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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aldarc" data-source="post: 9774714" data-attributes="member: 5142">I would put reaction tables, in particular, as a design element intended to facilitate "play to find out what happens" and "emergent play." But as is often the case, I don't necessarily think that mechanics are necessarily designed purely for one goal. Earlier, for example, I cited how power cards in Daggerheart are meant to assist player onboarding, speed up play, assist player learning and referencing, and providing a tactile element to play. There are multiple goals that cards help alleviate. Agreed. One game that I had in mind for how randomized tables reduce GM overload are the tables for monster actions in Dragonbane. Monsters hit automatically, excepting if the player uses their action that round to try evading the attack. But the GM rolls on the monster table to see what the monster does. It's usually just a 1d6 table. I have found that in practice, it tends to make games run pretty quickly on the GM side of things. I'm not spending much time thinking what the monster should do. I roll in front of the players, narrate the results, and see how the players react. That is correct. But I would say that they sit somewhere between Aspects and Skills. There is not a set list of experiences. They can cover backgrounds, characteristics, specialties, skills, or phrases. Examples in Daggerheart, however, tend to be shorter and a little one-note: e.g., Assassin, Observant, Sharpshooter, Repair, Catch Me If You Can, etc. Experiences confer a +2 bonus when activated. They are not "always on" in the way of 13th Age backgrounds. Experiences require the player spend a Hope point to gain that bonus before making a roll, assuming it's applicable. As you have likely picked up, it's not dissimilar to Fate points; however, in contrast to Fate, Hope isn't generated from GM compels on player experiences; instead, they are generated from the Hope/Fear die mechanic. I suspect the reason experiences are not "always on" has more to do with the flatter progression math of a PbtA-inspired system. Daggerheart also advises GMs to consider a PC's experiences when deciding when rolls are called for or optionally let the player mark Stress for their character to succeed at the task without rolling.</blockquote>

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