sheet is here. It's bundled with the documents from the Itch page, but maybe I should also throw it on the end of the book?
![the background blur](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/879cdedd-47e1-4980-963e-35bde1d0cf24.jpeg?thumbnail=256&format=webp)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/879cdedd-47e1-4980-963e-35bde1d0cf24.jpeg?thumbnail=1024&format=webp)
Finished a big rewrite of my rulebook. It's a goofy time-traveling action mess of a game. I've been working on and playing the game for almost 3 years now, but the rulebook is falling behind where the game is at the table. I would really appreciate it if anyone that likes reading rulebooks could check out the Google Docs version and see if there is anything obviously incoherent or typos.
The entire game is 100% free and will always be that way, I'm only interested in sharing my esoteric design.
If you see this big pile of gamma world inspired jokes and think it sounds like fun, I'm down to talk about how to run the game, or answer any questions. Thanks Y'all
![the background blur](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/78e1c770-ff8e-460d-8454-5231587f8643.jpeg?thumbnail=256&format=webp)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/78e1c770-ff8e-460d-8454-5231587f8643.jpeg?thumbnail=1024&format=webp)
After spending a lot of time with my homebrew system, I have a newfound respect for the "with a twist" trend in current TTRPG. Like you can really blow the doors off a setting or subsystem if the frame is sturdy and/or familiar. If things are too alien everything is hard to learn and it's hard to get to the good stuff.
For me I read a lot more indy games than I get to the table, and I like to read the novel and innovative, but I'm actually not sure that something wholly new is what I want at the table most of the time.
Not that I dislike the game I made, it's just that maybe smaller iterative design has the potential to be stronger where it counts?
I wrote a bunch about the specifics here. With a special guest appearance by Mark Rosewater via his blog.
Curious about folks experiences with innovation, complexity, scope, and being "too original."
![the background blur](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/bb45d455-246a-472d-bab5-25a9e505f60b.png?thumbnail=256&format=webp)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/bb45d455-246a-472d-bab5-25a9e505f60b.png?thumbnail=1024&format=webp)
Wrote a new blog today on two different topics. 1st my inability to finish a project vs my desire to start 20,000 more projects. 2nd about saying yes to players.
Making a storytelling first game, taught me to bend over backwards to say yes to my players. Really excited to take this philosophy with me into other running other games. The line behind enforcing the rules and giving players what they want can be hard to navigate in some systems, it's not even always easy in my super squishy system. I have never gotten so much narrative collaboration from players though. Letting them invent their own answers, being flexible, and rolling with player ideas.
Curious about any stories experiences with saying yes, especially to something you never thought of before they uttered it. I think collaboration is something ttrpg excel at and is underused in lots of game styles. I want to hear about it. Anybody have anything they put into their own designs to encourage collaboration?
If you order a package that passes through the hands of the USPS it gets literally thrown. If you live in an urban area the logistics are not even set up that could sort packages without throwing them. On the upside throwing microwaves is good exercise.
![the background blur](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e28878a4-8d44-4a3f-886b-975437ebd501.jpeg?thumbnail=256&format=webp)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e28878a4-8d44-4a3f-886b-975437ebd501.jpeg?thumbnail=1024&format=webp)
I wanted to run a horror game in October, so I'm trying an experiment to see if I bend my action narrative resolution mechanic to run a very different genre. The real simple version of the system is it's a skill check system where you roll once to represent an entire encounter, and then players take the lead on narrating the story to fill in all the details of the one giant dice roll. To try and do horror I changed all the supporting systems/skills/goals and replaced them with more genre appropriate ones.
I had a couple ideas I thought were clever and typed up a prototype today.
I don't know if it work, but I think this kind of experimentation is both fun and maybe it will teach me something.
Anybody here ever work on a full conversion? I created my game to begin with because converting d20 games wasn't giving me what I wanted. I never got a full conversion further than prototype for any system. Curious what other people learned from trying something like this.
If I were building a horror game from the ground up, I don't think I would use this resolution mechanic, I would probably aim for something that felt more reactive. Horror is really tough genre, and I think disempowerment and bad things happening to characters are tricky to make work in all games, and especially shared narrative. It's probably outright impossible to scare my friends sitting at a table as a group, but I'll settle for telling exciting stories with the horror tropes.
That's my hypothesis anyway, going to try it out and report back. Really want to hear about other peoples experience doing conversion design or any ground up horror design.
Indeed there are free web-based rollers, a discord-bot, a free app, and even a free 1st party Fantasy Flight app. Still get a lot of eyerolling at the dice.
![the background blur](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/5a1cf79d-8715-4b56-9654-1a58b1fa143b.jpeg?thumbnail=256&format=webp)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/5a1cf79d-8715-4b56-9654-1a58b1fa143b.jpeg?thumbnail=1024&format=webp)
Crosspost from Reddit RPGdesign
Today I planned on writing about the cost of unique design (my game is pretty unintuitive in a lot of ways, because it's different) but figured out I couldn't really talk about how I made all those weird decisions until I talked about where/why I ended up with the core resolution mechanic I did. That is how I ended up with a very unique and therefore not very intuitive game.
Chronomutants has been many years in the making. Started with me hacking the hell out of Gamma World 7e back in 2010, circling back around to that system in 2018 and producing a lot of homebrew for it, becoming fully disillusioned with DnD (and other d20 games) by 2020, failing at hacking Gamma World into other systems from up until 2021, building a Forged in the Dark version, and then giving that up for a unique system based on me not remembering correctly how Warhammer Fantasy worked.
Here is the blog where I talk about my dissatisfaction with hacking leading me to a custom system locked behind proprietary dice (bad for sharing the game).
What the blog is kind of secretly about is about my choice to make the best playing game that meets my goals/needs being at odds with making something that I can share with strangers. My idiosyncratic design is one thing, actual hurdles are probably a bridge too far. It's a really big ask to get anyone to play a homemade game, it's a much bigger ask to get someone to use custom dice to do so.
Unfortunate, because it plays great, and is really weird and funny.
This kind of stuff gets into art for arts sake vs marketability (I'm not even selling anything). Anybody here have any stories or experience with choosing the best playing mechanics over more popular ones?
I feel like that game was really sold as a "shelf game" with being big and pretty and cool. I hope there is a good index at least.
"Rules are IMO less important than setting" that's the hottest take I've gotten so far. I agree in spirit. I love it when the rules get out of the way of narrative and immersion. That's probably why I love Electric Bastionland so much. It's got a real solid simple foundation that I can use for any story about exploring a dangerous space.
That blog is a fascinating pitch. Thanks for the rec.
5e rulebook has a very weird balance of lore/rules. There is so much lore, like pages for each race, but they are fairly vague. I have a hard time imagining anyone using the loosely Tolkien races strictly as presented in the rulebook. So I ask why so many pages dedicated to that?
Blades is incredibly slick in it's design. I think it's the best example of modern design where the mechanics and lore lean on each other. Because of the way many of the setting decisions are designed in subtle clever ways to add to the play, it makes me intimidated to run it, because I'm worried I'm going to get it wrong and weaken my game. I would have to do a lot of studying and run it a few more times before I felt I was really getting it.
Sure. I'm still trying to get the lay of the land over here. In my defense, I'm not selling anything and would really like to talk about lore in rulebooks.
![the background blur](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e9f0aba3-7f60-4596-bd54-8ddc03d043d2.jpeg?thumbnail=256&format=webp)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e9f0aba3-7f60-4596-bd54-8ddc03d043d2.jpeg?thumbnail=1024&format=webp)
Wrote a new blog today about how much setting should go in a rulebook. It's different for every game, but I feel a lot of games put too much lore in with the rules.
I know it's really hip to have your setting lean on your mechanics and vice versa, so neither works great without another, but I am more of a fan of rules that support tone and play patterns that reinforce genre more than specific settings. Probably mostly because I am not big on learning a lot about a setting before I feel good about running a game.
I also like to have lots of room to improv and make a setting my own. I know you can do that with any setting, but I just feel more confident doing that with less definition in the setting.
I could probably drop a little something more into my rulebook as a stinger to get people excited about what kind of fiction the game presents. I guess that could be interpreted as setting, or at least adjacent.
Curious about what other think about this topic.
https://infantofatocha.itch.io/chronomutants/devlog/572397/whats-a-paradox-war-anyway
![the background blur](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/4a9443eb-eb87-4109-88a6-4961d06c4963.jpeg?thumbnail=256&format=webp)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/4a9443eb-eb87-4109-88a6-4961d06c4963.jpeg?thumbnail=1024&format=webp)
Wrote a new blog today about how much setting should go in a rulebook. It's different for every game, but I feel a lot of games put too much lore in with the rules.
I know it's really hip to have your setting lean on your mechanics and vice versa, so neither works great without another, but I am more of a fan of rules that support tone and play patterns that reinforce genre more than specific settings. Probably mostly because I am not big on learning a lot about a setting before I feel good about running a game.
I also like to have lots of room to improv and make a setting my own. I know you can do that with any setting, but I just feel more confident doing that with less definition in the setting.
I could probably drop a little something more into my rulebook as a stinger to get people excited about what kind of fiction the game presents. I guess that could be interpreted as setting, or at least adjacent.
Curious about what other think about this topic.
https://infantofatocha.itch.io/chronomutants/devlog/572397/whats-a-paradox-war-anyway
![the background blur](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/8cadb1b9-0292-4537-b35a-72a834d8c8ec.jpeg?thumbnail=256&format=webp)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/8cadb1b9-0292-4537-b35a-72a834d8c8ec.jpeg?thumbnail=1024&format=webp)
Wrote a new blog today about how much setting should go in a rulebook. It's different for every game, but I feel a lot of games put too much lore in with the rules.
I know it's really hip to have your setting lean on your mechanics and vice versa, so neither works great without another, but I am more of a fan of rules that support tone and play patterns that reinforce genre more than specific settings. Probably mostly because I am not big on learning a lot about a setting before I feel good about running a game.
I also like to have lots of room to improv and make a setting my own. I know you can do that with any setting, but I just feel more confident doing that with less definition in the setting.
I could probably drop a little something more into my rulebook as a stinger to get people excited about what kind of fiction the game presents. I guess that could be interpreted as setting, or at least adjacent.
Curious about what other think about this topic.
https://infantofatocha.itch.io/chronomutants/devlog/572397/whats-a-paradox-war-anyway
![the background blur](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/47ab6334-cb20-4708-8ea6-983c12084ba4.jpeg?thumbnail=256&format=webp)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/47ab6334-cb20-4708-8ea6-983c12084ba4.jpeg?thumbnail=1024&format=webp)
Wrote a new blog today about how much setting should go in a rulebook. It's different for every game, but I feel a lot of games put too much lore in with the rules.
I know it's really hip to have your setting lean on your mechanics and vice versa, so neither works great without another, but I am more of a fan of rules that support tone and play patterns that reinforce genre more than specific settings. Probably mostly because I am not big on learning a lot about a setting before I feel good about running a game.
I also like to have lots of room to improv and make a setting my own. I know you can do that with any setting, but I just feel more confident doing that with less definition in the setting.
I could probably drop a little something more into my rulebook as a stinger to get people excited about what kind of fiction the game presents. I guess that could be interpreted as setting, or at least adjacent.
Curious about what other think about this topic.
https://infantofatocha.itch.io/chronomutants/devlog/572397/whats-a-paradox-war-anyway
That's a neat example. I bounced off of teaching myself fate from the big book because it didn't seem worth the trouble, I guess I should have looked at the little one.
![the background blur](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/433fa86c-4a70-46a6-81e8-4a7f28090229.jpeg?thumbnail=256&format=webp)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/433fa86c-4a70-46a6-81e8-4a7f28090229.jpeg?thumbnail=1024&format=webp)
Today's blogpost is all about my flailing to refine and streamline my design docs into a coherent rulebook. I read enough of the d**** things you'd think I would know how to compile and order one. I understand the basics and where I went wrong, and have roadmap, but compared to design development is long and grindy.
Would really love if other folks have input on what makes a rulebook good? what have people done to make their projects easy to get? Which books are your favorite examples? What are your biggest hurdles?
For me I intellectually understand what needs to be there, but actually getting the writing clean and succinct to read is a challenge. I see a lot of DiY books for of background art and such trying to emulate a AAA book but they don't have the text and order of content hammered out 1st, I didn't want to move to layouts until my text was set, but maybe that's a mistake? Curious to see what people think.
Today’s blogpost [https://infantofatocha.itch.io/chronomutants/devlog/565553/how-not-to-write-a-rulebook] is all about my flailing to refine and streamline my design docs into a coherent rulebook. I read enough of the d**** things you’d think I would know how to compile and order one. I understand t...
![How (not) to Write a Rulebook - Lemmy.World](https://ttrpg.network/pictrs/image/b1515c80-de5c-4948-bd04-590e8387350a.jpeg?format=webp&thumbnail=256)
Today’s blogpost is all about my flailing to refine and streamline my design docs into a coherent rulebook. I read enough of the d**** things you’d think I would know how to compile and order one. I understand the basics and where I went wrong, and have roadmap, but compared to design development is long and grindy.
Would really love if other folks have input on what makes a rulebook good? what have people done to make their projects easy to get? Which books are your favorite examples? What are your biggest hurdles?
For me I intellectually understand what needs to be there, but actually getting the writing clean and succinct to read is a challenge. I see a lot of DiY books for of background art and such trying to emulate a AAA book but they don’t have the text and order of content hammered out 1st, I didn’t want to move to layouts until my text was set, but maybe that’s a mistake? Curious to see what people think.
![the background blur](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/74b16c4e-d319-4d44-9d48-5407b02d4ea6.jpeg?thumbnail=256&format=webp)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/74b16c4e-d319-4d44-9d48-5407b02d4ea6.jpeg?thumbnail=1024&format=webp)
Today's blogpost is all about my flailing to refine and streamline my design docs into a coherent rulebook. I read enough of the d**** things you'd think I would know how to compile and order one. I understand the basics and where I went wrong, and have roadmap, but compared to design development is long and grindy.
Would really love if other folks have input on what makes a rulebook good? what have people done to make their projects easy to get? Which books are your favorite examples? What are your biggest hurdles?
For me I intellectually understand what needs to be there, but actually getting the writing clean and succinct to read is a challenge. I see a lot of DiY books for of background art and such trying to emulate a AAA book but they don't have the text and order of content hammered out 1st, I didn't want to move to layouts until my text was set, but maybe that's a mistake? Curious to see what people think.
![the background blur](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/4dd69aaa-cbee-4433-84cc-4770efc9f566.png?thumbnail=256&format=webp)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/4dd69aaa-cbee-4433-84cc-4770efc9f566.png?thumbnail=1024&format=webp)
Looking for folks to trade a little proofreading. I will read your book and give the best feedback I can on your document. I am not an editor, consider this more like a playtest for an enthusiast seeing your book. I do read/love a lot of rulebooks and game. I can tell you what does/doesn't make sense to me. I can tell you what spelling/grammar mistakes I notice. I can tell you if I see any rules contradictions. If you want I can also give design feedback/impressions, but I was thinking more of a editing pass, at least for what I would like in return.
Specifically, I'm looking for feedback on clarity of my rulebook. Awkward sentences, poor grammar, unclear rules. My rulebook is 20,847 words. So if you have something for me to proofread it would cool to exchange. I feel like this is the only part of my book I cannot do without a 2nd person. You can DM me for specifics, and if you would like to see the gamepage to decide if you are interested first: https://infantofatocha.itch.io/chronomutants
![the background blur](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/ea92f713-d6f6-4914-b392-84a44655bbf0.png?thumbnail=256&format=webp)
![](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/ea92f713-d6f6-4914-b392-84a44655bbf0.png?thumbnail=1024&format=webp)
Looking for folks to trade a little proofreading. I will read your book and give the best feedback I can on your document. I am not an editor, consider this more like a playtest for an enthusiast seeing your book. I do read/love a lot of rulebooks and game. I can tell you what does/doesn't make sense to me. I can tell you what spelling/grammar mistakes I notice. I can tell you if I see any rules contradictions. If you want I can also give design feedback/impressions, but I was thinking more of a editing pass, at least for what I would like in return.
Specifically, I'm looking for feedback on clarity of my rulebook. Awkward sentences, poor grammar, unclear rules. My rulebook is 20,847 words. So if you have something for me to proofread it would cool to exchange. I feel like this is the only part of my book I cannot do without a 2nd person.
You can reply here or move to DM for specifics, and if you would like to see the gamepage to decide if you are interested first: https://infantofatocha.itch.io/chronomutants