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Inspired by the years I spent working on Magic: the Gathering, I'm trying to get the core stats down so that I can create design space for more interesting effects. I think monsters have too much detail for running them at the table, and much of that detail doesn't add much fun for the DM. A...

Added a preview of the ranger subclass coming next Tuesday: https://www.patreon.com/posts/ranger-sneak-107475397?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

I think there's a tendency for TTRPGs to grow more complex with each new edition, recapturing current players but losing its ability to gain new ones. There were factors beyond game design that played a role in AD&D becoming the main version of the game - TSR basically lost its ability to sell...

That's definitely a factor. I think Moldvay is a great model for what D&D could be. It's a slim book with relatively simple mechanics and a focused approach to play. Making the game more accessible was a huge goal.

Spoiler alert - talking to a publisher right now about doing something. We'll see. If I go the crowdfunding route, I want everything written up front. That takes time, so nothing super soon.

Yeah, at the very least will update when the rules update this year.

It felt pretty lame to be like, "Wow, you are being heroic and using your ability in a really fun way," and then, "OK you might die." In this case, the player realized that they had lost rage just as the bad guys' turn started. It felt pretty dumb to contradict him and let him keep it, since he...

I imagine it is due to channeling primal energy into your effort, like channeling a beast spirit or something similar. I just wrote up a barbarian subclass that uses Strength as a spellcasting ability with that flavor in mind. Other casters use finesse, that barbarian subclass brute forces magic...

So glad to see this made it into the final book. I literally ran a session last weekend where this came up and I felt terrible that the barbarian player - who was making a huge contribution to the adventure by tanking some bad guys while the rogue disabled an evil artifact - couldn't keep his...

The stream was a ton of fun, glad people enjoyed it. Thinking about the success of the game, I think it's easy to overlook how much of it came from D&D introducing the game to other people. TTRPGs don't grow in a vacuum. They need DMs/GMs that are eager to bring new players into the fold. I...

I am thinking of a system that works along those lines. A die roll determines how much damage each PC takes, but the characters can cancel out damage by burning resources to represent their efforts. In play, the DM narrates how tough the fight is and reveals how much damage each character could...

Post new PHB - it'll likely need to adjust a bit to account for the new classes and how they're designed.

Yes! That approach makes it easier to zero in on what each character has at stake.

Yes! I'm waiting until the 2024 updated PHB, though, since the core of the system connects to each character class.

A real quick summary: Wild shape is, IME, what makes many people want to play a druid. In practice, it creates a huge pool of extra hit points that makes druids weirdly durable. Wild shape damage also lags at high levels. Because the druid is a full caster, we don't have a big power budget for...

Will do!

They are all available under the free subscription tier. Glad to hear they are useful!

I'm planning on doing that! Working on figuring out a good streaming set up. A few projects are ahead of it in the queue right now, but once those are cleared I'd love to start doing design streams again.

Winning each round allows the characters to remain hidden. I need to work on the format, but at the start of the round you make a group Stealth check to cover how quiet you are being. The idea is to move away from a single check determining how the entire encounter turns out.

I think this is an area where player expectation and mathematical reality collide. I've run games - specifically Shadowdark - using DC 8 as the baseline. My experience was that anything less than a 10 is seen as some sort of failure. There's a weird pattern where people, even those who aren't...