Victories, Recoveries, Resting & XP | Designing The Game 

I really liked that D&D movie, it was fun and had a lot of heart. I never credited the idea of a "D&D movie," and then they made one that was actually pretty good, but no one seemed to give a shit. It's gonna go on the shelf next to The Nice Guys and tons of other movies that are exactly what people say they want, and then no one goes to see them.

You have my eternal respect for correctly identifying Legolas as a fighter with a bow, rather than a ranger.

Man game design is tricky huh 🧐🤔 I really appreciate MCDM breaking down their design process like this. Because it's easy to look at a game and think "My gosh that's genius!" And not see the process where they went through 10 ideas that didn't work before they landed on the one that did; It's very encouraging too amateur designers

"Given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game."

Just as good as a Matt video, but don't tell him. Impressive work.

I like that you're not just making an RPG. You're making a fun RPG.

I love how the solution to the problem doesn't feel just like a solution but makes for a good rule on its own. So hyped for this game, can't wait to hear more about it

I like how Victories turn into XP. No more trying to calculate XP and figuring out if the cleric had killed that goblin instead of arresting them then your wizard could have had fireball

Victories, Recoveries, Resting, and XP are a big part of the RPG's gameplay loop at every level. Heroic Resources are a big part of that too. Heroic resources reward you for engaging during an encounter. Victories reward you for engaging with the adventure. XP rewards you for engaging with the campaign. Recoveries prevent your Victories from skyrocketing to infinity (or until you have exactly enough to level up before resting).

The bug mentioned reminds me of Darkest Dungeon, where you’d kill most of the enemies then spend the last few rounds extending the fight so you can recover stress and health.

I sure hope that Matt doesn't let James make too many more videos. He displays too much enthusiasm and creates too much excitement, just like Matt does. My neighbors are complaining because I am jumping up and down shouting YES!!! at the top of my lungs. Freaking Awesome!

An offering to the Machine God! (and great job MCDM team, loving the direction of the RPG).

The blending of heroic resource points, into victory points, into xp; as punctuated by recovery points - sublime.

Reading through the preview, this was the one thing that made me immediately go "oh, this is good stuff". I love seeing games that don't equate "tactical" with "slowly draining resources". D&D often feels like by the time you get to the boss, which should be the most exciting part of the adventure, you're so worn out that you don't get to do anything exciting.

Ooooh, "keep on rolling" is a great sign off

I described this to a friend as "instead of a downward escalation curve as your cool moves are spent and dried up, it's an upward escalation curve as you do more and cooler things. You know, like stories are supposed to do."

James is operating the MACHINE!!!

James's Matt impression is really coming together. Well done!

I really love hearing about the ways RPGs can be improved by further divorcing themselves from staples like resource attrition. I'm very excited for this RPG

So obviously I had heard this stuff before, but the video format IS the best way I've seen this information presented.

Love the transparency and honesty of your company! :) It's so refreshing in an industry that is built around generating hype. Which you guys btw are also generating. :P

+1 for engagement, loving everything you're doing

Love the direction MCDM is going.

after 50 years, finally someone solved the core loop in tabletop rgps

I think the resting rules are one of the most exciting things in this upcoming game. Tempo and pacing is a big deal when running, but it's not always intuitively understood by newer GMs. It's one of those things that is perfect for the rules to do heavy lifting on: if the rules can provide a framework for the pace of the game and also naturally encourage everyone to do things that feel dramatic, it makes the GM's job much easier. I think the old-school attrition rules really fail at this. It's why you see such it's such a common sore spot for new DMs: there's so much advice specifically about preventing rests or creating time pressure on the players. because if you fail to make the time management and resting attrition matter, the other resource systems of the game get all wonky.

The problem the crew was trying to solve here reminds me of the game Darkest Dungeon where, since you can only heal in combat, a key part of the meta is stalling at the end of a fight so you can get some heals in. Additional enemies will eventually show up if you stall too much, but the main balance is actually just that the rest of the game is so hard that it's not giving the player much of an advantage.

Very cool ideas here. This victory/rest/XP system is super elegant and makes perfect sense for a cinematic heroic game. Can't wait to see what comes next!

i've been tinkering with the old shadowrun and other cyberpunk-ish rpg rulesets and how they all deal with "edge". and specifically borrowing the "victories" idea as it's been developed. there's something really narratively satisfying about bumping the players' powers at every story beat. and mechanically it creates a strong drive to move from beat to beat, whether its a more combat or narrative or exploration/puzzle beat. it's a huge boon to the community to have mcdm find these tricky problems and design great solutions

Yay Designing the Game!

There's something really funny about using the competitions own movie to advertise your RPG. 🤣

I really like the idea of recoveries that you're implementing into the game. It lets players take care of their own health, which reduces the need for a healbot in the group, and allows that player to spend those resources on other aspects of the game!

My favorite part of this game is the completely modern/innovative take on design. Yes, you guys may take inspiration from older games but the fact that you aren’t afraid to throw it all out and restart to get a better result is really really cool. Then on top of that sharing it with us! We’re very fortunate 😄

James is conjuring his inner Matt here, this presentation style is loved by many fans of this channel and I have to admit, that he is doing a pretty good job with it, too. Matt loves good drama and narrating / presenting the videos in this way is a certain form of drama, if you ask me. Thanks for the effort, James. I appreciate that and respect the time and energy it must have taken to practice that and pull it off. I tip my hat to you, good sir!

Very good Matt impression at the beginning, sounded just like how he would say that.

I wonder if any sort of downtime activities will be added to classes or kits for use during rests like sharpen blade, bandage wounds for some bonus HP. Like camping in darkest dungeon.

Really really really liking this design, guys. Feels like you identified tons of pain points or just illogical things about the games we've all been playing and have come up with solutions to make the game flow better and stay exciting at every point. Very much looking forward to playing it.

I really like the idea of “heroic momentum” in a battle. And trading in resources for XP is a great idea! Keep up the good work, fellas.

Now I want to play this even more!! The effort you guys are putting into this - thinking things through with dedicated boundaries and goals - is going to pay off when everything comes together!

The thing, oh you mean the Doobladoo! Gotch ya! Great explainer

I love this guy intercutting with the dramatic effects. It actually works here. :) very appropriate.

Very well thought out solutions. I love how the rules of this game always aim for a specific experience for the players.

Captain carrot always takes a good nap before the final fight so he is ready for it.

I don't think it can be overstated how clarifying the notion that Victories are indeed not merely limited to combat situations opened up discussion on the Discord. This video perhaps was invaluable to conversation and brainstorming.

Whoa! THE James Introcaso is in on this thing? Now you have my attention MCDM! Seriously though, this reminds me of a couple of RPG video games where they flip the standard model of MP on its head by making it a resource you accrue every turn rather than a limited pool that you need to restore every so often by resting at an inn or consuming recovery items. As you pointed out, the allure of getting stronger over time is getting to use more abilities more often. The down side is that it takes a deft hand to balance the desire to use a cool ability every turn with the idea of saving up your resources for a few turns in order to use the big finishing move. That’s why I like a balance between pools and meters. Pools, of course, are things that you drain over time to achieve an effect. These are balanced by meters which are something that builds up over time, but need to be rebuilt every time they are used or a new fight begins. I’m interested to hear about any future insights you all uncover in future play tests.

Starting each combat with victories number of heroic resource is absolutely brilliant! Keep up the great work

Appreciate your transparency and these updates/deep dives!

Love the work you're doing!

This is an absolutely incredible video! Well done James! Backed!

its very comforting to see that the machine works as well as it does once again

James, this is an amazing video!! Well done!!

James just as charismatic as Matt! I love everything you guys say about your game, sounds like so much fun.

This is all really cool and exactly why I am so hype for this game! I've been so tired of a lot of other systems just copying D&D in total or in part, but this game really seems to introduce new things that really change the way you play at its core.

What a great solution to the problem! Can't wait to see how it develops!

I am not a game dev but a software tester. I love how you appoach your game design. We do so many things similar because of that i can‘t wait to get my hands on your game!

James, you did an incredible job on this video. Well done!

Your enthusiasm for the game is contagious!

I really love these videos. I can't wait to see the final product

Thanks James, great video. It’s really great that Matt has another super star on board

I absolutely love James' energy in breaking down the process of developing the victories and recoveries. It's really exciting getting to see this all out in the open!

Honestly love all these updates and insights into making the game! I feel like having all this behind the scenes videos (not even going into the depth of the Patreon) is really helping the community feel like they're a part of the game, even before it releases. So thank you for sharing with us!

Glad to see James can work the machine, as well as deliver a great video with solid explinations

Man this insights behind the scenes is such a cool thing. Can't wait to see how everything will turn out at the end :)

I am beyond excited to see my ideal version of a TTRPG somehow be pulled from my brain and delivered to me from a full country away. In my 5e games, I did my best to implement the recovery vs. sleeping while in a dangerous situation. I always allow sleep, but ask for a save on an attempt to long rest at the risk of exhaustion depending on danger of the environment. What I know, is that you guys are better designers than me, because your system of rewarding continuing to play, as opposed to punishing attempts to rest feels overall better. It presents the players with a win/win situation, (regain HP/ maintain resources) instead of lose/lose (not have enough resources for the next encounter / enter next encounter with exhaustion) with mine. I also took some inspiration from 4e to run the parallel between per encounter abilities and per day abilities with short rests and long rests respectively, by shortening a "short rest" to 10 minutes instead of 1 hour or immediately after a battle assuming they have at least one hit dice to spend and combat is clearly ended. I had hoped to offset the cruelty of depriving long rests with this, and it actually inspired some really fun homebrew magical items to help with recovery. The focus on objective based combat encounters is also something I have been working on as well, as I have no more desire to run a combat encounter of dumb bandits with no self-preservation instincts. Following the guidelines as illustrated in Kieith Ammann's wonderful book "The Monster's Know What They're Doing", allowing people to flee, give them objectives to maintain, and following a more restrictive rules of enemy behavior and tactics, battling for objectives feels like a whole new game and introduces a whole new bevy of interesting player choices. I am very excited by everything here. Looking forward for what's to come.

Top tier Matt impression in the opening fyi

Great explanation of your design process!

Love the classic Matt "woah!" when The Machine works

Great insights, thank you so much!

With everything going on at WOTC you guys picked a great time to announce your game. Super excited, your guys passion really shows.

James. You're killing it and the game deets at cool af.

Victories converting to XP on rest is really elegant design. Well done, team! I'm really looking forward to this game.

12 hours for a rest is rather appropriate. I'm mentally exhausted after just a menial day job, I absolutely couldn't just go to sleep and be back at it again, let alone after a harrowing life and death battle. At least a few hours after work, and an hour or two for my non-morning self, is my need.

I love the editing on this video. And James’s delivery energy is great, almost like he’s doing an impression of Matt! Ha ha ha.

Despite knowing this because I read the Patreon, seeing the excitement in the video is contagious! I can’t wait to see how many other aspects of the D20 fantasy are remixes and changed for those core 4 words

just can't wait to play this game

The more I learn about the game the more excited I am to play it!

This is by far the most interesting aspect of the system to me so far. My players are usually good about not trying to rest all the time. However, having an incentive to press on with mounting risks and rewards would really help the flow of the game feel like we all want it too.

These videos make me super excited to see how the RPG turns out.

This sounds amazing James, I am really looking forward to this, and I hope the Backerkit does even more amazing than it already is. I love the openness of your process and progress on the game. This is going to be incredible when it comes out :D

Thanks for the video, Love the content and the sound of the game.

I like how much inspiration this game is drawing from D&D 4e. The way recoveries work is lifted straight from 4e. The victories system also seems very inspired by 4e's milestones. 4e had some really amazing game design that really hits a lot of what MCDM is trying to do, but it had too much crunch and customizability because it was designed for a computer to do a lot of the math wia virtual tabletop that never materialized. I think maybe I shouldn't be surprised that 4e but simpler and homebrewable is where they're going since I know at least matt is a huge 4e fan.

Not the main focus of the video but briefly touched on: love the idea of more prevalent consumable magic items like potions (but also others). One of the greatest heroic fantasy series, Malazan, uses them a lot: Moranth munitions, summonable demons, spiritwalker's song etc. Very much looking forward to this game 😊

This is valuable insight. Or Insight. Thank you for these updates!

Great observations on that! It's very similar to what it's possible to do in Darkest Dungeon 1. It's "common practice" to slow the fight down to a halt when the enemies have been brought down to one that cannot inflict stress so you can spend as many turns as the game allows healing and patching up. Cool way to fix that stuff!

Why in the world does even resting sound SO FUN in your game??? Keep up the great work guys, love this cinematic feel you guys are accomplishing!

every time i watch a video of the MCDM rpg i want it mooooooooore

I remember doing the exact same thing in older kings bounty and similar games - forcing the combat to last because healers couldn't do anything outside the combat and I wanted to recuperate. Recent Age of Wonders 4 game tried to address the same issue you have, and they came up with the solution that in-combat healing lasts only for that combat, and regular health restoration is done outside the combat, where it's an interesting puzzle to solve instead of boring cheese. Obviously, not a solution for ttrpg, but it's interesting to see that different types of design had the same issue and how vastly different solutions can be.

I like that you've tried to keep exactly the same cadence as Matt does (at least, I was immediately reminded of him). Even if it wasn't intentional, it was a nice touch.

I remember playing in that playtest! So cool to see how far the game has come

Happy to see James in a designing the game scenario!

Worth noting the importance of making encounters more tactical/interesting when they go long: Possible targets are diminishing, so choices are as well.

As James was describing the rest mechanic, my wife shouts from the other room: "Five gold, and a party!" 😂

Fantastic Update

great video, you got this!!

very nice to see designers have a "endgame first" approach to ruling, instead of making stuff up because it sounds cool or that's what people are used to and tying it up badly later in the process

I'm always so happy to see James doing a video! His style is similar to Matt's, while also having his own flare, and he's just such a likeable presenter ☺️

James rocks!!! I am curious how him and Matt linked up, the team at MCDM are such a good collection of personalities and traits. Lars as well, loved watching him think on strategy in their games, everyone there is such a wonderful asset!

I’m so excited for this game.

This system is really good - i can picture it in my head so clearly like a video game UI where the different bars drain into each other and finally into XP.

I almost never comment, but please, more videos with this man in them, I beg of you

This man is genius, great video and great design!