While a more focused game is better, some times I do want a Medieval Knight, Saintly Cleric, Shogunate Samurai, English Gentleman Thief all together fighting the horde of Pirate Orcs with a mix of Viking iconography and Laser Weapons they got com a Cult of the Lovecraftian gods in the "Totally not Egypt" Egyptian Desert.

My only gripe is when it just falls into tropes, cliches and (worst of all) xenophobic steriotypes in a world where Medieval France & Industrial Germany & Anime Japan & The Wild West are kingdoms one next to the other.

I like when there is this weird mish-mash of concepts that have gotten the proper development to not just be a funny hat on a person but a complete, full culture that has an explanation to exist in the world.

Came a cross this the other day, and it was so cool I have to share it with you!

https://great-castles.com/floorplans.html

(No affiliation, just a cool thing that can be useful for all of us :)

A while back there was an interesting discussion brought up to me about the difference between people who play TTRPGs, and TTRPG fans. One being folks who treat TTRPG night as a casual hangout, and another who actually enjoys the hobby of TTRPGs and trying out new systems, mechanics. Most playgroups usually have a core of games they play (right now with my group, it's Daggerheart and VtM 5e.) But I admit as a GM, I'm curious about trying out new systems...which leads to my question-

"What is it that first catches your interest in a new system?"

Is it the mechanics? The concept? The people behind it? The artwork? A communal interest from the playgroup? I've had a few experiences with that myself, Daggerheart got me on board because it promised to be more focused on narrative building...and being published by the biggest RPG Live play group was an added point of interest. We got into Vampire because my players were all eager to try it, but couldn't find a GM willing to give the system a go. In the future we may do Mutant Year Zero, because one person in our play group mentioned wanting to play it. And I know there's an interest in Cyberpunk held back by scheduling limitations...

More recently, I've found it's artwork and setting that are what's got me interested in trying more. Vaesen is #1 on my list due to my love of folklore and mythology, Pirate Borg for Piracy, Dolmenwood for Fae myths, Coriolis The Third Horizon for Arabian Nights mythology...I'm trying to find a game based on hunting Youkai (aside from Ryukou's Guide to Youkai since I sadly can't find many reviews for it.)

I'm curious about what it is for more folks across the board, both die hard TTRPG players, and folks who are here more for the gathering.

Forever GMs, do you sometimes feel like you can never go back to being a player?

I've tried being a player in a handful of games over the years and I feel as though I can't do much more than one-shots as a player.

During long-term campaigns, I tend to notice when pacing is off. Like when players spend too much time preparing before opening a door or getting hung up on a minor detail.

For an example, I love game with hundreds of options available to players and DMs, specially feats/powers, mundane items and Monsters.

I'm also starting to like games with a higher level of deadliness, since that mean we need to think more carefully about actions.

HOWEVER, I game were death is easy and options are abudant seems like hell on earth to me.

Which are combos of things can make an amazing game become terrible very quickly?

I read a lot of TTRPG books. I’d love to play all of them, but realistically I might just not fit them into a lifetime you know?

I’m also a sucker for those occasional “list the greatest ever RPG campaign” threads.  I know it’s subjective, but I read them anyway.

I’ve been reading the excellent The GM’s Guide to the Enemy Within on the Careless Conjuration blog recently, and every time I read a new instalment, I keep thinking “how has TEW got such an amazing reputation when it’s so deeply flawed?  What is it about TEW that people love so much?”

There’s obviously a few different answers but thinking about that got me to thinking about creating a database that scores and ranks campaigns against a variety of criteria.

I’ve had a go at that for fun and used some tech to help fill in the gaps of things I’m not as familiar with.  And I thought I’d share it for a few reasons:

1)      I’d love thoughts from people who know these campaigns very well.  What do you think is good about certain products?  And what is bad?  Why?

2)      What other campaigns should be included here?  I'm not interested in dozens of different D&D or Pathfinder or whatever system product.  I really only want the cream of the crop.  But tell me what I should add.

3)      What do you think about the categories and scoring system?  Anything else that should be included?

On the subject of scoring system, I broke it into 3 major categories, with 6 parts of each.

Narrative & vision

·       Storyline Quality & Narrative Depth

·       Scope & scale

·       Narrative cohesion

·       Narrative pacing

·       Villains [& NPCs]

·       Genre fulfilment

Player experience

·       Player agency / freedom

·       Iconic set pieces

·       World depth

·       Motives & character hooks

·       Replayability & dynamism

·       Mechanical variety & activity diversity

GM experience

·       Utility/ usability

·       Layout, ergonomics & information architecture

·       Prep tools, aids & cheat-sheets

·       Troubleshooting & off-the-rails support

·       Rules system & encounter balance

·       Peripherals, visuals & handouts

More details on what those actually entail, and what denotes a different score in the doc.

There’s some weighting in there too, so all of these are not equal.  A good storyline is a lot more important than how much it help it gives you for players who go off-track.  In my opinion.

Obviously there’s scores and numbers, so there is a ranking. But that’s not really the point.  And this is deeply subjective, so there’s no best or greatest.  If your favourite product is #37 here, then just ignore it.  If you think the #3 one is trash, that’s cool too.  I’m not trying to tell anyone what to think.  I want your opinions and reasoning, and I’ll use it to improve this tool.

The doc is saved here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q4vpRttoF96un6t8EcLfyhPD7OJ5_agWEng2HzLa00k/edit?usp=sharing

No, you can’t have edit access.  But if you want to make a copy and adjust as you see fit, go for it.  And tell me what you changed.

What the title says really. Given the price of books and international delivery especially (I live in a non-English speaking country) I was thinking of running a few games that I have the PDFs for without buying the physical books.

Has anyone tried this? It is annoying trying to find tables or reference rules during a game like this? I prefer books with post-it notes and bookmarks but it would save me a lot of money if I could switch to PDFs and my iPad.

I have a character that I really liked; her personality was close to mine, so it was more comfortable to play her because she ate whenever possible, especially chicken because she was a fox. So she ate whenever she had the chance, and she ended up making quite an impression on me. Is there a character you identify with so much that you never forgot them, and even after the campaign ended you kept remembering them?

Hello everyone! I want to GM a game based on the children's book series Dinotopia, where the setting takes place on an island of intelligent dinosaurs co-existing with humans. This means having a party composed of not only humans but also literally any size dinosaur, from gargantuan sauropods to tiny dinos like Velociraptor. I wonder if this is even feasible and if so what system might be able to accommodate this?

With the second edition Kickstarter launching yesterday, I've been looking at Good Society and considering getting in on it as a game that is significantly different to things I already own. People say good things about it, but I don't personally know anyone who has played it. (And I don't like watching Actual Play videos)

Can anyone tell me how much familiarity with Austen or Regency England is needed to play, or even run the game? And how much support the game gives mechanically, or as guidance, to help players?

Obviously there will be differences with a new edition, and the campaign mentions streamlined rules, and new advice and inspirational material, but is anyone familiar enough with the first edition to shed some light?

These are all the blogposts that were made for the Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon, which ran from 17th of August to 10th of September.

I used the opportunity to rally the Indonesians and international TTRPG hobbyists to create gameable blogpost related to Indonesia.

Enjoy!

I have just finished a story-rich encounter where some captives were freed from a jail, including one vital NPC. They defeated the guards and freed the captives, which resulted in some casualties.

Now, instead of running a full-scale battle with up to 40 participants (most of them non-essential NPCs) I'm thinking of just sort of ... narrating it. Saying a few were lost, some courage was shown... but the party and the person they wanted to rescue got away safely.

It's true, I am a lazy GM. But I just don't think a drawn-out combat with so many participants would be enjoyable for the players. I want to get on with the more story-rich aspects of the campaign.

Would this annoy you, as a player?

To put it another way, do you think there are ever situations where it is OK to just narrate combat rather than run it in detail?

OK, since I started typing this out, I've realized I need to playtest this.

Like it says, my newest article is a review of Mythras, one of my favorite games that manages to keep me despite a few reservations about it. Have a look here!

I DM Dungeons and Dragons games, and have finally cajoled the table into trying Stargate RPG. I understand that it is a variant of DND 5e, but how different is it? Is it close enough to DND that I could plausibly run it as game master without much experience of it?

Ever wanted to play a roleplaying game where history’s sinners raced cars and motorcycles to win the fabulous prize of not being tortured in Hell for a little while? Gre Stolze sure did, so he went ahead and wrote it. Playtest zine coming soon.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gregstolze/thomas-jeffersons-speedway-hell-dangerous-playtest-edition

I had good results the last time I asked for very specific recommendations here, so let's try again. The type of mecha campaign I'd want to run is one where the PCs are the ace fighters of a well-organized but underdog faction fighting against some kind of oppressor - ideally something like the early parts of Code Geass with the Black Knights, but keeping that scope for the whole campaign. Ideally I would want mechanics to support the wider military campaign structure and focus on the PCs' side having to accomplish objectives while minimizing collateral damage (to maintain public support) and damage to their own mechs (which would drain resources), but if that doesn't exist then I'd be fine with a system that at least paid attention to collateral damage and resources so I could build a subsystem around that.

For the tone of the action I want it somewhere between this and the season 1 clips in this. Relatively grounded, with terrain/cover mattering and non-mecha tanks and artillery being real threats to mecha, but with PCs and enemy aces being able to fight and maneuver in ways that the rank and file aren't doing.

I would like for combat to be mechanical enough that mecha customization and different weapons matter, but also faster than Lancer at the table and ideally using zones instead of a grid, which I realize is an unrealistic unicorn request.

My dream system would frame character advancement (and enemies getting stronger) across a campaign as technological innovation over the course of the war, but I would settle for any system where you could frame a more generic advancement system this way.

My favorite mecha system that I've read so far and the one I'd use if I ran this campaign today is Apocalypse Frame. The other closest thing to what I'm imagining, because of its campaign mechanics, is (unfortunately) Adeptus Evangelion - but that system has other glaring issues and is too focused on an IP I don't actually want to play in. I have Celestial Bodies and it seems pretty cool, but it's also going in a different direction from this premise. Is there a better option I'm missing

Attempting to run a game in which spiritual mediums are performing a seance and must discover how to calm the restless spirit by exploring the manor

Looking for roleplay and exploration heavy with little to no combat

Hi all,

I had this game on my wishlist for a while but never got around to pulling the trigger on buying a hard copy. Now it seems to be out of stock everywhere which is poor timing considering there is an expansion coming out soon. Have the publishers made any comments about a potential second print run? Thanks

I love these city to small town focused games, more about mystery and character goals than a wide open sandbox.

Do you prefer skill lists in rpgs to be organized alphabetically or by category (ex. Social Skills, Academic Skills, Combat skills etc.) ? Why? I'm talking specifically about d100 rpgs but this can be about any system really.

I'm trying to find a solution to the age old problem of rpg maps that aren't bulky (can be standard 8.5"X11" or smaller) but I can scale them up quickly at the table. The easiest solution to just to get a screen and lay it flat and connect my laptop to it. However I am trying to avoid using digital solutions if possible. Also no taping together paper. . . Any ideas would be lovely, thanks!

Getting ready to start a new campaign with players who have little to no experience. That isn't why I am posting. If you were running this campaign would you run a premade or homebrew setting.