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It seems I never posted our session zero. It ended up taking two sessions (2025-11-08 and 2025-12-13) due to the time needed to go over the rules (twice because we had our other player join us for part 2), but we were able to get through setting creation. We created a number of different places...

Commentary for post #5093. We only had about 45m or so for a prologue today. As I mentioned in post #52 of the “How do you like to start a campaign” thread, I rolled on the Seekers table and got: Late at night in a warm tavern, you are all discussing your next move — but someone approaches you...

Starting in a tavern, really?

In our Fabula Ultima prologue today, I rolled on the Seekers table and got: Late at night in a warm tavern, you are all discussing your next move — but someone approaches you with reports of a terrible event! Admittedly, not exactly the most exciting in concept, but it was enough to get us going.

I finished reading the GM’s booklet tonight. I really appreciated the opening section that reminds you to rely on your group and be open with them about your doubts, concerns, and needs. I haven’t run anything since last year (before our son was born), and I haven’t run something that wasn’t my...

I did a read through of the Core Rulebook on the Ars Technica forum. I’m not going to link it here because: the forum allows swearing, and there is swearing; and to stay within the bounds of both this forum’s rules and the spirit of a [+] thread. I will summarize my thoughts though: The book is...

I know, but I view that as what they’re calling their design preferences. This is something Baker discusses in the first article of that series I linked. Many things that people think are properties of “PbtA” are historical accidents due to choices he made when designing Apocalypse World. Using...

But Apocalypse World does use harm clocks, which is functionally a form of hp. PbtA as described by Baker in his “What is PbtA?” series of articles is actually not all that prescriptive of which techniques a game uses or even the conversation structure or how premise is approached. There are...

I contribute to nixpkgs, which forms the basis of NixOS, but it supports other platforms too. I primarily focus on improving the support for Darwin. I first learned about Nix about six or so years ago. It took a few attempts for me to finally get it, but I did, and I use it to manage my computer...

Yeah, I call my game a hexcrawl, but they’re mostly a tool for me to determine how long it takes to get somewhere and a currency for players to spend (e.g., looking for something in a hex costs a hex of movement). I ran Kingmaker in PF1, and while it end up being my favorite one I ran, the...

I have described it as a sandbox hexcrawl in the past, so this is probably the thread where I should talk about my campaign some more. I have written about my sessions in the commentary thread for the “Describe your game in five words” thread. You can read about them...

I view setting-specific stuff as likely expressive, so I would separate it from the core rules. The core rules would be under CC-BY so you at least have to give me credit while making your own game. Whether I would release the setting-specific material under a license is undetermined¹ right now...

Yeah, that was a bad take on my part. I assumed the team was larger than it actually was since the size wasn’t mentioned in the article. I figured they staffed up to lay the foundation then reduced for maintenance (possibly outsourcing or contracting assets and adventure conversion). No, they...

I was referring more to the strategy of intentionally staffing up then laying people off at launch. But …. My impression from the Polygon review was that it had some content but not very much (like having limited customization and only support for six species). It seemed like you could get by...

This sounds like an MMO launch: staff up to develop the game, release it then have layoffs to cut costs, hope the launch content is enough to generate a revenue stream to maintain the game while also generating enough of a return on investment. At least Sigil is tied into the D&D Beyond...

I have not had this problem. The last time I ran an investigation, I used the three clue rule and node-based design. These structured are designed to keep the adventure on track while giving the players flexibility to decide how to go about them.

I voted for two things: Frustration with old system New mechanics better reflect ttrpg philosophy I started with 5e then switched to PF2 then OSE then WWN then my own game. My reason ultimately came down to these games (except my own) do not do what I want. I want to run a minimal prep hex...

I would like to consolidate the various drafts of my game, solve some issues I have with its conflict rules, and get back to running it for my group.

I agree that the rules in D&D typically aren’t self-enforcing (such as how Baker describes here), but I’m separating what the player thinks from what the character thinks. Otherwise, it muddles (or limits) resolution of certain situations (like the one posed in the OP). Obviously, I would prefer...

What I’m suggesting is that roleplaying may involve not acting on the player’s suspicions if the character would believe what they were just told (as determined by the check). I don’t see that as being compelled so much as just doing what the character would do. Otherwise, I don’t like talking...