Amateur Game Design and Homebrew ThreadWelcome to the thread for homebrew discussion on /tg/, Organizing Edition! It's an effort to get people to have classic homebrew discussions and assist the board in general when it comes to their game design endeavors.>Why should I homebrew?/tg/ products are fairly unique in that it's actually pretty simple to make them these days, with a plethora of products to assist in making and playtesting your game. Making your own games helps understand why games are made the way they are, as well as being fun to do.>What you should postIdeas for games, games you're currently making, updates to your own games in broad strokes, and any homebrewing for existing products that don't get much attention. Discussion about the above is welcome. Post good, be good, and look over others products, they care if someone looks more than anything.>Resources for the aspiring developer>https://anydice.com/ (A fantastic resource for checking probabilities)>https://miro.com/ (A online whiteboard with tools to help organize yourself)>https://www.notion.so/ (Similar to the above, but in a bit cleaner format for those who work in larger teams)>https://rolz.org/ (Impromptu playtesting at its finest)>https://www.youtube.com/user/georgephillies/playlists (Game Design Lectures)Thread Questions: What are you working on? What lessons have you learned during your project? Did you find any useful or neat tools?
>>98611665>What are you working on?d20 Fallout Homebrew.A scenario for Brindlewood Bay session.Only thinking about a concept of TTRPG that somehow related to the national culture.
Just converted Eclipse Phase to a simpler system called Violence. Probably kept too much math though.
>>98611665TQ:Working on a narrative skirmish game. Sci-fi but not so far off. I just really like dice pool systems and wanted to make a shadowrun/cyberpunk kind of vibe. Single teams/gangs working for corps, giving lots of narrative development, both the corp relationship and individual members. Thats the idea anyway. lots of ideas but fleshing out and balancing the core systems is taking a lot of time. I keep dreaming too far, thinking about the finishing touches adding some pictures.
>>98612643Mind sharing? Eclipse Phase is one of my favorite systems and settings.
I am trying to come up with 1v1 quickdraw duel rules for my RPG and I cannot for the fucking life of me figure something out that I like. I've been through 20 iterations, all equally worthless. I've looked through a bunch of games like Deadlands, GURPS, Burning Wheel, etc.
>>98613705what options have you been through? and what are you looking for resolution? Skill vs Skill, drawing the high card, rock paper scissors?3 skill contests, draw - aim - fire. best of 2 wins the shot
>want to design a game>ocd makes me unable to choose base stats or a dice mechanic for 2 fucking years, let alone finish a playtest
>>98611665SATTAR dev here, got someone who remembered the project a few weeks back in a thread about cool game mechanics and I said I'd post an update. How many posts is a polite limit to outline the system? Or should I make a design document pdf and host it somewhere?
>>98611665>What lessons have you learned during your project?With the amount of shit it feels like the song that never ends.On the bright side I have 7.7/12 chapters done.It feels like I need to cut some stuff before my X-mas deadline.
Well /tg/ Ive gone and done it. I made a fantasy heartbreaker. It's pretty far along and it's not anything fancy. It's just the game I like to play as I like to play it. I turned it into a heartbreaker with the intent to use it in conventions and such to get people to play it. If it gets produced one day it will remain a booklet type of rpg. Just like the origins of the genre.
>>98611665TQ: i just finished my victorian mages/supers game (just npc examples left). Its for personal use, and is 200 pages long (B5) with 0 artpieces outside of some flags and a mediocre map.Got inspired by an anon here to make a fantasy stone age game, i am still in the concept phase>>98615007You got anything you are willing to share here?
>>98614014We are always in need of bumps, feel free to do either
>>98613745I'm really trying to capture the feel of the contestants having a tense faceoff where you don't know who's going to start it. To me the interesting part is all the subtle maneuvering before blades or guns are drawn. Is that twitch him going for the draw, or a feint to get me to commit too early? Is he gonna lunge at me, should I strike now before he can get his attack off?So for example, SWADE Deadlands fails because you always have three rounds. OG Deadlands was actually kinda good with the GM dealing out cards and then both contestants declaring they attack whenever they think they've got a good enough poker hand, but I don't like the whole poker thing.
>>98615364maybe try riffing on liars dice? skip the poker rules and just go most of the same. or if you want more levels, highest sum total, but only counting one set of numbers.
As always, I'm making something too complex, too bean-counting, and too just play a video game.
>>98613376Still draft v0.1https://lukegearing.blot.im/violenceUse EP2E morphsCost: Starting characters get 1d6-2 Morph Points as they are not big heroesSavings, insurance and political actor backing means you can get MP Cost-1 back if your current morph ceases functioning.Avail: Roll d100 to see if it's avaliable in your area, subject to whatever extra Negative traits and gimmicks the GM feels likeWT: 6-WT = Reduction to Injury CheckDR: Represent being Downed, add 1 to th 16+ roll required per 5 points of DURBiomorph +2 per injury as normal, Synthmorphs +1 per injuryPools: Give Adv per point for whatever the GM thinks that pool applis to. Flex is free for the players to spend on making their lives easier.Movement Rate: Nomral human is 4 for walking and 20 for running. Anything higher or lower is going to either catch them or not given enough time.Ware: Like equipment in Violence, it has no stats but just does what the description says, maybe it's worth Adv/Disadv in a situation, the players cannot inherently rely on knowing.Traits: These are like skills but they stop when the morph goe away. They fit somewhere between Ware and Pools by giving defined limits or just vague bonuses.Sometimes they give penalties. I might have them cut into the 6 skill totals as a balance thing or maybe not.
>>98615950Flat - Normal human not many of them leftCost: 0 MP • Avail: 30WT: 6 • DUR: 30 • DR: 45Insight 0, Moxie 0, Vigor 0, Flex 0Movement Rate: Walker 4/20Common Extras: Many have the Genetic Defect trait- Exactly the same as normal Violence character- Only can find a spare human body 30% of the timeCase - The Clanking Masses, for the poorCost: 0 MP • Avail: 100WT: 5 • DUR: 25 • DR: 50Insight 0, Moxie 0, Vigor 0, Flex 0Movement Rate: Walker 4/12Ware: Access Jacks, Cortical Stack, Cyberbrain, Lidar, Mesh Inserts, Mnemonics, Puppet SockMorph Traits: Exotic Morphology (Level 1), Inherent FlawsNotes: Light Frame (Armor 6/4)- Synthmorph, so a whole range of extra traits the book only tells you in the generic description- Only adds +1 per Injury to Down roll- Everywhere they will sell you a garbage body- Cases take +1 Injury Checks because they are cheap garbage and get Downed on a 15+- They can't run as fast as a normal human being- Lots of Ware to interact with the world- Have peanlties to adjusting to being sleeved in such garbage, has a 10% chance to automatically take a second Injury if a 20+ is rolled for recieving an Injury- Light Frame sounds like civilian armor, so it does bear out their total Injury check modifier is -1 (+1-2=-1).
>>98615061post your map>>98615792too much to count? make a quick web app to speed it up? or is the point that it is crunchy
>>98616262No, my point is that every time I've ever tried discussing what I'm working on in these threads, those were the only responses I'd ever get.
>>98616335embrace your inner mexicanbecome one with the bean
>>98615007>>98615061This is the latest version, It's not pretty but the content is quite complete. If anyone has any comments I would like reading them.https://gofile.io/d/a4mvdacG
>>98616335Its like how it goes when playing video games anon.Worse player than me? Lmao what a scrub loser, git gud idiot!Better player than me? Get a life you permavirgin tryhard basement dweller.I wouldn't take it to heart.
>>98615792But why?
>>98616945you know you're on /tg/ right?
>>98616550I'll give this a deeper dive later,but man i love your weather flower. simple and functional.
>>98617049Thank you. Most of the game has been cobbled together over long years of just making a homebrew that was super easy to play and get games going. For Players, for DMs and even solo.
>>98616581It isn't about taking it to heart, it's about never getting any discussion out of what I post. It's a massive waste of time to compile my thoughts and explain things, just to see the same "ree video games" over and over again.
>>98616590Because I like making mechanics I've never seen before and compiling them into fantasy combat and exploration games in ways I think would be fun to play, because I can't get those experiences from the systems I've seen and tried before.
>>98611665I've been working on a Post Apocalyptic TTRPG for awhile now and I'm working through a second draft. my system uses a lifepath system I've based off of Traveller 2e with a minigame welded on so I use various occupations to give a character backstory during character creation. What kind of lifepaths would you want to see in a sci-fi apocalyptic setting.
>>98619093for Reference this is my current list of lifepaths. nts
>>98611665In theory I'm building a grand history simulator that functions as a grand strategy game without all the dlc. In reality I'm sitting on the floor with a box of pencils of color, drawing maps like a 5 year old. Which would be very soothing if I wasn't autistic and obsessing over whether the map is correct enough.>>98619093Fuck, I forgot lifepath rpgs were a thing, I have so much more to steal from now, thanks.
>>98616335You've never tried to discuss anything you've made, just make these weird passive-aggressive comments about what someone might say if you ever did. You've been doing it for years, even in threads that aren't about game design.
>>98619093Rimworld backgrounds come to mind as something to at least modify if not steal outright.
>>98616550I love the weather flower and the hexes/subhexes concept. I might use the hexes subhexes myself.
>>98619041Nvm I regret offering kindness, you're a cunt and your shit stinks. Go cry somewhere else fag.
>>98613705>>98613745>>98615364>>98615647How about this: Texas Hold Em but each participant is dealt 3 cards. Participants are still seeking the best 5-card hand. When dealer reveals a card, either participant can "draw weapon/aim/fire" by revealing one of theirs; high card = faster on the draw, gets to reveal theirs first in the next stage. Participants can keep the standoff going by passing and letting the dealer reveal more cards, maybe even deciding to back off completely when all 5 cards are revealed but no one's chosen to reveal their own 3rd card ("fire")So you have the randomization mechanics of a deck of cards and several layers of strategic considerations. Do you reveal a high card immediately "on the draw" to make the other party back off? Do you hold your high card until "aim" so you get to fire first? Do you keep your high card until "fire" to bait your opponent into committing and dying to your superior hand? If you blitz - "draw weapon" by revealing one of your cards once the dealer reveals their first, then "aim" on the second and "fire" on the third - dealer only gets to reveal 3 cards total; as you still want a 5-card hand, this obviously gives the advantage to whoever was dealt the 3 stronger cards.
>>98621797That's almost the same as how old Deadlands did it (>>98615364). I do like the pacing of the dealer drawing cards until one of them decides to go, but I don't like making poker hands. You'll have whoever is more familiar with poker hands winning because they can ID it faster, instead of anything self-contained to the game. Also, imo it limits it very strictly to a Western flavor, and I want a duel mechanic I can use for samurai or cyberpunks or flintlocks.Anon commenting on the bluffing games with die did make me think that I really want that feel of looking for an opening in the opponent.
>>98623011Sorry, posted too early. Where yours departs from Deadlands is the sequencing of the cards for the three stages, which I like.I wonder how character skill could be factored in. If you have a cold-blooded gunslinger or kenjutsu master, how are they better in this framework than the dissolute bard or bookish cleric or whatever?
>>98623036>>98623011>>98621797I was randomly reading the Book of Five Rings yesterday and this quote seems like it fits the feel of what you're going for?"See through the enemy's spirit so that you grasp his strategy and defeat him."
>>98616262Can't post files from my IP range right now for some reason.I finished the game. You can find the map on page 123 in the following pdf:https://gofile.io/d/KC044h6E
Ran a campaign that sucked with an unfinished system. Had to plaster all the gaps in it as they showed up, piling rulings on rulings. That sucked.Just wanted to share.
>>98623793It's a lot easier if you're also the designer but yeah
Is it just me or are all systems just RPS with bells and whistles?
>>98623065Honestly I was just spitballing and I'm not too familiar with Deadlands to begin with. What I was going to suggest was that the poker hand isn't "winning" but "the severity of the damage." So how hurt you end up depends on how good your opponent's result is. In that case, you could use class abilities for damage mitigation. Or let some classes alter the order of cards, or draw/discard extras, or...The point, I think, is that confrontation is deadly. If you're using westerns or samurai movies for inspiration, a lot of the time making your opponent back down in fear is better than actually fighting. But bad guys do that to, so eventually good guy and bad guy have to fight.>>98624034The only thing more balanced than Rock Paper Scissors is Tic Tac Toe.
>>98624030I can imagine. Writing a d20 fantasy heartbreaker doesn't look so difficult now that I've seen the shit they get away with publishing and profitting off of.
>>98624348Tic Tac Toe isn't balanced.
>>98621282Brushing people off isn't kind.
>>98629136Of course it is. Tic Tac Toe is a solved game that results in a draw every single time, assuming no mistakes on the part of either player. (A player who doesn't place their first marker in the middle or corner has made a mistake.) It doesn't matter who goes first. That's balance.
>>98611665glad to see you again, anons!I tried posting on reddit r/homemadeTCGs in your absence, but that place has become so anti-AI it's impossible to even post anything anymore. They made a rule specifically to prevent ANY use of AI...I only use AI-generated pictures to give my designs a more finished look, but, apparently, that's enough to make ALL my efforts worthless...I greatly appreciate these types of threads; I truly do
>premiseI want combat to reflect the speed and lethality of real fights, so I need combats to resolve fast in terms of turns and in terms of resolution. That the lethality has downstream effects on player risk evaluation is also desired.>researchDid 6 months of historical fencing to experience it myself. Whoever takes initiative has the advantage. The real challenge is to strike to maim/kill without getting yourself killed at the same time (doubling by attacking in an unsafe way, or pisspoor ability to withdraw after landing a good hit).>conclusionContested rolls with some kind of absolute evaluation for the roll itself, not just the relative success seems like it is best for this.It's WFRP. I want a more "narrativist" WFRP. Is there a store bought option for this, or would I need to make it at home?
I'm working on a semi-homebrew sci-fi rpg that's set in a rather particular set of novels rather than the stock game setting. I'd appreciate feedback if people will indulge me, as to the tone of the setting. the players are going to be stuck for about 8 days on a freezing, barely functional spacecraft before planetfall/rescue where they're going to have lost almost everything, and need to survive.When they take stock of what's onboard the ship they'll find: >6 days of oxygen, and a faulty Co2 scrubber. >a 0-g toilet in a cupboard that looks like a vacuum cleaner at a BDSM party.an emergency locker of:>2x emergency oxygen candles. Possibly highly explosive if used.>6x sets of lightweight desert survival clothing.>6x sets of one-size fits none arctic survival clothing.>6x sets of vacuum survival suits.>1x cassette tape of patriotic songs of the fatherland, performed by someone they'll remember died 25 years ago.>1x cassette tape player with an almost flat battery that plays the songs at 7/8ths normal speed. a galley with a microwave with an "on" button and a clockwork timer dial, a water tap that's still frozen, and a steam re-hydrator that may or may not be slightly radioactive, plus a week's emergency MRE / ration packs that include:>Dehydrated cabbage soup.>Dehydrated boiled beetroot and salted pork. >Dehydrated blood sausage. and boiled potato.>Salted kippers. >Dehydrated potato, cabbage, and radish soup with kvass, and black rye bread. >Boiled Pig's trotters in aspic. (Dehydrated.)>Dehydrated Veal Hearts in an onion and cabbage ragout. >water rations.>1x miniature keg of schnapps for emergencies and "crew morale". 6x rations. Just reading that list, can I ask, what sort of nationality or culture, or what impressions do you get of the civilisation this spacecraft belonged to? I'm trying to get across a certain feel of where they are. and this is their first impression. I'd appreciate your first impressions too.
>>98631719Personally it feels kind of polish? Maybe a mix of west/east pre-unification germany?Clearly nationalist, east-european,traditional. Tsarist russia possibly?
>>98611665I love this dorky vampire lady
i did some work today. not much, but its a foundation
>>98623233I like your map. Feels well thought out. As an autist, I like the tables. The depth across the book feels good. Example your haggling guide is nicely in depth, then the autistic goods per country table is chefs kiss. Please god change the osprey mail logo, thats absolute dog water. The duchy flags are great, and country flags look good as well.
>>98632507Thanks for looking it over.Is the Osprey mail really that bad? I thought it would be a stamp of sorts that is placed on the packages.
>>98613079to follow up if anyone has an opinion.I keep bouncing between 2 options. The corps give access to exclusive gear. Is it better to (1) sign up for one corp, and just use that gear, or (2) allow players to spread out leveling corp relationships to get gear from multiple? I like the idea of single /gang/ style play (its a tech corp team, its a melee LLC team). on the other hand, options are fun and allowing double dipping allows for written content to go further
>>98634733take it with a grain of salt, its just this autists opinion. but to go into more detailYour flags feel good because you can see them on the battle field. Mercia and Galia are both great examples. These flags are easily identifiable from a good distance (whether thats on the battle field on just hanging in the city shops). Ospreys feels overly complicated, maybe its the dotted background or the font choice. as a stamp its not as bad for sure, but I'm imaging it on their shipping boats, and it feels a mess to read at a distance. I have a similar problem with Valka, but those flags around the text are striking and nice so it gets a pass. The text needed I assume for each dynasty telling the others how much more noble they are (i assume) Morend is my favorite though. Great simple visual flag. The grassy hill representing the country is peak. From a game play perspective, I'd definitely play the game. You'd need the right group, the heavy crunch mandates certain types of players. I'd worry about a fresh group without someone who knows the rules well to smooth things along.The little quotes are delightful. The book entwining rules and lore make it a good book in my.. books. The sten scientist was right and shouldn't have been hung.
>>98614014Post away, then make a pdf or a collage of posts
>>98611665>What are you working on? What lessons have you learned during your project? Did you find any useful or neat tools?An alternative to Delta Green that doesn't require me to change my DM style to run.Cards are underused, finding systems that use them in the first place is a challenge, let alone good ones.The forbidden silicon 8ball makes a good search engine for niche RPG systems. It being incompetent at understanding abstract systems is an ok way to workshop things without boring your normie entourage to death
>>98636086Corpo require serving for a bit before passing out the good stuff; then give the players options / chances to squirrel away some of it before the corpo repos their gear at the end of the contract. or they can just keep licking the boot to keep their sticks.They can mix and match this way while corpo loyalty lmao gets rewarded too.
>>98636172From that perspective i can see why Osprey Mail's flag is ugly, I agree. Valka flags being similar is on purpose, they need the purple to show their legitimacy (the colour of the royal flag of Serad). Also yes, the text is basically their motto in Latin, which is supposed to show a bit of their personality as well as the way they believe they will revive the fallen Serad empire. I am so happy you got the Morend flag's concept!I tried to make the game front-heavy, with most of the crunch taking place during the character creation, but the actual gameplay being relatively simple. I also included rules for actual melee and ranged combat just in case someone wanted to play more physical character so i wanted to give them options. What i imagine actually happening is the players abusing their powers to the maximum (that's the whole point). You can easily make a glass cannon artillery mage that deals ridiculous amounts of damage and make face to face combat meaningless (i made one as a premade character that can burn boss-level monsters to ash). This is absolutely fine, but you can also get easily assassinated by a squad of elite soldiers. You can teleport or go invisible, rendering most defenses meaningless.However yes, someone experienced or at least who has read the book thoroughly needs to be there, as the game can't really start without the character creation (the most complex part of the game).Also the Sten scientist was probably right, however he made the mistake of working for Stenland, the one and only officially Karlenic nation that considers all mystics, mutants, demons, monsters, valka to be equally evil and demonic.
