by gonecase

An item RPG Item: Tales of the City Guard has been added to the geeklist Solo RPGs you play- Jan 2026

by Chilean

An item RPG Item: Player's Handbook (D&D 4e) has been added to the geeklist February 2026 Metro Vancouver No-Ship Math Trade

by Chilean

An item RPG Item: Player's Handbook (D&D 4e) has been added to the geeklist February 2026 Metro Vancouver No-Ship Math Trade

A new episode has been added to the database: Under the Lamplight Twelve. The Sewers

A new episode has been added to the database: Ep. 54 - Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan

A new episode has been added to the database: Episode 44: Have You Tried Turning It Off and On Again?

A new episode has been added to the database: Episode 193: Symphony: Oath of the Surveyor

by Inkwan

I don't think Ive played any except for a fairly realistic game of Kids on Bikes (the monster was real life witches but no magic) other than an ill-guided attempt at a High School rpg decades ago.

I've downloaded a bunch. I Just downloaded Nations and Cannons as it is very cheap D&D 5e which ties in quality artillery rules. TBD whether I like the rest of it.

My own game, Leadtown, is 100% is realistic storygame Old West based on Leadville, CO using a gambling game, Faro and a card game called Game of Skill (GoS) for the mechanisms. I'm about to publish a new version...so obviously I have a real interest in it if the opportunity arises

by regblank

TRIAL RUN 3 RESULTS
96% submitted (27/28)
If the trade were to run today, 21 participants would have a total of 67 trades! This preliminary run is for fun and may have no bearing on the final trade results.
This Math Trade will conclude tomorrow, Wednesday, 1/21 at 10pm.

airydisk (7 trades)
andresfresquez (4 trades)
andre_c (1 trade)
asgelb (1 trade)
awacky1 (5 trades)
cjsbug (5 trades)
cmdettmar (1 trade)
danimal88 (3 trades)
eviepete (6 trades)
istilllikecatan (2 trades)
jrthewinner (2 trades)
lord_bow (1 trade)
msoh (7 trades)
notunskeptical (1 trade)
regblank (5 trades)
sarsi (5 trades)
secondofthenew (5 trades)
sheylon (3 trades)
takenokojon (1 trade)
tawnos76 (1 trade)
the_joel (1 trade)

by Moonlight_Fox

Inkwan wrote:

Moonlight_Fox wrote:

Moonlight_Fox wrote:

Inkwan wrote:

My deep question for you is, which games do you see as a perfect balance between rules depth and flexibility.

I'm going to defer this question for a day or two to think about it more.

Or maybe a week and a half.

I don't think I have a good answer for this one. I'm not really looking for 'rules depth' in terms of a bunch of crunchy options for character creation or a perfectly balanced combat subsystem that could probably be spun off into a board game, but I am usually looking for scaffolding to help support me as a player, and especially me as a GM, participate in (or run) the sort of gameplay experience the game has in mind.

Saying that...

As a player, the Carved From Brindlewood games I've played thus far have been ideal for what I'm looking for, as does Mausritter. I feel like I can do the sort of things I want to be doing in their respective genres without the system getting in the way of my efforts, and without me being left with a blank page. Though, as a player, I am a lot more flexible than as a GM, and I'm not sure I've ever encountered something where I've felt out of my depth in either direction due to rules depth or complexity, even if some games I play - PF2e in particular - feel a bit overwhelming with options when making (or progressing) characters for it.

As a GM I find Animon Story nails the balance between there being enough scaffolding there that I'm not flailing as a GM, but not so much I feel like I'm not needing to ignore rules in order to get things to happen. Escape from Dino Island also nails the sort of GM support I like to have without constraining me in rules overhead (Although I do often forget to give the dinos weird mutations) in ways that not all PbtAs I've read manage - Having read Fellowship, for example, I'm left overwhelmed by the mechanics but also not sure what the system even wants me to be doing with it as a GM, managing to be both crunchier than I'd be comfortable running while not giving me that scaffolding I'm looking for, getting that balance as I'm interpreting it wrong in both directions. Would be interested to play, wouldn't know where to start as a GM.

In solo play, Koriko I found a very good fit for what I'm looking for in terms of that balance (even if I think failure could happen a little more often in that game, three times across the 6 volumes with dice stacking feels low), while I sometimes rub against Iron Valley's more mechanized view of promises in a way I've never found myself having a problem with Ironsworn's vows despite Iron Valley being the lighter game mechanically speaking, discarding a lot of the rules heft of Ironsworn in its interpretation of the game's SRD. And that's another aspect - I don't always find it being the games with more mechanical depth that are the more restrictive.

You sound like a gamer that has similar wants to me! I am also always looking for a PbtA games that allow me to play genres I love. I 100% agree with the issues of Fellowship. I've even chatted with Don[user=Donogh][/user] about. He's played more PbtA than nearly almost anyone and he also had trouble with that game. I have REALLY wanted to run Mausritter but haven't had the chance yet. I might have a chance in Feb. I've heard good things about Escape from Dino Island...maybe I could get that one to the table. You have pretty much sold me on Animon Story but I want to find a group before I make the purchase.

What do you think of micro games like Laser & Feelings or Honey Heist?

I think they tend to be easy to play for players, at least those with either a strong pitch or a genre familiar to the player so as to provide narrative grounding and expectations - Which I find for new players is something more important than a simple ruleset - but can be intimidating for the GM depending on how they use the limited tools available in the small page space, and how familiar they are with the genre the game's in. Nearly ran Lasers & Feelings for this years NPI, actually, since I'm familiar with the sort of sci-fi it's riffing on, before it was pointed out to me that the system has yet to successfully be run PbP on this site. Or as I summerized it, it's cursed for PbP. Might try running it PbP without the pressure of it being an NPI game later. (Replaced that pitch with Definitely Wizards instead which has more pages allowing it to provide a firmer structure to it so hopefully should go better, though the help stuff might slow things down a little) - I think generally micro games like Post-Match Interview or Doll are a bit more my speed genearlly, which instead of providing a ruleset for a broad genre where you can play anything within (or not even providing a genre in the case of Roll For Shoes) instead gives you something very specific where the mechanics/prompts happen to be 1-2 pages long instead.

I'm trying to convince myself I'm able to run Return to the Sock Drawer at the moment which I only remembered how intimidating one page games can be to run when I opened it. And am going to need to add to the database, though I've got the beginnings of an idea for what I'd want to do with that system.

by Strephon Alkhalikoi

Related Item: The Compendium of Weapons, Armour & Castles

This is actually system agnostic. I've used it for Dungeons & Dragons in the past.

by aramis

pdzoch wrote:

A question suggested by [user=Mallet][/user]:

What are the best RPGs that are based on historical or current reality? How often do you play them?
So, no magic, no science fiction, no incredible gadgets or powers of any kind, no made up countries, etc.

I wouldn't know, as such games hold negative appeal for me.