The Value of Art: Decommodification
Written in March 2022, written in light of the reception to "Steps to Demonetize the TTRPG Hobby". Was never happy with it, but rereading it now it isn't the total worst. Just wordy. I got better.Art...
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D&D Pride Flag
Have been reading Levi Kornelson's series on modeling the play-style of D&D, which has been really fantastic and full of fun graphs! Each time ones comes out, though, my friends joke that each new...
View Articled20 Character Icebreaker Questions
When playing Trophy Gold with my friend Alex of To Distant Lands as the referee, I was delighted at how he subverted a classic D&D trope. Instead of "starting at a tavern", going through the...
View Articled20 Bonus Relative Efficacy
While simulating an idea I had for speed-based initiative, I realized that the results had implications for bonuses on d20 rolls in general. When two characters roll off, how good is a relative +1?...
View ArticleSpeed-Based Initiative
Had a thought: speed rates in Fifth Edition pretend to be in five-feet increments, but they're really in increments of 1 sq. This means that a speed of 30 feet is really one of 6 sq. What if we used...
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Breaking News: Psychoanalysis Is Falsifiable!
Exaggerating a little. This article came to me twice—on Twitter where it was posted by @pourfairelevide, and again when my friend John B. of The Retired Adventurer shared it with me directly....
View ArticleCinco: Recalibrating Aspect Checks
From last time: success on 20+; compromise on 10–19; failure on 1–9. I can't stop myself from thinking how, for lack of a better word, "cruel" that distribution is. You compromise half the time unless...
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Monster Math: Ultimate 5e/Classic Conversion
Wasn't happy with my last conversion because CR is not a pure measure of longevity like HD. It accounts for AC as well. Since then, though, I've come up with an actual measure for OD&D that counts...
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Monster Math: Hidden 5e Encounter Structure
Did forbidden 5e math too. The whole game is fake! Shout-out to Paul Hughes'business card monster manual, and Reddit user Asinus for their calculations on average DPR per character tier.Basically, I...
View ArticleCinco: Growing Burdens
I suggested shifting goalposts more in favor of players, and a second idea: removing hearts altogether in favor of burdens, fictional effects which disadvantage the character by subtracting their value...
View ArticleCinco: Encounters & Monsters
Let me share an example of four level-1 encounters, from easy (2 ♥) to deadly (8 ♥). Remember that characters deal a hit on a roll of 20 and up, choose to dodge or exchange hits from 10 to 19, or take...
View ArticleCinco: Equipment & Encounter Difficulty
Sort of a two-parter, since they relate to each other.Combat EquipmentAssume characters can afford most things. What matters are what they can carry in their hands and on their body: let's say 3 bulk....
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Playing Shadowdark
I tried out Kelsey Dionne's Shadowdark this morning with Alex as the game master and joined by Moth as another player! We were going through Alex's megadungeon that he had made for OD&D, one in...
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Cinco: First Chapters
Putting together everything I've written so far into something more cohesive and referential!Most immediate influences here:The Goblin Laws of Gaming, Into the Dungeon: Revived (Piecewise...
View ArticleCinco: Away From D20
Aspect bonuses put players in an awkward position. You could want a new aspect, but starting a new one with +1 or even +2 will be less helpful than investing in one of your existing aspects—especially...
View ArticleCinco: Flattening Curves
I like the 1:1:1 odds of success, bargain, and failure much better than the 1:2:3 odds. Besides being more appropriate for heroically competent characters, the d6 pool in general is more effective at...
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Musicals, Marxism, Messianism
Sooooooooooo. Hi!I feel like my brain was fixed. Haven't thought about this stuff for a minute. Been writing fiction, like real actual fiction, plus reading books (lately: The Political Theology of...
View ArticleCinco: Thoughts
Over the last couple of weeks.Features? I'm not confident that features are, in the end, very interesting relative to the 'weight' of understanding and using them. The basic feat model is derived from...
View ArticleThe Spectre of the Commodity Form
My friend Ènziramire shared a paper with me, "Wages against Artwork: The Social Practice of Decommodification" by Leigh Claire La Berge. The author explores decommodification as the obverse side of...
View ArticleDamage Roll as Attack Bonus
Need to write something to stay in the habit. Story's going well, just trying to avoid burnout.There are three separate "problems" I have: making attack and damage rolls separate per se is tedious;...
View ArticleRandomly Generated Constant Damage
A bit of a mouthful!I had the thought: why not give each instance of a weapon constant damage, but roll to determine that constant amount? For example, a D6 weapon can deal somewhere from 1 to 6...
View ArticleSimplifying 5e AC
There is a weird gap between armor proficiency and everything else. Armor proficiency just means you get to use the armor without getting disadvantaged on whatever saving throws. Everywhere else, it...
View ArticleAgainst Gender Ideology
Remixing pieces from "Genders Without Number" in a non-game context. This is a blog, not a published work; don't expect it to be perfect or for it to cover every conceivable angle. This is informed by...
View ArticleSURVEY: Oracular D20
This is a little silly, but:Often when I run little dragon games, I will ask people to roll D20 without a specific DC in mind. I feel like usually the result of the roll will be self-evident depending...
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Oracular D20: Survey Results
We got 100 responses! This makes it very convenient for us, so let's work with it. Bitch.Results & AnalysisBelow are the five basic tiers or grades of...
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