Design of All Things Considered

Is it still May? Good. I don't have much time, June will start soon, and I just realized I didn't write an article here all month long. Could I just live with it and have May 2025 be skipped by this blog? Yes. Will I allow this? I suppose we'll see within three hours from the moment I started writing.

Cover Art Details: It's a riff on the Three Card Monte. Left to right, the characters represent a King of Spades, a Queen of Diamonds, and a King of Clubs. Since the Three Card Monte is usually about distracting the viewer with enough motions to confuse them, the idea here is that the Queen of Diamonds is distracting the onlookers while the Kings do their job in the shadows. Considering I've had at least one person comment exclusively on the Queen and not on the Kings, she's doing a fine job.
Art commissioned from Geo K.

All Things Considered

Those who know me are well aware of the fact that I enjoy the Now You See Me movies a lot. A group of magicians performing various incredible feats for the good of people against the powerful elites of the world. What's not to love?

This project started when I signed up for Scribble's Random Resolution Jam. The only condition for participating in it is to randomly roll for the resolution (as the name of the jam suggests), and then build a game around that. I will admit here, though, that I rerolled my result twice. The reason for that was that I had already made games with those resolution mechanics. The dexterity test is present in Fae King, a game I did very recently, while the strength-based resolution was done in Porters' Journeys, which might be old. Still, I didn't really feel like making another game about exercising. The third roll is what I accepted, though: dice-as-character-sheet, 5d6.

I dabbled with several concepts, some of which I might do in the future, so I'll keep them to myself for now. Eventually, I settled on "magicians doing cool stuff". The premise behind 5d6 used as a character sheet is, as far as I understood it, that you don't need a character sheet. Or, that would be theory. In practice, you'd need to make modular dice for this, each of which would have sides big enough to fit in all the rules. And I doubt anyone would do that with dice sized like regular playing dice. In our world, you'd likely need 5d6 and a character sheet that lists your Aspects.

Now, each magician in my game is defined by a selection of five Aspects from the following categories:

• Crew - magicians' assistants,
• Role - who you are within the team,
• Props - items that you use with your hands and would usually belong to a magician's show,
• Tools - items that you use with your hands and aren't typically seen at a magician's show,
• and Gear, equipment that's worn and would usually help with a magician's show.

How do we turn this into a 5d6 dice pool? Simply put, we roll all the Aspects' dice, read out which ones succeed, and which ones we just can't do right now, and only then do we pick out which actions we pursue. A default Aspect die has three Blank sides that mean you were too slow to act, but get a chance to improve the die after the mission, two Effect sides that do some basic stuff, and one Flourish side that does an extra good outcome. As you progress, you swap out Blank sides for Effects, and Effects for Flourishes. That being said, to do this, you must roll and select a Blank side. So, the best possible Aspect die you can have is one with four Effect and two Flourish sides, after which point you can't improve it anymore.

Two key mechanics to talk about are Prepare and Distraction. Prepared Aspect's die can be rolled twice, keeping the better result, but you can only prepare one, and this must be done when nobody is watching. Distracting makes people watch you or whatever you use for distraction, letting others prepare.

As for effects that can affect a player negatively: Heat will make your character more recognizable, Wounds limit how many Aspect dice you can roll, and Restraints prevent you from taking actions other than trying to free yourself.

Beyond the missions, the game needed something to do in the spare time. For that, I came up with what I called Networks. Inspired by Slugblaster, each Network provides a player with a simple storyline to play out between the missions, with several story beats. In the end, the player gets a choice to make that defines their character a little more, and as a reward, they will get a Knack - a simple ability that improves their character one way or another.

With all this, I also included plenty of GM guidelines on how to run the game, including example storybeats for the networks and obstacles they could use in a mission. Finally, there are random roll tables for things like names, magician outfits, and some other details too.

Look at the time, it's past midnight already. I could cheat and publish the post saying it's published on May 31st, one minute before midnight, ... but I'll keep it honest. I missed my mark, and that happens sometimes. Thank you for reading, and have a nice day!

The Four Scales of Playstyle Evaluation

Nearly two years have passed since my first public attempt at a music band TTRPG. At first, I joked that it would be included in the Runehack as a new focus of the system in the April Fools post a year ago, ... and then I did it anyway. Well, kind of. These rules are included in the Seeker minigame of the Jobs pillar of experience.

Why am I talking about my games when I promised you with the title that I'd discuss the playstyle evaluation? Because the four stats used for the musical performances (as well as other creative performances) could be used to evaluate a group's playstyle, with a bit of interpretation here and there. Let's have a look!

Look, two people playing a board game! That counts as relevant art, right?
Promotional art from the Cavern Tavern Kickstarter. I'm in no way affiliated with them, I just needed an artpiece for the article, so in exchange, they get a tiny bit of free advertising on a blog barely anyone reads.

Intensity - Difficulty

How hard is your game? This stat required some reinterpretation, since "loudness" or "physical strength" don't make sense in most TTRPGs. Low intensity means you're playing a casual, non-difficult game, while a high intensity game suggests that players have to optimize their characters and play smart to succeed.

Tempo - ... this one's self-explanatory

How fast do you want your game to proceed? Low tempo stands for a slow game, where everyone takes their time with things, be it by processing them emotionally or mentally. A fast tempo represents a game in which stuff happens. Bear in mind, this doesn't suggest that every fast tempo game is a speedrun and every slow tempo game is a still life. Games in general should have their fast and slow moments. This only discusses their frequency.

Authenticity - Emotional Depth

How emotional do you want your game to be? Low authenticity game is there just to amuse the players, with jokes and humorous happenings, and cool moments. High authenticity game is a game that tries to evoke more emotions in the players: sadness, fury, fear, perhaps even awe.

Creativity - Adherence to the Rules

How much do you stray from the rules? This one's simple - low creativity means RAW/RAI is preferred, resorting to house rules and rulings only when necessary, while high creativity games are full of rulings, Rule of Cool, house rules, and homebrew.

Important note: A good game can exist on either end of these scales. No, you are not any worse for enjoying a "low authenticity low creativity" game, and you are not cool just because you are into a "high intensity high tempo high authenticity high creativity" game.

While these scales talk about playstyles mainly, some rulesets lean towards supporting one end of the spectrum over another. A difficult game leans more to the high Intensity playstyle. A crunchy game will have a hard time being played at a high Tempo (or so I assume). And a soup stone game would probably suck without high Creativity, since that's what makes it good.

Thank you for reading, and have a nice day!

THE Soup Stone RPG

Time for another experimental game. Definitely not a joke I've heard a hundred times by now.

THE Soup Stone RPG

Every problem you try to solve can be solved by making a proper meal.

Your stats are listed below. Distribute 36 points among them (minimum 2, maximum 12).

• Filling. A filling meal can give you tons of energy, which helps you in speed and endurance.
• Stylish. Good-looking meals are good for your creativity.
• Tasty. A tasty meal is good for your mind. This makes you more sociable.
• Healthy. A healthy body means you're gonna move well, therefore, this is good for physical matters such as strength and agility.
• Digestible. Your body doesn't need to focus on digestion, therefore, this is good for smarts.

Whenever you attempt something relevant to the stat, roll 1d12. You succeed on a roll less than the stat (not equal).

When you attempt to make a meal, roll 5d12 and distribute them among the stats. Each roll that's less than your stat successfully causes that quality to manifest within the meal. If more characters are cooking the same meal, they may choose to roll fewer d12's and then select which stats they contribute with for the final meal. Why choose fewer? Because too many cooks will spoil the soup - if two or more characters contribute with a success in the same quality, it's considered a failure.

Different characters might require different qualities, and the players will have to guess which ones exactly based on the characterization of NPCs provided by the GM through role-play.

Woohoo, the soup stone game is finally out. It's a rushed job done mostly within the last 10 minutes of the April Fools, but it's something.

Character March 2025: A Modest Life

Would you look at that, this is the final Character March 2025 article. It was a nice journey, and it caused my blog's number of blog posts to already soar beyond what I did in any previous year. 

My ratings will be done on four scales, each ranging from 1 to 5:

• RPG: How much does this feel like an RPG to me, as opposed to a board game?
• Soup Stone: How little content does the game expect you to add? For this scale, 0 is a complete Soup Stone since I'd like to sum the scores to see the game's total score.
• Would I Play: If I were given a chance to, would I play this game?
• Would I Write: If I were inspired enough and had time/energy for it, would I get back to working on this game?

A Modest Life

Zarah Millermann used to be a scout in her earlier days. Wandering the wilderness, navigating the group, watching over the party at night, all of this and so much more was all she used to do. But that was well over thirty years ago. At the moment, she's an old woman who lives in the Hiddenburg village, on a random road that's rarely even traveled anymore. Her form is a little hunched by now, her hair has lost its vibrant brown color a long time ago, now replaced with grays, and nowadays she works as a forager: looking for herbs and fruits in the forest still reminds her of the old adventuring days. The village appreciates it, especially the kids with whom she likes to share sweet forest berries.

Zarah is now 66 years old. Her stats are as follows:

• Tough 12
• Agile 16
• Wise 18
• Sharp 20

Her special abilities (a number of them equal to her age divided by 10, rounded down, so 6) are:

• Finder. If she asks the GM if there's a hidden item nearby, they'll reveal any that is.
• Lurker. She can be hidden if she does not move on her turn.
• Navigator. She can't get lost and always knows her way back home.
• Nightwatch. She can see well enough even in the pitch darkness.
• Sampler. She can tell through close examination if a food is harmful and how.
• Tracker. She can identify what the tracks mean and can't lose them after finding them.

Nowadays, Zarah brings forest's gifts and plenty of joy to the Hiddenburg village. But who knows how much longer this will last... her clock is ticking. Her body isn't what it used to be. And with every passing year, the chance that this was her last year grows. Who will replace her when she finally moves on to the other side?

Ratings

5/5 RPG. It might be a recency bias, but I think has a feeling different than just a procedure or a board game.

3/5 Soup Stone. I could imagine expanding on the game, but I think it does decent enough in this regard.

3/5 Would I Play. I'd like to see how this works in practice, but I'm not particularly driven to pick this system over others, at least not for now.

2/5 Would I Write. If I see a meaningful way to grow these rules, sure! I didn't publish it on itch.io yet because I think it still needs a little something, illustrations especially, but I'm not counting that into the rating because I'm just busy at the moment.

13/20 Total Rating

Character March 2025: It's About Time

This one was made by a buddy of mine for a convention as a short game to hand out to people present to learn playing TTRPGs. It spans two pages, and it's largely based on Lasers and Feelings. I helped him by pitching ideas, playtesting the game with him, and offering guidance here and there, so since I ran out of games where I could have a character, I'm gonna count it.

A small note before I continue: The game was originally written in Slovak, and there isn't an English-translated version yet (at least not one I'm aware of), so I'll just be translating stuff I use to English for this article.

My ratings will be done on four scales, each ranging from 1 to 5:

• RPG: How much does this feel like an RPG to me, as opposed to a board game?
• Soup Stone: How little content does the game expect you to add? For this scale, 0 is a complete Soup Stone since I'd like to sum the scores to see the game's total score.
• Would I Play: If I were given a chance to, would I play this game?
• Would I Write: If I were inspired enough and had time/energy for it, would I get back to working on this game?

It's About Time

Bella Minds is a cyborg psychologist. Half of her body is machine; the other half is an average-looking human with black hair and a piercing gaze. In the time that's present to her, she usually walks around in a white lab coat because of the subtle psychological effect of authority it has on people. Her pick of time travel ability is Echo, which allows her to create a copy of herself (probably by bringing one from the future) for one minute. As all other time travelers in this game, she comes equipped with some futuristic equipment befitting a psychologist, such as a tablet with every single Rorschach inkblot, the latest edition of the DSM, a hefty bottle of placebo pills, and so on. As for her personal goal, she wants to uncover something secret whenever she travels to the past.

Ratings

5/5 RPG. Plays like an RPG, I'd have a hard time treating this as a board game.

3/5 Soup Stone. Plenty of ideas are pitched by the game, so that's pretty good.

2/5 Would I Play. Perhaps when I have an incomplete group, or when a bunch of new players wants to try out some wacky time travel stuff.

1/5 Would I Write. Only if I had ideas on how to meaningfully expand on it myself, and I don't have any right now.

11/20 Total Rating

Character March 2025: There Is No Tomorrow

... the time has come for the loop. And in the loop, the time has come for the loop. And in the loop, ...

My ratings will be done on four scales, each ranging from 1 to 5:

• RPG: How much does this feel like an RPG to me, as opposed to a board game?
• Soup Stone: How little content does the game expect you to add? For this scale, 0 is a complete Soup Stone since I'd like to sum the scores to see the game's total score.
• Would I Play: If I were given a chance to, would I play this game?
• Would I Write: If I were inspired enough and had time/energy for it, would I get back to working on this game?

There Is No Tomorrow

Felipe Contreras is an average surgeon. He's a little impatient when tending to things outside of his work, but he's also very much a people person. This contrasts the big city he lives in, where the people barely care about one another as they walk the streets. Still, he's got a few close friends that he meets now and then, like his drinking buddies, his girlfriend, and some of his family members who haven't moved out yet. His attributes are as follows:

• Strength +1
• Endurance +2
• Agility +3
• Talent +5
• Knowledge +4
• Intuition +0

Ratings

5/5 RPG. It can't really be played another way.

3/5 Soup Stone. While it leaves a lot of details blank due to its Mosaic Strict format, I think it still has a decent amount of details and time loop tropes to earn a 3.

4/5 Would I Play. I like a good time loop.

1/5 Would I Write. It feels complete to me. If I come up with a meaningful way to expand on it, I will.

13/20 Total Rating

Character March 2025: Match Two

Uber short!

My ratings will be done on four scales, each ranging from 1 to 5:

• RPG: How much does this feel like an RPG to me, as opposed to a board game?
• Soup Stone: How little content does the game expect you to add? For this scale, 0 is a complete Soup Stone since I'd like to sum the scores to see the game's total score.
• Would I Play: If I were given a chance to, would I play this game?
• Would I Write: If I were inspired enough and had time/energy for it, would I get back to working on this game?

Match Two

Annie Loveheart is determined to make the couple fall in love with her trusty Beauty Mask.

Ratings

4/5 RPG. Plenty of space to improvise.

1/5 Soup Stone. Very little detail to work with.

2/5 Would I Play. With the right group of people, maybe.

1/5 Would I Write. Only if I were to start over.

8/20 Total Rating

Character March 2025: MARSsacre

Should I use the same tone in this article? ... nah, let's not.

My ratings will be done on four scales, each ranging from 1 to 5:

• RPG: How much does this feel like an RPG to me, as opposed to a board game?
• Soup Stone: How little content does the game expect you to add? For this scale, 0 is a complete Soup Stone since I'd like to sum the scores to see the game's total score.
• Would I Play: If I were given a chance to, would I play this game?
• Would I Write: If I were inspired enough and had time/energy for it, would I get back to working on this game?

MARSsacre

Chell Shotgun is a femme fatale in the manly culture of the Slayers. She's no stranger to being violent though, since she's got her hands on both an Atomizer, and a Jackhammer. Her Humanity starts at 5, and I can't give further details on her until her first mission, so that's all!

Ratings

2/5 RPG. Most of it is shooty stuff, though some roleplaying is encouraged to regain your humanity.

4/5 Soup Stone. Thematically strong, I think it's okay to rate this at a 4.

3/5 Would I Play. Maybe one day. It's low on my priorities list, but it sounds kind of neat.

2/5 Would I Write. Kind of? Depends on what I'd expand it with.

11/20 Total Rating