I wrote a book.

Rhetorical question: Because they all value form over function.

I'm so tired of every vtt system I find trying to crash my computer because they all want to have 16k resolution and output 96,000fps. Hyperbolic, yes, but I honestly feel that way.

One More Multiverse filled me with hope the first time I saw it. An 8 bit VTT that was fully customizable. But no. The damn thing lags like internet explorer memes. I don't want fancy graphics for my imaginary imagination game. I want easy-to-use and easier-to-run-on-a-patoto. I can just send jpegs in chat for more details.

You don't need a book's permission to play pretend a certain way.

But.

Games are "for" things.

Like, Trophy Dark is for playing doomed adventurers getting eaten and transformed in a deep, dark forest.

Lancer is for tactical giant robot battles.

Laser-Ritter is for making your own Star Wars title crawl and seeing what emerges from it.

You can use games for things they're not intended for. The text can't prevent you from doing that. This is as true of D&D as it is for Monsterhearts.

The degree to which the text fights you will vary. But, ultimately, the text is dead on the page and the play you enact is life.

Games facilitate play. They make it easier. They don't give or withhold permission.

Note: This whole, I'm gonna say essay, is reflection more of my own game philosophy and not a counter argument. If anything, it's more of an expansion. (And a big one at that.) Quail's Conclusion is ultimately correct, in my opinion.

I'm trying to create a functional basic combat system for my system that's not completely useless(alla DnD5e) but still does compete with actual weapons. An uppercut to the ribs should do something to a mook, but not as much as anything.

So far I have the idea of everyone has a basic set of possible actions and of them there's stuff like light attack, heavy, and push, etc. But i need more to ready flush it out. If you know any system that has something to inspire let me know.

I decided to put in a mechanic in my TTRPG system that can be boiled out to "Just tell us the answer, damn it!" and I'm looking for name suggestions.

It's primary purpose is provide a way for the GM to basically unstuck a campaign without it feeling forced and prevent frustration from the players. After all, a player has to invest in the mechanic if they want to use it.

It's related to the Intelligence stat and I've described it so far as: