Design

  • Advanced Fantasy Dungeons

    Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Second edition has a place in my heart, as my first edition, that filled my eight year old imagination with wonder. It’s not very good though. I was wondering if an retroclone of second edition, like the many versions of Holmes, Moldvay and BECMI, and like Iron Falcon, would be a… Continue reading

  • What’s necessary for combat in Oracle

    In previous instalments of Fixing the Fifth Age, I pondered which form the Oracle would take, and conjured a very different Action Resolution system. In this one, I will be disgruntled regarding combat, because for me, combat shouldn’t be special in a story about dramatic fantasy heroes. It’s not tactical, it’s a reflection of the… Continue reading

  • Oath Souls

    So, lots of talk about Dark Souls lately. This is my Dismal Combat Game, unplaytested. Released under CC BY license: Do what you want with it so long as you say “Based on Oath Souls by Idle Cartulary at playfulvoid.game.blog.” I hope you hack it, fix it, enjoy it. You are honorable souls are struggling… Continue reading

  • Resolving acts in Oracle

    Previously we focused on the Oracle system, what we can use it for, what potential it has, and then we put a pin in it and decided to finish later after we have a better sense for what the rest of the system looks like. Let’s begin with the action resolution system. The system as… Continue reading

  • The Oracle

    Recently I tweetstormed through Dragonlance: The Fifth Age, a ‘Dramatic Adventure Game’ from the AD&D 2e era. I found a lot of mistrust in its audience and a lot of legacy pulled across from 2e that weighed down a system with a lot of potential. I thought it might be interesting to redesign it here, with… Continue reading

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