Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 15h

I know what you mean - can't imagine how I ever did it while working another job.

Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 17h

Thank you! And yeah, totally get you. I don't know how your operation works but I find I have to cover so many different things that are a whole job in themselves that it's hard to make space for anything but keeping the current project on the road!

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Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 20h

I know exactly how you feel! Well, maybe not the 88 writing credits part.

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Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 22h

Now you tell me!

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Reposted by Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter

Charlie Eldritch-Nunn @skyshark.itch.io · 1d

There’s only a few hours left on this investigative science fiction game set on the bones of old empires. It felt like what I wanted Dark Heresy to be, with tricky moral choices, strange horrors, weird locations and a nice camaraderie between under-resourced protagonists.

Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · Sep 9

Ex Tenebris is LIVE on Kickstarter! Back now to help us get a strong start.

Play a ragtag team of investigators, walking the stars and hunting indescribable horrors with few resources and no backup.

The Republic Of Stars needs you. Will you answer the call?

www.kickstarter.com/projects/bla...

Ex Tenebris: A gothic space TTRPG

Unravel mysteries, battle horrors, protect the stars

www.kickstarter.com

1

Reposted by Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter

Alex @Plane Sailing Games @planesailinggames.com · 23h

I love the idea of the Menace Track which @armadajosh.bsky.social talks about in this blog post. I can see lots of potential for this kind of device in games

blackarmada.com/events-bring...

Events: bringing the mystery to life

This article was originally published on the Black Armada Patreon – please help us create more great games and gaming content by becoming a patron! Whenever I GM a mystery game, I aim to create a s…

blackarmada.com

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Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 23h

Well that f5 key wasn't going to press itself all night!

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Reposted by Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter

Alex @Plane Sailing Games @planesailinggames.com · 1d

Last four hours, if gothic space investigative horror is up your street, take a look!

Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · Sep 9

Ex Tenebris is LIVE on Kickstarter! Back now to help us get a strong start.

Play a ragtag team of investigators, walking the stars and hunting indescribable horrors with few resources and no backup.

The Republic Of Stars needs you. Will you answer the call?

www.kickstarter.com/projects/bla...

Ex Tenebris: A gothic space TTRPG

Unravel mysteries, battle horrors, protect the stars

www.kickstarter.com

3 4

Reposted by Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter

Gaz @evilgaz.bsky.social · 1d

Last chance to jump in on this Kickstarter! Want to try before you buy? Well, we've got a punchy AP with the creators all ready for you - check it out!

youtu.be/aHiHuFXNFqg?...

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Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 1d

8 hours left... then I sleep.

Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · Sep 9

Ex Tenebris is LIVE on Kickstarter! Back now to help us get a strong start.

Play a ragtag team of investigators, walking the stars and hunting indescribable horrors with few resources and no backup.

The Republic Of Stars needs you. Will you answer the call?

www.kickstarter.com/projects/bla...

Ex Tenebris: A gothic space TTRPG

Unravel mysteries, battle horrors, protect the stars

www.kickstarter.com

2 2 8

Reposted by Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter

Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 2d

If you have enjoyed this lecture in statistical mathematics, please check out the full paper, in which I explore probability curves by designing a gothic space investigation game.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/bla...

Ex Tenebris: A star-spanning gothic investigation TTRPG

Unravel mysteries, battle horrors, protect the stars

www.kickstarter.com

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Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 1d

Not too late to ruin this perfect number:

www.kickstarter.com/projects/bla...

Ex Tenebris: A star-spanning gothic investigation TTRPG

Unravel mysteries, battle horrors, protect the stars

www.kickstarter.com

Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 1d

Yasssssss!!! 🤘

Ex Tenebris front page showing 666 backers!

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Reposted by Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter

Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 2d

Good morning! I have had a couple of people tell me Ex Ten shouldn't use 2d10 because it breaks the PBTA probability curve. They could not be more wrong and I am going explain why, because it's the end of my campaign and I need something to keep me sane, ok?

Strap in.
⤵️

a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a wall with papers on it .

Alt: a man in a suit and tie is standing gesticulating in front of a wall with paper and red thread on it

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter

Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 2d

Final 24 hours (ish!) for Ex Tenebris 😱

Help us finish strong!

www.kickstarter.com/projects/bla...

Ex Tenebris: A star-spanning gothic investigation TTRPG

Unravel mysteries, battle horrors, protect the stars

www.kickstarter.com

5 6

Reposted by Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter

Not that other guy, that's for sure @neogliberal.bsky.social · 2d

And yet people have strong opinions about both dice, and car colour.

The issue is people care about die for the *wrong reasons*. No-one is developing a probability heuristic based on the dice system (which is what designers are doing).

They just like certain clicky-clacks. Red car go fast.

Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 2d

By the way, my real hot take is, die choice doesn't really matter. It's a tiny, unimportant part of game design that gets massively overfocused on. Calling a game "2d6 based" or whatever is like saying a car is "red paint job based".

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Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 2d

By the way, my real hot take is, die choice doesn't really matter. It's a tiny, unimportant part of game design that gets massively overfocused on. Calling a game "2d6 based" or whatever is like saying a car is "red paint job based".

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Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 2d

Anyway, the answer to your question is "there's nothing wrong with using 1d20". I actually think the significance of die choice is massively overplayed. My whole rantthread was really a response to someone saying my dice mechanic was borked, but TBH I don't think the choice is that significant.

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Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 2d

I think what that adds up to is, in a d20 system you tend to be trying to stack lots of modifiers, because a single +1 isn't worth very much. In 2d10 (or whatever 2dx) a single +1 can be worth a lot.

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Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 2d

It also means each +1 makes a big difference to the chance of an outright fail - at the extreme end, a +1 bonus can cut the chance of failure by 2/3.

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Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 2d

There's no right answer, but I like the way that (as you can kind of see in the thread) you get big changes around the middle. A +1 bonus on a target number of 11 is worth 9%, a +2 is worth 17%. So small adjustments make a big difference.

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Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 2d

If you have enjoyed this lecture in statistical mathematics, please check out the full paper, in which I explore probability curves by designing a gothic space investigation game.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/bla...

Ex Tenebris: A star-spanning gothic investigation TTRPG

Unravel mysteries, battle horrors, protect the stars

www.kickstarter.com

3 2 7

Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 2d

If you ever read one of my games and think I haven't thought through the probabilities, that is the opposite of the truth. Sadly it is all I can do to stop thinking about probabilities when I'm asleep or dead.
⤵️

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Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 2d

By the way, the fun here is that you get to (almost) guarantee success when it really matters, but that Shadow then builds up and spits out cool Shadow advances.

Your best friend gets killed or corrupted.
The villain reveals a new power.
You start down a path of darkness that ends in corruption.
⤵️

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Josh Fox 🔜 Ex Tenebris coming to Kickstarter @armadajosh.bsky.social · 2d

That's part of why we use 2d10s. The Shadow modifier means you are virtually guaranteed success. Virtually, but - because it's 2d10 - not quite guaranteed.

Notice there's still around a 40% chance of mixed success, so even with Shadow there may be a fly in your ointment, or grit in your oyster.
⤵️

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