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In Godflesh, we borrowed the “Threads” mechanic from Demigods, a Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) game. Threads represent a character’s influence on the world, but unlike other PbtA games where “influence” is binary or involves accumulating tokens, Threads work more like “bennies” from Savage Worlds.
Here’s how they work: you can burn a Thread to absorb damage, re-roll a failed action with a bonus die, or manipulate the scene narrative to achieve a specific outcome (7-9 result). These are powerful tools, but not tools of interpersonal influence – they affect the world itself.
But during playtesting, we ran into a problem. Players were reluctant to use Threads because spending them felt like burning XP. In Demigods, that’s the intended trade-off – you sacrifice short-term gains for slower, more controlled advancement. The issue was that in our game, characters reached a power level that felt too high too quickly. By session 6 or 7, they had effectively level-6 characters, which didn’t fit the narrative arc we’d envisioned.
Recognising the issue, seeking solutions
The players spotted this themselves and wanted to slow down character progression. We suggested using Threads more freely, but players still preferred holding onto them for the XP.
Decoupling experience and influence
The solution: separate XP and Threads entirely. Inspired by the bennies in Savage Worlds and discussions with Eran Aviram, we created two independent systems. Threads now refresh each session and must be used within that session.
This changed the game immediately. Players started actually spending Threads, and in some situations would even choose a Thread over XP. Now they face a genuine dilemma: take an immediate advantage, or invest in long-term growth?
The lesson from playtesting
From a design perspective, this illustrates something worth remembering: players are more willing to spend a resource that resets than one that represents permanent progress. A win on the current roll often feels more valuable than future XP. Playtesting doesn’t just catch broken mechanics – it reveals which psychological assumptions embedded in your rules are actually true.
The combat problem
Playtesting surfaced another issue: combat balance. Characters were dealing too much damage while taking very little in return, thanks to high armour and low enemy HP. The result was one-sided encounters that lacked the back-and-forth feel we were after.
The goal is combat that feels like a real exchange – something closer to D&D in terms of energy, but without three-hour sessions. Enemies that hit back, varied effects, weight behind each blow.
Demigods, where much of our inspiration came from, isn’t built for this style of combat. So we’ve been looking elsewhere.
Learning from other systems
- Root: The Roleplaying Game offers a range of combat resources – morale, injuries, fatigue – and lets players choose between injuring or demoralising enemies. It’s one of the more tactically granular PbtA games out there.
- Blades in the Dark separates fatigue and exhaustion from injuries, so characters weaken before they’re seriously hurt. That maps well onto what we want Godflesh to do.
- Masks: A New Generation handles the back-and-forth by letting enemies react after players damage them – the GM gets to use moves when villains take “conditions,” keeping enemies active even when they’re losing. Even a quickly defeated villain gets to do something before going down.
Adapting this for Godflesh
Translating these ideas into a non-superhero, dungeon-crawling setting is tricky. Damage based on emotional states wouldn’t fit Godflesh. But what if monsters had hit points that triggered specific abilities or battle phases? That way enemies stay active even when players roll exceptionally well.
Our current system has high-damage weapons – a legendary weapon can deal 4 damage per hit – but lacks depth. We want players to have more options for dealing with enemies, not just higher numbers.
City of Mist uses conditions on characters to track their combat state, which is close to what we’re exploring.
We’re still working through this. Playtesting has made clear where the gaps are. The goal is combat that has both the cinematic feel and enough tactical texture to make choices matter – within Godflesh’s specific world.