Stewart Wyatt

A meme with the caption "when a job posting asks for a 'narrative designer'". The meme shows the pokemon Eevee in the middle labeled as "narrative designer" with the various evolutions of Eevee being labeled with the litany of tasks and specializations a narrative designer could be expected to do or cover.

very amused that to some folks this meme is my greatest contribution to game design

Gotcha Force for the Gamecube was the first non-handheld game that I ever owned. I don't know if it would still hold up but I played it every day from age 10 to 12 over and over again.

I think it would be up your alley.

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. I think I was a bit young for it when I picked it up. but it explains all my humor and how I think about elements of fantasy

HI! 💕

IF YOU ARE A BIPOC GM WHO WANTS MORE PAID OPPORTUNITIES IN TTRPG SPACES

PLEASE COMMENT HERE WITH THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBES THE STORIES YOU WANT TO TELL

I have a meeting coming up 😏

Have you seen this petition yet? Stop Bill S-209’s De-Anonymization of Every Canadian Adult

chng.it/Zrpz8NYCdh

This has been a very longwinded way of saying thank you for your thoughts and I appreciate the thinking it inspires.

There are elements of control we have as GMs and designers to mitigate these behaviours but too heavy a hand can make players balk. I've been appreciating PF2e Adventure Paths for having both times when players should be certain levels and including XP rewards as a way of enabling both.

In the grand tradition of "players will optimize the fun out of a game" XP leveling can lead to players wanting more and more combats and seek them out in places they otherwise wouldn't, and milestone can lead to people rushing for the next breakpoint in an effort to make number go up quicker.

This is a thought that I have a lot when I'm designing homebrew stuff or thinking out a plot arc for players and I think you've done a really elegant job of breaking it down here. There's also the matter of how the two systems influence player behavior.

Dread is one of my favorite campfire games, absolutely ratchets the tension right up.

@cavalrygames.bsky.social's Ten Candles hits the same sorta vibe for me. The sense that you are almost certainly doomed and then watching the room get darker as candles go out leaves palpable terror in the air.

Who doesn't love shadowhops?

@shawntomkin.bsky.social's Starforged and Ironforged both for "Swear an Iron Vow". I find that people tend to fall of solo RPGs because they don't know what to do next. this gives you a quest, a next step, and if you get lost, the book gives you Oracles to help out!

@mongoosepublishing.bsky.social Paranoia "Buttons"

I love everything about this game, but the Violence and Treason buttons are great. Open information on characters that both Friend Computer and the other PCs use make a player do a thing. Needs the right group though for good vibes.

Man I need to play Dogs again. That game is sick from dawn to dusk.

Joining you on the "X in the X" line
@johnharper.bsky.social's Blades in the Dark's Flashbacks. Best part of a heist movie systemized. Something unexpected pops up. "Ah yes, exactly what I planned for back then..."

Luke Crane and co, Burning Wheel, Duel of Wits.

Social conflict that plays out over 3 rounds with actions that can be setup for future actions, counter your opps, or go for a social coup de grace. Set terms first, come out with compromises

(Admittedly not my favorite peeps but the design is solid)

This works not only on creatures, but objects, magical effects, historical ruins, even important people or societal structures! In a ruleset like PF2e where every action matters, knowledge literally becomes power. So thank you @paizo.com and thank you Recall Knowledge!

#PF2e #TTRPGs #Design

19/19

So now the players are far better prepared and know a bunch about their upcoming encounter. The GM got to give out a bunch of story and set the stakes, and the information all came from research and investigation in-world, rather than metaknowledge, and it feels earned.

18/x

"Does it have any weaknesses?" comes the final question. The GM says that it's not vulnerable to any kinds of damage, but eight legs and a long body make it hard to get out of the way of things quickly, it can often get caught up on itself. So the players know that reflex is the lowest save.

17/x

"Does it have any special abilities aside from it's dragon's breath and stone gaze?" The GM says no, but its petrifying gaze can be used quickly, but to lesser effect, if one gets close enough they could be hit by just a glance which might not petrify, but would slow someone down during battle

16/x

"Can it fly?" asks another player. The GM says it can, by knowledge it flies faster than it walks, but by the reports of the villagers and the prints they've found, it seems to be walking. Perhaps its wings are wounded or something about the village made it need to land.

15/x

"What is it?" is the first question. The players learn that it isn't exactly a dragon, but a dracolisk, a crossbreed of a basilisk and a dragon, with a red dragon's resistance to fire but without it's full immunity, and a basilisk's ability to turn creatures to stone. They also have eight legs

14/x

The players gather to bring all their information together and roll Recall Knowledge checks. Three of the PCs score over a 28, the DC for this particular creature, one is even a crit so the GM says that they will answer four questions about the creature truthfully, they deliberate and then ask

13/x

The guard explains that the "Dragon" did have red scales and breathed fire, but a few of the guards were able to actually able to injure it with their blades, and the guard's sorcerer was able to even burn it with fire. Not to mention anyone who got close enough was turned to stone by its gaze

12/x

Following the footsteps they get over a hill where the guards chased the "dragon" and find that there are several statues, half-broken and baring resemblance to guards that had left. The cleric has access to Stone to Flesh and tries it on one of the intact statues, turning it back to a person.

11/x

The players could just load up on fireproof gear and go to where the villagers said it makes its lair, but some of the players want to get more details. They look around and make some checks and find that the tracks on the ground are not quadrupedal, but octopedal, a creature with eight legs.

10/x

But from a GM's perspective, Recall Knowledge is an AMAZING storytelling tool. Imagine:

The players come across a village that's been ravaged, homes and crops burnt, livestock eaten, people scared to come out of what few buildings are still standing. The villages say that a red dragon did this

9/x

Knowledge in order to either make all their attacks target a weakness no matter what they do, or to make up a weakness from whole cloth to deal extra damage. Even in my limited experience I've seen Recall Knowledge change the tenor of a fight and turn the tide from defeat to victory.

8/x

There's even two classes that are partially built around this mechanic. Investigator, who gets a bonus to Recall Knowledge against creatures who they are investigating, and have feats that can give free Recall Knowledge checks, and Thaumaturge, who's exploit vulnerability ability uses Recall

7/x

From a player perspective this allows players to both prepare for an encounter (ex. Monster is terrorizing a countryside, players can gather information about it and then Recall Knowledge to see if they know what it is and how to face it) or to adapt in the moment (Check weaknesses, etc)

6/x