Post by yannsbi in Against the Wind comments

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Hi,
I was really hyped to try Against the Wind. The vibe of the game is great, artworks stunning, and the Book of Tables is incredibly rich for building a world and filling it with life. I also enjoy how simple the 5d6 resource system is. It keeps things tight, clear, and easy to track. After setting everything up, I jumped into play right away.

But once I got into the action roll, I started running into trouble. I beleve I understand the intent: rolling isn’t a skill check, it’s a choice to open the moment to uncertainty and complications. If I don’t want the story disrupted, I simply don’t roll. If I do want uncertainty, I roll.

But the odds behind that choice feel difficult. With the target being 10+ on 2d6, the chance of reaching that level without spending resources is extremely low. So rolling almost always means: “I expect/want this moment to be complicated,” because the default unassisted outcome is almost guaranteed to bring issues and drain resources. In practice, I guess most players will only roll in scenes where the difficulty matches what they’d treat as a “hard DC” in other games: moments where trouble already feels likely. That means there’s no surprise in trivial moments unless I choose to create it, and a chosen twist... isn’t really a twist anymore.

This also affects the behaviour of hazards. The drifting net and damaged road I encountered in the early scenes cease to be a hazard unless they are linked to an already loaded scene. If I don't expect the risk, I don't roll the dice, and nothing happens. If I roll the dice, I force chaos into something that should seem simple. Hazards thus become either color elements of the setting or chaos, closer to the tone of Aendvari's I Hate Mondays, where most of actions are a mess but without the comedic aspect that game embraces.

The result is that surprise fades outside of the big crossroads.
Since rolling is optional, I only roll where I expect trouble.
When I expect things to stay calm, I never touch the dice.
So I end up choosing where drama appears, rather than discovering it through play.

But stories often shift in small moments.
Even ordinary scenes can spark new directions when something minor goes wrong at the wrong time. History itself had moments like this: a king dying by hitting a low branch during a hunt, changing an entire kingdom. These abrupt turns matter because they aren’t planned.

In Against the Wind instead of being surprised, I’m steering the trouble. At that point, the dice feel less like a source of tension and more like a confirmation of drama I already expected

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

yannsbi19 days ago(+1)

I naturally roll an oracle whenever I meet a hazard, just to keep it as a real moment of uncertainty. I’ll ask something simple like “Do we pass through smoothly?” and let the oracle shape what happens.

With a Yes/No And-But oracle, the plain “Yes” result has the same 1-in-6 chance as the 10+ outcome in the ATW action roll. But because I also treat “Extreme Yes” as a smooth continuation with a bonus, that gives me two chances in six for things to go well. The remaining results usually mean we still move forward, but with some kind of twist or complication. So the odds feel more balanced: there’s a small chance of everything going perfectly, a decent chance of complications, and a clear possibility for mundane scenes to surprise me.

That keeps minor hazards lively in situations where ATW normally wouldn’t require any roll at all. It also helps me feel that even simple moments can shift the story a little, which is something I enjoy.

I also tend to use a couple of likely/unlikely steps, inspired by other oracle tools. For example, "Dark" and "Choppy water" might count as two steps “Highly Unlikely” (–3 on a d12), while the "Sailor" trait brings it back toward one step “Unlikely” (–2). It’s just a modest way I play the game, but it lets the fiction influence the odds naturally without making any outcome certain.

Cezar Capacle18 days ago

Thank you for giving the game a shot, and especially for taking the time to share such thoughtful feedback. Your evaluation is very valid, and your experience is absolutely legitimate. I really appreciate how clearly you articulated it.

I’d like to point to a small passage in the rules (page 34), where I say that rolling is not about how risky, difficult, or unpredictable the action is. It’s about how invested you are in leaving that moment to chance. So yes — you’re right that when you choose to roll, there’s only a 1-in-6 chance of not spending resources. But the design assumption isn’t that you roll only for “hard” or “dangerous” tasks. It’s that you roll for any moment where you, as a player, want to open the door to dramatic possibility.

Even something trivial like flipping through a book can be a moment where you decide, “Let’s see what the dice does with this.” That’s the tone the game aims for: a harsh world where even small actions can shift the story.

That ties into something you mentioned: the desire for surprise in quiet moments. AtW does put the choice in your hands. I wanted the game to let players jump between two stances:

1. Acting as your character inside the fiction. Making decisions, navigating the landscape, surviving the winter.

2. Stepping back into the writer’s room / director’s chair. Choosing when to invite complication, tension, or unexpected change.

For some players, this framing feels empowering. For others, it can initially feel like they are “choosing” their own surprises rather than discovering them. It really is a different style of play, and there’s no right or wrong preference. But AtW is very much built on that dual perspective.

And you’re also spot-on about the pressure. The game is designed so that you will burn resources regularly. That creates the push-forward momentum of a sandbox game without quests. Replenishing resources becomes its own source of wander, discovery, and complications.

With that in mind, your approach of rolling an oracle on hazards is completely valid, and honestly, a great idea. If that makes the world feel more alive to you, it’s absolutely worth doing.

Maybe I can invite you to try one more session with this “different stances” idea in mind. For example, even during a quiet night at camp or while cooking a meal, you might think: “If I were the GM, this would be an interesting moment to shake things up a bit.”

Roll the action, and not necessarily to introduce big drama. Even if it just means burning a few resources, it pushes the fiction forward and reinforces the survival tone without forcing a twist every time.

But again, that’s just one approach. I really appreciate your oracle method. It aligns beautifully with the spirit of the game, and might be something I highlight as an alternative mode of play in a future update.

Thank you again for such generous feedback. I’m glad you shared your experience, and I hope you continue shaping the game in whatever way feels the most alive and exciting for you.

itch.io

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