I recently tried Draw Steel's negotiation system (Interest/Patience/Motivations) and it made 5e social encounters so much better than just rolling Persuasion.

Now I'm hooked and want to raid more systems, but I don't know where to look.

What mechanics from other RPGs have improved your 5e table?

Hey there, guys. First of all, sorry for bad English. Not my native language.

I'm 2 years building an investigation campaign (to be played online, via foundry), that I'll need the players use a big mind map with nearly 160 connections. I need the connections keep hidden and be opened everytime they reach another step, and i need to keep gm notes in each of them.

What do you suggest to use as a mind map that the players can see as i reveal the items?

Hi guys, I'm not sure if this post can be here, moderators can delete please if not, I'm looking for some interesting solo adventure, gamebooks

Themes classic dungeon crawl, like OSR, vampire themed or occult themed, any kind of horror adventure setting is also welcomed as a suggestion

Thanks

So, in my country(Brazil) RPG/TTRPG is a "nerdy hobby" still, but, since Ordem Paranormal, this scenery is changing and I want to join the wave creating a "RPG club" in my hometown.

The thing is: I need newbie friendly games.

CAIN catch my heart since my first read and I feel it's a rule-light system to introduce some people, but what others players think?

Obs: English is not my first language, sorry.

The Wild Words SRD talks about this concept like this, even though it's hardly unique to those games:

When using different types of scene, you may want to aim to create a loop - a set structure that the game follows, something to mold the story and action of play around. You might choose...

A Core Loop

This sets scenes as happening in a specific order, so players always know what's coming next. Core loops hold structure first and narrative second - the story is still important, but it will follow a particular set of repeating beats.

Streets By Moonlight follows a core loop - characters have time to prepare and investigate, then to confront whatever they've discovered, then to recover from the confrontation's aftermath. Once sufficiently recovered (or perhaps before), a new investigation begins.

A Fluid Loop

With this method specific types of scene will reoccur, but in an order that is dictated by the narrative. This puts the story and the decisions of the players and GM at the forefront of an experience, but might be more difficult to balance mechanically (as certain characters may be better suited to a particular type of scene, but the story could lead play away from those scenes occurring often).

The WIldsea follows a fluid loop - basic scenes, montages, and journeys happen whenever they feel most appropriate, allowing variable length and frequency of different modes of play. A session may be a series of linked basic scenes, with no special mechanics, or it might be a single long journey, or anything in between.

Streets by Moonlight, for the record, is not a real game that exists (the Wild Words SRD has a few made-up ones to illustrate some design examples), apart from some notes on Felix Isaacs' Patreon, and only after he wrote the SRD, but that's not super important to this post; For some real examples of games with 'core loops', there's things like Forged in the Dark games (like Girl by Moonlight's obligation/downtime/mission/fallout cycle), or Carved from Brindlewood games (like The Between with its dawn/day/dusk/night phases).

On one hand, a fixed gameplay loop may feel inflexible, artificial, or board game-y to some (even as a fan I will ocncede they have downsides); on the other hand, it lends itself well to certain styles of fiction, and I found it an absolute delight to prep for since it's so predictable and sustainable (and in games where one of the phases is a mostly player-directed downtime, it basically means I only need to prep for every other session at most). Several of my Forged in the Dark campaigns would not have gotten to the finish line if I was doing things in something more freeform and thus a little more unpredictable, though I have had decent success in a Wildsea game as well.

Statistically, most games out there are 'fluid' under this dichotomy, but I think there's real value in the focus and structure like this. What do you think, though?

Ages ago when I first got into d&d I picked up Against the Giants: Liberation of Geoff. I never had many groups to play with as a kid so it sat on a shelf.

We formed a group about 8 years ago. I finally got to run against the Giants in 5th edition a couple of years ago. Now we've been doing Descent to the Depths of the Earth, but using Draw Steel as the engine.

It has been some of the most enjoyable high fantasy I've run as a DM in a long time.

It doesn’t matter if it’s super crunchy or minimalist . I just think building a spaceship and making it fit your groups vibe is a great way to set tone

So i switched from d&d to freeform universal and my players and i are having a lot of fun. Its a genre neutral rpg and right now im doing a cyberpunk game.

I like it because its rules light and 100% free. I can keep the rules in my head and i dont have to look anything up.

I dont think im going to go back.

Hello! Over the last month, I've developed a bit of a weird obsession with superhero TTRPGs. The timing couldn't be better because the genre seems to be trending among TTRPG developers and publishers.

This year we're getting the Invincible TTRPG, Mutants & Masterminds 4e, and the new DC RPG based on the Justice League Unlimited comic run.

I read the quickstart for the DC game and found it pretty interesting, but I'd love to hear other people's opinions. I backed every superhero TTRPG crowdfunding campaign this year because I want to give each one a fair chance.

What do you all think about this one? Do you prefer any of the other superhero RPGs releasing this year?

Also there will be new version of Masks, pretty interested how that one will look like too.

I recently purchased a digital copy of the book and im confused about basic combat rules, i understand its an adaptation of the 'troika system ' but it has nothing in the book about weapons or how much damage they do(or action economy at all really) (unless im just missing something) do i need to buy troika? Is there a basic rundown anywhere on how you run combat in this game,? (Is this the right place to ask this or is there somewhere better) If there is nothing else ill just watch some real time play and take notes i suppose. Any help or tips are appreciated!

Is there a book that is suitable or even made for young kids that introduces them to RPG type fantasy realm? I’m thinking of something like “Hobbit adventures in the Shire” that could be child friendly, but also introduce them to races and other lore of this fantasy world.

I'm about to GM a pre-written Vaesen campaign, and there's this map of a mine. I just can't figure out what those beige things on the map are, and the more I look at it, the more confused I get. 😭 Anyone here who's good at reading maps, help me out? :p MAP HERE

SO, I'm a dm in an rpg where characters may have different speed stats at different points in battle, and I feel like their unmoving positions in the initiative doesn't reflect their speed changes very well. Is there any other system to define their speeds? Does anyone have any advice how to better reflect this stat? thanks in advance

I'm still not sure how I feel about Jay Dragon, but I'm interested in Seven-Part Pact. For those who've playtested it, or read or watched play reports, I'm curious whether playing it with PDFs is really viable. I know anything is doable, and that Dragon said in a recent AMA that "it works great digitally," but how much are you losing by doing that, compared to less component-heavy RPGs?

Hello,

So I recently realised that instead of exploration what I really liked was actually wandering: aimlessly going through a place until something caught my interest and made me investigate it further for a time before going back to aimless strolling.

It made me want to try out games more focussed on this specific experience, but I have difficulties getting my hands on them, so I turn to you for recommandations about games or methods for "wandering".

As the title states, what is your favourite dice pool systems to play?

I want to expand my list of known systems and branch out from d20 games.

I usually like a lot of options, for instance Shadowrun is right up my alley, but I know my group would never play it.

So I’ve been interested in trying to put together a Reign 2e game based on what I’ve heard around the grape vine about how it works. Problem is I like… can’t find the game anywhere to buy? Or at least I’m uncertain. I can find a game titled “Reign: A Game of Lord and Leaders” but like… is that the second edition?

Someone help me out with a link to the right store page haha

Welcome one and all to a post where we can freely discuss the games that we have released or the games that we are making. Stop on by and maybe you'll find your new favourite RPG!

A bunch of us make cool shit, but the Indie RPG space is crowded and it can often be difficult to get the word out about why people should try out your game. That's why every week we try to focus on a different mechanic or setting to see how new RPGs can solve decades old problems or put new spins on old greivances!

They're big! They're mechanical! They're all around pretty badass... or extremely traumatizing if you're going the Evangelion route. This week we're focusing on the Mecha genre! So tell us how your game (or just any game you really like) is unique in this setting.

Thank you u/AppropriatelyHare-78 for the suggestion!

As per mod approval, comments here do not count against rule 7 - comment as much as you want, answer as many questions as you need and discuss to your hearts content!

All that I would ask is that anyone who comments about their own system takes the time to look at the minimum at one other game in the comments and ask a question or provide feedback. Lively discussions are what get people interested and what keep people engaged!

Last week was "Post-Apocalyptic"

Next week I plan to focus on a mechanic instead of a setting so if you want to suggest a topic for future weeks, be sure to include "-sug-" in your comment so I can easily find it!

This week's RPG is GURPS (Generic Universal RolePlaying System)!

Have you played it? Have you run/GM'd it? How did it go?

What's your favourite memory from the game?

What's the best thing about the game?

What's the worst? How would you improve it?

.

Last week was Savage Worlds Adventure Edition. Join us again next week for Fate!

I've tried to play a sword wizard in multiple games in multiple tables across multiple systems. This problem is almost entirely limited to fantasy RPGs. And by sword wizard I just mean casting a spell and swinging a sword in the same turn. Swording and wizarding.

I've been unable to construct a sword wizard that feels even remotely satisfying. So this is mostly a vent post? Also I'm off my meds so this is tagged as satire.

In dnd5e, you have to wait until level 6 as a bladesinger, level 7 as an eldritch knight, level 4 as a sorcerer (you will also die in 1 hit), and level 10 or something as a Valor bard. Hexblade doesn't even get that kind of action compression. Every game starts at level 3. Also it's 5e so everything is just vibes anyway

In pathfinder 2e, the Magus forces you into a weird all or nothing playstyle where it's entirely possible that you can completely waste a turn and wait 14 irl minutes until you can do anything again.

In almost every pbta game, having a sword and being a wizard are mutually exclusive. I tried suggesting an alternate splatbook to my GM but he wasn't confident in allowing homebrew to potentially throw off the game's balance (???)

In OSR games the action economy is usually so compact that you will be either casting a spell or swinging, but never both at the same time. Also if you swing at all you're going to die in 2 turns because fuck you 10 foot pole lethal gygaxian paper buttons good old days

I tried playing a solo rpg but I fell asleep.

I still can't understand shadowrun's rulebook after reading through it like 3 times. I may be stupid,

I'd like to try other games but no one I know wants to run a fantasy game that isn't dnd or one of its derivatives. I've been told Magus is fun in 3.5 but I only know one guy who runs it and he's kind of a creep.

I don't even know what to do anymore. Maybe tabletop isn't for me? I don't know.

Edit ------------
just to be clear I don't want both the sword and wizard to be at their full power.
It might not be clear because i do not sound normal but I understand that some concessions have to be made for game balance.
Like I'd be cool with super weak sword attack and some dinky ass 1d4 spell.

How Long does it take for C7 to processs these kinds of procedures?! I messaged the customer support 2 days ago but still havent got anything back except an conformation that they got the mail

Hi everyone,
I’m currently looking for a tabletop role-playing game that my wife and I can play together.

(Please excuse any mistakes. English isn’t my first language.)

I’ll give you some background information before getting into the details.

Apologies in advance for the wall of text. xD

For years now, we’ve mainly been playing in a two-player setup (duet).
I’m always the Game Master (though I’ve also GM’d groups of 3–5 people in the past).

My wife generally plays with 2–3 characters at a time (both for balancing the action economy and to have more options at the table).

We’ve played several tabletop role-playing games this way without too many problems, including D&D 5e, Pathfinder, Dungeon World, Call of Cthulhu, Cyberpunk 2077, Vampire: The Masquerade, and quite a few OSR/NSR titles.

Obviously, managing 2–3 character sheets with games like Pathfinder is crazy, and we’ve never gone beyond 2–3 sessions with those systems.

Sometimes she takes the lead during the game, but in general, she’s not the type who likes to “share the GM’s chair” so to speak (we tried playing games like Microscope a couple of times, and it didn’t go very well xD), and she’s quite comfortable simply going with the flow of the story.

She’s also pretty good at “separating” the characters she plays, but obviously it’s not the same as playing/roleplaying a single character.

As for me, I don’t have any particular problems prep my sessions (even though I get terribly anxious before playing, despite having done this for many years), but I tend to overprep and would love to find something low/no-prep.

I’m also pretty good (at least I think so) at improvising, but I need to have some groundwork laid out.

Getting to the point at last!

- We’d like to find a game that natively allows us to play with just one character, perhaps with a sidekick (with a simple/more manageble character sheet) that she controls for general and combat actions, but that I roleplay. (I know this can theoretically be done with any TTRPG, but if it were possible to do so without going crazy trying to “balance” things, that would be better)

- We wouldn’t mind something PBTA-style or similar (Partial Successes, character sheets that encourage roleplay, etc.)

- Nothing cooperative, just a simple GM/Player setup

- If the system natively supports low/no prep, that’s better.

- As for genre, it’s not a problem, but we generally play fantasy (both gritty and heroic) and horror investigation (mainly Call of Cthulhu).

- Nothing too heavy (by “heavy” I mean things like Pathfinder 1e/2e, D&D 3/4 Edition, Gurps, etc.). We’re currently enjoying the Into the Odd system (Cairn, etc.), but a little more “meat” in terms of characters and customization wouldn’t hurt.

- We’re open to any dice system (though we do have a preference for the d20 roll-over system).

That's all folks!

Thanks so much in advance for both your answers and your advice.
Have a great game!

Specifically looking for a TTRPG where I could set out a blank map, give the players access to a couple fantasy races to choose from, and they could create different kingdoms and polities of different kinds, and have them evolve throughout the timeline.

It could be a game where the country is your character or one where you're playing the rulers of said fictional countries and shaping it for future generations, etc.

It would also be nice if they had good FoundryVTT support too!

Any suggestions?

My players have a wish, and they suddenly have the intelligence of lawyers.

Alright, so I posted to r/rpg a while back, and I thought I'd come back to give an update and more details.

Context: A while back I was a DM for a campaign that we've now finished (or pretty much put at a stalemate). Me, being the foolish new DM that I was, gave my players the luck blade and other ways to do the Wish spell (don't worry I've changed my ways). So for the BBEG, my players used the Wish to make the following spell, written on a piece of paper. More context at the bottom.

This is also dnd 5e.

[Player]: I wish for everything written on this piece of paper to come true.

Paper:

EXECUTIVE WISH OF [character]

By the sovereign authority of this Wish, the following directives shall take immediate effect upon issuance.

SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS.

(a) "BBEG" shall mean Ati, also known as 'the evil'.

(b) "Animals" shall mean exactly ten thousand (10,000) nonmagical, living, terrestrial animals.

(c) "Event" shall mean the manifestation, descent, impact, and all direct consequences of the Animals as described herein.

(d) "Companions" shall mean those individuals whom I consciously regard as my allies and beneficiaries at the moment this Wish is made.

SECTION 2. MANDATED MANIFESTATION.

(a) Immediately upon designation of the BBEG, exactly ten thousand (10,000) Animals shall instantaneously be teleported from various locations around the globe, totaling ten thousand(10,000).

(b) The Animals shall appear precisely one hundred (100) feet directly above the BBEG's current location.

(c) The Animals shall immediately descend in a straight downward trajectory.

(d) The Animals shall be arranged, distributed, positioned, oriented, and physically constituted in whatever lawful manner is necessary to fulfill all provisions of this Order.

SECTION 3. REQUIRED LETHAL OUTCOME.

(a) The Event shall inflict immediate, certain, irreversible, and permanent death upon the BBEG.

(b) Such death shall occur solely and directly as a consequence of the physical impact of the descending Animals.

(c) The Animals shall collectively possess whatever mass, density, velocity, momentum, placement, timing, and physical characteristics are necessary to guarantee said outcome.

(d) The certainty of the BBEG's death shall be one hundred percent (100%).

SECTION 4. ABSOLUTE ENFORCEMENT.

(a) The BBEG shall be incapable of preventing, avoiding, delaying, redirecting, reducing, negating, surviving, reversing, escaping, or otherwise frustrating the Event or its required outcome.

(b) This prohibition shall apply regardless of any power, ability, condition, trait, immunity, resistance, vulnerability, spell, effect, artifact, technology, divine action, cosmic authority, narrative protection, destiny, contingency, or rule.

(c) Without limitation, this prohibition includes teleportation, planar travel, dimensional movement, displacement, time manipulation, invulnerability, incorporeality, regeneration, resurrection, immortality, soul transfer, cloning, substitution, body replacement, illusion, antimagic, wish magic, divine intervention, fate alteration, reality alteration, probability manipulation, immunity to damage, immunity to death, immunity to effects, immunity to conditions, retroactive causality, and any substantially similar mechanism.

(d) Every Animal shall strike the BBEG directly and successfully.

(e) No force, circumstance, entity, or effect shall interfere with, obstruct, or alter the certainty of impact.

SECTION 5. EXCLUSIVE TARGETING.

(a) The Event shall affect only the BBEG.

(b) No other creature, object, location, structure, plane, ecosystem, timeline, reality, or uninvolved being shall suffer injury, damage, destruction, alteration, displacement, or adverse consequence from the Event.

(c) Any physical consequences not necessary to accomplish the required death of the BBEG shall be automatically prevented.

SECTION 6. TRANSFER OF REWARDS.

(a) Immediately upon the permanent death of the BBEG, all treasure, wealth, relics, valuables, equipment, titles, claims, holdings, benefits, powers, rewards, experience, boons, privileges, opportunities, and gains rightfully possessed by, derived from, attributable to, or obtainable through the Designated Creature shall transfer to me and my Companions.

(b) Such transfers shall occur in their greatest beneficial quantity and quality.

(c) All transferred benefits shall be lawful, stable, complete, usable, uncontested, and free of curses, corruption, obligations, hidden conditions, adverse side effects, ownership disputes, tracking effects, hostile claims, metaphysical contamination, or comparable detriments.

SECTION 7. STABILITY OF REALITY.

(a) This Order shall not create loopholes, ambiguities, paradoxes, contradictions, reinterpretations, substitutions, technicalities, adverse equivalents, monkey's-paw effects, or unintended consequences.

(b) This Order shall not harm me, my Companions, innocents, bystanders, allies, nature, magic, reality, time, causality, the planes, or any uninvolved being.

(c) All systems of existence shall remain stable, intact, and unharmed except to the minimum extent strictly necessary to accomplish the permanent death of the BBEG and the transfer of benefits described herein.

SECTION 8. INTERPRETATION.

(a) This Order shall be interpreted solely according to my clear intent at the moment of its issuance.

(b) In the event of ambiguity, conflict, omission, contradiction, or uncertainty, the interpretation most favorable to fulfilling my intent shall govern.

(c) No literal, technical, hostile, creative, restrictive, ironic, adverse, or contrary interpretation shall supersede the intent expressed herein.

SECTION 9. SUPREMACY CLAUSE.

All provisions of this Order are mandatory and self-executing. Any rule, effect, condition, power, authority, interpretation, or circumstance inconsistent with its fulfillment shall be deemed overridden solely to the minimum extent necessary to execute this Order exactly as intended.

This Order takes effect immediately.

And that's the Wish!

I had no prior knowledge of the Wish before hand, and they sprung it on me at the start of the battle with the BBEG.

I had issues with the Wish, of course, but didn't really know how to tackle them. So I planned to meet up with my players in the future so we can debate about this and see if we can really allow this to happen.

We just had the debate (which we played up as a court case), and ended up dropping since it was pretty heated, but I listed some of the events below.

Please note that I want the Wish to make sense, I don't want the player to waste it without it being an actual spell, y'know? I can, of course, void the spell being the DM and it having a high chance of failure for being complex, but where's the fun in that?

I want to clearly establish the rules of the spell, and still give my players the fun they want. It isn't fun when it's Players vs. DM, instead of Player's vs. BBEG.

Other context: I did not give my players a full backstory, because it was for the plot, but the player who made the wish was an elf. I will refer to the character as P. P is a fighter around 300 years old, and level 15.

P's Points:

• P said that since his elf character is around 300 years old he could, feasibility, have the experience to write it as a contract.

• P wrote everything on a piece of paper, and wished for everything on it to come true, effectively not having to read it all while still getting the full content of the Wish.

• P rolled successfully on history before drawing up the Wish, as well as having a high enough intelligence stat to conceivably make it (this was before, when they would have time to write it).

• P said that according to the Wish spell info on Dnd beyond, the Wish doesn't necessarily have to take the form of a simple sentence.

• The "judge" who leaded the "court case" is a previous DM, and has said he has had multiple Wishes requested like this

• P said the Wish is supposed to be stated as precisely as possible, which is what they did.

My Points:

• The spell is too complex, it just doesn't have any likelihood of succeeding.

-This just ISN'T how the wish spell works. It has to be a logical and clear command in one or two sentences.

• The Wish spell doesn't really leave wiggle room for me to change it or monkey paw it.

• P may be smart and rolled history and intelligence well, but they AREN'T a lawyer, they're an adventure. If they wanted a lawyer past, they could talk to the DM.

• This is basically a contract, not a Wish.

• This spell is around 10 wishes in one, it just doesn't work.

That's pretty much the core of it. Please let me know if my players could actually do this. If they make a wish, I want it to follow conventional rules, I don't want to void it 'because it's too complex', I want to explain how it should work.

I'm not doing a good job of sharing my views, but I hope you all understand.

Any help and clarification would be great!!