This page lists unresolved questions and areas that still need development. Some items have been moved to their own pages or archived if resolved.

Explore alternatives to traditional HP, such as:

• Threshold categories (Stress / Serious / Critical) like in Daggerheart and Tales From Elsewhere
• Resistance or vulnerability shifting damage up or down a tier
• Healing spells that target specific severity levels

Consider how these systems integrate with:

• Different types of characters (e.g., fragile mages vs. tough warriors)
• Resting, recovery, and healing mechanics
• Tracking conditions—perhaps via standardized condition cards

Research different rest structures:

• Short vs. long rest pacing
• Recovery tied to stress thresholds or condition cards
• How to avoid “rest spam” while enabling meaningful recovery
• Optional narrative rest triggers (e.g. milestone moments, sanctuary zones)

• Develop a standard list of conditions (e.g. frightened, slowed, exhausted)
• Clarify how they interact with the damage/stress model
• Should conditions stack or escalate?

• How modular should weapons and armor be?
• Can weapons have thresholds, scaling damage severity?
• How can crafting or upgrading work within this modular framework?

We’ve adopted the d4 pool system instead of a flat d20 system. It:

• Encourages more consistent results (bell-curve-ish outcomes)
• Makes skill investment matter more than luck
• Integrates seamlessly with action economy (spendable d4s)
• Replaces Action/Bonus action with diminishing dice per action

See the Rules: Dice Pool page for complete details and current implementation.

Historical note: rationale for this change, including discussion of risk dice, multi-die advantage/disadvantage, and AC subtraction can be found on the archived page: [design_archive:dice_rationale]

We now use 15 Aspects, derived from attribute pairings, in place of skills and saving throws.

This allows:

• Smoother integration across all gameplay types
• Granular character differentiation
• A consistent mechanic for actions, saves, and concentration checks

See Rules: Aspects for the full table and skill-mapping conversion.

The original reasoning behind ditching traditional skills/saves is preserved at [design_archive:aspect_web_rationale].

• Daggerheart
• Spheres of Power
• Crown and Skull
• DCC RPG
• GURPS
• Knave 2
• Monte Cook’s Cypher System
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_systems_in_games

Idea: A character declares their next action at the end of their turn. If they follow through, they gain advantage (or bonus d4). If they change actions, they suffer disadvantage (or penalty).

• Could tie into a called shot mechanic for aimed attacks or spell prep
• May interact with enemy AI or boss-phase design

Consider whether Dash usernames could function as identities for decentralized content curation.

• Would allow creator attribution for shared rules/modules
• Might simplify multiplayer content syncing across local copies
• Ties into web-of-trust ideas for curated rule sets

Archived rationale and deeper design essays are being moved to a new design_archive: namespace.