The Dice | Designing The Game

To Funk or Not To Funk, that is the question.
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[@bitghost4700]

the dice throw off-screen and back was funny

[@helloMCDM]

That took like AN HOUR of me and Jerry practicing and then doing about....20 takes? 30? Somewhere around there. Thanks Jerry!!

[@Calebgoblin]

​​@@helloMCDMworth it? Haha

[@michaelcrane3993]

I was about to comment on the same thing I had to rewatch that part like five times. Matt doesn't even look at the die when it comes back. He just catches it.

[@sukihornplayer4]

Absolutely worth it, I think. 😆 I had a baby in my arms and I had to muffle my laughter.

[@Sufficient_Reason]

What a lovely flourish. Reminds me of a moment in Blood Meridian with a coin. @@helloMCDM

[@mcolville]

We say "no attack roll," but it's more like "no to-hit roll." Your damage roll IS your attack roll.

[@Calebgoblin]

Slick tbh

[@Jack_OLanterns]

This is one of my favorite rules omissions from Into the Odd. Let the damage being rolled determine how the fight is going!

[@yojishinkawa378]

Class resources is a really cool idea.

[@Malrul]

Just got done watching attack and dice video, and just wanted to bring up an idea of the 1hp and don't want to attack. Maybe you have it were players willing take a bane die the -1d4 so they make a "safe" attack that can't be countered. Just an idea for you and don't know if anyone has thought of it yet.

[@davidmartin5145]

I’m thinking about crits. 1 in 12 rolls seems like too often, but maybe not. Is there a Triumph on double 6s and Despair on double 1s? Feels right to me.

[@Stonegolem6]

I loved to see the childish glee on Matt's face after the "Hey you! Stop!" bit.

[@helloMCDM]

It's fun being a stormtrooper! Jerry cooked up the audio effect. :D

[@ericmurrin9991]

Maybe the Cosmic die needs to be an artifact that is sought after by those who wish to wield its cosmic power

[@floydwurst9948]

Exactly my first thought when Matt said that it might return.

[@Lord_Godd]

I was thinking that electing to roll the cosmic die should cost stamina, and/or force everyone to roll and trigger a cosmic balance?

[@ruathawylderkin2268]

Be careful what you roll for (muhaha).

[@farrout000]

Yes.. rather then the Deck of Many Things, we had the Dice of the Cosmos

[@DimaJeydar]

@chaseroycroft1I mean, it’s even the exact same shape.

[@peterlarson233]

The Cosmic Die is too powerful, it must be destroyed

[@megan_alnico]

Yeah, I think the Avengers fought Thanos over one of those. It ended with Captain America smashing it.

[@Bluecho4]

Sounds like a campaign MacGuffin. Find the Cosmic Die and destroy it, before Evil claims it for its wicked purposes. But...can you resist using it yourself? That's the pickle, isn't it.

[@Ilogyf]

And I suppose you think you're the one to do it! *dwarf grumbling*

[@UncleGus007]

One of you must do this

[@MightyGachiman]

​@@Bluecho4yoinking that

[@mapcrow]

I was super excited about the funky dice when I first heard you were using them! But the thing I'm most excited by is team finding out what the game really needs!! It's wonderful to have a front row seat for the process!!

[@princeheinrey5666]

Oh hey! Neat seeing you around here!

[@mapcrow]

@@princeheinrey5666 Heck yeah, been watching for years, but all this talk about the new game has me very excited!

[@PrimerBlobs]

This game sounds so fun. I wants it.

[@MrInternetHermit]

Sweet! [I watch your videos]

[@antemoniac7502]

Holy shit it's that blob guy

[@Calebgoblin]

Stealing from Halo is definitely one of my favorite factoids of the game design progress so far

[@Triforce221]

Definitely added some hype for me too.

[@SteelShad0w_]

That "Hey You. Stop." made me smile

[@Calebgoblin]

The refinement of gane design, "finding the fun" and "cutting the fat" is a privilege that decades of game design and experience has brought us. But it's still darn hard work and you guys are spearheading it brilliantly, from what I am able to gleam from the streams and videos. Killing darlings and makinf the cuts for a better design takes guts. Good job.

[@henrystefanov5873]

Got to say I'm glad the team pivoted to standard Dice. Funky Dice have a place in board games but players in RPGs like to collect and personalize their tools (such as Dice and minis). I have players that come to each new game with another fun color of Dice and are excited about it. They can only do that because there are 100s of different sources all making standard Dice.

[@knavesquill9198]

Baked in class resources is such a clean design choice. I'm excited to see where the development of this games goes.

[@Graelcase]

"The Cosmos favors Chaos" is such a nice line I might have to figure out where to put it in my campaign. 2d6 + stat might take a bit of getting used to regarding target numbers, but examples in play should help a lot with that.

[@helloMCDM]

We'll have a chart of typical target numbers but it's easy to math in your head. Average on 2d6 is 7. Range of attribute bonuses is 0-4. A hero is normally adding 3, but a normal person is probably adding 1 or 0. So 7-8 would be a Normal or Easy Target Number? Max is 12, then +4 for a really good bonus, so a Very Hard TN would be 16? We'll see what the final numbers look like but I don't think this is hard to math. Depends on whether we want to factor stuff like boons.

[@bruegel903]

@@helloMCDM Can't you get a negative attibute bonus? like a Raistlin type weak wizard with -2 STR or CON?

[@KalonOrdona2]

Factor in that if TN is 15-16 then you can only succeed spectacularly, because you have to crit

[@OneAverageReviewer]

@@helloMCDM how would weapons factor in the attack? does a dagger add +1 dmg , a great club +4 ? i am really interested if weapons have special rules like armor piercing, daze to remove the ability to buy manoeuvres with stamina etc.

[@aaronsanderson1541]

A similar 2d6 vs DC system is in Disco Elysium, a detective role-playing video game. You allot attribute points into 4 attributes (Intelligence, Psyche, Physique, and Motorics), where 1 is minimum/pathetic, 3 is average, and 6 is maximum/peak human. Each attribute has 6 associated skills, and on level up you get 1 point that you can spend to add a rank in a skill, similar to pathfinder. The max number of ranks in any one skill is by default the same as the attribute score: having a measly 2 in Intelligence means you can only put 2 ranks in an Intelligence skill such as Logic. A check is 2d6 + attribute + ranks in that skill. So if you have 2 Intelligence, and 1 of your maximum of 2 ranks in Logic, it's 2d6+2+1. It also factors in lots of situational bonuses, typically acquired by knowledge in a different part of your detective investigation. DCs are something like: Trivial 6, Easy 8, Medium 10, Challenging 12, Legendary 14, Godly 16, etc.

[@kosnk]

We loves the idea of increasing resources.

[@robdaniels5966]

OMG the spendable stamina system sounds GREAT - fixes a lot of the problems that come with abstracted HP points and in a way that actually adds depth to combat! Love it, so excited for the full game

[@nachoijp]

Leaving heroic actions left to luck is one of the things I most dislike about D&D. It's like the fun is locked behind a luck door. I love that you aren't afraid of cutting cool looking features to open those doors, while still keeping the randomness were it makes true sense

[@dreamedoutdoll]

Learning to cut the thing you love is a tough but important lesson in development.

[@DarthHawthorne]

7:50 the stamina/health pool thing is done pretty well in Starfinder

[@chrisgruenwald9342]

I want a behind the scenes of the dice toss and catch. I'd patreon for that.

[@jeremydelaporte3770]

I wonder if could keep the cosmic die around, but you can only call upon it's power in moments of deep distress or desperation - say, when your character is completely out of stamina. That way it's never your first resort and you can keep the focus on player's abilities and powers. Just a thought! This video got me more hyped about this game than anything else you've talked about so far.

[@ASpaceOstrich]

Building up your class resource over the course of a combat is something I really like. I've been idly thinking about how to achieve moments like those in Dragon Ball where a character has been holding back some of their power. Ways to make the end of a fight the most epic and bombastic moment rather than the first round being the big moment. Building up something over time is one way to do that.

[@taragnor]

Yeah it also does well to prevent the PCs from just trying to focus fire a single monster in turn 1 with a bunch of powerful attacks to make a difficult fight easy.

[@adriansalazar2919]

I really like the idea of "invoking fate" or "besseching the gods" in a campaign and not knowing who will answer. Like a desperate plea into the void, "give me this one thing and ill serve you". Roll a d8 to see which omnipotent being answers or draw from this tarot deck to see what it will cost. If it happens early enough it could be the campaign. "Sure you brought me back but now we have to work for the warlock we were supposed to destroy."

[@Nastara]

Any game with stamina, hit points, and a tactician class is my bag. Excited to play this when the time comes!

[@brendanodonnell3960]

You might take a look at Iron Heroes. It's a game by Mike Mearls using the D&D 3.0/3.5 rules. It has a Hunter class that uses a Tactical Pool to power its special abilities. It also has a feat tree called Tactics of the Mind that gives you access to a Strategy token pool allowing you to use your INT modifier for a variety of actions in combat. It doesn't explicitly have stamina, but you do have a hitpoint pool you can draw from after each fight to recover lost HP which is functionally pretty similar to how stamina works in games like Starfinder.

[@Nastara]

@@brendanodonnell3960 Yeah I have heard of Iron Heroes I should give it a shot even if I have some aversion to D&D 3.0/Pathfinder 1e. I have no doubt in my mind that the hit point pool from that game inspired Healing Surges (one the most genius long rest hp systems) for 4e. Right now PF 2e is my tactical crunch game of choice, but MCDMs game is sounding like a good option for when I don’t want to deal with Vancian magic or the d20.

[@pjasimoes]

"You have only one choice: the cosmic die must be destroyed"

[@ZrinNZ]

At first I went "baroo?" when you said that the Cosmic Die-telekinetic shove felt gross. But then you explained it, that it was a single die roll that chose the fate of the ankheg and...WOW. I instantly 'got it'. Absolutely on board with this. Choices as a player should decide the ultimate outcome. The dice are there to be rolled and get outta the way.

[@MrCraftingchannel]

The way the cosmic die got cut was really interesting. It's funny how cool an idea can sound on paper, then you put it under testing fire and it just... collapses under the heat

[@jeffrycochran_mp3a425]

The invoking of the cosmic die sounds like when one of my characters cries "I-AM-AWESOMMMME!"

[@ZorgoXorgon]

I freaking LOVE the cosmic die! When you said law and chaos, I immediately grew extremely excited. That concept is SO fantastical and perfect! But I can easily see how it takes away grom player agency. A balance could be making it an adventure reward at the table that will expire after some time. That way when it is used to epic effect the players feel like it was earned if it went in their favor or not their fault if it didn't. Idk... half-baked idea that needs playtesting. So glad you guys are putting in the time to playtest and carefully craft. Love these vids!

[@pallenda]

I really liked the way you described the process the team had with going through the different decisions. :)

[@TheRabidOgre]

The nice part about design happening behind closed doors is that you'll never feel like you missed an opportunity to point out something you think they missed. When you started this, I was nervous that I'd see a perspective on a topic that I feel you missed when you made a decision, and I wouldn't have enough of a voice (especially since I'm getting this through the videos rather than the Patreon) to point it out. I'm pleased to report that it hasn't happened so far, and I'm in fact blown away by the thorough logic in these videos. I never seem to be able to ever actually play tabletop games, but your logic alone is making me excited for this game. Maybe, though, I could at least share a perspective I have about Ancestries ahead of that video. In recent years I've seen some gamers get very upset when centaurs were made playable in their game. I found it difficult to find threads where there wasn't at least someone who'd complain they were ever made playable or brag about how they'd banned the ancestry or players who want the ancestry from their games. Ultimately, these arguments would understandably boil down to some unusual logistical concerns the ancestry brings up, but particularly in how those concerns intersect with the rules. I'm biased, because I'm a fan of centaurs, but centaurs have become a bit of a symbolic litmus test to me. The reaction I always have is this: if a tabletop game is so bound by its rules that it can't handle a classic fantasy creature like the centaur, then what makes tabletop games different than video games? A challenge I'd have for your game is this: build it so that ancestries can still be balanced without having to conform to an exact human body shape. Even things like more than two arms or prehensile tails are things that are controversial in other games, but to me are part of what make fantasy fantasy.

[@joeyjbriggs]

Starfinder does Stamina like that, but instead of spending stamina to do cool things, you spend resolve, which you also spend to get stamina back

[@anselmoffrisia2930]

"Another game we played..." Ooh, Descent! Woot!

[@jacksonhawkins2775]

Huge respect for all the "murdering of your darlings" going on. Takes a lot of humility and devotion to the final product, to cut out something youre that attached to. Makes me much more excited for the end goal

[@danacoleman4007]

I'm so glad you guys decided against custom dice!!!! I understand the appeal of adding new symbols to create additional narrative options. However, I already learned a few sets of symbols in school as a child and they seem to work fine for mostly everything. Not having to learn new ones cuts down on the cognitive load of learning a new game! Good choice!

[@derrmeister]

19:05 I anticipated that turn of events and it paid off. Small things like these make me smile in an otherwise already good video

[@RPGManoWar]

Matt! I am SO GLAD you picked up on that Force Die mechanic! I ran my favorite campaign ever, an Old Republic Star Wars FF game back in 2015, and I realized the exact same thing. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I literally use the Yoda quote all the time to describe that mechanic. It's actually what made me want to design games '-' it taught me to think of mechanics as so much more than numbers. I'm playtesting my own TTRPG this Friday, funnily enough. Thank you so much, Matt. For everything you've done for the hobby. And for me personally '-'

[@itz_drakmin]

I feel like Remy watching Gusteau from Ratatouille. The way you talk about this game you're designing in all of your videos is incredibly inspiring. I have been working on a little game with a friend of mine for a month or so now but we kinda hit a roadblock and stopped designing for a few weeks. But watching your videos is making me want to pull the docs up and just start creating again. I think the idea of the cosmic die sounds like a lot of fun and gives me ideas for something I might implement in my own game, but who knows. Thank you for being an inspiration Mr. Colville, your speeches and videos are always a treat :)

[@validpostage]

the "build your resource, then spend it to do epic stuff" philosophy reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy XIV. its a cool design! excited to run this game for my friends eventually :)

[@Smittumi]

I love this resource stuff! I always like how in anime type battles the powers used get bigger and more crazy. This system could do that!

[@gerardofrivia8413]

"Elendil." Also great video, it's really cool to hear your teams thoughts behind the mechanics 🤘

[@2dividedby3]

I need this game just the story of your dice selection bring me joy

[@VoctorVideo]

That resource system is something I use in my own games. The players all get an adrenaline power, and they gain 1 point of adrenaline per turn when in combat. These powers are strong, but the players have to build up to them and decide when to use them. They also lose their adrenaline when resting, making rests more of a trade (lose adrenaline to gain HP) rather than just all upside. I've been using it for years and it works really well.

[@stevenneiman1554]

One thing I remember thinking would be a cool mechanic for some game would be calling hit points "luck", and making it so that you can also spend luck on other things.

[@Woodledude]

This really reminds me a lot of the dice I'm working on for my game. A HUGE part of the game is the idea that you can upgrade the things in your army, and some of those upgrades let you roll a single die during combat... For each upgrade of that type you have on that piece. There are some pieces that can have six upgrades, some can only have one - And this is really the only difference between them - And so big pieces are naturally pretty consistent in what they can do, where small pieces will pretty often not achieve much, but can still contribute sometimes, especially en masse. So yes, I'm using funky die because it makes sense for the game - It would be hell keeping track of what to roll and what to pay attention to for any given number of upgrades, but with my weird little d6es, you just grab a number of a certain type of die for each of an upgrade of that type, and that's what you roll in combat. You still roll weaker dice for empty upgrade slots, and generic dice for if an upgrade doesn't give you anything special. Still tuning it, but it ends up making things super easy to set up and roll for combat, which is important when combat will sometimes not happen for a while, and then start happening a ton all at once. But I'll be the first to go to bat for anything that works and is fun - Normal dice can do that, funky dice can do that, no dice at all can still do that. It depends on the game, it depends on the vibe, and there are a lot of things that can work for you if you're clever about it. And certainly - Never make it more complicated than it needs to be. Funky dice CAN be the simplest available option, but won't always be.

[@dford4014]

I think I'd give a kidney to play in a Campaign with you, Matt, I truly would.

[@legithopecrew]

I am excited to purchase this product. Just watching these videos helps me come up with my own game design ideas.

[@frontline989]

So far this is the first video that has me interested in this game. I like the class resource concept.

[@justinpicard9292]

Star Wars rpg was the first game I actually learned and DM’d. I absolutely LOVE the dice system. Incorporating lore into the force die with the dark side being easier is absolutely amazing. I wish I could play that game more

[@mjphyil]

Can't wait for this to launch, really liking this fresh and creative approach. So far, most 'new' systems are just old systems reworked.

[@infinitedm5396]

Your chaos order die made me realize you already have results in the dice roll itself. You can package both together in a 2d6 system. Evens = Law odd = Chaos. Law gives you 2 class resources Chaos gives you D3 class resources. Wheeling a result that you didn't call for can perhaps empower an enemy. There's a whole design space* opened up there. *(Also feel free to use, I don't want any ownership on this concept)

[@leonardoraele]

There's a brazilian rpg from the 90s called Tagmar that had this idea of a stamina bar on top of HP (they called it "heroic energy", but is the same concept) and I love it. I always wondered why other games didn't do the same. Good to see you are adopting a very similar mechanic in the MCDM rpg.

[@AaronKarper]

Thank you for skipping special dice! What wasn't mentioned in the video explicitly, but custom dice make running even a oneshot a significant financial investment, if you take international shipping into account 😅

[@lemongambit]

We had a fun stamina system home-brewed into D&D 5e. I've always been frustrated that you have this entire mechanic focused around hit dice and they do nothing but heal you on a rest. We designed a system where you could roll your hit dice in an inspiration like system for extra damage or hit chance, but it burns the hit dice and you do the damage to yourself. You're exerting yourself for extra damage now and get less healing later. Essentially, you're choosing to pull a muscle when your *really* need something to happen. We also added a few necromancer style spells like the cantrip "Life Transfer" which trades your hit dice for some healing. It wasn't balanced, but the healers felt cool and the martial classes felt cool and the mages had their big nova moments, but it also gave excuses to have long RP sessions because it was really hard to heal up after exerting yourself. I also use the system of stamina HP over actual HP. Well, flavored. You don't heal like that after every combat but we called it Meat and Mettle. Your first level HP is your Meat. That never scales up, but your Mettle is what you get when you level and roll your hit dice. Essentially, it's how much you can exert yourself to stave off actual damage. Thematically, the fights are very similar to Achilles vs Hector in Troy, rather than "bloodied" at half health. You see blood on an enemy or your crew? They're about to die. You try to kill someone in their sleep? Your rolling damage on their Meat because they can't defend themselves. Paralyzed or otherwise completely immobilized? Just your Meat. Makes battlefield control and tactics really pay off. Paralyze a dragon in midair though all those legendary resistances and it comes crashing to the ground with a barbarian putting an axe through it's head? End of battle. That was cool. I get to do bigger battles with lots of tactical and strategic fun because they have a much easier time deleting enemies. Kind of like the minion system, but any idiot can look like a minion if he gets Hold Person cast on them.

[@alexanderwizardjar9540]

I just binged all the game design videos, man I can't wait to learn more about this. I've been feeling like 5e is not for me for a few years but me and my group haven't managed to find something that is satisfying and simple at the same time. This feels like it might be it!

[@lergof0202]

The stamina and health system is the way Obsidian did it in Pillars of Eternity. Seems almost 1 for 1 that system.

[@Cesoide_]

Matt, Flee, Mortals! is my absolutely favorite bestiary and supplement for 5e ever. I can't seem to express enough how much fun my games have been since I started using the book and the ideas in it in regards to building encounters in my game. My players are having fun, you guys seem to have found the very sweet spot on how to make a challenging encounter that is satisfying and doesn't seem unfair, but brings in that danger that kees everyone on their heels. You rock, can't wait to put my hands on where evil lives.

[@lavoiejh]

Maybe the Cosmic Die isn't something that you roll to generate a resource, but something that gets rolled after you use your big ability to see how the balance of powers shifts in the wake of your actions? And certain abilities get a bonus or boon when the appropriate force is manifesting?

[@MrInternetHermit]

"This video is long enough" Me: [Looks at length] "Not long enough!"

[@seerproductions9141]

Love seeing this kind of stuff evolving from Genesys/Descent/Ironsworn/Blades in the Dark. Been leaning more towards narrative and abstracted results lately and it had been really fun. Looking forward to seeing more of this.

[@ClaytonPajot]

I'm loving these dev diary style videos. They're right up my alley, seeing the creative process of game mechanics is just a real neat thing to witness

[@rarerooster]

I am so excited for this game!

[@phelosketh]

I think warlock from 5e is a great example of player choice and balancing resources. A tonne of invocations they can use to customise combat and RP, but limited spell slots that make going ham a real decision point. "Do I hold up counterspell for the big bad's spell, or do I fireball all these goons" - but always feeling competent at the thing you want your character to be good at because you used invocations to make it so.

[@letsrock434]

This is very funny because the star Wars analogy with their dice is very close to what critical role did with their Daggerheart game.

[@karlmaust6172]

I'm so excited for all of this.

[@theodoreshisler9713]

The "class resources" reminds me of Iron Heroes, a d20 thingamajig from back when d20 thingamajigs were big. Never got to play it, but the concept seemed cool. Each class had its own resource pool, that they got by doing class-based things; the Armiger got their resource from blocking hits, the Berserker from taking damage, the Archer from spending time aiming... It was a bit complex and slow, standard for the 3e days, so I look forward to seeing how your system implements it!

[@Jason-96]

I am loving this new games thing. I'm looking forward to MCDM and DC RPG the most...

[@stevenmtowns]

Sounds a little like the Doom dice from the Black Sword Hack, which is very fun

[@cartoon80s90s]

I can recognize some games which might have inspired the team. Shadow of the Demon Lord for the Bane/Boon idea, and Descent for the Surge icons on the dice. The unique resource for each class has been in a few board games already where they build up their resource by using basic abilities until they can unleash their stronger attacks. All good things bundled into a tight package. I like it.

[@sleepinbelle9627]

Class resources remind me a lot of anime fighting games where characters will often have their own unique mechanic with its own resource to manage. In Guilty Gear Strive you have characters like the vampire samurai Nagoriyuki who has a blood gauge that fills up when he uses special moves and if it fills all the way he loses control and enters blood rage. In blood rage Nagoriyuki's health drains and he can't use special moves, but his normal attacks get massively-increased range and damage. It's a great bit of narrative character design in a competitive game, using mechanical incentives to cause the player to fight like Nagoriyuki, with discipline, or to learn to control the rage.

[@apilgrim8715]

Dagger and shield symbols on the dice were how Heroquest worked.

[@All4Tanuki]

Damn, Matt ripped my stamina/health idea out of my brain before I could even publish it!! I can't wait to see it in action :D

[@mevensen]

Just fyi, the stamina/health rule exists as an optional rule in Pathfinder 2e. It’s pretty intriguing and seems to work well for more heroic flavor in a world without a ton of magic healing.

[@ZerkMonsterHunter]

this is really cool! I think I'm going to be coming back to this video several times because I'm currently in the process of trying to design my own 10 page rules light system model Court intrigue in a way that the popular game can't, I'm currently in the process of trying to figure out how dice work over there.

[@qew_Nemo]

Gotta agree, that star wars die where one side is more likely but the other is more powerful is really cool.

[@GTRichardson7]

i love the idea of the cosmic "force" that is present in some locations... like magic difficult terrain... i can easily see this being not a die based mechanic but rather an encounter based mechanic... if you need more "Law" resource for an upcoming battle, performing a ritual might fill this up OR finding a battlefield that favors law might do the same.... very cool.

[@NecroticRampage]

Sounding very promising so far.

[@tobiaslangtry4171]

I’m actually relieved you went with standard die I’ve been really excited by this game but the one thing that had been holding me back had been using these weird dice Perhaps that’s me being too hesitant to accept change, but the new die system you’ve explained has me more excited then ever!

[@goadfang]

Love the idea that if you can negate 100% of the incoming damage you may counter attack, but I think there should also be the option to spend some of your resources to counter in spite of still taking damage. Maybe you have to "buy down" the damage with class resources so that you still take the damage, but if you can pay class resources equal to that damage you may still get to counter. This allows people to do the cinematic shtick of countering even with their enemy's blade/horn/teeth buried in their body.

[@gkrotkov]

MCDM understands how to kill their little darlings. Very encouraging for the upcoming game! I'm excited to see what you come up with.

[@verybigbrain1]

A cool way to bring back the cosmic dice would be to roll it at the beginning of the day to see what power is stronger that day and then give PCs and monsters abilities that only work when certain chaos or law strength is available and they only get one use per day. Certain actions can shift the balance or areas can have fixed alignment. It would create days where certain classes are weaker than normal but people just have bad days sometimes. And it would allow for tactical use of a resource rather than the luck of the dice in the moment.

[@michaeldlevins6608]

Thank you for moving away from specialised dice. As a GM who’s primary option for playing is hosting one shots for busy friends, the hardest part of trying a new system is having to source proprietary dice, and then learn, remember, and teach what each obscure rune means every time a player rolls. “Big number good” is simple to teach and understand.

[@Phant0mTim]

I love this peek behind the design curtain. I'd love to hear Matt talk more about probably and bell curve decisions. My only thought on the cosmic die was that I think of the antitheses of Chaos being Order, not Law. I'm sure that was an intentional decision at MCDM, but I'd love to know why. Law has an oppressive connotation by default, but maybe that's just me.

[@bigsarge2085]

Intrigued by what I've seen in these videos thus far, looking forward to it!

[@jennareynolds1403]

I think something that could tie in the fantasy genre mechanics could be some sort of Comeradary mechanic, a resource that isn't held by you, but by the table. When good roleplay happens, the Director could add to the Comeradery pool. You spend from that pool to get the chance to roll the Cosmic Die. Your teamwork and bonds, which are a big part of the fantasy genre to me, allows you to work together to shift the balance of Law and Chaos. That way, when you get a good result from the Cosmic Die, it is because of your bonds and ~the power of friendship~ or comeradery or whatever sounds best. Just a thought!

[@romantheflash]

Boons and banes are so good. Love them, and I hope they end up staying. Also excited to see if the Cosmic dice comes back in some way.

[@lorddarki9936]

Man, I my creativity got certainly activated with this video. I spent a lot of time with SMT games recently and loved the idea of Philosophical Concepts being a driving narrative force. While these games themselves often struggle with respresenting the Law and Chaos Alignments, I adore the Idea. I will now try to find a way on how to implement alignments into more facets of the game. Besides this, I wonder if the Crew of MCDM worked on Status Effects. Working mostly with Digital Tabletops status ailments often feel either inconsequential or the absolute worst. I wonder if they have some solution to it.

[@Sawtooth44]

you could see various adventures that bring in funky dice representing that something in the area has gone out of control and people have acquired new powers like say the cosmic die can be used in an adventure where the gods have descended and just being on the same continent as a god wildly spikes peoples powers

[@Jajarra]

I feel like there's an entire game to be made around the idea of invoking and manipulating the shifting tides of law and chaos.

[@c_bass1971]

I think most RPG designers are trying to figure out how to simulate some fantasy. This game is figuring out how to be more fun while playing out a fantasy. Small but critical difference. I am a believer Matt and team.

[@JeanPhilippeBoucher]

This video and presentation is really well made and well delivered! It really helps sell the amount of thoughts that goes into creating a design -- even if the design can seem simple once assembled.

[@TabletopTussle]

Really cool video! I thoroughly enjoyed this look into the game dice mechanics. Thanks again for this inside look at game design!

[@romanafenclova9295]

The cosmic dice reminded me of how Stardew Valley handles Luck. It has 5 states, +2 to -2, and they do impact the game, but in a minor way. It impacts how likely you will get stuff out of breaking rocks and killed monsters, but the main game loop of farming and vibes is unaffected. Perhaps something like that is the way to go with the Will of Cosmos? Cause it is cool :D

[@lazprayogha]

Idk why uncle matt doesn't hone in more on the "class resource" stuff (i think i know why, it's probably because video long yadda yadda). But it's one of the greatest game design principle there is. To make your game (or in this case, combat) more exciting proportional to the time it takes. Mitigating slogs are fun!

[@barefootwanderer]

I love these videos - it's nice to see a designer talking through their decisions and process, especially for a game mechanics geek like me lol. my own game has had an embarrassing amount of dice systems. I'm currently using a dice-pool system that generates results similar to PbtA games. I think I'm on the 'final evolution' of the system (i've been writing this thing on-and-off for 20 years - it's been re-written from scratch so many times.

[@JoshBCamp]

This is the first video where I feel the designing the game series has found its voice. The discussion about the cosmic die coming into existence, working, and then being removed was great.

[@benthomas8497]

The cosmic die sounds like a cool alternative to inspiration. Something to reward you. Maybe a cosmic force approves of your actions, or you have proven yourself worthy of the aid of your ancestors?

[@nickputney605]

Listening to these videos gives so much to consider when making my RPG. Especially when focusing on how to capture the essence of a game. Be it fantasy or other genre. Getting the feel of a simple farming/exploration rpg with chill vibes but minimal math has been a fun challenge ^-^

[@stevemanart]

In my system, which is a monster fighting and heroic epics dragon game replacement as well, uses a d12 + 1d6 + attribute score for basic task resolution. It used to be 3d6, but d12s are fun and it changes the standard of deviation without changing the actual difficulty math. Bonuses and penalties usually add or subtract dice from a dice pool to create a more normalized outcome and increases your chance you get a 6. The health mechanic is a slow returning Wound Points, and a "comes back at every rest" Vitality Points. While I don't have vitality as a resource point (barring some special abilities to allow it), I was very tempted to and I might even move to that if the current magic point system doesn't pan out well. 10:30: Math Nerd Nitpick - You need 3 dice for a bell curve, off of two its just a normal distribution. 19:10 I really like the Cosmos Die idea, and I do hope a more refined version of it rears its head again. Dark Souls d20 is an abysmal game but the Position system form it is literally just a wounds/vitality with vitality as a resource point system as well. Iron Heroes also had class resources, and I am glad you're doing something with that idea. Iron Heroes was one of the better dragon game replacements during the 3.x OGL boom.

[@jasonGamesMaster]

So, i have to say, i really love this series, and as an amateur game designer myself, the stuff you discard is just as inspiring as the stuff you leave in (or at least I'm assuming it will be, lol. I don't know much about what's in it yet, just a lot of cool test stuff that's not lol)

[@FaustoPego]

I have so much to contribute with y'all with. My system works similarly with the attacks and damage and whatnot. So, the first thing I wanna note to you is that you might want to consider what happens when the character rolls a too low attack. Not a counterattack but maybe just a critical failure, dealing low damage or something. In my system, a 1 on the die means you reroll it but the die deducts from the total roll. I also am tinkering around the "critical margin" (which is how low or high you have to roll for a crit hit or crit failure) for a good ammount of success. What I wanna really say to you is that you have to watch out for too much damage every battle or a way to recover HP that isn't cleric-dependant. Also, have a defense acttion that can lower the incoming damage per hit (since you're using turns. I'm not, so mine has to be different). As for DOT, you might just consider they'll deal the entire damage at once, defendable by armor. but you'll apply the rest of the damage over the turns. Like you roll for the damage, it deals more damage than normal. Let's say the character takes 20. It defends 5. so they'll take the system's regular ongoing dmg, like 5 per turn for 3 turns. It's a bit complicated but it's not like everyone deals ongoing all the time.