Recent content by Breaking Star Games

Yeah, and it makes Slow and Quickened effects at a very particular amount of power increasing or decreasing by 1. Though in Divinity, you can manage a lot more Action Points when it's a CRPG. I couldn't imagine doing that manually. Though honestly, I don't know if I'd enjoy PF2e without our...

The Mixed Success of PbtA-lineage makes me more of think of a mix of Trophy Gold and Knave

I've really only resonated high complexity when I want a tactical combat sub-system that is full of meaningful, balanced choices in both building the character and in choosing your actions in the combat (and I'd probably prefer a computer RPG doing the brunt of the effort). Pathfinder 2e stands...

I've got Scum & Villainy for myself, so I am voting for the rules-lite, mass appeal category to get more people to funnel into the hobby outside of D&D (which can be clunky and slow around combat). And by rules-lite, I don't mean your typical incredibly light,. all vibes and barely any GM...

I could see how Blades in the Dark (and most Forged in the Dark like Scum & Villainy) could feel like a Writer's Room especially around having the Players help the GM come up with an interesting Consequence and Devil's Bargain. Now, Players don't need to do that (my table didn't) and it leaves a...

Yeah, its interesting that I'd probably prefer a game with more emphasis on fixed beats like you see in a Firebrands Framework game, where the game is the sole arbiter of setting up dramatic situations over this style of fixed beats and loose/play to find out character development between the...

I definitely agree that RPGs shine on those open-ended challenges where players can find solutions that surprise me. I won't get into any semantic arguments about defining story or telling a story at the table, but some fun food for thought. Many writers describe their process as Gardener who...

It seems very fun so far after a oneshot and first session of my campaign. Knight abilities and passions are often very evocative. Myths tend to be quite fun too. I find myself frustrated by many Combat-oriented Omens aren't necessarily interesting combat encounters on their own (Quinn's Quest...

100% this. I am honestly shocked when I see this characterization from someone online. I know everyone is different, but compared to actual scene improv performances, this isn't really a paradigm switch where you need full immediacy to respond fast - you don't even need to improvise dialogue...

It definitely can be. His Majesty the Worm certainly isn't afraid with Bonds metacurrency and personal quests and relationships while being an amazing dungeon crawl game with OSR conventions. Though at one of my tables, we'd probably prefer just doing some beer and pretzel monster killing and...

100%, Vincent Baker often details how he had played Ars Magica and OD&D (I think) in this style even when they are ignoring a lot of the rules - mostly using them for their fictional positioning. But a game designer has only so many tools to influence the experience at the table, so my...

I found in my Scum & Villainy game, ground vehicles and especially Drones became a very potent option to help diversify their suite of pilot-able things and let them roll their Piloting skill more. Drones often get taken by the tech wiz/engineer-type in Sci Fi. But I think they are a broad...

Probably the best I've seen (for me) is Starforged. It uses a jump drive so you can explore. I think what makes it and it's predecessor, Ironsworn, good for travel is the huge amount of tools to generate the world and events to interact with. I like this focus on these random events as what...

To me, the most important things to me are 4 pillars to happiness: Family, Friends, Purpose and Faith. This one let's me spend in-person time with family and friends. Studying Game design, improving my GMing, learning more about storytelling and genre gives me purpose through a passionate hobby.

What game system did you use? Rapscallion (it's Powered by the Apocalypse), the game just recently had its retail release. I kickstarted it, so I’ve had the PDF for a while but only just ran it. Was it "realistic" from a logistics and sailing perspective? Almost the opposite. It has 3 simple...