Shadow & Fae

I got a great question on my Itch page today, and it got me thinking quite a bit about why I built the game I did, and what I learned along the way! I've reposted my answer below, for posterity, and anyone interested. Hello! Always exciting to hear that someone's had fun with my games. Shadow & Fae was my first complete game, which I wrote to bring a group of players familiar with 5e into a simpler but still diverse game. It works with a unified d20 roll-high mechanic for most things, and has classes with similar features and names to the modern giant games, like PF2e and D&D 5e. I wanted S&F to be a game I could explain quickly, run smoothly, and most of all—create new content for quickly. If one of my players asked, "Can I play a cat?" I wanted to be able to say "Yep! Here's how that could work." Goblin Tales was inspired by a dice mechanic, originally. The blackjack roll. Instead of having modifiers and scores, players just want to roll ...

Gold and Sleeping Bears The gold is just lying there, but so is the bear. What do you do? And just like that, we're playing Dungeons and Dragons. Now, yes, someone will tell me there's all sorts of rules about Conflict Resolution, Dice Mechanics, Action Economy, Death and Dismemberment, etc. But all of that exists to support one question: How do you get the gold? This gives us not 2, but 4 categories to consider: 1. Rewards What is the reason for the players being here, what do they want? While gold is the simplest answer, and the most versatile, other rewards exist as well. 2. Danger Why hasn't someone else claimed the treasure? 3. Environment Dreams of the Slumbering Moon Each player takes on the role of a member of the small village with an important job. Each turn represents 1 week, wherein the members of the village do their best to overcome the struggles of the village and prepare for the coming festivals. Each season is 12 weeks, and ends with a Festival. To start, p...

Recently I've been looking for a game to scratch the itch and fill the loose time that is otherwise spent scrolling through the endless echo-chambers of social media.  I wanted something that allowed me to forge a character and step into a world that couldn't care less about me.  I wanted a game that let me blaze my own trails, interacting with a world in interesting ways. I wanted a game with a moderate level of complexity, but a well-developed community that would help me get there. I found Mount & Blade. After a brief consultation with my wallet, I found Mount & Blade: Warband, the predecessor of their newer game, Bannerlord. While Warband lacks a few of the Quality of Life features and the graphical polish of Bannerlord, it's proving to be a fun game, and I found it on sale for $5 at the Humble Bundle. Fresh-faced and eager, I carefully crafted a hero and began the hard work of recruiting unfortunate souls for my warband. Unfortunate, because they would all be m...

 No... This has nothing to do with them. Actually this post is about Math. One of the greatest foes to exist in the D&D universe, the unseen wizard behind the curtain, chaining the chaotic forces of "luck" within bounded walls of accuracy. We may hate the guy, but he starts throwing fits if we ignore him. This post is mainly about the math of how I got to my current standpoint, which isn't too off from "Standard". If you're looking for crazy ideas, see the next link. If you're interested in the math of d20 dice rolls, stick around! I'm writing a GLOG, as inspired by Arnold K of Goblin Punch blog, and for some reason the issue of Ability Scores has become the snare on which I continually trip. Actually, that reason is this post on Goblin Punch:  Stat Squish and the Lawful Roll   It confused me, and suddenly my understanding of Ability Scores was shattered. The problem with not being sure about Ability Scores is that EVERYTHING is built on them, an...