oh Affinity is great just not free. If you've got it go for it 😄
Ping me if you ever want to chat though, good luck w your semester.
I'm pretty good at the 3d software, but I don't have an extensive art background to reference. Ie., I'm flying by the seat of my pants. Here are some stops along my pants flight:
I also like teaching, so if you want to play around yourself, I'm happy to point you toward a usable workflow. Tbh that's my preferred path, because it takes less work for me and I'd feel like I contributed what I wanted to this project.
Hi! Lots to think about. Didn't mean to be on the attack, just was trying to be really clear on where my brain was at for this and why it wasn't jiving for me yet. I can also see how the qualms I had about the breadth of application aren't your priority, and therfore not an issue.
Initially the biggest thing I like is your point about how the mutual exclusivity plays out in dice pools, especially (but also without) the subtracted dice pool. The other aspects require more thought on how they could be applied. I'll take a look at how Genesys uses the two types of symbols for an example.
Totally different thought- idk how much experience you have doing digital art. If you want help with stylized models of your dice, I'd be happy to come up with something and open source the result.
That would be cool! Are you set in your choice of probabilities? To get my math brain on board, I'd need to hear a justification for the faces chosen. Something like "this set of die faces lends itself to good game design choices because the circle/triangle can represent a more rare thing and the plus/minus can represent a slightly more normal thing, so game designers should get excited by how much easier it will be to use this die than something else"
My main thought is that choices about die probabilities (status quo, without standardized symbol dice) usually follow decisions about game mechanics/balance, so you're limiting your audience to game designers who want to make a game with the particular combination of probabilities you've provided, rather than what you're hoping, which is people first choosing your dice, then setting their intended game mechanics by the probabilities you've chosen.
I'm thinking also about how a standard 52 card deck has standardized symbols, but all the symbols in the deck are evenly distributed. Since the game designer imposes meaning on the symbols, they have full control over the probabilities.
Would you consider a standard symbol die with a different symbol on each face, possibly with only one blank face? Or some other more evenly distributed set of symbols that would be more malleable to different rules? Like some sides have combinations of symbols but it's more evenly weighted. For instance:
(I can't type a triangle)
| Side | Symbol |
|-------|----------|
| 1 | ○ |
| 2 | □ |
| 3 | ◇ |
| 4 | ○□ |
| 5 | ○◇ |
| 6 | □◇ |
In this example every player has a complete understanding of the set of symbols at a glance, and the game designer can assign their own meanings to the symbols. I would honestly be the most excited about standardizing a die with a different shape on every side, and really leaving full control to the game designers.
I get it if you totally disagree with what I'm saying, because I agree it would be cool if they standardized the dice you yourself came up with. Just airing a thought. Thoughts?
I'm going to post a card deck with items of interest. I hope to make a collection of items that are way more quirky or interesting than they are powerful. My sole purpose in providing these is to increase player's opportunities to abuse what they're given in creative and memorable ways. But we're going to make them work for it.
This topic is for you to contribute item ideas (under a CC-BY-SA license) if you would like. Any ideas I include will have a little illustration, a hopefully witty remark written under them, and be printable with a card front/back along with the rest of the pack.
I learn toward the whimsical. If you have an item idea that is clearly useful and not otherwise strange, it is probably a better match for your own publication. If you want me to use it, make it worse <3. I'll post some of the ones I've come up with when I get back to my computer.
I hope people appreciate this, and I look forward to seeing your ideas.
I looked a long time for a ruleset that was fully story based but still has dice rolling. This one is the first one I've found that has it*, so I thought I'd mention it in case it deserves a spot on your list. Great for new players and people who want more creativity and imagination than strategy.
*there are others like FATE but they had additional elements I didn't like.
If anyone has other ones they like that sound like what I'm looking for, please let me know. I want to introduce ttrpgs to my mom, who is a theater person, but averse to large rulesets and combat-oriented play like dnd. For my own sake I prefer genre-agnostic rulesets, and ones that allow me to plan a game based on character's in-game goals as written about in The Game Master's Guide to Proactive Roleplay
Great game! Here's my feedback: