Characters get more powerful options as the fight goes on in the MCDM RPG

[@philippemorin7634]

MCDM is lucky to have James, because he is a GREAT salesman. I mean that as a high compliment! He is not hyping and overpromising, he is just passionate about what he's making and explains it so well. He's got this confidence and enthusiasm, and is an exceptionally talented communicator.

[@thenerdd7112]

For the villains Heroic Resource, it’d be cool if a boss monster had Cruelty, which was built on the actions of their minions, and then powers up the Bosses abilities.

[@gogothewind123]

So they actually had a system like this, but it was so much overhead it became difficult for the Director to keep track of

[@matthewparker9276]

Also, the purpose of the heroic resources is to let players clean up quickly but not dominate early in the combat, where enemies should ideally start out at full strength and diminish quickly after the players have a definite advantage. You wouldn't want enemies to build up resources as combat goes on as it would draw out the tail end without making the start of combat more impactful.

[@MarkWomack11]

Great interview. Thanks for being everywhere, James.

[@dhunter2ful]

Great interview, i liked most of what i heard. I'm a bit worried about out of combat utility though. One trend that is common is D&D is that even martials that are meant to be high utility, like Rogues, can't compete with spellcasters on that department when they reach a certain level. I know MCDM spoke before about disliking "spells that solve problems", and that non spellcasters will be able to do stuff out of combat as well, but generally the heroic resources are meant to funnel the class big guns. I'm worried that the free to use tools martials get will inevitably have to compete against the heroic funneled utility of spellcasters, which will be measure by their own filter.

[@fakeplasticsoldier]

I worry that players will be unable to conceive of doing anything but fighting monsters all the time. I hope they do not leave the non-combat pillars of gameplay to languish, in the shadow of the shrine of glorious combat.

[@jwarner1469]

They've discussed that all classes with have out of combat utility, geared towards certain kinds of challenges, but notably that certain challenges with with better suited to certain class utility features. So while the Talent might be able to move things with their mind the Fury will likely be able to toss things even greater in size. They'll have fewer of the "I Win" spells that Plague out of combat 5e. @fakeplasticsoldier Combat, Negotiation, and Crafting at the 3 core pillars. The focal point of this system is Heroes facing off against powerful antagonistic forces, tackling them through combat, negotiation, or forging items or tools to assist. But they'll also have Skill Challenge type rules to handle more cinematic challenges which aren't just fighting enemies.

[@dhunter2ful]

@@jwarner1469 I'm not worried about martials getting outclassed, but there is a limit to what they may be able to do if they are competing in resource spending scenarios. Sure, it's not farfetched that the Fury would be capable of throwing around giant boulders heavier than their own body weight, but are you confident they can do that without spending any rage? I'm not. Considering it's MCDM, i'm cautiously optimistic, but they do have their own vision of what's best for the game.

[@Nastara]

They probably want to decouple combat and skills from each other. So shadows aren’t better at out of combat, instead they do something different out of combat. Like how rogues don’t really have any penalties for being good at combat in PF 2e or DnD 4e but are still better at skills for some reason. Modern d20 fantasy has a huge issue of skill characters being just as good at combat with no sacrifices.

[@syeblaize]

If I remember correctly, in one interview, they said they didn't like spells that took away cool parts of the game. For example, Teleport means that you ignore traveling, or Knock removes any need to find a key or lockpick a door. Wish, obviously, is right out, since that is an I win button for accomplishing nearly anything. Though how many Wizards get to cast wish?

[@NerdicusGoblinski]

Great interview! Also, nice venture Bros shirt! Go team venture!

[@GamingTrendVideos]

Yes! Venture Bros. Forever!!!

[@madprophetus]

That mechanic is similar to the escalation die in 13th age. Cool!

[@angelalewis3645]

At this moment in time, MCDM has reached their goal times five!

[@talscorner3696]

I would love to see a short "campaign guide" for numerous groups to play as members of the Chain of Acheron deployed all over the world

[@tylerreed2409]

I would really like to hear more from their team about how out of combat spells/abilities will work. Like will I not be able to teleport until I beat up a few mooks?

[@collinmurphy9677]

From what i've seen they've said consumables *might* fill this role. It's still in development obviously but they've desribed crafting as something easily done during inbetween moments. And so hypothetically you'd be spending time throughout the adventure creating teleport, detect magic, feather fall scrolls or what have you.

[@tylerreed2409]

@collinmurphy9677 I think this breaks pretty badly from how else they're describing the game. If the combat balance makes it so that players don't have interesting abilities all their own outside of combat then they're not really hitting the heroic ttrpg fantasy well, they're just making a well balanced tactics game.

[@demonazgrael]

James is a treasure!

[@davetronred11]

Just gonna say, i don't really go to conventions but if I knew there'd be an MCDM booth I'd beg steal or borrow to get myself there 1:04:32

[@plop0r]

There are so many interesting things you can do with armor as a mechanic. Shame they scrapped it

[@vast3394]

I feel it but I agree it was necessary for the game after playing it

[@Tysto]

Alignment allows for spells & powers that detect or protect from evil & such. And it helps the DM know how to play monsters. Without it, players may tend to slaughter unicorns and what not, because they’re just another monster. It will be interesting to see if MCDM changes their mind.

[@chrisg8989]

Never in my entire time playing TTRPG have I relied on alignment to determine how I should play a PC, NPC, or monster. Some systems are completely unnecessary. I would put alignment in that grouping.

[@chrisg8989]

Even the spell you are referring to doesn't relate to alignment... "Detect good and evil: For the duration, you know if there is an aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, fiend, or undead within 30 feet of you, as well as where the creature is located. Similarly, you know if there is a place or object within 30 feet of you that has been magically consecrated or desecrated." Not one mention of good, evil, lawful, or chaotic...

[@jwarner1469]

​@@chrisg8989I concur. Alignment *should* be at best descriptive of a creatures actions or thought process, rather than prescriptive of how a creature *should* act or think. Features like Detect Good and Evil even in the context of detecting groups of creatures is more of a feature designed to pretty much help prevent being surprised by creatures of that type. It's built for a game where a creatures type can have a big impact on what actions the characters take, or on what advantages the creatures have. It's *more* horror-esque in the context that surprises are something you try to avoid, but have a reductive capacity to avoid - implying that eventually you won't be able to avoid that surprise and something bad will happen.