Smooth RPG

github repository

plexsoup — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 04:27:04 +0000

We^* finally posted TT-CC-Smooth to a github repository. That’ll let us track revisions and outstanding tasks. It’s almost like we’re in the 21st century.

Check it out here: https://github.com/plexsoup/TavernTalesSmooth

It’s hosting the downloadable (tiddlywiki) version of the rules, which is the latest, working, up-to-date version.

If the github repository works out well, We’ll get rid of the dropbox version.

‘^* Hit me up on github if you want to add some issues or merge some pull requests.

— plexsoup

Finally, a Decent Downloadable Version!

plexsoup — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 08:06:26 +0000

If you’re like me, you love the speed of reading on the web, but you also love the convenience of offline reading. Pdfs are nice, but they just don’t feel as responsive as html.

I give you the Downloadable Version of Tavern Tales Smooth! Created in the excellent single-file wiki software: tiddlywiki.

It’s probably the most user-friendly, best looking version of Tavern Tales Smooth to date. It’ll also be the most-frequently updated. Get your copy now. Keep it forever. Hack it to your heart’s desire.

Tiddlywiki is also exceptionally good at keeping notes about your campaign. Give it a try!

What do you do when the outcome isn’t clear?

plexsoup — Fri, 09 Mar 2018 23:42:51 +0000

Frequently, players will come up with a creative idea or use a trait in a creative way. Then they’ll ask the GM whether that would work.

So, what happens if you don’t know? You want to reward them for creative ideas, but you don’t want to unbalance the game, undermine other people’s traits, or trivialize challenges.

Other games use a dice mechanic to resolve disputes. “Roll a d6. On a 1-3 the answer is No. On 4-6 it’s Yes. Or, you could extend this to: 1=No And.., 2=No, 3=No, but.., 4=Yes, but.., 5=Yes, 6=Yes, and…

In Tavern Tales, I sometimes ask for a Spirit roll to represent luck.

The Crafting Conundrum

plexsoup — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 05:33:43 +0000

Crafting presents a design problem in tabletop RPGs. What’s to stop Alchemists and Artificers from creating dozens or hundreds of items during downtime, then sharing those items with everyone in the party?

Some games solve the crafting problem by imposing artificial constraints…

Artificial Constraints

Crafted items may be:

bound to the crafter and can’t be given away.
perishable, expiring within 24 hours.
bulky and take up more inventory space than seems reasonable.
limited to known recipes, schematics, blueprints, etc.

Crafting itself may be:

expensive, costing 1000’s of gold
boring, requiring fiddly rolls and taking spotlight time away from monster hunting
time consuming, wasting weeks of in-game time which would be better served saving the world
unnecessary, in a world filled with magic treasure around every corner

Crafting in Tavern Tales Smooth

In Tavern Tales Smooth, most of the crafting traits have limited recipes (known traits), consume resources (signature resource), and require completion of a small challenge (CL2-5).

The challenge is intended to make the crafting process part of the story, and not just something that happens between sessions.

Here’s a few potential problems with the Tavern Tales Smooth approach to Crafting…

Discrete Solo Adventures aren’t Fun

It’s not fun when parties split up and each PC goes off on solo adventures. Nothing in the Tavern Tales Smooth says that crafting challenges have to be completed solo. Hopefully crafters will invite their fellow party members to help in the challenge.

Limiting the Domain of Character Affordances

If an ability exists in a trait, does that mean characters without that trait can’t do that thing? If Crafters are given explicit challenges to craft items, then what happens when a non-crafter wants to craft an item? Do they get a longer challenge, or is it strictly forbidden?

Where does this leave us?

Tavern Tales Smooth exists in an early state. We playtest and iterate. If something isn’t working, we change it. Crafting may get some changes in the future.

Join us on the subreddit or the discord to talk about the future of crafting.

TT-CC-Smooth RPG

plexsoup — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 08:14:18 +0000

TT-CC-Smooth is a rules-light, classless, high-fantasy RPG, based on Tavern Tales CC-BY-SA by Dabney Bailey. Players can choose from hundreds of traits to build their unique characters.

New Site

plexsoup — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 08:08:07 +0000

I’m in the process of migrating TT-CC-Smooth from a Google Doc into a hosted site on wordpress.com. The Google doc is great for collaborative editing, but it’s not as good for looking up information quickly. Hopefully the wordpress site will help.

Use the menus at the top of the page to get to the Rules and Themes.

Community

plexsoup — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 08:08:04 +0000

Jump into the conversation at the subreddit or on the Tavern Tales discord server.

Playtest Results

plexsoup — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 08:08:03 +0000

We’ve run a bunch of playtest sessions. Everything seems pretty good. We’re still tweaking resource management a bit. For a long time we deliberated over how much Health, Endurance, Wits, and Signature Resources should be recovered when players choose to “spend time”.

Most recently, we decided that “long rests” and abstract downtime mechanics like “spend time” weren’t necessary. The rules for good tales already allow players to recover resources. So, it’s just a matter of making sure to release the pressure a bit and let the players make some easier (increased) rolls when there’s no time pressure or active opposition.

Full playtest notes are here