iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Alastríona Órfhlaith @iamozma.com · 06/08/2026

FWIW, here's a section of my D&D Simplified Homebrew thoughts:

Screen grab with this text:

"CHARACTERS have a SPECIES and GENDER.

CHARACTERS have distinctive CHARACTERISTICS, like age, height, weight, and physical features. Note that CHARACTER’S ABILITY scores in no way a determine specific narrative appearance, form, shape, or aesthetics, but PLAYERS may use those ABILITIES to inform their CHARACTER’S description if they want.

CHARACTERS have NAMES.

CHARACTERS have PERSONALITY.

CHARACTER may have FAMILY.

CHARACTERS may gain TITLES.

SPECIES, GENDER, CHARACTERISTICS, NAMES, PERSONALITY, FAMILY, and TITLES are purely narrative, and have no particular mechanical RULES beyond changing the way the STORY is told by PLAYERS and the NARRATOR. These primarily aid the narrative by describing the CHARACTER in a particular and distinct way. But PLAYERS may find some cases where they change MODIFIERS on relevant ROLLS.

During the GAME various effects may change these.

—

CHARACTERS have a personal STORY. In addition to narrative uses, the personal STORY and background of a CHARACTER may have mechanical effects on BONUSES for ROLLS when the narrative suggests a CHARACTER is more or less SKILLED at doing, fighting or avoiding things.

During the GAME various events in the overall STORY may change a CHARACTER’S personal STORY and both narrative and mechanical effects.

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LANGUAGES, CULTURE, ALIGNMENT, TRAITS, IDEALS, BONDS, and FLAWS are all narrative tools in the background of a CHARACTER’s personal STORY with no particular mechanical RULES. But PLAYERS may use them to inform the narrative, or change MODIFIERS on relevant ROLLS."

Alastríona Órfhlaith@iamozma.com

For my part, I’ve long held that species (I avoid the term race), and culture, should be entirely narrative not mechanical. I once created for myself a minimal basic rules set and that was one of the core changes / simplifications.

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Alastríona Órfhlaith @iamozma.com · 06/08/2026

lol

Screen grab, with the text:

"n the beginning, there were no RULES. And, then there were RULES.

GYGAX saw the RULES that he made, and, behold, they were very good.

Debates have raged ever since.

Certain secret mystic interpretations whispered by occult scholars hold that the RULES are a blind, and initiates having knowledge and conversation don’t need any RULES."

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