Recent content by Hermes_Alexandria

Draw Steel has very detailed mechanics for out-of-combat Tests, Negotiations and Downtime proceedures. Whilst players can simply roll for outcomes the system is built to reward engagement with the fiction. Given that many class abilities interact directly with these non-combat systems, players...

Character and Adventure builder https://andyaiken.github.io/forgesteel/

Abilites that combo with other players, and not simply buff, is a key feature of Draw Steel. It is a very gamist game that probably plays best with some meta-talk at the table. Coleville quotes the X-men's Fastball Special and the Avengers where Iron Man lazerbeams off Captain America's sheild...

For my game that's where Victories adding to your resource pool kicked it. The boss battle was the best fight because we had enough base resources to use our highest cost abilities, with a lot of table conversation on how to combo them together.

Playing The Delian Tomb adventure in The Codex works well. While we did encounter a few bugs that required a client restart, the game is very playable and does a great job of showcasing the system's cool features, like push damage, triggered actions, and conditions. Visually, the Unity client...

I have now played both online with VTTs. Both have modern, streamlined mechanics that feel a little video gamey. PF2 feels like Baldur's Gate 3. It's great, it's deep, has a million options, but decision paralysis can be a problem on which resource you are going to burn this round. DS feels...

I got to play the Delian Tomb in the official Codex VTT. It was fun! The adventure was very combat oriented, but that was ok since we had enough to learn for one night. Once people started to get the rules we had some great moments as we started to realise the team fighting combos that are...

How's the Foundry implemention? I bought the Roll20/Demiplane version and am disappointed that the two platforms don't seem to be linked yet.

Re: Sanderson on diversity. Henry Cavill expresssed interest in playing Kaladin in the Stormlight series to Sanderson directly, who reminded Cavill that Kal was Asian. Not a small thing to turn down a Hollywood A-lister for your movie.

ToV was definitley reactionary, but since they didn't do much re-design of 5e there's not a compelling reason to switch to it, unless you really want to cut out WotC from D&D. I really like SotWW, it's sitting on my shelf, but I suspect it would have happened anyway as an evolution of SotDL...

I see the Cosmere RPG as one of several titles emerging from the post-OGL scandal, each attempting to capture a different segment of the D&D market. Each game has its own design philosophy: Shadowdark offers an "OSR-ified" 5th Edition, blending modern design with old-school simplicity and...

I only got into the Stormlight series after I found out the worldbuilding is loosely based on neo-platonism, which is one of my favourite philosophies. I have dropped off the series since so much of Sanderson's set up is two people not talking to each other. Currently re-reading the Mistborn...

I'm bullish on the long-term success of the Cosmere RPG, and the prior success of the Star Wars RPG shows us why. Brotherwise Games hired talent from the Star Wars RPG team, and the Knights Radiant are, at least in part, a spiritual successor to the Jedi. The Star Wars RPG thrived because...

I agree with most of the points, however for me when introducing a complex setting, the adventures and supporting materials have to be well layered and ramped up slowly at the table. For example, I -love- D&D's Eberron setting. However it is extremely lore heavy (12+1 moons, houses, planes...

I think the heist premise of Mistborn will showcase a bit more of what the system can do too. The Radiants crowd out a lot of the creative space in Stormlight.